#anyways hi hello I’m strange and weird and no one stays interested for long either

[threebyfours]

I love saying idc but I clearly still do

[theshotsheardacrossworlds]

Cat

Gale has a terrible, no good, very bad day. Thea decides to help in an unconventional way. NSFW.

If he was being honest, Gale found that most of the days on their adventure had been good. Today, however, was not one of those days. Fat. Middle aged. Can’t keep up. Not hitting the target enough. Putting her in danger. Gods, if anything happens to her because of me, I…

“Meow?”

Is that a cat? That surely cannot be Tara because she would’ve announced herself with an energetic, “Mr. Dekarios!” He pulled the flap of his tent and, as he predicted, the cat was not Tara the tressym. It was an orange tabby with bright green eyes. Funny, that’s the exact color of Thea’s eyes. “Hello there! Are you lost, little one? Come in, come in.”

The cat meowed happily and walked in, waiting for Gale in an excited way. A cat excited about a person is very strange, though perhaps that is simply how this lovely cat is.

He went back to sitting on his bedroll, and the cat followed. Seems to be waiting for me to say something? Very curious. “I don’t know why you’re here, my friend, but I’m happy for the company.” The cat began to purr and climbed onto his lap. He laughed nervously. “Want a cuddle, do you? I suppose that’s alright. You’re awfully cuddly, aren’t you, sweetness?” He starched behind the cat’s ears, the purring growing louder. “You know, this is just what I needed. I had, quite frankly, an awful day. Every day on this journey I’m feeling my age more and more. And look at me!”

His parasite tingled.

I do see you, Gale, and I, quite frankly, love what I see.

Thea?!?!?!

Yeah! Hi! Sorry, I didn’t mean to like…be weird or anything. When we got back, you just seemed so fucking sad, and I had no idea why. I felt so bad, love. So I thought, “Well, Gale likes cats, and I can wildshape into one in seconds, maybe that would make him feel better.” So…I did that! Yup. The cat stared up at Gale with what he thought were adorably pleading eyes.

My love, you are the most thoughtful and sweetest woman in the realm. And it’s not weird! I’m still very interested in learning more about the magic behind wildshape.

I just…do it. I know that’s not the most helpful, but I’d say it’s the most accurate. At least for me! Maybe Halsin could explain it better. Anyways, if you want me to change back, I can.

Absolutely not. Unless you want to, of course! I don’t know how comfortable you are…

Thea practically began to vibrate with purrs in his lap. Are you fucking kidding me? I’m a cat in a nice, warm, soft lap. This is heaven, Gale love.

He chuckled softly, scratching behind her ears. Darling, you may stay in heaven for as long as you’d like. Then a thought slowly dawned on him. Oh shit. The glamour—

Gale, please—

One moment!

You look better with it off!

He stopped just short of his earring. I…do?

Yes. Well, I think so. You’re very handsome either way, but I prefer you like this. You’re just so snuggly, and I love that.

Gale blinked. Snuggly? I don’t think I’ve ever had that word associated with me at any point in my life. I will…take that as the compliment I hope it is.

Gale, of course it’s a compliment! Listen, I know that I’m literally the last person who should be saying any of this, but you’re very, very, very handsome. I love how soft you feel…it makes me want to hug you more than I already do. The gray in your hair is gorgeous, makes you look so distinguished. You’re hot. That’s all there is to it, love!

He laughed. Thea darling, I’m not quite sure how to respond to all of that. However, I will say that I’m pleased that I make you feel that way.

I’ll show you “pleased” Mr. Of Waterdeep! Thea leapt off his lap and then reverted to her quite beautiful wood elf form. “Sorry, I just need to do this!” She scooched over to him and then threw soft arms around him. “I love you no matter what you look like, okay? But as you are, right now, in this exact moment, you are perfect. To me, you are perfect. Perfect as you are.”

He motioned for them to lay down, which they did face-to-face, their fingers entwined. “I’ll take your word for it and hope that you know that it applies to you as well. You are stunning. You take my breath away. You arouse such feeling in me, my love. What I feel for you is more than anything I’ve ever felt towards anyone, mortal or immortal.” A wry smile tugged at his lips. “I love you no matter what you look like. As you are right now, in this exact moment, you are perfect. To me, you are perfect. Perfect as you are, dearest.”

They moved closer together, enough that their noses touched. Her bright green eyes (I know those anywhere, my love) met his brown ones. She felt one of his hands caress the softness of her wide hips, as one of hers rubbed one of his lovehandles. “I love you, Gale.”

“Love you too, sweetness.”

They shared a quick kiss and stayed lying like that for some time before Thea spoke. “I don’t think you’re that old either, if I’m being honest.”

Gale rolled his eyes. “Darling, you’re a wood elf and a druid on top of that. Of course, forty isn’t going to be that old to someone like you! But to me, it simply means my youth has passed.” Fat. Middle aged. Physically unfit. Thea loves it. Thea loves me. She loves me as I am. To her I’m perfect. “Ah, but with age comes wisdom, I suppose, so it can’t be that bad.”

She stuck her tongue out at Gale and made a valiant attempt to look angry but alas, she only looks more adorable. “A wood elf and druid I may be, but I am only thirty! And you’re not that bloody old even for a human. I mean, Elminster Aumar’s like twelve hundred right?” She grinned at him. “Surely Gale of Waterdeep could figure out how to live a few hundred years?”

His expression was playful with more than little seriousness. “Challenge accepted, my dear. While I get to work on that, there’s something more immediate, more pressing, one might say, that I need to see to.” The hand on her hip slowly drifted up to an unbelievably perfect breast, gently kneading it. “I find this to be a quite serious distraction.”

“Do you now?” She teased, bringing a long leg over his hip. “Is this also distracting?”

His lips met hers in a somewhat sloppy kiss, the hand on her breast continuing to knead. “Quite. Might I suggest—” He was silenced with a kiss and a squeeze of his side. “What? Is something wrong?” Gods, have I overstepped? I don’t think I have. She would have it written all over her face if I did.

Any hint of teasing left her face, though she was smiling. “If you ask something of me, then I’d like to ask something of you too, love.”

I’m not sure what she’s getting at, but I’ll play along. “Of course, but I only wondered if you’d take your shirt off.”

She moved to sit up and remove her shirt, revealing what Gale had longed to see---porcelain skin covered in freckles and a large, soft belly and equally large breasts. Gods be good, she’s even more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. Thea, you are a goddess. “Now you.” She whispered as she lay back down.

“As the lady requests, so it shall be done.” he said as nonchalantly as possible, ignoring his heart threatening to beat through his chest. She thinks I’m perfect. She thinks I’m handsome. I trust her judgment on so many things, so why not this? “Here goes…” Sitting up, he took a deep breath before taking his shirt off.

He was not prepared for the gasp that escaped Thea.

“Oh my gods, you’re so hot!” She squeaked, her hands over her also perfect mouth and green eyes wide. “I bet she never told you you’re hot! Well, you are!” Suddenly, she grinned and reached for him. “Come here, love!” As the lady commands! He resumed his former position, their bodies pressed against each other. A look of wonder graced Thea’s face as she ran her hands over his hairy chest that made Gale’s heart skip a beat. “You feel amazing…”

“So do you.” He captured her with a passionate kiss, a hand running up and down her pillowy upper arm. “How would you like it if I kissed every freckle on your gorgeous body, o goddess of mine?” As her cheeks turned red, he chuckled. “One must be able to take compliments when one is so willing to give them, my sweet.”

Shaking her head, she said shyly, “I’m not a goddess. I’m just me.”

Gale shook his head vehemently. “You are. I happen to be an expert on such matters—”

“Mhmm.”

“And I can say with one hundred percent certainty that you are, in fact, a goddess.”

“I-I’m not.” Her entire upper half is blushing. Goodness gracious, she’s so beautiful. “I’m a normal—”

“Not normal, extraordinary. Extraordinary in every way.” He kissed her, slowly at first and then more heated. “Please allow me to show you why you are deserving of worship, darling. Please.” He tugged on her lower lip, noting how she moaned. Perfect. Moan more for me. “Please, my beauty.”

She nodded wordlessly.

He tutted at her affectionately. “No, sweetness. Use your words.”

Gale did not know how it was possible for his beloved to turn redder, but she did. “I-I…I want…” She trailed off as her gaze returned to his plump, hairy chest. In every part of her life, she seems so confident and sure of herself. But in this arena, she’s so shy. Maybe I should take the lead.

Tipping her chin up, his brown eyes met hers. “Would you like me to touch you?”

“Yes.”

That’s a start! His other hand untied her trousers and slipped inside her underwear. He imagined a mass of ginger curls at the apex of her thighs based on what he felt. “May I touch you here?”

“Gods, yes.”

Smirking, his long fingers circled her clit, causing her to moan. “That’s it, darling. There’s a good girl.” While this is greatly enjoyable, I think a change of position might make things easier. He withdrew his fingers. Oh, she is not happy. Don’t worry, my love! “Lie on your back, sweetness.” Still blushing, she did as she was told. “Good girl. You are so worthy of devotion…let me show you…”

She wrinkled her nose and giggled, reaching for her trousers. “And maybe I should show you the rest of me. That’s if you want—"

Within moments, he was tugging her pants and underwear off, panting heavily. Once they were discarded, he stopped. “There’s something you need to know. I won’t be making love to you tonight.”

Upon hearing that, she whined. “Gale…”

“Shhh, I won’t leave you wanting. Especially after how good you’ve been to me this evening. My beauty, I have something very special planned for us, but it’s…not quite ready yet.” A few more days of preparing, and then I will make the sky come alive for you. There was a time I could do it in an instant…no. Don’t go down that road tonight. Focus on her. “I want it to be the most magical night of passion you could ever dream of.”

“I’m happy to wait, love, and I’m very interested in hearing about how you won’t leave me wanting.” She attempted to squeeze her thighs together for more friction, but with him now in between her legs, she got no relief from that. But relief is coming, my sweet.

With a sly look on his face, he smirked. “This tongue isn’t simply for speaking, my darling pussy.” Pause. “Cat.”

She laughed and groaned, covering her hands over her face. “Gale, I love you so much, but that was awful!”

He looks far too pleased with himself. “Well, I happened to think it was clever. But if that’s not to your taste, my dear, then my tongue has other talents.” His head dipped as his hands gripped her thighs. They are so incredibly large. Soft. Full of freckles like the rest of her. “So wet for me already, my dear, and I’ve barely done anything…” His very practiced tongue circled and sucked her clit. She tastes so sweet. My beauty, I could feast upon you every moment for the rest of our lives, and it wouldn’t be enough to sate me. Must taste more of her. All of her. His hands kneaded her thighs, her soft flesh spilling through his fingers. She is perfect. Perfect in every way. I can’t wait to show her the Astral Plane, making her feel sensations she’s never felt, hear her cries of utter pleasure as I— The tadpole stirred once again.

As you what, love? I’m so close…

That must wait, sweetness. There’s so much I want to show you. But for right now, let go. Let go, my love.

Several small gasps escaped Thea’s perfectly plump lips as she came apart on his fingers and tongue. “That’s it. There’s a good girl. What a good girl, my darling.” He purred, finally taking his mouth off her and glancing at her heaving chest and belly. “What a sight you are! Still trembling as I wring you out…so wet…good girl, Thea…good girl…” Her breathing evened out as he praised her, her body eventually stilling. “Such a good girl for me. I’ll clean you up and then—”

“What about you?” She inquired softly. “You’re quite…excited…” That’s one word for it.

He sat up and conjured a bowl of water and moistened a clean cloth with it. “No, no, no. Don’t worry about me. There will be many other nights for that.” They fell into a comfortable silence as he cleaned her (and licked her juices off my fingers and wiped my beard) and then settled on the bedroll with Thea spooning him. I’m in heaven. This must be heaven. It must…

She planted light kisses along his shoulder and kept one hand on his hairy belly. Truly, this is heaven. I’ve never had any lover as interested in my body as she is. No. She loves me. All of me. No one has ever loved me as she does. “Hey, you alright love?” She gave his middle a squeeze. “You’re very quiet, which is not exactly normal for you.”

He chuckled. “Simply thinking, my love. Would you like to stay? Obviously, you’re free to return to your tent and sleep, if you wish.” Good gods, man. You’re forty years old, not a Blackstaff apprentice.

Gale felt her smirk into his shoulder. “Elf or cat?” she asked, punctuating each word with a kiss.

She won’t see this coming.

“Darling, I can never have enough pussy.”

“You naughty man!” She managed to get out as they both exploded with laughter. “Gale, you are the very definition of a chivalrous pervert.” He turned his head to give her a kiss.

“You wouldn’t have me any other way, would you?” He teased lightly. However, he felt as if his heart was beating through his chest. I know what you’ll say. But I so need to hear it.

Her bright green eyes were full of emotion and sleep. “Never. You are just what I’ve always wanted and hoped for. Never, ever change, love.”

Gale thought of his previous lovers, including Mystra, and how he had been asked by every single one to alter part of himself to suit their needs and desires. And then there’s her. She who wants me as I am. She who wants me alive and safe and happy and…She who wants…me. “Thank you, my darling girl. You are a wonder. Truly.” He kissed her nose and then turned his head back around, sleep starting to claim him as well. The protest on her lips died as Thea’s meditation started, her hold on him slackening slightly. “Have the sweetest reliving of memories, Thea my dear.” He whispered, as his eyes fluttered closed.

And you have the loveliest dreams, my handsome man. Her voice murmured in his mind via their tadpoles. My beautiful wizard. My Gale.

I will certainly try, my beauty. Good night.

[wroetospotterwp]

Potion Partners

Pairing ✨- Fred Weasley x Fem!Reader

Summary 💓: Y/N is a quiet girl that stays clear from trouble, but that becomes difficult once she has to partner up with Fred Weasley in Potions.

Word Count 🖊: 1,724

A/N 🗣: hello all!! this is my first ever imagine on tumblr and first i’ve ever written really, so this is quite different to what i’m used to! but i hope you all enjoy anyway!

Warnings ⚠️: this is just fluff so i think we should be good

Requested? 📮 - nope

Masterlist

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

It had been the one class Y/N had been dreading all day: Potions. It wasn’t that she wasn’t any good at the subject, she just didn’t like how Professor Snape treated the students and favoured others.

Y/N was not one of those favoured, unfortunately.

As soon as she had finished Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, she raced to Potions, Snape couldn’t take housepoints from her if she arrived early. It took some time, but she finally arrived, only a few other students waiting outside the classroom. Clearly they had the same idea as her.

With a smile to her fellow classmates, she walked over to the stone wall and opened one of her books. Might as well spend the rest of time preparing for the class. It was quite peaceful, only the flames from the torches and quiet chatter from students were heard.

But of course, it didn’t stay quiet for long. A door behind Y/N swung open, slamming against the stone loudly. The noise completely startled the girl, dropping her books on the floor. Y/N quickly glanced up to see it was the Weasley twins that had just entered the corridor.

Fred and George Weasley. The class clowns of Hogwarts and two heartthrobs that the students of the school adored. Would Y/N be lying if she said she hadn’t fancied one of them? Completely. Fred Weasley had always a been a secret crush of hers since she first saw him, but who could blame her?

Unfortunately, girls like her didn’t stand chances with boys like him, and she had accepted that a long time ago.

Before the red head could catch her looking at him, she focused her attention back on the fact her books were completely sprawled along the stone floor. Y/N bent down and started to try and gather her books, lucky for her one of her fellow classmates started to help her pick them up.

“Thank you.” Y/N muttered before she stood back up and accepted the books from the classmate.

“No problem.” The voice accepted, Y/N looking up and seeing it was none other than Fred Weasley. Her eyes widened slightly, mentally kicking herself as she realised how strange she looked.

Y/N didn’t say anything, just gave a small smile and turned away from the tall Weasley. But he didn’t seem to be finished talking to her.

“That’s a lot of books you have there, Y/N.” Fred pointed out, which almost made Y/N’s heart leave her body. He knew her name?! She kept to herself and only had a few friends, nothing that would put herself out there enough for Fred to know her name.

“You know who I am?” Y/N quietly muttered, her cheeks starting to turn a bashful red. Oh how she was thankful that everyone else was focused on their own conversations to see what was happening.

Fred raised an eyebrow and let out a breathy laugh. “Course I do.” He replied, like it was just so obvious.

Fred Weasley had messed up here, he had only found out who Y/N was just a few months ago thanks to Angelina and Alicia. He was dragged to the library by his two friends and seen Y/N reading at the table herself. Immediately, he caught himself staring, how had he never noticed her before? She was beautiful.

He questioned his two friends and they informed him who Y/N was, but they didn’t know much about her themselves. Fred was desperate to find out more about the mystery girl, starting to try sit near her in classes and in the Grand Hall, hoping she didn’t think he was weird.

She didn’t notice most of these advances, and if she did, she avoided eye contact with him at all times, which he didn’t understand why, had he pulled a prank and she had fallen victim to it? He wasn’t sure.

Y/N didn’t have the chance to reply to Fred as the Potion’s classroom door opened, Professor Snape walking out and sternly looking at them all.

“Most of you will be unable to do this, but enter the classroom and stand by your desk.” Snape eyes fixated on Fred and George.” “Calmly”

Fred and George just smirked at their Professor as the rest of the class entered his classroom. Y/N smiled at Alicia Spinnet, who she shared a desk with, as they settled into the seats.

Snape didn’t seem to trust the Weasley Twins today, motioning them to get up from their seats as soon as they sat beside each other.

“I don’t believe that either of you can be trusted working with each other. So today you’ll be split up.” Snape informed them, Fred and George usually always worked together so most of the class were shocked at their Professor’s demand.

Snape had a very slight smile. “George with Miss Spinnet, Fred with Miss Y/L/N.” He requested them. Y/N couldn’t believe it, how was she going to work with Fred? Alicia got up from her seat and walked over to where George stayed seated, Fred getting up and walking over to where Y/N was seated.

“Alright?” He greeted as he sat down, Y/N nodding slightly, Godric how she hoped that it wouldn’t be this awkward the whole period.

Snape explained to them what potion they would have to produce today, Y/N writing down all the ingredients while Fred was busy balancing his quill on his forehead out of boredom.

“Do you want me to go collect the ingredients?” Y/N questioned, bringing back Fred into reality, who had just realised that the class had began to make the potion.

“I’ll go up.” Fred offered, getting up from his seat. “Are they all written down here?” Y/N nodded as she handed him the piece of parchment, her hand briefly brushing his, sending butterfly’s to her stomach.

Fred didn’t have a clue what half of these ingredients were, grabbing what he thought was each product and hoped for the best. He brought the stuff back over to Y/N, who raised a brow.

“Are you sure this is all the right stuff?” Y/N asked, scanning the stuff Fred had picked up.

“Of course.” Fred confidently replied. Y/N shrugged, picking up a bottle to start the potion when a hand went on top of hers. “I’ll do the potion, you can sit and relax.” He offered.

“Oh, Fred, it’s no problem.” Y/N gave a small smile. “Everyone else is working in partners, you don’t need to do everything.” She didn’t trust he knew what he was doing anyway, so she just hoped he let her help.

“I’m actually quite the potion’s master, Y/N.” Fred smirked as he began to add random ingredients to the caldron. That smirk kept the girl quiet, her face turning bright red and unable to respond.

Fred was surprised that Y/N was actually talking to him, and actually holding eye contact. He hoped for his sake that his random ingredients he picked up would benefit him and make the potion that was required.

But life would be too easy if that happened.

The potion exploded up in the air, barely missing both Fred and Y/N’s face. Fred let out a laugh at what just happened, not noticing the complete shock present on Y/N’s face. Her eyes looked to the front of the class to see Snape’s face.

Safe to say he was pissed off.

Snape gave them both detention, something Fred was used to and Y/N not so much. They stayed after class since it was the last period of the day and Snape demanded that they cleaned every caldron to be completely spotless.

Snape had left to go to speak to Professor Flitwick, so it was just Fred and Y/N, alone. For the first few minutes, it was silence. Y/N too busy scrubbing one of the cauldrons to notice that Fred had walked up beside her.

“You know, I’m quite happy we’re in detention together.” Fred smirked at her, Y/N thought he was having a joke around.

Y/N smiled at him. “Fred, you basically live in detention, why would this be any different?”

Fred faked offence to this. “You wound me woman, I actually have a life outside of detention.” He joked, Y/N letting out a laugh. “Seriously though, this had been my favourite one.”

“I’m glad my company has been fun.” Y/N giggled, starting to feel more confident around the red head.

“I’m just gonna go straight to the point.” Fred informed her, making Y/N stop cleaning the caldron for a moment. “Do you want to go to Hogsmeade together at the weekend? To the Three Broomsticks?”

Y/N raised a brow at the boy. “Are you asking me on a date?” She questioned, quite confused.

“That’s typically what a man does when he fancies a girl, yes.” Fred replied, Y/N didn’t trust him, this must be some sort of joke.

“Is this some sort of prank?” Y/N asked. “Make me think you’re interested and make a fool out of me for believing?”

“What kind of pranks do you think I do, Y/N?” Fred let out a laugh. “I’m sorry if I’ve pranked you in the past-“

“You’ve never pranked me, Fred.” Y/N interrupted. “I just didn’t think you liked me.”

“Lucky for you, I do.” Fred smirked, Y/N playfully rolling her eyes.

“So charming, Weasley.” Y/N beamed, she felt so much better about talking to him, she needed to tell him she felt the same way. “I’ve liked you…for a quite a while now.”

“No one can resist me so it’s understandable.” Fred joked, he couldn’t help himself, could he? Always making a joke about anything and everything.

Fred began to lean closer, eyes flickering from Y/N’s plump lips and her gorgeous eyes. Y/N leaned forward too, this would be her first kiss, she hoped it would go alright.

Their lips pressed together and it was like the both of them had been together for years, they fit together like jigsaw pieces. They were too busy in the moment with each other to notice the classroom door swing open, the Slytherin head entering.

Professor Snape never partnered Y/N and Fred ever again after what he seen.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

i ramble on so much and at the end i felt like i rushed it! i need to figure out how to write these because i’m not sure this was that good, but i tried! first imagine so go easy on me if this is bad!! i’m used to writing fics hahah

my requests are open btw! :)

taglist: @malfoysstilinski @drearyxo @just-a-bittersweet-tragedy @fizzleberries

[boldlyvoid]

Amoreena | Chapter ten

chapter ten

main summary: Heaven is a real place and it's located exactly 14.6 miles away from the FBI, Quantico Headquarters. Off behind a small park, under a fantastical willow tree surrounded by wildflowers, in every colour young minds can imagine.

Don't forget, heaven also comes with angels.

Chapter Warnings: immense amounts of fluff, discussion of bad dreams death and past trauma at the end all related to canon

word count: 5.3K

from the beginning <3

Dreaming wasn’t something that came easily to Spencer. When he did dream they never made any sense, dark and twisting basements, endless staircases, treading a deep dark sea for hours as the waves swallowed him whole. Wind chimes that he couldn’t find wouldn’t stop twinkling as he aimlessly ran around a trailer park. It was never peaceful.

Then his mind found the park and couldn’t stop re-creating it, over and over again in his mind every single night when he closed his eyes.

He was in the middle of the most perfect dreamscape, his girls reading under the sun as Y/N’s head rested on his shoulder…

Then his phone started to ring, opening his eyes to the sun barely waking up as well. He answered the phone before Y/N could wake up beside him, “hello?”

“Spence, I’m so sorry to wake you,” JJ’s voice slipped into his mind and woke up right up, she wouldn’t call unless she needed to. “We have a really bad case, we have to leave like right now and the babysitter can’t take the boys and Henry is still too little to make sure Michael eats during the day and he’s still so little—“

“Hey it’s fine,” he cut her off as he sat up, waking Y/N in the process. “I’m only 12 minutes from Quantico, leave them with Anderson and I’ll be right over.”

“Thank you so much, Spence, oh and they need breakfast, I’ll leave some money with Henry, can you make sure they eat?”

“Absolutely, don’t worry, good luck and be safe,” he reminded her, feeling weird that he didn’t have to go as well.

“Thanks again Spence,” he could hear her smile before hanging up, leaving him to stretch and finally get out of the bed.

