#anyway i HEARTILY enjoyed this episode

[thewatercolours]

@cygnascrimbles, that's a great question, and there's no one right answer. I'll give you my two cents. :-)

tl;dr: I'd heartily suggest starting with Chapter One: A Knight to Remember from King's Quest (2015) because it's the game of my heart and is intended as a starting point. But many people would suggest King's Quest I ('84) because it was the very first, or King's Quest V ('90) or VI ('93) because they are often hailed as the best the older, original series has to offer.

So if the thing that's stoking your interest in King's Quest is my blog, what you're seeing is the King's Quest game released by The Odd Gentlemen starting in 2015.

It's a reboot of the 80's/90's original games, but it requires no previous knowledge to play and is a fresh story. You play as Graham, who starts off as young lad dreaming of adventure and glory, and ends up having to unexpectedly take the throne he had planned on serving. Over the course of five chapters, you navigate the story of his life from those eager teen days straight through to old age, telling bedtimes stories to his grandchildren. It's a charming, quirky game with plenty of heart, a really gorgeous fairytale world of all hand-painted textures (they literally printed out the shapes for all the textures they needed, painted them with paint brushes, and then scanned them in to render in the game world! At least, as I understand it?), with a great sense of humour and some delightful characters. Graham himself is such a loveable dork in this version of the story, too,

But I do have to give a caveat. This game, delightful as it is, is also seriously flawed. It was released episodically, and there were complications in the dev process as it went on, so the earlier entries are much stronger than the later ones. Some parts of it are kind of stupid, there are times when it drops the ball on storytelling principles and characterization, and some wonderfully over ambitious ideas were just that - overly ambitious - and never got paid off story-wise.

But I love it anyway.

So my suggestion? Chapter One: A Knight to Remember (2015) is a free download, so I'd heartily say, "Try it out and see if you like it!" Most people think it's the best one of the reboot - it's a gorgeous, lighthearted story somewhat in the spirit of The Princess Bride (homages galore, and Wallace Shawn who played Vizzini features as one of the main cast.) It's a tale about a tournament, and a dragon's eye, and new friendships. It's self-contained if you want to stop there, and it's just full of joy and puzzles and a couple of surprisingly moving moments. If you want more after that, maybe check out a little of a playthrough of Chapter Two, which is also great but has very different atmosphere, and judge if it's something you want to shell out a shiny gold coin for.

All that being said, there's a sizable portion of the population who would suggest going back to King's Quest I (1984), which is where it all started and which turned forty yesterday! It was a huge mover and shaker in video game history back in its day. It's about Graham's attempts to recover the kingdom's three stolen treasures.

Others would suggest starting with King's Quest V (Graham journeys to rescue his family from a wizard) or VI (Graham's son Alexander quests to rescue a princess in a tower. ) They were made in the nineties and many players consider them to be King's Quest at its best (VI especially is generally beloved.)

You might find you enjoy these games much more than the reboot, but since I'm not as knowledgeable about the older games, I doubt I am the person to do them justice. If they intrigue you, you might want to do your own research or chat with someone who really loves them!

Anyhow, I don't want to talk your ear off. Thanks for asking, and let me know if I can be helpful any which way.

*whispers* ... and go download Chapter One: A Knight to Remember. It's free. You might like it. It's here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/345390/Kings_Quest/

[executiveibex]

PUVAR QHINYY FUVCCREF UBJ JR SRRYVA’ VA GUVF PUVYV'F GBAVTUG???

[scmg11]

Hi! I really love your work🥰 Can I please request a Kate bishop x Fem reader and the reader is from this world but somehow got transported to the mcu and there she meets Kate but refers to her as Hailee accidentally.

KATE BISHOP x READER

HOLY SHIT, YOU’RE HAILEE STEINFELD

A/N: HELLO HELLO, GUESS WHO'S FINALLY BACK! I'm so deeply sorry for disappearing but exams exhausted me!

Anyway, I'm here with one of my favorite requests so far! I had so much fun writing it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did while working on it.

As always, thank you for reading, liking, commenting and sharing my works, and y'know for being so so patient with me! ❤️

Without further ado, enjoy! ❤️

Sending love! ❤️

-

Summary: Y/N got stuck into an universe where Kate is not Hailee playing a character.

Warning: just some heavy make out towards the end.

Word count: 9342 words.

-

"Ok, yeah- yes, don’t worry. We’ll see you tomorrow morning in class. Bye." Y/N hung up the call with her friend and sighed out in relief when her back hit the comfort of her mattress and helped relax her tense shoulders after her shift in a cozy bar near her apartment. She realized her dream of moving to New York to study to become an actress, but she was broke just like any college student, so she found a job in a bar as a waitress. It paid well enough to help her with bills but she was desperately searching for a roommate and unfortunately found no one yet. She reluctantly sat up from the bed to change into warmer, much more comfortable clothes to help her warm up from the cold of the winter, plugged her phone on the charger and placed it on the nightstand, before grabbing her laptop and leaning down comfortably on the bed once again. Since it was still pretty early to call it a night, she decided to catch up on the new Hawkeye series, so she grabbed the confronter and tucked herself in before starting the first episode.

-

"Fucking finally!" Y/N groaned as soon as she exited the lecture hall of her last class of the day. "I literally tuned out the last 20 minutes of Mr. Brown’s lecture."

"I think I tuned him out as soon as he said ‘good evening’." Y/N’s friend Max quipped, making Y/N laugh heartily at the confession. "Hey, tomorrow night we’re going out right?"

"Yeah, I would really love to join you guys tonight but I have a shift that starts at 6 p.m. and I get off work around 1 a.m." Y/N pouted at her friend as they walked out of the campus.

"I know Y/N/N. Don’t worry. You’ll make up tomorrow night!" Max patted Y/N’s left shoulder with her hand while the other rummaged into her backpack for her car keys. "First round is on you!"

"Deal."

"A-HA! There they were." Max exclaimed when she finally picked up her keys, "are you sure you don’t want a ride home?" The redhead asked Y/N ad she opened the driver’s door.

"Yeah no, I’m fine. It’s a 10 minute walk to my place. I have enough time." Y/N smiled in appreciation at Max, before engulfing her into an hug and started walking into the direction of her place. As she strutted down the busy streets of New York, Y/N hummed a soft tune under her breath before stopping altogether when she felt herself loose balance as she felt her head spin wildly for a few seconds. She leaned her right hand on the nearest wall to regain her balance, shutting her eyes close while her free hand massaged her temple gently. The dizziness vanished a few seconds later making it look like nothing happened. "What the fuck?!" Y/N whispered under her breath as she tried to understand what the hell just happened. "I seriously need to stop drinking too much coffee." Y/N snorted under her breath with a small shake of her head and resumed her walk home, only for it to be stopped once again a few feet later when a body collided with hers hard and the impact made her almost fall down on the ground, but a strong arm prevented her to crash right on her ass on the curb.

"I’m so sorry! We are in a hurry and I wasn’t looking where I was going." A voice that sounded strangely familiar resonated throughout Y/N’s ears and when she opened her eyes she instinctively closed to prepare herself for the inevitable collision with the ground, they widened instantly when they fell on none other than Hailee Steinfeld dressed up as Kate Bishop. "Holy shit, you’re- you’re-."

"Yeah, I know- I had the same reaction when I met him." Hailee joked as she pointed with a small tilt of her head to her left, making Y/N realize that she was too much focused on admiring the breathtaking, ethereal beauty that was Hailee to notice that there was someone else beside her. When she recognized who was the other person, her eyes widened even more as Jeremy Renner waved at her awkwardly with a small smile.

"Holy fucking shit."

"Yeah I know, Hawkeye!"

Y/N forced herself out of her shocked fangirling and composed herself enough to form proper words instead of repeating the same ones like a stupid parrot. "Wow, you guys really stay in character. But, yeah, anyway, it’s nice to meet you!"

The two shared a confused look, their eyebrows knitted together and their lips curled into a bemused pout, but they smiled at Y/N nonetheless when they focused their attention back on her, "same here."

"Oh my god! Are you already shooting for season 2?!" Y/N asked with widened, dreamy eyes, her excitement skyrocketing at the prospect of watching a season 2 of what is quickly becoming one of her favorites tv shows.

"What?" Jeremy asked confused at the same time as Hailee spoke up.

"What? A season 2? I didn’t know we were filmed Clint! Oh I knew I was starting to become famous. I’ll be the favorite Hawkeye in a blink of an eye, you’ll see."

Wait a second Clint? Wow they are really great actors! They didn’t break their characters! "We are not filmed. And please, I will always be the most loved Hawkeye between us." Jeremy scoffed indignantly as he rolled his eyes good-naturedly, causing a small smile to roll over Hailee’s features.

"Well Hailee is very loved as Kate Bishop by all Marvel fans." Y/N shruggered nonchalantly, "but Jeremy we love you too! The show helped everyone get more attached to Clint’s character now that we have a more introspective look into his life."

"I’m sorry who?" Hailee asked like she just asked her to solve the most difficult math question while Jeremy was sporting the brunette’s same bemused expression and their weird behavior was puzzling Y/N to no end.

"You two. Hailee and Jeremy." When the two kept staring at her with the same furrowed expression, Y/N lifted her right eyebrow up in question, "wow you guys really like to stay in character. Hailee Steinfeld, Jeremy Renner? Guys c’mon! You can break your characters now!" Y/N laughed awkwardly trying to lift the spirits up but when Hailee and Jeremy’s lost expressions only deepened, Y/N took a deep, calming breath and shook her head. She was starting to get mad at the two actors’ rude behavior.

"Wait, hold on a second! Hailee and Jeremy as in actors and singers?" Hailee butted in, interrupting the silence as her face lit up like she just had an enlightenment.

"Yes?! Guys is this a prank show where I get pranked by celebrities?"

"Mh no?! Those are celebrities, we are just superheroes." Hailee explained with drawled words like she needed to slow down for Y/N to understand.

"I mean that is the same thing. You guys play Kate and Clint in the MCU, so it makes you guys superheroes and celebrities." Y/N was starting to get annoyed by this stupid prank, hoping cameras will appear soon so this nonsense will be over.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jeremy asked, looking around in suspicion as he got closer to Y/N, while Y/N stared at him more confused than ever.

"Wait hold on- let me just get this straight- who are we to you?" Hailee asked in an hushed tone, her question making Jeremy turn his head around and stare at the black haired girl like she grew two heads.

"What?" Jeremy asked, not completely understanding where Hailee was going with her line of questions.

"Mh Hailee Steinfeld and Jeremy Renner?" Y/N asked more than stated but the troubled expression on the two actors made Y/N believe that it wasn’t the right answer. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Y/N asked irritated, not really liking the game the two actors were playing with her.

"Oh shit, okay hm- do you need to be somewhere right now?" Hailee asked hurriedly, her eyes moving between her and Jeremy before settling on her watch on her left wrist.

"Can you help me understand?" Jeremy asked, massaging his temple to try to subdue his growing headache.

"We need to hurry. I’ll explain everything on our way to our target’s spot." Hailee explained to Jeremy before focusing her attention back on Y/N, lifting her perfect styled right eyebrow up to urge Y/N on with answering her previous question.

"I’m on my way to work right now."

"Great, you’ll come with us."

"No, it’s too dangerous. And why does she need to come with us?!"

"Oh right, hm- where do you live?"

"A few blocks away but-" Y/N tried to argue with Hailee, still not understanding her unsettling behavior and why she couldn’t show up at work.

"No buts, you can’t go to work and you can’t go to your house. Here, follow us. My place is not too far from here, we’ll go there." Hailee grabbed Y/N’s arm and gently pushed her towards the opposite direction her workplace was, making her furrow her eyebrows in confusion but her feet didn’t stop Hailee and followed her instead.

"Kate can you explain to me what’s going on?"

"I think she is from another universe and she doesn’t know it." Hailee explained, stopping at a red light and staring at Jeremy, watching his face contort into a deep frown.

"What? How do you know it?"

"Because she called us Hailee and Jeremy, but knows in some way we are Kate and Clint."

"Oh shit, how did she get here?"

"Hm- she is right here and listening. What are you two talking about?" The light turned green and the three swimmed through bodies of citizen hurrying on New York’s street, but the two actors completely ignored Y/N’s words, both too absorbed into their minds to acknowledge her before stopping 5 minutes later in front of a building.

"Can you go to the meeting without me? I need to keep an eye on her and try to get a few more informations from her."

"Yeah, yeah. No problem. Call me if you need anything." Jeremy nodded to Y/N’s way before keep walking and disappearing around the corner a few seconds later, meanwhile Hailee opened her building door and lead Y/N up the stairs before leaning her thumb on a fingerprint scanner and unlocking her apartment door, stretching her arm out to let her in first.

"Thank you." Y/N reprimanded herself for the small blush tinting her cheekbones as she walked further into the apartment and took it in slowly.

"Do you want something to drink?" Hailee asked politely as she placed her keys in the bowl beside her door then following Y/N further into her apartment.

"No, I’m fine. Hm- can you explain what is going on?" Y/N fidgeted with her fingers nervously, leaning her butt on the table behind her to find some balance. She watched Hailee let out a loud sigh as she combed her fingers into her black locks.

"Have you ever heard about something called multiverse?"

"Yeah, I watched a lot of movies. There had been a few Marvel movies about this concept too."

"What’s Marvel?" Y/N stared at Hailee flabbergasted at the question, not really believing she was still playing along this prank.

"Ok, I’ve been patient and got along with this nonsense. But it’s starting to become a sick joke. So if this is a prank, let’s just get over this."

"Prank? Okay- let’s just sit. You need to be seated for this." Hailee grabbed Y/N’s bicep gently and walked her towards her couch, sitting beside her and taking her hand off of her before placing it on the girl’s knee. "This is not a joke. We are not filming anything. I’m not who you think I am. Well, I am to some extent, but not completely."

"I’m not following."

"I’m Kate Bishop."

"Yeah, I know. Hailee I must admit you are a great actress, wow you never broke out of your character."

"I’m not Hailee. I’m not playing a character. I’m just Kate." Y/N did a double take at that, now slowly understanding what was happening. Multiverse. Clint. Hawkeye. Kate. Shit. Fuck.

"Wait- what?" Y/N haphazardly grabbed her phone from her pocket and searched ‘Kate Bishop’, her mouth slacking open in shock when the safari page doesn’t show pictures of Kate from the Marvel comics, but Hailee’s Kate, with the description under her name, ‘archer, Hawkeye’. She quickly typed Hailee Steinfeld into the search bar and confirmed what she already knew. She scrolled through Hailee’s filmography and didn’t find Hawkeye in her tv-show section. "Holy fucking shit. How is it possible?"

"Well like I said, it’s about the multiverse. You must have travelled from your universe to ours. Did you pass through a portal or something?"

"Hm no, everything was fine. I went to class this morning and just got out of my last lecture before walking to work like I always do. I felt a bit dizzy a few seconds before bumping into you, but I didn’t think about it too much. It’s probably because I’m still tired from Sunday’s late night shift and classes on Monday and maybe from too much caffeine." Y/N explained as calmly as she could as her mind wrapped around the fact that she found herself into another universe without freaking out too much.

"It must have happened when you felt dizzy. I mean it can’t be a coincidence that you bumped into me a few seconds after feeling dizzy." Kate argued as she caressed her chin in deep thought. "The question is, how do you know me and Clint?"

"Well, i-in my universe- shit it feels so weird to say it." Y/N shook her head before meeting a pair of warm blue eyes staring at her as a comforting hand caressed her knee.

"You’ll get used to it."

"In my universe you are just a character in a comic, the Marvel comics. These comics became famous, so they decided to put them on the big screen and became critically-acclaimed movies and tv-shows. Actors and actresses play a lot of these characters into the MCU - Marvel Cinematic Universe - and Hailee is one of them. She portrays Kate - I mean you. And holy fuck, you’re her. I mean you look like Hailee when she portrays Kate. That’s why I called you Hailee. I though you were with Jeremy - he portrays Clint -, both dressed like Kate and Clint, to shoot season 2 of Hawkeye."

"What? Hailee and I do not look alike." Kate scoffed like Y/N just told her the dumbest thing in the world while Y/N stared at her with wide eyes and an expression that screamed ‘are you kidding me?!’. "Okay maybe Clint does look a bit like Jeremy Renner, but not that much." Kate moved her hand as she passionately countered Y/N’s admission, her words only deepening her incredulous frown.

"Hailee- I mean- Kate. Are you serious right now?! You literally are her but with black hair and blue eyes!" Y/N sighed out when Kate merely stared with an adorable frown and a cute crease right between her eyebrows that Y/N’s hands itched to touch to stretch it out, but continued nonetheless, "anyway- the most important issue here is, how did I get here and how do I go back?"

"Right! Okay first thing first, we need to be sure it was only you that travelled through the multiverse and did not swap places with you from this universe."

"It can happen?!" Y/N asked with a combination of shock and curiosity and Kate merely laughed at her genuine reaction.

"Rule number one of multiverse travel-"

"You don’t know anything." Y/N finished right before Kate could and the gasp that fell out of the black haired girl amused Y/N to no end.

"How did you know?!"

"I watched Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness. It’s one of my favorites America’s quotes."

"Holy fucking shit, this is more intricate than I thought." Kate massaged her forehead as her brain processed this new puzzling information. "You need to tell me about this MCU and all these movies you watched."

-

"Okay, wait hold on- do I look like Jeremy Renner?" Clint asked as soon as Kate finished her recap of all the informations Y/N had told her in the past few hours, repeatedly sitting up and pacing in her living room then sitting back down and twitching her leg up and down anxiously with her body leaning on the table on her outstretched arms and elbows.

"That is the only thing you heard from all this story?!" Kate asked flabbergasted, staring at Clint with amused shock at her idol’s question.

"No, but it was the first question my mind came up with while processing everything you just told me." Clint winked at the distressed blue eyed girl before sitting up and mimicked the black haired girl’s pacing around Kate’s apartment’s living room. "Okay well, it’s getting late. We need to be sure her other self didn’t travel to her universe, then we need to figure out how to send her back home. I promised my kids I would be home to spend some time with them." Clint had a worried and troubled expression on his face, wanting to help Kate with all this mess but also wanting to spend some time with his family.

"Don’t worry, I have everything under control." Kate smiled determined up at Clint, sitting up and patting his shoulder gently, causing a small smile to roll over is lips as he nodded in appreciation.

"Do not burn your apartment when I’m away."

"That was a one time thing!"

"More like several times thing." Clint chuckled when Kate rolled her eyes and punched him hard on his shoulder for bringing up her few failed attempts at cooking.

"Okay, fine, don’t worry. We’ll order something. Now go spend some time with your family. I have everything under control here. I’ll call you if I find something." Kate started pushing Clint out of her apartment, Y/N watching the two with amusement written all over her face but a small, gentle smile etched in her soft, rosy lips. Damn, it really looks like I’m watching Hawkeye live.

"Okay, bye Y/N! It was nice meeting you." Clint waved at her with a small grin, Y/N reciprocating the gesture immediately with what she considered too much enthusiasm. She just met her idols, sue her.

"It was nice meeting you too!" And then Kate closed the door, Y/N hearing a loud clicking sound, meaning the lock slotted into place, as she took Kate’s apartment in thoroughly, completely mindblowed by the fact that it look identical to Kate’s apartment in Hawkeye.

"Sorry, it’s a bit messy." Kate spoke up, referring to her apartment’s lack of tidiness, as she haphazardly picked up arrows and clothes scattered all over the floor and couch, blushing furiously when she collected a purple, lace bra and met a pair of curious eyes before throwing it upstairs, launching it over the stairs’ rail.

"I was just noticing how your place here, looks identical to the tv show’s one." Y/N let her eyes roam a few more seconds around the room before focusing on the black haired girl throwing a bunch of arrows into a quiver hung on a wall with a big target on.

"Oh, cool. There’s something more that looks alike?" Kate, after she finished tidying up a bit her apartment, sat back down beside Y/N with a soft sigh.

"A lot of things yeah, but I’m still mostly shocked about you. Your looks, your personality are just the same as Hailee’s Kate is."

Y/N noticed a curious glint into her eyes, but it disappeared in an instant, "what about Clint?"

"Oh yeah, Jeremy’s Clint looks a lot like this Clint. But honestly, even if I’m a big Marvel fan and love everyone endlessly, I love Kate more than Clint."

Kate tried her best to not let the world ‘love’ affect her too much, but the wild flutter in her stomach told her she didn’t a good job, "why?"

"Because I’ve been Hailee’s fan for a while and when I read the news she was going to be a part of the MCU, I was over the moon."

"We have so much to talk about. I want to know everything about this MCU thing. But we need to figure out how take you back into you universe first." Kate patted Y/N’s knee excitedly on her way to stand up and grab her phone on the table, to text America. "I texted America, she is our best option to help you go back home."

"Oh yeah, she can travel across the multiverse."

"Yeah! But unfortunately we need to wait 10 days or so at least because she just replied to me that she is in another universe helping Dr. Strange and Wong with something." Kate looked up from her phone and regarded Y/N with an apologetic expression, before blocking the device and placing it on the coffee table, sitting right beside Y/N again and looked into her Y/E/C irises in apology. "I’m sorry."

"Don’t worry! I mean, I get to spend 10 days in an universe that is like I’m living in a Marvel movie. I will definitely enjoy my time here." Y/N smiled at Kate, trying to convey it was no big deal having to stay a few days here, "I have a question, though."

"Ask away." Kate nodded in encouragement as she turned her body towards Y/N’s one so they could be face to face without craning their necks and laid her arm on the headrest of the couch.

"How did you text America if she is in another universe?" Y/N let curiosity swim through her eyes as she gazed at Kate’s phone on the coffee table before focusing her attention back on the smiling black haired beauty.

"Tony and Bruce created a program into each one of our phones that allow our devices to communicate all over the multiverse." Kate explained using her hands too much for her liking, but the cute grin Y/N was sporting for her clumsy personality eased the archer immediately.

"So you can contact my best friend in my universe?"

"Yeah."

"Oh great! Can you text her and tell her I’m okay and that I visited my family in some European country? We kinda had plans for tomorrow night and I don’t want her to worry about me literally disappearing from our earth."

"Of course I can. Do you remember her number?" Kate stretched over to retrieve her phone and typed Y/N’s best friend into her phone after she nodded gently, before passing her phone to Y/N and let her text her best friend.

"I told her I completely forgot to notice my boss for my ‘trip’ and if she could do that for me, so my job is safe for now." Y/N quipped as she blocked the device and passed it back to Kate, "thank you."

"No problem! Now, about that MCU…"

-

The night came by pretty quickly, the two girls lost into their bubble with Kate absorbed completely into Y/N’s explanation of all Marvel movies, tv shows and comics and Y/N talking passionately about her knowledge about everything Marvel related. "Okay so, I see there are a few discrepancies with our universe and the MCU, but a lot of things are pretty much the same."

"Yeah, kind of. But I have a question that is thundering into my mind since the very first episode of Hawkeye."

"I’m all ears." Kate leaned her elbows on her knees and leaned forward to prepare herself to answer Y/N’s question, watching the girl hesitate as she shifted slightly in her seat and wrenched her fingers anxiously.

"You don’t have to answer me, it’s just pure curiosity and I don’t know if I’m crossing a line here and I don’t want that-" Y/N rambled nervously as she tried to find the right words to express her inner turmoil but a soft laugh stopped her altogether.

"Don’t worry, we’re bonding and you’re from another universe. So curiosity is normal." Kate reassured the Y/E/C girl with a small grin and bumped her right first softly with Y/N’s left shoulder.

"Okay so, like I said I noticed a few hints in the show but it was never confirmed and I think it never will because Marvel likes to put a bit of mystery with these things-" Kate stared at Y/N in amusement as the girl rambled once again, making the Y/H/C girl notice it too, so she cleared her throat and asked quickly, like she was just ripping a bandaid off, "boys or girls?" What?! Of all kind of ways you could’ve asked her the question, this is how you ask it?!

Kate bursted out laughing at that, not expecting at all that question but finding hilarious the poor choice of words Y/N used to question her sexuality. "I honestly wasn’t expecting that question."

"I know, I’m sorry if I overstepped a boundary. You don’t have to answer me, it’s okay." Y/N sighed out in complete embarrassment, gripping the edge of her nose as she reprimanded herself for distressing the black haired girl.

"Hey no, you didn’t." Kate was quick to ease Y/N’s worries and concerns, caressing her arm gently, "I just wasn’t expecting your great choice of words." Kate chuckled again as Y/N groaned out discomfort.

"I know! I could’ve asked in a nicer way but my brain decided to forget everything in that moment."

"I know the feeling, it happens to me a lot." Kate chuckled but nodded in understanding, remembering all those times she was nervous on a date or trying to hit on a hot stranger in a club and her brain short-circuited every single time. "But to answer you question-" Kate paused for good measure, before smirking cheekily as she stood upright in pride, "girls."

"I knew it! Your wardrobe scream gay!" Y/N quipped airily, making Kate snicker at her joke loudly with a soft shake of her head.

"That so true. What about you?"

"I think I’ve liked girls since I was little." Y/N answered earnestly and shared another soft laugh with Kate. They talked a little bit more but then they decided to call it a night when both girls started to yawn out of exhaustion.

"Okay, you can take my bed. I’ll give you some pjs you can change into, you can find a spare toothbrush in the bathroom and a new set of towels to freshen up before bed."

"Are you kidding me? I’m not letting you sleep on the couch, it’s your house." Y/N protested with a confused face and her eyebrows creased together, "I’ll sleep on the couch."

"No, it’s out of discussion. You’re my guest. I don’t have a guest room, so you’re taking my bed." As if Lucky was listening to their bickering, he jumped on the couch and laid there comfortably, the two staring at the one-eyed pooch that was looking back at them expectantly, almost as if he wanted to pair them up purposefully. "Lucky no! You can’t take the couch!" Lucky barked at her in response and pointed with his head to Kate’s bedroom before winking at her - Kate knew he fucking winked and didn’t close his only eye naturally -.

"I guess the couch is out of discussion." Y/N quipped to light up the air and basked in the soft laugh leaving Kate’s mouth as she shook her head in fond exasperation at her fluffy, four-legged Cupid.

"I think I have a sleeping back stashed somewhere here." Kate asked pensively as she tried with all herself to not meet Y/N’s eyes, knowing pretty well she will burn from embarrassment at her mind already running wild for thinking of sharing her bed with the cute stranger she met this morning.

"There’s no need. We can share your bed." Kate stood frozen in her spot at Y/N’s suggestion, the archer hoped that the Y/H/C girl wouldn’t offer to share her bed so she wouldn’t combust from too much gay panic but, alas, she was wrong. Sensing the archer’s uncertainty, Y/N continued with a soft joke to help her relax a bit, "I promise I don’t snore."

Kate’s troubled expression erupted in a big grin, a soft laugh leaving her as she imperceptibly shook her head, "are you sure?" Her insecure pout came back a second later, wanting at all costs to be sure Y/N was 100% okay with sharing a bed with her.

"Of course Kate. I know we’ve only met today, but I feel like we’ve known each other for much longer. So yes, I’m sure."

-

Two days later the two girls strolled down the busy streets of New York with Kate enthusiastically telling her about her bickering with Clint and her time training to be an Avenger. "Once I almost peed my pants when I woke up with a giant ant staring at me."

"Oh my god!" Y/N laughed at the scene she just imagined, swaying a bit in her walk and bumping accidentally into Kate, who laughed along side her at the memory, "I would’ve jumped up in fright so high I would have fled the country."

"I almost did, but then Cassie explained to me that Anthon was like her dog and he followed her everywhere."

"Wait hold on, did you say Anthon, ANT-hon?" Y/N asked amused, her grin so bright it could outshine the sun.

"Yep." Kate popped the ‘p’ out as she struggled to contain her giggles at the amazed face Y/N was sporting, "Cassie and Scott love naming their ants with names that starts with ‘ant’."

"Somehow I’m not surprised." Y/N admitted, eliciting a loud, chest-warming giggle from Kate, who rounded her arm around the Y/H/C girl’s shoulders and left it there until they arrived at the coffee shop for their breakfast a few minutes later. Kate reluctantly let go of Y/N’s body in order to open the door for her, but her hand immediately searched Y/N’s warm body by laying a hand on the small of the Y/E/C girl’s back as they took a seat in the left corner of the not so busy cafe. After their waitress took their order, they chit-chatted lightly, talking about everything and nothing, about their lives, their jobs, their dreams and so on. The conversation flowed so easily that both girls were speechless in front at the comfort the two share, making it look from outside like the two had know each other more than a couple of days. "And then I slipped and embarrassed myself in front of like 100 people."

Kate’s laugh draw the attention of a few customers near them, but neither of the two girls cared, too much occupied in their casual talking to notice, "oh shit, that must’ve been embarrassing."

"Are you kidding me? I locked myself away in my room for a week. I couldn’t face all those stupid teenagers after falling and crashing into the bowl full of punch and drenching myself with it."

"Oh, I’m so sorry." Kate’s soft giggles continued for a little while, basking Y/N into feeling like she was being wrapped around a peaceful, warm and comfort blanket that she will never want to leave. After they enjoyed their breakfast, right before they were ready to leave, Kate receives a message that one of the tracksuits she was following for about a week was seen entering a pretty much sketchy warehouse about 10 minutes ago. "Wanna see how superheroing works?" Kate smirked enthusiastically at Y/N, who was sporting a confused expression with her eyebrows furrowed together and a cute pout, but she quickly recovered by nodding her head and smiling brightly at Kate.

"Hell yeah."

-

They started a routine after that day, pretty much spent with them hidden on a roof and staking out all day collecting as much intel as they could, with Y/N guiding Kate through buildings with their intercoms as Kate took out bad guys with her impressive combat and archery skills. The more they spend their time together, the more the tension that lingered between them thickened, but neither of them acted on it to make their friendship more.

On this sunny day, Kate and Y/N decided to have a lazy day off in Kate’s apartment, sprawled on the couch watching movies and cuddling with each other, while Pizza Dog snoozed on the floor beside them. Kate’s phone buzzed, drawing the archer’s attention from the movie, so the black haired girl stretched over the coffee table to grab her device and opened the text America just sent her. "America said that she will be here in 3 days to help you go back home."

Y/N couldn’t explain why she didn’t feel happy to return to her universe but felt a clench around the pit of her stomach at the thought - even though deep down she knew the exact reason and it was called Kate Bishop -. She didn’t want to leave Kate to go back in her universe where she only existed as a fictional character. She knew her feelings for the archer were already deep-rooted from the moment she started watching Hawkeye, but she only associated it with her long crush on Hailee Steinfeld. But that said crush only intensified when she actually got to meet the archer in real life and now that she has the opportunity to go back home to her family and friends, she couldn’t help the sad hole already forming in her chest. "Oh, cool."

"You don’t seem happy." Kate noticed the Y/E/C girl was acting a bit off from the news, so she regarded her with a worried expression while she discarded her phone on the couch and wrapped her arms around the girl harder, angling their heads to help them look into each other’s eyes without straining their necks.

"I’m happy, I promise. I- I’m just- I don’t want to leave you." After a long inner debate, Y/N decided to be honest with the worried archer, her chest filling with warmth at the affection seeping out of the black haired beauty from her strong embrace. "We’ve only met a week ago, but I already feel so connected to you."

