#and there has to be a way to be a detective without joining a police force

[bitchyblkqueer]

all the green lanterns being cops is so fucking boring and annoying back in my day u could be a PE teacher or an architect

[abadbitchblogs]

SOS

Part 1

Pairing: Jey Uso x OC x Damian Priest

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2.6k

a/n: Ya girl is alive y’all! I wanted to revamp this because I felt like y'all deserved more! Thank you to everyone who has supported me and my work. I love y'all!  All likes, comments, reblogs and feedback is greatly appreciated!

-divider by @cafekitsune

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion as the entire roster hooped and hollered in  celebration of Trin’s return at the Royal Rumble. While shots, champagne and cocktails were being thrown back, all Amirah could do was watch the way her best friend humbly received the love she deserved with tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. It was such a full circle moment for her; comforting Trinity when leaving the company broke her, supporting her decision to join Impact! Wrestling, then experiencing the reception of her homecoming. Watching her fall back into the swing of things like she never left felt so satisfying. Before she could spiral into an emotional breakdown, a large hand waving in her face snapped her out of her thoughts making her scrunch her nose in confusion. “Aye, girl! You good?” Jimmy’s furrowed brows and jutted out bottom lip came into focus, immediately coaxing a laugh out of her. Jimmy was one person that you could count on to lift your spirits without even trying- he was the textbook definition of goofy.

“I'm good, promise!” If he doubted she was telling the truth, the content glimmer in her eyes deterred him from pressing the matter any further. Instead, she looped her arm with his and dragged him back over to their friends where they could enjoy their night out. Plopping down on the sectional next to Trinity, the group of superstars fell into easy conversation catching up with those who are on a different brand as they only see each other during the major PLEs. Somehow the chat turned into the couples pestering the single people; i.e Bayley and Amirah. Bay may have fought to defend herself, but she just found their concern amusing. “Listen. I don't treat being single like a punishment. I love being by myself. I aint gotta worry about nobody cheating on me, nobody resenting me for my career or trying to police my body.” No lies were detected as they all had no choice but to agree. Relationships in their business were hard whether you were with a fellow pro wrestler or a regular person. “Besides, the chances of finding real love like y’all are slim as hell!��

“I know that's right!” Bianca gloated; her and Montez’s reality show was doing so well that they were WWE’s IT couple. Mirah playfully chucked a straw at their girlfriend while Trin, Bay, and Jade were too busy laughing at her EST antics surfacing outside of the ring. “ What about you and Damian? I be seeing y’all posted up looking cozy?” The question got a chorus of ‘oooohs’ from the women, but Bayley  made a face of disgust at her friends’ insinuation. “Girl no. We're just good friends. That man doesn't have a committal bone in his body.” Amirah hummed in affirmation having heard the rumors about Damian Priest and his revolving door of women. “I'm honestly surprised that the two of you aren’t close. He's from New York, you're from New York. He's single and you've sworn off relationships. And I know you like them a little older.” The woman’s jaw dropped at Bayley’s insane attempt at matchmaking. “Girl are you trying to set me up with a sneaky link?” That sent all of the women into another uncontrollable fit of laughter. “You do need some dick.” Trin wheezed out, furthering Amirah’s appalled facial expression before she swatted her best friend’s arm. “You know what? I’m out of here.” A laugh bubbled out of her as she stood dramatically from their huddle only to turn and lock eyes with Jey Uso.

There he was hugging his twin with his chocolate orbs boring into her chestnut ones. Spinning on her heel,  she suggested the girls go down to the dance floor for a song or two. “Come on y'all. We can't let this night pass without shaking a lil something.” Clasping Trinity’s hands, she pulled her to her feet then tugged her towards the stairs with a “We’re going downstairs to dance for a little bit, Jim,” thrown over her shoulder. They scurried by without waiting for a response although she knew Jimmy and Montez were going to follow them anyway to keep an eye on the group. One of the things that Amirah and Trinity bonded over was their love of music and dance with both of them being former dancers. As much as Jimmy hated it when Trin showed her ass, he was going to have to suck it up tonight because they were owed some time to let loose. All that is holy must've been on their side because as soon as they made it to the center of the dancefloor, Twerk by the City Girls and Cardi B blared on the speakers. “Come on, Trin! Lemme see something!” It was always fun to get Trin and Bianca to cut up because Trin was going to kill it every time but Bianca had no damn rhythm. The club was playing banger after banger after banger after banger. If they weren't professional athletes, their feet and edges would be shot to hell. Amirah was throwing her ass back on Trinity, both of them cackling at Jade and Bayley trying to show B how to catch the beat when the tempo slowed to a ballad.  Of course it was a song that a nigga always dedicated to her to make her feel special and now it pissed her off.

This is for you, you, my number one This is for you, you, my number one Oh, yeah, yeah-yeah This is for you, you, my number one

Sucking her teeth as Jimmy giddily cut in for a slow dance with his wife, Mirah cut through the crowd to head back to their section for another drink when she bumped into the only person she did not want to see. His grills seemed to glow in the low light of the club but before he could get a word out, she took a sharp left in search of the restroom. A wave of nausea crawled through her body and she needed to gather herself after coming in contact with that parasite. Just when her hand grasped the doorknob of the ladies room for a moment of solitude, a large hand engulfed her other wrist pausing her movements. “Mirah…” She didn’t even need to turn around to know who the trifling ass voice belonged to. Calmly snatching her wrist from his hold, she shifted her weight to one foot with a snarl etched on her gloss coated lips. “I’m sorry. Do we know each other?” Jey’s eyes softened at her faux confusion as he took a step toward her and her, taking a step back to keep space between them. “Mirah, come on. I just wanna talk to you. I wanna explain myself.” His pleading only made the bile in her throat rise, making her face twist in disgust. 

“Nigga, you should’ve thought about talking to me before you just cut me off like I was some random bitch.” Her words dripped with malice in hope of it being enough to get him to leave her alone. “We ain’t got shit to talk about as far as I’m concerned.” Shoulder checking him as she walked by, not even wanting to be in the same building as him, Jey fought the urge to reach out to her again. He knew getting her to talk to him would be near impossible, but he was determined. Amirah was worth taking accountability and uncomfortable conversations. 

Amirah shuffled through the sea of bodies on the dance floor to find her friends and wish them a goodnight. Trinity spotted the agitated look on her best friend’s face immediately even though she tried to plaster a smile over it. “What happened, boo?” Trin’s brows furrowed in worry only to have Mirah wave it off. “Nothing! I’m good. I’m just going to call it night. That liquor ain’t sitting right in my stomach.” The lie came out faster than she could even register, but it wasn’t a total lie. That bastard did indeed make her sick to her stomach. “Oh okay! We’ll go back with you. I wanna make sure you’re okay.” Gesturing for Jimmy to come over to the two of them, Amirah shook her head in protest. “Hell no. You stay and keep celebrating. You deserve it! I’ll be fine! I already called an Uber and I’ll text you when I’m back in my room.” Pulling her bestie into a tight embrace, she gave her a fat kiss on the cheek before moving to hug their group of friends goodbye. Much to her delight, no one questioned her sudden decline of health too much, just the request of a text message to let them know when she got back to the hotel. With a promise that she would text them as soon as she got in, Mirah flew to the exit of the club like a bat out of hell. 

Sucking in a breath of fresh air, the feeling of relief washed over her soothing the queasiness that plagued her. The Florida streets were surprisingly peaceful at night, allowing her to fully collect herself and actually call an Uber so she just wasn’t standing outside of the club like a lame. As she pulled her phone out of her black purse, the club’s doors opened once more flooding the silence with music. A tap on her shoulder made her slap a friendly smile on her face in case it was a fan wanting an autograph or a picture. But, it was neither and her smile morphed into one of shock when she came face to face with Señor Money in the Bank. Damian was dark and broody so she did not expect to see him at a nightclub, but if his reputation precedes him then he was here for a woman- or two. “Señor Money in the Bank. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Wiping the shock off her face, she mirrored his playful and dare she say- flirty smirk. “Well I was by the bar when I saw you rush out so I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Feigning surprise, Amirah placed a hand over her heart and cooed at his sweet gesture. “Wait until everyone finds out that Señor Playboy is a gentleman.”

Her teasing pulled a chuckle out of him as he cocked a brow in question. “Playboy huh?” “Mhmm I’ve heard about you.” Laughing once more, Damian accepted defeat but pushed for info on his supposed playboy reputation. “So you’ve been asking about me?” Zeroing in on Amirah’s smaller frame with his almost charcoal gaze, it was her turn to laugh. “You wish.”  His smile broadened at her bratty comeback before he very noticeably gave her a once over. “¡Te ves hermosa.” Damian’s eyes met hers again with his gravelly voice scratching her brain deliciously. Maybe Bayley was right; he was fun. “Oh I know.” Mirah shot down his suave Spanish approach smugly, crossing her arms over her chest. “¿Hablas español?” “No, but you pick up a few things when you live in Harlem for a while.” 

Both intrigued and amused by the other superstar’s answer, Damian vowed to get to know her better in any capacity. “You know I was actually heading back to the hotel myself. Why don’t we share a ride? Uber is already on the way.” After contemplating getting in a car with him, Amirah pointed an accusatory finger at him. “If you insist, BUT no funny business.” Raising his hands in mock surrender, he flashed another cheek numbing smile at her. “Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.” Slapping his chest for his dramatics, she couldn’t help her own snicker which he ate all the way up. 

Their Uber pulled up two minutes later and like the gentleman he was, Damian had helped her climb into the truck before getting in after she was comfortable. “So do you still live in New York?” He pried quietly while they enjoyed their ride back to the hotel. “Sure do.” She replied proudly, watching the palm trees go by as the car rolled on. “Me too. Maybe we could be travel partners.” Humming in thought, she turned to him with a soft smile. “Yeah maybe. I don’t know how often I can be seen with you in public though before people start talking.” He chortled at the woman’s response before giving his own, “Fair enough.” The rest of their car ride was occupied with a game of 21 questions about themselves and their interests outside of wrestling. Coming to a stop outside of the hotel, the pair thanked the driver for his service and Damian exited the car first on the other side to come around and help her out. She could only laugh to herself about him turning on the charm heavily. When they entered the elevator, Mirah noticed that the taller man didn’t press a button for his floor so she shot him a quizzical look. “What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t walk you to your door?” 

With a playful eyeroll she muttered a ‘whatever’ and let the space fill with a comfortable silence. At least she’d be able to get up early for a workout and the night turned out… interesting. A ding broke both of them out of their thoughts as they shuffled off the elevator on the 14th floor. Amirah could feel his eyes studying the swing of her hips while she led him to her room. Abruptly stopping at her door, Damian almost crashed into the back of her too focused on how she managed to walk in those killer shoes effortlessly. “This is me.” She stated, leaning against her door curious to see how the night would end. “Well I think my job here is done. You have arrived safely.” “That reminds me.” Before her friends put out an APB for her, she texted in their group chat that she had mad it back to her room. “Thank you for the escort. I appreciate it.” “It was my pleasure and if you don’t mind,” Damian carefully slid her phone into his hand and input his number. “You know in case I can be of service to you again.” Peering at him through squinted eyes she gave him a drawn out nod. “Riiiiiiiiight.” 

Smirking down at her for the last time, he gently took her hand and raised it to his lips for a kiss on her knuckles while gazing into her cocoa colored eyes. “M’lady, I bid you farewell.” And with that, he turned on his heel and disappeared down the hall in long strides. Entering her hotel room and shutting the door behind her, Amirah collapsed against the door like women in romcoms. Girl what the fuck just happened. Taking in another deep breath, she headed to the bathroom for a much needed shower and to wring her damn panties out. Wait until she tells the girls about what just happened. Before she climbed into the shower to wash off the scent of booze, lust and worn leather, she shot the mysterious man a text of what she meant to say before he left her utterly speechless. 

{Princesa: Goodnight 🖤}

{Papi Chulo: Buenas noches hermosa 🖤}

mirrormirah

mirrormirah Your favorite athlete's favorite athlete 🖤

Liked by archerofinfamy, trinity_fatu and 482,719 others

View all 25,826 comments

trinity_fatu THAT'S MY FRIEND 🥳

⤿ mirrormirah BEST FRIEND!!!! get it right!

biancabelairwwe the finEST

⤿ mirrormirah That's all you bby ❤️

theyluvjeannie80 I know that's right !!!!!

⤿ mirrormirah I luv you boo 😘

archerofinfamy 😈

⤿ mirrormirah 🥰

⤿ bossglowstandard oop 👀👀

jadecargill sexy af 🥵

⤿ mirrormirah trying to get like you 😋

Taglist:

@empressdede @wrestlingprincess80 @whatdoeseverybodywant @alichesmi @reci1996 @2-muchsauce @cyberdejos2 @southerngirl41 @brie-mode-activated @piinklemonad3 @lucidddreamerrr

[w2beastars]

Waezi2′s thoughts on “Beast Complex” chapter 23.

I wanted to blog about this gem for a while now. "The Wolf and The Dog" is as Paru as it get.

Meet Adamo.

Adamo is a 61 year old dog, a German shepherd to be specific. And he is a notorious stalker. And he is very good at it, but we will get to that in a minute.

Adamo doesn't think that what he does is creepy. He has an excellent nose and is a born tracker since that's what his family has been bred to be. Yes, even in Beastverse, dogs are a result of selective breeding.

His stalking is not of nefarious reasons as such, he is just obsessed with following animals his nose gets the attention of and learn everything about them for no reason than the satisfaction of the hunt.

But one day, the nose of this old dog catch a very special scent.

On his way home, Adamo notice a female wolf in his train who carries a massive bouquet of flowers with strong pleasant scents. As if she is hiding something. That's something a herbivore would normally do, so this catches Adamo's attention right away. He starts sniffing and learns surprisingly much about her, like that she can't be more than twenty and that she must work in an office filled with females as he can't notice any male scents. And she uses so much makeup and soap, anything to dim her own smell.

In his own mind, Adamo sees himself "painting" the female wolf and he now stalks her to learn everything about her.

Adamo gets sloppy for a second and gets noticed by the wolf. But she apparently doesn't realize he is stalking her, so she just smiles at him and goes on about her business... or her smile is a warning... or perhaps an invitation?

Adamo realize he is much more fixated about this wolf than any other of his targets, spending a month following her around.

It even seems like the old dog starts to have a strong affection towards the female wolf who BTW is named Fasa(appropriate name for her, look it up after reading this blog). She seems like a model citizen, early to bed, early to work and always nice to the elderly.

But in a Paru manga, that's often a red flag.

Adamu gets a closer look at her apartment...

... Damn.

Sure, there are plenty of predators in the Beastverse, but Fasa is an organized one, having chopped up her victim, keeping the different parts in bags in her fridge and eating brain and eyeballs, not wasting anything.

Adamo is shocked by what the female he has a creepy crush on has done and, without thinking, yells something he have not said in a long time:

Yep, Adamo is a retired police detective. No wonder he is such an effective stalker. And seeing someone committing a predator crime wakes up the old cop.

Fasa is however not intimidated by the old fart, she knew she was being watched, she just got sloppy and forgot to close her curtains. She smiles at Adamo when he says he used to be a police officer, recognizing a fellow canine who is a slave to their instincts. Fasa is a slave to her hunting instincts while Adamo is very much a dog, having only joined the police because he is good at tracking and at following orders. And now that he is retired, he keeps tracking other animals because he doesn't know what else to do.

Fasa then embrace Adamo, making the dog terrified as he has no idea if he is gonna end up in the wolf's fridge as well or if she is hugging him since they are "the same".

But then the actual cops comes.

Fasa is surprisingly calm about being arrested, not resisting at all. Feeling guilt about his unhealthy hobby, possibly because he was just reminded that he used to be a cop who arrested creeps like himself, Adamo is about to confess to the police officers that he is a stalker, but Fasa interrupts him.

Fasa claims that Adamo is in her apartment because she had kidnapped him and was about to eat him as well, then whispers to him that they are not similar at all.

... Makes you wonder if that is suppose to be assuring as his stalking is nowhere near as bad a crime as what she has done... or if it is degrading as he as a dog is a pale shadow of what a wolf is.

Either way, she smiles as she tells him to take care of himself, and the manga then ends with a perfect panel:

Adamo stands between the strong-smelling flowers Fasa used to hide the scent of the blood of her victim/victims, like she is covering up for his crime of stalking. The symbolism is chef-kiss worthy!

This is most likely in the top five of the best chapter of Beast Complex. Its a bittersweet tale and it is kinda funny how Fasa manage to appear more noble than Adamo... or at least have more dignity.

That's all for now. I'm Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.

[violetmuses]

Phoenix - A. Aretas ❤️‍🩹

Title: Phoenix - A. Aretas ❤️‍🩹

Fandom: “Bad Boys” Film Universe

Character: Armando Aretas

Pairing: Armando Aretas + Female Reader

Main Storyline: An unexpected bond may never fade out.

Tag List: @nelo0wesker @yassbishimvintage @nobodygetsza @peaxhygirl @superstar-t20 @adoresmiles @klssngss @deja-r @hyper-trash-panda @amethyst-loves-bucky @planetblaque 🏷

=====

2024

“Stay out of my way.” Your joyful personality vanished at the Miami Police Department.

Wearing this Bud Light shirt, Armando chose one trucker hat that veiled his brown eyes. Jeans covered both legs and boots stepped along.

Shit! Upon realization, Detective Mike Lowrey scrambled into this precinct once you crossed paths with previous criminal Armando Aretas.

After facing many questions or encountering secrets over time, even Mike took responsibility and now stood as Armando's biological father.

“Don't panic. Armando has joined our team.” Mike buffered each stance in the hallway.

“Keep him away from me.” You then stood ground this time.

“He's your partner.” Mike offered reality, but still cringed.

“What the hell, Mike?” You immediately turned around.

“I've pulled strings for Armando and we'll explain everything.” Mike continued speaking.

To cut down time in prison, Aretas would help the AMMO squad.

Given no other option, you moved forward and headed to the briefing room.

Here we go.

______

Intelligent agencies whispered that late Captain Conrad Howard muddled with the cartel for years, but Mike and his partner Marcus Burnett would hustle and prove Cap’s innocence right away.

Soon enough, you discovered that Armando could identify whoever framed Captain Howard in the first place.

“Dorn has files we need, but our department is compromised.” Mike offered this truth and your heart dropped.

“Rats in the walls.” You repeat that warning from Cap's footage. This inside job could change everything.

“Yeah. Let's go.” Mike nodded, leading everyone out of this precinct.

*******

Radio silence grounded that commute when Mike Lowrey parked near this boathouse located on the waterfront.

“Stay outside.” Mike instructed Armando regardless of circumstances and exited the well-known Porsche beside Marcus.

“Still hate me?” Offering slightly accented English, Armando taunts while sitting next to you.

“Shut up.” You clipped right back. “I'm leaving when this case ends.”

“What?” Still wearing that trucker hat, Armando faced your direction.

“You heard me.” You wouldn't repeat that phrase this time. “I'm only here for the mission.”

“I barely know who you are.” Aretas revealed this truth over your presence.

“So what?” You then scoffed near Armando. “Mike is your father, but I'm not staying around the same person who hurt my friends.”

Armando turned silent, definitely puzzled with emotions.

“Siento haberte asustado.” Using his native language of Spanish, Aretas apologized to you.

“No eres un maldito fantasma.” Snipping in return, your partner is not a ghost.

“Lo sé, pero no luches conmigo para siempre.” Armando didn't want you to keep fighting against him.

Fed up, you leave this Porsche and sit by the dock instead, but Aretas follows your every move.

______

Sooner than later, nightfall crossed sunset as both of you still waited to enter Dorn's house.

“What's your name at least?” Giving English back, Armando faced you without jokes.

“Doesn't matter.” You defended yourself through privacy.

Before Aretas could respond, extra footsteps creaked on the dock as Mike walked close.

“Everything's set up. C'mon.” Lowrey didn't play around and you head inside, joining the team as planned.

****

“Kelly's with Dorn?” You whispered to Marcus despite everything, shocked for a moment.

“Found Kelly leaving the bathroom.” Burnett chuckled, shrugging.

“Ooh!” Humored, you laugh for the first time in quite a while.

Tech genius Dorn and weapons expert Kelly dated each other now.

“Did you kick his ass yet?” Marcus gestured near Armando while digital screens lined up the culprit search.

“I would've broken the dock into pieces to fight him.” You defended your skills.

“No.” Aretas clipped without turning away from his search.

“Uh-uh.” Mike intervened once more. “Don't start anything else, you two. Focus.”

Sitting down, you shook your head toward Kelly, but Armando trailed with materials anyway.

Damn.

*****

Bingo!

James McGrath: Former Army Ranger turned DEA agent. Tortured before joining the cartel himself.

Grounding this abandoned alligator park located in Florida, Mike pulled his trigger to kill McGarth and the mission exonerated Captain Howard.

Before Marshal Judy Howard, Captain's grieving daughter, gunned down Armando with revenge, you walked forward.

“Don't!” You lifted both hands and stood as protection.

“Get out of here before I change my mind.” Judy holstered the firearm despite grieving and you helped wounded Armando move until further notice.

=====

2025

This crowded terminal helped Armando Aretas return to Miami without drama. Even traveling the world pulled different strings for quite some time.

When you stand near “Baggage Claim,” Armando wouldn't even hold back this opportunity to smile.

“Hi. Sorry I'm late….” Your path stepped closer, but Aretas dropped luggage and hugged you, just thankful to be alive here.

[aquietplace89]

I’m a 34 year old, straight, paralegal for a criminal defense attorney. Although I have my life together, and have for the better part of the last decade, I haven’t always made the best decisions in life. Also, I come from a great family, my parents are still married, and I’ve always had a big heart, as well as an inclination to do the right thing. However, my choices and geographical circumstances have led me to make some very questionable decisions in life, as well as associate with some of the shadiest of characters (all behind me now).

As a kid I was verbally and physically abused my alcoholic father. It’s important to note that he has changed his ways, rarely drinks now, and has ditched his abusive ways. We have an amazing father-son relationship now. I grew up watching him beat my mother, my siblings, and of course, myself being on the receiving end of the brunt of the physical abuse. I credit playing his biggest punching bag due to being the oldest male. That all changed when I grew in stature and started rolling with gang members at 14. The abuse to my mom stopped as well. He learned I wouldn’t stand to see my mom beat anymore, and I always challenged him from that point on.

I always wanted to become a police officer and move up to detective. Since a child it was my dream! I always fantasized about living a high class life, like Batman. Balls, tuxedo dinners, waltzes, daily suits, the works. I wanted that lifestyle, I had to have it.

I joined the Air Force as a Military Police, or Security Forces. My traumas followed me and I got into lots of trouble since a kid. Those troubles exacerbated when I got my freedom and a paycheck, living independently in the military at 17. I was free from Him (my father). But the abuse only trickled down to the next sibling in line, and my mother. I felt the guilt of leaving them vulnerable. They didn’t have big brother to stand up to Him. I carried the guilt and drank to wash my sorrows away. At least I thought I did, but they learned how to swim.

I received a positive discharge from the Air Force, even after getting in a lot of trouble. Lots of underage drinking incidents and fights. I was a scrappy little Mexican. The positive discharge came from being an exemplary cop while on duty. I was a leader, naturally. I like to say, I was born to work with law. Others have told me the same.

I’m a year away from finishing my undergrad degree, then it’s straight into law school.

After looking at 14 years max for an ugly fight with my father in law and others, I fired 3 lawyers then represented myself at my own Preliminary Hearing. I had some charges dropped and highlighted many weaknesses in the states case. Then, right when I was sick of fighting against the odds and many lies against me, my now current boss came along and refused to let me take 2 years in prison without first taking a crack at my case. I’m so glad he pissed me off at the time by not letting me take that “deal”. I was home a few weeks after he worked my case. The first lawyer that worked my case. The other 3, well in the famous words of a retired judge, we won’t comment on them. A judge, DA, and others praised my litigation for myself. They even suggested I went to law school and become a lawyer. My 4th and final attorney throughout that horrendous nightmare, took a chance on me and is now my employer/attorney. We work very well together. Very professional as well. The two of us.

It is very important to also note, I in no way deflect blame for my actions. I wasn’t a saint the night of that incident. But I also wasn’t on an even playing field with all the fabricated accusations and lies against me. I was jumped by 3 people while I was unarmed. One had a high powered revolver aimed at my head, one had two knives, while the third beat my head to a wooden post. My biggest mistake was being hooked on steroids and displaying my rage. That is all behind me now and has shaped my future for the better.

Life has been great, but it’s also thrown many curveballs at me. I’ve never given up on life, and now I’m on a great trajectory to living the life I always wanted. The life I was destined to live. I will become an attorney.

A wise DA recently told me “it’s never too late to be whom you could’ve been” and she changed my life forever with those kind words of wisdom.

Follow me on a journey through a past of adventure, emotion, tragedy, and so much more. Also, I will take you into my current life and into my future.

