#i don’t really /need/ them but i’m a little nearsighted which makes reading on a screen
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〜☆〜Shigaraki and Touya (separate) x Scholarly reader with glasses 〜☆〜
precisely what the title says~
Might post a lot lately because I’m trying to clear drafts :P
shigaraki with a intelligent reader is wonderful!
you can help him with his plans! 😋
your input is really valuable and whether the lov knows it or not you definitely play a big role in missions
your a mastermind who is very good at outsmarting the heroes
He feels like as long as he has you, no matter what you’ll always be one step ahead
your his Queen/King chess piece
together you’ll watch it all crumble
honestly I’m just assuming your in the lov because even if your not a official member you’ve certainly contributed a lot
to which he very much appreciates
He values your priorities and requests
as he said he always has room for his comrades wishes
you love him for that
never once has one of your plans completely failed
for example if all might destroys a bunch of your nomus even though they were supposed to terrorize the city
You don’t panic at all because it was all apart of your plan >:)
*rubs hands together like evil fly*
it was all a distraction so you could infiltration a hero base and steal some info and such….🥱
ez dub the heroes are walking L’s with skill issues 😂
WAIT IMAGINE READER DOES THE THING WHERE THEY PUSH UP THEY’RE GLASSES AND IT HAS THE GLOWING ANIME GLASSES EFFECT
HILARIOUS 😂💥💥
it’d be even better if your a tech savvy too
you can break into hero facilities better
plus screw with them if you want n all 💃
you and that emo long bob dude be competing (tomoyasu chikazoku)
you can first fr
READER BETTER>> READER ⬆️🔝
anyway shigaraki thinks reader with glasses is fiiiine 😍
fr like you look good!
he’ll probably ask questions like “did you make your own?”
“Where you born with bad vision or is it stigmatized?”
”when did you get glasses?”
”have your eyes gotten stronger or weaker?”
”do you keep them on 24/7 or do you take them off and take breaks?”
”do you get headaches from them?”
”is it annoying having to push them back up all the time?”
”are you farsighted? Nearsighted? Is it just for reading?”
now he’s not asking to annoy you, and these questions come with time he doesn’t trample you with them
he’s genuinely curious and is a pretty good listener
he’s not just asking just to ask it or anything
if you ever need a new pair he’ll find a way to pull through for you
he’s not always as resourceful as you but he does have some connections!
Uhh with touya? Intelligence won’t matter as much
Not to say he’s not impress though!
he likes to hear all the random facts of knowledge you tell him and he does listen
it’s intriguing, especially when he’s bored
he’d love to learn about astronomy if you know anything about it
he never took the time to learn himself but if you were to mention it he’d recognize some stars because he watches them so often
which makes for good dates!
stargazing!
you go to all types of different angles to look at them together
another thing is Touya never really went to school if so not for long
so you probably end up teaching him and filling him in on a lot of what he doesn’t know
not stuff he doesn’t care about tho
only the important stuff
essentials
which I mean it’s probably not essential anymore the way you two are living outside of society but hey it might come in handy
if someone were to ask touya a question but they’re trying to trick him by using a complex word, If you taught him he won’t fall for it! :)
I mean don’t get me wrong he’s not stupid
but you certainly are a lot smarter 😁
If you brag about it he gets kinda annoyed LOL
like if you beat him in video/board games a lot
which you do, you win like 98% of the time
the 2% he wins is from all luck games
and even so if you learn how those games work it’s over for him 😂😂
Touya doesn’t mind that you wear glasses at all
he does see a difference when you occasionally take them off but he doesn’t think you look wonky so don’t worry
he might be a little curious tho
like he’ll ask how glasses work (especially since your so intelligent)
which might lead into a conversation about why not everyone has 20/20 vision
yeah your conversations never stay on track because all the follow up questions
although you don’t mind because at least you know he’s listening
you end up explaining to him how glasses are made and he asks if you could make your own since you know
which honestly isn’t a bad idea since you could customize it and add whatever you want to it
you definitely thank him for the idea
he feels so accomplished—like he gets to be the smart one for once 😅🤷♀️
a sweet thing he does for you if you get eye strains/headaches is like rub your temples/run you a hot bath 💝
it surprises you how caring he can be but of course he’s not completely heartless
another cute thing Touya does is coming to you randomly with questions
”what’s this??”
”what in the world does ___ do?!”
”why does ___ happen?”
”is this normal?”
”what do you do if ____ happens”
”what’s __ x __ again”
”what’s ______ + ______ (big number + big number)?”
oh and you probably have better memory than him so
“Do your remember my past code?”
is common too 😂💗
I started this a while ago but never finished it so I’m glad to finally get this off my chest.
enjoy! Let’s see if the shigaraki and Touya stans will show up🕺
#anime#anime and manga#mha#anime headcanons#shigaraki tomura#mha tenko#tenko shimura#shigaraki tenko#shigaraki x reader#bnha shigaraki#mha shigaraki#shimura tenko#bnha x reader#bnha#bnha x you#bnha headcanons#mha headcanons#mha fluff#mha x reader#dabi x you#dabi todoroki#bnha dabi#dabi x reader#mha dabi#touya todoroki#todoroki touya#bnha tomura#bnha touya#bnha tenko#boku no hero academia
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Use Only as Directed
John Egbert is a normal boy who takes his roommate's estrogen as a prank. John still didn't know why he was stealing these pills. They weren't prescribed to him, and they lived up to their name as death mints, but he felt almost compelled...and Rose hadn't noticed yet that she’d been losing her meds at twice the normal rate.
John jumped as someone softly knocked at the door.
“John, are you almost done? It's time for me to take my hormones!”
Shit, it was Rose. John quickly double checked that the bottles were sealed before faux-washing his hands and opening the door.
“Sorry about that, all yours!” John said, gesturing grandly to the bathroom.
“No need for theatrics,” Rose said, sliding past John towards the pill bottles on the counter. “I’ll be in and out like a thief in the night.” She picked the bottles up and shook them before frowning slightly. “It seems they run out faster each month, if only to make me interact with Mother Dearest.”
“What does your mom have to do with hormones?” John asked nervously, watching Rose pop back the spironolactone expertly.
“Oh, she doesn’t trust the ‘bargain basement chemists and seedy pharmacists’ of the world, so she synthesizes my doses herself. It’s cheaper, if a little overbearing.”
John nodded as he watched her stick the estradiol… under her tongue?
“Oh this?” Rose said, noticing his quizzical expression. “If you stick estrogen under your tongue, it dissolves into the bloodstream and provides more bioavailability. You should try it sometime.”
“Wuh-” John sputtered, unable to come up with a response.
“Just kidding, of course.” Rose smiled. “You’re a cis man and as such don’t need hormones, right?” She watched, seemingly satisfied, as John nodded.
———
John snuck out of the bathroom, little blue pills under his tongue, and headed towards the kitchen. “Oh hey Wose,” he said as he waved at his roommate, drinking a glass of Orange Juice.
“Hey Jown,” Rose said mindlessly, barely seeming to be paying attention. “I was just thinking about an assignment I’m having some problems with.”
John swallowed deeply and tried limbering his tongue up through sheer willpower. “Oh, which one?”
“Well, aside from the male assignment I was so ingloriously given-” She chuckled at her own joke and eyed John as if expecting him to laugh along. “The essay Professor Moon gave us on the Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Composition is frankly kicking my ass.”
John brightened up, spotting a chance to talk about something he actually knew something about. This was, in his eyes, a rarity, so he was happy to try and help Rose with the assignment.
A few minutes into the conversation Rose switched from rapt attention to concern, and when John stopped to ask why, Rose reached out to grab his glasses off his face.
“You’ve got a smudge, do you mind?” she asked.
John shook his head, but as Rose delicately removed the glasses they immediately fell out of her grasp and to the floor, cracking.
“Oh no!” John cried out, diving after the now ruined glasses. “My only pair!”
They worried over the glasses for a few minutes before Rose had an idea. “You’re nearsighted too, right?”
“Too?”
"Yeah I used to wear minus 3.3, now I just use contacts," Rose explained. "If your prescription is close to mine, I could lend you an old pair."
"Oh… that's convenient..." John said, suppressing his suspicion that Rose wasn’t only trying to help. "Hopefully the frames aren't too girly." He forced out a chuckle.
“Don’t worry about that John,” Rose said almost... mischievously? She began digging through a bag near her bedroom door. “Aha! These should fit you perfectly.” She smugly held out a pair of sky blue, delicate frames. “And they’re your color!”
“Ha, yeah, funny how that works out, huh?” John said, waiting for a returned laugh that never came. After an awkward moment, he accepted the glasses... and then tried them on. “These fit… surprisingly well actually.” He went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. “I’m surprised. Your face is so much smaller than mine!”
“It’s really not, John.” Rose stood behind John. “It’s all about hair and makeup.”
“Oh that’s interesting, but... your hair is so nice I could never…” He stopped as Rose began carding her hand through his hair. “What are you doing?”
“Just demonstrating, John my dear.” Rose calmlypulled out a brush and some mysterious spray. “Sit still and let me work my magic.”
John decided not to push the issue and let her primp and comb his hair until she was finally done, and he didn’t look half bad. Weirdly feminine in a way he didn’t want to examine, but honestly quite good in a way he didn’t want to interrogate.
—-—-
“Hey John, can I borrow you for a minute?” Rose called, rousing John from reading a textbook far too closely.
He stretched and popped his back as he opened his door. “Sure, what do you need, Rose?”
He jumped back as she held her wrist up to his face just outside his door. “You’re the perfect skin tone match. Would you mind trying on some makeup for me?
“Uh, sure, I guess I already promised,” John said sheepishly. “Why don’t you try it on yourself though?”
“Well, I figured we could have some bonding time. You don’t see the macho type to run away from makeup.”
John shrugged in agreement, though he was actually feeling pretty excited to see Rose’s magic after the Hair Incident.
“And I really want to practice my eyeliner and it’s easier on someone else.”
“Can’t argue with that I guess…” John said, only now realizing he was already in the bathroom. “Uh… where do I sit?”
“You can just sit on the toilet, This shouldn’t take too long.” She patted the seat and, once he’d sat down, began to work.
Aside from a few chidings about watching his lip and not flinching and an accidental brush against a surprisingly sensitive chest, the entire thing went smoothly. Well, smoothly enough. Rose looming over him definitely conjured up some surprising feelings, though he guessed tall goth girls were popular for a reason.
“Aaaaaand we’re done!” Rose called out with triumph. “Now, take a look at the pretty good if I say so myself results!”
John tentatively stood up and turned to the vanity mirror.
And he was flabbergasted.
There was a girl with a messy imitation of an expert coif, wearing stunning blue eyeliner that perfectly matched her glasses and her eyes both.
John had a lot of very mixed feelings right now. He was sure Rose was talking but he couldn’t repeat what she said if his life depended on it.
“I’ve gotta go Rose, I’ve got dinner in the oven!” he cried out as he rushed into his room and locked the door behind him.
—-—-
Rose was sitting beside John on the couch. “John, I’ve got something to confess to you,” she said softly, laying her knitting down. “I think I might be a lesbian?”
“Oh.” John felt weirdly jealous and hurt and happy all at the same time. “That makes sense I guess.” Why was she telling him?
“Well, as I said, I think.” Rose licked her lips in something approaching but definitely not anticipation. “I was hoping, with your permission, to use you as something of an experiment.”
“Haha, sure, you gonna make out with me?” John laughed, though the laughter died out as Rose’s face remained serious. He hoped she couldn’t tell he was blushing, even under the blush he happened to be wearing.
“John, I’m serious. This is science.”
“S-sure, but I don’t know if-” John was cut off by Rose’s lips. He felt like he should be taking the lead but this was nice. It was also easily described as rote. He could tell Rose wasn’t really into it, and it made sense.
A few seconds later, Rose broke the kiss off and nodded. “That’s the control, now for the experiment.”
“The whah?” John wasn’t sure where this was going anymore.
“Well, I kissed a boy, and now I need to kiss a girl, and since there’s no girls around you’ll have to do!” Rose said this so matter of factly it was hard to argue. “Now pick a name. Joan?”
“June, but...” John shook his head, she was rapidly losing control of the situation. “Why would I pick a girl name?”
“Because, my dearest Junebug, for the purposes of this experiment, you are in fact a girl.” This was all the warning June got before Rose crashed into her, her blush from the nickname deepening as Rose kissed her in a way that easily eclipsed the previous kiss.
Rose’s tongue barely needed to brush June’s lips before her mouth was open, begging for more. Rose’s hands traced her hips, brushed her legs, and paused at her nipples before lightly massaging them-producing far more pleasure than they should, damn those hormones she was taking for absolutely no reason. After several minutes of heavy petting, Rose once again broke away, though this time looking far more disheveled.
“Well I think that settles it,June.”
June nodded exhaustedly.
“Wanna be my girlfriend?”
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I’m still emphatically on my “more characters should have glasses” campaign, so today I’d like to share with you: Tips For How To Incorporate Glasses In Character Development (for people who aren’t just “nerds”)
an artist might have tiny splatters of paint on their glasses, obvious to an outsider but that they barely see anymore.
it’s actually pretty hard to see little imperfections on your own glasses, especially if they’re permanent/constant, but large, temporary smudges can be really annoying.
someone who works or spends a lot of time outside might have a habit of shoving their glasses back up a sweaty nose, since they inevitably slide down it.
ESPECIALLY if their frames are plastic. Plastic frames sit closer to the face and have molded-in nosepieces, so your nose gets sweatier underneath. Metal frames will usually sit further away from the nose at the bridge.
likewise, someone who works outside might have glasses that darken into sunglasses in the sun. Plenty of people who don’t work outside have those, too, but it is a game changer if you do.
a character who has prescription sunglasses might be prone to wearing their sunglasses in inappropriate locations (like inside of a medium-dark building) because they either don’t have their regular glasses with them or don’t feel like swapping them.
I know this one sounds dumb but it’s one of those things that can make a character feel like a Real Human. People do dumb things for convenience sometimes!
a character with very thick lenses might have eyes that look a little too small for their face when their glasses are on - most (but not all) people who wear glasses all the time are nearsighted, and nearsighted lenses will make the face look a little bit smaller through the lens.
this is actually the reason I made this post, since the stereotype in media tends to be glasses that make the eyes look magnified - but those would be farsighted glasses, and most farsighted people don’t need to wear them all the time. (people who need reading glasses are farsighted!)
someone middle-aged might be new to glasses, and either forget to wear them when they’re needed or be reluctant to wear them because it makes them feel “old” (often in this case, the glasses would be readers.)
not everybody’s vision is the same in both eyes! a character whose eyes are notably different might have issues with depth perception or get headaches if they don’t have their glasses on for too long.
And remember: not everybody who has vision problems has, wants, or needs contact lenses. Some people actually can’t wear them, and a lot of people really dislike them!
If a character does wear contacts, they’ll often wear glasses in the late evening or early morning - you shouldn’t sleep in contacts, and a lot of people will take them out when they start to get tired, even if they’re not quite ready for bed.
Toddler glasses are often made of silicone and have either earpieces that fit much tighter to the ear or straps that fit all the way around the head. Usually if a baby has glasses, they have significant vision issues.
Getting a first pair of normal/”big kid” glasses can be a fun growth milestone!
No matter what age your character is, describe their frames! Glasses are a part of your face and your style. “She wore glasses” is fine, but “She wore large, round glasses - bright pink frames with rhinestones on the temples” tells us a lot more about the character!
Describe glasses with as much care as you’re giving the rest of someone’s face or outfit. There’s a lot of variety in shapes, colors, materials, and other details, all of which can help you paint a picture of who your character is.
People will usually wear the same frames for a while - glasses are expensive! But on the flip side, sometimes they’ll have multiple pairs at once. Someone having the same old, scratched glasses for several years or someone having a different pair for every outfit could be really useful details for establishing a character and/or their background.
nearsighted = can see close, can’t see far
farsighted = can’t see close, can see far
ANYONE can have glasses. Any character, any archetype, any age. They don’t have to be old, they don’t have to be nerdy or smart, they don’t have to work in a library. Protagonists should have glasses! Sidekicks should have glasses! Villains should have glasses!
The vast majority of adults have or need vision correction, folks. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be including that in our fiction.
#finn talks#finn writes#this post brought to by: i just got new glasses#so i have glasses on the mind#the nearsighted vs farsighted thing is a simplification but in essence true#i'm farsighted! but i have to wear my glasses all the time bc my eyes are WAY different
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hi, sudafed cleared my sinuses long enough to think so here’s a giant post about most of my charles headcanons
Playlist
OH btw here’s my 4 hour and 23 minute playlist for Charles. Enjoy. Yes I know I’m insane: https://open.spotify.com/user/pikaflute24/playlist/4DBxaaxbqsmJt9Fvl8AgwZ?si=OcXlYCdFRzOhuKa4p_HdUQ
General Headcanons
He was born November 24 1965. He’s currently 56, but I usually write him in his late 40s in most fanfic and content I make. So there’s this middle aged man....
He has hazel eyes. Sometimes they look green, sometimes brown. Sometimes they’ll be white but that’s when he’s using his magic so mind your business
Gear brand over his heart >:)c
:) i think he has piercings and tattoos, a skull (dead man teehee) on his upper arm, a tattoo of a date (the date pickles and him first met TEEHEE) on his left arm also has a tattoo on his arm of the day he “died” on his right. had his ears pierced when he was a teen.
Has a sweet tooth so hard. Smuggles in treats into the drawers of his desk just to snack on during the day and has a mini fridge just filled with ice cream and also sorts of other goodies. He loves brownies and cookies the most
Likes to work out and keep himself in shape. it takes his mind off of stressful things like work and the boys, and just take his morning practice sparring and doing various exercises in the mordhaus gym.
he’s uh also very flexible so he does yoga a lot when he exercises. don’t. look too deep into that
cannot cook to save his life. he almost burned mordhaus down trying to make himself a sandwich
he can play guitar! he used to play it more often when he was younger but he rarely has the time to play it nowadays. when he does get to play it, it’s usually in private (and mainly songs by dethklok), or it’s to show off to a certain lead guitarist that yes he is playing that solo wrong
he’s ambidextrous but prefers using his right hand. he’ll use his left hand to spar in order to go easy on his opponents because hes a smug cunt
he’s 5′7 but intimidation factor adds a couple inches doesn’t it
has a scorpion named princess as a pet. he lets her sit on his desk sometimes and it scares the shit out of dethklok which makes charles laugh on the inside
hes also a cat person. one time toki brought a cat home and it settled on charles’ lap and he almost cried
loves to be a smug asshole and relishes in it. will not take shit from anyone, especially from some asshole who is trying to pull one over on him
he has no idea how social media works at all. will print memes out to show to dethklok, he’s very fond of cat memes specifically (i can has cheeseburger type beat)
he has no idea what any internet memes means he isn’t going to start learning. he is going to misuse internet phrases. are you boys, ah, finding the imposter? [cue five groans from dethklok]
knows a lot of languages. not a comprehensive list but: french, swedish, norwegian, spanish, italian, japanese, chinese, german, russian and korean
is very competitive. scarily competitive. once he starts losing in smash or mario kart all hell will break lose
very bad at showing emotions or affection, when he gets compliments he gets all red and quiet and mumbles a thank you.
weird about being touched as well and will usually avoid it unless it’s with someone he trusts
speaking of, his love language is acts of service :)c
hates being called charlie or chuck, unless the right person calls him it ;)
he’s autistic. was nonverbal for most of his life and only talked to certain people, or anyone at all. he stims with his hands and uses his pens to fidget.
has a collection of novelty socks. he likes the ones that have polka dots or stripes
sleeps with a garfield plushie he had since he was younger. it helps him with the nightmares
when any of the boys need help sleeping (usually toki or pickles), he’ll sleep with them in his bed. after dying he had trouble sleeping some nights, so dethklok returned the favor and all piled up in his bed and helped him sleep. he didnt have nightmares after that night
hes nearsighted, and prefers to wear glasses over contacts
lactose intolerant, hes still eating mac n cheese and paying the price
metalhead but pretends to not be just to mess with his boys
crippling addiction to match 3 games. also loves to play minecraft.
overly self sacrificial. puts ones he love needs before his own, results in himself being very isolated and distant from those he cares about because he’s afraid of hurting them
his favorite colors are black and purple
coffee kinda guy. black coffee or bust
has a lot of cute novelty mugs to put his coffee in. he ones from places where dethklok tours, dethklok official ones (the only two that aren’t adorned with spikes), some cat themed ones, a couple that have ties and math references, and one from his boys that says “most brutal manager”. he drinks out of that last one the most
he has a couple of grey hairs and wrinkles, but he keeps them because they remind him that he’s human. also pickles said old men were hot but you didnt hear that from me
likes to play chess but he can never find a good opponent. all the klokateers are too scared if they win and dethklok is too distracted to ever play with him or they end up losing to quickly if charles plays against them
really wants kids. he babies his sister’s sons and daughters a TON (uncle charles always brings the best gifts :) ) and also treats toki like his own son in a way. toki doesnt mind, he really appreciates the love
speaking of, toki does call charles dad once and it makes charles cry for like. a week and a half
his favorite dethklok song is the gears :)
he likes to collect knives as a side hobby, his favorite of his collection is a sleek black one with skulls on the handle
he has a motorcycle and likes to drive it around sometimes to just be alone with himself. it’s all black with a red gear on it
lightweight but only if he drinks the amount dethklok drinks. can hold his alcohol fairly well if he drinks like a sensible human, prefers brandy and wine
he can smoke cigars to be sexy for me and me ONLY
likes to read in his spare time. he likes mystery novels and science fiction
he has soft spot for cheesy sitcoms, they’re his guilty pleasure
his favorite youtuber is lockpickinglawyer. yours should be too
usually sleeps in only his boxers but will wear a shirt if its’s cold. he tends to sleep on his side (also wants to be the little spoon when cuddled but he will never admit that)
takes vacations sometimes away from the boys despite his worry that something will go wrong (it will!). many of his vacations are usually going to visit his family and going to the shore with them, or travelling to somewhere new for a change (cue charles being a yakuza substory on his one vacation per year)
he can sew pretty well. learned from his mom and used to sew the whole his sister use to put through her soccer uniform.
can also do makeup, and usually does it for one of the boys of there’s no one else around to help
bites his lip when he’s nervous. which is a lot
likes chococat and gudetama. he’s a man of tastes
laughs really loud if you catch him off guard. he snorts sometimes too. he’s embarrassed by it, but i think its’ cute
loves law and order obviously
he likes men
has a lot of pent up rage. very good at compressing it. sometimes
as high priest, he stays up very late trying to decipher the ancient prophecies that dethklok needed to fulfill. he doesnt sleep very much when he starts out because he misses home, so the band makes him come back (or else)
also as high priest he becomes more intune with magic granted to him after he died and he mainly uses his magic to protect his boys when they go back to being a band. also to fuck with them
the band he managed before dethklok was a band named savior who said they were a metal band with a unique sound, but that unique sound was actually just being a christian metal band that were bad at playing music. they also treated charles like shit and blamed him for them doing so poorly with sales and shows. had an unfortunate “accident” with a tour bus after charles had enough of their attitude towards him. he denies he had anything to do with it (he did.)
Family/Childhood
He’s the baby of the family. Spoiled rotten to the max. He doesn’t admit it though but whenever he comes home you know he abuses the “:)c im the favorite” card
He has 4 older sisters: Caroline who is a high school civics teacher, Cynthia who is a librarian, Callie who is a coach for a soccer team, and Charlotte who is a lawyer/manager who manages Ladyklok, which gets awkward (and funny) when Abigail starts dating the lead singer Natalie
charles is actually one of the tallest in his family. his dad is 6’1 and his older sister Callie is 5’11. cynthia is 5’6, caroline is 5’6, and his mom and charlotte are 5’5.
his mom is a doctor and his dad is an accountant. his mom’s name is giovanna and his dad’s name is elijah
caroline is the oldest sister, followed by cynthia, callie, charlotte then charles.
