#but yeah sure i miss going to the mall at that age i guess.

[tvslashers]

nostalgia still remains my worst enemy.

[juniperskye]

I choose you.

Sneak peek: After a one-night stand, you find yourself pregnant. You choose to take some time off to get your life in order (aka ready for a baby), when Hotch stops by to make sure you’re okay. You confide in him and after a late night of talking, and months of mutual pining, Hotch offers to help you raise the baby. With this newfound dynamic, how will Hotch handle you working in the field? How will your lives change?

Aaron Hotchner x (Fem) Reader

Fluff/Angst

Word count: 7599 (OMFG sorry)

REQUESTS ARE OPEN - not edited I've been working on this for so long...I did my best- please be kind. Requests are open and feedback is welcome if it's constructive!

Warnings: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! My blog is 18+, minors DNI, implied age gap (kinda?), secret relationship, mention of period and menstrual cycle, mention of doctors and hospitals, mention of typical pregnancy related care, secret pregnancy, mention of pregnancy, Hotch being a little smothering lol, mentions of canon typical violence, some language, team members meddling, mention of Jack, no mention of Hailey (she just doesn’t exist in this – Hotch  has always been a single dad), no use of y/n. I think that’s all, let me know if I missed any!

I do not consent to having my work translated or reposted to any other site. That being said I do not own the characters portrayed in this story.

“Hey, you’re looking a little green there sugar.” Morgan said, gently nudging your elbow.

“Yeah girl, keep it to your side!” Emily laughed, pushing your file further onto your desk.

“Alright, if I was contagious, don’t you think you’d all be sick by now? It has to be from something I ate…I guess it’s time to clean out the fridge.” Shaking your head you got back to work.

“You know the most common causes of nausea and vomiting are infections (like the stomach flu), food poisoning, motion sickness, pregnancy, and migraines. We can rule out the stomach flu given that none of us have gotten sick, and motion sickness since we haven’t travelled in a few days. I’d say food poisoning seems most likely, and it should pass soon given that it typically lasts anywhere from 12-48 hours.” Spencer rattled off.

“Thanks Spence.” You smiled.

Your mind began spiraling, this little bout of vomiting had been going on for far longer than 48 hours. Was it possible something at home was contaminated and you’d had “never-ending” food poisoning? You thought about the other conditions Spencer had mentioned, no to the stomach flu, no to motion sickness, probably not food poisoning. You had migraines, but definitely weren’t currently suffering from a spell…so that left. Nope. No way.

Could it be possible? When was your last period? Shit. You pulled out your phone and opened the Flo app and your last charted period was…EIGHT WEEKS AGO. What the fuck? How had you missed that?  After pondering for a few minutes, you realized that around that time, the team had a particularly tough case where children were being kidnapped from malls in Alabama. The case had a happy ending, but it had taken seven days for you to catch the guy.  You had chalked up the missed cycle to stress – it happened sometimes.

After excusing yourself, you made your way to the bathroom. While in the bathroom, you made two calls, one to your primary care physician, and then one to the OBGYN that they referred you to. Thankfully (pure luck truly) they had an opening tomorrow morning.

You quickly made your way to Hotch’s office to see if he would allow you to come in late tomorrow. He was usually understanding about these things since you guys really have to take any doctor’s appointments you can get with your ridiculous schedule.

You knocked on the door frame softly, taking note of his nod, granting permission to enter. You walked cautiously to his desk, trying to work out the phrasing of this request in your head.

“I can hear the gears turning in your head, what’s going on?” Hotch questioned.

“Sorry Hotch, I uh, I just have a quick question for you.” You began. “You see, I haven’t been feeling great the last few days, so I called my doctor, and they can squeeze me in tomorrow first thing. Would it be possible for me to come in late so I can make that appointment?”

“Is that all? Of course, just come in when you can.” He finally met your gaze, offering a subtle smile.

**8 weeks pregnant**

You sat, bare legs causing the sterile paper beneath you to crinkle, the noise seemed to echo in the otherwise silent room. You had left a urine sample when you first arrived at the office, and they had just taken a blood sample. The nurse had asked you a million questions and you had to fill out nearly 20 different forms.

“Alright, so the urine test came back as positive for pregnancy.” The doctor informed you.

“Wow, um okay. So, what are the next steps?”

“Well, we are going to send your blood in to check your HCG levels amongst other things, that will give us a pretty good estimate as to how far along you are. We will give you a call when those results come in. I am going to send you home with some literature on what foods, medication, drinks, over all activities to avoid as well as some recommendations for prenatal vitamins and a prescription for some anti-nausea medication. There is also a card in there with the triage number in case of an emergency. So, what questions do you have for me?” The doctor concluded.

“I uh, when will I need to come back in? Also, I am a field agent with the FBI, I guess I’ll probably need a doctor’s note as proof of pregnancy, and then one later down the line I suppose, excusing me from duty.” You inquired.

“Once we get your HCG levels and can get a better idea of how far along you are, we will give you that call and then we will schedule your next appointment. Based on your last cycle, we will probably have you come back pretty soon for a transvaginal ultrasound and then your following appointment would be around your 12-week mark. As for work, I can get you that document now and then yes, as your pregnancy progresses we will discuss changes that will have to be made at work. Did you need a note for today?” She answered.

“Okay, that sounds good. And yeah, a note for today would be great. Thank you.”

Thoughts were racing through your head, the things you’d have to buy, getting your apartment prepared, telling the father (what was his name again…Michael? Brady? You’d have to figure that one out), telling your boss and the team, the changes to your body? Oh god, what have you gotten yourself into?

The second you stepped off the elevator your stomach twisted, and you darted to the bathroom. After emptying the contents of your stomach, you rinsed your mouth out and made your leave. What you weren’t expecting was Hotch on the other side of the door.

“Oh, sorry Hotch.”

“No need to apologize, I just wanted to see that you were alright. JJ let me know she saw you running in here.” He explained.

“I-I’m not feeling too great honestly. Do you think, maybe, I could head home for the day?” you queried.

“I think that is a good idea, you should get some rest. You know, you have a bunch of time off saved up – I’m not telling you to use it, but if you wanted to, it’s there. Do you need a ride home?” He asked.

“No, I think I’m okay. And I also think I am going to take you up on that suggestion. Do you think I could take like the next four days?”

“Absolutely, I’ll submit your time. You head home and get some rest. I’ll let Garcia know, that way she won’t call you if a case comes in.” He said.

“Thanks Hotch.”

“You’re welcome. Do me a favor, let me know when you get home safe.” He requested.

**9 weeks pregnant**

The next four days passed by in a blur, you had read through all the information the OBGYN sent you home with, you’d gone and picked up your medications from the pharmacy, cleaned your house, went grocery shopping, and you gotten your results back from the doctor. You had gotten the call yesterday that your HCG levels had placed you between 8 and 9 weeks pregnant and you had scheduled your ultrasound for the following Wednesday. You’d have to tell Hotch everything when you’re back at work tomorrow.

You also made a very awkward phone call to Jensen (damn, you were wayyy off) and he had been very pleased when you informed him that you didn’t want anything from him, he agreed that it would probably be best that way. You didn’t need to be tied to some one-off forever anyway, this was for the best. You just hoped your child wouldn’t resent you for not having a present father.

A knock at your door shook you from your thoughts. You checked your phone, 7:32 p.m. and a notification from Uber Eats that your tacos had been delivered! You paused your movie and shuffled to the door, checking the peephole once, then twice to confirm the identity of this visitor. You made quick work of unlocking and opening the door.

“Aaron? What are you doing here?”

“I came to see how you were feeling. I also ran into your delivery guy.” He explained.

“Come in, I ordered enough for two if you’re hungry?” You posed.

“I wouldn’t want to impose.” He shook his head.

“Not at all, come on in.”

You quickly realized that you were in sweats, a t-shirt, and slippers. You looked to Aaron taking note of his jeans and t-shirt. Casual looks good on him; you’d always thought so. You offered him a drink and invited him over to the couch, making yourselves comfortable and digging in. To the others, this may seem odd, a late-night taco date with your boss and your couch, but this was your normal.

You and Aaron had quickly realized your similarities when you first joined the team. You both had a stone exterior with a warm and fuzzy interior, you were closed off, but loyal and caring. These are the similarities that made your fast friendship so easy. The two of you hung out often, you had regular dinners together, went to movies or had movie nights, you went to the park with him and Jack, and sometimes…you even slept over. You didn’t share a bed or anything – except once when you first moved to your current apartment – your guest room hadn’t been set up yet. He was easily the person you were closest to, which is why it was terrifying to love him. You couldn’t lose him. So, you bottled up your feelings and enjoyed these moments with him.

“So, you’re feeling better then?”

You opened your mouth to reply when you felt it. That tightening lurch in your stomach. You brought your hand to cover your mouth and jumped up, desperate to get to your bathroom. You had barely made it before you were expelling your dinner into the porcelain bowl. You heaved until there was nothing left. It was only then that you felt the warmth of his hands brushing your hair back and rubbing circles over your spine. You slowly sat up and rested back against the bathtub, Aaron leaned against the counter.

“I guess it’s a good time to mention we have a mandated weekend off. I figured you were feeling better if you had ordered tacos.” Aaron teased.

“I was feeling better. And thank God. I could use the extra two days to get my shit together.” You laughed.

“What did the doctor say?” He questioned.

“Well, she uh…” You started.

“I shouldn’t have asked that, I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“No, Aaron it’s okay. I just – I found out that I’m pregnant.” You blurted.

“Oh, that’s – wow congrats. I didn’t realize you’d started seeing someone.” He muttered.

“Thanks, and I’m not. It was just some guy I met while we were in Alabama.” You grumbled.

With Aaron’s assistance, you made your way back to the couch, not before quickly brushing your teeth. After he saw that you were settled, he went to the kitchen and grabbed your anti-nausea pills, some crackers and a ginger ale for you.

The two of you sat and talked for hours, you told him about your doctor’s appointment and the phone call with Jensen. You expressed your excitement and nervousness, both of which he met with reassurance. Aaron was quick to tell you he thought you’d make a great mother and that he, along with the rest of the BAU, would be there for you every step of the way.

The night continued on with the two of you curled up on the couch watching movies, Aaron refilling your ginger ale as needed throughout the evening. Your position had shifted slightly the longer you sat there, you had laid down, your head resting on a pillow against Aaron’s thigh, his hand delicately running through your hair. You turned your head to look up at him, the movement drawing his gaze to you.

“Can I tell you something?” You asked.

“Anything.” He whispered.

“I’m scared to do this alone. I don’t want the kid to grow up and hate me because they don’t have a dad. Plus, I always thought when I had kids, I’d be settled…ya know?” You spoke softly.

“You’re not alone in this.” He replied.

“I know Aaron, that’s not what I meant.” you sighed.

“I could do it.”

“What?” You sat up abruptly, turning to look him in the eyes.

“I could raise the baby with you, I mean if you want. I just, I always wanted a big family, and Jack has asked about having a sibling on more than one occasion, plus we’re close already…” He rambled.

“You would do that for me?” You gasped.

“Of course I would, I’d do anything for you.” He smiled softly.

“So how would this work?” You questioned.

“It’s late, why don’t we head to bed, and we can talk logistics in the morning.” He said, patting your knee.

“Okay.” You smiled.

You woke up the next morning and had to remind yourself that last night was real, Aaron had in fact offered to raise your baby with you. You got out of bed and padded your way to the kitchen. Upon entering you were met with the sight of Aaron in his sweats and a T-shirt, gliding around your kitchen, making breakfast. This felt so domestic, and you couldn’t help the pain in your chest at the fact that this isn’t.

“Good morning!” You greeted.

“Good morning! How did you sleep?” He replied.

“I slept well thanks. You?”

“Pretty good actually. So, how are you feeling about my offer?” He queried.

“I’d like to take you up on it, as long as it’s still on the table. But I think we need to lay out some ground rules, or at least figure out how we would do this.” You explained.

“We’re doing this then! And I agree, we need to sort out all the details.” Aaron suggested.

Aaron and you talked about it a lot over the next few hours and had come to an agreement on nearly all subjects. Aaron would attend doctor’s appointments with you, the child would be raised by you and Aaron and for all intents and purposes, Aaron would be known as dad, when the kid is old enough, you agreed that honesty is crucial, and you’d explain that Aaron isn’t their biological dad. You had agreed on bringing the child up in a loving home and allowing your child to find their own way in religion and politics, neither of you fond of pushing either of those things on a kid. You had also agreed on the importance of education, family time, immunizations, etc.. There were a few things though, that you still weren’t sure of.

“So, Aaron, I guess I am just curious on how we would address a few things. Like with the team or anyone that asks – you’re the father? Or do we tell them there was a sperm donor? Are we honest about the situation? And what about us? Everyone is going to think we’re together. Also, the living situation, you mentioned you want to be around to help but going back and forth from my place to yours, it’s not fair to us or to Jack, what do we do?” You rattled on.

“Okay, slow down. I think with the team and family, we can tell them the truth…to anyone else, I’m the father. If that’s okay with you? For the living situation, I ugh well I was thinking, maybe we find a house? I know how crazy that sounds, but I would be closer to you to help out and Jack could be close to his sibling, at least for a while. It wouldn’t have to be permanent.” He let out a nervous chuckle. “As for us, I don’t want to complicate things sweetheart. I can’t say I’ve never thought about us…maybe we just take it day by day.” Aaron was trying to gauge your reaction.

“That all sounds perfect. We will take it day by day, see where this journey takes us.” You say, reaching to hold Aaron’s hand.

Aaron brings your hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss to the back of it. You can’t help the heat that rises to your cheeks. His admission of thinking of the two of you as more than friends, lingers in your mind. You wondered how long he’d been thinking like that but figured you could ask him another time. The bubble you were currently in was far too precious to burst.

“So, should we start house hunting?”

Aaron chucked at your excitement and nodded happily.

**15 weeks pregnant**

The two of you agreed to wait to tell the team, at least until you had settled into your roles as co-parents. You also wanted to wait until you had progressed further in your pregnancy before you shared the news with not only the team, but also Jack. You had expressed to Aaron that you were worried Jack wouldn’t take the news well and he had assured you that Jack would be thrilled with the prospect of having a sibling. Aaron had also informed you that Jack had asked if you could be his new mom once your friendship had grown.

Things had been going well, it had been almost two months since you guys had agreed to do this together and you couldn’t be happier. Aaron had gone to your appointments with you, and that’s where you were currently headed. You had your 15-week appointment today, you’d also be doing some tests to ensure the baby is healthy.

“Alright, did you guys want to find out the baby’s sex today?”

You looked over at Aaron, and he met you with a subtle nod of confirmation. You had discussed this on the way over today.

“Yes we would!”

“You are having a girl, congratulations!” The doctor smiled and made her leave.

Aaron was quick to lean down and embrace you. You were shedding tears of joy, beaming with excitement. He pressed a chaste kiss to your temple and pulled away.

“I wanted it to be a surprise, I scheduled a showing with our realtor. I think you’re really going to like this one!” Aaron gushed.

Aaron drove you over to the most adorable home, judging from the curb appeal, you were thinking his assumption was correct. He helped you out of the vehicle and led you into the home, your realtor was waiting for you just inside the foyer.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hotchner, welcome! Please take your time to look around, I will be in the kitchen if you need anything. Aaron, I am going to make a few calls and see what we’re looking at for this one.” Bradley informed.

The two of you agreed to act as a married couple when looking into homes, Aaron had suggested that newlyweds with a baby on the way might be more appealing to a seller. Though things between you definitely felt more like that was becoming your truth as opposed to this fantasy you’d act out when in the presence of Bradley.

Looking around, Aaron led you around the house, showing you each of the rooms on the first floor, then the second. You ended up in the master bedroom, making your way out on the balcony that overlooks the backyard.

“So, I was thinking, the two rooms downstairs, one would be my office, and the other could be a sort of den or library. Up here, Jack could have that first room, the second could be a nursery, and then the other two well they’d be ours, or one could be a guest room.” Aaron offered.

“If we made one a guest room, that would mean that we…we’d share this room? Aaron Hotchner are you suggesting that we share a room?” You teased.

“Maybe I am.” He declared.

You had been playing this game of cat and mouse for the last three weeks. It had started after you had kissed. It happened in the heat of the moment, the two of you were fighting over him subtly benching you from work, you had explained you were fine to which he admitted how important you were to him and that he couldn’t afford to lose you. Upon this revelation, you’d shared a passionate kiss. An action that you hadn’t discussed or repeated since then.

“Well, I think that could work.” You nudged him gently. “This house is perfect honey.”

“Should we go talk to Bradley?” He posed.

“I think so.”

**17 weeks pregnant**

“Can you come to my office please?” Aaron asked.

Naturally this caught the attention of the team. You could tell they were growing suspicious of you and Aaron. They used to make jokes about you guys dating all the time with how close you were, but now, taking time off together to go to doctor’s appointments and hushed conversations in his office. You were sure the team thought you two were together. And now, you guessed they weren’t exactly wrong.

“They are totally dating.” Emily insisted.

“No doubt about it. Last week they left early together on Thursday. I guess Hotch called Rossi and told him they wouldn’t be back, and Rossi said he could hear them giggling. He used those exact words.” Morgan explained.

“Hotch, giggling? No way!” JJ chimed in.

“When do you think they’ll finally come clean?” Emily wondered.

“Whenever they are ready, and none of you are going to push the issue.” Rossi declared.

The others grumbled in defeat as they returned to their tasks. Meanwhile, Aaron was informing you that Bradley had left him a voicemail, asking that the two of you return the call when you could.

“Hey Aaron, thanks for getting back to me. Listen I have good news, your offer went through. You guys got the house! I’ll email over some paperwork, and we will talk next steps soon.” Bradley rushed.

“Thank you Bradley, we appreciate it.” Aaron replied before hanging up the phone.

You shared a look before a cheerful squeal escaped your lips. You jumped into Aaron’s arms, hugging him tightly. He was quick to return it, rocking you back and forth gently.

“We got the house! I can’t believe it!”

“We did sweetheart! Do you want to come for dinner tonight, we can talk to Jack?” Aaron offered.

“That sounds great.”

You made your way back to your desk and caught the tail end of your team’s conversation. They had clearly been speculating about the nature of your relationship with Aaron, and after that little display in his office, you couldn’t blame them. You’d have to bring that up tonight, maybe it was time to come clean.

You were currently cooking dinner while Aaron helped Jack with his homework at the dining table. If this is the life you had to look forward to, you’d be a happy girl. You never felt more at home than when in the presence of the Hotchner boys. You finished up dinner and sent the boys to wash up while you set the table, they returned swiftly and the three of you began eating.

“Jack, bud, we have something we want to talk to you about.” Aaron began. “It’s pretty important and I’d really like you to let me tell you everything before you respond okay?”

“Okay.” Jack nodded, mouth full.

“You know how I’m having a baby right?” You gave him a moment to nod in reply.

“Well, that baby is going to be your little sister.” Aaron explained. “We are going to have this baby, and we’re all going to live together, in a new house. You’ll still go to the same school, but we will live in a house, all together instead of in the apartment.” Aaron concluded.

Jack’s eyes grew wide at the mass of information he’d just received. He glanced from you to Aaron and back to you once more. His mouth fell open, and he took a deep breath before speaking.

“So, does that mean you’re going to be my mom finally? Are you guys getting married? What does the house look like? Will I have to share a room with the baby? And where did the baby come from?” Jack rattled off.

“Oh, well sweetie this doesn’t necessarily mean…”

“Bud, go put your dish in the sink and change into your pjs. When you come back we will answer all of your questions.” Aaron instructed.

Jack shrugged and went first to the kitchen, then shuffled down the hall to change. Aaron knew it would take him a little bit, and he’d likely get distracted before returning, which meant he could talk to you about the first two of Jack’s questions.

“Sweetheart, if I am going to be the father of this baby, would you maybe consider being a mother to Jack? I know it is a lot, but with us living together and raising the baby together, it might make sense for me to formally adopt the baby and you to adopt Jack. That way we really could be a family. If anything happened to me, I would at least know that he’d have someone. He loves you so much and I love you, it just feels right, him wanting to call you mom.” Aaron blurted.

“Y – you love me?” You gasped.

Aaron blushed, having realized his slip up. “I do.”

“I love you too Aaron. And I would love for Jack to consider me his mom, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about us all being a real family like that. As for the adoption, that sounds perfect, I’d have to call Jensen and judging how our first conversation went, it should be a non-issue.” You noted.

