#but this already took me like seven or eight hours so i'm gonna call it off here

[infiniteglitterfall]

asdfkjaflkjasflkjasfkjafkjafljkasflkjasflkjasflkjgjkgjllkjgffff

Let's take a look at the original source.

If it seems solid, we can just fact-check it by seeing if any other reliable news outlets are also reporting this.

I've transcribed all of that and my notes in the alt tag for the screenshot if it's hard to read.

I'll also summarize the problems here:

this article is from what Wikipedia calls "a semi-official news agency" owned by the government of Iran.

state-owned media is propaganda, period. When you see that you're reading state-owned media, it's a good practice to stop and look for a story from an independent source.

We're continuing just for practice.

The headline is neutral-sounding which is good; the date is current, which is good.

The article's source for this info is, "According to Qatar's Al-Jazeera." This is another state-owned media outlet. That's bad.

Plus, they don't link to whatever article, tweet, video, etc. they're citing from Al-Jazeera. So you can't get more info, see if there is more info, see what they said....

And you don't need to know this in order to fact-check, but: one thing I've learned from fact-checking everything I see from any "side" in the past 11 months is that Al-Jazeera often tweets false statements that it never follows up on. I don't know if it just shoots out a tweet as soon as it hears a rumor, to get the scoop and follow up if it happens to be true, or what. But it really sucks if you want to know what's going on.

I forgot to put a note about "the target of the strike" there: this is mind-reading. They need to give any kind of source from someone who was there and/or has a reason to know what the target was. For instance, a military analyst looking at satellite or drone footage would work.

Most of the article is devoted to saying that Israel is currently on trial for genocide and saying that human rights groups have "blamed Israel's far-right cabinet and military for ignoring the order." This should link to or quote at least one human rights group doing that.

Seriously, NONE of the rest of the article says anything about the strike?! This isn't an article; it's not even a source. At a bare minimum, a source tells you what happened and how they know.

There's one more problem with this piece. I'm giving it separately, as an example of how people can fact-check things:

The article cites "more than 144,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing." Numbers are great for fact-checking. Let's walk through it, using this as an example.

In this case, I threw "number of people missing in gaza" into google.

The numbers in search result previews were all over the place and I didn't feel like trying to figure out when all of them were from, so I hit the "news" tab. Time Magazine had a recent-ish piece and is reasonably reliable. A little over two months ago, it quoted a new report by Save the Children International as saying 17,000 children were missing, and 4,000 were missing presumed dead. I didn't see anyone talking about adults. A search for "'missing adults' 'gaza'" turned up nothing in either web or news results. A dead end there is also fine in terms of fact-checking, IMHO. But in this case, I remembered seeing a bunch of articles about how the Gaza Ministry of Health calculates the numbers killed. Some of them described how Gazans can fill out an online form to report those who are missing presumed dead, known to be dead under the rubble, etc. This article has a VERY biased headline, but the research is solid: it explains exactly what the Ministry of Health has said and done at different points, and links to different analyses of its data. Basically, its numbers for fatalities include people missing and presumed dead. So we're still at around 17,000 missing, 41,000 dead: 58,000 total.

That leaves about 86,000 Palestinians that Iran is saying Qatar is saying have been maimed. I threw 'number of palestinians "maimed"' into Google. Putting maimed in quotes forced Google to give me results that included that word. Still couldn't find anything that gave a number of people who were maimed. Then I tried "gaza casualties," because people sometimes include injuries in casualties.

That got me to Wikipedia's page on "casualties of the israel-hamas war," which did have an infographic from OCHR that gave numbers of people injured.

But it was a couple months old and didn't specify anything about injuries. The infographic was headed with "OCHA Gaza Reported Incident Snapshot" and the date." So I took one more swing at it, just in case this info really is out there, and searched for "ocha gaza reported incident snapshot." I did find a current one. It still only gave the total injured, which it said was 94,224. Higher than 86,000, but not a lot higher.

86,000 divided by 94,224 is 91%.

So the only way to get to 144,000 is if 91% of everyone injured in Gaza over the past 11 months was maimed. As in, had a body part amputated or lost the use of it. And while there are horrific stories about that happening, none of them imply that it was the majority of injuries. Much less that it includes almost everyone who's been injured. So I'm calling big-time shenanigans on the total of "dead, maimed, or missing" in this article. (On a personal note, I also think it's disrespectful and risky to the people of Gaza to play these games with data. Is the number of dead not enough? Are people not going to get frustrated and distrustful when they find out that the number of dead, maimed, and missing is far lower? Aren't the real experiences and voices of Gazans worth platforming?)

Now let's see if we can find a better source confirming this thing.

I'm actually going to START with the IDF. Because it does share a lot of detail about its actions, and if it says it did this, then I'm ready to just call it done.

Ok: this is the only tweet from the IDF today, or since the 1st:

Al-Jazeera did tweet about it, and doesn't mention anything else about it, even on its liveblog, which the tweet links to while saying "follow our LIVE coverage."

(It does have in-person reporting there on a strike in Gaza City that killed nine, which is just similar enough to confuse me for a minute. But it wasn't 8, or a bread line, or Jabalia.

It seems to be the same thing that the IDF is tweeting about, above? Al Jazeera says an IDF strike in this location killed at least 9, including 2 children. But it's entirely possible that more people died in this strike than Al Jazeera is initially reporting.)

The Jerusalem Post has a liveblog too, which also doesn't mention anything at all around Jabalia Refugee Camp.

A lot of accounts on Twitter have just repeated what Al Jazeera said, often without any credit. But the only actual news article about it is the one above, and an even shorter one, also citing Al Jazeera, from "TASS," which is...?

Oh yeah, this checks out.

It's a Russian state-owned news agency, and one of the largest news agencies worldwide.

Just yesterday an Israeli strike killed 8 Palestinians who were waiting outside the UNRWA agency for bread. These were people who were already displaced—who lost their homes, who were grieving the death of loved ones, who have been starving for months on end since Israel completely cut aid in February—and their last moments were waiting in line for bread before an Israeli strike killed them then and there

[upsidedownwithsteve]

Love Letters: Day Two

Eddie Munson x fem!reader [1.8K] some wildflowers, sunshine x grumpy with Eddie 

THE LETTERBOX ♥

Eddie Munson was fucked. 

And not in a good way, not yet, at least. ‘Cause it was seven twenty five on Valentine’s Day and he’d only realised when Hellfire had ended - an hour after it was supposed to. He’d overheard Mike and Lucas talk about meeting the girls outside the cinema at eight, how they had to stop by their homes to pick up the gifts before the movie.

Dustin was already rushing out to the parking lot to meet Steve, his ride to Weathertop where he’d sit for god knows how long in the dark so he could talk to Suzie. It took a minute, maybe two, before Eddie connected the dots, looked at the calendar hanging behind the old desk in the corner of the classroom and swore viciously, barging past his friends and pointedly ignoring their laughter. 

“Hot date?” Steve called out to him from the driver’s window and he grimaced when he saw Eddie’s panicked expression. “Oh shit, did you forget?”

Eddie huffed out an exasperated sigh, giving in and confessing to his friend as he leaned over and clung to the window frame. “Yes! Yes, I fuckin’ forgot, ‘cause I’ve never had a girl before, Harrington, and fuck if I know what you’re supposed to do on Valentine’s Day!”

Steve grinned, selfishly enjoying the other boy’s despair. He shrugged, unhelpful as he leaned back in his seat and kept his eyes on the door for Dustin. “Were you supposed to make plans? Did she talk about it? Hint at anything?”

Eddie wracked his brain for any suggestion that you were interested in being wined and dined by him and he grimaced at the idea of having to wear a button up in a restaurant that provided him with more than one fork. But he shook his head, because you’d not said a word about the day, and it had made it a lot easier for Eddie to turn a blind eye to the pink hearts, the cupids, the red candy boxes. 

“Nothin’,” Eddie replied.

Steve pondered for a moment and then shrugged again, too casual for the way Eddie’s heart was still hammering against his chest in what could only be described as abject horror. You were the first girl Eddie had really, really liked, and by some miracle, you’d liked him too. He didn’t want to fuck it up so soon and he groaned, feeling like he’d failed some sort of boyfriend test.

“Hey, hey, look,” Steve tried to placate, “maybe you’re off the hook, yeah? Maybe she doesn’t care about that kinda stuff, just buy her somethin’ cute instead, like a--”

Dustin came careening across the lot before Steve could finish, interrupting his sentence with the slam of a door and a shrill, “drive, Steve, drive!”

Steve merely rolled his eyes and turned back to Eddie, who looked distraught. “Dude,” Steve soothed, “it’s fine, okay? Your girl isn’t that big into all that romance shit, right?”

“Steve, if I'm late, Suzie’s gonna straight up murder me!”

“Good!” Steve barked back at the younger boy, “maybe I’ll know what peace is! Shit, uh, look it’s fine Eds, you’re fine, I’ll see you later, yeah?”

Eddie didn’t get to respond before Steve was putting the car into drive and peeling out of the lot, the sounds of him and Dustin arguing barely heard over the squeal of the tires. Eddie was left in the dust, hands clenched into fists as he tried to work out what the fuck he was supposed to do. Steve was right, in a way. You weren’t huge on romance, not the over the top, cheesy, corny stuff you saw in the movies. In fact, Eddie saw you scrunch up your nose at anything that you considered over the top: the PDA couples at the mall, the huge stuffed animals at the last fair, the heart shaped boxes of chocolate, the cotton candy pink greeting cards that were the size of his Metallica poster on his bedroom door.

And that was fine, Eddie loved you for your likes and dislikes, your tough attitude, your aversion to early mornings and anything too happy. You preferred horrors to romances, a soft hand on your leg under the table over a public make out session, something for your eyes only rather than a declaration of love for everyone to see.

Eddie knew all that. He did, ‘cause he knew you better than anyone else. But he didn’t know what the fuck he was supposed to get you for Valentine’s Day. Did you want anything? Was he a shit boyfriend for not setting up a date, a surprise? Would you be more mad if he came to yours with something garishly cute? Bright pink and sweet? Or was this some kind of test? A doomed failure 

that would make him wanna kick himself?

So the boy scrambled to the van, flipping off Gareth and Jeff as they waved and laughed from their car, both of them already sparking up a joint that had been tucked in the sun visor. Eddie didn’t know where he was driving to, considering the shops at the mall were closed. The Main Street was the same, almost all of the businesses shut for the night and cloaked in darkness, the only lit windows coming from the busy restaurants that were filled with couples.

He drove to your house anyway, heading down the familiar streets that took him out by the farmers fields, the stretches of grass an inky blue in the dark and Eddie was cursing at himself until he spotted a patch of colour at the side of one field. The tires screeched as the boy braked hard, pulling over to the side of the road and leaping out, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste. 

There weren't many of them, but they were all pretty and soft coloured, a smattering of wildflowers by the edges of the wheat fields, pinks and lilacs, a burst of sharp red, a deeper violet thing amongst green stalks and leaves. Eddie grinned, an excitement bubbling in his chest, ‘cause he’d never seen any flowers in your room before. But there had always been an empty vase, a pretty blue thing that sat in the middle of your dresser, sad and unused.

Maybe it was for good reason, Eddie caught himself, a flicker of doubt in his head, maybe you didn’t like flowers, he thought. The boy certainly didn’t think you’d like the huge, overpowering bouquets from the florist on Fifth, the one with glitter covered butterflies between the petals, big, pink bows holding them all together. 

But these ones, the delicate collection that was slowly growing in Eddie’s hand, were pretty. They were modest and sweet smelling, like the mere idea of Spring clung to them, like last night's rain. Maybe you didn’t like flowers, Eddie thought again, brow furrowed. Or maybe, no one had ever given you some.

So Eddie whispered a soft ‘fuck it’ under his breath and plucked some more from the ground, gentle as he bunched them together until the colours looked nice. He took his time to wind his bandana around the stalks, trying once, twice, three times to tie it in a bow, giving up and knotting it instead. But he was happy with his creation, something that felt like pride puffing warm in his chest, and the rest of the drive to yours went with a little less panic.

Climbing the tree outside your bedroom was the easy part, and so was avoiding your dad when the man walked past the hallway window. It was easy to knock on the glass, grin at you wide and bright when you opened the curtains and stared at him wide eyed.

It was harder to present the flowers to you - the petals only a little crushed from where Eddie had stuck them in his back pocket as he climbed. The boy watched your expression as he clambered into your room, the familiar smell of your perfume engulfing him. He caught the way your eyes went a little wide, the downturn of your lips ticking upwards, if only just. But he knew you, he knew you so well and the way you bit down on your lip, the way you looked at him from beneath your lashes - fuck - it sent his heart racing.

You took in each flower, each different shaped petal, the reds, the purples, the one shocking pass of pink in the middle, all wrapped in Eddie’s black and white bandana. You took them from the boy’s outstretched hand, eyes sweeping over the blush on his cheeks and nose, his soft brown eyes that looked so unsure. 

“I don’t really care about Valentine’s,” you said quietly, but Eddie heard the way your breath hitched.

“S’aright,” he drawled back just as softly, “I wanted to get you somethin’ anyway.”

There was a beat of silence, just for a second, maybe two, and Eddie wondered if you could hear his heartbeat, the way it rattled against his ribcage. Surely you could, he thought, it was the loudest thing in the room.

And then, he saw you melt. He watched it happen, the perpetual storm cloud that hung over you (the one he adored) lifted and your face turned softer, expression going a little gooey, just for him. Your eyes shone, lashes fluttering before they closed and you crushed the petals to your face, sniffing delicately before you grinned, trying your best to hide it amongst the flowers.

Eddie caught it anyway.

He tried not to look too smug as he lazed on your bed, shoes kicked off and left at the foot of it, an arm slung behind his head as he watched you arrange each bloom in your pretty blue vase. And when you were done, Eddie beamed at you and you rolled your eyes, fingers pressed to your cheeks to try and kill your own smile but it was an impossibility.

So you crawled up the length of him, clumsy with giddiness until you were settled on his lap with your legs either side of his hips. He let you press your hands over his chest, loving it when you got touchy like this, soft like butter, sweeter than honey for him. Eddie hummed when you skimmed them upupup until they were cradling his jaw, thumbs a soft press on his cheeks.

“No one’s ever got me flowers before,” you confessed and Eddie pouted at you even though inside he was cheering, a one man celebration that only he could hear.

“No?” he replied, “that’s a damn shame, sweetheart. D’you like them?”

A loaded question, the moment of truth, another heavy silence.

And then, relief. You nodded, uncharacteristically shy about it and Eddie beamed, pulling you down to him so he could kiss your cheek, your nose, the corner of your mouth. He caught your smile with his lips and it fizzed on his skin like cotton candy. 

“Yeah,” you whispered into his neck and you kept smiling, even though you did your best to hide it from him. He could feel it anyway, a warm press of happiness on his skin and it made him hold you tighter. “Thank you, Teddy.”

[do-it-for-the-fandom]

Tuesday August 28th, 2012.

The 1am knock on her door was annoying, but not unexpected.

Castle had texted her just before lunch. Some lie about needing to finish chapters. He said he'd most likely be pulling an all-nighter to get it done so there would be no point in her staying at the loft that night.

She didn't reply.

It turned out she also ended up pulling an all-nighter. A high-priority case was dropped on her desk late in the afternoon and any ideas of going home at a reasonable hour, crawling into bed and pretending her boyfriend wasn't shutting her out dissolved into thin air. Instead, she spent the next eight hours - on top of the seven hours she'd already put in that day - trying to solve the mystery she might actually stand a chance of solving: who killed Sullivan Gretzky?

It was a little after midnight when the team finally decided to call it a night.

As she left the precinct, she replied to Castle's text. For the sake of hopefully getting a decent sleep, she decided not to push him on whatever was going on. Instead, she sent a simple hope the writing is going well.

His reply was almost instant. You're up late.

Tough case. Heading home now.

A small part of her had hoped he would reply with an insistence that she come to the loft instead.

He didn't.

He didn't reply at all.

So, when that 1am knock on the door came, she huffed and considered not letting him in.

But she missed him. Craved him. She wanted nothing more than to melt into his arms as he told her everything was okay, it was just a bad day and everything would be better now.

She opened the door and came face-to-face with a dressed down - but still ruggedly handsome, damn him - Castle. White cotton tee, old blue jeans, slightly damp hair. He must have just showered because, even with a few feet of distance between them, the smell of his soap calmed her.

"I'm sorry," he said, when she said nothing. "I reacted badly."

"Reacted to what, Castle?"

He dropped his eyes to his hands, watched his fingers tangle together anxiously.

Beckett released her grip of the door handle and took a small step closer to him. She placed her hand over his to stop his nervous fidgeting and waited for him to look at her again.

"Talk to me," she whispered. "Please."

He nodded and she pulled on his hand encouraging him to come into her apartment. When he did, she closed the door behind him and then led him to the couch, but they didn't sit.

She waited. Waited for him to be ready, waited for him to let her in.

Minutes passed in silence before he spoke.

"You know how I've been feeling a bit off, lately?" Beckett nodded, so he continued. "I went to the doctor just to make sure it wasn't some sort of vitamin deficiency or something."

She nodded again. He had told her, last week, about his doctor's appointment. He had recounted the interaction with humour, stating his doctor had more or less told him he was just 'getting old'. After having bloods drawn, he was sent on his way with a recommendation to start taking daily supplements. They'd picked up a multivitamin the next day while they were out and she hadn't thought much about it since.

"That was your doctor?" she asked, putting together the pieces of this puzzle. "This morning, on the phone."

Castle nodded.

"A multivitamin isn't gonna cut it."

[bteezxyewriter12]

Take My Picture~ Namjoon/ 1

Pairing- Namjoon x Named Reader

Word count- 1.4k

Includes- Namjoon in a tank top, bathroom sex, fingering, oral, pussy eating, cum eating, counter sex, multiple orgasms, fluff

Tag List- @mingtina @jaxxmine

@delightfulmoonbanana @tannie13 @yeosayang @itstyraaxx

@borntowalkaway

Masterlists- check out for more fics

📝Take My Picture Masterlist 📝Masterlists

📝 BTS Masterlist 📝Namjoon Masterlist

Couple for this series is from Awake without You

Namjoon POV

"Oh god", I hear a whisper, then a click

I raise my head in confusion to the sounds, spying my girlfriend across the couch, lowering her phone

"You ok babe?", I ask

She nods, looking down at her phone

Ok, weird

I finish tying my shoe then head towards her

"What are you looking at?", I ask, as I peer at her screen, seeing a picture of me

From like two minutes ago when I was tying my shoe

"You took a picture of me?", I ask, liking that a lot

She nods, her cheeks a cute shade of pink

"Why?"

"Because you looked hot Joonie. You still do. You know what you in a tank top with your arms out do to me"

I do

She goes feral

Like I do when I see her wear my shirts with nothing else on

Man I fuck her for hours then

We don't have hours now but there's still time

After we got back together, I swore I'd make more time for her

And these past months I have been

I bring her to everything she can come too, spend all my days off with her and like I promised, I'm home at night with her every single night

I know how important that is to both of us and I always make sure I'm there, holding her tightly, making sure her feet are sticking out of the covers

I haven't missed a night in eight months and I wasn't planning on starting so I brought her with me to L.A for the PTA shows

She wasn't gonna come because of work but I called her job, asked for the days off for her with pay and I paid for everything for her to come

I surprised her and she was happy and thankful but angry that I spent money on her

I told her to shush, I love her and it was nothing

She smiled but told me not to spend so much on her again

I just smiled and nodded

"It makes you super horny babe. So wet and when you're that horny you fuck me so hard"

She swallows, nodding, her legs squeezing closed

I smirk at her, "Come with me baby. I'll make you feel good"

"Joonie, you're in the middle of a concert!"

"I have time", I answer, taking her hand and leading her out of the dressing room

I have six or seven minutes tops

I can make it work

I bring her to the bathroom and close the door behind us, locking it

I quickly make sure no one else is in there before I take her in a heated kiss

Her arms go around my neck and pull me closer to her

Her tongue slides in my mouth and it's fucking amazing

I grab her and pick her up, putting her on the counter by the sink

She opens her legs and I step in between them still kissing her

I pull her dress down and her gorgeous breast jumps out

I let go of her lips and latch on to one of her nipples

She moans so loudly and I get so turned on

He arm goes around my neck and into my hair while I play with her nipple

While doing that, I slide my hand in between her legs, move her panties to the side and stick two fingers in her

God damn she's so wet already

She cries out and I start to move my fingers in and out

"God NAMJOON!", she yells

I love hearing her scream my name

"Mmm baby, so fucking wet. I love it", I mutter

Her panties make it difficult to move my fingers so I stop and rip them off.

They break easily and I toss them on the floor then move the bottom of her dress up, so her bare ass is on the counter

Then I kiss her and put my fingers back in, fucking her fast

She moans in my mouth her cunt pulsing around my fingers so nicely

Can't wait to feel it on my cock

I slide her closer to the edge of the counter so I could get a better angle

"Namjoon, Fuck"

I smile against her lips

Then she grabs my hand, pulls me out and pushes my head down to her pussy.

I love when she shows me what she wants

It's so fucking hot

Immediately I start to lick her pretty cunt, opening her legs more.

I'm tall so when I sink to my knees I can still reach her.

She tastes amazing

I can never get enough of her

My tongue slides everywhere, making her moan

Her juice goes right in my mouth, leaking all over my face

I'm aware that I have to perform in a few minutes and will probably need to get my makeup redone but I don't care

I need to taste my pussy

"Fuck Joonie, you fucking tongue, oh my god"

I smile right before I close my lips around her clit and suck on it quickly, over and over

She screams loudly and I fucking love it

"Namjoon, oh god Namjoon", she cries and I know she's going to cum

So I slide my tongue in her pussy and lick her

I love when she cums on my tongue, even more than when she does on my cock

"Namjoon!!!", she screams, her cunt squeezing my tongue hard and releasing on my tongue, in my mouth

Fucking tastes incredible

I lick and swallow all of it before I move back and stand

"In Namjoon. I want you inside baby", she whines as she fumbles with my belt.

"Whatever you want baby", I groan

She finally gets my pants undone and pulls them and my boxers down

She opens her legs and I bury my cock inside her, bottoming out in one stroke

"Fuck", I yell

"Yes", she shouts

I pull her closer to me and start moving, thrusting my entire cock in and out of her, stretching and splitting her wide open

I kiss her, then she clings on to me, arms around my neck

I pump faster and harder into her while I shout out noises

She feels so good, so tight, that I can't think

I can only feel

I hit her where I know she likes it and she screams, "There Namjoon. Harder"

I smirk and slam into her making sure I hit her there

I always know where to find her spot

I know her body so well, like she knows mine

"There baby? I'm gonna make you cum so good around my cock", I moan

She doesn't respond just makes noises of pleasure

"I know where you like it baby. Where you like my cock to hit you."

"Yes Namjoon, yes", she cries, "More, Joonie, more, don't stop"

"Don't worry baby, I'm not stopping until you cum"

I snap my hips and slam harder in her

When her pussy starts clenching my cock I know she's ready

"Namjoon!", she screams

The way she tightens and releases and tightens on me again as she cums drives me insane

"Fuck baby, yeah, keep going", I cry as I keep slamming in her, moving my thumb to her clit, rubbing furiously

"Namjoon fuck!", she shouts as she cums again, squeezing and pulling me.

"Joanne, fuck, baby", I cry as I let go and explode inside her

"Yes Namjoon", she whimpers as I fill her with my cum, the waves of ecstasy hitting me over and over

My body relaxes when I finish and I pull out, still leaning on her

She still has her arms around my neck and her head is on my shoulder as we both try to catch our breath

"I have to go baby", I tell her

"I know", she answers, lifting her head and kissing my cheek

Pulling out of her, I get my bottom clothes back up while she puts her boobs away

I help her off the counter, she wipes my cum from her then we hold hands as we hurry back to the dressing room

"Where the fuck have you been?", Hobi hisses, "We're late"

"It's fine. We're fine", I assure him, getting the jacket I need on and slipping my ear mics on, walking towards the stage as I get the rest of the things I need on

"Let's go", I say, to the guys waiting for me by the stage

They start climbing the stairs to go on when I stop

"Namjoon", Jin growls

"One second"

I turn around and walk right to her, kissing her deeply with her kissing me back

"I love you", I tell her

"I love you Joonie"

Pressing a quick kiss to her soft lips, I turn and get up the stairs, stepping onto the stage

[babymetaldoll]

DIWK - Chapter ten: "Set me free my honey bee"

Word count: 11,6K

Summary: Let's jump 19 months in time and see how painful it has turned for reader and Spencer to hide their feelings for each other. JJ leaves the team, and a new member joins the BAU.

Warnings: Angst and hurt. Fools being assholes. Cursing, of course. Mention of CM cases and spoilers on S06E11.

A/N: Please don't hate me. Just remember things usually look like the shit before they get worst, and then everything is better. I hope.

Masterlist

Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four | Chapter five | Chapter six | Chapter seven | Chapter eight | Chapter nine | Chapter ten | Chapter eleven | Chapter twelve | Chapter thirteen | Chapter fourteen | Chapter fifteen |

┅┅┅┅┅┅┅༻❁༺┅┅┅┅┅┅┅

(Y/N)'s point of view

Time is a weird thing. I remember when I was in school and time didn't pass fast enough. Semesters were eternal. It felt it had been years by the time summer vacation arrived. The complete opposite happened to me at the BAU. Suddenly, time passed too quickly. A whole year and a half went by in the blink of an eye.