Charlotte and Charles are sworn enemies since they were born on the same day a year apart and basically have the same job. They do love each other though
His father calls him Charles. Caroline and Cynthia call him Charlie. Callie calls him Chuck. Charlotte calls him Charles (derogatory). His mom calls him a whole slew of nicknames that she made up when he was young (she calls him cheese ball and he turns red)
caroline has a wife (lauren who is a chef) and two kids (evan and shelby)
cynthia is dating a coworker (viola)
callie has a husband (john who is a stay at home dad) and they have three kids (brenda, melissa, and jeff)
charlotte is dating ladyklok (and abigail). this is a weird flex on charles i think.
He had a race car bed when he was like 5
He also was also one of those kids at family game night. He almost killed Cynthia over a game of monopoly
Always got to lick the spoon first after his mom baked brownies
He grew up in North Jersey (derogatory) (also yes im projecting state shot)
He’s also Italian (derogatory)
He got bullied in middle school for a little bit but once his older sisters found out, oh boy did all hell break loose
Was in band in high school. He played flute (DONT TALK TO ME I LIKE PROJECTING), he was of course a soloist and incredibly smug about it
Took gymnastics as a kid. Can do a backflip on command. Also very flexible.
First manager gig was helping his sisters sell girl scout cookies. They raked in a lot of profits when baby bro was behind the scenes. His cut was eating thin mints for free
Loved Star Trek when he was a kid
Was incredibly gifted, and taught himself to read at a young age. didn’t talk that much though
was always sick when he was little. he would always get sinus infections and colds if someone even sneezed weird
was in mock trial in high school. one guy on his team was a jerk to him so charles made it a point to be this poor kid’s nemesis
was on the student council, treasurer of course.
was also in nhs, and he was treasurer there too
was that kid who insisted on doing the group project by himself because he didn’t want to wait on anyone to finish their part
was super rowdy as a kid, always got into trouble but his mom was a little lenient of punishment (hes a mommas boy)
when he was like super young he bit people cause he was just a little monster (charles' sisters: mom charles is biting again. charles, biting one of them: im not :/ sheesh)
wanted to be a lawyer since he was 7
put his own siblings and parents on trial and would win every trial and would always get the last cookie or a higher allowance
he shared his room with his sister Charlotte and they would set up a pillow fort on one of the beds and stay up late reading together
loved going to the beach as a kid, his mom still has his collection of shells from the beach
on the boardwalk, he would dominate at claw machines anad carnival games. he won a bunch of plushies from himself (and his sisters obviously)
his dad and him have a super close bond. they watched star trek together and also like to watch how the stock market would do. his dad was also sometimes the judge in charles’ mock trials at home
they were very supportive when he came out as gay, he was also the first of his sibilings to come out of the closet
College
Got his masters in business management at rutgers and a JD (law degree) from seton hall law.
Started college when he was 18 (1983) and ended college when he was 26 (1991)
Wasn’t a party guy. Never got invited to many, but he never went unless a certain redhead was in town
Sustained himself off of ramen, coffee, and SSRIs to get his masters (hey man i feel ya)
Did weed like three times. Three of those times were because of, you guessed it, a certain redhead
Speaking of, his first time having sex was in his dorm with Pickles. Pickles also kicked him off of the bed (those beds are fucking tiny) while they slept, and almost burned Charles’ dorm down trying to make toast the next morning
Absolute did not do essays until the night before. Bad habit that made it’s way into Dethklok managing when he’s forced to write a legal brief before 12 am.
Loved calculus 2 for some reason. Nerd
Had a mullet. Pickles thought it was hot (still is) while Charles would rather die than remember anything about that horrid hairdo
Also went through his goth/emo phase while in Law School. He stuck out amongst the sea of sweater vests and polo shirts
Was in a band with his fellow college bandmates. The band was called Habeas Corpses and he was the lead singer who also played guitar. Their sound was kind of similar to TWRP’s first two EPs (The Device and 2nite). they had a grunge aesthetic, and yes charles dyed his mullet black (with a purple streak), for the band.
his bandmates were all fellow law students. dillan was on drums, margaret was their bass guitar, and nick was their keyboardist. all three of them also got tutored by charles while in law school. they are still best friends and write to each other sometimes
Was on the debate team, but uh kicked off due to be very competitive (he threatened to punch the opposing debater)
Was also in the chess club, also kicked off for being too competitive (lunged at a kid for cheating)
After being kicked from the two previous clubs, he joined fencing, his very competitive nature made him the best in the state
nick (the guy in charles’ band) was charles’ roommate the whole time they were in college. they may or may not have had a brief relationship before they realized they would be better as friends
nick also has a nes and charles loved to played zelda and wrote an entire guide for himself because he’s was that into the game (nerd)
occasionally would be found sleeping in the library on campus
wanted to be an RA but the resident association at his schools thought he was a little much. charles took this as a compliment
worked out a lot between studying and classes. a lot of jocks underestimated him because of his size but charles was just :) [casually lifts something heavy]
a lot of fellow classmates thought he was super cool cause of the leather he wore, and how cool and quiet he was, too bad they didnt know he was a huge nerd
tried skateboarding. once.
had a cadillac that barely started and drove like a piece of shit but that was charles’ baby
pickles tried to have sex with charles in said car btw, charles almost killed him for even daring to suggest to tarnish his beautiful baby
has damaged his back permanently because of all the books he used to carry around in his crappy back pack
did some modelling for one of his friends in college. he was very attractive and got some other modelling job through it. he tries to hide that from the boys in the future because he thinks it’s embarrassing
Relationship with Dethklok
Pickles - he’s known the drummer the longest out of any other member, and if you couldn’t tell by now, he had a brief relationship with the drummer back in the 80s (and maybe also still has a crush on him :)). charles respects and admires pickles’ talent as a musician and sometimes they play together when they have time alone. he tries to be there when pickles has a relapse in either emotions with his family or something else, but still tries to maintain a distance because he thinks that pickles doesn’t feel the same as he did in the 80s. (he does btw). nothing could break the bond these two share. not even death
Nathan - understands nathan’s quiet nature (nonverbal kings!) and strive for perfection in everything dethklok creates because he is the same way. their similarities allow them to connect on a level that allows nathan to open up about his feelings that he likes to lock away. nathan also gets charles to open his feelings up and actually care for himself for once in his damn life. charles also helps nathan with the depression he develops after charles dies and how to deal with it despite it being not brutal. nathan wants to give back and he does by becoming one of charles’ closest friends (and maybe even lovers hehehe)
Toki - charles has taken it upon himself to be toki’s father figure after seeing the way toki’s family has left him for essentially dead. ever since toki joined the band, charles has made it a point to be there for him whenever he needed it. even if it meant spending late nights reading to toki or sleeping over in toki’s room to help him sleep, he’ll do it. he blames himself for toki’s disappearance but toki assures him that he did the best he could. toki calls him dad a lot after doomstar. it makes charles cry.
Skwisgaar - unstoppable asshole meets immovable object. skwisgaar sees himself above everyone else like he does with the other dethklok members but with charles, skwisgaar knows that charles isn’t intimidated by him nor will he bow to the guitar god in anyway. this develops a game of cat and mouse between the two, with skwisgaar trying to no subtly push charles’ buttons and to see what makes him ticks, while charles resist him at every turn with a smug ‘:) is that all you got’ and it delights him to finally see the guitarist squirm under pressure.
Murderface - at first the two are very. distant to say the least. murderface used to see charles as unemotional robot and charles was fine with that and accepted the distance. overtime however, and especially after charles died, murderface warmed up to charles confiding in him things he hasn’t told the band, mainly things about his insecurities because charles is ‘fucking smart with crap like this’. and charles helps him and is happy to see him work out his problems and not bottle them anymore like the rest of his bandmates. charles also enjoys murderface’s company as a friend as well. and….he’s gonna help murderface the most with the whole traitor stuff too.
Abigail - mlm and wlw hostility. but seriously they’re good buds. he sympathizes with having to deal the moronic actions of dethklok on a daily basis and also thinks she’s really intelligent and overall fun to hang out with. they take lunch breaks frequently together and like to make fun of people at dethklok dinners together as a fun activity together. abigail will bully his ass once she finds out she’s dating charles’ sister and WILL bring up those baby pictures to get a higher raise thank you very much
Knubbler - can you say coworker besties! like abigail, he gets along because they both have to deal with dethklok being, well dethklok, but with knubbler, charles can relax a little more. the two cause problems on purpose just because they can. the two are also close friends and knubbler tries to get charles to relax for once in his life, and despite charles protests and objections, he sometimes caves and hands out with his friend (maybe boyfriend OOOOO who knows)
Sex Headcanons (IM SORRY)
um maybe he can have a giant dick (10 inches for me), it do be swinging though
daddy kink (everyone stay on this side, ill take care of him….come to daddy ;)c)
likes to do roleplay. he has a lot of costumes prepared for when his partner wants to do a scene with him
likes to bite and be bitten during sex. after a very long night, he’ll be covered in bite marks, it’s kinda hot
no gag reflex ;) he likes to deepthroat but good luck trying to get him to go down on you without him teasing
remember how i said he was flexible like eight times? yeah he uh, uses that a lot to his advantage. likes being fucked in weird positions because of it
the suit stays on during sex
he likes topping because he likes to be in control of everything he does all the time, but really wants to be told what to do sometimes and will let those he trusts do that for him
he has a dick piercing i know it
he's a very busy man, so he relies on his huge collection of toys he keeps in his bedroom and office
really good with his hands. as soon as those hands are on you, its game over
he loves to do it on his desk, makes him feel powerful. when he gets blown under his desk, it really takes all of his willpower to not cum immediately
really sensitive in weird places, specifically his ears
he likes to cuddle after sex, hes the little spoon :)
likes to be tied up, sometimes he’ll get tied up under his suit
mating press and riding are his favorite positions, giving and receiving
size queen, likes large toys and well ;)
has a private room that he sometimes goes to relieve stress, it has a fucking machine that he likes to use often when his job gets too stressful
he’s sucking people off at the klokateer glory hole, he’s uh, very good at what he does
likes to be spanked and like to spank
uses collars and leashes
maybe the klokateers can fuck him, if they’re good ;)
freeballing
likes cum on his face but doesn't seem to realize that means he’ll get cum on his glasses and will need to clean them
he can wear a chastity belt :) for me
likes being came in but will still complain about being gross after
pretty much up for anything, he’s not picky, he just wants to be in control and get off
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Tick-Tock, Hook’s Afraid of an Ordinary Clock! || Spencer Reid
Requested: YES/NO: gender neutral please! So my request. Y/n has been working at the BAU for a while, and never ever had feelings for Spencer but more for Derek. One night is spent at a hotel and Spencer gets wasted as all hell which the team found unusual. That’s really all! Do with that what you will! Smut is fine too! You can add your own personal touches if you wish. Also would love some fighting between Spencer and y/n
Gender: none, they/them.
Warnings: insults, alcohol, normal CM case talk, verbal fight dialogue taken from Hook (1991), crap music talk.
----
“Eat your heart out, you crinkled, wrinkled fat bag,” you mumbled under your breath as Spencer finished his rambling of some unknown subject. Spencer stiffened at your insult, as did the rest of the team. You had just gotten back from a pretty bad case involving a team of family annihilators and where sitting in the nearest bar; throughout the whole case Spencer had almost made it his mission to speak over you, correct you, flick things at you, ‘forget’ you’re there, bump into you and more. God it was so annoying, and now? Now you've had enough.
“That was very ill-mannered-” Spencer started.
“And you're a slug-eating worm,” you said with a little more force matter-of-factly, cutting off whatever it was Spencer was going to say.
“You can do better than that pretty boy!” Derek said quickly with a grin as he nudged Spencer; you almost pounced on that man for taking Spencer's side rather than yours; Derek had always taken your side.
“You're encouraging this?” Spencer questioned quickly.
“Show me your fastball, dust brain!” you started again, “you paunchy, sag-bottomed puke pot!” Spencer's eyes widened three times the size they normally would be as the rest of your table sat quiet and watched.
“Damn!” Emily said under her breath with a grin as her eyes darted between the two of you; it was like watching tennis.
“You're a very poor role model for your team, you know that right?” Spencer shook his as he took a mouthful of his drink before a sly grin overtook his face, “I bet you don't even have a fourth-grade reading level,” a few of your teammates let out a little blow of air.
“Hemorrhoidal sucknavel” you said quickly.
“Maybe a fifth-grade reading level.” Spencer said even quicker.
“Oil-dripping, beef-fart-sniffing bubble butt” you started to really get into it, leaning over the table a little with a smirk.
“Aye there we go (Y/n)!” Derek said quickly, now he was on your side? You looked to Hotch who was smiling thinking that maybe you had another on your side.
“Someone has a severe caca mouth, you know that?” Spencer cut off your gaze with his words, as if he was bored.
“You’re a fart factory. A slug-slime sack of rat guts and cat vomit, a cheesy scab picked pimple-squeezing finger bandage!” snickering came over the table; but you weren't done yet oh no, “a week-old maggot burger with everything on it and flies on the side!” you grinned; many many words in that one insult. Spencer went to open his mouth but you cut him off, “you’re really just a substitute chemistry teacher” you winked.
“Come on Spence, hit (Y/n) back!” J.J. quickly intervened.
“Mung tongue” Spencer fired.
“Math tutor,”
“Pinhead,”
“Mother lover,” that one was a low blow on your end but you couldn't help yourself.
“Nearsighted gynecologist,” ouch Spence, Hotch snorted at that one.
“In your face, camelcake!” you shot back.
“In your rear, cow derrière!” of course Spencer came back even faster.
“Lying, crying, spying, prying ultra-pig!” Emily snickered at yours.
“Lewd, crude bag of pre-chewed food!” Derek snickered at Spencers.
“Guys maybe settle down…” Hotch said softly, this was starting to get a little out of hand.
“You man! Stupid, stupid man!” That was all you could give back as your mind turned blank, forgetting every word in the dictionary.
“If I'm a maggot burger, why don't you just eat me?” Spencer shot back, “you zebra-headed, slime-coated, pimple-farming, paramecium brain, munching on your own mucus, suffering from Spencer Reid envy!” laughter ensued as your face contorted to confusion.
“What the hell is a ‘paramecium’?” your voice held the question as Spencer pointed to you.
“I'll tell you what a paramecium is! You’re a paramecium!” everyone on your table stared at Spencer as he elaborated; “It's a one-celled critter with no brain that can't think!” and with that, your table cheered for Spencer as you sat sulking.
“Oh come on (Y/n), you should have known you would lose,” Derek said with a grin before following Spencer to the bar.
“He's drinking a lot tonight isn't he?” Emily questioned.
“Who, Derek?” J.J. guessed with a furrowed brow.
“No! Spencer!” Emily quickly concluded.
“He was a little harsh on (Y/n)” Hotch cut in quickly, “I’m just glad Dave and Garcia weren’t here to witness that,” you slammed your drink on the table and sent a glare to the three left at the table.
“I'm going home, i'll see everyone on monday,” you grumbled out before stalking off, your shoes made loud thunking sounds as they hit the wood flooring, your anger getting the best of you as you passed Spencer and Derek.
“Yo (Y/n) you getting a drink too?” Derek was about to order your normal drink until you slapped both Spencer and Derek on the back of the head.
“OW! What the hell-!” Spencer's back was to you but as he turned and saw you his anger melted into elation, “come back for round 2 (Y/n)?” Spencer questioned, the poor boy tried to act cool and lean against the bar but missed entirely and almost fell onto a rather burly looking gentleman. You huffed slightly as you turned to Derek.
“Make sure the substitute chem teacher gets home safe,” and with that you threw open the bar doors and walked your way home, it was only a block and you had gotten a ride with Emily anyway.
-
When you finally slumped home, chucked off your shoes and threw yourself onto your mattress you couldn't help but make yourself angrier with the new insults suddenly bubbling in your head.
“Who does that piss brain even think he is,” you mumbled into the air, “paramecium my ass…” you continued your grumbling into the atmosphere as you twisted and turned on the mattress before sleep finally engulfed you.
------
The work week started up again and before you knew it yourself and the team where needed in New Orleans because of a new range of sudden murders.
“Lets review please,” Hotch mumbled.
“The bodies cross gender and racial lines” Rossi started.
“The throat is slit with something very sharp but also clean, I get a funny feeling it isnt a kitchen knife though,” you mumbled as you looked at the photos closer trying to get a good angle on a printed piece of paper.
“Butcher?” Derek questioned, you shrugged.
“Could these be blitz attacks?” you heard Spencer scoff at your suggestion.
“If this was a blitz attack there would be remorse and blunt force trauma somewhere on the head,” Spencer said looking directly at you.
“Oh, i'm so sorry Doctor i didn't know my input was unwanted, let me just keep my thoughts to myself,”
“Guys,” J.J. sighed, “Garcia is going through the victims lives that we have already, I can talk to the family and see if there are any enemies?” Hotch nodded.
“Derek, I want you to join J.J. with the families. Rossi, Emily go to the M.E. together and have a look over the bodies and tox screens. (L/n), Reid and I will go to the police station and start on a geographical and victim board,” everyone nodded in agreement to what Hotch said. Except for Spencer. He just stared at you with dangerous eyes. You rolled yours in return before putting your headphones into your phone and playing music to drown out Spencer's overbearingly loud thoughts.
-
“Okay my lovelies, these first three victims all had the same job at the same court; they’re all a part of a Jury audience” Garcia explained as her fingers tapped on her keyboard through the phone.
“Maybe someone just got out of prison that was wrongly convicted and wanting revenge?” you questioned.
“Maybe, it would have to be something pretty big for them to come back,” Derek said, you nodded in agreement, “baby girl can you see if there are any people that may have been convicted by a jury with our victims in it?”
“Sure can sugar, PG out” the phone clicked off.
“Did you find anything from the M.E.?” Hotch turned to Rossi and Emily as he spoke.
“The pathologist said it was a clean cut without hesitation marks or remorse,” Rossi said.
“No drugs, no blunt force trauma,” Emily shrugged as she talked, “it wasn't a blitz.”
“Maybe planned?” you butted in.
“That’s what it seems like,” Hotch said, “Reid? Have you got anything? J.J.?” Hotch questioned as he looked to the respective people.
“The victims were killed in different areas but its places they frequented; house, bar, bar” Spencer started, “they’re all over the place is all, completely different areas,”
“Yeah, and the families weren’t much help either. One of the victims' families, uh, Emil Gosten? His family said they didn't want anything to do with the investigation because he's had previous death threats and calls and stuff,” J.J. shrugged as the room went quiet.
“Reid, (L/n) I know you two dont like each other but I need two of my sharpest minds to go back to the crime scenes,” Hotch sighed, you groaned but complied as you stalked off with Reid following shortly behind.
-
“Everything looks the exact same as it was left,” you sighed out as you placed a blanket back down on the couch. Spencer scanned the books on the shelf before pulling one out and starting to read it; completely ignoring you.
“Reid,” nothing.
“Reid.” again, nothing.
“Spencer,” nope.
“SPENCE”
“What!” he finally turned to you and answered.
“You couldn't give me some complacency and at least answer me when i talk to you?” you asked annoyed.
“Why would i?” Spencer asked with a bored tone as he placed the book back on the shelf, except he finally talked to you, “The victim is atheist, believes in the justice system…” he sighed and shrugged, “did Hotch just put us together to fuck with us?”
“Maybe,” you flopped onto the couch with a sigh as you rest your head on the backrest. That was until something caught your eye, “Oi genius!” you called out, Spencer came to your side as you pointed to the roof; there, above your heads was a piece of paper taped to the ceiling, “you’re taller than me,” you said quickly as you got up and started moving the couch.
“Woah what- what’re you doing?” Spencer jumped back slightly as you pushed the couch backwards.
“Well we’re going to push this back and then put a chair down for you to stand on so you can reach that note because it can possibly help us get to the unsub,”
“What why me?” Spencer questioned as he helped you push the couch back.
“You’re taller than me and have longer arms,” you walked over to the dining table and came back with a chair, Spencer was reluctant at first but eventually stood on the chair and plucked down the taped note; letting out a breath as he finally stood on the ground again. You plucked the note from Spencer's hand and opened it.
“A music note?” Spencer mumbled.
“Something like that,” you mumbled back, “see it's in the second to bottom gap,” you pointed to the gap to show where it was, as if Spencer couldn't see it already, “um, it would sound something like...um, dmm” you vibrate your voice a little to help Spencer understand, he nodded, “the only problem is there isn’t any clef; normally with music you have a treble clef, alto clef or bass clef. They basically determine what instrument can be played and how the notes are determined” Spencer looked genuinely interested while you explained your thinking, “this...its a singular note, maybe there’s more around?” you looked around the room and tried to desifre if there were any opened drawers or cupboards.
“Maybe there’s another one at the other location?” Spencer questioned, you grinned.
“It might be the unsubs calling card; ‘hey, this is my kill’ type thing!” and with that, you made a break in the case.
-
Spencer called the rest of the team about the break as Hotch allowed the two of you to go to the other victims houses and search for more music notes; low and behold you now had 3 music notes placed under the corresponding victim heads.
“You keep staring at that board as if it's going to give you answers,” Derek said with a grin as he walked into the room; the rest of the team had been called out to another dead body.
“Hmm? Oh I just…” you shrugged, “i just get this feeling about the notes; they have to sound something but we just don't know what yet” before Derek could answer you the shrill of the phone went off.
“(Y/n)?” it was Spencer on loudspeaker; he never called you by your first name.
“Yeah what's up Reid?” you called back.
“We found another note; the round part is under the last line with the stem going up to the second line at the top,” you nodded in response (not that Spencer could see you) as you drew the note on a piece of paper with a sharpener and placed it on the victim board.
“Anything else? A clef at all anywhere?” you asked.
“Um i'm not- i don't think so?” it sounded like Spencer was shuffling around a few things to get a better look, “we have another piece of paper!” Spencer called out, moments later you got a photo on your phone. Sure enough there was a treble clef.
“Spence get everyone back here; i know what the notes mean”
-
“Our unsub is using something called the Dies Irae,” you played the first few notes on your phone over youtube, “you've all heard this song over time just not exactly in an orchestra setting; Star Wars, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, The Shining, The Exorcist and many many more,” you played a few other videos of the notes from a few of the movies as everyone nodded.
“I can hear it,” J.J. mumbled.
“Same,” that was Emily.
“Right, so...it was originally used with catholic’s; they used the music in their Requiem services-”
“Requiem services are basically putting the dead to rest,” Spencer cut in quickly so the team could understand.
“Yeah, it's basically a song for the dead to stay dead in a way? I think our unsub is using the Sweeney Todd method; killing his victims with a razor. One slice across the neck while in a private area except this dude isn't a cannibal” you grinned at the remembrance of the film.
“Cannibal?” Derek and Emily questioned.
“In the movie Sweeney Todd is a barber, he comes back for revenge on the man who stole his wife and child and kills people in his barber shop which is also above a pie shop owned by a woman named Mrs Lovett; when Sweeney starts killing they come together in order to bring customers back to Mrs Lovett's pie shop. Because it's set in 1785 meat was expensive so instead they used the dead people as meat to sell to customers” you realised how long winded that explanation was and apologized, “sorry that was..i think our unsub is a barber” was your final statement. Hotch nodded and moved to press a button on the phone in the middle of the table, but the phone started ringing instead.
“Garcia?”
“I think i found our unsub; Chris Gevette, he filed for divorce after he gave evidence of spousal abuse but it seems like his wife had every piece of evidence that would be able to put him in jail rather than her so everything was blamed on him for the abuse and the jury ruled him unable to keep any stable relationship”
“Garcia do you have a work and home address?”