“We would just have to get the papers drawn up for you to adopt Jack, his mother signed away her rights when she left us.” Aaron stated.

You looked at him with a saddened expression. The thought of leaving Aaron and Jack breaks your heart, you can’t imagine how she did it so effortlessly. Aaron could see the hurt behind your gaze, and he brought his hand up to caress your cheek, drawing a heat with it.

“Can we go back to a few minutes ago when we both said “I love you” for the first time” Aaron chuckled.

You let out a giggle and nodded, leaning in to meet him halfway for a passionate kiss. The two of you have kissed before, but never like this. Kissing someone who you love and that loves you in return, well that is pure bliss.

“Eww!” Jack shrieks, covering his eyes.

The two of you share a laugh and pull away. Aaron begins clearing the table while you go to get Jack.

“Eww? Eww? Come here buddy! Let me give you a big smooch!” You laughed reaching for Jack.

His laughs rang through the apartment as you jokingly chased him around the living room. When you finally caught up to him, you wrapped your arms around him a pressed a dramatically loud kiss to his cheek. Jack feigned disgust and wiped his cheek off as Aaron entered the room, joining the two of you on the couch with a big smile on his face.

“Alright buddy, I want to answer some of your questions okay?”

“Okay dad.”

“So, let’s start with the house, you are going to have your own room. The house is big with a yard that we can practice soccer in and a pool for us to swim! You will get to see the house soon; we are going to move in just a few weeks.” Aaron explained.

“As for me bud, if you want to call me mom you absolutely can. We aren’t getting married just yet, but we are a family sweetie.” You gently ruffle his hair.

“Okay mom, but you didn’t answer my last question! Where do babies come from?”

Your heart soared at the name, but both you and Aaron choked at his question.

“Uh, we will talk about that when you’re a little older. Go get ready for bed.”

**26 weeks pregnant**

You were nearing week 26 of your pregnancy and you knew, beyond a doubt, that the entire team knew you were pregnant, you hadn’t really been hiding it other than some loose-fitting tops. None of them said anything, but they were all doing everything in their power to make sure you were comfortable, safe, and feeling well in the office and even more so in the field. 

On your last case, the whole team worked to keep you stuck in the local precinct as to avoid any potential harm. You knew they were just being protective, but your doctor said you were fine to continue field work for at least a few more weeks. You wanted to work while you still could, and you decided to talk to Aaron about finally coming clean to the team.

“Hey, can I talk to you really quick?” You asked, entering his office.

“Am I talking to you as your boss or as your significant other?” He questions.

“Both I guess? Aaron, I think we need to tell the team. They already know I’m pregnant, that I am sure of. But they are acting like I am made of glass, and I would really like to keep working while I still can.” You declared.

“Sweetheart I can’t say I am particularly upset about everyone being extra cautious for you. I want you safe, and they do too. But if you’re ready to tell them, then let’s tell them.” He admitted.

Aaron called the team to the round table so the two of you could come clean about everything. In the last 18 weeks, your lives had drastically changed for the better, and they’d only continue to do so, so it was only right that you have your BAU family involved and around for the joy to come.

“I called you all in here because we have some news we’d like to share with you all.” Aaron said, placing his hand on your shoulder.

You smiled up at him before continuing. “I am pregnant, as you all already seem to know…but that’s not all.” You and Aaron told the team about your relationship, the pregnancy and how it came to be, Aaron stepping in and being the father, the new house and how you moved in together, you told them everything.

The team met you with shocked expressions, before they bombarded you with congratulations, embraces, and some questions. They asked about Jack and his reaction, they asked about the baby’s biological father, and they asked if an engagement was coming soon.

You had explained that the adoption process had already begun for Aaron and the baby, that Jensen was more than willing to waive his parental rights. You’d also told them how Jack started calling you mom and you were planning to ask him if you could adopt him officially in a few weeks and Aaron said an engagement would occur soon enough as long as you’d have him.

To close out your family meeting, you’d politely asked everyone to remember that you were pregnant, not incompetent, and you would appreciate it if they would let you work like normal (mostly) for the last few weeks you’d be able to. They agreed with some apprehension as long as you’d be careful and let the others lead.

**33 weeks pregnant**

The team had travelled to Colorado for a case, you knew that this would be one of the last times you’d get to travel with the team, so you were going to give this case your all.

For the last month, Aaron had definitely broken his promise and was keeping you on a tight leash. You knew he was only protecting you, but you wanted to do your job. You were damn good at it, and you weren’t going to let anyone tell you otherwise.

“Alright, you are going to stay here and work on the geographical profile with Reid, and I am, going to the latest crime scene with Morgan.” Aaron stated.

“I’d like to go with Morgan actually. I think that my skills would be better suited that way.” You disputed, sending a glare Aaron’s way.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” Aaron started.

“Hotch. Let me do my job.”

“Okay go. Be careful, please.” Aaron pleaded.

Morgan drove you to the latest crime scene and you both looked around observing all of the evidence markers and trying to gather as much information as you could. The two of you were bouncing ideas off of one another when glass breaking sounded downstairs.

Morgan brought a finger to his lips signaling to be silent. You both raised your weapons and made your way to the landing. Morgan leaned around the corner to see if he could catch a glimpse of the intruder from the top of the stairs. When it came up empty, he motioned that he was going downstairs, silently telling you he’d let you know when it was safe to follow.

You didn’t move until Morgan signaled for you to do so. When he did, you carefully made your way downstairs. He went left and you went right, making your way through the first level of the home you noticed a broken lamp next to an open window in the living room.  Before you had a chance to react, a man grabbed you from behind, his arm wrapping around your throat and his gun pressed to your temple.

“Call out to your partner.” He hissed, pressing the gun further into your skin.

“Morgan, in the living room!” You called.

“Did you find someth-” Morgan trailed off, seeing the unsub holding you. “Woah, okay. We don’t want any trouble okay. You can let her go. We can get you whatever you want man.” Morgan offered.

“DON’T TRY TO PLAY GAMES WITH ME!” The unsub bellowed.

“We’re not – trying to play games with you. We just want everyone to leave here unharmed.” You tried to console the unsub.

“NO! LOOK AT HIM! HE’S GONNA TRY AND SHOOT ME THE SECOND I LET YOU GO! I’M NOT FUCKING STUPID!” The unsub cried.

You could tell he was devolving; he was young, intimidated and sick of being pushed around by men in positions of power. Most notably, his father.

“You’re right. He probably will try and shoot. He’s cocky like that. Always walking around like he’s a gift from God himself. Barking orders at his subordinates and making passes at any female employee. It makes me sick.” You played into his delusions.

“He treats you like that?” The unsub wavered.

“He does. And I can’t stand it! I am sick of being treated like I’m less than. Like I’m not good enough to be here! I deserve more, you deserve more. We are strong and capable, and we should be treated as such.” You continued to work this unsub while Morgan slowly moved into position.

“You’re right! If you can see that, why couldn’t he? Why couldn’t he see that I am enough!” The unsub sobbed, his hands dropping to his sides.

Morgan swooped in and handcuffed him after gently grabbing his gun from his hand. The unsub sobbed quietly, realizing the error of his ways. You moved to sit in a nearby chair and Morgan pulled out his phone to call for backup.

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked, rushing to your side. “This is exactly why I didn’t want you coming with Morgan.”

“Aaron, honey, I’m okay!” You reassured him.

“Hotch, your girl single handedly talked the guy off the ledge. She’s the reason we’re all safe.” Morgan explained.

Aaron looked at you once again. Taking in every part of your body to ensure you had no injuries. He gently takes your chin between his index finger and thumb to glance at your right temple, making a note of the slight bruise that’s developing there.

“I want you to get checked out before we go home.” Aaron informed.

“Okay.” You said, knowing arguing wouldn’t get you anywhere.

After spending far too long at the hospital, you were headed back to the hotel with a clean bill of health for both you and your baby girl. Aaron’s hands hadn’t left you since he’d rushed to your side at the crime scene. They were either holding your own, pressed to the small of your back, or resting on your leg. You knew he was just trying to ground himself in the fact that you were safe.

That night you and Aaron shared a conversation about you going on desk duty for the next few weeks, before your maternity leave started. He was a bit shocked that you didn’t fight him on it…not even a little bit.

**39 weeks pregnant**

You had been on maternity leave for all of five days and you were already out of your mind. The only thing you were grateful for was the fact that you got to spend so much time with Jack.

Your adoption of him had been finalized two weeks ago and everything was done regarding Aaron adopting the baby. Now, you were just awaiting the arrival of your daughter. You were more than ready for her to be here and out of your body, and while the pregnancy hadn’t been particularly difficult, you were exhausted and bloated and just ready to be done.

You were in the kitchen making lunch for Jack and you while he played in the living room. He’d requested a grilled cheese sandwich with some tomato soup. You had just flipped the sandwich when a contraction hit. The pain washed over you, radiating down your spine and through your pelvis. You took a deep breath and check the time, they were about fifteen minutes apart right now, the contractions kept you up all night and had been consistent all day.

“Okay bud, lunch is served!” You set his food down in front of him on the coffee table.

“Thanks mom!” He smiled, taking a big bite of grilled cheese.

“You’re welco-” a sharp hiss escaped your mouth.

Checking the clock again you realize it’s only been about five minutes since the last one. You take a few deep breaths and look around for your phone, it might be time to text Aaron.

“Mom, are you okay?” Jack asked.

“Yeah bub I’m okay. I think your sister is getting ready to come.” You explained.

“Really? I can’t wait to meet her!” Jack cheered, resting one of his hands on your swollen belly.

“I can’t wait either. Jack, could you uh – could you go grab my phone hon?” You requested.

“Okay!” He wandered over to the kitchen to grab your phone.

You felt another contraction coming on and realized that they were coming one after another in shorter bursts of times. You needed to get to the hospital.

Jack returned from the kitchen with your phone and handed it to you. You were quick to dial Aaron’s number.  It rang three times before he picked up.

“Hey sweetheart. Is everything okay?” He questioned.

“Yeah honey, it – it’s time. She’s coming.”

“Now? How far apart are your contractions? Did your water break? Are you in pain? Should I call an ambulance to come and take you to the hospital?” Aaron rattled off question after question.

“Aaron, baby, contractions are three minutes apart now, my water hasn’t broken, I’m not in too much pain, and please don’t call an ambulance. I will drive myself and Jack to the hospital. Meet us there.”

“I will sweetheart. The go bag is on the floor of the closet, on the right side. And the car seat has already been installed. I am leaving right now.” Aaron promised.

“Okay! See you soon.”

**36 weeks pregnant**

“Mrs. Hotchner, can we go swimming?” Henry asked.

“Of course, bud, you boys go get your swim trunks on and I will get Nora changed. Okay?” You looked at the three boys for confirmation.

After they all shouted okay, they ran to Jack’s room and the bathroom to change, you walked with Nora upstairs to help her change into her swimsuit.

“Alright bug, pink or green?” You asked her.

“No. Blue momma, blue!” Nora demanded.

“Okay bug, blue suit.” You agreed.

You got Nora changed and brought her into your room, before you changed into your own bathing suit in the on-suite bathroom. When you exited, you grabbed Nora and then made sure the boys were all ready and that they had put on sunscreen. The five of you made your way outside, the boys were quick to jump straight into the pool, and you made sure to put on Nora’s swimming vest.

Aaron stepped away from the grill and wrapped his arms around your waist. He placed a sweet kiss on your shoulder before leaning down and kissing Nora’s head. He went back to the grill and got it cleaned and ready for the burgers you were making tonight.

“JJ texted and said her and Will were on their way. She said to thank you again for picking the boys up from school.” Aaron let you know.

“She doesn’t need to thank me.” You scoffed. “The boys all go to the same school and with me on maternity leave, I have nothing better to do.” You laughed.

“I’m excited to see the team, it’s been so long since we’ve all been together.” Aaron sighed, slipping into the pool with you.

“I know honey. We’ve all just been so busy…that’s why it’s taken this long for us to do this reveal” You hugged him. “Do you regret taking the promotion?”

“Not for even a second. It has allowed me more time with you and the kids. I got to see almost all of Nora’s milestones, and I am so excited for this little one to join us here soon.” Aaron said caressing your belly once more.

“I can’t wait either.” You smiled.

One by one the team began filing in through the back gate. Derek and Savanah had come in with Hank. JJ and Will had come in and were quick to greet their sons. Emily, Spencer and Penelope arrived all at once saying their hellos and quickly getting into the pool. And Rossi arrived last, he set the cake and wine in the kitchen and made himself comfortable in the lounge chairs on the deck.

Time passed in slow motion, you made conversation with those around you and ate dinner (Aaron and Derek standing over the grill drinking beer…they were arguing over how long to cook the burgers). Everyone got out of the pool and as the adults sat on the lounge chairs, the kids ran around in the yard, playing soccer.

“Are you guys ready?” Dave asked

After you and Aaron nodded, Dave went to grab the cake. You called everyone over to the table and let them know that you chose to reveal the gender this way because you didn’t want some big flashy party, but rather to be surrounded by loved ones.

“So, there’s one other announcement I’d like to make before we do the gender reveal.” You began. “I will not be returning to the BAU after the birth.”

A chorus of “what do you mean” and “why” and “that’s not funny” rang out around you. This was something that you’d been at war with yourself over for the entirety of this pregnancy. Aaron taking the promotion to a director position, it had shockingly allowed him more time with your family, and it provided a safety that his previous position had hindered. It was a culmination of those facts that led you to your decision.

“What does this mean though? What are you going to do?” Spencer was the one to ask.

“I’m going to teach.” You smiled. “I was offered a position, within the FBI, to teach. You guys will still get to see me, and we will still host everyone, but the hours are better, and they’ll allow me more time at home.”

The team exchanged solemn expressions, but ultimately wished you well. They let you know that they’d miss you and the team wouldn’t be the same without you, but they understood.

“Okay! Sorry. Onto a much happier topic – the gender reveal of our baby!” You exclaimed.

Aaron and you each took a wine glass and held them upside down over opposite edges of the cake. The team counted down 3…2…1…and you and Aaron plunged the glasses into the cake. You each brought the glasses up and held them out in front of you, confusion etched on the faces of those standing before you.

“OH MY GOD! It’s twins! It’s twins isn’t it!” Penelope shouted with glee.

In front of you, enclosed in the wine glass were layers of chocolate cake intermixed with blue frosting. And in front of Aaron was a glass housing chocolate cake with pink frosting. The two of you shared a look, one that held nothing but love and adoration for one another and the beautiful life you’ve built with one another. You loved each other more than anything and your growing family was proof of that, Jack and Nora had been thrilled that they’d be getting both a little brother and sister, and in just a few short weeks, they’d make their debut.

[siddyyyyyyyy]

University Romance

Johnny 'Soap' McTavish x female!Reader

part three; two, one

wc: ~3k

summary: You and Johnny are two professors at a university, and he often catches you working late in your office. Also, you're just really good friends and there's probably more to it.

warnings: none, no y/n used, 'crazy' chemistry professor Soap, Johnny and Reader are about the same age, the name of the university is fictional

a/n: this is probably the most cheesy and frustrating part of them all. Have fun!

Redcrest High Acedamy, Friday 12:30 PM

»Dad wants to grill tomorrow. Some relatives are joining too.«

Johnny is thrown out of his thoughts, not having seen you approach him. He puts his empty food tray away and processes your words, finally looking at you.

»Oh, nice... and I'm invited, I guess?« You huff at his question, crossing your arms at him.

»I wouldn't tell you if you weren't.«

He nods again at your words, pretending to have been sarcastic about it.

»Right, right... I'll also be there tomorrow. Just text me when.« You stop walking at his words, expecting something more from him. He also stops, looking at you confused.

»We'll go shopping before that. Together.« You clarify, making him feel dumbfounded. Of course you'd need to go shopping together. How was he this stupid to miss out on that? Seriously.

»Oh, right. Yeah, right... um, when's that?« He asks this time and rubs the back of his neck, probably trying to come as casual as possible in front of you. In reality, Johnny is experiencing five stages of grief in his mind. Grilling with you and some relatives, also going grocery shopping with you before that? There's absolutly no reason for him to try and create another personality just for that occasion at all.

From the day he got to know your father, he also found out about the so-called relatives. All very close friends from your father that had a history in the military or CIA. He knew he was doomed. Not exactly knowing why, but he is sure everyone would be at least a little spooked by your family once they hear about their professions.

Eventually, you decided to go straight to the shopping mall after the last lecture. It was a little over seven in the evening once you arrived in the grocery store; it had the perfect temperature for a nice walk. Finally, you are inside the store and can start following the list your father sent you this morning.

Going around the aisles, you made Johnny carry the basket while putting the items into it. It's mostly him following you around and inspecting the grocery store at the same time. Once you get to the meat section, he can't help but make a joke.

»Oh, I know bigger meat than that.« You pause at his comment, keeping the pack of raw ribs in your hand, and look to him beside you, puzzled.

»...Those are ribs, Johnny. What do you mean?«

By the dumb smirk on his face, it's not clear if he is more amused by your confusion or his own joke. He tries again, taking a subtle step closer to you.

»You know, the-«

»Soap? Miss Price?!«

Another voice from behind you luckily interrupts you both, making you glance behind your shoulders. The rather annoying voice is instantly recognised by Johnny; you are having some trouble with it, however. But judging from the way the younger man had used the nickname his students gave Johnny, it's not hard to put the pieces together.

»Carl...« Your colleague sighs out, his shoulders slumping down as he looks to his student. Of course, you had thought about possible students spotting you in the grocery store, but you've also never thought there would be actual students of your university in here.

»What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be doing the assignment I gave you?«

Johnny continues in a more firm tone, but Carl is definitely not fazed by it, instead looking between the two of you briefly. It must be weird for him to see his professors at a grocery store, only having seen them in the university. They have a life outside of that building?

»Yeah, but I also have to take care of my groceries. I'm also an adult, you know?« Carl counters back easily, his eyes fleeting to the basket Johnny is holding and at the ribs in your hand, briefly.

»Oh, are you preparing for the grill party you talked about?«

Now this makes you look to Johnny with a rather scolding look, having thought he stopped talking about you in his lessons. Johnny scoffs as he senses your look, really needing to get out of this situation. He eventually shakes his head and tries to say something appropriate, even when he wants to curse his student out and make him fail all his classes.

»Carl— really bad moment. Do you really want more trouble? You already failed that experiment and almost caused a fire, I would just walk away in your position.«

Finally, Carl nods and looks sheepishly to the ground. A brief moment of silence goes by before he speaks up, more quieter this time.

»There are steaks in sale in the last row... Just so you know.«

He mumbles before finally stepping off and possibly making his way out of the store. However, very unfortunate for Johnny, you are still there and clearly bemused by the situation.

»I thought you stopped talking about me in your classes. We talked about this.« You put the pack of ribs with less gentleness into the basket, huffing out slightly.

»Look, I know... this, well...I really just told them about a grillparty. I never said your name or anything.«

Johnny is trying his hardest to not make you any more annoyed by him, being angry towards his poor student now. He hovers his hand by the small of your back, subtly guiding you around the store to try and keep you close, at least.

»I really, really didn't say anything about you. I promise you, I just said, 'I'm going to a grill party this weekend, don't expect me to grade all your stuff 'til Monday.' That's literally all I said, and the boom-box just had to be noisy.«

He rambles out while you keep your eyes on the grocery list in your phone, not being able to actually be upset for long. He is practically using the beat up puppy look on you now, which is why you won't look at him. After a few silent seconds, you relent by rolling your eyes and exhaling softly.

»Just tell your 'boom-box' to stop being so noisy and loud. And, for the love of God, stop talking about your private life in your lectures.«

Johnny smiles relieved and finally puts his hand on your back properly while guiding you to the last row. He apologises again and keeps closer to you this time, as if afraid you would change your mind if he went away for a minute.

In the end, you brought all the necessary stuff from the grocery list your dad wrote, standing by the cashier now. The elder lady scans the products while you go through the list one last time, noticing you're missing an item.

»Oh, Johnny, could you grab some mushrooms, please?«

He nods and eventually lets you sort the scanned items into the basket for now, making his way to get mushrooms. While he is away, the cashier smiles warmly at you and finally speaks up.

»You guys are lovely! I love seeing fine gentlemen like your husband; I really wish my son was as nice as your husband, he really needs someone to settle down with. But I am really happy you have such a man like your husband, there needs to be more men like these.«

Before you could respond to her ramble, Johnny was already back with the mushrooms you sent him to get, taking back the basket from you and continuing to sort the items into it like before. He is oblivious to your flusterness from the lady's words. Johnny, the fine gentleman he is, ends up paying for the groceries and carries them back to his car with you.

