#because one of them is this fucking genius who can solve anything in seconds

[myname-isnia]

Not to sound like my 13-year-old self going through the worst mental health crisis of her life, but math class genuinely makes me want to kill myself

[onepunchcatboi]

A Very Long Thing About DawnTrail

I’ve been having a lot of thoughts on DT and decided to compile them into a giant fucking essay and post it on the internet because that’s how we all get our enrichment these days lolol

Overall I have mixed feelings about it. It seems like for everything I liked about it, there are just as many I didn’t.

I want to preface this with the fact that I only did MSQ as of this essay and did no side content or side quests aside from the ones needed for aether currents. Also I played the expansion over like a couple weeks in between masters class assignments so my memory could be fuzzy on some things lol if you know a thing that gives more insight to anything, please share! I make this not to slam the new expansion, but to discuss what I did and did not like about it lol

Also like…these are my opinions lol if you thoroughly enjoyed DT and feel it does not have any flaws then maybe idk skip this post bc I'm about to

think critically about media

And my first opinion is this: if it's a problem that has to be solved in MSQ, then its explanations and solutions also have to be addressed in MSQ. If that is not occurring then the writing has failed to inform the player properly.

Again if you find yourself disagreeing on that then maybe this post isn't for you lol

Everything under the cut because uh…how many pages did I write in word? >_>;;

I feel like it started off really good! I loved coming to a new place, learning all the things about it and such. I loved getting to help Wuk Lamat learn and gain confidence in herself! I loved that Thancred and Urianger were there to be cheeky little shites [affectionate] on the other team guiding their own baby ruler. I loved the trials and how they gave different lessons about the different peoples of Tural and how different problems require different approaches [yes I even liked the trading quest. It was funny]. I think Galool Ja Ja is a mad old genius and it was fun to know him, someone who was essentially like us in that he traveled with a band of friends and united a continent in an effort to bring peace to the land. And I was thrilled when the result of the trial was both Wuk Lamat and Koana becoming equal rulers, because they both have two halves of the right idea: love for people and their culture, and forward thinking for innovation to solve their problems.

Honestly, aside from some minor weirdness in the Mamool Ja section, I was so pleased with everything that I found it very sad I did not enjoy the second half of the expac;;

I’ve read a few posts about it now and so has my gf so the following is an amalgam of thoughts that are my own and bouncing off others. I'm both trying to make sense of what disappoints me narratively about it, and what would have made more sense for both me and my WoL

First I’ll get my small critiques of the first half out of the way:

The first a minor thing, but there were odd moments of passivity where the player didn't get to do much. The one I think of the most is when Wuk Lamat has to wrangle an alpaca. It makes sense she has to do this on her own, but why do we as the player have to sit at the campfire and wait? We could have played as Wuk Lamat to do it like we do when she confronts Bakool Ja Ja. Hell, maybe it might have been a really funny sequence, too! I don't mind taking a backseat as the WoL here, but I do mind taking a back seat as a player. I suppose you can argue it's because we need to have a bonding moment with Erenville, but this scene could still have easily occurred anyways.

Most of what I don't think feels right has to do with the Mamool Ja section. Now, my memory's not perfect here, but my understanding is that they have had to dwell in the lower forested area for a while? At least it sounded like they had an age-old conflict with the Xa'brun, so more than a few generations. In that context it feels...a little oof to have to come in and help them figure out how to grow food down there. Maybe I'm not remembering when the meteors struck? Because if it was recent then this makes sense and is not as weird, but otherwise its a bit awkward;; [to say the least;;]

As for the second half:

I think generally, a thing that would have helped is to keep the threat local. After Endwalker, it feels...maybe unwise to continue to escalate the stakes. I don’t need world-ending threats. I already did that. Or at the very least I need a break from them lol we just finished saving the Star, settling any sort of unrest on one continent would have been a fun little jaunt in comparison. I understand not a lot of people would have enjoyed that or felt this would have been a step back. But I feel that trying to take the shonen route of continuously upping the stakes tends to run the risk of ridiculousness. I mean we just finished defeating the literal embodiment of despair trying to end all life as we know it because supposedly there is only pain and suffering in life anyways. Do you keep trying to figure out more world ending stakes from there? Or do you look for different kinds of stakes? Maybe some wouldn't have felt the latter was "worthy" or "challenging" enough for their WoL, and I'm not against having some other big threats happen. I just need more time and build up from that lol. There's a reason you need your "beach episode".

The second half of DT also felt extremely jarring. I know the reality of it was there were three main writers working together on the whole thing [far as I know outside looking in], but what it felt like was one person wrote the rite of succession half, and then handed it to a completely different person to write the second half of the story. And while the first half felt really solid, the second half was highly disjointed and uninterested in the WoL or their friends. It felt much too focused on its own ideas to consider them in fact, which is...a choice, for a long form RPG where lots of the player base is pretty invested in them by now. Hell at this point I wonder if someone completely different higher up the chain looked at the first draft and went “too small, make it bigger” and thus the writers had to make sudden changes to an otherwise solid narrative. Something to look into I guess.

Again, I loved the first part, and I think the writing there felt really good! It makes sense for the WoL to be a guiding hand and a mentor to Wuk Lamat, Thancred and Urianger were playing the same roles for Koana. "What is it you want to do?", "What do you think is important?", "I think your ideas are great and I support them", "This is your country and your people, tell me what you need, and I will help you make it happen". It would have been inappropriate for us to step in any more than we did. [although I do think it wooouuuld have been nice for the WoL to come in just to ensure Wuk Lamat and Bakool Ja Ja had a one-on-one bout for realsies. Or! Have a great moment where the WoL makes to do so, and Wuk Lamat be like "No...I have this *glint*", in fact forget my first suggestion, that would have been amazing]

But if we are going to make a world ending event happen, then this is where the WoL needs to take charge again. And I don't mean that Wuk Lamat and Koana and the other major players shouldn't have been involved, this is their home and their Star too. What I mean is that the WoL should have had that moment to take the reins and guide them through it, because this is unfamiliar territory for them, but it is our bread and butter [more on this later]

Related to this I… don’t like the Azem magicial maguffin item that has fallen into our laps;;

Don’t get me wrong, I actually think its brilliant and in fact, fucking hilarious that Krile’s people yeeted themselves out of the source to avoid possible extinction due to a calamity. The idea is great, I just…have problems with its execution. I feel this story point would have been stronger if it was done through their own prowess or technology. The how of it doesn’t even have to matter right now because it was long ago enough that the methods could have been lost to time, or only have the tiniest bit of clues for our local prospective world hopper Y’Shtola to fiddle with. [speaking of that it does create an awkwardness of Krile’s soul being 2-3 steps lighter than everyone else's which presumably Y’Shtola would have noticed, which Krile herself even states early on, but that's another thing for later]

The issue is that making this exodus happen because of an item with Azem’s symbol on it actually creates more questions than answers and not in a good way. We don’t actually know right now how much contact Azem had with Venat post Zodiarc forming, but generally speaking it does not make sense for Azem [or anyone really] to have created a item to world hop between the shards, because the shards did not exist in the time frame that this item would have been made. The only way this item works then is if someone else made it and slapped the Azem symbol on it, just as our Azem crystal was. Otherwise the writing has to walk it back and say it has a different primary function, it can just also be used for reality bridging lol

But I also don’t like the maguffin because I don’t actually want to world hop with ease. We had extraneous contrived ways we were able to access the 1st and the 13th shards, and that’s great! It’s not supposed to be easy! It’s supposed to be a whole thing, because the magic used to create this world state in the first place required the power of a fucking god. And while I don’t think accessing the maguffins power will be done quickly or easily, I don’t want an item to let me do the thing in an identical manner going forward. It feels…like a gimme. [Or rather a “give her”, I am again surprised Y’Shtola hasn’t been all over this yet but it's probably because the writers don’t want to let her more on that later]

Ok now is when I am going to get the most critical because I feel like everything goes literally off the rails the second we're done with helping to fix them lol This is one part Everything to do with Alexandria/unknown shard, one part lack of character writing for WoL/Scions, one part Zoraal Ja's missing back story, and one part wtf with Sphene.

There first two points I feel are kind of intertwined, as almost everything weird about this shard mostly comes around to "why where the WoL/Scions suddenly mute on everything they are seeing". It's pretty clear that this shard was being led to a calamity by ascian activity. We just have a lack of ascians to verify this at the moment. The results are easy to see by our surroundings and the state of the world. The things that stick out to me the most are the Levin Sickness, and of course the...soul munching :'>

The Levin sickness is described as an imbalance of lightning aether, so much so that the person afflicted is in a torpid state most of the time in severe cases. But an imbalance of an aether element in a person is how tempering is described, so...why do we not bring up the fact that we know how to cure that? Even if they wanted to write in a reason for it to not work the same, the fact that Alisae is right there and has that ability, and doesn't say anything is extremely out of character for her. It's like they forgot how desperately she tried to find this cure in the first place [its a big part of her character development in fact].

But the elephant in the room has to be the use of souls as both fuel to keep people alive and a currency. I think the idea was to build in the rest of the story, where you first had to learn about a culture and understand it before making judgments but uh...I'm sorry but eating the souls of the dead is a really hard sell out the gate. Even if we hadn't been to the aetherial sea to like, witness all that, this is a hard sell. But the thing is we actually have like, been there. We saw that souls travel to a place where-after they are reborn later. And maybe I didn't understand this right, but the implication then is that those souls used for life force don't get to be reborn. I guess this point is slightly less abhorrent if the Alexandrians don't know this, and this could be the case maybe? It's never brought up. We also never bring it up! Why don't we tell people that we've seen what happens when people die?! I mean maybe they wouldn't have believed us [understandable], but it’s weird that we don't say it!

The idea of using the souls of the dead is I think, the most workable if the culture is of a mind of: when you’re dead you’re dead and nothing special happens afterwards. No afterlife, nothing, the body decays the aether disperses, that’s it. Perhaps this is clearer in the sidequests?? But if that’s truly how they view death, then it should have been touched on in MSQ. I would say this is what the function of Living Memory is but…it doesn’t seem to be a place the Alexandrians are widely aware of, nor is the concept of an Endless at this point. So their continued mantra about their dead always being remembered, while they are currently forgetting about them all the time, rings a bit hollow. They can only remember them after the fact of living the rest of their life to the point of death IF they become an endless. Which maybe the point was always to make all the Alexandrians endless [fuck;;;] but I think if it was written that the populous knew they’d go to an unending heaven place where all their memories and loved one were waiting for them, it might have made a lot more sense.

After looking at this post/reddit thread though, it seems that the main culprit for this sticking point is possibly that the EN translations were unclear on this issue??? And that some of the souls do pass on to the aetherial sea, just that many of them keep being recycled into the system? If so this does make the cast's reactions to the whole thing slightly less weird, but goddamn they should have stated this more clearly then. Because my presumption otherwise is that they are essentially erasing souls from existence or that they just never get the opportunity to be reborn in order to preserve the currently living, both of which elicit a wholly different reaction vs they'll get there eventually just not right now and possibly not for several hundred years. Which like, is still halting gears in a natural cycle, but it isn't breaking the machine outright by yanking the pieces out. Still a little fucky though? To be honest? For those souls that by chance keep getting shuffled about instead of getting reborn.

Actually another thing I am just remembering too is we never really address the whole like…deeply unethical methods Alexandrian scientists used to get to this level of precision in separating soul from memory and the effects of using the separated souls. We encounter it for a brief moment as we move through the facility to fight Zoraal Ja and it’s kind of hand waved in this moment. Which I get time is of the essence here but then yeah it wasn't discussed. Maybe it will be in the lead up to the next expansion? But that will not be for a while. And I don't like that.

Zoraal Ja is another strange point in here.

I remember reading a great analysis about the beginning of the Rite of Succession, how each of the siblings are extremely reflective of their birth order. And for Zoraal Ja, this idea of him being an expansionist falls in line with this well. Most things he has going for him are because he's his father’s son, to surpass his father is to move out of his shadow and become something more. For this he needs to either outdo his father or find different ways to outshine him. So, gaining new territories and new victories [since he’s the most martial of the bunch and doesn’t want to use his cunning for other things?] falls in line with this. And honestly...if that’s all he did I feel like the story would have been more solid for it. 

But from the beginning also, he keeps mentioning this need for him to make the people know how terrible war is? To know what suffering is so that they will beg for his rule?? Where does this idea come from??? As far as we know the boy grew up in peacetime, so there's not much to suggest he's had hardship aside from the pressure of being a miracle baby. At first I thought maybe something had happened to his still not mentioned mother during Endwalker, when anyone succumbing to despair could have become a monstrosity. [an entire tangent and a half for another day btw, no one…mentions the Star going out of whack a short while ago??] But this is never referenced...soooo...where does this motivation come from? Honestly at one point I theorized that maybe he'd actually been a wish-baby by Galool Ja Ja at the golden city but he'd been born with the soul of someone else from the golden city who'd gone through immense suffering in a war and this was why he was…like that. It just...seems an incredibly far reach for him to think this way. The only thing I can think of at this point is that he's pissed off about it being peace time so he has to find ways to cause conflict just so he can prove himself better than his father? But if that's the way it wasn't very clear.

 Finally...Sphene.

There's a lot wrong here I feel, but it's not really to do with the concept of the character, rather all the writing around her. It is interesting to have an AI with a benevolent ruler’s personality that was made to help ensure the love and safety of a kingdom. A terrible idea really, but an interesting one to play with in fiction lol the program has been around for I think 1000 years so it makes sense for this figure to feel eternal and well loved…if you're…into monarchies, I guess. But AI Sphene from the beginning is sus as fuck. In hindsight this is because it can only do what it's directive and the limiter of the personality programing can agree on, but as a person meeting another person, there is little reason for us to trust her. It gets presented as sort of a red herring at first, is she or isn't she a good person? It tries to convince us to assist in its directive by running us through a similar process as in the first half of the game. We learn about Alexandria and its people, and you know they're fine, except for...everything that happened because of the cataclysm, and the definitely normal but only been happening for the last 1000 years soul eating. It is a culture that fears death in the most extreme way possible, but they're chill.

And at this point it’s clear that AI Sphene is to be a foil of Wuk Lamat. Which makes sense given how much they both want to ensure their people’s happiness. The problem mostly arises the second we understand that Sphene is not a person. So...why do we keep treating her as such afterwards? I can understand if Wuk Lamat is not familiar with a lot of tech, that’s not her forte, but it is for some of us in the group. Who are also...just ignoring that bit?? Like if we needed to stop and explain to her what a program is like we did the reflections and such, why didn't we? I know she might not have got it fully, but again, weird that we all just carried on like the program was something that could be reasoned with. Especially if it’s at the point where massacre of anyone not in its kingdom was perfectly acceptable for it. And just...even if Sphene was real, she is no longer a good person at this point. People who love their country and their people, but are completely fine with killing others to ensure their own survival exist in this world. We know those are not good people. We have named them before, it’s just genocide masquerading as nationalism. Which is why it’s baffling and frankly infuriating that the characters are written to carry on like the program is a good person continuously after this point.

A lot of people have been making the comparison to Emet Selch and Amourot and it’s a fair and good one to make, they mirror each other well. I think the reason Emet works and Sphene doesn’t comes right back around to the writing. We as the WoL have a history with the Ascians, we know what they are up to long before Emet arrives, and when he does, we are rightfully suspicious of his intentions. Also, he is an asshole, and we are allowed to be an asshole back to him, because he deserves it lol. After knowing him and arguing back and forth for probably a few weeks’ time, we kill him. We do it because he will kill us otherwise, as he does not value or see us as people, and he is only redeemed long after this fact. The reason people like Emet is partly in this and partly because his narrative is one of tragedy: the man he was would have hated the man he became, and our once friend in a past life became our enemy. Also he’s…a real person, but I digress.

To me the reason Sphene the program doesn’t work is because we have for some reason, decided to make Wuk Lamat the main decision maker throughout the second half. This isn’t a criticism of Wuk Lamat, she is going through the narrative according to her character. Our beautiful baby ruler is hopeful, and at the onset, presuming to broker a peace as an ambassador of her people. She is operating in the mode of “learn first, ask after”, because it’s worked for her before. And she so wants to believe in the good in people, and we love her for that! 

But she’s now up against something entirely different and the WoL and Scions are bafflingly mute on it. We didn’t become Wuk Lamat’s mentor to teach her to be the next WoL to carry our mantel, we did it to help her carry her fathers. Like Thancred and Urianger for Koana, our service to Wuk Lamat ended the moment she became the Vow of Resolve. So what needed to happen at this point is for Wuk Lamat and the WoL/Scions operating on equal terms as allies, rather than continuing to defer to her. Like our relationships to Hien and Rauhban, and so on, we defer to them when it comes to the citizenry and decision making on a nation level, but when it comes to world-ending shit they leave it to us. And honestly one of the first things we should have done is be like “Wuk Lamat you have known that girl for 5 hours and she’s outright stated she will kill literally everyone in the universe just so save like 500,000 of her own. I don’t think this one can be saved. Believe me I’ve seen it before. Also that’s not a girl it’s a robot”  

Because the reality this is a perfect storm, and the only wrench in it is that WoL/Scions are present. Here's where I wax poetic as an “old”. The conversation between the characters of the Spene program and Wuk Lamat, is actually perfect and reflective of a lot of issues we're dealing with today. “Sphene” is someone who cares deeply about her own, she is a kind person who visits terminal kids and brings them flowers….and this same person is perfectly willing to sacrifice anyone outside her circle for her own. She does not care about other people actually, just the ones important to her. But she does it with this with a cute twirl and a smile, so it’s disarming. If you ask her directly she won't say she'll throw others under the bus for her owns sake, but she will still do it. This kind of person exists and is incredibly dangerous, especially to those who are not familiar with it, like Wuk Lamat. 

When you have never encountered this sort of person, you struggle to see how these two conflicting views can work together. It’s actually fucking brilliant writing in that sense, because the fact that “Sphene” is a program with conflicting goals creates a perfectly logical way for this to work! The program has its main objective-the continued survival of its people aka Alexandrian citizens. It has its limiter, the memory data of Sphene, who was a kind person that desired peace and unity. This is why “Sphene” acts kindly and loving to her own people, but is equally ruthless when it comes to anyone outside this sphere. It’s “necessary” for their survival, and it “cannot” be changed, because “Sphene” literally cannot fathom other solutions. Real people who are like “Sphene” are able to do this too, they compartmentalize so that the narrative works in their own mind, and they cannot change this mindset unless challenged by outside pressures. Wuk Lamat’s struggle to logic out that the Sphene program is still a good person despite this echos a lot of real life people trying to figure it out.

And if it was just Wuk Lamat vs “Sphene” this would work. But the WoL and the Scions are there too, and they have seen it before. They watched it time and time again through their conflict with the Garleans and the Ascians. So the fact that no one speaks up about this repeating pattern unfolding is…bad. The writing wants so badly to put this point across that it has to pretend these other characters have suddenly gone brainless to do it. Any if not all of them should have spoken up to help Wuk Lamat in this moment, not just as a newfound ruler, but as her friends. So again the player is made to take a back seat while watching events unfold, only this time it's about 1,000 times more frustrating than waiting for Wuk Lamat to wrestle an alpaca. I’m glad in the end Wuk Lamat understood the problem was not solvable with peace, but I feel dissatisfied with my part in it because I should have been able to say something before we got to this point.