I told Spencer about it, and he sent me a paper published by Professor Adrian Bejan that presented an argument based on the physics of neural signal processing. He hypothesizes that, over time, the rate at which we process visual information slows down, and this is what makes time 'speed up' as we grow older.

My answer was that I thought it happened 'cos as we grew older, we did things that actually gave us joy, which made us feel the time was passing faster than before. So we argued a whole Saturday afternoon about it and created our own theories for that event.

My theory was my personal favorite, 'cos it was the only one that could easily explain why so much time had passed in the BAU, and it felt like it had been just a few weeks.

It hadn't been easy, though. Those nineteen months had been filled with some of the worst situations we had been through as a team.

After I got shot, JJ finally admitted her relationship with Will and got pregnant. That was shocking, the first BAU baby: Henry.

Sadly, Henry was the only little good thing that happened that year. Because to sum it up, a bunch of awful shit happened to all of us: Hotch was in a car explosion that almost killed him. Spencer and Prentiss got trapped in an undercover mission into an underground cult to investigate child abuse, and Emily was beaten up pretty badly. Also, Spencer got infected with anthrax and nearly died. That was probably the most agonizing moment I had lived since the whole Tobias Hankel situation two years earlier.

Also, that year Prentiss had to investigate the case of the death of one of her best friends, and I was in a pretty nasty fight with an unsub that got me out of the field for three weeks. Not to mention, Spencer was shot in the leg.

Hotch was stabbed by the only unsub that has actually won against the BAU: Foyet. He attacked Aaron and got on the lose for months, but we all knew his next move as torture Hotch's family. That's why his ex-wife Haley and his little son Jack had to go into protective custody, and he couldn't see them for months while we tried to catch Foyet.

Things didn't go as planned. And without a doubt, the worst moment that year was the day Haley died. Foyet killed her, and Aaron lost it. He literally killed him with his bare hands the moment he got him. For a solid week, I was sure Aaron Hotchner wouldn't be the unit chief anymore. Strauss actually opened an investigation related to everything that happened that day. But in the end, somehow, she understood the "bloodbath" that had happened in that house was all in Foyet's hands.

However, there's no way to deny that the whole team had changed in many ways after that year. The concept of being a family was now more present than ever. After chasing Foyet for months, we were all onto him as if he was chasing our own family, because he was.

You don't work this kind of job with a team like mine and don't get attached to them. And this goes beyond how in love I was with Spencer. The (Y/N) who first stepped into the BAU, scared to show her true self, was long gone. And despite my deepest fears, letting them in and showing them who I really was had been one of the smartest decisions I have ever made.

Do you want to know which was my stupidest decision? Falling in love with Spencer Reid. It hadn't actually been my choice. I just didn't fight the feeling either. I don't think I could have even if I tried, though. Those nineteen months brought us so close, my mom thought we were living together, and the teasing from our friends was so common we weren't even affected by it.

For Christ Sakes, even Strauss thought we were dating! She forced us to attend a seminar on fraternization, concerned after she realized we always took our vacation together. We had a lot of fun trips, though. First, we visited his mom and had an amazing weekend in Las Vegas. Then we took a few days off after the anthrax incident and went to Hawaii. Picture Spencer Reid in an "all-inclusive," drinking all the coffee and eating all the pastries possible while reading a million books underneath an extra-large umbrella. We had fun that week, did some local touring, but most of all, sleeping in and relaxing. Spencer hates the beach but got those tickets anyway.

Did everybody think we were a couple? Yes

Did it help that we shared rooms, 'cos we were already used to it? No

Did it feel like a honeymoon without sex? Yes

Could I stop thinking about sex with Spencer? No.

And all that led us to the nightmare our relationship was going to become.

Penelope Garcia was drunk. She kept pouring shots and pushing them to us. Emily was wasted as well. But she kept acting like the classy lady she is. Not like JJ. My poor baby had mascara smeared under her eyes after crying for like an hour.

We found out she was leaving the team, and it was a hard blow on us. And by hard, I mean the worst thing that had ever happened to us. We had suffered without JJ when she was on maternity leave. And we struggled without her. Now knowing the Pentagon had taken her away from the BAU was torture.

We had a goodbye party for her at Rossi's, but this was our goodbye girl's night, and neither of us was holding anything back.

We had cried, we had sung sad songs. We drank all the champagne, wine, and vodka we could find. And now, holding our tequila shots, we knew it was time to call it a night.

- "I just love you girls so much,"- JJ whispered, crying- I don't wanna work without you.

- "Boo, come here!!"- I opened my arms and wrapped them around my friend, kissing the top of her hair a few times- "I love you too, and you are going to come back so soon you won't have time to miss us. You'll see. Papa Rossi and Dada Hotch are gonna fix everything."

I was drunk. Seriously drunk. But that wasn't the reason why I was so sweet with JJ. The truth is, I was broken-hearted. Like Penelope and Reid, I didn't manage change very well, and the fact that JJ was forced to leave made me feel frustrated and mad. But most of all, it made me think of every time I had been a little bitch with her during the years. And I regretted each one of them.

- "And we won't be far!"- Emily added and caressed JJ's arm, smiling kindly- "You will still be in town, and we will not leave you alone"- JJ chuckled and nodded.

- "I know, girls. Shit, I love you all so much!"

- "We love you too!"- Penelope sobbed and moved closer, wrapping the three of us in her arms.

- "Please, take care!"- JJ wiped off the tears from her eyes and looked at us- "Emily, don't do anything stupid! Don't rush in the field, and please don't take your fucking vest off!!"

- "I won't! I promise!"

- "You have to live to be Unit chief one day!"- JJ added, and Prentiss widened her eyes, shocked.

- "That's not really my gold."

- "But you'd be queen, baby!!"- Jareau added and turned to Penelope- "And you, please make sure Hotch eats. I kept a stack of granola bars on my desk to keep him fueled during the day. He usually forgets lunchtime and skips dinner, so..."

- "Don't worry, JJ,"- Penelope nodded, and we all felt our heartbreak a little thinking about all the things JJ did in her daily basics to take care of the team, and we didn't even know.

- "How are we going to survive without you?"- I mumbled, pouting. JJ chuckled and held my hand.

- "You are a rock, and you will do a fantastic job keeping this team together. Just, please, can you and Spencer start dating now?"

I wide opened my eyes and stared at JJ. The comment surprised me. I shouldn't, 'cos the whole "you and Spencer should start dating" joke was getting old. Only this time, JJ wasn't joking. She held both my hands and looked right into my eyes.

- "(Y/N), he loves you"- I was about to argue with her, but she covered my mouth with her Cheetos smelling hand.

- "Don't say a word! Spencer loves you so much you really must be blind not to see it. And I know you love him too. It's implied in all the little things you do for him every day. So don't take it for granted. Don't think this will last forever 'cos look at me! A week ago, I was happily working at the BAU, and now I'm drinking at my goodbye party! So don't waste any more time! You are in love with Spencer, and he loves you! It doesn't take a profiler to see it. So please! Act on it!"

There was a dramatic silence after. I didn't know how to break it. I could just joke around, but somehow, it didn't feel right. It had been too quiet for too long, and that made everything harder to deny. Finally, Emily put her hand on mine, just like JJ was still doing, and smiled at me.

- "There's nothing to be ashamed of, (Y/N). You are not the first person to fall for her best friend."

- "And the Junior G Man loves you so much,"- Penelope added, landing her hand on our hands too.

- "As his friend"- I corrected and sighed. I guess that was it. After three years, I could probably start facing my feelings in front of my friends.

- "No, (Y/N)"- Garcia tried to argue, but I shook my head and stood up, 'cos all that sudden attention and affection was bothering me.

- "PG, I was in Hawaii with the man, sharing a room, walking around in a bikini, and he didn't do anything."

- "That's because he is shy!"- Emily excused him right away.

- "My bikini leaves pretty much nothing to the imagination. Do you know what he said when he first saw me on it?"- I looked at my friend and poured us another round of tequila- "And I quote, "I don't think I brought enough books. This one is too interesting."

I air quoted with my fingers as we spoke, and the three of them looked at me, speechless. I made my point and drank my shot, feeling the alcohol burning down my throat. My friends opened their mouths but didn't produce a word. I sighed and looked at them.

- "But he hates the beach, and he took you there anyway,"- Emily pointed out

- "Did he give you his speech about how he hates sandy food?"- JJ asked me, and I chuckled, nodding.

- "And about pink skin, limited and unengaging topography, and of course, the real reason he hates the beach: drug-resistant bacteria spread by seagull feces."

- "And the man took you to the beach!"- Penelope argued.

- "But he didn't do anything! he didn't make his move, didn't even hold my hand!!"- I nearly shouted- "That's why, among a lot of reasons, is how I know Spencer is not interested in me! If only I'd tell you all the shit we've been through!"

- "Please!! Tell us!!"- Garcia begged and grabbed one of my legs- "I won't live another day 'cos I won't be able to deal with the mystery!"

- "No! 'cos you are gonna tell Morgan"- I slurred- "And he is going to embarrass and tease my honey bunny, and my honey bunny is gonna get all nervous and nervous around me, and we are never going to..."- I stopped talking and looked at my friends. I was sharing too much.

- "(Y/N)?"- Prentiss looked at me, but I just shook my head and looked down.

- "I think I better go home."

- "No, you can't drive like this,"- JJ argued immediately and held my hand- "I'm not gonna let you go intoxicated. Will is gonna come pick me up, and we'll drop you in your place."

I nodded at her and stayed still. My friends smiled at me, and slowly very slowly, I leaned on JJ's shoulder and rested my head on it.

- "I love you, boo,"- I whispered, and she giggled- "I don't think I'll stay sane without you there with us anymore."

- "Hotch is gonna manage to get her back,"- Penelope assured me, and I just nodded.

- "Meanwhile, we won't replace you, and if anyone tries to push someone new into the team, we are not gonna take them,"- I added, feeling JJ's hand holding mine.

- "Don't be mean with people just 'cos you miss me. If there's a new teammate, it won't be their fault I was pushed out of the BAU."

- "But, JJ,"- I tried to argue, but she shook her head right away.

- "No, (Y/N). You can't be mean to people just because."

Clearly, my friend hoped I could be the better person. The simple question was: did I want to be the better person? Right there, drunk and sad, the answer was no.

Spencer's point of view

I kept finding myself awake at four in the morning, walking around my apartment, not able to read or to write anything. For the last months, at least twice or three times each week, I would stay awake, no matter how tired I felt, and I would haunt my own apartment, listening to my vinyl records.

The sudden lack of sleep wasn't really something weird in me. I have always been nocturnal. Besides, the news of JJ's departure had hit us all pretty hard. I had already shared my share of tears and tried to manage the fury that caused me to know we were helpless to the government's decisions. There was nothing we could do, neither us, Hotch, or even Strauss. Not that she would if she could.

My family was in crisis, and all we could do was hope for the best and stay together.

It was scary losing JJ. It made me think of all the things that could go wrong every day on the field daily. It was bad that we could get hurt or even die on our work. But that they divided us that way made no sense. Like Rossi said: our loss was someone else's winning, and in the FBI, no one cared if we lost.

I poured myself a cup of herbal tea and inhaled the smell of it. It smelled like home. Like (Y/N). She had some of her favorite teas in my apartment. She had a bunch of all her things there, actually. When mom visited, she thought we were living together. She is still sure we are dating and that I don't wanna tell her. I don't longer argue with her about it. It's useless, and it somehow feels good to imagine in another world. It was actually true.

That year my feelings for my best friend had grown in a way that made it all more difficult to deal with. I didn't just love her. I was in love with her. She was in everything I did, in each and every one of my thoughts. I could hear her laughter in my head, like a record playing my favorite song over and over again.

When she was out there in the field, I couldn't stop running all the probabilities of her getting hurt, and most of the time, I would do my best to keep her safe, knowing it could somehow interfere with the case.

Hotch had called me to his office a few times, aware something was going with me. He could read it on my face, I guess. It was scary to know everybody could read my feelings for (Y/N) but her. And it was sad to think of the worst: that she knew how much I loved her, but she didn't feel the same, and she was just being my friend 'cos she was never going to be anything else but my friend.

I drank my tea and hummed the song that sounded in my house at four in the morning: Love is a losing game. Seemed pretty accurate for my mood. I remember the day I got that vinyl. We were out with (Y/N), Frank, and Lu, looking for a present for Mikey's birthday, and we ended up in a record store, getting a million vinyl records for ourselves.

- "Are you getting all those?"- (Y/N) asked me and looked at the seven albums in my hand.

- "Yes, why? I can't?"- I answered and raised an eyebrow.

- "Sassy!"- she giggled and grabbed them- "You can get all the albums you want. But I have to give my approval first. No, you are not getting this!"- she grabbed The Beatles' Revolver and left it aside.

- "What? Why? It's only one I need to complete my collection."

- "I know, but when you get it, you'll force me to listen to it, and I don't like the Beatles,"- she argued, and I just shook my head, taking the album again.

- "Sorry, chipmunk, I'm buying it."

- "Fine. I won't go to your house for the next couple of weeks then."

- "Why don't you tell me which album you wanna listen to when you are in my house then?"- I looked at her, smiling at me and looking for a record on the shelves.

- "This! You need some Amy in your life."

And I did. Now, at four in the morning, all alone walking around, I could see her in my apartment, singing along to her favorite songs while cooking dinner, feeling at home. I wished she was there, with me, doing nothing. Watching tv, or reading. Just hanging out. I knew it wasn't healthy being in love with my friend, seeing her every day, and also hanging out with her every chance I got. But even when I knew she was never going to love me the way I did, I was going to take every chance I had to enjoy her company. If that was all I was going to get.

My phone took me from my thoughts, and I quickly walked to my room to get it. I thought it was Hotch announcing a case, but it was JJ.

- "Hey! JJ, everything ok? Is Henry ok?"

- "Yes, hi Spence. We are all ok."

- "It's four in the morning."

- "Sorry I woke you up... I just..." - she made a pause and sighed at the other side of the line- "Spencer, you know I love you."

- "I love you too. You are one of my best friends. Is everything ok?"

- "Yes, I just wanted to... remember a bunch of years ago, when you asked me to that football game?"

A million years had passed since the one and only time I had asked JJ out. It was the only move I tried to do on her, and I failed incredibly. It was awkward, and she had no idea it was a date, so she invited Garcia to come along. I was so embarrassed I never even mentioned that single event ever again, and our friendship grew after.

- "Yes, I remember, JJ. Why?"

- "When you asked me out, did you have a crush on me?"

- "JJ, are you drunk?"- I had to ask 'cos that conversation was starting to scare me.

- "Yes, but that's not why I'm talking about this. Just answer the questions, Spence. When you asked me out on that date, did you have a crush on me?"

- "Yes, I did."

I closed my eyes, embarrassed to face feelings that were far forgotten.

- "You see, I had a crush on you too back then,"- JJ said and chuckled- "But neither of us acted on it, and life continued, and now I'm in love with Will, and we have a baby, and you are his godfather."

Of all the things I thought I would listen to that day, never in a million years, I imagined I would hear JJ drunk telling me she had a crush on me when we first met.

- "Now, do you want that to happen again?"- she asked, and I didn't get it, 'cos I was still trying to process what I had just heard. So I might have had a relationship with her if only I had said something, act on it. Kiss her, ask her out again?

- "What?"

- "Spence. Do you want to miss the chance to be with the girl you like?"

- "No, but JJ, what are you talking about?"

She sighed, frustrated, and used that tone of voice with me, that very maternal specific tone of voice she used to explain things she knew were hard for me to follow.

- "When you like someone, Spence, you have to tell her. 'Cos sometimes, life gets in the way, and if you don't do what you have to do to be happy, no one will do it for you."

- "Are you ok, JJ?"

- "Yes, Spence, I'm ok. I'm home with Will. We just got here after dropping (Y/N) off her place."

- "How was she?"

- "She might have had a few too many drinks, but she'll be ok in the morning. Maybe she'd appreciate it if you brought her coffee and donuts."

- "She doesn't like donuts,"- I corrected her- "She likes cupcakes and brownies."

- "Sorry. Coffee and cupcakes... just tell her you love her, Spence. She deserves to know."

I held my breath and closed my eyes. I didn't get why JJ was telling me that, but I knew I didn't want to talk about it. So I said good night and hung up.

What was the point of telling me we could have been a couple of years had passed already? Why didn't she say a thing before? Or even better, why didn't she ever say a word about it at all? So I missed the chance to be happy with her. Great. One more regret to add to my list.

I laid on my bed and tried to remember that date. I was so nervous that day, my hands shook inside my pockets as I walked to JJ's door. She looked beautiful that day, especially when she looked at me and announced she had invited Penelope to join us.

That was when I realized she would never see me as a proper date, just like a friend. And I learned to make my peace with that over the years. My crush for JJ lasted a few more months, but it vanished when I fell for (Y/N). What if she had never joined the team? Would I have been in love with JJ forever? Jeniffer always made me feel like her little brother, and I guess that's the mechanic that works for us. We were good friends ever since we met, and yes, I had a crush on her, but we work more like siblings than anything else.

What was the point in telling me I had missed a chance with her now? I just couldn't see it.

(Y/N)'s point of view

The next few weeks were us trying to survive without JJ. The team was making the best it could, but it was hard. Penelope took the lead during the second case without JJ. She turned into our tech analyst and communication liaison, only to collapse under the pressure of having two roles.

No one was going to replace JJ. We all knew it. Literally, no one, 'cos Hotch decided he and Garcia were going to split the job, and we were all going to collaborate as much as we could, 'cos we were a team. A family. And that's what families do.

And families were the target of the unsub we were hunting the day everything changed. Again. I hadn't recovered from the departure of JJ when Rossi and Hotch walked to the bullpen and introduced us to Agent Trainee Ashley Seaver.

My nemesis.

- "Agent trainee Seaver"- Rossi smiled at her like a proud father and looked at us as we stood up, wondering who she was- "Supervisory Special Agent Prentiss, (Y/L/N), and Morgan."

- "I've heard so much about the three of you,"- she said with the sweetest tone of voice I had ever heard. Something about that felt odd.

- "I hope it is all good- Morgan flirted right away, of course."

- "Very, sir."

- "Anything specific? I mean about me in particular?"- I turned to him and failed in holding back my chuckles.

- "Please, don't encourage him, or he will never stop talking,"- I said, and Derek elbowed me playfully. Seaver smiled at us and even blushed a little bit. She was nervous.

- "Agent Seaver is on loan to us from the academy while she is remedial training with an injury."

Hotch announced. And my stomach tightened right away. There was something wrong with that whole scene. I could feel it in my guts. But I didn't know why?

- "Concussion. Hand to hand got a little out of control."- Seaver explained and kept a silly smile on her face.

- "How's the other guy?"- Prentiss asked.

- "Don't ask."

- "I was remediated in the academy also,"- Spencer said, walking over us, and suddenly I understood why I had a bad feeling about everything.

- "Agent Seaver, Dr. Reid."

As soon as I heard Rossi say those words, there was a part of me who just wanted to hold Spencer's hand and push him away from her, even before they could say hi. She looked at him like he was eye candy, and I clenched my knuckles as I stared at the scene.

- "Uhm... What was your issue?"- she asked him, and I could see the pink on her cheek intensifying as he looked at her, confused.

- "What was my issue? Marksmanship, physical training, obstacle course, Hogan's alley. You know, pretty much everything that wasn't technically book related. They ultimately had to make exceptions to allow me into the field."

Seaver stared at him and kept nodding, though I wondered if she was listening to what he had said. Spencer looked exceedingly handsome that day. His hair was very short for the first time in years, and he still had no idea how to comb it, so it was all over the place, making him look as hot as fuck.

I was so in love with him, I didn't know what to do with those feelings at all. It was hard working with Reid at that point. I just wanted to kiss him.

- "Agent Seaver's going to accompany us to New Mexico,"- Aaron announced, and I couldn't help but question him right away.

- "She is?"

- "As a consultant."- he assured me.

- "On?"- Morgan raised an eyebrow and looked at Hotch, wondering what a trainee agent could help us with as a consultant.

- "She has a unique perspective,"- Rossi tried to explain, but it sounded like bullshit.

- "They don't know?"- Seaver turned to the elderly agents, and they shook their heads.

- "Well, we weren't sure how you wanted to,"- David whispered.

- "Uh... Seaver's not my original last name. It's my mother's maiden name. Mine used to be Beauchamp. My father is Charles Beauchamp"- Ashley was supposed to explain the circumstances of her consultancy to the whole team, but she just looked at Spencer as she spoke.

- "As in the Redmond ripper, Charles Beauchamp?"- he asked her, and suddenly, it clicked. It was like my whole body was telling me I couldn't be close to her for a reason.

- "That's him,"- she whispered and kept her eyes on my best friend as he continued talking.

- "He killed 25 women over 10 years in rural North Dakota. I think that you caught him, right, Rossi?"- and David nodded.

- "Hotch was on that team, too."

- "Based on her life experience, we were hoping that agent Seaver might recognize something in the family dynamics inside the community that could be helpful. We have a plane waiting,"- Hotch announced and looked at us, but none of us said a word.

I kept my eyes glued at my feet the whole time Aaron talked. Then, Spencer nodded and walked with Seaver and Rossi out to the hangar. I couldn't even blink. I think I was in shock.

- "Her father was a serial killer?"- Prentiss asked Hotch, not getting what he was thinking.

- "That's definitely a different set of parameters,"- Morgan added. Neither of them was sold on the idea, which made me feel a little bit better.

- "I don't want her presence to get us sidetracked. It's a long shot that she's gonna see anything helpful. We work it like any other case,"- Hotch was clear, and Prentiss and Morgan nodded.

- "You got it."

But I disagreed with that.

- "(Y/N), is everything ok?"- Aaron asked me, and I tried my best to lie and be cool.

- "Yeah, I'm ok."

- "Ok. We work this like any other case. Wheels up in twenty."

But everything was far from being ok.

I sat next to Spencer on the jet, and we reviewed the case files together. Hotch briefed us, and we all pretended it wasn't weird having Seaver there. And I guess we had to pretend it wasn't odd knowing her dad was a serial killer.

- "You are very young, (Y/N),"- she said and smiled at me. She was sitting across from Spencer and me, and you could tell she had been trying to join the conversation for a few minutes now.

-" Twenty eight,"- I answered and looked at the files again.

- "And you, doctor?"

- "You can call me Reid. I'm twenty eight too,"- Spencer cut her a short, awkward, and nervous smile, and I turned to him.

- "Honey, did I leave my Mets jersey at your house?"- it was the only question that came to my mind at that minute. It was completely random, but somehow it showed a part of our dynamic that Ashley didn't know. Our friendship. Our closeness.

- "Yes, I found it last night,"- he answered and sipped his coffee- "I was gonna bring it over, but then I remembered you always borrow all my sweaters when you are home or when you stay over, so I thought maybe it was a good idea to keep it at my place."

- "I don't know, Batsy. It's my favorite sweatshirt- I raised an eyebrow, and I'm pretty sure I even flirted a little bit."

- "So? You need to keep one there."

- "But I like wearing your clothes when we are at your place. It's extra large and extra comfy."

- "Is that why you keep taking my sweaters back to your house?"- he asked and chuckled- "Last Sunday, I found four of my sweaters in your closet."

- "Sorry, I'm not even sorry,"- I said and laughed- "And what were you doing in my closet?"

- "Lucy, Ricky, can we focus on the case?"- Morgan asked and waved at us with one silly grin on his face- "We love hearing your adorable daily adventures, but we've got a psycho killer to catch."

Spencer blushed and flustered right away. I stuck out my tongue at Morgan and just shook my head. The way Seaver looked at Reid was still driving me nuts, but I felt I had shown her he was mine, childishly.

It's embarrassing to think that's not the most childish thing I did around her those days. Or in the weeks to follow. But I didn't like Ashley, and I didn't want her around my team. And it wasn't just her constant flirting with Spencer. It was the fact her father had killed my mother's sister when she was in college, and I was making my best effort to keep that fact aside from work. My personal life had to stay out of the FBI, especially when working a case.

I had to do some serious mental work trying to remember it wasn't Ashley's fault her father was a sick bastard. She hadn't hurt my family, and her father had ruined her life too. It wasn't her fault.

But one thing is knowing. Another thing is being rational about it. Spoiler: I wasn't so rational about it.

- "So, (Y/N). Do you like working at the BAU?"- Ashley asked me and looked at me through the rearview mirror. We were in the SUV, and Prentiss was driving. I was in the back seat, trying to ignore her, but she made it impossible.

- "Yes, very much,"- I answered and nodded, not taking my eyes from the window.

- "Everybody is very friendly,"- Seaver added and made a pause. I don't know if she wanted me to say something or if she was trying to find a way to say what she wanted to say.

- "Yes, they are,"- I humored her, and she quickly responded.

- "Are you and Spencer dating?"- I could feel the blood raising my cheeks as she spoke. And Prentiss flashed me a look through the mirror as Ashley continued talking.

- "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude. I just wondered because of the fraternization policy."

- "Right. Sure. Of course."

Those three words were meant to let Ashley know I wasn't buying her bullshit, So I literally spit them.

- "Spencer is my best friend. We are not dating."

Facing that simple truth had never been harder before, especially after how I saw Ashley's face light up.

- "You just seem to be so close."

- "Oh, they are close,"- Emily smiled at me and winked- "They are so close, they sometimes freak us out."

- "We freak you out?"- I raised an eyebrow and carefully hit her arm, pretending to be upset. But honestly, I was glad she was teasing me.

- "I am just saying, we are all pretty suspicious about you two. I am actually surprised you didn't share rooms tonight. They usually share rooms."- Emily explained to Seaver.

