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pale-silver-comb · 5 years ago

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So I know absolutely nothing about Leverage except what I've been seeing you post lately and I have to admit you're making it look tempting to watch! Can I ask what are some of your favorite things about the show/reasons you would suggest people watch it? And is there really a poly relationship that is canon?

Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I am going to do my best not to just “asdfghkjl” at you and answer coherently.

In a nutshell, Leverage is about 5 people. 4 are criminals (Parker, Hardison, Eliot and Sophie) with different and unique skill-sets and 1 is an ex-insurance investigator (Nate) who, at one point or another in his career, has tracked down (or at least attempted to) the other 4. The whole show is essentially: man reluctantly reforms 4 criminals to use their criminal powers for good and 4 criminals move into man’s life and stubbornly refuse to leave because, goddammit, now they have morals.

I’ve got a lot of favourite things about the show but the main ones are as follows:

1. Found family. And I’m not talking about loners who come together to fight crime and happen to co-exist to the point where they realise they happen to have found themselves a family. I mean, Nate and Sophie are the Drunk Uncle and Wine Aunt who somehow become Mom and Dad to 3 beautiful criminal children. Mom and Dad love their criminal babies and the kids love them (as well as each other, but we’ll come to that in a moment). You get amazing family moments such as: Mom and Dad packing the kids lunch before sending them out to kick corporate greed’s ass; Mom and Dad giving the kids ridiculously expensive and personal Christmas presents causing their most Grumpy Kid to go very very quiet and soft as he runs off to gleefully play with his new murder toy; the kids interrupting Mom and Dad’s big Movie Style Kiss to ask if they can please keep their new underground layer and huffing and puffing when Dad tells them no.

2. Found family: the OT3 edition. To answer your question, the OT3 is indeed canon, confirmed by the creator. Now, usually, “confirmed by the creator” infuriates me because most of the time it’s a way for a creator to be seen as “progressive” without doing anything to actually be progressive. That isn’t the case here. The OT3 are built up carefully and while it is obvious the creators didn’t originally intend for all 3 of them to become a relationship in the romantic sense, by mid-season 5 we are given a very clear picture of where Parker, Hardison and Eliot are heading in their relationship. There aren’t any kisses at the end to signal this but there are solid marriage vows in not only one but two episodes. (And by marriage vows I mean literal equivalents of marriage vows: “for better or worse” and “’til death do us part”. I’m not even exaggerating). The OT3 also doesn’t need explicit romantic narratives to convey how much they love each other. Their love is laced through the whole show, from the way they teach each other things to the way they respond to each other and work as a unit. The way they fiercely protect and admire each other. Like someone once said, if you need characters to kiss or say I love you to let the audience know they love each other, you are writing them wrong.

Aside from that, each of the parings in the OT3 are just. Gah. They are so well done, with friendship being the solid basis for them all. The creators never expect the audience to assume anything about them or fill in the gaps. They give us their relationships on screen and reference many things off-screen to show us how these relationships continue to build in between episodes.

Hardison and Parker are a canon couple and date in the show: it’s approached slowly and they are so goddamned sweet. They are basically every fluffy slow-burn trope with a healthy dash of mutual pining in the mix. They are basically that quote “love is patient, love is kind”. (I would like to add their romance never becomes the focus of the show or overrides the importance of any other relationship they have with the other characters, especially Eliot.)

Hardison and Eliot are the Old Married Couple and from day one are already bickering and looking at each other/making comments that are found in every UST fic ever (not to mention Hardison has a very good knack for making Eliot grin like a little kid, when usually he’s basically an Angry Little Chef Man). They argue, they play, and love each other plain as day.

Parker and Eliot are more subtle but every bit as wonderful. They have an unspoken connection and understand each other on a level no-one else can. Parker and Eliot are not good with giving themselves over to affection for different reasons (and Hardison plays a central role in helping them realise it’s okay to want it and have it- that boy has endless patience) but there is something so beautiful in the way the two of them come together on their own and develop their own special bond that works for them. Parker and Eliot are that trope where the characters don’t need to speak to understand each other perfectly. They just do. Their love language is a lot of the time non-verbal but speaks volumes. (Parker also likes to annoy the hell out of Eliot and Eliot....just.....lets...her. Because he’s soft. The softest, grumpiest boy.)

I could go into so much depth for each pairing and their dynamics as a 3 but that's for another post.

3. Subverting stereotypes. There is the occasional hiccup in the show regarding stereotypes but ultimately, Leverage gets an A+ when it comes to writing characters and making them 3 dimensional people who are not defined by certain characteristics or events. Nate could so easily fall into the White Man Pain trope where he uses the trauma of losing his kid as a reason as to why he is entitled to act like a dick. Nate is a dick but he doesn’t use his pain to excuse it and I appreciate that. Hardison is a black man who is soft and nurturing. Easily the most empathetic and patient of the group. He’s nerdy, an actual genius, and has the biggest heart of all the characters. Nate is maybe the glue but Hardison is definitely the heart. Media’s usual aggressive, amongst other, racist stereotypes can fuck right off. Parker is canonically autistic (I am sure this was confirmed by one of the creators) and she is not defined by it. It’s not written as some kind of singular personality trait. It’s part of what makes up Parker but it’s only one facet of who she is and not once is her actions, thoughts or feelings treated like a joke. Sometimes people don’t understand why she does and says the things she does but it’s met with patience and fondness over the course of the show. Equally, it’s not met with over-caution. Parker is just Parker. No-one tries to change her. The other nice thing is Hardison, who always makes sure Parker knows she’s amazing because of who she is and not in spite of it. Finally, Sophie is in her 40s. She’s not treated like she’s past her prime. Ever. She’s sexy, smart and never is she pitted against or compared to Parker (who is younger) for anything. Sophie is amazing and there’s never even a conversation of “I may be older but I am still *insert adjective typically associated with younger women here*”. Sophie is possibly the first female character I’ve ever seen who isn’t just unapologetic about her age but has never had to apologise for her age. It’s a non-issue and that’s that. The women on the show are written so well, right down to secondary characters and it’s beyond refreshing.

4.) It’s just fun. The show has a “monster of the week” type format. Except instead of a ghoul or a ghost, the monster is some corrupt wealthy and powerful individual or organisation. The show draws on real-life individuals to do this and therefore closely parallels real-life people and events. It addresses important political, economical, social and environmental issues while at the same time remaining fun and light-hearted. The characters constantly get the chance to play dress up and by GOD do they have fun with it. You get to watch Eliot beat up bad guys in the most delightful of ways, usually after a witty non-sequitur and with a weapon you’d never think could be a weapon. The dialogue and back and forth between the characters is everything. And finally - my favourite thing- the team can never resist striking a dramatic pose after they’ve taken down the bad guy, making sure the bad guy sees them. I mean, they COULD just walk away, satisfied they’ve taken the person down, but nope. They gotta be dramatic bitches 24/7 and pose like they are models for every single month of this year’s Criminal Calendar.

5.) Competence Porn. So. Much. Competence Porn.

Honestly, I could list a thousand reasons for why Leverage is amazing but to list them would to be spoiling so many amazing moments you’d get to discover for the first time on your own if you do choose to watch it. It’s the kind of show you can watch with an eagle-eye and sink your teeth into. But it’s also the kind of show if, you would prefer, put on in the background for something entertaining while you do something else. Each episode is about the job at hand but it’s made up of so many moments between the characters that show how much the creators and writers care about them. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll do whatever it is you do when something Soft and Wonderful happens that makes your heart melt. I am so beyond grateful for Leverage. It’s everything I always wanted in a show. Nearly every show I’ve watched in the past 10 years has disappointed me in some way, usually either because the writers run out of steam or characters who I love are treated poorly or given some kind of unnecessary “shock value” arc. Leverage doesn’t do that. Leverage is what it says on the bottle. Fandom isn’t something I joined because I needed canon fix-its. Fandom only enhances and celebrates an already excellent canon.

#leverage #leverage ot3 #parker #alec hardison #eliot spencer #sophie devereaux #nate ford #talk leverage to me

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generallypo · 4 years ago

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in all sincerity, kim dokja makes me happy and he deserves to be so too :^(

incoherent yelling and sobbing under the cut. these fEELINGS will not be contained aaauuunnghhh.

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anyway i binge-read all 500+ chapters of ORV this week and i honest to god feel bad for this -- completely! fictional! aghhhh -- guy. in case you haven’t figured it out, the following is some spoilerly shit

i went in expecting a fun, brainless power trip fantasy for dudes with an isekai addiction. instead, it turns out ORV is actually a gigantic, self-deprecating prank on the entire genre itself. kdj plays more into the sad -- if high-functioning-- clown trope than the sexy, edgy, chuuni bastard type i was prepared to laugh at. there were -- gasp! -- female characters with personalities! parents (aka ADULTS who act like ADULTS) who actually survive and feature prominently! adorable children! a real sexy, edgy bastard! a power trio with amazing fashion! sexual tension and bickering! friendship! life and death bonding!

*breathes in deeply* fouND FAMILYYYYYYY.

like, yeah, the plot around the first few arcs seems a little aimless, but the buildup is worth. the world-building is pretty decent. there’s discernible effort put into the fight scenes, and i can appreciate that. but -- but! what i stayed for were the characters -- namely, the fantastic OT3 of KDJ, HSY, and YJH -- who come together despite their initial rivalries and end up saving each other’s asses, like, every other day. granted, the other characters don’t get as much focus, and they do fall into certain character tropes..

but a trope done well is nothing i would gripe about. every significant character in ORV has a coherent, and more importantly, respectful take on their respective trope. maybe it’s because sing-shong is actually a married couple, but all the interactions between even minor characters are a convincing blend of awkward rambling, suggestive humor, sharp remarks, and casual banter. in other words, this cast of mostly working adults (plus a teen and two kids) talks like working adults. the relationships built throughout the story are, frankly, some of most realistic of its genre. sing-shong has managed to craft a dynamic that undoubtedly brims with fluffy fondness all around, but also drips with sarcastic tension, with unspoken urgency, with a wariness that softens into sincerity over the course of many, many chapters. it’s the kind of progression that makes even stock characters read like more than just the 2-bit villain or comrade or love interest. here, we have relationships both straightforward and not, strained or otherwise, romantically-oriented as well as decidedly the opposite -- and then numerous others scattered along the spectrum with the freedom to shift either way.

it’s also an interesting point of note that our MC kdj actually does not end up with a stated romantic partner, much less a conventional heteroromantic harem. he gets teased about that fact from time to time, but it’s with less of the sleazy shonen locker room humor one would expect and more of the good-natured ribbing you’d find among friends or that one especially nosy auntie at the yearly family reunion. kdj is a grown ass man. in the background, i applaud his maturity, and he handles all the prodding like a champ.

so instead of finding and fulfilling his horny, he builds himself a wealth of loving family. yeah, there are beautiful men and women around him. yeah, they unequivocally adore him. but they’re also adults, and they have priorities, too -- which are not so much finding a way to bang kdj’s brains out and more so simply keeping the damn guy alive. this is truly not ‘oblivious mc with his thirsty, sex kitten harem’. it just so happens that a guy proves himself to be unflinchingly gentle and capable in an apocalyptic setting despite his broken self-esteem, and lots of people find that attractive, romantically and platonically.

it.. kinda makes sense? he’s a hard worker, thoughtful, and good with kids. kdj is the kind of guy you know would make a reliable partner, and anybody with eyes can plainly see and appreciate that.

and it’s not that our MC’s a total brick wall. in fact, it’s likely the opposite, and he’s just too darned repressed to admit it. from what has been implied, kdj does indeed recognize and accept love, or at least a primitive concept of it. i like to imagine that the kind of love that he ends up seeking out simply manifests itself more easily as acceptance and safety, as warmth and a home of people to return to every day. even better, the people who surround him know this, and they give him exactly that. it’s refreshing, and honestly, really sweet.

(as a side note, i really, really do appreciate the cosmic bi energy radiating off of kdj, who canonically earns the title of being loved by all and is all but in name married to yjh and hsy. he also respects women and small children and honestly anyone who isn’t total scum to him or his family. i respect that.)

but the happy stuff aside, you know it it just ain’t ORV without the generous screaming dollop of angst. admittedly, there’s self-sacrifice, injury, lonesome wandering, more sacrifice, some epic fighting, reunion and confrontation. all of it is a lot to digest, sure, but never does it feel entirely hopeless, or truly, truly heart-clenching. ORV, up until the final act, is a mostly light read. you relax in your chair, thinking that nothing beyond this point can disturb you.

yeah fucking right.

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and then the beginning of the end arrives. when the squad finally break through to their ‘ending’, the scene that kind of breaks me is the reveal of the Most Ancient Dream. it ties so much thematically into the little tidbits that we get of kdj’s past, and it though it feels like almost a joke that the source of the goddamn apocalypse is a kid with bruises smeared across his skinny ass body -- it’s such a pathetic picture that it’s kinda poetic, actually. you’re left mystified but somewhat convinced, like a math problem explained halfway through. this.. child.. is a villain somehow, isn’t he?

and then 999th turn uriel speaks up, and she. just. hugs him.

[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]]

that. that gets me. kdj’s reaction immediately upon this revelation? absolute murder. seeing him essentially self-destruct upon realizing that all these people he’s surrounded himself with -- some who continuously proclaim their loyalty and affection for him throughout their journey, some who suffered eons of war and loss and trauma because of his existence -- not only forgive his younger self but smother him with unconditional acceptance and love is stifling, is too vulnerable and exposed and he simply can’t cope -- it’s so telling of his true mentality, of his crippling insecurity and crumpled sense of self-worth. kim dokja is a liar, through and through, so much that he fails, or perhaps refuses, to comprehend the veracity of others’ kindness and love towards himself.

by some miracle, the events at the end of the world somehow resolve.. or so it seems. there is a departing train, a liberated team of ex-gods, and a child rousing from his slumber. in the aftermath, i am left shaking. somehow, despite the ending having been (happily?) reached, there’s still another chapter ahead. what is this witchcraft?

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and then ah, yes -- the epilogue arc. i teetered on the edge of being critical for a little bit there -- is that display of deus ex machina, of sad, self-sacrificing nobility a bit too egregious to be acceptable? is this some wild last let-me-yank-this-outta-my-ass plot twist to drag out the chapter count? i sincerely thought that the arc before it would have been the finale. i was wrong. thank god.

anyways, as an answer to the above: no, and no. i stake my firm claim on the belief that the epilogue arc was meticulously planned out well in advance of its release, confusing and time-warpy as it is. i liked it. tremendously. even if it entirely invalidates all of kdj’s supposed development (”haha lol yeah sure i won’t sacrifice myself or anything anymore guys don’t worry about me” -- KDJ, at some point because he’s a lying rat bastard). actually, our beloved MC disappears for a large chunk of this arc, and i think it’s great. in his absence, the other characters not only go absolutely fucking nuts, but they have to figure out this new problem on their own, even if the lure of peaceful complacency in the newly saved Korea might convince them otherwise.

and then the whole time paradox thing comes around. yjh goes to space, hsy saves the only life she can, and kdj grows up. the crew waits, holding onto their hope even if it bleeds them dry. sing-shong does a damn good job of illustrating their fraying calm, their lurking madness, the unseen but pervasive depression that seeps in from kdj’s absence. the kids lose their father, lhs and jhw lose their reliable leader figure, ysa loses a best friend and confidant, lsk -- as distant as she pretends to be from her son -- loses her only child. and then there’s hsy and yjh , who are essentially bereft of the other half of their existences. their pain is palpable, is grounded in the hopeless, gnawing frustration of an utterly meaningless victory. emotionally, ORV hits all the right -- if agonizing -- beats.

however, a story can’t sustain itself just through its pathos. i’m happy to say that ORV doesn’t drop the ball after the first milestone, and after all the hurt, the characters do leap straight back into action. even better, the plot holes actually do get patches, and the poetic cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader comes full circle by making use of all those supposedly throwaway characters from the myriad world lines.

at the end of the road, there is a distinct sense of unity, of a delicate but undeniable cohesion to the world lines and their origins. sing-shong lets us guess a little here at the finish, but there’s just enough information to feel hopeful. maybe there never had been a definite start -- or finish -- to the story of kdj company, and... that’s okay. everybody ends up where they were meant to be, where they fought and struggled to reach. it’s.. almost like a happily ever after, if we’re allowed to dream of that.

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now, i realize, this was all an orchestrated maneuver.

i’ll take it.

to me, all of this work sounds like someone put some serious thought into this behemoth of a plot. it cements the entire original premise of the story. it suggests -- but never explicitly confirms! -- the possibility that breaking free of the cycle is possible through the exact same system that sustains it. it’s terribly interesting -- and inspirational! with all the dramatic revelations and life-threatening scenarios and the cast’s resigned acceptance of them that essentially make up ORV’s entire mood, there’s still that last hint of rebellious and righteous anger that lights up the whole damn nebula. it’s like the kdj company blasting away at the heavens just to yell into the nether: we’re not looking for the happy end, but the free one. stay alive.

it’s subtle, and yet it’s such an emotional gut punch. i came away with the most ruinous, frustrating, bittersweet sense of longing in ages. i pined. for these fictional darlings. god, i am weak.

so. yeah. ORV is pretty good. flawed, but ambitious and impressively thought out. i’m stoked that the webtoon is making pretty good progress, even if it’ll take an eternity and a half to meet that monstrous chapter count. i’m still gonna follow it. hell yeah.

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(by the way the idea that secretive plotter and co are literally gonna take care of and raise baby kdj and spoil him and be the best friggin family a kid could ever want does things to me. protect him. he’s suffered too much. let at least one worldline’s version of him know happiness. and actually, aLL OF THEM DESERVE DOMESTIC BLISS TOGETHER IN A BIG OL MANSION WITH SUN AND FRESH AIR AND TENDER FAMILY MOMENTS UGH)

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and there you have it, folks. you made it to the end. in the far, far distance, i’m cheering you on and crying my eyes out in gratitude. thanks for tuning in!

#omniscient reader #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #kim dokja #fanart #kdj happiness rights!#protect him!#let! him! have his big house! with everyone! he loves!#please!#long ass emotional screeching #look i can't do him justice with drawing but hell can i yell out my love for him :'^DD

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ultfreakme · 4 years ago

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I started watching Teen Wolf specifically for sterek, to write fics for the ship, read meta, just go ham on that side of the fandom for real, so yes, I came for the slash. Mostly because I wanted more of them in canon with more context and somehow found myself having more of them in fanfiction than in canon. Which left me confused on why Sterek is one of the biggest ships EVER.

Don’t get me wrong I love the ship, and Derek and Stiles do have a bond of some sorts but we get so little of it, but whatever we do has such high importance that I don’t understand why Stiles and Derek got those lines when in the context of the show it feels like they barely interact.

But I can’t even dismiss anything because the moments they do get are so surprisingly significant(you probably already know all that’s mentioned on the list if you’re a shipper so you can skip it tbh):

Peter’s speech about the power of human love and the camera directly going from Stiles to Derek

The ‘abomination’ thing- the camera lingered on Derek’s expression

The pool scene(ah yes, probably the point where we all converted)

Matt and the Kanima scene- “You two make a good pair”.

Boyd’s death- the comfort of human touch.

Stiles for some reason easily recognizing Derek on first meeting(he was the first to recognize young Derek too. Actually, he knows surprisingly lots about Derek).

Stiles is Derek’s anchor. I don’t know why, but the scene in “The Divine Move” can mean little else.

Derek is the king on Stiles’s board for some reason. He thought if Derek was out, the entire game was over. That’s a LOT of trust and responsibility on someone he barely interacted with(that we’ve seen anyways).