“Was that JJ?” Y/N asks, getting out of bed and putting on her housecoat to follow him to the bathroom.

“Yeah, the boys need someone to watch them if you don’t mind?”

“They’re family,” she reminded him with a sleepy smile.

“They need lunches for today, I can drive Amoreena to school with them too?” He’s splashing water on his face so he can wake up enough to drive safely to Quantico, wiping the water from his eyes as he hears Y/N laughing softly.

“It’s Saturday silly, and Monday is their last day anyway if they need to stay that long,” Y/N reminds him, “I’ll try and have breakfast ready when you get back.”

“Tomorrows the 14th, shit,” he remembers his calendar. “I have to take my mom to get her yearly scan and cognitive test done tomorrow morning, I won't be able to send her off on her last day.”

“That’s okay, as long as you’re there for the little graduation and the all about me display ceremony it’ll be fine, it starts at 1:30,” she didn’t mind him missing it but everything in him felt like the worst person ever if he did.

He never wanted to miss anything ever again.

“You’re sure that’s fine?”

She nodded again, wrapping her arms around him and looking up into his beautiful, tired eyes. “Family comes first, that means Diana was in the calendar longer so you go with her. Amoreena just wants to come home with you from school, for the next 10 years of school she’ll be coming home to you.”

“Why don’t we wake Amoreena and go get breakfast with the boys? I’d like to get to know my god kids too…” her voice cooing as she soothed his morning anxiety, blessing him with more time with her, he nodded.

“You go get the boys and come back and pick us up, I’m sure she’ll take a few minutes to contemplate feeding chickens or breakfast,” Y/N smiled, leaning in to kiss his cheek softly.

She pulled away but he pulled her right back in, pressing his lips right against hers again and again until they were both laughing, teeth bumping into each other in their early morning delirium. She finally pulled away from his grasp, rushing to the bedroom door so he couldn’t follow her.

“Go get the boys!”

He fake huffed, “fine!”

Slipping into his jeans and a sweater, placing her grandpa’s hat back on his head once more. He made sure he had his wallet and identification, the guards knew him it’s not like he wouldn’t be allowed into the building with a visitors pass.

And then he was out the door and driving down the road. Pulling into Quantico with a strange feeling in his gut, he didn’t realize how much he hated it here until he didn’t need to be there all the time. He was granted a visitors pass, parking in the garage and taking the elevator right up to the BAU.

He walked into the briefing room to find Henry on his phone and Michael sound asleep again on the couch.

“Hey, uncle Spencer!” Henry cheered, not waking Michael in the process somehow.

“Hey buddy,” he said, scooping the now 13-year-old Henry into his arms for a quick hug. He was still cuddly and sensitive and quiet, much like Spencer at that same age.

It was almost like JJ picked him as the godfather knowing he would need him. Choosing to text or call Spencer about cute girls and chess games and new star wars movies, instead of going to his dad for chats about football and beer… or whatever Will was into. Spencer really didn’t give him a chance to get to know him over the last 15 years, harbouring a hatred for him that he didn’t really understand until he met Y/N.

Now will was the jealous one in a sense, wondering what he could do to get his own son to come to him for advice and support. But he understood it, Henry was exactly like Spencer and he needed to see that being awkward and quiet doesn’t last forever.

“So, I’m not sure if your mom and dad told you, but I got married and my wife has a daughter and we’re going to take you boys out to breakfast, okay?”

“She said you’re Nini’s dad, like for real?” Once again someone from the LaMontagne called Amoreena Nini and he had no idea why.

“I donated sperm when your mom got pregnant with you, I didn’t think I’d get to have a family,” he was honest with him. He was old enough to know how it worked and mature enough to hear the word sperm without freaking out.

“Cool, Nini and Mike are normally friends.”

“Why do you guys call her Nini?”

“Michael couldn’t say Amoreena when he was 4 so he called her Nini, and then Dad would call her that when he teased Mike about his crush on her,” it made complete sense for a kid to not be able to pronounce it.

But his brain got stuck on the crush part, turning to Michael who was still sound asleep with his face pressed into his backpack, drooling slightly. JJ’s kid had a crush on his, a weird fantasy he had coming true where he and JJ can be friends forever as in-laws.

It was too bad Amoreena really didn’t like boys, not even in the 8-year-old ‘ew cooties’ way either. She was raised around women and she was comfortable with them, and she had no problem punching Michael in the face if he ever pissed her off. It was going to be interesting seeing them interact today.

“Okay, well let’s get your things and bring them back to our house and then we’ll go get breakfast with my girls,” Spencer smiled, seeing Henry’s face light up at the day he gets to spend with Spencer. “You’re going to love Y/N.”

And he did… walking into Spencer’s new house to drop off his backpack, dropping his jaw when he saw Y/N instead. He was so much like Spencer it made him laugh, patting Henry on the shoulder, “I know,” he teased him.

Henry turned to him with wide eyes, “I’ve never met Nini’s mom, that’s her mom?” He whispered that same anxious boy Spencer used to be staring right back at him.

He nodded with a smile, “yeah, she’s really nice don’t worry.”

“Henry! It’s so nice to meet you,” she says as she walks into the main room.

Henry turns around to see her when she’s pulling him into a big hug, Spencer can see his eyes are closed as he takes a moment to hug a pretty girl. Spencer couldn’t help but bite his tongue, not wanting to laugh and embarrass the poor boy now that he was noticing pretty girls. Even if that girl happened to be his wife, it was inevitable for Henry to crush on one of Spencer’s girlfriends with how much he copied him.

She pulled back softly, Henry’s arms still around her waist, she brushed his beautiful blond hair behind his ears. “You look so much like your mom, you’re so handsome!”

Henry forgot how to breathe, trying to stutter out a thank you as he backed up out of her space and turned to Spencer, “he’s always looked like JJ, you should have seen how tiny he was originally,” Spencer jumped in to save him. “Where is Amoreena?”

“She’s trying to pick between 2 different dresses, I’ll go make sure she’s in one by now,” she smiled at them before leaving the room, heading up the stairs to Amoreena’s room.

“You good?” Spencer nudged Henry, laughing lightly. “She’s your aunt now, she’s not going to think you’re a dork so you can calm down around her, I promise.”

Henry released a deep shaky breath, “you’re right, sorry.”

“It’s fine, I was like that around your mom before you were born, you should have seen me,” he tried to sympathize with the boy, only making a disgusted face arise on him.

“Ew, that’s completely different she’s my mom!”

Spencer wrapped his arm around him, “and Y/N is my wife!” He whispered as loud as he could so that it wouldn’t be heard by her.

Henry sighed, “and she’s like what 50?”

“35,” Spencer looked at him and laughed as he shook his head, “how old do you think I am?”

“Mentally? 6-years-old,” Henry bullied him right back for all the brotherly teasing, “but physically you look 79.”

“Thanks,” Spencer said, tucking the boy under his arm and messing up his hair, “now you look like a dork.”

He loved Henry more than he could express, unlike Amoreena he knew he wasn’t his kid, it wasn’t fatherly at all. Henry was his best friend's kid, his godson and his little brother, and as he got older he was becoming more of a best friend than he thought he would.

—

After breakfast when everyone was awake and happily full, Y/N took them all into town to visit the farmer’s market. Letting the kids look around and see if there was anything they wanted to all make for dinner, she was the best mom and aunt in the whole wide world and Spencer kept falling more and more in love every second he spent with her.

She was glowing in the sunlight, walking through the booths looking at all the fresh vegetables and fruit, Spencer followed her with Michael’s hand in his and Henry not far behind. Amoreena was off talking to her favourite vendor, an older woman who reminded her of her great-grandma, it was sweet.

Spencer thought about how their future would be much of the same, Y/N and him with a couple of kids while the rest of them did their own thing. He couldn’t wait to see all the little faces they’d create together, to get to know all the personalities and raise them into being just as wonderful as their sister and cousins.

“Ugh,” Y/N stopped dead in her tracks then, they were heading towards the butcher’s booth when she turned around, almost green as she reacted to the smell. “Nope, not going down there.”

Spencer couldn’t stop smiling at her as she tried to not throw up in the middle of the market, people watching her dry heave as she walked away. Spencer knew JJ was pregnant with Michael before she even told Will because she was the exact same way very early on. Living on ginger ale and baby cookies to stay sane, Y/N was going to need that hack.

He didn’t say anything, just profiling her in his mind as he followed her again.

Henry and Michael used the money JJ left them to buy some homemade candies from the market, Y/N picked up some donuts to bring home to her parents, and Amoreena only wanted fresh strawberries. Spencer however snuck away from the group really quickly to get something they passed earlier, something he wanted to get for Amoreena.

There was a vendor with homemade shirts and dresses, knitted hats and all sorts of collectables. If he was going to miss her last morning before kindergarten, he wanted to get her something to wear that morning so he’d be there in spirit.

There was a beautiful handmade purple dress hanging on the wall behind the vendor, the same kind old woman that reminded Amoreena of her GG. “Hello, how can I help you today?”

“We haven’t met, but I’m Amoreena’s father,” he introduced himself with a smile, and the old woman face beamed.

“Yes you are,” she smiled. “She has your nose, it’s lovely to finally meet you!”

“you too, um, I was interested in that purple dress,” he points behind her, “it looks like the one from tangled, I’m sure she’d love it.”

“that’s exactly how she described it when she saw it today,” the woman explains as she takes it down from the wall for him. “It’s $35, but I’ll do $20 for my favourite little friend.”

“That’s very kind, but I don’t mind,” he says, taking $35 dollars out of his wallet and laying it beside the cash box. “Thank you for always making my girl smile.”

“Thank you,” she smiled again, folding the dress nicely and placing it in a white bag, “would you like some tissue paper so she can’t see what it is?”

“That would be great, thank you,” Spencer smiled too, incredibly happy that this was his life now.

She handed him the bag then, stuffed to the brim with purple and pink paper, Amoreena was going to love it. He said his goodbyes and met the rest of his family at the car, hiding the present between his legs in the passenger seat as they drove home.

—

Henry and Michael did end up having to stay the night, switching into their PJs after dinner and joining them all in the living room for a movie night. They let the kids stay up later to watch the whole movie, watching Michael fall asleep once again on the carpet, he had been so well behaved all day it was like he was afraid of Amoreena now.

Michael was perfectly happy sleeping on the couch all night, Henry, on the other hand, slept in Y/N’s old room to have some privacy and so he could sleep in on Sunday.

By the time JJ and Will got home on Sunday night, Y/N and Spencer were just putting some burgers on the grill, they had enough for the whole team and so sure enough, the crew made a short trip from Quantico to Heaven.

Matt called his wife, she drove their handful of children over, Luke of course let Penelope know, the two of them still happily seeing each other now that she wasn’t on the team, it was cute to see them together. Then Penelope, of course, invited Derek and Hank. Emily, Rossi and Tara coming along just to witness Spencer being happy.

It was the best summer party they’ve ever had. Bob and Linda were beyond excited to have so many new faces in their yard, throwing on 2 more packages of burgers, feeding a whole army like normal.

The kids were all running around together in the field, playing with the cats and the goats, rolling down the big hill towards the cows, chasing fireflies as the sunset.

It was all of their last day of school on Monday, a weird day to end on but they were excited nonetheless. Y/N’s father lit up a bonfire in celebration, setting up every lawn chair and log they had to make sure everyone had a seat, they all gathered with marshmallows on sticks and drinks in their hands, smiles on their faces and love in their hearts.

Spencer made a happy life for himself that he was no sharing with them, and they call understood perfectly why he chose this one. It was peaceful, perfect and the most loving environment he’s ever been in. They were beyond proud of him.

“This place is amazing,” Tara leaned towards Spencer, “your family is wonderful.”

“Thank you,” Spencer smiled at her, raising his voice then as he looked at the rest of the team, “I just want to thank all of you actually, you’re all my family and it’s been so surreal introducing you all, I’ve never been happier.”

He was swarmed with hugs then, everyone also using it as their queue to gather their kids and hit the road. They watched everyone get in their cars one by one, Penelope did everything in her power not to leave with at least 3 cats, Matts's kids asked if they could come back, often, with Y/N reminding everyone that the gates are always open.

It was everything he ever wanted.

Amoreena jumped into his arms then, he held her against his side as they both waved at everyone, saying goodbye to all her new aunts and uncles and cousins. Her family kept getting bigger and bigger by the day and she was so incredibly happy about it. She’d take in a million more family members if they let her, her heart didn’t have a capacity level for love.

He carried her up the porch stairs then, bringing her into the kitchen where the white bag with purple tissue paper was waiting for her. Her eyes lit up as she saw it, “is that for me?”

“You bet it is,” he enthused, “I’m not going to be here in the morning, grandma Diana has a doctor's appointment, so I got you something for tomorrow morning.”

He set her down on the floor, handing her the bag and watching her carefully remove all the tissue paper. She laid it on the table softly to keep it for later, saying it was good to make barbie dresses with. When she finally saw the dress her jaw dropped.

Y/N was there too now, watching in awe as he surprised both of them.

“Did you buy this from Candace?” She asks softly as she takes it out of the bag. Holding it to her chest as she twirls around lightly.

“I did, I thought you’d like to have something to remind you of me there, I’m sorry I’m going to miss sending you to the bus on your last day,” he tried not to cry as he crouched down to her level, taking her into his arms and giving her a soft hug.

“That’s okay, you’re always in here,” she took his pointer finger in her hand and poked her own chest with it, “I love you, dad.”

“I love you more, Amoreena,” he smiled through the tears, scrunching his nose so they wouldn’t roll down his cheeks, giving her another hug before Y/N started her bedtime routine.

—

For the past two weeks, his dreams have been filled with lush fields of green draped in the most beautiful golden glow. Both his girls sitting beside him as they read, each of them has a book and it’s silent. It’s serene, the dictionary definition of peace.

However, it took him a while to fall asleep tonight, he was too anxious for Amoreena’s last day of kindergarten in the morning and the fact he wouldn’t be there for the drop-off.

Y/N was sound asleep on the pillow beside him as he stared at her, for what felt like hours, brushing her hair off her face lightly and making sure the blankets were still covering her. His eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room just enough that he could see her face twitch into a smile as she fell deeper into her slumber.

Seeing her happy relaxed him enough to follow her. Blinking into his dream realm and finding a few new faces waiting for him by the tree…

“Dad!” Another little girl he’s never seen before was running towards him, wrapping herself around him as he held her.

Suddenly, 7 other children he doesn’t know are surrounding him in hugs, tacking him to the ground in a fit of giggles and tickles, “we missed you! Why were you gone for so long?”

He’s so confused, he knows he’s dreaming but he chooses to stay, to wander the world and ask the questions his mind was so obviously trying to answer. “I’m sorry,” is all he can reply, taking Amoreena’s hand and following her towards Y/N as she sat on the picnic blanket.

She was older, which meant he should be too, looking in the pond quickly for his reflection to see’s his wrinkled face, the white in his hair and beard. Their kids had all grown up but where was he for it?

“Welcome home,” she smiled as he sat down. “it’s about time you met the girls.”

“Where was I?”

“You don’t remember?”

He shakes his head, “I was supposed to be here.”

“Amoreena got into Yale, did you hear that, cutie? Elly, Junie and Theo are in high school now, look how beautiful they are…”

He watched his children frolic in the field, running around without a care in the world that he missed everything. Why did he miss everything? How could he miss everything?

“It’s too bad you missed Cordelia and the other twins, can you believe we had 3 sets of twins, Spence?” She laughed like it was funny, “how could you leave me alone with 9 babies?” Still smiling, staring into his soul as he died a little inside.

He started to panic then, breathing heavily as he tried to remember where he was to miss everything, “I was supposed to be there for them!?”

Suddenly he’s ripped awake by Y/N shaking him and pulling him against her skin, “hey, shhh, it’s okay.”

He was crying and shaking in his sleep, sweating as he tried to fight off the dream, his anxiety in full swing for absolutely no reason, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for leaving you.”

“You didn’t go anywhere, Spencer, you’ve been there the whole time,” she reminded him, rubbing her hand over his back as he settled into her arms. “You were mumbling and then yelling.”

“I got to the park and you told me I missed all of them growing up,” he whispered the painful words into the open, freeing them from his mind and letting them exist somewhere else.

“Them?” She coo’s, holding his head against her chest as she rests her cheek against it, holding him as close as humanly possible.

“We had like 9 girls, they were all so beautiful as you and Amoreena, they all had my nose and your lips and the curliest blowing hair in the whole world, and I missed everything, again,”

“I won't let that happen, do you have any handcuffs leftover? Because I can keep you here for good?” She teased him in a hushed whisper, playful and happy to prove that he was fine, they were fine.

“I’m sorry for waking you up,” he whispered again shimmying down lower to lay his head on her lower stomach, kissing her stomach softly. “I’m not leaving you all, never.”

“I had a bad dream too, that’s what woke me up first,” she replies softly. “Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of Stephen’s death, and the first time I never visited him.”

Spencer felt the need to sit up then, making eye contact with her to see her true feelings. “I don’t want you to stop loving him because you also love me. He’s special to you, you should go see him soon.”

“Spencer,” she smiles at the concern in his voice, “I will, I only didn’t because I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant, I was bleeding a little yesterday and then it stopped, that probably means the implantation worked and I don’t want to tell him yet. And I tell him everything.”

“Everything?” He asks in a way that she hears; “even about me?” inside his thoughts.

She nods softly, “I went on that first Monday after I dropped you off at your apartment, I needed him to know I was finally ready and I thanked him for sending you to me.”

“What was he like?”

“He was from Boston, accent and everything,” she smiled with sad eyes as she recalled him to her mind. “He was in theatre school, I met him in the summer at a music festival in Chicago, he was playing guitar and we had too many beers and I lost my virginity to him in a tent in some field.”

She recalled it like it was a fond memory, missing him but not enough to be sad about it now. “I ran into him again when I went to college in Boston and we were talking outside before the rain hit, like one of those classic movie scenes, and my apartment was closer, the rest is history.”

“Hey Stephen is the one song you always skip, I never wanted to ask why but I don’t think you’ll mind telling me?” He wonders out loud, still a little delirious from the lack of sleep.

“He looked like an angel when I first saw him, he was standing under a street light reading his music sheets and the light was glowing perfectly, it was amazing I wish I had a picture of it. But then the Fearless album came out for the first time and it was my favourite song because it was like she wrote it for us. He was my perfect angel, my superstar, he was going to be on Broadway one day and we were going to move to a cottage in England, we had lots of plans and that song just makes me think of the life me and him must be living in the universe where it all worked out.”

It’s long-winded and she doesn’t seem to be over-emotional by the end, in a shocking turn of event’s it seems like she feels freer after getting it off her chest.

“I haven’t always been this happy and cheerful Spencer,” she adds, “I had a really dark spot after he died, it was horrible for me. I was so angry, I was reckless and mean and hurtful, and in that time I wasted precious moments I could have spent being happy with my grandma, and so my dream tonight was just the fight I had with Evan and my grandma dying and the cops saying Stephen was dead and placing that stupid fucking flower on his coffin thinking it made up for the fact I couldn’t even look at him in there.”

“How you respond to trauma isn’t really up to you, that’s why it’s trauma. Your brain can’t really cope and so it does typically the stuff you’ll regret the most in that time of grief, it’s not your fault and I’m sure everyone understood. You had every right to be mad, hell, I’m mad you lost him because I know how much you hurt in silence for so long,” Spencer can’t help but wish he could have been there for her.

“What happened to you after Maeve died?”

It was only fair that he shared too, “I locked myself in my apartment and didn’t take care of myself, I didn’t talk to anyone, I just sat in my living room and almost died reading every book I had because I didn’t feel like I was worthy of being taken care of so if I starved to death, so be it.”

“You still haven’t told me what happened with her and the kidnapping,” she reminds him of their little chat a few weeks ago at the school. “I get it if you’re not ready, I’m sure it’s a lot.”

“I was getting headaches, really bad ones, and so I reached out to a geneticist to see if she could help me. I sent her my brain scans and some blood tests and she helped me find supplements and natural ways to help my body rest from the stress of my work,” he explained it easily like the feelings didn’t hurt anymore.

“We talked on the phone a lot and I finally asked her why she was so afraid to meet me or have me know anything about her. She had me call her from a payphone, always a different one each time, I was to call and let it ring once, then hang up then she’d call me back. She thought she had a stalker, she was getting weird messages and threats and she felt genuinely unsafe, and she had every right to,”

“10 months went by and we thought she was safe, but her ex-fiancé got a private investigator to find her and in return found me instead. It turns out that Maeve had a student who felt wronged by her and wanted to outdo her, so she dated her fiancé and scared her underground but then she wanted me.”

Y/N’s face is full of concern like she’s listening to a true-crime thriller where she knows the ending won't be good.

“I tried to talk her stalker down, I almost had her and then she kissed me and I keep looking at Maeve, she saw right through me. She threatened to kill Maeve, she had a gun to her head but at the last minute she killed herself, but Maeve’s head was too close to hers,” the words hurt on the way out.

“And someone also had you sent to prison?” She asks, wanting all the trauma in one night to save him the trouble.

“Yeah, she was an assassin, I tricked her into thinking I found her dad and I was so smart she thought I was her soulmate, it was all an elaborate plan to bring me down to her level.”

“Did you kill someone?”

“I’ve killed too many people,” he answers with complete honesty once again. “I’ve killed mostly murderers and rapists, I typically don’t have to. I really try not to, but I’ve also killed people to keep myself safe. And I’d probably kill someone to keep you or Amoreena safe too.”

“Get in line,” she laughs, able to make every single conversation easy even when they shouldn’t be.

“I uh,” he wants to tell her more but he doesn’t know-how. “I was also sexually assaulted in prison, and I was kidnapped and drugged in 2007, I OD’d and died but then I was resuscitated, I wasn’t kidding when I said it was a lot.”

“I am so sorry Spencer,” she rests her hands on his cheeks, looking into his eyes as best as she could in the dark, still seeing the goodness in there. “You’re safe here with me, forever and always, I can promise you that.”

“Thank you,” he’s never going to stop thanking her.

Settling down on the bed once more, he cuddles back into her side. She brushes his hair behind his ear softly, humming a soft melody as she soothes him back to sleep. He snuggled right against her, holding her gently as he fell back to sleep on her, dreamless as she was everything he needed.

love you all for all the support thank you x100 <3

tag list: @shemarmooresfedora @spencers-dria @spookyspence @reidsfish @manuosorioh @mochionly @samuel-de-champagne-problems @jswessie187

[everlarkficexchange]

Written by: @alliswell21

Title: One of Us

Prompt 145: She moves in with her aunt and uncle when her parents dies in a small town. After suffering through trama, Katniss slowly starts to get better with the help of her family (aunt, uncle, cousin) and the Mellark brothers. But when things starts happening to her and the people around her, it’s revealed that she and almost everyone in the towns are apart of the werewolf pack and that one of the Mellark brothers is her mate. #werewolves [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Rated: G for general audiences.

Tags: Canon Divergent!AU; Modern with a dash of Supernatural; Grief/Mourning; Feeding as a Language of Love.

Note: This is my final submission to this year's EFE challenge! Yay! I really am grateful to @xerxia31 and @javistg for their continued support of this fandom and for hosting once again this event. You are such amazing people, and I’m absolutely honored to be part of a community with people as amazing as you two are! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for keeping EFE alive!

@animekpopxx, thank you too! You feed my muse! And you give me Werewolves!!!!

This story was a bit of rushed job, though, and there’s more of it, I mean... we haven’t seen them turn into wolves yet!!! 🤣 I just didn’t have time to edit the complete fic before the deadline, but if you’d like to read the finished product, keep an eye out for it on AO3. I’m fairly sure the rating will keep, but we will see.

 Kpkpkpk

There’s nothing but the sound of crickets and frogs filling the vast darkness of the night.

It’s another moonless night out here in Panem… or is I like to call it ‘the middle of nowhere’. It’s weird, how dark nights feel here, there’s barely a start peeking tonight, but in a strange way, I like it.

Sitting on my aunt and uncle’s porch to watch the infinite dark ahead while listening to the nocturnal critters it’s about my favorite thing to do… it’s what did used to do when we came here for long summer stays, anyway. He used to say he felt at peace and relaxed, connected with nature. Too bad it took him to be gone, for me to appreciate what he meant by that. So every night I come out here and sit in the steps hugging my knees, staring at nothing but the deep, black night surrounding the cabin, whisking my dad was sitting next to me.