- "He was paired with Morgan,"- I pouted and looked at my phone. I thought maybe I could send him a funny text. I actually wanted to hang out with him.

- "He is very nice,"- Ashley added- "I mean, everybody is nice."

- "Yes, you mentioned it"

I was clearly not being nice. Seaver nodded and looked at the files again. I assumed she was trying to find a way to keep asking about Spencer, and I was making my best not to kill her.

- "Working with a genius must be somehow intimidating,"- she said after a few minutes. Damn it, she wasn't going to let that subject go.

- "It's fun working with Spencer,"- Prentiss said, trying to humor Seaver. And mostly, I guess trying to ease my mood and keep me from killing the trainee agent.

- "I'm sure it is,"- Seaver added. I hated her.

- "He is more than just a genius, he is a nerd."- Emily pointed out and chuckled at her words, making Seaver giggle too. I looked at my book again, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to concentrate on it at all. He was my nerd. Mine.

- "Well, it's very refreshing to be with a group who trusts and works so well together,"- she added- "I had never felt less judged and more welcome in my entire life."

I know I should have felt sorry for her. But I honestly couldn't. That was the day I realized I wasn't the good person I thought I was. There was a part of me that was a scumbag. I'm guessing knowing that is pretty helpful and positive 'cos you can work on your flaws. But I wasn't planning on working on anything at that minute, though. I just wanted to break Seaver's face.

Spencer's point of view

I didn't like working without JJ. I've never been good with change, and that was a massive alteration of our routine. I missed her, and adding Ashley to the team made things even weirder for me, even for a case. I didn't want to be judgemental, but her father was a serial killer. Of course, that would make things weird.

Besides, everybody kept bugging me, teasing me, trying to see if I liked Seaver. Penelope called while we were on the case and started taunting me, saying she knew I thought Ashley was cute. I could see she was beautiful, but I couldn't see her that way. And I didn't want anyone to say those kinds of things around (Y/N).

Why did I care so much?

I didn't want to face it 'cos I knew it was completely platonic, but I didn't want (Y/N) to think I had a crush on Seaver. I knew my best friend didn't have romantic feelings for me, and I also knew I wasn't going to make a move on her or anything. But I didn't want things to change more than they already had. And most of all, I didn't want anything to alter my dynamic with (Y/N).

But at the same time, somehow, it felt everything was already different between us.

- "Hey, honey bunny,"- (Y/N) walked to me and handed me a cup of coffee- "I thought you might need one of these."

- "You are a lifesaver,"- I whispered and sipped the cup. It was perfect.

We were on the jet on our way back home. The whole team was mostly quiet. The mood was weird. Ashley had done something quite reckless earlier and nearly got herself killed. She walked to the unsub's house all alone, not knowing he was our guy. She almost died, and none of us can even imagine what went through her head to do such a thing.

Rossi and Hotch walked to her. (Y/N) looked at me, and I could read on her face that both of us knew what was going to happen.

Ashley was alone when David sat in front of her, and Hotch stood in the middle of the aisle. Maybe that had been insensitive of us. Neither of us tried to contain her. Neither of us really knew her that well. Or at all, as a matter of fact.

- "You were not supposed to go off on your own."- Hotch went straight to the point.

- "I know,"- she whispered, and I could see how (Y/N)'s face changed. I tried to read her, but all I was able to see was... anger? I had to be wronged. She had no reason to be mad at Ashley.

- "You could have been killed,"- Hotch crossed his arms on his chest and stared at her.

- "I know that, too."

- "Why, Ashley? You're smarter than that"- Rossi sounded like a worried father. I didn't look at him 'cos I kept my eyes on (Y/N)'s, still trying to read her emotions. But what I saw made no sense. She really looked like she was angry at Ashley. Like she hated her.

- "I never got to apologize to any of the victims. The families of the women my father killed. I thought if I could just apologize to one family that had been hurt that way..."

And that was when (Y/N) snapped. She jumped from her seat and walked to Seaver. Aaron and David looked at her surprised, and Morgan turned to me, taking off his headphones. Neither he nor Prentiss got what was happening until that moment.

- "Ok. Shoot!"- (Y/N) sat right in front of Seaver, next to David, and looked at her. But she didn't get it.

- "What? What are you talking about?"

- "You just said you wanted to apologize to one of the families. So go ahead. Try."

The silence on the jet was so deep and awkward it felt no one was ever going to talk again.

- "I'm sorry, (Y/N). But I don't get what you are implying,"- Ashley's voice was a whisper. I knew she was sad and affected, embarrassed even. But I also knew (Y/N), and I could read it on her face. She wasn't joking.

- "You said you wanted to apologize to the family of one of your dad's victims, so go ahead. Apologize to me."

My first instinct was to stand up, which I did. But I froze and didn't take a step closer to (Y/N) when I noticed the severe and cold look in her eyes. I didn't know what she was talking about. But I knew she wasn't bluffing.

- "Why should I... apologize to you?"- Ashley asked her, and her voice broke at a certain point, probably scared of the answer.

- "Your dad killed my mother's older sister. She was in college,"- (Y/N) spit each word with hate and looked at Ashley, waiting for her reply. But Seaver didn't know what to do. She widened her eyes and stayed still. She barely kept her breathing steady.

- "(Y/N), maybe we should let Seaver rest,"- Hotch landed a hand on her shoulder, but my friend shook her head.

- "No, Hotch. By making that choice, she put everyone at risk,"- (Y/N) didn't take her eyes from Ashley as she spoke- "As far as I remember when you are at the academy, they teach you that in the field, we are responsible to and for your team."

- "(Y/N)... I had no idea..."- Ashley tried to apologize, I could see it, but it was clear she wasn't going to win that argument- "I am so sorry."

- "I don't know, Seaver. Did you think saying "sorry" would make those families feel better? 'Cos it ain't working here. "Sorry" won't make my mom stop feeling guilty about what happened. And, if things had gotten ugly back there, "sorry" wouldn't have made your mistake go away in case anyone would have gotten hurt. So no. Sorry doesn't help. Maybe it can ease your conscience, but when you really fuck it up, it never makes things better."

(Y/N) stood up and walked back to her seat in front of me. I let her pass and didn't say a word. I knew she wouldn't want to talk about it there. And, of course, Seaver didn't say a word. She just stood up and walked to the back of the jet, to the bathroom. Rossi and Hotch looked at each other and then looked at me.

David poured a glass of whiskey and walked to (Y/N) slowly. He didn't say a word, he just handed it to her, and she just took it and sipped it with shaky hands.

- "Thanks,"- she whispered, and Rossi nodded. Hotch raised an eyebrow, and for a moment, I thought he was going to say something, but he didn't. He just walked to his seat and opened a case file.

I moved back to my seat and opened my satchel. I had run out of candies earlier that day, so I didn't have much to give to her that could make her smile. So I picked a book and handed it to her. She took it and smiled at me kindly. I knew she was fighting back the tears, and I am sure she has held back all the emotions than being with the daughter of the man who killed her aunt since she knew who Seaver was. And she managed to do the job well. I was proud of her.

- "Wanna grab something to eat when we reach DC?"- I whispered, but for the first time ever, she shook her head.

- "I'm gonna have to catch a rain check for that dinner. I think I wanna go straight to my bed today, honey."- she sipped her glass again, and I nodded.

- "Don't worry, next time."

I was waiting for the train to go back home later that night when I saw Seaver sitting at a bench at the station, staring at her hands on her lap. I didn't see her leaving the BAU, though to be honest, I was really focused on finishing my paperwork to go home. (Y/N) had left as soon as we reached DC, but I had stayed a little longer.

I hesitated for a few seconds before I took a few steps closer and waved at Seaver. She looked at me surprised, as soon as she saw me, but didn't move. I smiled, trying to look friendly, and sat next to her.

- "Hi. What are you doing here?"- I asked her, and she shrugged.

- "I was going to go home, but I think I sat here half an hour ago and haven't been able to move,"- I turned to her and shook my head.

- "Do you want to eat something?"- after what had happened at the jet, I figured Ashley wasn't feeling so good, and maybe talking with someone could help her. She looked at me and blushed; I don't know why. But at least, she smiled and nodded.

- "Great, pizza?"

- "Pizza sounds good."

We were waiting for our food and making small talk. I kept giving Ashley pizza facts to fill the silence 'cos it was weird hanging out with Ashley. I didn't know her, really. We had worked a case together, but that didn't mean I knew her. And, of course, we had the whole jet incident. I felt a little guilty about what had happened, though it wasn't my fault at all in retrospect. I just felt like it was my job cheering her up a little bit after everything she had gone through.

- "How do you do it?"- she asked me all of a sudden- "How do you deal with the pressure of this job?"

- "You get used to it, I guess. I don't know if it's a good thing to get used to, but... it comes with the job, I think,"- I didn't know if I was doing ok comforting her. Then again, I have never been particularly good at it. Not then, not now.

- "Did you always dream about doing this?"- she asked me, and her eyes locked into mine in a way that made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

- "Y... yes. Ever since I was a kid, catching the bad guys,"- Seaver nodded and sipped her coke- "You? Why did you get into the academy?"

I regretted my question right after I asked, just 'cos I realized she might have done it to understand her father's behavior. It was only apparent that had shaped her actions.

- "I guess you know that..."- Ashley answered and smiled, her eyes looking straight into mine. I know I blushed. She is a beautiful woman, though I wasn't thinking about her that way. It was an odd feeling being observed that way.

I was glad our pizza made it to the table, and we were forced to stop talking, and I could focus on anything else but her. Not that I didn't want to look at her, but... I think the right way to explain it is to call it "uneasy." That's how I felt. I wanted to be friendly with her, she had a horrible experience consulting with the team, and I was sure she wasn't really having a good day.

- "This might sound weird, but... do you think I can call you sometime?"- Ashley asked after a few minutes. We were eating and talking about nothing important. I nearly chook at her words and looked at her, nodding.

- "Sure, why?"- I didn't mean to be rude. I just didn't know why she might need to talk to me again.

- "I just think maybe you could help me with a few assignments at the academy."

- "Yeah, of course."

Ashley Seaver smiled and nodded at me, pleased. She took a sip of Sprite, and I could read her, trying to find the words to continue speaking.

- "I'm glad. I was sure you were going to say no."

- "Why?"- I furrowed my brows, confused- "I'm not a big fan of phones, but I can handle a casual phone call."

- "No, I just didn't think your girlfriend would like... I mean, I think (Y/N) hates me, and as her boyfriend, I thought you... would... I don't know."

- "I'm, we are... we,"- I was completely flustered as I tried to rearrange my thoughts. Seaver looked at me innocently and waited for my words.

- "(Y/N) isn't my girlfriend"- it bothered me to admit that simple fact. Why? 'Cos it hurt to think we looked like a couple, but we weren't. Why did Seaver think we were together?

- "Really? But..."

- "She is my best friend,"- I explained poorly. She nodded and hesitated before saying what she was thinking. It was obvious she was trying to arrange the words in her head.

- "It's just that you two... sorry, I'm overstepping,"- Ashley blushed and shook her head- "She is... strong."

- "Yes, very."

- "I think I started with the wrong foot with her."

- "Well, I don't mean to justify anything, but if your father hurt,"- I made a pause, trying to find a way to say it that wasn't so painful.

- "Killed. My father killed her aunt,"- she corrected me with a cold and monotonous tone of voice. I just nodded and sipped my water.

- "She is an amazing person,"- I don't know if I was trying to excuse (Y/N)'s earlier behavior or if I just loved her so much I needed to tell people how awesome she was.

- "I'm sure you will pass this,"- I assured her- "Once you get to know her, and she gets to know you."

- "I don't think she will give me that chance. Besides, I was just clear to assist with only one case."

- "If you want to stay, you can request your remedial training be here. And if Hotch approves it, I could talk to (Y/N). I'm sure she will like to know you better."

Why did I say all that? I had no idea.

- "Thank you, Spence. You are really sweet,"- Ashley moved closer and held my hand. I stayed very still, absolutely awkward.

- "Yeah, I don't... like... holding hands,"- I quickly moved it away and tried to smile at her. She stayed still, not understanding my reaction but trying to act normal.

- "Sorry."

- "That's ok. I'm a germaphobe, that's all."

After pizza, we left the place and said goodnight. I told Ashley I was weary (which was, in fact, the truth) and got her a cab to take her home. After that, I walked to my place. I felt like I needed to be alone for a while. My head was overwhelmed, and in the latest couple of weeks, I had severe trouble sleeping.

I had migraines that nearly blinded me. I was scared they meant I could develop the first signs of schizophrenia, like mom, 'cos they were coming more and more often. It wasn't that bad yet, the light didn't hurt my eyes, and I didn't have any sign of hallucination, but still, I knew it could be serious.

I tried to think of a reason why I might be having those severe headaches. I was eating correctly, mostly 'cos (Y/N) forced me to eat. No, she didn't force me, but she made sure I had all my meals at work, not just coffee. And usually, at the weekends, we would spend our time together, and she was a fantastic cook. So it wasn't an alimentary issue.

I wasn't sleeping well. That wasn't new, but it was getting serious. I wrote and read a lot at night 'cos I couldn't fall asleep until late. I didn't know why. I just couldn't rest. My body ached, and my brain wouldn't sleep. The only nights I could actually get some rest were the ones when (Y/N) stayed with me. It was a blessing when Hotch paired us to share rooms, 'cos I could easily fall asleep when she was around. Her presence soothed me in a way that I didn't understand. Let me put it this way, I know it might sound cheesy, but the beating of her heart set the rhythm for my own, and at night it would bring me peace.

I reached home that night and sighed. I knew I wasn't going to rest easy. (Y/N) wasn't there with me. So I made myself a cup of herbal tea, (Y/N) had a lot of those in my house, and I drank them when I missed her. The smell coming from the cup made me feel like she was close.

How pathetic I had become! But I could only share those thoughts with myself. No one knew I had feelings for her, and I was going to deny it till the end, no matter what had JJ said. I couldn't take that phone call from my mind, and on those sleepless nights, I kept overthinking and overanalyzing everything.

I got into bed with a few books and my cup of herbal tea. I took a look at my cell phone, two new messages.

- "I miss u"

(Y/N) sent, and a warm feeling spread on my chest as I imagined her whispering those words as I read them

- "Breakfast tomorrow before work?"

- "See you at seven-thirty."

I typed and sent it.

What could ever happen if I told her how much in love I am with her? I would lose her, and I'd be alone. She didn't feel that way for me. It was a fact. I was just glad she was my best friend, and I could share everything with her. Was I pathetic? Yes, very, but in a way, it felt it was just all I deserved. Not more, not less. Just being in love with a girl who didn't love me back.

At least she wasn't dating Paul anymore. I hated that guy.

(Y/N)'s point of view

Spencer was waiting for me outside our usual coffee shop, already holding two cups of coffee. His short hair looked dreamy as she smiled and took off his sunglasses. It had to be illegal being that hot. But, seriously, how didn't he get laid? He was fucking dreamy. In the four years we had been best friends, I saw Spencer in many hairstyles, and each of them made him look like a model.

Falling in love with Spencer Reid had been a process I hadn't actually been fully aware of. But I was completely conscious I needed to hide those feelings from him and from everybody at the BAU.

Ok, fine, I had somehow faced part of those feelings in front of my drunk best buddies at Penelope's house, but I never actually confirmed anything. I had just... shared some of my frustrations, I guess.

- "Good morning, honey bunny,"- I smiled and sighed as I stood in front of Spencer, watching him grin back at me and hand me one of the coffee cups.

- "Good morning, chipmunk. Did you get some rest?"

- "Yes, I fell asleep as soon as I reached my bed. I was exhausted."

- "I'm glad you are fully rested."

- "What did you do yesterday?"

- "Nothing,"- he answered quickly and turned around- "I got you a carrot muffin to go."

- "Thank you so much. I'm starving. I didn't even have dinner yesterday."

- "Really?"

- "I told you, I reached home and crawled into my bed."

We walked outside the coffee shop in silence. Spencer bit his donuts, and I ate my muffin. It was nice and calming being with him doing domestic things in life.

I hated how much in love I was with him 'cos I knew I had to shake that feeling away. He was never going to have feelings for me. I was a regular human being, and Spencer Walter Reid was a genius. He deserved better, he was actually never to think about me that way, and I refused to ruin our friendship with those feelings.

- "So, Comic-con is coming. What are we doing this year?"- I asked as I drove us to Quantico.

- "I was thinking we should do something classic,"- he looked at me, nearly beaming on his seat- "We haven't done Star Wars yet."

- "Really?"- I frowned, confused- "All these years? Are you sure?"

- "(Y/N), eidetic memory,"- he argued, and I chuckled- "So, how do you feel about Leia?"

- "Do I have to be Leia 'cos I'm a girl?"- I asked him, and he flustered right away.

- "What? No, you can be whoever you want to be. I was just, it came to my mind... I didn't,"- I giggled and looked at him for a second.

- "I'm messing with you, Batsy. I always wanted to dress as Leia. Surprisingly, I never had. Padme once, it was a mess, but never Leia. Who are you planning to be?"

- "Maybe Luke... or Obi-Wan. Morgan suggested C3PO once."

- "If I'm Leia, you should be Han,"- I don't know why I said that out loud. I thought about it, I pictured it in my head, but I knew I shouldn't have said it. Then why did those words leave my mouth? I don't know.

- "Han Solo... yes... yeah, sure. Of course! We can pick our outfits this weekend."

- "Great! What do you think would look better? Slave Leia or classic all in white Leia?"- Spencer didn't answer. He just sipped his coffee and looked outside the window.

- "You would look good in both,"- his cellphone interrupted our conversations, and I thought it might be a case. But I was so wrong, it hurt.

- "Hello? Oh, hi, Ashley,"- I nearly hit the break as soon as I heard him saying her name, but instead, I turned around and looked at him.

- "Good, yes. On my way to work with (Y/N). Oh, that's good."

I didn't care what she was saying. I just needed to know why that bitch was calling him. I was blind in jealousy, and I was having a hard time hiding it.

- "Really? Emily? That's... that's great. Sure, we'll see you around, gotta go. Bye."

- "What the fuck?"- I swear, I didn't think what I was saying. Those words just slip through my lips straight from my guts. I hated Seaver.

- "That was Ashley."

- "Figured when you said "Hi Ashley." What? Are you best friends with her now?"

- "What? No! No way! She just wanted to say hi... and... She.... asked for my number 'cos she wanted to help her with some of the academy's projects,"- Spencer was so nervous he actually stuttered as he answered my simple question.

- "Of course, she did,"- my voice was bitter and hurt, but most of all, ironic. And I don't know if Spencer didn't want to understand me or actually didn't get the hint, but he just continued talking.

- "She wanted to tell me she requested her remedial training be at the BAU."

- "What?!"- that wasn't subtle. I actually yelled- "I'm gonna have to see her again?"

- "If Hotch approves..."

- "Fuck!! That's awful!!"- I hit the wheel, frustrated.

- "She's not a bad person, (Y/N). Her dad was a murderer, but that doesn't mean..."- I turned to look at Spencer for a second, and he just shut up- "Sorry."

- "I don't like her, Spencer."

- "Yes, I know."

- "Her dad killed my aunt!!"

- "I know..."

- "And on top of that, that bitch is..."

I had to bite my lips and focus on the road, actually holding my breath for a few seconds, just not to open my mouth and ruin it all.

The main reason why I hated Ashley Seaver wasn't just because of what her father had done. That itself was enough to keep her away. But on top of that, she was flirting with Spencer. She wasn't even subtle about it; she was nearly all over him. I saw her! She wanted him, and he had no idea! He was blind to her attention. Unless he liked it. Did he? Shit, I hoped not.

- "She what?"- Spencer whispered, scared of my reaction.

- "She plays the pity card the whole time. Bad things happen to all of us. You don't have to make it who you are, she does, and she expects sympathy."

I grabbed my muffin and took a big bite of it. Spencer sighed and stayed quiet for a moment, giving me space to decompress, I think.

- "Did you know the origins of carrot cake are disputed by many countries?"- I looked at Spencer, and he nodded- "Many food historians believe carrot cake originated from the English recipe of carrot puddings, eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages when sugar and sweeteners were expensive, and many people used carrots as a substitute for sugar."

- "My mom would fight all those historians and convince them she invented it. Her carrot cake is the best."

- "And I would agree, the cake she baked for your last birthday was amazing."- I nodded and heard him chuckle as I kept my eyes on the road. I wanted to focus on the memories of my last birthday and how fun it was, but something was bugging me.

- "And why did she call you to tell you what she wanted to do?"- I parked the car outside the BAU and turned to Spencer. He opened his mouth, but no word came from it. So I asked him again.

- "Honey, why did Seaver call you to announce she would take the remedial training at the BAU?"

- "It... might... had been my idea,"- he whispered and held his satchel tight against his body. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't believe it.

- "Why on earth did you do that, Spencer?!"- I shouted as I got out of the car, grabbed my purse, my clean go bag in case we had a case, and started walking towards the building.

- "It wasn't like a suggestion. She just..."

- "I can't believe it!!"

- "It doesn't have to be that bad! It's just for a few weeks..."

- "Hopefully, Hotch won't accept."

- "(Y/N), come on,"- Spencer held my hand and stopped me- "This is not like you. Yeah, you don't like her, but you are making it a big deal, and it's not."

- "I'm starting to think you are crushed on her,"- I didn't want to say those words. They just slipped.

- "What!? Why? No!! I'm not!"- the high pitch on Spencer's voice was a clear sign of how uncomfortable he was with the conversation.

- "Then why are you defending her?"

- "I am not! I'm just saying maybe you are acting a little bit... irrational about this whole thing. She hasn't done anything bad."

- "Other than jeopardizing the whole case yesterday?"

- "Right, other than that..."

I felt Spencer's hand in mine, and I swear, I couldn't stop thinking about how it felt. It kept sending shivers all over my body. His thumb rubbed small circles on my skin, probably trying to calm me down, and it worked. I followed it with my eyes for a second as I took a few deep breaths and nodded.

- "Ok, I won't make a big deal if she stays."

- "Thank you."

- "Just... don't ask me to be her friend."

- "You don't have to be her friend."

Spencer stood in front of me and smiled. I swear all I could think of was kissing him. And a part of me felt it was getting harder and harder to resist. He put on his sunglasses and kept his hand in mine for a moment until Penelope's voice took us from our little bubble.

- "Good morning, my wonder babies!! Ready to fight crime?"

I actually didn't know what I was getting into.

Hotch had taken the day off. We were around the one-year anniversary of Haley's death, and according to what Rossi explained to us, Jack wasn't feeling so good. It was said it would be just a day or two, but I had the feeling it might be a couple of weeks. Hotch would always put himself second, but he would do whatever it took to keep him safe when it came to his son.

Morgan had been asked to take a trip to Petersburg Federal Correctional Complex to do a risk assessment on a case, so Spencer, Prentiss, and I were in the bullpen. Garcia was in her office, and Rossi was in a meeting with Strauss. I'd say it was a very calm morning, catching up with all the pending paperwork we had. Spencer had just gotten me a cup of coffee when I heard Seaver's cheerful voice.

- "Hi guys!"- she walked in with a big smile and waved- "How are you?"

Spencer looked at me as we all said our hellos. I could almost read "Please, be nice" written all over his face, and for a moment, I was willing to do as told. I didn't want him to suspect why I was so annoyed by her after all.

- "I talked to Hotch"- Emily smiled at Seaver and moved a chair for her- He signed off your remedial training, and I'll be your training agent. I'll supervise your work. I already told Rossi too, so it's official.

Ashley jumped from her chair and hugged Emily. I rolled my eyes and stared at the file on my desk. I really wasn't ready to deal with her. I wasn't prepared to deal with someone trying to steal Spencer from me.

Ok, Spencer wasn't mine to keep, but we had been inseparable for four years, and I didn't want to lose that. I didn't want to lose him.

I had never been ready to deal with Spencer dating other girls. The few times girls had hit on him had been awful. Once, Morgan took him to a club when we were on a case, 'cos the unsub was picking his victims there, and he taught him how to pick up girls. The bartender ended up giving him her number 'cos my dorky best friend was charming. Derek still remembered that moment from time to time, quoting it as "The day he turned Spencer into a man."

I loved Derek, but fuck, I hated him sometimes.

- "Welcome to the team,"- Spencer waved at Seaver from his desk and turned to me, raising an eyebrow.

- "Yeah, welcome,"- I added and cut her a short smile.

- "I'm thrilled to join you guys for a few weeks. I always dreamt of being here. I'm ready for making it up after the last case."

- "Don't be so hard on yourself,"- Prentiss interrupted her and smiled friendly- "You remained calm under pressure, and the case was solved. That's all that matters."

I had to control myself not to snort after Emily's words. Instead, I kept my eyes locked on my desk like I had done before. I was so focused on it that I could have actually developed telekinesis skills and moved the freaking file with my eyes.

- "I just wanted to say thank you to all of you,"- Seaver's voice was soft, in a mix of fear, excitement, and... something else I couldn't read.

- "Especially you, Spencer. I really enjoyed our talk last night, and I have the feeling I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Thank you for the pizza. I owe you dinner."

- "Don't, it was nothing,"- Spencer flustered and stood up quickly, grabbing his pile of files and walking away, arguing he needed to ask Garcia something.

I did my best not to move a muscle. I didn't want Seaver to know how much I hated the fact she had shared what seemed to be a lovely evening with Spencer. One he didn't actually mention when we talked about what we had done the previous evening. Why did he decide to keep me in the dark? I couldn't understand that. Maybe he just didn't want me to know he actually had feelings for Seaver. Maybe he had asked her out, and because he knew I hated her (though he really didn't know why), he decided not to tell me what was going on.

