#i did try to do the approximate math on how many years the two of them actually lived | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

melishade · 1 year ago

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After reading Old Helos meet the Happy Family, cant help but wondering. What kinda weight Maria keep to herself ? Is it that she's afraid she might spill the secret accidently so thats why she feel that dreadful feeling ?

Cause of this, now I remember about OP's uncertain feeling about Ymir Oshern marriage ? Is it hte same thing that Maria feel right now ?

Dont worry, we know yo're busy. You can take your time. We'll wait

PS. Can u make another masterlist ? Im so wanna catch up with all the stories that werent included in Masterlist part 3 ?

Thank U :)

Previous Episode of the Peaceful Timeline

NGL. I don't know if I can update that masterlist without breaking my brain. I'll try but with what I have planned, it would take time.

And Maria's weight has nothing to do with Oshern. She adores him. No. This is about who her biological dad is!

Considering how she's grown up, she shouldn't be questioning this. She has a loving mother, and two fathers who love and adore her unconditionally. Now she has a new father, and a half-sister.

Although...there were some awakened feelings with that.

Initially, she grew a little jealous of Rose when she was born simply because she was getting more attention than her. Megatron quickly dispelled the feeling when he proposed his argument surmounting to "Of course she's getting more attention. She's a baby, and babies are absolutely stupid and defenseless." But once Maria had spoken up about it, they made sure to create a schedule for everyone so that Maria got adequate attention from all of her parents.

But then she got older and experienced more conflicting emotions, and she noticed more things...or at least acknowledged them. She had always known that she was the odd and rambunctious child. She didn't have many friends in the village as a result. She was glad that her mom was able to get more friends after her marriage all those years ago. She wondered what happened. She knew that Optimus and Megatron weren't her actual parents. She'd always known that in her gut. She looked nothing like them. But Rose and Oshern looked so much alike, and it was because Oshern was her actual Papa. There was this sense of jealousy that bubbled to the surface, but she always buried it. It didn't matter in the end. It shouldn't matter in the first place.

But then, 14-year-old Maria meets Helos that day, recognizing her mother and crying at the sight of her Papa. She had then heard the story of what happened that day from another perspective. Ymir didn't talk much about her life in the Eldian Empire. It hurt her. It wasn't meant to be discussed. Oshern had heard the stories of the Savior from Heaven defeating the Devil of the Earth. But at the end of the day, Oshern was an outsider perspective. Helos was someone who was the closest to having insider perspective on the Eldian Empire, and on the dreadful, dead, king. Helos had acknowledged the way that he treated Ymir so cruelly, and Maria couldn't help but feel tears well up into her eyes when her mother seemed so relieved that the king had been dead for so long.

But...it started to make her have burning questions in her mind. And it wasn't helped by the fact that Helos had spared a few glances her way but didn't say a word. Maria had a burning question. An aching thought that needed to be quelled. Maria took notes and did the math. The Eldian Empire fell 15 years ago, she was born 14 years ago. Pregnancies take approximately nine months and Ymir had chosen her birthday to be the day that Optimus had saved her. That time between that day and her birthday was approximately nine months. Meaning...meaning her biological father...was someone from the Eldian Empire.

The thought had kept her up at night. Someone that was responsible for hurting so many people, was her father. But...but who was is? Was it good to know? Should she just leave this along? Why should it matter? All of her parents had hurt people expect for Oshern. But they were trying their best to change and be better. She was fully aware of the summarized history between Optimus and Megatron. But...she was so heartbroken when she learned of what they had done and what they had failed to accomplish. To learn that her papas hurt and killed. If...her actual father was a cruel man...what...what would that say about her? Would she be cruel herself? Is that why she was considered different from the kids in the village? That she was unruly and un-lady like? Because she was...

Maria was extremely tired the next morning, but she had questions. She had first gone to Oshern and asked him if he knew anything about Ymir's time in the Eldian Empire. Oshern confesses that he knows only as much as she does. Which was the basic summary of her life before Optimus came into the picture. Maria asks him if Ymir had told her who her actual father was. Oshern says that he doesn't know and has wondered that himself. Maria begs him to help her find the answer, but Oshern reasons that maybe it would be better if Ymir told her at her own time.

It wasn't an answer she was satisfied with and decided to ask Megatron about it during training. She explains her evidence and findings, but she still couldn't pinpoint who it was. Megatron must know right? Optimus or Ymir must've told him. Megatron confesses that Ymir told him personally, but that it wasn't his place to tell Maria. It makes Maria angry. Doesn't she have a right to know? Megatron retorts that this knowledge is already making Maria lose her mind. How was she going to react once she heard the truth? Was it even worth knowing? At the end of the day, did it even matter?

"Yes it does! I don't want to grow up to be a monster!" Maria gasped before quickly covering her mouth.

Megatron has to stop the training entirely before taking Maria to someplace quiet and calming. She liked the dandelions and started weaving them together into a crown. Megatron explains to her that she is not a monster. She's an ambitious, rambunctious, teenager, who loved without a care in the world and loved the nature around her. Maria retorts that she wasn't perfect. She wasn't well behaved and polite like Rose. Megatron retorts that no is perfect, and that Rose is a lot more devious than she lets others think, earning a giggle out of Maria.

But Maria is still despondent. Because she...she wasn't like everyone else. And...if her father came from the Empire who hurt others, and no doubt hurt and...violated her (she had heard enough stories to know)...would that make her turn into someone like him. A monster? And if that were the case, then that means monsters couldn't be loved. She was born out of a product of pain and suffering. Who would love someone like that?

Megatron challenges her, demanding to know if she doubts that Ymir, Optimus, himself, and Oshern don't love her. Maria immediately says no! But she still...Megatron places a hand on her head and tells her that many have looked on him in fear and called him a monster, but she never did. A human looked at him like he could be more. He doubted that anyone that looked at him like that could be considered a monster. She was too kindhearted to even try.

But even so...Maria still wants the truth. She wants an answer. Megatron still questions if it really matters. Maria challenges that she should know the truth. Megatron takes the flower crown from her and places it on her head before offering her a piggyback ride. He promised her that she would get it, but that nothing would, and should not change from hearing the truth.

Ymir and Optimus are working together on growing crops when Megatron returns with Maria on his back. He tells the two of them plainly that she's been asking questions before setting her down. Maria decides to straight up ask who hear biological father is, causing the both of them to seize up. Ymir starts shaking, and Optimus looks over at Megatron for a confirmation. Megatron reminds him that she was going to ask about this one day. Optimus then has to ask Maria to sit down with the two of them, and she complies. Maria hates the feeling growing in her gut, but she asks again. Optimus is still hesitant. He wants to tell her, but it's not his place, it was Ymir's, but she wasn't speaking. She was afraid, but Maria wanted an answer. He opened his mouth to try and ease her into it, but Ymir spoke one word: king.

And it was enough to destroy whatever innocence Maria had left. She was the king's daughter. The man who had brought hell and ruin to so many people, including her mother, was the one who-?! The thought had made her sick, and she quickly contained the bile that was threatening to come out. She was the daughter of someone everyone hated and despised. She was...she...

"So I really am a monster," Maria spoke without thinking.

Optimus was mortified at the words that came out of her mouth. Before he could retort, Ymir practically lunged towards her daughter and grabbed her face, forcing her daughter to look her dead in the eye. Maria was shocked, never imagining such anger on her own mother. Ymir's own fearfulness had disappeared in an instant.

"Ma-!"

"NO!" Ymir bellowed at her. "NO! Understand?! No! No monster!"

"But-!"

"Say it!" She commanded, her voice getting sore, "Say it! Maria!"

"I'm not a monster!" Maria yelled, even though she wasn't sure if she believed it entirely. Maria yelped when Ymir pulled her close and hugged her so tight she was certain she was going to break something.

"Mine..." Ymir declared, "My...baby...my...beloved...mine."

This time, Maria felt tears well up in her eyes before she hugged her mother back.

Optimus asked Megatron to go to Oshern and Rose in the village to get Maria something from the town over, while he and Ymir tended to Maria. Not once did Ymir let Maria go, and Maria couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as her mother practically smothered her while they sat on the couch. It was like her mother wasn't going to let her go until she dispelled the ridiculous thought of being a monster out of her head. Optimus does come over with tea, forcing Ymir to let her go. He sits down next to her and explains how he cared about the two of them so much, and how he did everything in his power to keep the two of them alive, even before Maria was born. He didn't care how long or how much work it took. The fact that Maria came into this world safely made him happy and content. He even explains the day that she was born and how there was so much uncertainty going in because Ymir, Optimus, and Megatron had no idea what they were doing. But when Optimus handed her over to Ymir, he explains that she never saw her father or herself. She had just seen her. Someone with hopes and dreams that would never live a life of pain and torment as long as either of them lived. Maria turned to her mother, and she nodded tearfully in confirmation.

Optimus goes on to explain that she is not defined by her ancestry. She is not evil, and she is not a monster. She was their daughter and someone they could not live without. They did not see her father. They just saw her, and they loved her no matter what. Maria admits that it still hurts to know this. And they know that. They understand that, but their feelings for her will never change regardless of how she feels and they will be by her side. Maria drinks her tea quietly, enjoying the comfort of both Ymir and Optimus, until Megatron kicks open the door with Rose on his shoulders and Oshern rushes in with baked goods that he's spent a good few hours making.

And Maria feels her spirits are lifted, being surrounded by the people she loved and eating sweets. But afterwards, Maria confesses that she doesn't want to be alone right now. Optimus offers for her to rest in his alt mode for the night. Ymir offers to stay with her, not wanting to leave her daughter. Rose says they should do a sleepover! No questions asked! And Oshern immediately goes to grab the blankets. Megatron pats Maria on the head, reassuring her once more that who her biological father was didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Hours later, all the humans are camping out in Optimus' alt mode, and Ymir is cradling Maria in the backseat, refusing to let her go. Maria can't help but ask if her mom ever hated her, and Ymir hugs her tighter, replying never. She can't help but cry at that. It's still something she has to come to terms with. And at times it still bothers her, but she still has loving parents who were always by her side.

(And another reason why the 'reasons to hate Fritz' list keeps getting longer. Lol.)

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bookswithsav · 1 year ago

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How many books have you read in total

(like an estimate I dont expect you to actually know this dw)

Let’s do some ✨math✨

I started REALLY reading around kindergarten, and it would take me about a week to finish a book originally. By the time I hit 1st/2nd grade, I was reading like. 3 a week?

Let’s talk about that 3 a week. I would often go to the library (support local libraries my dudes) and check out about 20 books for a month. If there’s 4 weeks in a month, then that’s about 5 books a week, but I have to be honest and say I didn’t always get through all 20. That was maintained for a couple of years - probably from about 2nd grade to 5th grade.

Now let’s look at my middle school years. I was reading much much less because actual homework was being thrown at me and I was in a decent amount of extracurricular activities. At this point, I was reading whatever book I had for school and then one additional one on the side, putting me at about 2 books a month.

High school I actually read even less, as my free time dwindled more. I read about a book a month, maybe more I don’t know, for my English classes. I didn’t have any free time to read outside of school work, so I kinda stopped reading for personal enjoyment around that time - although I did often enjoy the books I read for school.

Then we hit college! I started college in 2020, which meant that I had a lot more time to take care of myself and do things that I enjoyed since I wasn’t involved in any extracurricular activities at that point. For the first two years of college (oh my god I’m old) I was reading about 2 books a month. The previous two years, I’ve been reading before I go to bed. I’m trying to read casually, so I’m getting through about 5 chapters a night with modern books and 2 chapters a night with older books, meaning that I’m reading about 2 books a week.

Now let’s get some estimations!

There are approximately 4.345 weeks in a month (taking average across all months), and 12 months in a year. If we take 4.345 * 12, we get 52.14 weeks in a year. The easiest way now, in my opinion, to get the best approximation of how many books I’ve read is to multiply the number of books per week by the number of weeks in a year, separating the years, and then add them all together.

Kindergarten

~1 book per week * 52.14 weeks = 52.14 books per year

1st - 5th Grade

~3 books per week *52.14 weeks = 156.42 books per year

156.42 books per year * 5 years (range) = 782.1 books

6th - 8th Grade

~2 books per month / 4.345 weeks per month = .46 books per week

.46 books per week * 52.14 weeks = 24 books per year

24 books per year * 3 years (range) = 72 books

(Totally could have just taken (2*12)*3 but it’s fine)

9th - 12th Grade

~1 book per month / 4.345 weeks per month = .23 books per week

.23 books per week * 52.14 weeks = 12 books per year

12 books per year * 4 years (range) = 48 books

(Also totally could have taken (1*12)*4 here but it’s totally fine)

First Two Years of College

~2 books per month, so 24 books per year

24 books per year * 2 years (range) = 48 books

Next Two Years of College

~2 books per week * 52.14 weeks = 104.28 books per year

104.28 books per year * 2 years (range) = 208.56 books

Sum

52.14 + 782.1 + 72 + 48 + 48 + 208.56 = 1210.8

Round down to only count full books (I’ve only abandoned one book), and you get approximately 1210 books read!

✨math✨

#book math there ya go #I showed my work #also always label your units

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valentine-cafe · 11 months ago

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If there is room for me I'd like to participate! Also, if I did this wrong just ignore me. This is for the event.

Gender: female

Sexuality: straight

Appearance: shoulder length brown hair, hazel eyes, freckles on my face, arms and hands, pale vampire skin and glasses.

Likes: Writing, video games, reading, love cats and animals, flowers

Dislikes: Dark religion stuff like horror, coffee, liars,

Personality: I am a loyal person and I am very respectful or at least I try to be. I do admit to being a slow learner and I struggle to wrap my head around things like politics and I hate math. I am very honest with people and I pride myself on it. I am very passionate and animated about things and I have been known to get into fights in my youth, not so much anymore. So, I can get loud. Grew up as an angry child and was the quiet kid. Its taken a while for me to get used to talking to others more and being more activity but I've enjoyed talking to those that I have communicated with. I loved English and history in school but wanted to die before entering gym/PE. I have fought car thieves before so I'm not really afraid of fighting.

Interests (things I'm trying to learn): Psychology, video game development, voice acting, baking/cooking, art, more life skills, knitting and sowing skills.

Hobbies: reading, writing, games, tv shows like Stargate and movies like Tolkien. Fun fact I actually could stand fantasy until I encounter Tolkien and now I can't get enough lol. Collecting books.

Aspirations: I want to be a marriage and family therapist by my late twenties. And I will be working in schools with special needs children in approximately two years.

Flaws: Bad self talk, OCD, venerability issues, trust issues, mommy issues, and many others

Fears: I don't like spiders and moths, I am afraid of what life will be like when my Dad passes, I am afraid of what the Rapture and being left behind, and not being good enough.

Any other info that might help: I have a big family of six members. Two older brothers, and my twin sister paired with my divorced parents. I and my brothers don't get along really because of some previous disagreements but I try.

I hope this was enough for y'all to work with! Hope you have fun!

. ˚◞♡ 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍◞ ₊˚

⊹ ۪ ࣪ ᥫ᭡ “ you are paired with . . . ” ꒱

you have been paired with our mercenary reaper himself, yize 9948e! he values and admires your loyalty seeing as it is hard to come by, especially in his world. he adores how passionate you are about the things in general as you bring to him a spark that he thought he has lost. your honesty is also another aspects that yize finds truly attractive. the interest in voice acting is something that he finds interesting, specifically because yize himself has the unique ability to mimic the distinct sounds of animals. he understands what it is like to talk bad of one’s self and sympathises with you a lot, trying his utmost hardest to get you out of it. your trust issues in particular are something that he can also understand, seeing as though he has them as well. the both of you are working through it together. yize finds it admirable that you have such a variety of interests and are trying to learn more about them, he’s always there to motivate you into following your dreams. he’ll aid you in any way that he possibly can with your aspirations.

˗ˏˋ꒰ 🍰 ꒱ 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔 ⊹ ۪

˖ ࣪ ଓ while he may not share much mutual interest or know too much about your hobbies, he still *adores* watching you doing all of them, whether it is writing, reading, doing your book collecting — even just watching fantasy series and movies with you, though, he’s not watching what’s on the screen is all you need to know <3

˖ ࣪ ଓ on the topic of book collecting. he will take you out to any and all book store and corner that he stumbles by on his missions at work, taking you with them when he’s got the time, so that you can find books that you have been looking for everywhere but has failed to find — and usually, with yizé’s luck, you find those books. there is nothing he enjoys more than watching a bright and excited smile appear on your face.

˖ ࣪ ଓ whenever yize sees you, one of his first things to do is gently trace his fingers around the freckles on your face, shoulders, arms and hands, giving some of them small kisses to hear your hums and watch you relax into his touch, keeping you safe from the world after a very long day.

˖ ࣪ ଓ like previously mentioned, yize has quite the interest in voice acting, and will often sit down and do random voice lines with you he composed throughout the day so that the two of you can have fun with acting them out — along with the voice acting, he enjoys art, even if he is absolutely horrible at it. he gets so happy whenever he sees you drawing, even happier if it is him that you are drawing. many of your other interests do intrigue him quite a lot as well, such as; knitting, sowing and baking/cooking ( do not let him in the kitchen whatsoever, it will explode ). while he does not exceed at art, he does make the *prettiest* oil paper umbrellas, and customized one for you and you only. so that when the two of you go for walks together on rainy days in the zhao estate, the two of you can walk around with your matching umbrellas, happily chatting and enjoying the serenity of the gardens.

