#a whole criminal board of fanfics

[fallenangeloflight]

Me: *Asks the Merlin fans for fic recs while we were randomly trending thinking I was only gonna get a couple of them*

The Merlin Fandom: "Here's about a hundred of them"

[kt-the-lee]

Yours Forever - A Criminal Minds Tickle Fanfic (Emily x JJ)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION , PLEASE READ BEFORE THE FIC:

ok. so. i did not write this fanfic. my wonderful and amazing partner is not in the community, nor affiliated with twords in any way. one day, i got the courage to explain the Whole Thing™️ to them, and i have created a Monster. they’ve taken it so on board in our everyday life and, perhaps even more flusteringly, they have started writing tword fic. and oh my GOD you guys - they get it. they’ve gotten too good at it. i seriously need you to all bear in mind when you read this how insane it is that the person who wrote this fic ISN’T. IN. THE. COMMUNITY.

just emphasising once again that i did not write this fic, but have been given explicit and enthusiastic consent to share with you all. thank you all in advance for reading and i hope you enjoy!! <3

The door crashed open with a bang so loud it made Emily jump, JJ never slammed the doors. Sitting up from the couch, she craned her neck to get a good view down the hallway to see what was happening. She immediately saw how exhausted JJ looked and how aggressively she was throwing her keys and shoes away.

"Baby? Are you okay?" she called to her concernedly. She didn't get a reply however until the blonde came storming into the living room and threw herself down beside her girlfriend, her face like thunder. 

"Never leave me with those assholes ever again." she huffed, leaning into the cushions.

"That bad? I'm sorry sweetheart, as soon as my ankle is fixed up I'll be out in the field again and you wont have to be with just the guys, promise." she assured, gently kissing her knuckles.

"You better keep that promise otherwise I'm shooting them." she glared at the ground. Emily couldn't help but chuckle softly to herself, JJ was so cute when she was grumpy like this it reminded her of an angry puppy. 

"Come here honey, you can tell me all about how awful men are while I hold you." she offered, opening her arms with a loving smile. JJ didn't have to be told twice as she snuggled into Emily's arms almost instantly, letting out a heavy sigh. 

As she began letting out all the frustrations of the last few days, the brunette started lightly caressing her arms to soothe her. She saw it working as JJ melted more and more into her embrace, eventually she took Emily's hand and placed it on her waist without breaking her torrent of insults toward their team. With a smile, she continued her light caressing on her lover's waist and lower back. 

JJ could feel her chest growing lighter and lighter as she vented all her frustrations out while focussing on the gentle tingling left in the wake of her girlfriend's fingers. The warmth of her embrace paired with the light prickling across her skin was alleviating the several days of stress as though it were a spell. By the time she had let out what was weighing her down, she realised how bored she was. 

"I feel so much better already but god I'm bored. Spending that long with just work to think about has been mind numbing." she sighed, tucking her long hair behind her shoulders. 

"I'll tell you what, if you go get changed into something comfy I'll find a way to make you laugh, deal?" she smiled down at her. JJ agreed and gave her a gentle kiss before scurrying off to get changed. While she was gone, Emily took the time to rearrange the cushions so that there was enough space for them to lie beside each other comfortably. It was a few short minutes before the blond returned wearing one of her lover's oversized shirts as pyjamas and sat down beside her.

"What's your plan to get me to laugh then?" she asked as Emily turned the TV on. 

"We'll find out wont we, come here." she beckoned her to lay in her arms, spooning her warmly. 

Her hands rested still on JJ's stomach while they watched TV, the perfect distraction for her plan to work. When she was sure her lover was relaxed, she ran her fingers delicately over her torso in very precise movements. The slight fidgeting told her what she was doing was working, so she decided to ramp it up a little more. She subtly slid her hands under the shirt, under the guise of caressing her skin, until her hands were back against her stomach where her fingers made nimble work of finding the most sensitive parts of her midriff. Skin twitched under each gentle drag of her nails, stifled giggles widened her mischievous grin and supressed fidgeting pressed their bodies close.

"I know what you're doing, you're not sly." JJ chuckled.

"Damn, you caught me... I guess that means I don't have to be subtle anymore doesn't it." she grinned before tightening her grip on her girlfriend and  tickling every inch of sensitive skin her practiced fingers could reach. Instantly the room was filled with JJ's laughter and playful squeals and Emily's equally playful growls and taunts. 

"I've got you now, you're stuck mwahaha!" she laughed, leaning round to kiss her neck wherever she could reach.

"Ah! That tickles too! Emily! You monster!" she cried between fits of laughter, uncontrollably writhing in Emily's vice like grip. Her feeble attempts to pry her hands away only resulted in more tickling and it wasn't long before she gave up trying, submitting to the torrent of affection. Her mind slowly began to rid itself of thought, her muscles shaking off all her stress and every laugh expelling the exasperation weighing her down. She hadn't imagined this would be her lover's way of making her laugh but there was no denying it was working, and there was no part of her that wanted the carefree joy to leave her just yet. She simply couldn't keep herself still as every inch of her skin was exploding under her touch and the feeling of her lips against her neck was doing nothing but fill her mind with love for her. 

"I told you I'd make you laugh!" cheered Emily through her own laughter.

"Shut it! Ahh! You're evil! You're evil Emily!" she yelped between laughter and attempting to catch her breath. 

"I know, I'm just the worst aren't I." she agreed sarcastically, pressing her fingers into her waist, which sent JJ into even louder laughter and joyful screaming. It was her favourite sound in the world, the pure joy of the woman she loved more than anything and knowing she had cried out almost every possible expletive yet had avoided anything to tell her to stop. 

"Okay you win! I surrender I surrender, white flag white flag!" she called out, waving one of her hands to signal her. In a second, Emily stopped and kissed her on the cheek. 

"Feeling better?" she asked with a smile. JJ nodded with an even bigger smile and rolled over to face her lover. 

"I am, but nothing feels better than revenge." she grinned before jabbing her own hands into Emily's sides and causing her to explode into laughter.

"JJ! You tricked me! You sneak!" she squealed, unable to reach her hands to get her off. 

"Now who's winning!" she laughed evilly, having managed to catch her breath. It was equally fun attacking her lover as it was having her hands all over her. 

Emily's mind was running wild at the unexpected attack, however she knew she wouldn't tell her to stop, not while she was having so much fun so soon after her terrible few days with the men. She wasn't half as ticklish as the blond but she loved making her smile and laugh so she played up her reactions for her, just to make her feel more powerful. She began to squirm under her beautiful girlfriend, smiling lovingly up at her wonderful grin. Still playing up her reactions, she couldn't feel a thing inside her except for how much she loved that smile. The way her hair fell either side of her face, the way her cheeks grew pink and the way her blue eyes seemingly glowed whenever she was having fun was entirely intoxicating and she could never imagine loving anyone or anything else even half as much. 

A minute or so later, she called a truce and sat up to catch her breath. JJ snuggled up to her, still beaming and thanked her for helping her to feel better. They stayed cuddled on the couch and watching TV for a few more hours until their eyelids were growing too heavy to stay in the living room. Upon moving to bed, they crawled lovingly into each others embrace and quickly drifted off feeling happy and relaxed.

[seeingteacupsindragons]

So…several…weeks ago…now, I was talking with a friend (@user-needs-new-hyperfixation) about creating characters. Because while she wants to try original fiction, all her ideas for characters start feeling too close to her Favorite Blorbos, and that’s not what she wants from original fiction characters.

And I get that. But if you can’t get your blorbos out of your head but you want to write an OC, here’s what you do:

Make a few intentional choices to take them away from that character. Oh, I know that sounds like it wouldn’t work. I promise you it can and does. You just gotta commit.

Here’s an example. The example I used with Hyper was Liam, but he’s sort of niche, so I wanted to think of a more Popular character to use as an example that still had the depth I needed to explore this.

(Very sorry to everyone who wants the Liam example. You can request it if you want, I guess)

I’ve settled on Dean Winchester. Very sorry about this. But he’s a character from a very well-known and well-watched show and frankly he’s around for long enough to have a lot going on with him.

Dean Winchester is, among other things, a very protective family man, a silly geek who wasn’t very academic in school and makes corny jokes, a sex-motivated man, a nomad, a Mama’s Boy, a devoted mechanic, a guy trying maybe a little too hard to espouse the 80s vibe.

And if you change just one of those things, his whole character can shift. Let’s take one that gets changed a lot in fanfic for Supernatural: Dean is no longer nomadic. He lives somewhere reliably and regularly.

If you’ve seen the show (I’m very sorry), you know that Dean is deeply protective of his car. But he’s protective of his car because it’s the closest thing to a home he’s ever had. If you actually give him a home and make him a kid who didn’t have to move every week or so growing up, he has a whole community, neighborhood, and city to project all that protective obsession onto.

Which means: he's not obsessed with his car. Or any car. He never learned how to to put it back together over and over and isn't a mechanic or a restoration specialist. And if he doesn’t want to preserve that car and his home so bad, maybe he’s not obsessed with classic rock and leather jackets and outdated references, either.

(And once you’ve done that with him, very few people would probably even mistake them, lol)

And maybe that protective nature led him to becoming a cop. And maybe once he realized they don’t really Protect or Serve, he becomes deeply disillusioned by them entirely. Canon Dean has problems with the cops, too, but that’s because he’s an actual criminal, not because he’s just disillusioned about what they’re doing (the series is really pretty pro-cop with characters like Jodie).

And if our “Dean” is no longer a drifter, then he’s not just going to leave when he’s solved one problem extremely messily. He’s going to have to stick around, attend school board meetings or something. Bail protesters out of jail, IDK.

And once you’ve gotten to that point, you might have a Mama’s Boy who loves his family too much and makes silly jokes while playing silly games with his friends, but you don’t really have Dean Winchester. You have your fun blorbo vibes, and you have some of your favorite traits about them. But the longer you write this character on this entirely new path and give them new experiences and see them react in ways Dean never would…

Well, now you have an OC.

You’re probably going to have to go back to the beginning and edit the first part of the character to keep them in character with what you realize about them later. But that’s honestly not a big deal and you’ll probably have to do that no matter how you write it anyway.