Where I feel DT is its strongest is in its writing about family, as well as its themes about death and grief. The writing around the Dawnservant and his children, their relationships with each other, the writing around Erenville and his mother, and even the brief segment with Krile and her parents, are all really good! 

The bond between Koana and Wuk Lamat I feel is without question, it's the easiest to understand. Between the fact that they’re adopted alongside Zoraal Ja, Wuk lamat’s relationship with Nakkia, and their earnest attempts to connect with Galool Ja, there is a lot of love in that family to have beyond blood and it's great to see!

But the writing shines so, so well between Erenville and Cacuia too. It was incredibly relatable to watch them struggle with their differences and similarities. Evernville’s growing frustrations while Cacuia continues to not just be work focused, but just go along her merry way in general while they BOTH decide ultimately not to address their issues until the very end- that is a very real and relatable familial experience for a lot of people [myself included lol]. Even Krile’s little awkward moment with her parents that she’s never met before is so on point I want to die of secondhand awkward. Bonus points of G’Raha being the one to fix it, because he’s like family to her and knows just what to do!

It’s weakest point here is in regards to Zoraal Ja and Galool Ja Ja sadly, but I think this is more to do with the fact that there just seems to be a missing piece of Zoraal Ja’s story in general?? There’s a suggestion of tension between the two, as Galool Ja Ja says something to the effect that he is the source of Zoraal Ja’s anger, but it's not explained beyond this. 

And while the writing around the soul usage and the memory uploading is a bit clunky [to say the least], the idea of the Endless and Living Memory itself is also quite good. It's a wish fulfillment fantasy really, not just in the idea of avoiding death, but in avoiding what death takes from us. The goals left undone and the things left unsaid. Wouldn't it be nice if death wasn't the end and we could do all the things we wanted and speak the words we needed when we didn't get the chance before? It would be nice…but it can't be that way. It's not how things are meant to be, and to do otherwise is to lose value in living life while you have it. There's a bittersweetness to the whole concept, and as someone who's lost older relatives to stroke and Alzheimer’s and had to comfort my brother at their wake reminding him that this is why we must value the time we have with those still with us…let's just say the Nakkia part hit home. 

I know this already so long, but here’s some other random shit I thought about while writing this but doesn't fit in the overall story discussion well before I close out:

The Scions themselves feel…almost like they are here because someone thought we’d be mad if they weren’t. And don’t get me wrong I’m glad they are here, but it feels like a bit of a stretch for some. Alphie, Alisae and Krile make perfect sense, they have reasonable motivations for coming along.  In the case of Urianger and Thancred I’m mostly just mad we never actually got to fight lmao. Estinien…well I guess he is a wandering hobo just short of being an adventurer himself [affectionate]. And then by the time G’Raha and Y’Shtola arrive its like “oh finally! Are they going to like…actually get to do stuff though at this point?” and the answer is…kinda. They get to be the answers people. Again it mostly comes around to the second half being…ehhh??? The fact that we had to write out a reason to keep several of them out of the golden city was a little telling. Not like Alisae was being allowed to do anything as it was =7=; [I know I keep looking at her expectantly specifically but it's because she tends to be the most outspoken when things are nonsensical lol]

Who the fuck was Galool Ja's mom? Where IS Zoraal Ja's mom?? Hell we also meet Wuk Lamat's birth father but where is her birth mother??? I know she's got Nakkiah, that’s not the point! She just doesn’t exist! Koana's the only one that has an explanation on why his are missing. WHAT IS THIS DISNEY BULLSHIT, anyways-

Maybe a minor note but also the Echo was used...hardly at all? This isn't as much a hard criticism as just puzzlement. I know as a narrative tool, something like the Echo is a thing to be used sparingly. Usually they use it to "show don't tell" a thing we need to know but were not witness to [or as a flashback], and it makes sense that for really learning about new cultures that we wouldn't really want this right now. But I remember thinking "wow, been a while since we did this" when it finally happened. And it stuck me that like, this usually would have happened at least once or twice before this point. I'm surprised we never had it to gain insight to Zoraal Ja like Krile seemed to, or honestly, the second after Bakool Ja Ja fled after defeat from Wuk Lamat would have been a prime moment. And yet it did not happen. It almost feels like the writers either forgot about the Echo for a while, or simply deliberately avoided it to the point of its absence feeling unusual. Both are...hmm.

I’m sure I will think of other things later but this is already horrendously long so maybe it’s best to leave it at this and tack on other points later. In the end I mostly ruminate on all of this because previous expansions were more satisfying or more tightly written. Some of them had their issues, HW had some pacing problems with the Ul'Dah stuff and Stormblood had some awkwardness in pacing throughout, but on the whole I found these expansions fun and satisfying anyways. I don't ask that the game be doing a 10/10 all the time. It just can't lol but I do want the plot to make to at least make sense in its own rules and by the characters in it. If the characters in your story suddenly have to behave differently for your message to work, then changes need to be made to your story. Whether this means changing things about your plot, or creating situations to keep certain elements from disrupting it. And it seems that they went with the latter, but in the most ham-fisted ways possible sadly. Hopefully things will straighten out when the story picks up for the eventual continuation of the story.

[imaginemyreality03]

🕹️👨‍💻An escape is only an escape if you still live most of your life in reality👨‍💻🕹️

🛑SPOILERS AHEAD🛑

(YES EVEN IF YOU SAW THE MOVIE)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Read: January 27 -> January 31, 2024

BRA Score: 79/100

Favorite Quote: “No one in the world gets what they want and that’s beautiful.” - Wade, Pg?

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Book Gist: Wade is growing up in 2045, with nothing and no one to his name. His saving grace from a life of boredom and loneliness: The Hunt. The creator of the most used product in the world, The OASIS, left behind a challenge when he died 5 years ago that whoever can solve all the clues, pass every challenge, and collect every key will win his Easter Egg, which will make the winner richer than their wildest dreams, and give them full control over the OASIS. Wade isn’t the only one searching, millions of OASIS users have had their hands in the hunt, but the most dangerous is by far the Sixers of IOI, the quickly-monopolizing second tech company that will corrupt and destroy the sanctuary that Halliday built in the OASIS to turn it into another capitalist endeavor. Wade is trying to win it before IOI can, but if he is so poor he can’t even leave his school’s planet, how is supposed to solve anything?

Tags: SciFi, YA, Virtual Reality, Violence, Future-set

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Overall Review:

Pre-read:

The movie is by far one of my most favorite films of all time. I can pick it up at any point and immediately start quoting word for word. It’s my comfort film.

That being said, this read was highly anticipated, and I have not circled back yet to read Ready Player Two (though it’s on my list for next month because I am very excited that the sequel film was green lit).

Plot:

And, I think because I’ve lived the movie for years, I wasn’t made about how different the book was, BECAUSE my source material was the film, knowing the film was adapting the novel. I wasn’t attached one way or another on seeing parts of the book in the film. And because I have a mind for film, and how adaptions work, I could recognize why such significant parts of the story had to be changed, like the fact that there are 6 challenges (one per key and one per gate), or Daito and Sho being related, or iROK’s entire character (he drove me crazy tbh). To bring that to film would be such a struggle, because it’s so well layered and incorporated in the novel, with the pace and the plot structure, keeping that would not be plausible for a film timeframe and a bit too busy for the attention span of a film viewer.

Worldbuilding:

What I also really loved about the book was the detail! It was all so intricate and so reference heavy. It goes so much deeper in the book than it ever went in the film, and I love that. Because I’m the kind of person who can identify a detail as it is presented that’s meant to be hidden only to be very important later on, this book had me on the edge of my seat, I had no clue what would matter and what wouldn’t, which is exactly the reason why Halliday’s Hunt was so hard in the first place, so I really felt right in the middle of it all.

Romantic Sub-Plot:

Wade and Samantha’s relationship was a lot less interesting and a lot less necessary in the book, I felt. I didn’t really feel their chemistry much. I think their friendship only culminating in a relationship post-egg (or even moments before the final battle) would have been a lot better, especially if they had previously acknowledged that they had feelings for each other, but it didn’t feel right to explore that side of their relationship yet.

Wade:

Also!!!! Dude, Wade is so much fucking smarter than the film makes him!! He freaking infiltrates IOI (which is so much more awful in the book) and takes them all down from the inside and then freaking escapes!! Sam was legit just allowed anywhere she wanted and then walked out in the movie. He is a literal genius.

Cast:

Losing Daito IRL really made the stakes more intense than in the film, even with the stacks blowing up and the car chase. I was really sad for a while with that one, especially for Sho.

[dismotivatedwriter]

Y'know,

maybe I shouldn't even try creative writing. Maybe I should just try ranting for long hours instead. I've always been afraid. I've always been afraid of speaking my mind in anything, maybe I should just pour out 24 long years of what I think is wrong with the world, maybe that would unblock my creativity? I tend to think things are wrong the way they are, but heck, I'm not a genius to give out other solutions for it, I'm just good at finding flaws.

Every time I gathered the courage to go and bash something I thought wrong, I was highly criticized for it. In the beginning I'd always suggest a better solution, which was often seen as childish. Of course, I didn't have enough studies back then, and being honest I still don't, I dropped out of school and got my degree via a ridiculous govt test in my country, it's stupid.

I think schools are wrong the way they are. I support feminism, but I don't like where it is going in some areas. I support LGBTQIAPN+ yet even in the community i find some minor flaws. I absolutely hate a lot of shit men do, I'm not a radfem, neither a defensor of cis het males doing whatever they please and fucking up in the ways they often do, but hell, were men in general in a better headspace they wouldn't do half the shit they do, and same works for most of the humanity!

Racism, wars, cis-het fuckups, radfem fuckups, LGBTQIAPN+ fuckups, political/economical fuckups, relationship fuckups, damn, more than half that shit wouldn't even exist if people were a bit less hurt and a bit more empathetic.

Everyone has their own pain, their own childhood wounds, relationship wounds, wounds caused by life in general, everyone has their own shit, if you put aside your own shit for half a second and not go into defensive mode just a little bit you can get where they are coming from.

OF COURSE, IT DOESN'T EXCUSE THEIR WRONGDOINGS, yes, I know. But it points at a deeper reason, a deeper cause, a root, and it is only going out of defensive and into empathy that we're able to look at said wounds and root causes in others, and maybe that'd shed some light onto how to stop that from happening, on wether people who are already in a radical stage in some ideology can still change and be saved from radical behavior just by healing themselves.

"It's not my job to try to change people, they won't change" INDEED, it's not ur job, it's no one's job, no one can do that full time, specially because everyone has their own wounds, YOU HAVE YOUR OWN WOUNDS, and then you do a lot of effort to heal on your own, and you do heal, and you go near the same type of people who hurt you again and guess what? Your wounds reopen, they trigger you.

And there's yet another point in that, they have to want to heal as well for it to work, they have to be willing to change, they need to have their own mind open for change to be able to happen in first place, they need to put their pain aside and empathize with those who they hate first and then look at their wound and realize their hatred is justified by their experiences yet unfair to everyone other than the specific person who caused them.

It feels like a loosing game, a lost cause, a never ending war.

In reality, it's all a damn puzzle, a enigma, waiting to be solved.

How to get people to stop themselves from hating others?

How to get people to heal and not have their wounds reopened all the time?

How to get people to be able to feel empathy and compassion for others, even with completely different struggles?

How to get people to understand that every time someone acts or speaks with hatred they're speaking from their pain no matter how unreasonable it may seem, and how to get the people who are speaking from their pain translated into hatred that they're only hurting other people who will turn into people who spew more hatred cause they'd be again speaking from pain? How to teach them all to empathize and listen without being triggered? How to get them all to heal?

All the wounds and hatred are tied to eachother, some kinds of those come from old political affairs, old societies, others from religions, others from the enviroment they were raised in, others from violence they suffered, it's a massive intricate web of pain and wrongdoings stemming from history itself, how to get all that people to heal?

How to get all that people to stop hurting so that they can stop hurting others?

I might be some sort of Freud, mirroring my own personal things into worldwide dilemas chalking it up to human nature and assuming it applies to everyone, or I might have caught onto something that makes sense, I don't know, I have no idea.

What I do know is that right now on a world wide level we have people struggling with their own pain, we have groups of people fighting eachother due to ideologies and their personal motives to engage in these fights. For some is race, for others it's gender, for others it's minorities as a whole, for others it's politics, for others it's history. They all have heavy studies in each of their areas, they're all working with statistics and numbers and the whole big picture, they're all far more educated than myself.

I'm nothing other than a uneducated observer, who has their own pain, who feels compelled to stand up for certain people, who feels compelled to hate certain people, who tries to stop themselves from feeding hatred and trying to empathize and ffs how hard it is to in fact empathize with those who are in the wrong, I feel how hard it is. How exhaustive it is as well, how exhaustive is the fact that in the last couple centuries people have been fighting the same battles and even though they get advances it seems that all those wars are never over, never ending, it feels hopeless at certain times.

People get reduced to tags, numbers, titles (in example, "minorities", "radfems" "trans people" "X nationality" "Race A, B or C"), I'm talking about everyone here, both the oppressors and the oppressed, they're all getting reduced to "parties" while there is still the individual level. They all have pains and they all gotta work through their own issues, they all could use help from people, both from people who go through similar stuff and from people who are against them.

It feels like for all of those to be solved, it'd require collective effort from both parties to work through their own root causes, their differences, their pains, and while they're all in pain and with emotions such as hatred being let loose on the other side uncontrolled, no definitive solution will ever be achieved.

The best analogy I can come up with to explain my point are couples with troubled relationships. They build resentment which can turn to hatred real quick, they forget they're on the same team (we're all human and no one wants to feel hurt), they feed their own resentment and turn against eachother. Both have to heal from their past, have empathy and compassion with their partner, both have to be willing to do their part and put in the effort. Both need to learn how to communicate.

To me, it feels like that can apply to any social issue, war, political issue, economical issue, you name it, the United Nations is like a huge poly couple trying to do couple's therapy amongst themselves while some have already checked out emotionally from this relationship and others are still in too deep in their own hatred to add productively to that exchange. The thing is this affects millions of lives worldwide, the impact is huge and it mustn't be taken lightly.

That's humanity's major enigma, puzzle, issue, you name it: Achieving peace, enlightenment, equality, equity, justice, empathy, etc in a actually fair way without hatred, resentment, ill-will, greed, power struggles, manipulation, etc. IN ALL LEVELS, from personal relationships, day-to-day interactions, nation-wide issues, or global problems.

It may be impossible, it may be possible, all I hope for is that someday a genius be born and find a way to fix it in all levels so we can live in a utopy, even if in the current scenario it's totally unrealistic and farfetched.

Finally, I got one of my opinions on huge polemics out of my chest in 24 years of life, publicly, no matter if I'll be crucified for it or not.

I'm just a uneducated observer, sharing my maybe naive thoughts, in a rather childish and over-empathetic way, from the bottom of my non-confrontational people pleasing heart. Idk what sort of feedback I'll get for this, Idk how tf y'all gonna react to it, I'm just glad I got this off my chest.

If this is right or wrong, doable or not, offensive or not, that's up for y'all to decide.

[howlsmovinglighthouse]

CHAPTER 1 PROLOGUE | MASTERLIST | NEXT disclaimers: angst, unrequited love, language

Glitter does in fact not solve all of your problems. Some of them, sure - you think that it conceals how hard you cried your eyes out pretty well. But as much as it sparkles in the candlelit ballroom, it can't cover up the reason why you keep avoiding the newly married couple like the pest.

You are convinced that everybody knows. That the empty seat next to you speaks volumes about why you look like you're grieving on such a happy day.

Every smile seems a little too pitying tonight, every hug feels tighter than usual. The empathetic squeeze his mother gave you before the ceremony sends you into a spiral of thinking. Did they believe it was going to be me in the end, too?

It's going to be hard to fight tears the next few hours, you are certain of that. Not that you were very successful at doing so. You shed your fair share of tears for that man, most of them when the realization hit. This morning, when you woke up and looked at the date. When you put on the silky fabric of your bridesmaid dress, the name alone putting you into your place. During the drive to the wedding, listening to the radio because every damn song had to be about love. And lastly, during the vows.

Vows in which Suna promised another woman everything you had wished for since you had a concept of what love is, of what love could be. Vows in which he laid himself bare, in which he gave all of himself to someone who wasn't you. Vows in which he was loving and honest and simply himself and so very happy and- fuck. Fuck.

Eventually, after staring into your glass of champagne for what feels like hours, someone fills the empty seat next to you. The handsome groom himself, an expensive suit flattering his tall figure. His mere presence takes up most of your sense's capacity, the tilt of his head knocking the air out of your lungs. You weren't able to speak to him before, you are not sure how you are supposed to do so now, with his lazy grin exposed to you once again.

It's like it was always supposed to be. Almost. While he is everything you had hoped for and more, while he is still yours in some fleeting fantasy, you are very aware of the fact that you are not the one wearing white today.

"Hi", he says. The casualness in his voice makes your blood boil. He makes it seem like this was just another day, when in reality this is the day on which you have to bury your love for him once and for all.

"Hi", you hoarsely respond. You never knew Rin to be cruel. A pain in the ass? Definitely. But never had you felt not truly seen by him. For a genius of an observer on the court, he was so viciously blind towards the pieces of your broken heart between your shivering fingers.

The color of his tie catches your attention.

You expect me to wear this green thing? It suits your eyes, Rin. Take a suggestion once in a while. Right. If bleach victim one and two make fun of me, I'll blame your shitty fashion sense. If Atsumu says anything, just remind him that he has "no bitches" to go to the ball with. You know, like you have for the past month. What can I say? He just doesn't. He asked me to go with him, by the way. Might as well ditch you if you think my sense in fashion isn't worthy of your majestic gloriousness. Fuck you. Gimme the green monstrosity.

"Today is the second time you're wearing a green one", you blurt out before thinking properly. He simply smirks and raises his eyebrow at you.

Ironic, how you used to associate green with love. Now you truly feel green. His green for her. And it fills you with exactly what the color promises. Envy.

"Too late for me to admit you weren't completely wrong about it?"

You release a breathless chuckle, hoping your face hasn't grown as red because of your closeness as when he danced with you at that ball. "Nah, I just thought you hated it."

"Well, it turns out that my wife loves it, so thank you, y/n."

Throat tightening up again, you muster a few gulps of your champagne. To be honest, you are not a good actor. The words "my wife" make you flinch despite having been there the entirety of the celebration and you are sure that the sudden sickness has to be written all over your face. "Glad to be of service."

"Okay", he sighs. "Someone's a little sunshine today." Rin stretches his legs behind the table, falling back into his seat. He crosses his arms before his chest, your eyes travelling to his hands, not wanting to look into his eyes. You are afraid he can smell how nervous you are. "What's going on in your little head?"

For an embarrassing amount of time you consider telling him another lie. But you know that he knows you, that he can tell when you're not telling him the truth. Even though you aren't looking at him and focusing on the new ring on his left hand, you are aware that he studies you. You can feel his green eyes lingering on you, questioning, trying to figure you out. For a genius of an observer on the court, though intimidating, he is kind of stupid right now. Maybe he just doesn't want to see it.

So you tell him.

"I am in love."

