#he has one sided beef with derek

[swiss-cheeze]

Tick-Tock, Hook’s Afraid of an Ordinary Clock! || Spencer Reid

Requested: YES/NO: gender neutral please! So my request. Y/n has been working at the BAU for a while, and never ever had feelings for Spencer but more for Derek. One night is spent at a hotel and Spencer gets wasted as all hell which the team found unusual. That’s really all! Do with that what you will! Smut is fine too! You can add your own personal touches if you wish. Also would love some fighting between Spencer and y/n

Gender: none, they/them.

Warnings: insults, alcohol, normal CM case talk, verbal fight dialogue taken from Hook (1991), crap music talk.

----

“Eat your heart out, you crinkled, wrinkled fat bag,” you mumbled under your breath as Spencer finished his rambling of some unknown subject. Spencer stiffened at your insult, as did the rest of the team. You had just gotten back from a pretty bad case involving a team of family annihilators and where sitting in the nearest bar; throughout the whole case Spencer had almost made it his mission to speak over you, correct you, flick things at you, ‘forget’ you’re there, bump into you and more. God it was so annoying, and now? Now you've had enough.

“That was very ill-mannered-” Spencer started.

“And you're a slug-eating worm,” you said with a little more force matter-of-factly, cutting off whatever it was Spencer was going to say.

“You can do better than that pretty boy!” Derek said quickly with a grin as he nudged Spencer; you almost pounced on that man for taking Spencer's side rather than yours; Derek had always taken your side.

“You're encouraging this?” Spencer questioned quickly.

“Show me your fastball, dust brain!” you started again, “you paunchy, sag-bottomed puke pot!” Spencer's eyes widened three times the size they normally would be as the rest of your table sat quiet and watched.

“Damn!” Emily said under her breath with a grin as her eyes darted between the two of you; it was like watching tennis.

“You're a very poor role model for your team, you know that right?” Spencer shook his as he took a mouthful of his drink before a sly grin overtook his face, “I bet you don't even have a fourth-grade reading level,” a few of your teammates let out a little blow of air.

“Hemorrhoidal sucknavel” you said quickly.

“Maybe a fifth-grade reading level.” Spencer said even quicker.

“Oil-dripping, beef-fart-sniffing bubble butt” you started to really get into it, leaning over the table a little with a smirk.

“Aye there we go (Y/n)!” Derek said quickly, now he was on your side? You looked to Hotch who was smiling thinking that maybe you had another on your side.

“Someone has a severe caca mouth, you know that?” Spencer cut off your gaze with his words, as if he was bored.

“You’re a fart factory. A slug-slime sack of rat guts and cat vomit, a cheesy scab picked pimple-squeezing finger bandage!” snickering came over the table; but you weren't done yet oh no, “a week-old maggot burger with everything on it and flies on the side!” you grinned; many many words in that one insult. Spencer went to open his mouth but you cut him off, “you’re really just a substitute chemistry teacher” you winked.

“Come on Spence, hit (Y/n) back!” J.J. quickly intervened.

“Mung tongue” Spencer fired.

“Math tutor,”

“Pinhead,”

“Mother lover,” that one was a low blow on your end but you couldn't help yourself.

“Nearsighted gynecologist,” ouch Spence, Hotch snorted at that one.

“In your face, camelcake!” you shot back.

“In your rear, cow derrière!” of course Spencer came back even faster.

“Lying, crying, spying, prying ultra-pig!” Emily snickered at yours.

“Lewd, crude bag of pre-chewed food!” Derek snickered at Spencers.

“Guys maybe settle down…” Hotch said softly, this was starting to get a little out of hand.

“You man! Stupid, stupid man!” That was all you could give back as your mind turned blank, forgetting every word in the dictionary.

“If I'm a maggot burger, why don't you just eat me?” Spencer shot back, “you zebra-headed, slime-coated, pimple-farming, paramecium brain, munching on your own mucus, suffering from Spencer Reid envy!” laughter ensued as your face contorted to confusion.

“What the hell is a ‘paramecium’?” your voice held the question as Spencer pointed to you.

“I'll tell you what a paramecium is! You’re a paramecium!” everyone on your table stared at Spencer as he elaborated; “It's a one-celled critter with no brain that can't think!” and with that, your table cheered for Spencer as you sat sulking.

“Oh come on (Y/n), you should have known you would lose,” Derek said with a grin before following Spencer to the bar.

“He's drinking a lot tonight isn't he?” Emily questioned.

“Who, Derek?” J.J. guessed with a furrowed brow.

“No! Spencer!” Emily quickly concluded.

“He was a little harsh on (Y/n)” Hotch cut in quickly, “I’m just glad Dave and Garcia weren’t here to witness that,” you slammed your drink on the table and sent a glare to the three left at the table.

“I'm going home, i'll see everyone on monday,” you grumbled out before stalking off, your shoes made loud thunking sounds as they hit the wood flooring, your anger getting the best of you as you passed Spencer and Derek.

“Yo (Y/n) you getting a drink too?” Derek was about to order your normal drink until you slapped both Spencer and Derek on the back of the head.

“OW! What the hell-!” Spencer's back was to you but as he turned and saw you his anger melted into elation, “come back for round 2 (Y/n)?” Spencer questioned, the poor boy tried to act cool and lean against the bar but missed entirely and almost fell onto a rather burly looking gentleman. You huffed slightly as you turned to Derek.

“Make sure the substitute chem teacher gets home safe,” and with that you threw open the bar doors and walked your way home, it was only a block and you had gotten a ride with Emily anyway.

-

When you finally slumped home, chucked off your shoes and threw yourself onto your mattress you couldn't help but make yourself angrier with the new insults suddenly bubbling in your head.

“Who does that piss brain even think he is,” you mumbled into the air, “paramecium my ass…” you continued your grumbling into the atmosphere as you twisted and turned on the mattress before sleep finally engulfed you.

------

The work week started up again and before you knew it yourself and the team where needed in New Orleans because of a new range of sudden murders.

“Lets review please,” Hotch mumbled.

“The bodies cross gender and racial lines” Rossi started.

“The throat is slit with something very sharp but also clean, I get a funny feeling it isnt a kitchen knife though,” you mumbled as you looked at the photos closer trying to get a good angle on a printed piece of paper.

“Butcher?” Derek questioned, you shrugged.

“Could these be blitz attacks?” you heard Spencer scoff at your suggestion.

“If this was a blitz attack there would be remorse and blunt force trauma somewhere on the head,” Spencer said looking directly at you.

“Oh, i'm so sorry Doctor i didn't know my input was unwanted, let me just keep my thoughts to myself,”

“Guys,” J.J. sighed, “Garcia is going through the victims lives that we have already, I can talk to the family and see if there are any enemies?” Hotch nodded.

“Derek, I want you to join J.J. with the families. Rossi, Emily go to the M.E. together and have a look over the bodies and tox screens. (L/n), Reid and I will go to the police station and start on a geographical and victim board,” everyone nodded in agreement to what Hotch said. Except for Spencer. He just stared at you with dangerous eyes. You rolled yours in return before putting your headphones into your phone and playing music to drown out Spencer's overbearingly loud thoughts.

-

“Okay my lovelies, these first three victims all had the same job at the same court; they’re all a part of a Jury audience” Garcia explained as her fingers tapped on her keyboard through the phone.

“Maybe someone just got out of prison that was wrongly convicted and wanting revenge?” you questioned.

“Maybe, it would have to be something pretty big for them to come back,” Derek said, you nodded in agreement, “baby girl can you see if there are any people that may have been convicted by a jury with our victims in it?”

“Sure can sugar, PG out” the phone clicked off.

“Did you find anything from the M.E.?” Hotch turned to Rossi and Emily as he spoke.

“The pathologist said it was a clean cut without hesitation marks or remorse,” Rossi said.

“No drugs, no blunt force trauma,” Emily shrugged as she talked, “it wasn't a blitz.”

“Maybe planned?” you butted in.

“That’s what it seems like,” Hotch said, “Reid? Have you got anything? J.J.?” Hotch questioned as he looked to the respective people.

“The victims were killed in different areas but its places they frequented; house, bar, bar” Spencer started, “they’re all over the place is all, completely different areas,”

“Yeah, and the families weren’t much help either. One of the victims' families, uh, Emil Gosten? His family said they didn't want anything to do with the investigation because he's had previous death threats and calls and stuff,” J.J. shrugged as the room went quiet.

“Reid, (L/n) I know you two dont like each other but I need two of my sharpest minds to go back to the crime scenes,” Hotch sighed, you groaned but complied as you stalked off with Reid following shortly behind.

-

“Everything looks the exact same as it was left,” you sighed out as you placed a blanket back down on the couch. Spencer scanned the books on the shelf before pulling one out and starting to read it; completely ignoring you.

“Reid,” nothing.

“Reid.” again, nothing.

“Spencer,” nope.

“SPENCE”

“What!” he finally turned to you and answered.

“You couldn't give me some complacency and at least answer me when i talk to you?” you asked annoyed.

“Why would i?” Spencer asked with a bored tone as he placed the book back on the shelf, except he finally talked to you, “The victim is atheist, believes in the justice system…” he sighed and shrugged, “did Hotch just put us together to fuck with us?”

“Maybe,” you flopped onto the couch with a sigh as you rest your head on the backrest. That was until something caught your eye, “Oi genius!” you called out, Spencer came to your side as you pointed to the roof; there, above your heads was a piece of paper taped to the ceiling, “you’re taller than me,” you said quickly as you got up and started moving the couch.

“Woah what- what’re you doing?” Spencer jumped back slightly as you pushed the couch backwards.

“Well we’re going to push this back and then put a chair down for you to stand on so you can reach that note because it can possibly help us get to the unsub,”

“What why me?” Spencer questioned as he helped you push the couch back.

“You’re taller than me and have longer arms,” you walked over to the dining table and came back with a chair, Spencer was reluctant at first but eventually stood on the chair and plucked down the taped note; letting out a breath as he finally stood on the ground again. You plucked the note from Spencer's hand and opened it.

“A music note?” Spencer mumbled.

“Something like that,” you mumbled back, “see it's in the second to bottom gap,” you pointed to the gap to show where it was, as if Spencer couldn't see it already, “um, it would sound something like...um, dmm” you vibrate your voice a little to help Spencer understand, he nodded, “the only problem is there isn’t any clef; normally with music you have a treble clef, alto clef or bass clef. They basically determine what instrument can be played and how the notes are determined” Spencer looked genuinely interested while you explained your thinking, “this...its a singular note, maybe there’s more around?” you looked around the room and tried to desifre if there were any opened drawers or cupboards.

“Maybe there’s another one at the other location?” Spencer questioned, you grinned.

“It might be the unsubs calling card; ‘hey, this is my kill’ type thing!” and with that, you made a break in the case.

-

Spencer called the rest of the team about the break as Hotch allowed the two of you to go to the other victims houses and search for more music notes; low and behold you now had 3 music notes placed under the corresponding victim heads.

“You keep staring at that board as if it's going to give you answers,” Derek said with a grin as he walked into the room; the rest of the team had been called out to another dead body.

“Hmm? Oh I just…” you shrugged, “i just get this feeling about the notes; they have to sound something but we just don't know what yet” before Derek could answer you the shrill of the phone went off.

“(Y/n)?” it was Spencer on loudspeaker; he never called you by your first name.

“Yeah what's up Reid?” you called back.

“We found another note; the round part is under the last line with the stem going up to the second line at the top,” you nodded in response (not that Spencer could see you) as you drew the note on a piece of paper with a sharpener and placed it on the victim board.

“Anything else? A clef at all anywhere?” you asked.

“Um i'm not- i don't think so?” it sounded like Spencer was shuffling around a few things to get a better look, “we have another piece of paper!” Spencer called out, moments later you got a photo on your phone. Sure enough there was a treble clef.

“Spence get everyone back here; i know what the notes mean”

-

“Our unsub is using something called the Dies Irae,” you played the first few notes on your phone over youtube, “you've all heard this song over time just not exactly in an orchestra setting; Star Wars, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, The Shining, The Exorcist and many many more,” you played a few other videos of the notes from a few of the movies as everyone nodded.

“I can hear it,” J.J. mumbled.

“Same,” that was Emily.

“Right, so...it was originally used with catholic’s; they used the music in their Requiem services-”

“Requiem services are basically putting the dead to rest,” Spencer cut in quickly so the team could understand.

“Yeah, it's basically a song for the dead to stay dead in a way? I think our unsub is using the Sweeney Todd method; killing his victims with a razor. One slice across the neck while in a private area except this dude isn't a cannibal” you grinned at the remembrance of the film.

“Cannibal?” Derek and Emily questioned.

“In the movie Sweeney Todd is a barber, he comes back for revenge on the man who stole his wife and child and kills people in his barber shop which is also above a pie shop owned by a woman named Mrs Lovett; when Sweeney starts killing they come together in order to bring customers back to Mrs Lovett's pie shop. Because it's set in 1785 meat was expensive so instead they used the dead people as meat to sell to customers” you realised how long winded that explanation was and apologized, “sorry that was..i think our unsub is a barber” was your final statement. Hotch nodded and moved to press a button on the phone in the middle of the table, but the phone started ringing instead.

“Garcia?”

“I think i found our unsub; Chris Gevette, he filed for divorce after he gave evidence of spousal abuse but it seems like his wife had every piece of evidence that would be able to put him in jail rather than her so everything was blamed on him for the abuse and the jury ruled him unable to keep any stable relationship”

“Garcia do you have a work and home address?”

“Sent to your phones now; barber shop and home” the phone clicked off.

“(Y/n) i want you to go to the barber shop with Reid and Derek. Emily, J.J. and I will go to the house; Rossi stays here in case anything else happens.” and with that you all ran to the SUV’s.

-----

“CHRIS GEVETTE FBI!” Derek shouted through the door, your guns were drawn and ready for action as Derek kicked the door in. You moved swiftly through the shop, finding nothing but dust.

“Guys!” you were now out the back as your partners came running, “it's exactly like Sweeney Todd,” you motioned to the stairs in front of you before looking behind you, “there's stars that lead down as well; there may be bodies in there like the movie too, you go down there and i'll go up.”

“(Y/n) let me come with you,” that was Spencer, he looked genuinely concerned.

“I've got this Spence. Go” you started your ascent up the wooden stairs while trying to stay as quiet as you possibly could, “CHRIS GEVETTE,” you called out to the door once you got to it, you could hear the bustle of footsteps and made the split decision. The door was kicked in by you as you pointed your gun to Chris who was now holding a razor to a woman's neck.

“Get away!” Chris screamed, he was frantic; trembling and crying.

“Chris! Chris it's okay, i'm a good guy, okay?” you slowly let go of your gun, “im holstering my gun, okay?” you said as you're-holstered your gun, “Chris i know about the divorce-”

“No you dont!” Chris called, the woman under the razor trembled as the razor cut into her neck slightly.

“I do! Chris, I know you were abused! I know it wasn't you that did the abusing! If you let her go we can help you get custody and instead send that bitch to jail,” Chris looked almost relieved to hear that, he contemplated that for a moment before slowly letting the woman go. She ran over to you as Derek and Spencer finally came up the stairs and started handcuffing Chris.

“We’ve got two other bodies in the basement,” Spencer said to you while you held the trembling woman, “there's medic on the way now,” you nodded in affirmation before starting to help the women calm down and walk down the stairs.

------

The jet finally landed back at the bureau as the rest of your team started packing their things from their desks.

“Um (Y/n)” a voice called, you smiled as you looked up to see the person you least expected.

“Spence?” you questioned; your eyes darted around and couldn't see any other team member in sight, “everyone left already. Sorry. I've been in my own little world,” you gave a tight smile as you continued packing some extra files into your bag.

“It-it’s just me, but um, I just wanted to congratulate you on your break in the case,” the comment from Spencer's timid and small voice caught you off guard so much that you froze for a moment as you stared at him. It all seemed to go quiet, and slow; the clock on the wall seemed to tick at an atrociously slow pace.

Tick…

“(Y/n)?”

Tock…

“Hmm?”

“I uh, i was-”

“Oh, yeah um-”

Pause.

Quiet.

“Thank you,” smile.

Tick…

“I was...was wondering, (Y/n)...”

Tock…

“Yeah Spence?”

“Would you...would you like to go...on a date...with...me?”

Pause.

Quiet.

“With you?”

“Well, I did...I did say ‘me’ I hope- just, just forget it” and the world went back to normal as Spence started walking away.

“No Spence, wait!” you grabbed your things and quickly darted off after him; plunging your arm between the elevator doors and stepping in quickly before they shut behind you.

“Just forget it (Y/n); forget i ever asked and we can just go back to-”

“I would love to go on a date with you”

Tick…

“Really?”

“So long as you don't call me a paramecium again”

Tock…

“I won't; as long as you don't call me a substitute chemistry teacher”

Pause.

Quiet.

“I won't”

“Then it's settled.

Tick…

“Message me?”

“Of course”

Tock…

Smile.

[morgansdeb]

☕️ alex leaving jo for izzie

*sighs* Okay, so I have several thoughts about this, but I don’t know if I’m going to do a good job at articulating them properly. This is going to be long.

So, this is probably my most unpopular opinion of all time... I don’t like Alex Karev. I never have. I think he’s annoying, a bully, and quite frankly, he did a lot of terrible things that the fandom doesn’t really address. I mean, when I finished Grey’s and I went online to see if others disliked Alex, I was disappointed that I found very few people that agreed with me. This fandom LOVES this guy, and I’m just here in my little corner like “nope, he sucks.”

I think the thing that bugs me the most is the hypocrisy in the fandom when it comes to Izzie vs Alex.

When Izzie left the show, because Katherine Heigl left the show, she became the evil bitch who abandoned Alex, that horrible ungrateful woman who didn’t stay by her husband’s side despite all he did for her. We know the reason Izzie’s exit from the show was so poorly handled was because of Shonda’s issue with Katherine not submitting herself for an Emmy for season 4 (which tbh, I can’t blame her? She was right when she said the material she received that season wasn’t Emmy-worthy, especially in comparison to Izzie’s storylines in the previous two seasons, which were actually heart-wrenching and better developed), so I genuinely don’t get where people’s beef with Izzie comes from. She was written that way because of issues behind the scenes.

And if I’m honest here... people forget that when Izzie left the first time, she was under a lot of emotional distress. She was BATTLING CANCER, JUST LOST HER FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND GOT FIRED FROM THE HOSPITAL!!!! Sorry for yelling, but this fandom doesn’t have any consideration for Izzie’s feelings. Webber fired her in a stone-cold way and heavily implied Alex helped him with that decision. So of course Izzie left. She was traumatized!! And then SHE CAME BACK. She came back and wanted to make things right with Alex, but he told her TO LEAVE. He was the one who did that. So what was Izzie supposed to do? Stay in a hospital where she has to work with a man who told her “I love you so much I almost hate you” (wtf was that line)? Yeah, I can’t blame her for leaving.