[aintgonnatakethis]

#2, #8, #13, #14, #16, and #18 I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS

Hey @thestorieswesay ❤️️ Sorry this is so late, but you better than anyone know what I'm like! 💀 Double apology that most of these answers are not SGU-related, but I've been on a movie binge recently. *rubs hands together*

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

Answered here, but tbh I struggle to sort characters into such rigid categories. I'll say Telford has a big preference for bottoming, to the point where in the kink series when Rush immediately tells him he doesn't want to get fucked, Telford's only potential pitfall is if it's because Rush views the act of bottoming as intrinsically degrading. When he decides that isn't the reason, then he's completely on board to never top, no further questions asked. (Also, I'm thinking this question would be better if it asked why your fave would never dom or sub 👀)

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

So I recently rewatched all the Alien films before the new one (which I didn't think was very good, but that's a discussion for a whole other post as I have a lot to say about it lol) Anyway, we have the Prometheus/Covenant reboot that unfortunately failed, which I speak briefly about here. Common fandom opinion is that Prometheus was bad, a lot of complaints about there not actually being any xenomorphs in it, blah blah blah.

But. It's a prequel. It describes where the xenomorphs came from, their evolution, etc. So of course they're not going to be in the movie all that much! 😡 The film offered a new spin to the franchise and I thought it was awesome. It had all the xenomorph lore and evolution information I could get my greedy little hands on! You don't need two dozen fully grown xenomorphs coming at you (and somehow you survive which kind of takes the danger thrill out of the rest of the movie 🙄) - Romulus - or chestbursters coming out through the spine instead in a generic horror movie body-jerking-around way - Covenant - to make a good horror movie. The alien franchise was never generic and that was what set it apart back when the originals were made.

13. worst blorboficiation

Sort of answered here with the SGU fandom often ignoring Young's and Rush's worse traits (though I definitely know that's not a problem you suffer from 😜)

For a fresh answer, let's return to the alien movies Prometheus/Covenant. In them, there's an android called David (played by Michael Fassbender 🤤) - he's an evil boy, mad scientist type, villain with a legit reason to be pissed, all good stuff! But he's not Magento-evil where everything he does is completely understandable. David is EVIL evil. He's going around impregnating people with alien fetuses and cutting people up while they're still alive and swallowing alien embryos to later vomit back up once he's through the detection system… And the fandom… Bros. Buddies. Pals. Chaps. You want to make him soft and lovey-dovey and reader-insert where you're the only one capable of changing him? Idk man… Let him be evil. As a treat.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

Worked my way through all the X-Men movies too, and it's nice to be in a fandom where there's an abundance of fanfic as opposed to having to produce the majority of it myself or just live with there not being much if any new material because it's an older/not as popular series. But I see a lot of X-Men: First Class fics having Erik being dominant in bed and I… 😂 Well, that guy has a telepathy kink a mile wide and it's a crime there's not more fic of him being the sub he's so obviously desperate to be!

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Crossing SGU over with OUAT, in order to ship Belle with Rush. ...Well, I can understand, because the reason they're doing it is to paste themselves onto Belle so they can fuck Rush, but I don't get it. 15% of SGU fics on AO3 are OUAT crossovers 😑

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on…

I feel like you're say-the-line-Bart-ing me 😂

choose violence ask game

[crisp-ta]

fanfic appreciation post!!

(recs and appreciation under the cut!)

Hi! I've been wanting to make a fanfic appreciation post for a while and herreeee it finally issss!!

Just wanted to let you writers know that you guys inspire me a lot and have gotten me through the toughest times. When I feel like I'm not enough at school or at home, I have a character that relates to me and I feel less alone. Or when I'm just feeling down, there are those oddly specifically humored fics that make me feel a million times better. There are also ones with the 10000/10 vibes omgggg. I literally have so many Pinterest boards set up so I could make fanart for them. And I love this about fandoms, people's art inspires others to make art and we support each other.

So as more appreciation, I wanted to share a few of my favorites! Just as a warning, these are mostly bad guys-centric! Also most of these are SFW! Ill put this emoji 🔞 if it isn't! (also these aren't in any order! I love them all) Also feel free to share your faves!! :))

Take it or Leave it by Smileyjack (The Bad Guys) Snake can't sleep bc he's cold so he cuddles with Wolf to warm up while he's sleeping. Snake, the denier he is, can't get over how in love he is with Wolf, and when Wolf asks him about it. Snake is such as dork about not wanting to admit he wants love and attention and this fic DOES IT JUSTICEEEE (epic echoey voice) also I love Snake and Wolf's mannerisms and dialogue in here. Mwah so good such a good fic to go to bed to👩‍🍳🫶

lighthouse by jjsworld2021 (The Bad Guys) Snake angst where he is molting and gets sad and remembers his past through a notebook and Wolf is soooososo sweet comforting him. It's got angst with a whole lot of heart, Wolf being such a sweetheart (also snake being a loving softie), fluffyvenom kisses and cuddles, and snake lore.

Sick day by daniel_lee and TotallyNotALemon (The Bad Guys) Wolf is sick and Snake takes care of him and it's sooooo sweeeeettt. Wolf is also a brat and it's hilarious. Wolf's smug ass is something I'll never get tired of.

Chocolate haze by @shelli-gator (The Bad Guys) Mostly where Snake tends to a cut on Wolf's face. It kinda has some lore about how Wolf got the scar on his eyebrow and how the bad guys made it a thing to not make their criminal acts personal. This fic kinda took it that the bad guys were more of a gang, but it doesn't bother me too much bc it was mostly fluffyvenom-centric. But MMMMMMM I love the way the author wrote this. They described things in a style I've never read before?? it lowkey reminds me of the way the author of Peacekeeper writes. Their tone was so beautiful, serious, but also hoootttt. Also they described the surroundings and how Wolf/Snake looked at each other (physical appearance) and I could just imagine how this could look in my head

Divorce Drive by daniel_lee and TotallyNotALemon (🔞 for explicit sexual content) (The Bad Guys) Ugh these two are a writing power couple I swear. This one's where Wolf and Snake have recently divorced (not from each other but Wolf from Diane and Snake from a snake lady) and Wolf meets Snake in a bar and asks to hook up. It had everything I needed and more. Wolfs rizz the beginning and throughout was soooo hot my hot compress could not. I soo want to do fan art for Wolf being at the bar, GOD. Also, I thought this would be straight up pwnp but I WAS VERY INCORRECT. It had lots of feelings. Anyways I loved this one a lot!! It was especially comforting during crappy period feeling time :(

Go Bad or Go Home by @bloomtoy (The Bad Guys) A series where about how Wolf and Snake met. It follows their early heists and I love their conversations. This is the one where they met bc they were trying to steal the same diamond and teamed up to escape.

The Enigma Project by SpookOrSpectre (zootopia) (beware this is unfinished but there's more chapters on fanfic.net) UUGGHHHH this has literally been my personality for a while. Also got me thru a lot of school depresso hours. This takes place after the movie where Nick and Judy art buddy cops. They are assigned a case by Bogo that turns out to be a supernatural thing. There's this org called A3I with deals with those sorts of cases and Nick and Judy end up joining them in their cases. It's a very detective mystery but also suuuUUPPER SPPPOOOOKY. I had to stop reading this at night at some point bc I got too scared. I love the way they wrote Nick and Judy in the first few chapters. They got such good chemistry and it sounded SOOOO like the original movie and it even added more. IT WAS GIVINGGGG.

Daddy Long Legs by MidnightStrix (Helluva Boss) (🔞 for explicit sexual content) Where Stolas and Blitzo are doing their monthly hookup but Blitzo gets caught up thinking about never being able to be loved. I looove the writing in this one! It was so sarcastic and I loved reading about Blitzo's internal monologue. Just a warning, it is pretty explicit (i just started getting into the Helluva fanfics, if yall have any recs please send them :'))

[eolewyn1010]

For the WIP thingie: Charité: Abweichler, Core of Honor and Je m'appelle Catherine 👀

Another triple bundle, sure thing! Uh... fair warning, I Cannot Shut Up for the life of me.

"Je m'appelle Catherine" is another historical fic of mine, telling a good chunk of life story of Catherine Raffelin, daughter of a lady-in-waiting at the court of Caterina de Medici. In 1573, she's wed to one Petrus Gonsalvus - who bears the distinction of having been born with hypertrichiosis. It's why he's some sort of curiosity in court society, handed around to be gawked at, called an "ape man" and a "wolf man" when, really, he's just a dude who happens to be quite hairy. As time passes, Catherine and Petrus grow into their marriage; she becomes his companion and ally-against-a-cruel-world, and they eventually raise their children together. Starting out with the beginning of their marriage tho; Catherine goes in there knowing nothing about this guy except everyone tells her he's The Creepiest, and she can't refuse a union arranged by the dowager queen. Next morning, the court's scientists and medics get on Petrus' case like, "uh, Petrus? Why didn't you get on with making weird hairy babies? That was kind of the point of this whole spiel?" And Petrus is just "??" Because, for one, he's as much of a virgin as Catherine is, but also: She's a lady - not an extremely highborn one, but a lady all the same - and Petrus has been taught to think of himself as sub-human. So pressuring her into something she's obviously averse to is a double no-no for him. Basically, the upbringing they dished out to him foiled their plans for Petrus' course of life. The newlyweds take the scenic route there, with Catherine getting to know him on a level on which no one else has accepted him before, and joining him in his lot in life.

"Core of Honor" is the frankly quite stupid working title for a Fantasy original fic; I really need to get on a better name. Some day. Daniechin is the dutiful captain of the guard in the thriving city of Thanier Core, and he spends a good amount of his days trying to hunt down Amarzir, famed and infamous assassin - and a good amount of his nights, screwing the brains out of the very same guy (who's also a flippant brat). Ama and Daniechin have this kind of unstable enemies-with-benefits thing going on, Daniechin not trusting Ama one bit, but more often than not having to rely on the information he gets from him, especially as conspirations and schemes are a threat to his beloved city. Apart from the two idiots sorting out their relationship, we have: Bona fide monster huntress Gerbia having more brains than both of the guys combined, Thanier Core's nobility having shady political business going on with the dude who wants to take over the city, the criminal underground scene so not being on board with said politics, a youngster countess trying to get a grip on the chaos, Dani having to let go of an old grudge, Amarzir's tragic past and personal quest for vengeance and having to come to terms with his own conscience. Busy, busy.

And, finally, some good old fanfic! "Abweichler" is a Charité character study on Martin, immediately following the return from the front and the amputation of his leg. (A great source of inspiration for this was all the lies will grind you down by @bookshelfdreams - go check it out.) Martin is in the hospital and has to cope with all the shit he has been through, and he's sitting there with a pretty hefty dose of angst at how, by the standards the Nazis have set up all around him, he's unworthy life, deviating as much on the inside with his homosexuality as he does now on the outside with being an amputee. Everyone in his surroundings has hammered it into his head that he's just wrong, a disease to the "Volkskörper". It's not something he ever believed in regards to others, but he has a hard time letting go of the thought about himself (no thanks, depression brain). The memory of his lost love and the new friends he makes at the hospital help along the healing process.