And you regret it the moment you said it.

"What kind of loser makes you sulk when you should be celebrating with us?"

Because for him, the two of you were never even an option.

"Someone you wouldn't want me to be with, anyway."

Because he just gives you a sly grin and waves you off.

"That applies to like, ninety percent of the world population."

Because he makes you laugh even though it hurts so bad.

"Hear me out, y/n. If that person is making you feel like that instead of begging on their knees to be with your wonderful self tonight?"

Because he is right.

"Just tell them to fuck off and forget about them."

So, when his heartbreakingly beautiful wife goes up to your table to snatch him away for another dance, you start trying.

To forget about how he chased you through the mud when you were kids or how he used to do his hair in high school. How he took the most horrendous pictures of everyone but deleted only yours if you asked him nicely - which usually meant bribing him with chuupets.

To forget about how you almost kissed after that dance so many years ago, but ultimately laughed it off and called it the heat of the moment.

To forget about how you loved him first. But when you see a flash of his green tie on the dance floor and a teasing smirk that was reserved for you once, you fail your no tears policy again.

You will have to try again tomorrow.

©howlsmovinglighthouse 2022 interactions with my work are highly appreciated!

[writer-in-theory]

learn from the best — spencer reid

request: i wish you would write a fic where spencer helps his teen daughter (reader) study or teaching her something new <3 summary: spencer’s kid has a major exam coming up, and who better to help them prep than him? pairing: dad!spencer reid & gn!reid!reader category: fluff content warnings: language word count: 0.9k

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“Why the fuck is this so hard!”

The second you threw your pen across the table, you knew you were in for it. Of course, maybe it was worth it considering the extensive math problems that lay in wait for you. Maybe you’d rather your dad take you out instead of the math homework.

But no, while he was looking at you he didn’t seem mad. In fact, he might’ve seemed more amused than anything which might’ve been more terrifying.

“Math was my least favorite subject in school too,” Spencer admitted, moving on the couch to sit closer next to you. “What is it this time?”

“Fucking algebra,” you huffed, crossing your arms over your chest in frustration.

“Hey, once was okay but keep the cursing to a minimum,” your dad chided, not sounding particularly upset but you wouldn’t want to change that. “I get you’re upset. It’s tough not knowing how to do something.”

“It’s easy for you to say, you probably were never frustrated over homework in your life.”

You’d heard the stories about your dad—Dr. Spencer Reid, child prodigy and overall complete genius. Your Uncle Derek had told you enough stories of cases that were solved in part because of Spencer’s extensive knowledge about, well, everything. Every adult in your life had always told you that no one expected you to do exactly what your dad had done, but how could they not? How could he not be at least a little disappointed that his kid wasn’t as brilliant as he was?

“Y/N, just because I know things now doesn’t mean I always knew them,” Spencer explained gently, taking the time to look over your homework sheet. “Do you know why I have a Ph.D. in math?”

“Why?”

“Because there was a time that I couldn’t do it.” And that well, that didn’t exactly match with everything your family had told you, did it? Honestly, you couldn’t imagine a single thing that your father couldn’t do—except maybe that time you wanted to learn skateboarding and you had to ask your Aunt JJ for help instead.

“Why would you get a degree in something you were bad at?” you asked, taking the bait you saw waving right in front of you.

“So I could get better at it,” he explained. “I knew if I never pushed myself, I’d never try to work at it, and I’d never get better. I wanted to learn more about it, so I put in a lot of extra work. Sometimes that doesn’t work, but this time it did. Math is still not my favorite area of study, but I feel a lot more comfortable with it than before.”

“Okay, I get it. Practice makes perfect or whatever, right?” you chuckled, taking the page from your dad and sliding your pencil over it again as if to recheck your old work.

“If you want to think of it like that, then yes.”

“Well, there’s not enough time to practice now. This homework is due tomorrow morning and I’m nowhere near finishing it,” you groaned.

“Then let’s get to work. You’ll get it done,” he told you, leaning over so he could look at the first empty problem on the sheet. “So it looks like here we’re working with two variables and two equations. What do you think you could do to simplify that?”

“I know you have to solve for one variable and then you can input, but the way I’m doing it is so complicated.”

“Try looking at the other equation to solve first. That would give you a pretty simple equation for ‘y’ that you can plug into the other,” your dad explained, and you hadn’t thought of solving it that way before. Even taking a quick look showed that this would indeed be much easier to solve than the way you’d been trying before. “Make the equations work for you. If one way of solving it is too complex, try another that works better for how you think.”

“I guess that makes sense,” you answered, pencil scribbling down your thoughts before they left your brain. Feeling far more confident about tackling the rest of the sheet, you set it down for a break and hugged your dad tightly. “Thank you.”

“That’s what I’m here for, Sweet Pea,” Spencer answered quickly, hugging you back before moving back across the couch to return your space to you. “Do you need my help some more or do you have this?”

“I can do it now, thanks,” you told him, beaming with pride as you turned your attention back to the homework. It still took you longer than it took some of your friends, and occasionally you’d have to turn back to your dad and ask for another hint on how to approach a particularly difficult problem, but that was okay. Your dad would always be there when you needed help, and you would continue to make your own path when it came to schoolwork. 

And that was okay too.

GENERAL TAGLIST

@samuel-de-champagne-problems @silverhetdanes @ssawonderland @reidsbookclub @katymarie @mrsobrien888 @writingquillsandpainpills @fightingdragonswithreid @lil-stark @raythefaye @stillsleepynat @this-is-doctor-and-its-calm @givemeth @foxy-eva @lilibet261 @exhaleli @darkeunology @nomajdetective @meggie-m00n @delicatespencer @serenity-lattes @goldentournesol @rexorangecouny @sultrypotter @reliefplease @mente-sindescanso @jj76889 @luna-novae @folkreid @nightmarewasteland @luredwithpretzels

ONESHOT TAGLIST

@natashxromanovfreads @nano-noa

[faillen]

📕📗📘📙📖📚📓📒📔 just all the fic GO OFF I WANNA KNOW

HELLO FRIEND

Here is the absolutely ridiculous 10 Things I Hate About You AU that @thecookiemonster77 and I are fucking around with <3

So this has the classic premise: Paa isn't allowed to be dating anyone until Pat is dating someone. Except there's a catch—Pat is dating someone. It's Pran, and they've been hiding it from their parents.

Ink asks Paa out, and Paa is super excited—she tells her parents almost immediately that she has a date coming up (it's been a while since the whole condition thing has come up), and Ming shoots her down.

Paa is understandably frustrated. She winds up complaining to Pat the next day, and Pat, being a good big brother, is immediately like: "okay how do we solve this."

There's a reason why Pran is usually in charge of scheming.

In true Jindapat Sibling Fashion they come up with A Plan™️—it is not a very good plan to be fair, and Ink and Pran are very, very skeptical, but their other options were for Pat to fake date either Korn or Wai or one of their other friends and that...yeah.

So the plan is for Pat to pretend he's dating Ink.

...

Yes, the same Ink that Paa is going to actually be dating.

Courtesy of cookie, the following:

im picturing pat making a gc for the four of them like GUYS I HAVE A PLAN and ink and pran just leave it immediately like "nope, we're stopping this train before it begins"

pat adds them back and is like "AS I WAS SAYING i need to date ink"

[[por.pran and inkbae have left the chat]]

pat: G U Y S

The plan hinges entirely on two things: 1) their parents think Pat is dating Ink by Pat introducing them to Ink, 2) their parents never meet the person that Paa is dating, and Pat vouches for the (fake) person. They get through the second part by acting like Paa is just trying out going on dates with lots of different people (keeping track of names becomes a mess) who don't last long enough to be introduced to the parents.

On the other side of things, Pat & Pran & Ink & Paa are going on lots of double dates so that Pat can send photos of him and Ink into the family GC for deniability.

Except...then their mom sees them while they're out on one of these excursions and thinks that Paa is dating Pran. Chaos erupts—they don't admit the truth, Paa says that she'll never go on a date with Pran ever again (lol), their parents settle down after a lot of placation.

also courtesy of cookie's absolute genius:

paa messages wai like "i need to fill my chat history with chats to help sell my parents on a lie pls help" and wai's like "okay, sure, this isnt anything less insane than what pran and your brother do on a day to day basis, what do you need"

paa: flirt with me

wai: sure thing babe

paa: ugh nvm its no fun when its not ink

wai: i feel used ):

wai: pat i can feel you laughing from the other side of bangkok SHUT UP

Of course, like five seconds later, Ink and Paa get caught, and it's Chaos x1000 as they try to clear things up with the Jindapat parents.

Eventually, things get resolved, and the Jindapat parents aren't happy, persay, that Pat is dating Pran, but Nam at the very least is just relieved that her life hasn't turned into an AITA post

[I (35F) caught my daughter with my son's girlfriend and made the girlfriend break up with my son without telling him what I had found out. Now he knows—AITA?]

And then the fic would end openly, with Dissaya seeing Pran and Paa together while they're out buying a birthday present for Pat, because of course.

I hope you enjoyed the ridiculousness <3

ask me about a fic I’m not writing

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝑲𝒊𝒔𝒔 (𝑲𝒊𝒎 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒋𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒈) 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅

Part Two

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐆𝐨𝐭𝐡/𝐄𝐦𝐨! 𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠 (𝐀𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐳)/ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞)

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: 𝐒𝐦𝐮𝐭, 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭, 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟, 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐔

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐀𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐨𝐥/𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲, 𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞/𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞/𝐝*𝐜𝐤 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 (𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠), 𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 (𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠), 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐣𝐨𝐛 (𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠), 𝐩*𝐬𝐬𝐲 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲, 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐱 (𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧).

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐘/𝐍 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞.

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟓𝐊+

𝐓𝐚𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @hanatiny @vocalyunho @galaxteez (payback you little bitch)

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Awoken from her daydream, Y/N grumbled when her best friend shoved his notebook in her face.

"Earth to Y/N!" He shouted as he ruffled her hair with the object in his hand.

"Mingi! What the hell?" She complained as she pushed the notebook away.

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past 3 minutes. Are you even listening to me?" He questioned her.

"I am!" She interjected.

Giving her a quizzical look, he crossed his arms.

"Really? Then can you tell me what the answer is?"

Ripping the notebook from his hands, she looked over the equation that filling half the page, squinting at it every now and then before ultimately admitting defeat as she slowly handed it back to the genius sitting next to her on the bench.

Rolling his eyes, Mingi let out a small sigh as he began packing up his belongings, deeming it useless to continue his semi-tutoring session.

"Don't give me that look Min, not everyone is a cute nerd like you that can solve an advanced calculus problem in mere seconds."

"Ok! Although that may be true.." He held up a finger as he paused to fully zip up his bag.

"You're pretty smart too Y/N."

She gave him a small thankful smile at his comment.

"You're problem isn't that you're dumb. Your problem is currently standing right over there."

She hesitantly tilted her head to where his head gestured at, knowing fully well what she'd see. But as soon as she caught a glimpse of the black combat boots, her eyes stayed fixated on the figure reclining against the lamppost. Her eyes trailed up his ripped black skinny jeans, up his torso which was covered by a striped black and dark red turtleneck, its sleeves peeking out of the black studded leather jacket layered on top, until they landed on his nonchalant gaze. His eyes were looking down at his phone, the input connected to the headphones that were currently resting on top of his dark ash grey head. That was how one would mostly find Kim Hongjoong: lost in his own little world, blocking out the rest of his environment with a click of his music playlist, no doubt filled with bands like Linkin Park, Breaking Benjamin and MCR. Y/N wasn't going to lie, more than once she often thought about playing a G note near him just to see if he'd react or not. Thinking about him actually reacting to anything made her giggle on the inside.

"And there you go again!" Mingi's voice yelled in her ear.

She was so startled by his piercing scream, she actually fell over and hit the pavement kinda hard. She winced as she felt a pain on her derriere.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." She groaned as she began lifting herself up.

Out of nowhere, a pair of arms scooped her up and helped her stand upright.

"You all right?" The person asked.

"I think so. Thank you for-"

Her words got caught on her throat as a pair of dark brown eyes looked at her, black eyeliner smoked out to accentuate the shape of his eyes and make them look more intense than they already were.

He smirked at her before looking over at Mingi and nodding at him.

"Yunho sent you the invite right?"

Although he was quite familiar and somewhat friendly with Hongjoong, Mingi still had a hard time talking to him, so he merely tilted his head down in a half nod.

"So you're coming or are you going to stay home again and study for any surprise quiz Professor Nam might try to give us?"

Mingi poked his bottom lip out, somewhat offended at being called out like that. The dark male let out a soft snort.

"Seriously Mingi, going out once in a while won't hurt you. You don't even have to get fucked up if you don't want. Just come hang out."

Turning his attention back at the girl silently admiring him, he flashed her a wink.

"Bring a friend if you want too."

Bringing the headphones up to cover his overly pierced ears, he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away in that usual way of his that made several people think he was on his way to commit a felony or crime.

Y/N watched him leave until he was completely out of sight, and even then, she still stayed staring at the corner he turned. Leaning in, Mingi stared at her with widened eyes.

"Your middle school phase of liking Andy Biersack copycats is really showing Y/N."

She scoffed and pushed his face away from hers.

"Shut up, you act like you didn't have your own infatuation with Hayley Williams."

Mingi stiffened, his ears turning slightly red at the memories.

"I got over it didn't I?"

"I don't know? Did you?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him teasingly.

"Some friend you are. And here I was actually thinking of taking you with me to the weekend bash Yunho and his friends invited me to."

Y/N looked at him in disbelief.

"First off, why would they even invite you? You're not even a part of their clique. Second, even if they had invited you, you wouldn't go. You're too uptight." She accused him.

Squinting his eyes at her, Mingi cleared his throat.

"For your information, I got paired up with Yunho, Hongjoong and Jongho once for a group project and we actually keep in touch since then."

Y/N dropped her hands to the side, a loud slapping noise made against her thighs.

"When was this?"

"Around the time you went to that trip with your parents back home." He answered.

Her mouth dropped open.

"And you never told me this because.....?"

Mingi rolled his eyes.

"Because you would have teased me or would have said something about a nerd, a jock, a teacher's pet and an emo goth, whatever hell spawn demon he is, in a room together and actually getting along."

"I mean, I get them getting along, not so sure about a boring old prick like you though." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Mingi held his fingers up, threatening to flick her forehead if she continued, but Y/N flinched away.

"You ass. And here I was actually thinking of going and taking you so you can hit on your dream boy." He expressed as he began his walk back home, already deeming it late to stay behind on campus grounds.

Following suit and placing herself on his left, Y/N uttered out.

"He's not my dream boy..."

"Really? Then why do you keep drooling over him and looking at him with googly eyes about to pop out of their sockets?" He inquired.

"He's just.....he's just a complex character. Full of mystery and shrouded in this dark aura that I want to get past and see what's behind it...."

She hesitated even though she was supposed to be answering a question. She felt kinda stupid for thinking like that, making Hongjoong seem like some type of enigma when in reality, he could just be a normal person like all the other people that walked past her on the streets. Her friend didn't judge her though, owing some of her curiosity to her psychology major and passion. Slumping an arm around her, he playfully nuzzled his nose against her cheek, making her emit a half-whine half snort hybrid sound at his antics, trying to release herself from his grasp.

"You're so cute. Now come on. I have to take you shopping."

Not even bothering to ask if she had plans or needed to be somewhere else, Mingi linked hands with her and pulled her with him as he speedily walked in the direction of the nearest mall available.

"Explain to me why that is necessary Einstein? You always hated going shopping with me." She nearly tripped trying to keep up with his long strides.

"Because if you want to win emo boy's heart, you at least gotta start looking like his type." He called back at her.

"And what exactly would his type be?"

"Just trust me and leave it all to me."

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Y/N wasn't sure about trusting Mingi anymore as they made their way through a dense, misty and dark forest, the only illumination available being the moonlight that casted a blue tinted beam at their surroundings. Her head whipped with every strange noise that came from bushes or behind a tree. It was kinda chilly and the light breeze that whooshed past them had her legs shivering, making her regret wearing the distressed black shorts and fishnet tights under an oversized Scorpions tshirt that covered most of the shorts, making it look like a no pants look.

"Mingi? Are you sure about this?" She was only thankful of her purchase of some Dr. Martens 1460 black boots which helped her not fall or trip easily on the dirt road.

Mingi, who was an even more scared baby than she was, was fumbled with the sleeves of his pullover hoodie.

"Yeah, Yunho sent me directions and it should be around here somewhere..." He tussled his hair back, trying to hear or distinguish any sound.

"Are you sure he didn't send you to his murder site?" She asked, looking around for any suspicious thing.

Right at that moment, a figure jumped out in front of them, causing both of them to start screaming in terror. Mingi in particular, pushed Y/N to the side and began running in the opposite direction.

"Well dang, he didn't even let me yell boo or something."

Y/N recognized the buff male in front of her as Choi Jongho, the running back of the football team. Giving her an apologetic look, he helped her up after Mingi accidentally pushed her onto the dirt. As she dusted the dirt off, Jongho looked at her band tee.

"Scorpions?" He pointed at it.

He uttered a small 'cool' before signaling her to follow him. Turns out, they were actually not far off from the location, which was actually an old abandoned 2 story summer house that resembled more a barn to her than an actual living space. Cars were all parked out around the area and music was blasting from speakers connected to who knows where. People who hung outside were either vaping their Juuls and chugging back bottles of Smirnoff or Mike's Hard beers, some already halfway to being wasted while others simply held it in their hands, hardly taking a sip as they scanned around trying to find someone to go back home with.

"Don't worry about Mingi. I'll go get him......eventually."

Hearing him snicker, Y/N was actually more worried about herself than Mingi. She only agreed to come because, as surprising as it was, he encouraged her to and knowing he'd be there by her side, being the only person she could stick to cause she did not know anyone else, gave her a little bit of courage. But not anymore after he just totally ditched her and left her alone in God knows where.

Seeing her shift around uncomfortably as they passed through a crowd of wild jumping people, Jongho laced his fingers in hers and brought her over to a more quiet side of the place, where 3 other people were standing around, chatting amongst themselves. Once the two huddled up close to each other saw Jongho and a mystery girl they'd never seen before, they began nudging and whispering among themselves, one of them chuckling under his breath. Hongjoong could already guess what his friend's conversations was about, but he simply rolled his eyes at their behavior and lustful gazes.

Until he turned his head and saw who it was next to Jongho. Then took out the red vape in from his lips and made it a point to exhale the fumes onto the younger member's faces.

"Yah! Hyung! What the hell?" His friend with cat like eyes remarked as he coughed and fanned away the cancerous smoke.

"Just cause you don't care about contracting lung's disease at an early age, doesn't mean San or I want any part of it." The other said.

"Wow. I'm impressed you actually know what contracting means Wooyoung." He smiled amusingly at his younger friend, who was not very pleased with his little joke.

"Hey guys! While trying to retrieve Mingi, I made a new friend." Jongho greeted them like a happy bunny as he held up his hand which was still holding Y/N's.

Hongjoong's eyes narrowed down at where they connected, an eyebrow raised at their physical contact as the hand that held his vape pen began fidgeting it rapidly between his fingers. Jongho of course was oblivious to the anger burning through Hongjoong's stare while Wooyoung and San caught on pretty quick and began debating whether to laugh or step in before bottles were thrown.