While driving you back to your place, he can't help but notice how quiet you've become. Did you change your mind and are still upset about him and Carl? Should he actually let his student fail at his class?

He decides to not address it for now, hoping he is just overthinking again and shouldn't even think in the first place.

----

House of your Dad, Saturday 2:16 PM

The time you should all meet was 2:15 PM, however, Johnny is one minute late. He is also the earliest one. Always has been by far.

You're preparing the stuff for the grill in the kitchen with your dad, hearing the door ring. John, your father, makes his way to greet the first guest, already assuming it's that chemistry freak of yours.

And after opening the door, he's greeted with Johnny McTavish, in his flesh. They greet each other as usual, a strong bear hug, followed with the usual small talk they have as they're catching up.

They finally arrive in the kitchen, helping you out with getting the ingredients ready. Both John's are now setting up the grill, while you get to greet the other guests; Laswell with her wife arriving at second.

Nikolai, or as you call him, Uncle Nikolai, arrives almost right after the pair and gives you a warm hug as well. He settles on helping on the grill while catching up, a cup of a sweet drink in his hand. Lastly, Frank arrives, or as Price usually calls him by his nickname, 'Woods'. Or Uncle Woods, for most of the time, for you.

The names really are bizarre, but you've stopped questioning them after the third time of asking as a kid. Seriously, Woods? Like, the one's in the forest? Price? Like, the tags on stuff? What kind of names are those?

Besides the funny names, all these close friends of your father were and always are nice to you. Even with their obscure, horrifying, and action-filled stories that they carry around, these are always people you can trust and feel loved by.

Laswell takes you out of your thoughts, as you're all sitting at the table in the backyard, while the others are standing by the grill with a few drinks in hand and making sure everything is nicely cooked.

»How's work, sweetie?«

As always she smiles kindly at you and waits for your answer, her wife sitting beside her as she also waits for your answer. You three mostly talk about the typical stuff, getting into small talk before Laswell gets to tell you a story from probably a few years ago, when she still worked with your dad together before retiring.

»... But Nikolai didn't know and thought he just fell out, informing John, and he almost lost his mind! Imagine; your father stressed, while following the vehicle that I was taken hostage in; finding out his sergeant fell out of the helicopter. Insane, right? But luckily, they rescued me and nothing bad happened.«

You listen to the story as your aunt laughs lightly, finding some kind of humour in that horrifying 'story'. It was clear that your father and his friends had a broken humour, hardened by all the things they saw, but it always manages to amaze you.

»He did have his safety-rope on, right? Nothing happened?«

You ask, wanting to hear her clarify that again, and they aren't laughing about somethig tragic now. Nikolai joins by, sitting down on the chair beside you.

»Oh, he did, he did... He was as fine as a cucumber.« He answers your question with a soft chuckle, seeing the rather worried look on your face before you relax again.

Soon Johnny is placing the grilled meat and sausages on the table, your father joining at the table with more sweet drinks and glasses. Woods also joins eventually, sitting down with a small grunt besides your dad. Everyone is settled, getting some salads on your plate and the grilled goods, enjoying the light atmosphere as some R&B playlist is softly playing in the background.

»When are you getting married, son?« Nikolai nudges Johnny lightly and waits for his answer. Of course, the most dreaded question on the table comes on. Johnny just shrugs, trying to answer casually and shrug it off as best as possible.

»When my students will stop giving me grey hair.«

Uncle Woods barks out a laugh at the opposite of the table, looking to him. »Don't. You'll wait until retirement if you keep that up.«

»When I was your age...« John, your father starts, not meaning to sound like a total boomer but still gets interrupted by Laswell.

»Yeah, you were almost working yourself to the bone at his age and locked up one of the most wanted terorrists. Don't start talking.«

She scolds lightly, taking a sip of her drink while Johnny sulks secretly beside you. Your aunt didn't mean to sound mean or as if Johnny didn't achieve anything in his life, but it still makes him stare at his plate full of regret for a brief moment.

The evening goes by with fun chats and more unbelievable stories from the time from their military time, eventually sitting contentedly at the big table. The sun is lower on the sky now, making up for a casual orange tint across the backyard. After talking some more, you decided to clean up the table together, Nikolai helping you while doing so. Johnny tried to help out as well, but got held back by Price, letting him sit at the table for now, while you and Uncle Nik are preparing to put the cakes out and get some warm drinks.

»Now, son... I've got a mission for you.«

Price starts in a low tone, turning to face him better and make sure the message comes across. Woods leans his forearms on the table in front of him, also looking seriously to the oblivious chemist.

»If you won't make a move on my daughter, I will force you. We already talked about this, you know? Either now, or never.«

Woods joins on it, speaking up while putting his most serious and threatening expression on. »Damn right. And keep in mind; Price doesn't let anoyone get this close to his daughter. You are lucky we even like you.«

Johnny gulps as he hears these men talk to him like this, feeling his own body tense as they size him up him. »Just promise me to finally grow a pair and ask her out.«

Your dad doesn't say anything more and awaits his response. Laswell and her wife can't help but crack a small smile at the whole interrogation act they pull on him, but not interrupting for now. Finally, Johnny answers with a calm tone. At least he hopes he comes off as calm.

»I will, Mister Price. I'll... I will do it soon.«

After his response, the go back to being normal like before and seem satisfied with him for now.

»You know, it took me one year to take up my courage and speak to my wife. Don't be so hard on yourself.«

Price waves her comment off dismissively, looking to Lawell now. »You're lesbian, Kate. That's different.«

The table resonates with laughter once you walk into the backyard with Nik, a simple cake in hand while your uncle carries the few cups in for some coffee and tea. You're oblivious to what they were discussing just now, seeing them all laugh and have a good time.

You set down the cake in the middle and cut it into eight pieces while Nik and Woods are pouring warm coffee and tea into the cups, handing it around the table. The sun is slowly sinking on the sky, creating a more calming atmosphere as it's getting a little chilly out. Eventually, you're sitting beside Johnny again, eating a pieece of cake while chatting with the rest.

----

House of your Dad, 8:07 PM

After some longer while it's time to say goodbye, finally cutting the chemist some slack. As your dad guides everyone out, you and Johnny are cleaning up the table in the backyard before loading the dishwasher in the kitchen together. As you're at the last few dishes, Johnny takes up his courage.

You're washing your hands by the sink as he steps closer beside you and lean against the counter while looking to you.

»I've been thinking about this for a while now, and... do you want to go out some time? Like... in the new restaurant by my place?«

As you're drying your hands, you look to him too and nod without hesitating or thinking too much about it. You two have been talking about that restaurant before, having planned to go there for a while.

»Sure, we could go there sometime. I won't mind.«

Johnny smiles, feeling his heart stutter in his chest at your words. He can't believe this is real, you agreed so easily to it.

»Really?«

He asks, trying his best to keep cool and not totally freak out from the surge of excitement he feels right now. Finally, it has been so easy all the time, and he was too afraid to actually ask you out. He could jump out of happiness.

»Yeah, we're just hanging out, right? I'm sure I'll have some time for that.«

You ask and watch him, waiting for his answer. He, on the other hand, freezes at your question. Did he really need to mess up this badly?

»Uh... sure. We'll just hang out. And stuff.« He manages to answer, gripping the counter for dear life he is leaning on. You notice the way he seems pained, but your dad walks in, checking in to see if you both need some more help. Eventually, you three guide Johnny out and watch him drive off to his own home finally.

»I would marry him if I were you.« Price pats your shoulder before he enters the house again, leaving you on your own at the porch. ...what?

a/n: this is very frustrating, but I promise you, the next part will be longer and better. Hope you ennjoyed it!

and yes, the black ops and helicopter mission reference is real

[riordanness]

change - [r.heffley]

1.6K wordcount

warnings: none

requested: no

I never would have guessed that the same day I lost my only friends would be the day I met my new one.

Heather Hills and I had been best friends since second grade. In fifth, Gracie Miller had made our duo a trio, and ever since then we'd been right as anything. Doing everything together, constantly hanging out and sleeping over at each others houses, planning birthday parties together and giggling over boys together.

But this year? Something was different. Heather and Gracie were acting strange. Like, I'd walk up to them while they were talking and they'd get all quiet, real fast. I'd catch them hanging out without me, finding out via social media.

I was trying to ignore the signs, acting as if everything was as it had always been. But I couldn't anymore.

At lunch earlier today, I'd suggested a visit to the mall after school. We hadn't hung out in a while, and I was missing my girls. Sure, we hung out at school everyday, but all the desks were two seater only. I'll leave it to your imagination who was the odd one out.

Besides, I was in desperate need for clothes. My mother had died when I was just a baby, and my dad was always struggling to make ends meet. I had recently grown out of basically all my clothing, so I'd been saving up every scrap of money I could, working odd jobs for all our neighbours, and finally had enough to go on a little shopping trip.

Heather wrinkled her nose. "I have a dentist appointment, and I'm too tired for the mall today."

I nodded. "That's fair. Get a good night's sleep, tonight, yeah?"

She gave me a tight-lipped smile. "Mhm."

I looked at Gracie. "What about you, Cee?"

She hesitated, glanced at Heather, then shook her head. "I- I have a lot of homework I need to catch up on. Sorry."

I smiled. "No worries. We'll find a time to go."

School had finished twenty minutes ago. I'd said goodbye to the girls at the gate, waved as they climbed into Heather's mum's car (Gracie always got a ride home with them as they lived basically next door to each other) and started the fifteen minute walk to the local mall.

Inside, however, I was met with a nasty surprise. Standing together at the smoothie bar, Heather and Gracie were giggling about something, drinks in hand.

I suddenly felt like I had no air. A lump grew in my throat, and I had to fight to not cry. I turn, and storm back outside. I collapse on a park bench a few hundred meters away, in a little sidewalk park.

Hot, angry, betrayed tears fill my eyes, and I don't stop them this time. I feel so stupid, so angry, so hurt. I should've known. I should have seen the signs, not ignored them like I'd tried to. They didn't want me around anymore. They didn't need me.

I don't know how long I stay there, crying, and silently screaming at myself.

Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I glance up, startled, and hastily brush at my tears. My glasses have fogged up, a few tears staring the lenses. I pull a tissue from my backpack, and quickly wipe them clean.

"Are you alright?"

I glance again at the person. It's a boy, probably my age, with messy brown hair and pretty eyes. He wears a black tshirt with the words 'fuck the patriarchy' on it, with a blue and black flannel over the top. He has black converse, like me, and denim jeans, also like me.

"H-hi," I manage, my voice scratchy from crying. "Can I help you?"

The boy frowns in concern. "You were crying." He says it like a statement, not a question. Not like he's asking why I was crying, but rather just wondering if I was okay.

"I'm fine." I blink away the fresh tears threatening to rise. I won't cry in front of this cute guy again. Once is embarrassing enough. Twice would be unbearable.

"Okay," the boy says, in a voice that implies he doesn't even kind of believe me. "Want some company? You planning on going shopping?"

I frown slightly. "Uh, yeah. I need new clothes. I've been saving up."

The boy tilts his head. "What size are you?"

My eyes widen in surprise, but before I can speak he yelps a little, holding his hands up in surrender.

"I mean- No! I didn't mean it like that. It's just- I just- I have a lot of spare things I don't wear anymore and well, you look like you might fit them. No use using your savings if you don't have to."

I consider this. Usually I don't like charity much, it makes me feel like a desperately poor person, when I'm not poor, just short on cash. But this boy seems really genuine, and I like his style, so maybe the offer of old clothes is a good one to accept.

"Sure, I'd love that," I say. "I'm Y/n." I stand, holding out my hand to shake.

He smiles, and my day gets just a little brighter. "It's lovely to meet you, Y/n. Now c'mon. I'll drive you to my place."

I follow him to the carpark, and he opens the shotgun door of a white van, marked with "Löded Diper" on the side.

"Should I be worried about getting into a white van belonging to a total stranger?" I ask teasingly.

The boy laughs. "Nah, you're good. The only people I'm kidnapping with this van are my little dork brother and his friend."

I laugh, climb into the van, and let him shut the door. When he slides into the drivers seat, I look over at him.

"You know, I still don't know your name."

He looks at me with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Would you believe me if I told you my name was Sir Lancelot Broccoli Vladimir the First?"

I pretend to consider it. "Hmmm, no, not really."

I look at him, and for a whole second we hold the serious act. Then we explode to a fit of laughter.

"No, but really," I manage, striving for composure. "What is your name?"

"Rodrick," he says. "Rodrick Heffley."

"Well it's lovely to meet you, Rodrick Heffley."

He grins. "Okay, Y/n Whatever-Your-Last-Name-Is, ready for a dangerous drive back to my place?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Why not?"

In hindsight, I would've preferred walking there, but Rodrick, and his eyes and his smile and his laugh, they made the almost terrifying experience of his driving kinda worth it.

His house was simple and white, the yard pretty but plain. It looked like a totally normal home.

Rodrick opens the front door for me, holding it open as he smiles down at me. I return it as I duck under his arm, and step into the hallway.

A women steps into the hall, a small boy in her arms. She's pretty, with glasses and shiny brown hair. she sees me and smiles in pleasant surprise.

"Oh, hello there." She steps over and hold her hand out. "I'm Susan. It's lovely to meet you."

As I shake her hand, she glances at Rodrick, a thousand questions in her eyes.

"She's a friend," Rodrick says. "Don't make it weird, Mum."

She smiles. "Oh no no, I won't, honey, I promise."

"Come on, Y/n," Rodrick says, and grabs my hand, steering me away from his mother.

We climb the stairs, passing an adorable dog (who wanted pats that I'd gladly given) and a younger brother, who doesn't give us a second glance.

Upstairs, we enter Rodrick's room. It's surprisingly tidy for a teenage boy's. He has a drum kit, a lot of rock band posters and magazines, and a few piles of clothes and school supplies.

"You play?" I ask, gesturing at the drums.

Rodrick smiles shyly, his gaze sliding to meet mine. "Uh, yeah. I'm in a band."

I raise an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? That's sick, man. I wish I could play the drums. But I've never had the money to get my own kit or anything."

"I could... teach you if you'd like?"

At his suggestion, I hesitate. "I couldn't pay you..."

Rodrick gives me a look. "As if I'd charge you, love."

I flush, and look away.

"Okay..." Rodrick gets all embarrassed, turns in a circle, then digs through his closet for a moment. He pulls out a small tub of neatly folded clothes (I suspect his mother folded them for him), and places it on his bed.

"Here ya are, Y/n/n."

"Y/n/n?" I ask with a small laugh. "That's a new one."

"Is it?" he asks curiously. "So I'm the only one to ever call you that?"

I nod. "Yep, pretty sure."

"Good." He smiles. It's contagious, so I smile right back at him.

"Now," he says, pushing the box towards me. "Take whatever you like."

It's filled with mostly tshirts and hoodies and sweaters, which is perfect, as I have basically no need for new jeans at the moment.

I pull one of the hoodies on, a maroon one with the words "you and i got lost in it" in small, simple writing down one sleeve. It's almost a perfect fit, just a little bit big in all the right place.

"Are all the clothes in this box the same size?" I ask, and Rodrick nods, but he can't tear his eyes away from me.

"What is it?" I laugh.

"N-nothing," he stammers, his cheeks tinting pick and his voice going higher. I bite back an amused smile, and just give him a little meaningful look.

"It's just..." he sighs. "You just look really damn pretty in my clothes."

I instantly get flustered, but can't help my smile. This afternoon might have started pretty awfully, but I could tell it was going to be an amazing night.

[0prettygirl-jay0]

context: you and bakugo katsuki have been broken up for only a whole month, because he cant have any distractions while becoming number one, but bakugo katsuki just cant get enough of you.

tw: smut, degradation, nicknames, penetration, fingering.

bakugo katsuki is aged up. 18 or 19.

bakugo is older now and more mature so obviously he wont be all boom boom boom🎇

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/n was in the U.A kitchen, it was about 10 o’clock when she started preparing dinner. Today was her day to make dinner, for the class. Everyone was either training or studying, so it was rather quiet in the U.A dorms. There was a pot of curry boiling on the stove as Y/n was cutting the carrots to go in the curry, she was also humming the lyrics to her favorite song as she tried hard not to cut herself with the knife. The day before, Y/n had hung out with izuku midoriya, her best friend simce childhood, and didnt come back until late. Now the two of them were simply just friends, and Y/n had gone to the mall with him to pick out a one year anniversary gift for his girlfriend uraraka ochaco. Bakugo was a super possessive individual, broken up or not, you were always his. That night when you came back from hanging out with midoriya, your ex, bakugo katsuki just so happened to in the kitchen grabbing a drink after his training session. Bakugo smirked to himself as the thought of midoriya taking you away from him was a thought worth laughing at. you were his, bakugo would make sure you knew that.

~Y/n’s pov~

“you go out with that idiot yesterday, hmm?” I stopped my action of cutting carrots for the curry i was making, I didnt even have to turn around to know that it was my ex, bakugo katsuki. i knew by his gruff voice, it always gave my stomach butterflies, just the way he carried himself, all the confidence. I looked over my shoulder and saw the blonde leaning against the kitchen counter a few inches away from me, no shirt, gold chain and gray sweatpants. The smell of his cologne was such a turn on, like how could a man smell that fucking good.

“yeah, what about it bakugo?” I said, with a hint of sarcasm in my voice as i tried to be annoyed by bakugo’s presence. The two of them were over so why the fuck did he care whether she hang out with midoriya or not, i thought. I grabbed the cutting board and scraped the knife against it letting all the carrots fall into the curry, going over to the sink to wash my hands and start the rice. Bakugo’s eyes looked me up and down and he scratched the side of his face gently…guess i wore this silky white night dress for good reason.

“Y’know i dont fuck with him mama…What’d you do with him anyway, hmm?” Bakugo said with his soft gruff voice as he walked over to me, while i was leaning against the sink. Bakugo put his big veiny hands to grope my hips as he moved his head to smell the perfume that radiated off my body. “ ‘M missed you mama, i know i said a bunch of bullshit, y’know i need you, deku cant treat you like i do, think i needa remind you who you belong too...” bakugo whispered into my neck.

i didnt know what to feel at the moment, anger or happiness that he wanted me back, Obviously i want my man back, but the things he said that night when we broke up, left me thinking about it for days. as I felt bakugo’s lean body against mines, my legs almost buckled and my mind just couldnt think straight. The need that I have to be with him, to have him all over me, but he was a asshole for saying all the shit and now he wants to have me back. “Bakugo…y’know were over, remember? god, your such a dick.” I tried to be stern with the blonde and be angry with him for being such a dickface this whole month. I missed him so much not just sexually but mentally and physically. i hate him so much. my hands entangled themselves in bakugos soft blonde hair and rubbed his scalp gently. Bakugo was putting all his weight against me as his hand slowly made its way up to my neck, choking me a bit as the other held my hip, bakugo them was pressing little wet kisses against my jugular.

“C’mon ma, y’know i still love you, this past month all i could do was think about you, you think about me too dont ya’?” katsuki said in his gruff voice as he moved his big hands from my throat to take my chin in his hand to make me look at him. “c’mon mama say it…say how bad you miss me. you’ll always be mine even if you dont miss me back, and that pretty little pussy of yours will always be mines too, aint no one could change that, not even stupid deku. you think he can please you with that little dick of his ma, hmm?” my breathe hitched as i heard katsuki talk like this. i know that katsuki loves me, obsessed over me even, but i knew that he loved my pussy more. teasing katsuki like this was just a sight to see, the smell of his colgne when he was this close to me, the feeling of his hand gripping my hip and kneeding it in his large hand, his voice. All of it was turning me on. i needed him, Bad.

fuck this. i need him.

I shook my head no, as i pouted a bit at bakugo. “He could never, katsuki…He could never please me like you can.” I said softly to katsuki as i felt him bend me over the sink. katsuki’s large hand pulled one of my legs to lay up on the counter as he moved my silky white night dress up. the sink was cold against my skin and the only thing i could hold myself up on was the faucet. when i looked back at katsuki i could see the possessiveness in his eyes and the little smirk on his face.

“Let me show you, mama….Let me remind you that this pretty little wet pussy is mine.” as bakugo positioned me in the way that he wanted, he went to kneel before me and that was the last thing i saw. kissing down my back, moving my lacy black panties to the side, slapping my ass, and licking one straight line in between my pussy lips was all i could feel.

