#and then we went to our physics teacher to ask how the calculator worked

[moon-light-jukebox]

Learning Styles - [Reid x Reader]

Summary: Reader has worked hard to get to the FBI, but a misunderstanding has her feeling insecure. 

Pairing: Spencer Reid / Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Genre: Fluff

Rating: PG

Content Warning: Mention of normal criminal minds stuff briefly. 

A/n: I got these two requests and they were so similar I decided to combine them. I hope that’s okay, but I feel like the stories would have been almost identical. 

Requests:  - I have a fic suggestion. Reader pretends to be dumb but is actually really smart. I’m thinking of that quote about marilyn ”you have to be really smart to pretend to be dumb”. One day spencer realizes that reader is smarter than she lets people know.

- Hi! Can I request a spencer reid x reader fic where reader isn't great with numbers but brilliant with behaviour and humanities (i.e. literature, history, sociology, up to you)? Maybe a dash of insecurity to spice things up?

-- Learning Styles -- 

My favorite professor in college told me that everyone learns differently; what works for one person won’t work in the same way for another. We are all different human beings that are shaped in different ways.

I had always been oddly insecure about my intelligence level. One of my earliest memories was my mother yelling at me while I sat at the kitchen table when I was in first grade. I was the only kid in my class who still hadn’t learned how to read. I just didn’t understand. All of my friends were progressing so much quicker than me and my mother was losing patience.

It wasn’t until my grandmother stepped in that everything changed. My elementary school teacher was training children to read by memorizing sight words, a concept I didn’t understand. When my grandmother sat down and taught me phonics. I distinctly remember everything snapping into place.

I was in 1st grade and reading at a 7th-grade level by Christmas. Once I finally understood my learning style, I really began to thrive.

But no matter what I did, I could still hear my mother yelling at me, telling me I was stupid.

In my line of work, I see just how much the throw away comments that parents make can shape a child’s development. Luckily, those comments just made me a bit insecure, not a murderer.

Up until I was 22, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do beyond this desire I had to help people. SSA David Rossi had come to guest lecture in one of my abnormal psych classes during undergrad. After I heard him speak, I was done. I couldn’t have done anything else with my life. I had obtained my master’s in psychology before I joined the FBI.

It took some time, but I was finally assigned to the Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico. I was so excited on my first day that I remember my hands physically shaking.

Until they weren’t.

I can still remember my first day so clearly. SSA Hotchner had introduced me to the team, saving the “best” for last.

“And this is Dr. Spencer Reid,” he had said. “He’s our expert on…well, everything.”

Reid was my age and he had his Ph.D. I remember feeling awed by him.

Until I didn’t.

"I hold 3 Ph.D.'s in Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics. I also have BAs in psychology and sociology."

I remember my jaw almost hitting the floor. While I was impressed by him, I wasn’t insecure about my place on the team.

Until I was.

My grandmother may have helped me master reading, which opened the door to me mastering anything else I put my mind to…except math.

I was fine at statistics, luckily. You couldn’t get a psych degree without a ton of statistics work. But statistics was different, I could see the practical use of statistics. I just couldn’t wrap my head around calculus or algebra.

On my first case with the team, Reid had calculated some insane mathematical equations on the whiteboard, running down the probabilities and applying a mathematical formula to the unsub’s behavior.

It wasn't until later, after the case was solved when I was standing in front of the whiteboard that my confidence was hit. Reid had come into the room and saw me looking at his work.

“Don’t bother trying to understand it,” he had said. “You’d have to be a genius to understand what I do.”

I didn’t have a word to describe the feeling that settled in my stomach at his words, I wasn’t sure such a word existed. The feeling was cold and heavy, but also made my body burn with shame.

I had just offered him a tight smile before I left the room.

On the plane home I had made a decision. I was no match for Dr. Reid, I doubt anyone was. So, I would take myself out of the competition. I couldn’t get hurt if I wasn’t playing the game.

And that is how the next year of my life went. I allowed Dr. Reid to explain things to me that I was an expert in, never saying a word. I acted like I didn't understand concepts that I had written papers on. The only thing I didn't dumb down was my profiling skills. Those were necessary for my job and for saving lives.

I don’t think anyone realized what I was doing.

Until they did.

--

The team had been called to Colorado to assist in capturing a serial rapist.

All of our cases bothered me, every last one…but something about ones with this vile element really struck me.

We had the unsub’s name, Tyler Childress. He had spent time in prison for sexual assault and burglary. It seems while he was in prison, he spent time perfecting his methods; it was only by pure luck that we found his fingerprint inside the victim’s house, making him the main suspect.

When we paid Mr. Childress a visit, he had managed to get the drop on Prentiss and Morgan, allowing them to escape. Morgan was furious.

All of us were sitting around a conference table in the local prescient while we let Dr. Reid talk.

I was trying to be calm, I was, but my nails were digging into my palm so deeply I was worried I was about to draw blood.

“Guys,” the expert on everything said. “He has to have some sort of accomplice.”

Rossi just sighed. “But the profile doesn’t point to him being the sort to do well with others; he’s a narcissist.”

Reid wouldn’t budge. “I know that, but he isn’t intelligent enough to pull this off alone. He’s just not. He had an IQ test done when he was 20. He scored in the mentally handicapped range. I’m telling you he has to have help.”

“Are you sure, Reid?” Hotch asked.

“Positive. I have his results right here.”

“IQ tests aren’t a good measure of intelligence on their own.”

I was so startled that someone had contradicted Dr. Reid that it took me a second to realize it was me who had contradicted him.

He turned to face me; his brown eyes wide. “What?”

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. “IQ tests aren’t a good measure of intelligence.”

Dr. Reid laughed. He laughed at me like my comment was funny. “I don’t know where you heard that,” he began.

But I interrupted him. "IQ tests are classist and oftentimes racist. The man who invented the IQ test never intended for it to be used as a complete measure of intelligence. He regretted making the test.”

Reid sputtered. “You…it’s not racist!”

“Yes. It. Is.” I ground out. “If it wasn’t it wouldn’t be illegal to administer an IQ test to a black child in the state of California.”

"Wait, it's illegal to do that?" JJ asked, her brows drawn together.

"Yes. There was a court case in the 1970s over it. Teachers were using tests to separate white children from black children. The black children were put into special education classes they didn’t need to be in. Just because the teachers didn’t want those children in their classrooms.”

I should have stopped, but I was on a role. “They’re also inherently classist. How can you expect a child to answer a question about Romeo and Juliet if they haven’t heard of it?”

That had Dr. Reid scoffing. “Everyone has heard of it.”

I shot to my feet, unable to hold back anymore. “No, they haven’t. Children in underfunded schools that don’t have access to resources might not have heard about the most famous play in history because their school wasn’t able to provide the materials to teach them about it. There was a study done in a remote part of Russia right after the IQ test was invented. Every. Single. Person. Scored in the mentally handicapped range. Because they didn’t understand.”

I knew my voice was rising but I couldn’t stop myself. “Once the researcher took the questions and applied them to things they understood, they all scored as above average. They didn’t understand math as an abstract concept, but they understood it when it was applied to their businesses, to something they actually knew about.”

I cleared my throat. “The test isn’t fair, it’s not equal. Tyler Childress didn’t go to a good school and he didn’t have a stable home life. You can’t use one measure to calculate his intelligence. He’s gotten away with 7 assaults so far that we know of. He’s not stupid.”

The entire room was silent once I had stopped speaking. I couldn’t bring myself to regret it though. What kind of person was I if I played dumb because I was afraid of being mocked when a monster was out there attacking women? No, those women deserved to have me at my best.

And I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t give it to them.

Rossi spoke first, his eyes twinkling when he looked at me. “Took you long enough,” he said. “But y/n is right. We trust the profile; we don’t let personal bias cloud the way. That’s how we catch this bastard.”

--

Later that day, we were cleaning up the conference room while the local police processed Tyler Childress.

Pathological narcissism is a complex disorder, but we followed the profile and Rossi was right. Hotch set up a press conference in which JJ and Prentiss took center stage. They tore Childress’s ego to shreds on live television.

His narcissism wouldn’t allow that to slide. He got angry, he made a mistake, and we got him before anyone else got hurt.  

While the cat was out of the bag about my intelligence and that made me nervous, I couldn't regret any of it. I got to be the one to tell our last victim that we got him. I got to hug her while she cried because now that he was locked up, she felt like her healing could begin. I wasn’t sure if my rant about structural racism and the classism of IQ tests actually helped anything, but that didn’t really matter. There was one less monster in the shadows.

Today was a good day.

I was alone in the conference room, untacking photos from the evidence board when I heard someone clear their throat from behind me. I turned my head to meet the wide, honey brown eyes of Dr. Spencer Reid.

Oh boy, I thought. “What’s up, Reid?”

He shifted from foot to foot, his hands twisting in front of him before he crossed his arms over his chest. “I asked Garcia to look into you.”

My eyebrows drew together. “I’m pretty sure any nefarious things I had done would have popped up on my initial background check.”

“Right, I didn’t mean like that,” he mumbled, the apples of his cheeks turning pink. “I asked her to look into you academically.”

Shit.

He went on. “You double majored in psychology and sociology before you got a master’s in cultural psychology. She pulled your thesis. I just read it.”

“I see.” I turned my attention back to the board.

“You also guest lecture on cross-cultural psychology at Georgetown several times a year. And you’ve co-authored two papers since I’ve known you.”

Meh, it’s three. But that doesn’t matter. “Did you read those too?”

I took his silence as confirmation.

He was so quiet I almost thought he had left, but the crackle of energy I felt in the air told me he hadn’t. “Do you need something, Dr. Reid?”

"Why didn't you get your Ph.D.?"

I had answered that question many, many times. “I didn’t need a doctorate to do what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to waste time. Once I figured out what I wanted, I charged at it.” Which was a far more honest answer than most people got about that from me.

“W-why did you pretend to be dumb?” he rasped out, causing me to look back at him. “32 days ago, you let me explain the long-term effects of gerrymandering and the complex causes of poverty.”

“Of course, I did,” I said, frowning. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“One of the papers you authored was about generational poverty.”

“Just because I know a lot about something doesn’t mean I can stop listening to information. That sort of thinking breeds ignorance.” I smiled, unable to not tease him just a little bit.

Reid took a step closer to me. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I just shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t have a good answer.”

In all the months I had known him, Spencer Reid had never touched me, not even so much as a finger brushing against mine when he handed me something. That fact is why I was so startled when I felt his hand on my upper arm, turning me towards him.

He licked his lips, his eyes darting around. “Did everyone else know?”

I shook my head, my teasing mood long gone. "No. I mean, clearly, Rossi suspected but…No, I didn't tell anyone else."

“I just don’t understand. You’re brilliant.”

I scoffed. “No, I’m not. I’m decent a psychology, sociology, stuff like that. I can’t apply math to behavior to find patterns. I can’t even calculate how much something is gonna cost when it’s on sale without a calculator half the time.”

‘What do you…” Reid trailed off. “Wait. The very first case. You were looking at the evidence board.”

Goddamn eidetic memory.

The boy wonder was on a roll now. “I told you that you’d have to…is that why you didn’t tell me?”

What else could I do? I just nodded.

Those brown eyes closed, and he let out a groan. “I said that because I thought you were going to…I was worried…” He huffed out a breath and opened his eyes. “I wanted you to like me. I didn’t want you to think I was just a nerd.”  

Now I was confused. “Why?”

Spencer Reid’s blush went all the way down his neck. “Well…I just…Morgan said I should just talk to you. But I’m not…I’m not good at that. I panic, then I start to ramble. Like I’m doing now…”

“Reid,” I interrupted. “I’m not playing dumb now. I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I like you,” he blurted out right before he smacked both of his hands over his face. “Oh my god. I sound like a child.” I thought I heard him mutter idiot under his breath. “Emily says that my IQ gets slashed to 60 whenever I see a pretty girl.”

Much like that moment all those years ago when I was a child, I felt everything click into place. Oh.

I couldn't suppress my smile any longer. I rose up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Well, we've already gone over how IQ tests aren't a good measure of overall intelligence."  

With that, I quickly stepped away and hurried out of the conference room, leaving a stunned genius in my wake. When I turned back to look at him, I saw his fingers brushing over the place where my lips had just been.  

--

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[pillow-anime-talk]

mistletoe. {pt.2}

synopsis: Killing cursed spirits with Satoru, winter prom with Metori and sincere conversation with Juuzou.

# tags: scenarios; christmas!au; current relationships & crush culture; romance; fluff; a bit of angst; sfw

includes: female reader ft. satoru gojou {jjk} + metori saiko {saiki k. no psi nan} + juuzou suzuya {tokyo ghoul}

part one {click}

— SATORU

“... Y/N-chan, on the left!”

“... Hey, hey! Look up, sweetheart!”

“... Oi! Behind you!”

“... Behind you too! Kick their asses, Satoru~!”

“... YEAH! Here’s my super strong girl!”

You two have been in the forest; for over twenty minutes you dealing with killing smaller or larger curses that frightened mushroom pickers or wild animals. You had a lot of fun doing it, all the time competing to see who killed more evil creatures. Of course, your boyfriend was winning so far, by three, but how could you know that some of them would come out of the forest litter, literally letting the white-haired man kill them all in a few seconds? Well, but at least you killed about twelve curses yourself, and that was a really nice result.

On the one hand, you enjoyed spending time with Gojou like that, because it was very rare for the two of you to be together on a mission, but on the other hand... It was the time of Christmas that you wanted to spend in your own home, surrounded by delicious food and desserts, hot wine or beer, loved ones, including your boyfriend’s cute students or your mutual friends. From a long time, that is, from the moment you became a sorcerer, you didn’t spend any holidays, birthdays or anniversaries as you would like. There was simply no time and energy for it because every day, apart from some Sundays, you worked to make life better for vulnerable people. It wasn’t a bad job, but sometimes... when you looking at ‘normal’ couples you envied their ignorance to the fact that some evil had appeared around them. You envied them that they could spend their free time together doing stupid things or relaxing in front of the TV.

So you sighed softly, raising the hand in which you held the small pocket knife. Small as your anti-curse tool was, it was also extremely effective and dangerous. Therefore, you cut the throat of one of the evil souls without any problems, thus defeating the last enemy.

“Ahhhh. Finally...! You’re not hurt, baby?” The young man said in a cheerful voice, and you shook your head in disapproval. Second later, you cleaned the little knife and then, hid it in one of the pockets of your black pants. “Would you like to get some hot chocolate and cake?”

“Huh? Have we finished all our work for today?” You asked in surprise, and the man just bit his lip with joy, putting his finger to his mouth after a while.

“Yes, although you forgot one thing, love.” You raised an eyebrow at his amused words. However, Satoru quickly got rid of your unawareness as soon as he raised his right hand and pointed at something above with his index finger. For a moment you were sure that he meant a curse that hadn’t been killed before, but as it turned out, it was mistletoe growing on one of the tall trees; you were surprised that during the fight he was able to additionally notice a small, green plant. Anyway, you just chuckled lightly as you stood on your tiptoes and tugged at the twenty-eight-year-old by his jacket.

You were happy that at least this one, very sweet Christmas moment could happen to you during the winter season. Thanks to this, these holidays weren’t so bad and devoid of spirit.

— METORI

Every year there was a winter prom at your school; it was the third time for you, while for Saiko, who only joined your class this year, it was something new. Of course, he was skeptical about it from the start and generally discouraged by the very idea of ​​spending time with all PK Academy students, classmates and teachers. That’s why he immediately told you that if you want to go to the prom, he can arrange whatever prom you want; he literally said if you wanted Beyoncé he could call her.

But you just smiled warmly and said that school party is enough for you and you really like it. So he couldn’t refuse you... after all, the gray-haired young boy had a huge, indescribable weakness for you. Plus, even though you’ve been dating for a few weeks, Metori still couldn’t understand how... gentle and simple you were. You weren’t interested in luxury, his money, where his father worked. Instead, you asked every day if he had breakfast, if he would like to go for a walk with you, if he would like to come to you for dinner because your mother cooked a delicious Mexican dish. It was something new and nice for a teenager who had grown up in prosperity and splendor throughout his life. It didn’t bother him, but the prom... it was quite strange and mysterious. But he agreed, so he couldn’t take his words back because he didn’t want you to get sad or disappointed.

Thus, he bought a new, well-fitting and expensive suit – one that would fit perfectly with your delicate dress, which at the same time matches to the color of your shiny eyes. He also paid for new shoes, a watch, and a hairdresser visit, but even that couldn’t compare to your soft, natural blushes and the sweet facial expression you gave him when he came to your house with his butler.

“... You’re stressed?” You asked quietly as you sat in the car and he squeezed your little hand between his much larger ones.

“I’ve just never been at a prom... public... especially at school.” He muttered, and though he turned his head, you could see a hint of blush on his nose and both cheeks. So you chuckled lightly as you cuddled up against his shoulder.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.”

The school hasn’t changed much; only a few holiday decorations have been added here and there. However, the gymnasium took your breath away because it was magically decorated. But before you had time to take your seats on the other side of the door, your physical education teacher stopped the two of you.

“Couples enter after payment.” Mr. Matsuzaki said, and the Santa Claus hat on his head added to the charm of his muscular figure.

Of course, Saiko was already taking out his wallet, but you quickly stopped it, pointing in a specific direction. It was, obviously, the smol mistletoe, which was the aforementioned entry ticket for couples who decided to show up at the ball together. So you smiled slightly at your boyfriend and he looked at you confused.

“What is it?”

“O-Oh, you never kissed under the mistletoe?”

“Kissing under it has any meaning?” He asked, still surprised, and you just moved closer to his face, stealing a short, really sweet kiss.

“It’s a tradition, love. You have to kiss under every mistletoe if you notice one.” You said happily and then thanked the teacher for going inside the gym.

Of course, Metori in his head was already calculating how many tons of mistletoe he should buy so that you could continue kissing him as sweetly as you just did.

— JUUZOU

You put two cups of hot, beautifully fragrant chocolate on the table; one was with two white marshmallows and the other with six. Of course, it was easy to guess which portion was for Juuzou and which was for you. Nevertheless, you smiled gently and then sat down next to the white-haired boy, staring at him out of the corner of your eye.

“... About what did you dream, Juuzou-kun?” You asked softly, taking the purple cup between both hands. The warm ceramics pleasantly burned your all fingers, which made you breathe blissfully. “Of course, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to tell me. We can just sit in silence and drink our sweet cocoa.” You added after a brief second so as not to put unnecessary pressure or general stress on the nineteen-year-old.

“It’s no big deal. I dreamed about my mom.” He admitted hesitantly, also taking his dark-green mug. “When I woke up and looked at the calendar I realized we had Christmas time and... Well, my mom never gave me any, not even a small gift, nor did I ever spend that time like other children my age. It hit me a bit. Not that I regret it, but... what Christmas really is?” His short speech made you look at him with a very sad expression on your face and after a quick while you just put your warm chocolate on the table, getting up from your wooden chair and walking to a random cupboard in your smol kitchen.

This year you didn’t have time (because of work) and no idea (because of fatigue) for presents for loved ones, and even more so for the unexpected guest – Suzuya, who loved to sleep in your house because, as he once said, ‘He felt at your place very safe’, but you managed to come up with a little surprise fastly; you wrapped a red ribbon that was in the cupboard with needles and scissors around an unopened box of nut cookies. You also managed to find a piece of paper and a black pen, so you wrote a concise but sincere wishes to the inspector, which ended with a tiny heart and a star. Out of the corner of your eye, you also noticed the mistletoe lying next to the clock, which was a little joke your dear friend had made to you two days ago. So you took everything and went back to the quietly sitting Juuzou, smiling slightly at him, even a bit silly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think about gifts before, but... I hope that’s enough. After today’s work, we can go to the gallery or the park to see the decorated Christmas trees, you will surely like them. Happy Holidays, Juuzou. I hope next year will be a good one for you.” You said shyly as you handed him ribbon-decorated cookies. At the sight of them, the boy only blushed, then looked at your other hand, which was still gripping a little twig. “Ohh... it’s... such a small tradition where you get a kiss under the mistletoe.” You picked up the plant and then placed it over the white-haired young man’s head, bending down after a while and giving him a short peck on the left, smooth cheek. “Merry Christmas once again.”

“Merry Christmas to you too and... thank you for that.”

You only smirked, reaching for the mug of already cool drink. However, you weren’t disappointed in drinking the cold cocoa, because the honest, slightly timid smile of the boy you liked from the beginning of your work at CCG warmed your whole body better than any other hot chocolate, tea or coffee.

[restlessfandoming]

“the president and the troublemaker” (part 6) (chilumi fic)

“Lumine is the student council president and Childe is the school’s number one troublemaker. They cross paths more than they’d like. Especially when Childe finds out Lumine’s big secret. Highschool AU à la Kaichou wa Maid-sama.”

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5]

[Fic Masterlist] // [AO3 Link]

the president and the troublemaker (part 6)

Out of all the things asked of her as the student council president, this was the oddest request Lumine had ever received. 

“Please allow me to study you,” the student before her asked. 

She recognized him as Albedo, head of the school’s science club, and before, she had only ever interacted with him whenever his club submitted budget requests for new materials. 

Lumine blinked at him. “Can I ask why?” 

He pulled out a news article. It was last week’s coverage of the attackers getting caught by her. “I am interested in your abilities,” Albedo replied simply. “How you can be this studious president and yet also be able to do things like this.” 

Uh-oh. “Oh, it was nothing,” she fibbed. “They just let their guard down and I was able to...outsmart them. No big deal.” 

The science leader gave her a deadpan stare. “There must be something else.” He pulled out a notebook, beginning to scribble some words out. “We can figure this out together; what makes our school’s president so competent?” 

Lumine glanced at his writing, only making out the words ‘Day One Observations.’ She sighed. Looks like he’s a persistent one. 

“So how’s this going to work?” she wondered. “Are you just going to shadow me around school?”

Albedo looked up at her from his book. “Very good. You already understand my process.”

“And what of your classes?” 

He pulled out a slip of paper from his bag, handing it to her. “I have been excused from my classes for the week by my teachers,” he explained. “As you can see here on his paper, they have all allowed it due to my high grades and the fact that I have completed my work ahead of time.”

Lumine looked over the paper, and sure enough, it was everything Albedo had just stated. She remembered he was also a young, gifted prodigy: one of the students with the highest marks on their exams, and had won their school multiple science competitions in the past. 

“Very well,” Lumine said. “Just for this week.” 

What am I getting myself into?

* * *

For the first few days, Albedo followed her around the school—observing her in her classes, writing down notes while she ran council meetings. Any moment where she wasn’t in class, he would barrage her with questions: what her diet consisted of, how many hours of sleep she got, her exercise regiment. 

She answered as truthfully as she could, but if the questions came too close to her line of work, she of course had to mislead him. 

Whenever she lied, Albedo went deep into his thoughts, as if he knew that what she said didn’t make sense, and his brain was trying to fit her lies into the picture. She prayed that he would stop prying once the week was over. 

“Are you sure you do not exercise at all?” Albedo asked again, skimming over his notes. 

“Nope,” Lumine said. “I’m a little too busy with studying and council duties.” She gestured at the council room around them. 

“Hmm,” the prodigy hummed, writing something in the margins of his paper. Lumine turned back to her council paperwork. 

“So the rumors are true,” Childe’s voice sounded from the doorway. “The Pres got herself a little pet.”

Lumine froze. What is Childe doing? 

At school, the two were very much still in their roles as the council president and school troublemaker. No one knew about their connection outside of school. 

She glanced at Albedo, who was looking at Childe with calculating eyes. She could see the gears turning in his mind. 

Lumine cleared her throat. “Childe, please go back to class before I write you up.” 

The tall ginger leaned on the doorframe. “I get written up, but your pet gets to stay?” 

“He is not my pet,” Lumine said. “This is Albedo. He’s just doing...a study...on me.” So LEAVE, Childe. 

Childe’s brows raised. “A study? That’s why he’s been following you around this whole time?” He turned to the blonde scientist. “Tell me, what’s this study about?”

Albedo sat up a little straighter. “What causes the president to have such extraordinary abilities.”

Childe laughed. “Extraordinary abilities? Like what?”

Albedo glanced at his notebook. “She is an extremely diligent student, receiving high marks on her exams while still somehow maintaining on top of student council affairs. Not only that, but in light of recent events, has some aptitude to disarming violent attackers that should have easily overpowered any other high school girl.” He looked up. “I’ve also heard that she, and her brother, have jobs after school despite their already busy school schedules.”  

Both Lumine and Childe stared at Albedo for a second, unmoving, shocked and...impressed at his information. 

“Seems like you already know everything about her,” Childe said, crossing his arms. “Do you even need to continue your little study?” 

“Of course,” Albedo responded. “Those were just the things our President has done—not how she does it.” The scientist turned to her, his eyes studying. “Is it psychological? Or is there something physically different about her body, the way it runs and operates?”

Lumine forced herself to still under his gaze. He was a young genius. And he was getting closer to finding out her secret. 

“Nothing special about me,” she told him. “I told you, I’m just lucky.” 

Suddenly, Childe sat on the edge of her desk, breaking her and Albedo’s eye contact. “So this study,” he said looking down at the scientist, “Is this just something you’re doing at school? Or are you following her around at home too?” 

