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mightyflamethrower · 6 months ago

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Professor Victor Davis Hanson spoke about his new book, war, movies and President Donald Trump’s ability to lead with Seth Leibsohn earlier this week. Listen to the audio and read the transcript below.

Victor Davis Hanson Book Dissects WWII By The Editors An Interview

Posted By Ruth King on January 11th, 2018

Victor Davis Hanson Book Dissects WWII

Seth Leibsohn: Welcome back to the Seth and Chris show. The journalist I.F. Stone once wrote, “I am having so much fun I should be arrested.” We are having a lot of fun today and delighted to bring one of the nation’s great, one of the world’s great public intellectuals, dear friend of ours, contributor to American Greatness, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, author of the brand spankin’ new book “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won”, Professor Victor Davis Hanson. Welcome back to the airwaves of Phoenix, Victor.

Victor Davis Hanson: Thank you for having me.

Seth Leibsohn: Thank you. I want to talk to you a little bit about your book in a moment, but first I want to talk to you about someone else’s book if you don’t mind, and that’s what you wrote about at American Greatness, “Is Trump Really Crazy,” in regard to the book that seems like most of Washington is gonna talk about for about another week and maybe the rest of the country’s about to stop talking about, but it’s Michael Wolff’s book. You had some wonderful writing in there.

I’m gonna quote you to you if I can.

“Wolff’s ogre purportedly sloppily eats Big Macs in bed, golfs more than Obama did, has no hair at all on the top of his head, and at 71 is supposedly functionally illiterate. OK, perhaps someone the last half-century read out loud to Trump the thousands of contracts he signed. But what we wish to know from Wolff is how did his trollish Trump figure out that half the country—the half with the more important Electoral College voice—was concerned about signature issues that either were unknown to or scorned by his far more experienced and better-funded rivals?”

This was kind of the topic of the tiff between Stephen Miller and Jake Tapper, and something Jake Tapper and CNN still doesn’t get, right Professor?

Victor Davis Hanson: I think so. Just from a purely logical point of view, if you’re making the argument that someone who destroyed the ’16 Republican primary really brilliant, experienced candidate, destroyed them in the primary and then took on ‘Clinton Incorporated’ and destroyed her, and you’re saying that he’s either incompetent or he’s naïve or he’s stupid. Then the logic of that would be, “Well, that was all a fluke,” and his first year shows that it was a fluke, because he’s a total failure.

But when you look at the stock market, their GDP, their business growth, their unemployment, or any traditional metric of economic activity, he’s had a very good first year. This is besides Mattis and Gorsuch, McMahon, all the great appointments he’s made, so then the question becomes, “Well, if he’s so stupid, how was he so successful as a politician, and how has he been so successful in a way that a Harvard law graduate, Barack Obama, was not in his first year?” It sort of makes us either say, “It’s all a fluke,” or “It’s all an accident,” or the criteria that Michael Wolff is using are just bogus, or his book is bogus, but the people who appreciate it and fawn over it, their criteria is bogus, but something doesn’t make sense. It’s not logical.

Seth Leibsohn: Something isn’t logical. Added to the list of the illogic is another part of Michael Wolff’s book and pieces, is that he didn’t wanna win. For someone who didn’t want to win, he did an awfully bad job at that.

Victor Davis Hanson: He did, but that is sort of another boomerang. It suggests that somebody who had a lot more money, experience who really wanted to win, like Hillary, couldn’t beat an amateur who didn’t want to win.

Seth Leibsohn: Right.

Victor Davis Hanson: Again, it means that, well, Trump would just like I guess he would say to us, “Well, even when I don’t want something, I’m more successful than the people on the other side.” It doesn’t make sense.

Seth Leibsohn: There was the old line of Irving Kristol: “Smart, smart, stupid.” A lot of these people Washington and elites say are smart and they have the right pedigrees, maybe Hillary Clinton would be in that crowd, Donald Trump is not. He’s part of the vulgar crowd of course, but there is some kind of reevaluation of what constitutes smart in this country now, isn’t there. There’s something about common sense. Something about conservatism.

Victor Davis Hanson: I think there is. I think something’s wrong with this bicoastal elite. Nobody can quite define it yet, but because you’re at Harvard or Stanford or Princeton or you have a particular PhD or a JD, or you’ve been on the Council of Foreign Relations, all of that didn’t really ensure an American Renaissance. We’re 20 trillion dollars in debt. The country’s torn apart by identity politics, the economy did not even reach 3 percent GDP for the first time since World War II under Obama. Something was wrong.

We had geniuses. We had Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers and all these people. And these are the people who are so angry and John Kerry. The more we learn about the Iran deal, the [inaudible] deal, or that Libya bombing, the more disheartening it is these people had all the sterling credentials, but it’s [inaudible] is that they were competent.

Seth Leibsohn: That’s right. Professor Hanson, we’re going into a break. Do you have time for one more segment?

Victor Davis Hanson: Yeah.

Seth Leibsohn: That would be wonderful. I do want to talk to you a little bit about “The Second World Wars,” your newest book, “How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won,” and your sense of the “Darkest Hour” if you don’t mind as well. If you wouldn’t mind sharing some of that with us, Chris and I have both seen it recently.

We will be right back with Victor Davis Hanson, author of “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won,” senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, contributor to American Greatness. Be right back.

Welcome back to the Seth and Chris show. I’m Seth Leibsohn. He is Chris Buskirk. Delighted to be talking with Victor Davis Hanson. Professor Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a contributor to American Greatness, and the author most recently just out, “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.”

Victor, if I might, on your book, there seems to be, mirabile dictu, this renewed interest in Winston Churchill throughout our culture. Two movies over the past year, “Dunkirk” and of course “Darkest Hour.” Chris and I recently saw “Darkest Hour.” I wonder if you might share any thoughts you had on it.

Victor Davis Hanson: Well, I generally liked it. It was based on a book by John Lucas, but there was two things, and I kind of wrote a review about it, but there’s two things that kinda bothered me. One, those moments of indecision that Churchill supposedly had about the Halifax suggestions to use Mussolini as a way of negotiating with Hitler after the fall of France or during the fall of France. Both were non-historical, and he never went on a subway and he never was encouraged by the stiff upper lip of the British citizen that he met.

He was a lot more the rock of Gibraltar about not negotiating with Hitler than the movies convey. In the movie, he’s not decrepit, but he’s not robust, and we forget that of all the leaders on both sides, Churchill flew all over the world. Stalin didn’t come to London. Churchill went to Yalta. He went to Moscow. He went to Tehran. Roosevelt did not come to London. Churchill went to the United States. Mussolini never left, basically, Italy.

German generals in the field could look at Churchill through telescopes when he was talking to Montgomery and sigh, “Why doesn’t Hitler do what Churchill’s doing?” He was our brain, so they couldn’t shoot him, but the point I’m making is he got pneumonia. Yes, he took first-generation antibiotics, but he traveled all over the world, so he was a very robust, dynamic person. That’s kind of not conveyed in the movies.

Seth Leibsohn: Right. And the thing you said first, which was the thing I objected … I very much liked the movie. I think it was an acting tour de force, regardless of the accurate or inaccuracies in the portrayal by Gary Oldman, but I too was put off by, and I guess it’s just Hollywood being Hollywood, them not giving him his due on why he wouldn’t negotiate. I think they made him look like a stubborn crank more than someone who had developed a worldview that had come to fore based on something called the Sudetenland. There was a very serious worldview he had here, and I thought they gave it very short shrift.

Victor Davis Hanson: Yeah, I think that’s right, and it wasn’t just that he understood the nature of Nazism, but he understood the way to defeat it momentarily, and he understood that even in the darkest hour, Hitler had no navy, at least in comparison to the British navy, which was still the biggest in the world, and the Luftwaffe was not able to bomb Britain into submission. His basic attitude was one of confidence saying that as bad as it’s going to be, they can’t cut us off in North America and the empire. They can’t invade, and they can’t bomb us, and therefore they’re going to have to do one of two things. They’re either gonna have to settle for a tie, or they’re gonna have to go into Russia. He predicted that.

Seth Leibsohn: Yep.

Victor Davis Hanson: And when they went into Russia, he was delighted because he knew that eventually the United States and Russia would have some of the assets that Hitler would lose. It didn’t mean that he thought that he could invade the European continent alone, Britain, and defeat them, but he was convinced that Hitler could not defeat Britain, and he was right about that.

Seth Leibsohn: We’re talking to Victor Davis Hanson. Victor, enough about everyone else’s books and movies. Let’s talk about yours, “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.” I’m loving it. What I would like, if you don’t mind, for you to tell some of our listeners, the first thing that strikes you in this book is actually the title, “The Second World Wars.” Most people think of it as war. You call it “wars.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Yes, that was sort of for two reasons, the plural. One is that there were wars in the air, there was wars on the ground, there was wars under the sea, so what I wanted to do was not do a chronological survey, but just say, “This is the air war. This is the war at sea and this is the submarine war. This is the army and the marine ground combat. This is the war of industry. This is the war of leadership.” And then to try to assess which one was important or relatively important; which was unimportant. Then you look at the decisions that were made; did it matter that Hitler made an intercontinental ballistic missile but not a bomber, and it did a great deal. That was one reason.

The second was to try to convey the idea that World War II really didn’t start as we know it. They knew it as a World War II mid-1941. They were the nine … actually ten separate wars, the Norway war, the Danish war, the Polish war, the French war, the Belgium war, the Luxembourg war, the Holland war, the Greek war, the Yugoslavian war.

But then when he went in … and he’d won all of them except for the Blitz, the bombing of Britain, but when he went into the Soviet Union coupled six months later with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. That became a truly global war, and then the First World War was called the First World War rather than the Great War. The term “Second World War” or “World War II” gained currency for the first time.

Seth Leibsohn: I love … We’ve read on air a long passage from his memoirs about his recollection of the night Pearl Harbor was bombed. I just love that quote of his, “silly people,” about people underestimating the Americans, but how at that point he knew the war was won. Didn’t know how it would be won, he said, but he knew the war was won.

Victor Davis Hanson: Yeah, I think he was a classical historian in a sense. So he just looked at pre-war GDP, population, manpower base, geography, natural resources, and he just concluded that Hitler and Mussolini and Tojo were crazy because they had had a lot of advantage by army and all during the 1930s in attacking by surprise neighbors that were not armed and proximate. And then, all of a sudden, they got themselves into a global war which they started. and they had no ability whatsoever.

They reached Russian industry on the other side of the Urals or Detroit or in the Kaiser’s shipyards for it to bomb London again, yet these countries, because of their air and the huge army of the Soviet Union, the American shipping, they all had an ability to hit Tokyo and Rome. Churchill knew that almost from the beginning.

Seth Leibsohn: Victor, we have about a minute left. What to you is explaining this renewed interest in Churchill? Is it having done so many non-Churchill things for ten years? Is it perhaps American adults getting history because they realize they were misserved in school, like David McCullough learned? What explains this renewed interest do you think?

Victor Davis Hanson: I think there’s two things. One is that Churchill’s view of the West, an unapologetic exceptional West, is starting, for all the multicultural politically correct antitheses, people are starting to see whether you’re in China or whether you’re in Africa and Latin America, that this idea of constitutional government and free market economics, there’s no alternative to it. And then here in the United States, I think after the Obama years, we were starting to go back to the idea that you know what? Cuba’s not our friend. Venezuela’s not our friend. Britain has always been there. They fought with us—

Seth Leibsohn: That’s a good point.

Victor Davis Hanson: In every war that we’ve fought, and there’s a renewed appreciation for Britain.

Seth Leibsohn: Well said. Victor Davis Hanson, the author of “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won,” Professor Hanson, thanks for your time. Thanks for your energy. Thanks for your brain. I appr

ks for your energy. Thanks for your brain. I appreciate it.

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bllsbailey · 11 months ago

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Kamala Goes Babbling in Philly With Tim Walz, Opens Mouth and Inserts Foot

Kamala Harris has finally made her selection of her running mate, and it was probably the worst choice — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, someone who isn't well-known across the country, except perhaps for his failure to properly stop the riots in 2020 that burned Minneapolis. Not exactly the best thing to be known for.

There are a ton of clips of him saying things that most Americans would find bizarre and/or disqualifying, as well as a lot of other baggage. It doesn't seem a very smart choice for a far-left candidate to double down on the far-left. That might get some folks in Michigan, but it could well cost them Pennsylvania.

After the announcement, Harris and Walz held an event in Philadelphia that showed off how cringy they would be together. She was her regular bizarre self, and he was giving off Tim Kaine vibes. You know how that choice went.

READ MORE: Tim Walz Addresses the Crowd in Philly Following Announcement As VP Pick - I've Got Good News and Bad

He also made me think of Howard Dean and the infamous scream.

Harris immediately went straight to the cackle and incoherence, repeating over and over again, "Good evening!" as Walz looked Dean-like and weird in the background, making weird faces and smacking his hands together.

Harris claims she launched her campaign for president a couple of weeks ago, leaving out the coup on Biden and that she didn't get one primary vote for the position.

So much for the "We want to save democracy" crew.

It sounded like a lot of what she said was from the speech she normally gives, once again raising the question, just like with Joe Biden, how much she can speak off the cuff.

Then she spoke about what she wanted to do, including helping people buy a home, own a business, and "build wealth."

That was possibly her most ridiculous statement since everything that she and Joe Biden have done since they took office has worked against people's ability to buy a home, own a business, and build wealth. Homes are out of reach for many because of the high interest rates and inflation. It's hard to "build wealth" when you need to use your savings just to keep afloat and buy groceries that are so expensive under Biden-Harris.

Harris and Walz also chanted they were "not going back."

Yes, that's the problem. "Back" under Trump, we had low inflation and more peace in the Middle East. We had good foreign policy and a secure border versus the chaos that Harris helped to bring in.

Where do they want to go into the future? Harris opened her mouth and inserted her foot.

Now that she's embraced him, she's embraced all of his radical beliefs along with all of his failures, including the Minneapolis riots — where she also promoted the bail fund for people arrested during those riots.

Does she really know what she's hooked herself to? Does she think socialism is like neighborliness, too? Does she think the red state areas are mostly "rocks and cows" like he does? That should work well, just as "deplorables" did for Hillary Clinton.

READ MORE: Here Are the Damning Tim Walz Comments the GOP Should Run on a Loop

JD Vance Response to Walz Pick Shows Just How It Should Be Done

This is going to be great fun, with all the ads they'll be able to do on the weirdness, the bad statements, and the bad policy.

Bailey: Only a dumbass democrat would vote for a dumbass to be president. This is why the America people are suffering, too many dumbasses run our government.

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gallavichfanficlibrary · 4 years ago

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✨2021 Favorites✨

Hi guys :) It’s almost 2022, so we decided to repeat last year and make a list of our personal favorites (which will vary from mod to mod) that started and completed in 2021 💝 There’s no way we could include everything we loved or even liked from our favorite authors, but hopefully you find something to jump into! ❄️ (This is a long list, but blame the writers for being so talented!)

Multi chapters:

Old Rules For New Side Pieces - Ian thinks he’s got his life together -- good job, stable boyfriend -- until he meets Mickey and his life is turned upside down.

Enemy Lines - Enemies to lovers, a social justice warrior vs a lawyer.

Someone To Hold Me Up - Canon divergent from s7 - Ian and Mickey getting back together with their lives a little bit more put together.

Under Lock and Key - Ian and Mickey man the desk of the missing keys office together and end up falling for each other week after week.

weaver of fate (to your will I won’t fold) - Soulmates AU. Mickey is a seer who gets paid to track down people's soulmates. Ian pays for the reading but doesn’t want to know the result.

you’ll never see us again - Ian and Mickey grow up in a boarding school without a clue about what their future holds.

The Mask of Insanity - Ian’s a detective with a complicated past with Mickey, who ends up being a suspect in a murder case he’s working.

Mickey Milkovich’s Guide to Flirting - How Mickey Milkovich learned to stop worrying (so much) and flirt with his crush

There Are Places You Belong - Ian and Mickey adjust to the West Side and grow closer in their second year of marriage.

WIPs:

Dancing After Death - Ian moves to California and meets Mickey, a member of a motorcycle club. Friends with benefits to lovers.

That ‘Redhead Babyface/FUCK U-UP’ Duality - AU. Ian sees Mickey in a bar and decides that he’s the perfect candidate for shooting porn together.

Intro to Quantum Dating - College AU. Friends with benefits to lovers. Ian moves to campus and meets Mickey, the RA and the weed guy of the college.

Paragraphs - Ian has an opportunity to be a reading tutor for ex-convicts. He meets one in particular that catches his eye.

since we’re alone - College AU. Enemies to lovers. Mickey is only going to college to play hockey. When he’s at risk of losing his full ride scholarship because of his slipping grades, he gets assigned a tutor.

let the bodies do the talkin’ - Mickey’s on a quest to find a good fuck and he doesn’t think Ian could do anything for him, but boy is he wrong...

You Can Bite Me - Ian’s a vampire and is drawn to the mysterious Mickey, of course things get complicated.

Ristretto - Coffeeshop AU. Ian works the late shift at the coffee shop with Mandy Milkovich. He might or might not have the hots for her boyfriend.

elevator music - Ian makes a terrible first impression on his neighbor Mickey, but gets to redeem himself little by little.

Apartment 4A - When the chaos of the Gallagher home gets to be too much, Ian decides to move out. He answers a roommate ad, and gets more than he bargained for.

kings of the southside - S11 canon divergent fic in which Ian and Mickey stay on the southside and take over the Alibi.

We Are Made of Star Stuff - S1 gap-filler, Ian POV. Exploration of how the boys reach the level of closeness that has Ian running to Mickey's when Monica shows up.

One shots:

Stages - Post S11. It’s nice for married couples to share interests and experiences. But they didn’t really need their dads to die one after the other like this.

Bad for Business - Magic AU. Mickey works at a magic shop and Ian happens to be a frequent customer.

Thicker than Forget - Fantasy AU. Ian is a poet. Mickey is his recently-corporal muse. They eat an absurd amount of stupidly named ice cream, try to find beauty in things, and fall hopelessly in love.

the moment when a memory aches - A rewrite of the HOS episode filled with feelings, angst, and growth.

Gotta Get You Into My Life - 2x04 fill in. Where exactly was Ian when Fiona came home to find Holly Herkimer storming out of the slumber party

Sweet Lips On My Lips - 3x05 fill-in/fix-it. mickey experiences new things after kissing ian for the first time.

Nobody makes me crazy like you (ambivalent) - Post S11.Mickey puts their neighbor in her place and won’t apologize for it and Ian learns a valuable lesson about compromising.

Risks Not Worth Taking - 11x06 fill-in. Ian worries over Mickey's involvement in the Born Free robbery.

put my faith in this hole in the ground - Ian experiences his first manic episode after being married to Mickey.

golden hour - 5 times Mickey admires Ian's freckles, +1 time Ian admires his

submission sonata - Ian and Mickey spend some time together after the Alibi serenade.

Muse - Ian slowly, but surely working his way into interior designer Mickey’s heart.

Old Wounds - The time between Mickey finding out Ian’s going to prison and their reunion.

What Became of the Likely Lads? - 11x06 fill-in. How did Lip ask Mickey to help him steal bikes, why did Mickey bring donuts in the morning, and other questions answered.

nothing to worry about - Ian gets jealous and they settle it in familiar ways.

lit up - Ian and Mickey spending some quality time together in their very own place.

The Ghosts of 218 - The journey to Mickey getting ready to be a dad.

he wants to fucking tear you apart (series) - Ian discovers reddit porn, in particular user going by u/aleksandr.

soft, sensitive - Some short, soft one-shots ranging in topics.

And just in case, here are the links to last year’s lists:

X X

Happy reading! 📖💕

#gallavich #lists #favorites #au #canon #complete #wip #one shot

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missmentelle · 6 years ago

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Let’s talk about Instagram “influencer” culture.

My younger brother and his girlfriend are Instagram influencers. They aren’t household names with a million fans apiece, but they each have a decent following. They’ve been featured in various lists and roundups of people whose lives and relationships are #goals, and they both earn a steady income from Instagram. Not enough to make a full-time living, but enough to make pouring hundreds of hours into their Instagram careers worth their while.

Despite being so close to an Instagram influencer - several of the most popular photos on my brother’s account were taken by me - I have some serious qualms about Instragram “influencer” culture as a whole. I studied the impact of platforms like Instagram in graduate school - I have a master’s degree in clinical psychology, and I spent part of my time in grad school working with a professor who studies the impact of social media on mental health. A recent study found that out of all social media platforms, Instagram is the worst for your mental health. I’ve also had the chance to see firsthand what a life lived on Instagram has meant for my brother, and the toll it continues to take on him.

So what makes Instagram influencer culture so toxic for both the people who create it and the people influenced by it? For starters: It’s faker than you think. Instagram stars intentionally market themselves as “authentic” and “real” - you are led to believe that you are getting an unfiltered glimpse into someone’s daily life as you follow along with their pictures and their daily stories. In reality, however, a huge amount of time, effort and money goes into the images you see. My brother and his girlfriend take hundreds of photos in order to get one or two shots worthy of posting. Outings are often little more than photoshoots; a “hike” is often just a short walk to a scenic location, followed by hours of photos. Ditto for ice skating, beach days and photos from music festivals. They don’t get to enjoy many of the activities they are depicted doing with big smiles on Instagram, because the focus is on capturing the perfect photo. Photos are often planned weeks in advance, vacations are booked based on which locations will make the best backdrops, and the fancy food in their pictures often goes cold while they get the perfect shot. The fact that they want to create beautiful images is not an issue - after all, the pictures in many mainstream ads are stunning. The issue is that they’re specifically pretending not to be models or advertisers; they are intentionally leading you to believe that what you’re seeing is candid daily life. Which leads me to...