[justwritedreams]

Surviving The Game | Mark Lee

Idol Mark x Investigator Reader

Word count: 11.368 Genre: Drama, angst, action. Author: maari Warnings: Mentions of stalking, guns and very sensitive topics with a happy ending bc you know me Note: I think I need to make it clear that this has nothing to do with yandere and personally I don't agree with stalker attitudes or anything like that. If you are going through this in real life, don't be silent, this is not normal. Btw this it’s just a fiction so don't come after me. Summary: An sasaeng turns Mark's life a nightmare and the only solution it's bring the police into this case. And it's your job to make him feel safe again.

�� NCT Masterlist

“To be more than a conqueror You have to learn to enjoy the pain If you want to survive the game” “Y/N, come with me, please.”

“Of course, boss.” Y/N stood up from her chair, ready to grab her vest.

“Without the vest.” the boss warned and she looked at him confused but left her protection behind.

She walked beside him anxiously, waiting for him to say something but it didn't happen until they were in the car. No vests, no flashy vehicles. Like normal people.

"Where are we going?" she asked as soon as the boss started the car.

“Visiting a victim." Y/N frowned, she had never done this type of work. Noticing her confusion, the boss decided to explain. “It's a delicate and completely confidential case, it involves a large company that wants a silent investigation.”

She knew how to keep a secret but the anxiety of knowing what it was all about was eating her alive.

"Understood." she replied and silence returned to them both until they reached their destination.

Y/N wanted to know more about the details but she knew that the boss wouldn't talk about the case on the street or while they were going up the elevator, after identifying themselves to the doorman. She was attentive to everything and when they arrived on the floor, they didn't have to wait long after the boss rang the bell.

A man probably the boss's age, if not younger, answered the door and bowed as he faced the boss.

"Detective." the man greeted him and the boss bowed in the same way, entering shortly afterwards.

Y/N did the same and noticed that the man was worried, she walked in behind the boss and felt several pairs of eyes staring at her.

She didn't usually get nervous, she liked to investigate and was one of the reasons why she joined the police but she confessed that now it was different. She didn't expect four  extremely handsome young men to be in the room, staring intently at her and the boss.

She was used to police officers of all ages, so she was struck by the beauty of mere civilians. She had never seen so many handsome men since University.

The four of them got up from the couch and bowed, they seemed more anxious and nervous than Y/N, and she tried not to show how affected she was by the looks.

“Detective, this is Taeyong, Yuta, Johnny and Mark.” the oldest introduced, indicating who was who and Y/N took a good look at the boys.

But the last one caught her attention.

He appeared to be the youngest and was visibly shaken, huge black dots under his eyes that were shaking constantly, but beneath his pale, worried face, he carried an innocent, almost childlike look. Although he wasn't that much younger than Y/N.

“Detective Kim, this is my partner Y/N.” the boss announced and all eyes stopped on her.

Y/N smiled slightly, holding her gaze for longer with Mark, who quickly lowered his gaze.

“Very well, tell us from the beginning what happened.” the boss asked and the oldest signaled for everyone to sit down.

Y/N and the boss sat across from the four young boys who looked at Mark before starting.

“We were returning from a recording that lasted all day, when we got out of the car a woman approached us, she wanted to talk to Mark.” Y/N's eyes met Mark's and he looked embarrassed, the boss pointed for her to write down what Taeyong was saying and she took her phone out of her pocket. “At first we thought she was a random fan who had just passed by on the street and saw us getting down, but after we entered, the doorman announced that the woman had not left the sidewalk.”

Y/N cocked her head to the side when she heard the word fan. Were they famous? Why hadn't the boss warned her about this?

“She stood still for a long time, looking at the building trying to find our floor.” Yuta continued.

“That’s when she started screaming.” Mark spoke quietly and Y/N stopped taking notes to look at him, his small voice made her feel sorry for him.

It was clear that this had affected him in a bad way, it was actually sad.

“We spoke to our manager.” Johnny pointed to the older man who was standing next to them with his arms crossed. “And we didn’t do anything but record it for proof.”

“What was she shouting?” Y/N asked and they looked at Mark, who shook his head and looked down.

"Nonsenses. That Mark couldn’t go without talking to his girlfriend, that it wasn’t right to leave her outside in the cold.” Tayeong spoke and it was at that moment that everyone had the same expression, anger.

Y/N tried to contain her grimace and went back to taking notes.

Reminder: the girl was crazy.

“But the next day she was in the same place we were and the next day too, and now she’s going to where we are.” Yuta showed the discomfort he felt and it seemed like he wasn't the only one.

“It even seems like she knows our schedule better than our own manager.” Johnny commented.

“How long has this been going on?” the boss asked.

"3 weeks?" Taeyong asked Mark and he just nodded, while stared into nothing.

Now Y/N could understand the case.

It made perfect sense for the police to go to their house in disguise, if the idols went to the police station or if they knew that a detective had gone there, it would attract a lot of attention.

From the media, from the fans, from who knows how many stalkers they had. It would be detrimental to the case.

“And when did the messages start?” the boss asked and Y/N looked at him.

Messages?

“A few days before she showed up.” Mark responded and put his hands together, stirring constantly.

“Can you show us?” the boss asked and Mark agreed, taking his phone out of his pocket and moving it around until he found what he was looking for, he handed it to the boss and as Y/N was closer, she held the phone.

The boss approached to read it and Y/N's eyes widened at the amount.

The number was already blocked, but on the same day Mark had received 52 messages.

‘I know where you are’

‘Why don’t you come out and talk?’

‘I see your face in the window’

‘Are you looking for me?’

'You are so cute'

There were some of them, Y/N noticed that the girl was really watching Mark closely and every second as she told him exactly what he was doing.

Psychopath, she thought.

Y/N looked at Mark once again. He was sad, dejected and tired, she could see that. It was clear as water.

Cases about stalkers were not rare, but she had never been at the forefront of the investigations. But now, knowing the story, she could only feel anger and disgust.

How could someone who claimed to be a fan do that?

“Have you ever thought about carrying armed security guards?” she asked and that caught everyone by surprise.

The boys looked at each other, looking for an answer while the manager scratched his head.

“It wouldn’t be fair to the fans.” Mark replied and for the first time held Y/N’s gaze.

She didn't want to notice how welcoming yet sad his brown eyes were, but she did.

“And is it fair to you?” she returned the question.

Okay, she understood the fame part but she couldn't understand why their safety didn't come first, especially since that girl was a perfect sasaeng.

They were obsessed and would stop at nothing. Someone needed to set limits.

“The company thinks it is more prudent for the police to investigate first and then we will see what can be done.” the manager said and Y/N wanted to snort.

She knew what to do, locking the crazy woman in a mental hospital was the solution.

“That’s what we’re here for.” the boss assured, resting his hand on Y/N's shoulder who was still looking at Mark. “We will do whatever is necessary.”

Y/N and the boss talked a little more with the boys so they could have something to start, as well as writing down the numbers the stalker was using to send messages to Mark.

Yes, numbers.

She was pushy, in Y/N's words she was annoying.

As soon as they left, after a long conversation that Mark apparently didn't want to have, they returned to the car with a plan in mind.

Well, Y/N had a rather radical plan.

“You know we’re going to have to check his phone, right?” Y/N asked her boss as soon as they left the street of the building. “The girl probably hacked it, based on her history.”

“I didn’t want to say that at first and scare him.”

She laughed, humorless.

“Boss, the guy is already scared!”

"I know. What did you find of her?” he asked and Y/N slid the file onto her phone.

After looking up her history in every database the police had access to, she found some interesting things.

“She was adopted when she was 6 years old. Her academic record is not the best, she went through several schools in a very short period, she must not have had time to create a bond with someone, her teachers made some notes over the years about her being quiet, introverted and extremely inattentive because she was too busy kissing posters of actors and singers.” Y/N saw the boss staring at her with a disbelieving look. "What? It’s written here!”

The boss laughed, nodding his head.

“I know what you think about stalkers.”

“That they are unbalanced people who deserve to spend the rest of their lives in a psychiatric clinic, am I wrong?”

“No, but it’s not right either.” the boss pondered, searching for the best words. “Cases like this involve a lot more than it seems, Y/N.”

"What does that mean?"

“I mean, you need to see beyond your outrage about this issue. Or do you think I didn’t realize you got mad when they started talking about the messages?” Y/N was silent. “You will be a good detective in the future and that is why I have an obligation to train you until then, I want you to be the best, but for that you will need to act more with reason than with emotion.”

[...]

Although the detective was in charge of the case, it was Y/N who was solving everything, especially because the boss was busier than usual. So he confided in her everything he said about this specific case.

That was why Y/N had gone to the group's dorm again, now she knew about Mark's professional life and how the group was famous, it made sense why stalkers showed up thinking they knew the boys closely.

However, a face that Y/N hadn't seen yet answered the door in confusion, so she held up her badge.

"Goodnight. Investigator Y/N, is Mark here?” she asked subtly and he nodded, giving her space to enter.

“Milk!” he shouted and even though she didn't know anything about him, she could tell that he must be one of the group's vocalists, by his powerful voice.

It was time for him to close the door and turn to face her, Mark appeared running and visibly tired, it was no wonder after all at that time of night they should have been sleeping due to their busy schedule.

“Officer, good night!” he greeted her and looked at her expectantly.

“How are you, Mark?”

"Good." she didn't believe the answer, not after the sad eyes gave it away. Y/N would have continued to hold his gaze if the boy who opened the door hadn't interrupted the brief moment. “This is Haechan, I guess you guys didn’t meet last week, did you?” he introduced and the boy smiled at Y/N.

"Pleasure."

"Equally!" he replied happily and the room fell into an awkward silence.

"Well, I'm sorry to come unannounced but I came to update you on the investigation." Y/N spoke and Mark moved in front of Haechan, pointing to the sofa.

"Please sit down."

She did so, taking off the backpack she was carrying on her back and placing it on her lap.

"First of all, your phone, where is it?"

Mark looked confused at Haechan who was on the same page, he pointed to one of the rooms.

"Charging, why?" He asked, curious.

"I'm going to need a favor. Two in fact." she saw Mark nod and then continued. "Bring your phone over here and cover all the cameras, you two will have to be silent at all time."

Mark looked complicit at Haechan who felt the investigator's eyes switch between him and Mark. The two agreed.

"Why?" Mark asked and saw her become reluctant.

"I need to make sure that what I suspect is happening." She explained without giving many details and received a shy ok from Mark, who got up and went to get his phone.

A few minutes later, while Haechan was silent and looked like he was going to explode, Mark returned. Y/N noticed that he had turned the phone's cover over and the rear cameras were covered, while the front was covered by a Band aid.

Creative, she thought.

Mark handed the phone to Y/N who quickly took the notebook out of her backpack and turned it on, Haechan approached Mark and the two remained standing next to the investigator while she worked tirelessly on the keyboard, concentrated enough to get Mark's attention .

He shouldn't have noticed her face so much, the way her lips held a firm line as she pressed them together, but he did.

In an absurd and boring silence, as Haechan thought, minutes passed until her expression changed.

From concentration to anger.

Y/N quickly turned off Mark's phone and got up from the couch almost at the same time.

"Officer…?" Mark caught her attention, and she looked at him seriously.

"What I thought was right." Mark looked at her expectantly, ready to understand what she meant but it wasn't that easy. She didn't want to be insensitive, so she took a deep breath before speaking. "She hacked your phone, she had access to any and all of your personal information."

Y/N saw Mark react in a common way, complete astonishment and despair. But even though it was normal, she hated seeing the vulnerability in him.

"How? When?" he asked, astonished.

"It is possible?" Haechan questioned, worried about his friend. Mark was whiter than usual, he looked like he was going to faint.

Y/N nodded and placed her hands on her hips.

"Unfortunately, yes. Did you leave your phone somewhere or access any unusual links?"

Mark reached deep into his memory.

"No, I don't access links that easily and I don't take my eyes off my phone. Well, only on the plane when I'm sleeping."

Y/N felt like a click appeared in her head.

So that was it.

"But she would never have access to my flight." He laughed in disbelief and saw Y/N look at him not so confidently. "Right?"

She sighed.

“Are you sure you never saw her before that night?” Y/N crossed her arms.

She had to have left some clue, everyone always did.

"Never!" Mark responded promptly and looked at his friend who was holding his hand to his face and staring into space, thoughtfully.

“Thinking back, I recognized her from somewhere. I remember seeing that face behind the scenes of our recordings.” Haechan replied, leaving Y/N on alert.

“You didn't tell me that before.” Mark accused and Haechan shrugged.

“I wasn't sure, but now that the police officer said it, it makes sense to me. She kept looking in our direction.”

Y/N took a deep breath, feeling her blood boil. With the case, she had analyzed other reports of sasaengs and the rumors she had heard about agencies allowing them to infiltrate artists' agendas because they had money was disturbing and revolting.

However, this theory seemed to make more sense than before.

"What do I do?" Mark asked, visibly desperate and Y/N raised her hand to rest on his shoulder but stopped in her tracks.

It would be too inappropriate.

That's why she put her hair behind her ear instead of physically comforting the boy.

"I suggest you buy another phone and don't answer any suspicious calls from an unknown number, always keep your phone in your front pocket."

Mark sighed, he looked so tired that Y/N sympathized with his suffering, it was the final reason she needed to speak with determination.

"She'll pay for this, I promise you."

[...]

Y/N closed the soaked umbrella while banging her fist against the door, that routine was becoming normal and she felt a mix of sensations run through her body waiting for the door to be opened.

She smiled slightly when she saw Mark's clean, confused face and his messy hair, but when she looked down at his bare torso, shock took over her body, she blinked a few times and her jaw dropped as she tried to find some words to say but there was nothing.

Y/N didn't want to notice the way that, even though he was so thin, Mark had a defined body. Well defined. It wasn't surprising, after all he was also a dancer, but she couldn't control her body to contain her stuttered speech.

“Ah shit, sorry!” she heard Mark speak after looking at his own body, finding himself only in his sweatpants while the guitar was in his other hand, Y/N looked at his face and saw that his cheeks took on a pink tone.

“It is…” Y/N cleared her throat as her voice came out weak. "It’s ok."

It was more than fine, she thought.

"Please come in." Mark gave her space and Y/N did so, moving next to Mark's hot body who looked anywhere but at her face. She left her shoes at the door, along with her umbrella. “I'm just going to…” he pointed to his body and she nodded frantically, still not knowing what to say, and followed him to the living room.

Mark practically ran with the guitar in his hand and Y/N put her lips together in a thin line as she watched Mark's back but when her eyes went to the waistband of his pants, she turned her head and with her eyes widened in surprise by the thoughts not at all pure that invaded her head, she lightly slapped her own cheek as if she managed to expel the thoughts.

Put yourself together, she thought.

“Sorry, I have this habit of playing the guitar like that.” she took a deep breath before turning to face Mark again, she was disappointed to see him without his guitar and in his gray hooded sweatshirt but she tried not to show it, the boy was embarrassed enough.

She didn't want to make the situation more uncomfortable than it already was.

“Don’t apologize, please. It’s me who should apologize for coming unannounced, again.”

Mark shook his head and smiled, crossing his arms.

“Apparently you have some more news about the case.” Mark tried to sound subtle but Y/N could find the anxiety in his voice, that was why she took a deep breath feeling her stomach churn with anxiety so she decided to be direct.

"We have the mandate ready." Mark smiled hopefully and was ready to say something when she interrupted him. "But the prosecution knew about your case in advance."

"And?" Mark asked, confused, his frown made him look cute.

"And they want to use this as an example to pressure Congress to pass stronger laws against stalkers."

Mark looked down, the gears in his brain seeming to grind slowly.

"Use as an example?" He questioned and she nodded. "A public trial. Is that it?"

Y/N bit her lip when she saw Mark's very serious expression.

"Yes. The prosecutor believes that with public opinion, especially international opinion, congress will have great motivation for stalkers to be treated as-"

"Wait, officer." Mark interrupted her, raising his hand. "I'm a layman on the subject but this means I'll have to testify in front of the jury. In person."

Y/N scratched the back of her head, feeling her heart sink when she saw Mark's pained expression.

"Yes, Mark. Your testimony at the trial is the main key, just testifying to the police is not enough to convict, it also needs to be in court."

Mark laughed in disbelief and ran his hand over his face, and then through his hair where he ruffled it hard.

He was visibly upset, Y/N understood the reasons but it was the only way to end it.

"Is not fair." he spoke and kept his gaze fixed on Y/N, who felt her shoulders sag.

It was true but he had no choice.

The investigations were practically over, she had nothing else to do.

Now it was with the prosecutor's office.

Mark shook his head and walked past Y/N who just followed him with her gaze, watching him go to the front door angrily, looking for some sneakers.

"Where are you going?" Y/N asked when she saw him put on the pair but had no answer, as Mark opened the door in the next second and walked out of the dorm in long strides.

Y/N ran to put on her shoes and follow Mark, finding him at the end of the hallway.

"Mark!" She called out to him but all she got was silence, which made her run after him again.

He walked out of the dorm and didn't even care about the rain outside as he took long steps down the street, Y/N didn't think about anything other than following him.

"Mark, wait!" She spoke loudly because the heavy rain had already soaked Mark's body and hers, her heavy hair fell in front of her face. "Hey!" she hurried and grabbed his arm, putting all the strength she had into making him stop.

Mark did it, suddenly, and Y/N almost ran into his body for it but she wished she hadn't because now she was staring into Mark's red eyes.

He looked broken inside and out, even in the heavy rain you could see the tears. Y/N felt an uncontrollable urge to protect him.

"What?" he shouted, making her fall silent.

She didn't know what to say, she just wanted to hug him tight enough to ease that suffering.

"I just…" he reluctantly and Y/N kept her eyes fixed on his, encouraging him to continue. "I just wanted, once, just once, to have a normal life like everyone else."

"And what would you do if you were a normal person?" she questioned and saw Mark look intensely into her eyes until he moved down to her mouth.

Y/N didn't have time for any more questions, she just saw Mark approach her in a blur, grab both sides of her face tightly and pull her towards him, their mouths colliding in an almost desperate way.

She widened her eyes when Mark's cold, wet lips took hers, letting a sound of surprise be muffled by the kiss, but Mark's palms covering her skin and his face so close to hers was enough for Y/N to give in to the brief desire at that moment.

She closed her eyes and her hands found Mark's shoulder, feeling her whole body light up with the way his lips moved between hers, tilting her head the kiss became deeper and was the perfect excuse for Mark's tongue seeks hers, bringing his chest closer to hers, their bodies emanating a heat that not even the cold rain was able to stifle.

Y/N sighed when her tongue began to dance in the same fast rhythm as Mark's and she felt his hand hold the back of her neck firmly, sending shivers throughout her body.

The rain, although it made the kiss much wetter and with more saliva than normal, seemed to wash away any kind of insecurity or fear on both sides.

Y/N didn't restrict herself from feeling everything she wanted. She had been attracted to Mark since the first day, and even though her rational side screamed that it was dangerous, she couldn't control the way her heart warmed much more than her body that was touched by him. She felt a peace, a strong connection that she had never felt before.

And Mark, he finally managed to put all his problems aside, it was like he was in another world. One in which Y/N wasn't the police officer who was just there to investigate the case, it went much further. He felt safe and normal.

When they separated, breathing heavy and missing from their lungs, they faced each other once more. Without saying anything, Mark just caressed Y/N's cheek that he was holding and watched her, her lips swollen and red, parted and beautiful.

Y/N kept her hands on Mark's shoulder and lost herself in the current of his eyes, as if it were a black hole that was pulling her. That day, she had promised that she would protect him from everything.

Even if she had to with her own life.

[...]

Y/N sneezed once again as she entered the police station, receiving a greeting from one of her colleagues in which she responded with just one hand.

The headache, the runny nose, the lack of sleep, and being woken up late had everything to do with last night, but none of that mattered to the boss when he saw her.

"You come with me." he pointed at her and continued walking outside the district, she just took a deep breath and turned around, following the detective to the parking lot.

When they got into the car, she dropped her suitcase at her feet and sneezed again.

"Shit." she complained, closing her eyes for a while.

“Did you catch the rain yesterday?” the boss asked and she opened her eyes instantly.

She didn't want to be so suspicious, she hadn't even been able to digest what had happened last night, so she just nodded as she put on the seat belt.

“I told you to use your umbrella.”

She laughed, rolling her eyes theatrically.

"Thank you, dad." the detective laughed at the sarcastic tone, before throwing the tablet that Y/N only noticed he was holding at that moment onto her lap and starting the car.

If it were any other police officer, would never talk with the detective like that. But Y/N was intimate enough for that, and sometimes he acted like he was her father.

"What is that?" she asked, holding up the tablet.

“Unlock the screen and you’ll know where we’re going.” he warned, without taking his attention off the streets and Y/N did as he said.

When she read the title of the article, she felt her blood run cold.

“Lee Mark accused of drugging and abusing minor”

Y/N swallowed hard and wrinkled her nose as she read the article quickly, closing the fists of her other hand so hard that her nails dug into her skin but she didn't care about the pain.

That article was even worse.

And the worst part, it was all a lie. False.

The alleged victim’s “statement” on a social network was too clear for her, in addition to not making any sense, it had only one objective.

“It was the stalker.” she spoke through gritted teeth, trying to control her breathing.

She had no doubts. There was no one other than her who could lie about something so serious.

“I asked intelligence to track the account, of course, she already deleted everything.”

Y/N laughed humorlessly.

“Obviously, her goal was to just throw shit at the media.” she replied angrily.

“And she did, the phone was the same one you identified as the one that had access to Mark’s.”

Great, more evidence against her.

“Can we arrest her now?” Y/N looked at the boss who had a serious expression.

“No, this morning the phone was found.” he glanced at Y/N and took a deep breath before continuing. “On the Han River. I sent a car to her house and the doorman said she hadn’t been there for two days.”

Y/N glared angrily at her boss. It wasn't with him but with the stalker, she wasn't enjoying that Tom and Jerry game.

They should have arrested her last night.

“She knows we’re after her.” she concluded.

“If your theory that she infiltrates the group’s staff is right, then yes.”

“Boss, a lie cannot be proven.” she said, indignantly.

“No, but a true can. That’s what we have to do.” he reminded her and Y/N took a deep breath, looking back at the street.

Anxiety took over her body when she realized that they were close to the company building, very different from the path to Mark's dorm that she was used to, but all she could think about was the boy.

He must have been desperate, much more than yesterday.

Although she should be thinking about her work, it was difficult to control the shiver as she remembered last night and the kiss.

That line was dangerous but it felt so right, Y/N didn't regret kissing Mark because it had only incited the fire of justice within her even more. She needed to help him more than ever, protect him in any way.

“Will SM let the police in through the front door?” Y/N asked as soon as they got out of the car and the boss nodded.

“You can’t even imagine how desperate they are to solve this case.”

Ah, she could actually imagine it.

They entered the building, just showing their badge and entry was authorized, they went to the elevator towards the meeting room where one of the employees had informed them that they would be waiting for them both.

The boss knocked on the door and someone spoke loudly for them to come in, Y/N felt her hands sweat as she entered the room and her eyes searched Mark's, finding him sitting in one of the chairs.

He seemed surprised to see her there but held her gaze, making her heart skip a beat in her chest and memories of last night flooded her head. She could still feel the texture of Mark's lips and the taste of him.

However, she blinked several times when the company's CEO suggested that they sit down, she followed the boss and ended up sitting facing Mark who couldn't take his eyes off her.

She then discovered that in addition to the CEO, SM's lawyer and Mark's lawyer were there, as well as the head of the public relations department.

The meeting had a single objective, to find a way out of that maze.

And Y/N observed everything quietly, listening to the discussions about how they would deal with that without tarnishing the company's image, something that made her raise her eyebrow.

Mark's image should be a priority, or rather, his safety.

She looked back at Mark, he looked not only bothered but irritated too, he kept rubbing his hands while fixing his eyes on a random spot on the table.

“If Mark is sued, we won’t be able to continue with the contract-”

Y/N rolled her eyes surreptitiously. But there was no way she could be listening to that.

"Excuse me." she interrupted, raising her hand and got everyone's attention. “I have an idea, we can set a trap for the girl.”

Y/N's boss looked at her curiously.

"What did you think?"

“It's clear that she is doing everything she can to ruin Mark's life, and I think everyone is aware of that. But you can hush up the case of the false report made on social media.”

"As?" Mark's lawyer asked.

“Release an official note, say Mark has an alibi.” she looked glancing at Mark who had his eyes narrowed at her, trying to follow her reasoning.

“This won’t help without proof.” the head of the public relations department said and she shook her head.

“It will if you say he was with his girlfriend.” she replied with conviction and saw everyone's eyes widen.

"What?"

“But that’s a lie.” Mark spoke a little louder and Y/N looked at him. "I don't have a girlfriend."

She suppressed her smile, she didn't know why but she was happy to hear that from him.

The situation between them would have been much more dangerous if they had kissed while he had a girlfriend...

“Do you want us to defend ourselves from an exposure like this, exposing ourselves even more?” The CEO asked and she nodded.

“Listen to me, if you confirm that Mark is in a relationship and that you hid it to protect his image, in addition to you coming out of this situation as sensible, this will attract the stalker.”

“She’s right.” Y/N's boss agreed, drawing everyone's attention to himself. “The girl has been missing for two days, no one knows where she is. If she believes Mark has a girlfriend, she will come running back to find out who the girl is.”