"Me too, Y/N. Since we met I felt a pull towards you, a strong force inexplicably pulling me into you. But hey-" Kate lifted her left hand up from Y/N’s shoulder and interlaced it into her soft hair to massage her scalp comfortably and to prevent Y/N from straining her eyes from their intense gaze. "You don’t have to worry. I can visit you every weekend, you can do that too."

"Really?" Y/N’s eyes filled up with hope as soon as she processed Kate’s words, a big, bright smile wrecking her troubled features.

"Yes! America is my best friend, I’m sure she won’t have any problem with teleporting me in your universe and viceversa." Kate reassured Y/N with her million dollar smile, but noticed it didn’t gave her the hoped effect because Y/N still looked a bit concerned.

"I’m just- I don’t want to bother you with traveling across the multiverse to meet me. I mean we’re not talking about traveling in Europe, it’s the freaking multiverse."

"And I don’t care. Not even for a bit. For you? It’s worth it." Kate stopped Y/N’s rambling with her reassuring words, her stomach fluttering when powerful, determined blue met worried, distressed Y/E/C in an intense stare but continued to smile to convey to the girl she truly meant what she just said.

"Don’t look at me like that." Y/N rolled her eyes and the archer pleasantly noticed the faintest blush starting to tint Y/N’s cheekbones and her soft smile shifted into a wry smirk immediately.

"Looking at you like what?" Kate asked with a clearly fake questioning tone and Y/N knew that her innocent expression was far from clueless, but she decided to play along to see if she was reading correctly through the signals Kate was sending her way. She really hoped she interpreted right Kate’s words, soft touches and confident smiles. The Y/H/C girl didn’t know how to react if the girl she had a crush on didn’t feel the same way - running away into another universe seems like a pretty good option in her opinion -.

"Like I’m the most precious thing in the world." Y/N didn’t know where this honesty was coming from, but she really went insane if she didn’t ride this overpowering confident wave.

"Because you are, to me." Kate decided to lay her heart on a silver plate right in this moment, pushing aside all of her worries and her insecurities and just hoping the girl would reciprocate her feelings. Over this past week, the girl sat beside her crashed all her solid, steadfast, thick walls she built up around her heart after too many heartbreaks, sneaked her sweet persona and adorable self into Kate’s veins and inebriated the archer’s senses deliciously. Saying she was falling for her it may be too soon, but who cares about these things? You can’t control how you feel towards a person and Kate wasn’t regretting one bit the feelings she was quickly developing for the girl next to her. "You are an amazing person anyone would be lucky to meet and have in their lives. I’m so glad you got here because I’ve met you and fuck, I’ve never felt so understood by and connected with anyone in my life before. Your awesome self brought so much love and happiness in my life that I almost convinced myself I wasn’t worth of it, but you made me rethink that, you made me-"

Kate’s heartfelt confession was abruptly cut short when Y/N suddenly leaned her body over and crashed their lips together in a languid but powerful kiss. Kate had to take a double take to make sure it wasn’t her mind playing a sick joke on her and wasn’t imagining this, her eyes open wide in shock as she stood frozen in her spot, but when Y/N pushed herself more into Kate, it was the prove the black haired girl needed to realize she wasn’t in fact imagining this and reciprocated the dizzying kiss with all herself. They let their lips move as they pleased, alternating between slow, soft kisses and deep, needy kisses, but unfortunately their lungs burned from lack of air not too long after and forced the two apart to take some needed breath, but they stayed into each other’s personal space by laying their foreheads together as blue gaze into Y/E/C and dumb smiles adorned their slightly blushing faces. "Sorry for interrupting you cute, beautiful speech, but I couldn’t resist a minute longer without kissing you."

"To be honest, I’m glad you did." Kate answered, still in a daze but with happiness flowing wildly throughout her and inebriating her body with everything Y/N. "I would have done it as soon as I was done speaking. But why wait, right?"

Kate’s joke triggered a soft, gentle laugh from Y/N, who shook her head slightly and laid another sweet peck on the archer’s soft lips that she was quickly becoming addicted to. "I have a better question." Y/N paused for good measure before continuing, "why are we still talking?" The big smirk accompanied with a faint blush Kate gave her in lieu of an answer, caused her stomach to do somersaults and made her head spin out of control but nevertheless she met Kate halfway when the black haired beauty leaned down to join their lips once again.

-

"Here you go. You two are so cute together! Have a nice evening, bye!" The waitress bid them goodbye after they payed for their meal and started walking towards the exit hand in hand. The two blushed furiously at the compliment, thanking her simultaneously, before exiting the restaurant and started the short walk back towards Kate’s apartment.

"So I was thinking we can go visit the renovated Statue Of Liberty they finished last week. Then we can have a cozy day in or do whatever else you want to do." Kate rambled adorably as she swung their entwined hands between their bodies, a crimson color dusting over her cheekbones when a melodious giggle reached her ears, causing her eyes to dart down on the curb in front of her feet.

"You’re so cute when you ramble. But, I think it’s a perfect program for tomorrow. I’m leaving in two days, but I’ll come back soon. So we can just enjoy our time together without rushing anything. I may go back to my universe, but you won’t get rid of me so easily Bishop." Y/N warned Kate with a fake serious expression, that instantly broke into a million dollar smile when Kate met her eyes after the Y/H/C girl bumped their shoulders together to draw the archer’s attention, and a similar grin flitted over Kate’s face at the sight.

"Of course, I’m not letting you go. Not now, not ever." Kate’s eyes conveyed so much affection and sincerity that Y/N almost tore up at the emotions overwhelming her.

"Okay Bishop, you just earned a kiss with that cute statement you just delivered."

"Mh, I’m waiting for my price then." Kate turned her head around and puckered her lips, waiting for Y/N to lean over and kiss her as her stomach tingled in anticipation, still getting used to kiss, hug and being overly affectionate with her girlfriend. When Kate tried to push herself more into the chaste kiss the two just shared, Y/N simply chuckled and pulled away, watching her lips curl around a big, adorable pout.

"Oh don’t pout, baby. I just gave you a little taste for what is yet to come as soon as we come back to your apartment."

"Fuck." Kate’s eyes strayed down on Y/N’s teeth sinking on that sinfully, delicious, plump bottom lip and shivered from head to toe at the memories of their make-out sessions they had had in the last few days. Even if it’s only been a little over 48 hours they confessed their feeling for each other, they seem to have this kind of magnetic electricity that constantly pulled them together. They never went past kissing without their shirts on and let their hands do their wandering, but they decided to wait to go further just a bit more, since they met about a week prior, but they still had their fun going with the flow.

"Someone is in a hurry." Y/N teased when Kate sped up her pace but the archer ignored her and kept walking. In the span of two minutes - hastening the usually 7 minutes of their relaxing strolling - they were already walking up the stairs towards Kate’s apartment. Kate fumbled with her keys a bit before finally opening the door and walking inside. The door closed a second later when Kate crashed their lips together in a frenzy, needy kiss and pushed Y/N’s back onto the nearest surface and it happened to be her apartment door.

"Can you really blame me?" Kate murmured, interrupting the hungry, needy kiss and taking a needed breath before diving right back in, this time letting her tongue out to lick the seam of Y/N’s luscious lips to ask for her girlfriend’s permission to deepen the kiss, Y/N granting her access right away with a grunt of approval and her hands gripping Kate’s dark locks hard to push the archer more into her and leaning their bodies impossibly close together.

"Not even for a second, babe." Y/N pulled on Kate’s scalp to say those words as she gazed into Kate’s deep blue eyes with all the affection she had for this girl, then clashing their lips together into another deep, sensual kiss.

"In this case then-" Kate pulled away shortly after to murmur on Y/N’s now bruised lips, brushing her hands down the Y/H/C girl’s sides, reaching their destination at her firm buttcheeks and grasping them hard first then lifting the girl up, making her link her legs around the archer’s waist, and walking them towards the couch, where already a few heavy make out sessions had occurred on it, sharing soft giggles as Kate stumbled a bit when she tripped over Pizza Dog’s favorites toy, a small, red double rope.

-

"I’m starting to think you only want to watch movies on the couch so we completely ignore the movie and make out." Y/N hummed pensively on Kate’s lips after they pulled away from a dizzying kiss to bring some air back into their lungs, watching Kate’s annoyingly cute lost expression with a small smirk on her swollen lips. A shiver run down her spine when Kate’s hand glued on her ass, gripped her flesh harder to push her more into her body as she bit on her bottom lip. They were lying comfortably on the couch, Kate on top of Y/N and in between her legs, with their tv playing a movie they completely tuned out as soon as the first scene started rolling. If someone asked them what movie they were watching they would have been completely clueless.

"What can I say? Your kisses are addicting." Kate murmured wryly, a sly smirk currently curling her red lips as her hands kept its unrelenting kneading of Y/N’s firm ass. "Also, I didn’t hear you complain about it either. Actually, I think I heard you moan-" Kate sinked her fingers more into Y/N’s butt as she shuffled her body up slowly, causing her abdomen to rub deliciously over Y/N’s overheated, clothed center and triggering a deep, guttural wail out of Y/N’s throat as her back arched in pleasure and her hips bucked up to search more needed friction, "-just like that." Kate’s smug smirk made Y/N’s eyes roll good-naturedly, wanting nothing more than to tease her back and watching that sly expression fall off her stupidly beautiful face.

"Well, now that I think about it, if I remember correctly, you begged me to ‘do it again’-" Y/N did her best to imitate Kate’s breathy whines she whispered on her lips not too long ago, "when I did this." In a mere second, Y/N’s hand slipped under Kate’s worn out, ‘Bishop Security’ t-shirt and gripped Kate’s bra-free breast for a few seconds before pinching her nipple hard, reveling in the moan she ripped out from Kate’s mouth.

"Shit, you’re so fucking sexy." Kate growled right before pushing their lips together, her tongue immediately invading Y/N’s mouth and licked every nook and cranny of it. They basked into they sensual bubble for a few more minutes before their steamy moment was interrupted when someone appeared into Kate’s living room.

"Kate, you won’t believe what happen-EW! OH NO MY EYES!" The two girls on the couch jumped apart at the loud voice reaching their ears and looked to the side to find a noticeably shocked and disgusted America Chavez, standing in front of the still playing TV, with her hands covering her eyes.

"America!"

"Oh my god, Xochitl!"

"Ugh I think I burned my eyes! Oh, my innocent eyes!" America exclaimed as she rubbed her eyelids frantically, causing Kate’s blue ones to roll in annoyance.

"Always a drama queen. You can look now you jerk." Kate rolled her eyes as she adjusted comfortably on the couch, circling her arm around Y/N’s waist to pull her body closer to her own and regarding America with an unimpressed stare.

"Next time text me to warn me you are in a compromising position with someone!" America sighed out after she reprimanded Kate and looked at the stranger awkwardly, sending her an embarrassed, strained smile while Y/N kept looking at her in awe.

"Next time try to be a normal human being, learn how to knock and enter my apartment in the appropriate way, thought the door and not appearing out of nowhere in my living room." Kate countered back with mockery lacing her tone, her expression sporting a teasing smirk as she eyed her best friend in amusement.

"Yeah, yeah." America waved her off with a roll of her eyes, before focusing her attention back on the Y/H/C girl sat beside Kate. "Hi, I’m America."

She stretched her hand over for Y/N to take and smiled brightly after the two shook hands, "I’m Y/N."

"Wait hold on-" America did a double take at that, her brain trying to keep up and elaborate the new information as she eyed the two girls in front of her in confusion. "Y/N? As in the girl that got stuck into our universe 10 days ago?" America switched her focus from Y/N’s still a bit awestruck but shy Y/E/C irises to Kate’s elusive blue ones, her own brown orbs inquisitively gazing down at her trying to extort some answers from her friend. "Kate."

"Yes, that Y/N."

America was silent for a few seconds with her face unreadable and her eyes eyeing the two intensely, before a big grin fell upon her features and her brown hues filled with happiness, "omg I totally ship it!"

"This wasn’t- what I though you would say." Kate drawled the words with her eyebrows furrowed together and her face contorted into a confused expression as she tried to read through America’s behavior, but when she saw nothing but pure joy she relaxed and giggled softly, "well, to be honest I’m not surprised. This is an actual America’s reaction."

"I want to know everything!" America approached the two girls with enthusiasm radiating off her body, walking around the coffee table and sitting on it, so she faced Y/N and Kate, and listened attentively to everything that happened in the past 10 days.

-

"This isn’t over Barton, call me back."

"Hey! I don’t talk like that!" It was now a few days later, America, after listening thoroughly the hole story, found Y/N’s universe and teleported the Y/H/C girl and Kate there. The two decided to spend a few days together in Y/N’s universe so the archer could see the main differences between their universes and to finally watch movies and tv show from the MCU she had been asking about to Y/N since she learned about it. And now that was what they were doing. Of course they started with Hawkeye and Y/N amusedly listened to Kate scoffing every few seconds for a cute, strange behavior Hailee’s Kate did on screen and arguing that she wasn’t like she was portrayed on the screen - she totally was -.

"Babe, you totally do. Last week you texted Clint six times just because he didn’t answer your previous three calls in the span of 5 minutes and just to tell him about your day." Y/N playfully countered back, remembering the fond exasperation lacing Clint’s voice when Kate reprimanded him for not answering her.

"Whatever." Kate rolled her eyes good-naturedly as she threw a popcorn at her girlfriend, her pout instantly switching with a warm smile when Y/N leaned over and pecked her lips gently. "I look good tho. She even has my favorite coat."

"I love that coat. It looks amazing on you." Y/N interjected while grabbing some more popcorn and chewing on it happily, "and yeah, Hailee is so fucking hot as Kate. Well- she is always hot and beautiful, but y’know what I mean."

"I would counter back by saying that I should be jealous and all of that crap, but I agree with you." Kate admitted with a serious, blank stare, that cracked immediately after Y/N stared at her shocked, laughing loudly on her lips as she pecked them repeatedly.

They binge-watched the whole show, commenting on Kate’s similarities with Hailee’s Kate and the cute, adorable banter Kate and Yelena have on the screen, pausing a few times for Kate to comment on how similar her friendship with Yelena was to the one in the series between them, before settling on watching ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’. "I would have surrendered to her." Y/N commented when they were halfway through the movie, chewing on popcorn as her eyes were glued on the screen, "or y’know helped her travel through the multiverse."

"Well it’s what America does with everyone of us. And even if I find all of this amazing, Wanda would never do that. She is a sweetheart. You should meet her."

"Hold on a second." Y/N paused the movie to regard Kate with an incredulous look, waiting for her girlfriend to laugh at her own joke, but she just continued to stare at her in confusion, so she was ready to pass out from fangirling, "are you serious?"

"Yeah! We’ve gone on a few missions together." Kate admitted with a big, bright grin, remembering she learned a lot from Wanda and how protected she felt from the loving redhead, "but she is still on her honeymoon right now. So we need to schedule that in a few weeks."

"Oh great! Where did Wanda and Vision went to for their honeymoon?"

Kate did a double take at the question and stared down at Y/N with her features scrunched up in confusion, almost looking at her like she went insane. "What? Vision? Y/N, Vision is a robot. He is sweet and so naive, but he is a robot. He doesn’t understand Yelena’s obsession over Mac and cheese, let alone human emotions like love."

"That’s exactly what I thought! But I just asked because in the movies Wanda and Vision are together."

"I can’t wait to see how that happens!" Kate snorted as she tried to picture Wanda with that cute, innocent robot.

"But wait, who is she married with then?"

"Natasha." Kate answered nonchalantly, trying to grab some more popcorn, but Y/N moved the bowl away from her as her widened eyes stayed glued on her face. "What’s wrong?"

"Natasha as in Natasha Romanoff?"

"Yes?" Kate asked more than stated, not really understanding Y/N’s shocked behavior. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because- holy fucking shit, I ship them so fucking much!" Y/N exclaimed, her face brightening up with a big smile as she slapped repeatedly Kate’s bicep from too much excitement. "Do you think they can adopt me?"

"Y/N! Oh my god!" Kate cackled over Y/N’s fangirling, tears spilling out of her eyes as she tried to take some needed breath and massaged her aching abdomen from too much laughing. "That was amazing!"

"I was serious!"

-

After the movie came to an end, the two decided to take a stroll on the busy New York streets. Kate worried about getting recognized but Y/N calmed her down by explaining that here she was only a fictional character and if someone stops her she just had to explain she looks a lot like Hailee. So they were now walking hand to hand around Central Park, Kate stopping every few seconds for petting a cute dog that approached her or just walked by them, and Y/N couldn’t help the loving clench around her stomach at the cute sight of her girlfriend using her baby voice to talk to dogs. "Are you hungry? I know a great pizza place not too far from here."

"Are you kidding me? When there’s pizza, I’m always hungry." Kate regarded Y/N with a haughty look as her head stood high, then leaned down to peck her cheek lovingly and let herself be led by Y/N towards the pizza place a few blocks away, swinging their hands between their bodies slightly.

A few steps later, Y/N bumped accidentally with a body and caused the three of them to halt their walk. "I’m so sorry!" Y/N opened her eyes after closing them from the collision only for them to widen comically when her Y/E/C irises settled on the person she just crashed into. "Hailee?"

[nahoney22]

Hey girl, so tech was flying super smooth in that episode so naturally we need him showing of his skills. It’s just you and him and you don’t know how amazing of a pilot he is so he wants to show off. And reader starts freaking out but then starts to enjoy it. And all tech can do is smile and laugh at you. This can be gender  neutral ❤️🖤🤍

LETS GET TECHYO DRIFTING @mustluvgd

Techyo Drifting

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵

Tech X GNeutral!Reader

word count: 700

Always missing out on the action of your boyfriends flying, you manage to persuade him to show you a good time.

warnings: None, just wholesome goodness and Tech having fun.

tags: @mustluvgd @eyecandyeoz @itsjml @gokyacetakal @by-the-primes @justalittlecloud @discofern @14mcmd1122 @milktealorian @ladydiomede @ladydiomede @archisstically-done @butch-medusae @kriffclone @captxin-rex @sw-ff @kryptoknight123 @cwarssimp

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“Pretty please?”

“It is not happening.”

“Pretty please with extra Mantell Mix on top?”

“… The answer is still no.”

You threw your hands up in the air in aggravation, a pout forming on your lips followed by the folding of your arms like a petulant child who had just been denied chocolate.

Your boyfriend looked to you, an amused glint in his eyes behind his goggles at your reaction, shaking his head. “I do not quite understand why me flying the ship is any form of entertainment for you considering the dangerous manoeuvring that is involved.”

“It would be fun for me because I am yet to experience your crazy flying skills!” You reply, “I miss out on all the action because I’m actually out in the field.” You say with a huff, turning your gaze away.

Tech’s eyes narrow from his spot in the pilots seat, the Marauder parked whilst the others were out doing who-knows-what. “You wouldn’t like it anyway, your brain will begin receiving a mix array of signals from the motion-sensing part of your body.” He said simply. This time you looked at him, arching an eyebrow.

“I am of course talking about motion sickness.”

“Oh come on Tech,” you whine, reaching over and holding onto his arm, “for me? I promise I won’t be sick.” You apply a sweet and innocent tone to your pleading voice, eyelashes fluttering as you blinked up at him with the sweetest smile you probably ever gave him.

Tech knew he should stay put on the landing pad but the others wouldn’t be back for a few hours. He should save his fuel but with the look those endearing eyes you were giving him, it was impossible to refuse.

“Alright. Just this once though, darling.”

“Yes!” You chirp in excitement, leaning across and placing a kiss on his cheek which instantly made his cheeks rosy red but a smug smile tattooed itself on his lips.

The ship started to rise, Tech taking you away from the zone that had surrounding buildings to somewhere not too far away from the others but had enough room to bring you some thrill.

“You ready for this?” Tech quipped, pushing up his goggles as he switched the controls on the panel, hands firm on the wheel.

“Let’s do it.” You grin in excitement but that smile was soon swept off your face in a matter of moments. Tech pulled on the lever, the ship jolting forwards violently, your back pinning against the chair as he began a manoeuvre so sharp you almost flipped off your chair.

“TECH, HOLD UP!” You squealed, eyes tight shut as you white-knuckle the co-pilots seat but Tech laughed heartily, a grin so wide that his cheeks burned at your reaction.

He was drifting left and right, flying straight up and then free falling back down, the ship almost hitting the ground before he pulled you both back up to safety.

Your stomach was twisting and mind was swirling as you barley managed to keep your eyes open but the sound of his laughter, a rarity, was like music to your ears. Tech was having free range of having fun that didn’t involve being almost shot down at any given moment that you found yourself enjoying it more, just by his reaction.

After minutes of him letting loose, going wild under your order, you began enjoying it yourself. Finding yourself whooping, arms up in the air as he did all types of flips and tricks. During a drifting manoeuvre, you both received a message from the ship and it was of course Hunter asking where you guys were.

You pout again that your fun was cut short but you ran through your now messed up hair and smile over to Tech who informed Hunter that you were both on their way back.

“So, what did you think?” He asks as he begins flying and you smirk, leaning against the chair.

“If this is what happens when you go blowing stuff up, you better make me come with you all the time.” You sigh, standing to your feet and stealing a quick kiss from Tech’s lips, his lips smiling against your own.

“I’ll see to it that that happens dear.”

———————

🍓 back to masterlist 🍓

Be added to my taglist 💓

[mrpenguinpants]

Andrius, Venti, and Dvalin: General HCs [+ unhinged Venti]

Oh no, not strange at all! I love seeing the art people have done on human Dvalin and Andrius. I’m not entirely sure if you wanted a Venti x Dvalin x Andrius pairing but I’m going to assume so. But just in case, I added a few points of all 4 of your hanging out. How my desk is positioned with my window, the sun is shining directly into my eyes so I have to type in this weird position unless I want my eyeballs to melt.

Also, if any of this is wrong just look away. This took forever because holy crap there is so much lore on these 3. Not sure what exactly you had in mind so I made some general/friendship HCs

Alright, today’s appreciations post is for maagdalen​​. Super lovely person with some lovely emotes. Oh and your english is really good btw^^ and ty for chatting with me 💕💕💕

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[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first. 

@hanniejji​​  @mikeysbike​​ @unionwitch​ @musekala​ @twistedsunnshiii​ @stanzastic​ @akaasea​ @xoneaboveallx​ @adoring-ghost​ @asheseiler​ @childelover​ @dilucsz​

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Andrius, Venti, and Dvalin: General HCs

Andrius

Andrius, also known as Lupus Boreas, was tasked with protecting the nation of Mondstadt under the request of Barbatos. He had a noble soul and mainly stays in the area of Wolvendom. He was strict, to the point, and never really partakes in whatever “foolish” activities Venti or Dvain get themselves into. But it’s all just a front because as soon as one of them get’s hurt or is in danger, his fangs and teeth are out. Even if it’s a cute hydro slime. Then he’ll take them by the scruff of their neck back to Wolvendom to get their wounds checked. On Venti it works, but with Dvalin’s dragon form. It’s amusing to see a pouting dragon getting dragged off by a wolf that wasn’t even double his size.

Not many Mondstadt citizen’s know but Andrius isn’t actually a wolf. He chooses to take the form of a wolf and should any of the wolves in Wolvendom be threaten, that’s the form he will appear in. But in truth, it was because Venti suggested it. If he was going to stay in Wolvendom and protect wolves then it made sense that his form would be the big bad wolf. Really Andrius just believes that Venti has a secret vendetta against cats and Andrius wouldn’t talk to Venti if he suggested that he take the form a dog.

There is a bit of discourse between Andrius and Venti due to Venti’s human-like appearance since Andrius views human society as a disappointment. Only accepting abandoned infants that have no where to go. But he does respect Barbatos and helped in his efforts to rebuild Mondstadt and protect it as one of the Four Winds.

While he doesn’t completely enjoy Venti’s extravagant personality he’s glad that Barbatos adopted the name and is living his life in freedom. Despite being the anemo archon, he chooses to live as Venti. Having fun in taverns and doing what he loves.

Venti

Venti always brings stories and sings for the two whenever he decides that it’s been too long since he’s seen his friends. He usually brings a bottle of wine even if he’s the only one that ever drinks - which is probably why he brings wine - which leads to Andrius scolding Venti to try and act civilized when he gets drunk and saying “No Dvalin, you cannot have some. The last time we let you drink you cried so much that Springvale still has a waterfall.”

It’s amusing to hear that after the war, the biggest problem Venti has right now is getting constantly ID checked. Dvalin takes this quite literally, since he still isn’t fully aware of taverns rules and regulations, that it takes both Venti and Andrius to hold him down before another Stormterror incident happens.

Venti has always been bold, never afraid to say anything, which was a trait that Dvalin and Andrius liked about the anemo archon. It was what made him the archon of freedom but sometimes Venti is a bit too bold and pretends to play fetch with Andrius wolf form. He is not amused. When he tries it with Dvalin, Dvalin will participate but he get’s confused and ends up just sitting beside Venti when the archon throws the stick. Which causes Venti to make a walk of shame to get the stick back.

When Venti acts as the Wind Archon it’s always a bit of whiplash when he talks in his philosophical state that it reminds Dvalin and Andrius that despite his childlike appearance and attitude, he was still the anemo archon. But it get quickly covered up when he says it’s time to switch back to Venti time.

It’s hard for them all to meet up in the present day. Dvalin stays in his domain while Andrius stays in Wolvendorm, all alone in their own domain. Venti prefers lively places than those quiet and solitude areas so he’s either in the City of Freedom or under the Windrise tree. But on occasions where he feels lonely he’ll swing by Dvalin’s lair and use the winds to carry their conversation to Andrius. Just so he isn’t left out.

If anyone asks where the ballads that Venti sings that are about a strict wolf and a nervous dragon, he’ll just say it was a passing tune he made up.

Dvalin

Dvalin, same as Andrius, lost his faith in humanity and the city of Mondstadt. He was released as his role as one of the four winds but continued to remain in Mondstadt. Similarly to Andrius he is distrustful around humans after being betrayed by them, chose to avoids human contact but he tries to adopt a more friendly side when Venti visits him.

Dvalin cares about Venti more and isn’t as standoffish in showing that he appreciates Venti compared to Andrius. Venti explained to him and showed him what freedom truly was he felt connected with someone for the first time. He did want to be understood and loved by the humans for who he was and what he wanted to protect. But that’s still a long road ahead.

He’s a curious but clumsy dragon. He’s pure of heart and steadfast in his goals which Venti is full-heartily cheering him on while Andrius disagrees but allows Dvalin to continue on this own path. Even if Andrius is on the other side of Mondstadt, he still tries to keep an eye out for Dvalin should the Abyss Order ever try and take his friend under their control.

However, due to how almost naïve the dragon is, he get’s into rather...interesting situations. While Andrius groans and Venti loses his absolute shit when Dvalin, still in his dragon form, lands and tries to observe the wolves. He only hides behind a thin tree that barely covers even 2% of his entire body and ends up scaring the wolves who run back to Andrius for safety. It takes a lot of consoling from Venti that the wolves didn’t like him, they were just scared and perhaps he should adopt a smaller form?

He’s still a bit sick from the aftermath of the Abyss Order and the poison of Durin so he can’t travel as far as he would like so Venti keeps him company. Telling him what the citizens of Mondstadt have been up to and playing music with his lyre.

---

I love writing Venti, he’s so much fun. :) I say this but I live for Venti who hides behind this happy persona but is actually unhinged or deluded. I have many thoughts on this but I didn’t want to break the pace of the fic (plus this is getting pretty long anyways). So feel free to skip the rest of this if that makes you uncomfortable. I’m just spit balling right now.

But nervous and shy dragon Dvalin plus mother hen Andrius is canon. You cannot convince me otherwise.

This week has just turned into “what will we awaken today?” In other news, Lisa and Diluc. But it might be a bit late since this took some time to finish. In extra news, solo leveling just updated. Oh and jjk is (hopefully) getting a new episode tmr^^

---

Barbatos

Andrius and Dvalin trust Venti to fulfill his archon duties should anything ever happen to Mondstadt. The same way Venti trusts the Four Winds will protect Mondstadt should anything dangerous arise. With the carefree nature of Venti making a sudden appearance after Barbatos’s year long nap, they both got a bit too comfortable with this happy-go-lucky version of their archon.

That is until Venti brings a fourth person into their trio. Someone who knew how to play the lyre and wished to fly and see the birds. Andrius and Dvalin share a quick look of anxious tension and it’s confirmed when Venti makes a small slip of the tongue and calls you by a certain boy’s name. They aren’t sure what to do or if Venti was starting to regress back into Barbatos and what that could mean for this innocent traveler.

“Barbatos defeated the previous ruler and left the city to rest because he didn’t want to become the same tyrant. But an archon is still an archon with responsibilities. Those responsibilities can be warped to the point that they believe they are helping and guiding their followers, but are actually trapping them in their cage. He is an archon that believes in freedom so his cage is just a bit bigger. Big enough that you can’t see the walls. Be careful traveler.”

Venti goes to greet you the next day you see him but his words seem to fade away when he approach's you. He asks if you’ve been talking to Andrius lately. You nod and ask how he knows. He says that you just spell like wolfhooks and that you shouldn’t worry about anything. 

The next day Andrius apologizes to you about his words and that he was mistaken. There was nothing to worry about and to trust Venti. You can see Dvalin a bit off to the side looking away nervously and a bit guilty.

Venti always makes sure that Andrius and Dvalin keep an eye on you, especially Dvalin when you’re in stormterror land. It was a pretty dangerous landscape to trek through. As for Andrius, he doesn’t want you to get hurt during your weekly practice fights. It wouldn’t do you any good if you got hurt and couldn’t explore this vast world with him.

[sevdrag]

first I'd like to say I really really like the way you express your opinions in a respectful way! I must say I completely agree that a lot of people put such a focus into A/C rather than the story and its quite diverse depictions of love, I get particularly irked at the queerbaiting or "neil homophobe bc they're OBVIOUSLY men!1!2!!" debate or at people just simply not respecting the fact that someone might see A and C as merely queerplatonic.

that being said, if I'm not mistaken the problem you have with the announcement is the way people are reacting to it, which is understandable because it has literally been in our faces all day, but still, I think there's still plenty of space here (considering the amount of reblogs and likes in your post) to enjoy the new season with a good amount of people. I've seen loads of people calling S2 a money grab which I actually don't agree with (not yet at least) reading neil's post about pterry and the new cowriter, which to me promises a bit of a fun plot (or,, simply trusting neil as a writer that has not disappointed me yet? or maybe I'm just naïve idk). anyway this is long as fuck but long story short I wouldn't let what other people think about good omens ruin my experience, I really hope you're still watching it when it comes out to see what you think but if you decide not to that's completely understandable as well. I also love your writing bye

Hi anon! Let me be clear: I’m excited about a season two.

I’m excited in a complicated way because to me Good Omens - both the book and the show, separately - is a very complete piece of media, which is great. I never *needed* a season 2. It never felt incomplete, and I’m happy with the ways fandom explores it.

