#anyways MAYHEM!! I MISS HIM

[buxiee]

day 4 - Yokai NOTHING TO SAY JUST- MAYHEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[assfamine]

MIKEY & RAPH Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) | dir. Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears

[thegayfreind]

Was talking to my Dad the other day and I’m like “If I was an actor, I’d exclusively work with the Muppets. There would be at least one muppet in everything I did”

Reblog if, no matter the size of the role, you would agree to work with the Muppets if offered the chance to do so, no questions asked

[missnxthingg]

𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄, 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 - 𝑂𝑁𝐸

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 - Lando Norris x Single Mom!Reader (Best friends to lovers) 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 - Lando and Y/N have always been the best of friends, always there for each other through thick and thin. After years of sharing the paddock and building their own silly little family, both of them just can't hold their feelings inside anymore, even though they're are both afraid it would ruin their friendship. So who'll take the first step? 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒 - 4.1 K | 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 - None (so far) 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 - All chapters come with a social media version. Click bellow and find more about this story!

smau version | series masterlist | main masterlist | taglist

“My hair is absolutely fine”, Lando complained. He had just woken up from his usual nap before the race and would’ve much rather have used the past five minutes sleeping then getting his hair fixed. Y/N ignored his whining and kept fixing his curls, making sure they fell perfectly into place. “Y/N, I'm literally putting on a helmet five minutes from now”.

“Shut up”, she furrowed her eyebrows and kept herself concentrated on his hair. “You’re gonna look perfect for the pictures before getting in the car with this hair”.

“Y/N L/N, full-time groomer, part-time comms girl”, he joked, making her open a small grin. It’s always nice to have small moments like those in the middle of all the mayhem that is the Formula 1 paddock, specially after so many years knowing each other. Lando and Y/N always found a way to make it even more fun by being there together.

“My job is to get the best image of you out there”, she dusted off his shoulders and winked at him. “Excited to be back?”

“Very”, he smiled at her. “Missed me over the winter?”

“Haven’t had the chance to miss you since you insist on us having a friendship outside work and keeps stopping by my house all the damn time”, she joked, pulling him to walk along with her. “Also, have you forgotten the headache you’ve given me on New Year’s Day?”

Lando went to Bali with his friends on the New Year’s and ended up partying a little too hard, which resulted in Y/N having to work all day as everyone else was enjoying their holiday. She had to stay at her hotel room all day in reunion with his PR team, trying to come up with solutions to his mess. When he found out, he even paid her dinner to apologize for the mess he made.

“I already said I was sorry”, Lando nudged her away with his elbow, making Y/N giggle. Then she toughened up and rolled his eyes at him. They soon were inside the McLaren garage, almost ready to start the first race of the year.

“You can apologize properly by doing great today”, she helped him close his suit, feeling his gaze burning on her face. Lando lowered his sight to pay attention to his friend, making her whole body tingle just with the looks.

“I'll try my best”, he shrugged. And Y/N knew that he was going to be good anyway, even if he didn’t really believe in himself. Lando had done great all weekend, so she knew he was also going to do great on track. She was known to have a sense of when her best friend was going to do good on the race, and today was one of those days. She just didn’t tell him.

It’s been like this since the very first moment they met. Lando and Y/N got to know each other when he was still in Formula 2, but already looking into enrolling in Formula 1 with McLaren. She had just got an internship at the team, working in communications, focused on their social media, and was starting to get into the motorsports world as she worked her way through a degree in college. Lando was also building his career, starting as a test driver and growing into a rookie. With both of them being new into this world, being friends made this entire experience less lonely.

“All good?”, she asked, opening a comforting smile at him to make sure Lando was cheerful enough to kick off the season. 

“Does my hair look good for the balaclava?”, he joked as he took his last pieces of fireproofs to wear. Y/N rolled her eyes and nudged him away. “Yes, curly king”, she giggled, earning a quick hug from the boy, who was now ready to get into the car. He sneaked a tiny kiss on her cheek and buried his nose on her neck. “Good luck, champ”.

“Thank you”, he winked at her, walking towards his engineers to have a quick chat before the race.

Y/N’s job was basically on hold for the rest of the race. She already knew the procedures of the media pen after the race, so all she had to do was wait and cheer for her team. It felt good to be back on track, and beginnings of seasons always give her a little bit more of power to do her job. And Bahrain was a solid start for McLaren, with both Lando and Oscar finishing above P6, getting good points for the team. 

“I knew you were going to do good”, Y/N commented when she saw Lando walking towards her; his suit already hanging low on his hips and with a tired smile on his face after he finished the countless post race interviews. He wrapped his arms softly around his friend as he stole her bottle of water. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you”, he held her a little tighter and immediately felt relaxed next to her. For years, Y/N has been the calm after the storm for Lando. “Tired?”

“Not really. Just a little bit”, she shrugged, as they walked back together to the McLaren motorhome, ready to get her things and walk away from the paddock.

“Want to grab something to eat before heading back to the hotel? I’m starving, and I really could use some time without talking to anyone but you”, he giggled, knowing his best friend knew how to respect his silence when he needed. Also, they had been working non-stop together for the past month, without a single time to just enjoy their time together. It would be nice to do absolute nothing next to each other.

“Oh, I’m heading back to London tonight. I have to be at the airport in… two hours”, she said, looking at her watch with a sad smile. “Little one needs me. She has a ballet presentation tomorrow, and I have to be there for her”.

“Of course”, Lando said, feeling the endearment on his chest with her words. “Ollie has the best mom in the world. She’s the luckiest little girl”.

Y/N got pregnant shortly after she started her second year in Formula 1, after being very careless with a college boyfriend, who took off the second he found out they were having a baby, only helping financially every month, but not being there to help her with anything. On the first years, when she was mostly required to be in England, it worked. But now that she grew on her job and was asked to travel the entire world, it was getting harder and harder to stay away from her daughter. So she always comes for the weekend and goes back home as soon as she can.

“You’re heading back to England tomorrow for the post-race debrief, right? You should come have dinner with us after the ballet presentation”, Y/N suggested.

“Am I banned from going to the ballet as well?”, Lando arched his brows, making Y/N's cheeks heat up.

“I mean, I thought it would be quite boring for you”, she shrugged, making Norris laugh.

“Are you joking? Olivia can never be boring. I always want to see her, especially on nice days like these”, he said. “I'll be there. And then I'll take you to her favourite restaurant”.

“She’s four, Lando. Her favourite restaurant is McDonald's”, Y/N rolled her eyes, but he shrugged.

“McDonald's it is!”, he giggled. “I'll see you tomorrow. Have a safe trip back home”.

“You too, Lan”, he pulled her for another quick hug and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

Lando has been there for Olivia since before she was born. After her boyfriend took off, Y/N was left pregnant, completely scared for her future. She didn’t know how to keep doing her job and her studies. Norris was the one who stuck by her side, did everything in his power to not get her fired, or not to quit her job, and pushed her to keep going with her education. He was there to take her to doctor's appointments whenever he could, and he was there to hold her hand when the time came. Lando was one of the first people who ever had the opportunity to hold Ollie in the arms. And for everything he did for both girls, he immediately became the little baby’s godfather. There was no one else in this world Y/N trusted more.

She has been more than special in his life as well. Y/N understood him better than anyone, and was his home away from home. She made him laugh, and she made sure that he felt comfortable, loved and happy all the time. And if things weren’t alright, having her support always made things better. So before she left, Lando took one last glance at his best friend and thought: “How lucky I am to have her in my life”. But he kept that thought to himself, trying hard not to think too much into it. Deep down, he knew there was something more on the way his heart raced every time he looked at her.

For the next day, Lando felt anxious to finally get home and be with his tiny second family. He hasn’t seen his goddaughter since the pre-season started and was looking forward to being in her presence again. It was his favourite way to relax after a full weekend, being with the people he loved the most in the world. So it felt good once the meeting at McLaren back in Woking was over, which meant that now he could go to the ballet presentation and be with his girls.

He arrived at least twenty minutes before the presentation started and found Y/N among the crowd, sitting right in the front, using her Instagram as a pastime to wait until Olivia was on stage. She updated her social media with a few shots from the weekend in Bahrain before she was pulled out of her thoughts by Lando, who found his spot next to his best friend.

“Hello”, he greeted with a beautiful smile on his face. Norris was wearing an all-black outfit, trying not to catch much attention to his presence, not wanting to deal with the public eye in such an intimate moment between family. “Am I late?”

“No, don’t worry”, she smiled softly at him. “Ollie will on go on stage in a few moments, so you’re fine”.

“Good. I’m glad to be here”, he elbowed his friend and got comfortable next to her. “How was your flight back home?”

“It was fine, a bit tiring. I got home just in time to have some breakfast and get Olivia ready to go to school. My mom drove her and I knocked out on the couch until lunch. Then I got her from school, we had lunch at a restaurant, and then I took her home to get our ballerina ready”.

“Cute”, his cheeks tinted in a pretty pink shade. “At least one of us had some proper sleep. I woke up at four, then flew here and went straight into MTC. I got changed there, had a nap, and now I’m here”.

“You should’ve gone home to rest, Lando…”, she started, but he cut her through her sentence.

“I told you I wanted to be here. I always want to be here for Ollie’s big days, you know that”, he assured, and Y/N knew he was telling the truth. After all, he has always been there for her daughter, coming to see her whenever he could, never forgetting to get her gifts on Christmas and birthdays, always calling to make sure his goddaughter knew how much she was loved by him. Lando cared about Olivia as if she was his own daughter.

“I know”, she smiled, searching for his hand in the darkness of the room to give it a squeeze. “You’ve always been here for her big days. But I worry about your health”.

“Oh, shut up”, he laughed. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me”.

Then Y/N noticed that Lando was holding flowers in his hands, and her heart immediately felt full at the sight. He definitely is a treasure in her daughter’s life. 

“You brought her a bouquet?”, she commented, making her friend blush with the comment. “Oh my God, that’s so cute!”

“Of course I did! She deserves it”, he smiled, pulling the bouquet to show it to Y/N. “Do you think she’ll like the daisies? I thought roses were too boring and Ollie is never boring”.

“Obviously. She loves everything you give her”, she giggled, finishing just before the music started and the presentation began. 

Y/N obviously cried to see her daughter dancing beautifully on stage, knowing she was on the right path to provide the best life for her little girl. But her heart actually melted to see Lando’s smile as he sat next to her, admiring Olivia’s movements with a hug smile on his face. 

“She’s really good”, he commented, not tearing his eyes away from the girl. “Look at her, wow!”

Y/N threw her arms around him and snuggled close to his body, hugging him from the side. She just couldn’t contain her happiness by him being there for her family. Lando only tore his eyes away from Ollie to look at his best friend for a second. He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and rested a hand on her knee. That was his way to tell her that she was doing a good job.

After the presentation was over, the duo went backstage to pick Olivia to go out for dinner. The little girl was still dressed in her ballerina attire, now with a huge smile on her face as she ran excitedly towards them. But there was only one person she had her eyes for.

“Uncle Lando!”, she shouted, rushing her pace to him, who squatted to hug her. Norris waited for the impact and relaxed once he felt her tiny arms wrapped around his neck. “You came!”

“Of course I came! I wouldn’t miss the best ballerina in town doing her beautiful performance on stage”, he leaned back to look her in the face, the smile never faltering from his face. “You look so beautiful, wow. I’m so proud of you!”

“Thank you”, Ollie giggled, her tiny hands landing on his cheeks, making his smile even wider. Then he pulled the bouquet in his hands and showed it to the girl, who sparkled her eyes at the sight of the flowers. 

“These are for you”, he said, and Ollie quickly wrapped her hands around the bouquet, pulling them closer to her face to smell it. She started jumping in excitement before pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Oh, that’s nice”.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”, Olivia said. “I love you, uncle Lando”.

“I love you too, baby”, he declared before picking her up from the floor, walking towards Y/N, whose eyes were welled up with tears from watching the interaction between them. He whipped it off with one of his thumbs before pulling his best friend for a group hug.

“Why are you crying, mummy?”, Olivia asked, her cheeks pressed between Lando and Y/N’s body. 

“Oh, it’s because you look so beautiful. I’m so proud!”, she giggled. “These are happy tears, I promise”.

“I love you too, mummy. Just as much as I love uncle Lando”, the girl declared, making Lando’s heart warm up with the comment.

“I love you too, Ollie”, Y/N pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead. “Are you hungry, baby? Uncle Lando is taking us for dinner”.

“And you get to choose where”, he smirked, making Olivia even more excited with the proposition. 

“McDonald’s!”, she shouted, making Lando laugh. Then he looked at Y/N, who had that ‘I told you so’ look on her face. “I want a burger, nuggies, fries and ice cream. Oh, and the little toy”.

“Your wish is my command”.

Lando always bent over backwards to see Olivia smile. He bought everything she wished to eat, and she was stuffed with goodies that made her belly warm. Then she filled him in with everything that was going on in her life, making Y/N sit back, eat her burger, and admire the interaction between them. He had been helping her with food as he listened carefully to every single world she was saying. It was good to have someone else taking care of her, lifting the weight off her shoulders for a second. By the time they were done, Norris held both of his girls' hands and walked to his car, ready to go home with them.

Olivia fell asleep on the way home as they had a very quiet ride, only listening to some of Lando’s chill music. Then he helped carry her inside when they arrived, as Y/N opened the door and got her daughter’s bed ready for the night. She changed the little girl’s clothes and tucked her in bed, not forgetting her signature forehead kiss before leaving. Norris watched it from the door with a tender smile on his face. He pulled his friend by the elbow, engulfing her in a comforting, long hug. 

In the quietness of her house, everything felt perfectly into place. Lando rarely gets those moments alone with his best friend when they are rushing around the paddock. So whenever he sees the opportunity, he takes it. And they stood there, holding each other for a few minutes until he pulled Y/N out of the room. She takes care of both him and Olivia all the time. It’s only fair that he took care of her sometimes.

Norris sat her down on the couch and quickly picked a few items from her room, such as a soft blanket, along with some skincare to take off her makeup and make her relax. Then he sat next to her and patted his lap, just so she could lie down and rest. Lando softly ran wipes across her face, removing her make up before putting a relaxing face mask on her skin. Then he massaged her scalp as she sighed in comfort, enjoying every second of that treatment. He finished the skincare with moisturizer and a little kiss on her forehead, making her smile.

“I don’t deserve you”, she commented as Lando blushed. “Seriously, Ollie and I are so lucky to have you in our lives”.

“I’m just taking care of the people that I love”, he shrugged. “Do you want some tea?”

“I want some wine”, she giggled, making him tag along. “I think there’s a bottle in the fridge and the glasses are still in the same place”.

Lando shot up from his seat, but quickly came back with the bottle, an opener and two glasses. He wasn’t someone to drink much, but he would never refuse this bonding time with his best friend. Still, he poured just a little in his glass before toasting with Y/N.

“God, I’m so tired”, she vented. “I can't sleep when I'm away from Ollie”.

“I know”, he squeezed her knee and Y/N leaned her head into his shoulder. “It sucks having to be away all the time. But I promise you’re doing great in this parenting thing”.

“If you think so”, she shrugged. Most times, Y/N second-guesses herself, wondering if she was being a good mother by leaving her child every other week with their grandmother, only to travel to another country. But she knew that was the only way to provide Ollie with the best life she could have; after all, the salary is very good.

“I know it”, Lando assures. “Olivia is the sweetest kid of all time. She’s kind, funny, very talented and polite. And she absolutely loves you, because you are the best mother in the world”.

“Thanks, Lan”, she smiled at him. “I’m glad she has someone like you in her life. I’m glad to have someone like you in mine”.

“I’ll always be here for you and Ollie, you know that. I’ll take care of you both until the end of my days”, he promised, pulling his best friend for a quick kiss on the crown of her head. “And in the end, everything is worth it, right?”

“Olivia is always worth it”, she assured him, opening the biggest smile. “She’s everything to me. And it’s crazy how much someone can mean to you. But I guess motherhood is always like this”.

“I can’t wait to be a dad. I know I’m going to love it just as much as being a godfather”, he said. “You’re going to enjoy being a godmother someday too”.

“I will be the proudest auntie in the world! Your kid will love me because I’ll pamper them with all the love I can give”.

Deep down, Lando knew he didn’t want Y/N to be the godmother of his children. He has known for a while that he wanted her to be their mother; to be the one he raised a family with through the years. He was very happy whenever he was with her and Olivia, loving more than anything that little family he built with his best friend, so he wanted that to grow even more, maybe with some children of their own.

But confessing his feeling for Y/N tonight, or any night in the near future, wasn’t in Lando’s plans. He would rather just enjoy this little family without taking the risk of losing it for unrequited love. After all, if it didn’t work out, he loses both of the loves of his life.

“Are you staying the night?”, she broke the silence after a few minutes just listening to the sound of television, as they finished their wine together.

“Of course. Did you think I was going to pass the opportunity of cuddling with you?”, he frowned. “I was pissed when McLaren didn’t book us at the same hotel, so I could have an excuse to sneak into your room”.

“Well, you’re the famous driver, McLaren golden boy. I’m just the comms girl. Not all of us can stay at swanky hotels”.

“You deserve the swankiest of them”, Lando said, making Y/N flustered with his comment.. “Come on, you barely can keep your eyes opened. Let’s go to bed”.

He swiped her off her feet and carried her to the bedroom as she tried to laugh quietly to not wake Olivia up. Lando threw her in the mattress as he laughed along, but immediately went into ‘take care mode’ when they were inside those four walls. He chose a comfortable pyjama for Y/N and picked some of his clothes, which he conventionally left in her house for nights like these, then went into her bathroom so they could have some privacy to change.

After they were both dress, Lando hopped into bed too and quickly found his favourite spot: his head resting on her chest, with his arms engulfing her in the most comfortable hug. He felt the tiredness of the weekend crash his body, but he felt relaxed to be in his favourite girl’s arms.

“Does Ollie have school tomorrow?”, he asked, feeling Y/N nod, even with her eyes closed.

“She does, I have to be up very early tomorrow”, she groaned, already feeling too lazy to wake up early tomorrow. 

 “I can take her to school, don’t worry”, he said, wanting to take this weight off Y/N’s back. After all, he could very much take care of Olivia for her, as he had done countless times before. “And then after classes, we can all do something fun, like going to a park or something. Maybe I can take her to a toyshop and she can buy anything that she wants”.

“Don’t spoil my child too much. I don’t want her to grow as a spoiled kid. You’ll ruin her!”

“I will”, he giggled. “But Olivia deserves everything in the world and more”.

They fell quiet for a moment, and Lando was sure that Y/N had already fallen asleep. That until her fingers rolled in his curls, making him hum in satisfaction. He wanted that feeling for the rest of his life. He wanted to sleep next to her every night until the end of days.

And then came the three words he always adored hearing from her.

“I love you, Lan”, she mumbled. “Thank you for being the best friend one could ever wish for”.

Even after being friend zoned, Lando didn’t care about anything else, feeling his chest burning in adoration for his favourite girl. “I love you too, baby”, he whispered back, his words carrying more than he actually wanted to mean. 

⋘ 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 // 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 ⋙

𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 . 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 - @celestialams @kapsylia @igotnorrrizz @hiireadstuff @bishhhitsaurion @mrsmaybank13 @bborra @sltwins @riccdannyf1 @67-angelofthelordme-67 @ctrlyomomma @lan4cha16 @alltoomaples @ellen3101 @hellyesjaehyun @tastebaldwin @sweate-r-weathe-r @carmenita122 @m0cha-bunny @lqvesoph @itscrzy @fangirlvibez @poppyflower-22 @livelovesports @logischeroktopus @happy-jj @saturnbloom77 @formulaal @secretgal66 @taisferrari-blog @sunsshinesunny @eclipsedcherry @tems13 @readingbringsjoy @timmispeach @kenzeyeballs @alilcloudy @rchitect-2015 @tillyt04 @eringaitskill @Honeyhatty12 @dreamercrowd @demig0d0fapollo @mxmtewnz @whatamidoingwithmylife-ramdom @beyond-the-ashes @ijustgomessitupx @floraav @laiba26mindflay3r @marialovesf1 @sltwins @lizaschronicles @katieschry1 @loveofmylife12 @diaa-20 @urfavsgf @likedbygaslyy @notturlover @c-losur3 @brizzy-xo @gorgrussell @ellasaddiction2 @morketheduck @kravitzwhore @darkacademicvibes @jenna123456789 @crispymcniall @arsyao @phantomxoxo @noobmaster6931 @ohlahlaa @c0rpsecore @rafegirly @darleneslane @annalisenelson @nataliambc @amorydsmt @slytherinholland @hstylesmermaid @harrysdimples05 @xxbaby-dollxx @neilakk @xxx-betty

[fraugwinska]

Could you do a backstory to Hard Day? Like, how Al decided to give up control, and the first time it happened 🥺🙏

Ummm... well, I may have gotten myself a bit lost in this one :D Idk, It's gotten quite out of hand, 2,5 k words... but...um yeah :D Praying you like it :> Attention - we cook with Chili, not salt today! (MDNI)

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

The hardest Day

„That's so unrealistic! I mean, in what world would a lion eat bugs instead of the fucking fat juicy PIG?!“

„It's a kids movie, asshole, shut up!“

The gang was sprawled out in front of the TV, blankets and popcorn everywhere. Charlie got her hands on a rare copy of 'The Lion King', and invited everyone to a 'nice, unproblematic, quiet' movie night. She didn't account for Angel's constant commentary, Husk's annoyed retorts to him or Niffty's gleeful giggling at the most unfitting scenes. Vaggie, frustrated by them, started adding to the chaos, sending scolding remarks in intervals at either of them, while Charlie tried to mediate in between songs – which she always sang along with.

You, however, were highly entertained – even though you didn't catch anything from the movie, just watching them was amusing enough. The only one missing was Alastor, who had 'business to attend' and was gone since breakfast ended.

He would've hated it anyway, you knew he had no interest in movies, let alone modern ones, and group activities like these were often straining on his patience. Although getting in the hotel last, you were the one who grew the closest to him. Why? You couldn't say definitively. Maybe it was because you never took his veiled jabs by heart. Maybe because you didn't treat him the way the others wanted you to – with care, with ignorance, with suspicion; but instead with respect, an open mind and without judgment. Maybe it was because you could challenge him – discussions about books you both read could last hours, with points given to either side equally – no winner, no loser, both richer.

You liked Alastor. Really liked him. You also had a silly, little crush on him, for a while now, but you kept that to yourself, nothing going further than a few flirtatious moments 'in good fun', calling each other 'doe' and 'buck' with a laugh. A joke between friends. Friendship, you decided, was enough for you, if it was for him.

The entrance doors slammed suddenly, making you all jump in your seats. Alastor stood at the door, looking... different. Stressed? You cocked a brow when you saw his eye twitch, while he sauntered over to the group.

„Al, do you want to join us? We're watching a movie!“, Charlie said absent-mindedly, her eyes glued to the scene of 'Can you feel the love tonight'.