[duskdog]

It's unfortunate that there wasn't more time given to Steph and Helena beyond the early one-shot they had together. That could have been a really good long-standing relationship. Likewise, I think the relationship between Steph and Dinah could have been great if it had lasted longer. In the beginning, Dinah was obviously reluctant/uncomfortable with it, and they never really had the chance to push through that awkwardness because they were all wrapped up in the Bruce Wayne murderer/fugitive case. (This was all made extra complicated by the fact that Steph didn't even know that Bruce and Batman were the same person, so she was entirely lost during this period, confused about why Batman had abruptly abandoned her, while everyone around her knew or discovered the truth but couldn't/wouldn't tell her. Having to hide that from her while dealing with trying to investigate and exonerate Bruce really seemed to make Steph's presence extra stressful and annoying to everyone else. This whole thing was pretty rotten, btw -- Steph couldn't do anything but speculate on the reasons for Batman's absence, and naturally assumed it was because of something she had done, and she was left to process her feelings of rejection and abandonment all by herself.) Ultimately, Dinah also rejected her -- albeit somewhat more gently than Batman did, but telling her to "go back to the Batboys" was a pretty nasty kick in the pants, considering the entire reason Steph was there was because "the Batboys" had rejected her first (and by Batboys I primarily mean Batman; Tim was away at boarding school for most of this, and also hurting over how Batman had betrayed him by revealing his secret identity to Steph without his consent). Babs wasn't really a great mentor until much later, after Steph returned from "the dead" and took up the Batgirl mantle. Prior to that, she was routinely snippy, cold, and sometimes downright mean to Steph. (For example: when Steph claims Cass broke her jaw, and both Cass and Babs claim she didn't, only to later admit to each other that they knew that she did, in fact, fracture it a wee bit -- like yeah, it's minor in the grand scheme of things, but why gaslight her about that at all? Babs even jokes -- in that deadpan way she has that leaves you wondering if it's really a joke or not -- that Cass should have really broken it good. Like damn, Babs, is that necessary?) Steph never actually seemed to hold this against Babs at the time, though, and their relationship improved significantly once Babs decided to give Steph a shot as Batgirl, after all. It was never fraught with as much pain and tension as her relationship with Bruce, and I'd say she and Babs are actually pretty tight now. Steph's mom, though, wow, she deserves a lot more recognition. This woman survived her stupid husband, kicked an addiction, and worked long difficult hours to support the daughter who kept jumping out windows and getting into fights with criminals. It's unfortunate that the vast majority of fanfics that even bother to mention Crystal at all seem to ignore her recovery in favor of either removing her from the picture entirely (death by OD, or sending her off to rehab), or keeping her around to be angst-fodder -- both of these often intended to justify Steph viewing Bruce as a parental-figure instead. It's also unfortunate that Steph has all this history with the Birds of Prey, and yet is being very much left out of their book right now even though Cass -- who was still her roommate and partner, last we saw -- is being featured. Give Steph a team. She's pretty much the only Bat-adjacent who's never actually had the support and friendship of a team. :(

I respect everyone’s headcanons and all…but!! I really don’t like how Steph’s long line of female mentor figures have been ignored. It feels like in fanon there’s a much larger focus on Steph needing a “Dad” role in her life, usually filled by Bruce or, weirdly, the Riddler (more power to y’all but Steph has at most shown disdain for Eddie in-universe) - when she’s had plenty of teachers, mother figures, or just her plain actual MOTHER (more on her and why she matters here!) that have cared for her & guided her when all the male figures in her life were telling her she was too flighty and irresponsible.

Dinah Lance,

Robin 80-Page Giant

Barbara Gordon,

Batgirl (2009) #3

Selina Kyle,

Catwoman #34

Even Helena Bertinelli for a little bit.

Batman: Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma They were all really important and defining relationships. I wanna see headcanons about them. Fanfics. Discussions. But I swear, I feel like I hear next to nothing.

I wanna change that. And I want y’all to change that 🥺.

[luminescentauthor]

Good Mom Talia Headcanons

Because Talia al-Ghūl is a Good Mom Screw You

DC – Gotham Knights, specifically – is back on their evil Talia al-Ghūl BS, and they’re also back on their “the less white she appears, the more evil she is” BS and I am. So tired.

So, out of raw spite, here are happy headcanons revolving mainly around Talia being a good mom and generally kicking butt!

This is from my Remained AU, named that because it’s the AU where Jason remained with Talia and Damian after coming back to life. You don’t need to know it to understand this, but if you haven’t seen this AU before, you can find the original post here, or the tag for it here.

CW: Swearing and uhhh I think that’s it but PLEASE do lmk if I missed anything

+ One of the first things Talia did when Ra's was removed from the picture following Death and the Maidens (a batman comic in which Ra’s dies. He eventually came back) was buy Damian the biggest, most ridiculous art set in existence, and about 400 glitter pens. He loves it.

+ Jason and Talia will often have tea and chat while they play strategy games, such as chess, Stratego, and Shogi. She always kicks his ass.

+ Nobody is sure when she sleeps. Maybe she just doesn't.

Multiple members of the League of Assassins claim she has the ability to be in two places at the same time. No one is sure how she does it.

+ Talia calls Damian and Jason lots of affectionate nicknames. She only does this when they're alone prior to leaving the League, or with her few most trusted people, but once they're in Gotham she does it all the time. Some of the nicknames are beloved, habibi (Arabic, basically translates to "my love," I'm stealing it from the thousands of fanfics I've seen her use it in), sweetheart, darling, etc.

+ Absolute fashion icon. Owns the most gorgeous dresses, saris, and pantsuits. As CEO of LexCorp and later when she moves to Gotham, she absolutely redefines what is fashionable by virtue of being the best-looking person in the room. (For context, when Lex Luthor was president, he made Talia CEO of LexCorp, for about a year, I think. She spent most of it trying to give evidence to the Daily Planet about Lex’s criminal activity.)

However Jason makes fun of her for The Pink Jumpsuit relentlessly.

+ Talia almost always wears her hair in a braid or bun; the only time she doesn't is for business meetings and parties and whatnot. If she's just around a League base or fighting, it's tied back. This has nothing to do with the fact that it affects her fighting skill and everything to do with the fact that she finds hair in her face very annoying. Talia is far too good to be affected by whether or not her hair is in her face – she just gets tired of it falling in her eyes when she’s trying to read.

+ Doesn’t wear heels much; she’s an athlete and a fighter, and heels literally deform your feet. Will wear heels when meeting with Ra’s because she enjoys the look on his face when she’s taller than him. She’s also been known to do this to Lex Luthor and many others. She once walked into a LexCorp board meeting wearing eight-inch heels and towered over all the white men’s heads. Just because she doesn’t wear heels much doesn’t mean she can’t walk in them flawlessly.

+ (Tbh everything Talia al-Ghūl does is flawless.)

+ In canon, when Bruce and Talia met, she was studying for a medical degree at Cairo University. She now has that medical degree.

“Ms. Al-Ghūl—” “That is Doctor Al-Ghūl to you.”

Jason: When did even you do your residency???

Talia, drinking tea: Mmm.

Jason, exasperated: Mom.

+ She also got a business degree at some point, and no one is totally sure when or how. It does make explaining why Lex Luthor made the CEO of LexCorp much easier, though.

+ While she prefers tea, Talia did not get through medical school or a whole year of dealing with Lex Luthor’s bullshit without copious amounts of coffee.

+ Jason got her a “HBIC” mug as a joke partway during her year with LexCorp. It promptly became her favorite mug and can always be seen on her desk filled with coffee or tea. 

+ After moving to Gotham, she spends most of her free time spoiling her kids or working on social reform. She's also working on a law degree.

"Mom, a medical degree, a business degree, and a law degree seems like overkill?" "It is, I just want the law degree because it will help me make Lex Luthor's life a living hell." "In that case, understandable have a nice day."

She and Barbara are both “yes I have far too many degrees just so I can wave them in the face of annoying white men what about it” energy and are also both very determined to enact social reform, so they get along quite well. Possibly too well. However, the only people who need to be afraid of their combined might are those who probably deserve it, so the rest of the Batfam has elected to simply get out of the way.

+ Talia owns a private jet, but don’t worry it’s eco-friendly. No ridiculous carbon emissions for this billionaire. She’s an al-Ghūl. Of course, it’s eco-friendly. (She’s also sensible.) Jason proceeds to use it to bounce back and forth between Australia and Gotham, and Talia is. So. Tired. Jason my darling I love you so, so very much, but that is a terrible idea for your education and your sleep schedule please—

For the record, all of Bruce’s vehicles are also electric.

+ Damian wasn't allowed to have pets with the League because Talia didn't trust Ra's not to kill anything Damian showed affection towards. Once Damian lives in Gotham, however, Talia 100% enables his animal-loving tendencies.

Like… maybe a little too much.

Bruce: I’m going to have to build an animal sanctuary in my backyard at this rate.

Talia: I think that would be wonderful, don’t you? It’s not like you don’t have the space.

Tim: *Wheezing*

+ The last name she uses is “Kareem.” Assuming my sources are correct (and admittedly they may not be; my faith in the internet is shaky, at best, though I checked a handful of different sites and they all seem to say the same thing), it is a name of Arabic origin that means generous, honorable, and noble, and is also one of the 99 names of God given in the Quran. It is also the name Jason and Damian use.

When the knowledge that Jason and Damian were Bruce and Talia’s kids becomes public, they both wanted to be Kareem-Waynes. Talia, who wanted to avoid any potential media conflict, pointed out (correctly) that somehow the media would find a way to make a mess out of that and added that she loves them both dearly and they will always be her sons whether or not they use her name. So in the name of Less Media Attention they were going to go with Wayne-Kareem, since it's normal to put the father's name first.

Two hours after they agreed on this, Bruce found out from one of the other batkids and went "WE'RE GOING WITH KAREEM-WAYNE THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY SCREW SEXISM”

Jason and Damian think it’s fantastic. Talia laughs so hard.

The media does try to make a thing out of it, and Bruce literally says “This is the 21st century. Consider it a statement. Also go fuck yourself.”

On a related note, when he marries Selina he becomes Bruce Kyle-Wayne and she becomes Selina Kyle-Wayne and his kids have never loved him more. We stan a feminist!

+ Talia loves animals as much as Damian, and they both get along with Selina because of it.