~3rd pov~

bakugo began devouring his ex like his last meal that he would ask for if he were on death row, Sucking lightly on her clit. Y/n was in pure blissfulness at the feeling of his hot wet tongue licking her up and down, with her legs buckling, and thighs wanting to close in, she missed this for sure. Drool and Y/n’s wetness were dripping down bakugo’s chin and onto the kitchen floor, as he held onto Y/n’s thighs, making his knuckles turn white. Then he suddenly stopped.

“Suck them for me, your too loud, princess.” Bakugo said calmly and out of breath as he motioned for Y/n to suck his middle and ring finger. Y/n gladly took in his two fingers and swirled her tongue around the tip of them, as if she was sucking bakugo’s dick. She heard her man groan as he pressed against her lower half again with his dick now half hard. Bakugo pushed his fingers down further in Y/n’s mouth almost making her gag.

“Such a good little slut for me arent ya, Y/n.” Bakugo bit onto his lip as he watched his girl suck on his thick fingers. Then he pulled them out and went to kneel before Y/n again. This time Y/n decided to bite onto her lip so she could be good for bakugo, it was harder to keep quiet then she thought. Bakugo made of mess of Y/n’s pussy again and turned it into a ocean, flicking his tongue over her clit and adding one of his thick wet finger into her pussy.

Hearing Y/n moan so loud from just one finger, it made bakugo smirk. “shhh..shh…shh…stop making so much noise ma, unless you wanna get caught. is that what you want? for stupid deku to come in here and watch you get fucked stupid?” Bakugo said loud enough for Y/n to hear. “fuck…so fucking tight and wet for me arent you?” Bakugo started moving his thick finger around to try and get Y/n to lossen up as he flicked Y/n’s clit. “Tell me how much you’ve missed this, mama.” he said, not taking his tongue from flicking Y/n’s clit and not stopping the movement of his finger. “Tell me, pretty girl.” Bakugo whispered.

“mmmfuck, ive missed you so fucking much katsu. no one can fucking see me like this except you…~” Y/n said in a frenzy as the pleasure was getting to much for her to take, soon the tightness would flow and she would cum all over bakugo’s face.

Bakugo slapped Y/n’s ass as he spoke with a growl. keeping the movement with his finger as he added his ring finger in her wet hole. Looking at Y/n with soft, half lidded, lust filled eyes. “Thats right princess, only i can make you feel like this, only i can see you feeling this good. No one can please you like i can mama.” Growling into Y/n’s pussy as he continued licking her clit and licking up her wetness. “Fuck…mama….taste so fucking good…” As bakugo said that, with that gruff voice of his. Y/n let loose and came all over bakugo’s face. “good fucking girl…my good slut hmm?” bakugo growled as he fingered his girl, through the high and licked it all up. After he felt that Y/n stopped shaking and whimpering, he took his fingers out of her and put them in her mouth for her to taste.

“mhmm, taste delicious dont it, mama?…you make me go fucking crazy y’know that…i need you…not just for my sick fucking pleasure but mentally and physically i cant be without you princess.” bakugo said to Y/n as he kissed up and down her neck, leaving hickies and love bites in their wake. then he took his finger out of her mouth and picked her up.

“c’mere, lemme have you...” bakugo said gruffly walked to hold her up against the wall, with Y/n’s legs around his waist and her arms encasing him in her embrace. Y/n had not one thought behind her eyes, just the need and want for her man. “fuck me…please katsu….need you…” Y/n teased as she kissed up and down bakugo’s neck with heavy kisses and giving him huge hickies. bakugo and Y/n groaned out at the same time as bakugo grinded against her with his now fully hard cock that was standing up in his sweatpants.

“how bad do you want it, ma?” bakugo said with a smirk and a teasing little tone. he held Y/n up with one hand on her hip as he moved his other hand to take his cock out, the happy trail of brown hair leading down to the prettiest dick anyones ever seen. pinkish angry red tip, with green veins leading down to his balls. bakugo could feel Y/n’s thighs clench around his slutty waist.

“y’know i want you just as bad as you need me, please katsuki, give it to me. dont you see how bad my pussy needs you….” Y/n said with a sultry voice as she tried to get bakugo to stop fucking around and just fuck her stupid already.

bakugo smirked at Y/n as he looked down to see Y/n spreading her pussy lips for him. then he slammed his cock into her, with how wet she already was it was smooth entry but that doesnt mean it didnt hurt, Y/n let out a loud moan as she felt bakugo slam up into her pussy. “you’re such a naughty girl aren’t you, mama?” bakugo stiffened as all of his cock sat snug in her, he let out a little whimper as he could almost cum so hard from how tight she was. bakugo gripping on her tits and kneeding them in his one hand as the other held Y/n up “fuck…i love this little pussy so much baby, deku could never right?”

y/n continuedly shook her head no as bakugo pulled all the way out and kept slamming all the way back in repeatedly.

~katsuki bakugo’s pov~

bakugo was in love with this woman, the noises she could make, the words she would tell me. fuck…this woman’s gonna make me come. “mama…i love you…fuck ma..” i could tell she couldnt think any more, not even responding to me anymore. fucking slut, clenching on my dick like this, grazing her nails against my back, moaning like a fucking whore for me. the sound of their skin slapping was almost as loud as Y/n moaning out my name.

~3rd pov~

bakugo held onto y/n as he carried them both through their high, as bakugo came, he pulled out and spilled against her stomach and her chest. bakugo groaned against Y/n’s neck and then he fingered Y/n through her high while kissing her lips.

“y’know i love you mama, y’know i never meant what i said to you that night….i could never live without you dumbass.” bakugo said softly to Y/n as he held her naked body in his arms. bakugo’s hand grabbed her chin to make her look at him.

Y/n was just in a daze, and couldn’t think straight. “i know…you’re still a ass face though…” Y/n laughed a bit as she tried to steady her breathing.

~Y/n’s pov~

“not gonna say you love me back?” bakugo said gruffly to his exhausted ex as he helped her get dressed again.

“katsuki, what are we, hm? that night you said you didnt need me, that i was just a little fleshlight for you. now you come just cause i was hanging out with midoriya and act like we’re still together and be possessive and all that. what the fuck are you thinking?”

“mama, dont be like that…i say a lot of shit i dont mean, you and me both know that. i was angry and y’know i wanna be number one. even though i wanna be number one, y’know i would destroy the world for you mama. i fucked up, i know that. you’ll always be mine, and i’ll always be yours, come back to me mama, dont punish me like this.” bakugo said to Y/n as he sat her up on the counter so she could reach his height.

“you know i love you too, but i need to think.” Y/n said to her ex as she left him to think.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i keep putting my name in Y/n’s place 🤡

tell me what you guys think, i would love to hear it, also if you see my name or any mistakes comment and tell me. thanks 🫶🏼

[ribread03]

Wakie Wakie pt.2

C.sturniolo

When Chris finally ask you to go to mall…

Pt.1

Warnings: creepy man, uncomfortable y/n, let me know if i missed anything?

This is my work and i do not give anyone permission to use or take it

Not proof read

Ri.talk: lowkey didn’t know what I was going to do with this so yeah, i hope this makes some sense when you read it lol.

You didn’t move from your spot as Nick walked behind you to go downstairs, to lost in the fact that you felt a small spark on the base of your spine. The way Chris was looking at you before nick had walked in made you feel some way; a way you couldn’t put your finger on. All you knew is that you needed to figure out why he made you feel that way…

4 hours later

Chris had finally come back out of his room after the whole morning incident. He wanted to go out to the mall, knowing that Matt wouldn’t want to go you were his only other option to get there.

You’re sitting on the couch when you hear Chris leave his room. “Y/N do you want to go to the mall with me?” Chris asked while walking into the living room.

“Sure” you say while standing from the couch. “I have to go get my purse, I’ll be down in a sec.” You start to walk towards the stairs to nicks room.

“I’ll be out at the car.” Chris makes his way to your car and waits for you to come out. As you walk down the front steps and out to the car you hear Chris voice, “took you long enough, i was out here for like five years”

“Chris it wasn’t even five minutes,” you say with a chuckle sitting in the drivers seat of your car. You start your car and hand Chris your phone to play music. Putting the car in reverse you back out of the driveway and into the street.

Putting the car in drive you make your way to the mall. The windows are down while you and Chris sing poorly, cruising through the streets. The mall wasn’t far but the drive felt extra short with Chris sitting next to you.

As you pull into the malls parking garage Chris hands you his card to pay for parking, “Thanks.” You shoot chris a warm smile before taking his card and handing it to the lady in the parking booth.

Once you find a parking spot you take a mental note of what level you parked on. Chris is practically dragging you to the elevators, “quick what one’s going to open!” This is a game you started when you were younger and you got the triplets hooked on it as well.

“This one,” Chris says pointing to this middle one.

“Im going number one,” you point the the farthest elevator. As the two of you wait for the elevator another man walks in, you cant lie and say he wasn’t attractive. He was taller than Chris by a few inches, looked around your age, and had a beautiful face.

As the elevator opens Chris cheers, his guess is the one that opened. “You always get it right” you say stepping into the elevator with Chris, the other man following you as well.

“What floor?” Chris ask as he pushes the button to the floor the mall is on.

“Same one as you,” he says, his eyes never even looking at the floor Chris had picked. His eyes are no where near Chris as he speaks but instead on you and your body. You weren’t wearing cute clothes, you had on a big shirt and some sweats.

Your eyes catch the mans and he sends you a wink and a smile. You’re a tad bit uncomfortable with the way he is staring at you so intensely, your body shifts to Chris’s slightly. Chris notices the way the atmosphere shifted so quickly, it’s obvious it him how uncomfortable this man is making you feel.

“Keep your eyes to yourself,” you suddenly hear Chris’s voice. This surprised you a little, Chris sticking up for you the way he is, “cant you tell she doesn’t want you looking at her.”

Out of rage Chris presses the button for the next floor. Once the doors to the elevator open his is quick to pull the two of you out of it. “Thanks” you speak quietly looking at Chris.

“He was being weird, i could feel the change in the air” he sends you a warm smile as he speaks. “It’s only one more floor, do you just want to walk?” Chris can tell you don’t want to chance running into that guy again as you nod your head.

The two of you make your way to the stairs that lead to the mall entrance. Quickly you guys walk down the flight of stairs and into the mall. You and Chris hit the stores he wanted to go to, “i only want to go to one store” your voice breaks the comfortable silence you were walking in.

“Okay,” Chris speaks up looking towards you. “What one?”

“The bathing suit store,” you point straight ahead to the store. “I really need a new bathing suit and i wanted someone opinion on what one i should get,” you shoot chris a small smile.

He was happy to help you find a bathing suit, as you guys walking into the store. But little did Chris know he was going to be getting a whole fashion show from you; and your beautiful legs…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HOPE YOU LIKED THIS!! TOOK EVERYTHING IN ME TO JUST SIT DOWN AND WRITE THIS PART…

🏷️ @allabells

[villain-school]

Chapter 3: Old Friends, New News

An old friend visits Proton, but she's unaware of his current situation...

(crossposted from ao3!)

--

It had been a few days since Caesar joined Proton and Switch’s friend group. They had all quickly gotten acquainted with each other, and now they were hanging out at the local mall’s food court.

“So, Caesar, I gotta ask,” started Switch. “What’s it like being the son of two super-famous villains? I mean, your parents are the Rogue and Maelstrom, right? That must be insane!”

Caesar shrugged at the question. “I mean… To me, they’re just my mom and dad. Sure, we have a bit of fame and more money than a lot of people, but…other than that, I have a pretty normal home life. I guess sometimes they get a little busy, being professional villains and all, but they make time for me still.” He gestured back to Switch. “What about you? You’re…interesting, to say the least.”

Switch sat up a bit. “Oh, me? Well, both my moms are scientists, and I wanna be just like them when I grow up! They actually created me in a lab all by themselves!”

That sent a shock through both Caesar and Proton, their jaws dropping.

Proton was the first to address it. “Switch, you’re a test tube baby?!”

Switch simply giggled and winked. “Yeah! Hehe!”

Proton rubbed his neck. “I mean… I guess that checks out, now that I think about it…”

“Proton?”

A voice from behind Proton caught his attention. He swore he recognized it. Wait, could it be…?

He turned around, confirming his suspicions. Standing a little ways away was a girl about their age–she wore fairly neutral clothing, including a pair of glasses and a hijab. Proton knew exactly who this was, and he lit up visibly. “No way! Winnie?”

Winnie smiled as Proton made his way over to her, and they hugged.

“It’s so good to see you!” Proton said excitedly. “I haven’t seen you since sixth grade! How have you been?”

Winnie smiled as they stepped away from each other. “Oh, you know! Just fine. I’m in town for the weekend. I’ve missed you since you moved! How have things been with you? I heard you finally started hero school!”

Proton suddenly seemed a little awkward at that, but he played it off.

“Uh… Yeah, haha! In fact, I want you to meet a couple friends I made there!” He turned around and gestured to his friends at the table. “Winnie, this is Caesar and Switch.”

Caesar nodded to her. “Hello.”

Switch gave an enthusiastic wave. “Hidey!”

Proton was very happy to introduce his old friend. “Guys, this is Winnie! She’s my childhood best friend. She moved away when we were in sixth grade, but we’ve been talking online ever since to keep in touch.”

Winnie waved back to them. “Hi there! Proton says you’re his hero school friends? What’s it like there?”

Caesar and Switch exchanged glances, and Caesar was the first to speak up. “... Uh…”

Switch chose to hold up his finger to correct her. “Well, actually–”

“Uh, hey, Switch, weren’t you working on something cool?” Proton interrupted quickly. “Why don’t you show Winnie?” He turned to Winnie. “He’s sort of a scientist.”

Winnie seemed interested. “Oh, cool.”

Switch blinked, suddenly remembering his project. “Oh, right! Thanks for reminding me!”

… He then proceeded to pull an actual for real bomb out of his pocket. It looked pretty haphazardly thrown together with mismatched parts here and there, but it also looked very functional.

“I actually built this bomb with things I found lying around the house,” he explained. “I need to go test it out before it expires. Time to find a toilet to blow up!”

As he got up and ran off to find a restroom, everyone else watched in confusion. Proton looked more horrified than confused, though…

Winnie also looked a bit concerned. “Uh… Is he going to blow up the bathroom?”

Proton tried to save face. “Don’t worry, he’s just joking! He’s the, uh, local prankster. It’s not actually a real bomb.” He hesitated. “It’s uh…a bath bomb?”

Winnie didn’t necessarily buy that completely. “It looked pretty mechanical for a bath bomb…”

Proton grimaced a little. “He’s…creative. A-anyway, why don’t I get us some snacks? I’ll be right back!” And with that, he hurriedly made his way to another part of the food court to get something to share with everyone. Maybe he could just avoid talking about this until Winnie wanted to leave.

Winnie took this opportunity to sit down with Caesar at the table. “So, how did you and Proton meet? Do you share a hero class?”

Caesar just sighed. “Not exactly.” He decided that if Proton wasn’t going to say anything, he’d have to do it. “Winnie… I think Proton’s a little nervous to tell you what’s going on, so I guess I’ll have to be the one to break it to you.”

That only served to worry Winnie. “Why? What’s wrong with Proton?”

“Nothing’s wrong with him,” he reassured. “It’s just…he’s not actually enrolled in a hero school. In fact, it’s the opposite–he goes to a villain school. All three of us do.”

Winnie was confused by this. “Huh…? How did that happen? I swear, all he ever talked about was how he wanted to become a hero. Did something change?”

Caesar shook his head. “No, actually. He’s still planning to become a hero. For the record, so am I. We both kind of got stuck in villain school one way or another. But, trust me–he’s more determined to become a hero than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Winnie frowned just a little. “Then why would he lie about that…?”

As if on cue, Proton returned with a tray of loaded fries for the table. “I got us some cheese fries!” he announced. When he saw the look on Winnie’s face, he slowed to a stop. “Uh… Is everything okay?”

“Proton, why didn’t you tell me you were in a villain school?” Winnie asked gently. “That seems pretty important.”

Proton looked like he’d seen a ghost. Then, he sighed, deflating. “Sorry, Winnie,” he apologized. “I guess I just got nervous about what you might think.”

Winnie looked a little surprised for a moment, but then she smiled warmly. “What do you mean? You’re my best friend. Anything you do, I’ll be behind you no matter what. Plus, Caesar tells me you’re still trying to be a hero even in a school for villains. That’s amazing!”

Proton looked up from where he’d been gazing at the ground. “You think so?”

“Of course!” Winnie reassured. “Don’t ever be afraid to tell me things, okay? I got your back, even if we’re far apart!”

That made Proton smile with relief.

However, that relief was short lived, because there was suddenly a huge explosion from the restrooms off to the side. Eventually, Switch returned to their table covered in debris, giving a thumbs-up. 

“It worked awesomely!” he confirmed with satisfaction. “We should probably leave now, though.”

Proton just kind of laughed nervously at Winnie, who warily smiled back at him. Caesar just covered his face in exasperation.

–

Later at school, Switch was walking to one of his classes with a tall stack of books in his arms. He seemed to be in a hurry, but he was careful not to drop any of his haul.

Suddenly, a foot jutted out of nowhere and unfortunately tripped him, causing him to drop every single book he was holding. He fell onto the ground as well, and he sat up in confusion. It wasn’t long before he realized who had tripped him, and that it was definitely on purpose.

Above him stood Cindy Rockette, the local school bully. She was smirking down at him with her arms crossed, satisfied with the outcome of that action. Behind her stood her lackeys Lizzie Evermore and Sol Draconia, who were both giggling.

Cindy stuck up her nose at him. “Going somewhere, lab rat?”

Switch nodded. “Uh… Yeah! To class!”

Cindy rolled her eyes. “It was a rhetorical question, idiot. You’d think someone with super intelligence would know that.”

Just then, Proton suddenly stepped in to defend his friend. He looked serious. 

“Hey, back off!” he said sternly. “What’s your problem, huh?”

Cindy seemed interested to see him. “Oh, there he is–the hero kid. Come to save the day?”

Proton clenched his fists. “I’ll say it again–back off, or I won’t hesitate to shock you.”

“Oh?” Cindy lifted her head in amusement. “I’d like to see you try. C’mon, give me a little static and see what happens.”

That garnered a frown from Proton, but he decided she was giving him no other choice. This was to defend Switch!

He stuck out his hand and shot a little bit of electricity at her–it wasn’t a lot, and it was just to make her go away. However, her form was suddenly engulfed in rocks, which totally surprised Proton. She had become some sort of rock creature, and Proton’s electricity had no effect.

“Don’t you know?” she teased. “Electricity can’t hurt stone.”

“But wind can.”

Everyone looked to the side as Caesar made his entrance. He stepped between the two groups, giving Cindy and her friends a threatening look. “Stand down, or I’ll erode you away without a second thought.”

Cindy scoffed, but she returned her form back to normal. “Tch! The mighty Caesar Truth defending some nobodies? I guess you really are a loser after all.” She gestured to Proton, who was glaring. “You know Sparky here is spouting nonsense about being a hero, right? You look crazy hanging out with him.”

Caesar took in a breath, which sort of made his chest puff out. “If he’s crazy, then so am I.”

He proceeded to raise his voice just a bit so that anyone in the near vicinity would hear him. “I’m going to be a hero, too!” he announced confidently. “No matter what anyone thinks!”

Everyone around them seemed rather shocked to hear this coming from the son of Maelstrom and Rogue, but Switch and Proton only looked at him with proud smiles. Cindy didn’t really know what to make of this, but she ended up backing off finally.

“Fine,” she said lowly. “I can’t wait to see your reputation crumble to dirt.” With that, she turned and walked off with her group.

Caesar let out the breath he’d apparently been holding. He was a little nervous about what would come from his confession, but he’d made his decision, and it was final. He turned to his friends and smiled at them, and he and Proton proceeded to help Switch pick up his books.

It seemed as though a new wind was blowing through the school, and these three were the source of it.

[klancecuredmydepression]

There's something I've been wanting to talk to you both about - and I know this is a difficult conversation. But I care about you both very much. And I know you care about each other very much and that's why it's important that we set these boundaries moving forward so we can build an environment, where we ALL feel comfortable, trusted and open to sharing our feelings. Feelings. Jesus. The truth is, for so long, I'd forgotten what those even were. I've been stuck in one place - in a cave, you might say. A deep dark cave. And then, I left some Eggos out in the woods and you came into my life and... for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. I started to feel happy. But lately, I guess I've been feeling... distant from you. Like you're pulling away from me or something. I miss playing board games every night, making triple-decker Eggo extravaganzas at sunrise, watching westerns together before we doze off. But I know you're getting older, growing, changing. And I guess... if i'm being really honest, that's what scares me. I don't want things to change. So I think maybe that's why I came here, to try to maybe... stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were. But I know that's naive. It's just... not how life works. It's moving. Always moving whether you like it or not. And yeah, sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's sad and sometimes it's surprising. Happy. So you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. Don't let me stop you. Make mistakes, learn from 'em, and when life hurts you - because it will - remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave. But, please, if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor old dad, keep the door open three inches.