Tonight is different than usual, though. It was raining until recently, and the smell of wet earth is so familiar my chest feels tight and my throat is knotted.

“Petrichor, Katniss,” I mumble the words noiselessly, “is the smell of rain, hun. It smells the same everywhere in the world.”

I lean my chin on my knees, wishing I could go back to feeling numb like when my parents just died. But thinking of the word petrichor, while smelling the thing, is bring forth a plethora feelings and memories I don’t know how to handle.

Dad used to love Scrabble, crossword puzzles and trivia challenges. He tried to get me interested in those games, teaching me words and their meanings, every time he had a chance.

I wish I had been more enthusiastic about learning the darned stuff; it would’ve meant an extra moment spent with Dad, and less regret to feel right now.

An involuntary whine leaves my chest. It hurts to think about it, and not for the first time, I dig my nails into my skin to keep myself rooted in place, and not tear running into the void.

I feel like I’m spiraling out of control, I fear this time something will break in my head and I’ll do something crazy, like scratch my skin away and run wild into the woods, like a beast… but the overwhelming thoughts gets halted when I hear soft noises from out in the distance.

It’s like the crunching of footsteps on the gravel at the mouth of my aunt and uncle’s property. It’s too dark and isolated here, deep into the country. I’ve seen big wildlife roaming around: deer, raccoons, coyotes and even a lynx. But the longer I hear the noises, the more certain I am I’m being stalked by something big and fast.

My heart beats erratically in my chest; every hair in my body stands on point, fear is clawing its way up my chest and into my throat, my eyes feel about to pop from my skull, and then I’m disentangling my knees from my arms, standing up as tall as I can— which isn’t saying much—and then I call into the night, “Who’s there?!”

I hear a faint disturbance of air, and then…

“Good evening, Katniss!”

Slowly, from the shadows, a blonde head pops, eerie for a second. Broad shoulders follow, and then a torso. Before the rest of his body comes visible into the light of the porch, two more blonde heads come into view, flank the first person on either side: Shoulders, torsos, Jean covered legs… The three Mellark brothers make their way leisurely towards me.

I nearly faint from relief after the rush of adrenaline pumping in my veins. Going through so many emotions: grief, sorrow, dread and relief, so fast in such a short amount of time has left me winded and unsteady.

I lose my balance, but one of the boys— Peeta, the youngest— breaks ranks, and rushes to hold me upright.

“Are you okay?” He asks softly, helping me sit back down on the porch steps. I lean my head against the main post.

“I’m okay. Just a little lightheaded,” I try not to glare. They gave me a fright, but I doubt they did it on purpose.

It’s something I’ve learn over the years. People in Panem are kind of quirky.

“Sorry we scared you,” Peeta offers, sheepishly. “We wanted to check up on you, and bring you something…” he looks up at his two older brothers and Rye — the middle one— steps forward, holding up a brown, paper bag, with little greasy spots on the sides.

I can guess what’s inside. They’ve been bringing me cheese buns almost daily, since Peeta found out they’re my favorites.

Rey hands the baggie to Peeta, and the latter offers it to me with a soft smile.

“Thanks,” I mumble, gratefully. I can smell the cheesy, yeasty treat through the bag; I can feel the warmth of the buns too! “While I love freshly baked cheese buns, you guys didn’t have to make this trek just to bring me a treat… on a dark, moonless night no less,” I fix them with a glare. “How did you even get here anyway? You couldn’t have walked and I never saw a car coming?”

My aunt and uncle’s cabin is at least 4 miles from town, and surrounded by woods; but then again, most houses in this weird little place are built in similar locations. It seems the townsfolk take their privacy extremely seriously.

“We rode our dirt bikes,” chimes Rye in, cheerily. “Not much light on those bulbs, though, but it’s okay. Our night vision is prime!” He gives me the A-Okay gesture.

“Rye,” the eldest, Bannock, warns lowly. Baring his teeth.

Rye shrugs and slips his hands on his Jean pockets.

I swear Rye hisses something like “it’s true” under his breath, but Peeta has been rubbing my back with the tip of his fingers all this time, and I’m getting drowsy, so I may have imagined the whole exchange.

“You should eat those while they’re still warm,” Peeta murmurs close by my shoulder.

I nod, and open the bag, releasing all the delicious smells of the buns, while Peeta massages my shoulders, encouragingly.

I must be really out if it tonight, because outside of my family, I’ve never been comfortable with people touching me… but, my family is all gone now, and I can’t go through the rest of my life without human touch, can I?

Grief stricken me out of nowhere, and barrels through me. I gasp at the acute pain in my soul at the loss of my parents. But in an instant, I’m enveloped in strong, thick arms, warm and steady. I’m sobbing into a hot, solid chest, covered in the softest cotton I’ve ever felt.

“Shush… I’ve got you, Katniss. I’m here for you,” Peeta whispers soothingly into the crown of my head.

He smells so good; like cinnamon and dill, from the bread he must’ve made this afternoon at his family’s bakery.

It takes a few minutes for me to get a hold of myself, and embarrassedly push out of his embrace, “I’m sorry,” I mumble, mortified.

Bannock presents me with a handkerchief, and I take it gratefully to wipe off my face and nose, before returning the soiled square of fabric to him.

I’m not sure why the Mellark brothers are being so nice to me. I’ve never been around them more than a handful of days over the past few years, when we came to see Dad’s remaining family outside mom and I, his half brother, his wife and their child.

I don’t know the Mellarks all that well, but in the handful of weeks since my parents’ funeral, the three brothers have been incredibly attentive and generous to me. Peeta more than the other two, but I don’t mind… I like him best anyway.

“It’s okay to cry and be devastated, Katniss.” Says Bannock, sagely. “You’re going through the worst time of your life, and we care for you… like family.”

“Oh,” I sit straighter, blowing my nose. I feel a little strange hearing him say that, “thank you? I appreciate your kindness,”

He nods, “Peeta’s right, though. You should eat the cheese buns before they go cold.”

“A full stomach always helps me feel better,” Rye adds, patting his belly, and smiling at me.

My stomach growls, as if to show agreement. I am hungry. I didn’t touch my supper earlier. I pick up the bakery gingerly, and pretty much shove my nose into it. The steam curls out of the baggie, filling my nostrils with the delicious smells. I pluck out a bun and practically inhale it in a second; quickly followed by another one. My third cheese bun, I decide to savor, slowly.

The Mellark siblings just hang around while I devour my treats.

The front door opens just as I’m wiping my hands on my leggings. My aunt’s head peeks out of the door.

“Oh, why hello everyone!” She greets, as bubbly as always. She’s wearing a dark purple wig, to match her dark purple outfit.

“Good evening, Effie,” says Peeta, standing from his squatting position next to me. “We brought Katniss a gift,” he points at the now empty bag in his hand.

“How sweet of you, Peeta!” my aunt gushes, “thank you for checking on our girl, and making sure she’s put something in her tummy before bedtime!”

I roll my eyes. Aunt Effie keeps treating me like a kid. I hate it. I’m 17 and mourning, not a freaking baby!

“It’s no problem at all, Effie! We were just on our way home anyway.”

“Well, it’s always nice having you boys over,” she offers, “but it’s getting late, and Primrose is already in bed, which is why I came out here to begin with, to let Katniss know that her sister was already asleep, so she’d know to tip toe back inside when she was ready to go to bed herself,” my aunt smiles.

I feel a slight pang of guilt; I’ve been wallowing in my own sadness this evening, and missed tucking my sister in to sleep. She’s the only person I’m sure I love, yet tonight I’ve let my own misery drown me.

“Don’t mind us, Effie,” Says Bannock, “We were about to leave…” he pauses and then calls a meaningful, “Peeta?”

“I’m going to wish Katniss a good night, and then we’ll go,” he says.

Not for the first time, I wonder if Peeta has a crush on me? I wouldn’t know he did, even if I wasn’t feeling so rotten inside. I’m not very good at flirting… but with Peeta it is different I think. He’s so nice to me, he’s taken up asking if I’ve eaten that day and if I haven’t, he feeds me something from his family’s bakery without charging me… it’s like he actually cares for me and my well-being, and his brothers care, because he does. It’s mesmerizing at times.

Peeta looks me in the eyes, “Are you ready to go inside?” He asks, offering his two open palms to me. He helps me up from the floor, and then smiles sweetly. He doesn’t let go of my hands while we stand facing each other.

Then something strange happens. Peeta doesn’t blink, as his clear-blue eyes bore into mine, and then his pupils blow out full, until only a ring of deep, glowing azure remains for his irises, “Sleep well, Katniss,” his voice sounds deeper and warmer than usual, “Rest and have a relaxing, dreamless night. Remember what I said: we are all here for you, to help through this hard time… alright?”

I feel groggy, “Yes, Peeta,” I mumble feeling my eyelids getting heavier.

“Oh dear, can you please instruct her to walk herself to bed? She might look lithe, but I promise, her little body is as heavy as any of us,”

Huh? What’s aunt Effie going on about? I don’t understand.

Peeta chuckles, squeezing my hands warmly in his, “You heard Effie… don’t fall asleep until you’ve gone into your bedroom and change into comfy pajamas.”

I nod, “Okay,”

“Good night, Katniss, I’ll be back tomorrow. Try to eat something on your own, I know you’re sad, but you need your strength for when the solstice comes.”

What a weird thing to say! Everything is strange here though… so I nod and march inside the house, mumbling my good nights to everyone and rubbing my very sleepy eyes. Once I’m in my sleep clothes, I lay in bed, and try to ignore the yearning of having Peeta rubbing my back like he was doing while I ate my cheese buns.

I sigh and go to sleep, a weird thought pops into my mind: “I’m so lucky to have such a sweet, caring mate. Peeta Mellark. Can’t wait to be bonded with him,”

[considermeharmless]

The Labyrinth Games - Part 2

Hello, hello, you wonderful people! The new day enfolds and it has quite a few surprises. Hold on to your seats! Status of the previous day, then today’s simulation right below the cut. OvO

Night 1

Now, how will some of these new characters act in the darkness of the night...

Hah! Don’t we all! XD

Hmm... Can’t say much about it. On one hand, it seems like a good strategy to avoid getting attacked by surprise, but he also runs the risk of being less focused on the next day! If he survives this long, that is. 

Uuuuuhhhh okaaaayyyy? That’s an interesting pairing XD

Wounds? What wounds? Up to this point, he got fishing gear and a hatchet but nothing really happened to him that we kno-... Wait. Could it be? I’m pretty sure he must have some fishing skills and knowledge but... Could he have messed up with the fishing hook and got his own skin hooked or something? XD That or he really had no idea how a hatchet worked x)

Awww :’c Is it because his little hunting gang (The Night Terror, Leticia, Ventis and himself) got dissolved at some point?

sHe aLrEaDy HaVe sOmE tHrOwiNG KniVeS!!! And she didn’t even need those to begin with!

HAHAHAHA!! Oh the irony! X’D But also... Kinda sad... I dunno, am I the only one to have some weird pity for TNT? Anyway, this coincidence in the wording is outstanding. 10/10.

Good for her to have found some food!

Sweet dreams. u3u

Always a lady with smarts!

Again... What infection? XD He slept through the day before! Infected with good rest??

Ah welp, that’s a shame ^^’ So far, he has had more killing/scary skills than survival ones XD

That’s... pretty impressive for sure. Although, very little surprises me to what this man can do x) But why in this context would you spare such a big threat after you defeated him, Michael?!

NOOOO VEN!! D: Was that really necessary, Chaos, hm?? You already scared Bradley man away and killed Donald! Calm down! And yikes, a molotov?! Who else are you gonna destroy in cold blood!

Cool! Remember to stay hydrated, kids and adults :D

There it is, people! The fried-chicken-feather-duster is no more!

You can now put down your pitchforks XD Oh and slow-clap for Sarah dying by trying to arm a bomb =v=

Day 2

Oh noooooo those 3 are too good at their jobs and too similar. This will probably either go terribly or beautifully.

Yeah, I bet defeating Bigby in a fight the night before must have left at least some little cuts or bruises that need medical attention TvT

What a bunch of peaceful events for Oswald today. He slept well during the night and now spends the day getting fruits!

NDUZHOJDNHOAJNSJND. Good on Mickey for getting away! Not good for the Night Terror though XD It has proven itself to be much deadlier. 

Oh no! XD Chaos and Mayhem?? Working together?! And poor Michael has done nothing but try to hunt for others with no success and cry since the beginning c’:

Oof. Wonder how this came to happen... The running away from Amish, I mean. Not the sprain XD 

O.O 

But why..? And how? But mostly wHY???

No idea where this trident came from but good for her if it gets her a meal!

Labyrinth Event

Oooo, Arena Events! Or Labyrinth Events, really. They’re always fun, wonder what this one will b--

CARNIVOROUS. SQUIRRELS.

Yep. You read it right. I know this, because I triple checked! XD Oh dear stars and planets the absolute madness... But anyway uhhhh sorry still reeling in the craziness of this meeeeean Michael for playing dirty! But a kill is still a kill TvT

OvO

Again... Madness... And also, what? “Separate”? You mean they were sticking together up until now? XD But alas, the Chaotic Lads from yesterday are no more...

Good for them! And impressive since “carnivorous squirrels” seems like a strangely catastrophic threat now.

AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

What-- what is this?? And why did you have to word it like that, simulation? “In agony”, I... QnQ But, but what if she had survived the attack, huh? D:

“there are too many”... So she died from the attack?! OnO 

“Beware of the creature with four mouths”, “Don’t trust Sarah Songbird”, “Don’t follow the voices inside”, HAH! The squirrels are the real enemies in the Labyrinth, now!

The God of Chaos too??? What are these rodents made of?!

... Well. Both Holly and her version of a different reality/universe, dead in the same manner. How fitting and tragic. TvT

Nice. At least some of them got away from the rats of doom...

Soooo, they were beside each other up until then? :’D Mugsy... You’re a sweetheart, but in these simulation and a bit in story too, you’re a taaad scary XD Still sad to see them both go though! And he had some explosives too...

*weak yay for the both of them after this tragically devastating rollercoaster*

The Fallen characters

So... so many... And such powerful ones too! The Night Terror, Sarah, Chaos, Mayhem, Luka... And the other ones as well! All so much more deadly than rodents or so I thought. 

... Maybe Mickey... survived because... y’know what? I’m gonna shush XD

Status of the day

What can I say? With how murderous the squirrels were, I’m not fazed by the little amount of kills the characters had between each others! Still, I’ll keep an eye on team 10... See ya tomorrow!

[royalnugget42]

3RD Life x Steven Universe

Green Pearl. It was irregular for an emerald to have a Pearl, but this emerald was one of the best of them. Such a rare gem, and with a more decorated past than any but the diamond commanders. It seemed only fitting that she be gifted a Pearl as reward for years of service to the Diamond authority.

Of course, she didn’t really spend much time with said Pearl. More often than not, she was out fighting insurrections or attending ceremonial battles in the arenas. It didn’t leave much for her Pearl to do really. That’s where the trouble started.

Green Pearl, or just Green, as he liked to call himself, was not a very well behaved gem. The first instance of this being his constant use of he and him. It was a habit he’d picked up from one of the more distant colonies, something that the organic lifeforms apparently used. He just couldn’t get enough of it, and though he didn’t correct his Emerald, that didn’t stop him from correcting everyone else.

He was bored so often. With nothing to do but stand around and hold things and sing songs every now and then. He liked singing, but Emerald didn’t ask him to often, so most days he spent thinking up ways to perform his usual acts of petty mischief. Because Green Pearl absolutely loved to prank people.

Usually these pranks consisted of sneaking up on unsuspecting gems and scaring them. Sometimes he’d make a loud noise, sometimes he’d announce the presence of his Emerald, and sometimes he’d sneak up to just say hello. Something he loved to do was give them strange random items that he’d collected and stored in his gem. He had fabric scraps, balloons, dirt, some flowers, and his favorite, something Emerald had called a tree branch. This he never gave away, choosing instead to poke other gems with it from a distance.

It annoyed other gems of course, but for a Pearl he spent so much time with soldiers who either laughed it off or just ignored him, that he faced little to no punishment most of the time. At most one of the soldiers could call Emerald over, and she’d just sigh and put him in her chambers for awhile.

He was still in there plotting his next practical jokes when she returned, talking loudly into her communicator.

“Yes of course, my diamond. I will of course be present to observe.”

Immediately he hopped up from where he was seated, hands outstretched for anything she needed him to hold. She ignored him, finishing what sounded like a very important conversation.

“Yes my diamond. Thank you for this honor, I am so unutterably flattered. Emerald, out.”

She waited for her diamond, yellow diamond, to hang up, and passed the communicator off to Green. He dutifully stored it in his gem, eagerly awaiting what he assumed was important news.

“There’s to be another tournament, and I will be attending to oversee the event and evaluate the battle. Begin preparations to leave for sector 3,” she instructed.

“Right away, my emerald.”

“Oh and Pearl?”

He frowned slightly, at not being called Green, but replied, “Yes, my emerald?”

“Please, for your sake if not for mine, do try to behave yourself. This will be a very important event, and I’d rather not deal with any of your little pranks.”

Without waiting for a response, she left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Little pranks. It was all he could do to pass the time, though, and other gems fighting each other wasn’t nearly as exciting as they made it seem. It was all respectful dueling and perfectly choreographed movement. At the end of the day it was all staged. It wasn’t a test of skill or instinct, or reflex, just memorization. It bored him to death. They could at least add a few explosions.

Behave yourself. Stay still. Don’t bother the agates, don’t upset the hessonites, don’t ever disobey your emerald. It seemed like at every turn he was ignored and told to sit still and make as little noise as possible. Maybe he should try to behave, just once, but the more he thought about it the more it irked him. No, he would simply have to do the opposite. Maybe if they wouldn’t add explosives to the fight, he’d just have to bring some of his own. He smiled, and brought some of his more secret items out of his gem.

***

Not much can be said about the actual event other than the fact that it was utterly boring until Green managed to sneak away to prepare his joke. Of course, it wasn’t supposed to actually cause any real damage, just some colorful lights and loud noises. Really, that Sardonyx Agate was so oblivious that it was hardly his fault his form was destroyed.

But of course Green took the blame, and there he sat in a room listening to one of the other agates complain and berate him. His punishment was apparently a demotion. He would serve not as an Emerald’s Pearl, but as the Pearl to the Sardonyx he had inadvertently damaged. It was fair enough, he supposed, he just wished he could have at least told off Emerald if he was going to be punished. In for a penny in for a pond right?

But no, he just had to wait quietly for his agate to reform, and then he’d help with whatever it was that an agate does. Maybe it would at least be more interesting working for someone who hated him, but he doubted it. Most likely his agate would just ignore him like everyone else.

It didn’t take long for the reformation to be complete. Green supposed it was a better punishment than being shattered or rejuvenated, but he had to grit his teeth for what would pass through them when the light started shining.

As soon as the agate reformed, Green went into his prepared speech.

“My agate, I’m glad to see you have reformed.”

Sardonyx just looked confused, which was understandable. A Pearl being assigned to an agate, well, it was probably something that very rarely happened, which of course served to make the appointment even more embarrassing.

“I see you are confused, allow me to introduce myself,” he said with a humble bow. “Your physical form was destroyed by some mischief that I caused at the tournament. Therefore, I have come to offer my deepest apologies for my transgression, as well as my service. I am Green Pearl, but you may call me Green if you so choose.”

All in all it was a masterful speech. He had spent a while working out the exact phrasing, and to practice sounding genuine in his regret.

“Well, I am a little surprised, but I accept your service, and your apology.”

“Thank you, my agate,” he said, breathing a small sigh of relief. The Sardonyx wasn’t angry then. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. “I assure you, it will not happen again. I look forward to serving you.”

Green waited quietly for a response, or a dismissal, or something, but when he looked up he saw his Sardonyx staring intently at him.

“Um...my agate?”

Then suddenly his agate laughed. And laughed and laughed. Green started to join in nervously, unsure of what was so funny.

“Oh you nearly had me,” Sardonyx said, still chuckling. “You’re an excellent liar, Green.”

What?

Had he said something wrong? Had something in his manner been incorrect? He had practiced so much. No one could tell when he was lying, not even Emerald! Perhaps this was a test of some kind?

“I...I assure you, I meant every word. I-If you are still upset I understand, but please, I really am sorry!”

“Relax, relax. I’m not upset. You don’t need to lie to me, though. You shouldn’t apologize if you don’t mean it,” Sardonyx said matter of factly, as if he wasn’t accusing Green of something he could be destroyed for.

“Wh-why? Why won’t you just believe me?”

“Are you angry?”

“Yes of course I–“ he cut himself off before worse words could be spoken. He didn’t want to be shattered. I’m the agonizing moment after he made his mistake, before anyone realized what had happened he had come to that conclusion. He didn’t want to be broken.

But if he was going to be shattered anyway, he might as well say what he was really thinking for once.

“You know what? Fine. You want the truth? I’m not sorry, I never have been, for anything that I’ve done. It was your own fault you weren’t paying enough attention to avoid the fireworks and still, even if you were standing directly in the line of fire, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. The look on your face when you got spooked was worth it, it was hilarious.”

Sardonyx looked up as though preparing to interject, but Green just cut the agate off.

“And frankly I added better entertainment than anyone else at that awful tournament! Do you know how agonizing it is to sit there clapping politely for a victory you already know is predetermined? There’s nothing interesting about it. And for the record, when you do have me shattered, feel free to call me Green, because that’s my real name, and use he and him when you refer to me, and–“

“Whoa whoa whoa, why would I have you shattered? This is great!”

Ok, now that was a weird turn to take. Either this agate was especially cruel, and willing to drag it out, or they were being genuine.

“Why...why is it great? I just insulted you, my Emerald, and plenty of other gems.”

“Because I don’t even have to get you one my side about this! You’re already very anti Diamond I bet, and what did you ask me to call you? Green? And you use he and him instead of she and her? That’s so genius, it sounds so much better, wherever did you learn that?”

“Um...thanks...I guess? I just sort of picked it up. Seemed to annoy people so I kept it. You can also use his for when something belongs to you.” Green was very confused now but he wasn’t going to question it. What was the phrase one of the soldiers taught him? Don’t look a gift horse in the towel?

“Yeah, ‘He walked. He is an agate. His Pearl taught him something new.’ Oh that is fantastic, can I use he and him, too?” The Sardonyx was beaming, like he had been given a new toy.

“Sure, I’m...uh...not in charge of you. So…”

“Great. My name is Scar by the way, so you can drop the whole ‘my agate’ thing.”

“Uh...why Scar?” Green asked, growing more curious and less scared by the second.

He replied, “Oh it’s sort of a joke. I have a stripe that looks like a Scar on my chest, so some of the others started calling me Scardonyx, and then it just got shortened to Scar.”

Now that was intriguing. “Others? What do you mean others?” Green asked excitedly.

“Oh just you wait, they’re gonna love you! We already have a Pearl with us, we call her Moon, but she took so much longer to really open up to us. Come on!”

“I’m still confused, where are we going?”

Scar turned around, smiling blindingly bright. Green could see in his eyes that this was someone like him. This agate knew how he felt. Suddenly, for the first time in his life, Green was not alone.

“To freedom, Green. We’re going to freedom.”

[knox-enden]

I had an idea, I wanted to write it. Let's gooo

TW: Implied Death, Death

*-*-*

Tommy's father always told him to never go past the Nether Portal that was located just a few miles down from their home. Tommy's father had also told him to never enter said Nether Portal.

Now, Tommy didn't always listen to his father. In his defense, his brothers didn't either. Tommy's brothers were just more careful in their rule breaking, where else Tommy was always ready to present his disregard for the rules in a flashing show.

So when Tommy's father went once more on one of his trips, the ones that Tommy's father never tells him of, well, Tommy can't help but think that this was a perfect time to past the Nether Portal. And more importantly-

The perfect time to go through it.

Of course, Tommy would have to be careful. He wouldn't want his brothers to try and chase after him, always concerned for his safety they were. It got annoying sometimes. Tommy was a big man, he was able to protect himself. After all, he had just turned thirteen a few months ago! He was a strong man!