+ Selina and Talia can often be seen together at galas whispering to one another and generally making everyone else feel like they aren’t worthy to be in the same room.

+ Selina introduces Talia to Ivy and they immediately get along, since they’re both very passionate about environmental reform. Talia does networking and works on policy improvements, while Selina breaks into places for evidence and files, Barbara helps with political wrangling and gathers intelligence, and Ivy and Harley fuck shit up when all else fails. Ivy’s sense for where pollution is coming from is unparalleled, as well, so she can also help gather data to point Talia in the right direction to publicly destroy corrupt companies. Selina’s mostly here to steal things and protect endangered cats.

YEAH I SAID WOMEN IN HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS NOT DEFINED BY THEIR RELATION TO A MAN

WHAT ABOUT IT

For the record, Bruce is very impressed by what they're doing and also absolutely terrified.

(Oh sidenote HarlIvy canon.) (Didn’t even occur to me to say that because I deadass assumed it was a given.)

+ Talia’s initial feelings towards Harley were pretty hostile, given everything the Joker did to Jason, but she comes to understand what Harley went through. Harley and Jason actually bond quite a bit in this AU.

+ Also, not totally on topic with the general theme of this post, I’m going to Own Up to a mistake I made on the last post: I completely forgot the Wayne family is Jewish and was like “yeah, they celebrate Christmas??? Right???” So. Hannukah! They do celebrate Christmas – Tim and Steph grew up celebrating Christmas – they just also celebrate Literally Everything Else.

+ It’s canon in DC that Talia made Damian ox blood soup when he was a kid, so presumably she made it for Jason too. Jason asked her to teach him how to make it. Damian's a vegetarian now, so they're trying to figure out how to replicate the taste.

Talia, affectionately and teasingly: Damian, habibi, I love you dearly, but you are making cooking for you incredibly hard.

Damian: :)

+ She, Jason, and Alfred have been learning how to make a bunch of dishes Damian already likes with tofu and other alternatives, as well as trying out new vegetarian recipes. He’s a growing boy, he needs protein, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be meat.

+ Talia and Alfred go to the farmer’s market every Saturday. Jason often comes with, and the other kids sometimes tag along.

+ Talia bought a cashmere blanket and to this day it is one of the best purchases she's ever made.

She kind of wishes her kids would stop fighting over it, though.

The problem is usually solved by yoinking both children into a cuddle pile.

“Just buy another one—” She has. She owns like six of them, now. It’s this one specific one they want for some reason.

(It’s because it’s Mom’s.)

[discet]

An AU of your AU where one of the girls starts off at Dia Mond's ship instead of Wartwood/Toad Tower/Newtopia.

God that would be so indulgent for me to write about. Fanfic based on my fanfic.

Ah well, what else am i gonna do tonight.

So on a character arc level, I actually think there isn't a bad choice among the three. I think a more fleshed out crew would have something for each of the girls.

Anne: While probably not on board with all the violence so much, but I think she'd vibe with the comradery among thieves. She'd probably have the hardest time with the life at sea bit. Also insist on various quality of life improvements including a movie night where she figures out how to project a move onto the sails. The Civil Wart Episode equivalent ends with the whole crew drawing swords on each other.

Marcy: I think Marcy would have a fucking blast as a high seas swashbuckler. Definitely longest adjustment period among the three just cause of clumsiness. Ends up with a rope tide to her waist whenever she's above deck after nearly falling overboard three times. While Marcy and Dia had a rapport in awiw, it was ultimately marred by the implicit threat to Marcy's loved ones that loomed at all times. Without that and with Marcy making improvements to the ships armaments' and general tactics, Dia and Marcy get along fabulously. Definitely kind of bummed when her electronics run out of power though.

Sasha: Probably the most interesting case study here. Dia, unlike Grime and Yunan, isn't an authority figure. She is a straight up criminal. I think Sasha would be onboard with the crew pretty quickly in the same way she took to being a luitenent naturally in canon. But rather than being a power trip, I think it would be interesting to see her have to value and work with everyone else. No idle hands on a sailing ship. Dia wouldn't be as noble or moral a compass as Yunan is in awiw or indulge Sasha's worst controlling tendencies like Grime does in Canon. She'd be really interesting middle ground between the two. A leader who does care about her crew for their own sake, but doesn't have qualms about kicking down someone in between them and their goals. I think her development there would be really fun.

I think ultimately the catch with all of these is that as a pirate ship, Dia and her crew is gonna be well away from the rest of the plot. You'd have to probably overhaul the rest of the geography of Amphibia to let a pirate ship be relevant to the plot. Though it wouldn't be hard to change things into a island chain? But yeah, I love Dia, thanks for asking about her

[demonslayedher]

I'm asking this for the purpose of trying to keep the KNY fanfic I'm writing historically accurate to the Taisho era as much as possible.

Bandits were a big problem in feudal Japan, but what about the Taisho era? What sort of criminal activity happened during that time? I've tried looking into with through websites, the library, bookstores, but I can't find an answer.

If you can't answer it either, it's no biggie, just thought I would try asking. Thank you for your time!

Hey there! I hate to hold up fic writing, so hopefully this will give you more to work with, or at least can be a spring board. I'm going to meander both in the bandit direction and the Taisho society direction, but neither quite lands me at the "crime in Taisho" destination.

Not a super long post, but a little dense.

Getting straight to the topic of bandits, while flamboyant bands of them are a major element in a lot of popular fiction throughout history, they were pretty uncommon by the later Edo period (or at least, this is what the Japanese equivalent of Quora tells me). Theft was a very big problem after disasters like wide spread city fires, as was civil unrest, but in wasn't actually all that widespread in the countryside, where villages had very strong collective mindsets. Basically, if you lived in a village, you had a lot of incentive to not become an outcast, and people who were outcasts tended to be on their own (though there were plenty of people who generally lived on their own in the deeper mountains anyway).

As you might had guessed, the sources of a lot of oni legends are from societal outcasts, and a lot of the Heian-ish era demon legends stem from whole groups of people, especially including bandits. Mountain passes with high traffic like Mt. Suzuka (on the border of Shiga and Mie, not far from the imperial capital) were often targeted by bandits, so these places became the settings of demon legends. Also somewhat related, Tsuchigumo are giant spider demons/youkai that are featured in a good handful of Heian-ish legends, and this was also a derogatory term which became conflated with bandits (and could you look into this youkai's influence on Rui and his outsider family of spiders? Yeah, I think you sure can). Coming back to what society was like in KnY, this takes place in early Taisho, in the very short period of time between the authoritarianism of Meiji letting off a bit, and before the iron hammer of the law came back down hard again following the civil unrest of the Great Taisho Earthquake. This article is very good overview of some of the social changes going on at the time, like organized labor protests and rural protests in response to rice prices, but it's worth noting that rural Taisho still looked a lot like rural late Edo as far as cultural mindsets were concerned, and Japanese villages already had a very long history of binding together on civil causes. Again, the kicker here is that villagers were usually all-in on stuff together, and people who don't fit in faced a high risk of being ostracized, and it would had been harder to get a community of outsiders organized as bandits. In the cities, like in other world class cities of the 1910's, there was a lot more opportunity for seedy people to do seedy things, and yakuza was already a thing, even if not quite the same organizations that came to fame later. I'm afraid I don't know quite what activities they'd have been up to, though. While it's not outright crime in most cases, KnY gives a pretty good look into some of the societal ills of the periods, like Sanemi growing up accustomed to violence in poor urban areas, Enmu being a cheat who sold fake cures (in whatever time period it was that he as born), and Zenitsu getting screwed over into debt.

[cmwocappreciationweek]

So here are the prompts for each day and who should be participating in each :) again reblogs and are encouraged for this post the more people who participate the more fun this will be!

Also, I've seen a few questions about whether white writers are allowed to write and participate all with be explained down below! If your still a bit confused or have any questions send an ask in and I will answer :)

Monday: let's start this first day off with a bang! write a fic between 500-10,000 words about your favourite character of colour in criminal minds can be any paring eg. Luke x reader or Tara x Emily (only writers of colour)

Tuesday: write a fic between 500-10,000 words with a POC coded as y/n (only writers of colour)

Wednesday: write a fic between and 500-10,000 words about any white character in criminal minds meeting your family from a different culture (this is a chance for writers of colour to show your mutuals and followers the beautiful cultures that's make us, us!) can be as SO or as friends (only writers of colour)

Thursday: write a fic between 500-10,000 words with an OC of colour! Can be paired with any character in criminal minds as a SO or as friends (only writers of colour)

Friday: rewrite your favourite character of colour led scene in criminal minds, fic must be between 500-10,000 words (writers of colour only)

Saturday: headcanon day! For the whole day write any headcanons you want about any character in criminal minds with a POC coded reader/ y/n (only writers of colour)

Sunday: ending the last day on a good note! Write a Royalty AU! With any character in criminal minds x POC coded y/n or an OC of colour. Use any fanfic trope of your choice eg. Enemies to lovers, miscommunication, friends to lovers, fake dating. Fic must be between 500-10,000 words (writers of colour only)

White Criminal minds creators: This is a chance to discover new writers and fics you may not have seen before!

The best way to support these writers and creators who don't get as much appreciation and recognition as their white counterparts is to reblog during this week!

Monday: search on Tumblr any criminal minds character x POC reader find a fic in the results read and reblog it and write a blurb on why other people should read the fic

Tuesday: write a review about your favourite creator who writes poc coded readers or y/ns

Wednesday: write a fic where your favourite cm mutual of colour or creator of colour is y/n. If their name isn't on their blog write the fic based on their personality then tag them! fic must be between 500-10,000 words

Thursday: write a blurb about your favourite character of colour blurb must be between 500-1k words

Friday: Reblog day follow the #cmwocappreciationweek and reblog everything posted on Friday

Saturday: discover a new writer/ creator of colour from this week give them a follow and write a blurb about their fics and why other white creators should follow them!

Sunday: last day of the week! Make a mood board based on as many of the fics written this week as you like

Any questions about these prompts or this week in general don't hesitate to send an ask to this account or my personal one @ssavanessa22 :)

[vintagelacerosette]

I posted 37,054 times in 2022

That's 553 more posts than 2021!

448 posts created (1%)

36,606 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@roughentumble

@creepkinginc

@winged-fool

@gaydhdstiles

@erdsthenerds

I tagged 11,152 of my posts in 2022

#gallavich - 2,444 posts

#soft & sensitive husbands - 700 posts

#mickey milkovich - 607 posts

#ian gallagher - 527 posts

#gallavich fanart - 513 posts

#my beloved - 436 posts

#gallavich fanfic - 381 posts

#gallacrafts - 303 posts

#sweetface - 283 posts

#ask game - 222 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#mickey is a bit tipsy and he’s sitting in ian’s lap with his head on his shoulder and stroking ian’s beard softly while saying all this btw.

