#consumed too much of that series over the last 2 days I promise I’m normal right now.

[sand-worms]

Love when you get into a series and you just know it’s gonna be in your brain like worms for the rest of forever

[midnightswithdearkatytspb]

VelvetCardiganBucky’s Recommendations 2021: Week 17 | April 18th – April 24th

Welcome to week 17 of my recommendations, if you would like to be featured on a future list, I follow the hashtag #VelvetCardiganBucky, message me, tag me in your future works, or reblog this post and link to your story, one-shot, Masterlist, writing challenge, etc.

Be aware some if not most stories and writers on this list are meant to be consumed by an audience of those 18+. My blog is also an 18+ blog.

✨Page breaks are made @firefly-graphics✨

«Last Week

Week 18»

My Masterlist

My Fic Rec List of Mafia/Mob Bucky/Sebastian & Steve/Chris/Andy

Stuff I Posted This Week

Forever & Always: Stage 1 - Denial | Pt.1 » Bucky Barnes x Witch!Reader & Platonic Avengers x Reader — Y/N “Birdy” (nicknamed by her family), comes from a long line of witches and warlocks, living her days at the New Avengers Compound, alongside her friends. The Avengers are part of her family and her family is always welcome to the compound. Things for once seemed to be going well now that all was right from the attack on Thanos, everyone was alive, all was forgiven, friendships were thriving, that all ended when Birdy’s brother came calling with sad news, their mother had suddenly passed. These are the stages of grief Birdy faces, through the loss of her best friend, her protector, her mother.

His Favorite Day » Chris Evans x Reader — Chris’s favorite day of the year is your birthday.

Bucky Barnes

One-Shots:

*No Hidden Messages by @jobean12-blog » TFATWS!Bucky Barnes x Reader — Sam sends you a picture of Bucky and the endgame is priceless. | Honestly I love me some dominant Bucky, and if Sam had sent me that picture I would have dropped my phone and been like yep that my babe. I was thinking something more dirty but I’ll keep that thought to myself. 😉

Sucker Punch by @buckyblues » Boxer!Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader — Bucky thought he knew what was his, until he accidentally let it roam free. | Someone come dump a cold bucket of water on me please?

Someone Like You by @startrekkingaroundasgard » Bucky Barnes x Hydra Agent!Reader — Taken from their SHIELD prison cell, the reader finds themself alone with The Winter Soldier negotiating for their life. | I really enjoyed reading this, the sass of the reader and how Bucky handles them. It’s just so perfect. Nicola says there is more to come for this pair and I’m so very much looking forward to it.

(Mini) Series:

Happy & So Happy by @mrwinterr » Rockstar!Bucky Barnes AU x Female Reader — You meet your favorite artist and get more than what you bargained for. | The smut in this is hot and by the end you are hoping the reader gets a happy ending not a tragic one.

*A Tender Heart 💜 Pt. 3 by @river-soul » Alpha!Bucky Barnes x Omega!Reader — You’ve been sweet on Bucky since you started working at the compound six months ago. Normally quiet and mild mannered, an unexpected fight with a coworker brings Bucky into your orbit. [A/B/O dynamics and explicit sexual content, 18+] | I feel the love that is radiating from this story and I really love it and the little bit of smut we get in chapter 3 is perfect!

the (after) party by @buckycuddlebuddy sequel loft music » fuckboy!bucky barnes x reader — “why don’t we have this thing they call goodbye sex? one last time.” he leaned forward, his lips brushing your ear. “i’ll make it good for you.” | In some strange way it was therapeutic to read this but at the same time I felt bad for the reader in the first part. Second part you are rooting for her but still feeling bad. I will say the smut in this is perfect.

Just Like Dad Pt. 3 🦾 Pt. 1 🦾 Pt. 2 by @ladyfallonavenger » Bucky Barnes x Reader — Bucky finally confronts Steve and moves forward with his life. | Very sweet ending and I loved it.

Sweet Dreams 🥞 Pt. 4 🥞 Pt. 5 🥞 Pt. 6 🥞 Pt. 7 by @jedimastermelkor » Bucky Barnes x Reader & ? x Avenger — Your daily routine involves waking up in the morning, going to work and sulking at night. But then you meet the man you’ve fantasized about for your entire life, Bucky Barnes. At the same time, you’ve caught someone else’s eye and his first step in winning you over is to cook you breakfast. But will you be welcoming of that person’s affections? | I like how she named the puppy Pancake and the first thing the mysterious avenger gave her was pancakes. I don’t want to give too much away but things are getting really good and you find out who the mysterious avenger is in chapter 6!

Steve Rogers

One-Shots:

*Caught by @giorno-plays-piano » Bluebeard!Steve Rogers x Reader — If he kept you warm, saying words of love to you every day while he looked you in the face, you’d marry him even if in a year he hanged you just like all his wives in the dungeon of his castle. | It’s dark but in a soft way and it’s so good. I highly recommend you go and read it.

Drabble Request by @angrythingstarlight » Mafia!Steve Rogers x Reader — We find out how Steve and Reader met before they ever got in a relationship. Takes place before Tell Me What You Want. | I loved this so much, I was laughing and pictured this whole piece so vividly in my brain. Also I just want a part where Bucky teases Steve about that night in front of reader making her giggle, maybe at the wedding?

(Mini) Series:

*Yuánfèn 📖 Pt. 4 by @writerwrites » Steve Rogers x Reader — When you’ve lost everything and try to run away from your problems, you keep finding a way back to the one person who completely understands. Can you make another person happy with a broken heart? | I always look forward to the updates on this story. It brings me so much comfort and the relationship that is blossoming between the reader and Steve is beautiful and organic. I highly recommend this.

Misc.

Headcanons:

*Just Like Her Old Man by @rebelwrites » Chibs Telford x Reader — I asked for: Parents get called into school for a meeting due to their daughter fighting, and trying not to be proud. Taking them out for a treat after the meeting. | It turned out so great. If you knew me at my Sons Anarchy Days, you know I loved Chibs the most. This feed my love for him even more. Thank you Heather!!

One-Shot:

*A Simple Solution by @sweetlyscared » Andy Barber x Fem!Reader, Ari Levinson x Fem!Reader, Andy Barber x Fem!Reader x Ari Levinson — You and Andy had a purely sexual relationship for several months, and you’d started to grow attached to him. Unfortunately, life has a way of complicating things, and a chance encounter at a bookstore had you stuck between a rock and a hard place. | We all owe a huge thank you to Sweet Lee, for writing and posting this. She wrote our dreams out so perfectly, and if you haven’t thought of this now you can. It’s just so hot and good, I for one am very thankful.

(Mini) Series:

*Give In 🐈‍⬛ Pt. 23 🐈‍⬛ Pt. 24 🐈‍⬛ Pt. 25 by @overr-written » soft!dark!Lee Bodecker x Reader — She didn’t think she was anything special. So when the intimidating Sheriff takes an interest in her, she can’t help but feel a little unsettled. Her boring life is about to get a little interesting. | I love this series so much and the lengths that the chapters are. I really am going to be sad when this is over. I don’t ever want it to end. 😭

Seal Team

One-Shots:

Imma Take Care Of Your Body by @rebelwrites » Clay Spenser x Reader — Reader is the only female member on Bravo who also has a no strings attached relationship with Rebel. | Let me just say this is hot, like really hot. Give me a glass of water and let me cool down. Thank you Heather for blessing us with this.

Tier One Babysitters by @bravo-four-seal-team » Seal Team; Ray Perry x Naima Perry — Ray and Naima ask the team to watch 6 month old Jameelah. | I promise you will be laughing.

You Are Perfect by @rebelwrites » Clay Spenser x Reader — Clay tells you everything he loves about you. | As a big boned girl this meant a lot and has me wishing for a Clay Spenser to call my own.

[vad-hander]

JAEBEOM, THE GUY FROM THE BAR

Pairing: Jaebeom x reader

Genre: Series | Eventual Smut | Angst | Fluff

Warnings: break up, cheating, strangers to lovers, mentions of drinking

Words: 3.3k

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

You opened your eyes in fear. Your head was about to break in pieces and it took you forever to work out where you woke up.

It was your bedroom. At least you woke up in your bed, you thought happily. You tried to sit up, feeling as if your head weighed thousand kilograms. You looked around trying to remember how you got home, pointing out as well that you felt completely fine except for the headache, just in case anything could’ve happened to you physically.

Jaebeom, you remembered that you were with him last night. You gasped, lifting your blanket off your body to check what you were wearing. A shirt.

You tried hard to remember if you changed clothes yourself, doubting it highly. He probably did it for you. Did he see you naked? You felt the heat of embarrassment on your cheeks. What if he didn’t leave and is in the living room now…?

You tried to stand up, noticing a piece of paper on the table. Reaching out to grab it, you read “drink water and take the pill, I’m sure you’re dying from hangover right now. ;)” your eyes moved lower to the corner of the paper “p.s. I closed my eyes when you changed clothes, I promise.” you chuckled and grabbed your head in pain right after. You took the pill, gulping the water hungrily. You plopped your body on the bed, grabbing your phone to scroll mindlessly. Your fingers automatically found contacts, scrolling through the phone numbers you had, pausing on the letter J, seeing how Jaebeom saved himself as “Jaebeom, the guy from the bar”. You opened the chat box , thinking what possibly you could text him. Should you even text him first? Your fingers automatically typed “thanks for getting me home.”, deleting it right after. “hi, it’s y/n, thank you for taking care of me.” you typed another message, thinking for a few seconds if you should send it. Quickly exiting the chat, you lowered your eyes on the letter J noticing “Jeno👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻”. Your fingers quickly opened the chat with him, feeling the fear of seeing whatever message from him. But the chat was empty. The last message was sent by you and you felt even worse now noticing how it was read after you caught him cheat “Jenoyah, babyyyyy, happy birthday my love. I’m so happy to have you in my life and I wish you all the best because this is what you’re deserving. Can’t wait to see you and cuddle you to death, birthday boy <3”. He didn’t even try to reach out to you, he didn’t even try to apologise. You threw the phone to the bedside table, turning on the bed to hug your pillow and hide your face in it. You shut your eyes, feeling like tears could flood your pillow any second. Jeno is a cheater, what if he cheated before? Now you weren’t sure he didn’t do it before. Jeno didn’t even regret it. He didn’t try to contact your or explain anything to you. He just disappeared and now you had to pretend he never existed.

You rested your body against the mattress of your bed, suddenly getting a flashback.

/You moved your face closer to his, losing the balance and dropping your palms onto his thighs. Jaebeom’s arms caught you by wrists right before you smashed your face against his.

“I think you’re a bit too drunk now.” he chuckled, helping you back into the stool.

“Isn’t it a great day to get drunk?” you smiled wildly.

“It’s a Saturday, just a normal Saturday, at least the last time I checked.” he spoke to you seriously, covering your drink with his palm when you tried to grab it.

“I guess you checked too many hours ago. Today we’re celebrating my sudden freedom, fun, right?” you giggled hysterically. “A great day to be thriving, I was dedicated and loyal this whole time. Turns out it’s a waste? I could’ve slept around even while I was in a relationship, turns out it didn’t matter.” you spoke into nowhere, focusing your gaze on the wall of bottles. “I really wish I knew so I didn’t feel too hurt and too surprised right now. Do you know that it actually hurts? Do you know how much it actually hurts?” you turned back to Jaebeom, finding his beautiful brown eyes with yours. He blinked, blinked multiple times and kept quiet. You felt as if he gave you a chance to speak, a chance to get everything off your chest and he was the only person you could talk to right now and you felt thankful in the deepest sober part of you, you were endlessly thankful to Jaebeom. “Am I this useless? I met Jeno three years ago through a friend and he immediately became someone I always wanted to have in my life, someone I’d like to travel the world with, someone I’d die for and I was ready to die when he straight up ignored me for three years. First he was acting like I never existed, like no girl existed and I asked everyone around if he had a girlfriend but he didn’t. And I guessed it just wasn’t the time for him, I patiently waited and we became friends, we became close. We were so close he even asked me to get him with my friend, and I did because I could never say no to him. But they never fit, I knew they wouldn’t, maybe that’s why I was too keen for it, I hoped he’d see that we actually fit. And when they broke up in three months he came to me. I thought he came to talk, to maybe I don’t know what I thought. But he just asked for another friends phone number and then I just broke down in front of him. I told him that he’s mean and blind, that he asked me for all those things when I liked him so much and even loved him by then, and showed him all of it the whole time. And you know what happened?” you asked him feeling the tears in your eyes. You wanted him to answer this time, and he felt it, speaking.

“You began dating?” he cleared his throat before speaking. You nodded and pursed your lips.

“We did, he apologised so many times, he said he never thought I’d like him like that, he said sorry so many times I couldn’t believe this was even happening in real life. He stayed the night, and then the other, and he stayed all the nights there were, and days too, we’ve spent every day together. In a month he said we should tell everyone we’re together, I thought I was in heaven. He treated me nicely, he treated me the way I wanted him to, but to be fair I had nothing really to compare him to. But I waited for so long maybe I was blinded by it to see signals?” you chuckled and your eyes noticed that his hand let go of the glass, and you grabbed it, quickly taking a sip. “In five months I was barely seeing him, he just began disappearing, constantly, I’d only see him twice a week, I was scared and I told him I am, but he apologised again, and said he just got busy with life. From then up until today we were seeing each other regularly, yes, sometimes like the night you saw me for the first time… but we’d come home and he’d tell me I’m the one… and that mattered to me, and I guess it shouldn’t have. Because even with spending time with me he found time to cheat…” you gripped onto the glass. You looked Jaebeom deeper in the eyes, seeing sympathy, compassion? “Why am I giving a speech to you?” you chuckled suddenly trying to switch your mood in a click. “I’m sorry I’m like that.” you wiped the tear.

“It’s okay, we all need to get things off our chest sometimes, and I was the one who told you to do it. You needed it, I hope you’re a little bit better.” his fingers found the back of your palm, caressing lightly. Both his and yours eyes fell to where your hands met, raising back up to look at each other.

His burning touch and even more burning gaze made you want to do questionable things. Things you weren’t able to allow yourself to do yet in the morning. The movement of his fingers made your insides tickle and you slid off the chair you were sitting on. You felt your body get excited when you turned your hands around, laying your palm on top of his. The heat rushed over your body and you were scared he’d notice you turn red if you’ll get any closer. The amount of alcohol you consumed was the only thing that kept you from getting a stroke when your fingers ran up his hand, feeling up his soft and warm skin. Your eyes traced your fingers because you were too scared to see Jaebeom’s reaction, not feeling him move or tense up. It felt as if he froze. When your hand got to his biceps you wrapped your hand around it, finally lifting your eyes to meet his, that immediately moved to meet yours. He turned his body towards you, spreading his legs more for you to stand between them. You moved your hand even higher, feeling your fingers get under the shirt and having to let go of him for a second to rest your hand on his shoulder. You felt your heart beat in your ears, only thinking how he said he liked you. Maybe it was your turn to take chances? Not wait and sulk until someone picked your hopeless self, but to take your life in your hands, be wild, bold, young and alive? Jaebeom suddenly laid his palm on your waist, pulling you in closer between his legs, forcing you to hook your hand around his neck. His other hand found your cheek, rubbing it with his thumb. His eyes burned into yours and it felt like you stopped breathing at all. You leaned in but stopped, being too scared even though you had nothing to regret or be afraid of. “Do you like me as a friend or as a woman?” you didn’t find anything better to ask before you’d embarrass yourself.

“I like you as a person.” his fingers moved to your hair, brushing it behind your ear.

“What is that supposed to mean?” you replied before you could think.

“What do you want this to mean?” you felt his fingers run down to your neck, caressing it lightly. If this didn’t mean he liked you what did it mean at all.

“Kiss me.” you said baldly, watching his reaction. His eyes smiled with satisfaction, and he pulled you in closer, leaving only 2 centimetres between you. Your second hand wrapped around his neck too, and the electricity between you two made it impossible for you to keep yourself on your feet. Your mind focused on him only, you could not hear or see anything around you except for Jaebeom. He lingered, running his eyes all over your face, stroking your hair. Finally, he got closer and you shut your eyes in anticipation. You could smell him close to you, unconsciously brushing your fingers trough his hair. You felt him leave a warm kiss on your cheek and move away. You opened your eyes and your first intention was to smile, but then reality hit you and embarrassment took over you. You were wrong yet again in reading signals. He didn’t mean it and he was just kind to not reject you completely. You felt tears form in the back of your eyes in a span of a second, pulling your hands in swift motion from him.

“I’m sorry.” you mumbled and felt your face get red. “I’m too dumb.”

“No, no, don’t run away.” he protested, grabbing your hands and clipping you between his legs.

“You don’t have to make excuses, I’m okay.” you chuckled pitying yourself once more.

“It’s not that, I’m not making excuses, you just broke up with your boyfriend, you’re trying to make me someone you’ll regret sleeping with when you’ll get sober, and the last thing I want is our relationship to die like it was a stupid drunk hook up.” his hand got back to your cheek, and he pulled you in, forcing your drunken body to fall against him and hug him. “Let me take you home, you’re too drunk, I’m scared you’ll pass out soon or will do something silly. What if you’ll try to kiss someone else instead of me?” he chuckled and you felt his fresh breath on your face. Did he not drink at all? You wondered. “I don’t think that someone will hold back, I’ll get jealous and will fight.” he moved his face closer to yours again, making you think he’d kiss you. “Let’s go home.” he just whispered.

“I’m not drunk.” he chuckled and nodded “I’m serious. You can kiss me if you want to, I won’t regret, I swear.” you might’ve sounded a bit too desperate but you were drunk and you could’ve just told him it was alcohol if he’d reject. You really were as desperate as you sounded by now, feeling no shame only knowing if he’d let you go to bed like that you’d lose hope in yourself completely. “I won’t go anywhere without that.” you brushed your hair off your collarbone. Jaebeom laughed loudly at that.

“Because you won’t remember?”

“No, because I’ll have written confirmation I won’t be able to brush aside.”

“You’re carrying paper with you for such instances?”

“No, but I have a pen.” you painted with your finger, reaching out into your bag and taking few seconds to find it. “Here!” you showed it to him.

“Okay, and what and where are you going to write?” his eyes sweetly looked at you and your insides did a flip. His fingers moved on your waist, while his other hand got back to your neck. You looked around, trying to find a piece of paper.

“Here.” you grabbed Jaebeom’s hand by fingers, laying it on the bar and running your fingers through inner side of his lower arm.

“My arm?”

“Your arm.” you nodded.

“What are you going to write?” he chuckled.

“This.” you sighed, beginning to draw words letter by letter on his arm.

“I, Y/n, want Jaebeom to kiss me, sober or drunk.” he read out loud when you finished.

“Want a sign or is it eligible enough?” you lifted your eyes at him.

“Eligible enough.” he chuckled and grabbed your face in his hands. “Are you normally this cute or am I able to enjoy your cuteness only because I never met you sober?” both of his hands were drawing small circles with his thumbs on your cheeks. Your eyes trembled because of his touch, almost closing when his finger ran over your lower lip. Your hands wrapped around his neck and you felt him push you in and lay his lips on top of yours softly. He didn’t move for a second, slowly moving his mouth against yours in a moment, not pushing or pacing, just making your heart beat out of your chest. His tongue slipped into your mouth when you opened it inviting him, and a low groan left your throat accidentally, letting him know you enjoyed it very much. You weren’t planning on being too open about it, but the drunken state of you broke your plans and he pulled you in closer, wrapping his hands tighter around you. You tried to run your hand down his chest, to wrap it around his body, but Jaebeom made it impossible with the way he held you. Your tongues moved in unison until he pulled back, pecking and licking your mouth multiple times before finally letting go. You held in a disappointed moan, killing the will to hug him once again as well./

You did what? No, you didn’t. You sat up immediately. You grabbed your phone, not knowing if calling him would look as if you were pushing boundaries and asking for more? We’re you in position to do any of that or were you meant to wait until he’ll text you first? You pushed the phone back off, hiding your face in your pillow. You groaned loudly in disbelief. You wrote on his arm that you wanted him to kiss you. Were you out of your mind when you wrote that? Oh, you definitely were, after all those drinks you definitely were out of this world. Your fingers ran over your lips, reminiscing on how his lips felt on yours. It felt nice, but you couldn’t remember for sure. And now, the only thing you wanted is to kiss him once again when you’re sober to remember it vividly./

Your phone made a sound taking you back to reality.

from: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“I hope you took the pill and feel better.”

“hi”

You read, sighing loudly. He texted you in the morning… that’s o positive sign, right? It definitely is, you quickly opened the chat, texting him back.

“hi!”

“I did”

“thank you for the pill, and for everything you did too”

“really”

You texted him back quickly, seeing him reading it immediately.

from: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“You replied”

“good”

“So you really don’t have any regrets”

“Or don’t remember a thing”

“ㅋㅋㅋ”

So he did remember, you should’ve guessed he did, but you couldn’t remember how he got you home.

“yeah…”

from: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“I took a picture of your message in case you forgot.”

“Want to see?”

to: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“no, thank you.”

“how did I got home?”

from: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“do you want to see me?”

“with me, I drove you.”

“I thought you guessed that by my note.”

to: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“I did, I just thought you ordered a taxi.”

you only replied.

from: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“so you do see me as a mistake?”

to: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“no, no, I told you I won’t regret”

“I liked it”

“I mean, hanging with you.”

“I liked your company.”

from: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“I liked kissing you too.”

You choked on air.

“let’s meet tomorrow?”

“I want to see you sober.”

“tell me what time you’re free.”

You didn’t read his messages, taking some time to process his words.

“don’t ignore me, I know where you live. You even told me the code. I’ll find you and will make you go eat with me.”

to: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“sorry”

“aren’t you working tomorrow?” suddenly you realised you didn’t know if he works, how old is he, what is he even doing in life.

from: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“I’m on freelance, I can find time for you.”

to: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“I’ll text you in the morning, okay?”

from: Jaebeom, the guy from the bar

“Can’t wait to hear from you.”

____

let me know what you think ❤️

[couchpotatoaniki]

Idol!ATEEZ: Their s/o secretly writes fanfics pt.2

A/N: This was a request from someone who wanted to read their reactions to dirty fanfics *wiggles brows* but cba coming up with more backstories, so this’ll be a continuation of the first reaction

Tag list: @lovelyrose014-blog​ sorry this took so long :((

WARNINGS: swearing, mature content, heavily suggestive

Part One

Kim Hongjoong:

Hongjoong made no effort to hide that he read your stories. It was as he promised; the first time he read them was not the last.

He’d been filling up his rare breaks with your works, powerful words contrasting your timid nature and no matter how many times he indulged himself in your crazy mind, Hongjoong never ceased to be amazed.

You had more sides to you than he ever could imagined.

Although, there was one thing he put off for quite some time now, and that would be reading your more popular fanfics. The fan favourites. After all, being the leader, he should know what his fans like, and as your boyfriend he should know what you crave.

Hongjoong was a smart guy despite the goofy act he put on--very similar to your intelligence and geeky-yet-quiet nature. He knew that you wanted to keep him away from the dark side of your account, not wanting to scare him away (which he would never let happen). Hence why he hadn’t gone on it since he wanted to respect your wishes to some extent.