“Sent to your phones now; barber shop and home” the phone clicked off.
“(Y/n) i want you to go to the barber shop with Reid and Derek. Emily, J.J. and I will go to the house; Rossi stays here in case anything else happens.” and with that you all ran to the SUV’s.
-----
“CHRIS GEVETTE FBI!” Derek shouted through the door, your guns were drawn and ready for action as Derek kicked the door in. You moved swiftly through the shop, finding nothing but dust.
“Guys!” you were now out the back as your partners came running, “it's exactly like Sweeney Todd,” you motioned to the stairs in front of you before looking behind you, “there's stars that lead down as well; there may be bodies in there like the movie too, you go down there and i'll go up.”
“(Y/n) let me come with you,” that was Spencer, he looked genuinely concerned.
“I've got this Spence. Go” you started your ascent up the wooden stairs while trying to stay as quiet as you possibly could, “CHRIS GEVETTE,” you called out to the door once you got to it, you could hear the bustle of footsteps and made the split decision. The door was kicked in by you as you pointed your gun to Chris who was now holding a razor to a woman's neck.
“Get away!” Chris screamed, he was frantic; trembling and crying.
“Chris! Chris it's okay, i'm a good guy, okay?” you slowly let go of your gun, “im holstering my gun, okay?” you said as you're-holstered your gun, “Chris i know about the divorce-”
“No you dont!” Chris called, the woman under the razor trembled as the razor cut into her neck slightly.
“I do! Chris, I know you were abused! I know it wasn't you that did the abusing! If you let her go we can help you get custody and instead send that bitch to jail,” Chris looked almost relieved to hear that, he contemplated that for a moment before slowly letting the woman go. She ran over to you as Derek and Spencer finally came up the stairs and started handcuffing Chris.
“We’ve got two other bodies in the basement,” Spencer said to you while you held the trembling woman, “there's medic on the way now,” you nodded in affirmation before starting to help the women calm down and walk down the stairs.
------
The jet finally landed back at the bureau as the rest of your team started packing their things from their desks.
“Um (Y/n)” a voice called, you smiled as you looked up to see the person you least expected.
“Spence?” you questioned; your eyes darted around and couldn't see any other team member in sight, “everyone left already. Sorry. I've been in my own little world,” you gave a tight smile as you continued packing some extra files into your bag.
“It-it’s just me, but um, I just wanted to congratulate you on your break in the case,” the comment from Spencer's timid and small voice caught you off guard so much that you froze for a moment as you stared at him. It all seemed to go quiet, and slow; the clock on the wall seemed to tick at an atrociously slow pace.
Tick…
“(Y/n)?”
Tock…
“Hmm?”
“I uh, i was-”
“Oh, yeah um-”
Pause.
Quiet.
“Thank you,” smile.
Tick…
“I was...was wondering, (Y/n)...”
Tock…
“Yeah Spence?”
“Would you...would you like to go...on a date...with...me?”
Pause.
Quiet.
“With you?”
“Well, I did...I did say ‘me’ I hope- just, just forget it” and the world went back to normal as Spence started walking away.
“No Spence, wait!” you grabbed your things and quickly darted off after him; plunging your arm between the elevator doors and stepping in quickly before they shut behind you.
“Just forget it (Y/n); forget i ever asked and we can just go back to-”
“I would love to go on a date with you”
Tick…
“Really?”
“So long as you don't call me a paramecium again”
Tock…
“I won't; as long as you don't call me a substitute chemistry teacher”
Pause.
Quiet.
“I won't”
“Then it's settled.
Tick…
“Message me?”
“Of course”
Tock…
Smile.
#criminal minds#spencer reid#Derek morgan#penelopie garcia#Penelope Garcia#garcia#Emily prentiss#Aaron hotchner#David rossi#J.J.#Spencer reid x reader#Reid x reader#Spencer reid x gn!reader#Spencer reid x gender neutral reader#x reader
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And me and @freckledpianoman are back with more Beth Chapel content! Continuing from this post, here’s even more headcanons about our favourite Dr Mid-Nite:
Beth is nearsighted and started wearing glasses when she was three and a half. Bridget started noticing that her daughter kept squinting all the time and eventually took her to an eye doctor, attributing Beth needing glasses so early to all the times that she hid under the covers with a flashlight and read late into the night instead of sleeping
Her prescription is really strong and while her glasses correct most of her vision, she still needs accommodations like enlarged and high contrast texts and other visual aids
Chuck eventually becomes another accommodation since he acts as a cross between telescopic and magnifying glasses and a talking watch
She’s fluent in French thanks to her grandma Beatrice’s influence and she can carry a conversation in Spanish (she picked it up from Bridget, who often talks with her patients in Spanish) and Norwegian. That last language throws people off when they first hear about it, but it comes in handy when four-year-old Pieter Cross and his family (who don’t speak much English) move to Blue Valley from Trondheim, Norway
Yolanda grumbles about not being able to talk to Beth in Spanish class whenever she’s home sick from school because she's the one decent conversation partner she has in that class
Rick often practices translating for his French class with Beth. Once he goofed and said “madame le docteur”. And poor Beth was close to shaking him and going, “Rick, that's wrong on so many levels”
He knows by the incredulous look on her face that he’s all sorts of wrong and he blushes all embarrassed. But later he mistranslates on purpose just to see her adorable reactions
She wants to pick up more languages eventually (she’s deciding if she wants to take both Mandarin and Arabic in college like her dad did) and is currently learning ASL
Beth is a Star Trek fan thanks to her dad’s influence. She and James would watch reruns of Deep Space Nine while she was growing up and it was their way of bonding. While that tradition didn’t happen as often when Beth started high school, she and Yolanda (who had watched Voyager with her brother and cousins) eventually start a tradition of watching Star Trek Discovery
Beth and Yolanda’s love for Star Trek is often a point of contention with Rick and Courtney, who are both Star Wars fans. It’s been the subject of a lot of arguments about what to watch for JSA marathons. Pat is usually the tie breaker
Beth learned how to garden from her grandma Beatrice, who raises African violets in her rooftop garden. Beth’s backyard isn’t big enough for a garden so instead she keeps all sorts of plants in her room, including little teacup succulents on her bedroom windowsill and in honeycomb shelves
While her backyard’s too small for a garden, there’s a pink dogwood tree and she loves reading and having picnics under it when it’s in bloom. In the summer Beth makes her own butterfly feeders and hang them from the tree and watch the butterflies gather
She grew up listening to Schoolhouse Rock thanks to her dad, who would play their songs in the kitchen whenever he made breakfast on Saturday mornings while she was growing up. Even now, Beth sings along to them whenever she hears them and Chuck starting adding them to karaoke mode, including her favourites “Three is a Magic Number”, “The Tale of Mr Morton”, and “The Energy Blues”
When she was in middle school, she started using the melody of Schoolhouse Rock songs to memorize things like country names and the periodic table. She used the latter to help Rick memorize different elements for his chem class. Yolanda actually caught Rick softly singing to himself at his locker when he was searching for his notes for one last read through
“Beth got you to sing? Willingly?” “I wasn't singing, you’re hearing things.”
Courtney is weirded out by the fact that Beths texts with Mike of all people, but it's mostly through gifs, emojis, and random memes. She has no idea what they even talk about, saying that Beth texts with Mike more often than she does with Rick, much to the latter’s annoyance. In reality Beth and Mike talk about robotics competitions, the latest episode of whatever they were binging (this week was Julie and the Phantoms), and their ongoing bet on when Courtney and Yolanda will finally get together
If Beth wins, Mike has to help upgrade her costume and if he wins, she owes him an ice cream cake
“It's like their own little nerd language, it makes no sense.”
Her style icon when she was little was Ms Frizzle. Beth thought that Ms Frizzle’s themed dresses and jewellery were so cool and she wanted to dress up like her. She still loves Ms Frizzle’s style and you can see the influence it has on Beth’s fashion from bright colours, unique patterns, and quirky jewellery
Beth has a special section in her closet for Ms Frizzle like outfits that she wears to the children’s library she volunteers at. It makes her very popular with the kids there
She actually dressed up as Ms Frizzle for Halloween in seventh grade
Despite being on opposite sides, Beth and Cindy have a begrudging respect for each other similar to Betty and Wilhelmina’s relationship on Ugly Betty, Beth being the JSA member that Cindy tolerates the most
Cindy begrudgingly thinks that she does know a thing or two about fashion because she often upcycles clothes. Courtney’s surprised that Beth’s still alive after she said that Cindy dresses like an evil PTA mom within earshot, though she did kidnap Beth a few times for a shopping spree
“Get in loser, we’re going shopping!” “Did you just quote Mean Girls?”
The first time they had a standoff, Cindy went “please, I’m Japanese, you’re Black, we’re not talking around this thing like a couple of dull white people”
Cindy once called Rick a feral raccoon and smirked when it made Beth accidentally burst out laughing
While Beth is more than confident with her personal style, but she’s still very new to makeup in general. Yolanda and Artemis (even Cindy much to everyone’s shock) have taken it upon themselves to help experiment with makeup and find out what she likes. Beth immediately knows that she doesn’t like mascara, even as Yolanda scolds her to stay still while she’s trying to put mascara on her
“You’re making it seem like I’m torturing you.” “Your superhero costume has claws, that doesn’t exactly scream safe.” “I’ll have you know I’m very practiced with my claws, now stay still!”
Beth likes the lipsticks and glosses much better, she likes the different colours and how it feels on her lips
She has to get used to the feeling of makeup on her face in general, but she doesn’t mind it and she’s shocked when she looks in the mirror. It’s still very much her, but it's like she’s glowing. She can’t stop smiling and the girls all look at her fondly
And they also exchange knowing looks, knowing that Rick is going to lose his mind
She did a history report on Bessie Coleman in middle school and she eventually drew inspiration for her Dr Mid-Nite costume from looking at photos of Bessie’s pilot outfit
Beth and her mom often did ceramics classes when she was a kid. They weren’t very good at it at first, but the little lopsided knick knacks they made always made them laugh. Beth and Bridget got better over the years with Beth painting colours and patterns on whatever her mom helped her make before they went into the kiln. She thought they would be plain otherwise and Bridget agreed with her
While ceramics classes have since stopped, they still use the honeycomb mugs and planters that they made and painted when Beth was in middle school. Bridget uses one for the aloe vera plant she keeps in her office at the hospital
Beth is allergic to pineapple. She found out during a school trip in third grade when Henry offered some of his fruit salad and she ended up with a swollen face and tongue, which really freaked Artemis and Cindy out. Yolanda and the villain kids ended up taking care of her until the ambulance came and Beth jokes that it was the one time the JSA and ISA kids worked together on something
She now carries an epipen in her backpack and Rick has taken to carrying a backup one in his jacket in case Beth can’t get to her backpack in time
She had a stargazing phase that she never grew out of. Her parents got her a mini telescope for her fifth birthday and Bridget started teaching her about the solar system before Beth started learning about constellations on her own. Bridget jokes that if her daughter hadn’t been set on becoming a doctor, she would’ve gone into astrophysics
Beth still has a telescope set up by her bedroom window. Sometimes when she has trouble sleeping and she’s not in the mood to read, she’ll look for constellations through the telescope while Chuck chimes in with little known star facts
She also has a starry globe nightlight and a constellation globe
She and Rick sometimes have stargazing “dates” out on her back porch. They curl up together in a patio chair with midnight snacks while they watch meteor showers. Sometimes Yolanda and Courtney will join them, curled up together in the other patio chair
Beth and Courtney often have karaoke nights at the Pit Stop after Pat souped up Barbara’s old karaoke machine. The usual playlist includes fun 80s and 90s jams as well as modern songs like Bruno Mars, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. Yolanda often joins them for girl group songs (Little Mix is a favourite), even though she protests that she’s not much of a singer when she’s not singing Selena songs
Rick gets roped into doing a song too, much to his dismay. Courtney pouts and complains that he has to because there’s an unspoken rule that everyone has to sing
“I don't sing, dammit.” “Oh really, are you forgetting about that little ditty you were singing before your chem test?”
Beth sees how nervous Rick is and decides to go easy on him, finding a slow, bluesy song that he can keep up with and assuring him that even if he can’t croon those long deep notes, everyone will cheer him on. He ends up giving the best performance of the night, shocking the girls and impressing them all
He blushes when he sees Beth looking at him all starry eyed
When Beth was growing up, her family would have game night every Thursday and they were always old fashioned board games like Clue, Scrabble, and Pictionary. Whenever they would play Clue, Beth would always choose to be Miss Scarlett while her dad would switch between Professor Plum and Colonel Mustard. Beth could never beat her mom at Scrabble and it often ended up with Beth’s chemistry words versus Bridget’s medical terms
While game nights have since stopped, James will sometimes have Beth join him for a card game at three or four in the morning after he comes back from a business trip. He taught her how to play games like crazy eights, gin rummy, and cribbage when she was in middle school and it’s now their way of catching up after he comes back from travelling
Both her parents are only children. James’ family was originally from California before he moved to Nebraska for work while Bridget’s family are of Louisiana Creole descent and hail from Omaha. Beth is quite close to Bridget’s side of the family, especially with her second cousin Delphine’s family. Beth sometimes helps look after Delphine’s daughter Eliana whenever she and her husband are in town
Rick once mistook Eliana for Beth’s baby, hilarity ensued
Beth has a love for animals and since the fandom has collectively decided that Beth is a Disney Princess, she has a particular talent for being an accidental animal tamer. During a mission, three of the ISA’s attack dogs made a beeline for her and attacked her with doggie kisses instead of doing their job
The ISA are torn between being pissed (“when the hell did Mid-Nite become an animal tamer?”) and confused. Sportsmaster is vaguely impressed and takes it as a challenge
Later they tried scaring Beth with a python, which only really worked on Yolanda (“oh my god, what is that?”) while Beth just boops the snake on its snout. The snake swooned. So did Rick
After Rick and Yolanda recover from the shock, they look at the trio of attack dogs follow Beth all the way to the Pit Stop and go “we’re not keeping you”. Rick just hopes that the trio are the only attack dogs that follow her back home. He wishes that he had been more specific because he was not expecting an actual maned wolf suddenly coming up and sniffing all over Beth during a visit to the Dugan-Whitmores’ cabin
“What the fuck, where did that come from and why is it all over Beth?!”
It turns out that Beth didn’t realize that she had a cookie in one of her pockets and the maned wolf caught a whiff of it and was now trying to find it. The way it sniffs her is ticklish and she’s laughing the entire time
Once the maned wolf brought over a friend to see Beth and Courtney goes, “aww, he met another–oh my god, that’s a panther!” The panther also wanted one of Beth’s treats and it swooped in between her and Rick and started pawing at her like a spoiled kitten
Rick picked Beth up and carried her inside because “we can’t trust her outside anymore”
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So you know what it’s wednesday you’re getting an infodump on Desden’s blindness.
Beware. I’m a biologist. I’m a nerd. And I’m a teacher. You know what’s coming, right ?
I just reblogged an extremely interesting and great post about writing blind characters that I advise you to go and read now (I haven't finished yet) because it's just full of info and contrary to usual posts like that it's not guilt tripping or anything. I love this post and OP for this. However I've noticed there's a bunch of advices I don't follow myself and I felt like I could expand and why and how I think it's not a bad thing. Here's the first one : don’t make your character blind through an accident. Because drama.
So yeah. Desden lost his sight due to some kind of accident. Which is thoroughly described by a mysterious bystander’s flashback in chap.3. So that’s not a spoiler. But how can a brick through the head make you blind ?
Brain. Brains are evil. You know I got a PhD in biology : I am sad to admit I couldn’t go through with my love of neurology because it was competing with my love for bacteria and parasites that can kill you and happily live everywhere. Life’s though. No neuro for me, welcome to viral ecology (viruses are obligatory parasites, sue me). But not only can’t I help being a nerd... I have an uncle in my family who lost part of his vision from a brain haematoma (not due to trauma, but the result and how it works is the same). Who’s also a nerd. (And a PhD in physics cause like that’s what nerds do, right ?) And he explained in details how he lost his vision (and gained back some of it over time) to us.
If you cut blood supply to parts of the brain for long enough, this part will die. Logic. Head trauma can do that and more. So, what happened is that Desden’s visual cortex got cut from blood supply for a relatively long amount of time (he can thank the extremely cold weather of the day it happened, which makes your body turn into “low survival mode”, when the “accident” happened for 1) being still alive and 2) not losing more than most of his sight, some balance, and a bunch of memories). But the brain is a funny little thing and some times it does stuff (not going into the haematoma part, I’m not a doc, it’s long and not very relevant, but it has to be taken into account cause it’s what can make part of the lost sight reappear). So Desden was totally blind for a while, then his brain managed to get some of his sight back. Very little.
But what and how does he see ?
See, the brain is constructed so that the visual cortex’s position reflects the visual field you have, except in reverse. Sorry. I’m a teacher. I’m going to add a schema. But in French because I actually work with this (well. Nope. They changed the program but I have old program lessons lying around just in case) and I’m lazy today. Just look at the pretty colours. It shows you what I just explained very badly because I’m used to use schemas, but here’s what you need to understand.
SOOOO. Basically make most of the colour disappear except for a very small part of blue at the far right of the visual cortex. Meaning that in the end, what Desden can see is an extremely reduced part of peripheral vision. Try to fix your eyes on a point in front of you and describe what is at the far corner of your left eye. Good luck. (and let me tell you I know I have extremely good peripheral vision myself, it’s still composed by what your brain KNOWS is around. From seeing it with the other parts of your field of vision. Because your brain is constantly MAKING UP what you’re seeing from a lot of information including past ones when you didn’t even think about it but your eyes brushed that part. Your senses are fucked up. Deal with it. Your brain is playing tricks on you right now.)
This is why, btw, he’s often described tilting his head on the right. He doesn’t have much control on his eye movement so he tries to get some info on people (mostly light and colours but since his visual memory is fucked up, it’s not very useful)
His eyes move. He just doesn’t really control them. In fact they’re often if not constantly moving because head trauma is often linked to the apparition of a nystagmus, which is a rapid eye movement to the side or up and down - my brother has that, vertical, did you know it existed ? well I do. A friend of my parents has a horizontal one that is a lot more visible. Constantly. She’s not blind, her brain compensates this. Brains are both evil and awesome. Deal with it.
Oh and his eyes are perfectly normal. Even quite pretty, as he describes them himself. He still wears sunglasses because his brain doesn’t like strong light which give him migraines, because it has a hard time processing visual info.
His eyes also work perfectly (well as perfectly as they did before his accident, which is okay but a little nearsighted) which leads to the only thing that sounds like a superpower that isn’t one : blindsight. If you research it you’ll learn about people who can do absolutely crazy things like catch stuff that’s thrown at them or avoid most obstacles on a path while being totally blind, because BRAINS, AGAIN. Your brain doesn’t only process visual cues through the visual cortex; there’s a slight part in the “primitive brain” or “lizard brain” that does, too. So basically Desden’s body can see stuff but he’s not aware of it consciously. He’s NOT using it and he’s NOT as good as the people I cited above. But for example he has insights he souldn’t have on people’s moods, because his lizard brain picks their faces up. Not always, and it’s often more when someone’s in a VERY bad mood that SHOWS. And since he’s not aware of it he takes that as hints from his other senses. It’s NOT compensating for his blindness - if anything, it’s a silly trick. BUT I AM A NERD, REMEMBER ?
Anyway. Now you know. Desden still lost his vision through an accident which, as said in the reference post i’m refering to (haha) would be bad if it was used for drama but, in fact, I try to avoid most of it because apart from the accident, which is witnessed by someone else who is important to the later plot, nothing from Desden’s life before or after it is described in details. My novel starts 9 years after the accident. He’s got time to get used to being blind.
*I* know everything that happened in his life, or most of the important things anyway, that lead to the opening of the book, but you will only get scraps of it because it’s not what’s relevant. It’s important for the construction of the character, but what I want to show here is not Desden’s journey through being used to being blind. It’s his journey through accepting his family heritage, which has nothing to do with being blind, and sharing it with the rest of his family while it stayed hidden to them until then because the person who kept this before him was an arsehole. There are a lot of plot points that are linked to Desden’s blindness, including said arsehole arseholery (I be good with words), but it’s not the point of the book.
Y’all know I’m a Daredevil fan. That’s where I got the idea of a blind character (not only), but now erase that from your mind. Desden doesn’t have any superpower that compensate his blindness. He’s got pretty good hearing because he’s used to use it a lot more than when he was sighted. It’s not better. He loves music, but he’s absolutely tone deaf so forget the blind piano tuner/musician cliché (this is a joke in one of my AUs, in fact)(explanation : in France, which is the country I research for because I’m French and my story takes place in France, the most prominent school for the blind used to primarily teach people to become piano tuners during the 20th century). He’s got a very good nose, but that’s just how it is, and since I’m using my own experience of rediscovering my sense of smell after years of living with smoking people (don’t smoke) (yeah, even you, Desden) I know it’s not superhuman. In fact my own nose is pretty shitty compared to my mom’s. Who is a fucking hunting hound. Anwyay I digress.
Desden often chases any comment that restrict him to being “the blind guy” by stating stuff he does or likes to do, like “I’m also a good tarot player but no one ever mentions that” or “my brownies are the best ones and I don’t even need to add pot to it”. This is how he feels about it. He’s blind. It’s okay, it’s part of him. But it’s not his sole characteristic.
I think I’m done here. I haven’t touched on other people’s reaction to him that much, and if you’re interested you can ask questions. Basically remember he’s a 1,98m guy, with broad shoulders, and that’s the first thing you see from him. Also there’s his guide dog Kalinka.
Lot more things to talk about, not that much time. So if you’re interested in knowing more, poke me, and I might write more about my character.
Lastly and more importantly : if you see things that you can correct in this post, please do so. As I said, I’m a nerd, but I’m not a neurologist. I’m going the vulgarized version. And I like to be taught things. So if you see mistakes, tell me.
Peace !
#original character#blind character#desden#long post#very long post#also i'm writing as ideas come so hum bear with me
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Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) | (3/?)
Title: Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) Summary: A sequel to Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer. Brooke Lynn and Vanessa are back at NYU, but with new and improved positions. Brooke’s ready to start her career as a professor when, as fate would have it, she realizes her TA, Jackie, might have the hots for a student named Jan. The couple just might see it as a sign to give two new girls the love story they found in the same place. Word Count: ~2.9k (this chapter) / ~9k (total) Relationship(s): Branjie (Brooke Lynn Hytes/Vanessa Vanjie Mateo), Jankie (Jan Sport/Jackie Cox) Rating: E
read on ao3
Brooke Lynn furrowed her brows and strummed her fingers against the table. “So, let me see if I’ve got this right – you invited Jan over to practice for her audition, got wine drunk, then dry-humped until she got off?”
Jackie nodded in confirmation, her eyes fixated more on her coffee cup than Brooke – she had to build back up to being able to make eye-contact. “Then in the morning she was gone and she left me a note,” she finished, holding the piece of paper up. “I really fucked up, didn’t I?”
“It wasn’t your smartest move,” she told her, trying not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all. “But if she just left like that, she’s probably just as scared as you are. Listen, the first day I met Vanessa was a mess. I walked her home from work that night, kissed her, and then literally ran away. She still makes fun of me for it.”
The story made Jackie laugh, but it caught her by surprise as well. She had always seen Brooke as someone so unshakably confident. “I guess if things worked out for you guys, all hope isn’t totally lost…” She took another sip from her drink and sighed. “I still don’t know how I’m going to face her in class on Monday,” she admitted.