Everyone was silent, pondering.

“And then, we took action. We take her to jail and the prosecution does its part.”

Y/N looked at everyone's faces, trying to make her confidence convince everyone that the plan was ideal.

They needed to attract the stalker somehow and she couldn't imagine a better scenario than if she believed that Mark already had someone, the girl would change the focus of the threats to the supposed girlfriend.

She faced Mark last, he didn't seem so comfortable with her suggestion but she managed to see something in his eyes that she hadn't seen before.

Hope.

[...]

Y/N wanted to hit herself, she stared at the wall with focus thinking about how she could hit her head without passing out.

Watching Mark after the dating scandal came out to ensure his integrity and watching the stalker appear was perfect.

She had the perfect idea.

Mainly because Mark had been removed from his activities for a few days, the official statement said it was for personal reasons, but Y/N knew that it was all part of the plan to catch the stalker in the act and increase her sentence.

A great idea that the boss had approved.

As long as Y/N kept Mark safe, that she escorted him, and she watched him all night.

Spending all her time outside his apartment doing what exactly? Thinking about the kiss they shared!

Even on duty, with the gun on her waist and her hand nearby in case of any eventuality, she couldn't stop thinking about his lips, no matter how hard she tried.

She didn't know if it was because she had a personal connection to the case and had just felt the need to protect Mark but that kiss moved her in a way that no other had.

It was more than affection.

Mark's sad eyes and the way he looked so small and defenseless in that situation made her feel the need to not only protect him, but also help him in some way.

And as wrong as it was, since she couldn't get involved with the victims, she wanted to do something for him besides work.

To make him feel better, even to vent to someone because she more than anyone knew what an extremely stressful situation it was.

Y/N turned her head and all her attention when she heard the door to his house open slowly, making the noise echo through the silent hallway, her palms were already sweaty before she even saw Mark's shy face.

His dark hair fell into his eyes that were looking for anywhere to look but her eyes.

"It's… um… good evening, officer." His voice came out so shy that she would have smiled if she didn't feel so embarrassed.

The air was tense between them, it was palpable.

"Good evening, Mark." she returned it with a wry smile. "Do you need something?"

"No." He shook his head incessantly, he seemed to search for the right words while holding the door. "Listen, are you going to be out there for too long?"

Y/N sighed, of course he was feeling uncomfortable.

"Until the patrol finds some movement around the perimeter." she explained.

That was the deal.

Mark took a deep breath and raised his eyes to look at her.

"You are not hungry?" The question caught Y/N off guard and she frowned, not understanding. "It's just that I made a lot of food…" he pointed inside his own apartment. "I forgot the members wouldn't be here." He smiled shyly, scratching the back of his head and she watched him carefully.

The police had been very specific, keeping Mark in the dorm was a necessity but they weren't going to put the other boys in danger.

So they all went to a hotel that night.

"I don’t want to bother." She was being sincere, although her stomach rejoiced at the invitation.

"No, no. It won't be uncomfortable." Mark replied promptly, shrugging his shoulders. "It's not against what was stipulated, you'll still watch me... just from inside."

Y/N pondered, a huge part of her saying to accept it soon but until she remembered that she was on duty, working to keep him safe.

Except, well, Mark wasn't wrong. He had a point.

"I don't know…"

"Please." Mark's eyes shone with guilt and she surrendered right then and there. "I feel responsible for you being out there alone when you could be somewhere you really wanted."

She felt offended but didn't take it personally, Mark didn't really know her so he didn't know that she was there of her own free will, it was her duty.

"Don't say that, I don't want you to feel that way." She took a step forward, her fingers itching to touch his shoulder, but stopped where she was. "It's not your fault, Mark, it never was!"

She spoke with conviction and he remained silent, only to nod his head shortly afterwards.

"I'll feel a lot better if you at least come in for a drink of water."

She suppressed a smile and Mark gave her space to enter, without hesitation she did so.

The house was much warmer than the hallway she was in before, she took off her boots at the door and walked in, hearing Mark close the door behind her and feeling him watching her.

"Do you want to eat? Seriously, I made a lot of food." He walked ahead and pointed to where Y/N imagined the kitchen to be, a clear invitation for her to go.

In silence she entered and saw that Mark had actually made a lot of food, enough for the whole night. Even though she was about to deny it, her stomach betrayed her and growled loudly the instant she saw the food.

It looked very delicious.

Although there was one thing missing.

"I know, the egg needs to be fried, right." He laughed softly and Y/N looked at him.

Had she been watching the food for so long?

"I’ll just eat it as is." She replied and Mark approached the stove.

"No, it's okay. I'll do it in a second." He offered and she smiled gratefully.

However, Y/N's smile faded when she saw that Mark looked more like he was about to plant a bomb than fry an egg.

Mark took what he needed a little confused, he muttered quietly to himself and she couldn't understand but she imagined it was the steps of the process.

When one hand was free, he scratched the back of his head and looked at the items on the kitchen counter, as if he wanted to ensure he had gotten everything needed.

This was taking a lot longer than a second.

"Mark." she called after him, stifling a laugh.

He looked at her, even more confused and a little shy.

"Yes?"

"Do you know how to fry eggs?" she crossed her arms and saw him frown.

"Yeah!" he responded promptly, scratching the back of his head again. "You just can't guarantee that it's edible."

Y/N put her hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh, he also laughed a little more shyly.

"Alright, I'll do it."

Y/N approached the stove as Mark opened and closed his mouth to retort, but she just raised her eyebrow and reached out to hold the spatula he was holding.

He ended up giving in willingly and their fingers ended up touching briefly, making them both look at each other at the same moment.

Mark walked away, shyly while Y/N cleared her throat trying not to show how much Mark's eyes affected her.

"Do you want a tip?" she asked, to dispel the disturbing silence and he nodded. "You need to get the oil hot before you add the egg."

Mark paid attention as she announced what she was going to do in a step-by-step that seemed much simpler than what he did.

She took the opportunity and made him an egg too, Mark helped put together the dish and they were quickly sitting on the stools ready to eat.

"Seeing you cook, it seemed easy to do." Mark pointed to the egg, laughing and she mirrored the same reaction.

Catching her attention a little on his wide and genuine smile.

"Because it's easy." She noticed and started to eat.

"For me it's much more complicated than it really is, officer." he replied, watching her expression as she ate.

"But you cook well." She spoke after chewing everything. "This is a feast compared to the hot dogs I eat on the street."

Mark frowned.

"Don't you eat real food when you work, officer?"

She looked at him. She didn't like it when Mark called her an officer often, it seemed like every time he said that word a rift grew between them.

"Define real food."

Mark laughed, he didn't need the answer because she had already said it.

They ate some more in silence, although she noticed Mark's uneasiness.

"Can I ask you a question, officer?" He spoke quietly.

"Y/N."

Mark looked at her confused.

"Huh?"

"Y/N. That's my name." He raised his eyebrows and she smiled slightly. "Instead of just officer."

Mark smirked.

"Y/N."

She had to control the huge smile she wanted to give, she had enjoyed hearing him say her name.

"Of course you can." She moved away from the plate, turning all her attention to him. "Go ahead"

Mark took a deep breath and looked at her deeply.

"Why did you become a police officer?"

She swallowed hard, she didn't imagine he would ask her that right away.

She tried to hide how much that question had weighed on her shoulders and frowned.

"And why did you become an idol?"

He shook his head, his eyes shining with stubbornness.

"I asked first." He remembered and she nodded, looking down at her hands that were in her lap.

"I know how you feel." She shifted on the stool and looked somewhere in the kitchen, avoiding Mark's eyes. "With this stalker thing. You're not the only one who has someone chasing you everywhere."

Y/N suddenly fell silent, her mind flooding with the memories she had forced herself to forget.

"Ex boyfriend?" Mark asked reluctantly.

Y/N looked at him again, smiling sadly.

"I wish it were." She shook her head and he looked even more confused. "I had a childhood friend, we were inseparable in kindergarten but I ended up having to change cities shortly after and lost contact. In elementary school, on a random day, she showed up at the same school, she had enrolled there. At first I thought it was great because I didn't know what had happened to her so I would be able to have that friendship again." She took a deep breath before continuing. "But I had grown up, met other people, had new friends... and she didn't seem to like it very much. She was jealous of all my friends, she said she liked the same guys as me. I started to think it was strange, but it was only in middle school that I started to feel weird around her. She did everything she could to be near me, all the time, as if… as if…"

"You had an intimacy that no one has ever had." Mark concluded and she nodded.

She laughed, sadly.

"Yeah, but it wasn't like that. She wasn't my best friend, the memory I had of her was very different, and her jealousy bothered me a lot so I tried to stay away."

"But it did not work." He guessed.

"Yes, it seemed that the more I moved away, the more she tried to be close to me. She even followed me home several times, sending me messages in the early hours of the morning wanting to question me because I had posted photos with my friends." she sighed. “She said I was the reason she self-harmed.”

Mark's jaw dropped and he watched her helpfully.

"She sent me sensitive photos of slit wrists every time and I always felt guilty. But the messages started to be more frequent and she started threatening me, threatening my family, saying that I had told her to kill herself , although it wasn't like that, I had just warned her and tried to help that if she continued doing that she would end up killing herself. I was so angry because I didn't think there was a reason for that. Until I had enough."

"How?" He crossed his arms and she then realized that Mark was really interested in the story, so she continued.

"I joined the police academy, I was always afraid that she would do something against my family so I thought I could protect them if I was a police officer. Then I decided to change cities, I wanted her focus to change, so she wouldn't need to focus on what to do against my family. I left all social media, I never showed up in the city again."

"And then?"

Y/N scratched her head, this was part she had never told anyone, not even her family. She then got up from the stool and crossed her arms, turning her back to Mark and heading into the living room.

He followed her, he was curious and also worried, but he felt relieved somehow. He had identified with her story.

"And then I ended up here." She opened her arms, turning to look at him. "I was feeling safe enough, until…"

Y/N looked down at the floor, running her hand over her forehead while Mark didn't take his eyes off her, a little reluctant.

"Until?" He urged her to continue but seeing that she was still silent, he took a step towards her.

"Until I was assigned to handle your case." She raised her gaze again to Mark's, seeing him change his expression to one of surprise. "I said I know how you feel because it's the truth. I understand the fear you're feeling."

Y/N saw Mark's eyes falter so she took a step forward, getting closer to him.

"I know it's desperate and that you will do everything to protect the ones you love because that's exactly what I'm doing." Mark looked away and, unable to contain himself, she brought her hand to his face, making him regain eye contact. "If the trial appears on TV, if it's public, she'll find me."

"So you think I shouldn't testify?" he asked quietly, his shoulders so shrugged that it gave him a very fragile image, one that Y/N didn't like.

She shook her head and moved closer to him, cupping the other side of Mark's face with her free hand.

"Quite the opposite. You need to testify." she spoke firmly and he stared at her lips. "You have to end this or else you'll spend the rest of your life hiding."

“But what about you, Y/N?” he asked, worried. "What will happen to you?"

She sighed. Even though she knew that maybe her life would become a nightmare, that wasn't what she was worried about.

It was Mark's life that was at risk, he might never do what he loved again because of a false accusation and if she had the power to stop that from happening, she would strive to help him.

"I'm finally going to put an end to this story. I'm going to stop being the scared, terrified victim." she replied with certainty, a conviction that took Mark's words away.

He just stood there staring at her determined face, he saw a strength in Y/N's eyes that infected him.

He had to do that not only for him or the people he loved but also for everyone else who was going through the same situation.

If he had a chance to start a change, he couldn't let fear stop him.

And as strange as it was, she gave him a security he had never felt before.

Then his eyes dropped to Y/N's lips, not wanting to hold back anymore, Mark moved closer to touch them softly with his own lips.

She slowly closed her eyes at the light contact and had to force herself not to let out a sigh.

However, when Mark hugged her waist and brought her closer while his lips moved skillfully against hers, she simply gave in.

She forgot everything. Her past, her history, what she was doing there, what her mission was.

Mark took her out of orbit and it was intoxicating, all she wanted was to stay there with his warm lips moving slowly against hers, appreciating every inch and tasting her without rushing.

From Mark's face, her hands went to the back of his head and hair, moving his head to the side so that the kiss intensified.

Mark didn't stop the kiss until Y//N hit her back against a hard surface, it was only with surprise that they separated to realize that they were glued to the glass door of the balcony.

She laughed softly, followed by Mark's laugh as he raised his hand to her cheek. Y/N just watched him, with wobbly legs and dropped her hands to his shoulders while Mark caressed her face.

They didn't need words, the only thing that was exchanged there was complicity.

Mark's sideways smile indicated before he tilted his head that he intended to continue what they had started.

If it weren't for the ringing on his phone, notifying him of a new message. He took a deep breath before walking away.

"Y/N. Over."

Still a little dizzy from the lack of air, she reached for the communicator on her waist, watching Mark walk to get the phone from the sofa.

"I am here." She responded, forcing her voice to come out steady.

She saw Mark using his phone with his back to her.

"We saw some strange movement around the back of the building."

Y/N's entire body became alert, her rigid posture appearing again.

"What?"

Y/N didn't take her eyes off Mark, he was motionless.

"It was near some trash cans so we walked around the street to be sure what it was."

She took a deep breath, not liking it.

Mark turned to her, his eyes wide and an expression of pure shock that made Y/N look at him suspiciously.

He turned the phone screen and she returned her attention to Mark's shaking hand until she realized that a video was playing.

She felt her blood boil as she recognized the place and people in the video.

"We didn't find anything."

In front of her, on Mark's phone, a video of the kiss they had just exchanged played with a zoom clearly enough to identify both of them.

Y/N swallowed hard, not knowing what to do for the first time ever.

They kissed with so much passion that even though she didn't feel guilty, she felt embarrassed that it was recorded.

She looked at Mark, who even confused, had understood everything.

"Stop the car and go up to the building. Now." She ordered before turning off the communicator.

Y/N ran a hand over her face while Mark scratched the back of his head, staring at his phone screen again.

"She is here." He spoke quietly, with his eyes lost on a specific point on the phone. "She is here!"

Y/N took a deep breath and approached Mark.

"Hey." She rested her hands on his shoulders. "Mark, look at me."

He obeyed, scared.

"How did she do it?!"

"Don’t do that. That's what she wants, to make you scared!" she reminded him, making him nod.

"She sent the video with a message." He handed the phone to Y/N, who quickly took it, breaking the contact established with Mark.

She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes angrily after reading 'If you don't come and find me, your girlfriend will become famous'.

"I'm tired, Y/N!"

She opened her eyes, looking at Mark, he shook his head nonstop, completely disbelieved.

"I can't take all this mess anymore."

"You can, Mark, you're strong!"

He wet his own lips with his tongue and pressed them together in a thin line.

"You are right." He looked at her, making her raise her eyebrow in silent question. "I need to testify. I'm going to testify."

[...]

Y/N was hurriedly walking down the corridor of the police station, it was early in the morning and even though her body was tired from not having gone to sleep yet, the anger and hatred that coursed hotly through her veins left her more awake than ever.

She entered her boss's office without knocking and when she saw him standing next to the table, she found that he was already waiting for her.

He took a deep breath, his hands in his pants pockets.

"What about Mark?" he asked, worried.

"I left the patrollers there." she replied after closing the door with a thud, heading towards the chair in front of the table.

Y/N threw herself into the chair, being watched by her boss.

"Great, so we can talk." She nodded, the boss then handed his phone and she looked at it with a frown. "About this."

Y/N turned her attention to the phone and felt her blood suddenly run cold as she reviewed the video of the kiss between her and Mark.

A lump formed in her throat and she had nothing to say for a few seconds.

"How… who sent you that?" she raised the phone, after closing the video, irritated.

"She sent it to another deputy from another police station." he explained, returning to his chair and sitting down, to face Y/N. "Lucky for you two, he is a good friend of mine and realized it was a case of blackmail. This hasn't been leaked to the press yet."

She swallowed hard. She had nothing to explain to her boss because the video was enough.

"Y/N, I warned you about your emotions in this case."

"Boss, I didn't plan any of this-"

"I know that." He raised his hand to stop her. "But it doesn't make any difference anyway, because that kind of involvement is too dangerous."

She narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Getting emotionally involved with a victim in cases like this rarely ends well." he leaned back in the chair. "Know that I'm not removing you from the investigations just because everything is ready."

She swallowed the answer she wanted to give. It wouldn't be fair to her.

"It would be very difficult to explain why to the supervisor and both you and Mark need to protect yourself from this type of gossip."

She nodded.

"The girl said that if Mark didn't find her, this video would be exposed, but apparently she can't keep her word." She huffed, irritated.

"I thought you better than anyone understood that these kinds of people can't be trusted."

"I'm always surprised." she replied in disbelief.

"I'm going to talk to Mark's lawyer by the end of the day." she frowned, that information was new to her. "We need to get him out of the country as soon as possible, we can't delay it any longer."

Y/N felt her shoulders sag. They were fighting against this possibility at all costs but apparently there was no other way out.

"With the warrant issued, she won't be able to leave the country and so we caught her."

"Let me tell him." she begged, being closely watched by her boss. "Please."

"You overstepped, didn't you?" he crossed his arms after a while of silence.

Y/N swallowed hard and looked at the boss in complete surprise.

"What?"

"You fell in love with the boy."

Y/N felt her entire body shiver and her jaw dropped slightly as words failed her, she wanted to deny it with all her strength but her body didn't obey.

Didn't obey because she agreed with the boss.

Didn't obey because it was true.

At first it was pure need to protect him, she identified with his case in a very personal way. But after the first kiss, she felt her heart leap out of her mouth every time she thought about him, which ended up being very constant because her entire attention was focused solely on Mark, either because she was working on the case or because she was thinking about what had happened between them.

She rubbed her cold hands, still trying to find an answer, which wasn't coming.

"Boss-"

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me.” his voice sounded much calmer than she imagined. “You can’t imagine how common this is.” she smiled, embarrassed. “But you know what happens now, don’t you?”

She frowned, confused.

“You became the main target.”

“I’m not afraid of her.”

Y/N felt the blood bubbling hotly through her veins every time she thought about that stalker, it was the fuel she needed to do what was right. She wanted justice, that's all.

And she would, one way or another.

[...]

Y/N drove down the streets that would lead to Mark's house, her only purpose in talking to her boss was to ensure Mark's safety. First they would take him out of the apartment and take him to a safe place before boarding him on a flight back to Canada, it would be for a short time but enough to arrest the stalker and begin the trial.

He would come back, that was obvious, but that didn't mean that Y/N's didn’t heart sank and anguished when she remembered that she wouldn't see him for a few weeks.

She wanted to make sure he was okay.

“Attention vehicles, report of suspected robbery at a grocery store.”

Y/N turned up the volume on the radio to hear better and frowned when the location was mentioned, a street next to the one where Mark lived. When the center repeated it, Y/N's mind worked quickly and was soon fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together.

That was why she accelerated the car even more, turning on the siren so she could pass between the cars more quickly. She felt her heart racing faster than the car she was driving and she shook her head, wishing that what she was thinking wasn't happening. However, all her fears became clearer when she didn't see the patrol car on the street outside Mark's house. Y/N got out of the car before she could even turn it off, pulling the gun from her waistband as soon as she set foot on the street.

Her hands were shaking and she had to hold the gun tighter than necessary, she didn't enter the building through the front door, she went through the back and was very attentive to every inch, she went up through the service elevator. She would have taken the stairs if she hadn't known that it had been on purpose, she knew where to go and wouldn't need to analyze the floors of the building as protocol said.

The climb to Mark's floor felt like slow torture and when the metal doors opened, she took a deep breath before leaving. She swallowed hard when she saw the apartment door slightly opened and there was no longer any doubt for her, she felt her heart beating in her ears and her jaw clenched as she approached the door without making a sound.

She raised the gun forward with one hand and with the other she opened the door suddenly, she didn't see anyone in the entrance hall so without thinking twice, she entered the house.

She didn't hear any noise and that made her alert, but when she went to the living room she felt her shoulders give in slightly, the strength seemed to be lacking in her legs but at the same time her instinct reacted by raising the gun towards the stalker who had a knife pointed at Mark's neck.

Y/N swallowed the growl that almost escaped her mouth and aimed for the girl's head, she was ready for that with her finger on the trigger, the stalker didn't even make the effort to hide behind Mark.

She just didn't shoot because Mark's terrified face and tears weighed heavily on her heart. The rational part of her brain knew that if she fired there and now, with the blade's proximity to Mark's skin, she would risk his life.

And that was everything she wouldn't do.

“It took you long enough.”

Y/N took a deep breath, controlling the urge to tell her to fuck off.

That crazy woman was still cynical.

"What do you want?" she asked through gritted teeth, gripping the gun tighter.

“I already have what I want.” She smiled widely, bringing her face closer to Mark's to plant a kiss on his cheek, who tried to pull away with a disgusted grimace. “It’s right here, isn’t it my love?”

“And why all this theater to get me here?” Y/N questioned, glaring at her. “You were the one who made the anonymous report of the theft.” it wasn't a question.

Because the stalker's insolent smile said exactly the answer she already knew.

"Of course." she replied with a tone of obviousness. “How did you expect those two idiots guarding the door to let me in without me being seen?”

“They weren’t going!”

"Exactly." she shrugged. “That’s why I needed to get them out of my way. You should thank me, police officer, I spared their lives.”

Y/N laughed in disbelief.

“You won’t kill a fly.”

The stalker smiled devilishly and pressed the knife further into Mark's neck, making him raise his head to try to get away from the blade, Y/N held her breath.

“Don’t provoke me, officer, you don’t know me.” she threatened.

"Okay!" Y/N agreed. “Get away from Mark and I’ll give you what you want.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? I walk away and you shoot me. You're smart." she grabbed Mark by the shoulder with her other hand.

Y/N was becoming distressed by the exaggerated proximity so she raised her hands, removing her aim from her head.

"Is it better this way?" she asked angrily, raising her eyebrow.

“I don’t know how Mark got interested in a coward like you.” she teased and Y/N locked her jaw. Okay, she wasn't going to fall for that conversation, it was purposeful and she knew it. “But you know it can be funny.” the stalker slightly raised the hand that was holding the knife and Y/N paid attention to the movement. “Almost like a joke.”

Now it had become too personal.

"You're right." she smiled ironically at her, who looked at her in surprise. “I’m really smart.”

Before a blink of an eye, Y/N aimed the gun at the stalker and fired. The shot echoed through the apartment and Mark flinched to the side in fright, Y/N kept her stance firm and the gun still extended as she saw the stalker fidget on the floor, reaching for her injured shoulder.

Y/N approached in long strides, placing herself in front of Mark protectively, the girl struggled to try and hold the knife that had fallen a little away.

Y/N shook her head and kicked the knife away, far enough away that the stalker couldn't reach it.

"You are under arrest!" she announced before turning to face Mark.

Y/N felt her heart sink when she saw Mark devastated, he seemed like he couldn't breathe and that made her place a hand on his shoulder.

“Mark.” she called softly, seeing him run his eyes around the room, scared. “Hey, it’s over.”

He nodded before looking into her eyes, the exchange of glances was quick but for them it lasted an eternity, until Y/N shifted her attention to Mark's neck.

It was marked and red, but no injuries. It was enough to breathe a sigh of relief, she felt her whole body tingle with the adrenaline that was beginning to subside.

She put the gun in her waistband and took her phone from her pants pocket, calling for backup.

After the call, she lifted the stalker and handcuffed her, leaving her sitting on the floor near the sofa. Then, being very careful not to scare Mark, she led him out of the apartment. Only then would they have privacy to talk.

"Are you okay?" she asked, calmly analyzing his face.

He swallowed, drying his sweaty hands on his pants.

“I guess… I guess so.” he took a deep breath.

“I know, after all the adrenaline wears off your body feels sore.” Y/N's fingers itched to touch Mark's face and this time she didn't hold back.

She made him look her in the eyes. He had a mix of emotions there and it was enough to hug him.

Y/N buried her face in the back of Mark's head and he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, shaking so much that she had to pat his back to try to calm him down.

She wanted to envelop him with the certainty that everything was okay in the same way that the heat of his body enveloped her.

"You saved my life." he said, his voice being muffled by the hug. “I will never be able to thank you enough.”

Y/N smiled lightly and moved away, seeing Mark's grateful smile up close.

"You don't need to. Just live your life like you have been doing and that’s enough for me.” Y/N's eyes dropped to his lips.

She fought the urge to kiss him one last time and so she bit her lower lip.

“So it’s like this?” Y/N narrowed her eyes at Mark's question, not understanding. “Is this how we’re going to say goodbye?”

Y/N opened her mouth to respond but no sound came out as she didn't know what to say, she shrugged sheepishly.

“If you want to-” she started but was interrupted by Mark, who got close enough so that their noses were touching slightly.

Y/N got lost in his eyes, which begged her to stay.

"Don’ go away." he asked and she smiled slightly. “It's going to be hard being away from you, officer. I survived the game thanks to you.”

[rebelliousstories]

Communication

Relationship: Sean Renard x Reader

Fandom: Grimm

Request: Yes by Anon (Technically)

Warnings: Brief Strong Language, Angst, Fluff, Happy Ending

Word Count: 2,413

Main Masterlist: Here

Grimm Masterlist: Here

Summary: Having never expected to be in love with a kehrseite, Sean has no idea how to proceed in the relationship.