In the dead of night, as the gentle sounds of the arctic that laced the outside of their very, very old home, Tommy crept from his bed. He made sure to keep an eye on the twins, careful to keep quiet whenever they made any motion in their beds.

Tommy grabbed his red backpack he had secretly stored up and made his way downstairs, climbing down the ladder that had been repaired far too many times. Tommy didn't understand why his father didn't simply replace the cracked and splintered wood. But then again, his father was very strange.

Tommy glanced around the room, realizing he couldn't find his regular red jacket. That was a problem. He needed that! Tommy, as quietly as he could, searched the living room that the family was so accustomed to.

A hint of blue caught Tommy's eye. The closet door had been left open, and Tommy saw a blue cardigan, made of wool. Tommy grabbed it, noticing how unique the patterns were. They almost resembled discs and flowers. Tommy smiled to himself. How lame.

But, it was better than nothing. Tommy slipped the blue cardigan on, noticing how warm it was. How had he never noticed it before? Perhaps he didn't need it then.

Now that Tommy had something warm to wear outside, he grabbed his bag he had left at the door, and races out. Once more, careful to leave not a sound.

And Tommy's brother told him he couldn't be quiet. This'll show him, Tommy decided.

Tommy traveled through the light snow. He was lucky enough to pick a night where no snow was to fall, and the only thing to keep him company was the stars that lite the sky above. He stared at the stars, noticing all the different shades of colours that passed around them.

There was a name that Tommy was thinking of. But he couldn't place it. Perhaps he'd figure out later.

The Portal was taller than Tommy expected. Made of a pure dark rock, obsidian, Tommy would guess. He roamed around it, noticing a few chunks had fallen from it. Tommy huffed at that. Lousy portal.

Tommy scuffled through the snow, locating any pieces of fallen obsidian he could, careful not to harm himself on any of the sharp edges. He slotted the chunks back into wherever they would fit. To Tommy's surprise, he noticed that they didn't fall. Weird magic stuff most likely.

The Portal did not light. Tommy stamped his foot. Of course, he needed fire. A bubble of though entered Tommy's mind as he smiled.

He reached into his bag, pulling out a small metal box. Known to be his brother's lighter. His brother didn't smoke, but always kept the lighter on him anyways. Tommy didn't know why.

Tommy swept a bit of fire onto the obsidian, watching the portal light with purple swirls. A success! Tommy hopped in excitement, not another thought as he jumped right through.

The first thing Tommy felt was heat. Not blistering heat, not enough to make him melt, but certainly enough for Tommy to take notice. His arctic home was always cold. Always. Sure it was sunny at times, but the snow was always a reminder of what Tommy would always feel.

So to feel this heat? It was enriching to Tommy. Exciting even!

The second thing that Tommy noticed, was the rocks that scattered across an otherwise red floor. Tommy crouched, staring at the rocks. Cobblestone. It was cobblestone.

Tommy loved cobblestone.

So, naturally, he followed the rocks. Only registering halfway through that it was a path. And when he made it to the end of said path, he stared in awe. Broken bridges, some more ruined than others, played across the insides of the Nether. Some paths bathed in cobblestone, some paths with an obsidian lining. It was new.

Tommy followed the paths, a part of him begged to follow the obsidian. A feeling of dread and desire rushed through him, staring at the pathway that led to said feelings. Tommy wondered if perhaps had he not caught the sight of signs, then he would have followed the path. But signs were too interesting.

If only the signs had anything written on them. Words etched away, almost has if claws had come to them, destroying them. As Tommy studied the claws, they reminded him of the old abandoned shed that laid in his backyard. Another place that his father had forbidden him to venture in. The shed was littered in claw marks. Almost like these.

Tommy frowned. There was another feeling in him. One of familiarity. But it mattered not, as when he looked away from the sign, he saw a Portal. Another Nether Portal. Except this one, was still lite. Perfect!

He rushed towards the portal, and yet again, he jumped through it without another thought.

Now, Tommy had seen ruins before. He saw his old shed in his backyard after all, but, his shed was nothing compared to the absolute mess he had wandered into.

There was obvious signs that buildings had once laid there. Obvious signs that life had once stayed upon these paths. But, it was destroyed.

Tommy saw the gentle remains of buildings, swarmed by greenery. It was beautiful, yet sad. Tommy wondered what had happened here. He wondered how many good memories laid in these ruins.

As the night continued, so did Tommy, venturing out into the ruins of what looked to be a city. There were buildings, some prettier than others, in tatters. Some seemed intact, a brick building with bits of white painted stood beside another brick building, bright greenery and flowers laced that building. Tommy led his path forward, glancing down at the wooden path before his feet.

The feeling of them was marvelous. They felt special. Important. Tommy barely missed the realization that unlike the rest of these ruins, the wooden path had no greenery growing upon it. Only around it.

It was so beautiful.

A large thud caught Tommy's attention, switching his head to look behind him as he saw a creature. At first, Tommy concluded an Endermen, simply based on its height and colour. But then Tommy saw white. Black and white skin covered the tall creature. It was bent over slightly, as if it had developed the habit to bend.

Tommy, for but a swift moment caught it's eyes, a green and red. Odd for Endermen, who usually have bright purple.

"H-Hello." Tommy spoke, hopefully the creature was sentient and hopefully kind. But the big man Tommy wasn't scared. The creature said nothing. Just, stood there. Tommy noticed black and white hair, tracing all the way to the ground, leading a trail from the wooden path. The black and white claws the creature owned certainly weren't ignored by Tommy. For but a split second he wondered if those claws would match the marks from his shed and the signs.

"Who?" The creature spoke, the words gargled as if it hadn't spoken in a very long time.

"I-I'm Tommy. The biggest man ever!" Tommy stamped his foot, to show how tough and brave of a man he was. Tommy noticed the way the creature tensed, before relaxing.

"Tom...my?" The creature gurgled out. As if it was piecing together a story Tommy didn't know of.

"Uh, yeah big man. Tommy. Tom-my." Tommy repeated. The creature jumped at that, almost like Tommy did when he was excited.

"Tommy!" The creature's gurgled voice was gone now. Tommy noticed the colourful purple dots that began to circle around the creature.

"There you are Tommy!" The creature, sounded young. For an Endermen that was. Tommy looked up, confused.

"What?" Tommy deadpanned. Why did the creature speak to him with such... Fondness?

"I've been looking all over for you! Tubbo has been upset for so long now- But now you're here and he'll feel better again!" The creature hummed, reaching and taking Tommy's hand. Tommy tried to protest, but the grip was to harsh.

"Hey!" Tommy exclaimed, "What the fuck man? Who the fuck are you?" Tommy asked, very much not wanting to be a snack if that was the case. And who the hell was Tubbo? The creature turned back, staring at Tommy in amused bewilderment. There was an edge in the eyes of the creature. Tommy had seen it before, in his father's eyes so often.

Sorrow.

"It's me, Ranboo, of course. Are you having memory issues?" The creature, Ranboo, laughed gently, "That's my thing Tommy. You should know that!" Ranboo? What kind of a stupid name was Ranboo?

"I don't even know who you are!" Tommy yelled out, flinching at how Ranboo tightened his grip on Tommy.

There was so much sorrow in his eyes.

"Ha. Ha." Ranboo's fake laughter was hollow. "Very funny Tommy, now come on, Michael is also waiting! He'll be so excited to know that you're-"

A golden arrow pierced Ranboo's arm, causing him to let go of Tommy. Tommy ran back from Ranboo, but never admitting he was afraid. Ranboo screamed, clutching his arm. A hiss formed to his face, glaring at where the arrow had come from.

"Leave him be Ranboo." Tommy froze as he heard his father's voice. Ranboo, also seemed to become frozen. A sorrowful smile on the creature's face.

"Philza! You're here too!" What? Tommy glanced up, noticing his father stood beside him, an empty expression resting on his face.

"Ranboo, leave." Philza threatened. Tommy knew it was a threat, but from the way the creature laughed, it didn't seem to register.

"But why? Tubbo needs to see Tommy! Tubbo has so much to say! And Michael! Michael too! And Techno, and Wilbur, and Quackity!" Ranboo went on, another emotion spreading through his voice. Tommy would call it desperation. Tommy found it creepy that the creature knew his brothers names.

"Ranboo..." Philza gave a pitiful hum. The creature shook its head, a smile planted on its face. A hollow smile.

"Ah, hold on Phil, I think I just heard Niki and Fundy calling me!" Ranboo exclaimed, a purple glint in his eyes. He turned around, calling out to nothing but the air as he fled from the father and son.

Tommy didn't noticed he had held his breath until he was breathing again. He glanced up to his father, whose expression was mixed with a colourful display of emotions. Tommy could recognize pity out of all of them.

"Dad?" Tommy started, "Who was that?" Instead of an answer, Tommy was met with a bitter glare.

"You are in so much fucking trouble." Philza barked lightly, yeah, Tommy expected as much. Tommy saw Philza falter for a moment, staring at Tommy's attire.

"Tom's, where did you find that?" Philza asked, pointing towards the blue cardigan that Tommy had on. Tommy shrugged.

"Found it in the closet. It look warm." Philza stared at the boy a moment longer, before looking back towards the creature, Ranboo, who was standing around, talking to no one but himself.

"It looks as if my trip is on hold for now." Philza sighed, "Let's go Tommy. I'll explain in the morning."

Tommy knew that was a lie. But Tommy didn't worry about it. Philza will talk to Techno or Wilbur about it, he always did. And then they'd tell Tommy.

Tommy nodded. Another question formed in his mind.

"Hey dad?" Tommy asked, quietly as the two made their way back to the portal, ignoring the chattering of the weird Endermen creature.

"Yes?" Philza asked, looking down to meet Tommy's eyes. Blue eyes met with blue eyes. Tommy stumbled in his footing, clutching his blue cardigan as if it was something he needed. Something he couldn't be without.

"Dad... Who's Tubbo?"

[kam-tree]

how BiNu confessed

Hello! I’m back~ It’s exam season but here I am. I hope you guys like it! Don’t be shy and request anything if you would like.

Theme: Fluff

Eunwoo

hey, I’m sorry I’m busy today! Just reminding you I love you

A smile painted your face as you sent a reply back to your boyfriend, Eunwoo. You were a little sad that Eunwoo had a schedule today but it is what it is right? It’s his job after all. Although you missed seeing him, he always made an effort to video call every night and occasionally would drop by your apartment at night before heading back to the dorms. He always tried his best and for that you loved him dearly.

That’s alright! I’ll enjoy this nice day for the both of us~ Keep working hard! I love you

After sending your message, you were immediately met with a cute emoticon. Giggling like a 5 year old, you sent one back. Truthfully everyday seemed like a dream. It was such a blessing you met Eunwoo and the fact you were in a relationship with him still felt surreal. He was such a caring and selfless man, always considerate and hard working. When you first met him, it was a little hard to believe how polite and caring of a human being he was. You didn’t know if he acted this way because he had an image to up hold or not. But your doubt was eventually proven wrong after some drinks and a very real and raw conversation.

You still remember the smell and sounds of the tent bar. The loud business men coming to drink after a long day of work, the group college students ignoring their final assignments and the smell of soju. Eunwoo and you weren’t very close friends back then and it was certainly awkward when your mutual friend didn’t show up. However 3 bottles of soju seemed to do the trick and helped you both let loose and start talking about your dreams and insecurities. It was refreshing getting to know Eunwoo and his mind. At the moment you really admired him as a person, how hard working he was and how considerate he was. You felt horrible for misjudging him and doubting him. It was probably then when your feelings for him started.

It took eight more months for anything to actually start. You tried your hardest to stop your feelings for him as you didn’t want them ruining your friendship. Anyway, how could he feel the same way about you anyway? That’s why you were taken aback when you were both resting on the couch on your apartment and he suddenly became agitated. You had invited some friends over just to have a little breather and you were all playing charades. 

At first you thought he was just frustrated because his team couldn’t play for shit and yours won as the game ended with 9-5. Rocky had you on his back as you both celebrated your win with your two other teammates. You were laughing while holding Rocky tightly so you wouldn’t fall as he began dancing when you felt an icy stare coming from somewhere. Your eyes met Eunwoo’s and you were slightly taken aback by the glare he held on his face. Confused, you watch him flee to the kitchen. You got off Rocky as gave another ‘whoop’ before making a beeline to the kitchen.

“Look, if I’ve done anything wrong, let me know. I can’t read your mind and glaring won’t help either ok?” You spoke bluntly as you found it rare that he would be this childish.

“I just- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to glare.” He said as he brushed his hair back and swallowing a lump in his throat.

“Well I can still see your not in a very good mood. Do you want to step out and talk about it?” You offered with a smile while taking his hand and staring into his eyes. You swear you melted right then and there. He seemed to think about it before nodding and letting you lead the way to the door. 

“Damn it, it’s cold” you muttered to yourself as you left the warmth of your apartment. You felt a pair of arms wrap around you and suddenly it felt like you were in a sauna. Trying to get rid of the blush on your cheeks, you wriggle out of his embrace. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll survive. Now tell me what’s been plaguing your mind.”  You said turning around, trying to not be flustered. Although you felt safe in his arms; as if you belonged, you didn’t want to give yourself false hope. To him it might just be an innocent hug but it sent butterflies to your stomach. 

“I have feelings for someone and I don’t think they’ll return them.” He said as he stepped back and met your eyes. You felt your stomach drop. Ignoring the slight pain in your chest, you turn to look at him as he stares back at you. 

“Ahh, I see. How would you know if you haven’t heard that person’s answer? There’s a 50% chance they’ll return them or not. But seeing as to how you act like the perfect gentleman, the chances are probably higher.” You smiled before looking away, trying to not let him see the slight pain in your face.

“Is that so?” He said as he moved to were your eyes were looking off to and waited until your eyes met his. “What are the chances of you returning my feelings?”

“What?” Honestly, you were so confused. What was happening? Is what you were thinking happening? He smiled before holding your hand in his.

“I like you Y/N” A blush seem to creep on both of your faces. Unable to meet his gaze, you nod.

“Me too” You felt time stop as he smiled at you and pulled you into a tight embrace against his chest.

“Thank god.” He sighed in relief before planting a light peck on your lips.

Moonbin

“You made all this?” Moonbin said with excitement and disbelief as he stared at the six lunch boxes in front of him; one for each member of Astro. “Thank you so much!” And with that, you were engulfed into a big bear hug. 

You dramatically gasp for breath before he pulls away and places a kiss on your forehead. Smiling up at the man, you realise how awfully tired he looked. A pout soon graced your face, Moonbin noticing immediately. He stroked you hair and put his chin on your head, pulling you into a gentle and warm hug.

“I’m alright. I have your food to energise me through the day! Don’t worry about me.” He said gently.

“I know I shouldn’t worry, I just wish you could have a day off and sleep like sleeping beauty. To rest properly.” You mumbled into his shirt. You feel him kiss you head before pulling away and looking into your eyes.

“My day off’s on Sunday, I’ll make sure to sleep like the dead.” He laughed before turning to the door “I’m super late! I’ll text you when I get there and when I should be home. I love you~” And with a kiss goodbye, he was out the door. 

Watching him leave in a rush always made you laugh, his poor time management was always the product of him sleeping in. It always worried you how he’d come home late and leave early for his schedules. He practiced like crazy as well. It also reminded you of when you first met.

Your friend wanted to introduce you to a dancer as you expressed an interest in it. You were hesitant, as your interest was only a passing comment and not meant to be taken seriously, however you also suspected this was your friend’s way of setting you up with someone. They had been constantly asking you if you were seeing anyone for the past year. You were too busy with your part time job and being a full time student in culinary school. With some persuasion, you finally went with your friend to meet this man. Honestly you kind of judged Moonbin when he was 20 minutes late. You were thinking about how you could have been studying for an upcoming exam and here you were, waiting for some dude. However after talking to man, you seemed to become smitten with him. He was funny and gentle but was also ready to fight with anyone who thought cats were annoying. 

As cheesy as it is to say, time seemed to stop. You didn’t really pay mind to your friend leaving you two alone and you also didn’t realise the sun was already beginning to set. You realised that this man was a breath of fresh air to you so when he asked for you number as you were both about to part ways, you absolutely did not hesitate.

Your relationship was little complicated for the next 4 months. It was like you were a couple but at the same time you weren’t official. Both of you would go on dates, talk late at night and would have movie nights in your apartment. You both knew that each other was interested but neither had actually spoken about it. It was a strange and weird situation to be in.  

At first it made you heart flutter every time your hands would brush past each others or when your faces would be so close to a kiss. But soon you grew a little tired of it. Moonbin seemed to be the person you could count on whenever you wanted to rant about school or your co workers and would always taste you dishes with very honest feedback, however you were tired of this wishy washy relationship you both had. As much as you knew that Moonbin was a kind and caring man, you insecurities started to overtake your mind. You often wondered if he was like this another girl, he was an awfully handsome and talented man so who wouldn’t want to have him?

You began to think he only saw you as some fun on the side. 

Your chain of thought was disrupted when you heard a knock at your door. Ah, that’s right, Moonbin said he was coming over after recording. Opening the door, you were greeted with a smile that could easily turn you into a puddle. He had said he couldn’t stay long as he needed to back at the dorms before 10pm. A little confused as to why he would bother coming over if he needed to leave in 45 minutes, you followed him into the apartment.

“Then why are you coming to visit then silly?” You said in a playful tone as you offered him some gimbap you made. You were shocked when he rejected them. What as going on? Moonbin rejecting food? And then it dawned on you. He was probably gonna tell you that he wasn’t interested and only saw you as friend.

“I’m sorry I should have done this earlier” You braced yourself for the rejection as your hands found the hem of you shirt and played around with it. He looked into you eyes with an intensity you had never seen before and it made you nervous. As you felt some tear beginning to form, you look away from his gaze.

“I like you. Like a lot. I’m sorry for not telling you early enough. I was just shy and didn’t know if you would like me back.” what? You looked back at him in confusion. Your mind went blank and you were left to just stare, no words seeming to form. 

When you didn’t reply back, his head hung down for little bit before he looked back up at you with a bittersweet smile. “It’s ok, you don’t have to say anything. I just wanted to confess my feelings.” As he was about to reach for the door handle, you snapped out of your trance and rushed to stop him.

He was caught by surprise when he left your arms embrace him from the back. You didn’t trust yourself to talk to him with his eyes on you so you mumbled it into his back. “I like you too. I like so much. I didn’t know if you actually liked me or if you were just having some fun” He quickly turned around to your words and cupped your face.

“Of course I like you. How could I not?” Moonbin smiled as he kissed your forehead and then your lips.

[imaginethatneathuh]

Brother P2: Shadow Moon - American Gods

Platonic relationship, male!reader, gn!reader, TB being himself.

CW: Smoking and swearing. Mentions of death, spirits, and betrayal.

Word count:  2,719

I’m still learning how to do this, please be patient.

“Masterlist”

•

“Well, hello there,” the person said. “Who the fuck are you?”

You looked at him, blankly, and groaned, regretting everything.

Losing your voice, you pulled out your pen and paper and wrote. “An idiot. And you’re a god. What about it?”

The boy scoffed and his tongue ran across his top teeth.

“Okay, motherfucker, first off, how do you know that?” He asked. “And second, you aren’t supposed to be here.”

Pressing his mouth around the tip of his weird looking vape, the boy took a drag.

You wrote your response as quickly as you could.

“First, it’s not that hard to figure, and, second, I’m not even supposed to be alive.” You mocked the way he asked his question. He didn’t seem to notice.

He choked on the smoke in his throat and coughed. Because of his pale skin, he turned slightly red. The boy coughs, beating his chest slightly.

You didn’t know why people did that. It’s not like it would help. Would it?

Clearing his throat, he said, “What I meant was, Shadow Moon was supposed to be here not, whoever the fuck you are.” He gestured with his, what you assumed to be, vape.

“Y/N = name,” you wrote.

He nodded, keeping his gaze fixated on the ground. “Pretty.”

“Yours?”

You watched him deliberate before he spoke.

“Technical Boy,” he said. “But you can call me Tech.” Pausing, he thought about what he said. “Or TB, if it’s easier to write.”

You nodded, thankful you didn’t have to write all that out.

“Who are you, exactly?” He asked.

You twisted the pen in your fingers, trying to figure out what would be most concise and would reveal the least.

“Friend of Shadow’s.”

Technical Boy read the paper and leant back in his seat. He looked thoughtful, as if he was analyzing the situation. Maybe he was. Maybe that’s how he worked. You didn’t know enough about this god to say for sure.

You had your own thoughts to contend with anyway.

Whoever this god was, he was dangerous. Maybe not like Wednesday, but he there was this underlying intimidation to him. Like all gods really. But this was different. He was different. Thinking is dangerous and Technical Boy was sure as hell taking his fucking time thinking about something.

Even if it wasn’t that, he still gave you the ‘don’t fuck with me’ kinda vibes. They weren’t Wednesday’s ‘don’t fuck with me vibes’. No, they were different. More in your face; just like everything else about this guy.

Which was nice. You knew where he was; his intentions practically seeped from his pores.

Unlike with Wednesday, who had too much mystery about him for you to trust with even a penny of your money.

“Your friend, does he know what he’s gotten himself into?”

You shook your head.

“He doesn’t even know who Wednesday is,” you wrote.

Technical Boy slowly nodded, thinking. He took another drag from his vape.

You could swear the thing in the sphere-like pod blinked at you.

The god followed your gaze to his vape.

“Synthetic toad skins,” he said. “Wanna hit?”

You shook your head. You didn’t need your mind fogged up by anything right now.

He shrugged, taking another hit and blowing out O’s.

You coughed as the smoke hit you. Now, that’s a dick move.

Guess you didn’t have a choice. Either take a hit directly, or get one from second-hand smoke.

Shadow probably would have snapped at him by now.

“How do you know about us?” He asked. “Gods, I mean.”

You raised an eyebrow, silently questioning his question.

“How does anyone know anything?” You asked him, writing it down on your pad.

He quietly chuckled and pointed at you.

“I like you,” he said. “Confident. Smart. Good qualities to have.”

“Point?”

“Straight-forward is also a good quality and a rare one. Wonder how you got it.”

Ouch. 

Technical Boy leant forward, studying you. “My, I suppose you could call him, boss, wants to know what Wednesday is up to.”

“A spy?”

Technical Boy nodded. “If you want to call it that, sure,” he said. “You can be our inside man.”

He was offering you a job.

Made sense.

The weather had been strange as of late. Then Wednesday shows up, offering Shadow one in a weird fucking way. When you had consulted the future (which is always vague) and the spirits (which are even more vague), they gave interesting answers. Everything seemed to be pointing toward something big happening and soon by the looks of it.

“Do I have a choice?”

Technical Boy nodded and said, “Sure. Death is always another option.” He quickly noticed your uneasy movements. “That was a joke, I swear. I didn’t actually mean that. I was just trying to be a dick.”

You leant back, breathing a little easier.

“Why should I?” You wrote. “Work for you instead of Wednesday. What are the benefits, cause the downside is that I’ll be hurting a friend and likely have to sneak around behind their backs.”

“Is money a good incentive? How about a steady job? You ever had either of those? Or maybe, all expenses paid for?” Technical Boy took another drag and blew out the smoke. “Also, the best tech you could ask for and whatever you need to get the job done.”

“I don’t give a shit about that.” The god seemed shocked by that, narrowing his eyes at you and leaning back like he was trying to see the big picture of you. Never gonna happen. “What I want to know is, why should I hurt my friend for someone I don’t know and for a cause I know nothing about?”

Technical Boy nodded, understanding the question. Barely, but he got there.

“Wednesday is in the past; we are the future. The Old Gods are fading, crumbling in America. They are nothing. Especially compared to us,” he said. “Don’t you want to be part of the winning side for once?”

His arrogance was definitely his worst trait.

“The Old Gods will always be there. They are a part of our culture,” you wrote. “Try as you might, the US will always be the melting pot of the world. There are too many cultures here to make it any different.”

Technical Boy smirked.

“Like I said, smart.” The god thought for a moment before countering. “That may be true, but those cultures are melting together and can’t stay apart for long. They will become one giant culture and that will be of the good ole U.S. of A. You can’t stop that. No one can.”