Brooke reached across the table and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Just focus on your work. I promise I’ll find something to keep you busy, okay?” As much as she wanted to continue her matchmaking game, she could see that the tension needed to diffuse before she tried to push them closer. Just because Katya lucked out didn’t mean lightning would strike twice.
Jackie’s entire body relaxed in relief. She was still anxious about seeing Jan again, but it meant a lot to know that Brooke was looking out for her. “Okay. Yes, thank you. I can work with that.” She nodded, then checked her phone. “I have to get going, though. I’ll talk to you later,” she said as she gathered her things, including the note that she tucked into her pocket.
Brooke smiled and waved her off. She stayed put, though. She was expecting Vanessa any minute now. They liked meeting here when they could, after all, it was the café A’keria recently became the owner of, the same one she’d started working in after the Starbucks fiasco all those years ago. It was sentimental to them now.
“Hey boo,” Vanessa greeted as she walked in, leaning over and giving her wife a kiss before sitting down. “Must’ve just missed Jackie, how’s she doing?”
“The poor girl is going through it,” Brooke shook her head sympathetically. “She and Jan got drunk and fooled around, and Jan left before she woke up. She left a Post-It or something.”
Vanessa frowned and shook her head. “Mh-mm, I hate Post-Its. If you’re gonna dip, send a text like a normal person,” she mused.
“Maybe she thought a handwritten note would be more meaningful,” she reasoned. “Regardless, she’s just gonna need some time to recover before we continue with any matchmaking shenanigans.”
Vanessa gave a firm nod of agreement. “Understood.” She sat quietly for a moment, strumming her fingernails against the table. “I wanna talk about the baby thing.”
Brooke blinked in surprise at the abrupt subject change but leaned in to listen attentively nonetheless. “Of course, what’s on your mind?”
“Listen… I know we got good genes and all, but I don’t wanna create a baby in a lab when there are so many kids that need a family. I had friends in foster care when I was little, you know? That shit must’ve really sucked for them. And I just think… You and me are in a position to really help a kid out,” she told her, then held her breath as she waited for her wife’s response.
Brooke reached across the table and held Vanessa’s hands. “Baby girl, if that’s what you want, I am a hundred percent on board. I think that’s a wonderful motivation to adopt. We can start looking at agencies as soon or as late as you want. I’m in this with you all the way,” her thumb stroked over Vanessa’s wedding band. “That’s what I promised you. That’s the promise I make to you every day as your wife.”
Vanessa blinked and looked down. “Shit, you gonna make me cry,” she mumbled, giving Brooke’s hand a light squeeze to reassure her she was okay. “Guess we gotta think about redecorating the guest room then, huh?”
“You know my weakness for interior design,” she cooed, pressing a kiss to the back of Vanessa’s hand.
—
By the time Monday rolled around, Jackie had talked herself out of most of her anxiety. When the time was right, she thought, she could talk things out with Jan. But until then, she had a job to do, a job that she did like.
Jackie’s main task was to write a lot of information on the chalkboard. It was perfect as far as she was concerned – having her back to the class meant she didn’t have to worry about making awkward eye contact with Jan. She had to admit, it was kind of a genius move on Brooke’s part.
Jan, however, was left with a predicament of her own. She and Gigi had sat in the front because even with contacts or glasses, they were both nearsighted as all hell. However, this put Jackie right in her line of sight, and she immediately began regretting her decision.
While the dress Jackie wore came down to her knees, the fabric clung to her body in a way that accentuated some of her best physical features.
And Jan hadn’t meant to stare – staring was rude and her mother taught her better. But she would be damned if Jackie’s ass wasn’t hypnotizing her. She couldn’t help but wonder how she hadn’t noticed before.
“You’re gonna snap your pen in half with the way you’re biting it,” Gigi poked Jan’s shoulder, snapping her friend out of her trance. “Also, some subtlety really wouldn’t hurt you right now.”
Jan blushed, looking down at her notes, which were nowhere near as detailed as usual. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Gigi chuckled. “Please, your eyes were about to burn a hole into her butt.”
“They were not, I was just reading the board,” she insisted, but now that she had to actively avoid staring, her body seemed all the more compelled to continue. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to get her mind and body on the same page.
“Hey, you have good taste, I’m just saying be less obvious about it.”
Jan just buried her face in her notes, hoping that if she focused on getting work done, her mind would stop conjuring images of Jackie in various states of undress.
“...And that’ll just about do it,” Brooke Lynn was saying. “You guys are free to go, see you Wednesday.” She closed her book, punctuating the dismissal. Her eyes followed the students out of the room, waiting until they were alone before speaking to Jackie. “How are you feeling?”
Jackie exhaled deeply, dropping herself down onto the desk closest to Brooke’s as if she were dead weight. “I feel okay. I think not having to look at her made it easy. Have you seen her eyes? They’re so warm and brown and–”
“–And couldn’t stay off of you,” Brooke finished with a smirk. “Jackie, she is hot for you, you should’ve seen how she was staring at you. I already knew you have a great ass, but damn, it had a magnetic pull on that poor girl.”
Jackie turned a shade of red deeper and brighter than it had ever been. She suddenly became hyper-aware of her body, not necessarily in a self-conscious way – in fact, part of her was flattered – but it was overwhelming to process at first. “I guess she might not regret the other night that much then,” she managed with a strangled laugh.
“Honey, it’s pretty clear she wants a repeat performance. I wasn’t even paying all that much attention to her, but I swear I almost offered her a towel,” she chuckled.
Even though Jan was long gone, Jackie looked out of the classroom and into the hall, as if she could still catch sight of her. “I never thought I’d be relieved to be objectified,” she mused.
Brooke let out a light laugh at that. “So you’ll go talk to her?”
She shook her head as her gaze drifted back to the desk. “Not yet. Soon… Hopefully soon. I think I’ll know when I’m ready.”
—
“Well, other than you ogling the TA you fooled around with, I think today went well,” Gigi said as they walked back to the residence hall. “You ready for your audition later?”
“I wasn’t ogling her.” Jan chewed on her lip. “Don’t laugh, but…” She shifted awkwardly as she looked anywhere but directly at her friend. “I’m worried I might be too… distracted to nail it.”
Gigi looked at her friend with an arched brow. “First of all, yes you were. We established this. Second, you think you’ll be too horny to focus on singing?” She really did try her best not to laugh, but a small giggle slipped through. “Babe, just masturbate like a normal person before you go.”
She huffed. “Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? Lem’s probably gonna be in there, what am I supposed to do, tell her to leave so I can jerk off? We’re close, Geege, but I think there’s a line.”
“Then go in the shower. Jesus, do I have to spell it out for you?” Gigi rolled her eyes.
“You don’t think it’s weird to get off thinking about someone you’re not dating?” Jan asked quietly.
Her friend pinched the bridge of her nose. “At this point I just think you need to do it so you stop sounding so neurotic and paranoid. Hell, if I wasn’t in a committed relationship, I’d offer to help you out myself.”
Jan cocked her head to the side. “Thanks, I think.”
When Jan did get back to the dorm, she saw Lemon on her bed with her AirPods in, just as she’d anticipated. She waved at her to get her attention, waiting for her to take one of them out. “Hey sweetie, I’m just gonna shower before my audition. You know, get nice and calm,” she told her.
Lemon smiled and nodded. “Oh shit, I forgot that was today. Break a leg! But like, not in the shower. That would be bad.”
Jan chuckled as she grabbed what she needed to bring into the bathroom. “I don’t know where I’d be without your wisdom, doll,” she winked playfully before leaving.
The first thing Jan did once she got in the shower was put music on – this wasn’t her first rodeo, so to speak. Even with earbuds in, she knew she ran the risk of Lemon hearing her moan if she didn’t drown it out. With the music playing and water running, Jan undressed and stepped into the shower, letting out a sigh of relief the second the hot water hit her body.
After she washed her hair, Jan leaned against the shower wall, resting her head against the cool tile. She let her hand travel down her body. There was a moment of hesitation when her fingers grazed over her pussy, but after a deep breath, she began rubbing her clit with two fingers. Her eyes fluttered shut as soft, breathy moans slipped out.
“Fuck…” Jan wasn’t thinking about anything at first, but without even trying, her thoughts drifted to Jackie, to what happened the other night, to that day in class. And once she got started, there was no chance of stopping. “Oh, Jackie…” she moaned, rocking against her fingers. Her free hand went to her breast, groping it, and tweaking her nipple.
By the time her orgasm hit, Jan needed to rest her entire weight against the wall to keep herself up. Her legs were shaking and she was whimpering, taking deep breaths as she finally felt sturdy enough to stand back upright. After that, she just did a quick wash off her face and body before getting out and drying off, going back into the bedroom wrapped up in her robe shortly after.
“Hey, feeling any better?” Lemon asked casually. It was clear she hadn’t moved an inch this whole time, nor was she aware of what Jan had gotten up to.
“Much better, actually,” Jan nodded, taking the towel wrap off of her head and combing her hair out. “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” she asked as she continued getting ready.
Lemon paused her music and took out her earbuds, she had been waiting for an opportunity to talk about herself. “Actually, I’m meeting up with a girl later.” She didn’t wait for Jan to ask before she continued. “Okay, so, like, I had just lit a joint and I see this really pretty girl – tall, you know how I like ‘em – and she seems hella stressed, so I offer her a hit. So, we’re smoking and chatting and long story short, we have a date tonight.”
“That was the short version?” Jan teased as she got dressed. “I’m guessing it'll be more of the same?”
She scoffed. “No… We’ll probably fuck too.”
Jan laughed softly as she straightened her hair, then pulled it up into a high ponytail. “Well, it’s always nice to have an itinerary,” she hummed. “I’ll see you later.”
—
“Next!”
Jan stepped onto the stage and held herself with confidence. She introduced herself, handed the sheet music to the pianist, and then she simply did what she did best; she sang. She gave it her all, emoting all the right words, belting all the right notes. There was a lingering rush of adrenaline when she finished. “Thank you,” she smiled politely and made her way off stage.
“Great job up there,” a distinct voice out of seemingly nowhere caused Jan to jump, startled.
“Oh, thanks Vanjie,” Jan smiled, running her fingers through her ponytail. “I didn’t realize anyone other than the directors were watching.”
Vanessa shrugged. “People gave up tryna tell me what to do a long time ago. Except for Brooke, but there’s always an exception for the wife. But anyway… you feelin’ okay? I don’t know all the details, but I know you had a rough weekend.”
Of course, Jan figured Vanessa knew more than she let on – she could safely assume Jackie told Brooke, and Brooke told Vanessa. But she hoped some details had gotten lost in translation. “Oh, yeah, I guess,” she bounced awkwardly on the balls of her feet. “Things are a little weird, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Listen, I’ve been in your shoes. The worst thing you can do is overthink it. Brooke did it, Jackie does it, and I get the vibe you do too. Not everything’s as deep as y’all make it out to be, you know?”
Jan chewed her lip and nodded. Sure, she knew Vanessa was right, but it was easier said than done. It wasn’t something she could simply stop doing, something she could just turn on and off at will. “The situation’s just… It’s complicated. But I get what you’re saying, I do,” she assured. “All I wanna focus on now is being able to sleep tonight so I can be ready to see if I got a callback tomorrow.”
Vanessa gave Jan’s arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “You got this. Ain’t no one around you doubting that.”
And Jan tried her best to take that to heart, she tried to stay positive the rest of the night, to turn her brain off when it was finally time to sleep. She was pretty sure she passed out at nearly three in the morning, but as soon as her alarm went off, she shot right out of bed.
Lemon rolled onto her side, watching Jan scramble to get ready with energy from god knows where. “How the fuck do you do that?” she mumbled groggily.
Jan shrugged as she brushed her hair. “It’s a blessing and a curse, Lem.” She checked her phone. “The callback list should be up by the time I get there,” she murmured, offering a quick goodbye to her roommate before she was out the door.
By the time she got to the auditorium, there was already a small group of hopeful actors forming outside the doors. And as soon as the list went up, they all crowded around it.
Too impatient to wait, Jan made her way to the front, offering haphazard apologies to everyone she bumped out of the way. It was worth it for the happiness and relief she felt when she saw that she was on the callback list for Veronica.
The first thing she did was call Gigi and did her best to not scream into the phone. “I got a callback! And there were only two other girls listed for Veronica, Geege, I’m this close to getting it. I can taste it.”
“That’s my girl, I knew you’d crush it,” Gigi replied. “You’re gonna nail the callback too, and don’t be afraid to take my advice again if you need it.”
Jan furrowed her brows. “How did you know I followed your advice?”
Gigi had a smug grin that Jan swore she could feel through the phone. “I didn’t.”
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Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer), Chapter 3 (Branjie, Jankie) - Joley
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Brooke Lynn furrowed her brows and strummed her fingers against the table. “So, let me see if I’ve got this right – you invited Jan over to practice for her audition, got wine drunk, then dry-humped until she got off?”
Jackie nodded in confirmation, her eyes fixated more on her coffee cup than Brooke – she had to build back up to being able to make eye-contact. “Then in the morning she was gone and she left me a note,” she finished, holding the piece of paper up. “I really fucked up, didn’t I?”
“It wasn’t your smartest move,” she told her, trying not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all. “But if she just left like that, she’s probably just as scared as you are. Listen, the first day I met Vanessa was a mess. I walked her home from work that night, kissed her, and then literally ran away. She still makes fun of me for it.”
The story made Jackie laugh, but it caught her by surprise as well. She had always seen Brooke as someone so unshakably confident. “I guess if things worked out for you guys, all hope isn’t totally lost…” She took another sip from her drink and sighed. “I still don’t know how I’m going to face her in class on Monday,” she admitted.
Brooke reached across the table and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Just focus on your work. I promise I’ll find something to keep you busy, okay?” As much as she wanted to continue her matchmaking game, she could see that the tension needed to diffuse before she tried to push them closer. Just because Katya lucked out didn’t mean lightning would strike twice.
Jackie’s entire body relaxed in relief. She was still anxious about seeing Jan again, but it meant a lot to know that Brooke was looking out for her. “Okay. Yes, thank you. I can work with that.” She nodded, then checked her phone. “I have to get going, though. I’ll talk to you later,” she said as she gathered her things, including the note that she tucked into her pocket.
Brooke smiled and waved her off. She stayed put, though. She was expecting Vanessa any minute now. They liked meeting here when they could, after all, it was the café A’keria recently became the owner of, the same one she’d started working in after the Starbucks fiasco all those years ago. It was sentimental to them now.
“Hey boo,” Vanessa greeted as she walked in, leaning over and giving her wife a kiss before sitting down. “Must’ve just missed Jackie, how’s she doing?”
“The poor girl is going through it,” Brooke shook her head sympathetically. “She and Jan got drunk and fooled around, and Jan left before she woke up. She left a Post-It or something.”
Vanessa frowned and shook her head. “Mh-mm, I hate Post-Its. If you’re gonna dip, send a text like a normal person,” she mused.
“Maybe she thought a handwritten note would be more meaningful,” she reasoned. “Regardless, she’s just gonna need some time to recover before we continue with any matchmaking shenanigans.”
Vanessa gave a firm nod of agreement. “Understood.” She sat quietly for a moment, strumming her fingernails against the table. “I wanna talk about the baby thing.”
Brooke blinked in surprise at the abrupt subject change but leaned in to listen attentively nonetheless. “Of course, what’s on your mind?”
“Listen… I know we got good genes and all, but I don’t wanna create a baby in a lab when there are so many kids that need a family. I had friends in foster care when I was little, you know? That shit must’ve really sucked for them. And I just think… You and me are in a position to really help a kid out,” she told her, then held her breath as she waited for her wife’s response.
Brooke reached across the table and held Vanessa’s hands. “Baby girl, if that’s what you want, I am a hundred percent on board. I think that’s a wonderful motivation to adopt. We can start looking at agencies as soon or as late as you want. I’m in this with you all the way,” her thumb stroked over Vanessa’s wedding band. “That’s what I promised you. That’s the promise I make to you every day as your wife.”
Vanessa blinked and looked down. “Shit, you gonna make me cry,” she mumbled, giving Brooke’s hand a light squeeze to reassure her she was okay. “Guess we gotta think about redecorating the guest room then, huh?”
“You know my weakness for interior design,” she cooed, pressing a kiss to the back of Vanessa’s hand.
—
By the time Monday rolled around, Jackie had talked herself out of most of her anxiety. When the time was right, she thought, she could talk things out with Jan. But until then, she had a job to do, a job that she did like.
Jackie’s main task was to write a lot of information on the chalkboard. It was perfect as far as she was concerned – having her back to the class meant she didn’t have to worry about making awkward eye contact with Jan. She had to admit, it was kind of a genius move on Brooke’s part.
Jan, however, was left with a predicament of her own. She and Gigi had sat in the front because even with contacts or glasses, they were both nearsighted as all hell. However, this put Jackie right in her line of sight, and she immediately began regretting her decision.
While the dress Jackie wore came down to her knees, the fabric clung to her body in a way that accentuated some of her best physical features.
And Jan hadn’t meant to stare – staring was rude and her mother taught her better. But she would be damned if Jackie’s ass wasn’t hypnotizing her. She couldn’t help but wonder how she hadn’t noticed before.
“You’re gonna snap your pen in half with the way you’re biting it,” Gigi poked Jan’s shoulder, snapping her friend out of her trance. “Also, some subtlety really wouldn’t hurt you right now.”
Jan blushed, looking down at her notes, which were nowhere near as detailed as usual. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Gigi chuckled. “Please, your eyes were about to burn a hole into her butt.”
“They were not, I was just reading the board,” she insisted, but now that she had to actively avoid staring, her body seemed all the more compelled to continue. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to get her mind and body on the same page.
“Hey, you have good taste, I’m just saying be less obvious about it.”
Jan just buried her face in her notes, hoping that if she focused on getting work done, her mind would stop conjuring images of Jackie in various states of undress.
“…And that’ll just about do it,” Brooke Lynn was saying. “You guys are free to go, see you Wednesday.” She closed her book, punctuating the dismissal. Her eyes followed the students out of the room, waiting until they were alone before speaking to Jackie. “How are you feeling?”
Jackie exhaled deeply, dropping herself down onto the desk closest to Brooke’s as if she were dead weight. “I feel okay. I think not having to look at her made it easy. Have you seen her eyes? They’re so warm and brown and–”
“–And couldn’t stay off of you,” Brooke finished with a smirk. “Jackie, she is hot for you, you should’ve seen how she was staring at you. I already knew you have a great ass, but damn, it had a magnetic pull on that poor girl.”
Jackie turned a shade of red deeper and brighter than it had ever been. She suddenly became hyper-aware of her body, not necessarily in a self-conscious way – in fact, part of her was flattered – but it was overwhelming to process at first. “I guess she might not regret the other night that much then,” she managed with a strangled laugh.
“Honey, it’s pretty clear she wants a repeat performance. I wasn’t even paying all that much attention to her, but I swear I almost offered her a towel,” she chuckled.
Even though Jan was long gone, Jackie looked out of the classroom and into the hall, as if she could still catch sight of her. “I never thought I’d be relieved to be objectified,” she mused.
Brooke let out a light laugh at that. “So you’ll go talk to her?”
She shook her head as her gaze drifted back to the desk. “Not yet. Soon… Hopefully soon. I think I’ll know when I’m ready.”
—
“Well, other than you ogling the TA you fooled around with, I think today went well,” Gigi said as they walked back to the residence hall. “You ready for your audition later?”
“I wasn’t ogling her.” Jan chewed on her lip. “Don’t laugh, but…” She shifted awkwardly as she looked anywhere but directly at her friend. “I’m worried I might be too… distracted to nail it.”
Gigi looked at her friend with an arched brow. “First of all, yes you were. We established this. Second, you think you’ll be too horny to focus on singing?” She really did try her best not to laugh, but a small giggle slipped through. “Babe, just masturbate like a normal person before you go.”
She huffed. “Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? Lem’s probably gonna be in there, what am I supposed to do, tell her to leave so I can jerk off? We’re close, Geege, but I think there’s a line.”
“Then go in the shower. Jesus, do I have to spell it out for you?” Gigi rolled her eyes.
“You don’t think it’s weird to get off thinking about someone you’re not dating?” Jan asked quietly.
Her friend pinched the bridge of her nose. “At this point I just think you need to do it so you stop sounding so neurotic and paranoid. Hell, if I wasn’t in a committed relationship, I’d offer to help you out myself.”
Jan cocked her head to the side. “Thanks, I think.”
When Jan did get back to the dorm, she saw Lemon on her bed with her AirPods in, just as she’d anticipated. She waved at her to get her attention, waiting for her to take one of them out. “Hey sweetie, I’m just gonna shower before my audition. You know, get nice and calm,” she told her.
Lemon smiled and nodded. “Oh shit, I forgot that was today. Break a leg! But like, not in the shower. That would be bad.”
Jan chuckled as she grabbed what she needed to bring into the bathroom. “I don’t know where I’d be without your wisdom, doll,” she winked playfully before leaving.
The first thing Jan did once she got in the shower was put music on – this wasn’t her first rodeo, so to speak. Even with earbuds in, she knew she ran the risk of Lemon hearing her moan if she didn’t drown it out. With the music playing and water running, Jan undressed and stepped into the shower, letting out a sigh of relief the second the hot water hit her body.
After she washed her hair, Jan leaned against the shower wall, resting her head against the cool tile. She let her hand travel down her body. There was a moment of hesitation when her fingers grazed over her pussy, but after a deep breath, she began rubbing her clit with two fingers. Her eyes fluttered shut as soft, breathy moans slipped out.
“Fuck…” Jan wasn’t thinking about anything at first, but without even trying, her thoughts drifted to Jackie, to what happened the other night, to that day in class. And once she got started, there was no chance of stopping. “Oh, Jackie…” she moaned, rocking against her fingers. Her free hand went to her breast, groping it, and tweaking her nipple.
By the time her orgasm hit, Jan needed to rest her entire weight against the wall to keep herself up. Her legs were shaking and she was whimpering, taking deep breaths as she finally felt sturdy enough to stand back upright. After that, she just did a quick wash off her face and body before getting out and drying off, going back into the bedroom wrapped up in her robe shortly after.
“Hey, feeling any better?” Lemon asked casually. It was clear she hadn’t moved an inch this whole time, nor was she aware of what Jan had gotten up to.
“Much better, actually,” Jan nodded, taking the towel wrap off of her head and combing her hair out. “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” she asked as she continued getting ready.
Lemon paused her music and took out her earbuds, she had been waiting for an opportunity to talk about herself. “Actually, I’m meeting up with a girl later.” She didn’t wait for Jan to ask before she continued. “Okay, so, like, I had just lit a joint and I see this really pretty girl – tall, you know how I like ‘em – and she seems hella stressed, so I offer her a hit. So, we’re smoking and chatting and long story short, we have a date tonight.”
“That was the short version?” Jan teased as she got dressed. “I’m guessing it’ll be more of the same?”
She scoffed. “No… We’ll probably fuck too.”
Jan laughed softly as she straightened her hair, then pulled it up into a high ponytail. “Well, it’s always nice to have an itinerary,” she hummed. “I’ll see you later.”
—
“Next!”
Jan stepped onto the stage and held herself with confidence. She introduced herself, handed the sheet music to the pianist, and then she simply did what she did best; she sang. She gave it her all, emoting all the right words, belting all the right notes. There was a lingering rush of adrenaline when she finished. “Thank you,” she smiled politely and made her way off stage.
“Great job up there,” a distinct voice out of seemingly nowhere caused Jan to jump, startled.
“Oh, thanks Vanjie,” Jan smiled, running her fingers through her ponytail. “I didn’t realize anyone other than the directors were watching.”
Vanessa shrugged. “People gave up tryna tell me what to do a long time ago. Except for Brooke, but there’s always an exception for the wife. But anyway… you feelin’ okay? I don’t know all the details, but I know you had a rough weekend.”