That doesn’t mean I’m not gonna love more content. I could watch ten episodes of absolutely plot-empty hours of the two of them in their cottage arguing about what to have for dinner. More content with a plot is great. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Maybe it’s because I’m a decade older than most of the rest of fandom, or maybe it’s because I grew up in a macrofandom that grew a number of microfandoms and I have learnt that the best way to look at this thing is to pick and choose canon the way you want the best. (Am I talking about Final Fantasy? Or am I talking about Marvel / MCU? Hmm.) I’m not worried about what comes out. I think it’s going to follow all the themes of the first and I enjoyed that heartily.

I’m actually *more* interested knowing the full story about the way Neil and Terry built this sequel plot. Like I said, I never *needed* a sequel for it, but reading about how Neil is going to take all their plans and work it into what happened with Show One has me excited. I’m really interested to see what they came up with all the way back then and how it translates to now!

I also agree that we shouldn’t let other fans ruin our own fandom experience. But that’s why I have to say something, sometimes. I feel like the fans that are so “concerned” about the “queerbaiting” and the “homophobia” are — okay, you know, they may not be wrong? But that’s such a small piece of what Aziraphale and Crowley mean to each other and what they can do in the future when they’re on the same side. And I think sometimes fans might need to hear this other side, too.

I don’t give a fuck if season 2 confirms physical romantic affection between the two of them or not. Show me what they’re doing!! Tell me about their lives after the apocalypse! Season One confirmed that they are everything to each other — and unlike some people, I don’t need anything more than that.

[ahkaahshi]

sleeping over at their s/o’s house for the first time [scenarios]

pairings: sakusa kiyoomi; hirugami sachirou; kuroo tetsurou x fem reader

genre: fluff and humor, as per usual

warning(s): n/a

notes: kinda popped off on hirugami’s part. couldn't help myself. not sorry bout it either. can’t wait til we get to see more of his cute lil face in the anime.

he is so painfully awkward I love him

will just stand in the entryway with his duffle slung over his shoulder, staring straight at you until you tell him when he can put his stuff

this literally isn’t his first time over at your house but he acts like it???

poor baby’s obviously nervous about ~ spending the night ~

immediately washes his hands

brings his own pillow

asks if you’ve sanitized all your surfaces recently/if anyone in your household has been sick lately

does he wanna play video games? not until he’s wiped down all the controllers.

does he wanna watch real housewives? no, but you put it on anyway because you know he secretly loves the drama

does he want a snack? possibly? but refuses to eat on your bed because lying on crumbs is nasty

all he does is get under the covers and hang out

only moves to brush his teeth and, of course, wash his hands

will do a face mask with you but only after thoroughly reading the contents of the bottle/package

wears his hoodie and sweats to bed

is asleep before 10pm

2/10. total party pooper who only gets points because he’s hot and dislikes the same housewives as you do

Moments after releasing a rather loud guffaw at a funny scene from the television show you have playing on your laptop, you hear a small groan echo from beside you. Turning your head to the source of the noise brings your attention to your boyfriend, whose tall form rested on the bed beside you, ensconced in your blankets. His eyelids flutter open and his eyes the color of charcoal fasten on you before narrowing in a small glare of annoyance from underneath the sea of black waves atop his head.

Maybe you would’ve felt even the slightest bit intimidated if his face wasn’t close to being absorbed by the yellow fabric of his hoodie--and if he hadn’t flattened his hair against his forehead by closing the drawstrings to secure his hood around his head.

“Kiyo!” you whine, crossing your arms in front of you chest, “Were you really asleep just now?”

His dark eyebrows furrow as he answers matter-of-factly, “Yes. You know I go to bed at ten o’clock, (f/n). It’s ten thirty.”

You roll your (e/c) eyes at him and protest, “But this is a sleepover! Would it kill you to stay awake a little longer so you can spend some precious time with your beloved girlfriend?”

“Lack of sleep can lead to sickness. Sickness can lead to death. So, yes, staying awake longer to spend precious time with my beloved girlfriend could kill me.”

“I hate you.”

He lets out a long sigh and reaches over towards your laptop to close it, putting an end to your Real Housewives marathon. Once he’s moved it off of your bed, one of his arms snakes around your waist and pulls your body down towards the mattress. His midnight gaze doesn’t falter as he says, “If you get sick, I won’t be able to spend time with you like this, so sleep with me.”

Your heart skips a beat at his tenderly spoken words, and you crawl underneath the covers so you can place your head on his muscular chest and curl up beside him. The feeling of his warmth surrounding you is enough to make you melt into his arms and forgive him for completely ditching you in favor of sleep.

“(F/n).”

“Yes, baby?”

“If you kick me off the bed, this will be our last sleepover.”

sweet boy who is very excited to spend the night at his girlfriend’s house!!

brings snacks and movies

he enjoys doing any activity with you, whether it’s watching movies, playing video/board games, or just cuddling on the couch and talking

not hard to please at all!!!

watches rom coms with you. secretly a hopeless romantic

you’ll probably spend at least ten minutes of your night trying to catch pieces of popcorn in your mouths

and another ten doing the same thing with m&ms

poor boy is too tall to fit under your blankets, so you have to give him an extra one for his legs and feet

bedtime attire consists of boxers with corgis on them, a sweater, and crew socks to keep his tootsies warm 🥺

brings you a pair of matching, corgi-patterned sleeping shorts bc he wants to twin with you

your parents are gone, meaning you can do chaotic activities...

... like baking at 2am!!

he loves to bake (and you can’t convince me otherwise). pls bake with him

wants to stay up all night with you but ends up passing out around 3am after y'all eat all the cookies you made together

11/10, best sleepover ever

Few things were more romantic than spending an evening with your boyfriend on your hands and knees, against the cold, tile floor of the kitchen, cleaning up the aftermath of the mess you’d created.

Lifting your gaze from the white goop coating the flooring, you glance over at Hirugami, who looks completely unfazed and unbothered despite his face still being decorated with dollops of whipped cream. Beholding this sight once more sends you into another fit of laughter that makes it hard for you to keep yourself steady.

“What?” he asks, a small smile creeping onto his lips at seeing you so amused.

In between breaths, you manage to ask, “Why’ve you still got whipped cream on your face?”

With a roll of his chestnut brown eyes, he uses his fingers to swipe some of it off so he can help himself to another serving. “Obviously,” he scoffs sassily, “I’m saving it for later.” His smart comment makes you snort rather unattractively, which, in turn, causes chuckles to pour out from his mouth. “I’m assuming that’s what you’re doing too, right?”

Your (e/c) eyes widen, since you thought you’d done a good job of clearing up the results of your whipped cream battle from your face. A glance at your reflection in the glass of the oven where the cookies were slowly baking soon proved you wrong. Instead of being irritated by this discovery, however, you let out another, wheezing laugh and fell onto your side.

To any outsider, the situation would’ve looked rather strange--an incredibly tall volleyball player dressed only in corgi-patterned boxers, a sweater, and socks, face covered in whipped cream as he fell about laughing with his girlfriend who wore a similar ensemble and was sporting the same whipped cream situation. However, in your defense, it was two o’clock am, and you were high on sugar.

"Come over here and I’ll get the rest off your face, then,” Hirugami suggests, extending his long arms towards you that beckon you closer to him. After you scoot closer to him, he pulls you into his embrace and starts peppering your skin reddened from laughing so heartily with kisses. With each press of his lips against your face, your heart flutters in your chest.

He only pulls away from you when the oven beeps, alerting you that the cookies you’ve been awaiting are finally ready. But he does so with hesitation, seeing as he’d been caught up in savoring the sweet taste of your lips instead.

“You ready to eat some cookies?” he asks with a grin.

Your reply makes him snicker: “Always.”

is fully prepared to stay up the entire night (spoiler alert: doesn't)

made an entire party playlist for y'all to listen to throughout the evening

expect lots of dancing, vibing, singing, and buzzfeed unsolved episodes

brings dance dance revolution over to your house and then proceeds to challenge you to a dance off

was not prepared for what you brought to the table

tries twerking to distract you but still fails

will go on a midnight mcdonalds run with you

is the kinda person to share deep, late night thoughts with

only with him can your conversations go from discussing the questions of human existence to debating which form of potatoes is the most elite

will 100% do face masks with you to keep his complexion lookin godly

INSISTS on watching scary movies

expectation: “don’t worry, babe; I got you!!”

reality: is visibly shaking underneath the covers, questioning all the shadows in your house

wears only a pair of shorts to bed even tho it’s cold af (he runs hot, if ya know what I mean heheh)

8/10. would’ve scored the last 2 points if he hadn’t stolen the blankets and made you wonder if your house was haunted

"(F/n).”

The familiar and gentle voice of your boyfriend rouses you from your semi-conscious state, and you hear the sheets of your bed rustle.

“I’m so tired, Tetsu... what is it?” you wonder groggily, not even bothering to open your eyes to see what’s upset him.

“I think your house is haunted,” is his response. Though he speaks calmly and coherently, his hazel eyes are wide with fear and darting around the dark bedroom.

“Oh, stop. I knew it was a bad idea to watch those supernatural Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes before bed.”

The bed sinks behind you, and you feel the warmth of the blanket he’d stolen from you earlier around your body as he pulls you towards him so your back is flush against his chest. While you appreciate his closeness to you, you can tell he’s far from relaxed. The grip his fingers have around one of your shoulders is tight, as if he’s using it as a stress ball.

You murmur his name with indignation and pry his cold hand off your shoulder, but press a gentle kiss against the back of it. “Baby, go to sleep.”

He noticeably stiffens when a quiet whoosh sounds from another part of your house. “What the heck was that?” he asks from where his face is buried in the back of your neck, too afraid to look around and risk finding something he might not want to see.

“The dishwasher.”

“Y-Yeah,” he stammers, “the dishwasher... of course...” 

With a gentle groan, you lift your head so you can turn and press a gentle kiss against his forehead in an attempt to soothe him. As soon as you plop back down onto your pillow, Kuroo takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, desperate to get a wink of sleep.

The sound of a creak brings both of you to attention moments later, however, and your heart begins to race.

“That was the house settling... right?” you whisper.

He pulls the blanket over both of your heads, fully cloaking your bodies beneath it and says, “Yeah. Yeah. Let’s go with that.”

At this point, you realize it’s going to be a long night for reasons other than those you’d expected.

[star-killer-md]

Actus Reus, Mens Rea

@contesa-lui-alucard asked:

Hey hey happy sleepover my friend!! If it’s alright with you, I have two prompts from the Smut list that I’d love to see you combine for... mob Kylo and lawyer reader! Oh snap!! 15 & 37, if you please. If not, no worries, I still hope you have an awesome sleepover 😁 (“Make it hurt, baby.” + “Lay back and touch yourself. I want to watch.”)

Anon asked:

hello, may i request clingy/possessive kylo,, thank you

Thank you lovlies for your requests and sorry from the bottom of my depressed ass heart that it took me so fucking long. Anyway here ya go, hope you enjoy some mobster Kylo deliciousness. I’m so excited you liked him Contesa, and I hope you’re into it as well too nonny! Sorry it got long, I truly have no control over that. 

And thank you so much to @sacklersdoll for reading over this for me!

Word Count: 4.4k

Warnings: Angst (its me), Smut (its me), mentions of predator/prey dynamic (mostly as metaphor), possessive Kylo Ren, semi-public sex, no pronouns for the reader by they are afab, dominant Kylo Ren, some brat vibes, Kylo Ren is not nice, allusions to guns, some sorta stalking behavior

Ship: Mob Boss!Kylo Ren x Lawyer!Reader

Summary: You’ve started to take on some pro bono clients as a favor to a friend and Kylo Ren is Not A Fan™ of all the attention this guy has been paying you. After a few months of consulting on the side, you’re beginning to wonder if life working for a mob boss is something you’re really cut out for. Though you quickly learn that you very well may have passed the point of no return when Kylo shows up at your office to remind you just who exactly you work for. 

“I really can’t thank you enough.”

You shook the woman’s hands and returned her smile. Her son stayed quiet, looking at the ground, but mumbled his thanks as well. He was a good kid. Just pissed off the wrong neighbor. One of those ‘get off my lawn,’ ‘good ole American dream’ types who thought welfare was a sign of the devil, and had it out for everyone in the lower tax brackets. 

“Really, it’s no problem,” you walked them to the door, leaving her your business card. “I’ll see you both at the courthouse on Monday.” 

Evan was waiting in your office when you returned. His patent leather shoes rested precariously on the corner of your desk and you knocked them off with a huff. 

“See you’ve made yourself at home,” you said, crossing your arms and staring down at him in your chair. 

He shrugged and stood under your scrutiny, moving around to take the seat across from you. Evan Goodman was an old friend from undergrad. You often got the impression he was still that same cocky frat boy in the head. Still flashed the ‘my daddy has more money than you’ smile on occasion when he really wanted to get under your skin. With his slicked back hair, unnervingly straight teeth, and his annoying prosperity despite never putting in much effort it was somewhat shocking the two still spoke. He was simply not the type of person who had ever needed to try. Success came naturally to him, and much to your dismay.

“What can I say? You’re a very gracious host,” he mused and leaned forward on the desk. “So, how did it go?”

You sighed, “They’ll be alright, might get saddled with a fine but the charges aren’t that serious.” 

“Good, Rosa’s an old friend. I would have helped her out myself, but not really my deal ya know?”

“Yeah, Mr. Tax Attorney, I get it.” 

Evan was kind of a dick, but he was also the kind of friend who would sit on the bathroom floor with you, hold your hair back and sing horrendous parody versions of ABBA no matter who heard. So you couldn’t hate him entirely. That also meant that when he came to you with cases like this, a favor for a friend or whatever the situation may be, you had a hard time refusing. 

It was also a convenient front for you not-so-legal legal work you’d been invested in for the past few months.

“Seriously, I know I’ve been asking a lot of you recently,” he flashed you that god awful grin and kicked his feet up again. “You can tell me to fuck off if it’s too much.” 

He had been coming to you for pro bono work with increasing frequency, especially over the past month or so, but again, you didn’t wholly mind it. You went into this kind of work for a reason. Though, you were starting to get the feeling that a certain, brooding, less than lawfully abiding businessman did not feel the same. 

Kylo Ren dealt frequently with the shady, black market underbelly of capitalist society, but you were less accustomed to his world and not completely ready to throw yourself to the hounds just yet.

You had already missed more than a few meetings and canceled on dinner tonight to meet with Rosa. To be fair, it wasn’t as if he’d made any indication this ill-defined whatever-it-was going on between the two of you was anything serious. And you were only his consultant, for now, so this took precedent anyway. At least that’s what you tried to convince yourself of. Definitely not a way to avoid thinking about fucking your boss who also happened to be in with the mob. 

Definitely not.  

“I wouldn’t have agreed to help if I couldn’t manage it,” you yawned softly and stood to collect your things. 

It was late and you were beginning to fantasize about how soft and warm your sheets would be. If you got back in time you could pop them in the dryer and get in an episode or two before bed. 

“Hey, let me at least buy you dinner or something since I kept you out so late,” Evan parked his skinny frame in your path to the doorway. 

“You’re going to apologize for keeping me out late, by keeping me out even later?”

“Do you want free food or not?”

Pursing your lips, you stared at him for a few moments. He really did know all your weaknesses. You had skipped out on meeting with Mr. Ren—or Kylo or sir or whatever the hell you were supposed to call him now—already tonight, however, Evan was sure to take you somewhere nice and it wouldn’t be so morally repugnant if it was just as a ‘thank you….’

“Okay, fine,” you conceded and let him lead you out to the parking garage, locking the office up behind you. 

***

The next morning you stumbled past reception in a haze. Both from lack of sleep, and the bitingly cold winds battering your building despite the neighboring high rises blocking the brunt of the gale. The young woman at the desk informed you tersely that a Mr. Goodman was already waiting for you in your office and that you should really get here on time if you were expecting clients this early. 

You agreed that, yes you probably should but, you know, “trains and all that mess,” and tried not to judge her too harshly. After all, she was the barrier between you and the hundreds of calls this place received daily. 

Before slipping through the door with your name plate, you hung your coat on the rack and switched your phone on. It’d died on you last night amidst the allure of fancy, late night dinner and your sleep deprivation riddled brain had not cared enough to plug it in before bed. Fuck Amazon, but thank god for its speedy delivery of portable charges. 

You chewed your lip as the lock screen came to life. One missed call and a text. Both, of course from the most anxiety inducing sender, Kylo Ren. Because why would it be anyone else? His name menacing even typed out in standard black font. 

The text read:

Meet me at 8am.

It was very much like him—a command with punctuation and absolutely no details. The message receipt showed it was sent two hours ago, and it was already half past eight. Shit. Your fingers shook as you pulled up his contact and called. Every interaction left you coursing with adrenaline. Even now, miles away listening to the dial tone was nerve-wracking. Your heart pounded, hands slick in their grip on your phone. Maybe it was because you were never sure where you stood with him. Maybe it was because he was handsome and he knew it. Strong and he knew it. Intimidating and mysterious and closer in some ways to a Greek god than a man. He was all encompassing, and filled every available space in any room he occupied. 

Sometimes you thought you might choke on his presence. 

It rang once, twice, three times before cutting out completely. You stared down at the blank screen, biting your lip and shooting off a quick text. You were sorry, something important had come up, you would meet him the second it was convenient. 

Evan slapped you heartily on the back when you came into the room. He was holding a bouquet of flowers, evergreen with small white blossoms. 

“So, how many hours did you manage last night?” he asked, smiling his shit eating smile and seemingly unaffected despite the fact that he had to be running on just as little sleep as you.  

“I’m not even sure at this point,” you groaned as you tossed your bags down behind the little metal desk. “Time ceases to exist when you take trains past midnight.”

“Fair enough. Hey look,” Evan waved the greenery in your face, “courtesy of Rosa’s shop. She insisted I bring you something as thanks. I figured you could put them out in the front or something to brighten things up.” 

“They’re lovely. Please tell me you’re only here as a glorified delivery boy.”

His shoulders slumped at your lack of amusement, but before he could quip back the landline in your office rang. You answered, holding a finger towards Evan and leaning against the edge of the desk. It was the receptionist, Jess was her name? Maybe? You could never remember, someone else always addressed the holiday gift cards anyway. 

“There’s someone here to see you at the front desk,” she clipped, almost more exasperated than before. 

You told her you’d be right there and hung up. Evan grabbed his coat as you headed out, holding the door for you and following into the hall. 

“I’ll leave you to it if you’re busy, but give me a call after Monday and tell me how it goes,” he continued rambling as you came out into the front.

You had a smart comeback prepared, something about how simple the case was, he should have more faith in you, he was the reason you were busy in the first place, etc…but every word turned to ashes on your tongue when you saw him. 

Kylo Ren, standing right there at the desk and glaring at your receptionist. His suit was dark blue and ironed to perfection. Each leg was creased perfectly down the front and the jacket sat flawlessly on his wide set shoulders. He was a wall of unimaginably expensive fabric and what looked concerning like barely contained rage. You could see it in the twitch of his eye, the set of his jaw, and in the way his gaze landed on you the second you walked in. 

The way a predator immediately hones in on its prey. 

You froze just feet from him in the lobby, floundering like a fish on a hook. 

Evan, for his part, seemed not to notice the tension at all and continued to say his long winded goodbyes, placing the flowers in your hands and completely unaware of the slow, measured tightening of Kylo’s massive hands into fists at his side. 

“I’m free on Monday evening so we should—” 

“She’ll be busy.” 

Evan frowned, turning to face the man standing before him, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Kylo’s voice was a dark thing, low and rumbling, “She will be otherwise occupied.” 

His words were punctuated by a step towards you, one paw of a hand easily gripping your entire jaw. Lucky he did too, otherwise it would have dropped straight to the floor when he shot one last cobra strike glare in Evan’s direction, and pressed his mouth to yours. Right there. In the lobby. For everyone to see.  

The absolute bastard.

His lips were pillow plump and softer than the silk lining of his suit—and even through the surge of shock and embarrassment and more than a touch of anger—you felt your heart throb at the way he licked into your mouth. 

The flowers tumbled from your hands onto the floor as everything in you went limp under his touch. This was nowhere near the first time you’d tasted him, but it was like this every time. Like drinking ambrosia. An otherworldly experience. 

But that didn’t stop the sharp pain of his crushing grip on your arm, the way he nearly lifted your feet off the floor when he pulled away to drag along behind him. You could hear Evan spluttering in the hall behind you, the receptionist going back to clacking at her keyboard as if nothing had happened. 

When Kylo opened your office door he just about threw you inside. You tripped as he tipped you in, stumbling and catching yourself on the edge of your desk. The power behind his hand alone was undeniable. You shuddered at the thought of the array of purple fingerprints he would leave behind. It made your mouth dry and your heart sink. Confusing and delicious. 

And left you seething nonetheless. 

“What the fuck was that?!” you were not calm, so you didn’t attempt any semblance of it. 

“You didn’t answer me,” he said, level as he always was. 

The quiet before the storm and all that. 

“About the meeting? I tried to call, my phone died—”

“Because you were out catching trains at all hours of the night, I’m aware.” 

You paused, glaring at the wall of muscle between you and the door, “How did you know that?”

“So you’re not denying it?”

Kylo stalked towards you like a beast in his tailored suit and polished leather shoes like talons. You could hear your heartbeat, hear the blood rushing in your ears. Just like a rabbit in the sightline of a hawk, you were clearly being hunted. 

“Why would I deny something I’m not trying to hide?” your voice came out horse as he caged you between the desk and his chest, arms on either side to block any route of escape. 

“No you are certainly not adept at subtlety,” he said and you couldn’t take your eyes off the way his tongue moved behind his teeth. “This is the fifth time that idiot in the hall has distracted you from work.”

“That’s not an answer,” you tried to spit the words but his eyes were boring into you. The honey of them spilled down your spine and made you shiver. “How did you know? You are not entitled to any information pertaining to my personal life, regardless.” 

“Watch your mouth,” he growled. “Entitlement has no part in this.”

You were entering dangerous territory, though stopping curiously did not occur to you.

“I don’t think you have the right to be throwing out commands right now, not after that display.”

“Have you forgotten who you work for?” Kylo hissed at you, hands wrapped around the metal of your desk so hard you thought it might warp under his fingers. 

“Of course not,” you desperately tried to keep your voice down lest anyone get even more a spectacle. 

“Then what is this?” one hand left the desk and pulled a phone from inside his jacket. 

The screen lit up, and you looked in horror at pictures of yourself. Pictures of yourself from last night. Pictures of yourself from last night at dinner with Evan, interspersed with shots of you crossing the street, waiting on the train platform, and stumbling back into your apartment. Each was clearer than you’d expected, presumably from some insanely expensive surveillance equipment. You had been out for hours, and you had been watched the whole time. 

You narrowed your eyes, flicking back and forth between Kylo’s face—the graceful bridge of his nose pointed down at you—and gaped. 

“You had me followed…” you breathed the words into the slowly shrinking space between your bodies. 

He simply nodded, as if, somehow, you were foolish for not having considered this before. Perhaps you were. Perhaps you had no idea what you had gotten yourself into. Perhaps you had signed on for much more than a paycheck when you agreed to work for Kylo Ren. 

“I can’t have my employees getting distracted.”

Kylo slowly drifted ever closer, shoulders bent so he was eye level with you. He pressed further into the desk, pinning you between his body and the hard surface that bit into your ass. Something long and thick and hard nudged your thigh. 

“I don’t know why you though having me followed was necessary—” 

“You’re an arrogant little slut who needs to be reminded of your priorities,” his hand snatched your leg and wrenched it open so he could stand between them, “ I am not something you do on the side.” 

You could hear the way his teeth grit out the words, the way they formed as a growl deep in his beast’s throat. The hand still settled on the desk, skimmed up your hip and chest, his fingers 

biting into your jaw. 

“Do you understand me?”

Your lips were shut tight in a thin line, eyes wide and staring up like the prey you were. The silence only provoked him more. Snarling, two thick fingers wrenched your mouth open, pressing hard on your tongue and making you gag around them. 

“Answer.” 

Kylo Ren almost always spoke in commands. Having power did that to people, and rarely did it ever compel you, but his words sunk deep into your bones. Dredged up some dark, instinctual need to obey. To submit to this show of control. 

“Yes,” you mumbled around his fingers in your mouth, drool slipping past your lips when they moved. 

“Yes, what?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

You watched him suck his teeth, grabbing your face tighter and dragging you close so he could spit directly into your open mouth. He slammed your jaw shut, nearly taking off the tip of your tongue and hissed into your ear. 

“Swallow.” 

Again, you did without a thought. And it was disgusting, but invigorating, sent off some spark in your stomach with how easily he bent your body to his will. There was no man like him, you decided. And maybe this was simply because Kylo Ren was not a man. That term alone would never do him justice. 

In one shockingly smooth motion, you found yourself flat on your back, ass hanging off the edge of the desk with his hands on your hips. He ground himself against you, the throbbing of his cock evident even through the layers of clothing. That feeling on its own had you soaked through, thighs sticking with liquid excitement. 

“Remember who you work for,” he growled into your neck, licking a long stripe up your throat and sucking at the exposed skin. 

But it was very clear to you what he really meant. 

Remember who you belong to. 

You slapped a hand over your mouth as he bit down on the skin just above your shoulder, laving his tongue over the stinging flesh. Kylo pulled back, frowning down at you and yanking the hand away from your face. One held both your wrists in a vice lock while the other ripped your panties straight down your legs and left the dripping fabric discarded on the carpet. 

“No, they’re going to hear you,” he grunted, and pulled one of your hands down, pressing it to your slit and running your fingers through your slick. “Go on, touch your fucking pussy and let them know what a little whore you are for me.” 

It was something about his voice. Something in the way it left him, its timbre, its wonder, unquestioning. You could never refuse him. 

So, with a small nod you parted your folds, head resting on a stack of files as you drew slow circles around your clit with a shaky hand. His eyes never left your cunt, tracing the movement of your finger and the trail of wetness that seeped from you to the desktop. Softly, you gasped as the familiar placement of your fingers made you clench and arch up. Kylo’s rubbed small circles into your inner thighs with his thumbs, kneading the flesh there. 

When the spark was there, the lovely pulsing in your nerves alight, you dipped down, teasing and slipping inside, grinding down as best you could on your hand. It wasn’t enough, but nothing ever was since you’d been ripped open on Kylo’s cock. 

Evidently he did not find your work sufficient either. 

Another finger joined yours, stroking your lips and circling your entrance. His touch made you whine, the promise of hands that were not your own never ceasing to illicit a new gush of pleasure. 

“I said,” he murmured, his touch so terribly feather light. “Let them hear you.” 

He was like a gunshot, sudden and forceful and almost instantly had you screaming. Kylo slammed his fingers into you, so full and so deep, curling hard against that lovely spot inside. 

“Kylo, god, please—” you moaned long and low, your face burning with the knowledge that the walls were barely thick enough to keep your phone calls private, much less the shameful noises he pulled from you. 

“What was that?” he panted, adding another finger and pumping them deep into your cunt. “You can do better.” 

Your teeth dug so hard into your lip you thought it might bleed, but you couldn’t take much more. The ledge was approaching—Kylo Ren knew it—and he was determined to push you straight into the fire. 

You choked when his deliciously thick fingers were ripped from you, walls fluttering around the awful emptiness. Your head lolled back as you listened to him work the buckle of his belt and slacks open, and when you did glance down your mouth watered at the sight. Kylo—impossibly long cock throbbing in his hand—stood between your legs, stroking himself from root to tip. You watched little pearls of precum bead at the head while his thumb swiped across to smear them along his length. 

“You are insane,” you hissed through gritted teeth. 

Did you need to keep this position? No, technically you would be more than well off on the salary Mr. Ren so graciously provided. However, you could not mentally deal with being terminated for getting dicked in your office during work hours. 

Kylo smirked, the edge of his perfect cupid’s bow cocked back and aimed straight at your chest. Without warning, he sunk into you, straight to the hilt and threw his head back as you sobbed with the sharp sting of being split in two on his cock. 

“This is what you do,” he growled into your ear, hands on either side of your head as he worked his length back out only to pound into you again. “You work for me and you take my cock and don’t ever fucking forget that.”  

Your legs were wound so tightly around his waist that had he been any other man, his ribs would have cracked under the pressure. His hair, falling in black, satin waves, was gorgeous even in the sterile office lighting. You threaded your fingers into it at the roots and held him while your body rocked against the desk. It’s metal surface pinched at your sink and made your back ache, though that was nothing compared to the burn of Kylo’s thrusts, sliding against your walls. You felt him in your throat. You always did. That was simply the way things were with him. He filled you painfully, thoroughly, took over all of your senses until it was just him. 

And, strangely, it was the most alive you’d ever felt. 

He was unlike anyone you’d ever known.

You couldn’t scream for him, but you could still let him taste the desperation, the willingness in your body to mold against him. So you kissed him, dragged him by the hair to meet your lips and licked past his teeth, gasping and moaning on his tongue as you sucked it hard and cried into his mouth. 

And he drank you down, picking up a punishing rhythm and breaking blood vessels where his hands gripped your hips. One drifted lower, thumb pressing down hard on your clit as your cunt clenched around his length. The desk was lifting off the ground with every thrust, the room filled with the wet sounds of your bodies and you were quickly melting under him. 

Warmth was spreading, growing, building out from your pussy, igniting in your veins. He was right. This is what you did. This is what he did to you. This toe curling, lip biting, bone shattering kind of pleasure. 

Oh you were so royally fucked. 

“I—oh shit—Kylo I’m,” you pulled back just enough to pant out a warning before the wave took you. 

So hot, it washed over your skin and made your legs shake and your hands leave his hair to dig your nails into his chest through the crisp white button down he wore. 

“Feel that?” he grunted as you convulsed and shuddered under him, “Feel how this pussy was made for me.” 

You nodded, buried your face in his neck and held on as he worked you through your climax and straight into his own. Once, twice he ground his cock deep in you, feeling how tight you were around him until he was spent and spilling hot, thick ropes of cum that coated your walls and dripped out around his length. 

He panted, lazily rolling his hips, fucking you slowly until finally, he came to a halt with his softening cock still sheathed inside you. Seconds past, or maybe hours, you couldn’t tell. Kylo tended to have that effect on you. Time slipped away so easily in his presence, like there was never enough of it. 

When he did pull away, you stayed with your back firmly planted amidst the mess of scattered paperwork and manila envelopes. He rose to his full, towering height and tucked himself away, straightening the wrinkles in his suit and eyeing you only once from the side. You admired his profile, you never understood until now what the meaning of the word “regal” truly was. 

Under the dictionary definition, his picture surely would be there, staring at you down the bridge of his marble carved nose. 

You sat up on your elbows as he stalked towards the door. 

“Was that all you came for?”

Kylo paused, broad back still facing you and leaving the room feeling irrevocably empty with just the intention of his absence. 

“We’ll reschedule for five tonight,” he said, filling the door frame completely. “Don’t be late.” 

The door clicked shut behind him and the sound of it made you collapse back onto the desktop. You laid there for a moment, leaking your combined spend and aching. The throb of him settled in your muscles and festered. But the worst part was the other ache, the pain of being without. And maybe you had been a bit avoidant. Maybe this work really was so you didn’t have to see him. Because if you saw him you’d end up fucking him—which was fine, which was good, which was great actually—but then he would leave. And you couldn’t decide which wanting was worse. The wanting before or the wanting after. 

Maybe it didn’t matter. 

