#eric garcia fanfics

[the-offside-rule]

Eric Garcia (FCBarcelona) - Chaos

Requested: yes

Prompt: Singing a lullaby

Baby Promptlist

It had been a whirlwind few months for Y/n and Eric Garcia. The birth of their daughter, Sofia, had been a beautiful moment, but the sleepless nights, constant feedings, and never-ending diaper changes had left Y/n running on fumes. "You okay?" Eric asked as Y/n groggily sat down at the litchen table. "Yeah." She mumbled. "Im just-" She paused, looking over at her boyfriend. "Look at me. I ust don't feel like I'm dping this right. It's feels like Im not doing anything right for Sofia, not to mention I have a breakout and no amount of cleanser or toner is fixing it." She rested her head on the table. "Nothing is working." Eric hated seeing her like this. She had been nothing short of incredible since Sofia was born, getting up most nights to tend to her, caring for her whilst Eric was away at training or matches. To him, she was almost like a superhero wifh everything she was doing.

"You need a spa day." Eric said, stroking his fingers through her hair. "Just you and your friend, no distractions, no responsibilities for a few hours." Y/n looked up and smiled, though her tired eyes betrayed her. "That sounds amazing, but are you sure you can handle everything with Sofia by yourself?" Eric puffed his chest out, feigning confidence. "Of course! It's just one day. How hard can it be?"

"Please don't say that. Those are famous last words." Eric stood up. "Come on, amor. I can do it. Besides, it would be nice to spend some time with her beflre the champions league starts up. I wont be seeing you both for days at a time flr some lf the games." Y/n sighed. The spa day sounded great, but she pondered pn whether or nlt Eric would be good at all this. The diaper changing, the baby feeding, all of it. "Okay, okay, fine. I'll go." Eric grinned, kissing the top of her head. "You deserve it."

A few days later, Y/n stood at the front door of their house walking Eric through everything. "If she gets hungry, I left some milk so all you really need tl do is prepare it. If she starts crying, walk around with her for a bit, that usually works. Any other problems call me." Eric chuckled. "I will not be calling you on your day off. This is a daddy-daughter day." Y/n smiled uneasily. "Y/n, I can do this." He reassured her. "You’re right. You can do it. But just, if there is a problem, you know-"

"Amor." Y/n sighed, kissing her daughter then turning to kiss her boyfriend. "I love you." He smiled. "I love you too. Ill see you later!" As Y/n and her friend drove off, Eric stood in the doorway holding Sofia, waving them goodbye. "We've got this, right Sof?" He whispered to his daughter, who looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. For the first hour, everything was smooth. Eric fed Sofia a bottle, changed her diaper, and even managed to get her to fall asleep. He plopped down on the couch, proud of himself. "Easy peasy." He muttered, grabbing his phone to message some of the guys. They begged him to join them in playing Fifa, but he said no. He couldn't, not whilst he was meant to be takong care of Sofia. He instead, prompted himself to call Frenkie. "Eric." The dutchman said. "What do you do when Mikkey is away and you have to take care of the baby by yourself?" Eric asked. "Hello to you too." Frenkie laughed. "Why? Is Y/n gone shopping?"

"No, no. I sent her and her friend on a Spa day. I thought she needed it." Eric replied. "She trusted you with a baby for that long?" Frenkie joked. "You're hilarious, but seriously. What do you do?"

"Well, right now Miles is just on some sort of playmat Mikkey picked up for him back home. He likes that but I dont think Sofia is able to dp that yet." Eric's brows furrowed. "Why?" He asked. "You dont have a playmat, do you? Anyway, when Miles was that little, I kind of just let him lie on my chest or just let him sleep. They need to sleep as much as possible. Plus, its nice to enjoy the peace."

But his moment of peace was short-lived. A shrill cry pierced the air. Sofia was awake—and she was not happy. "Mierda. I'll call you back!" Eric said quicly hanging up, just hearing Frenkie's laugh through the speaker. Eric hurried over to the crib, lifting his daughter into his arms. "Hey, hey, it's okay, baby." He cooed, bouncing her lightly. But Sofia’s cries only grew louder. He checked her diaper; dry. He offered her the bottle; she pushed it away. He walked laps around the living room, swaying her gently, but nothing seemed to work. The crying continued, and Eric could feel himself starting to panic.

"What do you need, Sof? What am I doing wrong?" He muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He tried walking into different rooms, tried playing soft music, but nothing helped. Sofia just kept crying. Defeated, Eric sank onto the rocking chair in Sofia’s nursery. He held her close, gently swaying back and forth, back and forth. He was about to give up when a memory popped into his head; Y/n, softly singing a lullaby when Sofia had been crying one night. "I guess it’s worth a shot." Eric murmured to himself. Taking a deep breath, he began singing softly, his voice shaky at first.

"Hush, little baby, don’t say a word. Daddy's gonna buy you a mocking bird-"

Slowly, to his amazement, Sofia’s cries began to quiet. She stared up at him with her big eyes, her tiny hands gripping his shirt as she slowly drifted off. Eric kept rocking, kept singing, even as her breathing evened out and she finally, blissfully, fell asleep. Eric sat there for a few more minutes, savoring the quiet moment, before quietly making his way back down to the living room and gently placing her back in her crib. He exhaled deeply, half in relief and half in disbelief that he had managed to calm her down.

Later that afternoon, Y/n returned, her face glowing with relaxation. "I'm back!" She smiled as she stepped into the house, her eyes immediately darting to the baby monitor in her hand. Eric was stretched out on the couch, a proud grin on his face. "How was your spa day?" He asked, getting up to greet her. "Perfect." Y/n said, leaning in for a kiss. "But I think the real highlight was seeing you on the baby monitor." Eric froze. "Wait, what?" Y/n laughed, holding up her phone. "Yeah, I had the baby monitor app open while I was at the spa. I saw everything. It was adorable. You singing to her, rocking her to sleep. I’m not going to lie, I have never been more attracted to you before in my entire life."

Eric’s face turned bright red. "You saw that?" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Of course." Y/n teased. "And I loved every second of it. You did great." Eric relaxed, letting out a small chuckle. "I was a little out of my depth there for a minute. But hey, I think we made it through." Y/n kissed his cheek. "You’re amazing, Eric. Thank you for this. It means the world to me." He smiled, pulling her closer. "Anything for you. And for Sofia. But, uh, next time, maybe you can stay just a little closer to home?"

Y/N laughed. "Deal."

[barcaracing]

Hii can u do gavi having a crush on actress reader and he reveals it after being asked abot his celeb crush in an interview :))

interview crush | pg6

pairing: pablo gavi x actress!reader, honorary guests: pedri gonzalez and eric garcia

a/n: my first gavi fic!! exciting stuff

──────── ⚽️ ‧₊°

“Favourite movie?” the interviewer asked the three Barca players in front of her.

Eric glanced at Gavi with a soft smile. He knew how nervous the younger teammate got during interviews, so he and Pedri had tried to discreetly answer the more loaded questions, leaving the mostly harmless ones to Gavi. It had worked well so far, so Eric expected him to answer this one as well but to his surprise, Pedri spoke first.

“I know which one Gavi likes,” he said, amusement clear in his voice. Eric looked at him questioningly, but Pedri didn’t notice. He was too busy smirking at Gavi as his cheeks tinted a deep shade of pink.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gavi mumbled, eyes stubbornly fixed on the ground. Eric looked between his two teammates, obviously feeling like he was missing something.

“What is it?” The interviewer asked, her eyes shining with curiosity. Eric spared her a glance, having forgotten that she was there for a brief second. He turned back to the boys.

When neither of them answered, Pedri nudged Gavi playfully in the ribs and turned back to the interviewer. “We were watching this movie last week and Gavi was crushing hard on the main actress–”

“I wasn’t!” 

Pedri only shot him an amused look and continued like he hadn’t spoken. “He wouldn't stop talking about her, so I told him I know her through a friend and I could easily set them up, but he refused and told me...what you did say? Oh, right, he told me he would not pass me the ball in our next match if I introduced her to him. You would’ve thought I was threatening to kidnap his family.” He chuckled and the others laughed while Gavi rolled his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.

“I just thought her character was pretty cool,” he said, still avoiding everyone’s eyes.

“Of course.” Pedri raised an eyebrow. “That’s why you’ve seen the movie only about seven times since.”

Understanding dawned on Eric and he quickly put a hand on Gavi’s shoulder to make him look at him. “Is that what you've been watching on your phone?” The boy continued to avoid his gaze, so Eric turned to the interviewer with a wide grin. “He’s been walking around with his phone in his hand and I thought he was watching a video or something. He never wanted to tell me, but now it all makes perfect sense. Our little Gavi has a crush on–”

“Nobody!” Gavi cut him off, sending him a wide-eyed look, but Eric only laughed and held up his hands in front of him. He had never seen him look so distressed before. It was hilarious.

“Alright, fine.” Eric's eyes twinkled. “Nobody.”

“Oh, come on,” the interviewer said, not ready to let this go, “we want to know! Give us a tip, at least.”

Gavi crossed his arms and put on his best smile, praying that no one could tell that his heart was pounding like crazy. “The tip is that you’ll never find out.”

Pedri snorted and rolled his eyes. “It’s Y/N.”

“Pedri!”

Eric bent over, laughing hard.

“Y/N Y/L/N?” Interviewer was almost giddy as she looked at them.

“Yeah, her,” Pedri replied, grinning when Gavi put his head in his hands.

His voice was muffled when he spoke. “I���m never going to pass you the ball again.”

Eric almost fell out of the chair from how much he was laughing.

*******

this one’s pretty short but i told myself that i can only allow myself another sideblog if i actually write on it, so it’s short fics or nothing lol stay hydrated friends! 

[footballlover8]

hi talking about the last story you wrote with the ice skater

It was amazing and i wanted to ask if you might wanna write something about back when pedro was in Tokyo for the Olympics where he meets another athlete who also participates there and they just start crushing on each other

A/N: Hi! Thank you so much! It mean a lot❤️ Sorry it didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted too but I tried so I still hope you like it!