Of course, Jan figured Vanessa knew more than she let on – she could safely assume Jackie told Brooke, and Brooke told Vanessa. But she hoped some details had gotten lost in translation. “Oh, yeah, I guess,” she bounced awkwardly on the balls of her feet. “Things are a little weird, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Listen, I’ve been in your shoes. The worst thing you can do is overthink it. Brooke did it, Jackie does it, and I get the vibe you do too. Not everything’s as deep as y’all make it out to be, you know?”
Jan chewed her lip and nodded. Sure, she knew Vanessa was right, but it was easier said than done. It wasn’t something she could simply stop doing, something she could just turn on and off at will. “The situation’s just… It’s complicated. But I get what you’re saying, I do,” she assured. “All I wanna focus on now is being able to sleep tonight so I can be ready to see if I got a callback tomorrow.”
Vanessa gave Jan’s arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “You got this. Ain’t no one around you doubting that.”
And Jan tried her best to take that to heart, she tried to stay positive the rest of the night, to turn her brain off when it was finally time to sleep. She was pretty sure she passed out at nearly three in the morning, but as soon as her alarm went off, she shot right out of bed.
Lemon rolled onto her side, watching Jan scramble to get ready with energy from god knows where. “How the fuck do you do that?” she mumbled groggily.
Jan shrugged as she brushed her hair. “It’s a blessing and a curse, Lem.” She checked her phone. “The callback list should be up by the time I get there,” she murmured, offering a quick goodbye to her roommate before she was out the door.
By the time she got to the auditorium, there was already a small group of hopeful actors forming outside the doors. And as soon as the list went up, they all crowded around it.
Too impatient to wait, Jan made her way to the front, offering haphazard apologies to everyone she bumped out of the way. It was worth it for the happiness and relief she felt when she saw that she was on the callback list for Veronica.
The first thing she did was call Gigi and did her best to not scream into the phone. “I got a callback! And there were only two other girls listed for Veronica, Geege, I’m this close to getting it. I can taste it.”
“That’s my girl, I knew you’d crush it,” Gigi replied. “You’re gonna nail the callback too, and don’t be afraid to take my advice again if you need it.”
Jan furrowed her brows. “How did you know I followed your advice?”
Gigi had a smug grin that Jan swore she could feel through the phone. “I didn’t.”
#rpdr fanfiction#brooke lynn hytes#vanessa vanjie mateo#jan sport#jackie cox#branjie#jankie#lesbian au#university au#college au#smut#hold me tighter even closer#joley
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Beyond this Existence: Atonement, chapter 11
Ansem always had a penchant for strays, so it's not at all surprising when he takes in the orphaned child Ienzo. The boy's presence changes everything, far more than Even is willing to admit. Ienzo's brilliance seems promising, but the arrival of a young Xehanort pushes the apprentices onto a dark, cruel, inhumane path which will affect the future of the World. And even once it's all over with--once Xehanort is dead--they still must pick up the pieces, forgive one another, find a way to atone for their atrocities, and struggle to accept the humanity which has been thrust upon them.
Or: Even's journey from BBS through post-KH3
Chapter summary: Despite Even's efforts, Ienzo makes a choice which ripples across the castle.
Read it on FF.net/on AO3
---
His peace, incredibly tenuous, does not last long.
He receives a call midmorning the next day, from Ienzo. “Even. I need help.” His voice sounds shattered.
“Whatever is the matter?”
“It’s Demyx--”
Even takes a quick breath. “Is he hurt?” He seems to have recovered from that wound, but that means nothing.
Ienzo’s voice is full of glass. “Not physically.”
Oh. Of course. Now that they’re bonded… he may have very well become fully human. And his memories were only a hair’s breadth away. “I think I understand. I’m on my way.” He goes to his lab, grabs a few different things which may be of help.
He finds them in the study room which seems to be their favorite haunt. Despite himself, he feels a concern for the boy--is it for what this implies about his own wellbeing?
“What is it? What’s happened?”
Ienzo has the boy on the ground. The boy’s face is contorted in pain; he’s breathing hard and twitching a little. Ienzo’s face is drawn. “I’m not really sure--he--this score… he insisted it was his, and then he went into this weird trance, and I think he’s remembering something . Even, I don’t know.”
Even catches sight of this supposed score. At a glance, he can tell it’s ancient; much like the young man on the floor. He crouches next to him and begins checking his vitals. The boy’s heart is positively racing. The blood loss was really hard on his heart. “He’s clearly in pain, and cannot maintain a heart rate that high for very long.” He sedates the boy, and finally Demyx settles into it, his expression slackening, his heart rate beginning to lower to something livable.
The boy’s memories must be coming back. The score was a trigger. If he is as emotionally fragile as Even--and is reliving all that war trauma--he might not pull through, his new heart might break.
“You know what this is, don’t you?” Ienzo asks.
He looks back at the score again. It doesn’t surprise him Demyx hasn’t told Ienzo. Where to even begin? Then again, does Ienzo need to deal with yet more lies of omission? “It was not my secret to share.”
“Even,” Ienzo says, his voice sharp and, if he’s reading this right, afraid.
“Xehanort had more than one trump card up his sleeve.” He sighs.“Didn’t you find it strange how we all arrived in groups? Us apprentices with Lea and Isa, and then the four neophytes. There was some degree of time between each arrival, but not nearly enough to justify what were were told. If we were to believe it, that humanoid Nobodies were rare, shouldn’t it have taken a lot longer to find the original thirteen?” He brushes his hair out of his face. “I’m not sure how exactly, but Xehanort pulled four Keyblade wielders from the age of fairy tales and made them Nobodies. Obfuscated their memories too, from the looks of things. I have no idea why it is he did this. But Xemnas told them at some point before the war, and Demyx asked me to investigate. I’m guessing this connection between you two only furthered his progress to humanity, and that when presented with a trigger, the memories came back.”
Ienzo looks down at him, his expression pinched. “So it’s true then.”
Even nods. “...Yes. It’s true. I’ve studied his DNA myself. You positively would not believe it, Ienzo--”
Something like hurt crosses his face. “And you didn’t think it prudent to ever mention this to me?”
“Would it have changed your mind?”
He drops his eyes. “No.”
“Precisely. I assure you he hasn’t experienced that passage of time.”
“...He said he’d remembered something from his past. I did not think it was this. So that means he’s really a--” He bites his lip.
“Yes.” He smiles sadly. “I worked so hard to make replicas who could wield Keyblades, and we had four wielders right under our noses.”
“But will he be all right?”
No point lying any longer. “Hard to say. All of those memories, some doubtless very gruesome and traumatic, his heart just healing… we must be patient.”
Again, they maneuver him to his bed, as gently as possible. Even starts him on fluids, another dose of the sedative. They can’t afford to have his heart rate spike. In all this, and despite his own nursing training, Ienzo doesn’t help; his expression is empty, horrified. He’s crying, though soundlessly. Even takes him away, makes him drink some tea.
“It is… a lot to process,” Even says. “But we’ve seen Roxas and Xion in spells like these and they both came out on the other side. Have faith.” He doesn’t mention that the two had considerably fewer memories to recover. This will not help Ienzo. Then again, Even isn’t sure what will.
In a voice that breaks Even’s heart, he asks, “Why is healing so dangerous?”
Question of the century. “It’s only as dangerous as we delude ourselves,” Even says finally. “Unfortunately, the spell he was under was a strong one.”
“Do you think he’ll be different?”
He thinks about it, about Ienzo’s own dramatic transformation once he returned to himself. This gentle boy is nothing like his cruel Nobody; though likely that took, and is taking, work. “Perhaps,” he says. “But no different than you yourself are. But the boy loves you, Ienzo. You can tell by the way he looks at you. I don’t think that will change.”
He drops his eyes. “Is it typical, to feel this amount of shock?”
He reaches out to feel Ienzo’s temperature. Clammy. “Like many such reactions, it’s a stress response.”
He speaks haltingly. “It is so… strange. With all that’s happened in the past month or so, I find myself wondering if it is good to allow such vulnerability.”
This is the most candid Ienzo’s been with him yet, the closest insight Even’s had to his emotions.
The last thing the boy needs is to close himself off more. “I admit the situations have been… extreme.” Even flinches. “But we’ve spent long enough closing our hearts and minds off to others, don’t you think?”
This doesn’t provide the comfort he thought. “You’re one to talk,” he says in a sharp voice. “You’ve been holed up in your lab all day every day, barely speaking to anyone. You seem to be the most hesitant of us all to accept humanity. Atonement aside.”
Thing is, he’s right. “I don’t deny it. But I have not spent my time experimenting.”
“What are you doing, then?” He looks exhausted now.
“Writing. Reflecting, mostly. Things always were the most tangible to me when they were on paper. If I can record my thoughts as data, perhaps I can make sense of them.”
His eyes soften just a little. “Is it working?”
Even can’t believe it; a real conversation. “Heavens, no. But if I do not tread these tides of emotion, then I am more foolish than I thought.”
He cants his head slightly. “What is it you feel?”
“Mostly--remorse--” He admits. He shakes his head. “As scientists, one of our duties is upholding a moral code. Needless to say, we broke it. Xehanort was manipulative, yes, but while you were a child, I was an educated man who should have known better. I did know better. But I figured the gains I made would offset the costs. They have not. And now I want to use my skills for the greater good.” But how?
“Do you think the replicas could have anything to do with that?” He becomes yet more earnest.
He still has those samples needing analysis, sitting quietly in the freezer. “Perhaps. Perhaps not.” But--what right does he have to create life, anymore? Isn’t it unnatural? A query to ponder over later--back to the matter at hand, the real, tangible human sitting across from him. He gathers the rest of his remaining strength and looks Ienzo in the eye. “I must apologize to you, Ienzo.”
He blinks. “Even--”
“We can blame Ansem’s utter lack of paternal instinct all we want, but ultimately it is my fault that this all happened to you.” He thinks of his foolhardy plan to escape; even after that there were opportunities. “I should have understood Xehanort’s machinations and taken you out of that mess, but I was selfishly nearsighted. Things are always clearer in retrospect. Are they not? You deserved a normal childhood, a normal adolescence, and got anything but. And years of fear and trauma on top of it.” Who knew where Ienzo might have gone, otherwise? Without all this holding him back?
The boy exhales. “I forgive you,” he says.
He can’t mean that. There’s no way. But there’s no dishonesty in his face, his body language. A warmth wells in him, something bittersweet. Is it possible to mend their bond? Or is this just another example of Ienzo’s newfound “niceness”? “You’re a kind young man,” Even says. “I will try to make this up to you.” He stands. “I’m off to do some reading. There might be a better way for me to help Demyx after all.” He squeezes the boy’s shoulder.
And retreats to his work.
He wonders if his replicas might be of use once more. The screen seems piercingly bright when he cracks open the laptop.
It’s actually been a while since he’s read the real journals. He starts from the most recent, begins working his way back, skimming over all the biological nonsense, towards the more metaphysical.
There’s a question how to give No. i memories, he reads. It’s going to need them, to carry through--if we hope to make its “heart” worthy of a “Keyblade”, it’s going to need a sense of self, a certain nobility. How to do this while also keeping it under our control?
Oh, Vexen. You naive dunce.
The replica reports aren’t much use. Xion did all the work on her memories herself, almost spontaneously. There has to be something he can do to wavebreak the tide, so to speak; not just for Demyx, but for everyone. He storms to the library, digging for volumes, his hands trembling. In a sort of desperation, he even seeks fairy tales. The boy basically is one. But it’s all magic, and Even has no magic--
He feels helpless. If he fails Demyx, he fails Ienzo. And he can’t do that.
Maybe sleep will give him some clarity?
Some hope.
He’s just drifting when he hears the door creak open. Without thinking, he grabs the scalpel on the table next to him. “Who’s there?” He blinks, his vision focusing. “Oh… Ienzo? Is something wrong? Is it Demyx?”
“No, he’s still stable--it’s fine. It can wait until morning.” His tone is devoid of feeling.
“Clearly not, if you felt the need to come to me at this godforsaken hour. Whatever is the matter?”
He thinks for a moment. Then, “Do you think it’s possible to regain our powers?”
Of course--with Zexion’s power of illusion, and therefore memory, he might be able to shake this horrid spell, or at least find some way to help. But… humans simply aren’t meant to have these powers, otherwise they would’ve had them already, yes? He’s read something about this… he tries to remember. Won’t the use put yet more undue strain on Ienzo’s body? “Why on earth would you want that?”
“Illusion let me see memories. If I can gain control over it, maybe I can help purge the darkness in the basement and help whoever’s stuck down there find peace.” He bites his lip. “Demyx is likely to be shaken up. Perhaps I can help him too. If I can make order of his memories, perhaps he will wake up without too much damage to his heart.”
Naturally Ienzo will be the best one to handle this-- if he can control those powers. But the nature of such power is that it is unnatural. It’s not supposed to exist. In their studies, the calculated entropy alone-- “Have you even tried casting a spell?”
“Once,” Ienzo says. “It… did not go well. I had a terrible migraine. I was wondering if you might have some sort of medicine that might let me work through the pain.”
Even darts over to his bookshelf, seeking a certain volume, finding it finally. “You see… the thing is… such elemental power comes from the will, typically as a manifestation of some psychological trait or another. Hence why, in the absence of a heart, we were able to use it as Nobodies. But now that you are human… you’ve no need for such defense mechanism. Your being is whole. Trying to invoke it could be disastrous. The entropy of it alone would, in the best possible scenario, induce sleep.” His heart and will would fight for control over his body, destabilize him…
“Sleep?” the boy asks.
“Sleep akin to death,” Even says darkly. “They must lie so closely together. And you must hope you find the strength, fast enough, to save your life before you’re claimed by the other side. Ienzo.” His turns towards the boy beseechingly. “Would the risk be worth it? Is there not another way you can atone?”
“What about the reward?” he asks instantly.
“Ienzo--”
“Please, Even. I’ll be careful.” His eyes show that his mind is made up. Regardless of whether or not Even helps him, he’s made his decision.
Even can’t make this boy’s choices for him anymore. If he were ever able to. He crosses over to a cabinet, considers what’s left of his store, what’s still good. He finds one of the only painkillers he has which can also allow the boy to remain lucid. “Take half of one of these,” he says sternly. “You’ll feel no pain. But should your nose start bleeding, drop everything instantly and rest.”
“Is that a side effect?”
“No. But that’ll be entropy wreaking havoc on your body.” Even presses the bottle into his hand. “Let me watch over you.”
He looks at the pills. “I think this is something I have to do on my own.”
“You children always think you know what’s best. Fine. But if you do not text me within three hours I will hunt you down.”
He nods. For just a second, Even senses a kinship between them again. “Very well. Thank you, Even. This means a lot to me.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
---
As the timer ticks down… Even frets, and paces. He prepares a kit, should this all go poorly, with fluids and epinephrine and the like. His own anxiety is spiking. But if he were in the same shoes, wouldn't he do everything in his power to save his dear one? Imagine the guilt otherwise?
He can't breathe. Panicking will be no use. You must be calm. Focused. The boy has always been more than he seems. If anyone can do this, it's Ienzo.
He's still not prepared when it happens. When he hears the gummiphone, and sees it's Ienzo, the relief hangs heavily in him. But the voice that speaks isn't his, it's Demyx, jagged and full of razors--"I need help. Even, I need--”
“Demyx? How long have you been conscious?”
“I think Ienzo’s dying and I don’t know how to stop it.”
Dying. The word echoes heavily, and so does the further gut punch-- I knew it. This is his fault, he should've fought Ienzo harder. “I’m coming. Stay on the line. Put it on speakerphone, do you know how to do that? What happened?"
Demyx sobs. "He found me. In my memory. I don’t know how, but he--he said he wasn’t supposed to have that power."
Even grabs his kit, already on the move. He swears. "No. He isn’t. There’s a reason humans don’t control the elements willy-nilly. What are the symptoms?" How bad did the boy let it get?
"He’s having trouble breathing. His pulse is really fucked up. His nose is bleeding and it seems like he’s in a lot of pain--” He gasps out another sob. "I'm sorry, Even."
His legs feel barely there as he runs. "I know you didn't ask for this."
"Why is this happening?"
The words feel divorced from him. His fingers fly across the screen--he needs more than mere medicine. "Power like that comes from the will. It can only exist without the presence of a fully realized heart--otherwise, it’s too much power. Hence why Nobodies can use it as a defense mechanism. At that point, entropy starts wreaking havoc on the body. Your cells literally start to break down and melt. The will to live starts to wear down." He has no doubt that the boy overextended himself. His fingers feel numb as he reaches out to that woman, the one who healed Demyx. If she could fix that, she may be the only one to fix this.
Demyx's breath catches. "Ienzo…"
Admittedly, it's a relief that the boy cares so much for him. “I’ve messaged Aerith. I don’t think my skills are enough. We must keep him alive until then.” His heart is beating so fast. You don’t have time to panic, you old fool. Get it together. Demyx can do all the suffering for both of us.
Distantly, tinnily, he hears, “Don’t do this. Please don’t do this.”
“Demyx?” he prompts, another thrill of panic making his vision sheeny.
“He’s not breathing.”
“I need you to start doing compressions. Hard. We can fix broken ribs.” He’s almost there. Why did he let himself get so physically weak?
“Why would you do this?” the boy asks. “Why didn’t you let me drown?”
He’s there. Finally. He throws the door open. He sees Ienzo on Demyx’s bed, more corpse at this point than boy, soaked again in blood from his nose, and Demyx frantically trying to do compressions. He pulls the syringe of epinephrine from his bag, sticks the boy. Demyx is sobbing, a weirdly animal sound. Without machinery or magic, Even has no way of truly assessing Ienzo’s condition. He barely has a pulse. “Keep doing what you’re doing,” he says to Demyx as gently as possible. “If you’re tired I can--” But he can tell he’s talking to a wall. The younger man isn’t responding.
Aerith arrives at last. He sees something like horror in her green eyes before a mask settles into place.
“You should go,” Even tells Demyx. The last thing they need is for him to have this mental breakdown right here.
“I’m not leaving him.”
“You are in far too much distress to be a comfort to him.”
“But what if he--”
Even seizes him by the arm and pushes him. He slinks towards the door, trembling all over; Aerith whispers spells, ancient old words. “What happened?” she asks after a moment.
Even explains as quickly as possible.
“I can try to treat the body,” she says, though her teeth. “But if his will is worn down, then--”
“Do you think it is?”
“Oh, it is,” she says. “I use… when I heal, I use people’s own energies, their auras, which is basically the physical version of a will. I can barely feel anything, Even.”
He feels himself go numb. “Is this a fool’s errand, then?”
“Like I said. I’ll try my best. If it would be more of a comfort you could leave too--”
“I will not.”
For a moment, the sharpness of his tone causes her head to snap up; she quickly glances back down. “Can you connect the port line you’ve started to the blood replacement I brought?”
He does what the woman asks, feeling so helpless. “Would it break your concentration, to tell me what’s going on?”
She takes a quick breath. She holds her hands over him, and while it looks like she’s not doing much, Even can see the strain the magic is having. “It’s the internal bleeding that’s the problem,” she mumbles. “Between that, and the nosebleed, he’s lost something like three liters--and he’s a small man. A lot of his organs have failed, and some are bleeding too. Feels like the power must’ve started eating them. Not to mention his heart. It feels like it hasn’t been beating, though I know Demyx was doing good compressions--two of his ribs are broken. He must’ve entered something like sleep to stay alive while he used his powers. Fixing it is going to take time--time I’m not sure he has.” She glances up. “But I’ll try my best.”
“Is there anything I can…” Ienzo’s in more trouble, and he can’t do a single thing except watch.
“Ethers, if you have them. I’m going to need them.”
Numbly, Even nods, and leaves the room. Demyx sits curled next to the door frame, his hands bloody from the compressions, his eyes wide and uncomprehending. “...Boy?” Even asks softly.
He doesn’t respond. Likely he can’t.
He heads back towards his lab, spots Aeleus. At least one thing can be done.
The other man takes in his bedraggled appearance, the spots of blood on his white coat. “Even?” he asks.
“Aeleus, I need you to do something for me--likely several. You need to look after Demyx. He’s in shock. I’m not sure what he might do. I’m afraid Ienzo’s done something foolish in order to save him.” He explains about Demyx’s past, Ienzo’s condition. “I need to be with him, and help that woman how I can. Do not let Demyx in--I don’t care what you have to do to the boy. Nor Ansem, should he approach. Understand?”
Fear breaks his stoic expression. “Of course.”
Even feels himself slipping, adrenaline and panic making him weak and clumsy. He gathers what supplies he has for the healer, and then he returns. “Anything?” he asks her.
“He’s fighting. But he’s so tired,” Aerith explains. “Still unstable. I’m working on it.”
So Even waits. He watches her hands twist and gesture in foreign spells, offers her ethers, water, cloths for the sweat on her face. Mostly he just tries to keep it together, to not allow himself to consider what might happen if Ienzo doesn’t pull through. After what must be hours… she drops her hands, breathing hard. Even begins bracing himself. “Stable,” she says quietly. “The bleeding’s under control. We should probably bring him somewhere he can recover in the long term.”
“...Just pick him up?”
“His body’s rebounding well… that’s not what I’m worried about.”
The door slits open--Even sees Dilan’s face, his own panic mirrored back at him. “What on earth is going on--”
“You moron, we don’t need your meddling right now--”
“Can he carry him?” Aerith asks.
“I’m sure I can,” Dilan says. “But what--”
Even sighs. And explains.
“But why would Ienzo do this?” he asks. “He never--”
“I will not have you fret,” Even snaps. “Let’s get him moved.”
Dilan approaches Ienzo slowly. Despite the transfusion, he still looks deathly pale. As carefully as possible, he lifts him. They settle him back into his own bed; Even dresses him in something clean. He knows the boy is unaware of everything, but still is embarrassed for him anyway. Washes the blood off his face. Tucks him in. Aerith starts another transfusion.
“You said you’re not worried about his body,” he says, suddenly processing what was heard earlier.
She shakes her head. “Now that the damage is largely healed,” she says. “It’s his will to live--healthy body or not, if he’s weakened it, there’s no animating force behind him. It must’ve taken energy to… do what he did. He must’ve essentially lent Demyx his own, to get him out of the memories. There are a… few things I can try, to gauge how bad it is. He’s hanging on now. That’s the important thing.” She looks up. There are bruise-colored circles under her eyes. “Is he a… determined person?”
“...Stubborn to a fault,” Even admits. “How do you think he got in this mess? First he didn’t listen to me about… falling in with that boy, and then he wouldn’t let me monitor him.”
She sighs. “Good. That’s good. It might make all the difference. You should go tell your family.”
It’s the word choice that startles him. “I’m sure Dilan’s doing nothing but making them worry.” But before he can move, there’s a gentle knock.
Ansem, exhausted and haggard. “My poor boy…”
Even scowls. “I thought I told Aeleus to keep you away from here.”
“Aeleus is preoccupied.”
“He doesn’t need more stress.”
“Even, I’ve missed most of the horrific events in Ienzo’s life. The least I can do is be present now.”
“And he definitely doesn’t need you two squabbling,” Aerith says firmly. “Stay, or go, I don’t care, but what Ienzo needs is peace. If it’s something this deeply metaphysical, he’ll definitely sense the difference.”
Ansem nods and approaches the boy, sitting at his feet.
Very well. Let Even do all the heavy lifting. Like he always does.
He leaves. He can feel he’s shaking. If Ienzo passes on… what then?
What would he possibly have left?
He finds the other three in the sitting room; Demyx wrapped in a blanket, Aeleus gently consoling him; Dilan sits with his head in his hands. “He’s stable,” he explains when the three of them look up. “Aerith is with him now.”
“What exactly happened?” Dilan asks. “Demyx said something about overextending his power.”