Stiles’s curiosity about Derek in general- this is probably because Sties is meant to be the ‘info dump’ guy but he actively seeks out info on him-the Paige incident.

On text, these events are way too significant. If you saw this written out in a novel format, it would look like Stiles and Derek had a very very significant relationship.

About Matt- I didn’t understand why he said they “make a great pair” because they honestly had not interacted enough to be viewed as one, and this is coming from me who was basically scavenging for scenes of them together.

Derek’s anchor thing- The part that struck me most was that this scene took place when no one trusted Stiles, not even himself, because the Nogitsune was using him. Even the Sheriff was being cautious. The entire arc was about trust and Stiles. But Derek chose STILES to confide in about all his worries to. He put all of it in Stiles? Why? It could’ve been for fanservice and to feed the starving sterek fans but the moment is too significant. This isn’t an illusion, this isn’t Derek being forced to pick- for once this is Derek willingly choosing to place his trust in someone(something that is nigh impossible to gain) in Stiles. If they wanted fanservice it could’ve been in a witty but overall pointless banter in some other scene, but this point is almost a turning point for Derek’s behaviour.

There has been long metas on all of the above and these scenes were intentional.

Which is when I realized that Stiles and Derek’s relationship is unlike every other relationship on the show. It happens in the background the most. This is probably the slowest of slow burn enemies-to-lovers relationship. Their relationship is implications, references, symbolic.

They weren’t meant to be romantic probably(Derek’s like, 24 or smthg and Stiles is 16-18, this show absolutely sucks at keeping a timeline). I think they were meant to just be, begrudging friends who often have same goals, an unlikely but effective team of sorts, united mostly because of Scott at first and then grow to become some sort of crime-solving, supernatural-butt-kicking duo. But it somehow got out of hand.

Stiles is one person that Derek gets almost nothing out of saving, has no obligation towards. His relationship with Scott started because he’s his beta. Chris and Derek have a relationship mostly built on guilt and somehow making it up to each other. Isaac, Boyd and Erica were also his betas he needed to take care of. Peter’s the only family he has left and also happens to be a well of information(sometimes). Breaden’s mission is to get him his money back.

But the one person who he gets nothing from, who he has no tie to, who he really doesn’t need to give a crap about but actually cares way too much for, enough to make them his anchor? Stiles. Whatever relationship he has with Stiles, he chose to have it.

Now Stiles- he’s more obvious about stuff especially in season 3. Taking down Derek means losing the game against the nogitsune. Losing Derek is unlike the other loses, he’s essentially put Derek’s survival through this game as equivalent to his own. The nogitsune(or Stiles somehow manipulating the nogistune) led the Sheriff, Chris, Allison, and Derek to Derek’s loft. Why there? What’s so significant to Stiles about this place. Go is about overtaking territory- the places the nogitsune had captured were the Sheriff’s station, the school, the hospital- and for some reason, the loft. Wouldn’t his home be better? Or somewhere else where he spends his time? It’s clear that Derek is important to Stiles(More symbolically, we get confirmation of sorts for Stiles being bi in Derek’s loft...hmmm......this is so sus).

Here’s the thing though; I doubt either of them are aware of how much they care about the other, Derek’s whole “I don’t deserve happiness” shtick+ trauma from how horrible all his other relationships went and Stiles’s possibly crippling PTS+ train-wreck of a relationship with Malia(the girl can barely empathize and she’s just adjusting to human society why the fuck are you putting something as huge as a committed HUMAN VERSION of romance on her??? Why is this relationship even a thing it has all the makings for a messy break-up).

They’d probably come to their realization years later, outside of the canon timeline and it’d probably be unlike any former relationship they’d have. Stiles has seen the worst of Derek(that’s the starting point of TW, Derek was a villain), and Derek probably knows a lot of Stiles’s flaws because he isn’t putting up a pretense.

The Teen Wolf canon feels more like building blocks and puzzle pieces for their relationship than the whole picture tbh, which is fun, because we get to envision whatever we want.

#tw #teen wolf #sterek #sterek meta #stiles and derek #tw meta #teen wolf meta #they handled malia's character so badly oh my god why is she taking her PSAT's when she was a coyote for six years???#why is malia made to 'fit in' with little to no help and downtime???#malia tate deserves better #like a kitsune girlfriend who's v.nicye and sensitive #fucking hell idc about exams and homework and i've lived in human society all my life why would the girl who lived without any of these #things give a shit about whatever human society deems important?

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carnationcreation · 4 years ago

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Safe haven (Will Byers x reader)

Masterlist

Prompt/summary: Reader is new in town and gets trapped in the upside down with Will

Word Count: 1,988

Warnings: Kidnapping (if you can call it that), mentions of PTSD, trauma bonding, etc.

Hawkins, Indiana was definitely a… strange town. I could never really pinpoint what made me think that but somewhere in the back of my mind that is just how I would describe it. Adjusting to a new life in a town that made me vaguely uncomfortable was not how I pictured my middle school years to finish up.

The move came as a surprise. With my dad getting a job at Hawkins lab my mom and I didn’t really have a choice but to move with him. After about a week of unpacking my mom finally got a job at the local newspaper as a secretary.

My science class was definitely interesting. Mr. Clarke was an enthusiastic teacher who really only taught to the four boys sitting up front, the rest just seemed like background characters. Everyone realized that they could get away with raising their hand only once a day and sometimes even less than that. Regardless of if the answer was correct or not Mr. Clarke would take that as participation and wouldn’t really force anyone to talk after that. Being the new kid that was amazing.

When I wasn’t at school I was either one of two places. One being at the office with my mom, or two blowing my allowance money at the arcade. Tonight was arcade night. Mom stayed late to finish up some last minute papers while I spent 2 hours playing Dig Doug and stuffing my face with chilli dogs from the concession stand. I even made the top score tonight. Before I knew it the clock finally hit 8:30 signalling closing time. I grabbed my bike off the rack and began my ride home.

The ride home was dark. My bike lamp was out so I tried to use the flashlight I kept in my bag. Riding one handed was not fun. I could feel clouds forming leaving the moisture smell in the air.

I heard something behind me and soon enough Will Byers pulled up next to me, “Hey!” he shouted, “you ride through Mirkwood?”

“What?” I shouted back.

“This road is called Mirkwood by the locals, where’s your house?”

“Just beyond the ridge, my dad works at the lab” I said, his bike lamp was now illuminating the way so I put my flashlight into my front basket.

“I didn’t even know you lived that close to me,” he smiled.

“Me neither.”

Just then Will’s lamp started flickering. We both jolted on our bikes trying to adjust to the darkness. Right as we started up the hill a tall lanky figure appeared in front of us. We both swerved to the right. We sped down a hill and into a ditch. My bike crashed into a try sending my flying onto my back. For a second I laid there trying to regain the wind that was knocked out of me.

“(Y/n)! Come on we gotta get out of here!” Will said. He pulled me to my feet and we began to run through the woods. Tripping over tree limbs and stumbling over rocks.

“My house is right over here,” he yelled.

We ran inside. Turning the lock and the deadbolt before he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the back. “Johnathan? Mom?”

His dog continued to bark. Will grabbed the phone and tried to dial 911, but a loud static sound was heard even from where I stood. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the sharpest knife out of the block. A loud bang was heard at the front door and Will dropped the phone.

“There’s a gun out back,” Will said.

We barricaded the shed door as much as we could, Will fumbled with the rifle but soon had one in the chamber and pointing at the door. I gripped the knife so tight my knuckles went white.

A strange gurgling was heard behind us.

As we turned around, there it was.

We were gone before we could react.

________________________________________________

We woke up in the woods.

Not in the same woods we ran through, but I swear it was the same one just… dark. The same feeling I got in the back of my head walking through town. Random particles flew through the air. Spores? Dust?

Will groaned from beside me.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I think so.”

From ahead was the same gurgling we heard last night.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“Run.”

________________________________________________

We ran.

For 2 days we ran. Breaking into gas stations and the grocery store to hide and steal food when we could. Everything tasted bland or stale. We stashed water bottles in our backpacks along with chips and granola bars. Taking turns sleeping and staying on the move.

It was terrifying.

Every single noise felt like it was my last moment alive. Every movement out of the corner of my eyes made me jump. When I could sleep it felt like I hadn’t at all. We never got a good look at that, well, thing, that took us. All we knew is that it was huge and dangerous. The tentacles tried to grab us but we dodged as much as we could.

It was so cold we would sleep in the same sleeping bag we found. Any embarrassment went out the door due to me almost getting frostbite on my toes. We took shifts sleeping when we could. I think Will let me sleep longer than our agreed time but I never said anything. It made me feel selfish.

Sometimes when we thought it was safe we would talk. Anything that came to mind we would discuss, trying to make it feel like we weren’t being hunted by a creature in a strange world we didn’t know. We talked about music, books, science, video games. Anything.

“Do you think they’re looking for us?” I asked. Will shifted so he could look down at me. My head was on his shoulder and his arm was around me. The ground was hard under us but I felt the most comfortable I could be at that moment.

“Well, I think so. My mom always tells us how she loves us more than anything, and Johnathan is the only brother I have. What about you?”

“My dad isn’t around much, my mom tries her best to make my life seem normal but it doesn’t always work out. I know she’s probably tearing up the town trying to find out where I am. Oh gosh I hope she doesn’t think I ran away.”

“Our bikes were left in the woods, I think they would’ve found them by now. How long has it been?” Will said, he stretched his right arm out to place behind his head as a pillow.

“A few days at least,” I said before I yawned loudly.

Will smiled, “Get some rest, I’ll take first watch.”

I pressed my nose towards his shoulder to hide my smile. Just as I began to drift off the words popped into my head. He’s my safe haven.

We were exhausted.

I think that was part of the creature's game. It wanted us to run and wear ourselves out so it could kill us easier. I tried to fight that theory with everything I could. I stocked energy drinks when we could find them, we made coffee one night to drink the next morning, anything we could to give us enough energy to run the next day.

But it wasn't enough.

________________________________________________

It finally got us.

All that running just made us fall into its trap.

Watching Will get picked up by the tentacles and dragged away from me played over in my mind. The last thing I remembered was the thing shoving some sort of gross tube down my throat. And now it just feels like I’m lucid dreaming. I saw my house, not the one in Hawkins but the one I lived in before we moved. My family was inside. I thought I was safe yet I still felt that feeling in the back of my brain. That’s when they attacked me.

The nightmares only got worse from there.

I felt myself slowly slipping away. Like a battery in my brain was slowly being drained. I fought to keep dreaming but I was getting flooded with the exhaustion and the want to give up.

Where was Will? I just wanted to be back in the sleeping bag with him. I wanted to feel his arms around me and his slow breathing in my ear.

I felt something being ripped out of me. My lungs felt like I was underwater. I felt someone pressing on my chest and I woke up coughing. I sputtered, gasped, and cried as I was lifted into someone's arms.

“(Y/n)? This is police chief Hopper. You’re safe now.”

He looked familiar. I racked my brain trying to think of where I saw him but I only had one thought on my mind. Hopper placed an oxygen mask over my face.

“Will?” I gasped out. My chest still hurt.

“He’s right here,” a woman said, she had him cradled in his arms.

I reached out to him. I needed to make sure he was still there. That this wasn’t a nightmare.

He grabbed on to my hand.

“Please don’t let go,” I sobbed.

“I promise,” he said.

And he didn’t.

Not when we were put into the car, not when we got to the hospital, not even when we were being treated. The adults just left us alone. We were put in two beds as close together as possible. At one point a doctor came in to take my vidals and tried to pull me away from him, I don’t know exactly why but I broke down. Another doctor came in and explained something about trauma bonding and PTSD.

My parents came to see me. Dad didn’t look too happy about me holding hands with a boy, but he still didn’t say anything. Apparently he quit his job at the lab.

Weeks passed by in an instant. The nightmares never stopped but they did get better. Will showed me castle Byers and we often went there after I asked him over the radio. His friends accepted the fact that I would hang around since I never wanted to be far from the Byers boy.

At one point Mike pulled me to the side, “Thank you for keeping him alive.”

“We kept each other alive.”

I never got to meet El. Which was a shame because I’d always wanted to meet a real life Jedi. But as time went on she became an afterthought. My mind stayed focussed on school and the next time I’d get to see Will again. I slowly managed to deal with my separation anxiety (as my therapist called it) and began doing my own thing most days, but I was still over at the Byers house as often as possible.

“Do you think they’ll stop?”

“Stop what?” I asked.

“The nightmares,” Will said, “Do you think they’ll stop?”

I sat the comic book I was reading down on my lap and sighed, “Maybe one day, for now I’m just so thankful that we’re alive they don’t bother me as much.”

“Can I say something?”

I looked in confusion, “You can tell me anything Will.”

“I think-” he coughed into his hand, “I think… I’m in love with you.”

I wasn’t surprised but was still left speechless. I scooted closer to him on the bed.

And we kissed.

After that, I knew there was gonna be no one else but him. No one else who will ever know what I went through, no one else who will know how I need to be held after I had a nightmare, no one else that can calm the racing thoughts I’ve had since November 6th, and no one else I would want to face the fear of something as new as relationships.

He was my safe haven.

#stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #will byers #will byers imagine #will byers x reader #noah schnapp #noah schnapp imagine #noah schnapp x reader #carnationcreation #netflix

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fishybehavior · 3 years ago

Text

Captured

- -- - -

Knock Knock Knock,

Three figures stood on the doorsteps of a modest home, in a modest neighborhood, in a modest town. Which was just a nice way of saying, a small house for even one person, in a cluster of other small homes, in a town that barely squeaked by that definition. As enough people passed through going to more important places that it brought the population count up to the minimum thousand that defined a town.

The three figures clothed in suspiciously matching outfits, suspiciously wearing all black in the middle of the day, were suspiciously being ignored by all passersby. Men like these never visited little towns like these, but everyone knew that they couldn't talk about this to anyone. And everyone knew that residents of the home were going to move out within the hour, leaving everything they owned behind. who will never be mentioned again by the townsfolk, no matter how well they knew their neighbors. They'd never be mentioned again. Unless the rumor mill ran dry, and then aging mothers would ponder and murmur what their neighbors did to bring three suspicious men to their little do-nothing town.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Three more hard knocks, somehow measured yet impatient. The door refused to let their knocks fall limp and hollow, like anyone else who ever knocked on the cheap flimsy piece of wood the owners called a door.

The second round of knocks broke the silence from within the house. The men heard the sound of shuffling, chairs squeaking, and the scraping noise of something solid shoved in front of the front door.

None of this seemed to impress the figures, with the one who knocked stepping aside with a disappointed sigh. "Boulder, would you mind?" Letting the tallest of them step forward.

"Of course Blizzard," He was tall and confident as he took the lead, his stance showing pride as he centered himself. Grinning at the opportunity to flaunt his strength, he knocked down the door with a fluid strike with his shoulder. Giving enough force to cause the chest to block the door to push aside as if it was an empty cardboard box. Revealing the dark interior of the home, as the curtains were drawn tight, and all lights extinguished.

“Think they left?” The Boulder grunted, taking the lead as they began to scan the seemingly empty house.

“Improbable.” The one who knocked answered, shorter than the brute in the lead but not by much. He stood ramrod straight, arms politely folded behind his back. “I didn’t register any sounds of a door, and we would have heard them slam it shut.” He pointed out as the three walked in with no qualms of disturbing the home they broke into, ruthlessly judging all aspects of every nook and cranny. They took their time as they walked casually into the living room. A few pictures of their targets decorated the bureau. The one who knocked picked one of them up, studying it as if they would reveal the location of their living counterparts.

“Let's split up. I don't want to stay in this dead zone any longer than necessary.” The shortest spoke. He was odd compared to the others. While his partners were put together and professional: he broke the all-black dress code with electric blue converse, his face always had a smirk instead of professional neutrality, and his eye not covered with an eyepatch twinkled with mischief. While one of them acted as the brain, and the other was the muscle, he was the wild card.

The other two nodded, and they separated. The biggest one went off towards the kitchen, the one who knocked stayed in the living room to look for clues, and the odd one started towards the bedroom.

Walking into the bedroom, he scanned the simple room for signs of life. Two simple beds were pushed into the corners of the room, from the clothes laid out and thrown about. One could guess that either the residents weren't very neat, or they caught them off guard like planned. His footsteps tapped as he slowly approached the beds. Crouching down he looked beneath them, and nothing. All he saw was a few boxes used for storage, a few crumbs for the rats, and a pair of shoes under one, with only one shoe under the other bed.

"Gonna be hard to run with only one shoe," He muttered, standing up. Humming in frustration, as there seemed to be no other place for them to hide. "Where are you?"

A crash from the other room drew his focus. Sprinting to the kitchen where it came from, he arrived just as his partner was cuffing one of their targets. He was shouting and struggling as hard as he could even though Boulder had a solid 50 pounds on him. He wasn't going anywhere.

Blizzard turned to him, unfazed by the struggle on the floor. "Did you find the girl, Storm?"

The other partner shook his head, looking at the boy, and noticed he only had one shoe on. "But she’s not wearing shoes. She couldn't have gone far."

"Hmm, possibly," he muttered, kneeling to the pinned target to look him in the eyes. "Where's the girl?" The captured target clapped his mouth shut, refusing to speak.

Boulder, who was pinning him down, put more pressure on him, "Answer the question."

"Hey, you two, take a step back." Storm one said, motioning for the others to pull back. He got close up in his target's face, his smirk widening to a smile.

"Now, you two have been running for a while, and it's finally over. We know you two have a real strong bond, and I know you're also going to miss her if we leave her behind. Besides," he said, his voice lowering to a more serious tone. "She's just a kid. Do you think she can take care of herself? All alone? Being hunted like a runaway dog?" His voice dropped again to a dangerous whisper, pushing his face even closer. "So save everyone the hassle and your baby sister the trauma, Kai. Where. Is. She?"

The target scowled at his words, refusing to give him any reaction besides seething anger. "Fuck off."

Storm's smirk fell into a scowl, unwilling to move till he got an answer. The hair on the back of everyone's neck stood up as the air became charged. He watched Kai squirm in discomfort as the air around him began to crackle menacingly around him.

"Storm! You're not going to get any grace from the director if the target is unnecessarily injured." Blizzard chastized, the static in the air dissipating at his words.

Storm stood slowly, "Fine," he snapped, stepping away from the boy. "Besides, I don't need to touch a hair on his head to get what we need." He muttered darkly, the other two sharing a glance as they watched Storm walk over to the window grasping the heavy curtain. "Since she's obviously not here, let us make sure she doesn't have anywhere to return to," And with a flash of lightning, he set the fabric on fire. Turning back to look at the boy's face, watching the sudden panic on his poor face. His eye's glancing at the floor beneath the couch with fear. Just a glance, but it was more than enough for Storm.

Walking to the couch he pushed it aside, inspecting the floor it appeared to be slightly off. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" He stood up and drove his heel into the floor, giving it two hard strikes, causing the floorboards to break and reveal the cavity beneath with a cloud of dust and debris.

He heard Kai start struggling again, throwing insults at him in an attempt to distract him from the hidden bunker. He paid no attention squinting through the dust, expecting to see a scared girl. But there was nothing, blinking he jumped into the hole.

"It's a tunnel! Blast! We may be able to catch her if we-

"Storm." Boulder interrupted with a growl, "She's long gone by now. The director wanted the boy; the girl was just a bonus. She's got no place to go," He gruffed referencing the fire which has spread to the walls, manageable now but it quickly gets out of hand. "I'll send agents to pick her up later." He gruffed as he picked up the squirming captive, a hood now over his head.