People always wanna talk about how Izzie is selfish when she donated 8 million dollars to open a free clinic, was the only resident who bothered to teach the interns (while Alex complained about working on the clinic and said the interns were stupid, lmao, what a guy), donated money to pay for a girl’s back surgery, decorated the house for Christmas and made socks for Meredith and George (and Doc!!), tried to be nice to the doctors from Mercy-West (and ended up getting called a bitch for it :///) and was overall a happy, sweet person who cared about her patients and her friends. Izzie was amazing, why are you all so mean to her?? Because she left Alex’s annoying ass?? If that man was my husband, I’d leave him too, lmao

ANYWAY... so yeah, Alex ain’t shit to me. The first thing he did when he met Izzie was tell her she wouldn’t last as a surgeon, then sexually harassed by hanging pictures of Izzie’s modeling days all over the locker room, cheated on her with Olivia, made fun of her relationship with Denny, called her a stupid bitch and stole one of her surgeries, made her cancer all about himself, didn’t comfort her after George died (seriously, this was so fucked up and nobody ever talks about it. Alex was so jealous of Izzie’s love for George and he showed it all the time)... that man was not “the perfect husband”. He’s lucky Izzie gave him the time of day after the stunt he pulled in the locker room. She was the only one of the interns who gave him a chance, when Meredith, Cristina, and George wanted nothing to do with him (and who could blame them).

He also bullied the hell out of George and April, especially April. People defend this by saying “oh, but everyone bullied April!!” (that isn’t a solid defense, btw), and while the other characters were annoying for that (I love Cristina, but her treatment of April was so awful, same with Meredith, Lexie, and even Jackson was a dick to her at times), Alex always took things to an extreme level. When they’re in the on-call room and are about to have sex, Alex starts yelling at her and saying all that gross stuff about not wanting to hold her virgin hand, and then we see April choking on her own tears at Cristina’s house and Alex never apologized to her for that, he just continued to bully her. He ALMOST KILLED Andrew, and I know that he beat him up because he thought he was assaulting Jo, but he didn’t even try to make things right with him?? He could have killed him or ruin his entire career, but the show had Alex be portrayed as the victim and the other characters didn’t seem to be bothered by what he did?? How did Bailey appoint him as temporary chief when he had a record??

Okay, so this turned into an anti-Alex rant more than anything else, but all this needed to be said. I know he became a better doctor and everything, but he never clicked as a character for me. His friendship with Meredith seemed forced (Cristina was gone, so Meredith needed to hold on to someone, right??), and it was very shitty how it took Meredith TWO YEARS to respect Jo as Alex’s girlfriend and Alex just let Meredith treat her like crap?? Never change, Karev. I don’t care about his friendship with Arizona, either.

So... this guy left Jo. He cheated on her, lied to her, and then left her in a letter. And the fandom is like “okay, but Alex didn’t do it!!! The writers ruined him!!!”, oh, wow, so when Izzie leaves Alex she’s a bitch, but when Alex leaves Jo, it was the writers??? Alex should be the most hated character on the show because what he did was horrible, but the fandom gives him a pass. Y’all hate Izzie, but this guy is okay in your eyes???

Another unpopular opinion, but I don’t like Jo either. She’s boring to me; I don’t care about her storylines (I find them quite repetitive), and I never cared about her relationship with Alex (they had zero chemistry to me). So no, I don’t care that they’re over. I do wish Alex had taken her with him, lmao.

I hate that they made Alex and Izzie end up together because now EVERYONE is blaming Izzie for Alex’s exit. “She hid the children from him!!!” Alex SIGNED his rights away and told Izzie she could do whatever she wanted with his sperm. It’s not Izzie’s fault Alex decided he now wanted to be a dad to those kids. Why does Izzie get all the blame for all of this? Alex is a grown man who made a choice. We also never saw them reunite on screen, so we have no idea what they spoke about. Maybe Alex didn’t even tell her he was married. I mean, he had no problem lying to his wife about where he was, so who’s to say he didn’t lie to Izzie, too?

I know, I KNOW that Alex leaving Jo like that is bad writing. But the only reason I care is because I hate that this storyline made my favorite character the target of fandom hypocrisy and hate. But to be honest, Alex got a better ending than most. George, Lexie, Mark, and Derek died horrible and painful deaths. Callie and April also had shitty exists. The ONLY one who had an exit worthy of her character was Cristina (not counting Addison because she went to have her own spin off).

I don’t know if I have anything else to add, tbh. If you hate Izzie but love Alex, you’re a hypocrite.

Oh, and George and Izzie forever <333

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, blizsquees!

For @blizsquees. Merry Christmas Bliz! May it be filled with much love, laughter, and Sterek :)

Read On AO3

*****

A Courting We Will Go

Erica hands Derek his wolfsbane laced beer and plonks herself down next to him on the bench.

“Have you asked him yet?”

Derek groans, running his hand down his face. “No, Erica.”

“Why not?”

“None of your business.”

“Actually, it is my business. You’re my Alpha, he’s my Emissary. Or he would be if you just freaking asked him!”

Derek grumbles at his beta. “It’s not that simple Erica! There’s a process. I essentially have to court him. I can’t just walk up to him and say, “Yo Stiles! Wanna be my emissary?”

Erica looks at Derek with wide eyes. “You have to court him?”

“Kinda. It's not an overly lengthy process, but I have to make my intention known by bringing him a hard to get spell ingredient, preferably one he needs and then it goes from there.”

“This is perfect!” Erica jumps up from her seat and throws herself into Derek’s lap, both of their beers sloshing out the top of the bottles. “You can court him as your emissary, AND as your loverboy.”

“WHAT??? NO ERICA that’s not …”

“You’ve been pining over Stiles for months, if not years! You can woo him to because our Emissary, and woo him into your bed!”

“I have not been pining!”

Boyd and Isaac walk out of the house and down the back stairs. Isaac snorts. “You so have been pining.”

Boyd nods. “It’s pretty obvious too. Scott noticed.”

Erica starts to cackle. “And he’s a dumb as a box of rocks! Come on Der, you can combine the two! MULTITASKING.”

Derek looks at his betas. “OK. Maybe I have been pining, But it doesn’t work like that. I can’t woo him as my emissary and mate at the same time.”

Boyd shrugs. “So pick one.”

The betas look at their Alpha expectantly. “We’ll go with Emissary first. We need an Emissary.”

Erica looks disappointed. “Can’t you woo him as your mate first? I don’t want to have to endure the pining until after the Emissary wooing is finished.”

Derek sighs. “Be patient sheesh. I’m going to go talk to my mom. You two make sure that Erica behaves.”

Derek gets up from the bench and climbs the stairs to the house. As he shuts the door he hears Isaac whisper, “I can't wait for them to bond, they're so good for each other."

*****

Derek runs over to his parent’s house in the preserve. As he breaks through the treeline he sees his mom Talia waiting on the porch.

“Hello Bun, what brings you over here today?”

Derek runs up the stairs and pulls his mother into a hug and gives her a squeeze. Talia laughs and hugs her son back giving a squeeze of her own.

“You seem happy! What’s gotten into you?”

Derek pulls away from the hug. “I’m going to start the Emissary courtship with Stiles.”

“Oh, darling heart that’s wonderful! You’re here for some information?”

Derek nods, following his mother into the house. The scent of cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger is rich in the air along with the fresh pine from the real Christmas tree standing in the corner of the living room.

Once in the kitchen, Talia pours Derek a coffee and one for herself. “So Bun, what do you want to know?”

Derek savours the flavour of the coffee and takes another sip before answering his mom. “Everything. I think I remember the steps, but I don’t want to mess this up.”

“Tell me what you remember then.”

“So the first step is the initial gift of getting something Stiles needs that’s hard to get. Then if he accepts that gift then the next gift is a copy of the latest bestiary. Then lastly I offer myself as his Alpha.”

Talia smiles at her son. “Good memory Derek! So you need to think of what to get Stiles, my suggestion is to look at his style of magic and get himself that will enhance that. While you do that I’ll make sure Peter has a Hale bestiary ready for the next step. This is so exciting Bun!”

Derek nods slowly as he downs the last of his coffee. “It feels like a long time coming. I mean, my betas say it’s a long time coming.”

“They probably thought that you would have at least asked Stiles out on a date by now.”

“MOM not you too!”

“Oh please Der-Bear, you have never been subtle when you are enamoured with a young man or woman. I’ve seen how you look at him, stealing glances when you think he’s not looking, smiling when he laughs even though you have no idea what he’s laughing at. But I’m glad you are going down the Emissary route first though. It will make your relationship so much stronger once you get together.”

“You seem awfully sure he’s going to accept my gift and then when I ask him out.”

“Bun, I’ve seen how he looks at you too. Now. What are you going to get for your first gift?”

*****

Derek pulls into the parking lot of the vet surgery just as Alan Deaton is about to lock the door for the evening. Alan holds the door open until Derek has entered, closing and locking the door after the wolf.

“What can I do for you, Mr Hale?”

“Sorry I’m here on closing Dr Deaton, but I won’t take too much of your time. I just wanted to ask you the best way to get all the different strains of wolfsbane. Is there a one-stop-shop or something?”

“Let’s take this conversation out the back Derek.”

Deaton lifts the bench to break the mountain ash line and leads Derek into the back office. “Back to your question, there is a one-stop wolfsbane shop actually. But it’s in Argentina.”

Derek’s face falls. “Oh.”

“I’m going to take a guess and say that this is for the first Emissary gift for Mr Stilinski?”

Derek nods.”Not only would it be helpful for the pack, but I think Stiles would love that.”

“I agree. I'm going to give you the name of the Emissary of the Garcia pack. Her name is Este. Not only does she have all the strains, but she’s the only person in the Americas who has a surplus of seeds. If you explain why you want the wolfsbane, and talk some about Stiles, I think she might send seeds too. That’s a mighty fine first Emissary gift.”

Deaton pulls out his address book from the locked bottom drawer in the drug cabinet and a piece of paper from the top of the desk. He writes down Este’s name and her contact details and hands the page to Derek. “Good luck Mr Hale. Stiles will make a wonderful addition to your pack. I believe your wolf and his spark are going to meld very well together and be a very powerful addition to the Hale pack.”

Derek holds the page in his hand gently as if it will shatter. “Thank you, Dr Deaton. I appreciate the help.”

The vet guides the wolf out of the building and closes and locks the door behind Derek. He waves and walks into the now dark office.

Derek walks to his car and pulls out his cell phone. Punching in the number he takes a deep breath and waits for the call to go through. There’s a click.

“Buenas tardes este es Este.”

“Hola, mi nombre es Derek Hale, soy uno de los Alfa en Beacon Hills. Quería hablar contigo sobre tu colección de matanza de lobo, ya que estoy planeando mi oferta de Emisario.”

*****

A week later Stiles Stilinski is in the kitchen of his family home preparing his homegrown vegetables to accompany a large roast beef that is already in the oven. His babica sits at the dining table laughing at her grandson as he tries to chop a carrot while shaking his backside to the music playing from the Bluetooth speaker.

A knock on the door startles Stiles as he’s about to begin chopping another carrot. “Babica can you get that for me? I’m covered in carrot guts.”

“Of course Mischief. For you my boy.” Gabriela Stilinski gets up from her chair and shuffles towards the front door. Opening the door widely she sees a nervous Derek standing there clutching a strong wooden box.

“Derek Hale! My goodness, you have grown up very very handsome. Isn’t he handsome Mieczyslaw? Come! Come!”

Looking like a deer in headlights, Derek walks into the house as Stiles is walking out of the kitchen wiping off his hands on a tea towel.

“Hey, Derek! What brings you here?”

Stiles throws the teatowel back into the kitchen.

Derek takes a deep breath. “Mieczyslaw Stilinski. With this gift, I offer you a place by my side. As my equal. As my partner. As my Emissary. Together we will guide and strengthen our pack, defend our territory, and support our allies. What say you?”

Derek holds the box forward, offering it up to Stiles. The Spark slowly lifts the lid and sees the perfectly wrapped strains of wolfsbane, as well as the numerous packets of seeds. Stiles gasps and runs his fingers over the top of all the packages. Taking a step back he looks up at Derek.

“Alpha Hale. It is my honour to accept your offer, both the gift and place by your side.”

Derek releases the breath he didn’t realise he was holding. “Really?”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “Of course Sourwolf! We’ve always been a good team.”

Derek places down the box and sweeps Stiles up into a hug. Stiles returns the hug eagerly while Gabriela claps.

The men pull away from the hug, Derek squeezes Stiles’ arms. “Your family is invited to our home for dinner on Sunday night to finalise the next steps of our joining.” Turning to Gabriela, “I’d love it if you came as well babcia.”

Stiles smiles brightly. “We will all be there. Dad isn’t working this weekend.”

Grandma Stilinski steps forward and grabs Derek’s arm. “You must tell us what to bring Derek, we must celebrate!”

*****

Sunday morning, Laura and Cora find Derek pacing the kitchen while the brand new Hale bestiary sits on the kitchen bench.

Cora rolls her eyes at her older brother. “You’re going to wear a hole in the floor boofhead. What’s got you so worked up?”

Laura raises an eyebrow. “Are you freaking out about tonight? It’ll go smoothly bun. It did for Lydia and me, it will for you and Stiles too.”

Derek stops pacing and looks at his sister in a panic. “What if he backs out?”

Talia sweeps into the room after her daughters. “He’s not going to back out Bun. He’s been telling everyone who will listen how excited he is. This is a big moment for both of you! Now, time to stop freaking out and bring yourself and your stuff over the main house to get ready. Everyone is aiming to be there by 5 pm so we need to get cracking.”

Laura goes upstairs and grabs Derek’s duffle and suit bag and brings them out to the car. Cora follows her out of the door leaving Talia and Derek alone in the kitchen. “My son, look at me.”

Derek looks at his mother, eyes filled with uncertainty.

“Stiles is just as nervous as you sweetheart. Claudia called me earlier laughing because Stiles had the hiccups for an hour. She said that he was scared you would change your mind.”

“I would never mom. He’s it for me.”

“As your Emissary? Or your mate?”

“Both. But I don’t know if could only having him as one and not the other.”

Talia takes her sons hands and gently squeezes them. “My boy, you have nothing to worry about on either count. Trust your mother. Forge your wolf’s bonds, then let the other happen naturally, and they will happen. But one thing at a time hmm?”

Derek smiles at his mom and grabs the book off the countertop, and follows his mother out of his house and to the family car.

*****

The grandfather clock in the hall strikes five, and the entirety of the Hale pack and Stilinski family sit in a circle in the backyard of the main Hale house. There are lights strung through all the trees, the aroma of cooking meat dances in the air, and the excited chatter of the families dulls down after the final clang of the clock.

From either side of the circle, Derek and Stiles make their way through their pack and meet in the middle. Derek is holding the new bestiary in his hands.

“Mieczyslaw Stilinski. To further our bond as wolf and spark, I offer you the complete history of the Hale family and our knowledge of all supernatural lore. Our bestiary is yours, guard it with your life and power, this knowledge not to leave our pack.”

Stiles opens the front page of the bestiary where Derek has put a singularity claw mark in the front cover. Closing his eyes, Stiles places his right index finger onto the claw mark. “My spark and your wolf, together as one.”

The page glows as magic inscribes into the paper the mark of the Emissary. Talia comes and takes the book from Derek and goes back to her seat. The men take a step closer.

“As our final step towards our joining, I pledge myself as your Alpha. To support you at all times. To protect you at all times. My wolf. Your spark. Our pack.”

Derek tilts his head to the right exposing his neck to Stiles while several people in the audience gasp. Stiles runs his hand down Derek’s neck and stops when he can feel the wolf’s pulse under his thumb.

“My spark. Your wolf. Our pack. I pledge myself as your Emissary. To support you at all times. To protect you at all times.”

Stiles squeezes Derek’s neck then removes his hand. Bearing his neck to Derek in return he whispers, “My Alpha.”

Derek lunges forward with fangs bared, pressing them gently into the pale skin of his Emissary. With the tips of his fangs touching the skin, the bond is completed, power surging between the wolf and the spark. Erica, Boyd, and Issac leap from their seats and howl in happiness as they feel the pack bonds strengthen and Stiles bond snapping into place with theirs. The rest of the Hale family then join in, howls ringing out into the night, the Stilinskis cheering and clapping.

As the howls quieten, and the wolves calm, Derek and Stiles are still standing in the middle of the circle, heads bowed, both men smiling widely.

Stiles breaks the silence. “Would it be too soon to tell you that I love you?”

Derek looks at Stiles in surprise and bursts out laughing, pulling Stiles into a hug. His laughter dies down and he looks in adoration and his Spark. “Not too soon at all.”

“Good. Now kiss me Alpha.”

Derek’s smile brightens as he tips Stiles chin gently and places a delicate kiss on his lips. “My Emissary.”

[the-cookie-of-doom]

Whats your favorite type of cookie/thing to bake or cook?

Ooooh, there are so many. (Might I direct you to my cottagecore blog @lemonii-love) 

Chocolate chip cookies, ofc. My cookies always have a little extra salt for that savory bite at the end, which imo is the best way to do it. I don’t like things to be overly sweet. 

I make an amazing blueberry streusel, and I love baking brownies. I have a delicious honey bread recipe that I make in the fall around Mabon (when the weather’s right). I brought some to my dad’s work a few years ago when I started making it, and they all raved about it, and try to get me to make it for them. Unfortunately it’s a solstice bread xD Although I do keep meaning to make it more often through the year, I just always forget. 

Actual Food Wise, I love to make tomato soup (made some tonight, it came out fantastic.) and the one thing i can consistently make Really Well is a seared chicken breast with seasoned broccoli. I also switch the chicken for steak sometimes, but I honestly prefer the chicken; has a better texture. (The key is to brine it over night to keep it juicy. So long as you do that, you’ll never have a dry chicken breast again.) 

Biscuits and gravy is always a hit, I grew up on that, and have slowly gleaned the recipe over the years. My mom isn’t the type of person to use silly things like “measurements” and “repeatable recipes”. But the key for that is to use Italian sage sausage, and plenty of pepper. Too many people make the gravy so salty, with no peppery bite. One must have balance. 

And finally, beef stew! That is the only recipe in my family (again, not really a recipe, but I make it work) that’s like. A Closely Guarded Secret. It is fantastic, it is beautiful, it is the epitome of comfort food. I literally wrote it into the end of my fic Strings of Fate. Literally the last chapter is the entire pack piling into Stiles’ house, all of them coming together and making the stew (and other side dishes, since it’s an all day kind of affair.) Like, Melissa and Chris bringing over extra crockpots, Derek and his betas going to the store to buy Mass Quantities of Meat (takes a lot to feed a pack of werewolves). Mitch gets roped into chefing since he made it with Claudia the most, as the eldest child. Allison (niece by almost-marriage in this case, Katrina was the youngest sister of Kate and Chris) helps and makes some smaller family recipes of her own, Stiles is shopping with Derek, and like. It’s just this Whole Thing. The pack is together, everyone is paired off with their partner (except Mitch, but that’s its own little angsty surprise). It’s raining outside so they’re all cozy together in the Stilinski house. 