It presents unattainable ideals as everyday life. Instagram influencers roll out of bed in perfect and tastefully-decorated apartments, eat nutritious and visually stunning meals, and lead full, active lives of glamour and adventure. Their skin is never flawed, their hair never out of place, and their outfits never tacky. Again, this isn’t a problem if you are creating an advertisement or a TV show - something that your viewers know is manufactured to look perfect - but Instagram stars hinge their success on pretending that that level of non-stop perfect is their average, daily life. In reality, my brother’s girlfriend piles dirty laundry and books in her bathtub so that her bedroom looks “minimalist” in her photos, and the two of them post weeks-old starry-eyed couple photos with gushy captions even when they are on the verge of breaking up. Influencers themselves tend to be young, attractive, white, thin, able-bodied, middle-class cis people - an ideal that is already unattainable for most people - and yet they present themselves as totally average people. When flaws and problems are revealed, it’s often in a very controlled way, and generally tied in with some kind of pithy advice or mantra. Which brings us to...

It encourages people with no credentials to hand out “expert” advice. This is probably one of the most damaging aspects of influencer culture. 22-year-olds with absolutely no formal training in nutrition, mental health, medicine, dermatology or fitness are handing out “expert” wellness advice - or even designing diets, skincare routines, and workout regimens for others - and feeling increasingly comfortable doing it. Vulnerable people who may have very serious issues lap this advice up, regardless of how unsound or untested it may be; after all, these influencers appear to have perfect lives, and it’s easy to assume that they must know the secrets of health, happiness and clear skin. There are a couple of huge problems with this. For one, many people aren’t actually aware of why they are successful - if a conventionally attractive cis white woman whose parents financially support her tells you that the secret to avoiding stress is meditation and mud masks, you should be skeptical of that advice. People in positions of relative privilege are often blind to the many advantages they have, and will attribute their success to their “wellness routines” or “positive thinking”, rather than the social advantages that are not available to many of their followers. Also, influencers are often peddling advice that they themselves do not follow. My brother’s girlfriend makes money by selling advice on how to make a full-time living while travelling the world, despite the fact that she isn’t actually able to do that. Many influencers who promote extremely restrictive diets and health regimes have admitted that they themselves do not follow these diets. People who are feeling deeply insecure about their bodies, relationships, careers, lifestyles and productivity are turning to advice from people who aren’t qualified to help. And why does every Instagram star suddenly seem to be offering themselves up as a “wellness” expert? It’s because...

It exists to sell you things, while pretending otherwise. As much as the influencer community presents itself as being all about “authenticity”, “expression”, “empowerment”, or “wellness”, at the end of the day, it is all about trying to sell you things, even if that means exploiting your deepest insecurities. A company that employs plus-sized models to represent their $90 leggings is still a company that, at the end of the day, is trying to sell you $90 leggings, and if they have to pay someone to convince you that these leggings are the only thing standing between you and finally loving your body and having the courage to chase your dreams, then that’s exactly what they are going to do. It is an advertisement, dressed up as self-help and inspiration from an ordinary person who just wants you to succeed. If you find that you feel bad about yourself after a couple of minutes of scrolling through your instagram feed, that’s the impact that the app is meant to have on you. People who are completely satisfied with themselves and their lives don’t buy things they don’t need - making you feel like your life should be better is the key to selling you a wide variety of products.

Does all this mean that Instagram is evil, or that influencers are bad people? Of course not. They are people trying to make money through self-expression, and many produce interesting and engaging content. Many of them are very young, and may not think about the impact that they might be having on their followers. I certainly don’t think that any of them set out to deceive people. But it is important to think critically about the media we consume, the purpose of that media, and the message it carries. I have known many people, both personally and professionally, who find that they feel worse about themselves after spending an afternoon scrolling through social media, and I think it’s important for all of us to examine why that may be, and take steps to protect our own mental health.

#askmissmentelle #missmentelle #instagram #insta #Social media #mental health #mental illness #self esteem #self love

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jaesqueso · 4 years ago

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The Bachelorette: NCT edition - Ep. 1

The season of love is finally here! An interactive series where you’ll get to choose who goes home each week and ultimately who Y/N chooses in the end!

pairing: nct(ot23) x fem!reader

summary: The candidates arrive to the mansion and meet the bachelorette. On the cocktail party they have a chance to get to know each other better until the rose ceremony arrives and the first bachelors are sent back home.

word count: 6,208

warnings: none :)

☽ ・・・・・ ☾

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young bachelorette searching for the man of her dreams and 23 men trying to prove they’re the one. Y/N will be calling the shots in hopes that one of them will become her husband.

Tonight begins the exciting new season of the bachelorette and when 23 single guys fight for the heart of an amazing woman there’s bound to be trouble.

23 men begin and each week egos will be shattered as Y/N searches for the man who’ll ultimately become her husband.

Will she find true love? Will she propose? And if she does, will the man of her dreams say yes?

Find out on the bachelorette!

“Hi, I’m Chris Harrison and welcome to the Bachelorette.” The host introduces himself while walking around the mansion where the show will unfold. “Tonight a woman will be handing out roses and choosing from 23 men and that lucky one lady is our very own Y/N. You don’t often hear of 23 men lining up to get married but they’re here and each of them are hoping, several weeks from now, they might be the last one standing and that Y/N will become their wife. Later this evening we’ll meet these 23 bachelors but for now let’s get to know our bachelorette.”

“Y/N has always been an amazing daughter, since she was a kid.” Your mother says. “She always carries her bright spirit with her everywhere she goes.”

“She’s very kind and always cares about other people,” your best friend Areum comments, “sometimes even more than herself!”

“I love helping people so why not make my life around it?” You speak with a smile on your face.

“Y/N was always a very active kid, involved in all the clubs she could get in school and had a lot of friends.” Your father states. “When she decided to work on charity we just knew it was the right thing for her.”

But why hasn’t this perfect women found the perfect man?

“I want to find Mr. Right, I want to find him!” Your tone is hopeful. ”I have searched for forever. I want to know that it’s right and I just haven’t come across that yet. I have dreamt about my wedding since a was a little girl but work takes its toll on me and it’s hard to find time to connect with people in a romantic way.”

With 23 guys competing for her, our bachelorette’s dreams just might come true!

“I think my prince charming is here, I just have to find him.”

“Here she is, our bachelorette!” Chris announces.

A limo arrives at the mansion. As it stops, the drives opens the door and you come out shining in a beautiful evening gown.

“Hi.” You shyly greet as you walk to the host.

“Hi. How are you doing?” Chris greets you as you stand next to him.

“A little but nervous but I’m good!” You both chuckle. “How are you?”

“I’m good, nice to meet you! Let me just say you look fantastic.” He says as the camera captures you whole look. “Let’s go sit down and have a talk.”

“Ok, let’s go.” You agree and you both walk to the mansion.

“Y/N,” Chris opens the door for you, “this is your bachelorette house.”

“Oh my!” You gasp as you take in the beautiful place.

The space is decorated with candles and rose petals that together with the dim lighting makes the whole place look so romantic. He walks you through the living room leading to a door that connects with the pool area on the back.

“Let’s take a seat.” Chris points to the two chairs by the pool divided by a small table.

You two sit down and you can’t stop smiling at this wonderful adventure that’s about to start.

“Y/N, you are the bachelorette. Now that we’re here and this is happening, what do you think?”

“I’m excited, I’m nervous, I… I don’t even know!” You chuckle. ”I can’t wait to get this started but I’m definitely shaking right now.”

“We know you had a few heartbreaks in the past, any loose ends these guys have to worry about?”

“Oh not at all!” You say with certainty. “Everything from my past is well solved. I did have my fair share of bad experiences but I’ve moved on and I’m ready to find the one!”

“Do you think this the best way for you to find your future husband?”

“There’s no right or wrong way to find a husband, no matter how you meet if you’re meant to be it will happen one way or the other.” You smile.

“That’s an amazing mind-set. Do you think you’re ready to take the wheel and make the hard decisions you’ll have to each week?”

“I’m someone very sure of what I want but it will be hard to make decisions knowing I might potentially be hurting someone’s feelings.” You take a deep breath. “But I gotta do what I gotta do and I’m here to find the one, not the ones!” You both laugh.

“We sincerely hope you can find true love here and for that we have selected 23 fantastic men with your taste in mind. You’re going to meet very different guys but they’ll all complete you in some kind of way. Are you ready for this?”

“I’m ready!” You say with a big smile on your face.

“Great, because your life is about to change!” Chris says and then explains how the night will unfold. ”Now, I’ll take you back to the entrance where the 23 men will arrive one by one and they’ll get to introduce themselves. Once everybody has arrived, we’ll have a cocktail party where you can all bond a little more and then we’ll have the first rose ceremony.”

“Sounds good!” You feel your heart about to burst out of your chest but you can’t wait for this to begin, you’ve never been more ready.

“Let’s go then!”

You two arrive at the entrance of the mansion.

“Alright, are you ready to meet the bachelors?” Chris asks looking at you.

“I’m ready.” You smile, voice full of excitement.

“Good, because here comes the first limo!” He gestures to the vehicle that’s arriving. “Good luck!”

Chris leaves as the first car stops in front of you. The door opens and the first man walks out.

“Hello!” He waves with a smile as he approaches you.

“Hi, I’m Y/N.” You try to calm yourself down, the idea that this is finally happening still sinking in you.

“I’m Taeil, nice to meet you.” He introduces himself shaking your hand.

“Nice to meet you too, Taeil.”

“You have beautiful eyes.” His own eyes sparkling above his smile.

“Thank you.” You shyly smile.

“I’ll see you inside.”

You watch him go up the stairs and then turn around as the second limo arrives. A very tall man comes out.

“Hi!”

“Hi.” You’re still impressed with his height. “Wow, you’re so tall!”

“And you’re so beautiful!” A big smile lights up his face as he shakes your hand.

“Smooth!” You both chuckle.

“I’m Johnny.”

“I’m Y/N, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too. See you inside?”

“Of course.” Again you watch him go up the stairs.

A third car arrives with the next bachelor.

“Hey, how are you?”

“I’m good, how are you?” You are enchanted by his big eyes.

“Great now that I’m here!” He smiles widely. “I’m Taeyong.”

“Y/N, nice to meet you.” You shake hands.

“Nice to meet you too. You look great by the way!” He admires your look, still holding your hand.

“Thank you.” You can’t hide the huge smile on your face.

“See you in a bit.”

Another vehicle arrives and the next man walks to you.

“Hi, I’m Yuta. Nice to meet you.” He bows his head with a smile.

“Hi Yuta, I’m Y/N. Nice to meet you too.”

“You are really really pretty.”

“I could say the same about you!” You can’t keep your eyes from his face.

“Oh thank you.” He looks flustered with your complement and you find it adorable.

“See you inside.”

“See you.” He winks before going inside.

You take a deep breath before turning around to meet the next arrival.

“Hi beautiful.”

“Oh hi!” You chuckle at the nickname.

“I’m Kun. I thought of bringing you a rose,” he lifts up the flower in his hand, “but since you’ll be the one giving them out tonight, how do you feel about a tulip?” With a quick hand movement the flower transforms in front of your eyes and you gasp.

“Wow, we got a magician!” You take the tulip and he smiles proudly. “I’m Y/N, very nice to meet you!”

“Same! I’ll see you inside.”

“Thank you!” You raise the flower his way as he leaves.

When you turn around you see Chris walking your way.

“That was a surprise!” You both chuckle as you nod. “Mind if I take this for now? We don’t want the next candidate to be disappointed already!”

You hand him the tulip and he leaves as the next limo stops.

“Hello.”

“Hello.” You’re impressed with his politeness.

“I’m Doyoung.” He takes your hand and kisses it, looking into your eyes.

“Oh, I-I’m Y/N.” You stutter with the gesture. “And they say chivalry is dead!”

“Not with me here!” He smiles. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you, Doyoung.”

“I’ll be waiting inside.” You nod watching him go.

The next bachelor opens the door and walks to you.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ten.” He shakes your hand.

“Nice to meet you Ten, I’m Y/N.”

“You look beautiful girl!” He spins you around holding your hand taking a 360 view.

“Oh thanks!” You’re startled by his action but still smile at him. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

“I guess we would make a beautiful couple!”

“I guess we’ll see about that!” You both chuckle as he walks away.

Another limo arrives.

“Hi!” The man smiles and almost takes your breath away as dimples show up on his cheeks.

“Hi! You’re so handsome.” You can’t help comment.

“Thank you.” You smile at his slight shyness. “You’re gorgeous.”

“Thanks, I’m Y/N.” You extend your hand and he shakes it.

“I’m Jaehyun, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” You let go of a breath you didn’t know you were holding as he walks up the stairs.

Another vehicle, another candidate.

“Wow…”

“Hey!” You chuckle.

“I’m speechless.” He admires you up and down.

“I’m hoping that’s a good thing!” You feel your cheeks burning up.

“It is, you look wonderful.” He adverts his gaze to your face.

“Thank you, I’m Y/N.”

“Oh yeah right, sorry! I’m Winwin.” He bows.

“Nice to meet you, Winwin.”

“Same to you.” He takes one last look at you before he disappears from your sight which makes you giggle.

You turn around just in time to face the next bachelor.

“Hi.” As he comes close to you he takes your hand giving it a kiss.

“Oh, hello.” You widen your eyes and smile as he looks up at you. “Aren’t you charming?”

“I am indeed.” He winks. “Jungwoo.”

“Nice to meet you, Jungwoo. I’m Y/N.”

“What a sweet name for a sweet girl.”

“I… Thank you!” Now you’re the one speechless.

“I’ll see you inside.” He winks again before leaving you to meet the next person.

Another very tall man steps outs.

“Hey.” You almost melt at the view of his smile.

“Hey.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Lucas.” He shakes your hand and his are so big against yours.

“I’m Y/N.” You squint your eyes. “I’m sorry to ask this but do I know you from somewhere? I feel like I’ve seen you before.”

“Well,” he chuckles, “I have done some modelling work before, maybe you saw some of it?”

“Maybe…” You say although you’re not sure that’s it. “Anyway, nice to meet you too.”

“Meet you inside?”

“Definitely.”

You bite your lip still wondering where have you seen this guy before but your thoughts are interrupted as another car arrives.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hi!” You’re instantly hit with a wave of good vibes.

“I’m Mark and you can mark me in your heart.” He winks.

“Oh really?” You can’t help laugh at the cheesy punch line.

“I’m sorry, I can’t believe I just said that.” He joins your laughter.

“It’s ok, that was kinda cute.” You wipe the little tears forming in the corner of your eyes. “I’m Y/N, but you can mark me in your heart too I guess.”

“Well thank you!”

“I’ll see you inside.” He nods and walks away still laughing as he leaves.

You turn around you see Chris walking your way.

“So, you’ve met 12 out of the 23 bachelors. How are you feeling?”

“Definitely less nervous! They’re all so kind and funny!” You answer with a big smile.

“We’re glad you’re having fun! Ready to meet 11 more?”

“I don’t know if I can handle it!” You chuckle.

“Well you better, because the next one is here!”

Chris leaves as the door opens.

“Hi, I’m Xiaojun.”

“Hi, I’m Y/N. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” He grins. “I gotta say, you look like the girl of my dreams.”

“Oh wow!” You giggle. “Are those sweet dreams?”

“The sweetest.” He winks. “I’ll see you inside, dream girl.”

“See you inside, Xiaojun.”

Another limo arrives.

“Hey!”

“Hey, I’m Y/N.” You shake his hand and feel a comfortable warmth coming from him.

“Nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Hendery.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

“You look beautiful, but aren’t you cold?” He places a hand on your sleeveless arm. “I can give you my jacket.”

“Oh no, no, it’s ok!” You stop him with a smile as he was about to remove the piece of clothing.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting for you inside!”

“Thank you, Hendery.”

Another car turns around the corner.

“Hi, I’m Renjun.”

“Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Y/N.”

“You look wonderful.” He smiles. “I can wait to win your heart.”

“Oh really?” You smirk. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

“I guess you’ll have to keep me around and find out.” He winks and you can’t help chuckle.

“Maybe I will.”

“See you in a bit.”

Yet another man arrives.

“Hey.”

“Oh hi.” You are amazed with his beautiful eye smile.

“Jeno, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too-” As you’re finishing your sentence you feel a tingle on your nose and quickly cover your mouth as you sneeze. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you ok?” You nod as he pulls out a napkin from his pocket and hands it out to you. “I would say godbless you but it looks like he already did.”

“Oh my!” You almost snort as you carefully wipe your nose.

“You sure you’re ok?” He places a hand on your shoulder.

“Yes, thank you Jeno. I’m Y/N by the way.”

“I’ll take that.” He takes the used napkin and smiles as he turns to the stairs.

Your cheeks are burning hot from embarrassment but you take a deep breath to greet the next arrival.

“Hi!”

“Hey!” You can feel the excitement in his voice.

“I’m Haechan, would you mind if I gave you a hug?”

“Sure-” You barely replied and his arms were around you, careful to keep a respectful distance between your bodies. “I’m Y/N.” You continue as he steps back.

“Well Y/N, do you believe in love at first sight or should I get out of the limo again?” He winks and you burst out laughing. How can he make such a cheesy line sound so adorable?

“Oh dear.” You try to compose yourself.

“Sure, you can call me that too.” You break out laughing again and he joins you. “Maybe I should go inside and save some lines for later.”

“That sounds great, can’t wait to hear what else you got!”

“Oh, you’re in for a treat!” He walks up the stairs and you’re left wiping the corners of your eyes once more.

Another vehicle stops and you turn around.

“Oh wow, hi!”

“Hey!”

“I bet the other guys already told you this but you look absolutely beautiful.”

“Oh, thank you so much.” For some reason you feel butterflies in your stomach, but not like the ones you felt before, there’s something about him. Maybe it’s his beautiful smile, maybe it’s his happy aura. Whatever it is you really want to find out.

“I’m Jaemin.” He extends his hand and you shake it.

“I’m Y/N, nice to meet you.”

“You too, Y/N. And thank you so much for taking the time to meet us today.”

“Thank you for wanting to join this journey with me.”

“My pleasure.” His hand lingers on yours before he finally lets go to walk up the stairs.

You place a hand on your heart, why is it beating so fast? This is too soon to pick favorites! Anyway, you turn around as another bachelor arrives.

“Hello.”

“Hello, I’m Y/N.”

“I’m Yangyang, nice to meet you.” His wide smile almost reaches his ears. “You look fantastic!”

“Thank you Yangyang. I look great too!”

“You’re so sweet, thank you!” You can’t help smile at his adorable face.

“See you inside!”

“See you!”

One more limo, one more chance of love.

“Hi!”

“Hi!” Your heart warms up, this man exudes positive vibes.

“I’m Shotaro.” His eyes transmit his happiness.

“I’m Y/N, nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too! I hope you don’t mind, I brought you a little something.” He reaches inside his jacket and removes a small box with a bow.

“Oh you didn’t have to, Shotaro!” You take the gift. “But thank you so much!”

“No problem, it’s worth it to see the happy look in your face.”

“Should I open it now?” You’re excited to see what he got you.

“That’s ok, you can open it later. I’ll meet you inside!”

“Thank you!” You look at the box again and wonder what it is.

As you turn around you see Chris coming your direction again.

“These men came prepared!”

“I guess they did!” You hand him the box with a smile as you know that’s what he’s here for.

“Thank you Y/N, enjoy the rest of the candidates!”

He leaves again with another arrival.

“Hello.”

“Hello, I’m Y/N.”

“I’m Sungchan.” He bows.

“Nice to meet you Sungchan.” You smile and bow back.

“You look really good tonight.” He looks quite nervous as he complements you.

“Oh thank you, you too!”

“Thank you.” He smiles as he walks to the mansion.

A new bachelor walks out of another limo.

“Hi, I’m Chenle.”

“Hi Chenle, nice to meet you, I’m Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you too! You look lovely.” He smiles.

“Thank you, you are so sweet.” Not only his words, but also his features.

“Just saying it like I see it!”

“Still, thank you.” You bow with a smile.

“See you inside.”

One more vehicle turns the corner.

“Hey.”

“Oh hi!” You’re a bit startled as you didn’t expect that deepish voice coming out of such a young looking guy.

“I’m Jisung and you’ll be happy to know I’m the last one!”

“Do you think they saved the best for last?” You teasingly ask.

“Maybe.” He scratches his neck and you can see he’s a bit nervous.

“I’m Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you, I’ll see you inside.” You watch him go up the stairs and let out a relieved breath.

As you turn around Chris comes to you once again.

“That’s it! Those are the 23 bachelors in a mission to win your heart. How do you feel?”

“A bit overwhelmed!” You both chuckle. “They all seem like very nice, funny and interesting guys.”

“I have to say we had some interesting moments already.”

“We did!” You giggle as you recall some of them. “I can’t wait to get to know them better.”

“Well, let’s not wait any longer and get you inside!”

“Let’s go.” You smile as he leads you to the front door.

As you enter the living room Chris leaves you to mingle with the boys. Looking around you see them happily taking to each other and that puts a smile on your face. You approach the first group you see.

“Hi guys!” You greet them and their faces brighten up as they welcome you into the conversation. “How are you guys feeling?”

“Better now that you joined us!” Jungwoo says and the whole group nods in agreement.

“I still can’t believe this is really happening!” You share your excitement.

You go around the room talking with each group that unwittingly formed. They seem to be having fun so automatically you do too. They tell jokes, you laugh, all of you share your feeling and worries about the situation and you start to feel more comfortable and closer to all of them.

After a while you spot Shotaro by the balcony door and think it’s the perfect time to finally open his present. You both go outside and sit on a bench.

“It’s just a little something, I hope you like it.” He smiles at you as you open the box.

“Oh wow!” You pick up the thin chain with two little charms on it: a four leaf clover and a heart.

“So that through this experience you’ll be lucky enough to find love, wether it will be with me or not.” He smiles brightly as you look at the beautiful necklace, amazed with the gesture.

“Thank you so much Shotaro!” You lean in and give him a hug. He wraps his arms around you tightening the embrace.

You two go back inside and continue to mingle with the others until you find yourself on the side talking with Taeyong.

“I have to admit I was a bit intimidated when you came out of the limo but when you smiled all my walls came down.”

“I’m sorry,” he chuckles at your comment, “it will be my pleasure to show you I’m a nice guy.”

“Is that your way of convincing me you should stay?” You raise your eyebrow with a grin.

“Depends, is it working?” He winks.

“Maybe.” You both laugh.

The evening goes on and you go outside to get some fresh air. You spot Winwin talking to Yuta and decide to join them.

“Am I interrupting?” You say in a playful tone.