Evil is also not anything small or close to home, and not the worst; otherwise one could grow accustomed to it.

“Sean! Stop it!” A feminine giggle sounded through the condo as she was attacked by her boyfriend.

“Never, my dear.” Sean continued to drape his body over hers, and nuzzle his day old scruff into her neck.

It was a blessed couple of days off for the couple, and a rare occurrence. Appreciating the time, they spent majority of it tangled up in the silken sheets of their bed, and only left it for necessary things. Hearing the phone start to ring, Renard groaned, and dropped them back down onto the bed together.

“You should probably answer that, darling.” Reaching her hand out to grab the offending item, he snatched her wrist back into his quickly.

“No. Work already know that I wanted to not be disturbed while off today and yesterday. Do not pick it up!” He demanded with a light growl into her neck, causing more giggles to erupt. She tried to speak, but Sean simply captured her lips in his, taking any words that may have previously been spoken. Whether they simply chose to ignore the ringing, or it stopped and started again, the couple heard it once more, and groaned.

“You really should check on that. It’s starting to annoy me.” She complained, disengaging their lips and dropping her head on to the pillows below. Renard allowed his head to find purchase on her chest, before he grabbed the phone. Pausing as he saw the number across his screen, he sat up like he had been burned and went to leave the room. Pulling on some pants, he finally answered the phone.

“Oui?” Sean clipped, surging out of the room and leaving his lover behind on the bed. He had shut the door, which meant that she could not hear him clearly, but she knew he was speaking entirely in French. It was not a language that she knew a lot about, having only picked up a a few phrases from spending time around her lover.

Laying back against the silken sheets, she breathed a deep sigh of discontent. There were no secrets between them, except whatever he spoke about on those phone calls in French. At first, she handled the excuse that it was political work, stuff that came with being captain of the police force in Portland. But she had heard those phone calls with his detectives and officers, they were all in English. She did not know what he was hiding from her, but it was starting to make her sick. Sean returned to the room, this time without the phone to his ear, and made his way to their shared closet.

“Darling, I have to go in. Something came in at work.” He called, picking out a suit for him to wear. She sat up and clutched the sheets to her body.

“You’re supposed to be off for the rest of today,” came her complaint. Sean sighed and moved his way to the bathroom and started the shower.

“I’m sorry, dear. But I have to go in. Duty calls. Would you care to join me?” He held out his hand, but she turned around and showed her back instead.

Sean made quick work of his shower after that. He could probably spare a few minutes to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee with his lover, but she seemed content to stay in bed and not speak with him. Fixing his tie as best as he could, Sean draped his suit jacket, and tan over coat over the chair at the desk in the room. Kneeling down to where his girlfriend had turned over, he reached out a hand and stroked her arm.

“Help me with my tie?” He pleaded, watching her purse her lips. She sat up, and straightened out the tie residing on Renard’s chest. They both knew that he was more than capable of making sure his tie was perfect, he had been doing it for so long that it was second nature. But neither one called attention to it; it was a sense of bliss for them, allowing her to help him finish getting ready for the day.

“Darling, I know that it’s not how we planned, but-”

“But you have to go in. It’s okay. I’m fine. I get it. Doesn’t mean that I can’t be upset about it.” She cast her eyes down to her hands. Sean leaned up, and guided her gaze back to his with a gentle touch of her chin.

“When are you going to tell me what it is you’re hiding?” The sudden question made the man force himself to school his expression. It was only a matter of time before she had questions.

“It’s just work, dear. Nothing more than that.” Sean tried to reassure her, but she slipped from his grasp and to the other side of the bed. He sighed once more, and felt himself lose just a hint of control over his being. He was glad that she was turned away from him at that moment, because he could feel the woge taking over before he quelled it.

“I’ll be home tonight in time to make our reservation. Je t’aime, mon cher.” He called, and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead before he left. Normally, she perked up and almost preened under hearing him speak French to her, but she stayed underneath the covers till she heard the front door shut behind the police captain.

Going through their days were tough. She was bored at home, with no one but herself, and simply allowed herself to waste away the day. It did not feel like a specially requested day off anymore; it just felt like a regular day off from her job. Meanwhile, Sean had been trying to figure out what his family was up to, and made his way to an out of use, abandoned building. However, what he was met with, was nothing. The sun was starting to set and he needed to get home. Sean had no time for games. Ringing the phone of the person who called him, he nearly jumped hearing the ringing coming from less than a foot away from him. Underneath the phone, was a note. A note that, when read, made Sean drop it and race to his car.

We do not take kindly to outsiders. No matter how they find their way into your bed.

Renard definitely broke several traffic laws trying to race home. He never should have left this morning. He never should have left her all by herself. And now, he may never get the chance to leave her at home again. Sean took stairs two at a time to make it up to his condo, and immediately drew his gun upon finding his door. The view inside that awaited him was unlike anything he had seen that day, let alone that week.

Broken glass from a picture frame was right inside the door. A shattered vase lay in pieces upon the ground of the kitchen. And his lover, bloody, beaten, and bruised, was being held up by two people Sean did not know, with a third standing nearby with a knife dripping in blood, and a fourth person observing it all.

“Come now. No need for something so American.” A smooth, accented voice broke the captain free from his wandering mind. He noted a cut on the side of the face of the man holding a knife, and felt relief that those self defense lessons he had given her paid off a little bit. The third cut man came upon Sean, and relieved him of his firearm, leaving him without a weapon.

“What’s this all about?” Renard questioned, watching the but man go back to where his lover was still being held up by her arms.

“Oh, this?” He motioned to Sean and his lover across the room. “This is just business. Nothing personal you see.” The captain was steadily clearing the distance in the room but was stopped by a gun pointed at him. It prevented him from getting any closer to his lover.

“Now, you might be wondering, why all of this. Well,” the accented man started, “truly, it is quite simple. We want the key that the Grimm has. Failure to retrieve it will send a, how do you say, unfortunate lesson to your door.” Sean listened to him, but kept his eyes on the woman across the room that struggled to return his gaze.

“And her, ah. Such a lovely woman. But even you must know, that with your… heritage, we will not allow your relationship to continue.” He chuckled as he raked his eyes over the woman’s body. She visibly cringed and struggled against her captures, wanting nothing more than to pluck the eyes from his head so she never had to feel that gaze again.

“Have you even told her of what you are?” The man continued, running a hand over the captive woman’s face.

“Sean, what is he talking about?” She whimpered, locking her gaze onto her lover that stood in front of her. The man said nothing which prompted the other one to laugh.

“Oh, this is just too good. You really have yet to find a way to break it to the little kehrseite. Maybe we should find a way to do so.” Nodding towards the captain, the woman was deposited into the arms of the main man who held her tightly towards his chest. Three against one, it appeared that Sean was outmatched for this fight. As she stared at them, unable to pull her eyes from the inevitable fight, she watched as the three people who held her shifted into something more resembling a dog than a person.

Her gasps were cut short as a hand fitted itself around her throat, cutting off any noise that threatened to escape.

“You won’t want to miss this.” The man hissed in her ear.

One after the other, the three dog people attacked Sean. He grunted and tried to block their attacks, but it was in vain. They kept landing hit after hit, and as much as he tried to fight back, they were simply too powerful for him. That is when he saw it. A similar ripple came across Sean’s face, leaving his right eye and left side of his mouth deformed. She did not know what she was seeing. Her boyfriend was something like the people who attacked her. The man to her back was laughing as he watched the royal dispatch of the dogs easier now that he had shown his true colors.

“Beautiful!” He shouted, as three bodies laid at Sean’s feet. Whether they were dead or knocked out, she did not know. “Doesn’t it feel good to have that all released? No more hiding, mon ami!” But his triumph did not last long.

Narrowing his eyes on the man, Sean stalked over and attacked. Throwing punch after punch, he did not stop until the man was bloodied and beaten within an inch of his life. Hearing shuffling behind him, Renard turned towards the source. His girlfriend. Forcing the wage underneath his skin again, he tried to reach for her but she moved out of his way.

“What the hell was that?” She barked, but Sean said nothing.

“What’re you trying so hard to hide?” Through her screams, tears slipped down her face as she tried to process what was going on.

“Cher, I will explain everything to you soon. But you need medical attention.” He reached for her once more, and in a state of shock, she let him. Sean deposited her on the couch and grabbed his phone.

“This is captain Sean Renard. I need units and an ambulance at my residence.” She did not catch much of the phone call; her eyes stared at the three bodies that were lying on the floor.

“What just happened?” Came her whisper, so Sean sat down on the couch and held her hands.

“Just listen while I explain. Any questions you have, I’ll answer at the end.” And with that, they sat there, listening and talking until the units arrived. Medics arrived before Sean could answer her questions but he made sure to tell her something very important.

“Whatever you do, don’t mention you saw anything weird happen. They’ll just throw you in the mental ward.” So she did not. Telling her side of the story, of how they slipped in through the front door and balcony and attacked her. How she smashed vases and tried to slice one with a kitchen knife she managed to grab. The beating that she had endured in the meantime till Sean got there and saved her.

Sitting down on a hospital bed, she smiled at the nice nurse who left the couple alone for the time being. Getting stitches and x-rays was not how she envisioned spending her day today, but here they were. They sat in silence and Sean tried to hold her hand. However, her hand was limp in his while she stared off into space.

“I’m so sorry, mon cher.” Renard admitted quietly. He leaned down slightly an pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“What are you?” She finally spoke. Lifting his head, he paused briefly to gather his thoughts.

“My mother was hexenbiest. My father was a royal. So I am half-zauberbiest.” He left nothing out, not wanting to keep secrets anymore.

“When you speak in French on your phone calls, is this why? You’re dealing with royal business?” Came her question.

“Yes.” He spoke.

“Okay. It’ll take a little getting used to but-” she paused, “I think I can live with it.” She nodded, and squeezed her lover’s hand softly.

“What did he call me? A ‘K’ something. Keera?” Struggling to find the word, Sean stepped in to help.

“Kehrseite?” He supplied. Her nod confirmed that was the word she was looking for.

“A kehrseite is a normal person. Not of the wesen world. However, I suppose you are now a kehrseite-schlich-kennen. A normal person who knows about our world.” Nodding again, she seemed to accept the information that her brain was being loaded with.

“No more secrets, please?” She whispered, looking towards Sean with soft eyes.

“No more secrets, my love.” He confirmed, and pressed a gentle kiss to her head. Evil is also not anything small or close to home, and not the worst; otherwise one could grow accustomed to it.

[starlightshadowsworld]

Bsd except Atsushi is able to rescue himself and Kyouka from the ship. Both of them are heading back to the Agency.

When, thanks to the tigers hearing, Atsushi overhears what's being said before he reaches the office.

"Do we really need to save him?" Asks Ranpo, lounging back in his chair and getting a lollipop from somewhere.

"He got kidnapped because of the bounty on his head. In other words, it's his own problem right?"

Atsushi froze in place. Were they... Were they planning on leaving him behind? No, no that can't be right.

"We're not his personal body guards nor did he join us for protection." Continues Ranpo, shrugging his shoulders.

'Their not but... " But Atsushi recalls Dazai's words. That he wasn't alone anymore. He was part of the Agency. And that meant they'd look out for him.

Atsushi thinks about the train, how even when he was fighting Kyouka alone he hadn't been afraid.

All because Yosano was nearby. She'd taken him shopping and Atsushi knew she wouldn't let anything happen to him. Because that's what the Agency does, right?

Had that all been a lie?

"Atsushi is part of the Agency!" Yells Junichiro, eyes wide in shock. A glimmer of hope shines in Atsushi's eyes. Maybe he was just overthinking it.

But than Kunikida speaks and that hope dies. "Ranpo has a point, we have no reason to do anything."

No reason.

Kunikida had always been harsh but Atsushi could see the kindness in his words.

He'd warned Atsushi to stay away from Kyouka, not out of malice. But because he was worried about him.

He'd looked out for Atsushi from the start. Even if he complained at times, Atsushi could see the underlying warmth.

'... So why...?'

"Atsushi is a dangerous beast wanted the police. The Detective Agency will be implicated if this comes to light."

Atsushi remembered getting his foot nailed to the ground. He remembered Akutugawa severing his leg. And yet none of that hurt quite like this.

... How could he so stupid.

It all made sense now. The Agency looked out their own, that was true. But Atsushi was not one of them.

The Agency was full of kind, strong individuals who did everything to protect this city. Atsushi was only here so the Presidents ability would control his.

They were a family, they were trying to protect their family from harm. And here was Atsushi, ruining it all.

How could he be so stupid?

To think that he belonged here with them. Atsushi was nothing but a burden on them all, a debt that couldn't be repaid. A nuisance that they'd all have to deal with.

Kunikida was right, Atsushi was a dangerous beast. And he'd gotten to close to them and tricked them into thinking them he was human.

He'd even tricked himself.

Junichiro and Naomi were attacked by Akutugawa because of Atsushi.

Yosano and all those people on the train were attacked because of Atsushi. Kyouka almost died because of him.

Atsushi could've spared them all had he just left that day like he planned.

But he'd stuck around, tricked himself into thinking he deserved their kindness. When all he did was bring misfortune their way.

It was all Atsushi's fault. Just like everything always was. Whenever something went wrong at the Orphanage they'd blame Atsushi.

The Headmaster said it was because Atsushi was a beast of calamity. He told him he bought misfortune onto everyone around him.

He was right about him.

He always has been.

"Don't bother" says Atsushi, walking in through the doors. His head stays down even when he takes a seat at his desk.

He doesn't see the suprised and relieved smiles aimed his way. He'll take whatever punishment they give him without complaint.

And if they were too kind, Atsushi would take matters into his own hands. He wouldn't burden the Agency anymore.

They'd given him too much, been too kind and he'd taken it all for granted. The Headmaster would call him ungreatful, call him greedy.

He was right.

It was time Atsushi remembered his place. He might not be chained anymore but this place was his cage. They only kept him around to keep the rest of the city safe.

Junichiro tells him panicked and hurriedly that the Agency weren't going to just abandon him out there.

Atsushi thinks of a rubbish bag that let's in no air. He think of being thrown out with only the clothes on his back.

"You didn't abandon me." Says, Atsushi with a smile, relieved that Junichiro smiles back. It's blinding warmth and Atsushi looks away quickly like it'll burn him.

He doesn't deserve this.

Junichiro didn't deserve to feel guilt towards Atsushi. The Agency didn't abandon him, Atsushi would've had to belong for them to do that.

And Atsushi did not belong, he knew that now.

When the bounty dropped he'd do them all a favour and leave. Vanish into the night without a trace, they'd never have to worry about him again.

It was his worst fear but it was everything a beast like him deserved. If the Orphanage, the worst place on earth didn't want him why would anyone else?

(Agencies dialogue comes from Chapter 10 of the manga/episode 9 of the Anime)

[shakespeareallanpoe]

Talks With Father

Word count: Idk

Warnings: none, unless you're terrified of Bruce being a good dad 😕

Dedication: @purp1e-ph0enix & @bradshawsbaddie

_____________________

"You mention her often."

Damian turned to look at the vigilante beside him, his finely tuned senses and years of knowing his father filling in everything Batman didn't say. There was no prompt, no segway into this conversation. They were sitting in the Batmobile while the computer program inside was rebooting and nothing but comfortable silence between them only a few seconds previously. It was offered as conversation starter and Damian knew Batman wouldn't push. In his own bat-way he was telling his son he was aware- the greatest detective in Gotham City was always aware.

Damian didn't put much stock into his father's experience with relationships, and they both knew Batman wasn't offering advice. Damian could leave it there. Batman wouldn't tell anyone and his son knew he would likely never mention it again. Damian almost took it, and if it was a couple years ago he would've. But since he had joined and left the Titans, Damian had seen the effects of allowing relationships to deepen beyond the surface level his league training always taught him to maintain. Being back with the league as their leader, he saw just how inhuman they had expected him to be. Damian rarely got the genuine moments his younger self always scoffed at, and he knew his mental and emotional health wasn't benefitting from it.

It's how he found himself occasionally visiting Gotham. At it's worst it was a filthy city that reeked of crime, and never failed to have some crisis or another. Damian was a hero here. He knew he was violent and brash but that's what the city needed when the police failed. Gotham always needed him for who he was, and Damian remembered telling his father these things go both ways. He needed Gotham as well. To take a break from the league, when that world got so toxic it became hard for him to breathe. Hard to see the man in his mirror.

Only Alfred and his father knew. Of course they knew. But Batman put a great deal of effort for the sake of his son, and allowed Damian to come and go as he pleased. It was hard for the man with trust issues and severe paranoia, but a week before he passed Dick had spoken to Batman about letting Damian go. That he would fly true if he was given the chance to spread his wings. And everyone knew the bat was trying to live by his first son's final wishes.

It didn't weigh on Damian's mind for long. His relationship with his father had greatly improved, to the point that they now worked together during Damian's visits. His father already knew. And self growth could only make a person stronger for it, so why not?

"I want to know how she is. She has yet to leave my... heart."

Batman exhaled, a sign that he'd heard his son's even response. Damian never reached out to his old teammates, but he did occasionally inquire as to how they were after the spilt. Batman kept tabs on them for these moments, and while he knew little about Raven, what he did know he always shared. Despite it hardly ever being good news.

"Raven is strong. She is with Kent at the moment and doing all she can." Batman's dark voice offered.

Damian didn't hesitate. "Just because the burden is carried well does not mean it is deserved. She is innocent, suffering, and still trying to save those who are the same. Magic is the only difference between the people and their hero."

Batman knew he and his son's tendencies towards philosophical pessimism would only darken their conversation. This world was a mess and those who fought for justice rarely got justice of their own. His first son was dead. His biological son existed because someone he cared for took advantage of him without remorse. But Batman, in his heart, desperately wanted the best for the youth of his city. All the children who could have lives he never could if only he sacrificed himself in every way for his city.

Looking across the Batmobile which had 4.33 seconds left in it's update, seeing the face that looked so much like his own at the age when he was lost in his determination to become the hero his life never had, Batman smiled softly at his son. "That doesn't mean she isn't cared for."

Damian, halfway lost in his own mind, truly a mirror of his father, had no response. Raven deserved so much more. She worked so hard and never gave a sign of the pain and pressure she had to endure. This world was a mess and those who fought for justice rarely got justice of their own. Damian's oldest brother was dead. His father hated him in the beginning because he was the physical reminder of how cruel the world could be. But Damian, in his heart, desperately wanted the best for Raven. He wished he could rewrite her fate, which seemed to be carved with blood in the stars, and give her the peace she sacrificed herself for in every way for her world.

Damian eventually found his own voice breaking himself from his musings, spilling from his mouth as if it took no thought. "Please help them. Save her."

Batman nodded, his finely tuned observation filling in everything Damian didn't say. The older man silently handed his son the keys to the Batmobile and moved to get out of the driver's seat. "Damian. The things that mean the most to us are the things we sacrifice everything for. You both care for the world and one day, you have to believe that the world will give it back to you."

"Tt. That sounds like a Hallmark marathon in the Wayne Manor was finished recently." Damian shot back lightly, grabbing the keys with a grin.

"It might have been." Batman replied evenly, holding the driver's door open while his young superhero climbed in. "I expect the car in perfect shape when it inevitably returns past your curfew."

"High expectations. We'll see what the criminal underbelly of Gotham has to say about that. Could be a rough night."

Batman stood back from his car in anticipation for his youngest's depart. "Shouldn't be a problem then. But if you want your first date to be a seaside picnic on the Wayne Beach with Alfred's cookies, I look forward to seeing the Batmobile in good shape tomorrow morning."

Damian blushed- only faintly- as only a teenager talking to his father about his crush would. "Perhaps your Hallmark movies do provide a potential benefit, however miniscule and insignificant."

Batman smiled almost teasingly. "There's no need to suffer through the cinema you don't enjoy. I've already collected quite the list of romantic outing ideas I think the two of you would like."

"Father! Do not meddle with my life!" Came Damian's indignant and completely flustered response from the interior of the giant black vehicle. He didn't want to know how long his father had been collecting romantic ideas for a potential future he may have with his Raven.

Batman snorted. "Alfred's idea. Told me to put my time in the theater room to good use. Kate is the one who went out of her way to buy Raven a series of date night dresses. I believe she called them 'adorable' in her description to me. Do you think Raven would look suitable in them?"

Damian in that moment was busy thanking every god he didn't believe in that the blackout window was up to hide his scarlet face as he violently shifted the car into gear and raced out of the batcave.

Do NOT think about Raven in an adorable purple dress

Do NOT think about Raven in an adorable purple dress

[zarvasace]

1931 Vampire AU!

For those unaware, I wrote a bit of a neat Linked Universe setting AU last year that I haven't done much with, but I really like it and want to share a bit more about it! Links to the existing fics where relevant.

The series on AO3 is here!

(It would also be fun to develop this AU a little more, and I'd like to draw some stuff for it, so if you send in an ask about it, I might answer with a doodle. ;) )

AU basics: a hidden magic world in America, the year 1931 after WWI. None of the boys are human (except Twilight, at least at first), but they all think they're hiding magic from everyone else, at least for a time. :) There are a lot of magical peoples in this world, organized in their own ways, e.g. merfolk kingdoms, fae courts, the vampire councils, entire hidden cults, and hunter organizations. Ganon exists, but he's a hidden threat that they've all faced in one way or another.

Character summaries!

Wind: the focus of this AU. (The original fic was an excuse to make him very cool.) He was born 1696 in Florida ish, at the height of the golden age of piracy. He was turned into a vampire by Tetra in about 1710 and is eternally physically 14. He sailed with her crew (all pirates) for a few decades. She was invited to the western vampire council in Spain in 1750 as the vampire pirate queen, but... stuff went down. (fic: Body and Soul Marooned) She and her whole crew died, along with a lot of vampires. Wind survived, getting a nice angsty scene in there where they said wedding vows as she died, and went on to try and warn other councils about the upcoming massacres. Because most vampires died during that time, Wind is one of the oldest vampires still alive, and most who survived that time owe their lives to him.

Warriors: the secondary focus of this AU. He was a legitimate soldier during WWI, proper age and everything. When Wind enlisted, Wars took it upon himself to guide this seemingly young kid, and got killed doing so. Wind turned him into a vampire, not wanting him to die. (fic: In the Chill of Battle) He has a fun relationship with Wind, both of them taking the big-brother role in turns. Wars is a younger vampire, but his brain and body was able to mature more, so. Before Wars knew Wind, he was also captain of a division with Time, not that Time remembers that right off. Wars acts the responsible adult, so he gets them both hired as part of Time's team.

Time: he's Twilight and Wild's uncle. When he was a kid, he was whisked away to Faerie and replaced by a changeling for a few years. He fought his way back to find that time had passed differently for him, so he's mentally older than he appears. He didn't get out without being touched by the fae, and is beholden to some of their rules. He's the only one old enough to have enlisted in the military at a legal age, and used his status as a veteran to get a job at a local police station as a sort of detective. That's how he collects all the boys. :)

Wild: half-vampire. He's aging slowly, but still aging. He's close to Twilight, but always felt like he didn't exactly belong. Vampires as an organization don't believe there are many dhampirs out there, and don't like them, but a few underground cells have been organizing. Wild had a few run-ins with them. He's aware of a lot more magic than people think he is, having networked out to several kinds of magical peoples. The Yiga are a cult of shapeshifters that are out for his blood. (fic: Caged) He joined the team when the existing members came to save him and Twilight from them, later in the "story." Wild is one of those in the group willing to do Mad Science. :)

Twilight: is human. He dealt with Wild his whole life, so he's aware of vampires, but not much else. Over the course of the "story," he gets turned into a werewolf, so all of the boys get to deal with that.

Sky: he's a lynchpin of the team! Without Sky, not everyone would be there. He's an air elemental by birth, fairly important in those familial circles but mostly separated from them these days. His natural form is not exactly... physical. He knows Time from the war (he enlisted at too young an age near the end, and didn't see much combat, but made connections), Legend from some of what Legend did (aka everything, but specifically some merchant connections in this case), and found Four on his own. Sky doesn't count as fae at all, but he's in-tune with the environment and flow of magic around him. (He's not happy about the dust bowl.) He is pretty oblivious to the others being magical, though.

Four: he's rather disconnected from the others, in terms of backstory. To understand him, you have to know that there are six courts of the fae: one for each season in the wheel, with a light and a dark in the center and outside. Four grew up in the Light Court, full fae. One of the princess's Minish advisors betrayed the Light Court and gave power to the Dark (hi Vaati), and Four helped to restore balance. In the process, he had to change. The courts didnt generally trust each other, so Four split into four fae with the help of magic, one for each seasonal court. More magic and betrayal happened, and Four is semi-stuck as a Dark fae now. He can become a shadow and hide in other shadows, but he's vulnerable to light in general. When he left Faerie for the mortal world, he found Sky, who pretty much adopted him as a little brother. He's very protective of Sky.