“As far as I can tell--and it’s still early--that’s the case.” He clutches the back of a chair. “We’re not meant to truly have access to our elemental power. It’s an essence of the self, a projection in the absence of a heart--weapons are another mystery. By trying to regain it, however lightly, the entropy of a Nobody’s nonexistence began to eat away at his organs. Particularly his heart.”
“...The organ?” Demyx asks. It’s the first Even’s heard him speak since. His voice is odd, hollow. “Or--”
“We’re not sure how his metaphysical heart has been affected. But I have to learn to relinquish control when something’s out of my hands… and it is. Aerith is healing the physical damage. He’s asleep right now. Ansem is with him too.” He meets Demyx’s eyes. “Might I have a word with you?”
The boy’s eyes widen a little in fear, but he follows Even, taking the blanket with him. He leads the boy to his quarters, gestures for him to sit. “Can I get you some tea? Something to eat?”
“I’m not hungry.” Hollow and raw.
“You’re going to need your strength.” There’s not much of anything in his cabinets, just some likely stale biscuits in a tin. He places them on the coffee table in front of the boy, but he doesn’t take any. He has no idea how to help. If Ienzo has saved Demyx’s life, the least he can do is be of use. It’s what the boy would want. He starts taking his vitals. “Slight fever. Blood pressure low. Eat something. It’ll help. We should probably try to get some more caffeine into your system too.” Demyx watches him warily. Something looks different about the boy, something Even can’t place his finger on.
“Did you lie to Aeleus and Dilan?”
“Not technically.” He takes off the stained coat, sits. He’s exhausted. “I need to gather more information about the situation. And considering the extreme… delicacy of the situation, I figured you’d rather have some privacy.”
He shivers and won’t make eye contact. “How is Ienzo really?”
“The picture I have is not clear.” He puts a hand to his splitting head. “As I said, use of his power wrought havoc on his internal organs. There’s a good deal of internal bleeding, as well as kidney failure. But the most concerning of these things was his heart. I’m not sure yet for how long or when, but use of his power stopped it from beating. Not… death, exactly, but a type of sleep very near it. Something impossible to maintain without intervention. So, naturally, once he tried to wake back up, he went into shock.” Even pauses. Now that he’s coming down himself, his perception is improving. The boy is different. His eyes were never that deep shade of green. “Have your eyes always been so green, or am I just getting old?”
Demyx stares at him blankly.
“Can you tell me what you recall from earlier yesterday afternoon? Do you remember anything?”
He sighs. It’s a heavy sound. “That’s putting it mildly,” he says. He explains that they’d been working, that he’d realized the ancient score was his. “I just… started remembering. Everything about my life then started coming back, wave after wave after wave. There was just so much pain. I felt like I couldn’t escape it. I couldn’t . And then… well I don’t know how. But he got into my head, literally, and dragged me out of the memory. And then I woke up.”
It’s all starting to click. “...Fascinating,” Even mumbles. “Zexion always could use the memories of others to create illusions. But to actively be able to alter them…” He clucks his tongue. “If he’s closely bonded to you, it makes sense that he was able to do so. Naminé was only able to alter memories of those in and around Sora. His power must have functioned similarly.”
“He should have left me there,” Demyx whispers.
“I believe his friendship with Sora has given him something of a hero complex.” He uncrosses his legs. “Nonetheless, you deserve to live too. I have been too harsh with you. I always have.”
“I wasn’t exactly a good person then.”
The admission surprises him. Demyx always had a sort of cockiness to him in the past. To have him out here so nakedly; is this the memories giving him clarity? Or is it simple change? If Even were not so shocked, he would find it fascinating. “No worse, I’m sure, than I. The complex dynamics of the Organization involved quite a lot of groupthink. It was easy to blame you as the source of our problems. The truth is more nuanced than that.”
“The Organization was all I knew at the time.” He tightens the blanket around his shoulders. “I still wanted to be free. But I didn’t want it enough to make the effort of fighting worth it. So I made do.”
“As one does.” He can’t help but see himself in this story, his wayward attempts at survival doing nothing more than causing himself and Ienzo years of trauma.
“It’s okay.” Demyx sighs. “Dilan and I agreed to start over. Maybe you and me should do the same.”
Even nods. “Second chances involve quite a lot of forgiveness,” he says. “But perhaps we all have more common ground than we think.”
This said, the boy’s eyes settle back into the middle distance. He is different; Even can just feel it. More intense. More serious, and vulnerable. He thought it was the lighting at first, but the boy’s hair has changed, all the remaining blonde gone. Changed like a replica when it gets a heart, though the boy’s body is organic. He holds himself a little straighter.
So he’s done it, then. Completed his reformation. Something similar must be coming towards Even in the coming weeks and months. Something that may be worth studying--at the very least, so he can brace himself, fall apart as little as possible. Not to mention, the richness of what Demyx might know of such old times, times that were hardly written about. Even feels a small thrill despite himself. “I understand you’re still in shock, and naturally are very worried. But will you tell me about your past? I can only imagine what this must all be like for you.”
“Shock is right. I feel numb.” He sounds it.
“Perhaps you should get some rest,” Even suggests.
Demyx shakes his head. “I want to see him.”
How can this traumatized boy offer Ienzo the peace he needs? Not when he himself is so uncertain. “I don’t know if that is necessarily the best for either of you at the moment. Believe me. We will keep an eye on him. Sleep might help you get some clarity.”
“What I’d like to do is take a bath. I’m so cold.”
“Then by all means.”
Demyx leaves without so much as casting a backwards glance in his direction. He hasn’t eaten, Even realizes.
He does not have the strength to care for the two boys and himself at once.
Even sinks into bed. He can feel wetness in his own eyes.
Don’t do this, Ienzo. Don’t give up. Please.
But is he praying for the boy’s sake, or his own?
No; Even does not matter. Ienzo deserves a full and happy life. He still has so much left ahead of him; unlike the rest of them, he can bounce back, can be forgiven for his mistakes (though are they really his own?).
Even can’t sleep. He is numb, tired. He forces himself up. Aerith and Demyx both need feeding. But he finds that Aeleus has already cooked. “The least I can do,” he says softly. “Even… you look positively horrid.”
“I… know why Ienzo did what he did,” he says. “If it were me… if I could save the person most important… I… like to think I would’ve.” I wish I could do it now.
“It makes it no easier,” Aeleus says, with a nod. “You should eat as well.”
“Yes.” Aeleus is a decent enough cook, but the soup tastes like nothing. “Any word?”
“Nothing yet. She hasn’t left that room but to ask for some water.”
“The girl needs food. It’s a lot of magic.” He doesn’t sound like himself. “I’ll get her.”
“Even?”
Wearily, he turns.
“You can be upset about this,” Aeleus says. “I know it must… evoke painful memories.”
Even chuckles. “What doesn’t, these days,” he admits.
Aerith is still crouched by Ienzo. “His body is still alive,” she says when she sees him. “I’m afraid… he’s very deeply asleep.”
“More than on a physical level, I assume,” Even says.
“Well, yes. The will’s worn down, but still here. It needs to rest, to restore itself. Kind of like… putting itself into power-saver mode. Ergo, Ienzo can’t move.”
“Can the boy recover from it?”
“I… believe so,” she admits. “But I honestly have no idea how long it will take. Weeks? Months? I’ve never seen something like this before.”
“I can care for a sleeping child. I’ve done it before.”
She nods, slowly. “I’ll come back later to check on him.”
“Aeleus has made dinner. I insist you go get some. You look peaked.”
“Thank you… saves me the embarrassment of asking.” She smiles a little.
“I… can’t thank you enough. If it were only me…”
Aerith nods. “It’s my duty. My pleasure.” She leaves.
While he’s at it, he rouses Demyx, too, who is just as surly about eating until Even tells him Aerith’s there. Both children fed… he returns to the scene of the crime.
Ienzo sleeps.
Much like that night all those years ago, he’s breathing much too deeply and evenly, not so much as twitching. It’s not natural sleep in that regard. Keeping the body breathing and the heart beating is all his will can manage. He sits next to the boy. He’s positive Ienzo can’t hear him, unlike a normal coma patient; but he still speaks anyway. Science is reasonable; scientists are human. “He’s alright, you know,” Even says to him. “But I’m afraid I’m going to give you a stern talking-to concerning your self worth, when you wake.” He brushes the boy’s hair out of his eyes. His skin is a little feverish. “Do not… scare me like that again.” He squeezes Ienzo’s hand gently.
And lets him sleep.
#beyond this existence: atonement#even (kingdom hearts)#ienzo#demyx#aerith#aeleus#ansem the wise#beyond this existence
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Hi Theresa! Can I ask you something? Why are you partially blind? So sorry.. xoxo
ohh story time :D (I'm on the app so I dunno how to do the 'read more' thingy so sorry in advance if this got long xD
ok so I was born premature (my mom was in her 6th month and I weighted like a pound and as big as one of those old glass bottles of coke) so they put me in an incubator for a couple of months... the high levels of oxygen affected the retinas of my eyes which would cause them to separate from the eyes and become detached and cause blindness (this is called retinopathy of prematurity).... my retinas haven't done this yet so that's good (just need regular eye checkups with a retina specialist)
so because of this ROP, I also developed other eye conditions, like strabismus (one or both eyes turn in/out/up/down, mine - my right turns in, left turns out so I look like I'm looking over your right shoulder when looking at you), amblyopia (one eye has stronger vision than the other, my left eye is my stronger eye, my right is like 90% blind - I can see light if you shine a flashlight on that eye but I can't see movements and stuff), and I'm also nearsighted (I hold things close to my face when reading and I can't see people's faces very clearly (now it's a little better cuz I had cataract surgery on my better eye so my vision on that one got a little better instead of dark/blurry)
there's always a chance that I'll go completely blind one day, we just have to go to regular eye check ups to make sure that there's no retina peeling going on and have to do surgery asap to prevent it from completely detaching
so that's the about it :D
I've been like this my whole life... I really don't like that my eyes are like this, especially when having my pictures taken cuz my eyes look weird (but going to cons and doing ops really helped to increase my self confidence and I'm becoming more comfortable having my picture taken and sharing them in public and I don't think I'm ugly and stuff, sometimes still though)... I'm still not comfortable talking to people though cuz I don't want them to see my eyes (but that's slowly changing too)
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What’s that like: Routine eye exam
I had an idea for a project that I’m going to work on writing. I’m going to call them “What’s that like?” – it’ll be a description of things that I’ve done that range from the really mundane to the more complex. I got the idea after telling my grandmother and aunt what it’s like to go to the airport and take a flight because they have never, ever flown anywhere and they have no idea what that’s like. And I think that’s something that’s more common that maybe expected, because I ran into the same thing another time, where someone was asking about what something else was like, I think it was a sleep study, because they had one scheduled and didn’t know what to expect and were really anxious about getting ready for it. And I thought, you know, that’s potentially something that could be really interesting to write about, while also possibly being helpful to someone who’s trying to prepare for an experience – either young adults who are doing something on their own for the first time or people who experience some sort of difficulty, like anxiety or a physical handicap, or any number of other people.
To get this started, I’m going to write about going to a route eye exam. And I’m going to put it under a fold because, oh baby, this got long.
First, a disclaimer:
The information in this post is from the standpoint of a Caucasian cisgender (meaning I identify with the gender I was assigned at birth) woman aged late 30s / early 40s with no children (childfree by choice) living in the southeast region of the United States of America. It is not intended to be used for legal advice of any kind. Other people’s experiences may be vastly different from my own. This is not intended to include all possible experiences in this situation, nor is it intended to exclude any other possible experiences in this situation. This information is presented only as an example of my own experiences. Your experience may be different from my own.
Okay. A little background – I am nearsighted and I don’t even know how long I’ve been going in for eye exams. I think I’ve been wearing contacts since I was 13, when Mom said I was old enough for that responsibility. I was wearing glasses a least a few years before that. My prescription isn’t that severe, but it’s serious enough that I need corrective lenses in order to drive. I wear soft contacts most of the time, but I have glasses and prescription sunglasses for when my contacts aren’t agreeing with my eyes, typically in the spring when my allergies are flaring up.
Justin and I are covered by insurance through my work that covers most of the yearly eye exams and a certain dollar amount to put toward glasses frames, glasses lenses, and contact lenses.
So the framing of this experience is someone who has a slight visual impairment and is covered by pretty decent insurance. I don’t know what it’s like to go to the doctor while having perfect vision or without insurance.
There are a couple terms that you might run into during this process that I’ll go over first because they sound very similar: Optometrist, ophthalmologist, and optician. (Reference: Healthline.com.) Optometrists are most likely the person who will be the doctor at your routine eye appointment. Ophthalmologist is who you would see if you needed surgery. And an optician is someone who works for the eye doctor helping the patients with glasses and stuff – not everybody there will be one, but the person fitting your glasses should be.
Eye doctor appointments should be scheduled ahead of time – there might be some that accept walk-in patients, but my recommendation is to set up an appointment with the office ahead of time. If you have insurance, follow the information from your provider to make sure that the doctor you would like to see is actually covered by your insurance – with my insurance, I can look up local doctor’s offices through the insurance website to check or I can call the insurance and ask someone over the phone to look it up. My eye coverage is separate from my medical coverage, so when contacting my insurance about eye care, I have to contact a different provider than I do for most of my other stuff. Make sure you know who you need to talk with about your eye care insurance coverage, if you have it. And be aware that some providers are specific about the location where the doctor is working – so a doctor could be covered by insurance at one location but that exact same doctor could be considered “out of network” at another location, which will mean that your insurance coverage will be very different. It’s a stupid insurance thing, so make sure to check ahead of time.
I don’t have any advice about finding a good eye doctor other than looking at reviews and asking around to see if anyone has any recommendations about who to go see. What I can say is that if you get to the end of the exam and really didn’t like the doctor or the people working there, you don’t have to go back there again. Just find a different doctor next time and try again. Don’t feel obligated to go back to someone you didn’t like.
Okay, so you’ve found an eye doctor and set up an appointment. You’ve checked with your insurance to make sure that you’re covered to see this doctor at this exact location. And now you’re ready to go to the appointment.
If you have corrective eyewear, you should wear/bring that to your appointment. (Also, I’m not sure why you’d be reading this post because how did you get that without having an eye exam?!)
There is going to be paperwork to fill out – you might get this ahead of time if the doctor’s office sends it or they might send you to their website to find it or you might have to do it when you get their office. You should plan to get there with some extra time before your appointment to give time to complete it. The paperwork will ask about your personal information like your name, address, age, etc. It will also ask for your insurance information. They will probably want a copy of your state ID and your insurance card for their records – they’ll make a scan/photocopy at the office so make sure to have these two cards with you when you get to the office. The paperwork might also include questions about family medical history and payment information and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) release forms. (If you’re not familiar with HIPAA, your health information provided to doctors is protected by law and if you have anyone who you would like the doctor to talk with about your information, the doctor’s office needs a signed form that says that they’re allowed to release that information. More information about HIPAA here. As a side note, please don’t share private health information with groups who are not covered by the HIPAA laws, like something in Ye Olde Book of Faces. They are not required to keep your information private.)
At future appointments, you won’t have as much paperwork to complete. You’ll need to review that the previous information is still accurate and provide updates, but it won’t take so long.
At the office where I got my exam, I kept my paperwork with me instead of handing it back to the person working at the desk. A different person then called me back to a room for pre-exam tests and ask about my current medications and current eyewear. There are a variety of different tests that this person will do and I don’t actually know what all of them are testing. Most of them require not wearing my contacts, so she provided a space for me to wash my hands and remove those. One of the tests was a handheld item (she held it) that puffed little bursts of air into my eyes and made my eyes water a lot. (I think that’s the glaucoma test and this is a whole lot better than the old one where I had to put my face into a thing and wait for the puff to make me jump.) There was another one where I looked into a machine to look at a picture of long road to a balloon that went in and out of focus. Another machine showed a green dot that then flashed bright white light, like a camera flash, first in one eye and then the other. (That one also made my eyes water. I don’t like bright lights.) She had me look at a book and tell her what number was written in all the dots. (I do know that this is a colorblindness test. Here’s an example.) And then she had me put on 3D glasses and tell her which of the 4 dots in the diamond was standing forward of the others.
She also dilated my pupils by putting in eye drops that would have that effect. She had me look up at the ceiling and she put the drops into my eyes and then told me to blink until it stopped stinging. If you have trouble with your blink reflex being seriously strong, like Justin, then this is tricky – he tends to blink before the drops hit his eye. I think the work-around is to put the drops on the side of his nose where they run into his eye from the side. They do this dilation in order to get a really good look at the inside of your eye to look for a whole bunch of potential problems. It’s annoying, but it’s for your own good. And I do mean it’s annoying. Everything was so bright and I couldn’t focus on anything closer than arm’s length, so reading my phone or a book or a computer screen was completely out of the question. And the drops keep my eyes dilated for several hours – something like 4 to 6 hours. I was able to read before they completely got back to normal, but things were bright and sometimes one pupil was a different size than the other and I looked like I was having a stroke. I definitely would not plan to go back to work or do anything important for the rest of the afternoon.
If you get your eyes dilated, make sure to have sunglasses for the trip home. And it might be helpful to have someone else with you who can see to help with the payments and stuff at the end of the appointment. Justin seems to be able to see better than I am after getting this done, so maybe some people handle this better than others.
The first time coming to this doctor’s office, the person doing these pre-exam tasks also checked the prescription on my glasses so the doctor would have that information. They use a clever little machine that tells them that information, but I have no idea how it works.
After doing these tests, we walked to the exam room. The exam room will have a chair with a stand next to it and it might look intimidating. There are so many tools and machines that are used in eye exams that I haven’t seen anywhere else. It’s okay; you don’t have to know what they do or how they work because you won’t be expected to touch them. And they should always warn you before they use anything.
I was asked to sit in the chair and with a spoon-shaped paddle over one eye, read the letters on the eye chart shown on the wall ahead of me, and then swap and read the letters with the other eye covered. This is just a sort of baseline that was part of the pre-exam testing and once she was satisfied that I could read with both eyes, she excused herself from the room and told me the doctor would be in with me shortly.
I wonder what they do if they find out the person coming in for the eye exam can’t identify letters… Can’t illiterate people get eye exams? Hrm….
Anyway, after a short wait, during which I read the informational posters on the wall and admired my doctor’s wedding photos, she came in and we started the actual exam. She asked if I was experiencing any problems with my eyes or if I had any questions, and since I was good and just needed to get more contacts for the year, we started looking at the eye charts.
Because I wear corrective lenses and she already knows what that prescription is, she had me look at the eye chart on the wall through the big butterfly shaped thing that she placed in front of my face. This has lots of lenses and things so she can swap things around to see which lenses look more clear to me. So, she’ll set it up, and then, with one eye blocked and only looking with the other eye, ask if I like one set of lenses better than the second option. And then, based on the answer that I give, do I like this one better than the next one? And how about this other one? And what’s she’s doing is trying a lot of different lenses to see which of them are the ones that I should use to see. Sometimes the difference between the two options is really easy to say which one is better, but not always. Sometimes, it’s hard to really know – like they’re the same focus, but maybe one is a little smaller? Just be open to say what you’re seeing to the doctor and let them know. They want you to go home with the best possible vision that they can provide and that’s going to depend on your answers to these questions.
As this process was going on, flipping between different lenses, she was asking me to read smaller and smaller letters off the eye chart on the wall ahead of me. And when she got to a point where she was satisfied, she asked me to look one more time, with both eyes open, and make sure that I could still see clearly with both eyes.
My prescription changed very slightly this year, but not a concerning amount. She asked if the contacts I’ve been wearing are still working for me and how frequently I swap them with new ones (to check that I’m disposing of them in the right amount of time – I’m supposed to use new contact lenses every 2 weeks). And then she brought me a new pair to try on to make sure that the prescription would work. She had a sink in the corner where I could wash my hands again before putting them in, and then had me sit on the chair again and, this time without the butterfly-looking thing, read the eye chart to make sure I could still see it, which I could see just fine.
After that, she did a close-up eye exam. And this is why you need to feel comfortable with your eye doctor because they are going to seriously invade your space at this point. She had me put my chin on a little stand so she could look at my eye with a lens that lets her see inside my eye. She asked me to look at her ear and then up and down while she held the lens in front of one eye and then the other. There’s a bright white light stripe on the lens that made my eyes water, but she’s good and quick at this and it didn’t take her very long to check both eyes.
She’s looking for damage to the eye and different diseases that show up in there. She’s also looking to make sure that the contact lenses I’ve just put in are fitting my eyes nicely.
Once she was happy that my eyes are nice and healthy and that my contacts were going to work and updated my information in the computer, she asked if I had any questions or anything else I wanted to ask, and then walked me out to the front of the office, where she thanked me and told the optician what I would be ordering.
Since I’m an established patient at this office, they already know what I use for my contacts, but if I was new, I would have discussed with the doctor the different types of contacts available and the different length of use that are available. I use 2-week contacts, but I have used longer ones and there are options for ones that swap out daily. This length is good for me and I like this brand, so I’m not changing right now. But that is a conversation that would be held with the doctor before putting in the new contacts.
If I was in the market for new glasses, this in the point in the appointment when I’d be looking at the different options for that. There are a lot of frames on the walls of the office that they have available for sale. These are just samples to try on and see if you like how they fit your face. They should have a little price sticker on them, and with our insurance, we get a frame allowance every 2 years up to a certain amount. Anything over that amount comes out of our own pockets.
After trying on a bunch of frames and deciding which pair you’d like, the optician will help select the lenses to put into those frames. There are a lot of options for this, too. If your prescription is really bad (meaning you can’t see for squat) then your lenses might be really thick normally, but you can chose an option that makes them significantly thinner. You can get tinting, anti-glare (I really recommend this option if you work at a computer a lot), anti-scratch, and a bunch of other things, I’m sure. I don’t wear my glasses enough to know what’s available for this. Be aware that each option will increase the amount you pay for your lenses, and our insurance again has a cap of how much they will pay for these. So, you might have to decide to pay out of your own pocket or not choose all the bells and whistles that you’d like.
Also of note for insurance, if I recall correctly, my insurance will either pay for glasses or contacts, but not both. So be aware that you might face limitations there as well.
Once you’ve selected frames and the options for your lenses, they will need to take some measurements of your face to make sure that your glasses will fit your face correctly. And then they will order your glasses. (There might be places where you can walk out that same day with glasses, but I have no idea.) Once your glasses arrive, they will call you in to make sure that they got everything right and the glasses fit and the lenses are right. They can make some tweaks to the fit before sending you home with your new glasses, so let them know if they don’t feel right.
Some offices have better frames selections than others and some frames that you got from one location might not be able to get lenses fit at a different location. The glasses Justin got from the eye doctor in Bluffton couldn’t get lenses fit correctly by the eye doctor here in Savannah. Also, there are a lot of options to buy glasses from online companies, which isn’t something I have experience with yet, but I think Justin’s planning to do that in the near future. He just had to request a copy of his prescription to take home when he left his appointment.
And I think that covers it! Please let me know what you think!
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Chapter 12 - The Mirror of Erised
One can never have enough socks!!