“Maybe. Why are you trying to convince me to work for you?”

Technical Boy shrugged.

“My mission was to find out what Wednesday has planned. You are, currently, the best way of doing that. Besides, maybe you can convince Shadow to join us too. He seems to be important to the old man, so why not?” The god gestured with his vape before taking a drag. “Just to fuck with him, ya know?” He blew out the smoke through his nose.

“Can I think about it?”

He nodded.

“Sure, take your time. Just not too long. We don’t have forever.”

“How would I get in contact with you?”

A smartphone materialized in your lap. It’s black, sleek case and the screen shined.

“Call me,” he said before cringing. “Text me, I mean. My number’s already in there.”

You nodded.

Technical Boy reached for a strangely shaped thing on his left. It looked like one of those plumbob things from The Sims but cut in half and with some sort of box sticking out of it. That's what it looked like from your perspective anyway. His hand hovered over the middle of the box before he pressed down on whatever it was. You could have sworn it turned red, but you couldn’t tell; it was too far away now.

“See ya on the flip side,” he said.

A piece of the roof gave way, opening like a box lid.

You were pulled from your seat and, in a way, floated out. It was strange. You didn’t feel like you left the whatever it was but you could see you had. It was like you were going upward while everything else was going down. It made your stomach hurt. You knew what direction you were going and what way was up just by looking, but none of it felt real. Nothing from the last few minutes felt real. Not the god, not the phone that burned in your pocket, not the offer the god had made, and certainly not the room, or whatever it was, you had been in.

What did feel real was Shadow holding you and calling your name.

By the gods, you did hate the gods.

“Y/N?” Shadow said. “Y/N, are you okay? What happened? Y/N?”

He kept calling your name, shaking you slightly, but you couldn’t respond. Not with your pad and pen and definitely not verbally.

Your mind was racing to catch up with everything as your body had.

Finally, you managed to sit up, Shadow holding you to help stabilize you. You weren’t built for this. Not in any way, shape, or form. Someone like Shadow? Probably. But you? No, not in the slightest. Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten in the way, but it was too late for that.

Everything hit you like a train as you watched the face-hugger-like contraption fold in on itself and disappear. Like it just blinked out of existence.

But that was the gods for you; always covering up their tracks. Some even pretending like they had nothing to do with how humans acted or what happened to humans. It’s sickening really, the way they act. But what can you do?

Some could hold their own under the gods’ onslaught; but you were too much like your parents, not strong enough to handle it.

Shadow kept his arms around you as you leant into his chest.

Technical Boy likely had no idea how that would have affected you so you couldn’t blame him; he was, afterall, looking for Shadow, not you. The two of you had entirely different genetic makeup.

You looked at Shadow as he looked fearfully at you.

“Y/N, are you okay?” He asked.

You nodded and breathed heavily.

“We have to get away,” you said. “Whatever is going on is dangerous.”

Every word hurt to say.

Though you wanted to tell him everything, you knew he wouldn’t believe you. He was that sort of guy.

“I made a deal with Wednesday,” he said.

You sighed, your gaze falling to the now muddy ground.

“I can’t break that. But you can leave, if you want.” Shadow let you go and stood up, offering his hand. “It’s okay if you do. I’d understand.”

You scoffed and took his hand. “And what? Let you get yourself killed? Not happening.”

Shadow smiled, pulling you up.

You were brothers; you couldn’t just walk away from each other like that.

•

You know that feeling that people get when they think they’re being watched? Well, that was the feeling you got as you and Shadow climbed back to the street. It felt like someone was spying on you from the bushes or something, but you pushed the feeling aside.

The both of you would need a shower after this. That and clean clothes.

•

You both found your separate rooms at the motel. They were right next to each other, like your cells had been the first time you met.

Collapsing on your bed, mud caking your shoes and clothes, you stared at the ceiling and considered your options: join these New Gods and betray your friend, deny their offer and side with the Old Gods, or skip town and never interact again.

The third choice was your favourite.

Joining the New Gods was a no-brainer really. They, as Technical Boy said, were the future. But is that a future you really want to be a part of? One where minorities were attacked, locked up, and killed for no reason. One where the planet was being poisoned by large corporations. A future where people’s entire future’s and live’s depended on one election. Is that something you really wanted? There was also the whole moral thing of betraying someone you trusted whole-heartedly. You couldn’t give less of a shit about Wednesday and whatever he was doing. But you did care about Shadow and, like he said, he did make a deal. He always keeps his deals.

On the other hand, there were the Old Gods. They were obviously going to lose. They weren’t powerful enough. It’d be great for whoever they fight in the name of (Wednesday) but they’d still lose. The only plus side was Shadow. Keeping him safe was all that enticed you to consider this course.

But you could still keep him safe with the New Gods.

The last option was taking Shadow and getting out. But you knew he wouldn’t go with you. He needed the money and had already sealed the deal.

You sat up and stared at the carpet before flopping back down on the bed.

You knew what you had to do, what the smartest choice was and would all but guarantee Shadow’ safety.

You had to play all sides.

It was obvious when you thought about it.

You would agree to spy for the New Gods, so long as Technical Boy would be your “handler”, help Wednesday with whatever (while supplying that information to Technical Boy), but your main goal would be convincing Shadow to leave with you. You knew a small town in Wisconsin that would be perfect to hide away in. Your family had hid there before. It may not have done you any good back then, but things change.

Yes, this would require a level of deception that you hadn’t used in years, but it wasn’t the hardest plan you’d ever come up with. Plus, people always had a habit of underestimating the quiet one. That was often their fatal mistake.

With that plan in mind, you pulled out the phone Technical Boy had given you and turned it on.

Technical Boy must have known you did because a text came through.

‘Decided?’ It read.

‘Yes,’ you texted back. ‘I’ll work for you, but only you.’

‘Good.’ A new line of text appeared. ‘Text if Wednesday reveals anything or you find out anything useful.’ Another line popped up. ‘I’ll set up meeting places. Don’t text unless you need me or have information.’

‘Got it.’

You tossed the phone onto the bed and covered your face with your hands.

What had you just done?

Something stupid, that’s what.

If he found out what you were really doing, you’d end up dead for sure. Or worse yet, Shadow would.

You pushed the thought away. You couldn’t afford to think like that, not now. Not when you had to focus on manipulating and lying to people, one of which you would do anything for.

•

Wednesday walked over to you as Shadow helped the moving men load stuff into the truck.

You leant against Betty, as he called her. Pulling a package of gum out of your pocket, you plucked one out and took off the wrapper. Quickly stuffing the piece in your mouth, you put the package away and crumpled the wrapper up, putting it in your pocket.

“So,” the older man said. “Shadow and I talked last night.” You said nothing, just nodding along. “He said that you pushed him out of the way of some sort of device. That the thing was stuck on your face for a while. That you were shaken when you came out.” You just nodded. “What did he say to you?” Wednesday asked. “What did he promise you if you helped him?”

You looked over at him and rolled your eyes before pulling out your pad of paper and your red crayon.

“Don’t worry, I told him to take a hike,” you wrote. “Odin.”

Wednesday stepped away from you, surprised.

“I weighed the risks. Shadow is more likely to get hurt with them than you.”

The Old God nodded and realized where your loyalties lie; with Shadow and Shadow alone.

[th3atr3phant0m]

Math Cadets [Chapter One]

Being the son of world-renowned Professor Membrane meant a lot of things. It meant a slightly strange family dynamic, it meant weird, new technology and experiments coming in and out of the house constantly, it meant pressure from the world, and, as Dib had learned several years ago, it meant attending one of the most elite schools in their area. Astra Academy- the school district that Dib had been part of ever since childhood- was the local STEM school that focused the majority of its education system around science and mathematics while still focusing on the engineering and technology aspects of education far more than typical schools did. Considering what fantastic work they did in the areas of mathematics and science, Professor Membrane enlisted both of his children in the curriculum as soon as they were old enough to attend.

Dib supposed that, had he attended any other school, he would be universally hated by his peers. He came from a more wealthy and powerful family than the majority of his fellow students did and had some obsessions that he knew wouldn’t be considered normal at a school that wasn’t specifically for students like he was. His obsession with the paranormal and with aliens, in general, was fairly weird at his school as it was and that was taking into consideration the fact that several others attending his school also believed in those things. He was also shockingly good at his schoolwork in a way that was, at Astra Academy, impressive, but would likely just be irritating at any “normal” school system- especially when considering what he did with his abilities. 

Astra Academy had high expectations for its students and always had since they first opened. Students could crack under the pressure of regular public schools, so, needless to say, that wasn’t any different at Astra- not when the expectations were frequently even higher there. Good grades in Astra meant amazingly high chances of getting scholarships and being recognized by and accepted into the best schools in the world. Several students who made fantastic discoveries at their school even ended up being able to take part in conferences held by real scientists and people working in whatever field it was that they had made breakthroughs in. Students made discoveries about the scientific world at their school rather than just learning about them and those who did were immediately highly regarded by local universities. Overall, the better you did in Astra Academy, the better you did in life and the more likely it was that the rest of your life would be far easier than the average person’s. Considering the fact that the majority of parents who sent their child there did so with that in mind, most of his peers’ parents were, well, hardasses and not particularly forgiving or understanding when they struggled with school. It was a lot of pressure weighing on the majority of them- and that was just where their grades and such were concerned.

As much as Dib felt for the people who attended school alongside him and were struggling immensely- both in school and mentally because of school- he had never been the most… empathetic person ever. In fact, he saw his peers struggling around him and immediately thought about how he could twist the situation to benefit himself.

He… felt a little guilty about that.

Dib tried not to let the guilt get to him, though. It wasn’t like he was exchanging doing people’s homework, tutoring them, and feeding them test answers for money or drugs, so he gave himself a little slack. The only thing that he was receiving in exchange was assistance in his paranormal research and avoiding harassment from his fellow students. He tutored or blatantly gave others answers to homework in exchange for their respect and help on his journeys. Despite it being a somewhat seedy business, he was good at it and a lot of people either needed or wanted his help. The little business that Dib had set up for himself long ago had only grown over the years and had put him on a bit of a pedestal in his school (now that DIb thought about it, he was almost certain that the majority of his peers would hate him, were they not afraid of openly doing so… oops).

No matter, though. What did matter was the fact that he was absolutely thriving in school and that that helped him succeed in his studies that took place outside of school as well as spreading the word of his research along the way. Dib was doing wonderfully at school and he was happy with where he was. Life was reasonably stable, even with the strangeness of STEM school in mind, and that allowed him to clearly see his bright future as a revered paranormal investigator. He had almost no obstacles in the way of his future and the security of his day-to-day life made everything easy and predictable.

That was, at least, until Zim arrived at their school.

Despite their school being incredibly diverse considering their area, Zim was the only kid in the entire school with pale green skin, no nose, and no ears. He was the only one of them with that particular, strange vernacular that he used. He was the only student who was very clearly inhuman in every way, yet no one saw it aside from Dib and his younger sister.

A combination of disinterest and being far too laser-focused on their studies in school made the for the perfect cocktail of willful delusion and ignorance. Dib may have been surrounded by plenty of smart kids, but he was surrounded by just as many idiots. The morons and geniuses alike were completely overlooking the fact that Zim was clearly not of their world.

The moment Zim walked into Dib’s chemical engineering classroom and introduced himself as “Zim; the normal human” Dib knew he was an alien- how could he not? As he heard the strange introduction, his gaze scanned across the room at his fellow students, but the majority of them were either focusing on their work and getting a head start on their class in some way or were just completely ignoring him in favour of chatting or daydreaming. None of the other students seemed as deeply disturbed and shocked at the presence of Zim- all too preoccupied or disinterested to care.

Seriously?

Dib was mildly disgusted and surprised that none of the others seemed to take any notice, though he supposed, considering he was one of the only ones in the class who was interested in aliens, it shouldn’t have been too shocking.

Even if his peers didn’t notice what Zim was right away, Dib wouldn’t let that distract him or change his mind. He knew he was right and, with his intellect, the power of the student body, and the assistance of technology all on his side, he would be able to finally succeed in what he had wanted for the longest time. Dib would be able to prove that aliens were real!

When Mrs. Summers told Zim to take a seat anywhere in the class, Dib called him over to his own table- he didn’t have a consistent lab partner like most of the others did, anyways. At the very least, this would give him the opportunity to carefully watch and research Zim- maybe even get into his head a little bit and intimidate him (Dib was thankful that he had taken that psychology class last year).

“Hello, fellow worm-baby,” Zim flashed Dib a grin, bearing his strange, off-coloured, zipper-like teeth.

Dib just narrowed his eyes at Zim for a moment before glancing to the people seated at the lab table behind them. He gestured at Zim somewhat dramatically, “Are you guys not seeing this?”

The two of them just shrugged and returned to their work.

“What is there to see? I am just a normal, disgusting human like you are.”

Dib turned his attention back towards Zim, leaning in towards him and pushing against the chair to raise himself up slightly, hoping that it would come off as intimidating (did the kind of psychology that they covered in class last year apply to aliens as well?).

“They may not notice what you are, Zim,” Dib glared threateningly, “But I have no problem seeing through your disguise, Space Boy.”

Zim returned the glare, “Whatever are you talking about, Stinky?”

“You may have them fooled for now, but there is no way in hell I am going to let it stay that way for long. I will be your worst nightmare. Don’t get too confident in your position here on Earth.”

“We’ll see about that, Earth Trash.”

“They all will, once I’m through with you.”

Keep reading here.

Beautiful cover art done by @crazy-buckets​!

[zecretsanta]

FIC:

To: @seen-true-evil

From: @windsorgirllove

Hello! For your gift I went with your Eric/Mira prompt, and I hope you enjoy longwinded talks about emotions! There will be a second chapter some time in January, because I ended up writing a lot more than I am prepared to edit right now, but I hope you enjoy!

AO3 LINK

They were alone in their apartment. Sean was over at Sigma’s getting some upgrade or other. The two of them were in the bedroom. Eric stood very still as Mira traced her finger along his shirt.

She paused over a seemingly random spot. "Right... here."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Mira nodded, mostly to herself. She tapped the spot again with her long nail. "Right here is where your heart is."

"Wow..." Eric brought his hand up to the spot she had indicated. Mira's hand skittered away when he brought his close, like a nervous spider. He lay his hand flat, palm down on his own chest. "That's incredible."

“It’s really not.” Mira shrugged, watching him. Her expression was even more unreadable than usual. "It's just anatomy. After a while it just comes down to memorization. But yours is right... there." She took his wrist and moved his hand to the left, slightly, and shifted it up. "Exactly there."

Eric looked down at himself. If he concentrated, he could almost feel his heart beating underneath his skin. "Huh."

They were both silent for a moment. Then Eric asked, quietly, "What... what do you remember?"

Mira raised an eyebrow. "What do you remember?" she asked him back.

Too much. Eric had been trying to sort through his memories since the desert, and every time he thought about it too much his head started hurting and he got dizzy. But a few things stood out.

"I... I think I died?" he said. "A few times."

"Any one in particular?" she asked, leaning against the dresser and crossing her arms. Eric sat down on the edge of the bed, hard, and folded his hands in front of him. Both of them were far too calm for the situation, in Eric's opinion. Discussing how you died wasn’t something calm, rational people do. He would gladly volunteer to be the person freaking out, except somehow he couldn’t. It was like someone had simply switched off the part of him that panicked. It would be nice if it weren’t so worrisome.

"Umm... in the library," he said, to answer her question. "The standoff. The kid shot me... no, wait, they tried to shoot you. And I jumped in front of you."

Mira nodded. "Both," she said. "At different times."

"How do you keep track of all of them?" he asked. “The timelines, I mean. For me it's all... jumbled. I can barely keep track of our one timeline that led to here. It's so complicated."

"It is," she agreed. "Believe me, I'm not having an easier time at all. That one just... stands out more to me."

"Oh." The pod room. Mira's body. The nail marks. Out of all the timelines, that was the one that stood out the most to him. He could almost feel the too familiar icy grip of a panic attack coming over him even now, as he thought about it.

"This is weird, right?" he asked. "Like, this is such a weird thing to talk about."

"Don't ask me." Mira cracked a smile. "I don't think I have a very good grasp on what could be considered normal."

"Don't say that. You're normal."

Mira laughed softly. "You still haven't remembered everything, have you?"

Eric was silent. He moved his hand from his chest to the back of his neck, rubbing slightly. At his throat his heartbeat was much more prominent, easier to find. Harder to ignore. "What about the library? You said that it stood out to you."

She nodded, slowly. "It did."

"Why?"

"The second one. Where you protected me. You didn't need to."

"I wanted to," he said, with complete conviction. He didn't actually remember how it went down, but he was certain of that. "You're my girlfriend, after all. Of course I would."

"I didn't for you."

"Well, it happened so fast. No one could expect you to react in time. Hell, I don't know how I managed to react for you."

"Hm." Mira tilted her head and examined him, her eyes narrowed. "Do you remember the Heart Ripper?"

"The serial killer?" They did talk about that at some point, didn't they. With Sean, in the rec room. He couldn't remember why it had come up, but he did remember Sean having some impressive facts that he just threw out at them. Which, knowing what he knew now, made sense. "What about him?"

"Her."

“Hmm?”

"I'm the Heart Ripper," she said, casually and calm as you please.

"...Oh." It should surprise him more. It should terrify him, make him want to run screaming from the room. But it didn't. He already knew it, after all. At least, technically speaking. "Why?"

"Why?" She laughed. "That's not the question I usually get."

"Have you told a lot of people that you are the Heart Ripper?"

"No, not many." She pushed off the dresser, taking two winding steps forward and cradling her arms against her stomach. "Why? That's kind of a long story. I should finish the first one first."

"The first one?"

"The library." She stopped in front of him, staring down at him with her arms crossed. "You didn't die immediately when Sean shot you. You could have survived, if we had given you immediate medical attention."

"Oh," Eric said. "But I did die. I'm sure of it."

"Yes. I shot you."

"Oh." He felt something turn in his stomach, and did his best to push it back down. "Well, it was a quick death, then, that way. Less agony."

"That's not why I did it."

"I know, you wanted to get out. I don't blame you. I mean, do you remember how insistent I was about leaving? It must have been a tough choice."

"That's not why either." Mira tilted her head, her hair falling ever so slightly in front of her eyes. "I wanted to kill you. Ever since we first met."

"Oh." This supernatural calm could only hold back so much of his nature. Eric began to panic. He stood suddenly, forcing Mira to take a step back. "Why? W-what did I do? Did I hurt you? I mean, I don't think I messed up our first meeting that bad-"

"No, you didn't. You did nothing wrong." She tried to step back towards him, but Eirc scrambled over the edge of the bed to get away from her. Mira stopped, her hand hanging in midair as though she wanted to comfort him. Her voice didn't sound particularly comforting, however. It was the same cool, almost monotone voice that she always had. "Have you ever heard the phrase about touching someone's heart?"

"Um?"

"It was something my mom told me. About when you touch someone's heart, then you can understand them. Then you can feel." She let her hand fall to her own chest, over her own heart. "I don't feel. I never have. That's why I kill. That's why I take out the hearts. To touch them. To feel what they felt."

"Mira, I..." Eric laughed, surprising himself. It was just on the edge of bitterness. "That's not how it works. I mean, that's just a saying. The heart isn't actually where we feel things. It's just a muscle. We feel things in the brain, through, um, chemicals, I think."

"Really?" Mira sounded genuinely surprised. "It's always worked for me, though. I feel... something when I hold their hearts. Something different from what I always feel. Different from each other, too. Maybe it was the remnants of their spirits, still giving off their final thoughts?"

"Come on, you don't really believe that stuff, do you?"

Mira tilted her head. "Don't you?"

"I mean, I was raised that way, I guess, but I don't actually know about souls or any of that spiritual stuff."

"I don't think it's any stranger than some of the stuff that we experienced at DCOM."

She had him there. "Well, that isn't the most important part, I guess. I mean, were you just... waiting to kill me? Ever since we met?"

"It wasn't like I was waiting with a knife behind my back for you to turn around since day one. Murders take time to plan. There's a reason I haven't been caught, you know. Besides, I never try to go for a kill the moment I meet someone. I want to wait and see, you know? In case the last one was the one that flipped the switch and turned my feelings on." Her face changed, her expression adding just a hint of sadness to it. "It never does, though. No matter how many feelings I collect, it doesn't change me. I can't add them to myself."

There were a lot of questions racing through Eric's head at the moment. He chose the one that was least likely to give him emotional damage. "Why did you agree to come to DCOM with me?"

"Because I was bored. I think I told you as much the first time you asked me."

"Oh, right." He had expected her to say no when he first brought it up. It was a strange whim to begin with. Eric wasn't exactly sure why he had wanted to do it himself. It was just... something to be a part of. Something bigger than himself. If the next step on the mission was to actually go to Mars, well, then, his name would be in history books, as one of the first test subjects in the initial experiment. It was just... something that mattered. For once in his life he wanted to do something that mattered.

"And I mean, it was interesting," Mira continued. "Whatever else you could say about the experience, it wasn't boring."

"No, trauma is a lot of things, but it isn't boring," Eric said, a bit sarcastically. Mira didn't seem to notice. Eric sighed, rubbing his face. "Why are you telling me this, anyway? Why confess now?"

"Because I didn't want to lie to you?" Mira asked. "No, that's not true. It's more that I wanted to tell you something, and you need to have that context to understand what I'm trying to say."

"What is it?"

"I'm getting to it." She took another step closer, and sank down to sit on the bed. Eirc stayed pressed up against the far wall. Mira counted out her points on her fingers. "Alright. You died. I killed you. Shot you in the head. And it wasn't to get out. It wasn't to give you a quick death. It was an opportunity - finally, a perfect opportunity to touch your heart." She curled her hand up into a fist, running the fingers of the opposite hand over her knuckles. "It's easier than you think to get through the body. Once there's no resistance it's like digging through a melon. I usually use a knife, at least to get to the heart, but once you were dead I just dug in with my bare hands."

"Damn.” Eric swallowed, his heart hammering. Apparently it had heard all of this talk about itself, and wanted to make itself known. “You did this all in front of Sean?"

"Yeah. I mean, I don't usually do it in front of people, but that's only because usually people would send me to jail if they saw me digging into a body. I knew that Sean couldn't do anything about it, so I didn't mind."

"But still, he's a kid... that's not something you should do in front of a kid."

"Is he a kid?" Mira tilted her head. "You didn't seem to think so in the game."

"Well, I wasn't in the best state of mind in the game," Eric admitted. "I know better now."

"Either way, I don't think Sean minded. He didn't try to stop me, at least." She smiled, more to herself than to him. "It was the best one. You know that? Every heart that I've held, most of them are filled with fear, or with anger. Bad thoughts. Not you. You only had..." She stopped, thinking for a bit. "You really loved me, didn't you," she said softly.

"Yes," Eric said. "I do."

"I didn't really understand why," she continued. "I mean, of course I didn't. I don't know why anyone would love anyone. I don't think I gave you any reason to. But even when I killed you, you held no grudge. It makes no sense. Why are you like this?"

"Why am I... like this?" It was a strange question to Eric. "I mean, I guess I just am. Is it weird to care about someone?"

"When it's like this, yes. I've killed a lot of people. A lot of boyfriends. A few girlfriends, too. You're the only one who loved me at the end." She smiled again, worrying her thumb over her knuckles. "It felt nice. It felt so, so nice. I think... I think I felt... happy."

"Oh. Well, that's good. I'm glad."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're glad? I killed you. I don't think that you should be this happy about it."

"I wouldn't say that I'm happy about it, but... well, either way, I'm not dead now. I'm alive. That's what matters, I think."

"You're alive," Mira repeated to herself, her voice sounding dreamy and distant.

Eric slowly approached her, his hand held up in case of any sudden movements. "Um, was that what you wanted to tell me, or...?"

"Oh, you wanted more?" Mira asked playfully. "Should I tell you about the other time I killed you?"

"The other time?"

"No, I guess that wasn't everything," Mira said, before he could ask anything else. "But it's... it's what you said before. You're alive. I've touched your heart, and you're still alive. That's never happened before." She swallowed. Eric got the impression that she was nervous. It wasn't something that most people would be able to notice, but Eric had spent a lot of time watching Mira's face. He was starting to pick up on her cues. "I mean, you are the only person who's heart I've touched who is still walking around, who I can talk to after the fact. It means that... you're the only person who I can really, truly understand."