˖ ࣪ ଓ say goodbye to literally any spider or moth in your near vicinity — unless it is his younger sister’s moths, but she doesn’t let those out of her room anyway whatsoever — he will do absolutely anything and everything to assure that there are no spiders and/or moths around you, so that you do not feel disturbed, uncomfortable or get scared by the small cribbly crawlers. he never *kills them,* but he does set them free in places outside in the gardens where he knows they will be unable to return to the estate itself, leaving them out in the nature to thrive instead ( the spiders usually eat the moths so it is a win-win )

˖ ࣪ ଓ in regards to family stuff — he understands what it is like to have sibling disputes, being the youngest brother of his own four older brothers. it can get hard to sometimes follow when things are happening in everyone’s lives and sometimes, that may cause grounds for disputes if there are already tethers in family relationships — whenever you begin feeling down or anxious, or struggle to grasp things, he will help you back on your path and guide you until you feel okay again, to make sure that you are much stronger than you may think.

˖ ࣪ ଓ yize has dealt with ocd quite a lot himself throughout his life, and knows how to help you in situations where it gets bad, making sure that you remember that despite everything what your thoughts, brain and gut may tell you when things are not in order and do not feel right, that it is not always true and that you should come sit with him so that he can make sure you are alright.

˖ ࣪ ଓ overall, yize has a very comforting presence and will often try to make sure you do not talk bad about yourself, always focusing on making you feel *better* and getting you going in your journey to self love. he certainly assures you, that you are doing that together, as he deals with some hardships with these things as well.

˗ˏˋ꒰ 🍡 ꒱ 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎. . . ⊹ ۪

with your hand in a colder one, yize makes sure to hold you close as he ventures through the society of shades — towards a particular bookshop he had scouted especially for you.

“let’s see, you were looking for that fantasy one yeah? with the elves and such?”

admittedly yize struggled to follow with your previous ramble about your latest writing piece in relation to the book series you had grown interested in; but that did not mean that he was not interested. if it made you happy, he was more than willing to learn more.

“sim. . . sil — simarrion?” he murmurs, voice a little softer mostly out of embarrassment. but he chuckles it off when you correct him and gives a nod of his head. “right.”

as the two of you enter the store, he leans over to press a gentle kiss to your cheek. “well let’s go ahead and find that yeah? along with anything else you’d like.” his maroon eyes scan the store.

“i’ve been thinking of six of crows — if they have that.” you hum out quietly, your own hazel eyes scanning the book store and squinting slightly at the different sections.

the store itself is compact. small, with a grand array of old books that date back to the 18-1900s to the newest of newest books on the shelves. admittedly, it is a bit overwhelming for the reaper to be in a place with such dull lighting, but he keeps going. wandering around shelf to shelf to find the books that you search for.

“ah- uh” he exclaims softly, gently pulling you over to him, his accent coming out a bit thicker the more nervous he gets about getting titles wrong: “sh-shix of crours” he whispers, ears flaming red at his own pronunciation. he gives you an awkward smile, drawing a few fits of vibrant but hushed laughs from you, as you repeat the title of the book.

“oh! and there is shimmeririon.”

⊹ ۪ ࣪ ᥫ᭡ “ others you also paired with. . . ” ꒱

˖ ࣪ ଓ alessio 9948e ˖ ࣪ ଓ rishen 928b

#⊹ ۪ ࣪ ᥫ᭡ the specials — valentine matchups ꒱#teratophillia #terato #asterism reader insert #monster romance #tw religion #monster oc x reader #monster oc #monster x reader #monster boyfriend #grim reaper x reader #grim reaper oc #mercenary x reader #mercenary oc #yize 9948e x reader #zhao yize 9948e x reader #monster matchups #matchups

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homoose · 4 years ago

Text

Weird is Good

Summary: A story about two people tryna make it through the age of COVID-19 in a country where people are fucking dumb lmao. My hc is that Spencer would be like wtf at all these science-denying anti-maskers. Also, two teachers just tryna make it through quarantine and remote teaching in a one bedroom apartment (this is taking place during a mandatory leave/lecture cycle).

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!reader

Category: fluff

Warnings/Includes: no warnings. reader is both a kindergarten teacher and a bruh girl with a pirate’s mouth. lots of Spencer x factz.

Word count: 3.1k

———

“We’re home for the next two weeks. ”

Spencer looked up from his desk to see Y/N kicking off her shoes, dropping her bag, and walking directly to the sink. “Starting when?”

“We get to go in on Monday to say goodbye to the kids and get any materials we might need. Then we’re home for two weeks. They’re calling it an early, extended spring break.” Y/N began her hand washing routine. As a kindergarten teacher, she’d always been a strict hand-washer. In the time of COVID, she had only become more zealous. She looked at Spencer. “Have you heard anything?”

“Since we’re so close to the end of the semester, the department head thinks they’ll try to finish out the year as normal.” He set down his pen. “I honestly don’t know. It will all depend on whether people follow the CDC guidelines. The spread of any virus is deducible mathematically, and SARS-COV2 is no different. Based on the outbreak in Italy prior to their lockdown, we can accurately describe its reproductive number, or Rt, to between 2.43 – 3.10.”

Y/N shut off the water and dried her hands on a paper towel. “In layman's terms, Dr. Reid.”

“The Rt tells how many people are infected by the contagious host,” he explained. “In the case of this strain, each infected person is infecting between two and three others. For comparison, the standard seasonal flu has an average Rt between 1.4 and 1.7.”

“So in other words, fucking yikes,” Y/N groaned. She moved to perch on the edge of Spencer’s desk.

“Indeed,” Spencer agreed. “We know how fast the flu can travel through an office or a classroom, so imagine if it was two times as transmissible. But it's also really important to understand that this number changes depending on the mitigations in place. Even prior to full lockdown, mask wearing and social distancing was somewhat common in Italy, so it’s likely the uncontrolled Rt is higher.”

“Jesus Christ.” Y/N scrubbed a hand over her face. “We’ll probably never go back.”

Spencer rubbed his hand up from her ankle to the inside of her knee. “The good news is there’s nothing special about this virus compared to others in terms of how it spreads— it’s just aerosols. So if everyone wears their mask, we’ll be able to keep the spread low.”

⧭⧭⧭

“It’s safe to say that everyone did not wear their fucking masks,” Y/N snapped. She watched from the couch as Mayor Bowser delivered the news that DC Public Schools would remain closed for the remainder of the year. “This is crazy. I mean, I knew it was coming because people in this country are absolute buffoons.” She looked at Spencer, fingers pressed to her temple. “But holy shit, are we ever going to be able to go outside again?”

“With schools and universities closed, people working remotely, and lockdown orders in place, the Rt in the US could stay low. But masks have to be worn at all times, and social distancing has to be strictly followed.” Spencer pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I just— I can’t believe people are refusing to wear masks. The empirical, peer-reviewed data clearly shows—”

“This is ‘Murica, boy.” Y/N mocked. “Ain’t no tyrannical government gonna tell me what to do!” She rolled her eyes. “Trust me, your choice to abstain from social media is paying dividends to your sanity right now.”

Spencer looked truly dumbfounded, setting his newspaper down in his lap. “But that’s just it. It’s not just in social media circles.” He gestured to the article in front of him. “This economist just argued for ��reopening’ the economy using the justification of herd immunity. Herd immunity can be a plausible option for less lethal diseases. But this virus is not like varicella—the chickenpox,” he clarified at Y/N’s raised eyebrow. He waved his hands around in exasperation. “Putting aside the fact that one facet of herd immunity is vaccinating as many people as possible, its success completely hinges on the Rt of a disease. If you model a population based on an Rt of 2.5, herd immunity wouldn’t be achieved until approximately sixty percent of the population has been infected. Consider that the US population is currently 328 million, and sixty percent of that is 196.8 million. The current mortality rate for SARS-COV2 is 3.06 percent. 196,800,000 multiplied by 0.0306 is 6,022,080. Over six million people would die. It's simple mathematics.”

Y/N let out an exasperated breath. “It used to be that simple math and facts were enough. Now you’ve got basement scientists who think they know better than actual, literal scientists who’ve spent their entire lives studying these things.” She ran a hand over her face and gestured at the news conference still playing. “How long do you think it’ll be before we’re both trying to teach from this tiny ass living room?”

⧭⧭⧭

“Goooooooood morning, kindergarten! It’s Friday, and no Friday is a bad Friday!” Spencer smiled. As he poured his first cup of coffee, he hummed along with Y/N and 23 six-year-olds as they sang their morning song. Observing fourteen days of remote kindergarten from across the living room had given Spencer a new appreciation for elementary school teachers, particularly Y/N. She sang, danced, conducted science experiments, held puppet shows, read stories, led art projects, and fielded questions for four hours a day— three hours less than when they were in the school building. He was exhausted by proxy.

But he was also grateful for the opportunity to watch Y/N in her element. Even though they were at home, she still got dressed every day in bright, patterned sweaters and dresses— her Ms. Frizzle attire, she’d told him once. She was able to channel her personality into a kid-friendly version that her students clearly adored, never afraid to be silly or strange to get their attention and keep them engaged during the long days. He worked from home whenever possible, strangely happy to have the background noise of kindergarten over his quiet university office.

...

“Okay, but where do I put the biiiiiiiiiiiig number?” Y/N made a wide gesture with her arms. “Ariah, where should I put it? In the big box, yes! But oh no, my small number needs a friend. My three is soooooo lonely!” Y/N drew her mouth into a pout. “DJ, how can I help my three not be so sad? You’re absolutely right, let’s put that two right next to him in our number bond.”

…

“I’ve been waitin’ for a girl to mute,” Y/N sang into the gold karaoke mic. “I said, muuuuuuuuuute, I’m blinded by loud sounds. No, I can’t hear the friend who’s tryin’ to talk.”

…

“Oh boy. Kev, honey, we can— we can see you. Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. We can see all of you. I can’t turn your camera off, buddy. You gotta— there we go.”

…

“Mute please, I need— I need everybody to mute, please. Oh my goodness where is that music coming from?” Y/N frantically searched for her index card with the picture of the mute icon, as the sounds of a highly inappropriate song blared through the computer speaker. “I know it’s so loud, guys. Why is my mute power gone?! This is why we need to make sure we keep our mute button on, kindergarten.”

…

“No sweetie, it’s not time to log off yet. I’m sorry, I know it’s such a long day. We have about an hour left. Do you guys wanna do a countdown? It’s the fin-al count-down! Do-do doo dooooo. Do-do-d-do-dooo…”

…

“Annnnnd, I should see all my friends on mute. William, hang on just a second. All my friends need to look at my picture, it’s an oval with a line through it… Okay, William, what did you bring to show us?” Y/N leaned toward the computer screen. “Grandma Kathy? O-oh, she’s— she’s in the—“ Y/N’s eyes widened. “Is that— is that an urn? Oh wow. Um, well, wow. It’s beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that with us, William. Grandma Kathy, may she rest in peace.”

⧭⧭⧭

A week into Y/N teaching kindergarten from their living room, the university had announced its transition to online coursework for the remainder of the academic year. Spencer had to host his first zoom lecture, and he was absolutely dreading it.

“Spence, it’s going to be fine. It’s not like you’ve never been on a video conference,” Y/N assured him. She sat cross-legged on the couch, waiting for him to let her in to his practice zoom.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t running those meetings. I just showed up.” He squinted at the computer screen. “Are you in?”

Y/N barely resisted the urge to make a joke, knowing that Spencer probably wouldn’t appreciate the innuendo. “No, you have to admit me.”

“What do you mean? How do I do that?”

“There should be a box with a button that says admit.”

Spencer gestured at the computer. “Well there’s a bunch of boxes— which one should I be looking at?”

Y/N sighed and got up from the couch. “IQ of 187 and can’t find the box.”

Spencer dragged a hand through his hair. “I know I shouldn’t find this so difficult. I’m sorry you have to waste your time on this.”

“Hey, it was a joke.” Y/N grabbed his hand from where he was frustratedly pulling on his frazzled curls. “I’m sorry. That was mean and you’re already stressed enough.” She used her free hand to smooth his hair back into place. She scrunched her nose. “I love you and your limited technology skills. And honestly it’s kind of nice to have one thing I can actually teach you about.” She squeezed his hand, leaning over him to peer at his computer screen. “All right, let’s find that elusive admit button.”

When the day of his lecture rolled around, Spencer thanked all the atoms in the observable universe that Y/N had a break during his class. Within the first ten minutes, he’d managed to accidentally kick himself out of his own meeting and then somehow lose track of the screenshare button.

“No one can see me and I don’t know what happened to the screenshare option. It was there and now it’s just… gone,” he told Y/N.

She leaned over his desk, eyes tracking over the screen and mouse clicking around the desktop. “How in the world did you manage to block your camera?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t even touch it!” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t understand how it’s even possible to be this bad at this.”

Y/N bumped his knee with her own, pulling up his camera settings and preferences. “Relax. You can’t be good at everything. It’s a refreshing reminder that you’re a mere mortal like the rest of us.” With a few rapid clicks, Y/N unblocked his camera and located the screenshare bar. “There. Crisis averted. I’m just going to share your whole screen in case you want to toggle between application windows. So just be aware that they’ll be able to see everything. And then you just click here when you’re ready to stop sharing.”

When Y/N turned her head toward him to check that he understood, Spencer grabbed the side of her face and caught her lips in a kiss. Y/N smiled against his mouth, heart speeding up as he traced the seam of her mouth with his tongue.

“Um, Dr. Reid? Your um— your camera’s working now.”

Spencer nearly fell out of his chair, his cheeks about the color of the Leave Meeting icon. Y/N dropped her head, debating whether she wanted to laugh or let the earth open up and swallow her whole. She ultimately decided to compose herself, stepping back and giving a little wave to the sea of tiny, grinning zoom faces before slinking out of frame, miming sorry to one very mortified professor.

⧭⧭⧭

“Would you want to be our mystery reader next week?” Y/N asked, bookmarking the page of her novel and reclining back in bed. “You just have to pick a story to read. Oh, and think of four clues about your identity to give the kiddos.”

Spencer raised his eyebrow, continuing to read. “Any story?”

Y/N laughed. “Well they’re six, so maybe hold off on the Chaucer and Bradbury for now. A picture book would be preferable.”

“Did you know that the first picture book, Orbis Sensualium Pictus, or Visible World in Pictures, was published in 1658?” He looked up from his own book. “Czech educator John Amos Comenius wanted to create a book that would be accessible to children of all levels of ability. The educational theories he explored are actually still in practice in the field of early childhood education.” He turned toward her from his spot under the covers. “For example, when you have your students make a hissing sound and slither their arms when they produce the sound represented by the letter s? Comenius included an alphabet chart with various animal and human sounds representing each letter. He wanted to demonstrate that the incorporation of multiple senses could help increase learning.”

“I guess you don’t fix what isn’t broken,” Y/N mused. “300 years later, and we’re still using the same methods.”

“362, actually,” Spencer corrected.

She gave him a look. “Maybe we can save the Comenius for another time.”

“The genre of children’s literature encompasses some of the most profound and philosophical story telling of all time.” Spencer returned his attention to his reading.

“...So is that a yes?”

Spencer smiled. “I’ve got a book in mind.”

“And clues,” Y/N reminded him, snuggling down under the covers and reopening her book. “We need some fun clues, mystery reader.”

…

“Kindergarten, we have a very special mystery reader this week. Oh man, are you ready for the first clue? The mystery reader loves jell-o! Raise your little hand if you love jell-o, too. Okay, kindergarten, I see you! Lots of jell-o lovers in the house.”

…

“Okay, clue number two! Our mystery reader works as a community helper— remember we learned about all different kinds of community helpers; firefighters, nurses, police officers. But if the mystery reader could be anything, they’d want to be a cowboy! How cool is that?”

...

“Clue number three for our mystery reader!” Y/N sucked in a gasp. “You guys. The mystery reader can do magic. Oh my goodness, I am so excited for Friday,” she sing-songed. “Will they show us a trick? Hmmm, I don’t know. Maybe if you ask nicely.”

…

“Okay, my friends, the last clue. The mystery reader loves reading. They read every day, and they’ve been reading since 1983! Yes, that was a very long time ago.”

⧭⧭⧭

“Okay, any last guesses about who our mystery reader might be?” Y/N questioned.

“I think it’s your dad,” a little voice called out.

Spencer made a choking noise from where he sat, slightly off camera. Y/N laughed. “The mystery reader is decidedly not my dad, Keyshon. Remember I showed you guys the picture of him— my dad’s a farmer, so he’s kind of already a cowboy.” She clapped her hands together. “Okay, without further ado, drumroll please... Our mystery reader is…” Y/N pushed her desk chair out of frame to allow Spencer to roll in, holding her hands out. “Spencer!”

He gave a little wave, smoothing his hair, suddenly painfully self-aware and nervous about the opinions of two dozen six-year-olds. “Hi guys.”

“You’re the boy on Ms. Y/L/N’s phone.”

“Your hair is so fluffy!”

“Do you have a cowboy hat?”

“I like your sweater.”

“Can you really do magic?”

“What’s your favorite jell-o?”

“Whoa, okay, let’s remember our mute button,” Y/N, holding up her index card. “I promise you’ll get to ask Spencer all your questions after he reads the story.”

Spencer smiled at the excited faces beaming through the screen. “Yes, I’m on Ms. Y/L/N’s phone; I don’t own a cowboy hat, yet; yes, I really can do magic; and the red jell-o is my favorite.”

Y/N watched with interest as Spencer pulled out his book. He’d been secretive about his choice, so she was as curious as her students.

“This is one of my favorite stories. It’s written by Munro Leaf, and illustrated by Robert Lawson. It’s The Story of Ferdinand.” Spencer held the cover up to the camera. “Ferdinand is the bull here on the cover. This story was written in 1935, which was a long time ago! Okay are you ready?” Spencer looked out on a sea of thumbs up, turning the page to the beginning of the story. “Once upon a time in Spain, there was a bull, and his name was Ferdinand.”

Y/N smiled as she listened to Spencer read each page, recounting the story of the peaceful bull. He was an excellent storyteller, changing the inflection and expression of his voice to match each sentence. He held each page up for just the right amount of time, panning it so her students could see each detail of the black and white pictures. He added his own wonderings and exclamations here and there, and her students were decidedly enthralled. Her heart ached at how comfortable he was, how natural this was for him. She rested her chin in her hand, trying to keep her mind in the present— ignoring the persistent little mental image of Spencer as a dad.

