#i really should finish doctor who sometime

[terranceholdsapencil]

Im listening to the Master Audio Adventure and nahhh this is insane I just finished part 2 😭

Joseph Lidster you are insane for writing this

[toxicanonymity]

hii angel!! i hope you’re doing well 💕

would it be okay if you made a drabble about going in for your yearly check up and pervy doctor!joel miller very shamelessly stares at ur cleavage and suggests (more like insists) he performs a breast exam?! hehehe

-🍰 anon

Bad Doctor, 18+

“Hey, not a lot of doctors will tell ya this, but cock is one of the best things you can put in your body.” He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head forward like he’d just let you in on a secret.

(dark) Dr. Joel Miller x f!reader | 2.1k Joel Masterlist | About my ask NOTES: ty for the ask, cake! Post-outbreak, doesn't have to worry about losing his license 😼 ✨️ WARNINGS: 18+ dubcon - power imbalance, inappropriate dirty talk touching sucking and arousal, drug use, shotgunning, pet names, praise, titty pronouns, discussion/misuse of women's health concerns for manipulation, medical disinformation, mention of future pregnancy & lactation PLEASE CHECK YOUR BREASTS and support cancer research. Gustave Rossy Cancer Campus Foundation Paris 💗

Part 2 / Part 3

“You practice safe smokin’?” Dr. Miller asked as he was about to light up the joint he rolled from the weed you provided as payment. 

“Safe smoking?” You asked. 

He shifted his weight onto one foot and held up the joint. “Only one way you should be smokin’, darlin’.”

He lit the joint, then walked over to the exam table where you sat with your legs over the edge, fully clothed. When he was almost up against you, he took your jaw in his hand. He brought his face nearly to yours. He let the cooled smoke out of his mouth slowly and you breathed in to accept it. He looked at your mouth with a little smile when he finished, then shamelessly eyed your cleavage. “Alright, let’s finish goin’ through these questions then get you outta here.” 

He put out the joint, then sat back down on his rolling chair. He was manspreading broadly, with his crotch on full display. His scrubs left nothing to the imagination either. They were tight and he clearly had a big package. Big balls, too. His hands dwarfed your medical chart. 

He looked up at you from above his glasses and asked, “Have you been taking a multivitamin?”

“Not as much as I should,” you answered.

“That's okay, baby. Just put it on your counter and take it when ya think about it, okay?” The pet name tickled your cheeks. “Okay, let's see,” he continued. “How ‘bout exercise? You movin’ around?” 

“Yeah,” you said. “I'm pretty good about that.”

“Good girl,” he commended you. “Okay now, women’s health….Hows your period? You regular?” 

“Regular enough.” 

“Alright,” he chuckled. “Remember the last one?”

“Around the first of the month.”

“Good,” he muttered. “Sexual activity?”

“Uh, what about it?” you asked. 

“Well, are ya havin’ enough sex, and how's it feelin’?”

“I guess it’s been a bit of a dry spell,” you said.

“Damn, no stories for me, then?” 

You laughed. 

“That’s a shame. I like hearin’ about that shit. Findin’ out who spits and who swallows. Which guys got a big dick or not.” He chuckled, then saw you didn’t know how to respond and added, “I’m kiddin’, darlin’. But  really... good lookin’ girl like you? A dry spell?” He paused to look you over, before commiserating, “That is a real shame.” 

Your upper body heated.

“Take care of yourself at least? Make yourself cum?”

When you hesitated to respond, he said, “Don't gotta answer that, but it's important, okay? Make sure ya do that.” 

“How often?” you asked. 

“Oh, once or twice a day should do ya… And if you're havin' trouble, sometimes direct contact can be too much. Try somethin’ else. Different angle, different pressure. Every woman's beautiful and different.”

“Thanks,” you said, feeling like his words were heartfelt.  

“Bet you're beautiful when ya cum,” he muttered, then held his hand up in mock defense, with a smile. “Sorry, that won't go in your chart. Okay, still in the women's health section here.” He lifted up one page and looked at the next. “You do your monthly breast exam?” 

“Um…. yyyeah, I try, I try to check regularly.” You answered. 

“When's the last time ya did it?”

“Um…”

“Ain’t sure? You oughta be trackin’ that, baby. Tell ya what….” 

He closed the chart and took off his glasses. “Let's take care of that while you're here. How's that?”

“Oh, um, you know, I could just do it when I get home,” you offered, feeling shy. Maybe if he wasn’t so hot, maybe if you weren’t so aware of his big dick in those tight scrubs, then it wouldn’t be so embarrassing. 

“Well, I hate to say it, but I really should take care of this for ya…. Ya know, now that I'm aware, it wouldn't be right for me to send ya home when I coulda done this in five minutes. Alright, shirt off, sweetheart," and cracked a little side smile with a wink.  "Let's see the girls."

Still manspreading on his rolling chair, he watched with his elbow on the counter and a pen in his mouth, looking you up and down as you took off your top.

“Alright,” his deep voice took on a softer, more intimate volume.  

After dimming the lights, he approached slowly. “That's a little better, ain't it?” He asked, looking up at the fluorescent overhead light he had turned off. He laid his massive hands one on each knee and said, “spread’em, sweetheart. I need to get a little closer.” He helped you spread your legs, then reached around you and mumbled, “You know, a bra comin' off is one of the most beautiful sights.” He unhooked it and nudged the straps off your shoulder. 

“There we go. Good girl,” he said, and admired them with an audible, “Mmm.” 

“Well, they look healthy,” he said. “You got a real pretty pair here, baby. You can tell a lot about a woman by the shape of her breasts, by her nipples.”

“Really” you asked? 

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “And by the way they feel, their density. It's all connected. Your whole���all your anatomy, your whole reproductive system, it's all connected….. Just from lookin’ at ya I can tell you’re real fertile.  If you're looking to get knocked up, you’re in luck,” he chuckled.  “And your milk supply will probably come in pretty quick, too.”

As he spoke, he began the breast exam with his fingers on the outside of each breast, cupping each one at the same time. “All right, good,” he said. I'm gonna check each one.” 

For your first breast, he moved so one of his legs was on the outside of yours to get closer to that side.  He caressed your hair and asked, “this okay?” As his other hand lifted your breast. 

“Yeah,” you agreed, heart beating faster. Your chest buzzed with the weed. 

He took in a long breath through his nose as he felt you. "She's got real nice milk ducts." He lifted your breast, pressed it up against your body, kneaded it, and kept glancing at your eyes. You were tingling between the legs already. He wet his lips, then used both hands in more of a clinical approach to feel around your breast, looking for any abnormalities.

“Okay, good,” he said to himself. “Shoulders back for me, sugar.” 

You complied, making your breasts jut out a little more. 

“Good girl,” he said. He caressed your breast from each side, then palmed it.  “Mmm.. Now I'm gonna check your reflexes.” 

He put your nipple between his thumb and forefinger, gently caressed it with his thumb, then squeezed a little. “Hmm,” he hummed as if unsure.

“What?” you asked. 

Your nipple fully hardened and you got goosebumps. “A little slow, but that's okay,” he said. “Let's come back to that. It’s a real important indicator. Important for all kinds of stuff.” 

When he moved to your other side, his package grazed your knee. Then he pressed his hips forward, and you felt the warm bulge in his scrubs. Your knee jerked away. “Oh, it’s alright. It's okay, baby," He said. "Don’t worry, you ain’t gonna hurt me….unless ya get feisty with me,” he chuckled. “All right, now let's see if she's sleepy like her sister.”

Your nipples were both relatively firm. He flattened his palm against it, let out a nearly silent grunt. His pupils were dilated. He caressed around the curve of your breast, then grabbed a handful, holding the weight in his hand, before dropping it. 

“You got a real nice pair, sweetheart. Real healthy.” As he kneaded your breast, his manhood hardened against your knee. “Shit, I bet you drive the fellas crazy,” he said. “Pretty girl, pair of jugs like this. Mm-mm, mm-mm-mm.” 

“Thanks,” you said. 

“So what's stoppin’ ya?”  he asked. 

“From what?” you replied, already knowing what he meant. 

“Keepin' that kitty nice and stuffed,” he chuckled.. “Hey, not a lot of doctors will tell you this, but cock is one of the best things you can put in your body.” He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head forward like he’d just let you in on a secret. He began to massage your breast idly as he spoke. 

“Now, with your legs spread like that, I can tell you're turned on.” 

Your face got hotter than it had ever been. 

“I can smell it,” he explained. 

You moved to close your legs, and he kept them open. 

“No, that's a good thing, sugar. Means everything's workin’. Everything's workin’ fine…. We think… so far.

Alright,” he said as he stimulated your nipple. “Well, she's a little sleepy too. Tell ya what, we'll try a different stimulation.” 

“Okay,” you agreed.

“And a little education never hurt either. You know what your nipples are for, darlin’? Two things. Pleasure and breastfeeding. 

“So it's real important they react to a mouth and tongue.” 

You looked at his mouth, and he wet his lips. “Cause pleasure’s important to help ya cum–and again, that’s real important, baby. And breastfeeding’s real important too, once ya have a baby.” 

You sat silently awaiting his next move. 

“Okay, so I'm just gonna make sure they're as reactive as they need to be…. get up on your knees for me, sweetheart.” 

You complied,  which put your breasts closer to his face. 

“Good girl,” he said. “God damn, you look real good.” He palmed himself over his pants, then let out a low whistle. He lifted your breast and approached it with his face, making contact tongue first, then closing his lips around it.

He closed his lips, swirled his tongue, and sucked gently. You inhaled sharply and he looked up with a mischievous glint in his eye. He suckled at your tit until your nipples were painfully hard, then let go of it and cleared his throat. “Oh yeah, that's better….oh yeah.”  He used his wrist to rub a visible erection through his obscene pants again.  “Now let me get the other one real quick. It's already hard, but i just gotta make sure it's the same.  Down the line, don’t wanna get in a situation where your milk supply is imbalanced– you know, once you have a baby.”  He framed your nipple in the crook of his thumb. “And baby I’d kill to see you pregnant. Damn. You lemme know if you ever need help with that.” 

You were throbbing wildly. He lifted your breast slightly before giving it a gentle kiss, looking up and making eye contact as he did it, then swirling his tongue around your already hard nipple, sucking it into his mouth. His tongue lapped just below your nipple, and he hummed, “Mmmn,” into your breast as he sucked.

After taking it out of his mouth, he said, “Good, real good.” He rested a hand on each of your thighs. “Now, you gotta promise me you're gonna do your breast check every month.”

“That whole thing?” you asked. 

“Well, grab a partner, sweetheart. It can be one of your girlfriends. All else fails, you know where to find me, don’t ya?” 

“Yeah,” you agreed. 

“Anything else I can do before ya go?” he asked and ran his hands up your thighs, then squeezed them. .

“I think I’'m okay,” you said. 

“You sure?” he asked and brought one of his hands between your legs. He two knucklesto ghost your cunt through your yoga pants, one on each side of your wet spot. Then he ghosted your clit with his thumb.  “Don't be shy now,” his chest expanded with deeper breaths. 

“I should really get going,” you said. 

“Fair enough.” He put his glasses back on, stepped back, and said, “you can stop spreadin’ your legs now.” He squeezed the thick shape of his cock before telling you, “Make sure you come back in a year, okay?”

 It felt abrupt. 

“Wait,” you said as he turned to leave, with his silhouette sporting a significant bulge.  You asked, “What if I need help or something? Just come back?”

“Yep. Sure thing, sweetheart.” 

He came back to the bedside and cupped your cheek. “You're a beautiful girl, real healthy. Just make sure ya do what I said, okay? Take care of that sweet little pussy for me.”

“Okay, Dr. Miller.” 

“Alright, take care now.”

Thank you for reading! 💕

[rie-092]

OURS.

[ yandere! stanley snyder and xeno houston wingfield ]

summary: your good ol' yandere but this time it's a jack of all trades and a mad scientist.

note: ahhhhh! i just finished reading dr. stone and i'm dying to make a yandere headcannon out of this duo! and this is the prompt! i want to add senku here but i decided to make a separate headcannon for him! then i'll do wind breaker next and the manhwas that i read during my christmas vacation and while i'm drowning with my school works then your requests! yeyyyy! (I'm just escaping from the reality, pls don't mind me.)

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣

Have you ever wondered what it's like to have a super genius and talented best friends? Like having best friends who excel with everything they do and give you an inferiority complex. Well, you should ask (reader) because that is her everyday life with Xeno and Stanley.

No offense; you really adore both Xeno and Stanley. But sometimes, you couldn't help but be jealous of their talents, brains, and skills. You spend countless nights studying and training to be able to catch up to them. But you always end up falling behind.

While Xeno always ends up getting a perfect mark on every test. You, on the other hand, were in the middle rank at your school. While you tried to follow every training that Stanley was doing, you always ended up with a broken bone, scratches, and bruises.

But you don't have to worry! Xeno and Stanley was always here for you! Do you remember the serial kidnapping case that happened in your school before? And how all of the victims was those people who talk shit about you? Well, you thought it was just a coincidence. But you see, Xeno needs some test subjects for his experiments. And man, Xeno hates hurting animals at all. So why not use humans? Pretty fun, if you ask him. While Stanley who happened to be free during those times did all the physical works in exchange of hearing the desperate pleas and seeing the blood of those people.

Oh, you also don't have to worry! Since those two knew how to hide their traces. Xeno just needs to mix some dangerous drugs and then boom! They can watch how the body dissolves along with the other evidence. A pretty fun sight, to be honest.

Meanwhile, Yandere! Xeno is the total opposite of Stanley. This guy doesn't even hide his tendencies that well. Don't blame him; you're too loveable! He really likes how you always try to catch up to him and Stanley all the time. (It's just a secret, but he really likes it when you cry—it's one of his secret pleasure.)

Anyway! They are both possessive and obsessive. Stanley is overprotective and overbearing, while Xeno is manipulative. Wow, yes! You are stuck in the middle of this mess. But you don't have to worry! Just like the center of the storm, both Xeno and Stanley are always calm and collected when they are around you—but please don't ask why they are practically clinging to you when you are around, please. You are the only thing that keeps them sane.

Oh, are you wondering why Stanley seemed to always know where you were? Ask Xeno. Because that little sly fox planted some tracker on your stuff that he gave to you as a gift. There are some who contain the chips who can measure your heartbeat, temperature, and voice recording so he can be aware of who you are talking to.