You had more important things to think about anyway. Like securing the receptionist an incredibly large holiday bonus, assuming you still had a job here at the end of the day. 

Maybe that didn’t matter either. 

It might be high time you made a commitment to whatever the hell kind of mess you’d stumbled into. Kylo Ren was an enigma in the best kind of way. Maybe you should stop running from it. 

[unprofessional-bard]

Chapter 5 - Red in the Face

Losing My Religion Series Masterlist

Unprofessional Bard's Masterlist

Previous Chapter • Next Chapter

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female!Reader/OC

Warnings: Mostly fluff but PTSD related events (panic attack).

Summary: An uneventful few months await the reader as her relationship with Joel and a Ellie develops - things take an interesting turn when Ellie stays over at the reader's house.

Word Count: 5.574

Author's Note: Yet another chapter named after a Mad Men episode, I think the name is fitting eheh... And as someone who doesn't drink coffee, I'm leaving what type of coffee Joel drinks to your imagination. Ahh anyways thank you all so much for reading!! 🥰

Enjoy!

Having a cup of coffee in the afternoon became a routine for you and Joel every two or three weeks. Sometimes once a week and with the company of Tommy or (mostly) Ellie, but you'd invite him over either after patrol or on your day off and just enjoy each other's company. You always had the morning shifts and Joel had the night shifts - sometimes you'd be assigned at the same time, but to different places or with different partners. The only thing you two had in common was your day off's, but not once had you two gone on patrol together, until one day Joel noticed how you came across traders on your patrol route more often than him and always brought him some coffee. He felt like he ought to repay that and invite you over for a different occasion other than dinner with the others. He grew quite fond of you in the following months after your first 'coffee session'. It was mid-June when he had asked Tommy to assign the both of you on patrol.

"Why?" Tommy smirked.

"She always comes across traders and brings me coffe, lord knows what she gives up for it..." Joel crossed his arms and stood in front of Tommy as he scribbled something down on his notebook in his office.

"So you're gonna give up patrollin' with me for our beloved Dolly, huh?" Tommy mocked offense as he closed the notebook and pushed it aside, looking up at Joel with a grin.

"She okay with you callin' her Dolly?" Joel raised his brows.

"She's okay with only us callin' her that."

"By us you mean-"

"By god, Joel," Tommy laughed heartily as he got up from his chair. "You can be so oblivious sometimes."

"What do you want from me?" Joel blushed lightly. "She'd break my fingers and shove them down my throat, I don't wanna be on her bad side."

"Yes, she would," Tommy nodded and stood across Joel, snickering. "But have you actually tried calling her that? She likes you, y'know."

Joel had thought on each word that came out of Tommy's mouth: Even if you hadn't admitted out loud, he knew you had a thing for Walt. He had a pretty keen eye for these stuff after all and didn't even bother giving the idea of you being interested in him a chance.

The twist was, his keen eyes will be proven wrong in the future. Twice.

Tommy and Maria were already aware of everything - even Ellie could see the way Joel looked at you, how his attention immediately shifted from whoever he was talking to or whatever he was doing to you whenever you made an entrance. Tommy broke the news of the patrol switch to Maria by saying that if neither of them had asked for it any sooner, I would've done it myself.

What about Walt? Well, yeah, about him...

Walt and Bonnie announced themselves as an official pair not long after your fight back in April. They lasted way longer than any of you had anticipated, which made you lose all hopes of getting with Walt, but it didn't bother you as much ever since Joel and you started going on patrols together. He was with you for a big part of the day and he was somewhat an even better company than Walt.

A few days after your fight, you asked Maria to assign you with Walt for that day's shift.

"Walt?" You called for him, nervous.

"(Y/N)..." His voice indicated that he wasn't hostile, just as stressed to confront you as you were.

"Let's talk?" You rubbed your hands together and he nodded in return, following you outside the gates. You rode on horses in silence for awhile until you reached the lodge lookout.

The both of you moved inside and Walt wrote down your names on the patrol logbook: 23/4; Walt/(Y/N); All clear -W.

You pursed your lips as you placed your backpack on the floor, then sat on a chair at the table. Walt sat across you - he always used to sit next to you, but now he was hesitant.

"Look, Walt," You began. "If I offended you in anyway-"

"No, (Y/N)," Walt interrupted you immediately. "I was being an ass, then in the heat of the moment we both said some stuff, but I hope I didn't cross any boundaries?"

"...No, but, you were acting so strange?" You looked at him, then decided to add: "Even Joel thought you were jealous of us until I told him that you had a thing with Bonnie."

Walt's eyes widened: "He- what?"

"I mean, if I didn't know you, I'd have thought the same..." You studied his face for a reaction, but only got a dumbfounded look. "Walt, look. I know you don't like Joel, but he's done good by me. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been here."

Walt stared at you, a mixed expression made of guilt and embarrassment on his face. You got up and sat by his side when he stayed silent: "I don't know why you don't like him - you don't have to explain yourself to me. I owe him my life and- well, at least be respectful to him. For my sake."

"But, what about him?"

"Joel treats people the way they treat him. He's struggling to fit in - if he sees that you mean well, he'll treat you the same way."

Walt nodded, ashamed of his childish acts, but hugged you tight when you said Come here and opened your arms for him. You both hugged each other, glad that this tension between you was officially over; but you two were never the same after that. Your romantic interest died down in the following months and Walt started spending more time with Bonnie to the point of ignoring you and, well, Joel being made your official patrol partner didn't help the case. You were really curious to find out why Walt didn't like Joel, but you had already said you didn't care and decided to leave it alone.

Despite the awkwardness, the time you spent with Joel on patrol from mid-June til the end of November had made significant improvements on your relationship. At this point, everyone (Tommy, Maria and Ellie being the most) was impatiently waiting for either of you to kiss the other, but neither of you were aware of each other's feelings. Joel didn't want to make a move to avoid ruining what he had with you because, even if you didn't spend as much time with Walt, he still thought you had a thing for the redhead; thus his 'disinterest' discouraged you to make a move of your own. Although you were sure he somewhat fancied you -because, come on, no one can deny the tension between you two- you also didn't want to make things awkward.

But nothing would've been more awkward than what you had gone through on an eventful December afternoon.

Joel and you were about to go on patrol, when Maria caught up to the both of you: "Joel, Dolly, wait."

"What's up?" You asked as you were about to get on your horse.

"Chad was on the Creek Trails a few days back, he told me there were a lot of infected over there," Maria sighed, then gave you an apologetic look. "You need backup."

It took you a moment to understand that Tommy was, in fact, not going to be the backup: "Maria, no-"

"Too late." Maria shut her eyes and looked away when Walt approached from behind her. There he was, only a week and a half later after his breakup with Bonnie, his posture giving away the fact that the effects of the said breakup were taking a toll on him.

The tension in the air was suffocating. You whispered Fuck me... under your breath as Maria told him to ride with either Joel or you, as they couldn't spare another horse. Walt and Joel weren't on bad terms after your confrontation with Walt, but they just stayed away from each other. This was going to be a hell of a patrol.

"C'mon," you forced a fake smile to your lips and beckoned him to ride with you. He got up, sat behind you and grabbed the edges of the saddle of the horse, then all of you rode off.

There was a blizzard on the way, it seemed, for the weather was cloudy and the wind was sharp against your cheeks as you rode through inches thick snow. Focusing on your horse was a good enough distraction, but the road ahead was short. When all of you arrived, you began biting the insides of your lips.

Walt went up first, helping you up the rope and words weren't quite enough to describe your surprise when Walt also offered Joel a hand. He must've been shocked too, for he took a while to grab Walt's arm and pull himself up. Maybe today won't be so awkward after all! After writing down a new entry on the logbook, you listened to the two men as you pretended to go through the pages of the logbook.

"We shouldn't stay here too long," Walt spoke quietly. "Let's complete the route and go back before the blizzard hits."

"Agreed," Joel spoke and turned to you. "C'mon."

You gladly obliged as you really didn't want to be stuck with them in a blizzard. You didn't go through the Creek Trails too often as the route involved a river beside an old evacuated town, but you acted like it wasn't a big deal. Tommy was the first to show you the Creek Trails and it was going well until you reached the river. A scenario similar to the one with Joel right before you reached Jackson played out. Tommy was fortunately informed by Joel about your condition months ago, so he kept things mostly under control. He wasn't unfamiliar with the situation: There were many people in Jackson who suffered the same way you did from PTSD, but still, he never thought he'd see you like that.

It had been almost a year since you took this route and luckily, the current was slow, almost frozen. Going through the town, you all scouted the houses quickly. Everything seemed okay until you reached the supermarket, where Joel heard distressing noises from inside.

"We need a few people to secure the windows here," You said and got in position, rifle at the ready. You and Walt went in first, Joel following from behind.

"Just like the good ol' days, huh?" Walt whispered.

"You mean our patrol days or militarily?" You smiled, to which he replied Both.

Sweeping through the outer aisles were easy, nothing you hadn't done before. But the further you walked in, you noticed the spores beginning to appear: "Masks on, boys."

You pushed open a door slowly, only to be greeted by three clickers and a few runners in the main isle. The whole sweep went quietly for the most part, until a runner saw Joel.

"Joel!" You ran over to him. Joel, startled, turned around and leaned back on the glass to pull his pistol out but the runner was closer than he thought. It directly ran into him, pushing them through the glass and shattering it. You quickly shot the runner, but were horrified at the sight in front of you: The parking lot was swarming with infected.

You quickly hopped over to Joel's side and pulled him up, Walt right behind you. The noise had obviously attracted all the infected toward you all.

"Shit!" You jumped back as there was no place left to escape from the parking lot. Walt began shooting at them, giving Joel time to go inside, then followed you both back the way you came.

"This way!" Joel beckoned as he went through a different door which led to a long hallway. You put down a couple of runners before closing the door and ran to where Walt and Joel were.

"Through here," Joel said and entered a room to your right. He closed the door and the three of you pushed a vending machine in front of it, breathing heavily as the infected made their way into the corridor, kicking and scratching at the door of the room.

"We need to clear them out-" Walt.

"We can't," Joel interrupted him. "There are too many of 'em. We'll come back with more people but right now we gotta get outta here."

"Through here," you called them over to a hole on the wall. "Boost me up."

Joel and Walt made a move and stopped at the same time, Walt letting Joel go first, once more, to everyone's surprise. Joel pushed you up and you pulled yourself through the wall but lost your balance and fell: "Fuck-!"

You landed on your feet but you were sure you sprained -or maybe even fractured- your ankle when you landed and cried out in pain.

"(Y/N)?!" Both men shouted from the other side in panic, Walt quickly getting into position to boost Joel up: "Go, quick!"

"I'm fine," You hissed, quickly looking around the room to find it empty. "It's clear here."

Joel jumped down and kneeled beside you: "You okay?"

"My ankle, I-" You stared into Joel's eyes but with a loud crash, infected filled the room. Without wasting time, Joel dragged you toward a counter to your right and pulled out his pistol again. A great amount of anxiety washed over you - how the hell were you going to get out of this? And where the hell was Walt?!

But you knew you couldn't give into fear, not now. You always found a way out... Even though your ankle ached really bad and it began reminding you of the time when the Hunters-

You pushed yourself up to see how many infected you were dealing with. Relieved to see only two clickers and four runners, you looked over to Joel and he looked at you: "Cover me."

You nodded as he sneaked over to the closest runner and took it down without attracting any attention to himself. He took down the other one as well, but before he could approach the third, Joel stepped on a broken piece of glass and suddenly had four infected running towards him. You shot down the remaining runners before he retreated back to where you were, stunning a clicker with a brick in the meanwhile. You realized, to your horror, that you ran out of ammo at that moment and had to reload, but there was no time. Joel took down one of the two clickers with his remaining bullets, but neither of you could do anything about the last one. Joel grabbed you by the arm and helped you over the counter before the clicker could get a hold of you, but he pulled you with such panick and force, you fell on top of him with a Oof!

Joel must've hit his head - his movements slowed down and couldn't push the both of you away from the approaching clicker. Your ankle was twisted up in this position, which made you whine in pain as you tried to turn around with Joel's knife in hand, but couldn't. You growled and cried out, a buzzing in your ear similar to the stream drowning out the terrorising noises of the clicker as it made its way toward you.

"Joel, get up, come on!" Tears streamed down your face and you watched as he opened his eyes, which widened at the sight before him.

Joel hugged you by the waist, turned you around and pressed you down on the ground, covering your body with his before the clicker reached you.

Thud!

Your eyes were shut tight, the only thing you could hear was muffled voices of Walt grunting and sounds of stabbing as you struggled to breathe. You opened your eyes and looked to the left to see Walt stabbing the hell out of the clicker. You watched with terrified eyes as he slowly got up, mask covered in blood and looked over to the both of you, breathing heavily: "Y'all... y'all okay?"

Joel slowly raised his head up and looked at Walt, then back to you. Your eyes glowed with your tears as Joel stared at them - his right hand was holding the back of your neck and the left one was tight around your waist. Was he really about to sacrifice himself so that you'd survive?

Was he even aware what that would've done to you?

He got off you slowly, still holding you by the neck and turned to Walt: "Yeah- you clean?"

"Yup, I'm okay," Walt coughed and kneeled beside you. "We need to get out of here."

"She's hurt- Can you walk darlin'?" Joel asked, rubbing the side of your neck with his thumb in slow motions to calm you as your whole body trembled.

"I don't know," You whispered and sniffed. You grabbed both men's hands and pulled yourself up, but cried out when you tried to take a step forward, almost collapsing on spot.

"I got you," Joel walked in front of you and kneeled slightly, then Walt helped you up on his back. He grabbed your thighs and adjusted your form, then began following Walt out of the market.

"Joel..." You pressed your masked face against his coat and whimpered, hanging onto him as if your life depended on it.

"We're almost out, Dolly, you're safe," Joel reassured you. Luckily for you all, there were no infected outside but the weather had significantly gotten worse. Walt quickly got up on your horse and picked you up, making you sit on the saddle as Joel hopped on his own horse. You all rode off the way you came as fast as you could, barely making it back to Jackson without a delay.

The three of you took off your masks once you were inside. Joel immediately rushed to your side while Walt was helping you off the horse.

"I'll take her to the doctor," Joel grabbed you and carried you bridal style while Walt nodded and went over to the stables.

"It hurts really bad," You spoke as he carried you, voice cracking but feeling safer in his arms. "I- I think it's broken."

"You're fine Dolly... almost there. Katherine is going to fix you up, don't you worry."

It turned out that you had fractured your ankle and Katherine told you that had you taken a harder fall, you could've broken it altogether. You spent the night at the infirmary after she insisted, Ellie and some of the other kids staying with you for awhile before Katherine asked them to leave you so you could rest.

"You won't be getting rid of me this easily after you're back home!" Ellie had said before she left.

And she was quite right, for she was the one to help you back to your house with Maria the next day.

"Ellie, I'm fine, it's not like I have a concussion and broken ribs..." As much as you appreciated her help, you felt bad for taking up her time.

"You can't walk without crutches and I know for a fact that you're gonna get bored - you could use some company." Ellie sat beside you on your bed after Maria left. Katherine had said that your ankle was going to take around a month to heal and you wanted to bang your head against a wall then, not wanting to sit around. Maria and Tommy offered you to stay at their house a million times but you just wanted to be alone with your thoughts and trauma. You wanted to think about anything and everything and you knew no one other than Joel and Ellie would grant you such opportunity while being by your side. That's how your first day went: Ellie stayed until late hours and Joel visited when his shift was done.

"How're you feelin'?" He asked, standing by the bed where you'd been sleeping before he came.

"Alright I guess," You sighed. "I can't stand sitting around and doing nothing. It's like my first weeks here all over again."

Joel chuckled, then looked at the frame on your night stand, picking it up. It was a picture of you and Kurt in it: "I've been seein' this picture every time I came here and couldn't help but wonder who he is..."

You smiled and turned to your side a little, patting on the bed so that he'd sit down: "That would be Kurt. You could say he was my... mentor or something."

"Oh, right. Was he...?" Joel trailed off after sitting beside you.

"Yeah, he was there with them..." You nodded, remembering the day when you all got ambushed. "Eugene reminds me of him sometimes."

Joel nodded quietly and put the frame down: "I uh, I got one too. A picture of me and my... daughter."

You gave him a surprised look - you already knew his story, but you were genuinely surprised that he actually opened up to you about it after almost eight months. You felt a little guilty about having heard of this story before as he told you what had happened to Sarah. You keept quiet and let him vent, but hearing the story from Joel himself sent shivers down your spine - as if you were hearing it for the first time.

"I'm so sorry, Joel," You said once he finished. After a short moment of hesitation, you slowly put your hand on top of his. "I really am. I can't imagine how horrifying that must've been for you."

Joel whispered a small Yeah and looked away, not moving his hand from under yours and enjoying your small gesture. His thumb moved out under your own and rubbed it gently.

"I wish I could take a photo of you two right now!" Ellie suddenly appeared from the hallway, making the both of you jerk away from each other. She had gone to get something when Joel arrived a few minutes ago: "I wanted to stay here for the night, is that okay?"

Your eyes widened and so did your smile: "You don't have to, sweetie-"

"If I get too bored here, can she come and stay with you for a few days?" Ellie suddenly asked Joel.

"Now, Ellie, don't force her to do something she doesn't wanna do. She's too kind to decline."

You blushed a little at his comment and playfully slapped his shoulder: "Nobody's forcing me into anything, cowboy. Besides, it's your house - if I have a permission to stay, then I'll consider staying."

Joel smiled shyly: "You're right... Ah, what the hell, why don't you come over tonight?"

It was your turn to blush: "Not today, I'm afraid, I just want to sleep here for awhile."

"Alrighty then," Joel dropped his hands on his thighs, then got up. "Just let me know when you wanna stay 'n I'll come pick you up."

With that Joel left, wishing the both of you a goodnight. Ellie changed into her 'pyjamas' and curled up on the bed next to you before pulling the blanket over her body. The only light illuminating the room was the candle in you gas lamps on the nightstands on each side. You turned to Ellie - she seemed to be lost in her thoughts. You two were laying like you did in that cabin, the memory making you smile.

"So, when are you two gonna get married?" Ellie asked all of a sudden.

"Oh shush, Ellie," You squirmed and look away, making her laugh.

"I still cannot believe you two aren't together already!" Ellie spoke excitedly. "I don't know what's keeping you two... Don't tell me you still want Walt-"

"No, no," You blushed, running your fingers through your hair. "Hey, who says Joel likes me anyways? He's clearly not interested in me, Ells."

Ellie's expression turned serious. Looking you dead in the eye, she spoke, struggling not to curse: "You have got to be kidding me."

"What?!" Your eyes widened. You weren't sure if you wanted to hear the rest of what she had to say or not.

"No offense, (Y/N)," Ellie sat up. "I know Joel is blind, but I never thought you'd be as blind as him."

You weren't sure how to react, so you just stared off to the ceiling and thought: Joel was always so sweet toward you. He was patient, careful, gentle and protective... But wasn't that how he always was? You weren't really that special, were you?

"Oh god..." You sighed and covered your face with both of your hands. "Are you serious?"

"Oh, no I was just joking," Ellie rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm fucking serious!"

"Joel always had this silly idea that after all this time you were still into Walt," Ellie explained as you rubbed your face upwards and ran your hands through your hair. "I sometimes force a few words out of him about you and everyone knows that he has eyes for you... except for you it seems."

Your heart felt like bursting: "Oh dear lord, this can't be real..."

"Awh, look at you!" Ellie snuggled closer to you. "Blushing like a teenager, haha!"

"Says you!" You changed the topic and tickled her sides, making her drop to her side. "I may be blind with my own case, but I'm not blind enough to miss my Ellie's romantic shenanigans."

Ellie suddenly stopped laughing, face flushed red: "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Look who's blushing like a teen now," You smiled softly. "I've worked with children enough to see some things you think we can't see."

You honestly didn't have a clue she liked girls the first month you knew her. It all started adding up some time after Joel and her came back to Jackson. The kids there liked you and you liked them - they were mostly young teens who needed mentoring for patrols or with anything. You mentored Dina and Jesse for a while before Ellie arrived and Eugene began mentoring Dina. You saw the way Ellie got nervous around Cat - the way she blushed and stuttered while Cat was more confident around her. Ellie talked to you about everything but her own 'love life' and you never forced her to, whenever you cracked a few jokes, she'd immediately tense up and change the subject. After two or three times, it clicked - she was definitely into girls.

"How... how long have you known?" Ellie asked and got off the bed, turning around and doing her stressed finger gesture.

"Awhile now," You sat up as best as you could and stared at her worriedly. "Ellie, it's okay." She slowly turned around, panick spread across her face. "Are you okay sweetie?"

"No," Her voice cracked after a moment of silence.

You beckoned her back to bed beside you: "It's alright baby, there's nothing to be scared of..." She sniffed and climbed back to bed, finding her comfort in your embrace. "It's okay, Ellie."

"Does Joel know?" She asked quietly as you brushed your fingers through her hair, hugging her.

"No, I don't think he does. I haven't told anyone what I thought, if that's what you're asking."

"Oh, okay-" Ellie took a deep breath. "Thank you, (Y/N)."

"You'll tell him when you feel ready," You placed a small kiss on the side of her head. "This goes for anyone. Whenever you're ready, you'll tell them."

"But, what if they're not okay with it?"

"Well, fuck them." You smiled when she gave you a look. "If they can't deal with you for who you are, there's something wrong with them, not you."

The words seemed to have an effect on her, for her breathing calmed down and her eyes focused on a spot in your room, probably deep in thought. You two stayed like that for a while, Ellie eventually yawning and cuddling up to you after blowing out the candle on her side.

"Goodnight darling," You kissed her temple and blew out the candle by your side. "Love you."

"Love you too, (Y/N)," Ellie whispered sleepily, then fell asleep in your arms.

You felt like, after that, you had earned Ellie's trust completely. She became more like a daughter to you, which made things between you and Joel a little awkward considering he was like a father to her. You wondered if she thought of the both of you as her parents - if she felt the joy of having parental figures around her with the both of you. She'd come to you whenever she felt down or emotional- or for anything, really. You both had a factor in common which helped you both relate to and understand each other: survivor's guilt. It was upsetting, but you two had each other. You told Ellie what she wanted to hear and vice versa.

By New Year's, she gave you the most precious gift: A masterfully drawn picture of you... with Joel in a frame.

"Christmas comes but once a year!" Ellie chuckled at your reddening face. "I thought you might like this."

"Like?" You laughed. "I absolutely love this- Ellie, you're so talented. Thank you so much, sweetheart."

"Whatcha got there?" Joel leaned forward over your shoulder to take a look at the picture and his eyes widened immediately. "Oh..."

"Right? Isn't it beautiful?" You stared at the picture in awe, cheeks heating up.

"It really is," Joel turned his head to your face slightly, his nose inches away from your cheek. After Ellie had purposefully nonchalantly revealed that your interest in Walt had died a long time ago and that you had said this yourself, much to Joel's relief, he really began thinking on making a move when it was convenient. The problem was, he just didn't know how to, until Ellie came up with a gift idea.

"Did you get something for (Y/N)?" She asked Joel on patrol one day.

"What for?"

"Uh, the word Christmas ring a bell? Well, I found a frame for her, so she can put that picture of hers in it. She always complained about not coming across a frame for it, I think she'll appreciate it."

Joel thought on her words: He had completely forgotten about Christmas - it was his first after many many years, after all. Ellie noticed the thoughtful look on his face and spoke: "You know what? Why don't you give her the frame?"

"I- What?"

"You heard me," Ellie smirked. "I'll get her something else, you should give her the frame instead."

Joel had remained quiet then, but thought about Ellie's offer for awhile and, once he was back at home, an idea presented itself in his little workshop in his house.

"Y'know what?" Joel had given the frame back to her the next day. "You hold onto this, I'm gonna make her something."

And that was what you were greeted with right after you took your eyes off Ellie's gift: "I got a little somethin' for you."

It was a wooden frame, beautifully carved flowers on the corners and the picture of Alpha One in it. Your heart skipped a beat, your breathing coming to a stop, eyes widening at the sight.

You slowly took the frame from him with trembling hands. The happiness you felt was indescribable, did he actually take his time to make this? For you? Your eyes teared up: "My god... How did you get this?"

"You could say a little bandit helped me," Joel smiled over to Ellie, who was watching the both of you with an excited grin spread across her face.

You exhaled with a short laugh, looked between your gift and Joel and then, despite the cast around your ankle, pushed yourself up. His expression turned into a panicked one for a second before you turned around, giggled with tears rolling down your face and hugged him. It took Joel a moment to process what was happening, but he quickly returned the hug and wrapped his arms around your waist: "Thank you, Joel."

"Merry Christmas, Dolly," Joel sighed, content. A genuinely happy smile formed on his lips and his eyes closed unintentionally, finding the comfort he sought for so long in your arms. You felt like, his arms around your waist and chin resting on your shoulder - his body was made for yours, like puzzle pieces.

"Mistletoe!" Ellie suddenly appeared by the both of you, stepping on your seat with the said plant in hand, holding it above the both of you and shaking it.

You pulled away from him, hands resting on his shoulders as you stared at Ellie with embarrassment. Joel, cheeks red like the ribbon which held the mistletoe together, looked away shyly. You bit your lower lip and turned your head back towards him, gazed into his eyes with a soft smile playing on your lips. Your hands moved up to his neck slowly, eyes glowing. This cannot be happening.

Ah, what the hell, just go for it, were Joel's last thoughts before he pulled you close by your waist and pressed his lips to yours. A long overdue, passionate, deep kiss was shared between you two; a kiss that made everyone in the room cheer and clap at the sight.

"Finally!"

[daveeddiggsit]

Game Time

WIDEOUT MASTERLIST

Series: WIDEOUT

Note: Well, it’s been two years since I’ve updated this series and I missed it so much. This one was a lot of fun to write. Can you tell I thirsted hard for Diggs in a football uniform? Let me know what you all think!! And let me know if you wanna be tagged in future installments! :)

Word Count: 4.6k

Pairing: Football Player!Thomas Jefferson x Reader

Warnings: nothing really. kissing, some language? football lingo

Summary: When you’re assigned to tutor Thomas Jefferson in chemistry, you find out that there’s more to him than just football. After you start dating, you attend your first football game to see him play for the first time.

Tagging: @coololdsoulpoetlove​​ @wreakhavoconmacroissantdiggs​​ @merrahonthawall​ @katierpblogg​ @thespianbooks​ @a-hopeless-fan​ @uniquelystarchildthedragon​ @wcreech​ @sabbrriiinnaa​ @imperial-martian​ @harpersmariano​ @icanneverbesatisfied​ @underthewillowtreerycb​ 

The hallway buzzes with sound and activity as you and Maria get your books out of your lockers.

As you close your locker and slip your bag on your shoulder, you can’t help but smile when you think of the events that happened this past weekend. Images of Thomas’ bright grin and his soft gaze right before and after your first kiss flash through your brain as you get lost in your thoughts.

“Y/N, are you even listening?” Maria’s voice brings you back to reality.

Your eyes snap over to her and you give her a guilty simper. “No, sorry. What were you saying? I’m listening now.”

“I was asking if you’re ready for the chem test tomorrow…” Your best friend trails off, narrowing her eyes at you, obviously suspicious of something.

“Oh uh, yeah.” You chuckle a bit nervously. “I’m always ready, M. Are you?”

“Mhm,” she starts before continuing without taking a breath, “Are you okay? I feel like there’s something up with you. You’re like… radiating this weird energy. You haven’t stopped smiling all morning. Not that it’s a bad thing, but...”

Your eyebrows scrunch together as you try to play dumb. “What do you mean? I’m not smiling now… What weird energy? I’m fine.” You say before your eyes flicker over Maria’s shoulder to see Thomas coming in your direction. Butterflies erupt in your stomach at the sight of him and against your will, that smile Maria mentioned finds its home on your face once more.

“See? There it is again.” Your best friend accuses, pointing a finger at you. Your gaze shifts back to her for a second and you shake your head, pursing your lips to force the smile that won’t go away. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Um... “ You trail off before your eyes flicker over her shoulder again. Thomas catches your gaze and winks as he makes his way over.

“What are you looking at?” Maria asks before she turns around to see your boyfriend approach you two. And suddenly, she thinks she understands.

“Well, would you look at that?” She turns back to you with a smirk, her tone teasing. “It’s your beau.”

Yeah, no kidding. She doesn’t know, yet, does she?

Thomas is grinning when he reaches you and his smile is contagious. He swoops down to press his lips to your cheek sweetly before draping his arm across your shoulders.

“Reynolds.” Thomas greets Maria with a nod, smirking at her wide-eyed expression. Her realization is evident on her face as she puts one and one together.

“Jefferson.” Maria replies, sobering up before she narrows her eyes at him. Oh, she fully understands what’s going on now. 

Thomas looks away from Maria to look down at you.

“Mornin’, sweetheart.”

You look up at him, your grin unfaltering. “Hi, T.”

“Meet me at the field after school? I wanna show you something.” Thomas says, his gaze soft and smile warm.

You nod, causing his smile to widen. 

“Okay, cool.” Your boyfriend leans down to press a kiss to the crown of your head before he lets you go and takes a step back. “Alright, ladies, as much as I wanna stay, I have to go and round up the boys. Make sure they get to class on time and blah blah blah. Team captain duties. I’ll see y’all in class.”

Maria rolls her eyes before deadpanning. “Of course you have to do ‘team captain duties.’”

Thomas just shrugs. Before he can leave, you pull something out of your backpack and call out to him.

“Oh, hey, T! Wait, before you go.” He turns to you, raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips, giving you his undivided attention. “Here’s your hoodie back. Thanks for letting me borrow it on Saturday.”

The football player sends you a genuine smile. “Keep it. I want you to wear it for the game on Friday. It’ll be cold out and I want you to have some sort of school pride.”

Your jaw drops at his teasing jab. “I have school spirit!”

“Maybe I just want you wearing my hoodie, then.” He smirks before he quickly continues. “Alright, I’ll see y’all.” He waves, before he nods at the hoodie in your arms and gives you a pointed look. “That’s my favorite hoodie. I trust you with it. Keep it safe.”

You laugh and give him a mock salute. “Sir, yes, sir.”

Maria watches your encounter with her arms crossed. So when Thomas finally leaves and you turn back to her after putting the hoodie back in your bag, she gives you a look that says, “What the fuck, Y/N?”

A sheepish grin shows up on your face. “Yes?”

“You, uh… wanna tell me what the fuck just happened?”

A teacher passes by at that exact moment, reprimanding Maria on his way past. “Language, young lady.”

You both ignore him.

“Uh… yeah.” You start, walking towards class and Maria falls into step with you. “So, Thomas and I are dating now… as you probably found out.”

“You didn’t think it’d be important to disclose this information?”

“I’m sorry, M. I’ve just been stuck in my own head since it happened on Saturday and—”

“I knew it! I knew y’all weren’t just gonna study!” She exclaims, causing some students to turn their heads. She drops down to a reasonable tone before she continues. “Tell. Me. Everything.”

Her reaction causes you to laugh. “Ugh, you sound like my brother.”

“I’m basically your sister. Now, tell me everything. All the details!”