“So they had to take Ferdinand home. And for all I know, he is sitting there still, under his favorite cork tree, smelling the flowers just quietly. He is very happy… And that’s The Story of Ferdinand.” Spencer closed the book with a soft smile. “I love this story. Ferdinand is a very special bull. What do you think makes him so special?”

“Ferdinand didn’t fight,” a little voice piped up.

“Yes!” Spencer agreed. “He practiced pacifism in the face of the persistent, ingrained militarism of his country’s culture.”

Y/N placed a hand on Spencer’s knee and gave a quick squeeze. “Right, Ferdinand chose not to fight, even though everybody else he knew wanted to.” Y/N winked at him before turning back to the screen full of kids. “All his friends thought he was kind of weird, but he just really wanted to hang out in the shade and smell the flowers, huh? Sounds pretty good to me.”

“He wasn’t bothered that the other bulls thought he was strange for wanting to be peaceful,” Spencer added. “Sometimes being different can be a good thing. The Story of Ferdinand reminds me that it’s okay to be yourself, even if other people think you’re weird.” His eyes met Y/N’s. “Because there will always be people who love and appreciate you for who you are.”

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x you #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid fanfiction #criminals minds self insert #dr spencer reid #professor spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #criminal minds #homoose writes

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mindmeltonabun-blog · 4 years ago

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Tale of the Nine Tailed: Explanation of Lee Rang’s Death and Lee Yeon’s Ending Scene

Well folks...here we are once again. I did say that I would not write another TOTNT post unless there was anything worth discussing in the finale. I know many of you may feel utterly devastated or somewhat confused by how TOTNT ended, but I hope my post will be able to comfort you somehow. Anyways, let’s put on our thinking caps one last time for TOTNT!

Lee Rang’s Death

One of the biggest complaints many have had is the death of Lee Rang. Many said that the writer did him dirty while others wished that Lee Yeon and Ji Ah would’ve died instead. However, when we looked at his character arc’s as a whole, his death was justified. We mustn’t forget that he murdered hundreds possibly thousands in wake of his anger.

Yes, he did do some good towards the end of his life such as taking in Yuri and Kim Soo, but that shouldn’t discredit all the atrocious acts he had committed in the past. Saving the life of two people doesn’t make up for all of the lives he had taken. Additionally, it is noted that Lee Rang did also assist the Imoogi’s group to bring the Imoogi back to life which caused for a slew of horrible events to occur in the first place.

In the end, it was Lee Rang’s turn to sacrifice for the one he loved. Everything in TOTNT is cyclic if you think about it. First Ah Eum died to save Lee Yeon then Lee Yeon died to save Ji Ah. Therefore, it was only logical that it was Lee Rang’s turn to die for the one he loved which was Lee Yeon.

Everything in life isn’t all rainbows and sunshine, what matters is what you do despite being dealt a bad fate. Both Lee Yeon and Ah Eum/Ji Ah weren’t dealt with a particularly good fate, but yet they still remained good people. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Lee Rang. Yes, he was dealt with a bad fate with having been born with a mother who didn’t want him, but he was also lucky because he had been taken in by a brother who greatly cherished him. Instead of appreciating the time he shared with Lee Yeon and remaining a good person even after the events of Lee Yeon leaving for the Samcheon River, Lee Rang still decided to take a turn for the worst.

Over and over again, Lee Rang had escaped the punishment he so rightly deserved. For example, even after killing those villagers, Lee Yeon spared his life. Lee Rang had been basically living off on borrowed time. In a way, Lee Rang was lucky that during that borrowed time he was able to resolve the misunderstanding he had with Lee Yeon as well as have a small family of his own. Finally, if there’s anything TOTNT has taught us, it’s that if something is the will of the afterlife judges, it will be carried out eventually. One can’t escape their punishment.

In my opinion, things could have gone a lot worse for Lee Rang in the end. Meaning he could have been reborn as a shrimp. Instead, the afterlife judges granted him reincarnation as a boy who had a mother who cared for him and granted him his last wish which was to meet his brother again. He got all of wishes fulfilled. Thus, it was a satisfying ending for Lee Rang.

Update 12/07/2020: Does Lee Yeon Meeting Reincarnated Lee Rang Indicate Many Years Have Passed?

No, it doesn’t. The team probably wanted to use the same child actor (Joo Won Lee; DOB: 05/03/2011) as to imply that Lee Rang had been successfully reincarnated. Sure, they could’ve used someone who was a few months old, but how then would Lee Yeon recognize Lee Rang ? Remember that Lee Yeon only met Lee Rang when he was around 9 years old. There would be no way for Lee Yeon to recognize what a few months old Lee Rang could’ve looked like. Get it ? Again, Lee Yeon meeting reincarnated Lee Rang happened in 2021!

Why Does Lee Yeon Still Have His Gumiho Powers?

Initially, when I first watched this I was beyond shocked, left confused, and was rethinking my opinion of Lee Yeon as a good person. However, once I watched it with subs and then did a little research into how Gumihos can become human, the ending scene made sense. Again, everyone should’ve taken Jo Bo Ah’s advice of looking up myths and see to how they pertain to whatever happened in TOTNT.

Anyways, in legends, Gumihos can become human in the following ways:

1) Refrain from killing and eating humans for 1000 days

2) The human who found out a Gumiho’s true nature, must tell no one of its secret for 10 years

3) Over a period of 100 days (other versions say 1000 days or ~3 years), Kumiho must not be detected by the human they are married to. If the Gumiho fails on this quest, they will lose any chance of becoming human and will be a Gumiho for 1000 years

4) Gumiho must consume the livers of 1000 humans over 1000 years. If they do not do this by the end of 1000 years, the Gumiho will dissolve in foam/bubbles

In particular, the ending scenes was in reference to #3. When Lee Yeon had came back to life, he was still technically a Gumiho hence why he could enter the Office of the Afterlife. I know you might ask well why didn’t Taluipa or Shin Ju sense he was still a fox? Because at the same time Lee Yeon was human, but only during the day or nights when there wasn’t a full moon (read further below for an explanation). Additionally, Lee Yeon probably didn’t tell Shin Ju because he didn’t want there to be any possibility that information would get leaked to Ji Ah. Better safe than sorry was Lee Yeon’s personal philosophy!

Although, Lee Yeon did come pretty close to being discovered as a Gumiho when he let it slip that he knew that their child would be a daughter. This all goes back to the intro in Ep 1 where it is said that Gumihos have the “ability to see miles ahead”. Luckily for Lee Yeon, he convincingly tricked Ji Ah and played it off as he was just saying weird things.

Until his 100 days were up, Lee Yeon had to keep his Gumiho nature hidden from the only person who mattered which was Ji Ah. Let’s be honest here, it’s really hard to trick Ji Ah so Lee Yeon had to be super careful around her. Usually in legends, Gumihos fall short of reaching the 100 days because they are discovered by their betrothed. During Lee Yeon’s 3 months transitional phase of becoming human, a situation arose that could’ve have caused Ji Ah to discover that Lee Yeon was still a Gumiho aka Mr Samjae entering into Ji Ah’s life.

This caused a problem because whatever misfortune befell on Ji Ah it would also inadvertently affect Lee Yeon too. Meaning that if Lee Yeon didn’t get rid of the Samjae, it could cause Ji Ah the misfortune of finding out Lee Yeon still was a Gumiho, thus ruining his plan of ever becoming human.

The only way anyone could tell Lee Yeon was still a Gumiho was to have seen him during a full moon. This was in reference to how in legends, werewolves (also in the same canine family as a fox) can only undergo transformation into a wolf when there was a full moon (symbolistic of metamorphosis). So while in the transitional state of Gumiho and human, Lee Yeon was able to take advantage of there being a full moon to be able to transform into a Gumiho. Subsequently, Lee Yeon then used his Gumiho abilities to rid of Mr. Samjae Spirit. Thus, Lee Yeon eliminated a potential threat that could have caused Ji Ah to find out his Gumiho nature before the 3 months of remaining undetected was completed.

Flash forward approximately 3-4 years later after Lee Yeon’s face off with the Samjae, Lee Yeon is now seen as having been successful at becoming a full human as well as having daughter with Ji Ah as seen here in the following pictures (family picnic). My only complaint is that the production/editing team ended up deciding to not include the following scene. I do not know whether it was their decision or the writer’s to not include this. There could be numerous reasons why such as they had wanted to leave the possibility of there being a season 2 or there was limited time allotted for the length of ep 16 or the writer had wanted to leave an open ending. Whatever the reason, I do hope we will eventually show this to us. In doing so, they would give so many of us the proper closure we needed for TOTNT!

Side note, it looks like Lee Yeon and Ji Ah did end up introducing their daughter to her adoptive grandparents. Awww!

Updated 12/07/2020: Timeline of Samjae + Lee Yeon’s Transitional Period

There were also a bunch of questions concerning when exactly the whole scenes with Ji Ah and Lee Yeon had occurred. This occurred in 2021.

Samjae is believed to occur over a three-year period, and follows calculations based on the twelve zodiac signs. The first of the three years is known as deulsamjae (Kor. 들삼재, lit. entering the three calamities), the second, nuulsamjae (Kor. 누울삼재, lit. middle of calamities), and the third, nalsamjae (Kor. 날삼재, exiting the three calamities). The first year in this three-year cycle is supposed to be the most unfortunate.

Source: https://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/4151

So doing a little math, one will be able to see what years the Samjae entered (deulsamjae), remained (nuulsamjae), and then exited (nalsamjae). So the Samjae entered into Ji Ah’s life in 1994, 2003, 2012, and 2021. The cycle of every 9 years refers to the time period from one Deulsamjae year to the next (not every 9 years from her year of birth). For example, 1994 + 9 = 2003, 2003 + 9 = 2012, and 2012 + 9 = 2021.

What the show was trying to convey is that when Mr. Samjae came into Ji Ah’s life, it also coincided at the same time as Lee Yeon’s 3 months transitional period. Additionally, there were some who asked, “Aren't we to assume that many years have passed because Lee Yeon did say first root canal, first picnic, first snowfall, etc ?”. No, I took that scene as him mentioning things he either already did or will eventually experience.

Anyways, I really didn’t think I needed to point all of this out because I had assumed you all would’ve put on your thinking caps by now!

Last Remarks.

I hope that this post was able to resolve any confusion many of you may have had about the last episode. The writer did truly keep us on our toes until the very end. But with a little research into myths as well as analyzing everything as a whole, one should’ve been able to understand where the writer was coming from. Again, I want to give a big thanks to the cast, crew, and writer for all their hard work to give us TOTNT!

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reidyoulikeabook · 4 years ago

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What Are the Chances?

Summary: You and Spencer discuss the events that pulled you together.

A/N: I was re-reading Invisible String (I have a terrible habit of going back to my fics and seeing how I could have done them better) when it hit me that like ... they did not have a conversation about the near misses? And it bothered me so much that I had to write this.

Also, I am terrible at maths, these statistics are probably way off, but hey, let’s pretend for the sake of plot that they aren’t?

March 7th, 2010

Sunday mornings were reserved for lazing in bed, and aimless chatter. You’d gotten into this kind of routine, already you were spending most nights together when you weren’t away on cases. Saturday’s were sometimes taken by girls nights, or making up for whichever social responsibilities your job had made you shirk.

Sundays, though? Always for Spencer.

You’re absent-mindedly fiddling with his hair, listening to him talk about a chemistry paper you’d read last week when it hits you.

“Spencer?”

“Yeah?”

“Didn’t you write a paper about this? But with a different chemical?”

He shifts then, leaning his weight on his elbow to look at you, “Why do you know that?”

“I studied it, in college. I took a science credit. You wrote a paper about something lattice, I didn’t remember until you said just now but I remember reading it. And hating it, actually.”

He lets out a little laugh at that, “Sorry to have subjected you to it.”

Leaning into him, you smile, “What’s the probability of me having read that and then meeting you?”

“There’s a lot more you have to take into consideration for that calculation.”

“Like?”

“Well, before we met I read your paper too. The one I spoke to you about when we met, and before that I saw you in the lecture we gave at your college back in 2008.”

Something plays on his lips as he says the last part, but you can’t quite place what.

“Yeah there’s that too. You know, did I ever tell you I wasn’t even supposed to be in that classroom? I got lost and went in there by accident, I was trying to find my forensic linguistics class.”

“You didn’t go in there on purpose?”

“Nope,” You say, popping the p, “I don’t even know if I’d be in the FBI if it wasn’t for that, let alone the BAU. I was thinking about doing something with local law enforcement, or teaching. It was probably going to be teaching really.”

“You really weren’t meant to be in there?”

“No,” You say, looking up at him more intently, “What’s got you so bugged out about that?”

“I wasn’t supposed to teach that lecture that day. It originally got scheduled for April 16th but my mom got sick. I had to fly out to see here so we rearranged the lecture.”

Sitting up, you stare at him wide-eyed, “You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not!”

A little incredulously, you say, “So neither of us should have been there?”

“No.”

“But we were?”

“Yeah, I mean I remember us being there. And I do have an eidetic memory.”

“You remember seeing me there?”

“At the lecture? Yeah. I thought you were waiting to come and speak to me but then you got whisked off.”

“I was going to come and speak to you, after Hotch. He said something about how we had similar research interests and I was going to wait. And then my boyfriend showed up.”

Spencer nods, “I didn’t know who that was at the time. But after you told me about him I figured it out.”

“It’s weird, right?” You ask, “Like, what are the chances of all of those things happening?”

Spencer’s eye’s meet yours, ascertaining that you’re genuinely asking. He falls silent for a moment. His lips part, tongue darting out. His eyes flit back and forth, doing sums with numbers you can’t see.

“The chances of any two people in the United States meeting each other at any given time is approximately 1 in 28,000. You were studying a subject I have a doctorate in so that’s not that uncommon. Honestly, I think there are too many variables to calculate an exact guess. You joining the team isn’t exact chance, you saw the lecture and decided to join. I read your paper and showed it to Hotch. You ended up with us. There’s a chain of events, but they’re not all entirely random. The only genuinely random ones are my mom getting sick and you being in the lecture hall that day.”

“You showed my paper to Hotch?”

He smiles, nervous, “Uhh. Yeah. I kinda took it to him and asked him if he’d seen it. He had already though.”

You smile, wide, “You were rooting for me before I even got there.“

“I guess I was.”

You kiss him, gentle and sweet, your hand cupping his face and brushing an errant curl out of his eyes.

"So what's the likelihood?"

"Well actually there's not a strong scientific consensus on how likely you are to get the stomach flu. According to a recent paper, there are some blood types that make you more resistant to the stomach flu, particularly type B. But my Mom is type AB which means she's more likely to get sick with it. There's around 685 million cases every year so that puts her chances at getting it at about 1.09%."

"And the lecture hall?"

He grins, his nose crinkling, "Just because my IQ is 187 doesn't mean I can calculate the probability of you managing to get yourself lost."

You swat at him, feigning offence, "Spencer Reid you did not just say that to me."

"I did, actually."

"Well I'd say you're very lucky I got myself lost come to mention it. A bit of respect for my lack of orienteering skills would be nice."

"I'll consider myself endebted to them forever."

The silence that follows is easy. It's clear that you're both thinking about the same thing: the path of coincidences that pulled you together. Neither of you are willing to call it fate, yet. But that's okay. With the way you wrap yourselves around each other, peacefully whiling the morning away, she doesn't need the credit.

---

Tagslist: @calm-and-doctor @sassiest-politician @takeyourleap-of-faith

(message or reply to be added/removed!)

#spencer reid #reid x reader #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #imagine spencer reid #imagine criminal minds #spencer reid fanfic #criminal minds x you #spencer reid fluff

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spaceskam · 4 years ago

Note

8 for Malex? Thanks!

*hiding because this took an embarrassing amount of time I'm sorry*

tags: high school au, slight mental health stuff goin’ on, bed sharing

8. bedtime stories [ao3]

Alex never claimed to be subtle.

He watched Michael openly, his thumb between his teeth as he eyed the way he pulled his shirt over his head. He knew this was probably inappropriate. However, Michael was hot and had yet to tell him to stop staring. Sometimes it seemed like he deliberately did things to make Alex stare. So Alex kept on and hoped that, if he was only doing this to make fun of Alex, at least he got something nice to look at.

“Hey, Alex,” Michael called, tossing his sweaty shirt into his bag and grabbing a dry one, “Do you think your brother would mind if I stayed over tonight? I don’t feel like going home.”

Alex swallowed and sat up straight. He looked around at the other guys in the locker room. He was sure one of them would say something. Magically, they didn’t.

“Clay won’t care,” Alex said, trying to seem nonchalant. Michael closed his locker and looked at him with a massive grin as he pulled his shirt down. His hair was still damp with sweat and it stuck to his forehead. Both of those things together were too much for Alex’s sanity.

“Cool. Meet you after school at my truck?”

“Okay. Yeah.”

Michael leaned close into Alex’s face and gave a mocking, “Okay, yeah,” before he laughed and walked around Alex. He twisted on the bench and followed him with his eyes as he went to the other side of the locker room where his other friends were. They instantly started talking about the game next Friday and how they were playing Carlsbad and how their team’s cheerleaders were hot. Michael didn’t deny it and Alex tried not to feel weird about it.

Instead, he grabbed his back and quickly headed out of the locker room. He hated gym and had put it off until his senior year, but now he was stuck doing it with basically no one to talk to except sophomore loners who seemed content to fail the class. He felt that.

The only highlight of it was Michael Guerin who he got to watch work up a sweat for 45 minutes every single day of the week. He got to watch him play dodgeball with too much enthusiasm and run the mile at the fastest in the class and play put-out with his friends. Alex had, somehow, befriended him when they were freshmen and both the youngest in their math class, so they stuck together. Then sophomore year they had Spanish together, junior year they had chemistry, this year they had gym. It wasn’t much but it was enough to spark an unlikely class-only friendship that turned into a school-only friendship that turned into an actual one.