“You could never.” Yuta replies with a smile while Winwin nods in agreement.

The conversation flows but it feels like you and Yuta are doing most of the talking. You sometimes glance over over to Winwin but he sticks to nodding and short replies. You can tell he’s a bit shy and for some reason that leaves you intrigued in getting to know him better and for that maybe you just need some time just the two of you. Nevertheless Yuta is charming you with his smooth talk and hypnotising smile.

You then spot Hendery on the other side of the porch and decide to go talk to him.

“Should we sit here?” He points to an outdoor couch and you nod.

You two sit side by side and engage in a conversation about your personal sides and what you are looking for.

“Family is very important to me.” He says looking into your eyes.

“For me too.” You smile. “Do you want a big family?”

“Well I have quite a big family, I have three sisters!” You widen your eyes and he chuckles at your reaction. “So maybe I’d be interested in something like that too.”

“That’s good to know.” You bite your lip.

“Do you want a big family?” He asks you but before you can answer someone else steps in.

“Sorry to interrupt, but could I steal you for a minute, Y/N?” You look to the source of the voice and see Renjun.

“Sure, is that ok Hendery?” You turn back to him making sure he’s not bothered.

“No problem, we can finish this talk another time.” He smiles but you can see a trace of annoyance hidden behind it.

Renjun takes your hands and leads you to an emptier spot.

“I’m sorry if that looked a bit abrupt, I just feel like I barely saw you tonight and wanted to talk to you a little bit.”

“It’s ok, Renjun.” You tell him even though you’re not entirely sure it is.

You two talk for a while and then get back outside. You’re not 100% happy that he interrupted your conversation like that but at the same time you appreciate that he actually made an effort to talk to you.

When you enter the house you notice everybody is rounded up cheering and clapping and when you get closer you notice Mark is doing some sort of beat and Haechan is dancing and entertaining everyone. You smile at the scene in front of you happy to see everybody being entertained and just hope it continues like this in the next weeks.

You have a few more one on one talks as well as some group talks until you are called by Chris and you two head upstairs.

“Now that you had a chance to get to know your 23 bachelors a little bit more how are you feeling?” Chris asks as you’re sitting in one of the mansion rooms.

“I’m happy, because they’re all very nice, but I’m not excited for what I have to do next.” There’s a sadness in your voice that comes from your faint smile.

“Well we have reached the first of many hard decisions you’ll have to make throughout the next weeks.”

“I know, it just breaks my heart that I already have to send some of them home, it’s like I’m not even giving them a chance you know?” You sigh.

“I understand, but unfortunately tonight you will have to send 5 of them home as you only have 18 roses to hand out.” He points to the bowl of roses on the table.

“So many!” You whine.

“That’s correct.” Chris chuckles. “Do you already have an idea how you’ll make this decision? Are there a few you already know you want to keep?”

“Well some of them did leave a good first impression on me, others really left me curious and wanting to get to know them better so I guess that’s what I’m gonna base it on. But this is so hard! What if I accidentally send my prince charming home?” You laugh.

“You’ll just have to trust your instincts and I’m positive you’ll make the right decision!” He reassures you. “Now, I’ll leave you alone to make your decision and be back in a while to bring you back downstairs and let the guys know.”

“Thank you Chris.” You say as he leaves the room taking the roses.

You are now left looking at 23 pictures where you must select the ones you want to keep and the ones you want to let go. You bite your lip as you recall all events from tonight.

From the arrivals: some of them were very creative, with magic tricks and cheesy pickup lines, others showed how they cared about you even if they just met you, praising your looks and making sure you are okay standing there in the cold greeting them, and others just swept you off your feet with their looks or their vibe.

To the cocktail party: not only you got to know them a little better in your one-on-one talks but also you got to see them in a social environment, having fun and getting along with each other, and that also tells a lot about someone.

You take a deep breath with eyes closed, hoping you aren’t making wrong decisions right in the first week.

The men are all standing in a semi circle as you and Chris walk down the stairs. He leads you to a little stand containing the bowl with the 18 roses.

“Good evening gentlemen. I hope you had fun tonight and enjoyed getting to know our beautiful bachelorette.” The room is full of smiles. “But now it’s time for bad news for some of you. Y/N has 18 roses to hand out so that means 5 of you are not settling in the mansion.” You see some eyes widening and looking around. “For the ones she chooses you do have the possibility to turn down the rose if you don’t want to remain in the competition. So, without further due, Y/N you can start. To the rest of you, best of luck!”

You silently thank Chris, as he leaves the room, and take a step forward.

“Hi all.” You smile. ”Before I start I just wanted to thank you all for being here tonight, it’s been fun getting to know all of you. This was a hard decision because I feel like there wasn’t enough time to get to know you very well so please don’t take this harshly.” You then change your speech to a more serious tone. “To the ones I offer a rose please consider if you are here for the same reason as me, to find love. If not I’d rather you refuse it now so we don’t waste each others time.”

You turn to the stand and pick up a rose, you look around the room and take a deep breath bafore you say the first name.

“Jaemin.”

He widens his eyes and points to himself making sure it’s his name you said. You not giggling and his beautiful smile comes through as he steps forward to stand in front of you.

“I would really like to get to know you better, do you accept this rose?”

“Of course!” He replies excitedly and you pin the rose to his jacket. Before he goes back to his place he holds your hand. “Thank you.”

As he walks away you turn to take another rose trying to ignore how your heart is beating fast.

“Yuta.”

A grin grows on his face and he walks to you.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“Yes.” He slowly licks his bottom lip as you get close to pin the rose on his jacket. “Thank you.”

He winks as he walks back and you sigh, why are these guys making you even more nervous now?

“Jeno.”

His face brightens up hearing his name.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“Absolutely.” His smile lingers on his face as you pin the rose. “Thank you.”

You take another rose.

“Haechan.”

He bumps his fist in the air in victory and you laugh, joined by the other bachelors.

“I need to keep you around to make me laugh, do you accept this rose?”

“You bet I do!” He chuckles as you pin the rose. “Thank you.”

He makes an adorable face expression, squinting his eyes and hiding his mouth with his fists leaving you giggling as you pick up another rose.

“Kun.”

HIs smile is priceless when he walks up to you.

“Do you accept the rose? Just don’t turn this one into a tulip.” You both chuckle.

“I’m good with a rose.” He winks and you pin the rose in his jacket. “Thank you.”

You grab another one.

“Shotaro.”

He claps and skips to you making you giggle.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“Happy to!” You pin the rose. “Thank you so much.”

He skips back to his place making you giggle again.

“Johnny.”

He lets out a deep breath and walks to you with his hand on his chest.

“Are you ok to accept this rose?” You laugh.

“Oh definitely!” You have some difficulty pinning the rose so he helps you out. “Thank you.”

You pick up one more rose.

“Taeyong.”

“Yes!” He says making you almost jump in surprise.

“So, do you take the rose?”

“Hell yeah!” You chuckle as you pin the rose. “Thank you so much.”

As he goes back another rose is in your hands.

“Jaehyun.”

His dimples take your breath away once again as the first time he walked out the limo.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“With pleasure.” You pin the rose and he places a hand on your arm. “Thank you.”

You take a deep breath as you look at the bowl and notice half the roses have been handed out already.

“Lucas.”

His bright smile comes through and triggers your own.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“Gladly.” He bends his knees a little for you to pin the rose and you chuckle. “Thank you.”

You grab another one as he walks back to his place.

“Doyoung.”

He widens his eyes and smiles.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“I do.” You both laugh as he makes it sound like you just proposed. “Thank you.”

He happily steps back with a rose on his chest.

“Jungwoo.”

He does a little happy dance as he comes to you.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“I do.” He mimics Doyoung’s expression from before and you both laugh as you pin the rose on his jacket. “Thank you.”

He walks back and you grab another rose.

“Ten.”

He smiles with his whole face.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“Yes! I’m so excited!” You pin the rose. “Thank you.”

You pick up the next rose.

“Xiaojun.”

He pinches himself once he’s in front of you.

“Don’t worry, it’s not a dream.” You both chuckle. “Do you accept this rose?”

“Definitely.” You pin it to his jacket. “Thank you.”

One more rose in your hand.

“Winwin.”

He looks surprised to hear his name.

“Yes you!” You giggle as he shyly approaches you. “Do you accept this rose?”

“Of course.” He looks into your eyes as you pin the rose. “Thank you so much.”

You smile as he walks away.

“Mark.”

“Alright!” He says and you chuckle.

“You’re not marked in my heart yet, but do you accept this rose for now?”

“Oh absolutely!” You can see he’s slight embarrassed as you pin the rose on his jacket. “Thank you.”

You give him a reassuring smile as he goes back.

“Hendery.”

He sighs in relief and then smiles as he approaches you.

“Do you accept this rose?”

“For sure.” You pin the rose. “Thank you so much.”

As he walk back Chris comes in the room.

“17 roses have been handed out, there’s just one more and still 6 bachelors in the room.” He hands you the rose and takes the bowl. “Y/N, have you decided who will be the last lucky man tonight?”

“I think so.” You as your heart tightens in your chest.

“Go ahead.” He says before stepping out of the room again.

You take a deep breath as you look around the room.

“Renjun.”

He lets out the excruciating breath he was holding and quickly walks to you, almost as if afraid you would change your mind.

“Do you accept this rose?” You smile.

“Without a doubt!” You pin the last rose to his jacket. “Thank you. You won’t regret giving me this chance.”

As he goes back to his place you look to the 5 guys who didn’t receive a rose and see sad smiles and heads down. Chris enters the room again.

“That’s it fellas. Unfortunately Yangyang, Taeil, Sungchan, Chenle and Jisung this isn’t your time. We wish you all the best and that one day you do find love. You can now say your goodbyes before you leave.”

You bite your lip trying to hold back your tears from having to send 5 people home like this.

The group comes together to hug and say goodbye to the guys that are leaving and you slowly approach them too. Taeil goes to you first.

“I’m so sorry.” You almost whisper.

“Don’t worry about, it was still great to meet you.” He smiles lightly squeezing your shoulder.

“Thank you so much for being here.” You smile back and then turn to your side as Yangyang comes closer. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright dear, we’re good.” He replies and Sungchan arrives nodding in agreement.

“You guys are amazing.” You wipe a tear that accidentally fell on your cheek.

“Hey, don’t cry, you still have a lot of amazing guys here.”. Chenle says and Jisung nods.

“Thank you, for real.” The six of you do a group hug and then they leave the mansion.

In the next episode:

As one-on-one dates start to happen jealousy rises up between the bachelors.

“It’s not fair that we have to fight for attention with 15 other guys whilst they get to be alone with her.”

“Well maybe you just have to show her you deserve alone time too.”

“You say that like you don’t want some yourself!”

Another rose ceremony takes place and 5 more men will be sent home.

“Five again?”

“I don’t think I can do this.”

“This is not fair!”

“Really!?”

Stay tuned for next week’s episode premiering 20/06!

☽ ・・・・・ ☾

EPISODE 2

a/n: finally the first episode is here! y’all broke my heart making send taeil and yangyang home like this! but I told myself I will not be biased and stick to your votes. do give me some feedback please! ❤

taglist: @skrtbabe @yutahoes @mel-yjh @nakamotonudes @n0hyuck @negincho @love-and-other-possibilities

If you’d like to be included in the taglist for the series do let me know ❤︎

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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 4 years ago

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Canary, Part 5

First

Tim tipped his head to the side as he considered the woman in front of him.

She had a slightly nervous smile as she pulled one of her earbuds out of her ears. “Hi.”

Her eyes flicked past him and, after quickly glancing back to make sure no one was about to attack him, he realized she was feeling cornered.

… probably because she was currently being cornered.

He hesitantly took a few steps to the side until he could lean against the wall. “I’m not here to hurt you or anything, I just want to talk,” he promised.

Her hand slipped out of her pocket. He was willing to bet that she had some kind of weapon in there.

Which was good, honestly. Gotham was a dangerous place for newcomers like her.

“... so, what’re you here for?” She asked when he didn’t say anything for a while.

He bit his lip as he considered her.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, 27.

The first time they’d spotted her following them around, they’d assumed she was just another alias of Canary… but the fourteen aliases they had found for Canary so far had always had one thing in common: despite how far back it may have gone or how many connections she may have had, there was never anyone alive to corroborate her story.

She would have definitely done that this time since there was a 100% chance that the bats would notice her. Canary would have made sure that, no matter what, they couldn’t pop on over to anyone’s house and ask about her.

But Marinette had two parents. They were back in Paris, of course, but they still existed. Babs had spotted them walking to the grocery store just yesterday. They had a consistent call history with them dating back years.

He had entertained the idea that they could be paid actors… but Canary worked alone. She had informants and sponsors, sure, but partners? No. It had been nine years, if she was going to start working with people she probably would have done that already.

Marinette checked out.

… or, at least, she checked out in all ways but two.

“How did you get here?” Asked Tim.

Marinette frowned a little. “... plane?”

He shook his head. “We have footage of you at Roissy Airport, but you never arrived in Gotham.”

Her skin paled. “Must be a glitch.”

Okay. That’s definitely not suspicious at all, no way.

He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think so, no.”

“Maybe you missed me.”

“With our facial recognition scanners? And three people checking it over?”

Her hand was back in her pocket and her eyes were flicking to the exit nervously.

“I’m not going to deport you or anything,” he added quickly. “Lots of people here aren’t documented and that’s totally fine, the immigration system is totally messed up… I’ll shut up about that now, that’s not helping... I just… want to know. Curious.”

“Paranoid,” she corrected with a hesitant grin.

“... cautious,” he said after a few seconds.

“Sure, if that’s what you want to call it.”

“It’s much nicer than paranoid, that’s for sure,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

She rolled her eyes and he smiled as some of the tension in her shoulders disappeared.

“The horse miraculous,” she said after a few seconds. “That’s how I got here.”

He sighed internally. Metas in Gotham. Not good. There was a reason that rule was in place. If metas -- even good ones -- started coming then there was nothing stopping the huge, otherworldly threats from following them over. They’d stick with their overdramatic fucks that need therapy, thanks, their gadgets didn’t exactly hold up against literal gods.

And then Marinette giggled. “You don’t need to look so scared. The weird old guy who holds onto all the miraculous… he doesn’t really use them, he just keeps them locked in a weird box thing. I just…” She shrugged. “I had something on him and he was more than happy to get rid of me.”

… well, that’s a little concerning, thought Tim.

Not exactly unexpected, though. She’d very publicly gotten a restraining order by Chat Noir around ten years prior and, while none of the other miraculous holders had come out against her, many of the ones that had revealed themselves as holders had already denounced her. Tim wouldn’t have been surprised if she had stalked more of them -- hell, she was stalking him and his family, clearly she hadn’t limited herself to Chat Noir.

But this raised his second question: “Why now?”

She cringed. “Well, I’d thought about moving a long time ago. No place in France was going to hire me with the whole ‘stalking one of their beloved superheroes’ thing… but I decided to stay for a while. I didn’t want it to seem like I was running away, y’know?”

He nodded his understanding slowly. That made sense. It wasn’t a decision based on logic, but not all decisions are.

She smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. “Also, I kind of missed having superheroes, to be honest.”

Tim raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t going to correct her use of the word ‘superheroes’ instead of ‘vigilantes’, English was at least her second language and that would be rude, so he went down a different route: “I thought they still had their miraculous. It’d be stupid if they didn’t. Mayura is still out there and all.”

“As far as I know, everyone but Ladybug and Chat Noir gave up their miraculous. Everyone knows Mayura is just Adrien Agreste even if we can’t prove it. Nothing else makes sense,” she said with a shrug.

He bit his lip. “I thought that the secretary disappeared that day, though. Wasn’t it her?”

“Nathalie Sancoeur? I heard she moved to America,” Marinette said with a shrug. “But America hasn’t had any attacks, so no one in Paris thinks it was her. Adrien is probably just waiting until the miraculous holders drop their guards.”

He nodded slowly. He didn’t realize he was going to be gossiping and discussing conspiracy theories with a person who stalked heroes but, he had to admit, it was kind of fun. Reminded him of the good old days when he was just a kid who followed the bats around for fun.

… but that wasn’t how things were anymore. He had responsibilities now. Which he was currently not doing. Oops.

“I should get back to work.”

“I should get back to watching you work,” she half-joked.

He hesitated. “Is there any way I can convince you not to do that? Gotham isn’t Paris, it’s dangerous here.”

She grinned. “I stalked a guy who had a literal god at his beck and call. I can handle a few odd goons,” she said.

He bit his lip but nodded. “Call for help if you ever need it.”

“Fine. Fine.”

He got the distinct feeling that she wasn’t going to but he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt just for now.

He pulled his grapple gun from his belt and hooked it around the rooftop.

“See you later.”

“Well, you will see me later, I’ll --,” she began, only to cut herself off with a gasp: “NO!”

He quickly checked over his shoulder but he didn’t see anything. He turned back to her, questioning look on his face, only to see her devastated expression.

“Cedric died,” she said sadly, pointing at the ear with the earbud still in it.

…?

Marinette sat in a coffee shop, sipping at a drink as she worked on her computer.

Tim Drake had five coffee shops that he enjoyed. The tiny tweet she’d sent out a little over a week ago ensured that he wasn’t going to be allowed coffee at his place of work. So, he was likely to go and get coffee somewhere else. She was currently sitting at the one closest to WE.

… it was very expensive. She needed to drink her coffee slower.

She squinted at her resume with a frown.

She was pretty sure it was good enough to get in, but…

Marinette sighed lightly and let her head hit the table. Fuck. She hated this stupid job so much.

She heard the chair across from her scrape against the wooden floors and slowly lifted her head. She squinted at the guy in front of her for a minute.

“Hello,” she said carefully.

The brown-haired man smiled at her.

She glanced him up and down. He was clean in a slimy kind of way. He was too nice. His hair was coiffed perfectly, his suit neatly pressed, his face clean-shaven. People who had the guts to dress like that in Gotham were always the worst of the worst.

“Hi!” he said cheerfully.

She sighed. “You weren’t even going to ask if you could sit here?”

“You’ve been alone for a while. Figured it was safe to assume you didn’t have anyone.”

Cool. Cool cool cool. Her hand slipped to the dagger hidden in her hoodie pocket. She may not know what kind of bad he was, but he was definitely bad news.

“No, actually, I was just waiting for my friend to get off work so they could join me.”

“Oh! I’ll keep you company until they show up!”

Damn. She hated when people called her bluff.

She forced her most pleasant smile to her face. “No thanks. I have work to do, actually.”

“Applying for jobs, right?”

She paled.

“Sorry, but I was curious so I just peeked over your shoulder a little bit. I actually had a couple of openings at my job, and you seem like a good candidate, if you’d like --.”

“No!” She said quickly.

His smile didn’t waver, but his eyes narrowed just a little. “I was just offering you a job.”

“I don’t want to get a job this way. I prefer the formal interview process and everything,” she lied.

“Oh, well, my company is having interviews tomorrow and there should be an open spot around --.”

A hand came to rest on the man’s shoulder.

“Hey, bud, she said no.”

~~~

TheBetterCanary: @/BrucieWayne give me a hundred million dollars and ill stop doing crime

BrucieWayne: Done.

TheBetterCanary: i take it back five hundred million

BrucieWayne: Sure.

TheBetterCanary: a billion

BrucieWayne: Alright.

TheBetterCanary: what the fuck

~~~~~

Perma taglist: @nathleigh @peachmuses

Canary taglist: @jayjayspixiepop @unoriginalmess @miraculousfanfic127 @probably-a-hologram

#my little cousin stole my phone #:( havent seen it in days #its lost to the void #helpppppp #canary #maribat #timinette #timari #shutterbug #timmari #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #tim drake #red robin

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fear-before-valor · 4 years ago

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AU Ficlet: Jim, who was raised by the Order from the age of five, attends Arcadia Oaks High, for his first day of human high school. Weird things happen in Arcadia, though, and his appearance seems to be one such weird thing to the residents in this small, strange town...

Aka: How an Order-raised Jim met Toby and Claire

Words: 2939 II Warnings: none II ok to rb --

Jim dropped his backpack at the empty desk next to one Tobias Domzalski’s, one of the only people at school who’d been properly friendly to him so far. It was Jim’s first day of mortal high school, and he’d been vetted mercilessly by every student group but Tobias’s, though he was beginning to suspect that said group consisted of only Tobias.

Of course, Jim had been screening his peers right back, but it was still exhausting. He thought he’d been ready after the Order’s… extensive lessons on humanity, and how to fit in with the mortals like himself, but already, everything he’d done felt like it must have been a social faux pas of some kind.

Act quiet around the quiet kids? Then no one speaks, until the silence grows so long that it’s awkward, and starting up a conversation makes it feel painfully forced. So, okay, maybe find some louder kids and try to blend in with them. Except, they start to grow obnoxious, and at some point, the headache simply stops being worth it.

Jim wasn’t even going to dare try and bond with the overly studious; he wasn’t here to vie for valedictorian, nor was he all that interested in making grades that separated him from the pack. Not to mention, he much preferred whatever lessons the Order could teach him anyway. They were very practical things, going over philosophy, strategy, combat, computations. He was already conversational in Bellroc and Skrael’s original languages, and though he knew Spanish would be equally valuable, the Spanish teacher seemed… intense, in a way that Bellroc and Skrael, who could likewise be rigorous sometimes, were not.

In fact, the only class he was indeed eager to take was history—and, okay, perhaps physical education didn’t sound horrendous, so long as he was careful about holding back in certain areas—because while he could learn plenty of history from his very ancient guardians, to hear of human history from the mouths of humans, like himself… it sounded unique, in a way that he hoped was amenable, at the very least, if not genuinely interesting or entertaining.

As he sat down in the chair beside Tobias, the boy seemed to light up, beaming over at Jim, a reaction that he hadn’t expected from his peer. He’d thought he’d rather botched his first conversation with Tobias in homeroom that morning, as he hadn’t known anything about anything that Tobias had referenced (what on earth was Gun Robot?). But, evidently, he must have done something well—or at least, acceptably— because Tobias was leaning over and excitedly holding out his hand to show Jim something which clattered in his palm as he moved. Politely, Jim glanced over to see what it was, and—oh.

Oh no.