Are they a jealous type of yandere? No. Because you see, they are both aware of how dense you were. So aside from them, you unconsciously shut down every advance of your friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Which is a good thing, according to Xeno.

A few months before graduating in highschool. You made up your mind on becoming a doctor, thanks to Xeno's advice. And the two of them were more than happy to help you.

They both like how you gain the world's attention with your skills and wit. You easily became one of the best doctors in the world. And man, they are so proud. But when you suddenly said that you wanted to go to Japan and become a school doctor—they lost their minds.

Are you going to abandon them? No way in hell. Over their dead gorgeous body, okay?!? Have they done something wrong? No, as far as they remember, they only shower you with love and affection—okay, they are a little overbearing, but—!!!

When you assure them that you will only stay there for five years and will finally move in with them. They finally calmed down. Okay, deal. They will shut up for now. But they swear that they will surely visit you every month!

Spoiler alert, you've got yourself a pretty cute lettucehead student who somewhat recognizes your abilities and follows you around. Okay, sure, he sees you as an older sister—nothing more and nothing less. Sure, he spends his time in the clinic whenever he's not in the lab room, but it doesn't mean anything at all. Sure, he somewhat ends up tearing up the love letters that students leave on your desk and taking the chocolates that they give to you. But it doesn't mean anything at all, okay?

Anyway! When the petrification happened and you were stuck in Japan without your lovely “best friends,“. Let's just say that they became worse after they were de-petrified. You were not there. They don't know what happened to you. What if your body got destroyed into pieces? What if they will not be able to revive you even if they try? What if—

Let's just say this time they won't be as lenient as before. They will make sure that you stay with them this time. Even if it means they have to tie you down with them or lock you up.

“saving the world? no, love. you always comes first. while everything else is secondary.”

“you know that i don't want to hurt you, baby."

[halfpsychic]

Sleep Deprivation (John Carter x gn!reader)

Summary: John Carter can't sleep.

The prompt was taken from @medwhumpmay (post here), I completely forgot this started already so I'm excited to write some more of the prompts :) Warnings: whump, hurt with slight comfort, mentions of insomnia. WC: 1.3k

Tonight, you share an overnight shift with Carter. Carter hates them and the influx of patients until the early hours of the morning when he is finally able to get some sleep before everyone else wakes up. He’s been running on fumes all day. It’s never good when an emergency room doctor is so tired they can hardly think straight but it’s something you’re expected to do. Sometimes, it’s easier to push through, but like today, you and Carter trade yawns for hours.

Tonight, the ER slows down around one o’clock, typical for a weeknight but early compared to the weekend. A motorcycle crash finishes the bustle of incoming patients. The motorcyclist’s injuries are minor, survivable, and quick to treat. Well, quick to decide on a course of treatment. He’ll still wait for a CT scan and endure the process of stitches and a cast on his left leg. 

Before Carter can walk out of the trauma room, you put an arm out to block his exit. 

“Carter, you need to take a nap,” you tell him. When you look up, you’re greeted with the dark bags under his eyes. 

He shakes his head. “No, I’m fine, I can take another patient.” He tries to push your arm out of the way but you keep it first against the door frame.

“You’re falling asleep mid-patient. Take a nap.”

“I’m fine,” he protests. You know better than to give in to him when he’s in this state.

“There’s barely anyone else here. I can handle it.”

Carter’s shoulders drop because he knows you’re right. There’s no real need for him to still be up. You have the floor covered. 

“...But you’ll come get me if you need me?” Carter asks, not able to give in to the idea of a break so easily.

“I will,” you answer, letting your arm down. “And I’ll come wake you in two or three hours anyway.”

“Two.”

“Three if it’s still slow,” you counter and Carter accepts it with a defeated nod. 

“Exam one is still open, right?”

Carter exits the trauma room and you trail behind him. “Yeah, should be.”

He flicks off the light for the room and crawls onto the bed, you still following him into the room. Seeing Carter like this, so tired and against taking a break, worries you. He’s not always like this. When the roles are reversed and it’s you who refuses to break or can hardly stay awake, Carter is the first person to tell you to take a nap or go home. 

“Need a better blanket?” You ask quietly, wondering if the sheet on the bed will be enough for him.

“No, this is fine,” Carter shakes his head. He settles into the bed, pulling the sheet up to his chest and closing his eyes. Light from outside the room floods in and onto his face.

“Good night,” your lips turn up into a soft smile. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

He nods and hums in response without opening his eyes. You turn to leave the room and silently pray he gets some sleep so he won’t be as sluggish by the time the morning rush hits. 

As predicted, the next few hours are slow. Only one patient was brought in through the ambulance bay so the rest of your time was taken up with tending to and discharging prior patients, sneaking glances at the closed exam room door, and chatting with Randi at the admit desk. 

It’s nearly five o’clock when you decide to check on Carter. The door creaks open, your hand pressing light weight against it, and Carter’s head turns toward the intrusion.

“Is it time already?” He asks with a raspy voice.

“Yeah, it’s been three hours,” you answer. “Have a good rest?”

Carter sits up in the bed and swings his legs over the edge. “Don’t think I slept at all.”

His statement brings a frown to your face. He looked so tired before, how could he not have slept?

“Really?” You respond, and step into the room, closer to the bed. 

“I didn’t really sleep last night, either.”

That made sense. He had been tired all day, but you chalked it up to the typical exhaustion the job provides. These days, it’s more rare to be well-rested and awake than it is to be tired. 

Carter can see the worry present on your face. The slight crease between your eyebrows, your lips pursed, your fingers fidgeting with each other. “Sometimes I get insomnia,” he explains. “No matter how hard I try or how tired I am, I just can’t sleep.”

“When was the last time it happened?”

“Few months ago.”

“Does something trigger it? Stress, maybe?”

Carter shakes his head. “It comes and goes on its own.”

Close enough to the bed now, you sit down at the foot of it. “You should go home, y’know. For a day or two, until you can sleep again.”

He sighs and buries his face in his hands. “I’ll be fine tomorrow.”

“What if you’re not?”

“I will be,” he groans.

Carter’s attempts to calm your worries are useless. He’s wearing himself so thin you can see right through him. 

“I’ll tell Kerry.”

His head tilts toward you at the threat. You both know Kerry will make him go home and won’t let him come back until he sleeps. He can shake off your insistence but he can’t shake off Kerry. His jaws open for a yawn and his eyelids droop, heavy from the weight of exhaustion. You’re not sure how much longer he can keep them half-open before they close completely.

A shiver runs up Carter’s spine. He’s quiet. He doesn’t have any points to counter with and he’s too tired to think of something else. He just can’t give in– and risk everyone seeing how weak he is.

“C’mon, Carter,” you nudge his shoulder with yours. “I’d kill for a day off to sleep. You can lay on your couch and watch TV all day.”

“I should be able to handle it, though,” he protests with a weak voice.

It’s your turn to sigh. “Handle what? Working impossible hours with insomnia?”

“I can handle being tired.”

“This is different than normal tired.”

He hates that you’re right. On a regular day, blinking long and hard to stay awake, a cup of coffee in hand, his body doesn’t feel weighed down by sandbags hanging from his shoulders and hips. His eyes don’t close and refuse to open again. He can remember names of bones and steps in surgical procedures without help. 

Carter doesn’t want to admit it. He can’t. So, he stays quiet, but the worsening slouch in his posture indicates defeat. 

For a second, as he stands with sleep still pulling his eyes closed, he feels like a kid again. Before Bobby died and his parents grew distant. Staying up late with Bobby on a Saturday night, fighting the urge to let his head fall back against the couch cushion while the TV plays a VHS tape, and his mom gently nudging him awake so he can walk back to his bedroom. He doesn’t want to go and miss out on the fun of watching a movie past his bedtime. 

The bright lights of the ER make him squint. He trudges across to the break room to gather his things, and like earlier, you trail behind him. 

“I’ll drive you home” you offer quietly, standing beside his locker. 

“You’re still on.”

“If you can wait thirty minutes, our relief will be here.”

Another sigh, because he knows you’re right, again. It’s almost time for the next shift to be here and he’s in no condition to get behind the wheel of his Jeep. 

Carter uses the last of his strength to head into the break room. He falls back onto the couch, desperate for the time to pass quickly so he can be comfortable on his own couch, even if sleep doesn’t come for a while.

[angelltheninth]

Jack Abbot Fucks You in a Medical Closet

Pairing: Jack Abbot x Fem!Reader

Tags: nsfw, smut, fucking in a closet, clit stimulation, secret relationship, keeping quiet, praise, kissing, age-gap

Ko-Fi | Rules | Fandoms and Characters | Commissions

A/N: Been in a mood lately where I'm into dilf characters. Who can relate?

This was a bad idea. Such a bad idea. You should have both waited until you got home. But you didn't, you couldn't. Instead you found and empty closet and as soon as the door closed Jack was already pushing his pants down and fishing out his hard cock. It made it so hard for him to walk and it was all your fault for looking at him while licking your lips and pretending like it was hot in the hospital so you had to unbutton a button or two, showing the top of your breasts.

"Think I'm gonna let you get away with teasing me all day, you little brat? You know what you do to me. You know I can't hold back around you." So why should he even try? He held you by the hips, his fingers pressing into warm skin, your back and shoulders against the cold wall, warm, hungry lips on your neck.

Jack thrust his cock in and out of your pussy, not carrying how much noise he made, or you made. And he really should have cared. He was supposed to be the older, more serious one in the relationship.

Not behaving like he was still in his mid.20s but here he was, doing just that. Fucking his pretty, younger girlfriend in the medical supply closet. Reckless. Wild. Lustful.

You hooked one leg around him and pushed him in further, making the normally in control doctor groan in pleasure. "Actually I don't expect you to let me get away with it. But also don't blame me if we get caught."

Jack moved faster, both enticed and scared of getting caught fucking the hot nurse. It was unprofessional on multiple levels.

As he fucked you deeper he moved one hand against your stomach, your front and back revealed to him as your shirt was now fully open. Moving even lower he pressed his thumb against your clit, the wetness making it easy to glide and press against the sensitive spot. He always enjoyed teasing that spot, sometimes under the table during long meetings and see how much you could take before you trapped his hand between your thighs. But what he craved more than anything was the feeling of his cock being squeezed when he flicked your clit.

The more he teased and tortured your clit the harder it became to keep your voice down. You pulled Jack into a kiss, not because of lust, but because you wanted to shut yourself up. He wasn't gonna do it. Jack enjoyed hearing you whimper because of him.

"Come on, my good girl. Stop holding back. We both know we need to finish this quickly. Or would you prefer to get transferred to a different hospital and reprimanded? I wouldn't. I'm fucking addicted to fucking your cunt." He wasn't normally this chatty but he knew that dirty talk and praise got you going when it was from him.

Your pussy fluttered and contracted around his cock, cursing the condom he wore because you wanted to feel his cum flood you. As a nurse you knew the risk of something like that, and yet you couldn't help but frown as you watched him slide out, take the full condom off and tie it before throwing it into the trash.

Dividers by: @/saradika-graphics

[violetrainbow412-blog]

Day 3: favorite scent

Masterlist flufftober 🎃

Reblog if you liked it!

When you entered the conference room, the first thing you noticed was the strong scent filling the place. It was men's cologne, and as soon as it hit your nose, it completely overwhelmed you. But it wasn't an unpleasant dizziness; on the contrary, the woody artificial scent drove you wild. You loved autumn simply because of that.

“Sorry for the delay,” you apologized to the team, dropping into the last available seat. Next to Spencer.

You quickly grabbed the file that was on the table in your spot and took a glance at your colleague, who gave you a shy smile. You were a bit lost with the specific part your colleagues were reviewing, and he, noticing your confusion, leaned in to help you. That’s when the scent you had noticed earlier intensified, and when you turned to him, you realized it was coming from his body.

You registered your colleague’s light-colored shirt with a neatly tied black tie around his neck. His golden hair slightly brushed his cheek as he helped you, and suddenly you felt nervous, without really understanding why.

Reid found the file you were working on and then placed the folder in your hands. You whispered a small thank you, and he gave you a nonchalant expression, trying to tell you it was no trouble at all.

You had a rule you always tried to stick to, and that was not dating colleagues at work. Simply because it always complicated things. Morgan flirted with you all the time, but that was something he did indiscriminately, so you never took it too personally. As for the rest of the team members, they knew how to keep things professional, plus they were old enough to be your dad. However, that day you wondered if it would be worth ignoring that rule for someone like Spencer.

He was a broken guy, no doubt, and somewhat different from the others. But he was also sweet, polite, so intelligent, and humble that sometimes you found it hard to believe that so many good qualities could fit into one person. And the guy wasn’t bad-looking, to be honest. Although he wasn’t really your type, since you’d always dated more muscular men with a different lifestyle, exceptions could always exist.

And honestly, maybe his scent had something to do with your sudden fascination with him, because every now and then you sneaked glances at him as if you wanted to admire him with other intentions, not just as your colleague.

“Are you okay?” he asked once JJ finished presenting the case. That swollen belly from pregnancy was already starting to show, and you wondered when she would take her maternity leave.

“Yes, why do you ask?” you exclaimed absentmindedly.

“Oh, it’s just that you were late. You’re never late. And besides, you were looking at me a lot during the meeting, so I thought maybe you were worried about something and wanted to tell you that if you need to talk, you can tell me.”

Oh, sweet, sweet boy.

“I’m perfectly fine, Reid,” you laughed. Everyone had already left the conference room. “It’s just that I was so tired last night that I forgot to set my alarm, and then I overslept. But it’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure it won’t happen again.”

“Maybe you should buy an alarm clock. Did you know the first alarm clock was invented by watchmaker Levi Hutchins in 1787? But it was for personal use only because he made it to wake himself up at 4 a.m. to go to work.”

“I didn’t know that. I’ll probably take your advice and get one,” you smiled at him, already used to hearing him have facts about practically every subject.

“Well, you know that if something’s bothering you… you can tell me whenever you want, okay?”

The sweetness and kindness of this man touched you, and you stretched out to hug him, hoping it didn’t cross the line of trust, as it was well-known that the doctor wasn’t too fond of physical contact. However, he gladly received you in his arms, making sure to hold you as close as possible.