Harry Potter and the Sacred Text word of the day: (White) Privilege
When I learned that this was the word that the hosts would use for chapter 12, I was.... intrigued to say the least about how they would connect the concept. But once again, I was amazed on what they found! Basically the invisibility cloak was a symbol for both having privilege and not having privilege. The original word(s) of the day is “white privilege” but the idea can also work for privilege in general, which is why I have white in parentheses. Just to put it out there, I’m an asexual black woman which right off the bat puts me at a disadvantage for the top categories of privilege lol, so this topic is something very close to home and I will not sugar coat anything. istg if I get any defensive replies or asks
The invisibility cloak having a double meaning around privilege is so fascinating to me. It reveals how invisibility can be good or bad depending if a person is privileged or not. For example, if you’re white, you will largely be ignored on the things you do; you can get away with almost anything. This is the positive side of the invisibility cloak, as Harry can roam around the castle without being noticed, particularly at night, and not be caught. On the flip side, a white person will be seen as an individual, their actions defining themselves and not an entire group. Alternatively, this is the complete opposite of any minority. Any black person walking down the street will be noticed because they are black, my people literally can’t do anything without the cops being called on them. And a black person’s actions ends up being a collective definition of the entire race. Like... a white shooter will always be talked about as an individual and the event being an isolated case. If the shooter is black or Arab or whatever? The media will spin it like the entire minority is evil. But if a black person is successful, their efforts are ignored. Can you name any black inventors? Because technology wouldn’t have been the same without them, yet you never learn about them in history books.
Harry notes that the cloak doesn’t stop him from being solid, which made me think about how being invisible and ignored in a negative way doesn’t make a person any less of a human, no matter how they may be treated as such. Just food for thought I guess.
Something Sacred Text host, Vanessa, said really struck me. She talked about how she was literally side stepped by someone so they could tap her black friend on the shoulder and compliment her outfit. And Vanessa, connecting it with invisibility and visibility, commented how the person probably (unintentionally) gave the compliment because her friend looked nice, for being black. And... I’ve never thought about that stuff quite in this way. I just assumed (white) people just tried to go out of their way to be nice to a black person, but to be honest I never gave much thought about it or its meaning in the first place. I get compliments from complete strangers everywhere for articles of clothing to my hair. Like just yesterday this white man walked up to me at a restaurant to say he loved my hair, which was in an afro. I’ve always thought it was weird to compliment random strangers like that, not in the way that you’re standing in line or something and compliment a girl’s purse who’s right in front of you, but literally walking up to someone who’s just minding their own business to do it. And cause this happened after listening to the podcast, I kept thinking is he trying to be encouraging to people with natural hair? does he really think his opinion is going to boost my self esteem like that? (normally I’d just brush it off and think that person’s weird) I know that wasn’t his intentions, but this is what those actions imply when it comes from a white person who’s a stranger.
Dumbledore says something that really holds true about privilege: “Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you.” When you have it, you aren’t always aware of what your privilege gives you or what others without it experience. Like for me, I admittedly don’t think about ADA regulations all the time because I have an abled body, so it’s not something that I personally have to worry about unless I get an injury. But someone in a wheelchair, someone with a cane, someone with an invisible disability has to think about these things, because that’s their life. They need an accessible doorway for example just to get in a building. As a female, I can’t go out alone at night or even the bathroom at a bar without worrying I might be assaulted, but this isn’t something that men have to think about. So next time you’re defensive about something that someone of a minority group says about your privilege, think about this quote. Think about how your privilege makes you nearsighted. And then fucking listen.
Another long post lol I can’t not rant about this topic The rest of the chapter will be analyzed under the cut.
I kinda wonder if Hermione wasn’t in Harry’s friend group, if he and Ron would be as motivated to find out who Nicolas Flamel was. Obviously the constant searching in the library was her idea lol, because that’s her thing. When she doesn’t know something, she consults books AKA goes to the library. Though I think because Harry knew he read the name somewhere, he would have been searching in books as his curiosity had hit an all time high, but it would’ve probably been limited to his school books. Ron probably would’ve only joined occasionally to help Harry out, or done the same and look through his own books. I find it funny that the trio only looked through books about modern or recently famous wizards, which makes sense because you don’t exactly expect someone to live over 600 years lol.
Christmas morning of Harry’s first year always gives me so much joy to read (and watch). He gets so excited that he has presents!! Even the 50 pence that the Dursley’s sent he responds with that’s friendly lmao. I will also never get over the fact that Mrs. Weasley, after learning from Ron that Harry didn’t expect to get presents, made him a goddamn sweater and some fudge 😭 I also love how the Weasleys basically adopt Harry, and it’s not just Mrs. Weasley, it’s Fred and George too. Fred pulls wizard crackers with Harry during Christmas dinner.... they played in the snow until they were cold and wet.... not to mention the twins look after him in Quidditch.
The contrast between Christmas morning and Christmas evening is so interesting to me. Harry wakes up to presents from many people, eats all he wants for dinner, spends the day having fun with the Weasleys, and then after an adventure with his invisibility cloak, finds the Mirror of Erised. And this scene is so heartbreaking. I can just feel the empty silence as Harry longingly looks at his family, I can feel his ache for the people he never got to know. The hosts brought up how white/western culture is very individualistic, but at the expense of feeling disconnect with one’s own heritage. I also want to add how the same disconnect happens with a diaspora. This topic is a little interesting when considering that there’s a widespread headcanon that Harry is half Indian or just poc, so the feeling of disconnect might be even more powerful.
For what Ron sees, I’ve said previously that Ron’s insecurity is being the odd one out in his family, the one who doesn’t have a special thing because all his older brothers have already done it. So in the Mirror, he sees himself being the best of all of them combined. And he’s alone. He wants to stand out. So far I’ve seen a lot of signs that Ron takes his family for granted, which I get since he’s 11 and one of the youngest in a large and loving family: he’s embarrassed about their class status, he pushes away his mother when she tries to clean dirt off his face, he tells Harry he can see family any old time. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since Ron’s still fairly young though (he also didn’t resist being told to wear his Weasley sweater like Percy), but again and again we’ll see moments like this where it’s apparent that Ron and Harry’s desires are the complete opposite of each other. Ron is also less obsessive than Harry, which is why I think he had a bad feeling about the mirror while Harry didn’t despite the two fighting over it while in the empty classroom. And he gets so worried about Harry! He tries to get him to eat, or play games, or even visit Hagrid, anything to get Harry out of his depressive state.
I wonder why the Mirror was moved to the empty classroom for anyone to stumble upon though. Maybe Dumbledore needed space to tamper with it? And the best time would be the holidays when most of the students were away? Why not do it in the Room of Requirement where is was probably kept before this? And was Dumbledore invisible every night while modifying the mirror? Or just to keep an eye on it? I can’t stop thinking about his comment on not needing a cloak to be invisible.
Small things
The Weasley twins bewitching snowballs to basically hit Voldemort ahaha
I will always laugh at the “Gred and Forge” joke xD
What time do they have Christmas dinner.... afterwards it says they spent a “happy afternoon” playing outside, which I don’t know if they would do at night when it’s cold and snowy lol. And being in Scotland, the sun will set pretty early. So was this actually a Christmas lunch? I’m so confused
ONE CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH SOCKS CAN I GET AN AMEN
hjsdfhsjkdf but actually, as an adult that’s all I want for Christmas (even though I have no room for them anymore haha)
Scabbers why are you sleeping on Harry’s pillow you creep
Special shout out to all the Hogwarts house elves that make Christmas magical, as well as every other day at Hogwarts :)
Previous: Chapter 11 - Quidditch
Next: Chapter 13 - Nicolas Flamel
#so much happened in this chapter omg#i wrote so much#this is too long to try to edit lmao#hp#hp analysis#hp meta#the sorcerer's stone#sorcerer's stone meta#harry potter#ron weasley#hermione granger#albus dumbledore#molly weasley#fred weasley#george weasley
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ADHD Wait What Episode 6(? i rlly don’t know oops ?) : hacks i learned
ok so literally since i was little up until i was diagnosed w ADHD my family and teachers all believed i was hypersensitive to everything but didn’t know why.
like certain kinds of sounds can literally leave me in tears, long durations of loud chatter such as a grocery store, specifically, was always an issue. not loud sounds themselves, i blast music to drown out the chatter, it’s the hundreds of sounds happening that all take my attention at once and drive me crazy.
certain textures of clothing and food even. i cannot stress how much i not even just hated but loathed wearing anything w sequins (which drive my mom crazy) bc if i felt it against my skin i would get super irritated. even w food i was such a picky eater and it wasn’t even always about taste but if something feels weird i can’t eat it or i feel like gagging.
smells. oh thank the lord. of all the senses, my smell is the weakest. like i literally cannot smell hardly anything. people can be gagging and choking and it sitting there like “what do you mean it smells like dog took a poop i can’t smell shit” (😂puns man, puns defeat the huns).
sight! people with light colored eyes have more sensitive eyes in general (hi it me) and because ya girl lives in a desert all there is is v v v brightsun (and i read in the dark a lot even tho mom said no woopsies she still doesn’t know) anyways certain kinds of lights, too many lights or lights too close together strain my eyes super badly! it got to the point that my school had to make an acception to allow me to wear my prescription sunglasses indoors bc the lights gave me super intense migraines and my docs weren’t happy about it.
sight, sound, smell, touch i’m missing something i’m missing something i’m missing something i will continue to type this until i remember sight sound touch smell sight sound touch smell cmon i
TASTE ok Taste. so the only thing i’ve notices is like i said texture really but also anything that’s sour, i love sour things don’t get me wrong but sour candies in particular idk what it is about them but like something about them makes me want to cry and puke em up and it’s not cute sight so that’s all five
kudos for reading this far.
NOW FOR THE ACTUAL HACKS SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG OK
taste: if you’ve pin pointed something that you eat or a kind of food that irks you or whatever, just avoid it if you remember super easy. if you remember. if not and you eat it. drink. the. water. get. the. taste. out. of. your. mouth. period.
sight: if it’s bright lights like me, sun-freaking-glasses!!!!!!! i cannot drive w put them. well i can but it’s a pain and i get a migraine and i’m v quickly reminded to put them on!!! on that note, keep several pairs anywhere you might need them. otherwise you’ll never see them again. keep one in your car, two maybe! one in ur purse, or backpack or both!! keep one by your keys if you have a designated key spot (i don’t but my grandma picks em up from the oddest places i swear). literally just go to ross or something and buy multiple pairs of cheap yet decent sunglasses. if you’re like me and wear regular glasses, buy multiple pairs again!!!! keep them everywhere!!! i always lose mine, always. if it weren’t for my ocd grandma whom i love so dearly i would literally never see ever. if your also like me and have a strange prescription like one eye is nearsighted and the other is farsighted, pop a lense and swap it out w the right one for that eye!!!!! it might be annoying but it works, or if your even more like me and one eye is basically fine but the other is absolutely horrid, buy walmart glasses w the prescription for the bad eye and just pop out the other lense. it looks silly but honestly who cares.
textures! yeeeeeeeee!! for a long time i had no control over this but if you do, just don’t buy the thing w the texture and if you impulse buy it, return it! take someone w you to make sure it actually happens! if you don’t have control explain to the person w the control that that texture irks you and agitated you and if they still don’t care just like...loose it? idk it worked for me until they just stopped buying the thing w the texture that makes me cringe.
smells. i know for me even tho i cannot smell v well, one smell that never fails to stop me in my track is the flowery scents! it absolutely must be v subtle. if i walk past a perfume/candle/scenty kinda store, i literally hold my breath as i pass. if it’s an every day smell for you, put on a candle you do like, or a nice room spray or even those icky dryer sheets (those are a texture that makes me squeal w discomfort i cannot even begin)
and most importantly for me, SOUND. OH HOLY MOTHER OF SNOWBALL DANCING BALLOONS I AM so overly sensitive to sound. i’ve noticed i cannot listen to a majority of rap bc they talk too fast for my mind to keep up and it hurts my head trying so i just avoid it. stores. make. me. so. stressed. i never ever ever ever go anywhere w out a pair of headphones. the chatter of a few is easy, maybe ten or so is bearable but more than that i start getting all ich and whatnot, stimulation overload occurs and all i want is to curl up and die in peace. instead! we turn on music we enjoy! and! blast! tf! out of it! if it’s loud noises! slightly lower, blast a more peaceful song. at school they also have to make accommodations and allow me to listen to my music so that the chatter of kids doesn’t make me literally cry. if there’s a lot going on sound wise i absolutely cannot concentrate ever. i will burst into tears from frustration and overstimulation and people don’t participate enjoy seeing a 17 year old balling their eyes out in a spin by chair saying it’s too loud, freaks em out
PLEASE IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER HACKS OR TIPS LEAVE EM HERE FOR OTHERS WHO CAN TEY THEM OUT
#overstimulation resulting from ADHD is a freaking pain i cannot begin to explain it#actually adhd#adhd#adhd problems#adhd tag#adhdentertainment#adhd episode#adhd wait what episode#adhd hacks#adhd hack#adhd fam#adhd central#im listening to ophelia and it just so lretty lso its almost 3 am i started this at like 1:30 am im screamjng it took so long#i literally deleted so much of whag i had on this post and i-
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11/27/2019 DAB Transcript
Daniel 4:1-37, 2 Peter 1:1-21, Psalms 119:97-112, Proverbs 28:17-18
Today is the 27th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It's great to be here with you today as we pass through the center of the last week of this month. And I guess traditionally here in the United States, this a big cooking day like a big preparation day. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, which is a national holiday for us here…here in the United States and then the day after that’s Black Friday and I think worldwide that sort of kicks off the Christmas season. So, here we are right at the threshold of a busy season for us but we have a rhythm that we've established all year and we come around this Global Campfire where there is peace and where there is calm and we let God's word speak into our lives. And, so, that's what we'll do. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Today, Daniel chapter 4. And when we get to the New Testament we’ll be beginning of Peter's second letter known as second Peter but first Daniel chapter 4.
Introduction to Second Peter:
Alright. So, as we mentioned at the beginning, we finished first Peter yesterday, which brings us to second Peter today. And the second letter of the apostle Peter is thought to be the final writing of Peter's life, but it's also important to understand that the authorship of this particular letter has been questioned, going all the way back into antiquity. The acceptance of the idea that the apostle Peter wrote this letter, that happened over time and the letter was considered Scripture by the fourth century. In the more modern era scholars have observed stylistic differences between first and second Peter. So, those who would defend Peter's authorship would say he…he was dictating…like he…he may have been illiterate...he wasn't writing these things, he was saying them, and they were being written down by a secretary. So, he just used two different secretaries who wrote down the thoughts that he was saying. But all in all there are compelling reasons to consider this letter like we do the letter to the Hebrews or the book of Hebrews as in the author is unknown, but there are equally compelling reasons to consider the author to be the apostle Peter as is named in this letter. So, if the apostle Peter wrote second Peter it would've likely been in the late 60s. A.D. and he would've been martyred shortly thereafter. And our church tradition holds that during his execution period Peter was crucified upside down at his own request and that may in fact be the true truth. The Bible doesn't verify that. It's a very long-running tradition of the church. And Peter didn't explicitly say who he was writing to in second Peter. He said he was writing to you who share the same precious faith that we have. So, we assume that he was writing to the same people he wrote his first letter to because he referred to the first letter in the second one, the one that we’re about to read. And these letters have different purposes. First Peter sought to bolster and encourage and instruct believers about how to endure the pressures that were coming against them. Second Peter will warn about false teaching and evil behavior from within. But rather than like just looking at this letter as another encouragement and try to live better, we have to know that Peter's about to die and he says as much in this letter. This is Peter, right? This is the man who walked with Jesus along the Sea of Galilee. This is a person who saw Jesus perform His miracles. This is a person who was a friend of Jesus, laughed with Him, cried with Him, lived with Him, ate his last supper with Him. And of course, we know the story of Peter. This is the man who denied Him and watched him die, but this is also the man who saw Jesus raised to life again. And this is the man who preached the first sermon after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and 3000 people decided to follow Jesus. So, this letter, these may be the final living words of the apostle Peter. And, so, we should give them the weight that they deserve in our lives. And, so, we begin. Second Peter chapter 1.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we have…well…we have talked about second Peter and we've begun to read it and so let’s just…let's look at what we read today for just a quick second because we have some addition, some spiritual addition to do. We’ll have to kind of unpack the introduction to this letter. The letters in the Bible…the greetings in the letters in the Bible…they’re…they’re usually really long comprehensive sentences and you’ve gotta go, “let's read that slower.” So, let's do that. “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.” Alright, we could just pause there and think of that for a minute. We have been given what we need to live this life. And we've been given it through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. “Through these”, through God's divine power and our knowledge of him, “through these, He has given us His very great and precious promises. So, through His divine power and through our knowledge we have been given these precious promises, so that through them”, the promises, “so that through those promises we get to participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” That's two verses and one paragraph that says an awful lot about our status as brothers and sisters, as children of God in this world. But we’re…we’re still working through this. “For this very reason. So, for the reason that we just talked about, that we get to participate in the divine nature of God because He has given us that promise, because of that, for that very reason we need to do some adding. “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness and add to goodness, knowledge, and add to knowledge, self-control, and add to self-control, perseverance, and add on to perseverance godliness, and add to godliness, mutual affection, and add to mutual affection, love. If you possess these qualities” and I'm quoting Peter here. “If you possess these qualities in increasing measure”, in other words, “if you keep adding to these things, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever doesn't have these things is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they’d been cleansed from their past sins.” That's an awful lot. I mean there's…there's a bunch here that's going on because we walk around feeling like we’re like weighted down by this…by our sins because we fail all the time. And, so, we’re estranged from God. There's so much in this that we can look and go, “okay. If this is true, this weight of sin that I carry around all the time feeling as if God is angry at me, it's an illusion, He’s not angry at me, He doesn't see them, they are not a part of my life. I certainly can choose to…to rebel in some way against God, but all of the things that have led me to this point, God has forgiven…they are not a part of my life, they are not a part of my identity anymore. So, rather than adding shame to guilt and then adding condemnation and then adding rebellion and then following that spiral down. I have a different math problem to do. I need to be adding to my faith, goodness and knowledge and self-control and perseverance and godliness and mutual affection and love. Then I will not wonder what's going on and I will not wonder why am living in unproductive life. If I'm adding these things together, I will be effective and productive in my knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ”, according to second Peter. So, that can explain a lot about the state we’re in about the status of our lives. And, so, let’…I mean there's a lot…reread it today. Think about these things. Today we’re going into a very busy season, a season that we can move through with excellence and precision following the leading of the Holy Spirit, enjoying the joy of the season and spreading that joy to everyone that we encounter or we can get bowled over and end up at December 31st, making the same New Year's resolutions we made last year. It's a big circle a year, a big circle around the sun and we can end up right where we started if we don't obey what we’re hearing.
Prayer:
Father, we invite You into that because it's just flatly the truth. We've experienced it enough times, we’ve seen the patterns, it’s the truth and yet Your word continually pulls us forward out of those patterns that are going nowhere and that has happened today. Help us Father as we move into this season to add to our faith, goodness and to our goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection and to mutual affection, love. Then we will be effective and productive as we move through the rest of this year. Come Holy Spirit into this, we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
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And now we’re moving into the holiday season and so the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2019 is available. We wanted to jump out in front of Black Friday a little bit just to give a few extra days for international shipments. We ship internationally. But like I was saying yesterday, the cost of shipping internationally are just really, really high. And, so, we have this arrangement where it’s a lot cheaper, more like domestic shipping, it just takes longer and take more than three weeks. So, the international cutoff date for shipping Christmas Boxes in time for Christmas will be the 2nd of December, which is a Monday. So, just a few days from now. Of course, shipping domestically inside the United States, it’s no problem. So, we’ve got…got time there as long as supplies last. In this year's Christmas Box is one of my very favorites that we've ever done because I think it centers us in the journey of a year, the rhythm of a year. And, so, the God of Your Story, this new daily resource that really is the heart, the essence of the Daily Audio Bible in book form, in written form is in the box. So, a signed first edition copy of the God of Your Story is in the box but also our new Daily Audio Bible Journal 2.0…I can…I mean…we do throughout the year talk about writing things down, and especially when we see that mimicked in the Scriptures, but I can't tell you how important it is to write things down, especially things that…that are like insights that you have received from the Holy Spirit through his word…like as you’re moving through the Scriptures. It's crazy how you can have something that actually is like a missing puzzle piece in your life snap into place and then after lunch, you’re like, “what was that again?” But it was like so important, and then it's gone. But when we write these things down, they’re there, and we can go back through a year of these kinds of insights and transformations in our lives and review these things and lock them in. So, I guess the best the best way I can say it is, if you feel God speaking to you, take notes. And, so, we have the new Daily Audio Bible Journal 2.0 in the Christmas Box this year for next year's journey. Also, some of our most popular Global Campfire items from the new Global Campfire line of resources that we released just a couple months ago. So, the Global Campfire Daily Audio Bible candle is in the Christmas Box and worked hard to get this candle to smell like campfire so that it evokes the community that we share, the Global Campfire. So, Global Campfire candle is in the box. Two of the Gobal Campfire stickers, five of the Global Campfire postcards, in a nice…nice little plastic wrap to keep them safe. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas ornament for 2019, which…well…has Daily Audio Bible 2019 on it and our word for the year which has been “Maintain” is in the Christmas box. The Global Campfire pop socket for your phone or tablet device is in the Christmas box. 20 of the Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards for 2019 and their envelopes, those are in the box as well as your choice of our Windfarm DAB blend coffee, fresh roast, it will be freshly roasted and sent to you or your choice of our boutique tea, whichever you prefer. So, it’s a great Christmas Box. It's available now in the Daily Audio Bible Shop at dailyaudiobible.com or you can get to the Shop in the Daily Audio Bible app by pushshig…pressing the little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner and that'll get you there.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. And I can't thank you enough for your partnership as we move into toward the end of the year. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If using you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996, Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
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And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello Daily Audio Bible family today is November 20th and can I just say Rachel from Pennsylvania and Ben, you guys made my day. I was listening to community prayer from November 2nd and you were praying, oh my goodness, for the devil to get out of two boys heads and having voices. It is such a beautiful fresh breath of air to just listen to Ben praying. Yes, telling the devil to get out right now. I smiled all day. I can replay that prayer over and over again. Oh. Jesus said let them…let the little kids come to me. Yes. For the kingdom of God is for as such the faith of the little kids. I love this community because a lot of parents encourage their kids to come to Jesus. And it’s so beautiful when you’re here even the little kids who are calling in and praying for their friends and praying for their parents and praying for even other members of this community. Can we continue to pray for little generation to continue loving Jesus? So, Rachel I just want to say thank you for calling and for involving your little kids to also pray. Oh. I know Jesus heart is so smiling. Thank you so much. I just wanted to call and say thank you. Daily Audio Bible family this Alfio calling from Delaware. Make it a great day. Bye-bye.
Eliab, David’s brother this is Jesse’s oldest son burned with anger at David’s question and asked him why he’d come. Why don’t you just leave now go finish up those chores? Why is it that you came here and left those few sheep of yours? King David said, I’m not afraid. He went and told Saul that he was going to go and make things right. He said no, you’re just a boy I must tell you the truth you are no match for this giant who’s been trained up from his youth. David said his father sheep I have kept safe from both lion and bear. When they were up against me, I caught them by the hair. God gave back the lamb to me out of the lion’s jaws. My God who delivered me from both bear and the Lions paws, my God will do the same again. This victory will be mine. __ the living God some circumcised philistine. Saul said go ahead and try if you think you can. David knew the Lord would give Goliath into his hands. __ to give you some for protection that will shelter you from harm. Why don’t you go ahead and try my armor on? David tried to wear it, but he had to take it off. He said I’m just not used to that and went to look for some rocks. Five smooth stones he spotted shining on the ground. Stuck four in his shepherd’s pouch and in his sling, slung one around. My name is Diana Blake Davis. I have metastatic breast cancer that’s metastasized to my brain. I’m stage IV. I’m 57 but I have two autistic boys 19 and 21. God has provided everything for us. So, we need prayer and what you just heard was from Jewels of the Bible. And I took the Bible line by line and I pulled out the stories and I made them rhyme only because Brian, I’ve been listening to you every single day for 12 years and I love you forever.