That was definitely the remains of a troll.

Tobias was holding out small, grey pebbles for him to see, on which Jim could just make out hints of tattoos that had been etched into the troll while they were alive.

Holding back his mild panic, he gave a tight smile and a nod, as his classmate diagnosed them incorrectly as gneiss—which, admittedly, Jim thought wasn’t a bad guess, really. It’s not like the other boy had any reason to think that the rocks he was holding were anything but an average metamorphic stone.

Tobias was looking to Jim for a response, though, so he opened his mouth to speak, breathing in—

—magic.

Jim froze once more. The distinct tingle of magic had just washed over his senses, keen and undeniable, unlike anything else he’d felt that day.

It was raw, underdeveloped, not yet bolstered by the right teacher, but it was there, and it spoke in tones of purple, pulsing with potential.

Jim was no wizard himself, much preferring combat to the arcane arts, having not a strong penchant for it or its intricacies and delicate, temperamental nature, but even still, he’d been raised with the three most powerful magic-users in the known world. They’d taught him from youth how to recognize when magic was present, how to glean as many clues as he possibly could about it, or who might have cast it, might be walking in it, based on its style and scent, its intensity, or its intentionality. He wasn’t quite the best at sensing the finer details, nor could he find it when it was masked, but when it was open, unhidden, he could feel it like a mild electric shock that one might get when touching a door handle in dry weather; he could sense it like the faint scent of ozone during a storm, or like a prickle on the hairs on the back of his neck, when lightning was about to strike.

What’s going on? He thought, as he turned his head in the direction of the epicenter of the magic. First, there’s troll remains in the hands of a classmate with the same schedule as him, and then there’s—the girl, there. The girl with the blue streak in her hair.

The witch.

She’d caught him staring, as she set her books down on a desk in the front row, a couple columns over from his. Beside her plopped down two more girls—her friends, Jim noted, as they chattered familiarly, cheerfully.

The girl gave him an awkward smile, then, and Jim realized that he must have been staring for a few moments too long, so he rapidly flicked his eyes back to the surface of his own desk, trying not to think about the flush he could feel splash across the back of his neck, or the tips of his ears.

Tobias did not grant him such grace.

“Ooh,” he grinned, smug as a cat in a sunbeam. “That’s Claire Nuñez. President of the drama club, valedictorian candidate, great actress. She’s tied with Seamus Johnson and Shannon Longhannon for top of the class right now, I heard. She’s wicked smart, and—Jim?” Tobias huffed, “Are you paying attention to me?”

Jim’s eyes darted back to his new friend, from where they’d been briefly studying Claire Nuñez’s back, trying to get a more in-depth read on her arcana. He nodded distractedly. “Yeah, yeah, smart, a president; I heard you.”

Tobias sighed, shaking his head. “Jim.”

Jim raised an eyebrow, indicating that he was listening.

“She’s out of your league.” He deadpanned. “She’s super popular, and you’re, no offense, definitely not.”

Jim shot Tobias a confused look, brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”

The boy stared openly at Jim. “What do you mean, ‘what do you mean’? Do you really not— Oh my god.”

Jim blinked. “What?”

Tobias shook his head. “Jim, you’ve kinda… scared a lot of the people in our class today. They don’t know what to think about you. You’re like a giant question mark! No one even knows where you came from—”

“Ohio.” Jim recited his cover story, which Skrael had helped him pick the night previous. They’d chosen a city that started with a c… right. “Columbus, Ohio.”

Tobias shot him a deadpan look. “Okay, fine, Jim Lake from Columbus, Ohio. Why’d you suddenly move to Arcadia, then? Why not L.A.? Why not Burbank?”

Jim frowned. “Do you interrogate every newcomer like this? My parents got a good job opportunity here.” He held up one hand, “And before you ask—real estate.”

“Oh yeah? How come I haven’t seen them put up ads, then?” Tobias crossed his arms. “I’m just saying, dude; I think you’re cool, but you freak a lot of people out with that brooding, silent thing you do.”

Jim snorted. “I do what?”

“Y’know—”

“No, I don’t know—”

“You act, like, all silent and mysterious when people try to talk to you.” Tobias shrugged. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but some people don’t seem as ready to brush it off as me. I’m only telling you so that you can make more friends here.”

“Well, I have you, don’t I?” Jim’s head canted.

Tobias blinked, floundering at that. “Well—y…yeah, I guess so, but—”

“I mean, we are friends, aren’t we?”

It was Tobias’s turn to go a bit pink, shaking his head in bewilderment. “If you want, yeah, but—”

“Then there we go. I have a friend.” Jim smiled.

Tobias tried to protest, “But—” only to find himself cut off as Mr. Strickler strode into the classroom at that moment, placing a leather briefcase on his desk with a decisive thump. Cacophonous voices incrementally petered out, as attentive heads turned to the front of the classroom, where Mr. Strickler had pulled out a stack of syllabi, handing them to the student nearest the door, with the instructions to “take one and pass them,” spoken precisely to the class.

Tobias looked like he wanted to say something when Strickler turned his back to write his name on the chalkboard, but Jim shushed him from the corner of his mouth, opening a fresh, blank notebook as he did so. This was the only class he’d bothered to buy a separate notebook for, and, to be frank, was the only class he’d even intended to take notes in at all.

Tobias looked chagrined, but not angry, as he rolled his eyes and went to fetch a pencil from his own bag. Might as well have something to do with his idle hands for the next hour.

—

As his first day was winding to close, Jim had to admit, having a friend at school did end up making it a little easier.

The rest of his time there had passed largely unremarkably, since a rather thrilling start to the history curriculum. Jim’s hand had shot up just as much as the apparent reigning top of the sophomore class, one Miss Claire Nuñez’s, had— a fact which had, according to Tobias, already begun to percolate across campus.

The lesson had only briefly covered the basics of ancient Rome, going over a bit of easy, more widely known trivia, to see what the class already knew about their oncoming first unit, but, nonetheless, Jim had been eager to jump in, to talk almost directly to Mr. Strickler, going back and forth in the form of a discussion. He’d spoken quietly, quickly, and he’d felt the eyes of his peers glued to his desk, but had ignored the sensation altogether, in favor of listening to what his teacher had to say about aqueducts, instead.

When the hour had finally come to an end, in fact, he’d packed up slowly, most of his classmates abandoning the room as quickly as they could—the lunch period was about to begin—though Tobias was kind enough to wait for him. As such, Tobias was the only other person present to hear Mr. Strickler stop Jim after class, paying a brief compliment to his performance that day, and accompanying his words with a poster for the history club. Jim didn’t think his furtive smile had gone entirely missed by the teacher, but as they’d exited into the now mostly empty hallway, he forgot to worry about it further, as Tobias wasted no time in asking him how the heck his new friend knew so much about history already?

Jim had shrugged it off, saying that it was his favorite subject; and besides, didn’t Tobias— “Seriously, dude, it’s Toby, by the way”— know more about geology than anyone else in their class? The compliment had made Tobias—Toby— preen, and he’d promptly dropped the topic, instead launching into an enthusiastic lecture meant to coach Jim through the cafeteria process. Jim, who had tried to jump in to say that he’d heard this at orientation the week prior, but Toby had shot him an appalled look at that, swiftly informing him that orientation did nothing to help the social side of things. Sure, he knew the motions, but did he know how to do them without standing out in the crowd? Absolutely not—in fact, the thought was almost laughable, according to Toby.

So, Jim had grinned, followed Toby’s lead, and had just barely survived the ever-important lunch line waltz.

The rest of the day had passed mostly the same way, in the end. Toby, having warmed up to Jim, took him through the whole rest of the day, guiding him through the intricacies of Arcadia Oaks High, and by the time the final bell was ringing, Jim almost felt like a normal student. Some of his peers had even started waving to him in the hallways; he’d broken the ice, after all.

Well. He’d thought so, until Toby had said goodbye, peddling away on his bike toward home, leaving Jim alone in the courtyard by the bustling lockers, surrounded by students eager to either go home, as Toby had, or to dive into after-school clubs and sports.

Jim opted to take his time, though, to enjoy the Southern California sun, as he strolled casually across the campus, toward the front of the school grounds.

As he rounded the corner, though, intending to head toward the Arcadia Oaks sign, where he’d stop and shoot off a text to the Order that his first day had gone well, and that he’d be home soon, he felt a tap on his shoulder, instead, and heard a throat being cleared behind him.

He knew who it was before he even turned to face her; her magic had given her away as soon as she’d reached a hand for him.

Despite this, Jim whirled as if she’d caught him by surprise, schooling his features into something startled but friendly, relaxing his shoulders as a polite smile crossed his face, upon seeing her. “Oh, hey. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting—” he rethought his words, shaking his head. “Never mind. …It’s, ‘Claire,’ right?”

She nodded, returning his smile. “Yeah! And you’re ‘Jim Lake’, hm?”

Something about the way she asked that question sent up a warning bell in the back of Jim’s mind, but he tried not to look unsettled; it was probably just nerves.

“Yup; just Jim is fine, though.” He added with a casual laugh.

Claire tilted her head, continuing. “So, you’re quite the history buff, huh?”

Jim’s hands dropped to his pockets, as he glanced at his shoes, then back up to her. “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

“You guess?” She teased. “You were on fire in class today.” She lifted her chin, to look at him head on. “Do I need to worry about you unseating me, Jim Lake from Columbus, Ohio?”

Jim snorted, shaking his head. “No, no; it’s not like that. History’s just a hobby.”

“Pretty intense hobby, if you know half as much as you seem like you do.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

Jim grinned. “Intense? Like being the president of drama club, the vice president of debate, and the supposed shoe-in for the lead in the play this fall?” he recited, much to Claire’s surprise, who shot him an impressed look.

“Huh. You sure do pay attention, don’t you?”

He glanced around, making it a leisurely movement, concealing the way he was searching for anyone who could overhear, before his eyes met hers again, as he said, “Only to certain people.”

Claire blinked, cheeks reddening, mistaking his meaning. “Oh, yeah? What kinds of people?”

Jim rolled the dice. “Well, people who seem nice, or kind, who I could make friends with. People who do things I wanna do, too, so I can have an ‘in’. Like clubs, and things.” he clarified.

“And, uh…” his voice grew hushed, “Magic-users in the human world.”

Claire’s face fell. “What was that last one?” Her nose scrunched with the skeptical look that overtook her features.

Jim’s eyes darted to look for an exit, realizing coldly—fearfully— that he had grossly miscalculated.

“Uh…” Stupid. He chided himself. Think of a lie before you go backing yourself into a corner. Skrael would be disappointed in him if he were here.

“Did you just say ‘the human world’ like you… aren’t human?” She stared at him suspiciously.

Jim blinked. “What? No. I’m human. Of course I’m human.” He gave a strained laugh. “What else would I be?”

“…Someone who thinks they aren’t?” Claire’s brow furrowed.

“It was a rhetor- well. I mean, I guess that’s true. But I’m not!” He smiled weakly, and then froze for a split-second, rapidly adding, “Someone who thinks they aren’t human! I know I’m human!”

Claire’s eyes shot to the street, where, to her poorly hidden relief, her dad had just pulled up to the curb, there to pick her up. “…Right. Well, Jim Lake from Cleveland, Ohio, my dad’s here, so I need to go, but this has been… interesting.”

Jim nodded rapidly, shooting her one more smile— a sheepish, apologetic one— as he gave her a shy wave. “…Yeah.”

Claire hoisted her backpack onto one shoulder, giving him a half-hearted wave back. “…Bye, Jim.”

“Bye, Claire.”

As she turned to leave, Jim frowned to himself. He wasn’t sure why, but something felt wrong. He supposed it could have been the awkward manner in which he’d acted, but in a flash, he decided that wanted to see her again, just in case that wasn’t it. He couldn’t be too careful.

So, before he missed his chance, he called after her retreating back, “See you around?”

Claire stopped, hand poised on the handle of the passenger side door, freezing there for a heart-pounding pause.

Then, she shot him a look over her shoulder, one of interest, meeting his eyes deliberately. Jim got the sense that he should heed it carefully.

“Yeah. See you around, Jim.”

#(why yes I did mean to have claire say 'cleveland' the second time)#hopefully the next fic in this is how jim becomes the trollhunter but!! for now I hope y'all like this piece!#i may make an au introduction post as well but brain tired from editing so that'll come soon!#trollhunters au #trollhunters fic #trollhunters fanfic #jim lake jr #the arcane order #toa #toa fic #toa au #ok to rb

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latenightdecaf · 4 years ago

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mood source: x x

Entry 2 — Maybe I Should Get a Cat

Part of let the pile of good things grow series - series masterlist

Previous entry here

Yoongi x reader

Ft. nonidol!bts

Producer!yoongi, roommate!yoongi, soft!yoongi

slow burn romance, slice of life

series of drabbles/one shots

no warnings for now

a/n: i will have to remind myself to make a masterlist to compile this much later. so here goes bestfriend, tae and i haven’t written the next chapter i have in mind but i am so excited to write it huhuh — producer!yoongi

Words: 905

“You have such huge apartment; don’t you get lonely?”

You let out a small laugh on his statement.

“Hey, stop saying those things out loud.”

“Why? Now that I said it, it made you realize?”

“Yeah…. And I hate that. I have a spare empty bedroom and its huge. With no one to live in it. Do you want to live with me?” You told him teasingly.

Taehyung looked at you with disgusted expression, “What—no! We won’t be a good match. It’ll ruin our friendship.”

You nodded and agreed,

“I know, I don’t want to be the councilor to talk to all your one night stands anyway. I don’t want to be the Chandler to your Joey.” Taehyung laughed and sure enough that’ll be the case if he lives with you. You’ve been friends with this man for years now and you can’t seem to understand how he never gets tired of dating and one-night stands and dating again and always meeting someone new. It’s fascinating to you and feels exhausting at the same time.

You went inside your bedroom to get your stuff and afterwards took a quick look on your living room with the sun streaming in and the view. You haven’t thought of it that way, that living alone gets indeed lonely.

“Are you open to living with a guy?” Taehyung asked as he casually scroll in his phone while he sits on your living room, waiting for you. He absentmindedly continued, “Well, I guess. You basically lived with Joon before anyway.”

The mention of his name made your stomach drop. It stopped you from your tracks.

You smiled to yourself and pulled your bed room door shut.

You went over to collect your friend from the sofa, pulling him up by his arms and locked yours around his.

“Let’s just go please. Maybe I should just get a cat.”

3 months later—

He held out his hand, you shook it and he introduced himself as Min Yoongi. One of Taehyung’s hyung from Daegu. You listened as he explained that he’s music producer and all while he’s speaking, you can’t help but think how soft he looks. Like a bun. And how in the world is he Taehyung’s hyung—he definitely looks around his age.

“So yeah, I work late nights—either in the studio or at home. Taehyung tells me, your spare room have soundproof provisions that’s why I agreed to meet with you. Also, the location’s perfect. I heard there’s parking space also.”

Nodding along his statements, “Yeah, the person who used to live there made the room soundproof so I guess that’s perfect. Anyhow, I still have one more person to meet for consideration. I have your phone number with me, I’ll call you then if ever?”

“Alright, it’s nice meeting you.” Took his iced americano with him, and stood up. Before he even left you added.

“By any chance, do you like coffee?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Thanks!” you uncontrollably grinned and said, “I’ll see you!”

It wasn’t such a deal breaker to you but the past friend recommendations for a roommate are either gym buffs, totally fit people who only eat healthy food and kind of looks down on people that are not that fit. You figured you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life. Or in other case, people your age but can’t seem to stop clubbing and hooking up and it shows. So, so far, it’s just all been a huge disappointment. Yoongi, on the other hand—not really a stellar candidate but at the very least looks like he’ll water your plants for you when you’re gone.

So, you decided to choose him.

He heard about it from Taehyung.

That your empty room was once your ex’s studio, sound proofed with white and wood accents. When he went to look at the place you opened the door for him, told him that he can do whatever he wants with it.

He didn’t sense any lingering bitterness in your statement, it’s more of a relief. And so, he went to decorate the place just us how he liked it.

You both never talked about it, nor talk about anything too personal for that matter.

Boundaries are set, privacy is very well respected.

That’s the best thing about living with Yoongi.

You like your own space too, some peace and quiet. Sometimes you even forget he lives there—you really did get yourself a cat. A cat who cooks though, does the dishes also, loves coffee and keeps things tidy.

And he definitely feels the same.

For months of apartment hunting after finally deciding to move out from his old place. The last thing he imagined was living with woman. But when Taehyung said, his friend has a spare soundproof room. He was immediately sold. Already forgetting to hear to that, that friend is a she. But meeting with you isn’t so bad either, you looked mellow and busy.

He saw you sitting and drawing on your ipad in the café alone and immediately smiled as soon as he greeted you. He introduced himself and to his surprise, you didn’t ask that much question. You just nod along and before he left, he found your question funny. Like liking coffee seemed like the one common ground you were looking for, and to hear him said yes looked like such a assurance for you.

#bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #yoongi fanfic #yoongi x reader #yoongi fluff #bts fluff #yoongi imagine #yoongi scenarios #taehyung imagine #taehyung scenarios #roommate!yoongi #bestfriend!taehyung

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tomtenadia · 4 years ago

Text

A Little Braver - ch. 5

So, here is ch. 5 for you all.

We finally get to meet the mysterious man that Aelin was kissing.

Also, the firehouse gets a great news

Enjoy it!

Ten days had passed. Aelin had been discharged from the hospital and allowed to move around in crutches providing she took it easy, a concept totally alien to her. She had gone back to the station as soon as she could do it.

The deadline for the performance review was fast approaching and she had spent the last few days at the station. They only got a week extension so she had offered to help but all she could do was sit and direct the show. Also, working kept her mind off… things… and as in things she meant a certain arsehole who had gone completely awol. She had texted him and never got a reply. Lately every time she tried to phone him she was told that the phone was not available. So she had stopped. He clearly was offended by what she had said. She just wished he had spoken to her, explained why her confession had terrified him so much. Just as she had finally found the resolve to try again after losing Sam, he had gone and ruined everything.

A glove hit her face “planet Earth calls Aelin.”

She refocused for a second and noticed Ansel’s red mane of hair in front of her.

“Dorian is looking for you. He is in your office and Aedion is there already.”

Aelin groaned “can they come to the couch? I am so comfy here.”

“Apparently not.”

“Fine.” She dropped the documents she was revising and grabbed her crutches and pulled herself up.

At snail pace she made her way to her office and once she got there she saw Aedion standing in front of her desk while Dorian had his feet up on it and was sitting relaxed on her comfortable chair.

“I don’t care if you are the chief. First, feet off my desk, second, arse off my chair.”

Dorian moved away and let her sit down and grabbed her crutches.

“So, what is so important that I had to leave my spot on the couch?”

Dorian passed her the documents he was holding, with a grin. He was positive this was going to cheer her up.

“No fucking way. You did it.”

He smiled at her smugly “Not entirely my merit.” He confessed “As you remember, the community protested in front of the government in the aftermath of the embankment accident. They did it just before the budget review was due. The government could not ignore them and what you all did that night. And I guess that the statement from your cheerleader had helped a lot as well.”

“Who?”

“Someone I am not allowed to mention in your presence.”

Aelin stare darkened all of a sudden.

“We are getting a second engine, but that engine needs staff.” She pointed out, her excitement taking a hit “I was just getting to that” added Dorian quite quickly, “Thomas has offered to give you a few men to help staff the second engine. It will have a mixed crew of newbies and experienced staff for a while. Aedion and I thought it was the best way to go.”

Aelin nodded “I want to help interview the candidates. Aedion is busy with drills. I, on the other hand, I have plenty of time.”

“As if I can sideline you. You are the captain after all.” Added Dorian knowing full well that if Aelin had her mind set on a task it was almost impossible to dissuade her.

“I want a bigger female presence. I can’t believe that from all the candidates that graduate from the academy there are no good female firefighters.”

“I can spread the news at the academy and see who applies and go from there.”

“Good.” Aelin relaxed on the chair.

“We have also have been invited to a party thrown by the mayor.”

“You are joking.” Aelin hated that kind of party. She had been to a few and it had been a nightmare.

“There is no escaping it. We have all the be present and dress mess is required.”

“My leg is in a protective support, if I wear dress mess I need to wear the skirt which means heels and can you see where I am going with this?” Aelin protested.

“I guess we can do an exception for you. Wear your regular blue trousers, make sure your boots are shining and wear your uniform shirt with the tie, not the t-shirt. And don’t forget the hat.”

“I can live with that.”

“When is the dreadful event?” Asked Aedion who hated those ceremonies just as much as Aelin.

“This Saturday.”

“We are on night shift, you genius.”

Dorian smiled dangerously “Not anymore. Second team is taking the night shift. Let me remind you that attendance is compulsory and pass the info to the team.”

“Yes, Chief.” And Aelin was very tempted to flip him off, but he was still her boss.

“Lys and Elide are to come as well. They are part of the team.”

“Oh so, no one is immune to this horrible shenanigans. Lovely.” Aelin sat back, still annoyed at the invitation.

“No darling, if I have to suffer, you will all go down with me.” And with that Dorian disappeared behind the door.

“Come on Aedion, let’s go and ruin the team’s day.”

Slowly the two made their way back in the common area where the squad was relaxing. Aedion had put them through a gruelling session of drills in the morning and now they needed time to unwind. No one had taken nicely the fact that the review has been postponed only by a week, but at least they hadn’t asked Aelin to attend as well with a destroyed knee. She would be there of course but on the sidelines.

“Ok, people,” Aelin shouted as she slowly made her way to her team “Brullo, switch off the tv for a minute.”

“That doesn’t sound promising,” complained Ren.

“Where are Lys and Elide?”

“In the ambulance doing inventory.” Replied Nox.

“Ok, can you please go and get them?” She asked him.

He nodded and ran away and got back a few moments later with the two ladies in tow.

“Ladies, sit.”

“Uh oh.” Said Lysandra, sitting on Aedion’s lap.

“Now that everyone is here, I have an announcement.” She smiled wickedly and the team shivered. That was her scary smile “Our esteemed mayor has decided to throw a party this Saturday. Bad news is… we are all invited so that he can show us how he appreciates what we do for the community.”