Lumine desperately wanted to shove Childe off her desk. Why was he prying so much? Albedo would soon connect the dots, and once anyone found out about their connection, she would lose any credibility she had as the council president. 

Albedo was quiet, his hand coming to his chin as he considered something. “No one has been this curious about the study so far,” he finally said. “Not even her twin.” 

“Aether’s been a little busy lately,” Lumine tried to suggest. 

But Albedo persisted. “Are you actually a friend of the President?” he asked Childe. “Or perhaps you are interested in her romantically?” 

Lumine almost choked on her spit. “Absolutely not,” she blurted. “To both of those.” She couldn’t look at Childe. “If you know so much about me, then you probably know about how Childe here is the school’s number one troublemaker. He's just here to cause trouble.”

The blonde scientist slowly nodded. “Very true.” He turned to Childe once more. “Apologies for jumping to conclusions there. It was not very proper of me.” 

Lumine finally glanced up at Childe, who was sitting surprisingly silent, his arms still crossed from earlier. She swore his blue eyes seemed darker than usual. 

“Conclusions,” Childe echoed. He stood up. “The Pres is right,” he said, smiling. Something was still wrong with his eyes. “I’m just here to mess around, nothing more.” He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. “And now it’s boring. Later, nerds.” He sauntered out of the room. 

Lumine knew she should have been letting out a sigh of relief, but for some odd reason, it felt like an even heavier weight had been placed on her. 

“I think I need to be alone for a bit,” Lumine said to Albedo. “To get this council work done.” 

Albedo stood, gathering his notes. “I understand. Thank you for your time today.” 

As soon as Albedo left the room, Lumine left as well, her council work still incomplete. 

Instead, she headed to the one place she knew Childe would be.

* * *

Opening the door to the rooftop, the tiniest of weights was lifted upon seeing Childe sitting there, legs dangling off the edge as always. 

He turned at the sound of the door opening, but turned back away when seeing Lumine. “Am I in the way of your little pet’s study?” he said, monotone. 

She ignored the tiny pang in her heart, and she stepped forward. “Don’t take it personally; I just...can’t let him get closer to my secret,” she tried to explain. “You understand that, right?”

Childe leaned back onto his elbows, looking upwards at the sky. “I get it,” he responded. “Even if I don’t want to.” 

The silence was heavy, only the slightest wind whistling by. And honestly, Lumine hated it. It didn’t feel right to be in Childe’s presence, and not hear his voice. She had grown used to his teasing, how he always seemed to showed up in the right place at the right time somehow—for her.

She went and sat next to him, knees drawn to her chest, arms hugging her legs. 

“Is it stupid of me to want and keep this secret?” she wondered aloud. She looked up at the sky as well. “Or would it just be better for me to let it out finally?” 

“Is this because of Albedo?” Childe asked without missing a beat. 

“No. Yes. Kind of.” She sighed. “I mean, it would be easier if I told him, right? No more pretending?” She hugged her knees tighter. “If he finds out on his own...I can only imagine that feeling of betrayal—how evil, how untrustworthy I would seem for keeping secrets. So, it would be better if I was upfront about it...right?”

Childe looked at her, his expression serious. “Is this something you want for yourself or for him?” 

Lumine turned away from him. “If it’s for myself...I’m too scared of letting others know.” She swallowed the lump down her throat. “A lot of people, like Albedo, look up to me as this model student. And I’m scared of...disappointing them.” 

Childe was silent for a moment, then sat up, and pulled something out of his shirt pocket. She turned back to him.

He held it up to Lumine; it was the photo of her in Kaeya’s white dress, her face sweet and flushed. Except, unlike the official photo, this version didn’t have Childe cropped out. “You’re not one to let others influence you,” he said. “That’s why I chose the color white, remember?” 

Lumine felt the heat start building up in her face. “You just carry that around with you?” 

He gave her a closed-eye smile. “For inspiration.” He tilted his head. “You know that you should do whatever feels right to you. And whatever you end up doing, the right people will follow you.” Waving the photo around, he smiled again, more cheekily this time, and said, “I know that I wouldn’t be disappointed.” 

Lumine was sure her face was visibly burning up by now, and she reached for the photo. “Stop waving it around! What if someone sees?!” 

He pulled it further away from her. “No one’s going to see, Pres!” 

She tried going for it again, quicker this time, but Childe was much faster. “Give it here!” she demanded. 

“Aw, don’t be like that, Pres!” He laughed. “It’s my good luck charm!”

“Your good luck charm?!” she continued over their tug-of-war. “Good luck charm for what?”

Another teasing smile. “Love?” 

“Oh, you son of a—”

Lumine lunged and hit his hand. 

The photo was sent flying away from both of them. 

…

!!!

Both she and Childe quickly stood up, peering over the edge of the rooftop, only to see the photo floating down...towards Lumine’s student council members below. 

“Oh dear,” Childe said. “Look what you’ve done now, Pres.” 

Lumine’s heart felt like it was seizing from fear. “Wh-what—W-Why are they there?” Her breaths became shorter and shorter. “Oh, god, what do I do?!” 

“Shall I go get it?” 

Lumine looked at Childe, wide-eyed. “There’s no way! It’s impossible for us to get to it before they do…”

Childe blinked, then positioned himself like he was about to jump off. 

As fast as lightning, Lumine grabbed his arm, pulling him back. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” 

“Taking the shortest way down.” 

“You idiot! It’s dangerous, you’re going to die!” 

He smiled. He actually smiled at a time like this? “I’m not one to shy away from danger,” he told her. “Especially if you tell me you want me to go after it.”

“What?! Why would you do something like that?!” 

“Why?”

The wind stopped rustling the trees, and the rooftop was silent. 

Childe gently grabbed both sides of Lumine’s face, his ocean blue eyes looking deeply into hers. 

“Because I love you, Lumine.” 

He kissed her. 

He kissed her, then he jumped off the rooftop. 

* * *

[part 7]

[haifengg]

Victon Falling for their Childhood Friend

Summary: He’s known you since you were kids and because fate moves in mysterious ways you have never been apart from each other for long.

Genre: Fluff! // Crack if you squint

-> Seungwoo. He is very career oriented. Because he loves what he is doing. It plays a very important role in his life. Well, it actually is his life more or less. But that also means that he barely ever gets to see his parents and therefore hasn’t seen you in ages. But when he did one Christmas Day he was so surprised about how much you changed. Not just physically but also mentally. The two of you met at the grocery store where your mother had send you to get more ingredients for dinner and he bumps into you in the frozen aisle. At first you didn’t recognise him but then you start to chat like in the old days. Of course you had heard about his career but when you tell him that you never found the time to check it out or google it he gets a little sulky. But you clear it up quickly: “Its not that I am not interested! Your job sounds so interesting! Its just that I have been insanely busy ever since I graduated … you know we are launching this new collection next spring and I am still up our suppliers .. well you know-“, you sigh. “I will definitely go and check it out once I find the time somehow!” After listening to you carefully and reassuring you that he fully understands how it is not having time for anything he asks you if you like your job and your eyes suddenly sparkle. “I do! Yes, I really do. It is very different from what I thought I would be doing but its very interesting and every day is different. There are so many things to learn and to take care of, I really feel needed, you know?” Even though the frozen peas in his hands start to melt he would let you go on and on about it because he suddenly realises that you are just like him. In love with your job. Something he never thought he would see on someone else. That exhilarating passion. Being 100% committed. Then suddenly he notices all these other little things about you. He truly started to see you in a different light.

-> Byungchan. One day he sits on the porch of his parents’ house, having ice cream like a grown-up. He’s home because of a huge birthday in his family. Just sitting there and watching the neighbours getting some gardening done, as suddenly an actually pricey car pulls up in the drive way next door. Some woman gets out and he Is fully taken aback to the point where he forgets about his ice cream. It is like this scene in movies. The protagonist sees someone special and their breath is completely taken away. Except that’s no. movie, Byungchan is no protagonist and that person he is looking at is you. Which he notices himself the second you take off your sunglasses and wave at him.

“Byungchan! You’re home?”

You walk over and up the path to his house in your office work clothes and Byungchan has to gather all his remaining brain cells to form a: “Y/N? Is that you?” You nod and pull him into a hug as you reached him. Like you always did when you were kids. “Yes of course! Oh my god you got so tall what did they feed you in college?” His heart dropped as you wrapped your arms around his neck and he laughed nervously.

What was he supposed to reply?? All he could think about was how gorgeous you had become. How independent you looked. Not to mention how impressed he was by that car lmao.

-> Seungsik. Since he was your neighbour all the way back, you have seen each other growing up. But more importantly: Seungsik has seen your error and trial progress of learning how to cook. Its not that you invited him over to cook for him but as teenagers he would randomly come over and by chance witness some of your great failures.

But now you were living in different cities, not being neighbours anymore but still close friends. One night he calls you, asking if he could come visit you next week since he was in town for a meeting. Of course you happily agree, promising him to cook dinner. After hanging up and the entire following days Seungsik was anticipating his visit, curiously awaiting to get to experience your now probably very good cooking skills.

Eventually he arrived at your place 20 minutes early because there was less traffic that he was calculating with. And when he rang at your door you just bolted there to open it, quickly gave him a hug and ran back into the kitchen. Because there was smoke everywhere.

“What’S going on?” He asked following you but all you replied was: “Can you take the batteries out of the smoke alarm? I don’t need the fire department to show up at my door again.”

“Again??” He did what he was told and eventually the two of you stood in the kitchen, eying a briquette like something int the casserole. 

“I am so sorry. I really tried my best this time. I wanted to impress you. But we can absolutely order something! My treat.” You say and chuckle completely embarrassed. But Seungsik waved it off. “Don’t worry. I can make something?” Even though you insist on ordering in he sat you down on your own sofa and somehow magically created something very home made to eat for the two of you within 15 minutes.

Who are we kidding? This is not how Seungsik notices he likes you but you notice that you like him. 

-> Sejun. I don’t know how to put this into many words because it is very simple: Even after graduating high school and only seeing each other a couple of times a year in your home town - you’re still kicking his ass like you used to too. But now you’re hot. It’s as easy as that. During elementary and middle school - even in high school - the two of you were best friends who never ever thought about having feelings for each other. Of course some of his friends asked you out occasionally and most of the girls in class envied you for your relationship with him and the other boys but you never thought much of it and neither did he. But now that you’re in you 20s and still act around him like you used to things begin to change for him. Especially since you  fought in your parent’s kitchen over the last piece of honeycomb your mother made. You held him headlock and he was not just turning red because the blood was rushing to his head but also because he was smothered by your boobs (that he now had to acknowledge). When you led go of him he was out of breath because of your awesome headlock technique. And because he now looked at you teasing him about the honeycomb and he, for the first time ever, noticed saw you as a woman. Not just as his friend.

-> Heochan. It had probably been 4 years since you last saw each other at the high school graduation. And you were close friends back then. Maybe not best friends but very close. And he probably always had a thing for you but either a) Never admitted it to himself or b) never went after it. 

But when he saw you at the pre-school he knew he had to. Because you somehow transformed  into his ideal type. He stopped by the pre-school to surprise pick up his nephew. And he never thought he would meet you there overseeing the pick up of your students.

“You became a teacher?” He asked you before even greeting and as you turned around your eyes lit up. “Heochan! Oh my god I has been so long.” You chat for a bit and he explains why he’s there. Eventually you were still at work and busy but you agree on meeting that weekend for coffee. So you got back to work but Heochan didn’t actually leave right away but observed you talking to the kids and the parents until his nephew begged him to finally go home.

In the car his nephew went on and on about his day and what sort of dirt he ate at the playground but instead of being worried about his nephew, his thoughts were still caught up with you. He was thinking about the clothes you wore and how the dress and cardigan was making your whole appearance look very soft and calm… Yes he was definitely love struck.

-> Hanse. You see each other frequently. At least once a week meeting for coffee at a local non-chain coffee shop became your tradition. It was shier luck you entered the same college and therefore never lived far apart from each other. You both equally valued and cherished the possibility to talk to and vent with someone you have known for a long time and who knows you very well. One thing you always did was venting about your job. And Hanse loved hearing about it because the way you talked about your boss or some other issue was always very direct and comically. So he enjoyed it a lot. He would listen to you all smiley and snickering. And one day he noticed how much the topic of your bickering had changed. Back in the day it would be about how unfair your shifts were and how much you had to do. Lately it was more about how your male colleagues treated you at work and how sexist it was. You tend to notice more subtle and passive aggressive behaviours of them and tell Hanse about it. Which made him notice how mature you became.

“I am telling you, and this is no joke, he came to work and walked by the window of my office. And the first thing he did was ask me how I was doing and as I said ‘fine’ he gave me this look. This Are-you-really-fine-or-are-you-becoming-an-emtional-stress-mess. I swear to god one day I will end him. Also the other day one of the guys at the ware house actually asked me if I was down spending an hour or two with him with this smug look on his face.”

Hanse raised a brow: “What did you tell him?”

You shrug and take your cup, knowing well what effect your next words will have on him: “I told him even if I was down spending the with him he wouldn’t be able to afford me.”

He just loves how sassy and mature you got and how well you handle difficult situations.

-> Subin. For Subin it would take a while to notice his feelings for you because it is very subtle and simple. Both of you didn’t enter college so long ago and even though you weren’t freshmen or sophomores anymore college still was confusing. At least for him. He likes his major and the field of study he is in but he can’t say the same about his class mates. To be quite frankly: He gets along with them well for the time being but they aren’t his friends. In fact he doesn’t have that many friends in the first place. At the end of the day he would always rely on you for sensible topics or when he needs advice. He can talk to comfortably and even after all those years you have known each other you still get him in a way no one else does. Eventually he realises how he does not have that many friends because all he needs is right here with him. It’s you. He isn’t looking for anything in other people because he already has it.

Taglist

@jeonghanmoon @soleilsuhh @kpopsnowball @purplepsycho03 @himitsu-luna

Masterlist

[ophiexb]

Defensive

Based off a prompt from @jatpficprompts from this Prompt Here.

“While the boys are alive, Luke is always the one to get sent to the principal’s office, in school. He’s not actually a bad kid, though. He just gets really angry when people are mean to Alex or Reggie and has gotten into more than a few fights with the bully. He even once broke a boy’s jaw (who ended up having to get it wired shut) for calling Alex some not so nice terms for being gay.”

-------------------

Luke...probably had the worst record out of all of them, and by probably he did. Between his grades and his disciplinary record there was no way the other was going to graduate without some serious intervention that he did not want. Better grades meant cutting way more back on practices and music, it meant less time to write, and less time to work on the things that actually mattered. This place was equivalent to a prison in his mind.

“It’s not that serious.” Alex said shutting his locker once all his books were packed up. “Bobby, Reggie and I all manage to keep up our grades and balance the band-and yes before you say anything I know you write the songs but Luke. They're not going anywhere.” Alex hummed. “The music is going anywhere, we aren’t going anywhere. You’ve got to graduate next year man.” 

“None of that’s going to matter! No ones going to care about any kind of diploma if they're famous! My music speaks for itself.” Luke countered. “And our band speaks even more and we’re going places.” He gestured dramatically as they waited for their other two band members. “And we’d be even better if school wasn’t in the way.” 

“You might not have any interest; but at least let us graduate.” Alex protested leaning against the wall of lockers as the people spilled into the halls and moved around. He could see them coming down and smiled waving the duo over. “I’m serious Luke, I actually really care about my grades.” He huffed. 

“Man; Ms.Hart assigned another paper. At this rate my hands are going to fall off.” Reggie groaned holding his hands up dramatically. “My wrists can only take so much more it’s going to impact my bass.” He added pitifully and Alex rolled his eyes with a gentle laugh. 

“Come on enough enough the papers can wait its Friday!” Luke beamed Friday meant band practice, it meant no homework and no studying that could wait for Sunday. He was radiant, gesturing for Bobby and tossing his arm around the other to pull his close.

“Alright alright-“ Bobby groaned, moving Luke off of him almost instantly to get to his locker. “I already told my Mom you guys were staying over and she's going to pick us up.” He laughed, the four of them heading out together with the rest of the school. 

Monday found Luke back in the office, his arms crossed over his chest and staring at the window with a blank expression on his face. “Lucas.” The man said slowly fiddling with his file. “This is the third fight this month.”

“It’s Luke.” He countered, finally giving the man some attention. His lip was split on the other side but overall he didn’t have any outward damage. “So what am I supposed to do Sir.  I told you last week that these guys keep hassling Reggie when he’s coming out of gym. Pushing him around and taunting him. I’m supposed to stand there? Just watch them?” 

“Well of course not, but violence isn’t the answer. You could go and get a teacher-Mr.Dennis was right in the locker rooms with the other boys….Mr.Patterson we’ve talked about this last time as well.” Luke could only roll his eyes.

“With all due respect sir; Mr.Dennis is useless. He lets them do whatever they want! He knows they’ve been coming after Reggie and he just tells them to stop and turns his back. I’m not going to let some punks keep hurting my friend.” He countered his fingers curling against the arms of the chair. He wanted to say a whole lot more but he was in enough trouble as it was, and the main anger had left him after the fight.

“Well I don’t know about all that, but this is your third fight this month Lucas, and don’t make me count up this year. You're treading a thin line to getting kicked out. I don’t want to see a bright future like yours ruined for something so simple such as using your words, and getting another teacher to help.” Luke’s mouth tightened into a thin line and he turned to stare back out the window again. “Your mothers here to pick you up. You can return Wednesday.” He sighed, climbing up to grab his bag tossing it over his shoulder and walking right past her to the car.

It gave him more time to write songs anyway. What did he care? Though-now the nagging feeling in the pits of his stomach came the entire time he was home. Because that was the downside to fighting. He couldn’t protect his friends anymore from home. No one would be there to stand up for them. It sure made it hard to focus on his songs until Alex called him after school to update him on the day.

Luke got better at hiding it after that, his attacks were more subtle and more calculated. He couldn’t get suspended because then who would protect the guys? Who would make sure no one messed with his friends if he was out? So he got better. He got smart about how he defended the moment, and sought his revenge later. The rumors were more than enough that much of the bullying and teasing had come to a halt for fear of Luke’s wrath. They were smooth sailing and Luke hadn’t had to have that stupid make better choice meeting in weeks.

Of course it didn’t last long; it never did for him. Something always had to happen and so damn close to their winter break. They were almost there and someone had to go and start something. At first it wasn’t a big deal, nothing serious. Until he started hearing the whispers. His mind zeroed in on the words from the other students before he was quickly moving through the halls. Ignoring their looks until he found them, laid eyes on them and that they were okay. Well physically okay. Alex was curled up, his fingers curled in his blond hair almost painfully. Reggie whispering softly to him and gently trying to unpry his hands from hurting himself. Bobby sat quietly to the side just rubbing soft circles on the drummers back.

“How’d they find out?” He demanded his voice sharp and Alex flinched slightly, and his anger left in a swoop. It wasn’t at Alex. It wasn’t at them and they didn’t deserve this side of him. “Lex…” He said softer moving to kneel in front of the other. “We can just-We can deny it. No one has any proof…” 

“They do.” Bobby said softly looking down for a moment and Luke’s brows furrowed looking at him and back at Alex. “A picture. Half the class has seen it.” By the end of the day they all knew the whole school would know.

Alex's breathing hitched and Luke shook off the trail of thoughts, his fingers gentle with Bobby’s to rub over the others shoulder a little. “Come on…” He whispered. “Deep breath Lex. We’ve got you.” He soothed, and Reggie finally got his hands to let go of his hair, and Luke quickly caught them before they could fly anywhere else. Before he could hurt himself. Pressing the others palm hard against his chest as they coached him slowly down.

They’d already missed more than half the day by the time Alex calmed enough to talk. His head laying on Bobby’s shoulder and face red. He looked worn, exhausted. “It was Tyler. From Science.” He whispered. “We’ve been lab partners since the start of the semester and he-“ He hesitated but Luke already knew. 

“The guy you liked.” He supplied softly. “The one who...who you thought liked you to.” 

“He asked to meet up after school yesterday.” Alex whispered his hands fidgeting but Reggie caught them curling his hands around his. “I said yes, foolishly. I should've known better, we were in his room and he asked me if I liked him. And I said yes.” His voice cracked. “He had his stupid baseball buddies in the closet.” He whined. “Luke my parents are going to find out there are friends with Tyler’s parents.” He rambled edging on the hysterics again. “Everyone’s going to find out-“ Which...was not great. Sure no one wanted for Alex to have to pretend and fake day in and out. But...but it was just a fact. A fact of life right now that being gay was dangerous. 

“I’m gonna kill him.” Luke hissed almost growled standing up abruptly. 

“Luke.” Alex protested quickly, his watery blue eyes looking at the other. “He’s not worth it. The damage is done already-It’s...you get in another fight there going to expel you it’s not worth it.” He shifted trying to untangle himself from the guys, but Luke could see. See the absolute distress and misery on the other face and knew he wasn’t going to let it go. For now he would. Only for now.

They got Alex to the studio, figuring the day was wasted anyway they’d take the detentions for missing a day and deal with it all later. Right now the focus was their friend, and his comfort making sure he didn’t see anyone else and he could fully calm down before going home. To come out. Because this whole ordeal jump started any plans or ideas Alex had for telling his parents he was gay. It had to come from him. Not some rumor-which mean right now….

Luke was going to kill Tyler Moore.

It really didn’t take much to set him off all over again. Coming into school the next day to see Alex. Trying to keep his crumbling life together because of this one asshole. It’s not a prank, it’s not funny. In Luke’s mind all he can think is this asshole has put Alexs life in danger. They watch the news, they see the media. It’s not funny-it’s real life and he’s pissed. 

Apparently the anger rolling off him is not enough to deter the other teen from approaching them in the hall. They’d been gathered around Alex trying to get an idea of how his coming out went, how he was doing when he heard the others' voices. 

“Luke.” Alex was already protesting. 

Luke was already moving, his eyes set on that smug face. With his letterman jacket and his group of friends behind him acting like they were better than the world around them. Like they weren’t slowly destroying an entire person. Not a care in the world for laughs right? Not on Luke’s watch.

“What you got feelings-“ Tyler didn’t even finish his sentence Luke was punching him hard across the jaw. Hard enough he felt the crack, saw the blood and he wasn’t done jumping onto the other and hitting him again. His group wasn’t behind him anymore-people like that aren’t real friends. All of them fled the moment Luke was on him. It took two teachers to pry him off the other boy, and Luke was yanking his bag up off the floor, shoving their hands off him.

“I’m going I’m going.” He snapped his eyes moving over to his friends. The wonder and amazement on Alex's face, on Reggie and Bobby’s face. Despite their protest Luke knew they appreciated it. That they could never tell him for fear of encouraging him getting in trouble. But having someone defend you to the lengths Luke went? It was pretty special.

It’s also how he ended up expelled the day before winter break. The catalyst to his relationship with his Mom finally dissolving and crumbling away. But his focus was pinpointed. It was zeroed in on his band, and his friends. He didn’t need anything else.

[maybeimamuppet]

dance with you

“Jan, calm down, you’ll think of something,” Damian comforts, patting her back gently as Janis lies face-down on her bed and lets out a groan.

“Damian, prom is in a month! And it has to be perfect, it’s our senior year,” Janis huffs into her pillow.

“You’ll think of something perfect. You could... fill her locker with ping pong balls that say ‘prom’ and then when she opens it and they all fall out say ‘I finally got the balls to ask you to prom’?” Damian suggests.

Janis chuckles at that, finally poking her head out. “Is that how Elijah asked you?”

“Maybe,” Damian mumbles. “I thought it would at least make you smile.”

“You got me, then,” Janis says. “Ugh, why is this so hard? I had an easier time with the ACT.”

“Feelings.”

“Gross. I don’t want ‘em anymore,” Janis sighs.

“Just think of stuff she’s into. Like animals or math. You can borrow Pippa if you need to.” Damian says as Janis leans against his shoulder.

“Animals... math... I can probably work with that,” Janis says, a hint of a plan forming in her mind.

“There‘s my Janjan. You go Janjan. Ask the girl you’re already dating to prom,” Damian teases.

“Shut up! You know Caddy loves those tacky promposal things you see on YouTube, I gotta do something dorky,” Janis says. Cady really does love them, she gets so excited every time someone at school gets promposed to, the tackier the better.

“And you’ll think of something perfectly sappy and gross. I have faith.”

“Thanks, D.”

————-

On Monday, Janis uses her study hall period to hunt down Kevin G. Cady is in English on the other side of the building, so unless she goes really out of her way to go to the bathroom there’s no chance of her finding out what Janis is up to.

She finds Kevin in the library, reading what appears to be a math textbook cover to cover. Janis puts on some fake confidence and marches her way up to his table, sliding into the chair across from him.

“Yo, Sarkisian, how ya been?” Kevin asks, closing the book and looking up at her.

“Um... fine. Listen, can you help me with something?” Janis says hastily.

“Depends,” Kevin responds. “What do you need and what do I get out of it?”

“I’m trying to think of a way to ask Caddy to prom, is there any sort of, like, equation or something that would spell out prom if she solved it or something? Something math related I could do?” Janis pleads. She had decided getting animals involved was a little more risky than she was willing to try.