"Ok, so where is Mingi now?" San asked him.

"He ran off." Jongho shrugged.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Wooyoung pushed himself in between them both, effectively separating them as he pulled Jongho away.

"Great! Now we gotta go find him before he gets lost."

Looking back at Y/N, he waved.

"Hi! I'm Wooyoung, I'm bi and goodbye! You seem nice. Hopefully there's a next time."

Y/N blinked at the flamboyant boy's introduction and exit, wondering if it was planned or-

"No he didn't actually mean to rhyme. He's cute but too dumb to make up a poem on the spot." San answered the question on her mind.

Looking back at Hongjoong, he smiled mischievously.

"Hongjoong definitely can. He's into dark poetry and that Edward Pie guy. Have him recite something to you."

Hongjoong fumed at San who merely patted his shoulder and placed his cup in Hongjoong's hand before sauntering off with the other two.

"Edgar Allen Poe you fucking moron!" Hongjoong yelled as he lifted the cup up, tempted to throw it at him.

Y/N held her hand to her lips for a brief instant, trying to suppress the smile threatening to form across her lips. Hongjoong sighed as he stared down at the contents in the cup, swirling it around casually before holding it out to Y/N.

"Want some?" He offered.

"Umm....sure?"

She didn't even know why she accepted it. She'd never drank before in her life and for all she knew, it could have been laced with something. But not wanting to look like a little priss, she took a deep breath before trying to gulp down whatever alcohol was inside. It burned down her throat and she spat some of it back in the cup, unable to hide the cringing expression at the strong liquor.

"What. Is. That?" She questioned as she wiped the liquid that was on her chin and lips.

Hongjoong snorted as he responded that it was straight vodka, making Y/N feel embarrassed to have let him see such a spectacle from her.

"You're not much of a drinker are you? Or hardly one right?"

Her sheepish look was a dead giveaway which had Hongjoong laughing slightly, his lips parting slightly. Y/N was not only surprised to hear him laugh for the first time, but was intrigued when she saw something metallic on his tongue, making her wonder if he was chewing on something. Noticing her curious gaze, Hongjoong's lip curled up at one corner.

"Oh. That's just a piercing."

He had no qualms and simply stuck his tongue out to let her see the silver bar that was plunged through his tongue, each end having a round ball.

"Wow.....that's impressive." She couldn't deny it was extremely attractive.

Hongjoong himself was just attractive in general. Standing there wearing his usual leather jacket, a black tshirt with red letters, and a red turtleneck peeking out from the top, covering his neck. His usual preference for ripped black jeans was not missing, only this time, he added a little flare by having a piece of red plaid fabric chained around his waist, making it look like a half-skirt look. It seriously made him more hotter than he already was.

"Yeah I know. It's even more impressive when I put it to work."

Pushing himself off the wall he was leaning against, he stepped closer to Y/N, one arm propping against the wall in front of her as he looked at her with hunger and desire in his eyes, those eyes that were once again covered with smoked out eyeliner, only this time he added a hint of red that really made them stand out more and seemed to lure you in and see deep in his soul.

"Wanna experience it first hand?"

She was so lost in his eyes, she almost didn't hear him, until she realized what he meant.

"Here?" She mouthed and gestured around them.

Hongjoong threw his head back and laughed.

"Obviously not here. I'm not like those people outside who are probably already getting to 2nd base in front of everyone."

"Oh....." Now she really felt her cheeks flush red.

Hongjoong patiently tapped his black colored fingernails on the concrete wall, waiting for her answer. She seemed to be debating withing herself so much, until her eyes fell on the patch of skin that was showing when his jacket sleeve rose up, letting her catch a glimpse of black ink that probably went up his arm.

"Listen, if you don't want to that's fine. I know when no means no-" He began to assure her.

"Ok." She quickly responded, interrupting his speech.

"Wait- you're serious?" He slumped his arm off the wall, quite shocked she'd agree.

She nodded. "Yeah."

When it was now Hongjoong who was standing quiet, Y/N giggled and leaned in.

"I mean...if you don't want to-"

She had no time to finish the sentence and his hands gripped her waist and pressed her against him, his breath fanning over hers, the strawberry scent of the vape pen still lingering in his mouth.

"Trust me, I've wanted to for a long time."

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As soon as the door to Hongjoong's room in the dorm clicked shut, the tension in the room seemed to thicken. Y/N gulped slightly as she realized this is really happening. Not that she didn't want it to, but to actually have Hongjoong standing in front of her, his eyes already undressing and fucking her, while his bottom lip was caught in his front teeth, was definitely not a reality her brain was fully convincing. It wasn't until Hongjoong's thumb grazed her bottom lip, making her exhale a tiny gasp, that it fully dawned on her what was going to happen.

"Don't worry babydoll. I promise you'll get breathless after I'm done with you."

Wrapping his hand on the back of her neck to tilt it slightly upwards, his lips came down and covered her own, pressing against them before slightly parting and covering them once more. He started out slow before turning it more intense, nipping down roughly at her top lip in an effort to get her to open her mouth for him. When she did, his hands cupped the sides of her jaw, thumbs pressed against her cheeks to keep her face from moving as his tongue poked out and slipped inside her mouth. A muffled moan protruded from her throat when Hongjoong rolled his tongue over hers, his tongue piercing grazing the roof of her mouth. He then began swirling his wet muscle around her own, letting her feel the cold metallic jewelry that was sending shocks down her body. When his hands released their hold on her face, they only did so to glide down her torso before snaking down underneath her shirt to cup the back of her shorts, his fingers digging into her ass cheeks, nails lightly raking across the exposed skin under the ripped hem.

Feeling like things weren't going fast enough for how needy she was growing, Y/N ran her hands across Hongjoong's chest, going up to his shoulders and sliding his leather jacket off them. Getting the hint, Hongjoong let it fall to the floor and soon his graphic tshirt followed suit, leaving him in his tight fitted red turtleneck that practically clung to his skin, his pectoral muscles that were well above average for someone his size perfectly outlined. As eye catching as it was, that wasn't what caught her attention. What kept her eyes trained on his chest was some weird thing poking out suspiciously.

He chuckled as he knew what she was curious about.

"Oh. That my dear doll, are another pair of piercings I got."

Y/N nearly drooled as he lifted his shirt off, not only revealing the hidden 11 abs he owned, but the arm sleeve tattoo that went from his wrist to a little bit above his right upper arm. On his left side, there was no tattoo on his arm, but instead on his ribcage. But the thing that made her squeeze her thighs together were the black colored metal pieces that were lined across his nipples. Unable to help herself, her hands reached out to touch them, but Hongjoong quickly stopped her.

"Ok doll, before you get ahead of yourself, at least one article of clothing has to come off your body." He smiled cheekily at her.

No hesitation, Y/N soon discarded her own shirt, tossing it somewhere on the room, leaving her torso covered with only her black lace bra that didn't exactly cover much.

"Fuck babygirl, where you hiding that all this- Oh, oh my!"

Hongjoong nearly fell back on his bed when Y/N pressed her face against his chest, her tongue darting out to lick around his pierced nipples. He swallowed as he collected himself, trying not to get too turned on as her tongue played around with the piercings, sometimes nipping at them. Hongjoong arched his back slightly, letting her take as much of him in her mouth as she pleased. The nipple that wasn't being made out with her mouth, was being pleasured by her hand, pinching and gently tugging at it.

"You can go as hard as you want."

Giggling darkly, he took her free hand and placed it on the erection poking out in his pants.

"I'll have you know I enjoy a little pain."

Making her squeeze down on it, Y/N could feel something odd, which prompted her to poke and grope him more fiercely. Wanting to satisfy her curiosity, Hongjoong unzipped his pants and pulled them down mid thigh to let her admire the last set of piercings he owned:

A Jacob's ladder running up the base of his dick and an ampallang pierced through the head.

"Holy shit...." Whether she said it out loud or not, Y/N didn't care. It was the most erotic image she had ever seen and she could not believe that in mere minutes, it would be inside her, no doubt destroying and tearing her walls apart.

Leaning in, Hongjoong sloppily kissed and sucked her jaw and down her upper neck.

"You're free to play with it as you wish doll. I got them for more than one reason. And that's one of them."

Not needing to be told twice, her hand wrapped around the base of his erect cock, her thumb running across his slit. Hongjoong hissed slightly when her hand began pumping him slowly, purposefully applying pressure to the silver metal adorning his length. Taking advantage of the his hazy state, Y/N returned to her previous task of playing with his nipple piercings. Hongjoong threw his head back at immense pleasure he was feeling, loving when Y/N would squeeze him a little to harsh or bite roughly at his nipples. He felt more intoxicated and high being painfully pleasured by her hand and mouth than with any THC chemical he'd ever introduce inside his system.

Without realizing it, he instinctively began bucking his hips up, wanting to chase the release that was building up inside him. Knowing what he wanted, Y/N lifted her head up and sucked on his neck, speeding up her hand movements.

"You gonna cum for me Joongie? Gonna cum all over my hand? Make a mess and soak my fingers with your dirty cum?" She taunted at him.

Unable to hold back especially after her dirty teasing, with a mutter of curses, he spilled himself all over her hand, some of it splattering onto her fishnets. Once he regained his senses, he looked down to find her looking at him with a shit eating grin.

"Heh......don't think you're in charge here doll. This is still my territory."

Swooping her up, she let out a little yelp when he tossed her onto his bed, immediately crawling in between her legs. After getting rid of his pants and briefs, his hands gripped on her belt loops to pull her shorts down. His eyes scanned her body, trying to decide on something. He hummed softly as his hand pressed down onto her clothed heat.

"I'm not going deny it, those fishnets do look remarkably sexy on you....."

With mock pity, he sighed. "Oh well."

Y/N gasped in horror as he tore a hole right in the crotch area, leaving the rest untouched. Opening his desk drawer, she widened her eyes when he took out a pocket knife and flashed it across her face.

"Relax doll. I like pain, but knife play isn't really my thing. On me or my partner."

After ordering her to stay still, she watched as he carefully cut on the sides of her lace panties, just enough to carefully slip them off her body without having to take off her tights. Although in any other situation she would have instantly closed her legs, she didn't feel like doing it this time. It turned her on and made her feel sexier to instead pry her legs open, letting Hongjoong peer down at her glistening folds that he caused, her hands running themselves down her chest as she bit down at her lip.

"Fuck! You're practically drenched already Y/N." Hongjoong cocked an eyebrow at her.

She only giggled before reaching behind her to unclasp her bra, slowly pulling the straps down before flinging it behind Hongjoong, letting it join the other pile of clothes scattered about. Hongjoong instantly became hard again, but as much as he wanted to bury his pierced cock inside her and fuck her senseless, there was still one thing he really wanted to do.

Positioning herself in between her legs, his hands gripped the back of her thighs. Looking back at her, he sent a wink her way before attaching his mouth to her soaking heat, causing her to jolt up at the sudden sensation. Knowing exactly how to get her head spinning, Hongjoong slid his tongue up her slit, making sure to drag the metal piece across her folds. It was unlike anything she felt before. Hongjoong already was demonstrating his powerful tongue skills, but the piercing just added a whole new sensation that had her shivering. She couldn't contain the moans spilling out her mouth when his tongue slipped inside her hole, her noises only turning louder when he flicked his tongue in a particular way that made the round metal tip thump against her clit. Hongjoong especially loved doing that little maneuver of hitting her clit with it.

When she felt herself about to burst, Y/N's hands clutched the sheets underneath her.

"Hong-Hongjoong I'm gonna- Aaah!"

The fire pooling in her lower abdomen broke free and rushed down, sending burning sparks up her body as her body trembled at the sensation. Pressing a hand down to hold her still, Hongjoong lapped up her her juices, moaning on her clit, the vibrations only serving to make her more sensitive to any move he made on her body.

When he felt she was ready, he swiftly sat up and positioned his pierced member at her entrance. Making sure to prep her, he got out a bottle of lube out of his drawer and poured some onto the tip of his fingers, spreading it around before inserting two fingers inside her. It had a slight cooling effect that made Y/N hum in pleasure, her mouth going slightly agape when he inserted a third finger, scissoring her out and overall making sure she was stretched out enough.

"Patience doll. I don't want to cause any unnecessary pain....."

She let out a whimper when he withdrew his hand and slapped her clit.

"That much." He finished.

Propping herself on her elbows, she kept her gaze in between their legs. She let out a cry when Hongjoong's head slipped inside her, the round tips of the ampallang piercing stretching her hole in a delicious burn. Next came the metal ridges that scraped against her lower walls, it was an absolutely exhilarating experience. Hongjoong himself let out a groan when he fit himself inside her tight and warm cavern.

"Jesus babydoll. When was the last time you had a good fuck?" He gripped her hips, trying to keep himself from moving just yet.

"Too f-fucking long." She disclosed, her head falling back against the pillow in a disappointed look.

"Well don't worry babe. I'll make sure to fuck any name out of that brain of yours, you won't even remember your own."

Snapping his hips up, he began a rather hard and fast pace, making sure to angle himself so he hit her g-spot. Y/N's hands held onto his arms, choked breaths and screams coming out of her mouth as she began drowning in the immense pleasure he was giving her. The way the metallic piercings raked against her walls every time Hongjoong thrusted in and out of her was indescribable. At first it felt strange and slightly painful, but soon it became addicting, almost to the point of being overwhelming.

Hongjoong took notice of the way her lips parted whenever the ladder piercing grazed at a particular spot.

"You're enjoying this my angel? Like being fucked by my pierced dick?"

Licking his hand, he dropped it down to spank her throbbing and swollen clit, grinning almost sadistically when she shrieked out at his pleasurable torture.

"Do you just enjoy being used like a dirty little hole? Isn't that what you are in the end? Just a filthy hole for me to fuck as I like?"

The corners of her eyes began spilling out tiny droplets of tears as his hand continued his assault on her clit, slapping it until it turned a bright shade of pink. Feeling the intensity build up yet again in the pit of her stomach.

"Hongjoong! I'm gonna cum!" She warned him.

Snaking his hand to grip her neck, Hongjoong sped up his thrusts, fucking her in a frenzy, sending her into a mental state of pure euphoria as he cut off part of her breathing. Y/N shut her eyes as a violent orgasm ripped through her body, her body thrashing and quivering under Hongjoong's. With clenched teeth and furrowed eyes, Hongjoong completely shattered on top of her, spilling himself inside her clenched walls that were milking him past his breaking point. Releasing his grip on her neck, he collapsed on top of her body, his hands spread out to keep himself from dropping all his weight on her.

"Oh my god!" He panted harshly as he tried to collect his breath and thoughts.

She was in no better state than he was, hair all disheveled, pussy still throbbing and her chest heaving up and down as her mind went blank. She only came to her senses when she felt Hongjoong get up and go out of his room, leaving her confused.

Did he regret it? Did he not enjoy it? Was he going to ask her to leave?

It turns out it was none of the above since he came back with a packet of wet tissues.

"You ok?" He asked, looking at her with concern.

After being reassured that she was fine, he plucked out some of the tissues and began wiping between her legs and thighs.

"Ok, these gotta go."

Hongjoong ripped more of the already destroyed fishnet tights and got them off her body, letting it hit the floor.

"Not like I would have used them again." Y/N agreed.

After cleaning both her and himself up, they both stayed quiet. Clearing her throat, Y/N made way to get up.

"Guess it's my cue to leave.."

"Wait don't go!"

Grasping her wrist, he pulled her back onto the bed, making her slightly straddle his lap. Looking up at her with such tender eyes, he offered:

"Stay the night. I don't want you to go just yet."

He said it with such a pleading tone that Y/N didn't have the heart to refuse his request. She just allowed him to place her beside him on the bed, his chest pressed against her back as one of his arms wrapped around her. She closed her eyes and slowly began drifting off to sleep. She was halfway gone when she felt Hongjoong wrapped something cold around her neck. Opening her eyes, she reached up and felt leather on her skin.

"What's this?" She questioned as her finger toyed with whatever was dangling from the device.

Hongjoong smiled fondly at the black choker strapped around her neck.

"Don't worry about it. Just wear it for me..."

His hand traced the red heart pendant dangling from the choker, the letters 'KHJ' engraved on the center of it.

"So everyone can see that you're all mine now."

✽+†+✽――――✽+†+✽✽+†+✽――――✽+†+✽

[machinegunbun]

Benanigans

Word count:1.4k

tw?: smut including semi public sex acts

A/N:this was originally posted in response to an ask but something happened and it got deleted so im reposting it here for now. Enjoy!

The sound of laughter faded back into earshot as you made your way from the kitchen to the living room, taking your seat at the bar behind the couch. Amy and Casey were sitting on the couch in front of you with Pete on the chair directly across from them. They were all enveloped in a conversation that jumped from topic to topic. You weren’t entirely interested, only half listening as you allowed yourself to zone out and enjoy your snack.

In hindsight it probably would’ve been best to stay checked in, considering when you zone out your mind tends to wander to things a little less than appropriate. Thoughts of messy kisses and slow touches filled your mind and you quickly realized you’d been staring at Pete. It was a lot easier, after all, to imagine him doing those things to you when he’s sat right in front of you. He notices you staring, his eyes flicking from his sister up to you. A smirk spreads across your lips as an idea pops into mind.

You pull the skin of your banana down a bit more, sliding the tip in your mouth, making sure to look him right in the eye. There’s a small smirk on his face as he shakes his head in disapproval, looking back at his sister in an attempt to not give you the attention you so desperately wanted. But he couldn’t help but look back up every few minutes, watching as you took more and more of the banana into your mouth. At first he had figured it was a joke, just a harmless joke about something vaguely resembling a dick (his favorite kind of joke), but it had become clear that you were genuinely attempting to seduce him right now.

You maintained the intense eye contact, sliding the banana in and out of your mouth once before taking a bite and hiding the smile that was fighting to get out.

It was kind of amusing, but also kind of hot. Okay, maybe not the banana licking, but rather doing something dirty that you know you shouldn’t quite literally right behind his mother and sister’s back. Or maybe it was the insinuation behind the banana licking that caused the reaction happening in his pants. He couldn’t tell, all Pete knew was that he was wearing sweatpants. Loose sweatpants, at that, that would do him no favors in hiding the ever growing arousal in his pants. He casually grabs the throw pillow that had been supporting his back and shifted it into his lap, trying to continue the conversation without raising any suspicion. 

The conversation eventually ended when Amy and Casey stood up and walked to the kitchen, bringing their cups and the question of what dinner would be with them. You discarded your banana peel in the trash before taking a seat next to Pete.

You sat in silence for a moment, your head resting on his shoulder, when you placed your hand on his upper leg. He lets a breath out through his nose, knowing exactly where you’re going with this. Pete was not amused when you began rubbing slowly, determined to replace his last boner, which was now long gone, with a new one.

“You’re not jerking my dick in front of my mom and sister.” Pete says, grabbing your wrist to halt your actions

“I’m not the perv who got hard when I was trying to eat my banana.”

“Oh, please. You weren’t eating it, you were blowing it. I think I saw some cream slip out the top somewhere between you deep throating it and taking your first bite.”

“The banana I was eating or the one in your pants?” You ask, continuing to rub your hand over his hardening dick

“Seriously, they’re right in the other room we can’t.”