“I know. You’re a good friend, Reid,” you thanked him softly. Once you broke the hug, you didn’t completely pull away, taking a moment to lean toward his clothes and inhale deeply. “Is your cologne new?”

“Uh, yeah. A gift from Morgan. But I think it’s too strong. I don’t know if I should keep using it…”

“I completely love the smell of wood,” you blurted out. “And it suits you very well. It matches you.”

Upon receiving that compliment, the boy blushed just a little, and still with his hands on your waist, he tried to suppress a smile.

“Well, in that case… if you like it, I’ll keep wearing it.”

“No! I didn’t mean that, it was just an observation. You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to.”

“My concern was bothering people with the scent. But now I see that’s not the case.”

A giggle escaped your lips, and then you pulled away, thinking that if you stayed in that position any longer, it could be considered inappropriate contact.

“I’ve always believed that a handsome man should wear good cologne. We women love that.”

The words left your mouth before your mind could reflect on them, and although you were embarrassed, you weren’t going to take them back. Spencer didn’t know which was worse: the fact that you had just implied he was handsome or that you were suggesting you were charmed by it.

“I’ll keep that in mind from now on,” he murmured playfully, almost bordering on a flirtatious tone.

The two of you walked out the door, chatting about a few other things so you could fully focus on analyzing the case once you got on the jet. During that time, he was thinking about two things he definitely didn’t want to forget: thanking Morgan and making sure to put on cologne every morning without fail.

[madlori]

Ah, 90s TV

Y'all, I don't know how or why, but I've somehow fallen into a complete rewatch of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" (although I never watched this show start to finish when it aired, just now and then). It's surprisingly seductive and it sucked me right in. I'm slightly disturbed how VINTAGE it feels - it looks and feels like it was a contemporary of like, Little House on the Prairie, but was in fact made in the mid-90s (LHOP aired in the mid-70s to early-80s, btw).

The show holds up surprisingly well. It's got the typical tone and structure of "heartwarming prime time drama" from the 80s-90s (what I sometimes think of as the Schlock Era of TV). Almost entirely episodic, the succession of guest stars having an Incident of the Week that's totally self-contained (like seriously, one episode her little son had to have brain surgery and they made kind of a big thing of shaving his head and the next episode, full head of hair like it never happened). People are constantly getting kidnapped and experiencing grievous bodily injury so the other characters can lose their minds over it.

They do not shy away from The Issues. We've done "The Army Is Kind of Evil, Actually", "The Indians Are Being Treated Like Shit And That's Not Okay," "Racism is Bad, Actually", "Domestic Violence is Rampant and Also Bad", "Vaccines are Good", "Immigrants Are Also Being Treated Like Shit and That's Also Not Okay" and "Capitalism Poisons the Environment" and that's just the first season. Plus the usual personal storylines, like "the Civil War gave people PTSD," and "my teenage son wants to grow up too fast and I'm not actually his mom but it's too much" and "the mountain man I'm in a situationship with is a bit out there for my stuffy Boston relatives" and "I'm determined to be a pioneering woman doctor but sometimes I'm scared and uncertain and this shit is hard ok" and "hey I could marry this Boston doctor who actually thinks I'm awesome and should be taken seriously too bad this mountain man has my whole-ass heart."

You can almost HEAR the voices of the producers, too. "Okay we want this beautiful woman to be a DOCTOR and fighting against stereotypes, but we also want her to be MOTHERLY but also be free to have a SEXY ROMANCE with the mountain man so howwwwww wait I know she'll inherit three kids from a woman she just met who dies in the pilot. BRILLIANT."

The tightrope they're walking with most of the townspeople is tricky, too. Like they need them to be folksy and for you to like them, but also to exhibit period-typical attitudes (racism, sexism, etc) so that Dr. Mike can push back against it, so they often whipsaw wildly between likable and unlikeable depending on the needs of the plot.

I'm kind of impressed that they usually avoid making Dr. Mike a Super Doctor. She loses patients, she doesn't know how to treat some things - and they have to keep her to period-appropriate medical knowledge, so no antibiotics, brand-new smallpox vaccines, germ theory is barely a thing (it was very very new in the post-civil-war era). They don't have her independently recreating modern medicine (which is sometimes a thing Outlander does, although Claire has the benefit of being a time traveler whereas Dr. Mike is not).

Man you can also see the footprints of "Last of the Mohicans" all over this show, too. She couldn't have one of the stuffy townspeople as a love interest - she has to have the Wish version of Hawkeye (no shade on Sully, love Sully, but they obviously downloaded him right from that film). The film came out in 1992, this show started in 93.

It's shockingly balming to the soul. It's from an era when TV didn't take itself very seriously, there were no subreddits to pick everything apart, and the earnestness is just on full display.

I saw a post from someone else watching this who said "I just found out that the main couple on this show is a REALLY SLOW BURN" and like...oh you sweet summer child. Mike and Sully are not that slow. They were wildly obviously telegraphed as the OTP of this show from the first episode, had kissed by the end of the first season, declared their love in the first third of the second season and were married by the end of the third season.

That's not a slow burn by old-school TV standards. A slow burn is eight seasons of longing glances and slightly perturbed expressions when the other one is dating someone else. These two were all in from Minute One. Like, every episode has that obvious ticky box of "Mike and Sully have a sweet/tender/longing moment." They were constantly hugging, touching, and generally being all up in each other's business. This was never a "will they or won't they" although they tried to throw a few obstacles between them, there was never any doubt about it.

Man, this is real UST. This is how it's done. And these seasons are like 29 freaking episodes! WE USED TO HAVE A SOCIETY.

[his-beloved-bride]

Choices

Fandom: Love and Deepspace

Pairings: MC x Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, Caleb

Summary: A/B/O AU in which the boys are roommates in uni - MC hides her Omega status until her heat is triggered one night during a party at the boys' house…

A/N: Please note that English isn't my first language therefore there might be some mistakes here and there - summary vague to avoid some spoilers - MC has a name

The stadium smelled of pop-corn… and Zayne. The Omega sighed as her childhood friend's scent invaded her nostrils. He had invited her to watch Caleb's game that night. It had come as a total surprise. Zayne, doctor-to-be, never left his bedroom in the house he shared with Caleb and their friends. She would never have imagined the Alpha would be interested in sports, especially college football. Even when it was Caleb's team playing. Zayne disliked the noise, the shouts, the crowd… he always had. He wasn't much of a socializer. He wasn't one for small talk. Unless it was with her. He would have small talks with her all day every day. Big talks, even, if he could. But Zayne was busy. Zayne was going to be a heart surgeon, and failure was not an option.

"Finished your homework already, Dr. Zayne?"

Zayne raised an eyebrow and almost rolled his eyes when he saw the teasing smirk on her face.

"Not quite."

"Did Caleb get you the tickets?" she finally asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"No?" Zayne replied with a frown. "I bought them myself, why?"

"Oh… just… didn't think this was your kind of thing… is all."

"It's a big game for Caleb, I knew you'd want to be here for him."

"You didn't have to come with me, I know you hate these things."

"I don't… hate it. And it's Caleb, we should be here for him."

Mina nodded. She was unconvinced, but she nodded. This wasn't Caleb's first big game. But it was the first time Zayne was in the audience.

Mina hadn't seen Zayne in some time, but she was certain something was different about him now. He had always been a serious person, not just a serious student. Sometimes, it was hard to know if he was enjoying the moment, as he always seemed to want to be anywhere but wherever he was. When Caleb told her he was moving into a house with his friends, she did not imagine Zayne was one of them. And she did not imagine Caleb would start behaving like the future doctor either. Ever since he left for university, two years before she graduated high school herself, he had become so distant. They barely saw each other anymore. When she was accepted at the same university, she hoped things would go back to how they used to be, back to normal. But it wasn't the case. He was avoiding her. He barely even responded to her texts anymore. It was a complete mystery, why her adoptive brother would start ignoring her all of a sudden. In truth, it was Mina's first heart break. And she had shed many tears over it.

Mina cheered for Caleb and his team, and perhaps her spirit had helped them win, though they didn't really need any help. Zayne had remained seated, only clapping whenever he found acceptable. As the stadium emptied, he caught Mina by the arm and spoke strange words to her.

"Do you want to come?"

"What?"

"To the party, do you want to come?"

"You're hosting a party?"

Zayne snorted as if the very idea was laughable. "No. Caleb is."

"Who- who will be there?"

"His teammates I'm assuming, the cheerleaders, the guys…"

"What guys?"

"Our roommates."

"Ah, right…" The guys.

Mina shook her head. "Does Caleb know you're inviting me?"

"I don't think he'd object."

"You'd be surprised…" she mumbled under her breath.

"So, are you coming?"

Mina thought about it. There was a very good reason she shouldn't go to a house full of drunken boys. Not boys. Alphas. And perhaps her being there might finally get Caleb's attention. His anger and disapproval also, but his attention.

"Yeah, okay, I'll come."

***

Anger, disapproval, attention… Mina got all of that. And more. When Caleb spotted her in the middle of his living room, a red cup of who knew what in hand, surrounded by Alphas… he saw red.

"Ow, you're hurting me!" Mina whined as her foster brother dragged her outside.

"What were you thinking coming here?!"

"Zayne brought me!"

"You should've said no!"

"I wanted to see you! I never see you anymore, this is what I have to do to see my brother now?"

"I am not your brother," Caleb hissed at her, startling her. He instantly regretted it when he saw the look on her face, the hurt in her eyes. "I-" he sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Why would you say that to me?" Mina's voiced cracked as tears filled her eyes.

"No, baby, that's not what I meant, I'm sorry," he said in a soft voice, his soft voice that he only used for her and that she had missed deeply. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, but he was avoiding her eyes.

Frustrated, Mina tried to push him away from her, but he was like a rock, unmovable.

"I hate you," she whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

"That's okay," he murmured as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss in her hair.

"No, it's not okay!"

She was crying now, her face buried in his shirt. "You left me! You left me alone! Gran died and you weren't there!'

"I'm sorry, I couldn't… I had to…"

"What?" she shouted as she pushed herself away from him, from his embrace. "What did you have to do that was so important you weren't at Gran's funeral? You weren't there when I needed you the most!"

"I can't… I can't be there for you anymore, Mina…"

"Why not? Why do you hate me so much?"

"No, baby, you don't get it, I don't hate you," he assured her, taking her face in his hands, making her look at him. "I… I couldn't stay because… because I want something I can't have. And I don't want to hurt you."

"What doest that mean?" she frowned, and in her anger Caleb could see incomprehension.

"Does anyone know? Baby, tell me, does anyone know you're an Omega?"

"No, of course not."

"Good, that's good," he released a sigh of relief before embracing her once again. "No one can know."

Mina froze in his strong embrace. His strong Alpha scent surrounded her like a protective shield.

"Is that… is that why you left me… because I'm an Omega?"

Caleb sighed heavily. "I love you, you know that right?"

"… I love you too."

"One day your suppressants won't do the job anymore, and you'll need… someone. Promise me you'll find a good Alpha."

Silence invaded the backyard. The muffled sounds from the party raging inside was all that could be heard, but neither of them paid it any mind. Mina's hands gripped Caleb's shirt and she trembled slightly in his arms.

"I already have found a good Alpha…"

"Mina…"

"Is that why you left?" she asked, gripping his shirt tightly. He could hear the tears in her voice.

"I'm your brother…"

"No, you're not!"

Caleb chuckled quietly. "Do you see now why I had to go?"

"It's not fair!"

"One day, you'll have to make that decision. And I can't be your brother when you do."

Mina sobbed. "It's not fair…"

"I know… but in the end, no matter what happens, no matter who you choose… I'll always be there for you. Always."

***

Mina entered Zayne's room without knocking. It was unlike her to do such a thing, and Zayne would usually not appreciate it but when he saw her face, her wet cheeks, her red eyes… he chose to remain silent, even when she collapsed on his bed with her shoes on.

"I see you spoke to your brother."

"He's not my brother!"

"What happened?"

Mina sighed. "Don't worry about it, I know you're busy. Just pretend I'm not here."

"But you are here, and you are upset. I would be a bad friend to ignore it."

"Is Caleb my brother?" she mused. "Can he be something else or will he always be my brother…"

"Well, technically speaking, he is not your brother, you were never adopted as such."

"Technically speaking…" she repeated. Was that enough?

"Why? What else do you want him to be?"

What a question that was. The answer was not so simple.

"I'm just going to stay here for a little while… is that okay?"

"Of course."

Zayne eyed the teary girl on his bed for a moment before turning back to the books on his desk.

***

When Mina woke up, she didn't know where she was. That wasn't her bed or her bedroom, and she was still fully clothed, although, someone had removed her shoes.

"Zayne…"

She looked around but the room was empty. The clock on his bedside table showed it was the middle of the night, 3AM. At least the party was over, there was no music or laughter to be heard. She pushed the covers to the side and sat up. She didn't question how she got under the covers of Zayne's bed. She simply put on her shoes and exited the room.

"Hey, watch it!"

Mina gasped as a male voice reprimanded her.

"You're not Zayne," another voice said.

Mina found herself in the hallway with two strangers she could only assume to be Caleb and Zayne's roommates. Two Omegas looking right at her.

"Uh… no I'm… I'm Mina, I'm Caleb's… I'm Caleb's…"

"Sister, yeah we know of you," the one with the purple hair cut her off.

"What are you doing in Zayne's room?" the blonde one inquired.

"Oh, I was… I guess I must have fallen asleep earlier… he was with me before."

"He's in the kitchen making coffee. Hi, I'm Rafayel, this is Xavier."

Mina eyed the two men before her, two Omegas… two claimed Omegas. The bite marks weren't hidden behind a scarf or a ton of makeup. They were worn proudly, adorned on their throats.

"Yeah he's doing an all nighter again," Xavier sighed his disapproval.

"So uh… you and Zayne…" Rafayel said wiggling his eyebrows.

"No," Mina shook her head. "We're just friends."

The look of disappointment could not be missed on the Omega's face, but Xavier only seemed bored. Mina stood awkwardly in the hallway. It wasn't surprising they would think that, after all, she must reek of Zayne's scent now that she had slept in his bedsheets. She needed some fresh air, desperately. She had spent the night in the company of Alphas, had gotten Caleb's scent on her and now Zayne's scent was attacking her senses like a relentless assault against her suppressants.

"I should go," Mina said, awkwardly walking around them to reach the stairs. "It was nice to meet you!"