“Oh. Uh, I don’t... actually know about that. I can check with Norbury and get back to you?” Kevin says.

“Sure. Just, would you be able to do it soon? Like, sometime this week? I wanna give her time to get everything prepared, and prom is less than a month away.”

“Sure thing, Sarks. Don’t stress, Africa never shuts up about you. She’ll say yes.”

“Thanks, Kevin. I really appreciate it.” Janis says, relieved.

“Anything for Heron. We’d be a fuckin’ wreck without her.”

—————

On Wednesday, Janis is sitting in art when none other than Kevin comes barreling through the door, making a beeline for her.

“Yo, Picasso, Norbury and I have somethin’ for ya,” He calls.

“Really?” Janis asks, tucking her paintbrush behind her ear.

“Yeah. Um, Norbury got really excited when I told her you were trying to think of a good way to ask Africa and did a lot of research. They have a strange relationship. Anyway. She found this dope series of equations that spells ‘prom’ once it’s graphed. Norbury said you can ask her during Mathletes practice on Friday using it, if you’re into that.” Kevin says.

“Oh, that’s perfect. I’ll talk to Ms. Norbury, I have a free next. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Janis says. “I owe you big time.”

“You wanna design a new logo for my DJ business?” He asks with a slightly creepy wink.

“Sure. Uh, how long do I have?” Janis asks, pulling out her sketchbook to get going.

“As long as you need, I... um. Don’t get many gigs. Also, don’t fuck it up with Heron, please.” Kevin begs.

“I’ll do my best,” Janis says, determined not to.

-

Janis heads to Ms. Norbury’s classroom next, knocking on the doorframe. This is her plan period, so there’s nobody else there.

“Oh, Janis, hello. Kevin told me you might come by,” She says once she looks up.

“Um, yeah. He said you found something I could use to ask Cady to prom?” Janis says nervously. Ms. Norbury is one of the sweetest teachers at their school, but Janis always gets anxious when she talks to adults.

“I do indeed,” Ms. Norbury says, pulling out a sheet of very complicated looking numbers and letters. “This looks like this, once it’s been graphed.” She flips the page over to reveal a graph with what looks like ‘prom ?’ in cursive.

“This is perfect. Can Caddy really solve this kind of stuff?” Janis asks, looking at the equations again.

“She can,” Ms. Norbury confirms. “She’s my MVP, so to speak. If you’d like, we have practice this Friday after school, we can squeeze this in at the end.”

“That would be great,” Janis breathes with relief.

They decide that Janis would drop by on Friday morning to drop off a few supplies, and then show up before Cady in the afternoon. She would hide in the classroom storage closet until Cady solved her graph, and then pop out with prom balloons and some flowers.

It’s just tacky enough for Cady to love, and not quite tacky enough for Janis to hate. It’s perfect.

———

Friday rolls around quicker than Janis is quite ready for. She wakes up two hours early to head to the party store and get the balloons, and then to the convenience store next door to grab a bouquet of pink roses, one of Cady’s favorite flowers.

Ms. Norbury looks rather startled when she comes barreling into the room in a frenzy, but shoots her a wink as she stuffs everything into the closet and dashes back out the door to meet Cady like normal.

She’s just barely gotten her breath back under control when Cady comes bouncing through the doors, auburn curls in a ponytail today. As always, she looks for Janis by her locker, smiling as she spies her and comes up for a hug.

“Hi, Jayjay,” She says, wrapping Janis up tightly.

“Hi Peanut,” Janis says back, kissing her forehead. “Did you take your medicines today?”

“Mmhmm! Did you take yours?” Cady answers. Cady almost always remembers, Janis almost always forgets.

“No,” Janis answers, looking around as she pulls the bottle from her backpack as if she’s committing a felony. She’s not, but they’re technically not allowed to carry their own medications. “Did you have breakfast?”

“No,” Cady mumbles. She struggles sometimes to recognize physical sensations, occasionally forgoing a meal or forgetting to stay hydrated, especially if she’s sucked into an activity or a routine.

“Eat one of your Kälteens, then,” Janis says once her pills are down and the bottle hidden away in her bag again. Cady does, offering one to her too. “Thanks, babe.”

“Are you okay, mpenzi? You look nervous,” Cady says worriedly. Shit.

“Yeah I’m fine, everything’s fine! All good,” Janis says rapidly, shoving a large bite of her bar into her mouth and grinning at her like a chipmunk.

“Okay...” Cady says, clearly not believing her even slightly but also recognizing it’s not something Janis wants to talk about.

The warning bell rings then, Cady pouting as she hugs Janis goodbye. “Bye, Butterfly. Have a good day,” Janis says, pecking her lips gently.

“Bye, Bluejay. I love you,” Cady says, blowing her another kiss as she walks away.

“I love you too!” Janis calls after her. And that makes this afternoon much easier, she thinks to herself.

-

Janis is almost relieved when school finally ends, the nerves having been building inside her as the day went on. Luckily Janis has study hall in the science wing directly above the math wing, allowing her to rush down and get to Ms. Norbury’s room before anyone else. Cady has English on the other side of the building, so she’s commonly the last one to arrive at practice.

She opens the cupboard where she’ll be spending the next hour or so, luckily spotting an outlet so she can charge her phone to keep herself busy. Ms. Norbury agreed to film for her, so she has that covered. She makes sure no light shines out and sits on the ground, peeking under the doorframe as Cady enters, calling a hello to everyone else.

They all mill around and chat for a while before Ms. Norbury enters again with their practice problems for the day. Sometimes they practice competition style and other days they just make sure their problem solving skills are still up to snuff. Today is the latter. Cady greets Ms. Norbury as well, asking about her day and complimenting her blouse.

The boys all sit down first, having been informed of the plan, leaving Cady the seat with the best view of the cabinet Janis is in so she’ll be able to see the reveal right away.

Janis watches her work for a while, having to hold on a chuckle as Cady’s brows furrow in concentration and she taps away furiously on her calculator. She’s so cute. She finishes first, taking the time to double check her work before going to Ms. Norbury for the answer key.

“You finished, Cady?” Ms. Norbury asks, taking her worksheet to check over it.

“Yeah, I’m not sure about number eight though,” Cady says, rubbing her sleeve against her lips nervously.

“You got it correct, Cady. We’ve talked about this. Confidence,” their teacher chides gently. “I have some bonus things for you to work on now, we need to work on graphing practice more. Here you go.”

Janis perks up at that, standing quietly and grabbing hold of her balloons and flowers. There’s just a big enough gap between the door and its frame that she can still peek and see what Cady’s up to.

Cady taps away on her calculator again, plotting all the points down with her pencil carefully. Her brow gets progressively lower with her confusion as she goes, starting to realize something might be up here.

Her head snaps up when she finishes connecting all the points and sees what it spells, Janis taking that as her cue to step out of the closet. That’s a hell of a metaphor, she thinks, bracing herself for Cady’s reaction.

Cady gives an excited gasp when she sees her, scrambling out of her chair and rushing to leap into her arms. Janis drops the balloons and flowers to catch her, glad she had the foresight to go for a balloon weight. “Cady Heron, will you go to prom with me?”

“Of course I will, goofy,” Cady says, sounding a little choked up. “This was perfect.”

“Good,” Janis says, setting her down gently and pressing their lips together. She forgets they’re not alone until the other Mathletes start whistling and cheering, and Ms. Norbury gives an audible coo. They both break apart, blushing violently. “I love you.”

“I love you too. How long were you in there?” Cady asks, pointing to the cupboard as she bends over to pick up the abandoned roses.

“I dunno. About ten minutes before you got here, I think. I wasn’t paying attention to the time.”

“You hid in a closet for an hour just to ask me to prom?” Cady asks, hugging her tightly again.

“Apparently I did, yes.”

“You’re such a dork, I love you. I’m so excited! We get to match this year,” Cady squeals, bouncing up and down.

“Treat that one right, Africa! She’s committed,” Kevin hollers from behind them.

“Oh, I absolutely will,” Cady purrs, leaning in for another sweet kiss.

————-

Damian insists on taking them both shopping, individually of course, so as not to ruin the reveal. Cady gets to go first, since she didn’t get to pick an outfit for Spring Fling last year. Cady would decide the color scheme, and Damian would pass that information to Janis when it was her turn.

“This is fun!” Cady cheers, lugging him around the mall happily.

“We haven’t even gotten to the store yet, Cads,” Damian says, huffing slightly. For how small she is, Cady moves very quickly. He can’t tell if it’s the autism, the bisexuality, or some leftover instinct from Kenya, but he’s exhausted.

“I know, but I like hanging out with you! You’re fun,” Cady says as she swings their arms back and forth happily.

“Aww. You’re fun too, Cads.” Damian responds, touched. “So, do you have any ideas of what kind of dress you want? Wait, do you even want a dress?”

“I want a dress, yes,” Cady giggles. “I think a suit could be fun, but I didn’t get to wear a dress last year. I think I want a long one? But I don’t like when they have long sleeves, they’re usually lace and it’s too itchy.” She looks at him questioningly, as if asking his approval for her opinions.

“Okay, we can work with that,” Damian says as they enter.

“Whoa,” Cady blurts, immediately slightly overwhelmed by all the colors and big poofy skirts.

“Yeah, it’s a lot,” Damian chuckles. “Do you wanna split up and look or stick together?”

“Stick together,” Cady says hastily, pressing closer. “I trust your fashion sense more than my own anyway.”

Damian thinks that’s probably a fair assessment. “Okay, I think your sizes are over here.” He starts flicking through a rack, and she roots through the one next to it. They have to be a bit more particular due to Cady’s sensitivity to certain fabrics, but they get several good options.

“Oh, this is great,” Cady says as Damian hands her a gown. “My cousin had some Broadway star take her shopping for her prom last year and it didn’t go very well. Turns out a future Broadway star is much better.”

“Wait, your cousin had a Broadway actor take her prom shopping? How did she swing that?” Damian asks.

“Oh, her school turned their prom into some big civil rights thing, they wouldn’t let her go since she’s a lesbian and wanted to take her girlfriend. They came down from New York to bring attention to it and stuff, I think. Her name is Emma.” Cady says, grabbing another dress from the rack.

“Emma? Wait, does she live in Indiana?” Damian asks, excitement building.

“Yeah, why?”

“Emma Nolan is your cousin?! Janis and I each watched her video, like, fifty times. We donated to her campaign thing for the inclusive prom,” Damian says.

“Oh, really? That’s so sweet, I’ll tell her. She’d love to meet you guys. I’ve told her a lot about you,” Cady says, now weighed down by a mountain of heavy dresses.

“Oh my god, yes please, she’s such an icon. Anyway, give me these, I can’t even see your face anymore. Let’s go pick your dress!” And with that, the pile is transferred to Damian and they head towards the changing rooms.

The first dress she tries is an amethyst color, and mermaid style. She likes how it looks in the mirror, but it’s so tight around her legs that she almost falls flat on her face when she goes to show it off. Damian catches her and immediately turns her around to go try something else.

The second one is an emerald green, with a shorter skirt and long (but thankfully not itchy) sleeves. She’s more into the length than she thought she would be, and the color suits her. Damian takes a photo so they can compare it to her other options.

The third dress is a beautiful yellow color, and has a sweetheart neckline and thin straps. It reminds her of her costume from Beauty and the Beast. She absolutely loves it, but it turns out to be way too large and her whole chest is pretty much exposed. Oh well.

Her fourth option is a periwinkle two-piece contraption with a very complicated top piece and a long poofy skirt. She likes the color and the way it fits, but the neckline makes her feel like she’s choking and the material of the skirt is very itchy. Damian claps when he sees her in it, though, so she decides to keep it as an option.

The fifth time turns out to be the charm. It’s a royal blue gown, the bodice tight and embroidered with a large flower pattern, and a skirt that flares out at her waist. The  short sleeves hang just off her shoulders, and it makes her feel like a princess. This might be the one.

Damian’s eyes go wide as he spies her coming from behind the curtain, gasping at the beauty of it. “This one this one this one,” he repeats excitedly, clapping his hands in between. “What do you think?”

“I really like it,” Cady says, turning to look at herself in another mirror. “The material is really nice. And the color is so pretty.”

“It makes your eyes pop. And it goes so well with your hair,” Damian says as he comes up behind her, laughing as she starts moving her hips to see how the skirt swishes.

“The swish is good,” Cady giggles. “Do you think Janis will like it?”

“She would love anything you feel good in, you know that,” Damian says. “But yes, I think we’ll be lucky if she doesn’t pass out when she sees you. You look gorgeous, Little Slice.”

“Thank you. Oh, wait, can you take a picture to show my mom? She wanted to come with us but she got stuck with a work thing,” Cady asks. “I think she said someone brought in a sick elephant and they had to decide what to do with it.”

“An eleph- okay, sure. Smile,” He responds, taking her phone and snapping a few photos. “There you go. Wanna go get some boba?”

“Ooh, yes!” Cady squeals.

————-

The week after is Janis’ turn, Damian taking her shopping along with both of their mothers and Juliana. It’s much easier  shopping for suits. There’s less variety, so they don’t have to decide from as many options.

Damian goes first, he and his date Elijah having decided on an emerald color scheme for their outfits. He tries on two options, a slate grey suit with a green button up underneath, and a fully green suit with a black button up.

He looks great in both, but Julie in her typical brutally honest fashion says he looks rather like a tree in the full green one. Janis’ mom whacks her on the back of the head and tells her to be polite, but Damian just laughs and agrees with her, going with the grey ensemble.

Janis’ turn. Damian tells her that Cady’s dress is a royal blue, and that’s all the detail she gets. She grins, trying to imagine what her girlfriend will look like on the night, wondering what style of dress she chose. Janis does love Cady in blue.

Their group wanders aimlessly for a minute until Janis finds a black pantsuit in her size, Damian grabbing a soft blue crew neck t-shirt as an option to go under it, as well as a white button down and cobalt skinny tie as an alternate.

She heads to the changing room, tugging the curtain closed and staring at her pieces for a second. She decides to try the more traditional button down and tie first, fumbling with it for a second before giving up and heading out, asking her mom to tie it for her.

Janis looks in the mirror once her mom loops it around her neck correctly, grinning at what she sees. She looks hot. The thin legs of the pants make her look even taller than she already is. They’re a little long, so she’ll have to get it tailored a bit, but the fit other than that is perfect. The dark blazer accentuates her shoulders, and the length of the sleeves makes her feel like a boss bitch.

She turns around to see what her little crew thinks, finding Julie already in Damian’s lap and wide grins on everyone’s faces.

“You look beautiful, hon. Very sophisticated,” Ms. Hubbard says, her own mom sneakily wiping a tear away and nodding in agreement.

“Go see what you look like with the t-shirt instead,” her sister demands. She does, heading back to change before pulling the blazer back on. She looks in the mirror again. The t-shirt is a little less formal, but she still looks very dapper.

“Which do you like better, baby girl?” Her mom asks. She has to think for a moment. The shirt allows her to match more with Cady, and is more comfortable. But if she wore a tie, Cady could use it to pull her into kisses, which she’s always wanted to do.

She decides they’ll be doing plenty of kissing anyway, and goes with what she feels more comfortable in. “I like this. I think once I have my accessories and makeup on and stuff it’ll still be fancy enough.”

“I think so too,” Damian says, removing her sister from his lap to stand. He heads to change back into his so their moms can take pictures of them together.

Janis’ phone pings right as she’s about to hand it over for a photo. She pulls it back to check, grinning a little when she sees a message from Cady.

Caddy Cakes: Hi lovey!!!! 🥰📷 Did you pick an outfit yet??

Jellybean: hi baby

Jellybean: i just picked my suit, no you can’t see it yet

Caddy Cakes: D:

Caddy Cakes: Just kidding, I know. I have a request

Jellybean: 🤨

Caddy Cakes: Can I see you in heels????? Pleeeeeeaase?? Just for prom night and then I’ll never make you wear them again 🥺🥺

Caddy Cakes: Sent a picture: Pwease?

Jellybean: you gotta stop doing the puppy eyes

Jellybean: fine. i’ll talk to damian

Caddy Cakes: Oh yay!!! Ok I’ll let you go now. I love you!!!!! Mwah!

Jellybean: i love you too baby 📷📷

She clicks her phone off and stares at it for a second, realizing what she’s just gotten herself into.

“What happened?” Damian asks, concerned something is seriously wrong.

“Caddy wants me to wear heels,” Janis whines as she buries her face in his blazer.

“You are so fucking whipped,” Damian teases. “We’ll find something.”

Their moms finally finish taking photos and they head to the shoe store, Janis looking longingly at the flat men’s dress shoes Damian chooses from. Once his are picked, they head over to the high heels. Janis stares incredulously at the height of some of them, very glad she escaped the Plastics before the heels got this high.

Juliana suddenly comes running at her holding a box, nearly tripping over her own feet and falling on her face until Janis reaches out to steady her. Julie shoves the box at her, Janis taking it curiously and looking to see what her sister has found.

She pulls back the tissue paper to find a pair of stiletto heels (which concerns her, thin heels are not a good way to introduce yourself to them), about four or five inches high and the same royal blue as their color scheme.

“These are huge, Jules,” Janis says incredulously. “Pretty, but... damn.”

“They’re the only ones that match,” Juliana pants, still out of breath from dashing around the store. “I checked everywhere.”

Janis looks at them again. Maybe if she practiced wearing them she could do it. “I’ll try them. You gotta help me, though, or I’m gonna fall on my ass.”

Juliana giggles at that but nods as Janis heads over to a bench to sit, tugging off her comfortable boots. She immediately regrets agreeing to this, but does kind of understand the appeal once she stands up for the first time.

With the height of the heel she’s roughly six and a half feet tall and feeling like she can grind the patriarchy to a pulp under her foot. Of course, it all flies out the window when she tries to take a step, since her entire gait has to shift.

Julie grabs her hands to steady her, guiding her slowly down the aisle like she’s teaching a baby how to walk. Unfortunately, Damian and their mothers come back at this point, all of them immediately bursting out laughing at the sight.

“Oh, baby girl, you’ll have to practice,” her mom giggles.

“Those shoes are perfect, though,” Damian says excitedly.

“I picked ‘em!” Juliana says proudly.

Damian looks impressed. “Nice, squirt. You have a knack for that.” Juliana beams proudly as Janis messes up her hair, immediately losing her balance.

“Who fucking invented these,” she grumbles crankily under her breath.

“Language, Janny,” her mom chides warningly, despite knowing she swears all the time.

Janis looks sheepish, turning away. “Sorry Mama.”

“Alright, let’s go get you kids fed and head home,” Ms. Hubbard says.

“God, yes please,” Janis breathes, yanking the shoes off her feet and stuffing them

back in the box.

————-

The day before the dance, Cady insists on all three art freaks (plus Juliana, who had her own middle school dance on the same night) going to the spa together.

It’s a lovely place, very clean and bright. Janis decides to get her nails all painted the same royal blue shade to match their outfits, Cady gets a glittery silver, and Juliana gets a purple to match the dress she had picked. Damian felt left out and decides to get his painted green.

Since they’re not getting any kind of fancy processes done, they’re all led back to sit next to one another in massage chairs to wait for their nail technicians. The hostess offers them a drink of their choice, Damian and Julie choose a cola, Cady gets water and Janis asks for a Sprite.

While they wait for their drinks, their nail techs come to get to work on them. It turns out that part of the package is hot stone massages on their legs, and warm lotion massages on their arms while they get their nails painted. Janis nearly falls asleep in her chair, lulled by the soothing warmth of the lotion and the repetitive motion of the chair.

She’s startled back awake by the lady returning with their drinks, learning that they had run out of Sprite and offered a Mountain Dew instead. She says it’s fine and takes it, finding the contrast of the drink and the sensations she’s experiencing very funny.

Once their nails are all painted, they’re led over to a drying station in the middle of the room, sitting on benches and sticking their hands and feet under fans to blow their nails dry. Cady leans her head on Janis’ shoulder while they wait, Janis kissing her hair and pressing her cheek against the top of her head.

“I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,” Cady whispers. “I’m so excited.”

“I can’t wait either, Peanut. You’re going to look so beautiful,” Janis responds softly, pulling her into a sweet kiss once her nails are finished and safe to use again.

Cady looks sad to see Janis go once they have to pay and leave, but cheers up a bit when she’s reminded that they get to spend the whole night together tomorrow.

————

On the day, Janis’ mom helps her get ready. The dance doesn’t start until nine, but she and Cady are going out to dinner with Damian and Elijah first, so she has to be ready early.

She’s lucky that her mom appreciates her style. She applies some natural looking makeup around her eyes, which is a bit different than Janis normally does, but she does have to admit it’s a nice look. She’s surprised when her mom gets to the lips, pulling out a blue lipstick, so dark it’s almost black. It’s perfect.

Janis thinks she looks sort of like a model when she looks in the mirror as her mom starts working on her hair.

“I’ve missed doing this for you,” her mom says as she starts brushing out her hair.

“You can anytime, Mama. I hate doing it,” Janis huffs.

“You always did, baby girl, you always did,” her mother replies. Once she finishes brushing it, she applies a few products to get her natural wave back into it, and then starts slicking it to the side with some gel. Once it’s finished, all her hair is resting over her shoulder. It’s a very elegant look. “There.”

“Mama, are you crying?” Janis asks, turning around to hug her.

“No,” her mom sniffs. “Yes. You’ve just... grown into such a beautiful young lady. Feels like the years have gotten away from me. Won’t be too much longer before I’m doing this on your wedding day.”

Janis laughs at that. “You’ve got a while, I’m nowhere near ready to be married yet. I love you.”

Her mom squeezes her, brushing a hand against her cheek as she lets her go. “I love you too, baby girl. Go put your suit on, I’ve got to help your sister now.”

-

Janis heads to her room, tugging on her now perfectly tailored suit pants, then her royal blue t-shirt, her blazer, and necklaces. She decides to forgo the shoes for as long as she can, leaving them resting on her bed. She slides her fanciest rings on as a finishing touch and heads to look at herself in the mirror.

It’s strange. She’s wearing a suit, but she looks more feminine than she has in a long time. Even in comparison to her suit from last year’s Spring Fling where she wore a skirt, it’s a more feminine look. She decides she’s into it. She looks good.

-

She heads downstairs right as Damian and his date pull up outside. Juliana goes rushing up to hug him, looking beautiful in her lavender dress. Janis is glad her sister and best friend get along so well.

“Looking good, guys,” she says as her sister finally releases him. Elijah wound up choosing the option Damian didn’t, looking quite handsome in his green ensemble. He’s shorter than Damian, so he looks less like a tree.

“So do you! You look so good, Jan,” Damian says, pulling her into a gentle hug so he doesn’t mess anything up.

“Thanks,” Janis says shyly, spinning around to show off with her shoes still in her hand. “When’s Caddy coming? I wanna see her.”

“She texted me and said she’s gonna be a couple minutes late, she shouldn’t be too much longer,” Damian responds, checking the time on his phone. “Oh, speak of the devil.”

Cady’s parents pull up then, Cady’s door opening before the car even comes to a complete stop. Janis gasps when she sees her girlfriend in her dress for the first time.

Before she even has time to fully process it, her jaw hanging open, her girlfriend is in her arms, hugging her tightly. “Janis, oh my god! You look incredible!”

“So do you,” Janis says, pulling back for a second to see her. “You look like a princess.”

Cady really does, her long auburn hair has been braided into a thick crown around her head, the remaining strands tied in a bun on top of her head and two little pieces hanging out to frame her face. Her makeup is heavy around her eyes, silver shadow on her lids and eyelashes dark. She looks very ethereal. Her lipstick is more natural, and Janis likes that she can still see her freckles through her face makeup.

“You look so hot! Very, um, sexy businesswoman going to a fancy thing,” Cady says, reaching out to feel her blazer. Janis realizes when she doesn’t have to reach as far that their height balance is off, thrown by Cady’s shoes.

“Thanks,” Janis laughs. “I think.”

“Put your shoes on, I wanna see,” Cady demands, pointing to the heels Janis is still holding in her hand.

“Fine,” Janis pouts as she rests them

on the ground and steps into them carefully. Cady reaches out to steady her at first before letting go once she’s more stable. Janis has been wearing them around the house all month to get used to them.

“Jesus, you’re tall,” Cady giggles, looking up at her. “Oh, wait, I have your-um. Thingy.”

“Boutonnière, baby. Thank you,” Janis laughs as Cady tenderly pins it on. “Here’s your corsage.”

“Why thank you,” Cady says as Janis slides it on her wrist and kisses her knuckles. “Now come on, we gotta take pictures. I want to kiss you but I can’t mess up your makeup until those are done.”

“Okay, Peanut, let’s go,” Janis chuckles, taking her hand and stumbling slightly as she heads over to Damian, Elijah, and their parents.

They take every cliché prom photo in the book, all awkward poses and cheesy smiles. Janis nearly breaks her ankle trying to do their jump shot in those shoes, but Cady somehow does and lands it perfectly, reaching out to steady Janis with a chuckle.

They take one more jokey shot of each other with the wrong dates, Cady with Damian and Janis with Elijah looking at each other confusedly before switching back to who they’re meant to be with.