“I mean… after his practice we just went back to his house and Thomas convinced me to watch this show he’s in love with because apparently I remind him of one of the characters.”

“What show?”

“Futurama.”

“Gross.”

“Right? That’s what I thought!” You laugh before you continue. “Anyway, so I told him I’d watch one episode after he showered—”

“Ooh, spicy—”

“Not that kind of story, Maria.” You deadpan and she simpers. “So we watched the episode, and I told him it was kinda dumb and one thing led to another and next thing you know we’re…” You lower your voice, “Making out on his couch. Then he asked me, well more like told me, to be his girlfriend. I agreed. Here we are.”

“Making out? That sounds pretty spicy to me, Y/N.” She wriggles her eyebrows at you. 

“Oh my God, you’re terrible. And can you not use that word?” You groan, looking up at the ceiling in exasperation.

“No, but seriously, Y/N.” Maria says genuinely. “That’s actually really cute. I’m really happy for you guys.”

You smile at her before pulling her into a hug. “Thanks, M. Means a lot.”

She returns the hug for a few seconds before she pulls back to point a finger at you. “He breaks your heart, though, and he’s a dead man.”

“Oh, I know.” You laugh outwardly as you two head into your first class of the day. 

⋆﹥━━━━━━━   ♛   ━━━━━━━﹤⋆

“Why’d you want me to meet you here?” You ask Thomas. You enter the gated entrance to the track and football field, one of your hands intertwined with his.

“You’ll see.” He says, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“Thomas,” you groan, impatience evident in your tone. “Don’t you have practice today? You’re not gonna make me sit through another one, are you?”

Thomas laughs heartily and shakes his head. “Nah. Practice isn’t until 7 today, so we’re fine. And I thought you enjoyed the view when you watched me practice on Saturday.”

You roll your eyes and look up at him. “I did…” You trail off and his eyebrows raise slightly at your confession (though it isn’t much of a confession anymore since you two are together now). “But that doesn’t mean that I wanna come spend my free time watching a bunch of dudes run around with a ball and tackle each other while getting yelled at by Coach Washington.”

He grins at that, looking down at his shoes for a second. “Understandable. I wouldn’t wanna listen to Coach’s yellin’ in my free time either.”

You two take your first steps on the turf of the football field and Thomas leads you towards the yellow field goal post.

“Anyway, why’d you bring me to the field, T? You said you wanted to show me something?” You ask, thoroughly confused.

“Yeah, I got something in mind.” He says softly, his gaze making you feel warm. “Remember how you said that we’ve never been on an official date before? On Saturday?”

You nod in response.

“Well, this is me changing that.”

“Aw, really?” Your heart swells and he nods.

“Mhm. But first, I gotta make sure of something.”

You raise an eyebrow and Thomas’ smile turns smug.

“Alright, darlin’, what,” he begins before letting go of your hand to gesture to the area around you two, “is this area called?”

You look around briefly before you tilt your head to look at him. Narrowing your eyes, you cross your arms and deadpan. “Seriously?”

“Ahh, you thought I forgot about our little football tutoring sessions, didn’t you?” His grin is playful as he watches you with an amused gaze. “Consider this a pop quiz. You need to be prepared before Friday.”

“I thought this was supposed to be a ‘real date,’ Thomas, not another tutoring session.” The look you give him is serious, but your tone is teasing. “Also, you know we have an actual test tomorrow for Chem, right? We should be studying for that.”

“Oh, I have been, sweetheart, trust me. I studied for a few hours yesterday.”

You cock your head to the right, grinning at him, unconvinced. “Did you, really?”

“You don’t believe me?” Thomas gasps dramatically, putting a hand over his heart. “Y/N, that wounds me.”

You chuckle and shake your head at him, thinking back to when you saw the open chemistry textbook on his desk. He’s definitely telling the truth.

“I believe you, Jefferson. Just a little surprised since it’s always a drag to get you to study for that class.”

“Hey, now, I’ve gotten better over time.” He sends you a pointed look.

“Yeah, that explains why we got nothing done on Saturday.”

“You were just as distracted as I was! Don’t gimme that. I’m not the only one at fault here, missy.” He takes a step closer and towers over you, but your gaze is challenging as you look up at him.

“I mean… you’re the one who forced me to watch Futurama.” You shrug, watching him deadpan. You wonder how much further you can tease him before you rile him up. “And you are the one who kissed me first, which then led to us being unproductive for the rest of the day. So, yeah, I’d say you’re the one at fault.”

Thomas just narrows his eyes as he looks down at you. One of his hands comes down to grab hold of your waist to bring you closer to him.

“Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” He asks, his voice low in tone.

“It’s like that, T.” You say, bringing your hands up to his chest.

“Did you forget that you kissed back? Or that you kissed me the second time? I’d say it was a mutual effort, darlin’. As good of a student you think you are, you pushed back studyin’ just as much as I did.”

He’s right. You are as guilty as he is. And right now, you’re even more guilty because you’re just trying to distract him from giving you your impromptu football lesson. 

You grin at that, leaning up to bring your face closer to his. “Alright, you win. Can’t argue with that.”

“Yeah?” He smiles down at you, his nose brushing against yours.

“Yeah.” You murmur before you push yourself up on your tiptoes to press your lips to his briefly. His arms pull you closer to him as he reciprocates the kiss and deepens it by leaning down and tilting your head up to thread his fingers into your hair. Thomas pulls away suddenly and you find yourself chasing his lips as he retreats.

“Uh uh, I know what you’re doing, sweetheart.” Thomas says, short of breath but grinning at the same time. “You think you’re slick, but I know exactly what you’re up to.”

“What am I up to, Thomas?” Your hands slide down his chest and arms until you lace your fingers with his once more.

He gives you a knowing look. “You’re tryin’ to get outta this tutoring session, but I’m not havin’ it.”

You send him an innocent simper. “Guilty.”

Thomas just chuckles and pecks you on the lips. “I forgive you.”

He then leads you a few feet forward until you're standing in the middle of the painted ‘Panther’ letters in the end zone. “Alright, let’s try this one more time. What is this area called?”

You sigh and look around, taking a second to think. Thomas watches you intently as you rack your brain for the answer. “Um… the end zone?”

A bright grin spreads across Thomas’ face as he beams with pride. “That’s it! You’re so smart, baby.”

You can’t help but smile at his praise as you two start walking again, this time towards center field. He points to the goal line as you walk over it. “When the ball crosses this line, it’s a touchdown, meaning that the team has scored. So, when I cross this line, you better be cheering on the sideline.”

You raise an eyebrow at him. “When you cross this line?”

“Yes.” He says, an aura of pretentiousness surrounding him. “Oh, it’ll happen, sweetheart.”

You breath out a laugh, rolling your eyes at him. “You’re so cocky sometimes.”

“Hey, I prefer the word ‘confident’.”

You shake your head, biting your lip in amusement.

You two walk for a bit longer and your heartbeat quickens when you see a beautiful picnic set up in the middle of the huge Panther logo at center field. Your eyes widen in surprise as you look up at Thomas and he’s smiling genuinely at you, one of the smiles that make the corners of his eyes crinkle. And just like that the butterflies are back.

“You did this for me?” You ask, feeling elated.

“I had some help from the guys.” He explains softly. “They went out to pick up the food during their free period.”

You make a mental note to thank James and Aaron later.

“Thomas, this is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” Your voice is quiet as you look at the picnic (take out from the Thai place you went to a couple months back lies in the middle of the blanket). “Seriously, thank you, T.”

Thomas grins as you lean up to kiss him once more.

“Let’s eat, yeah?” He says before you both go to sit down and open your take out boxes.

After all the food is gone, you just lay on the blanket with Thomas and watch the clouds go by. You can’t stop thinking about how normal everything feels with your boyfriend. You haven’t been together for more than a few days, but it feels like you’ve known each other for years. You’ve never experienced this amount of closeness or intimacy with someone… and it feels so… natural.

“Hey, T?” You ask, voice quiet as you sit up with your legs crossed under you.

“Hmm?” Thomas hums, eyes closed, still laying down. His arm extends out towards you and you take his hand in both of yours. You busy yourself by lightly running your fingers over the lines and grooves of his larger hand.

“You know how you have a secret handshake with James? And the rest of your teammates?”

“Mhm, why?” He asks, opening his eyes to glance over at you. His hand clasps around one of yours and his thumb caresses the top of it.

“We should have one, too.”

Your boyfriend grins at that. “You serious?”

You nod and shrug. “Yeah, it’d be cool.”

“Okay.” He moves to sit up so that he’s right across from you, your hand still in his. “Let’s see what we can come up with.”

You spend the next 20 minutes going through different hand motions and taps to figure out which one would be the best for you two. Both of you look like you’re having a blast creating it.

“Alright, alright, I think we’ve got something here.” Thomas says. “Let’s do it slowly.”

You nod and you extend your hand out to meet his. Your palms meet sideways, then the backs of your hands touch before you tap your palms together again twice. Then, your hands move up to the sides of Thomas’ head to touch his forehead to yours.

You both are grinning as you pull back.

“I think that’s it, T.”

He laughs before leaning forward to kiss you on the nose.

“Can’t wait to do it on game day.”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━   ♛   ━━━━━━━﹤⋆

It’s finally Friday. After a long week of waiting, game day has finally come.

When you and Maria arrive at the football field, the bleachers aren’t completely filled yet and both teams are warming up and stretching on the turf. You follow Maria to the sidelines so that she can start setting up. While she unpacks her camera, your eyes scan the field for a certain athlete whose jersey number happens to be 14.

You spot Thomas stretching in the middle of the field as he talks to James and Aaron. It’s the first time you see him in uniform and you have to admit… he looks hot. His helmet is off, so you can see the black lines drawn under his eyes along with the headband that spans across his forehead, holding his hair out of his face. His purple jersey hugs his form tightly, making his athletic form way more prominent than usual. On top of that, he seems to have pulled up the bottom of his jersey to reveal his abs as he stretches out. You can’t say you’re surprised to see Thomas Jefferson working out in a crop top.

Thomas seems to be speaking when James looks over in your direction and waves, causing you to wave back. He then says something to Thomas and nods in your direction, bringing your boyfriend’s attention to you. Thomas grins when he sees you, dismisses himself from his teammates, and runs over to you after picking up his helmet to carry it with him.

“Ladies, good to see you.” Your boyfriend greets the both of you as he puts his helmet on the ground. “Maria, nice to see you shooting again. Y/N, it’s great seeing you finally come to a game. Nice hoodie, by the way.” He says, sending you a wink, which causes you to blush.

“Mhm…” Maria hums, distracted by building her camera up and checking all the settings.

“Happy to cheer you on, T. It’s weird seeing you in uniform.” You grin, looking him up and down while biting your lip.

“What’d’ya think, sweetheart? How do I look?” Thomas asks, blue-steeling as if he’s posing for a magazine cover. His gloved hands gesture down his body, highlighting his form like he’s a show girl.

“Like a football player.” You laugh loudly at his antics and bite your lip while he grins at you. “But very handsome, T. I’m loving all the purple. The sleeve is a nice touch, too.”

He chuckles and poses by putting a hand on his hip dramatically, accentuating the purple sleeve on his right arm that hugs his toned bicep. “Yeah? You like it?”

And at that moment, Thomas’ teammates interrupt by yelling in the distance.

“Yeah, Jefferson! Get it!” Burr shouts, causing the football players around him to laugh along and follow along with his teases.

“Strut yo’ stuff!”

“Work it, TJeffs! Show us what you got, pretty boy!” James yells, pretending to take pictures of him like he’s a photographer at a fashion show. Thomas continues to dance around and strut like he’s a supermodel walking on a runway. Meanwhile, Maria is rolling her eyes by your side while you grin and shake your head at Thomas’ and his teammates’ tomfoolery.

Thomas keeps strutting and dancing for a little longer before he stops and shakes his head, laughing at himself.

“Alright, darlin’, I gotta get back.” He says, grabbing his helmet off the ground. He reaches his hand out and you extend yours to do your special handshake like you practiced the other day. 

“Good luck, T.” You say, tapping your hand against his twice. “Kill it out there.” Thomas leans his forehead down to press against yours to complete the handshake. 

“Oh I will, baby, trust me.” He says before winking and leaning in to give you a quick peck on the lips. Then, he starts backing away from you and slips his helmet on. “Panther Pride, remember?” You nod, grabbing and ruffling your (Thomas’) purple Panther Football hoodie. He gives you a quick salute before he turns around to run and warm up with his teammates.

“Y’all are too damn much…” Maria mutters as she changes the lens on her camera.

You pout at her words. The last thing you want is to become one of those annoying clingy couples that make out in the hallways between every class. “Are we really?”

She just looks up at you and smiles softly. It eases your feelings a bit. “A bit too much… but it’s cute. I think you guys are good for each other.”

You give her a shy grin and glance over at Thomas in the near-distance with his back turned to you who seems to be in the zone as he talks to his coach. He (unfortunately) pulls down his jersey so it covers his abs. Probably for game regulation purposes.

“Thanks, Maria.”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━   ♛   ━━━━━━━﹤⋆

The game has been going back and forth since kickoff. While your team is the first to score in the first quarter, the other team quickly retaliates with a touchdown of their own to even the score. The frustration shown on Coach Washington’s face and through his body language grows more evident as the game goes on.

Right after halftime, the Panthers get a lucky break and Thomas catches a touchdown pass, putting you up by one point. It’s the first time you’ve seen him score, and he knows that, so you’re extremely ecstatic and a sense of pride fills you up. He celebrates in the end zone by dancing with his teammates hitting his helmet and jumping up and down around him. When they break away and Thomas goes running back to the sideline, he blows a kiss in your direction which makes you grin.

That happy moment doesn’t last long, however, because the Beavers come right back with a touchdown of their own, which puts them in the lead once more. After that, the scoreboard goes dry with neither team scoring for a great chunk of time.

The stakes are high. It’s a playoff game, which means that the bleachers for both the Home and Away sides of the stadium are full with fans. The stadium roars with supporters for each side. Everyone seems to be in their zone.

Maria, while she’d left you occasionally throughout the game to get a certain shot of a player or staff member, is beside you, shooting consistently and concentrating on the play that is about to happen. You look for Thomas who is on the field in a huddle with his teammates fulfilling his role as team captain. It seems that he’s hyping them up and giving them a motivational speech so they can close out the game and come out on top.

There are 13 seconds left in the 4th quarter. The Panthers are down by one and Coach Washington is yelling a play into the mic on his headset. The huddle around Thomas breaks and the players all go to line up at the line of scrimmage at center field.

You can’t help but watch Thomas as he moves. Your eyes have been on him all night; he’s the reason why you’re there, anyway. He’s the only reason why you learned the rules of football in the first place. It’s also a plus that he looks extremely attractive in all his glory: muscles and talent and all. It isn’t until now that you understand all of the stigma and hype around him at school; he’s great at what he does, and it’s no wonder why he’s so highly regarded as an athlete at your school.

After a few moments of quiet, the ball snaps and all the players on the field go into motion. Thomas takes off quickly from his initial position at the line of scrimmage and runs towards the end zone while trying to juke his defender. The quarterback throws the ball in Thomas’ direction and he is able to create just enough space between him and his defender to catch the ball, causing you along with the Home crowd to go wild.

He sprints it back to the end zone with his defender hot on his heels. The defender tackles him, but it’s too late. Thomas has already gotten the ball past the goal line, signifying that the Panthers have won the game.

For a moment, you’re worried that he’d gotten hurt while tackled, but he’s up and celebrating by spiking the football in no time.

“We won!” Maria says beside you before she turns her camera to capture the team’s reactions and celebrations on the field.

“We won!” You echo and you find that it’s the first time you’ve been truly excited about a sports win. You know how much this means to Thomas, and because of that, it means a lot to you, too.

Thomas’ teammates surround him in the end zone jumping up around him and pushing him around excitedly. He chest bumps and touches helmets with James and a few more of his teammates before the two teams line up to shake hands. After Coach Washington congratulates him, he starts to run over to you. 

You find yourself growing more and more excited the closer he gets and when he reaches you, you’re grinning wide. You push up his helmet to expose his face and you both lean in for a celebratory kiss. You hear Maria’s camera click beside you as you both smile against one another. 

“Proud of you, T.” You murmur when you pull back. Thomas looks like he wants to go in for another kiss, but his teammates interrupt by crowding around him from behind.

“You girls may wanna get away from here because Jefferson here is about to get drenched with Gatorade.” Burr warns you and Maria.

You both nod and back away from the scene and you mouth, “see you in a bit,” to Thomas. He nods before going to celebrate with his teammates.

When you and Maria get a safe distance away, Maria looks through the photos on her camera.

“Aw, you guys are adorable. That’s definitely going in the yearbook.” She says before tilting the camera so you can see a nice photo of you and Thomas kissing with his teammates excited about the playoff win in the background. You flush at seeing the image.

“Maria…” You trail off, your jaw slack from amazement. “That picture is amazing. My best friend is so talented.”

“Aw, thank you, girl.” She says, giving you a hug. “I’m just happy you’re happy.”

You smile before looking back at Thomas once more. He looks like he’s having the time of his life with his teammates and as he’s getting drenched with water and Gatorade, his gaze catches yours and you feel your heart soar when his grin seems to brighten (if that’s even possible) at the sight of you.

You are happy. He makes you happy.

[magicrowiswritingstuff]

“Flirting” - Gabriel x female!reader

Summary: Gabriel likes to flirt with the reader who unfortunately is easily flustered in general but especially because of her feelings for him. The Problem? The reader can’t tell if he is sincere or only teasing and making fun of her reactions.

Warnings: suggestive themes, mild swearing (because Dean)

Category: mostly fluff (maybe a little sad at one point)

Words: about 12.000 (wow, I always get carried away… would you like long pieces spilt in two?)

Note: I just recently finished season 8 (so please no spoilers, I already managed to avoid them for so long) so I know that the timelines don’t really match but I didn’t want them to still be moving from motel to motel for this. Also, I know the bunker doesn’t really have a living room area but I decided to add one in the library anyway… Note 2: I miss this archangel way too much for only seeing him in like … four episodes? (I cried twice in the episode … I might have been drunk too though) Note 3: I wanted to focus on my final exams but I had this idea floating around in my head and ‘to get rid of it’ I just decided to write it down... so here my very first piece about a character from supernatural.

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“Flirting” - Gabriel x fem!reader

You had never been good with flirting, neither with starting it nor with responding to it. Sometimes you just didn't realize it was sincere flirting and not just teasing or you got too flustered to properly respond and avoided the situation of answering altogether. Or sometimes you just got angry because of it. How could people stay calm and then playfully respond when someone was flirting with them? Whenever someone tried his luck on you he would definitely not get lucky that night. Your responses would either be blubbering like an idiot or not speaking up at all. To be fair these reactions were far more pleasant for the one starting the flirty banter than for the first guy to ever try his luck on you. When that boy tried to hit on you, you hit him back… literally. Well, what did he expect when he used that horrendous pickup line on you. You couldn't remember the concrete context anymore, only that it happened on school grounds and that it was definitely not his time and place to use that line on you.

"How are you not cold? You’ve been naked in my mind this whole time."

You had been fifteen, maybe sixteen years old at that time and at first you had just blankly starred at the boy your age who looked pleased and proud of himself. However, he only had that expression on his face for a second before you had punched him in the nose in anger and embarrassment. You would have liked the story to end there but of course you had gotten in trouble for it. The boy's nose had started bleeding immediately and a teacher had intervened not a second later. You got escorted to the principal and the boy to the school nurse. Your mother was notified, you were forced to apologize and you even got suspended for a few days. But at the end it had been definitely worth it because after you told your mother why you had punched the boy she laughed heartily and bought ice-cream on the way home. "Some people just have it coming."

 Nowadays you don't react as violent to flirting but you still can't handle it normally and often resolve to running away. You just got flustered far too easily which embarrassed you greatly. The problem? You now were a skilled hunter with two hunter best friends who happened to know an archangel who couldn't stop flirting with you. Whatever situation you were in or regardless of the time you weren't able to escape his more often than not very dirty comments. It seemed like he declared it his mission to make you flustered at least once per day, often more than once. The problem? You really, sincerely and without a doubt liked him. Why? You had no clue since he enjoyed tormenting you so much but there was something about him that lured you in every time.

 Maybe it was his eyes. His brown eyes that weren't dark yet warm and with so much depth they dared you to look further and search for answers to questions you didn't even know. An enigma that didn't want to be resolved but egged you on to search for a resolution you would never find anyway. And even though they were brown it wasn't a solid color. Sometimes, when they caught the light just right, you swore you could see specks of green in them like the renewable leaves growing on the branches of an oak tree after a cold, unforgiving winter. But you often couldn’t look at them long enough to find those small specks. Their brown color itself was like a pot of golden honey illuminated by the beams of the rising spring sun that tricked your mind into a false sense of calmness. Because whenever you would look at them for a moment too long, when you would almost lose yourself in them he would notice and his calm demeanor would instantly change into a teasing glare with a smirk to match.

 Maybe it was the way he carried himself in such a carefree and confident way that made you jealous sometimes. Even though being reserved and careful weren't bad traits for a hunter you found it fascinating how easy-going Gabriel's attitude could be and you wished you could let lose more often too or just be surer of yourself like he was. Just a tiny bit. However, that confidence more often than not evolved into smugness that most of the time made you roll your eyes in annoyance. The smile that would form afterwards was always suppressed by you tightly pressing your lips together. His ego was big enough as it was.

 Maybe it was him supporting you and the Winchesters on hunts sometimes. He was quite skilled even without relying on his angle powers because wiping away a whole vampire nest with one finger clicking wasn't entertaining enough for him. No one complained because one set of hands more was always welcomed. (Okay, Dean sometimes complained.) Of course, if something wasn't going according to plan or someone was about to get hurt he would step in immediately. Or well, almost immediately because it seemed like it always took him a second longer to save Dean and Sam than when saving you.

 Maybe it was his sense of humor that made you snicker and laugh heartily when it wasn't dirty or suggestive. You liked his pranks he pulled on Dean and Sam. Mostly because of their reactions though. Whenever you heard Dean yell through the bunker in anger and frustration you could already guess who had crossed his path. Though sometimes you also became a victim of one of Gabriel's pranks but you rarely got mad because of them. If anything you had waited for the opportunity to have a reason to strike back at him for all the times he had made you flustered. However, your pranks weren't anything compared to what he could and would pull off.

 Maybe it was how approachable he could be sometimes. When you felt stressed or upset he would start a conversation with you to distract you and to set your mind at ease. He was surprisingly easy to talk to or at least whenever he wasn't in a flirty mood which unfortunately he was in often since the last couple of days. You would almost say he got more aggressive with his flirting, not even bothered when Dean or Sam would be present which made you even more flustered. You hated getting flustered over it. You were a hunter for crying out loud. You faced monsters no one would dare to even imagine but you couldn't handle a guy flirting with you? That was your pathetic weakness? But what was equally as embarrassing was whenever Sam tried to talk with you about it and how you should tell him about your feelings. At first you denied it, obviously, but Sam wouldn't butch and you gave in after a few awkward conversations.

 "Are you my mom or something? Asking me that question again and again until I finally answer?" Sam gave you a sour look but continued to stare at you with his arms crossed. "Uh, fine" you gave in and rolled your eyes. "You were right all along. Are you happy now?" "It is a first step" he replied and let his arms fall down to his sides. You shook your head and your arms before your chest immediately. "Nope, not happening." "You have to tell him eventually so why continuing to wait? You are a fierce hunter you can tell someone how you feel about them." You rolled your eyes and laid your head in your hands. Why couldn't Sam just let you be? You knew Gabriel's flirting wasn't well liked with the Winchesters but you were the one he targeted so it was your problem and not theirs. You looked up again with a warning glare. "Yeah right, Sam. I'll just walk up to him and have a serious conversation for once. You witnessed how aggressively flirty he is currently. I can't talk to him about it. He won't listen and I will only feel more stupid because of it. I'll just hope it goes away" you explained but let the last sentence be open for interpretation if you meant Gabriel's flirting or your feelings. It was a disaster. Why did you even feel that way about him? He makes you feel so confused and embarrassed all the time and you didn't like that at all. You furrowed your eyebrows, shrugged your shoulders and sighed in defeat.

 "Why the sour face, sugar?" a familiar voice asked that made you tense up immediately. You turned your head to the left and saw Gabriel leaning against the doorframe. Shit! Had he heard you? Your eyes darted back to Sam in question but he shook his head almost unnoticeable. So Gabriel wasn't standing there for long. A wave of relief washed over you. At least something good was happening to you. Glaring at Gabriel again you huffed. "It is none of your business" you replied defensively and crossed your arms before your chest. "Oh, come on. Now I'm really curious" he said and licked his lips which already made your cheeks slightly heat up. 'Traitor' you thought to yourself. "Just a rough day" you gave in with a small, polite smile, knowing that he wouldn't let you be if you didn't answer. By the sight of your smile his eyes seemed to lighten up before his grin grew almost sinister.

"I didn't think you'd like it rough." Your eyes widened in shock and if your face wasn’t red before it definitely was now. "That's not... wha- I didn't!" you began to stammer. Why would he even say that? Did it even make sense? With your nails digging into the flesh of your arms and wide eyes you stared at the smug archangel. Sam gave out an artificial cough of discomfort which made you look at him with one raised eyebrow. "That's what I was telling you about!" you tried to express over your eyes. He only stared right back at you, seemingly as caught off guard as you. You looked back at Gabriel who didn't even bit back his teasing smirk. "I have to go!" you choked out and squeezed through the door and by Gabriel without hesitation. You didn't care that he probably would be pleased by it, you just had to leave right now and he was standing in the only way out of the room. You needed a break from this. You needed some distance before your face would heat up enough to cook a three course meal on it. Luckily he didn't hold you back just followed your movement with his eyes and let you run away. When Sam coughed again his eyes snapped back to the taller Winchester with one eyebrow raised in question. "Really, Gabriel?" Sam asked annoyed. The archangel only shrugged with a grin and buried his hands in the pockets of his jacket before teleporting away.

 In the past you had handled Gabriel's flirty comments far better than nowadays. Maybe the reasons for that were that he didn't do it that often back than and maybe because you hadn't yet realized how much you really liked him. Now it felt like mockery to you. Was he teasing you so much because of it? Did he know? The problem you always had with flirting was that you could never tell if it was sincere or just a way to express friendly banter. Or in Gabriel's case: teasing you just for fun. Did he do it just for fun? Everything would be so much easier if you just knew what his deal was. You would know if you were making yourself false hopes or if you really had a change. But with the current situation you weren't ready to test the waters.

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  You groaned and let your head fall on the opened book on the table. Sam and Dean had gone out on a hunt a few days ago and you were left behind with research duty. You didn't hate researching for them or research in general but after a few hours of reading an old and complicated worded book while sitting in the same position the lines just got blurry and your body sore. Even with some sweets as "nerve food" you weren't able to get back to your concentrated state. With your arms draped over your head and your nose buried in the book you closed your eyes for a moment. You swore that next time you wouldn't let them leave you behind again. Especially since it was difficult enough to avoid Gabriel with them around to shield you if necessary but when they were gone you were an even easier target.

 "What's the problem, sweetcheeks? Can't concentrate?" You stifled the surprised yelp and after that the annoyed groan that threatened to spill over your lips. Speaking of the devil ... or well archangel. Now you really wouldn't be able to concentrate anymore.

 You looked up slightly to see Gabriel standing next to you, leaning his head down to take a close look at you. His face was so close to you that you could feel the faintest ghost of his breath on your lips. You tensed up immediately, not able to move away or break off the eye contact. His golden eyes held you captive. But there was something else then golden-brown too. Where those the green specks you sometimes thought you saw? You gulped, biting your lip as you saw his eyes wander down to them. You felt a push, a desire to- but you can’t. Not this way. Straightening up you were finally able to escape his eyes and looked to the other side, not wanting to be so close to his face anymore. He didn't even really do anything and you could feel your face heat up already. What were you? Twelve? Why couldn't you just for once control your body around him?

 "It's just painful sitting on this chair for hours" you said trying to have a normal conversation with him again but you should have known better. "Need a pillow to sit on? I can be yours if you want" he said without missing a beat. Your head whipped around to meet his gaze again. You wanted to be mad and lecture him but the moment you locked eyes with him you were unable to speak up properly. He still was only inches away from you and grinned wickedly, a mischievous glint in his light brown eyes. You wanted to look away, hide your eyes but you were unable to free yourself from his hypnotic gaze. These golden honey pots just lured you in every time. You wished you could drop threw a Scooby-Doo like trap in the floor right now just to escape this situation. Or maybe a monster could waltz in and threaten your life? At least that would be something you could handle. Instead you stammered something not even you could decipher, with your heart beating violently against your rips. How did he even know so many suggestive sayings? Clenching your fists, and digging your nails into the palms of your hands in the process, you leaned back to try and increase the distance between him and you. You had noticed that personal space wasn't necessarily something angels understood by being around Castiel a lot too. However, Gabriel sometimes took it to the extreme. Or maybe it just felt that way because every time he got close to you, your body burned up without him needing to say anything.

 You blinked rapidly while you could feel the blush creeping up your neck and face. The smirk on Gabriel's features only seemed to grow as you drove yourself further into embarrassment. Then he suddenly decided you were tortured enough and took a step back before sitting down on the opposite side of the table, still eyeing you to not miss the slightest bit of your reaction. "What was- don't you ever shut up?" you angrily spit, finally able to form a coherent sentence again. The archangel leaned back in the chair with his arms crossed behind his head. Clicking his tongue the smile vanished from his face as he seemed to think about it for a moment, looking up at the ceiling before directing his piercing glance back at you. His smirk already back on his features. "Only when my mouth is preoccupied with something sweet" he said and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Your face grew even hotter and before he could add anything else to it you grabbed one of the chocolate bars you had brought with you for your research session and threw it at him. He caught it with ease. "Here and now shut up!" you bellowed and shifted your focus back to the book. You swore that you wouldn't look up at him again and instead just ignore his antics. "Not what I meant but also not bad" Gabriel said pleased and unwrapped the candy. You of course knew what he had meant but you wouldn't let it happen. Not in that way.

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  The next morning you got a call from Dean, telling you that the hunt has been successful and that they would return now. Though that meant you would still be alone till the evening because the hunt had been far away. You sighed and clamped the phone between your head and shoulder so you could climb the kitchen counter to get a mug from one of the cupboards. It was far too early. Okay it was ten in the morning but you had been up almost all night, ready for any phone calls so you could help if needed. But then you had fallen asleep and Dean's phone call had startled you awake. You had jumped up, ready for any sort of bad news or him yelling a question about the monster through the speaker only to hear that the hunt was successful and finished. So know you needed some well-earned coffee.

 "Are you okay?" Dean asked but you mentally translated it to 'Is he bothering you?'. "No, everything's alright, don't worry" you answered after you stood safe on your feet again with the mug in your hand. You poured the hot, dark liquid into it and sat down at the table. "Does that mean he stopped?" the older Winchester questioned further. You bit back a laugh. "No, of course not. But yesterday wasn't as bad" you lied. Every single day seemed to get worse or at least Gabriel seemed to get even straighter forward with his dirty comments as the days went by. If that was even possible. "If you need an archangel blade just tell us" Dean joked but you could hear the slightest hint of sincerity in his tone too. "Will do, Deano" you laughed back and shook your head. "I'd say drive carefully but I know I would only waste my breath" you grinned and took a sip of your coffee. You could almost see Dean rolling his eyes at you through the phone. "We will be back in a few hours." After that the line went silent and you put your phone back into your pocket.