Legend: is a prince of one of the merfolk kingdoms. He saved each of the underwater kingdoms at least once, then ventured to the surface to find more wrongs that needed righting. He isn't obvious about it, but he has a good heart. He's kind of sort of employed as a spy and informant, but he focuses on supernatural issues. He's more of a special ops agent than anything, though he does like to find people who'll pay him for doing what he wants to do anyway. He's been practically everywhere and done practically everything. He definitely heard of Wind, but didn't connect the dots right off. Merfolk aren't considered fae, but his particular family line made contracts with fae long ago, and he has some of their geases in a lightened form. He figured out pretty quickly that everyone was magic and trying to hide it.

Hyrule: is full fae, like Four, but of the Spring Court. He lived in the human world his whole life, a street kid who had to keep his fae nature tightly under wraps, which could get difficult around the promises and names and iron of daily life. He moved around a lot. He was captured for a year or two by unscrupulous scientists and rescued by Legend, who took him to Sky and Time. (fic: EPISODE SEVEN: Lost and Found) He's the resident healer and mad scientist.

Other Fics

More Than You Can Chew: the beginning of the "story." Starts with Wars confessing he's a vampire, and then they go rescue Wind, who's been captured by wannabe hunters.

Council: sort-of ongoing fic about Wind taking the rest of the Chain to the latest vampire council meeting. >:)

[suresne]

wondering how much harry actually knew about kim pre-amnesia (and vice versa) and why harry seems to have accurate knowledge of so many RCM officers' stats

if you have a high enough encyclopedia skill (approx. 6), you can find out through kim's dialogue after he joins your party that harry knows kim's name and nickname, cases solved, and confirmed kills off hand:

[Og] *672. ENCYCLOPEDIA - Somewhere in your mind hangs a dark green blackboard. There are two columns. One says: "cases solved", the other: "confirmed kills". [Og] *149. YOU - Close your eyes. [Og] *367. ENCYCLOPEDIA - The rows are endless. [Og] *423. YOU - Look for: Precinct 57 -> Lieutenants -> Kitsuragi, Kim. [Og] *201. ENCYCLOPEDIA - The name "Kim 'Pinball' Kitsuragi" appears before you. [Og] *673. YOU - Cases solved? [Og] *202. ENCYCLOPEDIA - One hundred and four. Og] *477. YOU - Confirmed kills? [Og] *849. ENCYCLOPEDIA - Six.

since encyclopedia says "the rows are endless" in harry's weird RCM blackboard mind palace, this would seem to indicate that harry somehow keeps track of the cases solved and confirmed kills of the foremost RCM officers, of which kim is clearly one, since both harry and jean know him by reputation

which is a...concerning and obsessive behavior, i think, to put it mildly. it's not clear why he does this. it could be out of competition, but i kind of doubt it. i think harry measures himself against the other foremost RCM officers not as a way to compete with them but as a way to measure whether he's "good enough," i.e., whether he's performing well enough as a "world detector" to be worthy of some delusional goal, like turning back time and winning dora back

i also wonder (and this was brought up in a convo with @1tbls) whether harry specifically looked up kim's stats in advance of going to martinaise. maybe they had even seen each other before, at a distance? what would harry have thought of kim before martinaise, based on his stats and knowing about him based on reputation?

possibly that's kim's a bit of a lightweight based on his case load, despite having a good reputation. that he's a bit trigger happy (which he is), based on his kill count to completed case ratio. i think harry would be a bit puzzled and curious about kim, even without his knowledge of the undercover pin ball operation or the fact that kim is seolite:

can you really be a good detective without having a back-breaking case load? how do you manage to get as good a reputation in the RCM as kim has without running yourself completely ragged and succumbing to despair? (as it turns out, it seems to be a combination of not working at the "bloody murder station," precinct 41, being under more scrutiny from your superiors because of your race, and having a godly ability to compartmentalize and distance yourself from the harm you cause to the people you are policing)

i imagine harry would want to can-open the shit out of kim to try to figure him out and turn himself into a more effective (read: less unstable) detective, but, because of who harry is, that would be impossible

[waterfallofspace]

I’ve been missing s/oukoku content lately so anything and everything you feel like writing for them is more than welcome! But maybe🌻🌺 for d/azai?

I've been missing them too! Hopefully this can help satiate that desire a little!~ <3 thank you for the request!

🌺 pollen 🌻taken by surprise from ~This Ask List~

Word Count: 1.8k Characters: D/azai, C/huuya, mentions of others

(cw: swearing)

“You’ve gotta be fucking with me.” 

Dazai offers a smirk, bending his head back to meet Chuuya’s eyes from his perch on the couch. The ADA offices have been empty all morning, everyone out on their various cases. Dazai himself was supposed to join Atsushi, but the case had taken a police oriented twist, so Ranpo decided he wanted in. And of course, what Ranpo wants… 

It’s not like he’s complaining. Getting to lounge around the office all day instead of venturing out into the world? Seems like winning. Especially when it means he gets the chance to annoy the hell out of the poor, unsuspecting, Mafia agent sent to the office. And this day only gets better. This time it’s Chuuya. 

“I assure you,” Dazai says, whipping himself around to a more proper seating position. “There is no ‘fucking’ going on. At least, not yet.” 

The last line is flavoured with a smile, one Chuuya lets out an immediate groan upon hearing, hand resting on his forehead. The other hand is more occupied with- hiding behind his back? Well, this is certainly intriguing. 

“And what brings you to our lovely little office on this fine day?” Dazai starts, leaning to the side to catch a peek- 

But Chuuya sees it coming, and slides his body to the left to avoid the gaze. “Orders, what else?” 

“I guess then the question becomes, what brings your boss to require you at our office?” 

There’s a beat. It’s just a quick pause, almost nothing to anyone else, but Dazai can read it as plainly as a word on paper. Chuuya is lying. 

“He wanted to check in on something.” 

“And what would that be?” Dazai almost purrs, feigning innocence as he inches himself off the couch and closer to Chuuya. 

“None of your business,” Comes the reply, Chuuya stepping back noticeably. Though, Dazai observes, seemingly without conscious thought. He’s merely reacting to the movement. There’s something he wants hidden, and Dazai moving closer is subconsciously threatening that. Today certainly has gotten interesting. 

“Really? Hold on, something’s bothering me. The Armed Detective Agency, the Port Mafia, Chuuya, an employee of the Port Mafia, me, of the Armed Detective Agency…” Dazai pauses, tilting his head with a performative gesture, “that almost seems like exactly my business!” 

Chuuya seems to roll his eyes, but Dazai catches them drifting towards the door. Planning his exit. So soon? Well that’s no fun at all, we can’t let that slide.

With one quick gesture, Dazai bounds forward, pinning– 

No one. 

Chuuya managed to leap out of the way, hat slightly askew as he glares Dazai down from across the room.

“What the hell was that?!” 

Dazai just smiles, leaning against the wall. “Well well well, you move fast for your size, Chuuu-ya!” 

The red of Chuuya’s hair is quickly starting to match his face, though he’d be quick to correct you that it’s anger, not embarrassment. And yet, Dazai’s attention is focused elsewhere. Something’s starting to bloom, something deep within his sinuses. That nagging feeling that you’re about to sneeze, and the looming threat that it won’t stop. 

Shrugging it off with a simple sniffle, Dazai returns his focus to Chuuya. Still… the itch intrigues him, as much as annoys. There shouldn’t be any reason for it, and the unknown cause is as much a cure for boredom as irritating Chuuya. Then again… 

As he sniffles again, rubbing his nose carelessly, Dazai can’t help but notice Chuuya flinches. It’s barely there, blink and you’d miss it, but Dazai knows him well enough to clock it. Guilt? This day only gets better and better!

Deciding to act on his theory, Dazai brushes against the bridge of his nose, gleeful as the appendage trembles in response. Letting the hitch in his breath fall through his words, Dazai turns towards Chuuya with a “So thihhs business?” 

“Wh- what?” 

“The super secret business that I just can’t know about? That Mori sent you here for?” Dazai continues, hiding a smile as Chuuya groans inwardly. 

“Are we still on this? What part of none of your fucking business do you not understand?” With a growl, Chuuya points his last comment mostly towards the floor, “I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.” 

“Awhhh, Chuu-yaa!” Dazai coos, sincerity dripping from every false smile coating his words, “How sweet of you to say!” 

“I was being sarcastic asshole,” Chuuya replies, in that beautifully frustrated tone. Music to Dazai’s ears. 

Ignoring the comment completely, Dazai focuses his attention on his nose once more, playfully rubbing it, pausing for a desperate, “hih’yeAShhoo! –eh’ASHhoo!” 

Chuuya jumps slightly, leaving Dazai grinning. With a sniffle that leaves even him wincing, Dazai hitches, and hitches, and… 

“heEHH!- Whew, sorry about that! Thought I was gonna sneeze again. Something’s really setting me off it seems.” 

There were many replies Dazai expected. Perhaps a groan, a glare, some cursing, even a muttered blessing if Chuuya was feeling generous. What he wasn’t expecting was to feel something soft touch his face, met by the most genuine, desperate itch he’d felt in months. 

He barely manages to stammer out a few broken syllables, catching a glimpse of Chuuya’s smug face through his rapidly watering eyes. The last thing he picked up before his eyes snapped shut was the stunning bouquet resting in Chuuya’s gloved hand mere inches from his face. 

“hH’yEAShhoo! ASHH’oo!” These, like his earlier ones, were performative, meant to startle. But after the first set, his breath caught desperately. The tickle was overwhelming, and he found himself doubled over, flowers pushed aside as his natural ones slipped out on top of each other with a vicious breathy itch. 

“hihh– eh’kNShhiew! tschhiew! Oh god I hhahhh- have… haveto- eh’kNGtiew! heh’ETCH’chew! Can’t stohh.. eshh’iew! ekt’chew!”  

In the gaps between sets, Dazai catches a look at Chuuya’s face. As expected, there’s a proud smile, a self-satisfied glare, and… a hint of concern. That’s what he was looking for. 

Mustering up all his self control, Dazai manages to stall the onslaught, nose twitching violently. Pressing a knuckle against his flaring nostrils, he manages to choke out a few sentences, part one of the manipulation. 

“It looks like Chuuu- Chuuya’s got a few tricks up his sleeve too! But uhhhh,” Dazai pauses, letting his gaze drift for a second. A single tear rolls down his cheek, born from the need to sneeze that was starting to overpower every last one of his senses. “Did, did you plan on it– on it… hihhh… on it working thihhhs… this well?” 

“I- I didn’t think–” Chuuya starts, the concern in his tone far from hidden. Perfect. 

With step one complete, Dazai lets the tide break through, vaguely aiming himself towards the floor as he lets the attack burst out uncovered. Just a little bonus to get on Chuuya’s nerves. 

“aH’TCHhew! eh’kNGtshhew! et’chew! etshhew! hiHHh– hH’ASHHoo! Oh, that one- yEASHH’oo! ‘Sc-use me!” Dazai stutters through the fit, meeting Chuuya’s eyes, “Those reahh… really tihhhckled– ekt’chhiew! tsshhiew! eh’tSChhew! hh’tSCHh’ieew!” 

Finally he gets a moment of relief, not needing to exaggerate at all as he leans against the wall, panting for a moment. On purpose or not, attacks like that really take a lot out of him. 

“Whew, that was intense,” Dazai says, meeting Chuuya’s gaze. The tears, while entirely from allergic irritation, were sure to help his cause.

“Oh shut up, I know you did that on purpose,” Chuuya retorts. There’s hesitance in his tone. He doesn’t know, now does he? He just thinks he knows. Step two. 

“Heyy-” Dazai whines, rubbing his knuckles against his nose, accompanied by a pathetic sniffle. “Chuuya’s the one who just suffocated me in an allergen! How is this possibly my fault?” 

Chuuya opens his mouth to respond, no doubt with some curses and a not-fully-thought-out retort, but Dazai– or, more specifically, Dazai’s nose– doesn’t give him the chance. 

“eh’kNchhew! etSHhiew!” 

“Bless you,” Chuuya replies, the blessing seeming to slip out without though, at least based on the glare he points at Dazai as he rushes to cover it with an insult. “You’re so gross, can’t you at least cover your fucking mouth?” 

Time for step three. With another deep sniff, Dazai lets his gaze settle longingly on the tissue box sitting on Kunikida’s desk. 

“I would, but the tissues are all the way over there, and-” With a dramatic flourish, Dazai lounges himself onto the couch. “I’m suffering! I can’t be expected to walk all the wahh… hihh’eshHhew! ehtchhew! All the way over there.” 

Chuuya’s glare could cut through walls, fists clenching at his side. It’s a 50/50 on whether he hits something, or… 

With a deep sigh, Chuuya slides across the room, setting the bouquet down on a desk as he goes. Once he reaches Kunikida’s, Dazai calls out, “Thank you Ch-uuya! Now if you’d just bring the-” 

He’s cut off by the box hitting him in the face with a dull thud.

“There, now blow your fucking nose, you sound disgusting.” 

Dazai obliges, grinning from behind the tissues as the noise makes Chuuya shudder. A few loose sneezes break through as air begins to flow through his nose again, “eshh’chew! ekt’iew!” the whole ordeal ended with a sigh. 

“You know,” Dazai says with a smirk, “after all the misery Chuuya’s ‘business’ has caused me, I think I deserve to know what it was.” 

“It’s private you moron!” Chuuya yells, but his anger is quickly cut off by another rapid double from Dazai, one perhaps a bit helped along by the soft touch of a tissue against his trembling nose. “hIEShh’oo! ekTSchhew!” 

Chuuya pauses for a second, eyes darting as he seems to be locked in an inner debate. Finally with a resigned sigh, he pinches the bridge of his nose with his hand. “I was doing a favour for the kid, alright?” 

Mission successful. Dazai sits up, interest piqued. “Atsushi?” 

“No, the other one. The farm boy.” 

“Kenji?” Dazai asks, a smile starting to work its way over his cheeks. “Was the mighty Port Mafia Executive Chuuya bringing Kenji flowers?” 

Chuuya points a glare at the wall, muttering out, “He was helping me with my garden, and wanted to see the results of what I grew, alright?!” 

Before Dazai can get a word out, Chuuya moves towards the door, picking up the bouquet and shoving it into Dazai’s chest. Dazai barely has a second to react before his nose catches onto the pollen that it deems far too close. 

“hH’ESCHhiew! Ch- Chuuya I– ehKT’chew! eiEShhhew! kEShhew!”

“Just make sure the kid gets them all in one piece, alright?” Chuuya says, grimacing as Dazai abandons the bouquet on the couch beside him and dives for the tissues. “And preferably not coated in bodily fluids.” 

Dazai has a clever retort about ‘fluids’ and where they could end up, but Chuuya doesn’t give him a chance, heading out of the office with a final muttered blessing. 

Blowing his nose again, Dazai stands, taking the bouquet and delicately placing it on Kenji’s desk. 

“He’ll love them,” Dazai murmurs to himself, smiling softly.

[renx01]

Out of Sight - Part 5

General idea: Moriarty is your boss. After he helped you out of a precarious situation when you were still a minor, you started working for him. Now, he has a new job for you. Get close to the Holmes brothers to keep an eye on them for him. Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Mycroft Holmes/Reader  & Jim Moriarty/Reader Fandom: BBC Sherlock Word count: 2006

Masterlist

The show was interesting to say the least, but you were happy when you finally managed to return to your flat. Keeping Sherlock from constantly over-explaining the acts to Sarah, who only got closer to John as the show continued. At some point Sherlock disappeared backstage, only reappearing by crashing into the auditorium with a warlord on top of him. John shooting out to help him as the audience scattered, you take Sarah out of the room. You’re followed by the two men, not too far behind you. 

On the way to the police station, Sherlock explains what he had been doing behind the scenes. He’d found the yellow paint moments before he’d been attacked by the warlord. He also notes that he had seen a tattoo on the bottom of the foot of one of the performers, with it matching the ones they’d seen on the victims. You mostly just nod and enquire about what the seal looks like. ‘It’s a seal with a lotus of some sort.’ Sherlock had said. Upon your arrival at the nearest police station, you’re met by an officer you haven’t seen before. Sherlock quickly explains to him what happened, noting that you’d been followed out of the venue. The officer puts it into the system before sending you away, saying he isn’t able to do much more at the moment. 

The four of you leave and head back to Baker Street, where John decides you should probably have some food. Not wanting to be a part of John’s date for much longer, you tell them you’re quite tired and before heading downstairs to your own flat. Not too long after, you hear the front door open, you suppose for their food delivery. You turn to your kettle to start boiling some water, but you stop midway through the motion because you hear shuffling and something drop. That’s unusual. You put down the kettle and walk to your door, opening it as quietly as possible. When you look around the corner, you see a man dressed in black quietly shuffling down the stairs with John, who you’re pretty sure is unconscious, thrown over his shoulder. Quickly, you close the door. Had it not been for you having to lay low and you’d have helped him then and there, but you supposed Sherlock would find out soon enough and go look for his companion. You turn on the kettle and message Jim.

You should reel them in, they just kidnapped John and his date. I assume they think he’s Sherlock or something. Will probably have to help SH and intercept. -S

As the water starts to come to a boil, you quickly change in some more comfortable, black clothes. Something that doesn’t look too suspicious given what you usually wear, but will help you manoeuvre around without too making much sound. You also grab one of your (many) guns and put it in one of your somewhat hidden pockets, where it’s easy to reach but hard to find if you don’t know it’s there. The kettle finally boils and you make yourself a cuppa. Upon taking the first sip, you hear multiple heavy and somewhat frantic knocks at your door. ‘I’m on my way.’ You put down the cup and open the door, where you’re met by the consulting detective himself. He looks quite panicked, which in a way you had expected, just not to this extent, meaning his weakness for John is much bigger than Jim (or Mycroft for that matter) had anticipated. ‘John’s gone. I’m certain that he’s been taken by the murderer and by extension the criminal network we’ve been investigating.’ Nodding, you grab your coat and join him, heading outside as quickly as possible.

‘Sherlock, I suggest you go in and I help from the shadows. You’re an amazing distraction and then I’ll be able to get John and Sarah out from the shadows.’ He nods, agreeing that it’d probably be the best plan of action. And so, that’s what the two of you do when you go in. John and Sarah are bound to separate chairs with rope about five feet from each other. While John has a gun pointed at him, Sarah is unfortunate enough to have a balasta pointed at her. John does look somewhat worried, Sarah on the other hand looks frightened and like she’s about to lose it. Given that she probably hasn’t been in such a situation, it makes sense, and any sensible human being would probably react like she is. Being the drama-queen he is, Sherlock waltzes in as if he owns the place, ridiculing that they hadn’t realised they had the wrong person entirely. Still, the ballista is slowly getting closer to being fired at the woman. It’s unclear to you what exactly happens, but one moment Sherlock’s trying to untie Sarah, and the next he’s been caught by some sort of a rope, forcing him away. ‘For god’s sake, he can’t do anything on his own, can he?’ You whisper to yourself before shooting in the shoulder of the man that’s trapping the detective. After which you immediately sprint to the ballista and point it towards one of Shen’s other henchmen, since it’s about to fire. It does so, and pierces the man through his chest. You take the opportunity of the confusion that ensues to run to John and cut the ropes. Sherlock does the same for Sarah. However, when you look up, Shen is gone.

The following day you contact Sebastian while you’re on your run. It isn’t that you see him or anything, you just leave him a codified message for him to find while you’re at the park for your daily run. The response follows in the form of a text message as you’re making your daily morning coffee. 

We dealt with it, you don’t have to worry about them anymore. -SM

You suppose he was the one to “deal with” them last night. 

I’d hope so. It really was a bit of a pain and entirely unnecessary. -S

Rather than getting a text back, he calls you.

‘Hello?’ His voice sounds low, as if he doesn’t want to alarm someone of his presence. ‘Hi, hope you’re alright.’ ‘Yes, yes, don’t worry about me.’ He pauses before continuing. ‘Jim’s pretty mad about the situation, he’ll probably contact you to apologise at some point soon.’ You sigh. ‘Will he? He isn’t one to apologise generally speaking. No matter, tell him to make sure the camera’s aren’t working wherever we meet up. The eldest Holmes seems to be keeping an eye on me. Probably wants to gauge if I’m trustworthy.’ You take a sip of your coffee before getting out your laptop. It’s one you usually use for purposes related to your actual job. Jim’s had it encrypted so that even the best systems the government uses can’t get into it. ‘I’ll let him know.’ As you’re typing in your password, he speaks up again, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled momentarily. ‘You know I do miss you, you know that right?’ You’re scrolling past a few documents, so you only make a noise that confirms you do. ‘We both miss you. The penthouse feels a bit empty. You were barely back and had to leave again…’ Jim rents a penthouse with enough rooms for all of you to live comfortably while still having your own space. The three of you have always been pretty close, with you and Seb being Jim’s closest confidantes, having been there pretty much from the beginning. And it’s true, you’d barely been back in England and Jim had sent you off, not even being able to stay in the penthouse you’d usually call home. Still, it was mostly you and Seb there, with Jim being at his estate most of the time to take care of business without being bothered too much. ‘I miss you guys too, but we both know it’s necessary.’ ‘You’re right, I’m just being sentimental.’ He sighs. ‘Don’t be, you know it’s a form of weakness.’ That last sentence comes out a bit harsher than you’d hoped, but it is the motto most go by in your profession. ‘We’ll meet again soon, I have to go now.’ You say as you hear someone walking down the steps, probably John based on the sound of it. ‘Yeah, soon Spike.’ He says before ending the call.

When you check for the caller ID, you see that there isn’t one. Not that it really mattered, this isn’t the phone you use to contact anyone you interact with on this mission. You have several phones you keep on you, two of them basically at all times. This one in particular is a blackberry, very much contrary to the iPhone you use on the daily to keep up appearances of you being a regular person that works at the Yard. A knock at your door has you going into action. Quickly, you close and put away your laptop before grabbing your cup of coffee and (somewhat) casually walking to and opening the door. As expected, it’s John. ‘Hello John, good morning.’ He looks up slightly as you open the door, since you’re about an inch and a half taller than him. ‘Good morning Charlie. I wanted to thank you for last night. You really helped us out there.’ You smile at him. ‘No problem at all, you were in a bit of a pickle and I suppose friends help in such situations.’ Friends. It’s a term you hadn’t used with him yet, but you guessed that he probably sees you in that way, so using the term could only strengthen that feeling. ‘Still, it was a lot; quite dangerous as well.’ The look you give him is nothing short of unimpressed. ‘John, I work at Scotland Yard, I’ve been in worse situations. Despite what you might think because of my current role, I’ve had basic training and been out in the field multiple times.’ He looks a bit surprised. ‘Do you want some coffee perhaps? It’s Saturday so I don’t have anywhere to go and I just made a pot.’ You step aside to invite him in. ‘Sure.’ He steps inside and you close the door behind him. You gesture for him to have a seat at your kitchen table. ‘I do hope I didn’t ruin your date with Sarah last night.’ He laughs. ‘Oh you didn’t ruin it. I think we both know Sherlock’s the one that was behind that.’ ‘About that, you are correct. Though maybe I should’ve expected where we were going and stopped him.’ You hand him his cup of coffee and sit down opposite of him. By the sounds of it, he doesn’t sound too worried about the entire situation. ‘So why do you tolerate it, John?’ ‘What do you mean? Tolerate what?’ Surely he knows what you’re talking about but just doesn’t want to admit it immediately. ‘Tolerate Sherlock ruining your dates, taking over your life and social life. All that sort of stuff.’ You make eye contact with him as you glance over your cup. ‘He does not take over my life Charlie.’ He deflects a little bit too quickly. ‘If you say so.’ You take another sip. ‘Well anyway, how is Sarah? Is she doing okay after yesterday evening?’ John stayed for about an hour before heading back upstairs, saying he’d promised the consulting detective to go on a case with him. From your conversation it became clear that John cares for Sherlock as well, though you aren’t certain whether he really knows that himself yet. You didn’t care, but you’re sure Jim will use it to his advantage.

That afternoon you decided you’d probably need to go to the shops again, realising that you didn’t have much food in your pantry. You went out not too long after in order to go get it, but you were stopped by a sleek black car pulling up next to you and stopping. Mycroft.

__________

Tags: @h-malacus

[boldlyvoid]

I Know Places: Living Children

18+ Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader | Masterlist | AO3 link

Summary: After coming home from Canada, they head to their separate apartments for a night of rest before their next case… only that case comes 4 hours later and Aaron isn't answering his phone.

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence (murder, stabbing, assault, mentions of death) Anxiety, panicking, blood tw, Haley and Reader interacting, Reid gets shot, the whole team is in a panic.

Word count: 10.8k

She dropped him off at his apartment late that night, he asked her to come up but she said no. For the first time in months, she said no. She wanted to actually get some sleep after everything they went through these last few weeks. She knew if she went to his house, or if he came to hers, they would end up talking or fucking all night and her body needed rest… real rest, even though she didn’t quite know what it was like to sleep without him anymore. 

She was asleep maybe 5 hours when JJ called and said they had an emergency case pop up. 

She gets to the scene first, JJ not far behind her being dropped off by Will. She watches as JJ kisses her boyfriend and looks back at their sleeping baby in the backseat before she joins her on the curb. They’re on the scene for almost 15 minutes before Morgan and Reid roll up, tired, a couple coffees in hand, begrudgingly starting what should’ve been their day off together.

