#day one: safe

[masterwords]

high & dry

Summary: Hotch & Jack's arrival in Chicago and the beginning of their WITSEC journey.

Pairings: none (future hotchgan)

Words: 1.6k

Warnings: none

AO3: high & dry

Notes: For Comfortember Day One: Safe. I am going to do as many of the prompts for this month as I can and I plan to set them all within the Chicago Times universe. A whole month of retired softies! I can't promise all fluff, some will be sad (like this one), but it's going to be as much comfort as I can possibly bestow on them. I am going to try and keep each story short and simple, divulging little bits and details in each instead of a huge word dump. Pray for me. LOL

**

Chicago. He’d been plenty of times, mostly for cases but a few times for pleasure. The city looked different looming on the horizon from the backseat of a vehicle with dark tinted windows. He was nodding off in a Dramamine fog, Jack had been asleep for hours. It was a ten hour drive without stops, and the US Marshals in charge of their trip were making it a point to stop as few times as possible. Once to fuel up at a station that they deemed safe enough to let their appointees out for bathroom breaks and snacks and once at a designated time check in. Hotch didn’t handle riding in the backseat well and they’d drugged him up nicely after the fueling stop, enough that he didn’t feel awake enough to be sick but not tired enough to sleep either.

His mind was racing, even with the drugs dulling his responses. Did he make the right call? (Did he even have a choice?) Were they really safe? He had so little faith in this system anymore. At one point it was all he believed in, and now it had been so eroded that it was barely recognizable.

The city skyline loomed in the distance, glowing under the new dawn. He saw the tendrils of pink and orange and purple light touching skyscrapers and he thought about Jessica – they didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. He’d written her a note, scrawled in his quick angular chicken scratch and smudged through tears. The worst way to say goodbye to a best friend and the only way to keep her safe from his mistakes. Dave promised to get it to her in the same breath that he promised he wouldn’t call Derek Morgan and ask him to return to the FBI, a preposterous suggestion made by out of touch higher ups who were desperately trying to fill a gaping hole the easiest way they could. Hotch knew Derek would come back, at least temporarily, just to not see the team suffer and he couldn’t abide it. Dave promised the answer was no. “Call Emily,” Hotch had said quietly. “She’ll do it for the team.” He hoped he made the right call there, that he wasn’t dooming her to his fate.

“Here we are, fellas. Home.” One of the Marshals was poking away at his phone while the other drove, giving directions to the safe house. Safe apartment. Hotch asked specifically for a small home, two bedrooms, outside entry, not on the ground floor. He wanted a balcony, he wanted a view, he wanted to feel as free as he could while under constant surveillance. If they were going to force him into the program, they were going to bend to his will as much as he could manage. He wouldn’t be a prisoner.

The first week after their arrival was spent within the confines of the apartment almost entirely. The Director wanted them to ensure that Peter Lewis was not following them, worried more about his decision to trust the system than the safety of Hotch and his son. It had already failed Hotch once and he had no faith in it now.

The apartment was bland, flavorless. Depressing neutrals, less personality than a hotel room. “This sucks,” Jack muttered, opening and slamming kitchen cupboards packed with groceries Hotch had given them a list for before even leaving Quantico. Everything was fully stocked and ready for them to spend a week together in these walls. “When can we leave?”

“A week.” Hotch was tired of the constant barrage of questions meant to irritate him into changing his mind. As if it were that easy. “We’ll manage.”

“Did you bring my PlayStation?”

“Jack, we’ve been through this. I didn’t go back to the apartment. Dave is going over there with a crime scene unit and some movers, they’ll box up everything on my list and get it to us when it’s safe.”

“So he’s the serial killer but it’s us in prison. Great.”

“Jack, we’re not in prison. Please stop with the dramatics.”

Jack’s eye rolls were the stuff of legend, and right now he was at the top of his game. Hotch’s headache was legendary. The Dramamine he’d taken just to get through the overnight drive was leaving him feeling dried out and hungover.

“So what is there to do?”

“The Marshals put a box in your bedroom of things they had for kids your age. There has to be something decent in there.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Jack, please. I have a headache. This is a lot for both of us, I’m no happier than you are. We just have to make the best of a bad situation.”

“A bad situation that’s your fault!” Jack shouted, storming down the hallway. Hotch knew better than to try and follow him. He had paperwork stacked up on the kitchen bar to complete, signatures required to get him his new identification, get Jack enrolled in the local school, jobs on a pre-approved list to look through. Their security detail would drop off to a minimum after the first week, after which his small salary would kick in and he’d have to hope that Jess understood the instructions in his note for disbursement of some of his money, including the fact that he was essentially leaving his entire estate in her care until further notice. He’d been doing so much to support she and Roy over the last couple of years that he couldn’t see any other way around it – everything that belonged to him now belonged to her.