"But-"

"Storm. Boulder is right. We got what we came here for. No matter whatever you feel like you have to prove, we are done here." Blizzard said as he turned on his heel and walked out.

Grumbling Strom relinquished and jumped out of the hole. Watching his handiwork as now the home was quickly falling to the fire he started. His signature smirk was nowhere to be seen as he followed his partners out the door.

Leaving behind nothing but ashes and rumors as the four disappeared with no trace.

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authoressofdarkness · 4 years ago

Text

His Perfect Model - Chapter 1

Tony doesn’t need the money from porn shoots, Lord knows. It’s just a fun, extremely well paying side gig. But when he somehow acquires permanent... ah, custody... of the omega from his latest shoot, he knows he’s found his perfect model. And their fun together is only beginning. It may take him some time to convince Peter of that, but really, he’s not too worried.

Read on AO3 here. Notes, warnings, and Chapter 1 under the cut.

Notes: Hello hello! I'm back again! This is another random plot bunny that I've been fidgeting with for a while, but I was eventually convinced to get it up sooner rather than later, so here it is! This first chapter is very explicit, and it probably will be rather smutty most of the way through. Not sure how long this will be yet or what it will deal with, but just for transparency, there may be talk of past trauma that could extend to noncon, dubcon, kidnapping, human trafficking, and more. I'll tag each chapter accordingly as we get there, but none of it should be too explicit. Also, anyone familiar with GMSTS will be familiar with how I write ABO, but, as simply as possible, omegas have vaginas, alphas have cocks, and betas are what we would consider "binary." Again, I say so ahead of time just in the interest of transparency so I don't accidentally trigger anyone's dysphoria. Aaaanyway, if you've made it through my rambling and are still interested, yay! Thank you for being here, read on, and I hope you enjoy! <3

He tries not to judge.

That was probably why he gets hired for so many gigs. That and his insane amount of talent, but — well. Anyone could have that amount of talent with working with equipment if they tried. Now the fact that he builds his own… that is something special, he knows.

And, really, his technical prowess was what pays his bills more than anything, and is what made him rich. That, and his father’s name, but he tries to keep that part more under wraps. He’d turned away the responsibility that normally came with being a Stark a long time ago; but the intelligence and the mechanical prowess is practically in his blood. Unable to be rejected.

Anyway, the point is, he doesn’t need to do porn shoots; yet he still enjoys taking these side jobs. He always had, even on his way to the top, and he never made any attempt to hide it.

He doesn’t just shoot porn, of course. He’d lend his camera skills to anyone who asks and has the money to back up the offer. But of course the dirty jobs tend to be his favorites. Any alpha that says they don’t like to pose an omega how they like and look at their pretty pussy for any amount of time — and get paid the big bucks to do it — was certainly a liar.

And yeah, he takes some weird jobs included in that. But he doesn’t ask many questions except on the preferences for stylings of the job, and he’s kinky enough himself to never dream of judging the extremism of it, so… yeah, he makes pretty good money.

Today might be testing the extent of it, though.

The scene he is shooting today isn’t particularly extreme or out of the ordinary, on first glance. The omega was to be strapped to a chair with a wand tied in place to tease his pussy, and Tony is supposed to capture it in photo and on video as his torture goes through stages of multiple denials until he’s hypersensitive and begging to stop. The rest was put as to be determined based on the way it comes out.

It is far from the craziest thing he’s ever shot, and he planned it out easily enough, with a few of his favorite toys and set pieces, and he’s easily ready to go.

The weird part starts when the omega gets there.

It’s apparent immediately that this is no porn star. Aside from his experience in the field and the number of them he actually knew from it, Peter doesn’t carry himself like one. He is small and shy, with a lithe, gorgeous body, as Tony can see from the moment the two gruff alphas accompanying him strip him out of the poor excuse for a covering the omega had been wearing. All he was left in then was a slip, and it’s sheer fabric did nothing to hide the pretty nude form underneath.

Most people arrived in normal clothes and then would either change or strip.

The second thing was that he is already bound. Again, unusual. Clearly he hadn’t driven himself, of course, but… this must be a really elaborate scene for him to already be tied up. And the rope isn’t even the good stuff; it’s plain and grainy, certainly hurting his wrists and not at all his color. Tony always used rope that complimented the style of the scene and the person’s skin. It would be a waste not to.

Peter is gorgeous, and he could have used a lot of colors, admittedly. But the boy is delicate and pale — his pussy much the same in the photos — and so he’d chosen a light pink, one that didn’t wash out his already pale form and almost matched the pretty color of the soft bits he’d been paid to pay special attention to. It’s easy enough to match the background of the scene and the colors of the toys and rope together, thematically.

But that aside, all of the choices up to this point were strange. Stranger than he’s used to. But he makes it a point not to say anything. He’s not being paid to judge.

Even if Peter looks almost scared of the two men he came in with. Even if something rings off about this whole gig.

Tony isn’t stupid, but he doesn’t care much for the loss of business — at least — pushing for the truth would cause. So he pushes the thoughts down and finally approaches the omega.

“Hi, princess. Gentlemen.” He kneels down to be at Peter’s level. “My name’s Tony. I’m going to be the one taking your photos, honey. Can I get you anything before we start? A water? Bathroom break?” The omega silently shakes his head. “Alright. Let's get started then.” He holds out a hand to help him up.

Peter takes it, and Tony helps him to his feet and guides him over to the chair. “Now we’re going to start with some photos on the floor and make our way into the chair. I’m going to change out your ropes. I want you to leave the slip on, for now.” It’s white, a nice color to highlight the details of the creamy skin underneath, and doesn’t contrast with his ropes, either.

He cuts the bonds on the omega’s wrists and reties them in front of him with the pink rope, then has him lay down on the floor, propping his ankles up on the edge of the chair so the slip falls back to expose creamy thighs and stomach and the top of that tantalizing slit from above his pressed-together thighs.

Tony suppresses the urge to purr. “Perfect.” He moves behind the chair and starts taking pictures, ignoring the stir of arousal in his gut at the sight of the gorgeous omega as he does, throwing out occasional changes in position for him to follow.

Peter, for his part, is pretty demure throughout all the photos. He’s quiet — whether shy or afraid to speak, Tony doesn’t ask — but he doesn’t look sullen or make any faces to spoil the photos. He just complies with Tony’s directions, usually silently or with an occasional “yes, sir,” allowing Tony to direct and shoot him in a dozen different positions before allowing him to actually sit in the chair.

Feet on the chair. Legs crossed. Legs open. Spread your folds with your bound hands. One leg up, then the other. Knees bent. To your chest, pussy exposed wide without your fingers. Pull the sheer over it for a few shots. Hold the wand to it. Hands above your head. Hold still while I get shots of it resting there. Tied with the rope like it will be in the video. Lick the wand. Close your eyes and hold it there. Take off the slip. Repeat a few sultry shots without it.

Finally, he picks up the slip and helps the omega to his feet. “You can sit in the chair now. Put the slip back on for a few minutes.”

Peter nods and does as he’s told, and Tony watches, unable to help himself. He doesn’t find himself incredibly attracted to a lot of his clients, at least after so long of doing it, and what with his tastes being so specific… but Peter seemed to hit everything on the head, and god, it was a bit of a problem for him. He’s supposed to be setting up his camera right now, but instead he’s admiring the curve of the omega’s spine and his plump ass as he heads for the chair he’s going to tie him to and-

He snaps out of it. He’s going to shoot the video he’s being paid to shoot, and that’s it. No fantasies allowed. At least not until after when he’s jerking off to the memory of this.

He sets up his video camera, then returns to the little omega, waiting patiently for him to come to him so they could shoot the scene. Tony grabs some more of the pink rope, setting about tying the pretty thing down, wrists to the arms, ankles to the legs, back to the back, and the wand added with a loop through the middle tying his back to the chair, letting it sit perfectly against Peter’s pretty pussy. He tops it off with a blindfold, and purrs at the completed look.

“Perfect. I’m going to get a few more shots before we start filming. Just relax.” He can smell the omega starting to get slick, even just from the wand resting against his pussy. He definitely knows what’s coming. Even though it’s not Tony’s idea, or Tony’s omega, even, he’s getting slightly excited at the thought of being in control and being the one to do this to him.

He gets a lot more excited when they actually start.

He does. He can’t help it. From the moment he turns the toy on and watches the omega’s head loll back in pleasure, eyes fluttering under the blindfold, he’s rock hard in his pants, watching, smelling the omega’s slick as he goes from slightly wet to absolutely drenched and dripping down his own thighs by the third denial. And his moans… the way he meekly whines out for alpha and those little cries of pleasepleaseplease! when he’s on the cusp of orgasm… it’s pornographic, there’s no other word for how obscene and arousing it is, matched only by the way his lithe body squirms in his bonds, fabric around his eyes darkening from tears-

By the fifth denial, Tony is convinced he could probably come in his pants right now from this, if he let himself. He’s half-ass tempted to. The alphas that had brought him in have stepped outside, and Peter is slumped as much as he can be and panting in the chair, still blindfolded, just waiting for him to turn it back on. It would be so easy to rub himself to a quick and dirty orgasm out of any of their lines of sight.

He doesn’t. He turns the toy back on and lets his cock twitch and strain in his pants at the sound of Peter’s broken cry instead, finding this edging to be just as satisfying for him as how it’ll probably end for Peter. At least it’s fair.

One of the alphas that brought him in returns sometime around the eighth denial. He joins him off to the side this time.

“How many?” He sounds almost bored, eyeing the crying and squirming omega with minimal interest.

Tony tried to keep his voice even as he answers, despite the arousal threatening to roughen it. “When I turn it on again, it’ll be nine.”

“Good.” He nods, looking satisfied.

There’s a long moment of silence except for the pitiful whimpering of the omega. Tony breaks it again. “How many times am I supposed to deny him?”

“At least ten.”

“And then?”

The other alpha turns to him. “That depends on you, I think.”

“On me?” He can’t hide his surprise. The paperwork had said to be determined, yes, but he assumed it was to be determined based on what Peter could take. “What do you mean?”

The older alpha gives him a once over and purposefully scents the air before answering. “You want him. Don’t you?”

It’s not like there’s any way of hiding it, but his cheeks still tint pink. “Yes. Who wouldn’t?”

“Well, you have a chance at him before anyone else.” The alpha tilts his head. “How much are you willing to pay?”

“Excuse me?” Tony straightens. “Pay for what?”

“Him.” The alpha tosses his head in Peter’s direction.

Tony lets out a little breath. God, is it tempting, but he doesn’t need anyone else used whore, no matter how pretty he may be. “He’s pretty, I grant you, but I’m not paying to fuck an omega used by how many others before me. Thanks, but no thanks.” It sounded crude, but really. Why would he take a risk like that?

“He hasn’t been. He’s fresh meat.” The other male shrugs. “The shoot is for material to advertise him. He goes online for sale tonight… unless you pay me for him right now.”

Tony doesn’t need him to say it flat out to understand that his suspicions were right — there’s definitely something illegal going on here. And he has a choice.

But what kind of choice is it, really? He only knows two people’s names out of what is surely a ring, and in all likelihood, they’re fake names. These two alphas probably wouldn’t have shared this with him if they weren’t confident that he wants Peter enough to take it. And even the fact they were here and they did this shoot would be enough to get him in trouble, even if he turned it in himself. Not to mention the fact that they know his real identity. These two men or someone else would surely come back after him if he tried to turn them in — if they didn’t kill him flat out.

But if he bought Peter and kept quiet… it was better for him, better for business, and surely better for Peter. He couldn’t be as bad as whoever the boy would end up being sold to on the black market.

Tony meets his eyes. “How much?”

The alpha grins, pretending to think about it. “To have first go round at him? A couple grand. I’ll go back outside and let you have him until sundown, if you give us our material and the cash. To keep him? Well, I still want the photos for promotional material, but… a mil or two.”

Two whole million. For a pure, untouched, gorgeous, terrified omega straight out of his wet dreams.