Look, I know I usually post things about Klance, Voltron, and Warriors and other random stuff, but I couldn’t help but post this. I was rewatching Stranger Things (yes, this confirms the theory y’all have been speculating on Insta. I am obsessed with ST.), and I this scene alone where Hopper wrote that letter for El and Mike, it hurt to see how upset El looked when she was staring at Joyce after the fire in the mall. They have a deep bond, and I hope to see that they have their happy ending in S5. But, I posted this because it is great life advice, for people any age. That change is a good thing, and sometimes it’s a bad thing. In the end, no matter whether we want change or not, we can’t reverse the clock. We simply just have to move on and let go of the past to make way for the present, because change will be with us forever, no matter what we say, and we do to try and prevent it.

I know many of you reading this may not have read this far, but if you’re reading this, remember this: You’re awesome, and don’t try to change yourself because of someone or something. Live your life and cherish it, because life is only so short. Remember to be childish, happy, sad, angry, you name it, because it’s important to express yourself and let all of this emotions out. Remember to love yourself. And if you don’t, that’s alright. Because I love you, and I’m sure plenty of others do.

That’s all I have for you right now. Have a nice day/evening/night/morning.

[dulcetcure]

₊˙ ◌ ⁎˚ 〇﹒﹙minatozaki sana. cisfemale. she / her.﹚guess who was almost late for their shift at vesper lounge again ?? that’s right, it was yoshihara arisa ! it’s a wonder their job as a bartender isn’t in jeopardy. the 24 year old has been working at sunset galleria for three years, and is well known for their bubbly nature. on bad days, they can be rather mercurial, though. when the mall is dead at night, they can usually be found prepping for a date at sephora cosmetics, but don’t tell their boss !

and hi hi again! this is also rouge because i can’t help myself and this is a beloved muse ⏤ so i’m bringing miss lover girl arisa, embodiment of affection! her stats and personality page is also done and a rough version of her background will be below. please like to plot or also hit me up on discord for her as well!

arisa is very much a local to daegu, her parents moving to the town shortly after her birth in osaka, japan.

unfortunately arisa was a very sickly child, suffering with a disease that gave her a weakened immune system and had her in and out of the hospital from ages 3 to 10. at 10 she had a bad bout in the hospital for several months where the doctors thought that she wasn’t going to make it, but ended up surviving in the end.

she had always been the typical girly girl who dreamed of a wedding and prince charming, fairytale movies were always played in her hospital room as she seemed to perk up while watching them. she likes to say that that love saved her ⏤ not only from the movies, but her parents as well.

although many families have rather broken parental relationships, hers was quite the opposite. her parents were high school sweethearts that broke up and finding each other again in their twenties and never let go ever since. her mother showed her how women were supposed to be treated and her father showed her what to look for in a man. even several decades later, they’re still playful and faithfully dedicated to each other.

so you could say that she’s always been obsessed with the idea of romance. this obviously bled into her relationships, and has dated around a lot in her life, experienced a lot of heartbreak ( especially in high school ), but hasn’t found her prince/ss charming :( which has caused some self-confidence issues which makes her prone to moody behaviors at random.

but she started becoming “cupid” after entering university and helping a couple of couples get together. it was from there that she realized how much she enjoyed helping people in general and decided to advertise her services to those around ⏤ and definitely not because she’s somewhat living through them at all! of course not!

this has also bled into her job @ vesper lounge too ... and around the mall in general, considering her reputation most likely proceeds her but she doesn’t mind that at all.

not only that but she’s sure that she wants to be a therapist or a legit dating coach, so like ... technically this her building experience, right?

anyways yeah! this time i do have plot ideas so here they are below:

ofc off the bat anyone that’s come to her for dating help or trying to get with someone in particular, she’s your girl!

also past exes and past / current flings because arisa states that she isn’t dating to “focus on herself” but the reality is that she’s probably going through some sort of hoe phase looking for love in all the wrong places, lbr

this also includes past and current flirtationships too

someone who frequents the lounge mainly for her companionship / to get advice from her, as much as she loooves to talk she’s also a good listener ( when she wants to be ) and probably beams as soon as you walk in! let her attempt to solve your problems!

someone who isn’t confident in themselves that she is working to build up, or even someone that she’s trying to do a complete social makeover on ⏤ think zero to hero and all those cliches

childhood friends! those who stuck beside her during her most vulnerable time and that she probably bends backwards over for

on the opposite spectrum, enemies because she was probably caught flirting with someone’s significant other ( whoops ), people who thinks that she’s fake and vapid ( valid ), weren’t happy that she wasn’t able to make their crush fall in love with them ( doesn’t work like that but okay ), got caught in her cheating entrapment services and found out, among other things

also someone that doesn’t like her who she’s desperately trying to get their acceptance of for whatever reason

some found family b/c i’m always a sucker for that, or actual family 

party friends! among so much more that i can’t think of, but let’s brainstorm!

okay that’s all i got, thank you for your time if you got this far ♡

[master-of-stringz]

Christmas Date.

hi! i'm new to this; but i love writing and got big on shuyuka on this last week. any feedback is appreciated! just dont be too mean pls ^^" also, english is not my first language so there's probably some mistakes here and there qwq

Christmas Eve of 2009. 20:30, Paulownia Mall.

It was a snowy day at Tatsumi Port. Even though the cases of apathy syndrome were increasing, and the SEES team knew about the doom approaching their livelihoods all too well; they tried to take these days to relax a little, reducing the training at Tartarus and trying to be happy in these times of wintery joy.

Yukari had made plans with Yuki to meet at Paulownia and then go around town, to have the fun that the month had lacked so much.

–”Aaand… he’s late again! He’s lucky I like him, or else I’d already left this dumb place.”--. Said to herself the Lovers Arcana. She wasn’t really *mad*, moreseo annoyed. She can't be blamed though, everyone really needs times like these to spend with each other.

Then, a weird sound came from some feet away where she was seated. As if a door had just been closed. Makoto had appeared on scene, coming out of what he called the Velvet Room. –”What hour is it?... Damn, guess I’m late.”--. He looked at his phone to check the time, to then mumble those words to himself. He approached the girl in pink, sitting at the center of the mall. –”Hey. Sorry for the wait, I was occupied with some–”--. He got interrupted. –”No need for formalities, Mako. At least you came…”--. She was clearly annoyed, but at least it looked like she didn’t wanna ruin the mood with her bad temper. –”Well… you wanna do something or…?--. The kid was still, as awkward as ever. He did have some intention to have a good night, but God if it isn't taking him his whole chest to speak. –”Of course I want to, idiot! Come on, let’s go find a place to eat or something.”--. She stood up and grabbed the Fool by his arm, with both of her hands; clinging onto him. –”Sounds ok to me, ma’am.”--. They wandered around the place for a few minutes. –”How does Chagall Café sound to you, miss?”--. Makoto was pointing towards the café, of which he’s heard there’s some good food to get at night-time. –”You can stop with the whole ''miss”, ''ma'am”; stuff already, please. We’re the same age and you’re NOT funny.”-- She seemed a little pissed, while she was bringing the boy into the café with her, by force.

They were sitting on a table, waiting for their food to come. –”So… what do you think we’ll be doing after all of this?”--.Takeba spoke to break the ice. –”I… I don’t know. I think the both of us have already decided what we’ll do with Ryoji, right?”--. Yuki talked with a serious tone in his voice, reducing all his sarcasm to 0. –”Yeah… I’m sick of the fact that we can’t do anything about it, and can’t begin to imagine how hard it’s gotta be for you…”--. The girl was staring at the ground, sorrowfully. She knew they had to fight; even though it seemed so hard to do.

–”Yeah… I don’t think we can do anything else. It’s for the better of everyone, really.”--. Makoto looked at her directly, with a meek smile on his face. –”Well. I guess there’s no point in being sad, right?”--. He said, in what seemed uncharacteristic from him. –”Huh?”--. Not even Takeba could’ve seen that coming from him. –”At this point we’re at, we can’t walk back. We won’t.”--. A light was shimmering inside his eyes, as if he was truly sure of this. –”We will fight. We can change fate. I know we can.”--. –”Where did all that hope come from? I don’t think i’ve ever heard you talking like this–”--. Yukari was taken aback by the words coming from her lover.

–”I sat back and took some time to think. Thought about everyone who gave their lives for this…”--. Yukari gasped for a second, to start processing what came from Yuki’s mouth. –”The last thing my mother told me before passing… she told me to “live”.”--. Takeba was staring toward the boy, intrigued. –”I never really understood that. “What does “Living” even mean?” I wondered… I always felt as if Death came with me everywhere after that. Never spoke too much, never thought too much… I spent my days alone in my sorry room listening to music. Now I know that probably had to do with the Death Shadow within me, but still. It never came out until I got here, and I doubt anything would’ve actually changed… without you.”--. Yukari started to get red at Makoto’s words. –”Not only you, but everyone. You guys changed my life, seriously. But you were always there for me, Takeba…”--. Yukari, still blushing; responded. –”You say it like it wasn’t you who saved our asses that night at the rooftop.”--. She laughed a bit, looking a little happier. –”And who stayed at the hospital with me, even without knowing who I was?”--. Makoto’s smile became more genuine by every sentence he spoke. –”I’m going to fight. For everyone. For us. You showed me that I really could do something in this world, you know?”-- He had a warm smile on his face. –”Now that you say it, it is kinda funny.”--. Takeba was grabbing her own arm and looking at the floor with a light smile on. –”You and Mitsuru really changed my view on things. About myself, my family… I can’t begin to imagine where I’d be without you two.”--. She laughed it off.

–”I guess you’re right, Mako… But well. What do you say we amp up the mood a little bit?”--. She said, reaching for something in her purse. –”I didn’t exactly know what to get, but I remembered that plushie you gave me one time. Jack Frost, was it?”--. She said, pulling a little Black Frost out of the blue. –”Matching Jacks, huh? I didn’t know you were that corny, Yuka”--. Yuki took the plushie from Takeba’s hand. –”This is really cute though, I like him.”--. The boy had a smile on his face as he put the plushie on what would be his inventory. –”I’m glad you liked it!”--. Yukari was notoriously happy, as if they hadn’t just had a whole existential conversation seconds ago.

Their food came and went, and afterwards; they left the café. Not to go to the Dorm yet, but to wander around Iwatodai Station, and sit back on a bench, watching the stars.

–”Yuki?”--. Takeba was resting on Makoto’s shoulder, as he had his head softly resting over her own head. –”When everything is over… I want to take you out, somewhere outside from here. Just the two of us. I’ll ask Mitsuru if the Kirijo group can get us some kind of transportation, and I’ll take you somewhere. Maybe a big city, maybe a beautiful countryside; whatever you want. Just… to be together. Spend some time, you know?”--. The sky was full of stars, all shining brighter than the last. It had stopped snowing, though the floor, bench and everything around them was full of snow. –”Hey, hey. No need to be fancy with me, Yuka. You know anything works well with me, I’m a simple guy.”--. He said, chuckling a little. –”I just wanna make it special! You know, after everything you’ve done for me… I thought I could at least repay you, somehow…”--.

Takeba blushed in an intense tone of red while speaking. Yuki grabbed her hand, speaking up quickly. –”Don’t be stupid, Yuka. You’re already “repaying” me, whatever that means. Just… being here. It’s enough for me.”--. He looked directly into her eyes, and could see how Yukari was as red as a tomato. Before she could speak up, he stole a quick kiss from her lips.

–”Let’s… stay here, like this. For a little while. We´ll go home later…”--. Takeba squeezed his hand as gently as she could, as she was full of different emotions at the moment. –”You–... I–... I love you.”--. She whispered, as she responded to Yuki’s moves with a profound kiss of her own.

After some minutes, they both went back to the dorm; where they continued the act at Makoto’s dorm. Finally, they fell asleep on his bed, waking up early the next morning and having Takeba go to hers as quickly as possible, with no one noticing.

[j-graysonlibrary]

Heartbeats; Paradise IV

Title: Heartbeats; Paradise

Author: Jay Grayson

Word Count: 112K

Genres: Psychological thriller, drama, sci-fi, LGBT+

Available on: Kobo and my website

Synopsis: Melvin Hardy and Kade Axel appear to be a match made in heaven. After a meet-cute in the rain, the two quickly find themselves in a burgeoning, wholesome relationship.

Yet, things feel…off. It isn’t the ghosts of their pasts that resurface to test the strength of their partnership—no—it’s something nebulous. Something indescribable. Melvin can’t put his finger on it but, the more time he spends with Kade, the more he starts to wonder what’s real and what’s pure fiction. 

IV:

That dream holds onto me like a hangover and I keep thinking on it every time my mind lulls. Which, considering how little I have to do, is pretty often.

I’m swinging between obsessing over the vivid imagery from last night and the need to do something in my waking life. Of course, I don’t have much in mind since there feels like nothing but blank space outside of my apartment. The idea of going to Starla’s condo pops up occasionally but it’s only been two days (not even two full days) and I don’t want to intrude on Kade.

If only I knew where Bree lived or worked, I keep muttering to myself as I fight off the strange cacophony of emotion that continues to cling on from the dream. When I blink, I see Gavin, and when I stop actively thinking of how to possibly get in touch with Bree, I begin to think of that family I caught such a vibrant glimpse of.

I’ve never had a dream like that before. For as long as I can remember my nights have been filled with a dark void. It’s why I’m so hyper fixated on it, I’m sure, because nothing especially eventful happened. I remind myself of this fact every time I notice I’m being swept away.

All I did was stare at the reflection of someone else and have a conversation with their husband.

It was nothing special.

There is no reason it should fill me with any raw emotion the way that it does.

I shake my head and tap my nails against the kitchen counter. Going into work is pointless, I’ve already decided, and I don’t need to stop anywhere for groceries since my refrigerator and pantry are still, miraculously, refilling themselves.

I run through all the places I know of in town—every place I went to with Kade over the past year and half. As I mentally flip through the catalogue, I’m nearly knocked breathless.

The ice cream shop!

I can’t believe I haven’t thought of it before now.

I don’t know where Bree lives or works but I sure as hell know where Nate works.

I grab my car keys and a coat before running out of my apartment. There’s no telling if the young man will be there or not but I feel it’s worth a shot.

The strip mall is as sparsely populated as most places seem to be these days. I see a couple of groups of friends and a few couples out and minding their own business. None of them pay me any mind and I only watch them out of curiosity and a slight, still smoldering, hope that there are more people than just me awake in this town.

Their mouths move, clearly carrying on conversation, so I inch closer to eavesdrop.

The group I approach is made up of two girls and a guy and they seem high school or college aged if I were to guess. The girls sit on a bench while the guy stands in front of them—his back to me.

“I heard about Miss Mallory’s algebra test,” he says with a snort of a laugh.

“Yeah, it was totally lame,” one of the girls responds.

“I thought it was fine,” the other says.

“That ‘cause you’re a genius,” the first girl retorts.

Then they go silent. I lean closer in anticipation but the three kids just stare at each other, blinking every so often but otherwise making no movement.

All of the sudden, they are filled with life again. “I heard about Miss Mallory’s algebra test,” the guy starts on again with an identical inflection in his voice.

I sigh and walk away. They are stuck in that loop and I don’t need to hang around any longer to be sure of it. My eyes scan around at the other people on the walkway and I’m sure they’re all just repeating dialogue as well.

There is no one that can help me here.

I head for the ice cream shop and try to mentally prepare for the possibility that Nate won’t be there. If he isn’t, I guess I’ll just come by later and start to make a habit out of swinging by every day until I do come across him. The idea isn’t all that appealing but I don’t have many options available to me either.

With a sharp inhale, I pull open the door. The bell chimes and something aside the smell of warm waffle cones wafts toward me.

My nose crinkles and I glance around. The line around the counter is the largest congregation of people I’ve seen in some time but none of them move. Around their feet is a splotchy series of red puddles, smeared in some places and concentrated into an almost black pool in others.

My gut clenches and I hope it’s just raspberry syrup that’s been spilled all over the place. The smell definitely tells me different, however.

No one is acknowledging the mess though I don’t expect them to at this point. So I walk in front of the line, keeping my eyes on the floor as I do so.

Nestled between a customer’s feet is a hand, separated from it’s body, and coated in blood. My spine chills as I continue on.

The red puddles grow closer together until I’m led to a massive spot of blood in the middle of the shop. Customers stand right in it, uncaring or unable to take notice. One woman even has the heel of her shoe stuck in a clump of flesh.

It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen and I struggle to breathe.

The dead body is unrecognizable as they’ve been hacked to literal pieces. Their head has been smashed and one of their eyes bulges out of their skull while their jaw is severed and the bottom half of their head is completely missing. Not all of the cuts are that clean though and much of their torso remains intact but with large, angry cuts throughout. I don’t stop to count each wound but, from a brief look, I can say there’s no less than forty.

I cover my mouth, trying to keep myself from retching, and I back out of the shop.

My shoes are definitely coated in death but all I am focused on is getting the hell out of there. I drop my hand once I’m met with fresh air again and I start to put some distance between me and the ice cream shop.

Nate wasn’t there but I don’t know if I have it in me to return. Not when I know that dead body will probably still be there.

And, of course, I worry that the dead body is Nate.

While they were, mostly, unidentifiable, I don’t believe that they were him. Maybe it’s just misplaced optimism but, from what I saw of their hair, it wasn’t the right color.

I hold onto that small flame as I walk to the edge of the strip. I pass by a few other people but they are each stuck in their personal states of limbo. One person I see even has an ice cream cone in her hand and I wonder, briefly, if she’s seen the murderer. Not that she’d be able to recount any details to me, I remind myself.

There are far less people around the store on the far side of the strip mall but there never was much traffic over here in the first place. It’s a home improvement shop and it doesn’t draw people to it like the restaurants and clothing stores do.

I rest my arm against a stone pillar and then press my forehead against my hand. The shock of what I’ve seen is settling in and turning into horror.

Why the hell was there a dead body out in the open? If everyone is dead inside, how could anyone be doing something like that?

Whoever did it has to be aware of themselves like I am. I almost laugh at the irony of it. I’ve been wanting to come across someone else in this world that is sentient—someone besides those I already know, who I can’t currently get in contact with—so of course that new option is some gruesome murderer.

I push back from the pillar and try to shake myself free of needlessly pessimistic thoughts. I don’t actually know enough about the situation to come to any conclusions.

Just as I think about returning to my car, a hand clamps over my mouth. My hands fly up to pull it off but, at the same time, I’m yanked backward and flush against another body.

My heart thumps wildly in my chest until the offender speaks into my ear.

“It’s me.”

Oz!

I let out a sigh in relief and melt against his touch. I don’t even care that he’s scared the hell out of me—I’m over the moon to be with him again.

Oswald lets go of my mouth and then turns me around so we can face each other. He hasn’t shaved in some time—the full, scraggly beard tells me that. Stubble outlines the thicker beard and stretches all the way down his neck. He’s got a feral look about him but his eyes remain gentle and stare into me with a mixture of concern and relief.

“How did you get out of jail?” I ask right away.

“Pretty easily,” he responds with a smirk. “The guards stopped coming to check on me after the blackout so…I just opened the cell door and left.”

My mouth falls agape. “Really?”

Oz laughs breathily. “Yeah. I kinda couldn’t believe it either but, considering what’s going on, it’s not too far of a stretch. I’m sure you’ve noticed the state of things, Melvin.”

I nod, getting back into a more serious mindset. “Everyone is…dead. Mentally but also, I just saw a dead body in the ice cream shop.”

“You what?” He doubtlessly wasn’t expecting something like that.

I gesture behind me with my thumb. “There’s a hacked up body in the ice cream shop. Everyone is just…standing around it.”

His bushy eyebrows narrow and he begins to walk toward it.

I run to catch up with him. “You want to look at it?!”

“I need to see it for myself,” Oz mentions as he pulls, from his pocket, an old camera. It’s the kind that prints a picture as soon as it’s taken and I wonder where he’s gotten it from. But I don’t have to ask since he notices me staring and shoots me a sideways grin. “I snagged it from an antique shop. I’ve been using it to take pictures of any oddities I find around town since my phone doesn’t work anymore.”