All of those Warm Happy Feelings are packed into every bowl of my mom’s beef stew, guaranteed. I could wax poetic about it all day. And I frequently do, every time we make it!

Tbh I just love to cook. I really like baking especially, but there are a few Actual Food Dishes that I can do pretty well. Although if i could live off of cookies, muffins, and bread, with copious amounts of soup, I absolutely would 😂

I’m going to start gardening again this year and I can’t wait to see what new recipes I can try once it really gets going. Finally! I will no longer have to puzzle how to substitute dry herbs for fresh! I’ll be able to just go and harvest my own herbs! 

[nolanhollogay]

okay so, i’d just like to hear about season 3 of the ngtwu universe in general please!

ahhh ok so there's a Lot but here's a like... bullet point plot line:

3a:

- clem, lydia & scott get together at the end of season 2 so they're all vibing in the beginning

- well you know not Vibing bcuz boyd & erica (& maybe cora i still don't know how she fits in here) have been kidnapped by the alpha pack but they're not like in relationship turmoil so it's Fine

- they rescue them from the alpha pack and find out about the darach and the whole derek has to kill his betas plot doesn't happen (for now! i think I'll have to rework it)

- they do still think he's dead tho and i think motel california works as it is (except clem and lydia would probably be the ones to talk scott down instead of stiles)

- the whole derek being forced to kill boyd thing just doesn't exist fuck u jeff davis!

- scott still becomes true alpha ofc

- everyone else finds out that clem is a druid in training when they find out about deaton & morrell being emissaries

- roxie & isaac try to help erica & boyd deal with almost dying bcuz they are all besties (this is mostly side plot but i wanted to mention it)

- everything else is pretty much the same honestly i like 3a tbh my beef is with 3b

- oh and beck receuits bunny for her coven (again more of a background thing but like... it happens)

3b:

- deaton and hyunwoo get engaged after all the bs with the alpha pack (i need to make a separate post about hyunwoo in 3a which is why he's not mentioned in those bullet points dgdfs but he Is there)

- clem is very worried about scott hallucinating

- roxie & co help hunt for coyote malia

- basically all the stuff that happens with stiles and the oni and the nogitsune happens to kira there's too much to type dgfgf

- scott and kira and isaac start visiting hyunwoo (kira for plot reasons, scisaac just bcuz these bitches need therapy so bad)

- allison gets malia and kira out of eichen house ♥️

- kira took the nogitsune into her so nobody would get hurt :(

- malia moves in with the argents

- kira tells her mom that the nogitsune is inside of her after her mom tells her she's a kitsune :(

- there's more but i cannot figure out how to explain it all im sorry but basically stiles and boyd & erica are killed when they're trying to fight the nogitsune and it Sucks

- isaac doesn't leave for paris bcuz that was stupid

- mallison get together ♥️

[evtryout]

"You don’t have to be psychotic to be a killer. You just need reason."

FULL NAME: Katherine “Kate” Argent AGE: Thirty-One AFFILIATION: N/A  RANK: Freelance Assassin OCCUPATION: Weapons dealer for licensed Argent weaponry. SEXUALITY: Heterosexual DOPPELGANGER: Jill Wagner STATUS: Alive PLAYER: Mod Ali.

KATE ARGENT has been in Mystic Falls for A YEAR since the war began. She is FEMALE that goes by SHE + HER pronouns. Catch her on a bad day and you will find she is IMPULSIVE, CALLOUS, DETACHED but anyone on her good side will tell you she can be DEDICATED, RESOURCEFUL, CHARISMATIC. Everyone has their guilty pleasures, hers just happens to be LEATHER JACKETS, CRACKLING FIRE AND BULLET SHELL CASINGS. But watch out for them, word on the street says SHE HAS BEEN ORGANIZING A SECRET BLACK MARKET FOR WEAPONS.

IMPORTANT BULLET POINTS.

Kate is responsible for the Hale fire. She acted under orders of both Gerard and with Klaus Mikaelson’s finances.

Kate is currently a double agent. For all public purposes, she appears to still be on the Hale’s side when she is actually an informant to Klaus himself. She is also attempting to work Damon Salvatore for information she can sell to Klaus.

Kate is aware of the Mikaelson’s anger towards Katherine through chatter from the clan. Kate has taken it upon herself to offer mentorship to the young girl whose fierce and tenacious nature is admired, reminding her a bit of herself at that age.

The Argent Matriarch was murdered when Kate was only 3, the murder was unsolved and the sole reason they moved to Mystic Falls.

Kate has been operating a secret business on the side; mostly the selling of illegal firearms and distributing to clans with the Mikaelsons being her largest clientele.

Kate Argent was born with the promise and power of her name. Being an Argent with ties to the criminal underworld with a trail leading back to the Chicago mob in the twenties, Kate was already at a major advantage. Taught since she could walk and talk how to use weapons ranging from a pistol, AK with her preference and specialty being a rifle. At an age where she could understand what the Argent name truly stood for, she took pride in it, watching her father’s dealings and him taking her along for his business when she was old enough and Kate was eager to live up to her family’s name much to her mother’s dismay who was against ties to the criminal world. Arguments between her mother and Gerard on how to raise their children, brought them to the brink of a nasty divorce until suddenly the Argent matriarch was murdered in their home town in California with Gerard being the prime suspect in her murder but with lack of proof and a case gone cold, no charges were filed. After his wife’s death, he decided to move his children and relocate to Mystic Falls, Virginia where he would begin to rebuild the Argent name.

From the age of three, after her mother’s tragic murder up until present day, Kate was her father’s shining pupil. She followed his every order, perfected her technique and took her first life when she was just thirteen years old. Being the ideal daughter created a rift between her and her brother Christopher who disagreed with the family values, attempting to talk sense and reasoning into Kate as she grew into her years. Kate rather saw the name as something to revel in, to make it a name worth proud of. She was beautiful, something she used to her advantage often times. She was trouble with a capital T when she entered high school. Boys dug the sex appeal, the less than pristine nature and girls were intimidated. Kate never attached herself to any of the boyfriends she had, often growing bored of the whole relationship game within a week.

After graduation, Kate officially entered the family business. She first started out her career commiting a few jobs for Giuseppe Salvatore and a few for the Hale clan with her loyalty remaining to herself, Kate was truly a free agent, her name was known around the criminal underworld. She was good at being a markswoman; arguably, one of the best in a long while in the Argent family. She held no hesitation or second thoughts on a job or for the victims whose name was on the contract, there was no empathy. Just a solid paycheck and a prideful accomplishment.

On a business trip to New Orleans two years ago, Kate met Klaus Mikaelson. The boss of the New Orleans Mikaelson crime family. The two hit it off and from him, she learned of his plans to expand his empire with Mystic Falls being an extremely profitable location and the ideal spot for smuggling illegal goods from overseas. Kate already had connections back in Mystic Falls, specifically being in direct connection to the Hale family. Together under the promise of a great sum of cash, Kate conspired against the two crime families of Mystic Falls.

For two years, Kate gained more entry to the Hales using Talia’s son Derek. The two emitted an affair and Derek unknowingly giving Kate the blueprint to the protected Hale house and its varying locations all while reporting back to Klaus until he decided it would be time to take action. Under his orders, Kate waited for the Hale’s to call an important meeting with almost each member of the clan inside before closing off any hope of escape and struck the match that killed nearly every clan member.

When Kate isn’t on an active job, she has acquired her own small business on the side. With the help of a few of the loyal Argent men, Kate has been building her own market, selling illegal firearms banned in the states and various other powerful equipment such as remote bombs with the Mikaelsons being her largest clientele with Klaus planning on keeping it on his payroll when he officially takes over the quaint little town of Mystic Falls but Kate’s loyalty is to herself and her family, belonging to no one clan nor man and she plans to keep her side business independent.

PETER HALE: Peter never trusted Kate from the moment he spotted her with his nephew. Peter feels without a shadow of a doubt, Kate started the fire that ended his family.

KATHERINE PIERCE: Kate is aware of the Mikaelson clan’s beef with the Bulgarian, overhearing clan chatter. Katherine reminds Kate a lot of herself when she was that age and has offered Katherine a chance to fall under her wing to mentor as Kate sees potential within her with promise to give her insight on how to escape her Klaus problem with her life intact.

THIRD CONNECTION HERE: Tbt.

[dafukdidiwatch]

Cool Cat Saves The Kids

I watched this movie and I still can’t believe this is the actual cover art for it.

God I wrote so many notes about this that even my flipping Bullet Points were basically an essay. I don’t even know how to begin just thinking about it hurts my head.

Overview: Cool Cat is Cool. Things happen to him, and he has to deal with bullying.

That’s it. That’s the thing I watched. Because there is no Real Flipping Plot to this movie.

This is a kid’s show. Or at the very minimum, a movie that is intended for children. It was based on a kid’s book series I’ve never heard of whose author Derek Savage decided to turn it into a movie. Though movie isn’t exactly what I would call it. When you watch it, it honestly feels like there are six 15 minute shorts that they just mashed together to a feature film, but even then that is a Generous Description.

Basically, the film tries to be a children’s program (and I guess has beef with Barney?). And you can see intent behind it being informative child-friendly psa. But the execution was so bad.

First, there is no plot. Sure the cover says that this is “an anti-bullying kid gun safety movie,” but it really give you nothing. What would happen is that Cool Cat has a problem, like someone bullying him or his friends. It would either A) be addressed immediately and solved so that’s great, or B) it is dropped immediately and never really addressed throughout the rest of the film.

And example of A is that the bully kid Butch just starts stealing candy just to be “evil,” Cool Cat sees that and chases him, and the kid gets arrested twenty seconds later. The End.

For B, Cool Cat gets a mean email. And...that’s about it. He responds to the email, but doesn’t actually address the issue and the subplot drops entirely until that VERY Last wrap up scene.

I think the reason for this lack of plot is that there was just WAY too many messages in here. Like, take a shot every time you see a psa announcement. It ranges from don’t bully, how to deal with bullies, being creative, crossing the street safely, to fricking GUN?! Like, the gun thing that I Guess was promoted in the movie tagline, only shows up the last 10 minutes. It caught me so off guard. You cannot call this a Gun Safety movie when guns aren’t even prevalent!!

And the lack of plot is counterproductive when you want to make a Kid’s Movie like this. If you want to tackle each issue as a show or a short, the messages would come across better. There would be more time to develop each message for kids to really understand. But because there is So Much to cover, a lot of the things are gonna fall to the wayside. There is no way a kid would pay attention to this, and if they do I doubt they are gonna learn everything that Derek Savage is trying to teach. There just isn’t any real focus.

The acting, god like they Tried to go with the kid friendly vibe, but was not working. At All. It was like they thought that to add emotion is to just enunciate your words as loudly as you can. Cool Cat was way too yelly. Every line he was just screaming, has no change whatsoever. Even Elmo can sound sad when need be (fucking love Elmo, but he does has a similar voice vibe to Cool Cat, just better).

Then the kids....I don’t want to be mean but I’ll be blunt. They are just reading lines, this is a middle school stage play basically. I’m not blaming the kids, Butch look like he had a hell of a time doing his villain laugh. It’s just that some of the scenes felt like it was taken in one shot and they didn’t bother to retry. Example: One kid got too excited and jumped his line, but they couldn’t just retake that??

And the lines, man. OOF. Some of it was bad. Like, really really bad placement.They should have had someone proof-read this.

Cool Cat: “Why Are You Painting That Wall?”

Random Kid: “Because Nobody Loves Us”

lol what?

Maria: “I bet those kids have never been shown love before.”

Cool Cat: “Thanks, and it’s all true”

LOL What??

There are just a LOT of lines like that that should have been rephrased.

THEN there are the freaking technical issues.

The audio kept fluctuating in sound quality, which honestly started to hurt with Cool Cat’s constant yelling. Some scenes it sounds like they recorded in a studio, sometimes it sounded like the actors had to yell in order for the camera to capture it. There were echos, there were layers, you can’t hear the lines over the song, you can’t hear the song over the cheers. There was one point whispers overlaid on top of the lines where I thought that Cool Cat just got haunted now. And the fun side of having headphones on means I heard the phone button noises in only One Ear. LOUDLY.

Blocking could have been better. There were a lot of backs to the camera, shots of characters walking away from camera not just off screen. This didn’t bother me as much, because I know this isn’t professionally made. But it didn’t feel like they really tried as much as just half-assed it. Example:

Cool Cat was drawing a picture with different colors, but the actor only used one marker and just said different colors. Or Cool Cat is working on a poster but really just rubs the already completed poster  on a clean table as him “working.” Like, how hard is it to just film on a table with a bunch of craft supplies around you?

Then there are the questionable camera shots. LOTS of lingering shots to I assume fill up run time. These are shots of just showing Cool Cat walking round without having any real purpose. It shows Cool Catwalk all the way Up Stairs. Walked all the way Down Stairs. Walking into the House, walking into the Car. Even just shots of the parents doing things with no real motivation or impact to whatever Cool Cat is doing. It’s just there. If you want to say stuff like "oh well its to show the parents relationship" no it doesn’t. You can’t really add nuance to characters when the rest of the film is just one chaotic shot after the other. It just gets lost in translation.

The music number is probably what hurts me the most. You see Cool Cat WRITE the song. Then he SINGS the song. Then he DANCES to a DIFFERENT song. And that was it. He just needed the song for the parade, but there wasn’t any explanation or anything. I don’t even know WHY he needs the song for the parade! There was no explanation. It was just an excuse to have two back-to-back bad music video of poor choreography that again, NO POINT to whatever plot/message/psa thing he is trying to do.

I get that there should be some leeway since it looked like this was shot at Derek Savage’s house/neighborhood, so there really isn’t much they could do with their setting. But they could at least tried more with what they had. Cool Cat’s room doesn’t look exactly child friendly. There are only blank drab walls with two, maybe three posters of just Cool Cat himself. There is a reason the settings in other children shows have vibrant colors to engage them. Along with that, another half-assing moment was Butch graffiting Cool Cat’s poster, but it was one of those political posters you stuck on the lawn so it was like a foot tall outside. 1) You can’t really see that shit that small. 2) You couldn’t put the poster on a wall to film that scene at, to give a better view to the audience? It’s just a bunch of little things like that all over this film that really adds up.

Also, what’s with the posters only being about Cool Cat in his own room? A bit narcissistic if you ask me.

I'm also like 70%,sure they made this movie around the footage of them being in the Hollywood parade twice. They were at the parade, got the film, and wanted to use it so they made a movie for it. And I know it was twice because the announcers that were there to announce the arrival of Cool Cat had a costume change after switching scenes.

And after ALL of this, there is just so many random shit that really don’t do anything. Elements are randomly introduced and just as randomly dropped. We get a “next day” transition in the middle of the movie when days have already passed before them. Cool Cat breaks the 4th wall a couple of times with no real reason why. There is this joke where the camera was following Cool Cat into the bathroom for Cool Cat to ask for privacy, only to just ignore that bit every time he goes to the bathroom afterwards. Cool Cat just makes random ass noises when doing things, not important stuff. Just Doing Things. And he does this weird thing where I think he is trying to do Air Guitar, but it just looks like he is just shaking his leg a lot. I don’t really get it.

(Oh Shit, it is only after like the 3rd proof-read of this review I notice that in the gif you can clearly see the dude’s actual leg. I don’t know how mascot suits actually work, but I’m pretty sure that you’re not supposed to let kids actually see that there’s a person underneath in a kid’s show.)

There is also this....lowkey humblebrag going on? Which does not do the movie favors. After the first dumb song number, Derek shows off that he has a signed guitar by Van Halen. Like not just him playing it (which after the 15th zoom in on the guitar how could you NOT notice it thank you Derek), but pointing out to the audience that, Yes it was Indeed signed by Van Halen. Then there is the footage from the Hollywood Parade about the cars there. Sure, I get showing off like the Ghostbusters car, or Jurassic Park car, or the Batmobile. But Hurby the Love Bug? Night Rider?? Starsky and Hutch??? Magnum P.I.?????? The target audience is elementary kids, they aren’t going to know these old shows. So who is this for exactly?

Kudos to the cop for actually doing this, seriously. That cop probably had a hell of a lot of better things to do than arrest children for a bad after-school special.

And this is just SOME of the main problems of this film. There’s so much going on it would be impossible for me to go over everything without

The thing is, there is good material here. Maybe not great results, but there are a lot of ideas here that you can work with to make a decent kid’s movie. I actually loved the part where Cool Cat is dreaming and trying to figure out how he should handle bullies. I thought that was a good scene and a good way to show kids how to think through different options. There are good ideas here, but it was just way to much going on at once the movie basically shoots itself in the foot.

So here is My Version of what Cool Cat should have done. 

Cool Cat is running for School President. That’s the main story line. Early in the movie he learns of a writing contest where the winner gets their own float at the hollywood parade (stretch but roll with it). But Cool Cat has no idea what to write, and talks to it with his friends who offers ideas. So he is juggling that along with running for Student President.

However, the Butch the Bully doesn’t like that. He doesn’t want Cool Cat to win. So he vandalizes his posters. Cool cat still runs and makes better posters. Butch tries to frame Cool Cat for vandalizing the playground, but instead his cronies get caught and convinced that it was a bad idea. So Butch decides to cyberbully Cool Cat and his friends to scare them off. He works with the other kid running for President to make a hate ad against Cool Cat, telling everyone how terrible and bad Cool Cat is. Cool Cat tries to go against this my making his music video song over how cool he is to swing the votes, making Butch more angry and vindictive to his bullying scheme.

Cool Cat doesn’t know how to get Butch to stop, but after getting advice from his friends, parents, teachers, and some hard thinking, he decides to confront Butch about his bullying issue, tell someone, and thus solves the problem. Later on after talking to Butch, maybe manages to convince him to start being friends. 

Finally, Cool Cat uses this scenario to write his story about how to deal with bullying and make new friends. Which wins and we end with the Hollywood Parade.

Is this perfect? No. But it focuses the idea to one main plot (running for president) with the other issues naturally coming off of it, instead of making each issue it’s own separate thing. There is no random shifts in narrative, no GUN moments (or GUN in general we kick that shit out) and just focus on the main bullying theme.

Overall: This was a weird and bad children’s show. You have to put in a lot of effort into making a movie, but there was just too much going on for this to be a Good Children’s Movie, least of all a Good Movie in general. But it isn’t to say that it wasn’t morbidly enjoyable. It’s was like playing Spot The Difference to find all the Wrong Things in here. It was fun in a bad way.

So will I show this to children? No. But will I play a drinking game with my friends where we take a shot every time someone says the phrase “Cool Cat”? Yeah that sounds enjoyable. 

Take a shot for every time you read “Cool Cat” in my review.