“Fuck no,” shouted Ansel, while finishing the bowl of cereals she was eating.

“We are on night shift.” Added Brullo.

“No we are not. Dorian gave the shift to second team. We are all free.”

A chorus of very rude words erupted from the team. Yeah, everyone hated those parties.

“Oh and by the way… it has to be dress mess.”

The protests grew louder. Aelin let them vent for a moment before putting an end to it.

“Guys!” She shouted, and the room went quiet “I know none of us like those parties, but my hands are tied. Dorian made it pretty clear that this is mandatory. So, protest how you want but there is no getting out of it.”

The team went back to their protest when Aelin raised her voice again “Did I say I was done?”

The group went silent again.

“The second piece of information is hopefully a bit more welcome.” And she really hoped so “we are getting our second engine.”

The cheers that erupted from the team were of pure joy.

“How did you do it?”

“You have to thank Dorian. He is the one who pulled the trick.” And Rowan apparently. No, she was not going there.

“He really is better than his old man. We have been pleading the old bastard for ages and nothing. A few months in charge and Dorian gives us the second engine. If it wasn’t that I am I straight I’d kiss the guy.” Said Ren happily and everyone laughed.

Good, Aelin thought, they needed the good spirits.

“How will we do for crew?” Asked Ansel.

“Thomas is willing to give us some of his experienced men from one of his engines and take a few newbies. We’ll man the engine with a hybrid crew. Half experienced and half newbies. I need everyone to help with training. Aedion and I will do the main stuff but you guys are involved in this as well. I am out of commission for a while so I can only do classroom training.”

“We’ll help you, cap.” Chimed Nox happily.

Aelin turned to Ansel “I have asked to have a few more ladies in the team.”

“Thanks for that. Far too much testosterone in here.”

Aelin sat back down on the sofa, her knee started to get sore again “We are going to have other women hopefully, just don’t break their hearts.” She told Ansel.

Two of the guys sprayed what they were drinking, Aelin laughed “Oh come on, don’t tell me you had no idea Ansel was swinging on both sides.” Joked Aelin smiling at the woman.

“Both…” asked Brullo still quite shocked.

Ansel drank her coffee very calmly “Men, women, on a few occasion both at the same time.”

Aelin laughed at the expression of the guys.

“Ansel, I think you broke our boys.”

Aelin mobile went off and for a moment she hoped. But that hope had been short lived.

“Give me two minutes,” she said at the person at the phone. She stood and very slowly she made her way back to her office.

Once she got off the phone she stayed in her office to work. Then the dispatch siren went off and she heard the team depart and staying behind broke her heart.

She worked a bit longer but her mind could never fully concentrate. So she decided to do something stupid while the team was out on a call. She booked a taxi and not long after she was in front of the station waiting for her ride.

The driver got her at the airbase pretty quickly. She took out her pass and she hoped it worked even without him about. The man at the main gate let her through after checking her badge. So apparently he had told people she was allowed on the premises. That was a start. Painfully she reached the second check point and a guard approached her. Ok, her luck had already ran out.

“Can I help you, miss?”

“Yes, I am here to see captain Whitethorn.”

The man looked at her with curiosity for a second.

Did she got to the right airbase? As far as she knew there was only one and the first guy let her in.

“I am sorry miss but the captain and his team left a week ago.”

“Left?” Her voice trembled.

“Yes ma’am. They have been recalled and deployed a week ago.”

“Oh.” Was all Aelin managed “Th— thank you.” She turned and made her way back to the exit. Her heart slowly breaking. She sat down on a cement wall and let the sobs come. She took the phone and dialled his number and it went to voicemail “You could have told me. Instead you left. You just left me. Do you really hate me that much?” She sobbed and brushed her hand against her eyes “I hate you and I wish I never met you. Don’t ever bother look for me when you come back… I don’t want to see your face anywhere near my station. I am done with you, captain.” She hung up the phone and lowered her head and kept crying. She was done with men. She was done with pain and a broken heart. It was not worth it.

Eventually she pulled herself upright again and started walking. She had no idea to where, which she then realised that with crutches was a really bad idea. She had to stop a few times, exhaustion taking root. But the pain in her leg was keeping away the pain in her soul. It was much later when she realised she ended up in the west of Orynth and decided to go to west station, perhaps she could bribe the guys to give her a lift back to her firehouse.

Once outside the station, Thomas was the first one who noticed her. He ran to her and Aelin collapsed in his arm.

“Aelin, what are you doing here?’

“I need to sit” was all she managed. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the section with all the bunk beds. He placed the crutches on the floor and sat on the bed at her side.

“What happened?” He asked when he noticed her puffy eyes “Why are you over here? On your own?”

“I was at the airbase.”

Thomas looked at her in shock “are you telling me that you walked in your condition from the airbase to here?”

Aelin nodded. “Can you give me a lift back?”

“Of course,” he patted her leg “let me go and tell the guys.”

He came back not long after, and lifted her in his arms “Let’s go.”

Once in the car Aelin relaxed and leaned her head against the window.

“Excited about the big night with the Mayor?”

Aelin groaned and Thomas laughed.

“Exactly the reaction my whole team had as well.”

She sighed “Dorian said it’s mandatory and I think for the very first time I have been this close to hit him. But he still is my superior.”

Thomas chuckled “If there is someone who can hit the chief without repercussions is you.”

Aelin turned and looked at him with a questioning stare.

“I mean because you are close. It’s not news that the man is madly in love with you. He might let you off if you beat him. Actually he might even like it.”

This time it was Aelin’s turn to laugh “Dorian and I… nothing ever happened. We are just really good friends. Not even a kiss.”

“So now the news is that you have your eyes set on a certain airforce captain.”

Aelin tensed at those words “You all are a bunch of crazy gossiper, you know that?”

Thomas shrugged “What did he do?”

“I don’t want to talk about him.” Her tone hard and the man at her side realised it was time to shut up. They were at her station anyway.

Aelin noticed the engine was back and she knew she was in trouble. They clearly had noticed her absence. When she decided to look at her phone again she saw a lot of message and missed phone calls from Aedion. Damn, she was screwed.

“Here you are, my lady.”

Aelin leaned over and kissed him on the cheek “thank you so much for the ride.”

“Anytime.” He opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped and tried again “if you need to talk, I am here. I know you have your friends, but if you prefer to talk with someone who is not around you all day, I am here.”

“You are wonderful.”

He helped her get out of the car, they said goodbye and he drove away again.

Aedion came marching on as soon as he noticed she was back “where the hell have you been? Why don’t you answer your bloody phone? We came back and you were not here, where you were supposed to be.” She felt bad for making them all worry but she did not feel like explaining herself so she just moved past him and in silence she dragged herself to her office and slammed the door shut.

She sat down at her desk and plopped her leg on the spare chair the guys had placed at her side so she could stretch her injured leg, hoping for the pain to subside. She took a few minutes for herself, then texted Lysandra telling her she needed her and Elide.

The two women arrived a few minutes later. They sat on the chair in front of her desk and Aelin knew that Lys was just as mad as Aedion had been.

“Where were you? We came back and you were gone.”

“I went to the airbase.” She confessed, looking outside the window, the sky looked heavy grey and she was positive snow was coming.

“As in the airbase. His airbase.”

Aelin nodded “I needed answers. I needed to know why he left that way. I had to ask him why all this hate.”

“And?”

Aelin felt tears sting her eyes again “he was gone.” She paused “the whole team has been recalled and left for a mission a week ago. No goodbyes. Nothing. He just took off.”

Lysandra stood and ran to hug her friend “what an arsehole.”

Aelin started sobbing again “all I could do was leave him an angry voicemail telling to get away from me forever.”

“I am seriously going to kick his arse.”

Aelin pulled back from the hug “Not worth it remember?”

“We all go to that stupid party and we’ll find you a man there. Perhaps a hot wealthy man.”

Aelin chuckled “You know what, screw it. I’ll remain single all my life and if I want a good time I might ask Ansel.”

The two women laughed “she might take you up on that, you know, right?” Added Lysandra.

“Can we just stop talking about it? Fine he is hot but is he not a nice man. I want to forget that I even contemplated the fact that I had feelings for the bastard.”

“Copy that. I will pass the message along.”

“Have you considered that he might not be able to reply to you because of where he is? Perhaps he is on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the sea.”

Lysandra and Aelin stared at Elide.

“What?” She said shrugging “Lorcan gave me his number, he told me to text him. But he added as well that in the case he was going to leave for a mission not to worry if he did not reply because sometimes their phones don’t work.”

“So you knew they were away?”

“No,” replied the woman lifting her hands “I haven’t heard from him in a while. He is not the greatest of texter and I haven’t spoken to him in a while. I had no idea he was away until now when you told us.”

“Basically airforce boys do not know how to communicate. Got it.” Sarcasm dripping from Aelin’s voice.

Aelin shifted uncomfortably in her chair and Lysandra noticed that.

“Are you okay.”

“Just my leg, bothering me like hell today.”

“Sure, if you only just didn’t walk from the airbase to west station…”

Dispatch alarm went off and the two ladies ran out as the ambulance was needed.

Aelin tried going back to work but her brain was not there.

Out of boredom and curiosity and probably a deep desire for punishment she looked up the captain online. The search engine brought up a page about him. He was only two years older than her. Native of Wendlyn but moved to Terrasen when he was quite young for his father’s job. According to the article he climbed the ranks quite quickly and was thought to be one of the most promising captain in the TAF in a very long time.

“Nerd.” She joked.

Then she scrolled down to personal life and she got even more curious but froze when she read the paragraph.

Fuck.

The man had been married. His pregnant wife had died in a car accident over a year and a half before. She opened the link to the newspaper article about the accident and noticed the picture of the accident site. Her eyes fell on one detail of the image and swore.

She stood and wobbling she went to the file cabinet where she kept the reports for the old cases. She found the one she needed and sat back down. Lyria Whitethorn, that was the name of the woman. She had a look through the case file. She did remember it. It had snowed heavily and the road and had been icy and pretty bad in some areas of town. That accident had been horrendous and it had involved quite a few cars. Lyria’s car had been stuck under a lorry. According to the police it seemed like it had lost control and smashed under the lorry that had crashed against the barriers at the side of the road. She died on impact. It had been an horrendous night. They spent hours working under the snow and only one person had come out alive from that disaster.

She leaned back and felt tears running down her face. They had one big thing in common. They both had lost someone they loved. And all of a sudden it hit her. His reaction. His fear. And for a moment contemplated that he was just as scared as her to get involved again. She closed the file and grabbed her head in her hands. How badly had she fucked up?

She took her phone and dialled his number. The number was not available and she left him a voicemail message again “Hey it’s me again. I know you are away and probably can’t get this message. If you listen to the old one as well, just ignore it. I was mad. I did not mean it. I… just… let’s just talk when you get back. Please. Be safe, okay?”

She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and cried for both of them, for what they had lost and for the fear of committing again.

Saturday eventually arrived and Aelin was at home getting ready for the party. Lysandra and Elide had joined her since Lys was going to drive them all.

Aelin had been in a bad mood since her discovery about Rowan but had not told anyone about it. To do so would mean reveal his secret and she could not to do that. It was far too personal.

“You’d think that being barely able to walk would excuse me from such horrible events.” She growled while tying her tie.

“You have been in a funk for a few days. Are you okay?” Lysandra had noticed her bad mood.

“Fine.” She snapped. “I am sorry…”

“Just don’t piss off any politicians, okay? We need them.”

Aelin sighed “I will behave.”

They arrived at the venue not long after and they noticed the already high number of cars present.

“Are we too late to bail?” Asked Elide who had been uncomfortable as well at the idea.

“Unless you want Dorian to rip you a new one, I would leave aside that plan for now.”

The three women made their way to the main entrance where someone checked their names against a list. Aelin for a moment hoped that someone had messed up and forgot to add them.

But that hope died quickly when the man greeted them a bit too happily.

“Ok, are we ready?” Said Aelin gathering the courage she needed to face such a horrible night.

They entered the venue and the notes of classical music hit them.

“At least they have great taste in music.” Commented Aelin staring at the great hall.

Dorian spotted them from the distance and walked to them with a brisk pace “Ladies, you made it. wonderful. Go, mingle, have fun. There’s plenty of food.” He grabbed Aelin’s hand “You come with me. The mayor wants to meet you.”

“What?” Blurted Aelin, sweating cold all of a sudden.

“The mayor would like to speak with you. He met Thomas already. Now it’s your turn.”

“I am not speaking to the mayor.”

“Aelin… this is an order from your superior.”

The woman growled back “Oh, so pulling rank, now?”

“Come,” he repeated.

Aelin turned to Lysandra and Elide “if I don’t come back soon, please come and get me. I love you both.”

Dorian rolled his eyes and he started walking and Aelin followed behind.

Eventually they arrived where the mayor was entertaining some guest and Aelin wanted to turn away, but Dorian sensed her intentions and placed a hand on her lower back in warning.

“Ah, Dorian, I see you have captain Galathynius with you. Wonderful.”

Aelin leaned on one crutch and extended her hand to the man “please to meet you sir.”

“The honour is mine captain. And thank you for coming even in your conditions.”

As if I had a choice and she looked at Dorian glaring at him.

“I just wanted to offer my thank you in person for what you do in the community and what you did the night of the embankment accident.”

“The community comes first.” She commented and Dorian gently nudged her sides at her comment.

“You are absolutely correct, captain. I am aware that you will be getting a second engine at east station, I hope this is a welcomed news.”

Aelin smiled “Very much sir. It has been a long time coming and we are very excited.”

“This is my email,” he gave her a business card “email me. Any idea, concerns or anything else related to your job. I will do my best to make it happen.”

Aelin took the card and was speechless.

“Now unfortunately being the host forces me to go around and be pleasant with all these strangers. I don’t think there is alcohol enough to survive such an evening.”

He gave her a huge grin, waved at Dorian and walked away.

“Are we sure that was the mayor?”

Dorian nodded dumbfounded.

“Do you think he was drunk?”

Dorian shrugged, just as confused as her “Just don’t loose that card.” The man then left her and she had a moment alone to look around and enjoy the music. She hadn’t been at a classical concert in a lifetime and missed it. Or at the opera. She wanted to go to the opera again.

She had her eyes closed when she perceived a figure at her side. She opened her eyes again and noticed it was Thomas, looking at her in a curious way “Hey you.”

She looked at him and froze. The man in front of her was gorgeous. She was used to see him in his everyday uniform or the fire gear, and his hair tied and under an helmet. She almost did not recognise him. He had his dress mess uniform on, and his hair was free and she discovered it reached his shoulders.

“I almost did not recognise you there.”

He grinned “I know, without soot and dirt on me it must be a challenge.”

She smiled back at him.

“How is your night going?” He asked, moving closer to her.

“Counting the minutes until Dorian tells me it’s okay to go home.”

She shuffled in her position and he placed a hand on her back “you should sit down.”

“Does this place have a balcony?”

Thomas grinned “Follow me, m’lady.”

“Did you meet the mayor?” She asked as they started walking.

“I did.”

“And?”

“He gave me his business card and told me to tell me if there was anything we needed.” He made his way through the crowd.

“Me too. I am going to email him and ask a bucket load of expensive equipment.”

“I have my wish-list ready.” Thomas commented smiling wickedly.

They arrived at the balcony and once there Aelin leaned heavily against the wall.

“Are you okay?” Suddenly Aelin noticed their proximity. Thomas was right in front of her.

“I am fine.”

“Want something to drink?”

“Please. Wine if they have it.”

He smiled and she noticed his dimples appear “I’ll be right back.” And she felt her face flush hot.

What was happening to her? Why all of a sudden she was attracted to him?

She saw Lys walking by and waved at her.

“What are doing here?”

“Hiding.” She said hurriedly “I have a problem.”

“What did you do?”

“I want to do something stupid.”

“As in?”

“Thomas.” She explained.

Lysandra looked at her friend with a puzzled face.

“As in he is the one one I want to … do”

“Holy fuck,” she exclaimed almost spilling all her wine on her uniform.

“How?”

Aelin looked up “I don’t know. He was here, he was nice, he smiled and I just… have you seen him tonight?”

“No I was with Aedion and the guys.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Don’t do… anything.” Then she moved away “he is coming back.”

Thomas came back with the drinks and placed them on the ledge beside them.

She had known and worked with the other captain for a very long time. They had gone through the academy together. And never, not once she had ever felt a smidge of attraction for him.

He leaned against the wall just beside her, shoulders brushing gently “is your team ready for the performance review?”

Aelin nodded “Yes, Aedion and I are going through as many different scenarios as possible. They are ready. But I hate that I will have to stare from the sidelines.” She told him “How did yours go?”

Thomas drank some wine “We had a few bad moments. My newbie fucked up a couple of things and threw the whole team off track for a moment but they did recover splendidly. Manon was the best in our individual challenge.”

“Ohh I like her. Can I please get her and Asterin for my new engine?”

“We’ll see.” The man gave her a wide smile that made his dimples come back.

She pinched his side and he grabbed her hands to block her. She stopped and stared at him for a moment and then they both moved at the same time. Their lips met and he pushed her against the wall and she left her crutches fall on the ground. His hand behind her back to hold her up. The kiss deepened and Aelin opened for him and a small moan escaped her.

“Oh shit.” Said a voice at her side and Aelin recognised Lysandra and Aedion at her side.

She and Thomas broke apart quickly. Thomas coughed embarrassed, looked at Aelin and excused himself.

“What the fuck was that?”

Aelin’s hand went to her mouth, her lips still swollen by the kiss.

Aedion kneeled to pick up her crutches and passed them to her.

In that instant the rest of the team arrived.

“Why is everyone out here? It’s cold.”

“Aedion and I just discovered Aelin making out with Thomas.”

“Do you mean captain Hamilton?” Asked Brullo.

“I thought you liked the silver haired fox.” Added Ansel.

“Are you and Thomas a thing now?” This time it was Ren.

“I don’t know okay?” Aelin shouted, frustration rising “It happened.”

“You… happened to trip on his lips?” Nox gave her a smug smile and Aelin would have stormed out if she hadn’t been on crutches.

Aelin placed the glass back on the ledge and started to walk away. Lysandra caught up with her “I am sorry. It just came out.”

“Lys, I don’t care.”

The woman grabbed her arm “Aelin, please…”

“What? I don’t know what I was doing okay? We kissed. And I don’t understand my feelings anymore.” She leaned against the wall, her knee throbbing with pain “I haven’t known my feelings since Sam died.” She sniffled “I work. I throw myself into work because that it’s when I do not think that he is gone from my life.” She closed her eyes and tried to put all her pain back “it just felt nice for a moment to have that again. And I know I am sounding like a pathetic mess… I don’t know why I did it.” Aelin sobbed “I am so tired of hurting.” A tear appeared at the corner of her eyes “you have Aedion. I don’t have anyone.”

Lysandra hugged her friend “I am so sorry.”

Aelin leaned into her friend “we are fine.” She pulled back “but I am going home. I am in a ton of pain and I really want to lie down.”

“I’ll tell Dorian if he starts looking for you.”

“We are off tomorrow. Fancy a girls day? We can invite Elide and Ansel.”

“Yeah. Yeah, please.”

“Good,” Lys patted her shoulder “now go home and relax.”

She was outside ready to call a taxi when she heard a voice calling her. She turned and saw Thomas running to her.

“Aelin,” he stopped in front of her “I am sorry. I have no idea what got into me. I was there and all of a sudden I wanted to kiss you.”

She turned to him and moved closer enough to kiss him. His hand slipped to her waist and pulled her closer. She melted in his arms and felt his hand caressing her back.

“I was going home.” She said against his lips.

“I can’t let you piss off Havilliard on your own.”

She kissed him again and then detached so he could call a taxi.

Their ride home arrived not long after and the journey to Aelin’s flat was not too long.

They made it to her flat and he lifted her in his arms and walked to the bedroom. He dropped her on the bed and leaned on top of her and kissed her deeply, his hands trailing on the sides of her body and Aelin leaned into the touch. Her hand trailed up to his face and then fisted into his golden hair and pulled him down for another kiss. Maybe it was a mistake but she could not care.

Slowly he started to unbutton her shirt and Aelin did the same for him and not long after they were both naked and Aelin stared at his body and realised the man was so incredibly well built.

“You will have to lead the dances, captain.” He lowered himself again over her and kissed her in a way that made her forget all the pain and hurt.

It was later, after their adventure in bed.

Aelin smiled at him satisfied. The man had skills and for a while he made her forget the real reason why that night she had searched for comfort in him.

They were now sitting in bed, their back against the headboard and the blanket covering them up.

“Did we just mess up our friendship?” He asked turning to her “I am not complaining I just…”

She sighed at his side “I think we did it for the wrong reasons.”

He agreed “Epically awesome rebound sex?”

Aelin nodded and Thomas turned to her “you are stunning though, and if the captain can’t see it, well, it’s his loss.”

“You are a sweet man” and she caressed his face “and your ex is a bitch.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him down, “fancy watching stupid movies? We can also order in. There’s a place round the corner that stays open till late. I had no food at that stupid party.”

“I’ll get the beers.” He said getting off the bed and putting his briefs back on.

Aelin grabbed a discarded t-shirt “I’ll order the food.”

He came back with the beers and offered one to her “to our own party.”

They clinked the bottles and went to camp on the sofa.

TAGs:

@rowaelinismyotp

@swankii-art-teacher

@courtofjurdan

#rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin galythinius #rowan x aelin #aedion x lysandra #fanfic #Throne of Glass series

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elizabeethan · 4 years ago

Text

Watch the Sunlight Fade: 15 / 17

Emma Swan finds out that her boyfriend has been hiding something from her: he’s in a gang and trying to get out. Reluctantly, she decides to support him, sticking it out with him until they have enough money to flee to Florida. All she has to do is wait and ignore that feeling in her gut that something is seriously wrong. With the help of a kind and handsome stranger, she just might make it out alive.

Or, alternate summary: I’m horrible at summaries, please just read it.

Something of a cross between a What Still Remains AU and a Sons of Anarchy AU.