I sent 1 gift in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Gallacrafts theme 7 - C'mere

Happy Gallacrafts day my lovelies!! 🥰 I'm pretty happy this is my first time participating in the ever amazing @gallacrafts 💕 hope you guys like 💝

💘💕💘💕💘💕💘💕💘💕💘💕💘💕💘💕💘💕

See the full post

90 notes - Posted February 13, 2022

#4

Gallacrafts theme 12: You're under my Skin, Man ✨️

Happy @gallacrafts day my sunbeams & it's a special one at that, as it is our one year anniversary being all crafty as a incredible fandom! Hurrah!!! 🥳🎊

Well, with this prompt I decided to wove them into each other so that they'll be under each other's skin... Get it? Ba dum tis! 🥁 I'm sorry it's 3am here & I have gone a lil bit over board lmao 🤪

I cannot wait until y'all see our magnificent zine as well. ❤️❤️❤️

But I love you all & here's to many more crafting years with all you wonderful, amazingly creative, encouraging & talented people I have the honour to call my friends 🥹😘💕💕

See the full post

99 notes - Posted July 25, 2022

#3

Gallacrafts theme 11: I'm fucking gay ✨️

Happy @gallacrafts day & happy PRIDE my dearest doves 🌈🥰🌈

I have used Mickey's iconic quote for various LGBTQIA+ identities as an affirmation for love wins & there's no need to be ever ashamed.

Like Mickey say it loud. Say it proud. Say it with your whole chest ✨️

See the full post

177 notes - Posted June 20, 2022

#2

Gallacrafts theme 9: Deleted Scenes ✨

Happy gallacrafts dearest hearts!! For this theme I simply could not choose so I picked them all haha! I made a waterfall heart card with images of the iconic & criminally deleted gallavich scenes. Thank you to @gallacrafts by the spectacular Rhys @smokey-mickey , magnificent Leah @whatwouldmickeydo & to all of you those who shared creations or shared other's crafts! I'm just so grateful to be a part of y'all 🥰🥰🥰

✨️💖✨️❤️✨️💛✨️💚✨️💙✨️💜✨️💗✨️💖✨️❤️

Behind the scenes under the cut

Here are stills of each heart ❤️

See the full post

183 notes - Posted April 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

A huge thank you to Alice @darthvaders-wife for making such a mesmerising commission!!! 🥹💕 I am just so in love with them 💙💙💙

273 notes - Posted July 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[bellasweetwriting]

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..." 

[botwstoriesandsuch]

hey Kip! I’m sending asks into different writer’s askboxes, inquiring about cool themes/development facts/stuff the author wants to share about their personal favorite work of their own. What’s yours? :)

Ok so this ask is old and when I first got it I was like “dang I don’t really have a lot to talk about, what should I talk about I could those revalink headcanons the Kip Cut that turned into a working fic uhh hmm maybe I’ll just make something new to talk about real quick” and then I did and now there is a 12+ chapter Revalink fic in my drafts and I’m gonna talk about that now, whoopsie doopsie [click "j" to skip]

aHEM, OK so allow me to break out the primary school white board because yeah, I have a lot of thoughts and the oxford comma has not yet made it’s home into my brain. oh and spoilers for paraphrase. for both all of Chapter one and future events in later chapters, but it’s really nothing you couldn’t surmise from the AO3 tags

so I really wanted to tell the story of Revali and Link learning and struggling to love again after the less-than-fortunate events of Botw, but I wanted a...how you say...fresher, approach on the subject? Like I know we always say that fanfic writers writing the same tropes and stories time and time again is good because we eat that shit up--but at the same time I had asian parenting as was told never to half ass anything ever, no matter what. So now I'm gay and extra and have depression maybe and oh would you look at that @motherhyrule has dropped a beautiful revalink prompt right into my lap

Great so now that we have, that, I shall take you on the step by step process on how to make a :sparkles: story. So step one is to spend at least five to eleven business days for your white board to dismantle your genre and themes and work them around your character arcs. Luckily I have prepared one ahead of time

s*breaks out those laser pointers that uni professors use* So let's start with defining genre. As define because I HATE you, fuck you. I want you to suffer and writhe on the ground, motherfucker. How dare you think that I would give you nothing but pure predictable fluff, fuck you and yours

is the set of expectations that your audience has when consuming a piece of media

And the great thing about fanfiction is that unlike movies or book where the genres are more vague like, "oh it's a noir mystery genre. so there's a crime, maybe a murder, and a detective and a criminal." or "oh it's a teen romance. so there's some white people and a morally questionable six-pack 18 year old love interest that will be painted as desirable for some reason" BUT with fanfiction HALF of the work out the window, because as soon as you see those #revalink #aro sidon #zelpha #revali is an idiot and #found family tags you already know what's up.

Now what's so great about genre and expectation? Well the fun thing about it is that

I will use it to fucking break you.

... ... ...

<3 For example! <3

In Chapter 1: Holes, you already expect there to be revalink, you already expect them to be soulmates with the soulmarks and there's angst and yadayada ya. Revali and Link have to match because thatttss what this is all about, this is about them! This is about cute, little soulmarks and romantic words!

But whoooopsie doopsie [disney channel laugh track plays] they DON'T match anymore! Link's got a different mark! The number one rule of this entire genre has been broken whoooooooooooooooops. *ba dum tiss*

You might notice with a lot of my writing that I do this a lot, this whole..."oop but there's one little thing that's different." TebaSaki sick fic? Ok cool, but what if Teba burns an irreplaceable relic of the Rito champion to fight a wizzrobe first to characterize why his dumbass clicks with Saki. Mipha deciding to persue Link? Ok what if she chases after a dragon to externalize this conflict as she pierces it's flesh for a scale. Link fighting a Lynel? Ok but what if it's actually a sidlink angst fic in disguise and it's also world building on how Link deals with the bloodmoon that erases all of his efforts which is sort of similar to how his existence was erased from Hyrule 100 years ago mwaahahaha! Ok now that I say this outloud I think I just have a pattern of using fight scenes to externalize character growth. I like fight scenes...anyways.

I think another great thing about the realm of fanfiction is that with the tagging system, I can basically use a chekhov's gun sort of deal, without doing any writing. You know I'm gonna use that gun marked "soulmates" but you don't know when I'm gonna shoot it, and you SURE as hell don't know how.

And huzzah! One of the main points of conflict both drives the tension between Revali and Link, solidifies the unique genre and setting of this world, while also creating a new mystery that will carry over for the next few chapters.

Is Revali right in that Link's rebirth makes him destined for someone new now? What will Link do with the information that his soulmark has changed? Why did it change? Did Revali's change as well? How does anything fucking work right now?

And sure, you might be able to tell where things will end with them, but you sure as fuck will not know how because I HATE you. Fuck you. I want you to suffer and writhe on the ground, motherfucker. How dare you think that I would give you nothing but pure predictable fluff. I am not your goddamn fairy godmother, I will do as I fucking please. You will suffer as you fucking deserve, fuck you and your little tiny--

/j

Oh! But you might have noticed on my little planning whiteboard thing that there was a little T-Chart! For Revali and Link! That's because the next important thing besides plot (and in a lot of cases, including this one, it's argued to be even MORE important than plot) is

~CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT~

[to the tune of that history of the world video on youtube]

So yes, it's a little T-Chart outlining their character views in relation to the themes. And the great thing about themes is that they're not something you can necessarily predict in the same way you can with the genre and plot.

But now see, I'm very lazy so I'm just gonna plagiarize @hyrule-kingdom-updates thingy [that you should read btw] because they said my point quite clear enough

Now I don't really need to care about those points about bond and relationships and being understood, because I'm dealing with already established canon characters. I'm not some NERD who dabbles with entire casts of ocs who even cares about ocs not me that's for sure ahaahahaahahahahahaahahahahahAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH *cries in my orphaned WTTU fic* AHAHAHA*sobs*DONT FUCKING LOOK AT ME THAT WAY I SWEAR--

/j I love ocs

But the points I do wanna focus on is the idea that characters provide new perspectives on the theme, and that characters growth can be tracked based on their wants, lies, and needs.

So see, themes can be predicted the same as genre/plot because while you can have the same fanfic plots and tropes, theme will always vary!

Sometimes it's a journey of selfworth with Revali! Sometimes it's an exploration of trauma with Link. Sometimes it's about how you deal with the vulnerabilities of love with Mipha. Sometimes there's straight up NOOOO theme, and people just be fucking, and kissing, and baking, and having a good time. And that is totally fine too!

But I'm not a fucking coward.

I'm gonna weave in themes with my plot, because I fucking can.

I'm not a weakling like you.

Do you hear me, 2019 Kip? Do you hear me Demmers? Do you hear me Quill? I'm coming for your ass. You think you're so great, but I'm coming for you. Rest assured that your graves will be as deep as your sculptured pride--

Heeeere is that T-Chart again, plus more!

yyyyyYou might notice that Revali and Link are quite parallel, to paraphrase. Ayoooo, see what I did there? *dabs* I'm a genius. Anywho

They both start off the same way: 100 years ago they were in love and happy. Basically the equivalent of childish naivety. For the first time in their lives, life is whimsical and charming, and they make each other happy. In fact, it's almost a flaw with how they perceive this happiness. But don't worry! It doesn't last long!

You know what happens.

I think the chart is pretty self explanatory. Revali builds walls fast enough to give a republican a wet dream. Meanwhile Link makes every aromantic in the chat groan with his doubled down sentiments in the idea that his chances of being truly happy again are gone.

Now, I can't exactly describe the full on process of the inbetweens, and where Revali and Link are gonna go from here, because...you have to read it for yourself! Heehee...but something I did think was fun was how these character views on the themes are revealed. Because you'll notice that, I never give exposition. Ever.

Ok well, let me rephrase that. I never give exposition scenes. I will never give you a big LOTR fancy wizard scene explaining the ins and outs of a character's question or the world's magic or whatever. I'm a very impatient Kip, and I value efficiency. Nonono, it's all about multi tasking, baby!

Chapter 1: Holes is divided into three parts.

Post 100 Years - Medoh (Establishes Ghost Rev/Bonk Head Link's view)

100 Years Ago - Flight Range (Establishes old Revalink views)

Post 100 years - Mark (Develops Ghost Rev/Bonk Head Link's view in contrast to who they once were)

I think the way that you structure flashbacks is incredible vital, as it's a very quick way to characterize people without having them say stuff like "I used to be like you, until I took an arrow to the knee" or whatever.