Alastor gave the TV set a judgmental smile and waved his hand. „Tempting, but it has been a rather hard day, I'll just take a drink and retreat to my room, dear.“ He left the group and went to the bar, your pair of eyes the only one following him. Something was NOT right. His smile was tight, his eyes wider than usual, his movements almost jagged instead of fluid. Niffty had jumped to the bar too, insisting on helping Alastor by retrieving a glass for his whiskey from one the higher shelves. In her eagerness to climb and get it, she didn't watch her steps careful enough, resulting in a few delicate wine glasses sliding from the shelfves and breaking into a hundred tiny pieces. Alastor's reaction was as unexpected as it was worrying – he always had a soft spot for Niffty, laughing over her antics and chaotic energy, often encouraging her even to produce more mayhem. This time, however, he started to scold the maid, who blinked at him with a big, guilty eye and trembling lips.

„Such indignation, really Niffty. Clean the shards at once, and try not to remain to be such a clumsy clot.“, he almost hissed, grabbing the bottle and a simple crystal glass before striding away hastily. Your eyes followed his figure until he turned the corner to the staircase, then you got up and comforted the little demon, helping her sweeping up the glass pieces while she sniffeled tears away.

You let your gaze swipe over the group, completely ignorant about what happened with Niffty, and Alastor. Ignorant of the blatantly obvious bad mood of the deer demon.

Turning to Charlie, you whispered to her that you had a headache and would be going to bed, to which she just nodded. No one acknowledged your leave, all eyes on the screen and still bickering noisily. A bunch of friends, you are, you thought annoyed with a shaking head.

Three flights of stairs later, you reached Alastor's room. You pressed your ear to the door, and heard dull bangs, like something was thrown, and a muffled voice. You knocked, and the room instantly stilled.

„Alastor, it's me.“, you said loudly, brows furrowed. „Are you okay?“

A few seconds of silence. „I'm just fine and dandy my dear.“

You put one hand on the door. He normally would open it, to speak with you directly, face uncomfortably close to face, just the way he liked it. But it stayed close.

„You didn't look fine.“, you stated. You were ever so stubborn.

„Well, I am fine. Now shoo, darling, good night.“

You stood in front of the wooden divider, contemplating. You could just go. Leave him be, wait until tomorrow. See if he would talk to you then. But then, there was your gut. And it told you Alastor wasn't well. And that just didn't sit right with you.

„Alastor. Please, let me in.“

No response, just hint of the prickling feeling of static electricity on your skin.

„I know something is bothering you, and I'm worried.“

No response. You breathe in and out.

„I'm not going anywhere until you open the...“

The door flew open, a hand wrapped around your arm and pulled you into the room, violently. You stumbled and fell against a bookshelf, catching the fall with your hands to keep you upright. You heard a slam and a click – door closed, door locked. The static was everywhere now, flushing in waves over your body. You turned around -

Alastor was pacing like a wounded animal, he seemed fluffed up, as if every hair on his body had decided to stand up. His scleras were dark pits, blackest black, and in it his irises burned angrily in crimson flames, now focusing solely on you. The prey.

„So you came to test my patience too, dear?“, he snarled, his voice so distorted it ached in your ears. „It's not enough that that waste of cables destroyed two of my radio towers. Not enough that dozens of my most profitable souls have been rendered useless by an angelic bomb. Not enough that I not only had to put the disgraceful flat screened wretch back in his place, but also his vulgar boy toy and their brazen, attention-seeking brat.“

He grew in size as he ranted, you watched him reaching the ceiling, antlers scraping along the walls. „I manage my weakening territories, manage these imbeciles who think they can play overlords, I manage this sad excuse of a hotel, I manage the princess's unattainable ideas, and now, I also need to manage you, too, of all people? What a disappointm...“

„Stop.“

You held up a hand. Alastor growled, fluffing up even more, limbs cracking and static popping. „How dare y...“

„Stop.“, you said again. Your tone was calm, void of anger, or fear, neutral and steady. He stared at you, and you held his gaze. „Breathe, Alastor.“

You saw him fighting with himself. He fought against his instinct to oppose, to command, to put you into your place, to rip you apart. His elongated claws scraped over the floor, ripping deep ridges in the wood.

„Breathe.“, you repeated, firmer this time.

Slowly, gradually, Alastor shrunk. Breathed. Crumbled. Until he was back to his usual size and form, only with an exhausted expression.

You studied him – you've never seen him like that. He never allowed anyone to see him as something other than 'the radio demon': Powerful, unshakeable, quick on his feet and always one step ahead. How exhausting it must be. To always have the control also meant to always carry responsibility, to always fear impending failure.

Your heart whispered to you, and you followed it's advice. It could be the most stupid thing you could do, but you decided to do it anyway.

„Come here, Alastor.“

He looked at you, unsure, suspicious. You sounded commanding, but not harsh. Inviting. Like a hand, reached out to someone trapped. For a moment, you almost thought you ruined everything – his eyes left yours, they fell to the ground as he shifted on his feet.

But then – steps. Coming closer. Stopping right in front of you. And suddenly..

His head on your shoulder. His breath on your neck. His voice in your ear.

„Sometimes I'm so sick of it all. Sick of maneuvering, sick of ruling, governing, planning...“

You touched his neck, he let you, caressing the soft skin, heated from his outburst, trembling slightly at the contact. It was intimate, baring this vulnerable part to you. You heart broke for him.

He pulled himself away from you, searching for your eyes. Finding them again, he took your hand, bringing it up to his face, guiding your fingers over his lips. He just said one word.

„Please.“

So much was said with this please. You heard every message. Giving up control, just for a bit, just with something he didn't care enough about to insist on ruling, could be a small bit of freedom. Letting himself be guided instead of leading.

“Kneel down, Alastor.”

His ears pressed flat against his head, but he did as he was told. He couldn't look you in the eyes. For once, you were the one towering over him. You took his face in your hands, pulling it so he looked up to you, seeing your warm smile before your lips met his.

His breath hitched, stuck somewhere in his throat.

You slid one hand to the back of his neck, pulling him closer, the other caressing his cheek as you tilted your head and deepened the kiss. Slowly, the rigidity melted away, he started to shift, lips no longer stiff but soft and molding against your own.

He tried to stand up, but you pushed him down, gently, definitively.

“Trust me to guide you, buck.”

He breathed, one, two, three times, eyes closed, grin tight.

“Yes, doe.”

Your own excitement took a back seat. You were filled with pure energy at the thought of crossing the line with him, having Alastor in a way you only dreamed about, convinced your relationship would never come this far. But. But this was not about you, for now. Maybe, another time. If another time ever came.

You lowered yourself on him, straddling him, so you were still 'taller', and rejoined your lips. You took his hands and set them on your hips, let them rest there while you buried yours in his hair, tugging lightly to bend his head back. His initial resistance lessened, and he gave in, exposing his throat, gray skin peeking out of his high collar. You let your mouth travel to his jawline, down to the small patch of delicate, thin skin, right next to his jugular. You felt him tense, felt his rising urge to protect himself from your potential strike. You let out a soft hum as you started to lick it, sucking gently, just a bit, just to make him shiver at the sensation. And how he did.

A moan, low and sweet like the strumming of a cello, escaped him, his hands crushing your hips by the force of his grip. It hurt, but you decided to ignore it. Little steps.

“Can you take more, good boy?”

His eyes snapped open, burning furiously. You met them with calmness, with a soft matter-of-fact-ness. Not smug, not mocking. A question. Proceed or Stop?

Alastor swallowed hot saliva. You could see he was getting overwhelmed, overstimulated, and yet, he had such a longing in his eyes, such desperation.

“Yes.”

One simple word. One spark, setting your body on fire. You tried to force your trembling fingers to steady, lifting yourself slightly off him to open his trousers. With every button, his breaths grew heavier, his grip on your legs grew tighter, claws already digging in your skin and drawing blood.

“Careful, buck. I'll need these in a moment.”, you said, placing both hands on his chest, pushing him flat on his back on the ground. He let you go, arms falling useless next to him.

You leaned forward, thanking any deity that would listen you decided to wear a skirt today, and placed a hand on his growing bulge. He hissed at the touch, cracking the floor as his fingers clawed into the wood of the floor instead your fleshy legs.

Freed from it's cage, Alastor's dick was already dripping with beads of precum, a sight to behold. You wrapped your fingers around it, feeling the warmth and bloodflow, it twitched in your hand. You stroke him, eliciting the most sinful noises from the demon under you.

You took a deep breath. One more, one question more, to make sure that he wanted it.

“Look at me, Alastor.”

He sat up on his elbows, looking more helpless than you've ever imagined he could. Even his smile wavered, threatening to break. You were looking for any signs of hesitation, disgust, resistance, regret. You only found desire. A want, a need, almost pleading eyes.

Your free hand pushed your panty away, enough to expose your lips, and you lowered yourself onto him, his length slowly entering you. He was big, you were tight. A bittersweet combination. Sparks flew before your eyes as he stretched you, but you were hypnotized by his eyes.

They were blown wide, returned to black, but the irises now flickering into dials, turning, left to right as he groaned. You moved, guiding your hips up and down, feeling yourself molding to his shape in the most delectable way, and getting drunk off the look on his face.

You increased the pace on which you pushed yourself on him, adding a little tilt of your hips to take him even deeper. His voice was reduced to a static-y mess, hums and groans and moans bleeding into each other. You placed both of your hands on his chest for more support, inevitably pinning him down. His hands flew to yours, threatening to push them off him, but instead, he entwined his fingers with yours, panting heavily.

It didn't take long for him to feel the pressure, unbearable and urgent, his release approaching at godspeed.

“Doe, I can't...”

Panic in his tone. He tried to put his hands on your waist to pull you off. You understood immediately – an upbringing in conservative times, decades of living by the rules of a gentleman, he was resisting against the thought of cumming inside you. You pushed his hands away.

“Yes, you can.”, you stated, smiling at him, a hint of wickedness in your eyes. “And you will.”

Your skilled movements and dedicated demeanor sent him over the edge immediately. Protests were futile as he came in you forcefully, you felt his cock pumping his seed deep into you, hot and thick as you rocked him through his orgasm. Your own high wasn't worth chasing, too far away to matter. You didn't even think about it – nothing could feel better than this.

Alastor ran his hands over his forehead, sweeping away beads of sweat as his breath calmed down.

His hand shot out to grab you, and, still impaled by him, he pulled you into his chest, invading your mouth with his tongue to kiss you possessively. As if to transfer the command, the control he had given up, back to him. Taking it from you.

For a moment you were scared. The positions had reset to their default. Would that mean he'd push you off? Say goodnight and never talk about this night again? Returning to the Status Quo. Friends, the end.

Alastor pulled your chin up to look at you. His thumb ran over your cheek, tenderly and full of care. His eyes answered every question in your mind. You weren't scared anymore.

[forerussake]

Many-Coated Mayhem #1

(or, how many different fucking coats does Wu Xie own?)

So we all liked Tibetan Sea Flower, I know we did, but DID YOU ALL PROPERLY ENJOY THE MANY COATS IN THIS SHOW?

Because I sure did. When Wu Xie wore 6 different coats in the first 4 episodes I'm afraid it did something to my brain, and the result was me cataloguing every coat the man wears in all 32 episodes of this show. (Discounting his baby self in episode 1 I guess, bc I was lazy.) I'm afraid I have missed many an important piece of dialogue because I was too distracted squealing over a new coat appearance.

Honestly with how the show started I expected the final count (18) to be higher, but I guess that's what happens when your MC spends three quarters of the show in the same underground spaces. (Wu Xie at least had the good sense to not bring any unneeded extra coats on those trips. Good for him.)

If nothing else, this coat counting adventure once more provides proof for Wu Xie's love of layering the fuck up, which, in the climate most of this show is set in, is actually a smart decision.

Anyway, I counted all the coats, and now you have to deal with it. Note that I watched the show at 720p, so my screenshots are... functional at best.

Coats 1 & 2

This is a set comprised of a sand-coloured/light brown (depending on the lighting and colouring of the episode) overcoat + a fleece undercoat/hoodie type situation. He wears this when he goes to Dejia in episode 2.

This is a nice set to start with. The overcoat has many pockets and a hood with one of those little flaps to keep the rain out of your face. The fleece undercoat has a zipper that only goes half the way down, which may lead some of you to ask "but Eru, is that still a coat?" And yes. Yes it is to me. I have suffered too long at the hands of the popular rich kids in school wearing their Napapijri coats that only zip half the way down to not call this one a coat too.

This set is in fact so nice that Wu Xie decides to wear it again in episode 31, when he and Pangzi go back to the Spiritual Retreat.

This makes it it the only coat set that is worn twice! (Discounting, I guess, technically, number 12, but we'll get to that.)

Also a shot where he only wears the undercoat, so you can properly appreciate it:

I like this bit of coat continuity. The outfit Wu Xie starts this adventure in is also the one in which he ends it. ✨symbolism✨

Coats 3 & 4

This is a set made for colder climates, which at the time I thought made sense for the trip to Mosang and the Retreat in episode 2, until Wu Xie decided to wear coats 1 & 2 there as well in episode 31... Ah well... This set is comprised of a nice brown undercoat and a very fetching long blue wintery overcoat.

The overcoat is puffy but functional and comfortable. It is a dark blue on the outside, but the lining on the inside is green. Here's a shot for you to properly appreciate the blue colour though:

Isn't that gorgeous? Especially in contrast with his sand-coloured backpack. In hindsight I could've probably counted those too, because he uses at least 3 different ones that I can remember over the course of this show.

The brown undercoat is nice too. it has a collar that can be zipped up pretty high for extra insulation, and some (what I assume to be) velcro straps to tighten the sleeves around the wrists.

This is probably my favourite set of coats he wears in the entire show, which is a crying shame because after Zhang Haike kills him in it in episode 3 (or does he?) he never wears it again.

Coats 5 & 6

I don't know if Wu Xie's entire backpack for trips like these is just filled to the brim with coats, or if he gets Wang Meng to send him more coats by mail whenever he decides he wants a different one... Honestly, neither is a reassuring answer. Poor backpack. Poor Wang Meng. Wu Xie, please don't forget to bring a water bottle on your tomb adventures.

Anyway, coats 5 and 6 form the set Wu Xie changes into after the whole fiasco with the heads and the not-actually-dying in episode 4. It's comprised of a blue and grey undercoat that he starts out wearing on its own but is later supplemented with a thiqq puffy green-ish grey wintercoat.

As you can see, the undercoat has zippers in various places that I am not entirely sure are practical places for pockets.

The overcoat he wears for the first time during the bug hallucination sequence in episode 6, and I was briefly convinced that coat itself was a hallicination too that died a valiant death in the battle against the bugs, but then it showed up again afterwards.

Not visible in these shots is that it is a relatively short wintercoat that only about reaches down to his hips. Regardless, it must be soft in its floofiness, because clearly Pangzi likes to pet it (and his boyfriend who is wearing it.)

Coat 7

This is a white coat that is such pristine white Xiao Hua could've worn it. Underneath it he wears a funky little hoodie that I really can't get away with calling an undercoat, because it just isn't. It's a hoodie.

Wu Xie changes into this white coat halfway through the meeting with the Zhang siblings and Feng and his crew of mercenaries in episode 7, for no apparent reason. Maybe he senses that they will be leaving soon and decides he wants to be cold in the meantime.

He wears this coat during his and Pangzi's daring not-escape attempt, and then at the Zhang's base of operations in Dejia in episode 10 and onwards. (Sorry imaginary Xiaoge I almost cropped you out there. You have a nice coat too, but neither of you can beat Pangzi's coat above. He is the coat king.)

This coat has a layer of soft grey lining that confused me for a little while. At first I couldn't quite tell whether it was a separate piece of clothing or just part of the coat, but I think it's the second.

According to this screenshow from episode 21, this coat is apparently from a Korean brand called Kolon Sports.

...Do with that information what you want.

Coat 8

This is a simple black raincoat that appears in episode 9.

Wu Xie has apparently brought this coat all the way up the mountain in his backpack with the single purpose of exchanging it for Xiaoge's coat on the statue that he couldn't have known would be there... He has never worn it in this show. No one will wear it ever again.

Coats 9 & 10

This is the set he wears for the entirety of the Nilaisi tomb adventure starting in episode 11. It's comprised of a denim undercoat/hoodie thingy and a sand-coloured weirdly textured overcoat that I can't believe actually looks good on him.

The undercoat only zips (or velcros?) part of the way down, and he never closes the overcoat for what I assume to be fashion reasons. In a tomb. This entire outfit was very fashion-over-function, what with the black chunky sneakers he wears in place of a good old pair of hiking boots. IN A TOMB.

Coat 11

This is the simple blue-ish raincoat Wu Xie wears to party with the Zhangs in their Dejia HQ in episode 17.

This coat has reflective strips on the sleeves, and he wears it over a gorgeous blue knit jumper. He promptly gets stabbed in this outfit, so we never see either of these clothing items again, and for all that it's a nice coat that I would've liked to borrow from him, it's probably better that he never wears it again, because he also has the most intense mental breakdown in it that any on screen Wu Xie has ever had:

I still can't believe they actually got away with filming the thing that comes after this shot.

Anyway, this scene paves the way for some more ✨symbolism✨in the form of:

Coat 12

Xiaoge's coat. The one Wu Xie nabbed off the statue. We never get shown how that coat ended up draped over the statue, but I assume Xiaoge must've left it there at some point, for some reason. (Did he have a Wang Meng to air-mail him a different coat afterwards too? Probably not. He must've been cold on the hike back down the mountain.)

This is the point at which I realized my coat obsession just became plot-relevant and consequently went even more nuts about it.

It's a very simple blue raincoat that fits him decently, for all that he and Xiaoge probably should've worn different sizes. The sleeves are a bit short on him maybe, which amuses me. Wu Xie truly out there living up to his most lanky boy potential! <333

For some reason it's a different coat than the one imaginary Xiaoge wore in episode 10, because that would have been too much symbolism I guess. But I gotta give NPSS credit for actually setting this up and following through on it. Kudos for achieveing a writer's bare minimum!

Coat 13

This is the long grey wintercoat Wu Xie wears from episode 21 onwards, when they go up the snowy mountain to the Yinshaluo shrine, the Second Bronze Door and the Zanghai Flower field.

It's floofy and nice and just alround a good wintercoat, and he wears this lovely warm jumper underneath it.

Oh yeah, what else did episode 21 teach us? Keep you plot-relevant coats on!

Coats 14 & 15

I'm putting these together because they are not coats in the stictest sense, but, as my good friend @programmedradly put it: "It keeps him warm and looks very fetching." These are the nice blue robes he is given by the Yinshaluo people after they save him and the others from the storm in episode 28 and 29.

The first set is a lighter blue with a brown belt and some nice floof along the bottom. (Note also Feng sitting there like the high fashion model (and apparently horse whisperer) he is.)

Meanwhile the second set is more of a warrior get-up. It's a darker blue with extra layers and protective parts at the elbows and shoulders.

I take it back, this is my favourite "coat" he wears in the show. It's beautiful and he looks great in it and it's probably the reason he doesn't die from grenade-blast-to-the-face #363 so yay!

Coat 16

The black raincoat he wears when he and Pangzi go to pick up Xiaoge from horrifically traumatic monster daycare or whatever I don't know the lore the Bronze Door in episode 32.

He wears a grey hoodie underneath it, and some sort of tactical vest over it that might just be part of the coat. Fashion!

Maybe the fashion is why he and Pangzi forgot to take their backpacks with them when they dramatically walked off towards the outside world with Xiaoge at the end of this scene.

Coat 17

Coat 17 I'm not entirely sure is a coat but i'm counting it anyway. It looks like a shirt but it's more of a jacket. The fabric is thicker than a shirt would be anyway. He wears this when the Iron Triangle arrive in Yucun in episode 32.

I'm counting this one mostly to have an excuse to show you Wu Xie's ridiculous pants. Is that black (faux) leather???? Silly man.

Coat 18

The last one! It's this little wispy thin raincoat thingy he wears when Xiaoge asks him and Pangzi to go for a hike in the mountains around Yucun in episode 32. I had a different screenshot of it that was taken two seconds before this one when Xiaoge was still in the frame, but I thought his pretty face would be too distracting, and this is a coat post after all!

Now I hear you thinking "but Eru how is this one a coat and not just a shirt?" Well you see, when you look at it closely you can tell that there's elastic in the hem at the bottom, with one of those little plastic nodules that can be used to tighten it, and the fabric is a little shiny. Classic rain coat features! (Even though it doesn't have a hood, so it's also a classic case of fashion over function, but we're used to that with Wu Xie occasionally. Looking at you there, chunky sneakers he wears in the Nilaise tomb...)

Anyway, if you've made it this far I applaud you! That's all the coats adult Wu Xie wears in Tibetan Sea Flower... or is it?

You may have noticed this post is is numbered #1... Alas I cannot put more screenshots in this post, so stay stuned for a second Coat Post!!

If you're wondering how I'm still sane after watching this show through this lens instead of literally any other one. I am in fact not.

[hvman-scvm]

NECROLUST || SIMON “GHOST” RILEY

PAIRING ;; SIMON “GHOST” RILEY / SENTIENT ! ZOMBIE ! READER (MALE, YOU/YOUR PRNS USED)

SUMMARY ;; love beyond the grave ig

CW ;; Simon is kinda sick on the head but we love him anyways, borderline romantic necrophilia ?? I guess. No actual smut included tho, usual zombie stuff like rotting n whatnot, established relationship, kind of silly ngl ?

WRITER’S NOTE ;; the title is a mayhem song bcuz I’m a total poser. There’s so much stuff 4 zombie ! Ghost which - don’t get me wrong- I like, but there’s barely any love 4 zombie ! Reader, and luckily ghost is just full of it.

Simon sighed in focus, a medical needle in hand as he sewed up your jaw for what had to be the 100th time, not that he minded; he loved taking care of you. It was hard to keep your jaw in place with how soft your rotting flesh is, how it kept ripping with the smallest movements.

He shook off a maggot that crawled into his hand, tying off the last thread and leaning in to kiss the newly sewed up, slimy skin where your jaw connects to the top of your skull.

“Better?” He spoke softly, he knew you understood him, although you never spoke back. The way your clouded eyes landed on his briefly let him knew that you not only hear him, but understand what he’s saying to you. As you moved your jaw up and down experimentally, you rapidly moved forward, trying to latch your teeth on whatever of ghost’s flesh you would reach first. But he was faster, tutting as he put a hand over your mouth, not affected by the sight of your maggots crawling over his gloves.

“Bad. No biting.” He said as if he was speaking to an untrained dog, before patting your head almost condescendingly. He reached around for the muzzle they keep on you and quickly attached it over your head, receiving a growl in response.

“You’ll be fine, love.” He said sincerely, looking at you sadly; he missed you. He missed being able to have conversations with you and feeling your warm skin on his own. He brought you to his chest, getting another growl. He sniffled, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he kissed the top of your head. “They’ll find a cure, I promise.”