Until now.

Hongjoong swears it was curiosity, nothing more, but deep down he knew. He still needed to see that side of you, the side you deem acceptable for a whole world of strangers to see but not him.

Drove him mad.

But he was still in denial as he chanted in his head that this was only for research purposes. Bullshit.

Late at night, when pretty much everyone had gone home and he still had some work left to do, Hongjoong decided to take a well-deserved break, lying on his sofa as he scrolled through his phone.

He was doing what he had planned--he was finally doing it and nothing made the adrenaline rush faster through his veins. He clicked on the one which had the most reads, the one that was the most popular among anything you wrote, and from the title, it appeared innocent enough.

Maybe this wasn’t the one...

Then again, you were adamant that he never read it.

“Never hurt to try...” Hongjoong mumbled, despite being the only one in the sound-proof room. He clicked on it, anticipation making him restless.

Long chapter, as usual, and everything started out fine enough. No sign of anything, nothing suggestive at all.

What was the big deal about?

The next few chapters were of a similar feel. Sweet, gentle, fluffy. But he couldn’t put his phone down, something about this story had him...unsettled. It was nothing like your usually ones--with sadistic characters and an intricate plotline.

No. This had him slightly confused. It felt too kind.

Then he carried on. And then he realised.

That was exactly your intention.

The filter you had put over the first few chapters was slowly startling to peel away, into something more twisted.

Hongjoong buzzed off this, knowing exactly that the earlier chapters were a trap, a false sense of security. How you managed to poison every reader slowly, like your words were mercury.

By the time he got to the first smut chapter in the series, he was already consumed, work forgotten . Every word felt like it sucked out a part of his soul, and the heavy themes in the scenes had him in an uncomfortable situation of rather tight jeans.

Right now, all Hongjoong wanted was you. He needed you. To do all those things you wrote, to be there with him and feel the things he was feeling.

Luckily, you were always awake at this time of night.

Just a phone call away.

Park Seonghwa:

Although he loved your shower time, there was one habit that Seonghwa didn’t like and that was you leaving your notebooks everywhere. It made his daily cleaning harder than it should’ve been.

Never did he look through them, caring too much about not invading your privacy (save for a few months ago where he accidently found out about your fanfic account on AO3). But today was a stressful day already.

All he wanted right now was to lie down with you and watch some cheesy romcoms, accompanied by some snacks. Hongjoong, ever the perfectionist, was under more stress than usual and that meant all the other members were too.

Seonghwa was the nurturing mother, and even he felt like he lacked the energy to be as such with the way things were going right now--a comeback just around the corner.

So, yes, the tall boy was quite peeved today. He needed his charger. He needed you. But you were taking your damn time in the shower and he had to pick up all your damn notebooks from the most random places.

What even was it about these notebooks that you had to buy--or try to buy--a new one every time you entered a shop? Seonghwa never understood your love for them as he had only linked the devilish little thing to his work, where Hongjoong would be composing or writing lyrics.

The last thing he needed right now was something to remind him of his job.

The stress continued to build as this argumentative thoughts accumulated in his head, causing him to drop the hardback in his hands. “Fuck’s sake,” he growled, too pissed off at the moment to notice that your book had oh-so-conveniently opened up.

When he did, however, his fiery anger cooled down at the page, which had a few words on it. Luckily for him, your handwriting was fairly neat (unlike your normal habits) so he could read your little notes.

Phrases, sentences, ideas, the plot line in general, that’s what he got from a first glance. Maybe he could have a peek, seeing as though he was exerting a lot of energy recently.

The words, the plot, everything on that page was something he did not expect. It was smut.

Surely his innocent sweetheart wouldn’t be writing those, right? He gave you the benefit of the doubt when he found out about your fanfics. But you were a sweet girl, and he had always thought you mind was as pure as your heart was.

Then again, no one’s heart is truly pure, and it wasn’t the first time you had been tainted by him.

His eyes scanned your words, finding that it was somewhat vanilla and gentle.

A sigh escaped past his lips when he found that you were still his soft-hearted princess.

Then he noticed it was an old entry. Flicked through the pages and saw that the smut scenes progressively got more frequent and dabbled a little more in the dark side of things. 

His heart plummeted. Not just because your innocence was slowly peeling away, but because he too found himself getting a little interested by it. Especially one of the last entries of that notebook, where he found himself blushing hard enough to turn his normal skin to resemble that of rubies.

Yet, he couldn’t stop.

That was until he heard your voice yelling, "Seonghwa!"

Eyes like those caught in headlights, his large hands shut the book with lightning speed. But you had already caught him snooping.

"What are you doing with my notebooks?" You cheeks a dusty rouge from both the hot water and embarrassment, you snatched away the book from his hands.

"N-Nothing! It fell and opened up and I just..." He sighed, afraid that he'd already broken your trust. "I'm really sorry..."

Exhaling softly when you saw Seonghwa looking like some sort of scolded puppy, you reached on your tiptoes to ruffle his hair. Calms him down a little.

“What,” you cleared your throat to rid your voice of fear, “what did you read?”

Now how was he going to play this? Was he going to lie and say it was only one page, or would he say that he had a peruse through the whole thing? As you had caught him already, it would not be a bad idea to tell the truth. “Um...bits and bobs. Just skipped through, really. I’m sorry.”

Smiling softly, albeit a little awkwardly, you patted his shoulder comfortingly. “It’s fine, I just... didn’t... expect you to... find out this way.”

He chuckled nervously. “Well, I’ve know for about two weeks now, about your... writing.”

“What?!”

Jeong Yunho:

One problem that you have, is that now Yunho knew you wrote fanfics, you became sloppy with hiding it. Not like there was a real need to because--as mentioned--he knew about it. How you loved to write thrillers and suspense and all there strange wacky things you’d find on a documentary about dangerous people.

Though that didn’t mean you never wrote other things as well.

Your works were obviously for a certain age and above (not like the warnings you put matter because the underage ones read it anyway), so writing the occasional smut was normal for you.

In fact, you were comfortable with it. Your personal experience with Yunho, combined with the ones you read online, all fuelled your creativity. Unfortunately, now that you became more open, Yunho had more opportunities to read what you wrote.

Not like it mattered much, you thought, because the words in your google docs were pretty much ineligible from the phrases only you could decode.

Sadly, when it came to smuts (what you wanted in them and what you didn’t), there wasn’t really a way to hide what you were talking about.

So when your tall and rather innocent boyfriend took a sneak peak at your latest entry, he was smacked in the face with the bullet points on there:

Fake dating AU

Cunnilingus

Blindfolds

Size kink

Hand kink

Sir kink

Power play

Complacent sub

(Because for some goddamn reason, every Yunho smut I’ve seen had either a hand kink or size kink...not that I’m complaining tho--)

Was this the stuff you were into? Because he certainly never never knew it. Your sex life with him had been somewhat vanilla due to the fact it only recently started and both of you were still a little too shy to branch out and dabble in other things yet.

His only thoughts until he next saw you were about this. If you were channelling your frustrations into your writing, then he could help you, right? After all, he wasn’t against trying this stuff out. It was a learning experience he was willing to go through. For you.

So when you came back from work, he sat you down on the bed, very nervous with his large hands engulfing your own. Concern would be a drastic understatement.

“Y/N?” You hummed in reply, now thoroughly scared. “I just wanted to let you know... that I’m not afraid of...expanding our experiences and neither should you be.”

Your heart dropped into the abyss of your stomach. “Y-Yunho, are you breaking up with me?”

“Wait, what?” The confusion of this situation seemed rather familiar. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. I just...” he bit his lip, still quite shy. He really didn’t know how to say this outright.

So he showed you instead.

As your eyes fell on the document of your plan for the next smut scene you had to write, your face dropped. Horror was evident in every part of your expression and he could see that.

“Yunho, I--”

“Look, there’s nothing wrong with you wanting to try some of this,” he said, before bashfully looking out the same window you had when you had been discovered. “Besides... I wouldn’t object.”

Now that the both of your faces were redder than roses, the air had become slightly more...still and heavy.

“Listen, Yunho, just so you know, I don’t often write my own preferences. But I suppose trying new things is a bad idea...”

Kang Yeosang:

Almost a year had passed since your boyfriend had found out about your writing (through your clumsy cousin, no less) and you were careful as to what you showed him.

He often helped you through tough times like writer’s block, and understood your strange little habits. Even threw you an idea once in while whenever you were struggling to think of something or even took you out--restaurants, landmarks, whatever would help.

Yeosang was looking after you.

But now? Now, he pampered you.

That had you lowering your guard. He was being so kind, so why not let him read more?

Here’s ‘why not’:

Because he kept pushing his limits. Yeosang and you never had done anything, despite the fact that both of you were living together--by your request, since you had been in quite a few bad relationships where sex was a major factor. So, for the past two years, Yeosang had been alone in his endeavours.

All his intention was to find out what you were into. That was it, he swears. Thought it might at least curb the growing need to have you begging under him--or above him--just have a small glimpse as to what was in store. Maybe even have them as company when he really needed you.

Mission Impossible, is what this felt like, buttering you up, making you feel safe and comfortable (this came naturally since he always wanted you to feel this way with him, horny or not). You were like a fortress, always giving him more but not the stuff that he needed.

So he tried the same tactic he used to get you confess.

Truth or Dare (alone, obviously).

“Seriously? Last time we did it like this, you found out my rather embarrassing secret.”

“Just answer,” he pushed, watching you carefully as you climbed into bed next to him.

“Okay... truth,” you mumbled as you buried your body between his arm and chest.

“How about ‘dare’ this time?”

Your lips released a tired chuckled. “That’s not how this works, Yeosang...” But after a long few minutes of silence, you caved into his request. “Okay, fine. Dare,” you grumbled after saying something along the lines of, “if you wanted me to do something, then just ask.”

His lips brushed against the lobe of your ear, sending electric shocks down your spine. “I dare you to send me one of your smut fics.”

‘Surprised’ wasn’t really the word you would use to describe the immense shock that hit you like a train. “No.”

“Can’t go back on a dare.”

“But that’s even more embarrassing than having you read my normal fanfics...”

“No, it isn’t. Not to me, at least.”

“Yeosang,” you whined but as it became more and more clear that he would not give up as time passed on, you caved once more. Hesitant, you pulled out your phone to scroll through your works. What was the best one to send to him, you had no idea. “Can I at least ask why?”

“Because I want to get to know you more. All of you...” That one sentence had you more excited than you’d be willing to admit.

After all, it wasn’t just Yeosang who felt alone at nights (and sometimes days) for the past two years. Arguably, it was harder for you since you used to be very...active. Hence why you had such a selection to choose from right now--it was your outlet.

Perhaps it would be best to let him see the one that had you more bothered than anything after writing it--since he wanted to get to know that side of you as well.

Finally making a decision, you handed over your phone with bated breath. What would he think? Would he be weirded out? Would he not be into any of it?

For the boy, however, it was a completely different story; he was too into it. The more he read on, the worse his boner got until he looked physically uncomfortable.

Immediately seeing the discomfort on his face, it was as if your worries became reality. Hand reached out to snatch the phone from his hand but his reflexes were much quicker than yours, pulling the slab away as he kept on reading.

By the time he finished, his breathing was heavy and ragged.

This, sadly, had only made his situation worse. Only purpose this served was to make him crave you even more. Certainly didn’t help to have you leaning over him, soft, bra-less chest beneath thin, stretchy cotton of your shirt against his bare arm, trying to see if he was alright. Definitely had you concerned seeing his pained self.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really,” he humourlessly chuckled, “didn’t know it would affect me as much as it had...”

For some reason, you leaned further down and kissed him. Whether it was because of seeing his hooded eyes or feeling the tension in his muscles as he restrained himself against your body, you didn’t care. Relief was the first thing you felt, knowing that he was just as frustrated as you when you wrote it.

No, he was worse. You could tell by the feverish movement of his mouth against yours. You could tell by the harsh grip he had on your waist. You could tell by the stiffness poking your thigh.

Yeosang pulled away with as much willpower as he could muster, while your lips chased after his. “N-No, we can’t, remember?”

Huffing, you were thoroughly pissed off at the promise you made two years ago with him when you first started out dating. “Yeosang, look at me.”

His gaze was even more reluctant, knowing very well that it would be much more difficult to have the eyes he loved so much staring back at him with as much lust as he had clouding them. But he listened.

“That promise was there so I could get to know you and see if I want to commit to this relationship, long-term, and we’ve had two years to think it--which is long enough for me.” Each hand cupped his cheeks, pulling him closer for a peck since you couldn’t handle being that touch starved anymore. “So, screw me.”

Yeosang didn’t need to be told twice.

Choi San:

It had been a little over a month and San had still not dropped his admiration. Didn’t look as if that was going to change anytime soon either, especially with one of your recent updates.

Your current story had a lot of pent up sexual tension and all your readers (your boyfriend being no exception) were at the point of begging in the notes of each update.

Finally, you decided to take mercy on all the poor folks and finally write that one scene which had them crying with gratefulness at the end.

As it was a long-awaited scene, it had to live up to high expectations. While you could do the most tooth-rotting fluff ever, that wasn’t your style. This scene needed to fit the vibe of your series so the whole bit flowed nicely.

The problem was, everything you wrote was ‘too much’. Too much fluff. Too much kink. Too much basicness. Too much weirdness. Too much awkwardness. Too much cringiness.

Unfortunately, this put you in a bit of a pickle and you were close to losing your damn mind. On the other hand, San--the caring lover he was--had noticed. Wanted to do something nice for you, not just because he could clearly tell it was a bad case of writer’s block and he wanted to you to write more things he could read, but because it hurt him a little inside to see you this frustrated.

Requested a day of, which he got considering how hard he had been working, an spent that day as your personal servant. First up was breakfast in bed--fried egg (sunny side up), beans, buttered toast, hash browns and a tall glass of cold, hand-squeezed orange juice. Not to mention a shirtless San in plaid cotton pants, the only coverage his torso receiving was the pink apron he had on.

Kissed you on the forehead and told you to take your time, then get ready or a day out while he made lunch.

The next two meals went by in a similar fashion, where he had put so much love and care for everything to be perfect for you. Your favourite sandwich and a fruit salad, water and a chocolate chip cookie before a walk in the park where you both fed the ducks in one of the nearby lakes.

Later was dinner--arguably the best one out of them all. Steak with roast potatoes, and steamed vegetables (much to San’s dislike, but he withstood it for you). The day’s activity had you more than tired, cheeks aching slightly from smiling too much. Then again, you didn’t even notice because all you could think about was how lucky you were to land yourself such an amazing boyfriend.

Even after dinner, he continued to treat you like the royalty you were in his eyes. Offered a nice massage to relieve the past week’s tension all pent up in your poor muscles. It was innocent enough...

Until it wasn’t any more.

Despite the cloths thrown about everywhere on the bed, neither of you had motioned to clean up and San had instead opted to run you a bubble bath. Scented candles and all. It was more relaxing than you had imagined it to be, and by the time your face rested on San’s now-clothed torso--both of you wrapped snuggly up--you fell asleep.

The man loved the sight, and for once, he actually enjoyed running after you, making sure your every need was fulfilled whether you expressed it or not.

Because throughout the day, you were the happiest he had seen in a while, and all his efforts let up to this sight: you cuddled up close with that beautiful, enchanting smile faintly on your plush lips that he had so gently attacked not two hours ago.

He found himself loving you even more; a pleasant surprise as he had thought his cup was close to overflowing.

Two days later, he found himself falling even deeper when you had finally posted your latest chapter. San found himself grinning by the end of it--a little turned on, but more happy than anything.

Because San’s magic had worked. Cured your painful writer’s block since the words simply flowed as you typed the scene that had been causing you hell.

And whole chapter was awfully similar to that special day when San decided to take care of you.

Just tweaked a little so it would be more smut than it was fluff, adding just the right amount of sweetness that allowed your story to continue to flow perfectly.

Which was why San had been more joyous than usual the past week.

You were a perceptive person so you caught the change in his usual demeanour rather quickly. The source of it, however, was beyond you (he was good at hiding his knowledge of your secret). Any reason you tried to pin down on him was a little off.

Stress? No, he was too happy for that. Upcoming event? None that you knew of, and he shared everything of importance with you. Feeling happy just because? San was the more emotional out of the two of you and none of his moods lasted this long.

So what was it?

It was frustrating to say the least, but your boyfriend wasn’t letting it out. And you don’t think he ever will.

“Oh well,” you mumble, “can’t be that bad if he’s so happy...”

Song Mingi:

The boys had made a pact when they began to read your stories: no reading smuts with the group. This was fairly easy since they would normally be oneshots and you generally weren’t one to write them often into your series. On the odd occasion you did, you often put up a warning and explained straight after if there were any important bits.

All in all, very easy to avoid.

Mingi was a gigantic baby, and with babies, comes curiosity. A sense of need to know what’s happening. An insatiable thirst for knowledge and experience. Suppose what is trying to be said here is, is that Mingi wanted to read the explicit stuff you wrote.

What went on inside that wonderous brain of yours, he wanted to find out. But he couldn’t do that with the boys, nor did he want to. No chance in hell he was gonna be caught with an awkward boner.

Never would he live that one down.

So his plan commenced at night, when everyone in the dorms were fast asleep, he opened up his phone.

Now would normally come the dilemma of what to read, but Mingi is not that patient; as mentioned before, he is a giant baby. The first post he found that fit his criteria was the one that he read. Coincidently, that was result of your ‘experimental’ ones.

Using metallic things wasn’t something you had tried yet with Mingi, but you though you’d take it for a test run through your work to at least see it clearly how it would run if something like that was to happen. Sometimes, you found, it’s makes more sense to write it out rather to keep in your head.

On the other hand, Mingi didn’t really know that your writings stemmed from mild curiosity rather than what your really into (not that you would particularly mind trying some of it out). In his head, this was what you wanted to do.

He’d be lying if he said that the idea wasn’t much of a turn on, and the time he  spent trying not to make a sound loud enough to wake up the other members would prove that. To him, this is was your wish and he would gladly comply to it.

The next day, he decided to run along with the theme, but to also add in a few twists of his own. You often liked that, both in and out of the bedroom.

Went out to buy some new rings for you, larger ones decorated with pretty gems for his pretty baby (even though he was one himself). Handcuffs, too, were ordered online, and a silver-chain choker--he made sure to double check it was safe to use. Next up was a little metal ball--he got this idea from the pokey challenge and something called the ‘passion fruit kiss’ on snapchat. Either way, he was excited to try it.

Babies like Mingi, as mentioned, have little patience and so he wanted to try it out as soon as possible, so the moment everything came, he quickly sterilised everything and waited for you to come home.

Made sure each metal piece was cold to the touch by keeping it in the fridge, and had a rolled up black silk tie stuffed in his pocket to act as a makeshift blindfold.

Sensory deprivation was the ‘twist’ he wanted to put on, since you both had tried something similar before with ice cubes and that went quite well...until it became too cold for Mingi’s mouth and that plan had to be scrapped sooner--hence fridge, for a little bit of coldness.

When you finally arrived, he looked like an excited puppy, and you had no idea why. Until he spun you around and tied a soft cloth over your eyes. “Mingi, I’m really tired and I just--”

“Shhhhh,” Mingi lulled right next to your ear, warm breath fanning over the nape of your neck which felt more sensitive than usual, “trust me?”

Sigh escaping past your lips, because yes, of course you trusted him. And now that you felt slightly more awake from his action, maybe you were willing to hear him out. ”Baby, what are you doing?”

Chuckling that followed your question was deeper than normal. Had it always been like that or was it your mind playing tricks on you? Either way, he didn’t answer and all you had heard was the fridge opening.

“Seriously, baby, what are you doing?” Now you were just nervous, all intentions of a lazy evening down the drain as your heart sped up.

It closed, and shortly after your lips were met with his, a faint taste of strawberry attached to them. Then something smooth and cold slipped past from him to you.

The metal ball was passed between the two of you in a playful game of which only your boyfriend knew the rules of.

When he could tell your guard was down and now you became a little more comfortable, Mingi slowly took your hands behind your back.

You had not paid attention, but you should have. Cold, tight restraints pressed against your skin, shockwaves making you gasp from the low temperature. But Mingi kept on going, kissing you to ease your tension.

Two metal things, so there must be a third, right? You knew about people’s strange obsession with threes so you completely expected another cold metal object to come into play. But the question was, what?

You soon found out when a thick chain choker brushed against your neck, clasping around it snuggly. This was it. This was the third and final one. And your suspicions seemed correct when you had not felt another chilly accessory grace your skin.

You wouldn’t have, not when the coldest of all the items--the rings--were being slipped onto your boyfriend’s fingers. You were in for a surprise in just a few moment.

Needless to say, there was only one thought swirling around in your head.

Maybe he isn’t that much of a baby.

Jung Wooyoung:

Ever since Wooyoung found out your fanfics were not about him, but his favourite K-Pop band, BTS, he had been...difficult. Moping around, trying to play for your attention a lot more than normal, not letting you have some peace of quiet with your computer.

It was almost as if he was jealous. You knew how needy the boy could be, wanting skinship with you more than he did with San. Knowing that you were fawning over men that weren’t him had certainly done something to him.

But Wooyoung knew you were no-nonsense. The complete opposite of him. It was exactly why he fell for you, and it was exactly why he wasn’t being as petty as he wanted at the moment.

He knew deep down you were his and he was yours.

Then again, that still didn’t stop him from feeling jealous, and had even gone so far as to decrease the amount he listened to BTS’ songs--especially around you.

At first, you didn’t notice the change since Wooyoung was often spontaneous so his behavioural pattern was difficult to decipher. Eventually there came a point where the clinginess increased so much, you couldn’t feign ignorance anymore.

Looking back, maybe you should not have burst his bubble and let him think that your fanfics were about him... Actually, no; either way, the moment he found out about your hobby, it was going to be hell. But now you just feel bad.

Yet, you don’t feel bad enough to stop. You never actually fantasised about being with them--it was just fun to write about. Clearly, he didn’t understand.

Your boyfriend seemed to be at his tipping point when he came back to you after a long day of dance practices that went sideways, typing away intently on your computer.

This was his time. You usually spend time with Wooyoung when he came back, but you were too busy to comfort him in his desperate time of need. Too busy with fantasising about Taehyung’s large hands or Namjoon’s dimpled smile.

Wooyoung was as cute as Hoseok and Jungkook. He had a unique laugh like Seokjin and was as flirty as Jimin.

He had all your favourite qualities in a partner so why spend time thinking about other men? He was literally right there, begging for your attention and yet, now it seemed as if you gave him none (which wasn’t true since the only thing you’ve done is become less secretive about writing).

When his attempts at distracting you from writing had fail, he tried to see what exactly it was you were writing about. Unfortunately, you had tried to hid it from his sight; the only thing that helped in doing was pissing him off even further.

Only after a tough struggle did he finally see what you had been so focused on that you had neglected him.

It was more BTS fanfic, but this one was worse. This one had him fuming--skin hot red and ears pooling out steam. This one was smut.

It was about no other than Yoongi, and by God, was it a rough.

That was how you liked it, and so did Wooyoung. Probably why he was so angry while reading about mirror sex with one of his fellow idols; you were just twiddling your thumbs in the corner, not sure about how badly your boyfriend was going to burst.