“Where’s the big man?” Derek asks. 

Y/N shrugs, “he should be here soon.” 

“Have you not talked to him?” JJ asks. “I couldn’t get ahold of him at all?” 

“No? That’s weird,” she doesn’t like the anxiety that immediately pools in her stomach. “He tosses his phone and things onto the couch once he gets inside and leaves them there till the morning, he’ll get the massages and be here soon. I’m sure,” she says more for herself than the others. Knowing no one had heard from him yet made her a little anxious but what else could she do? 

“I’m surprised you didn’t go home with him,” Derek teases her, bumping his elbow off hers. 

“Unlike you and the good doctor, I actually wanted to sleep last night,” she teases him. 

“3 hours is still something,” Spencer teases, a rosy pink blush spreading across his cheeks. 

“Alright kids,” Rossi announces his presence behind them. “What’s going on here? Why were we called to a crime scene if we’re not working a case?” 

“I got a call from Detective Walker, you guys remember him?” JJ explains. “He’s inside, apartment 3C, he says it’s urgent.” 

“It better be,” Derek scoffs. 

The case is strange… Detective Walker, a DC cop they knew from a few other local cases called JJ when he received word of an interesting killer. Someone sent a doctor, Tom Barton, a letter saying he was planning to kill his son. Every day that his son stayed inside, out of harm's way or with protection, another person would be shot and killed in retaliation. 2 victims so far have died, and the letter is signed “L.C.” and even written in chalk beside victim number 2’s body. 

There isn’t much for them to look at while at the crime scene, the man simply opened his door and was shot in the chest, falling back into his apartment. The police were called when neighbours heard gunshots, no one saw the man leave and the apartment complex doesn’t have security footage. So, they all head over to the doctor's house to ask him questions, find out who has a grudge or vendetta against him, and go from there. 

JJ calls Hotch again on their drive over, Y/N’s driving her to the doctor's house, but Aaron doesn’t pick up. It’s weird, but, he also really just wanted to sleep last night. 

“Why didn’t you go home with him?” JJ asks, “The real answer this time.” 

She laughs, “I was being serious, I was tired. We both were. But when we’re together at night we don’t really sleep, no matter how tired we are.” 

“I want to say ew, but I’m glad you’re both happy,” she teases. 

“It’s not always sex, sometimes we just talk all night,” she assures her. “And when we go to his place we drink. You get a couple glasses of whisky in him and he doesn’t know how to shut up.” 

“Will’s like that too, he has such a high tolerance from growing up in New Orleans but he doesn’t drink that much anymore. Ever since we had Henry and I went back to work, he’s always scared that if he has even a few sips he’ll get a call that I was hurt or Henry will need to go to the hospital in the middle of the night and so he doesn’t risk it,” she explains. It sounds like she’s been dying to talk about this with someone. 

“You’ve found yourself one good man there, Jayj,” she gives her a quick smile. “We both have.” 

—

She doesn’t have her full attention on the case. She listens to the doctor explain what he received and why he doesn’t understand how he could be a target, but she doesn’t fully care. Yes, she wants people to stop dying and yes she wants to keep this man's family safe… but her own family is on her mind right now. 

No one has heard from Aaron, he’s not answering his phone, he’s not at work, Anderson hasn’t seen him at the office… it’s starting to really scare her. 

The team disburses after they realize that Dr. Barton's son has left the house, he’s gone to school in an attempt to save lives like his father does for a living. He’s a good kid. Derek, JJ and Dave head over to the school to make sure he’s okay and keep him safe until the final bell of the day. She and Reid stay with the doctor to look through his case files for Hispanic males or people with the initials L.C, seeing as Reid can read a million words a minute. More like 20,000 but, still, faster than anyone else. 

After about 30 files, she reaches her breaking point. So does Dr. Barton. “Jeffery is leaving school in 5 hours, there’s no way we can get through all these patients in this time.” 

“Well, we’ve narrowed it down already,” she tries to sympathize with him. It is a lot. 

“And we still have 100 left!” He shouts. “I’m sorry, I-I-I don't mean to be callous but when you work in the ER you don’t remember names. You operate and you move on.” 

“He’s right,” she gives in. “There are too many files here for us to profile in such a short period of time. Um,” she stands up, getting ready to leave. “I can get to Hotch’s apartment and get back here in half an hour?” 

“Who’s that?” He asks. 

“He's our supervisor,” Spencer explains. “We weren’t supposed to work today we’re having trouble getting ahold of him.” 

“But we need more eyes,” Y/N says, hoping it bribes Dr. Barton to let her go.

He nods, and so she leaves. 

Driving like a bat out of hell, she somehow manages to hit every red light on her way downtown and there’s construction 2 blocks before Aarons street. Her heart is in her stomach, she’s so sure she’s going to be met with something bad that she’s afraid to breathe. She arrives at 715 Langham in just 10 minutes and parks her SUV just in front of the building. Aaron's SUV is in the parking lot around the side, so she knows he’s here. That eases her anxiety just a bit. 

She hops out, locks the car and rushes inside. He lives on the first floor, at the back, apartment 121. She knocks as soon as she gets there. “Hotch? It’s me, Y/N… Aaron? Aaron, are you in there?” 

When she doesn’t get an answer she pulls out her cell phone and calls his number again.. it starts to ring and she can hear it going off inside his apartment. Probably on the couch like she assumed. But her heart still stops beating in her chest for a moment. She reaches for the doorknob next, going to jiggle it but it opens right up. He doesn’t lock it right away when he gets home, it’s often her who locks it when they get in at night… but still, he’d lock it before going to bed. That’s his routine. 

She unholsters her gun, holds it up and slams the door open. She looks both ways, clearing the room with her eyes, she notices his keys on the entryway table his phone and briefcase tossed on the couch. She slowly starts to enter, observing the room slowly… she notices there’s a bullet hole in the wall. No blood splatter or brain matter surrounding it. But that’s definitely a bullet hole. 

Aaron's gun is on the kitchen table and on the floor beside the table there is a human torso-sized puddle of blood on the white carpet. Under the wall with the bullet hole, opposite of the bloody carpet, there is linoleum leading into the kitchen, and it's covered in glass. She prepares herself to enter the kitchen, she turns into it with her gun ready to shoot anyone who’s there but the place is empty. Unlocked, bloody, and empty. 

Aarons gone. 

He was attacked. Someone was standing in his kitchen, unbeknownst to him, when he came in. He tossed his things on the couch, unclipped his gun placed it on the table and went to make a drink when the attacker made themself known. He dropped his glass when he was started, they went to shoot him and missed and then got him on the ground. She looks for the bullet casings, but there aren’t any to be found. Either they were both taken or he wasn’t shot on the ground. There’s too much blood for it to be a single bullet wound… too spread out. He was hit multiple times across his chest. But it doesn’t look like enough blood to kill someone. 

As soon as she’s able to breathe again, she gathers herself back together and calls Penelope. 

“Overtime shift-Penelope speaking,” she answers, breath heavy like she just ran into he room. 

“Garcia this is Y/N, I need you to listen carefully,” she leads. “Somethings happened to Hotch.” 

“What do you mean something happened?” She asks, immediately panicking. 

“I don’t know. I’m in his apartment, he’s not here but there’s blood.” 

“Oh my god.” 

“I need you to send police and FBI techs here right away, everyone available,” Y/N orders, she needs to start building a profile and she needs crime scene to be here in order to do that.

“Uh, d-do we need an APB?” She asks, already typing. 

“Only on hotch, I checked out front, his car’s still here,” she explains. 

“Someone took him?” 

“I don’t know,” she wants to scream but she can’t. “There’s blood but I can’t be sure who’s it is. Just get people here.”

“Okay I’m sending an army—

“Garcia, I’m gonna have to tell reid because he’s expecting me back but you can’t tell the others. They cannot be distracted,” she reminds her. 

“Okay,” Penny understands. “Okay.” 

And just like that, she hangs up. And now she’s all alone in Aaron’s apartment, the place he hated to be more than anywhere… she never went home with him. She never invited him up to her place. And now he’s hurt. He’s bleeding and somewhere without her and she’s so scared this is all her fault. 

But instead of freaking out, she calls Spencer. 

“Hey,” he answers. 

“Something happened to Aaron,” she says. 

“What?” 

“he’s not here but there’s about a pint of blood on his carpet. Something happened. I don’t know what happened or who did it or if he’s alive—” 

“What are you talking about, Y/N?” 

“Someone came into his apartment and hurt him and then took him. All his stuff is here.” 

She heats Dr. Barton asking if this is about Jeffery and Spencer saying it’s not, shushing him and then holding his hand over the phone. “I’m really sorry I have to take this call, okay?” 

“What could be more important than my son right now?!” The man screams. 

“I assure you this will take one second!” Spencer argues back. “Please, I promise.” 

“Spence?” 

“I’m here, what do you know?” 

“There’s a huge hole in the wall. Probably a .44? But there’s no blood or tissue spray around it.” 

“Any idea how he got out?” 

“If he was shot there are no drag marks, but a body could’ve been wrapped in something,” she explains, cringing at the words. She hates this so much. 

“And bureau techs are on the way?” 

“Any second now,” she assures him. Trying to keep herself calm and okay.

“Alright, um, write down everything you see and we’ll profile form your notes when you get back,” Spencer says, knowing she needs order to keep sane. “It’ll be okay. We’ll find him.” 

“Okay… thank you. How’s Dr. Barton?” 

“It’s a huge list of cases to go through,” Spencer reminds her, so clearly, the man is stressing. 

“Okay, don’t worry about here. I’ve got this. Stay focused, try and find a way to narrow them down further… I know you can do it.” 

“Thanks, call me if you need me?”

“I will.” 

—

The door is already open when the cops and crime scene techs start coming in. She’s pulled out of the room and told she can go back in once the techs have what they need. She can’t fuck with the crime scene and she knows that. So she stays back, she watches the men in white jump-suits and gloves start taking samples and pictures and a cop comes up to start asking her questions. 

“And who are you to the victim?” 

“Co-worker and girlfriend,” she admits, wanting to be as honest as possible. She shows him her badge and everything.

“Okay, and when did you last talk to him?” 

“Last night at 2:30ish, I drove home after our flight got in. I dropped him off at his apartment and then went home,” she explains. “We tried calling him all morning to tell him a new case has come in but he wasn’t answering the phone so I came here to get him myself. His door was unlocked and his phone was ringing in the living room.” 

“Does he have any enemies that would do this to him?” 

She laughs, “he’s the supervisory special agent in charge of the behavioural analysis unit and before that, he was an attorney on criminal cases. The list of people who want him dead is a long one.” 

“Okay,” the man's eyes widen and he breathes in deeply through his nose as he writes it all down in his little book. “So, your teams on this then too, I guess?” 

She shakes her head, “They’re busy, we can’t get them distracted. It’s just me and you guys right now… and our tech girl, she’s calling hospitals to see if Aaron or any John Doe’s were brought in. Have you seen his wallet in there at all?” 

“I’m not sure… hey, Gomez?” He calls into the apartment, “found a wallet?” 

“Not yet,” he calls back. 

“So that’s really all we know right now—

Her phone starts to ring and so she pulls away from the conversation. “Talk to me, Garcia?” 

“Okay I-I called hospitals to see if Hotch had gotten himself admitted into an emergency room—

“And?” She’s so impatient it comes off mean. 

“He’s not listed as a patient but someone dropped a John Doe off at St. Sebastian Hospital and that someones name was FBI Agent Derek Morgan,” she explains, confused and slightly pissed off. 

“That doesn’t make sense?” She says, shaking her head, racking her brain for a reason that could make sense… 

“I know, do you think they got their credentials mixed up?”

Just then it dawns on her and her stomach drops even further. Her eyes start to blur and the world stops as she figures it out. “The Reaper.” 

“What?” 

“Foyet stole Morgans Creds…” 

“Why would he drop him off at the ER?” Penelope asks. 

“What hospital did you say, again?” 

“St. Sebastian Hopsital—

“I’ll call you with an update when I get there,” she says, hanging up she starts to run out of the room but the detective stops her. 

“Hey!” 

“He’s alive, he’s at St. Sebastian Hospital the man who did this is George Foyet also known as the Boston Reaper. We arrested him a few months back but he escaped prison and we’ve been on the hunt for him ever since, he did this,” she explains in a hurry. 

“Okay, go, go see him! I've got this here,” he lets her go. 

She runs down the hallways, out the front doors and to her car. She flicks her lights on once she’s inside and she speeds to the hospital, bypassing every car, she gets there right away at every red light and stop sign, she’s doing almost 120 the whole way there. 

She throws the car into the first parking spot she can find and runs towards the ER doors, getting deja vu from the last time she rushed to his bedside at a hospital in New York, she loves him a million times more now. It’s the same yet so, so different. With her chest heaving, she feels like she might pass out as she grips onto the counter of the front desk. 

“Hi, hi, sorry,” she needs a second, so she pulls out her badge, “an agent… brought in a man— sorry,” she holds her free hand to her heart and stands up straighter as she breathes. “An agent brought in a man last night, said his name was Derek Morgan?”

“Yes, he did, the man he brought in is in the intensive care unit right now,” she explains. “Do you know who he is?” 

She nods, “His name is Aaron Hotchner, he’s also an FBI agent. The man who brought him in is not. Agent Morgan had his credentials stolen by a criminal, I have reason to believe the man who brought him in is said criminal.” 

“Oh, oh dear,” the woman can’t believe it. “We can take you up to him?” 

“Yes please, and can you have someone send the security footage of the man bringing him here to my analyst at Quantico?” She asks. 

“I certainly can,” the woman agrees. She stands from her seat and walks around the desk to her, she places her hand on Y/N’s back. “Come with me.” 

They follow the blue line on the floor towards the elevators and inside she presses floor 3. They get off at the intensive care unit and the nurse gets the attention of another doctor. “The John Doe, she knows him.” 

“Hi,” she reaches out to shake the doctor's hand. “How is he?” 

“Stable, follow me,” she takes over for the nurse. She leads Y/N over to one of the rooms, she slides open the glass doors and lets her inside. 

She rushes to his side and rests her hands on his bedrails. “Can I touch his hands?” 

“Sure,” the doctor doesn’t mind. 

She grabs hold of his hand and her heart starts to beat regularly again. She can see straight. Her legs aren’t numb anymore. She’s better now that she knows he’s alive. “What happened?” 

“He was stabbed 9 times in the chest but no major arteries were hit,” she explains. “It’s a miracle he’s alive.” 

“When will he wake up?” 

“The anesthesia should wear off within the hour but he’s bout to be out of it,” she says with a sigh. “Can we get you to fill out some paperwork for us?” 

She nods, “yeah… do you have his stuff?” 

“It’s right there,” she points at the bag with his bloody shirt sitting right at the top. It’s all cut up and gross but they kept it. 

“let me just grab his wallet and I can do everything for you.” She lets go of his hand, she places it back on the bed and taps it gently, giving him a small smile. 

She gets his wallet from the bag, she follows the doctor out of the room and she’s handed a clipboard with papers on it. She fills it out with everything she knows about him. His name, first middle and last. She always thought it was funny that he was born in the 60s, the same year that Star Trek was airing and his parents never watched it but still gave him the middle name Tiberius. All good captains have that middle name. 

She knows his birthday and his blood type and that he’d want to be an organ donor if the time came. She has his insurance information cause it’s in his wallet and lists that he has a 4 year old son as well as a brother named Sean. But his emergency contact is still Haley no matter how long they’ve been together. And she’s okay with that. She’s going to have to call her. After their chat in Oregon, she got Haley’s number and put it in her phone so as soon as she finished the paperwork, she stepped out to call her. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi, is this Haley Brooks?” 

“It is…” 

“hi this is Y/N I work with Aaron,” she leads and she can hear the way Haley’s breathing changes. 

“What happened.” 

“He’s in the hospital, he was stabbed a few times last night,” she explains, wanting to cry. “He wanted me to call you if anything ever happened to him.” 

She lets out a shaky breath, “Okay… but he’s okay?” 

“Yeah, he will be. He isn’t awake yet and I know Jack's at school so when he does wake up, maybe you guys can stop by?” 

“Yeah, we definitely can… he has a playdate tonight after school though so I’m not sure what time we can come?” 

“That’s okay, I’ll talk to him when he wakes up and see if he even wants Jack to see him in this condition, if not, he’ll probably still be here tomorrow.” 

“Okay… and thank you, Y/N, for letting me know.” 

“Of course,” she doesn’t mind. “I can text you with updates?”

“I’d like that, thank you.” 

“Anytime,” she says with a smile and then they both hang up. 

She heads back over to Aaron's room to see a nurse switching out his chart with his accurate information on it. She gets a peak over the woman’s shoulder and sees the L.C. written on it. 

“Excuse me,” she says in her most polite voice. “What does that stand for?” 

“Living Children,” she explains. “It's so if a patient has to go on life support and they don’t have a DNR order, we know who to contact to make such a decision. Seeing as he doesn’t have a wife currently and you’re not his medical decision maker or power of attorney, that question goes to his next of kin.” 

“Thanks,” she nods, taking her phone back out she heads out to make yet another phone call.  

Once she relays the message to him, he goes quiet, “Reid?” 

“What if the unsub was trying to tell Dr. Barton that He is actually the target?” Spencer asks. “And that he’s going to leave his son without a father?” 

She goes to answer but then Spencer starts to panic, “Barton!” He calls out after him. 

“Reid?” She calls out, wondering what’s going on. There’s the sound of him running and then a gunshot. “Reid, Answer me! Spencer!!” 

There’s no response. So she hangs up and dials 911. “This is Special Agent Y/N Y/L/N from the FBI. I need police and an ambulance at 120 Kensington Road, McLean Virginia. Shots fired. Federal agent possibly down,” she calls down the line as soon as they pick up. 

“Yes ma’am, I have police and medical on their way now, do you have a description of the suspect?” 

“No, I was on the phone with my partner when I heard the shot and he wasn’t responding, he’s there with Doctor Thomas Barton working on a case, the man was being stalked and his life was being threatened, it seems the man found him.” 

“Okay, thank you, we’ve got it from here.” 

“Thanks,” she hangs up and finds the first seat she sees. 

She has to sit down. Today has been too much. Aaron was stabbed, Spencer possibly shot, they’re all working on 4 hours of sleep and it’s all catching up to her now. She starts to cry, her head in her hands, she lets herself have a couple minutes to panic before she goes back to being a professional. 

—

When the team arrives, it’s just JJ and Dave that come up to the ICU. Spencer and Derek are at another hospital, he was shot in the leg, the bullet went in and right back out, hitting bone and fracturing it. He’s going to need surgery and a cast as he’ll be on crutches for a few months. 

“How is he?” Dave asks. 

“He’s still not conscious.” 

“Are you sure it was Foyet?” He asks, still processing the news. 

She nods. “He had Morgans creds.” 

“Did they catch him on the security cameras?” JJ asks. 

“You could see him drop Aaron off but the cameras only on the entrance so I have no idea what direction he went once he left the hospital,” she explains. 

“It doesn’t make sense to have brought Hotch to the ER?” JJ can’t fathom it either. 

“We know Foyet gets off on power and control, maybe what he wants is for Hotch to know his life was in his hands?” Dave suggests. 

“He could do that without risking the hospital?” Y/N combats. 

“Agents,” the doctor calls them over, “he’s waking up.” They all rush to his side, “Now, remember, he’s weak. Don’t push him.” 

She gets the closest to him, holding his hand, she leans in and brushes his hair back, “Hey, there.” 

“Where am I?” He asks, voice weak and throat dry from having a tube down it earlier. 

“The hospital,” Dave answers, on the other side of the bed. 

“How’d I get here?” 

“Foyet drove you,” Y/N says, worried he doesn’t remember the attack. “Do you remember what happened?”

He doesn’t answer, his eyes stay closed and he swallows a few times, thinking back to last night. “What did he take?” 

“What?” 

“The reaper always takes one thing from his victims. Do we know what he took?” 

“Uh,” Y/N thinks back. “There was a page missing from your day planner, the techs said it had been ripped out. The B’s page.” 

“What did he leave?” He asks, trying to piece it all together on his own as if he didn’t just almost die. 

“I don’t know, honey,” she says, feeling bad she doesn’t have more answers for him. 

“He also leaves something with his victims,” Aaron rewords his request. He needs to know. 

“I looked over your whole apartment with the techs, we couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary,” she says. As if the blood stain and the shattered glass were ordinary. 

“Where are my clothes?” 

“over there, but I have your wallet?” She takes it out of her pocket. 

“my pants,” he tries to turn to look at the bag but he’s too weak. 

“I’ve got it,” JJ says, pulling the bag off the table she places it on the foot of his bed and takes his pants out. “What pocket?” 

“Any. Look for something,” he orders, trying to sit up. 

JJ pulls out a picture of Jack and Haley and hands it to him. He tosses his head back and huffs. “Haley’s maiden name is Brooks.” 

JJ and Dave look at each other knowingly. 

“I always listed her in the B’s in my personal information in case it fell into the wrong hands,” he explains. “He knows where they live.” 

“Jacks at a playdate,” Y/N explains. “I called her, I told her what was going on, and she was fine. That was an hour ago, maybe 90 minutes at most.” 

“Go,” Aaron waves them off. “Go make sure they’re okay.” 

“I’ll make the phone calls,” Y/N assures them, “go!” 

And so she’s back on the phone, she calls Garcia to get SWAT to Aaron's old address and then she calls Strauss. This is bigger than them now. They needed the Marshalls. Haley and Jack needed to stay safe until Foyet was either dead or behind bars. And she really wanted him dead for this. 

She hangs up just as Aaron's machines start to beep out of control and she’s told to leave as the doctors assess him. He almost passes out, they get him back on a steady rhythm and check his breathing and his brain activity. He’s okay, but she gets reprimanded for pushing him too hard. He’s been through too much today. He can’t take much more. 

He’s okay, they give him some pain meds and he asks to be able to sit up straight again. She gets a call from JJ, they have Haley and she’s okay. Daves going to pick up Jack from his friend's place and they’re packing their bags to go into witness protection as soon as possible. “I’m going to get a SWAT Team to come here too, there’s no telling what Foyet is capable of and if he’s still here, waiting for us to bring Haley to him, I want to be one step ahead of him.” 

“Okay,” JJ agrees. “You tell the hospital they should go on lockdown, I’ll call Garcia to get the team to head over there.” 

“Thanks,” she says taking a deep breath. “I don’t know how many more phone calls I can make today before I go insane.” 

“Just stay with Hotch, we’ll do the rest.” 

“Thanks again, Jayj,” she smiles to herself before hanging up. 

She pops back into Aaron's room and gives him a smile too, “they’re safe. They’re packing their bags.” 

“Okay,” he nods, relieved but too high on whatever they gave him to show emotion. 

She heads out again, pulls the head doctor over and tells her what’s happening. The hospital is put on a code green: emergency activation. They’re placed on bypass for the time being and if she remembers correctly from New York that means no one new can enter the hospital, and everyone who leaves from every exit is monitored by a police officer. Security roams the halls with 2 SWAT team members, they clear every single room from the basement to the roof, and Foyet is nowhere to be seen. 

Once she knows that she simply pulls the chair over to Aaron’s bedside and sits down beside him, she holds his hand and she doesn’t say anything else. 

“You were at my place?” He asks. 

She nods, “mhm. I went to get you. We had a case.” 

“Oh,” he didn’t even think to ask. “Could you tell how he got in?” 

She shakes her head, “No, sorry, we’re still not sure of that.” 

“Okay.” 

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” She asks, not wanting to push, but she wants him to remember she’s his sounding board, she’s there for whatever he needs.

Forever. 

He suddenly can’t meet her eye. He looks down and away, shaking his head lightly. She can tell by the look on his face that he’s lying but she’ll let him tell her the truth when he’s ready. 

“I don’t know.” 

She just nods. Supporting him even though she knows there’s more. 

Still avoiding her eye, he speaks again. “After he stabbed me the first time it all goes blank.” 

Just then, Haley walks up to his room and she looks upset. Rightfully so. Y/N lets them have the room, she pats Haley’s shoulder on the way out with a smile and she feels awkward for doing it but she did it. She watches them talk from the front desk, JJ brings over Jack and asks her to watch him for a moment. 

“Hey buddy,” she says, getting down on his level, he gives her a hug. She picks him up, setting him down on top of the counter, “You’re getting so big, are you sure you aren’t part Hulk?” 

That makes him laugh and starts talking about other superheroes while she glances back at Aaron. She knows by the look on his face that Haley’s not happy with him. Of course, she isn’t, but still… you’d think she’d be a little concerned for him after being stabbed that many times. 

She comes out a few moments later and helps Jack down from the counter and onto Aaron’s hospital bed before retreating back out of the room. She can just watch from afar, they deserved at least a minute to say goodbye to each other in peace. 

She looks at Y/N, looks her up and down and then cocks her head to the side. “You’re his girlfriend, aren’t you?” 

“Not here. Not now,” she puts her foot down. She’s not playing these little games. “You are the last person to have a say in what he does with his free time.” 