Rafayel and Xavier watched her leave quietly and once she had disappeared looked back at each other.

"Did you smell that?" Xavier asked.

"Yeah. She needs better suppressants."

Mina found Zayne and Caleb in the kitchen. Caleb was cleaning after his guests, Zayne was, as Rafayel had said, drinking a cup of coffee. Both Alphas smelled her before they heard her, which alarmed the captain of the football team. He dropped everything and rushed over to her.

"Mina, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she frowned, confused by the panicked look on his face. "Why?"

"You.."

The front door opened and didn't allow Caleb to respond. Mina smelled the Alpha as soon as he penetrated the house. He was huge. Not just in size but in height. Imposing, tall and strong. He was wearing a dark suit perfectly tailored to his muscular chest and arms. It made him even scarier. There was no doubt, with his white hair and red eyes, he wasn't just any Alpha. He was the Alpha to lead all Alphas. The leader of the pack.

"Sylus," Zayne greeted. "You're home late."

"I had business," the white haired Alpha said with a voice so deep it shook Mina to her core.

She swallowed heavily. That wasn't normal. The effect he had on her, just with his voice. She looked up at Caleb and saw concern in his eyes.

"Who's this?" Sylus asked as he turned towards her. "Finally found an Omega of your own, Caleb?"

"She's not an Omega."

Sylus raised an eyebrow at Caleb's words. "No?" he cocked his head slightly before he took a step forward.

Mina could feel Caleb tensing up next to her, or perhaps it was her own nervousness she was feeling. Sylus approached her slowly, then leaned over to her, his face coming close to hers, coming down to her neck. Mina felt paralyzed, caged by the Alpha who wasn't even touching her. Sylus breathed her in and hummed. His red eyes moved to find hers and he smirked at the fear he saw in them. He moved away slowly, as his fingers seized her chin and forced her to look up at him.

"Looks like your suppressants decided to quit on you, little Omega," Sylus tsked.

"She just forgot to take them," Caleb assumed.

"No, I didn't," Mina said quietly, knowing what this meant. And from the look on Caleb's face, so did he.

"A valiant effort," Sylus smiled, "to hide your little sister's secret."

"This does not come out of this house," Caleb ordered.

"Who am I going to tell?" Sylus shrugged. "But the suppressants have stopped working, taking them still will only damage her health."

"He's right," Zayne said from behind them. "Do you know who triggered your heat, Mina?"

"My… my heat? No, I'm not in heat," the Omega shook her head.

Sylus laughed. Caleb's heart sank. "Mina… your body has rejected the suppressants… you know what that means."

"But… I feel fine."

"For now," Rafayel said as he appeared in the living room with Xavier.

"You'll feel it soon. And it'll hurt."

"Shut up, Xavier," Caleb growled.

"Do not speak to my Omega that way," Sylus warned.

"Then tell your Omega not to scare m…" Caleb paused.

"Scare your…? You sister? Or your Omega, Caleb?" Sylus asked. "Figured that one out yet?"

"Shut up!"

"That's enough," Zayne called from behind them. "Mina is going into her first heat and she doesn't have an Alpha, now is not the time for us to argue. We need to figure out who triggered her heat as he's most likely her mate."

"Oh please," Rafayel sighed dramatically, "we all know it's you, Zayne, the girl slept in your bed for a few hours, your scent is all over her."

"You what?" Caleb turned towards Zayne, "you let her sleep in your bed, are you insane?" Did you do this on purpose?"

"A few minutes ago, I was still under the impression your sister was a beta, Caleb."

"Caleb," Mina called, her voice quiet and weak, but he heard her nonetheless. "Can we talk about this?"

On Caleb's face was a mixture of anger, uncertainty, panic… and fear.

"Caleb," she begged as tears filled her eyes.

Oh, how he hated to make her cry again, especially on this night.

"I'm sorry, baby," he said before stepping away. Mina's eyes grew bigger with each step he took and she watched him walk away from her. She watched her Alpha exit the house she was now trapped in.

Her heart was ripped apart at the loss of her chosen mate, as his scent vanished while two others invaded her senses. Her blood started to burn in her veins, her belly ached calling for an Alpha that was no longer there.

Her heat had started. It slammed into her with a vengeance, demanding an Alpha, demanding a knot, demanding to be claimed.

Mina collapsed under the weight of her triggered heat and all the pain and aches that came with it.

[hgfictionwriter]

Self Control: Part Ten - Setback

Jessie Fleming x Reader

Summary: Jessie suffers an injury during a game and has to navigate balancing her recovery and caring for you. She feels helpless as she tries to step up for you, but can't the way she wants to.

Warnings: Language. Slight angst.

A/N: Inspired by poor Jessie's injury during the Olympics. And everyone please knock on wood I'm not putting some bad mojo out there with this. Oh, and in this world Janine is still a Thorn 🙏 Rest of the series is here.

"-and Fleming is down. Oh, that looked like a hard hit. She's moving, but she's not getting up."

Football was a physical sport. She'd seen far too many friends ushered off the pitch to never fully, or sometimes even ever, return. She'd been extraordinarily lucky that she'd been more or less injury-free her career. However, sometimes she did take a few knocks.

Normally, she was most worried about the team anytime she was injured; that she was letting them down. But as you held her hand while she sat on the examination table in the medical assessment room, your eyes filled with concern and worry - at least for the short amounts of time she could manage to look at you; even with dimmed lights it was too damn bright - she felt most guilty about you.

"I'm confident we're looking at a Grade 2 concussion here," the team doctor said. "I'm not worried that we're into severe or Grade 3 territory. Y/N, I'm going to ask that you help monitor Jessie's symptoms and recovery over the next couple of weeks. If repeat vomiting occurs, extensive dizziness, or she's having prolonged confusion or headaches aren't improving, please contact me immediately."

Jessie had her eyes screwed shut. She tried to focus on her breathing and keeping herself steady as she attempted to will away the incessant pounding in her head. She opened them as the doctor finished speaking to see you nodding eagerly. Your eyes were trained on the woman before glancing back at Jessie and lifting her hand to give it a quick kiss.

"For the next couple of days - lots of rest. That means physical and mental. Very limited reading and screen time. And you're going to be really sensitive to lights and sounds, so a dark and quiet environment is best.

"Days three and four, you can start some light physical or mental activities again. Short, non-strenuous walks, for example. But listen to your body. Days five to seven, you can increase things a bit more, but-"

"We're moving in less than two weeks," Jessie interjected, wincing as she opened her eyes once more to look at the doctor. The doctor, who she knew well, gave her a look of warning, knowing where this was going.

"You should not be packing or moving furniture in two weeks," the doctor said firmly. "You can take on some light packing maybe 7-10 days from now, but carrying heavy boxes is out of the question."

Jessie shook her head and regretted it immediately, wincing sharply this time, a hand flying up to her temple as she grimaced in pain. Your hand came to her shoulder and she sat very still as she rode out a wave of pain.

"We'll hire packers," you told her sternly. "We already have movers anyway."

"No," Jessie returned stubbornly, still unable to open her eyes.

"Well, she's still coherent enough to argue with me, so I guess that's a good sign, right?" You relayed flatly to the doctor who chuckled.

"It is, actually," she said. "Y/N, you know my number. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions. Jessie," Jessie felt the doctor's hand on her shoulder and she slowly blinked her eyes open to face her, "behave yourself. I know you like to be busy and I know you want to take care of your fiancée, but you'll be able to get back to that much sooner if you listen to your body and to me."

"Mm," Jessie voiced noncommittally.

The doctor chuckled and spoke to you again.

"Okay, you can take her home now. And with all of this urgency I didn't even have a chance to ask how you're doing. How much longer?"

"About two months left," you answered.

"Oh my gosh. Final stretch, hey? How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," you said. Jessie peeked an eye open to see your hand subconsciously rubbing your enlarged stomach while you continued to hold her hand in your other. "She's so active." You shot Jessie a sidelong, mildly teasing glance. "And at night in particular. I blame myself for that one - I'm the night owl of the two of us, so she must be getting that from me. But yeah, some of the third trimester symptoms are certainly popping up, but truly, I can't complain too much. Or shouldn't yet anyway," you finished with a smirk.

"Well, it'll be nice to get settled in your new place before the baby comes. I'm positive you'll sort out the logistics just fine," the doctor added pointedly and Jessie knew it was for her.

"That's the plan," you said. "It shouldn't be bad. We don't have too much stuff. Most of the furniture will be new and we're just getting all of it delivered after our move-in date."

"That's great. Well, Jessie, I will be seeing you in a week for a follow-up, but Y/N, if I don't see you anytime soon, I have my fingers crossed that the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly. Can't wait to see pictures of your little one once she's born."

The walk out to the car was slow and tedious. Jessie tried to walk casually and easily, dismissing your supportive arm and wanting to walk on her own, but ended up bracing herself against a random car only ten feet in as she became disoriented. Your arms were around her in a second.

"Baby, come on. Don't be so stubborn. Put your arm around me," you told her both tenderly and firmly. Despite the medication the doctor gave her, her head was still pounding and she had to relent.

She was filled with self-contempt as you eased her into the passenger seat and gently closed the door, wary of both the jostling and sound.

"My baby," you cooed after you climbed in and were settled. You rubbed her thigh and placed the cold compress the doctor had given you into her hand. "Here, hold this against you. It'll help."

"I hate this," Jessie said, voice shuddering against her will.

"I know, love," you said gently. "Let's be grateful it's nothing more severe. I know that doesn't help you in this moment though. Let's get you home, alright?"

She opened her eyes to look at you. Your bump was nearly pressed against the wheel at this stage in your pregnancy.

Jessie sniffled and rubbed her face in aggravation. You shouldn't be taking care of her. You shouldn't be worrying about her. It should be the other way around.

Though you drove as steadily as you could the whole way home, even the slightest jostling or bumps sent pain through her. She gripped the seat tightly and breathed heavily as she fought off a persistent wave of nausea.

She leaned heavily on you despite herself as you both walked up to the apartment. You'd found a hat of hers in the trunk and put it on her to block out some of the lights she'd encounter on the journey up. She apologized repeatedly throughout the walk and you tutted in disapproval and shushed her.

You put her to bed and Jessie began sniffling again as emotions began to bubble up once more as she watched you going all around the apartment to get her set up and cared for.

At one point you were in digging through one of the bottom drawers in the bathroom for something. You held onto the counter with one hand to balance yourself and you huffed in exertion, your stomach very much in the way.

Jessie sat up, wanting to come over to help you. She grimaced as her head began to pound anew and her vision narrowed to a point. She swayed in bed for a second before she felt safe enough to move again. She'd only flung the covers off of herself and lowered her feet to the floor when you voice boomed from the other room.

"Jessie," your voice sharp and making her flinch. "Get back into bed," you said insistently, but much softer this time as you walked back over and gently pushed her back down. She whined and sniffled as you did so. You began to laugh and her eyes grew wide as she looked to you in disbelief.

"Why are you laughing?" Jessie asked, her voice so much weaker than she intended.

"You're being silly," you said through a residual laugh. "You're so stubborn. You were levelled onto the pitch, nearly unconscious, less than two hours ago. Please, just relax tonight. Can you do me that favour?"

"I should be helping you," she went on, her voice up an octave as she fought through emotion.

"You can help me by resting," you told her patiently. "Oh, I have to text your parents back. They're worried about you."

She really wasn't in the right state of mind, because suddenly she felt her face screw up and she began sobbing, made worse by the physical pain the action triggered inside of her.

"Jess," your tone gentle and inquiring, but clearly in shock at the sudden outburst. You sat down next to her immediately and began caressing her head. "What's going on?"

Jessie winced in pain as her shoulders shook while she cried.

"Oh my gosh," you said, underlying concern in your voice as you began to rub her back and you took her hand. "Is it your head? What can I do, baby?"

"I'm letting you down," Jessie forced out, breath hitching at the end of her sentence. "I should be taking care of you."

"Oh my God. Babe, stop that," you said gently, but urgently. "You're not letting me down at all. You take care of me all the time. You're injured. It's okay."

"I'm not a good partner," she sobbed. She heard the sound of surprise from you, but she couldn't stop herself. "I'm not around enough. And that's bad enough. And now we're having a baby? I'm never going to be around. I'm going to be an absent parent. And even if I'm here, I might be injured and you'll have to take care of us both."

"Jess. Oh my God," you said in bewilderment as you rubbed her back further. "Baby, please. None of those things are true. Take a breath."

You placed a hand on her chest, pressing firmly and somehow it immediately caused her to slow her breathing. She brought her hand to yours and clutched it tightly.

"Breathe," you said patiently. "It's going to be okay."

Within those few moments, Jessie's breathing began to normalize and she felt her pulse slow once more. She exhaled and the tightness she'd held in her brow relaxed with it.

"It's okay, baby. Just breathe," you coaxed softly as you continued to rub her back and hold your hand and hers to her chest.

Her eyes remained closed as she let you calm her. Her shoulders hitched periodically with a residual cry, but eventually, she sniffled and opened her eyes to look up at you. The room was dark, but she could still make out your features.

"I don't want to let you down," she whispered, voice still trembling as her throat tightened once more, emotions threatening to spill over once more.

"You never let me down," you told her resolutely. "Ever. And I mean that." You let those words sink in before carrying on. "You are the absolute best partner I could ever hope for."

Jessie watched quietly as you smiled, but it faltered. Looking closer she saw tears starting to form in your eyes.

"I'm serious. You know my family. My parents marriage was absolute shit. I didn't know - for a long time - that relationships could be good. That they should be. The way you love me, the way you care for me, is something I didn't even want to hope for because it seemed so impossible. And then even if it was possible, there was no way I'd find someone like that for me. That I would deserve to be loved like that."

"Babe-" Jessie went to interject, but you stopped her.

"When I tell you you're incredible, I really mean it. You're far more than I could've ever hoped or dreamed for. You show me more love and affection in a day than I felt for years at a time. I swear. So please don't ever worry about letting me down."

Jessie was sniffling now, blinking tears onto her pillow and she lifted your hand to kiss it, holding it there against her lips and clutching you tightly. She hated that you felt that way for so many years. And though she was happy that she could make you feel loved like that, it broke her heart, too. She just couldn't fathom someone not loving you wholly and completely.