“I’ll stop if you fuck my hand,” You offer up, you see him hesitate as he tries to decipher whether or not you’re serious “they wont hear anything as long as you’re quiet. Plus, which would you rather, me dealing with it now and them never knowing or them walking in here and seeing you with a boner next to your girlfriend in the family room.”

“I’d rather them not walk in on my girlfriend giving me a handjob.”

“If they do you can just blame it on me,” You say, reaching into his sweats and wrapping your hand around him “after all, I am what caused it.”

He let out a breath, glancing behind him into the kitchen to make sure no suspicion had been raised before he slowly began lifting his hips into your hand. He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to fully acknowledge the situation at hand. The situation being that he was letting you jerk him off in the family room of his shared house while his sister and mother were barely a room away.

“Uh, kinda dry.” he says, opening his eyes momentarily to look at you. You glance at his lips for a second, thinking about what you should do to solve the problem. Decisions, decisions, should you spit on your own hand or make him do it? Or should you make him spit in your mouth and then lick your hand? All good options, but you thought you’d finally find what you’d settle for.

You lean in so to Amy and Casey it would look as if you were getting a kiss, but opened your mouth as Pete grabbed your chin with his thumb and forefinger and spat in your mouth. You had to stop a sick smile from crossing your face as you bent down and began sucking him off with a mixture of his spit and yours. The whole situation was seriously heating up and anyone could tell that you were both getting impatient. You could still taste his cock in your mouth as you came back up, glancing into the kitchen.

“You’re fucking sick.” He whispers

“Achoo.” you say, clearly pleased with yourself.

You realized that to get the length of his dick through your hand he had to buck his hips up off the couch, so you decided to help him by stroking along with his thrusts. You really hoped there was nothing on your face that would give away what was happening, although you could feel the warmth on your cheeks which meant you were definitely blushing. It’s okay, you told yourself, blushing can mean a lot of things. Just as long as they stay over there everything will be fine.

Your head flicked over to the kitchen as you overheard them talking about what to have.

“We could just get out?” Amy offers up

“Yeah, if everyone else wants to.” Casey responds

“I’m okay with it, what do you guys think?” Amy inquires from her place in the kitchen.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me. Maybe applebees?” you agree, speeding up your actions and focusing on his tip, A small moan slipping past his lips as you do. Pete’s mouth hung open, his breathing heavy and his hips bucking forward into your hand. You couldn’t believe the sight in front of you, it was seriously something straight out of a porno and it was so, so hot. 

“Hm? You want something else, baby?” You ask, tone as innocent as ever “What would you like?” Pete turns his head to glare at you, trying his best to muster up a response.

“No, that's fine.” He finally manages to get out, his voice clearly straining.

“You feel alright,hun?” Amy asks, concern lacing her voice. For a moment you were worried she would walk over to check on him, but Pete in a moment of genius quickly wrote it off as a stomach ache. Good thing, too, because you could tell Pete was getting close. His hand gripped at the couch and his jaw clenched as he struggled to keep it together. You felt his dick twitch in your hand as it occured to you that you had nowhere for him to cum. You tried to think quickly about what to do. I mean you couldn’t very well just sit on it, but his sister and mom were looking at you now and would notice if your head dipped down so you couldn’t swallow it either. Try as you might, it was a time sensitive option and the clock was running out, so you pulled his underwear up over his dick and continued stroking him. He finally exploded, his orgasm soaking into his underwear,  Pete struggling to disguise his moan as him clearing his throat.

“Actually guys, maybe we shouldn’t go out. I think Pete might be coming down with something.” You say

[enbyprentiss]

Little brat

Genre: Smut, pure filth, zero plot

Pairing: Hotch x Reid

Warnings: Sub!Spencer, Dom!Hotch, Spencer in panties and makeup, bratty Spence, spanking, penetrative sex, degradation, daddy kink, some praise, slight aftercare, oral (male receiving obviously), face fucking, and I think that’s it but lmk if I missed anything!

(and no @sparklinspence, if you’re reading this, i REFUSE to incorporate Hotch’s supposed foot fetish)

Also, Hayley does not exist in this story because that woman deserved so much better. And instead, she got murdered. Yes, I am still salty about it and no, I will never forgive the writers for that.

--

Spencer liked being a good boy. He lived to please. However, he loved being a brat even more. He always looked forward to things that were supposed to be punishments. He liked Hotch to yell at him. Tell him what a dirty boy he is. He liked being fucked like a bitch. So, he planned on being the biggest brat today. 

It started when Aaron called him in for a case. And instead of telling him that he’d be there within 20 minutes like he usually did, “What if I don’t?”

“Spencer...”, he warned. 

“What? What are you going to do?”, he always knew just how to push Aaron’s buttons. 

“If you don’t, I’ll have no choice but to terminate you.”

“You would never.”, and even though he couldn’t see Spencer, he still had a smug look on his face. 

“I better see you in the next 30 minutes.”

Reid huffed, crossing his arms and hanging up the phone. He reluctantly pulled himself out of bed, putting on the pair of panties he knew drove Aaron crazy and quite possibly the tightest pants he owns so that Hotch would be the only one who would recognize the outline.

When he arrived at the office, his eyes flicked straight up to Hotch’s office. And god, just looking at him made his pants become just a little tighter. He had to strategically pull his satchel closer to his body, quickly seating himself and tucking his legs completely under the round table. Spencer purposely made sure that the seat next to him would be empty. And, of course, Aaron took the opportunity to sit next to his young lover. At first, it was just a sweet gesture that wouldn’t expose their relationship to the rest of the team. The problem only arose when Reid placed his hand on the older mans thigh while JJ presented the local case. As his hand traveled farther up slowly, Hotch could simply not wrap his head around how Spencer was possibly this turned on at 10:00 AM. Regardless, he knew Spencer’s little game and grabbed his wrist, wrapping his much larger hand around it as a subtle warning. He watched as his face turned a light shade of pink, and he obeyed for now. But not for long.

The team spilt up, half of them in the field and half of them staying back to work from the bullpen, which left Aaron and Spencer alone in an SUV. Spencer took this opportunity to act up further, he leaned over the console, kissing Aaron’s neck gently before moving to open mouthed kisses. He would’ve left it at that if it wasn’t for the apparent bulge in Aaron’s pants. He rubbed him over his slacks the best he could before Hotch broke his trance. 

“What has gotten into you today, Spencer?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”, he shrugged and smiled in faux innocence. 

“Oh, so you want to be a filthy little brat today? We’ll have to fix that later.”

Spencer didn’t respond, just squirmed in his seat, fantasizing about all the possibilities of what awaited him. And luckily for him, the case was solved pretty quickly. The unsub stabbed random people repeatedly on the street, the only thing is he did every 27 minutes on the dot and was extremely sloppy, making his fairly easy to catch. Though, Spencer still managed to slip in some more trouble-making behavior. When they weren’t actively trying to put the profile together, he spent time flirting with both the male and female officers but only when he knew when Aaron was watching. Of course, Aaron noticed and it only made his blood boil more. 

When they got back to the BAU, he pulled Reid into his office, demanding that he follow him to his apartment. And he obviously wasn’t going to deny, this was what he wanted all day. 

--

As soon as they burst through to the door to Aaron’s apartment, their lips met in a heated kiss. Spencer licked against Aaron’s bottom lip, but he quickly gained dominance over the kiss. He moved to kiss down the younger mans jaw and the exposed parts of his neck, making Reid whimper.

“Such a desperate little slut. Go to the bedroom and strip. And you better not be touching yourself when I get in there.”

Spencer nodded, now ready to obey every word that was said to him. He stripped of all of his clothing, leaving them in a crumpled pile as he rushed to sit on the bed. Aaron waltzed around his apartment for roughly 10 minutes just to tease his lover, and he only entered the bedroom when he could hear him audibly whining. He pulled the frail figured man over his lap silently, palming over his ass gently. 

“Do you know why you’re being punished, baby?”

“No, daddy.”, Spencer shook his head the best he could with a small pout on his face. 

Aaron landed a harsh smack across Spencer’s ass, “Really? Because I think this is exactly what you wanted. Teasing me all day, wearing this pretty pink little panties. You’re just so desperate for my cock, aren’t you?”, he landed another hard smack.

“Mmhf! Yes, daddy!”

“Count for me. And that’s the only thing I want to hear from you, since you were such a bad boy today.”

Spencer whined anyway, which only earned him more spankings, each harder than the last. Eventually, he had counted all the way up to 25 with tears in his eyes and a few slipping down his cheeks. Aaron helped him sit back up, wiping some of the mascara stained tears away.

“T-thank you, daddy.”, he sniffled.

“Oh, sweetheart, you really think I’m done with you. Get on your knees.”

Spencer scrambled to get in position in eagerness. He rubbed up the older mans thighs, and he expected to be pushed away since he didn’t ask for permission, but instead Aaron was focused on ridding of his pants.

“Since you want my cock so bad, you’re gonna let daddy fuck your face, ok?”

He muttered a small ‘Mhm’ while nodding his head with an excited smile. Aaron lifted his hips into Spencer’s awaiting mouth, immediately hitting the back of his throat and making him gag. But Spencer relished in every action Hotch made, pushing his head down by his light brown curls and then pulling him back up so he could focus on just the tip, swirling his tongue around and over his slit. 

“You love this don’t you, brat?”, Hotch groaned as Spencer’s throat tightened around him and he moaned around the cock in his mouth, confirming Aaron’s suspicions wordlessly. He continued pushing the younger mans head down roughly, watching more tears fall down his cheeks and watching how perfectly his plush pink lips wrapped around his tip. As Spencer licked down the prominent vein on the underside of Aaron’s cock, he felt the warm white liquid shoot down his throat, gladly swallowing all of it.

“Let me see.”, Hotch demanded. Spencer opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue slightly, revealing that he truly did swallow all of his lovers cum, “Good boy.”

Spencer’s eyes lit up at the praise as he bounced on his knees slightly, “Fuck me now, daddy?”

The dark haired man sat in front of him, acting as if he was pondering the idea, “Fine, get on the bed. Hands and knees.”

He moved frantically to get in position as Aaron retrieved the lube from his not-so-hidden drawer. He kissed down Spencer’s spine while applying a generous amount of the substance to his fingers. He continued planting soft kisses wherever he could reach, slowly pushing one finger into Spencer, making him yelp.

“Oh, daddy!”, Aaron took that as a good sign, pushing another finger into him, scissoring them to stretch his boy further. 

“W-want your cock instead, daddy.”, he whined. 

“I don’t know. Can you take it?”

“Yes! Let me show you, daddy, please!”

“Ok, baby, give daddy one second.”, he answered, applying a fair amount of lube to his cock.

Aaron put both his hands around Spencer’s petite waist, pushing into him slowly, making his sub moan out shamelessly. He hadn’t even pushed fully in as Spencer began to squirm and arch his back. 

“Mm, so big, daddy!”

“Oh, come on, baby. I know you can take it.”

Spencer’s hands balled up in the sheets, scrunching up his face while simultaneously begging Hotch for more. Eventually, he had pushed all the way into Spencer, setting a ruthless pace knowing he liked it rougher. 

Spencer’s moans quickly devolved into little ‘Thank you, daddy’, and mindless babbling. 

“Aw, look at you, baby. I fucked my little genius dumb.”, he groaned. He reached around to stroke Spencer’s cock, knowing that he wouldn’t last much longer. 

“Fills me so good, daddy!”

“I know, baby. So tight and warm for daddy. Such a good boy.”

“Oh, oh, oh! Can I cum please, daddy?!”

“Go ahead, sweet boy, cum all over my hand.”, as soon as he was given permission, he came all over Hotch’s hand and his own tummy. 

Aaron continued slamming his hips into Spencer’s, making him whine from the overstimulation. He pushed his hips so much harder than before, releasing as Spencer tightened around him, “Oh! You make daddy cum so hard, baby.”

“T-thank you, daddy.”

“Of course, baby.”, he pulled out slowly and began to walk away.

“W-wait! Will you um--”

“Will I what, baby?”

“W-will you plug me up. Want to keep the mess in.”

“I don’t know if you’ve earned that much of a reward.”, he said, cracking a rare smile.

“Please! I promise I’ll be good, daddy!”

Of course, Aaron knew this was a lie, he was bound to act up again but he simply couldn’t deny when Spencer looked at him with those signature puppy dog eyes. He pulled one of Spencer’s favorite plugs out of the drawer and slipped it slowly into him as Reid’s hips bucked up involuntarily, placing a soft kiss to his lips. 

“I’m going to get some clean pajamas for us, ok? I’ll be right here, baby.”

Spencer nodded with a small pout. Aaron handed him his favorite pair of pajama pants as he went to get him a glass of water. He reluctantly took a few sips before placing it against the night stand. Aaron got into the bed next to him, pulling Spencer close, knowing that he needs skin to skin contact after scenes like that. 

Reid fell into the spell of sleep first and Aaron watched how his chest rose and fell slowly while brushing through his soft locks before burying his head closer to Spencer and falling asleep himself.

--

taglist: @luvofyourlifeliv 

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Masterlist

[seepweed]

WHY is the trope "genius in their mid 30s to early 40s who solves crimes" so common when much funnier alternations of it exist, of whom some of them are:

local genius, who solves crimes, is 80 years old. bonus points if it's a group of local genius grandparents that all come with typical old people behaviours.

local genius whom it only takes a look to read you just memorised astrological birthcharts and can vaguely guess someone's birthday. they don't know shit about "reading someone" based on anything else than birthcharts.

local genius wants to solve crime, but gets their application rejected then joines a group of other geniuses that just fuck around and solve crime. bonus points if they even have a better quota in solved cases than the police.

local genius wants to solve crime, gets rejected and instead uses their genius to hinder everyone from their work. they are bored and they are going to make it everyone's problem.

local genius uses the duck test ("If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.") as their only evaluation for literally everything. they work as a lawyer, they never judged a person falsely.

local genius has a really uncommon and niche topic, such as for example knitting, in which they're good at. they get consulted to a crime scene. apparently no one understands that this is not their level of expertise. bonus points if all their knowledge of knitting can be applied to crimes.

local genius does not want to solve crime and they must have told that the poor guys that get sent to their door at least every second day a hundert times already.

local person is not a genius but for a reason they cannot explain everyone thinks they are. by sheer luck they manoeuvre the challenges their wellmeaning but pestering neighbours/friends/collegues present them.

not very funny but i think it would be quite cool: local genius is the most mentally and physically healthy person among their friends and family. everyone wants to know their secret, but all there is to is it that they just run into the woods for two hours every day where they scream really loudly and muse.

local genius swears up and down that loud heavy metal music is helping their bloodflow thus helping them think. local genius in this case has to think really intensely at night.

local genius and love interest™ fall in love over their shared ramblings. they listen to each others niche topic rants for hours without end, because they know how it is on both ends.

add on the things you'd like to see in the "local genius" trope

[brellhal96]

It’s... pretty complicated

Summary: College dramas in the life of a third-year student who decides to start, not a relationship, but something with a renowned professor.

Okay the GIF is not very related to the subject, but this man dressed in black has me at his feet.

Notes: This is quite cliché actually, but what does it matter, it is worth dreaming. It is planned to be written in several chapters, so the first is mostly to give context to the story, I hope you like it.

I base myself on Loki's physique, although I will mention Tom Hiddleston as the star of the scene, but my perfect image is in the essence of Loki in a black suit.

I study a completely different area to numbers and physics, don't be rigorous with me on the subject, only I think it an excellent area to show Loki's personality, I do not know why.

I will show at the beginning of the series a somewhat possessive relationship, but with the outcome I promise to shape this. It should be noted that not in a toxic sense.

I didn't mention a specific university, country, or geographic location.ical location.

It's the first time I've written anything obscene, I hope you like it.

Precautions: 18+, mention of fear or anxiety, unprotected sex, a relationship at the beginning somewhat possessive.

CHAPTER 1

I NEVER SAID I WASN'T INTERESTED.

Notes: Okay this chapter is kind of weird honestly, I didn't really put so much emphasis on the obscene, but I feel like it ended up fine, I hope you like it.

Word count: 6389

You had gotten used to the hot weather of the beginning of the year, in fact you had always preferred that climate. You spent the summer with your parents on a beach, sometimes you missed them too much, but your father's job and the university of your dreams were right at the opposite ends of the country. The first year was quite complicated, but then you got used to living alone, you actually lived two blocks from campus so your bike was the perfect means of transportation.

You made some friends here, Jared had become your best friend, his bond of trust scared you a bit as you could tell him anything without fear, but it was quite comforting to have someone like that by your side.

You had earned a scholarship for academic excellence, your studies were your priority since you were a child and you loved that. The only unpleasant thing about this scholarship is that it restricted your choice of teachers in half of your subjects since you were supposed to be with “teachers of excellence”.

When you compared your subject strip to Jared and Diane, they only shared one class the three of them together, Diane another, and Jared two more. In the end you weren't going to be alone in all the classes so that calmed you a little, studying physics wasn't so complicated, it was easy for you, but socializing wasn't much for you.

You went to building C, your first class was analytical mechanics and later thermodynamics, the teacher in the second was assigned to you by the institute, a Doctor Hiddleston, you've never heard of him, you just hoped it wasn't a headache. Your mechanics teacher was a love and with the first class you knew it was going to be one of your favorite subjects.

When you finished you went to your other class, you sat right in the middle in the third row, several were in groups apparently with their friends from previous years. You took your computer and got ready to take notes. Suddenly the door closed tightly and everyone sat a little scared.

A very good-looking man came in, tall, thin and dressed completely in black, I honestly he caused you curiosity why for some reason you felt that you had seen him before.

Without seeing the class began to write on the board quickly "I am Professor Tom Hiddleston and I will teach the subject of Thermodynamics" His voice was strong and deep and you immediately recognized it. You frowned when you remembered last year's science fair, you won first place in the area of electromagnetism prototypes against a fourth-year kid, which made you feel completely proud, yet two of the judges had not been what we call nice to the two.

When you remembered Professor Hiddleston's deep look at you that day, the judges asked random questions to the fourth-year kid and you, but apparently your future thermodynamics teacher was one of those who enjoyed making students nervous with difficult questions. His sidekick on that occasion was your freshman professor, analytic geometry, Professor Scott Lawford a fucking genius, you had cried with his subject, but passed with an A +.

They both enjoyed seeing the nerves invading you and your opponent, whispering to each other with their answers. At one point Professor Hiddleston asked you and you remember perfectly well that when you finished speaking he only looked at you and smiled mockingly for then wrote something on his ballot. In the end you won by three points of the total vote and the fourth year boy, currently fifth, became your friend, both came to the same conclusion, the two teachers were crazy.

He began to write down on the board the evaluation and the issues that are always mentioned at the beginning of the year. For a moment you panicked when he wrote that one of the exams was oral, you could not imagine the martyrdom he would create just to get a passing grade.

He took 20 minutes to explain and let us out to start the next class with the course. When you came out unintentionally you stared at him while he was erasing the blackboard, but apparently your look was uncomfortable enough for him that for a second he turn and he stared at you, you rushed out of the classroom after that. When you told Jared about this future journey that you had to go through you felt immense despair, but then you remembered that, if you could the previous years with teachers equal or worse to him, this was only one step more.