It was a daily routine; he’d patch you up, then getting overwhelmingly sad at your helpless state- at his helpless state. He wished he could find a way to bring you back. But a part of him, a part he buried deep inside himself, found enjoyment in this. He loved how reliant you were on him in your rotting state, loved the way your clouded eyes held eye contact with him and how incomprehensible growls would leave your rotting vocal cords whenever he would ask a question.

He caressed the top of your head, kissing it gently as he leaned his face on it. The smell of rot filled his nostrils, and he found himself taking it in by inhaling deeply. It was intoxicating.

[ssaaaronmontgomery]

Morning, Mon

I'm thinking about after Hotch was in the bombing in Mayhem and lost some of his hearing, with reader who would be careful to always be on the side of his 'good' ear, or always really enunciate their words and try to speak with their mouth clearly in front of him since he has to rely on lipreading a bit more these days. Plus! they would totally show Jack to do the same since he loves to babble happily to his dad, but he sometimes misses what's being said. Being hotch though he's always too embarrassed to admit when he needs help or can't hear.

Have a blessed day, Beautiful

A Helping Hand

Warnings: Hearing loss, brief mention of the bombing, Hotch being too proud to ask for help (but eventually does), fluff.

Word count: 806

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x gn!reader

A/n: Oh yes yes!! This is one of the more recent ones I've seen when rewatching some of CM. It might be less of a fic?? Idk. BUT I'm posting it as one anyway 😌. Sorry if this isn't exactly what you wanted </3. I hope it's still enjoyable though :) This one was also not proofread so I apologise if there are any mistakes.

Forever tags: @greg-montgomery @boredelle @hotchsdoormat @ssahotchnerr @criminalskies @beardedhotchh @hotchnerbau @mrs-ssa-hotch @ssamorganhotchner (let me know if you want to be added🫶)

After the bombing and Aaron losing some of his hearing in one ear you've tried to be considerate of his new situation and how he lives now. You know he doesn't always catch everything that's being said to or around him but you also know he hates asking for people to speak louder and more clearly because of his hearing.

You've taken it upon yourself to do whatever you can to help him. And if everyone thought you liked being around him before, they should see you now. You're by his side almost constantly when you're on cases. It started when you noticed Aaron furrowing his brows even more and trying to lean in and turn his head so he could hear the officer more clearly, whether he realised he was doing it or not. When he still looked puzzled as to what was said you had walked over to him and made sure you repeated the officer's words into Hotch's good ear. He thanked you, though he did seem a bit embarrassed that you'd had to do that for him.

Hotch needs some extra care and consideration right now and though you know he hates needing extra help, or any help for that matter, he does need it. And you're happy to help him however you can. You're stuck to his side often. Even outside of work.

When everything happened and Aaron was spending time at home more, you visited every day if there wasn't a case. The first couple times you were there, you noticed Jack rambling about everything that popped into his head but Aaron was clearly not catching most of what was being said. He was trying to see the boy's face which was directed downwards as he played with his toys. Aaron would hum and nod even though he wasn't getting most of it.

When Aaron stood up to get you all a snack, you explained in a very nice and simple way to Jack that his dad can't hear very well right now. That it will help Aaron if he can see his mouth when he speaks and that it's best to speak as clearly as he can. "You understand what I'm saying, bug?" He nodded and said everything back to you so you knew he understood what you meant. For such a young child he was very intelligent and very understanding. He made sure to do just what you'd explained and you could see the look on Aaron's face when he was able to hear so much more of what the boy said to him.

Aaron didn't know you'd said this to his son. But if he knew, he'd have been very grateful regardless of the embarrassment he'd have felt. Because knowing what his son loves and wants to tell him all about is far more important to him than anything else.

Whenever Aaron was on the plane you always sat next to him, making sure to be on the side of his good ear. He noticed this after the first few times. He never mentioned it, though you knew he'd figured it out quickly.

He appreciated it. You always made sure he was fully informed and aware of what was happening. If someone threw an idea into the open and he looked a little lost, you would repeat it in his good ear. Or if you hadn't realised he missed something he would look to you and if you made eye contact he leaned in a little closer to you and you'd tell him then. Or if you hadn't been looking at him he would give you a slight nudge to get your attention. He was starting to get more comfortable asking for help, but only with you. He still wouldn't ask anyone else.

Everyone tried to be mindful and considerate. But they didn't go to the extent that you did.

Aaron's new situation was frustrating and irritating to him. It caused him more stress than he already had, which you knew was quite a bit. Sometimes it would overwhelm him and you were always there to pull him back down and comfort him. You were always there for him to lean on for support. He knew you didn't do all of this out of pity, but rather out of love and care and understanding for him.

There were a couple of times that he came to you in need of a shoulder to cry on. Both times it was mostly about him being afraid he'd never hear the same and that he would miss things he had taken for granted when he could hear them. He wasn't embarrassed around you anymore, especially not about this. He knew he could always come to you for support and he was always thanking you for how much you've helped him.

[sundrop-writes]

Your First Kiss With Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson x Gender Neutral Reader

Summary:

The Titans have faced a lot together, but never something quite as troubling as the possible return of an inter-dimensional demon that shreds apart worlds and leaves nothing standing in its wake.

You hate to admit it, but even standing with your team - you're afraid. Dick tries his best to comfort you, but for once during his career as noble, selfless team leader - he takes a moment to be selfish, and does something that he has been avoiding doing for years.

Dick Grayson x Gender Neutral Reader. Childhood Friends to Lovers. Angst and Fluff. Set during Season 4, Episode 6.

Word Count: 2,900

DC Titans Masterlist | AO3 Link

Detailed warnings and author's notes below the cut.

Warnings: this one is a bit more on the angsty side; this fic features major spoilers for season 4 (and for the majority of the show) - so if you're watching it for the first time or you haven't seen it yet and you want to watch it spoiler free, then avoid this fic for now; the reader character is completely gender neutral - the only pronouns used for the reader are you/yours; the reader is one of the original Titans; the reader and Dick are childhood friends through the Justice League - the reader is the adoptive child of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (the reader is a talented marksman and trained in combat); the reader is mentioned to be an orphan (again, aren't all good superheroes); major pining from Dick - he has had a crush on the reader since they were kids (most of this is from his POV, so it's not specified if the reader has returned his feelings for just as long); mentions of canon character deaths; a lot of this is from Dick's POV so - warnings for Dick being emotionally constipated and referring to romantic feelings as a 'disease'; this is an AU where Dickkory never happened; mentions of canon violence - not described in graphic detail; mentions of the apocalypse/the world ending (and the anxiety this can cause); the reader is feeling extreme fear/anxiety due to the possible end of the world; technically - unresolved pining. I believe that's it.

A/N: The second part of the First Kiss series! I had a lot of fun with this one. This is the first really romantic fic I have written for Dick, and I enjoyed it so much omg. I was so tempted to write an enemies to lovers version with him, because he annoys me so much in the canon, and I feel like 'kissing in the middle of a heated argument' would work so well with his character - but maybe we'll save that one for Jason (or Hank, idk). instead, I went with emotionally constipated Dick Grayson, because that is sooo canon. he would not admit his feelings for someone if he had a gun to his head. and I had a lot of fun writing this mostly from his POV. I feel like he is such an interesting POV character to work with, so I might do more from him in the future. anyway, please enjoy!!

...

Stress. 

There were few other words to describe the horrible feeling that was dense in the air around them. 

Everyone was looking to Dick for answers, and unfortunately, he had none. Sebastian was missing, likely kidnapped by Mother Mayhem in order to complete a ritual that would likely mean the end of the world. Rachel had lost her powers and the Titans needed her unique form of magic now more than ever. Tim was impatient, annoyed because Dick wasn’t letting him use the minimal training that he had. But of course, Dick was hesitant to let the next would-be Robin off the bench after what had happened to Jason. 

(Dick could barely bring himself to think about Jason these days.) 

Kory was having difficulty controlling her newfound powers, and so was Gar. Which left the team weakened on all sides. Jinx was helpful on the magic front, but she was far from easy to control when it came to executing plans and corralling her rather wild personality. 

And Dick didn’t even want to think about what was happening with Conner. He just had to pray that this whole shaved-head, Lex Luthor impression was part of his mourning for his would-be father, and hopefully - it would be temporary. 

All of the chaos among the team left Dick leaning on you. As usual, you were likely the only person on the team who wasn’t experiencing any extreme drama. You were the only Titan with some true stability. 

And you were the person on the team with the most experience. Even more than Dick himself. Beyond being part of the original Titans team that had helped to found The Tower, you had been trained under Oliver Queen, who was part of the Justice League as Green Arrow. Ollie had taken you on as his own child when your parents died and left him as your carer in their will. Naturally, early into your childhood, he had started training you in the art of combat and marksmanship - so you grew up with intense skill. 

You and Dick met soon after he was adopted by Bruce. And much like Donna, you were a kind face and a wise voice that kept him mentally grounded well into adulthood. But you were also someone mischievous that made him smile; someone he could always turn to for a well timed laugh. 

You always kept him sane. 

And very much unlike Donna - soon after he met you, Dick started to develop feelings for you. 

Of course, back then, it was just a silly crush. When he told Donna about it at the time, she laughed. And when he had hidden his face in embarrassment, she then told him that it was ‘cute’. She told him that you two would be good together when you got older. So naturally, Dick took her words as biblically concrete advice. 

He decided that he should wait for you. That the two of you would be good together when you got older. 

So he waited. 

And he waited. And eventually - life got in the way. 

He had a huge falling out with Bruce, things at the Tower went south. It was never the right time to tell you. How the hell could he tell his best friend that he had those big, terrifying feelings mounting inside of him, worsening each year like a disease? 

It was never the right time to tell you because he was dodging disasters left and right and he needed you more as a friend than as a lover. He needed you as a brick wall to lean on. He needed you as that voice of common sense in his ear - the leader’s loyal first mate, giving him advice behind the curtain and keeping his head on straight. 

He didn’t need to tell you about his awful, festering feelings and have you gone from his life too. 

When Garth died, and then Jericho died and the Tower shuddered, it still didn't feel like the right time. Wounds were tender and even if you were never downright angry at him like everyone else was - you needed your space. Dick respected that. 

That day, you stood at the mouth of the elevator, about to leave for Star City to go and lick your emotional wounds at Ollie’s for a while, and you looked at Dick with tears in your eyes - looked at him like you were waiting for him to say it. But it wasn’t the right time. 

He still thought about you every single day when he was in Detroit. And then - he showed up at your door with a scared little girl, needing more advice, needing that brick wall again. It was only natural that when chaos found him, he needed your help. 

He hated that your advice was to call in Dawn and Hank. He relied on you, and you relied on family. And he hated that they were waiting at your apartment, called against his will once he had left to do some more sleuthing. 

But he found that you were right when he saw how Dawn bonded with Rachel, when Hank put up a vicious fight against those strangers who came to collect her in the name of her father. 

Watching you get thrown off that roof sent Dick’s heart through his stomach. As he clung onto the rooftop with his fingers and the muscles of his arm burned, all he could think about was you. As you sputtered out blood and he cradled your head, unsure of how to help you, terror gripped him in a way that it never had before in his life, because he realized that he might actually lose the most important person in his life. 

As you lay in the hospital, a set of machines barely keeping you alive, with Dawn loyally holding your hand in comfort and Hank seething to get revenge on the people who had hurt you - Dick ached with regret and not having told you. 

Still, when you showed up at that house in Ohio, somehow magically awakened from your near death by Rachel's powers - Dick felt that it just wasn't the right time. He swallowed his regrets like ash in his mouth when he reunited with you, hugged you tight. He didn’t even consider telling you about his feelings to be on the radar of possibility. 

When you came back to the Tower to help bring in Doctor Light - it just wasn't the right time. When you showed up in Gotham to help bring down Red Hood - it just wasn't the right time. 

Even when Dick died and was brought back to life by some strange magical pit, a pool of waters that brought him dreams of a far off life with you - it still wasn’t the right time. 

You were there to Dick's call, loyal and waiting, every single time. You looked at him with as much love and longing in your eyes as he needed (at least, according to Dawn and Donna you did) - but still, it never felt like the right time. 

It never felt like the right time to destabilize his entire life by uprooting the one good friendship he had. It never felt like the right time to truly fuck things up with you. 

Now, because of some cult that Dick believed to be long gone and a stupid blood ritual, the world was ending, and it still didn't feel like the right time. 

He wasn't the son of a demon from another dimension, but he still felt cursed. 

When Dick saw you slip out of the room, clearly trying to sneak away from the group, his stomach twisted with nerves. It was rare that you of all people cracked under the pressure. It was rare that you needed to escape from the madness for a breath. He mumbled an excuse to Kory and then chased after you, knowing that it wouldn't be hard to tell where he was truly going - but truthfully, he didn’t care. 

He easily caught you in one of the late night deserted halls of STAR Labs. 

The many glass walls overlooked the city - a collection of bright lights that made up Metropolis. Thousands of people that you never knew, that you had never met before. People that all seemed too important now as you contemplated their lives; thought about the fact that you might not be able to save them. 

Dick saw the sickly look on your face, the glassy sheen of guilt in your eyes even from far off as you leaned on the polished titanium railing that separated the upper floors from the atrium. His footsteps echoed in the empty hall and you heard him approaching from far off. He made no effort to sneak up on you or conceal himself, not wanting to startle you when you were already in such a distressed state. 

The minute you looked over your shoulder and saw him, your face broke from that dark, doomed frown into a haste smile, and you reached up to wipe away your tears, attempting to be subtle with that motion. You were trying to hide yourself from him. 

Dick came to stand beside you, resisting the urge to pull you into his arms. He desperately wanted to shelter you away from any fear you might be feeling. Maybe it was selfish; wanting to hold you, wanting to protect you from anything in the world that could possibly harm you. Maybe it was downright idiotic - because realistically, he knew that couldn't protect you from this kind of harm. He couldn’t protect you from the world ending. 

“Y/N-” Dick murmured your name gently, clutching a fist tightly by his side to resist the urge to reach out and soothe a hand over the trembling muscles of your jaw. 

You were holding in a sob, and it came out as a harsh, sarcastic laugh instead. 

“I know.” You said. “I know. You're doing that Team Leader Guy Thing.” 

You tried to make it sound playful and joking, but with your voice wet and soaked with worry and fear, it came off as a pathetic bid to deflect. 

Dick wasn’t sure how to reply. Because yes, he was doing that ‘Team Leader Guy Thing’. He was trying his best to, anyway. 

“You're gonna ask ‘are you okay?’ and I'm gonna lie and say ‘I'm fine, boss. All good.’” You continued. 

At least you were being straightforward about it being a lie. 

Dick wished that he had something genuinely helpful to say, but his throat stalled with dryness and his chest ached at seeing you so distraught. It really wasn’t something that he was used to. 

“I mean, it's not like it's the end of the world.” You let out another dry, sarcastic laugh. 

Then, there was a moment of silence - a beat of realization as your chin quivered and more thick tears rimmed your eyes. 

“It's - it's only the end of the world.” You spoke these words heavier, dropping any false laughter in your tone - it truly hit you. Any further jokes you could make left you. 

Dick choked on his own tears when he heard the aborted sob in your chest - something that came out as a whimper when you reached up to clutch at your heart. 

You were genuinely terrified. Terrified that the Titans wouldn’t be able to find a solution in time. Terrified that everyone was going to die. Not just the people you loved, but - everyone. 

“Hey, come on.” Dick said, his leader instincts, his natural caring for you kicking in. “We've been through worse.” 

Working with the Titans, you had been through a lot. Drug busts, battling against costumed psychopaths, the loss of a dear friend to a dangerous assassin. But you weren’t sure that you had been through something worse than this. Everything the Titans had been through had never affected the world on such a large scale. 

“Have we?” You argued gently. 

Perhaps not. Maybe the only time the team had been in such dire straits was the first time Trigon attempted to come to earth. But that had been when Rachel had been armed with her powers and had been prepared to take him down. But Dick wasn't going to voice those thoughts to you. 

You waited in agony for him to say something, and your tears finally breached - rolling down your face in hot tracks, laying marks of the true fear you were feeling, laying it all bare for the first time. Dick knew that his own eyes reflected that same glossy hurt now, if only for the pain he felt in seeing you cry - something that was so incredibly rare over the time he had known you. 

Dick reached out and gently cupped the side of your cheek, running his thumb across your face and wiping some of those tears away. You were so startled by the tenderness of the touch that you couldn't help but to let out a whimper, and you felt frozen as Dick spoke his next words. 

“It's gonna be okay.” He told you, trying his hardest to sound confident in the words. “We're gonna get through this. I know we will.” 

This time, unlike many before, you couldn't be inspired by his confidence. 

“Have you - have you considered what happens if we don't?” Your voice barely reached above a whisper, barely daring to tempt fate with this possibility. 

Honestly, Dick had not. In these kinds of situations, he didn't allow himself to focus too much on the negative. As the team leader, he did have to take all the possibilities into account. It was something he had to do in order to keep everyone safe. But if he focused too much on death and darkness, much like Bruce did, then he knew that paranoia would overtake him and his team would get caught in the crossfire. 

He had to spend his time coming up with solutions to fix the problem rather than spending his time caught up in knots, worrying about what would happen if he fumbled and didn't actually fix things after all. 

The literal end of the world? It just wasn't a possibility in this mind. 

But right now, standing there, staring into your big eyes, glossed over with fear as you looked to him for answers - there was only one thing that Dick could think of. 

And it was so incredibly selfish. It didn’t have anything to do with the team or being a good leader. It didn’t have anything to do with helping the others. 

Dick brushed his thumb over your cheek again, an incredibly tentative touch that had your skin tingling. You let out a small sigh, and the world froze around you when he leaned in - slowly, moving toward you at a pace that more than gave you time to escape if you wanted to. But you found that you didn’t want to. You found his closeness to be an incredible comfort in these moments of mental chaos. 

And so, he gently planted his lips on yours. 

It should have come as a shock - your childhood best friend kissing you. But in that moment, it just felt right. All you could do was shut your eyes and lean into the kiss, reaching up to grip his wrist, keeping him close to you as you leaned into his smothering heat. His lips were surprisingly soft, and he tasted like coffee - using caffeine to keep himself awake for days, trying to marathon a solution against the impending doom. 

His kiss was firm but so giving - a touch that easily swallowed you up with heat from the top of your head all the way down to your toes. It was a sensation that pushed out the rest of the world, smothered any worries about who or what might bring an end to it. 

It was the most tender, but most wonderfully passionate kiss that you had ever experienced in your life. 

When he pulled away, you sucked in a sharp breath, suddenly feeling incomplete without his lips on yours. The shock then began to set in, like pulling the knife from a stab wound and feeling the blood rush out of you freely. It created a dizzying mixture with the heat that was now boiling under your skin. 

Why? Your brain screamed out as you stared at him. When? How long had he wanted to kiss you? How long had you been missing out on Dick Grayson? 

Dick could see all those questions bubbling beneath your surface as the fear in your eyes shifted to confusion, and he finally decided to speak. 

“I'm sorry.” He said quietly. “But if the world does end, I couldn't die without knowing what kissing you is like.” 

“Dick-” You sighed, about to go on a long rant about how he could have done that years ago, about how he should have - and the end of the world was a shitty excuse. 

But you abruptly cut off your own words when more footsteps squeaked down the hall - the rubber soles of sneakers scuffing against the polished floor. 

Dick jumped away from you as though he had been burned, clearly wanting to keep the interaction private. Both of you tuned to see Gar approaching. 

“Dick?” He posed. Gar had a look of confusion, clearly wondering if he should question what was going on between the two of you but swallowing it. 

“Yeah?” Dick replied. 

“Um - Conner's missing.” He announced this in a nervous, meek tone, not wanting to bring the team leader any more bad news. 

“What?” Dick gaped. 

There was no time to further discuss what Dick had said to you. With the end of the world in your hands, it easily fell to the back of your mind. 

...

If you enjoyed this fic, check out my DC Titans Masterlist for more of my other fics!! And please consider reblogging and commenting on this fic to tell me what you liked about it.

[tangledinink]

Oh my goodness, guess what? Chapter 29 of I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? is now up! And on a Monday, too. Gosh, just like old times. Yet another family secret is revealed from somewhere no one expected it. Read it on ao3 or below the cut!

[ prev ]

“No, no, keep watching, seriously! They’re about to do something sooo cool!”

“Leo, you say that about every stupid street magic video you make us watch,” Donnie complained, rolling his eyes. “And it’s always something stupid.”

“It’s not stupid! It’s super cool!” Leo protested, huffing loudly and glaring at his brother in offense. “I pretend to think that your dumb science stuff is cool!”

“No, you don’t!”

“Well, I could, if you didn’t say magic was stupid--”

“We can literally do actual magic!” Donnie cried, throwing his hands up. “And you’re still into this fake bullshit?”

“Yes,” Leo confirmed easily, rewinding the video slightly. “And I’m restarting so that you guys can watch properly. So there.”

Donnie groaned.

“Both of you quit fightin’,” Raph said, shifting slightly so he could look over Leo’s shoulder, seeming only mildly interested at best-- but still interested! Suck it, Donnie. Raph knew something badass when he saw it. Leo grinned, shifting slightly so he could let his brother see better.

“This is a ridiculous waste of time,” Donnie muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “We’re gonna miss the subway home.”

“We’ll get the next one,” Leo assured, waving him off. “It’s fine, Dee. There’s another train, like, every five minutes.”

“What New York City do you live in?” Raph muttered, glancing down at him and raising a brow.

“More or less!” Leo insisted. “I just wanna finish the video, and then we’ll go! We can’t go without Mikey, anyway.”

“What do you mean without--?” Raph’s head bobbed to the left. It bobbed to the right. He did a full 360 spin. “Wha-- Where the hell did he go!? He was here a minute ago!”

“He forgot his gym bag back in the locker room,” Leo said, waving a hand dismissively. “So he ran back to get it.”

“When!?”

“When you and Donnie were arguing about the best Jupiter Jim sequel, like, five minutes ago,” Leo explained breezily, leaning into his brother’s chest as he spoke, passing his weight over for Raph to hold up for the moment. Maybe physically pinning him in place would keep his head from vibrating off his shoulders. It usually helped. “Chill. He’ll be back in a second and then we’ll get out of here. Watch the video.”

“Leo!” Raph protested. “We’re supposed to stay together! Remember!?”

“He’s not even leaving the building, Raph. There’s still a couple kids around! And he’s literally down the hall,” Leo scoffed, rolling his eyes. “He’s not five., I’m pretty sure he can handle it without us escorting him.”

“Leo--”

“If you want us to chaperone him down the hall to fetch his bag,” Donnie said, not looking up from his phone. “Then you will be the one informing him of such, dearest Raphala, because I have no intention of being the one to tell him that.”

“It’s like you like Dr. Delicate Touch,” Leo sighed, shaking his head. “Do you miss him when he’s away? Is that it? Is that why you’re like this?”

Raph sighed, scrubbing at his face with his hands.