“Oh.” I nod a little to myself. “So, you’ve been free since the blackout, right?”

“I have.”

I can’t help but frown as a realization dawns on me. “And you didn’t come to see me…?”

We stop in front of the ice cream shop and Oz smiles down at me. He doesn’t look bothered by my accusation and simply rests his free hand on my shoulder. “Melvin, I don’t know where you live.”

He doesn’t? I think back to our previous encounters and suddenly feel incredibly stupid. I’ve only been to his apartment—never vice versa.

“…right…” I feel my cheeks grow warm and I want to look away.

But Oz continues and keeps my attention. “I’ve actually been coming into town every day, hoping to run into you eventually. It’s taken a while but I’d say my diligence paid off.”

I blink a few times, completely speechless. He’s been looking for me every day? I can’t deny how happy that makes me and I want to kiss him right here and now and, while I guess doing so wouldn’t exactly get anyone’s attention or anything, I still hold back.

The lump in my throat dries up so I swallow. “I was in my apartment for a long time,” I say before shaking my head, “I’ll explain what happened later. Let’s get this over with first.”

Oswald smiles and gives me a curt nod before leading the way into the ice cream shop. I hang back while he takes several photos of the body from different angles. He collects the pictures, shaking them out to help them develop.

“This ought to be enough,” he says and puts the camera back into his pocket. The pictures, he keeps in his hand. “Melvin, will you come with me back to my apartment?”

I hardly let him finish. “Yes.”

I drive us in my car, feeling suddenly quite shy to have Oswald see it. The model is new—or it was last year—and I keep it clean from the inside out but, for some reason, there is a persistent embarrassment at having him be inside of it.

I chalk it up to the fact it’s been over a year since I’ve seen him and, that last time, I wasn’t exactly allowed to enjoy his company.

Then I realize this is the first time we’ve been able to just…exist…around each other without “her” watching. If we want to have sex, we can do so without eyes on us. I can say what’s really on my mind instead of spouting what the presence wants me to.

I’m both thrilled by this and nervous. Maybe that’s why everything feels embarrassing suddenly, I think. I’ve never truly been myself in front of Oswald before. Not for the entire length of time at least.

The drive is silent as Oz shuffles through his morbid pictures and I don’t make an effort to stir up conversation. It’s not like the quiet is off putting. In fact, it feels pretty natural and I don’t mind it all.

We walk up to his apartment without running into a single soul but that was never an uncommon occurrence. It’s still eerie but it doesn’t linger on my mind as we walk inside.

The living room is now full of Oz’s conspiracy boards and papers are scattered about. An entire stack of books and sheets sit atop the piano on the far side of the room and empty beer bottles and dirty dishes fill the rest of the space.

It’s filthy. He’d be better off burning the building down and building it back from scratch.

“Sorry about the mess,” Oz mumbles as he locks the door behind us. It’s probably not necessary to lock the door but, then again, we just learned there’s someone chopping bodies up so I rethink my stance.

“It’s not this messy in the bedroom, is it?” I ask, keeping on topic.

“No, I barely go back there. I’ve been sleeping on the couch.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Why?”

He sighs and then tosses the pictures and camera down on the nearest piece of furniture—a cushy chair. There is an air of tension about him as he refuses to look me in the eye. “I just…the last time I was in there, you know?”

I cock my head to the side and step closer to him. Does he feel bad for all that? He and I both know that wasn’t his choice—he was made to do all that. And, besides, other than the strain on my body from being tied down, I didn’t dislike any of the treatment.

But I wasn’t able to tell him that so I guess he doesn’t know.

A smile pulls at my lips and I touch the side of his face, slowly leading him to meet my eyes. “Let me show you how I really feel. No interference. No mind control. Just us.”

[capthayes]

Sierra couldn't help but smile at Harry's awkward attempt to bridge the gap. It was endearing in a way that reminded her of the little brother she used to look out for. "Remember when we were little and we'd play hide and seek and I would say I could find you anywhere?" she asked softly, her eyes meeting his with a glimmer of hope. There was a time she recalled too, of saying she'd always have him back, normally when he lost himself at the mall when he was ages three to five. The memory made her smile but then it faded. That was so long ago, she'd been silly to bring it up. "Yeah, I guess I've found you," she cleared her throat, looking at her clipboard.

She nodded as he explained his work situation, appreciating the effort he was making to share. "Freelance stuff sounds interesting. What kind of projects are you working on?" she asked, genuinely curious. It felt good to focus on him for a change, to learn about his life beyond the store's walls—and the memories she had of him in their family's constricting walls.

As she moved to inspect the sprinklers, noting their disrepair, she sighed inwardly. The place needed more attention than she'd initially thought, but her primary concern was reconnecting with Harry. She took note of things, but didn't dwell on giving him a lecture. "I've been... managing," she replied, her voice tinged with fatigue. "Work is crazy as always. We've had a few major incidents, but nothing we couldn't handle."

She paused, lowering her clipboard and looking directly at him. "Harry, I know I've been a crappy sister. Leaving like I did, twice now... I needed to get out. But—It wasn't fair to you. I'm—" She didn't know what she was really doing there. Trying to fix things, to be better? She missed having him in her life, but was she being selfish dragging herself back in? She wasn't really sure. "Trying..." The word came out more easily than she had expected, her sincerity palpable. "But if you don't want me to, I'll—go," she said with a cracked voice. She didn't know where the surge of courage had come from. Perhaps from seeing the inspection wasn't any good, so she didn't want to have to deliver bad news to him when he only got an inspection because she wasn't brave to just come in civilian clothes.

She looked up at him—he was so much taller than her now, it was strange to notice that. She'd been shorter than him when he was s team, but barely so. Now, he'd gained many more inches on Sierra and it was certainly different. Considering she'd always looked after him, how he was the little brother. She waited, her heart pounding, hoping he would see how much she meant it.

There was a part of Harry that wanted to make a comment, something along the lines of her drawing the Shutter short straw, leading by example or not. But there was a larger part of him, the one that saw him bite his tongue to keep the words inside, that wasn't about to risk her walking out again. Harry didn't know where the line was, and it had him on edge.

"Few years," he did say, answering the question as he rounded the corner to lean against it, watching his sister. His brow had pinched when she'd gone for that tag – he had no idea what it said on there, and he felt that said enough about the state of this inspection's probable results – but it smoothed as he cleared his throat, adding, one shoulder lifting in a shrug, "took some time off a while back, but ..."

She should have known that. His big sister should have known how long he'd been there. What he did. But as soon as the thoughts crossed his mind, that voice shoved them right back down. Because Harry knew that wasn't fair. It wasn't like he knew anything about her life either. He hadn't made the effort. Over the years, or even over the past two weeks. How could he hold her to a different standard?

He was stewing over that when her voice cut through, and his mouth opened to answer when the last part saw it snap shut, whatever he'd been about to say dying on his lips. She wanted to see him? He ... hadn't expect that.

"Well. You found me." No sooner had he said it than was he cursing at himself. Seriously? All that talk of being no better on the sibling front, and that's what he had to say. Sighing, he rubbed a hand against his jaw, took a moment to collect his thoughts as best he could, then focussed his gaze on the uniformed Hayes across the store, murmuring, "... been okay. Busy here, and I, uh, I've got freelance stuff going on too, so. You know. Busy. You? Figure the town can't be on fire if you're here. I ... dunno what else there is. Saving lives and shit, and ..." He gestured around, vaguely at her and the extinguisher, at the old and rusted sprinklers overhead, "ticking boxes?"

[onlyswan]

meet me behind the mall | jjk

→ pairing: jungkook x f!reader

→ genre: smut sigh, fluff kinda

→ warnings: exhibitionism, public sex, dirty talk, slight ? degredation, calls her a slut once, fingering, handjob, oral (m. and f. receiving), choking, spitting, cum eating / swallowing, unprotected sex, facial (this term is so 😭) lmk if i miss anything plz

→ word count: 3.3k

summary: jungkook makes you live for the thrill of it all.

note: this was an impulsive write idk what possessed me today frends but have at it >_> semi proofread it’s 5am goodbyr

—

it’s one of the things you first learned about him. jungkook loves taking photos. he loves capturing moments with a simple click of a camera. he finds an unexplainable comfort and bittersweet nostalgia in finding old photographs in his drawer, in his pockets, tucked in between the pages of his textbooks. it’s like finding little treasures all over the place, you can hear his voice in your head, can see the pretty twinkles of passion and fondness in his pretty doe eyes.

so when he told you all about the new photobooth at the arcade, followed by a text that simply said meet me behind the mall, you didn’t particularly imagine that you would end up in this position. you can see the shutter going off even though your eyelids are closed as jungkook’s tongue is basically shoved down your throat. your panties is pulled to the side and two of his fingers are thrusting in and out of your cunt, curling deliciously to stimulate your sweet spot that has your thighs shaking uncontrollably every fucking time.

how naive of you to think that your boyfriend spontaneously texted you at eight in the evening to meet up and simply take cute couple pictures in film. of course, you do have a fair share of scandalous photos, but they’re all conveniently stored and locked away in your phones. this is something entirely new and as embarrassing it is to admit, thrilling. yourself from one year ago never would’ve guessed what her future self is doing right now. how the desires in you can easily be fueled to life just by the trailing of jungkook’s fingers on the smoothness of your thighs, his lips nipping at your neck, or even the simple thought of having his cock filling you up to the brim.

you can’t help but to giggle against his mouth. all of your senses are heightened at this moment, your heart beating aggressively in your chest. he pulls away slightly but his gaze stays on your pink and swollen parted lips, drunk eyes taking in your disheveled state.

“what’s going in that pretty little mind of yours?” he smirks, thumb sneakily rubbing your clit. you try your best to hold out your moan but a broken whine comes out, your head throwing back against the wall of the limited space you’re both squeezed into. only a black curtain and an ‘occupied’ sign in red bold and capital letters separated you from the world outside, where games are being played by people of all ages; loud sound effects and songs from the 2000’s and 2010’s mixing into an ear numbing noise that can only be recognized from an arcade center; and tickets gathered are being exchanged for cute stationary items and trinkets.

“you’re so, so dirty.” you say to him, eyes rolling back as his fingers never let up on their toe curling pace, only making you lose your inhibitions and self-control more than anything else. you clench around them involuntarily, drenching his hand with your juices. “was this your plan all along?”

your eyes widen in shock when the sound of his palm slapping your bare cunt filled the booth, the stinging pain registering in your mind next. “are you fucking crazy? someone might hear!” you whisper angrily at him, but his dark and blown out eyes made you shrink back in your seat. his intimidating, and almost condescending, expression have you gushing against his hand that is now petting your pussy to soothe the pain he inflicted.

“watch your mouth. you and this fucking skimpy dress are the only ones dirty here. you know what this shit does to me.” he smiles at you sweetly. “are you sure this was my plan? are we playing mind games here, baby girl?” his hand comes down from your face to play with the cloth of your blue dress, the other thrusting two of his fingers in you again, then adding another. the stretch has you gripping tightly on his shirt, not having anything else to hold on to.

“fuck, ahhh- jungkook. don’t stop.” god, you are dripping all over, your wetness staining your seat. it makes your cheeks flush in shame.

“just wanted to look pretty for you, i-is all.” you mewl at him, blinking innocently. the camera is not forgotten by jungkook. in fact, it’s one of the things getting him more riled up. the almost blinding light of the flash shines on your soft skin, and the sweat that has formed on your temples and your neck. your pupils are blown and eyelids drooping caused by the pleasure he is giving you. it’s visible how difficult it is for you to keep in all your noises from the people outside the damn curtain when you’re so lost in the feeling of his fingers inside of you. all because of him. your fucked out state got jungkook gritting his teeth, his dick twitching inside his pants. jesus christ, you get him so fucking turned on and desperate for it without even trying. your beauty is seductive and enchanting and effortless. there is no point in hiding how crazy he is for you.

“my pretty girl. you dressed yourself all nice for me?” he presses a chaste kiss on your lips, before he wraps his hand around your throat, pressing at the right places just enough to make your mind all fuzzy. “i’m such a lucky man. i love you so much.”

your eyes roll back at the back of your head at the all consuming feeling taking over senses. you don’t think you can answer correctly if ever someone asks for your name or the colors of the goddamn traffic signs. “y-yeah, for you, of course. love you so much.”

he gives you a satisfied hum, moving down to squeeze one of your breasts with his large hand before pinching your nipple from outside the cotton of your dress. “mhmm, holy fuck. you’re always so sensitive. so easy to please. am i making you feel good?” you don’t know how he can act so casual while you’re basically falling apart in his hands, but for some sick reason, it stirs up the arousal in your belly even more.

“y-yes, kook, i’m so close, please, please, please,” you cry out desperately, tears forming at the corner of your eyes as you squeeze his fingers with your walls uncontrollably. “wait, ohhh, stop. stop. i can’t cum here. i- it’s gonna be a mess, this is so embar- fuck, jungkook!” your squeal dies down in your throat when your boyfriend kneels on the ground and starts sucking your clit in his mouth as his fingers inside of you became more aggressive, hitting all the right places that makes you see stars behind your eyelids. you cover your mouth with your hand to muffle your desperate and whiny sounds, suddenly becoming aware of where the two of you are right now.

you grip his hair with your hands to steady yourself and unconsciously grind your cunt against his face, his eager tongue doing very sinful things for the sole purpose of making you come undone. he pulls you closer to the edge with his strong arm so he can have better access, eating you out like a man feasting on the divine food of the gods. divine. that’s one perfect word to describe you.

he flicks your clit teasingly before wrapping his pink and plump lips around it again. the overwhelming sight almost makes you want to burst into tears. “hmm, cum for me, baby.” your body jerks in his hold, his words of permission acting as the trigger for your orgasm. he drinks you up greedily, his tongue replacing his fingers’ place in fucking into you, letting you ride out your high.

he comes up to kiss you, making you taste yourself in his mouth. you can even feel his wet chin. you moan against him when two fingers dip inside you again, and then he’s having you suck on them almost too enthusiastically. you’re still in a daze from your release, and with jungkook, you’re basically down for anything and everything. you open your eyes to meet his, and if you aren’t already fucked out with his fingers choking you, his hooded eyes will have reduced you into a blabbering mess.

“you’re always so good to me.” he says with a raspy voice. he takes out his fingers and wipes it on his shirt before pulling you in for another kiss. “let’s get out of here so i can fuck you properly like my girl deserves, okay?” you nod meekly, trying to hide your excitement. he fixes you up to make you look presentable enough to walk in public, combing your hair with his fingers and straightening out your dress.

“can’t forget these. don’t want anyone else seeing you like this. it’s for my eyes only.” he gathers all the developed films from the booth, facing you with a teasing smile.

“for your eyes only.” you agree, looking up at him. you open the small backpack you brought along with you and he stuffs them all inside mindlessly, his cock still straining painfully in his pants and he might just lose his mind if he’s still not inside of your pussy in the next five minutes.

“can’t walk properly,” you whine out once you step out of the booth, your boyfriend supporting you by the waist.

“sorry, baby.” he presses an apologetic kiss on your temple. “but i’m not done with you yet.” he really doesn’t give a fuck if anyone heard the both of you at all, but he knows that you’re starting to worry, so he makes sure that you keep your eyes on him as you walk your way out of the place.

“are we going to your place? or mine?” you ask once you get out, the cool air of the mall embracing you. you shiver lightly. your boyfriend doesn’t respond, but when he starts dragging you towards the movie theater that is just beside the arcade, you realize the answer to your question.

“jungkook, really?” you hiss at him, but don’t make any efforts to stop him as he leads you to the restrooms.

“i’m so fucking hard right now, babe. i can’t wait anymore.” they’re about to close up in an hour, so the place is basically deserted. but still, you can’t believe what you’re about to do right now. he peeks in the women’s and once he made sure it’s clear, you go in to the farthest cubicle.

“damn woman,” his throaty chuckle makes your center throb again as you immediately pull down his sweatpants along with his boxers, his big cock slapping against his stomach. you lick a stripe from his balls up to his tip, then gathering saliva in your mouth and letting it drip down his length. his breathing gets heavier at the sight of doing such a filthy action without him asking you to. he strokes your cheek as you jack him off and give his head kitten licks, your spit acting as an effective lube.

“put it in your mouth now, baby.” he says softly, grasping your hair to guide your mouth on his cock. “choke on it, yeah?” you hum in submission to his request, relaxing your throat to take in as much of him as you can. you start to bob your head up and down to get used to the feeling, your hand still wrapped around the few inches left.

“fuck, you look so pretty like this. i’ve been thinking about it all day.” his confession made you all warm inside. you’ve always wondered how you managed to become his girlfriend. sometimes, it feels to good to be true. knowing the effect you have on him even when you’re not around made you even more determined to blow his damn mind. to be the only star of his wildest dreams.

you go down on him until your nose reach his pubic area, carefully breathing out through it. “oh my god, that’s my girl.” he thrusts his hip forward and holds your head down in place, making you choke on him like he wanted to. his moans sends tingles to your pussy and you rub your thighs together in a pitiful attempt to relieve yourself of some pressure. he lets you breathe in some air before you take him in your mouth again, swallowing around his length as you move your head up and down.

“ohhh, fuck. your mouth is s-so warm. you like this huh? sucking me off outside our rooms for the first time?” he can’t help but to move his hips as well, instinctively following your mouth. your moans vibrate on his dick, and he hisses at the added sensation. “and you called me what? so, so dirty? turns out you’re just as fucking filthy, baby.” and there it is again, the mischievous smile on his face that makes your knees (that you’re sure will be bruising soon enough) weak. you know that he’s right. you can’t help but to whimper around him when you feel wetness drip from your hole. you want to touch yourself so bad but your hands on your boyfriend’s flexing muscular thighs are what’s keeping you steady and grounded.

“ohh- ah, fuck fuck fuck! are you fucking kidding me?” his body jerks when you take all of him and stay still, contracting your throat around him and massaging his balls in your small and soft hand. his brain goes on a frenzy at the waves of pleasure rippling in his body, sweat rolling down his temples and abdomen working hard to stop himself from cumming down your throat. “s-shit, stop it, stop it, stop, i’m gonna blow my load.”

you pull him out with a pop, hand gripping his base to keep his orgasm at bay. his glassy eyes meet your own, and you give him a wink. “are you gonna fuck me now?”

a shiver runs up jungkook’s spine. “you’re so fucking hot. come here.” he helps you get up and snakes his tongue in your mouth, pinning you on the other side of the cubicle. his hand sneaks in under your dress to cup your center, groaning against your mouth when he felt how wet you are. “shit, you’re soaking. did you get this turned on by sucking my dick?”

“really turned on. i love blowing you.” you twirl a strand of his hair around your finger, blinking up at him with a smile.

“you’re actually killing me here.” he chuckles, squeezing your ass and pulling you close to grind himself on you. he drags down your panties until you step out of them, throwing it on top of your backpack. he tucks your hair behind your ear and whispers. “jump.” you obey, wrapping your legs around his waist.

he pumps his cock a few times before teasingly running the tip along your wet folds, a nudge on your clif making you moan quietly. “put it in, please. jungkook? i’ve been good, right?”

“shhh, i got you.”

you hold on to his neck tightly as you let yourself succumb to the pleasure. it’s amazing how you can feel so stretched out from the very beginning, only his tip yet breaching your walls. you never really got used to it. “you’re so big, kook.” you cry out against his shoulder as he sinks his entire length into you. your praise inflates his ego. he lets you adjust for a moment, peppering kisses along your neck and shoulder.

when you gave him the signal, he begins thrusting into you, gradually picking up to a rough and unforgiving pace he knows you like. the lewd squelching sounds of your connected sex filled the empty room.

“sh-should’ve done this sooner. ahh fuck, why does this feel so good?” you’re out of your mind. you can’t remember a time you felt this horny. and to be brutally honest, he’s fucking you dumb right now. you can feel every ridge of his cock in you, can feel his tip furiously and consistently stimulating the spot in you that has you writhing in his arms, that along with his pelvis grinding against your clit each time he fucks back into you.

“jesus, are you hearing yourself right now? you like doing it outside with me, baby?”

“yes, yes! oh, harder, please. m-more, i’m close again.” you sob out, biting on his shoulder to cover your cries.