He was Alex’s favorite person in the world.

The next two classes passed by relatively quickly, solely relying on the fact that Alex wasn’t paying attention and instead doodling aimlessly in his notes. Science was boring, math was easy.

Alex let himself into Michael’s truck because he was a dumbass who never locked it and sat in the passenger seat. His notebook stayed in his lap and he kept shading in the boat he was working on as the parking lot filled with other people going to their cars and people going to their buses. Michael always talked to his fellow football players before he left considering they couldn’t leave until the buses did anyway, so Alex wasn’t in a rush.

When Michael did climb in, he raised his head to get a good look at him. Because he always wanted to get a good look at him. Today, just like most days, he looked gorgeous and lit up from the inside and he was already staring at Alex.

“What’cha drawing?” he asked, scooting to the middle to look at Alex’s book. He pressed up against his side and eyed it, nodding his head. “Nice. I’m gonna get one of those tattooed on me one day.”

“What? A boat?”

“No, one of your pieces,” Michael laughed, shaking his head as he moved back to the driver’s seat. He turned the ignition and Alex stared at the side of his face. “Whichever one you think I should. Think about it.”

And Alex would think about it. It wasn’t even the first time he thought about it. Michael had spoken of getting one of his drawings on him before and the thought was quite possibly the most erotic thing Alex could think of which was ridiculous. There was nothing sexy about that in reality. But… Michael shirtless and having something Alex created permanently on his skin was just so good.

He went back to the drawing before he could entertain putting his tongue on it.

Michael turned up the radio before backing out of his spot and then they were on their way to Alex’s house. He put his drawing down in favor of watching out the window as Michael badly sang along to Nirvana and Beck.

Junior year was the first time Michael had come over to his house and it had felt weird to acknowledge that the person he’d spoken to nearly every day for over two years knew approximately nothing about his home life. Alex had half-assed an explanation about how his mother left and his dad was in jail, so Alex only lived with his brothers. Michael hadn’t judged him, only loudly made it clear he thought Clay was badass for stepping up when he was freshly 18 to make sure the rest of them didn’t get too screwed.

It was a few more after school hangouts after that that Michael confided that he’d been in the foster care system since he was a baby and had been in a group home for the last few years. Teenage boys were a hard sell to foster parents, apparently.

Clay had no problem giving his number to the group home to call for check-ins whenever Michael started staying over.

“Please tell me he got spicy Doritos because I‒hell yeah,” Michael said, letting himself roam freely around the kitchen. He pulled the bag of spicy nacho Doritos labeled Michael out of the pantry and ripped them open, a grin on his face. Alex could watch it all day.

“Can I steal the bar mix that you haven’t touched in, like, a month?” Flint asked, his gaze stuck on his computer where he was doing homework. His eyebrows were pulled into an angry glare at it.

“Yeah, sure, if it’s still good,” Michael answered, falling onto the couch right beside Alex and holding out the bag to him. Alex shook his head. Michael often got food obsessions and would go a month where that was all he wanted, but during bad days it was the only thing he could eat that didn’t make him lose his appetite.

Despite the fact that he was all smiles, Alex had memorized the warning signs and knew he wouldn’t be eating dinner.

“Sweet,” Flint said, sliding to the pantry to grab the remnants of Michael’s last food obsession.

One of the warning signs that Michael wasn’t doing great, despite the fact that he’d asked to come over at all and hadn’t just invited himself, was the fact that he had taken any excuse all day to be tactile Alex. He’d spent all lunch and gym with him instead of with his football buddies, he’d wanted to sit closer in the truck, he immediately sat practically on top of him on the couch.

Later that night, he sat beside him at dinner and picked at it, only eating the crunchy asparagus and the edges of the tortilla part of his quesadilla. Alex ate what he didn’t.

Michael took a shower and wore Alex’s clothes and made himself at home in Alex’s bed, all cozy and on his phone with his thumb in his mouth when Alex got out of the shower. When they’d first started spending the night together, Michael slept on the couch or on the floor. One night they’d fallen asleep in Alex’s bed during a movie and now that’s where he went each night.

Alex didn’t mind.

He shut off the lights and jumped into bed, putting on Netflix on the TV and starting up where they’d left off in their third watch-through of The Good Place. Michael scooted closer until they were touching in some way, his eyes still partially on his phone and partially on the TV.

It should’ve bothered Alex. It should’ve felt like taunting. Occasionally he did feel the need to shake him and ask him if he really wasn’t seeing how much Alex was into him. Was the staring not enough? Was the way he got a bit dizzy whenever he realized Michael was beginning to smell like Alex’s shampoo not enough? Was Alex’s eyes tracing every bead of sweat that rolled across his face like he hadn’t had water in weeks not enough? Was every single one of Michael’s other friends mentioning that they acted “kinda gay” not enough?

But mostly Alex was fine with it. Michael was safe here and comfortable and Alex wasn’t going to ruin that by wanting something more. So he would keep his hands to himself. He wouldn’t be subtle, but he wouldn’t be overbearing. He would just be Alex and hope that was alright.

“Alex,” Michael whispered, moving until his head was on Alex’s shoulder. Alex hummed in response. “Can you tell me a bedtime story about your boat?”

Alex smiled and shifted, his fingers slipping into Michael’s hair. Michael tilted his head up until they locked eyes. They were so close, just like every time Michael requested a bedtime story, as if that was the only acceptable time to be less than an inch away from each other’s face. Alex very quietly thought that their entire friendship felt like one.

“Once upon a time, there was a very loud pirate captain,” Alex started, watching as Michael’s thumb slowly started gravitating towards his mouth again, “He was old and held very strict beliefs. If you disagreed, he’d throw you overboard.”

“What a dick.”

“Mm, yeah, very. Anyway, he was always angry and his crew were like ‘shit, what if he’s lonely’ and decided they needed to get him a friend.”

“Oh no, poor lonely pirate man,” Michael said around his thumb.

“Poor lonely pirate man indeed,” Alex agreed, nodding solemnly, “So they searched high and low for anyone to be his companion. Not someone on the crew, but someone who would be his equal and separate from his employees. It was a very complicated task. They would find people who seemed good, but then the pirate captain wouldn’t like them and kick them out. It happened so many times they almost gave up. But eventually, they found an astronaut who seemed like a good fit because he was very smart and very happy.”

Michael pulled his thumb from his mouth with a loud pop, “So they really searched high, huh?”

Alex huffed a laugh and nodded, combing back his hair. His heart thudded in his chest as he stared at him, at his interested and tired eyes. God, he was so into him. Every single bit of him. Even when he needed moments like these.

“Yeah, really high. And they brought him back to the boat to meet the captain and they really, really thought he would hate him. But you know what? He didn’t. They actually got on quite well. And the captain started becoming a lot less angry,” Alex said. Michael shifted, pressing closer.

“And did the astronaut change?”

“Mhm. He got to relax too. He didn’t feel like he had to be super smart and happy to make everyone else happy anymore, he could just be himself. He could even be sad sometimes and that was okay because he had someone who liked him no matter what,” Alex explained, “He even would stop at islands to get his favorite foods.”

“Were they just best friends or were they in love?” Michael asked. Alex swallowed carefully and scanned his eyes over his face, trying to gauge what would be a better answer.

“They started as just best friends,” Alex decided, “But they fell in love. They were both. Somewhere in between.”

“Somewhere in between?”

“Yeah, like, not quite just best friends and not quite together romantically. Something different. Something special,” Alex tried. Michael watched him closely. In the background, Eleanor watched herself fall in love with Chidi for one of the hundreds of times they fell in love and Alex tried not to be too poetic about it.

“Alex,” Michael said, his hand dropping between them, “Are we somewhere in between? It feels like we are”

The question was honestly innocent but Alex stopped breathing, not knowing how to answer. He had a football player cuddling up to him in his bed. He should say no. He should save his own ass. He should keep it to himself.

But Michael was comfortable enough to cuddle him, to be babied when he needed it, to be raw and open.

So why couldn’t Alex?

“Do you wanna be?” Alex asked. Michael blinked. “Or… like… do you wanna be somewhere… not in between?”

“Like, on the other side? The romantic side?” Michael clarified. Alex nodded slowly, unsure. “Does it mean I get goodnight kisses?”

Alex let out a slow breath and laughed cautiously, “If you want them.”

“I want them,” Michael said assuredly. Alex couldn’t fucking think straight and he was just smiling stupidly at him. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Goodnight kisses, right here,” Michael said, tapping his lips delicately.

“Right. Okay.”

Alex moved his head just a little to give him a soft kiss, barely lasting a few seconds. He didn’t want to be too presumptuous. And, still, it was probably the best kiss he’d ever had in his life. His heart was trying to escape his chest.

He was really doing this. This was really happening.

“Did they live happily ever after, Alex?” Michael asked against his lips. Alex breathed and nodded.

“Yeah. They did.”

#malex #malex fic #michael guerin #alex manes #roswell new mexico #my fic #title tuesday #alexmanesss

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eliotquillon · 3 years ago

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HIVE TIMELINE TWO, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO (Updated and reworked for Bloodline; spoilers ahead!)

It's a year since my original HIVE timeline (which you can read here and is obviously pre-Bloodline), and how things have changed. Well...kind of. I was expecting more of my timeline to crumple under the weight of eight years' worth of continuity errors but, unlike most of my pre-Bloodline fic, my 2020 timeline has stayed somewhat intact. However, in light of Nessa's excellent post that used the Bloodline prologue to figure out Raven's birthday with a scary amount of accuracy, I've decided that somewhat intact just isn't enough. Lo and behold...find the C ottomalpense new and improved H.I.V.E. timeline under the cut. This is just my interpretation of the canon timeline; because Walden contradicts himself constantly when it comes to age and continuity, most of these dates are educated guesses and any other interpretations are more than valid. Bloodline spoilers below.

PART ONE: RAVEN

In my original timeline, I used two anchor dates: Otto's 13th birthday being August 29th 1993, and Raven being 16 in the 'fifteen years earlier' Hong Kong flashback, making her 31 in Aftershock/Deadlock. Using the age difference between her and Otto, I counted backwards to give Raven a birth year of 1979. Otto's birthday still holds up, but Bloodline has since made it clear that Raven was 15 in Hong Kong. Therefore, several options presented themselves in order to salvage the rest of the timeline.

Option 1: Raven was indeed born in 1979, and Hong Kong takes place in 1994. This would make her 27 in H.I.V.E., given that she has a September birthday and H.I.V.E. takes place between September-December 2006. However, this means Raven that if Raven is 30 in Aftershock/Deadlock, there are only three years between the first seven books....something that canon vaguely supports given Shelby's "I've waited three years for you two to get together" comment to Laura and Otto in Deadlock, but feels very, very unrealistic given the number of time skips and the sheer volume of things that happen in the first seven books. My original timeline was created to get rid of the stasis in canon and give a better sense of the progression of time between books. Keeping Raven's birth year as 1979 undermines that.

Option 2: Raven was born in 1981, Hong Kong takes place in 1996, and she is 25 in H.I.V.E., meaning that there's exactly five years between H.I.V.E and Aftershock. This supports my earlier placement of Aftershock being the start of fifth year, but 25 feels kind of...young? It also hinges on Raven knowing her exact birth date before she finds out that Nero is her father, which I personally don't think Bloodline supports - Nero didn't know her birthday, and I think if Raven did know, she would've told him pre-Bloodline.

Option 3: Raven was born in 1980, Hong Kong takes place in 1995, and she is 26 in H.I.V.E., but, because she doesn't know her birth date, she celebrates her birthday on New Year's Eve. So while Raven would technically be 31 in Aftershock, she would still consider herself 30 until the end of the year, as would Nero. This gives a little bit more leeway with her age, reduces the number of changes in the overall timeline, and accounts for the overall unreliability of both Raven and Nero's narration in the flashback scenes - given that one of them had been traumatised so thoroughly that she had recurring psychotic episodes just months before that scene, and the other had his memory tampered with to the point where he misremembered the date of worst day of his life.

I personally opted for Option 3, making Raven's new birthday 3rd-6th September 1980. She is 33 in the Bloodline epilogue. Therefore Hong Kong still takes place in 1995.

PART TWO: OTTO

This is just a rehash of my last timeline, but for clarity's sake: Otto being an August 1993 birthday makes him one of the youngest in his year, meaning that everyone else (Lucy, Wing*, Nigel, Franz, Shelby, Laura, and Penny) were all 1992/3 babies. Bloodline takes place right at the end of his final year (meaning I correctly predicted that it would be set in 2012), making him 19. Something I forgot to mention in my original timeline is that Tom is described as being a few years older than Penny in H.I.V.E., but given that Tom isn't really alive for long enough to present me with an issue timeline wise, I'm just going to let that one slide. The Bloodline epilogue thus takes place in 2013.

As always, I am ignoring Rogue's claim that Otto is 13, because it doesn't make sense in any context (if Otto really is 13, it means he magically ages three years in Zero Hour and Aftershock according to Walden's own implication that Otto is 16 by Aftershock...which I'm also ignoring, but whatever). Laura still choosing between universities in September 2013 is weird, because either she is very, very late for the 2013 academic year, or very, very early for the 2014 one, but, again, I am ignoring it. Essentially, nothing meaningful has changed for any of the student ages between this timeline and the 2020 one.

PART THREE - NERO

This is where it gets interesting. This time last year, my Nero section was just speculation. I was, uh, very off, and did not account for how early Nero knocked Elena up. That was on me. My bad!

Nero is in his early 20s when Elena is murdered. If we take the year to be 1980, and early 20s to mean anything between 20-24, we can get an approximate birth year of 1956-1960. I'm going to average that to 22, making Nero's birth year 1958. He's a practically spritely 48 in H.I.V.E, and 55 in the Bloodline epilogue.

(Also, I am treating the 'thirty years' in the 'thirty years ago' flashback to be an estimate. Nero has memory issues and also thirty years has a much better ring to it than thirty-two.)

PART FOUR - DIABOLUS

We can't talk about Nero without mentioning Diabolus because I, for one, have been haunted by the knowledge that Nero taught Diabolus for years. However, assuming Nero immediately joins the H.I.V.E. teaching staff in 1980 following Elena's death, he is 22. If Diabolus is a first year student, we can give him a birth year of 1966/7. That said, I tend to think Diabolus is a little bit older than that, given how close he and Nero are in Hong Kong, so if we age him up to a third year in Nero's first year of teaching, that makes him 15/16 with a birth year of 1964/5. There's only 6/7 years between him and Nero, leaving plenty of time for them to become close friends by Hong Kong, during which Nero is 37 and Diabolus is approaching 30. That means Diabolus had Nigel at 27/28.

PART FIVE - THE OVERLORD INCIDENT AND XIU MEI

The Overlord Incident (henceforth the OI) is the bane of my existence. There's no mention of Raven in the original flashback in the Overlord Protocol, implying that she wasn't around yet, but it's referenced as still being a work in progress in Hong Kong. Again, this is a rehash of my previous timeline, but the Deadlock interpretation doesn't work; regardless of anything else, Wing was definitely born in 1992/3 in order to be in the same year as Otto, and either Wing or Raven would be too young for the OI to occur after Hong Kong (Raven was only 13 in 1993 in this interpretation of events, and this is one that puts her on the older side - there's an argument to be made for her being born in 1983, which would make her 10). Ergo, in this timeline, the OI precedes Hong Kong.

As mentioned, Wing had to have been born in 1993 at the latest, and the evidence suggests that he's most likely one of the older kids in their year, pointing to a 1992 birthday, meaning Xiu Mei got pregnant by January 1992 at the earliest. There must be time allowed for the following to occur between Wing and Otto's births and the OI: survivors of the OI to start going missing, Xiu Mei and Wu Zhang /Cypher to marry and move to Japan in order to escape persecution, and Overlord to get enough soft power over Number One to convince him to start trying to produce a clone of himself to be his successor. At earliest this can be 1991. I, however, think that it's more likely to be January 1990, given Overlord's comments about how much Number One initially resisted having his brain hijacked. This is the same as my previous timeline.

Unlike my previous timeline, however, I'm also going to attempt to estimate the year of Xiu Mei's death. While the Overlord Protocol does not explicitly state this, it can be inferred that Nero receives Xiu Mei's locket and letter after she is murdered by Overlord for investigating the Renaissance project. Nero receives the locket "many years" before Overlord Protocol (which takes place roughly in Spring/Summer of 2007), but Xiu Mei was also presumed "long dead" already when he received it as a result of the OI. This puts 17 years between Xiu Mei's faked death and Nero's reminiscence over the locket and letter in 2007 after the assassination attempt in Vienna. Xiu Mei can't have died before Wing was at least 5 years old, given the strong memories he has of her and the fact that he made a promise to her not to kill anyone, so I'm tentatively putting Xiu Mei's real death at 2001, when Wing would've been 9. This leaves just enough time for Cypher to establish himself as a thorn in Nero's side, and for his relationship with Wing the deteriorate to what we see in the Overlord Protocol.

PART SIX - OTHER

I've been meaning to do the maths on this for a while, but H.I.V.E.mind was officially brought online April 10th, 2006! (He'd been online for four months, three weeks, and two days by September 1st.) Nero really was paranoid after the OI.

Brexit doesn't occur in the H.I.V.E.verse, because Duncan Cavendish (David Cameron) resigns in 2010, AKA way, way, before the rise of UKIP and the 2016 referendum. The Iraq war, however, does - Tony Blair is heavily, heavily implied to be the prime minister in 2006.

Not really timeline related, but the fact that both Otto and Raven are Virgos is enough to make me shudder.

TL;DR - THE (FINAL???) TIMELINE

1950-59: The Furan siblings are born at some point. Two siblings are twins, presumably Elena and Anastasia or Anastasia and Pietor. At some point, they are owed a blood debt by the Sinistres.