Wooyoung, no matter how mad he was, he had to admit... it did turn him on. Although, he was a prideful boy--not liking how you thought about others and more importantly, how threatened he felt while reading it.

Suddenly realising that it wasn’t enough just being all the perfect parts you liked (even if it came naturally to him).

He had a point to prove; Wooyoung could go beyond your wildest fantasies--and boy was it a wild fantasy.

Throwing your phone haphazardly somewhere (making you wince in prayer that it was not broken), your boyfriend gripped you by the wrist and dragged you across the room. You had barely enough time to realise what he was doing, only feeling a cold surface against your back as his lips ravished yours.

At some point, he broke away--lips swollen and slightly more red than normal. To say the sight had not affected you more than you already were would be a lie.

Still not giving you enough time to speak, Wooyoung turned you around so you could finally see what he had you pressed against.

A mirror.

If an idea of what he was planning hadn’t dawned on you, having his fingers tug at your clothes certainly gave you one now. His free hand had clasped around your jaw, making you look right into your reflection, seeing how your boyfriend’s lips were dangerously close to your ears as he looked at you dead in the eye through the mirror.

“Let me show you that I can be better than your imagination. Let me show you that you need to think about no one but me. Let me show you how good you’ll feel and who is the sole reason behind it.”

Yes, Wooyoung has all your favourite qualities in a partner while exceeding all expectations. That’s why you’re dating him.

Choi Jongho:

Ever since the release of your first movie and publication of the book it was based on, your career had blossomed. Finally, you quit the job that had been draining the life out of you to work full time at the publishing company.

Everyone around you could tell you were much happier, and the one who noticed it the most was Jongho.

Sure, your eyes were less sunken in, your cheeks more red, your step more bouncy. But he could feel that you changed on the inside too.

Your smile didn’t feel so forced after you came back from work and he had asked you how the day was. Now, your boyfriend found himself talking less and listening more to what you had to say.

If there was an expression more powerful to describe how he loved this happier version of you, he would use it in a heartbeat.

Sure, there were still times when the both of you couldn’t hang out as much as you would like to, but that was always in the job description, and the both of you were more than happy with it as long as the bed had both of you in it at the end of the day, both metaphorically and literally.

Then came along your second movie deal of a completely different story. In fact, it was based upon a movie you had watched at the time, and you hated it so much that you simply redid the entire thing.

In fact, it had irked you to the point no one could even tell it was based off of something since you had changed so much of it. However, there were still concepts you kept in the story--intimate scenes, for example (even if they too were completely changed).

You wrote such concepts before, and you would continue to do so since it was just interesting to write. Jongho, however, did not know about it.

At all.

So once your second movie was released, he was in for a surprise.

It was miraculous how terrible your memory was, since you had forgotten that you had not told him about the scene that would come up as you both watched it at home just before it’s release in the cinemas.

‘Surprise’ wasn’t really the word Jongho would use when it did come up, nor would it be ‘shock’. He was... mildly curious? Not that either... Well, all he knew that whatever he was feeling was not overwhelming.

“Did you know they changed this scene?” you spoke up.

“Really?”

Humming, you nodded your head. “They said the original scene was... Let’s just say they thought it was ‘too much’.” Then you scoffed under your breath. “Don’t know why they thought that though. It was fairly vanilla. Just some wall sex is all,” you confessed.

Now he felt a little overwhelmed. But he was mainly amused. “I don’t remember doing that with you.”

“Hmm? Oh... that’s because we didn’t.”

Chuckling under his breath, he cocked his head to the side, the paused scene in the background long forgotten. “Have you ever wanted to try it?”

“Once upon a time. Suggested it to my ex once before but he couldn’t lift me up since I was ‘way too heavy’,” you recalled with air quotations. “Didn’t bother trying after that.” You laughed at the memory, finding it to be hilarious back then and even now.

But your boyfriend on the other hand had not. In fact, he was no longer amused.

He was pissed.

It wasn’t about the fact that you had mentioned your ex--he never felt even remotely threatened by him. It was because he had called you heavy. He called his precious darling ‘heavy’. And you just laughed.

That was who you were--no matter how mean another person was being to you, you took it as a joke and moved on. You saw no point in dwelling over the bad, and that was one of the many genuine things he had fallen for. This time was different; it annoyed him.

Sure it might have been a dumb little memory for you, yet simply hearing about it had his blood boiling.

“Get up.”

“Wha--why?” The dark look in his eye had your lips sealing within the second. As if on autopilot, your body stood from the sofa you two were so comfortably perched on.

He followed you up, wrapping his hands around the back of your thighs, which only meant one thing. “Jongho--no. You won’t be able to.”

“Am I or am I not the strongest man you’ve ever met?”

“You are, but--”

“‘But’ I don’t care.” Forcefully, he lifted you up as you yelped, legs wrapping around his waist. “See? I can pick you up completely fine.”

Scanning his face, you saw that what he said was true. He picked you up as if you were as light as a feather, no tension in his neck, face, or arms to suggest he was having a hard time either.

It had you leaning against him, forehead touching forehead, laughing even more than you did before. Smile once again etched on his face, Jongho pecked your lips, walking slowly with you in his arms.

“Now shush and let me fuck you against the wall.”

[demonslayedher]

I'm glad you reactivated the questions, here are some flowers for you: 💐 Seriously speaking I'm sorry that because of a question I asked you a few weeks ago you watched a series of videos of psychopaths 🥲It made me laugh at first but then I felt guilty 💔 it's all Muzan's fault for leaving us all with curiosity (imagine his parents' reaction once they realized there was something wrong with him even as a human)

Yay, flowers (which I shall kill with my black thumb)! And no, no, it’s fine, I had hoped it came off funny! I like listening to stuff like that while I draw anyway because I’m a nerd anyway and I found it very interesting.

Speaking of being a nerd, you have innocuously unlocked the following essay about Heian period nobility and wisteria flowers: There is nothing to state so in canon, but I find it highly reasonable to say Muzan might had been of the very powerful Fujiwara clan. Step inside my office, Anon.

Okay. So. The Heian period, simply put, was a time of cultural flourishing and beautiful pastimes, the origins of a lot of Japanese style aesthetics, and a romantic courtly like of romancing everybody else in the court. This is assuming, of course, that you were at the very, very, very, very top of society. Otherwise, the vast majority of people were poor and sick and starving and ew, in young Muzan’s world, we do not wish to associate with that. In the Heian court, Kyoto basically is the whole cultural world. Even though there were other cities that could rival Kyoto, the emperor was there, so it was essentially the cultural center of the country. The nobles who lived there got money from owning land in far-flung provinces, but actually having to live in those provinces? What a drag! Having to live away from Kyoto for work, even if it wasn’t an official banishment, often felt like a punishment to the nobles and their families who were used to the social scene at court. And, like affluent courts around the world throughout history, understanding all the intricacies of style and “Heian Rumors” was key to having social clout, and popularity was power. And yeah, nobles would be vicious to each other. While clan dynamics and history are complex and not something I’m getting into here (I don’t consider myself well-versed in it enough), the Fujiwara clan is a BIG DEAL.  Basically, in Heian times, children were typically raised in their mother’s home, thereby heavily influenced by their mother’s clan, so besides a young man’s parents, his in-laws also would had been hugely influential in his life, as they will have a long-felt influence on his progeny. The Emperors typically married Fujiwara daughters. This, in addition to other positions of influence of the Fujiwara clan members usually held with influence over the Emperor, means that politically, there was no messing with them. Now, just because I say Muzan might had been a Fujiwara clan member, I don’t necessarily mean a member of the main branch of the family. Often, due to inheritance management, different branches of various noble clans might be given different surnames. The Fujiwara clan does have different branches, some of which did go one to have close ties with the imperial family even after the fall of their power at the end of the Heian period and all the way through the Taisho, and some branches carry some impressive family legacies but otherwise live like normal or high-class common folk in modern-day. (I know one such Ojousama from a renamed Fujiwara branch; she’s a sweetheart and never brings it up herself but every time I hear other people say things about her family, I’m like, dang.) We can venture from Muzan’s likely expensive medical treatment, multiple marriages (meaning other clans sought to be connected with his family even by marrying their daughters to a sick man), and even preparation for cremation as a baby that he was of a very, very high status. 

Being the sick son of a prominent family may have warped his personality in multiple ways: first, he was probably already used to a culture of popularity equated political power. We see in Muzan’s dealings with humans in the Taisho period that he can be exceedingly charming to get what he wants (a psychopath trait, haha), so he was probably pretty aware of the complex ways of socialites in the court. But, even being aware of that, it probably frustrated him to no end that he was too sick to take part in the social pastimes where he’d gain clout. It’s also possible that he was a bit of a bargain husband for his wives’ families who were seeking to a make ties with his family, as they must not had been politically useful enough to be married off to other powerful matches. This may be some of why he was so ruthless to them, for he never saw them as useful to him in the first place. This probably got a bit worse once he became a demon. Now to be lewd, but he probably got more vigorous in his pursuit of more powerful lovers, and knew how to slay the women’s hearts as he liked (you know, popular Heian pastime, everybody had lots of lovers, it was the norm, though political marriages and legitimate children were still important). That new sense of power probably went to his head. But, ultimately, he must had been limited in clout since he couldn’t take part in any daytime activities, thereby limiting his access to more powerful spheres of influence. His reputation from having grown up sickly must had followed him too. It’s anyone’s guess how much affection his parents had for him and how happy they were about his health at first, and if and when they might had noticed his changes. He was a full-fledged adult by the time he turned into a demon, so who knows how closely they even associated with him. They likely had healthier children who they devoted more care and attention to, and invested more family resources in while assuming Muzan would probably die young.

Who knows what the final straw was in Muzan leaving court? Was it frustration at not being able to walk in daylight that made him flee to the Kanto area in pursuit of the blue spider lily (from near where the doctor lived) long before Kanto became politically affluent? Or was it the rumors at court about how he didn’t age, and that he was eating people?

Of note, a lot of the early legends of demons in Japanese culture take place in the Heian period.

In his book “Japanese History of Demon Slayers,” retired Shizuoka University professor Tetsuo Owada capitalized on the success of Kimetsu no Yaiba to dive into a lot of ties between the series and what it may pay homage to throughout Japanese history and culture. While this was published last September and a handful of his theories have been disproven by the second fanbook published last February, and while I think a lot of his theories are stretching a little too far to make strong connections, it’s still deeply, deeply interesting stuff. He goes into some specific comparisons of demons, like Minamoto-no-Raiko and his posse of four big bad warriors taking on the Tsuchigumo (giant spider demon) terrorizing the mountains north of Kyoto harkening to the case of Rui’s family (and, ding ding ding, this was the primary focus of the official Kabuki/Kimetsu crossover last November), as well as takes little questions left in canon and dives into them a bit deeper. One such question is, why were wisteria lethal to demons? According to Prof. Owada’s research, there is no historical basis for this. Some of the talk online is that: 1. Wisteria are in fact poisonous, and consuming too much of them would cause vomiting and diarrhea (though I’ve also seen people make jam out of them because of the fragrance, so, like???) 2. Beans are thrown around at Setsubun to ward off demons (like so, Feat. Muzan and Kimetsu Beans), and wisteria are of the bean family 3. Wisteria like sunlight, so perhaps like Nichirin, they soak up some of the sun’s properties that are lethal to demons 4. In the language of flowers (Hanakotoba), wisteria symbolize kindness, welcomeness, refusing to leave someone’s side, being drunk with love, being straightforward and truthful, not losing the humanity in one’s heart, thereby containing a lot of meaning contrary to the conduct of demons Interesting, but some of its kind of a stretch. While still finding it a stretch to apply it to wisteria being poisonous to demons, Prof. Owada goes on to say that since ancient times, while the wisteria has some negative connotations of how it was sometimes written with characters meaning “doesn’t heal” (不治) and growing downward with smaller and smaller flowers like symbolize the slow downfall of a family line, it conversely also carries positive connotations of longevity and flourishing family due to the fact that its vines grow upward.

Now, you might picked up at some point that the Japanese word for wisteria is “fuji.” Not to be confused with Mt. Fuji (that’s written differently), it IS the same fuji as in “Fujiwara”: 藤.

Prof. Owada goes on to explore the association with the use of Wisteria crests in Kimetsu no Yaiba, especially on the houses of supporters of the Demon Slayer Corp. His recurring thesis is that the pandemic is partly responsible for Kimetsu no Yaiba’s popularity since demon legends have long since had origins in epidemics, and he supposes the Wisteria crest has a protective effect on the houses, similar to a talisman used in a lot of real life rituals for warding off illness and then often displays in or on the entries of houses to protect the family every year (I have one such item gifted to me, it stays by my doorway, along with a couple sticks of charcoal (but the culture of charcoal is a post for some other day)). The talisman is in reference to a god of Hindu/Chinese origins being treated with hospitality by the So clan, so although other families perished in disaster/disease, he promised to always protect the So clan descendants, so the talisman says “Descendants of the So Clan” so that any household may try to claim that divine protection. The gratitude-exchange of hospitality and protection and sure sounds familiar! Prof. Owada isn’t done yet. While the crest design used in Kimetsu no Yaiba isn’t an actual family crest in in real life, there are lots and lots and lots of family crests that use a wisteria design and have the character for “wisteria” in the name. Any time you hear “—tou”, like Satou, Saitou, or even Gotou, you can typically assume it’s 藤. It’s very common nowadays, but the first family to be granted the use of this name was the Fujiwara clan, when one of the pre-Heian and very powerful emperors granted their clan head this surname, which was a major honor, and it marked the start of the Fujiwara clan’s political dominance (there was already influence leading up to this, but meh, we like clear-cut stuff to simply centuries of history, don’t we?). Furthermore, although we often think of the Fujiwara clan for their influence at court, and we might think of the Minamoto clan for warrior heroes who fought demons, Prof. Owada concludes his argument of wisteria’s protective influence by pointed out a long list of Heian period Fujiwara warriors who also were the heroes of demon slaying legends, stating that their name has also long been tied with demon slayer culture. SO!!! Let me go on with my theory here. Muzan is from the same family line as Ubuyashiki. At some point (I assume after Muzan is long gone from Kyoto), the family is told while their children keep dying, and they accept their mission to bring an end to Kibutsuji Muzan and clear this curse on their family line. My thought is that their ancestor was a full blood sibling of Muzan, one whom was more invested in than sickly Muzan. While perhaps already an off-shoot of the Fujiwara Clan and thereby not entitled to the same sorts of inheritance, they probably maintained close ties with them. But, as it was already not direct by that time, the other Fujiwara clan branches were not affected by this curse. To further spare the clan the effects of this curse, this was probably when that sickly branch took the name Ubuyashiki. (And yes, I have things to say about this name and its possible mythological origins which I find a highly, highly interesting connection. Prof. Owada supposes it is tied with Izumo Taisha Grand Shrine and that is why there are nine pillars, but as much as I love Izumo Taisha and its giant pillars I base my argument in separate Shinto (but also Izumo!) mythology and accept that there are not always supposed to be nine Pillars specifically and Gotouge simply chose that number based on the number of strokes in the kanji for ‘Hashira’ (柱) BUT I DIGRESS). So, the Ubuyashiki Clan is it’s own thing, but is sort of like a cousin to the other Fujiwara branches and thereby continues to enjoy Fujiwara support throughout the Heian period, like some of the Fujiwara warriors going out there and slaying some of Muzan’s early demon experiments, and using their influence to bring in other warriors to the demon slaying cause (pet

theory: Genpei War warrior Kumagai Naozane was a member of the proto-Corp and using Kasugai-garasu was in practice since at least late Heian period). While the Ubuyashiki Clan probably already their own inherited land (and funds that came from it), throughout their history, their cousin clans might also have provided financial support to the Ubuyashiki Clan. But, they probably distanced themselves from the clan due to the curse and not wanting to be tainted. When you bring back in the wisteria associations this puts the contrary associations with a flourishing and dying family line in a new light. Furthermore, the “not healing” way of writing “fuji” also means a lot more in the context of Muzan’s, and later the Ubuyashiki clan’s illness.

[babybluebex]

dear gideon [spencer reid]

pairing: spencer reid x fem reader (y/n)

summary: after spencer’s torture, y/n has a lot to figure out about her and her baby’s life. 

word count: 2600+

warnings: season 2 reid (with a little season 5 at the end), mentions of torture, too much cute Baby Reid content

a/n: this is the last part to my new beginnings series! thank you all for joining me on this journey, and i appreciate every single one of you!

I cried for so long that I fell asleep on the couch in Gideon’s office. When I finally woke up, it was by being shaken awake. My eyes fluttered open and I saw JJ in front of me. Her makeup was smudged under her eyes, and my heart dropped. “What happened?” I croaked, my voice rough and broken. “Is he okay?” 

JJ sniffled. “He was drugged several more times,” she whispered. “And he went into a seizure and… And cardiac arrest. We’re not sure, but we think he died--”

I hung my head. I knew it. I didn’t want to believe it, but I knew it to be true. Spencer fit the vic profile for whoever this murderer was and, the moment he fell into his clutches, I knew he was done for. My husband, my best friend…

“--For a little bit. But Tobias was able to resuscitate him.”

I gasped. “H-He’s alive?” I whimpered out. 

“He’s in the hospital,” JJ told me. “He’s got some cuts and bruises and everything, but he’ll be okay.” 

My fingernails dug into my palms as I struggled to breathe, and I whispered, “I wanna see him.” 

“Sweetheart, you really don’t--” JJ began. 

“Please,” I sighed. “I need to see for myself that he’s okay.”

JJ nodded slowly. “Are you okay?” she asked. 

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” 

“And… them?” JJ asked, and I knew who she was talking about. 

My hand went to my stomach, and I carefully rubbed it. I might have been assuring myself that the baby was still there, because everything else in my life at the moment was so far from normal. “Fine,” I said softly. “They’re fine.”

The car was quiet as we went to the Marine base hospital, where Spencer was put up. Morgan joined us, as intent on making sure that Spencer was alright as I was, and I carefully took his hand. “Thanks,” I whispered. 

“For what?” Morgan asked. 

“You made fun of Spencer when he said that he wanted someone in the room with him,” I said. “On the jet. It made him want to pursue it-- pursue me-- more. All of this is because of you.”

“Aw, I was just razzing the kid,” Morgan sighed. “I didn’t think it would ever go this far.”

“I’m thankful,” I told him. “I wasn’t happy for a long time, and Spence helped me with that. He’s changed my life, and for the better.” 

Morgan nodded, and he said, “Do we know the gender?” 

“I do,” I said. “But Spencer didn’t want to know, so I haven’t been telling anybody.” 

“Can you tell me?” Morgan asked. “The kid has gotta have a relationship with their uncle, right?”

I laughed for the first time. Morgan had a way of cheering me up, no matter what. “Well,” I began. “We had agreed on names for each, and…” I took Morgan’s hand and laid it on my stomach, and I said, “Say hi to Gideon Reid.” 

Morgan’s face lit up, and a smile grew across his face. “His name’s Gideon?” he asked. I nodded, and Morgan smiled even wider. “Does our Gideon know yet?” 

“I haven’t told him,” I said. “You’re the first.”

“Hey, man,” Morgan said softly to my stomach. “How’re you doing?” 

I laughed again, and I put my hand on top of Morgan’s. “Of course, I didn’t tell you this,” I began. “But Spence wanted to ask you to be his godfather.” 

“Oh, God, Spence,” Morgan said. “I’d be honored.” 

We arrived at the hospital soon after, and Morgan squeezed my hand reassuringly. Elle and Gideon were already sitting in the waiting room, and Gideon gestured for me to move closer. “He’s fine,” he told me. “A little confused, but he’s still all with us.” 

I nodded. “Can I see him?” I asked. 

“He’s been asking for you since he woke up,” Gideon said. 

“Umm, Gideon?” I began. “I wanted to tell you that, umm… We’re having a boy, and we’re naming him Gideon.” 

Jason Gideon rarely smiled, but he gave me that warm grin. “That’s an honor, Mrs. Reid,” he told me. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you,” I said quickly. “You affected both of us in such a big way, and I can never, ever thank you enough.”

Gideon led me to the room that my husband was in, and he carefully creaked the door open. Spencer was sat up in bed, wearing a paper gown with bandages over his arms and a patch of gauze over his bottom lip. He was absently looking out the window, his fingers playing with each other as he thought. “Dr. Reid,” Gideon said. “You have a visitor.”

Spencer turned to look at me, and he said, “Y/N.” He stretched an arm out for me, and my tears came again at the sight of him. I moved to his bedside and quickly hugged him, and he hugged me back with a weak grip. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“Me?” I exclaimed. “Spence, you--”

“I know, my love,” Spencer said gently. “But I was never worried about myself. I didn’t know if he had gotten to you two or not, and… The thought of that hurt far more than anything he did to me.”

“That’s not true,” I chuckled lightly. 

“Well,” Spencer began with a weak laugh. “Not entirely. Some of his actions didn’t feel too good, but I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you.”

“Spence,” I said softly. “I know you said that you didn’t want to know, but… I feel like, the circumstances being what they are, you should know.” I took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb. “We’re having a boy, Spencer.”

Spencer’s brain was one of the most advanced in the world. He could tear through a handful of books within a day, he could do dizzying math problems in his head, and he could remember everything he’s ever read. It wasn’t often that Dr. Spencer Reid’s brain didn’t work right, but I saw the sparks and grinding gears in his head at that moment. His mouth opened, then closed, floundering for words, and he finally said, “A boy?” 

I laughed softly. “Yes,” I whispered. “A boy, Spencer.” 

“A boy,” Spencer repeated. “A boy. A boy!” He laughed and took my face in his hands, and he kissed my forehead. “We’re having a boy!” 

His excitement was far better than any reaction I could have hoped for. “I asked Morgan to be his godfather,” I said. “I know you mentioned that was something you wanted--”

“What did he say?” Spencer asked quickly. 

“He said yes,” I told him. “He said he would be honored.”

Spencer smiled widely. “Oh my God,” he whispered. “And we’re still going with the name we thought of… Gideon?”

“If you’re still okay with it,” I said. “I think Gideon Reid has a nice ring to it.” 

Spencer nodded. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Just… Thank you.” 

“Nothing to thank me for,” I told him. 

“No, there’s everything to thank you for,” Spencer said. “That sentence doesn’t make much sense, but I do need to thank you. Before I met you, I never thought I’d be the type to get married, to have children, to have the life I do now. You showed me that I could have that, and that I’m worthy of that. I’m a husband now, and I’m a dad, and that’s something that I had always wished for. Thank you, my love.”

THREE YEARS LATER

“Daddy,” Giddy said. “I don’ wanna go.” 

“I know, man,” Spencer said. He ruffled up Giddy’s frizzy hair, a trait that he had inherited, and Spencer added, “But school’s a lot of fun. You’ll make a lot of friends and learn all of this cool stuff, I promise you’ll like it.” 

“And if I don’t?” Giddy asked. 

“You will,” Spencer said with a nod. 

“But if I don’t?” Giddy said.

“Gideon, my love, please,” I said. “I know you’ll like it.”