 You were able to drink about half of your coffee in peace when Gabriel decided to show up. He didn't say anything and if you wouldn't know it any better you would have said that he looked tired. Or hungover. He sat down in front of you, buried his head in his hands and closed his eyes, not speaking a single word. That was unusual. You raised one eyebrow at him. Something was up. You downed the rest of your coffee and stood up to refill your mug. Should you say something? You debated about it in your head but as always your friendly side won. Screw it.

 "Hey Gabriel, do you want some coffee too?" you asked, your back facing him because you were too afraid of seeing his smirk again. You were begging for a normal answer. "That would be great" he only said which made you breathe out in relief. "Coming right up." Knowing Gabriel's sweet tooth habits you poured in a not so healthy amount of sugar into his mug and stirred it before walking back to the table. You set the cup down in front of him and returned to your place, drinking your coffee in silence and avoiding his eyes. "Thanks, sugar" he said and for the first time you blushed but not because of you feeling overly embarrassed or being angry at him. "No problem."

 Then everything was quiet again but you were still debating on talking to him. He seemed really down which was not only unusual for the archangel but also quite alarming. It was also the longest time you two had spent together without him instantly using a flirty comment in a while. You thought about what Dean had said on the phone earlier. Did he stop? Maybe he didn't feel like annoying you anymore. Even more suspicious. Glancing up you observed him for a few moments. He didn't meet your eyes just stared into his coffee mug, his shoulders hanging low. Now that made all your alarm clocks inside your head ring and yell in worry. He would never let an opportunity pass to challenge you with his eyes. Normally he always felt your eyes on him and would meet your gaze almost instantly. You sat up straight. This wasn't normal.

 "Hey, Gabe?" you spoke up to get his attention which he gave you immediately. "Yeah, sugar?" he slightly grinned at you and you hesitated. Maybe he was only playing with you again. It wouldn't be too farfetched. You shook your worries away, your friendly side winning once again. "I just wanted to ask … is something wrong? You seem down" you said. Now a little unsure of yourself because of his grin you began to fidget with the cup between your hands. Maybe this has been a mistake. Maybe you should have just enjoyed the silence for once. "I'm just feeling a little off today" he answered, his smile vanished and he looked back down at his coffee. So your suspensions had been right. You took a sip of your coffee, ready to relax again and breathe out in relief when you caught the smallest glint of roguishness in his eyes. And before you knew it his typical smirk had returned as he looked up at you. "Would you like to turn me on?" Instantly you choked on the small sip of coffee and coughed it back into the mug as it burned your mouth. Now your face really grew hot out of embarrassment. Cursing yourself you tapped against your chest to stop the coughs from fighting their way up. You had to get out of here. "Forget that I said something" you wheezed and stood up with your cup in one hand and the other one pressed against your chest. You had to leave this room right now. "Oh, come on" Gabriel called after you with laughter in his voice. "That one was a real banger." You only groaned audibly and continued your way to your room.

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  You had barricaded yourself in your room for the next few hours. Luckily you had made it angel-prove after an incident that had involved Gabriel a few weeks ago.

 After a tiring hunt you had just wanted to bury your head in your pillows and sleep for 24 hours straight. But you couldn't even get as far as sitting down on your bed. You were only able to take one step inside your room before it happened. You saw Gabriel presenting himself on your bed, grinning at you and one second before it happened you realize what was about to go down. But at that point it was already too late for you to react and you were soaked in some kind of strange, gooey liquid. You couldn't force back the yell of surprise and disgust as the cold substance clung to your clothes and hair. "Gabriel!" you growled and wanted to jump forward, ready to strangle him. Normally you wouldn't get to mad at his pranks but your nerves had been on edge all day and this was the last straw. However, you weren't even able to take one step forward. It seemed like you were glued to the ground. Confused you looked down and tugged on one of your legs with all your might but it wouldn't really butch much. "What is this?" you grumbled and wiped off some of the slime that sticked to your face and hair. Only that it stretched a little but other than that it stayed tangled in your hair. You could hear the archangel snicker which made you look at him again.

 "Gum here often?" he asked with a smirk, holding his head up with one hand while lazily lying on his side. It would have been the perfect pose for a magazine cover wouldn't it be for- wait. What did he just say? "Gum?!" you yelled with your eyes wide in horror which only made him laugh even more. He poured liquid gum on you?! "Gabriel, get me out of here" you demanded while continuing to struggle against the gum. "What do you offer in return?" he talked back still in his model position. You groaned and stopped struggling because you only tangled yourself more in it anyway. Rolling your eyes you shrugged your shoulders in defeat, letting your arms fall down to your sides. "What do you want?" you asked annoyed. Gabriel shifted, now lying on his stomach to face you directly with his head in his hands.

 "What about a kiss?"

 You bit back an angry remark and instead thought of a loophole in his proposition. You needed to get out of here and maybe even get some revenge. But at first you needed some more time to think. "Really? Pulling of this dirty trick on me to get a kiss?" you asked with one raised eyebrow. "I know some more where that one was coming from" he responded with a wink. You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms before your chest as far as possible. The familiar heat was already tinting your face red again while you grumbled to yourself. "Snap the gum away and you can get what you want" you grumbled and turned your head away from him. He jumped up immediately like a little kid who had heard Santa Claus leave the presents downstairs. "Your wish is my command" he said theatrically and snapped his fingers. The gum you were stuck in disappeared in an instant. Relieved you let the tension in your shoulders out and prepared yourself for what was about to happen. Gabriel walked a few steps towards you with a smug grin on his lips and his arms stretched out. "I'm waiting."

 Your eyes widened. He wanted you to do it? To start the kiss? You groaned internally and bit your lip so it wouldn't threaten to spill over them. "Fine" you growled and walked up to him. You had to make this quick without him noticing what you were planning to do. You stood before him and hesitated for a moment. You felt his eyed looking down on you but you were unable to meet his gaze just yet. Wasn't this something you had wanted? Yes, but not under these circumstances. And you refused to play under his rules. You had to concentrate now so you breathed in deeply before grabbing him by the collar of his jacket and bringing him down to you. You saw the confident glint in his eyes, the sureness of victory, as you pulled him down. He didn't even saw it coming. You took one last deep breath and mustered as much strength as you could in your tired state to headbutt him across the face. He let out a surprised yelp and groaned. You didn't think you would actually be able to hurt him with it you had just wanted to get back at him and his surprised face was all you wanted. After the headbutt you let go of him immediately and pushed him towards the door. "That wasn't a kiss" he complained as you tried to shove him out of your room. "Yes, it was" you hissed and pushed him over the ledge of the doorway and grabbed the door, ready to close it but you paused and looked up at him with a grin. "I hope you enjoyed my Liverpool Kiss!" you sing-songed in a sickly sweet manner before shooting him an angry glare and throwing the door in his face.

 After that you had decided to secure your room because even though you mostly enjoyed his pranks you didn't want them to happen in your room. Also, you didn't need him snooping around there. So if Gabriel really wanted to enter the room you would have to destroy the sigils you drew on your door and walls first. But he would have to give you a good reason to do so.

 Now it was almost four pm so you had spent a good six hours in your room. Dean and Sam still hadn't returned tough, probably because of a stopover at a diner. Your stomach growled at the thought of something to eat. However, that meant you had to leave the room and probably face Gabriel again. But you couldn't stay hungry in your room either. You groaned and stood up from your bed. When you remembered correctly there should be leftover pizza in the fridge. The thought of something to eat spurred you on so you tiptoed to the kitchen as fast as possible.

 It only took a few moments to heat the pizza pieces up again but it felt like an eternity to you. But now you sat at the table again and to ate your favorite pizza with your mouth watering. It was perfect. Only that it wasn't. "You've got a piece for me too?" You flinched and looked up from your plate to see Gabriel sitting in front of you. How did he get there without you noticing? "Ehm" you stammered and leaned back to increase your distance to him. You wanted to be cold and say 'No' but your good, friendly side won once more. "Of course." You shoved the plate in the middle of the table so you both could reach it. You two ate in silence which you appreciated greatly because you wouldn't have been able to handle his flirting right now. And even more surprisingly was that he was the one to put away the empty plate after you two finished the rest of the pizza. He didn't snap his fingers and made the plate disappear, no he stood up and grabbed it before you could and put it in the dishwasher. "What is happening?" you wondered but stayed quiet. Better not addressing it and provoking him to any sort of dirty comments again. You just raised one eyebrow at him as he came to a halt in front of you, looking down at you with a special glint in his eyes you couldn't quite sort into any category. You eyed him skeptically.

 "Want to join me in the library?" he asked and reached out a hand for you to take. Now you raised both eyebrows in confusion. What was he scheming? Tilting your head you glanced suspiciously at his hand and back up to his eyes but you couldn't find anything to support your worries which was the only evidence you needed to know that he really had something planned. "Why? What do you want to do?" you asked too curious for your own good. Even though your instincts told you not to trust his seemingly sincere demeanor you decided to grab his hand anyway. He clasped your hand and the glint in his eyes immediately shifted to something mischievous. But before you could speak up or withdraw your hand he pulled you up on your feet and against his chest, his other arm wrapped around your waist so you weren't able to escape. Your eyes widened as you unsuccessfully tried to push yourself away from him with your free hand. With your hand pressed against his chest and your whole body tense you looked up to meet his smug gaze. You wanted to narrow your eyes, hiss something, be mad or do anything but the moment you locked eyes with him you froze once again. Why was this always happening? But surprising you the most was that the tension in your shoulders released almost instantly. Under the warmth of his eyes you felt like melting, like ice-cream in the heat of the summer sun, with your cheeks growing hot too. His lips were dangerously close again, his breath tickling them in the most challenging way and the only thing you wanted was to accept it, to go along. But you couldn’t and you won’t. Not this way. Not under his rules. Shaking your head you broke the eye contact once again with great difficulties and cursed yourself for ignoring your instincts. You were a hunter! You were supposed to rely on instincts if everything else failed. Angry at yourself you bit your tongue to stifle any unholy outbreaks. Refusing to meet his eyes again you continued to stare at his chest with your free hand clenching into a tight fist and pressed against his jacket. Your emotions shifted in an instant and you suddenly felt the powerful urge to run away and hide but unfortunately for you, you couldn't. Gabriel leaned down to your ear, only slightly before he spoke up again.

 "Preferably you."

 Your body tensed up immediately and you were sure the archangel was well aware of that though he didn't react to it. Your eyes snapped up to meet his in fiery anger you used to conceal how flustered you really were and the familiar heat had already established itself on your cheeks again. You were able to feel his body pressed against yours before too but now after those two words you seemed to be painfully aware of everything. Oh, how you hated the way he had made you flustered with his comments right now. And you hated the fact that you sincerely liked him in that moment too. Your nostrils flared as you huffed, unable to speak up. Or rather you didn't trust your voice not to break right now. "But watching a movie would do it too" he added with a toothy grin and let go of you. Quickly you took a few steps back and tried to regain control over your body. You were so hot you probably could replace the heating system of the bunker. "So" he dragged the word and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Care to join me?"

 After the stunt he had pulled on you, you would have normally taken the first change to run back to your room as quick as possible. You were furious and embarrassed and furiously embarrassed. Still you decided to accompany him into the living room area. Why exactly were you doing this? You weren't able to answer yourself. Maybe because you missed hanging out with Gabriel without having to hear these comments all the time, wondering off they were sincere or not. So you sat down on the couch but as far away from the archangel as possible. You didn't want to fall even further into your pit of shame. Luckily he didn't make a single move to get any closer to you so you were able to enjoy most of the movie. However, after a while you got hungry again and decided to grab some snacks from your secret candy hideout in the kitchen. When you sat down again you thought Gabriel had moved a little closer to your spot. But by the way he lazily laid there you doubted that. Maybe your mind was only playing tricks on you. Though something you did notice, were the glances he threw your way. Eyeing him from the corner of your eyes you realized that he wasn't only looking at you but at the sweets on your lab too. You shoved another gummy bear in your mouth and thought for a moment. Should you offer him some? You mentally groaned. Why were you always so nice? Why couldn't you just ignore him? Battling with yourself you finally gave in, rolling your eyes at yourself and muttering curses under your breath. You were so going to regret this.

 "Hey" you said and turned towards him. His honey eyes immediately focused on you again. You groaned once more before you made your offer: "Do you want some sweets too?" What had you told yourself earlier? Ah, right: You would regret this. And by the tight-lipped smile on his face you now knew you definitely were about to. "You're the only candy I need." You stayed dead quiet, the bag of sweets still hold out for him. Narrowing your eyes at him you scowled. Even though you felt agitated you were far too tired to let it show except through the blush that crept up your neck. Actually pretty convenient or at least better than stammering like an idiot. You pursed your lips, a slight furrow between your brows as you stared pointedly at the archangel who seemed to grow uncomfortable with every second ticking by in which you didn't say anything. His smug grin turned into an unsure facade.

 "But I would take some of the gummy bears too."

 _________________________________ 

  "So how was the hunt?" you asked Dean and Sam when they finally arrived back at the bunker. It was around six or seven pm and you were still seated on the couch with Gabriel spread out on the other side. After your unresponsiveness about his latest comment he hadn't dared to speak up again. You didn't really care. In fact you were even a little proud at yourself for not ending up a totally blushing mess and stammering incoherent sentences but staying silent and stoic instead. Why couldn't you react that way every time he did that to you?

 "Fine" Dean mumbled and directed his attention away from you and to the small fridge to get his hard-earned bottle of beer. You only snickered and directed your eyes to Sam, crossing your arms on the back of the couch and placing your head on them while kneeling on the cushions. "Next time I want to join you two again" you said and made it sound slightly demanding. Sam chuckled and glanced at Gabriel who hadn't turned around, his eyes fixated on the TV screen. The taller Winchester nodded: "Alright." However, you shook your head at him and reached out your hand for him to grab. "Promise me." Sam eyed you confused with a small smile on his lips. His gaze darted back to the archangel and he let out a slight snicker when Dean joined them, handing his brother a bottle of beer. "So bad?" Sam asked while still looking at the archangel for a few seconds more before directing his gaze back to you. You huffed and pushed one strand of hair out of your face before reaching out your hand again which the younger brother finally accepted. "You have no idea."

 _________________________________ 

  Almost two weeks later and you still haven't found another hunt which meant that either the world was uncharacteristically peaceful or the monsters got better at disguising themselves. Anyway, that also meant that you had been trapped inside the bunker with Gabriel for two more weeks. And it slowly but surely got to a point where you weren't sure if you could go on like this. Neither did Gabriel's comments stop nor your feelings for him. Damn that honey-eyed archangel luring you into his trap every time. But at least he had been away for a few days now, giving you some peace at last. He said he had to sort something out and left immediately afterwards. You had to admit that you kind of missed him but at least he wasn't bugging you right now. Or not in person anyway because him leaving didn't make your thoughts stop circling around him. You needed a distraction. Your fingertips and mind ached for a new hunt.

 With a sigh you let yourself fall onto the couch in the library and closed your eyes. The bunker hadn't been this peaceful in a long time. It should have been pleasant so why did it irritate you instead? Did you really miss Gabriel's dirty comments? Did you really miss the feeling of embarrassment all day long? With a huff you draped your arms over your face. No, you missed seeing Gabriel's eyes sparkle with these refreshing specks of green. You missed having a normal conversation with him about a random topic one of you picked. You missed hanging out with him before he decided to flirt with you all the time. You missed him. You shook your head. Damn, you really were hopeless.

 "(Y/N)?" echoed Sam's voice through the bunker and to your ears, interrupting your thoughts. Groaning you opened your eyes and removed your arms from your face. "Yeah?" you yelled back and waited because you could already hear his and Dean's footsteps coming closer. You only sat up to face them when you could hear them enter the library. "Please tell me you found a hunt" you begged and leaned forward against the back of the couch. The two brothers shook their heads in unison. "No, we need your help" Sam started but got interrupted by Dean. "Or rather we need Gabriel's help" the older brother said. You raised one eyebrow in question. Why would they need Gabriel's help? You mustered their faces and noticed discomfort flashing over them for a split second. What were they plotting now? "For what?" you asked and tried to sound casual. You put your head in your hands to keep it upright and to not miss any signs that would tell you what they had planned. "That's not so important" Dean started which only made you even more suspicious. Why didn't they just tell you? Were they thinking about pranking Gabriel back? Or ask him about something for a hunt? But they told you they didn't have one. So what exactly were they up to? "The problem is that that son of a bitch won't answer our prayers" Dean finished and cursed angrily. You rolled your eyes. Typical for the archangel. It kind of became a prank in itself to ignore the Winchesters. "So we need you to try it" Sam added and looked at you with an apologetic smile on his lips. You groaned and leaned your head back. That couldn't be real right now, could it? Hadn't you just thought that you missed him? Well, yeah. But if you called him through a prayer he would tease you about it one-hundred percent. Because it is what he always did. "Do I have to?" you asked with a pleading look in your eyes and pouty lips. 'Oh please, just for once be on my side!' you thought not really directed to anyone specific. "Yeah, sorry. But he usually answers yours no matter what" Sam excused and rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. When he really felt so apologetic about you calling for Gabriel they probably had something serious to discuss with him. You really didn't want to do it, Gabriel would never let you live it down but apparently you had no choice. You groaned again. "Fine" you stretched the word before closing your eyes. They definitely owed you for that and whatever was about to happen.

 "Hey, Gabriel. I need you so could you please send your feathery ass over here? Thanks."

 You purposely didn't say that it wasn't you but the Winchesters who needed him because you had realized fairly quickly that he wouldn't come if you made it clear you were praying to him on behalf of Dean and Sam when he was ignoring them. Would he catch onto that then he wouldn't even answer your prayers. You breathed in deeply to prepare yourself for what was going to happen and then slowly opened your eyes again to meet the golden ones of a curtain archangel. Gabriel stood only a few inches in front of you with his typical grin on his lips. "Couldn’t live without me, sweetcheeks?" he asked and tilted his head to one side. Rolling your eyes you pointed behind him to Sam and Dean. "They need you, feather brain" you explained. You could see his demeanor change the moment he laid eyes on the two Winchesters. His carefree attitude vanished and was replaced by an annoyed glare he directed at the two brothers. You wondered how often they had tried to call him before coming to you to make him so displeased. "I know" he snarled which took you by surprise. Out of instinct you put your hand on his shoulder which made him turn to you again. The mischievous glint in his eyes and the smirk on his lips returned in an instant. "So you had been purposefully ignoring them?" you asked with your eyebrows narrowed. "Yep" he answered unmindful and shrugged his shoulders. His hand sneaked towards your face and before you knew it he had already cupped your cheek. Your body froze instantly and your mind exploded into uncontrollable chaos. What. Was. He. Doing? Your eyes widened and your breath got caught in your throat. Stifling the cough you turned away so his hand would leave your skin. Breathing in deeply you tried to control yourself again but when you heard Gabriel's chuckle you spun back around. Rolling your eyes at him you pushed him into the direction of Sam and Dean. "Be decent" you tried to say warningly but it came out more as a whisper. He groaned and rolled his head back dramatically but didn't say anything else, just walked to the Winchesters who gave you a thankful look. You glared at them, making sure they knew that they owed you one now. Then they turned around to leave the library with the archangel in tow. However, you still had one question to ask.

 "I have one question before you three leave" you said which made them stop and turn around to face you again. Straightened up a little and collecting yourself, you directed your gaze at Gabriel who instantly challenged your eyes. You huffed and tried to withstand his golden ones. You couldn't back down now. "Why do you only answer my prayers?" you asked genuinely confused and narrowed your eyes in question. Gabriel smirked at you and shoved his hands in his pockets while slightly leaning back. He let his gaze wander over your face while casually standing next to the Winchesters who threw warning glances at him. But he decided to ignore them. "Because, sugar" he started as his grin grew even more. You gulped, already knowing that this wouldn't end well for you.

 "You're prayers are the only ones I want to hear, though not necessarily with an audience" he finished with his head held proud and high.

 You choked on your spit and your face grew hot not a second later. Did he really just say that in front of Sam and Dean? You couldn't believe it. You turned your head away, not able to hold his piercing eyes. Your body immediately sunk into itself and you just wanted to hide in the darkest corner of the earth where no one would be able to find you. You just wanted to disappear right now because you felt utterly humiliated which was only worsened by your body's reactions. Your mouth was dry and your nails dug themselves into the flesh of your legs as your eyes darted back to Gabriel's. "What the, what the hell is your-" you stammered, not even sure what you were trying to say and achieve. Luckily the Winchester collected themselves fairly quickly and dragged Gabriel out of the room before you could embarrassed yourself in front of him even more or get even more embarrassed by him. You couldn't believe that you really had thought you missed the archangel. Unfortunately, you still did. You huffed and let yourself fall back onto the couch though you couldn't suppress the small smile from forming on your lips. You were a mess. Why did you like him again? But regardless of how often you would continue to ask yourself this it wouldn't change the fact that you had the biggest crush on him. And maybe, only maybe did you start to enjoy his attention even though you didn't like the type of attention and the way it made you flustered.

 You grumbled and pressed the palms of your hands against your closed eyes. You had to do something about it. Sam's lecture sprung back into your memories. Maybe you should tell him? But would he take it seriously? You turned to lie on your side and furrowed your eyebrows on wonder. Where you considering believing his flirting was sincere? Was it? Or did he do it because he liked to torture you and see your embarrassing reactions? You groaned, your thoughts torn. You couldn't tell him about your feelings as long as you weren't sure if he was sincere with his flirting or not. It was just oh so wonderful that you were incapable of noticing the difference.

 _________________________________ 

  After you had summoned him through your prayers and the Winchesters had a talk with him, even though you had no idea about what, Gabriel seemed to stick around again. At least he had stayed in the bunker for a few days now. However, you had ignored and avoided him as far as possible ever since. You had decided that when you couldn't tell if he was sincere with his flirty comments you had only one other option to stop all this: your feelings had to go away. And maybe it was childish thinking but if you didn't talk to him maybe they would magically disappear? You could wish right? The only problem was that avoiding an archangel wasn't that easy. And since the only angel-prove room was yours you had stayed in there for most of the week so far.

 At the moment you laid on your bed and stared up at the ceiling in a half asleep state when your stomach started to rumble. With a groan you straightened up, debating whether you should risk going to the kitchen to eat something or not. But obviously you couldn't just stay in your room forever which was why you tiptoed to your door and listened for anything unusual before opening it. On your way to the kitchen you noticed how uncharacteristically quiet the bunker was and you began to wonder where everyone was. So you took a detour to the library first. But surprisingly the room was empty. Narrowing your eyes in suspicion and confusion you turned around to continue your search in the other rooms only to yelp in surprise as you run into someone. Taking a step bad you cursed mentally. Of course it had to be him. "Who're you looking for, sweetcheeks?" Gabriel asked with his signature smirk on his lips. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed before his chest and his golden eyes looking down at you. You felt your cheeks heat up again but didn't let your body have the time to shut down in an embarrassing panic again. "Where are Dean and Sam?" you asked him. "You weren't looking for me? That hurts" he said and put his hand over his heart with a pained look you knew was only for show. Rolling your eyes you crossed your arms before your chest and glared at him with one raised eyebrow. The archangel only chuckled. "They went out on a hunt." Your eyes widened. "They what!?"

 Not wasting one second you pushed past him and ran to your room to get your phone. This had to be one of Gabriel's many pranks, right? After their last hunt they went on without you and after you had called Gabriel for them the owed you! They had sworn to take you with them again. They couldn't just have left you behind, right? Why would they leave you behind with Gabriel? They knew the reason for your little self-quarantine! Biting your lips you suppressed an angry yell of frustration. Did that mean you were trapped in the bunker with Gabriel again? You couldn't believe that. This had to be another prank. In your rush you didn't even notice the archangel following you only after you had grabbed the phone from your nightstand and turned around. He stood before your opened door, unable to come any closer which seemed to annoy him greatly by the look on his face. You couldn't suppress the grin from forming on your lips. Making your room angel-prove had to be one of your best decisions so far. Then you turned your attention back to the phone in your hands and dialed Dean's number.

 "(Y/N)? What's the matter?" he asked after a few seconds of the phone ringing. You huffed, instantly angry again. "What's the matter?" you bluffed and felt your eyes twitch. "You left for a hunt. Without me!" Dean winced at your outburst but you weren't done yet. The owed you, they had promised to take you with them again. You felt betrayed but also panicked. You had to stay alone in the bunker with Gabriel and his comments again? "You two had sworn to take me with you!" you yelled while pacing around in your room, very aware of Gabriel's eyes following you. "Well" Dean started but paused for a moment. "Things sometimes go differently than planned?" he tried to soothe your nerves. Unfortunate for him it didn't change anything. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You could have just told me that you had found another hunt and not just leave without a word" you continued. So they really had left you behind on purpose and it wasn't one of Gabriel's many pranks. You gritted your teeth. Now you really felt betrayed. "You two will turn around and take me with you" you demand, well aware that they probably wouldn't do so. "Sorry, (Y/N) but we are already a few hours away from the bunker. Next time we will take you with us again" Dean promised and even though he sounded sincere you couldn't bring yourself to believe him. "Yeah, right" you wanted to say more but got interrupted by another voice.

 "(Y/N)?" chimed Sam's voice out of the receiver now. He had probably snatched the phone from Dean's hand after hearing your angry outburst. "Sam" you growled warningly. Especially he knew why you wanted to leave the bunker so desperately and still he had decided to go without you. "Let me explain" the younger brother started. "Yes, Sam. Please enlighten me" you demanded and sat down on your bed, glancing at Gabriel from the corner of your eye. He hadn't moved an inch, mustering you. You couldn't read the expression on his face. "Talk to him" Sam said. Confused you furrowed your eyebrows and stared at the floor in front of you again. "What do you mean?" you asked slowly. Something was up. "You heard me" Sam only talked back. "This has to stop. Tell him." "I'm not the one who started this!" you spat. The reality slowly sat in. You were alone with Gabriel again. You couldn't escape those feelings no matter what you tried to do against it. "I don't care. This dancing around has to stop" Sam only said. "Are you serious? Sam, I swear-" you started but then only heard the peeping sounds of a disconnect call. Did he really just hang up on you? You looked down at the phone in your hands with wide eyes. You couldn't believe this. Perplexed you shook your head.

 "What did they say?" Gabriel asked and interrupted your thoughts in the process. Turning around to look at him you raised one eyebrow. "You couldn't tell?" you asked back sarcastically with the hint of a smile on your lips. "They left without me." You gulped, thinking about Sam's ultimatum. Gabriel only shrugged his shoulders which made you huff in annoyance. "You'd really rather be on a hunt right now?" he questioned. You huffed out a yes, still angry at the two brothers and then put the phone back on the nightstand with a little more force than needed. They better hoped that when they returned to the bunker that your mood had improved by then. "Oh, someone’s panties are in a twist. Want a hand untangling them?" the archangel smirked. You spun around to face him with an angry glare. The only problem was that your body once again betrayed you. Your cheeks and ears were getting hot and you crossed your arms to dig your nails in their flesh again. Your eyes grew wide again, not believing what you just heard. The archangel in front of you seemed very pleased by your reaction which led to you avoiding his gaze. Damn it, you were just too easily caught off guard and flustered. Since you couldn't come up with anything to say to that you grabbed the door and threw it shut. Gabriel's laugh was very audible through the wood as you walked back to your bed and sat down, hiding your face in your hands. You couldn't do this anymore. Your feelings wouldn't just magically disappear, what were you thinking? He needed to stop with the comments or...

 "I have to talk to him" you whispered. Groaning in defeat you let yourself fall backwards on the bed.

 _________________________________ 

  You decided that the only plausible solution was to talk to Gabriel, just like Sam had told you. Though that didn't have to be right now, right? So you waited. You had grabbed something to eat from the kitchen later that day and had sprinted back to your room immediately. Luckily you hadn't run into the archangel again. After that you had spent the rest of the day and the next one in your room, alone. When the third day arrived you couldn't avoid the topic no more. This had to end. You were just being difficult and stupid right now. You couldn't spend the rest of your life in this room, hoping to never run into the archangel again. You had to start talking. Pacing around in your room you told that yourself over and over again. But every time you had hyped yourself up enough to walk to the door you hesitated with grabbing the handle. You backed away every time. "This is ridiculous" you grumbled. You were behaving like a nervous teenager. You could hunt and kill monsters so you should be able to talk to people as well. But Gabriel wasn't an ordinary person. Groaning you hid your face in your hands and sat down at the edge of your bed. This had to stop. You knew you couldn't avoid it. But why was this so difficult? Why were you so difficult? There were only silly comments. He only wanted to toy with you a little, he had been the trickster after all. So why was this affecting you so much? Because you liked him. Grumbling at your own thoughts you had to agree with them.

 "This has to stop today" you mumbled to yourself and stood up again. "I know what to say, now I only have to walk up to him and-" your monolog got interrupted by a knock at your door. For a split second you caught yourself considering hiding somewhere. You knew who was standing in front of the door, unable to open it himself. But then you cleared your throat and walked to the door, your hand on the handle. "You can do this" you thought and opened the wooden door. Looking up you wanted to open your mouth to say the things you had practiced in your mind all day only to freeze on the spot. The moment you locked eyes with him all your thoughts seemed to take the emergency exit, leaving you empty without a clue what to do. Gabriel was standing in front of you, not leaning against the wall like usual. His hands were buried in the pockets of his jacket, a frown on his face that was normally decorated by a grin. What was the matter?

 "Gabriel?" you heard yourself ask before you registered that you had opened your mouth to speak. Biting your tongue you waited for an answer. Was he toying with you again? The archangel turned his gaze away from you for a second, looking at the floor before bringing his eyes back up. The gold in them seemed dull and you were unable to find any specks of green. It seemed like the green leaves had fallen from the branches. "Can we talk?" he asked. You narrowed your eyes in suspicion. The last time he had seemed down he just wanted to catch you off guard with one of his comments. And now you were unsure if you could trust the look on his face. But wasn't talking exactly what you had wanted to do? With a sigh you nodded but stayed on the safe side of the door. Just out of precaution. "Ehm, oka-" you wanted to agree but he interrupted you. "Well they say that kissing is a language of love, so want to start a conversation with me?" Your face grew hot the second he had finished the sentence. He had tricked you again. Your gaze fell to the ground as you just wanted to disappear right now. Grabbing the door to stable yourself you tried to think of something, anything to do or say. But if your head had been completely empty before, then it was crowed now. Your thoughts were running wild while you tried to process if he had really said what you thought you heard. Clenching your free hand into a fist you looked up again, meeting his golden eyes that still seemed rather dull even with the smirk on his lips. "Can't you just stop?" you had wanted to yell, sound annoyed and throw the door in his face but instead you stayed frozen in place and only a drained whisper left your lips. His grin didn't falter though you thought that you saw something shift in his eyes. Was that concern?