“Alright, you crazy kids, get out of here,” Damian’s mom demands, shoving them towards their Uber that had pulled up. None of them were into the idea of renting a limo, but none of them wanted to drive either.

“Be safe!” Janis’ mom adds.

“Make good choices!” Cady’s mom pipes up. Her dad and Cady both roll their eyes lovingly.

————-

As they pull up to the restaurant, everyone clambers out quickly. Damian and Elijah head in first, Janis and Cady following hand in hand a few paces behind them. Just before they reach the doors, Cady tugs on Janis’ hand, hauling her backwards.

“Wha- oh, okay,” Janis stutters, gasping as Cady looks around quickly before fisting a hand in her t-shirt and pulling her down for a hot mess of a kiss. Turns out the shirt works just fine. Janis kisses her back just as hard, wrapping her arms around Cady’s waist to pull her closer.

When they finally break apart, their lipsticks have fully blended together. “Glad we made it to the dance before we ruined our makeup,” Cady chuckles breathlessly, pulling two makeup wipes out of her clutch to get rid of the evidence. Damian looks at them knowingly when they walk in several minutes late suddenly missing lipstick, but neither of them care.

-

It’s a fancy restaurant, and their table is next to a water feature. Janis immediately sticks her hand in it, causing water to splash everywhere for a second until she pulls it out.

“Janis, what? Why did you do that?” Cady asks in exasperation as she grabs a napkin from their table to dry Janis’ hand.

Janis looks down sheepishly. “I wanted to see if it was real.”

“Well now you know,” Cady says, dabbing at the splash marks on her suit and wondering how a fountain could be fake. “And I’m sitting next to that. You get the outside.”

“Sorry, Caddy.”

“Don’t be sorry, my love. I just worry about your regard for social norms and sense of self preservation sometimes.” Cady comforts, kissing her cheek gently to cheer her up.

“Oh, speaking of which, I got a great idea for senior pranks,” Janis says excitedly. Damian and Elijah both lean in across the table, as if they’re plotting something for the mafia. “I’m gonna get a cow and stick it on the second floor, and then put chickens in the elevator. Cows don’t go down stairs, so they’ll try to put it in the elevator and find the chickens.”

“Where are you going to get any of these things?” Elijah asks. It’s a fair question.

“My mom knows a guy, one of her old classmates is a farmer and he said I could borrow some of his livestock,” Janis explains.

“I- wh-“ Cady stutters, trying to find a response to this. “If you get expelled before you can graduate I’m not gonna help you.” Her own plan was just to stick a bunch of plastic forks in the football field. Gretchen and Karen had already agreed to help, too.

“I won’t get caught. It’ll be fine,” Janis says, sounding as if she already knows it won’t.

“That’s actually kind of genius, Jan,” Damian says. “I’m gonna put a speaker in the gym playing the chorus to It’s a Small World on repeat and then put a bunch of cups full of water in the way of it.”

“Nice!” Janis cheers, high-fiving him.

“You guys,” Cady pleads, looking as if she’s witnessing a murder plot. “You’re gonna get in trouble.”

“That’s the fun of it, Peanut! The risk,” Janis says boldly. “Plus, Regina knows how to hack the security cameras so there won’t be any proof. Unless someone rats me out.”

Cady thinks she might, just to save herself the headache. She feels as if she’s gotten a very telling taste of her future. “Jesus Christ.”

Cady and Elijah make exhausted eye contact periodically throughout their meal, exasperated with their respective partners. Once they finally finish eating, Cady has to haul Janis away from the fountain by the tail of her blazer to stop her from reaching into it again.

“Come on, Jayjay. No fountain or I’m revoking your little spoon rights for a week.”

“Fine.”

————-

A few minutes after nine, their group strolls into the school. Janis and Cady head to the bathroom to reapply their respective lipsticks before going into the main dance.

Janis stops Cady before she can put hers back on, pressing her against the wall gently and kissing her soundly again. Cady grips the fabric of her blazer at her waist, having to restrain herself from messing up Janis’ hair.

Janis checks under the doors to make sure they’re alone before coming back, pulling Cady flush against her and sucking on her lower lip. Cady groans softly, making Janis want to fast forward through the dance and take her home.

Cady gives her one last good smooch before pulling back, both of them panting slightly. “We should go in,” She breathes, ghosting the words over Janis’ lips. “We have time for this later, we only get one senior prom.”

“Fine,” Janis pouts, kissing her gently one more time before heading to a mirror to finally put her lipstick back on.

They head hand in hand into the gym, looking around at how it’s been transformed. The theme this year is a Night Under the Stars, so they’re surrounded by dark balloons, gold decorations, and glow in the dark stars stuck to the ceiling. Janis is reminded of Cady’s speech from last year’s dance. Maybe that served as the inspiration.

“Whoa,” Cady says excitedly. The school puts much more funding into prom than Spring Fling, since it’s supposed to be a kind of final memory for the seniors. It actually looks quite nice. “I’m gonna go say hi to Regina and Gretchen and Karen really quick, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, Butterfly. I want punch, I’ll be over there.” Janis kisses her quickly and sends her on her way.

She people-watches as she sips slowly from her cup, wanting to get as much punch as she can before someone inevitably spikes it. Damian and Elijah have already been lost to the mob of dancers, but she can spy them just across the way. Regina looks strangely nervous in her baby pink dress. She’s been wary of large crowds since the bus incident. Gretchen and Karen look adorable as ever together, in royal purple dresses that are slightly different styles.

Janis is working on her third cup of punch when the DJ announces a request for Born This Way by Lady Gaga. She and Damian lock eyes from across the room, nodding slightly. Damian sometimes choreographs dances to his favorite songs, and almost always drags Janis into learning them. They both have backgrounds in dance, and can do them quite well. Janis figures they might as well go out with a bang.

They meet in the middle of the floor and start their routine. Damian is a talented choreographer, having spent hours studying for his various shows. The routine is actually very well put together.

People gradually start realizing what’s happening and stop dancing themselves, surrounding them to watch and cheer them on. It’s a nice feeling, if a bit strange for them. She spots Cady with the former Plastics watching her excitedly, and shoots her a cheeky wink before continuing her moves.

When the song finally ends, they pause in their ending pose for a split second before standing and blushing scarlet. Everyone claps for a short while, looking rather stunned as they head back to their friends. “Well damn,” the DJ says into his microphone. “Did not expect that. Uh, here’s the Macarena.”

Cady wraps Janis in a tight hug once she finally reaches her, yelling, “Janis, what the hell?! I had no idea you could dance like that, that was incredible!”

“Thanks,” Janis pants. “I’ll teach you sometime.”

“I’m such a klutz, good look with that,” Cady giggles. “You need more to drink, you must be exhausted.”

She leads Janis over to the table, pouring them both one more glass of punch. “We should go see who the prom court is, too.”

Prom court worked a bit differently than Spring Fling, in that it was a secret until the night of the dance. Student council made nominations, which allowed some of the less popular students to make the ballot, and then whoever attended the event got to vote.

“There’s two winners of each this year? That’s different,” Janis mumbles on seeing the sign at the voting table.

“Regina said it’s because there’s a lot more LGBT+ couples that are out and coming to events together now, and should both be able to win. They’re doing it from now on,” Cady says. “And look at who’s on the ballot.”

Janis does, surprised to see her own name listed, along with Cady’s and the three former Plastics. “I’m an option?”

“You are,” Cady chuckles. “And Damian is up for Prom King, too.” Sure enough, Damian and Elijah are both listed along with all the Mathletes.

Janis is stunned. It doesn’t make up for the years of torment they faced at the hands of these kids, and she doesn’t think for a second that she’s going to win, but it’s a nice gesture at least. A start.

They’re each allowed to vote for two people for each category. Janis votes Cady and Karen for queen and Damian and Elijah for king. Cady votes Janis and Gretchen as queen and also votes Damian and Elijah as king.

Once they slip their papers into the boxes, the DJ announces a slow song. “May I have this dance?” Janis asks in a suave voice, reaching out a hand for her girlfriend.

“You may,” Cady giggles, taking her hand and following her onto the dance floor. Janis kisses Cady’s knuckles gently before letting go to hold her by the waist, Cady grinning up at her as she holds onto Janis’ neck.

“I love you,” Janis murmurs as they start swaying softly to the rhythm of the song. Cady pushes up briefly to brush their lips together.

“I love you too,” she whispers when she pulls away again. “I’m so glad we got this night together.”

“I am too. We’ve come so far in a year, it’s crazy,” Janis responds.

“Crazy indeed,” Cady chuckles. “I’m so lucky.”

“I’m the lucky one, baby,” Janis says, surprising Cady by dipping her. She squeals and clings tighter to her neck, but giggles when Janis kisses her quickly and pulls her back up.

“You’re so smooth,” Cady teases as the song ends.

“Thanks,” Janis responds as she kisses her again. “God, my feet are killing me.”

“Take your shoes off then, Jellybean. The ticket lady will hold them for you,” Cady says. “Mine kind of hurt too, we can just walk around barefoot.”

They both sit on the bleachers to take their heels off, breathing a sigh of relief once they’re back to their normal height. Now that they’re free, they meet back up with Damian and Elijah, letting loose and dancing crazily to the loud music, jumping up and down as they laugh. It’s freeing, dancing like nobody’s watching in a room packed with people.

After several songs, the DJ announces that it’s time to reveal the winners of prom king and queen. All the nominees head up on stage next to him, Janis and Cady holding hands as they make their way up.

They announce the kings first. “Your nominees for prom king are: Damian Hubbard, Elijah French, Kevin Gnapoor, Marwan Jitla, and Tyler Kimble!” The DJ calls dramatically. “And your kings for tonight are... Damian and Elijah!”

Janis and Cady both cheer happily as their friends receive their crowns, clapping for them excitedly.

“Moving to your nominees for prom queen! Caddy Heron, Janis Sarkisian, Regina George, Gretchen Wieners, and Karen Smith!” Cady pouts a little at the mispronunciation of her name. “And your prom queens tonight are... Caddy and Janis!”

Janis blinks rapidly, stunned. They’re handed the tiaras to put on each other, Cady having to pop up on her tippy toes to reach that high. Janis places the crown tenderly on Cady’s head, sliding it in place around her updo. Cady bravely decides to pull her down into a brief, sweet kiss. A few people clap for them then, which is nice.

They’re led off stage after that, Janis still in shock. How the hell did I win? These people all hated me. If Cady finds out later that Regina had threatened everyone into voting for them, she’d take that secret to her grave.

-

They decide to stick around for one more slow song, this time with Cady leading. Janis leans down and presses their foreheads together, looking into Cady’s clear blue eyes happily.

Cady tries to dip her, too, nearly dropping her on the ground until Janis barely manages to pull herself back up at the last second. Cady looks very sheepish, until Janis kisses her cheek gently to make her smile.

“Can we go home?” Cady asks quietly once the song is finished, pressing close to Janis. “I feel buzzy.”

‘Buzzy’ is how Cady had taken to describing the feeling of being overstimulated. She surprisingly isn’t feeling too overloaded, given the amount of noise and the lights, but knows it will get to be too much for her soon.

“Of course, baby. Go get our stuff, I’ll go tell Damian,” Janis answers, kissing her sweetly and pushing her towards the door.

She heads to fetch Damian, who is deep in conversation with Elijah. She doesn’t want to interrupt, but he spies her lurking and waves her over. “Caddy and I are going home, she’s tired.”

“Okay, I’ll come say bye,” Damian says, kissing Elijah on the cheek and standing to follow her. Janis leads him over to where Cady is waiting with her bag and both pairs of their shoes.

“Bye, little slice,” Damian says, wrapping her in a hug. “See you later.”

“Bye, Dame,” Cady responds, leaning into his embrace as best she can. Damian heads back to his date then, Janis leading Cady by the arm out the doors gently. She taps into her phone to order their Uber home before sitting down on a bench and pulling Cady into her lap.

“Did you have fun, Peanut?” She asks, kissing Cady’s forehead as she squeezes her tightly to help with the sensory overload. Cady nods against her shoulder, too overwhelmed to speak unless she absolutely has to. “Good.”

It’s a cold night for springtime, and Janis notices Cady start shivering slightly in her embrace. She pulls away for a second to tug off her blazer, wrapping it gently around her girlfriend and pulling her back in. Cady kisses her jaw a few times in thanks.

————

Once they get back to Janis’ house, Cady leads Janis quickly up towards her bedroom, desperate to get out of her now heavy and uncomfortable gown. Janis hands her some makeup wipes as she pulls out Cady’s emergency sleepover pjs from her dresser, as well as some shorts and a sweatshirt for herself.

Cady takes the pjs once all her itchy makeup has been removed, but tugs gently on the hem of Janis’ sweatshirt, silently asking for one too. Janis goes to fetch another one, kissing her cheek as Cady heads to get changed.

Cady is scratching at her head when she returns, trying to relieve some of the ache caused by her hairstyle. “Help?” She asks quietly, barely above a whisper. Talking takes energy she doesn’t have to spare at the moment.

Janis nods, gesturing for her to sit between her legs as she removes the crown, starting to unravel the mess of pins and ties holding up her hair. Cady breathes a sigh of relief once her long curls are flowing down her back again, and her eyes flutter shut as Janis starts stroking a brush through them gently to remove any excess product.

Once she’s finished, Cady ties her hair up loosely so it’s not in her face before turning to face Janis. “Now you.”

Janis switches spots with her, taking a wipe to take off her own makeup as Cady starts gently brushing the gel and hairspray out. They’d still have to shower tomorrow, but that can wait. They’re both exhausted.

Once Janis’ hair is sufficiently soft, Cady lies down and pulls Janis to lie on top of her. Janis was worried about squishing her the first few times, since Cady is so much smaller, but Cady had explained that the pressure didn’t hurt and actually was very helpful when she was upset.

Janis tugs the duvet over them gently, kissing Cady goodnight before tucking her face into her shoulder and closing her eyes.

“I love you.” Cady mutters quietly, rubbing Janis’ back.

“I love you too, baby. Sweet dreams.” Janis says back, popping an eye open to look at the two tiaras resting on her nightstand. She grins happily before shutting her eyes once more and drifting off to dreamland.

Tonight belonged to us.

-

hope you enjoyed! if you want to check it out, I put some images of their outfits and such in this chapter of my work on wattled (titled cadnis oneshots so I can get some f*cking sleep). I'm sorry I didn't put them here, but I frankly do not have the energy.

requests are still open! please leave them either here, on my wattpad, or on my ao3. I've been getting a fair few recently (thank you all!) so it may take a few weeks for yours to be published, but I am doing my damndest to crank these out and will get to everyone's eventually.

thanks for reading!

lots of love,

ezzy

[lovelydeadlysocialite]

Request for Reassignment (Vyn/Kat)

Vynette sat at her desk, finishing up the paperwork assigned to her, just like any night in the office. The only difference was her demeanor. Something about her was tense. She caught a look from Kat more than once for her heel tapping nervously, and the elf kept sneaking glances at her Director to almost make a comment before sealing her lips again.

Finally, without looking up, some of the proposed words in her head finally managed to tumble out. "I was talking to an agent from another Unit today. I guess they've had eight agents now put in to answer the call for aid. From, you know, the Covenants."

"Uh-huh," Kat muttered in response without looking at the elven operative, her focus remaining on the papers she shuffled, expression blank.

It was more or less the kind of response Vyn expected. She sighed, knowing she was going to have to move things forward. "It seems like the need for more trained hands is still pretty great. And what with the duties of wartime off everyone's plates, more or less," her voice trailed softer and quicker as she mumbled, "I was considering requesting a temporary assignment to offer my abilities. Ma'am."

Kat froze in place, staring at the document in hand as a slow exhale spilled over her lips. Eyelids shut as lips curled inward over the teeth and the paper set aside. "There are plenty of eager hero types and jar-heads t' fill the ranks." Her response monotone as the stark gaze shifted to the elf.

"We have plenty t'do here."

The air in the room thinned out at Kat's tone and in any other instance, Vyn would have dropped the topic. Unfortunately, the circumstances here were unique. "I know. There is work to be done, and I'm not ignoring or underplaying the work we do." She may have come to Unit Eight looking for a job and a safe place to hide, but she did understand the value they added to the Alliance she was somehow a part of now.

"It is just... the request came for me specifically." An uncharacteristic uncertainty softened Vynette's voice. "My teacher is part of the House of Eyes. He has called for me to aid the Necro Lords."

Without missing a beat, Kat's eyes narrowed sharply following Vyn's confession. "I see..." Her tone and demeanor turned ice-cold, and the eye contract broke, the Director diving back into her papers.

"So after everythin', I've done, everythin' I've risked, yer going t' abandon me just like that." Pain and anger laced Kat's words, her jaw tightening towards the end. "One letter from a ghost and I'm nothin' t' ya'."

Vyn's bright blue eyes went wide at the shift in tone. It was rare to see such intensity drawn from the otherwise collected and calculating Director. As someone who genuinely respected Kat, Vyn felt the pit of guilt in her stomach. "No, that's not it at all! You're... you mean a lot to me. You took a chance on me." She spoke of the risks Kat took for her in a hushed voice, not wanting to raise suspicions of anyone who might still be lingering in a nearby office. "I owe you everything."

Taking a deep breath, Vyn pressed forward, mustering up her determination. "I am not looking to leave beyond a temporary reassignment; my home is here. With you and with the Unit." Their office was one of the few consistent places anyone could find her these days. "But he was the one who got me here. He saw value in me and gave me purpose. And I failed him. And he died," she finally admitted.

"And I saw value in ya', and gave ya' a new purpose!" Kat quickly countered, pointing a finger in the elven woman's direction. "A purpose that could have, and still could, get us both killed."

With a scoff, Kat's head shook, and her arms crossed as she stood from the desk and paced. "Ya' failed him, but he sends a letter? Have ya' gone dense Vynette?" For once, the Director addressed her elven shadow by the first name rather than the forged surname. "It has trap written all over it. Or did ya' forget how ya' were ejected from the Horde?"

It would have been easy to call her paranoid; plenty of people in SI:7 had already. The real pain came from the truth in her words.

"I was overconfident when I got set up. I'm not that anymore thanks to you," she pointed out. "Being by your side is important to me."

Vyn was to the point of pleading, even when she knew Kat was not so easily swayed. What else could she do? "Kat..." She addressed the woman, not the title. "There's still closure I need from my time as an apprentice. Shit I'm still carrying with me. My loyalty is with you; no one can change that. So I'm asking-- begging for the chance to serve the cause in the Shadowlands and put my ghosts to rest."

A heated exhale pushed through the nostril as Kat turned her back to Vynette's pleading, facing the wall where documents, pins, and red string put together the tapestry of their current case. She did not appear to be swayed by the elf's begging, not entirely. Something in that final statement did bring a silent pause.

"If bein' by my side is so important, then why so eager to leave it?" She chose to hone in on other points and skip over the please, keeping her back to the elf. There was still a tinge of pain and anger in her tone.

"Livin' in th' past never moved anyone forward. I need ya' here. Or is suddenly wot I and this job I graced ya' with no longer of importance? I didn' say a bloody thing when I came back to find yer visage eerily similar to mine, plucked a hair from the office, no doubt. Even when my patience is tested by yer sometimes questionable motivations and comments in the borderline territory of breakin' my rules, I allowed yer leash to remain lax. I never asked fer anythin' other than service in return, even after footin' the bills to fake and create yer life in the Alliance. But this is the thanks I get? T'be abandoned fer some Horde dog."

Vynette got to her feet, because she disliked the tone Kat was taking regarding her teacher. Vyn rarely defied Kat; it was not in her nature. Still, she persisted. "You've let my leash remain lax because I've done everything you've ever asked of me, without question. I've followed every order, completed every mission," her voice dropped lower, but picked up its intensity, "I've done every off-book task you've needed with a smile because I'm your knife. I've committed sins for you and I'd commit them thrice over and you know that."

Scrunching her nose at the realization that her tone was getting away from her, Vynette composed herself. "He's not some Horde dog, Director; he's found a place of high standing in the House of Eyes. If I went over your head, they'd give me the go ahead. Hell, I could go to Fiske. I didn't do that because I don't give a shit about their authority. You're the one I follow."

Looking down at her desk, Vynette sat back down feeling resigned to defeat. "If you command me to stay, I'll stay. I don't ask for much. But I'm just asking for you to trust me. I have debts to repay, but he's not my master anymore."

As the Operative's tone began to get away from her, Kat looked back over her shoulder. One brow lifted as she stared the elven woman down from across the room as if cursing her for the act of defiance.

"Go over m'head or t'Fiske, and it won't be a temporary reassignment." The Director barked. Whether it was a threat or fact was anyone's guess.

Fingers ran through her raven tresses, pulling the strands back as she sighed quietly, seemingly content with Vynette's concession. "When this case is over," Kat motioned to the wall at her side as she turned to face the elf. "Then I will consider signin' off on a temporary reassignmen'. I will no' make any promises, however."

The tension in Vyn's shoulders released. Resisting Kat's authority made her physically uncomfortable, but she had made it to the other side. They both knew the elf would not go over Kat's head, but she was still being given an out. She could handle finishing their assignment at hand. She would cling to the hope that, if she continued to be on her best behavior, Kat would give her the chance to settle her past.

"Of course, ma'am," she replied with an earnest salute and a genuine, radiant smile. "Til then, the only thing on my mind is our case. I'm all yours; you have my word."

"Good," Kat murmured as she returned to her desk and the papers scattered atop it.

"Now get out of m'sight for an hour or two before I change m'mind, and there better be a bottle in one hand when ya' return."

[ @kat-hawke​ ]

[pandastern]

Gravity (Bakugou x OC)

Part 10: Declaration of War

If youd like to be added to the taglist for upcoming parts please dm me :)

Masterlist  II  AO3

Bakugou x Vigilante!OC

Warnings: angst, explicit language, violence

Word count:   2146

Genre: enemies to lovers ; angst ; romance, slow burn

When a new student makes an entrance, Bakugou has a real bad feeling. There is something about this girl that just doesnt feel right. From the flaming hair to the calculating glint in her green eyes, everything about her just pisses him off.

Little does he know that his fate is intertwined with the person he despises so much, defining his future path in a way he would have never expected

Lunch break was a fucking nightmare. Artemis couldn't remember when she’d last felt so goddamn tired. Her head pounded to the point where it became increasingly hard to stay focused, despite having had not one but three cans of energy drinks in the morning alone.

Her mood was getting worse, too. People just wouldn't leave her alone. Her classmates swarmed around her constantly. When the lunch bell rang, Iida, Uraraka and Midoriya dragged her along to the cafeteria in what turned out to be an attempt to make sure she ate healthily, forcing her to eat every single vegetable they piled on her plate, despite her having clearly stated how much she hated them.

Whenever she went to the bathroom, there was always at least one girl from the class accompanying her, assaulting her with friendly chatter as if they’d been friends for years.

It was truly puzzling, and Artemis wasn’t sure if she was comfortable with it.

By the time the last period finished, she’d had enough. She just wanted to go home. At least there, she’d have the peace and quiet she so desperately wanted.

The moment the school bell rang, Artemis packed her belongings into her bag and shot out of her seat.

“What the heck are you all doing here?” she heard Uraraka say loudly.  The tone of her voice told Artemis something wasn't quite right.

She looked up to see a big crowd of students she’d never seen before standing in front of the classroom door. Not only were they blocking the exit, but their stares were a little too curious for her liking.

This day just wasn’t going to get any better, was it?

“Do you students have some sort of business with our class?” Iida asked in his best diplomatic student rep voice.

“Why are you blocking our doorway? I won't let you hold us hostage!” Mineta shrieked so loudly it rang in Artemis’s ears.

With a frustrated groan, she slung her bag over her shoulder and stepped closer. Something told her that this had something to do with the USJ incident. According to her classmates, the whole debacle had caused a huge media storm. Not that she was surprised. After all, UA was the school for young heroes in the country and the villain attack was a big tarnish on their name.

Artemis had no desire to be part of this spectacle. She prepared to march her arse through the crowd, pushing people aside if she had to. She just wanted to go home. Enough was enough.

“They’re scouting out the competition, you idiots,” Bakugou growled as he made his way past Artemis. “We’re the class that survived a real villain attack.”

For a split second, his eyes lingered on her as if there were something else he wanted to say, but then he changed his mind. He stood in front of the crowd with a posture that said, “I’m ready to brawl”.

“They want to see what a future pro looks like,” he continued, narrowing his eyes. “Now move it, extras!”

“You can't call people ‘extras’ just because you don't know who they are!” Iida piped up, horrified.

Artemis had to bite back a laugh. That sounded more like the Bakugou she knew: ready to start shit, not giving a damn about what anyone else thought. In a way, she shared that sentiment, though she knew better than to make the whole school her enemy. But maybe that was because she actually possessed some form of common sense.

“So, this is class 1A? I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like an arse.” A rather tall boy emerged from the crowd. “Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or is it just you?”

A soft snort escaped Artemis at his words. The look Bakugou gave her only made her laughing worse.

What? she mouthed at him. After all, the person was telling the truth. It was hardly a secret that Katsuki Bakugou was, in fact, an arse.

The small vein at Bakugou's temple started to throb, a telltale sign that his patience was running out.