1958: Nero is born.

Early 1960s: H.I.V.E. is founded, most likely by Nero's mother.

1964-5: Diabolus Darkdoom is born.

Late 1970s: Elena and Nero start their affair.

1980: Elena is murdered by Pietor. Raven is born. Nero has his memory of Raven's survival forcibly erased by Francesca Sinistre, clearing the blood debt between the Furan and Sinistre families.

1980s: Diabolus Darkdoom and Duncan Cavendish attend and graduate H.I.V.E. Diabolus and Nero become friends.

1989: Raven runs away from her orphanage.

1990: The Overlord Incident takes place, leaving three named survivors: Nero, Xiu Mei, and Wu Zhang. Overlord begins to assert control over Number One.

1991: Raven is found by the Furans and brought to the Glasshouse. Wu Zhang and Xiu Mei marry and immigrate to Japan after survivors of the Overlord Incident start going missing.

1992: Presumably the year Raven claws out Pietor's eye and gets shot in the woods, it is also the point at which Overlord/Number One most likely starts considering cloning himself. In the final quarter of the year, some students - most likely Wing, Shelby, and possibly Laura - are born.

1993: Otto and the rest of the students in his year are born.

1994: Likely the year Dimitri's escape attempt fails, and Raven is forced to murder Tolya. Also presumably when H.I.V.E.'s Icelandic location became dangerously compromised, and Nero starts seriously considering plans to move. At this point his mother is dead.

1995: Nero and Diabolus go to Hong Kong to meet with the Architect, and thwart Raven's assassination attempt. Raven eventually defects to G.L.O.V.E., and the first Glasshouse burns.

1996-2000: Construction on H.I.V.E. 2.0 is completed. Nero starts work on the emergency Zero Hour protocol.

2001: Xiu Mei is murdered by Overlord for asking too many questions about the Renaissance initiative. Wu Zhang becomes Cypher. Nero receives his half of the amulet, and Xiu Mei's letter.

2001-2005: Lucy's parents die of unknown causes. Diabolus Darkdoom falsifies his death to escape execution for getting too close to the Renaissance initiative, possibly after divorcing his wife first. Otto drops out of school and starts scamming local business to repair St Sebastian's. At some point Pike convinces Nero to try AI again. Number One's will is entirely consumed by Overlord.

2006: H.I.V.E.mind goes online. Pike's experiment to give Ms Leon the same reflexes as her cat goes horribly wrong, leaving them both trapped in the wrong body. Shelby becomes the Wraith and makes headlines for stealing millions of dollars' worth of jewellery. Laura is caught hacking the nearby American air base's early nuclear warning system. Otto hypnotises the current prime minister, allowing Duncan Cavendish to come into power. During a failed escape attempt from H.I.V.E., several hundred million pounds' worth of damage is caused to H.I.V.E. by Nigel's experimental crossbreed plant, Violet.

2007: Cypher fakes his death as Mao Fanchu in order to lure Wing to Tokyo, and the Contessa betrays Nero. Nero keeps Cypher alive, unbeknownst to Number One, and starts to have suspicions about Number One/Overlord for the first time. By the end of August, everyone is fourteen, and first year is over.

2008: H.O.P.E. is formed, and Nero is captured in either April or May whilst meeting with Gregori Leonov. Three months later, he is rescued by Otto, Raven, and the gang. The Contessa and Number One/Overlord die. Laura and Otto kiss, but nothing comes of it. Diabolus resurfaces from the dead to be elected head of G.L.O.V.E.'s ruling council. At some point in late August to early September, Otto, Wing, Shelby and Laura first encounter the animus fluid on a train to Paris whilst on a mission to recover a stolen thermoptic camouflage suit. As a result of the Contessa's death, Lucy Dexter is transferred to H.I.V.E. at the start of third year, at which point everyone is fifteen. Following the hijacking of Dreadnought, and an encounter with Pietor Furan, the animus fluid, and the Disciples, Otto is captured by American forces after saving Air Force One and the US president. He is then turned over to H.O.P.E.

2009: Assassinations of key members of G.L.O.V.E.'s ruling council take place at the hands of Otto, now under the influence of animus. Raven is given executive privilege to kill him if necessary. Otto confesses his love to Laura. Following a confrontation in the Amazon jungle, Cypher, Ghost, and Trent all die. H.O.P.E. is destroyed. Otto feigns memory loss of everything that occurred under animus. By the end of the year, everyone is sixteen.

2010: Laura's brother, Douglas, is born. Otto has continual and repeated nightmares and is the subject of rumours. Overlord takes control of the Advanced Weapons' Testing Facility in Colorado. The Zero Hour protocol is activated. Wing and Shelby get together. Chief Lewis and Lucy Dexter die. Pietor Furan is killed by Raven. Nero becomes head of G.L.O.V.E. Duncan Cavendish is forced to resign. The Architect is contacted by Anastasia Furan through a proxy, and construction of the new Glasshouse is completed. Following the appointment of Security Chief Dekker, Laura is blackmailed into betraying the location of the Hunt after Tom and Penny's recruitment to H.I.V.E. Joseph Wright and several former members of the ruling council are offered the help of Disciples'. All of the Alpha stream save Shelby, Otto, Franz, and Wing are taken captive. Otto is expelled, and joined Raven on the hunt for the location of the new Glasshouse. By the end of the year, everyone is seventeen.

2011: Raven and Otto take down several Disciples, most notably visiting Dubai, London, and Paris. In Venice, they are pursued by the CIA after tracking down the Architect with the help of Diabolus Darkdoom. Tom dies. The new Glasshouse is stormed and destroyed, again. Laura is given the choice as to whether she wants to stay at H.I.V.E. or not, and decides to stay. Anastasia Furan is taken hostage in Nero's basement storage facility. The Disciples' countdown for the new batch of hostages starts at 99 days. By the end of the school year, everyone is eighteen.

2012: The majority of Otto and the gang's final year goes smoothly. Franz starts working out and loses weight, becoming conventionally attractive. A few days shy of graduation, the clone known as Anna becomes loose. Otto reconvenes with the CIA and is allowed access to the last remaining batch of the animus fluid. Francesca Sinistre dies. It is revealed to Nero by Anastasia that he is Raven's father. Raven kills Anastasia. Otto stays behind to destroy H.I.V.E. and dies. His consciousness is transferred to a cloning vat by H.I.V.E.mind. Everyone is nineteen.

2013: Construction on the new H.I.V.E. facility is already underway. Raven finds out her birthday. Shelby and Wing set up an orphanage, implied to be in Africa, for war orphans in Otto's honour. Franz is an instructor at the temporary facility. Laura gets in to MIT and Oxford. In early September, Otto shows up on her doorstep.

#h.i.v.e #h.i.v.e.#h.i.v.e. timeline #bloodline spoilers

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hopelesshawks · 4 years ago

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History of Us Part 11- Qualifiers

Summary: Once upon a time Todoroki and (y/n) were best friends. Now they haven’t spoken in years. When (y/n) is forced to transfer to UA, will she and Shoto reconnect or will their troubled past keep them apart? A childhood friends to enemies to lovers hybrid fic.

If you don’t want to see History of Us content blacklist #hopelesshou

Masterlist Kofi

The moment right before the start of the sports festival is shockingly nerve-wracking. Each step through the tunnels, closer to the main field of the arena, fills you with more dread and excitement and anticipation. You keep your head raised high, wearing your UA gym uniform proudly as the roaring of the crowd starts to meet your ears. With Bakugo on your right and Kirishima on your left, you almost feel invincible. This is your chance, your opportunity, to show everyone what you’re capable of and show all of Japan that you refuse to be defined by your father’s tainted legacy. Present Mic’s voice booms over the speakers, his grinning face plastered across the monitors as you finally step out onto the field, astroturf crunching beneath your feet as he sings the praises of hero course class 3A. The crowd’s enthusiastic cheering is addictive. You make a point to soak it in while you can. Right now each and every one of them see you as a hero. While some of the students lamented not being able to wear their costumes for the event, you were secretly glad for it. The uniform made you a generic UA student; for now, unburdened by the past.

“This never gets old,” Kirishima grins next to you as you all step into the central area and the other classes begin to filter out into the coliseum as well. A few of them grumble, giving the hero classes jaded looks, but even their ire cannot dampen the overall atmosphere. You instinctively find yourself seeking out a familiar pair of heterochromatic eyes, eventually finding them next to Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka. You can’t help the way your heart trips over itself when you lock eyes with Shoto. Memories of the night before and of waking up in his arms float to the forefront of your mind and you scowl before shaking your head to physically dispel the image from your mind. You turn away from him, missing the hurt that flashes across his eyes. He redirects his attention back to Principal Nezu, chief umpire as usual for the third years. “Now Shoto Todoroki will give the class pledge,” Nezu announces before ceding the floor.

The school had made the executive decision not to let Bakugo give the pledge after that first year. Midoriya had nearly passed out when it was his turn second year (as much as he has grown, public speaking still isn’t quite his forte). This made Todoroki the obvious choice for this year’s class pledge. As he approaches the mic he can’t help but think of Bakugo’s first speech. He remembers Midoriya telling him later the apparent narcissistic declaration that Bakugo had made to be number one had actually been to box himself into a corner to make sure he followed through. The more he thinks on it the more Shoto relates to that desire. His eyes scan the crowd until he spots his father amongst the rest. He makes sure to make direct eye contact, his eyes boring into his father’s as he leans down to speak into the mic. “I pledge... that we will create a new legacy of our own and destroy legacies of old,” he says confidently. He thinks he sees a flash of hurt and disappointment in Endeavor’s eyes even from the great distance between them. He turns to stride down the stairs of the stage and he can’t help but seek you out amongst the crowd of fellow students, hoping you got the message.

You tense a bit as your heart skips another beat. That boy is going to give you heart palpitations. Bakugo nudges you harshly in the side, causing you to jerk your head to scowl at him. “You good, nerd?” he asks, concern softening his usual bite a fraction. “I’m great. Ready to start kicking ass,” you reply, pushing down all your Shoto-related feelings for examination later. “Good,” is all Bakugo replies before his attention returns to Nezu. You can’t help but smile a little at Bakugo’s concern. He’s a surprisingly good friend and you’re grateful Kirishima introduced the two of you. When the direct elimination round comes around you’ll be merciless, but you have full confidence the two of you will make it through the qualifiers and you know the two of you and Kirishima will make for a great team for whatever the second round will be. “Don’t forget loser. I better see you on the fucking podium,” you remind him with a smirk. “You ain’t gotta worry about me idiot. Worry about yourself,” he replies although there’s no heat behind the words and he’s smirking just as much as you.

As the first game is announced you resolve yourself to staying middle of the pack for now. You don’t want to draw too much attention and let everyone discover your identity too quickly. You’re keenly aware that the second round is almost always a team event and without knowing how many people will be on a team, you can’t rely on Bakugo and Kirishima. Furthermore, any team you’re on would only become a target. Bakugo would kill you if he knew you have no intentions of trying your all in the qualifying round of course but you have to be strategic. No one pays much attention to the lower ranks from round 1, it’ll be easier to slip under the radar. Then, in round 2, you’ll kick it up a notch to prove your worth. At that point winning will become the only important matter. Creating a new legacy while destroying the old, as Shoto put it.

So that’s exactly what you do. The first game is a so called “Tower of Terror” that had been constructed in the preceding weeks. The task is simple enough in theory: scale the tower, cross from there to the ramp connected to the stadium, and return to the field. Only rule is that falling off the tower entirely is an immediate elimination. The amount of people being promoted out of the qualifying round is, as usual, a secret but you do the math to get a good idea of how many would optimally be removed and think you have a good estimate to ensure you’ll remain relatively anonymous. Your strategy pays off and you finish in the 30s out of the approximately 50 who qualify. As you finish your slide down the ramp, glowing faintly as you heal the minor injuries you’ve collected, a fuming Bakugo is storming up to you and you roll your eyes.

“The fuck you doing half and half?” he demands as you dust yourself off. “None of your goddamn business Pomeranian,” you fire back. “What happened to trying to be the best huh? Didn’t think you were one for dirty tricks,” he accuses. You feel your temper starting to genuinely flare at that comment. “I’m not pulling dirty tricks I’m trying to survive asshole. Not all of us can afford to be showy right out the gate,” you seethe. “I didn’t take you for a coward.” “I didn’t take you for an idiot.” “Say that shit again and I’ll blast you out the fucking stadium.” “I’d like to see you fucking try.” Both of you grip hold of the front of each other’s shirts, your right hand raised as your quirk makes shadows pool in it and one of his hands raised already popping off explosions. Before either of you can draw more attention to yourselves or actually act on your anger, you’re frozen in place. Literally. “All that work you did to keep your identity under wraps will be for nothing if Present Mic or Nezu comment about you and Bakugo fighting between games. Especially if they decide to disqualify you over it,” Shoto says as he approaches the both of you before melting the ice keeping you and Bakugo from pummeling each other. “I don’t recall fucking asking you,” you spit back, whirring to face your former friend. “I’m only trying to help,” Shoto responds placatingly but it’s too late to quell your anger. “Well fucking stop trying to,” you tell him before storming off. You need to focus on the next event anyway and not stupid Shoto with his stupid face and his stupid need to stick his nose in your fucking business.

The second event is...

Rough.

To say the least.

You and Bakugo were still too pissed at each other to make a proper team so you’d ended up with Yaoyorozu, Denki, and Sero. You admired their quirks and objectively they were strong, but it wasn’t exactly a perfectly complementary combination of skills. Each member of the team was given a target they were required to protect, almost exactly like the provisional licensing exam held during your first year, except with one major twist. Every member of your team was linked together by a short leash attached to their wrists. Last four teams standing would advance to the finals. Without his costume or support items to help direct his lightning Denki’s quirk was difficult to utilize without risking stunning the entire team. Sero’s quirk was more useful but the placement of the leash made it difficult for him to use it without tugging around the hands of the teammates on either side of him. You and Yaoyorozu, the only two whose quirks weren’t actively impeded, struggled to compensate for the other two and coordinate your actions. In the end, the four of you had barely qualified, leaving you frustrated.

So much for crafting a new legacy.

As Present Mic gleefully announces that the teams of Midoriya, Bakugo, Monoma, and Yaoyorozu will be moving on, a picture of all those advancing flashing on the monitors, you can’t help but sink deeper and deeper into regret and frustration. The others head to the cafeteria as the lunch break is announced but you storm off in the opposite direction in hopes of getting an opportunity to cool off and clear your head before the break ends and the next game begins. The universe, however, seems to have other plans because instead you crash into another, much larger body. As you look up your apology shrivels up and dies on your tongue as you find yourself staring into the eyes of the only man who inspires similar ire in you as your father does.

Enji Todoroki aka Endeavor aka the (second) largest tool in the entirety of Japan.

“Where are you sneaking off to?” he asks, making no attempt to mask his suspicion of you. “None of your fucking business,” you retort. You move to step around him but he quickly steps back in front of you. “The cafeteria is the opposite direction,” Endeavor informs you. “Gee thanks, I had no idea even though I literally go to this fucking school,” you reply, each word dripping with sarcasm. “Then what could possibly have you traveling this direction instead?” “Like I said. None of your fucking business.” “Your suspicious behavior is my business. I made a mistake with a (y/l/n) before, I won’t make one again,” Endeavor swears and you reel back almost as if struck. “I am not my father,” you spit out. Your quirk activates unbidden in response to your anger, black shadows curling out of your clenched right hand and forearm. “Sure looks like it to me,” Endeavor scoffs, looking pointedly at the shadowy tendrils rising out of the right side of your body. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” a familiar voice asks from behind you and you wish the earth would swallow you up. Shoto steps around and in front of you, taking up an almost protective stance between you and his father. “Shoto step aside and-“ “No,” Shoto insists, staring down his father in challenge. He and Endeavor’s gazes stay locked in a silent argument, neither willing to back down, so you take the opportunity while they’re both distracted to slip away. You make it to about halfway down the hallway when a hand catches your shoulder. You whirl around knocking it away to find Shoto there looking genuinely stunned at your hostility. “Jesus christ will you fuck off!” you snap at him and maybe it isn’t fair but you’re frustrated and angry and you fought with one of your best friends and you’ve barely squeaked through each round so far and the last thing you are mentally or emotionally prepared to do is confront your increasingly complex thoughts on Shoto fucking Todoroki whose father just all but accused you of attempting to sabotage the competition.

“Hey I just wanted to check on you,” he says and for some reason, the show of compassion only pisses you off even more. “Why can’t you just leave me the fuck alone?” you demand. “Please (y/n) I-“ he tries to say, clearly confused by your rage. You know most of your anger is actually directed inwards and not at him but you don’t care. “I get that you are trying to grow as a person or whatever and pity me because you were a complete and utter dickhead a decade ago but I don’t want your fucking pity friendship so leave me the fuck alone Icyhot,” you spit with all the venom you can muster before promptly spinning around and continuing your path down the hallway, leaving a stunned Shoto behind.

No one needs to know that you’ve already started crying before you’ve even turned the corner away from him.

A/N: Oh you thought the good feelings from last chapter would last? Nah, have some angst 🙃

Taglist: @sorrythatspussynal @miss-bakugo-writes @pixelwisp @larkspyrr @sokkaandzukosimp @akkaso @sunaispretty @mindofess @todoplusultra @oliviasslut

#hopelesshou #shoto smau #shoto x fem!reader #shoto x reader #shoto x y/n #todoroki smau #todoroki x fem!reader #todoroki x reader #todoroki x y/n #shoto todoroki

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sparktoafire · 4 years ago

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2020 fic recs

thank you to all the fic writers who kept me afloat and more or less sane during this weird, fucked up year. literally don’t think i could have done it without you. to pay it forward, here are some recs. it was really difficult to pick what to put on this list, but these ones did stand out the most in the end. still, my thanks goes to literally every fic writer ever, and especially everyone whose fics i read this year, even if they aren’t on this list.

disclaimer & some notes: a lot of these are older fics, because i discovered a new fandom and returned to ones i’d been taking a break from. but all were read during 2020. (did some maths and i seem to have read approximately 2.5 million words of fanfic this year?.....). also, tried to add warnings the best i could, please heed them and check the author’s warnings as well, just in case.

ok, recs are under the cut!