“can’t believe i got myself a filthy little slut here.” he shakes his head in mock disbelief, adjusting his hold on you and fucking you with a much fiercer drive to make you cream on his cock this time. “f-fuck, you’re squeezing me so tight.” he breathes out a laugh followed by a broken moan, your soft walls enveloping him in your wamth. “cum when you need to, hmm? you’ve been so good to me.”

you mutter countless thank you’s mixed with your moans and whimpers, the pleasure getting too much to bear. you throw your head back as you orgasm on your boyfriend’s cock, clenching around him uncontrollably as he fucks you through it, desperate to reach his own high. your juices drip down to his balls, and it makes him crazier. he takes the opportunity create marks on your neck, sucking and biting red and purple on your skin.

it’s not long before overstimulation takes place, but you don’t complain, not when it feels this good. another orgasm hits you, not as intense as the first two, but it still got you seeing stars and your body shaking against the wall.

“did you just cum again? oh god, fucking shit. i’m there- so fucking close. you feel so- oh, so good. love you. love you a lot.”

“i want to swallow your cum.” your voice is barely there, but jungkook hears you just fine. he almost chokes on his own spit upon registering your words in his brain. without wasting any time, he sets you down on the floor and you kneel infront of him, mouth open and tongue out.

he jacks himself off while you generously lick at his frenulum, looking up at him expectantly. the sight of you all eager and impatient for his cum finally triggers his release, aiming for your tongue but some still landing on your cheeks and chin as he’s too overwhelmed and shaken to see straight. you swallow happily, licking the rest from your fingers.

“god, i love you.” he says quietly, pulling you up from the floor and embracing you, but you wiggle out of his grasp.

“love you too but gross, gross, gross. i need to go home and shower.” you whine out, twirling as you try and fix your appearance again.

“not you acting like a brat once you got what you wanted.” he pinches your waist jokingly. he takes tissue from the dispenser to clean up the wetness that dripped down all the way to your thighs, being the loving boyfriend that he is.

“i don’t know what you’re talking about.” you pout at him. “i’m so tired and gross. i hate you.”

“are you asking for it again?”

“no, i swear to god. you owe me a bubble bath and a massage.”

“okay, fine. my place then.” he gives up, shaking his head with a laugh at your change of mood. “i love you. can i get a kiss then?”

you tiptoe to reach him, slightly pulling him down by the collar of his shirt to give him a smooch. “i love youuu.”

once you both make yourself presentable (again) to the best of your abilities, you head out of the restroom first. you notice the cashier at the popcorn place eyeing you suspiciously, especially when jungkook comes out to meet you a few minutes later. you hide yourself behind him in shame.

you walk out of the mall with his hand over your shoulder, yours on his waist. you look at him questioningly when he covers your neck with more of your hair. “maybe i made a little too much.” he winces apologetically.

“we are never doing that again.” you sigh, your legs still feeling weak but you will yourself to make it all the way to the parking lot.

“what? you said you liked it!”

“it was during the moment. i was delirious.”

jungkook rolls his eyes. “you’re lying. let’s see, because that’s also what you said the first time we tried choking.”

“jungkook! shut up!”

—

note: i never know how to finish these runs and hides

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Nia just needed a friend to do a hard mall trip. Trying out dresses. For a formal dance. And hey, maybe Lena and Kara are mad at each other but... She just needs Lena okay?

When Lena receives a call from an unknown number, she almost ignores it. But just enough people spread her phone number that she answers it on the off chance it might be someone who needs her.

“Lena Luthor, how can I help you?”

“Lena, please don’t hang up.”

The voice is familiar, but Lena can’t place it until the voice continues.

“It’s Nia. Nia Nal? And I know--” Lena almost hangs up right then-- not because it’s Nia, but because Nia treads dangerously close to a subject Lena is dead set on avoiding. Almost. “I know you have no reason to take my call, but… I need your help.”

Lena almost hangs up. She doesn’t.

“What do you need?”

---

The crisis, Lena learns, is that Nia has been given the assignment of her life covering the Golden Globes ceremony being hosted in downtown National City, but has nothing even remotely appropriate to wear. The mundanity of it all is so far from what Lena expects that it’s long moments before the words fully register.

“Uh, Lena…?”

“I’m here,” Lena says quickly, clearing her throat. She leans forward in her chair, rattling off an address. “Meet me there tomorrow at 11am.”

The next day, a few minutes after eleven, Nia walks up to Lena outside of Sylvie with hesitation all over her face. “Lena?”

Lena tucks her phone away and turns towards Nia with a professional but bright grin. “Nia, you made it.”

“Uhm, yeah actually… I kinda thought I’d gotten lost…”

Lena looks at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Lena, I can’t afford anything on this boulevard, are you crazy??”

Oh.

“You’re not paying,” Lena says simply.

Wide eyes blink at her in shock. “What? No! No, Lena, I can’t ask you to do that--”

“I’m offering.”

“Look, I was thinking we could just go to the mall--”

“The mall.”

Nia quails under Lena’s judgement, and Lena softens.

“Nia, you are about to be on the red carpet, covering an event that could catapult your career into the stratosphere. I think that warrants something a little more than what a department store can offer.”

“But…” Nia continues to protest, but uncertainty colors her features, and Lena knows she’s slipped under her guard. Carefully, Lena places a hand on Nia’s wrist.

“I won’t force you to accept what I’m offering,” she says gently. “But calling a Luthor for help means calling for a Luthor solution-- and nothing says Luthor more than shopping at the best boutique in town.”

Nia nods, but she ducks her chin with a swallow. “It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“I don’t want you to think that’s why I called, you know?” Nia expels a sigh, working a harried hand through her hair. “It’s just that Kara was supposed to come with me for moral support, but she’s had to cancel four times and the ceremony is in three days and if Andrea hears one more time that I don’t have a dress, she’s going to kill me…”

“Nia,” Lena says softly. Nia stops, and meets Lena’s gaze with a hesitant one of her own. “I would never think you were calling for a hand out. I’m offering.” Nia still looks uncertain, but Lena holds her gaze. “You asked for help… so let me help.”

Nia considers her words, studying Lena carefully. Finally, she wraps her arms around herself with a steadying sigh. “If you’re sure…”

“I’m sure.”

Nia follows a few paces behind as Lena turns and approaches the door to the shop, lingering to let Lena be the one to press the buzzer to be allowed in. But as they near, the door opens for them, ready and waiting to admit them.

Luthors don’t use buzzers.

“Welcome to Sylvie.” A pair of well groomed attendants relieve them of their purses, exchanging their bags for a couple flutes of champagne offered by a third.

“Thank you,” Lena replies easily, well versed in the practice. Nia fumbles a step behind, her movements stiff and uncertain. Instead of moving directly into the belly of the store as she usually did, Lena lingers, allowing Nia the chance to take in the shop for the first time. The showroom looks much like any other, as could be glimpsed through the windows, styled with clean lines and immaculately dressed mannequins. The true Sylvie experience, however, happens further in, beyond the curtains that separate the dressing rooms from the rest of the store.

“If you’ll follow me, ladies, I’ll show you to your dressing room.”

Lena wonders what Nia expected as they approached one of the curtained off areas. Perhaps a cramped alcove like the hollywood thrift stores shown in coming-of-age films, where your elbows knocked the walls as you changed and you’d be lucky to find a stool to put your own clothes. Certainly it isn’t the plush, spacious room that awaits them, if Nia’s wide eyes are anything to go by.

Charnelle waits for them at the curtain. “Welcome, ladies,” she greets, parting the curtain so that Lena and Nia can slip inside. “Lena, lovely to see you again.”

“And you,” Lena returns.

“I’m Charnelle,” she introduces herself to Nia. “Wonderful to meet you. I’ll be assisting the two of you today.”

“Thankyousomuch,” Nia says in a rush, her shoulders tight as she shakes Charnelle’s offered hand.

Charnelle allows the curtains to close behind them, isolating them in their own little pocket of divine luxury. Lena settles herself on the central chaise lounge, folding her legs elegantly before her. Nia perches on the edge beside her, her gaze flicking to the small boudoir in one corner and another curtain that shields the actual changing area. Inside there, Lena knows Nia will find a plush bench to sit on as she undresses, and gold hangers to hold her clothes while she tries on various gowns. It’s designed to be beyond comfortable, a place where one could spend hours-- and lots and lots of money.

“So, what do you have for us today, Lena? Another benefit gala to dazzle?”

“Actually,” Lena replies, “Miss Nal here is covering the Golden Globes this week for CatCo Worldwide.”

“How exciting!” Charnelle rounds on Nia. “And what are you looking for in your gown?”

Caught with a mouthful of champagne, Nia freezes, then swallows audibly. “Um…” she coughs out. “Something nice? I probably shouldn’t be outdressing the stars or anything, so nothing too crazy?” She shrugs. “I don’t know, exactly.”

“Charnelle,” Lena intercedes, “could you bring us some formal options in black, maroon, or blue? Floor length, of course.”

Charnelle nods, beaming. “Absolutely.” She gives Nia a wink. “She has your colors nailed, honey. What are your measurements?”

Nia stares at them both. “Uh. A six, usually?”

“They’ll need your measurements to ensure a proper fit,” Lena delivers gently. “Do you mind if Charnelle--?”

“I’m trans!” Nia blurts, her chinks coloring a solid ear-to-ear pink. “Sorry,” she adds quietly. “But-- yeah. Just so you know.”

Lena stares, surprised more by the outburst than its content, but Charnelle takes it in stride. “So am I, baby girl,” she responds smoothly. “That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to have a dress that fits.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Nia finally, finally relaxes. She offers a shaky grin. “Okay. Yeah. Let’s do this.”

Charnelle gives Nia’s wrist a squeeze on her way to the boudoir to pull a tape measure from the top drawer. While she’s busy, Lena catches Nia’s eye and lifts her glass in a silent cheers of support. Nia rewards her with a small smile, before Charnelle returns and makes quick work of measuring Nia’s bust, waist and hips.

“All right!” Charnelle chirps, wrapping up her tape. “I’ll be right back with some options. You two stay here and get comfortable, all right? I’ll be right back.”

She disappears, and Nia all but collapses onto the chaise next to Lena. “I can’t believe I did that,” she groans.

Lena pats her on the knee. “You’re all right. Sylvie only gets my business because they know the value of discretion.”

“Yeah.” Nia lifts her head with a hum, surveying the dressing room once more. “This is nice. Thank you for talking me into it.”

Lena smirks. “Just wait.”

As if on cue, the curtains part to admit not Charnelle, but the woman who’d offered them their drinks. This time, her tray holds an array of small finger sandwiches. “Refreshments?”

“Oh, wow!” Nia exclaims, quickly helping herself to three. “Okay, yeah. I could get used to this.”

Lena grins, snaring a cucumber sandwich for herself. “Thank you. And another round, if you could,” she adds, seeing Nia’s empty glass.

The woman nods. “Of course.”

When she has disappeared again, the dressing room fills with quiet, and Lena realizes that she doesn’t have a clue what to say. She’s gone shopping with her mother, and with Andrea, and in both cases the conversation flowed easily, for better or for worse. But she’s never been shopping with a girl several years her junior, and never one in the middle of Lena’s biggest heartbreak.

“It happened the last time I went shopping for a dress too,” Nia says, breaking the silence. “The anxiety about… you know. I guess something about formal wear brings out the worst of it.”

Unsure of how to respond, Lena looks at her. “When was the last time?”

Nia sighs. “Prom. I’d transitioned by then, and most people were used to me, but I didn’t have a date, and part of me just internalized it as a fixture of me not being girly enough, and not, you know, the fact I didn’t know how to talk to boys, let alone date them. I didn’t even know if it was worth it to go at all, and I just-- started crying, right there in the dress shop.”

“What happened then?” Lena asks gently.

Nia smiles fondly. “My mom. She just hugged me, and told me how proud she was to have such a beautiful, confident daughter. It was sort of embarrassing at the time, but… it was something I needed to hear, you know?”

She pauses then as the server returns with their champagne. Afte the woman dips out again, Lena nudges her. “And did you ever find a dress?”

Nia snorts, nodding. “Yeah. Like, two minutes after I calmed down I found my dream dress. And my friends and I had a blast at prom, so I’m glad I went after all.”

“Good,” Lena murmurs, sipping her drink. “Well, I can’t promise anything about a dream dress, but I’ll call it a win if we get out of here without any tears.”

“Cheers to that,” Nia concurs, lifting her own glass for a deep sip.

In that moment, Charnelle returns, wheeling a short cart of long dresses along with her.

“All right, ladies-- who’s ready to see some gowns?”

---

Nia settles on a bias-cut gown of sky blue, accented with beaded embroidery at the bust and straps. It may not have qualified for dream status, but it’s perfect for the Globes, and Lena can tell Nia is excited by the time they step back out onto the street, garment bag draped over her arm.

“Thank you, again,” Nia offers, hiking her purse higher on her shoulder. “You really didn’t have to do all this, especially with how weird things are right now. I know it probably wasn’t easy to say yes when I called last night.”

Lena blinks. It honestly hadn’t occurred to her to say no. “Nia?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you call me?” It’s her turn now to shift uncomfortably on her feet. “I’m always happy to help, but… as you say, things are weird. Why me?”

“Honestly?” Nia asks. Lena nods. “You remind me of my mom. I can’t begin to tell you how or why, but you do. And the thing is… my mom was probably the kindest person I’ve ever known. So-- if you reminded me of her, I figured you were a pretty safe bet. And the worst you could do was hang up on me, so…”

Right.

Lena nods, her throat locking painfully around a sudden lump in her throat. Forcing a smile, she clears her throat. “Okay. Well… I’m glad I was able to help. Are you okay to get home?”

Nia nods easily. “Yeah, I’ll just catch the bus. Thank you again. This was really nice, and it was really good to see you.”

Lena nods, but before she can turn away, Nia catches her by the wrist.

“I mean it, Lena. I owe you one. If you ever need anything…”

Lena turns her wrist, allowing her hand to settle into Nia’s palm. Giving it a squeeze, Lena offers her a smile.

“I know who to call.”

// prompts are closed

[boldlyvoid]

New Romantics | Part Three

18+

Summary: She needs help studying for her Case Exercises at the Academy, He needs a date for the annual Banquet... they just so happen to be neighbours who aren't afraid to lend a helping hand, or in this case, a helping kiss.

Categories: Fake dating, neighbours, strangers to lovers, mutual pining, Angst with a happy ending, Smut *as selected by my poll on what you wanted to read*

Warnings: Season 9 Spencer (no Maeve arc), Angst, kissing, drinking, police training mentions, case details, canon typical violence, self-doubt, autistic!spencer, age gaps (24/33), FWB relationships, period mentions, anxiety attacks, crying, misunderstandings,

Word Count: 4.7K

a/n: this chapter covers the whole week from Monday to Friday, thank you @awrfhi for making the gif I used here <3

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

Monday morning she’s in his arms still, and then again on Tuesday; he basically lives with her when he’s not on a case. They make dinner together at night and they drive in together every morning, and they have had sex all over her apartment… and he loves her but he was tired when he said it and in a post-orgasm haze and he’s her best friend.

But he loved her— just not the way she loved him. She was sure of it.

Tuesday morning at 10:53 am, she cracks her fake case. They’re apprehending the unsub by Noon and then she has the rest of the week off. So she heads to the main Quantico building, she gets a visitor's pass and she takes the elevator all the way up to the BAU.

She walks through the bullpen doors and Spencer is sitting at his little desk with his head buried in a book. Penelope sees her first, wrapping her up in a hug that gets everyone’s attention as she rocks her back and forth while telling her how much she likes her.

“You are so pretty, and nice and cute, and your hair smells so good?”

“Thank you, it’s Spencer's shampoo,” she laughs as she holds her back, “I just wanted to come and see him really quick?”

He’s standing beside her and she doesn’t even know until Penelope releases her from her grasp. He wraps her up next, “why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

She kisses him right on the mouth, holding his face in her hands she has missed him too much to wait till they are alone again, “I caught the unsub.”

“No way?”

She nods feverishly, “yeah remember I found that stray hair on the crime scene? Everyone was fighting over why there wasn’t a sexual aspect and I was trying to convince them she was a women unsub when the hair came back matching our victims best friend, who also knew victim number 1.”

He’s so happy, his smile is the biggest any of his teammates have ever seen, he lifts her and twirls her around and no one can believe the sight. Spencer Reid the uptight, overly smart, always following proper procedure, Doctor at the FBI; was spinning his girlfriend around as he kissed her cheek.

“You are a genius,” he compliments her as he sets her back down and places another kiss on her lips.

“I know,” she laughs, “I beat your score by one day.”

“I hate you,” he kisses her again and by now they don’t realize they have an audience. It’s incredibly convincing to everyone except each other.

“No, you love me,” she whispers, kissing him again before they hear someone clear their throat.

“Do you want to help with ours?” Derek asks, jumping into the moment and reminding them that they’re in public. “We’re just doing non-urgent consults today.”

“Am I allowed?” She lights up.

Derek nods, “I don’t see why not, as long as you just tell your ideas to us and don’t file anything then I think it’s legal?”

So she helps and it’s the most exhilarating thing since having sex with Spencer. She’s in her element, looking at small details and making connections that even leave Spencer humming and ha-ing. She has a younger insight than the rest of the team, she’s exactly why they hired Spencer in the first place and now she was shining brighter than him.

But he loved it.

Every time she made a connection or she had a suggestion that helped one of them on their own train of thought, Spencer would smile at her like she hung the stars in the night sky. He was proud of her in a way she hasn’t seen in many people before, filling her heart with warmth and hope that maybe he can love her for real one day.

—

She was possibly the love of his life and the more he saw her work and the more he knew her mind; the more he fell. She walked around his office and talked to his friends as if she was always meant to be there, and a part of him really wanted her to be.

He snuck away to go talk to Hotch, closing his office door as he sat down, “what’s wrong?”

“Y/N isn’t really my girlfriend,” he whispers. “She’s pretending so I could get everyone to stop bothering me about dating, and I understand it looks like she’s using me to get close to the team but I really do think she would be an excellent asset to the unit even if she was just in the office—“

“Reid,” Hotch cuts him off and a smile builds. “I already sent her an offer to take Anderson's job while he’s out on paternity leave.”

“Oh,” he smiles to himself. “Pretend I never said anything.”

“It stays in these 4 walls, don’t worry,” Hotch smiles back, “but you should tell her.”

“Tell her what?”

“That you’re in love with her.”

“I’m not,” he lies, “really, I do love her but I’m not in love with her, there is a difference.”

“I know,” Hotch reminds him. “Did you know that I only joined the school musical to get close to Haley? I did whatever I could to get her to fall in love with me and didn’t even realize it when she did because I was so worried she didn’t.”

“Oh.”

Hotch nods with another smile, “you don’t have to tell her until you’re ready, obviously, but you should tell her before it’s too late.”

“I will,” he whispers. “Thanks, Aaron.”

“Why don’t you guys head out early?” He offers, “we could all use a day off with the people we love.”

When he walks back down from Aaron's office, Y/N is with Emily and JJ discussing how she caught her fake unsub at school that morning. She doesn’t brag, she loves to mention her classmates by name and verbatim explains how they helped her. She is a team player, a genius, beautiful, kind… she really is the love of his life.

“Hey,” he places his hand on her lower back as he slides into the conversation. “Hotch said we can all leave early if we wanted?”

“Sure,” she smiles, “actually, did you want to come with me to buy a dress for your thing?”

“That would be fun,” he agrees, wrapping his other arm around her so he can rest his chin on her shoulder and hold her. “Remember I’m buying it so don’t stress about the price.”

“You’re too nice to me,” she replies.

“I just love you,” his voice is as low as he can make it but everyone still hears.

She holds him back tighter, in a silent ‘I love you, too’ and they hear JJ and Emily swoon.

They’re quick to get their things and head out, she hands Spencer her keys and lets him drive to the mall so she can relax, she’s done a lot today.

She’s so quiet on the drive, she holds his hand like she always does and she just looks out the window, she’s peaceful and content with the nothingness of spending alone time with Spencer. They were always just quiet together, sometimes they laughed till they cried and sometimes he could make her scream but most of the time they were quiet.

“Have you checked your email?”

She smiles as she turns to him and her grip on his hand tightened, “what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything, I just told hotch the truth so that he could offer you a job, but he already had before I went in there but he’s a good secret keeper, believe me.”

“Oh,” her smile disappears. “So he knows we’re not really dating?”

He nods, “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, I guess we’re going to have to find a convincing way to break up for them and still be able to hang out all the time,” she worries aloud. “Because I don’t want to stop this any time soon, I hope you know that. I really like spending time with you.”

“I feel the same way,” he agrees. “I promise, we can just tell them we work better as friends and they might believe us?”

