#and sometimes i get books for my city library but i prefer reading on my phone

[senualothbrok]

Words

Summary: At your home in Waterdeep, you and Gale recall the early stages of your relationship.

Word count: 1.6k

Disclaimers: 18+. NSFW. Smut. (Unascended) Gale x female reader/Tav.

AO3 link

More disclaimers: Masturbation / mutual masturbation. Oral sex.

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You are sitting in the library, nestled into an armchair that is just big enough for the two of you. Gale rests beside you, frowning into an ancient tome. Your legs are draped over his, your tongue peeking out the side of your mouth as you read. The scent of sandalwood and book dust swirls around you.  You feel a sudden tingling on your skin. You glance up.

Gale is watching you, his gaze full and bright. The intensity of it makes you faintly self-conscious.

“What?” Your hand flies to your cheeks, your hair.

Gale’s laugh is a warm bath.

“Nothing, my love. I’m just feasting my eyes, now that there’s nothing to stop me.”

After all this time, you still feel a flutter in your belly, a shyness, when he looks at you like this. When he does not look away. You smile at him.

“I still remember how flustered you used to get if I caught you looking at me.”

“Ah, yes.” Gale chuckles. “The early days of longing and budding love. The stolen glances, the lingering looks. The magic of words unspoken.”

A grey-brown strand falls over his eye. You brush it back, tucking it behind his ear. He kisses your palm before it drifts away.

“Mind you, it wasn't just nerves and awkwardness on my part. I truly had to exert all my efforts to control my excitement. The orb would have wiped out an entire city, or maybe more, depending on what kind of look you’d given me…”

You arch an eyebrow. “I don’t think I realised the extent of your excitement, or the threat it posed.”

He is stroking your leg under your skirt, up and down, gently grazing your flesh. Your skin prickles at his touch.

“Indeed. You drove me to distraction at every turn. Thank the gods for my disciplined mind.”

There is a familiar glint in his eye. A heat begins to quiver through you. You hold his gaze.

“Your mind must have been more disciplined than mine.”

You watch as his brown eyes darken and mist. The flame inside you flares at the hoarseness of his voice.

“How so?”

Gale loves words. Sometimes, your words alone can bring him to the brink of ecstasy, for touch to push him over it. He can read your thoughts at any time if he wants to. You have let him on occasion, with delicious results. But usually, he prefers the words you choose when you tell him. And you know, from the hitch in his breath and the curl of his lips, that that is what he wants now.

“Well.”

You bite your lip. You pause, savouring the spark that is gathering between you.

“I used to think about you, when I was lying in my tent at night.”

That flash in his eyes. That sideways lift of his moist lips. His fingers are drifting up your thighs, flickering with yearning. Your eyelids flutter.

“Did you?”

You nod. A throbbing has begun inside you, and will not be ignored. It grows with the intensity of his stare as he watches your every movement, hanging on your every breath. It burns with what you are about to tell him and show him.

“Night after night.”

Your hands move down to the hem of your skirt. You gather it up, lifting it further to rest above your waist. His hands linger on your bare legs as you draw away from him slightly to sit back. A frown creases his brow, as if he cannot bear your withdrawal. But you keep your eyes fixed on his.

“I thought about the things I wanted you to do to me.”

You are not coy as you slide off your lace panties. They cling to you with the beginnings of your desire. It does not escape his notice. His lips are parted, his eyes blown wide as he watches you. There is a yearning ache that makes you tremble as you widen your legs to face him. Slowly, you snake your fingers downwards.

“That made me so wet, I had to touch myself.”

You lick at the pad of your middle finger, so that it is moist with your spit. You press it into the damp warmth between your thighs. He sucks in a sharp breath, and you watch his tongue running over his lips as you stretch your slick folds to find your swelling centre.

“Like this.”

It does not take long to find it. You shudder when you touch yourself, drawing small and eager circles around the pulsing edges of your clit. Your legs shake as the thick sounds of your wetness fill the air. You push into yourself more and more, moaning as you struggle to keep your eyes on his. Each time your vision wrenches shut, he utters a soft groan which surges through you.

You want him on you. You cannot wait much longer.

“What did you want me to do to you?”

His voice is low and husky, the brown of his eyes almost black. Your reply is a plea, your fingers a frenzy of wetness. 

“I wanted your tongue all over me.”

He leans forward, mercifully, desperately.  He slides his tongue inside your waiting mouth, over the fullness of your lips, against the girth of your twisting tongue. You cannot get enough of his bittersweet taste. You are ravenous, gulping and gasping and lapping, and when his greedy mouth leaves yours, you want to follow. But before you can, he is trailing his tongue across your cheek, flicking at your earlobe, licking at its edge.

“Like this?” he pants into your ear.

You whine as he sucks at your earlobe with wild fervour, barely stifling his moans. The outline of his cock bulging against his breeches is almost too much to bear. You flinch as your clit threatens to erupt. Your fingers stop moving.

He notices immediately. His hand leaps down to press against yours. Your hips buckle. You bite your lip to muffle a wail.

“Don’t stop,” he breathes.

You cannot keep going much longer. You look at him, begging. The grin that plays on his lips sends you grinding into his hand once more, desperate for relief. He grimaces, and you can see that he, too, is straining to burst.

“What else did you think about?”

He undoes the clasp on your shirt without effort. But even that fleeting moment of waiting is torture. You flesh is aflame as he glides his tongue down the side of your neck, over your collarbone, around your breast. When he takes one of your nipples in his mouth, you cry out. It is so stiff, so hard, and when he wraps his tongue around it and flicks at it, you throw your head back in a silent scream.

“Tell me,” he whispers, your nipple still in his mouth.

You shudder at the burst of air on its tip. The fact that you can still form words is a miracle to you.

“I wondered…”

You writhe as he licks at the darkness around your nipple, the delicate underside of your breast. Your clit aches under your shaking fingers. It is a battle to continue.

“I wondered,” you murmur between halting breaths. “If you were in your tent, touching yourself as you thought of me.”

He looks up at you, flushed and dilated. And you see that this is the final straw for him. The words that have brought him to the brink. You are wet, so wet, as he unfastens his breeches. His lithe fingers flutter as fast as you have ever seen them. His veined, pulsing cock springs free as he edges onto the floor in front of you. You do not have time to grasp hold of it, but your dismay is short lived.

You gasp he hitches your trembling legs over his shoulders, pulling your ass towards him with a grunt. Your hands weave themselves into his hair, dishevelled with passion. He looks at you with a blind, unbridled hunger.

“This is what I think about when I touch myself,” he rasps.

He plunges his face between your thighs. As his tongue swipes at your clit with swift, smooth whirls, you collapse backwards in spasms. Your back arches, your toes curl. Each circle of his tongue brings you nearer and nearer to the excruciating edge.

You can tell that he is taking his time, listening and feeling for the corner that will be the end of you. And when he has found it, you realise that both of you are groaning. You suddenly have a frantic need to see his face. You lean up on your elbows, and it is then that you see him, jerking with the movements of his own pleasure as he laps and sucks at the centre of your fire.

The peak of ecstasy takes you. You dive over the edge, letting out a whimper so loud that you are sure half of Waterdeep can hear. You roll your hips into his mouth and clench your calves around his shoulders as you ride out the crest of the wave. In your haze, you are aware of the frenetic lurching of his frame, a long moan that rumbles out of him in spurts. And then he is still.

It takes you both a moment to come back to yourselves. You are still panting when he returns to his place beside you. You had thought the flames inside you would be doused, at least for a while. But you quiver at the sight of the moisture on his beard, the thick streaks on his breeches as he pulls them up over his cock, still half-hard and gleaming.

He meets your gaze with a knowing smile. When he wraps his arm around you, you cuddle into him. You soak up the smell of his sweat, musk and pleasure mingled with your own. He is silent as you plant gentle kisses on his forehead, his nose, his cheek. And then he sighs.

“I’d say we both have remarkably disciplined minds.”

You clasp his hand and laugh.

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[love-quinn]

— COLLECTORS' GUIDE

summary — you love books, and spencer can't figure out why you don't have a single one inside your apartment. his only solution is, of course, to buy you some.

warnings — swearing, reader has a toxic ex

pairing — spencer agnew x fem!mythical reader

pronouns — none (you/yours)

featuring — spencer agnew, nicole enayati, vianai austin (mentioned), kiana parker (mentioned)

word count — 1.8k

note — as someone who LOVES mythical kitchen i've been toying around with the idea of spencer and someone from that show or even just mythical in general, also she was speaking to me she told me she's a bookworm i don't make the rules sorry. thank you so much for all the love on my last two spencer fics <333 hope you enjoy

LA’s a big city; it’s loud, it’s dirty, and it’s busy. Working in the industry you do, you don’t have a whole lot of calmness in your life, which is why you make it your personal mission to make your apartment as soft and cozy as possible. 

You pile your couch with throw blankets and pillows, you have lamps where you can control the brightness, you hang art on the walls and you love it there. You layer your rugs and you keep candles on every shelf. Your apartment is one hundred percent yours, and that’s the reason Spencer likes spending time there as much as he does. 

You and Spencer are a fairly new couple, you’ve only been together a few weeks, and he still can’t quite believe the two of you are together. You work in the Mythical side of the office as a producer and sometimes on-camera for Mythical Kitchen so the two of you see each other fairly often but not every single day.

He likes to think he knows you pretty well – he is your boyfriend. But one of his favorite parts about being in this relationship with you is getting to learn more about you. Neither of you are shooting anything today so he decides to drop by your desk during his lunch break. You’re on yours too, you and Nicole are chatting across your desks, you have half a wrap in one hand and a folded over paperback novel in the other and Spencer brightens at seeing you.

“Hi, babe,” he drops a kiss on your hairline, leaning over and peering at what you’re doing. “I was gonna see if you wanted to go for lunch with me but you seem to have it covered.” 

You tilt your head back to look him in the eye, face lighting up. “Hi! I didn’t know you were coming over here.”

He shrugs, leaning on the back of your chair. Nicole excuses herself to go meet Vi for lunch like they planned and offers Spencer her chair while she’s gone so he doesn’t have to hover. Spencer watches you smile up at her as she leaves and can’t stop the frown from making its way onto his face. 

“You’re not going with them?” From what he knew, the three of you were really good friends, at the very least close coworkers. Seeing Nicole talk about her plans with your mutual friend right in front of you without inviting you felt… not wrong, but definitely weird.

You just shake your head. “No, Thursdays I usually eat by myself, they go out somewhere.” You catch the look on Spencer’s face and amend yourself quickly. “They do invite me, I just prefer to eat my lunch at my desk, I can get a chapter or two in before they get back.”

Spencer looks down at the paperback in your hand again. “What’re you reading?”

You hold it up for him. It’s an older book, with frayed edges and a peeling vinyl cover, a grainy lighthouse on the front. He takes it when you offer it and flicks through it, careful not to disturb the bookmark. “I was gonna take it back to the library on Saturday and get a new one, but I can come over after that?”

Spencer shakes his head, only now just seeing the Los Angeles Public Library sticker on the back cover. “Can I come with you? Unless that’s like, something you wanna do by yourself or whatever? I didn’t know you went to the library.”

You take the book back and put it on your desk, out of the way. You and Spencer have wordlessly begun to split the wrap that you’d packed for lunch, something you’d made at home that made his mouth water. “Yeah, of course you can come. I go most weeks, I try to read a book every week but sometimes, y’know,” you gesture around the office.

That’s how Spencer finds himself on the steps of the LAPL for what he believes to be the first time. He’d been to libraries before, obviously, but not since leaving Florida, and not for a long time. He knows you like to read, there’s often a paperback in your hand or your purse or your car, it’s your quiet time activity. He just assumed you bought your own books, but getting to walk hand in hand with you through the stacks as you browse, he definitely sees the appeal. 

You find your new book of the week and hold it up to him gleefully, and you don’t even have to pull him along to the desk for him to follow you dutifully. Spencer would let you stay in there for hours, gazing lovingly over at you as you talk familiarly with the librarian. 

Eventually, you cut yourself off and excuse yourself to return to your boyfriend, knowing that his ideal weekend plans probably didn’t include letting you drag him around the library. You really like Spencer, you don’t want to hijack all of your time together. 

Spencer hasn’t even considered that. In fact, he is actively planning the next time that the two of you can come back, desperate to see you so happy again. Desperate to make you that happy. 

It becomes almost a routine. The two of you begin your weekend by going out for breakfast somewhere, Spencer follows you around the library and then the two of you go home and spend the rest of the day quietly in one of your apartments. Usually it involves him playing Zelda on the couch with your feet in his lap while you churn through your book.

You fold around each other comfortably. You have your separate friends, your separate jobs (well… technically separate), and your separate hobbies. But as the weeks turn into months, Spencer sinks right into your little oasis in your apartment. 

His clothes end up in your drawers, he starts going in to work with homemade meals that are obviously made by someone who graduated culinary school (i.e, not him). Love pours endlessly out of every crevice, and Spencer feels like he’s drowning in it. Spencer loves his apartment, it’s his home, but as somebody who also loves you he loves your apartment a lot as well.

It feels like every single time he goes over he finds out something new about you and the way you love, which is why he’s not quite so sure why it took him so long to notice the empty shelves in your room.

You’re on your phone, lying on your stomach with your feet by the head of the bed. Spencer is just coming back from the kitchen, your coffee order in his hand when he notices it. “Are you gonna put something on that shelf?”

You look up from your phone to see the shelf he’s gesturing to. Spencer can’t pretend not to notice the way that your face falls. “Uh, sure. I can if you want?”

Spence shrugs as he comes to sit down beside you. You wriggle up so you’re sitting and take the coffee out of his hand. “I don’t care, babe. It’s your room.” He plants a kiss on the side of your face and swiftly moves on. “I just remembered on Saturday I made plans with Kiana, so I’m gonna have to skip the library, I’m sorry.” He does seem genuinely sorry to be missing out on the time spent with you, you deflate subtly.

“That’s totally fine,” you return his kiss. “Tell her I say hi. I’m not done with my current one anyway, so I might just stay home.” You love the library, you spend a lot of time there, but you’re looking forward to a nice morning by yourself at home. Then, you remember the date and groan quietly under your breath. “Never mind, I have to go in to renew it anyway, or else I’ll get another late fee.”

You’d only ever returned a library book late once in your entire life, something that Spencer found completely adorable. Especially so the fact that you viewed it as such a big deal. 

“I guess that’s the price you pay for them being free,” Spencer points out. 

You hum, “I wouldn’t mind having one or two that I get to keep,” you say it so concretely, so nonchalantly. As though it’s not actually something you’re able to do.

“Why don’t you buy a couple?”

You glance over at the empty shelves. “‘Cause it’s like, childish?”

Spencer frowns, sitting up straighter. “Babe, do you think I’m childish?”

You rush to fix your mistake. “No! Of course not, that’s not at all what I meant-”

Spencer takes your hand, putting the empty coffee cup on your nightstand. It’s filled with his things and that makes his heart swell. “No, I know you weren’t calling me childish. But do you think I am?” When you shake your head, he continues. “I have like, video game bullshit all over my place. You’re not childish for having things that you like in your apartment. Plus, books are like the most normal out of all collectibles.” His eyes are deep and sincere and you roll your heels underneath you, moving so your legs are spread out in front of you. “You want books? Buy a million fucking books, babe.”

You sigh, biting your bottom lip. “I know, it’s… I used to have stuff on that shelf,” you admit. “I had a bunch of books, I’d been collecting some of them since I was a kid and everything. My last boyfriend he, well. Doesn’t matter, long story short, I came home from work one day and they were all gone.”

Spencer is probably the last guy you’d expect to see involved in a fistfight. He’s 5 '6, he loves Hawaiian shirts and there is video evidence of him Fortnite dancing. But more than that, though, he loves you, which is why his first instinct is to go find whoever it was that did that and fuck them up.

“That’s so messed up?” He can’t even wrap his head around it. “Babe, what? No, oh my god.” He can’t even formulate a coherent sentence. You love so liberally, so generously, that the idea that someone had thrown away something you love made him physically sick.

“I’m so sorry that he did that to you, that’s fucked. Not your fault you know how to read and he doesn’t.” That makes you laugh, your chest shaking as you lean into him. He wraps an arm around you and kisses your temple, rubbing your forearm gently. 

He and Kiana have plans on Saturday, and he has no intention of bailing on them, but that doesn’t stop him from pulling out his phone and texting her, asking if she’d be willing to make another stop with him while they were together.

The next Saturday, you get home from renewing your library book to find your boyfriend waiting out the front of your apartment. He beams at you as you reach him and you don’t have to look inside the box to know that once you stop kissing him you’ll find the beginnings of your next book collection. 

[annwrites]

—fire & ice

when the snows fall & the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. — parkrangercregan! x stranded!reader ; ೄྀ࿐⸙͎

↳ inspo

Once he's unlatched the trap from your injured ankle, he slides an arm around your back and beneath one of your own, helping you stand.

"This is probably going to be a stupid question," he says, looking at your tear-stained face. "But can you put any weight on it?"

Gingerly, you try pressing your boot against the ground, and a searing pain shoots up your leg, causing you to cry out in agony. "I can't! I can't! It hurts!"

He nods. "I figured. Was worth a shot, though."

He slips his other arm beneath your knees then, lifting you.

"Wha—"

"That nasty winter storm is going to be here soon. I need to get us both back to my cabin before it hits."

to get away from the city, work, & general unhappiness, you decide to go on a short vacation: a hiking expedition in an alaskan national park.

things go awry, however, when you get stranded—a coil spring trap closed firmly around your ankle—with a snow & ice storm headed your way.

thankfully, cregan stark, a park ranger, comes to your rescue when he hears you screaming for help & crying out in pain as you try & fail to remove the metal jaws from your skin.

with no other option, he takes the both of you back to his cabin to wait out the weather...for the next two weeks.

together, he discovers you were in need of just more than medical aid & you come to realize he's not as gruff & rugged as he initially seemed. that, maybe, things really do happen for a reason.

headcanons:

cregan is very self-sufficient in regards to his cabin.

has a back-up generator that kicks on immediately if the power goes out.

plenty of candles, batteries, & non-perishables.

knows how to sew like nobody's business.

lots of chopped firewood.

big fan of stew.

makes his own jerky.

can cook like you wouldn't believe.

cast iron skillet ftw.

knows how to fix pretty much anything

trained diligently in first aid.

not talkative whatsoever.

likes to hunt & fish.

bird watcher.

lots of blankets.

cabin is quite rustic, but very cozy.

doesn't watch a lot of tv—he still owns a box one, though.

mostly vhs tapes & some dvds. the hell are 'blu-rays'?

prefers to read & journal about things he finds in the woods—his thoughts & about his daily excursions. kinda a bit of an artist. only draws with pencils, though.

no social media whatsoever. what's a facespace & a mybook? has a flip phone that's a burner & it's only used for emergencies, or if he needs to get ahold of work bc he's gonna be late or something.

doesn't run into town a lot, but when he does it's mostly for grocery shopping, or to check out a ton of books from the library.

is very much a giver in bed to the point where he forgets he's supposed to be focusing on himself, too. he's too concerned with whether you're enjoying yourself.

would give oral all day if that's what you wanted (honestly, sometimes he's the one to ask if he can give it to you, he's that eager to do it).

since your ankle is injured, carries you around the cabin to an obnoxious degree until you have to politely tell him you're sure you can make it three feet from the couch to the dining table that's just behind it.

stands watching with his arms crossed the whole time, though, just waiting for you to so much as wobble so he has an excuse to pick you up again.

gives you his bedroom while he sleeps on his pullout couch. refuses to hear you insisting it should really be the other way around.

likes watching you watch the snowfall outside.

looks away & back to his book as soon as you feel like you're being stared at, though.

no condoms up in this bitch.

he is totes a caretaker type.

has a garage off the cabin so he can easily get to his plethora of tools & such during winter storms without having to traipse through 10 ft of snow.

[jasntodds]

Penance [1]

Pairing: Jason Todd x Fem!Powered!Reader

Words: 7,340

Chapter Warnings: Swearing, angst, mentions of death, mentions of injuries, a little blood, a little bit of violence

Summary: ❝Thesus: Stop. Give me your hand. I am your friend. Herakles: I fear to stain your clothes with blood. Thesus: Stain them. I don’t care.❞

It’s been a month and a half since Crane’s reign of terror was stopped, leaving Gotham to finally return to normal. But, what is normal? After everything Jason and you have been through, it seems normal might be some unobtainable dream state. But that’s not going to stop either of you from trying and maybe, you’ll get lucky in the end. At the end of it, the two of you have suffered enough, right?

Right?

A/N: It's finally the last book!! I'm honestly so excited lol You don't have to read the previous books to read this one but if you want context, feel free to ask!! You can add yourself to the tag list below, ask me to be tagged, or you can follow my library blog @jasntoddslibrary  and turn on notifications if you prefer that!! I love feedback, I swear it keeps me posting on a weekly basis 😭

series masterlist | masterlist | tag list

Everything is different. Somehow, everything has changed so much over the last month and a half everything that happened before almost feels like some sort of sick fever dream. It's all very real and all of it happened but everything is different today. At least, to Jason it feels different.

Gotham itself is pretty much the same. Bruce has been back and doing his whole Batman thing. The only difference is he doesn't have a Robin now but his methods remain the same, it's the same routine for him, same big bads. It's the same for him. The businesses that were boarded up during Crane's reign are up and running, everything looking to be the same just as it was before. The air around the city is still smoggy and the rain is still cold and wet. The streets sound the same just as they always did and the gargoyle keeps Jason company just as it did before. So much is the same but he feels like everything is different.

Instead of him and Bruce butting heads over him being Robin, they're butting heads over his methods. Bruce has no issue with Red Hood but he does have a problem with the killing part of it. And Jason won't budge. He swears he's not bitter about what happened but he is firm in his belief that change needs to happen. It stops with him and Bruce can either fight him or get on board. They are trying to come to some sort of agreement which is significantly better than how it would have went before. Bruce keeps the Robin suit in the case. He won't tell Jason why.

Their relationship is different now. Jason thinks it might be for the better.

He hopes it's for the better.

His living situation is different than it was before. He has his own place, the main safe house he used while Crane ran the city. It's not anything too special yet and Jason doesn't have too many things that are his but it's coming along. And that is his. It almost feels like it did when he was on the streets but this time, it is his choice. It is his choice to be alone here. And he owns it. No one can come and kick him out, no one can come and arrest him for trespassing and breaking and entering, it is his. It might feel lonely sometimes after living with Bruce and the Titans for so long but it is his and it brings him some sort of pride in a way.