You leaned down and kissed her forehead, removing your hand from her back to caress the side of her face. You chuckled lightly, speaking against her forehead.

"Short of cheating on me or having some secret family on the side, you could never let me down."

"Babe," Jessie complained, shifting her head to try to look at you. "I would never do that."

"Just saying," you said lightly as you sat back up. "That's the line. For clarity purposes - even if you fell out of love with me and chose to end things, you still wouldn't be letting me down. I'd be devastated, of course, but I would respect that and still love you."

"Babe," Jessie started whimpering again and you consoled her.

"Okay, okay," you placated. "Last thing. Yes, you travel. Yes, you'll be away sometimes. And yes, it is possible that you could get injured again. But that's okay. Of course, I don't want you to get injured, but because I love you. You need to understand that we're partners. We take care of each other.

"And lots of parents travel for work. I know you sometimes forget, but I'm pretty independent and I'm capable," you smirked. "Plus, we have lots of support in case I or our daughter need anything while you're away. What stands out most to me is our daughter will grow up seeing her mom pursue what she loves, working hard to be the best as what she does, and inspiring a new generation of players. That means so much and I wouldn't change it."

You laid another kiss on her forehead. "Get some rest, baby. I love you so much. I'm going to take care of a few things, but I'll be back soon and we can lay together, okay?"

She gave a faint noise of acceptance and you rose from the bed, pushing off slowly, now having to lean back and get your balance to counter the weight of the baby. Jessie's hand shot out to brace your back, and though you delivered a stare her way after you were steady, it dissolved into a smirk.

"See? You're still helping me."

------

The week dragged on so horribly slowly for Jessie. She was so frustrated and upset with herself. She would've always wanted to be able to get up and go, do things, but especially now. You’d taken over essentially all of the household chores and errands and she felt exponentially guilty.

One day you came home, shuffling through the door with bags of groceries hanging off your arms. Jessie shot up off the couch to help you, but her vision began to peter out. She paused a few steps in to brace herself against a nearby chair.

"Jessie," you chided.

She could hear you putting down the various bags. And she pre-emptively put up her hands in defense. "I'm fine." When she opened her eyes again, she was met with a disapproving look from you. She dropped your gaze immediately.

"Sit down, please," you instructed.

"I can help you put everything away," she insisted as she tried to push past you, only to have you hold her back.

"Jess," your voice was curt and she knew you meant business. She could feel your gaze burning into the back of her head and she forced herself to look at you. You went on softer this time. "I'm sure you could help me with groceries. But I'm fine. Honestly. You can help me most by doing as your doctor said, and taking it easy."

She was contemplating a rebuttal, which you saw it coming from a mile away and you continued.

"Don't make me resort to tactics of emotional warfare," you said sarcastically and Jessie huffed, recalling how you told her the other day that the more you had to wrangle her, the more your daughter kicked and squirmed and tired her out.

Jessie sighed begrudgingly and collapsed into the couch, an instant pang shooting through her head at the jarring motion. Served her right for being petulant, she thought ruefully. Despite her antics, she felt your hand caress the side of her head.

"It's like a preview into parenting," you joked before kissing her head and returning to the groceries. Jessie opened her eyes and glared at your retreating form.

"Yeah? Are you going to threaten our kid with guilt trips, too?" She'd meant it as a bit of a snide joke, but immediately regretted her words as soon as she'd said them. Your movements stilled and you slowly turned back to face her, your expression one that made Jessie sink further into her seat.

"Do not start with me, Jessica."

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "That was uncalled for."

"You're still injured. A brain injury at that," you replied as you went back to the bags before giving her a pointed look. "I'll chalk it up to that. You get one freebie."

Jessie was silent as she watched you work. Your movements were laboured at times and she see how much effort it took to do certain tasks. Still, it was true, you managed just fine.

When you were finished, you returned to the living room and sat heavily next to her, a sigh of relief on your lips as you leaned back. You were short of breath, and Jessie looked away quickly when you felt her watchful gaze and peeked open at eye at her. You held out a hand, gesturing for her to relax.

"She's pushing against my diaphragm; it's making it harder to breath, it's not a big deal," you reassured her pre-emptively. You placed your hands on the cushions and pushed yourself up to sit straighter before you met her eyes again. You took her hand.

"I know you want to help. But you have to pace yourself. You can't spring up and sprint over, or you can't be up and down trying to pack and lift things. Not right now. You know better than that," you said gently.

"I already texted Janine and Kelli about packing. They agreed to come over tomorrow," she pouted, spurred on by another failed attempt of hers yesterday. You sighed and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you for doing that. I feel much better about that approach," you told her.

"I'm sorry," Jessie said, fingers fidgeting as she remained slumped on the couch. She sat up and gave you a hopeful look. "I'm feeling better every day, though. I'll be able to help out a lot more around the house soon."

You gave her a patient look and cupped her face in your hands.

"I'm pregnant - not infirm. Did you know...there are thousands of women, for one reason or another, who do this alone? I am very, very lucky that I have you and you’ve been so attentive and wonderful. But there are many women who manage all by themselves. I can do the same - not even, actually, since you’re still here and supportive - for a couple of weeks."

Despite your words of reassurance, Jessie's face fell and she snuggled into you, resting her head on your shoulder. She frowned as she felt your body jostle with a soft chuckle as you wrapped your arms around her. You kissed the crown of her head.

"My sweet baby," you chuckled further against her though she groaned. "Don't worry. A few weeks from now when I'm complaining 24/7 and can barely get out of bed, you'll be relishing these moments."

--------

True to their word, the next day Kelli and Janine were over and were making serious progress on packing up the apartment under Jessie's and your watchful eye.

Despite their help, it was a struggle for Jessie. She was very particular about things like this and she wanted things packed up and organized in specific order and way. With some coaching from you, she'd had to let some of that go, but it wasn't easy.

She and you packed up the lighter things, but anything heavy, and particular full boxes, were left to the girls. And what upset her even more was that she was having trouble focusing. Between all of the lights - clearly, none of you could pack in the dark - and physical exertion, she found herself having to take more breaks than she liked and you'd had to take over quite a bit in directing the girls.

Still, when she was able to, she tried.

"Oh, that needs to go over here," Jessie interrupted as Kelli was setting down a box in the obviously wrong pile. Kelli rolled her eyes good-naturedly and picked up the box once more with a heaving motion, balancing it against her thigh as she adjusted her grip before moving it to the appropriate area.

"Better, princess?" She asked, eliciting a scowl out of Jessie. She knew Kelli was just joking, but it was grating on her. Kelli called her that a few times now, along with a couple of other cracks in that vein.

Her friends, throughout her entire life, had always loved teasing her. Maybe it was the way she blushed when she got flustered or worked up, but people just seemed to love poking at her. Normally, she took it in stride, but it was hard to laugh them off today.

She had all of this mapped out and was fully ready to tackle it alone. Did Kelli think she wanted to ask them for help? No. She hated it.

You were supposed to have your feet up without a worry while she took care of it all. Instead, you were on your feet, packing alongside them and doing more than your fair share of directing and corralling. She saw how you stood there, a hand on your back as you caught your breath, a veiled wince now and then. She could see how sore and tired you were getting.

Her stare followed Kelli as she bounded back over to Janine to gather up some more items. Jessie could feel the heavy tension between her shoulder blades and she felt her face and ears growing hot. She took a steadying breath, she knew this feeling; if she wasn't careful she'd be blinking back tears soon.

She released a slow, deep breath as she returned her attention to the box in front of her and labelled it accordingly. She was setting down the marker when out of the corner of her eye she caught you waving Kelli over. She watched as you spoke in a hushed tone to her and nodded to the other room.

Jessie frowned as she watched you two retreat. Something seemed off, confirmed when you partially closed the door behind you. Jessie quietly padded over and held her ear close to the opening. She whipped her head around, gritting her teeth momentarily at the way the sudden motion aggravated her symptoms, when she felt Janine sneak up, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What's going on?" Janine mouthed, ever curious. Jessie shrugged the girl's hand off her shoulder tempermentally.

"I don't know," she mouthed back with a mild glare. Janine rolled her eyes and they both leaned in.

"-I appreciate your help. I know you don't have to be doing this. But you need to stop making jokes. She already feels bad enough. She doesn't need you making cracks at her expense. She wouldn't do that to you if situations were reversed. So stop. Please."

Jessie's stomach sank. Now you were defending her as well. She went to push the door open, but Janine pulled her back and away, well out of earshot.

"Let it go," Janine told her.

The emotions Jessie had been working to keep at bay just minutes ago were now raging forward. Her ears were burning and she sniffled.

"Jess," Janine warned her with underlying care in her voice. She knew the last thing Jessie would want right now is to have an emotional meltdown. Janine placed her hands on Jessie's shoulders and spoke calmly, but firmly. "It's fine. Nothing to get worked up about. Y/N loves you a ton. She's being a mama bear to you right now. And fair enough. You're not feeling well, so she's looking out for you. Kelli's a big girl. She'll get it. She'll be fine."

Jessie sniffled and folded her arms against herself.

"It just sucks," she said as she worked to regain her composure.

"I know," Janine said as she patted her on the shoulder. "You'll be all better soon though. Take it easy on yourself." She smirked. "Y/N said you were planning to paint a few rooms in the new place a couple weeks from now. You're on your own for that."

Although she fought it, Jessie had to laugh. She was about to comment when she noticed the door open behind Janine and you and Kelli stepped out. She studied you both and to her surprise nothing seemed odd.

Janine followed her gaze and looked back at her with a wink before going back to help Kelli, who, at least as far as Jessie could see, was in fine spirits.

You must've noticed Jessie's behaviour because you soon approached.

"Everything okay, babe?" You asked.

She looked to you, her gaze eventually falling to your rounded stomach. She placed her hands on your pronounced bump and ran a thumb lovingly along it before lifting her gaze back up to you and all of the boxes around; a physical manifestation of the new chapter you both were starting together. She smiled at you.

"Yeah. Everything's good."

[okiedokrie]

All Is Fair In Love And War Pt.1

Summary: Joshua is nothing if not determined. If he wants something, he'll get it; not that he even had to try before. But sometimes, like Icarus, he flies a little too close to the sun. But hey, all is fair in love and war!

Characters/Pairing: Aphrodite Incarnation!Joshua x Fem!Detective!Very Mortal!Reader

Genre: smut, fluff, crack, angst if you really squint

AUs/Trope Info: Greek God!AU, Partners In Solving Crimes, Strangers to Lovers, "time isnt linear" trope, "holy shit im kind of obsessed with you" trope

Word Count: 3,194 (Full fic is around 10k)

Warnings: Depiction of a crime scene (gore, blood, gun, conspiracy), depiction of drug use, character death (major and minor), smut warnings in the next part

Rating: 18+

A/N: I decided to split this into parts since I'm not confident ill be able to finish this within the deadline, this is part of the The 13 Gods of Olympus: A Seventeen collab hosted by @beomcoups and @wooahaeproductions! This is just the first part, so if you enjoy it, please consider signing up for the taglist. Thank you!!

In the summer of 2000, Joshua Hong was almost five years old. People always commented on how pretty he was for a kid, that he’d surely grow up to be a very handsome man.

Which is why it was a tragedy when he died from a freak truck accident.

Yes, Joshua Hong died at the age of five. For like, 10 minutes.

The doctors called it a miracle - a small child should not have survived a whole six of the twelve truck wheels, but somehow he was resuscitated, much to his parents’ delight.

This incident caused two things to change dramatically - Californetherlands now has stricter trucking laws and Joshua woke up to memories of literally being Aphrodite.

Throughout the years, from that fateful summer day to the present day, Joshua flopped back and forth between believing that the memories were just fever dreams and genuinely considering that he may be a reincarnation of the goddess. But ever since he got to hone his powers, he’s been more inclined to believe the latter.

By the age of 28, he has mastered the art of seduction. No, not sleeping with people constantly. It was more so the art of getting people to say ‘yes’ to everything he asked of them.

This made Joshua a very powerful and influential figure in Los Amsterdam; You see, the way he dealt wasn’t by out-witting people or being richer than them. He dealt in favors. If you wanted to be a popstar, he’d introduce you to a famous producer, and get you a record deal that would solidify your career - all for the low, low price of free.

In turn, you’d owe him, like the many powerful people who owed him large favors.

Joshua found himself in downtown LA, in the club that he owned, just under his penthouse. He enjoyed playing the guitar and performing for his patrons, everyone seemingly captivated by his voice, or his beauty, whichever one caught their attention first. He finally strummed the last chord of his song, enjoying the applause of the crowd as the DJ started to play the usual club music. Just as he was about to retreat to the bar, a feminine voice stopped him.

“Joshua! Hey!” She said, hair bouncing over her new fur coat, jumping excitedly, calling him over.

Joshua smiled widely at her - she was one of the people he had helped start her career as a singer. He didn’t do much other than introduce her to the CEO of her current label, it was her natural talent that got her this far.

“Ah, Diana, good to see you!” He said, going over to meet her in a friendly hug, the kind that didn’t touch at all. “How has being a singer treated you? Any good news?” He said, making small talk with an old acquaintance.

“Oh please,” she started, her new haughty attitude showing, “It’s all over the news! I just got nominated for a Grammy!” She said in a sing-song tone. Joshua just nodded Truth be told, he didn’t really have much interest in pop music, but he did try to match her enthusiasm.

“That’s great! I knew you’d make it big.” he said, remembering the first time she came to him, a girl in clothes that almost looked like rags, now decked out in every designer brand you could think of. “So, what brings you back here then? Surely you already have everything you ever wanted?” He said lightheartedly. Even if all of Joshua’s connections owed him favors, it was quite uncommon for them to come back to him after having achieved their dreams.

“Well,” She said, her old, meek bashfulness coming to the surface. “I just wanted to see you again, to thank you for what you have done for me.” She tucked a hair behind her ear. “And I know no matter what favor I do for you in return, I could never break even for just how much you’ve impacted my life. So, thank you, Joshua.”

Joshua genuinely felt relieved to hear her say that - usually, people’s pride and greed got in the way of them acknowledging those who truly helped them along the way, but as he suspected, this girl still had a soul so pure. “Let's get some drinks by the bar and chat some more, yeah? My treat.” He offered, which she gladly took, the conversation between them flowed naturally, Joshua enjoying her tales of success.