Also I know the women and the men’s team don’t play at the same time but it was just for the stories purpose, I wasn’t too sure if you wanted her too be a professional at something else but I just made it football because it seemed good for the story😭

Warnings: swearing, hinting too some suggestive content, bad translated Spanish.(let me know if there is anything else)

Requested?: yes/no

Genre: Just pure Fluff

English is not my native language

Project get them together|| Pedri ft. Eric & Aitana

(Not my gif, all credits too the owner!)

"Aitana, are you coming or what?" The girl yelled from outside the bathroom.

"I need too look pretty!" She yelled back.

"We're only having dinner! Besides you already look pretty" The Spanish girl groaned annoyed that her teammate was using ages.

"With the men's team!" She exclaimed, finally opening the door.

"So?...Who are you trying too look so pretty for?" She asked aitana

"I mean pau torres and Eric Garcia is pretty fit, oh and of course Marc asensio" She shrugged making the younger midfielder laugh.

"Tana! He's on the rival team"

"Well for the men's team yes, not for the women" Aitana just shrugged her off.  

"Still! He's from Madrid!"The other girl said making Aitana groan.

"Shut up!"

"No! I'm not letting that go, you can't have crush on a madrista!"

"Hala Madrid" Aitana joked earning a slap from her younger teammate.

"Ow! You're way to stubborn, you know that?"

"Just don't interact with him, and I'll let you live"

"How nice of you to let me live"

"Let's just go you little shi-"

"I'm taller than you, you dwarf" Aitana teased, railing the younger girl up. She got so angry easily.

  "Doesn't make you smarter than me, hijo de puta" She mumbled the last part.

(Son of a bitch)

The two midfielders made they're way out of the hotel and onto the busy streets pf Tokyo, they quickly found a taxi and soon arrived at their destination.

Getting out of the car, the hit smoothed out her long black dress and fixing the top that was connected too the skirt with crossed straps around her waist. Her long silky hair fell perfectly down too her bum.

As the two girls walked inside they were met with a bunch of people, mostly men they didn't know. They greeted they're own teammates and  y/n took a seat between Aitana and alba.

She looked across the table to be met by a familiar pair of brown eyes already looking into her own. The dark haired boy looked away as he had been caught staring.

She looked down into her lap a blush covering her cheeks. Aitana noticed the little interaction and smirked too herself. She gave Eric a look who sat across her and he quickly caught onto her little plan.

"So Eric and Pedri eh?" Aitana smirked.

"Sí me and Pedri" Eric confirmed matching her smirk

"I think he's the same age as you y/n, isn't he?" Eric asked looking the girl who was about as red as a tomato, she knew exactly what they were doing.

"You're 18 right Pedri?" Aitana asked him and he just nodded rolling his eyes slightly, also knowing what they were doing.

The two had met before due too being in the same club and national team. They talked here and then and it was definitely not a surprise that the two had a thing for each other.

"Great, y/n's 17! You guys are perfect for each other!" Eric's enthusiastic tone made the girl roll her head back with a slight groan. She thought for a second before coming up with the perfect payback

"Hey Eric! You wanna know something?" The girl smirked, side eyeing aitana.

"Should I be scared?" He asked

"No,no, not at all" She smirked.

"Did you know that aitana here has a little crush on you?"

Aitana snapped her head towards the girl.

"Oh really?" He asked and amused smirk formed on his lips.

Aitana hit the girl in the back of her head making her gasp.

"Ow! You fucking bitch!" She hit aitana back in a heart beat. This made aitana hit her back again and this went on and on for a few minutes until they got stopped by Jorge, they're coach.

"You're still a bitch" The younger girl whispered too her teammate. Pedri and Eric found themselves laughing at the two girls. Eventually the two girls stopped bickering as the dinner had been served.

Later on the party had started, so now everyone was gathered in a fancy club in Tokyo. The two Spanish national teams had rented the club so there wouldn't come a bunch of fans as this was supposed to be a night for all the players too enjoy.

And of course aitana and Eric wanted her and Pedri to get too know each other better, so they ended up on a booth together. Her and aitana on one side and Pedri and Eric on the other.

“Hey, I forgot I need too show you something!” Aitana exclaimed suddenly looking at Eric.

“What do you have too show him?” The other girl asked, confusion written all over her face.

“My car!”

“We didn’t driv-“ Aitana covered her mouth before she could say anything.

“Let’s go Eric!” She stood up and dragged Eric along with her.

Y/n and Pedri looked at each other before laughing.

The two started talking about god knows what. They could feel the alcohol take over they’re body. Both being athletes meant that they don’t drink a lot, so as soon as the alcohol hit they’re system they were long gone.

“Let’s go dance!”

Pedri looked at her a bit surprised.

“I can’t dance!” He tried.

“Please!? I’ll teach you!”

He couldn’t say no too her. He got up making her squeal as she dragged him up too the dance floor.

The two midfielders looked like complete fools. But they couldn’t give one fuck about that, not in their state at least.

His eyes roamed her body (respectfully). While Her eyes didn’t move away from his biceps. Her hands gripped onto them, and she fell in love with how hard they were.

As he saw her staring he smirked, proud of the way he had built up his muscles over the past few months.

(Okey so I accidentally wrote this like he is now, if you know what I mean. We all know he’s got a lot of muscles now recently. Just go with it😭)

She quickly looked back up, meeting his soft gaze which was focused directly on her.

He licked his lips unintentionally, she couldn’t stop herself before she pushed his head down a little and leaned in. He was quick too mimic her actions and met her soft plump lips.

His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her body closely into his own as their lips moved in synch.

She tugged lightly at his hair earning a soft groan from him.

___________________________________

The next morning y/n woke up with a little headache. Not too bad of a hangover. She tried too roll over in the bed but a strong pair of arms was stopping her.

She panicked for a second before remembering that it was just Pedri. That Sounded like that was the most normal thing ever.

“Buenos Días” His groggy morning voice rang through her ears, sending shivers down her spine.

(Good morning)

“Buenos días” She replied her voice still a bit sore from last night due too all the screaming at the bar and something else;)

(Good morning)

She turned in his arms and looked up at him, his hands moved up too caress her face lightly. He stroke her hair back and out of her face.

“You hungry?” He asked his lips brushing against her forehead.

“A little” she replied kissing his chest.

He smiled softly at her actions.

“I’ll go make us some breakfast” He said about too get up.

“Noooo, don’t go” she whined gripping his arms. Pedri released a soft chuckle.

“Wanna come with me?”

She nodded her head, so Pedri stood up with her in his arms, the shirt she was wearing fell down too her knees and it smelled just like Pedri.

He walked out too the little kitchen in the hotel room.

His room was quite big so it had a lot of space.

He placed her down on the counter and started on the breakfast.

“Can I ask you something?” He asked suddenly standing between her legs, their height was perfectly even now.

“Yeah sure, what’s up?” She questioned

“This wasn’t just a one time thing right? Because we both know damn well that we have some type of thing for each other-“

She cut him off by pressing her lips on his. He stood still for a Millie second, surprised by her actions before he kissed back.

“Does that answer your question?” She asked smiling as they pulled away.

“I don‘t know, think you have too try again” He smirked as she giggled softly doing exactly what he asked for

[highdreaming]

In that case then may I please request Eric García trying to ask out reader (who he met through Ansu Fati a few years before leaving for mancity) but she’s a little intimidated by him despite liking him back?

Asking you out

Find more at: Masterlist

AN: You’re a doctor, like in those Barca videos when they do physical tests and check for their vitals.

Also, honestly I'm not very satisfied with what I wrote, maybe cause I'm not very familiar with Eric, so I apologize if it's not good enough and because I don't really know much of him, I don't think I'll be writing more about him in the current time, sorry. Please like, reblog and give me feedback!

--

You finish checking Ansu’s vitals, removing the electrodes.

“All good with you, you’re in perfect shape, Ansu.” you declare, offering him a smile. The young boy gets up, putting back his shirt. 

“Thanks, Y/N. I think Eric is supposed to come after me, should I send him in on my way back?” he asks and you bite your lip for a second.

You didn’t know you were doing the physical exam on Eric too as you were only in charge of doing half of the Barca’s team, your colleague doing the other half.

But this is your job, nonetheless. 

“Thank you, Ansu. I’d appreciate that.” you agree. Going to your desk, you take a quick scan on Eric’s medical file, your eyes pausing at his attached photo and a churn of nervousness twists your stomach. 

He’s awfully handsome, always nice and polite yet you can’t stop yourself from feeling a bit intimidated by him. Eric has an aura around him that attracts you towards him, but also makes you slightly deterred from speaking to him.

It’s like your brain struggles to function when around him, with you barely being able to speak a full sentence to him. 

A knock on the door interrupts your train of thoughts and you take a deep breath as the door opens, revealing Eric. 

“Hey, looks like today you’re stuck with me.” he jokes, his lips open up in a wide smile, his biceps flexing as he waves at you. You force down the lump on your throat, returning the smile as you point towards the mattress. 

He removes his jersey, showing a defined abdomen as he lays down. You bite your lip as you get closer, heart beating incredibly fast as you touch his chest to place the electrodes. 

His chest is warm and firm, leaving you fascinated and it’s not until Eric explicitly coughs, that you realize that you’ve been staring at his chest for a good while. 

Embarrassed, you divert your eyes to the machine’s screen, focusing on the vitals analysis. You can practically feel Eric’s cocky grin as you try to focus back onto the task. 

After a minute of awkward silence, Eric breaks it. 

“You know, I was wondering if, maybe, you’re free this weekend? If yes, then…I don’t know. Maybe we could get something to eat. If you want to, of course.” he tentatively asks, scratching his head from how nervous he is and you whip your head towards him, surprised and shocked that he’s asking you out. 

“Oh? I-I would love to.” you reply, unable to hold back a shy smile from appearing. You’re glad he asked. 

“Great, we got a date then.” 