Side Note:

You had this as a GUN PSA, wtf are you doing holding a gun!? Given how the only 3 videos this channel has is only Cool Cat Trailers, I’m assuming this is official Cool Cat. Soooo.....what the hell?

[the-thanos]

Why just black lives? Why not every life matters. Has world reached to the pinnacle of hypocrisy.

On May 25th 2020, George Perry Floyd an African-American man died as a white American Minneapolis police officer  Derek Chauvin kept his knee on the right side of Floyd's neck for approx nine minutes. This sad incident incited a movement in the whole america with trending hashtag of #BlackLivesMatter. 

Has human or at-least american reached to the pinnacle of hypocrisy? Why just black lives, why not just every life matters? Most of the rioters on the streets,of america or most of the people registering their protest on the social media with blackout day or with hashtag #blacklivesmatter, almost everyone might be the non vegetarian might have ate some sort of meat, either chicken, beef, fish or any other type of meat. Hence, responsible for some living being’s life. So, the question is why just black lives, why not every life matters? Has anyone who is protesting for the death of george floyd’s death has protested for the lives they have taken in the form of their meal? Probably not, will they stop eating meat and take more lives after this? unlikely, so how one can protest against someone who himself or herself is not willing to commit that they won’t take any living being’s life. If this is not hypocrisy then what is?

There is no doubt that this incident was shameful not only for america but for the whole world and this article is not to support Derek Chauvin, he should get most strict punishment possible. There shouldn’t be any racism based on color, beliefs, race etc. Every human is equal, but does this planet just belong to human? Why we have blind eye towards other creatures living on this planet? The way george floyd died, similarly 9 billion chickens and about 72 billions animals are killed just for the flavor of human’s tongue. 

So the question is why just black lives? why not every life matters? Everyone who is registering their protest including me are they hypocrite? or will they quit eating non-veg food? Think yourself.

[cmcreid-warriorprincess]

Parentdale - - - for plotting ref!

So Lyndsy’s soiree has be thinking about the Havensdale parents a lot and I’d love to plot out some connections with them!! Below’s a list of all my viable parents and their backstories in a compact summary for reference (feel free to message me about connections etc and what it’ll mean for our actual characters!):

Havensdale Natives (they grew up here so high school etc connections like!!)

Karen McReid (single, fc; stana katic) - you know her already! The aunt of Ruby & Carrie, mom of Danny. She was super serious in high school, like ‘class president’ material also with a bit of a wild side but her sis Krystal was the Wild OneTM. Had the weight of the world on her shoulders ALL the time. Eventually dated Daniel Moore (Jenny’s uncle) in high school. Now a businesswomen and all around pillar of the community but keeps an arms length from being too involved in town shenanigans.

Veronica Evans (single) - this is Erica and Rose’s mom! She’s very lovely, a friendly neighbour with a messy ex that no one really knows the real story of (except a select few including neighbours the Wilsons). Close with McReids & Wilsons. Had a lot of friends in high school but lost touch with them when she was married. Is still trying to regain Power over her life and have fun again with friends. Doesn’t date but might want to. Help her.

Chuck and Claire Cooper (married, fc; paul rudd and leslie mann) - the Cooper’s! Christian’s parents and Cam/Callie’s aunt and uncle. Chuck is a teacher at Havens High and Claire owns local baker ‘Claire’s Cakes’. Chuck Cooper was the Ricky Beaumont of his time, total party animal, messy flirt, always up for shots. He’s a bop! Claire is the one who keeps them together, a responsible, very embarrassing mom (they’re both embarrassing tbh). They were BFF since childhood but didn’t get togetherTM until well after high school. ▣ (x)

Victoria Harvelle (married, fc; america ferrera) - Jess’ mom and absolute #dramaQUEEN. She grew up in Havensdale and got the hell out as soon as she turned 18. She’s an ex soap opera star, glamazon and simply #dying over having to be back in Havensdale all these years. Thinks she’s better than everyone - always did. D-I-V-A. Fake friends only probably. Knows her husband is cheating on her. Will not discuss his love child Lua Harvelle thanks bye. Was compelled by Jess to think they’d sent her away for her bad behaviour but tbh won’t bring her up either.

Mitchell and Lacy Morrison (married, fc; alexis denisof and charisma carpenter) - the Morrison parents! Mitch is an absolute dork with really cool socks who owns ‘Morrison Records’. Honestly just...a soft, nerdy Dad who loves his wife more than anything. Lacy is the Bad GirlTM and always was (definitely in love with this nerd all her life tbh). She’s very cool which makes up for how uncool Mitch is. Remember, non-magical people think Mark woke up from his ‘coma’ recently and magicals know he was brought back from the dead. They deserve a nice night, basically.

Aaron and Marie Fairchild (widowed, deceased) - Charlene’s mom/Rachel’s uncle and aunt. Marie died when Charlene was young and Aaron is always on the road for work. Marie was thee Cool MomTM and very involved. They both would have had a TON of friends until Marie died and Aaron became distant. Needless to say, neither are here tonight.

Lyndsy McArthur and Andrew Moore (re-married - fc; , deceased - fc; jason bateman) - Jenny’s parents! We all know Lyndsy of ‘Lyndsy’s café’. She’s an absolute sweetheart with a right hook to match. Another piller of the community TBH, need I say more? The same goes for Andrew who died when Jenny was little (he was a fireman). These two were high school sweethearts, 100% the cutest couple, probably prom king and queen. Lyndsy’s now married to Derek McArthur if y’all remember!

Felicity Montgomery (married, fc; madchen amick) - #icequeen! In high school though she was a punky rebel with a giant attitude problem. Her and Ethan McArthur were also #that couple - don’t remind her. (x)

Maryse Anderson (married) - Effy & Lana’s mom, god help her. Very judgy, very straight laced and god fearin’ - she’s also super involved with the town’s events etc. Probably causes drama at every PTA meeting. Probably has beef with every other parent in town. BIG SECRET: her husband is in jail.

Larry Manning (married, fc; will smith) - Tyler’s dad. Owner of family pub/restaurant ‘The Silver Fox’ and a town treasure. Basically everyone’s dad, always looking out for you and can fix pretty much anything. He’s a settled down, very chill, married man and father. Was literally THE COOLEST guy in high school though, ask anyone!

Fred Porter (married) - the Porter dad! Can you believe there was an original Greg? ‘Cause Fred was breaking hearts, jaws, his own fists and making 1000 mistakes per minute long before his second son was even a thought. He got his act together! He’s a very hard working dad with good, family values who only wants the best for his family. Is so hard on Greg because he sees so much of himself in him tbh. His wife was 100% his saving grace, he loves her so much.

Mr and Mrs Jennings (married) - Isaiah’s parents! Mr Jennings is a member of one of Havensdale founding families so they’re SUPER involved in the town. They’re very fancy, have a big ole house, love to take trips but are friendly with everyone. They’re only snobby on accident. Mr Jennings is very serious and is waiting for Isaiah to stop his nonsense and join the family business. Mrs Jennings is way funner.

Not *from* Havensdale but live here now!!

William ‘Bill’ Tyler (technically, legally still married, fc; mark ruffalo) - Hailie’s dad. He own’s ‘Bill’s Tech Store’ which is a computer store so he’ll fix your WiFi etc. A grumpy loner type with an absolute heart of gold. Everyone who was around at the time knows his wife Grace Laurel Tyler left him and Hailie years ago (her dramatic return is still lowkey on the D.L right now though). Loves his daughter SO MUCH, is stressed to his eyeballs about her having.......a boyfriend. ▣ Was dating Sarah Palmer before she died (Juliette's mom) and honestly, me and Kayleigh figured this out today and I'm still crying.

Joseph Montgomery (married, fc; matthew mcconaughey) - Mr Montgomery! He’s lived here with Felicity since before Elena was born (22+ years). He’s a business man with political ties and always wears a suit. A big ole charmer that you literally can’t help but like!

Mrs Porter - info to follow on Greg, Simon and Annie’s mom but lbr...she’ll be an angel!!!

Penelope ‘Penny’ Manning (married, fc; salma hayek) - Tyler’s mom. The Mannings moved to Havensdale 17+ years ago! Penny’s a high flyer, works in fashion, always has her hands-free in, slightly aloof and very scary when she’s on the phone dealing with a problem. The BossTM. Absolute goals. Loves her son and doesn’t mean to be so absent. Friends with everyone but she never has time.

Joseph Salvatore (married, fc; jared padalecki) - Joey and Keith’s dad (and maybe more). He’s lived in Havensdale full time aroundabout when Keith was born (ISH). Before this, he was a legit rockstar. He toured, he did the whole sex, drugs, drink and rock ‘n roll thing. Now he’s a real pillar of the community, owns the gym, is very involved with the town - which made the arrival of his Secret Son Joey such a SCANDAL. He’s still recovering.

Charles Harvelle (married, MIA, fc; david tennant) - No one has noticed yet or caused a scene about it but Mr Harvelle is currently missing.... Details will follow, for now his wife just believes he’s on another business trip AKA having an affair with his secretary. A mess at being a father and husband. RIP. Has lived in Havensdale aroundabout 18 yrs with his wife and Jess.

Mr & Mrs Thomson (married) - Tessa’s parents. They’re both hunters who’ve been on the road for most of their lives (saving people, hunting things, the family business). Just a fab couple! A supportive, dorky dad and a badass yet super sweet mom. They’re v likable and have been in town for a fair few months now.

[novkat21]

Promised WIP

I'm a little late, my apologies! But here is the promised WIP I'm working on! It's not the whole thing, but just enough to give you an idea.

As I said in my previous post, it isn't finished and needs some work. If you'd like to read more, let me know and I'll strive to finish it for ya!

Enjoy!

~

Nearly an hour later, he’s just finishing up with fluffing his pillow when a soft knock sounds on his door. He turns right as Derek steps in, glancing around.

“Looks like you made it homey,” he comments.

Stiles hides a grin when he notices Derek puff his chest out slightly. He knows Derek has always wanted to be a good alpha and provide for his pack and, even though it’s just a vacation, he seems pleased that everyone is settling in so well. “Yeah, well, it helped that the bed was already made.”

Derek nods. “I was just about to start grilling. Did you want to help?”

Stiles smiles and nods. “Let me just put my suitcase away. I’ll meet you out back.”

“Let me,” Derek says, surprising him by walking over and grabbing the suitcase, setting it just inside the closet. “Come on.”

They walk downstairs and out onto the back patio that’s large enough to hold two tables lined with chairs, a bench swing and a space just for grilling. Derek leads him over to the grill and turns it on, lifting a lid covering a plate that has a huge stack of beef patties on it. He grabs a set of tongs and starts placing the patties on the heating grate. Stiles unfolds a long table set against the railing and pulls it up by the grill, wiping it down so he can start prepping the food.

Stiles glances down at the beach to see the rest of the pack playing volleyball with the set they brought. He smiles and continues to help Derek, a feeling of content washing over him. A few times, his shoulder or hand brushes against the alpha’s and when he glances at Derek, he sees a small smile tugging on Derek’s lips, too.

They stay in their stations as the food cooks, listening and watching the pack surrounding them. Once the pack joins the rest of them on the patio, the food is finally done. Stiles, Erica, Boyd and Derek carry the platefuls of burgers to the two tables and dig in with the rest of them.

“This is really good,” Stiles tells Derek after lightly elbowing him to get his attention.

Derek shrugs. “It’s just a burger.”

Stiles shakes his head. “You’re never cooking these for my dad.”

They both chuckle as Stiles finishes his burger, gazing out at the setting sun glimmering off the water. He leans back and glances over at the pack. Smiling, he realizes that this is a rare occasion, something he’ll never forget—the pack is all here, together, with no danger threatening them and all getting along. He couldn’t have asked for a better two weeks away from home.

The sky is black and speckled with stars by the time everyone heads back inside. Stiles stays seated on the log he’d placed himself on just after dinner, leaning back and staring up at dark blanket above. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Derek move around the small flame burning in the fire pit and sit down beside him, their arms touching.

“I never knew you could see so many stars out here,” Stiles says softly.

“California holds many surprises,” Derek replies.

Stiles glances over at Derek to see the man already staring at him. “Thanks for letting us stay in your family’s beach house. I’m sure it was hard to come back.”

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Having the pack nearby helped, I think.”

“I’m sure it did. You’ve all grown such great bonds with each other. That and you’ve made peace with your past and gained a new anchor. You’re doing a great job, Derek.”

Derek blinks. “How’d you know I have a new anchor?”

Stiles smiles. “It’s kind of obvious. You’re not nearly as angry as you used to be and you smile more.”

“Do you know when my anchor changed?” Stiles’ smile falls when he notices the intensity in Derek’s gaze and shakes his head. “When I almost lost you to the Nogitsune.” A gasp slips out, his eyes widening. “My control was slipping and I was trying so hard not to panic. The night after it was all over and you were safe back at home, I dreamed about you.”

“Derek…”

Derek leans in closer, eyes flickering to his lips. “You didn’t know?”

“I didn’t. I just knew you had a new anchor. I was so happy for you, you have no idea.”

“I think I do.” Derek closes the space between them, brushing their lips together, giving Stiles the chance to pull away. But he didn’t. Instead, he frames Derek’s face with his hands and kisses him back fervently, almost bruising. Derek rumbles happily, his arms winding around Stiles’ waist and pulling him in close. He licks Stiles’ lips and then slips his tongue inside when Stiles moans, seemingly melting against him.

“We should take this inside,” Stiles whispers after they break apart for air. Derek chuckles, grabbing Stiles’ thighs and holding him up as he stands and walks back up to the house. He nuzzles into Stiles’ neck, pressing soft kisses against the skin. Stiles bares his throat, closing his eyes in pleasure when Derek growls. “My room. It’s closer. Go, go, go.” Derek laughs and rushes them inside, the small flame in the pit dying out behind them.

~

Stiles wakes in Derek’s arms, the werewolf’s body heat keeping him warm. He glances out the window above the bed to find it still dark outside and snuggles closer to Derek, sighing contentedly. Derek’s hold on him tightens slightly, his breath caressing his forehead. Stiles closes his eyes and tries to fall back asleep. But after a few seconds, he suddenly feels parched.

Huffing in irritation that his sleep has been disturbed, he gently pulls away from Derek and gets out of bed. He winces lightly when pain radiates in his backside and lower back as he makes his way to the bathroom. Stopping and leaning against the doorframe, he waits until the pain eases a bit before he wanders to the sink and picks up a small plastic cup from the stack on the counter. He pours some water in it and gulps it down in one swallow. His mouth still felt dry so he guzzles down a few more cups of water.

He sighs, setting the cup down and looks down at the dripping water from the faucet. He licks his lips then turns the water on full force and slurps up as much of the liquid as he can, feeling just as thirsty as when he first noticed it. He stops after about a minute and shuts the water off, wiping the bottom half of his face.

Something wasn’t right.

He turns to go back to bed when he suddenly notices how dry his skin feels. He rubs a hand up and down his arm, glancing down at himself. Inhaling sharply, he sees a few odd spots on his chest and arms, looking far too similar to… scales?

Dread starts setting in as he watches these strange spots grow. Glancing over at Derek, he realizes the wolf is still sound asleep. He takes a step toward the bed when a sharp pain shoots up his legs and they give out.

“Derek,” he cries out as he hits the floor hard, barely catching himself before his head smacks against the hard surface.

“Stiles?” He looks up as Derek frantically gets out of bed and rushes over, crouching down beside him. “Stiles, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I—” Stiles stops, his blood running cold when he realizes that his words sound different, wrong. By the confused expression on Derek’s face, it seems that he noticed as well. Stiles isn’t speaking in English. His heart starts racing faster, his breathing coming in short pants. Derek pulls him up onto his lap, shushing and rocking him.

Stiles suddenly throws his head back, screaming, as pain he’s never felt before runs up his legs and hips. He grips Derek’s arm tightly with one hand, his throat quickly becoming raw as he yells. He barely hears the door open and the pack rush inside. However, he feels the vibration of Derek growling at them, keeping them away, before the pain becomes all he knows. Tears stream into his hairline as he gasps for breath, his voice practically gone.

It seems to last forever before the pain subsides into a dull throb. But then the feeling of being dry, too dry, comes back, his mouth feeling parched once more.

He slowly lets go of Derek’s arm and feels something wet touch his fingertips. Glancing over, he sees his fingernails have sharpened, blood coating them on the one hand from digging into Derek’s skin. He begins to shake as he notices his hands have become webbed and the scales—blue-green now—cover his arms and torso. He follows them down to where his legs should be, but in their place is the bottom half of a fish, his feet having become a large fin.

He gasps for air, then chokes not a moment later. He puts his hand up to his throat and feels three large slits on each side and looks up at Derek.

The alpha’s eyes are blown wide, taking in Stiles’ new form. They meet each other’s gaze as Stiles tries to take another breath, his lungs beginning to ache. He feels his fin flop frantically, fear sinking back into his bones.

[graciebirdie]

It’s Christmas (almost) @thisdiscontentedwinter a gift for the amazing you! I hope you like Peter cooking! (also on ao3)

Peter didn’t consider it to be a character flaw that he was a man in his 30s who didn’t know how to cook. He had a few pretty good reasons why he’d never learned how before he’d reached his 30s after all.

Not the least of which being when he’d been a part of a pack he’d been regulated to hunter rather than chef. While usually hunter just meant he was the one who did most of the grocery shopping he did, occasionally, get to hunt down deer or rabbits for when they had special dinners. That was of course his favorite part of providing for the pack. One of the few times his propensity for violence was not only accepted but also praised.

Now he had been living by himself, surviving on take out and deli made meals.

This wouldn’t be a problem except he found he missed homemade meals with a ache he could physically feel behind his breast bone.

Now he only had two options on how to sooth this newest hurt: he could either ask one of his three pack members if they could cook a meal for him or he could learn to cook himself.

The answer was obvious without even calculating in the fact neither Cora nor Derek lived somewhere with a functioning oven.

So Peter bought a cookbook and figured since he wasn’t completely helpless he would be able to figure out one of the basics of adulthood.

It turned out Peter was terrible at cooking. He could make sandwiches or any kind of egg but anything more complicated than those he always managed to royally screw it up.

He didn’t even know what he was doing wrong that make his pot roast taste like char or his stir fry to be oily when he hadn’t even used oil.

After almost a month of failures he would have given up if it hadn’t started to turn into a point of pride. Stiles had brought roast beef sandwiches to one of the pack meets and he had proudly told everyone that he’d made the roast himself.

If Stiles, who oscillated between having the attention span of a gnat or hyper-focusing to the point of forgetting to breath, could make a truly delicious roast then so could Peter.

So he turned to his last resort: cooking blogs.

One google search for ‘how to actually cook and make it taste good’ later he’d gone through five different blog posts and only learned that for some reason bloggers really liked to talk about their kids and perfect lives. It would have been depressing if Peter actually cared.