It was an hour after the club closed that Diana decided it was time to head home. Joshua offered to see her off, like the gentleman he was, and so they walked to the sidewalk, her hand around his arm.

Joshua opened the taxi door for her, offering her a few bills in cash to cover the fare, “It was nice seeing you again, hopefully, you’ll make time to catch up with me in the future.” he said through the taxi window.

“Yeah, I hope I get the chance to see you again soon. Goodnight Joshua.” She said as she rolled up the taxi window.

Joshua watched the taxi drive until the end of the block, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Then, another car intercepted her in the intersection.

It happened so quickly, too quickly for Joshua to even register the new car’s window sliding down, holding a gun out to the taxi Diana was in. Gunshots echoed through the street, the sound of tires popping and glass shattering but all Joshua could make out was the sound of two sets of four tires screeching against the concrete. Diana’s taxi collided with a nearby lamppost, the taxi flattening and curling around it.

That was the last time Joshua saw her alive.

It was all over the news “Beloved Grammy-nominated rising star, Undyne, passed at a downtown intersection in a successful assassination.” Headlines went crazy with her story, telling her life before her short-lived success as a pop star.

The police were on her case, and the street cameras identified a black car with a non-existent plate number. they couldn’t find the people who owned it, but they did have enough evidence to call it a homicide.

Joshua, being close to the scene at the time when it happened, was one of the key witnesses to the whole case.

Currently, Joshua is in the waiting area of the police station, waiting for the detective on the case to lead him to the interrogation room where he will give his statements. He was just mindlessly scrolling through his phone when a voice snapped him out of it.

“Mr. Hong? Correct?” One of the officers asked him. He nodded to confirm it, repeating his full name. The officer just nodded too, “Okay, please follow me. Detective L/n will be there to ask a few questions.” He turned to the direction of the interrogation room, Joshua trailing behind him quietly.

The officer stopped in front of a door, “Here we are, just head on in.” He said, nodding at him. He walked into the interrogation room, the chilly air making goosebumps rise on the surface of his skin, the thin cardigan he wore did nothing to shield him from the cold. He took a seat at the chair facing the door, poking at the cold metal table as he waited.

“Good Morning Mr. Hong, I’m Detective L/n. I’m here to ask you a few questions, everything said here will be transcribed as evidence for this case, do you consent to this?” You started, taking the seat in front of him, your tone was very professional, as he expected, you didn’t even bother with pleasantries other than introducing yourself, which didn’t bother Joshua. He confirms his consent verbally, politely smiling at you with his hands clasped over the table.

“Great, I’d like to ask a few questions about you first.” You said, taking out your folder for the case, “You’re Joshua Hong, born on the 30th of December, 1995. You own the club downtown where your place of residence is also. Is all of that correct?” Joshua confirms all of the information is correct.

“You can just call me Joshua, by the way, Mr. Hong makes it seem like I’m someone important.” He said bashfully, scratching the back of his neck.

You just nod, writing something down in your notebook, “What was your relationship with Diana Kamatayan?” You asked, reviewing the official file which states that she is one of Joshua’s ‘clients’.

You were well aware of how the king of Los Amsterdam does his business, favors for favors. That’s how he got this far, and if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain, he’ll take away everything he gave you. You knew asking for Joshua’s help would make this investigation go quicker, but that would mean you’d owe him.

Owing Joshua Hong anything is a dangerous position to be in.

So while you have him in this interrogation room, you’re going to try to milk every bit of information out of him while it’s free.

“Well,” he started, getting comfortable in his seat, “She was one of my clients, I’m sure your file on me already knew that. Other than a professional relationship, I don’t really have one with her. That night was the first time I’ve seen her in a little over a year, actually.”

You nod, the timeline matches up, “And why did you meet her that night?” You ask next, trying to get more out of the nature of this last meeting.

“She approached me while I was in my nightclub. I was just about to turn in for the night when she came up to me to catch up. She thanked me for introducing her to a producer and wanted to catch up.”

Joshua really wasn't giving any information for free, as the interrogation went on you could only collect information you already knew. He didn't reveal any more than a simple google search did.

You drop your file folder onto the table, where Joshua's posture remained calm, cool, collected across from you, the small, charming smile still on his face.

“Did you get what you needed, Detective?” Joshua asks politely, tilting his head with his query.

“All I got was everything we already knew.” You sighed, rolling your shoulders in your seat. You turn in your seat, facing Joshua head-on once more. “Joshua, you are one of the most powerful and influential men in Los Amsterdam. We need your help in solving this case. All our leads have gone cold. We need your connections.”

Joshua smirked, the only time his expression changed from the relaxed and polite smile he had for the rest of the interview. His posture relaxed, leaning forward over the table, he placed his palms down on the cool metal surface, and said, “You do know what that would mean, right? The price you’d have to pay?”

You nodded, “I know all too well.”

“Asking me for a favor would mean that you’d owe me, do you think you can afford to pay that price?” He raised his eyebrows, you’d think your eyes deceive you when his irises glowed a soft gold—tilting his head in an almost teasing manner, taunting you.

Your breath hitched as you looked back at the one-way glass, knowing your co-workers were watching every detail of this interaction. “I promise I’ll deliver what I owe you. Just- please help us.” You said, not being able to look at him directly in the eyes.

He straightens his back once more, his polite smile returning to his face. “It’s settled then, I look forward to working with you Miss.”

Driving through the streets of a somewhat more affluent neighborhood, you stop in front of a well-known party den. There are plenty in Los Amsterdam, but this one was popular because of their ‘free-love’ policy.

Essentially, if you want to fuck, every surface is available to borrow for the duration.

You don’t look forward to entering the den, especially since you don’t know which surfaces are good to touch, but your partner beside you seems to be relaxed and content to visit such a place.

“God, I haven’t seen Jackson in forever. I hope he’s still having the time of his life here.” Joshua said with his bright eye-smile. You turn back to him, eyebrows furrowing in disgust. How could he find a place like this enjoyable? You don’t understand how the minds of party-goers work.

“Okay, how exactly is visiting a party den supposed to help with our investigation?” You finally ask him, he refused to elaborate on how relevant this location was when you met up with hiim, or during the entire car ride to said location.

“Well, Jackson still owes me, and he’s Diane’s ex’s first producer. If there’s anyone with a motive to get her killed, it’s her ex. I asked him to get Johnny drunk enough to pass out in one place. Now you have the perfect stage to corner and investigate him!” He said, with a smile on his face as if his plan didn’t just open up a whole new can of worms for you.

“You do know it’s illegal for me to just interrogate him without a warrant right? He might lawyer up if he figures out we’re onto him.” You said running a hand through your hair.

“Which is why I got you this,” he pulls out a skimpy party dress and matching heels from his duffle bag, “We blend in with the party-goers, that way you’re not interrogating him, you’re just having a conversation.”

“Joshua Hong you are insane.” You said, tone raising, “I’m not walking into a sex den looking like a hooker!”

“Don’t worry, we’re just trying not to stand out, please, just trust me.” He said handing the outfit over to you. You think over his words, it would be wise not to draw too much attention to yourself. If you made it obvious that you were a cop you’d have to resort to improvising.

You were never good at improvising.

Joshua gave you the decency to turn away while you changed, he was already in his usual relaxed suit that already made him look like a pimp, so he was already dressed for the occasion.

You both step out of the car, your heels clacking on the pavement below you. How Joshua managed to find your shoe size is in itself impressive, but you don’t have the time to dwell on that.

You both enter the bustling house filled to the brim with people indulging in their vices, whether it was alcohol, drugs, the ‘free-love’. It was a mess of bodies and fluids that you’d rather not inspect closely.

Joshua expertly weaved through the crowd, parting it like Moses did to the red sea. He didn’t have any difficulty locating Jackson Wang, the host of these parties.

“Jackson!” Joshua called out, the man was sitting in one of the many loveseats, a can of beer in hand and two ladies under his arms, giggling and getting very comfortable with him.

Jackson squints over the flashing lights, eyes widening in recognition after seeing Joshua. “Joshua! My man! Glad you finally made it! Got to say though, that favor of yours was an odd one. But you’ll be able to find him in my room. You know the way.” He waves him off, resuming to talking to the women clinging onto him.

You follow after Joshua, quickly climbing a few sets of stairs to get to the third floor, the entirety of the third floor was just Jackson’s room. He made sure to lock the door behind the both of you when you guys arrived.

The floor was far quieter than the floors below you, and less of a mess than them too. This room felt like Jackson’s actual home, and not like a party den.

Joshua spots Johnny stumbling around the room, nursing a liquor bottle- a few of them.

“Joshua we can’t interrogate him when he’s like this, he can barely even stand!” You said, waving your arms in front of you to point at the inebriated man.

“That’s not a problem, watch this.” Joshua takes long and purposeful strides toward him, once he finally reaches him, he takes his face in his hands and stares directly into his eyes.

You watch in awe and slight confusion, until Joshua speaks up, “You want to tell us everything we want to know, and you will be sober as a priest while you do so.”

Suddenly the haziness in Johnny’s eyes faded in an instant, his brown eyes now have a golden ring around the irises, like a puppet on a string.

“What did you need to know?” Johnny says, no longer under the influence of alcohol.

“Joshua, what did you do to him?” You ask in slight horror.

“Nothing illegal, don’t worry about it.” He said, “Continue your questioning on him, detective, if we spend any more time here Jackson’s gonna think we’re having sex here.”

Not wasting any more time you ask Johnny, “Are you aware that Diane Kamatayan had been assassinated? Do you know any information about that?” Johnny squints before his eyes widen in recognition, “Diane, yeah, her, we dated a bit. I was obsessed with her. But she broke it off when she got big. Yeah, I’m pissed, but instead of doing anything healthy with my time I just chose to shit-talk her on Twitter and drown in alcohol. When I heard the news about her passing, I lost it, went straight here where Jackson just kept handing me bottle after bottle with no questions.”

You look at Joshua, raising an eyebrow, not much of a motive if he didn’t even contact her directly in the entire duration of their time as exes.

You shake your head, back to square one then.

“It didn’t help that she started dating the old geezer of a producer of hers.” Johnny said, eyebrows furrowing in frustration, “That whore, she probably got big because that sleaze of a producer gave her banger after banger for sucking his dick or something, tch.” he said, clicking his tongue and crossing his arms.

“I’m pretty sure it was him who killed her too.”

You and Joshua look at each other in shock, eyes meeting for a second, almost as if communicating telepathically.

“Why do you think that?” You ask, cautious around the increasingly irritated Johnny.

“He’s always been a greedy bastard, worked with him before. Wanted to claim all the royalties of my song, so I sued him. Pretty sure he got threatened by how rich Diane was getting for that hit.” Johnny spat, distaste seeping into every word he said, “Now Diane is dead, and the bastard is getting married to some Slavic model, most likely cashing in all those royalty cheques.”

You and Joshua nod at each other. Joshua snaps his fingers, it’s almost as if snipping a puppet off its strings, the glow around Johhny’s eyes dims and disappears, suddenly slumping over the seat, stumbling drunkenly like he did when you found him.

“Okay, we have a lead.”

[awriternamedart]

"How do you do it, gambler?"

Aventurine glanced up from the drink in his hand, an identical one clutched tightly in Dr. Ratio's.

"Do what?"

"Maintain a relationship."

Aventurine blinked, before his head shot up again to look at the doctor. Veritas didn't even spare him a glance, eyes glued to the scene in front of them— a grand IPC ball, held for investors and connections to be made. It was always a busy and grand event, one the Intellegensia Guild had to attend to maintain the IPC's investment.

It really wasn't Dr. Ratio's scene, but he had been chosen as their representative anyway.

"I'm not particularly adept at that, my dear doctor." Aventurine chuckled, watching the alcohol swirl in his glass.

"You are far more able then I am. Even upon falsities and fake promises, you managed to chat and converse with people in a sort of ease," Ratio slowly tore his eyes away from the crowd, glancing back to Aventurine before his eyes dropped to the floor in front of him. "..Its admirable."

Aventurine could just barely process what Dr. Ratio was exactly saying— direct praise?? From the good doctor himself???— before Veritas set down his now-empty drink on a bypassing waiters tray.

"Do you ever feel.. second-rate?"

Aventurine paused, taking another languid drink as he contemplated. It wasn't often the dear doctor opened up— he should tread carefully.

"I can't say for sure. Why?" He kept his tone even, trying not to distract from Veritas' thoughts. It was hard enough to get to know him in the first place, to squander his trust like this would be a waste.

The Doctor took a deep breath, practically hiding himself in the shadows of one of the many grand pillars decorating the room.

"I am not adept at conversation."

Aventurine could agree with that. Something about the doctor made it difficult to respond in kind— he was dry, a vague bit brutish, and if Aventurine dared, a little bullheaded. He seemed so sure of himself, founded confidence that was backed up by his many achievements. It was a little intimidating for the average person, he supposed. But as he looked on, that sort of Dr. Ratio seemed to fade ever so slightly, leaving behind someone who was still sure in his knowledge and discoveries— but struggled nonetheless.

"I find people.. grating, sometimes. But connection is one of the few necessities of livelihood, and so I try to converse with my peers as often as possible. It is.. difficult. It often feels as if they have no interest in what I am saying, neither asking questions nor inquiring further, and when I try to do so to show interest in their research, they often retreat back, saying it is not finished or the such. Offering to help only ever seems to drive them further away." Taking out the laurel clip in his hair, Veritas' thumb drifted over the gilded leaves, the polish in the finish reflecting his face back at him. "Despite my best efforts, I rarely ever follow up because I fear I intimidate them. I have seen them recoil at the mere sight of me."

Aventurine could just watch on in surprise— Veritas had never shown an inkling of this before. When he had first gotten to know the doctor, he had assumed Veritas simply didn't work with his peers due to a difference in dedication, or perhaps view. He was among the brightest and best in the Intellegensia Guild, always praised behind his back for being one of their stars.

Perhaps that wasn't the front Veritas had put up at all. Perhaps it was what Veritas was forced to wear in the face of his peers, forced to be seen as the cold unobtainable, the pinnacle of what they should be.

Being on a pedestal like that, it must be lonely.

"Do you not go drinking with your coworkers or something?" Aventurine leaned against the wall, cold of the stone seeping through his suit. Veritas glanced up at him, before looking back down.