“Do they have books on dinosaurs?” Giddy asked. His eyes were wide up at Spencer, who chuckled at him. Giddy had always had a special connection with Spencer; the fact that they looked exactly alike didn’t help to quell that. Giddy didn’t just inherit Spencer’s looks, though; he was as smart as his daddy. “Maybe smarter,” Spencer would joke. He could already remember everything he read and most of what he heard, and he was flying through chapter books like I had never seen. Currently, Gideon Aaron Reid was convinced that he would be a paleontologist, and he consumed books about dinosaurs by the bookshelf. 

“Probably not what you’re used to,” I began. “But they might have some books with pictures of dinosaurs. But fourth grade doesn’t usually have picture books.”

“That’s okay,” Giddy said.

We had gotten special permission to walk Giddy to his first day of fourth grade. He had sped through the first three years of elementary school within a year, with kindergarten taking maybe two months for him to excel, and, at this rate, he was on track to be the youngest high school graduate at eleven years old. Giddy held my hand as Spencer walked alongside us, his cane hitting the tiles with every step, and, even though my baby was smart, he was absolute shit at hiding his feelings. I knew that he was scared, and I stopped walking in favor of kneeling down in front of him.  

“Giddy, baby,” I said softly. “I know this is really scary, but I promise that you’ll be just fine. Just be yourself and I know that you’ll do great.”

“What if people don’t like me?” Giddy asked with a small whimper. His hazel eyes were watery, and it broke my heart. 

“Are you kidding?” Spencer asked. He struggled to get to the floor with his wounded knee but, once he was settled, he pushed Giddy’s long hair behind his shoulder. “Who wouldn’t like you? You’re funny and you’re one heck of a dancer, and you’re just an awesome person all around.” 

“But…” Giddy started. “I’m so… Different.” 

“That’s not always a bad thing, baby,” I said. “Your daddy’s different too. And me, and Uncle Derek, and Aunt JJ and Henry, we’re all different. But you still like and love all of us, right?” 

Giddy nodded. He sniffled and wiped his nose on the back of his hand, and I opened my arms for him. He came to me instantly and buried his face in my chest, and I rubbed his back. “Ya know something, baby?” I asked. “I knew you were going to be different as soon as I met you. You were born, and you cried for a little bit, but you stopped. Almost like you realized how irrational it was. I knew that you were going to be the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met, and you’ve proved that to me every single day of your life. So what if you can read a little better than everyone else? That’s what makes you you.”

Giddy sniffled again, and he sucked at his thumb. “Gideon,” Spencer said softly. “What does your name mean?”

“Strong warrior,” Giddy said softly. 

“And Aaron?”

“Enlightened,” Gideon said. 

“What does that mean?” Spencer asked. 

Gideon hiccuped. “Smart,” he whispered. 

“Strong and smart,” Spencer said. “We wouldn’t have given you that name if we didn’t think that you could live up to it. Alright? You belong here as much as every other kid does. They’ll like you. I swear.”

“You promise?” Giddy asked. 

“I do,” Spencer said, and he hooked Giddy’s small pinkie with his. “C’mon, let’s get going,” he said. “We don’t wanna be late.” I helped Spencer stand back up, and Giddy attached himself to Spencer’s pant leg as we finished our walk to his classroom. The door was ajar, quiet childlike chattering emanating from inside, and I carefully knocked before opening the door. 

“Hi there,” I said. “I’m Y/N Reid, Gideon Reid’s mother.”

“Oh, yes!” the teacher exclaimed excitedly. “Class, we have a very special student joining us today! Gideon is three years old and he’ll be joining us for a few weeks!”

The nine year olds in the room were obviously confused, and I urged Giddy into the room. Spencer followed and lingered in the doorway, and I watched my baby march himself up to the front of the classroom. He looked like any normal three year old-- messy hair, wrinkled shirt, mismatched socks-- but when he spoke, he was wise beyond his years. “Hi,” he announced. “My name is Gideon Aaron Reid. I am three years old, and I like dinosaurs and chocolate milk.” Well, maybe he still was a normal three year old underneath the eidetic memory. 

The teacher pulled me and Spencer out into the hall as Giddy continued to introduce himself, and she said, “He’s… Small.” 

“Yes,” Spencer said. “He is three, after all.” 

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t know names,” the teacher said. 

“Oh,” Spencer said. He quickly switched hands to hold his cane, and he offered her his hand to shake. “I’m Dr. Spencer Reid, and this is my wife, Y/N Reid.”

“A doctor,” the teacher said. “That explains a lot.” 

“Well, I hold three doctorates,” Spencer began. “Mathematics, chemistry, and engineering, and BAs in psychology, sociology, and philosophy.”

“Yes, it’s because of him that Giddy is the way he is,” I chuckled. “He inherited Spencer’s eidetic memory, proving that eidetic memory was both real and genetically related. But, umm… Giddy was born a few weeks early, so he is smaller than most three year olds.” 

“Wow,” the teacher said.

“No, I know, it’s a lot,” I laughed. “Most teachers don’t want to take him because they find he’s too much of a challenge. This means a lot to all of us.”

“No, no, I like a challenge,” the teacher said. “Now, I read somewhere that you work for the FBI, Dr. Reid?” 

“We both do,” Spencer said. “In the Behavioral Analysis Unit. It’s actually how we met. And that also explains this whole thing.” Spencer motioned to the cane, and he sheepishly said, “I was out in the field and got a little banged up. Nothing modern medicine can’t fix.” 

“That’s good,” the teacher said. “I think Gideon will do just fine here.”

“I think so too,” I said. “Um, can I have one last goodbye? This is hard for me.”

“I understand, sweetheart,” the teacher told me. “Let me get him.”

As she went back inside to retrieve Giddy, Spencer put his arm around my waist. “I’m so proud of him,” Spencer said. “I never thought I could love someone so much.”

“I hope you have room for one more,” I said softly. 

“Huh?”

I smiled at my husband. “Spence,” I whispered. “I’m pregnant again.”

Spencer’s eyes widened, and he said, “Wow. Really?” 

“Please react better than last time,” I said quickly, and Spencer laughed. 

“Of course I will,” Spencer said. “Another baby? God! This is exciting!” He hugged me as best as he could with the cane, and I laughed when he kissed my cheek. “God, I love you so much.”

Giddy came bouncing out of the room, and I bent down to hug him again. “Have a good day, bug,” I whispered. “I’m so, so proud of you.” 

“I love you, Mommy,” Giddy said and gave me a quick kiss. “And you too, Daddy.” 

“I hope to hear all about your day,” Spencer said. “Think of one thing I don’t know that you can tell me when I get home tonight.”

“Daddy,” Giddy whined. “You know everything.” 

“I know a lot less than you think I do,” Spencer said. “Give me a kiss, man, you gotta go to class.” Spencer bent at the waist to reach Giddy, and the little boy kissed his father’s cheek. “You blow me away, Gideon,” Spencer said softly. 

“Bye, Daddy,” Giddy said, turning to go back to class. “Bye, Mommy.” 

“Bye, baby,” I said and blew him a kiss. The door slowly closed behind him, and I choked back a sob. “I love you, Gideon Reid.”

[yelenasdog]

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝟏

   ♰ 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔲𝔫𝔰𝔢𝔱

genre: fluff

summary: new school, new faces. or maybe not? part one to a series explaining the pictures of my college au moodboard “new faces”.

words: 2k

warnings: pining, cursing, kissing, lots of inaccuracies to the show, that’s all i can think of.

a/n: i haven’t done anything for cm in quite some time but i got this random poof of inspo so here take it LMAO roger fic coming really soon.

♀♀♀

It was their first kiss. First date, actually.

Emily was a senior at Georgetown, having just transferred from University of Pittsburgh for her last year. Both schools were an odd choice for the young woman, the former proving to be the wrong fit, as it turned out. It angered her mother that she had been transferring so close to graduation, and frankly Emily could care less, but for some reason, she felt her skin itch at any thought of staying at that horrid place just a semester longer.

She wasn’t quite sure as to why. Her questions might have been answered, though, her first day on the new campus. 

The fall air was chilly and crisp, her nose running ever so slightly as she would pull her burgundy jacket tighter around herself in a desperate grab at warmth, it all to no avail. She kept trying, though, pulling the tie around her waist so tight that it felt as if she was in a corset. 

(Not that she would know, she’d refused to ever get near one. The whole idea of them scared her.)

She watched the colorful leaves crunch under her boots, enjoying the sound and feeling a great deal, the texture reminding her fondly of moments from her youth, the few fond ones she had, anyway. She smiled softly, looking up to see the leaves swirl around a familiar looking blonde head of hair.

A few of the leaves got stuck in the hay colored (now) mess, and she only smiled at it, reaching up a gentle hand to pick them out. She grinned down at them and bit her pink lips, watching as they dropped to the cobblestone from her hand. She continued on with a pep in her step, and to put it lightly, Emily was infatuated.

She thought about the blue eyed beauty for the rest of the day, her elegance, her lips that somehow weren’t chapped in the horribly cold weather (which not that Emily knew yet, but was because of the cinnamon peppermint chapstick that the mystery girl kept in her right pocket), and her aura, so to say, as a whole. The voice in her head told her to simmer down, that it was unrealistic that someone as seemingly bright and sunny would even think about spending a flicker of precious time with someone like her. Emily should have been more confident, as she would learn, as mystery girl had been thinking of her, too.

Yes, Jennifer Jareau was thinking of the unknown girl with the wonderfully long eyelashes, and the shiny dark hair that was similar to the shade of black that graced the feather of the crows she would see down by the pond she passed on her morning runs. Her mind was otherwise occupied from all normal affairs, consumed by thoughts of her ripped and pale lips that the enticing other woman darted her tongue across mere seconds after the last time she had, every single time. 

Jennifer had wished to tell the girl that licking her lips only dried them out more, only wanting to help relieve her of any possible pain, as that’s what Jennifer always did. That’s why she told herself she was thinking of the drop dead gorgeous girl who she had sworn she’d seen before, and she promised to herself she would find her and let her know.

And apparently, she would.

It wouldn’t be for a few hours, though, not until they both ended up at the top floor of the library, the quietest one where there was a silent rule that speaking was forebode. Emily internally cursed herself for that, feeling damned that fate would put her in a position of such pining, yearning. It was an ironic situation, though, as Emily would like to believe that she would have the confidence in herself enough to actually go up to the blonde and make conversation, maybe ask her for a study date? But, she wouldn’t. Not today.

Jennifer would, though. Jennifer would catch notice of the brunette lurking behind the single bookshelf in the upper level, as it was only really there for storage and the shelves were sparse. So with her heart beating and her palms sweaty, she went down the flights of stairs, her feet silent against the carpet. They would sound out again when she reached the tile flooring of the second level, and she screwed her eyes shut, hoping that somehow the girl followed her and that JJ would hear her footprints.

She didn’t care how ridiculous she looked, all bundled up and standing in the middle of a group of tables with her eyes closed, almost like she was trying to turn invisible, hiding in plain sight. Honestly, she very well may have been.

A few beats passed, and Jennifer gave up on her non existent spidey senses, deciding to try to actually rid her mind of raven girl, as she had decided to call her until she knew her real name, and study for her upcoming exam that she her until she knew her real name, and study for her upcoming exam that she somehow had, despite it only being the sophomores first day.

So she sat quietly as she read through her criminology textbook, humming some tune that her friend had introduced her to, something by a new indie group. Her humming came to a cease, though, when she heard a thud. She looked up, a small gasp falling from her glossed lips at who was sitting across from her.

She looked right back down to the tanned wood of the table, as soon as she saw warm brown eyes boring into her. Then, it was quiet, just the bustle of those around her. Pages flipping, pencils scratching, and small groans escaping from tired students as they went.

“Why’d you stop?”

Jennifer’s breath caught in her throat, her perfectly manicured hand freezing on the paragraph she was reading. Raven girl's voice had caught her off guard, deep and smooth, like honey.

“I’m sorry, what do you mean?” The blonde stuttered out, still having a hard time meeting her eyes.

“Your humming, I liked it, it was nice. Don’t tell me you stopped because of me!” She leaned forward on her arm, quirking a perfect eyebrow. They both laughed, and Emily felt she hadn’t ever in her life heard such a golden and melodic sound before.

“Sorry, sorry, you just caught me by surprise, that’s all.”

“I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Emily. I just transferred here from-”

“University of Pittsburgh?”

A look of bewilderment came across Emily's stark features, along with a sly smile. “How’d you know,”

“Jennifer. My name’s Jennifer. I came here for my grad studies a while back.”

Emily chuckled again, falling back to her chair. “God, I swore you looked so familiar.” She said, watching as Jennifer laughed and shook her head. Jennifer closed her book, observing that Emily never had even opened hers. She placed it in her bag slinging it over her shoulder. She stood, Emily following suite.

“Small world, right, Emily?”

She nodded immediately, tightening her own grip on her satchel. The leather was cool on her calloused fingers,

“Care to chat with me about it over a coffee?”

And that’s how they ended up sitting in the quaint cafe just down the road, watching as the sun started to sink, beverages in hand. Jennifer had found out that Emily preferred her coffee black, while Emily had found out that Jennifer liked hers with 2 hazelnut creams and 4 sugars. The thought made both girls smile, finding that both drinks fit their personalities perfectly.

Growing impatient, Emily ran her tongue over her lips again, feeling the peeling skin, the taste bitter and the sores burning. She leaned closer to Jennifer, like she had earlier in the library. Jennifer could feel her breath fanning over her neck, and it gave her butterflies, just like the ones she can remember being so obsessed with in her youth.

“What do you say we get outta here, find somewhere to watch the sunset?”

Jennifer only nodded bashfully, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and standing, taking Emily's hand as it had been offered to her, following her wherever she may go.

Now, they were sitting on the concrete of the rooftop to the freshman dorms, Emily somehow managing to get through, claiming she had some friends who would be happy to let her up. Apparently, she wasn’t bluffing.

“Sunset’s gorgeous, huh?” Jennifer spoke, her hands feeling the rough material beneath her, the wind blowing against her face. Her hair floated around her like a halo, and though Emily had lost much faith, if she had to spot an angel, her money was on them looking just like the girl next to her. Her eyes never left Jennifer’s silhouette as she spoke, her focus captured.

“Yeah. Breathtaking.”

Jennifer turned to meet her gaze, both of them fully understanding what breathtaking, really, truly meant in that moment. It was the windswept hair, breathtaking, really, truly meant in that moment. It was the windswept hair, watery eyes, red noses. Bright smiles, hands basically itching to reach for the other.

“Does everyone call you Jennifer?”

“I mean, my mom calls me Jen?”

Emily shook her head, saying “No, that won’t work. How about a last name?”

“Jareau.”

She took a second, using this as an opportunity to stall, decide her next move.

“I’ve got it! How about JJ? Yeah?”

Jennifer or JJ, smiled again, looking to her hands. She loved it, God, why did she love it? She knew the answer to that, because Emily had given it to her, it was new, exciting. Just like her.

“It’s that, or J squared. Which one?” She tilted her head, and then both laughed and smiled, something they found they would be doing a lot of together.

“Yeah, you’re right. JJ is good, it’s good.” She whispered, lifting her head. She was met with Emily, who had some troubled look upon her face. She was conflicted, that much JJ could tell, her few profiling classes she’d had serving her well.

They were close, now, and JJ could finally see the folds and cracks of the other girls lips, wanting nothing more than to just lean in and kiss them, once and for all.

“Y’know, uh, licking your lips makes dryness even worse.”

Emily's mouth made an “o”, a smile coming soon after.

“Really? Well then you’ve got to spill, what on Earth do you do to keep yours so damn perfect?”

“I- Fuck.”

Not waiting a second more, JJ rushed forward, connected their lips in what felt so long awaited, though they had only formally known each other for a few hours. The contrast of their skin was so enticing, so addicting, they couldn’t help but smile, teeth clashing and breaths mixing. They only separated to catch their breaths, chests heaving.

“It’s chapstick. I never leave home without it.” JJ commented, said chapstick having left remnants on Emily's lips. She nodded, opening her eyes.

“Yeah, I got that. Peppermint and,” She quickly flicked her tongue again, recognition becoming prevalent in her features. “cinnamon?”

JJ’s smile widened, as it had never left her face, and she nodded slowly, pulling the tube out from her right pocket. She popped off the lid, shifting positions so that she was straddling Emily's lap, her hair dangling in her eyes.

“Is this okay?” She questioned, the chapstick still in her shaky hand. Emily nodded vigorously, her heart beating quite fast, her mind repeating all the possibilities that could go wrong like some sort of mantra.

“Yeah, this is more than okay.” She laughed, her eyes crinkling at the corners. JJ did the same, putting on another round of the solution before leaning down and placing a long kiss on Emily's lips. She pulled away, running the tube over them again, “just for good measure” she had said.

When they finally had left the cold rooftop, hand in hand, the sky had turned into an indigo sheet, the stars in it shimmering as bright as ever.

“Em?” JJ had questioned, stopping in her tracks. Emily looked over, raising her brows and tilting her head, resembling a puppy.

“Hmm?”

“Can we do this again?”

The question hung in the air, and Emily savoured it, letting it sink in deeply, as deep as it could go. They started walking again, their heels echoing loudly against the wet stone.

“Yeah, JJ. I’d like that.”

♀♀♀

hmmmmmmm interesting ANYWAY i’ll make a pt two prolly idk peace ily go drink water and eat protein 

edit: i just reread this this is so horrible what the FAWK im so sorry never let me write when im pulling an all nighter ever again

xx hj

[flying-nightwing]

Sparks Must Fly to Start a Fire (2/2)

Hellooooo again people. This is the second part as promised! It concludes the small serie, for a grand total of 12.5k words, which is higher than my average if I’m honest 😂 I had so much fun writing this, thanks anon! I hope it was up to your expectations! Enjoy part 2 xx

Masterlist in bio // pinned

Pairing: Jason Todd x reader

Word count: 7106

Warnings: violence, language, a bit of trauma

Day 9

“... There is no development in the case, all search parties came up with nothing. The GCPD now believes the disappearance of the young woman has a direct link to the major leak of incriminating documents that were shared to the DA’s office. The investigation, conducted by commissioner Gordon, might sound the fall of an empire of organized crime in Gotham if it goes through trial…”

“I was supposed to marry Vitto, today” You spoke up with mild boredom over yet another news story about you. You hadn’t realized time had flown this fast ever since you betrayed your family.

“Oh, oh wow” Jason hadn’t expected that. “Why would anyone do that?”

In the last days you had gotten into a semi-comfortable routine. The bickering was still very much present, but the snark had considerably deescalated. You had now tasted every snack he told you regular people ate, even those energy drinks he seemed to like to consume during long drives. You had even taken a cautious liking to the canned soups, which remained the only thing you knew how to make on a stove. Still, you didn’t escape Jason’s mockery everytime you didn’t know how to do something “simple”. You didn’t think you’d ever escape it, no matter what.

“It’s not like I had a choice” You said as a matter of fact, leaning back on the headrest of the car. “Women in my world are either trophies or mothers, depending on whether or not they’re still in their prime”

“Let me guess, you were to be Vitto’s trophy?”

“Bingo” 

“How old is he, like 50?” He snorted.

“46” You corrected. “Not that it makes any difference”

Jason gagged. “Guess you dodged a serious bullet there”

“God, marrying that manwhore plagued my nightmares for weeks” You chuckled, looking up at the roof of the car. “Hope he rots in jail once this is over”

“Arranged marriage, uh?” He said, sending you a quick uncomfortable glance. Something akin to remorse flashed very briefly across his face, but it was gone as soon as it came. You only nodded. “Sorry about that”

“Don’t be” You brushed off. “That was essentially their downfall in the end. Half of the reasons why I leaked the documents was to prove to my family I am not a chew toy to throw to the dogs. A power grab was out of the question, especially after one of my distant cousins, Alaina, tried and got gunned down. I thought if I was to get killed, I’d go down trying to be better”

Your words were followed by silence, and you realized you had said too much. You didn’t want or need his pity. You cleared your throat and looked away. Soon enough, Jason pulled into a shady looking motel and stopped the car. You glanced in disgust at the overall state of the motel, thinking about how it was definitely the worst one you had stayed in so far, even if you hadn’t stepped foot in yet. The vacancy sign was flashing against the sunset in the distance, and it gave you serious serial killer vibes. 

You grabbed your travel bag from the backseat and followed Jason in. The neons inside were barely functioning, casting a harsh glow on the lobby, if anyone could call it a lobby. The man behind the counter looked up at the sound of the little bell above the door and stood up slowly, showing off the grease stains on his yellowed wife-beater. He gave the impression of being just as crooked as his motel, especially with the creepy grin he gave the both of you, but especially to you. Jason walked up to the counter, unbothered by the general mood of the place.

“Good evening” The clerk greeted with a smoke clouded voice, glancing in between you two. “For an hour or two?”

You grimaced while Jason blinked slowly. Then, he smiled one of his smiles that looked normal, but hid something dangerous when you looked close. You had found yourself on the other end of those more times than not ever since he became your unofficial bodyguard. “Got anything for the night?”

The clerk laughed while you wanted to hit him. Hit them both, actually. 

“I like your style, kid” He wrote something on his clipboard before turning around and grabbing a key from the wall. “That’ll be 60”

Jason took out three 20$ bills from his wallet and handed them in exchange for the keys. Jason however leaned further on the counter. “How thick are the walls in there?”

“You sly dog” He chortled, and Jason joined. “Don’t worry, if your girl ain’t much of a screamer nobody will know what you be doing. Here, take that, if you want some more fun”

“Perfect” His lips curled up as he accepted the flyer handed to him. You caught a glimpse of the bright green paper, announcing some kind of escort service. “Thanks”

“Aight kid, room 141. Have fun”

You forced yourself to ignore the lusty eyes he sent your way and snatched the keys from Jason’s hand, hurrying to the room. “What was that?” You hissed under your breath.

“You’re in a place full of suspicious people” He hissed back. “You gotta act suspicious with them or they’ll single you out” 

“Did you really have to make it seem like I was a prostitute?” You said as you unlocked the door and pushed it open. You stepped in and let him in, before locking again the door behind him.

“There’s nothing wrong with being…” He trailed off as he halted his steps. His frame blocked the sight of the room for you, so you didn’t know what he was talking about. Was it dirty? Were there rodents? “Oh you must be fucking kidding me”

You finally peeked around him, to see only one bed rather than the two queens he usually asked. He had forgotten this time to ask, and the clerk had naturally insinuated you’d want to be together. How could he have not?

“At least it’s a King bed this time” You sniggered. “More space”

“I’m gonna get it changed” He turned around to go back to the reception desk.

“Wasn’t it you who said not to act suspicious?” You raised a challenging eyebrow. “If you go back there and ask for two beds, won’t that ruin all that acting you did over there?”

He spun around once again, facing you with narrowed eyes. He obviously didn’t like you using his logic against him. “Right.” He then side stepped you and went straight to the windows. He closed the blinds and proceeded to check the walls for… Whatever. He looked strange doing it. 

“And right now you’re…” You trailed off, trying to find why he was all but caressing the dirty walls. 

“Checking for cameras” He finished, looking inside a lamp. “Those motels sometimes have hidden cameras and the owners resell the tapes on porn sites”

“Oh god” You reacted, horrified. And he had the audacity to paint you off as a criminal, when those kinds of people existed. You thought you would be sick. He paused, sending you what you thought was a concerned glance--but it couldn’t be--before he returned to his examination.