[futbolfanficpunk]

Trio of Ferran, Eric and Pedri

Headcanon for a bromance fanfic of Pedri, Ferran Torres and Eric Garcia Author's Note: I already explained and posted this in another reblogged post but I made a new post so it's easier to find and tuned it a bit. Taking the initial idea of "trio of jealousy" from @peligrosapop

Eric:

- Eric is the boss, the captain of the three -Gets excluded sometimes because he's a lame-o almost old dude who likes to chill at home, watch sports and hang out with his family, most days -He's secretly a slut, and dates influencers on the download, always being extra careful not to get caught by paparazzi. -Ansu calls him "folletis" because he's got mad game. ("Follar" is fuck/have sex in Spanish slang, so, kinda like fuckboy?) -Doesn't mind being on the bench as long as he gets to play for Fc Barcelona but keeps hustling for game time. - He's always scolding Ferran and Pedri to pay attention. -Complains and whines about being excluded from anything, he's been extra sensitive since Ansu started excluding him from things when Ansu started hanging with Gavi. -Loves to hike with his dad or his sister when none of his friends can hang out

Ferran:

-Ferran is the goofy guy, who makes funny faces and lame jokes, - Kind of femme guy with a girlfriend who is way too much in his head -Cares about pets and the environment, and would be an animal activist if he was not a footballer. -Loves working out on his own time and is confident about his body. -Wants to succeed so bad he fucks up all the time because he can't think straight. - The two others come to him for advice about girls, he's actually the sweetest of the three. - Acts dumb, is smart. -Thinks Ansu and Gavi should hang out with each other more so he can spend more time with Eric and Pedri but won't say it.

Pedri:

-Pedri is the jokester of the trio, always cracking jokes and making fun of the other two. - Always a showboat when it comes to football but not on purpose, everything is just easier for him. -Wants to hug his friends all the time, yet is shy with PDA outside of his family and friends. -Is great at talking to girls, is respectful, and gets ass often but is afraid of having a girlfriend will ruin his career so he just keeps it friendly with everyone and doesn't commit. - Thinks talking to Ferran about relationships might help later. - Always down to help others. Hates that he has to compete with Ansu for Gavi's time. -Loves the Sea. -Hates being called ugly

I think I should write more headcanons for this later or even a full blown series. MAYBE!

[meghan84]

Spencer Reid has found his perfect match in Julie Taylor but when an unsub starts picking off the '06 State Champoin Dillon Panthers can he and the team figure out in time to protect Julie and her loved ones?

Chapter Four Now posted.

[nyxnygma]

ABOUT ME AND WHAT TO REQUEST

My name is Nyx and I’m pansexual. I’m practicing writing and the best way to do this is by writing fanfics about my favourite characters from my most recent hyperfixations.

I’m not the best writer (especially smut) but feel free to request anything from smut to angst to fluff. I will not be writing any smut that includes piss, rape etc

I will be taking requests for:

(If you really want another character I probably will. I would prefer to write for female or gender neutral readers because I will feel more confident to but feel free to request anyway)

FEEL FREE WITH REQUESTING POLY!

❤️= favourite to write about

NEW MASTERLIST

MASTERLIST - OLD

Gotham

Ed Nygma/The Riddler ❤️

Oswald Cobblepots

Ivy Pepper (no smut)

Victor Zsasz

Bruce Wayne (no smut)

Criminal Minds

Spencer Reid

Penelope Garcia (no smut)

Scream

Randy Meeks

Billy Loomis

Stu Macher

Sidney Prescott

Mindy Meeks-Martin

Unspecified Ghostface

Marauders Era

Remus Lupin ❤️

Sirius Black

James Potter

Lily Evans

Mary Macdonald❤️

Marlene McKinnon

Poly!Marauders (no detailed smut) ❤️

Golden Trio Era (no smut)

Hermione Granger ❤️

Luna Lovegood

Harry Potter

Supernatural

Sam Winchester

Castiel (no smut)

Gabriel

The Lost Boys

Poly!Lostboys (no detailed smut) ❤️

Michael

Dwayne

Paul

Marko

Sam (no smut)

The Mighty Boosh

Vince Noir

KISS (preferably no smut)

Poly

Eric Carr❤️

Paul Stanley

Ace Frehley

Mötley Crüe

Tommy Lee ❤️

Nikki sixx

Vince Neil

Mick Mars

Poly!MotleyCrue

Poly!TerrorTwins

Hanoi Rocks

Sami Yaffa ❤️

Micheal Monroe

Nasty Suicide

Razzle Dingley

IT Crowd

Maurice Moss

Richmond Avenal

[ortegavi]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC

Feliz Cumple Eric!

[myheartrevealedocs]

Untouchable- Ch 3: The Fox (S1E7)

Summary:  A Spencer Reid x OC fanfic that retells select episodes, starting in season 1, from the point of view of Lydia Ambers, a forensic scientist.

Warnings: lots of murder, including the murder of young children, swearing

Ch 2 | Ch 4

~ ~ ~

“First case. Are you ready?”

Lydia glanced at Gideon, an eyebrow raising in the process. “Shouldn’t I be? I’ve done two months of preparedness training. And I’m not exactly out in the field.”

He chuckled. “You’re a crime scene investigator. Is that not ‘out in the field’ enough?”

“I just mean: I’m not facing down the bad guys, I don’t carry a gun, I sit and look for fingerprints. Not much to get the adrenaline pumping.”

When she said that, his face turned to a serious one. “I don’t know about that. This case is bad.”

She followed him into a conference room and he nodded for her to sit at a circular table, while he opened a case file and started to pin pictures on the wall. And he wasn’t lying. They were gruesome.

Lydia was accustomed to, if not entirely comfortable with, looking at some horrifying scenes, but it was rare that children were involved in something so violent.

A family, all killed in a dark room. The scene was a bloody one, almost all of them looking to have been stabbed except the father, who was shot through the head.

Elle was the first to join them and greet Lydia, before swiftly disappearing to grab the others on the team and start the case debriefing. Lydia did her best to assess their willingness on her joining the team as each one entered and shook her hand. Morgan seemed genuinely happy to have her and JJ was automatically polite. Reid, however, was harder to… read. He gave her a curt nod and a, ‘Nice to see you again,’ before sitting down.

Gideon and JJ went back and forth describing the case: the Crawford family had been found in their basement. It was set up to look like the father had stabbed his entire family before shooting himself. Which would mean the unsub was dead. However, they had a similar case from a month ago. 

Scratch similar. The exact same case from a month ago. Every detail. Including the assumption that their killer was dead in the house.

And a bonus was the fact that both families were supposed to go on vacation five days before their bodies were discovered, but they’d only been dead for 24 hours.

It was the perfect set up, Lydia realized. She didn’t know what someone would want a whole family for, but this unsub knew how to trap them all at a time when no one would go knocking on their door.

She tried to keep up with them as they spoke, but she was overwhelmed fairly fast. As Morgan and Gideon went over organized and disorganized contributors, JJ introduced a suspect into the pool. A man named Eric Miller, who’s ex-wife and children were part of the first family that was killed and who was just picked up by police after a month of being off the grid… with his kids’s blood on his jacket.

The physical evidence was fairly damning. And he disappeared for a whole month. That didn’t exactly play into his favor. Lucky for her, deciding whether or not he killed them wasn’t her job. She just had to find more evidence.

“Was any of his DNA found at the Crawford house?” Morgan asked.

“No.” Gideon was immersed in the photos he had. He didn’t look up even as he was talking. Lydia was curious what he planned to find in the pictures, but didn’t wish to disturb his thoughts.

“Did he know the Crawfords?” Reid continued.

“If he does, he’s not saying. In fact, he hasn’t said a word since his arrest,” JJ finished, leaning back in her seat. “Uh, the Arlington PD has asked us to interview him,” she told Gideon.

Reid finally picked out Miller’s mugshot and made a sound of disbelief. “If anyone could apply overwhelming force, he’s your man,” he said, catching a small laugh from JJ.

“I want you to find out,” Gideon told him. “Talk to him.”

His demeanor changed almost immediately. “Y-you want me to… talk to him?”

“Yeah. You’ve done interviews before with other agents running point. You can go solo.”

The boy looked at the other faces at the table nervously. Lydia actually enjoyed seeing it from someone so prideful, but she repressed a smile. He didn’t deserve teasing right now, he honestly looked terrified to conduct this interview alone.

“Morgan, Ambers, the Crawford house is a fresh crime scene. Once the Crawfords were brought down to the basement, they must have known their fate.”

~ ~ ~

Lydia’s eyes traced the walls of the stairwell as Gideon led them down to the basement. She wanted to see some signs of distress: a fight or scuffle. But not only were they clean, they were lined with perfectly straight mementos: picture frames, a wreath, two tennis rackets, etc. The family all walked down willingly.

But how do you control an entire family? Who alone has that much power?

“M.E. said they were all killed down here,” Gideon explained.

In the center of the blue carpet was a perfect red circle, which Morgan walked around and towards a separate smear on the washing machine.

“Sam was found here, Emily over there. So… I’m the unsub. How did I do it?”

Morgan flipped through the photos of the bodies, nodding at Gideon’s words. Lydia watched their process, knowing that if she was probably going to investigate quite a few scenes with them like this.

“Well, I had to bring ‘em down here first.”

“How?” Gideon prompted.

He shrugged, his eyes looking between the spots where the bodies were found. “I had a gun.”

“Ok. Use a gun to force them down here. What next?”

“Stab ‘em.”

“Who first?”

“The strongest,” Morgan said. “The father.” He held a photo next to the washing machine. It showed Chris Crawford laying against the machine awkwardly.

Lydia shook her head. “Chris Crawford wasn’t stabbed. He was shot.” She pointed at the smear. “The blood trail there follows his head as he slumped down and died. And there was no other blood on him or around him.”

“Okay.” Morgan rearranged the details in his mind. “Shoot the father, and then stab the mother.” In her photo, Allison Crawford was pale faced, blood dripping from her mouth down her neck and into her gold hair. The unsub had left her in the center of the room.