I had been wasting all that time in love with Spencer. I knew I would never act on those feelings, and clearly, he didn't have feelings for me. So... maybe it was time to let him go.

How could I let Spencer Reid go when I never actually had him?

–

DIWK Taglist:

@all-tings-diego @big-galaxy-chaos @muffin-cup @shilohpug @eternalharry @tvandfanfic @fandomtrash2405

Spencer taglist

@calm-and-doctor

General Taglist

@spenxerslut @ash19871962 @babebenhardy @meowiemari @archer561

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Next update: June 16th, 2021

[coldmilkcreamery]

Luminescent Moonlight

𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: nct dream x male reader 🥀🌹

𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 1862

𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: y/n sneaks out of the dorms every friday night. the dreamies notice and follow him only to find out that…

𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴/𝘀: degradation; swearing

𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘆 🌙

𝗮/𝗻: uhh... idk how to feel about this? at first i was proud of it but now reading it i'm like... meh but enjoy ig ^^ this marks the last day of our launch week, which means we won't be posting daily anymore :(( we have 2 requests and we're working on them, if you have any feel free to drop it at the ask box !! good night <33

> 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 <

-

Both hands on the clock point at 12 again, signaling Y/N’s departure from the NCT dorms. As their newest and youngest member, Y/N was thought of as the sweetest, purest, and on top of all, most respectable member of NCT. He graduated Neo High with honors, was friendly on campus and auditioned for SM only once, unlike the sea of trainees who had to audition for more than three times. Because of this, he was viewed as this innocent prince once SM told the boys that he would be joining NCT. But, just like any cliché scenario, none of them knew of what Y/N did in the dead of night, when the moonlight shone on the city and no one knew him, not even by his silhouette.

✦ 𝙨𝙞𝙭 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 ✦

“Has anyone noticed Y/N during the weekends recently? He usually isn't sleeping on his bed when he’s supposed to be.” Shotaro asks, genuinely worried about him.

“He probably just goes to the comfort room and stays in there for the whole night or something, no biggie.” Jeno says sarcastically, shoving a mouthful of popcorn into his mouth as he blabs his mouth.

“Hm,” Jisung mumbles, skeptical of Y/N’s actions, “there is definitely something up with him.” Jisung wasn’t one to get jealous often but with the addition of Y/N into NCT, the beloved, innocent, has-never-committed-a-sin Y/N, the attention wasn’t on him anymore. He was a tad bit jealous, but he would never admit that out loud.

“So what do you wanna do about it then?” Jeno replies, still staring straight at the television playing Titanic, “Confront him about it? It’s not like he’s gonna budge. What are you gonna do then, force him to tell you? Huh?”

“Quit being an asshole Jen.” Jaemin slaps Jeno sitting beside him, a frown on his face.

“How about we just, you know, pretend to sleep and wait till he gets up and leaves, then follow him?” Sungchan suggests, equally as worried as Shotaro. Both the former and the latter know how hard it is to be new members of a group that has already debuted. So, they felt the need to let Y/N know that he didn’t have to keep leaving the dorms, for an escape or whatever.

“Then it’s decided,” Jeno speaks up, finally peeling his eyes off the television, “tonight, we find out what the fuck Y/N has been doing for the past 6 weeks.”

✦ 𝙨𝙞𝙭 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 ✦

Y/N rises up from his bed, making extra effort not to make a noise. He grabs the hickory duffle bag from under his bed and unzips it to check if he’s had everything for his night out ready. He zips it back just seconds after and drapes it over his shoulder, getting ready to leave. He pulls his hoodie up and ties his black converses before opening the wooden door and leaving the Dream Dorms, oblivious to the boys’ plans.

Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, Sungchan, Shotaro and Jisung are led from the warmth of their dorms into the cold autumn night as they follow the figure wearing a black hoodie in front of them. The 8 boys walk for what seems like hours, crossing street to street, going through alley to alley, main road to main road as they do nothing but stay in silence and tail the (H/C) boy in front of them. They don’t know how many neon signs they’ve passed by now, only noticing how red ones become more and more evident as they venture deeper into the city.

“I think we’re in the red light district.” Haechan blurts, being met with shushes from the 7 other boys he was with. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Y/N of course, who pauses and turns around, only to look at a dark, empty street behind him. Y/N furrows his brows, confused, as he resumes his amble towards his destination.

Hiding behind garbage bins, the 8 boys sit in disgust as they hide from Y/N, scared of being caught halfway through their stalking session. Haechan peeks his head out and speaks up once again, but this time quietly, “The coast is clear.” All 8 stand up synchronized, noses scrunched as they glare at Haechan.

“No shit sherlock,” Chenle whisper-shouts, hues of scarlet and crimson decorating his face, “it’s red everywhere! Of course we’re in the red light district!”

The others giggle as they stare at Chenle.

“No, you dumbass,” Haechan replies calmly, “a red light district is like a place full of clubs and.. you know…” He trails off as the other seven’s brows furrow.

“Let’s not jump into conclusions,” Sungchan cuts him off, remaining positive, “let’s just keep following him.”

They sneak behind Y/N once again, trying their best not to get caught. It was only a minute or two before they saw Y/N turn a corner. The 8 slowly creeped up on the opening of the alley, just in time to see Y/N enter a building with an indigo sign, which stood out in the sea of bright, neon red signs.

“You don’t think… he’s a…” Jaemin spoke up as all of them shared a glance. The eight of them stood in silence, too scared to speak up, under the illusion that Y/N may be a male stripper. That wouldn’t be a problem but he was… 17.

“Only one way to find out.”

♪♪♪♪...

The deafening music boomed from the speakers, resonating into the indigo aesthetic of the club. Contrary to the word, this side of the club was the opposite of aesthetic: sweaty bodies stuck together, giving the 8 boys an unsettling feeling. They had almost started contemplating on leaving the said club, but not before Jaemin spots a quiet section, free of the sweaty bodies grinding against each other. It wasn’t free of people, per se, as there were a few people making out here and there, but it definitely wasn’t as congested as the indigo dance floor they had previously stood on. They saw vacant seats at the bar and, just like anyone who had been walking and hiding for 30 minutes, took a seat. All 8 of them had their backs turned away from the bar as a familiar voice spoke up.

“What can I get for you?” Y/N asks, a smile forced on his face. Y/N’s blue velvet suit shimmers under the spinning disco ball, exhibiting various accents of blue. Azure, cobalt and lapis and sapphire compliment Y/N’s face as he looks down, glass in one hand and towel on the other, wiping. He’s wearing nothing but a blue velvet blazer as a top, chest out as if he was as the beach. The boys turn around, mouths agape and unable to speak. They lock eyes with Y/N when the latter looks up due to the long, uncomfortable silence, eyes wide open, his body frozen in shock.

Attempting to cover his exposed chest, Y/N drops the glass and immediately places his hands flat on his chest, the feeling of fear, embarrassment and surprise devouring him.

“Y/N what the fuck?” Jeno blows up, completely losing his self control, “What the fuck are you doing in this… this.. strip club? You’re sev-”

Y/N unsticks his palms from his chest and re-sticks it onto Jeno’s mouth, shushing the older. “Shhh. let’s…” he pans his eyes from left to right, staring into his hyung’s disappointed faces, “let’s talk outside. Wait for me.”

The boys head towards the exit as they pass by the cramped dance floor once again, the silver disco ball spinning endlessly above them. They exit the club, the chilly breeze of the autumn night slapping them on the face once again as they step out. They wait in silence, leaning on the wall, occasionally staring at the indigo sign above them. Just as Chenle was about to break the silence, the cushioned doors of the club open slowly, revealing a boy in a more decent outfit. Y/N steps out, head burning holes into the stone floor. As soon as the doors of the club seal shut, all 8 of them went into chaos.

“What the fuck?”

“Is this what you’ve been doing for the past 6 weeks?”

“What are you doing with your life?”

“I can’t believe you’re actually a fucking stripper. What made SM recruit a stripper?”

He let himself get scolded but got caught off guard when Jisung uttered those words. “Wait, stripper?” Y/N looks up from the now-molten floor, eyebrows furrowed, tears pricking the corner of his eyes, “I— how could you even call me that?”

“Don’t act like you didn't have your chest on display before we got there.” Jisung replies, disgust written on his face, “Is this really what you've been doing for the past month and a half? Whoring yourself out? I guess you love people’s attention on your body don’t you?”

The gates of the dam that had held his tears finally gave out, spilling endlessly as Y/N tried to find his words, “I— that’s just the uniform for us bartenders… I work in a club so… we’re required to—”

“Exactly Y/N!” Jaemin shouts, “You’re 17 for fucks sake, why the fuck are you working at a bar? You’re a fucking idol! You're going to be publicly announced as a new member next month! What if people start recognizing you, huh? Then what?”

“I-I’m sorry hyungs. I—” tears gushed from Y/N’s orbs, coating his face, “I just did this for money.” Disgusted looks turned to looks of confusion as the 8 boys stared at Y/N, puzzled.

“M-my mom is in the hospital, she’s dealing with stage iii breast cancer and,” Y/N says, shaking, unable to complete a sentence without stopping, “and my family couldn’t afford the hospital bills, and the company wasn’t paying me yet– and I– I couldn’t wait any longer so when I saw a poster one day, looking for a bartender, I applied and lied about my age. Hyungs I’m really sorry, I- I didn’t do it because- because I liked putting my body on display. To be honest I was really uncomfortable but– but I would do anything for my mom and—”

Y/N pauses as he feels a warmth envelope him, curing his heart’s hypothermia. “We’re sorry. You know we can always lend you a hand, right?” Jaemin says, regretting his thoughts. Renjun adds to the two boys hugging, then Shotaro, then Chenle, and soon enough, all 9 of them are one; all hugging it out in a giant fluff ball, in the aged alleyway under the moonlight.

“I’m sorry,” Jisung states, voice softer as ever, “for calling you that. And, I know your mom is strong, she’ll get through this.”

Y/N felt warmer, and suddenly, under the moonlight, all his worries and doubts vanished. Nothing was more calming than a hug from the 8 boys he loved the most. They stayed like that for as long as Y/N needed, the moonlight’s luminescence lingering in the air.

End.

-

𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙: 01.11.21

𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙: 01.12.21

[qianoir]

IT3D 2 - Galaga vs. ET

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: college students!WayV x Chinese fem!reader

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: non-idol au, college au

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 18+ (Do not interact if you are under 18)

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: heavy cursing (censored), mentions of sex, nudity, love octogon, foreign humor, overbearing parents

♡ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2.2k

𝐓𝐚𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭: @eggbutnotyolk @d1nne @fanficbitchwhowriteskpop @staysstrays

Preview < 1 < 2 < 3

Your stomach started to churn during the lesson so you pulled out a handful of white rabbit candy from the front pocket of your bag. There was more candy than school supplies in your bag so you generously handed a few each to Xiaojun and Kun, whose empty tummies thanked you greatly. The professor soon closed the lecture and the three of you headed out together.

"I don't suppose either of you guys have dance next?" You ask the two boys with a slight laugh.

Both shook their heads. Kun pulled out his schedule, "I have biology." Xiaojun was searching for something or someone behind you as he spoke, "My next class isn't until 2. I'm gonna go try to find one of my other friends. I'll see you guys later?" Kun and you farewelled Xiaojun’s take off.

"Come on, I'll walk you to the dance studio." Kun offered his arm, which you accepted. "You know where dance class is, but you aren't in it?" Kun shook his head, "One of my friends takes dance, as well. He got so lost this morning, I had to help him find the hall."

"Wow I wish I had a friend like you four hours ago.." You told him, remembering Xuejiao and her useless a.ss. Kun smiled, "He should still be in there. He has like 3 dance classes mixed in his schedule." You took note of this and unlinked your arm from Kun's as he delivered you to the dance hall. "Thank you for walking me."

"No problem. I'll catch you around. Good luck!" Kun waved good-bye as you walked into the studio. Immediately, you were hit with shocking sound waves and saw a few very skilled dancers performing some contemporary urban routine. You walked along the far wall to the back corner of the room to put your stuff down then unpacked your dance clothes and walked into the dressing rooms.

Dressing rooms in China are usually very strictly organized to separate genders. The room you walked into did not clearly decipher what gender it was made for, so you could only hope you chose the correct one. You turned a corner housing unoccupied lockers and.. a man fully clothed in ballet attire.. thankfully. The beautiful Asian man looked up from fixing his tights.

"I'm so sorry I thought this was the women's dressing room!" You stuttered, blushing in uncomfy embarrassment.

The man chuckled at you and stood up straight. "You're fine. Everything on this campus is co-ed." He said with a small eye roll. "Oh.. that's a little.. discomforting.." You said, dragging your eyes to the floor to avoid staring at the beautiful man's beautiful body.

He pointed to your dance clothes. "You're taking ballet?" You nodded. "So am I. The class is about to start.. you should get ready quickly." He walked past you, out into the studio.

The strange encounter gave you chills. You wondered if he was the friend Kun mentioned. After all, he was the fourth Asian guy you had seen today. Am I just like a magnet for cute Asian boys?

Taking his advice, you quickly got dressed and slipped out into the dance room where the instructor was already giving his new term speech. You tried to attract as little attention as possible as you walked to sit in an empty space on the floor, which was a little further ahead from the boy you previously met.

"So enough about myself, let's go around the room and have each of you introduce yourself and tell us about your dance background. Starting with blondie over there." The instructor points to a pretty girl with dyed blonde hair.

"Hi, I'm Hyo Yeon Kim, I'm from Incheon, South Korea and I have been dancing mainly hip hop since I was seven years old."

The class claps and this continues for every student. Then it's his turn. He sits up straight and waves around the room as he introduces himself.

"Hi, I'm Sicheng Dong. I'm from Wenzhou, China and I have specialized in traditional Chinese dance since I was 10 years old."

So Sicheng is his name..

Suddenly, the studio door bursts open with a petite Asian boy panting like he just ran the Great Wall.

"S.. sorry.. I'm late.. I slept through the alarms.. I never set." The boy fixes his dance clothes which were thrown carelessly over his body.

"That's ok, son. Come in and introduce yourself and tell us about your dance history." The instructor motions for him to join the group. The boy suddenly has so much energy and brightly greets us, waving his hand high in the air.

"Hi everyone!! My name is Chittaphon “Ten" Leechaiyapornkul! I'm from Bangkok, Thailand and I have been dancing since the womb!!" Everyone laughs at his personality, except Sicheng, who just rolls his eyes, but still smiles at the bubbly boy. Ten takes a seat on the floor next to Sicheng who offers him a hi-five. I guess all the Asians keep it tight here, huh?

"We're almost done, you there, go ahead." The instructor points to you and you straighten your spine before speaking.

"Hi, I'm Y/N. I'm from Hong Kong and I have been dancing contemporary ballet since I was eight years old."

"Very good, Y/N. I think you will fit in nicely with our ballet class." The instructor nods at you before addressing the whole class, "Right, so we will continue to get into actual dancing in the next class. Thank you all for showing up, even if not on time." Everyone turns to Ten who just smiles cheekily in return. "Class dismissed."

You pick yourself up from the floor and decide to wait until everyone has changed to change yourself, since the idea of co-ed dressing rooms still doesn't sit well in your mind. While you wait in the corner, Ten and Sicheng walk towards you.

“Y/N, right?" Ten asks. "Yes, that's me." You smile. "We should hang out sometime! We have a whole clique of native Chinese friends you could be a part of."

"Actually I think I may have already met some of them. Do you know Dejun Xiao and Kun Qian?"

Ten nods enthusiastically. "Wow small world! I'll add you to a group chat with all of us. Give me your phone!" Ten takes your phone from your hands and starts typing your number on his own. The device is suddenly buzzing with new message notifications as it is returned to your hands.

"I can't be late to my next class- we can meet up later! See you, Y/N!!” Ten rushes out of the studio, leaving you and Sicheng alone in the corner.

"Sorry if he scared you. He can be a bit hyper." Sicheng says with a small grin. You wave him off, "It's fine. You should go change now."

"Are you waiting for me to change so you can be alone in the dressing room?" You stay silent. "If you've been taking dance classes since you were eight, you should learn that going out of your comfort zone is essential." Sicheng teases, but offers another option, "There is a better place to change if you're that uncomfortable with it, come on."

Sicheng leads you into the dressing room where you are met with various colors of boobs and a.ss cracks. You just look up and let Sicheng guide the rest of the way. You hear him giggle at your flushed face. You arrive at a spatial closet that is filled with hi-tech film equipment. "This is one of the theatre storage closets. Xiaojun and I hang out here a lot."

Sicheng looks around the room while you stand there, bag in hand and ready to change. His eyes land on you awaiting awkwardly in front of him and he realizes, "Oh sorry! I'll leave you to change." Sicheng apologizes and rushes out of the closet. You laugh at the quirkiness of the cute boy and start getting dressed up again.

Walking out of the storage closet, you see Sicheng waiting in the empty dressing room. He holds up your schedule as he notices you coming out. "You dropped this and I couldn't help but see you're free for a couple of hours. I was wondering if you wanted to get lunch with me and the rest of the guys in the group chat Ten added you to? My treat." He says, handing back your schedule.

You stuff the paper back into your bag, "I would love to."

"Awesome. Let's go."

The two of you walked around the campus and met up with five other Asian guys by the sculpted fountains, three of them being Xiaojun, Kun, and Ten. Xiaojun and Kun noticed you immediately. "Hey nice to see you again. I see you've met Winwin and Ten." You look at Xiaojun confused. "Winwin?"

"That's my nickname." Sicheng blushes. "You can call me 'Win.' It sounds manlier." He puffs his chest a little.

“Y/N, this is Lucas and Hendery. Hendery is from Macau and Lucas is from Hong Kong, like you!" Kun introduced you and Lucas gave you a hi-five, "Waaah what's up, little Hong Konger!?" You laugh as his hi-five pulls you into a bro-hug, where your face painfully smacks into his hard chest. "It's been a while since I've met someone from my hometown. What are you doing in America?" Lucas asked you.

"My parents wanted me to attend an Ivy League to become the best doctor in Hong Kong, so here I am with painful irony." You answered. "Cool, cool. I'm studying animal biology. I love animals, especially puppies."

"You are a puppy!" Ten calls out and everyone agrees. "We actually have a dog and two cats hidden in our dorm, but don't tell the DA." Lucas puts a finger to his lips.

"GUYS LOOK WHAT I JUST SCORED! THEY'RE GIVING OUT FREE CONDOMS!!"

The annoying, orange-haired, Taiwanese kid from your chem class ran to all of you with like 20 unopened condoms in his hands. All of the guys facepalmed and you just rolled your eyes at more of his immature behavior. Yangyang’s eyes fell on you and hid all of the condoms behind his back as he screeched, "What the hell guys!? Why did you invite a chick to hang out with us?? We can't have a girl knowing our manly secrets!"

"B!tch, you and I both know those aren't going to fit your 5’8” a.ss." You motioned to the golden X-tra large rubbers hiding behind his back. The guys except Yangyang laughed when his face started turning red, proving the accuracy of your assumptions.

"You two know each other?" Asked Xiaojun. "We have a.. history." Yangyang narrowed his eyes at you, stuffing the condoms into his backpack without breaking visual contact. "Get over yourself. We only met this morning." You scoffed. The young boy stuck his tongue out at me like he had done once before.

"Let's go eat. I'm starving." Hendery groans.

The group walks to the dining hall where different restaurants are catered to the students and staff. It was decided to eat at a Hawaiian rooftop grill. You sat near the edge with a great view of Manhattan. Winwin sat on your right with Lucas and Kun next to him. Xiaojun sat across from you with Hendery and Yangyang on his side, and Ten at the front of the long table. You looked over the menu placed in your hands.

"Get whatever you want, ok?" Win told you and you complied with thanks. The guys ordered a bunch of food for the table as well as for themselves; you ordered a simple ahi tuna poke bowl.

Upon the food’s arrival, Kun starts a conversation. "How is everyone's first day going?"

"My professor hit my wrist with a ruler because I said Galaga sucked." Yangyang answered. "You had it coming. You think ET: The Video Game should have made a comeback." Xiaojun attacked.

"None of you fools gave ET a chance." Yangyang crossed his arms and looked away.

"My calc professor ate an egg and bacon biscuit from Tim Hortons, then fell asleep." Win said as he stuffed his cheeks with macaroni salad.

"Did he ever wake up?" You wheezed and asked him.

"No."

"Hendery what's on your neck?"

"He got that good-good on the first day- my man!" Yangyang said with his cheeks full.

"Some kid in my aerophysics class launched a bottle rocket into my neck. It really hurts." Hendery replied, rubbing the sore area.

"D.amn."

...

"This dude in my psych class kinda packing no homo." Everyone groaned at Xiaojun’s comment, Ten just smiled and beamed him up.

Everyone finished eating and you offered to pay for yourself, but Winwin wouldn't allow it. You all walked back to the fountains you had met up. Yangyang, Hendery, and Kun left for their next class together. "What do you have next?" Win asked you. "I have biology." You replied.

"Oh you're with us!" You looked over at Lucas and Ten. Turning back to Winwin, "I'll see you later. Maybe we could have a movie night sometime this week, just you and me?" He proposed. "Sure. That sounds fun. Also thank you for buying me lunch, it was yummy." Win smiled at you. "No problem. I'll text you tonight." You nodded and parted ways with the lovely boy who walked with Xiaojun- the other lovely boy.

You walked off with the three Chinese boys, not looking forward to biology, but glad to spend the hour with your cool new friends.

To be continued…

*DA = dorm advisor

𝘲𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘳

[somedayonbroadway]

You mentioned a Sprace version? Well I'm always a slut for Sprace. Also, where can I find more/watch Nerve? Or read? I've never heard of it.

Nerve (Sprace) AU

Hi Anon! Sorry this took so long. So Nerve is a movie (it’s technically based on a book but they are very different). I think you can rent it on Amazon Prime, but that’s all I know of. It’s staring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco.

Since I already wrote out the outline, here’s a scene from it! Motorcycle Safety is what I like to call it. Please enjoy!

“Get to sixty miles per hour…” Spot read on his phone, tilting his head a bit.

Not quite believing that, Race leaned over the other boy’s shoulder. He tried not to let himself get caught up in the way Spot smelled or how strong his arms looked. He tried not to get too comfortable. After all, not many people in this insane game were willing to be helpful. Maybe Spot had done a nice thing for him, gotten him a tattoo he actually liked instead of some tacky thing that people around ask him about for the rest of his life only to find out he had no answer. No explanation.

This was just one night. This was just a stupid game. Spot was just a stranger.

“Wait, that’s it?” Race asked when he too read those words on the screen. “Just… get ta sixty on your bike?”

With a small shrug, Spot smirked at him. “Hey, I’m not complainin’,” he said, right as his phone chimed again. This time when he looked down, the smirk fell off of his face.

Race only caught a glimpse of that terrifying word before Spot put his phone down. “Wait, I’m sorry, did that just say ‘blindfolded’?” he asked, shaking his head and scoffing. “I’m sorry, I’m out,” the boy decided, starting to walk away.

But Spot caught his arm. “Wait! C’mon, I can’t do this by myself,” he smiled charmingly, pulling Race a bit closer. Race still looked extremely hesitant. So Spot tilted his head. “You said it yourself, this is the first time you’ve felt alive in a long time… I know you’ve got more fire in you than that,” he coaxed.

The blond boy scoffed and looked down. “Look, I ain’t no daredevil,” he shrugged. “I’m just a kid in way over his head—“

“I need you ta help me navigate! You’d be in control,” Spot insisted. “C’mon,  you trust me, I trust you… you get ta live up to the name ‘Racer’...” he tried to seduce.

Rolling his eyes a bit, the boy chewed on his bottom lip. “I had fun t’night,” he stated. “Thanks… for everything…” he breathed.

Spot stepped just a bit closer to him. Not quite close enough. Race could feel his heart ready to pound out of his chest. “Stay,” he asked in a breath. “J’st ta see what else happens.”

Just as Race might’ve argued again, might’ve actually listened to his brothers telling him how big of an idiot he was being in his head, a very loud, black, dirty truck pulled up beside them. A boy jumped out. He was huge, tatted up with what looked to be a glass eye in placement of what would’ve been his left eye. He had a smirk on his face. “‘Sup, guys! Racer, Racer! Let’s see you do something actually amazing,” he laughed, shoving a large bumper sticker into Race’s chest. The blond only caught it out of instinct. “Just hold that up for me, blondie,” he smirked, snapping a picture of a confused looking Race with the sticker in his hands.

Then the boy kissed his fingers and gave them a peace sign with his hand. “See you at the finals, ‘Your Highness’!” he mocked, sticking his tongue out before he jumped back in his car and drove away.

Race looked to Spot, still holding the sticker. “Do you know that guy?” he asked.

Spot sighed and shook his head. “No…” he muttered, but neither of them were very convinced. Still, he looked back at Race pleadingly. “Race, do this with me? All ya gotta do is say yes, n’ you have total control…” he encouraged.

And for just a moment Race got lost in those amazing brown eyes and then suddenly he was on the back of a motorcycle, clinging to Spot so tightly he wondered if the other boy could even breathe. He was staring at a red light, waiting for an inevitable change to happen. There were two minutes on the clock. Just two minutes. To agonizing minutes.

Spot glanced back at him and let out a breath. “You can do this,” he encouraged before he pulled down the shield of his helmet with the sticker Race had been holding stuck to the front of it. New York F***ing City it said.