“Wow,” Haley scoffs. “I’m getting kicked out of my house and sent halfway across the country because some serial killer is after me and I’m still the bad guy?” 

She steps closer to Haley, just a little bit taller than her, she looks down at her. “If you died he would never be the same. I have spent the last year picking up his pieces over and over again and I don’t think he’ll be able to be put back together if you or Jack die. So yeah. Suck it up, hide for a bit, and let us catch him so you can go back to living in his house with half of his money and most of his heart.” 

“You love him?” Haley whispers. She stared back and forth between her lips and her eyes, reading everything in Y/N’s expression. “Like really, love him.” 

She nods, fighting the urge to cry. “And I’m going to have to live with the fact that he also loves you for the rest of my life. So please, do me a favour and live.” 

“I will,” Haley promises. “We both will.” 

“And I know you’re not supposed to call anyone or have contact with anyone because Foyet can track you down… but you need to know this guy is a master manipulator. He stole Derek's credentials back in Boston just so he could attack Aaron today and bring him here as a federal agent,” she explains. “He stabbed himself in the same places he stabbed Aaron and pretended to be the only living victim of The Reaper for like 10 years… knowing his previous behaviour, he’s going to try and draw you out by pretending someone in your family has died, even pretending to kill your appointed Marshall to get you to come to him. So if you get a call or someone shows up at your door and they say Aaron, or your sister or anyone has died, don’t go with them. Don’t go to where they want to meet up. Don’t believe anything unless it comes from the Marshall we assigned you today or someone from our team. If you second guess anything, you call me or Penelope, or hell, if you’re close enough, drive right to Quantico and come up to the 6th floor and you find one of us. Buy a gun. Buy a couple, even. Keep one in the kitchen, one in your room and one in your purse. Be prepared to fight. I need you to come home to him.” 

She nods along to everything Y/N says, following everything with a worried look on her face. “I can do that… Aaron taught me how to shoot. I can protect myself. I can protect us.” 

“Good,” Y/N gives her a little smile. “I hope that when this is all over... when you come home, we can talk? Like really talk. I hope that whatever me and Aaron have lasts and we can all get along… I want his family to stay together, I don’t want to have to pick up his pieces again. But I will. I need you to know that. If anything happens, I’ve got him. But I’d like to have him while he still has you, too.” 

“That would be nice,” Haley agrees. 

“Now, the hospital is on lockdown and we have agents scanning the building and parking lot for Foyet in case he stuck around to watch you leave here,” she keeps going with information. “I had JJ run to the store to pick up some hair dye so we’re going to turn you into a brunette to keep you hidden and I’ve asked for 5 identical cars with blacked-out windows to come into the ambulance bay to pick you guys up and all head in different directions so he can’t follow everyone. We’re getting you out of here without a single hitch. Even if I have to do it all myself.” 

“Thank you,” Haley whispers, trying not to cry now that it’s hitting her how real this is. 

“Don’t thank me until you’re home, safe, and all this is over,” she says, placing her hand on Haley's shoulder. “Come on, let’s go get Jack and I’ll take you to the room where we’re going to do your hair.” 

“What shade of brown?” She asks, not excited. 

“It’s more of a red-toned brown… Penelope actually went to hairdressing school for a couple months before she got recruited so she’s going to be doing it,” Y/N explains. 

They walk into the room together, smiling, and Aaron looks like he’s shocked to see them happy together. “You ready to go, Jack?” Haley asks. 

He nods, “can I have another hug?” He asks his dad.

“Of course, buddy,” Aaron takes him in as gently as he can. “I love you so much, you remember that while you’re on vacation with mommy, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

JJ shows up in the doorway behind them then, too. “Penelope’s all set up and ready.”

“You know,” Haley looks at Y/N. “Why don’t you guys keep Jack here while I get my hair done? He’s going to be bored in the room with us anyway… if Aaron needs some rest, I trust you with him. You can watch him?” 

“Yeah, okay,” Y/N doesn’t mind at all. “We’ll come and find you if Aaron needs to rest at all.” 

“Okay,” she gives them all one last smile and then heads out with JJ. 

“I think this TV gets some kid's channels,” Y/N says, pointing up at the old TV that’s screwed into the wall at the top right corner of the room. She takes the remote off the wall where it’s been velcroed to stay safe and turns it on. “What kind of shows do you like, Jackers?” 

“Teenage mutant ninja turtles,” he says with a smile. 

“Well then, let’s see if they’ve got it.” 

—

Derek shows up at St. Sebastian an hour later. Spencer has gone into surgery which should take 2 or more hours so Derek felt like he could leave his side for a while. Dave stays at Aaron’s bedside, keeping him company while Y/N, Derek and JJ bring Haley and Jack down to the ambulance bay. It’s underground, dark and completely empty. The security footage has been turned off down there, so if there is a hack Foyet won’t know what car they’re in. 

They get into the 4th of the 5 cars. Typically, someone important would take the 3rd, the one in the middle, in case of an ambush. Everyone knows this. The president does this. Michael Jackson does this, hell even the fucking pope stays in the middle. Foyet doesn’t have the manpower to orchestrate an ambush. Even so, they put them in the 4th one to be on the safer side. 

The plan is that they’ll all leave the same way and then break off in 5 directions. Again, Foyet doesn’t have the manpower behind him to track down each car. If he were to follow one, chances are it wouldn’t be Haleys and if he does somehow pick car number 4, they would clue into the fact someone is following them well before they make it to their destination. Where that is? They don’t know. That’s the whole point of witness protection. 

There will be unmarked police cars travelling along the same route that Haley and Jack are going, meaning the police are simply 1 call away if someone is following them. In that case, the police will intervene, either pulling him over or… causing an accident. Either way, they’ll get Foyet off their tail in time for them to get off the road and head to a new safe house. 

Her name has already changed, they don’t know what it is. She’ll find out once she’s in the car with her US Marshal. She’ll get new IDs and a backstory she has to learn. Jack will have to be called something else but it will be similar enough that it’s not weird for him to be called something new and it won’t stick if this goes on a while. The last thing they want to do is give this 4 year old an identity crisis. 

She explains most of it to Haley on the ride down to the ambulance bay where JJ and Derek are waiting with the other SWAT members. “You ready?” She asks one final time. 

Haley nods. “Keep him safe for us?” 

“Absolutely. And you remember what I said?”

“He’s a master manipulator, don’t listen to anything unless it comes from my Marshal or you guys, buy a couple guns and come back to Quantico if I don’t feel safe with the information given to me,” she recounts it all back to her. 

“You’re gonna do great,” she assures her, pulling Haley in for a hug, they embrace each other for a moment and then pull away with similar press-lipped smiles. It was awkward but they were going to get through it no matter what. 

“See ya, Jack,” she reaches out her hand to give him a high five. “Have fun on your vacation.” 

“Bye!” He waves, giddy and excited to leave. He has no idea what’s going on and she’s so glad. 

Once Jack is safely buckled into his booster seat and Haley sits down beside him, they close the door and each car starts to pull out of the ambulance bay. They wave, unable to see past the tinted windows but just in case Jack is waving to them… and then they’re gone. 

She lets out a shaky breath and her calm, cool and collected demeanour disappears. She turns to Derek and almost falls into his arms, crying. He rubs her back, “Hey, hey it’s okay. We’re going to get this guy. It’s all good.” 

“Today was so hard,” she cries. “I couldn’t find him and then we realized it was Foyet and then I heard Spencer get shot I had to call 911 and I-I-I... I didn’t know what to do.” 

“Shh, it’s okay,” he assures her. “Spencer is okay. Aaron is okay. Our team is strong. You’re so incredibly strong. You kept your cool through all of this, you could’ve gotten cold and mean and instead you made sure Haley and Jack were okay and you waited to do this. I wouldn’t have been able to do all this if some psycho was after my man.” 

She manages to laugh at that, it’s absurd. Fucking insane, actually. She pulls away and wipes her tears, “I’m also so fucking tired.” 

“I hear you!” Derek agrees, “I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight if you let me.”

She wraps her arm around him and they all start to head over to the elevator, JJ being quiet the whole time because she doesn’t know what to really say. “we’ve had a hard week, I think we should all take a few vacation days… maybe I can talk to Strauss and agree we only come in if there’s a terrorist attack to amber alert?” 

“Yes please,” she would love that. “Although, I’m going to ask Strauss for more than just a few days off. I want to take all my vacation days either until I run out or until Aaron can come back.” 

“I still find it so weird that you can call him Aaron,” JJ teases. 

She shrugs, “rolls off the tongue pretty easy if you ask me.” 

“Ew,” she says it proudly this time. “Ew! You both are so gross. I’m so glad we don’t work with Will all the time.” 

“No but we still know you two are freaky,” Derek teases her. “I mean… you have a kid.”

“whats that supposed to mean?” She asks, slightly offended. 

“you let him hit it raw,” Derek teases. “Ya nasty.” 

JJ smacks him. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that? You have a stupid response to literally everything!” 

Derek simply wraps her up in a hug, “what are brothers for?” 

“I wouldn’t know, I had a sister,” she says begrudgingly, but she hugs him back none the less. 

— 

She’s with Aaron all night. She sits beside him and holds his hand and she wipes his tears when things get too intense for him. It breaks her heart. She knows he’s going to be traumatized by this, he’s not going to want to talk about it and the trauma is going to fester and spread and it might affect his work. It’s going to be a long road, she’s prepared for it but she just doesn’t know how to broach these topics. 

She’s not going to ask now, right now is about his healing. The nurses have made it clear that any stress could cause him to tense up and move too fast and pull a stitch or start bleeding internally. He’s very delicate right now. She hasn’t seen what it looks like under his bandages, she won’t for a while, but before they leave the hospital she’s going to be shown how to help him clean and redress them so she can care for him at home. 

He gets more medicine, it helps him sleep and sleep helps him heal, so she just sits there beside him and the nurses say they can bring up a cot for her if she wants it, but she’s good just sitting beside him. She rests her head on his bed, still holding his hand, she’s so close to falling asleep when someone rubs her shoulder. She turns around, thinking it's a nurse and she looks up with blurry, tired vision to see Section Chief Strauss. 

“Oh, hi?” 

“Can you step away for a minute?” She asks. 

Y/N nods, rubs her eyes and stands up to follow her out of the room. They head a little down the hallway, away from the nurses but still in view of Aaron's ICU room. 

“How is he?” She asks. 

“He’s okay, he has 9 stab wounds around 2 inches deep, Foyet missed his major arteries and organs on purpose… he’s going to need a while to heal and I’d like you to request he has mandatory therapy for a few months to process what happened,” she asks, all but begging. “If you intervene he has to, if I ask then I’m just a worrier and he won’t do it.” 

“what are you?” 

“We haven’t filled the paperwork and we know that goes against the rules but we didn’t want to be separated during all this. We’ve been dating a little over 2 months now,” she reluctantly answers. 

“Okay,” Strauss nods, slightly upset but she gets it. “And I suppose you’ll want time off to care for him?” 

She nods, “Foyet knows we're together, he called our hotel room to try and make a deal with Aaron during the Reaper case in Boston, we weren’t dating back then but we were sharing a bed… I-I know that looks bad, but we weren’t doing anything inappropriate during cases I can assure you of that, we had both been through a tough few months with our injuries and me being held hostage and sleeping side by side was good for my anxiety after everything and—

“I understand,” Strauss reaches out and places her hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. I know, I met my own husband at work, these things just happen.” 

She’s surprised that she’s being so nice… so she uses it to her advantage. “I have 5 weeks of vacation days banked from the last few years, and 3 weeks of sick days, can I have them all?” 

Strauss nods, “You, Aaron and Reid are all going to be off for a while, so I’m already interviewing someone to come in and fill your and Spencer’s shoes. Derek is stepping up to Unit Chief for the time being, Dave will stay second in command and when Spencer can come back to the office he will be working with Penelope in her room, on the phone with the team.” 

“Okay,” she likes this plan. “Do we know the people you’re interviewing?” 

“They’re the same people who were finalists when you were hired, so Aaron should know all of them,” she assures. “I’ll go off his notes and Derek will have an opinion on the final hire as well.” 

“Thank you for making this easy for us,” she gives her a small smile. 

“I just need you to do something for me.”

And there it is. Erin Strauss is a very transactional woman. She doesn’t do anything unless she gets something out of it. She did this before, when Aaron got suspended and she refused to give any dirt on the team. 

“What do you want?” she asks, giving in with a sigh. She leans against the wall and crosses her arms. 

“I need you to get him to agree to step down,” she explains. “While Derek will be the interim chief, I think that going forward... it would be best if when Aaron returns, he steps down for good. When this whole Foyet thing is done, we can asses his mental health and see if he would be able to take his role back, however, until then, I think he should step down. After Gideon's girlfriend was murdered he went a little crazy, we don’t need Aaron going through the same thing.” 

While she understands her reasoning, she doesn’t really want to agree. “Foyet wants to ruin his life, he wants him to be so depressed, so defeated, that he doesn’t have the energy to keep hunting him… stepping down would be smart.”

“Good, you agree. Well, that’s really all I wanted to talk to you about… is there anything else you need?” She asks. 

Y/N shakes her head. “No… um, I don’t know where we’re going to go yet but I know we can’t stay in DC while he’s healing. I just don’t feel safe with Foyet knowing where we live so when we do get settled somewhere can you maybe call us once a week or send emails with any updates about the case?” 

“I can definitely do that. You two take care, I’ll be in touch,” Strauss lightly touches her arm and smiles, and then she walks away. 

She just takes in a deep breath and lets it out with the slump of her shoulders. She hasn’t really slept since last week. Being in Canada, seeing what they saw, not being able to find Aaron, thinking he and Spencer were going to die… it’s all actually catching up to her now and she’s exhausted. She wanders back into his room, sits back down at her chair beside his bed and rests her head on his thigh. This is where she’ll be for the next few hours. 

Sleeping peacefully with the love of her life safely beside her. 

—

Aarons has been in the hospital for 3 days now, she hasn’t left his side more than a handful of times.

And she hasn’t gone home at all.

She convinces the nurses to let her use the residents' locker room showers to feel a little less gross and she changes into an outfit from her go bag that lives in her car. She’s scared to leave him, she’s scared to go back to her own apartment, she’s scared to walk the halls at night… she knows the reaper is like a ghost, he could pop up anywhere and so she’s terrified he’ll show up behind her and stab her to death. He knows about them. He knows Aaron was happy, even while divorced, and she’s sure that if he can’t get to Haley, he’s going to come after Her. 

She wants to get out of here, run as fast as she can as far as she can go and she wants to bring Aaron with her. He’s just not ready to be moved yet. She’s been thinking over the last 3 days, where could they go when he is ready? Her parents live down in Florida now at a retirement village so that’s not a place they can hide. His brother lives in New York in a small apartment and they’re not friendly and it could just put Sean in harm's way. And then it hits her. 

West Virginia. 

That’s where they’re going to go.

The team, well, Rossi, Morgan and JJ headed off on a case yesterday, something in Idaho regarding a missing child. She had planned on calling Derek if he wasn’t busy, she wanted to ask him to come to her apartment with her cause she was afraid to go alone and she needed to pack and change and shower with her own things. But he’s busy. And he’s only going to get busier. 

So she calls Anderson. He is the BAU’s equivalent of a head resident in a hospital. He makes schedules, he makes sure people are where they need to be, he makes calls and fills out paperwork and he ensures that Aaron's job—well, Morgans now, goes smoothly. He’s trained just like every other agent in the FBI, he just hasn’t been in the field in 5 years now. He likes his office job. This is where he shines the most. He could help her, too. 

He meets her outside her home with his gun on his hip and a sorrowful look on his face. He asked about Aaron, or Hotch as they all called him. No matter what happened, no one but she seemed to be able to call him Aaron. It felt too intimate. Nevertheless, he goes into her apartment with her, helps her clear it to ensure no one is hiding in wait, and stays in the living area while she packs. 

In her bedroom, in the box under her bed full of memories, she finds a brochure for the Bed ’n Breakfast they stayed in last year and she immediately calls the number on the back. 

“Evergreen Bed and Breakfast, Mary speaking,” the elderly British woman answers the phone. 

“Hi, I’m not sure if you remember me but my friend Aaron and I stayed with you last year we were in Room 6,” she explains, hoping that rings any bells. But if it didn’t, she adds: “We work for the FBI and we were just coworkers who wanted two queens but you didn’t have any left?” 

“Oh, yes! Hello, dear, how are you?” She asks, chipper as ever. 

“I’m good, um, I was wondering if you knew anyone in the area who has a cabin for rent? We’d like to have a little getaway, we’re thinking 6 to 8 weeks…” 

“We have one,” she offers right away. “We were going to head up to clean it out for the fall and winterize it, but we can put that off until you’re done with it?” 

“Are you sure? I’d never want to inconvenience you—

“Oh, hush, it’s no worry on our end,” she assures Y/N. “When were you thinking you’d be needing it?” 

“Early next week? Um, Aaron was in an accident and he’s coming out of the hospital soon and we’d like a place to hide away while he’s in recovery… and if we could book it under a fake name, that would be good. I can pay cash, I really don’t want us to be found at all.” 

“Oh, my,” Mary can’t believe it. “Can I ask what happened?” 

“The most I can say is that a criminal we were after attacked him in his home,” she explains. “He’s going to need a while to recover, and I don’t think he can do it in that environment and I feel too exposed having him at my home in case the man knows where I live too.” 

“Holy,” is all Mary can say. Flabbergasted, Y/N can hear her breathing through her mouth, like it’s still left open, shocked at that answer. “It’s all yours.” 

“Thank you, thank you so much,” she feels so relieved. “How much do I owe you?” 

“For 8 weeks… 2 grand?” 

“Are you sure?” She asks, that seems a little low. “Does it have electricity and running water?” 

“Oh yes, it’s been in our family a long time. There are 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom with a nice tub and a fireplace in the lounge. We normally close it down right before Halloween so it’s not of use to us and that money will cover the bills to keep it open longer, we won’t take anything more. Consider it a thank you for what you two do for a living,” she explains. “I’ll tell Eileen about this and she and her eldest son Marshall will go up there this weekend and make sure it’s up to standard, you can stop here and get the key and pay and no one will ever know you’re staying there.”

“I appreciate this endlessly, seriously, thank you. I have been so scared about what I’m going to do to keep him safe going forward, this is such a weight off my shoulders.” 

“You’re very welcome, dearie, we’ll see you next week,” Mary says, signing off. They say their goodbyes and then she’s alone in her room again. 

She has a moment to smile and take a deep breath. This will be okay. Haley is a strong woman, she’s going to fight for them. Aaron is a strong man but he’s also good at listening to her. She can get him to open up on their trip. She can use some of her psychology skills and help him if he is exhibiting any PTSD symptoms. She can clean his wounds and nurture his mind and love him and protect him and when he’s okay, they’ll go back to work and they’ll catch this fucker. 

She puts all her clothes in a suitcase, and she also packs everything of Aarons that she has at her apartment. Then, she grabs a laundry basket and fills it with other things they’ll need while in a cabin in the woods. All their shower things, towels and face cloths, laundry detergent and dryer sheets, a pair of scissors, nail clippers, tweezers, moisturizer, deodorants, toothpaste, toothbrushes, tissues, wet wipes, napkins, dish soap, a can opener… they’ll get anything else they need while they’re there, but she’s not sure how far a grocery store will be from this cabin. 

She throws in some cans of soup just to cover her bases. She cleans out her fridge of anything that will go bad while they’re gone. She plugs the sinks and the tub in the bathroom so bugs don’t get in with the pipes being dry for so long. She locks every window and Anderson helps her carry everything down to her car. She then calls her landlord and leaves a message about her going away for a while so he can turn off her water to prevent any flooding or pipe breaking in her absence and then she takes another deep breath. 

“anywhere else you need to go?” Anderson asks. 

“Aaron’s place,” she says reluctantly. “I need to pack his things… I don’t want to go there.” 

“It’s okay, I can help,” Anderson assures her. “I actually called a good crime scene clean-up crew right after the police were done with it and they tore up the carpet yesterday so you won’t have to see that again.”

“Thank you, Grant,” she reaches out and touches his arm and smiles. “I’ll see you over there.” 

They part ways to get in their own cars and drive to where Aaron lives on the other side of town. When they get there, the tape is still up on the outside of Aaron's door, the cleaning people must’ve just ducked under it… she takes it down and hesitates before going in.

“Now, I don’t know what Foyet did while he was here. We shouldn’t talk about anything confidential, or where we’re going just in case he has a listening device in there now,” she says, worried as ever. 

“Yeah, smart… but you were talking on the phone with someone making plans at your house, what if he—

“There’s no proof he was ever in my place but even still I never mentioned any names or locations on the phone,” she assures him. 

“Smart, okay, let’s go in,” Anderson says, handing her the keys to Aaron’s place. He got them surrendered to him from evidence after the police wrapped everything up. 

Inside, they clear the space quickly and then she does the same things she did at her own place. She packs Aaron's bag with all his comfy clothes, sweats and t-shirts and underwear and then a couple pairs of jeans and nice shirts— polos and button-ups, for when he’s feeling like he wants to go out and be a real person again. 

She knows what that’s like. In her senior year of high school, she had her appendix removed, she had 11 staples and she was out of school for a month. It was hard, she couldn’t shower often and laughing hurt, but the day she was able to get her staples out she got all dressed up for it. Simply because she could. 

And that was with just 1 wound. Aaron has 9. 

He’s going to hate feeling like he can’t do anything. He’s going to try and move and do things too soon because he’s impatient. She’s going to have to monitor his medicine intake and help him bathe and clean the wounds and redress for a few weeks… and she’s completely okay with that. She wants the rest of her life with him and if that means the "in sickness and in health" part starts now. She’s going to do it. 

Once she has everything he’d need clothing-wise, she throws out things in his refrigerator, plugs all the drains and talks to the super of his building to get everything turned off while they’re gone. 

While Anderson is bringing the suitcase out to her car, she has 2 more things she wants to bring. Aaron's gun safe sits on his night table, it’s fingerprint-activated and both his and her own thumbprint are in it. She opens it up to see that his spare gun is in there. The one day he didn’t wear it on his ankle was the one day he was attacked… his passport and some cash are in there too. She locks it up again and unplugs it from the wall and starts to carry it out into the main room. 

“Woah, let me get that,” Grant says as he walks back in. “You’re bringing this?” 

She nods, “Yeah. We’re bringing our guns with us, we need to keep them somewhere?” 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like you’re gonna be at a h—

“Grant,” she cuts him off. Knowing he was about to say a hotel with a safe. “No specifics while we’re in here.” 

“Right, sorry,” he apologizes. “I’ll go put this in your car.” 

“I’ll be right out.” 

He heads down the hallway and she has a moment to look around. She grabs another laundry basket and puts in some of Aaron's running shoes and slacks. A bottle of his favourite whisky from the bar cart and Aaron's laptop. His phone is still in evidence so she’ll have to go get that, and his gun is with the police too so she’ll have to sign it out… and last but not least she grabs his two photo albums. One is full of his childhood memories and the other is all of Jack's baby pictures. He’s going to need this. 

She takes the basket with her out into the hall and sets it down as she locks up and then heads back out to her car with it. It’s pretty packed now. All she needs is Aaron to be released from the hospital and they can run away together. 

She can’t wait to run away with him. 

IKP

@southernraven @alluringshawn @lambsheepsheeping @lmg-stilinski24 @louderfortheback @deludedfruitcake @kleff03 @mrs-ssa-hotch @maxinehufflepuffprincess @lokifanfic2021 @art-and-thoughts @forkswabutnoforks4me @no-1martinipolice @panhoeofmanyfandoms @pastanoodles11 

General Taglist 

@ncsls0515 @stevesmunsons @reidsbookclub @sweetyyhippyy @manuosorioh @mrs-dr-reid @k-k0129 @squishyturtle @katsukis1wife @babybisexual @marsmunson86 @buckleyhans 

[n0v4t33z]

The Syndicate - Chapter 2: The Traitor

Pairings: Choi San X Female Reader, Park Seonghwa X Female Reader, Ateez X Female Reader

Summary: Y/N is a Detective with a promising future in the police department until she's kidnapped by the infamous mafia boss Choi San and from him, she learns the dark secrets her superior has been hiding the whole time so she teams up with him in order to put a stop to it.

Genre: Lots of angst, Romance, Crime Fiction, Psychological Drama

Word Count: 5.1k

Tags/Warnings: For Mature Audiences, Language, Graphic Violence, Mentions of Illegal activities (i.e Kidnapping, extortion, assassination etc.), y/n gets roughed up by Wooyoung in the beginning , Slow Burn, Fluff sometimes, Work In Progress, Non-Idol AU, Mafia AU, Very suggestive at times, y/n cries alot, y/n having inner turmoil, Ateez being bad boys, Wooyoung and Yeosang are a little mean in this story tbh, Guns, Gunshot wounds, Assassination attempt(s)

I'll update tags as the story progresses

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!!

Please Reblog if you like it! 🔁

Spotify Playlist🎵 | Series Masterlist📝

Author's Note: So here it is, Chapter 2! I wanted to at least try and post a chapter for San's birthday so this is it! I hope you guys enjoy it!💜

‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆.