"..I was never invited. It is against social convention to come along if you aren't invited, isn't it? I'd rather not strain and worry them more. It could impact them negatively if I were to come along and invite stress to what is supposed to be a time they unwind." He turned the laurel over in his hand. "..perhaps I missed my opportunity."

The light of the pedestal Dr. Ratio sat on seemed to blind all those who looked at it from underneath. They couldn't see his face, only his back— but as Aventurine leaned against the wall, gazing at the doctor in front of him, he got that different perspective.

There was.. resignation, in his eyes.

"Perhaps I am just doomed to be a looming figure above many. And yet, I'll still never be enough." His voice tapered off slightly, head dropping even just that hint bit more. "I am fully aware how much others are compared to me, and I hear them speak of my achievements behind my back. I wish they would stop, if I am being honest. Or at least tell me of my praise directly."

That surprised Aventurine.

"What, do people not give you a compliment or two? For someone so easy on the eyes and as esteemed as you, doctor, I find that hard to believe!" He chuckled— but it quickly faded out as Veritas looked to the side.

"Not often do I get comments directly on my achievements, no. Nor on my appearance, before you came along." He sighed. "You are.. the only person who does so."

The only one who's tried.

-

The Only One Whos Tried - awriternamedart

[cookiescribble]

spencer x british!reader

as a brit i would love to see a fic of a reader with a british accent and spencer adores it and mimics her sometimes

Taking It In (Spencer Reid x British Fem!Reader)

A/N: Thank you so much for the request! This is a bit of a team effort because I’m a bit more knowledgeable about British culture (in no means an expert, I just had a hyperfixation on the Beatles and Doctor Who in middle school/ high school lmao) but Mod Angel is usually the one who writes for fem!readers. Also, we’re both American so we hope this is what you wanted! Sorry for the little wait - Mod Ghost