“Fine,” he finally relented. “But if he’s not back in two minutes, Raph is going after him! And you two are comin’ with me!”

Leo smiled a tiny bit.

“Yeah, okay, deal,” he agreed easily, pressing play on the video again. “Now here, watch. This dude is about to for-real make a whole-ass building disappear!!!”

---

Agent 64’s eyes flew open.

Danger.

There was danger.

He could taste it on the back of his sandpaper tongue. Every hair on his body jumped up on end as he flew to his feet, wriggling from April’s relaxed grip, his back arching and his claws extended.

“Ow! Mayhem, chill! Watch the claws!” April hissed, startled as he suddenly woke from his nap, previously curled up and dozing in her lap, wincing at the prickle in her thigh. “What’s your deal--?”

He would maybe regret hurting her if it weren’t for his heart banging wildly in his ears. He could feel it. There was danger. Something bad was going to happen. Someone was in trouble. His tail puffed up like a bottlebrush, he whipped around wildly to face the human-- both his favorite and his charge-- biting out a frantic, chittering warning. And spirits, he had never wished so desperately up until now that humans were able to understand the nuances of his language. Because while her brows crinkled with concern, a thick fog of confusion colored her eyes glassy all the same.

“Mayhem? What’s wrong, little guy?” She pressed, her bottom lip worried between her teeth. “Are you hurt?”

Agent 64’s tail whipped with frustration, a short, stuttering growl escaping him.

There was danger. There was danger. He was sure of it-- and he didn’t have time for this.

---

The cold, dusty tile of the school hallway did a lousy job breaking April’s fall. A short yelp of shock wrenched itself from her throat as she tumbled over herself, the crackle of mystic energy still prickling at the back of her neck, as she found herself quite suddenly sprawled about the floor as opposed to curled on couch in the comfort of her living room.

“OW! Mayhem! What the hell?!” She hissed, narrowing her eyes to scowl at the yellow creature. His only response was a sharp, strangled squeak, tearing himself from her arms and to the floor.

“April?”

April resisted a groan, sitting up just enough so that she turn her head to glance over at Leo and her other two brothers, who were all giving her a rather startled look.

“Hey, guys,” she said, wincing a bit as she got to her feet, brushing herself off.

“Are you okay? What are you doing here?”

“Beat’s me!” She huffed, placing a hand on her hips. “Mayhem just started freaking out all of a sudden! I dunno what’s going on!”

“Do you think something’s wrong?” Raph asked, his brows furrowed with worry as he bent down to look at the little creature, still puffed up and pacing back and forth, chittering frantically at the group. “What’s goin’ on lil’ man?”

“He can’t be acting like this over nothing! There’s gotta be--” April broke off, his lips curving into a frown. Leo and his two brothers? That wasn’t right. “... Hey. Where’s Mikey? Shouldn’t he be with you guys?”

---

They didn’t understand what he was trying to say. The big one reached for him, but Agent 64 dodged out from under his hand, ducking away and breaking into a sprint. He just had to hope they’d be wise enough to follow him-- the only reason he didn’t simply teleport himself away. He couldn’t waste any more precious seconds trying to secure their allyship for the coming fight.

He had to be there. He had to be there now. The air reeked of it.

Danger danger danger danger.

---

His hair beads clicking along to the rhythm, Mikey bobbed his head with the beat banging about in his head, humming softly to himself and tapping his fingers against the side of his thigh. Ugh, this had to be one of Donnie’s EDM songs, didn’t it? He couldn’t remember any of the lyrics or anything-- just the thick, heavy beat. It colored his steps as he wandered down the dimly lit hallway, shouldering open the locker room door and sighing softly to himself. Gosh, he had had this song stuck in his head all day long, but he still couldn’t figure out the name of it or where it was from… It was starting to drive him just a tiny bit insane. Maybe he could get Leo to help him figure it out on the way home-- he was really good at this game.

It was probably one of Donnie’s songs. He had probably picked it up from Donnie. He was sure Donnie would know the answer if he asked-- Donnie always knew the answer to pretty much everything.

But if he asked Donnie, it wouldn’t be a game. Nah. It’d be way more fun to ask Leo. As soon as I get back, he thought to himself, swinging open his locker door.

As predicted, his gym bag was still here, hung up on its hook all neat as if it was meant to be there and hadn’t been left behind. Thank god. If it wasn’t here, then it’d for real be lost and it’d be a whole thing. That’s how you know the Adderall is wearing off, he thought dimly to himself.

His backpack retrieved, he slung the bag over his shoulder, kicking the locker shut and turning to start the trek back to his brothers. His legs weren’t especially long, but he still made every effort to stretch them out with each step, picking up a jaunty pace so as not to keep the rest of them waiting.

The song still played in his head, and Mikey mumbled along to the wordless melody under his breath, fidgeting with the straps of his bag. The longer he thought about it, the more sure he was that it was something from one of Dee’s playlists. It had to be, right?... This was exactly the type of thing he always listened to… Sharp and stormy and loud. Thudding and all-encompassing. The rhythm wasn’t quite as fast as you might expect from the genre-- it sort of drew itself out.

Made you wait for it.

And then eventually, the pace started to pick up.

Each synthesized thump came quicker.

And louder.

Closer together.

Building up, bigger and bigger.

Tickling the back of your neck.

Breathing down your spine.

Thundering onward.

The anticipation would almost swallow you whole.

Until finally the beat dropped.

---

A tiny smile turned the corners of Draxum’s lips crooked.

It was almost amusing-- how careless they were. He wondered how safe they must think themselves to traipse the city openly like this. As if he wouldn’t be perfectly capable of hunting them down. As if he wasn’t patient enough to wait until one of them was alone.

All he would need was a simple capture charm.

From up above in the rafters, he watched the smallest of his experiments. He was still cloaked in their silly human form. Relaxed. Oblivious.

Perfectly easy prey.

After this, he could simply pick the rest of them off.

The second his target walked within range of him, he lashed an arm forward. Magenta light leapt outward from his palm and pounced.

---

He didn’t see the figure in the rafters.

He didn’t hear the pound of footsteps in the distance.

He didn’t even see the flash of light.

But he felt the whisper of magick.

---

Raph didn’t know why Mayhem was freaking out, but he didn’t have to. Because all of a sudden, every single one of his big brother senses and alarms were flipping out. And he felt this awful, gnawing weight of dread in his stomach.

He didn’t bother to wait and check with the rest of his family, to see if they felt the same thing or if they intended to follow. Once Mayhem took off running and that dread took hold-- he did, too.

He could hear other footsteps behind him. Usually, Leo and Donnie were both capable of moving significantly faster than him. But not right now. Raph wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he had a head start or just that he knew Mikey was in trouble. But his throat was tight with the very beginnings of panic. All his muscles were lit up with searing red heat. He was moving as fast as he possibly could. Maybe faster than that, even. And no one was overtaking him.

He needed to know where Mikey was right now.

Despite the dead-sprint, it felt like it took ages for him to reach the locker room. He didn’t even stop to open the door so much as he slammed into it, shifting his body just enough to let his shoulder take the impact, the barrier crashing out of the way, crumpling beneath him, just the way he knew it would--

“Mikey!”

His eyes caught sight of Baron Draxum’s crouched form right away-- curled up in the rafters like a fucking jaguar in the canopy. This dark, sickly pink coil of mystic energy reaching from his extended hand and reaching out towards his little brother’s back like a bullet.

Raph’s heart stopped in his chest.

For just a second, the rest of the world froze, too.

The rest of the world… except for Mikey.

His back was still to Draxum.

But his heels were already in a pivot.

His head hadn’t even turned fully yet. But already, his hand flew up behind him, palm stretched out wide and elbows locked. The very beginnings of a fiery golden light sparked to life around him like a halo. His entire body jerked hard and braced--

And he caught Draxum’s magic in his palm.

Without even looking, he stopped the spell dead in its tracks with one raised hand, curling his fingers around it with this sharp, awful hissing sound, sizzling and popping like a forest fire. Like something burning.

He tightened his grip and the magick shattered like glass beneath his fingers.

And then Michelangelo turned around to face Draxum fully, his head tilted back so that he could meet his eyes.

---

“Mikey! Come look!”

Mikey’s head bobbed at his big brother’s frantic cry, immediately heading over in his direction.

“What is it?”

“A baby bird!” Raph exclaimed, kneeling down, and sure enough, when Mikey leaned over he saw the little creature-- tucked up behind a dumper in their alley, their feathers all poofed up and fluffy.

“Whoa!” Mikey gasped, crouching down as well so he could get a better look. The little bird seemed to shiver, but didn’t try to get away-- just stared at them with its big black eyes. It was kind of scraggly and funny looking, with this big round yellow beak and fuzzy feathers. “He looks so funny…”

“We gotta help him!” Raph whimpered, his bottom lip trembling. “He’s all by himself! He musta fallen or gotten lost or somethin’!”

Mikey paused, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“You think?...”

“Well, a cat might get ‘im or somethin’!” Raph cried. “I’ll go get a shoebox, and we can bring him inside! You watch him, okay?”

And Mikey considered this for a moment, glancing from his big brother to the baby bird, his nose wrinkled up slightly.

… If he fell out of his nest, then why didn’t he feel afraid?

Mikey couldn’t quite place it, but it just… didn’t seem like the bird was that upset or scared. If Mikey fell out of his nest and couldn’t fly anywhere and was lost and all alone, he was pretty sure he’d get scared and upset, at least, eventually. But this little guy didn’t feel that way at all. Mikey could just tell.

Maybe a little… frustrated. But determined. Excited, almost.

Mikey could feel it.

“No,” he finally said. “I think he’s okay.”

Raph frowned a bit, looking down at his brother incredulously. “But he’s just a baby!”

“Yeah, but he’s not scared!” Mikey argued, pointing.

Raph tilted his head to the side.

“How do you know?” He argued.

Mikey wrinkled his nose, considering this for a second before he shrugged.

“I ‘unno!” He finally declared. “I just do! You don’t?”

“... No,” Raph said, perhaps pouting a bit. “He’s a bird.”

“Well,” Mikey argued, crossing his arms over his chest. “I think he’s okay! I don’t think we should take him inside. I don’t think he’d like it. I think maybe we’d be, like… stealing him.”

“We can’t just leave him!” Raph protested, and Mikey paused, considering this, his lips curved into a pout.

“... Can we watch him for a little bit first, and see what happens?” He suggested after some thinking. “So then we know no cats will get ‘im or anything.”

Raph sighed. “... Yeah. Okay,” he finally agreed. “But if he’s still there in thirty minutes, then we should bring him inside. Okay?”

“Okay,” Mikey agreed.

---

They were golden-- so very much so that they were nearly white, as if superheated by the sun itself. They were built from nothing, it seemed, save for light and energy itself, but playing a melody of clinks and clatters regardless, filling the air with the sound of metal-on-metal.

The chains that materialized from his baby brother’s body.

They moved almost too fast to see, curling like snakes, twisting and shifting at Mikey’s command. With a forward thrust of his arm, leg sweeping around and his hands clenched into a fist, they obeyed him instantly, echoing his movements and flashing forward-- screaming-- howling towards their target.

Draxum just barely had the time to leap out of the way, flinging himself to the side and correcting his trajectory as he fell, frantically dodging the onslaught, and Mikey chased him. The chains twisted midair to follow the yokai, forcing him to dance and dodge backwards, hardly able to even conjure the occasional counterspell or strike in between running.

Running from Mikey.

It was all happening too fast for Raph to follow properly, but he realized, distantly, that Mikey’s eyes were glowing, light pouring from them and streaking down his face in globs of color. Like he was crying. Like he has tears made of honey.

Draxum lashed out with another spell, trying to find ground, and Mikey’s chains screamed out to meet them, shattering it midair. For just a second, Draxum gaped, his eyes wide as he watched. And in that tiny moment of hesitation, Mikey pounced.

He leapt forward like a beast on prey, his palm outstretched, reaching for Draxum, to touch, to grab--

At the very last second, the yokai yanked himself back.

In an instant, a bubbling black light enveloped him like a shadow and he blinked away-- as though he had never been there in the first place. Mikey stumbled slightly, lurching in the empty space left behind, his body jerking slightly at the sudden halt.

He faltered, wavering for a second, rocking on his feet. He blinked slowly, staring at the space where his opponent had once been as his shoulders slumped. In the silence and the still, ragged pants clattered through his chest. Raph swore he could hear them echo.

He blinked, swallowed, and finally found his tongue again.

“... Mikey?”

---

Raph gasped softly as he watched the little bird they had been watching leap up with a flap and flutter of its wings.

“It’s trying to--”

And it took him a few tries. But after a few false starts, the tiny creature took to the air. And in nearly a moment, it was gone, swooping away from the alley and out of sight.

“Whoa!” Raph gasped, his eyes widening. “Did you see that? That was so cool! He could fly all along!”

Mikey glanced back at his older brother and grinned brightly. “Yeah!!!”

He could tell. He could tell that that bird had been so happy to make it into the air and start to fly.

He could tell Raph was happy, too.

---

The halo that was surrounding their baby brother faded. The tears fizzled and dried up, the glow leaking from his eyes faded away with a flicker. And for a second, Mikey stood in one spot, staring off at nothing, his face flushed and his shoulders heaving with deep, shuddering breaths.

After a second, he coughed-- once, and then twice, hunching over slightly at the force of it. And he spat something shimmering and gold out onto the floor.

And then Raphael watched in horror as his eyes rolled back into his head, his knees going out from beneath him.

[bronx-bomber87]

Hello my wonderful fandom family :) Thanks for being so patient with me. I know I have till January but I am moving/slash road tripping at the end of Sept to a new state. Which is a HUGE change. Going two time zones ahead and everything. So wanting to get it out there before I move and have even less time LOL Also thank you for wanting to take this journey with me. S6 was hard on all of us.

Haven't had a show rock me this hard in a very long time. So I'm forever grateful for the love and comments these in depth reviews get. Never want to take that for granted. This was a ROUGH season to say the least. But I’m excited to dissect it with decompressed eyes and somewhat healed shipper heart. Be lying if I was saying it was fully healed. But was a much needed break for me. Let us begin shall we?

6x01 Strike Back.

Premiere starts off with a literal bang. They’re all trying to figure what is actually happening. The mastermind clearly not the man they just took down in Luke Moran. Also loving how scruffy Tim is in this first shot of the premiere. The stubble all over that gorgeous jawline of his. Mmm. Delicious dusting. Love to break me off a piece. Wouldn't be a review if Feral Caitlin didn't make an appearance would it? ha God he's beautiful I can't help myself. This is his fault really.

Anyway back to matter at hand.... Lucy points out Luke may have been a patsy for the real crime. Diverting all their resources to this this one spot instead of their real target. Our girl always being the brains and Tim being impressed by it. They go hand in hand. You know that man loves her brain. Her intelligence is just one of many reason's he fell in love with her. Fun to watch her flex it I have to say.

There’s so much to love about these shots in the shop with them. The Metro call sign being one of them. It does things to me. It’s just sexy. Also the automatic way she’s paired with him in this moment. Like anyone else would be in that car with him but still. Ever the packaged deal. Just the little things I always love so very much. They don’t share shops anymore. So this is a treat. Riding together, brainstorming, and just being the bad ass team they always are in the field. Makes my shipper heart happy to see it.

After the Federal Reserve mayhem we skip 6 weeks into the future. I always wondered what happened in those six weeks with our ship. Probably nothing massive tbh. But be fun to know what shippy goodness could’ve occurred. I imagine they had some time off after that. Spent it together and decompressed from the madness. Just a nice thought to think about is all. *cough fic writers cough.*

We start off our cuteness with Lucy in Tim’s office studying. There’s so much to love about this scene it’s unreal. Let’s start with Lucy taking residency in his office like it’s hers. Knowing it’s a quiet place for her to retreat to. Also I’m sure Tim offered it up long ago for her. Which makes me giddy to no end. He’s not the least shocked that she’s using it. Only that she’s not out on patrol. Married status continues to level up in this moment.

Lucy explains she’s fallen way behind in her studies. OT is killing her atm. I can’t imagine how stressed she feels. Lucy is our resident academic. Not having the time to nerd out on her studies has to be killing her. It’s why she reaches out to her man for help. To pivot this in a different direction. Something that worked for Tim when he needed studying time. Asking if she could ride with him today? Could quiz her between calls.

Getting flashbacks to 2x02 when she helped him study between calls for his exam. I always love the callbacks they do for them. Continuity is ship crack for me. I eat it up. He accepts and Lucy is beaming. Their smiles in this scene are so adorable. Couldn’t be more in love if they tried tbh. I remember thinking how much I missed our idiots in love so much. I'll be this way for S7 too. I miss them.

Tim looks excited for this challenge. You can see it in his face above. But he is also letting her know how hard it’s going to be if she wants him to do this. That it’s probably not going to solve her problem. But he’s willing to expand her knowledge base on wildcards. This way she can take any curve balls Primm has to throw. Lucy’s smile is everything when she thanks him. Relieved her man is gonna help her her out. I mean of course he would. Nothing he wouldn't do for her and she knows it.

I remember seeing the funniest post for this moment before it aired. How it was her basically asking ‘Babe, please be mean to me.’ LOL Lord knows this woman is well aware he wasn’t gonna take it easy on her. Just like the old days. It's where she learned the most. So it makes sense she would wanna dip her toe back in that pool.

Tim is ready to roll. Starting his ‘boot’ engines back up. Don’t tell me it's not a little bit of a kink for Tim. That man is too damn excited to be able to boss her around again. That being said says she learns best when she’s pissed off. I mean he’s not wrong…No one knows how to teach her better than he does. Lucy counters by saying does she? Or is this is just giving him permission to be an ass?

Tim letting her know if that’s really how she feels she doesn’t actually want his help. Lucy backtracks and is desperate for him to guide her with this. Saying she needs it. Tim is lighting up like a Christmas tree. You know that man LOVES her needing him professionally. It’s been awhile since she has. He’s excited. Lucy has been a self sufficient cop for long time now. Hasn’t needed his guidance for quite some time. So for her to come to him with this he is a happy camper.

Tim is thrilled to put his T.O. hat back on for her. They have such married energy through out this scene. Lucy telling him she doesn’t like his excited smile. Tim deflecting saying it's just his smile haha The absolute wifey look she gives him is hilarious. They just be flirting freely in the hallways. Like they aren’t completely married at this point. Even though he’s driving her insane she follows him out with an 'in love' smile. She loves her ass of a boyfriend haha

They hit the road and Lucy is still questioning her decision. Oh my girl. Saying maybe should’ve chosen Harper or Lopez instead…Tim makes a joke how Angela just got back. Her cop brain is just booting up. Which earns a smile out of Lucy. She loves this man sitting next to her so very much. Written all over her face. Doesn’t take long before Tim triggers a Lucy rant though.

Poor man is just trying to help the woman he loves get through this. Wasn't expecting the time bomb he received. He sets her off by saying no matter who teaches her they all have the same database. That there’s only a 8 percent difference between ranks. This is what ignites the Lucy meltdown above. That Primm is going to use that eight percent to trip her up. His face above when she starts is priceless. Tim is just bracing for impact at this point LMAO Ain't no stopping what's coming his way.

The flood gates have opened and phew lord what a meltdown it is LOL Holy hell. She is the queen of them. I adore how Melissa can shoot off so much dialogue in one breath. It’s impressive af if you ask me. Also makes me cackle so much cause I’ve been her. So many times when I’m under immense stress I do the same. You prattle on until you run out of steam. I can’t believe there isn’t a gif set of this rant so I made one. It’s too good not to have in this review.

It’s the look on Tim’s face that has me ROLLING. It’s been awhile since he’s had an epic Lucy rant thrown at him and it shows. Eric the King of facial expressions is at it again. I’m laughing so damn hard. I remember having to pause cause I was laughing so much at his expression. He most definitely wasn't expecting the rant that he got. If you can look at him above and not laugh you're made of stone. Hang in there Tim lmao Your girl Is worth this intense stress/anxiety vomit she just spewed all over you. It's like he doesn't even know where to begin after she's done. So he just doesn't....

The married energy continues once Lucy has wrapped up her meltdown. Tim being the smart man he is doesn’t say a word. He’s learned a thing or two from this relationship. Lucy though takes his silence as saying everything for him. With her ‘Please don’t.’ Tim trying not to start anything telling her he’s said nothing. He truly wasn’t expecting the explosion he got. Was happy to be a passenger princess today, while he quizzed her through out the day. And instead got an epic freak out right out the gate.

Tim can’t win for losing in this scene. (or this episode really) Lucy telling him she hear him thinking it. I remember there being a Chenford Bingo of some sort before the premiere. And exasperated husband was on there. This delivered that in spades. His reaction after her saying this is gold. Haha This is the woman you’ve chosen to love Timothy. LMAO You know he loves her to death neuroses and all but good lord ha.

Their banter never fails to hit and the marriage vibes on top of this is top tier. I am here for it all damn day. One of those 'When did they get married again?' moments. His look at the end is like he’s chanting to himself . ‘You love this woman…you love this woman...’ Lucy tops it off saying she just won’t sleep till the exam. Leaving Tim to shake his head more and not say a word. Only look out the window as he rolls his eyes. Primo banter and chemistry here. *chef kiss*

They roll up to their first wildcard. I adore the Metro call sign as they do. Tim assigning the crime scene to Lucy as he does. *fans self* I can’t explain why the call sign so sexy. Just is. Also them sharing it on the scene also gets me all in my feels. Tim is telling her that he is there as a resource for her. But she is the one in charge. Asking her what’s her first move?

The Plain Clothes Day vibes are all over this scene and it's fantastic. Another callback I am so happy they touched on. Lucy confidently strides onto the scene and explains her move. Tim tells her to call it in. Love the way she looks at him the entire time she does. Tim asks her what else? This is where Lucy’s confidence starts to wain sadly.

Where that panicked rookie from all those years ago begins to resurface. The way she is talking at Tim trying to figure it out oh my lord. The PCD vibes are so strong. Only this time Tim is helping her out a lot more. Unlike back in S1 he was there to watch her flop around, second guess herself and drown. It’s much different this time around. He truly wants her to succeed and let's her know as much in his responses. Lucy doesn’t see that in this moment though unfortunately.

Tim telling her the obvious boxes are checked but what’s her wildcard? The spiraling is so real for her in this moment. It hurts to watch the anxiety build in Lucy. Tim testing her knowing she can do this but her confidence is eroding in this moment rapidly. He is trying to get her there faster by saying she doesn’t have a minute. Which she really doesn’t when we know how this scene ends…

One of my fav parts of this scene is the line above. The kindness and gentleness Tim has. Because he wasn’t in love with her during PCD like he is now. Here he is trying to be supportive and gently guide her to the answer. Even give her an out for it. S1 Tim never would’ve said there’s no shame in not knowing the answer. Not this directly anyways. Doing his damn best to support her through this. But also help her get to the answer so she learns. Lucy takes it the wrong way though.