She was going to get a call from his lawyer, and she was going to be furious. But he also knew she would do what he needed her to. Everything was in his estate plan, he’d known this was always a possibility and had prepared for it.

Jack hated his bedroom and he made sure Hotch knew it. He hated everything about it, but he still managed to sulk in there for almost the entire first week. Windows closed, curtains drawn, Marshals in the parking lot watching. Jack ate with Hotch on the couch with the television on, neither of them really watching it. Each just lost in their own world, sulking or planning.

“Why’d you bring me here?”

“To be safe.”

“This isn’t safe. This is a prison.”

“This part is temporary. It’s a settling in week, Jack. We have two more days, and then the security detail goes away and we begin our new life. You’re all registered to start school next week and I’ll find a job.”

Jack laughed and it didn’t sound at all happy. It was a horrible sound that made Hotch’s chest ache. “Yeah. Of course. You’ll work all the time and I’ll be trapped here all by myself doing homework.”

“Then I won’t get a job. I don’t need to, not yet. Aunt Jess will make sure we have money.”

“I miss mom. She at least made this part fun.”

He’d seen that coming. Haley would have already had them building forts or playing hide and seek, doing fun little things inside the house that would make it bearable but she got Jack when he was little and easily amused. Jack who was small and sweet and innocent. Of course that was mostly an excuse, he was sure that if he’d spent more time with Jack he’d know how to keep this older version amused too...but regrets were a thing he couldn’t afford. They had only now, and only each other. This could be over in a week or it could take years.

“What would you like to do? I’m sure I can ask Tim to get us a puzzle or a board game, a deck of cards maybe to pass the time until we can go out.”

“Whatever.”

Jack scraped his plate of half-eaten food into the garbage and tossed his dish into the sink like a frisbee. It clattered against a ceramic pot and broke as he stalked back toward his bedroom. He didn’t even turn to look.

Safe, Hotch thought sadly. This is safe.

As he cleaned up the broken dish, slicing his finger on small shards of porcelain, he fought back the burn of tears. It was silent in the apartment, save for the hum of the refrigerator and the purring of cars passing beneath them. In fifteen minutes the place would rattle with the force of a train, a sound that Hotch was already getting used to. It hurt his ears but it made him feel like he was part of something. Maybe next week they’d ride the train, take it wherever, explore. Make the city theirs. He didn’t like being trapped any more than Jack did, it made him feel antsy and anxious. He’d had a migraine all week, the kind that makes living pure hell but there wasn’t anything he could do for it but wait it out. Try to sleep it off, shower it away.

When Tim dropped in for the nightly check-in, before lights out, Hotch handed him a small piece of paper with some provision he’d need to finish out the last couple days.

Milk. Eggs. Oatmeal. 300 piece puzzle. Deck of cards.

Tim looked at him curiously but shrugged, completely uninterested in anything but getting back to his car where it was warm. This cold snap was chilling him to the bone, he hated Chicago and assignments like this. He looked at Hotch and felt a little hopeless for the man, these two weren't going to adjust. They weren't going to settle in and accept things easily, they were going to be trouble. Tim hated being a handler for trouble. “You guys okay for the night?” Customary question.

Customary answer. “Yes, thank you.”

Safe. This is safe.

[emo-batboy]

A Wild Battinson (Social Media AU)

Part 57 (Masterlist)

Part 58 Coming At Some Point

@bruciemilf

Hey so uhh it's been a while. (If you look closely, squint a little, I literally made some of these photos over a year ago. I feel SICK. This AU is ancient.)

Here’s the SNL episode once again for the uninitiated.

Okay so hear me out. I know a lot of people were excited to see Caleb discover the batcave yada yada but the #1 rule is No One Figures It Out. Otherwise, the entire point of the series is obsolete and it ends. (Tim does find out ofc but not Caleb. None of the main cast. No OCs.) So he gets let go from babysitting Dick and Jason, mostly because Bruce and Alfred realize their mistake, and he never sees the batcave. RIP. ANYWAYS hope y’all forgive me. Didn’t realize I was implying that until everyone started screaming about it in the comments. Caleb is still blissfully unaware :)

No idea when the next part is coming out. I am currently in an airport banging this out before I convince myself not to post it AGAIN but you guys deserve better. It’s the holidays. So Merry December 19th-ish. Peace :)

[krashlite]

#WeeklyHermittober Week 0 - Sunlight

I'm also assigning songs to each piece I do and I say this one gets Prior Things - Hop Along

[idontmindifuforgetme]

friend wanted to see my tumblr, and when i told him i can’t show it to him bc it’s basically my personal diary he went “oh so I can’t see it but a bunch of strangers on tumblr can??” he literally does not get me. no one will get me like the people in my phone get me

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

doing great chat

[mooneln0ne]

Ace 😓

[officialmiintee]

Furin first years having a fruitful harvest!!

participating in (some) days of @windbreakerweek with day 1: garden!