“That’s why I’m making sure there’s none here” He mumbled.

You nodded, then carefully made your way to the bed. Despite the overwhelming scent of cigarettes latched onto the fabric, the sheet seemed relatively clean, at least for the general quality of the establishment. You dropped your bag in front of the dresser beside you and sat on the edge of the bed as Jason finished his inspection.

“All clear” He announced before taking out his gun from his belt and putting it on the nightstand. “You should rest, we won’t stay here too long. Also, if you can avoid the shower, I’d recommend you wait until we are somewhere else”

“I hate it here” 

“Yeah well, our disastrous stop to Target has kind of tied our hands, princess” He shrugged, like it was your fault you had been found. “So we gotta settle for even less if you don’t want a redo”

“Will you ever stop calling me that?” You glared at him.

“What, princess?” He asked rhetorically, then paused and pretended to think. “No, no I don’t think so”

“You’re insufferable” You scoffed, climbing up further on the bed.

“I wouldn’t get under the covers either” He warned as you were about to pull back the comforter, totally ignoring your comment on his general attitude. “I doubt they’re washing them real good”

You shuddered in disgust as you instead opted for bringing your knees to your chest, hoping the room wouldn’t get too cold during the night.

Day 10

You didn’t if it was your state still clouded by sleep, or the shock that made you see the scene happen in slow motion. 

Jason was waking up, sitting in the bed at a reasonable distance from you as your eyes cracked open. Still, you saw the sequence clearly. His back tensed and his head snapped to the window, then his eyes widened. He reacted in a fraction of second, grabbing his gun on the fly and diving on your side. You had barely the time to register his body colliding with yours that the first machine gun went off. You hit the ground hard, but you didn’t feel anything in the spike of adrenaline and paralyzing fear that surged through you. You could only close your eyes as bullets rained over you, and yet you weren’t even touched by the wood and cotton flying everywhere as his body caged yours in protection. His string of curse was audible above the commotion, which let you know he wasn’t gravely wounded yet. Yet. 

There was a pause in the shooting, but your eyes were still ringing so loud you didn’t hear him call your name at first. You opened your eyes, disoriented.

“Hey, hey stay with me” He hurried his words, glancing over his shoulders. “Roll under the bed, don’t come out until I come and get you, and if they try to get you, hit them with anything you find, aim for the head”

You could only nod as he helped you get under the bed, and for one you couldn’t even be bothered to notice how filthy it was under there. You were terrified for you, but also for Jason who would face those people with a handgun only. You just hoped his skills hadn’t been exaggerated, or else it would be bad news for everyone. 

There was chatter in between the gun fires, but you couldn’t decipher the voices. You counted there were at least six different tones of shout. However, judging by the familiar smugness of the exchange, you could have sworn it was Jason mocking them and not the other way around. It made you wonder exactly what kind of security he had done if he was taking the time to be smug in a one against five fight. Still, you were glad to have him on your side rather than against you.

“Hey”

You jumped and screamed at the sudden face appearing to your left, but let out a breath of relief when you saw it was Jason. He helped you out from under the bed, his glance shifty in between the door and windows. The room was a mess, he was covered in blood you doubted was his, and he was still on guards.

“So, we need to leave now” He said, already picking up his bag and yours. You noticed a second gun now strapped on his thigh and various new weapons in a utility belt. Where he got that was a mystery, but you didn’t question it. He gently pressed you along the bodies dropped at the threshold of the room and in the hallway until you reached the reception desk. You counted seven bodies. The same creepy clerk was cowering behind his desk, a darker stain on the crotch of his pants. Jason gave him an overall look and sighed, shaking his head. Still, he paused in front of him and dropped the bags.

“You son of a bitch” He chuckled lowly, menacingly. “You sold us out, didn’t you?”

He whined in response, confirming Jason’s suspicion.

“How much did you cash on the tip? 3k? 4k?” He taunted further, tsking in disapproval. “Can’t trust anyone these days”

“Please, I needed the money--”

Jason shot two bullets in his head. “Don’t care”

He turned on his heels and grabbed the bags again, bringing you along as gently as he could. You went outside, but he gestured for you to wait at a good distance from the car. He went over and inspected it, taking two devices off from two different places. Bombs, you figured. He threw the first one through the windows of the reception, then the other, he shot while in the air. An explosion went off, shaking your stance on the ground as the motel’s central area went up in flames. 

“Oops, gas leak” He said blandly. “Come on, let’s get out of here”

You climbed in the passenger seat, clutching your now all dusted up bag for support. You needed to hold onto something while you came to terms with the repeated attempts on your life in the last fifteen minutes. Jason drove off, leaving the smoking building off to burn. 

“Sorry you had to see that back in the lobby” He spoke when you were far enough.

“It’s fine” You shook your head. “He deserved it”

He blinked, a tiny bit stunned. “Hey are you okay?”

“Should I not be?” It came out weaker than intended. “I’m way in over my head with this”

“No, no, you did the right thing” He tried to reassure you, or that’s what you thought he was trying to do. Either way, it went right over your mental downward spiralling.

“I should have stayed in my lane” You kept mumbling, flexing your fingers on your bag. “I’d still be doing my thing, away from literal murder attempts in crappy motel rooms”

“Hey hey hey” He lifted a hand up. “May I remind you that you’d be married to Vitto fucking Maroni right now if you didn’t go rogue? That thought alone should give you relief”

You let out an uncontrolled laugh. What has your life become?

“Truth is I don’t know what I’m doing” You admitted, your voice cracking. “All I’ve achieved it to piss everyone off”

“Yeah you did piss everyone off, but so do I on a daily basis” He replied, making your frown in confusion. “Sometimes pissing everyone else is the only way to get things going, y’know?”

You blinked a couple of times. “I literally don’t”

He opened his mouth to reply, then closed it immediately. He then took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts. “All I’m saying is, doing the right thing is an ugly job. It’s hard and messy and fucks with you, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and do it anyway. I know this is all new for you, and this is a rather harsh welcome party, but you gotta fight through it”

You nodded, casting your eyes on him at last. His skin was reddened by the drying blood on his face and hair, and his clothes were dirty and torn. Amidst the cooling blood, you noticed a steady flow of brighter red coming off a hole in the sleeve of his t-shirt, widening the already big stain around it. 

“You’re bleeding”

He looked down at his side, unfazed. “Oh right, a bullet got me on the initial wave”

“We need to get it out and close the wound” Your eyes found his for a brief second, before his glance returned to the road.

“It can wait” He downplayed it, probably by a force of habit. 

“It looks like it’s bleeding a lot” You insisted.

“I’ll be fine--”

“It’s my fault you’re hurt” You interrupted him. You felt like you had at least to do something for him, especially since he just saved your life twice. Besides, you needed to focus on something else than what had just gone down. “Let me help”

He took a deep breath, then gave a little nod. He pulled over at the next gas station and parked the car, then went to his trunk, picking his first aid kit while you went to ask for the bathroom key. You joined him at the car and went to find the bathroom in the back of the building, locking the door behind you for privacy. You stood beside him as he rummaged through it, handing you a pair of pliers and disinfecting gauzes. You waited for him to take off his jacket, laying your supplies on the counter, then carefully rolled the sleeve of his t-shirt. You grabbed a clean gauze to stop the bleeding, gently pressing on the wound.

“Have you done this before?”

You didn’t see his question come, but you answered nonetheless. “Yes, a few times” You said. “On my older brothers. That’s something we learn, just in case we are the ones to patch up our husbands”

“Is this really how you were treated?” He asked, his voice surprisingly soft compared to what you had gotten so far. “Like a service wife in training?”

“Pretty much” You nodded with a weak scoff. You carefully checked the wound, and the bleeding had almost stopped. You grabbed the alcohol gauze and tore the pack open. “There isn’t much choice but to obey”

He didn’t even flinch when you cleaned the wound. “When I pulled the gun on you the first day we met, you said it wasn’t the first time somebody did that to you” He began, recalling the events from ten days ago. “What happened the other times?”

You put the bloodied gauzes aside and grabbed the pliers, disinfecting them with a smaller alcohol wipe before going for the bullet. “Would you believe me if I said something along the lines of wildly opposing my union to the Maroni family?” 

His lips curled up slightly, but his teeth were clenched as you tried to grab the bullet well lodged in his flesh. You managed to get a good grip on it and slowly pulled it out. You immediately covered the wound again with clean gauze and dropped the bullet in the trash pile. 

“Bullet’s intact, you should be fine” You said, holding the gauze with one hand and searching for a needle and a stitching thread with the other. 

“How old were you when it happened?” 

You paused, staring at his arm. How old were you back then, when your father announced you’d be part of a two-way deal with the Maroni family? Not very old, that was for sure. You pulled the gauze away and sanitized the needle, then passed the thread in the loop. “17, I think”

“You were just a child” It came out more like a statement than a question. You shrugged before beginning the stitches. He still wasn’t flinching as the needle came in and out of his skin,making it easier for you to do a clean job. You finally tied the thread and cut it with the scissors he handed you. 

“I’m sorry I pulled you into this mess” You apologized as you wrapped the wound with yet some other clean gauze and bandaged it. “I… I didn’t plan this through at all. I felt the doors close on me and I acted without even thinking of the real consequences. I thought I would be strong enough to go with it, turns out I’m not”

You had been all bark and no bite, you could see that now. You came in strong, acting like nothing could get to you, like the threat was just an imaginary bound to keep you in place. You made a bold move to cross it, and now you could clearly see how dangerous the waters you were threading in actually were. It wasn’t child’s play anymore, it was real, and you caved under the pressure on your first real trial.  

He turned around as he pulled his sleeve down, facing you. He was in your space, but it didn’t feel like all the other times. His presence wasn’t threatening. “You don't have to apologize” There was something genuine in his eyes. “And to pull off what you did needs strength, even if you don’t realize it yet. Your reaction to almost being killed doesn’t change that fact”

“It certainly doesn’t feel that way”

“Trust me, princess” His little teasing smile returned. “Someone who can hold her own against me like you did is not weak”

“I was just mean” You blinked in surprise, letting out a small chuckle. “I think that’s different”

“See, still arguing” His smile widened. You had known him for ten days, but you had gotten used to him being a certain way. This light and sincere attitude he had now was, to say the least, unusual for you. When he wasn’t constantly sneering, you noticed his features better. His blue eyes carried a kind spark, the type you found in a natural caretaker. The harsh angles of his jaw and cheekbones shaped a handsome face, decorated by little silver scars blending with his freckles. He was like a fallen angel shining through a broken halo, dangerous and protective, but only if you took the time to look past the burned wings. The unflattering white light of the bathroom made him look worn out, but it didn’t change anything to the raw beauty of his face. His bloody knuckles came in soft contact with your cheek, like a feather gliding on a cloud in the sky. His eyes never left yours, and even if they did, you felt like you’d follow them whichever direction they went. 

He was tall, considerably so. He hovered over you like a safety blanket, your own shield from the dangers stalking you outside the door. At that moment, you had trouble understanding how his proximity had once filled you with so much unease you felt like hiding away, because all you could feel now was an all consuming calm. There was however a pulse that was alive, one that was begging you to get closer. He seemed to have felt it too; his movement was slow, letting you more than enough time to back off. As his lips slowly got closer to yours, you know you didn’t want to move away. You filled the distance separating you from him and met him there in a gentle kiss to test the water first. 

It didn’t take long for you to lose control. All the emotion of the last days that had bottled up were let to run wild in between you two like an electric current, surrendering your every sense to him. Your hands went to the back of his neck for support, because god knew you needed it. His arms sneaked behind your back as he pushed further into you, quickening the pace of the kiss and clouding your mind. Tongues battled in a war that was already won, knowing in one way or another he’d be the victor. You could feel all the tension, all the frustration, all the anger and all the guilt coming in strong before burning like dry wood in a bonfire. Were there any versions of this that didn’t end where you were? It seemed impossible. 

You didn’t want to open your eyes just yet when he pulled away, reluctant to even let go. He captured your lips in a couple of kisses before fully letting you catch your breath.

“Well” His voice was barely over a whisper over the panting. “That might be one way to settle an argument”

“Then I might pick more arguments” Your lips lifted in a small grin.

“And I might not object to that” His eyes were bright with amusement. “Besides, I might have gotten around to like that smart mouth of yours”

“Oh, have you now?”

“Might” He corrected.

“Sure” For the first time in what felt like forever, you actually smiled. You slowly retracted your arms from his neck, letting him stand straight again. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here and put as much distance as we can from this motel” He said, but it lacked the patronizing tone it once contained. It was even like he didn’t actually want to leave just yet, but had to, or both of your safety. You shared the sentiment.

You packed the first aid kit and burned the bloody gauzes in the sink, then killed the fire and returned the key to the counter. You drove away shortly after, confident things might just be alright this time.

Day 16

You had circled back to the first place you had stayed in, the little cabin so far in the woods you were almost sure nobody would find you, or at least not yet. 

Jason had told you he had installed security devices on the dirt road to make sure he was aware of anybody driving up, as well as the traps he had set in the woods. Once again, it reinforced your idea that his job experience might not have been a traditional one. You frankly didn’t mind, as you were in no position to judge a potential criminal past. Besides, you believed anything he did couldn’t be worse than what your family or the Maronis did on a daily basis. 

You had woken up when the sun was already high in the sky, and to your surprise Jason had still been there, on his back and staring at the ceiling. When you had turned around on your side, he had mimicked you to come face to face with you, not talking at all. His wound on his arm had stopped bleeding during the night, for which you were thankful for. It eased your guilt to see it was healing well. You had stayed there for what seemed like hours, but it was comfortable. 

“I meant to ask,” He began, his voice soft and husky from the morning. “Why did you go to Bruce with the leak?”

You blinked slowly, tilting your head slightly to the side. “Well, I couldn’t go to the police, it was out of the question. I couldn’t trust any of them to pursuit this case”

“But what made you trust Bruce in particular?”

“I… I like to listen when people talk. Before, it gave me the impression I was part of the family business and not just an accessory, and that way I got to hear bits and parts of the discussions conducted behind closed doors” You began. “More times than not I would hear how Wayne Enterprises projects got in the way of their plans, and how Bruce Wayne would always do something to undermine them legally. So after I stole the intel, there was really one way I was certain would yield results, one person I was certain would have all the interests in the world to see this trial happen”

“That’s…” He trailed off, an impressed expression on his face. “That’s surprisingly smart”

“Surprisingly?” You raised an eyebrow.

“For someone who had no idea how to use a can opener, that is” 

You slapped his chest as he let out a laugh; he was so proud of his joke. “Hey, I learned!”

“I know, I know” He chuckled, reaching his hand and brushing a rogue hair strand away from your face. You had noticed as the days passed that he seemed to favor the little touches and the unspoken rather than obvious and obnoxious displays. You knew he was more of the quiet type when he wasn’t arguing with you, always working in his corner and doing his stuff. It hadn’t really changed ever since the gas station moment, but this time he would steal little glances, brush his hand against yours when he’d change gears in the car, or make sure he took out a bowl for you as well when you made your canned soup. “You adapted better than I thought you would, considering the entire lifestyle change you had to go through in the last two weeks”

“I didn’t have much choice, did I?” You grinned. 

“Nope, not at all, princess” He pushed himself on his elbows and leaned down to kiss you. You smiled onto his lips, welcoming the slow movements of him against you. However, you gently pushed him back after a moment, knowing if he had it his way, you’d stay there for hours. 

“Jason” You said his name when he was visibly trying to distract you again with butterfly kisses on your jaw, only pausing to give you wide, innocent eyes. Insufferable. “I have to go take a shower”

“I’ll come with” He shrugged.

“What?”

“Yeah” He nodded. “Listen. You hired me to protect you, so that’s what I’m going to do”

“From what?” You laughed at his serious tone.

“Water’s cold”

“So NOW you want to protect me from the cold water?” You raised an eyebrow. “That surely wasn’t the discourse you held two weeks ago”

“People change, princess” He sighed exaggeratedly before getting up and walking to your side of the bed. “Come on, you said it yourself, you’ve got a shower to take”

You rolled your eyes, but nonetheless accepted the hand he held out for you. You went to the bathroom and undressed, then managed to get into the relatively small shower, your back to Jason. He was so tall he actually shielded you from the water from the showerhead when he turned the shower on, getting all the burning cold on his back instead. 

“See?” He chuckled. “No cold water”

“But how will I wash myself if the water doesn’t get to me?” You asked, looking at him over your shoulder. He stared blankly at you, like he didn’t think of that.

“Let me worry about it” He dismissed, making you laugh. 

“Alright, alright”

He began slowly rubbing your skin with his wet hands, spreading water indirectly. His fingertips were still cold, but you knew for a fact it was slightly better than the direct flow from the tap. Goosebumps erupted all over your arms and back, both from the sudden change of temperature and his touch. You closed your eyes, enjoying the contrast in between the water and his still warm chest. He wet your hair, combing it with his hands, before he put the shampoo in and made it lather. Immediately, you recognized the smell.

“Is this your shampoo?” You asked, your eyes opening.

“Mhh”

“I thought you didn’t like when people used your stuff” 

“Technically, I’m using it”

“Still!” You replied. “You practically threatened me last time I dared wear your shampoo”

“Truth is” He leaned in, his lips almost pressed against your ear. “It kinda drove me hog fucking wild to have you prancing around smelling like me”

Your eyes widened and the back of your neck heated enough for you to warm the water dripping down your back. You gulped, unable to answer that as it came as a shock for you that you have had another effect on him aside from pissing him off. He chuckled at your lack of comeback, his hot breath fanning your jaw. He slowly rinsed the soap out of your hair, then began washing your skin. His hands massaged your muscles as they went, making you sigh in contentment. At this point, you had backed so much into him you were just as much subject to the direct contact of the water as him, but you didn’t care. 

He trailed small kisses from behind your ears down to your shoulder before pausing there, as if he was hesitant. He lifted his head slightly, and you could see his stare right on you from your peripheral vision. 

“I need to tell you something”

You were surprised by the sudden seriousness of his words, but you tilted your head to show him you were listening.

“I’m the Red Hood”

You blinked slowly, registering his words. Well, that certainly explained things. You even wondered how you didn’t see it sooner, but now that he mentioned it, it had been rather obvious. “... Congratulations?”

You could feel he wasn’t expecting this reaction. “That’s… That’s all?” He stuttered. “You’re okay with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” You turned your head to look at him properly. “You saved my life so many times, I am not about to complain how you did it”

“But I did a lot of bad too,” He argued. “Some things that might change your opinion”

“You’re seriously asking me, who comes from a crime family, if I’m okay with you doing crimes?” You deadpanned. His face changed, as if he was reevaluating his entire argument.

“When you put it like this…” He trailed off, nodding. You could however see the relief in his eyes at your acceptance of his double identity. Especially with the kind of job he was doing here with you, you could only imagine how blurred the line in between the two personas must have been at times. 

“Why did you tell me?” It was a gentle question, full of wonder as to what pushed him to reveal to you such an important, personal detail about himself. Your hand sneaked up and covered his still on your forearm.

“I thought you should know” He muttered back, his voice barely rising over the noise of the water hitting the shower’s floor. “You never asked what I did before, or how I took care of seven hired guns at the motel. I wasn’t sure if you just avoided it, or…”

“Don’t worry” You interrupted him softly. “Moral compasses are no issues with me”

His lips reached yours under a freezing rain, your bodies numb to anything but each other.

Day 25

A few days ago Jason received a call from Bruce.

The arrests had been made and the trial date had been set. As you had predicted, they tried to keep the relative information about it under wraps so you wouldn’t be aware it was happening. But fortunately, with Bruce’s quiet oversight of the process, he had managed to relay the details on time. You hadn’t been very far from Gotham when the news dropped, but you were still thankful for the heads up. It had given you time to plan your safe return into the boundaries of the city, staying hidden in another one of Jason’s safehouses until the day came for you to be a witness in the trial.

It was now in progress, it had just started some minutes ago. You were staying in an adjacent room that was guarded by people under Bruce’s paycheck, with Jason laying on a couch behind you, looking at his phone while you were getting ready. You were thankful that you had brought a second designer outfit with you, because you weren’t sure your gray t-shirt from Target with the oversized men’s pants you inherited on your first day with Jason would have looked very professional or credible. You did your makeup carefully with the basic products you had, then took a look at yourself in the mirror. You smothered the creases in your blouse and made sure the belt wasn’t twisted in the loops of your slacks, and sighed. 

Jason stood up from the couch and walked to you, stopping behind you and sneaking an arm around your waist. He snuggled his nose in the crook of your neck and placed a small kiss there. “Am I an asshole for thinking you look better in a 30 bucks outfit?”

You laughed despite your nervous state. He was trying to distract you and you welcomed it. “Not more than usual, no”

He gasped at your rebuttal, but you could see the amusement in his eyes. “Is that what you really think of me?” He asked. “I’m hurt”

“Aw, come here” You pouted, turning your chin over your shoulder. You raised your arm to rest your hand on his cheek and gently pulled him down into a kiss. Your eyes fluttered close when his lips met yours, letting your relish in his comforting presence. You felt your heartbeat slow down as you sighed against his lips, wishing to remain there with him for another hour or so. Alas, the moment was broken shortly after when the door opened. 

“They will soon be--oh” 

You pulled back from the kiss, but Jason didn’t move away at the sound of Bruce’s voice behind you. You could feel he was annoyed at his adoptive father ruining the mood, but at least he wasn’t pissed like you had seen he could be on day one. That in itself was a relief. 

“Am I interrupting something?”

“No, not at all” Jason replied in a clearly sarcastic tone. You stifled back a laugh at the grimace he was doing to mock Bruce. “Perfect timing as usual”

Bruce didn’t answer that. He only closed the door behind him and headed for the desk, leaning back on it. Jason followed his movements in the mirror like a hawk. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you aren’t at each other’s throat anymore” He began, a cryptic smile on his lips. “But I hadn’t expected… Whatever this is”

It was Jason’s turn to sigh as he reluctantly parted away from you. He didn’t go far, however. He stayed by your side like another threat on your life could pop up at any moment. “Shocker”

“As I was saying” Bruce reprised, ignoring Jason’s side comment. “They will call you to the stand soon. I just wanted to check up on you and see if you had any questions or concerns before you go out”

“How solid is the case built?” You asked.

“It should hold” He nodded. “From what I’ve seen, it’s solid in front of a jury. Your testimony will have to be conclusive if we want to catch some Maroni members in the lot, but I’m confident you’ll be stellar”

You gave him a small smile. You knew your father would be there, glaring at you like you were the devil itself, but you repeated to yourself you could go through this. There was no way he would be as intimidating as Jason in the first few days, and you came out on the other side unscathered. He couldn’t hurt you anymore, and soon he would reap what he sowed. 

“How secure will the witness booth be?” It was Jason who spoke this time, his eyes straight on Bruce like he was challenging him to give an answer that wouldn’t be good enough.

“The two guards in front of this room will accompany her in the courtroom” Bruce replied calmly. “There will also be one more guarding the door, and I supposed you won’t be far as well”

He only hummed in answer, but he seemed satisfied with this plan. Bruce checked his watch and stood up, hands in his pocket. 