 "I'm not in the mood for your remarks" you continued. Why were you still standing there? You wanted to close the door so badly so why couldn't you move? "I could get you in the mood" Gabriel talked back, not missing a beat while your face turned even redder, you could feel it. You gasped and stared at him with your mouth wide open. Did he really just say that? Your embarrassment got mixed with rage as you squinted, furrowing your brows.

 "What's the matter with you?" you asked after you had finally found your voice again. Out of instinct you took one step forward, out of the safety of your room, with one finger accusingly pointed at him though he didn't back away. "Why are you doing this?" Your other hand let go of the door as you took another step forward. "Doing what, sugar? You have to be more specific" he said with a grin, challenging your eyes with a piercing glance. But you wouldn't back down, not today. "Why are you always dropping suggestive comments around me?" you asked more clearly. The archangel opened his mouth to answer: "They're only suggestive if you think they are." Your face fell, eyebrows raised in shock and with the heat returning to your cheeks you took one step back. You stammered something incoherent while positioning yourself in a defensive stance. No. Shaking your head you tried to compose yourself again. Not today. "That's exactly what I mean. Just stop it!" you growled. "And if I don't want to?" Gabriel challenged you further. You felt the unsureness creeping up your back. Maybe you should stop now before you embarrass yourself more. Your mind yelled at you to run, to flee but you couldn't. Your feet were glued to the floor just like during the prank that had driven you to make your room angel-prove. "Then at least tell me why you are doing this" you demanded with your voice slightly breaking. This hasn't evolved how you had wanted it to.

 Gabriel took one step forward and you wanted to counter with one backwards but before you could force your feet of the floor he had cupped one of your cheeks while grabbing your hand that was still pointed at him in an accusing manner. You were trapped and unable to move. Not that you could anyway. The archangel grinned down at you but the grin didn't reflect in his eyes. They were still dull and up close they even seemed tired to you. He pushed one stand of hair behind your ear in such a soft and caring manner that it left you breathless. What was happening? With your mouth slightly agape you tried to find words even though you weren't really sure what you wanted to say. "Maybe because I like to tease you" the archangel started. He slowly moved your hand closer to him until it was pressed against his chest. You could feel his heart beating beneath your fingers. Your eyes darted to your interlocked hands and then back to his golden eyes. "Maybe because I like to see you get flustered so easily" he continued and caressed the side of your face. A tingling feeling began to fight its way through your stomach and up to your chest, to your violently beating heart. What was happening? Why were you letting this happen? "Maybe because I like the way you blush. Maybe-"

 "Stop it" you said, pulled away from him and stepped back into your room. Your gaze was directed to the floor, you were unable to meet his eyes. You felt your heart beat against your rips, you felt your short breaths stutter over your lips. Your eyes were wide and pleading. They were pleading him to stop as you looked up again. "Just stop with your comments I can't continue like this" you couldn’t stop the words from flowing over your lips now. Looking up again you saw that expression in his eyes again, a expression you couldn't read. Maybe it really was concern. "I can't continue wondering if all this is a game to you or if you are sincere..."

  "You can't tell if I'm sincere?" he interrupted you. Was that hurt in his voice? You must have imagined that. You shook your head and choked out a "No". "So Dean and Sam had been right" he muttered more directed to himself than to you. Right? Right about what? You squinted in confusion. Gabriel on the other hand wanted to take one step forward but was stopped by the invisible barrier of the sigils. Cursing under his breath he took one step back and instead reached out a hand to you. Even more confused your eyes wandered between his golden ones and the outstretched hand. He didn't say anything, didn't request you to take his hand with words because what he didn't say out loud, what his eyes said in silence was enough for you to understand what he meant. With the slightest hint of hesitation you grabbed his hand and let him pull you out of the room again. Why were you doing this?

 The archangel looked down at you with questioning eyes, his free hand hesitating to move. You almost unnoticeably nodded. He cupped your cheek again, like before but it felt different though you couldn't put your finger on it. Almost intuitively you placed your free hand on top of his, tilting your head slightly to the side. Your thoughts were running wild again but it didn't feel as chaotic as before. A strange sense of calmness draped over you, let your loud thoughts disappear into the background. Was this a dream? Gabriel led your interlocked hand back to his chest, placed yours over his heart again that seemed to spike by your touch. Were you imagining things? Your own heart skipped a beat when he stepped closer, decreasing the distance between you two. Normally you would have stepped back, tried to escape but surprisingly you wanted to do the opposite. You wanted to get closer. The desire you had locked away for so long pulled you to him. He stroke over the skin of your cheek, let his hand wander through your hair and to the back of your head. This wasn't a game anymore. Has it ever been one? You let out a shaky breath as you found the confidence to get even closer, to press yourself against him as you watched his golden eyes. The dullness you had noticed before was long gone and the greens of the leaves have returned to their full, former glory. You only then realized how close you have gotten to him. So close that you could see the greens in his eyes clearly for the first time and feel the ghost of his breath on your lips. Your heart decided to skip a beat, the smell of him hypnotized you. You always thought that he would smell like candy. His lips parted only slightly, a small grin still present on them. However, it wasn't a teasing one, the grin was sweet, almost shy. The slight push of his hand behind your head was left unnoticed as you gave into your desire, closed your eyes and the space between your lips. You never felt so helpless and full of courage at the same time. So simultaneously out of control and powerful. But these feelings quickly washed away into nothingness. Only the kiss, only Gabriel mattered. Your hand that was pressed against his heart clung to the fabric of his shirt, keeping him close while the other one slowly found its place in his soft hair. It's nothing like you every experienced and nothing like how you imagined it. It was so much better, sweeter, more passionate. The taste of sweets on his lips lulled you in even more, driving you forward to deepen the kiss. The hand behind your head stroke through your hair, leaving behind a tingling sensation that made you gasp. His other hand slowly moved to your waist, caressing your side and pulling you even closer. You never felt so complete, so at peace. The kiss felt like cotton candy clouds, like him wrapping his wings protectively around you even though you had never seen them. You felt safe and protected and like every part of your body dissolved into his. You had wanted this for far too long.

 You parted, pulled away only slightly. Out of breath and with your face flushed, you opened your eyes in an instant. You haven't moved away from him, your knees far too weak to even hold you up on your own so you hold onto him instead. Short, choppy breaths left your lips, your chest heaving heavily. You let the hand behind his head fall down and he caught it immediately in his, interlocking your fingers while the other one was still placed on your waist. You didn't know what to think. You felt overwhelmed and at peace, confused and complete all at once. And without you wanting to you suddenly felt your eyes filling themselves with water and before you could stop it or do anything to prevent it the first tears were already trickling down your cheeks. Pressing your eyes closed you turned your head away and let out the sobs that had waited behind your lips all this time. "You were sincere."

 You freed yourself from his hands and instead clung to him, face pressed against his chest as the battle of your confusion and relief raged. You didn't care that your cheeks were hot and red in embarrassment or how you cried into the fabric of his shirt. He had wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close as you felt the muscles of your chin tremble and the tears shaking your body. And then it was over, and you hiccupped against his shirt as you tried to catch your breath. Pushing away slightly you glanced up at his eyes that shined done at you like the summer sun with a small grin on his lips which you returned. "I hate you." Gabriel's eyes widened in shock as you looked at him with a mischievous twinkle in your eyes. "Now hol- now hold on one second" he laughed out loud. "Not what you expected?" you asked with your smirk growing to the ends of your cheeks. The archangel shook his head, still chuckling slightly. "Now you know how I felt, you feathered dick!" He glanced down at you again, challenged the roguish glint in your eyes. "I guess I deserved that" he admitted and leaned back down to you. You only nodded, still smiling. Gabriel's lips ghosted over yours again, making your breath hitch and your body freeze in anticipation. But he smirked and moved to your ear instead. Your heart skipped a beat as you waited, wondering what he was up to. And then with a husky whisper he asked: "Want to move on to pound town now?"

 You pushed away from him and shot him an angry glare while he only looked down at you with a chuckle. "Moment ruined."

[emberfrostlovesloki]

#4 Reader X SickSpencer

Gif credit: @stunudo​

Prompt: Reader X SickSpencer - Spencer catches a cold and doesn’t come into work on Monday morning. The reader goes to his apartment to check and see if he is doing alright. 

Category: Fluff / Comfort

Content Warning: Language (maybe) 

A/N: After watching the episode where Spencer gets tortured I had an infinite need to write something where he gets comforted by someone. This is pretty domestic and fluffy, but it’s what I needed right now. I want to thank @veraiconcos​ for helping me with the inspiration for this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. Please like / reblog!

Link to all stories

_y/n_ = your name

_y/l/n_ = you’re last name

_h/c_ = hair color

_b/s_ = brother/ sister

_h/l_ = hair length

_f/c_ favorite color

_Y/n_ walked into the headquarters of the BAU with a pep in her step. She had spent most of the weekend hiking the paths of Ricketts Glenn State Park in Pennsylvania. She had taken the train up after she had clocked out of work and spent the rest of the weekend disconnecting from the world. She found the forested paths relaxing compared to her normal job she was bound to. She had asked if Morgan or Prentiss wanted to join her, but both of her teammates already had plans for the weekend.  In total the woman had walked over fifty miles. At noon on Sunday _y/n_ sadly said goodbye to her campsite, and drove herself to the airport. She had arrive at the office before everyone on Monday morning. She hadn’t gotten any work done during her outdoor experience. Because of this she arrived at her desk early in order to make a dent in the pile of paperwork she had left behind on Friday. When she sat down at the white desk _y/n_ noticed that some of the files she was least looking forward to were nowhere to be found. She didn’t think too hard about it for the moment, and just grabbed another file instead. After an hour, the other members of the team started streaming into the bullpen. _Y/n_ noticed that at 8:00 A.M. Morgan, Prentiss, J.J., Hotch and Gideon were all present, except for Dr. Reid. Agent _y/l/n_ looked around the room once more just to make sure that the young man wasn’t actually there, and she was just missing him. Spencer had never been late to work before. He had actually picked her up multiple times when she had texted him in a panic that it was raining and the trains would run late, and she’d probably get fired for being two minutes late. She knew that her fears were unfounded, she also knew that Spencer knew her fear was stupid. None the less he would pull up to her apartment and swing the passenger side door open from the inside. Those had been good rides. When _y/n_ was very sure she had not missed Spencer she walked up to Morgan who was just now walking up to his desk. She leaned against his desk and asked, “Morning, do you know where Reid is? Also, I’m missing some files from my desk, any idea where they may be?” Derek smiled and said, “I can explain both questions sweetness.” _Y/n_ rolled her eye’s at Morgans flattery but still raised her eyebrows, non verbally telling him to continue. Morgan took a seat and continued, “Reid is sick, apparently he caught a cold. About your missing files, your boyfriend stayed late last Friday, last I saw of him he had taken about ten of your case files to his desk, and was filling them out himself.” Before _y/n_ had a chance to process that Derek had called Spencer her boyfriend she replied, “Oh my gosh, is he okay? When did he get sick?” Morgan smiled as she realized what term he had used for her friend. She grabbed one of his case files and started hitting him over the head with it. The athletic agent put his hands over his head and said, “Reid got sick on Saturday. He texted us on Sunday that he had a fever and Hotch told him to stay home.” 

Before _y/n_ could ask more questions, J.J. entered the room and said, “We have a case, let’s head into the conference room to talk over the details.” When the team was assembled, Hotcher stood up and started explaining the case. “We’re looking for an unsub that has killed congressman Luke Allen. The murder took place in the senators office last night at 1:00 A.M. His body was found today by his aid, Gracie Suveua. There was no apparent forced entry. The senators most popular contributions on Capitol Hill have been his working and signing the bill regarding Obergefell vs. Hodges in 2015.” The team nodded and agent _y/l/n_ commented, “So we may be looking for a person that has problems with the implications of gay marriage in the Supreme Court: religious extremists, opposing party members or a person from another radical religions that oppose LGBTQ+ rights.” Gideon agreed and replied, “That’s a great start for a profile. Hotch and Derek, would you head over to the sight of the murder. J.J. would you give Penelope our main facts so far and get her to do a database search based off of those criteria. Prentiss, _y/n_ and I will head over to the police precinct to ask some questions and gather information from the force.” After a minute of gathering in their separate groups, the teams went their separate ways to begin the hard work of the new case. Prentiss and _y/n_ weren’t thrilled to be going to the prescient. The officers were mostly of a male demographic, and often ignored comments that both female agents had made before, and turned out to be true later. Nonetheless, the trio whisked away to the station. When they arrived, the Police chief heartily shook Jason’s hand, but chose not to shake Emily of _y/n’s_. The two agents looked at each other, shrugged and moved into the sleek building after Gideon. It wasn’t until 9: 30 P.M. that the team was back to the conference room debriefing the information that they had accrued during the course of the day. After the debrief was over Aaron said, “I think we will be better use to this case if we all get some sleep and pick this up tomorrow. I don’t think that we aren’t at risk of another victim being killed tonight. If we work hard there won’t be a second death  to follow the first. Get some sleep and I’ll see you all tomorrow morning.” Each member of the team slowly got up, in their fatigue and moved out of the bright room and back toward their desks. When _y/n_ got to her desk she slumped down in her swivel chair. She pulled out her phone and looked at the message she had missed. She ignored a text from her mom and instantly scrolled down to the text that Spencer had sent her. The message read, “I’m still feeling pretty bad. I’m sorry that I can’t be useful in this case.” _y/n_ observed the text, and thought about how Spencer threw himself into his work 110% of the time and maybe it was batter that he had a break from work, even if he had to feel like shit to get to that place. 

Before she could respond to the message that Reid had sent three hours ago Morgan approached _y/l/n_ and asked, “Do you need a ride home? Taking the train right now isn’t exactly safe.”_Y/n_ looked up to him and said, “I think I’ll go check on Reid first. Would you mind taking me to his apartment?” Morgan raised his eyebrows at the statement, and after a moment of silence said, “Sure thing.” The agents moved to the parking lot where Derek’s car sat ready to take off. _Y/n_ had sold her car when she had moved to D.C. to pay the deposit on her crappy apartment. She had always told herself that she would buy a new car when she had the money. Even though she  had been working on the BAU unit for over a year she had never bought a car. She preferred the train anyway. When the agent got onto the car Morgan smoothly moved out of his spot and into the empty road. _Y/n_ pulled out her phone and texted Spencer back saying, “Sorry you’re still feeling bad. I am going to come over and see if you’re doing okay. Be there in about twenty minutes.” When she finished sending the text she put her phone in her pocket and looked out the front window at the empty road. After a minute Derek commented, “You really like him, don’t you?” The male agent had his big brother voice on when he asked the question. _Y/n_ pulled her hand through her _h/c_ before responding, “Derek you know how I feel about him. You don’t have to interrogate me. But it might be helpful if you didn’t call Spencer my boyfriend in front of him. You know how he gets when it comes to affection.” Morgan smiled. He knew that both agents had spent a good amount of time together outside of work. He thought that they made a good couple, but also that they hadn’t said anything about their feelings to each other yet. Morgan respected that they were moving slowly, that really was more their style anyway. Derek replied, “I get you. Plus, I wouldn’t want to jeopardize any chance you might have in letting him tell you that he likes you.” As he finished his statement the duo pulled into the front of Reid apartment building. She looked over to her friend and said, “You know nothing may happen. If it’s just platonic I’d get it. But I do love him.” Derek smiled at the fact that she had actually said the words out loud. He responded, “Go get him tiger.” She rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car. _Y/n_ leaned back in to say, “If I get anything it will probably be a cold from our resident genius,” before closing the door, waving and walking into the apartment. 

When she was in the apartment she took a moment to enjoy the sleek interior of the building. She was always jealous of the coffee shop that the contained. She had to walk three blocks to get to a coffee shop from her apartment. Secretly she was grateful for this fact, because if her apartment had a cafe she knew she would spend all her money there. She was brought back to the moment when the elevator dinged and opened. The agent waited for the occupants of the elevator to get out, and she stepped in once it was empty. She pressed the cool round metal button that read ‘5.’ The moving contraption stopped twice for other residents to get in the metal box before _y/n_ got out on floor five. When she was outside Spencer’s door she realized that she had never checked her messages before just showing up at his room. She pulled out her cellular device, and saw that he had not responded. _Y/l/n_ thought, ‘Maybe he’s asleep? Or maybe he’s feeling really bad and didn’t want me to come?’ The agent panicked for a moment, considering that Spencer might be too ill to respond. After a moment she calmed down and knocked on the door. It took a minute before she heard light shuffling outside the door. She could barely hear her friend say, “Who is it?” _Y/n_ rolled hey eyes at the question; all he had to do was look out his peep hole. After quietly laughing she said, “It’s _y/n_. Can I come in?” The door opened slightly and _y/n_ could see a small sliver of Dr. Reid. She tried to ascertain his sickness level from the shade of his face. Spencer stood for a minute calculating how risky it would be for him to let her in. He said in a raspy voice, “I might get you sick. You know that 3% of American’s have a 64% chance of getting a  cold during the year.” _Y/n_ smiled and replied, “I’m happy you’re still coherent enough to give me statistics Spence, and if I’m going to get a cold I’d rather it be from you, and not some random person on the street. I’m just here to make sure you don’t stay sick for longer than necessary.” Reid reconsidered the odds. How old _y/n_ was, how active she was and her general health. After he finished his assessment the young man opened the door and allowed his friend in. 

When she was in the apartment the female agent set her backpack by the front of the door. Spencer had stepped back in an attempt to lower the rate of transmission. While he was doing this _y/n_ looked him over. He was paler than usual, and his cheeks were flushed red. His hair was limply hanging around his cheeks that were more sunken in than usual. Even in his comfortable looking Yale sweatshirt and grey shorts, the man looked miserable. _Y/n_ looked at him sympathetically and said, “Maybe you should take a seat?” Reid replied, “Do I really look that bad?” She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, but didn’t tell him verbally that he looked like a kid who had fallen into a swimming pool in his clothes by accident. She walked over to the coach and Spencer followed her. He sunk down into the dark fabric of the couch leaning his head against the back. She pulled a chair up while he was seated and asked, “Can I feel your forehead?” When the words were out of her mouth _y/n_ realized how strange it sounded, but Spencer didn’t seem to think it was weird - maybe because he was slightly delirious - or he just knew to expect strange expressions that he didn’t understand come out form her lips. So he replied, “Okay.” _Y/n_ stood up from her chair and knelt on the couch next to Spencer and lifted her hand. She placed it on his forehead. His skin was hot. For the moment that _y/n’s_ hand was on his head Spencer enjoyed it. The cool sensation of her hand was relaxing. He wished it stayed there for a moment longer. The genius realized that the concept was completely illogical because the heat of his fevered body would simply begin transferring to her hand. It only took a second for _y/n_ to realize that Spencer was still running a high temperature, and even though she didn’t need to, she slipped her hand under his chin to check the temperature there too. She assumed she did this because her mom had done it when she was a kid. She pulled her hand away again for the second time and got up. Spencer leaned his head back to look at _y/n_ as his friend moved toward his bathroom. He heard the tap turn on, and after a few seconds, she returned to his side with a small hand towel. She was holding her hand under it so that it didn’t drip water on his wooden floors. “When did you last check your temperature, and how high was it?” _Y/n_ inquired as she placed the damp towel on his hot forehead. Spencer breathed a sigh of relief at the coolness of the cloth. He then responded, “I checked it two hours ago. I think it was around 100.72 degrees. She nodded at the reply and then asked, “Have you eaten yet today?” The young genius was notorious for completely forgetting that he needed to nourish his slender body on a regular basis. So she could only imagine that while he was sick, food was the last thing on his mind. He gave the response she expected of, “No. I’ve felt kind of nauseous all day, I didn’t think eating was going to help with that.” _Y/n_ rolled her eyes and said, “Have you ever considered that not eating could make you nauseous too?” The young woman got up and went into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and only found a carton of eggs and a few containers of leftovers. She turned to Spencer and asked, “Why don’t you have any food Reid?” Spencer gave a cough before defended himself by saying, “I normally go grocery shopping on Sunday, but I was sick, so I didn’t go.” _Y/l/n_ understood and said, “Okay. Well I’m going to run down to the corner store and make you some dinner. Do you have a favorite comfort food?” Spencer stood and took a few steps toward her and said, “You really don’t have to. I can take care of myself.” _Y/n_ replied, “I know you can Spence. I just want to be here to show you you don’t have to all the time. Especially when you’re sick.’ Reid bit his lip as he usually did when he was thinking. After a moment he strode to his counter and grabbed the keys to his apartment, and car, and tossed them at _y/n_. She quickly shifted left and grabbed the object being flung at her. Spencer said, “I really like grilled cheese sandwiches.” She smiled and said, “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Before walking out of his living room and into the hall. She locked the door behind her and moved toward the elevator. 

The corner store was limited in it’s selections. But all that really mattered was that _y/n_ had a loaf of white bread, some American cheese, a kind of pathetic looking can of tomato soup, and some orange juice. With these items in her basket the girl moved to the counter and paid for the groceries with cash from her wallet. It wasn’t until she was at the counter paying that she noticed the time. The Digital clock that was displayed behind the cashier glowed in red letters 10:25 P.M. She knew that if she went back to Spencer and made dinner she was going to miss the last train. To the woman it was just a small thought that quickly came and went. She wasn’t going to leave her friend right now. If he was uncomfortable with her staying at his place overnight _y/n_ would get a taxi back to her apartment. Spencer heard the key slide in the door and knew that _y/n_ had returned. He was currently lying down on the couch and didn’t really move that much as she set down a bag on his counter. There was a moment where some glass clinked together, and a second later she was in front of him with a glass of ice water and a glass of orange juice for him. She set them down on the table next to the couch and he said, “Thanks. I’m feeling a little better now.” _Y/n_ smiled and said, “Good, if you want a distraction while I’m making the food you can look over the new case. We’ve been working on it all day and haven’t gotten very far. The files in my bag.” Spencer jolted at the chance of doing something other than feeling miserable, and he got up and found the file in _y/n’s_ backpack. As he walked back toward the couch he noticed that _y/n_ had bought herself a coffee from the shop in the lobby. She shared his taste for sugar filled beverages. Unlike him, she preferred milk in her caffeinated drinks. Spencer grabbed the warm polystyrene cup and took a sip of it while she was digging in his fridge for some butter. Spencer often stole _y/n’s_ snacks or drinks. It was the type of thing that would make her  angry for a second and then she would laugh it off for five more. He would always buy her a replacement item, often he would make it a bigger cup of coffee or bar of chocolate than the one she had before. Spencer knew that the young agent was trying to save up money so she could fly down to her _b/s’s_ college graduation in a month. It was the least he could do. After all living in D.C. could be hard on the bank account. 

It wasn’t until the soup was on the stove heating up, and the grilled cheese sandwiches were in the pan getting melty that _y/n_ started looking around for her coffee cup. After a minute of futile searching she spotted it in Spencer’s hand. She smirked, moving to the back of the couch, she pretended to look over Reid’s shoulder at the information he was examining. When the man removed the cup from his lips and lowered it toward his leg she grabbed it out of his grasp and said, “Really Reid. This is how you repay me for my help.” Halfway through the sentence and she was already laughing at his antics. She glided to a position in front of him and started bringing the drink to her own mouth when she remembered Spencer was sick. She examined the lid of the cup, and obviously some of his saliva was on the rim of the cup. Reid looked up at her and said, “Sorry I also haven’t had any coffee yet today either.” _Y/n_ sighed and handed him back the cup replying, “You know, I fear that if you asked me to murder someone I would consider it.” Spence smiled up at her.  After another five minutes or so the pair were eating a very late dinner at the kitchen table. They were talking about the details of the case. As soon as they had finished eating Spencer asked, “Are you planning on going back to your apartment tonight? The train stopped running a half hour ago.” A blush rose to _y/n’s_ cheeks and replied, “Well. I was wondering if I could just stay here tonight? I need to look through the details of the case again, and do some research. I’ll be quiet.” It wasn’t a super odd request. The pair had stayed up all night before working on cases or having movie marathons, but they had never been at one of their apartments when one, or both of them was going to be sleeping. Spencer looked over to her and said, “Of course you can. I can help you with the research if you want.” _Y/n_ smiled and said, “Thanks for letting me stay. And offering the help, but I think you should get some rest. You aren’t going to get better without sleep.” She smiled at him and began picking up the dishes from their dinner. Spencer helped her put them in the sink and said, “I promise next time it’s my turn to cook. I’ll finish the dishes if you want to take a shower before I turn in.” _Y/n_ considered that she had been in the same clothes for over ten hours and knew that a shower would relax her she said, “that would be great.” She was embarrassed to ask it, but managed to stutter out, “Do you think I could borrow one of your shirts to wear while  I work. These aren’t the most comfortable clothes.” Spencer opened his mouth for a moment at the idea and tried to clear his head of the image of her in one of his shirts. The man snapped his mouth shut and his jawline tightened before he responded, “Um, yeah. In my closet on the left hand side are all my t-shirts and sweaters. You can wear any of them.” She said, “Okay. I’ll just be a bit.” She rubbed her hand over his shoulder as she walked in the direction of his bedroom. After a minute Spencer could hear the water running. 

The lean agent scrubbed down the dishes and put them in the drainer next to the sink. When he finished with the plates and bowls, he sat back down on the couch with the intention of looking at the case again. His thoughts didn’t allow him to. Instead he was considering how he was feeling. He wondered if it was alright to want these kinds of evenings to happen more often. He knew that he wasn’t that good with women. His few attempts to woe the friends and strangers he had been interesting in had usually gone horribly wrong. Yet, unbelievably a friend had come to check up on him, and was comfortable enough to spend the night at his place. He couldn’t figure out if he had done anything differently with _y/n_ than his other friends. He also was unsure if she felt the same way he did. Maybe she was uncomfortable being here and just needed to stay out of convenience. While Reid was considering the current situation _y/n_ was doing the same. She was running shampoo through her _h/l_ hair and musing over what had happened over the last two hours. She had always wanted, hoped, to get closer to Spencer, but she was afraid that if she moved too fast that he wouldn’t be interested, or worse not want to hang around her at all. She and Spencer did share some of the same hobbies but she hoped that she knew him better than that. She knew how he shied away from physical affection, and how he always seemed so happy when she or Jason told him he had done a good job, and how she knew what his shampoo was going to smell like before she even opened the bottle. She really hoped that her presence, both literally and metaphorically wasn’t making him uncomfortable now. When she was finished with her reverie _y/n_ rinsed out her hair and stepped out of the shower, After another ten minutes Spencer looked up to see _y/n_ in another one of his YALE sweatshirt. It was so long on her shorter body that it covered her like an ill fitting dress. However, Spencer thought she could wear a potato sack and pull it off. He quickly looked away from her to hide his blush. 

The duo looked over the cases and _y/n_ hooked up to his WiFi on her computer. After this was finished and _y/n_ had bought herself another coffee (using Reid’s card), she recommended he go to bed. It was already 12:00 A.M. at this point. Spencer relented and headed to his bedroom. Before he went in he said, “Goodnight. If you’ve got any questions you can ask. Just knock on the door.” She smiled and said goodnight back, and told him to sleep well. The agent continued her work for another three hours before she moved to the couch to try and get more comfortable to do her work. The next morning Spencer found _y/n_ laying down on the couch she was clutching a pillow to her chest and had her left leg draped over the blanket she had covered her body with. Spencer dared not walk past her torso in case she was indecent below the leg she had over the blanket. He was feeling much better today, and wished that he could go into work with her, however, it was company policy to wait a full twenty-four hours after a fever to return to work. Spencer knew it was for the safety of his coworkers, but he hated being away from his job. The man knelt down and tapped _y/n_ on the shoulder. She sighed slightly before opening her eyes to see him. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Spencer quickly averted her eyes as she rose. She looked down at herself and realized that her _f/c_ boy shorts were peeking out from beneath Spencer’s YALE sweater. Her face turned red and she coughed, stood up and pulled the sweater down. She looked at her phone and quietly cursed, “Fuck, I’m going to be late.” Spencer knew that if _y/n_ was fast, and hurried she could catch the train and make it in time. He said, “Go change. If you’re fast you can make the 7:30 A.M. train.” _Y/n_ nodded and grabbed her clothes and ran into his bedroom. She shut the door and didn’t even bother to lock it as she stripped and quickly changed. Reid, who had woken up about thirty minutes before her, and had grabbed some coffee for her and himself. He had meant to wake her up once he had woken up, but he couldn’t disturb her when he had seen her so peaceful. When the woman came out of his room in her usual black pants and satin shirt, she looked ready to fight the crime in the city as she usually did. She put on her shoes and grabbed her things, stuffing them into her backpack. Spencer cleared his throat after she was finished and handed her the coffee. She smiled at him and said, “Thank you so much Spencer, for letting me stay, and the coffee.” Spencer smiled and hesitantly asked, “Would you come back again tonight? In case I need help again. Or feel bad?” It took a moment for the words to register and _y/n_ said “Huh?” And maybe it was because it was from lack of sleep, or her just being awake for five minutes, but the meaning of the words struck her after she had responded. She realized that Spencer wanted, that he really wanted to spend another night like they had had yesterday. She smiled up at him and replied, “Of course I’ll come back tonight Spence. I’d love that.” The word love was not lost on the genius, and he took a minute trying to and express his feeling, saying, “You know I really like you. I mean I appreciate you, or I feel things about you…” _Y/n_ wanted really really badly to hear the words come from him, but she knew that she didn’t have a moment to lose or she would be late. She hated cutting him off, but reluctantly said, “I know Spencer, me too.” 

At hearing this Spencer gave a heartwarming smile and leaned down to hug her. She quickly gave him a kiss on the forehead and cheek. She then let go of him, and ran out the door, shouting over her shoulder, “I’ll see you tonight!”

[katsidhe]

15.19 Final Thoughts

I was all set for disappointment after 15.18, but this was… good, actually! Not perfect by any means, but the beats it hit and the points it made were by and large ones I’d been waiting for all season. Where it wasn’t touching (and it was touching!), it was absurd enough for me to enjoy it heartily anyway. I wish that this episode had been split into, like, three, so that it could have spent the time it needed on wallowing.

I love the empty earth. Love it to absolute PIECES. Because it fits so, so well, right? The claustrophobia of the Winchesters’ lives writ grotesquely large. They’re the most important people in the universe, of COURSE they are, because Chuck feels like it, and of course they can’t die, of course they’re doomed to wander eternally—ughh I love it. It’s the natural, absurd, and absurdist conclusion to where this story has always been heading. I am so glad that they went there.

Sam’s heartbreaking guilt—his knowledge that his defiance in 15.17 was what led to this empty universe. Oh, Sam. Again sublimating his loss and his agony into personal responsibility. And the worst part is that he’s right. I love the tragicomedy of Sam and Dean’s offer to play along for Chuck, and that he refuses, preferring to watch them walk the earth alone. Honestly? if it had cut to black right there? I would be mightily pleased.

ok but SAM!!! if there was a winner of 15.19 (and therefore a winner of SPN in general? sure feels that way to me), it’s Sam. Sam defied Death and defied God (and in 15.17 defied Dean). Sam saved Jack, who was the key to everything. Sam got the assist on Lucifer. Sam tricked Michael. Just, GAHH, what a great episode for him.

I about lost my goddamn mind when Lucifer showed up, because I had lost any inkling of hope that he’d turn up again. Kinda figured that plot thread had been irrevocably dropped. I’m sorry for losing my faith, Show! I should have believed that you’d eventually give me a taste of what I wanted!