Reason being it has nothing to do with the man next to her. That man would die first before not supporting her. Level headed Lucy would know that. Sadly she is not here with us at this crime scene. Who she really is mad at is herself at this point. Because she should know the answer and her brain is stalling out in this moment. Tim told her he wasn’t gonna take it easy on her. But breaks a little with his kind reply. Giving her an out if she wants it. Lucy can’t handle it though...Because she is being far harder on herself for this than Tim could ever be. I can relate so hard to this it's unreal.

I do love the way she says ‘Sergeant Bradford, please.’ Lucy feels like she’s suffocating in her own thoughts. The panicked rush to get this right and hitting a wall. The anger building towards Tim at the same time. The confidence she has built since S3 just melting away the more she stresses. All the while taking it out on Tim. Why you ask? Because in this moment she is projecting that anxiety and stress onto him with her reply. Defense mechanism thy name is Lucy Chen.

Doesn’t take long after that line for the sprinklers to come on….The wildcard revealing itself on its own. We watch as the evidence literally gets washed away and the bullet down the drain….Lucy rushes to chase it and watches as it goes down a storm drain. A reflection for how she feels about her hopes of passing this test…It’s a rough scene to watch unfold for her. The devastation on her face when she realizes that bullet is gone is very rough.

They return to the station and Lucy is as defeated as she can be. Hoping no one knows about it as as she rubs her tattoo. They start to play clown music as she enters. SMH. Tim trying not to laugh. Aaron doesn’t help when he also laughs at her misfortune. Not a good day for our girl….Lucy gets distracted by Wesley being there with the baby.

We get a small sweet departure from her anxiety in this moment. While she has him she wants his legal opinion on her crime scene. He too laughs. These men in her life are the worst right now. Not helping her building anxiety and loss of confidence. Wes telling her she fatally ruined that scene. That she’s gonna need a straight up confession to convict someone. And that’s only if she finds the killer…oof.

We rejoin our beautiful duo staking out the crime scene. Lucy grasping at straws to fix what she so royally screwed up. Her heightened state of spiraling continues on in this scene. Lucy admits she wants to skip the exam. Her face breaks my damn heart. Killing me here Melissa. I do love the way he says her first name in response. Still gets me he can. After years of Officer Chen and ‘boot.’ Just hits differently and makes my shipper soul happy.

Tim tells her she is ready. That man would not tell her she was ready if she wasn’t. Relationship or not that man doesn’t hold back. Wouldn't send her head long into failure. If Lucy was in a better place emotionally she would’ve heard him. Heard the confidence in his tone. Seen the empathy he was exuding for her. This man has changed so much in his time with her.

It sky rocketed when they got together. Tim couldn’t have been more supportive if he tried in this scene. Hell this entire episode. But she is so very stuck in her head. A place Tim could normally shake her loose from. A specialty of his really. He can’t gain an inch of ground in this scenario. Lucy has dug her heels in so to speak that she’s gonna fail. Nothing he says is getting through.

Our girl is experiencing massive amounts of anxiety and self doubt. The panic attack is real. The fact that the one person she would’ve sold her soul for, in order to get his support back in the day, isn’t getting through is a problem. Lucy goes on to say she knows herself. That if she takes this test right now she will fail. Her confidence will die along with it. That it’s better to wait. Tim steps from one minefield to the next with this convo.

When he once again is just trying to be supportive and says ‘Then wait.’ Not only is he being in her corner he gives her something she can do in meantime. Something he hates the idea of. Her going UC while she waits this anxiety/doubt out. If that isn’t him supporting her idk what is. He is also still learning how to be there for her emotionally and she isn't giving him the grace for that. Sadly Lucy isn't in the right mind to see that though. She is just stuck in the mode she's been trapped in all ep.

I get it I really do and empathize with her. I’m the same way when my emotions are in a heightened state. Nothing gets through. I'm frozen in place emotionalIy. I get very doom and gloom as well. Lash out at anyone who isn’t going to be positive and reassuring. Which Tim is doing his best to be. But Lucy is in such a dark state of mind she doesn’t see it. All she sees right now is he doesn’t believe in her and is kicking her while she is down. She needs reassurances right now. To her he isn't delivering that the way she is wanting at this point. Him agreeing with her that she should wait is only making matters worse.

Anxiety is a cruel cruel master. It makes you believe things that aren’t true. Amplifies them to the point that you’re so wound up you’re lashing out at everyone. Even your person. Which is exactly what’s happening with Lucy in this moment. Her accusing him of making it worse with how bad she already feels. When Tim is professing words of encouragement all she hears is him saying she can’t do it.

Tim is desperate for her to know he’s in her corner after this display. Asking her if she heard him? Lucy is distracted by someone showing up to the crime scene. Tim asks her what? Lucy replying that woman was looking at the crime scene while crying. Tim is so sassy in his reply I’m proud of him. ‘Or maybe she just had a frustrating fight with her girlfriend’ heh love this. Calling her his GF always gives me the feels.

Lucy gets a last minute win with this case. Catching this lady trying to get her bracelet back after tossing the gun. Her cop gut serving her well. Sadly Lucy doesn’t see this win as such and it bleeds into this final scene unfortunately. Once again the music is absolute perfection. I’ll post some of my fav lyrics at the end of my analysis of this fight. But first let us witness the incredible chemistry that is Eric and Melissa in this final portion. You know your ship is amazing when even their angst is lightning in a bottle goodness.

This fight I will say when I watched it originally excited me. Because it just showed they’re human. Real. The both of them. They make mistakes and aren’t perfect. How healthy this was for them to get off their chest. Because honestly the UC/detective tension has been building for a long while. This was the boiling point for it IMO. This scene hurt so good to watch. I rewound it a few times before I could process it the first time.

Tim starts off with congratulating her on her 4th quarter win. He’s genuinely so proud of her for bouncing back. Felt like she NEEDED this win. So he makes sure she knows. But like I said earlier Lucy isn’t viewing it that way. Her perception is more than a little skewed atm. Her building anger at Tim has reached it's peak. She is cold to him and brisk as hell. Tim immediately picking up on her clipped ‘Thanks.’ Like she was going to be able to hide her anger and frustration from him. Girl no. Tim asks her what? Lucy shrugging him off once again.

Tim pulls on her arm gently and parrots her own damn words back at her from 5x21. That they’re not gonna work if she’s going to lie to him. Lucy conceding immediately to that. I mean they have a lot to work on communication wise, but they’ve also come really far in this aspect too. Don’t wanna disregard that. Look at Tim confronting this right away and communicating effectively. There are causes for excitement with that growth. That being said they have a ways to go. This fight is proof of that.

Lucy pulls zero punches when she asks if he undermined her today so she wouldn’t make detective? The absolute look of hurt painted across his beautiful face kills me. As you all know I relate with Tim so very much. He is so deeply loyal and loving. That any of his motives are to help those he loves around him. He truly thought he was helping her out today. Being supportive and helpful. So for her to come at him like this is leaving him stunned and extremely hurt.

His person the one person who knows him better than anyone, accusing him of something he would never even fathom doing. I was hurt for him watching this. Last thing he would ever do would be to hinder her intentionally. Loyalty to a fault is having someone else hurt you first before you’d ever do the same. That’s Tim. It’s why he is so defensive the rest of this scene. And rightfully so. I'm proud of him telling her it upset him she would even think that of him. Because IMO he did not undermine her. That man did what was asked of him.

All of Lucy’s pent up anxiety, anger, and frustration comes out full force at Tim in this scene. And my boy didn't deserve it. I was on his side the first time I watched it and I am now. I didn’t see that changing though lol. Do I understand what Lucy is going through? Yes. Good god yes. I've been her. I feel so much for what she's going though. I want to make that very clear. But Tim didn't deserve this barrage against him. Wanna also note i’m so proud of the writers for tackling mental health from the jump with this season. Both our babies got issues and this was the precursor to the season really. We just had no idea at the time....

Lucy assumed all day he was undermining her. Instead of just confronting that fact she sat in it. Stewed in it really. ALL. DAMN. DAY. Which isn’t like her. She is the type to face it right away and voice that to Tim. But didn’t this time. Giving us a little taste of their communication problems early on this season. There’s that saying. 'When you assume you make an ass out of you and me.’ And by the end of this convo Lucy is feeling like an ass. I guarantee you that .

Lucy continues to dig herself a hole when she bring up that maybe it was "unconscious". Not deliberate but also that he couldn’t help it. Which doesn’t make Tim feel any better. Nor would it make me feel any better either tbh….Basically saying he has no control over things he does. Which just insult to injury at this point for him. Then Lucy goes for her next punch below. One I still feel was unfairly delivered.

Does Tim still carry those issues? Of course he does. 100% that is still a weight on him. It’s reflected in the next ep when the subject of UC comes up. But does it belong in this fight with him? No. It has zero place in it. But like I said before she is feeling a loss of control and confidence in herself. So she is projecting her insecurities and feelings onto Tim. By bringing up his and using them to stabilize hers. It's a low blow she is dispatching to him.

She is running from her own feelings about this. She is also protecting herself by making it about Tim and his problems. (Which he has for sure) Because she isn’t ready to face the fact that she’s afraid of UC and all that will come with it. How being a detective on top of it is going to pull her from him even more.

She voiced these concerns in 5x19 when she was originally studying for her exam. It’s easier for her right now to hide in and blame Tim for his problems, than deal with her own right now. Tim’s reaction is so valid in this moment. Because to him all he did was have her back from the jump. He is feels sucker punched by this explosion and it's written all over his reaction.

Lucy asked him to help her. He did. Even told her it wouldn’t be easy and he wouldn’t be soft on her. She accepted the terms of this situation willingly. Tim supported her best he could through her meltdown. Did his damndest to not comment on it. He knows it’s her process to spiral a bit then right herself. Because he knows her so well. He had her back in trying to help figure out her wildcard. She rejected it and drowned.

Tim was calm and kind even if she didn’t recognize it about the exam. When she was doubting herself he built her up letting her know she can do it. Did his best to be in her corner if she truly felt she wasn’t ready. Then congratulated her when she got her case win. To Tim all that was him having her back.

It’s why he’s so blindsided and hurt by her words. Lucy is basically kicking him while he down in this moment and it hurt to watch. Because her anxiety and immense stress has blinded her. Making her act so very not like herself. She came at him with a one-two punch. First punch accusing him of undermining her and second being an unfair Isabel punch.

The K.O. punch really is him reading her face above. The way she looks at him when he says ‘But if you can’t see that then…’ Doesn’t even finish his sentence. He can read her just as well as she can read him. Lucy cannot see that right now. Too clouded by her extreme anxiety and stress to see him and his intentions clearly. So he ejects out of the convo. She has knocked him down for the count.

Tim can’t take the way she is looking at him right now. The way she is making him feel. Tim has always held how she viewed him in high regard. Nothing means more to him than what she thinks of him. So for her to level him with this is heartbreaking for him. So he reverts back to old Tim and clams up. Tells her he’s tired and for them to take the night off. Then walks away from her with no way for her to retort.

Lucy is a block of ice until this line of his. She was fully expecting him to apologize and go home with her. And he did not. He ejected out of the conversation to go lick his wounds. The look of shock on her face is everything. She wasn’t expecting that at all. You can see the panic on her face. That raw panic of her being left behind by him. Of Tim leaving her. The tears building in her eyes as he does this. Oh the painful foreshadowing that is this moment…..

The lyrics for this scene are so poignant and perfect. As is the entire musical lineup for this season. Perfectly encompasses Lucy in this episode and especially this scene. Here are some of my favs.

‘I think I’m losing my mind. I see you’re losing your light. Drowning out the decibels. Do you wanna find the antidote? Trying to watch my obstacles, see how fully I’ve been broke.’ Lucy is so broken in this episode and doesn’t reach out to the one person, her person to help fix her. She was drowning and went to him for the antidote and then refused it the entire time. Then gets consumed by it all.

Just a glaring look into how they both deal with being emotionally overwhelmed and vulnerable. And it’s not a good look for either of them this season tbh. But we start out with Lucy’s where I side with Tim before we go head long into Tim’s and I side with Lucy it's balanced at least lol. Damn good premiere though. I was buzzing with excitement after it.

As always thank you to anyone who read this. To all the likes, comments and or reblogs I may receive you are the best. I shall see you all in 6x02 :)