Hi, Desperately Running to Jesus it’s never too late to build a relationship with our Creator and the moniker you chose tells me that you have a great mindset now. 15 years ago, I was 54 and I finally apologized to God for my sins and bad choices. I found a church that taught me how to build a relationship with Jesus. I joined a life group and met people that became the friends who…who cared about me. Six years ago, I heard about DAB and this community and the podcast that family…the Daily Audio Bible and Facebook which…where people encourage, inspire and taught me about God and other people, myself, my family. What I know is this, that thanking God and praising God every day is an essential thing to do. Asking God for guidance in everything you do is essential as well. And listening for the voice in your head that says do or don’t do what you’re about to do and volunteering in your church and or in your community will change you in wonderful ways. I am praying for you.
[singing begins] give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks [singing ends]. Hi everybody it’s Candace from Oregon. I just want to encourage you all to start listing all the things you’re thankful for. Our world is trying to drag us down, the enemy is trying to drag us and we’re thinking just about anything else except what were thankful for. Oh Lord I thank You for health, I thank You for the country that I live in. I thank You for faithful servants who keep our lives just filled with blessing Lord. I thank You for the pastors in all our churches. I pray that You’ll be with them and help them to surrender themselves completely to Your Holy Spirit as they lead Your bride, as they bring our attention and our focus back to You. Lord, thank You for Your word and that Brian Hardin reads this to us every day 365 days of the year and how it is transforming our lives. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, Lord for everything that You are doing. You are a good and gracious God, beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words. Thank You for the sunrise, the sunset, the moon and the starry night. We love You Lord. We love You. We love You back. Candace from Oregon.
Hi everybody it’s Lisa the Encourager just calling to say hello to everyone. I’ve missed calling in and talking to everyone and praying for everyone, but I promise you I am still listening and I’m still praying for you. As you call in your prayers I’m praying on the sidelines. But I wanted to call in today to encourage Margo because when you called in Margo your prayer request and your message that you left, it just seemed like you were really and a sad spot since your son left and I just wanted to let you know that I am praying for you and holding you up high in my mind as far as everything you’ve given up. You left Australia and went to Africa and just…now you’re in a missions and given up so much of your life. And I just am so impressed with everything that you’ve done, and you’ve done it all for the Lord. And just don’t ever forget that because God is gonna reward you for eternity. And, so, what you’ve given up temporarily on this earth God is gonna reward you tenfold in heaven one day. And I’m so envious of everything that you’ve done for the Lord and hope that I will be able to do half as much. So, also wanted to encourage everyone too. I decided to buy the God of Your Story for our…my pastor. I’m going to surprise him and give it to him for Christmas. So, I just wanted to encourage everybody to maybe think about doing that too. And maybe if not your pastor then at least someone this Christmas. Just surprise them with that gift and ask God who you should bless with the God of Your Story and I think that would be a wonderful gift for anyone at Christmas. All right. Love you so much. Bye-bye.
[singing starts] How deep the father’s love for us. How vast beyond all measure. That He should give His only son to make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain our searing Loss the father tells His __. As who’s which now the chosen one bring Mary’s sons to glory [singing stops]. Good morning everybody. I greet you my Daily Audio Bible family. I’m a Dr. Kamari and I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible for about two years now and it has been such a blessing. And today I just want to encourage those who are perhaps going through a period of suffering whether it’s sickness, whether it’s loss, whatever it might be I want you to be encouraged that you can find healing in the wounds of Jesus. And it’s such a paradox. How can something which was broken for us produce healing and totalness and wholeness? But indeed, that is the mystery of His love. And I pray that His love overwhelms you wherever you are. I pray that even in your suffering you will learn to suffer well and by that I mean that you will know you will suffer well because you know that your suffering produces __ and perseverance, endurance, these qualities that cannot come about unless we go through to know that God is. Sometimes you will go through heartbreaks and know that He’s a healer and the mender of the brokenhearted. So, I lift you all up to the Lord and I thank you for your lives.
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Avenue of Sins (part four)
summary: a story of two misfit kids from mid-west america making it big in the big apple. and in the true sense of the american dream they find themselves in a life of sex, money, drugs, and a little rock n roll too.
warnings: adult content, mature readers only.
authors note: please let me know if you’d like to be tagged for this series, i kinda fucked up my list but i think i got everyone that has asked by memory lol or just let me know if you’d like to be tagged in general i’d be happy to!
if you’re seeing this for the first time you can read part one here and if you need to catch up on previous chapters go here.

A week had gone by and the sentiment of those three little words hadn’t been acknowledged since. Though they had full-heartedly meant it, the thought of where they stood in their relationship after saying so frightened them too much to delve into it, frankly. Instead, they buried those feelings in that very room, so that it was back to business as usual. And since then, Craig Russo had stayed away from the club like he was warned and his cousins still hadn’t come to Trigger Finger with guns blazing like they had worried. It was just too quiet which would have given someone from a different profession ease but for them, it sent them on edge. Alma knew that whatever could go wrong Bill could correct it. Reminding herself that even if he could seem careless he’d been in the game a lot longer than she had.
It was the following Monday after the Craig incident that Bill had asked Praline to stay after hours so that he could speak to her. Initially, he didn’t want to involve employees from the club in on any conflict. He’d rather they all stay in the dark while he took care of things behind the scenes so that they could stay focused on their work duties with a general peace of mind. And although he trusted Alma’s relay of information he wanted to hear it straight from the source and hopefully gather more details if there were any.
After Cooch left, he ordered Theo to stand guard outside the loft door and politely asked Praline to take a seat at his desk.
“So I heard you knew the guy we took out back? Is that right, hon’?” He lifted his brows as he leaned back on the front corner of his desk before her.
She looked nervous, fidgeting with the hem of her houndstooth two piece dress while shifting her eyes between Bill and Alma – who was sat in his desk chair. “I don’t know him, know him like that sir.”
“You don’t have to call me, sir. We’re just talking Rebecca,” he assured.
She nodded taking a deep, shaky breath. “All I know is what I’ve told Echo. I haven’t talked to the girl in my complex in a few months. But I know she still works at Russo’s ‘cause we come home around the same time. I-I can tell cause the light shines under her door when I pass by to get to mine.”
“Hmm, but do you think he’s someone we should worry about?”
“Well… Kansas said you kicked his ass pretty good so probably not?”
Bill bowed his head with an amused expression on his face for a moment. “Alright, then thanks Rebecca,” he sighed. “Theo will walk you out.”
Praline slowly got to her feet with a helping hand from Bill. She paused at the threshold, turning her head to speak once more before departing “Sir, I’ll let you know if I see anything you need to know about. I actually really like my job here and I wouldn’t want to do anything to lose it.”
And nothing of importance had come up since then. That following weekend felt like a clean slate. Alma was in the loft alone, working on the bar staff payroll before doors opened but time had escaped her as she worked an hour into opening. She was typing away on a giant sputtering printing calculator when Bill came in with a giggling Violet at his side pulling at his tucked black button up.
“Oh shiiit,” Bill jumped seeing Alma at his desk. He quickly whispered in Violet's ear causing her to mope and whine at being sent away but happily squeaked when he slapped her ass on her way out. “Forgot you were in here workin’,” he said to Alma as he casually slipped his hands into his pants pockets and sauntered over. “Club’s open you know?”
“I noticed,” she said unfazed, typing on the number pad. “I’m almost done so… you’ll have the place to yourself in a minute,” she finally looked up at him adjusting her giant square framed glasses she held on to from adolescence. She was nearsighted but she used it as a crutch for concentration.
He smiled, “I like it when you wear your glasses. It makes you look so young.”
“Into young girls now?”
“Gross,” he snickered.
Alma rolled her eyes. “Joking. I look like a dork and you know it. Remember when dickhead Bruce knocked them off? Look,” she took them off, “the lens still has a chip in it,” she pointed out before putting them away in a drawer.
“Well that’s why I gave him a chipped tooth so,” he shrugged.
“And then you got a black eye and detention,” she smirked, shuffling pay stubs into a neat little pile. “I’m gonna head back down. How’s the scene down there?”
“Same ol’,” he got up when she did, following her out the loft. “I heard someone talking about you...” he looked at her with wagging brows.
“Let me guess Bundy?”
Bill lightly laughed, “Nah, I overhead Ben asking Kansas about you.”
“Does he want some blow?” She looked back at him as they descended down the stairs into the noisy, smoky club. She thought he’d stay behind but it seemed as if he forgot why he had gone up to the loft in the first place.
“Alma… I think he wants more than blow,” he chuckled under his breath. …
At the bar, Alma was back in work mode, pouring whiskey neat and slipping small baggies of coke into peoples palms on the sly. At this point she operated on autopilot, she didn’t need a verbal order or an inconspicuous nose tap signal. She was familiar with her regular clients and those who she didn’t know she could tell by their uncontrolled tensing jaw or by their leering blown pupil staring needing to re-up. Those who she felt iffy by she’d tell to meet her in the bathrooms where she made them take a hefty bump to prove to her that they weren’t affiliated with the DEA. Cops she never worried about, they were all in on it.
She was preparing a bucket of Coors for Ben, who had specifically asked for her service. He was alone in his usual booth wearing a charcoal silk dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves, admiring Chastity spin upside down on the pole to the guitar riffs of a popular Aerosmith song. He had a pleased grin on his face while Alma approached, it made her blush which she felt silly for. It was strange when someone was genuinely into her, she treated all her prospects as transactions as they did with her but with Ben, it didn’t feel so much like that.
“Someone order a bucket?” She smiled setting it down on his table.
“Sure did,” he said reaching for a bottle to drink.
“You gonna drink these all on your own?”
“I was hoping you could help?”
Alma bit her lip shifting her eyes towards the busy bar where she was only met with the watchful eyes of Rashad and Paul who had been ordered by Bill to do so after the events of last week.
“C’mon,” Ben said gaining her attention. “A little break won’t hurt?”
“Fine, but only for a beer alright?”
“Good enough for me,” he patted the seat next to him.
Before she knew it they were finishing off the beers in the bucket she delivered. Both of them were in the throes of laughter over his stories about Wallstreet mishaps. She knew he was a charming man but to make her laugh so hard her belly hurt she was surprised by how personable he was. She could never have thought that she’d find common ground with a man of his caliber.
“Looks like we’re out,” Ben said placing his empty glass bottle topside down into the melting pool of ice.
“Oh! I’ll bring you another one. I need to go back to the bar, I-I didn’t realize,” she could feel the buzz she caught once she stood up but she took a deep breath to manage.
“Wait! You think you can dip out of here?”
“I… I’m not sure,” she chewed on her lip.
“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend?” It was a polite suggestion but his assumption completely threw her off.
“My boy- my? I’m sorry, what?”
“The owner right? I mean, he’s been watching us the whole time?”
Alma took a glance behind her where Bill sat in the VIP section still staring, uncaring of how blatant it was. With a smirk on his face, he raised his glass to her taking the last sip of his bourbon.
“He’s just my boss,” Alma said to Ben. “Give me a sec’ could you?”
“By all means.”
She had to hustle towards the VIP booth in her thin high heels when she saw Portia on the fast track towards Bill as well. Alma swiftly slipped in next to him just before she could. It was stupid of Portia to even attempt to beat Alma to the booth, Bill would have dismissed her himself if she had managed to slip in before her. Yet she flashed a miffed snarled lip before spinning around in her stilettos. Besides Portia, who liked to test her limits, the rest of the girls knew that Alma always had first priority of his attention. They never bothered to vie for it for the most part.
“Well hello,” Bill chuckled.
“Could you do me a favor? This one time, please!” She nearly begged.
Bill sat up, amused. “Depends.”
“The bars closing soon, I just need you to collect the cash from the bar for me.”
“And why can’t you do that?”
“Ben asked me out...”
His amusement faded. “Asked you out?” He rolled his eyes. “Are you being serious? Alma -”
“Just this one and only time. I’ll be back to help count – what’s that like an hour and a half from now?”
Bill rubbed his forehead with his hand, letting it slide down to the lower half of his face where it settled. He contemplatively gazed into her eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath to speak. She braced herself.
“Here,” he said reaching into his back pocket, “take my pager.”
Alma relieved, happily took possession of it. She was expecting him to make a bullshit excuse as to why she had to stay and work, that, or just a stern ‘no’. “I swear I won’t be long.”
“I know, I know,” he sighed. “But page me the address, I’ll be checking the spare in the loft.”
“Okay,” she said scooting out of the VIP booth but she was anchored back when Bill held on to her hand. “What?” She mouthed to him.
“Aren’t you going to kiss me goodbye?”
Alma blushed, “well if I did that, I don’t think I’d be able to leave.”
“Just a quick one,” he punctuated with a coy smile.
She timidly bit her lip before obliging him with a peck on the lips. Until he laced his fingers through hair deepening the kiss, his tongue grazing her bottom lip. It was a reminder. It was a silent ‘I love you’.
“Okay, okay,” Alma backed away, shaking her dizzied head. “He’s watching.”
“I know. Need some cash before you go?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You’re using you’re own money?” He raised a brow at her.
“No, silly I’m using Ben’s if I have to.”
“Good girl,” he said watching her walk away and into the arms of a dashing, grinning Ben. They stopped by the bar for her to inform the crew she’d be gone and to quickly grab her clutch from under the register.
Bill sighed, bowing his head and drawing a cigarette out from his pack. Lighting it, he took a long drag while leaning back in his seat catching the last glimpse of Alma, smiling and laughing out the club door. It hit him then that he hadn’t seen her eyes light up like that in some time. A pang of guilt tightened his chest when he couldn’t remember when that last time was. …
The joking banter between Alma and Ben had seemed to take a halt when all they listened to was a blaring cringey rock ballad on the radio as they rode along the New York streets in his Mercedes. The silence was mostly Alma’s as she was being cautious in remembering every turn as they traveled to his “luxury two bedroom” apartment as he described. She didn’t entirely trust him, he was just a man after all. Her eyes glanced over at Ben, who was reaching into the breast pocket of his silk shirt, producing three pink pressed pills debossed with an arrow pierced heart in the center.
“Wanna try some?” He asked.
“I’m good I’ve brought some blow,” she said. She wasn’t in the mood to do ecstasy, especially not with someone she wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with.
“Oh c’mon, I can half one for you?”
Alma took a pill from his offering palm and tucked it into an empty card slot in her clutch. “Why don’t you take one and I’ll think about it?”
Ben stared at the pills contemplating her suggestion before shrugging and popping one into his mouth, dry swallowing it. “Suit yourself.”
“Oh I will,” she said tapping a large mound of coke on the web between her thumb and index finger, snorting it without so much of wince.
He slowly pulled to the side of a curb outside a regular old complex. She was surprised at the short drive, Ben didn’t live so far from the club – he lived on no man's land. Just a single neutral block between the few that separated Trigger Finger’s turf from The Russo’s. She followed him up to his place, which although looked like any old place on the exterior, the interior was quite lavish. Her heels fell on white marble floors all the way to his loft. It was decked out like a general bachelor pad except that everything he decorated with was of quality and in neutral brown tones too. He even had a taxidermied antelopes head above a lava rock fireplace in his living room which he gave a quick spiel about how he acquired it during a hunting trip in the Rockies. Alma didn’t feel he was being honest about that, he didn’t seem like the hunting type. He was a slightly burly built man but he definitely did strike her as rugged.
“Would you like a drink?” Ben asked pointing at his bar cart.
“No thanks. Your place is really… nice? I feel like I should have a better word for it but-”
“Oh no worries, thank you. I’m not here a lot, I don’t like how… alone? I feel I guess?”
Alma lightly giggled. “It’s kicking in isn’t it?” How vulnerable he was being would have been flattering hadn’t she known he’d taken ecstasy on the ride over.
Ben chuckled. “My heart’s going a mile a minute but I can also hear it in my ears like, like a hummingbirds wings – look,” he took her small hand in his, placing it on his muscled chest, “see.”
Under her palm, she could feel the thumping of his fast beating heart but seemed pretty normal for someone under the influence. “Seems to me you’re alive and feeling pretty good to me,” she smiled at him and before she knew it their lips crashed together.
He was rough almost too rough than she liked but she took it. Allowing her to experience a different man and understand his needs. He slammed her against the edge of the living room wall just before sliding her around the corner into the hallway corridor. She could feel his growing erection through the thin fabric of her dress as he involuntarily ground against her. His hands harshly groped alongside her body, his thumbs digging between her ribs. Until down, down he reached her bottom, slipping his hands under her red dress so that he could knead the plump flesh of her bottom. In one swift movement, he lifted her on to his hips walking down the short hall and taking her to a room on the right where he threw her onto the bed. Alma finally took a breath now that she was broken away from his lips. She took it upon herself to lift her dress over her head showing him that she was wearing only a skimpy lace bra underneath. From his throat erupted a low growl, seeing the girl he most coveted from the club now in his bed, legs spread and pussy wet waiting for him to enter.
“I bet you’ve only dreamed of this,” she said trailing her hand from her breast down to her core, running her fingers through her own slickness.
“Dreamed? I’ve fucking jerked off to this sight,” Ben said rubbing his erection through his trousers with one hand and the other unbuttoning his shirt.
Alma had to resist the urge to roll her eyes from his statement. Surely, there could have been a more eloquent way of saying that. Perhaps even sexier? Instead, she decided to match his energy. “Well, what are you waiting for?”
“Hold on,” he said striding to the side of the bed producing a condom and an untied tie from the nightstand. Alma grew worried then, she wasn’t into bondage, at least not with any old somebody. She eased when she watched him put it around his own neck and then crawled like a preying lion from the end of the bed, between her legs and up her body, connecting their lips once more. They adjusted so that she was on top helping him with pulling down his trousers as he took his shirt off revealing his hirsute chest. She straddled him, rolling the condom on his average length before inching down slowly onto him, enveloping him as they both hissed at the feeling. He took her hips in his hands coaxing her into a fast rhythm.
“Pull the tie,” he grunted.
“Huh?”
“Pull!”
Balancing one hand on his chest she pulled the smaller end of the silk tie like he ordered, tightening the loop around his neck. It wasn’t too weird but she was usually the one asking Bill, and only him, to choke her. She continued at the pace that he urged her on and she worried that he might bust if she carried on yet she didn’t care as long as she got off first. She was reaching her peak, the bed frame rocking against the wall in a rhythmic thud. Her eyes her shut tight, images of Bill flooding her mind helping her get there.
“Pinch my nipples,” Ben choked out, pulling her out of it. Instead, she pulled the tie harder. His face turning a bright shade of violet. “Pinch,” he still managed to choke out to her dismay.
“Shut up! I fucking heard you,” she said squeezing her eyes shut, trying to extract the images of Bill once again from her mind. She was close and the memory of Bill hovering above her, thrusting relentlessly came to mind as tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. She could hear Ben’s voice again but she ignored it – her orgasm overcoming her when she remembered that sweet soft ‘I love you’ Bill has murmured in her ear. “Shut up! Oh, fuck!” She cried as she bounced on Ben’s dick. “FUCK!” Her eyes snapped open, disappointed that Bill wasn’t beneath her at that moment, her hips stalled yet her thighs shook.
Ben was pinching his own left nipple while the other had hold of her hand that was consistently tightening the tie around his neck, “Get off,” he choked, shoving her lightly.
Alma slid off of him ashamed thinking she did something wrong until he asked her to pinch his free nipple for him.
“Really?”
“Fucking do it,” he said lurching up, taking a tight grip of her throat. It was scary, surely he could snap her neck if he wanted to. So she promptly reached for his nipple pinching and twisting sharply. He let go of his own nipple then reaching down to unsheathe himself to jerk his bare length. Alma was slightly disturbed by it all. She couldn’t figure if it was the ecstasy or was this how he always liked it?
“Slap me!”
“I-If you let go of my neck,” she said hoarsely.
He was way too high to even consider her at that moment all he cared about was getting off. And so she drew her free hand back and slapped him with such a force it made her own hand sting red. He released her throat falling back on the bed coming on his own hairy belly in pathetic dribbles. Alma sat there appalled, feeling dirty and cheap as he relished in his own orgasm. She rolled off the bed, grabbing her dress off the floor before he could come back down to earth. She slipped her dress on as she walked out of the room. Which she noticed was his spare bedroom, he didn’t even give her courtesy of fucking her on his own bed.
“Alma!?”
“Goodnight Ben!”
“Hold on! Wait!”
She heard his call but she scrambled to gather her pager and clutch that had fallen forgotten on the living floor and she was out the door, jogging out the complex startling the doorman she had neglected to notice before when she was still starry-eyed. She was pacing by the curbside contemplating on hailing a cab but she decided to take the cold trek back feeling undeserving of even a simple luxury such as that. …
After collecting the bar money for Alma, Bill sat at his desk checking the spare pager that she didn’t even bother to beep. He was annoyed, rubbing his brow. It wasn’t like her but Alma was a grown woman capable of handling herself, he begrudgingly had to remind himself.
“Uh, Cooch?” Bill said to her as she counted money in the lounge area of the loft. “We should call it a night, yeah? I’ll get this all counted, don’t worry.”
“You sure boss?”
“Positive. You should rest up you had a gnarly set today.”
“Right! But you alright? I don’t mean to pry but I notice Alma’s not here?” She said pushing the mound of cash on the coffee table into a mesh laundry bag.
“Alma went out tonight. She was supposed to beep me and… I don’t know. I’m kinda worried?”
“Ah, I’m sure she’s on her way back.” She got up gathering her tote of nightly earnings and dirty clothes to wash. “And it’s okay to feel something once an awhile you know? You don’t have to be stonecold around me and especially not Alma. She loves you.”
He felt his chest tighten again when she said that. “You’re right,” he sighed. “Bianca,” he said just before she stepped out. “I really appreciate you, we made it this far with your help too.”
“Thanks, boss. See ya tomorrow,” she winked.
Instead of counting bills like he said he would he took the bags over to a cabinet where inside held a secret compartment door that he had to press three unmarked corners in a specific order so that it would pop open revealing a safe that was built into the wall just behind it. He pushed aside his and Alma’s various coats hanging inside and shoved the money inside joining the neatly banded and stacked cash inside. With that done, he plopped down onto his office chair checking the pager knowing there would be no new message. He contemplated on going out to look for her when suddenly she burst through the door, holding onto her frame as she shivered.
“What the fu-” his words died in his throat and his annoyance had completely faded when she looked at him with tearful eyes. “Alma? What happened?”
Shaking her head she stepped out of her shoes that had rubbed the back of her heels sore from the walk. “I’m okay,” she cleared her throat.
“What did he do to you?” He came over to her side but she distanced herself. On closer inspection, she saw the red marks lingering on her neck and developing bruises peeking out from the side of her backless dress. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“No! Bill, he didn’t hurt me on purpose. He’s a high paying customer you don’t want to lose his business or his friends business either, okay. I-I just want to forget it.”
“That’s bullshit! I don’t give a fuck about his money?!”
“Stop it, Bill. Don’t make it worse than what it was. He was high off X and he’s… he’s just a fucking weirdo, just leave it at that. Please.”
“God damn it, Alma,” he ran a hand through his hair, stressed that he couldn’t do anything at that moment.
“It won’t happen again.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Just leave it!” She all but yelled. “I have something to tell you if you’d let me?”
“Fine then-”
“Boss,” Theo said with alarm in his voice as he walked into the loft, his gun drawn to his side. “We’ve got company.”
Bill and Alma shared a knowing look and together they sighed, “aw fuck...”
PART FIVE
tags: @dreamtherapy @bskarsgardlove92 @tinygayfungi@skarswhat @nutinanutshell @xskarsgardx @reinamysterio @darling-dearest-desired @erika-beau-berika @fine-i-suppose @corlin90 @codependentcellist @loveforbillskasgard @kikilikes @twosupergayghosts @umbriellethenightfall @tigers-pat
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