"Oh," Eric said weakly. "Neat."

"Neat?" She raised an eyebrow. "Is that it?"

"I'm sorry, I guess I just... don't really know what that means."

"It means that you are the only person who I can love."

"...Oh." Eric's breath caught in his throat. He rushed over to her side. "You mean it? You love me?"

"I said that I have the possibility of loving you now," Mira corrected. "But, yes. I guess I do."

"Really?" Eric could feel a genuine grin spreading across his face, almost without his control.

"You shouldn't be so excited," Mira said. "But yes. That's what I wanted to tell you. So..." She stood, taking a few steps away from him and the bed. Eric frowned, confused. "I don't know what you want to do now," she continued. "I don't even know what I want to do now. But if you want to leave I don't blame you."

"Leave? Why would I want to leave? Mira, wait." Eric scrambled after her. "Are you breaking up with me?"

Mira paused, half turned away. "I don't think that's my call to make," she said. She turned back to him and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. Her body language was defensive, even though her voice was still even. Now Eric felt like he was the one who had to approach her carefully, like a frightened animal, one who was liable to bite.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the one who has done things wrong," she said. "I think murder probably ranks above, like, cheating when it comes to relationship do's and don'ts. I've told you everything, and now you have a choice to make. Either leave, break up with me, and walk away - and I don't blame you if you do. Or, you could stay, I guess. I won't stop you either way."

"Well, I want to stay, then," Eric said immediately.  "That's the one that I choose."

"Why?" She cocked her head. "That doesn't make sense."

"Does love make sense?"

"No. I just told you."

"No, I-” He sighed. “Not just to you, I mean-"

"I mean, this doesn't really follow the rules of a relationship, as far as I understand them."

“Maybe not, but Mira- it’s fine.” He approached her slowly, reaching a hand out. She didn't move, either towards him or away. She just allowed him to come. He reached down and took her hand. "For the rules of a relationship, I think... maybe relationships don’t need to have rules. Maybe we can just take it slowly, day by day."

"But I killed you."

"You're so hung up on that."

"I think you should be a little more hung up on it," Mira said. "I mean, you need a serial killer to tell you that you shouldn't be with someone who wants to kill you."

"Well, do you still want to kill me?"

Mira shook her head. "There wouldn't really be much of a point anymore."

"So, yeah. I'm not in danger."

"I might kill other people, though," she said. "Maybe people you know. People you care about."

"You won't," Eric said quietly. "You can't. There's no one left. No one but you who I care about."

"That's pretty sad," Mira said.

"Yeah, well. You’ve killed people before. Do you feel sorry about it?"

Mira shook her head. "That's the thing. I'm not. I would do it again. It's been the only thing that has worked, to let me look into what it might be like to be an actual functional human being. Do you know what that's like?"

"To be an actual functioning human being?" Truth be told, Eric didn't, not really. More and more his coping mechanisms had been failing him, letting in more of the cold, the fear, the emptiness. Deep and dark, like the depths of the lake. He didn't know how much longer he would last on his own. He didn't want to be alone anymore.

"I should feel sorry, shouldn't I?" Mira asked. "If I was really feeling things, then remorse should be one of them, right? What if all of this was just me deluding myself, and I actually didn't steal feelings from the dying hearts of my dead boyfriends."

"Ha," Eric laughed, softly, but Mira looked serious, as though this was a legitimate concern. He shook his head. "Well, I don't think that you would ever have felt things the same as most people, even if you did go about it a different way. As far as I've seen, every person feels things a different way. I don't know, I'm not really an expert on these kinds of things. So I don't really know if you should feel sorry, or if you should feel anything, really. As long as you are happy."

"Hmm," Mira hummed. She considered him. Eric was close enough to touch her now, but he didn’t. "I don't know if I'm happy. I simply am. But I don't want to change. I think, if I had to choose, I would still choose the road that led me to here. Or rather, I don't know who I would be if I wasn't who I was right now. What if I was worse? What if I was just a complete monster, with no remorse?"

"I thought you said that you weren't sorry?"

“I'm not. But... I don't know. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, because I did, but I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have to. There was a reward in it for me. Without that, there would be no reason for it. Right? I wouldn't have killed if there wasn't a reason for it?"

"I don't know, Mira," Eric said honestly. "Only you can know that."

Mira frowned, and looked down. Eric hesitated, and then slowly reached out and took her hand. Mira let him. "Hey. Okay. So, you've killed people in the past. Fine. Do you still want to kill people now?"

Eric watched her take a deep breath, and then let it out with a sigh. "No," she said quietly. "I don't think I do. I mean, I can remember what it felt like, now. It fucking hurt.”

"Okay, so. There you go." Eric smiled gently. "No more murders. That's really all that we can ask of you, I think.”

"Excuse me for asking, but are you really okay with this?" Mira asked, raising an eyebrow. "Dating a murderer? Murder, in general? You should probably be calling the cops right about now. You aren't reacting normally to this at all."

"No, I... I don't think I react normally to most things, if I'm being honest." Eric scratched the back of his head. "Like I said, emotions are difficult for everyone. Mine are... mine are weird."

"...I don't think they're weird," Mira said.

Eric smiled. "Thank you." Their hands hung down between them, intertwined. They could try for more. But for right now, this was enough.

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - The Trial

Part 18

I've just been staring at this completed chapter for thirty minutes. I've been working up to this moment for so long and to see it finally written is just. Insane. (No this is not the last chapter. There is much more to come)

By the way!!!! This chapter was not suppose to end this way! Y'all influenced this shit! Goading me into it, I swear.

CLOSED List of Beggarts I regularly feed (I'm running out of names to call you): @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @emjrabbitwolf @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

He'll be after Jason seeing as the new Robin described him and he definitely knows about Joker's death.

They watched as the shadow took off across the rooftops, occasionally tossing out a grapple or swan diving off a ledge. Four blocks off, another figure, much brighter and attention grabbing, took a similar route, small body taking to the sky seemingly not taking notice of the eyes on him. Or perhaps used to it.

You'll watch the bird, keep him distracted. Nothing extreme enough to catch the other's attention. Just hold off any interference.

A dozen mice ran along the sides of gutters and along the alleyways below, awaiting their signal. They kept the brighter figure in their sights, drawing his attention with slight rustles and squeaks from unexpected places. Just loud and weird enough to avoid interest in any other movement in the area, drawing out a natural curiosity and investigative need in their target.

You'll play as backup. As soon as we instigate our target, I expect you to help keep the Replacement within ear range but incapable of assisting.

A fox dashed across the streets, keeping a close eye on the game between the bright figure and the mice scattered about. Any time the bird snuck up on where one hid, she hid the mouse in illusions, sometimes a real rat, other times a startled, hissing cat. 

Tail swishing in a twitchy dance behind her, she awaited the main event from her perch.

You two will take to the sidelines, backup if it should come to blows. Otherwise, keep everyone updated on the others' positions and monitor the situation.

A cat slinking around corners kept an eye on all of the players, including the two unseen by the rest, coordinating positions and ensuring no one moved off course, uncomfortable in knowing a double agent held eyes in the sky and taking precautions to avoid cameras as she whispered soft directions into a comm, made by their miraculouses and impossible to hack due to the ancient magic encasing it.

By her side, a dragon crossed with a horse hovered in a tense side to side sway, awaiting her command. The other kept on tiptoe, knowing the call to assist could come at any point and from any direction. In the end, their disappearance back into the night at the end of all of this relied on her. Waiting too long differentiated between success and potential capture.

We'll take on the Bat. After all, I think it's high time he met my soulmate.

With baited breath, they watched as a shrouded man dropped in front of the Bat, making the figure twist at the last second to avoid a headlong collision. Batman turned back on the spot, dropping into a crouch and launching towards the man. The man dropped onto his back, kicking upward into a stomach and using the momentum to launch Batman across the roof while rolling back to a stand. He stayed facing away, though they saw his head tilt, listening to the almost silence behind him. As a flash of silver flung towards his back, he easily spun off to the side, dodging a barrage of batarangs as Batman methodically tossed them while placing himself closer and closer to the other before moving in to initiate hand to hand combat. The man seemed to take this in stride, shifting into the new pattern.

Across the rooftops, Robin took note of the fight and moved to aid. He made it three blocks before a fox dropped in front of him, growling. Taken aback, but knowing not to allow the distraction, he attempted to grapple upwards, only to find the grapple gone, in the teeth of a mouse like figure, taking off away from him, other mice figures crawling about his feet, holding him in place as the fox watched on, teeth bared in a silent warning. Keeping an eye on the strange creatures about him, he looked back to Batman, startling at the realization that he recognized his attacker. Jason. Suddenly he remembered the strange abilities of the lady from the night before and realized the creatures holding him captive where meant to keep him from interfering. As he made to move anyways, a voice in his ear on a private channel spoke up, asking him to stay still. Agent A.

"What's going on, A?"

"You'll see."

The figures continued on until the Bat begin to advance harder, looking to restrain his opponent, calling out to him, having deducted whom the figure is by this point.

"Jason stop!" Right as a fist went too fast to block, aimed straight to the man's nose, a cord wrapped around his fist, yanking in back. As Batman began to turn towards the source, a punch came to his face, bringing him back front and center. A possible second cord wrapped around his other wrist and the backs of his knees were kicked out from under him.

The others watched as a Ladybug held a yoyo taut, strings in a Y formation, the focal point centered between the Bat's shoulder blades to evenly distribute the tension. The Ladybug looped the yoyo over a pipe and pulled up until his arm bent back and upwards without tipping his torso down. If he tried anything, the bug could simply yank him airborne. The Bat choose to focus onto the man in front of him for the moment.

"Jason-"

"I'm not Jason."

We should switch. I have more experience with the Pit Madness than you. If I'm in your body, I can hold the entirety of it while you get a reprieve to focus on the mission. To have a clear mind while confronting him.

"What?" He demanded.

A sharp, feminine voice spoke up behind him, loud enough for the others to hear.

"I am."

Batman froze in his spot on his knees as the figure that looked like Jason sat down in front of him.

"Hello Bruce. It's good to meet you officially. Though I suppose I've known you much longer than you've known me." The lower, masculine voice was offset by its' soft lilting tone.

Despite his brain whirling with the information, he shoved it aside, firmly refusing to put it together himself.

"You're lying."

"She's not," the voice from behind moved closer, the yoyo secured on their hip to prevent his movement but free up the hands and gripped his shoulders in a crushing grip, "You see, Bruce, I hadn't been with you long enough to trust you with the secret of my having a soulmate. And you never knew me well enough to tell when we switched. Some detective you are, hmm?"

"So what, that makes this okay?" He growled.

"Patience," the figure in front of him smirked softly.

"Getting caught by the Joker at that moment, that was my own dumbass fault. You not arriving on time isn't your fault. I could live with that, but that isn't the end. I want you to look into the eyes in front of you, feel how small the presence behind you is. How tiny and young, despite being seventeen. I want you to look her in the eyes and know that she was only fourteen when she was launched into my body where she was beaten to a pulp by the Joker. Blown up. The connection broke. Then because it wasn't her body, she sat in my corpse for months before the resurrection. Had to crawl her way out of a grave and to a hospital."

The team tensed in the distance, having not heard the full story before now. Robin's eyes blew wide behind the mask, the tension in his body going slack in horror.

"Do you see that swirl of green in my blue eyes? How they look almost teal? That's from when the League threw her into the Lazarus Pits. She's combating insanity as we speak. And yet even with the healing effect it had, you can see the scars all over. There's an autopsy mark as well."

The shoulders in Jason's hands shook with his words and he looked up at Mari who seemed calm, letting the man stare at her and take in her reality.

"And none of that is truly your fault. But you know what is?" Marinette spoke up now, "That a fifteen and fourteen year old were ever put into that kind of danger to begin with. What's the likelihood of either of us ever falling onto Joker's radar without your placing us in the costume? Without making us Robin? Do you think Jason would've become a target had you not decided it was perfectly acceptable to allow children to fight criminals?"

"Jason was troubled, he needed someplace to put that anger. Something to let out-"

"Many children are troubled or angry. Do you know what other parents don't do? Allow that teen angst to turn into taking on the adult underworld. But sure, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Explain then why you couldn't care enough for Jason, for any potential child's life enough to create a permanent solution to our murderer? How many people, how many innocent kids is the Joker's life worth to you?"

"You obviously care more for the clown than us," Jason added.

"That's not true!"

"Then why? Why was my grave barely marked?"

"Two sentences in the Tuesday local obituaries."

"Swept under the rug to be forgotten."

"While you hunt us down for killing the clown. We deserve to be hunted down for avenging our own death."

"Meanwhile you do no such thing to the one who killed your supposed precious Robin. Did we mean so little to you? I wonder if the newest Robin means anymore than we did."

"So you're angry you were replaced?" Batman barked out, overwhelmed by their constant barrage of accusations.

Mari reached forward, forcing the man to look into the teal of those eyes swirling in front of him, watching him flinch away at knowing who she was, "You misunderstand us purposefully. It's not that we were replaced. It's that you know a child died for your cause and you still insist on placing another in harm's way. You take broken children desperate for guidance, for connection, for anything and abuse that position over them. You as their guardian are meant to keep them from harm's way. To protect them from the horrors of the world until they're old enough to face it in their own way. Not throw them in a costume, train them into weapons and then let them fight the most dangerous criminals the city could offer. Yes, we made some stupid choices of our own, but you set us up to even have those choices presented to us. Does it even occur to you that had we not shown up to save the little bird, another child would have died under your care? Does that mean nothing to you?"

The Bat growled, trying to break free of his binds. The two hid grins, knowing him unaware of the young eyes listening desperately for his answer.

"You certainly haven't thanked us for keeping him alive. Does it mean less to you that he is alive then it does that Joker is dead."

"You know the rules! We don't kill!"

He fell for it. He might as well have told the new Robin his life was forfeit to his cause. The mice scurried off Robin's feet from where he stayed, a rooftop over as the fox curved around his calves in an almost apologetic movement.

"Jason swore to abide by your rules. I never did. I was fourteen when I died due to your negligence. I was innocent. I was a happy little girl with dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Now I can't even keep the voices in my head from screaming in my ears at all hours of the day. But the only thing you truly care about in the end is yourself. I fear for any child that gets dragged into your mess. And I will do whatever it takes to protect them from the inevitability of your cruelty."

With that, she stood from her spot and took off into the shadows, a cat, dragon and mice following out of sight. The fox looked at the boy who stood broken on the rooftop and nudged him, dropping the illusion of an animal and holding her hand out in offerance. He looked back at the thrashing Bat.

Jason, taking hold of the yoyo once more and tightening his grip, leant closer, "I don't blame the Joker for our death. I blame you."

With that, he used the yoyo to fling Batman in the opposite direction, taking off in an off kilter path towards the others. Looking back at the patient fox figure, hand still waiting for his choice, he hesitated.

"The choice is yours, Timothy. I'll support you no matter what," A's voice spoke softly through the comms.

Exhaling slowly, he took her hand.

She lead him to their rendezvous point where he saw the mice form into one person, the two from the roof and two other unknown figures. As he looked at them, each gave a soft nod in turn before the one opened up a blue portal before them, the fox letting go of his hand to follow the others through. Eventually only him and the ladybug themed one remained. Jason.

"Come on, replacement. You can stay with us however long you like."

With the smallest smile of gratitude and the encouraging words of Alfred in mind, he followed the other through, the portal closing behind them.

[getdeatjgrops]

internet boy.

shigaraki x reader one-shot

Summary: You are on a popular video chat website late at night. After many disconnects, you come across a dusty-blue haired boy. You wait for him to say “show your tits” to skip him, but strangely enough he didn’t say anything. To this, you become intrigued, and stay to chat with him.

Warnings: swearing, slight yandere tendencies.

Pairing: Tomura Shigaraki x Reader

Word Count: 4680

You yawn. You check the time on the corner of your laptops’ screen. 2 AM. Why weren’t you sleeping? Well, you were on Omegle for almost two hours, and you didn’t realize how fast the time flew by. You were bored and couldn’t sleep, so you chose to talk to strangers online who were also up late at night. Maybe you were the strange one.

You haven’t gone on Omegle for a long time, so you forgot about all the dick showing and the dudes asking to either show your tits or your ass. If you didn’t comply they’d call you a bitch and disconnect. Sometimes if you got lucky, you connected with someone sweet and you’d chat a bit until they needed to go. At least there were still some people who just wanted to talk.

You sighed as you disconnected from another penis on your screen.

If I see another dick one more time, I’m getting off.

You tapped your fingers on your laptop, waiting for someone to connect.

And someone did. It was an odd looking guy. He had shaggy light blue hair and deep, red eyes that you could hardly see. He had a tightened black hoodie, so you couldn’t see his full face; only his eyes and nose. He was leaning against a white wall behind him, and his camera only showed his torso and up. The only light was from his own screen, illuminating his face.

You furrowed a brow. He didn’t say anything, so you started typing.

You: hey

You notice his eyes move to the chat, and down to his keyboard. He started typing, and you heard the sound of the keyboard clicking. So he did have a microphone.

Stranger: what’s your name

You: (Y/N). what’s urs?

At this point, you expected him to ask something vulgar, so you hovered your mouse over the “Really?” button to disconnect if he did. But shockingly enough, didn’t.

Stranger: uh. you can call me Tom.

You smiled a bit. You found the name “Tom” funny considering the fact that maybe he was using a fake name, and to add onto your suspicion he added an “uh” in the beginning.

You: cool. i hear that u have a mic. do u wanna talk? i’m too tired to type lol

You: or do u have to be quiet because of your parents loll

You watch him read the chat, and hear a “tch” noise come out of his mouth before he aggressively starts typing.

Stranger: i can talk. but you aren’t talking, so i’m not talking. wouldn’t it be weird if i was the only one talking? weirdo.

You huff and roll your eyes. “The whole point of me asking if you want to talk is so we could talk instead of texting each other. Watch who you call a weirdo, weirdo.” You retorted. He furrowed his brows and rolled his eyes back.

“Whatever. Anyways, what time is it for you?” He asked. You noticed his voice was slightly gravelly. You squint your eyes. “Aren’t you a curious one. With the blunt questions and everything. It’s 2 at night here. You?” You smile slightly. “It’s 2 am here too. Why are you up so late?” He plays with the strings attached to his hoodie.

You sigh. “Dunno. I’m tired but can’t sleep. Why are you up so late?” You ask back. He makes his hand through his hair and hoodie and scratches his neck. “Well, I’ve been thinking about stuff, so I can’t sleep either.” You hum in response, and there’s a minute of silence between you two.

“Well, what’s on your mind then?” You ask, trying to break the awkward tension.

He grumbles. “It’s nothing. Just have a few people that I don’t like on my mind. No, hate. Deeply hate. They are terrible.” He growls, and continues scratching his neck. You frown and look at him. “Hey, don’t worry about them okay? Don’t let bullies effect you and how you feel. They’re dumb.” You comforted. You felt a bit weird comforting a person you just met online about bullies, but you really did feel sympathy for him. He probably has a hard time with them.

He looks away and nods slowly. “Yeah.. bullies..” He stops scratching his neck and puts his hand down. He looks back at the camera. “Do you have anything we can talk on?”

You giggle. “We’re talking on something already, idiot.” To that, he just looks at the screen with an annoyed look. “I’m just playing. Here’s my instagram. Or, if you prefer-“

“Instagram is fine.” He cuts you off, seconds after pulling out his phone and searching up the username you put in the chat. You pressed your lips together, and pull out your phone yourself.

tomxrxow.s has requested to follow you!

“So, Tom.. your name is an abbreviation of Tomorrow?” You ask, quietly chuckling as you accept the follow request. “Uh, sure.” He mumbled. You requested to follow him back, and in an instant he accepted. You notice he has no posts and the only people he follows is a few pro heroes and you. He only has about 20 followers too. You found it slightly uncomfortable, considering that you had a few posts of you and a couple hundred followers. You look back at the screen and see him holding his phone up and moving it to look at you.

“Hm, you’re kind of weird looking right now compared to your posts.” He shows one of your posts of you in a restaurant. You looked pretty in that photo, until you realized that he insulted you. You gasped and furrowed your brows. “Hey!” You pouted. He smirked and put his phone down. “I’m just ‘playing.’” He says, quoting you from earlier. You squint your eyes and scoff, but silently smile to yourself. You like this guy.

“Well, you got my instagram, so we could chat more. I’m feeling kind of tired, so I’ll text you tomorrow morning okay?” You smile. He sighs through his nose. “Alright, good night.” He puts up a backwards peace sign. “Don’t let the villains bite.” You roll your eyes, and to that, you disconnect and shut your laptop.

What a strange guy.

You lay down and close your eyes, and soon enough you drift to sleep.

��

You stir your cereal, waiting for Tom to finish typing.

You and him have gotten close the past 3 weeks. He was quite nice to talk to. He talked about his problems, and you talk about yours. I think it’s safe to say that you guys were great friends, and were there for each other. Not in real life, but through each other’s screen. And you were okay with that.

txmxrxow.s: i haven’t got much sleep last night.

You: ahh well you should go to sleep earlier today!

You smile to yourself. You and Tom stood up late at night talking. Sometimes you guys would call, sometimes you guys chose to just text. In the beginning of your friendship with him, you guys first went from talking for an hour, to a few hours, to the whole night. You found him interesting. The way he talked, what he talked about.. he was just nice to talk to.

txmxrxow.s: but i want to talk to youu :’(

Your heart fluttered as you read his text message. You smile goofily.

You: and i want to talk to you too! but if you don’t go to sleep early then you might just fall asleep while we’re talking, and i’ll get worried that you’re not responding. how about this, we can talk all day today and you can go to sleep tonight so we could talk tomorrow. deal?

You sigh happily. You haven’t had someone to talk to this much in a long time. The world is in a middle of a pandemic; it’s not like you can go out and hang out with your friends when everyone is in quarantine. You walk to your living room with the bowl of cereal in your hand and put it on the coffee table. You sit down on your couch, and turn on the TV. You put a spoonful of cereal in your mouth and lean back to watch what the news is for today.

“Breaking news. The League of Villains attacked the city unexpectedly last night! Heroes came late due to the fact that it was at 4 am. But thankfully, we can never not trust our strong heroes! They were close to defeat, but they struck back with all their might, leaving the villains running away! Thank you for your service Pro-Heroes, for keeping us and the city safe!”

The T.V showed footage from a helicopter above of the villains running away into a dark alley. They all disappear as they enter a purple portal one of the villains created. The camera then showed the pro heroes panting in exhaustion, walking away from the scene like it was nothing. You couldn’t blame them, it was late at night- they were tired. They weren’t willing to have an interview this late.

txmxrxow.s: Did you see the news? Smh. Pro heroes this, pro heroes that. It’s getting tiring.

You take another bite of cereal and pick up your phone to reply.

You: Yeah, but at least they keep us safe. And on that note, im glad you’re safe, but I mean we were literally up at that time just texting each other lmaooo

txmxrxow.s: haha, yeah :)

You pick up the remote control and switch the channel to something else. You were getting tired of hearing about villains and heroes all the time too.

You: anyways, i’m bored. wanna call?

txmxrxow.s: sure

You: i mean like, video call? we haven’t video called since omegle lolol

txmxrxow.s: hmm.. nah.

You frown. Didn’t he just say sure a few seconds ago?

txmxrxow.s: but i miss your cute little face. so, get on discord.

You blush and furrow your brows. Who does this guy think he is?! You huff, and pull out your laptop and open discord. Seconds after, you receive a call from Tom and accept it.

“Hello. Guess you couldn’t resist my cute ass face.” You teased. He chuckles in response, and turned on his camera. Again, he’s wearing a black tightened hoodie, so you could only see his eyes and nose, along with his messy light blue hair. “I really couldn’t.” He responded flatly. You blush and roll your eyes. “Shut up.” You grin.