Side notes-Non Chenford

~~~~

Scruffy Tim in this ep has my ovaries in overdrive. Mmm just wanna nom on his jawline like corn on the cob.

Nyla Harper being a bad ass in a tense situation is primo. Can always count on her. The aftermath sucks for her though.

Angela being more excited to see a burrito than her husband is hilarious and so on brand haha

Main baddie gets eliminated at the end of the ep. Not sure I remember why tbh haha Things got hazy at the end of the season for me with the SL.

[the-peak-tmnt]

I want to say that I like that your fic is mostly Raph centric because those fics are rare and he deserves more love and pain lol

Raph: Mom says it's my turn with the trauma

Thank you so much! I'm seriously so grateful for people who are willing to give a Raph-centric fic a shot!

I knew writing Raph-centric fic that's also a Mutant Mayhem fic was gonna turn a lot of people off from giving it a try, which I totally understand because I usually go for Leo-centric fics myself lol. It also doesn't help that Mutant Mayhem still isn't super popular.

But Mutant Mayhem Raph is an exciting new version of Raph that's been SO fun to explore, and I'm gonna go on a little rant about why I'm enjoying writing (and torturing) him so much!

[Initiating Raph Rant] So, almost all Raphs are tough guys who also wear their hearts on their sleeves, which is what makes him such a fun character. He's "the angry one", but usually also super emotional in other ways:

Because MM feels more like an actual teenager than most other iterations, his moments of emotional vulnerability feel particularly raw and relatable. I might be old as dirt now, but I do still remember what it was like to be a teenager still trying to figure out who they were and what they wanted in life.

Mutant Mayhem does such an amazing job of hitting on those teenage insecurities and desires. The turtles whole goal in the movie is to be accepted. All teenagers feel like outsiders and want acceptance at some point. That teenage desire for acceptance is amplified for the turtles because they're not just teenagers, but mutants as well. The moment where Raph's voice sort of wavers as he says "we're never gonna be normal" breaks my heart every time, because they're so sure acceptance is completely out of reach for them 😭

...but the MM boys do get acceptance by the human world by the end of the film. Raph even seems to find his place own at Eastman on the wrestling team in the post-credit scene.

I think this is what has turned a lot of fans off MM, though, because the turtles' need for secrecy and using their ninja skills to remain hidden has always been an integral part of the TMNT franchise. Personally, I actually love that departure from the typical TMNT format and talked about it once before.

But there are some traditional TMNT elements that I did miss in MM, one of those being the fact that in most iterations, Raph is an outsider even amongst outsiders. His anger is what alienates him from his brothers at times, and it often gets him into trouble. It’s also what almost always leads to his friendship with Casey (another outsider).

Tales of the TMNT isn't out yet, and we don't how this series will give Raph that traditional outsider treatment, or if it will at all. They could save it for Mutant Mayhem 2, but that's still years away. And even then they might decide not to go that route because so far, MM Raph's rage has mostly just manifested in a propensity for fighting & violence rather than interpersonal issues with his brothers & other people. His rage is even framed as useful in the final fight against Superfly.

So anyway...as canon stands right now pre-tottmnt/MM 2, Raph is an "insider". He and his brothers can have a life on the surface, and Raph even seems to have found his own place at Eastman on the wrestling team. Again, I'm all for this happy ending and a brand new experience for the turtles, but I was also missing my personal favorite flavor of Raph...which is angry and alienated lol.

After I saw MM in theaters, I started looking at a lot of the concept art and other production material floating around on the internet and I came across this concept art by Garrett Lee:

And it was like "oh shit, there he is! Outsider Raph!"

He looks so lonely and separate from everyone else here, and I was obsessed with this idea of Raph somehow still being an outsider even after the mutants were accepted by humans. But again, we're still waiting for tottmnt and MM 2, and even then there's no guarantee we'll get an Angry & Sad Outsider Raph out of either of those.

So I asked myself "how can I ruin MM Raph's life so that he's as lonely and miserable as he looks in this concept art???"

...and Reciprocity was born 😅

[sunsetsandsunshine]

OH MY GOSH PROMPTS!! 💖💖💖 I adore your fics so much! 💖 I would absolutely love something for Mutant Mayhem with lee Leo and ler Raph! Throughout the movie he’s so touchy feely with his brothers and it’s so cute. Maybe he’s teasing Leo for liking April and makes him wonder what would happen if April found out he was ticklish which flusters Leo to no end. Of course take all the time you need and I hope you’re well!

~ 𝙻𝚎𝚘, 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚎𝚛 ~

💙🐢❤️ 𝙵𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢: @veryblushyswitch💙🐢❤️

𝙰𝙷𝙷𝙷𝙷 𝙷𝙸 𝙱𝙻𝚄𝚂𝙷𝚈!!! 𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠!!! 𝚁𝚊𝚙𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚢-𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛’𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙻𝚎𝚘’𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚑 𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝚒𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 😖💖💞

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝙱𝚛𝚞𝚑 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝙰𝚈 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗’𝚝 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝙼𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚢𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚏𝚒𝚌…𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚊 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚕𝚍 ‼‼‼ 𝙱𝚛𝚞𝚑, 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎’𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚐𝚘 😔…? /𝚛𝚎𝚏˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚏𝚏

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜: 𝟺,𝟽𝟸𝟸

𝙻𝚎𝚎: 𝙻𝚎𝚘 🐢💙

𝙻𝚎𝚛: 𝚁𝚊𝚙𝚑 🐢❤️

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: 𝙻𝚎𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚠…𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝! 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢’𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕, 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚘𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚓𝚞𝚍𝚐𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛’𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎! 𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝙰𝚆𝙴𝚂𝙾𝙼𝙴! 𝙰𝚕𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑…𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙻𝚎𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚛…𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎’𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚢…

(𝙰/𝙽: 𝚃*𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙳𝙽𝙸. 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚔/𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜 𝙳𝙽𝙸.)

𝙾𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚐𝚜𝚜𝚜𝚜:

@shut-up-jo @what-youd-expect @saturnzskyzz

@someone1348 @itzsana-kiddingmenow @goopyskele

@ziipzeepzop-eez @skyloladoodles @leosmasktails

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝙸 𝚋𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐…𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 *𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚝 𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚜*!!!

𝚃𝚆: 𝚃𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐— 𝚢'𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕. 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 🕺🏾!!!

𝙸 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚍𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕𝙽𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚘…𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕. 𝙸 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚎𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎-𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝙷𝙴𝙻𝙻 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚏 𝚠𝚎’𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚙𝚕𝚎-𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚗𝚘. 𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚊𝚜 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 (𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝙸’𝚖 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚏𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐<𝟹)

𝙰𝙻𝚂𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙸𝚂 𝚂𝚄𝙿𝙿𝙾𝚂𝙴𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝙱𝙴 𝙲𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙶𝚈!!! 𝚈𝙾𝚄’𝚁𝙴 𝚂𝚄𝙿𝙿𝙾𝚂𝙴𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝙲𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙶𝙴 😈🕺🏾✨!!!

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚢, 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

Two hours. It has been two absolutely awesome, amazing, astonishing, stupefying, magnificent, incredible, extraordinary, staggering, astounding, perplexing, confounding, stupendous hours being on a call with the one and only April O’Neil. 

And yes, Leo looked up more than half of those synonyms. He’s a man of many words. 

The two friends have been on a FaceTime call for…no particular reason, actually. Leo and April just collectively agreed that being on a call and doing classwork with each other would be a lot more fun than doing said classwork by themselves. 

But, April was an only child. The poor girl wouldn’t have anyone her age to help her finish the homework anyway.

Leo’s brothers on the other hand…chose not to help him with his homework in any way, shape, or form. 

Raph has, like, 10 missing assignments from each class— (scary yet impressive honestly) so asking him for help wouldn’t help either of them. 

Mikey keeps LOSING his homework (which he always blames their Mom for eating…since she does kinda eat literally anything and everything)…

And Donnie? He only ever helps people with homework if they give him free V-bucks (or however you spell it…idk man—). And does it LOOK like Leo can or will ever own V-bucks??? 

But at the end of the day, the leader in blue couldn’t really blame his brother’s for not helping. I mean, it’s homework. Doing work at home. In all fairness, the word alone just sounds wrong…

What they all were learning in class was stupid anyway. It was all taxes and discounts and blah blah blah…

It was boring. Like…BORING boring. 

And complicated…super freaking complicated.

And anytime Leo would ask a question about said homework, every teacher would say the same exact phrase: “Why didn’t you ask your parents or guardian for help?”

Even thinking about the question for a split second made Leo shiver. What did he look like? Some bright genius? He’s not Young Shelldon— if anything that’s Donnie. 

Besides, what did the teachers expect them to do? Ask their parents for help with their homework? Psh. Yeah right. As if.

Google exists for a reason, y’know. 

And not to be the bearer of bad news here but…Leo’s Dad’s a fucking rat. No offense to Splinter of course, but if his Dad couldn’t tell the difference between Andrew Tate and Timothée Chalamet, what makes you think he would know the difference between debit cards and credit cards? 

“I freaking hate English...” April grumbled from Leo’s phone screen, “It makes absolutely no sense. We break the rules that we created specifically for this language!” 

Leo stopped typing on his laptop, blinking a couple of times out of confusion, “What do you mean?” He giggled amused, looking up and glancing at her intrigued. 

“Y'know the 'I before e except after c' rule?” She asked. 

“Yeah? I know of it.” 

“It doesn’t make any sense. Like…at all. There are a ton of words that don’t follow it.” 

“Oh.” The mutant huffed out a small laugh, closing his laptop and putting it away in his backpack which was to the side of his bed, where he was sitting, “Well…what words? I’m sure there’s only a handful you could think of.” 

“There’s neither, foreign, seize, height, protein, caffeine…” She lists out, “…I could go on and on…” Leo blinked absently, “…You’ve been thinking about this for a while, haven’t you?” 

The girl with glasses huffed out a small, smug laugh, showing the other teen one of her many notebook’s labeled 'Except after C my ASS.'  “Well, English is weird like that.” The hazel eyed mutant shrugged as the older teen groaned in irritation. “SEE?! See what I mean?! E is before I in the word 'weird!'” The girl announced annoyedly, rubbing her eyes tiredly. 

April leaned on her seat, staring up at the ceiling and pondering. “What if I just…banned English?” 

“The language or the class?” The mutant asked incredulously.  

“Why not both?” She deadpanned. Leo rolled his eyes fondly as he adjusted himself on his bed to a more comfortable and relaxed position, “Well, you have fun with that…” 

The two teens shared a comfortable silence, both going back to working on their homework, asking questions every now and again but keeping the atmosphere quiet, calm and settled. 

Leo glanced at the screen, resting his palm on his cheek as he just…stared at her. 

Which…is extremely creepy and something you should never do to someone (especially if they wield a moped 24/7), but April was just so…

Pretty, attractive, lovely, good-looking, nice-looking, fetching, prepossessing, appealing, charming, delightful, nice…

Okay, well you get the point. 

“You’re so smart, April…” Leo mumbled as the girl in question looked up at him, confused and flattered at the sudden/random compliment, “Huh?”

“Huh?” The teenage boy repeated, his face turning a deep crimson as he came to terms that his 'inner thoughts' became his 'outer thoughts'. The girl raised a brow, a teasing smirk plastered on her face, “You just called me smart.” 

“No I didn’t!” The mutant denied, “I meant to say, uh uhm…you're such a u-uh…tart!” 

Nice save Leo…nice. save. 

“A…tart? Are you trying to call me a snack or something?”

“NO!” The blue banded mutant immediately said, his face as hot as fire now, “You’re just very sweet like one. My Dad baked tarts all the time when I was a kid and I was kindaaaa hungry just now. So, I thought of the tarts he used to make and I was like ‘wow, those tarts were sweet as HECK’ and thought about you!” 

April stared at Leo for a minute or two before bursting out into laughter, simply going back to her homework, “Pff— okay, certified yapper.” She snickered, going back to jotting down notes in her French textbook. 

Suddenly, there was a shout to be heard ringing around the lair, a shout that could only be the home to one of Leo’s family members. 

“Is that your tart welding Father calling you?” She teased as Leo groaned, “No…it’s one of my brothers. Which one this time? I have no idea…” The shout of Leo’s name was heard again as the eldest turtle groaned irritably. 

“Yes?” The blue banded turtle called out but was only met with silence. I mean, what else is new? He was expecting no answer but it was still annoying. The turtle teen sighed, “One moment please.” He said as he muted himself on the phone. He got up from his bed, going into the middle of the room before yelling at the top of his lungs, “YES???”

“Yeesh. I’m right here, dude. No need to shout.” Raph smiled as he walked into the shared bedroom where the eldest sibling was. Leo only glared at him disapprovingly, crossing his arms against his plastron, “What do you want, Raph?”

“Damn. What did I do to get treated with such hostility?” 

Leo raised an unamused brow.

“I mean specifically!” 

“I told you guys a million times to not disturb me for the next hour!” The turtle in blue groaned as he rubbed his forehead, “I’m on a call with April doing homework— the homework you all refused to help me with.” 

“Y'know once you tell me things it goes in one ear and out the other, right? And besides, it’s not like I’m disrupting you or anything.” 

“You are!” Leonardo shouted, “I literally have myself muted on the phone right now because you decided to waltz in here like Godzilla!” 

“Would that…make you Kong?”

The eldest’s glare hardened, “Raphael.” 

“Alright, alright! Keep your shell on!” The other snickered, “Just felt like checking up on everyone. You weren’t topside or in the lounge area. So I figured you were in here.” The red banded turtle stated as he looked to the side, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.  

The eldest’s eyes softened a bit at that, his crossed arms unfolding and then dropping to his sides. With the whole…fiasco that happened last summer, Raph has been checking up on the family more frequently as of now. 

And by 'more frequently', he means the everlasting second of the day. Which was more than Leo has ever done. And that’s saying a LOT. 

“I’m fine, Raph.” The leader in blue said, “Again…just on a call with April. You can…join us if you’d like. We’re gonna quickly finish our homework and then just chat. But don’t do or say anything stupid.” The eldest said jokingly as he offered the second youngest a smile. 

Raph nodded, squinting suspiciously a bit, “Well you changed your mind quick.” 

“I felt like being nice today.” Leo grinned, “So you gonna join or what?” 

“I appreciate the offer, but I just wanted to check up on you— I don’t wanna intrude on y'all…seriously.” He trailed off as his elder brother looked at him confused, huffing out a laugh of bewilderment, “Since when have you cared about intruding?” 

The red banded teen shrugged, still glancing to the side as Leo groaned loudly and dramatically, slinging one arm over Raph’s shoulder’s and squeezing him in a side hug tightly. With the height difference, the hug kind of looked like if Tom and Jerry were conjoined into one working being…although it was a hug nonetheless. 

“You wanted my wonderful and awesome attention so I’m giving it to you. Come on, Kool Aid Man. Let’s go.” The hazel eyed teen said as he dragged Raph to his bed. 

“Wait…what did you just call me?”

“Kool Aid Man. Get over it. It suits you.” 

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Raph…it was never that serious…” April sighed, looking at the second youngest who was pooling out buckets of the ocean from his eyes, but kept a straight face on the screen. The three teens were currently watching the very last episode of Steven Universe…for old times sake. 

And let’s just say the red banded turtle wasn’t taking it too kindly. 

“April’s right, man. Why are you sobbing like the crying emoji?” Leo cackled, resting his shell against the wall as Raph kicked him. “I AM NOT!” The hot-head yelled, wiping his eyes immediately after his brother asked, “These are manly tears…” 

“So…you are crying.” The young leader snickered. 

“Screw off, Nerdardo…!” The brown eyed teen groaned, scoffing as the credits played on the IPhone screen. “I fucking hate that show…it’s so fucking dumb…” He sobbed again, burying his face into the palm of his hands. 

The leader in blue sighed, patting his little brother’s shoulder as he looked at April, “See what I have to deal with?” 

The girl chortled, crossing her arms, “Must be soooo hard.” She mused and the girl smiled in amusement, slumping in her seat as she stopped screen-sharing on her phone, “So what do you guys wanna watch now?” 

“Uh…wanna watch that Netflix One Piece movie? I heard that Live Action isn’t…as bad as people say it is.” Leo offered as April scrolled through the different options Netflix had to offer.

“Hell to the no,” The red banded turtle immediately said, “I just escaped a 3 hour anime marathon with Don. I don’t want to see anything having to do with anime until I’m 90. Or when I die. Whichever comes first.”

The other turtle chuckled in amusement, “Fair enough.” He hummed, “What about…Avatar the Last Airbender? The series, of course.”

“You know damn well once we start watching it we won’t stop until we finish it.” April said. 

“True that…” Raphael commented. 

“Wait!” Leo gasped, “What if we watched a nostalgic movie instead? Like one we all haven’t seen in a long while?” The brown eyed mutant nodded at the idea, resting his shell on the wall as he grinned at the smaller turtle. “Alright…I’m picking up what you’re putting down here, brother. What’s your idea?”

“I didn’t…put anything down.” The elder turtle blinked confused. The red banded turtle huffed in amusement, patting his brother’s shoulder, “Oh, sweet summer child…” Leo rolled his eyes at the comment, brushing Raph’s hand off of his shoulder. 

“Oh! I know! What about Monster’s Inc—?” April started to say but was almost immediately shut down by the second oldest turtle, “Nope. Definitely not.”

“Huh? Why not? I love that movie!” The blue banded turtle groaned. 

“Yeah.” Raphael said to his older brother, “And you love Jennifer Tilly. Don’t forget that one time where you—“ Leo quickly hit his brother in the shoulder, not allowing him to finish the sentence and glaring at him profusely, “SHUT UP! It was one time! You don’t understand—!”

“—And I don’t want to!” The taller mutant declared, hitting Leo in the shoulder back. “Well, as a little kid you liked that ugly freaking fish from Shark Tales.” Leo added smugly. 

“…I will kick you again, Nardo. Don’t test me.” The red banded turtle threatened lightly. The glasses welding teen laughed, rolling her eyes, “I don’t even wanna know…” 

April suddenly then cracked her knuckles, adjusting her glasses so they were positioned correctly on her face (due to the fact it was slightly falling off and she can’t and won’t be caught lacking). “Alright y'all, hold on. Lemme lock in on this science assignment…” April muted herself, pulling out her laptop and becoming concentrated in her work.

The two brother’s patiently sat quietly, averting to their own conversation as they waited for their friend to finish her other homework. Leo let Raph have his yap session for a good, like, 2 seconds before the hazel eyed mutant went back to looking at his crush April. 

Raph looked at his brother knowingly, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly as the shorter turtle looked at him confused. 

“…what?” Leo said. 

“What what?” Raph said back. 

“You’re looking at me.” 

“And you’re looking at April~!”

“SSH SSH SHH! SHUT UP!” The young leader in blue screeched as a light blush appeared on his face. “Why don’t we…watch Avengers Endgame?” April suggested as she unmuted herself. 

Huh. She finished that science homework fast. And regarding that their science class is doing Physics right now, she probably used Chat GPT…

Leo’s eyes lit up at the suggestion as Raph groaned loudly, “No! No we are not.” The taller turtle said immediately, leaving no room for argument. The smaller turtle groaned back, crossing his arms in frustration. 

Raph facepalmed himself, due to the fact that this exact scene has played out anytime he tries to watch movies with his brother’s (and it’s a miracle that Donnie and/or Mikey weren’t here…or the call would last until the Earth exploded) “Leonardo. For the millionth time: Captain America is not a cool superhero! Like…at ALL!”  

“He’s a cool superhero to me!” Leo screeched. 

“Yeah! Only to you!” Raph glared as he jabbed Leo in the side. The smaller turtle screamed loudly in surprise, flinching away and covering his side with one arm as he hit Raph in the shoulder with the other. 

“Leo? You okay?” April asked, a tad bit concerned from the genuine scream her friend let out.  

“I’m fine!” Leonardo said through gritted teeth, “Just…trying to do my chores. Which reminds me: I need to take the trash out.” And with that, the leader in blue pushed his immediate younger brother off of the bed. He stuck the middle finger at him before facing the camera and pretending he didn’t just shove his brother to the abyss that was the side of his resting quarters. “You were saying?” He smiled sweetly at April. 

“Is Raph okay?” She asked, trying to stifle her laughs but finding the task extremely hard. “He’ll be fine.” The blue banded turtle simply said, looking to the side of him where Raphael layed. 

The turtle in question stuck the middle finger at him as Leo gladly did so back. April snickered at the two’s bickering, rolling her eyes fondly. Leo muted himself for, like, the millionth time during this call, turning to Raph, “Raphael.”

“That’s me.” 

The leader in blue’s eye twitched, “I know that’s you! That’s why I said your name!” The elder threw a pillow at his little brother who caught effortlessly. 

“Do not— I REPEAT: Do NOT tickle me in front of April, Raph!”

“Why not~?” Raphael snickered evilly like the little shit he proudly was. “Because it’s embarrassing!” Leo said as if his reasoning should’ve been obvious, “And besides, she needs to know that I have absolutely no weaknesses whatsoever!” 

“Nardo, I highly doubt she thinks that.” 

“What do you know anyway?” The hazel eyed mutant huffed, “Besides, I’m pretty sure she would appreciate talking about Captain America more than she would like to meet Hulk irl.”

Raph gasped, offended, “I DO NOT LOOK LIKE HULK AT ALL!”

Leo giggled amused, unmuting himself, “You said it, not me.” 

The glasses-wielding teen rolled her eyes, smirking at Leo, “Are done muting yourself now?” The blue banded teen nodded, “Yeah, sorry. Just needed to take care of a couple things…as you saw.” He gestured to Raph on the ground with his hand. 

“…I see.” April mused, “So. What now?”

“Now? Now I will show you something very interesting…” The red banded turtle said as he got up. 

Raph pulled his older brother closer to him on the bed by grabbing his ankle, dragging his body (pause...) to his chest as he put him in a small chokehold (one that wouldn’t hurt him of course). Leo sighed impatiently, hitting Raph’s arms like there was no tomorrow. 

“Raph, you’re so fucking annoying! Let GO of me!” The leader in blue growled which only caused the taller turtle’s grin to widen. “Hey, April? My friend, my pal, my amiga, my bud, my partner in crime…” He chuckled, “Can I let you in on a little secret?”

“Raph…” Leo warned.

“Well, not really a secret but just some cool info little Leonardo here hasn’t told you yet. He’s wanted to tell you for a long while but you know this dork, he’s shy.” 

“Raph!” Leo yelled, squirming left and right as he tried to get out of the small chokehold, inwardly dying from how embarrassing this was going to be. 

He would love to be tickled by April. Ever since they’ve become close friends that’s been the #1 thing to do on his bucket list: to tell her he was ticklish. Which sounds easy but it really wasn’t. Still isn’t. 

And no matter how many stretches or pokes he did, she would never get the clue. 

So, inevitably, he just gave up. Besides, April would freak the flip OUT if she heard his ‘getting tickled laugh’. Like, she’s heard his ‘normal laugh’ but his ‘getting TICKLED laugh???’ 

Because of his signature laugh, the hazel eyed mutant has been called Elmo, Peter Griffin, Scooby Doo…Patrick Star, the list goes ON. 

It would just be straight up HUMILIATING. She wouldn’t make fun of him of course but that sure as hell doesn’t mean she wouldn’t judge. What if he hit her too hard or he kicked her? 

And if he SNORTED?

Oh good grief Leo was going to absolutely die today…

The girl snickered, crossing her arms over her chest, intrigued on what this whole ‘secret’ was. “Oh? You’ve been hiding something from me, Nerdo?” Leo shook his head in response to the question, “He ihihis lying, April! Dohon’t listen toohoo this buffons lihies!” Great. And now he’s already laughing. 

“I am nohot a liar!” Raphael chuckled at his brother’s infectious laughter, “I’m aha truther. If anything yohou’re a liar for not telling April how embarrassingly ticklish you are.” The taller turtle mused, tickling Leo’s side with his free hand. 

Leonardo squawked loudly and then pursed his lips together in an attempt to not laugh. “Okay, Rio. Pop off.” April hummed, not seeming phased by the leader in blue’s predicament at all. The brown eyed turtle sighed knowingly at his immediate older brother’s behavior, shaking his head fondly, “You see here, April: this is what I call I liar right here.”

“Yohou’re the liahair!” Leo squeaked out but fell into a chorus of giggles as Raph’s tickling method changed from scribbling to his side to repetitive squeezes. “You were always more ticklish to squeezes than scribbles, you weirdo.” 

“Rahahaph nononoho!” 

“Raph yes yes yehehes.” Raphael playfully mocked. 

“Dohon’t doohoo thihis in frohont of April!” Leo despretley pleaded, kicking his legs on his mattress in a last attempt to get the sweet sweet taste of freedom. Raph rolled his eyes, “Oh please. You’re fiiiine. Besides, you love this sooooo I don’t even know why you’re complaining.” The young leader’s face burned in absolute humiliation…there was no way in all of Equestria’s three moons that Raph was doing this to him. 

No way. 

No how. 

“Oh yeah, that’s also a thing he forgot to tell you. He freaking loves this. It’s adorable really how much he denies the fact.” 

“Oh. He likes tickling?” April asked interested but there was also a hint of genuine interest to it. 

“Yeah. All of us do, really. Donnie thinks it’s because we quote on quote, ‘have a touch of the ‘tism’…whatever that means.” Raph remarked smugly, “But this chewed wad of green gum right here likes it most outta all of us, don’t you, Leo?” The hazel eyed teen shook his head, giggling softly and hiding his face in the crook of Raph’s neck. 

“See? He’s not even trying to get away.”

“YeHES Ihi ahAHAM!” 

“You’re squirming, doofus. If you reaaallly wanted to get away you would’ve whooped my shell by now. But you didn’t. Soooo I’m highly assuming you like it.” Raphael stated as he snuck his hand in his immediate older brother’s underarm which only caused Leo’s face to be practically conjoined with the side of the red banded turtle’s neck.  

Leo snorted, kicking his legs on the bed sheets, “M-My GAHASH! Rahaph yohou yahapper— shuhut UHUP!”

The red banded teen smirked, “I am a yapper, actually. Here, lemme demonstrate…” The taller turtle slipped his hand out of his brother’s underarm and just wiggled his fingers, “I’m gonna tickle you so bad, Nardo~! I’m gonna show April just how insanely ticklish you are~!”

The blue banded turtle snorted loudly, refusing to look anywhere that was not the floor. Gosh he was gonna get Raph BACK for this! 

Well, if he came out of this alive. 

“YohOU AHAsshole *snort* STAHAP!” The smaller mutant screeched, kicking his brother’s arm with his knee repetitively which Raph wasn’t phased by. Raph brought his hand down and scribbled all over the tops of Leo’s knees. “NAHAH! NAHAT *snort* THEHE KNEEHEES NAHAT *snort* THEHE KNEEHEES!!!” The smaller turtle panicked, his legs too tired to kick so he was just left to squirm with his torso.

Raphael huffed out a laugh of amusement, “I hope you’re taking notes of this, April.”

The girl in question giggled lightly, “I’ve been screen recording the whoooole time.” 