He works with Barbara mostly now. Whenever something a bit more dicey pops up or Bruce is busy, she calls Jason. It's his literal job now and he would be lying if he said he didn't like it. Him and Babs get along better now. Actually, him and the Titans get along better now. There's still plenty of work to be done but his relationship with them has been on the mend, something he is eternally grateful for. He still owes them.

Then there's you.

Things are different with you.

"I will be back as soon as the threat is taken care of." Bruce states as he grabs a few things from the Batcave. "Are you sure you can handle this?" Bruce asks, not because of his lack of confidence in Jason's abilities but rather his general mental health.

"I got it, man." Jason brushes him off. "Nothing I haven't done before. You've gone with the Justice League plenty of times." Jason holds back his snippy attitude, trying his best to level with Bruce and not let his anger get the best of him.

"Before you were..." Bruce trails off in a way that makes Jason shift his weight off his bad leg. "Robin." He nods once, sternly and hard. "That was before."

"I'm fine." Jason nearly whines, desperate to not get into that. They don't talk about it. "I got it." He gestures his arms out casually.

"Okay." Bruce states with a sigh. "Do not blow anything or anyone up again." Bruce warns.

The touch of a smirk pulls at his lips. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

There may have been an explosion near Harbor last week with some gun runners inside. Jason may or may not have been in the area patrolling. And that group may or may not have been the group Jason had been tracking over the last few days. Jason does think the explosion really helped though. They got all the guns and all the people involved in one sweep. Seemed efficient.

"I know it was you." Bruce states easily.

"Nope." Jason shakes his head but the grin is tugging at his lips, knowing damn well he's guilty.

Bruce lets out a sigh, not bothering to argue with him over it. "Just...keep it down, Jason." Bruce states and he's gone out of town a hundred times but something about this being the first time since Jason died and has been brought back almost makes him nervous.

Jason can handle himself. He's been doing it. This is only his second time in the Batcave over the last month and a half and only his third time back at the manor. He's doing well on his own, all things considered, but he is Bruce's son and Bruce does worry even if he doesn't show it.

"It'll be fine, just go. I got it all handled. Pick up your job you're working, almost got the one from Babs and..." Jason pauses feeling his mouth run dry. "Molly said y/n's got a few she's working."

Bruce eyes him, knowing very little but knowing enough about the situation between the two of you. "You should call her." Bruce tries to say it casually.

"No." Jason states simply. "And you're not allowed to give me advice here. The one that got away? Seriously, man?" Jason lets out a scoff.

Of all people, Jason does not want relationship advice from Bruce. Bruce had a solid chance with Selina and apparently, he's still hung up on her and is doing nothing about it. He could have had something great with Talia, too but that didn't end well. Jason is not looking to take advice from Bruce and he's thinking he shouldn't be taking much relationship advice from anyone he knows. No one seems to be getting that department together anytime soon. The way he sees it, this is fine.

It's fine.

"How did Tim know that?" Bruce questions Jason plainly.

"He stalks us." Jason nearly chortles.

"Well, that is all my advice. Call her, Jason." Bruce nods once at him.

"I'm good." Jason shakes his head. "Now go before Clark shows up and drags you back with him."

Bruce lets out a sigh, making his way through the living room. Bruce offered to let him stay at the manor which Jason declined. He's on his own. He can't come back here. If he's even being honest, he's only thinking Bruce called him to "look out over his jurisdictions" just to check up on him, make sure he feels useful as if Jason doesn't have his own work he's doing. Somewhere in his chest he wants to be mad and fight back over it, swear it's because Bruce doesn't think he can handle it so he's setting him up to prove a point to get him back. But Jason bites it all back, deciding to tell his mind to shut up for fucking once and let this just play out.

He sees Leslie once a week and that helps. He thinks he'll just tell her about it.

Jason finds himself back at the place he's calling home, enabling the alarms once he's safe inside. It's messy and somewhere in the back of his head, he can hear the echo of your voice telling him he should clean because he's not busy now. And he looks at the stuff on the floor, almost willing himself to listen, and then he heads upstairs anyway.

If Jason Todd is good at anything, it's being alone. He's been alone almost his whole life. Even when his dad was around, he was drunk or mean...so he was alone. Even when his mom was alive, she was usually high. She wasn't really with him very much. He adapted to what it's like to be alone. To fend for himself always and somewhere deep in his broken heart, he wishes it weren't this way but he's good at it. He has always pushed until he was alone. He is a natural disaster ripping through the hearts of people who love him so maybe being alone has always been better for him. At least the only thing left to destroy is himself.

Even if being lonely is some of the worst kind of hurt. But this is his penance.

One day, he swears, it won't be like this. That's the point of talking to Leslie and getting along with Bruce and being himself today. One day it won't be like this. A day will come when he won't have to punish himself for all the hurt he's caused. He won't have to punish himself for all the scars he bears at the hands of others and himself. One day he won't have to punish himself for the person he could have been. It just has to be like this today. So, Jason goes up to his room where he keeps his training equipment and monitors and he starts to work on the cipher until it's time for patrol.

The city is warm tonight. Cars are crowding the streets while people walk home from their Saturday night out and a smile pulls at your lips from under your mask as you watch the people below you. Patrol has just started and you're mostly waiting and listening, knowing something is going to happen because it always does on Saturday nights. But, you'd be lying if you said you don't like the view from where you are. Something about Gotham always being pretty at night.

The smog isn't visible, it doesn't look dreary as it usually does during the day. It's just street lights and busy people walking about. A part of you can't believe just a few months ago you were terrified of heights and now you actually enjoy the view.

Things have changed a lot since then.

You live with Molly now, probably how it always should have been. You share a small apartment, this one has better locks on the doors and windows. And every night you teach Molly some self-defense, just in case. If you've learned one thing, it's that you cannot save everyone but you can help them. At least if Molly is somewhat prepared, she has a chance though you could tell by how she moved and certain things she already knew that Jason had taught her a few things before San Francisco. Living with her is nice though. She understands you and there is no judgment. You aren't alone.

Gar and Tim talk to you every single day, updating you with whatever is going on. At first, it was fun stuff on the road trip like sightseeing and museums and bowling. Now, it's the hell Metropolis is currently under. You've never been so happy you stayed behind. You do not want to fight a demon. You'll never admit it, but you wouldn't stand a single chance against Rachel let alone Mother Mayhem and Brother Blood. Though, you are disappointed you missed the whole zombie situation. You're just glad the boys keep you up to date with everything and you talk to Dick and Kory all the time, too. That doesn't feel too different. It feels almost like it did when you first came back to Gotham and you like it this way.

And then there's Jason.

Things are different with Jason.

"Robbery in progress in the East End, convenience store." Molly says through the comms.

"Got it, send the address." You grin wildly behind your mask before you use your grappling hook to lower yourself down the backside of the building.

Molly helping out has been new. You aren't too happy about that part but...Molly was insistent and to tell her no would make you a hypocrite. Molly stays back and is youe eyes in the skies kind of deal which has been very helpful when it comes to patrol. At least that's nice.

You take the bike and head to the address Molly sent you. Patrolling is different now, too. You've always patrolled with Bruce or Jason or the Titans. Even when Jason died, you weren't patrolling. You had set targets and that's who you went out to grab. This is patrol. This is different. You're alone with Molly in your ear. You thought maybe you wouldn't like it, Iike maybe you'd actually be really bad at it being alone. But, if you were being honest, you're really enjoying it this way. You're good at it. And it's fun and you don't have to worry about anyone else. It's just you. Your life. That's it. And you like the thrill a little bit.

Jason shoves the last of four men to the ground, his hands zip-tied behind his back and the man lets out a groan. He glares up at Jason with blood streaming down his nose, his friends all a bit battered but have learned to keep quiet. This one is annoying.

"You broke my fucking nose!" He screams up at Jason.

Jason never quite understood why people committing crimes who get caught, like in this instance for example, are confused by their injuries. They showed up to rob a local small business and expected to get away with it. They're here to possibly ruin something that someone has earned and worked very hard for just because they can. A broken nose seems to be a pretty good deal.

He's not even a stranger to robbery but these guys walked in there armed and prepared to shoot anyone who wanted to get in the way. Jason was also a teenager and desperate. These four men don't seem to be in the same boat and the way Jason sees it, there was no reason to hold a gun to someone's face for a hundred dollars in a cash register. These are not master criminals.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood or your nose would be the last of your worries." Jason says casually through the modulator.

"Good mood?!" The man yells back as if he's the real victim in this situation.

"Yeah, good mood." Jason echoes back about to make another smart comment until he hears the sound of a motorcycle pulling up.

Jason turns around just in time to see it stop and he'd recognize the bike anywhere because it's the same one as his. He'd recognize the blue and black suit anywhere because it's yours.

You pop the helmet off and Jason swears his very heart just burst into flames into his chest and it might just burn through his ribcage. The corner of his lips starts to tug into a shielded smile at the sight of you and his only thought is that he misses you. He asks about you to your friends, not too often but...often enough for them to know. All of them say the same things, you're doing okay but they're worried. You're working with Barbara, too, running different jobs for the PD and you check in on Tim's parents every single day.

Molly always says the least about you.

Every single bone in his body feels hollowed seeing you. But when you lock eyes with him and you don't look happy, the guilt comes back baring its teeth and digging them right into his jugular.

It has been a month and a half and he is trying his best. It hasn't been easy and some days he doesn't try but generally, he's trying. It's hard whenever every breath he takes is haunted by the day he took his last. It's hard trying to figure out his footing. Jason Todd is Red Hood. He knows that. He is Red Hood. Red Hood protects innocent people and uses any means necessary to make sure they stay safe. But he is not a hero. He is doing what must be done and that is all. Jason Todd is Red Hood but outside of that, he doesn't know yet. Instead, he wraps himself in a straightjacket of guilt and remorse and agony and hopes that'll be enough to repay his debts to misery and happiness.

You eye him and it's like you're being exposed to the entire city in an instant. It's as if your suit and mask have been ripped from your body and every scar and insecurity and vulnerability is being displayed in some sort of sick museum as you see him. You have separate sections of the city. You, him, and Bruce. This is Bruce's section but he's out of town with the Justice League. It would have been Jason's to pick up but you didn't even question it when Molly mentioned it.

You wish you would have questioned it.

It is almost a relief he wears a full-face helmet because you aren't entirely sure what you would do if you saw his face, saw his expression. Would he be happy to see you? Disappointed? Mad? Would there be anything left at all or would he just look at you like he would any other vigilante showing up a little too late to help? You aren't sure which of those would be easier to swallow.

Something builds in the space between you, something hard and damaged, sucking the air out from between you. It snarls back at you both almost daring you to go ahead and try to move. Try to make the space less and see just how badly the teeth of grief will hurt this time. Go ahead and tempt death for old time's sake and guilt. Go ahead and try to mend this and pretend it's some sort of coincidence, as if fate has any hand in this. It bites and gnaws at you both as water brims in your eyes, every emotion bubbling over to the surface and grief screams out to you both.

Go ahead and try again, see just how badly this will all end again. It will only end in bloody hands and shredded agony. Guilt laughs in your faces, a devious crackle as if you are not worth the other. The both of you do not deserve forgiveness for the torture you've caused the other. Walk away. You both can hear it over and over again, guilt and grief and resentment and loneliness, walk away.

So, you do.

You pop the helmet back on your head just as Jason turns back to the robbers.

"Where are you going?" Molly asks through the comms as she watches the tracker on her screen start moving.

"You can see him here." You seethe. "I know you can see him, too."

Molly has all of your locations. She shares them with Bruce. It was part of an agreement with her doing this eyes in the skies thing and you being able to keep patrolling. It's how you all keep your sections of the city. Molly knows Jason is here.

"He wasn't when I sent you, I swear." Molly defends softly. It's not a lie, she just didn't mention when Jason happened to be moving towards the robbery. "He showed up but you were already on your way—"

"So you didn't tell me?!" You yell. "Seriously?"

Somewhere in the last month and a half, grief has metastasized into something resembling resentment. It's not him. You know that. But, seeing him just now brings back too many feelings you've yet to deal with properly, you're trying but you haven't gotten that far yet.

Grief bubbles back and transforms into something like resentment because you should be together. You should fucking happy and you aren't. You are, generally, but there is this void echoing in your chest. A burning pain right on your heart where his name was stitched. It sucks to be blind-sided into seeing him even if the resentment is towards yourself. You just would have liked some fucking warning about it.

You need to be prepared if you're going to see him and you aren't entirely sure you're ready. There's still a lot of shame even if missing him makes you feel like Atlas. Half the damn time it takes everything in you not to call him. Something will happen and he is still the first person you want to tell. But, you're not talking. Instead, you get updates about him through Molly and Gar and Tim. All of them have said he seems okay while sounding worried about him. It's hard not to worry about him. He's Jason. You think that's your only relief, knowing he's at least doing okay.

You just wish you had it in yourself to check in but he said space and you said space. You agreed and guilt and shame suck the very air out of your lungs to the point where you think this is your way of punishing yourself for everything you've done to him. Forcing yourself to not contact him first and check-in. You're punishing yourself but keeping to what you know and staying away from him. Maybe it was him who was always better off.

Molly sighs. "You have to talk to him eventually." Molly rolls her eyes on the other end and decides to drop it. She can hear the engine of the bike roaring louder than usual. This conversation is not one to have at the moment. "Mugging two blocks from you, take a right."

She is thankful the two of you have not put her in the middle. The most that happens is you both asking about each other. Other than that, you don't ask. You don't mention each other. It's as if you only know of each other through your mutual friends. Molly thinks that might actually be worse sometimes.

Jason gets back to his safe house and strips from the Red Hood gear. He heads right for the shower. Seeing you tonight, it feels like a lot. He never tried to kill you but somehow, you're the person he betrayed the most and dealing with that has been a lot harder than most of the rest of it. Your dedication and loyalty to him he thinks has made it so hard. To have someone so loyal and love him the way you did, sends his head fuzzy with regret knowing the pain he caused you.

At first, Jason thought it'd be a week or two. You'd both cave and talk again and then one thing would lead to another. Maybe it wouldn't be the healthiest way to deal with your shit, but you'd be together and you'd figure it out. But then a week or two turned into three and then four and then six. The more time that passes, the harder it gets to pick up the phone. Maybe that's why he asks Gar and Tim and Molly about you. They all say you're good but they're worried about you. They're always worried about you. But at least you've been good and Jason is grateful for that. He just wishes he had it in himself to suck it up and just call you. But, he doesn't so he showers away the thoughts of you and drowns himself in his guilt and regret.

By the time he's out of the shower, his phone is ringing and he's drying his hair with a towel, the white streak staring back at him in the mirror and he's still mad Dick didn't get the same thing he did.

"Yeah?" Jason answers the phone.

"I need your help." Dick states on the other end.

Jason pulls the phone from his head, looking at the caller ID before he puts the phone back to his ear. "With?"

"Training Tim." Dick states.

Jason almost laughs at the very statement. It's not that Dick is asking for help in the training department, he has before. That's fine. It's that Tim is supposed to be Robin out there and Jason knows they are actively fighting demons and zombies. Tim should absolutely be getting trained in between all of that.

"You haven't trained him yet?" Jason scoffs in surprise before he walks out of the en suite and into his bedroom.

"We've been busy." Dick scoffs back knowing damn well Jason knows what's been happening. Dick has mentioned it and Gar gives Dick updates about Jason meaning Gar talks to him plenty. "Between everything that's been going on since we got to Metropolis, we haven't had time."

Jason chuckles softly on the other end. "Yeah, uh, Gar was telling about me about the zombie shit. Fucking Deathstroke? Glad I wasn't there." Jason laughs softly and he can't see it but there might even be a faint smile on Dick's lips. He sounds good.

"Yeah," Dick huffs, running a hand through his hair. "You gonna be able to help?" Dick asks.

"Yeah, I owe you anyway." Jason agrees. "Not gonna go easy on him though. I'm gonna make sure he's ready when he comes back."

It doesn't take Jason long to have his decision. There's something...weird with someone replacing him in a way, as Robin. But, if someone is going to be Robin, they have to be prepared, more prepared than he was. Jason doesn't want someone else to end up like him and he knows Tim, kind of. He owes Dick for everything Jason has put him through and Jason did always like helping with the training. It's not a difficult decision.

"Good, that's what I expect." Dick nearly chuckles. "If he's going to be Robin, he needs a good teacher."

"Wouldn't go that far, man." Jason shakes his head, still getting used to Dick being nice.

"You trained y/n and look at what she can do. That is mostly on you. Do the same for Tim. I'll have him in Gotham tomorrow."

"You just gonna send him to me?" Jason's brows pull together as he puts a hand on his hip.

"No, I'm going to send him on a mission that is all just a ruse to get him there. You'll find him and go from there. Don't tell him." Dick explains simply as if Jason should have known Dick would have a...ruse?

"So, you're gonna send him here on a fake mission with no training as Robin?" Jason lets out a laugh. That's ridiculous and somehow Jason finds himself not entirely surprised. "Why not just fucking tell him, man?"

"I want to instill confidence in him." Dick states, almost defensively. He's trying his best and he also knows that Tim is very confident and maybe he needs to see he needs the help. "Should have done it with you guys. Not making the mistake again."

Jason clears his through. "Yeah, okay, deserved that." Jason shakes his head. "Alright, just let me know when he's on his way and where I need to be. I'll get him ready to actually be Robin."

"Thanks, Jason." Dick's voice is sincere.

"Yeah, don't mention it." Jason lets out a sigh before he hangs up.

He plops onto his bed, his eyes falling onto the helmet resting on the dresser on the opposite side of the room. Right after leaving the manor from talking to Bruce, this is not where he saw Red Hood being. Being a vigilante is now something Jason feels like he has to do, he likes it but he is trained to do it. He's trained to help people and if no one else is going to help them, Jason might as well. It's taken a little getting used to, rebranding Red Hood in a way. Red Hood is not a murderer. He kills really horrible people for the greater good. He targets people like Black Mask and Penguin by working his own circle to steal their business. He sabotages their work and steals their shipments. That part is always a bit fun. Red Hood patrols Crime Alley. He helps them. He is not a murderer.

He's still getting used to it but it's better than it was. Even if the blood on his hands burns from time to time.

This is kind of nice though, the ability to train Tim. He does miss that part a bit, training with someone. Training alone only does so much sometimes. Jason liked helping train the other younger Titans. It made him feel important and now he gets to train Tim. He'll never tell Dick, but it means a lot for him to ask for help here even if it's just because the Titans have been busy.

This is the last one for the night. You've been tracking this group of people who work for a pretty bad pimp in the city. You've gotten a couple of the women to turn and Barbara has put them into protective custody, immunity from any and all charges. It's not them they want anyway. It's the pimp and his right hand but when women stopped showing up, he got wind and went into hiding. So, did most of his men and women. Until tonight when Molly grabbed one of them on a camera in Gotham Heights. You wasted no time in trailing him.

The second this guy sees you, he takes off like a bat out of hell and the only thing you can do is roll your eyes and go after him. They always run. It's like they really think running is going to work for them. Between the cardio and the grappling hook and the bike, why do they think they'll actually get away? They always run.

The guy thinks he's smarter and quicker. Well, maybe he's quicker but he is not smarter. Molly is tracking him through every traffic camera he hits while you stay a good distance behind him until the opportunity comes for you to get onto a rooftop and continue the chase that way. He's heading somwhere, it won't be toward his boss. There's no way he's that stupid but he is heading into the perfect spot for you to grab him.

You turn off and then jump a few more buildings before ducking down into an alley. You walk to the very end and then wait a few seconds for the running footsteps to come closer. You grab a knife from your belt and then just as he goes to run past, you grab him, spinning him and pinning him against the alley wall.

You hold the knife to his neck and press it into his skin, not enough to cause serious damage, just enough to let him bleed. Blood gets people talking quicker and you're tired and hungry.

"Where is he?" You demand.

The man gulps and the blade presses into his neck further, his breathing heavy and shallow. "I don't know who you're—"

"Your boss. Yes, you do. You're all in hiding but you came out and for what? Where he is?" You question again, not in the mood to even let him think for a second he's smarter than you.

He looks at you with terror. Somehow, he wishes it were The Bat that grabbed him and yet he finds himself thankful it's not The Red Hood. The Bat won't kill him but Red Hood would make sure his death was painful if he really wanted to. You're not one to be messed with either. But his boss? That's just signing his death certificate.

You pull the knife away, kneeing him in the stomach before you land a punch to his face. You don't want to kill him. You read his record. Wrong crowd at sixteen. He was probably manipulated into this, too. He's a victim, too. But, he needs to give up his boss.

The man groans, sliding down the wall as he holds his jaw. "Fuck!"

"Tell me." You grit your teeth.

"He'll fucking kill me! I'd rather you just send me to Arkham or Blackgate! I'm not a fuckin' rat." The guy seethes but there's a quiver in his voice.

You roll your eyes. "Yes, I'm aware he'll kill you."

"What the fu—"

"So tell me and give me a reason to make sure he doesn't." You offer. "You think I'm here to kill you? If I wanted you dead, I'd kill you myself. Tell me and we'll protect you." The offer is genuine even if it comes out snippy.

"I don't believe a damn thing you say." The man gives you a weak scoff and diverts his eyes to the street.

"That's a you problem then. I'm trying to help you while you help me." You offer. "It's a real offer."

"Immunity then." The man fires back without even thinking.

You scoff. Does he not realize that the whole vigilante thing is still a crime? You can't promise that. "No. And I don't have the ability to promise that anyway. Work out with the DA. I can get you into protective custody though if you give him up."

Barbara has you working this case involving some sort of ring with sex workers. It's definitely more than just some guy calling the shots and dividing up money. Missing women, bodies turning up, drugs, it all seems to lead back to him. Your argument was that half the people working under this guy are victims, too. Some of those people are given the opportunity to flip and if they do, they're given protection. Barbara said the DA isn't too happy about it and some of the civilians will probably be pissed but you don't care. Not all of them have to go down with the ship.

"Look, he's going to find out you were with me and he's going to think you flipped or you're thinking about it. You're a dead man the second you walk out of this alley if you don't help me and we both know it."