Race squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. And when he opened them, “Okay… green,” he breathed, wishing he had been man enough to say no to this. The motorcycle started rolling forward. Race couldn’t breathe. “Okay, okay,” he muttered again and again.

“You gotta talk to me, Racer! What’s happening?”

Everything was shaky. Spot wasn’t driving straight. Race peeked out over his shoulder. It was a blur of cars and lights. “Cab on your right!” he called, noting that Spot was drifting towards it.

“On my right? Or go ta my right?”

“No! It’s on your right, go left!” Race cried as they got closer to the taxi.

“What?”

They were going to crash. Race knew they were going to crash. He was going to die, they were both going to die. “Hey!” the cab driver yelled. “You have a sticker on your helmet!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Race screamed, hitting the cab. “Left, left, left!” he tried to instruct in a panicked tone. So Spot went left. And now they were headed for some trees that divided the road. “Too far left!”

Spot’s knuckles were turning white. “What?!” he cried.

Race let out a panicked scream and then leaned to the right, trying to brace himself. But Spot got back on balance immediately. “Oh my god!” Race cried.

“Okay! Okay! That worked!” Spot yelled. “Just keep doin’ that!”

Race gripped onto Spot tighter. “What? Lean?” he asked.

“Yes! Lean!” Spot agreed. “You are in control!”

That was the most terrifying thing Race was sure he’d ever heard. “Okay… okay… next lights green…” he instructed hesitantly. “We’re at thirty! We’re halfway!” he stated.

“Good! That’s good! What’s next? We clear?” Spot asked.

Race’s heart plummeted when he saw the next light turning yellow. He couldn’t believe he was about to do this. “Next light is…” he looked down at the clock. They wouldn’t make it. Not if they slammed on the breaks. “Green!” he lied as the thing turned red. “Go faster! Faster!” He put a hand on top of Spot’s, trying to pump the gas harder.

Race screamed as they were almost hit. Well, the person driving that giant black van hated them. Amazing.

“Okay!” Spot yelled. “We still clear?” he asked.

Race nodded against his shoulder. “Yes! We’re clear!” he called. Only he didn’t see the cab rolling over for the woman on their right. He gasped and leaned to the left immediately, screaming as he did so. That’s when a minivan drove up beside them. They were screaming for them. “Whoa! Racer! Brooklyn! We love you!”

Spot gave them a shaky, quick wave. He couldn’t even see them. “Love you too!” he yelled. “Time check!”

“Thirty seconds! We’re almost there!” Race yelled. “We’re at fifty!” He guided them into a tunnel, leaning to avoid the other cars. Some people were honking, others were recording them. Race didn’t have eyes for any of them. “Faster, Spottie! Faster!” he screamed. “We’re clear, just go!”

Spot gripped painfully at the handles. “Count it down, pretty boy!”

“Fifty five…” Race started. “Fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, sixty! Whoa! We did it!” he cried.

Immediately, Spot pushed the shield of his helmet up. “Whoa!” he cried, before his eyes widened. The road was ending. “Oh shit!” he screamed, clutching onto the breaks. “Hold on! Hold on!”

“Oh god!” Race cried.

Spot managed to come to a stop just before they crashed into the building in front of them. And he was breathing hard. “Oh my god, we just did that,” he muttered. “Holy shit! We just did that! You just did that!” he laughed.

It took a moment for the terror to fade away, for Race to start laughing. “Oh my god… my brothers gonna kill me…” he laughed. “We just did that!”

Spot helped them off of the bike and Race stumbled into him. They were both shaking and suddenly, as Spot took his helmet off, they were just staring at each other. It felt like an eternity before they finally allowed themselves to close the distance.

Race melted into the kiss.

[yamithediaperdork]

Being a role model SUCKS (Inuyasha)

Spending time in the future was usually fun and a break from the stress that the feudal era gave out but the bucketful. Usually but not this visit. Inuyasha should of known something was up when Kagome A) kept talking about how upset and babyish Souta felt needing bedtime diapers as of late (and some day time pull ups, there had been little leaks) but also B) was giving Inuyasha all the instant ramen noodles he could handle and more.

Sadly, nothing quite clicked till they had arrived and then he'd been cornered not only by Kagome, but her mother as well while Souta was playing out behind the house.. and from there everything had gone downhill.

After a long talk (Well the women had talked, Inuyasha had argued but they seemed to ignore any points he made) Inuyasha found himself making a deal that he would give Souta the confidence boost he needed by having someone bigger then him be more BABYISH then him.. and in return Inuyasha got whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it next time he visited.

"And let me tell you right here and now, My list of demands are gonna be HUGE!" Inuyasha growled.

Kagome however just smiled and patted his head like he was already just a huffy baby and had lead him off to get dressed for the part.

Souta huffed as he kicked the soccer ball at the goal post, catching it and kicking it back over and over. It just wasn't fair that his bladder was betraying him like this when he was -9- years old! without a doubt in his mind, he was the biggest diaper baby in the whole town, heck maybe even the whole freaking country!

That thought was interrupted as he heard a LOUD crinkling noise and turned to see what it was.. and his ball hit his shin as his jaw almost hit the ground.

Waddling out behind behind Kagome dressed in a red onesie that did NOTHING to hide the thick, massive diaper(s) he was wearing and a pair of sandal's was Inuyasha!

The Half demon was beet red and seemed to be tugging on Kagome's arm, making it clear he'd rather go back inside even as he looked this way and that until, heh, she stopped and gave him a swat on his padded backside and shook a finger at him, talking clearly.

"No Inuyasha, you've been hiding inside for 2 weeks now, you need some fresh air and that's why we're in the future." She scolded.

"But..but.." Inuyasha whined.

"It's ok Inuyasha, I'm sure Souta won't tease you just because you can't control yourself right now." Kagome said in a motherly tone, then turned back to Souta. "Isn't that right Little guy?"

"heh..hehehehe yeah no, I won't at all Little yasha!" Souta said, a big silly grin breaking out on his face now."What even happened though?" he asked, coming over to the pair.

Kagome let go of Inuyasha's hand though gave him a look and the huffing diapered half demon plopped his butt onto the soft dirt of the back yard.

"Oh, we got attacked by a crazy priest who figured the only way to redeem demons was to teach them humility." Kagome started, a well practiced lie. "Basically Poor little Inuyasha, heh, or yasha as you called him..I like that! Anyways, he lost a lot of power and well control of his tinkles and uh-oh's for 3 weeks.Not to mention he's become a lot more..childish as you might of noticed." As Kagome said that with her back to the half demon Inuyasha stuck his tongue out at her and Souta covered his mouth to keep from giggling. Kagome turned to see what was so funny but Inuyasha had stopped JUST in time and was looking away, trying and failing to whistle. "...Anyways..I've been trying to deal with it in the past but frankly he's been stinking up his cabin and I'm sick of washing his diapers. figured why not let him spend the last week of it here and enjoy the freedom to play outside AND the wonders of disposable diapers." she finished.

"oh well, shucks , Little yasha could of came here sooner! I would of helped look after him!" Souta said, swelling with big boy pride since heck he was just in a nice and slim pull-up AND he didn't stink up his diapers! "If you wanna take a little break I'll even watch him for you right now." Souta added.

"Will you? that'd be great!" Kagome gushed and ruffled his hair. "Oh, one thing, with Inuyasha starting to get his control back, you'll have to keep asking him every so often if he need to potty or needs a diaper change. about once a hour. I'd worry more on the diaper change though myself."

the fact that Souta was suppose to be doing a potty check himself once a hour flew right over his head and the little 9 year old nodded and gave a thumbs up.

"Don't worry sis, I got this!"

Inuyasha was mentally adding heaps on his list of demands as his new nick name caught on and Kagome went out of her way to make him seem even more helpless.

with his 'darling' girlfriend retreating inside, Souta came over to him and smiled, then bent down and sniffed, confusing Inuyasha for a second.

"Hmm, you SMELL clean for the moment at least." Souta said and then patted Inuyasha's head. "Good boy!"

If he made it thought the week without having to kill someone Inuyasha wanted all the good damn treats.. but knowing the role he was SUPPOSE to play he gave a silly grin (And the heat pats kinda sorta maybe felt nice too.)

"Well little yasha, what do you wanna do? I was playing some soccer but if your muscle control and stuff is all messed up I don't think that's a good idea. sides you likely can't move too fast in your diapies." Souta said.

'So nice but still being a jerk..it must run in the fucking family.' Inuyasha thought then put a thoughtful look on his face. "Ummm we could play hide n seek!" Inuyasha offered up, putting a doopy childish twinge to his voice.

"ok, You hide and I'll seek. I'll give you to the count of 20." Souta said and went to cover his eyes when Inuyasha tugged at his shorts. "Hmm? what's wrong?"

"How many is 20?" Inuyasha asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, not having to force a blush as the pure humiliation of this all was taking care of it for him.

A big grin broke out on Souta's face and he bent down and took Inuyasha's hands in his.

"20 is this many.. and then" and Souta let go of Inuyasha's hands and tapped a finger on the exposed toes since Inuyasha had gone sockless in the sandals. "and this many. Can you keep track of that?"

"Ummm I think so!" Inuyasha said and nodded his head, having to admit that was all sorts of cute.

"Ok then, when I hit 20 you'll hear me say, ready or not, here I come anyways in case you lose count." Souta said and with a last head pat, he stood up and closed his eyes, starting to count.

Of course Inuyasha could of scaled a tree or taken to the roof top even with the bulky diapers he had on, he decided to play fair and also, knew it would ruin the whole plan and he hadn't of put up with it THIS far just to fuck it up now.

He needed what would seem like a good hiding spot to a toddler but clearly wouldn't work for him and now up on his feet he scanned the yard.

"One...two...three...four.."

Jesus, this wasn't like a life or death battle but for Inuyasha he found himself frozen on the spot, trying to figure out what would work, his natural instinct to win was messing up his need to lose!

"Five...six..seven.."

ok this was just getting stupid! he fought the urge to face palm and then spotted a narrow opening under the steps to the back porch, it would hide him from Souta's direct line of sight but would of gotten him caught as soon as the little guy came close.

"Eight...nine...ten, That's half the count yasha!" Souta called.

'heh, he really is a fair sport.' Inuyasha thought, then as stealthy as he could (read, not at all) waddled his way over to his chosen hiding spot even as his tummy started to feel a little bit weird.

'Must be that glass of icky juice they insisted I drink before coming out so I don't get dehydrated.' Inuyasha thought, crinkling loudly and having to speed up.

"Fourteen...fifteen...sixteen..." Souta called out, a big goofy grin on his face.

Waddling with all the speed he muster and keep up the lie, Inuyasha drove to get into the hole.. and found out that while he had been right he could of squeezed in there normally.. he hadn't taken into account the triple diapers. His upper half was in, but his padd butt and legs stuck out and he knew if he tried to force himself in,he'd end up losing them.

'fuck my life..'

"seventeen, eighteen..nineteen...twenty! Ready or not here I ..pffft.. come..heh. Did you get stuck little yasha?"

Inuyasha had been about to push himself back out but with Souta's suggestion, figured that worked and started to give out a sheepish yes, but his tummy cramped and it came out much more panicked.

"Yeah! Uh.. Please help me git out!" he said, one hand keeping him from going into the dead leaves and the like under the step but the other was on his tummy, and he kicked his legs a little more to try and work out the cramp.

"hey, it's ok! don't worry! I'm coming over, though you have to stop kicking your legs. I'm gonna grab you at the waist and pull you back, so watch your head!" Souta called, and Inuyasha could hear him running over.

"O-Ok." The half demon whimpered, the cramps were getting worst and he semi pushed back a little giving Souta a better place to grip though he didn't take into account with the building cramps he might not want someone wrenching on his midsection.

'oh god, this feels like that time I ate those clam's that had gone bad right before I..I..Oh those fucking bitches!' Inuyasha thought, cluing in to why the ladies of the house had grinned so big when Inuyasha had downed his drink to get the icky tasting thing over and done with.

he had a brief second to think about just calling this off, he'd get himself out and whine to Souta that his tummy hurt and try and shit himself somewhere private, but by then it was far, far too late.

Souta's little arms and hands were trying to pull him out and the extra force on his tummy tum meant that while he did get free, pushing himself back to make it look like it was all Souta, he banged his head on the step knocking him loopy for a split second and also started to filled his diapers.

As he loudly farted and giggled, he wore a blissful stupid derp face.

Souta was shocked at just how strong he was as he freed the poor trapped little guy, though it was soon replaced with amusement and disgust as Inuyasha started to let out massive wet fart and then more then that, a stupid look on his face.

"Uhhh yasha, are you going boom boom?" Souta asked, holding his nose. it was rhetorical question at this point as the diaper was starting to swell, so Souta didn't figure he was gonna need to do a sniff check.

"Hehehe Ya! Going PBBBBBBTTTT!" Inuyasha giggled and stuck his tongue out, blowing a raspberry.

"heh, you surrrre are buddy. but it's ok. You uh.. stay here and finish up and I'll go get Kagome ok?" He said/asked, coming over and patting Inuyasha's head.

"OOOOOOTAYYYY!" the diaper pooping derp coo'ed.

"heh..wish Kagome would of worked me you went all derp when you unload. kinda cute." Souta giggled, then dashed up the step's to stick his head in the back door.

"Kagome! You need to come and get your boyfriend, he's pooping himself silly, Literally!" Souta called.

Yeah, wearing pull-ups sucked, but as Souta pulled his head back out of the back door and looked down at Inuyasha, at least he was a stinky diaper derp.

The end..for now

[snarkwrites]

13 | gangsta ; sweetpea

NOTES:

It's been a while. I've had these two chapters written for a while now but I haven't had time to sit down, edit them a little better and post them. Since I have time now, I thought I'd go ahead and do that, whether you guys asked for these next two chapters or not.

Sorry this took forever! Sorry I'm so slow, I've been settling into a new house and taking care of some IRL stuff / taking a little break. I swear, I'm going to update everything sooner or later. >.>

I love you guys.

WARNINGS:

NON/ LOOSE CANON COMPLIANCE - this is the biggest warning, so if you’re into things that follow exact canon plot you are… definitely not going to like this. ANGST & SLOW BURN, HEAVY SEXUAL TENSIONSTARTING NOW, ACTUALLY - this is just so everyone who started reading this thinking the smut would transpire in a hurry knows that apparently, it is not. VIOLENCE / SWEARING & FIGHTING, POSSIBLE UNDERAGE DRINKING AND OTHER SHENANIGANS- look.. it’s high school. shit happens. also apparently, my ofc Alyssa uses the word fuck like all the time?…EVENTUAL SEXUAL CONTENT / A VIRGIN ORIGINAL CHARACTER- this one is self explanatory. yes, i plan to write a smutty chapter in this at some point. when? i don’t rightly know. it’s got a while before we get there. STALKER TW - this chapter marks the true appearance of Alyssa's ex, Dave Novak. It's hinted heavily that he's a gross asshole who likes to play mind games. ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING TW - This chapter contains an attempted kidnapping. If this is gonna bother you you're best off not reading it.

If you're under 18+, probably not a good or wise idea to continue reading this series. Because there are going to be a few dark and adult themes within. I'll warn here, of course, but you need to understand that I don't control you. If you continue to read after having read the warnings and you're upset or don't like something... Totally on you, friend.

PAIRING:

Andrews!Sibling OFC x Sweet Pea.

TAGGING:

@brithedemonspawn is the only person on my Riverdale tag list. If you want to be added, the link to do so is below.

OTHER PARTS:

ONE - TWO - THREE - FOUR - FIVE - SIX - SEVEN - EIGHT - NINE - TEN- ELEVEN - TWELVE - soundtrack

OTHER STUFF:

[ about my writing - tag list doc ]

THIRTEEN.

[773 - 589 - 7956] Quiet sleepy little town you’ve got here. I can see the appeal, scarlet.

[773 - 589 - 7956] I saw you last night. If I didn’t know what a treacherous bitch you were, I’d say you look more beautiful than ever.

[773 - 589 - 7956] Have you shown that new boytoy of yours all the dirty little photos you were sending me? I bet he’d fucking love to see that… Or did you actually let him see the real thing?

[773 - 589 - 7956] You can say what you want to the cops, scarlet. You and I both know you enjoyed sending me those dirty little pictures. Do your parents know what a teasing whore their daughter really is? I know mommy wasn’t too thrilled when you went running to her to snitch just because things got a little too real for you…

[773 - 589 - 7956] I’ll see you soon. It’s like I said, scarlet. You owe me. I intend to collect. You think this is a game? You can just promise things and then betray me like that? That’s not how this works, scarlet.

The second my phone was powered on again after school, it immediately started to go insane. The texts came in a flood. They were so disgusting and scary that I dropped my phone because my hands were shaking so hard I couldn’t hold it. I quickly picked up the phone and took a few deep breaths, attempting to pull myself together.

,, I can’t keep this to myself. I have to tell someone what’s going on.” the thought nagged at me for the thousandth time in two weeks and I decided that as soon as I finished my tutoring session for the day, I was going to go to the construction site and show my father the texts. Tell him that somehow, Dave was out of prison and apparently, he was here in Riverdale.

My stomach was churning and a bitter taste filled my mouth at the thought. I felt like a dead girl walking. How could I have been so fucking stupid? I should’ve told my father the first time Dave texted me. I should’ve done something.

I felt anger at the situation too. I came here to get away from everything, to put it behind me. I just wanted to forget any of it happened. How dare he show up and ruin everything? He was supposed to be in jail right now, not walking free!

It wasn’t fair.

I knew I’d never be brave enough, but I found myself thinking that if I did see him again, I wanted to strangle him. To give him a reason to be afraid of me for once instead of the other way around. To get even for the hell he put me through in Chicago.

I stepped out into the parking lot, taking a few deep breaths to calm down. Leaning against the brick wall beside the doors that lead into the building. Waiting. Trying to pull myself together. Half hoping that my brother was still here, still in wrestling practice.

Then I remembered that he didn’t have it tonight and that he’d left earlier with Veronica, Betty and Jughead.

Cheryl and Toni were already gone too. I’d stayed over because I was tutoring some kids in the grade below me. I didn’t think it’d take as long as it did. When I realized just how late it had gotten and that I’d be walking home alone in the dark, I’d panicked.

I could always call my dad.

That’s what I wound up doing. About halfway across the parking lot and just as my father’s phone went to voicemail , Dave stepped out and grabbed me, clamping his hand over my mouth before I could do anything other than scream.

My phone fell out of my hands and hit the pavement . I fought him off, managed to get out of his grasp and took off at a run. He caught up to me and grabbed me, trying to drag me towards his Chevelle that was parked nearby, idling. I fought tooth and nail, making as much noise as I could. Grabbing hold of anything I could to try and wrench myself free from his grasp.

I spotted Sweet Pea walking towards the school and I screamed louder. Fought harder.

“Sweet Pea!” I screamed his name, biting at any exposed skin I could get my mouth on Dave’s body. Clawing and scratching. Determined not to go quietly or without a fight. Sweet Pea disappeared from sight for a few seconds in the scuffle between Dave and I, and I was fighting so hard that Dave was struggling to keep a good firm grip on me…

XXX

He’d come back to school because normally, Alyssa was done and at Pop’s within thirty minutes, an hour tops. It had almost been two. Something felt off. Sweet Pea tried to tell himself the entire walk across town to Riverdale High that he was just being paranoid or overprotective. By the time the school was in view, he almost had himself convinced that he was just being a paranoid idiot.

Until he heard her screaming.

Sweet Pea took off at a run in the direction her scream came from, watching as a guy grabbed Alyssa and started trying to pull her towards an idling Chevelle nearby. He locked eyes with Alyssa before slipping out of sight. Getting himself into a position where he could slip up on the guy from behind and hopefully, distract him enough that Alyssa could get away.

The second she managed to smash her head into the guy’s nose hard enough that he dropped her, Sweet Pea spoke up. Firmly. “Run, Cherry. Don’t stop running.”

“No.” I stubbornly refused to leave. I wasn’t going to leave him to fight Dave off on his own. Not when this was my mess to begin with, my own stupidity coming back to bite me in my ass.

“Damn it, woman. Fucking go!” Sweet Pea practically growled as he lunged for the guy in front of him, spearing him against the side of his own car. The fight took to the ground, the two rolling around. For a second or two, Dave had the upper hand because he managed to get his hand on Sweet Pea’s throat. Sweet Pea used his legs, flipping them so that he was on top, swinging his fists with no real thought other than the sheer rage he felt about the guy trying to grab Alyssa. Dave managed to get the upper hand again, holding Sweet Pea against the concrete, Sweet Pea’s hand wrapped around his throat as he tried to squeeze harder.

Sweet Pea swore in frustration when he saw Alyssa slipping over to the open rear door. She emerged with a baseball bat, making her way over to the fight.

“What the fuck do you think you were gonna do, man?” Sweet Pea snarled in anger as he got in a few hard and fast punches.

“I was gonna get my hands on that little bitch you call a girlfriend and teach her a lesson.” Dave grunted out the words as Sweet Pea’s hand closed around his throat tighter and he managed to get Dave on his back again.

“The only one who’s going to learn a lesson tonight is you, asshole. Don’t fucking touch her.” Sweet Pea got the upper hand again, holding Dave against the concrete, smashing his head against Dave’s head as he sneered, “I’m gonna fuckin kill you, putting your hands on my girl.” and really tightened his grip.

Dave managed to shove him off and stood, the two of them fighting. Alyssa swung the bat at Dave’s lower back, almost connecting with it but Dave stepped out of the way at the last minute, making a grab for her.

“Cherry, I told you to run, damn it!” Sweet Pea growled as he lunged at Dave, sending Alyssa stumbling back, barely managing to keep herself from falling on her butt on the pavement. The two were rolling around on the ground again, punching and choking wildly and Alyssa spotted her cell phone and she dove for it, dialing 911.

Just as she was about to hit call, Sweet Pea choked Dave out and grabbed for the rope that had fallen out of Dave’s jacket pocket, tying his arms together while he was down. Then he rushed over to her, checking her over in concern, wincing at the pavement burn on her cheeks and the few scrapes.

“What the fuck happened to run, huh?” Sweet Pea asked, trying to catch his breath.

“I wasn’t leaving you here with him.” Alyssa panted. Sweet Pea took her cell phone and hit call, keeping his foot on Dave’s head to keep him down as he made the call.

Two minutes later, a cop car came racing around the corner and pulled to a stop behind the idling Chevelle.

The cop got out and wandered over. Glancing from Sweet Pea to Dave.

Alyssa spoke up.

“Sweet Pea was trying to save me, officer.”

“I’m going to need you two to come to the station and make statements.” the cop informed them after getting Dave into the back of the cop car. Alyssa nodded, hugging herself against Sweet Pea’s side. Sweet Pea slipped out of his leather jacket,draping it around her, because at some point during her fight with Dave, her shirt had gotten torn down the front.

The cop left, leaving the two of them alone.

Sweet Pea took a few deep breaths, pulling her against him. Squeezing her tight. Holding her in place. “Thank God I decided to come by here. If something would’ve happened…” he muttered against her hair quietly.

She pulled away to look up at him and he locked eyes with her, leaning in closer…

XXX

My heart was still hammering away at my chest. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and I was starting to panic a little as I began to realize what almost happened to me. How close I came to disappearing, having God knows what would be done to me by Dave.

I wasn’t thinking about how awkward me kissing him would be. I wasn’t thinking about anything if you want the truth. I rose up on my toes, grabbing hold of the front of Sweet Pea’s t-shirt, pulling myself up. My mouth brushed against the corner of his gingerly, trying to avoid the portion of his lower lip that was busted and bloody because it had to hurt like hell. His hands dug into my hips and he growled quietly, his mouth latching onto mine just as I went to pull away, stop myself before I went for it and kissed him in the heat of the moment.

The kiss deepened and I raised my arms, wrapping them around his neck. Dragging my fingers through his hair. My back met the side of the Chevelle with a soft smack and he pressed himself into me more firmly. His mouth continuing to hungrily devour mine.

The kiss broke a few seconds later, we pulled apart breathlessly and stared at one another in a daze. Sweet Pea wiped the back of his hand over his mouth and cleared his throat. Going quiet again.

All I could do was melt into him and try to wrap my head around what almost happened and what had just actually happened. He curled his fingers under my chin, tilting my face so that I had to look up at him.

“Who was that? Wait.. was that your ex?”

My jaw dropped. I blinked at him and then I nodded quietly. He swore under his breath and held on a little tighter. Pulling away again, his hands on my upper arms as he stared down at me. “I should’ve fucking killed him.”

“H-how’d you know about Dave? Did my brother tell you?”

“And Jughead. I don’t know everything. I just know that I told myself if I ever actually saw the asshole, I was going to kill him.” Sweet Pea answered quietly. Taking a few deep breaths and then adding a few seconds later, “We need to get to the station.”

I nodded in agreement. Sweet Pea scooped me up when he saw me take a step and wince, then try it again with the same outcome.

“I can walk.” I protested weakly.

“You fell. You probably twisted your ankle. Just… let me carry you, Cherry.” he muttered quietly, his voice a soft and concerned whisper as he gazed down at me.

All I could do was nod. Lean my head against the space between his neck and shoulder.

As we worked our way towards the police station, it poured out of me. Every single thing I’d gone through with Dave in Chicago. I grimaced as I told Sweet Pea exactly what had gone down and why I thought Dave had come to town and tried to grab me tonight and Sweet Pea’s jaw set firm.

I could tell that hearing it bothered him. And at one point, he muttered quietly, “If you don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to…”

“No, I need to get it out. I shouldn’t have kept the fact that the asshole was texting me to myself. Blocking his number obviously didn’t work because he reached out with a new one. I thought if I just ignored him, he’d lose interest. I thought it was just him, trying to scare me. I didn’t think he’d be stupid or brave enough to show up here.” I muttered, shaking my head at how stupid that sounded now that I was really stopping to think about it.