“How you gonna keep the kids from running away?” Gideon asked

Morgan thought about it a moment. “Restraints. Can’t aim a gun at them and stab the mother at the same time.”

“No restraints were found on the victims.”

“Because I took them with me,” he argued.

“No ligature marks were found.”

This threw Morgan for a loop. He flipped through all the photos in his folder, looking up at the locations in each photo.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Gideon offered. “See how they lived.”

Lydia took one final look at each of the blood pools on the floor. A five year old boy and eight year old girl. Had they really sat there and watched someone kill their parents in the middle of their basement?

~ ~ ~

“The yard is overgrown,” Gideon observed. “And like the roof, Chris Crawford’s car is in need of maintenance, but Allison Crawford’s SUV is in pristine condition.”

“Says here that Allison drove the kids to school. If they were educated privately, maybe the car was just an attempt to show the other parents wealth,” Morgan reasoned.

Lydia sighed. “Adds up to the rest of the house.”

“Rest of the house?” Gideon asked.

She gestured to the living room table. “These magazines are clearly placed. No one finishes reading a magazine and then places it into a perfect fan shape so that the title is showing. They’re designer names. And I don’t see any other magazines in the house, so likely, they were trying to fake subscriptions to high end magazines they don’t have.”

Gideon smirked. “Expensive furniture and a plasma screen TV. Behind the curtains: water damage,” he said, adding to Lydia’s statement. “Allison spent money on the things her friends could see and neglected those they couldn’t.”

“You saw the water damage,” Lydia argued, and Morgan went to confirm the accusation.

“The Crawford’s lived beyond their means,” Gideon continued, ignoring her comment.

“So, where’d the extra cash come from?” Morgan demanded.

“Get Garcia to check their financial status,” he instructed and disappeared into the kitchen.

Morgan nodded for Lydia to follow Gideon as he turned on his phone to make a call.

“Emily,” Gideon whispered, pulling a painting off the refrigerator, then turning it towards her. It was a house, painted entirely black. At the bottom, signed in sloppy, capital letters was the Crawford’s daughter’s name, Emily. “This painting is of this house. Strange that, for a child, it has no color. Has lines, dimensions, but no color.”

“Was there any indication that Emily had some kind of mental disability?”

Gideon’s brow furrowed. “No. Why?”

Lydia waved away his confusion with a flick of her hand. “Nothing. It would just explain her dedication to realism over classic, childish fun. I can search her room for anything else to indicate she would paint something like that?”

Gideon nodded and she left, jogging upstairs and immediately finding a door with Emily’s name on it.

The room was more than enough evidence that the painting downstairs was not typical of Emily. If her bright personality didn’t shine through her colorfully decorated walls and sparkly clothing, her collection of paintings did. This girl obviously had many different colored paints and she used them.

Lydia sifted through a couple of pictures on her desk until shouting from downstairs distracted her.

“Help me! Help! Please! HELP ME!!! No! NO!!! Please, no!”

Lydia could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she leapt down the stairs and found Gideon shrieking out of a window, a very startled Morgan watching him.

“NOOOOO!”

Morgan glanced at Lydia when she fumbled into the room, but he didn’t look concerned for Gideon. If he was, he likely would have interrupted this far sooner. But he definitely didn’t know what was going on.

His yells only lasted about a minute, before he went completely silent, not moving from his spot in front of the window. The other two held their breath in anticipation of an explanation, but he stayed there until a light came on in the house across the street. Then another. A dog down the street erupted into howls at the disturbance.

That’s when he turned around. “Why didn’t anyone hear them scream?”

Morgan looked out the window once more, to see the concerned neighbors rushing outside or opening their windows. And just like that, Gideon was off again to another part of the house.

“Shit,” Lydia mumbled. “I guess that’s one way to make a point.”

~ ~ ~

Before she knew it, she was back at headquarters. The case was close enough that they set up their evidence boards in the conference room so they didn’t have to impose on a police station. Hopefully she’d stay there for the rest of the case, knowing that she’d only be asked to leave again if another crime scene appeared. But, she was at a loss right now with what little evidence she had. A kid’s painting that didn’t match the others? And proof that someone was able to control and keep silent a whole family of four in their house for four days? She had no clue how this all formed into a profile that Gideon claimed he’d already started.

“I believe the unsub had control over this family,” he started. Everyone except Hotch, who was in Garcia’s office trying to make sense of the false wealth lead, sat around the round table, watching Gideon piece together his theory. “He may have separated each family member. He tells the mother, ‘If you scream, I’ll kill your children.’ He tells the children, ‘If you cry, I’ll kill mommy.’

“The suspect found a way of restraining them without leaving marks. Based on lividity, the M.E. estimates that the father was the last to die.”

“Which means he witnessed the whole thing,” Morgan added. “If the unsub did spend time with both families, he must’ve known he had the time to spend with ‘em.”

“‘Cause he knew they were going on vacation,” Reid reasoned.

“Look at travel agents, relatives, work colleagues, contract workers, children’s tutors-” Gideon was interrupted by Hotch’s voice over the intercom in the center of the conference room.

“Gideon, we’ve been looking into the Crawford financials.”

Garcia’s voice stepped in to explain. “Allison Crawford spent way more money than Chris could afford. They were in major debt.”

“And Chris Crawford wrote a number of checks for a series of visits to a therapist.”

This wasn’t surprising news, although it didn’t give them anything. There still wasn’t any shady business in either household.

“Allison had two cell phone accounts… one of them billed to a separate address in southeast Washington, D.C.”

Everyone perked up, quickly taking note of this new discovery.

“Did you get that?” Hotch asked.

“Yeah, I got it,” Gideon sighed. “Ambers, stay here. The rest of you, let’s go.”

~ ~ ~

When the team got back, they were taking a man in for questioning. Lydia followed them to the interrogation room hesitantly. Gideon had said that they were looking for a smaller man in stature and this guy was anything but. He was awkward and nervous, sitting with Gideon and Morgan while the rest of the team looked on from the other side of the double-sided mirror.

As she watched the interrogation go down, Lydia took mental notes of everything she could on this man:

Frank Fielding. Unconfrontational. Attached to the painting Gideon was holding. Right-handed. Sweaty. Manic-depressive. On medication. Nervous stutter. Guilty conscious. Calls Allison Crawford ‘Ally’... 

‘Cause he was her brother.

Lydia could see Gideon and Morgan losing their assurance that this was their guy as Frank started to cry over the loss of his sister. His sadness then turned to anger and he started to blame Chris for killing his family.

“The rule was-- I was never supposed to go to the house,” Frank explained. “That was the only rule.”

Allison Crawford used money her husband didn’t have and was embarrassed by her mentally ill brother. That gave two men in her life motive, but not enough to kill a different family.

He explained how Chris hated him and how his phone was cut off and that was the reason for his visit. That led to another small burst of anger. He began banging his fists against the table and Gideon moved away.

“There’s no way this guy could’ve gotten into the house without a key,” Elle reasoned, shoulder-to-shoulder with Hotch, directly in front of the glass. She was right. He was tall, large, and clumsy. Not exactly prime ninja material. “Knowing how Chris Crawford felt about his brother-in-law, do you see him having one?”

“No,” the unit chief replied.

They sat there for a few more minutes, listening to Frank explain his visit to the Crawford house and seeing his sister and a stranger at the table. As he spoke the words out loud, he seemed to figure out what they were all thinking. This stranger was the unsub.

Gideon and Morgan tried to calm him, but Frank started to freak at the thought, banging his fists against his head and shouting. They were quick to jump into action, pushing him against the wall and holding back his hands. Hotch, Elle, and Reid all ran in to help, but Lydia stayed behind, just staring at the prescription pill bottles he had discarded across the table.

She hated those things.

~ ~ ~

“He’s been looking at those pictures all morning,” Elle mumbled over her cup of coffee, in reference to Gideon. Morgan was just hanging up a call and Reid was at his desk, looking over something.

“Well, I sure hope he sees a connection,” Morgan replied. “‘Cause I’ve checked doctors, lawyers, travel agents, tutors, contract workers. I’ve got nothing.”

“Why target those families?” Elle asked.

Hotch walked past as she said this, his nose in a file. “Well, to know that, we have to know how.”

“All right,” Morgan started, pulling the attention of the whole team. “We know organized killers are often skilled workers with above-average intelligence. High birth status. And in most cases, male. In the workplace, he’s socially confident. And with women, sexually confident. Every offense is preplanned. Targeting the victim is almost as pleasurable as the actual kill. These guys they’re… they’re meticulous. It’s a compulsion. Everything has to have its proper place.”

He was winding up, beginning to pace around the bullpen as he formulated his profile.

“They do exhaustive amounts of research on their victims. They watch their every move, every last detail is observed. Everything has to be written ever so neatly in a book or possibly a journal. Like, when the kids are coming home from school and when daddy’ll be home. Playtime. Suppertime. Bathtime. Bedtime. Plan the work… work the plan. This is the way that he maintains control.

“He takes great pride in his job. I think the workplace has to be the connection.”

Hotch looked like he wanted to say something, but for the first time that morning, Gideon emerged from the conference room, holding up the two paintings from Emily that he’d collected.

“Both are by Emily. Painted months apart. This one… is full of color, life,” he explained, holding up the framed photo from Frank Fielding’s house. “The one I found at Emily’s house has lines, dimensions. No color. Ambers, you said you saw other ones in her room?”

Lydia’s eyebrows knit together. “Yeah. She had all sorts of paintings: fields, trees, stick figures, other kid stuff. I think the only color she didn’t use was black.”

He nodded, assuring her that she was confirming his thinking. “I believe Emily was coerced to paint this. It’s a point of view. It is his point of view. This is where the killer stood and just watched the family.”

“What does he get out of making them paint the house?” Lydia asked, but she was interrupted by Hotch dropping his wedding ring onto Elle’s desk.

They all stared for a moment as it spun, fell flat, and Hotch put it back onto his finger. “Each of the dead husbands was missing his wedding ring. This is the unsub’s trophy. He targets a family because he lost his own, and for a few days, he gets to play daddy.”