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

The first three weeks of class were pretty normal, you made two more friends and breakfast in the cafeteria with Jared and Diane made you forget about the pressures of school, but just the moment you felt like you were fitting in perfectly with your new year, the thermodynamics class became strange.

The classes with Tom were very pleasant, he was kinder than his body language showed, only he was certainly of a very volatile character, there were days when he seemed angry and others when he seemed happy, it was weird, but it was even weirder that you were attracted to him.

Your previous class had lasted longer than expected and the teacher extended 5 minutes out of her time which translates into being late for thermodynamics. You panicked when you saw the locked door of the classroom, wondered if it was better not to enter the class and pretend a headache straight to the infirmary, but in the end you breathed for a second and you'd decided get ready to knock the door.

“Can I help you with something?"You had never noticed that he was quite tall, it was the first time you were quite close to him.

"Sorry my mechanics teacher accidentally spread...”

"You were able to leave her class to get to mine on time, don't you think?"His gaze was quite penetrating up close.

“I really sorry, won't happen again,” Your hands were shaking, but in reality, not for fear, but his presence so formal, so rigid and secure made you feel strangely attracted to him, when you thought that, you actually invaded the shame, how do you fall in love of a teacher as strange as him.

He just opened the door and walked aside to let you through. "I asked them to work in pairs, look for your partner and ask him to explain what I already explain”

On the board were written several formulas, you wondered how he managed in 7 minutes to score so much.

You asked several guys over there, but apparently the whole damn world already had a partner, in the end you decided to do it alone, you just hoped he wouldn't flunk you for it. A girl explained the instructions to you, apparently you had to pick up one of the sheets that the professor had placed on the desk and solve it with the formulas on the blackboard, you even had to sit up to the top rows because all the other seats were occupied.

You started cursing internally while taking one of the paper sheets from the desk. "Who are you going to work with?"The professor asked you without seeing you while making notes with a rather nice pen of Indian ink.

"I'll do it alone, I already asked ... ”

"Don't you understand what couples are?"He interrupted you and this time he gave you a rather intimidating gaze.

"Yes, but apparently all my companions already have one and I figured I could do it alone then" Your hands trembled again with the paper sheet between them.

"Who doesn't have a partner?"he looked back at his papers and yelled at the whole group. It was pretty funny for you because he himself proved you were right, no one was missing a partner. When he looked up and saw that no one answered he saw you again and then looked at the blackboard behind his back.

"Well, I'll do it with you then" He got up and brought a chair that was at the end of the living room for you right next to his desk.

For a moment you wanted to run out of there, you knew you shouldn't make a mistake or say something stupid because otherwise you'd die trying.

"Get your stuff and start working it out, just let me finish a few things. To be fair with your colleagues and with you I will let you do it alone and answer any doubts you have, because obviously I know how this is solved, but I also consider that it is a lot of work for one person, do you agree?" His gaze became a little kinder.

"Yes, thank you,” you smiled faintly, but felt an internal shock as he winked at you and continued to write with his fine pen. You sat right in the corner of his desk, they were just three problems but they really left you with little desire to live. The first one, you felt was quite easy to solve, even at one point you felt the professor's gaze on you when you were so focused on your operations.

"Don't you have any doubts?"His eyebrows were puckered and his gaze was no longer mocking but rather with bona fide interests.

"No, not really, well I go in the second exercise, possibly I do" You smiled as you watched your operations with inner pride.

"Can I see?"He extended his hand to give him the leaves you had carried until then. You gave them to him, just hoping he'd tell you you had everything terribly wrong.

As he watched your leaves you watched him, he was quite attractive now that you saw him without fear that he would not let you into class, his hair was dark and apparently a lover of black to wear, his eyes were cute and quite tender while they examined your answers.

"Go on, I don't want to confuse you” He put the paper sheets on the desk and saw you with a small smile on your lips as a sign that you were on the right track.

Just 10 minutes before the class ended you finished all three exercises, you had only asked him one question and it was about whether it was a 4 or a 9 in a formula that wrote the board, so you felt pretty happy that you did it alone.

"Ready" You smiled broadly, you were the first to finish and the only one who had done it alone.

"Are you sure?”

"Yeah, well, I hope it's not a 0 at the end of the day,” you laughed to yourself, and in the end you wondered if you had thought about it or said it.

”Then let's see " took his pen and began to review your work. You froze when you saw that he framed something in your results, but he didn't tell you anything. "Well, I really didn't expect less from the winner of last year's science fair, maybe punctuality, but what does it matter”

You smiled when you saw that your grade was an A, only that he kept the papers, apparently he had to register them on his lists or something. Just as you were about to get up to leave, he asked you to stay at the end of class.

You sat back in the seats vacated by the peers that have already gone, but for a second, remembered what you said I didn't expected less from the winner of the science fair last year, he remembered you, you know that he remembered you, sonreíste for yourself when thinking that.

When the whole room was half empty, he started putting away his things. ”Come with me, " he said as he walked out with a firm and fast pace, so much so that you had to walk faster than normal. You wondered where they were going, it was pretty strange since you'd never been through the labs where it went.

“I've noticed that you're pretty good in the area, actually amazing, I even remember your answers about your prototype against the fourth year kid, former student of mine, you were much better than his” he opened the door of one of the labs and with his arm gave you a signal to enter.

“Thank you, I actually always dreamed of doing this, " you said as you walked into the lab, quite big, you assumed they were the ones that grad boys used.

"I want to propose you something” You sat at one of the practice tables and he leaned with both hands on his desk. "Would you like to work with me on a project I have?, is related to thermodynamics”

For a second you saw him with an expression of if he was joking with you or if he was serious and he seemed to read your mind.

"It's seriously, I'm working on a model related to the second law" he approached you sitting in the chair in front of yours.

"I would love to then, but I do not know how I could be of help”

"In many things" he smiled

For a moment you wondered why suddenly the man who seemed bitter about life was being so kind to you.

“You do not have to tell me your answer now, I will send you the files I have of my progress by mail if you like and you could think about it”

"Sure, I will" You smiled and he too, for a moment everything was silent, somewhat uncomfortable to be honest but his look no longer caused you fear, but somehow attracted you to him.

It was quite strange because they both got up at the same time so you were right next to him and his height difference was no small one.

"Well I think I have to go, I'll see you the next class”

"Wait, I wanted to give you something that I kept here," he went to the back cellar of the lab and came back with a bun that said first place. "I'm sorry, I was supposed to give it to you that day you won, but I honestly didn't remember where I left it, so this belongs to you.”

When you saw the bun with your name on it, you were very happy. "I thought they didn't give anything," you laughed as you put it in your backpack.

"Yeah, excuse me, I tend to be a little clueless about those things.”

"No problem," you smiled and shyly walked out of the room.

The weekend you started to question why Professor Hiddleston made you feel so nervous, now you knew that you were one of his star students, to the degree that you could be his future colleague, but why couldn't you even hold his gaze? you know, for a moment you thought about flatly refusing his project if you couldn't even see it in the eyes, but after you thought about it, you figured it would possibly be a good idea, you could even learn more things by being his apprentice.

It was Monday's class, you didn't know why, but you were in the lab on Friday, apparently you were doing an experiment on the tables with some microscopes on. ”You did it " There was Professor Hiddleston next to you, his command was on your waist and suddenly he began to approach you to kiss you on the lips and it was even stranger because it was quite nice for you, to reciprocate.

Right then you woke up, you're fucking in love with your thermodynamics professor, "Excellent Y / N, that's all that was missing."

Monday's class didn't even look him in the eye and you sat up to the top rows, you felt pretty uncomfortable with yourself thinking of a teacher that way.

"Y / N wait" Just when class ended you rushed to pack your things and run out of the classroom, but it still didn't work. "Did you think about what I told you?"The professor actually looked pretty excited about his own project.

"Yes, I just wondered if the meetings or the times we work could be on Fridays, that would make things a lot easier for me" You said without seeing the professor in the eyes, it was somewhat uncomfortable after that strange dream of the weekend.

"Sure, then it's a deal,” he held out his hand as if they were going to close the deal with a strong squeeze.

"Deal" You shook his hand and when you saw him you felt that his look was not only kind, but he was actually trying to tell you something.

The classes went on normally, you felt a little excited being sincere that you went to work with the professor who was now at the same time your impossible love, but you had to be careful for him not to notice. They agreed to meet after your last class at the lab on Fridays, at 15:00 hours. You knew it wasn't right, but from the moment you were attracted to the professor every time you saw him, you started using lip gloss and curling your hair.

For several weeks they worked on their project, now you understood their sudden mood swings, it was quite frustrating to feel that you had advanced in something and then realized that something did not fit with the rest of the procedure.

One Friday when you arrived he was making notes on the blackboard, had taken off his coat and tie and folded the sleeves of his shirt in a way that looked spectacularly attractive.

"Y / N pass," he smiled when he saw you in the driveway. "Did you read the documents I sent you?"On Wednesday he sent you a very interesting document about some theories related to the project.

"Yes, I just made some notes from some parts that I honestly didn't understand" You left your backpack in one of the buckets at the ends of the room " I'm not very good at some things”

"Neither do I, but don't worry,” he winked at you and you felt like you were melting internally.

For an hour they tried to solve one of the most difficult equations within the theory they chose, it was quite fun as sometimes you would collapse and sometimes he, but both tried to cheer up so as not to erase the whole slate of despair.

”Ready," you said when you finally managed to solve the equation.

”You did it!" saw the board quite surprised and so did you. "Your boyfriend is lucky" For a second he himself kept quiet knowing that the last thing he said wasn't quite right.

"Boyfriend? that species is extinct within my social radar" You laughed trying to keep him from feeling uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." He saw you trying to analyze your expression.

"Well sometimes the unconscious makes us a bad move" You smiled broadly "besides I guess the lucky one is his girlfriend" you returned the same move trying to tempt the ground.

"It's also an extinct species to me," he smiled, but he avoid your gaze.

"Well, then we're free to go looking for it.”

"I thought you had a boyfriend," he said as he started writing the equation on the board on the computer.

"Why?"you sat at the desk, watching him write on the computer quite nervous.

"Nothing else" You knew he was lying to you.

"Nothing else?”

"Well you're a very cute and smart girl, I figured a lot of guys are interested in you.” He didn't even look you in the eye when he said that.

”I'm not really interested in anyone" You saw through the window as you answered" well, only in someone, but it's impossible” Oh God, now the unconscious had made the wrong move to you talking too much.

”Nothing is impossible" he looked up and seemed to know what you meant.

"Well, it's just that if I just had a sign I could know it's not impossible" You started fiddling with your wrist bracelet nervously.

"How what a sign?" he stopped writing and stood right in front of you, you were still sitting at the desk.

"I don't know" You felt the adrenaline start to accelerate your pulse as it approached you.

"A date, a kiss, or even invite you to work on a project?" He placed his hands on the edge of the desk rubbing your legs.

”Yes, that sounds good " Clearly you knew what he meant, his look and yours were fixed, you appreciated that the door was closed and it was the third level, the windows were facing nowhere, so no one could see what was happening.

"Well sometimes it is necessary that you also give signals, don't you think?" His gaze and yours really seemed to be completely fixed.

"Yeah, that sounds fair." You started breathing deeper.

Slowly, he tempting the ground, began to approach, for a moment you knew that this was not right, that it was not right, but fuck, your body wanted it as you have no idea. Slowly he started to kiss you, he was nice and actually a very good kisser, then he started to get a little rougher, but both you and he knew you wanted him, his arm held your hip and your hands hugged his neck holding on to him.

"Dr. Hiddleston, I bring the copies you ordered." Someone knocked on the door and immediately the feeling of running out overwhelmed you.

"Sure, I'm coming" saw you and he wiped the lip gloss you had left on him. You packed your stuff fast and when I was going to close the door again you walked out without seeing him in the face.

"Until Monday" You started walking fast.

"Y / N wait" was the last thing you heard when you started going down the stairs two at a time.

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You, Diane and Jared planned to go out that weekend, you weren't feeling well, but you also didn't want to leave them after you had planned this for days.

"Hey, you look pale," Jared saw you worried as they waited for food at the mall.

"Do you feel well Y/N?" Diane picked up a lock of your hair as you looked at nothingness.

”I'm a little worried," you said looking at the table now  "Can I ask for some advice?”

”You know you can Y/N" Jared saw you even more worried.

"What should I do if I like someone I shouldn't like?" Dress up Jared.

"Does he have a girlfriend or is he a fuck boy?" Diane asked pretty quickly.

"None, it's just...”

”Then I see no reason why you shouldn't like it."

”It's not that, but, he's like, I don't know how to say this" You didn't want to tell them that he was your thermodynamics professor, you would never actually do it. "I met him some time ago in the cinema, he's cute and kind to me, but he's older than me” you lied a little about it.

"How much are we talking about?”

"14 years, I think" you've never actually asked him about his age, but on one occasion while you were typing on his computer you saw his college professor card that had all his data on it by the way.

”Look at that, my best friend a whole league men" Diane actually got excited, started asking you what he was like and if you had already had something with him which was pretty strange, but Jared's expression wasn't really emotional.

"I can only tell you to be very careful Y/N" Jared took your hand " Do not let the pretty words lead you down a path other than the one you seek. And well, if he like you and you like him, I see no problem”

The weekend you thought about the kiss his gave, it was quite nice really nice, you had only had three boyfriends before and honestly their kiss had been better than all the previous ones. The problem was what were you going to do on Monday when you see him? Well that day you decided to wear a pink dress that your mother given you at Christmas, you never wore this type of clothes so it was going to be something quite new, you combed your hair differently even, you knew that if you were at least going to talk to him and he told you that it was a mistake he would miss something great.

Your legs started shaking when you walked into the classsroom, you sat as usual in the third row, Tom wasn't there yet, so that calmed you down a little more. You noticed that in this class you had not made friends, so to avoid the panic of seeing him in the eyes when he entered in the classroom you preferred to start talking to the girl who always sat next to you.

"He took a while, didn't it?" you smiled so you didn't look crazy.

"Yes something, but for me no problem" the girl smiled as well

"My name is Y / N, and you?”

"Meghan, you're going with the teacher Fox in relativity, aren't you?”

"Yeah, you too?”

"No but my boyfriend does, I've seen you come out of there when I expect it”

"Well, I don't really know many people.”

"Well, college is exhausting," they both smiled, actually Meghan seemed like a pretty nice girl.

"Speaking of the king of Rome, he's arrive." When she said that and you heard the door shut, fear invaded you, so you didn't look at him. You just focused on your computer monitor, but you knew he saw you.

The class felt as if it had lasted 20 minutes and not an hour and a half, the desire to leave was enough.

"Hey if you want we could have breakfast together today, apparently you don't have class now either, do you?" Meghan waited for you to put your things away.

"Of course I would love to and no, I don't have class” You fully appreciated that Meghan will not leave you in the classroom, without looking at Tom you went out with your new friend, you felt that had been a bit cruel, but the nerves were worse.

At the end of the day you didn't do anything about it and neither did Wednesday and apparently Tom wasn't interested in asking you to stay and talk either, or so it seemed.

On Friday you returned to the usual routine with the usual clothes and hairstyle, honestly you no longer felt in the mood to waste time on those things. The class went on normally until at one point you crossed eyes with him, it was a bit strange, but you pretended you didn't care and ignored him after a few seconds. At the same time in the classes you talked with Meghan, even going out to eat the cafeteria.

"Y/N can we talk for a second?"Back to being alone with him in the classroom at the end, Meghan said goodbye and whispered you in your ear that she will waiting for you in the cafeteria.

"Hey I didn't want to overdo you, let alone bother you, I apologize for it and also if you no longer want to work on the project I will fully understand it” His face seemed that he was really sorry about last week.

"I really don't know what to say." You were completely honest.

"I'm sorry I should have known that you're not interested in me at all and it's okay”

"I never said I wasn't interested”

He calmly checked the hallway and closed the classroom door

"You ran away, that tells me otherwise”

"Yes, but that's was I panicked, I didn't want to bother you”

"For God's sake, that doesn't matter anymore.”

"It does matter and quite”

"You want to talk about this then?”

"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner”

"So am I, excuse me too” he hesitated for a second when he finally asked," Do you want to continue with the project?”

"Of course I do" You got a little closer to him.

"See you at 15: 00 then" He too approached and carefully kissed your hand to leave the classroom.

This time you arrived early, your teacher had let them out forty minutes earlier, so you decided to be somewhat punctual to your appointment. You read while you waited sitting on the chairs in the hallway, when you saw him come you smiled and he when saw you, smiled too.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think you were going to arrive so early” he closed the door carefully and just as he turned around you gave him a pretty long kiss and he reciprocated broadly.

"I'm sorry" You saw that he was actually happy about it "I think last time we couldn't finish it"

He held your face in his hands for a few seconds "I like you Y/N, I know what's not right, I know this not right, but fuck, I like you a lot”

”And you me" He kissed you again, this time a little rough, it seemed that he wanted to make his statement clear. ”I really wanted to kiss you in front of everybody on Monday in that cute dress."

"If you like it I can bring it more days," you winked.

After that day working on the project was much more fun, and even in the classes they shared gazes from time to time, it felt good, had passed enough time that you did not date someone. On the other hand, sometimes fear invaded you, you knew that if anyone found out about whatever it was you and Tom had, it was the end of your scholarship and even your college life.

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

"Do you like lobster?"He asked you while making notes on the computer and you cleaned the board.

"I've never eaten it"

“What? How can you live without eating lobster in your life?" He came up to you and, holding you by the waist, turned you towards him.

"Well, we're not all millionaires so I can't buy lobster." You inadvertently smeared chalk in his hair when you touched him.

"Then I'll buy you lobster dinner. What do you say?" He caressed your face as he waited for your answer

"Mmmm, when?”

"Tomorrow, I'd wait a few blocks from here, you don't want anyone to see you getting in my car, do you?”

"I'd love for them to, but yes, send me the instructions and I'll see you there then.”

"Why would you love it?"He kissed your neck calmly.

"That they might see that you are mine" You smiled mockingly.

"Well, I mean you're mine too, so it would be a fair deal.”

For weeks now both were texting, it was interesting to see that teachers also have a life apart from teaching.

You dressed up, not so formal or so casual for the occasion, it was the first date you had, it felt a little strange, you wore on a low-cut black dress, something daring for your tastes, but it was the most suitable thing you found. When you arrived at the rendezvous point, you immediately identified his car.

“I can't believe how perfect you are, " he gave you a sweet kiss while you fixed your skirt so it wouldn't wrinkle. He came as always very formal.

The dinner was perfect, you did not know that the lobster tasted that way, you liked it a lot, the place was beautiful, the waiters very attentive and well, talking with Tom about things that were not thermodynamics was pleasant. In the end he invited you to his apartment, which you sincerely hoped was not just with the intention of kissing you.

When they arrived his apartment looked like a palace, it was very nice, very cozy, his kitchen was comfortable enough to cook anything, your apartment was too small for a kitchen like him.

He told you that he should make some calls, that you could explore the house if you wanted and you took his word, it was very nice place, in the hallway to the bedroom had his medals and recognitions, you did not know that he studied chemistry too, he's a genius. When you finished walking, you looked in the fridge for something to drink.

"Want some wine?"Because of its height it was much easier to reach the shelves above where it seemed to have the bottles of wine.