The man lets out a sigh. "Crime Alley." He finally caves. "I don't know exactly where. I heard there are only a few women who know and then his right hand, that's it."

You nod accepting the response. It's way better than nothing. "Thank you."

"You're really gonna help?"

"Yeah, of course." You get to your feet.

"Why?"

You shrug. "You're not the big problem here." You answer casually. "My advice though, take whatever punishment is dealt to you and serve it and then get out. There's a program. The commissioner will give you information about it if they decide to try you."

"Thank you." The guy nods.

"Mhm." You hum, pulling out your own zip ties before you zip tie his hands together but before you get Molly to call Barbara, Molly comes in through the comms.

"Hey, I've got Dick on the other line, you wanna take it?" Molly asks.

"Yeah, actually, I'm done here. Let the commissioner know he flipped and I got info on him so he's good." You answer.

"Got it." Molly answers before she patches Dick in.

"I need your help with something." Dick starts without wasting a single second.

Your brows pull together. "Uh, hello to you, too?" You question as you get back to your feet. "The fuck do you need my help with? I do not want to go to Metropolis." You let out a chuckle before you look out onto the street and then back back into the alley.

"Superman?!" The guy on the ground yells.

"No, Nightwing." You scoff. "Shut up. You're done talking."

"Are you on a job right now?" Dick almost yells and at this point, he expects nothing less.

"Oh, yeah, just wrapping up." Your voice is almost cheery on the other end.

"Okay..." Dick holds the bridge of his nose, not even wanting to unpack that. "I need you to help train Tim."

You cackle on the other end. "Okay, hold on, let me wrap this up. This shit needs my attention." You laugh looking back to the guy. "Alright they'll be here in a few to arrest you but I gotta head out so...sorry about this." You pull your fist back, punching the guy and knocking him unconscious. "Anyway," You start before you shoot your grappling hook at the roof and start your jumping and walking to your bike. "You need me to do what now?"

"I need you to help train Tim to be Robin." Dick repeats.

"Is that not your job?" You quip back with a laugh.

Dick sighs, seeing as he is clearly going to have the same conversation twice. "We've been busy."

"Yeah, Gar and Tim said something about Zombie Deathstroke. Sounds fucking insane. Glad I'm not there." You laugh before jumping onto a neighboring rooftop. "Wait, okay hold on." You shake your head. "You're gonna send Tim here?"

"Yes. On a fake mission to build confidence." Since he's already had this conversation, Dick knows exactly what to cut out and include in his response to get this conversation over quickly.

"Uh-huh." You nod, getting the feeling there's a bit more to this than Dick is leading on. "Right, yeah, got it. Fair enough, I guess. And why are you asking me?" You ask knowing Jason is right there in Gotham City as well.

"You're good at this, you're the newest member besides Conner but well..."

"Superboy." You finish. "Unfair fight."

"Exactly. You also have your combat clairvoyance. Jason always said you were a good sparring partner because you fit." Dick's voice is casual and simple, you know there's something he is not telling you. He's nicer than he was before. The stick is no longer up his ass, but he's being too nice.

"Yeah, he did." You roll your shoulders before jumping to the next rooftop. "And uh, why are you not asking Jason?" You ask before it goes completely silent. And you know immediately. "Oh, you did." You state.

"I did." Dick answers simply.

Of course, Dick asked Jason first. You aren't offended or hurt by it. Asking Jason to train Tim is smart. But, not immediately telling you means one of two things. Either Jason said yes and Dick is setting you both up which makes you want to jump off this rooftop or Jason said no and Dick just wasn't going to tell you. Unfortunately, you're betting on the first option just because you know Jason wouldn't send Tim to the wolves.

"And he said yes, didn't he?" Your voice is a little snippy this time.

"He did." Dick keeps his voice level, unsure if you're going to start yelling or not.

"Okay so you're asking me to help Jason train Tim but Jason doesn't know you're asking me and you weren't going to tell me but because I asked you were obligated not to lie to me in fear I'd be pissed off enough to walk out and so would Jason?"

"When you put it that way." Dick states. "Look, I know it's complicated right now." Dick tries to reason with you.

"We're not fucking talking, Dick like..." You let out a breath. "He probably doesn't want to see me, ya know?" You nearly whine at the thought because you really believe it.

You hurt him.

"I know but this is for Tim." Dick urges.

You might be giving Dick a hard time but you both know you'll agree. Not only is Dick asking for a favor but it's also Tim. You would never not help Tim especially with everything that's happened. You owe Dick and Tim for everything. But, that doesn't make the situation any easier for you.

"Jason is gonna be pissed if he finds out, ya know?" You ask.

"Yeah." Dick answers. "Tim will get the best training from the both of you though."

"Yeah." You roll your eyes. "Fine. Yeah, I'll help and I won't tell Jason. Just when and where?"

"Tomorrow, I'll text you the rest." Dick answers. "Thank you."

"Mhm." You hum.

Dick feels bad for you and Jason. You've both been through a lot individually and together. It's two of the things that brought you together in the first place. You two always seemed to make each other happy and you actually seemed really good for each other. Dick knows first hand it's not easy and it is always complicated. It's always going to be painful trying to work out the romance department while being a vigilante. It's why it didn't work with him and Barbara. It's why it didn't work with him and Dawn. It's not easy. But, he feels bad for you both. It feels like you weren't given a chance.

"Talk to him." Dick states carefully.

You groan as you look to the sky. "You're not giving me a fucking choice are you, Dickolas?"

"You know what I mean." Dick says right back.

While you appreciate the sentiment, you are not taking dating advice from Dick Grayson. As far as you know, Dick's been in love with Kory for almost a year, at least and he has not said a single word to her about it. At least you told Jason. The way you see it, Dick should be taking dating advice from you.

"You tell Kory how you feel about her and I'll have a conversation with Jason." You offer in a higher-pitched voice, offering a bit of bite in your words.

"Okay no—"

"Yes." You quip back. "Don't give me advice if you're not going to take the same advice." You jump to the last rooftop. "She feels the same way anyway." You mutter softly.

"Alright, thank you." Dick cuts you off. "Talk to him. Tim won't know you're helping him."

"Gathered. Just let me know. I know to keep my mouth shut. I got it." You assure him.

"Thank you."

"You owe me." You laugh softly on the other end before ending the call.

After the run-in earlier tonight, you weren't sure when you'd want to see Jason again. At first, you thought about it all the time. Maybe you'd run into each other just as you did earlier and he'd make some quip about you being in his territory and you'd make fun of him for needing your help. Something would click and you'd be back to normal and it would feel good. The void in your chest will fill again and it would be normal. But that's not what happened because more time passed and you think about how maybe he's mad at you. He should be mad at you still. The more time that passed, the more you convinced yourself it was what you deserved. So, you keep your distance on purpose from him. Maybe that's your penance.

But now, you have to face him.

So, you head back to the apartment to mentally prepare. Jason Todd is still the Jason you always loved and you have to act like you're fine. You have to act like it is not eating you away inside to think about him. Everything has been going okay and you're finding yourself in this city. You think your feet are starting to land on solid ground for once. But, the thought of seeing Jason makes you feel like the earth is being pulled from under your feet. It's the one thing you have deliberately not dealt with. So, you know you have to act like it's all normal. If you're going to be able to do this with him, it has to feel normal. You have to feel normal otherwise it'll be sad and awkward and painful. Maybe he won't want your help anyway.

In no way did you expect your first time speaking to Jason again would be because Dick asked for help. But, it looks like that's exactly what's going to happen. And maybe your bones are starting to vibrate with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. You might feel guilty and you might be worried but you miss seeing him. You miss the way his voice sounds. You miss him more than words could ever describe.

Maybe you hope he misses you, too even if you don't deserve it.

Maybe as the night goes on and you get ready for bed and tell Molly about it, maybe you can't wait to see him.

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[astra-galaxie]

how about some hcs about YOUR favourite ship :3 ramble away queen

Finally, my royal status is being recognized!👑 (/jk😅)

You know, the hardest part about this request was deciding which ship to pick! I love so many of them that I don’t think I have a #1 fav… So, I’m picking one of my favourite canon ships (because adding non-canon ones to the choices would make the list even longer), and that ship is Lady Highmore X Leopold Rochester!

(I love these two so much despite NEVER talking about them! We were ROBBED of seeing their relationship! There should have been a wedding, not a- okay, I’m shutting up now…)

Here are my Lady Highmore X Leopold Rochester headcanons!

They love to dance. Even before getting together, they shared many dances as friends at various parties in Concordia

Minerva got them several matching outfits, all of which Leopold enjoys wearing, as she has impeccable taste in fashion!

Even though they both come from upper-class families, they enjoy spending time together doing simpler things like picnics and walking through the city together. Of course, they still prefer things more in their class range, like watching horse races and fancy parties, but getting to spend time together without the fuss of other aristocrats is nice

Leopold loves rambling to Minerva about the latest advances in science and technology. And while Minerva might not understand most of what Leopold is talking about, she enjoys watching his face light up in awe and wonder as he tells her about the newest invention he’d seen

Combined, they have enough books that they could open a library. Minerva and Leopold love reading, and most evenings, they would cuddle up together on the couch in front of the fireplace, drinking tea, eating biscuits, and reading together. Sometimes, one will read out loud to the other

After getting together, Leopold quickly discovered how knowledgeable Minerva was when it came to Concordian gossip. He’d always known she was quite the gossip, but now that he saw her almost daily, he realized that was an understatement! Minerva seemed to know everybody’s business before anyone else, and now, by proxy, so did Leopold!

They initially kept their engagement private, telling only their closest family and friends until they were ready to go public. Most were happy for the couple, but some (cough Horatio cough) either hated the idea of them getting married or couldn't care less. But they did have some thrilled family and friends like Bernadine, who was so excited about the wedding

Had they been able to get married, their wedding would have been the biggest to date in Concordia, given the two wealthy, highly prominent families they come from. Unlike other Rochester weddings that were more private affairs, Leopold and Minerva would have had an extensive guest list that would include all their friends, even if some might not be considered “proper” friends by other Rochester standards

In a world where Leopled didn’t die, he would have been so proud to see Minerva made Mayor of Concordia. He also would have been so happy to tell people that he was the Mayor’s husband, so much so that he would soon become known by that title, not that Leopold would mind

And done! Sorry, I took so long to answer this… Between deciding which couple to pick and making the time to sit down and focus on the headcanons, it took me way longer than I would have liked!😓

I hope you enjoyed my choice of ship and its headcanons! These two deserve more content and love, and if I have to be the one to give them that, I will!

[all-the-things-2020]

Late Night Talking

A Dieter Bravo x OFC fic

Notes: Title comes from the Harry Styles song. I heard it on the radio one day and the line “Now you’re in my life, I can’t get you off my mind” just screamed Dieter to me.

My Dieter is (mostly) sober and trying to put his life and career back together after hitting the bottom during the filming of Cliff Beasts 6. He is still a menace but he’s working on it. There will be comedy, angst, fluff and possibly some smut (not sure how explicit my narrator will get).

Narrator is an original female character loosely based on myself. She is around Dieter’s age, not thin, and introverted. He turns her life upside down and she’s not quite prepared for it.

Tagging @rhoorl because her Dieter in “Working Title” inspired me to start this fic!

Chapter One below the cut

I met him in a bookshop, of all places. Not exactly the environment you’d expect, but sometimes fate works in mysterious ways. Bookshops are one of the few places I frequented where it’s even remotely possible to meet a man. I’ve never liked bars or clubs; too noisy, too many creeps trying to be charming and getting too hands. As an introvert, I prefer quieter surroundings, like bookshops, museums, and botanical gardens. Not exactly hot spots for single guys, but I wasn’t trying to meet anyone. I was always open to whatever might happen, though.

I was in The Last Bookstore in downtown L.A. It was the first day of my summer break and I’d challenged myself to get out of my box a little and do things I’d never done before. I’d taken the train into the city, which I’d never done by myself. Of course, once I got into L.A., I ended up in my preferred habitat, surrounded by books.

I had spotted a book on my to-be-read list on the top shelf. Being petite (the polite way of saying I was short), I couldn’t quite reach it. I was debating whether the shelves were structurally sound enough for me to try standing on the bottom shelf to reach it when I heard a low, warm voice behind me say, “Let me.”

An arm reached up, easily plucking the book off the shelf and handing it to me. “Good choice,” the voice said. “That’s one of my favorites.”

I knew that voice. Turning to see the man who stood next to me, my suspicions were confirmed. It was Dieter Bravo. He was wearing a baggy gray t-shirt, a well-worn pair of jeans and some god-awful Crocs that had seen better days. His hair looked like he’d forgotten to comb it that morning and his scruffy beard and mustache could use a trim. But he was wearing glasses and his deep brown eyes were looking directly into mine, so that was all I saw.

“Thanks,” I managed to say, hoping I wasn’t blushing or anything ridiculous like that.

“No worries,” he said with a smile. He indicated the small stack of books in my hands with his chin. “You’ve got good taste.”

“Oh, yeah, thanks,” I said. Real smooth, doofus, I told myself. I tried to start over. “I read a ton of YA for work, so I’m trying to read more ‘grown-up’ stuff during the summer.”

He leaned against the bookshelf, his broad shoulders blocking the aisle. “YA?,” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Young Adult,” I explained. “I work in a high school library. A lot of it is really good, but after nine or ten months of dystopian love triangles and hot werewolves and teenagers with weird diseases falling in love, I find myself craving something more substantial.”

He smiled again. “I can imagine,” he said. “So, a librarian, huh? Oh, I’m Dieter, by the way.” He held out his hand and I shook it. It was huge and warm and made my knees melt.

“Um, yeah, I know,” I stammered. “I recognized you. I’m, ha, a big fan of your work.” I felt like a complete idiot as I stumbled over my words. “I’m Emily.”

“Well, Emily, this might be a dumb question, considering your line of work, but do you come here often?” He chuckled as he seemed to realize how cliched his questions was.

“Actually, this is my first time here,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to visit this shop, I never got around to it. I live out in the boondocks, so I don’t get into L.A. very often.”

“It’s great,” he said. “I don’t get here very often, though. Always too busy, it seems.”

We chatted for a bit, about the books we were buying, and favorites we’d both read (and made a few recommendations to each other when we mentioned titles the other hadn’t read). Then the conversation turned back to bookshops.

“I usually end up at Barnes & Noble,” I admitted. “There’s a good indie bookseller in Riverside, but it’s kind of small. My absolute favorite bookshop is Vroman’s in Pasadena. I don’t get there as often as I’d like, though.”

“Vroman’s,” he said, wrinkling his forehead. “I think I’ve heard of it but I’ve never been there.”

“Oh, you should go!��� I said. I loved talking about my favorite bookshop and started rattling on. “They have all kinds of great stuff besides books. Plus a wine bar.”

“Whoa, books and booze? Sign me up.” He smiled that radiant smile I’d seen in a million photos, the one that always made me feel funny inside.

“Then you should definitely go.”

“Is that an invitation?”

I was stunned, but managed to speak without stumbling too much over the words. “Sure, why not?” Holy crap, he’s flirting with me!

Dieter pulled out his phone. “Let’s see,” he said, scrolling through the phone. “Um, I’m free Friday evening. I have a meeting at two, but I should be out of there by four at the latest. It’s in Burbank, I can probably make it to Pasadena by five, if that works for you?”

My tongue felt like it was swollen to twice its normal size. Was he actually asking me out? Or had I accidentally asked him? “Um, yeah,” I stammered. “Friday’s good, yeah.”

“Okay, then.” He tapped away at his phone and then slipped it back into his pocket. “It’s a date. Friday, five o’clock, Vroman’s.” He winked and now I knew I was blushing like a fool. He glanced at his wristwatch. “I have a meeting with my agent in an hour, so I’d better go pay for these and get going.” He pulled his phone back out and opened up the Contacts app. “Here,” he said, handing the phone to me. “Put in your number.”

I did and handed the phone back to him. He put it back in his pocket (oh, how I tried not to look too closely at that pocket, afraid he’d think I was checking out his crotch), then held out his hand again, wiggling his fingers. “Your phone?”

“Oh, yeah.” I pulled my own phone out of my purse and handed it to him. He opened my Contacts app and typed in his name and number. As he handed it back to me, our fingers brushed against each other and he smiled.

“See you Friday.” He turned and walked away, heading for the cash registers on the ground floor. I stood in the aisle for several minutes, staring at my phone. I had a date with Dieter fucking Bravo, and he’d given me his phone number.

I waited until he’d left the store, then went to the register myself. “Hey, you just missed Dieter Bravo,” the clerk said. “I got his autograph.”

I got his phone number, I wanted to say, but I didn’t. The kid behind the counter was thrilled to have had an encounter with a celebrity; he didn’t need me rubbing his nose in my good fortune. That didn’t keep me from texting my best friend Sam once I was back on the train headed for the IE. We’d been friends in elementary school before her family moved back East the summer before junior high. We’d kept in touch over the years, first by letters and now by text and Facebook.

<Went to downtown L.A. today. You’ll never guess who I ran into>

&lt;somebody I know?>

<Dieter Bravo>

&lt;Get out! Where were you?>

<The Last Bookstore, really cool shop.>

&lt;Were you cool about it? Please tell me you were cool about it>

<As cool as I could be, lol. Must have done okay. We have a date Friday night>

Sam replied with a string of emojis and punctuation marks. &lt;Don’t fuck with me, Em. It’s not funny>

<Totally serious. I have his phone number and everything.>

I clicked over to my Contacts and stared at the screen. The name “DB❤️” stared back at me. It was real.

<I want details!>

I sketched out the encounter for her.

&lt;You’re living in a rom com, I swear. But be careful. Heard he’s a bit of a wild child. Make him wear a condom. You don’t know where he’s been>

<Shut up. I’m not going to sleep with him on the first date. Eww.>

&lt;I know, you’re Miss Sensible Shoes. LOL>

It was joke between us that Sam had grown up to love wearing stiletto heels and clubbing while I preferred flats and quiet evenings. We always said it was a good thing we lived so far apart or we’d never have remained friends. And yet Sam was the one who was married with three kids and a job in finance, while I was still unattached and basically living paycheck to paycheck.

<I’ll tell you all about the date, I promise. Luv u>

I put away my phone and stared out the window, watching the backyards and alleys of Southern California flash by. What a world, where I woke up in my tiny condo thinking the highlight of my day would be a new book and lunch at Olvera Strett, and now I had a date with a famous actor. Only in L.A. I mused. It really is La La Land.

[sanjoongie]

Library of Illusions~ Mystery Section

Blue Blood

📚Part Six for the Library Of Illusions Event

📚Pairing: Android! Jongho x Detective! Reader (f)

📚Genre: Fantasy au, Sci-fi au, Detroit become human influenced, coworkers to lovers

📚Warnings: hostage situation, child endangerment, android racism, degradation kink, fingering (f receiving), sex in a public space, dom!jongho, begging, m and f orgasm

📚Word Count: 3,885

📚Rating: 18+ MDNI, smut

📚Summary: for your final test, you are transported to a world where androids and humans live and work together. but you hate androids and one gets assigned to you as your new partner

📚Dedication: @mejuii & @downtoamagicalland the best beta readers a writer could bribe have

↫The Adventure Section ↭ MasterList ↭Keeper of the Keys↬

You walked past the shelves in the Mystery section, continuously having to take double takes because the books disappeared and reappeared, sometimes in the same place, sometimes in a different place. It made picking a book extremely difficult but you honestly should have expected it with this being the final guardian to defeat before you moved onto the restricted section. 

A hand landed on your shoulder and goosebumps littered your skin. “If you succeed, I can make your greatest dreams come true.” A cheeky kiss on your cheek had your face burning. You didn’t bother to try to catch the entity this time. You knew it wouldn’t reveal itself until it was good and ready.

“Whatever slow burn this is, I’m not here for it,” You denied out loud.

You almost jumped out of your skin when a book flew from the shelf beside you and you caught it quickly with your reflexes. The front showed a bright blue circle and you read the title ‘Detroit Become Human’. 

You opened the book you had caught and watched patiently as the book flew out of your hands. It landed upright with its pages flipping open until it halted and grew to the size of a door. The center for the book was transparent and within you could see a desk and fans on the ceiling. Were you going to be a detective this time? You hesitated to step through, worried that you wouldn’t be able to solve a crime and receive your key.

“Hesitating now wouldn’t show good character,” The entity's voice mocked you.

You frowned and threw up double middle fingers. “And what does it say about a demon who won’t show itself,” You threw right back at him and finally walked through the portal.

You were sitting at a desk, business casual clothes on, a digital badge by your keyboard and a screen that said Detroit Police Department. The name plate said your name with a Detective prefix. You felt tired and cranky and you definitely needed another cup of coffee.

Your lieutenant said your name and beckoned you over. They gestured to a man in a long jacket. "Detective, this is your new partner JC-1012."

The android smiled closed mouth. "Jongho, actually. It's preferable if you refer to me by my name. Studies show--"

You grimaced and rolled your eyes. "A fucking 'Droid, are you kidding me? You couldn't find a human cop?"

Jongho’s eyebrows shot into his fringe, his face quite expressive. "Actually, with human error factored into the equation--"

"I don't care about the fucking math, I care about empathizing with other humans and being able to help them!” You insisted stubbornly.

The android continued his sentence like you didn’t say anything at all. "--androids like myself are 99.9999999--"

You rubbed your hand roughly over your face. "Fuck me, do you ever shut up?"

Your lieutenant crossed his arms over chest. "Detective, this is your new partner whether you like it or not. Our homicide rate for this part of the city is up by 5 whole points and that's not acceptable to the mayor. So he pushed the funding and now you have an android partner. Deal with it."

"Yes, Lieutenant," You said sourly.

You sat back to your desk with a hmph.

"Can you tell me something about yourself, Detective?" Jongho asked, unbuttoning his jacket and sitting down across from you at your "partner's" desk.

You continued working on the report you had been typing up earlier. "Why in the hell would I tell an android something about myself?"

"Well, statistics show--"

You tossed your head back and groaned. "Please!"

"--when you share personal details with your partner--"

"Okay." You stood up and marched over to your sergeant’s desk.

"--that you will bond," Jongho smiled like he was a friendly concierge at a hotel.

"Give me a case," You begged your sergeant.

Your sergeant pushed her glasses up her nose and scanned the screen before them. "There's a murder at the local strip club involving an android and a customer. I want you on all Android involved investigations, Detective."