Raph winked knowingly at his brother, squeezing the top of his brother’s knees as if there was no tommorow. “RAHA— *snort* *snort* RAHAPH PLEHEASE NAHA— *snort *snort* NOHOHOHO!” 

April’s eyes widened at the new laugh she was being displayed with, but that newfound shock soon turned to newfound admiration. “Jeeheez…Leo can snort two times in a row?”

“Five if it’s on a good day.” Raph remarked. 

With all the leader in blue’s squirming, he was able to get out of the hold for approximately 0.2 seconds before Raph easily “recaptured” him. Although this time, Raph wrapped around one arm over Leo’s torso to hold his arms down to his arms down to his sides. The elder paled, knowing what was coming to him. 

Leo almost regretted even allowing Raph to join the call with him and April his EVIL little brother dug his fingers into his stomach. And without his arms, Leo was left completely defenseless and could not do anything but just laugh like he was your typical go-to NYC drug addict. 

“Tickle tickle tickle~!” Raph teased. The hazel eyed teen threw his head back as he let out loud, giddy cackles. It was honestly a surprise and a relief no one in the family came to check up on him. 

“DUHUDE SHUHU— *snort* *snort* *snort* DOHON’T SAHAY THAHAT!”

“Don’t say what, Gigglenardo? Tickle~?” Raph asked innocently. 

“GOHODAHAMMIT! YEHEHES!” 

“But it’s such a pog word! Tickletickletickletickle~!” The brown eyed turtle said as he now scribbled on his elder brother’s stomach. Leo let out a genuine Broadway actor scream before falling into his spiral of cackles. “My gohosh I didn’t know he was so ticklish…” April remarked which caused Raph to lightly chuckle, “You have no idea…” He said.

“Gitchie gitchie goo, Gigglenardo…”

“FAHAHACK— *snort* *snort* FUHUCK YOHOU!!!”

“I didn’t even say tickle this time!” Raph fake pouted, “But I guess I could since you miss me saying it so much~! Tickle tickle~! Kitchie kitchie coo~!”

The glasses wielding teen looked at her friend fondly, “Nardo I’ve never seen you laugh like this. We should do this more often.” She said as Leo’s face turned to the Earth’s core.  

Well…at least April seemed to geuniely like his laugh…? That’s a win. 

“RAHA— *snort* *snort* PLEHEHEASE!”

“Please~? Plehehease what, big bro~?”

The cackling turtle squealed, tears of joy being clearly seen in his eyes. “THIHIS IHIS MEEHEEAN!!!” He whined through his laughs as April and Raph fondly rolled their eyes. “Oho…I can show you mean, bro. I’m just using one hand and you’re already a squirmy, giggly mess. Imagine what it’ll be like if I used both of my hands…”

“BEEHEE QUIHIHIET!”

“Eh, you don’t have to imagine. I’ll just…” And with that, Raph scribbled against the side of the leader in blue’s ribs with both of his hands now. The hazel eyed teen immediately pulled his arms down, hugging his middles and just laughing hysterically. “Uh oh…Nardo, did I find a bad spot~?” Raph fake pondered as he scratched at his big brother’s lower ribs.

The brown eyed turtle looked at his friend, “April, you’re a news reporter, right? Tell me something about this new discovery!“ He said in a sudden sweet and innocent tone. “AHAPRIL AHAPRIL *snort* DOHOHON’T!” The blue banded turtle teen squeaked out but his pleas were ignored by the other two. 

April grabbed an Expo marker, putting it to her mouth as if it was a microphone as she adjusted her glasses again. “Hello, I am April O’Neil and I am reporting from The Splinterson’s room. As you can see, Leonardo– the small Mucinex mascot over there– is getting his shit absolutely wrecked by Shrek over here.” 

“HEY!” Raph shouted, offended, “I do not look like Shrek!”

“YOHOU *snort* KIHINDA—“ Leo started but was soon cut off as the red banded turtle started to squeeze at his hips. “No one asked you, Mr. Mucus.” Raphael huffed. 

“Other than the whole Shrek thing, I think that was a pretty good report. Thanks, Apes.”

“No probs, Raph.” 

“SHUHUT UP! THE BOHOTH OF *snort* *snort* YOHOU!” Leo snorted as April and Raph shared an amused look. Raph ceased his tickle onslaught on his brother, wrapping him in a hug and giving him a small noogie. Leo huffed as he caught his breath, glancing to the side to try and hide the smile on his face. 

“I screen recorded everything, Nardo. I hope you know that.” April grinned cheekily as Raph copied the grin as well. 

“And I hope you know that I hate the both of you…” The young leader giggled, swatting at Raph’s arms but didn’t hit with an attempt to hurt him.

“APRIL!” Mrs. O’Neil yelled from downstairs in April’s apartment, “COME DO YOUR LAUNDRY!” 

The girl in question groaned, looking to the side where her Mom was calling her, “MOM! I’M BUSYYYYYY! I CAN DO IT LATERRRRRR!!!” She whined. 

“APRIL O’NEIL!” Her Mom said in a warning tone.

The girl in glasses sighed, resting her cheek on her palm, “I gotta go before my Mom kills me, you guys.” She groaned, “April O’Neil out.” April concluded with emphasis as she left the call. Leo sighed, bringing a pillow to his face as he hid under his blankets, groaning loudly.

“I hate you so much…” 

“Oh you’ll be fiiiine. You should thank me. She is going to wreck your shit on Monday.” Raph nonchalantly said as Leo buried his face into the pillow deeper. 

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚FIN˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

(P.S.: If you enjoyed this fic, please reblog!!!)

[rottenrosethorns]

I see your looking for request, so I was more than happy to show up in your inbox

I came up with this randomly - anyway. Leon plans a weekend getaway/vacation for him and the reader. Somewhere where they can go swimming (beach,lake etc etc). Leon needs to relieve some tension. Leon and the reader share romantic night swim together totally on a whim, and just enjoy each other’s company, and tiny bit of smut just to top it all off.

much love x

Pairing: Leon Kennedy x afab!reader 

Genre: Fluff, Smut 

Synopsis: Disaster after disaster, Leon’s weekend plans seem to come to an unfortunate end; however, you convince him to try one last resort at a secluded campsite off the side of the road. 

Word Count: 4.4K 

Warning: 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT; swimming, bugs, unprotected sex, vanilla romantic sex 

A/N: all of my a/n are like “sorry for taking so long” and “it’s longer than expected” lmao. Thank you anon for requesting, i hope you like it! I really hope i got the romance translated through the story (if its subpar, im sorry, im tragically single LMAO) 

__________

- masterlist - 

__________

“Hey, hey, look at me,” You reached across the center console to cup Leon’s cheek and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, “Everything’s going to be okay, alright?”

Your voice hushes into a comforting whisper as you rubbed Leon’s cheek with a sad pout. Thankfully, your kiss seemed to soften his disarray of emotions as his frustrated wrinkles eased away as he let out a quick huff. Leon’s eyes were set looking through the windshield, avoiding your eyes at all costs as he wanted to avoid you picking up on his embarrassment. But, even without looking at him, you always knew what emotion he was feeling. You could clearly tell that Leon was disappointed in himself despite your attempts at reassurance. Leon sighed loudly, resting his elbow on the driver’s door as he looked down with his forehead resting in his left hand, “Everything was supposed to be perfect.” 

Optimistically, you tried to offer him a smile, but even you knew that you couldn’t argue with him about that one. Nothing was ever perfect, but this weekend trip was far from smooth sailing. Leon – being the vacation desperate man that he is – took the first chance to get out of town and booked a picturesque shoreside cabin for the extended weekend. It’s been way too long since he’s had a break, and all he wanted to do was spend time with you while reconnecting with nature. Well, the latter part was more so a suggestion from Leon’s therapist to which you essentially forced him to start seeing. Although he deemed it unnecessary even with his success of departing from the hardships of his trauma, Leon only agreed to comply with the treatments if you were doing them with him which included you enjoying the calmness that nature offered as well. A win is a win, you suppose. 

However, not everyone could be winners without losing once or twice, and Leon seemed to be on a streak today. With the cabin site a hefty four hours away from home, you were bound to run into some mishaps. But those mishaps quickly turned into mayhem as you faced the tribulations of Leon losing and finding his wallet, changing a flat tire on the highway, getting pulled over and let go with a warning, nearly missing a deer kissing the front bumper, and much, much more. Leon felt like he was fighting for his life more so on this road trip than being on an actual work mission. The only difference being that his enemy was the invisible universe instead of the normal mutated creatures and undead humans. 

Upon struggling to reach the cabinsite, Leon was relieved to pull into the parking lot of the front office and finally settle down after the hectic events of the day. But as if his trip couldn’t get any worse, the receptionist at the cabinsite pitifully informed you both that Leon’s booking confirmation never went through and that there were unfortunately no vacancies for the rest of the weekend. So now, you were both back in Leon’s car as he tried his best not to blow a fuse from the abundance of misfortunes. 

Just as you were about to respond back to him, your eyes shifted from Leon towards your phone screen that just lit up from being drained of its battery. Leon mistook your untimely silence as if you were condemning him at fault for being the reason why this trip was so disastrous. As he went to shift away from you, you quickly reached out and embraced his hands in yours, “We’re still going to have fun, okay? We’ve got a couple hours until sundown and I think I have an idea.” 

“You sure? If you don’t want to, we can go back home,” Leon offered with a downward turn on his lips. As much as he hated the idea of going back home and sitting idly within those same four walls of the house, Leon didn’t want you to feel as if you were being forced along with him to share the unexpected hardships of the road-trip. 

“Didn’t you say you wanted to reconnect with nature?” You laughed to yourself, already finding the imagery of Leon frolicking in the grass like some Disney princess amusing, “Let’s go here, I saw it on the way.”

Leon leaned over to look at the location you’d pull up on your phone, showing a small and secluded campsite hidden on the side of the road. Leon inspected the images with a skeptical look, “Are you sure? Those pictures seem kinda old, what if it’s not what it looks like anymore?”

You shrugged, “Then, we’ll find out and see.” 

“We don’t even have camping supplies.”

“Then, we get them.”

You and Leon stared at each other in silence as the proposition sunk in. After a moment, Leon sighed and started the car’s engine to drive off wherever you directed him to go. A part of him hoped that you wanted to tell him to turn around and go home, but the other part of him still wanted the weekend events to work out. After a bit more convincing, you managed to dissipate all his doubts and initiated yourself to take the responsibility for the rest of the trip. Although he was disappointed that his plans fell through, Leon couldn’t bring himself to put in more effort in the trip. During the ride, you constantly reassured him that nothing bad would happen although you both knew you really couldn’t promise that. It didn’t stop you from believing nonetheless. 

You directed Leon for a while until the car stopped at the nearest department store where you gathered all the necessary camping supplies and whatever food you wanted to last you the weekend. Thankfully, Leon’s mood started to brighten up as he chose your favorite snacks and even offered to buy you a cute stuffed teddy bear to keep you company. Was he slightly jealous that you were beaming at the plush? Maybe. But, he’d buy you anything to keep that smile on your face. 

Once satisfied with the purchase, you both departed the parking lot and drove until you found yourselves going down a tiny dirt path. The further you went down the road you started to second guess whether or not this was a good idea. It was a good half of a mile drive from the main road, and you were skeptical if there was even going to be a nice scene at the end of the road to settle in. The dirt road quickly started to disappear as the path became more and more overgrown as if no one had driven over it for quite some time. You cringed at the sound of the tree branches scratching the sides of Leon’s car as the edge of the forest got narrower. You really didn’t want the campsite to be bad and dampen Leon’s mood even more. You knew how much he needed a break, and you wanted to help make that happen. 

As you progressed deeper into the forest, the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach worsened. Leon seemed to notice your skepticism, “You sure this is the right place?”

You let out a nervous giggle, tightening your hold around your teddy bear, “Yes?”

Leon shook his head, unsure whether or not to believe you, yet he continued to drive forward blindly. You felt yourself holding your breath in anticipation as the thick trees looming over the road started to clear up. You lurched forward in your seat, rubbing your eyes from thinking that you saw something in the distance. As Leon approached, a laser flash of the sun’s reflection flashed your squinting eyes before you started to piece shining ripples on a water’s surface, “Is that a lake?”

Upon completely entering the clearing, your eyes were welcomed with a wide yet humble campground peacefully secluded from the main road. The campsite was equipped with a circle of rocks acting as a firepit with a small path leading down towards the sandbank and access to the lake from a wooden dock at the shore. Utterly breath taken from the sight before you, you awed the sheer capacity of the view. The lake was essentially crystal clear surrounded with rocks, cliff ledges, assortment of lush green trees, and a mountain. It was exactly what you’d see in a painting.  

Leon pulled off to the side, parked the car, and hopped out eagerly to deeply inhale the fresh scent of pine. You quickly followed after Leon and leaping into his arms for an open hug while laughing, “Is this okay?”

Leon snuggled into you, feeling happy for the first time today, “No, this is perfect, maybe even better than the cabin.” 

Leon tightened his arms for a moment as a silent thank you for your suggestion before putting you down and turning to soak himself in the view as well. While he was looking away, you couldn’t help but put yourself at ease from watching the smile on Leon’s face grow as the relief washed over him. 

You kissed his cheek and glanced at the campsite again, “Let’s set up for dinner before the sun goes down.” 

You and Leon tagged team setting up the tent and making dinner before sitting yourselves at the edge of the dock to eat and relax. 

“Can you believe that there’s places like this that actually exist?” You breathed a sigh of awe as you watched the reflection of the setting sun shimmer against the breeze induced ripples on the lake's surface. 

Unfortunately, your moment was partially ruined by some flying insects invading your vision and coming a bit too close for comfort as you swatted them away chaotically. Just as your bravery was set to dissipate, Leon aided in swatting the small swarm away. Shivering from the imaginative feeling of bugs crawling on your skin, you groaned in discomfort while rolling your eyes, “My knight and shining armor.”

“Is this your token of gratitude?” Leon feigned hurt by putting a hand over his heart dramatically, “Even after I aided your distress?”

You pushed him away with a laugh, yet your arms returned to rub them over your skin subconsciously. Even when you knew you were safe, you still felt vulnerable, especially out in the open, “I hate bugs.”

Leon hummed in acknowledgement as he intensely peered out into the scenic lake before perking up suddenly, “I have an idea!”

You eyed him suspiciously, moving your torso away and holding your hands up cautiously, “Uh-oh.”

“It’s not even dangerous,” Leon rolled his eyes, “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

You blinked, “Yeah, I don’t know about that one.”

“When have I ever put you in danger?”

“Let’s see,” You pointed each finger up, counting off the events as you recalled them, “Vegas, New York, LA – oh, don’t forget China too!”

“Alright! Alright!” Leon huffed with an exaggerated pout, “You have a point.”

“I always have a point,” You smiled in triumph, “Now-”

Leon cut you off by suddenly standing up and offering you a hand. You peered at his hand for a moment before shifting your eyes to his as you both silently communicated. Eventually, you decided to take his hand and let him lead you to wherever he planned to; however, instead of helping you stand up like you anticipated him to, Leon had pulled you forward and used the momentum of your imbalance to throw your body against his as he engulfed you in a hug and threw your bodies into the lake. 

Closing your eyes and holding your breath, you were completely submerged in the cool water. As quickly as it happened, you felt Leon’s hands grab your waist and help you break the surface and take a deep gasp for air. 

“Seriously, Leon?" You wiped the water droplets off your face and pushed your hair back,  "What are you like ten?" 

Leon’s hands moved from your waist to the back of your thighs and guided them to wrap around his waist as he floated around in the water. Leon smirked as you securely wrapped your arms around his neck, afraid to drift too far from him although you were safely near the shore’s edge, “Feels nice, doesn’t it?”

You were about to question what he meant by that before you realized that the cool sensation of the water wore off the icky feeling of the bugs crawling on your skin. Upon seeing your face, Leon laughed in satisfaction, knowing that he was right. 

“Shut up,” You mumbled. 

Leon leaned into you closer, teasingly hovering his lips near yours, “What was that?”

“I said-” You took your chance to release his neck, cup a pocket of water in your hands, and splash Leon in the face. 

Leon released you, giving you a chance to swim away before becoming a victim to his revenge. You can’t remember how long you were in the lake for, but you definitely are going to remember the memories of laughing and smiling with Leon for the rest of your life. Before you knew it, the sun was barely over the horizon as the black and blue sky began to overtake the pink and orange hues. While distracted from looking at the sky, Leon swam towards you. 

“Come on, you’re getting cold,” Leon helped you gain your footing as you both trudged towards the firepit soaking wet. 

You squeezed out the hem of your shirt in efforts to reduce the amount of water on you; however, you remained drenched no matter how much you twisted and wrung the fabric. Turning towards Leon, you meant to ask him which bag he packed the towels to retrieve them but was promptly stopped upon seeing him sling off his shirt and wringing it out. You gulped as you watched the veins trailing down his arms to his hands enhanced as he tightly gripped the fabric of his shirt. Now with the moon high in the sky, Leon’s bare skin seemed to glitter as his muscles flexed. 

You felt like you would’ve stayed there forever had your thoughts not been interrupted from Leon’s chuckle, “Can I help you?”

Adverting your eyes and clearing your throat loudly, you awkwardly pointed towards his car, “Um, I'm gonna get the towels. Which – uh, which bag did you put them in?”

“I didn’t pack towels.”

“You,” Your jaw slacked, “You what?”

Leon shrugged, taking a nearby stick and propping it upwards in the ground near the fire and hung his shirt to dry, “I figured the cabin would’ve provided some, so I didn’t pack any.” 

You stood there dumbfounded, knowing that Leon did have a point despite his lack of preparedness, “We can’t stay wet like this, we’ll get sick.”

“There’s a fire right here,” Leon stated like it was obvious before hooking his thumbs around his waistband and stripping himself from his pants and undergarments. 

You gasped loudly, turning your back towards him as your wide eyes did their best to avoid being flashed, “Leon!” 

Your voice echoed out into the forest as Leon’s boisterous laugh filled the air as he slung the rest of his clothes over another stick, “Come on, it’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before.” 

Heat flushes your face as you bite the inside of your cheek from the imagery of Leon being completely unclothed, most times from events when you both were getting intimate, “T-That’s different!” 

You knew Leon rolled his eyes from the tone of his voice, “You can turn around now, I’ve got clothes on.”

Slowly, you peeked at Leon, making sure he was telling the truth before committing to fully view him. True to his word, Leon had dressed himself with his previous outfit hanging near the fire. He handed you your clothes he managed to grab and set up another row of sticks to set your wet clothes to dry. 

When he noticed you were still frozen in place, Leon asked, “What’s wrong?”

Quietly, you mumbled, “Can you turn around?”

Leon paused his movements before a wide smirk flashed across his lips, “What was that?”

“I said,” You huffed, annoyed, “Turn around!” 

Leon snickered at your embarrassment but ultimately complied as he turned his back towards you and patiently waited until you handed him your sopping clothes to be hung on his makeshift clothing line. Once you finished dressing and hanging your clothes to dry, you noticed Leon shuffling about inside the tent. You watched as Leon basically disassembled the bedding setup and placed it outside near the campfire, “You know those are supposed to go inside the tent, right?” 

For a while, you tried to decipher what he was doing while urging yourself not to scold him for placing the sheets on the dirt. Leon would set the sheets in one spot, crane his neck upwards before moving the sheets to another spot before doing the same thing again and again until he settled on a spot to his liking. He was a bit of a perfectionist and his wide smile proved that point even more as he sat down and patted the spot next to him eagerly. Playing along, you seat yourself next to Leon and follow suit as you both laid on the sheets to look up at the night sky. There you saw the blanket of darkness with billions of stars that seemed to glow brighter than it did in the city.

“See the big dipper?” Leon took his hand and placed it over yours with your pointer outwards as he stretched your arm out towards the sky and traced the shape of the constellation, “And, there’s the little one.” 

Leon continued to look up at the stars and educate you about the history of each constellation and the mysteries of outer space. You listened intently, soaking every story and fact that he had to tell, “Since when did you know all this stuff? I thought you hated astronomy and horoscopes.”

Leon shrugged, “I do, but then I watched this documentary.”

You laughed incredulously before returning to awe at the glittering specks above you, tracing the constellations’ patterns over and over again. From the forest to the lake to the stars, you felt at peace in the countryside and a part of you wondered whether you could make a life with Leon out here far into the future. While looking at the stars, a quick linear flash of light darted across the tail end of the Little Dipper, “Leon, a shooting star! Make a wish!” 

Instinctively, you brought your hands up to your chest in a mock prayer while dragging Leon’s hand in yours as you closed your eyes and made your wish. After a moment of silence, you turned towards Leon, only to be surprised that he was looking at you the whole time. Leon chuckled at your reaction, “What’d you wish for?”

“I can’t tell you, silly, or it won’t come true.”

“Fair,” Leon said without glancing away at you, “You want to know what my wish was?”

“It won’t come true if you tell me,” You said in a hush just above a whisper, noticing the twinkling in Leon’s eyes became brighter than the stars above you.

“What if it already came true?” 

Leon’s eyes traced the features of your face as the campfire’s flames illuminated your complexion. Slowly, Leon brought up a hand to cup your cheek as his thumb softly traced your bottom lip, “Can I kiss you?”

“You don’t have to ask,” You whispered. 

Immediately, Leon pressed his lips to yours in a loving embrace, only moving his lips slowly as if to slow down time and relish the feelings of this moment. You melted into his kiss much like all of his others, but you yearned for more as you broke the kiss to straddle his lap. Sitting up, Leon rested his hands at your hips as you wrapped your arms around his neck and deepened the kisses you gave him. Grinding yourself onto Leon’s hardness, you helped each other take off your shirts before Leon dove forward to pepper kisses along your neck and collarbone. You arched your back, easing access for Leon to leave a few marks behind. Leon trailed his hands up and down your exposed back before dipping them into the hem of your shorts and gathered the fabric of your underwear in a gentle tug, causing the friction to rub against your clit. 

Leon pulled back for a moment, chest heaving from lust, “Are you sure you want this?”

“This isn’t our first time,” You giggled, running your fingers through his messy hair. 

“I know,” Leon said with his eyes flickering from your eyes to your swollen lips, “I’m just checking.”

“For?”

“If you want this,” Leon hesitated, pressing his lips in a fine line, “If you want me.”

You sat back, arms dropping to your sides as you peered at your lover confused. Leon rarely ever questioned your reasoning for staying with him despite all his history and his flaws. But, it was when the crackle of the fire paired with an extra large flicker of flame flashed the raw emotion of uncertainty in Leon’s eyes when you understood that it was the insecurity of all his history and all his flaws which clouded his mind with doubt. You had to step back and see things from his perspective for a moment. Of course, Leon was used to disasters in his everyday life, but now with all the great memories he’s created today, he was scared to lose it all now that the night was coming to an end. 

Knowing this, you smiled at him, holding his jawline with both hands as you pressed a passionate kiss to his lips. Leon responded with equal passion, but you could still sense a twinge of doubt within him. You pulled away, just enough to hover your lips over his as you rested your foreheads upon another, “Let me show you that I want this, that I want you.”

Leon gulped, eyes flickering between yours before slowly nodding and letting you take the lead. Taking his hands off your hips, you slid off his lap to fully undress yourself and guided him to do the same before reclaiming your place. You sat back, allowing enough space for you to dip your hand between your legs to grab Leon’s dick and slowly pump him at the base. Leon took a sharp inhale, eyes focused on your working hand. It didn’t take him long to get fully erect before you trailed your hand further up his shaft to drag his tip and spread your lubricant from pussy lips to clit. You spread the slickness along his shaft, causing him to hiss from the ease, “Don’t you need to prep? I can-”

You hushed him, “I’ll be fine, I need you in me right now.”

Leon twitched at your words, salivating from your eagerness. He didn’t want to lose his composure so quickly especially since you seemed to be holding on so well, but he was just as desperate to be in you and you were for him. Taking him back in your hand, you raised your weight in your knees and positioned yourself to take him in. Slowly, you sank down, allowing yourself the luxury of the initial painful stretch before using your body weight to bottom out. Leon’s face contorted with pleasure, using every ounce of self control that he could muster not to move your hips up and downwards as you took a moment to adjust to his size. Leon closed his eyes, taking shaky deep breaths in and out. 

You knew it was evil, but you purposefully prolonged your adjustment just to see Leon in this state. You found it endearing to see him so frustrated as you essentially cockwarmed him, but you knew you couldn’t keep this up for too long before Leon would turn the tables on you and make you regret testing his patience. So, with one last look of desperation on his face, you finally pumped your hips against his and took all of him. You hugged his wide shoulders and bit down on his skin as you dragged your walls against his veiny cock. The heat of your core plus the heat of the fire ignited a flush within you as the ember glow filled the air around you. 

Leon chose to show his appreciation by gripping your waist to push you back and leaving open mouth kisses on your breast and nipples. You arched your back, using his shoulders to hold for leverage as you continued to pump yourself on him. You could feel yourself beginning to tightened as you approached your finish and surely Leon could feel it too; however, Leon repositioned his hands to lift you off of him and on the blanket, so that you were lying on your back. 

“I was almost done,” You looked up at him with a pout from your stolen climax before a moan from your lips pierced the air as Leon entered you again. 

“I know, baby,” Leon hovered over you, lips on the shell of your ear as he whispered, “I just wanted to show you how much I wanted you too.”

With newfound passion, Leon rose back up and relentlessly pounded into your cunt. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head with pleasure as you gripped his veiny forearms to keep yourself from shifting away due to his force. You cried out into the night air as your moans and whimpers became lost in the wilderness. Lost in the feeling of Leon’s heavy thrusts, you hadn’t realized he took your hands in his as he continued his pace. 

“Please,” You gasped, “I’m almost there.”

You felt the familiar clench in your gut as Leon aimed at an upwards angle, deliciously pressing against your g-spot. You gripped his hands harder as you begged him not to stop. Leon edged you on by whispering more dirty thoughts in your ear as he groaned between his speech. Once again, Leon’s lips found your their way up and down your neck before leaving hickeys around the soft skin of your breasts 

“Cum, baby, cum for me,” Leon thrusted one last time into you, hips stuttering as he held your hand and pushed himself impossibly deeper into you. You moaned loudly as you wrapped your legs around his sides and clenched around him as he pumped into you. You both laid there, taking a moment to catch your breaths before removing yourselves, cleaning up, and laying covered up to bask in each other’s after sex glow by the fire. 

“Thank you for a memorable weekend,” Leon caressed your cheek, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” You kissed him lovingly and snuggled into his side to share his warmth. Although the fire was more than enough, it could never compare to the warmth and comfort that Leon gave you. 