After two hours of travelling through homebodies trying to convince him to make everything vegan he found a post titled “Recipes made easy for those who are lazy, have ADHD, no time or alternately too much time, know how to cook but want to learn new things, or people who think they can’t cook but are willing to give it a try.”

What a mouthful of a title that covered all the basics of people looking at cooking blogs.

The whole blog was written in run on sentences that somehow managed to be both amusing and informative, a very narrow line to walk.

Peter might have also fallen a little bit in love with the author who gave such informative tidbits as “Why spring for a colander when you could just slap the lid on a pot and up end it over the sink while praying you won’t drop it and/or burn yourself as you tilt the lid to strain out the water but not the noodles.” and “Seriously just toss all the shit into a crockpot and forget about it for 8 hours, except you probably won’t be able to because you’ll have to keep trying to remember if you actually turned the pot on or not. (I suggest setting up a live stream camera to be on the safe side.)”

Other than an obvious good sense of humor the writer didn’t give any personal information. No name or nickname. Even the profile picture was generic. Peter thought that little touch of mystery just added the the writer's personality.

The third time Peter made macaroni and cheese from scratch – “Just cook some plain old noodles and then toss in a bunch of different kinds of grated cheese and a couple of scoops of sour cream and a bit of crumbled bacon with a little pinch of salt and bake it in the oven for a bit and bam homemade mac and cheese that people will be amazed over.” – he was so proud of his creation he brought it to that night’s pack meeting.

He set the large casserole dish down on Derek’s ridiculous table that only Stiles ever actually used and pointedly ignored the stares everyone was giving him. He settled down in his chair – the one just off to the side of the stairs that faced the door and the whole of the open living room – and pulled out his phone to feigning nonchalance while he waited for the rest of the pack to ask what he thought he was doing.

Of course Stiles was the first one to speak up. “Oh!” he said, sounding excited. “Did you make a casserole?”

He leaned forward over the table to open the dish that had been, very conveniently, placed right in front of him.

Peter watched with a surprisingly strong sense of anticipation as he watched Stiles’ eyes widen and mouth drop open in surprise.

“Is this homemade macaroni and cheese?” he asked, excitement clear on his face.

Peter gave a vague hum of agreement. “I’m trying something new.”

Stiles sprung up away from the table and practically dashed into the kitchen. He came back out only a few seconds later with a paper plate in one hand a plastic fork in the other.

Peter supposed he should be grateful Stiles took out a portion instead of eating right out of his casserole dish.

Stiles scooped up a bite and managed to bring it all the way to his mouth before Scott stopped him with a strangled cry.

“Stiles! What are you doing?!” Scott yelled as he threw himself over the back of the couch he had been sitting on. He raced to Stiles and slapped the fork out of his before Stiles could get the bite into his mouth.

“What the fuck!” Stiles gasped, cradling his hand against his chest and staring at Scott in shock.

Peter found, much to his surprise, that he had both stood up and let his claws out without a thought. He took one long deep breath and slipped his claws away before sauntering over to the table.

He oh so casually leaned his against it, back to Stiles, crossed his arms over his chest and stared Scott down.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the front door slide open to let in Boyd and Erica. The both of them slipped past Scott and behind Peter to, no doubt, stand next to Stiles.

Stiles spluttered and yelled again. “Scott! Peter's not going to bring in poisoned food when most of you guys don't trust him!”

Scott glared darkly at Peter. “Yeah we don’t trust him because poisoning is exactly something he would do.”

“Well yeah.” Stiles said. Peter could practically see him shrug. “Of course Peter would poison someone. But he’s not going to use food to poison the pack.”

Erica snorted loudly and said “Yeah Peter’s devious but he’s not stupid.” there was a pause before she added with her mouth obviously full “And if you paid attention to anything you’d known this mac and cheese is not only totally poison free but also delicious.”

“Hey...” Stiles said sulkily. “That’s my fork.”

Scott’s self righteous expression was replaced with sour resignation. Peter gave him his best fake smile before turning his back on him to look at Erica, who was eating right out of the dish.

Boyd had found another fork somewhere and had stolen Stiles’ plate.

Stiles was glaring at the both of them and Peter felt oddly annoyed.

“You going to share?” he asked Erica who seemed to almost hunch over the dish.

She just smirked at him and pulled the dish even closer to her, effectively blocking anyone else from taking some.

He stared her down intently while Stiles made indignity noises.

Boyd, smart and dependable Boyd, held out his half full plate and a second fork for Stiles who gasped and smiled brightly before scooping up his own bite.

The loud almost pornographic moan took Peter off guard and the sudden quick shot of arousal he felt was even more surprising.

He heard Erica choking on a laugh and sent her his best blank look that the pack had long learned meant he was fighting back the urge to murder one of them.

Boyd, wise and quiet Boyd, had completely given up his plate to Stiles and had instead decided to try and distract Erica with an impromptu fork fight.

Stiles seemed to be having a small spiritual moment. “Do you know what tastes weirdly good in mac and cheese?” he asked suddenly.

“What?” Peter asked gamely.

“Tuna and Peas.”

Peter stared at him while Boyd and Erica made simultaneous noises of disgust.

Stiles shrugged apologetically. “It’s strangely hearty.”

Peter hummed in thought. He was certainly petty enough to make something that only Stiles would want to eat. It’s what everyone else deserved for being rude about Peter’s cooking.

~*~

“Chicken alfredo is so easy. Just cook those wormy noodles for a few minutes and toss in some canned alfredo sauce with baked chicken and bam! Food! Or if you want to get fancy pan fry the chicken before adding milk and actual heavy cream. But who really has time for that? (I do. I apparently.) Here’s how to do it the fancy way if you’re into that kind of thing.”

It continued to amuse Peter how the writer could give easy alternatives and complicated instructions for the same recipe.

His first two batches turned out tasting fine. Not amazing but certainly edible. It was vast improvement from where he started.

He felt an oddly strong urge to both thank the writer of the blog and get to know them better. A combination of emotions he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

This might not have been a problem for him if he didn’t have an strong suspicion he knew who the writer was.

Tiny hints here and there had given it away. He just had to get confirmation.

~*~

After a month of bringing in different dishes to pack meetings Peter had gotten a pretty good handle on Stiles’ likes and dislikes. Considering one of Stiles’ constant likes was Peter’s cooking in general he was confident in his welcome at Stiles’ apartment so long as he came bearing food.

Peter showed up right in time for dinner and Stiles blinked at him before letting him with only a “I’m not going to turn down your cooking, even if it is surprise cooking.”

Peter smirked at him as he made himself at home in Stiles’ tiny kitchen. The size of it certainly explained the latest post “How the hell are you supposed to get anything done in a 3 by 3 space: a photo tutorial by me, not a professional photographer.”

Peter had recognized the kitchen in the pictures from when he had helped Stiles move his (un)surprisingly large collection of kitchen gadgets.

“So what’s the occasion?” Stiles asked as he poked at the wax wrapped loaf of cheesy bread.

Now that Peter had gotten a better grip on cooking in general he had decided to try his hand at baking. He wasn’t very good at it yet but Stiles appreciated bread of all kinds and wouldn’t mind that it was a bit darker in some spots.

“Oh nothing too special.” he said casually. “I just noticed that your newest post got a million hits. Sounds like something that should be acknowledged.”

Stiles jumped and stared at Peter in shock for a moment before he relaxed again. He rubbed the back of his neck and gave Peter a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Why am I not actually surprised you know about that.” he said with a little laugh.

He turned back to the bread, pulling off a piece and inspecting it before spinning back to stare at Peter with huge eyes.

“Oh my god, did you get all those recipes from me?” he asked loudly, excitement obvious on his face.

“Well your instructions are very comprehensive.” Peter said with a casual shrug.

Stiles grinned at him, obviously pleased about Peter complimenting him.

“That’s a really fucking nice thing to say.” Stiles said, grin turning into a softer smile.

Peter shrugged again and turned to start pulling dishes down from the cupboard. “It’s just a fact.” he said casually.

Stiles laughed. “Whatever you say. So what you make me?”

~*~

Stuffed full of the potato soup and cheesy bread Peter was slouched down on the couch and making grocery lists on his phone. Stiles was curled up next to him, half leaning against Peter’s shoulder while half watching Leverage, half reading one of the books Peter had given him.

“Holy shit!” Stiles suddenly yelled.

Peter turned to look at him in interest.

“Are you courting me, Peter Hale?” Stiles asked eyes and mouth wide open in shock.

Peter blinked at him in genuine surprise for a moment before past behavior clicked together in his brain. He couldn’t stop himself from face palming.

Stiles laughed uproariously and leaned harder against.

“This is the best thing ever.” Stiles said breathlessly.

“Which part?” Peter asked through narrowed eyes.

Stiles grinned even harder at him and didn’t answer, just leaned forward to give Peter a soft kiss on the check.

“I’m going to milk the shit out of this.” Stiles said in amusement. "I can't believe I didn't realize sooner! You get so pissy when Erica steals food from me that it should have been obvious."

Peter supposed he kind of deserved that respond if he’d gone around trying to give gestures of romance through food and not even realizing it.

Peter raised his arm and Stiles instantly cuddled himself deeper into Peter’s side, tucking his face against the side of Peter’s neck.

“It’ll be nice not to be the one cooking all the time.” Stiles said quietly.

Peter felt a rush of protectiveness and fought a sneer at the thought of Stiles always having to be the one to talk care of himself.

He turned his head slightly and gave Stiles a light kiss on the temple. “Not just the cooking.” he promised softly and Stiles shivered against him.

Stiles took a long shuddering breath before fully melting against Peter.  “Yeah, sounds good.” he whispered and curled his hand into Peter’s.

Peter wasn’t quite sure how he’d managed to get him and Stiles to this point but there was no way in hell he was going to complain when Stiles was being so shockingly soft with him.

Peter decided that it was immensely satisfying to be the one Stiles felt was providing for him and let himself feel as protective and possessive as he wanted, secure in the knowledge that he had to be doing something right to have earned Stiles’ trust.

[tenaciousarcadeexpert]

Criminal Minds- The Good Ol’ Days

Tagging: @marvelfanlife, @itsmeedee, @cynbx, @jaqren, @gabriellewritermua, @princesswagger15, @screaminginbi, @tleighstone12, @cosmicmelaninflower 

A collaboration fic with @princesswagger15. 

 Chapter 8-The Mystery Gang

  Garcia was still shaken up by the message sent to her yesterday. Who gave her the message? Who was the person referring “they” to? And why were they targeting her and her friends? As she continued to walk to class, she felt a gentle touch on the shoulder.

“Uh-what the Luke!” She gasped. “Oh oh uh Luke.”

“Hey sorry, did I scare you?”

“N-n-no.” She shook her head and kept walking, trying to avoid eye contact with him.

“Hey wait up! I haven’t talked to since morning the day after the party.”

“Ah…….that’s interesting.”

Luke raised an eyebrow. “Interesting?……You okay? You seem a bit…off.”

“I’m fine, I really am. Just…..let me be…..” She hastily walked away, much to his dismay. As she walks to the classroom, she suddenly noticed a large group of people crowding near the entrance.

“What the hell?” She then looks over to JJ. “JJ, what’s going on?

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.” She looked over to see Luke walking by. “Luke, do you know what’s happening?”

“Nope, I just got here.”

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a familiar voice screaming inside the classroom. When they heard it, Luke and Garcia pushed through the crowd to see that students had gathered around the door of Rossi’s vandalized classroom.

“Oh my goodness!” Garcia shrieks.

“Wh- Oh holy shit, what the hell happened?!” Luke yelled as he walked slowly inside Rossi’s classroom.

Papers were thrown everywhere, files had been thrown to the ground and stomped on, Rossi’s desk was flipped on its side, and the desks and chairs had been thrown across the room and flipped over. As Garcia and Luke looked on in horror, a realization had hit Garcia. What if the message on her computer had been to warn her and the the others about this, and Where’s Rossi? Did someone hurt him? Was he safe? Just then, Hotch and the rest of the gang, burst in when they overheard what happened.

“Hey guys what’s going-woah.”

“Oh goddammit!” Derek screamed.

“Who could’ve done such a cruel act?” Ashley asked as she and the gang looked around to see the room all a mess. They all looked back to see the crowd spreading out as Barnes, Strauss and a couple of security guards walked into the room, mortified as they saw the scene.

“My god….the hell is all this?” Strauss gasped. She and Barnes looked down at the twelve students standing inside. Before they could say anything, Barnes gestured to two of the security guards.

“Get these students out of here.” The guards nod, escorting the gang out of the classroom, much their dismay. Emily and Elle continue to peek from outside till Barnes decides to shut the doors closed. As the students all clamor, she whistled, prompting them to stop as she makes an announcement.

“Attention everyone. Based on the discovery found in this room, all subsequent classes of Intro to Criminology will be put on hold until further notice. We do not know who the culprit of this was and why they did it. However, this is a violation of the code of conduct and should the person be caught……...not only will they be expelled but also arrested. If anyone has any questions, contact either me, Strauss or any staff nearby. We apologize for the inconvenience. You’re all free to go.”

As the students all scatter with mummers of disappointment and some with joy, the team wonders where their teacher is.

                                --------------------------------------------------------

 At the lounge, the gang gather around as they trying to wrap their heads around what just happened.

“I can’t believe it.” JJ thought. “I wonder how professor Rossi is gonna take this when he finds out?”

“If he ever will.” Elle says as the team sends her death glares. “What, I’m just saying. He’s usually there before anyone and now he’s not here to see his classroom get fucking wrecked.”

JJ looked over to Hotch. “What do you think, Hotchner?”

“I don’t know, but from the looks of the scene, it looked personal.”

“I don’t know about it being personal. It could be just a cruel prank.” Derek suggests.

“No, no, no, no, no. There’s no way that it was just a prank.” Tara responds.

“Well we don’t exactly know anyone who’d want to do this.”

“We know, but even so, this looks pretty brutal for it to be a measly prank.”

As the gang argues over on who could have been responsible for vandalizing Rossi’s classroom, Garcia couldn’t help but think of the cryptic message she received yesterday.

“Uhhh guys, there is something i need to tell you all.”

“What is it Garcia?” Emily asked.

“Last night, i got this weird cryptic message on my computer that basically says, uuhhhhhhhh………………...I think it’s better if I show you.” She then pulls out her laptop as the rest of the gang gather around her. Once everyone has settled down and looked to see no one else watching them, she took a deep breath and showed them the message. As they read through the message, there was a mixture of shock, fear and worryness among the students.

“Watch out…………” Hotch whispered the last words of the message as it stops playing. Once Garcia closed her laptop, they all looked at each other, terrified of the content that was found.

“Garcia, what the absolute hell??!”

“Look, I just found this on my email yesterday? I didn’t mean to scare you guys, okay? I don’t even know if this was a joke or not, but it’s pretty clear that it’s not.”

“So is there anyway we know who this came from?”

“Well I tried tracking the IP address but to no avail. Whoever did this was pretty skilled than I am.” Garcia responds.

“There’s no other way than to track him? Like maybe the DMS address? Maybe if we find the DMS address, we can find him from there?” Tara said.

“I don’t know, maybe, if we can outrun this person.”

“I’m scared.” Ashley whimpered. “You don’t think something bad is gonna happen to any of us, right?”

“No, no, no. Let’s not jump into conclusions.”

“Come on Luke, that message said that someone is targeting us. Who knows what they’re capable of.”

“But who should we be worried of, the person targeting us? Or whoever sent Garcia the email? We don’t even know who the sender is, how could we fear the person targeting us if we don’t know who the sender is?” Kate asked.

“Look, all I know is that something big is happening, and if Rossi doesn’t show up anytime soon, we need to take measures in our own hands.” Emily suggested.

“Our own hands? Look at us, we’re just a bunch of college students.” Reid says as he throws his hands up.

“You’re right Reid.” Elle stood up. “We are just students…..but this seems more……..high level. You know?”

“What do you mean, Greenaway?”

“I don’t know, but I guess now that we and Rossi are targets, considering Rossi is an FBI agent, or a retired one, how do we know that this isn't for revenge and now we’re in the crossfire?”

“She’s got a point.” Matt thought. “Wait a second…...what if all this and Professor Gideon’s death are all connected with one another?” The gang all looked at him. “Think about it…..he’s friend with Rossi and Rossi happens to be an FBI agent. When you’re working in the line of duty, you have a tendency to make enemies and maybe one of his enemies broke loose and is out for revenge. Maybe the reason Gideon died was because he was trying to protect his friend, our professor. Now that he’s gone, Rossi has no other choice but to leave the campus, cause the only other people that he’s just as close to as Gideon are-” “Us.” JJ gasped. “And now, whoever is after are are using us to find Rossi.”

“There’s just one thing, how were they able to find us, let alone know us?” Emily asked.

“Maybe whoever this is has connections in the FBI or law enforcement? Maybe somehow on our little trip they saw us and Rossi and ran ID on us and now we’re sitting ducks.” Reid points out.

“This is just great.” Derek groaned. “How could this happen to us? All I wanted was to relax and get my degree and now we’re all a bunch of sitting ducks targeted by who knows what that’s got beef with our professor.”

Suddenly the group is cut off by a buzzing of a phone. The group looks at Ashley curiously as she pulls out her phone to check her messages. She reads her message and starts to pack up her things.

“Crap, um I’ll meet up with you guys later but i have to go, it’s an emergency.”

“Uh, Ashley, you okay?” Kate asked.

“Uhh of course yeah! I’ll just need to catch up later.” Ashley says as she starts to walk off.

“And Ashley.” “Yes, Hotch?” “Be careful, and stay alert. Someone might be following us, we don’t know who. It could be anyone.”

“I will.” Once she left the room, everyone else turned to Hotch.

“So what now?”

“Well my guess would be we lay low and act like we don’t know what’s happening but we need to keep and eye out for Rossi. If any of us can get to him, we contact the group and we fill him in.”

“I also suggest that we keep this between us. No one can ever know about this but us, not Barnes, not anyone.”

“Why not?” Garcia asked. “What if they could help us?”

“Even if that’s the case, we risk dragging more people in this and the greater chance we’ll get found out.”

“Kate’s right. The more people involved, the more that could get hurt. We can’t risk it.” “So….that’s it? We’re gonna do nothing and let this stranger come after us and do who knows what?”

“Well unless you know them or have a better plan, we should be moving along with our day until further notice.” Elle says as she gets up from the table. Everyone decides to go their separate ways as Hotch sighs in dismay. As everyone leave the room, they could not help but ponder over the message, with them being targeted over being close to Rossi.

                      ------------------------------------------------------------------

During Calculus, the professor was presenting a lecture for the next test. Reid looked down on his notebook, twirling his pencil while scribbling it every five minutes. Marissa couldn’t help but noticed something, as she saw that he was constantly tapping his foot. There was something on Reid’s mind, and she was determined to know what it was.

“Alright everyone, class dismissed.” The professor shouts.

Reid quietly gathered his belongings as he attempted to keep his gaze to the floor. He then noticed a pair of footsteps approach him. He looks up behind him to see Marissa almost jogging to keep up with him.