[darkrooklobby]

Sometimes I have to remind myself that posting art online is like screaming into a void 🙃🦉✌️

The new year holds a lot of issues for me. Art is difficult, life as an artist is difficult, and the world isn't kind. The sense of impending doom and failure looms over me. Why is nothing ever easy?

[bluerosefox]

Protective Sibling Haunting

It was no secret that Danny loved his older sister, even when she nagged, bugged or psychoanalyzed him, she was and would always be the number one person he would love and protect without hesitation. (He was also pretty sure if anything bad happened to her he would no doubt become like Dan, maybe not fully but pretty sure he would become something close)

So when he found out she was going to Gotham to tour for colleges, he really didn't like it.

Sure Gotham's colleges were top tier for the field of psychology she wanted to study but the crime rate and corruption alone was also high up on lists and that wasn't counting the amount of Gotham Rogues yet.

Danny really didn't like the idea of his sister being in such a dangerous city, even though he knew she could take care of herself since she gained not just their dad's height but also the Fenton family strength and their mother's insane smarts, and given the fact he was a protector spirit that focused on his family it upset his core badly.

So, he decided to tag along... Invisibility of course. He didn't need her to be mad at him if she knew he was following of course.

He wasn't going to disturbed her from her touring he was just going to make sure she's safe thats all....

-x-x-

Okay so... Danny really wasn't expecting to do this when he decided to tag along for Jazz's college tour but...

Danny snickered as he used his powers to move the boxes around as if thrown, flicker the lights and explode the light bulbs, and made shadows shift unnaturally, gaining screeches from some goons as they threw their weapons on the floor and some scrambled out of the building ignoring the higher ups and their boss to stop being cowards.

It was a little fun being able to be go full paranormal activity on a gang of traffickers that had plans on kidnapping Jazz and the other touring young adults he discovered after noticing a few of their men following and watching them a day into the touring.

[eclecticwordblender]

one day i hope that we find names and evidence of women who wrote some of my favourite works, only to be plagiarised by males whose names they publish and circulate under

[thewisestdino]

24 with tawnypelt mayhaps?

Just as you were in my dream

Now let me off easy

And I’ll slip down through the drain

To release my scattered brain

My enemy

[civetcider]

finally got around to making some comics with THEM, jude, the Black-and-white ruffed lemur and TJ, the foosa, she/her for both

[iliothermia]

I won't be able to finish this drawing before the convention, which will take up my next 5 days.. But I want to talk a little about him.. I've been thinking about golems and Frankenstein, and the trans body, projection and misunderstanding, villainization and death.

The concepts of Frankenstein's monster and the golem have been swimming in my head for a while, and their lore intertwining.. The tragedy of existing being seen as a monster no matter how you try,.. And the Golem, a protector of his people and a servant whose only flaw always rang a bit close to home as an an autistic person-- being too literal in execution of his orders. He's tired and struggles with a yearning for death. His havdalah candles will be out.. The first flame of the week, a spark of starting over again-- The flame brings him fear. As much as he's kept himself together he doesn't know how much longer he can keep doing it, he fears failure- but the fear of what may happen if he's gone is even more terrifying. He's lived a long life, and over time the one who formed him has sculpted him to the golem's own wishes.. From nothing to the man he is- but even with that effort, to outsiders he's still a monster. His skin is different shades of clays from varying riverbeds as his people have travelled.. Golems are unformed, imperfect.. but even as outsides can be polished the insides can still be broken

[jxitrash]

Movie night !

[strayingsocks]

what a romantic wedding ceremony

[kyufeed]

unsurprisingly, i will not be supporting taeil or anyone who remains close with him going forward. if there is an attempt to make this about fanwars or similar, i will also disengage. all this is about is the victim and their safety. to make it about anything else is disingenuous, callous, and cruel. morality comes over any kind of gotcha, and to use suffering to justify prior opinions or uplift others will not be tolerated here.