You smashed your fist against the desk in frustration. "Fine. FINE. Jongho. Let's go."

“No problem, Detective.”

You and Jongho slipped into a squad car and made the drive towards the Eden Club. It was primarily a strip club but members could always pay an extra fee for a private room, which basically equated to a lovebot hotel. You sighed; that was the last place you wanted to go.

“Detective?” Jongho responded to your sigh, “Is there something wrong?”

“Nope, just tired,” You replied to him.

Jongho opened his mouth but his next question was lost when the radio screamed of Code 136: hostage situation. The minute you heard the operator say android, you pulled an illegal u-turn and zoomed to the address. 

“Detective, we already have a case,” Jongho stated.

“I’m aware of that,” You said, your grip on the wheel getting tighter.

Jongho frowned. “Detective, your heart rate--”

“Just shut up, Jongho. We’re going to the damn hostage situation, okay?” You shouted.

The car was completely silent, almost stifling. “Detective?”

“Jongho, I swear to God if you babble one more statistic at me, I will stab you with my pen and see your blue blood run,” You threatened.

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d let me talk down the android.”

You tore your gaze from the road to stare at Jongho and then went back to driving. “Why?” You spat out finally.

“I’d like to think I’m the best candidate to talk down a defective unit. I am an android after all,” Jongho supplied.

“I don’t think you can do anything. There’s a human’s life at stake here!” You shouted. 

“I’d like to save the life of both the human and the android, if that’s quite alright with you,” Jongho admitted quietly.

That made you pause. He wanted to save an android? It only made you more grumpy. “Fine, you can be the one to handle the hostage situation. But if I even sense that the situation is taking a turn for the worst, I am the head detective here, and you will listen to my commands.”

“Yes, Detective,” Jongho agreed solemnly.

The hostage situation was a high adrenaline scenario that had you worried every step of the way. The caregiver android of a child of a wealthy citizen was threatening to take them and the child over the building’s rooftop amenities. The child had expressed how hard it was to keep up with their studies and being friendless and the pressures of their parents' expectations and the android had taken the child’s ‘I wish I would just die’ a little too much to heart. Jongho spoke passionately to the android, speaking of how didn’t the android want to watch the child grow up and become an adult themselves, and wouldn’t the caregiver feel pride having been the one to help that development. 

“This is the moment where you decide your own fate!” Jongho said passionately. “Either you release that child or you condemn the both of you.”

The caretaker’s arm tightened around the child, who squealed in fright. Your instincts kicked in, and without saying a word, you began to run and dove for the child. You felt pain before you heard the gunshot behind you. You had managed to grab the child before Jongho shot the android and it fell to its demise to the pavement below.

The entire police department and emergency crew that were on sight lauded you for your quick thinking and no one said a word to Jongho, who had done the most for the case. You wanted to feel right, that you were the human and Jongho was the android. What did Jongho need recognition for? He was just doing his job. But then so were you.

After the emergency crew wrapped up your arm that had been grazed by Jongho’s bullet, the two of you went back to the squad car so that you could write up the report for the hostage situation. You ignored the calls of your sergeant for not taking the case that was assigned to you, and typed up everything you remembered while it was fresh in your memory on the tiny console in the squad car.

“Detective?” Jongho sought to gain your attention.

You tapped on the tiny keys as your windshield wipers lasered the rain from your window. “I have to do this right now Jongho, or the details will change or get hazy. I’m a human after all. I don’t have photographic memory.”

“I need to speak to you about shooting through you,” Jongho persisted.

“It’s not necessary,” You attempted to cut him off.

“It is necessary to explain!” Jongho frowned, “I calculated the angle and the risk, and ran through a great many scenarios, and the one with the best outcome--”

You closed the console softly. “Jongho. I understand.”

Jongho’s mouth snapped shut. “You understand?”

“If you had not shot that android, I might have gone down with the two of them. You did what was best to save the two humans in that scenario.” You sighed heavily. “At the expense of one of your own. I appreciate that,” You admitted gruffly.

You continued your report and the air lessened with its tension but your muscles did not. Your adrenaline had drained from you but you still held yourself stiffly in your seat. “Well--”

“Detective, is there anything I can do for your comfort level? My scanning tells me your muscles are so tight, they must be painful.”

You turned your head slowly in disbelief, “What?”

Jongho’s gaze went from your tailored slacks, up past your button blouse and met your eyes. “I can help you.”

“Help me how, Jongho?”

"Do you know what I was before they sent me to become your partner?" Jongho peeked at you through his eyelashes.

You swallowed but found there was no moisture in your mouth. "Don't tell me you were a lovebot?"

Jongho smiled, gummy and bright. "I was a lovebot," he confirmed.

"Shit," You cursed, "Jongho--"

"Do you know what I still retain from that job?" Jongho interrupted you, "I still have an innate want to please others." Jongho leaned forward. You held yourself very still as he looked you directly in the eyes, face centimeters from your face, and pulled the lever that made your seat lean back. "Let me please you?"

"That is such a breach of conduct," You breathed out in rushed words.

"You are stiff, Detective," Jongho bit down on his lower lip, his voice getting husky, "Let me help you get loose."

Jongho's hand slid down your pants and you didn't stop him. In fact, you spread your legs to give him easier access. A pool of wetness had already formed there, and Jongho smiled knowingly when his fingers met your wetness. "Do you want my fingers, Detective?"

"God, Jongho, stop playing these games," You growled.

"You have to agree to my services. I have to hear you say the words." Jongho's eyes danced with merriment.

"Want your fingers," You mumbled.

Jongho turned his head and cupped his ear. "Hmmm, what's that?"

"I want your fingers inside of me!" You shouted hoarsely.

"Would that please you?" Jongho asked with a cock of his head.

"Please," You whimpered, swallowing what was left of your pride.

"Oh pretty, all you had to do was ask!" Jongho assured you and then plunged one finger inside of you.

Your eyebrows furrowed and your hips thrusted upwards as you were finally filled. Jongho lifted his chin and looked at you through hooded eyes as his finger began to push and tap at the rough spot inside of you. You let out a high whine at the sensation.

"Want more?" Jongho asked in a low voice.

"Please," You murmured again and Jongho pushed a second finger into you. You began to pant at the two fat fingers that were stretching your hole.

"What's wrong, Detective? Why are you so tight and so wet for me? Has no one touched you in a long time? Are you only used to your own fingers fucking this tiny hole?" Jongho tsked you. "That's criminal, pretty, this hole deserves to be pounded into every morning in the sunbeams."

You whined at the imagery of Jongho bending you in half, your feet over his shoulder, as he jackhammered into you with nary a sweat drop as the morning sunlight drifted through some curtains. You should not be imagining such a sweet scene with your android partner, but there it was.

When those two fingers began to fuck you, Jongho's palm anchoring his hand, the lewd squealching noises that came from your cunt was embarrassing. Jongho laughed under his breath. "Aren't you sweet, getting embarrassed over the noise of your pussy taking my fingers so well. I gotta make you cum if you're gonna take my cock, hmmm?" The hum sent shivers down your spine.

"J-jongho, that's too fast--" Your words were cut off as Jongho sped up his pace, mercilessly passing over your g-spot until you came with a strangled cry.

"That's it, pretty, come for me and relax," Jongho talked you through your orgasm and then removed his fingers from under your pants. He wiped them on your thigh and raised an eyebrow at you. "What next, Detective?"

You evened your breathing but your legs were still spread and your underwear was a mess. "We gotta…return…the squad car…"

"We can return the car," Jongho ducked his head in agreement. "Or I can log a breaking and entering we found as we made our way back to the station and I could fuck you in the back of this cop car."

Just how far were you willing to take this? Jongho was offering but didn’t you hate him? But the look in his eyes… didn’t seem as soulless as you had originally perceived. This didn’t seem like a trap either. You just didn’t know anymore.

"Pretty?" Jongho brought your attention back to him. 

“I…”

Jongho tilted his head. “If you’re concerned, I’m offering my services because--”

“Jongho, for once, can I not get one of your default answers,” You said dryly.

Jongho ducked his head, almost a shy motion, completely contradictory towards his recent behavior. “Yes, Detective. Perhaps I am being a little bit greedy but I prefer your reactions to me as I pleasure you, to when we are as partners.”

“You…prefer?” You looked for clarification.

Jongho’s eyebrows furrowed. “You respond to me in an innate way that feels more like a human experience than a human and android experience. I feel that is how I would like our interactions to proceed.”

“You want to feel like I’m treating you like a human and not an android,” You repeated back to him.

Jongho smiled again. “Yes!”

“You were right, earlier,” You admitted, “I haven’t been fucked in a very long time.”

“Won’t go see the lovebots, I assume,” Jongho asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, and with my schedule, it’s hard to date,” You added.

“I can,” Jongho paused to bite down on his lip, somewhat conscientious and not tempting, “I can help you with that, Detective.”

You groaned, unsure if you could say no at this point. What have you turned into??? “Before I regret this…” You opened the backdoor and left the driver’s seat to shuffle into the back of the squad car.

Jongho met you in the back, a small smile pulling at his lips. You couldn't help but roll your eyes. "Don't gloat or anything, JC-1012."

Jongho pouted at the reference to his model number. "Detective!"

"Yeah, yeah," You said while pulling off your pants and underwear and throwing them to the floor, "You don't want to be treated like an android."

Jongho's attitude changed at the drop of a coin once your messy and wet pussy was out on display. "Pretty, your cunt is calling for me," Jongho hummed.

You felt your nipples tighten at that phrase. "My neglected pussy needs you, Jongho," You whined.

"I can take care of you," Jongho promised. He folded his long jacket properly and tossed it back into the front passenger's seat. Next was his belt and button and zipper to his pants. His forearm muscles bulged as he rolled his sleeves up as well. "I'm going to fuck you so well that your pussy won't be neglected any longer." You let out a desperate noise from the back of your throat and Jongho smiled confidently again. 

If you thought that Jongho was just going to fuck you in the missionary position in the back of the squad car, you were sadly mistaken. Jongho bent you in half, your legs hitting his shoulders and his hips pressed into your ass. Jongho had also been right in making you come beforehand, because the extra wetness made so that his girth eased into you without resistance. However, when you come, you become tighter, so Jongho was all gritted teeth and grunts.

"Fuck, how are you tighter after coming?" Jongho panted, "Were my fingers that good, pretty? Is my dick that good?" You clenched down at his words and he grinned, fierce and ego-fulfilled, "It is me then. I feel honored."

You tossed your arm over your face in embarrassment. "Jongho, please."

Jongho immediately removed your arm from your face. "I want to hear it," He said in a gravelly voice.

You looked at the ceiling and said, "Your dick does this to me."

Jongho pulled back and thrusted into you, making your breath catch in the back of your throat. "What was that?"

"Fuuuuccckkkk, do that again," You begged.

Jongho, out of pure pettiness, kept his hips flush with your ass and raised an eyebrow at you. "Sorry, what was that?"

The corner of your lips turned downwards. "Your dick makes me tight and clench down on you. Please, Jongho, please don't stop."

Jongho shook his head so his fringe moved out of his eyes. "As you wish, pretty."

Jongho gave you harsh thrusts, and long pull outs, enough to give you what you wanted but also leave you wanting more. The pleas and promises that fell from your lips only fed Jongho even more. You could tell that he loved that you were at his mercy; that only he could give you what you needed at this moment. It was completely different from the disinterest and distrust you had given him earlier at the precinct.

"Oh god, Jongho, I think--!" A particularly sharp thrust had you crying out, interrupting your sentence, "Fuck, I'm gonna cum, just like that, yes!"

"Gonna come on my dick, pretty? Gonna milk me for all I'm worth? Gonna take all of my cum like a good little cum slut? Want me to fill you up and have my cum leaking out of your poor little hole? I bet you can barely hold any of it," Jongho mocked you.

You threw your head back and yelled as your orgasm coursed through you at Jongho's dirty talk. "Fuck fuck fuck," You whined as your walls pulsed around Jongho. 

Jongho gently let your legs go and pushed your hair behind your ear. "There, relaxed now, pretty?"

"So fucking relaxed," you said and then stiffened immediately. "you little shit, you are leaking out of me!"

Jongho chuckled, manly and full of ego, "I told you so."

The dispatcher called out your squad car's number and you groaned. "Sounds like they still want us to check in with the Eden Club. Guess our android work is never finished."

"Detective?" Jongho called out to grab your attention once again.

You stopped pushing yourself upwards to stare up at him. Not a hair out of place, he barely looked touched, where you probably looked like the epitome of a cumslut. "Jongho?"

"You're a really good person, under that tough exterior, aren't you Detective?"

The sentence caught you off guard. "I…guess I haven't thought about it that deeply. I mean I am in the police force, I suppose I put others before myself--"

Jongho sighed, fixing himself and helping you out of the squad car once you had put your pants back on. "No, pretty, that's not what I'm talking about."

Your face screwed up in confusion. "What are you talking about, Jongho?"

"You." Jongho poked your forehead with his index finger. "The one who came to the library of illusion with a selfless reason."

"Are you malfunctioning? Did my pussy do that to you?" You laughed dryly but Jongho did not join you.

Jongho pursed his lips to the side in thought. "I'm kicking you out. Your inner strength is unparalleled to any human I've come across while being trapped in this place. I'm not sure if you can defeat him but it's worth a try to support you."

You crossed your arms under your chest. "You're not kicking me out of anywhere, Jongho, I'm the detective--"

The air tensed, warping and stretching and suddenly it snapped and you were back in the Mystery Section. Jongho still had a long jacket but it was accompanied with leather pants. Jongho fondly poked your forehead again. "You're lucky I'm a softy."

"Jo-jongho," You groaned. You brought both hands to your face, an intense feeling of pain cutting through your head.

"Here." When you dropped your hands, Jongho was offering you his key: a badge. "You deserve this. I hope you know that."

You blinked and you felt like you had just been hit by a truck or had a concussion. "I'm not sure I can do this."

Jongho shook his head. "You can't give up now. Not when you're so close."

"I barely know which way is up right now though," You admitted.

Jongho took your hand and put the badge in your palm and curled your fingers around it. "Go back to Seonghwa. Show him that you have all the keys. He'll know what to do."

"Thank you," You said weakly.

Jongho shook his head. "No, thank you. I haven't come that hard in eons."

Your eyes widened and you felt your face heat up. Jongho's borderline evil laughter followed you out of the Mystery Section on your way to Seonghwa.

You dragged your body to Seonghwa's desk, where the keeper was playing a book version of Jenga. "Don't you have any respect for the books you keep here?"

Seonghwa jumped in the air and placed a hand over his heart. "You scared me!"

"Do you think…I could put the last key…?" You made a few shaky steps around the desk before you collapsed against Seonghwa who caught you.

A look of pity washed over his face. "It's finally caught up to you, huh?"

"That last one, there was barely a moment between me and the other me, I--" You grimaced at your still pounding headache. "Fuck."

Seonghwa kindly took the badge key from you and placed it beside the bumble bee. "The six keys required to open the restricted section." 

He firmly closed the display case and the both of you watched as the keys sunk into the black sand. Then your eyes swung to the large gate. 

And nothing changed.

"You got to be fucking kidding me," You cursed.

Tag list:  @yoonguurt   @hijirikaww   @flowerboykun   @starillusion13   @flurrys-creativity   @kitten4sannie   @a-soft-hornytiny

Library staff: @kwanisms   @smallfrye  @anyamaris   @stardragongalaxy   @kpop-stories-21

↫The Adventure Section ↭ MasterList ↭ Keeper of the Keys ↬

[virgo-dream]

Glitter Glue and Butterfly Stickers 🦋✨

general audiences / dreamling / domestic fluff / retired dream / 1052 words

a gift to my beloved @littledreamling. as I’ve told you before, you are the hope to my sadness. thank you for never losing sight of me when I feel lost. inspired by this post. read here or on ao3

Sometimes, it was impossible for Hob not to marvel at how lucky he truly was. He and Dream had been married for about 10 years, after Dream had decided to step down from his role as lord of the Dreaming for good. Retirement suited his husband quite well too. Dream was making quite the name for himself as a painter and sculptor, and took great joy in taking part of the small tasks of their everyday life. They’d moved to a nice house away from the city, big enough for a nice office for Hob and a large studio for Dream, along with a library they both shared. The move had been great for other reasons too: Dream tended to get overwhelmed in the city, and the both of them could enjoy a lot more privacy too.

When they decided to adopt a child, a bigger house had also been ideal.

Hob had been sitting on his desk for what felt like an eternity, but had in fact been about 8 hours. He was hunched over his computer, eyes already stinging from the strain of looking at the screen for so long. He’d written quite a lot that day, and read even more from the pile of printed out articles, papers and books, research material for his new thesis that he much preferred reading the physical copies of. His main source of comfort while he worked was a single mug of warm tea that filled itself back up every time he reached for it, courtesy of his above god-kind of a husband. Hob reached for the mug, taking a sip of tea that could only be described as “childhood memory” flavored, let out a soft sigh and leaned back on his chair, allowing his mind to wander for a moment.

A soft knock on the door brought him right back to reality.

“Dearest, may I come in?” Dream’s voice was soft, almost like he was afraid he might interrupt Hob while he worked. Hob found it endearing, how much Dream respected and honoured his work hours.

Hob got up, stretching his arms and back quickly, before walking over to the door to open it, smiling as he was greeted by the face of the person he loved most in the entire universe. “You know you don’t have to knock, love. It’s never a bad time for you.”

Dream allowed a private and gentle smile, eyes filled with a fondness that Hob was perpetually greedy for. “I prefer to not interrupt your writing process. I have learned that an interrupted flow of ideas is preferred by scholars and artists alike.”

“And I am thankful for it dove, I really am.” Hob leaned in to press a chaste kiss to Dream’s lips, letting his hands rest on his husband’s hips. “But as you well know, I can always use a visit or 10 from you while I work.”

“You would not get any work done if I indulged you.” Dream’s tone was humorous, as if his smile was evident even in his voice.

“But I’d get to do you, and that would be even more rewarding.” said Hob, winking at the end to get his point across. It earned him a soft flush on Dream’s cheeks, so even if he wasn’t particularly satisfied with what he’d done so far, his day had already been won.

“You are impossible, Hob Gadling.”

“So are you, Morpheus Gadling.” 10 years into their marriage and Hob still felt the need to say Dream’s name out loud to believe it had even happened. “But I have a feeling you didn’t come here just to praise me.”

“You would be correct.” Dream reached into the back pocket of his jeans, producing a bubblegum pink envelope filled with glittery butterfly stickers. “Lucy requested I deliver this to you. She said it was of the utmost importance that you read it before dinner.”

Hob took the small envelope from Dream’s hand, his smile growing larger by the second as he read his name written in the handwriting of his 7 year old daughter. “From Princess Lucy to Doctor Gadling” he read out loud, looking at Dream as if his heart would not be able to make it through reading the contents of the letter.

“Ah, yes. Princess Lucy of the Dream Kingdom. I find it very appropriate, don’t you?” Hob had never seen anything like the look of pride that currently resided in Dream’s eyes.

“Of course, I should have known.” Hob let out a soft chuckle, carefully opening the envelope as not to damage any of the many stickers Lucy had used to glue it shut. He then unfolded the letter, written in flower themed stationary with an array of different coloured pencils.

“Dear Doctor Gadling (Dad),

Dad Morpheus read me an article you wrote. I was amazed by it! ^u^ It surprised me that took you 4 months to write it! :O I’m sure it took a lot of work. I found out a lot of things about medieval times! I also liked learning about the things you teach. A lot of things made me say “awesome”! :D I want to read what you write next!

A+!

Princess Lucy of The Dream Kingdom (your daughter)”

Hob tried to read it aloud, but his voice got shaky midway through, and he was glad when Dream pulled him into his embrace and finished reading it for him. “Dream, I—“

“I know.” Dream pressed a soft kiss to Hob’s temple, wiping his tears away gently with his thumbs. “She is very proud of you, Hob. As am I. It was her idea to write the letter; she wanted to give you encouragement in writing your thesis.”

“I don’t think I’ll be doing any more writing today after this.” Hob’s eyes were filled with tears, but he couldn’t be happier. How he’d landed this life was beyond him.

“Thus my hesitance in interrupting you.” Dream pressed a kiss to Hob’s lips, then brushing a strand of hair that had escaped Hob’s bun away from his eyes. “I shall get dinner ready. Perhaps you could play with Lucy while I cook. I have heard she’s in need of a knight.”

“Ah, of course. Can’t keep the princess of the Dream Kingdom waiting now, can I?”

[bumblingbriars]

For Kat and Luna, please!

What is one word you would use to describe your OC’s appearance? How does your OC react to and handle stress? What is your OC’s favorite food? Favorite place? Do they go there often? What do they wish they knew more about? Where did their name come from? Does it have meaning?

What is one word you would use to describe your OC’s appearance?

Luna: Sweet

Kat: Confident

How does your OC react to and handle stress?

Luna: Listens to music, throws herself into making teaching plans for her music class. She's a little bit of a workaholic lol. She's decent at handling it, being an adult, but sometimes it can get overwhelming.

Kat: Tbh depends on what part of her character arc lol. At the beginning, she is a chronic smoker and underage drinker. The only healthy thing she would do is read poetry or books. At the end of it, she listens to music, thinks things through--the only thing that sticks is reading poetry/books. She's not great at handling it at first and often gets anxiety, but gets better over time.

What is your OC’s favorite food?

Luna: She's more of a breakfast gal, loves crepes the most. Especially loaded crepes, but she also loves the classic cinnamon and sugar. She also enjoys seafood a lot!

Kat: Stew, mainly goulash. Also has a huge sweet tooth and dislikes bitter/dry stuff.

Favorite place? Do they go there often?

Luna: A cafe in the heart of Chicago. She goes there very often to make teaching plans and draw.

Kat: Memorial Park in Calumet City, and yes, she goes there often to (illegally) street perform and hang out with the mothers there. She also loves going to the library and bookstores, things she less often goes to for... reasons.

What do they wish they knew more about?

Luna: Her family is second generation immigrants from Switzerland and France, but because her grandparents were so Americanized it's hard to know a lot about the culture.

Kat: Beyond learning the guitar, she wants to know more about who her parents were and how they lived. She has some puzzle pieces, but not all of them...

Where did their name come from? Does it have meaning?