A/N: get ready for some whumpy aftermath

Rated M

Get added to my tag list

Read the Rest

Read my Other Stuff

Read on Ao3

~~~~

Emma creeps through the building, eyes scanning each door for any indication of Elsa’s whereabouts. Robin told her in haste as she was leaving that Elsa lives in this building, too, but he failed to inform her of what unit she was in.

As she walks the halls, a door opens slowly and reveals the face of someone she recognizes and is relieved to see. “Tink, hi.”

“Looking for El?”

She nods. “Killian asked me to make sure she’s safe.”

“Is he okay?” she asks with concern. Emma almost smiles at how much his friend truly cares about him.

“I don’t know,” she shakes her head. “They really hurt him.”

Her voice is heated. She won’t get past the anger that boils the blood singing through her veins. They hurt the man she loves, and she isn’t sure how she’ll get past that fact without making someone pay.

“Well, let’s get the hell out of here so we can get him help.”

Tink shows her where Elsa’s apartment is and she knocks on the door, answered quickly and coldly. “Yes?”

“Elsa,” Emma greets, confused by her clipped tone, less confused to see that she looks entirely unharmed. “Killian wanted me to check on you.”

She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure he did,” she says sarcastically.

“We have… we have a safe place for you. Come with us,” she tries. She doesn’t actually want to even bother convincing her, but she knows it’s what Killian wants.

“Safe? You’re full of it.”

She knew it. Killian feared that she had the information tortured out of her, unable to believe that she could have betrayed him with her own free will, but Emma had a sinking feeling that that wasn’t the case. Now, she thinks she’s right. “You told them,” she accuses.

“Yes, I did. He should know better than to try to betray the club like that.”

“He trusts you,” she tries. “He loves you because you loved his brother.”

“I love my family,” she argues vapidly. “Killian tried to destroy it by shacking up with you and killing one of our own. He betrayed Neal, just because he can’t get over what happened to Liam.”

Tink laughs, shaking her head, and Emma says, “They killed Liam! How can you not see that?”

“Don’t tell me what I can or can’t see. You don’t know anything; you certainly don’t understand the inner workings of the club or why Peter makes the decisions he does.”

Her thoughts are swirling in her head, moving too quickly as she tries to straighten out what Elsa says to her. She’s too forgiving, too accepting of what’s happened to the man she was supposed to love. Her actions have been too cruel. Someone who loves Killian wouldn’t have given him up; she wouldn’t be taking such a black and white stance if…

“You knew,” she accuses knowingly, without needing to ask. “You’ve known all along that they killed Liam.”

With a roll to her eyes, she says, “Liam’s actions no longer reflected his promise to the club. They did what needed to be done, and I understood that-- unlike you. The club has been my family long before Liam came around.”

“How could you…” she whispers, unable to say anything more. She can hardly vocalize how horrified she is to learn that someone she thought was sweet and innocent has been working against the people who love her all along.

With a scoff, she says, “I don’t have to explain myself to you. Go back to your real boyfriend, you slut. You’re lucky he even still wants you after all you’ve done to betray us.”

“You’re a monster,” Emma grumbles, backing away from her. “I don’t know how you can do this to someone who really loves you.”

The sting against her cheek is immediate and sharp, Elsa’s hand delivering a solid slap and making Emma and Tink gasp in unison. “The club loves me. They’ve taken care of me since I was a kid. Now get away from me before I tell Peter what you told me about a safe place,” she goads. “Go back home, and maybe you won’t get hurt.”

“Like Killian did? And Liam?”

“They got what they deserved. If you’re not careful, you will, too. I’m willing to look past this transgression, only because I know Neal loves you and thinks you’ll be a good candidate at carrying on the bloodline. But make no mistake; fuck up again and I’ll be taking this little conversation to Peter.”

Emma couldn’t have convinced Elsa to come with them if she tried, because she wasn’t even able to try. The door slams in her face before she has a chance to get another word in.

~~~~

His surroundings are barely visible before the pain sets in again.

It’s blinding, no matter what he does. Opening his eyes is painful. Keeping them closed is, too.

He doesn’t need to be awake to know where he is, either. The waves rocking the boat violently give away their location.

“I think he’s waking up,” someone says with a voice he doesn’t recognize. “Get over here.”

“Mate,” he hears from Rob, his voice vaguely recognizable through the fog in his brain. “Killian, come on.”

“You shouldn’t have let him sleep. He probably has a concussion.”

“You try stopping him.”

“Shut up,” he groans, his lip cracking again as he speaks. Each of the men by his side laugh in relief.

“Killian,” he hears Robin breathe. “You alright, mate?”

He winces as he tries to take in a grounding breath, his ribs protesting vehemently. “Where is she?” he asks, barely recognizing the sound of his own voice.

“Who’s that? The one looking for me?”

“Emma,” Robin confirms, and Killian forces his eyes open. He only hopes that the look he gives his friend is enough to relay his fear and anger at him telling this stranger anything about the woman he loves. Doesn't he know she’s in danger already? “Don’t look at me like that, mate,” he says, although Killian can detect a hint of relief in his voice at seeing his open eyes.

“What did you do?” he asks, unable to expend the energy it would take to say much more.

“This is David. You, and especially Emma, might recognize him as James Spencer.”

Killian groans as he lifts his head, the crushing pain of his headache almost unbearable. Truthfully, he thought he would be worse off. Sure, he’s quite certain several ribs are broken, and he worries that he might have a fracture or two in his cheek from how many times Cassidy beat on him, but the pain isn’t quite as bad as he expected it to be.

It’s still bloody excruciating, though.

“Spencer,” he answers, looking at the familiar stranger. “The cop?”

He nods. “You’re girlfriend’s good. I’m with the FBI now, deep undercover. I thought we’d buried everything.”

“Of course she is,” he agrees, trying to take a breath deep enough to actually fill his lungs. He digs his fingers into the thin mattress and winces. “So, what now? Where is she?”

“She’s meeting me here,” Robin tells him.

“You left her alone?” he asks angrily.

“You told her to round up Tink and Elsa. Begged her. I had to get you the hell out of there before they bloody killed you.”

“Why the hell would you listen to me?” he grumbles, rolling his eyes painfully. “How long has she been gone?”

Looking down to his watch, Robin answers, “About two hours. But she’s smart, she’ll get out of there alright.”

He can’t even answer, can’t even tell his friend how stupid it was to let Emma go off on her own, unprotected, before Nolan speaks up. “Your friend tells me you always seem to have a plan.”

“Give me some water and something to get rid of this damn headache and I’ll be much more amenable to talking.”

He can barely keep up with his surroundings, too disoriented and dizzy and in too much blinding pain to keep his eyes open or to form a coherent thought beyond his worry for Emma. He isn’t even sure how much time passes, how long it takes for the glass of water to appear in his hand.

“I checked you out,” David says after what must have been a few minutes, the water finally washing away the taste of blood from his mouth. “I have field training. I think you have some cracked ribs, but I don’t think your face is broken.”

With a sigh and a roll to his eyes, Killian says, “Well aren’t I lucky.”

The medication he gives him sets in after a few minutes more, numbing the pain slightly and making it so that Killian can finally breathe in enough oxygen to not feel like he’s drowning. Satisfied with the lessened pain, he takes another gulp of water and says, “Aye, I think I have a plan.”

“Go on.”

“Peter’s on a rampage, ready to destroy whoever he can, but I’m assuming that if you’re here, the Kings of Elsinore must be close.” David nods in agreement. “He doesn’t know they’re coming. He planned to attack them first. Have your gang found the Lost Boy’s clubhouse yet?”

“No.”

“Good. We can tell you where to find them and you can set up a raid with the FBI, take both clubs down at once. On one condition.”

A particularly forceful wave rocks the boat again, the one that’s all too familiar to Killian, and sends David stumbling to the right. Killian’s stomach flips once more. “What’s that?” he asks once he gets his bearings.

Despite his pain, and his desperate need for some chapstick, Killian smirks. “You’re going to help us get out of this mess.”

~~~~

It’s almost midnight by the time Neal finally falls asleep. His adrenaline and anger has kept him up, his anger directed at his plaything being taken from him rather than his girlfriend potentially being hurt before he finally crashes. He hasn’t even noticed her swollen, red cheek, too busy focusing on his rage.

She plays it up dramatically, acting like she’s relieved that he finally found out and got her out of the dangerous situation, while also terrified at the fact that it happened. Really, she knows she’ll be having a similar, but still drastically different, exchange with Killian the moment this is over.

She takes a final look around the apartment once he’s sleeping, looking for one thing and one thing only and unable to find it. She isn’t sure what he’s done to her only possession; the children’s book is the only thing she cares about aside from her friends' safety. But she isn’t surprised to know that he stole or destroyed it given his complete disregard for her well-being in any capacity.

She sneaks out the front door, content to never return, and creeps down the hall towards Olivia’s unit.

“It’s time,” she says once she gets there, her voice just above a whisper.

As they quietly tiptoe across the dock once they arrive, she briefly wonders how Robin will know of their arrival, before her question is answered for her. He pokes his head out of the cabin of a rather large yacht, and Emma scans the area before hurrying towards him.

“You made it,” he exclaims, taking her backpack and helping her onto the deck of the boat. “Where’s Elsa?”

“Where’s Killian?” she asks, willing to ignore his question and put her out of her mind a bit longer.

“Below deck. He’s awake.”

She’ll tell them about Elsa soon. Right now, she has more important things to worry about, and she can’t imagine bursting Killian’s bubble once again by telling him the truth.

Stepping down into the cabin is daunting. The boat reminds her of the clubhouse, weapons on display wherever they can fit. She wonders about how safe that can be, the clubs and knives and primitive looking tools bound to fall eventually with the way the waves are rocking the boat.

“Killian,” she exclaims, excitement to see him sitting up on his own taking over her resolve to stay strong for him. The tears are leaking from her eyes before she even realizes she’s about to cry, and she hurries towards him. The last time she saw him, he was so broken that she was worried she would lose him.

He breathes her in when she collides with him, wincing as she puts too much pressure on his ribs but not releasing his firm hold on her.

“You alright?” he asks her, his lips brushing against her neck as he speaks. Leave it to him to worry about her after he was beaten within an inch of his life. His hand reaches up to touch her cheek, the redness fading but evidently still noticeable enough, at least to a man who truly cares about her. “What did he do?”

“I’m fine,” she answers. She wants to crawl onto his lap and hold him in her arms for the rest of their lives, but she knows she can’t. They have to move. “Can we go now?”

“Where’s El?” he asks, confused.

Robin interrupts, not letting Emma answer, and says, “we can’t go yet, unless we want to get arrested. Emma, meet Special Agent David Nolan.”

Her eyes widen when she looks up and sees a man she recognizes, stunned to have his identity confirmed for her. “James Spencer,” she says, nodding her head. “So you are undercover?”

“I am. Props to you for figuring it out, although it’s a bit disconcerting.”

“I didn’t tell anyone,” she shrugs. The agent laughs. “Plus, I thought you were just a cop.”

“Close enough.”

“Emma,” Killian says softly, his hand closing around hers and squeezing again. “Where's Elsa? What happened to you?”

She bites her bottom lip when she looks into his eyes again and is met with his painful stare. It’s unfair that she has to be the one to tell him this. That a woman he thought was his family should betray him like this and she has to be the one to pass the information along and to see the look on his face when she does.

“Killian,” she answers softly. “Olivia and I went to her and tried to get her to come with us. We told her we had a safe way out, that we would help her escape. But she wanted nothing to do with us.”

He touches her face again, the concern written across his face pulling at her heart. “What happened?” he nearly whispers.

“She said some awful things,” Tink tells him. “Emma told her she was being stupid, essentially-- ripped her a new one for selling you out-- and El gave her a good slap.”

His fingers dance along her tender skin once more as he shakes his head in disappointment and disbelief. “She did this to you?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to tell you--”

His lips find hers effortlessly, his touch gentle and delicate and careful not to let things between them get too passionate while they still have an audience. She’ll have to tell him about Liam eventually, but it’s too much right now. He’s so broken, and she worries that telling him that his sister-in-law knew about his brother's death could put him over the edge when he has to focus on healing. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “I can’t believe she would--”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we really should get moving. The SWAT team will be here soon.”

“SWAT?”

“Love, David is planning a raid on the clubhouse. We’re going to give him the club’s location in exchange for our freedom and immunity during any investigations.”

She lets her jaw drop in surprise, her expectations of their evening completely shattering before her. “Oh shit…”

“Aye,” Killian confirms. “We just need to figure a way to get them all to the clubhouse. We need Peter to call another family meeting, but me simply being gone likely wouldn’t be enough of a reason.”

“If I may,” David offers, Emma looking up from Killian’s distracting eyes at him. “Isn’t she the leader’s girlfriend?”

“She is called Emma, and if you think she is going back there, you might as well just haul me off to jail right now because I’ll bloody beat--”

“Killian!” she insists, placing her hand on his and squeezing to try and calm him down. “Just hear him out. He might be onto something.”

He turns to her, his cheeks flushed in his pain and anger. “I’m not sending you back there! You just left; I’ll die before I let anything more happen to you.”

She rolls her eyes, but it’s only to protect herself. The fact is, he did almost die in favor of letting anything happen to her. “No you won’t,” she says definitively. She stands from her place beside him and looks seriously at the agent. “What did you have in mind?”

“Emma--”

She turns around sharply. “After everything you’ve been through today, don’t you dare tell me I can’t do something to protect you. We can end this, Killian. We won’t be on the run; we’ll be completely free to live the lives we want.” Turning back to David, she asks, “Right?”

“She’s right,” he agrees, though he’s looking at Killian. “With all of your cooperation, I’m positive I can get you off scot free.”

“Killian,” she whispers, sitting back at his side and taking his hand once more. “I can do this.”

“I know,” he agrees immediately with a firm nod, a look of consternation on his pained face. “I’ve yet to see you fail. I just hate that I have to put you through this.”

“You’re not,” she promises. “I am. And I’ll be fine. I can handle Neal.”

“Aye, you’ve proven that much,” he smiles, his hand finding her cheek again. His eyes are starting to look heavier and heavier, whatever he was given for the pain taking over his consciousness again. “You’re a mighty strong lass.”

“You sound so much more British when you’re high,” she laughs, leaning over to kiss his broken bottom lip softly.

“I just happen to know you like my accent,” he flirts, and she giggles in response, pecking the tip of his nose.

“Alright, my love,” she whispers. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

~~~~

“Neal,” she whispers when she arrives in his bedroom. Their plan is a solid one, fully formed and ready to be put into action. That fact doesn’t make her any less anxious.

Killian gave David plenty of information on the club before she’d arrived. He told him about the millions in merchandise they’ve stolen, and where to find the pieces and the blueprints for evidence. He told them about the countless murders they’ve committed, including that of his own brother and where his body can be found. He told them about the illegal pornography business they’ve been running, and in exchange, David and his team will look past Olivia’s involvement.

Now, all that’s left is to gather the club for a family meeting and wait for the shooting to start.

She won’t be there, though. She and Killian made sure of that, making a plan just before he fell asleep and just after David left to make a call to his superiors.

“Neal, baby, wake up,” she says, appealing to his distorted senses and shaking his shoulders.

“What is it?” he asks grumpily, pushing her hands away.

“I found something.”

He groans and snaps, “Just tell me what it is.”

She clears her throat awkwardly and says, “I was able to pin Spencer’s last known location. He’s here, in Storybrooke. I think the whole gang is.”

He sits up suddenly, his eyes glowing meanly in the moonlight and making her shudder. “An attack,” he says, his tone definite, as if he’s the one who figured this out.

He doesn’t bother to even question how she found out, but she’s fine with that. “I think we should ask Peter to call a family meeting. This changes the whole plan, right?”

“You’re right,” he agrees. “Come on, get dressed.”