“So you’re the infamous Detective that San has kept his eye on for the longest..” Hongjoong asks while fidgeting with the keys in his right hand. “Infamous?” I quietly answer back and he nods silently almost like I was being judged. Something tells me he really doesn't like me I can already tell by the way he's looking at me. “Yeah, ever since you joined Ulwood PD you’ve been costing us a lot of business.” Taken a back from the bluntness I gather my courage and respond but this time a bit more respectful not wanting to start an argument and possibly anger any of them again. "Really? So besides my superior having something San wants that's one of the reasons why you guys decided to kidnap me?" Hongjoong lets out a small exhale from his nose "In a way, yes. That as well but not majorly." I slowly nod "What if I get my superior to make a deal with San to return whatever it is he wants?" Hongjong shakes his head, his earrings making a faint jingling noise "Maybe you should speak to San about that." I look over at Hongjoong who was looking straight ahead while we walk the dimly lit corridor, I didn't get a good look at his face before but he looks fairly young. Definitely shorter than the rest too, except Wooyoung. Luckily enough the silence doesn't last too long as we arrive outside San’s office so I didn't have to deal with the awkwardness much longer, Hongjoong opens the door “Here she is, I will be outside.” He slightly pushes me to sit down and closes the door behind him. San then stares at me for a bit and without breaking eye contact he says “Sit down Detective.” Stay focused, try negotiating with him. I carefully sit down on the leather chair in front of San’s desk while he clicks his pen a few times then sets it down. “First of all, before anything I’d like to apologize about what happened with Wooyoung. He wasn’t supposed to beat you like that.” I roll my eyes “Right, care to explain why you abducted me?” I want to hear this from the man himself and not his "inner circle" goons. San looks over at me with a deadpan expression “You’re ransom Detective. Something that belongs to me is in possession of Ulwood PD, not just that but Captain Lee owes me for all the stuff he’s been putting my family through. He’s no saint, and what a better way to taunt him than taking his secret weapon against us, you.”

Captain Lee? He’s always been a very respectable man and very stern. What does he have to do with the Choi’s and Aurora Syndicate? I look at San slightly suspicious “Captain Lee? Ever since I joined Ulwood PD, he’s been a very good role model of what a Detective should be. What does he have to do with your family?” San looks away almost like he was holding in a laugh then says “Oh come on Detective, can't you read between the lines? I guess he’s been keeping his double life under wraps from everyone in the department.” I glare at San. “What are you trying to say? Captain Lee works for you?” He smirks and slightly nods “Good guess, but it's more like he used to. The man is a crooked cop.” His face then grows serious again and he continues “ He used to work for my father. He’s also the reason my father got murdered. He began to work with a rival mob, The Obsidian Dragon a few years back which led to him giving away my father’s location to those people.”

No way, no fucking way. Captain Lee was one of the organizers for this hit and I’m the one having to suffer for his mistakes? “Why not abduct him? Why was I brought into this?” San pushes his glasses with his middle finger and sits back on his chair “Well, if we kidnap him he’ll be marked as a hero and that’s what I don’t want. I want him to be known as my father’s killer, and what a better way to bring attention to it than when a very infamous and well known Detective is kidnapped and in order to save her his whole team has to slowly unravel how evil and dirty he is. If he doesn’t give in, either way he’ll be seen as a terrible and incompetent person for letting a gifted Detective die in order to save himself.” I slowly clench my fists. This has to be a crude joke.

“I need proof of Captain Lee doing the things you’re claiming. I can’t just take your word for it, I don’t trust you.” San opens the drawer next to his desk and sets a file about an inch and a half thick in front of me “These are photos of him and my family and documents with his handwriting on it. Not to mention there are photos of him meeting up with someone from The Obsidian Dragon” I open the folder and the first thing to catch my attention is a picture of a dinner with presumably the Choi family and next to San’s father is Captain Lee smiling brightly. I squint my eyes to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me then I look over to a financial document with Captain Lee’s signature. I look at a few other photos carefully examining if it was the right person and to my disappointment it was. It’s Captain Lee, I'd recognize his signature anywhere and the man in the pictures looks exactly like him including his golden tooth. I look over at San in complete shock and San smirks and raises his eyebrow “You believe me now?” I slowly nod then I close the file and set it back on San’s desk in disappointment.

“This has to be a misunderstanding, he’s a great person I know so. I’m sure there has to be a reason he did this.” San throws his head back and laughs and says “The man loves money Detective, the difference between us and him is that the majority of us had nothing at one point but desperation to survive while this man has had money and a good life from the beginning. Also, what type of person kills their best friend over money? ” My body runs cold, and my stomach drops “The Phantom was friends with him?” There is a slight hint of disappointment in San’s voice “Yeah, so close I even called him uncle when I was a child.” Oh no, why do I feel bad for this man? When he's the reason Ulwood’s crime rates went up to begin with. I sigh and Sympathetically look at him “Look, I’m so sorry he caused all this pain to you and your family but there’s no reason to keep me here to get back at him. That file you showed me has enough evidence to send him to prison for the rest of his remaining life, I'll do that for you only if you let me go.” San looks at me for a few seconds and he shakes his head “No, i’m sorry.” I scoot up closer to his desk and I put my hand over the file “Please, you can do this the right way instead of possibly ruining your life.” He sits up and leans over the desk close to me and in a very calm voice he says “My life is already ruined Detective, all the things I've done are enough to send me to prison for the rest of my life. The least I should do with the last of my freedom is to destroy the man who killed my father.” I sit there for a while processing his final decision “Well, all I’m hoping is that Captain Lee does the correct thing although now I’m doubting it.” I have a feeling I’m going to die here now. “I sent the ransom note about an hour ago so we’ll have to wait for his answer in maybe a few days.” A few days?! I know for a fact we usually see ransom calls and answer them right away, why is he just going with a ransom note? "Why a ransom note when you can just call?" A smirk appears on his face "It makes it a little more dramatic, it's amusing, Even more knowing how much he's probably freaking out" I scoff and look at the book case to my left. He's such a childish man, it's ridiculous.

Out of nowhere my stomach growls and I clutch my stomach then San curiously looks over at me “Are you hungry?” I quietly nod then he grabs a radio from his desk and says “Hongjoong, can you escort the Detective to the guest room.” Hongjoong sounding a bit confused says “Uh yeah, sure right away.” The door then opens a few seconds later and Hongjoong walks towards me but before he reaches over to grab my arm I take off my badge and set it on San’s desk “Here, I have a feeling I won’t be needing this anymore.” San gives me a slightly confused look then Hongjoong escorts me out.

The walk to the guest room was excruciatingly quiet so I begin to lose myself in my own thoughts until finally we arrive at the guestroom. Hongjoong continues to hold my arm tightly while he opens the door. After opening the door Hongjoong walks me inside the guest room and sits me down on the bed and says “This is escape proof, so don’t even try.” He exits the room, and after hearing the door lock I lay down and begin to silently sob. I don’t want to die here, I want to see my family, I want to fall in love and have a family. I close my eyes and I slowly drift to sleep hoping that the horror I was living is just a dream.

Later, I’m gently nudged awake then I groggily open my eyes and I see Seonghwa holding some food “Hey, San got you some food. He didn’t know if you were allergic to anything so he just went with steamed rice and veggies and for your drink it’s apple juice but in a bottle so you know we didn’t mess with it.” He helps me sit up while I quietly wince in pain trying to sit up “Oh, thank you. Do I get these removed too?” He opens the food and says “I would but I can’t. The only one who can is San, my apologies Detective. I can still feed you though so it’s okay.” I look over to the food then I nod slightly disappointed “I see. Well, since we have to get that familiar with each other with you feeding me and all call me Y/N.” He chuckles and grabs a spoonful of food and feeds it to me “Alright Y/N, my name is Seonghwa but you can just call me Hwa when it’s just us.” Something tells me he's friendlier than the rest here “So Hwa when did you start working here?”

He hesitantly smiles and feeds me another spoonful of food and says “Well, I started working here a little before San’s father passed away. You? When did you start working as a detective?” While I chew I think for a few seconds “3 years this march as an actual detective, I’m honestly still not really used to it though I still have slip ups where I start talking like a civilian.” He opens the apple juice and puts a straw in the bottle “Oh I see, so you’re somewhat still new to the department?” I nod then I take a sip of my juice “Yes, but I guess weirdly enough people at the station no longer see me as the newbie because of the case clearing rate. streak I have" He hums in acknowledgement "I've heard, you're a criminal's worst nightmare." we both quietly chuckle then I ask "So, are you friends with San and all those guys I've seen?” He sets the juice back on the floor “Oh, yes. In a way we’re all friends although sometimes we do get into pretty heated disagreements.” I furrow my brows while focusing on the wall behind Seonghwa.

“So then does that mean I'm going to have to see the one who hit me? Wooyoung I think was his name.” He gently pats my shoulder “Unfortunately you probably are but don’t worry he’s not going to hit you anymore, San got onto him about it. It’s weird because this is the first time San has gotten upset over something like this happening, usually he doesn’t really care when Wooyoung goes around beating the people we’ve kidnapped. Then again this is the first time we’ve kidnapped a cop.” That’s weird I didn’t think he’d even care either, I thought maybe Wooyoung somehow messed up the procedure or something like that. Seonghwa continues “Let's have you finish eating so you can clean up and change clothes." Later, after Seonghwa finishes feeding me he helps me up and says "San got you a really pretty dress so you can wear it after your bath"

Embarrassed, I respond "Wait what? You're going to give me a bath?!" He chuckles and says "No silly, San is going to help you since he's the only one who is able to remove your handcuffs" Confused, I scrunch my nose and say “Why him?” Seonghwa shrugs and gives me a confused face “Honestly, I have no idea that’s just what he told us.” I look down and fidget with my hands then I say "So you're leaving then?" He reaches over and holds both my hands "I'm sorry, but don't worry I'll try coming back as much as I can." I sigh and with a slight disappointed tone in my voice I say "Okay..” He picks up the leftovers and gets up then the door opens behind him. I watch as San enters the room with a few shopping bags. Surprised, Seonghwa looks over at San and says “Oh hey, I was just about to go get you.” San walks over to the bed and sets down the shopping bags and says “Thanks for helping her eat, can you tell Yunho to let me know when something comes up regarding the ransom?” Seonghwa nods and closes the door behind him leaving me alone with San.

I watch him glance at me for a few seconds then sit next to me. “How are you feeling?” Why is he asking me how I feel? This is so weird. I shrug and say “I’m still in pain but I feel way better than I did earlier but I'm sure the bruises will come in tomorrow.” He smiles and says “I’m glad you’re feeling better, also was the food okay? I didn’t know what to get you since I didn’t know if you had food allergies or not.” Is he joking? Why is he asking me if I liked the food or not? Why does he care if I have food allergies? Why is he being so nice? He might be trying to get me to talk by being nice. “Food was good, don't worry.” He looks over at my hand cuffed hands “If I take these off of you do you promise me you won’t try to escape?” I might take a leap of faith and try but without hesitation I respond “I promise.” he uncuffs my hands and I gently massage my wrists and press my lips together forcing a smile. “I never say this to criminals but thank you, for like the food and everything.” He gives me a soft smile and says “Of course, now it’s time for you to get cleaned up and wash off all that blood off of you.” Should I ask him why he’s being so nice? Or is it too soon? Maybe.

I get up and stretch then San stands up next to me and chuckles gently patting my head “Oh wow you’re really short Detective, I've never seen such a short cop before. it’s actually kind of cute. I’m surprised you were even allowed to be in the police academy.” Oh my gosh did he just call me cute? The man is really committing himself to get something out of me. I raise an eyebrow in confusion “Gee, thanks but just in case you didn’t know I can do alot of damage despite my small stature.” He looks down at me and smirks “Yeah I know, which is why I’m the only one who can uncuff you.” If I change the subject maybe he’ll stop being weird. “So where’s the bathroom?” He leads me over to a door next to the entrance “There’s a shower in there but I’ll tell you right now the door has no lock so I can easily check up on you if you get too quiet.” Ew no. What if he’s being a pervert and watches me shower then what? I cross my arms in front of my chest and I say “Fair enough, just don’t be a pervert or….”

We both exchange looks for what feels like forever then he gently lifts my chin with his finger and says in a low voice “Or what Detective?” He’s good. My face gets hot and I swat his hand away from my face “I’ll press charges on you for harassment when I get out of here.” San lets out an amused laugh “Oh, are you really? But can’t I just admire a woman’s beauty?” He proceeds to push his glasses up with his middle finger then winks at me. I give him a disgusted look and walk into the bathroom closing the door behind me then from the other side of the door I say “I bet this is why you don’t have a girlfriend because you’re so weird!” I hear San laughing on the other side of the door and say "I was kidding!" I roll my eyes and get in the shower letting the water completely soak through my hair while I stand in the shower with my eyes closed wondering if what was happening right now was actually happening or a weird figment of my imagination from a breakdown or something. I mean being a cop is not necessarily an easy thing and I'm constantly under excruciating pressure from my superiors. So maybe my mind is making it all up.

After showering, wondering whether I'm in reality or not and occasionally checking the door in fear of San looking at me at my most vulnerable state. When I get out I see a nice robe and put it on. When did this robe get here? Where are my clothes? Did he seriously somehow come in without me noticing? I open the bathroom door and I see San standing next to the door on his phone I then ask “Did you take my clothes?” He nods then turns to look at me “Yep, I did. I bought you some clothes but I don’t know if you’ll like them though I asked my mom what a girl likes to wear and she said a nice casual dress will do.” I ran my fingers through my wet hair trying to comb it out “Oh, okay. I swear if you looked at me in the shower.” He shakes his head and pleadingly responds "I didn't I promise." I need to watch out for him, he's good. Maybe he's lying. He scratches the back of his neck and hands me the shopping bag “I also bought some um… you know underwear and some bras.” I grab the bag slightly embarrassed. What happened to me being a prisoner of the Aurora Syndicate? Where is this headed? Am I going to be sold off or something? “Oh, thank you, I’ll go put this on I'll be right out.” I walk back into the bathroom and close the door and I change into the dress, a beautiful ruffled dark purple chiffon dress with a tie up at the waist. When I step out, San’s lips curl up into a smile “It looks beautif- I mean, it looks great on you.” I nod and I bite my bottom lip to keep me from smiling.

The first time in a year that I get male attention and it’s from one of the most dangerous men in Ulwood. Embarrassingly I’m falling into his trap and it hasn’t even been a whole day, just 16 hours ago I was kidnapped. I have to get it together, this man is just playing tricks on me he doesn’t care about me at all whatsoever. Suddenly San’s radio goes off Slightly startling me while a male's voice says says “San, they know about the Detective and they said if we don’t hand her over right now you’ll have a warrant for your arrest.” Amused, San lets out a chuckle “Tell them the first note for her rescue will be on 398 Barry Ave.” The man then responds “Okay got it.” San walks over to me and pulls out the handcuffs from his pocket and puts them on me “I have to go, but I’ll come back later. In the meanwhile I need you to rest okay? ” I nod then he exits out the room and closes the door behind him then a few seconds later I hear the small click of the door being locked. I let out a sigh and walk over by the door and turn off the lights leaving some sort of night light on and I lay down with my back facing the door. I feel quite tired and the pain medicine Jongho gave me is starting to wear off so I begin to have a million thoughts racing through my head trying to get my mind off of the pain that eventually I fall asleep.

I suddenly wake up to the sound of the door unlocking and opening I felt too tired to turn and check who it was until eventually I feel a gentle nudge on my shoulder "Hey Detective, it's me Jongho I brought you some more pain medicine." He helps me sit up and gives me the painkillers and some water soon after he says “Did that warm shower help you feel a bit better?” I nod “Yes, it actually did but I started to be in pain again right before I fell asleep since the medicine was wearing off” He stipples his fingers and says “Don’t worry, just give it an hour and the medicine will kick back in again. Tomorrow when you wake up is when it will hurt a lot so I’ll come back in the morning to check up on you.” I nod and for a few seconds I pick at my nails then I look at Jongho and I say “San told me about Captain Lee, I told him he would get his revenge the right way with all those documents and pictures stacked up as evidence but he doesn’t want to.” He slightly frowns “Well, Detective you have to remember San and basically everyone here including myself are criminals. What San wants is to humiliate Lee and inflict as much pain as that man did to his father, I’m sure you’d do the same for your family if you ever get the chance right?”

I lower my face and purse my lips. “I mean If I had the amount of evidence San has against Captain Lee I’d go to the police.” His eyes widen for a split second in shock then he recollects himself and goes back to his serious expression “Well, police can only do so much, sometimes the best way to get back at someone who's hurt your family is not necessarily the legal way. I’m sure in the back of your mind you know this even if you don’t want to admit it which is understandable since you’re a detective and you work for the police leading me to believe you fully trust them. You have to remember that some of these cops aren’t clean and half the time they’re just as bad as criminals like us, if not worse.” I gently brush my hand on the soft chiffon ruffles of my dress “Actually despite what you probably think I see Captain Lee differently now, seeing all those pictures and evidence and being the empathetic person that I am I genuinely feel sorry for San. That doesn’t mean that I think what he’s doing is okay because it’s not but I do get where he’s coming from and I understand what you’re trying to get at.”

Before he can answer Jongho’s radio goes off with Wooyoung saying “Hey Jongho where are you?” Jongho grabs his radio and says “I was with the detective giving her medicine, what happened?” Wooyoung answers back with a slight annoyance in his voice “I need you to bring the Detective downstairs, Lee wants to talk to her he’s on the phone with San.” He presses the button to his radio again and with a calm voice Jongho says “Okay I’ll be right there.” He puts his radio back in his jacket’s pocket then he turns to me and says “Let’s go Detective.” He helps me up then he walks me downstairs.

When I enter the dimly lit room filled with lots of monitors, computers, and servers I notice that all of San’s inner circle was present, 2 of which I haven't seen. One had dark brown hair he looks as if he’s around the same height as Mingi except a little bit taller. The other wasn't as tall as the hair dark brown haired male in fact he seemed to be around the same height as Wooyoung and Hongjoong. His was a cool brown shade. He was very handsome looking having the face of a Roman statue with no visible flaw on his face besides the pink birthmark next to his right eye, definitely not taking away from how handsome he looked. Now that I notice I realize how all of San's inner circle is basically handsome young men. This is exactly why they probably get away with as much as they do because they're intimidatingly handsome, they probably don't even need money to keep people quiet. Their looks alone will probably the charm any one of their liking. Jongho walks me over to a single chair by where everyone was huddled. San looks at me briefly then says “She’s here, you have 1 minute with her.” San then hands me the phone and I say “Captain Lee?! Please get me out of here I’m begging you. I’m terrified. I want to go home!” In a worried tone he answers “Detective Y/LN, are you okay? Have they hurt you in any way?” A knot forms in my throat and I say in verge of tears “Um, yeah I’m okay except for a few bruises and a busted lip” As angry as I am with Captain Lee for betraying the police department I need to urge him to get me out of here. I hear silence from the other end of the call then Captain Lee clears his throat “Look Detective, I’m going to try my absolute best to get you out of there, Detective Bang is also working on this to get you out of there as soon as possible too. Don’t listen to anything these dirt bags tell you either, they’re low life criminals who don’t care about anyone but themselves.” I release the knot in my throat and I begin to sob “Please, Captain just get me out of here please, just give them whatever they want! I need to see my mom and my family, I have a life too! Please!”

San puts his finger over his lips to hush me and takes the phone “So now that I proved to you that she’s alive and not in some trash can in an alleyway are you are more keen on cooperating?” Seonghwa walks over to me and helps me calm down while San is still on the phone and chuckles, turning around giving the 7 guys behind him a thumbs up. Captain Lee probably agreed. “I have eyes in every corner of the city Lee, if you don’t follow the requests I leave for you and decide to go your own route there will be consequences.” he hangs up with a huge smirk on his face. “I have him right where I want him, now we just wait until his fellow investigators find out his dirty little secrets.”

San hands the Phone over to Hongjoong and walks over to me giving me a curt smile “Thanks to you Detective, he’s probably scrambling to find a way to rescue the PD’s female prodigy.” He helps me up and says “Yeosang, do me a favor and take her back to the guest room.” He nods and he quietly walks me back upstairs to the guest room while we walk up the stairs I slip on the fabric of my dress and he grabs my arm “Careful.” I quietly thank him and continue to walk in silence then I suddenly grow the courage to at least try and make small talk, maybe he's nice like Jongho and Seonghwa “You’re really quiet, this is the first time I’ve heard you speak.” He continues to look forward in silence then he answers “There’s no reason for me to speak to a cop.” Nope, I was right this guy is ice cold. There’s no use in trying to talk to these people, they straight up hate my guts. “Okay, I’m sorry”

After a long and awkward walk back to the guest room we arrive, he opens it and shoves me in the room with such a strong force that I fall on the hard marble floor on my knees and I wince in pain from the stinging sensation on my knees. I pull up my dress so that I could see my dress, then I look down at my knees and notice both my knees are scraped. I get up and lay down on the bed letting out a long exhausted sigh. “So much for trying to be nice.” I slowly close my eyes. Sleep, eat, wake up. I wonder how many of these I have left before I end up dead in a ditch.

‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆. ✧˚₊‧⋆‧‧⋆ ✧˚₊‧⋆.

If you would like to be on the taglist feel free to DM me or leave a comment! ✨

Taglist: @cromerteez @thanxx1117 @kisaane-not @atinyreads @hxneebxbee @itsvxlentine @ahhhhhhhhhghh @atinytinaa

Please Reblog if you like it! 🔁

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

[thatkippycat]

If it wouldn't be too complicated for you, could you do Rocky Rickaby x reader enemies-to-lovers headcanons, please?

You've got it. Boy, I do love me some enemies to lovers. I may even follow this up with a one-shot when I get the motivation.

Rocky Rickaby x Marigold!Reader Headcanons

I'm back bitches!!!!!

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

• You shouldn't have even been there.

• For God's sake, you did the information part, not the "take care of competitor part."

• But noooo, the Savoys were busy with Mordecai so you had to fill in because why not.

• It was just supposed to be a booze run, not a damn arrest!

• Atleast you weren't the only one being handcuffed at the time.

• Rocky, the insane boy from the Lackadaisy, got to be your fellow captive that evening.

• You were not going to enjoy this. At all.

• You've been working for the Marigold for a while now, and you know better than most how much of a thorn the Lackadaisy has become.

• That's why you got intel so that the actually qualified people can take care of it.

• But now that didn't matter, because you're handcuffed and being dragged through the woods with a man you couldn't stand.

• He couldn't stand you too, hence why he was mocking you currently.

• You and Rocky had run into eachother a decent bit, and it became a habit for you to make fun of eachother instead of actually fight.

• That's not to say fights didn't happen, they were mostly just fought with fists and the occasional stick.

• Besides, the mockery was more fun for you anyways.

• Getting to make fun of his stupid pants and tie, his dumb, charming smile, his adorable, stupid face.

• No, no, you were a professional, you didn't allow yourself to think about the fact that Rocky was incredibly attractive didn't mean a thing to you.

• The fact that you were both pressed against eachother in the back of what was clearly not a detective's car.

• Yeah, by now you could tell this guy wasn't with the police, which was equally terrifying as well as relieving.

• On one hand, you won't get arrested.

• On the other, this is clearly a lunatic with a score to settle.

• Whether it was with you or Rocky, you weren't sure, but there was one thing you were sure of...

• You two had to get out.

• Luckily, the idiot didn't bother to cover your mouths, so you two were able to whisper to eachother.

• Well, you would, but Rocky was too busy talking the guy's ear off.

• You were going to get that (definitely not loveable) idiot to stop, and then he... winked at you?

• It took a second to understand what he meant. (And for the blush to leave your face.)

• Rocky was the distraction, giving you time to figure out what to do.

• Speaking of, what's that you spy on the floor of the car?

• You'd better believe it's a shiny little... key. Really?

• I mean, you absolutely took it, but this man clearly had no idea what he was doing.

• Next step, getting the cuffs off without Mr. Imbecile noticing.

• You signaled for Rocky to get a bit louder, and he immediately began to yell some romantic poem.

• It was definitely about you, by the way, and you had to take a minute to look at him.

• He seemed so sincere, even if it was just to make noise.

• Damnit, there was no way you could deny the love anymore.

• And now you were getting his cuffs off first, which you finished right as you hit a bump in the road and let out a little yelp.

• Of course, that's what made the guy turn around.

• Before you knew it, you were being dragged out of a moving car.

• After a lengthy chase, the two of you collapsed by a river.

• Rocky started laughing and, you couldn't help but join in.

• After a minute, though, you came to the realization that you were still cuffed. And you didn't have the key.

• Rocky, apparently, had picked it up during the initial scuffle in the car, and actually released you.

• And when he did, he gave you such a sweet smile. It wasn't the face of the deranged man you considered your enemy, it was the guy you fell in love with.

• Although, that difference didn't matter much longer, as you tackled him and peppered his face with kisses.

• Maybe Mr. Sweet would sic the Savoys, or maybe even Mordecai, but if he doesn't know about you hanging out with a cute boy every week, then he won't do a damn thing.

• Speaking of, you should probably get going.

• Afterall, Rocky said he wrote a song for you.