“He’s not gonna bother you again, okay? I’m going to make sure he doesn’t.” Sweet Pea muttered after a few seconds, just as we stepped into the station and made our way over to a sitting area to wait.

“You need to call your dad.” Sweet Pea spoke up after a few seconds that felt like hours.

I nodded. Taking my phone back from Sweet Pea, I dialed my dad’s number and I could hear the relief in his voice when he answered.

Static crackled and popped on his end of the line so I strained to hear.

“I’ve been riding around town looking for you for over an hour, tiny. What the hell happened?” my dad asked in a rush.

“Dave was waiting outside of the school tonight when I came out… If Sweet Pea hadn’t gotten there when he did I… he tried to grab me tonight, Dad.” I grimaced as I said it, bracing myself for all the questions and the lecture I knew I’d be getting because I hadn’t told anyone the second all this started.

,, to be fair, I definitely deserve it.” the thought came and I let myself have it. Leaning back in the chair, resting against Sweet Pea’s side slightly. Taking a few deep breaths.

My dad swore and I heard him punching at something, probably the dashboard of his truck. After a second or two, he spoke up. “Where are you two? I’m on my way, tiny. Right now.”

“We’re at the station giving a statement.” I explained.

“Thank god. So Novak got arrested? That’s good. I’m going to be sure to find out what I can do to make sure that little prick stays in a cell this time.” my dad responded as I heard him rev the engine on his truck.

The call ended and I leaned my head against Sweet Pea’s shoulder. He slipped an arm around me and took a few more breaths as if he were trying to calm himself down again because he was still angry and tense.

The cop who made the arrest found us and ushered us back to his workspace and we sat down. Telling the cop every single detail of what happened tonight. The cop let me finish and then spoke up.

“We’re holding him for Chicago. He apparently escaped. Attacked another girl… A Claire Watson… Then he came here. But everything you’ve told me will help keep him behind bars, Alyssa. Do you have a parent you can call?”

I nodded.

“She already called him.” Sweet Pea answered calmly as he folded his arms over his chest and glared at the cop suspiciously.

The cop eyed him, nodding. Managing a cordial smile. “That was quick thinking on your part tonight kid. Also stupid as hell. If he’d had a weapon, that could’ve gone wrong. Next time, call the station.”

“And do what? Let an asshole make off with my girl? Yeah, no thanks. I’m good. I’ve seen how fast you assholes respond to any call you get from the South side.”

“Not all of us are bad, kid.” the cop pointed out in a calm and even tone.

“Yeah, well… I wasn’t going to stand there and let him take my girl either. I did what I had to do.” Sweet Pea took a deep breath, rubbing his forehead. Calming himself back down.

I spotted my father and Archie coming into the station, heading right for us and I let out a ragged breath. Squeezing my dad so tight he almost couldn’t breathe when they got over to where we were sitting in the back.

My father spoke up, addressing the cop. “We will be pressing charges. So, whatever I need in order to do that, just tell me and you’ve got it.”

Sweet Pea cleared his throat.

“If it helps, here’s her phone.” Sweet Pea held my phone out to the policeman and he took it, nodding. “If there’s anything on here, that’ll help. If you’ll come with me, Mr. Andrews, we’ll get that paperwork drawn up to start the proceedings.”

My dad gave me another hug and stopped in front of Sweet Pea. “If you hadn’t been there tonight, kid… Thank you.”

“I wasn’t gonna let anything happen to her, sir.” Sweet Pea muttered, awkwardly letting my dad hug him too.

My dad made his way to an office with the policeman who’d taken our statements and I glanced up at Sweet Pea, grimacing at the bruises and scraped starting to form on his face and neck. The black eye and the busted lip.

“Archie, can you go get some ice or a soda can? His lips really swelling up..” I muttered. My brother nodded, taking some change from me to go do it. And this left Sweet Pea and I alone again.

“About that kiss.. I’m sorry, I.. the last thing I wanted to do was make anything awkward. I just got caught up in the moment and I can’t keep fighting the way I feel and I… Sorry.” I spoke up quietly. Prepared to give him an out. Afraid that I’d gone way over the line.

“Yeah, about that… I’ve been wanting to do it for a while.” Sweet Pea admitted quietly. Making me look up at him as he chuckled quietly. “You wanna repeat any of what you just said?”

I felt my cheeks burning. I pouted up at him and gave him a dirty look.

He smirked in response and spoke up. “I’m being serious. You were doing that mumble and babbling thing again.”

“You heard me.” I answered, biting my lip as I looked up at him.

“A little, yeah… But maybe I wanna hear it again, cherry.” he pulled me close and gazed down at me for a few seconds.

“Wait.. you wanted to kiss me?” I realized what he’d admitted. Gazing up at him, a little shocked.

“You’re trying to change the subject now?” he questioned, slipping his arms around me. I gave a soft laugh and muttered quietly, “Maybe a little.”

“When you say you can’t ignore the way you feel.. What’s that mean?” he questioned again, making me look up at him. I took a deep breath and toyed with the front of his shirt, trying to figure out the best way to put it to words.

The truth. Simple and direct.

“I care about you a lot. I lo--” I started to say that I loved him, but Archie cleared his throat behind us, holding out the soda can to me. Then promptly excusing himself again to go find our dad. I gently guided Sweet Pea down into a chair and sank down to sit on his knees. Gingerly pressing the cold soda can against his lip. And after a second or two, I finally got myself to say it again. “I love you, okay?”

He chuckled quietly. Locking eyes with me. Lowering the soda can to ask quietly, “Like a best friend or something.. Right?”

I shook my head. “More than, actually. Since that day at the car wash when I drenched you with the hose, I’ve… It’s been hard to make myself not look for you in a crowd. Yes, yes.. I know this is mushy and you don’t do mushy, I..” his mouth crashing against mine cut off the flow of my words and he muttered in a daze, “Say it again. Tell me you love me, Cherry.”

“I love you.” I managed to get the words out breathlessly. His mouth was latching onto mine all over again. The kiss deepening. His arms enveloping me tighter. Squeezing til I thought I’d get lightheaded between the deep and heavy onslaught of kisses and the way he was holding me.

“I love you too.” he mumbled quietly. Gazing down at me. Panting for his next breath as the kiss broke yet again.

“Okay, are you two done with whatever yet? Because dad told me to get Al back home. You can come with us if you want.” Archie surprised me by inviting Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea eyed him and nodded, standing after I’d finally managed to pry myself away from him.

As we walked out of the station, he slipped his hand down between us, lacing his fingers between mine. Giving my hand a squeeze as he glanced down at me.

[sarcasm-with-a-side-of-fries]

My girl

Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan & Cory Reid (OC), Spencer Reid & Cory Reid (OC)

(Song fic based on “my girl” by Elvie Shane) 

Authors note/background- Spencer Reid never joins the FBI, he’s a professor at Georgetown university. Derek Morgan is still in the BAU and the BAU members do pop up.Cory is the result of a past “relationship” Spencer was in, her mother is never mentioned because she abandons Cory and Spencer right after Cory is born.He meets Derek at the coffee shop they both happen to frequent. Cory looks like her mother (it’s why she has red hair and blue eyes, although again it’s never mentioned)

She ain’t got my smile that don’t bother me a bit and she’s got somebody else’s eyes I’m seeing myself in.

The red haired, Hazel eye little girl holds tightly onto Spencer’s hand. He had explained to her (the best he could, seeing that she is only four) that he had someone he wanted her to meet.

I’m holding onto every moment god knows I’ve missed a few the day we meant I knew I had some catching up to do.

The first time they meet Cory is a little hesitant, eyeing him with a look that reminds him so much of Spencer. He’s worried for a while that she won’t like him.

“She’ll warm up to you.”

He gives her a small stuffed dog and when the night ends she hugs him before she runs off to bed.

“Told you she'd warm up to you.” Spencer remarks later that night.

“Yeah, I guess you did.” Derek agrees, kissing Spencer temple.

“Did you just admit that I was right?” The mischievous smile that works its way onto Spencer’s face is honestly terrifying.

“Yes and I’m already regretting it.”

She ain’t my blood, ain’t got my name but if she did I’d feel the same I wasn’t there for her first steps but I ain’t missed a moment yet and,

They’ve met four times when Cory decides that Derek must have hung the stars when he lets her ride on his shoulders at the carnival, something Spencer ever so careful would never do.

“Papa, I'm so tall!” She exclaims giggling wildly when Derek pretends to almost drop her.

“Derek be careful-!”

“Relax pretty boy. I’m not actually going to drop her, right Cory?”

“Mhm! Relax papa!” They both laugh at that.

By the end of the day Cory had been completely tuckered out and Derek had moved her down from his shoulder to his hip.

That ain’t ever gonna change I could never walk away yeah she’s my baby my whole world.

“Cory’s asking about you.” Spencer tells Derek over lunch. “I don’t think she understands your job.”

“You could bring her to mine tonight, Clooney’s a general giant who loves kids.”

“Sure.”

Cory falls in love with Clooney the moment she meets him, nicknaming him ‘cloon’ because she can’t pronounce Clooney and it’s too adorable to correct.

“Night night cloon night night Derek.” She mumbles that night patting Derek’s chest tiredly, a familiar small stuffed dog gripped tightly in her hand. Derek hadn’t even realised she’d brought it with her.

“She has dragged it everywhere since you left on that case two weeks ago.” Spencer murmurs with an amused smile.

“Huh.” Derek responds with a smile on his face.

She ain’t my blood but she’s my girl, Yeah she’s my girl.

He’s known Cory for seven months the first time he watches her alone for longer than an hour. Spencer was asked to give a lecture at a college in New York and her normal sitter was sick.

The day went easily, having taken her to the park and then for ice cream before retiring for the day. If you’d told him eight months ago he’d know the lyrics to just about every Disney song very soon he’d have called you crazy but… here he is.

Thumb in mouth Cory curls up with Derek her head against his shoulder. “Papa smile more.” She tells him and he’s confused. “You.” She says. “Him smile more.” And or doesn’t make much sense or maybe it doesn’t. “Good.” He doesn’t get the chance to question her because she drops off to sleep shortly after.

He carries her to the the guest bedroom that isn’t much of a guest bedroom anymore considering the toys, blue blankets and child clothes that can now be seen.

It hit me like a train the first time she called me dad (pops) in a three stick figure crayon picture with all of us holding hands.

Her mama (papa) said I understand if it’s too soon for this oh I didn’t let her (him) finish I took it to the kitchen and stuck it right on the fridge.

It's been almost a year when she goes to Derek’s house from school with a scribbled picture and bright smile. She places the picture next to Derek before running off down the hall in search of her stuffed dog and action figures.

Derek picks it up and freezes for a moment staring at the page with an unreadable expression. Spencer sees him from the corner of his eye and crosses the room looking over Derek’s shoulder.

It’s the three of them at the park, she’s standing between them holding each of their hands. That however isn’t the part that caused them to pause, it was what she’d written. They are labeled, ‘me’ , ‘papa’ , ‘pops’ the top of the page dawned with the words ‘my family’

“Oh.” Spencer breathes out. “Look I understand if…” Derek shakes his head standing up with a small smile, sticking the picture among the many others that now littered his fridge.

From that day on he’s pops.

She ain’t my blood, ain’t got my name but if she did I’d feel the same I wasn’t there for her first steps but I ain’t missed a moment yet and that ain’t ever gonna change I could never walk away,

The first time she sees him in a hospital is heartbreaking, her eyes full up with tears. “Pops.” She calls out sobbing when her comatose pops doesn’t respond.

“He’ll wake up.” Spencer says though he isn’t sure who he’s reassuring by that point.

“He was hit hard but he should wake up.” David Rossi, Derek’s team member who Spencer has come to know over the past year and two months. “Always has to play hero.” Rossi adds with a head shake before leaving the two alone.

It’s six hours later when Derek does wake up. “Spence?” He croaks out.

“You're awake! Oh thank god. Don’t you ever think about doing anything like that ever again Derek Morgan or so help me-“

“Move in with me. Both of you, move in with me.”

“What?” Spencer is dumbfounded.

“You heard me.” And Spencer almost laughs at the oddity of the situation.

“I’ll move in with you if you promise never to leave me. Us.” He motions over to where Cory is sleeping.

“Never gonna leave you.” Derek promises.

When Cory wakes she ends up crawling into the hospital bed with Derek (screw protocol) and refuses to let go of his shirt until he’s discharged four days later.

Yeah she’s my baby my whole world she ain’t by blood but she’s my girl.

The Reid’s official move in a month later, waving goodbye to their small D.C apartment with no tears shred.

“Pops. Papa.” Cory says wiggling her way between them on the couch.

“What are you doing up Angel?” Derek asks.

“Dunno.”

They laugh at the sheer honesty but don’t send her away letting her fall asleep with them. Spencer eventually carried her to bed, making sure not to forget her stuffed dog.

She’s Saturday morning cartoons.

The sound of hysterical laughter is heard throughout the house rousing Spencer from his sleep and prompting him to pad into the living room.

Derek is sitting on the couch half asleep, Cory sat on his lap intently watching ‘bubble guppies’ and petting Clooney.

Spencer smiles and if he snaps a picture, no one needs to know.

She’s hey can I sleep in your room?

Cory learns to hate when Derek leaves for cases, sometimes going as far as throwing tantrums when he tries to say goodbye but that never changes her response to him coming home. No matter how mad she was at him for leaving.

Derek comes home close to midnight and doesn’t expect to see Cory until morning but is mistaken as she’s sitting up on the couch in the living room when he enters the house. “I made the mistake of telling her that you were on your way home.” Spencer explains, which cues Cory in on Derek’s arrival.

“Pops!” She turns around standing on the couch and reaching out insistently. “Your home.”

“Hey Princess, of course I am. I always come home.” Spencer smiles fondly.

“Can I sleep with yous?” She asks looking between Derek and Spencer innocently.

“Of course you can Cory.” Spencer says walking over to kiss Derek.

“Yuck!” They both laugh loudly.

She’s bigger than the plans I ever had. She's making me a better man.

“I never thought I’d get this.” Derek tells Spencer one night.

“Hmm?” Spencer prompts wrapping himself around Derek.

“This.” He motions around. “You and Cory.”

“I thought it would always just be me and Cory.” Spencer admits. “No one wants to date a single dad who’s a college professor with a past off… expect you did.”

“You're not your past Spencer.”

“And you're not yours.” They don’t address the true meaning of the sentence instead Derek smiles, lifting a sleeping Cory into his arms and heading down the hall.

She ain’t my blood, ain’t got my name but if she did I’d feel the same I wasn’t there for her first steps but I ain’t missed a moment yet and that ain’t ever gonna change I could never walk.

The wedding is in June, they’d been together for two and a half years when they decided to get married.

Cory is the flower girl, Henry the ring barrier.

Derek’s team is there, his mother and sisters too.

Spencer mom is there, along with a few of his professor friends.

Hotch is Derek’s best man, his groomsmen and woman being Penelope and James.

Reid’s best woman is JJ, his groomsmen and woman being Emily and Rossi.

It’s a small thing really.

There’s a party afterwards.

“Papa lap.”

“Cory I’m eating.” He tells her with a stern look.

“Pops lap.”

“I’m eating too princess.” He responds. Still not deterred she pushes Derek’s arm out of the way and climbs into his lap successfully seeing as Penelope had changed her out of her suit before dinner. (She had refused a dress and neither of her fathers saw it necessary to force her into clothes she doesn’t want.) “Alright fine.” Derek huffs although there’s no heat in his voice.

“Pushover.” Spencer mummers into his wine glass ignoring the glare his husband shot him. “Cory, do you want your own plate of food?” Spencer asked and got his answer when she shook her head instead picking food off of their plates.

Yeah she’s my baby my whole world, she ain’t my blood but she’s my girl.

It’s six months later when they all sit in a family court room, their friends and family sitting on the public benches behind them.

They sign the papers in front of everyone and then the judge announces loudly, “I hereby declare Cory Reid-Morgan adopted.”

They go out for ice cream as a large group to celebrate, Cory happily running around with Jack and Henry afterwards.

When it’s time for everyone to leave Cory demands to be picked up by Derek who complies. She rests her head on his shoulder and quietly murmurs. “I love you.”

“I love you too princess.”

“To the moon and back?”

“A million times.” Spencer comes up from behind wrapping his arms around Derek's waist and resting his chin on the shoulder not occupied by Cory’s head.

“Love you Derek.”

“Love you too Spencer.”

Yeah she’s my girl.

[somebodytolovesx]

I Don’t Wanna Live Forever - Bucky Barnes

Summary - Bucky Barnes and Y/N Y/L/N find themselves having a disagreement that worsens as the hours pass.

Warnings - Angsty

It had been a Tuesday evening at eight fifty-two when the argument had begun for Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes and James Buchanan Barnes. The argument was one like they had never had before in their year of marriage, it had struck a match and blew them both out...

It was after Bucky had come home from work and threw his suit jacket onto the back of the sofa, his suede shoes thrown regardlessly through the living room and the belt of his trousers on the kitchen countertop. He was just too tired to wait until he hit his bedroom. Work was coming down on Bucky Barnes like a ton of bricks; the paperwork, the meetings, the assignments, it was exhausting him at the end of the day and he just wanted to rest.

He dragged himself towards the bottom of the stairs where he would begin his ascent to his Y/N, he had thought of her fondly that day...about what she would be doing whilst he filled out paper after paper and if her parents had returned her call about the holiday they had planned for later on during that year. He had stepped onto the fifth step, holding onto the wooden bannister for support from his dazed state when he had heard the fridge door opening behind him.

Bucky leant his back against the bannister and let his head fall hard against the white-painted wall behind him, he saw his Y/N taking out a slim bottle of the white, Italian Asti from the cold shelf and place it gently onto the marble countertop. She looked beautiful but frustrated, restless; her satin, black robe fell off her shoulder and the belt was so loosely tied, her hair was tousled and ever so slightly frizzy but the eyeliner and dark lip she wore was neat, the black, florally lingerie she wore underneath her robe was elegant and classy. 

“You alright, sweetheart?” Bucky called out to her, his voice was concerned and low for his wife. Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes poured the sweet wine into a deep glass for herself and she filled it to just below the brim. 

“Yeah, are you?” Y/N asked, her voice was suppressing the true tone of anger that she was unintentionally feeling. She drunk from the glass, glancing down at the drink within it because, ‘out of sight, out of mind’ she thought to herself comically. 

“Yeah, what’s with the tone of your voice?” Bucky recoiled and sneered.

“Just a busy day, been housekeeping and dealing with business since seven this morning” Y/N sighed breathlessly, the wrinkles by her eyes appearing as she drunk the Asti.

“Come to bed with me then, I don’t go in till later tomorrow so we can stay in bed” Bucky raised his eyebrows sweetly at Y/N but she carried on looking down and away from him. 

“Let me just finish this then” She spoke somberly. Y/N ran a hand through her hair and pushed it away from her face, Bucky could see from where he stood her faded, dark eyeshadow and took notice of how it looked worn down. 

“Alright” Bucky sighed in defeat and pressed his lips thinly together, he started climbing the spiralling staircase once again. He knew when she drunk before bed it must have been a draining day or someone must have annoyed her but he would have appreciated if she prioritised the time with her husband and wanted to be in his arms as soon as she saw him.

“Maybe you could tidy up after yourself with that extra time off” Y/N mumbled under her breath, putting her empty glass in the sink. Now Bucky knew the had a tendency to get into his wife’s system fast but she had only had one drink.

“What?” Bucky turned around on his heels and looked at her inquisitively.

“Go to bed babe, I’ll be up in a minute” Y/N dismissed him like everything was fine. 

“You said something sweetheart” Bucky spoke.

“I just said I would like if you cleared up your clothes before going to bed instead of leaving them all over the place for me to clean up” Y/N spoke.

“I’ll clean them up in the morning before I go, It’s just been a busy day and I wanna sleep with you” Bucky’s voice was defensive and raised in pitch.

“You won’t though because you’ll not bother and then it’ll leave me to do it and I’ve got enough to do already” Y/N groaned, her face was held tightly in her hands and she was clearly frustrated, Bucky could tell that it wasn’t just a new frustration she had with him.

“I think I'm gonna clean the house that I pay for” Bucky stated matter of factly.

That fight had sparked and was beginning to ignite.  

“And do you need me to also rejig your memory of who pays for half of the bills, runs half of your business and cleans up after you since we’ve been married” Y/N argued back. Her temper had moved her from the counter and into the middle of between the living room and kitchen where Bucky could see her bare legs standing their ground.

“Well, it seems as of late all you’re doing is sitting around on the phone, in underwear that I brought you, drinking wine all-day” Bucky knew that stung her more than it stung him because he knew Y/N prided herself on being a woman of business and never wanted to be a housewife. 

“You never complained when I was just another girl in your bed every night but now that you have to be committed and be responsible to only me it’s all different isn’t it?” Y/N’s tone was furious.

“You are the worst person to argue with because you don’t even listen to what I’m actually saying, you just talk and talk and talk and I don’t want to listen right now” Bucky had shouted back at her.

There was silence after that, it was like there was a cold breeze through the fire. Bucky walked towards Y/N and grabbed his suit jacket off the back of the sofa, walked past her and snatched his belt from the kitchen counter, then trod heavily through the living room to pick up his shoes up from the floor. 

“We shouldn’t leave this” Y/N sighed exasperatedly, she lowered her head and scratched her forearm.

“You wouldn’t listen if I apologised tonight” Bucky’s strained, tired voice reached her ears and it made her feel like she had to take full responsibility for all of what had happened. 

“Might be the last chance you can for a long time” She said out of spite at his ignorance to her attempt to settle things down at least just for that night. 

“I’ll apologise then” Bucky turned to the stairs and began to take a slow, heavy step up them, his voice was left behind him as he disappeared behind the white, cylinder-shaped wall. Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes stood there and her eyebrows turned upwards as the tears filled her eyes, she ran both clenched hands through the front of her hair and gripped at the tangled lox. 

Her and her husband’s fights were always that explosive and were never solved until the next morning despite what might have been said in the heat of the moment. Y/N prayed that one day their fights would change and it would end in them tangled up in the bedsheets like other couples instead of walking away from each other...

Y/N’s black trenchcoat was pulled tight around her body and her ankle boots were pulled onto her feet lazily, the autumn weather would definitely chill her but she would be back indoors quick enough. She questioned if she should stay before going and if it was too dramatic of her to leave so late but Bucky was most likely asleep in their bed already or had already buried his frustrations with her in extra work. 

The young woman pulled their front door open and turned off the lights behind her, she was met with the heavy downpour of rain outside. The street lights illuminated the rain and made them look golden and the emptiness of the streets made her feel as if she had the whole world to herself like there was no Bucky. It was just her. 

Y/N shut the door behind her and stepped carefully down the small set of stairs, the rain began to dampen her coat and bare legs and her hair was returning to its natural waves as it dampened. She walked along the pavement as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and called for a taxi to come and pick her up from the corner of Henry Street, she was embarrassed by how many times she had thought of doing that and now she actually had.

At the other end of the street, Bucky Barnes was sat on the edge of his bed, his duvet was half strewn across the carpet, the lamp on his bedside table was on its side and the wardrobe door was recklessly pulled open. He had heard the front door open and close after their argument when he had thought that Y/N would either come to bed much later or stay downstairs that night. She had never done that and that was the moment he knew that he shouldn’t have been so unforgiving with her. He chugged down the glass of water he had gotten from the bathroom (The light of which was still on) and sat at the edge, accepting his thoughts were too wild and his dreams would be too real for him to crave the sleep he needed. She would be okay, he thought. 

Y/N stepped into the taxi and told the driver where she wanted him to take her, Hotel Le Bleu, it was a hotel that she had been to before when she and Bucky were first in talks of her moving to Brooklyn and in with him a month before they had gotten married. She knew it would have been better for her to go somewhere else for the night that didn’t have any connotation to the man she loved but it was the first place that came to mind and it slipped out of her mouth so easily. 

She leant her head against the rain-drizzled window and watched the different coloured lights blur past her through the traffic and stormy weather, the tears still tracked through her makeup but without vivid emotion, without the groaning or screaming, as she thought of her husband; when would he get tired of this? Not to say that she hoped he would.  

“Rough day, pretty lady?” The taxi driver asked respectfully. He had thin, grey hair, a grey handlebar moustache to accompany and wore thick, black-rimmed glasses. 

“I suppose” Y/N had replied back. She felt uncomfortable even acknowledging that after making such a huge commitment as a marriage that there would be bad days with the person she vowed to love for the rest of her life. 

“Sounds like possibly the worst” The senior man sympathised with her. 

“Perhaps” Y/N was short with her subtle agreement. 

“Look, we’re here pretty lady but I hope you have a good night and feel better” He wished her. Y/N read the money counter on the car’s dashboard and scanned her card onto the card reader that he held out to her. 

“You too” She hummed quietly and stepped out of the taxi, slamming the car door behind her. She turned around to face the steps up to the entrance of the hotel and was blinded by the fusillade of flashing, white lights surrounding her. They were so loud. The men holding the cameras were shouting inaudible things at her, blocking the steps. 

“Can I just get through, please?” Y/N shouted over them but her timid tone was overshadowed by their deep, loud voices and none of them moved. She was caught like a dear in the headlights, stumbling around trying to find a gap in between them to run through.