Luna: For Luna, in universe her name is due to her deceased father, who was a literature professor and studier of mythologies. He loved the olden works of Virgil, and found the name Luna in his work Georgics. He and Luna's mom loved this name a lot and gave it to her. There's also a secret reason, but that'll be revealed hehe. For irl, I thought it'd be neat for her to have a fantasical name like Elwood does. Her last name comes from the jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald :)

Kat: In universe, I'm keeping it just a bit of a mystery as to how Kat's name was workshopped as it'll be revealed later. However, I can say her mother, Gretchen, really loved Anna Karenina. However, she didn't want her name to be a full on reference to the book. Katerina was born! This isn't a spoiler cause it's subtly revealed in the first chapter lol, but her middle name, Anita, is from Anita O'Day. Irl, tbh I really liked how Katerina sounded, plus I love characters that have long fancy names but prefer nicknames (thus, Kat). Plus, I wanted the name to have Kat in it somewhere so she could eventually get the nickname "Kitty" (no bearing on my own nickname, I'm not projecting THAT hard) as many blues and jazz singers get that nickname. Her and by extension Gretchen's last name is from the singer Betty Carter :)

[witherbythesword]

53, 55, 91

<3

THANK YOU SO MUCH! ⁠♡

53. What kind of books do you read?

trying SO hard to stay casual here

I have a fond love for existentialist and expressionist literature throughout the ages.

A big interest of mine in literature revolves about themes of enlightment (as in the science and cultural movement from about 1720 - 1800) and specifically about the way concepts of god/good/heaven and devil/evil/hell take shape and form in literature narratives.

It's such an interesting subject matter and especially irish writers take up alot of space in my mental library here. (Flann O'Brien my beloved just for example)

I also read science fiction stuff and and books about subjects I want to get a deeper knowledge of but I hate casual science literature with a fierce passion 💖 so I try to really vet what I read here.

One of my favourite casual books of all time is Howl's moving castle. Everyone who hasm't read in a while and wants to get back to it, I'd recomment this book to because it's delightful and fun and the plotlines are so overarching that honestly the book is even more fun on your second time reading it.

55. What is your favourite flower?

ohhhhhhhhhh I LOVE FLOWERS. I love drawing them and just looking for funky ones to challenge myself. Like alot of orchids are just super cool. there is one called dragons tongue i believe i tought myself a bit ago and they look so cool.

One of my favs are fire lilies for sure. honestly I like all orange flowers. lol they are just so so beautiful to me.

91. Perfect date idea?

That depends partly on who I'd have the date with. Uhm.

Also i guess not a great date person? Like i just wanna wake up next to them, have a nice relaxed morning, go do something that fun/interesting/exitcing like a museum or a doing some woldworking course or whatever together and then walk the long way home, just enjoy each others company and talk or just relax.

Go grocery shopping to cook something nice together and spend the evening watching a movie or playing a game or just paralell play.

I sometimes have friend dates where we just meet to do art and craft projects together and they last forever and we're just having fun or just taking a walk through the city doing whatever. Thats sweet too, but i guess for romantic dating i prefer the casual intimacy of spending a "normal" day together over having a specific event sheduled you know?

[niennandil-me-writes]

something new, something blue

cn: anxiety, abusive parents mention, cannibalism mention in an academic context, nsfw at the end

[my secret santa gift for @constantlytiredghost. November belongs to them.]

Wilhelmina sat bent over her studies, trying to take notes, trying to compare three different sources, trying to stay focused. She had always struggled with working while someone else was in the room, preferring the solitude and silence of her empty study. Not that she would have preferred to be alone right now. It had turned out she was even more distracted when the person with her was one she actually liked.

Last time Wilhelmina had looked behind her, which was about five minutes ago, November had been sitting on her bed, surrounded by the books she had brought from the library, most of them on funerary rites (“Wilhelmina, did you know about this clan of Yuan-Ti that eats their dead?” She had known about it, but still listened to November read her the passage and talk about similar accounts she had heard, wondering aloud whether the souls of the dead were watching over their cooks’ shoulder…).

Now she heard November stand up, walk around the room. She realized she’d been reading the same sentence for the tenth time, when she felt something graze her left horn. A bit puzzled, she looked up at November, or rather at her hat.

“Sorry,” the blue-clad cleric said. “I didn’t mean to distract you.”

“You aren’t – I mean – Don’t worry about it. I should just…”

“It’s just that you said you’d be ready in ten minutes, and that was half an hour ago.”

“Oh, right…” Wilhelmina bit her lip.

“I don’t want to interrupt your work,” November said gently. “But I’m getting hungry.” She tilted her head, winced, no doubt remembering their talk a few days back. “Or at least, I could do with a snack right now.”

“Uhm, sure, let’s go.” Wilhelmina stood up quickly. “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting. Let me just get my bag. I think the cafeteria has zucchini cream soup today. It’s my favorite, I’m sure you’ll love it as well! Is something wrong?”

November had stopped in her tracks suddenly, frowning. “Not really,” she said, hesitantly. “I just thought we might go eat somewhere else today?”

“Do you not like zucchini soup?” Wilhelmina asked, alarmed.

“No, it’s nice. Just… you already showed me the cafeteria when we cooked our chili there.” November smiled. “I thought maybe you want to show me some other place?”

Wilhelmina avoided her gaze, looking out the window instead. Despite studying in this city for 8 years and working here for another 2, she had never been to any of its restaurants, except for the rare occasions where someone explicitly invited her, and she hadn’t found an excuse in time. Even then, she remembered mainly how nervous she had been. Not the food, or the address or name of the establishment.

“You don’t think it’s still dangerous to go outside, do you?” November asked carefully. “I’m sure the whole thing has blown over.”

“I’m not worried about that. Anymore,” Wilhelmina added quickly. Then, finally, she had an idea: “There’s the food vendors! Uhm, there’s a place on campus with a bunch of food tents, I’ve heard. I’ve never been, but, you know, we could try it out…”

“Sounds great,” November beamed. “I love street food!”

Wilhelmina was glad it was around midday, so all she had to do was follow the groups of university students to find this place she had heard of and walked past sometimes, but never really visited. Too scary was the prospect of a colleague walking over while she ate her lunch, or a food vendor making small talk.

The tents were arranged in a semicircle around a cluster of wooden tables and benches, where students sat together chattering, discussing their studies, some with their notes scattered across the table next to their wooden plates. It wasn’t just students, though. Wilhelmina recognized some of her colleagues among them, and quickly turned away.

November, meanwhile, had been looking around the yard with big eyes and an even bigger smile. “I don’t even know what I should get, those all look so good! Do you have any recommendations, Wilhelmina?”

“Uhm, not really,” she murmured. “I’ve never eaten here.”

“Hmmm…” November looked around again. “Do you like curry?”

Wilhelmina nodded courtly, and November took her hand to guide her towards a red tent staffed by Tabaxi stirring in big pots and turning skewers and dumplings on a grill.

“Anything I can do for you, love?” one of the servers asked Wilhelmina.

She looked helplessly to November, whose gaze was fixed on the blackboard spelling out the different foods on display. Wilhelmina felt the shadows drape deeper over her face as the Tabaxi looked at her impatiently.

To her relief, November finally looked up: “I’ll have the vegan curry with samosas. And extra spicy, please.”

The Tabaxi nodded and then looked at Wilhelmina expectantly, who mumbled a “the same”, and then quickly fumbled for her money before November could pay or argue. They got their food quickly. Not being able to find an empty table, and despite Wilhelmina’s protests, November spread out her cloak on the grass, so they could sit there comfortably.

“Can I have some of your carrots?” November asked.

“Hm?” Wilhelmina was pushing around her food. “Oh, yeah, sure.”

November tilted her head and looked at her bow. “Didn’t you also order samosas?”

“Wh- Yes, I did, but…”

They both looked down at Wilhelmina’s very samosa-less bowl.

“They probably just forgot it,” November said. “Should I come with you to ask for them?”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Wilhelmina said quickly.

“But you wanted samosas, right? And you paid for them? So you should get samosas.”

“Really, November, it’s okay.”

November quickly made a grab for Wilhelmina’s bowl and stood up to walk back to the food tent. Wilhelmina followed her, but then halted indecisively. In horror, he watched November tap the Tabaxi who had served them earlier on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, my friend ordered samosas with that?”

Wilhelmina wanted to call another “it’s fine” but could barely move her lips. Her entire body shrouded in shadows as the Tabaxi looked over to her with a furrowed brow. This was it. She would get yelled at. And she would yell back and maybe hurl a sliver of her psychic magic at the server and then run away and hide in the library, never to be seen again, never to see November agai–

“Sorry, love, I’ll take care of that right away.” The server took the bowl and went back inside the tent. November turned around and shot Wilhelmina a smile, soon rejoining her with the fixed order.

“Thanks,” Wilhelmina said meekly. “Uh, thanks for doing that for me.”

“No problem,” November beamed. “Just pay me back in carrots.”

The curry was delicious, the samosas even moreso. Spicy, but not too much to handle for Wilhelmina’s fire-resistant Tiefling body and November’s deadened nerves.

“Maybe we could go here more often,” Wilhelmina said hesitantly. “For as long as you’re staying, at least. This is much easier when I have you with me.” It wasn’t just the heat of the food that drove a blush to her cheeks.

November smiled. “It’s really nice here.” She had made herself comfortable in the grass, looking around. “What else have we planned for today?”

“Planned? What do you mean?”

“Well, you did say you’d show me around the city. And today seems a good day for that. Unless you are too busy?”

Wilhelmina had said that. Though she had mainly referred to the university, and had hoped she could put it off for a while.

“I… actually don’t know that many places here. I can show you around the university, though,” she suggested.

“That would be nice. But maybe, we could go some other place? I’ve already been around the university a bit.”

Wilhelmina contemplated what she could show November, while her partner sat patiently, cleaning out the last of her curry from the bowl.

“There’s a couple of parks,” Wilhelmina said hesitantly. “Oh! There’s the museum.” She lit up. “Numerous museums, actually. There’s the history museum, and the museum of arts, the museum of magic…” She looked at November, who was listening, smiling, most important of all: nodding.

“Sounds fun.”

“Erm, is there something specific you’d be interested in?” Wilhelmina asked.

“The museum of magic sounds interesting. But I’d let you choose.”

After returning their plates, Wilhelmina led the way through the streets of the city. November kept skipping ahead or falling behind to take in the sights, or even just a shop window. The second time she returned from such an exploit, November took Wilhelmina’s hand in hers, and the Tiefling was too flustered to launch into her lecture about the historical figure depicted by the statue November had just returned from.

It was strange. Wilhelmina had lived in this city for almost a decade – since she had started her studies. And yet right now, with November’s hand in hers, and her tail hesitantly laid around her partner’s hip, the ways seemed to stretch so much longer. The colors were brighter, the shop fronts more enticing and the attractions more exciting. There was a bittersweetness to it. Wilhelmina caught herself evading November’s eyes and quickening her step just a bit.

Walking into the well-known shadow of the old museum felt like a relief. She waived both November and herself through with her university sigil.

“Don’t we have to pay?” November asked.

“The university – the Librarian, that is – donated some artifacts to the museums in the past,” Wilhelmina explained. “University people and their companions have free entry.”

November looked around the room they had entered, which held ancient wands and staffs on the walls and in locked glass cabinets.

“Is any of the stuff here from you? I mean, did you bring something here back from an adventure? Like the Kryschos in the library?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Wilhelmina said. “I did help with the identification of a magical cloak, however.”

“Well, then lead the way.”

Wilhelmina needed a moment to understand before November took her hand again. She nodded and together they walked into a room displaying magical clothing. The cloak of interest was hanging spread-out at the wall among many others of a similar kind. All of them were frayed at the edges and had a few holes, which had made it hard to identify what magic exactly they held, especially since they couldn’t be used anymore without running danger of destroying them or oneself. With the artefact in question, it had taken weeks to even say for sure whether it was magic at all, or just had residue from a spell stuck to it in a very peculiar way, until they had figured out that the magic ran through one single strand of one single thread of the elaborate embroidery. After that discovery, the delicate process of analyzing the fibers one by one without damaging the fabric had been Wilhelmina’s job, which had taken the better part of two weeks.

“So what does it do?” November asked as Wilhelmina ended her description of the work.

“We, uh, still don’t really know,” Wilhelmina said a bit meekly. “The thread has way too many tears in it to say for certain. It’s almost like a text with words or whole paragraphs missing. We assume it’s a form of protective cloak. The magic is mostly Abjuration, with trace amounts of Evocation. There might be fire involved, though whether it protected from it or summoned fire in some way we cannot say for sure. The motives of the embroidery led us to believe it might be a part of a set of 5, or perhaps 6, though as far as we could find out, no others like it have ever been found. Further studies … what?”

November was grinning from ear to ear. Now she tilted her head. “What ‘what’?”

“Why are you smiling like that?”

“You’re really good at this,” November said. “Explaining things I mean. You’re like a walking book.”

There was that familiar sting in her chest. A feeling that made her want to lash out, want to hide away in a dark room, a shadow within shadows. It was an instinct she still couldn’t fully let go off. Sharp words at the tip of her tongue. Words she held back. But when did speak, it still came out a bit harsher than she had wanted it to: “I must be boring you. We should just look at other stuff.”

November’s smile didn’t disappear, but turned softer. “But I like hearing you explain things.”

Wilhelmina didn’t look up. “Are you sure?”

“Of course. Why else would I be here?”

Yes, why were they here? Right back in her comfort space, surrounded by silence and musty air and relics, like they had never left the library at all, when November had wanted to see the city’s sights. Wilhelmina bit back those words as well, and instead looked around the room. “What do you want to hear about next?”

That was how they moved through the museum, room by room, November pointing out artifacts, and Wilhelmina recounting what she could remember of their history, meaning and the magic they held. They looked at a variety of magic foci, enchanted cloaks (“this one looks a bit like Tony’s, don’t you think?”), studied spell scrolls and books locked behind special glass that prevented them from being used to cast, and spell-storing stones and jewels. They spent about half an hour looking at different magic hats as well as normal hats that used to belong to powerful magic users, including a fedora that allegedly used to belong to Melf himself. November stared at that one for quite a while.

“Who do you think has better style?” she finally asked.

“You, undoubtedly,” Wilhelmina said.

“Hm? Oh, I meant between that witch hat over there and Melf’s,” November clarified. “But thanks, much appreciated.”

“Oh, I just meant…,” Wilhelmina stuttered.

“I still think I need some more trinkets and thingamajigs,” November said, considering the brim of the witch hat bending under the weight of various pieces of decoration.

It was only after a while of walking and talking her way through the museum that Wilhelmina noticed they were being followed around by four people. She halted in her explanation of a specific magic broomstick. Helplessly, she looked over at November, who laughed: “I think you got an audience.”

“Am I talking too loudly?” Wilhelmina whispered.

One of the other visitors, an Elf holding a notebook, lifted their hand: “Sorry, does it cost extra to join the tour?”

Wilhelmina felt the shadows drape over her face. “I’m not – I mean…” She trailed off as November took her hand.

“Should I tell them to leave us some space?” she asked in a low voice.

Wilhelmina bit her lip. “No. I mean, if we’re here anyway…” She cleared her throat, then said louder: “I’m not a guide, but you can stay if you want.”

Wilhelmina had become quite good at holding presentations over the years at university, but she had never been comfortable during them. This was similar, now that she was aware of the eyes directed at her. At first, at least. But whenever she felt November close to her, touching her hand for just a moment or brushing shoulders, it didn’t put her on edge like any other proximity would have in that situation. She focused in on her and found the speaking just as easy as before. She wrapped her tail around November’s leg, not caring that everyone saw. She had given up on that at the ball. There were a lot of things she cared about less now, she realized.

By the time they left the museum, it was already getting dark, the sun having disappeared behind the skyline a while ago. They walked through the shadowed streets, Wilhelmina choosing a longer way back to the university.

“We can go window shopping until the stores close if you like,” Wilhelmina said. “And then pick up some food to take to my room.”

“What’s that commotion over there?” November asked.

Wilhelmina followed her gaze. It had indeed gotten louder, voices and distant music and joyful screams echoing through the streets. In that direction, the house walls and cobblestones were lit in various colors that replaced the waning light of the sun.

The closer they got, the more they could recognize: First, small stands on either side of the street, offering snacks and sweets. The farther away, the more people bustled about, until the street led to the entrance of a park, which seemed to be the center of the commotion. Between the trees, a wide array of tents, booths and big stalls had been erected, lit by the colorful light of lanterns hanging from the branches, both mundane and magical in nature.

“Win your prize at the ranger’s hut!” an Elf holding a toy-sized bow and arrow yelled from within a booth. “Just hit the target three times!”

“The best waffles in the city!” barked a Halfling from a stand laden with sweets.

“Get your fortune told at Madame Mertha’s!” a Gnome called over from a tent.

Wilhelmina and November had stopped at the park entrance.

“Looks like a fair,” Wilhelmina said. “I heard one comes to town sometimes.”

“Well, then we’re in luck,” November said. “I haven’t been to one in ages!”

Even though she was tired and usually avoided large crowds, Wilhelmina joined November without complaint as she walked inside the park to have a look around. As if she knew the place, November casually guided their way to a big hut that was shrouded in an intense sugary sweet smell.

“You want some candyfloss, Wilhelmina?”

Wilhelmina jumped as November’s question drew the attention of a Tortle who was selling the sweets. She mumbled something, and kept looking around the stand, noticing gingerbread hearts in the back, different kinds of candy sticks and chocolates…

November tapped her shoulder and she turned to see two giant blue-and-white clouds under the big hat of her partner. Wilhelmina smiled shyly as she took her candyfloss. As she turned the stick to tear off a small wisp with pointed fingers, she realized that the sugary threads were glowing from within.

“Nice, isn’t it?” November said, her eyes glowing almost as bright as the candy. “The vendor casts a Light cantrip on the inner part. It looks almost like a will-o’-wisp, don’t you think?” She smirked. “So it fits you.”

Wilhelmina stopped with the sugar halfway to her mouth, looking down herself, then at the glowing confection, then at November. “It also fits your colors,” she said sheepishly. “And, um, thanks.” She finally put the sugar in her mouth. It melted in a sticking sweet intense flavor, with just a hint of blueberry and vanilla.

November furrowed her brow. “Have you never had candyfloss before, Wilhelmina?”

“Um, not that often. Why?”

November grinned, and Wilhelmina realized that her eyes had widened as she took the bite, and that her tail stood up rather than subtly hanging down as usual. She quickly wrapped it around November’s leg, and then felt even more embarrassed.

November took her hand and smiled at her calmly. “I saw some interesting stalls over there, wanna see?”

Wilhelmina let November guide her on. “I, uh, never was allowed much candy by my parents,” she explained. “And I’ve only ever been to a funfair once. My sister, Ramona, snuck us out for it. We were grounded for a week after that. But she found a way to pass letters under my door, and some candy she got there for me.”

“At least you have one family member that allows fun,” November said. “We had a small fair coming by the town once a year. My family would even do their own stand sometimes. Basically a haunted house.” November smiled in reminiscence.

Wilhelmina turned the candyfloss around in contemplation. “Were any of the ghosts real?”

“That’s a family and company secret.”

They had arrived at a bigger stall with a particularly large crowd gathered around it. At closer inspection, it seemed to be selling trinkets and toys that had weak magical properties, which explained the amount of children pulling at their parents' sleeves and begging for what had caught their attention. But older customers were examining the wares as well.

There were music boxes with dancing figurines inside, endlessly spinning tops, hairbands that promised to increase the effects of studying (Wilhelmina looked at that for a moment longer), chalk that wrote in rainbow colors, sending stones (of particular interest to a group of teenagers), brushes that dyed your hair, and much more.

One particular object caught both Wilhelmina’s and November’s attention at almost the same time, as they called out to the other with fingers pointed.

“You know who that would be perfect for?” November said in excitement, looking at the metal orb the size of her head. The metal had some holes and etchings, such that Wilhelmina for a second had wondered if it was the making of magic or artifice, but at least the silver light streaming from within seemed to be magical. The corner it stood in wasn’t lit, except for the little dots the object produced, projecting star clusters and constellations at the wooden wall, exactly like the real ones in the sky above.

“Tony would love that,” Wilhelmina agreed.

The vendor, a Gnome standing on the elevated floor of the stall, had noticed their attention. “You can change the hemisphere and plane it shows,” they explained, turning a lever on the orb to switch to a sky Wilhelmina had never seen before.

“We have to get that for them,” Wilhelmina and November said at once.

“Costs a small fortune, though,” November added, glancing at the label.

Wilhelmina, who had already reached for her wallet, hesitated. “I mean, I can…”

“We will split it,” November said. “And then we have to find a way to send that to Tony’s ship.”

After making their purchase and carefully storing it in November’s bag, they walked on, Wilhelmina keeping her tail around November as if to steady herself. They arrived at an area where there seemed to be a lot of competitions and prizes to win.

“Those are always rigged,” Wilhelmina mumbled, an echo of her parents’ opinion, looking at a game where participants had to throw very small rings around very big cylinders.

“Wanna find out how rigged?” November asked.

“What?”

But November was already pulling her towards one of the games, and Wilhelmina didn’t really have a choice but to follow or get lost in the crowd. November looked around a bit at the games. “Which should we try?”

“Um…”

“Want to try out the Dwarf Strike?” a gruff voice called over to them, and they both turned to look at a Dwarf woman standing next to a wooden construction three times her size, with markings up its length labelled from “Halfling Baby” and “One-Armed Kobold” over “Strongest Elf” and “Weakest Bugbear” up to “Orc”, “Dwarf” and “Dwarf-Orc”.

“Ya just have to hit the base with this here hammer and if ya get to one of t’ upper ones, ya get a prize.”

“Bit stereotyping, don’t you think?” November remarked, pointing at the labels.

The Dwarf flinched. “Get that a lot. It’s an older model and I’m too lazy to think o’ something better. Now, does one of ya beauties want to try ya hands at it.” She pointed at a shelf laden with prizes behind her, mostly brightly colored plushies and little bundles filled with candy. “Maybe win one of them stuffies for yer lady friend?”

November looked at Wilhelmina, who shook her head.

“I’ll try it,” November said and walked up to the wooden tower to pay for one attempt. Wilhelmina stood to the side and watched her pick up the large hammer. She weighed it in her hands and tried to pull it up before stopping. “Oh, almost forgot, Wilhelmina, can you take my hat for me?”