And with the main structure of the chapters and the fic as a whole is focus on their characters, that means I can hide whatever other stuff I want in those scenes, becuase you're too busy absorbing the fun character stuff to realizing I'm giving you boring exposition. Like for example:

Post 100 Years - Medoh and Mark

Foreshadowing for the end of the fic

Set up connection to Medoh with Revali

Link has defeated Windblight

Link has been visiting Revali every night for the past few days

Link has already met Kass and presumably Teba

Link doesn't have the Mastersword

Revali's Gale is still an ability that needs master and practice on Link's end

And that's just some of the stuff.

And see, the only reason I can efficiently give all of this information regarding character, and even exposition, is because of the theme. The themes make everything relevant, and everything circles and encompasses one another, so there's absolutely no wasted space. I mean don't even get me started on how it's gonna be to characterize the other characters around this

I don't wanna talk about the other characters too much either because that's spoilers, but you can probably take a gandar based on my notes.

And oh my god this is just on the theme of the faults that come with "soulmates" and "true love" and all that, and how even magical destined relationships still require work and effort, and that no one thing or person solves all your problems. And that's not even TOUCHING the shit on trauma and scars. I didn't think it was even possible for me to talk about botw without touching on that, ha. Ah well, I've been talking for too long.

Revalink has a lot o' writing potential so das pretty cool yeah, I am excite

[captainkappa]

Fanfic:: Hunter and Prey

To be a Mandalorian pirate is to be both hunter and prey. This, Din understood after being taken into their care as a child.

Now he is hunting a Mandalorian artifact to deliver his charge to the aquatic sorcerers in order to teach him how to handle his magic. His quest brings him to a sandy stretch of shore, Mos Pelgo.

Link to AO3

For Day 4 of @dincobbweek aka AU day!

The prophecy as foretold; I have a hyperfixation, therefore I must write a pirate AU. And oh my god, I loved writing this fic so so much.

Huge shout out to @staranon95 for betaing and @ayantiel for providing the needed inspiration to get this thing going!

-=-=-=-

Mayfeld took in a deep breath, letting the salty air fill his lungs. There was a lot riding on today, his reputation, Ran’s reputation, but with the Empire’s finest knelt at his feet, all of their note-worthy possessions, he thought he was doing pretty well.

“No one makes any dumb decisions and you all will get to live,” he called out, voice carrying over the wind so even the poor bastards at the end would be able to hear. “We’re just here for what’s ours and then we’ll leave you be. You’ll never have seen us.”

Xi’an was getting her brother from the prisoners down below and Burg was raiding the captain’s office. Sure, the objective was to get Xi’an’s brother before he made it to the Empire’s colonies, but this was an Imperial vessel. The three of them would have to be stupid not to rob the Imps blind when they had the opportunity.  Plus, their informant assured them that not only was this a prisoner’s vessel, it was a transport vessel, moving a map that led to a whole lot of Mandalorian gold.

It was the perfect plan; do a job for Ran, undermine Ran, get filthy rich, and live the rest of their days on an island in the Outer Isles.

And everything was going great, when Burg burst through the captain’s doors, startling everyone on board. Everyone jumped, bar Mayfeld. Burg cut an intimidating figure, a mountain of a man, horns poking through holes he made in his hat so he had to crouch to get into most places. His sudden presence didn’t startle Migs. What was a surprise was the concern on his face.

“Migs! The captain is dead!”

He rolled his eyes. “And? Do you want me to pay you back for the ammo it took to do that?”

“No, he was already dead! And the map’s gone too!”

His blood ran cold. He gave up the act and ran into the room, grabbing onto his hat so it wouldn’t fly away. His eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. He couldn’t tell if there had been a scuffle or it had been Burg who had torn up the room. Drawers were half open, hanging out, papers scattered, a blood-spatter, maybe, but there was so little Migs couldn’t tell if it was recent.

And in the center of it all, the captain, dead in his chair. His body was cool, so Burg wasn’t bluffing in saying someone had shot him before. There had been a lot of commotion when they had first boarded the ship, could the thief have entered then?

“You swear he was like this when you got in?”

Burg nodded.

“And he wasn’t holding a pistol?”

Burg nodded again and the evidence confirmed it. There was only one pistol in the room, halfway across the floor. That didn’t happen when someone tried to off themself for fear of the pirates coming on board.

Migs pushed the body to the floor, getting on his knees to root through the drawers, hoping to find the map, to be able to smack Burg upside the head, but there was nothing. He ripped them out of the desk, holding them upside down and shaking them, but still nothing. Just useless documentation with Imperial seals splayed everywhere.

He slammed the top of the desk as he stood up.

“Did you check everywhere?! Every possible drawer, false drawer, any of that bullshit?”

“Yeah! But it ain’t here!”

Migs pulled off his hat, balling up the rim in fist before throwing it back on.

Ran would tell him not to get greedy. There was an unknown element at play now, so focus on getting Qin out and run. With the group back to what it was before Mando sold them out, they could rob big ships again, but who the fuck cared about that. If Ran knew about the map, he would’ve said to hell with Qin, focus on the pay-out.

Migs stormed out of the quarters and back onto the deck. It was too sunny to see, but that didn’t stop his furious walk back to the line of Imperials on the ship. He grabbed the one in the fanciest looking clothing, who he could only assume was the quartermaster or second mate, and hauled him to his feet by his collar.

The man made a choking sound and face-to-face, looked at Migs with terror.

“Where the fuck is it?”

“Wh-Wh-Wh-?”

“The fucking map! Lost Mandalorian treasure? I need it, and if you don’t, Burg here will make sure you meet those fucking dead ass Mandalorians that hid it in the first place.”

Something must’ve gotten the man brave, because he said, “I thought Mandalorians were extinct, like you pirates are going to be.”

And as if signing his death wish, he spat on the floorboards near his feet.

Well, Migs wanted a nice clean run, but he had a reputation to uphold.

He threw the man back down to the floor and before he could get his arms out from under him, Migs pulled out his flintlock pistol and aimed it at him.

He was a second away from painting the floor with this asshole, when Xi’an ran out from under the deck, her brother trailing behind.

“Captain! It’s Mando!”

That made Migs whip his head up. “Mando? Here?”

She nodded. “We saw him climbing down. Port side, now!”

The four of them raced to the railing, watching as the small craft sped away, faster than any ship could hope to move. She flew familiar colors, the flag of someone who had sold Qin out in the first place.

Migs thought today couldn’t get any worse.

Then the flare went out, bright and brilliant even in the daytime sky. An Imperial flare, that would’ve had to have come from the captain’s quarters, that they wouldn’t have been able to spot in the chaos of the room, that was absolutely going to call every Imperial ship in a hundred miles radius.

Fuck.

Fucker didn’t even have the decency to flip them off as he sailed away.

-=-

Din keeps his eyes low to the ground, brim of his hat pulled low over his head, scarf pulled round his face as he weaves in the crowd. It’s Nevarro, so he knows he blends in with the rest of the criminals that inhabit the port town, but he finds himself more cautious these days.

Especially with the small cargo at his side.

It’s only when he takes a corner into a dark alley, down a set of stairs just off the tavern, into the gloom, does he look at the bag at his side.

As they passed a torch on the wall, the Child looked up at him and beamed, his pointy teeth just coming in, ears unfurling as he lifted the flap.

“You doing ok?”

The child babbled in reply.

“Good, we’ll be there soon.”

For what was basically an underground network for a bunch of criminals, it was surprisingly clean. There were puddles of brackish water that Din stepped around to avoid, along with passing others, but it wasn’t as piss-soaked as Nevarro was up top.

Hiding a whole community under a criminal network didn’t seem like the smartest idea at first, but the thing about criminals is they can either be paid off or disappeared with little problem. As he stepped around a pair of running children, he hoped there would be one day Mandalorians wouldn’t have to hide. He had no idea how that would happen, but no one had ever died on hope.

They finally arrived at their destination, a door on the far side of the hallway. He knocked on the door and opened it when he heard the familiar voice say, “Enter.”

She was already sitting at a table, a bottle of rum in front of her, a candle burning, doing its best to light up the space. Her hat was beside her, feathers drooping so they touched the brim. He made a mental note to pick up more on his next supply run.

He took off his hat as he shut the door behind him, keeping his bandana firmly in place.

“How was your trip?” the Quartermaster asked coolly, picking up the bottle to pour him a drink. It had been years since she had manned a ship, but the title still carries in their community.

He pulled out both the kid and treasure from the bag, setting the kid down on the ground to run around the space before sitting across from her.

“Successful.”

He spread out the map in front of the Quartermaster. He heard those fools talking about Mandalorian gold, and it wasn’t entirely true. It was a map to a compass that would reveal what the holder most desired, which for some might be Mandalorian pirate gold or power or love.

Or the location of the aquatic sorcerers the child needed.

The child wasn’t fully human. He needed to spend a lot of time in water in order to spend time on land, which meant a lot of time spent swimming alongside the Razor Crest. He could also shoot water up out of the ocean, a gift Din was well acquainted with, it being one of the child’s favorite games to play.

Since he had failed to fully deliver the child to the Empire, he had had privateers and other pirates on their tail for months. This map was their last hope to make sure the child got back with his people and then…

And then Din would go back to what he did best; providing for a people now scattered by his actions.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of the Quartermaster’s chair scraping back. She stood up, only to bow over again, her back parallel to the table. She moved her scarf to the side so her lips could ghost over the map as she spoke words of power into the paper.

She stood back up fully as the ink on the map shifted and moved. Waves rolled in place, sea serpents dipped in and out of the surface, all the while the path moved like an eel, slippery and changing, until everything at last was at rest and the ink seeped back into the page.

All three bowed their heads over the map. The starting point of the path was now the tiny cluster of islands of Nevarro and the end point was…

“Tatooine?” he asked out loud. “They’re basically land locked. What would a Mandalorian be doing there?”

Tatooine was a coastal stretch of land, surrounded by jagged rocks and ship-wrecks on one side and impassable mountains on the other, with desert in the valley.

She raised her head, scarf now back in place. “I suspect you’ll find out when you go there.”

He nodded and the child cooed. Din looked over at the child grabbing at the map, hands scratching at the lines like he could pick them back up.

“Come on, little one. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

-=-

Din sailed into Mos Pelgo, following the instructions Peli had given him.