“Hey! Wait up, jeez.”

“Oh…...hi Marissa.” He continued to finish packing up, zipping his backpack before getting up and walking away.

“Hey! What’s wrong? You’re not talking to me, and you’re not spitting out random ass facts. What the hell is wrong?”

“N-nothing. I just had a long day, especially since my Criminology class got shafted.”

“Oh my, what happened? Do you know?”

“Well, his classroom got vandalized.”

“OH MY GOD! Is he okay?? Is your friends okay? Are YOU okay? Did anyone get hurt? D-”

“N-no, no one got hurt. But whoever did this is at large and is going to be in big trouble when they get caught.”

“You don’t know who did it? Don’t classrooms have cameras around the doors and inside the rooms?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out but it’s not really coming along very well.” Reid said with a somewhat irritated expression. He stomps hastily as his girlfriend tries to catch up with him. “Hey.”

“What?” “You okay? You seem a bit...distracted.”

“I-I’m fine. W-we can talk about this later.” He attempts to walk away, only for Marissa to grab him on his shoulder.

“Hey, i know something isn’t right here okay? Can you just tell me what’s going on?”

“I can’t, it’s hard to explain.”

“I’m willing to listen.”

“I don’t know. I think it’s better if I don’t tell you.”

“Why? I-Is it me? Did i do something wrong?”

“No, it’s not you.”

“Then what is it? Tell me what's going on babe, please?”

“I-I-” “Please?” Reid took a deep breath and looked around, pulling himself and Marissa to a corner. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone?”

She nods. “I swear on my soul.”

“Okay. But first, let’s go somewhere private.”

Marissa nods and the two head to the campus fountain, which was considered to be one of the quietest places in the campus.

“Okay, so what is it? Cause now I’m starting to get worried.”

“Alright…..” Reid rubbed his head. “About my professor’s classroom, it seems like whoever trashed it, is after him.”

“After him? For what? He couldn’t have done anything that bad to anyone, he’s just a college professor.”

“That he’s…” “He’s?” “I-I I can’t, maybe we can talk about this anothe-”

“Come on Reid, what is your professor really like?”

“He-was an agent, for the FBI.” “FBI? You’re telling me that you professor worked in the FBI?” “Yeah.”

“Okay….. Okaaay, um so um, when did this all start?”

“My uh friends went to his cabin, and we found some things.”

“What?! What do you mean? What things?”

“Well uuhh for one, we found his badge and gun along with his journal.”

“Oh my. What else happened?”

“Well, considering that he was an FBI agent and was friends with Professor Gideon before he died, we think that someone is out there for revenge. That’s why he left, to avenge Gideon.”

“But that’s not all, is it.” “Garcia, she got a message, and it said that we’re all targets and to basically watch our backs and to trust no one.”

“Wait, that means…” “Yes Marissa, we’re in great danger. My friends and I. Now you know why I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Shut up Reid, ill be fine. Its you and your team I’m worried about.” “Don’t worry about us Marissa, my friends and I will be fine. We just need to figure out who’s behind all this.”

“How far have y'all gotten to figuring this out?”

“To tell you the truth, not much.”

“Any clues on ANY suspects?”

“Uh…………..no”

“No? So you guys have nothing.”

“Whoever this person is, they hide their tracks very well.”

“What makes you think its one person?”

“I don’t know, it’s just an assumption.”

“It has to be a team, how do think they could get to Gideon or Rossi? They know the campus, and its security. It has to be a team.”

“Hmmm, I assumed that it was a possibility, then I guess that makes it even more difficult.”

“So we could be looking at any possible team ups?” “Possibly, though that means whoever is after Rossi is getting assistance from someone at the college. But who?”

“I'm thinking whoever they are, 1. They have one hell of a bone to pick with Rossi, and 2. They work either in the office or in security.”

“Yeah…..” He looked at Marissa. “We should stop….I think I told you too much. Someone might be watching us.”

“How about we meet up with the team in a couple days so we can share our theory. Otherwise, lay low and don't talk to or trust anyone. We’ll meet in a couple days, i'll pick the place.”

“Just promise me that you’ll be careful and don’t try to do anything rash. My heart won’t bear it should something happen to yo-”

“Don’t worry about me. Just do as i say and tell your team the same, I'll let you know the place and time tomorrow.”

“Okay.” The two kiss before leaving the fountain, looking back and forth to make sure no one was watching.

Elsewhere, Matt was heading to the boys locker room, fetching his gym clothes in his bag when he heard a couple of footsteps approach him. He turned around to Derek and Luke approach him with a troubled expressions.

“Jeez-Derek, I uh didn’t see you there. What brings you here?”

“Well actually, me and Luke need to talk to you about something.”

Matt turned around to see Luke standing from the other side before walking past him and standing next to Derek.

“Uhh sure, what is it?”

“We saw you with Mrs. Barnes yesterday.”

“Ohhh umm I-”

“Matt, do you want to tell us what’s going on?”

“Okay she walked up to me and says was she looking for me and said had to talk about something important.”

“And what was it about?”

Matt took a step back, scratching the back of his head and avoiding eye contact.

“Matt…. What’s going on?”

“I-I don’t know how to explain thi-”

“Just tell us goddammit!” Derek snapped.

“OKAY! Jeez. Well when she pulled me into her office, she t-tried to convince m-me to s-spy on the team….”

“Wait, Barnes told you to do what?” Luke asked.

“She tried to convince me to spy on the team.”

“W-why, why would she tell you to do such thing?”

“I don’t know, all she said was ‘I need you to spy on the team and report everything back to me’.”

“You’re not thinking of going along with it, are you?”

“No, of course not! But now that I think about it, what if i go back to her and say i'll do it to get info. It could be our chance to get some suspects.”

“And how do we know that you’re being genuine about this and not complying with Barnes? How do we know you’re only trying to gain our trust so that you can get dirt on us?”

“Okay really guys?!?!? This is ME we’re talking about! I’d NEVER do that to ANYONE!” Both Luke and Derek looked at him with uncertainty, much to his dismay. “Come on guys, I’m serious. You’re my friends, you and everyone else from Rossi’s class. I would never do anything to break that trust. If you want, I’ll prove it to you.” “Hmmmm, well there is one thing.” Derek thought.

“What is it?”

“Put on a blindfold.”

“Why?” “We’re gonna play dodgeball.”

They cover his eyes with a blindfold and drag him out of the locker room.

“Stand right here.”

“Okay?.......Guys, what’s going o-”

Matt toppled over in pain he felt a dodgeball hit his jaw.

“Guys what the hell-”

He felt a dodgeball hit him in the stomach.

“Ow.” He stumbled onto his knees, unable to see and move without feeling another ball hit him. He helplessly curls up as Derek continues to throw dodgeballs at him.

“How long are we gonna have to do this?” Luke looked at his roommate.

“Ehhhhhh………… 5 minutes.”

“You sure about this? He already looks like he’s in pain.”

“LET HIM PROVE HIS LOYALTY.” He then swings another dodgeball, causing Matt to fall over as it hits him on the head.

“I meann….. I feel kiiiinda fucked up for this…” Luke hesitates.

“Come on man, you can do it! It’s not like we’re causing TOO much pain.”

“Okay, fine.” Luke then throws his ball at full force, hitting Matt in the face. He scrunched his nose, looking away while his friend wails in pain as he lays down on the floor.

“Alright Matt.” Derek shouts. “Seems like you had enough for tonight.”

“Oh thank the sweet mother of god.” Matt whispers to himself. He groans as he attempts to movie while Luke grabs his arm, helping him up. “It’s okay, I got you. Come on.”

“H-Have I proved my u-undying loyalty now?”

Luke nods and glares at Derek. “What do you think, Derek?”

“He’s good, sorry man but we can’t take no chances.”

“I-I understand.”

“Go take him to the locker room, I’ll go clean up.”

“Got it, come on man.” Luke accompanies Matt to the locker room while Derek picks up the remaining dodgeballs on the floor.

A few minutes later, Luke left the locker room and came back with an ice pack, tossing it over to Matt as he leaves to help Derek put the dodgeballs away. Once they were done, he returns to the locker room to see Matt still there with the ice pack on his chin.

“Uhhh hey man,im so sorry, i didn’t mean to hit you straight in the face.”

“It’s whatever.” He waved his arm. “Gotta take whatever hit I got if it means proving that I’m loyal to you guys.”

“Well whatever, its done now, but we do need to meet up with the team later on to see what kind of plan we should have in play.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, you good to stand? I can help you around if you want.”

“No need, I got this.” He hands him the ice pack as he got up from the stool. Luke then looked on as his friend limped away. The three exit the gym together before parting ways, though Luke still felt remorseful for throwing the ball at Matt.

                                        ---------------------------------------

Elsewhere, Courtney was in her dorm sketching, only to be startled by the sound of Garcia slamming the door shut. “Woah Garcia, what the hell?”

“SHUT IT! I need to think.” She looked to see her roommate wander around, muttering something to herself under her breath.

“Jeez, my bad.” Courtney mumbles to herself. She sat down on her bed as Garcia continues to mumble under her breath. Just then, she rushed down next to her and grabs her hands.

“Im sorry Courtney, but there’s been a lot of things going on. Things that i need to tell youj, but you CAN’T tell ANYONE.”

She crossed her fingers. “I promise.”

“Okay, so basically, me and my team are being stalked and something is going on with my Criminology teacher.”

“Oh my god.” She gasped. “You and your friends, you mean the ones that were on the trip with you and your professor?”

“Yeah.” “W-why would they go after you, your friends and your professor?” “I don’t know.” “Do you know who it could be?” “Again, I don’t know.”

“B-but why would you be telling me this?”

Garcia quivered her lips, leaning close to Courtney. “To tell you the truth, I’m not supposed to tell anyone outside me and my friends, but you happen to know about the trip and our meeting with Barnes. So it makes sense that you need to know about this as well.”

“The trip…..Barnes…..wait a sec. About you and your friend being stalked…..does that include me? Is this person after me as well?”

“I don’t know, but that’s why we’re not supposed to say anything to anyone else. Because number one, that person could be the one we’re trying to catch. And two, we don’t want to get anyone else into this mess. We don’t even have suspects yet.”

“My god...I-I can’t.” She stood up from the bed, covering her head with her hands, overwhelmed by Garcia’s confession.

“I'm so so so sorry to have brought this on you but, you needed to know.”

“Give me one reason why you see me as a friend, cause it feels like I’m being dragged in a situation that I have no control of cause of something you, your friends and your professor are involved in and I can’t do anything about it. It seems like you only come to me for whatever problems you’re going through and I-I can’t handle it anymore, I just can’t.”

“Its true that I don’t come to you as often as I’d like and its always for something crappy, but this has been going on ever since that damn trip and I’m so so sorry.”

“W-well, how is this gonna make up for everything?”

“Its not, but i SWEAR to you, when this is all over ill make it up to you in every way you want! I promise!”

“I hope so……” Courtney couldn’t help but blink everytime she sees Garcia. Even though she was upset, it was hard to be completely mad at her, let alone her own roommate. “You know, it’s hard for me to stay mad at someone like you, and not just cause you’re my roommate.”

“You’re not at me?”

“............Not completely.”

“Doess that mean you’re not gonna murder me in my sleep?”

“No. Just because I’m upset doesn’t mean that I’m a psychopath.”

“Haha good, otherwise I would’ve asked my friends to stay in their dorm for a few days.”

Courtney sighs and gently taps her on the shoulder. “Just know that this is gonna take some time for me to process this.”

“I understand, but if you’d like, you can come with me to my friends while we come up with theories for this.”

“That’s nice of you to offer that…...but I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Why not?

“I-I don’t think I'm mentally stable enough to be around that stuff yet.”

“But my friends can help you. I’m sure they’ll understand.” “I’m sorry Garcia, I think it’s best if I keep a low profile, besides I’m only an artist, not a ‘profiler’. Plus I still need time to wrap my head around this. I hope you’d understand.”

“Of course, I’m here if you need my help with ANYTHING, okay?”

“Okay.” She then arched her eyebrows when Garcia decides to spread her arms open. “Uh, Garcia? What are you doing?”

“I thought you might need a hug, if that’s okay with you.”

“Yeah sure!” The two slowly hug it out, which is what the best Garcia can do. Hopefully, she finds a way to patch things up with Courtney.

 Outside the campus, Elle was standing in line at an In and Out Burger place. While waiting in line, she sees a familiar face from around the campus. She continues to stare at the particular brunette woman while she uses her phone when a cashier yells at her.

“Excuse me miss.”

“Wha-huh, yes?” She hastily turned.

The cashier nodded as Elle noticed the large space between her and the counter. She hastily walks up to the register.

“May I take your order?”

“Uh yeah, I-I’l take a double bacon wrapped steak burger with fries and a strawberry shake.”

“To stay or to go?”

“To go thank you.”

“Okay, that will be $18.75.” Elle hands the cashier some money and steps back as she waits for her meal. While waiting, she sees the woman take order her meal. Just then, she tilt her head as the sound of her voice was familiar, though she did not know how. She closed her eyes and squint her eyebrows, trying to recall when she heard it.

“Hello David? Yeah, I got everything.”

She opened her eyes, remembering everything: The parking lot, the night at Meadows’s party. She was the same woman she followed the night at Meadows’s party. There were so many questions: Who was the David she was talking to? Why she was at the parking lot late at night? What was in the luggage she was carrying and where was she taking it to? Before she could get any answers, she was suddenly startled by an employee that was holding her meal and shake. “Excuse me miss! Miss!” “Huh-what?!” The guy gently shook the paper bag. “Your order. It’s ready.”

“Oh uh, right.” She grabs her meal. “Sorry about that.” “Had a long day?”

“Yeah, I guess you can say that.” She nods and walks away with her meal. Just as she was about to reach the door, she decides to grab some ketchup and napkins and walks towards the condiments stand, only to nearly bump into a woman.

“Oh uh, sorry.”

“Its fine, I’m in a rush and wasn’t paying attention.”

“Aren’t we all.” She awkwardly chuckles.

“Hey, I think I’ve seen you before. Are you a student at Quantico University?”

“Uh yeah, wait, how do you know?”

“I’m a professor there, what’s your name if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Uhhh, no offense, but is this really necessary?”

“No it’s not, i'm sorry for asking. But if you just so happen to need help with anything, my name is Professor Alex Blake.”

“Oh uh, nice to meet you, Ms Blake.”

“Same to you hun, I'll see you around, have a nice night!” Elle looked on as Blake exits the place.

 Back at the campus, Garcia decides to leave her dorm to get some fresh air after a tense conversation with her roommate. Knowing how Courtney felt after the ordeal, she was right to be upset. Now that she knows about the trip, she’s bound to be involved with whatever situation that’s affecting Garcia and her friends. Still, Garcia was just as unwilling as she is and just wanna patch things up with her. She just needs some time off to clear her head, some personal space by taking a stroll outside the main campus. Just then, she was looking down at the ground while walking and suddenly bumped into something hard. She then felt someone put their arms around her to keep her from hitting the ground.

“Woah.” Garcia gasped, struggling to stand as her legs wobble. It didn’t help that she decided to put on her usual pink and yellow wedge heels outside.

“It’s okay, I got you.” Garcia looked up to see Luke standing there helping her.

“Oh, uhh h-hi Luke.”

“Hi.”

Garcia then pulled herself away, walking past him, only for Luke to follow her.

“Hey, are you okay? What’s going on?”

“N-nothing, just taking a walk, getting some fresh air.” She kept marching, avoiding eye contact with him.

“Hey, i was wondering if you wanted company? I mean we haven’t talked in a while.”

“Does it matter? And no, I don’t need anyone, especially you.”

“Jeez, what did i do to you?”

“You know what you did, don’t try to fool me.”

“What are you even talking about Garcia?”

“N-nothing, just forget it heathen, okay?”

“Nononoonono no. Tell me what’s wrong, right now.” He placed his hands on her arms.

“N-no, I can’t.” She continue to walk away. “Garcia, I know something is up. I know that you’ve been avoiding me lately, can you at least tell me why?”

“Y-you remember that morning after the party and i was in your dorm?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Well i woke up in your b-bed and i was half naked……..why?”

“You….don’t remember?”

“No, what are saying?! We didn’t, we couldn’t have……..no!”

“Wha-wha…..oh.” Luke paused. “Did you assume that we had sex? The night at Meadows’s party?”

“Isn’t that what happened? I mean, I was half-naked, and you came out from the shower.”

“No that's not what happened! You were half naked because i took off your clothes to wash them, you were covered in vomit.”

“Yeah right, I know guys like you like to fool innocent girls like me so you could just dispose us in the gutter and replace me with a prettier, more ditzy chick.”

“What the hell are you talking about! I’d never do that! EVER. I was just trying to be a good friend and help you out but I guess you didn’t want to be helped.”

“Oh…...sorry.”

“Its fine, is that why you didn't talk to me for a while?”

She nodded. “Yeah, didn’t want things to feel awkward between us.”

“Well at least you know the truth now so that things can be normal.”

“Yeah, guess so.” Just as they continue walking, they overheard Kyle talking on the phone. Curious, they walk by the nearest tree as they try to listen in to Kyle’s conversation.

“What do you think he’s arguing about?” “I don’t know, let’s listen.” The two look on as Kyle continues to march around.

“Look, I just had a long day, okay? My patience in wearing thi-no, NO you listen to me. If anything, you should be the one thanking me, okay? I did all the dirty work, don’t I deserve something a little more rewarding.”

“It sounds like he’s getting into an argument, maybe an ex?” Garcia whispered. “Probably.” They continued to listen.

“Alright, I’m sorry. Well, I’m trying to find some info on them but, it seems like they don’t know anything yet. H-how the hell do I know, I just do. Chill okay, just go easy on me. I did what you asked me to do."

“He asked to do what?.....” "Yeah I made sure I wasn’t followed. No, I wasn’t-well when i was finished trashing Rossi's classroom, one of them almost caught me, but I got away. Relax, he doesn’t know what I did…..so what if he’s a nerd, he’s not smart enough to know what I did, him or any of his dumb idiotic friends do. It wouldn’t matter, cause all they’re do is kissing their poor man Rossi’s saggy ass."

“What the?” Both Luke and Garcia looked at each other, angered by this.

“So he’s the one who wrecked Rossi’s classroom, that little shi-” Before Garcia can finish her sentence, Luke walked out from the tree as Garcia followed. “Yeah, what a piece of sh-” Kyle suddenly gasped as Luke slams him against the wall.

“Hey Luke, what gives?” “What in the absolute FUCK KYLE???? WHY ARE YOU MESSING WITH US!!?? WHY ARE YOU MESSING WITH ROSSI DAMMIT??!!?!?!”

“Wha-oh oh......that nothing, just a little argument with my bo-”

“THATS A DAMN LIE, TELL US WHATS GOING ON YOU BABYDICK ASS COWARD!”