MARVEL

we could jump the state lines (we only get the one life) by @notcaycepollard | Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson | 33k | warnings: PTSD | Comment: a very unpredictable, intimate and complicated story of recovery and finding each other.

Covert Coffee & Flirtation Special by @glittercake | Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson | 5.5k | warnings: none | Comment: so much fun! i was cackling half the time and the identity porn really works.

Like Soldiers Do by @glittercake | Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson | 8k (ongoing) | warnings: canon-typical violence | Comment: there’s a lot of jokes and fronting here, but the intimacy and passion are what makes this fic so compelling.

There Is No Shortage of Blood by @albymangroves @dsudis | Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers | 246k | warnings: (a lot, including but not limited to) rape recovery, rape aftermath, rape fantasy, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, etc. please read author’s warnings | Comment: a harsh, desperate, gruesome path through recovery, shot through with a lot of love, care and community. there are no easy answers here, but the little wins are all the more awarding for it.

Just Stay Alive ‘verse by @dsudis | Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson | 85k | warnings: dissociation, ptsd, mentions of child murder | Comment: a really interesting story (almost a theory, I want to say) of how Bucky finds his place in Steve and Sam’s lives, the different ways they all connect with each other and what they become together.

Comedy Jokes by @softsams | Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson | 77k | warnings: suicidal thoughts, panic attacks, car accidents, body image issues | Comment: this was one of the first fics I read in the mcu fandom. a lot of regular, non-Hollywood appropriate aspects of human life are made visible in this story, and there is just so much humanity and compassion and holding space that happens here, that it blew me away.

Alexander Pierce should have died slower ‘verse by Lauralot | mostly no pairing, some Bucky Barnes/Alexander Pierce in the first few parts | 301k | warnings: literally so many. including but not limited to rape, rape recovery, ptsd, violence, etc. please read author’s warnings. Comment: a very different, more trauma-heavy take on age-play than usual. complicated, well-written, often also funny and sweet.

VENOM:

Drawn into Something ‘verse by Nonymos | Eddie Brock/Venom, Eddie Brock/Dan Lewis/Venom/Anne Weying, etc | 101 k | warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, vore(ish), consensual non-consent, alien rape fantasy, rape roleplay, etc. check author’s warnings. Comment: not really sure how to describe this one. it’s got all the elements of a good Symbrock fic - aka weird alien significant other stuff - but also polyamory with your ex and her current bf + a lot of really good (and fairly disturbing) kink. this description doesn’t do it justice, just read it (or the author’s summary at least).

came all this way (to hold our hand) by @alakeeffectgirl | Eddie Brock/Venom | 651 words | warnings: none | Comment: possibly one of the strangest things I’ve read this year? A strange mix of not-quite-porn and fluff. short and very satisfying (to me).

HARRY POTTER:

Chrysalis by starcrossedgirl | Harry Potter/Severus Snape | 85k | warnings: mental health issues, depression, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, reference to child sexual abuse, etc. please read author’s warnings. Comment: a really well written account of Snape’s traumas and Harry discovering them and trying to find the balance with their combined traumas . there can never be enough Snape whump.

Pacify ‘verse by Chickenpets | Harry Potter/ Severus Snape | 500k (ongoing) | warnings: again, so, so many. graphic descriptions of violence, underage sex, ptsd, torture, panic attacks, etc. please check author’s warnings. Comment: this is both a very interesting and extremely detailed retelling of the last two books (and beyond), as well as the greatest love story ever told, as well as a lovely description of a (morally extremely dubious, of course, but that goes without saying) hardcore bdsm relationship. I like bdsm fic where the bdsm serves a psychological or practical purpose and isn’t merely a kink, and this very much hits the mark with that. it also isn’t as simple as you might think. very, very creative and well-written.

Quid Pro Quo by anonymous | Harry Potter/Severus Snape | 88 k (ongoing) | warnings: past child abuse | Comment: a really nice account of a marriage of convenience turning into something deeper. love the sparse and obscure way Snape is written.

Under the Same Sky by @writcraft | Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter| 37k | warnings: none. | Comment: what I said about psychologically motivated bdsm applies here too – not bdsm, but kinky in a very compelling and casual way. don’t know if it’s romance with a side of kink or kink with a side of romance, but very nice either way.

#go forth and read #not the most uplifting stuff admittedly #but very good #and i dont do sad endings so rest assured there is light at the end of all these angst tunnels #fic rec #marvel #harry potter #venom #snarry #drarry #symbrock #sambucky #stevebucky #samstevebucky #ms

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kuroyurishion · 4 years ago

Text

A Prinxiety Halloween Story

Fandom: Sanders Sides

AU: Human

Pairing(s): Prinxiety, Logicality (mentioned), Demus (mentioned)

Summary: Virgil is stuck babysitting his baby cousin on Halloween night while answering the door to trick or treaters. Roman shows up to surprise him.

Warnings: Cursing, Food mention, Hyperventilation (Did I miss any? Please let me know!), OOC Characters

Additional Note(s): Happy Halloween everyone! I’m a bit rusty since I haven’t written in so long. Think of this as a little test run. I hope all of you are having an amazing and spooktacular Halloween 🎃 (Finished 11:49 PM, October 31, 2020. Just in time!)

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27364531

Ready? Let’s Begin.

Trick or Treat: A Witch and his Vampire

Virgil Sullivan sighed underneath his breath as he clutched the bowl of candy tightly as he shut the door behind him. That was the fifth group of kids dressed in their colorful costumes. His neighborhood was full of kids, even more so since it was Halloween. He places the bowl of candy on the coffee table. He had approximately five to seven minutes of a break until the next wave of tiny children came, so he was gonna-

A loud crash jolted Virgil out of his thoughts. It came from the kitchen. He panics slightly, hurriedly jogging over to check the commotion. There was a chair knocked over, and sitting beside it was a white sheet. Virgil groans. “Damion, really?” he questions, picking up the chair. Damion is Virgil’s seven year old baby cousin who his aunt and uncle dropped off and asked him to babysit while they go on a business trip with Virgil’s parents.

The tiny seven year old giggles mischievously from his makeshift ghost costume. “Whoops! Sorry Vee!” he apologizes, not even sounding slightly sorry. Virgil rolls his eyes at his cousin.

“Just be more careful next time.” he says with a tired sigh. His cousin scampers off somewhere, the white sheet dragging behind him. Virgil went back to the living room and was about to sit back on the couch until he heard the doorbell. He groans, thinking it must be another batch of neighborhood kids looking for some candy, and picking up the bowl of candies, he answers the door. He reaches inside the bowl of candies and grabs a handful, and is about to greet the kids, but then pauses in surprise.

On the other side of the door weren’t a bunch of neighborhood kids. Instead, it was a very handsome man, about Virgil’s age. He was dressed up as a very fancy vampire; complete with a black vest with silver clasps, a long black overcoat and a red cotton alcott tucked into the collar of his white button down. The vampire had some very impressive makeup, Even the fake blood looked realistic! The vampire grinned, exposing his sharp fangs. He bowed, taking off his black top hat with a red ribbon tied around it.

“Greetings, my elusive Elphaba.” the vampire greets, standing up again straight again. Virgil rolls his eyes, leaning against the doorframe. He really didn’t want to dress up this year, just wanted to wear his usual black ripped jeans and purple and black jacket. Damion insisted he try, so he bought the black witch’s hat last minute and swapped his usual black eyeshadow with a glittery purple variety.

“‘Sup Roman.” Virgil greets with a two fingered salute.

Roman squawks indignantly. “It took me so long to think of that one!” he cried. “At least try to be in the Halloween spirit Virge!”

Virgil huffs. “Fine, I’ll play along.” He thinks of a cheesy saying and clears his throat. “And to you, my dashing Dracula.” he says with some enthusiasm. That really didn’t sound right coming from his mouth. Roman beams proudly, however, showing off his fake fangs.

“See! I knew you can do it!” he cheers.

“Thanks Princey.” Virgil says. “What did you come here for?”

Roman shrugs. “You’re usually out with my brother and Janus during Halloween, so when Remus said you weren’t gonna show up to your usual hang out spot, I thought it was suspicious.” he responds.

Virgil raises an eyebrow. “So you dressed up,” he starts, gesturing to Roman’s costume, “to check on me? Well aren’t you thoughtful?” He didn’t know why, but the thought was kinda sweet. Roman flushes.

“I was with Logan and Patton earlier before coming here,” he admits. “We were all trick or treating until Logan had to go back home because he had to study for his math test. Patton went with him since they’re both in the same class.”

Virgil snickers. “To study?” he asks, amused. Roman chuckles at that too.

“Can you believe they are not dating yet? I mean, Patton clearly likes Logan! And vice versa!”

“I know! They’re both so oblivious. I lost a bet to Janus since I said they’d get together first before him and Remus.”

The two boys share a laugh over the relationship status of your friends. “So how come you weren’t with my brother and Janus?” Roman asked curiously. Virgil shrugs in response.

“I’m stuck babysitting my younger cousin for the weekend.” he says. “Our parents are away on a business trip and won’t be back until next week.”

Roman nods in understanding. “Oh I see.” he says. “How’s that working out for you?”

Virgil grumbles. “He’s annoying me constantly and knocking so many things. My anxiety is through the roof since he’s so clumsy.” He sighs. “He even asked me to make his costume, Roman. I can’t make things for shit.”

Roman snickers. “Well, what did you make for him Virge?”

“I covered him in an old white sheet that I cut two holes for eyes in. Told him it was his ghost costume.” Virgil says then sighs. “The kid loves it, but honestly him dragging that thing along and bumping into things is driving me nuts.”

Roman laughs at that, and Virgil chuckles lightly after. They stop after a moment and look at each other, falling into an awkward silence, just looking at each other. Virgil looks at Roman’s costume and admires all the little details he put on it just for one night. He felt a bit underdressed with how his costume came out.

Roman clears his throat, breaking the silence and Virgil’s admiration of his costume. “I should head back home.” he says and Virgil’s eyes widened, realizing that it was getting late.

“Uh, yeah.” he says awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. “I guess I’ll see you in class Monday.”

Roman nods and smiles. “I bid you adieu, O Wicked Witch of the West.” he says dramatically, then steps back quickly as Virgil throws a small piece of candy his way, face hidden under the brim of his giant witch’s hat, laughing fondly. “I’ll see you Monday!”

Virgil could barely get a good bye out since he shut the door so quickly. He leaned against the door, panting heavily. There was a weird feeling in his stomach. For some odd reason, he didn’t want Roman to go….

Making up his mind, Virgil quickly flung open the door and spotted Roman’s retreating figure. He panics for a moment, thinking that he was too late. Clutching the bowl of candy as if it were a lifeline, he runs over to him. “Roman, wait!”

Roman turns around, slightly confused. “Virgil?” he asks. “What’s wrong?” Virgil catches up to him, panting.

“Don’t go yet.” Virgil huffs out.

Roman smirks. “Afraid you can’t wait until Monday, Emo Nightmare?”

Virgil rolls his eyes. “You wish Princey.” he snarks. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, but he was out here now. Might as well go for it. “Would you like to come in? You came all this way to check on me and you live on the other side of town…” He trails off, unsure of what to say next that wouldn’t make him sound whiny.

Roman raises an eyebrow. “You’re inviting me inside your house?” he asks in amusement. Virgil winces slightly. He knew it was a stupid idea to invite Roman. What was he thinking?

“If you didn’t want to, you could’ve just said no.” Virgil grumbles, hiding his face with the brim of his witch’s hat. He sighs. “It’s fine Princey. It was a stupid idea anyway, I’m just gonna go back and-”

“I’d love to stop by!” Roman says excitedly.

“-pause to process what you just said.” Virgil finishes, looking at Roman in surprise. “What did you say?” He swears he heard incorrectly. Did Roman just say he wanted to stop by?

Roman smirks. “I said yes, I’d love to stop by.” he repeats again, amused. Ah, so Virgil didn’t hear him correctly. The witch nodded silently and turned around to walk back to his house in stunned silence. He walks through the door, looking back to see if Roman was still following him. Roman was, but stopped in front of the threshold, not walking in.

“Princey, what are you doing?” Virgil asked in confusion. Roman still looked amused.

“Did you know, Virgil, that a vampire cannot enter your home?” Roman asked, grinning. “They have to be invited in. Once they are, they can enter and leave the home freely.”

Virgil looks at Roman like he grew another head. “You can’t be serious.” he groans. Roman continues to grin. “Roman, c’mon, seriously?”

“Why not Emo Nightmare?” Roman asks. “Don’t you wanna invite this, handsome, dashing vampire into your life?”

Virgil didn’t know whether or not to kiss Roman’s smug face or to punch it. Instead, he settles for putting the bowl of candy down and staring at Roman incredulously. “Roman-”

“Come on Virgil! Don’t you wanna let me in~?”

Virgil hides his blushing face with his witch’s hat. “Fine.” he grumbles. “Come on in, Dramacula.” He steps aside as Roman enters the house, winking at Virgil as he passes. Virgil sighs and locks the door behind him.

“Sorry for the mess.” he mumbles, looking around. It wasn’t really that messy, just a couple thrown pillows here and there because of Damion.

Roman looks around too. “Cozy place.” he compliments, looking at all the Halloween decorations around the house, like the spider web curtains and very realistic looking skulls on the mantelpiece.

Virgil mumbles his thanks. “What do you wanna do?” he asks Roman. He really didn’t think Roman was gonna say yes, so he was grasping at straws here.

Roman was about to suggest something when a loud noise came from the upstairs. It sounded like glass breaking. Both boys quickly ran upstairs to see what happened. In the hallway was the broken remains of a vase. Beside the shards sat Damion, still underneath the makeshift ghost costume.

Virgil panics. “Damion!” He carefully maneuvers himself around the sharp shards of glass to get to his younger cousins. He pulls the sheet off him. “Are you alright?”

The seven year old frowns sadly. “I thought I’d be able to walk through the wall…” he says. He crosses his arms and pouts. Virgil adjusts his witch’s hat with a sigh.

“You know you can’t do that.” he says, turning around to carefully pick up the shards of glass. Damion pouts unhappily, but then looks up to spot Roman standing there awkwardly. The small child screeches in surprise, causing Virgil to look up to see what was wrong now.

“Vee! There’s a vampire in your house!” Damion squeals excitedly, running over to Roman in wonder and awe. Roman looks at the seven year old curiously before falling into character.

“Tis I! The great vampire prince Roman!” Roman says dramatically, flashing a smile at Damion that exposed his fangs. The seven year old’s eyes widen.

“Wow! Your name is Roman?” Damion asks, tilting his head curiously. He was fascinated. “Like Roman King from the Drama Team? The same Roman that Vee-”

“-shares a science class with?” Virgil interrupts, having cleaned up the glass. He gives his cousin a subtle look, and the seven year grins mischievously in return, as if he knew what Virgil was hiding. And know he did. He snickers and scampers off to his room, leaving the two alone.

Roman looks at the two cousins. “And was the cousin you mentioned before?” he asks Virgil and the emo nods with a sigh. “He seems cute.”

“More like a menace.” Virgil grumbles. “I’m sorry about that. Damion's a bit… clumsy, I suppose.” He looks down, afraid to see Roman’s face. He heard Roman chuckle and his head snapped up.

“Don’t worry about it Virge.” Roman says. “He reminds me of Remus when he was younger. A little reckless rascal, you could say.”

Virgil sighs with relief. “Yeah, that.” he says, heading downstairs. Roman follows after.

“Why don’t we watch a movie?” Roman suggested, sitting down on the couch. “We can eat the remaining candy while we’re at it.” Virgil looks at him hesitantly. Should he? He sits next to Roman and places the bowl of candy between them.

“Sure Princey.” What could possibly go wrong?

***

Virgil and Roman both agreed to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas. The entire movie, the two boys spent it in a relatively comfortable silence. However, there was something there between them. Something different, but not unwelcome. Virgil reaches inside the candy bowl to get another Hershey’s Kiss, but accidentally brushes against Roman’s hand. They both look at each other and freeze.

“Sorry….” they both say at the same time. “No wait- what I mean is- you have this wrong-” The two of them continued to be in sync, embarrassing Virgil and amusing Roman to no end. Virgil eventually turns back to watch the movie, unable to stand whatever that moment was. Roman does so eventually, and the two of them fall into routine. Everything was ok, going smoothly, until Sally began to sing her song. Virgil listened with rapt attention. Sally’s Song always held a soft spot for Virgil. The song always reminded him of himself, a small speck within the view of the one person he liked. He knew he never had a chance with this person.

He hums along with the song as he reminisces and remembers. Roman looks over and looks at Virgil, listening to the low humming. He tilts head and gets a thoughtful look on his face. When the scene ended, and the silence overcame them again, Roman reached out and paused the movie. Virgil looked confused. “Roman, what-?”

“Virgil, we need to talk.”

The tone of voice made Virgil freeze in his place. “Talk.” Virgil echoes. He frowns. Did he do something wrong? Was Roman mad at him? Did he waste Roman’s time due to a miscalculation and miscommunication on his part? He begins to hyperventilate, feeling terrible for wasting Roman’s time. He breathes, quick, shallow breaths.

Roman was beside him immediately. “Virgil?” he asked urgently. “Can you hear me?” At Virgil’s nod, he continues.

“Ok, Stormcloud. Breathe in for four seconds.”

Virgil does so, breathing in.

“Now hold for seven seconds.”

Virgil does so, holding his breath.