“And he can do whatever he wants because no one’s gonna come looking because they’re supposed to be on vacation,” Morgan continued.

“Ambers, I want you to go to forensics and have them check the inside of Chris Crawford’s clothing,” Gideon instructed. “The suspect may have worn the father’s clothes, too. Complete the fantasy.”

She nodded.

“So, why kill them?” Elle asked.

“Because the fantasy can’t last,” Gideon reasoned.

“Do we know anything that actually helps us identify this bastard?” she demanded.

Lydia could tell she was getting more frustrated by the minute. She wondered briefly if Elle was naturally impatient.

“Wait a minute,” Morgan mumbled. “Chris Crawford worked for the I.R.S. and… Reese Miller was a secretary at the GAO.”

Elle sat forward. “That makes them both government employees.”

The team was already halfway out of their seats. Gideon reminded Lydia to head to forensics as soon as possible, before grabbing a file and leading the team to the elevator.

~ ~ ~

“Hey Garcia,” Lydia called as she walked into her office. “I just got off the phone with Gideon. He…” she paused, startled to find another presence in the room. “Dr. Reid, I’m sorry.”

He somehow seemed just as shocked to see her there. “Oh… hey, Lydia.”

The fear in his eyes made her suspect that she had walked in on something, but Garcia was completely unaffected. “What’s up with Gideon?” she asked, pulling Lydia’s attention back to her.

“Right. Both the Crawford’s and Reese Miller were seeing a therapist. He thinks that might be the connection.”

She nodded and began typing at a furious rate.

“Any luck in forensics?” Reid inquired.

Lydia shook her head. “No foreign DNA was found on the clothing in evidence. My guess is he washed everything before he left.”

“Here we are. The Crawfords made 12 weekly payments to the Applewood Family Medical Center,” Garcia interrupted.

“What about the Millers?” Reid asked, leaning over her shoulder to get a good look at the screen.

“No, nothing here.”

“How about pharmaceuticals? Nobody gets therapy these days without a healthy dose of medication.”

“What are you implying, Reid?”

“That everyone is medicated.”

Garcia stopped and looked up at the boy, shocked. “Did you just make a joke?”

“No,” he replied. “I meant statistics. They- They show that-”

She laughed and cut him off. “Reid, next time, just say yes, okay?”

He glanced at Lydia, like she might be able to explain it to him and she couldn’t hide the grin creeping on her face. He was somewhat of a goofball. Far different from the silent, stoic figure that she’d met in Santa Cruz.

“Now, medication normally requires reimbursement from the HMO, and since she works for the government, like you and I, we share the same healthcare provider.”

Reid raised an eyebrow. “Are you hacking into the government’s HMO database? Is that legal?”

“‘Course not. We’ll all go to prison, you’ll be someone’s bitch, and Lydia will become a hustler.”

“Oh, hell yes!” Lydia cried and he grimaced.

“Really?”

 But Garcia was already onto the next topic. “Oh. Right there. Good call, Reid,” she complimented as a new page popped up on her screen. “Mrs. Reese Miller-- Diazepam.”

“Who prescribed the meds?” he asked.

“Dr. R. Howard at the Applewood Family Center. Let’s find out what he looks like. Here we go.” She did some more typing and a photo of a ginger woman popped up on the screen.  “... Dr. Howard isn’t a he.”

“That doesn’t add up. She fits the description, but Fielding said he saw a man.” Lydia pulled out her phone and dialed Gideon’s number right away. “Hey Gideon? Yeah, Garcia’s got a Dr. Rachel Howard at the Applewood Family Medical Center? Small woman, orange hair, and she prescribed Reese Miller anxiety meds. It’s the same facility that the Crawfords went to family therapy at.”

He made a sound of understanding and hung up.

“Oh, Lydia?” Garcia started again. “I sent an email to an administrator at a nearby university about you starting online courses.”

“What?!” She leapt forward and ran to the girl’s side. “You didn’t have to do that! What did you say?”

“I told them I’d hack their site and frame them for stealing from their students if they didn’t admit you immediately,” she joked.

Lydia rolled her eyes. “Oh great. Thanks, Garcia.”

“No, silly! I just told them how brilliant you are and your plan to transfer to online classes while you worked for the FBI and I sent them your transcript-”

“Garcia! Where’d you even get that?”

“I thought you’d already graduated, Lydia,” Spencer spoke up.

She shrugged. “I got my undergraduate, but I had already applied to start getting my master’s degree when Gideon offered me this job. I guess experience might mean I don’t need it anymore, but I didn’t want to just drop out of school, so Garcia was helping me try and transfer to an online school so I could continue my education.”

“Do you plan to get a PhD?” he inquired.

Garcia gasped, suddenly. “Oo, you totally should. Then we’ll have another ‘Dr.’ on the team to compete with boy genius.”

Lydia laughed. “I’m not sure I could survive that. And I’m not sure anyone could compete with boy genius. I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I mean, people with a doctorate tend to become college professors and do extensive research in their fields… I just want to look over crime scenes and work in a lab. The master’s degree was truly just to help me widen my options… and because I didn’t have anywhere else to go after graduation.”

“You know, a lot of agents become professors after they retire,” Reid explained.

“Not an agent-” Lydia tried to argue, but Garcia was getting excited again.

“Oo! Oo! Dr. Ambers! Tell me that’s not the coolest name!” she exclaimed.

Lydia smiled at her and Reid was suddenly reminded of something that happened back in California, when they had met.

“Hey, you didn’t flinch.”

Lydia raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“You have everyone call you Lydia. Because when Gideon called you ‘Miss’, you reacted badly. But you didn’t flinch when she called you Dr. Ambers.”

Lydia was speechless. She had never liked to be called by her last name, she knew that much to be true, but he was right, she hadn’t minded the new title. And now that she was thinking about it, the first few times Gideon called her ‘Ambers’, she’d been unsure, but she’d started to answer to it without hesitation. 

But how had Reid noticed? She’d barely noticed.

“You don’t like to be called Miss Ambers?” Garcia interrupted her thoughts, causing her to startle. “Oh, you’re right, Reid. She did flinch.”

“I don’t-” she started to complain, but stopped herself.  “Listen, I don’t think changing my title is reason enough to get a PhD. And I don’t have the money. My student debt is crazy and if I don’t get a full time job as soon as I get my master’s, there’s no way I’ll pay it off.”

“Oh, I can help you cut down the amount of time it takes. I had 3 PhDs by the time I was 21.”

Lydia turned on Reid with a look of utter shock. “Three? Three?! Reid, I know you’ve got your memory going for you, but that doesn’t even sound possible.”

He smiled, his lip curling in as if to hide his satisfaction. She could see a small blush grace his cheeks. “It is possible. For you, too. I’d be happy to help you get your doctorate… if that’s what you want.”

Lydia glanced between the two before her. They both seemed extremely excited by the prospect, which she couldn’t deny would be an awesome thing to accomplish. But time and money weren’t exactly things she could spare.

“I’ll consider it,” she agreed.

~ ~ ~

A little while later, Gideon sent Lydia on another errand, calling her to tell her to go to the medical center herself and help Hotch search for the trophies of the suspect they had taken into custody: Karl Arnold.

A CSI team had searched Karl’s house, and decided it was clear, which meant he likely kept his trophies in his office. And since Lydia was supposed to be the team expert on searching for things out of place, she hopped into one of the team's SUVs and drove herself to meet up with Hotch.

He was already well on his way through the office when she got there, every drawer and box open and many miscellaneous objects lying around. He started throwing books off a bookshelf and she ran over to join him.

He was starting to get really frustrated. He was muttering to himself, wondering how hard the crime scene investigators had searched the house, because there was clearly nothing here. Once all the shelves had been clear, he stepped back, still huffing.

Lydia eyes searched for other places around the room that could fit the missing wedding rings and quickly shushed Hotch, holding up her hands to make her point. He looked somewhat surprised at her command, but did as she said, and she went to work, knocking on the wall along each shelf. It had almost gotten too high for her to reach when a hollow knock could be heard.

She ran her fingers along the edges, searching for a lip or hinge that might open up to the other side. The top board seemed weakest, so she dug her nails into the top and yanked it free. With that one out of the way, the two below it were far easier to pull the nails from the wall and Hotch was quick to step in front of her and assess the items he’d hidden.

There was a tangle of belts, a stack of black, hardcover books, and a metal container, colored brightly, like an old music box.

Hotch went for this, pulling it down from the shelf and opening it carefully. While he did this, Lydia looked over the books. Each one was labeled with a name, but the horrifying bit was the amount that he had collected.

The team had assumed that he picked his victims one at a time, did his research, then killed them, but he had so many families hidden here. Lydia wondered how long he might have been stalking these people without their knowledge, but Hotch brought the box to her attention.

She turned and felt sick. The container he was holding had eight wedding rings in it, all masculine. She flipped around to look at the journals again and was overwhelmed by the realization that these weren’t families he was stalking, he’d already killed them.

He’d been doing this for far longer than they’d suspected.

“Congrats,” Hotch said. It was the first time he’d spoken to her since she got there. “You just solved your first case.”