“I just need to get through, I’m sorry”, Y/N shoved her way through the blinding lights and scampered herself up the stairs rolled with a lavish, blue carpet. The tears streaming down her face were replaced with the aftermath - her bloodshot eyes, strained with exhaustion as she reached the silver door handle and heaved it open. It was warm inside and dry, the calm atmosphere away from the rain and cameras made her want to find the nearest bed and just sleep forever.  

“Miss, can I find you a room or take your coat?” A young lady came and asked Y/N.

“Uh, no but a room will do, just for the night please,” Y/N asked back. Her hands went to take off her coat then retracted when she remembered the clothes that she wore underneath.

“They’re always out there you know? Just waiting” The young lady shared a smile with her. 

It was still raining just as heavy, rattling against the full-body windows when Bucky Barnes had received a phone call from Steve Rogers, his heart had missed a beat considering the time and the quietness of Steve’s phone during working hours. He was reluctant to answer at first, he had only just been able to get comfortable laying down and regaining his need for sleep but it was Steve phoning against his usual routine or work ethic.

“Buck, I’m sorry it’s late but just a quick one, have you seen the news?” Steve kept his voice to a ‘hush-hush’ tone as if there must have been people around him.

“There always news Steve” Bucky stated ignorantly. 

“No, but it’s about Y/N” His best friend informed him.

“There isn’t a day where one of us isn’t in the news, what did they write?” Bucky wondered, his tired state evident. 

“’Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes, wife to James Barnes, arrives at ‘Hotel Le Bleu’ looking distressed and exhausted’ then there’s just a bunch of paparazzi photos of her” Steve read out loud over the phone.

“Alright, thanks Steve, I’ll see you tomorrow in the morning” Bucky spoke then ended the phone call and went to look at them, he couldn’t read through more than two with their assumptions and descriptions or because of how astray Y/N looked. He knew that she didn’t do well with paparazzi following them or the tabloids that they wrote afterwards so he just prayed that she was doing okay but he couldn’t deny the anger boiling inside of him at his and her actions from earlier on during the night. 

Bucky stopped his pacing and for a minute didn’t know what to do with himself, he didn’t know whether he should express his anger and make the room more of the mess than it already was, he knew Y/N would hate him for it if she was home, or to try and fall back into the rest he was beginning to find himself in. The one thing Bucky knew he couldn’t do was to chase after her, it would not do any better for the situation or for the both of them, he had to let her be on her own just for the night...

Y/N stood in front of the bed in the room she had been issued, it was dimly lit, warm and small but nice to be in; the royal blue bedsheets matched the curtains that were closed when she arrived, the bedside lamps radiated a golden hue and the wooden floors made it feel cosy. She invited the warmth and began to untie the belt holding her trenchcoat around her, it dropped to the floor beneath, leaving her in the robe and underwear she wore underneath. She let her back fall to the duvet on top of the bed, it was soft and comforting unlike many other things that happened that night and what she needed, her hands ran tenderly over her thighs and over her chest and then up through to her hair, imagining that they were her husband’s soft touches sending her to sleep and putting her mind at ease. 

It didn’t, as much as she could close her eyes and try to replicate his presence, her sub-conscience couldn’t be tricked enough into thinking it was real. They were still her hands, her body the only one there in a bed she had never slept in before. Y/N’s arms dropped to her sides in an expression of her frustrations and her back arched perfectly as she pulled her back off the bed, she couldn’t describe the emotions that had built inside of her over the last few hours but she worried that that was the last argument they would have, if that was the end of it all. She rested her elbows on her knees and glanced slowly around the room, maybe she didn’t want to be at home because it may be for the best but this wasn’t where she wanted to be either.

The light beside Bucky’s bed had been switched off and the dull gloom of the night was left to lighten their room, Bucky just wanted for her to call him and ask him to bring her back home because at least she was with him.

[anotherkpopvictim]

Into a New World (Through the Gate) - BTS OT7 Fantasy Story Chapter 5

(Gif source - btsville)

A/N: Dang...has it really been almost a month since I last updated? Sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoy this. I had to spend some time figuring out where this story was going.

I decided to come up with a timeline because the next few chapters might be a bit confusing if you don't have a visual timeline with their ages and the flashbacks. Each chapter I will add a link to an updated timeline that includes new information from the previous chapter. You don't need to read the timeline, but if find yourself a bit confused about things while reading, it should help. This first one is very short, but each chapter they will get longer as more information is added.

Timeline - https://docs.google.com/document/d/19VsexNuIkbWRu6IuXSjYoRNImk7DtAc2ckW0erLUHRU/edit?usp=sharing

Relationship: BTS X BTS

Rating: T

Words: 3159

Hurt/comfort, fluff, fantasy

NOTE: I've added the present-day date (3501) to this chapter and the next few chapters as they will contain quite a few flashbacks. Flashbacks will be in italics.

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Chapter 5: The Ties

Worldbuilding Note on Packs: A pack is simply a group of any number and mix of supernatural creatures. Most commonly, say on Earth, you would find packs made mostly of vampires and werewolves with the occasional witch or another being, while packs in Aurora (the fairy kingdom) are pretty much one hundred percent comprised of fairies. Creatures tend to stick to their homeland, but Earth is a bit of an exception as it is considered the center of all the worlds - a hub of sorts. Packs are comprised of all members of a polyamorous relationship (or sometimes simply a pairing).

A pack bond is initiated by exchanging bites on the neck. Depending on the number of packmates, these bites can sometimes overlap. As packs are considered soulmates, some of the members have a tug at their heartstrings upon meeting a future packmate for the first time - only some of them, however. These people of a pack are known as the Ties and tend to take on a leadership role as a pack grows. There is usually only one Tie for small packs, but larger packs can have more than one. Once bonded, pack members have a much easier time understanding each other's feelings and simply feel closer on another level. Ties usually feel an amplified version of this from the second they meet a pack member.

Finding all members of a pack can take anywhere from years to centuries, and it isn't uncommon for some packs to never find all of their members and consequently, some creatures never have a pack. Fate works in mysterious ways. If you are lucky enough to find all of your pack members, you will know because the Ties with feel an overwhelming sense of peace and settlement once everyone is bonded.

On another note, a were-pack is different from a pack. A were-pack is simply a community of local shifters, usually separated by city or village. While some big-city were-packs live with humans, smaller towns or villages of were-packs don't have close connections with humans.

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September 8 3501, Present Day

"You really..." Hoseok trailed off, unsure of how to put into words the many things running through his mind at that moment.

"Jungkook was the last one to join our pack," Namjoon began, eyes on the fairy as he picked at the skin around his fingernails nervously. "His pack bond with us became obvious when he was turned and all of us had known him for a while and felt things for him, so it wasn't an unexpected feeling to have." The alpha took a deep breath, "But you, Hoseok-ssi, you came into our lives loudly and all at once. I was so worried about a stranger in the house that I ignored the pull inside of me that told me you were meant to be with us."

Hoseok still felt a little bit dumbfounded, so he just let an eloquent, "Wow."

"Do you think that fate has made a mistake, Hoseok-ssi?" Namjoon asked, analyzing his reaction. "Do you feel nothing for us at all?"

"Of course I feel something," the orange fairy replied genuinely. "I just haven't really had much time to think about my attraction to the six of you and what to do about it. It makes sense, though, that we're packmates." Hoseok couldn't help but smile, "I've always wanted to find my pack, you know? I just didn't have my hopes up after a hundred years."

The shapeshifter's lips spread into a beautiful, relieved grin, accented by his deep dimples that Hoseok was now just seeing for the first time. He wished he had been warned about them. "I'm glad you feel the same way."

"How old are you all, by the way?" Hoseok questioned, realizing that besides Jungkook, their ages were still unknown to him. "If we're going to be a pack, I should know who I need to call hyung."

Namjoon chuckled, "Well, Seokjin-hyung is the oldest. He's four hundred fifty-six years old." The fairy couldn't help but widen his eyes at the shapeshifter's impressive age. "He and I were together first. About a decade after we got together, we met Yoongi-hyung and Jimin, who had also been together for a few years. Yoongi-hyung is the second oldest of us at three hundred forty-two years old. I'm one hundred twenty-five years old, the next oldest."

"Not anymore," Hoseok said cheekily, despite his still tired body. "I'm one hundred thirty-eight years old. So I'm older than you."

The alpha's lips twitched, "I suppose I should call you hyung, then. If you'll allow me."

"Of course you can," the fairy replied. "Who's the next oldest?"

"Jiminie is ninety-eight," he answered.

Hoseok smiled thinking about the pink fairy. He couldn't wait to get to know the other better. "What about Taehyung-ssi?"

Namjoon continued, "The four of us were together for about sixty years before we became acquainted with Taehyung about ten years ago. He's now sixty-seven years old. Then we met Jungkookie as a human about eight years ago." The smile fell from the shapeshifter's face a little. "I would gladly tell you everyone's life stories, but I feel like that's better coming from them personally."

Hoseok hummed and dipped his head in agreement.

"Might as well start with us two," Seokjin announced as he stepped back into the guest room. He'd changed his soaking wet shirt for a comfortable and dry baby pink sweater. He smiled again softly in Hoseok's direction as he fluffed his warm brown hair. "It was quite surprising when Joon and I came to the realization that you were our packmate. Not much takes us by surprise these days."

"Are you two the Ties?" the orange fairy asked.

Seokjin nodded before dropping himself unceremoniously into the alpha shapeshifter's lap. The other instinctively moved to hold the omega by the hips, stabilizing him. The fairy both admired and envied the natural movements.

"So, how did you two meet?" Hoseok inquired.

"Well, we were born in different villages. I was from the large were-pack here in Seoul," Namjoon began.

"I lived in the were-shifter village of Rosewood, a couple of hours east of here," Seokjin explained.

---

December 3420

Kim Seokjin had lived in Rosewood for three hundred seventy-four years before he decided he needed a change of scenery. The small village was rather secluded and they barely saw humans more than a few times a month. While the omega wasn't unhappy with his home in Rosewood, he had heard many exciting tales of the big city, where the were-shifters intermingled with the humans every day. He'd felt a pull towards Seoul for many years, but ignored it in favor of his comfortable life in Rosewood. Eventually, however, as years passed by, the pull became too strong to ignore any longer.

His family had been hesitant when he'd announced his plans, but their doubts didn't deter him in the slightest. He'd made up his mind. Rosewood wasn't far from Seoul anyway, so he promised to keep in touch with them and visit often. He gave them all one last kiss on the cheeks before he left with nothing more than a single suitcase carrying his most valuable belongings.

The hustle and bustle of the city were jarring, but the immediate sense of right he felt upon arriving in Seoul quelled any anxiety he had. Seokjin approached one of the counters at the train station, where he could see a shapeshifter sitting at a computer. The information counter, known as a Connecter, helped new shifters connect with the local were-pack.

Kim Minseok was matched with him as a guide to the new city as he'd been a village boy himself. He was about a hundred years older than Seokjin, and also an omega. He was kind and had a sweet smile. The man helped set him up with an apartment and a part-time job at a cafe.

Seokjin was pretty much completely used to the presence of humans all around him by the end of the first week. The crowds and the subways and the mingling of supernatural creatures and humans - all of it turned out to be exactly what Seokjin had needed in his life.

During the third week, while Seokjin was working a late shift at the cafe, his whole world changed. It was close to dark so the tables were empty and the omega was doing his cleaning duties while pausing every once in a while to assist a customer.

The tinkle of the bell above the front door alerted him to another one. He set down the cloth he had been using to dry off a few mugs and turned to greet the customer. "Hello, welcome to T's cafe, what can I get for-"

Seokjin cut himself off with a gasp as he locked eyes with the person walking up to the register. A young alpha shapeshifter - he could tell by the aura surrounding the man - was looking back at him with wide brown eyes. He had blond hair almost long enough to fall into his eyes and was dressed casually in fitted jeans and a graphic t-shirt.

"Oh!" the alpha exclaimed, a hand shooting up to rest over his heart. "Holy shit, my heart is gonna beat out of my chest! What the fuck?"

The laugh that tore from Seokjin's throat couldn't be stopped, giddy and amused. "I think - I think we're packmates," he managed out, a little lost in the awe he was feeling.

The man's already wide eyes somehow managed to open even further and his jaw dropped. "What - really? Is that what this feeling is?"

"I've never felt it before, but I've heard many stories about Ties meeting each other for the first time and this is exactly as it was described."

"I'm Namjoon!" the alpha announced excitedly. A big smile was taking over his face and showed off a set of adorable dimples. "You think that we're Ties?"

"Seokjin," the omega replied, "And yes, I do. Only Ties would feel such an obvious, strong connection to each other upon first meeting."

"Wow," Namjoon breathed in awe. "I honestly wasn't expecting to meet any of my packmates so soon. I mean, I'm only forty-three!"

The omega playfully winced, "You make me feel so old. I've got more than three hundred years on you."

"That's not that old, hyung."

"Yah, I was joking! Of course, I'm not old!"

Namjoon let out a wheezing laugh as Jin feigned anger, hands on his hips and all. "Well, it's nice to meet you, hyung," he greeted once he had gathered himself together.

"So," Seokjin began, "You're part of the Seoul were-pack, huh?"

"Mhm," the alpha nodded in confirmation. "You must be fairly new here, I haven't seen you around before."

"I'm from the Rosewood were-pack," the older man replied. "Felt like I needed a change of scenery. Although, I suppose it could have been fate nudging us closer together."

Namjoon couldn't be more obvious with the heart-eyes he was making towards the omega. "Perhaps it was. Fate is a mysterious thing."

"Fate is a mysterious thing," Seokjin repeated in agreement. The two of them jumped when the timer on one of the coffee pots went off, signaling that the brew was hot and ready (maybe Seokjin was too as he was so caught up in the man before him). "Oh, right! What can I get for you?"

The alpha blinked and looked around like he had just remembered that they were in a cafe as well. "Um, uh...a caramel macchiato please, hyung."

And who was Seokjin to say no to those wide, heart-melting eyes? (besides the fact that it was his job and he technically couldn't even if he wanted to).

"Of course," the omega replied, punching the order on the screen in front of him. "I can't give you a packmate discount, unfortunately."

"That's okay, I don't mind paying for it."

Seokjin almost let out a gasp when Namjoon pulled a black card out of his wallet. He'd never seen a black card in his life until he came to the city, and he knew the significance of them. Namjoon was rich, and Seokjin didn't almost gasp because he was a gold digger, but rather because of all the rich people the omega had encountered over the last few weeks, both human and not, Namjoon didn't present himself as such a person at all. The others had been so...proper, but the alpha was so casual and sweet.

The omega continued on like he hadn't seen the black card at all, taking his payment and going about the familiar motions of making a caramel macchiato. "So, do you work, Namjoon-ah? Or go to school?"

Namjoon nodded, "I'm in school right now for business. My parents want me to run a branch of their company in the future, but I kind of have an idea for my own business running through my head."

"Wow," Seokjin said in awe. "In my were-pack, we didn't really have "jobs" like the city folks here do. I have no idea what I want to do for a career, so that's awesome that you have such a bright future career ahead of you."

"The Rosewood were-pack is a traditional one, right?" Namjoon asked. "So everyone just contributes what they can and no one has to pay for anything, correct?"

The omega nodded, "Yeah, we're pretty primal. We prefer to hunt but we buy human food as well. So some of us are hunters, some of us are cooks, some of us are builders. Coming to Seoul, the number of possibilities of work is kind of overwhelming."

"What did you do in your were-pack?"

Seokjin popped the lid on the paper cup and slid it across the counter to the alpha who immediately went to take a sip of the drink and promptly burnt his tongue. The omega ran to fill another cup with cold water and came out from behind the counter to shove it into Namjoon's face. "You idiot, it's still scalding hot!" he reprimanded.

The alpha half-winced, half-smiled sheepishly as he accepted the cool water, "Sorry."

"To answer your question though, I cooked and baked mostly. Sometimes I'd babysit the pups or assist the healer in the rare occurrence they were needed."

"You did a bit of everything," Namjoon noted thoughtfully. "Did you feel passionate about any of those things?"

Seokjin nodded as he smiled shyly. "Baking. I love to experiment and create different sweets. And decorate them."

"I'd love to try your baking sometime!" the alpha exclaimed. "My mom always tells me that I should stay out of the kitchen for the safety of everyone, so homemade food isn't something I have a lot."

The older man chuckled, "Well, I would very much appreciate your feedback on all my food - baking and cooking."

The two of them were so giddy, feeling high on the emotions of meeting another packmate. Their grins were wide and cheesy and their cheeks were beginning to ache, but neither of them could care less at the moment.

Namjoon hesitated for only a moment before he reached over and took Seokjin's hand into his own, reveling in the warmth and softness. "I look forward to that."

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September 8 3501, Present Day

Hoseok smiled as he listened to the story of Namjoon and Seokjin's first meeting. Ties undoubtedly had the most overwhelming meeting of anyone in a pack, and the two shapeshifters' were a perfect example of that.

"That's so sweet," the orange fairy said. He could feel his mind and body wearing out quickly, but he did his best to keep himself together. "What came of your business career, Namjoon-ah? And your baking passion, Seokjin-hyung?"

"Oh, Namjoon has become quite the businessman since then," Seokjin replied with a fond look in the alpha's direction.

Namjoon grinned, "I own the bakery Seokjin runs, as well as the magic shop Taehyung and Jimin run right beside it. The supernatural creatures like us enjoy the bakery, and the humans appreciate the magic shop."

"Wow," Hoseok said, a little breathless as he felt his body becoming more and more exhausted. "That's perfect for you guys."

"Hoseok-ah," Seokjin began hesitantly. "Once you're healed, we would love to have you stay with us, but we don't want to assume that you will just because you're our packmate."

While the fairy was touched by their thoughtfulness, he didn't exactly have anywhere else that he was eager to go. "If I'm healed, I would love to stay here. Aurora isn't exactly welcoming to me at the moment anyway."

The omega clapped his hands together and bounced excitedly in Namjoon's lap, who held his hips tighter to keep him from falling. "That would be awesome! I'm sure Taehyung and Jimin would love your help at the shop, or if you would prefer, you could work with me!"

Namjoon pulled the other back against him and kissed his cheek with a chuckle. "Calm down, hyung. Everything is still new, so let's focus on getting him healed before we talk more about the future."

Just as the alpha finished his sentence, Taehyung appeared in the doorway to the guest room. Hoseok was relieved to see another cup of that familiar blue-green concoction in his hands.

"Sorry to interrupt," Taehyung said, eyeing the three of them with a raised brow at what he'd heard but not saying anything more.

"That's okay, Tae," Seokjin assured. "We were just talking."

Taehyung nodded and moved closer to the bed to hand the orange fairy the cup of energy elixir. "You must be needing more of this, I'm sure."

Hoseok drank the minty-tasting potion eagerly, reveling in the small but immediate boost of strength it gave him. "Thank you," he said.

Taehyung smiled back at him and took a seat in the empty chair beside the one the two shapeshifters were still sharing. "Well, I came to let you know that I have a possible lead on someone who can help you, Hoseok-ssi. Though if I'm being honest, I'm not sure if it's anything promising."

"You found a witch up for the challenge?" Namjoon inquired.

"Not exactly..." Taehyung admitted. "I found someone who might have met a witch once that might be able to help. They agreed to meet me tomorrow in the city."

"Hmm," the alpha shapeshifter hummed thoughtfully. "Sounds kind of sketchy. You should take someone with you."

"Well, Jimin's in charge of the shop tomorrow, and Seokjin's got stuff at the bakery to deal with, so it's either you or Yoongi-hyung, Namjoon-hyung."

"I'll talk to Yoongi and see what he thinks," Namjoon replied.

Taehyung turned back to Hoseok and gave him a sheepish half-smile, half-grimace. "I really hope this lead works out, Hoseok-ssi. I'm really not sure how long that energy potion is going to help you."

Hoseok nodded in understanding. "We'll keep our fingers crossed."

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A/N: Sorry again that this chapter took so long to be posted. I do hope that you enjoyed some backstory though!

And thank you to everyone who left comments on this story, it always keeps me motivated to hear your feedback <3 Let me know if there is anything you'd like to see in future chapters (like certain pairings or plot points) and I'll do my best to incorporate them in.

Ages:

Seokjin - 455

Yoongi - 342

Hoseok - 138

Namjoon - 124

Jimin - 98

Taehyung - 66

Jungkook - 30

[bakubabes-tatakae]

The Uchiha In The Leaves (Part Ten)

Author’s Note: If anyone wants to be in a taglist for this feel free to let me know! Happy to do it for anyone!

(Kakashi x Reader)

Summary: What happens when Y/N finally returns to the Village Hidden in the Leaves? Her life is flipped upside down when not only does she find the man that’s awaited her return, but she finds someone she thought she’d never see again.

Part One, Part Two: *NSFW Ahead!*, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight: *NSFWish Ahead!*, Part Nine

Part Ten

Word Count: 3,134

*Kakashi's P.O.V*

In between training the kids about chakra we had to help Tazuna with protecting his bridge. The next morning I sent Sakura with Tazuna along with Y/n, since Sakura was the most advanced in this already. I knew the two of them would be fine without me so I stayed behind to make sure the boy were focusing on their training.

As sundown broke the boys were still at it. They would soon become exhausted, but knowing the two of them, as long as one of them pushed on the other would push on, wanting to best each other. I knew the boys were probably at each other's throats, but I needed to get some rest, so I headed back to the hut, telling them to come back when they had had enough.

When Y/n and Sakura walked through with Tazuna I was relieved to say the least. I wrapped Y/n into my arms and kissed her forehead. "How was your day?"

"Quiet. He had one of his builders quit, but nothing other than that." She looked up at me and pushed her lips toward me. I leaned down and kissed her. "How was yours?"

"Uneventful. The boys are slowly making progress with the tree, but they're too worried about surpassing the other to focus enough."

Y/n sighed. I figured as much. I know how competitive my brother can be."

Sasuke and Naruto came through the door a couple minutes later and we all sat down at the table to enjoy a meal prepared by Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami. I've never seen the boys scarf down food so fast. Tazuna seemed happy to have company. "This is fantastic, it's been a long time since we've had this many guest around our table."

Both boys stood up and held their bowls in the air, glaring at the other as they spoke together. "I want some more!" After they yelled both of them turned sideways and threw up all over the floor.

Y/n glared at Sasuke and Sakura started to yell. "Don't eat so much if you're just going to puke it back up!"

Sasuke ignored his sister's glares and spoke again. "I have to eat."

Naruto talked through gritted teeth. "And I have to eat more than him. It's the only possible way to beat him."

I crossed my arms and looked at the both of them. "That's true. But puking wont help you."

Y/nn stood up from her seat, walked over to Sasuke, and slapped him in the back of the head. "Learn some manners Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto burst out laughing and she walked to him, doing the same. "Don't think I didn't mean you too, Naruto Uzumaki."

Sakura wandered around the kitchen, looking at pictures. "Excuse me?" She turned around. "This picture is torn, is there some reason for that?"

We all turned to look at what she was talking about. There was a lone picture hanging on the wall behind us. The picture showed Tazuna, Tsunami Inari, and another person had been ripped out of it. Tsunami spoke up before anyone could say anything else. "It's my husband."

Tazuna's whole attitude changed. "They used to call him a hero in this land."

Inari stood up from the table and started to walk out, clearly worrying Tsunami. "Inari, where are you going?" Instead of answering Inari shut the front door behind him. Tsunami started for the door. "Father, you can't talk about him like that in front of Inari! You know that!" I had not seen Tsunami like this since we had shown up here. She slammed the door behind her.

"How come Inari is so..." Sakura paused. "What happened to him?"

I piped in. "Is there a story to this?"

Tazuna began. "He wasn't his real father, he came into our lives later. He brought so much happiness, he and Inari were so close. In those days, Inari used to laugh all the time. But then..." Tazuna was having a hard time getting his words out and we began to see tears hitting the table. "All that ended. He never laughs or smiles anymore. Ever since the day everything changed."

"The word courage was stolen from this island. We were left feeling powerless, hopeless, and Inari suffered the most. Ever since that day, ever since it happened."

"Tell us..." I was generally curious now. "What happened to Inari?"

"First, you need to know about the man, his father. The man who taught us the word courage, who was a hero in this land." Tazuna took off his glasses and wiped the tears from his eyes. "He came here about three years ago. Inari's dog, Pooch, was thrown into the lake by some bullies. Inari was not able to swim and when they told him they weren't going to save the dog Inari stood at the edge of the bridge, contemplating what to do. Suddenly, one of them pushed Inari into the water and at that exact moment Pooch figured out how to dog paddle. Pooch had run to find help and the boys on the bridge chased after him, trying to stop him."

"When the boys ran off a man pulled Inari out of the water, cared for him, and fed him. His name was Kaiza. He was a simple fisherman who had come here from another land to follow his dreams. After that Inari and Kaiza were inseparable. The boy never met his real father so you could imagine what it meant to him to have Kaiza in his life. He looked up to him, followed in his footsteps, like a real father and son. Kaiza spent more and more time with us until, naturally, he just became a part of our family. And then when this town needed him he became something more."

"One night, when the flood gates had opened and our lower district was about to be flooded, the townspeople came to Kaiza to ask for help. Kaiza jumped into action. Someone had to jump into the water and tie a rope to the gate so the townspeople could pull it shut. Naturally, when no one wanted to step up, Kaiza did. Kaiza made it to the gate and tied the rope to the gate so the townspeople could begin to pull it shut. From that time on Kaiza was considered a hero to this village. He taught us all the meaning of courage and Inari was so proud to be his son, but it wasn't long after that Gato showed up and took over. He terrorized the whole village. Only Kaiza stood up to him. Gato couldn't have a local hero getting in his way. It took his whole gang to stop one man."