She quickly walked over and put the hat on Wilhelmina’s head. As she leaned closer to pull it over her horns, she winked at her and whispered, “Try to distract her a bit for me, okay?” She was back at the tower before Wilhelmina could say anything. It seemed to take her some effort to lift the hammer into the air and over her shoulders. She winked at Wilhelmina again.

Wilhelmina bit her lips. She stepped a bit closer to the Dwarf. “Is, um… does this fair come here often?”

“’bout twice a year. Big cities are always happy to have us.”

Wilhelmina took a deep breath. Made a little gesture with her hand as if to draw attention. Then she started talking, weaving enthralling magic into her words, talking without interruption to capture and cage the Dwarf’s attention. She talked about this being her first time here, about Ramona taking her to the fair back home many years back, the pressure her parents put her under, and she was about to start talking about her growing discomfort at this place when there was a loud BANG as November struck the hammer to the base with full force, followed by a louder GONG sound as the puck was thrown upwards to hit the third highest mark. For the fraction of a second Wilhelmina saw the outline of a silvery shovel around the hammer, then it was gone.

“Did I do it right?” November asked innocently.

The Dwarf scratched her head, but apparently, she hadn’t seen what Wilhelmina had spotted, and so she just grinned and said. “Congrats, lass. Didn’t think you’d have that much power in ya.” She walked back to the row of prices, picking out a big blue stuffed owl with a large pink heart on its chest. “That one right for ya?” she asked and handed the prize not to November but rather to Wilhelmina, who nodded a bit befuddled. “Looks just like you,” the Dwarf winked. “You sweethearts have anything else planned?”

“Not really,” November said quickly. She took Wilhelmina’s hand and turned away, but the Dwarf was still talking.

“There’s a ferris wheel over yonder. My brother is manning it. Can see the whole city from the top, so it’s nice if you haven’t been to the city for long. Might be something for you lovebird- whoa!”

All the lights had gone out all of a sudden, the place cast in shadow. Yells and murmurs and complaints came from the crowd around them, getting more confused as it became clear that it wasn’t just the lights, but that a bubble of total darkness had taken over a small part of the park.

Having let go of November’s hand and drawn in her tail, Wilhelmina ignored her companion’s calls and left. She stepped outside the darkness, past the confused crowd. When she left the park, she consciously recalled the spell that she had unconsciously cast. The walk back to university was like a haze, her vision blurry from tears, hands cramped into fists, face draped in shadow, staring down anyone who dared come close to her.

Finally, she stepped inside her room, closed and locked the door behind her, and threw herself on her bed. It took only a few seconds for the anger bubbling up in her to simmer into a shallow guilt. She shut it out. It didn’t matter. She was more comfortable in her room anyway.

She jumped when there was a knock at her door.

She stayed silent. Didn’t move. Face pressed into her pillow.

Another knock. “Wilhelmina?” November’s voice, soft and concerned.

“Go away!” Wilhelmina called. “Don’t let me ruin the fun you were having!”

It was silent for a while. Wilhelmina sat up, only now noticing the hat that had fallen on the floor. She had forgotten she had been wearing it while fleeing. She picked it up and walked to the door, unlocking and opening it by an inch. She half expected November to be gone, but she still stood there. Her brow was furrowed with what might have been worry.

“Sorry for stealing your hat,” Wilhelmina said meekly. She tried to pass the hat through the gap and immediately close the door again, but November was already holding it in place.

“Can I come in?” she asked.

“Don’t you want to go to the ferris wheel?” Wilhelmina didn’t look at her.

“Not if it’s not with you.”

Wilhelmina chewed her lip, anger bubbling up inside her again. “Fine.” She let go off the door and sat down on her bed again. November followed her and let herself fall down beside her.

“You forgot your plush,” she said, sitting the owl on the mattress next to her.

Wilhelmina didn’t look at it or November. “I got you licorice.”

“What?”

“At the candy stall. I got you licorice.” Wilhelmina pointed at her bag on the floor, holding a paper package of licorice sticks. “I think you’ll like it. It has an intense flavor.”

“Ah,” November said.

A silence fell over the room that was neither save nor comfortable.

“Soooo,” November said after a while. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong, or do you just want to sit there and pout?” And when she didn’t get an answer: “I wouldn’t have a problem with that. You have a very cute pout.”

“It’s not – “ She stopped herself and pressed her lips together.

“Yes, it is. Your ears turn downwards when you pout.”

“I’m not pouting,” Wilhelmina pouted.

“Yes, you are. And it’s cute.” She reached out to Wilhelmina’s face, who flinched away, staring her down.

She could feel the shadows darken, was about to send a mind sliver in November’s direction to get the thoughts that were muddling her mind like ink blotches on the page of a book to leave, and November along with them. If she didn’t get it, she could feel it, and maybe then she’d understand it, and maybe then she would leave her alone, leave and never come back, and she’d be alone and in peace again.

But then something turned softer about November’s expression, and she turned and pulled her legs up to her chest, so she was facing Wilhelmina. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanna know what’s wrong.”

There was something about her that let the walls Wilhelmina had built around herself crumble. About her and Tony both. But where Tony was a wrecking ball, November seemed like a magical brew that dissolved the adhesive sticking the bricks together.

Wilhelmina looked away, draping her face in shadows in shame rather than anger this time. After everything, her first instinct was still to lash out. Hurt people before they could hurt her. Keep them at a distance so their words could never sting. The truth was that she liked those walls she had built, and that she felt exposed without them.

“Sorry,” Wilhelmina said meekly. “I was being an idiot.”

“Nobody said anything about that,” November said. “I just want to know what happened.” Wilhelmina felt November’s cold fingers gently brush her own hand, and this time, she didn’t pull away.

“It’s stupid,” Wilhelmina said again. “You will laugh at me, or get mad, and both would be justified.”

“Now you’re being unfair towards yourself,” November said.

Wilhelmina hesitated, as if trying to find the right words, as if they hadn’t been echoing through her mind all the way home. “It’s just… You wanted me to show you the city, but I had nothing to show. I don’t even know the city I’ve lived in for years.”

“You showed me the museum,” November interjected.

“Yes, and as soon as we left, you wanted to see something else, something more exciting,” Wilhelmina said, turning to her. “And I get it, I have nothing to offer. I’m… boring. You are amazing! You always tell me about your adventures, of guiding lost souls into the afterlife, of beating people up with a spiritual shovel, or forcing them to dig their own graves, of escaping death itself! You talked to that … experiment? creature? – when I didn’t even know what to do.

“And Tony as well! They’re traveling the world by ship. And what do I do? I sit here in my study and read old books! I’m a glorified scribe! I spent all my life trying to please my parents, or – or some Archfey I sold my soul to, without mattering to any of them at all, and now I’m 28 and I feel like I haven’t lived a single day of my life. I can’t even show you anything exciting in this city that’s worth doing. I must be so boring to you.”

November had listened with her head tilted. Now she reached out both hands to take Wilhelmina’s face between them, preventing her from looking away again. “You’re pretty amazing as well.”

Wilhelmina flushed. “You’re just saying that.”

November didn’t relent. “Wilhelmina, when I first met you, you killed a guy with your own negative thoughts. I’ve seen the stuff you brought to the Librarian, and the stuff you analyzed for the museum. That’s not boring, that’s great. Amazing even.”

Wilhelmina wanted to contradict her again, but she couldn’t even open her mouth before November had leaned forward and, still holding her head in place, pressed her lips on it. A silent squeal escaped Wilhelmina, and in response November’s lips curled upwards. Then, Wilhelmina relaxed, closing her eyes to sink into the kiss. November’s fingers brushed over her cheeks. Wilhelmina gently laid her tail on November’s back, then wrapped it around her midst as the kiss became something more intense. Her hands burrowed into November’s hair. On the edge of her mind, she noticed that November’s hat had fallen off, and she didn’t seem to have noticed at all. November’s skin and lips and mouth were cold, but never would she have called that cold lifeless. If anything, it was calming against the heat of Wilhelmina’s cheeks and embarrassment and –

“Wilhelmina,” November whispered as she pulled away. “There is something else you can show me that I haven’t tried yet.”

“What?” Wilhelmina, who, unlike November, needed to breathe, panted.

November reached down to the stacks of books that were piled up beside the bed, pulling up a thin booklet, which Wilhelmina recognized in horror.

“That’s not mine!” she said quickly. “I mean, I have never seen that before! I mean – “

November laughed. She started flipping through the pages, which were filled with drawings of featureless bodies of different races tied up in various compromising positions, with instructions written in between the sketches. “I just thought it might be fun to try out, and that maybe you have some more experience with that than with fairs?”

Wilhelmina called the shadows intentionally this time to hide her flushed cheeks and caught expression. She bit her lip. “Well… I mean – I – We could try something out. If you want. I assume.” She looked up at November and managed a smile. “Do you, uhm, does any specific variant strike your interest?”

November kept flipping through the pages. “The ones where you hang from the ceiling look wild.”

“Those… probably aren’t the best idea for a complete beginner,” Wilhelmina cautioned.

“Yeah, thought so,” November said. “I might be dead, but I don’t know how I feel about playing vampire right now. Maybe when Tony comes over, we can try that with them, I bet they’d have fun.” She chuckled and turned to a page at the beginning.

“These are pretty easy,” Wilhelmina said. “To tie and to experience, I mean.”

“This one seems good,” November said, pointing to one.

Wilhelmina considered the sketches and accompanying instructions. She nodded.

“Do you have rope here or should I get some from my pack?”

Wilhelmina, who had already bent down to retrieve the equipment from under her bed, stopped dead in her tracks. “Um. No. I don’t.”

November chuckled. She slipped her shirt over her head.

“Wait, what are you – “

“All the people in the pictures are nude,” November said innocently. “I thought it was the point?”

“I don’t – I mean – you don’t have to if you’re not comfortable…” She couldn’t keep her eyes from trailing back to November’s now exposed chest.

“Wilhelmina.” November stood up and put a hand to Wilhelmina’s chin again. Somehow, despite it meaning a closer proximity to breasts, it calmed her down. “How about I just tell you when I’m not comfortable with something? And the same goes for you.”

Wilhelmina nodded again. “Sit down and give me your leg.”

Following the instructions meticulously, Wilhelmina set to work. Starting with a knot at the ankle, she first tied November’s thigh to her shin. She then passed the black rope around her hip and chest, before continuing on the other leg. Although she had been nervous at first, not being used yet to being this … intimate with November, Wilhelmina found the process calming in a way. She soon forgot she had the naked body of her girlfriend in front of her, all her attention being taken up by the knots and ties and careful technique. Once or twice, she had to work backwards to untangle a mistake, apologizing for the holdup. But November remained patient, encouraging.

It took some time, but finally, it was done. Wilhelmina stepped away to consider the work. She discovered a few more mistakes she had made, but now the thrilling sight demanded back the attention Wilhelmina had put somewhere else for a while.

November’s arms were tied behind her back, legs bound calve to thigh and affixed to the arm in a way that forced her to keep them parted. In addition, there were some aesthetic ties around her upper body, the tightness of the rope pushing out her cute small breasts.

November was grinning. “Well, how do I look?”

There were a thousand words jumbling together in Wilhelmina’s mind: Beautiful. Cute. Sexy. Pretty. Hot. I want you. Adorable. So bad. Stunning. Right now.

What came out was an incoherent mumbling mess.

November chuckled again. “Well, watching you tie me up was fun, but I gotta admit, I don’t really see the appeal that much? I can’t even move.”

“That is… kind of the point,” Wilhelmina murmured.

“Yeah, I know, I just don’t really see how that would help in getting it on.”

“Well.” Wilhelmina had caught herself a bit again. She tried to sound mischievous: “Now I can do with you whatever I want?”

November’s smile turned into a smirk. “Like what?”

“Like this.” Wilhelmina knelt down on the bed in front of November and kissed her. November kissed back, tenderly sucking on her lips. She struggled, trying to touch Wilhelmina, but the binds kept her in her helpless position. Wilhelmina put one hand to the rope at her chest and pulled on it, gently for now, to get her closer. Her lips wandered down November’s neck, and the other couldn’t follow. She kissed along her collarbone. Her fingers brushed the scar over November’s heart.

Wilhelmina brought her lips to November’s ear, whispered: “Are you still comfortable?”

November nodded. “Like I said, I’ll tell you if I’m not.” She sounded almost out of breath.

Wilhelmina took the words as a full invitation. She put one hand on November’s right breast and gave it a gentle squeeze. Her tail wrapped around November, under the ropes, interweaving with them and holding her even closer. One hand wandered farther down. November gasped in anticipation.

Wilhelmina kissed the cold skin over November’s heart as she pushed two fingers inside her. There was so much more she wanted to show her.

[teddybasmanov]

Sometimes I feel the need to confess my cringeness to the world so I hope you know that my unwritten canon-non-compliant fic about Commissar Elrick ends with a scene in which he and the listener argue about politics and accidentally wake their child up.

If you want to know how I - a person deathly allergic to baby fics - ended up thinking that, there are details (headcanons?) under the cut.

It's a bit more than a thousand (1000! That's not the fic, that's me saying what I would write, if I could) words long and there's also one pregnancy mention in passing.

Anyway canon non-compliance is mostly in the listener's backstory, because I'm stupid and I found out that the elven playlist is a continuos story with one listener and not two separate ones, so I kind of assumed that This listener's story starts with the inquisitor's interrogation and whatever was before is up to me. Well, what was before? Let's see.

This is going to be unrealistic and purely for the convenience of the furtherer story (when will I stop trying to make excuses for myself and actually write what I want? probably never). The listener was a servant/slave of an eccentric elven noble - they thought it would be amusing to keep a human around teach them things, maybe make them sort of a secretary but also most probably 'fool around' with them. The rest of the stuff doesn't like them, because they think the listener is 'master's favourite' and get preferences without working hard, so while they're not working they're probably hiding in the library and read whatever they can get their hands on (cue: a lot of political theory, including, probably, books banned by the elven imperium).

They get taken in for questioning with the inquisitor because they're in the wrong place at the wrong time (if I recall correctly they're accused of blowing something up) and/or because their master is out of governmental favour. Then three interrogations happen - inquisitor, copper (whom they didn't believe, by the way, and when he tried to play them the whole 'I'm letting you go, be my friend' thing - they totally shot him the moment he handed them the gun - it was just unloaded), commissar - and the commissar offers to actually let them go wherever they want. Well, they drop to their knees at his feet and beg him not to make them go, tell him they can do anything - cook, clean, do the paperwork he hates so much - anything, just don't make them go, because they have nowhere to go and they want to be useful. Here comes one of my favourite tropes - "has been used their whole life" person meets "I just to be nice and help you" person.

So Elrick and his 'boys' take care of their new human friend as best they can (I like to think that Elrick and the listener share the inquisitor's bedroom - not out of romance but out of utility) and the listener in turn takes care of them - and takes on most of paperwork and when the superiors start receiving those papers they notice that the reports suddenly become more orthographically and grammatically correct, more eloquent - hell, the handwriting changes. So, when Elrick's unit (? whatever sized part of the military he's working with) is back with the main forces, those superiors inquire what happened and after some awkward questions they're met with a human with serious eyes and a uniform greatcoat way too big for them. This is when they get noticed and start slowly moving up the ranks, so to speak.

They probably start working with some higher officials, start speaking their mind (remember - they're somewhat educated), probably as a human they might get assigned to the People's Commissariat of Nationalities (the thing Elrick mentions, even he calls it the wrong word), productively work there, move to the capital (or at least a big city). Elrick, considering he's also not the last person gets transferred there too and they don't lose contact. Considering the story is set in a mix of The Great October Socialistic Revolution and the ending of World War II people are getting married fast - because they don't know what's going to happen next and there's that wave of altogether change (and dare I say happiness, if we take the Victory), people in the military especially, so they do too.

When they settle down in the city considering they're a decently ranked officer and a government worker they have comparatively good living arrangements - again considering the timing a separate apartment is unlikely - I'd bet two good rooms in a communal apartment (which for two and even three people is still a lot). The child happens naturally and I don't care if it's fpreg, mpreg or adoption (considering the amount of orphans after the revolution and the war) it doesn't really matter, but I like to think it's half-elven, half-human.

Considering the listener's background they take their work really seriously and probably stay at work late often and don't have much free time, so they and Elrick rely a lot of social services for taking care of the child (like child care), which Elrick is not too happy about, so one late evening when they're having supper he tries to talk to them about it and maybe even slightly guilt them for not spending enough time with their baby, so they whisper argue in one room, while the subject of their disagreement sleeps in the other:

Elrick: Do you care more for your work or your own child? The listener: I care more for our new developing state. Elrick, almost furiously: What? Is the state going to care for them?! The listener, calmly and seriously: Yes, for them and for many other children who are much less lucky. Elrick: *angrily drops his spoon on the plate*

The sudden loud clink wakes up the baby and it starts crying in the other room, the listener shoots Elrick an unreadable glare, while getting up from the table and leaves the room, closing the door behind them. Elrick drops his head on hands and tiredly rubs his eyes, hearing his partner's shushes in their human tongue he doesn't understand. Soon the crying stops but they don't return, so he goes to check on them and faces a heart-squeezing scene - his spouse, still in their work clothes, sitting on the floor by the crib with the baby on their chest, both of them asleep. He has half the heart to just join them there, but the voice of reason wins and he very carefully picks up them both to put them in the bed together, where after dealing with the dishes and ditching everyone's shoes he does join them after all. He's going to get a tongue lashing from his partner for not waking them up, but that's tomorrow.

Flashback to the first few days they spent together when he would find them asleep at the desk and carry them to the bed and they would wake up huddling for warmth because the electricity has been long gone and they don't have enough firewood.

[nyx-sagau-dreams]

Hi! Can I please get a genshin matchup?

I’m attracted to males and I’m monogamous. My pronouns are they/them. My mbti + enneagram is INTJ 6w5.

Personality: I’m very quiet, and I’m not that good at communicating with others. I tend to speak in a straight forward and blunt manner as well. I’m short tempered and not very patient, and I get easily annoyed by things. I’ve been told that I have a decent sense of humour, and I like to joke around the people I’m close with. I tend to kinda blend into the background, and I’m usually left out by others. I don’t really mind I guess, I like being by myself. I have a low social battery as well, and I value my personal space. I’ve also been told I’m not really an “original” personal, like I don’t really have anything unique about me.

My hobbies and likes- music, reading (I like to read a lot of things and I love manga as well), baking and science. I like fashion and cosmetics as well, and I like to practice makeup on other people so I’d like it if my s/o allows me to do so.

Dislikes: insects, loud noises and yelling, hypocrites, selfish people and overly sensitive people because I’m very very blunt.

In a s/o, I look for someone who is patient and well tempered, since I’m not either of those things. Someone who is caring (holds the door for you, cooks for you when you’re sick etc), and someone who is honest. I’m a very work oriented person, and I always put my work/duties/interests before my relationships so I’d like my s/o to do the same. My biggest turn off is probably someone who’s overly dependent, and throws away all their interests for a relationship.

My love language (giving) is acts of service and I prefer to receive words of affirmation. Despite this though, I’m not good at taking compliments, since I don’t receive them often, and I’m good at telling if people are lying.

Thanks sm and take your time!

Thank you for the request! I have matched you with: Cyno!

Once Cyno gets to know you, he's very levelheaded, calm, and collected. Plus, he's honest, focuses on his work, and I think he would be very attentive as a partner. Despite being the General Mahamatra, he seems to be very kind and gentle to the people he cares about. He would not hesitate to hold open a door for you, or to help you in the kitchen. He understands the importance of working in a team and running things smoothly. Cyno is also super independent, so he won't be clinging to you unnecessarily.

You first met Cyno when you were applying for civilian access to the Akademiya library. You had a book you really needed to read, but thanks to the not-yet-updated laws on knowledge access, you still had to apply for access, at least for the next two weeks.

He was around because he was talking with some of the junior Matra. You caught his eye, seeing as you definitely weren't in Akademiya clothes. Cyno was worried about how the students and staff would respnd to your presence, so he resolved to keep an eye on you, in case someone did something stupid.

But luckily, it seemed that his help was was unneeded, as nobody dared bother you. It seemed that people changed even before laws did.

Well, the constant hovering of the General Mahamatra probably helped.

You finally spoke to him, even though you'd noticed him quite a while ago. It was just a simple hello, but from there, the two of you continued to exchange words and ideas back and forth.

Slowly you've become someone who Cyno trusts a lot. You hang out with him a lot when he's off work, going out to eat, or wandering the hills around the city. Sometimes, he comes back from his desert trips with little gifts for you. Eventually, he realizes that gifts aren't quite what you seem to like, so after some quiet observations, he figures out that you like words instead.

Cyno learns a lot from you, and he hopes you learn a lot from him. Above all, he just wants to spend time with you when he isn't working. He doesn't like to talk about work around you, either, unless you ask. He wants to give you the best, and he feels like his work is not it.

He takes your hand, and guides you outside the city. He brings you to one of the nearby hills, and then when he sits down on the ground, he invited you down. When you sat down, he laid down on the grass, and pointed up at the dark sky.

When you laid down next to him, you gasped. The stars were beautiful.

You must have said that part out loud, because Cyno chuckled next to you.

And then replied, "Much like you. Unless you prefer 'handsome'?"

You covered your face in an attempt to cover the heat rising to your cheeks. Cyno chuckled again. Then he rolled over to look at you.

"I could stay in this moment forever," he sighed.

You sighed and rolled over too. "So could I."

[alaric-greyson]

Considering the notes someone else has probably said this but:

A lot of those stories you can find.  The combo of internet archives and e-commerce operations mean a lot of stuff can be located with some level of digging.

Sometimes all you need is a handful of keywords, and the ability to sort of picture where you saw it in the library, bookstore, etc.

Two examples from my own life:

I picked up fantasy as a genre back in middle school in the 90s.  So I’d go into Waldenbooks and get a new fantasy novel (preferably thick and crunchy) whenever I could save allowance and convince my parents to go to the mall.

On one trip I picked up a neat looking book, about a bronze age type city under a massive siege, with magical warriors defending it from an Alexander the great type.  It was pretty good, self-contained, and entered the rotation of “random books I’d pick up every couple years and reread.”