[ghoste-catte]

N R T

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

Gosh, yeah. I have a couple of fic ideas floating around in the proverbial hopper that I just don’t think I have the plot/action/adventure writing skills to handle. I’m much better with feelsy, character-driven stuff, so anything that has too much plot in it feels very intimidating to me. There’s one fic idea in particular that I wanted to write for GaaLee Fest last year that’s a “Lee Wins” AU where Gaara loses their chuunin exams match and is badly injured instead. The concept was sort of that jinchuuriki healing is imperfect at best, and so while whatever injuries Gaara sustained during the match would, like, not bleed out or kill him ... I’m not convinced that damaged internal organs would be restored to full function, especially with Gaara’s seal being fucked up and Shukaku being such a blunt instrument. So the idea is that Gaara is left permanently debilitated by the match. And the spin-out from that would be that Gaara isn’t able to participate in the match with Sasuke, and the Konoha Crush can’t move forward because their ultimate weapon is incapacitated. So Orochimaru-as-Rasa would ... probably try to kill him, and to take Shukaku and implant the tailed beast in someone else. Not to mention Gaara would have to grapple with losing for the first time in his life, and Lee also would have to contend with ending someone else’s dream (even though Gaara’s dream isn’t really to be a shinobi). Anyway, there’s a lot that changes if you change something that early in the plot, and I’d need to really comb back through canon and probably re-read a lot of the exams and the Konoha Crush Arc and I’m just ... not up for that at the moment, and I’m not convinced I would be able to make the logical A-to-B-to-C connections from a plot standpoint, even if I could make them from a character standpoint. So I’d love to just ... wave a magic wand and have written it (or have someone else who has the bona fide plot chops to have written it). 

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

Hmm, this is hard. I often go back and re-read favorite stories or favorite handlings of similar tropes before I launch into writing my own take on a trope. I went back and read ‘you can get what you want or you can just get old’ by hyperlight (that’s a BNHA fic btw) before I wrote my own superhero AU, because I loved how they handled the ethics of superheroism. And especially if I’m writing a gift for someone who is also a writer, I’ll go back and read their stuff first to get a feel for their narrative voice and try to incorporate bits of that. So for example, when I was writing ‘A Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ last year for the GaaLee Holiday Exchange, I went back and re-read ‘The Bright Side’ by @gidget-goes to get a sense for their voice and style (because their style is so fun and so off-the-cuff snarky but still has such beautiful imagery). I guess my thought process is people write similar to the stuff they want to read, y’know? And there’s always someone who has done-the-thing better than I can hope to, so I might as well try to catch some of that shine. 

If I’m trying to write an AU of a certain canon, too, I’ll go back and read some of that. So, like, I re-read parts of The Goblet of Fire when I was writing ‘Homespun, Heartfelt, and Handmade’ to try to get that feel. Before launching into writing ‘i think we’re haunted’, I re-read a bunch of favorite horror stories, so a couple vignettes from ‘Lullaby’ by Chuck Palahniuk, ‘Modern Coyote’ by Shane Jones, ‘Raphael’ by Stephen Graham Jones, parts of ‘House of Leaves’ by Mark Z. Danielewski, and ‘The Dionaea House’ by Eric Heisserer (which is not a book at all but a web-based text horror of sorts, like an interactive precursor to the modern creepypasta). The stories that are quoted at the header of each chapter actually made up a big part of the inspiration for that fic. Plus I’d never written horror before, so I wanted to get a sense of the pacing.

There are a lot of non-fanfic authors I like, but that I can’t say I’ve tried to crib styles off of them, necessarily. I do tend to read things that are similar in feel to what I like to write, so more character-driven than plot-driven. I love Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle, but I could never properly emulate anything she does. I really like anything that has that magical realism feel, so Helen Oyeyemi, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges are some favorites. And I prefer short stories over novels. My favorite short story ever is ‘Story of your Life’ by Ted Chiang, but I could never, ever, ever hope to replicate the genius of that concept, and it’s a plot reveal that’s only really effective once. 

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

(answered here)

fanfic ask game!

[fictionismyoxygen-blog]

hello, everyone!

if you've read my embarrassingly awkward introduction post, you will have come to gather that i am a struggling fangirl with a desperate need for fanfiction. and, well, seeing as i've read most of it, i've decided to make the brave idiotic jump from fanfic reader to fanfic writer. god help us all.

in leu of that decision, i thought it would be useful for my nonexistent followers to have a list of the fandoms and characters that i write for, plus a list of guidelines for requests.

here we go!

fandoms and characters

the avengers universe : tony stark, steve rogers, natasha romanoff, bruce banner, ,, clint barton, loki, sam wilson, wanda maximoff, peter parker, vision, t'challa udaku, erik killmonger, bucky barnes, carol danvers, maria hill, shuri udaku, peter quill, gamora, nebula, drax, mantis, steven strange, scott lang, hope van dyne, valkyrie (brunnhilde), peggy carter (1940's).

the x - men universe : wolverine, professor x, beast, storm, jean gray, cyclops, quicksilver, mystique, magneto

shadowhunters : clary fairchild, jace wayland, alec lightwood, isabelle lightwood, magnus bane, simon lewis, raphael santiago

the 100 : clarke griffin, bellamy blake, octavia blake, john murphy,

divergent : tris, four, peter, christine, eric

the hunger games : katniss everdeen, peeta mellark, gale hawthorn, finnick odair, johanna mason

teen wolf : scott mccall, stiles stilinksi, liam dunbar, allison argent, lydia martin, malia tate, derek hale, brett talbot, kira yukimura, theo raeken

pretty little liars : aria montgomery, hanna martin, spencer hastings, emily fields, alison dilaurentis, jason dilaurentis, mike montgomery, noel kahn

titans (netflix, 2019) : dick grayson, starfire, beast boy, jason todd

riverdale : archie andrews, jughead jones, betty cooper, veronica lodge, cheryl blossom, toni topaz, sweet pea, fangs fogarty, reggie mantle

the chilling adventures of sabrina : sabrina spellman, ambrose spellman, harvey kinkle, nicholas scratch, the weird sisters (prudence, agatha and dorcas)

hp: the golden trio era : harry potter, ron weasley, hermione granger, neville longbottom, draco malfoy, ginny weasley, luna lovegood, george weasley, fred weasley, oliver wood

hp: the marauders era : james potter, sirius black, remus lupin, lily evans

peaky blinders : tommy shelby, michael gray, john shelby, ada thorne, arthur shelby, isaih jesus

shameless u.s : fiona gallagher, lip gallagher, ian gallagher, mickey milkovich, mandy milkovich

sherlock bbc : sherlock holmes, john watson

merlin bbc : merlin, arthur pendragon, guinevere, morgana

game of thrones : daeneys targaryen, jon snow, sansa stark, robb stark, theon greyjoy, jaime lannister

the maze runner : thomas, minho, newt, gally

chicago med : will halstead, connor rhodes, natalie manning

chicago fire : kelly severide, matt casey, brian otis, jimmy borreli, sylvie brett, gabby dawson, stella kidd

chicago pd : jay halstead, erin lindsay, adam ruzek, kevin atwater, kim burgess, antonio dawson, hailey upton, greg gerwitz

criminal minds : spencer reid, derek morgan, jennifer jareau, penelople garcia, luke alvarez, emily prentiss

percy jackson and the olympians : percy jackson, annabeth chase, grover underwood, nico di angelo, thalia grace, rachael elizabeth dare

heroes of olympus : jason grace, piper mcclean, leo valdez, hazel levesque, frank zhang, reyna arellano

attack on titan : eren, mikasa, armin, levi

brooklyn nine - nine : jake peralta, amy santiago, rosa diaz

justice league : superman, batman, wonder woman, the flash, cyborg, aquaman

gotham : bruce wayne, jim gordon, barbara kean, selina kyle, jerome valeska, edward nygma, oswald cobblepot

the hobbit / lord of the rings : bilbo baggins, thorin oakenshield, aragorn, legolas, thranduil, fili, kili, frodo baggins

suicide squad : deadshot, harley quinn, captain boomerang, el diablo, rick flag, the enchantress

no doubt that this list will continue to grow, so if you don't see a favourite character or fandom of yours here, there is every possibility that it will be there at some point in time.

until next time!

xoxo

fictionismyoxygen

[futbolfanficpunk]

The Barcelona call

 Player: Eric García Word count: 1970+ Summary: Eric gets a call while at an away game with Man City from his agent, if he says yes to his agent, it will change everything for his future and yours. Warnings: Angst, fluff, slight smut. Author's note: This took me various drafts and rewrites because it's the first one I write with a bit of smut in it, hope you like it. -----------------------------------------------------------

It was late in the spring and it was starting to get a bit warmer. Eric and y/n have been dating for a few months now. He was away in London playing against West Ham. You talk every day, even if you only see each other an average of two days a week right now. Man City is playing in the Champions League, Caribou, and the Premier, so, that means, you could barely see each other in person but you video call constantly. You even came up with a fun idea of watching movies or series at the same time wherever you are and texting each other while you both watch it, just so you could feel like you’re spending time together.   

      That night, after the 1-2 victory over the London side, Eric called you when he got to the hotel. You were already in bed, getting some reading done for one of the classes at uni. You click the green facetime button. 

“Bona nit, Eric” you said when you saw him on your screen wearing black thick frames, trying to impress him with one of the three Catalan phrases you know

“Bona nit, Y/N” Eric said while smiling “Did I wake you up?”

“No, I’m in bed reading something for tomorrow’s class but I saw a bit of the game, though, you guys did well” you responded

“Yea, we did. No minutes today but hopefully some soon” Eric said while fixing his glasses

“Oh, I’m sure!” you said trying your best to be supportive “you’re the youngest defender, it’s normal, right?”

“Yea, exactly” he replied “but, anyway, I wanted to ask you if we can get together tomorrow night, if you’re not busy with school.”

“I have some things to do for a class, but I can take care of it and we can meet up, not a problem. I want to see you, I miss your face, so much!” you said raising your voice in excitement. You really were craving to hold him and have his scent nearby when you’re close. You had fallen hard for Eric. Every time you met in person, you felt like fireworks were going off around you, you talked and laughed, and couldn’t keep your hands off each other. You were always looking forward to seeing him, hearing his cute Spanish sounding Catalan accent in person and taking off his thick nerdy glasses to make out with him. You made out everywhere there wasn’t a lot of people, and made love constantly. The chemistry was undeniable. 

“Great! And I miss you too, baby! We’ll fly first thing in the morning, go in for a recovery training, and then I will go home. I want you to come over to my flat, I have some big news that I want to share” he finished saying as he was grinning.

“Big news? Can’t you tell me now, please?” you pleaded

“I could, but I want to tell you in person, it’s important” 

 “Oh, is it something bad or…?” 