“You have to arrive at low tide, that’s the only way you’ll see all the shit you have to get through. If you haven’t decided to turn tail and leave, you have to keep to the south. If you go north, you’re dead. Last I heard, there’s a pile of sticks they call a dock if you keep going south.”

The dock was a simple thing, as she’d said. Rotten wood, with just one post tall enough to hold the rope to the ship. Din was half tempted to jump straight into the water and swim to shore rather than test the strength of the wood, but resisted the urge with the Child in his bag.

He could see the town in the distance and set off on the beach, letting the Child out to stomp around on the beach.

The town was small, a couple of shacks on stilts for the stormy season. Few people were out, and those that were openly stared at the two of them. Din paid them no mind, one goal in his head.

He walked into the cantina, knowing if there ever was a way to learn about a town, it was going to their cantina first.

And not half a minute of talking with the Weequay bartender, the “Captain” walked in. The man wasn’t a Mandalorian, his face was bare, showing off white hair, sun-freckled pale skin, and a well-trimmed beard. His coat was sturdy, but patched to high heaven, with a bright red scarf around his neck. He wore the compass on his belt like he was flaunting it. It made Din’s blood boil. If Din were a younger man, he would’ve shot him right there for it.

But he tried talking. The compass should be in the hands of a Mandalorian. The Captain swore up and down he had gotten it fairly and therefore it should be his.

“I’ve given you an easy out already. Take it off,” Din said, “Or I will.”

“We gonna do this in front of the kid?”

“He’s seen worse.”

The Captain stood, fingers already itching for the flintlock on his hip, no doubt preloaded like Din’s were. They were interrupted by cries from outside. The Captain holds up a hand before smoothly exiting the cantina. Din follows, but stops in the doorframe to take it all in.

There were several broken fishing boats being led through the rocky shores, dragged onto the sands, people shouting, people carrying others. The Captain was in the middle of it all, shouting orders, trying to bring organization to the chaos.

In the distance, was the unmistakable view of a large tentacle slipping beneath the waves.

Din didn’t want to get in the way of this organized chaos, but then a twi’lek with scarred lekku was shoving bandages into his arms and gesturing over to a house across the way. Din wasn’t going to say no to that.

The house was quieter than outside, only pained whimpers and soft, hushed voices. A collection of wooden splinters already piled beside the bed as the doctor continued to take tweezers to one of the people who came in. Din placed the bandages by their side before stepping back, nearly colliding with the Captain.

He looked at the scene with a pensive expression. Immediately, Din could see that his care for his people went further than words. There was corded energy in those shoulders, anger that wanted to be released at the creature that did this to his people.

The Captain ushered him out of the room.

As they walked back to the cantina, the Captain said, “How about this; you help me with the kraken, I give you back your compass.”

“Deal.”                                                                                                          

-=-

The Captain led him past the edge of town to the cliff’s edge. On the journey he told his name was Cobb Vanth; Din held off on his own introduction.

“None of us are much for traveling,” Cobb said, “but the kraken planted itself right where we normally fish. Even when I send people to fish in a different spot, the damn thing follows after. We’ll be starved out sooner rather than later.”

They crested over the hill and the expanse of ocean fell before them. The kraken was visible from the cliffs, a dark mark under the waters, swimming languidly around the coast.

Din did a mental inventory of what he had on the Razor Crest; a handful of spears, a harpoon, some rope. Cobb had shown him the town’s stores before they left. It wasn’t going to be enough.

He stepped back from the ledge, back where Cobb is. “Is there a Tusken encampment nearby?”

Cobb raised an eyebrow. “The Tuskens? But they’re-”

“They know the coast and water better than anyone. We can’t kill it with just the two of us.”

“If they know the area then won’t they want to… I don’t know, not kill it?”

“Then, we’ll just have to ask.”

“Ask? You don’t ask a Tusken anything.”

He could, in fact, ask a Tusken for things. Din was thankful for the cloth in front of his face, masking most of his pride as he watched Cobb’s jaw drop as he asked the Tuskens for their help. It turned out, they did want help in defeating the kraken. Its sudden appearance had also affected their fishing.

They had to travel further to where the kraken had made his home. Din stayed in the back with Cobb, where he seemed more comfortable.

Cobb also apparently liked to talk when he’s nervous.

“So, you spend your days on the ocean? All the time?”

“Mhm. Do you spend all your days on land?”

“Mostly. I used to be on a ship, but not like you. I was a galley slave on an Imperial ship, but before then I had dreams of being as free as you, traveling the waters on a boat with a crew of my own.” His face fell. “Haven’t thought about that dream… for a while.”

To have something that should have meant freedom be taken away from you, Din couldn’t imagine.

“But you escaped?”

“Kriff, yes. Raised a mutiny, sunk those fuckers to the bottom of the sea. I found the compass in the captain’s drawers and it pointed us here. Few more people joined, some left, but it’s as home as we can get.”

Din could only nod. He found himself surprised with the thought that he was glad that Cobb got the compass. He had no idea what the Empire was doing with a Mandalorian artifact, but it was definitely put to better use finding people a home.

They made camp up in the dunes. Din had to waste a bullet, firing into the air to disrupt the startings of a fight between Cobb and the Tuskens. Planning was slightly easier after that.

He took off his coat, bundling it up into a nest for the child to sit in. He rolled up his sleeves to free up his arms as he continued translating. He noticed Cobb looking at the tattoos that traveled up his arms. He doesn’t comment on it.

-=-

Small boats littered the coastline the next day. The plan was for people from both the Tusken band and Mos Pelgo would distract the kraken long enough for a boat of explosives to be set up and ignited close enough to kill it but not the people.

It doesn’t go great.

There were enough boats in the water to pick up people who capsized in the wake of the monster’s waves, the thing lashing out as folks took pot shots with pistols and arrows. They managed to set the boat laden with explosives off in its direction, but when the time came to ignite, the explosion happened, but it just managed to scratch the beast.

Din reached for the harpoons he brought as backup. He and Cobb try firing at the kraken, but they skim off its skin.

The Tuskens were still firing their weapons at the creature. Mos Pelgans took turns firing guns and reloading in turn. All it did was keep the creature at bay, which wouldn’t last long at all. He needed to think of something to kill the creature or everyone here would die.

He furtively scanned around the deck for something, anything. His gaze landed on the extra explosives they had kept on hand. The monster’s skin was too thick for the explosions to take but elsewhere…

Din doesn’t think, he just moves. He grabbed as many sticks of dynamite as he could, stuffing them in the pockets of his coat. There was a coil of rope tied off to the railing, which he took and wrapped around his waist. Even after years of living on ships, his hands shook as he tried to tie it. Suddenly, Cobb was in front of him, taking the rope from his hands and tying it tight around his midsection.

He pulled it hard, once, twice, and it wasn’t going anywhere.

“What are you gonna do?” Cobb asked.

“I’m not sure,” Din said, pulling the rope tighter around his waist.

“Then what should I do?”

Din looked at him, really looked at this man who was willing to do so much for his community in light of so much hardship in his own life. He looked back at the dark shape in the water racing for their boats

He took off his hat and tossed it at Cobb. “Take care of the Child.”

And before Cobb could do anything beyond catch the hat, Din leaped off the side of the ship. He couldn’t tell if Cobb shouted anything after him as the kraken burst from the water. He forced himself to keep his eyes open as he fell straight into the kraken’s maw.

-=-

It was nothing but darkness inside the beast. Even with the scarf over his nose, the scent of salt water and death was everywhere. He dug himself in the mouth of the beast, boots scraping against bony protuberances in the things throat. He emptied his pockets as fast as he could while holding on for dear life as the monster bucked and screamed.

He hoped the kraken was out of range of the boat.

When he was left with one explosive left, he fished around in his pockets for his matchbook. He struck the match and lit the explosive before chucking it down with all the others like it.

He turned and clawed at the kraken’s beak, heart pounding in his chest. If he doesn’t get out of here before the explosion goes off-

Suddenly, a roaring filled his ears and a mass of hot air flung him out of the monster. His scarf twists around his head and he can’t see anything as he flails. He landed hard in the water and then it was silent as the dark water pulled him down.

He wasn’t sure how long he drifted. The shock of cold water and the heaviness of his coat made movement impossible.

He didn’t regret asking Cobb to take care of the child, he’d be in good hands.

Something wrapped around his waist and pulled. Din tried to resist, not sure if he was being dragged toward air or to his death, but his arms were useless, heavy and leaden. He had no strength and so he let it happen.

And then they broke through the surface of the water, a cool wind icing his skin instantly. He took a shuddering breath and nearly choked on water and his sopping wet scarf. Hands came up and pulled the scarf off his face. He coughed, chest shuddering with each intake of breath. He realized he’s being held, arms around his waist, and it isn’t until he can take a full breath did he finally bother to wipe salt water from his eyes and look at who was holding him.

It was Cobb. His hat and coat were off, red shirt darkened to maroon with all the water. He was searching his face for… something.

Din took a breath, resisting the urge to cough again. “I thought I said- you need to take care of the kid!”

“I am!” Cobb said, holding his head up to avoid a passing wave. “By making sure his daddy lives!”

Cobb maneuvers his arms so he’s gripping a floating piece of rowboat. It’s thankfully big enough that when Din leans his whole weight on it, he doesn’t sink back into the ocean.

“Everyone okay?”

Cobb gave him a look that Din thinks means he’s stupid. “Yes, thanks to you, partner.”

They only have to tread water for a couple of minutes before a rowboat headed by the twi’lek Issa-Or arrives. Cobb makes sure Din is pulled aboard before climbing in himself.

-=-

They stayed the night. Din isn’t in any position to argue with Cobb’s hospitality. He didn’t think he’d be able to turn the wheel on the Razor Crest let alone sail it out of harbor.

Cobb opened his house to them. It was a small abode, raised off the ground like the others. Its small size made it even more obvious the telescope and sextant were on display on the only table in the main room.

Din wanted to pass out then and there, but Cobb firmly set him in one of the wooden chairs before disappearing behind the one door in the house. He returned with a roll of bandages and water. He thought it was to drink, until Cobb started peeling back the wet layers of Din’s clothes to reveal burns and scratches he hadn’t even felt. Cobb dips a rag into the freshwater, rinsing out the salt and detritus from the wounds.

He worked in silence, both too exhausted from the day to say much. They could hear the sounds of the party outside, Tusken and Mos Pelgan alike celebrating the death of the beast.

A drunken group walked past and the two of them can hear the butchered shanty they sing. They glanced to the window then to each other, sharing hidden smiles.