“How sad to come here and just find a bunch of egomaniacs,” the unfamiliar boy continued, his voice dripping with contempt. “I wanted to be in the hero course, but like many others here, I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life. I didn't cut it the first time around, but I have another chance. If any of us do well in the sports festival, the teacher can decide to transfer us to the hero course, and they’ll have to transfer people out to make room.”

The more he spoke, the more Artemis realised that the contempt she’d first picked up on was actually closer to jealousy. If what he was saying was true, none of their places in this class were safe. That was an interesting concept. Survival of the fittest. Despite the harshness of the policy, she supposed it ensured that every student gave one hundred percent at all times. It also allowed the school to weed out who wasn’t fit for the job or just not willing to put in the work. She gave Mineta a side glance.

The boy looked over her classmates and scoffed. “Scouting the competition, you say? Maybe some of my peers are, but I’m here to let you know that if you don't bring your very best, I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war.”

Artemis rolled her eyes. Judging by Bakugou’s hot-headedness and the provocative look on the other guy’s face, this would likely take a while. And after spending the day wasting her energy on being nice to her overly-concerned classmates, she had absolutely no desire to wait here until they’d finished their dick-measuring contest.

Before Bakugou could bark his reply, Artemis cleared her throat loudly, attracting the attention of him and the crowd.

“I don't know what you’re trying to achieve here, treating our class like a monkey circus and all, but could you please get out of the way?” she snapped at the unknown guy. “If you need to have a little fight to figure out which one of you has the bigger dick, do it somewhere where you’re not in the fucking way. Thank you.”

Silence fell over the crowd.

“Artemis! You can’t use these kinds of words at school,”  Iida gasped in outrage, but Artemis just waved him off.

“Iida, do I look like I give a fuck? Now, move.”

Leaving her stunned classmates behind, she made her way through the crowd. Artemis was aware that her outburst was uncharacteristic for the persona she’d put on until now and that she’d probably regret having snapped like this as soon as her mood lightened up again, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. This day could go fuck itself, as far as she was concerned.

The following days didn’t prove to be much better than the first. After three days, Artemis had given up questioning her new friends’ behavior, or why they were constantly around her. Maybe that was how things worked? She wouldn't know. The whole ‘Deku-Squad’, as she liked to call the small group of Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka, certainly didn't miss a chance to involve her in every activity possible. Group work during class? One of them would always call her over. Lunch? Artemis couldn't even make it out of the door without them swarming her and dragging her along to the cafeteria with them.

Before long, Artemis started to catch herself actually enjoying the time she spent with the group. No, not enjoying , she told herself. More like accepting this in order to fit in.

Today, however, her splitting headache made it increasingly hard to keep up her friendly facade. Her dreams hadn’t gotten any better, either, the haunting images leaving her nauseous when she woke up. Artemis wasn't sure whether all this was the result of the poison still wreaking havoc in her body, or if something else was going on behind the scenes.

“Artemis, are you doing okay? You’ve been pushing that shrimp around your plate for five minutes now.” Uraraka’s voice cut through her train of thought.

“Huh?” Artemis blinked and looked up, meeting the worried gaze of her classmate. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You look a little pale. Shall we escort you to Recovery Girl’s office?” Iida was already getting out of his seat to help her, but Artemis quickly waved him off.

“No, please. I’m fine. I just… need to go get some air real quick. Don't worry,” Artemis responded and quickly got up.

It might have been her only chance to get out of this overcrowded room, where so many voices banded together into a loud humming noise that threatened to detonate her brain like one of Bakugou's explosions.

Before any of them could say anything or offer to join her, Artemis slipped out of the cafeteria and made her way to the school roof. Over the past couple of days, the place had become something of a refuge for her, as nobody rarely went up there.

One thing she’d noticed after the attack was that her stamina had noticeably decreased. Again, she guessed it was the result of the still-prominent poison in her blood causing her to get light-headed as soon as she did anything physically taxing, like walking up several flights of stairs.

She had to sit down for a moment to catch her breath once she’d reached the roof. It was pathetic, really, how weak she’d become. A bitter laugh escaped her. If her father could see her now, he'd tell her how much of a disgrace she was. Or worse. That man had never taken kindly to weakness.

Suddenly, her quirk picked up an approaching heartbeat. Great. She really wasn't in the mood to be seen in a vulnerable state like this.

Forcing herself back onto her feet, Artemis grabbed her bag and proceeded to push herself onto the last flight of stairs

“I swear, “ she muttered to herself, “if one more person asks me if I'm okay, they’re going to be taking an involuntary swan dive off the roof. I've had enough.”

“That doesn't sound very heroic coming from a student enrolled in the hero course,” said someone with a husky voice behind her.

Artemis froze. She’d heard that voice before. Turning slowly, she spotted the same boy with lilac hair that had antagonised Bakugou in front of the classroom a couple days back making his way up the stairs. She groaned.

“Do I look like I care, fuzzy head?” she huffed. “Not that you would know, being from General Ed.”

Apparently, that rubbed him the wrong way. His brows furrowed.

“Not for long, that's for sure,” he replied in a sour tone. “You should really check that nasty attitude before someone pulls you off that high horse that you’ve become so comfortable on.”

“Oh, really?” Artemis scoffed. “And who, exactly, would that be? You? Pardon me, but I am not in the mood for whatever…” She gestured vaguely between them. “… this is, so please leave me alone.”

With that, she proceeded to climb the stairs again as fast as she possibly could, which, given her current condition and the growing dizziness in her head, wasn't exactly lightning speed.

“You seem to be pretty sure of yourself. You shouldn't underestimate your competition. I am going to take a spot in the hero course.”

“Competition?”

It was clear that this guy wouldn't leave her alone until he’d said his two cents. What was it with grumpy men in this academy and their need to measure their dicks? She didn't even have one!

Letting herself slump down onto one of the steps, she sighed deeply and took a closer look at the boy before her. He was tall and a little on the lanky side. His lilac eyes were underlined with dark circles, making him look like he hadn't slept in days, but his gaze was focused and determined.

“Look. I don't know why you feel like you have to hype yourself up by robbing me of the last shreds of serotonin that I possess, but I can tell you this: your ‘declaration of war’ on the hero course doesn’t worry me in the slightest. Why? Because I’m not here for some silly naive fantasy of heroism like most of you. So, no. A sleep deprived, unkempt, scrawny teenage boy trying to make me nervous doesn’t scare me.” Artemis shook her head. “So, if we're done here, I would like to spend my lunch break in peace.”

With that, Artemis turned on her heel and stubbornly forced herself up the stairs, despite her body's protests.

She didn't catch the boy’s intrigued gaze as he watched her disappear up to the roof.

[leiascully]

Fic:  Five Bets Eliot Lost (Mostly On Purpose) And One He Didn’t (Leverage, OT3, T)

4700/16500 words; T for swearing and references to sex; Eliot and Hardison finally go fishing; read on AO3

Part 1/5: Triple Chocolate Cookies Part 2/5: Three Garlic Pasta  Part 3/5: Three Bean Chili

"You know what I was thinking?" Hardison said out of the blue one day when they were between jobs.  

"Do I look like a mind reader?" Eliot asked, which gave him a little pang, because it was something his momma used to say.

"I was thinking we never did get to go fishing," Hardison said, ignoring him.  "You know, our special little date you set up."

"It wasn't a date," Eliot growled.  "It was a regular boys' trip."

"Yeah, you know those are all dates, right?" Hardison drawled.  

Eliot frowned.  "It's not a date when you eat at the bait shop."

"Oh, you weren't gonna take me to the bait shop," Hardison said.  "No sir.  We were gonna bring all those fish home and fry 'em up and that's what you were going to feed me.  Not some kind of bait shop sandwich with plastic cheese on it, all full of salmonella and what have you."

"You don't know what you're missing," Eliot said, shaking his head.  "Eating at the bait shop is an experience."  

"It's not an experience I need to have," Hardison said.  

"Well, too bad, I guess," Eliot told him, and grinned.  "Because we're going fishing."

"That's good," Hardison said, "because I did get us these fishing licenses."  He brandished two pieces of paper.  

"You paid for 'em?" Eliot asked.  Hardison nodded.  "Huh.  Figured you'd just hack the system or whatever."

"And have you take me on the kind of date where we get arrested?" Hardison demanded.  It hit something inside Eliot every time Hardison insisted it was a date.  He was going to do his damndest not to think about it, he decided.  Hardison was still talking.  "I'm not going down because some hat-wearing Game and Fish Commission dude needs to meet his quota for the month.  Besides, you're paying for lunch and reels and worms or whatever.  Seemed fair."  

"That's how I know it's not a date," Eliot said, squinting sideways up at Hardison.  "Because when I take someone on a date, they don't pay for anything.  It's all taken care of."  It was just banter, obviously.  He wasn't flirting with Hardison.  But they'd always gone back and forth, just normal stuff, because he'd never been able to resist messing with a guy with a brain as big as Hardison's.  

"Yeah, yeah," Hardison said.  "It's the twenty-first century, man.  Everybody splits the check."  He clapped Eliot on the shoulder.  "Let's go fishing."

"Find us a spot," Eliot told him, and Hardison's eyes lit up a little.  

They found a sweet little spot out by the river and set up the folding chairs and the rods Eliot had bought at the bait shop.  He could have rented them, but maybe if they owned the damn things, he'd be able to talk Hardison into going fishing again.  They rarely got the chance to spend time together, just the two of them.  Eliot had spent pretty much his whole childhood hanging out down at the river with the boys.  It was nice to feel like he could salvage some of that with Hardison.  

"We are eating whatever is in those takeout boxes before I'm touching any worms," Hardison declared, and Eliot grinned at him.  

"Prepare for an experience you'll never forget," he told Hardison, and brought out two styrofoam containers of fried fish, slaw, and hushpuppies.  There was beer to wash it down, and a couple of homemade fried pies to top it off — none of it the best Eliot had ever had, but all of it good.  Something about the fresh air and the sound of the rushing river gave it an extra flavor.  

"All right," Hardison said when they were done and he'd licked the last of the peach filling from the pie off his fingers.  "That wasn't the worst."  

"I told you," Eliot said.  

Hardison nodded.  "You did.  You really did."  

"And now," Eliot said, leaning forward and rubbing his hands together, "we fish."

"That is what we're here for," Hardison said.  "Although I'll be honest with you, I kind of always though 'going fishing' was just a euphemism."

"For drinking beer?" Eliot said.  "I mean, you're not wrong.  There's a lot of beer drinking."

Hardison shrugged.  "That and other things."  

"Uh huh," Eliot said.  He wasn't going to pretend not to know what Hardison meant.  He done a little bit of everything down by the river those last few summers at home, or at least experienced a little bit of everything.  

"Just sayin'," Hardison said, holding up his hands.  

"You thought I invited you down to the river to fool around, huh?" Eliot asked.  

"I mean, not this time," Hardison said.  "I invited you."  He rubbed his hands together.  "So are we going to fish or what?"

"We are definitely going to fish," Eliot said.  "Just...fish."

"You're gonna have to show me," Hardison said, and Eliot grinned.  They started at the beginning: threading the line through the supports on the rod, tying on a hook, adding the worms that Hardison was so disgusted by.  Eliot could have gotten other bait, but it was funny to watch Hardison squirm.

"Now cast your hook out into the water," Eliot said.

"Okay," Hardison said, giving him one of those looks.  "How do I do that?"  

"Just" — Eliot mimed flicking the rod — "put it out there."  

"Show me," Hardison said, and Eliot picked up his rod.  "No, show me, like, move my arm.  I'm not gonna learn by watching you.  I'm one of those kinesthetic learners.  I need to feel it."  

"Uh, sure," Eliot said.  "I'll just, uh...here, stand up."  He stepped up behind Hardison and kind of put his arms around him a little.  Hardison was taller than he was and Eliot's face was almost against the back of Hardison's shoulder.  Hardison was wearing one of those waffle-looking shirts and he smelled like bergamot and some kind of woodsy deodorant.  It worked on him.  "It starts with the shoulder, that's where the power comes from."  He patted Hardison's shoulder and then ran his hand down Hardison's arm.  "It ends in the wrist.  That's the finesse."  He moved Hardison's arm back and forth.  Goddamn, Hardison was strong.  It wasn't exactly like he ever forgot that, since it was part of the calculations Eliot made for every job — if shit went south, he could rely on Hardison to get out, mostly — but he never really considered the physical reality of it either, unless they were both working out at the same time.  But Hardison's arms were hard with muscle underneath the fabric of his shirt, and Eliot could feel the power in them as Hardison's arm pivoted smoothly with his guidance.  "Like this."

"Uh huh," Hardison said in a serious voice.  "I think I'm getting it.  Just back and forth."  

"Not just back and forth," Eliot said.  He laid his arm out along the length of Hardison's and wrapped his fingers around Hardison's wrist.  "It's all in the wrist, man.  Just hold this down, pull back, and flick as you let go."  Their arms moved together and Hardison's hook dropped neatly into the water.  "Just like that."  

"I might need help again later," Hardison said.  "You know they say practice makes perfect."

"I'm here all day," Eliot said.  "You want another beer?  It might take a while to actually catch anything."  

"Why the hell not," Hardison said.  Eliot cracked open two more beers and Hardison clinked his can against Eliot's as they sat down.  "To finally going fishing."

Eliot drank a healthy sip and slid his can into the cupholder built into the arm of his chair.  He cast out into the river.  It wasn't hard, but it did take practice to get the little flick just right.  He'd gotten plenty of practice over the years — he'd been fishing since he was little, maybe five, first with his granddaddy and then his daddy and then his friends.  

It wasn't like Hardison was wrong.  He and his buddies had gone down to the river by themselves starting when they were twelve or so.  They hadn't fooled around until they were in high school, when they'd go catch enough fish to come home with and then fill the rest of the hours with whatever they'd managed to steal out of their parents' liquor cabinets and cigarette packs.  What the hell else were a bunch of teenage boys going to do but get tipsy and go skinny dipping?  Whatever else had happened had just happened.  Just a bunch of boys taking a test drive before the real deal.  The fact that it had still happened after some of them had gotten laid was just a matter of opportunity.  

The military had been like that too, and then thieving, since then: Eliot and all his brothers-in-arms just trying to get by and have a little fun in their off-time.  Keeping the world safe for democracy got lonely  It wasn't gay to give another man a hand job.  His own damn hand just got so boring after a while, and there hadn't been any women in his combat unit.  Wrapping his fist around another man's cock had been a favor, nothing more, because the other guy had always done it for him too.  And getting a blow job from another man wasn't gay either, because Eliot had never been the one blowing.  It wasn't like he'd tangled his fingers in the guy's hair or kissed any of them afterward.  Well, maybe a couple of them, but when they swallowed, it only seemed polite to thank them with a kiss and a hand job.  It wasn't gay.  It wasn't like there'd been tongue.  Much.  

Okay, it was bi-curious at most.  He'd probably thought about women anyway.

"Bet you I catch more fish," Hardison said, startling Eliot out of his thoughts.  

"No way in hell," Eliot told him.  "You can't even cast by yourself yet."

"I had a good teacher," Hardison said.  "You wait and see how many fish I catch."

"Fine," Eliot said.  "Loser buys dinner."

"Loser cooks dinner," Hardison said.  "Because you're going to be preparing all these delicious fish I catch."  

"Only if you win, which you're not gonna," Eliot said.  "And if you do, you're gonna learn to clean a fish."

"That sounds terrible," Hardison said cheerfully.  "How about you do it and I pretend to watch?"

"You've gotta catch at least five more fish than I do if you want to get out of cleaning duty," Eliot said.

"Done," Hardison said.  He pointed at Eliot.  "No backsies."

"What are you, a child?" Eliot asked.  

"I am a fully grown adult man," Hardison said, wiggling his eyebrows.  "Wanted in at least sixteen countries, and that doesn't even count the warrants."

"Hah," Eliot said.  "I get it."  He raised his beer to Hardison.  Hardison grinned.  Eliot felt a nibble on his line and ignored it.  He didn't want to lose, but on the other hand, he wanted to see what would happen if Hardison won.  The last time, he'd somehow ended up on their date, and it had been weird as hell, but also nice somehow.  Eliot hadn't had any shortage of quote-unquote friends, but he hadn't been on a date in longer than he could remember.  And he hadn't really felt like the third wheel, unless it was the third wheel of a tricycle.  He'd felt like they wanted him there.  Like it wouldn't have been the same without him. And now Hardison had basically insisted that this was kind of a date, whatever that meant.

Eliot had no fucking clue what the fuck was happening, if he was honest with himself.  

"I feel something," Hardison said, sitting up and alert in his chair.

"All right, jerk your wrist back to set the hook," Eliot told him.  "Still feel it?"

"Yeah," Hardison said, focusing in on the rod and the water in a way that gave Eliot a little tingle someplace he couldn't describe.  Watching Hardison work really was something else.  

"Keep the line taut," Eliot said.  "Just reel it in slowly.  If it fights, you tip the rod to give it a little room.  Don't let the line out too far or the hook might slip and you'll lose it."  He put his hand on Hardison's shoulder.  The man had biceps, that was for sure.  "Easy does it.  Easy."

"This is as easy as I get," Hardison said, cranking the reel.  

"You got this," Eliot told him.

There were a few tricky moments, but at the end of it, Hardison was triumphantly holding up a pretty little bass.  Eliot freed it from the hook and dropped it in a bucket of water.

"That's one," Hardison said, holding up one finger.  "And how many do you have?  None?"

Eliot pretended to look around and turned to flip Hardison off.  "Hey, man.  Look at that.  I got one too."

"Ha ha," Hardison said sarcastically.  

They didn't catch a damn thing the whole rest of the afternoon.  Eliot could have — he felt the fish nibbling, but he'd either let them go or yank at just the wrong moment or let too much line out.  Hardison just didn't have the technique down.  Eliot helped him cast a couple more times, but nothing seemed to want to take Hardison's bait.  

They both looked at the one fish in the bucket and then at each other.

"How's chili sound for dinner?" Eliot asked after a moment.

"Yeah," Hardison said.  "I could go for some chili.  Maybe some cornbread."

"Don't push your luck," Eliot said, though he'd already been thinking about it himself.  

"All right, all right," Hardison said.  "I can eat my chili with Fritos like a regular person if you're not gonna put out."

Eliot tipped out the bucket into the river and the fish swam away.  "No one in the history of food has ever used the phrase 'put out' in conjunction with the idea of cornbread, except to to say 'put out the cornbread on the table'."

"I'm an innovator," Hardison said.  "Cutting edge."  

"Just help me carry all this shit to the truck," Eliot told him, rolling his eyes and dumping the ice from the cooler out onto the edge of the river.  They'd finished the beer a couple of hours ago, at least.  The rods and the cooler and the chairs all went in the back of his truck and he and Hardison piled back in and drove back to the Bridgeport.

"Can't believe you didn't catch anything." Hardison said.  "Fish in Oklahoma must just be easy, huh?"

"Guess so," Eliot said.  "I sure caught more than my share back home."  He smirked.  

"I can imagine," Hardison said, and suddenly that was all Eliot was thinking about: Hardison thinking about the things Eliot had done down by the river.  "Good clean wholesome country fun, no doubt."

"Nothing cleaner than skinny dipping," Eliot said, glancing at Hardison and then back at the road.  He could at least have a little say in what Hardison was imagining.  If that happened to be Eliot buck naked and golden from the summer sun, so be it.  He glanced at Hardison again and caught just the curve of Hardison's smile as Hardison licked his lips.  Eliot felt a shock spark through him like static.

What the fuck was he doing?  Flirting with his teammate?  With his other teammate's boyfriend?  This wasn't a "what happens down at the river stays down at the river" situation.  Parker and Hardison were pretty much all he had these days by way of friends he saw regularly.  He couldn't mess with that.  But Hardison was still smiling and seemed perfectly comfortable.  

"Hey, babe," Parker said when they came in.  She was studying something on a laptop.  She turned in her seat to kiss Hardison.  Eliot felt that spark again and remembered his dreams.  He looked away.  She sure as hell hadn't offered him a kiss.  Maybe he was imagining this whole thing.  Maybe they hadn't ever been flirting with him and he'd messed up all their date night plans that last time with the pasta.

"Hell yeah, I did," Hardison told her.  "More than Eliot too, which means he's making dinner again."

"Nice," Parker said.  "For everybody?"

Hardison shrugged.  "I assume Nate and Sophie are out for the night, since nobody's called me to demand I work technological miracles on short notice."

"Fine with me."  Parker hopped off her chair.  "What's for dinner?"

"Chili," Eliot said.  "And before you ask, no, it doesn't pair well with tiramisu."

"No more late-night tiramisu," Hardison said, putting his arms around Parker with an indulgent air.  "You were bouncing off the walls for hours."

"You liked it," Parker told him, and her grin told Eliot everything he needed to know and more about exactly how much Hardison had liked it.  

"I didn't say I didn't benefit from it," Hardison allowed, "but sometimes I need my sleep, baby.  There's only so much one man can do."

"All right, all right," Eliot groused.  It was too bad two men wasn't an option.  Between them, surely they could tire out even a sugared-up and caffeinated Parker.  

"Ice cream," Parker decided.  "Yeah, definitely ice cream."  She flashed them a smile.  "I'll be back."

"I'm gonna watch the master work," Hardison said to Parker, following Eliot into the kitchen.  "Don't forget there's only so much room in the freezer."

"Yeah, yeah," she said.  "If we eat it, that's not a problem."

"She's got a point," Eliot said.  He washed his hands and flung a towel over his shoulder.

"First I learned to fish," Hardison said.  "Now I'm going to learn to cook."  

"Maybe you'll be better at cooking than you were at fishing," Eliot teased.

Hardison snorted.  "Says the man who didn't catch even a minnow today."

"I was off my game," Eliot said.  

"Missing your old fishing buddies, huh," Hardison said, leaning on the counter.

"Something like that."  Eliot dug in the cabinets for one of his big dutch ovens, the cast iron ones.  "If you want to cook chili, you start out with a big old pot."

"Looks like you could do reps with that one,"  Hardison said, miming bicep curls.

"Just about," Eliot said.  He set it on the stove and pulled out the cutting board and an onion.  "Mince your onion up.  I like it in little pieces so it gets all melty.  Some people like big chunks of onion, but that's their business."  He minced a few cloves of garlic alongside it and turned on the heat under the pan.  "Heat first.  That's important.  When the pan gets hot, then we add the oil, then we wait for that to heat up."

"I'm taking notes in my mind," Hardison said, tapping his temple.  "Heat.  Oil.  Onions.  Got it."

Eliot went to the fridge.  He'd been meaning to make chili anyway — he had a packet of mixed ground pork and beef from the butcher, which meant either chili or burgers in his world.  He pulled that out and grabbed a couple of bell peppers while he was at it.  Hardison watched him lay everything out on the counter.  Eliot held his hand over the metal bottom of the pot.  Hot enough, he thought.  He added some oil and watched it run along the perfect unstained enamel.  One of these days, maybe he'd be in one place long enough to break his cookware in.  His momma's chili pot had had a chip out of the top and it never looked completely clean inside.  Too many Sunday dinners and weeknight soups.  He shook his head and cut the tops off his bell peppers. The oil in the pot was shimmering.  He scraped in the onions and garlic and let them sizzle.  The scent of them immediately filled the kitchen.

"First the noise," he told Hardison.  "Then you stir."  He started dicing the bell peppers, peered over at the onions, and handed Hardison the big wooden spoon.  "Stir."

"You get bossy in the kitchen, don't you?" Hardison asked, but he came around the counter and stood next to Eliot.

"I'm bossy everywhere," Eliot told him.  "And it's saved your life more than once."

"I didn't say I didn't like it," Hardison said, poking the onions with the spoon.  Eliot threw some salt in on top of them.

"I said stir 'em, not move 'em around one at a time," he teased.  

"I had a lot of wrist action earlier," Hardison protested.  "Go easy on me."

"Don't tell me you need me to teach you how to stir," Eliot said.  "Smartest man I know.  You can figure it out."  He pulled a beer out of the fridge.  

"Didn't get enough earlier?" Hardison joked.

"It's for the chili," Eliot told him.  He peered around Hardison at the onions.  "Stir 'em around again."  Hardison scraped the spoon through the onions obediently.  They were translucent enough, Eliot decided, and added the peppers to the pot.  

"Keep stirring?" Hardison asked.

"You got it," Eliot said.  He unstuck the paper around the packet of meat and unwrapped it.  

"Mm," Hardison said unconvincingly, looking at the bloody rectangle.

"This is the good stuff," Eliot said.  He dumped it into the pot.  "Chop it up with the spoon as it turns brown."  He mimed the action and Hardison mimicked him, separating the meat into chunks.  

"Big or little pieces?" Hardison asked.

"Depends on what you like," Eliot said.  "Smaller's easier to eat.  Picks up the flavor better.  Bigger keeps more of the meat taste and feels different in your mouth."  He tossed in more salt on top of the meat, added chili powder and black pepper and oregano.  

"Is that cocoa powder?" Hardison asked.

"Just a little," Eliot said, measuring it out on a teaspoon.  "Gives it a little depth.  That's what the beer's for too."

"And here I thought you were just rude," Hardison murmured.  