Tony swallows. It’s hardly a decision. Not when he’s smelling how wet and ready Peter is sitting a few feet away and he knows he could have the money out of the bank as quick as a phone call. It’s not as if he doesn’t have it. “How soon do you want the cash?”

~~~

By the time Peter reaches the tenth denial, Tony officially owns him.

The two other alphas leave with a flash drive with the photos, the money in an account, and the promise that they’ll get the finished product of the video soon.

Soon, but not today, or the next couple, probably. He’s going to be a bit busy.

He fixes the angle of the camera so it’s situated mostly below the neck; the focus of it, of course, on the omega’s creamy open thighs, and the wet pussy forced open between them with the wand. Then he moves around, approaching the omega from the back while he’s slumped in the chair, panting and crying weakly.

He slides the blindfold off the omega’s wet eyes from behind, and Peter immediately straightens, tugging at his bonds. “H-hello? Alpha?” His voice is thick and raspy from crying.

“Hi, honey,” Tony purrs, setting his hands on the omega’s shoulders, enjoying the way he jumps at the touch as he runs them down his body. Deft fingers free the wand from its loop, and Peter sobs in relief.

“Oh alpha, thank you, gods- ngh- “

Peter starts to thank him for removing the wand, but chokes off with a broken cry when it returns, this time in the alpha’s hand. Tony smiles at the response as Peter’s head lolls back into his shoulder, turning it up a setting and shushing him gently at the sob that tears from Peter’s lips again.

He runs his other hand back up Peter’s body and settles it against his chin, grip firm on his throat, forcing him to keep his head back and on his shoulder. He drops his lips to the omega’s ear. “You can sob and struggle all you want to. I’m not going to let you come. And I’m not going to stop torturing you until you stop all of it. Don’t cry, don’t struggle, don’t beg me to let you ruin yourself. When you start saying please and thank you for the pleasure and for what I’m doing to you, and be a respectful, obedient omega, we might stop.”

“It hurts-“ Peter whimpers. “Alpha, daddy , please… I’ll do anything- oh- “ His face presses against Tony’s chest with a tortured cry. His thighs tremble viciously against Tony’s hand, back arching a little over the chair.

Tony feels a pang in his chest, but presses on. They have to finish this video before he starts going soft, at least. “You’ll sit still and be quiet. Here. I’ll even help you.” The hand not holding the wand in place comes up and covers his mouth, holding his head firmly against his shoulder. “Now be good, and I’ll make it stop.”

It takes time. Another few denials, kind of time, but it doesn’t matter. He has as long as needed. He’d given the omega an order, and he’d learn to listen, or they’d keep going all night.

Eventually, shaking and exhausted, Peter goes limp against him, eyes closed, pitiful little sobs audible but no words even trying to come from behind the alpha’s hand, still clamped on his mouth. Tony makes a triumphant little sound, and pulls the wand away. “Look at me, omega.”

Peter’s eyes flutter open, red and wet, fixing on Tony.

“Since you’ve listened, now, we’re going to be done. I’m going to take my hand off your mouth, and I want you to thank me. Don’t stop thanking me, and don’t say please, again, or we’ll stop until you can get control of yourself. Am I clear?” A nod against his hand. “Good.” He lets him go.

Peter takes a small breath. “Thank you.” His voice is barely a hoarse whisper.

“You’re welcome, omega.” Tony presses a kiss to his neck and lets the wand trail back up Peter’s thigh, suppressing a smirk at the way his breath hitches again. “Again.”

“Thank you, Alpha.”

“Good boy. Remember, don’t beg. Just be grateful.” He pauses, then slides the blindfold back on his eyes. He knows they want his full body in this shot, but he isn’t too keen on the possibility of the omega being recognized, either, knowing what he does now. Then he steps away just enough to tilt the camera back up, allowing it to get Peter’s face, and a small portion of his own neck and torso behind him.

When he returns, he takes his chin, turning his head toward the lens. “Look toward the camera, now. Think about how many people are going to see this, honey, and try show them how good you are. Let everyone see how pretty you look when you’re coming, just this once, before I take it all for myself.”

“Yes, alpha. Thank you, alpha.”

“Good boy.” With that, he turns on the wand again.

The omega’s body jumps visibly in the camera lens when the toy finds his swollen clit again. He lets out a broken little cry, but his hips don’t move, even as he starts to tremble again immediately. “Alpha- feels so good, Alpha, thank you- so close, Alpha, so close, thank you- oh god, oh- ngh- “

The force of the orgasm rocks his little body, and he nearly screams at the intensity before going completely limp in the chair again, clearly seeing stars, seeming to have blacked out.

Tony flicks the toy off and lets Peter’s head go, watching it fall to his chest as the omega pants and struggles to regain his senses. He walks over to the camera, taking it off its stand and coming closer.

He trails his fingers from the inside of Peter’s bound leg, up his core, pausing for just a moment to tease that oversensitive little bud, tearing a strangled cry out of Peter that he shushes, and then clear up to his face. He cups his cheek, stroking it as the omega’s unfocused eyes try to open under the fabric, clearly barely holding on to consciousness.

“You know you want one,” he murmurs, just loud enough to be heard. “So come get it.”

Then he shuts the camera off, setting it aside and turning completely back to Peter. It was time to get the omega home.

Taglist: @snowstark @serrabloodsong

Let me know if you would like to be added! <3

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mmimagine-40 · 4 years ago

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An Omega’s feelings

Alpha!Sam and Bucky x Omega!Reader

Friendship Omega!Peter Parker x Omega!reader

Sam , Bucky, and Y/n are mated. But this doesn’t going into much detail about it. This is more about a blooming friendship between Peter and the Reader.

Peter sighs quietly as he reads over the article on the tablet. ‘Omega trying to play hero’, an article about a fight Peter was in. During the fight Peter was to slow get a little boy fully out of harm's way. The little boy ended up hurt badly. Thanks to Peter being quick to get him to the hospital the boy lived. Peter , or actually Spider man , went and saw the little boy a few days later. He remembers the family crying and thanking him over and over. Even the little boy smiling so big in the hospital bed thanking him and saying how he was his hero. But still the article hit something deep within him. Even after knowing the boy is okay and after everyone telling him it’s not his fault, he had no control over what happened, it still bugged him. And seeing the things people are saying about it hurt worse. The number one thing , ‘If he was an Alpha that boy wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place’. The stigma that omegas are weak. They shouldn’t be heroes. Peter knows he shouldn’t let it bug him. It’s just Alpha’s who want to keep the idea that they have control and power over omegas. That omegas should be kept weak and only to please their alphas. In today's world that’s not how it goes anymore. Omegas are stepping up showing they can be strong. But there are still those few who try to hold them back and talk down about them. Peter keeps trying to tell himself that they are wrong and that what happened had nothing to with him being an omega. But a small part of him still thinks how much easier it would be to be an Alpha or a Beta. Especially as a hero. He’s the only one he knows who’s an omega avenger or works with shield. There were few but those ones that worked for shield didn’t really do much field work if at all. “Hey Kid, What are you looking at?”, tony asks, snapping Peter out of his thoughts. Peter quickly closes and turns off the tablet, “Nothing. “. He turns back to the papers in front of him. Even though he was quick , Tony still saw the article. The same one he read this morning. As Pepper had to calm him down from tracking the person who wrote it and destroying their life. Although he already has FRIDAY looking into everything about the article as soon as he stepped into the building. Tony started thinking what to do. When a light bulb went off. “Come on kid , let's take a break. There’s someone I want you to meet.”. Peter looked up at him curiously. He thought he had met everyone. He followed Tony to the elevator. “Friday, locate miss L/n please.”, Tony says. “Miss L/n is in the gym with Mr. Wilson and sergeant Barnes. Would you like me to notice them?”. “No , thank you. Just take us to the gym.”. The elevator then started moving down to the gym area. Peter was trying to wrap his mind around where he has heard that name before. L/n...L/n…..Y/n L/n? “Y/n l/n?”, peter asked out loud. Tony nodded, “I was going to introduce you to her tomorrow at the team dinner. But I think now is a good time.”. Peter stands there thinking over her fiel he read a few times. Y/n l/n was raised by her aunt from the age of 7. When seeking a place to stay when they left the home where her aunt's boyfriend kicked them out of, they went to what they thought was a women's shelter. But it was a cover up. Not much else is known about the aunt or what happened. All that is known is they were separated and sold. Y/n along with a bunch of other children were bought by Hydra. From what they can tell Hydra was collecting young omegas for something they were planning. But not much is known about what they were creating only that it failed and was abandoned. Y/n was trained and put through experiments. Not much is known about what they were doing with her either. After years y/n was able to escape. She stayed hidden, till Bucky went searching for her for help. She helps take down some of the biggest hydra bases. Other then that all Peter knows , from what Mr. Stark told him, as she was recovering from some trauma she was still going through. Between that and Peter’s schooling he wasn’t able to meet her yet. But he wonders why Mr. Stark wants him to meet her now. He is going to see/meet her tomorrow. By the time Peter snapped out of his thoughts, he and Tony were already walking into the gym. He could pick up noises of two people fighting before they walked in. And sure enough there was. Sam and Y/n , he made out from her pictures, sparing on the mats. Bucky stood to the side cheering Y/n on. As they get closer they watch Y/n thigh wipe Sam down to the ground. Bucky starts laughing as he claps. “That’s my girl.”, Bucky says handing her a water bottle as he pulls her into him. She blushes as she takes a drink. “I just went easy on her is all.”, Sam says still laying on the ground. Y/n rolled her eyes handing the bottle back to Bucky. She made her way to him holding her hand out for him. “Yeah, Sure. Whatever helps you sleep, babe.”. Sam huffs as he takes her hand getting up. He throws his arm around her shoulders. “I want a rematch.” , he says. Y/n rolls her eyes at him. Tony clears his throat getting their attention. “Tony, what’s up?”, Sam says. “Well me and the kid here were just taking a break and I thought this was a great time to introduce Y/n to Pet-.”. “Peter Parker?”, Y/n asked smiling as she looked at y/n. As he looked up at her that’s when it really hit him. The smell. She was an omega too! “You're an omega?!” Peter couldn’t stop himself from saying. His eyes widen as he realizes what he just said. Y/n just laughed nodding, “Yes , I am. “. “I'm so sorry. I’m peter par-....wait you know who I am?”, he looks at her confused. Y/n smiled and nodded , “Bucky and Sam talk very highly of you. Actually everyone around here does. The way they talked about you I was shocked to find out you were an omega too. I never heard so many Alpha’s talk so highly of an omega before. “. Peter's whole face reddened as he looked at Bucky and Sam. He never knew they talked about him like that or any of the others did too. “Pff ..I..we wouldn’t talk nicely about the spider.” Sam says . Peter and y/n laugh knowing he’s lying. “Mmhmm..That’s why when you two found out Peter was being bullied you two tried to go after the bullies with the rest of the team. “, y/n sasses them. “Only cause only me and Sam can pick on the bug.” , Bucky says. Y/n rolls her eyes at them. “Okay, Okay . Why don’t we leave the two to talk. Pulse I have something to disclose with you two.”, Tony says pulling the two away from the omegas. Y/n laughs shaking her head. “Ignore that. Those two care so much about you. They are just like older siblings.” ,Y/n turns back to Peter. Peter laughs at this. But he couldn’t help still think about her being an omega. “By that look I’m guessing you are still puzzled by the fact that I’m an omega.”, Y/n asked. “ Peter nods. “I’m sorry it’s just I’ve never met another omega hero before. And your files said you are a beta.”. y/n’s heart melts at him calling her a hero. She never felt that way before and thought that everyone still saw her as a threat. Even though her two mates try to convince her otherwise, it’s still hard by the looks she gets from some people. “When Hydra was using me as an assassin they made me take supplements to change my smell. I guess those files never got up dated from when I got here and went off of them. Which is surprising since now I’m mated with Sam and Bucky.”. “Mated?”Peter looks over her neck and sees two bite marks on either side of her neck. Y/n just nodded smiling at him. Peter felt like his face was getting even redder, “sorry I've been so in my head that i guess i’m not noticing things.”. “It’s okay. I’m guessing what’s bugging you is why Tony wanted you to meet me now. Do you want to talk about it?”, Y/n asked. Peter doesn’t say anything just looks up to the three alphas talking some ways away. Y/n turned to see what he was looking at , understanding . Sometimes Omega things can be hard to talk about in front of Alphas. “Are you hungry? Want to go get some lunch?”, Y/n asked him to turn around. Peter looked back to her nodding. Y/n smiled at him nodding her head to follow her. They make their way to the alphas. “ Hey , Me and Peter are going to go out to lunch. “ . Bucky was about to say they would join but Sam grabbed his arm shaking his head. The two need some time alone. “Okay , have fun.” Tony says.

Peter and Y/n head to a little sandwich cafe. They order and then sit down. They talk about some other things while waiting for their food. Peter was really enjoying his time with Y/n. They bonded over Star Wars. Y/n just started watching them and enjoyed them. Peter explained the things she didn’t get. After a bit their food finally comes out. As they start eating Y/n gets serious. “Okay now that I got you opening up, tell me what's bugging you.”. Peter sighs looking down at his food. Not sure what to say. “Is it that stupid article that came out this morning?”, She asked. Peter’s head snapped up. ‘She read that? “It’s okay Peter. I know how it feels to people judging you just because you're an omega. That article was wrong in everything they said. You being an omega had nothing to do with that boy being hurt. No one would have been able to stop what happened. In fact I don’t think any one , alpha beta or even another omega, would have been as fast thinking as you were to get that boy help.”, y/n says reaching out to take his hand. “Thank you, Y/n. Now I see why Mr. Stark wanted me to meet you. It’s nice to talk about the things that bug me as an omega with someone who understands. “.. Y/n nods, “I know how you feel. Alphas are quick to judge. But not all. For example everyone at the tower. They never talk bad about you or down about you. And like I said the way everyone talked about you , I really had no idea or even thought you could be an omega. “. They both let out small laughs. “Sounds like you have been through some bad alphas in your life.” , Peter says. “Yeah, I was an omega born into a family of Alpha’s and Beta’s. No omegas. They believed omegas were weak and useless. They didn’t want me. But not my aunt. She knew I could be something so much more. She was the first person to show not all Alpha’s see us as weak. And that we aren't weak. “, Y/n tries to smile but Peter could see it was broken. “You must miss her. “. Y/n nodded as she thought over the last time she saw her. “I think you should meet my aunt May. She sounds a lot like your aunt. She raised me after my parents death. She also taught me that omegas can be strong. She was why , once I got my powers I decided to use them for good. I don’t regret it. It just sometimes gets hard.”, Peter says. Y/n smiles at him nodding in agree. “I would love to meet her one day.”, Y/n says. They enjoy the rest of their meal talking about random things.

After they were done they made their way back to the headquarters. “Mr. Parker , Tony requested you back to the lab as soon as you got back. He said he needed to discuss something with you” Friday says as soon as they get in the elevator. They spent the ride in silence. Once they got to the lab , Peter turned to Y/n as the doors opened. He pulled her into a hug, “Thank you.”. “Anytime Peter.” , Y/n says as they pull away.

I really like this character I wrote. So look out for more pieces about her and her past. Maybe how she became mated to Sam and Bucky. -MM

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formerprincess · 3 years ago

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A tale written with fangs and claws || Chapter 58

Chapters: 58/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken, Mason Hewitt, Corey Bryant, Nolan (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Alpha Liam Dunbar, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Dunbar Pack, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Werewolf Theo Raeken, Alpha Theo Raeken, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut, Mates, Liam and Theo are mates, Top Theo Raeken, Bottom Theo Raeken, Top Liam, Bottom Liam Dunbar Series: Part 1 of Morning Dew Pack

Liam has to take care of a very important matter. And there is an invitation...

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Liam immensely enjoyed working for Ellie. She was happy to show him her craft, teach him things, but she was also very easygoing, and as long as she saw him trying, she loved him and was thrilled with his performance. Also, Ellie knew about the supernatural, so she completely understood when he looked at his phone after it chimed with a text, just in case his pack needed him. Not that anything had come up in the few weeks since Liam started working for her, but he liked to have this option. He didn't have to hide anything, and Liam realized how much better he felt with that.

When work was slow, they talked about a lot of things and Ellie taught Liam some things about supernatural creatures. She had laughed loudly at the story about the fairies in their garden and proceeded to elucidate the different variations of fairies and elves. There were plant fairies, water fairies, sun fairies, and almost that many elves classes. Just like there were different weres out there. Liam felt kind of silly he didn't know about any of this and one day voiced his thoughts. Was he simply ignorant or just blind?

"Neither. You're from a town where none of those things exist. Don't blame yourself for that", Carlie said. Carlie was one of Ellie's three best friends, the other two being Libby and Simone. All three were at Ellie's age and the friends had a weekly meeting at the shop where they sat together, talked about their lives, drank tea or coffee, and ate cookies. Carlie herself was a petite woman with short spiky hair and big square glasses. From what they had told Liam upon first meeting, they all were elves but Liam secretly suspected Carlie of being a pixie. She was cheeky, witty, always said what was on her mind, and her eyes sparkled with mischief. Needless to say, Liam liked her. "Yeah, but I also feel like I should know more." "You know enough. About Onis and Berserkers and Kitsunes and hell and other terrible things. You're twenty. Most guys your age know how to party and wear their base caps the wrong way." She bit into a cookie. Liam laughed. "My boyfriend likes to wear his caps the wrong way. He looks hot with it. But he also knows other things." "You have so much time to learn still. Don't worry. Even we old ladies don't know about any supernatural being out there", Simone comforted him and filled her cup with some more tea. She was the opposite of Carlie; tall, thin, and the quietest of the bunch. "I also agree with Carlie, you know about terrible things, traumatic things, things one should not know about. Especially not this early in life. But unfortunately, trauma is also experience. " Liam made a face. He sat down on the armrest of one of the chairs Ellie had placed around. "I just could have lived without some of those experiences. I mean, I could have gone without the experience of being homeless but hey. Maybe that's just me." Ellie put her arm over the backrest of her chair and turned to look at Liam. "When have you been homeless?" They talked about a lot of stuff but Liam's life story, she only knew parts of it. Good parts. He didn't want to deliver sob story after sob story. Liam had a good life, he knew some people had it worse. He cherished that. Now he exhaled loudly through his nose and then he told the four women how the hyenas came into town and caused havoc, how they finally destroyed the house and left the pack picking up the pieces. He ended with the move to the new house.

After he finished, his listeners were shocked. "You experienced all this and you still find it in yourself to be such a happy and polite young man?" Libby asked in awe. She was usually full of life and laughed loudly, her afro curls always bouncing around her round face, but now she was stunned. Liam shrugged. "What's the option? Turning bitter? It worked out in the end. Doesn't mean I will ever forgive them for what they did but no one died, at least." "You are a terrific young man, Liam", Ellie praised. He smiled softly. "Thank you."

The store door opened and Angela, Ellie's oldest daughter, stepped into the shop. She was a lawyer and used her breaks to visit sometimes. She greeted everyone happily and hugged her mother. Liam ran to get her a fresh cup and dragged another seat to their circle so he should sit and interact with the group. She squeezed his arm in a silent thank you as she sat down and accepted the cup. "What were you guys talking about? Is everything okay?" She asked good-heartedly. "Liam just told us about those horrible, horrible hyenas who destroyed his house" Libby filled her in. Angela raised both eyebrows. "I hope none of you were harmed." "Everybodys fine. We managed to get out in time before the house exploded. I'm just grateful I got my brother out of town before it happened." "Oh, you have a brother? I didn't know that." Angela loved kids and had specialized in family rights. She claimed she liked to help kids get justice. "Hm." Liam nodded. He walked to the cash register where he left his phone and while he walked back searched through his pictures. "Landon. He's almost ten." She showed her and the rest of the women the picture and they all cooed how much alike the brothers looked. "You said you brought his out of town? So I take he's usually living with you? Your parents must appreciate such a tight brother's bond." Angela was surprised but happy. Liam hesitated. "Landon's not my mother's son. We're half brothers. Same dad. Well, father. Sperm donor. My biological father is...he's a piece of shit. Alcoholic. Abuser. You get it. I didn't even know Landon existed until we met months ago by a pure coincidence. The circumstances don't matter but in the end, Theo and I took him home with us. Not a chance I would have let him stay with that man. So he lived with us in the house. Until I brought him to the lake to keep him safe. He lives there now." Liam missed Landon terribly but they were all still so young, they could not care for a child properly. Byron and Lana were perfect for that task and Landon also liked them. He blinked. "But enough of sad stories. Let's talk about something different, okay?"