“Now exhale for eight seconds.”

Virgil exhales, feeling slightly better. He repeats the familiar breathing exercise for a couple of moments. “Thanks…” he says to Roman with a shaky thumbs up.

Roman nods. “You’re welcome.” he says. “What happened, Stormcloud?”

Virgil draws his knees close to his chest. “When you said we had to talk so suddenly, I thought you were upset with me.” he says. “I know, I know, it’s a stupid thing to get anxious from, and I should be over it but-” Virgil groans unhappily. Now Roman really was gonna think he was a loser or something.

Roman gasps. “Sweet mother of sugar plum fairies!” he exclaims. “I had no idea- oh Virgil, sorry that I caused you to have such a scare. But what I was gonna talk to you about isn’t bad, I promise.” He sits a comfortable distance from Virgil so as to not freak him out.

Virgil nods in surprise. Roman didn’t think he was a loser? “No, you didn’t know. It’s ok.” he says, taking another deep breath. “So, what’s up Princey?”

Roman clears his throat. “Well, I wanted to talk about us.” he says, and upon seeing Virgil’s panicked face, he presses on. “I said it’s nothing bad! It isn’t…. hopefully.” Seeing as that didn’t make Virgil’s expression on his face even better, Roman continues. “We’ve been friends for a couple years now, and I like our friendship with our snarky back and forths and all that. But lately, it’s been weird between us, yes? Just the awkward glances and the silent conversations we have with each other. There’s something there that wasn’t there before. Do you know what I’m talking about, Virgil? What that something is?”

Virgil nods, somehow unable to speak. His heart pounded in his chest, nervous. What was Roman gonna do?

Roman continues on. “I think… that I love you, Virgil.” he says firmly, looking Virgil in the eye. “Nay, I know that I love you. I love you and everything that makes you, well, you. From your dark eyeshadow and clothes to you pale skin and snarky humor. I love all of it. I don’t care if you’re too anxious or too sarcastic, I love you for you. You’re a beautiful, dark painting, a gothic masterpiece made to be adored. You’ve cast your spell on me and bewitched my senses, my Exquisite Enchanter, and this is a spell I wish will not break.” He takes a deep breath. “I don’t know if you return my feelings or not, but I just had to let you know. Virgil, will you be the Trick to my Treat?”

Silence fills the room as Virgil takes in the confession. Roman looks down and readies himself for the rejection, the fall out, the foreseeable tragedy that will befall his love life. He hears Virgil sniffling and looks up at his love with tears . “Oh Virgil.” Roman says softly, feeling his heart break. Is this what rejection feels like? “I’m sorry… if I hurt your feelings. I’ll leave you be, then.” He gets up from the couch and walks hastily from the door, trying so hard not to cry. He knew he shouldn’t have opened his mouth, and now all his efforts were ruined, all for nothing. He should just-

“Roman, wait!”

-stop in his tracks and whirl around to hear what Virgil had to say. Roman does just that, turning around and seeing Virgil sitting halfway on the couch, as if he was ready to chase after him. “Yes?” Roman asked, feeling hopeful. Was he not being rejected?

Virgil wipes his tiny tears away. “Don’t just leave when I haven’t even told you my answer, you ass.” he says, looking at Roman. He wasn’t that good at emotions, but he was gonna try, dammit. “Roman, you absolute himbo of a man, you make me have butterflies in my stomach when you’re around.” Off to a great start, Virgil. “And when you’re around, you make me feel…. happier. I don’t feel as sad because you make sunshine appear in my stormy skies. I admire you and your creativity and passion for the things you do. Not only do you make your characters come alive, you make my heart skip a beat whenever I look at you.” His ramble begins to slow down. “You’re my hero in my darkest days, never failing to make me smile with our snarky commentaries. And you, being you, are so amazing in your own unique way, from your talents and charisma and long story short, Roman, I love you too. And yes, I’ll be the Trick to your Treat.”

As soon as Virgil finished speaking, Roman swept Virgil off his feet. “Oh my darling Stormcloud!” Roman exclaimed, laughing at Virgil’s surprised squawks. “I’m so happy you return my affections. I’ll make you the happiest emo witch in the whole entire world. You won’t regret this!” He finally puts Virgil back down, but he still holds him.

“I think I already am.” Virgil groans jokingly, quickly holding onto his witch’s hat as he’s spun and put down. But he smiles bright at the thought of being Roman’s boyfriend, looking up at his vampire with a fond grin.

Roman gasps. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you smile so bright!” he exclaims. “It is radiant like the sun, a beauty to behold!”

Virgil hides his face in his hands. “Roman stop!” he pleads, embarrassed with all the analogies and compliments.

“Never!” Roman exclaims happily. “I’ll never stop because you’re mine~!”

Virgil rolls his eyes. “Bite me.” he says jokingly, then freezes.

Roman’s face morphed into a teasing smirk, fake fangs on display. “Well, if my Bewitching Beauty insists,” he says, leaning closer to Virgil, pulling the emo towards him. He was so close to Virgil now and the emo gulps nervously, feeling Roman’s breath on his lips. He stops however, looking at Virgil, searching his face for consent.

Virgil nods silently, afraid to even speak. Roman then, slowly, presses their lips together in a slow, sweet kiss. It wasn’t rushed, or messy. It felt perfect for the both of them. And what a perfect way to end Halloween night. A vampire and a witch, in love, who’s only witnesses are the spider curtains, the realistic fake skulls, and a mischievous seven year old who witnessed everything and was definitely not going to tell anyone what he saw. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.

The End

Taglist:

@princessglittermageline @fire-and-ash67 @nini-panini-wears-a-beanie @princey-the-dramaking

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders mention #patton sanders mention #janus sanders mention #remus sanders mention #prinxiety #logicality mention #demus mention #cursing tw #tw cursing #food tw #tw food #hyperventilation tw #tw hyperventilation

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chicksung · 4 years ago

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One Last Time || Park Jisung

Genre: Fluff, best friends to lovers!au, nonidol!au. Part of the @neo-the-stars-net halloween collab

Pairing: best friend!jisung x fem reader

Word Count: 2.9k (I didn’t intend for this to happen)

Warning/s: Mentions of fake blood (red paint), singular mention of alcohol (not consumed by either party)

Synopsis: Senior year. Full of teenagers trying to pack the most into their last year of high school to make it memorable. You and Jisung have decided that this year will be the end of your tradition, trick or treating. Better make it count, right?

A/N: I was so happy to be able to be a part of this collab and a special thanks to @ncitythoughts for letting me bounce ideas off you. I really appreciate it, elle! This concept also one my favourites. I also couldn’t find a gif of it but the costume that jisung is in is his one from Halloween 2018! Enjoy, spookies!

Adding the final touches to your makeup, you smiled brightly at your mirror image and stood up, looking the same reflection up and down at your costume. You had recently found your obsession with Stephen King horror movies, your favourite of which being It. You knew that was basic, but the character design of Pennywise was something that continued to fascinate you. So, with your slowly growing sewing capability and enough dedication, you created your genderbent Pennywise cosplay. White top with ruffled sleeves, ruffle white skirt, a lot of white, but for a bit of fun (and what was pretty much canon) you had splattered the clean material with red paint, creating fake bloodstains.

Now your face was coloured white and your lips were shaded into the creepy and sinister smile that Pennywise always harboured. Once satisfied with your reflection, you turned to your best friend. “What do you think?” You called out to him, drawing his attention away from the whiskers he was drawing on his cheeks. He looked you up and down for a moment before smiling.

“Truly terrifying.” Jisung smiled, turning back to his reflection to add the last whisker. He placed down the eyeliner pen and stood up. Jisung’s costume was also mainly white, but his taking on a more animalistic and innocent portrayal, polar opposite to your ‘blood’ splattered clothes.

“Look at you, Jwi. So cute.” You said, playfully pinching his cheeks, causing him to groan.

“Y/N stop~ We’re not five anymore.” He stated.

He was right. You weren’t five anymore. You were both eighteen and in your final year of high school. Funniest thing about this whole thing is that you didn’t even know Jisung when you were five. The two of you didn’t meet until you were eleven and the seating plan the teacher had set up had graciously introduced you to Jisung, the soft spoken, gangly boy who spent way too much time in the gymnasium for your liking, yet the two of you became inseparable.

To be quite honest, you had no idea how it happened, it just did. Asking for solutions for the math homework ended up turning into the most important friendship you’ve made.

“Y/N! Y/N! Are you ready?” Your little sister, Gyuri squawked, running into your room in her cheap Halloween store Princess Aurora dress. The young girl was six and only came up to Jisung’s knee, but her excitement was measured to approximately seven feet tall. It was the first year that your mother had let her go trick or treating but only if you went with her, and knowing Jisung, he wasn’t going to mind the girl tagging along. You knew he was very much whipped for Gyuri and she looked up to Jisung like the older brother she never had.

“Give us a minute, GyuGyu. We’re almost done here. Why don’t you go and get the little bags I bought. They’re the purple and black bags I put on the kitchen table. There’s one for each of us, and our names are written on them. Can you do that for me?” You said, slowly shrinking down to her level so she hopefully wouldn’t be to intimidated by the creepy clown makeup, but thankfully she remained bubbly.

“I can do that!” She said, her hands curling up into little fists before running back out the door she had entered not long before.

“Does she ever just...stop?” Jisung asked. He was honestly jealous with how much energy the six year old had. You shook your head, a reminiscent shine glazing over your eyes. You didn’t recognise the trance you were in until Jisung was waving his hands in front of you.

“Hello? Earth to Y/N? Do you copy?” Jisung huffed, his big brown eyes almost touching your own. Your eyes finally snap back to now and you see how close in proximity your face was from his.

“Yes, I copy. Now get out of my face.” You rolled your eyes, shoving Jisung away from you. He chuckled and stepped away from you, a warm feeling buzzing in his chest. A buzz he recognised way too well, and one he only felt when he was with you.

“Okay you two, stand in front of the door. I think you know the drill.” Your mom smiled, camera clamped firmly in her hand as she gestured towards you and Jisung.

Another one for the scrapbook

You shuffled towards the tall boy, looking towards your mom and smiled. Jisung did the same. His heart shaped smile revealed his teeth and gums to the camera and your mother couldn’t stop herself from fawning over him a few seconds after the shuttering of the camera was heard.

“Aww, Jisungie, dont you just look adorable?” She cooed, making you roll your eyes. “Mom, stop it~ It’s embarrassing~”

“What? Am I not allowed to compliment someone?” She teased back before you rolled your eyes and strutted over to see the photo, a soft smile gliding across your face. This was really the end of your tradition, huh?

You and Jisung retreated back to your bedroom and from under your bed, you pulled out a scrapbook with its spine cracked from how many times it had been opened.

It had been your mother’s idea to scrapbook your friendship. Although you thought it was dumb at first, you’re really glad she had suggested it. Calling for Jisung to pass you one of your many orange gel pens, you made small decorations in the page before writing ‘Halloween, Senior Year’ at the top in cursive and glued the picture onto the page.

You couldn’t help but flick back to your very first Halloween together, you dressed in a cheap princess dress and crown (very similar to your little sister’s), and Jisung in an equally as cheap vampire costume, complete with fake teeth. Your pumpkin shaped candy buckets clutches tightly in your hands.

The more pages you flip, the more you watched yourselves grow. Jisung went to being shorter than you to being five feet taller than you and you grew into your body and developed as every girl did.

“God, I was so cringey back then.” Jisung groaned when he saw what picture you were looking at.

“And what makes you think you grew out of that?”

“And what makes you think that...that...” He tried to find something to fire back at you but all he came up with were bent bullets.

“Better luck next time, Sungie.” You smirked slyly, your hand creating a ‘V’ on his face and squishing his cheeks. He puffed his cheeks out and stood up, walking towards your little sister, who was busy imitating a spinning top in her dress.

“Gyuri! You silly, if you keep spinning like that, you won’t be able to come trick or treating with us!” Jisung told her, placing his hands lightly on her back to stop her. Gyuri stumbles for a second when she stopped before smiling up at Jisung.

“I’ve stopped now. Can we go?” She asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her heels and with a singular nod from your mother, she squealed (which rang through room in a pitch you didn’t like to think about) and grabbed her little black and purple bag and raced to your side.

“I take it you’re ready to go?” You asked the little girl, who nodded her head enthusiastically. You looked back to Jisung, but his eyes were trained to your sibling and an unconscious smile touched your lips.

“Have fun, kids!” Your mother voice broke your train of thought and you nodded.

“We’ll see you later, mom!”

As dusk turned to nightfall, you, your best friend and your little sister went to the doors of the decorated houses, which broke the familiarity of the normal picket fences neighbourhood. The excited rap on every house’s door was opened with an equally excited parent, placing candy into each of your buckets. There were a few who questioned you and your friend, asking if you were too old for dress up.

“It’s been our tradition for years. It’s what brought us closer together.” You would always tell them before taking Gyuri’s hand and skipping back up the path and onto the next house.

By 9pm, Gyuri was in Jisung’s arms, fast asleep, her pudgy cheek squished up against her eye. The stars were out now and the moon’s reflective rays were the only thing that lit up your path aside from the occasional streetlight. You opened up the front door, Jisung pushing passed you to deliver the six year old to your mother.

“Are you two going to stay out a little later?” She asked the boy. He nodded. “Yes, we are but not too much later.” He promised. Your mom smiled. If there was anyone who was just as whipped for Jisung as you were, it was your mother.

“Alright but no later than midnight, alright kids?” She called out as Jisung made his way to the door. With a call of reassurance delivered, you and Jisung left the house once more and began to wander the streets.

The memories from the past seven years crashed over your mind like a tidal wave, images of a younger set of best friends, running like crazy through the streets, playing chasy with all the other neighbourhood kids while the parents sat around and drank and conversed. The memories of your younger self. A younger friendship, a younger mindset, a younger crush.

Neither you ever confessed your feelings but you lost count of how many people (particularly adults) who assumed you were a couple.

“Do you remember when I would sleep over, if the sky was clear, we would say we would sleep under the stars but chicken out and just sleep in your room?” You reminisced on the story aloud, Jisung giggling in return.

“Yeah. We were so scared something like a cougar was gonna eat us or something.” His laughter picked up again, his eyes squinting as he did.

“The wild imagination of a child, I guess.” You concluded, falling back into comfortable silence before stumbling across a part of the neighbourhood that was all too familiar.

The woods.

Many games of hide and seek and murder in the dark were played here, the latter being played with other friends and children on the same street. You remember the nights of giggling until your sides ached, hiding until you had to find the seekers, being too good that you were always made the seeker.

“We basically know every inch of that wood.” Jisung cocked his head to the side, trying to peer into the wood, seeing if there were any creatures of the night lurking around. There weren’t but it wouldn’t hurt to check.

“I remember making so many cubby houses with Yuna and Seulgi. You, Renjun and Chenle wouldn’t let us into yours so we made our own. Turns out ours was much more stable when it came to windy days.” You teased, letting your shoes tease the edge between the woodly maze and the street. Jisung scrunched his nose up and folded his arms, mumbling something about Chenle being dumb and Renjun being just as dumb when it came to stability.

Jisung stood there for a second longer, before his eyes lit up with an idea. “We should play hide and seek.”

You snapped your head towards him so fast, it almost gave you whiplash. “Huh?”

Jisung looked at you and felt his chest was about to explode from the warmth inside it. “I mean, if we’re stopping our tradition tonight, might as well finish it properly. Let’s play hide and seek one last time, before we become boring adults stuck in office jobs and getting more paper cuts than hours of sleep.”

You couldn’t see why not

“Since it was your suggestion, you’re the seeker.” You declared as you dashed into the woods, looking for the same pile of old plywood that you would hide behind and no one could ever seem to find you. Jisung tried to protest but you were too far into the wood that his complaints fell onto deaf ears.

You could hear Jisung’s footsteps approaching and distancing themselves from the spot you sat. ‘Even after all these years, that idiot still can’t find me.’ You thought to yourself. You checked your phone and you had been crouched in the same position for ten minutes.

“Y/N! Y/N! Where are you?” You heard Jisung’s voice echoing from the other side of the wood.

“Over here, you stupid!” You called out, knowing that he was nowhere near close to finding you. He dashed back to the centre of the forest, looking around and trying to pinpoint where your voice had called out to him moments ago.

“Where’s here?” He asked, but this time, no reply. He groaned before calling your phone. You were quick to decline the desperate boy’s plea and watched as he tossed his head back in annoyance. You watched him slowly make his way closer to you, and you were in perfect alignment with his ankles. Yes. Yes. This is what you wanted.

One step. Two steps.

When he reached his third step, you grasped his right ankle, causing the boy to screech in a high pitch and high decibel rating. You were laughing your ass off, while Jisung calmed his racing heart (mind you, you were dressed as a psychopathic clown). You pouted at him before wrapping your arms around him.

“I’m so sorry. I saw the opportunity and I had to take it. Please please forgive me.” You pleaded, squeezing him tightly and listening as his heart slowed, but his heart still had a skipping rhythm to it.

“I suppose I can. But I can’t promise anything.” Jisung sighed out, plonking down at the base of a thick oak tree whose branches reached over the night sky, obscuring the stars that dimly shimmered above. You sat down beside him and sighed, your head resting against the tree.

Jisung watched over your smiling form, your fascination with the stars saving him from being caught staring at you. His heartbeat quickened once more and unbeknownst to him, a soft pink hue poked at his cheeks and reddened his ears.

“Y/N?” He called out to you, pulling you from your starry trance. You caught the flaming red that flowed on the tips of his ears.

“Yeah, Sungie?”

“Can I tell you something? Something I’ve been hiding from you?” His question was hesitant and his tone was shy, like he was scared of your reaction.

“Jisung, we’ve been friends for years. You don’t need to ask me to tell me something.” You chuckled, nudging his arm to try and get him to lighten up. The blush in his cheeks darkened crazily fast and he sighed.