“No, it’s good.I think you will think it’s great.”

“Hope so!”

“I’m going to let you finish your work. I’m going to sleep, ok? Long day”

“Okay, sleep well, love”

“Good night, baby” he said as he blew a kiss for the camera, you blew one back.

“Night” you said as you waved to him through the video camera and he hung up.

What could it be? It made you anxious to know. Hopefully it was the news of a renewal, or a new contract with better salary or that his parents are moving to the UK. You had no idea.

You arrived at Eric’s apartment all dolled up in a dress, smelling of a soft perfume and subtle makeup. You let your hair down because you knew Eric loved to touch it and run his fingers through it when you were near each other. You rang the doorbell, and Eric immediately opened the door, you both said hello, he gave you a quick kiss, and let you in. Once in, he took your jacket off, and hung it for you, like a perfect gentleman, he turned around to face you and gave you a soft and small kiss that lingered on for a few moments as you felt your body melt with tenderness. When you opened your eyes as he pulled back, you smiled, he squeezed your arm and said  “I’ve missed you”. 

“And I’ve missed you” you replied. 

He had wine and tapas on his small dinner table waiting for you both, he took your hand and guided you to it, signaling for you to sit as he tells you to do ahead, to eat and drink because he made it for you. He pulls your chair closer to his before you sit down, and pats it so you'll sit.

“So, how’s uni?” he asked while sitting down and reaching to grab some of the tapas “It’s fine, but, are you going to tell me what’s going on?” you asked, while sipping a bit of wine, you were desperate to know and couldn’t do any more small talk. “The big news?”

“Yes, Eric, the big news, Can you just tell me? It’s driving me crazy” you said, truly feeling anxious. “Ok, so,” replied Eric“ my agent called me last night and told me Barcelona wants to sign me!”

“Oh! WOW! Fc Barcelona? That’s huge! Congrats” you said as you clapped with excitement

“Yes, I’m so happy! Of course, I told him to make the move happen. I’m going back home this summer, playing for the best club in the world!”

“Oh!” 

Your heart sank. Barcelona, this summer? You thought. How is that supposed to work out? You were so excited for Eric you hadn’t thought about the fact that he would not be around anymore. Your relationship was going well and you had fallen for each other but it wasn’t a super serious one yet, certainly not a moving in together in another country serious. You felt flustered and hot, your heart was racing and your chest was burning. You drank the rest of your wine. Eric was staring at you, noticing how your body language changed and how fast you were drinking while you were lacking a vocal response. He had some wine too. 

“Hey,” Eric said as he traced your jaw line with his finger “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking…I’m thinking…that I’m going to miss you a lot. And that I’m happy for you. I know it was your dream growing up, playing in the Barça academy, to play for the first team,” you said as you refilled your wine glass and then raised it “so, cheers, darling!’ and you drank half your glass in one gulp. You wanted to cry.

“Miss me?” asked Eric as he pulled you in and gave you a kiss on the cheek “Why would you miss me if you’re in Barcelona too?”

“What are you talking about? I’m working in the summer, I can’t go on vacation to Barcelona with you, I can’t afford it, plus what is the point of it? We’re going to be so far away from each other afterward, it’s not going to work, is it?” you felt like you might burst into tears

“Y/N. I’ve been thinking about this since I hung up with my agent. I’m going to Barcelona and I want you to come too. I love you and I need you to come. And not just the summer, I mean, permanently. I really thought about it, kept me up last night, and it’s fine if we both agree that moving in together right now is a little much but I’ll get you your own place, your own apartment. No pressure.  I’ll get my family to help us with the whole university situation, to get you transferred. You can get a part-time job, or focus on studying, you don’t have to worry about money. Whatever you want. I’ll help you. I just want you to know that I’m not leaving you here, in Manchester. There’s no chance of that happening. I don’t want us to be apart more than we already have to. I’m not letting you go” said Eric in a rant, he sighed and asked, “ Is that okay?”

“Are you serious?” you asked back, in shock

“Totalment, amor meu” said Eric “ Playing for Barcelona, I will be able to afford it and I’m not taking no for an answer”  

“This is a lot to process” 

“I know, I’ve been thinking about this all day, but, Do you love me?”

“You know I do, Eric” 

“Then, that’s all we need. We’ll make it work. Please, say yes” he begged as put a strand of your hair behind your ear.

You felt so overwhelmed by everything that had been said but you couldn’t deny that you were head over heels for Eric, you wanted to be with him, plus he just said one of the most romantic things you’ve ever heard. Although you were skeptical about how everything was going to work you couldn’t find a reason to say no, you were in love, it made you hopeful and you felt you could trust him. “Okay,” you said as you shrugged “Let’s try it!” as a small giggle came out.

He kissed you right away, and said “Good! I was scared you might said no” as he put his lips on yours again “I’m so relieved” “I was afraid we were breaking up there for a second, I’m glad that didn’t happen ” you said putting your hands on your cheeks, blushing.

“That’s never happening. Come here!” he said and he pulled your body towards his, making you sit on top of him as you were facing him. You embraced each other in a kiss, he slowly deepened the kiss and slipped his tongue in your mouth with palpable desire. You responded with as much passion to kiss him back, then paused to kiss his face and neck, you let your lower lip feel his neck all the way up to his chin where you gave him a lick. He chuckled. You took off his glasses and went back to kiss him some more. You wanted him, you put your hands around his neck while he hung onto your waist. He had been thinking, fantasizing about being with you all week and he let it be known. “I couldn’t wait to get back,” he said as he put his hands underneath your dress to touch your ass, “I want you,Y/N, you have no idea”. He pulled you closer to him, making your legs spread wider. You grind on top of him while you kissed him, as you felt your hips crave for him, you could feel him growing under his pants. You softly moaned in his mouth while your tongue danced around with his, you pulled away to respond “Me too, all the time” catching your breath. Your heart now was quite agitated, you were quite turned on. “Let’s take this to the bedroom, yea?” he asked while kissing the cleavage your dress offered. “Si us plau” you responded while looking at that beautiful dark hair man kiss your tits, you remembered how to say please in Catalan. He looked up “Speaking Catalan already, beu? Maybe this move won’t be so hard”

You stood up, took off your dress, smiled, and walked towards the bedroom in your underwear saying a flirty “Maybe”

He smiled and followed you saying “ I can’t wait to fuck you when we’re there too” 

[pinkwatchblueshoes]

I've never posted before...what?!?!

I don't know why but I've always been so reserved with my online activity. Perhaps because I think back and shudder at the myspace days and early facebook posts. But I've decided that this can be a place I can share my love for books, movie, tv, and music. Plus I'm a grown ass woman who is quite over what other people think. That being said I am totally open to conversing with others who have the same interests as me. To begin I'll list my fandoms and OTPs because isn't that where it all begins anyway. HARRY POTTER is the OG. Dramione for sure. Love a good redemption story for Draco. Also found BellxFlint pairing that I enjoy. I'm definitely a Slytherin. But I love it all. THE 100. Bellarke. Although the last couple seasons left something to be desired. Hopefully it'll get better. THE WALKING DEAD. Daryl Dixon. Richonne. Need to catch up on this last season. CRIMINAL MINDS. Garvez. It's so perfect. Just let Garcia be happy with a good looking guy for once!! DC. Justice League. Still need to see the movie but I love the comics and cartoon versions. Hawk Girl and Jon Stewart as green Lantern are my favs. Wonder Woman exceeded all my expectations. GIRL POWER! Still liked Suicide Squad. MARVEL. Darcy with Everyone. She should just be in all the movies. Brock Rumlow/Crossbones anything with Frank Grillo to be honest. Frank Castle/Punisher. I have a thing for the bad boys. Clint Barton/Hawkeye. Good guys too sometimes. DIVERGENT. Love post apocalyptic stuff. Eric. VIKINGS. The whole cast is gorgeous and talented. HUNGER GAMES. Cato/Oc Currently writing a story on A03. Hayffie. GAME OF THRONES. Sansan. I've only watched the series but fell in love with the pairing with fanfics. STRANGER THINGS. mommaSteve gives me the warm and fuzzies. Must protect those kids!! SUPERNATURAL. Totally a couple seasons behind but it's one of the first shows I started writing. Plus Sam and Dean...need I say more? TEEN WOLF. season 3 was the best. Dylan O'Brien's acting gave me the chills. LETHAL WEAPON. The friendship is lovely and the depth of Riggs' pain is heartbreaking. The comedy is spot on. All around awesome. Favorite show to watch with my husband. SONS OF ANARCHY. Loved Chibbs and Opie. OUTSIDERS. Because of Ryan Hurst but fell in love with Sasil. So sad it's been cancelled. Had a lot of potential. MUMMY (original) & MUMMY RETURNS. Rachel Weiss is my ultimate girl crush. Badass. and Oh the good ole days of Brendon Fraiser. JOHN WICK. Keanu Reeves is amazing. STAR TREK. Bones. Scotty. There are so many more but that's all I can think of at the moment. It's a revolving wheel of interests and it could any new or old thing that I'm into at the moment. Like I just saw The Greatest Showman and it literally changed my life. Okay being dramatic but it seriously is the best musical I've ever seen. Currently writing a Hunger Games Cato/Oc story on A03, as flannelflowers. Other works I hope to post soon are Divergent Eric/Oc, Teen Wolf Isaac/Oc, and Walking Dead Daryl/Oc. Thanks @broadwaybound101 for entertaining all my obsessions. You're a doll.

[diverseladybookproject]

We Love Diverse Authors - Interview with Mia Siegert

Once each month (or more often, hopefully, if I can get in touch with some other authors who would like to be featured—contact me if you do!), I’m going to post an interview with a diverse author whose book(s) I’ve read, or would like to read.  I’m featuring Mia Siegert this month on the blog, and I couldn’t be more excited.  Mia is the author of Jerkbait, which I read earlier in the year and LOVED.  I’ll let Mia take it away.