“What should we do tomorrow?”

“Probably, get that tire properly fixed.” 

[ofbluesandyellows]

Blueberry Wednesday - TASM! Peter Parker / Fem! Reader

Summary: Peter has a new noisy neighbor and he doesn't know how to deal with that -including bright plates and tasty food.

Word count: 2,086

a/n: Hiya! This is a new little thing that came to mind a few days ago, it's so nice to be back to share something with you. Hope you enjoy it let me know if you want to read more :)

Peter had been living in this new apartment for a few months now, the building was nicer than the last, the hot shower worked fine and the electricity didn’t have that buzzing sound that made his migraines unbearable. It was in an okay area and it was close to where he worked.

His life had been monotonous for the same amount of time too, maybe even longer, waking up, shower, coffee, work, lunch, patrol, kick some ass, fix his wounds —when needed—, sleep and back to square one. Peter didn’t feel the need of anything at the moment, Mary Jane had broken up with him for the second time, and even when he was heartbroken, and cried to sleep when he missed her, he was not pushing her to accept him back, he knew it was for the best. Pushing everyone away was the thing he was masterful at. 

But this banging and screeching coming from the floor on top of his was causing his body to flinch every time that mother fucker sound appeared. His jaw clenched, his fist tightened. Peter had given whomever this person was, about an hour to come to their senses but this was enough. He stood up from his bed, leaving his badly sewed spider-man fixed suit splattered on the bed. Heavy steps and the slam of his door didn’t give the owner of the apartment a clue of what was coming for them, so when he banged the door two times, he waited but nothing happened, instead a wave of noise came through of it, as if the air and life were doing it on purpose just to add more stress in him; music the loud kind, instruments clashing against one another as if they had no rhythm to go with.

He banged the door, this time with white knuckles and a fury bubbling in his stomach. Suddenly the music stopped and Peter inhaled, oh, he was so ready to give this person hell, he was even expecting a fight to go down. This didn’t have anything to do with MJ dating another person, of course not, this was about the noise, yeah, that was it.

The door swung open and Peter puffed his chest, but it deflated the second his eyes landed on your frame. 

“Hi!” You said chirpy and jolly, waving a hand. Your hair was messy as if a wind swirl had trapped you and now you had to deal with this new crazy hairdo and a sweaty forehead.

Peter tried, he really did but his eyes betrayed him and went up and down your body, pink shorts, with strawberries, that was something. Your shirt was spotty with breach, it was an Arctic Monkeys one, he liked them. You looked… not as annoying as he expected.

He gulped and inevitably sighed. “Um hello, listen, I came up here to make you stop with the noise but I was not expecting to find you here, so um, yeah sorry. Just would you keep it down?”

All the hot bubbly anger settled down, he was in no way going to fight a girl let alone an adorable looking one.

“Oh, I had no idea, sorry!” You smiled sheepishly. “I just moved in this morning and I was trying to move a few things around because they just left them all scattered and I kind of wanted to— anyway yeah I am so sorry about that.” 

Peter nodded, he caught the pink in your cheeks going brighter the more he stared at you.

“You’re fine, really, maybe I’m just being a little dramatic.” 

Dammit enhanced hearing. 

“I bet you aren’t, I put the music too loud to avoid hearing the screeching myself.” Scratching your cheek you looked at him in the eye and quickly looked away. 

“Well, I live downstairs, do you… er need some help?” Peter looked past you, his eyes landing on the piled boxes and the furniture indeed resting in the center of the room.

“No need, I think I caused enough mayhem,”

“Nonsense, I would be also doing it for myself, if I help you you will finish early, hence I can have silence in my own apartment.” 

After a second you nodded, stepping aside. “Alright then.”

“My name’s Peter Parker by the way, I live literally below you.” His big hand extended, you met his and soon you two were moving furniture around the apartment, the music didn’t sound like noise in Peter’s ears any more, he in fact found out you really liked The Strokes.

The next morning Peter woke up with a banging headache, a brick wall fell over him when he tried to save a dog from a fire down by Little Italy. Only positive thing about his heroic act was that the owner of the dog handed him a little coupon card for free pizzas for the rest of the year at his son’s pizzeria two blocks down. He was definitely using that one.

A soft almost imperceptible knock startled him as he swallowed two ibuprofens with a big gulp of black coffee. The coffee was cold but he couldn’t care less.

As if he wasn't sure the knock had been on his door, he opened it slowly, you couldn’t be too sure anyway. At least his spider senses weren’t skyrocketing, which was always good.

His eyes found emptiness, there was no one at his door, his head popped out, looking to the right then the left and then a sweet smell caught his attention. Syrup-y, vanilla like.

Eyes went to the floor instinctively, right at his feet there was a yellow plate, a baby blue sticky note on the plastic wrapping it. 

His brows furrowed as he squatted down. 

Hi, Peter Parker.

I’m so sorry I disturbed your peace last night, 

take these pancakes as an apology and as a thank you for your help.

Have a good day,

- your noisy top floor neighbor.

Peter felt a flutter in his chest, he hadn’t eaten pancakes in so long, and these looked extremely good. The plastic wrap was forming little condensation drops, so he picked it up, with a smile forming on his lips.

As soon as the wrap was discarded his apartment filled with the smell of sweet homey goodness. Even a little plastic pot of syrup was resting at the side of the pancakes. He looked at them for a good minute, just appreciating the looks of it. 

“Okay…” he mumbled to himself as he grabbed a fork, his cold coffee still half drunk near his left hand.

Peter firstly dipped his pinky in the syrup and as he sucked on it he couldn’t help to make a sound of pure joy. Pouring the gooey thing over the spongy misshapen circles was making his mouth water and the first bite was like a whole new experience to him. He noticed how the pancakes were soft like he imagined clouds were, then he chewed on something sour his eyes widened, looking down he noticed the very well hidden blueberries.

It was like having a party in his mouth, warm, sugary with a hint of sourness and then all combined, he moaned as his forehead hit the surface of the counter in his kitchen. 

“You have to be kidding me!” 

Peter was a fan of berries in general but there was definitely something in the blueberries that made him extremely happy, it was almost childish, it was probably the memories of his mom adding them to his cereal when he refused to eat something else.

The whole thing disappeared in less than a few minutes. He was both flattered and a bit insulted by you for giving him six pancakes instead of the common amount of three but he was also very grateful, he hadn’t had a breakfast like that since he lived with May, and that had been years ago. This made him feel warm inside, almost loved.

The water of the sink cleaned the remains of the food and he stared at the plate, a big pink smiley face was painted on the center of it, this made him chuckle, one that vanished as quickly as it came. How was he supposed to give you back your plate, he was not good at cooking, well… only if you appreciated instant ramen or mac and cheese coming from a box.

He wasn’t very fond of the idea of returning your plate empty, made him feel ungrateful, even though he had been the one handing you his services, it hadn’t taken much from him to help you anyway, you had been nice and chatty, he even enjoyed being around you, and Peter didn’t enjoy being around many people. 

With a deep sigh he left the cheery plate to dry on the rack, he had to go to work now.

Working for this new lab was something he didn’t expect to feel excited about but being part of the genetics department was probably the best decision they made for him, he could check all kinds of weird things, giving him access to classified information that was also helpful for his arachnid counterpart. 

But just today wasn’t one of those days, his mind kept on drifting to you and your plate and those freaking incredible pancakes. Deep down he thought of finding ways to help you so he could eat those delicious fluffy things at least once more. For now he had to just entertain the idea, soon he focused on options to give you back your stuff without even going knocking at your door.

Because that would be weird? Isn’t it? To knock and give your plate back with a nod and then disappear without a word. It seemed too impolite and somehow Peter wanted to seem like a complete gentleman with you, after all he had been a bit forward last night, he was tired and upset and you were being so noisy but now here he was in a dilemma. 

Lunch felt like a slap, like a bucket of cold water, his sandwich tasted like sandpaper –not that he had tried it but he guessed that’s what it tasted like–not even his favorite drink from the vending machine seemed good enough in comparison to his three Michelin star breakfast. Swinging back home felt a little better than going in the subway, he made a mental note to fix his motorcycle, he didn’t need to deal with the heat of the city when he could drive to work and back and enjoy the breeze.

You know how destiny and coincidences are such a funny thing, Peter decided to take the elevator to his floor instead of just crawling up to his window. He just felt like it, so he stood there waiting until the door clinked sliding open, revealing a figure inside, your sparkly eyes was the first thing he saw.

Peter almost gasped.

“Peter! Hi,”

“Hey! Are you heading out?” duh how are you so smart, Parker? “I mean yeah of course you are, if not you wouldn’t be here.”

You chuckled. “Yes, I just ran out of milk.” Cheeks going pink, Peter smirked.

“Right, well, I won’t get in your way.”

“Okay, see you around.” 

Peter walked in the elevator and just as you walked past him, he held the door open just to see you for a little longer.

“Hey!” he quickly shouted. your hair flipping as you twirled to face him. “Thanks for the pancakes, they were really good, like exceptionally amazing.” 

“Ha, wow no, thank you, I really appreciate what you did for me yesterday, hopefully there won't be more disturbances in the future.” 

“Please, be my guest, if you need something you know where to find me.” 

“Will try not to bother you much but it’s good to know, thanks!” 

Peter was grinning. “By the way, the blueberries were quite the surprise, they’re my favorite.”

Your whole face brightened “Good! You were lucky, then. It was Blueberry Wednesday.”

Chest fluttering and all, Peter saw you wave at him and disappear out the door, his way to his apartment felt light, like all his worries had suddenly evaporated. His apartment seemed cozier too. Kicking off his shoes, he went to grab a glass of water, his eyes finding the happy yellow and pink plate, he almost choked.

“Oh shit! What am I going to do with you?”

Scratching his neck, he really needed an excuse now. He wanted to see you again.

[sweetestspence]

" late night talking "

summary: one accidental text leads to a night of mayhem, which both yn and spencer struggle to piece together pairing: s1!spencer reid x f!reader genre: fluff contains : alcohol consumption wc : 3.6k

part of the holy ground series.

You wake up to your alarm going off and sunlight streaming to your face. But before you could even register the loud incessant beeping of your alarm, the pounding sensation in your head causes you let out a quiet hiss through your teeth. You feel around the nightstand for your phone; it’s always on your nightstand, but you find it on the unoccupied pillow beside your head as you open your eyes to a squint.

“Oh my-” You sit up, your eyes wide as you take in the unfamiliar environment. Your heartbeat races in your ears, overthrowing the headache that’s creeped into your temples. Taking a peek beneath the bedsheet that covered your body, you let out a giant breath of relief once you realize you still had your clothes on. Although there’s a giant stain on your top that you don’t quite remember getting. 

The wooden floorboards are cold beneath your bare feet. A chill travels up your spine as you make your way out of the bedroom. Your last memory, albeit quite fuzzy, was texting Elle to join you at a club and you trusted yourself enough that you were actually able to do so.

“Hello?” You call out.

“Over here.”

A groggy voice answers back. Familiar, but not quite the one you were expecting to hear. Turning the corner to the living room, you find Spencer sitting up on the couch. He’s stretching his arms above his head, his expression contorted into one of discomfort.

“You’re not Elle.” You furrow your brows, blinking back a couple times to make sure you weren’t actually just seeing things. 

“Clearly, no.” Spencer hunches over, resting his elbows by his knees and threading his fingers through this hair. “What happened? How am I hungover?”

You take a seat beside him. Last night’s events are buzzy, colorful, loud haze. No matter how much you try to recall, you could only seem to come up with a blur. “The last thing I remember is texting Elle.”

“The last thing I remember is getting a text from you.” Spencer fishes his phone from his pocket to show you the text he received, only to find that it’s run out of battery. He sighs and places it on the coffee table. “Well, it was mostly indecipherable anyways. It was just a bunch of letters and numbers, which was worrying.”

“How did you know where to get me?” 

“I said mostly indecipherable.” He looks up at you with a quiet chuckle. You meet his eyes and Spencer instinctively looks away, but he’s well aware that you’re keeping your gaze on him. Perhaps it had something to do with your jobs in the FBI and the kinds of encounters you had with every case that made him worry about your wellbeing. Spencer bites his tongue on how he immediately assumed the worst when he received the text. 

“Right. Forgot you were an actual genius.” You gently nudge his shoulder with your own and it’s then your gaze falls on his hands, which are covered with band-aids. “Wait, were these there before you picked me up?”

Spencer follows your line of sight and it’s only then the slight stinging ache in his hands registers in his mind, scrunching his nose at the slight pangs of pain. While there are a couple of bandaids that covered his fingers, they’re applied haphazardly, thin light red lines peeking from beneath some of them and a few uncovered ones littered his palms. “No, they were not.”

You take his hand in yours, inspecting the scratches and lightly running your thumb over them. “The cuts are shallow, and judging by the stain around some of these, they were probably treated with an iodine solution.”

“Not well though.” Spencer’s brows are furrowed, and he lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when you let his hand go. “Missed a few and the application is uneven. The stain on this one is a bit darker.”

“We need to figure out what happened. I mean, what if we did something illegal? We’re FBI agents!”

“Then we should have woken up in a holding cell.” Spencer answers without missing a beat, watching as you stand and start pacing back and forth. Your panic doesn’t exactly help in soothing his own anxieties on the events of the previous night. “And that’s the conclusion you jump to?”

His words don’t seem to reach you though, and Spencer doesn’t miss the way your eyes light up. You stop pacing and face him directly, a certain kind of determination in your tone and expression. “That’s it. We’re FBI agents, we can figure out what happened. We’ll just have to treat this like a case and retrace our steps. Close your eyes, we’ll do a cognitive interview-”

“Y/n, breathe. Let’s start by looking for clues.” He cuts you off, and you hadn’t even realized that you were running out of breath. Spencer looks around the room, his eyes landing on two identical pairs on sunglasses on the coffee table. “Look, I don’t own these.”

“I don’t either- oh god… did we steal these?!” Your voice goes octaves higher, your eyes growing wide. Spencer feels around for his wallet, which he finds in his back pocket.

“Probably not… my wallet is empty.” He frowns, placing his wallet down and picking up one of the sunglasses. “These look cheap, they wouldn’t be worth more than ten dollars each. Is there anything in your purse that might help us get a clearer picture?”

You practically sprint to the bedroom, having caught sight of it by the foot of the bed on your way out earlier. Spencer takes the time to charge his phone in an outlet by the kitchen counter, perhaps something in his messages or call history would shake his memory. His brows are furrowed and his lips are pursed. Genuinely the last thing he remembers is settling in for the night, until he got your text. Though the hangover suggests that may have had some alcohol in his system. But that doesn’t make sense. If he was there to pick you up or check for danger, he wouldn’t have willingly drunk anything, needing to be sober if he was to take you home in one piece. 

“I have a receipt for the sunglasses and some first aid supplies. It’s from the general store across the street from the club.” You hand him the receipt before continuing to rummage through your bag.

He scans through the contents of the receipt. “Okay, according to the receipt we were at the store at 2:33 am. Can you check your phone and see what time you sent me that text?”

Your phone was hanging on 10 percent with a very cracked screen and a couple of missing buttons, the sight of which gave you more questions to answer. You could hear Spencer let out a quiet ‘yikes’ the second you pulled it out of your bag. “Yikes is right… looks like I sent you that text at 1 am.”

Spencer was right when he said all you said was an almost indecipherable combination of numbers and letters, and you can’t help but wonder how in the hell he managed to figure out where to get you. 

“You got some of the letters correct. I figured since you were probably drunk, you were a few buttons off on some of them. Look, you put in an ‘A’ for ‘E’ and ‘7’ instead of ‘U’.” 

“How-”

“You’re easy to read when your guard is down.” Spencer shrugs, and before you could even ask him to elaborate he’s already brushed his own words aside. “You sent that text at one, and it’s a twenty minute trip from my apartment to the club. Fifteen if there’s no traffic, and I assume there’s none considering the time. What happened in the next hour between me arriving at the club that would lead to us buying first aid supplies?”

Silence envelops the two of you as you both tried to come up with your own theories. Spencer wonders if he had gotten into a fight, but there’s no bruising on his face or knuckles. While possible, a fight wouldn’t lead to just some shallow cuts on his hands. Why would I even get into a fight in the first place? To protect Y/n? he thinks to himself, making a quick glance at your features — clearly deep in thought. No, I wouldn’t have had to. She throws a better punch. He dismisses the thought, remembering the last case you had just worked where you decked an UnSub who was looking to get past you in an alley. Besides, you didn’t have any self defense wounds. 

Surely, there must be an easier way to get around the gap in his memory. Then it hits him. The most obvious way to find out what had happened without either of you having to bend over backwards to try and figure it out.

“Didn’t you mention you were going out with your friends…?”

“Oh god, I’m so stupid.” You mumble to yourself, gently hitting your forehead with the palm of your hand to emphasize your point. Scrolling through your contacts until you find the right one, you let out a quick sigh when the other line rings. “My friends left when they found someone to go home with- if you know what I mean. But luckily, the bartender is also a friend… Hey!”

“Y/n! How’s the hangover?” 

Spencer moves closer to you in an attempt to hear the other side of the conversation. You place your phone on speaker, but he maintains his proximity. Just close enough that his arm ever so slightly brushes against yours, but far enough to not make your heart race. 

“Josh. I need you to tell me what the hell happened last night.”

Your friend laughs at the urgency in your voice. “Do you want the detailed account or the TLDR?”

“TLDR?” Spencer asks, leaning closer towards you, his voice low.

“It means ‘too long, didn’t read’. It’s basically slang for a summary of something.” You reply just as quietly. Turning your attention back to your phone, “Considering I’m about to run out of battery, I think TLDR would be good for now.”

“Got it. Well, after Mia and Liv left you said you were going to invite your friend Elle to join you instead. But then this guy Dr Reid shows up and says that he works with you. Is he…”

“Yeah.” Spencer clears his throat. “I’m here.”

“Nice to meet you, man! Anyways, he tries to get you to come home with him because you’re so clearly plastered and you two have work. You said that you don’t want to go home with someone sober. Fast forward a few shots later and Dr Reid feels bad for knocking over a bunch of empty glasses on the bar and he tries to pick them up.”

“That explains the cuts on my hand.” Spencer comments.

“Mhmm. Since I ran out of supplies, I offered to walk with the two of you to the store across the street to treat his cuts. You insisted on being the one to help him. I stayed until you finished putting on the bandaids and got you both in a cab.”

You follow each word that escapes Josh’s lips and you couldn’t help the embarrassment that flooded your veins. You hadn’t known Spencer for too long and you had already caused him far more trouble than you believe you were worth. You squeezed your eyes shut tighter and tighter with each passing second, letting out a breath of relief once it was all over. You still don’t know where the large stain on your top was from, or why you had chosen to buy sunglasses along with the first aid supplies The only thing you knew was that you owed Spencer the biggest apology. 

“Why did I buy sunglasses?”

“You kept complaining about not having any to take to the field.”

“Why are there two?”

“You exclaimed, pretty loudly might I add, that they looked good on Dr. Reid so you got him a pair too.” 

“You’re lying…” You mumble, forgetting that Spencer was just a couple of feet beside you, and using your free hand to cover your face. “Did I happen to spill anything on myself too?”

“Nope.” Josh chuckles, loud and breathy, causing your embarrassment to multiply tenfold. “Listen, Y/n. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, alright?”

“Sure. Thanks, by the way.”

“No problem.”

He hangs up and you turn to Spencer with a small, sheepish smile. “I guess that solves one mystery.”

“There’s still the matter of that stain on your top, so we made one more stop before we got here.” Spencer’s brows are furrowed, his gaze trained on you. He moves to stand in front of you to get a better look. “It doesn’t look like mud or dirt. I think it might be coffee… you know, there’s a diner not too far from here.”

Before you could offer making a quick trip to confirm his hypothesis, his phone lights up from the kitchen counter. His ringtone cuts through both your trains of thought. Sneaking a peek at the caller ID, an immediate sense of dread fills your senses. You look at Spencer wide-eyed and his expression mimics yours as he weaves his way around his furniture to answer his phone.

“Hey, uh, Hotch.” Spencer didn’t mean for his voice to shake as much as it did, or to grip the phone as tightly.

“Good. You’re awake. Is L/n up as well?”

“Ye- wait, you know she’s here?”

Spencer’s eyes widen to a degree you didn’t even know was possible, which only increased the panic that flowed through your veins. You raise your brows and mouth an exaggerated ‘what is he saying?’. He puts his phone on speaker and waves you over, but you stay rooted to your spot. 

“I’m sure you’ll forgive me for giving her the bed.” There’s nothing in Hotch’s voice to indicate anger or frustration, though you could hear the slightest bit of disappointment. You imagine him on the other end of the call, his lips pressed into a thin line. “You’re expected at the office in an hour. The team needs both of you at your best. Sort out your hangovers or whatever it is you need before that. Got it?”

“Yes, sir. Um- I was just wondering-”

 Aaron sighs. “You’re both lucky we didn’t get called in last night. Check your call history, Reid. You called me and I found you and L/n at four in the morning engaged in an arm wrestling competition. On the way back, you gave her all the cash in your wallet because you lost. Do I even want to know the rest of the night’s events?”

You shake your head and Spencer answers for both of you. “No, sorry for the trouble.”

“Just make sure it never happens again.”

“It won’t-”

“If it does and you’re going to need an early morning pick-up at some random diner, at least get Anderson to do it.”

Both of you hear the call disconnect, leaving you and Spencer in a stunned silence. A beat passes, and the two of you make eye contact. 

“Did Hotch just make a joke?” You ask your question slowly, as if you couldn’t believe it yourself. You’re not too sure if Spencer heard it either, but you swear you could hear the ghost of a smile in the latter half of his sentence. 

“You know I-” He pauses, actually considering the question. Spencer looks down at his feet, just for the quickest of seconds, before looking up at you. “I can never tell with him.”

He says it earnestly. But you could tell in the way the corners of his mouth flicked upwards, in the way he tried to suppress a smile, that he was somewhat joking too. Spencer didn’t seem to be the type to make a jest on Hotch’s seeming stoicism to his face, despite how close the team was. Not to mention, you were still quite new too. The fact that he was comfortable enough with you to make a small jab at your chief warms your heart.

So you let out a chuckle, and he joins you, and in just a few seconds it turns into full blown laughter. Mostly at the absurdity of the events of the previous night. It’s not lost on either of you that both of you were the last two people on the team to have such an experience. If you were betting on it, your money would have been on Morgan or Elle.  

“I should get going.” Your laughter dies down, realizing you were against the clock and JJ might call you in earlier than expected. You grab your purse and head to the door, walking as quickly as you can without tripping on your own two feet. “I think I can squeeze in a quick shower at my apartment and a trip to the coffee shop in an hour.”

“Before you leave, you should uh-” Spencer’s voice stops you in his tracks. He gestures to the stain on your top before handing you the cardigan he’s wearing. “get that covered up.”

You gratefully accept the cardigan and put it on, making a mental note to get it washed before returning it to him. Just as your hand makes contact with the doorknob, Spencer calls out your name.

He’s standing by the coffee table, and he tosses you one of the cheap plastic sunglasses neither of you remember buying. You catch it with ease, a proud smile spreading across your face in doing so. For a moment, flashes of the previous night flood through his mind. Blurry images of you cheering him on as he downed another shot, you absentmindedly dancing around streetlights, you gently blowing on the cuts on his hand, the same proud smile on your face as you beat him at arm wrestling.

“I think I had fun.” Like always, Spencer chooses his words wisely. He’s not too sure if the images he conjured in his head are real, or merely suggested by the retellings of Hotch and your friend. He likes to believe they are, and he bites his tongue on more of what he wants to say. Hopefully next time, I remember. I hope there’s a next time. Nights like the one you just had are a rarity for him, and he didn’t exactly mind the experience if you were there too. 

“Same time next week?” You tease, putting on the sunglasses. 

“Oh no.” He shakes his head, walking towards the front door so he could see you out. “I’m taking an indefinite hiatus from nights I can’t remember.”

“And here I thought you had some sort of super memory.”

“I have an eidetic memory, which accounts for the things I read.” Spencer corrects, now standing just a couple of feet in front of you. “Which was unhelpful in this scenario. We still don’t know why your phone’s broken.”

“I wanted to get a new one anyway.. oh, here.” You’re halfway out the door when you remember the loose bills in your purse — the ones you had won from your little arm wrestling bet. It didn’t feel right to keep them when neither of you even remember making a deal in the first place. You take them out and hand it to him. “and… uh, thanks. For you know, showing up.”

“Anytime.” Spencer means it. You had only been part of the team for a couple of months at that point, but he responds without missing a beat. Showing up for his team members is a part of the job, and you were no exception to that. As long as you called, he’d show up.

He knew it was true for everyone. Hotch coming to the diner to get both of you was proof of that too.

“I’ll see you later then.”

“See you.”

You leave him with one final thankful smile and Spencer closes the door with a gentle click. He makes his way back to the kitchen, where his phone had been halfway charged at that point. Sure enough, he’s made several calls to Hotch and one to Morgan. He sees the text you sent him and a wrinkled piece of paper on the farthest corner of the room, the one he used to decipher your message. When he checks his gallery, on the off chance he’s accidentally taken photos throughout the night that might help jog his memory, Spencer finds a picture of both of you. 

It’s most likely taken by your friend Josh. You’re both sitting on the sidewalk, and he suspects it was taken during the time you were waiting for a cab. You’re wearing the sunglasses you had just bought and he’s used his own matching pair to push his hair back. You have an arm slung around his shoulders, pulling him closer, and he has a peace sign up and could barely keep his eyes open. Both of you clearly drunk out of your minds, but wide grins plastered on both your faces.

It’s first clear memory he has of the previous night, and the thought of which makes Spencer smile as he makes his morning coffee.

[ The smile disappears as soon as he gets a text from Morgan saying : ooooh heard from Hotch the wonder twins had a crazy night… did you get lucky pretty boy? ;) ]

a/n. this part turned out much longer than i expected it to be... but i hope you enjoyed ! thank you for all the kind words and the support i received on the first part, and this series in general. i'd really love to know what you think hehe !!