"That too," Eliot said.  He added cumin to the pot, hesitated, and then threw in a little more.  Hardison sniffed appreciatively.

"This smells good, man," he told Eliot.

"Thanks," Eliot said.  

"You use a recipe?" Hardison asked.

"Nah," Eliot said.  "Just know what it's supposed to be like."  He collected a can of tomatoes and three different kinds of beans from the pantry.  If he was going to keep losing bets, he was going to keep making three-of-a-kind recipes and see if they ever even noticed.  Black beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans made a hell of a chili anyway.

"Meat looks...brown," Hardison said.

"Good," Eliot said.  He cracked open the beer and poured most of it into the pan, where it bubbled and steamed up in a cloud that made Hardison cough.  Eliot laughed and took a swig of what was left.  He offered the last swallow to Hardison.  Hardison took it without hesitation.  Eliot couldn't stop looking at the way Hardison's lips pressed against the mouth of the bottle, right where Eliot's had been.  Hardison drained the dregs and set the bottle on the counter, his eyes on Eliot's.  Eliot shivered.  There'd been looks like that down by the river, those summers in high school: lazy, certain stares full of breathless heat.  He didn't know anymore if he was imagining things.  

He'd tried not to get in the way.  They just kept including him.  Maybe it was inevitable that he was having these kinds of thoughts about it.  It had been a long damn time since anybody had made him feel as needed as the two of them did, or as wanted, or as welcome.  Of course he had feelings about them now.  Of course he dreamed about them.

"Eliot," Hardison said softly.  "Earth to Eliot."

"Yeah," Eliot said, shaking it off.  "Let the liquid cook off a little."  He grabbed the can opener and opened the cans.  He dumped the beans into a colander, all three cans, and rinsed them off.  

"Three bean chili, huh?" Hardison said.  "When one or two beans just won't do."

"Adds texture," Eliot said.  Hardison didn't know enough about food to contradict him, and anyway, it was sort of true.  He grabbed a spoon and tasted it.  "It ain't Texas chili, but it'll do."  

"Now what?" Hardison asked.  

"Now we turn the heat down and let it simmer," Eliot told him.  "And I guess we make cornbread, if you still want it."

"Hell yeah, I do," Hardison said.

"Then turn on the oven," Eliot said, "and throw that cast iron skillet in there."

"This one?"  Hardison held it up.

"That's the one," Eliot told him, already measuring everything into a bowl.  Cornbread came together fast.  When the batter was all mixed together, he pulled out the hot skillet, melted some butter in it, and poured in the batter.  It hissed and spat a little.  He pushed it back into the oven.  

"Kinda thought Parker would be back by now," he said.  

Hardison shrugged.  "You know Parker and sugar.  She might be back in five minutes.  Might be two hours."

"This'll take about half an hour," Eliot said.  

"How will we pass the time," Hardison said, lounging against the counter.  

"Not fishing, I'm guessing," Eliot said.  He leaned on the counter next to Hardison.  "Not unless you've still got that game."

"I do, but now that I know what the real thing is like, I don't know if I can go back," Hardison said.  He smiled over at Eliot, slow and sweet.  "All that fresh air, you know?"  

"I'm back!" Parker said.  She was carrying a tote bag that looked like it definitely contained more ice cream than three adults could or should eat.  "I couldn't pick a flavor, so I just got all of them."  

"Attagirl," Eliot said, pushing himself off the counter.  "Go big."

"And then come home," Hardison said, pulling Parker close.  He took the ice cream bag from her and looked through it.  "Wow.  You really did get everything."

"I told you so," Parker said.  "Is it dinner yet?"

"Almost," Eliot said.  "Just waiting on the cornbread."

"Yum," Parker said.

"I helped cook," Hardison said.

"He did," Eliot confirmed.  "He's a good little sous chef.  Stirs and everything."  

"Sounds like you're a great team," Parker said, looking between them and smiling. "I like teamwork."

"Me too," Hardison said.  He grinned at her and raised one eyebrow.  

Eliot tried really damn hard not to read anything into that.

Dinner didn't feel like a date this time, but it did feel like family.  They watched <i>Top Gun</i> afterwards, because apparently that was what they did now: dinner and a movie.  Parker gave up on any pretense and swung her legs over Eliot's lap almost the minute he sat down.  She put her head in Hardison's lap and Hardison stroked her hair.  Neither of them said anything or even seemed to notice anything was strange.  Eliot sighed to himself and rested his hand on her shin.  It wasn't like she'd never touched him before.  She'd flung her arm around his shoulder or jumped into his arms or poked at him a hundred times over the years.  It just felt different now.

Nothing about his life was remotely like what he'd imagined when he'd been in high school.  But it was all right.  He had a damn good life.  

"Pass me that fruity one," Parker said, sitting up so that she was leaning against Hardison, and Eliot handed her a gooey pint of ice cream.  She dug her spoon into the container and grinned at him.  He thought very briefly about how sweet she'd taste if he kissed her.  

"Share," Hardison told her, and Parker held the spoon to his mouth, and Eliot thought about kissing him too.  He picked up one of the other pints of ice cream and occupied his mouth and his mind with other sensations, real ones, cold and the bitter bite of chocolate and the smooth feeling of butterfat.  It helped crowd the fantasies out of his head, at least for a little while.

It could have been worse.  He could have fallen for Sophie.

[earth-ambassador-jim]

A Bad Reaction: Chapter 3

Story Summary:

“Changelings call it "Gravesand”. Derived from the  pulverized bones of fallen Gumm-Gumms, gravesand aids us changelings in  shedding our human form and embracing our more trollish nature…“

Strickler is a little off in his calculations and the gravesand draws  out an unexpected response from Jim. Hopefully he can figure out what  is wrong and how to fix it before it is too late.

AO3 - Fanfiction

~~~~

With a rather blatant disregard of the traffic laws, Nomura was back in the Janus Order base in record time.

Barbara was pacing around the room and glanced up when she entered. Nomura noted that her eyes were bloodshot and the skin around them red and puffy.

She held eye contact with Nomura for a long moment and the changeling debated shifting back to human form, but ultimately decided not to. It was better that she got used to trolls. No point in using kid gloves with her.

Finally she looked away and Nomura turned her gaze to the boy laying on the table.

He looked worse than when she left. The beeping of the heart monitor was sluggish and most of his skin was covered with livid red rashes.

“Did you find what Wal… what Strickler asked you to find?” Barbara asked.

Nomura glanced at the human and nodded. It was a pity there hadn’t been time or she might have had some fun with the old stiff’s office.

“That’s good,” Barbara said with a sigh.

She moved forward to stand beside the changeling (though still with several feet between them). The two of them watched Jim.

“Do you know how he got those scars?”

Nomura blinked at the question before she saw what Barbara was pointing to. A series of branching scars, like frost on a window pane, ran across the boy’s body starting from his left arm. Lichtenberg figures, she realized with a start.

When had that happened? He’d definitely shocked himself a few times trying to escape from his cell in the Darklands, but she didn’t think they had been hard enough to give him this sort of scarring.

“I don’t know,” She said.

“Oh… okay.”

They were both quiet.

Eventually Barbara went back to fussing with the machines hooked up to Jim, while Nomura settled in a corner and started to polish one of her khopeshes. She hated all this waiting, she was a fighter not a physician.

Her lip curled up from her teeth just slightly and her clawed fingers clenched around the hilt. Never before had she wanted a real physical foe to throw her energy at so much.

What felt like an eternity later, though it was really only about ten minutes, the door snapped open and Strickler entered.

“How is he doing?” He asked.

“He’s weakening,” said Barbara. “Did you find everything you needed?”

“Almost. I still need changeling blood. We will need to extract it in troll form.”

Finally! Something she could do.

“Well that shouldn’t be too hard,” Said Nomura standing up and tightening her grip on the khopesh.

She’d willingly sacrifice a finger (though preferably one of Stricklander’s) if it would save Little Gynt.

Strickler held up a hand to stop her.

“We need to do this in such a way that the blood is clean,” He said pointedly.

“Right.” She put the khopesh back in its sheaf.

“Do changelings have blood types like humans?” Barbara asked, looking rather wary.

Strickler opened his mouth and then paused.

“In troll form? I’m not sure,” He admitted. “Let me…”

“We do but they’re different than humans’.”

Barbara and Strickler turned to look at Nomura. She shrugged. Why was that it so surprising that she would know that?

“I was curious and asked my teacher when I was studying poisons.”

Barbara stared at her for a moment before closing her eyes and taking a breath.

“Do you know how doing a transfusion from a changeling to a human would go?” She asked when she reopened them.

Nomura shook her head. Normally there was absolutely no reason anyone would do that.

They sat for a moment thinking. The only sound was the beeping of Jim’s heart monitor and his faint raspy breathing.

“Shall I go through with the spell?” Strickler asked finally.

Barbara hesitated a moment chewing on her lip as she glanced at her son’s still form before nodding.

Strickler turned to Nomura.

“Since I will be doing the spell, I won’t be able to spare any blood. Not without risking running short of energy. Could you… ?”

“Just hurry up,” Nomura said holding out an arm.

~~~~

After a bit of back and forth on how to extract blood from something with stone skin and the eventual use of a surgical drill, Nomura was about a half pint of blood lighter and had a new soon-to-be-scar on her arm.

That didn’t bother her. She’d gotten scars over lots of petty things… what was one more one acquired willingly?

“What about the stone?” She asked.

“I will supply that,” Strickler said. “Having a component of my own involved will make it easier to channel the magic.”

Nomura nodded. Magic wasn’t her forte, but that lined up with the little she knew.

“Okay,” He said, opening his briefcase. “I will need quiet. Magic of this sort is finicky and I can’t afford to mess up.”

Nomura withdrew, moving to stand by Barbara and watch as Strickler worked. His eyes were narrow and his brows low as he pulled out a square sheet of parchment and began to inscribe an intricate pattern circles and runes onto it. When he was done with that, he set the vial of blood in the center. He carefully arranged some hairs he had taken from Jim around it. Next he took his knife out of the disinfectant where it had been sitting for the last few minutes.

With a flash he transformed into his troll form. Beside Nomura, Barbara jumped and her eyes widened. Her lips moved soundlessly as if she had come to some realization.

Sticklander wiped down the surface of his stoney skin with disinfectant and then water. Once he was done he scraped a very small amount of stone powder off into the blood. With another flash he was human again.

“I’ll need some of Jim’s blood,” He told Barbara quietly.

He held out a new syringe.

Barbara hesitated a moment and then took it.

Despite the tightness around her eyes, her hands didn’t shake as she took one of Jim’s arms and inserted the needle. Nomura felt her respect for the doctor go up a notch. She might be scared and out of her element, but she knew her job well. Nomura had made the right decision bringing her into this.

When Barbara was done she gave the syringe to Strickler.

Some of Jim’s blood went into the vial. The rest he meticulously used to fill three empty circles in the midst of the runes.

Strickler handed the syringe back to Barbara, without looking, and set his hands on either side of the paper.

He took a slow deep breath and then began chanting.

At first the strange words simply jarred her ears, then Nomura felt her hair stand on end as a charge of energy filled the air. The runes, beginning at the circles of blood, started to glow. Strickler’s voice shook as he got farther into the chant. The green glow became steadily brighter and brighter until…

All the light rushed inward to the center of the circle into the vial. The contents turned black.

Strickler’s knees buckled and he nearly fell but he caught himself on the counter.

“It’s done,” He said, rubbing his forehead.

He picked up the vial and swirled it around.

“Now we will need to inject this into him.”

Barbara grimaced at this but didn’t protest. She held out her hand for it.

She removed the stopper and filled a clean syringe with the potion. She held it up to the light and flicked the sides to make sure there was no air in it.

She turned back to Jim and stopped…

Nomura watched as she stood there. Her shoulders were shaking a little. Her hands clenched and unclenched. She glanced at the door and then back at Jim. Eventually she seemed to reach some conclusion to her internal debate and she moved forward.

Barbara carefully pressed the needle into the crook of her son’s arm. Once it was empty, she withdrew it and bandaged the insertion point.

They waited.

Nothing happened.

“Come on, little Gynt,” Nomura snarled under her breath.

An uncomfortable feeling fluttered in her core. If the little shit dared die on them she’d…

The heart monitor began to beep frantically. Barbara started to dart forward but stopped with a gasp. Black veins were appearing on Jim’s skin.

On Nomura’s left Strickler let out a startled cry as something glowing and blue shot out of his pocket.

It was the amulet. It settled on Jim’s chest with a flash of blinding light.

A scream rent the air, dropping several octaves as it progressed. Nomura blinked rapidly trying to clear the spots out of her vision.

Not a moment too soon.

The first thing she saw was a clawed hand drawing near her face.

She rolled quickly to the side, bowling over Strickler in the process (His fault for not moving quick enough). She came up in a crouch and got her first look at Jim’s new form.

Where the silver Daylight Armor wasn’t covering him, he was a grey blue color, almost purple. She had a brief moment to note that he had wings like Strickler and digitigrade legs like her (but ending in claws rather than hooves) before he was lunging again.

His eyes were still glowing a sickly gold and red.

Nomura bared her teeth and her hands twitched toward her khopeshes. It was just their luck that the gravesand would still be in effect. She pulled her hands back, letting them fall to her sides. They couldn’t risk injuring him further. She shouldn’t have done it the first time. She just hadn’t realized how bad this was.

Jim growled and dropped to all fours, new wings flaring out and tail (why did he have a tail?!) lashing threateningly.

Nomura hazarded a quick glance behind her and saw that Strickler and Barbara where huddled together… or rather Barbara was huddled, fear clear in her wide blue eyes, and Strickler appeared to be trying to calm her down.

She couldn’t help but be a little disappointed, but she supposed that was a fairly natural reaction to an angry troll for an inexperienced human.

It looked like this was all on her for the moment.

Jim advanced and Nomura planted her hooves firmly, steeling herself for a fight she wasn’t entirely sure how to win.

~~~~

“Listen, Young At… Jim is still under the influence of the gravesand,” Strickler was saying. Barbara could barely hear him over the ruckus of the fight and the pounding of her own heart. “I am going to help Nomura pin him down. You need to talk to him… connect with him emotionally… to make him snap out of it. Do you understand?”

She continued to stare in shock over his shoulder, where Nomura was trying to subdue Jim.

“Barbara!” He said sharply.

Her eyes snapped to his.

“Did you hear what I just said?”

“I… Yeah…”

Barbara watched as Walter changed into a green troll again in a flash of light and joined the other changeling in helping restrain her son.

She could barely believe it was really Jim.

The grey blue troll lunged against two larger changelings, eyes wild. He snapped sharp fangs at them and growled.

Barbara flinched.

How could this be her son?

The vicious feral creature before her was nothing like the sweet kind boy she knew.

Walter finally managed to capture his right arm and pin it against the wall, Nomura got his left.

“Come on little Gynt,” She snarled at him. “I know you’re in there.”

He twisted his neck and tried to bite the hand holding him in response. Nomura slammed her other hand into his throat to keep him from moving but didn’t press any harder than that.

“Quit it,” Nomura said. “Where’s your dumb speeches about hope and all that.” She hesitated. “You wouldn’t give up on me when I was trying to kill you, so I’m not leaving you like this. Quit fucking around and snap out of it.”

Jim growled but the yellow light flickered in his eyes flickered.

“She’s right,” Walter said, seeming to take heart. “I’ve tried to toughen you up but none of it stuck. Not in the way I intended. You are one of the most caring people I know, Young Atlas, and that’s your strength. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that. You don’t need to do this all alone. We’re here for you, let us shoulder some of the load.”

Jim was struggling less, but it still wasn’t quite enough.

Barbara needed to help them.

She was scared and shaking and way out of her element but…

But this was her son.

She loved him and he loved her. He’d always been there for her, even when it should have been the other way around.

She took a breath and shoved down the instinctual fear that was screaming at her to run and walked across the room.

“Jim,” She said.

The two changelings shifted out of the way slightly but still kept him pinned.

“Jim,” She said again. She reached out a hand. Beside her Walter flinched.

She pushed his sweaty black hair with shaking fingers. Jim growled slightly but didn’t try to bite her. His chest was heaving and she could feel that he was shaking as well.

“Please Jim,” She said, hand sliding down to cup his cheek. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you before… When you wrote that letter… You were trying to tell me what was going on but I wanted you to do it my way… I want to know what’s going on in your life to be there for you. So please…” Her voice cracked. “Please come back.”

The yellow light finally faded in Jim’s eyes. He started coughing. Nomura and Strickler let go and he brought up a fist and coughed harder. It was a raspy cough and followed with a rather unpleasant retching. He spat out a lump of black and purple mucus.

“Mom?” His voice was weak and rough, but when he looked up his eyes were blue and familiar.

“Jim.” She hugged him, tears leaking out of her eyes.

He was alive. They had done it.

~~~~

Notes:

I think I'm just going to wait to do my meta bit on how Jim's reaction to the gravesand and how the potion/spell worked. I'll do a bonus update with that after I'm done with the story.

This is the second time I've written something from Nomura's perspective. Which is funny because I really enjoy her character. Hopefully I did her justice.

I'm going to give myself another week for the next chapter, since I want to give this a satisfying conclusion and I'm considerably busier now that I'm working. The goal is to end this with the next chapter, but I might write some little oneshots in the AU if the mood strikes me.

As always let me know what you think and thank you for all the wonderful comments!

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 142

Chapter Summary - Danielle's cousin Siobhan and her boyfriend come to London sparking Tom to realise he never knew something about Danielle.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

Copyright for the photo is the owners, not mine. All image rights belong to their owners

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe @wolfsmom1 @black-ninja-blade

In certain areas of Ireland, Irish is still the first spoken language, not English, including parts of Connemara, Kerry, Cork and Donegal, amongst others. Kids actually do not speak English in the home with their family, it is not their first tongue.

The amount of times I have physically grimaced in the face of Americans and British people who try to tell me how our names are pronounced and spelt because they have had someone in their family 5 generations go that was Irish, so of course, they know more than someone raised in Irish, is growing by the day.

Right, here is a fun fact. Irish is not a phonetic language. The names are Siobhan - Shiv-awn Dáithí - Dah-hee Caoilfhionn - Kee-lin Aoife - Ee-fa

'Guess who?’ A pair of hands came over Danielle’s eyes.

‘How many Irish people do you expect me to know in the one station at the time you are arriving in?’ She laughed as she turned around to hug her cousin. ‘How was your journey?’

‘Confusing, Heathrow is mad.’

‘You get used to it.’ She looked at the guy that was next to her cousin. ‘And you must be Dáithí.’ She smiled, leaning forward and giving him a hug. ‘I believe it’s your first time to these parts.’

‘Tis, alright.’

‘Ah, a Waterford man. Speak slowly for them here, if you don’t they’ll be easily confused.’ The pair laughed. So, this is where we need to go to get the Northern Line.’ She instructed, taking them to the correct area of the station to get to their destination. ‘Tom and I are taking you two out for dinner and we will drop you at your hotel afterwards, alright?’

‘What, no Danielle, don’t worry yourself.’

‘I am not worrying myself, I mean it, we want to do this for you. Nothing fancy, just lovely Indian we always use, and this is not your local takeaway place; if it says spicy, it fucking means it.’

‘How are you with a privately educated Brit, you are too normal.’

‘Tom is not averse to swearing, I assure you.’ Danielle laughed as they got to the platform. ‘Four minutes.’ She stated, looking at the time for the next train, a man close to them seeing the sign and swearing at it as he did. ‘One thing about these parts, four minutes may as well be five hours, the way some people act.’

‘They’d die in Ireland.’

‘Yes, so don’t get too bothered when they start huffing and puffing like they want to blow down a house of straw in a few minutes.’ Danielle stated as she watched the time to the next train come down. When they got to the correct station, she ordered them off and walked them to the right house.

‘Wait, you live here?’

‘Yes.’ Danielle laughed at her cousin. ‘What were you expecting?’

‘It’s just so you.’

‘Well, it’s Toms, actually, not mine, but yes. I love it.’ She put the key in the door just as she heard Siobhan fawning. ‘I hope you like dogs, Dáithí.’

‘We have three at my Mam’s.’

‘Grand so.’ She opened the door, the dogs immediately rushing over. ‘Bed.’ Mac looked as though he had been struck, disheartened, he trotted to his bed, groaning as he did, Bobby looking between his big brother and the new humans to sniff before finally sensing Danielle’s body language was stern and trotting there sadly.

‘You’re so mean.’ Siobhan commented. ‘He’s only a puppy.’

‘Yep, he is.’ Danielle nodded, saying nothing more.

‘You are going to be the Mom that every other child in the school fears, you know that, right?’

‘Probably.’ Danielle acknowledged. ‘But then, my kids wouldn’t be the little shits running around the shop making a mess and back answering teachers.’

‘Yeah, that’s true actually.’ Siobhan conceded. ‘Is Tom here?’

‘Yes, he is working on something in his office, he’ll be down when he realises we’re here. Put your bags over there and we’ll get tea. I have Barry’s.’

‘What does Tom think of it?’

‘Tom maintains it’s fine, nothing special about it….but seems to find himself going for the box of that over the box of PG Tips.’ Danielle smiled, causing the other two to laugh. A moment later, the dogs’ ears shot up. ‘Here he is.’ When the sound of footfalls on the stairs became apparent, Danielle made another cup of tea.

A moment later, Tom walked into the room, an empty cup in his hand. ‘Hello.’ He smiled, before putting down the cup and walking over to Siobhan. ‘Great to see you again, did you have a good flight?’ He gave her a hug.

‘Hello, yes, it was fine, it’s so short you are hardly in the air when you are coming down again.’ She joked. ‘Tom, this is Dáithí, Dáithí, this is clearly Tom, Danielle’s….what do you call it?’

‘Long-suffering fool.’ Danielle jested as both men shook hands; when they were done, she walked over to Tom. ‘I’ll trade.’ She held out the fresh cup of tea and took the coffee mug off him.

‘That’s a good trade.’ Tom grinned. ‘What have I missed?’

‘Just that Danielle is going to be that mother that if she says “Sit Down” in a restaurant, her kids, all other kids, four husbands and a waiter will obey out of sheer fear alone.’ Siobhan recapped. ‘Ooh, did I show you the pictures of Laura’s baby?’

‘No, show me now.’ Danielle rushed over. ‘Oh my God, she looks so like her and you.’

‘I know. She is the cutest thing. I steal her any time I see her.’ Siobhan moved through the pictures.

‘How did Bernie take it?’

‘Oh, she’s the doting grandmother now.’

‘Of course, she is.’ Danielle rolled her eyes, having known her aunt’s reaction to the pregnancy. ‘Oh, before I forget, stay here, I have two outfits I got for her that I want you to bring back.’ Danielle left the room and went up the stairs to retrieve the bag with the little outfits she had purchased on hearing of the safe arrival of her cousin’s daughter. When she went back into the kitchen, Tom looked utterly baffled. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Say Laura’s baby’s name.’ Siobhan laughed.

‘Why?’

‘Just say it.’ she encouraged.

‘Caoilfhionn Aoife McNamara.’ Danielle looked at them all.

‘See.’ Siobhan beamed.

‘What’s going on?’ Danielle asked.

‘Tom saw how Caoilfhionn is spelt.’ Dáithí explained.

‘Ah, right.’ Danielle, realising there was no actual problem, went over to Siobhan with the bag. ‘You had me worried.’

‘Worried...how the fuck is that word pronounced like that?’ Tom exclaimed.

‘Because it is.’ Danielle shrugged. ‘That’s Irish, it’s not even in the same branch of languages as English, it is very close to Scottish Gael though, your dad might have known speakers of that growing up.’

‘There’s an “f” in it.’

‘Yes, I know. I know how to spell it.’ Danielle stated.

‘You do know Danielle was raised in Connemara. Her parents didn’t speak to her in English all her life, right?’ Siobhan pointed out.

Tom stared at Danielle. ‘What?’

‘Connemara is a Gaeltacht, the first language in those regions is Irish, not English.’ She shrugged. ‘Everyone there speaks Irish as their first language.’

‘But your mother was not from there?’

‘No, she was from Beara in Cork, the Cork Gaeltacht.’ She explained. ‘I learnt English in school when I was five.’

‘Really?’

‘Did I not tell you this?’

‘No.’

‘Whoops.’ She gave the bag to Siobhan. ‘Look at the little yellow one.’

‘So...you only spoke English in school?’ Tom reiterated.

‘In English lessons, yes, the rest of the time, we were taught in as Gaeilge so unless I went to Galway for the day with my parents, I could go a couple of days without speaking or hearing a single word of English.’ She looked at his shocked face. ‘You saw how Aoife is spelt too, right?’ He shook his head. ‘How would you spell it.’

‘E.F.A.’ She shook her head. ‘E.E.F.A.?’

Again Danielle shook her head. ‘I’ll give you a hint. The “A” is at the start and the “E” is at the end.’

‘Fuck off. No, you’re just joking now.’

‘A.O.I.F.E.’ She spelt.

‘I…’ Tom sighed. ‘I give up.’

‘Siobhan has a “B”. And Dáithí has a “T”.’ She stated.

‘Why is it so complicated?’

‘Because it is older than English and we like to confuse you.’