Introduce yourself, please. :)

I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am Darkwing Du—I mean, hi. I’m Mia Siegert and I’m the author of JERKBAIT, a LGBT YA about twins who aren’t close at all until one, a promising NHL draft prospect, attempts suicide.

What was the first thing you remember writing for fun?

I wrote plays since I was in first grade and had my class perform them, so pretty young. I wrote a lot of fanfic when I was a teen.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Anywhere I'm able to focus, but usually I have to wear jeans.

What (if anything) do you listen to when writing?

I mostly listen to Sigur Rós when I write and some other post-rock bands (Mogwai, This Will Destroy You, Explosions in the Sky, etc). For certain stories, I make playlists to get me in the mood that has a variety of things, usually late 90s/early 2000s rap and electronic music especially by Underworld.

Who/What are some of your writerly inspirations?

I grew up on Louise Erdrich and can't say enough good about her writing, in particular her short story "The Bingo Van." Carson McCullers' THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNGER really influenced me writing with intersectionality (although THIALH is problematic in deaf representation, there was a tremendous amount of intersectionality that was extremely well-done ranging from openly queer characters to racism and it came out in 1940). Annie Proulx was another influence, and I was a really big fan of Kevin Brockmeier's A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD--fantastic. Of course I can't forget to mention Gillian Flynn, Eric Rickstad, and Lisa Gardner.

Can you share some diverse book recommendations with us?

This is tough because I like so many and many of my writerly inspirations above include diversity as is. I was fortunate enough to have some really amazing parents who got me diverse books since I was little. That plus going to Goddard for my MFA meant I was unaware of some of the issues of diversity in fiction as, to me, it was always readily accessible. I am a huge fan of anything that Rita Williams-Garcia writes. James Baldwin's GIOVANNI'S ROOM was masterful. If people haven't read Radclyffe Hall's THE WELL OF LONELINESS, why haven't you? Prominent lesbian fiction with an amazingly talented woman named Stephen. There's one book that, unfortunately, I forgot the name of (I read it when I was twelve and since then had a terrible concussion history so some years are blacked out). It's not THE GAME, but had a similar premise of people competing on a reality show for a chance to live forever in a dream machine (sort of like a coma but controlled dreams). The ways this dealt with diversity and mental health really stood out to me. If anyone by fluke read this or knows what I'm referring to, definitely hit me up because I'm dying to reread.

(Note from Amanda – I DEFINITELY READ THIS WHEN I WAS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL! But I also can’t remember the title! I did some internet searching and couldn’t find it, so seriously, if anyone knows what this book is, Mia and I would like to know!!)

Are you working on anything new right now? Can you share anything about it with us?

I have some finished WIPs that are seeking homes. I'm a little superstitious about sharing too much information but all are LGBTQ+ and deal with depression and PTSD.

Jerkbait is available where books are sold. You can check out the review I wrote about the book here. I also chatted about homophobia in sports and may have included Tristan in my latest Man Crush Monday post. Can you tell I loved this book? I loved this book.

[futbolfanficpunk]

Masterlist

Fan Fiction with football players: Pedri: Fan Fic x fictional character Who is it? (fluff and love smut) Headcanon x reader Poly with Pedri and Gavi (smut) Bromance fic Pedri gets a friend Making time Bromance to crush Panicked Clarity

Bromance headcanon Trio of Ferran, Eric and Pedri

Gavi: Headcanon x reader Poly with Pedri and Gavi (smut)

Bromance fic Pedri gets a friend Making time Bromance to crush Panicked Clarity Eric Garcia Eric x reader Meeting Eric in Manchester The Barcelona Call Bromance Headcanon Trio of Ferran, Eric and Pedri

Ferran Torres Bromance Headcanon Trio of Ferran, Eric and Pedri Kostas Tsimikas Kostas x reader Morning tease You and me, finally Leo Messi Bromance Dressing room feelings Neymar Jr Bromance Dressing room feelings Ferran Torres Bromance Headcanon Trio of Ferran, Eric and Pedri Pep Guardiola Pep x reader The Coach ( slight smut) The Coach II (smut)

[futbolfanficpunk]

Meeting Eric in Manchester

Player:Eric García Word Count: 1270+ You meet Eric Garcia through his mate Adrian Bernabé when he is playing for Manchester City, he asks you out. Themes: Flirting, Fluff

It was spring in Manchester, it was still a bit chilly in the city but you were feeling pretty warm under the blanket, with your heater on. You could hear that your roommate was already awake, banging pans, and preparing her breakfast. It smelled like toasted bread but you didn’t feel like waking up just yet. You wanted to be in bed reminiscing about what had happened last night.

You went to see your friend Adrian play for the Manchester City Under-23 team against Liverpool U-23 at the stadium. Adrian and you had met at your university, at a charity event that Man City had organized, you had helped put together because of your student job with the uni. Adrian talked your ear off and you hit it off. He was sort of a flirt, and you liked it because you were too. At the stadium, he got you had really good seats for the game, Adrian had left you two tickets, for you and your friend Sara. Sara was one of your friends from uni and a foreign exchange student from Italy. You both were excited and had dressed up in cute outfits and did your hair and makeup. Adrian played well that day. He was fast, effective, and composed. You noticed that lots of people were taking pictures with someone seated a few rows under and to the right of you, but didn’t know who he was. After the last whistle was blown, Adrian seemed to look for you right away, he waved at you and you waved back. He made a few hand singles and gestures to tell you to wait around and to look at your phone. After a long while, someone from the Man City staff came over to escort you to the area near the dressing room.  Adrian, showered and changed, came out with a tall young man with glasses. It was the guy that people were taking pictures with. “Hey girls!” he said excitedly with his cute Spanish accent as he gave both you and Sara kisses on each cheek. “This is my friend Eric,” he said while pointing to Eric. “These are Y/N and Sara” You waved at him. He smiled with his mouth closed and waved back. “Shall we all go out?” asked Adrian “I have the perfect place, let’s all go in my car.” You all ended up in a pub nearby, although the boys said they were only going to have one beer because beer is basically prohibited within their diet. “You’re an athlete too?” you asked Eric

Adrian answered for him “Eric is playing with the first team, he’s playing under Guardiola now. If you watch the games, you’ll see him. Eric García, number 50.” 

Eric nodded and said “So, yes, I’m an athlete too” 

“But do you wear sports glasses to play football?” you asked while staring at his glasses. “I wear contacts” he explained

“Of course you do.” you said embarrassedly while fixing your hair.

Adrian asked if you and Sara wanted anything to drink, 

“I’ll take a beer, whatever type you guys are drinking.” you replied.

“I’m going to have to go with you because I don’t know what I want.” said Sara

“Ok, come with me” said Adrian and as he left he asked her where her accent was from as he put his arm around her shoulders.

Eric and you were left alone for a few minutes, so you decided to ask him about himself. He explained that he was from Barcelona but had been here for two years now. His English was very good, he had a thick accent, which you found so attractive. He was indeed a walking tall, dark and handsome Spanish athlete stereotype. 

Adrian and Sara came back talking and giggling, gave you both the pints of beers they got and kept talking while basically ignoring you and Eric. “I guess they hit if off” you chuckled awkwardly while facing Eric

“So, I guess we’re left to fend for ourselves, just you and me now,” said Eric “Cheers!” he grinned as he clinked his glass onto yours

You spent the night talking, drinking small sips of beer, making fun of Adrian and Sara who were already making out, cracking jokes, a bit flirting, and talking about football, and basketball which you knew a little about. This Eric guy seemed really laid back guy and was easy to talk to, you thought while you looked at him speak As Eric finished his beer, he looked at you and asked “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure, what is it?” your heart started racing as a consequence of the flirty squint in his eye

“I think you’re really pretty, Y/N” he said calmly and he leaned towards you

“Oh! That’s sweet!” you said, slightly surprised “I think you’re really pretty too”

Eric laughed and moved closer to you

“Look, I think you should give me your number and let me take you out on a date. Yea?” said Eric confidently

You look over and Sara and Adrian talking close to each other while almost kissing again.

“Yea, I don’t see why not” you realized that almost sounds like you weren’t into the idea too much “I mean, that would be great. Really cool!” you insisted while blushing. You wrote your number on his phone and he texted you so could save his.

“Hostia!” Eric said “It’s 1am! I have to go home! I have training tomorrow. I’ll take a cab, I’m not waiting for Adrian.”

“If you’re leaving, I’m leaving!” you said and turned to Adrian and Sara and shouted through the music “Darlings! I’m going home, have fun! We’ll talk soon! it’s so good to see Adrian” and you gave them both kisses on each cheek like Adrian likes to do.

“Y tu, Eric?” asked Adrian as he saw Eric stand up from the couch.

“Me voy, tio, entreno mañana a las 10. Te escribo mañana, okay?” and said goodbye with a hug.

You were ordering an uber on the sidewalk in front of the pub when Eric stood next to you and said “I ordered a cab, I have a guy who gave me his number, he knows me now, and should be here in a minute or two.” “Almost like having a private driver, isn’t it?” you said as you looked up from your phone to look at him “Mine should be here in five.” “Do you want me to wait for your uber?” Eric offered.

“No, that’s ok but thanks” you replied. This Eric was a gentleman, you thought. 

As the cab parked in front of the pub, he leaned to say goodbye with a kiss on each cheek, Eric said “Vale, bella, Cab's here. I’ll write to you tomorrow, OK”

Once he got really close, you got a scent of him, he smelled of light cologne and hair gel, which made you feel all warm inside and giddy.

You couldn’t wait to see him again, so you told yourself to be brave.

“Hey...!” you shouted as you stopped him from closing the cab’s door all the way and opened it.

“Make sure you text me,” you said, and you went for it; you softly kissed his lips for a few seconds, “Ok?” you said as you pulled back out of the cab

“Okay. I’ll make sure” he said with a wide grin as he nodded.

And there you were, the next morning, cuddling with your pillow thinking of him. When your phone vibrated on your night table. It was Eric

Good morning, Y/N! I have a busy day today, and I play tomorrow but I’m free Sunday after 3pm. Could we meet then? It was great to meet you. x.