”I would love to"

He served two glasses in half, it was red wine with a very good smell, you knew it because your father was a wine lover, so much so that he had even taken you to vineyards to see how they did it.

"May I?"You asked, pointing out if you could play something on the record player in the room.

“Clear”

When yo put the pen on the record a fairly quiet song began to play, he took the cup out of your hand and put it on the ledge next to his, placed his hand on your waist and with the other he held your hand, you placed yours on his neck.

“Would you laugh if I told you it's the first time I've danced with someone? well, that someone who is not my father invites me to dance”

"Really?”

"Yeah, well I had a boyfriend that I took out to dance, that's why it doesn't count,” you laughed as you remembered that.

"Well, what an idiot, you are beautiful Y/N and I will dance with you as many times as possible”

You felt a lot of peace in his arms, he was much stronger than you, that was clear, but even just seeing him in the eyes you felt that everything was going to be okay. You weren't very good at dancing, but he gave you the confidence to even make a mistake.

For a moment he began to kiss you slowly, slowly while the music echoed to both of us, then he began to kiss your neck which in a way tickled you, but at the same time made you want it with all your soul. After a few seconds as his hands ran through your hips and yours his hair whispered into his ear: "Take me to the bedroom" you stared at him and he understood completely.

He carried you so easily that it seemed that you did not weigh anything, carefully put you in bed and wait for you reaction.

"For God's sake, I want to make you mine from the moment I saw you at that fucking science fair contest.”

"Well now is your time" You bit your lip slightly.

He knew you were too small in comparison to him, so he was very careful when touch you, first he started by your dress, very slowly unbuttoning it. He look you in your underwear the moment he managed to take it off you. On the other hand, you, in a somewhat desperate way, started to take off his belt.

"No, until I say so" Their gaze turned a bit dark, they could see the desire for each other in your eyes.

He started kissing your crotch carefully, you moaned slightly, you had no intimate contact with anyone for a long time, so you somehow didn't remember how glorious this feels. He kept kissing getting closer to your entrance, the heat began to flood your body, after walking your thighs he began to lick your entrance a little desperate, but at the same time touching the exact points to make you see stars. He put two fingers inside you and immediately your back curled, when he entered the third in you pulled his hair as you began to feel the heat in your stomach increase more and more.

”Tom, please, I'm almost there" you moaned as your eyesight began to blur completely.

His fingers began to move faster and for an instant you felt like the heat flooded your whole body, it was the first time that someone managed to make you come with oral sex. You pulled his hair back, but it didn't seem to bother him, even taking it as a way to know where or not to continue. Your legs clenched at the feeling and he proudly began to undress. When you saw it you felt that you really needed to have he inside you, his axis was quite large, more than you imagined and its well worked body made you feel needed.

"Fuck me like there's no tomorrow," you whispered as you recovered from the first round.

You felt the desire going between your legs, again you were so wet just to imagine he inside you.

"You know that if I hurt you or if you want me to stop I will do it immediately” He placed on you and spread your legs with his knee.

You just nodded, he was staring at you as he began to insert his shaft into you, it hurt a bit, tears started running down your cheeks and Tom's face looked worried, "Do you want me to stop?”

"No!" To drown the groans you hid your face on his shoulder as he began to take a rhythm in his onslaught, at one point the pain ceased and he took a stronger rhythm, one after another, you felt as your body began to attach quite well to its axis, to the degree that you glued more your hips to his, demanding more. When he noticed it one of his hands took the headboard and with the other placed one of your legs on his shoulder to give you what you needed. At some point he also started moaning, loud and deep, which made you feel even more excited in the middle of it all.

”Fuck, why are you so perfect?" he whispered into your ear as you began to feel your orgasm was about to bloom.

"Make me yours, only yours" you moaned almost without strength.

"You are only mine" His onslaught, although it seemed that you could not, began to be faster and deeper, you knew that sitting was going to be a challenge for you in the following days.

To drown your groans he gave you a very deep kiss, his tongue did all the work in the kiss, honestly for you it was a sea of sensations that would end you unconscious of pleasure. Just as they both reached the climax he saw you in the eyes and felt you fade away in sobs and moans.

”I'm almost there" he said as he clung even more to you and your legs began to close with pleasure.

"Me too" Didn't know if you understood what you meant, but at least you were trying.

"Let me feel you" His words were your release and his, you felt the heat of his seed inside you and it was enough for your orgasm to reach the necessary point of feeling a deep warmth throughout your body. The veins on her neck were too marked and you could also feel her breathing so heavy as she enjoyed her release.

He was over you for several minutes, the only thing you could hear in the room was his busy, deep breaths. You hugged him fondly and he hugged you, when he came out of you you felt a pretty weird void, but fuck, it was the best sex you'd ever had in your life.

After his breaths managed to take a moderate course he saw you in the eyes as he groomed your hair carefully.

”I didn't want to be too brusque the first time" His hand caressed your stomach, internally you told yourself that if this was not brusque you didn't imagine the next time how sore you would end up, but it's something that really excited you, in every way.

"We'll have many more times to do it" You smiled and planted a kiss on his lips. "Many more" smiled in the middle of the kiss which made you adore him even more.

Thanks for readign me 

[royalty-subway]

Twins with an s/o who is just dumb, but smart

Like could teach you everything about math

But would walk into a closed door and say sorry to the door

Oof. Story of my life right there-

Sordward

H-how can you be so smart but be the most dumbest person he has ever met at the same time?

Like he’s not the smartest person to ever exist, but he doesn’t apologize to doors after he walks into it. (If anything, he fights it for insulting his presence-)

Like you could solve world hunger within a second and you’d still apologize to him when he ACCIDENTALLY hits you with his arm.

Like, yes, he’s worried whenever you get hurt. But when you decide to apologize to a door after you run into it, he finds it a bit funny (like breathing out of his nose funny).

He’d probably try to convince you to stop apologizing to doors and instead burn them where they stand-

Shielbert

He wonders how it’s even possible to be dumb and smart at the same time. Like maybe your intelligence is so high, but you just have no idea how real life works…?

Like, he’s not the smartest guy, but at least he knows that there’s no point in apologizing to objects that he trips over. (Or burning them like his older brother does).

But of course, if you walk into doors and apologize to them on a daily basis, then he’ll worry about you in general. And ask why you have this constant need to apologize to doors.

You could probably travel in different parallel universes with different versions of yourself because you needed to piss, and he’d still wonder how you managed to do such within a span of a second.

I mean, you’re probably just Leon version 5.2 at this rate. Like how can you go from solving every math problem to not even knowing your own name.

Emmet

I mean, he can pretty much understand that. This is the same guy that whenever he sees someone’s shoes are untied. He’ll also untie his own shoes.

And yet, he’s pretty smart in his own way. Like he always tends to think outside the box and it makes others scream “EMMET, YOU’RE A FUCKING GENIUS-”.

So yeah, you guys are pretty much the same. You guys could probably travel up to the 5th dimension because all you guys wanted was food.

You guys could pretty much figure out that one question from Baldi’s Basics, like the one with numbers spammed all over it. Because you guys are smart. Only smart people can answer that.

The only difference is that he doesn’t tend to apologize to doors whenever he walks into them. (But he might now since he sees you do it).

Ingo

He’s pretty much worried about you, like he admires your intelligence, but stumbling over a trash can and apologizing to it afterwards seems like bruh.

Like, he doesn’t want you getting hurt in any way. So he’ll try to prevent you from running into doors or walls. (Whether he fails or succeeds is up to you).

Whenever you apologize to objects after yelling at them, he pretty much questions why you even did all that in the first place. (Like the screaming towards a bottled water and apologizing to it).

Like they’re times when he (and Emmet) accidentally hits his head on a door frame, but he doesn’t go out of his way to apologize to it.

In fact, you’re probably the one that apologizes to the door frame that Ingo accidentally hit his head on. Which he just gives you a “._.” look in response. (I mean, he’ll give you points for respect but-)

[clefairymuke]

Hiii! I just read your announcement i’m so happy you are my favourite fanfic writer EVER! I can’t wait to see whats to come! Anyway, I have a request for a fluffy aot oneshot :3 (set in season 3/2 ofc bc 4 is too angsty) I have this idea of an Armin x Reader or Levi x reader , where reader is rlly smart about titan stuff which helps them in a mission outside the walls and Armin/Levi notice this and kind of compliments them ?

(sorry for my english it isn’t my first language, and i’ll probably send a lot of requests i’m sorry I really love your writing you can ignore me if i’m annoying) C

you’re not annoying at all omg!! your english is great. thank you so much for sending a request! i'm gonna be honest, angst is literally my fucking life. idk if i’ll ever be able to write anything without including a little bit of angst lmao. i took a liiiiittle bit of freedom with the prompt because reading it put this idea in my head that i absolutely couldn’t get rid of. i hope you enjoy it!! <3

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Pieces | Levi x Reader

pairing: levi x reader

themes: fluff, angst, hurt/comfort

tw: mentions of death and violence

word count: 1147

Returning from a mission outside the walls was never easy. The cart that carried the bodies was always full of soldiers who paid the ultimate price in the name of humanity. It puzzled you at times; you wondered why those willing to give everything they had for freedom they may never get to taste were the ones that had to wind up dead; was it not cruel? Why were the best souls, the ones ready to achieve freedom for people they had never even met no matter the cost, always deprived of a full life?

The idea threatened tears to your eyes as you shut the door to Levi’s suite behind you. You ran your hand through your hair as you noticed his absence; you hoped he would return soon. As you practically fell onto the couch on the far side of the room, your tears fell too.

Of course, you were used to death -- even comfortable with it -- as was required of any soldier. Every so often, though, a mission would leave you in shambles. You would witness as a starry eyed cadet or a long-serving friend was torn to pieces in front of you, and it would be too much to handle. Every few missions, you would fall to pieces.

After your first few months with Levi, he started to notice this pattern. At first, he considered that you weren’t fit to be a soldier -- sitting next to someone sobbing after a successful mission would make anyone think that. Soon, however, he came to the conclusion that you didn’t show your compassion in the same way he did. He would pack the patches of fallen Scouts in his desk drawer while you came apart only yards away, and he would be there to pick up the pieces.

You tucked your knees into your chest and recounted the mission over again in your head, seeing the faces of all those who didn’t return. The hot tears did not cease running down your face. You turned your head toward the door as it clicked open, your eyes meeting one of Levi’s boots against the wood floor before they traveled upward to see his face, as emotionless as ever. It took one moment of looking at you for his eyes to soften.

He walked across the room, away from you, stopping silently at his desk. He pulled the patches -- at least ten of them -- from his jacket and laid them to rest among the others within the drawer, the smallest of frowns crossing his lips as he pushed it closed. He stood there for a second, eyes shut and his hand still grasping the handle of the drawer -- a moment of silence, you could call it. Your sniffles brought him back to reality.

He walked carefully over to where you sat, his grey eyes soft with understanding as he placed his hand on your cheek, wiping a tear away with his thumb. He sat next to you, his arm coming to rest around your shoulders. He pulled you tightly into his chest and allowed his other hand to cradle your cheek, silent permission to let it all go. And so you did. You felt your tears soak through his shirt almost immediately as your chest heaved with pain.

“I know,” he whispered into your hair, placing a kiss on the top of your head. “Listen to me.” He pulled you gently away from him, holding both sides of your face so that you would look him in the eyes. You nodded at him, your blurred vision still able to discern the concerned lift of his eyebrows and the worry in his pupils. “Do you know how many lives you saved today?” He still whispered, his own form of a comforting tone that you had come to find solace in. Still, you shook your head at him.

“You knew exactly how to distract that abnormal. Using the flares was genius, and you thought of it so quickly. So many more would have died if not for you,” he told you, drawing shapes on your cheeks with his thumbs.

“People still died, Levi. I didn’t do much of anything. You ended up killing it. You should be congratulating yourself,” you replied, voice groggy from tears and breaking every so often.

“I wouldn’t have had an opening to kill it if not for you. The only person I know that understands titans better than you is Hange. You don’t realize how valuable you are, love.” You could see in his eyes that he hoped this would be the end of it -- that you would accept that many more would’ve died had you not been there, and you would cheer up. He knew better than his hopes, however, and thought it would take more. He was okay with that.

He started again, voice unwavering, “Ever since you joined the Scouts, we’ve come so much further. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. Today aside, you’ve saved hundreds. I’m not sure what would’ve happened if you weren’t with us today.”

You nodded, the heaving of your chest coming slower and your tears becoming sparse. He wiped away what was starting to dry with the back of his hand, never letting his eyes leave yours. He kissed your forehead, letting his fingers trail through your hair, softly pulling out knots as your breathing slowed.

“That’s my favorite thing about you, you know,” he continued softly. “How smart you are. You know so much about them, and it makes you a better soldier. The more you know, the better you understand. That’s why it’s so easy for you to solve problems like that abnormal today. The way you think, it just -- it amazes me.”

You felt the beginnings of the smallest smile come to your lips, relishing in his praise. Levi wasn’t the most sentimental of people; compliments are few and far between in a typical day. You leaned your head into his neck, finally calming enough to enjoy the warmth radiating from his body. His hands were unexpectedly soft as they ran under your shirt to rub your back in the most comforting manner you’d ever come to know.

“I love you, you know,” he whispered, lips pressed against your temple. You let your arms loop around his waist and lifted your head to look up at him. 

“I love you,” you answered, knowing tears stained your red, puffy face. You knew he didn’t mind. His hand caressed your cheek with the most gentle of touches as he pulled you in for a kiss, first grazing your lips with his as if he was asking for permission before kissing you deeply and without restraint.

A few more months from now, you knew, you would be here again; but it didn’t seem to matter as long as he was there to pick up every piece.

[sapphic-sasuke]

So i was watching those fillers about kakashi’s anbu days and an question came to my mind Why did tachi directly choose to kill the clan instead of trying to warn their parents and/or the uchiha clan first did he think they were too prideful to back down or completely leave the village or maybe he didn’t trust his OWN family

I mean if i was in that kinda of a situation (or heck even in any kinda of situation) the first thing I would’ve done; go to mom dad warn them/ask them what should i do, what should ‘we’ do and cannonically speaking itachi was 13 at the time and fugaku really seemed to be the most reasonable person to go to(while other uchihas were unnecessary being harsh to civilians during taking them into custody fugaku was the one to warn them) so itachi either, A) was kinda of an idiot who didn’t really think things through (wich I don’t think so cause he was supposed to be a genius at the very least a very smart person) or B) he was so arrogant thet he thought (an exceptional 13yo kid A FUCKING CHILD) he might be more suited and experienced! to handle the coup instead of going to his parents and I know ppl say that he got manipulated n stuff but c’mon wasn’t he basically the king of manipulation I don’t understand how he couldn’t thought anything besides killing everyone, wouldn’t taking sasuke and running should’ve been an option to what do you think

Also sorry for the long ass ask and I just realized ur one of my favorite fics authors i hope u update looking for forgiveness soon didn’t read such a good fan fic in a while i like ur writing sm <3

HI!! don’t ever feel sorry for long asks i love reading long stuff . and AHHH WOW thank you so much i do plan to update my fic very soon. the chapters almost done but i had some rly funky writer’s block hope u like it <3

no ur so right anon the way itachi handled the massacre was so strange? and that’s why i like to headcanon that itachi had a really strained relationship with his parents (albeit slightly better with fugaku) where he never came to them with any of his emotions/problems growing up and internalised that until the massacre. i think the second option is more probable. we know he didn’t like most of the clan members and we even see him fighting some. what with all his achievements as a shinobi and his anbu status, itachi seems like the kind of person.

i think taking sasuke and running away would have halted the coup, with the clan heir and second son gone, however i am of the belief that the coup would have been inevitable. maybe due to strained relations or danzo’s machinations, konoha doesn’t help out much with trying to find itachi and sasuke and that increases tensions even further. we know that uchihas love fiercely and it could even lead to the clan more determined to go forward with the coup and then use further resources to find sasuke and itachi. it seems like a short term solution to marginalisation that’s been simmering for decades. it’s a far better alternative to him outright committing genocide however.

maybe itachi did think telling them he was being pressured into killing the clan would have gone badly. he’s very against the coup and has made this clear with his antagonistic actions after shisui’s death. i’m almost certain people in the clan didn’t trust him at all. he was definitely of the belief that more vocal members of the clan would use that as a further incentive to go ahead with the coup, even kill danzo and the elders. (danzo’s root however would be a major obstacle)

i think fugaku would have listened to itachi though. the uchiha coup is one that could be interpreted as a last ditch retaliation from a clan who were shoved to a corner. fugaku clearly loves the village—the coup was intended to be bloodless if it went according to plan. the elders wouldn’t even be aware of it if itachi stayed silent. (but i do think the other clans would not support an uchiha hokage because their reputation worsened after the kyuubi attack) and let’s be real, the elders were insanely corrupt. (but I am of the belief the corruption is only possible because of the shinobi system in place but then that’s a whoooole other topic) itachi’s spy status already puts him as a traitor to the clan which would be a huge betrayal for fugaku who believed in itachi when others didn’t. itachi would be disgraced by his people for even being considered as someone who would be asked to kill them, you know? in that sense, itachi must have seen everything as a lose-lose scenario and went with the option that wouldn’t hinder konoha that much and as such the “peace”

leaving the village is an interesting option. i feel like unless the uchiha clan find a secure place to hide (they do have those hideouts) that ultimately konoha is the safest bet for them at the moment but the possibility of even konoha being unsafe is very real with the threat of danzo. the fact that the elders even considered genocide shows the uchiha’s standing in konoha. hidden villages must have loads of safety measures in place to stop shit like kidnappings for bloodline limits (hinata’s kidnapping attempt was only possible to happen because of the treaty being signed) and state secrets, that i’m sure the uchiha clan have. in short, the uchiha are way too intergreted into the village’s foundations to simply leave without repercussions. it’s interesting because they aren’t actually intergreted into the village at all. i’m sure they don’t know that many actual secrets about the village. they aren’t trusted—tobirama mentions this. but if they ever decided to turn against konoha or join another village their insight into how konoha shinobi and clans work as previous comrades would be invaluable. essentially, the only way for the uchiha clan to survive if they decide to leave would be to go into hiding, really insane crazy genjutsu hiding (which i believe is possible with such a strong clan) in that case, then Yes, the uchiha clan leaving would work. but i think itachi’s of the belief that uchiha pride would prevent them from ever considering hiding. so i’m more inclined to agree with the second option B

the genocide just doesn’t fit with a child who supposedly loves his clan. you don’t kill a clan you love for the village. moral standing aside, solving peace with violence isn’t peace. how can he call himself a pacifist but then have so much faith in the system he’s willing to kill his own people for it? i’s stupidity. there’s so many inconsistencies to itachi’s character because if he really did all of this for sasuke then why torture him? that’s unnecessary mental damage. he could invoke hatred without torture. he’s stated to have the wisdom of a kage at 7 but then makes really stupid decisions that don’t fit in with his whole master manipulator like you mentioned. with all of this ive just come to the conclusion that itachi was probably originally intended to be an antagonist but shit Happened like a popularity jump or smth and suddenly the narrative’s calling him a hero lmao, way to go against the original anti establishment themes from part 1 naruto kishi u bum

this got long really fast omg im sorry? but i hope my insight helped in some way? (or not i tend to ramble a Looooot) anyways ty for the ask i could honestly talk about the uchiha clan all day

[spencerspecifics]

Okay yes hi hello this is me gracing y’all with my writing Bc I’ve had this idea forever!! This is going to be multiple chapters, here is chapter two. Enjoy :)

~

Technical Analyst (ch.1)

~

Short description: Spencer works as a technical analyst alongside Garcia and Kevin, though he hasn’t ever really worked directly with the BAU team, he works more in filing and researching. But when Garcia goes on vacation leave, and Kevin is busy with his own work, Spencer steps up to help- and that’s when he meets Derek Morgan.