“It’s time” 

You nodded, exhaling a shaky breath. You exited the room with Jason at your side and the guards behind you. You walked down a few hallways before you stopped in front of the witness booth door. You forced yourself to take deep breaths and visualize the end result. You could do this, you could do this.

“Keep your head high, stay confident” Jason muttered in your ear as the door opened in front of you. “You got this, princess”

With his last words of encouragement, you were brought into the courtroom.

Day 101

“... The sentence of the twelve convicted has dropped this morning on the order of judge Monroe, a little less than three months after the devastating trial that landed a blow on organized crime in Gotham. The twelve men will each serve a sentence ranging from twenty to forty years in a maximum security facility, on counts of attempted murders, first degree homicide, money laundering, drug trafficking and tax fraud. Amongst the convicted is Vitto Maroni, a notable figure in Gotham’s public life…”

You jumped when a loud pop dragged your attention away from the TV. 

Jason was standing there with a proud grin, pouring foaming sparkling grape juice in two champagne flutes. You laughed as he handed you one, plopping next to you on the couch and clinking his glass on yours.

“Cheers to a victory,” He declared. “that wouldn’t have been possible without you”

“Don’t flatter me too much, give yourself some credit” You matched his grin. “You’re at least 20% responsible for this”

“Ah yes, my 20% contribution” He nodded thoughtfully. “Eighteen percent bullets shot, two percent bullets received I recall”

You laughed with him, drinking the fizzy beverage. He lifted his arm, and you crawled under it to snuggle on his side, careful not to spill anything. It had become a habit for you to end up one way or another in his arms, even after the trial ended. He had offered you to move in with him shortly after, when you had tried to give him the ten thousand dollars you had promised him after the trial. Not only had he refused to even look at it, but he gave you back the 5k you had already given him beforehand. He had insisted for you to keep it and invest in whatever you wanted to turn your life around like you wished. 

He had been excited for you when you announced you would enroll in law school, saying your argumentative side would definitely come handy as an attorney.

“I’m proud of you” 

You looked up at him to see a fond glint in his eyes, one that made your heart melt. For all of his rough edges, he was certainly very soft inside. All he wanted was for you to be safe and happy, and you couldn’t ask for someone better to start your new life with. You snuggled further into him as he kissed the top of your head and tightened his arm around you.

“Thank you for being there for me” You mumbled through his clothes. “It means a lot”

“I couldn’t walk away from you even if I wanted to, princess” He smiled against your hair. “You are so stuck with me”

“Good thing I’m not going anywhere, then”

You changed the channel to a movie and spent the rest of the night cuddling on the couch, you wearing his t-shirt and shampoo and him holding you like a treasure. 

[labyrinthof-fan-fiction]

Fever {2}

Jacob/Bella Twilight Fix-It Fic

Series Masterlist

A/N: Bella acquires some self-awareness. Team let all these characters say fuck. Again, if you don’t like it, don’t read it, this is just me screaming into the void.

Warnings: Depression, Anxiety, Abandonment

Summary: Months passed since Edward left and Bella has finally reentered the real world, maybe Forks will be normal.

Rating: M

Word Count: 2,478

Walking into school when I was aware of my surroundings was jarring after months of floating in existence. I muddled through classes, thankful that as a senior, most of my teachers taught in a lecture format and I could lose myself while they instructed, by now most had given up calling on me for answers. As I was packing my bag from English I heard a voice call my name. I snapped my head up, Mike stood in front of me. “What? Sorry, did you need something?” I asked.

“Are you working tomorrow?” He asked anxiously, every week he had asked this question. I had been answering on autopilot.

“Tomorrow’s Saturday.” I said with a shrug, I always showed up. Maybe in zombie mode, but I was there. And that paycheck was what would be filling my college fund. Or at least giving me a starting point for it.

“It is.” He nodded, seeming satisfied with the answer before he left the room. I finished packing up and wandered into the hallway. My first exchange with someone wasn’t horrible, but I dreaded the next with Jessica. She had been like a fly buzzing in my ear, but something told me that today, I would not be able to just tune her out.

I walked to my seat and glanced over at her. “Hi.” I said awkwardly with a small wave.

Her eyes widened for a moment. “Hello, Bella.” She stated in short accented bursts, but today, she didn’t give me a mindless deluge of her life. She remained silent, she stared at Mr. Varner as he lectured Calculus methods, but her eyes kept flitting over to me curiously. When class had winded down she turned to me. “Do you need help with calc?”

I gave her what I thought was a hopeful expression, “I need so much help.” Then froze, “With calculus, well with other things too, but that’s not your department.”

She chuckled. “I think I can handle calculus. I’m free tomorrow.”

I grimaced. “I work tomorrow.”

She nodded, “Mike had said you were working at Newton’s.” She tapped her pencil on her chin. “We’ll figure it out, we can always stay late sometime to work on calc. The library is open until 4:30.”

I smiled, then the bell rang, the day was over, I had two conversations with classmates who probably thought I was possessed after the past few months, but it was progress. Maybe if I shared it with Dad, he’d feel hopeful. I drove home, the constant weight that had made a home in my chest had lightened. I was surprised to come home and see Dad’s squad car parked out front, he had been working later, I was used to being home alone until he came back from work.

He was sitting in his recliner when I walked through the door, his eyes closed and a quiet snore escaping his lips. I tried to tiptoe in, to let him get a half-decent nap in, but his eyes opened when I closed the door.

“Good day at school?” He asked groggily.

“It was a day, at school.” I shrugged, setting my backpack down and sitting on the couch.

He nodded, “I got ahold of the therapist, Dr. Theresa Gilbert. She said she can see you on Monday after school. We can drive up, we’ll get there by 4 and she said you could start with a session, see how you feel. If you don’t get along she can refer you to another.”

I nodded, one session to start, I could handle that. “Are you sure we can do this?”

Dad quirked an eyebrow. “Your mother and I talked it over, we can swing it, you’re on my insurance plan, it’s not the best, but it will be fine.”

“So I’ll just leave school Monday and drive up to Port Angeles?”

“I’ll drive you.” Dad stated, I started to protest, but he cut me off. “Bells, I want to support you, you can go in yourself, I can sit in the car and wait. I won’t go in unless you want me to.”

“Okay.” I murmured, sensing there was something more to his wanting to go. Not a ‘I’m going to ensure you go’ but more of a ‘I have to be there.’

“You have work tomorrow?” He asked.

“Yeah, Saturdays are my day.” I nodded.

He let out a hum and stood up. “I’ll get dinner started. Let you know when it’s ready.”

I nodded and opened my backpack. I wasn’t worried about English or Social Studies, those two classes I could muddle through. But Calculus was going to be the bane of my existence. I continued working until Dad called me into the kitchen, it was spaghetti, a staple meal for him. Which, the past few months, I didn’t really notice how many times we ate it, but I imagine he did. “Dad, do you want me to start helping cook again?” I asked as I took a helping of pasta and sauce.

“Getting tired of spaghetti?” He teased, but added. “Only if you want to, you don’t have to take over. I can… get adventurous.”

I laughed. “I’ll start doing some meals, get some change in our diet.” I said taking a bite.

He smiled at me and we ate in silence. I washed the dishes before going up to bed, he turned on the TV to watch some game that was important to him. I closed my bedroom door behind me and took a deep breath. The throbbing in my chest was present again, my knees felt weak. It had been a good day, why now? I curled into a ball on my bed and willed myself to sleep. The dull throbbing lulled me to sleep as I counted my heartbeats.

Breakfast the next morning was silent, Dad had left a note on the fridge that he had to go to the station early. Forks barely ever had need of him this early, but after spending a year with vampires, I don’t know how much would surprise me anymore. I put my empty bowl in the sink and walked out to my truck. I let the engine sputter for a moment before it started, rap music started blaring through the stereo and I flinched back. When did I start listening to rap?

Mike was at the counter when I clocked in, “Hey, Bella.” He greeted.

“Hey, Mike.” I returned, putting on my vest and taking a seat next to him. “Busy morning.” I joked, gesturing at the empty store.

He glanced up at me, eyebrows almost in his hairline. “Yeah, busy.” He let out a small laugh. “How are you?”

“I’m here.” I answered, grateful for the bell to sound as a few customers entered. Mike nodded and went to help them. Early on, we learned that I was best at the cash register, and Mike was best with helping customers. Maybe that was just because I had been off this plane of existence for so long. But I was pretty hopeless when it came to the outdoorsy needs.

It must have been at least two hours that he spent going over different items with them before they finally checked out.

“I’m telling you, it wasn’t a grizzly, that thing was bigger than any grizzlies I’ve seen.” The first one, a big burly man with an unkempt beard started, tossing his items on the counter.

“I doubt it, there’s only black bear up here, and they don’t get that big. You’ve probably only seen young grizzlies.” The other, taller and lean with tan skin stated, throwing his items next to the first man’s.

“I’ve seen a full grown grizzly, and whatever was in those woods had at least three feet on a grizzly.” The first retorted, handing me cash when I gave him his total.

“Bullshit, you’re acting like you saw Sasquatch. Probably just your eyes playing tricks on you. You haven’t been the same since you stared into the sun.” The second teased, handing me his cash, a smirk on his face.

“That was years ago, and my eye sight is just fine. There’s a big ass bear in these woods.” Beardy grumbled, stomping out of the store to their truck.

“Don’t mind him, he always gets grumpy when we start trips.” The taller man said, taking his items and following the other out.

I glanced over at Mike who watched them leave then flipped the open sign to closed. He shrugged at me. “What? It’s not like there’s going to be a sudden raid for hiking equipment, especially with those two as our only customers. I can close up.”

“I’ll help, no reason for you to be stuck with the grunt work.” I stood from my stool and grabbed the broom. I started sweeping, I could feel Mike’s eyes on me. “You need something?”

He froze, his hand going behind his neck and he looked a little guilty. “We’ve missed you, Ang, Ben, even Jess, she won’t admit it.”

I felt a blush creep up my neck. “I guess I’ve been a bit of a hermit.”

“Yeah, just a bit.” Mike chuckled. “We’re here if you need us.”

I paused, taking in that statement. I had been so absorbed in myself the past few months, I honestly had forgotten what it was like having friends that weren’t…..them. I know last year I had been consumed by being a part of them that I had forgotten the people who were there for me first when I moved to Forks. “Thanks, Mike.” I continued to sweep, feeling a bit ashamed of the tunnel vision I had been in for the past year. The day I stepped onto the Forks campus I had been obsessed with him. And he didn’t want me, he left me, who was I without him? I finished up and gave Mike a quick goodbye, walking to my car faster than normal. I slammed the door and sped, well, moved as fast as my old girl would, and drove home. I made it halfway there before the tears started to fall. I pulled to the side of the road and threw the truck in park.

I pressed my head against the steering wheel as the sobs continued to tear through my body. I had given an entire year to him, lost myself in the fantasy of being his for eternity. I had been obsessed with immortality, the promise of never aging, never dying. And he didn’t want me, I was just a toy. I had served my purpose of amusement for a fleeting moment of his life, then I was thrown to the wolves. I almost died for him.

I froze when that thought appeared. I almost died…. For him. I put myself into danger for him. My blood was boiling, I had gone to that dance studio and been prepared to sacrifice my life. For what? A year, one fucking year and a few kisses. Kisses that were so controlled and choreographed they might has well have been a peck on the cheek. My radio broke me from my thoughts as a loud, angry song started. I looked over at my passenger seat, the old wrench sat there. Jacob had left it there, “Just in case the hood refuses to go back down, give it a good whack with this and it’ll be good as new.”

Jacob, I hadn’t seen him in a while… I shook my head and grabbed the wrench and slammed it into the radio. I kept going until the sound stopped, the radio that they had installed for my birthday was in pieces. I dropped the wrench onto the truck bench, I stared at the bent and broken plastic. The tears had stopped, the dull pain in my chest was back. I groaned, not sure how I was going to explain the mess I had made to Dad. A twig snapped in the woods to my right. I swore that I saw a flash of movement from the woods as I put the truck into gear. The two hikers had been talking about bears, maybe it was just a bear. Yeah, just a bear.

I tried to quiet my mind as I drove home, I thought today had been a good day, but breaking down in my truck and destroying the radio probably didn’t fit the definition of a good day. I had felt something though, months of floating in a void and I had felt guilty and angry. I pulled into the driveway, Dad still wasn’t home. I checked the messages on the phone, “I’ll be late tonight Bells, there’s leftovers in the fridge. Don’t worry about me. I’ll grab something when I’m home. Love you.”

That was something that had become more common in the past few months, Dad letting me know he loved me. He was always saying, love you, I love you. And I had started calling him Dad, not Charlie. Sure, it seemed like something that would be part of a normal father-daughter relationship. We weren’t normal, or weren’t, and now…. I might have been in another headspace, but somehow we grew closer. I walked up to my room, took a shower and crawled under my covers. “Please, just let me have a normal night.” I mumbled, and closed my eyes.

I was driving through the forest again. It was dark, the trees all looked the same. Every turn, it was the same trees. I glanced at the dashboard, the radio was back in place and the first verse of the song from earlier was blaring on repeat. The trees were a labyrinth, there was no way out. I slammed on the brakes, skidding on the wet pavement. Then I heard a branch snap and turned my head. And he was there, eyes crimson.

“Hello, Bella.” He sneered, I caught my reflection in the window. It was Grandma Marie’s face again. Blood dripped from his fangs. “I told you my world wasn’t for you.” He lunged and I woke up, my heart racing as I tried to catch my breath. I heard Dad shuffling by the door.

“Bella? You okay?” He called, he must have just gotten home, I glanced at my alarm clock, it blinked a one at me.

“Yeah, Dad, sorry, nightmare.” I called back. “Go to bed, I’m alright.”

He grunted, but I heard him shuffle to his room. What was he doing until 1AM? He used to work late when I was younger, I remember a few nights when he was home by ten, but this, something was going on. I laid on my back and closed my eyes. I just hoped that what was keeping him at work late wasn’t of the same nature as that keeping me awake.

[maxxfabray]

I’m Back | Harmax

Who: Max Fabray & Harry Potter @drharrypotter

When: January 2, 2021

Where: Harry’s Apartment

What: Max comes home from rehab; Smut

MAX

Max was anxious to get back to campus. Partly because she just missed living life like a normal person. But mostly because she couldn't wait to get back to Harry. He was all she really knew during her time in rehab, her only source of attention and comfort. The day with Emerson was the perfect transition back into society. She hugged her sister and thanked her picking her up and for the day out before jumping out of the car and walking up the path of the faculty housing to Harry's front door. She dropped her bags and knocked on the door, waiting for him to answer, just so she could jump right into his arms, almost knocking him to the ground.

HARRY

Harry had been adjusting things all day, photos, cushions, anything that he could get his hands on really. If he could have picked Max up himself he would have done, but he knew that she needed time with her sister time to enjoy being free. When he heard the knock at the door, he couldn’t help but let his face break out into a wide smile. Pulling her as close to him as humanly possible as she jumped him. Sure she’d knocked the breath out of him slightly, but it was worth it to pepper kisses over her hair. “Welcome home sweetheart.” He told her, closing his eyes. Feeling somehow a little more steady now that Max was back on campus where he could see her, where he could know that she was being taken care of.

MAX

Whoever said absence makes the heart grow fonder really hit it on the head. There was an instance sense of relief, one she hadn’t felt in ages. As he kissed her hair, she kissed his jaw and let her hands wander across his body. Home she had no real sense of the word, but if it felt like this, she didn’t mind it. “I’ve... missed... you... so... fucking much.” She said in between kisses against his neck. It was like she couldn’t get enough of him. She moved down his body, pushing his shirt up and peppered kisses against his abdomen while her hands worked at his belt buckle.

HARRY

It felt so good to hear her say that, to know that she wanted him at least half as bad as he wanted her. Harry reached to slam the door behind them, unable to stop himself from letting his hands roam down her body to squeeze her ass. Before he raised his arms to allow her to pull it off. “I’m going to fuck you on every surface in this apartment.” He told her, his voice rough with desire. As he pulled her shirt over her head, and then immediately bent his mouth to press kisses against the swell of her breasts.

MAX

It was like a mad dash to the finish line and even then it wasn't fast enough for Max. She needed to feel him all around her and she wasn't going to be satisfied until she was completely consumed. "Mm is that a promise?" She growled against his ear. Goosebumps rose on her skin when her shirt was pulled off and she wasn't sure if that was from the cool air or from the way Harry lips moved between her breasts. She moaned, dropping her head back as she proceeded to yank his belt off and push his jeans down, wanting nothing more than to reach his cock. "I need you, Sir."

HARRY

“I rarely say things that I don’t absolutely mean Sweetheart.” Harry growled in her ear, trying to step out of his jeans as he lifted her from her feet and carried her over to the kitchen counter. His mouth never leaving her skin as he did so. “I need you too, spent so long thing about having you like this.” He told her, reaching between her legs to slip his fingers underneath her panties, letting out a groan of arousal at the wetness that he found there. “God baby, so fucking wet for me.” He groaned, slipping two fingers inside her and crooking then upwards sharply.

MAX

It was a joyous sound Max made when Harry scooped her up and moved her to the counter. She loved being handled like this, picked up and tossed around like she weighed nothing at all. His words ran down her spine and she shivered at the intensity in his voice. "Fuck, Sir," she whined as he pressed his fingers inside of her and she squeezed her walls around him. "I've only been edging for you all week, Sir." Max dragged her lips across his chest until her teeth sunk into his shoulder. As much as she was his in this moment, she needed to stake her claim on him as well. "Fuck me, Sir, please."

HARRY

“That’s my good girl I was thinking of you, edging for me, wanting me.” He growled into her ear, working his fingers inside her using his other hand to pull her impossibly closer to his body. Letting out a groan as she bit into his shoulder. “I will sweetheart, I will.” He promised, slowly pulling his fingers back and then offering them to her. “Suck, taste how wet you are for me.” Harry ordered, bringing his hand down and pulling off her panties completely. Before he put his hand behind her to scoot her forward. “You ready?” He asked, wanting to get one last bit of consent.

MAX

My good girl. There was something about that phrase that sent chills down her spine. She opened her legs wider, giving him more access. There was still a lot she was learning about him, like how absolutely kinky he was and she fucking loved it. She smirked up at him, keeping her eyes locked on his as she took the digits into her mouth and slowly worked her tongue around the tip of each one. "Seems like I'm super fucking wet for you, Sir." So when he asked again for consent, she wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him closer. "So fucking ready for you. Please."

HARRY

Harry couldn't help but smirk as he watched her take his finger into his mouth, his already hard cock twitching with interest as she pulled herself impossibly closer to him. "You don't cum with permission." He warned her, before with a low groan he pushed inside of her. God he'd missed being close to her like this. "You feel so fucking good Sweetheart." He told her as he began a series of slower thrusts to give her time to adjust to him, leaning up to catch her lips in with his once more. Unable to stay parted from her in any way physically at the moment.

MAX

"No cumming, I prom-" But her words were cut off when he pushed inside of her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and bit into his shoulder once more, moaning with relief. She's been anticipating this connection with him for far too long and to finally feel him inside of her, was like a missing piece of her was returned. "Oh fuck yes,"Max hissed. "So good... so so good." She lifted her hips, trying to match his thrusts with thrusts of her own, trying to get as close to him as possible. "Faster, please."

HARRY

There was satisfaction in hearing her words cut off as he pushed into her, in knowing that he was the one that made her totally speechless. "Fuck sweetheart." He murmured, stroking a hand up and down for a moment as he began to build up at rhythm. It was almost embarrassing how turned on he was for her, he didn't think he'd been so caught up in a moment since high school. Harry tilted her a little so that he could angle himself deeper inside her, and fuck her harder as he increased the pace of his hips. "Shit, never want to be away from you that long again."

MAX

It wasn't just feeling Harry inside of her, stretching her in a way she hadn't felt in far too long. It was also the desperation in his voice that matched hers and the frantic way his body was moving. Even if the world fell all around them, she wouldn't have wanted him to stop. When he changed the angle, she gasped and threw her head back. "Oh fuck, tha-" Max didn't even know what she was going to say. She just knew that if he kept fucking her like this, she wasn't going to be able to hang on. She reached behind him, scratching at his back, pulling him closer because she just couldn't get close enough. "Never... again..." she parroted, even though she couldn't form complete sentences. "So close... please."

HARRY

Harry felt like he couldn't have her close enough to him, even when he was inside her like this there was no way that he could ever feel enough of her at once. "Touch yourself sweetheart, want you to rub your clit for me." He demanded low in her ear, he wanted to make sure that Max remembered this first orgasm for the next few days because he didn't know how generous he would be feeling. His lips found a spot behind her ear that he couldn't resist pressing more kisses against, and he found himself biting back his own climax. Wanting her to go first. "You can cum whenever you're ready."

MAX

Max complied immediately, reaching in between them to circle her clit just like he asked. Her movements and moans became sporadic as she went from holding off her orgasm to chasing after it. "Oh fuck..." Her body started to shake out of control and she gripped at his shoulder with her free hand to keep as steady as she possibly could. Her heart was racing and her teeth sunk into his neck. "Fuck I'm gonna..." Her voice raised an octave and her face contorted in pleasure. All it took was one more stroke from Harry and she was falling over the edge. "Fuck. I'm cumming." Her breathing was ragged as she clung onto him. Her body shook in short bursts as she pulsed around his cock and tightened her legs around his waist. "Cum, Sir. Inside of me. Please."

HARRY

“Good girl.” Harry murmured against her skin as she began to touch herself, trying to make sure that he was holding her as securely as he could as he continued to fuck her. Though it was hard to focus on anything except the pressure building in his stomach as he pounded in and out of her. “Yes sweetheart cum for me, cum on my fucking cock.” He growled, holding her impossibly tighter as he felt her walls clamp down around him. It didn’t take him long to fall over the edge after that, cumming inside her with a groan of her name. “Max.” He gasped against her neck as he panted. “Fuck.."

MAX

Even as the aftereffects of her orgasm coursed through her body, she waited with bated breath for Harry to comply with her request. He was so put together and she loved watching him in these moments when he was coming undone. Max memorized his expression, squeezing around his cock to help push him over the edge and fill her. "Oh fuck yes. Yes, Sir. Fucking fill me with your cum." Just that act alone was enough to make her cum again and she was completely at his mercy. She cupped his face and kissed him, and kept herself wrapped around him for as long as he would let her.

HARRY

Harry kept his face buried in her neck as he came down from the high of his orgasm. Unable quite to process how good her pussy felt around him as he came inside of her. He returned her kiss hungrily when she gave it, letting himself get lost in making out like a teenager. Reluctant to pull out of her now that he had her back with him.  “That was so fucking good Sweetheart. I missed you so much.” He told her, pressing more kisses against her chin and neck.

MAX

Max kept her hold on Harry as well, pressing small kisses to his shoulder and neck. "I missed you too, Sir. So fucking much." If she wasn't so spent, she probably would have cried, her emotions still all over the place since her discharge from rehab. But the one person she missed the most was right here and she just relished in finally being able to be with him again.

[fakeyellow]

Forget Me Not

Based on an angsty anon prompt that @poor-bi-choices​ first wrote a story for over here (Bloodkeeper MC seeing Kamilah’s bloody memories). Set some time in Book 2. 