‘So that incomprehensible mumbling you do when calculating things is not just gibberish?’

‘Moda means plus, Luda means minus and the rest is usually numbers, all in Irish, all force of habit.’ She explained with a smile.

*

The evening was pleasant, with Tom and Danielle bringing the younger pair to dinner. When that was done, Danielle drove them to the Travelodge that they were staying at, with a plan to meet them a day or two later to do some sightseeing with them before saying their farewells.

While tidying the house for the evening, Tom found himself looking at Danielle a lot.

‘Dare I ask?’

‘So in all respects, this is your second language, English?’

‘Are you still bothered by that?’ She asked curiously.

‘I just never thought…’

‘When the Plantations occurred, and the Cromwellian situation after, most of the Irish were hunted to Connacht, where the land was wet and as a result, the language never waned as it did in other areas, famine, war, none of it took the language there. Sure, look at the Welsh, their language all but died and was revived, now it is a popular language in some parts of there again.’

‘I know, I just...Do you think in Irish or in English?’

‘It varies from moment to moment.’ She smirked, using his line, causing him to smile. ‘When I am at home here, tidying and what not, more often, in Irish I suppose. I speak Irish to the dogs some days or listen to Radio na Gaeltachta online or something. I get worried I will lose it sometimes. I love my language.’

‘I never even considered it.’ He confessed. ‘How come I never hear it on?’

‘I rarely have the radio on when you are home.’

‘Well, from now on, if you want to listen and I am here, please do.’

‘You won’t understand three words.’

‘No, I won’t, but it matter to you, and so long as it is not secretly trying to plan some form of attack on my home, I don’t particularly mind.’ He put his arms around her.

‘Damn, you’re onto them.’ She smiled, leaning up and kissing him.

Tom chuckled for a moment. ‘So, if we decide to have kids, would you speak Irish to them?’

‘Definitely.’

‘I will have to learn it so.’ He kissed her again. ‘Elle?’

‘Hmm?’

‘Please never consider calling one a word I could never hope to spell.’

[astrologysvt]

Chart First Impressions - Chan

For more SVT astrology posts, follow my blog! Check out my masterlist to see all the readings I’ve done so far and what I’ve got coming up! 💫

This is just a very general reading of the member’s charts — the parts that popped out to me, things I personally liked, things I thought were interesting or contrary to the image I have of them. I’m not looking at anything in particular with each reading. Some of their readings may be more aspect focused, where some may just focus solely on their personal planets and their signs. If you have any questions on specific aspects or want to request a more specific reading, feel free to send me an ask!

last but not least we’ve got our maknae 

our baby aquarian. 

i’ve said a lot about aquarians thus far so i’m not going to harp too much on them this reading. 

just know that everything you know and love about how unique and weird and communicative aquas are, still 100% stands with dino. 

if you wanna see a little bit more how this applies with dino, check out the leo/aquarius sister sign reading i did in my masterlist! 

ALSO 

we have dino’s birth time! 

so i think for the sake of keeping things consistent between all these other chart first impressions, i’m going to stick mainly to personal planets and aspects for this specific reading for dino. 

but def keep an eye out for a dino’s full chart reading 👀👀

other than his aqua sun, he’s got a sag moon!

the thing i love about sag influences is that they’re just so naturally gifted at going with the flow and embracing the best parts of humanity. 

they’re so intellectually inquisitive and they strive to question everything and learn about everything. 

not to mention sagittarius is considered the teacher of astrology. 

they’re the sign that represents higher education and this is because of this naturally inquisitive nature that wishes to impart their knowledge with others simply because they have such an extreme passion for the things they’ve dedicated their expertise to. 

which is why i think it’s so adorable he grew up in a dance studio. 

this was truly a fantastic environment for him to grow up in. 

it was such a great outlet for his excitable fire energies to be released, his creative pisces & scorpio energies to express themselves, and for his ambitious aquarian to understand and map out how he wants to make his mark on the world. 

not only that but being in a place of learning where you’re encouraged to ask questions and discover through trial and error is such an important thing to learn and embrace for someone with a sag influence. 

what i think is great about sag influences is that they are so intelligent, yet at the same time they don’t allow their more intellectual lens to turn them jaded or overly critical. 

they understand how to have fun and embrace humor, while also pursuing their passions unapologetically and with so much excitement. 

they’re known as the lucky signs. 

and this is truly because they’re so naturally gifted at embracing the energies around them, and simply knowing when to trust their passion as well as their gut. 

and you cannot forget about their optimism. 

their luck a lot of the times is simply centered around their positive outlook. 

if you know someone with a lot of sag and you feel as though they’re constantly stumbling onto good things, that’s simply because that’s how they approach life. 

they pick up everything that’s offered to them, may it be new interests or opportunities, and they know how to make the most out of them and they know when to let things go before they turn tired or sour. 

and with that, they tend to have a habit of dropping those things quickly and not completing things if they find it isn’t giving them that same initial excitement. that’s so they can move onto the next big thing.  

i don’t think this may be as prevalent in dino as he has a bunch of fixed energies about him thanks to that aqua and scorpio. 

with that being said, he may not have the most patience for things that he finds boring or confusing. he may get annoyed, short tempered, or he may just mentally check out. it certainly depends on the situation. 

but this sag is the part of dino that comes across uninhibited, almost shameless is how he approaches things. 

i think his strategic scorpio and opportunistic sag turns him into the self-promoting dino we all know and love. 

that scorpio influence on his mars, as i explained with jeonghan, really makes him a very clever guy. 

he’s going to take all opportunities placed in front of him, but he has a very different approach from jeonghan. 

jeonghan is opportunistic in the sense he uses it as an outlet for his humor through jokes, poking fun at his members, and honestly in cheating just cuz i think he likes shaking things up. 

where as dino is much more enterprising in his approach. 

he’s taking his ultra ambitious aqua influences, mixing that with his go-getting sag and calculating scorpio mars, and he’s going to do his best to see how far he can take it. 

not to mention, these placements also make him super independent. 

so with that you get this sense that, if things don’t work out with the opportunities given to him, he’s going to take it into his own hands. 

which why he isn’t inactive for long. 

even when they’re not actively promoting he’s still dancing, still choreographing and all of that fun stuff. 

but what the hell i wasn’t expecting this pisces venus. 

this certainly is a lot softer than his aqua, sag, and scorpio placements that really give him this high intensity zeal for life. 

i see his pisces come out with he maybe feels he’s crossed a line, went overboard with a reaction, or just randomly gets scolded by his hyungs. 

he has such an unapologetic energy about him thanks to this aqua/sag/scorpio, and because he is so enthusiastic and unabashed, i like to think that’s why a lot of people find these moments so funny.  

it gives you this impression like he’s biting his tongue because of the hierarchy but somehow that adds to the sass lol. 

i think he certainly understands this nuance and uses it to his advantage because of how comedically intelligent sag and aqua influences are, but there are also moments where he really and genuinely is so apologetic and those moments make me want to cry. 

and that’s his pisces venus for SURE. 

not to mention just how soft and caring he is towards his members. 

that time dino literally RAN without QUESTION all the way to bring dk MONEY FOR THE VENDING MACHINE. 

that water influences makes him so caring while his very straight forward influences really make it so he goes about expressing these energies in the most earnest way possible. 

he may be a little clumsy because his aqua doesn’t represent his emotional intelligence very well, but it’s there and it’s so sweet. 

i think a lot about jeonghans first evaluation on 17tv, and how all the other members were trying to hype him up or help him practice. 

but then you get dino that notices him when he’s sitting down and looking small.

he just goes there and sits with him. leans towards him, giving him that physical comfort mixed with that healing presence pisces placements are so privy to.

it’s just such a sweet gesture and makes me want to cry. 

this pisces influence can also make him very gullible lol

he is so straight forward in his dealings with people and that goes with his whole chart, but on top of that, his pisces venus is so honest and trusting. 

this is the loophole in his super observant, mentally hyperactive brain that would normally notice these things ASAP. 

that’s why he was the only one who held his breath FOR ALMOST A MINUTE and didn’t RIOT at the idea of the others cheating even tho two of them were literally yoon jeonghan and joshua hong. the two members MOST LIKELY TO CHEAT. 

it’s also what made him so easy to scare during the mbti secret camera. 

not only was he so easy to scare, they were able to scare him like 10 times in a row after that 😭

he’s honestly just such a sweet, sweet kid. 

so ambitious, so genuine, but also incredibly dynamic. 

10/10 great boy. 

[spaceace314]

Grades are (not) everything

As you all undoubtedly remember from an offhanded comment I made 25ish posts ago, I am a university student. I study maths *pauses to leave room for people to make a passing comment about how much they hate maths and how they could never study it*, and I’m pretty damn good at it. In fact, I’ve always been a little bit of a nerd, or, y’know, the nerdiest nerd ever to nerd in the history of my shitty secondary school, and I always got really high grades in all of my subjects, except for P.E. (or Phys Ed for y’all Americans, or “the subject with the moving and sweating and exercise” for everyone else). I’ve always been hopeless at P.E. However, despite my spectacular grades, my time at school was less than fun.

Storytime:

I have literally the most amazing parents in the whole wide world (shoutout to my mum and dad, even though they’ll never read this blog), and they never put any pressure on me to get good grades, they just wanted me to try my best. My teachers, however, did not share the same mindset, and put so much pressure on us to get good grades that at the age of 10, when I was very ill on the day of an “important” exam, I insisted on going in anyway to sit the exam, despite my mum trying to convince me that I was too sick to go in. I did not do well on that exam.

The pressure to get good grades only grew once I entered secondary school. It didn’t take long for my teachers to realise I could get As and A*s quite easily, and none of them were willing to risk me neglecting their subject. One teacher even told me that I “had to get an A*” in his subject. So, no pressure then.

As I progressed through secondary school, the pressure that was placed on my young shoulders only grew, and with it, so did my anxiety. I started to have anxiety attacks in tests and assessments, where I would completely freeze up and be unable to write or even talk, and would sit there and cry silently whilst being literally paralysed in fear. As soon as somebody noticed and asked me what was wrong, it was like the paralysis left me completely, along with all of my energy, and I would collapse into a helpless mess of sobs. I had a very concerned teacher (who wasn’t even my teacher at the time, just a random teacher/saint) who tried to help but had no idea how, and of course, my parents were concerned, and eventually I got exam accommodations to make things easier. Which was great, but was not a magical fix, and when the mock exams came along (which, for any of you outside the UK, is basically a week of back-to-back exams of every single subject which don’t count for anything, but are used to calculate your predicted grades), everything started to fall apart.

I got an F in my history mock.

Which really shouldn’t be a big deal, but remember, I was taught for as long as I could remember that grades were everything, and besides, I was supposed to get an A*. My history teacher was most decidedly Not Happy, and pulled me aside to tell me that I had done really well for half of the exam, but because I didn’t finish it I only got around 50%, which was an F. The reason I didn’t finish the exam was because I had an anxiety attack halfway through and was taken out of the exam. He didn’t care, he just wanted me to do better. That night, I brokenly went home and told my parents about getting an F, and my mum hugged me and promised me we’d work it out and it would all be fine. Like I said, my parents are the best parents in the world. I learnt how to better cope with my anxiety attacks after that and managed to get through my exams, and pass all of them.

TL;DR: FAR too much pressure was put on me by my schools to get excellent grades, which caused (or worsened) my anxiety attacks. Also my parents are awesome and supportive and actually perfect.

I have no idea how I would have got through school and college without my parents being as amazing as they are, and I know not everyone is as lucky as me. I know far too many people who have far too much pressure put on them to get good grades, and who will actively prioritise their grades over their mental or physical health. We learn from a very early age that school is more important than our happiness and wellbeing, and that’s not okay.

So to any schoolkids reading this, take it from somebody who’s been there, done that. You are more important than your grades. If I could go back in time and give my younger self some advice, it would be to take advantage of being a kid, to live my life and to take care of myself. Study hard, of course, but never at the expense of your mental health and happiness. Good grades are all well and good, but I would happily bump all my grades down a bit to get my mental health back in order, especially as I’m facing the concept of having an anxiety disorder for the rest of my life.

Also, I know that school is hard, and it’s not gonna suddenly get loads easier because you’ve shifted your priorities. But you’ll get through it. School doesn’t last forever, and one day, you’ll be able to walk out of those stupid school gates and never have to look back, and trust me, that feeling of freedom is worth waiting for. You’ve got this, just keep going, and take care of yourself. You’re doing just fine.

I love all of you, stay safe out there xxx

[losingmymindtonight]

Whump: Dehumanization

Tony’s always said that the first day of your captivity tells you the most.

It’s a day to focus, analyze, pull together every bit of information you can to estimate just how royally fucked you are.

And by his estimate, he and Peter were so fucked that it didn’t even register on the scale.

First of all, their captors knew exactly who Peter was. They knew he was Spider-Man, knew about the gene mutations, knew everything.

Second of all, they didn’t make any demands. Didn’t monologue about how Tony had wronged them, or how Spider-Man had locked them or someone they loved in jail. They just chucked them in a cell and left them there.

Tony stumbled to his feet at the same time Peter did, breathless and confused. He went through his list of priorities, lining up everything he needed to do in a split second.

“You good, kid?” He gripped Peter’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, eyes roving over his split lip and bruised cheekbone. They’d been a lot rougher with the kid than they had been with him, smacked him around without any real provocation. “Anything broken?”

“No, no.” The kid smiled, albeit weakly. “I’m all good.”

At Peter’s reassurance, he let himself observe the cell. It was plain. The wall, floor, and ceiling were all the same shade of medium gray. There was only a single, narrow cot in the room. It looked incredibly uncomfortable, but he was grateful that they at least had one. There were blankets, too, which Tony intended to wrap Peter up in at the earliest available opportunity. The cell was cold, and the kid struggled to regulate his body temperate ever since the mutation.

Sometimes. spider DNA really wasn’t the best thing in the world.

“Why did they take us?” Peter had wandered over to the door and was running his hands over the cracks, trying to find a weak spot. “They didn’t even say.”

“Not sure, but it doesn’t matter.” He didn’t dare tell the kid that it was disconcerting, that the whole situation was settling a bad feeling in his stomach. “I’m sure they’re just dragging out the suspense, making us wait for it.”

Peter glanced back at him. “People are crazy.”

He snorted. “Yeah, kid, you’re telling me.”

--

They burst into the cell an hour later. Two guards went straight for Tony, pinning him against the wall, while a set of four seized Peter and flung him to the ground in front of a man who Tony assumed must be their leader.

Peter tried to get up, only to have his knees kicked out from behind. He was manhandled until he was kneeling. One of the guards grabbed a fistful of the kid’s curls and forcefully bowed his head.

Peter whimpered. Tony saw red.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He snarled, jerking against the hands holding him back. “He’s just a kid. Whatever you want, you can get from me.”

The leader looked at him, impassive. Tony had to grudgingly admit that, if he wasn’t so obviously a fucking sadist, he might’ve said that the guy was attractive. He had short, dark hair. Clean shaven. Young, too. He looked a lot like the business school upstarts he met at college fairs.

“Your capture was never the plan, Mister Stark.” Wait, what? “If you agree to walk away, we’ll free you.”

His eyes narrowed. He heard exactly what the man left out of that proposal. “Does the kid come, too?”

The leader sneered. He poked Peter’s leg with the toe of his boot, disgust twisting his face. “It will not be going anywhere.”

“Then I reject your offer,” he replied coolly.

“Mister Stark!” Yeah, Peter was pissed. “You can’t just-”

One of the guards slammed the butt of his gun against Peter’s temple, effectively silencing his scolding. Tony shouted again, to no avail, while the leader knelt in front of the kid, smiling cruelly.

“Listen closely, insect.” The man grabbed Peter’s chin harshly. “You do not speak unless spoken to. You do not look your superiors in the eye. You do nothing unless you’ve been given permission. Do you understand?”

“Honestly,” Peter said, voice tight with pain, “you just kinda sound like a high school teacher. D’you really expect me to be afraid of you?”

The leader stood suddenly. He nodded to one of the guards. “Break his arm.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Tony yelled, panicked. “Leave him-”

The sound of Peter’s bone cracking echoed across the cell. The kid did an admirable job of muffling his scream, but not good enough to hide it entirely.

Tony’s vision blurred with angry tears.

“Peter, hey, kid.” He hated the gleeful look on the men’s face, hated that they were looking at Peter like he was their newest chewtoy. “Just breathe. Breathe through it. It’s-”

He cut himself off. The leader was in his face now, eyes cold and dangerous. Still, he couldn’t help but be relieved that he’d redirected to him rather than the kid. Little victories.

“Now, Mister Stark, since you’re staying,” his eyes roved over his face, calculating, “you should learn the rules as well.”

He glared. “Yeah, yeah. No back-talk. No eye contact. All that jazz.”

“That’s for the mutant. Luckily for you, you’re human.”

For a moment, he floundered. Were these people crazy?

Wait. Never mind. Scratch that. Of course they were crazy. They’d kidnapped him. Historically, not a good move.

He glanced at Peter. “He’s human.”

“No, he’s not. He’s been tainted. It’s our job to eradicate the lesser members of society. To keep the human race pure.”

“So, what I’m hearing is that you’re into eugenics? I hate to break it to you, but people’ve tried this kinda shit before, and it’s never worked. The name Adolf Hitler ring any bells? Marie Stopes, perhaps?”

“We will succeed where others have not.”

“Jesus Christ. You really are off your rocker.”

A sharp slap stung across his cheek. “I do not wish to hurt you, but I will not allow you to interfere with our plans.”

“Which are?”

The leader smiled, stepped back. 

Oh, great, he thought, here comes the monologue.

“Enhanced individuals are a threat to society, and yet their powers are exploitable. That’s what we’re here to do.”

Tony snorted. “Yeah? So you, what, imprison them and wait for them to agree to help you out? Nice plan. How’s it going so far?”

“We know how to convince them.”

“Yeah?” Tony drawled, covering his fear with as much nonchalance as he could muster. “And how do you do that?”

“You break them.”

--

Tony learned the rules quickly, because every time he broke them, Peter took the blame.

Peter wasn’t allowed to sit on the bed. Peter wan’t allowed to eat Tony’s portions. Peter wasn’t allowed to make eye contact. Peter wasn’t allowed to be touched. Peter wasn’t allowed to speak, or to be spoken to.

They had cameras hidden in the room, somewhere. Microphones too. One wrong move, and a legion of guards would storm in, beat the kid within an inch of his life, and leave.

After a week, Tony was terrified to even breathe in Peter’s direction.

Their days were spent in stiff agony. Tony would sit as close to the kid as he could justify, hoping that he could exude the calm that he so obviously needed. Hoping that his presence would remind him that not everyone hated him. That he was human.

He could see it tearing him down. He suspected that the lack of touch was one of the worst things. Peter had always been tactile, bushing against Tony’s side or dropping his head onto his shoulder when he laughed. It was a natural thing for the kid to seek physical reassurance.

And now he couldn’t.

--

Nobody used Peter’s name. When they came to take him for their experiments, they’d kick him, spit on him, call him it with disgust.

Tony couldn't use it, either. That was one of the word offenses. Mutants didn’t have names, apparently. Didn’t deserve names. Peter wasn’t Peter, anymore. He was property, a mutant, an it.

Not a child. Certainly not Tony’s child.

The best thing he could do for his kid was ignore him.

--

One day, when they came in and grabbed Peter, intent on taking him god-knows-where and poking and prodding him to their hearts’ content, one of the guards paused and grinned at him.

“How’re you holding up, Stark?”

He strained against the guards holding him. “Tell your buddies to let go and I’ll give you a demonstration.”

The man cackled. “Missing getting to play with your little pet?”

Play. Pet. Peter was nothing to them. Nothing. “Fuck off.”

“Oh, c’mon now, Stark. I’m a reasonable guy.” He crossed his arms, smirk growing. “If you ask nicely, I’ll let you pet the little insect. Whaddya say?”

The idea made bile rise in his throat, but at the same time, he needed to touch the kid. This may be his only chance to give him even an ounce of comfort. He had to do this.

“Fine.” He grit his teeth. “Can I touch him? Please?”

“Ask if you can pet it.”

“You’re disgusting,” he snarled.

“Do you reject my offer?”

“No.” He took a steadying breath. For Peter. I’m so, so sorry, kiddo. “Can I pet it?”

“Say please.”

He locked his pride deep down on his gut, threw away the key. “Maybe I please pet it?”

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” The man nodded to the other guards. “Bring it here. Daddy Stark wants to give it a little pet. Isn’t that sweet?”

They dragged Peter over. The kid didn’t look up, just kept his eyes trained on the ground, but everything about his body language was keyed up in anticipation.

One of his guards release Tony’s arm with a stiff warning not to try anything, and he dragged it greedily through the kid’s hair.

The guard who struck the deal was beaming. “Tell him he’s a good boy.”

He hid his own smile. The joke was on him: Peter would know what he meant.

“Good boy,” he murmured, pouring every ounce of you’re doing so well, and I’m so proud of you, and just hang in there, buddy into the phrase.

He’d never forget the way Peter nuzzled into his hand in response.

--

They had a system. 12 hours with the lights on, 12 hours with the lights off. Without windows, the room was pitch black.

Peter always curled up on the floor beside Tony’s cot. It was as close to human contact as he was allowed, and the kid was learning to take what he could get.

It took Tony three weeks to work up the courage to drop his hand over the side. He hung it there, knowing it was probably dangling just inches away from Peter’s body, for a solid ten minutes.

Nobody moved. The cell door stayed closed.

Slowly, he ghosted his hand through the air until it knocked against something warm. Peter. Peter’s ribs, to be more exact. He could feel his breaths speed up at the contact.

For a moment, they both froze.

Then, he slid his hand upwards, over the kid’s shoulder until he found his face.

He settled his thumb on his cheekbone and tapped out P.E.T.E.R. in Morse code. He heard the kid’s breath catch.

He did it again.

And again.

And again.

--

Some nights, he’d do exactly what he did on the first: silently tap Peter’s name out against his cheek. Steady, consistent. The only tether he could offer the kid to his identity.

Other nights, he just drew circles between his shoulder blades, or untangled his unwashed hair, or massaged the back of his neck. Little moment of physical intimacy, the only contact either of them had.

But least Tony had his name. At least they treated him like he was human.

--

It took Rhodey 2 months to find them.

When he’d imagined that moment, he’d imagined himself lunging off the cot, rushing to Peter’s side, pulling him into his arms like no time had passed. A reunion for the history books.

He’d spent weeks living in the same cell as the kid, and he’d never felt further from him.

When the door did burst open, however, and revealed the silver-gray War Machine armor instead of monotone uniforms, Tony just froze.

It wasn’t until Rhodey tried to speak to Peter and the kid threw himself into a corner with a panicked whimper than he forced himself into action.

He stumbled to his feet, staggering over to Peter and dropping to his knees a foot or so away from him. “Buddy, hey, it’s over.”

He got an unintelligible sob in response.

“Peter.” The kid physically flinched at the sound of his name, but he didn’t stop. “Peter. You’re name is Peter. Do you hear me, Peter? You’re human. You’re just a kid. Everything they said was wrong, but you’re safe now. Rhodey’s here, I’m here. You’re Peter, and you’re safe.”

Slowly, like a wounded animal curling out from its shell, Peter reached out a hand in Tony’s direction.

It was all the invitation he needed.

He crawled forward and wrapped the kid up in a hug. For a second, all Peter did was flounder. Then, old instinct kicked in, and he was snaking himself around Tony like this had all been a dream, like none of it was real.

“Peter,” he whispered against the kid’s hairline, reverent as a prayer, “Peter. Peter. Peter.”

“Mister Stark,” the kid choked back.

I know, buddy. I know. I hear you.

“Peter.”

[the-sarcastic-trashmouth]

A dumb, stupid love letter

Summary: “Alright, which one of you assholes was it?” Stan’s sharp tone surprised the entire group. Each loser snapped their gaze up to Stanley in confusion as he thrusted the postcard onto the lunch table.

“What’s that?” Bev asked, leaning forward to inspect it before freezing at the declaration of love written in beautiful handwriting.

“A love letter. So who’s idea was it? Come on. I wanna know who to thank for the joke.” He snapped.

“Stan, we didn’t write that.” Eddie comments, looking up to him in worry. “Trust me.”

Stan’s calculating eyes locked onto Richie who froze when he realized that Stan thought it was him. His jaw dropped as he immediately shook his head in protest.

“Look dude, I may be an asshole a good majority of our lives, but even I would think that’s completely fucked.” He explains, holding his hands up in mocked surrender.

“So... So it wasn’t anyone here? There’s someone in this school that actually likes me?” He sounded doubtful of that fact.

“S-S-Sound like it.” Bill points out with a genuine grin of happiness. 

Pairing: Stanley Uris x Patricia Blum 

“Alright, which one of you assholes was it?” Stan’s sharp tone surprised the entire group. Each loser snapped their gaze up to Stanley in confusion as he thrusted the postcard onto the lunch table.

“What’s that?” Bev asked, leaning forward to inspect it before freezing at the declaration of love written in beautiful handwriting.

“A love letter. So who’s idea was it? Come on. I wanna know who to thank for the joke.” He snapped.

“Stan, we didn’t write that.” Eddie comments, looking up to him in worry. “Trust me.”