****** He was cleaning up after Ellie's friends had left. After he had basically pleaded for a change of topic, the talk had revolved around lighter topics and ended on a very funny note. Now Ellie was in the back, doing some accounting, and Liam manned the front of the store. Angela was the only one still there. Now she stepped to the cash register where Liam was currently filling some jars with bagged candy. "I'm going to tell you something, not as a friend but as a lawyer, okay? And I need you to listen." She looked serious and Liam tensed. What happened? "Did I do something wrong? Is your mother mad at me?" "No. But listen." She tapped both index fingers on the counter. "You need your biological father to sign his rights over to you as fast as possible. What you said about him, having him in Landon's and your life is dangerous and not good for either of you. So you need to act fast. Have him make you Landon's legal guardian." Liam frowned. "I planned on doing so once I turned twenty-one. I wasn't aware I can do it now. Thought I had to be twenty-one." Angela shook her head strictly. "No. You need to do it now. In most states, anyone who is eighteen years old can become a guardian. Look, who tells you your father agrees to it in a year? He still holds guardianship and can make decisions for your brother. If he does not sign over his rights, he has so much time to cause harm. You said Landon's almost ten. That means another eight years of having the right to decide about medical procedures, school enrollment, the living situation. Even if Landon stays with you, all it takes is somebody checking who is the legal guardian for Landon. Could be school, could be a doctor's office, or if he gets in trouble it could be the police. If he's in the hospital. For eight years, you have to always fear for this to happen. If your father does not sign his rights over." "If he does not do it on his own, I will take him to court." Angela shook her head even more firm this time. "Honestly? They will ask you where Landon lived for the past year. Legally, what you and Theo did was kidnapping. If you manage to get a strict judge, that alone will cause you to lose the case. Landon will get sent back to his father and you're probably not even allowed to see him. I told you, I'm not telling you this as a friend. As your friend, I understand why you did it, as a lawyer I have to inform you about this likely possibility. The only chance you have is to have your father make you his guardian." It was a hard pill to swallow and Liam gulped. He had been naive, he realized now, and considered it all easier than it was. And maybe Landon had to pay the price for his neglect. "Thank you, Angela", he mumbled sadly.

****** Liam sat in his car and watched the house across the street. The sun was beating down and these barren landscapes made the air even drier. The dusty roads stirred up sand whenever a car raced by. Bleak. He cast a look at the passenger seat. All documents he needed were laying there, including a pen. Now all that Liam was left to do, was get out of the car, walk up to the door, and get a signature. Angela's stern talk from days ago had left Liam rallied. Once he was home, he had told Theo about everything and the couple had to admit them taking Landon out of the house had been a stupid move from the legal point of view. They had emotions get the better of them and now this potentially harmful situation had arisen. Theo had supported Liam in whatever was needed to ensure he would become Landon's guardian but the Beta was also not a lawyer and as much at loss as Liam.

Thank god for Angela. She had helped Liam set up the documents Emmet had to sign and those documents Liam grabbed now when he exited the car. Theo was not with him, his boyfriend didn't even know Liam was here. Nobody knew. This, Liam felt, was something he had to don his own. Maybe to find a deserving ending. Maybe to test his control. Or maybe this was stupid but then again, Liam could proudly admit he was doing stupid crap now and then. Stiles, according to his own claim, could show Liam a list.

He let out a shaky breath when he walked through the unkempt front lawn. Some new beer bottles and cans had gathered around the chair. Emmet was not there but Liam heard his heartbeat through the ajar window. You're not going to kill him, Liam. He does not deserve you getting your hands dirty. Liam knocked at the door. Inside the house, he heard some bottles falling and Emmet's slurred voice mumbling. Then scuffling steps and the door opened. And the young Alpha had to gasp and take a step back. "God, you stink!" The stench of booze, beer, and sweat made him almost gag. Disgusting, his man. "You. What do you want?" Emmet slurred angrily and grabbed the door for support. Liam turned his head away and took a few breaths. He willed his nausea down and turned to face his father. "How long have you been drinking, alkie?" "What do you care? Why are you even here? I don't want you." "Trust me, I don't want you either. But I need something from you and that means I have to come here. I would rather be somewhere else, believe that." "What? Want money for the little gremlin? I'm not giving you a dime." Emmet swayed on his feet. "I don't need your money. Go inside, before you fall flat on your face. I'm not catching you." Liam pointed inside the house. His father made a step towards him. "I should beat the crap out of you for talking to me like that and not stop til you're whimpering. Do you know who I am?" "A sorry excuse for a worm." Liam pushed his biological father by the shoulder and he stumbled back. As drunk as he was, he didn't stand a chance against an Alpha.

Emmet was taken by surprise but managed to catch himself at the table. He spewed a few curse words in Liam's direction before he shuffled around and fell on one of the chairs with the grace of a sack filled with potatoes. Liam closed the door and followed inside. His nose twitched and he wanted to retch at the smell and how dirty everything was but he kept himself from it last minute. This was not for him, this was for Landon. "How's your mother? Still wailing about how horrible I am? The slut should be lucky an honest man wanted her." "My mother is neither a slut nor are you an honest man. Don't mention her or I break your nose." Liam felt his anger building up. This was a test for his control and he might fail it. "Piss off! She's the reason you're such a weak bastard. Wonder what happened with the other one. He's just as weak. Cried whenever I hit him. Begged me to stop. Just like you. Oh, I remember you. Your mother screamed and cried when the ambulance came. I would have left you on the ground. Would have taught you a lesson." "I didn't need a lesson, I needed a father who loved me!" Liam slammed the papers on the table. "Here! Sign this!"

Emmet grabbed it after a few tries and dragged it over the table. He narrowed his eyes at the print. "What should I sign?" "Those are the papers for you to make me Landon's legal guardian. Sign and we're out of your hair forever." Liam balled his hands and felt his fingertips itch. His claws wanted to come out, his wolf furious at the man in front of him. Years of pent-up rage welled up and dared to spill over. He could kill Emmet and probably nobody would shed a tear. Laughter disrupted his thoughts. Emmet had left the papers on the table and laughed. It boomed in Liam's ears. His blood rushed through his veins. This man was mocking him. "If you really think I'm signing this crap, you're mistaken. Know why? Because you bastard want me to and you get nothing from me!" Emmet was still laughing but decided to underline his words by spitting in Liam's direction. It landed on the carpet between them. His claws almost broke through and he was ready to lunge but a voice in his head stopped him. No. Not like this. Not him. Maybe it was his wolf who was even stronger than Liam's human side burdened with IED but it was enough to make Liam pause. If you kill him, you'll never become Landon's guardian. Keep the little one safe.

Liam exhaled loudly through his nose and closed his eyes for a second. If even the animal inside him knew better, he would follow. Had to follow. All for his little brother. Landon didn't deserve a murderer for a hero. He opened his eyes and stared at Emmet. Suddenly Liam was seven again, cowering at the floor while his father screamed at him and walked closer and closer. He had put his arms up back then, in a feeble attempt to shield his body from the hits, and pleaded for the man to stop. Fear. Panic. Pain. But this time Liam didn't feel panicked. He was not afraid of this drunkard calling himself a father. Instead, Liam felt disgust and maybe even pity. This guy had nothing to live for. It gave the young Alpha a strange sense of calm. Out of the two of them, Liam was the better man. The better person. IED or not. The condition didn't rule him as much as it ruled his father, and Liam had quite a lot more on his plate.

He sat at the opposite of the table and took the pen in his hands. "And why wouldn't you? What's in it for you? Just to be petty? Just to put one over on me?" Emmet snickered. "It will bug you forever, that's good enough for me." He reached for a bottle of booze and uncorked it to take a swig. Liam glared at him. Then he put the pen down. His glance landed on his bracelet. The bracelet he shared with Theo. Suddenly, he got an idea. Maybe it was time to see if he could take a book out of Theo's playbook. He raised his head and crossed his arms on top of the table. "Okay, fine, don't sign. We will play your game. I will send Landon back to live here." Emmet eyed him. "You're bluffing." "Not at all. He will come and live with you again. But be aware. I will be around every damn day." "And then what? What will you do? Punch me? You're no match for me", Emmet sneered. "If you lay so much as one finger on him, and we both know you will, I will call the cops on you. They will come and they will arrest you for domestic violence. And yes, Landon may be sent to foster care but I will make sure you will be sent to prison. There is no booze, no beer, no schnapps in prison. But the people there love people who abused kids. I know people and I will make sure every inmate knows what you did to two little boys. That's what will be awaiting you. No freedom to get wasted like you're doing now every day. Think about it." His biological father still eyed him suspiciously. "No way you would ever let him live here again." "To get you locked up, I would do other things. Landon too, by the way. All to make sure you will rot in hell. He's tough, he will take whatever you might to do him. Maybe I will move in as well. One happy family. With me comes my boyfriend, obviously. By the way, how's your hand?" He looked at Emmet's fingers wrapped around the neck of the bottle. Father and son stared at each other, accessed each other until Emmet snorted. "Your mother raised you better than this. I call bluff. You don't have it in you, weak shit!" A cold, dangerous smile appeared on Liam's face and he leaned closer. "You call my mom a slut and other horrible names, yet you forget I also inherited DNA from you. We both have IED. Wanna find out how much more alike we are? If I'm as cruel as you are?" He gave his father a death glare. "You want to start a war? I'll raise you World War III. Your choice. Either don't sign and feel the whiplash or sign and you will never have to see us again." Liam placed the pen on the papers and waited. His heart was thundering inside his chest. That was not his usual way to carry on negotiations and he had no idea if it worked. Theo made it always seem so easy and pulled it off without a hitch. But Liam knew he was not that good. Emmet grabbed the pen and fiddled with it. He scribbled his signature at the marked fields, an unruly chicken scratch but his signature nonetheless. "Get the hell out of here. If I see you on my front lawn again, I will shoot you." Liam's hand shot towards and he pulled the documents towards himself after the last signature was done. "I have better people to be around than you. Give your liver a break once in a while." He got up just in time as Emmet's hand shot towards his throat. The alcoholic missed by far and his hand thumped on the table. "Fuck off, you piss baby!" The sound of the splintering bottle hitting the wall was the last thing Liam heard from his father when he now left the house without so much of a goodbye.

It only dawned on him what just had transpired when he was in his car and already on the road. Liam stopped at a red light and breathed a sigh of relief. "Holy shit!" He had faced Emmet Dunbar, that one man he hated with a burning passion, the one who had made his childhood horrible and hurt Liam, Ilona, and Landon so much. Against what he had wanted to do to him, Emmet had left the meeting completely without a cut, Liam was incredibly proud of himself. Even though now, that everything settled, his hands shook and his heart raced, adrenaline pumping through his body. That had the potential to go so, so wrong and yet Liam stood tall. He glanced at the papers safely sitting on the passenger seat. Not only had it worked out without Liam losing his temper, but it had also really worked and he was Landon's guardian. The threat of Emmet interfering with their lives and taking Landon away again was erased. Liam wanted to cry.

His phone chimed and Liam almost hit another car. "Jesus Christ!" He accepted the call over the speaker. "Hey, Theo." "Hey. Say, just out of curiosity, where the hell are you? Nobody knows where you left. It's not like you to disappear like that. What's going on." Liam bit his lip. "I was at Emmet's." "Emmet? Emmet Dunbar? Your father? What the fuck! Is he still alive?" "Shh, let me explain. I told you about what Angela said and I went to get his signature. Yes, he's still alive, I didn't touch him. Even though I wanted to." He heard Theo closing a door and birds singing in the background. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have accompanied you." Yeah, good question. Liam didn't know for sure. "I guess...I needed to burn this bridge alone? Prove to myself I can stay calm around him. I'm not like him in any capacity and while I know you and I absolutely adore you for always being there for me, this was something I had to do alone. You understand? Maybe for my own peace of mind, I dunno." Theo was silent for a few moments. "Yeah, I understand", he finally confessed. "Did it work, at least?" A smile broke out on Liam's face. "Yep. Have all the signatures I need. Thanks to you as well." "Thanks to me? What did I do?" "Well, let's say you're a good teacher, even if you don't want to be one. I'll tell you everything once I get home, okay?" Theo laughed. "Okay. Love you." "Love you too."

****** Landon's face appeared on the screen in front of Liam and as soon as he had a picture, the child waved animatedly. "Hello, Liam!" Videocalls were a good way to keep in contact even if they could not see each other in person. Liam happily waved back. "Hey, Landon, how are you?" "I'm good. Zack and I built a fort." Landon launched himself into a story of all the things his best friend and he had done. Lana and Byron appeared in the background of the call but they simply waved and let the boy talk. Liam put his chin in the palm of his hand and listened with a smile. Seeing Landon so carefree and hearing about him being a normal child was all he ever wanted. It came nine years too late and Liam knew his brother must have been affected one way or another by his upcoming but now that he was out of Emmet's claws, Landon was in for an amazing life. After he was done, Landon asked about Liam's life in Seattle. Now it was the older's turn to talk about college, his pack, the fairies (Landon loved this part and he asked thousands of questions). Theo had joined Liam for a while and laughed softly. "He's like you", he whispered into his mate's ear and kissed Liam's cheek before he disappeared out of the frame again after a wave in Landon's direction. Liam chuckled but then he finished his story. "One more thing, Landon. You know we took you away from Emmet, right?" Landon shivered at the mention of his father's name but nodded bravely. "Do I have to go back? Please, don't make me go back!" "No, no, hey, I would never. That's why I'm telling you. He signed all the papers. I am your guardian now." Lana and Byron appeared left and right from Landon. "He did? Oh, how wonderful, Liam." Lana was touched. Landon scrunched his nose. "What does guardian mean?" "It means Liam is responsible for you now and Emmet can never hurt you again. Say you want to go on a class trip, for example, the school has to ask Liam and not your father anymore", Byron patiently explained to him. Landon considered. "So, he can't get me?" "Never again. He's out of your life for good", Liam promised firmly. His brother beamed at the adults. "That's amazing!" "Yeah, it is." Lana stroked through his hair. "But, Sweetie, you have to get ready for bed now. Tomorrow's a school day." "But I want to keep talking to Liam. I'm not finished." Yes, Landon could be stubborn. "We can talk tomorrow, Laddie. After school, yeah? Now you have to get ready for bed. Sleep is important. I'm going to bed now too. Theo does too. See?" He rolled to the side and tilted his screen so Landon could see Theo brushing his teeth with the bathroom door open. Theo waved. It wasn't that he actually wanted to go to bed but he had tried some licorice Mike had brought home, not from Ellie though, and after eating it Theo claimed to have a bad taste in his mouth. Landon huffed. "But we talk tomorrow", he insisted. "Werewolf promise." Liam raised his hand solemnly to swear. "Good Night, Laddie." "Good Night, Liam. Good Night, Theo." Landon stood up. "Good Night, you two," Lana called out and then disappeared with Landon.

Byron sat on the desk chair. "I know he signed but did the meaning with your father go well?" "It did. As well as possible with this man. I was pretty surprised at my control. At a certain point, I was ready to snap but somehow my wolf made me pull back and I got more level-headed." "That's the Alpha in you. Even if our personality or our urges say otherwise, sometimes the Alpha part can balance it out to keep the peace. It is impressive how well you learned to work with your wolf." The praise was nice because Liam tried. Sometimes it felt like all he did was running in circles but then he proved to everyone (and mostly himself) he was a good person and improving. "Speaking of Alpha and peace, Liam I forwarded an email to you just now. Have a look at it, maybe Theo should do so as well."

Theo had dried his mouth and now walked over to lean on Liam's chair while Liam opened the mail Byron had forwarded. It included a word document and when Liam opened it, it turned out to be an invitation to a meeting held in a hotel in Seattle. "Liam, part of being an Alpha are pack politics." Liam whined. "I told you I'm not good at that! What is this? An Alpha congress? I can't go there." "Maybe let the man talk before you cut and run", Theo suggested and smoothly avoided the contact between Liam's elbow and his stomach by moving aside. "I know what you said, Liam, and this is no pressure but I wanted to inform you. The invitation is indeed for an Alpha meeting. No congress, just a few Alphas coming together and talking." "About what?" Liam saw himself on a stage, in front of hundreds of Alphas, a whole auditorium filled with them, and making a fool out of himself. People would laugh. It would be a degrading experience. "Life. This and that. No one is expecting a speech from you, Liam. See I've been to a few of those meetings. There are only packs living close by attending these meetings. They're mostly boring. You stand around, do some small talk, maybe eat a quick snack, and leave. But they can also help you get a better idea of which packs are around yours. In the area. It can be interesting, if only so for scouting. But, of course, that does not mean you have to attend. It's no declaration of war not to go there. Just like you cannot declare war by saying a wrong word if you go." "Those are all Alphas, experienced Alphas probably, and then I show up. Junior McJunington. What will they think?" "Screw what they think. So what if they're older or more experienced? You're you and that's awesome" Theo passionately declared. "Thank you, Dr. Seuss", Liam hissed. He frowned and scratched his cheek. "I have to think about this." "As it is your right. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with." "If I should attend, there will be no problem? I can just show up there?" "The invitation is addressed to the Alpha of the Morning Dew Pack. They seemingly didn't get the memo about the change in our pack but that doesn't matter. The invitation is for you, not for me. Actually, no Beta can attend the meeting. And no Alpha mate either unless they're specifically invited." "I have to go there alone??" Liam shrieked. In his mind, he had Theo by his side. Maybe Brett and Caden since both could be real charmers and have intellectual conversations. Corey would have also a good match despite him being as insecure as Liam in those settings. Byron rubbed his hands together. "Those are the rules. But I know, alone or not, you will be just fine. Should you go or not. This is not something I can do for you. The decision is all yours. Just one more thing, to be fair. you will be the youngest in this group. By a few decades, I suppose. That's why I don't think they will pay you much attention. They're just curious." "Great", Liam said sarcastically. "Given my track records with strange Alphas so far, this will be a marvelous experience."

****** "I don't think you should go. What if that's a trap?" Tim worried about Liam's safety. Liam had informed his pack about the invitation right the next day and after classes, they were sitting in the living room and discussing this. "I think he should go. Just to check the others out. Maybe he can make allies?" Brett opposed. "I also think Liam should go. Byron said he has been to a few of those meetings. I don't think it's a trap", Sadie tried to dissolve Tim's worry and he gave her a grateful look. "The two strange Alphas I met in the last year have both tried to kill me. You understand I'm not keen on walking in a room full of unfamiliar Alphas?" Liam questioned. "I think that should be the reason you go", Ever stated, "to show all of them you're not afraid. If they plan on messing with you, you will look them in the eye. Maybe then they won't underestimate you." "I just don't see the purpose of those meetings. From what Byron said it sounds pretentious." Corey looked peeved. "Oh, it is", Lori confirmed. "But they are not that rare. I don't think you have to be scared, Liam." She offered a genuine smile. Liem returned it cause he knew she was trying to make him feel better. "What do you mean by not rare?" "Well, they're not, if you have Alphas of the old school" Brett took over from his sister. "Modern Alphas just meet up, talk, like Scott with Satomi. They don't even call it an Alpha meeting and send out fancy invites. Those are practices of the old guard, mostly well-esteemed werewolves who love to use those meetings to gossip. Ever seen those movies with scenes in Gentlemen Clubs? Country Clubs? Those are the people to expect at those meetings. Byron's not that far off when he says they won't spare you a look. You're - and don't take this the wrong way - not their type of person, if you know what I mean." "The Alpha from my parents' pack also attends such meetings. They always gush about the delicious and expensive things they eat there. But this woman also has a rich husband and considers herself playing tennis and golf as labor. So, pretty much pompous, entitled snobs", Sadie said. Maya rolled her eyes. "I also know about those meetings but I'm so glad I never met an Alpha going there before. Eh, no offense, Liam." Liam groaned. "Okay, just the danger of becoming the new hot gossip for the elite wolves around. Yeah, I think I'll pass." "I would still go", Caden chimed in. "It's a good opportunity to get to know how many are around. Do you know that? They invited Byron so their radius must be quite large but how many packs live between Seattle and the lake? Wouldn't it be good to know in case we need help? What if the hyenas come back? Having some werewolf allies would not be that bad."

He had a point. They all did. Liam was still torn. For once because he was afraid of making a fool of himself, then for the reason not to offend another Alpha and start a war, and on top of it, he now came to the realization just how different those Alphas seemed to be. He looked at his boyfriend. "What do you say?" Theo had listened to everything and had made up his mind. "You should go. For all those reasons. Byron said there will not come anything bad from it. He would never let you go to any event if he feared something might happen to you. If he says you can go, I believe him. And yeah, it is a good way to get information. Maybe there are not that many packs around. But you will only find out if you go." Since most of his Betas said he should go, he considered. Maybe it was a good idea indeed. Only one problem: "If it's that high class, what should I wear?"

Fifteen minutes later Liam regretted that question. He stood in his bedroom while Theo, Brett, Mason, and Sadie sat on his bed. Sadie throned between the other guys, one leg crossed over the other, and looked like she was having the time of her life. Liam was the poor victim and had to model several outfits for the self-proclaimed fashion experts of his pack (he knew Theo could dress good but at this point, Liam felt betrayed) who all had other ideas of the perfect outfit. "That dress shirt is perfect for you. Not too out there but also not too normal" Mason praised Liam's current outfit consisting of black pants and a dark grey dress shirt. Liam hated it. It was not even one of his shirts but one of Theo's Mason had just grabbed. His boyfriend had not protested (see, there was the betrayal) but now shook his head. "That's not the outfit to go." "Absolutely right. Liam, grab the one I hung there." Sadie pointed at the clothes and Liam grumbled but grabbed them and stalked into the bathroom. When he emerged again, he was wearing jeans, a blue slipover with a white button-down shirt underneath. Liam felt like he was a kindergartener dressed by mommy. "Now you look like back in Devenford. Then again, maybe this private school flair is exactly what you need", Brett snickered. Liam glared at him and Theo scoffed before he handed Liam the third outfit. Liam glared at him too for good measure and disappeared into the bathroom again.