You and him talked about random things. You would occasionally take a bite of your cereal, and he would snap a photo before you eat the spoonful of Froot Loops. “Hey!! Delete that!” You pleaded, covering your mouth full of milk and cereal with your hand. He laughed in response, showing his phones’ screen to the camera, which was the photo of you about to put the spoon in your mouth. You swallowed the food in your mouth and crossed your arms. “Not funny! I’m turning off my camera.” You huffed, and turned off the camera.

“Nooo! Come back!” He pleaded, exaggerating the “No.” You laughed, and turned on your camera just as fast as you turned it off. Needless to say, you enjoyed talking to Tom.

—

You and Tom were on call for the past five hours. You didn’t get bored of his company, and although your laptop was heating up, you wanted to stay.

“Hm.. say,” He started. You hummed back. “What’s up?” You didn’t lift your eyes from your phone. You were scrolling through your instagram feed and occasionally were sending Tom funny cat photos and videos.

“Do you want to meet up?” Your heart skipped a beat. You looked at your laptops’ screen with wide eyes. “Now?” You ask. He shrugged, twirling his hoodie string between his finger. “Sure. Or, if you want we could meet up later this week. Or later tonight, so there isn’t much people, especially with the whole virus thing going on.” You nod.

Should you go today? Later tonight? I mean, he seems pretty real to you. And you really liked talking to him. You liked him in general.

“I um, have to talk to you about something too.” He said, slightly choking on his words. Your heart rushes. You look at the time on your phone. 3 pm. Wow, time flew by fast.

“Sure. Let’s meet up at 10 pm.” You smile. He sighed in relief. “Okay, cool. I’m.. excited to see you.” He blushed. Your heart continued pounding against your chest and you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “I’m excited too.” You guys sat in silence, scrolling through your phones. You gulped, feeling uncomfortable.

God, why is everything so much more awkward now?! It’s fine. You’ll meet each other, and talk. It’ll be your first time seeing each other in real life, and it’ll be fine.

You turn to your laptop screen. “Well, my laptop is heating up really badly, so I’m gonna go. We can still text if you want.” You put your index finger on the trackpad, hovering it over the hang up button. “Alright, see you soon.” He puts his phone down and waves. You smile and make a silly face before hanging up. You needed to get ready, even though it was only 3 pm.

— *Time skip to 10 pm*

You didn’t want to appear to extra and flashy on the first time meeting, so you went with an oversized (F/C) sweatshirt and jeans. You let your hair down, and put on mascara. Your heart was beating loudly. You were excited, but nervous. What did he want to talk about? You had an idea, but you dismissed it.

You heard a notification go off and checked your phone.

txmxrxow.s: let’s meet over here.

After he sent that text, he sent a photo of a building that you passed by occasionally.

You: okay. see you soon! ^^

You smile to yourself. You breathe in and out to calm yourself. You turn off the lights and put your phone in your pocket. You grab a mask and put in on your face, and put on latex gloves. You shut the door behind you and start walking towards the direction of the building. You decided to listen to music to calm yourself.

What a weird coincidence that you met a person on Omegle that lived in the same country as you. Matter of fact, in the same city as you. You couldn’t believe it. And you fell in love with him? Truly strange. But, you don’t hate it. You smile happily. You realize that you shouldn’t be nervous. You guys have been talking for three weeks. He was comfortable with you, and you were comfortable with him. You guys were friends.

You hummed to the song that was currently on, and you noticed that you were close to the place you guys were meeting up at. You just had to cross this street and you’ll be there. You patted your hands on your jeans, realizing how sweaty they got from you being anxious. The street sign turned to a walking figure, and you slowly crossed.

You took out the earphones in your ears, and put them in your jean pocket. You squeeze your hands into fists as you see a figure a few yards away from you wearing a black hoodie. He was facing the other way, but you noticed that they were on their phone. You decided to walked up to them. This was Tom, it had to be. You looked at the building next to the figure. Yep, it is Tom.

You walk until you’re a few feet away from him.

“T-Tom?” You let out, almost as silent as a squeak. Their head looks up, and they slowly turn around. Your eyes made eye contact with their deep, red eyes. Their shaggy light blue hair was sticking out of their hoodie, and they had the strings tied together like you’ve seen on video call.

You smiled in joy, and went to wrap your arms around him. You pressed your face on their chest. He slightly stepped back, not expecting you to do that. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around you, careful not to touch you with all five of his fingers on each hand.

“(Y/N), you came.” He smiled, sighing. He didn’t want this moment to end; and neither did you. You moved your head up to look up at him. He was looking back down at you. “Are you always in these clothes? You have the same exact outfit from when we called on Omegle and video called today.” You teased, furrowing your brows. He grunted in response, and rolled his eyes.

“Haha, so funny. No, I don’t. But, I wanted to meet you because I wanted to talk to you about something.” You unwrapped your arms from him and slightly stepped back. You put your arms behind you and tapped the floor with the tip of your shoe. “What did you want to talk about?” You had a faint blush on your cheeks. He rubbed the top of head awkwardly and looked to the side.

“Well.. I know it’s only been three weeks but..” He started, taking a deep breath. You felt your heart beating loudly against your chest. You rubbed your lips together. You fidgeted with your hands. This is it.

“I feel like I’m the most comfortable with you. You let me talk about my problems and you help me with them. I calm down when you’re talking to me. After ending our calls at night, I wouldn’t be able to get you out of my mind.”

You felt your blush grow redder, and your breathing gradually increased. He’s doing it. He’s doing it.

“You’re.. simply to say.. the best thing that has happened to me. Nobody has acted this way to me besides you. Life makes sense when I’m talking to you.” He blushes, and grabs your shoulders. His pinkys don’t touch you. You widened your eyes at this, not expecting him to do that suddenly. You look at his eyes in a daze, feeling your heart almost explode out of your chest.

“(Y/N).. I..” He swallows, his throat dry.

“I love you.”

He finishes it at that, and there’s a silence. You blink, feeling fireworks explode in your stomach. You slowly smile. You raise your arm and move your hand through his hair and hoodie to his cheek. “Tom.. I love you too.” You felt your legs shake. Honestly, you never felt this way about anyone. So why do you feel this way with someone you met online? You didn’t know, but you didn’t feel bad.

He moves one of his hands towards his hoodie strings, and pulls them so they untie. His hoodie loosens, and you finally see his lips. They were chapped, colorless. Scarred. But you smiled. He moved towards you and placed his lips on yours. You close your eyes slowly. Carefully, he moves his hand down to your back, and pulls you closer. You felt yourself going crazy. You moved your free hand and placed it on his shoulder gently. Both of you deepened the kiss, feeling the passion between each other.

After a few seconds, you guys moved away from each other. You breathed silently while you stared at each others eyes. He smiled at you, but then his smile slowly went away. He sighed, and looked down.

“(Y/N), There’s something else I need to tell you.”

You look at him confused, but you still smile. “Yes, Tom? You could tell me anything.”

He lets go of your body and squeezes your hands in his hands. They were cold. “Will.. will you look at me differently? Will you still love me?”

Taken back by this, you didn’t know what to say. “Of.. Of course I will still love you. We’ve come this far, why would I stop loving you?” You ran your hand across his arm, trying to reassure him. He sighed, and suddenly looked up at you in all serious.

“My name is Shigaraki Tomura.” He spoke. “I’m.. the leader of the League of Villains.”

Your eyes went wide. Your whole body froze. You slightly squeezed your hand on his arm.

Leader of the villain league? Him? How? You couldn’t believe it. The same person you talked to about problems you believed to be normal; were just problems of a villain?

He noticed your fear, and his eyes went wide. He grabbed your shoulders, looking at you in panic. “You still love me right? You won’t leave me, will you? You know I love you right? I would never do anything bad to you.” He tried reassuring you, shaking you slightly.

You couldn’t help but be startled by him now. The same person you called insults and teased, could’ve easily lost control and killed you? Right now, you in the grip of his hands; if he lands his pinkies on you, you’re done for.

Do you still love him? You thought to yourself. Just the other night, he went out and attacked the city with his league of villains. That was the same night you guys were texting. You believed that he was at home, in his bed, just texting you. You couldn’t believe this.

“Tom... ura...” You choked. You realized that Tom wasn’t a fake name. It wasn’t an abbreviation of tomorrow. You gulped. Were you in his hands of delusion all along? Since the beginning?

Shigaraki gritted his teeth. “Please... (Y/N).. I’ll- I’ll change for you! I promise! Please.. me meeting you is possibly the most life changing thing that has happened to me. For the better! I love you so much! I would die for you!! I would disband the League of Villains for you! If- If you want, I’ll just kill them instead! The world could be in peace! (Y/N)-“

“Tom. Err.. Tomura. Listen.. this is a lot to take in right now. So please, just calm down. I don’t know your intentions, and I just can’t believe that... you’re a villain.” You let out, frowning. You looked down at the concrete below your feet, debating with yourself. What do you say next? Now knowing his true identity, you felt that if you say something wrong, you’re done for.

You squeezed his hands. Suddenly, you wrapped your arms around him, squeezing his hoodie between you hands. “Just please... change for me. Stop..” You blinked back your tears.

“Stop killing people.”

You heard his breath hitch, and he slowly wrapped his arms around you. “(Y/N).. I love you.” You closed your eyes. This is real life. The guy you met online, someone you felt was a normal person, turned out to be a villain.

You felt him move your hair away and moved it over your shoulder with his fingers. You looked up at him. He had an indescribable facial expression.

“(Y/N), I’m sorry. Just know I love you. But this is for our safety.” You furrow your brows in confusion, until you felt a sharp sting on the side of your neck. You widened your eyes. “Tomura..” You felt drowzy. An injection. You looked at him one final time, reading pain on his face. “I love you.” He said once again, but his voice was muffled. You felt darkness consume your vision, and fell onto your knees.

—

Leather. Your wrists were binded together with leather. You slowly opened your eyes, blinking to adjust to the light.

You slowly realized that your chest and your feet were binded against the chair you were sitting on as well. Your mind felt fuzzy, and you felt sick. Where am I?

“Aww, look guys! Shigarakis little girlfriend is starting to wake up!” You hear a girls voice. What is going on? You look up slowly. You see many figures. There were men, and distinctly one girl. You blinked a few more times to adjust your vision, and you looked to the back of the room. You felt your memories slowly start to come back as your eyes landed on Tomura. You widened your eyes, and felt tears run down your face. Tomura had his villain costume on, the hand on his face making it harder to see what his face looks like.

He got up and walked towards you. Fear pulsing through you, you kicked and pushed- trying to get out of the chair. Your quirk wasn’t much help, so you felt hopeless. Trying to fight back was your only option right now. Tomura bent over and put his hands on your shoulders. You rapidly shook your head. “Don’t touch me! Get off me!! You lied to me, you lied to me!! You never loved me!! You lied.. you want to kill me!” You screamed hysterically. More tears ran down your face. You weeped, noticing that Tomura hasn’t done anything yet. His pinkies were up like last time, and he didn’t harm you yet.

You sniffled. “Why.. why are you doing this?” You whimpered. He took one hand off your shoulder and carefully took off the plastic hand that was on his face. He was unreadable. Is he regretting what he is doing? Is he angry at you? Or does he simply not care at all and is just waiting for you to stop fighting so he could kill you already? He stands up straight and turns to the other villains. “Leave. We need privacy.” He demanded. They nodded, and with that, the villains walked out and left. Where? You don’t know. He turned back to you and put his hands back on your shoulders. You gulped in fear, feeling your breathing quicken.

“Wh-What do you want, Tomura.” You choked, sniffling. He frowned, and sighed. “(Y/N), I’m doing this for your safety and mine. If I just let you go after telling you who I am, you could’ve easily told the police about your connection with me, and they could use that to their advantage to track me down and arrest me. And we can’t have that, can we?” He stood up straight and walked to the wall to the right.

“And for your safety, if someone saw us talking, they would take the chance of kidnapping you themselves. They would try to get info from you and use you to their advantage.” He turns to look at you. You were still silently crying. You bit your bottom lip in anxiousness, until you heard footsteps from him walking towards you. You widened your eyes and quickly shut them, afraid of what is going to happen next.

You felt him cup your cheek softly with his hand. You flinched, realizing you lost all trust for him. “S-Stop..” You whisper. He frowns. He crossed his arms. “(Y/N). Look at me.” You didn’t comply, and still had your eyes closed. He furrowed his brows, frustrated. He banged his fist on the arm rest next to you, making you jump. “Look at me goddamnit!” He yelled. You looked at him with fear in your eyes. He widened his eyes slightly. He didn’t want to scare you. He just wanted you to understand. He softened his eyes and sighed in frustration. He pinched the bridge of his nose and continued looking at you.

“Look. I never lied to you. I still love you, (Y/N). Truly, I do. I meant everything I said in my, err, confession as you may call it. But things are too dangerous right now. I can’t change for you just yet. You understand that right?” You looked down in hopelessness. “I hope you can realize soon enough that what I’m doing is protecting you. Trust me, I won’t let the rest of the villains lay a single hand on you. I’ll treat you with good care.”

He held your chin up with his index finger, and you looked up at him in defeat. He smiled gently. “Alright princess?” --

My first fanfic in a while!! Hope you enjoyed! Hopefully there is more to come ;) this was requested by my amazing friend @crabziee-writez <3!

[myheartrevealedocs]

Untouchable- Ch 5: Poison (S1E13)

Summary:  A Spencer Reid x OC fanfic that retells select episodes, starting in season 1, from the point of view of Lydia Ambers, a forensic scientist.

Warnings: murder, swearing, drugs

Ch 4 | Ch 6

~ ~ ~

Rain was such a strange thing in Lydia’s mind. The sound of it hitting the window next to her was soft and gentle, and so many people spoke of it like it was cleansing or refreshing. But all Lydia had to attribute it to was mud and sickness. It didn’t leave her excited for spring. She didn’t think of it as food for flowers or a new start. She thought of floods. Confinement. Tears… 

“What’s up with you?” Spencer asked, startling Lydia out of her thoughts.

“What’s up with me? What’s up with you! You’re late!” she responded, watching him sit across from her at the booth and put down his coffee.

“I just got back from a case last night,” he defended. “I figured you wouldn’t mind if I took a little extra time to take a shower before leaving.”

She looked up at his hair to find it was indeed damp, but it could easily be from the weather outside. “Fine, you get a pass. Also, I don’t need you anyway,” she joked.

His face changed to one of hurt. “Wow. I mean, you don’t, but-”

“Sarcasm, Spencer.” She couldn’t help the grin spreading across her face. “Although, I am doing alright so far. I’m working on these extra assignments my criminology professor gave me. How was your case?”

“It went well. Found the unsub, saved the kid.”

She nodded. “That’s great!”

And they descended into silence, as they had the last time they’d met, both of them working on their own assignments.

After Lydia and Spencer had talked about helping her get her PhD, they’d made plans to meet off hours at a coffee shop so that Spencer could give her some advice for speeding up the college process. It had been terrifying at first. She’d been ready to completely back out, but Spencer had been insanely patient with her, able to convince her (after some rambling and statistics) that she was more than capable. He’d advised her who to talk to and what to ask teachers about their courses and so on to organize her thoughts. And then he just… sat with her as she worked. If she was ever confused on an assignment, he had her back. It was reassuring.

About halfway through their meeting, Spencer had put away his paperwork in favor of a book, but he found his pace excruciatingly slow. He wanted to invest himself in it, but he couldn’t stop himself from looking up at her when he knew she wouldn’t notice.

When she was extremely focused, her teeth would pull mindlessly on the dead skin on her lips. That’s what she’d been doing when he got there and saw her gazing out the window, not even realizing he’d walked in. But he hadn’t wanted to push her on that. And now all her energy was focused on her online work.

He also noticed another small tick when she was struggling with a question, because she always did it before asking him for help.

“How long have you worn a ring?” he asked her, watching her spin it loosely around her knuckle. It was a thick silver band, which was clearly too big for her fingers, and she was constantly switching it between the pointer and middle finger on her right hand.

She raised an eyebrow, but her manor was curious, rather than questioning. “I’ve had this ring since I was 16. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve just never seen you wear it before, is all.”

“It was my dad’s wedding ring,” she confided. “And you’re right. I don’t wear it when I go on cases, because getting latex gloves on and off is hard enough and I’m terrified of losing it.”

He took this answer gracefully, but Lydia could tell he was dying to ask why she had her father’s wedding ring rather than him. And before she could go back to her work, he spoke up again.

“You know, I’ve been really curious about something and you’ll have to forgive me if it offends you, but when we met, I asked you about why you had a limp and you didn’t tell me.”

She silently let go of a sigh of relief that this wasn’t related to her father (or at least, not to his knowledge). “Yeah, sorry about that. I know I was… weird that day.”

“So was I,” he reassured her. “But I’m kinda weird all the time.”

It was a sweet sentiment, but she was quick to shake her head at him. “Not at all. ‘Weird’ to me is far from the definition of Dr. Spencer Reid.”

It was like his eyes sparkled when he smiled at her. She found herself wanting to see it all the time and had to keep herself from staring.

“Right. My leg. Well, in actuality, my foot. I broke it when I was a teenager and it healed incorrectly,” she explained. “The arch is all sorts of messed up. But it doesn’t hurt and I can’t afford surgery anyway so I just let it be.”

“I’m sorry.”

She laughed, absurdly. “What for?”

“You didn’t want to get your PhD, because you couldn’t afford to go through any more years of school than you needed to and now you tell me that you’ve got this limp for the same reason? I don’t want to make any assumptions about your financial status, but I honestly do feel sorry that you think you need to sacrifice these things for it.”

This comment seemed to trigger something in Lydia and Spencer racked his brain for any indicator of what that may be.

“Well, I’m here, aren’t I?” she responded, but it didn’t have her previous spark of interest in the conversation, so he just agreed and let her go back to her work.

~ ~ ~

“You missed the briefing,” Gideon informed Lydia as soon as she picked up her phone. It had been a week since she’d had her second meeting with Spencer and she was sitting in her apartment, working on her schoolwork.

“What briefing?”

“Jet leaves in 30 minutes. You’re needed on a case.”

Lydia scoffed. “Gideon? That’s not a heads up. This would be my 3rd case before my 50 day limit was up, why am I coming along?”

“Do you want the job or not?” he asked, frustrated, but Lydia could tell it was just his impatience.

“Of course I do. I’m on my way. But I know there’s got to be a good reason to call me in after a briefing and against Chief Strauss’s wishes.”

He sighed on the other end before continuing. “We’ve got a poisoning case. LSD. You’re a chemistry expert, so I need you.”

“Reid’s definitely more of an expert than I am. But I’ll do what I can.”

“If we all determined our worth to the team by comparing ourselves to Reid, it wouldn’t be a team… it’d be Reid,” he argued. “I’ll see you on the jet.”

~ ~ ~

“How do you want to handle the press?” Gideon directed to JJ as they all settled down for their flight.

“We still don’t even know how these people got dosed. I think it would be irresponsible to issue a warning without specifics,” she reasoned. “It’ll just cause panic. I did notify the local PD, though, to be discreet.”

“How is it possible that none of these people knew how they got poisoned?” Morgan asked and before Lydia could stop herself, she murmured,

“It’s possible.”

JJ and Morgan both looked at her with concern, the rest of the team just stayed silent and they considered how this case might affect her after what happened with her roommate. The effects of her sudden drugging had been vastly different, but in the end, Lydia could understand the victims of this situation and how they must be feeling now that they’ve come out of their intoxicated state.

Hotch cleared his throat, returning to Morgan’s question. “None of them remembers anything about the day it happened.”

“These people are so messed up, it’s made it difficult for local PD to retrace the victims’ steps,” JJ explained.

“I suggest we split up the victims, see if there’s a pattern in the victimology,” Gideon began.

“Most of them are still in the hospital,” Hotch told him. “I’ll call local PD to meet us there.”

“I’ll check the lab reports,” Spencer offered. “Maybe there’s a clue to the unsub’s motive in the specific nature of the poison he used.”

“Ambers, you’ll go with him,” Hotch ordered, handing her her own file to review the details of the case. “I want you to be supervising the lab tests and keep us updated on everything you find. Especially if any new victims come in.”

“I-” She blinked down at the reports and pictures she’d just been handed. “Unchaperoned?”

“You aren’t a girl in the Regency Era,” Gideon teased. “You can handle it.”

“Don’t break any lab equipment,” Hotch insisted. “But yes, since we don’t exactly have a crime scene for you to analyze and you have experience in the lab as well, I want you there. Don’t worry about having a supervisor for now.”

She nodded, wanting to accept before he changed his mind. She didn’t miss Gideon’s smirk either as she accepted her new assignment. He was excited for her.

And she was kind of excited, too.

~ ~ ~

Spencer kept pace with Lydia as she navigated the hospital for the clinical lab. She was surprisingly confident in herself, finally getting to work a case that wasn’t up to suspect. She didn’t have to wonder about the colors on little girls’ paintings or try to date the wax underneath a satanic symbol. No, labs were natural sciences.

And she was an expert in those.

They were met at the door by one of the biochemists. “Hi. You must be the FBI agents. I’m Dr. Marilyn Keyes.”

“Hello. I’m Dr. Spencer Reid with the Behavioral Analysis Unit and this is our forensic expert, Lydia Ambers.”

Lydia did her best to greet the woman calmly, but her heart rate picked up when Spencer called her their ‘forensic expert’. She made a mental note to ask him about it later, seeing as she definitely was not considered an expert on the team. She was an intern.

“Alright, I’ve got the results from the blood tests here, but there isn’t much to say. The LSD levels were scarily high.”

“Were there traces of any other drugs in their system?” Spencer inquired.

“Only one,” Dr. Keyes replied. “Rohypnol.”

Lydia raised an eyebrow and turned to find Spencer doing the same. “But rohypnol is a roofie. If the unsub’s goal was to give a bunch of people a wild trip, why give them a sedative?” she asked.

“Because one of the most well known effects is amnesia,” Spencer reasoned, but Lydia shook her head.

“I just don’t see what would make a person poison all these people with a strong hallucinogen and then knock them out before seeing the effects.”

“But it didn’t knock them out,” Spencer argued. “They all still went about their day as normal.”

“Mixing drugs to get a precise effect like that is insanely difficult. This guy has to have some background in science.”

“One of the victims, Jack Fisher, got extremely violent and beat his son almost to death.” Lydia’s eyes shot open. This was news to her, seeing as she missed the briefing. “Are you sure there wasn’t anything like PCP in their systems to cause an aggressive outburst?”

Dr. Heyes shook her head. “We only found LSD and rohypnol.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ve been assigned to oversee the lab work on any new cases brought into the hospital and to keep my team informed of the information as it comes in. May I stay in here?”

Dr. Heyes seemed surprised by the request, but nodded. “Of course. I’ll find you a space to set up.”

As she did that, Spencer turned to go. “I’ll go tell the team what we know so far. Call Gideon or me if you figure out anything else.”

“You got it.”

With him gone, Dr. Heyes paused, her eyes wide. “He’s a doctor?” she asked, completely bewildered.

Lydia laughed. “Yes. He’s got 3 PhDs, in fact.”

If Dr. Heyes’s jaw could hit the floor it would have. “And you, you’re an FBI agent?”

“No,” Lydia said quickly. “No, I’m just an intern. They only sent me here because I’m the only one on the team who was trained in a lab setting. I just got my BS in chemistry.”

She decided not to mention Reid’s credentials, mostly because if the biochemist asked why they didn’t leave Reid here instead, she wouldn’t know what to say.

“But you are so young! You don’t even look like you’re 20 yet!”

“I’m 21,” Lydia assured her. “And he’s 24. Which to be honest, is extremely young to have 3 PhDs, but you know, he’s older than I am, so I think him being an agent is less of a stretch.”

“When did you get a job with the FBI?” she inquired.

“After I graduated this past spring. I’d met them while they were working a case and I guess they were in the market for someone knowledgeable in forensics. Here I am!”

It was a lie, at least to Lydia’s knowledge. The only thing she knew about the offer put in front of her was that Gideon fought for her to get it and Hotch’s boss, Chief Strauss, was not pleased that the position existed at all. But Dr. Heyes took the response and left her to pull out her laptop and try to remind herself about everything she learned about spiking and these specific drugs when she went to UCSC.