Stan’s calculating eyes locked onto Richie who froze when he realized that Stan thought it was him. His jaw dropped as he immediately shook his head in protest.

“Look dude, I may be an asshole a good majority of our lives, but even I would think that’s completely fucked.” He explains, holding his hands up in mocked surrender.

“So... So it wasn’t anyone here? There’s someone in this school that actually likes me?” He sounded doubtful of that fact.

“S-S-Sound like it.” Bill points out with a genuine grin of happiness.

Stan blinked in shock before suddenly his face heated up when he looked to the others. Their faces held matching grins of delight when Stan swallowed thickly. He looked to Ben who was looking over the writing with a gentle expression.

“Well, whoever it is... they are very literate. Which means they probably spend a lot of time at the library.” He points out as Stan finally sunk down into his seat between Bill and Mike.

“They must know what you’re into with the sentence about the birds,” Mike comments as Stan stared down at the table, still processing everything.

“Shit guys, I think he’s broken.” Richie snickers as he waved a hand too close to Stan’s face.

“Dude! That’s disgusting! Do you know how many germs are on your hand?” Eddie snapped, slapping Richie’s hand away from Stan.

“What... How do I figure it out? I—I need to know who it is.” He finally spoke after what felt like forever.

“Well, the handwriting is way too pretty to be a guy’s,” Mike comments with a shrug.

“It—It smells like gir—girly perfume,” Bill comments as the others nod.

“Ooh! I bet it’s Katy from Math class!” Eddie exclaims with a snap of his fingers.

“What?” Stan’s face twisted in worry. “But she... Oh, fuck... it can’t be her. She told me that birds are dumb.” He points out with a scowl on his face.

“Well, obviously they don’t want to be known.” Eddie offers. “Maybe they are too nervous and don’t want to be known.” He shrugs.

“You saying it was you, Eddie Spaghetti?” Richie grins deviously as Eddie choked on his water.

“What!! No! I’m not! That’s gross! Stan’s one of my best friends! Besides, it’s possible she just doesn’t want to be known! And don’t call me that you asshole.” He growled softly.

“Guys! Focus! This is about Stan! Flirt with each other later!” Bev huffs earning a glare from Eddie while Richie grins in delight.

“Maybe Eddie is right. What if this is still a joke? What if someone did this to get a rise out of me?” Stan asked worriedly.

“Hey, don’t think like that. You’re an amazing guy and anyone would be lucky to have you.” Mike assured quickly.

“Besides, she must be really shy if she can’t even talk to you.” Richie snorts earning a jab to the ribs by Eddie.

“Shut up Richie!” He huffs softly.

“This is dumb. I’m not going to keep this letter. It’ll give me more anxiety than I need.” Stan stood up, prepared to throw away the letter when Richie intercepted him.

“Okay! Jesus Christ dude, hold on! I mean this girl poured her heart out to you. If someone was making it a joke it wouldn’t be as detailed. Look, I know you are worried and you fucking twist things because you are you! However, even if you don’t want to know who it is... don’t throw that away. Because sometimes people don’t have the courage to write what they can’t say.” He sighed as they all watched him in silence.

“Why do you care so much?” Stan’s eyes narrowed as Richie groaned loudly.

“Because I fucking know who put it in your locker, but I’m not telling you because she begged me to put it in your locker. So fucking sit the hell back down and smile because someone finds your bird watching adorable!” He snapped as Stan swallows before glancing down to the letter.

“You’re gonna tell me right?” Bev broke the silence as Stan glared at her.

“For once, Bevvie... That’s between me and her. I promised her I wouldn’t, but trust me Stan the man... She’s a cutie and you two are weirdly perfect for each other.” He snorts softly.

“Thanks... I guess.” Stan frowns softly before rubbing at his neck as he pulled out his lunch to eat.

The rest of lunch was rather quiet, Stan glanced every so often at Richie who refused to meet his gaze. He was physically trying to force himself not to speak because he promised her he wouldn’t say anything. He cringed at the feeling of all their eyes watching him, waiting for him to spill out and finally admit defeat.

Richie was the first one out of the lunchroom the moment the bell rang to head to their next class. It made the young Jewish boy sigh in slight annoyance that Richie was actually keeping his mouth shut. Of course, he would, right?

Rolling his eyes, Stan got up and went to his next class with his mind racing on who could possibly want to be with him. It seemed almost odd to him that there was someone in the school that actually thought he was worthy enough to be liked. That being said, Stan didn’t want this stupid love letter to consume his life, because there were far too many girls in the school to find out who it is.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on, making Stanley want nothing more than to slam his head against the desk. Normally, he loved to listen to the teacher, but today his mind just wasn’t with it. He glanced around the room before his eyes stopped on one person in particular.

Patricia Blum.

She was a beautiful girl, to say the least. Her light green eyes glittered behind the round glasses that took up over half her features, but her tiny nose held the frames strong. Her long jet black hair was tied back, complimenting her freckled face oh-so beautifully. She always wore sweaters with a long shirt that somehow wouldn’t work for anyone but her.

What if it’s her? No way! She’s too perfect to look at you that way!

Patty moved into Derry over a year ago and she’s been hanging with other people and sometimes the losers. They’ve been paired up for projects multiple times so he knows that she’s really sweet to everyone. He just finds her presence to be calming in ways that only the Losers can bring out of him sometimes.

I mean she had other friends so she wasn’t always with the losers, but a lot of the times that she did come around… Stan found himself feeling happier. He loved talking with her because she always had something interesting to say, or just loved to listen to him ramble on about whatever was on his mind.

Patty glanced over to him before offering him a warm smile, causing Stan’s face to heat up when he realized she caught him staring. He swallowed before offering a tight-lipped smile back as he turned to the book their English teacher was explaining. His heart fluttered gently as his eyes cast down to his bag where the letter remained wedged between his social studies and math books.

“You okay?” A soft voice asked as Stan jerked before looking up to see Patty standing over him with her books in her arms. “The bell rang and you didn’t move. You look really lost in thought.” She was smiling at him.

“Uh… Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. Thank you.” He murmurs, struggling to get his stuff together as he mentally cursed himself for daydreaming for so long.

“Stanley, um… I--” Her mouth shut with an audible click as she looked concerned. “I’m sorry… This… If it makes you uncomfortable… I’ll just…” She pointed towards the door before immediately exiting as Stan watched her go.

“Fuck…” He cursed softly before going out of the room and towards the exit of the school.

“Stanny! Wait up!” Richie called with Eddie and Bill trailing behind him. “You are speed walking, dude.” He huffs as he finally caught up to Stan as the four boys walked out of the school.

“This stupid letter has been a pain in my ass. I can’t stop thinking about it. I just…” He gritted his teeth when Eddie offers a sad smile.

“Can’t believe anyone would love you?” He finished as Stan’s shoulders slumped slowly.

“Yeah, sadly.” He scrubbed at his temples when Richie threw an arm around him.

“Well someone does! They see you and think you are something special! Don’t know why, but hey you’re not my type.” He laughs as Stanley rolled his eyes and pushed away from Richie, walking ahead of them.

“St-St-Stan… If you are rea--rea--really that bothered by the le-le-letter… Just get rid of it.” Bill offers when Stan looked at him, holding his books tightly to his chest.

“That’s the problem… I don’t want to. I… I want someone to like me. I’m fucking sixteen years old and I’ve never dated before. Like… I want someone to want me. I want to have someone to love me. I just… I didn’t think it was possible.” He comments before groaning. “This is seriously dumb! Why am I acting like some love-sick loon!” He demanded.

“Because Stan the man… Everyone wants that. They want that feeling that love gives them. I mean shit… Look at Ben and Bev? Bill and Mike?” He waggles his eyebrows at Bill who sputtered at him in shock.

“I guess you’re right… What about you? What about Eddie?” He asked, glancing back to the hypochondriac who offers a flushed face.

“Uh… Richie and I have been dating on the down-low for about a year now.” Eddie comments as Bill and Stanley blinked in shock.

“What the fuck! Why didn’t you tell me you asshole?” Stan demanded, looking from Eddie to Richie who held matching expressions of worry.

“Because… Well, we liked keeping it a secret? I don’t know. We just never really thought about it. I guess it never mattered if anyone was okay with us or not. Just as long as Eddie and I loved each other.” Richie nods before glancing at Eddie who shyly looks to the ground.

“You two are already disgustingly cute! Stop it!” Stan huffs, sounding more on the tones of a whine. “Oh… Oh, that makes sense now! Everyone in the Losers club had someone… I always felt left out when everyone paired up… I was the outcast in our own little band of outcasts… I guess that’s why I wanted someone to love the most.” Stan murmured.

“Whoa! We aren’t abandoning you, Stan!” Eddie assured quickly when Stan looked up with a hurt expression.

“How you all went to the movies together the other week, probably as a date for everyone and just forgot to tell me?” He asked as Eddie opened his mouth before shutting it. “Exactly. Look, let’s just drop it. I don’t think I’m gonna go to the clubhouse today. I’ll see you guys later.” He comments, walking off before anyone could follow after him.

Stan was walking when he heard the sounds of shoes tapping against cement, loudly. He jerked back expecting to see Henry and his goons, but instead, there was a flustered Patty who was panting loudly. She held up a hand as if telling him to stop, causing him to awkwardly stand there until she finally made it up to him.

“Richie--Richie told me you weren’t okay. I thought I’d come to check on you.” She said between bouts of heavy pants. “What happened?” She asked worriedly.

“Um… Nothing, nothing that you need to worry about.” He assured as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I don’t believe that bullshit for even a moment.” She resorts with a slightly sharp tone. “Shit, I’m sorry. If you don’t feel comfortable telling me then you don’t have to.” She waves her hands around.

“It’s not… It’s not that. I… Actually, this is going to sound really dumb, but I got a love letter today. I’ve never gotten one before. It’s made me all weird. I just… I guess I never expected someone to want me as a partner. I just thought I’d adopt a bunch of birds and live my life like that.” He shrugs.

“Oh Stanley, anyone would be lucky to have you. I’m sure everyone is just intimidated by how smart you are. It’s not that you’re cold… It’s just you radiate that sort of energy?” She questioned.

“That might explain why she wasn’t brave enough to actually hand me the letter… Or even talk to me in the first place.” He sighed when Patty moved a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

“Maybe she’s just really awkward and didn’t want to be a complete idiot in front of you.” Patty murmurs softly as Stanley frowns.

“Well, she couldn’t be any more of an idiot than I would be if she actually confessed to me.” He laughs, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Who do you want the letter to be from?” She asked quietly when he froze at her words.

“I… I don’t know. I never actually thought about that.” He swallowed thickly.

“Um… Stan, I… I have to tell you something.” Patty mumbles, looking down at her beat-up sneakers.

“What’s that?” He asked, unsure as to why his heart thundered so loudly in his chest.

“I… I was the one who told Richie to put the letter into your locker… I’m the one who wrote the letter and I’m the one who was too scared to say. If I had known it would have affected you this much I would have never tried. I’m so sorry, Stan. I promise I’ll leave you alone from now on.” She rambled quickly as Stan looked up to her in shock.

“Wait… What? You? The… The letter was from you?” He asked dumbly.

“Yeah, I… I’m sure you probably wanted someone else.” She comments softly when Stan’s jaw dropped open.

“Holy shit… I’m dreaming. I have to be dreaming. This can’t be real.” He whispered as her features twisted in confusion.

“What--I’m… Stan, this is real. I mean… If you don’t feel the same way just say that… Don’t make fun of me.” She looked hurt when Stan dropped his books without a second thought. He surged forward and cupped her face as her eyes widened before she looked at him in disbelief.

“No! No, I swear I’m not making fun of you! I just… I can’t believe it! Because I wanted the letter to be from you! It just doesn’t seem real. Like this shit doesn’t happen to someone like me. Maybe Bill or Ben… Or hell even Richie…” He explains when she watched him.

“You… So you like me too?” She asked quietly as he nods immediately.

“More than I ever thought I could like someone. You make me feel ways I’ve never felt before. It scares me, but… but you’re someone who always listens to me. You like to bird-watch with me when none of the others did. You are so amazing… and I can’t believe this is actually happening. I’d ask you to pinch me, but I really don’t want that.” He laughs breathlessly.

“Then maybe you should kiss me. Maybe that will make it real?” She offers as his face flushes before his eyes snapped down to her lips. “You don’t have to. That was really forward and--” She’s cut off when Stan smashed their lips together.

Patty moaned in surprise when she slowly kissed back as her hands grabbed at his forearms. She tilted her head gently and deepened the kiss, feeling like the entire world melted away except for them. She smiles as Stan gently pulls away before their eyes locked.

“Uh… How… How was that?” He asked when she giggles softly.

“Well… I don’t really have anything to base it off of considering that was my first kiss.” She whispered, causing him to freeze.

“You… Really?” He swallowed thickly before he started to laugh.

“Yeah, strict parents, but they like you a lot so Mom told me to go for it. She even helped me write the letter… Oh my god… That’s so lame to say! You didn’t hear that!” She whines, burying her face into his neck as Stan laughed harder.

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” He grins which made her giggle. It sounded like music to his ears.

“So… If I were to ask you to maybe be my boyfriend…?” She trailed off when Stan rests their foreheads together.

“I would say yes.” He comments as her eyes glittered with happiness.

“Um… Do you wanna maybe bird-watch on Friday? Because I’m free Friday after school?” She offers.

“We can do something else.” He assures immediately. “You don’t have to bird-watch if you’d rather do anything else.” He explains.

“Stan, I don’t care if we just walked around this stupid town for five hours. As long as I’m with you… I don’t care what we do.” She smiles before pulling him back into a kiss.

“Get it Stan the Man!” Richie’s voice broke the bubble that had enveloped them as Stan snapped his gaze to the other losers.

“Dammit, Richie!” Bev snapped, jabbing him in the side while Richie outright cackled.

“Happy for you guys!” Eddie laughs before looking at Richie who crossed his arms.

“About fucking time is more like the phrasing I would use.” He shrugs.

“Shove it, Tozier!” Patty laughs.

“Blow me, Blum!” Richie smirks before looking to Stan. “At least now you know! And look, I didn’t say anything! That’s one for the books ladies and gentlemen!” He laughs when Eddie rolled his arms.

“If that isn’t true.” Eddie snorts softly. “We were gonna head to the Quarry. You guys coming?” He asked.

Stan looked to Patty who looked more than excited.

“Hell yeah! Let’s go!” She bent down and retrieved Stan’s books. “You think you can handle me in only my bra and underwear?” She asked as his face flushes before she rushed over and took Bev’s hand.

“Pat--Patty!” Stan exclaims, causing her to laugh as she and Bev rushed off towards the Quarry with Stan and the others hot on their tail.

Yeah, he was more than glad for that stupid, dumb love letter. So glad.

[ironwoman18]

The Worst Third Date Ever part 12

Here we will have 2 special guest and I hope you like them. We will read below.

Chapter 12: Surprises part 1

The next day Max was called to go to the Smithsonian for a meeting to talk with her and the candidates about their next programs so she called Spencer to wait for her and later they can go to the cinema.

Her dad told them at the barbecue that the 1954's Godzilla movie, the black and white one, will be at the same theater he and Eloise got kidnapped.

And it was one of Spencer's favorite movies so they decided to go watch it after lunch. Max, Eloise and her boyfriend will join them.

So Spencer will go to the museum and while she is in her meeting he called Derek to go there with Hank. They had not talked in a while and he missed his godson.

Spencer was watching the kids after Max walked into the museum to her meeting. He was thinking about been a dad one day, he was so deeply in that thought that he did not realized Hank was there until he said "uncle Spencer!!" His little hands on his legs.

Spencer looked down and smiled at the little boy "Hank!! How are you?" He picked him up and sat him on his lap.

"Good!!" He hugged his godfather and laid his head on his head.

"Where is your dad?" He looked down and poked his nose.

"He buy me candy" he giggled and pointed at his dad holding a bag with candies.

"Hey pretty boy" said Derek looking at his former coworker "merry Christmas" Spencer stood up and hugged Derek with his free arm.

"I missed you Derek" he said and they broke the embrace "I hope you let me get some candies Hank" he looked at the kid in his arms. Hank nodded and smiled "yay! Uncle Spencer is happy" Hank laughed.

"He wanted to bring his mini Kylo Ren lightsaber and mask to show them to you but I told him you will visit us sooner so he brings a..."

"Ball!!" Hank showed his little ball.

"Wow! That's awesome Hank. Do you wanna play with me?" He nodded and Spencer put him back on the ground and the three-year-old kid threw awkwardly the ball and Spencer dramatically held it making the little kid giggled more.

"Well that's good to see you are getting better with sports" he smirked and Spencer rolled his eyes "Hank do you want to go to play with sand?" The kid nodded and lifted his arms to his dad.

Derek picked him up and the two adults walked there with Hank "so how is Savannah?"

"She is great. She is at work at the hospital. And where is your girl?"

"She has a meeting in the museum. She is trying to get a job creating art programs for children with disabilities"

"Sounds like a fun thing to do" Derek smiled as they reached the sand pit and sat Hank in "so is she a teacher?"

"She has a degree in Art History but she teaches art to kids"

"I see... and is she making you happy?"

Spencer smiled "Yes, she is so sweet, funny and intelligent"

"Aww pretty boy is growing so fast" he laughed and wrapped an arm on his shoulder.

He laughed "and sometimes I think you will never grow up"

Derek laughed "I'm so proud of you, you know that right?" Spencer nodded "I'm glad you found someone to love"

"It wasn't easy. Because I saw how many people suffered in the team when a serial killer tried to hurt their loved one. Gideon, Hotch, Emily, JJ, you. It's hard to have a family and be a FBI agent"

"Yeah, that's why I left the team and Hotch" they looked at Hank playing with the sand "and for me was our best shot to be happy"

"Of course it was. You deserved to be happy with your wife and kid"

"And what's the plan with Max?"

"We are talking our time. Enjoying the relationship and the moments we have together. We start dating officially at the end of November so soon will be our first month"

"Ok and do you have something planned?" He shakes his head "oh come on Reid. I know could do it better than that" the former agent laughed

"You know I'm new with these things" Derek laughed more.

"Ok pretty boy. When is the exact date?"

"We started dating on November twenty-nineth so our first month together will be close to New Year's eve"

"Hmm I see..."

"Oh... wait I got something" Derek encouraged Spencer to continue "as part of my Christmas present for her, I gave her two tickets for the Metropolitan museum in New York. She asked me yesterday to use them soon so she and I can use my free days and be together" the man nodded "the problem is... New York is crowded at this time of the year, you need to make reservations months before New Year's eve"

"True but... I have a friend, he is in LA right now and he has an apartment there for his work in the city. It's close to Central Park and away from Time Square"

"How do we get the key if he is at the other side of the country?"

"He left it with the reception. I can ask him and you can stay for 5 days or so"

"Sounds great" Spencer lifted his fist closed, the last time he did it to him, Derek did not accept because he won against him and Kate when he calculated the number of boats.

This time Derek answered the fist bump and they both laughed. They were having a fun time with Hank when finally Max arrived.

She walked towards him and kissed him gently then she turned to see the man with Spencer and the little boy in his arms.

"Max this is Derek Morgan. He's like my big brother"

"Nice to finally meet you. Spencer talks so much about you" she blushed softly "good things of course"

"Nice to meet you too Derek. Spencer doesn't talk much about his job, but he mentioned you a lot" he smiled "and who is this cute little boy?" She asked looking at Hank.

"Ok no.... how did I forget my little friend right here? Max it's my pleasure to introduce you my godson Hank Spencer Morgan"

"Nice to meet you sweetie" she smiled as the little boy giggled at her "awe he is so adorable"

"Yes he is. And you were approved by him as uncle Spencer girlfriend" Derek laughed kissing his son forehead.

"Good news, I'm now his official girlfriend" she laughed and hugged Spencer.

"Hey I was wondering if you would like to eat pizza with Hank and I?"

"Sounds great" Spencer looked at her.

"I'm totally agree with that"

"Perfect let's go then. We can walk there"

They all walked to the restaurant. Derek told some embracing stories about Spencer and then the boy genius told her some about Derek.

At the restaurant they had a good time talking. Max was having fun with those two because, in fact, they acted like brothers.

She was like that with Michelle and Eloise and so were they both with her. Hank was a mess with his pizza slide, his face covered with tomato sauce and cheese on his shirt.

"Derek, you should clean Hank. He is a little mess" Derek sighed and nodded.

"Ok I will be right back" he stood up holding Hank and the baby bag.

When the couple was alone she turned to him "how was the meeting?" He asked drinking some of his Sprite.

She sighed "well they want me to give my program to someone else so he or she can do it, you know I will create them but I wont teach them all"

"I understand"

"Its my program can work without me teaching it. Then I will get to a shorter list"

"That's amazing"

"Yeah but I'm thrilled but nervous at the same time"

"You will do it great, I know it" she hugged him and he kissed her head "thrust in you Max"

"Thank you Spence" they hugged until Derek returned with his son sleepy in his arms.

"Hey I should leave, Hank is sleepy and I don't have the stroller"

"It's ok, we have to go anyway. My dad invited us to watch a movie" Derek smiled.

"Awesome have fun and don't spoil them the end like you did to me" they both laughed then the former agent added "I will text you when I have an answer about what we talked, ok?" Max looked at them confused.

"Ok, see you Derek" he smiled and looked at Hank "goodbye Hank, love you" he kissed the little boy's head. Then father and son left after they all pay "let's go"

"Should I ask what I missed?"

"It's a favor I asked Morgan, don't worry" she raised an eyebrow but did not ask anything else.

He drove to her dad's house to pick him up. Eloise and her boyfriend will meet them there.

"So Spencer you like the classic movies huh?"

"Yes, I'm fascinated by the practical effects. For example Star Wars old movies has some very good. It was art"

"Finally someone who understands!" Said Don making Max rolled her eyes.

"Dad you know I enjoyed those movies"

"Yeah but because you are an artist. Michelle is an accountant and Eloise is a lawyer" he explains "you are more open to that but I can tell you hit bored sometimes"

"Because they were in black and white and without voices. I was 9 and Michelle was 12"

Spencer laughed softly "my mother read me book in old English. Those were hard to understand if she didn't remember to explain me some words. I was 6"

"You are a genius honey... I'm an average woman" she pouted.

"It still is quite impressive that you watched black-and-white movies at 9 without getting bored"

They arrived to the cinema and got out the car. There were Eloise and her boyfriend with there tickets.

"Hey Jack and Eloise" said Don hugging both.

Jack had dirty blonde hair, green eyes and was wearing a leather jacket with jeans and a shirt "sir we bought the tickets" they both hand then a ticket.

The five walked in. Spencer bought them popcorn and sodas saying it was a gift for invited him there.

They watched the movie, it was in Japanese which put a smile on Spencer's lips.

Sometimes Max could swear, she could see him saying the dialogues in Japanese.

When the movie finished all people walked out talking about the cool practical effects and how the Japanese people made that in 1954.

Then all of them were to eat some thai food and talked a lot. Jack was studying physics and Spencer was having an interesting conversation about it.

Later that night they decided to go back home, and Jack offered to take Don back home with Eloise.

Spencer and Max went to her apartment "do you want to come in?" He nodded. After their first night together they have not share bed again. Either because he was nervous to ask or because she felt she could be pushing him out of his comfort zone.

They went up and he was sitting on the couch as she made some coffee. When Derek called him "hey pretty boy"

"Oh hey Derek, what's up?"

"My friend called me. He said you can have the apartment for at least five or six days so you and Max can use it"

"That's great, thank you" he smiled.

Derek laughed "good, remember to be more romantic kid. She is an amazing woman and deserves to be treated like that so stop being so logical and be more..."

"...like you?"

"Exactly!!" They both laughed "see you later Spencer. Enjoy your night"

"Ok see you" and then they both hung up.

"So are you going to tell me what is going on?" She asked

Spencer held her hand and pulled her closer to him making her sit on his lap "you enjoy investigations right" she placed a hand on his chest.

"Yeah and you love to hide thing from me" she looked into his eyes "what is happening? And don't you dare lie to me"

"Max there's not something wrong" he wrapped his arms around her "in fact it's something amazing" she raised an eyebrow "do you remember that question you made me yesterday?"

"About where we will spend the New Year" it was not a question but an statements, he nodded "do you have an answer?"

"Yes" he looked at her and she bit her lip "we can go to New York"

"Really?"

"Yes. I told Derek today and he said he has a friend who has an apartment free there"

"So we have where to stay" he nodded "we still need tickets"

"Yeah. Tomorrow I will check if the travel agency has tickets"

"You are full of surprises, aren't you?" He laughed "well I will ask too. I wish we decided this sooner"

"Yeah but this was a surprise. Sadly I couldn't tell you with the tickets"

"Yes but it's still a surprise to know you made this decision" she leaned in and kissed him wrapping her arms around him.

OOooOOooOO

After the poll, New York won. So next chapter will be fully in New York. I think I will skip the whole looking for tickets and just drop them in.

As always, thank you for reading and commenting. By the way... I need a quote from Gideon, where he told the team or Spencer to trust their profiles to catch an unsub. I need it for my version of the last 2 episodes of the season 15.