The outfit Theo had picked for him, Liam didn't even know where he got it. He had never seen Theo wearing this particular combo. Cloth trousers, a polo shirt and a sports jacket over it. "How the hell do you get this? And why do you get this?" He asked once he emerged from the bathroom. Interesting, Theo became a bit sheepishly. "I got it for some occasions? Maybe a job interview?" "This is so not you." Liam eyed himself in the mirror. "This is so not me either. What were you thinking, guys? None of your outfits were good." "You wanted us to help you", Mason defended himself. "I wanted to get suggestions, not become your dress-up doll", Liam replied sharply. Sadie sighed. "You're being difficult. Don't you want to make a good first impression?" "A good impression as himself, shouldn't that be the goal?" Caden had walked into the room and crossed the arms in front of his chest. He looked at Liam. "You look strange. Actually, you look like me whenever my aunt visited the family. Horrible." "How do you look when your aunt visits?" Brett had to know. Caden pulled out his cellphone and searched a bit before he handed the phone over. Brett snickered. "Okay, thanks for the laugh. So dapper, oh my. One would not think that since you're almost only ever wearing more casual clothing." Sadie giggled. "Does Ever know you can look like that?" "As a matter of fact, yeah. She doesn't like it. I can relate. But my aunt is quite old-fashioned and conservative. She came to town, we dressed like that, covered up our tattoos, the whole shebang. We just never liked it. Liam doesn't like dressing up either." "Tell me about it. That's a topic we have had since we're friends." Mason rolled his eyes. Liam wanted to glare at him but if he was honest, his best friend was right. So he raised his shoulders. "I have dress shirts. I just happen to like t-shirts and jeans more." "Hence why I think you should wear that", Caden stated. "You are not like the type of Alpha who wears expensive clothing and the latest brands. You're Liam. We like Liam. Why do you want to be somebody you're not? Just to impress people you probably will never see again after that one time?" "That's true." Even Theo had to admit that. "I know when you're comfortable and you never are when you dressed up to a certain extend." "I still think if the occasion calls for it, you should make an effort", Sadie insisted. "It's not about what you want; it's about what our Alpha wants. Liam goes to the meeting and Liam has to represent himself and our pack. He should do it as his truest self possible", Brett retaliated. She pouted.

But then she got up from the bed and walked towards Liam's open closet. She dug around there for a while before she pulled out a pale blue t-shirt. It was a new one, Liam had only worn it twice and he loved how soft the fabric was, it felt good and comfy on his skin. Sadie handed it to him. "The color makes your eyes pop. That and that one light blue jeans you have. If you walk into a room full of strange werewolves, bright colors make you look friendlier." "That's Sadie. If you can't dress them up the way you want, at least get into chromatics", Brett praised.

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Quite a Liam-centric chapter but then again he's the Alpha and Landon's brother. And he had to make decisions. Now the question is, what will happen at the meeting? What do you guys think? All I can say is, I'm excited about the new chapter.

#Thiam #A tale written with fangs and claws #alpha!liam #My writing #Morning Dew Pack series

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themetaphorgirl · 5 years ago

Note

Please deep dive into your thoughts on Alex, I don’t see enough talking about her

ALL RIGHT Y’ALL WE ARE GETTING INTO IT

So before Spencer Reid got fast-tracked to the BAU at the age of twenty-two, Alex held the record. She joined the bureau with a double major and a PhD (hello, Dr. Blake) at the age of twenty-four. So she’s brilliant. Definitely the second smartest person who’s ever joined the team outside of Spencer. And she clearly did really well for herself, she was twenty-four-years-old and she worked on the Unabomber case, and apparently quite a few other high-profile cases.

And then Erin Strauss completely fucked her over.

Someone arrested the wrong suspect in the Amerithrax case, and Alex was blamed for it, and Erin Strauss let her take the fall for it. So Alex went from being a prodigy in the bureau to resigning in disgrace and going back to civilian life.

And then we have her personal life. Her mother died at some point, and so did her brother Danny, who was killed in the line of duty. And she couldn’t handle going back home to see her father and her younger brother Scotty, so she just couldn’t bring herself back to visit.

And she got married at some point, and James Blake is clearly a great guy, and they had a baby.

Alex spent nine years as the mom to a critically ill child. That is so much. And it was a neurological disorder with no name. She says “he kept growing despite his disease,” so most likely he was diagnosed shortly after birth.

She also says “the last time I lay beside him he was almost as long as me.” Alex’s entire field is linguistics, that’s not an error. Not tall, but long. Most likely Ethan never walked. Maybe he never even spoke. And she says “he was ready to say goodbye.”

That is a lot of trauma to unpack.

And when he died, she was probably adrift. She didn’t have a child that needed her anymore. And that’s probably when James started traveling with Doctors Without Borders, and that’s probably when she went back to working at Georgetown as a professor.

And that’s when she met Spencer.

They don’t say exactly how that situation worked out, but he guest-lectured in her class, apparently on numerous occasions. And she’s still quietly grieving for her son, and this twenty-something kid in a sweater vest comes bounding into her lecture hall, and he’s brilliant and he read her thesis on metaphors and he’s so excited to speak to her class.

So they struck up a friendship before she even started at the BAU. And maybe Spencer speaking to her class was what made her reconsider coming back to the FBI. And she has something to prove, and nothing to lose, so she comes back.

And she gets to stare Erin Strauss down, and Erin is clearly embarrassed and apologizes, but this isn’t something fixed with an under-the-breath apology in the middle of the bullpen, Erin Strauss ruined her career to save her own ass.

And while she gets off to a bit of a rocky start with Penelope “I Don’t Like Change” Garcia, she clicks really well with everybody else, and finds her spot on the team. And she’s tough as nails (”I’m practically bulletproof” “Yeah, I heard that about you”) and she mumbles rap lyrics when she’s stressed and she speaks a million languages. She gets pretty close to JJ and Rossi especially.

She doesn’t put a picture of Ethan on her desk. At Garcia’s Day of the Dead party, she brings a picture of her mom instead.

And Spencer bonds with her in a way that he never bonded with anybody else on the team. They do timed crossword puzzles together. He fusses over her when she gets shot. She understands his references and he can talk without explaining himself. (One thing I’ve noticed in seasons 8 and 9 is that he places himself next to her a lot, whether in they’re in a car or a conference room, he tends to gravitate towards her.)

She sees Ethan in him, what her boy could have been, and she sees a second chance to save her son. And she also sees herself, this brilliant kid, and she wants to protect him the way no one protected her when she got thrown under the bus.

When he needs someone to drive him to the phone booth, he picks her (even calls her by her first name) and she’s concerned about him she doubles back, tires squealing and tells him she’s worried (and he goes wide eyed, his voice pitching up like a kid caught by his mom in a lie) and she can tell when she needs to take a step back, and not only does she give him space, but she doesn’t give away his secret.

(also, can we talk about her little pep talk when he’s doubting himself?

“What if she doesn't like me?“

“Why wouldn't she like you?“

“Because I'm weird! I slouch, my hair's too long, my tie's perpetually crooked-”

“Your hair's fine.”

“Really? Thanks! My mom thinks it's too long, so does my Aunt Ethel.”

“Well, you're not dating them.”

Such a sweet moment.)

When Maeve is missing and he’s so beside himself he can’t think straight, he asks Alex, out of everybody on the team, to help him sort through his thoughts. And when Maeve dies she blames herself.

And in Texas he pushes her out of the way, he takes the shot that could have killed her, and she panics. She’s usually cool and calm and collected, and she loses it completely, and she calls him by her son’s name because not only does she see Spencer as her son, but she failed again, and Ethan is dying in her arms for the second time.

She’s the first one there at the hospital. She’s usually so calm, and JJ is the one who is talking sense into her. And while we see Garcia with him in the hospital, particularly for the really big scare, she was the one with him when he woke up, and she was the one who took him home.

Spencer was the only one she ever told about Ethan. And I think he understood that her heart just wasn’t in it anymore. She’d proved all she had to prove. She was ready to go home to James. And I think she found her own closure. She couldn’t save Ethan, but she saved Spencer.

We don’t hear anything else about Blake after the season 10 opener. She transferred to Boston, and she’s teaching. And I’m mad as hell that we didn’t see her during Spencer’s prison arc, because she sure as hell would have been there with the team, fighting to get him out. But then again, we didn’t see or hear much of Morgan in that arc either.

But yeah. Alex Blake is a fantastic and complicated character and she is a QUEEN and she was a major asset to the team’s work, and she loved Spencer as much as he loved her.

in conclusion, we stan Alexandra Miller Blake in this house

#Anonymous #alex blake is a queen #it is i the queen of the alex blake stans #alex blake

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xddaengx · 5 years ago

Text

Welcome Home: Safety

⚬ Pairings: Hoseok x Reader ft Jimin

⚬ Genre: Hybrid AU | Romance | Angst |

⚬ Warnings: Mentions of Trauma | Nightmares | PTSD | Mentions of Domestic Abuse |

⚬ Word Count: 4.4k

⚬ Summary: Adopting Hobi was a complete accident - well maybe not an accident - but you definitely did not expect to walk home from the adoption fundraiser with a ex-police dog in tow. But maybe having Hoseok around was going to be a blessing in disguise.

⚬ Author’s Note: This is apart of the Welcome Home Series. This is the first instalment - and there will be many more to come! Let me know what you thought and who you think will be next. (it should be pretty obvious)

“We’d like to welcome all the participants in todays fundraiser. All of the hybrids that are up for adoption today have been rescued and rehabilitated over the past two years, and have finally decided they wanted to find new families.” The old woman says into her microphone, the hybrids standing around the stage waving to the audience - some definitely more excited that others.

You look over each of the hybrids, some cat and dog hybrids as well as some exotics standing on the sides of the stage interacting with the people that approach them to ask about adoption.

“You look a little lost.” A voice whispers from besides you as you look down at your handout with a photo and small description of each of the hybrids up for adoption.

“Yeah…A little bit. I really didn’t think I was going to come today but my doctor thinks adopting a hybrid could be really beneficial for me.” You say back glancing at the older man besides you quickly before turning back to the handout. “I don’t even know what kind of hybrid I’m looking for.” You whisper more to yourself than anyone, sighing as you drop your hand holding the handout.

“Well it sounds like you need more of an active hybrid, but not one that is overly excitable - oh and one that isn’t too standoff-ish.” He says taking the handout from your hand looking over it quickly before letting out a big grin. “And I know just the one.”

The man moves quickly, waving for you to follow him. He shuffles over to a small tent at the back of the fundraiser, two straight faced hybrids standing underneath it.

“Hoseok. Jackson. Meet…” You quickly give the man your name, and he repeats it softly, giving the two hybrids an encouraging smile as they both introduce themselves back.

“Our lovey friend here is interested in adopting a hybrid - and judging by what she was saying she needs someone just like you, Hoseok.” The old man can’t help but nudge the black haired hybrid towards you, the two of you quickly taking steps apart.

“Hobi here is one of my old partners - we spent most of our days stuck in that ragged old police car, but we still managed to have fun. Didn’t we?” The man chides, Hoseok nodding along as he continues to look over your appearance.

“You were in the police force?” You question, the old man nodding quickly.

“I still am - but our hybrids tend to get worn down quicker, it’s a tough job for them - most of them retire by the age of twenty five. Hobi, here was one of our best. I wanted to make sure he got the best home possible, so I thought I would bring him here - see what kind of family he was looking for.” You nod along to the mans answer, looking over to the large scar running from the bottom of the hybrids chin, disappearing under his collar.

“That’s understandab—“

“I like her.” The hybrid cut you off, looking over to the man standing besides the two of you. “She has a good smell.” He adds, though he could smell something mixed in - a smell he was very familiar with - Anxiety.

“Ok - well maybe we should leave the two of you alone for a moment…to discuss things.” The man and the second hybrid scuttle away the two of them sending you an encouraging smile distracting you as hoseok takes a few steps closer, inhaling deeply.

“What are you doing?” You shriek, jumping away from the hybrid - his own reflexes making his jump back as well, straightening his back.

“Sorry…I just needed to make sure.” He says quickly, putting his hands up in defence turning to grab some papers off of the table. “You smell like sunflowers and honey.” He says handing you the papers and a pen, before adding, “Though, I can smell some fear - you don’t like being in public places, do you?”

“No, not particularly. What are these?” You look down to the papers in your hand taking the pen from Hoseok.

“They’re expressions of interest. If you are interested in adopting me, you need to fill one out. Mr Bang will look through all the forms at the end of the evening picking the top three and then let us decide who we want to be with more.” Hoseok explains, pointing to the pile on the table - the pages already covered in ink. “Most of those people are inadequate - they either want the status or the skills of an ex police hybrid. But you…You are much better. I like you much better.” He adds quietly, watching expectantly as you read through everything on the paper clicking the end of the pen a few times before looking back to him.

“It’s only if you want to though…I understand if you don’t want to - we can be a bit intimidating.” You sigh and give him a small smile before beginning to fill out the forms, taking notice of the small smile that blooms on Hoseok’s face as you focus on the forms, his smile disappearing as you lift your head to look back at him as you hand him the forms - completed.

“We will be in touch very soon.” Hoseok says leaving you in the dust as he rushes to the old man standing across the grass oval, handing him the forms with hurried words - the old man sending you a big smile in response.

It’s been three days since the adoption fundraiser and you haven’t heard anything about the ex police hybrid and the happy old man. To be completely honest - you were disappointed.

Hoseok - as weird as he was - left quite a nice impression on you. He left you with a feeling of warmth you hadn’t felt in years. His smile haunted you as you wondered what went wrong.

Maybe they just chose someone more qualified?

Even Hoseok said ex police animals can be intimidating.

Your phone ringing from the lounge makes you spring up from the chair at the dinner table - rushing to grab the phone and answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Hi…This is Hoseok from the adoption fundraiser, is this the number for Y/N?” The voice cuts through you like a knife, and you can’t help but smile.

“Yes, this is Y/N.” You answer quickly. What if he’s giving you bad news? The boy on the other line seems to pause for a moment before spitting out.

“Would you be able to meet me at the coffee shop next to the Incheon Police Station? I was hoping you were still interested in finishing off those adoption papers.” You can’t help but let out a deep breath - this was everything you had been thinking about the past few days.

“Yes. Yes, I’d love to.” You say quickly, cringing slightly before you add, “I could probably drop in, in about half an hour,” in a softer tone. The boys on the other line seems just as excited, his voice cracking slightly as he confirms with a ‘see you soon’ before hanging up the phone.

You rush to get ready, tidying what you could, of your crowded apartment, just in case. You pull on a large cardigan, grabbing your bright yellow handbag from the door before rushing down the stairs to your car parked on the street - the drive to the cafe passing quickly.

It’s easy to spot the hybrid and his previous owner sitting in the corner of the cafe - teenage girls gawking and whispering about the cute hybrid, the sound seeming to annoy Hoseok by the twitching of his ears. His gaze moves from the group of teenager over to you standing by the door, his facing lighting up as he pokes his owner motioning to where you stand.

You hurry over to the two smiling men, ignoring the way the teenage girls scoff as you pull up a seat, giving Hoseok a small smile as his tail smack against the chair besides him.

“Y/N, we’re so glad you could make it. Hobi here has been talking about you non-stop. He refused every potential owner I showed him.” The man laughs as you take a seat, the hybrid flushing as his secret is revealed.

“Well, I’m glad. I was really disappointed for a moment, I thought you had chosen someone else.”

“Never.” Hoseok gasps at your sentence. You stare at him for a second, surprised at his dramatic reaction.

“He’s always been one to bond quickly. There are many people he doesn’t like but when he finds someone he does like - he doesn’t let them go.” The man explains, looking at Hoseok with a fond smile. “Well, I guess we should get on with it.”

Filling out all the paperwork take the three of you almost two hours.

Apparently owning a hybrid comes with quite a lot of paperwork.

“Ok, well I’ll go send these to the registration office and they should send you and hobi your new licenses in a few days.” The older man says. He had briefly explained to you that hybrids and owners must carry a license that shows their status. Yours will have a picture of Hoseok and his details on it as well as your own to show that you're his rightful owner, whiles Hoseok’s will have a picture of you and your details as well as his own to show others that he has been adopted.

“It saves everyone a lot of trouble - a clear way to show that they are owned and cannot be taken without consent. It also gives them a bit more freedom.” The older man had said after explaining everything to you. You nodded as he collected all the papers sliding them into a yellow envelope before tucking it under his arm.

“Well, we better get your stuff out of my car.” He says and Hoseok jumps up to help grab all of his belongings, moving them from the mans sleek black car, into your run down silver jeep. The two men embrace each other quickly - the older man whispering something into Hoseok’s ear that has him nodding and stepping towards you, as the old man slides into his car pulling away from the curb shortly after.

“We should probably get some groceries before we go home.” You mumble, fumbling with your car keys - motioning for Hoseok to get in the passenger seat.

Your trip to the store is quick, Hoseok’s face was straight as he watched all the people mull around - but his tail wagged like crazy, hitting against your hip every few seconds as you pick out some of his favourite foods, and treats, deciding tonight was going to be a celebration and you would both order pizza for dinner.

Hoseok carries all the groceries for you, rejecting your attempts to take one of the bags from him, he follows behind you closely as you make your way to your apartment, his tail now smacking against the wall as you walk down the hall.

“Look what we have here?” A voice hisses from outside your apartment door. You smile at the spoilt hybrid, jumping at the way Hoseok growls from behind you.

“Be nice, Jimin. This is Hoseok, my new hybrid. We just finalised the paperwork today.” You say quietly opening the door to your apartment, ushering Hoseok inside as you turn back towards the feline hybrid.

“Oh…You got a hybrid?” Jimin asks, the surprise evident on his face. You had known Jimin for four years now, since your first moved into your apartment - his owner an elderly woman that lived down the hall - used to spoil him rotten. He was her prized possession. Recently she had gotten weaker and Jimin had turned to getting his attention from you.

You had mentioned to Jimin in the past the your were thinking of getting a hybrid, and that your doctor had recommended one. He had joked with you, saying you should just adopt him. You laughed and waved off the idea never taking notice of the way his face dropped.

“Well, I guess that means I can’t hang around anymore.” He shrugs going to walk to his own house but you stop him, a small hand on his wrist.

“You know your welcome anytime, Jimin. I’m sure Hoseok wouldn’t mind the company either.” Jimin nods at your words, a deflated smile on his face, as he lightly pulls his wrist from your hand before sauntering to his apartment.

“I don’t like that cat.” Hoseok says as you close the front door, You sigh leading him to your kitchen to start putting the groceries away. “He had a weird smell when he saw me…Like he was angry about me being here.” He adds, helping you unpack the groceries onto the bench so you could put them away.

“Well, you’re going to have to like him. He’s a good person - he can just come off as a little snobbish.” You say, pulling your phone out of your pocket as everything is put away.

“Let’s order some pizza and then I can show your new room.” Hoseok’s tail begins wagging once more.

The first two months of having Hoseok live with you were fairly uneventful - you were quick to take him shopping to get anything he wanted to decorate his new room. Jimin had yet to come inside while the dog hybrid was in the house, preferring to talk to you in the hallway - still craving your attention, even if he wouldn’t admit it to himself.

The first set of problems seemed to arise three months after Hoseok had joined you as your new companion. He was usually very quiet, preferring to just sit and watch you do things - read, work, cook, he watched you do anything with such amazement. He would on occasion have stage bursts of energy where he would pull you from your spot in the house demanding you go on a walk with him, or if you were busy it usually meant he would sulk in his room for the rest of the night.

The first time you noticed the whimpers coming from the room besides yours, you though it was a trick your mind was playing on you. It was so quiet, that you shook it off quickly.

Maybe it was the couple next door. They tended to get quite vocal.

The second time you heard it, a low growl followed and you knew it had to be coming from the black hair hybrid who slept in the room next door. You sprung up from your bed, leaving your room as quietly as possible, slowly opening the hybrids bedroom door.

“Hobi?” You questioned, walking further into the bedroom so you could see the boy clearly. His hair was a mess as his head thrashed about on the pillow, incoherent mumbles falling from his mouth as he let out another low growl.

“Let her go.” He growled, his teeth baring. You would’ve thought he was awake if your couldn’t see his eyes squeezed shut. “I said let her go…She’s just a child.” He continues, as your breath catches in your throat - you take a few more steps towards him, sitting on the bed besides him and his thrashing continues, his growls getting louder.