“I’velikedyouforareallylongtimebu-” His words were jumbled and close together and you couldn’t understand anything he was saying.

“Woah, woah, woah. Slow down, Jwi. Take a deep breath and try again.” You reassured him, turning your body towards him and rubbing his shoulders. Jisung followed your instructions, sighing out his breath and trying again.

“I’ve liked you for a really long time but I didn’t know how to tell you. I felt like tonight would be my last chance before I chickened out again.” This time, you understood him and you couldn’t quite still your pounding heart.

“You don’t have to accept and I know this might ruin our friendship but I had to shoot my shot, you know and Haechan said-”

“I like you too.” You interjected, your own cheeks dusting pink. There was a silence, filled with processed emotions and spiked heartbeats.

“So...”

“Guess Renjun was right.” Jisung snapped his head towards you. “What do you mean?” You chuckled at the boy’s confused face and hummed.

“He said that if we didn’t like each other by the end of high school, there was something wrong with us.” Jisung scrunched up his face and mimicked the words you just, imitating Renjun’s voice. “Well, he wasn’t exactly wrong.” You smiled, picking yourself up and dusting off your knees and butt.

“How long have you liked me?” Jisung asked, standing up himself as the two of you started to wander aimlessly. You looked up to the sky in thought, the stars helping you connect the question to the last seven years.

“Since I was like...13? 14? We had been friends for a while but I kept it quiet because you were still dating Heejin.” You could hear Jisung audibly cringe at the name of his ex-girlfriend. Yes, he and Heejin were only together for two months but she was awfully clingy and had tried to drive you and Jisung apart.

“You know what’s good about this though?” Jisung said, looking back to you, still seeing the sparkle in your eye despite it being almost pitch black.

“What?” No sooner had you said that, you felt Jisung’s lips touch the burning skin of your cheeks and your face flushed red. He laughed at you before pulling your arm towards the street once more.

“I should get you home. Your mom said to be home by 12, didn’t she? Don’t want her thinking I’ve Up and left with her daughter.” He smiled at you.

As the two of you walked side by side, like you had done for years, your pinky fingers wrapped around each other as you set off home. Down the same road you had walked for years, with the person you loved more than anything.

#kpop #fanfiction #neothestars #kpop fanfiction #kpop fluff #nct fanfiction #nct fluff #nct dream #nct dream jisung #park jisung #nct jisung #halloween collab #halloween #nct dream fanfiction #nct 2020 #jisung pwark

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thecat-inthehat · 3 years ago

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2. Aberrant

Sorry this one’s a bit late, I could not think of a good prompt for the life of me. And then this one ended up being so much longer than I thought.

Anyways, the best known way to make a cat like you is to bribe it with treats. Or previously inaccessible laboratories.

(1574 words) [Masterpost]

The door whooshed open, letting out a small cloud of air that had been trapped in the room for some time. The lights started to blink on one by one as they flickered to life with soft red glows, casting the two miqo’te into gentle relief.

“Finally, I’ve been trying to get this lab open for ages,” the woman said, stepping into the room and adjusting her hat so she could get a better look. “Apparently this was the personal lab of one Stygian Osseous, the primary researcher for the Warring Triad restraints, who then went on to work on the Dalamud project.”

“Ah, I see,” the man said softly, looking around the room with interest. “And being of such high rank, his room would be closed off to everyone save for the royal family.”

“After we found Owen’s node and laboratory, I knew there had to be other places that were blocked off,” Nive muttered, starting to flip on switches for more lights to pop on. “I kept finding references to his work while I was digging into the Triad’s restraints on the upper decks of the Flagship, but every time I was confronted with passwords and nodes that tried to fire lasers at me.”

“So this is why you kitnapped me,” G’raha said with some amusement, his luminous red eyes crinkling at her. “I see, I’m just a key for you to get into nooks and crannies you probably shouldn’t.”

Nive paused for a moment and think it over, only to chuckle. “Yeah, pretty much. Sorry, I don’t like you much at all, Exarch. But this is going a long way to endearing me to you.”

G’raha blinked at the title, and wondered if it was intentional or not. Truthfully he and the woman were acquaintances at best -- he hadn’t endeared himself to her during his tenure as the Crystal Exarch, and now that they were back on the Source, he hadn’t seen much of her. It was strange, really. She was family-by-proxy, since she was Shining’s sister, but she had had little and less to say to him other than deriding his intelligence or asking a few questions about the Tower.

Admittedly he wasn’t on her level. She was extremely intelligent, and had an encylopedia’s worth of knowledge stuffed into her grimoires or her head. She knew more about aether patterns and primals than he probably ever would, as well as the sheer math that was required in her chosen profession of being a Summoner. He wasn’t a slouch, having gotten his own archon mark and a century’s worth of experience governing a city, but she was on a different tier entirely. He tried not to take it personally.

Nive started walking through the lab, carefully noting down things in her grimoire before she went to move various switches or open cabinets. It was a methodical sort of note taking that he had seen before on countless occasions, and he wondered how many books she went through on the weekly. The Ironworks had many of her books saved and used as references, and he had torn through many of them while he was with the group. There were dozens that were piled into the library, but based on what he had seen in the last few months of knowing her, at least a good seventy percent had been lost to time. The historian in him ached to try and figure out pieces that were missing, to study her books and gain some sort of knowledge.

But here he was, watching the living legend spray herself with ink as the quill nib broke. She spluttered and coughed, then grumbled and yanked another quill out from the feather on her hat--so that’s why she wore the damn thing--and continued writing, heedless of the ink on her cheeks. History was learned and not lived indeed.

“G’raha, can you--pleh--turn on that light over there?” She asked, pointing to where a switch sat, next to a containment chamber. The man laughed softly at her but did as bid, going to flip on one of the switches. The containment chamber lit up, and he had to stifle a yelp of surprise.

It was filled with a sort of fluid, and floating inside sat a Lamia specimen staring at him. He jumped back, but the eyes of the creature did not follow him -- and he caught a glance at the vital signs. Dead.

“I thought this man worked on the containment moons?” G’raha heard himself ask, trying to get his heart under control.

“He did, why--Oh!” Nive said, coming up to the containment chamber and looking it over. She instantly went to the panel on the side, starting to read the information. “It looks like it was deceased before the Calamity, and he was storing this one for research.”

“Why a singular Lamia specimen…?” G’raha asked, frowning at it. It looked a bit different compared to most Lamia he had seen, but even he understood what five thousand years in an isolated area could do to a species.

“I’m not sure…” Nive murmured, and tapped on one of the display panels. Holographic text started to float across the screen, and she started reading aloud. “‘One of the youngest of the batch showed strange genealogy today, well outside the norm. She developed speech and her petrification powers quicker than the others, but seemed to know things she shouldn’t have.’ The next entry… hm. ‘The containment suite for the Lamias was in shreds today. The advanced specimen had killed the rest of her clutchmates, and was playing with the petrified head of one of her victims.’”

“... That’s disturbing.” G’raha said flatly.

“Quite.” Nive muttered, and went to flip over the last few pages. The text scrawled across the screen, and G’raha could see several dates flip past. “‘After some research, I have determined that she has the aberration known as the Echo. How a simple creature as a Lamia could have it, I know not. The tests unfortunately killed her, but I have stored her body in my lab for further analysis. But with Dis asking me to work on the Dalamud project, I doubt I’ll have the time to truly study what I want. I can’t refuse him though…’ It trails off here, and there’s no other entries.”

“It seems this man had more to him than even you knew,” he murmured, looking up at the specimen again. “... The Echo though…”

“It’s been observed in non-spoken, but we have extremely little data on it,” Nive said, making another note in her grimoire. “We don’t know exactly how it works, and Mikoto hasn’t been able to get back to me on what she’s observed in Bozja. We know that it exists, but not to what degree or frequency.”

“Do we even have those numbers on the Spoken?” G’raha asked, tilting his head. “With the recent resurgence of primals, it seems pertinent…”

“Admittedly not enough data for my tastes, but out of the sample sizes we’ve found, the Echo can be found in approximately point-zero-five percent of the population, with numbers in Eorzea skewing slightly higher to point-zero-seven.” Nive said, scribbling on her notes. “It’s actually a lot higher than we thought. For a long time, Helisent and I were under the impression that the Echo and the Blessing of Light were congruent, until Midgardsormr proved otherwise. It turns out that theoretically anyone with the Echo can become a Warrior of Light, but those that do are far in between. And, in theory, someone without the Echo could be Blessed.”

“... And then you have situations such as Elidibus in the First, forcibly awakening the Echo within the population,” G’raha murmured. “Artificially inflating the numbers. Except… Is it truly artificial when we have confirmation that it’s almost all artificial?”

Nive asked softly, placing a claw on the glass of the containment unit. She stared up at the corpse of the Lamia, tapping her finger in thought. “If Hydaelyn simply chooses to awaken more of them when she needs, has there ever been a point where the Echo has awoken naturally? But… then that doesn’t explain how the Ascians have the Echo. Or what it even is…”

“The more I think about it, the more the Echo being called an ‘aberration’ seems more and more apt,” G’raha admitted softly. He had witnessed the starshower, and had seen many of his beloved citizens have a gleam of understanding in their eye, of hearing something that was beyond his ken. It scared him, more than a little.

“Maybe we can find some more information on it in the Triad’s files… But I doubt it.” Nive murmured. “At the least, it’s more information than we had.”

“So I did well, then?” He asked with a laugh, and felt his stomach flip slightly. He didn’t want to sound so eager to please, but … She was Shining’s sister. He at least wanted to try and get along with her, or maybe be friendly.

Nive grinned toothily at him, baring her fangs. “Court’s still out on the final verdict, but I think you’ve got good chances. As long as you keep opening doors like that, I think we’ve got a good relationship forming.”

“Ah, I see, it’s all based around how I can serve you,” he snarked, and was unable to hide the grin from his face. “Maybe you should be the princess of the Allagan line then.”

#ffxivwrite2021 #G'raha Tia #Nivelth Ajuyn #Allag #Stygian Osseous #Creator Writes #The Daedalus Project #The Echo #i am desperate for rates on the echo #what percentage of the population has it #are there any 'beast tribes' that have it #logically they SHOULD but who knows

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lizacstuff · 4 years ago

Text

Edser / Sen Cal Kapimi ep 30+ asks

(Asks under the cut)

@jan31 Hi Liza, in the fragman Selin was in a white dress, was it a wedding dress?

Hello! I don’t think so. I think that’s what she was going to wear to the dinner she’d planned for the four of them (from the fragman, Eda, Serkan, Deniz and herself) but BOOM goes the MELO. Thank you Melo, lock that witch away so Serkan and Eda are not haunted by her evil presence, and can maybe spend some time together.

Though, you know, I wouldn’t mind if it was a wedding dress. We know Serkan ain’t gonna marry her, so if they go so far as to put her in a dress, then we’re on the precipice of her humiliation and departure which can’t come too soon for me.

jan31 Hi Liza. Please can you explain to me the fireside scene. It was so beautiful, emotional and just what we needed. Were the lights going out representing his sub conscious and the darkness he feels, reaching out for Eda instinctively without realising why. And the lights coming on was the reality that he did not remember anything. Or am I completely going in the wrong direction? Oh and the music gets me every time 😢😢

That scene fired on all cylinders!! I definitely think you’re on to something thinking the lights coming on represented the reality of him still not having any memories back. I think the whole scene was Serkan trying to reconcile this one flash of memory that has been playing in his mind like a movie. He was re-enacting what he saw in his mind, trying to figure out if it was a real memory and if the real memory was about Eda.

I really liked that it was Serkan who asked if they can talk without arguing. Being the calm, rational one is his role in their relationship, how many times have we heard him say “sakin” so it was comforting to see him taking those reigns for a few moments. Also for him to realize that almost all their exchanges had been heightened and fraught with explosive emotions and wanting to talk to her without that.

Both Eda and Serkan with their eyes filled, brimming with tears really got to me. Serkan not really understanding as his heart took over and tried to make sense of what his confused mind couldn’t. Eda’s complete heartbreak when he still didn’t remember anything. However, though, she might not know it, he certainly felt something.

He’s already so drawn to her and he can’t compute why that is... why he fell in love with her during the time he can’t remember, but he’s slowly starting to see how it could have happened. This was an important scene for bridging that gap between them. So freaking beautiful, one of the best acted scenes of the entire series, and the scene that made this episode worthwhile.

Anonymous said: if that scene in front of the fireplace made me so emotional and it was just him trying to remember.. trying to recreate that one moment he was flashbacks of... i cant imagine what the actual scene of him remembering will do to me. both their acting in that scene was something else.

Hande and Kerem were both absolutely fantastic in that scene. Really stellar. Their chemistry never disappoints, but here they were both right in the moment, very raw, very real. I’m impressed with the emotional range they both showed, kudos to both. If nothing else this story is giving them a lot to chew on as actors.

Anonymous said: memory loss doesn't bother me that much if we can have beautiful scenes like the fireplace one. but the main couple is separated again, dating/fake dating other people and they don't have scenes enough to fall in love again

Well they made huge strides in two episodes. From Serkan not willing to even contemplate remembering her, to him sitting down and asking her to tell him a memory of their relationship and saying he wants to know about her and their love. And them having an absolutely beautiful, emotional, heartbreaking moment together.

Serkan made other leaps as well. He went from wanting Eda out of the business to admitting she had talent and freaking out that she was planning to take a vacation. He was already coming up with every excuse to keep her in town and working. They argued as they did in early days, he had moments that obviously hit him as familiar (”I hate you Serkan Bolat.” “The feeling is mutual, lady.”) plus lemons and crusts.

Don’t you worry, he’s already falling in love with her again.

However, I wouldn’t judge what they’re planning too much by this episode. It felt like a transition episode and was pretty unevenly paced. Perhaps the claims of rewrites on this chapter had some truth to them. Because the last 4 episodes were pretty well written, narratively solid, and well paced, and this one was not. It was boring and everything not directly related to a scene where Eda and Serkan were alone was lackluster.

Also I feel like some things were changed and perhaps removed to make allowances for Hande’s injury. She had a strained neck and was in a brace for almost the entirety of the filming of this episode. For instance, I’m pretty sure they did fewer takes with her in several scenes. Specifically you can tell in the scene where Serkan picks her up and carries her back.

We go no full wide angle shot from the front of him carrying her to match with the scene in episode 5. I’m sure they wanted that, but I’m guessing they really had to limit the takes of him picking her up so they couldn’t do multiple camera set ups. The still photographer on set was able to capture it from the front, it’s a shame they couldn’t get the full hero shot for the show, but poor thing was injured and these things happen when you shoot on such tight timelines.

So some of the lack of Edser could have been scenes that were shortened, cut, and amended due to that injury. And others could have been changes in the script perhaps as they figure out if they’re getting another ep order from Fox.

Anonymous said: idk what they’re doing with Ceren but I really need them to keep Deniz as a genuinely good friend. He’s perfect and I don’t want them to make him sketch. Not sure if you’ve seen OTH but that’s the only other show I’ve seen with a great male-female friendship. Other parts of the show are messy to me right now but I’ve been loving this.

I guess my opinion would be unpopular with you, but I am not as enamored with Deniz as others seem to be. Dude was putting a LOT of pressure on Eda to move on and forget Serkan. Serkan has been back approximately 3 days! HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND HAS AMNESIA. Can the woman have a chance to catch her breath and assess the situation, before her “good friend” is pressuring her every which way to forget him?? And planning romantic getaways under the guise of friendship? That’s not being a friend, that’s being an opportunist, looking for his chance to slide in there.

So, yeah, I’m not as impressed as most seem to be with Deniz. He made me uncomfortable with that. I hope it was not a harbinger of things to come.

As for OTH, I haven't really watched, but its a fav or my bud @echoapothecary so she might be willing to discuss that show.

Anonymous said: Any chance they decide to throw Melo and Ferit together? I don't care about any of the other side romances going on but these two still have their rights in my book in regards to Edser and they seem like genuinely people?

Let’s do it, baby! I’m on board They both are genuinely good people, and I’m with you, I don’t care about any of the side romances at the moment. Piril and Engin put me to sleep this episode.

Ferit certainly deserves better than psycho Selin, but he also deserves better than petulant Ceren. And while her behavior escalated to WTF levels this ep, she’s always leaned a little this way. I think it was episode 18 (because the girls were in the library before Serkan finds Eda there) that Ceren was furious at Ferit all episode and I honest to goodness had no clue why or what he did.

Anonymous said: at first sçk was about women supporting women and we have one best friend turning against the other FOR A MAN. I'm so disappointed the writers are destroying characters one by one.

No this show has always been about the love story between Eda and Serkan, but it did have some nice female relationships as well. Can I tell you a secret? While I really like the girls dynamic, and hope they don’t destroy Ceren and Eda’s friendship, I really only care about 2 characters, and that’s Eda and Serkan.

So while I get your concern, and Ceren acted OUT OF HER DAMN MIND this episode, if she needs to be a casualty to keep things moving, so be it. I mean I reserve the right to roll my eyes over it, but I’m not going to get too worked up about it. From the beginning Eda and Serkan were the only two characters that matter and they still are.

Anonymous said: I'm kinda concerned that they're actually going to say the next episode takes place on Valentines Day because this would be the biggest timeline error yet. I know we've already been suspending belief here after they touched on New Years so quickly but umm, yeah....

I think you have to just give over to the timeline on this show and not do any math or calculations. We already had July to December take approximately 2 months in straight linear storytelling, LMAO.

Also, if it is valentine’s day and that’s going to be their excuse to give us some actual romance, then I will take it, no complaints. To me that’s one of the easiest things not to be concerned about, because its never going to make sense. I’ll take the holiday themed episodes over strict adherence to the calendar any day.

#Sen Çal Kapımı #sen cal Kapimi #edser #sckask #sck episode discussion #edser discussion #asklizac #sck 1x30 #anonymous

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