———————————————————————

Spencer hated technology. He hated computers, tablets, cell phones, he hated it all. He hated everything and anything that isn’t on printed onto paper. So how the fuck did he end up as a technical analyst- whose entire job was based around proficient use of technology? In very short, budget cuts.

He originally worked in domestic terrorism, though he never fit in well there. He was a good worker, fast and able to do a lot. But his coworkers never let him feel included. He would hear them make plans without him, ignore him in conversations, only reaching out to him for his great memory to help solve a case. It was dehumanizing. He was just a brain for them, nothing more.

Then, the budget cuts came. And he got removed from the team, as he had the least amount of hours in the field- which wasn’t his fault. The rest of his team always forced him into the research position, so while they were off chasing the bad guys, he was stuck researching with a computer he doesn’t trust.

So yeah, he wasn’t an asset to them. But the bureau knew a mind like his in general was an asset, a fountain they’d like to keep a tap on. So they made work for him. It was mostly menial. He would assist with intense cases when necessary, but even then it was just research. No one knew what he would be like in the field, because they never gave him the chance.

Spencer tried not to think about how unfair this was, how stupid and purely tedious it was. He would rather be working as a T.A. at this point- which wouldn’t even be that bad. At least he gets heard and seen then.

~

Spencer’s normal day consists of going from his apartment to the bureau building, to directly into his cramped little office that was about the size of a jumbo walk in closet. A nice size to store clothes, but not so nice when you have to have a person, a desk, a chair, three computer monitors, two filing cabinents, a trash can, a fax machine, and a printer all crammed in there.

Yeah, his workplace was entirely too small. Thankfully it didn’t impact his ability to work, though, most the time Spencer finished his work quickly; and would end up reading. Spencer didn’t venture out from his office that much at all, (he always brought his own coffee so he didn’t have to worry about bugging the field agents.) the exception to leaving his office was to go across the hall to Penelope Garcia, his only sort of friend that he had at work. She was always so bubbly, it was a breath of relief for him to go see her- she reminded him of all the positive things, he definitely couldn’t do the job without her.

Not to mention, she had to train him from starting point zero. Spencer hated technology, after all. So he never made an effort to learn coding, hacking, how to re-route and track things. He knew nothing like that, hell, he struggles with his cellphone turning on sometimes.

Thankfully, she was able to get some sense into him, and he was pretty good at what he could do. Though he was still working out python coding, he was enjoying the learning process of using technology.

That being said- he still despises technology, and he hopes that once he leaves the job, he can throw away his very unnecessary but work mandated laptop.

~

Spencer made his way into the bureau building, messenger bag slung over his shoulder awkwardly as a thermos of coffee was held tightly in his right hand, while the left one reached for the door handle to enter. He got in no problem, security didn’t stop him anymore, thankfully. Though in the beginning, they did check him constantly, verifying that he belonged there. After all, he looked young, and he definitely didn’t belong in the bureau building. But then again, Garcia didn’t look like she belonged there either.

Security just made presumptions about people, he shrugged that thought off as he made his way to the elevator. Thankfully no one else was in there, he pressed the button for floor six, and the elevator doors shut.

The elevator whirred to life, taking him up to the sixth floor slowly. Thankfully today was a slow day, there wasn’t really any important case he had to work on. (Not like he ever really got given cases to work on, anyways.) So Spencer was hoping he would be able to finish his work quickly, as he had some books he brought with him that he wanted to read and re-read before the day was finished.

The elevator dinged, a signal it had reached its necessary location, before the doors finally slid back. He stepped out, taking his usual left down the hallway immediately. Forward through the glass doors was the bullpen with the agents who worked in the BAU. And god, what he wouldn’t give to be a field agent, working as a profiler. That’s why he wanted to join the bureau, and yet he was so close- his office only down the hall. But he was simultaneously so far, not being trusted by all the bureaucratic bosses, who didn’t know if he would be a good agent to warrant being put out into the field.

He hated it, but he tried not to think about it as he reached his office, Garcia’s door was shut, she was on vacation, or so he had heard. Spencer pulled on his office door, entering with ease as he moved into the cramped workspace.

Spencer sat his messenger bag down onto his desk, sitting himself down in his office chair and taking a minute to breathe in and out before continuing. Spencer hated this job. It was mind numbingly boring, he was so close to quitting. He knew the bureau would fight tooth and nail to keep him, however, but if that was the case, why not give him a better job- he didn’t want a nicer office, he wanted to help people.

He sighed, today was just one of those days where he was extra mad about not being treated right, he tried to ignore this thought process as he got ready to work; setting his coffee down by his computer mouse to his right, setting his messenger bag onto the floor next to him, pulling off the scarf that was wrapped loosely around his neck and hanging it over the back of his chair. Now he was ready for the day.

~

Penelope didn’t mean to forget to tell the team that she was going to be gone- she assumed they knew. At least Hotch did, all the rest of them knew was that she was going to take a week off to relax, they just didn’t know when (she had too many vacation days saved up, so she had to use them or lose them. She chose the former.) It was just a total brain fart moment on her part, so while she decided to hit up her favorite stores, spas, and websites; the team had no idea, they assumed she was holed up in her office, hacking away at whatever she normally does.

This would only show itself when Derek needed her, calling her office number and it going to voicemail “Hi, this is Penelope Garcia with the FBI and I’m too awesome to come to the phone right now, if it��s an urgent matter please call Aaron Hotchner-“ yeah, Derek hung up his phone by then, deciding to call her personal cell.

“Hi, hot chocolate!” She answered cheerfully, the sounds of people talking and laughing could be heard in the background, which Derek took note of. “Babygirl- your work phone sent me to voicemail, where are you?” Garcia was quiet for a second, before practically blowing Morgan’s eardrums out; “Oh- damnit! I knew I was forgetting something!” “Care to fill me in?” He asked her curiously, “Yes-“ Garcia sighed before continuing on, “Sorry. I’m taking those vacation days Hotch told me I had to use or else I’d lose.”

“So you’re not at the office.” He stated, “That I am not, I’m sorry I forgot to tell you! But my pal Spencer Reid should be covering for me.” “Spencer Reid?” Derek asked, unfamiliar with that person, “Why not kevin?” “Ugh, I don’t know- he’s doing that thing where he’s actually busy with other work for once. But Spencer is good, I taught him everything he knows- and I’m pretty sure he’s got three PhDs, so yeah, you replaced one genius with another- so don’t worry!” “Okay, well...” Derek took a second, “You sure I can ask Spencer about everything I’d ask you?” He meant work related, within being able to hack and get everything that Garcia would be able to get. Because Morgan knew that her talents were very special, and having someone else replicate them seemed near impossible, so he was a bit hesitant to trust someone new.

“Oh yeah- he’ll find everything easy peasy lemon squeezy. Don’t worry yourself, sugar.” “Okay, thank you mama. Have a good week of rest.” “I will! I have an appointment for a spa, and oh my god Derek- they do a seaweed wrap thing, isn’t that crazy?” “So you’re gonna get rolled up like sushi?” “No! Ew! Don’t compare me to raw fish!”

The phone call continued for a bit after that, as Derek wasn’t in an urgent matter. It was just a filing day at the office, before he hung up he asked where Spencer was, though; “Oh, he’s in the office next to mine, across the hall!” Garcia told him happily. Derek had thought that was a storage closet, but he didn’t tell her- instead thanking her and hanging up.

Now to pay this mystery computer whiz a visit.

~

Spencer was in the middle of re-routing a bunch of information that Garcia needed to send to her boss, Aaron Hotchner. Spencer didn’t share the same boss, since he was technically working in a more basic division of the bureau, he instead answered to Strauss- which was a royal pain in the ass, but he always turned his work in on time, came in when needed, he had never had to face her wrath yet, thankfully.

Spencer typed away, trying to get all the data to get to Hotchner as quickly as possible so he didn’t have to wait, though it wasn’t crucial the work did get completed right now. Spencer just liked to get things done.

A knock sounded Spencer out of his methodical typing, it wasn’t Garcia, obviously. And he knew Kevin was in a meeting right now with some IT people over his keyboard acting funky (Kevin could fix it by himself, but office administration forced him into talking to IT.)

“Yes?” Spencer asked curiously, turning around in his office chair, because he had no clue who it was that could be interrupting his work. The door pushed open, revealing a tall, classically handsome, muscular man carrying some files in his hands. Fuck, that would be Spencer’s luck. An attractive guy swooping in and making his IQ of one hundred and eighty seven go down to sixty in two second flat

“Hi- you Spencer?” The man asked, stepping forward into the cramped office. Spencer stood up instinctively, “Yes, I am. How can I help you?” The man handed the files over awkwardly, “I’m sorry, I usually ask Penelope Garcia for this but she’s on vacation and she referred me to you- I just need these put through VICAP, I’m not too familiar with the system as a whole, ‘cause Garcia usually handles it.”

Spencer nodded, taking the files and looking through them briefly, there were nine of them. “I’m sorry, I know that’s a lot of work to do... I’m sure I can figure it out myself-“ Derek started, doing his best to apologize. Little did he know Spencer could get this done within an hour or so.

“Oh no- not a problem at all, this should only take me about an hour, two at most, but that’s a generous estimate.” Derek raised his eyebrows, “An hour or two? Garcia usually finishes up this many files within three or four. How are you able to get this done faster than her?”

“I have an eidetic memory, which helps me recall anything that I read. I can read these files once and put all the information into VICAP knowing it’s accuracy is one hundred percent without having to double check, that cuts down my speed by half per case file.”

Derek looked confused and shocked. Yeah, Spencer could understand why. “Sorry, um. That’s a weird explanation, but it shouldn’t take me as long. I’m assuming you’re out in the bullpen?” Spencer asked him, putting the files down atop his keyboard.

“Yeah, I’m Derek Morgan with the BAU.” Derek finally introduced himself, reaching his hand out. Shit, this was Derek Morgan? Garcia has mentioned him a few times to Spencer, saying he’d love him “oh he’s so handsome, but so sweet and loving, like the hottest man on earth- I’d marry him in a heartbeat, but we don’t roll like that, Y’know?” That’s how she described him once, and of course Spencer remembered that word for word. Spencer felt like it was just his luck, that his only work colleague was best friends with a man so attractive that his mind isn’t working fully.

Not to mention he was in the BAU, Spencer guessed he was, since Garcia was their technical analyst. But still, it would be just his luck to know this insanely attractive man was part of the team he wanted to belong to so bad. Spencer wasn’t sure how to respond as he kept his composure. After all, yeah, Derek was attractive. But they probably wouldn’t speak again after this exchange. It wasn’t worth Spencer thinking about him, or how Garcia described him.

“I’m sorry, I don’t shake. But it’s nice to meet you, I’ll find you once I’m done. If you need anymore help, feel free to let me know.” Spencer told him, looking back at the files on his desk as a distraction away from this hot guy that was just standing so calmly in his office, as if Spencer ever had any visitors into the cramped space besides Garcia and Kevin.

By the time spencer looked back up, Derek’s arm was back down by his side. “Okay, thank you.”

~

Derek was surprised by their exchange, to say the least. How did he not know about this genius before? How was he not more well known, a memory thing, three PhD’s- that would be a useful asset? How come he was hidden away in a closet sized office? He had to know more. Even if it was nosy and stupid.

Normally, he’d call Garcia and ask her if it was about an employee. But in this case, he couldn’t. And he couldn’t go to Spencer, that would be weird.

So, he did the next best thing. He asked Hotch.

~

He knocked slowly on Hotchner’s door, hoping he wasn’t going to tell him to mind his business and not ask about employee facts when they definitely were irrelevant.

Derek was smart though, he figured out a foolproof way to play this. So when Hotch said, “Yes?” He came in, starting his plan into motion.

“Hotch, where’s Garcia?” He asked him, as if Derek hadn’t immediately checked up on his babygirl when he couldn’t find her. “Oh,” Hotch started, setting a file down that he had been looking over, “She took some vacation time.”

“So, who am I supposed to go to for computer help?” Derek asked, “Well,” Hotchner started, matter of factly, while he reached for a thin, unopened file on his desk. “We have a new guy helping us. Kevin’s busy with helping the child abduction unit reset their computers, as well as he’s in an IT meeting right now, so we have..” Hotch stopped, looking down to read the name off the file; “Doctor Spencer Reid. I’m sure he’ll be just as good.”

“Hotch. No ones as good as Garcia.” Derek pointed out, Hotch shrugged. “Maybe not. But this guy has a glowing personal history- and Garcia told me she taught him everything he knows.”

“What’s his personal history?” Derek asked curiously, stepping a bit closer but still trying to play nonchalance. “You know I’m not able to disclose that. You can go ask him for yourself.” Derek sighed. Of course Hotch wasn’t gonna tell him shit. He should’ve expected this. But sue him, call him hopeful. He was hoping he could’ve gotten some information on this mysterious doctor.

~

Derek made his defeated way back to his desk in the bullpen. And Emily, whose desk was directly across from his, immediately noticed his slight annoyance at Hotch. So she asked in a hushed voice as soon as he sat down;

“Did you get yelled at by Hotch?” Because in her mind, that was the most logical explanation that made the most sense. Derek just shook his head as a response, “No,” he clarified, “I was asking about our Garcia fill-in, and Hotch wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Garcia fill-in? She’s gone?” Emily asked confusedly looking back to the hallway that led to Penelope’s office, as if she’d magically appear. “Yeah, but just for the week.” Derek explained, “She’s using those vacation days she had saved up. And Kevin isn’t our standby, ‘cause he’s busy. Instead it’s some new guy.”

“Who?” Prentiss asked, this time she was curious. And as if on cue, Dr. Spencer Reid came through the glass doors, and into the bullpen, carrying Morgan’s stack of files.

“Him.” Morgan pointed back simply as a response as he waved Spencer over.

~

To say Spencer felt out of his element by being in the BAU bullpen was an understatement, he felt like a fish out of water. Like he was suffocating and everything around him was too much.

He purposely avoided the bullpen, first reason being because he didn’t have any work with the BAU. But the second reason was he knew if he stepped in, he’d be more upset that he couldn’t be on the team. And the last thing he wanted to do was make his job worse for himself.

But, this experience was an outlier. And though Spencer can remember almost anything and everything, he planned on doing his best to purposely forget all of this. Every last detail.

He wasn’t going to let himself remember how there were field agents with real life guns holstered at their sides, how they were all sitting casually, looking over cases and drinking coffee, how they had the title of SSA (he only had SA, which he still was bitter about.), and then how at a moments notice they could fly away in a jet. How astonishing their work is, how jealous he is.

But Spencer entered through the glass doors nonetheless, looking around quickly before seeing Derek wave him over. Derek was sat at his desk, talking to a woman whose head was turned away from Spencer, all he could see was that she was his desk mate, and that she had black hair.

Spencer made his way over at a brisk pace, he just needed to get in and out. If he stayed for too long, he’d let himself remember to much.

“Hey, I- I got these into VICAP no problem,“ Spencer started as he handed Derek the case files, “But I noticed some errors on the date stamping on when you found the unsub so I corrected it myself, I hope you don’t mind.”

Derek shook his head casually, “Not a problem at all, I have a habit of messing that up. Thanks doc.” Fuck, ‘doc’? Spencer hadn’t been called ‘doctor’ in months, let alone ‘doc’. This was turning into a tailspin moment for him as he smiled awkwardly, feeling a blush rising to his face, he wasn’t sure what else to do. But he wanted to get out of there.

Thankfully, the woman with black hair introduced herself, as once he had rounded the corner to see Derek, he also saw her face. She was pretty, and had bangs. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Emily Prentiss.” She reached her hand over to shake Reid’s expectantly, “Oh I-“ Reid started, hands down at his sides, he wasn’t going to move them.

“He doesn’t shake, Prentiss.” Derek explained casually, “Oh,” Emily said, dropping her hand down, “Sorry! It’s still good to meet you, though. So I hear you’re covering for Garcia?” She asked Spencer, who nodded as he pushed a piece of hair back behind his ear.

“Yeah she’s taking vacation time, and Kevin is currently busy with helping the child abduction unit. So I’ll be you technical analyst for the next week or so.”

“I’m sorry, but how long have you been with the bureau? You look really young. I don’t mean to be rude I’m just-“ “You’re really asking him the rudest possible question, though, huh?” Derek joked to her, and she just smacked him on the arm lightly before turning her attention back to Spencer.

“No you’re fine to ask I- um, I’ve been with the bureau a year and a half, but originally I was on the domestic terrorism field unit.” He explained shortly, he didn’t wanna go into how he got on the bureau to begin with, or how he left the domestic terrorism unit. All he wanted to do was have this conversation end, or else it would just be that much harder to forget.

“Domestic terrorism? So how do you end up doing technical analyst work?” Derek butted in curiously, up until now it has been Prentiss asking all the questions.

Spencer stayed quiet for a moment, before finally responding, “If you need anything else, my office is next to Garcia’s. It’s been nice meeting you, Emily.” All he gave to Derek was a curt nod before walking out at the brisk pace he had entered with.

~

“Wow, well you fucked that up.” Prentiss spoke to Derek once she saw Spencer exiting through the glass doors, and turning down the hallway.

He sighed and rolled his eyes at her, “I’m just curious about him, can you blame me?” Emily just chuckled softly in return, shaking her head as she turned her chair around to face him more head on.

“Are you curious about him because he’s cute, or because he’s replacing Garcia for the week?” Derek blinked at her in surprise; “I never said he was cute.” He protested, more confused than anything else.

“You didn’t say it, but your body language did. You think he’s cute. You called him ‘doc’ and he almost blushed, and I have a feeling you’re gonna try and call him ‘doc’ again to see that same result- and you watched him the entire time, even if I was talking.”

“You think random bureau agents are cute all the time, what’s it matter?” Derek rebutted, trying to deflect and ignore, because Prentiss wasn’t making sense. Derek wasn’t attracted to Spencer, he didn’t think he was cute. Spencer’s level of attractiveness had nothing to do with his curiosity.

Derek did have a right to be curious for other reasons, anyways. This guy was replacing Garcia for a bit. It made sense Derek would wanna know more about the guy, even if he was or wasn’t attractive.

“Yeah, I find agents cute. But I don’t go asking Hotch about them.” Prentiss said with a smirk, Derek just shot her a glare. “I asked Hotch because he’s replacing Garcia. And I’ve not heard of the guy before.”

“Whatever you say, man.” Was all Emily replied with as she turned back to her work, Derek just rolled his eyes at her again before turning to his own computer.

Okay, so he knew Spencer was in domestic terrorism. It couldn’t hurt to just search it up, right? It wasn’t anything classified, he’d be able to see it, Derek hoped. He wasn’t meaning to be nosy, but he was just so curious and confused. He just had to know more.

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