“Wow.....you've got quite the mouth there big boy, is that how your momma raised you?”

“Listen to me, you can suck my left nut. But you better tell me why you're doing this to my team and me or will strangle you and pull your spine out through your chest!!!”

He rearranged his jacket. “What I do is none of your concern.”

“It is when you hurt our family dammit! What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On.”

“Ooooo, feisty one, no one asked for your opinion, although we can talk about it more over ribs.” He eyes Garcia from her legs to her chest and face before giving her a wink, much to her dismay.

“HEY! YOU DON'T TALK TO HER LIKE THAT DAMMIT! ANSWER ME!” Luke then bangs Kyle's head against the tree, prompting him to start laughing. “Son of a bitch! I should fucking murder you for hurting my team!”

“Go on, do it, you and your bitches are bound to be off this campus.”

“Not if we find your accomplices.”

“Oh you gullible piece of shit, you don't know shit.”

“You're the piece of shit, and you know what? I’m done, me and my family are smarter than you and your shitty accomplices. We'll find you, and them, and you'll get what coming to you. Garcia, honey, let's go.” He then releases Kyle as he continues to laugh. He then grabs Garcia’s arm as the two walk away. “So what now?” Garcia asked.

“Well, now we know that Kyle is the one responsible for vandalizing Rossi’s classroom. We just need to know how and why he did it and who else he could be working for.” “Don’t worry, I can trace his phone history.” “You can? How?” “You’re talking to a tech genius here.” “I see.” He chuckled. “You know, you didn’t have to defend me like that back there.” “I know, but I want to, I’m not letting some dude like Kyle Hodges talk down on you.” “Well….thanks.” The two continue to walk away before parting ways to their respective dorms.

 Somewhere, a red range rover pulls up near a bridge near the woods as Kyle emerged from the door. He then locked his car as he looked around, seeing nothing but the shadows of the woods cast from the headlights of his car.

“Hello? Anyone out there?” There was no answer but the sounds of crickets chirping and leaves rustling. “Come on…..I did what you told me to do…...I’m here………….” A few minutes later and still nothing. He then slapped his hips. “That’s it, I’m leaving…..such a waste of time.” Just as he was about to back to his car, he suddenly heard a couple of footsteps in the distance.

“Who’s there?”He then followed the sounds to the bridge and froze when he sees an unknown figure in a black hoodie in the middle of the bridge, turning towards his direction.

“What th-”

[maddenleague]

I GOT MATSUI!

What is new in your life? Is your girlfriend pregnant? Have you considered Chantix? Did you switch parking spots at work? Did the calendar just flip over to a new month? New sunglasses? Has a recent promotion/demotion at work kept you up at night/let you sleep like a baby? Well, then, if none of these things ring true for you, I’ll get on with it. There are a bunch of new happenings within the tiny, yet wildly complex, world of Madden League. Monumental and life changing events like (inadvisably) bringing life into the world; small swings in momentum like (inadvisably) ending a dry spell [without sex]. Swift upward movement like taking the family out of the dark and into the light; quiet, gentle, mousy footsteps like (inadvisably) getting a dog. Bone-breaking, knee-buckling, marriage-inquiring actions involving a ring, a tower, and tight khakis; a brisk walk across the bridge between being a singularity and being a [new] duality. All these things and more are visible, tangible shifts in mindsets, habits, and emotional acuity of what, at one point, seemed like a group of ten doomed individuals. If life moves forward, then it moves in tandem - at lightspeed - with Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

Here’s the breakdown of the week:

Shit! Sorry, that's just an emotional breakdown. Here’s the fantasy football four week breakdown:

Equine: of, relating to, or resembling a horse.

I think Austin (Challenge Court) has been atop the Madden League standings as long as Old Town Road was atop the billboard charts. There are so many horses in his stable and the one with the most mileage (Frank Gore, Oh Timeless One) seems to be saddling up for a go at 16 grand. Hold your horses, though, with the second fewest points against, Tonz might be pulling up lame at the 3/4 poll.

Porcine: resembling swine; hoggish; piggish.

I, myself, think that myself, Landon, also known as Oh Bae Hota, has a muddy, sloppy, waist deep, pen full of piggies. They go rootin’ around in the dirt for touchdowns and always come up with all of them. And about the only the person who can ruin my pork party is Melvin Gordon. Fuck him!

Bovine: characteristic of or relating to cows or cattle.

The bell cow for Alan (Shuffle the Dekeler) is NOT JOE MIXON! The bell cow for Alan’s team is still NOT JOE MIXON! The cow, who has the responsibility of leading the other cows to slaughter, is most definitely Chris Godwin. And they be servin’ up fat steaks! Yummy, fat-filled, inch thick, Kobe beef steaks! Side of milk and mayonnaise kind of steaks! New York strip steaks to be enjoyed on the subway in the dead heat of summer!

Pavonine: of or resembling a peacock or the colors.

Birds are inherently terrifying as they are the direct descendants of dinosaurs. However, flightless birds, like the peacock, are direct descendants of Petco goldfish. Moreover a peacock with clipped wings, like a Saquon with one good ankle, might as well be a nearly weightless phytoplankton, floating on ocean currents, waiting to be consumed by a sardine. Good luck, Jared (Gordon Bombay)! Triple deke won’t help you this time!

Feline: of or relating to cats, you idiot.

It’s week 11: the world ended shortly after week 8 as the tension between the muscles in my lower back became too great, the energy from them tearing apart rolled over the surface of the Earth, decimating all living organisms. All LIVING things, mind you. Ashes and downed power lines and felled trees begin to shift and fall aside as Marcus Mariota’s career begins to emerge. Even this emergence, nay, REsurgence, cannot overcome the end of all things; despite an absurd lack of competition on a planet devoid of life, Will (Top Rope TJ) and Marcus Mariota are destined to lose week 11 as a result of bye weeks. - For post-apocalyptic cat inspiration, please watch the first scene in The Book of Eli.

Serpentine: resembling a serpent, as in form or movement.

Emily Wolcott winds her way through the growing group of patrons at Au Cheval, bouncing left and right off of heavily-weighted American male shoulders. She beholds, at the front of the line, the heaviest, weightiest, American male shoulders a person could ever behold: Nick Chubb. Directly behind Nick? Derek Au Goryl (Emily Au Chevalcott). “Derek, my love, what are you doing here?” Emily hisses. He replies cooly, “I came to buy my only hope and my only love, a burger from the best burger place in Chicago.” This is too much to bear for Emily. So she sheds her skin and slides quickly between the drain grate in the floor.

Cervine: deerlike

Chris (Pancake Sandwich) feels the good about the state of his car’s tires in this early Fall climate, despite the obvious worn edges and cracked rubber along the rims. He drives with ease. He drives for fun tonight. Headed out toward the lake for a weekend getaway. The tall, thick trees break through the pants..I mean, the fog, as his headlights reach out ahead of him. As his destination approaches, the roads slow and curves become more frequent, more tempting. He floors the accelerator around the last curve only to find a wide-eyed, terrified and petrified, Tom Brady crouching in the direct middle of his lane. It’s too late. His tires too old. Tom, also, too old.

Anserine: resembling a goose; gooselike

He flap flaps here, he flap flaps there, and still, his webbed feet remain on the ground. Mom Goose and Dad Goose and John Goose and Ron Goose all did a flap flap here and a flap flap there and seem to have left Goff Goose behind for good. If and when, he promises himself, he gets off the ground, he’ll flap flap all over they ass to a championship. For now, though, Goff Goose has no choice but to honk honk away on Noah’s (Ray_Ray20) team.

Murine: Muridae, a family of rodents that include rats and mice.

Narrator: The smell of stinky cheese permeates the air... [Camera pans to six foot tall screenshot of Zack’s fantasy team (Bud Lightyear)]

Leporine: relating to, or resembling a hare.

Jordan Howard straightens one floppy ear. He hears something. Something deep and sonorous, nearly sorrowful. The sound subsides, the ear relaxes, whiskers stop twitching. Sweeping his sunken, unblinking eyes across the dwindling light of the horizon, he snatches a fleeting glimpse of a shooting star. The sizzle and snap of light against the silky black blanket of the night. The noise returns. Deeper. This time a definitive sound of anguish reverberates around his white, furry sound seekers. Jordan can draw but only one conclusion from this strange string of sad musical notes: an alarm clock ring! Its Saturday morning! Test time! Kory (Gina Salamie) opens his eyes...

[celestialvoid-fanfiction]

Sterek Masterchef Junior AU – The finale.

  Continuation of this story.

For @loveyprophet

   The final two.

Stiles swallowed hard against het lump in his throat, his stomach twisting nauseatingly. He drew in deep, measured breaths, trying to calm his racing heartbeat.

He looked across the kitchen to where Derek stood behind the glossy steel counter of the opposing kitchenette.

The older boy offered him a reassuring smile.

“Congratulations to the two of you for making it this far,” Joe said. “You have proven time and time again that you have what it takes to be Masterchefs, but sadly, only one of you can be the winner of this competition.”

“Every single one of you has shown so much talent and integrity, you should all be proud of yourselves for making it as far as you did int his competition,” Graham said, addressing both Stiles and Derek and the rows of eliminated contestants that were lined up on the balcony, watching them. “Not only have you shown how incredible you can be in the kitchen, but you’ve shown compassion and selflessness when helping other contestants.”

Stiles looked up at Isaac.

The boy stood next to Boyd and Erica, standing on a milk crate so that he could see over the railing. His hair was still a halo of messy sandy-blonde curls, his shimmering sapphire eyes meeting Stiles’ as a bright smile lit his face.

Stiles smiled back before looking at Erica, who smiled at him too.

“You truly are two amazing kids,” Gordon said, a small smile lifting the corners of his lips. “You have astounded us, time and time again. Not only with your cooking, but with your actions. And no matter who wins the finale, you’re both winners to us.”

“Are you ready to get started?” Joe asked.

Stiles and Derek both nodded.

“Your final challenge,” Joe started, “is to cook a three-course meal in two hours; appetiser, main, and desert.”

Stiles swallowed hard.

“Try to balance your flavours and consider the density of each course in relation to the next,” Graham suggested. “You don’t want a dense appetiser followed by a dense main.”

“You have two hours,” Joe said. “Starting… now.”

The two of them sprinted towards the pantry, each grabbing a metal basket and stacking their ingredients inside. They hurried back to the kitchenettes and began to prep their meals.

After a while, Gordon walked over to the two benches, watching what they were doing. He stopped in front of Stiles’ bench and asked, “What are you making, Stiles?”

“I’m making cream cheese Rangoon for the appetiser, standing beef rip with onion gravy and sweet potato chips for the main, and a strawberry brûlée for desert,” Stiles answered.

“That sounds divine,” Gordon said. “I’m going to come back when you start making that brûlée because I want to taste it.”

He made his way over to Derek’s work station.

“I’m making shredded beef sliders for an appetiser, a vegetarian lasagna with eggplant and capsicum for the main, and a black forest berry cake for desert,” Derek said.

“Wow. You two really know what you’re doing,” Gordon complimented. “I can’t wait to taste these when they’re done.”

A short while later, Stiles saw Derek frantically searching his bench for something. He moved the bowls around, checking shelves and under other ingredients.

“What are you looking for?” Stiles called out to him.

“Eggs,” Derek replied. “I swear I grabbed them.”

“How many do you need?” Stiles asked, setting down the knife he was using to slice the wonton sheets for the Rangoon.

“Three,” Derek answered.

“Here,” Stiles said, opening up the carton of eggs he had on the counter.

Derek held out his hands, ready to catch them.

“Really?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah.”

“Fine,” Stiles said. “But if you drop them, it’s your fault. One—”

He tossed the egg to Derek.

Derek caught it, setting it aside in an empty bowl as Stiles counted and tossed the next one.

“Two.”

Another catch.

“Three.”

Derek caught the egg, setting it aside.

“Thank you,” he called to Stiles as he turned back to his bench and set to work.

The kids who watched on from the balcony applauded them.

On the podium, Gordon blinked in surprise.

“They’re so in sync,” he said, shocked.

“Can you imagine them doing that in a few years’ time when they inevitably end up together?” Graham remarked.

The comment made Gordon smile.

Time seemed to fly by as Stiles and Derek set to work, putting their meals together and cooking them. Before they knew it, Joe gave them a ten-minute warning to finish their dishes and plate up.

The voices echoed about the room as everyone began to count down.

“Five... Four... Three... Two... One.”

“Time’s up,” Joe announced.

Stiles and Derek stepped back from their benches.

Stiles practically collapsed on the floor.

“Derek,” Graham called. “Could you please bring your dishes to the front of the room?”

Derek did, setting his dishes down on the table before the judges.

“Remind us again, what did you cook?” Joe prompted.

“I made shredded beef sliders for the appetiser, a vegetarian lasagna with eggplant and capsicum for the main, and a black forest berry cake for desert,” Derek answered.

One by one, the judges tasted the dishes, nodding thoughtfully.

“I like the way you balanced the density with the dishes,” Graham said. “You gave us a moderately heavy appetiser that was full of flavour, then a light main, and a moderately heavy desert to finish it off.”

“I agree,” Gordon said. “I especially love how you balanced the flavours; none of it was bland, and none of it was overpowering. And that black forest berry cake was divine. I was surprised at how light it was. Usually black forest berry cakes are dense and rich. But that was just perfect.”

“Thank you, Derek. You can go back to your bench.”

Derek thanked them and returned to the small kitchenette.

“Good job,” Stiles whispered to him.

“Thank you.”

“Stiles,” Gordon called. “Can you please bring your dishes to the front?”

Stiles did, setting the plates down on the table and taking a step back. He balled his hands into fists at his sides, his racing heart hammering in his chest.

“What did you make for us?” Joe prompted.

“I made cream cheese Rangoon for the appetiser, standing beef rip with sweet onion gravy and sweet potato chips for the main, and a strawberry brûlée for desert,” Stiles said.

The judges took their time tasting the dishes, nodding thoughtfully as they savoured each mouthful.

“The Rangoon was perfect,” Graham said. “It was golden and had the perfect amount of crunch to it. The beef rib was full of flavour and dense enough to feel like a main meal while also being light enough that it didn’t make you feel weighed down. And served with those sweet potato chips it was delicious.”

“That was sublime,” Gordon added. “That strawberry brûlée was the perfect mix of sweet and tart. Everything was cooked to perfection.”

“You’ve done great, Stiles,” Joe said. “You can go back to your bench now.”

Stiles thanked them and returned to the small kitchenette.

The judges turned to face each other, talking quietly as they deliberated.

“You did great,” Derek whispered.

“So did you,” Stiles replies.

“That strawberry brûlée looks incredible,” Derek said.

“Do you want to try it?” Stiles asked, picking up a small spoon and ne of the extra deserts he had plated up.

Derek offered him a plate of black forest berry cake.

“That looks so good,” Stiles said, digging into it with a teaspoon.

There was a quiet echo of laughter throughout the room as others watched the two of them lean over the bench, snacking on the deserts.

“Oh my god, that’s delicious,” Stiles said.

“This is incredible,” Derek said, licking the cream off his lips.

He judges looked up, unable to hide their smiles when the boys set down the deserts and smiled mischievously.

“Stiles, Derek, please come down to the front of the room.”

They set down the deserts and made their way to the podium.

Stiles felt his throat tighten. His heart hammered against his ribs.

They stood side by side, close enough that Derek could reach out slightly and brush his hand against Stiles’ reassuringly.

“Believe us when we say that this is the hardest competition we’ve ever had to judge,” Gordon said. “The two of you have risen to every challenge, you’ve brought incredible dishes to the table time and time again. You have both made your families proud and I hope that you’re both proud of yourselves.”

“But sadly, there can only be one winner.” Joe paused, letting the heavy silence settle over them. “And that winner won by a hair’s breadth.”

There was another intense pause.

Stiles held his breath.

“Stiles…”

He met Joe’s gaze, trying to read his thoughts.

“You are the winner of this year’s competition.”

The room erupted in applause.

Derek turned, pulling Stiles into his arms and holding him tight.

Stiles hugged him back, feeling relief flood over him.

Slivers of golden confetti rained down around them.

Tears welled in his eyes as he drew back, his face flushed red. He turned and looked up at where his Dad stood, watching him from the balcony with eyes full of pride.

Stiles turned and looked at Derek.

Derek smiled back at him, his pale aventurine eyes full of joy.

“Congratulations,” Gordon said. “Both of you.”

[AO3]

[bbclesmis]

Just Like Jean Valjean, Dominic West Is Done Being A Bad Guy

After a career of playing notable villains,  actor Dominic West says he’s ready to turn a new leaf. So his role as the tortured thief, Jean Valjean, in the new MASTERPIECE production of Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Les Misérables, is a helpful bridge to be a better man on screen. In an interview, he talks about what it means to play Valjean, how his character seeks personal redemption and what the rest of the series has in store for the repentant former prisoner 24601.

Transcript:

Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob, and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.

The story is well known — an impoverished man steals a loaf of bread to feed his family, and spends 19 years in prison. Upon his release, the convict nearly falls prey to old habits… but instead spends the rest of his life struggling to prove he has truly reformed.

CLIP

Old Woman: What are you doing there, my friend?

Jean Valjean: Trying to sleep, what does it look like?

Old Woman: Why don’t you go to an inn?

Jean Valjean: I did. They wouldn’t take me. No would take me.

Jace: In Andrew Davies’ sweeping new adaptation of Victor Hugo’s legendary epic, Les Misérables, the bleak stakes of the story take on dazzling new heights.

CLIP

Bishop: Consider this: even if the world has done you a great injustice, does it really serve you to have a heart full of bitterness and hatred?

Jean Valjean: How could I not have a heart full of bitterness and hatred? I’d like to see you after 19 years in the hulks! So don’t preach to me about God and love.

Jace: Best known for his turns in The Wire and The Affair, actor Dominic West has made a name for himself playing villainous rogues on American and British television, and his role as Jean Valjean includes its fair share of monstrous rage and sly trickery. Despite all this, he also found room for moral clarity.

Dominic West: This man’s a brute…who for whom compassion and humanity has been withheld for 20 years, and it takes a bit more to for him to be able to control that bestial side.

Jace: West joins us to explore Valjean’s story still to come in Les Miserables, why he might be done with playing scoundrels, and how he and his wife have become their own real-life Monarchs of the Glen in their castle-hotel in Scotland.

And we are joined this week by Les Misérables star and executive producer, Dominic West. Welcome.

Dominic: Thank you very much. Hi.

Jace: Jean Valjean has preternatural strength and a secret identity. Is he the first superhero in literature?

Dominic: He’s not the first because I suppose you’ve got the Greeks, but he’s the best. And he climbs buildings like Spiderman and he beats people up like Iron Man and he rescues children like Superman. But none of those superheroes did 19 years hard labor in a 19th century French jail, so he’s the toughest of the lot. I think.

Jace: We all know Jean Valjean’s prisoner number by heart and his story of redemption. What was the initial appeal of playing Valjean?