For once in her miserable relationship with him, she happily does as he commands.

~~~~

@courtorderedcake @kmomof4 @stahlop @klynn-stormz @laschatzi @emelizabeth88 @lfh1226-linda @kday426 @elisethewritingbeast @timeless-love-story @captain-emmajones @gingerpolyglot @ebcaver @ilovemesomekillianjones @teamhook @superchocovian @itsfabianadocarmo @tiganasummertree @gingerchangeling @jrob64 @onceratheart18 @xhookswenchx @winterbaby89 @swampmedusa @ultraluckycatnd @dancingnancyy @love-with-you-i-have-everything @shireness-says @snowbellewells @hollyethecurious @ouatpost @daxx04 @the-darkdragonfly @donteattheappleshook @therooksshiningknight @eeteeaytay @xsajx @itsfridaysomewhere @alexa-fangirl-forever @jonesfandomfanatic @wefoundloveunderthelight @qualitycoffeethings @rapunzelsghosts @spaceconveyor @badcats-andmice @batana54 @sailtoafarawayland @deckerstarblanche @zaharadessert @xarandomdreamx @pirateprincessofpizza @captainswan21

#Watch the Sunlight Fade #captain swan #captain swan fanfic #captain swan au #cs ff #once upon a time #sunlight ff #ouat ff #whump

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bellasweetwriting · 5 years ago

Text

Rescue Romance

Spencer Reid x f.Reader

(not my gif)

MASTERLIST

plot: you’ve been kidnapped by an unsub who fell in love with you, and Spencer is the one who rescued you

notes: extreme confident!reader, nervous!spencer, this is just a brainstorm of a book idea I had and decided to make it a spencer fanfic u know normal stuff

warnings: kidnapping, mentions of torture, mentions of rape, drinking, age gap (22-29), blood, injuries, criminal minds typical stuff

category: mostly angst and a little bit of fluff

word count: 3,9k

"Y/N Y/L/N, 22, kidnapped in a club near the college campus while partying with her friends. Last seen at 1 AM, reported missing by her roommates when she didn't appear in all-day three hours ago," informed Garcia to the team while they were revising the case on the jet. "The New Haven PD is waiting for you at the police station."

"Thank you, Garcia," thanked Hotch, but Garcia continued to talk.

"There's something else you need to see."

"What is it?" Questioned Morgan.

"One of her roommates, Sandy Melville, has a channel where she posts videos of her life in college and with roommates. And Y/N appears in all of them."

"You think this could be the work of a stalker?" Asked JJ looking at Garcia.

"Someone could've watched Y/N in the background of the videos and developed a crush on her," said Emily.

"Not in the background," corrected Garcia, "she's the protagonist of the videos. Sandy followers love her, and I don't blame them."

Garcia proceeded to show the team one of the videos of Sandy walking through the snow of New Haven. The three friends were on the sidewalk, and the camera was focused on you as you kicked the snow off to the street as you laughed.

"Y/N you are going to slip and fall!" Exclaimed your other roommate, Liz, pointing the ice that was on the border of the sidewalk. You continued to laugh.

"Don't be such a drama queen, Liz, and enjoy the snow!" You yelled with a smile. "Kindness is like snow ─ it beautifies everything it covers."

"Kahlil Gibran," interrupted Spencer, surprising the team who haven't heard him talk in the entire trip. "It's a writer, he said that."

"Don't be so poetic, Y/N!" Exclaimed Sandy.

"Kahlil Gibran said it, and I live for those words," you replied. The camera quickly turned to Liz.

"She's crazy," said laughing before being hit with a snowball on the shoulder. "Y/N!"

You simply laughed, and the video ended.

"There are videos of their whole lives," commented Garcia. "Sandy recorded everything and posted online."

Spencer was still staring at the frozen image of you laughing. Something about it had your complete attention.

"Ok, JJ, I want you to make a press conference, and then, you and I will talk to the roommates and ask Sandy if she recorded something about the night of her disappearance. Morgan, Prentiss, go to the club, watch the security tapes, see if someone was looking at Y/N or talking to her. Reid, Dave, victimology, go to her apartment and learn everything you can about Y/N, including maybe what attracted the stalker to her. Garcia, check conversations, someone that has messaged her, that she blocked, calls, anything you can get, see if there is anything suspicious. We'll meet back at the station with everything we found."

Spencer grabbed your picture from the file. It was your college ID photo, and you looked stunning. Your hair was curled, your eye makeup was bright, different from the one's he has seen. Yours made your eyes appear bigger and shinner, while your lipgloss made shine your pink lips.

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

Rossi and Reid walked through your room, staring at the details of your walls, your awards, your photographs. You are intelligent, your bookshelves are filled with different literature books that could explain your knowledge.

"She speaks French," announced Rossi as he grabbed your French edition of Candide by Voltaire.

"And Spanish," added Reid going through your notes in Spanish literature class. "She's smart."

"She goes to an Ivy League School, we should've expected more than this," observed Rossi. "This is a clever, intelligent girl, she wouldn't leave with a stranger just like that, it doesn't make any sense."

"Well, she was drunk," said Spencer. "She just finished finals, she's graduating with a Criminology Degree in two weeks and went to celebrate with her friends."

"Finals are very stressful, and it was a college bar, so maybe she didn't have her defence mode on, she trusted the guy. Where is her dog?" Asked Rossi pointing the dog bed next in your corner.

"With her roommate," Spencer replied. "It's not usually from a stalker to approach their object of desire without preparation, and a club is risky. Y/N had to know the guy and trusted him."

"Or, she never saw him coming," whispered Rossi.

"Do you think hhe attacked her from behind? It was a crowded club, someone must have seen it."

"He could've put a knife on her back, asked her not to scream and walked her outside. She was drunk, so she was weak, she couldn't fight back. He had to know that. Y/N looks like a girl who can defend herself. Everything in this room screams confidence, her videos, her attitude, he had to kidnap her in her weakest moment."

"For that, he had to know she would have her finals last week. What if we are not looking for someone who developt a crush through the internet videos, but rather someone who sees her every day?"

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

You slowly opened your eyes. The room was dark, with just one dash of light entering through a small window near the roof.

You were in a basement.

Your hands were tied over your head, your feet lifted from the ground only letting the tip of your tow to touch the cold dirt under you. You exhaled. Your eyes felt heavy to open. Blinking was hard because opening them again felt tiring.

Your underneath t-shirt was filled was no longer red, your pants and sweater were missing, for some reason, your stomach hurt like hell.

With all your strength, you look at it, having an idea what was it but being scared of it. You slowly focused your eyes on the red stain in your clothing and the cuts in your legs.

You heard someone crying and took you a few seconds to realize it was you. You haven't sobbed in a while, in years maybe. It scared you. You were scared. All alone.

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

Spencer and Rossi entered the police station and walked towards the table where the team was sitting. The whole board was filled with your information, your class schedule, your contacts, your credit card information, your grades, your family members, everything that Garcia could get from your computer.

"What did you find?" Asked Hotch to Reid.

"She's intelligent, she speaks three languages, and her whole life screams confidence, "look at me". It doesn't make sense she would leave the club with a guy and not tell her friends before in case something happens to her."

"We think her stalker is not someone who watches the videos, but someone she knows. A classmate, a teacher, someone that knew her well to affirm that she finished her finals yesterday, and that will go to a particular bar to celebrate with her friends."

"There are at least five different college bars that Y/N and her friends frequented," added JJ as she remembered what your roommates told her. "How did the unsub know she will go to that bar exactly?"

"Maybe he heard her. If Reid's theory that the unsub is a classmate, she could've said it in class and he listened."

"Ok," interrupted Garcia, "I found three blocked accounts in Y/N social media of guys trying to flirt with her but coming to strong that maybe worried her, but none of them is remotely near her, and I checked their entire background."

"We checked the security cameras and the bar receipts," announced Morgan as he and Prentiss entered. "Neither she nor her friends bought any drinks that night."

"They were sober?" Questioned Spencer.

"No, someone bought them for them. Maybe our unsub."

"My dear super friends," interrupted Garcia appearing on the screen. "I was checking Sandy's phone like you told me, and she did record last night at the bar."

"I thought she said she didn't remember."

"Well, turns out she did. Check this out."

The video was clearly terrible quality. Sandy was moving and dancing around, making it impossible for the camera to focus. When she stopped, the team could clearly see your silhouette as you drank what it appeared not to be your first shot of tequila.

"Y/N! Y/N! I'm dying to know," said Sandy drunkenly. "What is your plan after graduating?"

"Uhm," you whispered, trying to talk clearly. "The only thing I have available is the FBI."

"Could you imagine," interrupted Liz between laughs, "Y/N with a gun?"

"I would look incredibly hot with a gun, what are you talking about?" You joked between laughs. "I don't know what it's outside for me. All my life, I've had everything planned. Study, get good grades, repeat. It can be scary doing something different."

"Oh, please," said Liz as she was falling next to you. You were quick to catch her and put her arm over your shoulder, "you are Y/N Y/L/N, I bet everyone wants you."

"I am a man who does not exist for others."

"Ayn Rand," murmured Spencer.

"You are a woman," said Sandy.

"It's from Ayn Rand, you guys are so drunk," you laughed before turning around. "Where the hell is the guy who bought these for us?"

You looked through the bar but didn't find him.

"Hey, girls, I'll be back in a sec, I'm gonna pay for the drinks," you told your friends with a tiny smile.

"Wait, Y/N, let's dance," interrupted Sandy, grabbing your hand and dragging you to the dance floor.

"Morgan, who was the guy who bought the drinks for them?" Interrogated Hotch and Morgan quickly went through the receipts of last night.

"At least six people bought tequila shots last night. End of finals week."

"Y/N felt the need to pay the drinks back," pointed out Spencer as he watched you danced on the screen. "Why would she do that?"

"She felt bad because he bought drinks for all her friends but wasn't hanging out with them?" Proposed JJ.

"Or, something attracted her of him," whispered Spencer before clicking one of the videos in Sandy's vlog. "I was looking at this video earlier. Sandy asked Y/N how her ideal guy look like. Maybe the stalker watched it and tried to mimic it."

"Why were you watching that video, Reid?" Asked Emily, and he shook his head nervously.

"Research... for the case... yeah. Here it is."

"My ideal guy," you murmured as you played with your little dog on your bed. "He has to be smart, but not cocky smart, he has to be humble. I hate mystery, so he has to be direct with me, with what he wants, I like that. Maybe tall, handsome, not afraid to talk to me. I don't know, Sandy, someone that can catch my attention without even trying."

Reid paused the video just in time to see your smile to the camera. You were so pretty.

He had to find you alive, he had to meet you.

"We don't have time for a profile. Garcia, check the security video and look for a tall, good looking man that bought tequila shots between 10:30 and 11."

Garcia was quick enough to show the security footage in the screen, pausing just in time to show a man buying the shots and telling the bartender to send them towards a table. Your table.

"Who is that?" Questioned JJ, and Derek was quick enough to check.

"Baby girl, look for William Klaus, Gale Andrews, Damien Ace and Ricardo Montero and tell me which one looks like the guy at the bar."

"Neither of them," she said.

"Can he have used another person's tab?"

"No, that would have involved other people to his concerns. He is meticulous, he doesn't leave a trail."

"Did he pay in cash?" Asked JJ.

"That many tequila shots? Who has that kind of money in hand? He had to use a credit card."

"All of these kids go to private school. If he actually goes to college with them, he has money."

"We are back to nothing. All of our eyewitnesses were drunk."

"Except the bartender," pointed out Spencer. "He's gotta remember someone who paid in cash."

"Ok, Morgan, Prentiss, go to the bar again and interview the bartender, ask for someone who paid for shots in cash. We will deliver the profile."

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

"The man we are looking for is white in his late teens and early twenties. Tall, and handsome, probably talks smartly and is nervous around people, traits that he learned by listening to Y/N description of an ideal man."

"It is a student on campus. We denominate this unsub as a Love-Scorned stalker, he believes that Miss Y/L/N is madly in love with him. He has probably seen her sometimes giving him glances, or smiling, and thinking they were for him."

"This type of unsub is extremely asocial, does not participate in scholar events, does not raise his hand in class, and is remarkably intelligent, enough to get into a private school."

"This unsub is not a killer but will become one the second his fantasy seems interrupted. Maybe by the same Y/N who doesn't want to play along, there's no way to know how is he going to react with her. We trust that Y/N will realize that she needs to pretend to be in love with him to survive, but we can't be sure."

"In case of his fantasy being blinded or interrupted, he can get really aggressive and possessive towards her. He's been dreaming to be with her for so long that her rejecting him is not an option."

"Stalkers commonly killed their objective of desire. The time in which they do, variates in how the victim reacts to them."

"That's why we need to find her as soon as possible. Ask her classmates, teachers, friends. Someone has to have listened to our unsub suspiciously talk about her, maybe in a way that made them uncomfortable. Our unsub can't manage what he says in public due to his weak social skills."

"Thank you," finished Hotch, and the police department broke apart, going separate ways. "She's been missing 20 hours, let's find her as quick as possible." The team divided, but Hotch stopped Reid before he could walk away. "Reid, have Garcia found Y/N's parents?"

"No, uhm, her mom died, and her dad abandoned them when she was little. Her aunt is on her way, though."

"Ok, thank you."

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

"Dance," he ordered you, "I always loved your dancing. You danced for me a few weeks ago, remember."

"It was a charity event for the school, Parker," you whispered. "I danced for everyone."

"I'm not scared of you, ok? Do whatever you want. You want to kill me? Then do it, I'm tired."

"I will never hurt you, Y/N."

"Yes, you will. Stalkers always kill their object of desire, Parker, and you've been stalking me for a while, haven't you? You think I'm in love with you, don't you?"

"Shut up," Parker whispered before you spit blood that you had in your mouth. "You are ruining this!"

"What? Your fantasy? You aren't in love with me, Parker, you are in love with the idea of me. You don't know me."

"I do... know you... I know you."

"No, you don't. Just because you know at what time I leave for school, at what time I arrive home. Just because you know I walk my dog every afternoon and with who I hang out doesn't mean you know me. Parker, I'm more than a schedule, an object that you see walking through your binoculars. Just because you raped me and broke my arm doesn't mean you know my body. You can't love, Parker..."

"Stop!"

"... it's chemically impossible," you continued, "you don't feel love. You are missing one of the most beautiful feelings in the world, and it's not even your fault! You are a sociopath, and no matter how much you try, you will never know how the adrenaline of seeing someone across the room that you love feels like, you'll try to replicate it. You'll kill just to feel something, even if you don't want to."

"Shut up! Shut your mouth!"

"Kill me," you didn't even realize how you stuttered while saying those words. "It's the only way you are actually going to feel something. Kill me, because when you get in a mental home, the feeling of my blood running through your hands and skin is the only thing you are going to have, and you are never going to get it again. It's a drug that it's only going to work the first time. After you stab me with that knife, you are going to feel something for three seconds for the first time in your life, just so then, not feeling nothing at all for the rest of it. You must want it to be unique, right? Your first kill, probably your only one. So, light some candles, end my suffering... I'm not even going to feel it with the pain of my arm so who cares."

Parker was staring at you, not moving, not knowing what to do, while you just look at him. You already knew that if you didn't get medical attention soon, the blood you are loosing for the cuts in your legs, and the pain from your broken arm were going to do the job for him, so you had nothing to lose. And making him spend his entire life in jail for murder was your goal.

"Do it... kill me..."

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

"Ok, so I did some research and found out that Y/N was part of this dance marathon for a charity event where an anonymous guy donated three thousand dollars just so she would keep dancing," informed Garcia.

"That's an enormous amount of money just for her to dance," observed Derek.

"And that is not the creepiest part, I found the name of the donor, and it is Parker Edwards, he is an art and literature student, and please look at the last art assignment that he delivered for his final grade in finals week."

Garcia showed them a gigantic portrait of you next to a creepy guy, not smiling, just staring deadly to the camera.

"Well, that's definitely creepy," murmured Prentiss.

"Do you have an address?" Asked Hotch.

"House 365, 21st with Second Avenue."

"Let's go."

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

"Y/N, I need you to open your eyes," you heard someone whisper to you, and you slowly did. "My name is Doctor Spencer Reid, I'm with the FBI."

"He didn't kill me?" You questioned slowly. Your mouth was dry, and you couldn't feel your legs.

"No, he didn't. Y/N, I need you to open your eyes, please." You nodded. He proceeded to untie you, and you let fall in his arms. "I got you, I got you," he mumbled. "Can you walk?" You glanced at him, for then to show him how you couldn't even put your feet straight. "Sorry, stupid question, put your arm around me."

"Not that arm, he broke it when he carried me in here." Spencer listened and changed sides, helping you to get out.

As soon as you were outside, the smell was different. You were used to the smell of dirt and your own blood, that when the spring breeze of New Haven hit you, you couldn't help but to smile.

"Would you join me in the ambulance?" You questioned, and he nodded. The paramedics got you inside and started plugging cables and hydrating you, but your eyes were just in Spencer. "You look young to be a doctor."

"If I had a penny for every time I hear that," you chuckled. "How are you feeling?"

"Like writing this in the experience box for my FBI academy application," you mumbled, now making him laugh. "I know that I'm covered in dirt and blood, and shampoo hasn't touched my hair in a while... but I'm actually pretty." He raised his eyebrows, noticing that the painkillers were taking effect. "Probably my legs look like the legs of a training object for ninjas with all of those cuts, but I'm a terrific dancer."

"I know. I saw the videos that Sandy filmed. Of you dancing at the bar."

"That's drunk. But sober, let me tell you, John Travolta got his inspiration for Pulp Fiction by me, true facts." He laughed. "Thank you for saving me."

"It's my job, and it's going to be yours too."

You chuckled.

"You are cute, doctor," you mumbled before closing your eyes and being able to sleep for the first time in hours.

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

October arrived. It's been months since the kidnapping and arrest of Parker, and it was your first day in Virginia for the academy. You were nervous, now more than ever. What if you didn't have what it takes?

You were completely cured, and the doctor freed you completely, and the first person you wanted to tell was Spencer.

You and the doctor had been talking for months now, and he was everything you dreamed of. He was smart, funny, he paid attention to you, and even though you guys were just friends, you liked him.

You liked him a lot.

"This pile paperwork gets bigger every time I look at it," whispered Morgan staring at the tower. "I had plans tonight."

While Derek complained, Reid finished his and gave them to Hotch, and Morgan felt that as a personal attack."

"Please, tell people that if you disappear, I'm the prime suspect."

"Hey, isn't that Y/N from the New Haven stalking case?" Asked Emily to Spencer, making him look towards the door where you were standing, looking at him.

"Be right back," said the doctor standing up and walking towards you.

"What was that?" Asked Morgan to Prentiss, but she had no idea.

As soon as he was closer, he hugged you, and you felt safe immediately. You've only had seen him a few times since the hospital, so every time you guys reconnected, it was like you both grew up even more.

"Y/N, you look great."

"I told you once that I was incredibly pretty."

Last time he saw you, you still had cuts in your face and a cast on your arm. Now, you were like a different person. Like that girl, he once admired dancing in those videos months ago.

"What are you doing here?"

"Today is my first day in the academy," you let him know. "I wanted to tell you tonight, but I couldn't wait." He smiled. "Hey, so, I have a surprise."

"Another one?" You chuckled.

You took out from your pocket two tickets for a horror film festival the day before, and he glanced at them curiously.

"We both love Halloween, so I thought it could be a great idea." He smiled.

"I love it... Y/N, about us."

"Don't say anything, you whispered, proceeding to kiss his cheek. "We will talk about it after. Bye, Spencer."

"See you tomorrow," he said softly, making you smile before leaving.

"Reid," Morgan called him, "care to explain?"

"Don't you have paperwork to do?" Morgan laughed, watching him walk away with a big smile.

"Pretty boy..."

#spencer reid #criminal minds #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fanfiction #reid x reider #reader #y/n #fanfic #fanfiction #spencer reid angst #spencer reid fluff

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hongnanglen-arina · 4 years ago

Text

The Ulzzang Project - Part 3 | Jeon Wonwoo

Read part 2 Read part 4

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Genre: a little fluff and angst, crack

Pairing: Jeon Wonwoo x female reader

Warnings: well, not too angsty I guess but I didn’t re-read.. oh and alcohol consuming

Words: 3.3k

A/N: Hello hello! Sorry for the rather long wait! I thought it could spice it up if someone else is thrown into the pot hehehe (: as always, I’d be happy to know your thoughts about it. Please remember that English isn’t my first language so excuse my grammar ♡

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You tapped the pencil against your chin. Working on a presentation wasn’t your thing and especially the beginning was the most stressful part, always. A brainstorming sketch was on a sheet of paper in front of you and between the person you were with. It was nice to work on it at a public place and you loved to have cafe sounds in the background. That’s why you suggested this cafe in the first place. You’ve already finished on a couple of presentations here and the vibe this cafe was giving you helped a lot. But you weren’t sure if it was the right decision today - for this presentation. You couldn’t hear the familiar sounds of people talking and relaxing with the coffee machine preparing the next order. All you could hear was whispering. Loud whispering. And you could feel the stares shooting holes in your body from every angle possible.

“We should write down some notes for the first part. Hasn’t be too much. Like in 20 minutes we compare our notes and decide what’s best?” You tried to ignore the glares you got, looking at the boy in front of you.

Yoon Jeonghan.

Actually you liked your professor but his idea to team you up with Jeonghan for this statistics project was stupid. All your prayers that he would change his mind or that Jeonghan would complain so much that you would get a different partner were useless. After he saw who you were, he even insisted doing it with you and you didn’t understand why.

So you just settled with the thought of doing it. Not that you had another option anyways.

But all those girls who were watching you two made you uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.

Your project partner leaned back. “I’m fine if you start. I’m sure your pretty head is very useful for this.”

Somehow it didn’t surprise you. His attitude was exactly like you had assumed after everything you head… and also after seeing his Instagram. Was this boy really of no use? Tall and handsome but an asshole? Although you weren’t surprised, you still had some hope that not all good looking people were bad. Best example, your best friend Wonwoo.

The thought of Wonwoo caused you to sigh. Yesterday at this time, you were sitting outside on a bench with your friends. You could even see the place from where you were stuck with Jeonghan if you looked outside the window. After you discovered the new post with Wonwoo’s text, your break was over and everyone left for their next subject. Up until now you weren’t sure what he meant with it. It had to be a joke. Just something to gain more followers and likes. Something fitting for your fake couple page. But why did it make your heart skip a beat when you first saw it? You didn’t know what to say to your best friend or how to address the topic so you thought you would let him take the first step, which hadn’t happened. It made you angry for no reason.

You sighed again. This time louder.

“Are you mad at me?”

Jeonghan’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts. “What?”

“You didn’t react when I was talking to you so I got worried.”

Quickly lowering your gaze, you flipped around an empty page, readjusting the pencil in your hand. “Oh no no, don’t worry. Everything’s okay. I already have some ideas for our project. Just give me a moment.”

The person in front of you smiled widely at your reply, which you missed out on because you were already scribbling down while your brain was working and distracting itself from your male best friend.

“Oh great! I can leave then, yes? Thank you y/n. We can discuss our project later. Maybe tomorrow, same time same place?” He got up from his chair and was about to turn around with a ‘bye’ when you stood up as well, calling his name.

“Yoon Jeonghan, let me remind you. This is a group project. A group project is supposed to be done as a group. In a group. You may decide who will focus on which part but what you just said sounded as if you expect me to do everything alone. Please tell me I’m wrong.”

He turned around to face you again, the smile still on his lips. “I knew your pretty head was useful. You got it absolutely right. I’m looking forward to the outcome. See you tomorrow then, y/n!”

He really was an asshole.

“Stop you little shit!”

Suddenly it was quiet around you but you didn’t care. You were angry.

“The fact that I was writing and actually trying to be productive wasn’t a hint for you to stand up and go away. I want to do this because I have to. No matter if you’re my partner or someone else. Knowing you better shows me that I would probably be happier with someone else that’s not as ignorant and dumb as you. I really hoped you would prove me wrong but it’s just the looks that you have. Everything else is bad. Anyways, if you leave now, I will talk to our prof and tell him about it. I won’t do it with you if you let me work alone. I will give you one more chance or I’m the one that’s off. So?”

Jeonghan looked at you with wide eyes.

You were the first girl. The first that wasn’t following him. That wasn’t only agreeing to everything he said. The first girl that wasn’t head over heels for him.

You were different.

“So?” You repeated, slightly impatient. There were quite some places you would rather be right now than here with Yoon Jeonghan and is admires who were glaring at you for not treating him as the hottest and most wanted man on campus. Who came up with this nonsense anyways!?

“What.. do you… want me to do?” He finally asked you and the way he was standing in front of you seemed as if he was confused, scared even.

“The presentation. It has to be done. And for that, you and I will sit here and work on it.”

He slowly flops down on his chair again and for once you thought he looked cute but you quickly shook the thought off before sitting down again as well, taking your pencil again.

As you wanted to continue writing, you heard him clear his throat, causing you to look up from your paper. “What is it?”

“… can you give me a pen and paper?”

It took you a second until you gave him the things he asked you for. Maybe he had nothing to write. Whatever the reason, you felt great that you made the ‘holy’ Jeonghan work on the project. Maybe he wasn’t an asshole after all.

—

You sat on the floor, back resting against you bed as you took a sip of the new smoothie your mother made. There were too many ingredients, you could only remember it had apple, chia, spinach and banana in it.

Without noticing, your sleepy mind trailed from how you were working on your presentation with Jeonghan to the boy from your shared Instagram account. There was still no message on your phone from him. Did he just write it underneath the post without a meaning? Were you the only one who was trying to read between the lines to understand what he might wanted to say?

Absentmindedly you grabbed your phone to catch up with the things you missed while being with Jeonghan the whole day after your classes. After seeing again that there was no new message from Wonwoo in you chat app - only one from Chan, asking you if you had seen the new choreography video of a dance team you two liked - you changed the app and scrolled through your Instagram feed. Nothing interesting nor new. On Wonwoo’s personal page was no update. On your shared one was no update. Bored, you clicked the like button on a photo of Dokyeom and his selfmade pizza which looked amazing and a photo of Hoshi’s tiger plushie with the text ‘horanghae’.