All patched up, Cobb gave him the bed and set something up for the child. Din knew he should be aware of his host, should know where his host himself is sleeping the night, but he couldn’t bring himself to care with exhaustion tugging him into the bed.

Voices from the other room kept him up,  cracking one eye open to focus on the now familiar drawl.

“You know, in the past few days, whenever I looked at the compass for a sign of how to kill the kraken, it always pointed out to sea. I didn’t know what that meant, if I had to go sailing for a kraken expert or find a sunken treasure that would kill the kraken. I don’t know, I was getting desperate. But now… I’m thinking it might’ve been pointing to your dad.”

He heard the child’s burbles of delight and finally, finally, he slid into unconsciousness.

-=-

Din woke up to the sun shining in his eyes, light reflecting off the compass placed on the pillow that wasn’t there last night. Any lingering drowsiness left him when he realized what it is.

The Mandalorian compass.

He grabbed it and opened it up, thinking about Grogu and the teacher he needed. The arrow spun around, until stopping, hovering at a point out back toward the ocean.

A heading. He had a heading.

He fell back into the bed, just staring at the compass. It was embedded in a box made of dark wood, carvings all around the edges, Mando’a script, if he had to guess. It’s incomprehensible, chipped to the point of  being illegible.  

Something in the bed crinkled as he shifted. He turned and searched for the source and founda scrap of paper. It took a moment for him to parse, but it was just Cobb letting him know he had business to attend to and he would be back when Din left.

Right... they had to leave this town to continue their quest.

He reminded himself of that as he went out to find the child. The house sounded suspiciously quiet for all the mischief the child got into.

-=-

They got their affairs in order quicker than expected. Some people had spent the night alongside the Tuskens preparing the kraken meat to distribute to the rest of the town – and Din, apparently.

It seemed like the whole town had come out to see them off. They apparently had held off giving their thanks until they knew he was conscious. Din looked over the grateful townspeople’s heads to see Issa talking intently with Cobb. When Cobb glanced over his way, he ducked his head back down.

Normally he would sneak out of this kind of attention, but the kid was eating it up, beaming like he was the one who took down the beast, so Din went down the line, nodding respectfully at every given comment.

By the time he got to the end of the line, he was already ready to take a nap, but he raised a hand to bid them all good-bye and turned to walk out of town.

“Mando!”

Din turned around to see Cobb running after him, heel kicking up sand.

He stops in front of him. “Do you- do you need help on your quest?”

“Are you offering? Thought you had a town to look after.”

He scratched the back of his neck. “Well, the kraken was our biggest threat, and with the peace brokered with the Tuskens, there’s not much for me here.”

Din tried to tamp down his excitement, not believing what he was hearing. “You still have your sea legs?”

“Long as you don’t lock me up below deck, I should get them just fine.”

“I’d never,” he said quickly. 

Cobb smiled. “Well then, permission to come aboard?”

Din hoped Cobb could tell he was smiling behind the bandana. “Granted.”

-=-

As they sailed out of port, Din kept glancing at Cobb, who was fidgeting up a storm. He kept tapping his fingers against the railing, glancing out at the disappearing coastline.

Finally, after even the Child was tapping on his pant leg to point out Cobb’s unease for him, he hatched a plan. He affixed the wheel so it wouldn’t turn on its own. Then he went about setting the sails and ropes for the same task, keeping them on course while Din took care of Cobb.

“We can still head back if you want to,” he said as he approached the other man.

Cobb turned over his shoulder. “No, I’m not having second thoughts. I’ve… My friends know I’m not exactly made for land.”

“Oh?”

Cobb flipped his scarf up to wipe at his head. “Before we made landfall at Mos Pelgo, we took out a few Imperial ports. Small things that we only noticed because of the ships with galley slaves, but… I ain’t felt that alive in a while.”

Din fished the compass out from his pocket, flicking it open. The arrow spun lazily, pointing back to Cobb for a second before spinning around in the direction they were sailing, the same direction it had pointed when he thought about what Grogu needed.

He snapped it shut, coming up to stand beside Cobb.

“I’m sure we’ll run into something along the way. Here, I’ve got something to show you.”

Cobb raised an eyebrow. “Alright, I’ll bite. What is it?”

Din bit his lip, glad for the bandana. “Do you trust me?”

Cobb chuckled. “I would have to be an idiot to sail out to who knows where with a man I didn’t trust.”

Din nodded. “Then let it be a surprise.”

Cobb acquiesced, letting himself be led to the middle of the deck. When they were under the main mast, Din grabbed the main line in one hand, pulling Cobb close with the other. He ignored how his cheeks flushed with the sudden closeness.

“Hold on tight,” he said.

“Wha-?” That’s all Cobb got out before Din flicked the switch with his foot and the two of them went rocketing up toward the crow’s nest. Cobb’s arms circled around him like a vice, his shouts lost in the wind.

Din made sure Cobb got in the basket before he did, especially when he realized his eyes were shut.

“Cobb, open your eyes.”

Cobb cracked one eye open and then both flew open as he realized what he was seeing. Glittering blue ocean, as far as the eye could see. There were two dots in the far distance, ships of some sort.

There was no better way to experience the vastness of it all, than looking at it from above.

He glanced at Cobb and saw his eyes tearing up a bit.

He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, letting Cobb take it all in. This was what being on the ocean was supposed to mean, freedom and possibility, beauty and wonder. Din didn’t expect to do much in laying a balm over Cobb’s past, but he hoped he could communicate with this view that he wanted to help when he could.

Cobb turned to face him and Din knew he understood.

“Thank you, Mando.”

“Din, my name is Din Djarin.”

“Then thank you, Din.” And to his surprise, he leaned over and kissed him just above where the scarf covered his face.

Neither of them acknowledged it, except for an exchange of eye contact. Neither could contain the mirth in the crinkles of their eyes.

“We should start plotting a course, shouldn’t we, Captain?” Cobb asked.

“Yes, Captain.”

[bluemusickid]

Breezeblocks

Pairing: law student! Andy Barber x Professor! Reader

Warnings: eventual smut, 18+, angst, age gap (not much, also legal)

Word Count: 881

A/N: And so continues my love for female characters in control. I got this idea at 2 AM and leaped outta bed just to type some part of this lmao. This is my first series (of sorts) so please be gentle! Feedback is appreciated. :) Also, I haven’t made a taglist or anything as of yet, but please lemme know if you wish to be tagged ^_^.

Chapter 1

The alarm clock beeped, rudely rousing you out of your peaceful slumber. Great. And so begins my misery.

It wasn’t easy being a soon-to-be divorcee. Getting a house had been hard, especially since your savings were frugal at best, but getting a job at a firm, in a new city, had been tougher. You had hoped that your resume would get you some job at least. Sure, you weren’t always at the top of the class, or had enough recommendations from your professors like those ass kissers from your year, but hey, it was good enough for a small firm. But no, instead, you had to teach Criminal Law to college students. Everyone knew that college students were the toughest to teach, after high school students. 

Oh well. You gotta earn your stripes, you muttered, checking yourself in the mirror. Years of being married had changed you. You realised that the wrinkles had become deeper, a constant reminder of how stressful that last year had been. Getting a fresh start was the best thing, you felt, at the time. Now? Not so much.

Sighing, you grabbed your tote bag and made your way to the car, dreading every second.

Parking your car, you got out and looked at the main building in the campus. Welcome to your future, for the next year or so. Grabbing your stuff, you made your way to the dean’s office for your briefing, checking your phone for the email which had all the details.

Damn it. Where the bloody hell was Room 105?! Shouldn’t there be signs or something?!

You had to begrudgingly accept that you were lost and needed help in this goddamn maze. Hesitantly, you stopped a man walking towards you.

“Excuse me, do you know where Room 105 is?” you asked, faltering a little after you saw how cute the guy was. He had the most beautiful blue eyes you’d ever seen.

“Oh yeah, just take a left up ahead and walk straight, it’ll be on your left.” he replied with a smile. Damn, he’s gorgeous.

“Great, thank you so much!”

You rushed to the Dean’s office, your thoughts drifting to the gorgeous man with his beautiful eyes. Beautiful eyes? What? You were here to do a job, not to ogle at some people, especially not at people who could be your coworkers! Focus, Adriana. You have a goal, and this was the only way attain it.

You reached the Dean’s office with just moments to spare, walking up to the desk of who you guessed was her assistant. Greeting her, you informed her about your meeting with the Dean. She checked her computer and told you to take a seat, the Dean was on a call and would be with you in a moment.

Setting yourself on a chair, your mind drifted off. Would you have taken up a teaching job had you still been married? No. Never. James had been quite dismissive of the idea of lawyers who had taken up teaching jobs. Why would you give up the big bucks to teach some twentysomething know-it-alls? he would say. 

You closed your eyes, exasperated. You hoped he wasn’t right, especially about the know-it-all part.

Interrupting your train of thought, the secretary, Miss Stevens, called your name out. Making your way into the office, you knocked on the door, your nerves threatening to get in the way.

“Come in!”

Upon entering, you noticed a middle-aged woman sitting at the desk, sifting through what seemed like a deposition, making notes.

“Mrs. Gupta?” you ask awkwardly.

She looked up, giving you a warm smile.

“Hello there! You must be Ms. Lee. Please, take a seat.”

“Oh please, call me Adriana.”

“That’s a lovely name. Well, Adriana, welcome to New England Law. I trust you’ve moved here recently?”

“Yes, it’s just been two weeks or so.”

“Well, you’ll fit in here and become a part of our family in no time, I’m sure.”

You quickly settled into some more small talk, and she handed you your schedule for the semester, explaining the marking schemes and teaching aids. You took it all in, slightly overwhelmed with the sheer volume of work.

“That’s pretty much all of the ground covered. I won’t keep you any longer, I see that your first class starts in 15 minutes. Best of luck with your class, and keep a watch out for the new ones. They’re a perspicacious lot.” she said, with a smile.

You smiled wanly, exiting the office and marching your way to Room 115, all the new information whirling in your brain and making you slightly dizzy.

Entering the room, you saw that there were still a few minutes to go for class to start, so you decided to get all your things ready. Laying out your notes on the table, you turned to the board and started jotting down a few points. You heard the students shuffling in, the sound of desks being moved and general chattering reaching you.

Bracing yourself, you turned around to see a bunch of eyes staring at you. And among them, were those gorgeous eyes. His eyes. That gorgeous man, or rather boy, was not a coworker. He was a student.

He was your student. For the rest of the year.

FUCK.

A/N 2: I’m posting this before I second guess myself and delete the whole thing. Feedback is welcome, and needed. :)

@donutloverxo​ @chris-evans-indian-fanfic​