“I don’t think they will,” she frowns again. “JJ told me not to break your heart today, but I feel like if we break up I’m going to break all of theirs.”

“We could have a fake ugly breakup, and not talk to each other publicly for a bit and then be friends again?” He suggests, “Penelope and Kevin did that.”

She nods, still frowning. She interlocks their fingers this time and she holds his hand instead of just anxiously fiddling with his fingers. She really doesn’t want to let go, and he’s almost convinced she feels the same way.

The banquet is on Saturday, she has one last week of school before her graduation and then they’re done. He thinks about asking her, about what would be the best time to tell her he was in love with her and ask her to be his real girlfriend.

Maybe he’ll do it after the banquet? Maybe he’ll do it after her graduation? He just really wants to do it before she meets his mom. He wants his mom to meet her as the love of his life and his best friend.

He hated many things, but as he kept glancing at her as he drove he realized he hated one thing most of all. He hated that he couldn’t love her as much as she deserved, at least not yet. He wanted to shower her in love, he wanted to protect her and care for her, he wanted to show her off and make love to her and never leave her side.

It hurts, his heart physically aches as he thinks about that. If he had to feel like this to know his love was real, then the pain was worth it. She was always worth it, and he would hurt as long as possible, forever even, if it meant he could be around her just as long.

He held her hand tighter in the silence which made her turn to him, he had no idea he had been crying until she leans over and wipes his cheeks, “I love you, you know that?”

“I love you too,” he smiles but he can’t keep the conversation there, he’s feeling trapped and so he changes the topic. “What colour dress were you thinking?”

The quick-change makes her laugh, “probably black.”

“Are you sure?”

She nods, “I don’t need to stand out beside you any more than I already do.”

“What does that mean?”

She bits her lip, “some of the people in my class are saying that I’m only doing so well because you’re helping me cheat and that I’m just fucking you to get a job… just like I thought they would.”

“At the end of the day, we have a friendship they will never understand, we have great sex because we want to, you’re smarter than me, and the BAU wants you… so who is the real winner?” He’s always going to be her number one cheerleader.

“You’re right,” she smiles again finally, “as always.”

—

He convinces her to get a red dress.

She hasn’t had a pretty dress like this one since her prom and that was 6 years ago. She hasn’t been to a party or mingled with people in just as long, she didn’t realize how lonely she had been while chasing her dreams until Spencer came along.

He was one of the dreams. She saw him talk once, years ago on a school trip, and she fell in love with him a little, even back then. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be him or be with him back then, doing everything in her power to get into the criminal psych degree at her local college, she just wanted to be like him.

Now she’s liked by him.

Every night he goes to his home across the hall and he does his own nightly routine before coming back to her apartment for the night. She’s too emotional to sleep with him today, she knows that if she has sex with him she’s going to say something stupid or cry after because being this close to him without being honest with him is killing her.

Something in him has changed too, he’s less scared to initiate contact, he doesn’t jump anymore when she hugs him or when she smacks his bum as she passes him. Now he’s wrapping his arms around her while she cooks dinner, and he kisses her cheek randomly when they’re in public.

He tells her that he loves her.

She’s confused and she has no one to talk to about it.

She lays back against her pillows and closes her eyes, she knows she’s going to cry soon, and she doesn’t know what to do because she doesn’t want to cry in front of him and he would be upset if she told him to not come back tonight.

The stress of the situation just makes her cry more as she stresses herself into another anxiety attack, much like the first night she talked to him. She just lets it happen, the anxiety in her stomach builds and the tears slip past her eyes and suddenly she’s sobbing into her pillow hard enough that she doesn’t hear him come back.

She jumps at the feeling of his hand on her back as he sits on the edge of the bed, “what’s wrong?”

She just sits up and hugs him, and he hugs her back and they stay there like that for a while. When she calms down, she pulls back from him and wipes her eyes, “my period is coming.” She’s not really lying, and he believes her.

“Does it normally make you this emotional?”

He’s never really experienced her mood swings, he has no idea what he’s in for, she nods. “Yeah, and I have really bad anxiety which just gets worse around this time.”

“And you’re not on anything?”

She shakes her head, “I’m waiting to get onto the good healthcare when I get a job with the bureau, I can’t afford to work and go to school, I’m glad I had enough scholarship money left to rent this place long enough to go to the academy.”

“Oh.”

She just nods, “I’ve never had much money like my parents have been saving for 2 years to buy plane tickets to Virginia so that they can see me graduate. They started saving before I even got in. I went to community college on a scholarship and I get a lot of money from applying for bursaries.”

“Are you going to take the CARD job or the BAU offer?”

She shrugs, “I’m not sure yet, but probably CARD.”

“Why?”

“I can’t work with you,” she whispers. “It makes me feel like I don’t deserve to be there like I’m using you and that all my work isn’t that great. I’m just Doctor Spencer Reids girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, imposter syndrome is a leading factor in depression among child prodigies, once you reach a certain age and you stop receiving awards for your work, it’s hard to believe that you’re still doing a good job.”

She knows he gets it, he has probably said the same fact to himself to calm down before. “Thank you.”

“Do you want me to stay?”

She nods, pulling back the covers and moving over so he can snuggle in beside her. She holds him, resting her head on his chest and taking a deep inhale of his cologne, this was the love of her life and if this was as close as she was ever going to be to him, she was going to take it.

He kisses the top of her head and holds her in his arms at just the right pressure to calm her down. She feels so comfortable with him but she still feels like shit, she doesn’t stop crying, and he just holds her through it.

“Do you want to tell me what’s really wrong?” He whispers after a while, he sounds worried.

“No,” she whispers. “I can’t.”

“Is it about me?”

“Yeah,” she cries again, “and I don’t have any other friends to talk to about us and now you’ve told hotch and I have no one to talk to about how this is kinda stressing me out.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” his voice is still scared and she knows he’s going to panic regardless and just send them around in a circle of constant anxiety. But his tone is more apologetic than one fuck up.

“Who else did you tell?” She sits up, “I thought this was just between us?”

“I needed advice, the same reason you are reacting right now, you’re stressing me out,” Spencer finally talks back with passion and she knows they’re about to fight for no reason.

“I never said you were stressing me out. I said our situation was, but I think I need to sleep alone now, Spencer” she’s confident and stern even though she’s crying.

“We can’t go to bed mad at each other. You even said the mornings are the worst, we can’t hate each other for no reason tomorrow,” he starts to cry, not knowing where he went wrong and she can see it on his face.

“I just don’t have what you have, and I’ve always been trying to copy you…”

“What?”

She sighs and wipes her tears, “I have had a big fat, fan-girly, crush on you since I was 18, I came here with my class to watch you do a talk on philias and phobias and then I knew I wanted to get into the academy and I wanted to beat your record and join the BAU, and I just thought; one day I’m going to be friends with this guy and catch bad guys with him and now I am and I’m so alone.”

“You have me?”

“I know,” she tries to smile, “but I only have you and I can tell you almost everything. Like my biggest stressor right now is that if just looking at fake crime scenes for 3 weeks has made me this anxious; what if I’m not cut out for this? What if I get to a real crime scene and I pass out or—“

“That’s only human,” he presses his lips together, awkwardly, and very Spencerly. “If you didn’t feel like this job makes you hate the world and untrusting of everyone around you; then I would think you’re crazy.”

“How do you do it?”

“I open up and let people in, but I typically wait till I’m at my lowest; crying in my friend's arms because I don’t know what to do anymore,” he smiles again, wider and toothy as she smiles back.

“Thank you,” she can’t help but tilt her head and smile as her heart settles and her brain calms down a bit, “I love you.”

“Can I kiss you or is that too much right now?”

She gets in closer to him, laying back down on the pillow and looking at him. They’re closer enough to kiss, and she just takes a moment to look at him, resting her hand on his cheek as he wraps around her waist and pulls her in closer.

“We’re okay?” He asks with his lips right against her, his breath is hot and he smells like toothpaste.

“We’re okay, but no more talking tonight, okay?” She whispers.

He nods, leaning in and kissing her finally. She knows she shouldn’t be kissing him, she knows that she should be mad at herself, but she also knew that even just pretending that he loved her back was good enough.

—

He gets called away to a case on Wednesday morning, he’s too busy to really call her and he doesn’t text back. He feels bad about it but he knows she wanted space to think anyway, what he didn’t expect was for her to reach out to Penelope.

She’s in the office with her on Friday, tired of Spencer ignoring her so she went to the one place he couldn’t avoid her; Penelope’s office.

“How can I help you today, my fine furry friends?” Y/N answers the phone with a smirk, copying Penelope’s line perfectly, they can hear them high five through the line.

“Y/N?” Spencer is the first to catch it, “what are you doing there?”

“I came to meet Anderson and see if I’d like to take his job or not,” she teases, pretending she wasn’t there just to bother him.

Hotch cuts in, asking the question he needed to ask before hanging up, “not sure what’s going on at home but we’re too close to cracking this case for schoolyard games.”

“Yes sir,” he nods and looks away, retreating to the other side of the room to stare at the map and pretend to find connections.

“Crack this and you can go home to her,” Derek whispers with a smile, thinking he’s helping the situation.

“That’s not where I want to be right now.”

“Woah,” Derek catches it, “what happened?”

“Nothing,” he’s quick to get him to stop it but he really wants advice, “she’s stressed out and she took it out on me and I wasn’t very nice back.”

“You said sorry and you pretended you were over it, didn’t you?”

He turns away from Derek with a nod, he wants to come out with it and get it over with and he’s so mad and embarrassed he just starts to cry a little, “I don’t want to lose her.”

“How could you?”

“You have no idea,” he rolls his eyes lightly and scoffs, confusing Derek.

“And I won't unless you want to talk to someone about what’s really bothering you, but you’ve been happier since you met her and I like seeing you happy, and Savannah likes double dates,” he scolds him with a smile, patting his shoulder lightly. “now let's crack this and maybe on the plane you will tell me what’s up?”

“Sure,” he says, but he doesn’t want to.

However, Derek Morgan is good at a lot of things, and one of those things is getting Spencer to calm down enough to tell him anything. Everyone is asleep on the plane, it’s just the two of them at the back together when Spencer finally feels confident enough to say it.

“I lied to you, a long time ago… and it’s just the first one.”

Derek doesn’t look angry, “okay, explain your thought process. I need to know how this pretty brain of yours works.”

He smiles a bit, “I slept with Elle the night before she shot that rapist in Ohio.”

“You did not?” Derek's voice gets a little too loud and they stop to make sure no one woke up.

“I did, but you still always made jokes about finally getting me some lovin’ and it bothered me for a while and I never told you, instead I offered to help my neighbour with her homework if she pretended to date me,” his voice lowers as the words continue and he only stares at the table between them.

“Spencer, I’m sorry,” Derek apologizes first. “I didn’t know I was upsetting you, is there anything else I do that upsets you?”

He shakes his head in a silent no, still not looking at him, he can't.

“What happened between you and Y/N?” He jumps to the main issue, fine with what happened because he feels bad for causing the issue in the first place.

“We started sleeping together.”

Derek sighs, “you have such a big brain, you can remember everything she’s ever said to you and yet you can’t see that she’s in love with you.”

“She’s good at pretending,” he pushes it away.

“No she’s not, because she’s pretending she doesn’t love you right now; the same way you are and you’re both fucking it up for each other,” Derek gives it to him straight. “You have always been loveable, but you have a very hard time accepting it, Spencer.”

“Yeah,” he starts to cry a little more.

“Go home and talk to her and tell her the truth,” it’s the best advice he can give and Spencer knows it. “What’s the worst that can go wrong?”

“She does love me back but in a few years, she realizes I’m too much and she leaves me,” his voice is the saddest Derek has ever heard it.

He gets up from his seat and hugs Spencer, sliding into the seat beside him and wrapping his arms around him, “you have never been too much. You just surround yourself with people who aren’t good enough to love you for who you are.”

“She’s better than me.”

“Which is exactly what I mean, she’s not going to leave you, believe me, once you love Spencer Reid for who he really is, it’s hard to stop,” he speaks from experience, thinking of what could have been between them if either of them had tried harder in the past.

“She’s the love of my life,” he confirms, “I’m never going to love anyone else the way I love her.”

They get the word that they’re going to be landing soon, Spencer wipes his tears and buckles in for the descent, avoiding everyone’s stares and questions on the ride back to headquarters. He’s nervous to see her, he knows his face is puffy and she’ll be there waiting for him with Penelope, but he has to do it.

“Would you wait here, I need to tell her now and she might not give me a ride home if it doesn’t go well,” he asks Derek before heading to Penelope, “she was already mad at me for telling Hotch the truth.”

“Okay, sure,” Derek smiles, reaching out a hand for Spencer, “come to me when you need me next time, okay?”

“Okay,” he agrees with a small smile, heading out to find his fake girlfriend.

She’s not with Penelope, no she’s in the filing room with Anderson and the other temps all talking and laughing, and it sounds far too interesting to interrupt. He waits outside the door and smiles at her laughter until he hears it.

“So be honest,” Agent Camden asks, “are you sleeping with Reid for this job?”

“If I was sleeping my way to the top, don’t you think I would have picked Morgan? Or Prentiss even?” She laughs and it’s like someone stabs a knife through his heart.

He turns around and heads back to Derek, “take me home.”

“Okay,” he doesn’t pry, he just grabs his coat and keys and follows Spencer to the garage.

—

He’s really ignoring her.

She finds out from Emily that Spencer left with Derek, and that he looked rather pissed off when he asked for a ride. It breaks her heart a little and she doesn’t know what to do next, she just drives home and finds herself knocking on his door.

“Let me in, please, Spencer!” She begs from behind his door.

He opens it and looks at her with a puffy red face, tear-stained cheeks and swollen lips, he’s been crying for a while. “What?”

“What did I do?”

“You slept with me,” he whispers, “and I told you I wouldn’t react well.”

“Is it my fault you’re crying?” She asks softly and he nods, “do you want to tell me?”

He closes his eyes and shakes his head, “are we still going to the banquet together tomorrow?”

“I really fucked up,” is all he can muster, crying again as he closes the door and goes to cry in his room.

She just opens the door again and follows him inside. Kicking off her shoes she crawls into bed beside him and wraps herself around him, “you don’t have to tell me but I am here for you, always.”

“I love you,” he says it like it’s the problem before he rests his head in the crook of her neck and holds her back for the first time in days.

“I love you, too, Spencer,” she cries along with him. They cry until he’s asleep and she’s just there holding him in her jeans and she’s really uncomfortable but she loves him too much to let go.

“More than you will ever know.”

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[trashpoppaea]

Maxentius sounds pretty dire, but your description of it made me laugh a lot (Procopius does look like a hobbit). And it is anybody's guess why he made Justinian look like he should be hanging out at strip mall in Newark, while Theodora has sexy mom hair and tweezed eyebrows. Go figure!

Good call about Oleck-- that's exactly why I liked his Theodora so much. It was like an early bodice-ripper, but Oleck's writing was much better than Bertrice Small's. And he actually did research.

Speaking of which, did you know that Small actually wrote two romances that were actually set in Byzantium? They were Adora (here's a negative review) and Enchantress Mine (here's another negative review). Adora is a 14th century set story where Byzatine princess Theadora aka Adora because the Ottoman Turks finds her so adorable (lol sure) gets married off at age ten to a sultan and then falls in love with her stepson, while Enchantress Mine is set in the 11th century, and the Scottish heroine has a brief fling with a bisexual Byzantine nobleman named Basil (you can see Basil on Enchantress Mine's back cover, looking like a young Chris Sarandon). I'm tempted to read Enchantress Mine just for the Byzantine scenes, but I've never been able to read any of her books. She once wrote a book about Zenobia and Aurelian that was super cringe, and I've never been able to take her seriously since.

Anyway, yeah, Oleck is a much better author, and he missed his true calling by not writing more early romances!

Let me know what you think of your rereads of Gillian Bradshaw! Also, let me know if you want any more scans of Battleaxes, as it appears to be nowhere online.

And now, after all this, I am very tempted to do a romance style sketch of Justinian and Theodora-- I do a lot of art for romance authors, and romance art in general, so this is definitely in my wheelhouse.

@suburbanbeatnik OK SO:

As far as the “mixing up different historical eras” problem goes, this actually happens in a lot of different novels. Theodora by Samuel Edwards is the most blatant example I can think of at the moment—near the end of the book, a horde of Huns, inexplicably led by Khosrow, starts marching on Constantinople while Justinian is in his plague coma, and Theodora sells the crown jewels (I don’t believe the narrative specifies the buyer) to fund Belisarius and his troops, who are the city’s last defense. Khosrow is similar to Mehmed II, Theodora takes on the role of Anna of Savoy, and the overall political situation is implied to be very bad for Byzantium, with Constantinople on the brink of total failure and most of the empire's territory gone. (Like, there’s discussion of Justinian and Theodora meeting the invaders at the gates so they can die together, because they think the whole empire is collapsing.) The story does end with the Byzantines winning (using Greek fire, another anachronism), and Theodora gets her jewels back (I do not remember how), but yeah, the author completely blended two very different periods together. Different variants of this exact plot appear in different novels—a *lot* of books treat the 540s as politically similar to the 1200s or 1300s, and a *lot* of books have Theodora sell her crown for some reason or another, usually to fund the defense of the City or one of Justinian’s schemes. (One book–maybe one of the ones by Marié Heese? I can’t think of the title, sorry)—had her sell her jewels to fund the building of the Hagia Sophia. (She gets them back in that book, too—I think Narses literally just discovers an enormous stockpile of gold somewhere, and that fixes the financial problems.) And a lot of different books put Belisarius in a Heraclius or Basil-like role, although I’m less well-versed in Belisarius books than I am in Theodora books. (The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay definitely did this—the character of Leontes is pretty much Heraclius and Belisarius combined, while Valerius and Aliana are straightforward Justinian and Theodora equivalents, except for the fact Aliana is the equivalent of an iconodule rather than a Monophysite. But that gets a pass, imo, because it’s not pretending to be totally accurate.)

Religious inaccuracies and mixups are also really common overall, especially in older books. One Victorian-era book called Blue and Green, or the Gift of God: A Novel of Old Constantinople was very bad with this, presumably because the author was a British Protestant who made no secret of his disdain for the “pagan heathenism” of the Byzantine Empire. (His descriptions of religious ceremonies are very funny, because he describes them as, like, Christian ceremonies, if Christian ceremonies had strippers and drugs. The inciting incident of Theodora’s spiral into prostitution is her doing an erotic dance at a respectable, aristocratic wedding—not a bachelor party, an actual wedding—and this is presented as normal.) Really, you can probably just check out any Byzantine book from before, say, the 1980s on archive.org, and there’ll be weird religious anachronisms all over the place. Lots of authors bring iconoclasm or the East-West Schism (the one that happened in 1054) into the sixth century, I guess because those are more recognizable and dramatic than the Monophysite thing. Authors tend to put Justinian and Theodora on the opposite sides of these conflicts, and Theodora is usually on whatever side they consider “wrong,” which differs significantly from book to book depending on the author’s religious leanings.

Regarding the Theodora/Macedonia thing—Ross Laidlaw’s Justinian: The Sleepless One definitely did this (there were a couple of cringe sex scenes in this book—he always referred to Macedonia as “the other one,” I guess to avoid saying her name a bunch of times? It’d be like “Theodora felt the other one’s lips...” and so on. It sounded so strange.) Macedonia was Theodora’s main love interest—Theodora does marry Justinian, and she likes him well enough as a person, but she’s pretty explicitly gay and uninterested in men, and she has an affair with Macedonia until Macedonia dies in an earthquake. I believe Stella Duffy’s Actress, Empress, Whore duology also had Theodora and Macedonia hook up, but Duffy’s sex scenes were less fetishistic and cringeworthy, and their relationship didn’t last for the entirety of the novel. Theodora having sex (or sexually charged interactions) with Antonina, Macedonia and her other female friends is reasonably common in shitty Theodora novels in general, but it’s never, like, a plot point. It’s just an excuse for the author to write about attractive young women getting it on in the Roman baths, or whatever other fetish-y nonsense piques his interest.

These points aren’t even the weirdest things about most of these books, though. I should just sit down one day and do a full post about all of the absurd things that happen in Justinian and Theodora stories, because shit gets real weird in most of them. Messy historical anachronisms and fetish-y male-gaze lesbian sex scenes are nowhere near the strangest aspects of some of these books—remind me, one day, to talk about all of the Penis Diseases these authors invent to explain away Justinian and Theodora's infertility.