I predict this opinion is going to be a little unpopular, but I was so happy to see him. I don’t care that he was too quippy, I don’t care that he was gone in like six minutes, I don’t care that his and Michael’s fight was, again, anticlimactic (though at least there weren’t wires, t god). Here’s the thing. I don’t NEED my fictional suffering to be like, artisanal, and thoughtfully designed. I’ll buy that shit at Costco, in ten gallon drums. I’ll chug it straight from the bottle like trauma ketchup. I’ll watch Lucifer resurrected a thousand times, if it means I get to watch Sam’s FACE while they’re in the same room. PRAISE.

The corollary: the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING CONCEPT of the last five people in the entire world being Michael, Lucifer, Sam, Dean, and Jack, all stuck awkwardly in the Bunker. Omfg. This SENT me so hard I had to take a walk, I was laughing too much. What a ripe premise. What an ugly premise. I need fic, immediately, stat, stat means now.

Relatedly, I love the mental image of Sam unobtrusively going offscreen and getting the archangel blade and handing it to Michael and quietly hissing, “uh PLEASE ffs kill your goddamn brother.” Pfffffffffffffffff.

Deeply disappointed that Jack didn’t get a chance to say anything to Lucifer. Yet another thing that needs further treatment.

I’d figured Lucifer was telling the truth when he told them he was joining Team Kill Chuck. However, Lucifer’s willingness to be on board with Chuck’s plan makes, just, a ton of sense. He’s always had less to lose than Michael, when it comes to accepting his father’s olive branch, since he fell so far so long ago, while Michael is still teetering on that precipice. And Chuck’s just extended, basically, a massive apology to him by erasing all the people and places and stories that he favored over his children. Of COURSE Lucifer wants to be alone with his dad, the only chosen one left, in a universe that is finally pristine. Of course he wants to rub his new favor in Michael’s face. I just wish we’d seen and heard more of this. His resurrection wasn’t pointless at all, but it was underdeveloped.

Michael’s inability to separate himself from his father’s will at the bitter end is a tragic and somber end. Jake Abel brought his A-game again. I wish very deeply that we’d been able to see more of him this season: he is one of the few surviving people with genuine investment in Chuck as a person, and he had a deep, deep betrayal to unpack.

Chuck and his enemies: Billie was always too straightforward in her goals and motivations to be truly interesting as an enemy to Chuck; she is less a character, and more an avatar, a force of nature. She opposed him the way a river opposes stone. The Emptity is nearly disinterested in the whole mess—it just wanted to be left alone. The really interesting sources of conflict for Chuck were always going to come from his family: Amara, and the archangels. And I’m glad we got some of that conflict now, even if it was too little too late.

Both of his children were unable to separate themselves from craving his approval. It’s a dire, tragic condemnation of this immortal cosmic family. And it says something about the microcosm of the Winchesters, of them as the model for the stories Chuck enjoys, the stories he inhabits. Supernatural is a story about being trapped. 

Sam somehow tricking both Michael and God? Sam, your BRAIN, it’s simply too big! but real talk how did he manage this? Does he still have the protection from Chuck’s sight via his now-erased God hole? I’m gonna go with yes, and in fact I’m gonna go a step further and pretend he still had that bullet wound this entire season, and that it healed when Jack took Chuck’s power, because now it makes even less sense than ever that the writers chose to erase that tantalizing physical connection. There, in my head, I’ve now fixed it.

Jack. Oh, Jack, what was the show ever going to do with you? The only thing it could, I think. I love that Dean, with absolutely no sense of irony, demanded Jack return with Sam and Dean to where he ~belongs, accusing him tacitly of selfishness, as if not three days ago he’d been egging him on to suicide. For Jack’s own sake, I am glad he is away from the Winchesters, and I hope he spends several decades talking to Amara and like, manifesting as a tree or something, to get some badly needed emotional balance and sense of scale. There is still so much wrong with putting this much power and responsibility in the hands of a browbeaten three-year-old. But, yes, my heart does swell at the thought of Sam’s imperfect love fostering the new God.

The image of Sam and Dean, broken bones, bloodied faces, laughing in the face of God like they’re insane is a pretty damn good one.

Also, Dean denying himself as the “ultimate killer”? Hahahaha so much to unpack there

My least favorite part was, predictably, the saccharine speech about #freewill, complete with the goddamn table carvings. I will certainly cop to really enjoying the montage, tho (but can anyone explain to me why it was like, almost-but-not-quite in chronological order? ).

I’m probably going to have more to say about all of this. Please talk to me about this episode. I’ll forgive 15.18, and hell, I’ll proactively forgive 15.20. Together with 15.17, 15.19 paints a more pleasing, more damning, and more fruitful conclusion for SPN than I ever dreamed I’d get.

[emy-mystory]

Unit 3: KIDSNEXTDOOR

Probably a good amount of my childhood was dedicated to watching cartoons. I did have my fair share of drama shows on Nickelodeon but the cartoon shows that were shown on Cartoon Network were always the most intriguing to me. I'm talking about Chowder, Misadventures of Flapjack, Total Drama Island, Adventure Time, Regular Show, etc. I even enjoyed watching the older cartoons that the channel would show early in the morning which included classic Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry episodes. In fact, I've actually always have had a soft spot for older cartoons. For some reason, it gives me a sense of comforting nostalgia that I wished I had endured earlier. I currently feel the same about the older Simpsons episodes but that's not the case for this assignment.

The one cartoon that sticks with me the most was this very awesome, action-packed show called Codename: Kids Next Door.

If you have not seen at least an episode of Codename: Kids Next Door then you either did not have a TV, a great childhood, or both.

This show was so engagingly unique, that I would not mind doing a marathon of rewatching all of the episodes X2.

It was a show focused on these five friends that all lived in a rambunctious treehouse that acted as their headquarters for their sector V, Kids Next Door. Each kid is usually referred to as their number (1-5) and has a specialty that can range from smarts to fighting wit. In order to defend themselves from enemy agent sectors of teenagers and adults, they create and utilize wacky gadgets that can be made from odd materials such as bubblegum, old wood, spare tires, etc. They belong to a bigger agent organization of other sectors also filled with kids that have the same purpose. The universe of this show is so well-thought-out that it can easily become a world one kid would wish to live in. Overall, each episode consists of one goofy yet intense mission after another which leaves you with bewildering eyes while being on the edge of your seat every time.

I must admit, I have to give credit for the diversity given in this main cast. Literally, one kid is British (red) while the other Australian (orange). We have representation of POC (Black and Asian), and there's even body diversity from the heavy kid! (Blue)

I think it's pretty safe to say that almost every kid's dream was to make and live in a treehouse. Unless you have a fear of termites.

The whole show in general really did cater to kids. Whether if it was imagination fueled by the variety of weapons and missions or the distaste of teenage culture and embarrassing parents, it really was genuine to being level-headed with the perspective from a child's visionary point of view. To me, the show took on a genuine take on being made for kids.

It even covered a variety of topics that would have the affected demographic be children. But it did it in a way where it was not only creative but also obtain a more complex feature to it.  For the sake of keeping the storyline interesting while also making the lesson of the episode even more memorable for children to learn from. Whether it'd be out of reflection or relatability.

I'm talking about:

PINKEYE

(I actually related to this one because I would always get pink eye. Oddly enough, I think I had pink eye while watching this episode for the first time.)

LICE

BEING FORCEFED GRANDMA'S FOOD

A KID'S CURIOSITY OF HOW A TEENAGE GIRL'S BODY FUNCTIONS

Even though the storyline of these episodes would be rather dramatic, it still was fun to watch all the creativity unfold as a child. If anything, it helped lighten the mood of such issues with witty dialogue, ambitious fighting climaxes, and silly innocence. It gives allows children to feel relatability on certain issues they would go through in which can be whole-heartily comforting to a child's fear of getting lice or pinkeye for the first time. I know I was pretty comforted or at least felt accompanied to the pinkeye episode when I saw it for the first time. It felt cool to see some other kids going through the same thing all the while the episode takes a dramatic turn to help alleviate that common, boring topic into a story concept that's grander and intricate; something that will interest the kids. Overall, these episodes gave kids a distracting yet whimsical portrayal of life's struggles.

I would like to touch base back to the bra conversation. Basically in that episode, Number 1 and Number 2 thought BRAs stood for "Battle Ready Armor," which made them think bras were actually magical weapons to help them fight more efficiently. (I wish)

So they went to their friend's house (Number 5) who was sick at the time. While keeping up a front to "care" for their friend, they ended up sneaking into her teenage sister Cree's bedroom where they found her stash of bras.

And I'm pretty sure you can figure out how that went...

(Of course anything with bras is forbidden for children, right?)

((I really hope you can see this because this scene itself just defines the badass action sequences this show can hold))

Anyways, I wanted to point this out because it reveals also another theme that is prevalent in this show: Growing up.

As I said, this show presents agent organizations run by kids, teenagers, and adults. Well, it is actually all a tear-jerking cycle that is upheld within this universe.

The kids are kids until they are 13 where they are decommissioned and get transferred to the teenager agent organization where they stay until they are 18.

Even though this process sounds absurd, the sentimental value of it hits harder than you think...

Yes, they wipe any memories they have of being in the Kids Next Door.

This explains why teenagers can be so fierce and violent towards KND because they do not have any recollection to possess any empathy for the organization they partook in during their beloved childhood years. This heavy implication of agism can connect back to how as teenagers, we always think being a child is embarrassing. But that's probably because we barely take any consideration of all the fun that emerged in being a kid.

And of course, there are some goofy gags to this kid vs teenagers concept as well..:P

(The slapstick comedy and clever humor from both videos always gives me a giggle)

(I guess babies come from Philly...you heard the man!)

((I also want to point out how Number's 5 "knowledge" of such a provocative concept just added to her spunkiness because it implies that she's supposed to be that one friend that happens to know a lot more than you do. From that, I always thought of her as an iconic girl character whom I wished was my friend...she really did give out that Boss Girl energy))

But regarding the growing up issue brought up in the show, I can still say that topic is also relevant to me, even to this day. Especially when it came to graduating high school, going to college, trying to make a name for myself, etc. I kind of wanted to take some kind of gap year or break or SOMETHING from it all to stop myself from feeling older and proceeding to life's deeper void. But I know I should not view it that way. We should not view growing up as something so disgraceful. We, especially I, should start viewing it as a way to grow wiser, to sustain emotional strength, etc. because how else are we going to learn from life's values and struggles if we don't have the willpower to maneuver through it in the first place? How will we know we won't succeed if we don't even make an effort trying? We shouldn't let agism intimidate us with demeaning stereotypes as there is advice to be taken and lessons to be learned.

In conclusion, Codename: Kids Next Door helped kids feel known, reassured, and most of all, have fun.

[goblinconceivable]

All The Feels

Random bulletpoints of Annie/Jeff analysis because I am overcome with shippiness.  :D  Also more like bullet-lengthy-paragraphs.  You tried, self, you tried.

Pascal’s Triangle (PT) is not a love triangle.  

Sure, look at the top two rows and you’ve got a binary split, ie, choice between two women.  But PT is row based, your current row based on the one above.  It’s complex.  Look below the binary surface of choice to row 3, where it actually becomes PT, where the complexity begins (and Community is about complexity.)  1, 2, 1, a total of 4. The 2 is the merging of the two 1s from row two - Ie, two women who get lumped together.  And beyond them is a 1 that springs out of nowhere - Annie.  Surprise!

Kiss at the end of S1

Jeff’s major deal is being afraid of expressing caring/vulnerability, while desperately craving/needing it.  Britta and Slater were both saying they loved him, and he does want to take that, but runs scared because they are  challenging him to admit his feelings in public, which no one who really knows and cares about him would do.  His scene with Annie is private. And she isn’t asking him FOR anything, she’s just asking what’s up, because she cares about the answer.  He feels safe, he opens up, it’s intimacy, which is both giving and taking.  Notably he admits he’s glad she’s staying after his share, this is him saying he cares about her too.

His explanation of the situation is a perceived choice between being the New Year’s guy (who he wants to be) and the Three Weeks Later guy (who he is.)  But the thing about New Year’s is the initial momentum always fades, and you have to put in the work, which Slater doesn’t help him with.  And he WON’T be able to sustain it on is own.  The guy he IS isn’t who he wants to be, it’s just giving up, rather than striving, even if imperfectly, to reach those goals.  Annie falls into the sweet spot: she understands what his default is, but shows him that he CAN be the man he wants to be, shows him what those steps ARE, encourages him to take the steps to be that person, and rewards him when he succeeds.  Which he does, with her behind him.  

And she kisses him first.  Which is an offering similar to Britta and Slater’s public announcements, but through action, not words.  Jeff uses words as shield and weapon, as did the other two.  Bypassing this essentially shortcircuits his brain.  His brain will warp and analyze and question, but she kisses him gently, an invitation not a demand.  He’s already put aside his sword and shield during their talk, and doesn’t feel the need to pick them up because he feels safe and cared for and is okay accepting and reciprocating that.

Play

Jeff is all adult and aloof and beyond such petty childish pursuits such as play, which is the scoffed at domain of Annie/Troy/Abed.  But he actually really wants it.  It likely stems in part from his loss of a proper childhood, but it’s also just who he is.  Imagination isn’t just for the young, the loss of the ability to play is an oft-bemoaned feature of adulthood, one the learned remind us we ought recapture.  (And a joy of parenthood is getting to do that through your children.)  But look, he literally was playacting being a lawyer.  It’s how he engages with the world.  He just justified that as a means to an end and did it for power and profit, rather than for enjoyment.

We see this, I argue, when responding to Annie’s playacting they were married. Annie anticipates a bad reaction, but he doesn’t give one.  No judgment.  He then establishes it’s not a deeper issue (”do I have to worry about this” ie, is this real/insanity).  When he says “I can tell you one thing your fantasy got wrong...” he’s not challenging her, or even taking offense, and while he’s not entering into her fantasy world (which is over anyway), he’s offering fodder.  He’s involving himself in the narrative process for her benefit.  And in the couched language of daydream he’s reassuring her -if- it was true, he would be devoted.  IF is a super important word in play, because you don’t have to believe, for example, you ARE a pirate.  You just need to act as IF you were a pirate.

Also cute, I take as justified fanon the deleted scene where he orders her appletini.  He was whining to her about it but it was relaxed because they both know he’d do it anyway.  And when the bartender turns out to be a believer in Annie’s created fantasy world, Jeff stops himself from correcting him and destroying the world.  Instead, he lets it persist just far enough to let himself glance at Annie as if it was true, and in that moment he sees her through the eyes of fantasy, and sees a beautiful woman, rather than all the complexity of their relationship.

Then there’s basically all the giant Greendale instances of play.  Which one way or the other, he gets roped into and ends up jumping into with abandon.  (Paintball, lava etc.)  And they’re often paired, because he enjoys playing with her, and the “if this” acts as license for them to explore their compatibility.  And their capers, when they pair up in the “real world”, is really just a sophisticated form of play.  As brought up pointedly when they were searching for the ASB, there’s a dual nature here.  They aren’t just buddies, like Troy and Abed, who are also very fantasy oriented (cardboard submarine!).  There’s a level of daydream beneath the fantasy world where they can set aside the complexities of their relationship, and say “if we’re solving this crime, then we can live in this bubble and just be together.”

I also really love the whole Professor Professorson episode because of course the layers are just so intricate and delightful when they unfold.  He tackles her which was total overreaction, he’s in a heightened world and committed to it.  They plot out this crazy intricate play to teach the Dean a lesson together, where they involve real emotions.  Many of which are Annie’s, but that means they’re creating a world in which it is safe to amplify her feelings which they are both aware of but are usually repressed, especially by Jeff.  And he praises her for that later (she went off book and deceived like a master) rather than being uncomfortable.  They exit play safely because they trust each other while playing and can leave that permissive world as an if.  And it ends with the blanket fort collapsing and cocooning them.  It is a play space literally being broken, begging the question of how much impact our play can have on our real selves.

Season 6

So basically I think I missed fandom the first time around and just binged on meta and there’s (fanon?) that Jeff spent the season looking for her attention, but Annie had pulled back?  I zipped through a bunch of scenes they were in together, and heartily agree.  Also I think I went a little nutty but What I see:

Annie doesn’t ignore him or anything, but where she might have previously inserted herself in his life, she starts to let him fend for himself while she diverts her attention to other relationships, and treats him more like she does the others.  I don’t think she really does anything like taking his class so she can evaluate his teaching and bludgeon him into being better?  But when they’re in a situation, like City College’s ad, she stands up to him as normal, challenging him to be better and do the right thing, as she always has.  Rewards him with approval when he does, and his whispered “thank you” is the cutest thing ever because it’s an intimate choice in a rather boisterous exchange.

Meanwhile Jeff does seem to spend a lot of time and energy trying to get back to a place where he’s first in her eyes.  There are a lot of shots in S6 a the Table and group scenes that involve him looking at her disproportionately, first, last, or only when speaking, esp when they’re all at the table.  When I went back and tried to do the same to S5 those scenes are set up a bit differently and I saw less of it but I think there’s just fewer group scenes in general though?.  In S6, he often ends a comment directed at the group (non table) by looking at Annie, indicating he wants her response, and thus her attention and engagement.  And often, she is the next person to speak.  Which is her personality as a leader, which supports the idea that while he’s seeking her out, she isn’t necessarily responding to that but just being her. 

Finale

I’ve sort of run myself dry thinking through other things.  And great analysis is plentiful and most recent.  So not even bullet points just ramble But:

Oh3, so when Garrett proposed and Abed noted Jeff had a funny look, he’s been daydreaming marrying Annie for that lone plus longer?  That took me a long time to put together as an actual literal thing.

Oh2, it’s all canon that he has issues with prolonged eye contact because he doesn’t want people to see him broken and he doesn’t break eye contact through any of this.  He knows she knows he’s broken already and is quietly fine with her seeing everything and this is a moment for *sobs*

Oh wait hey, so callback to that bit where she’s like “your words don’t mean anything” and he’s like “That’s what conversation is, people saying things to get stuff.”  Because he’s 100% not trying to get anything by telling her he’s let her go.  And he means a lot by saying it.  And if he said “I love you” there’s an implied sense of obligation to say it back and since he means romantically he can’t do that.  So this is just him letting her know, no pressure, no expectation, that he loves her and has loved her but it’s okay because she’s free and he wants her to be free because he loves her.  And he means it so hard when she says “kiss me goodbye” he’s all “you don’t owe me anything.”

But she does love him too, except she knows she’s in a different place emotionally and professionally.  And it’s sweet and a gift because she doesn’t make this about her but about him and his feelings.  So she preempts his regrets because she knows he WON’T kiss her goodbye unless she invites him to.  There’s something I’m reaching for and can’t find here.  She doesn’t admit to anything because there’s no point?  It would just hurt him either way?  Sharing her feelings through action rather than words?

And so much squee thinking how far everyone’s come for this scene to be a thing which could happen.

Callback to Annie’s marriage fantasy when Jeff has his own.  Hers was external, by her personality (esp at the time of her maturation) and thus public and psychologically working out a reasonable feeling of abandonment as she gave their fictional selves marital difficulties.  His is very internal, and occurs after Abed, always so reliable as a gateway to fantasy, turns the tables on him.  He’s experiencing reasonable feelings of abandonment, and while he runs, it’s to a safe space of “what if,” a coping mechanism he has learned, and which allows for working out of psychological issues.  

It’s dual: in that the larger issue is his need for a sense of stability.  Though he’s staring at the table the scene doesn’t involve Greendale at all, he already had that fantasy.  This is about wanting a life outside of the safe zone of the college.  And while he suggests a dog as an option he imagined a kid because having one represents stability for him - it was his father who left, and he won’t leave.  If there’s a kid, this is a life, Annie can’t leave.  But he offers her imaginary self complete editing powers, because all he really wants is to be able to love and be loved.  It’s indulgence, a desperate grasp at balm because while he let her go, he can’t let her -go.-  He was okay with being close friends, they do love each other as friends.  See his pitch.  But faced with losing that, he’s stripped bare.  He indulges in his supressed hearts desire and is faced with the reality of what he already knows: it’s not in the cards.

And he’s stripped down to insecurities that aren’t limited to Annie.  It’s cute how they jive over Marvel, though it’s weird to me and takes up more time and weird dramatic looking around that doesn’t feel playful enough to be justified.  The tone of their voices is too serious, it’s a mismatch.  I like how he admits the huge thing that he let her go as far as he has control, and suddenly a time pressure is on their alone time.  Everything is immediate right now, everything happening fast.  I wonder what Annie would have said if not for the text.  But that’s the thing, it’s the wrong time for them and this is a goodbye.  It’s too late but just under the wire all at once.

In this chapter at least.  In the safety of the group Annie brings up a season 7, which we all know could happen years down the line.  Would have been more fitting if she said movie though.  Still, he takes that as the comfort in which it was intended.

WTF with his all coed season 7?  Yes, we cut to it so it totally isn’t happening, but has he put his issues to rest and is just fantasizing crap or what?  It makes no sense to me.

I love that he not only puts her first after she invites him to kiss her goodbye by asking “what about you,” but is -asking for consent.-  He doesn’t even move towards her until he gets it, he’s literally just standing back.  What’s up with the penis thing?  Meta reference to shortcut arguments that it’s not true love but lust?  Is it Jeff acknowledging his own cynicism and how he’s dropped it?  Since he’s so clearly not in a lust mode here.  Is he adding a tiny bit of his usual pointed add ins to his speeches?

I guess it’s like...  this is one of his speeches, but it feels out of place because of his delivery?  Which is beautifully subdued and resigned and honest and just defeated, but defeated in the sense that he defeated all the barriers he still keeps around himself.  

and goodbye hug and kiss at the airport.

[starring-movies]

Killing Eve: Episode Analysis

*SPOILERS*

Season 1, Episode 5 - I Have a Thing about Bathrooms

The episode picks straight up from the end of S1E4, when Villanelle is chasing and shooting at Frank. Eve stops the car to confront Villanelle, who is visibly shocked that Eve had the courage to confront her (especially since Villanelle had a gun), and because this is the first time they’re seeing each other in person since meeting in the hospital toilets.

When Eve gets out of the car, she puts one hand up to show Villanelle that she isn’t going to hurt her, and she puts her other hand on her heart, as if to show her care and concern. Almost as if trying to test to see if Eve is genuine that she cares for her, Villanelle puts the gun to her head, and Eve’s immediate “no!” confirms this to her. (Or this is just more emotional manipulation like we get later in the kitchen scene)

When Frank is being shown around his safe house, he is shown where the bedroom is and told “this is where the magic happens”. Unfortunately for Frank this is foreshadowing to him getting killed by Villanelle in the bedroom.

While Frank is telling Carolyn and Eve about The Twelve, he says that their aim is destabilisation and when Eve asks “to what end”, Frank simply says “chaos”. This is referenced back to in S3E7, when Hélène tells Villanelle that she loves her because she is an “agent of chaos”.

In the scene when Eve is at the bus stop, the first thing she does is take out her hair, so we can assume that Villanelle is on her mind. Eve sees a crack in the glass of the bus stop and presses it with her finger, it doesn’t break and so she proceeds to smash the glass with her elbow.

The glass with the crack represents Eve. The crack symbolises something that has always been within Eve, her darkness and impulse and desire around killing. Eve manages to keep it together though (shown with the glass, when she presses the crack with her finger but it doesn’t break yet), she often feels the pressure from herself and of her darkness pushing to overcome her, but she won’t let it break her or become too unmanageable. She also represses the existence of the crack (the darkness), but it’s something that Villanelle saw in Eve from the beginning; it’s what she thought made Eve “special” [S2E8] and why she was so upset when Eve rejects both the darkness and her (just like Villanelle’s mother did). The pressure on the crack in the glass is also being put on by Eve herself, again reminding us why Villanelle was so upset with Eve, telling her “it’s what you wanted”; and Villanelle is right, it is what Eve wanted deep down but she’s in denial and won’t accept it and so blames Villanelle, its not until S3E8 that she’s willing to accept her darkness.

However, now Villanelle has come into Eve’s life and she’s aware that Villanelle will be the elbow to the crack in her glass. As they discuss on the bridge in S3E8, Eve can feel the control of her “monster” slipping away from her as Villanelle’s monster encourages her’s.

Eve goes on to take her suitcase, with all the things that Villanelle packed in it, back to her house and has another look at what was put in it. Eve can see that all the clothes and the shoes are her exact size, which is one of the things that drives her to put the dress and shoes on - here is someone who sees Eve, knows her so well and has paid such attention to detail to her from the brief times she’s seen her, that she gets clothes that she knows suit Eve and fit her perfectly. Considering Niko got her a scarf she doesn’t even like, and doesn’t seem to know her style well at all, to have someone pick clothes and shoes that are so perfect for her seems to be incredibly attractive to Eve.

Eve again takes hair hair out when putting on the dress, shoes and perfume from Villanelle. When we see her put on everything that Villanelle gave her and take out her hair, and when she looks at her reflection in the mirror, she is completely an image of exactly how Villanelle wanted to see her. Eve looking at herself in the mirror also shows how she wants to see herself in the way that Villanelle wants to see her.

Unloved’s, ‘(Sigh)’, which plays during this scene of Eve trying on the dress also reflects how Eve is feeling in this moment. The lyrics are:

“There’s something about

The way you are

That makes me (sigh)”

The lyrics reflect Eve’s mixed emotions about Villanelle and her confusion in dealing with them. The word “something”, as well as the *sigh* (the feeling can’t even be expressed with words - only a longing sigh), shows how there’s just this mysterious thing that Eve can’t put her finger on that’s dragging her closer to Villanelle. She feels this unrelenting attraction to an assassin, and not just a assassin, but one that killed her close friend and co-worker - Villanelle is someone she should hate with no question, yet she can’t.

We then get the long awaited proper first meeting between Eve and Villanelle, the kitchen scene.

The entire scene is a power play between the two women as they assess the situation, and each other, after spending the whole season so far obsessing about each other from a distance.

It obviously begins with Villanelle, who has surprised Eve in her safe space, in the position of power. She tells Eve she wants to have dinner with her and to change out of the wet dress, saying “I won’t look”, but then proceeds to look anyway and helping her out of the dress, adds “you have a nice body”. From this we can see that Villanelle makes it clear to Eve from the beginning that she’s attracted to her; but Eve is the one who won’t take it further, until the kiss in S3E3 which is one of the reasons why Villanelle is so shocked - Eve initiated the intimacy this time.

When Eve asks Villanelle why she’s come to her house, she tells Eve “I need someone to help me. I don’t want to do this anymore. I know what I am. I know I’m not normal... I don’t feel things that... I don’t want to hurt people”. What Villanelle says is an attempt to manipulate Eve, but Eve sees straight through the act saying it’s “bullshit”, which surprises Villanelle. However, given the events of Season 3, there is some truth to what Villanelle is telling Eve, as everything she said becomes true for her later on. In the exact same words as she used in this scene, in S3E6 Villanelle tells Dasha “I don’t want to do this anymore”, but the second time she says it she says it entirely sincerely.

Eve also tells Villanelle “I know something happened to you”, which contrasts with the tea dance scene in S3E8, where Eve instead asks Villanelle “what happened?”. Eve goes from being entitled to Villanelle and having a certainty in what she thinks she knows about her, to understanding and being considerate of her feelings much more. When they meet at the tea dance in S3E8, Eve is listening to what Villanelle is saying to her and can see she’s upset and so asks her a question, giving her the opportunity to share what’s bothering her if she wants to, rather than trying to make a statement about what she thinks she knows happened to her.

Villanelle does the same thing with Eve in this kitchen scene, as she does with Hélène in S3E7. She replies to Eve’s request to tell her more by first saying “okay”, but then diverting and saying “can we get one thing clear before we go on with this? Is that a sweater attached to a shirt?”. Similarly when Hélène asks Villanelle “has something happened recently?”, Villanelle first says “I did something bad to my mother”, but then in the same way as with Eve, only follows up by saying “I took a shit in her shoe when I was three”.

In the tea dance scene in S3E8, before they were interrupted by the man encouraging them to get up and dance, we can also see that Villanelle looked like she was about to answer Eve’s question, illustrating how much Eve and Villanelle’s relationship has developed emotionally, especially for Villanelle who doesn’t open up to anyone. She becomes more willing to discuss her feelings with Eve than the emotional guardedness we get in this scene, as both women are just trying to gauge the other.

When Villanelle smells Eve, she asks her “are you wearing it?”, which again shows us how she reuses things she’s heard or observed, as it’s exactly what Sebastian asked Villanelle in S1E2.

Eve also makes a comment to Villanelle telling her “I am going to find the thing you care about, and I am going to kill it”. Hopefully this isn’t foreshadowing for the coming seasons, that Eve is the thing that Villanelle cares about and so ends up being killed.

Another small but impactful moment is Villanelle telling Eve “I will eat anything”. Continuing with Killing Eve’s aim of subverting audience expectation and going against gender stereotypes, Villanelle is an attractive woman but also an enthusiastic eater. She eats a lot in the show and more importantly when she does eat, she isn’t just eating a salad. Usually in film and television woman aren’t shown eating, or if they are, they’re eating some sort of salad or a tiny unsubstantial meal to maintain the idea that they’re dainty and trying to keep slim and attractive. So to have a female lead character who is so strong and attractive, heartily eating all this food and enjoying it, shows the audience that a woman can indulge in her food and doesn’t have to be depicted eating one lettuce leaf to have these qualities.

A funny little detail - Carolyn tells Eve her dog is called Martin, that means her dog’s full name is Martin Martens.

When Villanelle goes to kill Frank, she tells him that she’d prefer to kill him in the bathroom rather than the bedroom, saying “I have a thing for bathrooms, actually”. Villanelle has a thing for bathrooms because she has just come from Eve’s house (where they fought in the bathroom), and the bathroom of the hospital is where her and Eve first met.

Villanelle also warns Frank, telling him “don’t get me excited”, when he tries to fight her off with a chair. This is confirmation that Villanelle can get excited, making her kills more violent, like when she killed the hospital room of people after she met Eve in the toilets.

You can read my previous Killing Eve posts here:-

First Introduction to Villanelle

First Introduction to Eve

S1, E1 - Nice Face

S1, E2 - I’ll Deal With Him Later

S1, E3 - Don’t I Know You?

S1, E4 - Sorry Baby

S1, E6 - Take Me To The Hole!

S1, E7 - I Don’t Want to Be Free

S1, E8 - God, I’m Tired

S2, E1 - Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?

S2, E2 - Nice and Neat

S2, E3 - The Hungry Caterpillar

S2, E4 - Desperate Times

S2, E5 - Smell Ya Later

S2, E6 - I Hope You Like Missionary!

S2, E7 - Wide Awake

S2, E8 - You’re Mine

S3, E1 - Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey

S3, E2 - Management Sucks

S3, E3 - Meetings Have Biscuits

S3, E4 - Still Got It

S3, E5 - Are You From Pinner? [Part 1]

S3, E5 - Are You From Pinner? [Part 2]

S3, E6 - End of Game

S3, E7 - Beautiful Monster

S3, E8 - Are You Leading or Am I? [Part 1]

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