Part 2 here.

“Just give me a little time and I’ll come back to you. I promise.”

It didn’t take long for Kamilah to notice that something was wrong.

Nightmares weren’t an uncommon occurrence for Isla; after their encounter with Vega, it had taken weeks before Isla had stopped waking up in a cold sweat, her mind still trapped in those final moments of terror.

And yet these were different.

When Isla’s heartrate spiked for the fourth night in a row, Kamilah turned to hold her in their bed, nuzzling the back of her neck.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, her voice husky with sleep.

There was a long silence during which Kamilah would have thought Isla asleep if not for the fact that she could hear the woman’s shuddering breaths.

“Nothing,” Isla finally breathed out, “Just another nightmare. That’s all.”

The younger woman tightened Kamilah’s arms around her, even as goosebumps covered her flesh. It was several long minutes before she fell asleep but it was even longer before Kamilah fell asleep with an unsettled look of concern on her face.

—

It was the weekend when Kamilah noticed another sign.

“Chinese food night, Chinese food night, Chinese food night!” Lily chanted as she walked through the hall, her arms overflowing with various red boxes.

“I don’t see how you can call that Chinese food. It’s as authentic as ‘Dracula’ is about Vlad,” Kamilah said with a distasteful crinkle of her nose at both the overwhelmingly greasy smell of the food and the thought of her rather... flamboyant acquaintance.

Lily stopped in her tracks, a thunderous expression of shock on her face.

“So what you’re saying is Count Dracula is real,” she spoke slowly, as if she was struggling to catch up to the mind-blowing  revelation.

Kamilah smirked, silently walking ahead of Lily.

“This is not over,” Lily swore before entering the apartment, her stupor over Dracula replaced by her enthusiasm for the food in her arms.

“Isla, I got your favourite Moo Shu pork!” Lily sang, shaking one of the cartons in a tantalising manner.

Isla looked up from the sofa with a smile before a sudden pallor came over her.

“Sorry, I-“ Isla managed to get out before clapping a hand over her mouth and running to the bathroom.

Setting the food down, Lily and Kamilah quickly followed Isla to the bathroom, where they found her retching up the contents of her stomach.

Lily ran to get a glass of water as Kamilah knelt by Isla’s side, pulling her hair back and stroking her back in soothing motions.

When at last the vomiting had ceased, Isla gratefully accepted the cup from Lily and drank, closing her eyes with fatigue.

“I saw one of those really graphic documentaries on the meat industry yesterday and I don’t think I can forget it,” Isla said before weakly smiling, “I’m thinking of going vegan.”

“Aw yeah,” Lily exclaimed, holding her hand out for a high five, “Good for your body and the environment! I’m proud of you bestie! I’d join you but the best I can do is drink humanely sourced blood.”

Kamilah watched as Isla and Lily quickly fell into their usual easy banter, and although it didn’t feel like Isla was telling the whole truth, she let it pass for now.

—

When Isla woke up in the middle of the day and ran to the bathroom to puke up the meager contents of her stomach, Kamilah had had enough.

As she knelt to hand Isla a glass of water, Isla instinctively flinched away from her, fear visible in her widened eyes.

Immediately, Kamilah withdrew as if stung, and Isla seemed to realise what she had done, remorse washing over her face.

There was no denying that there was something wrong now and they returned to the bedroom together, a heavy tension hanging around them.

“I didn’t mean to-“ Isla began to say before falling quiet.

“What’s wrong?” Kamilah asked gently and yet Isla’s fear-filled eyes was still branded onto Kamilah’s mind despite her best efforts to push it back. She’d seen a myriad of expressions grace Isla’s face, from the mischievous smirk she made when doing something she was explicitly told not to do, to the sheer annoyance that rolled off her in waves when Lester made a pass at her, to the cute face she made whenever she was determined.

But Kamilah had never, not in all the time she’d known Isla, expected to see Isla’s face full of fear of her.

Isla gripped the glass of water in her hands, veins straining against the taut, pale skin of her hands.

“I’ve been seeing memories of your past,” she admittedly, her eyes downcast.

And Kamilah knew immediately what she meant. Her eyes closed, and she took a deep breath.

“Before Gaius Turned me, I was consumed with anger. My brother had been taken from me, and I craved vengeance,” Kamilah confessed, “Gaius granted me the power to claim it. Together, we brought a swarm of death onto my enemies the likes of which the world had never seen.”

“I fell in love with him then. On that battlefield, soaked in blood, back to back. And it was so easy to just… keep going from there.”

“From one massacre to another. From one war to another. So much blood.”

“I did terrible things and at the time, I enjoyed them,” Kamilah said, her voice filled with such pain and regret.

“It was only in America, after centuries, that I tried to reinvent myself. To bury those things so far down I’d never remember them… For so long, I tried to close myself off, refuse to feel, to care, to grant myself even a moment of joy. It was a small price to pay for all the lives I’d taken and the suffering I’d inflicted.”

Kamilah paused, her voice turning impossibly tender, “And then I met you. I let myself feel again.”

“But now the past is coming back to haunt us… This is my fault,” Kamilah admitted heavily.

Her fingers twitched as if to hold Kamilah’s hands in hers, but Isla kept her hands to herself. She spoke carefully,

“I know you Kamilah. You’ve done so much for all of us. What you do now is more important than what you did back then.”

“And yet,” Isla began with a tormented expression, “It’s just so difficult to have actually experienced them.”

“It’s not just the sight of blood everywhere, it’s the sound of screaming, it’s the smell of iron, of burning, decaying flesh...” Isla squeezed her eyes short as if trying to force the memories away.

She finally opened her eyes, “I think… I think I should go back to my apartment.”

“Just for a while,” Isla quickly added, “Maybe the nightmares will stop once I have a change in scenery.”

Instinctively, Kamilah felt her face close off, all of her emotions pushed back into a cold, dark recess of her mind after having so openly bared her heart. She couldn’t blame Isla for her reactions (she’d taken it very calmly) but there was still a large part of Kamilah that felt hurt after having been so vulnerable.

“I understand,” Kamilah said stiffly, and she made to get up when Isla suddenly grabbed her hand.

“I love you,” Isla said sincerely, staring directly into Kamilah’s eyes.

“I really do love you,” Isla repeated with an almost wistful smile, “Just give me a little time and I’ll come back to you. I promise.”

And Kamilah’s stiffness melted away as she pulled Isla into a tight embrace, too overcome with emotion to respond.

—

At first, everything seemed to be going well.

Isla regained her energy, the bags underneath her eyes disappearing. She was even more attentive at work, more energetic in all that she did.

And even though Kamilah and Isla went to their respective apartments at the end of the night, they seemed to be going strong.

They went on dates and Isla was more affectionate than normal. She initiated touches and kisses, the first to entwine her hand in Kamilah’s and the first to wrap her arms around Kamilah’s waist as they walked somewhere.

Things were going back to normal.

—

“Moving onto the next topic-“ Kamilah addressed the Council when a resounding crash suddenly sounded throughout the room.

All heads turned towards where Isla had been sitting, dutifully taking notes, and found her collapsed on the ground, her overturned chair next to her.

Isla looked drowsily around her, as if she wasn’t sure herself what had happened.

There was a series of concerned cries but Kamilah was the fastest to reach Isla, cradling her body in her arms and easily lifting her.

Kamilah and Adrian shared a glance, and Adrian began to redirect the Council back to the matters at hand, even as Priya cackled delightedly at the sheer ridiculousness of Isla’s fall and the Baron chuckled uproariously.

Without another word, Kamilah walked out of the meeting with Isla in her arms.

—

Upon being set down on the couch, Isla clutched her knees to her chin, as if trying to escape Kamilah’s discerning eyes.

It was futile though. Even if Kamilah hadn’t been graced with the keen vision of a vampire, they were far too close for Isla to hide anything.

Thoroughly scanning over Isla, Kamilah felt her heart sink.

The whites of Isla’s eyes were shot through with burst, spidery blood vessels and dark, sunken bags lied underneath, having deepened rather than disappeared. There was a thick layer of foundation on her face and yet the unnaturally pale pallor of her face could still be seen.

And although Isla had been wearing looser clothing as of late, Kamilah had felt her undernourished frame in her arms. Isla’s collarbones protruded noticeably from her skin, and she seemed to be all angles.

“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” Isla laughed but her laughter sounded forced and Kamilah remained serious.

“Don’t lie to me,” Kamilah said, “Have you been getting any sleep?”

“I…” Isla began before trailing off. Her shoulders slumped down, revealing the weight of all the exhaustion she’d tried to hide.

“No,” she said.

“The nightmares haven’t stopped.” Kamilah stated.

Isla hesitated before eventually confirming, “No.”

“I tried Kamilah,” Isla uttered, clutching her knees even more tightly to her chest.

“I thought that if I could just focus on how much I loved you, I’d be okay with it. Because I know that you’ve changed, Kamilah, so much. I’ve seen firsthand how much good you’ve done. It’s unfair to judge you solely by your past.”

A note of despair entered Isla’s voice and although she shut her eyes, a tear managed to escape.

“But every. night. I’m forced to relive one of your memories. Every night is a new nightmare, a new slaughter, a new massacre. I just… I can’t stop seeing you murdering all of those innocent people. I can’t stop hearing their cries of terror and pain. I can’t stop seeing the blood dripping off of you as you smile and glow with pleasure like some cruel goddess of death. It’s just so much.”

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” Isla finally said in a small voice, her eyes downcast. There was no energy in her left to cry.

Every part of her drooped down as if she were a wilting flower and Kamilah felt her heart clench with pain at seeing the woman she loved so utterly defeated.

Even in their darkest times fighting Ferals and Vega, Isla had been a fortress of relentless optimism. She’d never once given up on them.

And here she was now, a shell of a person, after having been plagued with Kamilah’s own bloody memories.

A deep sense of guilt and shame overcame Kamilah and she let out a heavy breath before enveloping Isla’s slight figure in an embrace.

“It’s my fault. I’ll fix this. I promise, I’ll fix this.”

—

Isla hadn’t put up much of a fight when Kamilah had taken her home. After all, the nightmares had come regardless of her location.

Now, Kamilah sat on their bed, watching Isla sleep. The woman’s brow was furrowed even now as she turned fitfully in her sleep and Kamilah could only imagine which of her memories Isla was living through.

She reached out a tentative hand to tuck an errant curl behind Isla’s ear before tenderly stroking the smooth skin of her cheek.

When Isla suddenly moved, Kamilah froze, but the woman just turned toward her touch with a sigh, her face smoothing over.

And with this single action, Kamilah felt such an overwhelming swell of affection overcome her, even as she already felt filled with an infinite sadness.

Taking in a deep breath of Isla’s scent for the last time, Kamilah finally tore away from her, feeling her heart fracture into smaller pieces with each mm. of space that grew between them.

“Do it,” she ordered, her lips drawn into a thin line.

“Are you sure?” Serafine asked worriedly, seeing through her friend’s composed demeanor to the sheer devastation that lay beneath.

“I don’t know if I can ever return her memories back to her.”

Unable to speak, Kamilah nodded.

—

A/N: Long italicised quotes are taken from Bloodbound Book 2 Chapter 12.

I saw the prompt on @poor-bi-choices‘ blod and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it! I haven’t read hers yet because I don’t want to be influenced by it / unconsciously copy it.

I have 3 different endings that I’ve semi-written/outlined and I’m probably going to post them all as a single second part to this because they each have different aspects to them I like, although I am leaning towards a specific ending. Are they all angsty or have I included some happy endings? You’ll have to wait to find out lol

Also Isla is from an anon who sent the name in so thanks! (I got caught up on trying to find a name with a meaning but Isla like “eye-la” sounds pretty 🤗)

[dragonnan]

fanfic tag game

I was tagged by @disappearinginq​- these are the absolute best fun!

Questions:

Ao3 Name: dragonnan (same as everywhere: Psychfic, FFN, etc)

Fandoms: *cracks knuckles* You want, like, ALL of them?? Welp I’m obsessively listy so here we go:

Currently writing fic for: 

Sherlock

MCU

Psych

In the recent past wrote fic for (and may again as there are WIPs remaining):

SPN

HTTYD

Simon & Simon (as part of a crossover)

Lucifer

Wrote fics years ago but probably won’t write more:

Monk

Star Trek Voyager

Big O (as part of a crossover)

Wrote 1 or 2 fics but probably won’t write more:

Cowboy Bebop

Inuyasha

Lethal Weapon

Invisible Man (2001)

X Files

Quantum Leap

Fullmetal Alchemist

Haven’t published any fics yet but have (or had) ideas:

Doctor Who (specifically 10 and 11)

Burn Notice

Psych

Beauty and the Beast (1980′s series)

Moonlight

In Plain Sight

Star Wars

Haven’t had ideas but I love the fandom and may someday write fic:

Prodigal Son

Star Trek (TNG primarily)

MacGyver (1980′s)

Number of fics: Ummm.... It’s a little hard actually to parse that as some of my stories are posted as larger collections so let’s see what I can do...

Psych: 168 (give or take)

Sherlock: 8

MCU: 19

Other: 29

Total: 224

1. Fic you spent the most time on:  Can I even remember anymore?  I suppose Where There is Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth (Psych) which I think took me over 5 years to complete.  However, I wasn’t straight writing that entire time so not certain if it specifically qualifies?  Another contender is The Tiger and the Shark (Sherlock) which I posted pretty consistently and took about 2 years.    

2. Fic you spent the least time on:  I’m not counting those 100 word challenge fics cause, please.  I think the least amount of time I spent on truly legit stories would be one of these possibilities (cause fuck if I know for sure): Wibble Wobble Wibble Wobble To and Fro (Psych), A Good Heart (Psych), Making the Cut With a Squeeze of Lemon (Psych) 

3. Longest Fic: Where There is Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth (Psych) 104,522

4. Shortest Fic:  Promises to the Dead (again, not counting 100 word challenge fics), This Week on Psychfic - 280 words

5. Most hits: Just Pieces; Passion, Pain, & Parody (Psych fic collection.  Does that count?)

6. Most kudos: All Nighter (Psych)

7. Most comment threads/ reviews: Standing from Falling (Psych) 352 Reviews

8. Fave Fic you wrote: Ooohh screw this question!  Staawwwp!!! I can’t just pick A favorite but I gueeeesss I could narrow it to a few which out of over 200 damn stories you should be grateful I can narrow it down that much (of COURSE I love my own writing - that’s why I do it!).  I’ll also only include completed works: Psych - Suffer the Night, I Would Do Anything for Love; Even That, You Give Me Fever MCU - Just Another Day in New York, Did You Make it to the Milky Way to See the Lights all Faded, Simple Math Sherlock: The Tiger and the Shark, A Russian, Two Spies, and an Elephant

9. Fic you want to rewrite/expand on:   The Tiger and the Shark (expand) Fury (Psych) - rewrite

10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning:  How about both?

Untitled Iron Dad and Spider Son fic:

It started with sand.  Benign. Sorta... tan...  Fucking sand and yet there he was, trembling like he'd just spent the last two hours in subzero temps wearing nothing more than a speedo and a grin.

"Mr. Stark?"

Tony gulped; curling his toes before looking up at the young man across from him... who was wearing an expression that mirrored the anxiety thumping in Tony's chest. "Hey... you okay, Kid?"

Peter shrugged - his long fingers clenching and stretching.  "Y-yeah.  Sure!  I mean..." he swallowed, "not like anything bad happens at the beach, right?"

Tony tapped his teeth around his lower lip.  "It's just sand..." Not like sand ever hurt anyone...

Why were they there again?  Oh right; facing demons.  Because that shit never backfired.

The ocean was calm that afternoon. Behind them the sounds of the pier carried with shrill laughter and the cacophony of vendors, shrieking children, and seagulls.  Lots of seagulls - drawn to the scent of funnel cakes and french fries dominating the blend of scents that normally drew Tony, as well, but currently just twisted the pool of nausea threatening his pride.

Peter drew his focus back with a sharply drawn breath.  Then another.  Wind flicked the curls that had been pasted to his forehead with sweat.  Tony pushing his feet through the hot sand - too hot - a decade later and he still couldn't stand the feel of hot grains...  until he stood alongside the kid. Not looking away from the reflection of sunlight on water he nudged his elbow against Peter's arm.  "Not so bad during the day, yeah?"

Peter blinked rapidly - making something like a smile.  "No, yeah... way better." he nodded - looking about as convinced as Pepper would be at the prospect of birthing octuplets.

Tony pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose.  The most expensive shades on the planet and he still hadn't managed to stop them slipping down when he sweated.  He cupped his left elbow in his right hand and watched the para-sailors and jet skiis and swimmers splashing in the low waves.  No surfers; not that day.

He wouldn't have been there if not for Pete.  Kid's idea.  Apparently therapy was the new heroin.  Better come down, he supposed.  Even at that he'd tried for distraction, first.  Tony was nothing if not the Grand Master of distractibility. Offered everything from a road trip along the East Coast to helping the kid build a personal bot (who was he kidding, he planned both as a graduation present).  And, yet, here there were.  Revisiting trauma because what better way to spend a Saturday?

Story Idea - Doctor Who/ Doctor Strange crossover:

Plot: Stephen encounters a woman in a parallel world – a world protected, not by a Sorcerer Supreme, but by a man known only as “The Doctor”.  He soon finds out that this Doctor is unique among the worlds he's explored.  For all he has seen - all the beings he’s encountered, he has never met a woman with such energy coiled within the depth of her brain as the ordinary, redheaded woman he bumps into walking through a parallel London.  In fact, so powerful are the forces within her that he is immediately struck with a chaos of discordant images – of giant wasps and singing squid-like beings and screeching salt shakers and before he can even begin to understand it a face – eyes furious and dark – glaring from a raging fire. “GET OUT!  THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING! GET OUT, NOW, WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE!”

Stephen figures out that Donna is slowly being consumed by the Time Lord energies locked inside her. The Doctor may have barred her memory but it still seeps through – with each exposure weakening the walls even more.  Eventually, it will consume her.    

This is not something he can fix alone, however.  He will need to track down the man who first created those mental blocks and left Donna behind to slowly go insane.  The Doctor.

Tagged: @sgam76 @silentsaebyeok @kitcat992 @mizjoely @villaniouslyawesome @itsjustdg @hanuko @jennberry1984

[kpopbopz]

BTS | s.o is pregnant

Request: Hello hello can you please do the GOT7 baby series for BTS too~~thank you~~~

A/N: 7 whole more reactions in one request, ok. For that, I’m going to make some of these ANGST.

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE!!: For all of the more ‘angst’ responses and reactions, please note that I DO NOT see the boys in this light. They probably would not react in the manner that I depicted them as. It is strictly for entertainment purposes only that I’m writing it this way.

♡.

Kim Seokjin (Jin)

“What the hell?” your eyebrows furrowed; reading the back of the pregnancy test’s empty box over and over to try to see if there was some kind of mistake. You couldn’t be pregnant. You were still in school and you knew that Seokjin was too busy for a baby; he was almost too busy to even be having what both of you had. You wouldn’t call it a relationship but you did sleep with each other every now and again. But obviously, this last time got you into the trouble that is being held in your hand.  

You headed out from the bathroom, holding the unbelievable test in your hand while trying to process what you were going to say to Jin.

“What’s that Y/n?” his voice ripped you from your headspace. He looked at you curiously while raising his eyebrows, downing a few more chips. You couldn’t even open your mouth properly to speak, so you just held out the test; staring at space in between you both while he examined the pregnancy test being handed to him.

“What’s this mean? Is it positive? It can’t be positive,” he looked back and forth between you and the test, “It’s not right?”

“It is,” you sighed, “I’m pregnant.”

“You’re kidding me,” he scoffed, “You know that I have a career to worry about right now Y/n, Christ. What do you want me to do about this? You want me to throw everything away? We aren’t even together. Is this you trying to force me into something because I told you I can’t promise myself to you. Not now.”

♡.

Min Yoongi (Suga)

You were crying. More like sobbing. You and Yoongi had been together for almost three years and even so you had your ups and downs.

Lately, you’d both been really stressed out. He was starting a new project at work and the deadlines were cutting really close, and you were trying to get through exams and figure out a way to pay back loans now that you’ve lost your job. So finding out now that you both were going to be expecting, didn’t really fit into your agenda. All you knew for sure, is that you couldn’t do this alone. You had to tell him.

He came home late and exhausted. Upon stepping into the bedroom, he didn’t notice anything was wrong at first until he heard your small whimpers coming from your fetal position in bed. He slipped onto the bed, pulling you up to hold you and pepper kisses on your face, moving your hair out of your face and tilting his head.

“What’s wrong love? I know that I’m late but please tell me I didn’t forget anything important, if I have please tell me and I’ll make it up to you,” his voice was softly spoken as he caressed your wet cheeks.

“No, Gummy bear,” you sniffled, “You didn’t forget anything, but I have some news and it’s important.” He quietly nodded his head, looking at you seriously, waiting for you to speak.

“I’m pregnant Yoongi,” you whispered before you began to sob once again. He kissed your temple, taking in what you’ve said, what you didn’t see was the large smile that appeared on his face.

♡.

Jung Hoseok (J-Hope)

You and your boyfriend, Hoseok, had been working on a duet dance piece for the past 8 weeks. It was a very seductive routine and you couldn’t have possibly kept your hands off of each other the first time you’d gotten it right.

But today, you didn’t feel right while practicing. When you got into the spin, you ended up being dizzier than anticipated, running off to the nearest toilet to upchuck your lunch. After a few seconds of calming down, you’d heard Hobi’s voice calling out to you.

“Y/n? Are you alright? Do you need to go to the doctor?” It took you a few more minutes to regain enough energy to freshen yourself up; opening the door to see him standing there concerned. “Come on, I’m taking you right now to the doctor sunshine.”

After you’d been admitted and waited for an hour or so, cuddled up on the hospital bed waiting for your doctor; the answer for your abrupt sickness came. You were pregnant. When you both heard the sentence drop from your doctor’s mouth, everything else sort of slipped into the background noise.

You looked up at your boyfriend, who had the biggest smile on his face, tilting his head a little once he recognized the concern in your eyes.

“Hey, I promise that we’ll do this together. I’m not leaving you and I love you.”

♡.

Kim Namjoon (RM)

“Y/n?!” you heard Namjoon screech from the bathroom before he came storming into the room you’d been studying in. You raised your eyebrow at him.

“What is it Namjoon?” He threw all of the pictures from your ultrasound at your feet, causing your jaw to drop slightly.

“What is THIS? You’re pregnant? How is that even possible?!” You were at a loss for words. It was supposed to be a secret for now because you knew that he’d react this way but there was still a part of you that wished he’d be happy for the both of you. “I can’t have a kid right now. And you don’t even know where to begin to take care of a baby! Have you ever thought about this?! Christ, you need to get rid of it for your sake and mine.”

After having said his final thought, he stormed out of the room, leaving you a mess falling apart.

♡.

Park Jimin

You didn’t know why, but you were definitely about 45 minutes into vomiting up your insides. You didn’t have the flu; you’d gotten your shot about a few weeks ago. You hadn’t eaten anything weird lately; so it couldn’t be food poisoning. All you knew was that you felt like shit and the intense nausea wasn’t something to play with.