Dominic: The initial reservation was that the been played so many times before and that the film of the musical had just come out, and therefore what the hell have we got to add to it and certainly what have I got to add to the part? But the appeal came once I started reading the book and I realized it’s the best book I’ve ever read, and probably ever written. And that he’s I think the greatest hero in literature. And I quickly fell in love with him and  suppose what was most appealing about him, apart from his strength and ability to save children’s lives, etcetera, was his inner heroism, his heroics of battling your own demons and trying to do what’s right rather than what you impulsively and emotionally feel like doing.

Jace: We see Valjean not when he’s released from prison, but at the thick of it at the quarry. He strikes a massive boulder and it plummets down onto a guard, the same man who hit him earlier when he’s led through Toulon in chains. Is this an accident, or an intentional act on his part?

Dominic: Is very much intentional. He’s been brutalized for 19 years and he’s quite happy to want to kill anybody and certainly kill his tormentors. What becomes an accident is that he then rescues the guy that he’s just dropped the rock on and that of course is usually significant later on in Javert’s recognition of Valjean later. So no, he’s a brutalized brute who wants to harm people, wants to get revenge.

Jace: Even in these early scenes there’s an almost magnetic pull between Valjean and Javert that feels almost psychosexual, in a way.

CLIP

Javert: Well now, 24601. What was all that about today? You saving that guard’s life, why? If you  were trying to get yourself an early release, you tried in vain. There’s no hope of that, no hope at all.

Jace: And why is Javert so obsessed with this particular prisoner?

Dominic: Well it’s the big question it was the first question I asked in rehearsal, it’s the obvious question — What the hell is wrong with this guy? You know? What’s his beef? Why is he…? Because it’s not very apparent in the book at all. And I think we discuss this a lot and my preference is always to go for the big motivators which are love and sex. I think that’s what motivate most of us the most. And so I think there’s a huge magnetic attraction that Javert has for Valjean, and David hints that in the scene where I’m stripping off and he has a look, and it’s just one look, and it’s sort of…it just lets it hang there. David didn’t want it to overplay that bit because I think he thought what was more important was the attraction that a very small bitter mind has for the big mind, that a mean person has for a generous person, that the devil has for a saint. You know, I think that that’s probably more interesting.

Jace: These two men come to represent two very different sides in a philosophical debate about good and evil. Why is Valjean’s ultimate optimism, the notion that change and forgiveness are possible, so refreshing particularly right now?

Dominic: Well I suppose it’s fairly standard thinking now, that we’re not born bad, that we are the products of our environment and of of how people treat us. But when this book was written this was very much a philosophical debate that people believed, you know, people like Javert, that people are born bad and there’s nothing you can do about it. I think after, you know, a century of psychology and modern psychology and we realize that that’s not necessarily the case, but it’s worth being reminded of these things because I suppose you know, in modern political life in the UK and the US there’s a lot of currency in vilifying people for what they are, rather than who they are.

Jace: I mean even recently in France protesters called Emmanuel Macron president of the rich. I mean Les Misérables feels incredibly relevant and timely given the class struggles and sort of wealth inequality of today. Does that notion sort of stick with you, having played this part?

Dominic: Yeah I mean the French revolution happened because the gap between rich and poor never been wider. And I think it’s a lot wider now. And I think one thing that Victor Hugo understood was that once that chasm between rich and poor widens enough, there’s going to be trouble. And that it’s unsustainable. And I think I remember making this realizing that, you know, this what we have now, which is an enormous gulf between rich and poor in the world and in America, it’s pretty dangerous territory. And revolution tends to follow that of territory.

Jace: One year later Valjean is released from prison and giving one hundred nine francs after various deductions. But more importantly he gave his name back and becomes more than just a number.

CLIP

Javert: Here is your passport. You are required to show it to the authorities in every town and village you pass through. You have your name again, Monsieur 24601. I wonder if you can remember what it is.

Valjean: Jean Valjean.

Javert: You sure about that?

Valjean: JEAN VALJEAN!

Jace: Why is this such a powerful and profound moment of self identity for the prisoner?

Dominic: Well I suppose from what you says, he you, know he becomes a human being again, rather than a statistic or a number or a commodity. And hence his shouting to the echoing forests and wide open valley that he’s now free to roam. He shouts his name. And it’s very interesting with Valjean, his journey goes from being a number, to being Valjean, to being Monsieur Madeleine, when he’s the mayor, to being one in denial of Jean Valjean and of that being a personality that he is ashamed of, until his final embrace of that. And so it’s it’s very crucial to his arc and his development and his evolution that his names plot very clearly, what he’s called is very, very relevant to his state of mind.

Jace: I love the scenes between you and Sir Derek Jacobins Bishop of Dean.

CLIP

Valjean: You give me a bed here, right next to yours? Are you crazy? How do you know I’m not a murderer?

Bishop: That’s the Good Lord’s business, not mine. Or to put it another way, I’ll take my chance with you, my friend. Good night now, and sleep well.

Jace: What was it like filming these scenes with Derek Jacobi?

Dominic: Well it was bliss. It was. I mean I’ve admired him for years, and it is a tricky one when you got to cast the sort of most virtuous, nicest best man who’s ever lived, which is how he reads in the book. It’s so hard to write about virtue, it’s so hard to make virtue interesting. It’s easy to make the devil funny and interesting but it’s hard to make a saint interesting. And that’s what Victor Hugo does and that’s what Derek Jacobi does. And there’s very few actors who can do that, can make virtue interesting. But acting with him, who is a real hero of mine was in one sense, it’s dead easy because he does it all for a year and he’s so sympathetic and another it’s very salutary, it’s very…he was extraordinarily, he was very detached, you didn’t get involved talking much, you sat very quietly at the side of the set until he’s called. He’s very contained as an actor. And very generous, but it was great watching a master at work.

Jace: There’s a beautiful moment right before the Petit Gervais incident when Valjean collapses under the tree. We hear the church bells ringing out. We see the sunlight streaming through the leaves of the tree. It’s a really beautiful moment and then there’s temptation in this sort of Garden of Eden. The singing boy with his coin. What makes Valjean fall once more?

Dominic: Well it’s interesting, but in the book and I think in the script, too, but we didn’t end up filming it, is when he’s under the tree, after having encountered love and kindness for the first time in 19 years from the Bishop, he remembers his mother and he remembers the last time he felt loved, which was from his mother. And so that was what was going on at that moment of where the transformation is starting to happen. It’s been put in place by the Bishop, he remembers his mother and in the book that sort of precipitates his anguish, when his best side comes out, what makes him fall, what makes the scorpion sting? You know, he’s a scorpion and this man’s a brutalized man who for whom compassion and humanity has been withheld for 20 years and it takes a bit more for him to be able to control that bestial side.

Jace:You’re a dirty thief,’ Petit Gervais screams at him. How much will these words haunt him in these episodes to come?

Dominic: Well totally, and I think what’s interesting, what’s so beautiful about how Victor Hugo makes the agent of Valjean’s change being a little child, a defenseless child who is essentially, Valjean sees him, the bestial Valjean sees him as someone weak and therefore to be exploited. And what he learns is that the weak are what give us humanity and one’s attitude and one’s treatment of the weak is crucial to our humanity.

Jace: You mentioned a damascene conversion. After stealing Petit Gervais’s 40 sous, he changes his mind. He calls out to him. There’s a look of profound agony on your face as he searches his soul. Is this the moment where he where he does decide to be good?

Dominic: Yeah I think it is. I think the whole tragedy of his life and of his brutality comes crashing in on him he realizes that the deep, deep, deep sorrow of what’s happened to him in the last 20 years. And I think as soon as he’s allowed to pity himself in a way is is when he starts to love himself again.

Jace: Valjean collapses on the road curling up into a fetal ball in the dirt. Should we read the scene as a spiritual or moral or rebirth?

Dominic: Yes, very much so. Yeah, and I think that that element of the remembering the mother, which was we didn’t show explicitly, that is very much what Victor Hugo was writing I think that this is, he is reborn back into humanity.

Jace: What was it like filming this particular sequence?

Dominic: It was bloody hard. And really hot. It was really hot and it was the end of a long day that finally I had had to collapse. And I did seem to spend a lot of the shoot in tears. But for some reason at this point I couldn’t, the tears didn’t come. Which is fine, because they have to, but I was very conscious that this was probably the most important single moment of the whole story. And that can be very daunting to try and act. So I found it hard, and I’m still not entirely happy with it.

Jace: This first episode centers on both Valjean and Fantine. There are circumstances in this first episode are very different but they’re forced to make a choice by the end of the installment. Are they mirrors for each other in a way?

Dominic: Yeah, I suppose as she descends, he ascends. I suppose her attitude to Valjean the prisoner would probably be similar to what her daughter’s is later on, of revulsion and horror and what happens of course when they meet is that he becomes her protector.

Jace: Before this next question, a quick word from our sponsors…

Jace: You’ve played a lot of philanderers in your career, whether that’s McNulty or Noah on The Affair. Hector Madden in The Hour. Willie in Collette. Many, many philanderers. Why is that, do you think?

Dominic: I don’t know. I mean I’ve played a lot of villains and this was one of the, I suppose that was the initial attraction of Valjean was not playing a villain, playing the hero and the good guy, but as to why it’s philandering I don’t know. I’m not, I don’t know, I’ve no idea why people think I suited for philanderers. But they think I seem a villain. So hopefully after this I’ll be just plain, monogamous heroes.

Jace: Your big break came with David Simon’s seminal HBO series The Wire, my favorite all time series where you played Jimmy McNulty. Was there a sense at the time that this was a groundbreaking piece of television?

Dominic: I don’t think so. I think I’m sure we were all aware that with The Sopranos and that this was the dawn perhaps of a new golden era. But it’s very hard I find to take an objective view on things, I mean, and I’m only just starting to get an objective view on Les Misérables, in fact. And certainly while we were shooting no one, no one was watching it, really. I mean, a few law enforcement people and lawyers and a few gangsters but no one really was watching and certainly no one from the UK, and so I didn’t really, I wasn’t really aware of how how important it was and how what a groundbreaking series it was until much later, I think. You’re just too close to see these things.

Jace: True or false you joined: in Argentina you joined an Argentinian circus for a spell.

Dominic: I did, De La Guarda. Yeah it was, it was only in New York for a while and I did it in London for five months. Best job I ever had.

Jace: Sarah Treme, who created The Affair said of you quote, ‘He’s not afraid to let a character be complicated. There’s a flawed humanity that he seems to understand inherently.’ How do you react to that?

Dominic: What a lovely thing for Sarah to say. Yeah, I do get a lot of philanderers and a lot of villains but usually they have another side to them, and I think it’s essential no one is purely evil or purely good. Most of us are conflicted. So it’s important to be an actor who can portray that.

Jace: Given how well you nail the accent in The Wire and The Affair, are fans ever surprised to realize you’re not American in real life?

Dominic: They Oh I’m great I’m glad Yeah they still are. People still come up and I’m amazed. But I remember when I did it when The Wire had just come out in the UK and was getting quite a big following and there was a charity night and I was asked to go along. And it was a quiz night, that was as a charity night that was a quiz night, and the way the quiz was entirely about The Wire. And so it was full of Wire nuts, you know, people who really knew the show. And I remember going in and I had to ask the final question or something like that and I started speaking and I just remember sensing the whole room deflate with disappointment that hearing my accent when they realized I was a Brit. And so I you know usually in America people are pleasantly surprised, in the UK, people are unpleasantly surprised that I’m just a Brit.

Jace: Off screen you’re living your own version of Monarch Of The Glen. You recently rescued your wife Catherine’s family seat Glin Castle in County Limerick and converted it into a family run hotel. How is that project going?

Dominic: Well it’s great fun. It’s not true to say we rescued it, it was run as a hotel by her parents and then her father unfortunately died. So it was put on the market. But yeah, we decided to keep it going and to try and make it a going concern. It has been in my wife’s family for 700 years, really not much choice, but it’s going OK, actually. It’s going remarkably well, I think. You know, Ireland is sort of booming at the moment and I think once nobody from Europe is allowed to go to Britain anymore, then they’ll all flock to to Ireland.

Jace: Who is funnier —Dominic West or Olivia Colman?

Dominic: Olivia Colman is spectacularly funny and able to laugh and joke right up until they say action, when she is then able to go into a serious moment, as you can, which is not something Dominic West can do quite as well. And I felt as I found to my cost on the set of Les Mis, it was maybe that scene where we had the big fight at the Thenadier’s, and we were all crying with laughter at what Olivia was saying and then I realized of course that I had to do some proper acting. So I then tried to avoid her after that.

Jace: You directed an episode of The Wire and an episode of Jimmy McGovern’s Moving On. Is directing something you’d like to do more of in the future.

Dominic: Yeah I after doing that I thought that’s what I wanted to do forever and then I realized actually, well two things happened — when I started getting very good acting parts, I didn’t really have time for the writing, and the other one was I realized that a director is first in and last out, whereas an actor is last in and first out.

Jace: You left Guild Hall in 1995 one of your first onscreen roles that year was the Earl of Richmond in Richard III opposite Sir Ian McKellen. Was it a formative professional experience.

Dominic: Oh very much so. Robert Downey, Jr. was in it, Annette Bening was in it, Maggie Smith was in it. It was an amazing cast that I was just out of drama school and was able to sort of go around watching them all at work. And it was headed by Ian McKellen who’s a really great leading man in terms of his compassion and his ability to lead a cast and keep everybody happy. It was yeah, it was a wonderful job and an amazing job to have at an early stage in your career, because it was with a lot of people who were very generous with their knowledge.

Jace: You once reached out to wine critic Robert Parker to try and interview him. What ended up happening?

Dominic: He lives in Baltimore, so I was in Baltimore and I said, ‘Look can I come and interview you?’ and he said, ‘No you can’t but I’ll tell you what, you bring some of The Wire cast, I’ll bring the wine.’ And so we went out for dinner and there were four or five of us from The Wire. Andre, who played Bubbles, was with us and insisted on drinking Jack and Coke the whole time. I was telling him, ‘This is the best wine you’ll ever have in your life, and you insist on Jack and Coke?’ So we drank a lot of extremely great wine and I can’t remember much about it other than Robert Parker very generously gave us an hundred year old bottle of cognac and he said ‘I want you to open that when you finish the last frame of The Wire,’ and we did, which happened to be at six o’clock one morning in Baltimore. And we nailed the whole bottle.

Jace: That’s amazing. Dominic West, thank you so very much.

Dominic: Thank you very much.

Jace: Jean Valjean is the narrative core of Les Misérables. But his lifelong nemesis, the relentless Inspector Javert, keeps things moving in his pursuit of personal justice.

David Oyelowo: He has no problem in in saying that person is a criminal. And so therefore they deserve this punishment.

Jace: Actor David Oyelowo joins us next week on the podcast with a close look at how Javert’s need for truth and justice propels Victor Hugo’s epic forward.

MASTERPIECE Studio is hosted by me, Jace Lacob and produced by Nick Andersen. Elisheba Ittoop is our editor. Susanne Simpson is our executive producer. The executive producer of MASTERPIECE is Rebecca Eaton.

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Sterek Reversebang Fic Teasers pt8

Derek approached Argent’s treasure room to find that Peter tried to bar him access, “you don't want to go in there," he told him.

Peter was Derek's uncle and held a unique position in the pack by being the wolf to their seiðr. It allowed him a freedom that no other did but it was still unacceptable to bar the Alpha entry, and Derek addressed that with a look.

Much of the communication between the Wulver was non-verbal, the animals beneath their skin able to express themselves as comfortably with small gestures. Derek pushed past him and opened the heavy iron clad door to be hit with a wall of scent.

The room was large with red marble that was veined with white that made it look like beef, and capped with copper bands that were polished to resemble gold. There were chests and piles of coin, a few metal cups that were clearly too valuable for everyday use, and there, tied with his arms behind one of the pillars was the omega.

He was lovely, still slightly round with youth, with eyes that were beta gold as the firelight reflected in them. His mouth was a soft pink, constantly wetted by the flickering pink tongue, as sweat ran down his face. He wore a white linen chiton fastened at each shoulder with an electrum brooch and held tight at his waist with an embossed girdle. He had lovely legs one of which was folded underneath him. His dark hair was wet and he couldn't help the way that he was moving, twisting and writhing in his bonds as heat burned through him.

“He wasn't in heat when we caught him," Peter said behind him, “it just started.”

-*-*-

by: aboxwithbees

He was half way to the bus stop when he saw something move in the corner of his eye. Half-expecting to see absolutely nothing, Stiles turned his head to look and nearly tripped over when he saw the dog on the other side of the street.

It was massive. A huge, black monster. And it was just trotting along down the street, no collar or owner in sight, keeping pace with him on the other side of the road.

Stiles stared, his feet coming to a stop all on their own while he watched the dog.

Across the street the dog stopped too.

Stiles blinked and took a step.

The dog took a step too.

"Oh my God I'm going to die," Stiles whispered, horrified.

-*-*-

He is breathtakingly beautiful and as he stands in front of Derek, his sharp gaze taking in the pack behind him--this is a horrible idea.

Because Stiles spitting mad and insulting him in the rigidly polite bounds of Society--that Derek can handle.

Stiles barefoot and surrounded by the fresh green boughs and white roses Lydia has ordered everywhere, in mourning grey and black and armed and proud--Derek wants this Stiles, wants to claim and keep and mate.

And Stiles watches him and repeats the vows to bind them together in the eyes of the government and Society, and his gaze never meets Derek’s, never falters or warms. And when they kiss, to thunderous applause and Erica’s gleeful howls, Stiles murmurs against his lips, “I am your husband, Derek. But you will never have me.”

-*-*-

Derek wakes up slowly and is only vaguely aware that he’s hugging something warm to his chest.

“Can you tell when I’m awake?” Stiles asks and Derek in his sleep addled state groans before replying.

“Only when I’m awake,” Derek muttered after the long moment it took him to realise he was being spoken to, “And concentrating,” He added.

“You awake now?” Stiles asked

“No.” Derek grumbled and turned his head further into the pillow and scrunched his eyes closed tighter against the morning light. Short hair pressed against his neck and chin as Stiles buried into both the covers and Derek’s side closer.

He shifted one arm around Stiles’ side and over his back. He ran his fingers up and down over Stiles’ spine.

Stiles sighed and Derek stilled his hand and drifted back to sleep.

-*-*-

by: Perluceran

Stiles sees Derek and carefully sets a full mug of hot coffee down on the counter beside him. Then, he steps around the counter and waves at Derek.

“Hi,” he says cheerily. “I’ll be shadowing you today.”

Derek shoots a look at Laura. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asks his sister. Stiles looks confused.

“You are training me, right?”

“You’ll be fine,” Laura says. “Stiles is actually really good with the animals.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say I have the touch,” Stiles says. “Usually it’s the opposite. I can’t pet a dog without it growling at me, but just look at that momma pup. She loves me!”