~ ~ ~

“We’ve found another victim,” Gideon informed her over the phone. “Her boyfriend worked at the cafe where many of the victim’s had been seen the day they were dosed. We brought him into custody, but it doesn’t look like he did it. And, from what you’ve told us so far about the process of creating this mix of drugs, we’ve ruled out a prankster. They're too disorganized to do this. From a look at other factors we think we’re looking at an avenger here.”

“So, someone’s got a personal vendetta against one of the victims and the rest are just collateral damage? Or was this just his test run?”

“My guess, when he gets the person he’s going for, it’s not exactly going to end in a bad trip and some memory loss.”

Lydia sighed. “One hell of a test run. I mean, I’m looking at these results, Gideon. And the statements from the victims. This guy has made quite the concoction.”

“The profile says he may have an accomplice, but if so, he’ll dispose of them soon. If any new cases come in, let us know immediately.”

“Will do,” she said, hanging up on him.

Not 20 minutes later, her phone was going off again, this time it was Spencer.

“Hey.”

“The hospital’s about to be swamped. We’re on our way there now.”

“Swamped? Why?” she demanded, looking up at all the biochemists and pathologists at work. Shit.

“A leak hit the news. They didn’t mention why or how people were getting dosed, only that it was happening. The people are in a panic and many people are going to come in with completely psychosomatic symptoms.”

“Fabulous,” she grumbled. “Well, I can give you the results of any of the tox screens, but they won’t be in for a while. Especially if people start barging in.”

“We’ll talk to doctors and nurses and find out who is definitely not psychosomatic. Make sure that their blood gets tested first.”

“We’ll be ready,” she assured him.

~ ~ ~

“We’ve got a Lynn Dempsey,” Dr. Heyes said, offering up her lab results. “She just got in, tested positive for rohypnol, but negative for LSD.”

“Interesting,” Lydia said, scanning the file. “Maybe she just got roofied?”

“That doesn’t explain her symptoms, though. She was apparently heavily sedated when she got in, but now, she’s struggling to breath. Nausea, difficulty swallowing, and she’s lost control of leg movement.”

“What are you guys thinking?”

“She was taking an antibiotic recently, which, in the case of a severe overdose, could cause these symptoms, but an overdose like that is not an accident. That plus rohypnol is an interesting mixture.”

“Have you guys looked at any biological toxins?” Lydia inquired and she shook her head.

“We didn’t think that was the sort of thing we should be looking for.”

“It’s hard to determine what we should or shouldn’t be looking for. The LSD and rohypnol combination was interesting enough by itself. If this guy’s as good as he appears, I doubt he’s buying drugs from street dealers. He could have access to all sorts of things.”

“I’ll get on it,” the doctor informed her and hurried off.

Lydia grabbed her phone. “Gideon?”

“Whatcha got?”

“Lynn Dempsy? Rohypnol and something else. The lab technicians are working on it now. But, she’s a bad case. Either the target or the accomplice.”

“You get Garcia, I’ll call Hotch. He’s on his way to the hospital now. JJ and Reid are already there, they might have already seen her.”

“Got it. Calling Garcia now.”

She fumbled with her phone some more and got Garcia’s contact.

“Sugar! How can I help?”

“The team’s gonna need everything you’ve got on a Lynn Dempsey. We’re looking for connections to the substances the unsub’s using or perhaps anything to indicate someone wants revenge against her.”

The sound of her furious typing could be heard over the line. “Alright. I’ll send whatever information I get to their phones. Right now, all I’m seeing is that she works for Hichcock Pharmaceuticals.”

“There’s something to that. Let Gideon know. I’ve gotta go,” she finished, seeing Dr. Heyes already on her way back with papers in her hand. “Did you find something?”

“Lynn Dempsey has been exposed to clostridium botulinum bacteria,” she explained.

Lydia’s eyes widened. “Botulism?”

The doctor nodded.

Lydia was up from her seat in an instant. “I’ve gotta tell Reid. I’ll be right back.”

She threw her phone into her back pocket and ran from the lab to get to the ER.

“Reid!” she called once she reached the waiting room. He turned, JJ following suit. Hotch was on a call over the front desk. She ran up to them, not wanting to disturb anyone around them. “It’s botulism.”

“Is that what the lab reports say?” he demanded, pulling her away from the people and into a hallway.

“Yes.”

“Botulism toxin is the deadliest substance known to man. It blocks acetylcholine receptors, paralyzing it’s victims until basically choking you to death,” he explained, knowing Lydia was already aware of this.

“And without an antitoxin, Lynn Dempsey in there is screwed.”

He put his hand up to his chin. “New Jersey is the pharmaceutical and chemical capital of the US. There’ll be quite a few people with access to the toxin. It could easily be ordered in the form of botox.”

“But, it’d have to be purified,” she reasoned. “Lynn Dempsey is an executive assistant. She wouldn’t know how to do that. And she doesn’t fit the profile. But, she does work for a pharmaceutical company, so if she’s the accomplice, they might have met at work.”

He opened his mouth to add to that, but JJ called, “Reid.”

She was standing in front of Dempsey’s room, looking in.

“I think she’s trying to say something.”

He ran over to enter the room with her and Lydia walked over to Hotch to see if there was anything she could do.

“Then, you should look for Lynn Dempsey, 45,” he was saying over the line. “Garcia’s emailing a picture to your phone.”

There was silence for a moment, and Lydia watched JJ and Reid try and piece together what Dempsey was saying to them. But, the doctor had to rush in as her heart rate started increasing quickly.

“Or working with him,” Hotch offered, but Lydia wasn’t sure of the context. “I’ll call you back. Lydia, what are you doing up here?”

She looked up at Hotch and was terrified for a moment that she’d done something wrong. “I came up here to talk to Reid about Dempsey. She’s been poisoned with deadly toxin found in botulinum bacteria. And without an antitoxin within the first 36 hours, she won’t make it. Reid and I were discussing how the unsub might have gotten this toxin.”

“What were you thinking?” he asked.

“Well, Lynn works for a company with access to this toxin, but it needs to be purified from other drugs. She likely wouldn’t have this ability. We were thinking accomplice.”

He nodded. “That’s what Morgan and I were discussing. We found all the victims went to First New Jersey Federal Bank the day they were dosed and from the security footage, it looks like Dempsey was replacing candies from the candy bowl. The CDC is testing the candies now.”

“Alright. I’ll head back to the lab and start listing off any new victims that come into the hospital.”

“Thank you,” he responded and watched her go.

~ ~ ~

“So, if they worked together, let's start with people who fit the profile who’ve had a recent stressor,” Hotch reasoned, the rest of the team together in the station.

“Like anyone fired from Hichcock in the past 6 months,” Morgan offered. “I’ll call Garcia.”

Gideon’s phone went off beside him. He picked it up and announced, “It’s Lydia. Lydia, you’re on speaker phone.”

“Hey, you said you thought Lynn Dempsey was replacing the candies at the bank?” she started.

“Yes, why?”

“I’m looking through the medical records of the original victims and one of them was severely diabetic.”

“He wouldn’t have taken candy from the candy bowl at the bank,” Reid realized.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Hotch said. “We have the candies here and they’ve tested positive for rohypnol and LSD.”

“Well, not that it means that much, but the amount of LSD in the victims was fairly even across the board, but I’m finding vast differences in the rohypnol. It could be that some of the victims didn’t finish the candies and others did, but I think you should look at those tapes again and check if everyone took a candy. Maybe the unsub contaminated multiple objects at the scene?”

“It’s a bank, what else do you ingest that comes from a bank?” Gideon argued.

“I’ll look over those tapes,” Reid offered. “Thanks, Lydia.”

~ ~ ~

Lydia was finally starting to settle down, thinking she’d done her part in the case now that the last of the tox screen tests had come through and they hadn’t turned up with any strange new victims, when Hotch called her.

“Hello?”

“Ambers, we’ve got a guy named Ed Hill in custody. I want you to search his lab for any indications as to what he planned to do next or who his target was. I’m having Garcia send you the address now.”

“Wait, Agent Hotchner-” she cried, knowing he tended to hang up abruptly. Once she was sure he wasn’t going to cut her off, she continued. “I don’t have a vehicle with me.”

“Nevermind, then. I’ll have Morgan get you.”

“Thanks.”

“And Lydia?”

“Hm?”

“Hotch is fine.”

She bit down on her lip to stop herself from grinning like an idiot. “Got it.”

Once he’d gotten off the phone, she closed up her laptop and grabbed her case file.

“Leaving?” Dr. Heyes asked.

“Yes. I’m off to analyze a scene. Thank you for all your help today.”

She smiled. “Thank you for catching the guy who did this.”

“We’re not sure yet-” she started, but left it there, not sure how to continue. Dr. Heyes understood and let her go, but it left Lydia with an inexplicable feeling.

No one had ever thanked her before for her work. Not that she’d done a lot of work before this and when she’d interned at the police station in Santa Cruz, almost all of her time was spent in a lab. But, it nevertheless felt nice to know that people thought she was doing good.

And as she got to the front of the hospital and waited for Morgan to pull up she realized something. While she was here, working for the BAU, she was doing good.

~ ~ ~

The jet was silent on the way back to Virginia. Almost as soon as they boarded, everyone found a spot to rest and had fallen asleep. Lydia had considered shutting her eyes and trying to join them, but deep down, she knew she wouldn’t fall asleep. And without something to distract her, she’d end up letting her thoughts wander, which recently hadn’t ended well for her.

A quick look at the scene and a confession from Ed Hill was the end of the case. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to prevent his suicide, but she had far too much on her mind to dwell on that as well.

Lydia thought about Jenna fairly often, unsurprisingly. She wondered sometimes if she’d been aware of the other two girls’ deaths, maybe she would have been more alert and able to prevent Jenna’s. And she was constantly thinking about what had happened between the last thing she remembered and the time that Jonathan Carrey drugged her. Did she see or hear him before he was able to sedate her? Maybe she’d tried to scream, but couldn’t. Mostly, she wondered if she’d done something dumb, like opened the door for him or simply asked him why he was there.

She knew that in that memory relapse, if she’d called for help, Jenna could have made it out just fine. That was mostly why it hurt.

The other reason was because she had profited so greatly on Jenna’s murder. She’d gotten a job. And it made her feel guilty that any good could have come to her at the expense of another. She just had to hope that Jenna didn’t despise her for it in the afterlife.

But Jenna wasn’t the only death on her mind. Recent events had reminded her of her mother’s death and despite the fact that Lydia had long since recovered from the emotional toll it took on her as a child, she’d likely never have closure over what happened and it was difficult recently to be reminded of that.

But either way, she was glad her job allowed her to give closure to the families of other tragedies.

“Aren’t you going to sleep?” Hotch asked, sitting across from her and nodding towards the book in her hands.

She smirked and made the same motion towards the cup of coffee he just made for himself. “Aren’t you?”

“I know I’m going to have a lot of paperwork when I get back. I’m preparing myself for that.”

She closed her book and sat up straighter. “I’m not much good at sleeping without help. I’ve had to take sleep aids for most of my life.”

“I’m sorry,” he told her, honestly.

“It’s never really been an issue unless I haven’t had access to any. I’m sorry you have to stay up late filling out paperwork,” she returned.

“Lydia,” he started after a pause. “I’m truly sorry if I’ve ever made you uncomfortable while working this job. I want you to know that I don’t have anything against you, I was just stressed your first few cases.”

“That’s alright,” she reassured him, quickly. “I’m not upset. I was worried that perhaps I was doing something wrong, but I didn’t realize how much my behavior affected your job. And Gideon’s, although I don’t control what he does. I can’t promise that I won’t end up doing something stupid and getting myself fired, because sometimes things happen, but I promise that I will do everything in my power to make it clear that you and Gideon aren’t responsible for my actions.”

“Well, we are,” he argued, which made her giggle, quietly.

“Besides, I get to call you Hotch now. That must mean we’re best friends.”

“Best friends, hm?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her over the rim of his coffee cup and took a large sip.

They’d settled into silence and Lydia was about to pick up her book again, when he said, “Lydia? I want you to know that I was given access to some of your family history when we were considering hiring you…”

A part of her had been wondering if this conversation was going to come up. Gideon had talked to her about her sister, but he never pushed her to talk about her parents. And Garcia had let the topic go after they had their conversation about secrets, leaving Hotch, who she’d never had a private conversation with before, to be the one to confront her.

“Garcia told me that you’d get the information from her background check,” she agreed. “Why?”

“I wanted you to know that sometimes these cases become difficult when they remind us of something personal. And I want you to be aware that if you are struggling while working on a case or something personal is on your mind, we’re all here for you. The team is just that, a team, and many have been through similar things to you. I want you to know that you aren’t alone in this.”

Lydia could feel tears pricking at her eyes. She didn’t think she’d ever reach the point where she broke down in front of one of them. She’d gotten so good at stopping herself that sometimes it scared her. But the offer was one of pure concern. Hotch had built a family in his team and he was opening his arms to her.

And she wasn’t really sure how to show him that she understood.

“On my first case,” she began, “we took Allison Crawford’s brother into custody. Frank. And he had an orange prescription bottle with him.” She remembered the details slowly, trying to piece together what she was thinking at the time. “And it was weird to see. Because it’s not like I don’t see those anymore, I do. But that one made me think of my mom. And it made me angry.” She shook her head, pulling herself out of the memory. “It was gone before I even knew what was happening. I’m not particularly worried about an inability to do the job. But I guess, that’s something.”

She was grateful to look into his eyes and see that he understood. And it had been a long time since she felt like she could speak openly about her life to someone and not feel weird. Or like a burden. Or pitied.

“It’s the same as when people call me Miss Ambers. I know they mean it respectfully, but it always takes me back to sitting in psychiatry or therapy offices with her. The doctors always called her ‘Miss Ambers’.”

Unbeknownst to her, another person on the plane who could imagine what she was going through had been drifting in and out of sleep and heard her confession. Reid didn’t open his eyes, afraid that she might be upset if she found out someone other than Hotch had been listening. But he took in the bits he had picked up and decided that he would keep collecting pieces of Lydia’s story until he could make out a picture of her life.

[therainroguefanfiction]

🎃 Frightful October Act I, #1 ~ Storm (Tetsuya Kuroko)

📑 Table of Contents

Genre: Friendship, Fluff, Halloween, Autumn

Word Count: 2,157

Pairing: Reader x Kuroko

World: Kuroko no Basket

───── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ─────

“Okay, class, for this week’s assignment, you’re going to write a short story for Halloween!” The literature teacher clapped her hands excitedly as she stood at the front of the room. “You’ll be working in pairs and, no, you will not be choosing your own partners!”

There was a collective groan of disappointment, mostly from the girls.

You sighed, leaning back in your chair. ‘It’s bad enough they force us to interact with other people in video games, now we gotta do it in person?’

She reached behind her desk, setting two black top hats on the smooth surface. “In this first hat are slips of paper with the entire classes names. In this second hat are slips of paper with prompts relating to Halloween in some way. We’re going to start with you, Yayoi.” She pointed at the bespectacled boy sitting in the front row by the window, then her finger cut across the air, following the row to the other side of the classroom. “We’ll finish the row with Matsuda and then move on to Aioi behind him.”

Following that pattern in your head. With five by five rows of desks, it formed the most messed up Z you had ever pictured, like two number 2s stacked on top of one another. You scrunched your nose up as you sketched it out on the corner of your notebook.

“If someone pulls your name, you don’t have to come up. We’ll just go to the next person. Come on up, Yayoi!”

You vaguely wondered if someone would pull your name before it got to you. You turned your gaze to the gray sky outside the window. The forecast had eluded to a thirty-percent chance of scattered showers in the afternoon and you hoped that chance increased.

“It’s your time, Ami.”

The girl that sat next to you stood up, cheerfully approaching the teacher’s desk.

‘Shit, who got me as a partner?’ your eyes scanned the class, but no one was paying you any mind. With a groan, you let your head slam down onto the desk, earning a weird look from those that sat near you. ‘Why is she forcing us to work in pairs, anyway? This is so stupid.’

The bell rang, signaling the start of lunch and the chatter in the room increased as people discussed their partners and the prompts they had gotten. You considered asking the teacher who you had been paired with, but then she would lecture you again for not paying attention.

“Y/N-san?”

You could always ask one of the other students, but you didn’t really interact with any of them unless you had to.

“Y/N-san…?”

You groaned again, rubbing your head frantically. Why did life have to be such a pain?

“Y/N-san.”

“Heh?” you blinked dumbly at the boy standing by your desk.

Kuroko stood there with a slip of paper in his hand, head tilted to the side as he watched you curiously. “Are you okay with starting on the project this afternoon?”

‘Oh, I guess he’s my partner. I don’t really know much about him, but he’s quiet and keeps to himself. That’s good.’ “Uh, sure. In the Library?”

He nodded, setting the slip of paper down on your desk. “I have practice after school, but if you don’t mind waiting, I’ll meet you there after.” he bowed before walking out of the room to go buy his lunch.

You picked up the slip of paper. “Vampires?” you scoffed. ‘That’s almost as cliche as – ‘

“Our topic is werewolves!”

Your head fell onto the desk, earning strange looks from your classmates.

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When the final bell rang, you gathered your things. You weren’t part of any clubs, nor did you have anyone that you were close enough to hang out with after school so you just headed straight for the library.

The short path connecting the school building and the library was outdoors, covered by a tin roof. As soon as you stepped outside, you recognized the familiar pitter-patter of rain falling to the Earth. The hand that had been tightly clutching your bag immediately relaxed and you let go of the tension your shoulders were holding.

Rain always calmed you down.

While you were mostly annoyed at being forced to work with another person on the project, you also felt a bit nervous. Working together to write one story? Your mind pictured all of the ways that could go wrong. What if you couldn’t agree on anything?

You frowned as you pulled the library door open. ‘This place always feels like it’s in an alternate dimension or something.’ You glanced at the front desk, but the librarian was nowhere to be found. Maybe she had gone home earlier before the rain could set in.

Without thinking, you headed towards the back corner – you always sat there because it was hidden from most of the library – but you stopped short when a thought struck you. ‘If I sit there, he probably won’t see me. He might think I stood him up, but… I don’t really want to be the first thing people see when they enter, either,’ you groaned, squatting down as you ruffled your hair in frustration.

“Um… excuse me?”

“Eh?” you looked up in surprise. You hadn’t heard anyone approach.

“Are you… okay?” The librarian asked, softly, tilting her head. Marie Youko was a young woman in her mid-twenties with a mousy disposition. She always spoke softly and was kind to everyone she met, even those that didn’t give her the same courtesy. Her hair, chocolate brown in color, were set in two braids that sat on her shoulders. Her eyes were the same color.

You shot up straight, a bead of sweat rolling down your cheek. “Y-Yes, ma’am, I’m fine. Sorry.” You quickly bowed and speed walked to one of the tables near the back. It was in the direct line of sight of the doors, but it was the farthest table from it. You fell into the chair was a heavy sigh. ‘How long does practice typically last, anyway?’

You turned sideways in the chair so you could look out the window. The pace of the rain had steadily increased, covering the glass. Your eyes followed them as they descended, leaving streaks in their wake. ‘What is it, I wonder, that makes rain so relaxing for me. Even in my darkest days, rain makes me feel at peace. Are there others that feel the same?’

From what you’ve experienced, most people didn’t like the rain. It was annoying to them, ruining the hair they spent hours on and making their favorite pieces of clothing cling to their bodies like cellophane. For them, it was an inconvenience. They didn’t see it for what you did – a wonderful gift from mother nature.

You felt a presence behind you and turned, locking eyes with Kuroko who was pulling out the chair across from you. He was surprised that you had noticed him.

“Hello, Y/N-san,” he spoke softly.

“Is practice over already?”

He cocked his head to the side as he sat down. “Practice usually lasts longer than an hour, but I let them know you were waiting for me.”

‘An hour?’ you sat back in your chair, glancing at the clock on your phone. ‘I really need to stop zoning out so much.’

“Have you come up with any ideas, Y/N-san?”

‘Shit, I should’ve been working on that…’ “Um, a vampire steps out into the sun and everyone is horrified when he starts to sparkle?” you joked, immediately regretting it.

Kuroko tilted his head, not getting the reference. “That’s an… interesting idea.” He wrote it down in his notebook and you sweatdropped.

‘This kid is so serious…’ “That one was a joke, Kuroko-san…” he blinked at you and you clarified. “It’s the plot of a really bad movie. I, uh, I got distracted and didn’t think of anything, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he crossed out the idea before tapping his pencil against his chin, thoughtfully. “A love story would probably win over our class since the majority are girls.”

“That’s a good point, but I bet most of the girls are gonna pick romance.” ‘Plus I hate romance.’

“That’s true.”

Thunder shook the window behind you and you glanced back. “What about… a vampire with some weird disease that prevents him from biting anyone unless it’s raining? No, that’s stupid. The rainpire – every time he feeds, it starts raining? No no, that’s too weird. Instead of drinking blood, the rain nourishes him? That’s even worse!” You groaned, grabbing your head and frantically rubbing your hair. ‘All these ideas suck!’

Thunder boomed again and the lights flickered, making you both look up at the high ceiling.

“We should get home before the storm gets worse.”

You watched as he placed the notebook into his bag before standing up. ‘What the hell he actually wrote down all of those ideas?!’

He glanced over at you when you didn’t budge. “Are you not going home?”

“My brother is at work until tonight,” you answered with a shrug. ‘I would love to walk home in this weather, but my bro finds out, he’ll kill me. Worse than that, he’ll probably lecture me again!’

“I can ask my grandmother to drop you off.”

“Please don’t. It’s okay, really.” ‘If I came home with a stranger, he’d be even angrier.’

Kuroko nodded, sitting back down. “I’ll stay with you, then.”

“What, why?” you questioned in surprise.

“I don’t want to leave you here alone,” he answered simply.

The words made your heart skip a beat, cheats warming up. You quickly coughed loudly, turning back to the window. “You don’t have to force yourself, I like being alone.”

“I’m not forcing myself,” Kuroko pulled the book back out from his bag. “It’s dangerous to be alone during a storm, and if you’re going to stay anyway, we can continue working on the project. Did you have any more ideas?”

You turned your head, looking into his clear blue eyes. Ever since he joined the basketball team, a lot of students had begun talking about Kuroko. Typically you ignored gossip, but it was difficult when those that sat close to you in class talked about him. No one really knew anything about him, though. They called him a shadow, a boy with no presence, but no one spent any time with him so they didn’t talk about his kindness.

“Kuroko-san?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

That was the first time you had seen him smile and it warmed your heart. You wanted to befriend him, get closer to him.

A loud boom of thunder made you nearly jump out of your skin. The windows rattled so hard, you wondered if they would break. The lights flickered again before turning off, leaving the large room in darkness.

You grabbed your phone, bumping up the brightness of the screen before setting it down. It gave off a small cone of light around you. “I wonder how many students are still here,” you squinted in the darkness, but couldn’t see very far. The pounding of the rain outside covered up any movement in the room.

“Probably not that many,” he answered.

You leaned back in your chair, tapping your fingers across the table. “What about a vampire that gets locked in a library on a stormy night?”

His eyes widened a bit and he scribbled on the paper. “That’s a really good idea. Let’s go with that.”

“We have to make it interesting, though. Let’s say that he’s not alone, there’s someone else hidden in the library!”

“Why are they hidden?”

“Why?” you hummed, eyes narrowed at the notebook. The pencil hovered over the paper, waiting for more of your ideas. “She’s a… vampire hunter! Or maybe a vampire enthusiast?”

Lightning struck, the light shining onto your back through the window.

“A vampire hunter that is secretly a vampire enthusiast?”

“Ooo, that’s juicy. We can make it a comedy,” you leaned forward, slapping your palms on the table. “She sees him and falls in love with the fact that he’s a vampire, but he thinks she’s crazy!”

The storm continued well into the night, but you both continued brainstorming ideas. Your brother had called you at ten-thirty, worried sick that you hadn’t returned home yet. He insisted on coming to pick you up, but you worried about him driving in the bad weather so you convinced him to wait until it calmed down.

It was just after midnight when the rain started to slow. Kuroko had a few pages full of ideas and plot points, and he said that he would try and write up the start of the story for you to go over together.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N-san.”

You smiled at him, watching as he climbed into his family’s car. Light drops of rain fell on your head as you approached your brother’s car, sliding into the passenger seat.

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