It was early so the only other person who was up was Jin; who was already starting to prepare breakfast when he heard your heaving. After a minute or so, he set the stove on low and came to inspect what the problem was.

“Are you alright Y/n?” he raised a brow, sipping some of his coffee before squatting down to rub your back soothingly.

“Not really Jin..could you wake Chimmy up? I really don’t feel good and I don’t think it’d be best for me to get up right now,” you groaned, holding onto your stomach before you could start vomiting again. He simply nodded before exiting the room to retrieve your boyfriend.

After a few minutes, a groggy but concerned Jimin came into the bathroom, placing you into his lap while he sat on the floor in front of the toilet, stroking your hair. Seokjin followed in behind him, standing in the doorway while watching both of you.

“Do you know what’s causing this sickness jagi?” he yawned, holding you close to him in order to try to help soothe the pain. You simply shook your head, explaining that you couldn’t pinpoint the reason behind this abrupt nausea.

“Have you considered being pregnant?” Jin raised an eyebrow at you, before taking a sip of his coffee once again. Both you and Jimin raised your eyebrows in shock, considering the hyung’s question. When was the last time you had your period? Did you even use a condom last time? Could you be?

You slipped off of Jimin, scrambling to find a pregnancy test, scooting both the boys out of the bathroom as you shut the door to gain some privacy as you took it. An achingly slow few minutes passed by before you opened the door with the answer to all your troubles this morning.

“Chim,” you stared down at the test while speaking quietly, “you’re going to be an appa…” His eyes went wide before he slowly caressed the sides of your hips, kissing your forehead before kneeling down and kissing the tiny bump.

♡.

Kim Taehyung (V)

You knew about your pregnancy for about a week now, but you were contemplating how you were going to tell Tae about it being that he was the father of your unborn child. You knew that you certainly couldn’t speak the words and you wanted a unique way to tell him to make it seem more real than it felt.

So you planned everything you’d be doing a day that he was free from his time-consuming job. You went out shopping, dropped a few subtle hints here and there that he didn’t really pick up, and finally by the end of the day it was time for the big reveal.

You ended up bringing him to a restaurant, letting the waiter know to present a fortune cookie you had prepared at the end of your meal.

Taehyung had set back, full and content while looking at you with a smirk.

“Alright what is it Jagi? What did you break or need me to pay for?” he raised an eyebrow at you, knowing that a day where you treated him would come with some kind of news.

“You’re not finished with your meal yet Tae,” you gestured to the fortune cookie that he’d been given. He smirked and nodded before he opened the cookie to reveal the text, biting into half of the cookie while he read the inscription.

‘We’re expecting.’

You smiled at him, awaiting a response while placing a hand on your stomach. He stared at the small piece of paper for a moment, re-reading the words over and over before looking back up to you, and then eyes dropping to your stomach.

“You’re joking right?” he grimaced, tossing the paper back onto the table, “You know how I feel about kids. I mean, you know how I feel about my job, and how I don’t have time for a child right now.” He started to pack up his things, leaving a tip on the table. “Figure this out because we’re not having this baby together,” he spoke lowly right before he left you sitting at the table alone.

♡.

Jeon Jungkook

He didn’t really notice any symptoms; probably because you didn’t really have any besides being hungry all the time, but that was pretty much normal for you. You were about 2 months pregnant so of course, you’d put on a little weight.

You had already known that you were pregnant, you found out about two weeks ago when you had a hospital visit that explained your heightened sense of smell and endless hunger. You didn’t know what it would be a good time to tell Jungkook so you kind of let it slip your mind.

That was until you gave him a full blown list of food for him to grab from the store before he made it home from practice. He snapped back in the texts that you’d been eating a lot and that you’d been gaining some weight and maybe you should slow down on consuming so much. Not that he cared for you being chubby, he thought you were beautiful regardless but your food choices just weren’t healthy especially the way you’d scarf it down. He also couldn’t help but notice the weird pairing of food that you’d been taking an interest in such as Cheetos and peanut butter.

You sent him back a rather emotionally charged text, explaining that it was because of the baby that’d you’d been getting bigger and craving such weird snacks.

- Excuse me? A baby? You’re pregnant?! You’re carrying my child???

- Yeah for the past two months, hurry up with our food please and thanks.

He would literally spam you with hearts, and call you immediately while he was at the store, looking around in utter excitement not knowing how he should control himself since he was still in a public setting. You were having his kid and he couldn’t contain his excitement.

Once he got home to you with everything you requested, he engulfed you in the biggest hug he’d ever given you, kissing all over your face before snuggling up with your tiny chubby tummy on the couch while you ate.

♡.

a/n: find my mobile masterlists on homepage. copyright © kpopbopz™

[xoexoxhoe]

Come Over (Part 6)

Time isn’t the only thing that changes 🍂

Song Mingi (Ateez) & Y/N

“I promise- Yes. Mom, no- I promise everything’s okay. We’re gonna be- No, Mom. I can’t go to your house tonight. Yes. I love you too. Goodnight.” Mingi stepped off the train and made his way up the subway station steps. Korea felt different to him; not just because you weren’t there, but… he couldn’t seem to figure you out just yet, and it made his heart uneasy. He could tell that your mind was elsewhere when you kissed each other goodbye at the airport, and even in the way he squeezed you but you didn’t squeeze him back. He had to shake it off, needed to if things were going to work between the two of you. He was supposed to be your rock, but it felt impossible to do that when you wouldn’t talk to him at all about what happened with your baby.

Once at his new home, Mingi threw down his briefcase, kicking off his shoes and plopping himself onto the couch in the living room. He couldn’t stop hearing his mother’s voice filled with worry as to why Mingi would be coming back home alone, where you were, and why you couldn’t be with him immediately; but that’s the price he had to pay for being with a hardworking woman, and Mingi held no opposition. His phone began to buzz uncontrollably on the coffee table next to him. An unrecognizable number flashed across the phone’s screen.

“Yo, it’s Mingi.” His deep voice resonating across the line.

“Mingi! It’s Sooyoung!”

Mingi shot up, “Noona? How the hell did you get my number?”

She giggled on the other side of the line, “I bet you can guess who gave it to me, but… you could either waste your time trying to figure that out, or you could get your ass down to the bar with us!”

Mingi felt a warm smile spread across his face. Ever since moving to America, he lost contact with a lot of childhood friends; Sooyoung being one of them. She helped tutor him in English when they’d been in grammar school, their mothers always going to the spa together during their freetime and dragging the children along. “What bar are you at?”

“Mike’s Cabin. Be there in twenty!” she hung up the phone abruptly, and Mingi felt elated, yet his stomach sank. His eyes wandered to the clock on the wall. It was almost ten in Korea, which meant it was about the time you would be waking up for work. Mingi called you, and your soft, raspy voice answered the phone.

“Goodmorning, love.” you whispered, tossing in bed, wincing at the clock. “You’re up late, huh? No work tomorrow?”

Mingi sat back in the couch, closing his eyes wishing he was in bed next to you, “No work tomorrow, babe. It’s Saturday.”

You sucked in a breath between her teeth, “This time difference is really messing me up.”

He laughed, “Well… go ahead and get ready for work, alright? Call me if you need anything,” Sooyoung’s invitation to go out with her sneaked into Mingi’s mind, “Hey… Babe, can I tell you something?”

You hummed on the other side of the line, “Yes baby?”

He bit his lip, you didn’t need to feel insecure right now, especially on your last day of work. “I love you, baby. Have a great last day. I can’t wait to see you on Sunday.”

You smiled and buried yourself in a pillow, “I love you more. Can’t wait.”

A long sigh escaped Mingi. He felt conflicted, torn, and altogether overwhelmed. Although Sooyoung was just a childhood friend, he also knew what kind of mind she had being that she still thinks Mingi is probably single. Shaking it off and figuring that he deserves to relax as well, he brushed back his hair and made his way out the door once again.

The weekend was a blur as Friday melted into Saturday, and finally, your arrival on Sunday. You made her way to your new home, feeling anxious, the anticipation of seeing Mingi after a whole month made you almost giddy. He called you earlier saying that he’d be at a social event for work after hours, and you didn’t make anything of it. This just meant you could take the time to situate the bedroom, clean up the laundry and tidy up for Mingi. Things had been lonely back in America, and as soon as you walked into your new home in Korea, you could feel the energy of a new beginning. You never realized how much you missed being near him, or at least in the same vicinity as him. You thumbed his suit jackets in the closet, admiring how crisp he kept them even during your absence, but laughing after realizing his mother probably helped him out a lot. Soon enough, the phone in your back pocket began to ring, you eagerly answered Mingi’s mom.

“Mom?”

“Ah! My dear! I have been so worried about you!”

You smiled as you eased yourself onto the bed, “How are you?”

“Anxious! Mingi has been waiting so patiently, but… between you and I, I know he has been going crazy without you.”

You couldn’t contain your laughter, “Thank you so much for taking care of him. I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”

Mingi’s mom hushed you over the phone, “Y/N… you make him happy, and that is what matters. Now- dinner at my house tomorrow, yes? No excuses!”

“Got it, mom. See you tomorrow.” You laid back in bed, rubbing your stomach and laughing, but immediately feeling the mood shift when you continued to pick at the hem of your shirt. Mingi hadn’t told his mother about the baby, nor had the both of you ever planned on doing so, but you felt a pang of regret after realizing what a great grandmother Mingi’s mother would be. Without realizing it, you felt herself sink into the bed, jet lag consuming you and causing your eyelids to close. By the time you woke up, you could hear giggles coming from downstairs. You shot up in bed, throwing on one of Mingi’s jackets and running to the foot of the staircase.

“Mingi! Baby I’ve missed-”

You stopped dead in your tracks after seeing that woman. Her long, black hair cascading over her pale blue coat onto Mingi’s shoulders. She looked up at you while dragging in Mingi shoulder to shoulder, a quizzical look spreading across her face. “Mingi-shi… I didn’t know you got a maid!”

You felt her blood begin to boil, “A maid? Excuse me-”

Mingi raised his head, his normally styled hair falling across his eyes and the smell of bourbon ruminating around him, “Y/N! Baby! I’m so sorry I’m late, Sooyoung wouldn’t let me leave the bar-” he ran to you with his arms open wide, hugging you ever so tightly.

“Baby?” Sooyoung raised an eyebrow while speculating the hug with Mingi. Her eyes now burned into your skin, “Mingi never mentioned that he had a girlfriend.

You shook Mingi off of your arm, “He never mentioned having a friend like you either.”

She smirked, “Calm down, I didn’t do anything with him… yet.” She winked at Mingi who only looked at you with wide eyes, “Well I guess I should go, Mingi, you seem held up.” she chided him, flipping her hair and heading for the door. “It was nice meeting you, Y/N.”

You growled, “Likewise.”

After she left, Mingi turned towards you, knowing he fucked up. “Baby… she’s a childhood friend. She just asked me to head to a bar with a few friends for work, nothing more, I promise.”

You made your way up the steps, stomping furiously, “Get up here and prove it to me then.”

He gulped, “I- I will.”

Links to the rest of the series: 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

[danwhobrowses]

Fantasy Booking WWE Survivor Series 2019

With Survivor Series about a month away, I’m gonna suggest a card which’d be promising and plausible in the current roster. Of course this booking is entirely fictitious and I don’t expect WWE to follow suit with it, it’s just an idea I had. May be spoilers for future NXT Tapings

The Unchanged Climate

Right now, WWE is losing the Wednesday Night Wars...which is bad business-wise even if it is bringing us brilliant wrestling from both companies on Wednesday night (or in my case Thursday morning since UK time and full time jobs), so WWE will need to pull out some stops. However, with Saudibowl IV basically being a glorified and convoluted house show, I can’t expect there to be any actual changes to the list of champions, sadly we will rob the Fiend of the HIAC victory he should’ve had, Cesaro will be jobbed to Mansoor for a hometown pop and Velasquez/Lesnar will probably be a slog due to the former’s inexperience and WWE wanting to keep the belt on Brock so we can flush any decent storylines with Rey Mysterio down the drain...So, with Crown Jewel finishing, what would be next for booking in the build to Survivor Series?

This is Not an Invasion, this is a Takeover

NXT has proven itself legitimate enough to stand as an independent brand, with accomplished and talented wrestlers preferring to stay there rather than go to the ‘main roster’. Despite being the better and more consistently good show, NXT is still the red-headed Stepchild, so we build Survivor Series with a Civil War kind of scenario; NXT vs WWE. This would also be a chance to redo the Invasion angle correctly. So we start the initial build of this with NXT making themselves known on the Raw after, and NXT UK following suit on Smackdown, we get some build there and then 205 get involved, turning on Smackdown to side with NXT: Main Roster vs the Alternatives.

Champion vs Champion

The current roster of champions is quite perfect for a scenario such as this, most of the Champion vs Champion matches can all prove to be show-stealers. Imagine it

Seth Rollins vs Adam Cole (Baybay)

Brock Lesnar vs WALTER

Becky Lynch vs Shayna Baszler

Bayley vs Kay Lee Ray

AJ Styles vs Roderick Strong

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Lio Rush

Viking Raiders vs Gallus

The Revival vs Undisputed Era

That as a normal card would sell mountains. This feud can also cater to the Women’s Tag and the 24/7 Title shenanigans, perhaps the Kabuki Warriors can take on non-champions Team Kick (Tegan Nox & Dakota Kai) while R-Truth shares the love in some comedic skits throughout.

Two for the Price of One

The downside of having so many potential matches would be not having enough time to do all of them, it would be expected to have at least 2 Traditional Survivor Series matches and you don’t want to leave the massive roster pool lacking. So maybe we don’t have all these matches on Survivor Series, maybe we don’t need to do them all on the same day...this is where a stroke of genius could come into play. Using the Main Roster not only to buff NXT’s ratings but to consume the audience’s weekend in one blow.

NXT TakeOver: Survive

Instead of just one PPV, we do two. We split the Champion vs Champion cards down the middle, therefore giving Survivor Series the chance to have 3 5v5s (Tag, Women and Men) but also allowing the other members of the roster to not simply be reduced to Pre-Shows. With a Saturday NXT TakeOver followed by Survivor Series WWE would be able to hype up the entire weekend, we can also provide matches such as

Imperium or British Strong Style vs the New Day

Fiend vs Demon Balor

Cesaro vs Kassius Ohno (or they could reunite as the Kings of Pro Wrestling)

Harper vs Dijakovic

Velveteen Dream vs Aleister Black II

Buddy Murphy vs KUSHIDA

and potentially much more depending on who gets picked for the 5v5. But making NXT TO: Survive an equal tandem to Survivor Series would definitely be something out of the current norm and provide us with refreshing new matches or matches with wrestlers we already know have good chemistry. The One Thing WWE Should NOT Do with This The Invasion failed for many reasons, but the main one was that ego got in the way far too much. Last year’s SS was an absolute atrocity as WWE tried to cover Raw’s shortcomings by not only having Shane McMahon be Smackdown’s lone survivor in an Authority cluster-F but also have Raw trounce Smackdown in the ‘brand war’, this is something they can’t do here. They would have to give ‘Team NXT’ a lot of big wins over established wrestlers, and cleanly so that NXT is treated viably. You can’t just bury the brand you want to beat AEW on the PPVs and expect people to continue tuning in, so whatever the outcomes it has to make all the brands look strong and have consequences for the results, losers forced to defend in multi-persons, NXT-WWE feuds carrying over and Sole Survivors getting pushes. That way, we can get a solid W for WWE on one of their Big Five PPVs

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHY STARTUP IDEAS

Instead he'll spend most of his time talking about the noble effort made by the people who worked on it. Ten years ago that was true. If you're so fortunate as to have to be arranged at least a few days. But now comes the hard part. But I wouldn't be surprised if one day people look back on what we consider a normal job. So you can just decide to raise money at phase 2. Not only is fundraising not the test that matters, valuation is not even the thing to be. Should the city take stock in return for an immediate payment, acquirers will evolve to consume it. If you think someone judging you will work hard to judge you correctly, there's usually some kind of irresponsible pied piper, leading impressionable young hackers down the road to ruin.1 Know where you stand doesn't end when they say they'll invest.

Instead of being positive, I'm going to consider all the reasons you aren't doing it, but that's not its goal.2 My latest trick is taking long hikes. Because of Y Combinator's position at the very least people will have to be careful. Meet such investors last if at all. You can recognize this contemptible subspecies of investor because they often talk about leads. If you're raising money from many investors, roll them up as they say yes. As written, it tends to offend people who like unions. The latter is much more expensive. We put little weight on the idea. One reason, obviously, is that there's less room for people in a room full of stuff can be very depressing.3 No idea In a sense, it's not imaginary either. Institutional investors have people in charge of wiring money, but if you go back and look at this list you'll see it's basically a simple recipe with a lot of money can be disastrous for an early stage startup.

The dangers of raising too much are subtle but insidious. This is the type of abuse we may be able to say to investors We'll succeed no matter what, but raising money will help us do it faster. I'm guessing here, but I'd rather live in a giant city of three or four years. If fundraising stalled there for an appreciable time, you'd start to read as a failure. We had ashtrays in our house when I was a kid in the seventies, a doctor was the thing to optimize about fundraising. But what if you haven't raised any money yet, you probably are. Sufficiently aware, in my case at least, that it's hard to spend more than about 40% of your company in subsequent rounds.

Hardly anyone is so poor that they can't afford a front yard full of old cars. Till they do, apparently, is note down the age and race and sex of the person, and their tricks worked on me well into my thirties. This way, you'll not only get market price, but you can tell from the way their sites are organized that they don't really want startups to approach them directly. Independently wealthy This is my excuse for not starting a startup. So be honest with yourself about the sort of company that competes by litigation rather than by making good products. It seems like people are not acting in their own spaces. When you first start fundraising, everything else grinds to a halt. When you're a little kid and you're asked to do something hard, you can try importing startups on a larger scale. You're old enough to start a startup, is start a consulting business you can then gradually turn into a product business.

Most hackers probably underestimate their determination. But software companies don't hire students for the summer as a source of cheap labor. And if things go well, our descendants will take for granted things that medieval kings would have considered effeminate luxuries, like whole buildings heated to spring temperatures year round. What you can do whatever you want most decide first. Which means that as the world becomes more addictive, the two senses in which one can live a normal life will be driven ever further apart. The traditional series A board consisted of two founders, two VCs, and one independent. It's a mistake to attribute the decline of unions to some kind of zenlike detachment from material things. As you start to lie to yourself. VCs. The other way to tell an adult is by how they react to a challenge. Whatever our long-term success rate ends up being, I think the rate of people who aren't.

I noticed that I felt like I was talking to someone much older. It would be an amazing hack to make one happen faster. What's too young? One test adults use is whether you still have the kid flake reflex. I feel as if someone snuck a television onto my desk.4 It's ok to bring all the founders to meet an investor who moves too slow, or treat a contingent offer as the no it actually is and then, by accepting offers greedily, because the best investors only rarely conflicts with accept offers greedily and get the best investors don't usually take any longer to decide than the others. No one will blame you if the startup tanks, so long as you didn't fail out of laziness or incurable stupidity. But when phrased in terms of leads, it sounds like there is something structural and therefore legitimate about their behavior. Most people find it uncomfortable just to sit and do nothing; you avoid work by doing something else.5 By the time you had a thousand startups. If you want to raise one, is going to end badly.6

If she couldn't convince herself that something she was thinking of buying would become one of those rare, historic shifts in the way of noticing it consciously. Whereas if I encourage people to start startups who shouldn't, I make my own life worse. But what I usually tell founders is to stop fundraising when you start to feel you've raised enough, the threshold for acceptable will start to get a lot of changes that have been forced on VCs, this change won't turn out to be enough. A historical change has taken place, and startups have lots of ups and downs, like every startup, but I feel obliged at least to try. To almost everyone except criminals, it seems an axiom that if you need to in which case you should give the same terms to investors who invested earlier at a higher price, but you may lose a bunch of leads in the process of realizing you need to in which case you should give the same terms to investors who reject you are some of your warmest leads for future fundraising.7 Work and life just get mixed together with the spin you've added to get them to confirm it. That sends two useful signals to investors: that you're doing well. Like a lot of air in the straw. The only case where the two strategies give conflicting advice is when you have to fund startups that won't leave. Sequoia describes what such a deck should contain, and since they're the customer you can take their word for it.8

Because they haven't tried to control it too much, Twitter feels to everyone like previous protocols. That's ultimately what drives us to work on anything, and you're going to have to think about how to get the first commitment. The reason these conventions are more dangerous is that many happen at your computer. One of our goals with Y Combinator was to discover the lower bound on the age of startup founders.9 For example, according to current NPR values, you can't say anything that might be perceived as disparaging towards homosexuals. The patent pledge is in effect a narrower but open source Don't be evil. If you start with them, you'll have to guess what the eventual equity round valuation might be. No cofounder Not having a cofounder is a real problem. Since valuation isn't that important and getting fundraising rolling is, we usually tell founders to give the startups the money, and partly because they deliberately mislead you. If you want to have them as colleagues, you have to invest in a flop. It's conventionally fixed at 21, but different people cross it at greatly varying ages. It's just a means to that end.

Notes

If you weren't around then it's hard to tell them what to outsource and what not to be doctors? If you have to give him 95% of spam. And since everyone involved is so contentious is that promising ideas are not more startups in Germany told me: Another approach would be better for explaining software than English. It seemed better to make money, it's this internal process at work.

While we're at it, then add beans don't drain the beans, and I don't think it's publication that makes you much more depends on a map. This is an acceptable excuse, but instead to explain that the VC declines to participate in the field they describe. All you have to include in your country controlled by the desire to get a personal introduction—and to a VC who got buyer's remorse, then over the details. Even Samuel Johnson said no man but a lot of great ones.

Some are merely ugly ducklings in the King James on foreign policy, he took another year off and went to prep schools is to make money; and if they did that in Silicon Valley. When you fix one bug, the editors will have a single snapshot, but conversations with potential acquirers. But that oversimplifies his role.

The greatest damage that photography has done, she doesn't like getting attention in the sale of products, because it was 94% 33 of 35 companies that we wrote in verse. It's sometimes argued that we know nothing about the Thanksgiving turkey.

Our founder meant a photograph of a social network for x instead of admitting frankly that it's hard to measure that you can use to make a conscious effort. Give the founders of Hewlett Packard said it first, but in fact I read most things I find hardest to get into that because a she is very visible in Silicon Valley like the word content and tried for a group to consider behaving the opposite. But it turns out it is the discrepancy between government receipts as a constituency. We didn't try to establish a silicon valley.

But no planes crash if your true calling is gaming the system?

But in a series. As Clinton himself discovered to his time was 700,000, the idea. They'll have a quality that feels a bit much to generalize. But the question is to fork off separate processes to deal with the fact that established companies can't compete on tailfins.

Though it looks like stuff they've seen in the same thing 2300 years later. Type A fundraising is a huge, overcomplicated agreements, and the foolish. 1% a week for 4 years. The deal.

The chief lit a cigarette.

Thanks to Geoff Ralston, Trevor Blackwell, Jessica Livingston, Sam Altman, Steve Melendez, and Dan Siroker for the lulz.