Went off to college, then moved out, and at some point my mom donated a lot of the random paperbacks in the house to one flea market or another.  I’d probably even helped pick them out.  A few years later I got the hankering to re-read this book I could barely remember, but was pretty sure was on a shelf in my bedroom.  Cut to me being super bummed to realize it wasn’t.

So I started hunting.  Google wasn’t a huge help at that point because I could only remember a few details (”a lion god vs an earth goddess” “city under siege” “father and daughter super-warrior pairs”).  But inexplicably I could picture the shelf at Waldenbooks that I’d bought it from...which meant I knew roughly where in the alphabet the author was.

Cut to me spending a few days going through an archive of every book Locus magazine reviewed in the late 80s and early 90s.  For a big mass market fantasy story it was probably there.

Eventually I suddenly saw a title “The Sword and the Lion” by Roberta Cray

Then it was just a matter of finding a used book shop online and ordering it.

Googling was more successful when I wanted to read a different kids book:

“Skunk familiar, wizard apprentice, spell creation” led to a bunch of weird results but also led me to “A Plague of Sorcerers” by Mary Frances Zambrano.

In both of these cases it was probably 15-20 years between when I picked up the books and when I went hunting them down.  But if you have even a few key elements of the story, characters, or plot there’s a chance you can track them down.

Pour one out for all the stories you'll never find again, that you barely remember in totality, but that left an impression on you that you'll never forget.

The short stories from standardized tests that you only had a few minutes to read, but those minutes will last a lifetime.

The books on the library display shelf you used to occupy time until your mom could come pick you up from school.

The graphic novel you picked up when you were first getting into comics and could never find again.

The single lines or themes from stories you otherwise don't remember, save for the one thing that you saw and internalized as a new part of your personality.

Let's pour one out for the books that built us, even if we never could find them again, and couldn't of we wanted to.

[justgenshinstuf]

Hi! If you're still free for requests, I'd love a continuation of the exploring dragonspine hcs, for (uhhh everyone but let's say) Mona, Diona, Lisa and our new boy Xiao - Anon from the last ask 💛

Yay! Thank you for your request and here you go <3

(for other parts check the “exploring dragonspine” tag)

Exploring Dragonspine pt.3

Mona

She hates every second of it.

In no way is she adapted to such cold. Her outfit obviously is not acceptable for this kind of weather, so she has to wear an ugly big coat provided to her by the Adventurer’s Guild.

She also lacks nutrition, considering her limited diet. Some basic food is obviously provided by the guild too, but eating some dried meat and goulash after weeks and weeks of salads is a deadly strike for your stomach.

And when you are hungry even a simple gust of wind can chill you to the bone, and long mountain camping becomes unbearable on a physical level.

The result is she usually whines and complains a lot. Probably even too much, considering all the problems can and should be solved, but experience is just overall unpleasant. She never gives up though or even falls behind. It’s like she can get fuelled by the irritation alone.

What’s worse, she can in no way carry out her astrological readings. It’s usually too cloudy to see the sky during the night and that’s when you don’t stay in some cave. And in the blizzard it’s often impossible to make out the person standing next to you let alone the stars.

On the sunny days when all is seemingly fine the problem is finding water that hasn’t turned into muddy blocks of ice. But if Mona gets lucky to find a running mountain river or even a small melted puddle it’s truly worth it. She says herself that the pure waters of melted snow are optimal for hydromancy, that’s how it’s done the old-school style.

She finds her new motivation in desire to reach the mountain top. To be able to carry out a long deep reading being so much closer to the stars. For her this experience is worth the suffering.

Diona

Being the one to usually complain about anything and everything Diona surprisingly loves the snow.

It’s usually hard to get her so openly excited about something, but snow crunching under the boots and puffy snowflakes slowly falling from the sky do the trick. It’s like she finally lets herself act like a kid.

She is not afraid of the wilderness of these places at all, her cat instincts fully sharpened, little cat-ears twitching at every suspicious sound. Her survival skills are something to learn from truly.

Snow storms ruin the experience though. Diona is not comfortable hiding in some stupid cold cave for long, so if the blizzard calms down by the nighttime she will insist on moving out and continuing the expedition.

Thankfully she can be a decent guide, using her night-vision. “Haha, primitive ones, you can’t even see in the dark!”

As you can guess, this plan doesn’t work for everyone. And if you don’t want to wander around in complete darkness led astray by the wind and snow, paralysed by sheer cold eating you up from the toes, relying solely on a fussy tiny cat-girl, for SOME strange reason that is TOTALLY NOT obvious, there is a way around it.

It’s possible to calm Diona’s temper a bit by simply making her stay by the fireplace for some time. Add some warm drinks or even milk and some casual hugs and Diona will calmly dose off for a few hours.

How to wake her up to go into the windy nightmare of a trip again? Well, you will have to find that out for yourself. A little tip - Diona actually likes to be carried around (but don’t we all?).

At times, when she gets too tired of trying to keep up with the rest, mind you, much taller teammates, she can simply jump up on your back, no questions asked. So be ready to look out for the claws.

Cats will always be cats.

Lisa

Lisa is probably the least outdoorsy person you can imagine. The fact she agrees to go out of her cosy library is a miracle on itself, but Dragonspine? No one will believe you if you tell this.

The truth is, she has a certain private interest in that place, that she wouldn’t reveal this easily. Maybe it’s something about the ruins of an ancient city buried under the snow and the relics it’s inhabitants left behind? Or maybe it has something to do with Durin’s remains and Albedo’s research? As Lisa likes to say herself: “Every woman has a secret”.

An unaware bystander may get a heart-attack seeing Lisa rock her usual outfit in this weather, walking around effortlessly in high-heals like she’s flowing above the snow. The trick is actually pretty simple, she wears a tiny warming Seelie captured in a little bottle as a necklace.

Being both the laziest and the smartest person in Mondstadt, she finds all kinds of clever ways to ‘cheat the system’. For her, creating some obscure method of battling cold on the go is always a better option than prolonging the trip even for a minute.

Warming potions, gliding potions, energy potions, fire potions, anything you can think of Lisa has a potion for. And even if she doesn’t, it takes her a few minutes max to come up with the solution. “The sooner we’re done, the sooner we come back. I’m not planning to miss my five o’clock tea.”

If you encounter a puzzle, Liza will solve it for you almost instantly. While you waste your time and warmth looking through old books in desperate need to translate some runes or pace around searching for some clues, all the doors open before Lisa and all the magic barriers fall.

It kind of steals the excitement of riddles, so if you like, she might let you solve it yourself from time to time, just don’t make her wait for too long.

She prefers to keep her usual laidback attitude, avoid unnecessary battles, act efficiently and not waste her energy on something not worth her attention. However her maximum productivity is reached when it’s time to return back home from the expedition.

Lisa can actually just use one of her magic tricks to teleport back to the library almost instantly, but it takes a bit too much energy even for such a skilled mage. Besides, she would never leave her sweet little apprentice all alone.

Xiao

One may say he looks too displeased and totally unhappy to be here but you are well familiar with Xiao to know that’s just his resting face.

He is not concerned by the weather conditions in the slightest, not the rain, not the wind, not the sheer cold. It may seem it gets to him at times. “It’s not. Only mortals can be affected by such minor inconveniences”.

He stays as distant as always, following you on the nearest mountain side or silently dashing through the tops of the trees. Sometimes you can’t even see him, but can always feel his presence.

Xiao patiently keeps the watch during nights, hiding somewhere in the darkness by himself. He never joins you or even enters your tent or a cave you chose to stay in unless you specifically ask him too.

Peeking at him from behind while Xiao sits silently by the fire you can sometimes catch a glimpse of him enjoying the warmth and sound of wood slightly cracking.

He never shows his emotions, nor would he admit to have any in the first place. But sometimes he goes deep into his thoughts, looking around the snowy peaks, listens closely to the wind.

Is it sorrow in his eyes? Or maybe longing? Nostalgia? Is he thinking about some long-lost friend? Just don’t let him catch you staring or he will surely disappear again, looking over you from somewhere you can’t see.

“I have no interest in this place. I’m only escorting you on your quest, so don’t even think about asking questions.”

If you try throw a snowball at him, it might end poorly for you. Better try to explain the concept to him first, that is if you care to have your arm intact. He will claim to have no time for such silly things and the usual bla bla serious adepti stupid mortals kind of deal. But if you still want to start a snowball fight be ready for a snowball war, or even a snowball death.

“You are too carefree. Unlike for me, this place can be very dangerous for you. You don’t want to know about all the dark entities hiding below the snow and ice of this place, it bares many secrets and many lost souls. That’s why I’m here. To protect you”.

[leahseclipse]

Dear diary

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Summary: When Spencer happens to find a diary in the library, he becomes more curious about the owner of it, wanting to find them, and possibly know them better than with a few words.

Warnings: None that I can think of; just two idiots (soon to be) in love, sorry, some moments are so cheesy (but it's so cute I couldn’t not do it)

Category: Fluff

Word count: 8.4k 

A/N: Here’s the fic I’ve been working on for like...one month?? I’ve taken part in the fic swap organized by @imagining-in-the-margins​ , and wrote that fic for @sunlight-moonrise​ :)!!! It really was awesome to take part in it and I can’t wait to do others ones!! Go check out their fics as well, they’re really awesome :)

      I usually like to stay in places like the libraries I go to, the ambience is my favorite part about it, it’s pretty calm (nice deduction genius, you’re in a library, so of course it’s going to be calm), the people that I see there are quite friendly, I’ve had the occasion of speaking with some of them, and mostly, it allows me to discover new stuff instead of reading the same books for a whole week.

When I do that, I’m either really bored, or the book just happens to be one I like to read without being bored after a few pages, or even after reading it for the 100th time.

But, I guess that going to the library was a good choice, the other option that I considered before deciding to go outside was to stay all day in my secluded apartment, probably on the couch or wherever I sit, either reading or watching tv. 

It’s not that I’m lazy, I just like to do simple things like these, I’m not usually into group activities, that actually involves social stuff.

Most of the time, Penelope forces me to participate because I never decide to join on my own.

Right now, I think I just prefer to stay alone, it’s been a few hours since I came in, so I’m not really in the mood to be other people, maybe later I guess.

Although, I still found it weird not to have any message or call, it still was strangely calm. It rarely occurred.

I know, in this case, I should relax, as there is, nothing, absolutely, nothing, going on, but I can’t help but think that my phone is gonna start to vibrate at any second when I had just managed to find peace, -that I’m not close to finding- if I keep thinking of all of it happening.

I just sighed as I opened the book I had been holding for the past hour; I haven’t even reached the half of it because of all of the thinking I’ve done since I stepped in the library.

I had nothing to do at this moment, so might as well use the time I have to go to a place I appreciate.

I’ve always liked going to these, for as long as I remember. They’ve always been a place where I felt safe, relaxed, all of my problems would fade away when I’d be in, I always saw it as a shelter against the rough reality that faced me at that time when I was at high school.

I couldn’t really say something without being seen as an annoying brat; I still wonder if it was because they couldn’t accept the fact that a 12 years old was smarter than them, that I was annoying by always managing to find the answer, or because they still couldn’t stand me.

So, I guess that's why I found a real shelter in books.

I’d always read for hours and hours without interruption, at the end of one book, I already wanted to read four more.

They all were nothing but the most interesting words that I constantly appreciated other than the insults of the other students.

I used to be able to forget what was on my mind when I was reading. I still am, but when you have a job that can interrupt your perfect calm moment, things tend to get complicated when you happen to lose your concentration over that.

I also had let myself get distracted by what happened to be around; for example, the rain pouring outside, the drops that would fall down the glass, so, yeah, I...did choose to look at that instead of focusing over a book that was far more interesting.

I also closed my book again for what felt like the millionth time; perhaps it had something to do with my current struggle to focus, I didn’t really know.

It was turning out to be one of those days; my mind would fill with a ton of things, constantly repeating themselves in my head, till I'd feel like it’d explode. 

I may be just making up stuff, and I'm just distracted this time, nothing bad.

The small space I was in had some shelves a bit dispersed throughout the room, chairs, and two small tables in the middle. But when I had expected to only see the pamphlets that have always been there, I happened to be confused about the item laying on the pile. 

At a glance, it looked like a small notepad of sorts.

I haven't even noticed someone here previously, I didn't even know if someone had come at all.

I tend not to pay attention to my surroundings when I read, or even focus on anything, I just act as if nothing and as if no one was around, it's just what's in front of me and my thoughts. 

I have to admit that some exceptions can occur sometimes, such as today, when I chose to focus on a few drops of water, instead of the book that I barely touched since I arrived.

I can even dive in a book as someone is talking and just block what they say and only focus on the words I'm reading, it’s happened...quite a few times now.

It probably is why I haven’t noticed that the person that was previously here had left, nor see the book on the table.

I couldn’t even tell when, because again, I didn’t notice their presence at all.

Perhaps I could find something about the owner of the item in there…? I can't just leave it there, I'll end up regretting it at home and it won't leave my mind.

I had slightly gotten up from my seat so my arm could reach the rectangular-shaped item and sat back when I acquired it.

I did take a look at it, turned it around to search for whatever could be written on the cover, but nothing could be seen, despite that, I searched for a good minute before realizing that I'd probably have to open it to search for a possible name in it to identify the owner.

As I lifted the small string keeping the red notepad open, I found myself with a white page, with a name written on it. 

“y/n y/l/n”

I couldn’t really find them with only their name, they could be living in this city, and if they weren’t from here, the whole state.

Would it be right to just give it to one of the employees so that they could pick it up later? 

I didn’t really know, the employee could forget it, put it in a corner, and it possibly could end up getting lost, which, I wouldn’t really appreciate, even if I don't know the person at all, so it wouldn’t really change my life. 

But still, I’d still feel guilty about that, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for losing their item if it does end up getting lost.

If I went any further, I would, in a way, invade their privacy. Because I doubt they'd want -or appreciate- a stranger going through it if what’s written is personal.

I already went through the ‘give it to the staff’ solution, but, it didn’t seem safe to me, it could end up quite bad as the item can end up getting lost, so, that is definitely something to cross off the list. Even if it could end up not getting lost, I didn’t prefer to take the risk.

I couldn’t ask them about the person, as I didn’t even know them, and hadn’t even seen them around the library.

If I went to the staff standing at the enter like “I’m looking for someone that left a diary, I don’t know anything about them, I just know their name, and they went here.”, it’s literally to no use. A ton of people come in and out, and they just can’t guess. But, I did have their name, I could go up to them and ask…?

But again, what if they forget to give it to the owner when they come in? Or what if they forget they left it there, and don’t know it’s the place they left their diary there? But, was keeping it the best solution after all?

With all of the potential scenarios that could possibly happen, but not happen at the same time, to me, keeping it could possibly be the best solution, I guess.

I don’t really know if the following actions were involuntary, or just curiosity, but I just began slightly wandering through the pages, that even if that wasn’t one of my intentions at all.

I really am a complete stranger, I shouldn’t be doing that at all.

Should I be doing that right now? This isn’t appropriate at all, they wouldn’t appreciate someone going through this, at all. 

But, as I went through the pages, I began to find myself more interested about the person, some books that I had read myself had been mentioned, they seemed quite attentive, I could also tell that from the way they were writing, their writing was delicate, way more different from my chicken scratch writing that basically no one could read without having to request my presence to translate the nonsense on the paper.

I shouldn’t be going through this though, I should just close what I identified as a diary after a few pages right now. I don’t know them at all, and they don’t know me either, that isn’t something I would like someone else to do to me, so why was I still reading it?

“Even if I weren’t very happy about the behavior of my shitty boss, y/n would actually like to keep her job, so she keeps her mouth shut and smiles at what he has to say, even if she doesn’t care at all.”

It did...somehow looked like what I would say about Hotch sometimes, because even if we’re good friends, he happens to still be my superior, so we did have some arguments, eventually.

“I...also kind of hate what went on recently, I just got rejected by the guy I had a crush on-”

I closed the diary as soon as I began reading the beginning of the sentence.

Now, I should definitely not be reading that. That’s getting a bit personal over there, and I doubt she’d like that, again.

I had already gone way too far by deciding to go further than the page with her name on it, and now I reached something, that is...really personal and that I shouldn’t have read at all.

Don’t open that again Spencer, you shouldn’t have even begun reading, and now, you shouldn’t be opening it again, if you possibly want to attempt at getting a friendship, and know more about that person. 

I don’t know what happened but I just suddenly had the urge to do what I wanted to do when I had taken it: Give it to the staff and hope she manages to get it back.

A part of me did want to respect her privacy, even if it kind of was ruined now, and return it so that I wouldn’t open it again, but another part really wanted to know more about her, and possibly hope to be able to return it myself, because I do want to talk to them after what I had read, I didn’t know a lot of people that knew the books I have read, and to who I could talk to about if I do end up meeting them.

After a while of thinking, I figured I could still ask the staff, her name is in it, and if she happens to come here often, perhaps that could help, I didn’t really know.

I headed to the office near me, as a young man turned his head towards me when I had brought his attention.

“Oh, Spencer. It’s nice to see you there, it’s been a while, busy with work, as always?”

“Yeah, as always. Oh, by the way, I was wondering if you could help me with something; I found this...diary in the table over there, and the only name in it is “y/n y/l/n”, do you happen to know someone with that name, by chance?”

“y/n y/l/n? Uh, I may know someone with that name? Wait.” He said as he stepped away to talk to another employee. “Julia, do you happen to know someone named...y/n y/l/n? Spencer found a diary of hers.”

“y/n? Yeah, she comes in from time to time to grab science books.” She answered as she walked in our direction. “I wished I could go and give it to her, but, I’m really busy right now. You could leave it there though."

“I'd prefer for her to get it in person. So, I could bring it to her, but I don’t really know where she is. Do you...happen to know?” I asked, hoping to get a helpful answer.

“I think she works at uh…that craft shop at the end of the street, I saw her sometimes. You could see if she’s there, and if she’s not, you can leave it to the blond and tall guy, he’s the owner, so he’ll give it to her when she's back.” Julia said.

“Okay, uh...thanks for the help. See you later.” I gave them a small wave, as I headed to the exit, walking down the street on my way to the place that had been mentioned in the conversation. 

I didn’t come here often as I don’t necessarily build stuff, but I walked in front of it often, so I just knew it was there, nothing much.

The front of the store was colored with black paint along with small yellow lights, it stood out a bit in the street, compared to the shops around. It really made a good first impression for someone that had never come, the way the place was displayed seemed quite welcoming.

When I had made my way into the shop, everyone seemed busy with their tasks, and the shop contained about...five, six people, I’d say. 

I took a minute observing the surroundings, I didn’t really have anything to notice or say, except that the shop was nice, it was nicely organized, small signs to help the customers find what they needed were displayed, the shelves were in order, the products seemed to be good brands, and it really was various.

It wasn’t until a soft voice had brought my attention; as I turned towards the source of the voice.

“Hi, do you...need help, with something?” The girl asked with a small smile on her face.

“Oh um...I’m looking for...someone named...y/n y/l/n? I found something that belongs to her and the employees at the library where I found it said I could find her here, and that if she wasn’t there, I could give it to a blond and tall guy, who’s apparently the owner.” I explained as I held out the object firmly in my hand.

“Yeah, she’s in the back, give me a minute, I’ll get her.” She said as she left to the back of the shop, leaving me to awkwardly stand there while I waited for them to return.

It didn’t take as much time as I thought it would, in no time, she was back with a girl walking behind her.

“As said, I brought her there. I’ll leave you two, I gotta get back to the storage.” She gave a pat on the shoulder of her colleague, as she disappeared in the corner.

“I was told that you had...found something that may belong to me?” The girl, supposedly y/n, said.

“Y-yeah, I found...that, at the library.” I stuttered as I handed her the diary. She hadn’t fully realized what I handed her at first, but her face quickly showed a surprised and relieved expression on it.

“Oh, you found it there? I, I swore that I took it with me when I left for work, I was in a hurry, so I guess I forgot it, thanks."

“Probably, it was on one of the tables, I didn’t want it to end up lost, or whatever else could happen, so, I took it, hoping I might find who it might belong to. I was lucky they knew you at the library. And lucky that your name was in it. I...opened it to find out who it could belong to since the cover didn’t have a name on it. I...really felt kinda bad for opening it though.”

“Oh, just- leave it, it’s not really a big deal, you didn’t do a crime or anything. You kinda had to open it in the first place so you could know who it belonged to. I wouldn’t have been delighted by that at first, but I’m glad you found it.”

“I thought you’d react differently, I wouldn’t have liked the idea of someone going through my stuff either. I just don't feel comfortable sharing my stuff with other people.”

“You did nothing wrong there, you just wanted me to help me, that’s all. You don’t have to worry about making me angry or anything. But, don’t worry, I understand, I don’t even let my own mother see anything, I like her a lot, but I still like to keep stuff for myself, you know.”

“Yeah, I’m glad. At least everything is in order. I should uh...probably let you work, I don’t want you to be in trouble or anything because I kept you busy about something not work-related at all.”

“No, it’s ok. The boss isn’t around, and we don’t have many customers, it’s a calm day.” She said as she stepped closer. “Don’t tell anyone, but I actually prefer when it’s like that, I don’t work a lot and it’s better when there’s not a lot of people, I hate social interactions.”

“I get you, I also prefer that; but, unfortunately, talking to people is part of my job, and I don't think my boss would appreciate me taking a vow of silence."

“Same there, wish I could. Especially….when I get annoying customers.” She admitted, in a quiet voice. “So, you see.”

“I see, yeah.” I agreed as I felt a buzzing in my pocket.

Come on, now?

“Shit...I have to go, um...have a nice day. I hope you don’t get in trouble because of the long chat we had.”

“It’s ok, don’t worry- wait!” She interrupted before I could exit. “As you know my name, could I...know yours?”

“Oh, It’s uh...Spencer Reid." 

“Well then, uh...bye, Spencer.” She said, as I waved awkwardly when I stepped out.

Well, that sure was...an experience.

It wasn't the best I ever had, as I was basically only rambling, but, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be on the way.

She kind of was like me, social interactions weren't her thing, so we kind of understood each other, I'd say.

So, if I happened to be awkward, I'm sure she understood why.

Well, to me, it basically was because of that, and...a bit because of her.

I really wanted to know more about her, the bit that I read about her in the diary (before the sentence that I certainly shouldn't have read), she just seemed...like an really great person. The kind of person that’d make you want to know more about her, really.