" Gato strung Kaiza up on a pole in front of the whole town, including Inari. Gato told everyone that he had defied the Gato Corporation and sentenced him to execution for his punishment. He wanted him to be an example so nobody stood in his way again. Inari watched as they executed Kaiza. Inari was crushed that Kaiza was not there to protect us anymore. Since then Inari has changed, so has Tsunami and all of our people. We lost our will."

When I looked over at Y/n she had tears rolling down her cheeks. She had always been a sucker for stories like this. Naruto stood up from the table to walk away and instantly fell to his face. "You need to relax and take some time off Naruto. You've used up too much chakra. If you push any harder it could kill you."

Naruto was focused. "I'm gonna prove it."

We all looked at him confused. Sakura was annoyed with him again. "Prove what?"

"I'll prove that it's true." Naruto slowly stood back up. "That in this world, there are real heroes."

Naruto ran off and we all knew exactly where he was going... back to the tree.

We sat around the table for tea that next morning. Naruto still hadn't returned from his training last night. I wouldn't let anyone see it or know, but I was starting to worry about him. Tazuna said something about it first. "Naruto didn't come back again last night?"

Sakura was worried too, but didn't want to sound it. "He's gone completely nuts, he's out there climbing trees in the dark. He could be dead right now, you know, from using up too much of his chakra."

Tsunami was disappointed in Y/n and I, you could tell by her voice. "Well I certainly hope he's alright, a kid out in the woods alone all night."

I spoke up, defending Y/n and myself. "There's nothing to worry about. Naruto's a goofy kid, but he's a full fledged ninja. He can handle himself."

I never thought I would hear Sasuke say the next words, even Y/n was in shock. "Sakura's right, Naruto's such a loser he's probably laying out there dead somewhere." Sasuke stood up from the table and walked toward the door.

Sakura watched him. "Sasuke?"

"I'm going for a walk."

"But we just started eating." Sakura looked down to see Sasuke's empty plate and stopped talking.

I looked over at Y/n who seemed worried. I nodded toward the door. "Go."

Y/n stood up and started walking. "Sasuke, wait." And with that she shut the door behind her.

As an hour went by I began to get nervous. None of them had returned so I grabbed Sakura and we took off for the woods. I found Y/n and Sasuke with Naruto in the clearing we had used the trees from. Sakura and I just barely dodged a kunai that landed in front of us and when we looked up we saw Naruto laying on a branch at the top of his tree.

Sakura was amazed. "Woah, Naruto can climb that high using his chakra?"

Naruto was proud of himself. "What do you think? Is this high enough for you guys? I mean, it's a long way down. Huh?"

Suddenly we saw Naruto start to slip as he stood up. My eyes grew wide and I looked over at Y/n. "Uh-oh" He began to scream, which caused Sakura to scream, and Y/nn began jumping through the trees, ready to dash across and grab him, landing on another branch.

Before Y/n could do her final jump and grab him Naruto balanced himself with his chakra and he looked at all of us with a smile. "Just kidding, you guys really fell for it." He began to laugh.

Sakura yelled at him. "We were worried about you Naruto."

I had a weird feeling. "Why do I think this is going to end badly?"

Naruto's feet finally came loose from the tree and this time he was really falling. Sakura was even angrier now. My eyes have never grown so wide in my life and she hollered. "You just had to push it, didn't you show off."

I hollered to get Y/n's attention, who was currently watching Sasuke. "Y/n, help Naruto!"

Naruto began to scream and both the Uchiha sibling went into action. Sasuke scaled the tree and just as Y/n got down to Naruto's level Sasuke climbed under a branch and grabbed onto Naruto's ankle, hanging there with him. Sasuke smirked at him. "You really are a loser Naruto.

Sakura yelled from the ground and I saw Y/n smiling at her brother. "Alright Sasuke, you're the best."

Y/n jumped down and landed next to me. I looked over at her and smiled. "If we're still sane by the time we're done their training, it'll be a miracle."

"You've got that right." She laughed.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her to me, kissing the side of her head and laughing with her.

All but Sasuke and Naruto were sitting at the table, ready for dinner. Sakura was clearly worried about them, Y/n and I not so much, "Now they're both late. I wouldn't have expected that from Sasuke."

Y/n was annoyed. "Me either."

Sasuke and Naruto came through the door a second later. Sasuke had Naruto's arm wrapped around his shoulder. Tazuna taunted them a little. "What have you been up to? You look like something that cat dragged in."

Naruto looked up. "We both made it. We climbed all the way to the top."

I looked over and smiled. "Good, now we move on, starting tomorrow you're both body guards for Tazuna."

They both smiled. Naruto threw his arm up and yelled. "Alright!" When his arm went up they lost their balance and both fell onto the ground.

Sasuke was clearly angry now. "You're such a loser!" We all chuckled and settled in for dinner.

Tazuna looked around the table. "In a few more days the bridge will be finished and I'll have you to thank for that."

Tsunami was very motherly to everyone. "You've all done great, but you've still got to be careful."

"I've been meaning to ask you this, but I haven't had the chance until now. Why did you stay and protect me, even after you found out I lied to bring you here?"

I looked at him and put my hands together. "Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice can not survive."

Tsunami looked confused. "Huh?"

"That was a quote from the first Hokage."

Naruto was asleep at the table, Inari was watching him. Tears started to fall from Inari and we all looked over at him. "But why"

Naruto woke up when he spoke and looked at him. "What'd you say?"

Inari slammed his hands on the table. "All this stupid training it just a waste of time. Gato's got a whole army. They'll beat you down and they'll destroy you. These cool things you all say, they don't mean anything. No matter what you do, the strong always win and and weak always lose."

Naruto laid his head back down. "Just speak for yourself. It won't be like that for me, you got that?"

"Why don't you just be quiet!? Looking at you makes me sick. You don't know anything about this country, you're just butting in. Always laughing and playing around, you don't know what it's like to suffer and be treated like dirt!"

I knew that was going to strike a nerve with Naruto. Naruto slowly lifted his head up. "Listen to yourself, whining and complaining like some sort of little victim." Inari's face turned to shock. "You can whimper all day for all I care. You're nothing but a coward."

Sakura was mad now. "Naruto, you went too far!' Naruto stood up and walked away and her face changed from anger to guilt. "Naruto?"

Inari stood up from the table and went outside. I looked between Tazuna and Tsunami and then to Y/n. Y/n looked upset. "Let's go and talk to Inari." She looked toward Tazuna. "As long as you don't mind anyway."

Tazuna shook his head. "Be my guest."

Y/n and I stood up and walked toward the door. She looked back at Sasuke and Sakura before we left the room. "We'll be right back.

When we reached where Inari was sitting on the deck I slowly approached. "Can we talk to you?"

Inari looked behind him and nodded. I sat on one side of him and Y/n sat on the other. Y/n spoke first. "I'm sorry about Naruto." She smiled at him. Inari just stared.

I tried next. "Naruto can be a little harsh sometimes, but he doesn't hate you."

"Your grandfather told us what happened… to your father."

I wanted to try to make him realize that him and Naruto weren't much different from each other. "You probably don't know this, but Naruto grew up too, without knowing his father. In fact, he never knew either of his parents, and he never had a single friend in our village." Inari looked up at me. "Still, I've never seen him cry, sulk, or give up. He's always eager to jump in. He wants to be respected. That's his dream."

Y/n took over. "He'll put his life on the line for that in a heartbeat. My guess is, he just got tired of crying and decided to do something about it. Even though he's young and still learning he knows what it means to be strong, like your father did."

Y/n looked over at me. She had tears welling up in her eyes so I started to talk, wanting her to calm down. "I think he knows better than any of us, what you're going through. What Naruto told you earlier, as cruel as it sounded, he's probably told himself that a thousand times."

Y/nn started again. "And not only that, but Sasuke and I, if you didn't already know, we're brother and sister. When Sasuke was 7 years old, his older brother and my younger brother, Itachi, who was only 13 at the time, massacred our family. I had barely trained to be a ninja at the age of 18 and I had barely any skills. Itachi was part of the ANBU Black Ops, so he had special training. I couldn't stop him, I had all I could just to protect Sasuke from him. I watched as Itachi killed my parents and he would have killed me too, if Sasuke hadn't walked into the room, distracting him. Sasuke grew up with no parents and without me. I had gone to hunt my brother down and had lost Sasuke in the process. It's just this last month that I found him, after five years, so Sasuke can sort of relate to you too."

"You can always talk to us, we're more than happy to listen Inari. You'd be surprised what has happened to some ninja." I stood up and helped Y/n up. "We're gonna head to bed, but our door will be open if you need us."

I took Y/n's hand and we walked back toward the door. Y/n turned around once to look behind us, sighing as she turned back around.

When the two of us climbed into bed we fell asleep faster than we ever had.

Taglist 💕 @nubiadethemyscira @nimeryaa @o-franzii-o @chidori-mint @fan-g0rl @ari-hatake15 @puredicks @hunie-hun

[alloftheimagines]

billy hargrove | heaven-sent | part eight

masterlist | series | part seven

words: 1.2k

warnings: supernatural, mentions of illness and death, panic attack, angst, swearing, alcohol, smoking

summary:  she’s an angel. he may as well be the devil. one would not exist without the other.

Any hope that Hopper is in the trailer is lost as soon as Frances and Billy reach the drive. It's empty, the way Frances had left it this morning. For a moment, she's glad: her anger and confusion has turned to a jagged hurt that rips through her stomach and chest each time she breathes.

She's adopted. From a lab. Everything she thought she knew is gone.

Billy is sober enough to walk himself up the steps onto the porch, though he grabs the wooden railing for support as he waits for her to unlock the door. She does, holding it open for him before she follows him in silently.

She places the keys down on the counter, sighing and scraping her hand through her hair. She has no idea what to do now. She just hopes to God that wherever he is, El is there, too.

She runs the tap to busy her hands, filling a glass with water and handing it to Billy. "Here. Drink this."

Billy must be able to sense her foul mood because he doesn't argue, taking a few big gulps before putting it down and looking at her.

"You didn't have to do all this for me."

"It's nothing," she replies, biting her nails distractedly. "You can sleep it off in my room. Come on."

He follows her into her bedroom, a tiny box room with a single bed. The walls are covered in pictures she's taken over the years, starting with a toothless, five-year-old Will Byers and ending with a sunset over the ravine. Her clothes are scattered around the floor, and she rushes to pick them up, trying not to blush at the fact that her bra is among the pile.

When she turns around, she realises that Billy isn't even looking. His attention is on an old photo of she and Sarah, the one she keeps on her desk. It's one of the last ones they took together — her last real good day, just after her diagnosis, when their parents took them to Coney Island. Sarah's hair hasn't yet fallen out from the chemo, and nobody who didn't already know her would be able to tell she was sick. She had fun that day. So did Frances.

"This you?" Billy questions, his thumb running over Frances's eleven-year-old face.

"Yeah," Frances whispers, pulling the photo from his hands and putting it back quickly. It's too late, though: he asks a moment later.

"Who's the kid?"

Frances inhales shakily, unable to meet his gaze. "My sister." She wonders as she says it if she even has a right to call her that now: all those years spent believing they were 50% of one another, and it was a lie.

"Where is she now? With your mom?"

"Gone," Frances says, shoulders burning and eyes stinging with more tears. She is sick of crying. "She's gone."

Suddenly, she can hear a thumping, constant pulse. Another one joins in a moment later, the sound consuming her so that she has to grip onto her dresser for support.

"Fran?" Billy asks, concern in his voice. He's talking too loud and it hurts her ears. His hands find her shoulders, and a pain shoots through her in protest so that she has to move away.

Her chest is constricting, her breathing laboured as she tries to ground her feet on the carpeted floor again. Her head is throbbing, and even though she can't see them, she is sure it's happening again, this time worse: her eyes are changing.

"Fran? You okay?" Billy asks again. "Fran? Shit. Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't know—"

"Just shut up," she demands through gritted teeth, glancing at him for only a second.

A second is all he needs to see. He stumbles backwards until the back of his knees hit the bed. "Fuck, Fran. Your eyes."

She squeezed them shut, collapsing to the floor and gripping onto her dresser as though it's the only thing keeping her from falling through the ground and soil beneath. "I don't know what's wrong with me." Her voice doesn't sound like her own, distorted, echoing.

"Do I call an ambulance?" Billy asks desperately.

"No!" Frances shouts. Her entire body is trembling.

Billy is knelt in front of her now, his eyes wide in fear. She can't look at him, can't open her eyes at all. She's scared of what will happen if she lets him see again.

"Tell me what to do," he begs. "Tell me how to help."

She shakes her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. The two pulses have sped up frantically and she can't help but wince at his deep voice in her sensitive ears.

"Fran," he whispers. "Frances, listen to me. You're okay. You're gonna be okay."

His hand finds her knee, and this time she doesn't pull away as he traces soft lines across the bones jutting out. His voice is quietening again, and so are the heartbeats.

"I don't know what's wrong with me." The sob falls out of her without permission, forcing her eyes open.

"It's okay. Your eyes—They're back to normal, see?"

The pain is easing in her shoulders and chest. She bites down on her lip to stop it from trembling, her fingernails clawing the carpet when she no longer as the strength to grip the dresser. When she finally has the courage to look at Billy, he shuffles closer, leaning over to tuck her hair behind her ears.

"You're okay."

"No," she says. "No, I'm fucking not. Look at me. I'm— I don't even know. I don't know, Billy."

He knows there's nothing he can say to this. She sees it in the way he sighs in defeat and pulls himself against the dresser so that they're sitting side by side. He puts his arm over her shoulder cautiously, pulling her into his chest when she doesn't pull away. The smell of cigarettes and whiskey stings her nostrils, and yet still it calms her as her tears soak into his shirt.

"You a werewolf or somethin', angel?" he mumbles into her hair, only half-joking.

She closes her eyes, knowing that if she moves from his arms now she'll have to look at him again and figure this out. "When's the next full moon?"

His low chuckle hums through him and into her bones. "You gonna tell me what's going on?"

"I don't know how," she whispers, her voice hoarse. "I ... I found adoption papers this morning with my name on them. Hopper isn't my real dad and I had no idea. He never thought to tell me."

"Jesus."

"I don't know who I am. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do?"

"Shit," he says, just like he did when she told him about Barb. Only this time, he didn't feel unreachable, out of touch. Now he was holding her, his fingers running through her hair, her hands in his lap. Now they are tangled up together and she never wants to untangle. "Shit, Fran, I'm sorry."

For the first time, she pulls away to look up at him. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

His expression softens as his rough hand cups her damp cheek. "No, I'm not afraid of you."

"But what you saw ... What I did to you last night."

"I've seen monsters, Fran," he mutters. "Hell, I live with one. You're not one of them. Trust me."

"What if you're wrong?"

He smirks, but not in his usual, arrogant way. This is gentle, caring, warm. "I pride myself on always being right."

She sinks back into him. It is hours before she resurfaces again.

part nine

[abused-virgil-oneshots]

"call them and tell them you never want to see them again" from one of the prompt lists a while back (I'm sorry I forgot the title of it) with unsympathetic Patton sympathetic dark sides? If it's not to much of a bother? And you aren't swamped? Your mental health is important!!!

TW: sympathetic deceit and Remus, mentioned sympathetic Logan and Roman, abusive Patton, abusive relationship, choking, implied past abuse, implied past whipping, whip mention, pills mention (in a way that helps him), past drugging mention(not in a way that helps him), being forced to cut communication, rape, implied past rape, bruises mention, manipulation, crying, being forced to take a shower with someone, food mentions, throwing things.

AN: double speak is in italics and bold, the rape isn't explicit but you definitely know that it happened, Deceit and Remus are good pure beans and I want to protect them from everything but what else is new, also I did get the other ask you sent I just didn’t respond since I didn’t want to give anything away also, I ran out of tags so I’m sorry

"Pat. Please. I don't want to." Patton hummed quietly as he wrapped his hands around Virgil's waist. He took Virgil's hand and slipped his phone in it. The phone was cracked from getting thrown too many times and Deceit's contact was already pulled up.

Patton moved his head right next to Virgil's ear, "Call them and tell them you never want to see them again, now. This isn't a discussion Veve." He hated when he used that nickname. That was Deceit's nickname for him.

Virgil whimpered quietly as the hands around him wrapped tighter, "Patton they're my friends. I'm not gonna-"

"Right. Now. Virgil. You love me right? And you wanna stay a light side, right?" Virgil nodded his head vigorously.

"Of course Pat, but-"

"Then you can't be friends with the dark sides. They only want you to hurt Thomas, you don't want to hurt Thommy. Do you?" Patton ran his a hand through Virgil's hair. Virgil shook his head again, "then you've got to stay away from the dark sides, and that starts with a phone call. If you do it I'll give you a reward. If you don't, Hmm, well we haven't used the whip in a while," Virgil whimpered quietly and shakily clicked the call button, it took two rings for him to pick up. Patton put it on speaker

"Hey Veve, What's up?" His voice was so soft. Like he was talking to a scared child. Virgil let out a shaky breath, "Are you ok?"

"Deceit, I need to talk to you."

"It's not like we're talking right-

"I don't want to talk to you anymore, Deceit. You or Remus," he knew Deceit could feel the lie, hell he could feel it, but he had to get it out now or he was never going to, and he couldn't take another punishment this week, especially not with the whip.

"I-what- V-" his voice was so confused. God he sounded so hurt.

"I don't want to talk to you two. Ever," he could hear his voice breaking. No. He had to get through this call. He needed to get it out, he couldn't hurt Thomas.

At least that's what he told himself. Not that he'd ever admit that Patton's grip was getting too tight to breathe in, or that he was scared of him, and he would definitely never tell anyone about the bruises that were forming that almost completely covered his left side from the shoulder down. No. That wasn't it. Patton cared. Patton loved him. As long as he listened Patton wouldn't get upset again, wouldn't hurt him again.

"Vir-" whatever Deceit was saying got cut off by Virgil hitting the end button and his sobs finally breaking through. Patton pulled him towards the bed and sat Virgil in his lap just before his legs gave out. Patton was petting him, whispering in his ear, telling him how good he was like he hadn't just cut off communication with the people he'd known since he formed.

"Shhh. It's alright Veve, you have me. You have me and you're helping Thomas and," the words faded out as Virgil curled in on himself. Had he really done that? No. No. This was all a nightmare, he'd wake up tomorrow and Patton would give him a kiss on the cheek, and Deceit would pop up in random times, and Virgil would pretend to be annoyed, and Remus would-

His thoughts were knocked out of place by Patton's mouth on his neck. It felt gross and was so unwelcome, but he couldn't stop him. Virgil could feel his hands creeping around and hear Patton telling him it was time for his reward but his brain was going fuzzy and he couldn't breathe-

When Virgil's mind finally came back to the point of realizing his surroundings hours later the first thing he noticed was his lack of pants. That wasn't really a surprise given what had just happened, but at least he had been able to keep his hoodie this time. He could hear Patton's gentle snores from beside him. He closed his eyes and pushed back the tears as much as he could so he could out of bed. He crawled towards the bathroom and closed the door.

Everything hurt so, so much. He leaned his head on the bathroom door and cried. When he finally stopped he pulled himself up towards the shower and crawled in. He turned the water up as high as he could handle and just sat with his eyes closed. He was only in the shower for a few minutes before he heard the door creak open and a quiet yawn.

"Veve? Are you in here?" A few more tears slipped down his face and he was quiet for a second before he responded.

"Yes, Patton. I'm-" sharp breath. That hurt far more than it should have. Was his voice really that bad now, "I'm in the shower." Stupid, that was obvious. Where else would he be? He heard Patton move around and hum for a minute before the shower curtain opened and he felt Patton step in behind him.

"What are you doing on the floor silly? All of the stuff is up here," how do you respond to that? 'Oh yeah I'm not sure if I could hold my own weight because it hurts to move and it was a struggle to get into the tub, let alone stand to clean myself up.' No, idiots would say that.

"I'm- I'm a little sore. It hurts to stand," that was so stupid. Little? He felt like he'd been hit by a truck. "I just- I needed to get my strength up a little bit is all."

"Oh Veve. I wish you would've woken me up. I could've helped. Here, I'll clean you up now and then I'll go make some breakfast and bring you some, alright?" Virgil nodded despite wishing he could be alone instead. Patton wasn't paying attention anyway, already getting the shampoo and conditioner and body wash. He set it all behind Virgil and moved him up a little so he could sit down behind him.

When Patton had finally finished and come back with clothes for Virgil to get into and helped him get back into bed, he went downstairs. Virgil had curled into a ball and decided to try and sleep until Patton came back, which was probably going to be awhile since the others were probably awake now and dealing with the mess he had made yesterday.

Virgil woke up to the sound of the door slamming into the frame and a fuming Patton starting to throw stuff around the room. He could make out a few mumbled words coming from him, but it wasn't much, vague mentions of Deceit and Remus, the phone call, very few details could actually be made out. When Patton turned his attention to Virgil he felt his blood run cold.

He looked like he was going to kill him. His eyes were filled with fire and he started to walk towards Virgil. Virgil didn't know what he did, he didn't know what to do to fix the situation and since he is fight or flight he decided to opt for the latter and ran. He ran past Patton to the door and tried to open it, he could hear others on the other side of the door though. He pounded on it in an attempt to get their attention. He couldn't stay with Patton right now, he was far too upset and Virgil didn't know how to fix it.

He felt a hand pull him back from the door and himself slamming into the wall. He could feel a hand around his neck, but strangely enough he couldn't see who it connected to. He couldn't see anything. He couldn't see and now he couldn't breathe and now he was going to die for something he doesn't know he did and trying to keep Patton happy was a waste and he could hear the others pounding on the door but he couldn't get to them and-

Virgil's head hurt. It was dark now, when had he fallen asleep? Hadn't he just been with Patton? Certainly he hadn't fallen asleep while Patton was still awake, because he could distinctly remember talking to Patton, and Patton throwing things... and Patton putting his hands around Virgil's neck.

Virgil shot up as what happened hit him, immediately regretting it when the pain hit him just as quickly. He let out a groan and looked around. This definitely wasn't Patton's room. This was the living room. When did he get to the dark sides living room?

"Virgil? You're not ok!" Deceit? When did Deceit get here? Hadn't he cut contact for Patton? Where was Patton? He was going to be upset, wasn't he? Virgil was trying so hard and then everyone else had to ruin it by taking him away! "Virgil? Virgil, hey, I don't need you to breathe for me. Please don't match my breathing. Don't breathe in for four and don't hold for seven and don't breathe out for eight. Don't do any of that for me." Virgil was listening, of course he was, he didn't want to make Deceit mad like he had Patton. He was the reason Patton was upset right? Of course he was, why else would Patt punish him? He could feel deceit wrapping his arms around him just like Patton had...

Virgil shoved him away at the association. No, Deceit wasn't like that! He wouldn't do that! "Virgil! Virgil! Hey! It's not ok, i will touch you. I don't want you to be comfortable." He held his hands up and moved off the couch. He sat on the ground and continued to hold his hands up. "Please just don't keep the breathing pattern. You can pass out again. It is healthy. It won't hurt you more," Virgil saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

He turned around and found half of creativity watching from the side of the room. Deceit obviously hadn't noticed him until Virgil had either because he started to try to calm Virgil down in case he panicked again. "It's not ok, it's not just Remus. Can he come over here?" Why was he asking? Couldn't he just come over?

Remus looked about as scared as being to sudden as Deceit. He felt the same too. He didn't want to scare Virgil. Once Virgil nodded he slowly stepped over so he had time to change his mind and held his hands up in the same way. He sat down in front of him and for a minute they all just stared at each other. When someone finally spoke it was, surprisingly, Virgil.

"What happened? Why am I down here? Where's Patton?"

Remus was the one to respond, in a surprisingly gentle way, "Patton," he definitely didn't miss the obvious cringe Virgil made at his name, "was hurting you when we got there. We could hear yelling and banging, so we all went up to investigate. We could hear you screaming and we had to break his door to get in. He had- had his hand around your neck and you were unconscious. You're down here because you heal faster and Roman and Logan thought it would be best if you woke up somewhere you didn't associate with him. The devil himself is currently locked in the subconscious. We weren't completely sure what to do so we put him in there to get him away from you."

Deceit and Remus were looking at Virgil before deceit summoned a plate. It had some food on it, but not too much. "Please don't eat this, you haven't been out for nearly a day." He set it next to Virgil who eyed it nervously. He didn't want to upset them by not eating it, but what if they put something in it like Patton does? "There is something in it. We won't both try it if that will get you to eat it." Virgil sighed and picked it up. He took a bite.

He finished the food as quickly as he could, which wasn't very fast, it couldn't be when every movement felt like something was stabbing you. When he finished Deceit got some pills that Logan had given him for the pain. The pills also happened to make him drowsy, but he had been warned about that.

When deceit asked him if he wanted to sleep in his old room Virgil was surprised to find that it was still in the same condition as when he left it nearly three years ago. The only difference he could tell was that the bed had clearly been used recently, but that wasn't a cause for concern really, they used to fall asleep together plenty while watching movies, it only seemed fitting they still would. Deceit had to carry him since the second he stood he would have hit the ground if Remus hadn't caught him. Deceit asked if they could stay to watch over him and make sure that Patton hadn't found a way here. Virgil agreed and fell asleep after about an hour of staring at the ceiling. It was strange not having Patton there.

///2200 words. So this ending was bad, but I liked the way the rest came out. What did you think? I hope you liked it! Also, if I do get swamped with asks I will probably turn them off. I promise you that you won’t bother me with asks. And thank you for caring about my mental health