“Hobi.” You say one more time, a little louder as you reach out towards his sweat covered body.

“No.” He yelps, jumping up from his spot in the bed crouching besides it with a low growl. You jump up from the bed, throwing your hands up in defence as you look towards the shaking hybrid.

“Hobi, it’s just me. I just wanted to make sure you were ok.” You say quickly, putting your hands by your side as you look over his appearance. The hybrid was obviously frazzled and covered in shining drops of sweat as he watches you walk around the bed until you stand besides him, unable to mask your concern for his demeanour.

“You’re ok. You’re safe.” You whisper quietly, dropping to the floor as tear well in the hybrids eyes.

“I couldn’t save her…She was just a child, and I couldn’t save her.” He cries, dropping his posture as a sob finally escapes him. You waste no time in latching your arms around his shoulders, using one hand to stroke his head softly, sharing soft whispers as he continues to cry on your shoulder - his hand wrapped tightly around your waist.

You’re not sure when he fell asleep again, but you remember pulling his blanket off the bed, draping it over the two of you as you lean back against the wall, stoking the hybrids head, that was placed lightly in your lap. You couldn’t leave him like this alone. So you sat with your back against the wall patting his soft hair until you eventually drifted off to sleep as well.

“What was all the ruckus last night?” Jimin questions you, as you sit outside your apartment building, a cup of tea clutched tightly in your hand, a large jacket around your shoulders. You look at him surprised, not knowing how he could’ve heard the two of you in your apartment. The nightmare had been continuing to get worse over the past few weeks and didn’t show any sign of stopping.

“You know Hoseok used to be a police hybrid?” You say softly, noticing the way Jimin grimaces. It was a job - though one Hobi loved - that no hybrid envied. The canine hybrids were usually used for tracking, in most cases tracking people, who unfortunately were rarely still alive. “He was used for body retrievals.” You add, letting out a shaky sigh, as Jimin scoots closer to you, draping the yellow blanket from around his shoulders, around your own.

“I can’t imagine what he had to go through.” Jimin whispers, and you nod pulling the blanket tighter, giving him a small smile.

“His previous owner warned me that there would probably be some signs of PTSD, but the last few weeks it’s just gotten worse. He barely sleeps anymore.” You say to the feline, who just sighs besides you, it’s not like he knows how to help.

“Why don’t you do what I used to do, when you had nightmares?” Jimin suggests, the bright smile on his face bringing one to your own.

“You’re a genius, Jimin.” You say quickly, springing up from your spot on the steps, pulling the blanket off your shoulders and draping it back over Jimin’s. “Thank you.” You add giving jimin’s ears a small scratch, his purring starting quickly, before you pull away to rush back to your apartment.

“Anytime.” He whispers as he watches you rush off - though he knows you didn’t hear him.

��Hobi, would you mind come helping me with something?” You call down the hall finishing putting the cupcakes on the plate, bringing them over to the large blanket fort in the middle of the lounge room. Hoseok shuffles down the hallways pausing as he catches sight of the large piles of blankets on the floor, one sheet hanging over the T.V and the back of the lounge, to create a tent.

“What is this?”

“Well, when I used to have a lot of nightmares, Jimin used to come over and build a small fort with me. We would spend all day just watching movies, or reading and we would pig out on all the junk food we could think of.” You explain motioning to the coffee table covered in snacks and treats.

“Why are you doing all of this?” He questions quietly taking a few steps towards your set up, looking at it hesitantly.

“Because sometimes all we need is to feel safe. And sometimes being in small, comfy spaces can do that for people.” You answer, watching as his gaze moves between you and the fort a small smile blooming on his face, his tail wagging slowly. “Hobi, I know things in your past aren’t just going to disappear overnight, but whenever you need a little extra safety, just let me know.” You barely have time to finish your sentence before the canine bowls into you, wrapping you in his arms as tight as he can, letting out a shaky breath into your hair.

“Thank you…Thank you for everything.” He mumbles on your skin, as you reach up to pat his head lightly, scratching behind his ears a little bit.

“Should we start with Jurassic park?” You question, not moving to let go of the boy until he doesn’t first.

“I hope your not watching my favourite movie without me.” You and Hoseok both turn to look at the cat hybrid standing in the door way. Looking at the two of you with a small smile.

“I knew you would come.” You cheer, letting go of Hoseok to pull Jimin over to your set up, ushering Hoseok under the fort first, before you and Jimin follow. You set up the movie, the three of huddled under one big blanket as the nostalgia kicks in.

All three of you were starting to drift of nearing the end of the first movie. You were tucked up against Hoseok, your breathing even, as you slept peacefully. Hoseok lets out a sigh before turning towards Jimin, not knowing how to phrase what he was going to say.

“She said you used to help her with her nightmares?” Hoseok begins, catching Jimin’s attention instantly. Jimin’s eyes look down at you sleeping before looking back at Hoseok giving him a quick nod. “Her nightmares…What were they about?” He questions, taking Jimin by surprise.

“It’s not really my place to tell you…just know she moved here to get away from her past.” Jimin answers looking back down at your with a sad smile. “It was always heartbreaking to see such a gentle person, so terrified of something. I would do anything to help her never feel that again.”

“Me too.” Hoseok agrees, the two hybrids finally having something in common. It doesn’t take long for the two of them to give in to exhaustion, the two following closely behind you into a deep slumber.

You wake surprised to hear Jimin purring in your ear, as Hoseok hold onto your waist with a vice like grip. You smile quickly trying to stifle a laugh as Jimin’s tail twitches, falling over your waist, tickling Hoseok. You barely manage to slip out from between the two of them, without waking them out - but somehow, by the grace of god, you make it out. You make yourself a cup of tea before making your way over to the large window to the side of the lounge room, watching as people make their way to work.

“Y/N? Do you think we could talk for a moment?” Hoseok’s sleepy voice makes you turn away from your people watching, you look down at the still sleeping Jimin and motion for Hoseok to follow you down the hall into your bedroom.

“You mentioned that you had nightmares last night, and I couldn’t help but wonder…Why?” Hoseok’s question surprises you, but you just give him a small smile.

“I was engaged, once upon a time.” You say with a small chuckle, trying to lighten the mood as you take a seat on the bed, Hoseok copying you movements, his attention only on you. You let out a small sigh before continuing.

“Things started off well between us - he was kind, and gentle and so, so charming. But once he had proposed things started to go badly. He started drinking a lot and most nights he would come home and just fall asleep on the lounge, but sometimes he would be so angry, so full of hatred.” You take a few deep breaths, watching a Hoseok scoots closer to you taking your hands in his.

“The first time he hit me, he told me he made a mistake. But it just kept happening. Eventually he stopped apologising for it - start blaming me, made me think I was the reason he was beating me. Sometimes instead of beating me, he would hold me down and…” You pause for a moment, swallowing the lump in your throat.

“He would have his way with me…I gave up fighting after two years, and just let him do whatever he wanted, just praying that maybe he would kill me - or maybe he would accidentally kill himself. “ You pause again, Hoseok’s eye brimming with his own tears.

“One night he hit my head against the table and I lost consciousness, he still somehow had enough humanity to panic and call an ambulance. A hybrid - like you actually - could smell the fear on me whenever he was in the room, and when he took my statement he was quick to piece everything together…God, I’m a mess.” You laugh as you wipe the tears off your cheeks.

“You’d think after five years of therapy, it wouldn’t still affect me this much…Anyway, they found enough evidence and prosecuted him. He’s in jail for the next twenty years and hopefully by the time he gets out, he’ll have no idea where to find me.” You finish looking down at Hoseok’s hand gripping yours tightly as small droplets fall from his eyes. You pull your hands out of his own, wiping the tears of his cheeks softly giving him a smile.

“When I moved here, I was still struggling - one night I was having a nightmare, and Jimin had managed to slip into my apartment and woke me up. He could hear me from down the hall, and was concerned. Every night for a month after that we slept in the lounge room, in a little fort just like last night…He helped me a lot in my recovery from what happened, so he can get a little protective sometimes.” You explain, Hoseok nodding along to your words.

“Anyway, why don’t we wake up Jimin, and we can go to the cafe down the road, and get some pancakes for breakfast.” You say quietly standing up from the bed, wiping your face one more time, not noticing as Hoseok stands up as well, wrapping you in a hug from behind.

“I’m never going to let anyone hurt you, Y/N…Never.” He whispers, his warmth seeping into your chest, making you feel safer than you ever have.

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thefanficmonster · 4 years ago

Text

Listener

John (The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope) x Reader (Male)

Warnings: SPOILERS FOR THE GAME LITTLE HOPE

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort

Summary: He wishes to be fine, he wants to be ok. He only wants to get over that night, bury it in the past and push forward. But you can’t bury what you can’t see or touch - the scars on your psyche, the trauma, the nightmares. He’s not able to battle it...not on his own at least.

Requested by @dark-pictures-until-dawn Hello dear! Sorry to be posting your request so late. I really hope you have stayed patient enough to still want to read the fic because I’m really looking forward to hearing your feedback, especially since it’s my first time writing a male reader. Please enjoy the read! Love, Vy ❤

I can’t go home. I feel unsafe and lonely there. I feel how shallow is the meaningfulness of my existence and am constantly reminded of how quickly and gruesomely it was almost taken from me back in that ghost town. How I was prepared to do anything to shield my life as well as the lives of those I was responsible of from the horrors Little Hope provided for us. Speaking of my companions at the time, I think they’re doing far better than I am. Angela is, well, Angela - unbothered by the real problem, rather focusing on herself, mostly appearance-wise. Taylor and Daniel are each other’s support and have finally made their relationship public and I’m really happy for them. They deserve nothing but the best and I hope they get through this soon. Andrew left for home for a week or two to be with his family until the concussion and the trauma wore off at least a small bit. I was really worried for him and still am, but I’m at ease knowing he’s surrounded by people who’ll take care of him.

I, however, am left to my own devices. Devices I’m not sure I have. I can hear the weak side of me whispering to me whenever I get home, telling me it’s ok to break the streak at a time like this, even encouraging me to do so. Telling me it’ll be alright, that I’ll be able to pick myself back up, but for now, I can turn to my old friend for comfort. I can allow the liquor to pick me up like it did then. But then, thank the heavens, my rational side kicks in right on time - one second before it can be too late. It makes me ask myself if alcohol ever did anything for me except dig me a grave for my own dignity. Did it ever pick me up, or was it always the illusion behind which was the defeat and demise it truly gave me?

This rational side has helped me put down the bottle just as I was about to unscrew its cap, and I’ll forever be in its debt. Lord knows I’d be back in the same awful spot I was in before I started by journey of getting clean. I can’t go through the hellish first months of recovery another time. But the escape is a little too hard to resist sometimes.

Tonight it’s especially bad. This afternoon I had a meetup with the principle of the college during which I had to tell him all that happened that night, all the while enduring his ‘you’ve gone mad’ stare mixed with pity. He doesn’t believe any of us, how could he? I wouldn’t believe it either if I were in his shoes. Still, I’m the one who he bothers the most about it, given the others are students and I’m basically an employee of his and I am not allowed to show any sort of disrespect, no matter how much I’d like to put him in his place, if I want to keep my job. Having to reach to the dark side of my mind for the memories of that night took a toll on me like it hasn’t been able to in the past three days. I sometimes experience rather decent days during which my mind is too occupied to crack under the weight of the trauma. But then come the nights when I avoid sleeping just to unintentionally sink in deep slumber which is interrupted by a nightmare that sends me in a state of absolute terror.

Those are the instances in which I need metal chains to tie my wrists and feet so I don’t go back to old habits.

Why I still have alcohol in my house is beyond me. It’s like I’m taunting myself to fail what I’ve worked so hard for. Like dangling a piece of meat in front of a lion. The problem is - I’m both the person dangling the meat and the lion. I end up hurting myself by seeking comfort. It’d be a straight up lie if I tell myself I’m strong enough to resist temptation. The only reason why I do so is to avoid those first few months of the new attempted recovery. If I even attempt it, that is.

Because of the deteriorated state my mind is in right now and my weakened defenses, I have made the only move I can think of - sleeping in the school tonight. I’m lucky to have a couch in my office which I share with another professor, so sleeping here will at least be comfortable. The weather has been holding up well, so I won’t even need to bring out the heater. Just as long as no one...

“John? You’re still here?“

…sees me.

The familiar voice scares me half to death, bringing me out of my spiraling thoughts. I’ve become really jumpy and easily terrified which I consider to be reasonable. Other people are rather cautious around me and when approaching me, which I appreciate.

The person standing in the doorway with one hand on the handle and a startled expression on his face is my colleague Y/N. He’s the professor I’m sharing this office with. Him and I started working at this college at the same time and we quickly bonded over our first-day-on-the-job anxiety. He is pretty swell guy, about my age and height. He is the laid back professor, you don’t see many of his kind, especially since he is an ECON professor. Some of my students are in his class too, and they have nothing but kind words to say about him and his teaching. While the other professors, myself included, sport suits to work, he shows up in a polo shirt and jeans. He hasn’t missed a single day of work and his class flaunts the highest score in the whole college. That should tell you enough about how professional and well-put-together of a person Y/N is.

“Um, yeah...I just have some things to finish up.“ I wave my hand dismissively, hoping he’d leave it at that. But we’ve been colleagues and friends too long for him to let that slide so easily. He knows me well, people are an open book to him in general. He has told me he wanted to pursue psychology but his parents talked him out of it which explains his ability to tap into a person’s psyche like a literal mind reader. God knows I need a psychologist right now.

Y/N steps inside, closing the door behind him. “I can wait for you. We could get some dinner if you want.“ He suggests casually, shrugging his shoulders a tiny bit.

My eyes go wide, “No!” I answer a little too quickly and too loudly, causing him to frown in confusion, “I mean...don’t wait for me. There’s no need. It’s already late. We could get dinner another time.”

Y/N narrows his eyes slightly as if attempting to read a sign in the distance. I know he’s reading me. I bet he doesn’t even have to try so hard. I’m an open book that has suffered too much damage recently. And I’m not only talking the events back in that God forsaken town.

I try avoiding his gaze but when he says my name I can look nowhere but his eyes, “John, I know you’re still rattled and traumatized. Who wouldn’t be? Just know that you can talk to me anytime, about anything.“ His hand rests on my shoulder, “I’m one of those people who believes you. I believe you 100%” He chuckles, shaking his head, “I’ve researched that stuff probably more than I should’ve when I was a teenager. And it still intrigues me. Though I’m really sorry you had to go through such horrible events. You know you can take a paid leave for a month or two, right? No one will hold it against you. I’d be more than happy to cover for you if you’d like.”

I find myself smiling at Y/N’s words, “I really appreciate that, Y/N, but I’m afraid that if I don’t come to work I’ll end up losing my mind. Hell...“ I motion around the office, “I don’t even wanna leave. ‘Home’ doesn’t seem so homey at the moment.“ I force a melancholic chuckle, deprived of almost all emotion.

“Hey, now that offends me.“ He frowns, showing off just how much I’ve hurt his feelings, “You’d rather crash here than come over to my place? Come on, John, you should know better than that.“ He pauses for a second, eyeing me suspiciously before a smirk appears on his face, “You’re just afraid I’ll bring out the chess board, aren’t you?“

I can’t help but laugh, “Not at all. We both know I’m the better chess player.“

A mock offended expression makes its way onto Y/N’s face as his eyes widen, “Oh, you’re so on now.” He quickly open the door, one foot already out in the hall.

I hurriedly grab my jacket and briefcase from where I left them this morning, “Not before dinner, though. My treat.” I call after him, my arm automatically reaching out for him, taking gentle hold of his wrist, “And, thank you, Y/N. This means a lot to me. Your support, your company, your friendship...everything.”

Y/N turns around, sending me one of his bright, dazzling smiles, “I was on board with you till you said friendship.” He snorts, moving his hand so it can hold mine and give it a gentle squeeze, “Jokes aside, John, I really want to help you and be there for you. So, please, I’m begging you, don’t push me away. At least try not to, ok?”

The warmth seeping from his eyes comforts me, helps me forget what’s been bothering me, at least momentarily. He always understands, he’s always prepared to help, to comfort, prepared to give advice and receive criticism. He’s human, obviously, but a human who understands what it’s like to be let down, brought down and forced to pick yourself back up, I haven’t found many who understand that in my life. He was my support when I decided to get clean, my biggest stability pillar, why couldn’t he help me now too? Why don’t I allow him to make me at least half the person he is?

“I’ll try, Y/N. I promise.“

And this is a promise I’ll keep, starting by discarding all the alcohol bottles in my house.

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piracytheorist · 4 years ago

Note

headcanons for Peter(what still remains)

Headcanon A: realistic

I’ve talked a bit about it before, but I think Peter was sort-of in love with Anna. I mean, only in the creepy, fucked-up, toxic way someone like him can be, but I find it interesting in the way he looks at her, especially after the ninja wedding.

Anna is kind and caring, and though I think he’d thought of her as a potential wife and child bearer from the first moment (yikes), in their first fireside chat Anna showed her caring nature; when Peter was talking about how he feared his parents abandoned him because he was “dead weight” to them, Anna told him to never think like that. And I think that touched him, and in his way, he grew feelings for her. But still he was too messed up and trapped in a bad environment for those feelings to be expressed in a healthy way for both of them. I don’t think Anna could love him back, she doesn’t look like the kind of person who would be willing to deal with the huge amount of trauma he carries (considering she carries a lot of trauma on her own), so it was kinda doomed from the get-go. But he couldn’t consider all that, so he was actually hopeful.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

I’m not sure what I can find hilarious with this character XD The only thing that comes to mind is how he’s probably very good at standing still and thinking he looks cool when in reality it’s the equivalent of accidentally turning on selfie mode

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

I mean... I could go on full detail on what I imagine Judith did to him, but I’ve gained a lot of followers who are minors this past year...

I think in general, he’s starved for affection. I think of his grandfather, who in his age and wisdom (?) saw Zach and Judith and either didn’t put two and two together and practically allowed his only family to be indoctrinated into a cult, or he did and he was quickly killed for it before he could warn Peter. Zach and Judith, like any good cult leader, gaslit and manipulated Peter until he followed them and eventually became just like them. But still, there are moments where you can see Peter having child-like behaviour.

He doesn’t remember much about the world before; he didn’t grow up with rom-coms that show people talking one (1) time and then acting like they’re super duper in twu wuv. Him having that with Anna, I mean, literally they bonded like once or twice, he then murdered two people in front of her in cold blood, and then he acts like this, like it was okay to marry her without even telling her so and cross her bubble to kiss her. That’s like... I mean it’s a post-apocalyptic world, there’s not big room for romantic relationships the way we have now, but him jumping from “We talked a few times” to “We’re now married and will have many babies!”... is shit we imagined in elementary school. Combined with the tantrums he has when things don’t go that way - and I mean the way he pouts and huffs and jumps into action, not the actual actions he takes, it feels like his brain didn’t have a normal transition through adolescence; he didn’t develop things like... controlling your actions and understanding that relationships have depth. I’m not even talking about him not respecting Anna’s wishes and boundaries. I’m talking about him being criminally immature and inexperienced. And of course, it’s not a surprise given the conditions and the place he grew up in.

But it’s tragic in a way that he seems to want that. He felt more for Anna and wanted to marry her, and when things went his way, like in the scene pictured above, he was actually gentle and sweet (again, not talking about Anna’s boundaries here because in his mind they don’t exist). He wants affection, he wants tender touch, he wants a relationship built on spending quality time together and bonding.

And since he was thirteen he’s been stuck with Zach and Judith, trapped in a cult that only saw good in him because of “God’s hand blessing him” and not because he was a traumatized boy worthy of love and affection. And that’s what’s tragic and for me one of the most... haunting details about his character. How he could actually care for and love someone, but he was manipulated and gaslit into becoming a monster.

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

I mean the main canon rejection would be for him to stay alive, only like, being delayed by Anna stabbing him or something. He goes back to the village, and happens to be there to see Anna leave Judith away. Anna is scared because she legit thought he was dead, but he just lets her go. He then has a very painful talk with Judith about what she and Zach made him go through (all that being said over Zach’s body), Judith like the good gaslighter she is, she denies everything and tries to get him to her side, and he probably kills her. Anna, who has been watching from the side all the time, comes back and offers to help bandage his wounds. As she does, she asks him what he’s gonna do now. He looks at her, hoping she’ll ask him to come with her. She doesn’t. So he simply shrugs, looks around the massacred, burned village, and says “I don’t know.” Anna leaves, and there you have it, an alternate ending!