But, we were nothing more than strangers; knowing someone's name and a few details about them doesn't mean that all of a sudden, you know them. 

I just found her diary, nothing more. 

So...why do all of a sudden, I want to know more about her? 

I happened to find objects for other people, but I never wanted to pursue the exchange that I had with them. 

Maybe I should just let it slide away. I don't even know if any of that will end up fine.

I don't even know if she'll find the fact that I want to know more about her creepy or nice. 

It's not everyday that a guy who found something for you suddenly wants to know more.

Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just fine, and I'm just persuading myself that it's weird while it's not. 

I just...guess we'll see.

I don’t think she’ll react badly.

*

And...as I predicted, I haven't stopped thinking of her once in a while.

Every time I didn't think of something; she'd appear.

Why did a complete stranger occupy my mind more than others I've met before? I did remember the people I've met, but I never thought of them as much as her. 

Did a diary and a few sentences really take that much for her to stay stuck in my thoughts?

I'm sure she forgot about me since, I just gave her diary back, she exchanged a few sentences with me, and that was it. 

I couldn’t even let it slide away as I previously told.

I don’t even know if I could see her again one day.

I do want to, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t even know if she’s from around, and if she doesn’t happen to be, I don’t want to be seen as a creep if I happen to walk around.

Yeah, that was a bit weird to say, but I’m just saying what she or anyone else would possibly think of that, if I ever were to do it.

Maybe she’ll come to the library again? 

If she comes again, I hope it’ll be when we both happen to be free, because if that happens when I’m on a case, or when she’s at work, it’s gonna be...really complicated. 

I just don’t really want to directly come to the store, what if she’s not here? What if she finds me weird? I just...prefer to meet her again outside of work, in a more appropriate place, where I’ll probably feel less pressured about a conversation.

Again, yeah, it’s weird, I admit it, but, I just wouldn’t really want to directly go where she works, the majority of the scenarios that I made up, and that are filled with the fears I have about them, they’re not the greatest ones to be honest. They’re very likely not about to happen considering how ridiculous they are, but I just prefer to do it another way that won’t include a ton of ridiculous scenarios.

I seriously have no idea of why I’m acting like this, there is literally, absolutely, not anything. She’s literally the sweetest person I’ve met, she acknowledged my awkwardness, the fact that I didn’t like social interactions a lot (because most of the time, they end up in me rambling, and the person I’m talking to, is not understanding a single word of what I say the whole time, and is pretending to, to not offend me), she really was nice, and there was apparently no reason for her to find me weird in any way.

I think that I really was making up things, and being a bit dramatic.

I don’t think it’ll be that bad.

I just have to see things on the positive side, next time I’ll see her, it’ll be okay, I’ll try to not look nervous as hell, or even make the conversation weird, and everything will be absolutely fine.

I just have to stop worrying about things that aren’t things to worry about at all and go with it.

Because honestly, what could possibly go wrong?

I'm just trying to convince myself something wrong will definitely happen, when it simply won't.

We'll have a completely normal talk, without any inconvenience, and maybe see each other again, that's it.

Next time I'll see her will be a good day, I have to focus on that and absolutely not on the list (that's….oddly large) of what could possibly go wrong.

But eventually, the next few days went…better than I expected them to be, surprisingly. 

I did almost stop thinking about all of the stuff that would make our future interaction bad, and really weird, refraining me from ever talking again considering how embarrassed I would be if I'd turned out this way so…yeah, keep the positive thoughts coming Spencer. 

The week had gone...okay-ish, I’d say. 

In a way, we were busy, but at the same time, not really, it was pretty calm compared to many of these chaotic days we all hope won’t appear soon.

I had indeed tried to stop stressing about what had been on my mind for a while, but I hadn’t quite stopped thinking about her. It’s weird that she stayed on my mind more than I thought she would.

I would have never forgotten her, but thinking about her, basically most of the time, I wouldn’t have gone that far. 

Even if the week had been calm, I haven’t found the motivation or time to get myself to the library as I was supposed to. I just hoped she would be there when I would finally decide myself to go, that way I’d perhaps have a chance to get to talk to her, I just hope it will go well, I want to.

Wanting to know a stranger I read a few words about isn’t part of my habits, but I just want to try to get to know her. I don’t want to regret it later and blame myself because I haven’t been able to gather even a bit of courage to approach her.

I’m sure she’ll be okay with it, she seemed pretty nice when we had exchanged a few words, it didn’t seem like she wanted to leave, found me weird, she seemed pretty calm and open to me. 

So, I think the next time I’ll see her will be fine.

Next time will be better, I just have to gather some courage, and it’ll be totally fine.

There won’t be any problems.

*

Don’t ask how, but I somehow found myself going to the library on a free day instead of staying in my apartment all day to either read the entirety of my shelf or watch whatever comes to mind, so, basically, sit on the same spot all day and only getting up when I need to do something.

It’s pretty basic, Morgan often teases me a bit about it, saying that I could try to meet people, find love, go outside and all of these things...that only interests himself and no one else.

It’s not that I’m against all of that, it’s just that...I’m not at ease with it in general.

That’s not really part of my list of favorite things, and if I had to explain more in depth, I prefer spending a whole afternoon watching Doctor Who or even doing paperwork if I’m really bored, rather than go outside and regret it five minutes later because if I’m with other people, I can’t go and have to stand there awkwardly till everyone decides to go back home.

I don’t completely hate talking and being with other people, because I’m literally surrounded by them at work and whenever I usually go to like the library, the coffee shop and etc, but you get it, I have a preference for staying alone sometimes, it depends I’d say.

Because sometimes, it happens that I’m in the mood to be with other people without having the need to go five minutes after we gathered around.

I think it happens with most people, I hope that I’m not the only one that constantly switches their socialization mode on and off every two minutes because they can’t decide whether they want to ignore people and stay in their bubble, or talk with people and interact more than they usually would.

Today, I think that I was between the two, I did appreciate being alone in my thoughts without having to engage a conversation I’m not interested in, or simply engage a conversation in which I’ll force myself to talk to not upset the other person, but, I did wanted to see a person, I did get here in hopes to see someone, her.

I think that, as I just realized, and admitted to myself, I did come here in hopes to bump into her, and eventually talk. 

It would be nice to see her, at least I would have a reason to be here because...I truly have no idea why I came, I tried to make up an excuse like: "I need to get that book.", but it turns out that I already read it, and as long as I can remember, I don’t think I’ve enjoyed it as much as any other I’ve read more than my brain can recall.

But, I don’t really know what I was supposed to do right now, I didn’t even come here to read, so what was I supposed to do? Take a seat somewhere, and if she comes, pretend to read, and when she approaches; ‘oh I didn’t see you there!’.

I just wouldn't see myself telling that when I’d be saying the exact opposite, if she does come, I’m only gonna see her, and only her. 

I can’t pretend that I didn’t see her at all, it wouldn’t be true at all, and would kind of be rude, because I’d, in a way, pretend to ignore her, when I could just gather some courage to talk to her.

I have no idea when did I get so nervous about talking to someone, I basically do that all the time with my work, so, why am I acting like that? 

I just have to approach her when I’ll see her, and ask basics things for when you start a conversation, and just, talk about other subjects to make the conversation going. 

And now...I just realized it sound like I’m making a plan or something, I’m planning off what I want to do, and it’s kind of weird. 

You can’t really plan how a discussion goes, unless a subject to make it start is there, for example, in a meeting, in a class, or even for me, at work when I’m on case, but now, with y/n, the conversation will probably go from start, it’ll just be going with the flow, with what we both think, it won’t have a head start; but at the same time, I have no idea what I’m gonna talk about, and, as I said, I can’t plan what I’m gonna talk about either.

Since when did I question myself about that?

I usually don’t do it, I don’t even question myself and just start the conversation without even thinking of what I’m going to talk about, there isn’t really supposed to be a problem in general, but, I don’t really know, we barely know each other and don’t really know how to act, talk, so the other won’t feel embarrassed, I wouldn’t want to talk about stuff she thinks weird or hates, that would kind of make a bad impression, especially if I want to form a friendship with her. 

I really have to stop, I’ve been rambling in my head for god knows how long, and it seriously won’t make things with her better, only worse.

We started off pretty fine, so, I prefer to keep it that way, we’ll know what to talk about, and make the conversation good, so that we’ll just pursue it without even planning stuff. 

I do it everyday, it’s totally not complicated, and last time we talked, I didn’t even stress about that, I just thought about knowing her more, so I could ask about her interests, how was her day, and eventually, some books, it could be a good way to start.

I’m just going to wander around it, and just, hope she’ll come by, I guess. 

I didn’t even think that she could be there, because when someone comes in, you don’t particularly look right away at the enter, unless you’re actually expecting someone you know to come in, but, I didn’t even know if she even hoped or know I’d come here, I have just came here, and that’s it, it didn’t necessarily mean that I was from around.

I did try to pay attention to my surroundings this time, it wasn’t an habit of mine when I happened to be in my thoughts, but I didn’t really want to bump into someone, it’s a bit of an awkward situation, only if it’s just a small ‘sorry’ before each goes in separate ways. 

It also was in case she happened to be here as I previously told myself when I had made my way in. 

I think that it kind of was a way to cheer myself up and get over the fact that she might not come as I hoped for the past days. 

All I could possibly do was to remain in high spirits, and just accept what will happen, it’s really not like I can force the universe to bring her here, or text her, we didn’t even knew each other enough to be able to maintain contact, and even if a long connection wasn’t needed for it, it would have been way too weird to give her diary back and ask her number, to me.

Most people don’t hesitate and just go straight, probably telling themselves they don’t have anything to lose, but that doesn’t really seem to be my case at the moment, I’m like...not really close to it. The proof is right here, I didn’t even do it.

I would just like to see her again, I wasn’t able to say anything much last time, and I’d really like to talk to her more, I don’t know why, I can’t seem to forget her like that, she’s not like most strangers I’ve before, she really is different, but at the same time, I relate to her a lot because of our similar tastes, and the way she was when I had last seen her, she was a bit, shy, but did seem to overcome it as much as she could.

I think that, if she paid attention, she must have sort of noticed it with me as well.

The short interaction doesn’t mean much as I only saw her once, and it didn’t necessarily mean that she really acted this way in general, or just when she was with me, but the small chat we had was enough for me to tell so.

I don’t know if not having the courage to directly go to her workplace wasn’t dumb from me, it literally was as simple as if she came here, I could have went there, but at the same time, if she wasn’t there, or if she found it weird, I can’t seem to think it could happened like that, while it simply could have been totally not awkward at all, and she would have been nice, I’m just making up ridiculous scenarios that she wouldn’t do, she didn’t seem like someone mean at all.

In resume, I literally came here in hopes to see someone that I hope won’t find me weird because I’m there, and will not assume I’m hanging around to bump into her or anything else, because that's literally something I’m gonna have trouble to answer to without feeling embarrassed. 

I guess I'm just gonna walk by the aisles, maybe I'll find something to keep myself occupied while I wait.

"—the diary? Yeah, I got it back, it's uh…a guy named Spencer that came to the shop to give it back to me."

Wait, is it…

"Oh, yeah. I know him, he comes here pretty often. I’m glad, he really seemed concerned and determined to find who it belonged to." 

That voice is Julia’s, I’m not sure about the first that I heard.

"Thankfully you were here. You did contribute too."

It could be her.

"No, it's nothing, I just happened to be there." 

"You did help, so, accept my gratitude."

She did mention my name, it could be her.

"Okay, thank you." Julia said.

"I prefer that."

"You're really acting like— give me a second please!" Julia said, as she gave me a glance that was so fast that I think that she didn't have time to recognize me. 

After that, just as I glanced at her, the girl she conversed with turned her head behind her, probably out of pure curiosity.

"Oh, you're here. It's been a while." Y/N seemed surprised, but delighted to see me.

"Oh, sorry...I didn't see it was you, I barely glanced at you." Julia apologized.

"It's no problem…really." I said, eyes wide as I kept my gaze on y/n.

"Did you need something?" Julia asked.

"Me? Oh, no, I just uh...heard y/n and came here, but uh…thanks for asking Julia."

"Are you okay?" Y/N asked, her brows furrowed.

"Y-yeah, I am. Totally. 100%.”

"Okay, uh…” She hesitated, giving Julia a glance. “We're gonna do something. Since you've been coming longer than me, you could help me find new books that you like and that I might too, is it ok?" She said, as I glanced between her and Julia, as if I was looking for an answer.

"Sure, let's uh...search."

"Let's search!" Y/N exclaimed, in a playful tone as she put her hand on my right shoulder, slightly pushing me further in the alley to get me to move before I even got to think of walking by myself.

Once we had disappeared from Julia’s sight, she looked at me, taking a look around as she gave me a small smile.

“I didn’t actually want you to search books with me, it was mainly so that we could exit this embarrassing situation.” Y/N said, slighty bouncing on her feet. “What were you up to here? Are you on a day off?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. For once, I don’t have anything to do; Same for you…?”

“Yeah, I worked a lot and replaced people, so they allowed me to have one day or two. By the way, were you up to? Hoping to see someone?”

"Someone? No, I uh, definitely wasn't hanging around here hoping to bump into you or anything..." 

“I never asked if it was me, but apparently, I have a feeling you really were hanging around to see me.”

“Maybe I did…?”

“I thought you would have forgotten me by then. I’m glad it’s not the case, I still thought about the ‘diary incident’ from the last day.”

“I didn’t, and yeah, I thought about it too.”

“I actually wanted to find you back, but when I came, I didn’t see you.”

“I...also did that. I could have gone to your workplace, but I...wasn’t sure. So, I just hoped to see you here I guess, I hope you don’t lose anything else, because I won’t be able to contact you, and I’ll have to go to where you work, hoping I don’t make a fool out of myself.”

“That won’t happen if I have yours.” She said, as she took her phone out of the back pocket of her bag, handing it to me. It took me a few seconds to realize what just went on before I took the phone out of her left hand, nervously typing my number, erasing it a million times when I typed the wrong number; after a few tries, I gave it back to her.

“That way you’ll be able to find me, even if I didn’t lose something.”

“Did we basically meet because you lost something?”

“Basically, yeah. Losing it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

“I’m kinda glad that you did in a way.”

“Really? I didn’t think so, I just...didn’t think you’d pay such attention to it, it just was a small interaction, after all.”

“I couldn’t just do that, I couldn’t pretend to not pay attention to that, to resume the whole situation, you left your diary in the library and I wanted to figure out who you were.....and when I read it, it was different from most people I’ve met, I know that I shouldn't have read it at all, and that was completely inappropriate to do from me, but, as I read, not the entirety of course, because that would possibly qualify me as a weird person coming from you, or anyone that knows that I’m a complete stranger, but I really had the need to learn more from you that with just a few words, if...that seems clear, and totally not weird, because that’s...not what I’m trying to be. So, yeah.”

“I get it, yeah. I didn’t think you were weird at all though. You kinda reminded me of myself in a way, I’m always afraid that the person I’m talking to is bored and doesn’t dare to tell it because they’re afraid of hurting my feelings. I’m glad you didn’t find the small chat we had uninteresting, or annoying, you know, not something that made you waste your time.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry, I really liked talking with you.”

“How about we have other conversations then? We could have one now, you could help me pick out books, I’m kind of bored of reading the same ones. How is that?”

“Yeah, sounds great, yeah.”

“I guess uh...lead the way?”

“Oh, yeah- I’ll lead the way.” I said, as we both walked towards the staircase leading to another section of the place, and although we only walked for just a minute, it felt like less, I didn’t stop staring at her that I almost tripped over the last step.

“What was on your mind? You almost fell down.”

“I uh...just got lost in my thoughts, for a bit. You know, thinking about books...and stuff.”

“Just books?”

“Yep’, just books, totally nothing else.”

“If you say so.” She said, with an amused tone.

“I’m telling the truth!”

“Your tone was saying otherwise.”

“My tone...how?”

“You sounded nothing but suspicious. Kind of obvious if we look at your face too.”

“I wasn’t aware of that.”

“Now you know genius.”

“Genius? What’s that nickname?”

“I don’t know, it suits you.” 

“And what’s your nickname? The-girl-that-forgets-her-stuff?”

“It was an accident, I only did it once!”

“You might do it, you gave me your number to call you in case you lose stuff.”

“No; it’s also so we can talk, that’s all.”

“Just that?”

“Yeah, just that. Now stop talking and show me books, you told me you’d help me, so do it now.”

“That wasn’t asked politely, try again.”

“Are you serious…?” She let out a laugh.

“Yes, why?” I answered, throwing her a smile and raising my eyebrows, as her smile dropped.

“Ugh...fine. Could you please help me to find new books, Spencer?”

“Now that’s better. Yes, I’ll help you.”

“I can’t believe that, we've known each other since one week or I don’t know how much and you’re already mistreating me.”

“I didn’t mistreat you, I just learned good manners to you, that’s all.”

“Good manners? Am I gonna have to talk to you like that whenever we’ll talk?”

“Exactly.”

“Tell me you’re kidding.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“You could have just said yes or no. Turns out you’re not the genius I thought you were.”

“What do you mean? Is there specific characteristics that define geniuses or what?”

“Yeah, and you seem totally not like it.”

“Hey! It’s not true, you don’t even know anything about me.”

“Oh yeah, and what do you have to call yourself a genius?”

“Uh, I don’t usually like to talk about it as it is mostly seen as me bragging about it by some people; but I currently have three PhDs in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Engineering and two BAs in Psychology and Sociology, and I’m also working on getting a third BA in Philosophy.”

“Did you say everything or...do you have more or something? Because I...kind of regret basically saying you were not smart.”

“Three more things…?”

“Okay, are they short or long ones?”

“The sentence is short, but once you know the meaning, they’re not so short...all of a sudden.”

“What are they?”

“Well, an IQ of 187...eidetic memory, and...I can also read 20,000 words per minute.”

“Okay...now I get the beforehand explanation.” She said, as she walked up to an alley, raising her arm at the column the book she must have chosen was. 

Well, she didn’t...quite reach it, only with the tip of her fingers. I don’t usually do that, but...I did have some fun watching her struggling, I think she knew she couldn’t reach it, but was trying anyway.

“Here, let me help.” I sighed, as I walked up behind her, raising my hand above her head to take the book. 

Ok, is my life a Christmas movie or what now? Not to say that I find it annoying, not at all, but it sounds very cliché to me. 

The girl can’t reach out something, so a guy comes out of nowhere to help, they begin to talk, and bam, they’re together one week later, just by magic.

“Thanks, but I could have reached it…”

“In ten years, maybe.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever grow anymore at my age.”

“Why? What are you, 52?”

"No! I’m 25.”

“We’re not that far at all then, we’re the same age. I figured you were younger though, you don’t have an adult face.”

“I do.”

“Is your face that convincing for you to be able to get alcohol without the cashier asking for your ID?”

“Whether I have an adult face or not, you always have to show it.”

“I don’t.”

“Fine, I have a baby face.”

“I was waiting for you to admit it, didn’t take as long as I expected it would.”

“I’m just admitting it now so you don’t bug me with it till I actually decide to.”

“I wouldn’t have dared to do it, don’t lie.” 

“I know you would have done it, if not, thought about it.” She admitted.

“I can’t deny it.”

“I knew it. Who’s the genius now?”

“Your IQ didn’t go up because you made me admit something.”

“I like to say it did go up a bit.”

“Okay, a bit. If you think so.”

“I do think so.”

“Okay, genius #2.”

“It’s not the best position for a smart girl like me, but I’ll accept it anyway.”

“Read these books if you say that you’re smart then.” I said, as I dropped two science books in her arms.

“I didn’t come here to read science now, so, no thanks.” She shoved the books back where I had taken them, scoffing.

“I’m trying to make you smarter, why don’t you accept my help?”

“I am smart, I don’t need help.”

“You sure? You did lose your diary.”

“It was an accident, don’t go and tell me you never forgot stuff somewhere.”

“I did, but I realized it before leaving the room at least.”

“Okay, what do you want me to admit?”

“That I’m uh...smart?”

“You’ll have to take me out on a date for that.”

“A date…? Like, a real one?”

“I thought you proved yourself to be smart enough to figure that out.” She smirked at me.

“I am! I just...got surprised by it.”

“Why? Nobody asks you on dates?”

“Not really.”

“Then that explains why I guess.”

“Explains what exactly?”

“That you never went on one, you ask if it was a real one. Of course it is.”

“I just...didn’t expect that. I don’t go out of my apartment expecting a girl is going to ask me out, especially a…”

“A what?”

“...a good looking one, it’s not everyday that I get to talk to girls that pretty.”

“Oh, thanks, I guess.”

“I really mean it. It wouldn’t have been correct for me to not say it, that’s probably why I sounded so awkward back at the shop.”

“I didn’t know it was because of me. I don’t meet guys that get intimidated by me often, they just casually talk with me whether I know them or not, you’re the first one that said that to me.”

“Well, let me say something, they’re all idiots. I don’t understand how anyone could talk to you that way. That might seem weird or creepy, whatever...but, if I had been there when guys were rude to you, whether I knew you or not, I would have helped you, the boyfriend, friend, cousin technique, you know...Okay, that was a weird thing to say.”

“Don’t worry, it’s okay. I would have done and said the same thing. You’re really nice.”

“Oh, it’s no problem.”

“So, you’re still up for the date?”

“Y-yeah, totally.”

“Okay. Do you uh...want to hang out a bit more…? If you don’t have anything else to do, I don’t feel like going home right now.”

“No, I don’t have anything to do.”

“What about...we stay here till the closure?” She asked.

“Even better; till they kick us out.”

“Till they kick us out.” She repeated.

After that, we really did stay till they had to tell us themselves that the place was about to close soon for the day. We did go out after, even if we didn’t plan on, and we just walked around, not even bothering about how far we’d go.

I would be lying if I said that we both got to our respective apartments at a decent hour, because, we actually said goodbye to the other at almost 2AM, when basically everyone got home, the streets were empty, only a few people were there, but not enough for the streets to be crowded.

I wish we would have stayed a bit more, I really felt at ease with her, so, deciding it finally was time to go was hard to do, because to me, time went by way too fast.

I do hope we’ll get to see each other more often (if both of our workplaces allow us to, of course), I just can’t wait to know more about her.

Although, now that all of that happened within a few weeks, changing more than I expected in my life, but, I think that from now on;

I’ll have a reason to pay more attention to my surroundings.

**