Sighing, the thought of your friend still bothered you. It unusual for him to be this quiet all day. Maybe you should take the first step and just start a conversation? Casually? There was still a high possibility that he wrote the sentence without a meaning so why not say hi?

[Y/n] Hey, what’s up?

Was that casual enough?

2 Minutes passed. No response.

5 Minutes passed. Still no response.

“Why is he like this?!” You whined, letting yourself fall to the side so you were lying on the floor when your mother came into your room after knocking twice.

“Are you alright dear? Are you exhausted from uni? Or is my smoothie bad?? You can tell me honestly, I won’t get mad, I promise.”

You pouted and mouthed ‘uni’ and she nodded understandingly. “Rest then. You know, if you need anything, tell me. I can cook your favorite dish or prepare dessert. I can read you a book or cuddle you to sleep-“

“Mom!”

She laughed and waved apologetic. “Understand. My little girl isn’t so little anymore. Just call whenever you need me. I’ll be in the living room watching my drama.”

You thanked her and watched her leave your room.

Automatically you looked at your phone again, opening Instagram. While you were working on your presentation with Jeonghan, you two exchanged numbers and followed each other on the app. You had an actually nice conversation and got to know him a little better. He wasn’t so snobbish as you though he would be.

Your eyes were glued on Jeonghan’s update from 2 hours ago. It was a photo of you how you were concentrated on writing down your part from your project, two milkshakes in front of you. His had less while your own drink was almost full and untouched because you had a rush of ideas and decided to write them down before it disappeared. You didn’t know he took a photo. That’s when you saw the text he added to the photo.

Interesting. She might become a candidate (:

A candidate for what?? Cocking your head to the side, you wanted to know what he meant with it when your phone chimed, telling you about a new message. When you saw that it was from Wonwoo, your fingers tapped faster to read it.

[Wonwoo] Bored to death. You?

[Y/n] Same. Park in 30? Crave ice cream…

Maybe you replied too fast but you didn’t care. You were just happy he was talking to you even though you weren’t sure why you were worried he wouldn’t. There was no issue between the two of you or was it?

[Wonwoo] Deal. See ya

Although you were relieved he replied and even agreed to seeing you but something in you was still worried for some reason. But you couldn’t deny the little excitement in the back of your mind.

After finishing your smoothie and making your mother happy with it, you complimented her before leaving the apartment to meet up with Wonwoo. Even though it was dark outside, the fact that you were going to meet your childhood friend made your mother worry less. She knew that he was a good person and if something scary would occur, he would defend or help you first.

With the familiar cheers and wishes that ‘your mother would be overly happy if you two would finally get together as a couple’, you left your home and made your way to the little park. You wondered if Wonwoo was already there.

While you were walking, your thoughts traveled to everything that happened over the last few days.

Last weekend, when you decided to start your shared Instagram and act as an ulzzang couple just to see how many likes and followers you could get within a month. The seemingly normal texts under his posts that made your heart skip a beat. The way he babied you more than once which he had never done before. The overall vide he gave was different. You could still recognize your bestie but there was something that had changed but you weren’t able to tell why that was or what it caused.

Then to uni. Your presentation with the infamous Yoon Jeonghan who you disliked from the second you were introduced to him through your friends and their knowledge about him. He was too handsome that he just had to be arrogant and ignorant. It turned out that he is from the outside but strangely after you scolded him in front of everyone else in the cafe, he was very nice and cooperative all of a sudden. He even told you that he would work on the middle part and you could go through it tomorrow. You still didn’t fully believe him so you might prepare something in case it was all a lie. But you could do that tomorrow. Today your priority was Wonwoo.

When you arrived at the park, he wasn’t there. Maybe you were too happy and walked too fast?

Looking around and making sure that he really wasn’t around, you slowly made your way to the swing and sat down, slightly moving back and forth with your feet on the ground and hands around the chains on each side. You looked down when out of nowhere fear crept up your spine.

Oh your friends: the ‘what if’s’.

What if he was disappointed in you for whatever reason? Maybe for not texting him sooner? What if he was mad at you for not using your shared account? At least not as often as he did? What if he wasn’t happy about Jeonghan teaming up with you for the presentation? But then again, it wasn’t your decision. He couldn’t blame you.

You shook your head. Those questions should go away.

You knew why they have appeared.

Because you missed your best friend.

And combined with the fact that you felt his attitude was different over the last week just added to your pile of anxiety.

A soft tap on your shoulder caused you to snap out of your thoughts. Wonwoo was standing beside you with melon ice cream in his hands, offering you one.

“Heard you wanted ice cream?”

Immediately, you smiled at him, a warmth rushing through your body as you finally saw your friend again and him paying attention to you intensified the relieve.

“Thank you.”

You took one and started eating it while Wonwoo sat down on the other swing, both of you enjoying your ice cream in silence. The noises of your surroundings were kind of far away from you, looking for words to start a conversation.

Once you finished, you looked at the boy beside you, just to notice that he was looking at you too.

“I missed you,” you said in unison and the moment your brains progressed it, you two looked away sheepishly.

It was stupid, you had to admit. It only had been a little over 1 day that you haven’t seen your friend but because of the overall situation, you were were like this.

Again, you were looking for words to form a sentence and to distract yourself from the red cheeks. “W-what were you doing when I sent the message?”

His head turned back to you when he started to talk, “I was playing an online game but it wasn’t my day today. They always killed me with ease. Wherever I was hiding, whatever I thought was a good tactic, they found me and ended my sad life. Your message helped. What about you?”

“Did nothing. Well, complimenting my mother on her new smoothie?”

Suddenly Wonwoo was chuckling. “Sometimes I envy you for not living alone as I do.”

“You’re not alone. I’m literally always at your place.”

Your reply made Wonwoo sigh and you tried to figure out why he was feeling down all of a sudden, waiting for him to answer your silent question but he asked you something else, changing the topic.

“How is your presentation going?”

It took you by surprise but you decided to give him an honest answer, just being happy to have a topic to talk about.

“At first I hated Jeonghan but he’s okay. Really. After I got angry at him, he actually worked on it with me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he even volunteered to prepare the middle part. You know, the most important part of the whole thing. He also listened to me and-“

“You got angry at him?”

“U-uh… yeah. That dude wanted to leave me alone and don’t help with it. Can you imagine? He really thought he could get away with it. But not with me, ha!”

He chuckled again, seemingly approving your previous outburst of anger with the other.

While you were watching Wonwoo from the side and admiring his crunched laughter, you remembered his Instagram post and started chewing on the inside of your cheek.

Wonwoo didn’t notice your nervousness as he was shaking his head at the thought of you making a scene in front of his fanclub. He wished he would have seen it happening. Something told him that it wouldn’t be the only occasion for you to lose your temper with him and that he may see it the next time if he sticked to you more often.

“Wanna skip tomorrow’s morning lectures with me?”

The question left your lips faster than you could think and surprised you as well as him when you met Wonwoo’s expression, but his was quickly followed by a smirk.

“Do I smell a mario kart session with greasy food?”

“Yep.”

Hearing his amused snort made you happy for some reason and when he got up and held his hand out for you to grab and follow him, you did as he wordlessly asked and went to his place, hand in hand. Like you often did.

It seemed as if your anxiety was for nothing. He was the same when you arrived at his place, got out of your shoes and offered you a can of beer. He was the same when he asked you what you wanted to eat. He was even the same when he took the last bite of your dish without asking beforehand. And he was the same when he started a fight when he lost against you at mario kart 4 matches in a row. You felt as if it had been a decade since you laughed as much.

You made a mental note not to think too much again when it comes to your best friend.

After a while you two changed to more comfortable clothes as you opened your third can of beer, Wonwoo was on his fourth. That was exactly what you needed. Although it wasn’t the best decision but numbing your previous doubts and fears and enjoying the company of your bestie was the best right now.

“I love spending time with you y/n.”

Thanks to the alcohol in your system, you weren’t too shy to react to his words and felt kind of adventurous. “Thanks for the kind words but to be honest I expected to hear that you want to take your sexy photos now that I’m drunk.”

“Ha ha ah… you’re not completely wrong though.” Wonwoo readjusted his glasses and took a sip of his beer when you said, “Okay. let’s do this.” Your friend nearly choked on the alcohol but asked again what you just said, just in case he heard wrong.

“I said, let’s take those photos for our Instagram.”

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imaginesandinserts · 5 years ago

Text

Irreverent Pt. 4 - Interview

Title: Irreverent Pt. 4 - Roundtable Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Reader Rating: T (Teen) Words: 3772

Irreverent Series Masterlist

You got up in the morning with a pit of dread blooming in your stomach. The night before had been a lot of tossing and turning with minimal sleep. Today was it, make or break.

Getting ready and out the door was a breeze, as you'd planned this morning to the very last detail, leaving absolutely nothing to chance. As you exited the hotel and caught a cab to Quantico, you ran through the game plan over and over in your head. There was no longer any time to second guess the approach. You had done your research and you had thought this through. At the end of it, your goal was to make an impression. You quickly stifled the small voice in your head that warned you that it was a risky approach and could blow up in your face. It had to work. It just had to.

Entering the building and getting your visitors credential was easy - you were expected. As you walked towards the elevators, you saw the doors opening and your classmates Charlotte and Elliot walked out together. You were unsurprised to see Charlotte there - she was accomplished and well spoken with a good head on her shoulders. You were surprised to see Elliot who was known to be a bit of a showboat but you liked him just the same. You smiled at them both as you quickly grabbed the doors before they closed on you.

As you exited the elevator, you caught sight of Erin Strauss walking towards you. You had met Strauss before when she had come to speak to your class about her team and the BAU's success. After her speech, you'd gone up and introduced yourself and spoken with her briefly. Later that week, you'd gotten a call from her assistant, asking you to attend a Women in the FBI Mentorship event where she spoke at length of the value of female mentorship. You had since attended a couple of those events and she had made small talk with you at each one. You had your suspicions regarding her interest in you, but seeing as she was the Section Chief of the BAU, you made sure to always show her the utmost respect and admiration.

"Y/N! It's so good to see you" Strauss said as you approached one another. "I am so glad Aaron chose to interview you."

"Chief Strauss, thank you so much. I'm sure that you had at least something to do with that," you responded, knowing she'd react well to that kind of adulation.

"Oh please, I just nudged along the best of the best. But you should know, every single member of that team chose to interview you. And you're the only one who got every single vote."

Taken aback, you quickly smiled and thanked her once again as she pointed you in the direction of the conference room. They'd all chosen to interview you. That definitely shifted some of the power in your favor. You quickly suppressed a satisfied smile and knocked on the door where the entire team was waiting for the final candidate.

"Come in." You heard a deep voice from behind the door, prompting you to turn the knob and say a final prayer hoping you wouldn't stumble over your words.

Seven pairs of eyes looked at you as you entered, watching your every move.

"Good morning," you smiled and looked around, making eye contact with everyone there. "Thank you for inviting me to interview with your team. It is an honor."

"Please have a seat Ms. L/N," The dark haired man - whom you recognized as SSA Aaron Hotchner - pointed you to a chair at one end of the large table. "Before we begin, I am SSA Hotchner, these are SAs Morgan, Prentiss, and Dr. Reid," he pointed to each one, prompting you to recall their faces from the extensive research you had done on this team. You smiled at them each in turn, which they returned, Agent Morgan adding in a little wave to his greeting.

"To my right is SSA David Rossi," Agent Rossi looked just like the pictures on his book jacket covers. "And finally this is our media liaison, Agent Jennifer Jareau and Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia."

"It's lovely to meet all of you," you said as you settled in, trying to keep your heart from beating out of its chest. Agent Hotchner was more intimidating in person. His deep gravelly voice in the introductions matched what you had learned of him - he was astute, intelligent, and unlikely to tolerate any antics. His large frame filled the chair he was seated in, his legs crossed one over the other. You swallowed and tried to maintain your composure and stay the course.

Agent Hotchner continued, "As you might know, the BAU has not conducted panel interviews in the past. However, we are trying to grow and adapt ourselves to suit the needs of the team's best interests and so we want to ensure that anyone who is selected meets the entire team prior to a final decision." You nodded along. Panel interviews were becoming the norm a lot of places and while government is usually last to adapt, you were glad to see that the team culture seemed to be welcoming and open to flexibility. Agent Hotchner continued to explain the process, "So, due to that, the team has collectively come to the decision that the best way to assess a profiler is to have them actually do a profile. We profile UnSubs every day but doing it well is rooted in a base of self awareness." He paused and looked to see if you understood. You had an idea of where this was headed, but he confirmed it next, "So, Ms. L/N, profile yourself for us please."

You saw a smirk on Agent Prentiss's face that arguably had been there the second you entered the room. You looked around as they all waited for you to speak. You had to think fast.

"I ran into Chief Strauss on my way to the interview today," you began. It wasn't what they'd expected and you knew you immediately had everyone's attention. "She let slip that the team had voted on whom to interview. She also mentioned that I was the only person you'd all chosen."

You looked across the table and saw Dr. Reid staring at you with curiosity and ascertained that both of your predecessors had chosen the more straightforward manner of answering this question.

Both Agents Hotchner and Rossi looked at you with nothing betraying their thoughts, while the rest of the team either mirrored Dr. Reid's curiosity or looked just a little thrown off.

You recalled all of your research and meticulous notes on every single person in that room, and continued on. "Agent Garcia," you addressed the spunky looking Technical Analyst and smiled. "In my application and background check, you noted that growing up I moved every couple of years and I attended a new school each time. You saw someone who never had a home. For you this team is your family and your home. You all trust and respect one another and you felt like I'd most benefit from having this team - this family - in my life." you paused as Penelope gazed at you in some small amount of wonder. "You're probably right about that."

"H-How," she began, but stopped when Agent Rossi slightly lifted his hand, indicating you to continue.

You swallowed and took another deep breath, one down, six to go. "Dr. Reid," you turned and made eye contact with the youngest member of the team who was now studying you much more carefully, "My final year of college I worked under Professor Ludwig and published a paper in the Journal of Criminal Psychology. He forwarded my initial draft to you and asked your opinion on it and you responded with insight that helped shape the final experiment design greatly. Thank you." You saw a flicker of recognition on Dr. Reid's face as he realized that the anonymous paper he'd edited had been yours. "When you looked at my application, you saw my degrees, my certificates, and my Mensa membership and recognized a kindred spirit. You'd also like to no longer be the youngest on the team and it helps that I'm on the younger end of people who are usually considered to join the BAU. Actually, I'm pretty sure you also selected Elliot and Charlotte for the exact same reason." You allowed yourself to let out a small breath of a laugh, before bestowing your best smile on the Doctor. His slightly reddened cheeks bolstered you to continue on.

As you switched your gaze from Dr. Reid to focus on Agent Morgan, your eyes swept past Agent Rossi who seemed - if you weren't mistaken - amused. His poker face now had the hint of a smirk. You didn't dare look at Agent Hotchner for fear that one look at his stern face would cause you to stutter and lose steam.

"Agent Morgan, you could care less about academic accomplishments, despite being relatively accomplished yourself." The large man gave you a warm smile, telling you that you were right on the mark. "For you it is all about who has your back out in the field. I'm at the top in the academy for all field evaluations. You also stalked my online profiles with Agent Garcia - who is your best friend - and saw that I'm a Bears fan. That's what sealed the deal for you." He let out a laugh at that - a real one - and exchanged a look with Agent Garcia that was loaded with we are going to talk about THIS later.

Halfway through. Almost there. You had to remind yourself to keep going down the path you'd chosen. There was no way Charlotte Richards had turned the tables on the BAU team. Maybe she's smarter than you though. Yeah - definitely smarter than you if the pindrop silence in the aftermath of Agent Morgan's laugh was anything to go off of.

"Agent Jareau, " you turned your attention to the pretty media liaison and smiled kindly, which she returned. You would feel bad about this one, unsure of how she saw her place in the team, but you were determined to see this through to the end now. " Forgive me, but, you hesitated in giving your opinion. It is clear that you read through every application at least twice, combing them for the details." You took a breath, and met Agent Jareau's startled gaze. "You tried to find the humanity behind everyone's carefully curated headshot. What caught your eye was that I was turned down by the CIA prior to applying to the FBI." You felt bad about the assessment you were delivering and the uncomfortably tense silence in the room did nothing to put you at ease. To soften the blow, you continued onwards. "It didn't matter as much to everyone else but it mattered to you because you know how it feels to be made to feel as though you aren't good enough. You believe in second chances and you value fairness. You thought it was only fair to give me a shot."

You swallowed again and looked for a sign that Agent Jareau now hated your guts for exposing vulnerabilities in front of her coworkers. Sure she works with profilers, but who enjoys having their insecurities laid bare that way? Agent Jareau surprised you however. She smiled and her kind eyes told you that it was alright. You were doing what you had to. "Call me JJ" she told you, before gesturing at you to keep going.

As you turned to Agent Prentiss, you saw her smirk turn into what could only be categorized as a stare down. She was daring you to guess why she picked you. She was hoping you would be wrong. You knew Emily Prentiss by reputation, and so squaring your shoulders once more, you continued. "We've led similar lives, Agent Prentiss, - moving around at the whims of our parents career. You take a great amount of pride in having accomplished all that you have without your mother's influence. You don't see us as being the same though." You paused and gauged her reaction, but she had schooled her face to betray nothing. "You think I've leaned on my father's role and title. Ultimately, you're competitive. You want to feel like you're one of the few who made it out of the diplobrat lifestyle all on your own. You picked me not because you actually care to have me on the team but because you wanted to pick me apart in person and prove to yourself that you're still the only one who did it all by herself. " You had shot out the last bit, knowing it would hit the mark in knocking her down just a peg. You were about to make enemies before you were even hired - of that you were certain.

"Hotch, this is ridiculous," Agent Prentiss exclaimed. "She's not answering the question."

"Oh come on Prentiss," Agent Morgan piped in, before either Agents Rossi or Hotch could say something. "You're just pissed because she got you exactly." God, it was good to have him in your corner.

"Emily," Dr. Reid's soft voice was in stark contrast to Agent Morgan's boisterous one. His hand settled on her shoulder and she allowed him to calm her down.

Agent Hotchner was conspicuously silent. His right arm framed his face as he contemplated you. His face still betrayed nothing, but finally meeting his gaze made the pit of dread in your stomach loosen just a bit. Why - you couldn't possibly explain it.

After Agent Prentiss's interruption, you turned to look Agent Rossi dead in the eye. He would be perhaps the easiest. You had no qualms about him or his reaction. You smirked and said, "You thought I was attractive." He gave you a surprised look. Bet he didn't think you'd call him out on that. "You're not embarrassed that I called you out on that in front of the entire team. You value loyalty and you know my father. And you're about to prove Agent Prentiss's belief that I have things handed to me because of my father's influence. I hope you won't do me any more favors because of my last name." You'd known Rossi knew your father. They were acquaintances that ran in the same larger circles and there was some respect that is bought between old men in cigar cubs that you'd never be able to comprehend.

"You're right, you are attractive and I do feel an obligation to give an old friend's kid a leg up." He told you, fixing you with a look that put you slightly on edge in anticipation of what was to come. "But, I think after this performance so far, I don't exactly regret sticking to my loyalties." You didn't know how to react to that, but his encouragin smile at the end helped you in getting your wits about you for the grand finale.

You slowly turned to face Agent Hotchner who had shifted slightly and now was turned more closely towards you. There was something in his dark brown eyes that radiated understanding. Perhaps a callback to his prosecutor days where he recognized the technique of knowing more and talking more to throw your opponent off balance.

Your voice was clear going into the home stretch. "Chief Strauss gave you my resume herself and asked you to consider it. You don't like her interference in how you run your team." Agent Rossi smirked beside him as you said that, and yet Agent Hotchner's face didn't change at all. "While I've been explaining why everyone else chose me, you've been waiting till I got to you so you can prove me wrong. The problem is, you don't know yourself why you chose me."

"Are you sure?" It was the first words he'd spoken since he'd initially explained the process. He was checking to see if you were bluffing. You looked him right in the face, eyes blazing, "Yes."

But you weren't done. Not yet. "So,” you barreled onwards, “instead of speculating at what I think is your reason for choosing me, let me give you the best reason for why I should be the final pick." You paused for a beat. "I can do this job better than anyone else you've interviewed, and I can prove it. "

He finally uncrossed his legs and leaning in, asked painfully softly, "How?" His voice caused goosebumps to erupt down your arms. Thank goodness you wore long sleeves.

This was it. You were either getting this job or you were about to be arrested and you had no idea which outcome was more likely.

You fixed your gaze to Dr. Reid once again. "Dr. Reid, I've heard some impressive things about your memory. In the past three years the BAU either did a remote consult or went in person to solve three cases - Charles Abbott in Milwaukee, Gabriel Smith in Dallas, and Elliot Roberts in Portland. Would you mind sharing what those three cases have in common?" Dr. Reid shifted in his seat his long arms in front of his body, his hands cradling his head as he thought through your query.

From the corner of your eye you could feel Agent Prentiss's disdain radiating but she was curious. You knew she was intrigued and wanted to know where this was going. After a silence that seemed to stretch hours but was in reality maybe only a minute at most, Dr. Reid spoke, "In terms of crime, victimology, and MO they're all entirely different. The only thing those three cases have in common is that they were solved ultimately due to anonymous tips. The anonymous tipster ended up alluding to or adding a piece to the profile distributed to the public - something that was missed in the initial release. "

At this, you felt the entire room go stiff. They're all profilers and at least some of them have an idea of where this is headed now. They worked those cases and consults.

You smiled and nodded, "Yes, exactly. Now, those cases were spread out and have nothing in common with one another. But Agent Garcia, if you were to pull up the exact phone number associated with the anonymous tip for each case, you'll find that they were all solved by the same tipster, who called from a burner phone associated with the phone number 565-905-9589. "

There was a brief pause where Agent Garcia looked around the room to gauge if that was what she should do before she pulled out her tablet.

Agent Rossi spoke again, asking "What does that prove exactly besides the fact that you tied the same number across three different cases. Anyone with access to the FBI database could have conceivably done that."

"While that is correct, sir" Agent Garcia started furiously typing away at her touchscreen keyboard, "trainees typically lack that kind of access."

"Well we all know it isn't that hard to get access to what you shouldn't." This came from Agent Prentiss whose earlier smirk had morphed into a scowl during your rundown of her selection process, but was now simply intrigued. That looked like progress in some capacity at least.

Here goes nothing. "You're right. That is true." you addressed Agent Rossi's statement, before leaning down to reach your bag that had been lying on the floor since you sat down. You felt around inside until you found what you were looking for. "Which is why I'm sure you'll want to run forensics on the tip recording as well as inspect the phone which all of the calls came from," you stated, deftly setting down a disposable cell phone in front of Agent Hotchner.

He looked at the phone and then looked at you. You'd finally drawn a real reaction from him. He looked stunned. He wasn't alone. On the projector, Agent Garcia had pulled up the phone number tied to all three cases and you could see Dr. Reid verifying that it was indeed the number you'd recited earlier. JJ looked - dare you say - impressed. While Agents Morgan and Prentiss exchanged looks that you couldn't quite decipher the nuance behind.

"I understand that might take some time." you continued, as you gathered your bag from the floor and moved to stand up. Every single person in the room stared at you as if you'd grown three heads. "Once you've verified everything that I've just said, Agent Hotchner, I will be expecting your call. Have a nice day and thank you all for your time. " And she stuck the landing. You quickly turned and opened the door and walked out, suppressing your Cheshire cat grin all the way to the elevator. ___________________________

In your wake, the BAU team looked at one another unsure of how to proceed. Hotch recovered first, "Reid, what the tipster said, was it all publicly available information that we missed?"

"It was, which is why no one chose to investigate any of them more, I'd wager." Reid explained, still slightly in shock at the turn of events. "We just assumed we'd missed something in the profile, but there was no indication that it was someone who knew the UnSub or had any insider knowledge."

"Alright," Hotch sighed. That had not at all gone the way he had expected. Who just walks out of an interview like that after dropping a bomb. None of them had even thought to ask you to wait. They'd simply allowed you your dramatic exit as they stared at the phone. This was going to be a nightmare to deal with if it turned out you were anything other than what you'd claimed to be.

"Garcia," he turned and looked at the Technical Analyst who was brandishing her tablet the same way he held a gun.

"Yes, sir?"

"Do we have audio stored of any of the tips?"

"Allow me to check, one moment. Yes, we do. The Dallas case recorded and uploaded everything afterwards. Gotta love a data obsessed police department."

"Can you please play the recording?"

"Of course"

They all waited as Penelope brought the audio to the forefront and as she hit play, the tension in the room was at capacity. A crackle later, the audio began, your voice came through clear as can be. Agent Hotchner had a phone call to make.

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