Send me a character and I’ll share four headcanons!

#What Still Remains #damnit I wish we had a surname for him #so I could make a tag other than #Preacher Peter #wsr meta #I mean... I'm not sure how much headcanon or meta this is #but idk have it lol XD #Anonymous #ask and ye shall receive

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the100hurtme · 4 years ago

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Lol so I finished the second book a couple days ago but here were my thoughts cause I remember them clear as day lollll (this series makes me emo) soooooo A Court of Mist and Fury pt.1:

I KNEW I TAMPON WAS SUS

My autocorrect knew before I did and was trying to warn me 😒

I mean I didn’t like him that much anyway he was so bland and I swore he only communicated in grunts

She’s not a FREAKN toy oh my gosh 🙄

Wait it’s been months and Rhys hasn’t shown up??? How serious is this bargain thing

Wow these Books are🌶🌶

Awww poor Feyre 🥺 can no one here her puking her guts out at night????

Tampon just chillin on the bed can’t even hold her hair 😒

This “protective” stuff is def gonna be a bad shade on him

Who tf is Ianthe

Well Atleast she has a friend even tho sis just popping up out of nowhere

Noooooo Feyre doesn’t seem like herself is no one noticing how this she’s gotten??? Do they not have therapy in Prythian?

Ugh this writing is so good I can actually feel how hurt she was

Damn how do you cope with actually dying and seeing urself and turning into something you once hated???

Where tf is Rhys

Ok like I can cope with them being engaged, but are they really gonna get married???

OH THEYRE GONNA GET MARRIED

SHIT THEYRE GONNA GET MARRIED

SOMEONE SAVE HER NOT ONLY FROM THE MARRIAGE BUT THAT FUGLY DRESS

Awww it hurts reading her cry for help

YES DONT DO IT

FUCK YES FINALLY TAKE HER AWAY RHYS YES YES YES

oh shut up tampon 🙄

Ianthe sus sus for dippin like that

Awww yes rhys take her away from this bitches 🥺

Ok like I know that I want rhys to take her away but seriously tamlin isn’t gonna put up more of a fight?

Ugh yesss Lucien must have been tired for carrying the sass of the book for so long

FINALLY SOMEONE NOTICED SHES BEEN WITHERING AWAY PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY

Wait how deep is this bargain bond (I’m still so confused about how that thing works)

I still stand by the their mates theory but idk how that works either and he hasn’t mentioned it

She’s so broken she can’t even push back at him damn her fire is really gone

Who’s the girl??? Pleaseeee no competition...

Lol Bruno Mars would def love the night court clothes

He’s having her read and put up shields wow. Also why did no one at spring court teach her how to read??? Like it’s not threatening or physically dangerous... lowkey annoyed with Lucien like the dude almost died cause she couldn’t read how come he’s not gonna teach her...

OH SHES HIS COUSIN aight that’s cool

Wow he’s actually giving her space idk I thought he would bug her a ton that’s really nice

LOL OF COURSE HES HAVING HER WRITE THAT

Nooooo don’t make her go back she’s actually eating and sleeping 🥺

DUDE WHAT WHY ARE YOU INTERROGATING HER

Bruh 🖕

Oop you just know something us about to go down at the tithe

Also for someone who said he doesn’t keep slaves the tithe is a bit sus there 😒

Dude that’s so glutinous to just keep taking and taking like that... if you have all that money why can’t you reduce their taxes!!! Also why is the Tithe so frequent tf

Are they not gonna discuss the wedding thing

Yeah what how are they supposed to pay in three days when there’s nothing??? Like most of the kingdom was under a damn spell

Is Feyre just supposed to be decoration???

Yes! There’s the backbone that we hadn’t seen from her in the last 7 chapters!

Damn tam don’t get your panties in a twist

Oh they are def gonna save her ass later

LOL I LOVE HOW SHE GAVE AWAY THE JEWELRY HE GAVE HER

Sis should have given them her engagement ring 😌

Wait how many powers does Feyre have??? I need a catalogue to list which court can do what... like if autumn can do fire how come dawn and day don’t get fire??? Like I’m sure it makes sense but my mind is tired

Lolllll Alis is a whole mood

Yeah you better be saying sorry tampon 🙄

Does the mans not see she hasn’t painted anything in months??? Like read the room omg

Awww she has PTSD badddd someone come save her :(((

WTF YOU CANT JUST DO THAT DUDE WTF

Atleast he shielded her somehow

HE WASNT THE ONE SHIELDING HER

Bruh wtf is Rhys?!? Or even Lucien or Ianthe do they not like Feyre or something

BRUH WHY CANT YOU JUST HOLD HER WTF fIng horndog 😒

Sis you don’t owe him anything, but she’s so nice for trying I would have dipped so fast

YES RHYS YAYYYYYYY

Dang the clothes are even looser than before 😞

bruh these two are just wrapped in trauma aren’t they :(

Well that picture show must have kept him up at night oof

HOW DOES NO ONE CHECK TO SEE IF SHES ALRIGHT LIKE ITS NOT JUST THAT SHES NOT PAINTING THE GIRL IS LITERALLY WASTING AWAY

I expect if from tampon but damn Lucien is on some thin ice

Bro everytime I read “looks at me with worry” it physically hurts like ouch

Is this just gonna be a thing where she only gets checked on and fixed one week a month just for her to wither away again?

Yeah where is Mor? On the map the night court is so big how many Fae are in this court

The whole invading other people minds thing stresses me out.

Bruh Amarantha was bad and controlled all those courts how can something be worse than that

can someone find out what books Feyre is reading??? Like what kind of books would the High Lord of the Night Court give her to read?

Please don’t let her fall apart Rhys

Dang this book is so realistic that going through that shit can actually haunt you for a while. Most books just skip over it I like that she’s actually going through it thoroughly

WTF TAMLIN

Dude why can’t he train her??? Like she’s losing control of it might as well teach her how to wield it on purpose

Yes Lucien talk to him 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

They really don’t let her do anything at all, idk how do you live life when you feel utterly useless

Why can’t he just tell her where they’re going???

Ok Lucien earning some brownie points I guess for trying

HE DID WHAT

Bruh WHAT

RHYS WHERE YOU AT

I knew I liked Alis

How come Mor is the one getting her? Ohhhh some other weird court rules I dont understand

Damn that must have been so traumatizing for Feyre

Lolllll Rhys is about to lose his shit and I’m here for it

YES DONT GO BACK YES

YAYAYAYAY SUCK IT TWMPON

WE’RE GONNA MEET RHYS FRIENDS I think he has friends I hope he does

awwwww city do starlight sounds nice

Lol they must not know about this city if they think Rhys is terrible

HOW DOES SHE WRITE THIS WORLD my imagination isn’t even that big!!!

Aight so since this book is hella long expect multiple parts of your actually following along with this!

#acotar #a court of mist and fury #feyre archeron #rhysand #Lucien #tamlin #spoilers #lollllll these books will be the death of me

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octothorpetopus · 5 years ago

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Across The Universe (Aaron Hotchner x Emily Prentiss)

Hotch would have chased Emily to the ends of the earth if he had to. So he did.

A/N: I’ll be honest, this is not in any way canon compliant, and I didn’t really have a specific timeline in mind as to when this is occurring. Thanks to @agenthotchner for the idea.

Hotch wasn’t sure at what point he decided to go. He had been thinking about it for months, to the point where he had planned it out to the last detail. But then there was the matter of Jack, who he owed a trip to his aunt’s house, and that he didn’t actually know where Emily was. Every time he thought about pulling out his phone and calling her, he thought better of it, for months and months and months. And then the one time he did, he found that the number no longer belonged to her.

Then he remembered the one person he knew who could find anyone on earth if she put her mind to it, so he called her.

“Garcia?”

“Sir Hotch? It’s been a minute.” Through the phone, it was like he could hear her smile, and he smiled too.

“It’s nice to hear from you, Penelope. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything for you. What’s up?” Hotch paused. Could he ask her to do this? Did he want to ask her to do this? And then he pictured Emily’s face, her broad, white smile, framed by pitch-black hair, her eyes that saw everything.

“I need you to find someone.” Garcia sighed.

“Hotch-“

“Please.”

“Hotch, I’ve looked for her, but she’s smart. She doesn’t want to be found.” Hotch nodded. He had expected as much.

“Thanks anyway, Garcia.”

“See you in a week for Christmas?” He chuckled.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Hotch?”

“What’s up?”

“I love you just a little bit.”

“I know, Penelope.” He hung up and fell backwards on the sofa in his empty apartment. Oh, well. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. In the meantime, while Jack was gone, he could get through the stuff he had to do at home. And he would start with the massive pile of junk mail that had collected on the kitchen counter.

Halfway through the stack of bills and catalogs, Hotch came across an unassuming cream-colored envelope. It was nicer, heavier paper than most mail, he noticed. And then he flipped it over and saw the scrawled, loopy handwriting he had struggled to decipher on a thousand reports, that had signed a half-dozen birthday and Christmas cards that he had received from twenty different countries. It was Emily, he saw her in her writing, in his own name and address. His hands shook as he opened the envelope and unfolded the heavy white paper.

Aaron, it read,

I haven’t heard from you in a while. Which is admittedly my fault. Anyway, I know you hate to get sappy, but I miss you. I miss everyone, but it seems like every day I see something and I think, “that would make Hotch smile”. I miss your smile, Hotch. I’m just writing to say merry Christmas, I guess, to you and Jack. I won’t be back for the holidays, so I find myself having plenty of time to write this letter (and more) in between glasses of wine alone on my fire escape. Give my love to everyone, and I’ll see you when I do. Hopefully soon, if you know me as well as I think you do. Much love from Stockholm, Emily.

Hotch read the letter, and re-read it, and then re-read it again.

“Am I reading into this?” He asked himself silently. But there was no one on earth he knew better than Emily, and there was no one who knew him better than her. He got up and practically ran to his home office. He pulled out the legal pad he had been so fond of writing notes out on in his attorney days. “If I know you as well as I think that I do.” “Much love from Stockholm.” It was a message if he had ever seen one, and he had seen dozens.

Hotch had his go bag out from under the bed and packed within five minutes. He grabbed his passport from the kitchen drawer, his car keys and wallet, and was out the door in ten. There weren’t many flights to Stockholm, but he found one, and ten hours later he stepped off the plane in Sweden. And that was when he promptly realized he didn’t know how to find Emily and he didn’t speak a word of Swedish. So he called the one person who could help him, once again.

“Garcia,” she answered, yawning. “Hotch, it’s two in the morning.”

“In Stockholm, it’s eight o’clock.”

“What does that have to do with anything? Wait, Hotch, are you in Sweden right now?”

“Yes, and as a matter of fact, so is Emily. Penelope, I need you to find her. Look for a driver’s license, employment records, whatever you can to find her address.”

“Fine. Give me twenty minutes. I’ll call you back.” She called back almost exactly twenty minutes later.

“So, Emily was working as a trauma counselor for a month or so, but her records end about a month and a half ago. I did manage to get a home address, though.” Hotch listened and scrawled down the address on his legal pad.

“Thanks, Garcia. Go back to bed.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll talk to you later. Preferably when the sun’s up.”

Hotch caught a cab to the address Penelope had given him, but when he talked to the landlord, he found-

“Sorry, she left almost two months ago,” the landlord said in strongly accented English. Hotch nodded and turned to leave, but the landlord cleared his throat. “Wait. You wouldn’t happen to be, ah, Aaron Hotchner?”

“Yes, that’s me.” The landlord nodded and reached behind the building’s front desk. He pulled out an envelope, the same heavy cream-colored paper with messy blue ink across it.

“She left this for you.” Hotch took the letter and read it in the cab back to the airport.

Aaron,

I’m sorry I missed you. I don’t know if my letter got lost in the mail or if you let it get caught up in that awful stack of mail you always let pile up in your kitchen. Either way, I’ve found that it wasn’t just DC I couldn’t stay in. I can’t seem to stay anywhere for too long. But again, you know me too well, so you know what I’m doing. See you soon, Hotch. Much love from Manila, Emily.

Hotch folded the letter and slipped it into his breast pocket, right alongside the first one. So. The Philippines. Well, Hotch had saved well from early in his life, including his airline miles, and he had always wanted to travel the world. Besides, Jack was at his aunt’s for another week.

And the more Hotch thought about it, the more he realized he would do this forever if he had to. He wouldn’t leave Jack behind, of course, but if he had to keep chasing Emily through letters and airplanes, he would do it. There was a time when he would have denied that, and when he would have denied feeling anything for Emily other than friendship and perhaps a strong sense of family. But he felt that family bond with Penelope, with Dave, with Derek, with JJ, with Spencer. With Emily, there was something more. Something he hadn’t realized until too late. And then that something had taken over him, made him sick with love and the pain of not knowing how to find it. Before Emily, he hadn’t understood the term ‘lovesick’. But there was no other word to describe the feeling he felt now, that grew with every hour on the plane. He was closer now, he felt it. And he would find her.

One seventeen hour flight later, the flight touched down in the Philippines, and once again, Hotch called Penelope.

“Where are you now?” She asked without bothering to greet him.

“Manila. What time is it there?”

“Nine o’clock. A.M. You’re good. Twenty minutes?”

“Sounds good.”

Twenty minutes passed and this time, Hotch had to call Penelope.

“Garcia? What’s taking so long?”

“It seems like Emily didn’t work for whatever amount of time she was there. I’m looking into hotel records now, and... got it!”

An hour later, Hotch found Emily’s hotel, and just like Stockholm, found her gone, with another letter in her place.

Aaron,

We have to stop meeting like this. Or rather, not meeting like this. I’ve only been here for about a week, and I don’t think I’ll stay any longer. It’s fine here, a little too hot for my tastes. If you’re reading this, I’ll see you in the next spot. Much love from Athens, Emily.

“Damn it, Emily, can’t you just date your letters?” He muttered. “Back to the airport, then.” And to Greece it was. Another fifteen hour flight. Hotch’s legs were cramping and he hadn’t had a steady sleep in almost three days now. He didn’t know what time it was in Greece or in DC when he called Garcia, but she picked up anyway.

“Where?”

“Athens. Twenty minutes?”

“Twenty minutes. Love ya.”

As Hotch walked the crowded city streets of Athens, staring up at the Parthenon, he thought about how little he had seen. He never had a chance to travel the world, he realized. That was always more Emily’s speed. He loved this, seeing the world through her eyes. It was like being with her. He could almost hear her cracking jokes and reciting facts, probably in her best imitation of Reid, which wasn’t particularly good.

This time, Hotch found just what he expected. A letter. He had grown to like the letters. Not as much as he would’ve liked to find her, but he liked the way she smudged the ink as she wrote and made the lines a little too long when she crossed her Ts. He wasn’t Reid, he knew next to nothing about handwriting analysis, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know her from her writing.

Aaron,

I stayed three weeks this time. I hoped you would get here sooner. I would have loved to show you the Acropolis and the Parthenon and taken you to all the temples and museums. I highly recommend you take some time to check them out. Of course, depending on how far behind you are, maybe you don’t have time. I hope you find me, still. Please find me, Hotch. Much love from Mumbai, Emily.

“Emily, why do you have to move across the continent?” He asked it as if she could answer. The letters were something, but they weren’t her. He had to find her, the real her, not just these damn letters. And the next step on that trip was India.

“Hotch, so help me god, please tell me you’re getting closer,” Penelope said as soon as she picked up the phone.

“I think so. At least, I hope so. I’m in Mumbai. She’s only two weeks ahead of me now, so she can’t have gone far. Check hotel records.”

“On it.” This time, Hotch didn’t even bother hanging up the phone. He was content to listen to her type and him quietly to herself. “Hey, Hotch?”

“Yeah?”

“You really love Emily, huh?” He hesitated. Because he did, didn’t he? Why else would be crossing the world to find her?

“Yes,” he said simply.

“Good. I love you both and you’re perfect for each other. Find her, and see if you can’t bring her home, eh?”

“I’ll see what I can do. What do you have for me?”

“Well, I have her address where she stayed for the last two weeks.”

“So she’s still here.” Hotch let out a sigh of relief.

“Well, maybe. She checked out this morning.” Hotch got in a cab and told the driver to step on it.

“Damn it!” Hotch restrained the urge to punch a wall. She had left two hours ago, the hotel manager told him, and handed him another letter.

Aaron,

Damn it. I thought I left enough time. I hope you see me. I hope I see you before Christmas. Although I can’t blame you if you decide to give up and go back home. If you do, I’ll see you when I do. I’ll keep this letter short, and I’m not sure how many more I’ll write if you don’t catch up soon. But I hope you know I’m not trying to abandon you, and if you find me, I’ll be the happiest I’ve been in years. Also, tell Penelope thank you. I’m sure there’s no way you’ve found me without her. Much love from, well, where would I disappear to? You know me, Aaron. You know me too well.

At that moment, Hotch knew exactly where she was. Just one more twelve-hour flight away.

Hotch had always liked Paris. Emily has always liked Paris, actually, and Hotch liked Emily. The truth was that Hotch didn’t much care about where he was.

“Penelope-“

“Paris?”

“Yes, how did you-?”

“Please. I’m not a profiler, but I know Emily. Anyway, she hasn’t been here long enough for me to know where she is-“

“That’s fine. I know. I just called to tell you she says thank you. And so do I.”

“You’re my best friends. I’d do anything for you. Go get the girl, Hotch.”

“Thanks, Pen.” Hotch knew exactly where she was. She didn’t often talk about Paris, but when she did, she talked about the view she loved, when she could see the Eiffel Tower and the Seine from the same window. He bought a map from a newsstand and sat down to mark it off. A drizzling rain had begun to fall, but he hardly noticed. He didn’t have Reid’s geographical profiling skills, but he could mark off the area that could see both the river and the tower. Then all he had to do was find the apartment buildings in that area. As a matter of fact, there were only three. Only one had Emily, or rather one of her aliases, in their records.

It was late and pouring rain by the time Hotch arrived. He scanned the buzzer in the dim, foggy light of the street lamps. She would use her own name this time. She had no reason to hide. So he found the button next to the name Prentiss and relief washed over him as he pushed it. And it was at that moment that he realized he had no idea what to say. But he didn’t have time to think about it because the intercom buzzed.

“Qu'est-ce?” It was French, but it was her. Hotch had to hold in a half-gasp-half-sob. “Qu'est-ce?” She repeated.

“It’s Hotch.” There was a pause, and then-

“Hotch? Oh my god, Hotch?”

“It’s me, Em,” he replied, and he found that he was crying just a little bit. His tears mixed with the rain that had now drenched his face, and for that matter the rest of him.

“Hold on.” Something buzzed and the door unlocked. Hotch heaved his bag over his shoulder and sprinted up the stairs, disregarding the elevator entirely. He ran up ten flights of stairs and down to the end of the hall, panting and trailing water behind him. He pounded on her door, knowing he was being too loud and frankly not caring. As he began to knock again, the door swung open and his fist hit empty air, and behind that empty air there was Emily, staring up at him in slack-jawed silence. And Hotch still didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything. He just kissed her. His hands were on her face, her hands were on his back, and he was steadily dripping rainwater onto the hardwood floors.

“You round me,” she said at last as she broke the kiss.

“I’m one of the best FBI profilers in history. Did you think I wouldn’t?” He asked, still cupping her face in his hands.

“Not for a second. Although I got a little worried there in Athens for a minute.”

“Please. Also, I had Garcia track your employment and hotel records.”

“Hmm. Very smart.” She stepped aside to allow him in. Her apartment was filled with boxes. She had arrived mere hours before him.

“I was so close to getting you in India.”

“I know. But I’m glad it was here.” She took his hand and tugged him through the near-empty apartment.

“Emily? Where are we going?”

“Fire escape.” She crawled through the open window and helped him through. The rain soaked her down in less than a minute, but she didn’t seem to mind. From the fire escape, the Eiffel Tower was lit up in a golden spire, and the reflection danced across the Seine. He could see why she liked it so much.

“Hotch-“

“Emily-“ They both laughed, and it came unbearably easily, as if they had never been apart.

“You go first.”

“I need to tell you something. I need to tell you why I came across the world to find you.” He turned around so that his back was facing her. He didn’t think he could do this if he had to look into her eyes. “Emily Prentiss, I love you. And I didn’t realize it until you were gone. Which, I’ll admit, was stupid of me. It was stupid of me to ever let you go.

“Yeah, it really was.”

“Hey, can you-? Thanks. Anyway, like I was saying before I was so very rudely interrupted, I found you, and I’ll find you ten more times if I have to because this is a few times in a lifetime type of love. And not being with you makes me feel sick. And I came across the world to fine you.”

“You said that.”

“Well, I’m running out of things to say, so can you just kiss me and shut me up please?” Emily put a hand on his shoulder and leaned over his shoulder. He had to crane his neck, but she kissed him.

“I love you, Aaron Hotchner,” she said between kisses.

“Oh, thank god.” He looked down at her positively drenched clothes. “You’re going to catch a cold.”

“So are you. Give me your bag, I’ll toss the stuff in the dryer, and you can hop in the shower.” Hotch stammered incoherently. “Please. I’m not proposing anything indecent. But you’ve been chasing me for almost four days. You need a shower.” Hotch shook his head, spraying water everywhere.

“In a minute. First, promise me you’ll have all your stuff unpacked by Christmas. You deserve Christmas.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Second... promise me you’ll let me stay for Christmas. So you’re not alone.” Emily’s bro’s furrowed.

“What about Jack and the others?”

“Hayley’s family would love to have Jack for Christmas, and he’ll survive without me for a few days.” Emily bit her lip.

“Or... what if I came home with you? What if I came back to DC and spent Christmas with you and Jack and the guys?” Hotch felt his eyes start to water again.

“You would do that? I thought you wanted to escape DC.”

“I do. Kind of. I wanted to escape because I thought there wasn’t anything for me there. But that was dumb. I have you. I have our friends. So I don’t know that I’ll be back right away, but I’ll come back for Christmas.”

Hotch threw his arms around Emily in an uncharacteristic burst of excitement. Then again, he couldn’t help it.

“Hey, Hotch?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. I never thought I’d have anyone who would cross the world to find me.”

“As long as you keep running, I’ll keep chasing.”

#hotchniss #criminal minds #emily prentiss #ssa emily prentiss #ssa aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #paget brewster #thomas gibson #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds fluff

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