We also just binged season 2 of Heartstopper and tried our best to pick up on some of the language because we thought this was a really cute idea and wanted to write it as best we could! - Mod Angel

~~~

“Coffee? I thought that people from the UK drank tea?” Spencer piped up from behind as his girlfriend was pouring coffee into one of the paper cups she’d found around the canteen. 

“It heavily depends on who you’re talking to, Spencer. I feel you should know just as well as I do that everyone’s different. You didn’t profile me as soon as we started dating?” Y/N joked, to which he looked puzzled.

“Wha–no, I usually try to keep my job separate from…personal relations.” He replied sheepishly, starting to mix up his own mug of coffee. 

“That changed when we started dating, didn’t it, love?” She teased him, patting his shoulder.

It made him blush and stutter like mad, his hands waving around as he tried to scramble to find something to say. It was rare to see him speechless, but she couldn’t help but to smirk as she watched him struggle. It only lasted a few more seconds before she cut him off, reaching out and gently touching his hand.

“It’s alright, I was just being cheeky, that’s all. C’mon, let’s go back to workin’ on the case, okay?” She chuckled, leading him away from the counter with the hand that wasn’t holding her coffee resting at the small of his back as they walked. 

“I knew that!” He squealed in his own defense, which made her giggle loudly. 

*

A few weeks later, the BAU were out to dinner, taking a small break while in the middle of a case. Though, it wasn’t much of a break, considering they were still talking about the profile.

Spencer pointed to a plate in the middle of the table. “Can I have a chip?”

A confused silence fell over the table as they all looked in his direction. Spencer stared back at them, an eyebrow raised in his own confusion.

“What?” Spencer asked finally, breaking the silence.

“What did you just say?” JJ responded with a smirk, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“I asked if you could pass me a chip” he answered, pointing to the plate again.

“Where do you see chips?” Hotch chimed in, concerned for his mental stability. 

Still confused, Spencer pointed to the plate again.

“The fries?” Penelope clarified, gesturing to the same plate finally. 

“Oh.” He nodded awkwardly. “Yeah, can you pass me a fry?”

“You’re really spending too much time with that girlfriend of yours, aren’t you?” Morgan teased, grinning and playfully nudging his shoulder.

He smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said in a faux-English accent as he finally got the ‘chip’ he wanted as the rest of the table laughed. 

“Speaking of Y/N, where is she tonight?? I miss that girl.” Garcia complained from the other side of the table, 

“Oh, she went out with one of her mates–” Spencer started before Prentiss cut him off from where she was sat next to him, 

“Mates??” She asked incredulously, seconds away from giggling as he groaned and leaned back in his chair. 

“FRIENDS! Her friends.” he grumbled, finishing his food and making a mental note to not only tell but blame his girlfriend, Y/N, for everything he’d been through tonight. Not before giving her a kiss, though. The fact that she wasn’t here just made him realize how much he missed her, and it made him wonder if there was a correlation between missing her and talking like her.

The girls dropped him off at home a few hours later, where the first thing he said when he saw Y/N was ‘this is your fault’.

“Do you…want to elaborate on that or…?”

“Later.” Was all he said before he was hugging her and burying his head in her shoulder. 

She tugged him close, feeling him start breathing deeply against her shoulder as if he was falling asleep and tapped him to wake him up a bit so she could start leading him to their room. “Come along, darling, let’s get you into bed. You seem tired.” 

“I know that they’re fries but you say chips…it’s cute…” he mumbled as he walked, only adding to the confusion but she chalked it up to him being tired from a long day and let it go for now as she tucked him in with a smile at how cute he was. 

[study-coffee-chicago]

Glasses (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister Imagine)

A/N: Thank you so much for reading and for sticking around with my sporadic posting! Please don't forget to vote and comment! 

I start my second year of my doctoral program next week and have been working 60 hrs/wk these past few weeks to save up for when I have less time during the school year. I don't know when I will post next, but I have an idea that I want to write and I've also been trying to write 300 words/day, which is very helpful in getting writing done. 

Anyway, sorry for the long author's note! Enjoy!

"You gonna go see my teacher now?" you asked after you and Jay walked into your elementary school one spring evening.

"Yup," Jay answered while he led you over to the small table set up right outside the room. It was stocked with coloring pages, markers, crayons, and a couple of books. "And you're going to sit right here while I talk to her, okay? I'll be right inside."

"And then we get ice cream after?"

"What was our deal?"

You sighed. "If I get a good re- re--" you scrunched up your eyebrows as you tried to remember the grown-up word that Jay had used earlier. "What's that word?"

"Report."

"Oh, yeah! If I get a good report, then I get ice cream."

"That's right."

"Mr. Halstead?" your teacher said as she stepped out of your classroom.

"Hi, Miss H!" You waved. "Please tell Jay I was good because I get ice cream then!"

Jay chuckled. "You'll just have to wait and see, kiddo. Now, be good while I talk to Miss H, okay?"

"Okay!" Then, you started flipping through the coloring pages to try and find one that you wanted to color.

***

"So, tell me the truth, is she a troublemaker?" Jay asked as he sat down across from your teacher. "I know for a fact me and my brother were, so it wouldn't surprise me."

You teacher smiled. "Y/N is anything but that. She does her work as assigned, gets her planner signed at night, and stays on task very well. She struggles with math, but that's understandable. Some take longer to learn math than others. But, she excels at reading. She said that you read with her and do flashcards with her every night."

Jay nodded. "We're working through The Chronicles of Narnia right now. Me, my wife, Hailey, or my brother, Will, will read that to her before she goes to bed, depending on who's with her due to our schedules. Then, the next night, we'll have her try and read to us. She's working on Junie B. Jones."

"Well, it's working. And, she's making more progress in her mad minutes for math than she was a month ago. Do you work on flashcards every day?"

"We try to," Jay answered. "Those we try to do right after school and give her a snack with it. Some would call it bribery, but it works."

"Keep doing what you're doing. It's been working really well." She paused. "There is one thing that has been concerning me about, Y/N." Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to listen. "When we move seats for groups during partner reading and other times during the day, I noticed that she struggles to read what's on the board. Sometimes she'll squint really hard and sometimes she'll walk up to the board to write in her planner at the end of the day. I've moved her to the front row for class, but when we move for groups and she's further away from the board, it seems that it's hard for her to see. Do you have the time and money to get her eyes checked? If not, we have vision testing coming to school in a month, which is free and required for all students," your teacher finished.

"My brother's a doctor, and we'll make sure to see her pediatrician about this. It's getting close to her yearly physical anyway. Thank you for telling me. Is there any other times that you notice this?"

"During library days, she always makes sure to sit in the front so she can she the pictures better. I'm sorry. I wish I had more information to give you."

"No, thank you for telling me this. I know you have a lot of other kids to look out for. Is there anything else I should know? Behavior wise, she's good, right?"

"Very well behaved. The only thing I was concerned about is her vision."

"Great. Thank you again for telling me."

"You're welcome. Is there anything else you needed to discuss regarding Y/N?"

"No," Jay answered. "I'll get out of your hair now then. You've probably got more parents to see."

"I do. Have a good night."

"You, too," Jay replied and then made his way to the door and out into the hallway.

Your head shot up the second you heard the door open. "I was good, right?" you asked.

"You weren't good-"

You dropped your head. No ice cream. "But-"

"You were great, kiddo!" Jay exclaimed.

"Ice cream!" you cheered.

Jay squatted down to your height and looked at the picture you were coloring. "That's really pretty and you're almost done. So, how about instead of going out for ice cream, I call Will and have him pick up ice cream sundae stuff and we can make them at home. That way, you can finish your picture at home."

"Can we watch a movie, too?"

Jay looked at his watch. 5:33. You'd have time to watch a Disney movie before bedtime. "If you start it right when we get home, then yes, you can watch a movie."

"Yay!"

"Now, stay here for a couple more minutes while I go call Will, okay? And, what's my rule?"

"If I have to go somewhere and can't tell you, tell a good adult." Jay had taught it to you as trusted adult, but you couldn't remember that word, so you always said good adult.

"That's right. I'll be right back."

Then, he made his way all the way down the hallway and turned the corner and continued walking until he was sure that you weren't within earshot to call Will.

He picked up on the first ring.

"If you need help disciplining her based on a bad report, that's all you, Jay. You're the disciplinarian and I'm the fun brother."

Jay rolled his eyes. "It's not that. She did great, but her teacher said that she might need glasses. She said she struggles to see the board. Think you could check her out tonight?"

"Jay, she needs to go to an optometrist for that."

"I know, but can't you just do some preliminary stuff? Also, she wants you to come over for ice cream sundaes and a movie, so you'd be there anyway."

"Who says I don't have plans?"

"C'mon, man. I know you."

"Fine, I'll be there in 30 minutes. You need me to pick anything up? Maybe a pizza? Can't just give the kid ice cream for dinner, but you know that."

"If you bring pizza, at least bring a salad with it," Jay bargained.

"Deal. See you in 30. And, I'll put in a call to her pediatrician on the way to your place."

"Perfect. Thanks, man. See you later."

Then, Jay hung up the phone and walked back over to you. "Ready to go?"

"Yes! Ice cream!"

"Ice cream is right. Let's go, kiddo."

Then, you two made your way to his truck and went to the store to buy everything you, Jay, Will, and Hailey would need for ice cream sundaes. And, Jay kept an eye on you to see if you were squinting. But, it was a bit difficult because he was making a mental checklist and checking everything off while you two were in the store. He figured he'd investigate more when you got home.

***

When you got back, you quickly put on your Tangled pajamas and told Jay that was the movie you wanted to watch.

Then, you grabbed your stool from under the sink while Jay was in the living room getting the movie pulled up. Your hand was on the handle to the freezer and you were just about to open it when Jay walked back in.

"And what do you think you're doing, missy?" You turned around to face him and it was like you were a deer in the headlights. "Were you trying to get ice cream before dinner?"

"Maybe..." you answered slowly.

"That's what I thought. Now, how about you get down and start your movie so that you can finish it before bedtime? Will will be here soon and then I'll bring your food to you."

"I get to eat in the living room?" Jay almost never let you eat in the living room! You always had to eat at the table!

"If you eat over your plate, you can eat in the living room. But, if you start being messy, it's right back to the table."

"Okay!" You jumped down from your stool, put it away, and then made your way to the couch in the living room. You grabbed your favorite fuzzy blanket from the back of the couch and then hit play on the remote.

Jay chuckled and reached into the cabinet where he hid the stickers for your sticker chart. Then, he placed one on the line next to the chore that said Clean up when asked - No arguing.

Even though he didn't ask you to put your step stool away, you still did it. And, maybe he was giving you this because he felt guilty about not noticing that you were struggling to see. Either way, you were one step closer to getting a prize.

Five minutes later, Will walked in with the pizza.

"Will!" you exclaimed and jumped up off the couch and ran up to him. "My teacher said I was really good!"

"I heard that! Now let me put this down and then I can give you a big hug. And I even got you your own pizza!"

"You did?"

"Yes, I did, silly!"

"Jay, did you hear that? Will got me my own pizza! That way I don't have to pick the gross onions and black olives off yours."

"I did! Now, let's let Will put down the pizza, hmm?" Jay said and grabbed your hand to gently pull you out of the way.

You moved out of the way, allowing Will to set the pizza boxes on the table. Then, he crouched down and gave you a bone-crushing hug.

"Stop! Too tight!" you laughed, making Will just squeeze you harder while Jay tried his best to contain his laughter at the two of you.

"Alright, you two, Let's eat before the pizza gets cold. Y/N, go wash your--"

Jay was cut off by the door opening and you squealing.

"Hailey!"

You wriggled out of Will's hold and ran up to her. "Guess what?! Guess what?! Guess what?!"

"Guess we know who her favorite is," Will muttered.

"What?" Hailey asked with a giant smile on her face. She was also holding a pink box that you noticed sort of smelled like cookies.

"I did really good at school so I get pizza and ice cream sundaes!"

"I know! Jay told me! So, I thought we could have brownie sundaes!"

She moved toward the table and set down the pink box. Then, she opened the box, revealing fresh, warm brownies from the bakery a block from the district.

You reached for one, but Jay quickly swatted your hand away. "Nuh-uh. Dinner first, missy."

Jay then put your personal pizza on a plate along with a breadstick, baby carrots, and some ranch for you to dip the carrots in. He handed you the plate along with some napkins.

"Go ahead and watch Tangled while you eat, okay? We'll be in there soon."

"Okay!"

The minute Jay heard the movie playing again, he was all business. "So, how are we doing this, Will?"

Jay didn't need to explain to Hailey what he was referring to here because he texted her that you had gotten a good report, but that your teacher also said that you needed glasses after he called Will when you were at school.

"I called her pediatrician and she can see her on Friday. She said that if she does need glasses, the optometrist should be able to get her on Monday."

"Perfect, great. Me and Hailey both work Monday, so you can take her, right?"

"I can take her," Will confirmed.

"Okay, good."

"So, in the meantime, what do we do?" Hailey asked.

"I'm just gonna watch to see if she squints at all during the movie. Maybe if you guys take her to the park tomorrow ask her to see things that are far away, like, Hey! Look at that cool bird! or something and see if she squints or not. Can't really do much until she goes to the optometrist," Will answered.

"You guys are missing Flynn get hit with a frying pan!" you yelled.

"I blame you for her love of violence, Jay," Will joked.

"Coming!" Jay yelled. "Just a sec, kiddo!"

Then, the adults filled their plates and made their way to the living room.

***

Monday afternoon

Will was going to kill his brother. When you got in the car, he asked if you were ready to go. To where, you had no idea. So, you had asked if you were going home.

"No, to the doctor, silly. To get your eyes looked at," Will answered.

"But I already did that! No more, please! Wanna go home!"

Will sighed but continued driving. "Why don't you want to go to the doctor, kiddo?"

"Because I don't want shots! I didn't get shots last time, so I gotta get shots now! Don't want 'em!" you cried.

"Oh, no, no, no," Will quickly soothed. "No shots. They're just going to look at your eyes. Then, you have to tell them which picture is easier to see and what letter you're looking at."

"Really? No shots?"

"No shots," Will confirmed.

"And I get French fries after?"

Will took a deep breath. Did he want to have an argument with you while driving and then end up either in an accident or late to your appointment because he had to pull over? No. Neither of those sounded particularly appealing. So, he went with the safest option.

"Yes, we can get French fries after."

***

"Y/N Halstead," the optometrist called after you had been sitting at the office for ten minutes.

You stood up and so did Will and you quickly grabbed his hand, letting him know that he would be coming into that room with you no matter what.

"I'm not going anywhere, kiddo."

"I just making sure," you told him, causing him to chuckle lightly.

You walked into an office with a weird thing hanging from the ceiling. There were lots of different circles and it was really big. There was a chair in front of it, too.

While the doctor started talking to you, he lowered the chair. "So, Y/N, I hear you're having a little trouble seeing the board at school, hmm?"

You shrugged. "A little. But only when I'm far away."

"And that's okay. What I'm going to do is help you see better. I'm going to lower down this machine--I know it looks big, but it's not scary, I promise--. Then, I'm going to have you read some letters to me."

"Like I did the other day at the doctor's?" you asked as you looked up at Will.

"Exactly like you did the other day," he confirmed. "Now you just look into special stuff so we know exactly what glasses you need." Then, he quickly turned to the optometrist. "Sorry. I'm Dr. Will Halstead, an ED doc at Chicago Med. Also her older brother."

"He said I gotta go to someone else for my eyes, but he's a doctor," you said to the optometrist.

The optometrist laughed and then shook your brother's hand. "Well, he's right." Then, he got down to your level and said in a stage whisper, "and between you and me, I probably know more about eyes than him."

"Really? I didn't think anyone was smarter than Will!"

"Really. Now let's take a look at those eyes." He moved over to his chair and then had you look into the glass circles. "Now, read me the smallest letter you can see."

***

"How'd it go?" Jay asked when you and Will walked into his apartment. Then, he spotted the McDonald's bag. "Seriously?"

"Only way she was gonna go. You sure she doesn't listen to your interrogations at the district? She had to have learned blackmail from somewhere."

"Haha, very funny. Did it go well, kiddo?"

"Yeah, I had to look at these pictures and tell the not Will doctor what one looked better," you answered.

Jay held back a laugh at your description of the doctor. "Did you pick out any glasses?"

"Yeah, I got purple. Can I eat my food now?"

"Go wash your hands and then you can."

You ran off to go wash your hands so that you could eat your chicken nuggets and fries and then Jay turned to Will.

"She been like this all day?" Jay asked.

"Doesn't help when she has no idea what's going and I have to tell her thirty minutes before the appointment, Jay," Will quipped.

"Fries and nuggies!" you yelled as you ran out of the bathroom after washing your hands, which effectively cut your brothers' conversation about your lack of excitement to see clearly short.

***

3 days later, Thursday.

"You ready to pick up your glasses, kiddo?" Jay asked as you got in his truck in the pickup line at school.

You simply shrugged. "Yeah," was all you answered.

Today at school, during soccer at recess, a boy's glasses fell off and then someone accidentally stepped on them and broke them when you were playing! What if that happened with your glasses? What if you couldn't play soccer anymore because you wore glasses?

You loved soccer ever since you had started playing it last year. And, you and Jay always practiced on Sunday mornings at the park. And, when it was nice out, you two would always have a picnic. It was always a Jay and Y/N date (sometimes Hailey would come along, but only if you agreed to it). That time was sacred for you and Jay because of his demanding job, but what if you didn't get to do that anymore all because you needed stupid glasses to see the stupid board at stupid school?

"How was school?" Jay asked. He knew by your demeanor that your mood was more sour than it had been this morning, and he'd prefer to discuss it now than have you blow up at home. One would be shocked at how much anger you could hole up and spew out from your little body.

"It was good. Same old, same old."

Jay rolled his eyes. You had definitely picked up that saying from Will. "Do anything fun?" he probed. "Was recess good?"

"I played soccer during first and second recess, but I didn't score at all. Stupid boys. They're always faster than me."

If you hadn't added the last part, then Jay would probably have told you that boys have cooties anyway and to stay away from them until you're thirty. But, you did say that last part, so he knew he had to be comforting.

"Well, you gotta remember, you like playing defense, so what do I always tell you?"

"I gotta outsmart 'em...and slide tackle."

Last Jay checked that was illegal in kids' soccer. "I don't think me or Will ever taught you about slide tackling. Where'd you learn about that, kiddo?"

"Adam taught me when he took me to the park when you had to talk to some bad guys yesterday."

"Of course he did," Jay muttered. "Just remember, you can only do that to me, Will, or Adam. Don't try and do that to other people, okay?"

He knew that he should probably tell you to never do that, but eh, he figured he'd let you have a little fun. And, it wasn't like he never got kicked out of games for doing a slide tackle...okay, maybe multiple slide tackles in a game with one leading to the other team's captain getting a concussion.

"Okay," you answered. "I'm not good at 'em anyway."

Jay chuckled. "And let's keep it that way."

***

Jay was both happy and frustrated when he watched you put on your glasses and see the world clearly for the first time in who knows how long. He was frustrated because how could he have not noticed this? Hell, how could Will not have noticed this? And, he was happy as he watched your mouth fall slightly agape and mutter whoa to yourself.

After you made sure that your glasses fit and the optometrist did all the necessary checks, you made your way back to Jay's truck.

"I gotta stop at the district to pick up some paperwork," Jay said as he began driving. "You ready to show off your glasses to everyone?"

"Yes!" you exclaimed. You loved the color of your glasses and everything was so pretty! Nothing was blurry anymore!

When you walked into the district, you were first met with Trudy, who didn't see you at first.

"Looking for this, Chuckles? You left it here earlier and you and me both know that Voight will have your—" And then she noticed you and quickly shut her mouth before she swore in front of you.

"Good catch, sarge," Jay said and took the manilla folder from her.

"Y/N, I didn't know you had glasses! They look so pretty! So much better than my old lady ones," Trudy complimented.

Then, you heard someone coming down the stairs.

"So if I call you old—"

"Shut it, Ruzek," she snapped as Adam strode over to you.

"And, she's back. Thanks, man," Jay complained.

"I was just telling Y/N here how pretty her glasses were before you ever so impolitely interrupted," Trudy said to Adam.

Then, Adam crouched down to your height. "My, my. They sure are pretty." Then, he held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Adam!" you laughed. "That's not how they work."

"But I thought that's how glasses worked. How about you tell me how they do work?"

"I just can't see far away. You gotta back up and do that."

He did so and then reached into his pocket.

"So, can you read this?"

"Oreos! I can read the words now!"

That stopped Jay in his tracks. "What do you mean by that, kiddo?"

"I can read the words from far away now and not just close by me. It's because I have my glasses now, duh."

Adam almost burst out laughing at your sass, but held back his laughter when he saw Jay's death stare directed right at him.

"Right, of course, silly me," Jay answered quickly. "Go get your Oreos from Adam and then we can go upstairs and show everyone else your glasses, how's that sound?"

"Okay!" you excitedly ran up to Adam and he handed you the Oreos. "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome!"

You started towards the stairs and Jay quickly whispered to Adam, "Boards flipped?"

"Did it before I walked down here since I heard her voice."

"Great, thanks."

"Jay! You gotta put your hand here to open it because I'm not special enough to put my hand here!" you exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, hold on a sec," he said and then gently pushed you to the side to put his hand on the palm scanner. The door beeped and then he pulled the door open. "Ladies first."

You walked in and immediately everyone's heads turned towards you.

"Y/N!" Hailey exclaimed "You got your glasses!"

"Yeah! Everything looks so much better and so pretty!" You took a moment to look around the bullpen. Despite being in this room with Jay and Hailey for two years now off and on since your dad died, you could finally see it clearly. You thought everything was always a little blurry around the edges.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Voight asked from the back of the bullpen near his office.

"Three!" you yelled confidently.

"That's right! Wow, she counts faster than you, Ruzek."

Jay held back a laugh while Adam exclaimed, "Why you gotta be like that, Boss?"

"Because it's true. You got the paperwork, Halstead?"

"Right here. I'll get out of your hair now because it's my RDO and I do not want to be here on my day off. C'mon, Y/N, let's go home."

"But I didn't see Kevin or Kim yet!" you whined.

"They're out doing police work, kiddo. You can see them later, okay?"

"But I want to show them my glasses!"

Hailey quickly saw the temper tantrum that was about to erupt and stood up. "How about I take a picture of you with your glasses and send it to them? Then you can see what they say when I get home tonight. How does that sound, Y/N?"

You nodded and walked closer to her. "Yes!"

While Hailey was taking your picture, Jay mouthed thank you to his wife for avoiding a meltdown in the bullpen.

***

3 days later, Sunday

You did not sleep good at all. You tossed and turned all night thinking about your Jay and Y/N date in the morning. You loved them and you loved soccer! But you couldn't go now because what if your glasses fell off when you and Jay were passing the ball and practicing? And, if you took off your glasses before playing, what if he got mad at you? Jay and Will had told you that you had to wear them all the time! And you didn't want Jay Jay to be mad at you!

So, when you went into the kitchen in the morning (wearing your glasses of course) and saw Jay and Hailey sipping their cups of coffee, one could only imagine your relief when you looked out the window and saw the sky was covered with dark gray clouds.

"Morning, kiddo," Jay greeted. "Doesn't look like we can play soccer today." Then, Jay furrowed his eyebrows as he got a better look at you. You had dark circles under your eyes that looked like they should be for a college student cramming for finals instead of a first-grader on a Sunday morning. "You feeling okay?" Then, he walked up to you and placed the back of his hand on your forehead. "Hmm, you don't feel warm."

"Didn't sleep good," you mumbled.

"I didn't sleep good either," Hailey sympathized. "Must be the weather." She knew it was her insomnia acting up, but you had no idea what that was--and she hoped you never would have to know what that was like--, but she didn't feel like explaining it to a first grader this early in the morning while she was running on fumes herself.

"How about we have a lazy day," Jay suggested. "Movies and coloring sound good, Y/N?"

"Yeah. Can Will come, too? He always does the best coloring."

It was true. Because of how steady Will's hands were due to being a surgeon, he could color in all the small areas in the pictures, even in adult coloring books that Hailey had, that you, Jay, and Hailey would typically make a mess out of and at least color outside the lines a bit.

"I'll give him a call. I don't see why he wouldn't want a lazy day," Jay said.

"And, I think we have some chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer to bake cookies," Hailey suggested.

Jay glared at his wife and then rolled his eyes. You've already gotten spoiled with treats and takeout more than enough this past week and a half. But, he knew as well Hailey knew herself that she had a sweet tooth and it only got worse when her insomnia was acting up.

"Before we do all that," Jay began, "let's get you some breakfast first. What sounds good, kiddo?"

"Can I have an omelet? With lots of cheese please?"

You were recently introduced to these a few months ago when you and Hailey were enjoying chocolate chip waffles at a diner and Jay had an omelet. You wanted some of his hash browns, but he said you had to try a bit of his omelet. You didn't really want to try this, but your want hash browns overpowered this. And, lo and behold, you liked it! So, now on Sundays when Jay wasn't working, you'd ask for an omelette. It has to be Jay who made them though because he made the best ones between him, Will, and Hailey.

"Omelet it is," Jay replied and then picked up a spatula. "How about you go get dressed while I make this, okay?"

"Okay!"

Then, you ran off to your room to put on some comfy clothes to spend the day in.

***

"Where's Y/N?" Will joked when he walked inside around 10:30 that morning.

"I'm right here!" you yelled while you sat at the table coloring. You had no idea how he couldn't see you when you were right there!

"Oh, I didn't recognize you with such pretty glasses."

You dropped your head. "You- You don't?"

Luckily Jay was behind you so that you didn't see him wipe his hand down his face. 

His brother, Jay thought. Thank god he didn't go into pediatrics.

"I was only kidding, silly! Of course, I recognize you! The only thing different about you is that you have glasses now. But, do you recognize me?"

"Yes! But your hair's really messy! Do you want to use my brush?"

Jay choked on his second cup of coffee at your comment and Hailey quickly hit him on the back.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry, went down the wrong pipe," he said and then coughed a couple more times.

Will smoothed down his hair. "Wind's pretty strong out there. Guess it messed it up a bit." Then, he walked over to the table and set a tray of drinks down. "Coffee for all three of us and hot chocolate for you." He handed you your drink. "Careful though. It might still be super hot. Now, what are we coloring?"

***

"She is totally out," Jay commented later that afternoon.

The four of you had started watching a movie and you had curled up next to Hailey under your favorite fuzzy blanket. Needless to say, after you struggled to sleep this past night, within thirty minutes of the movie, you were totally out with your head leaning against Hailey's chest.

Hailey smiled down at you. "She's so cute when she's sleeping."

"When she's awake she's a menace now apparently," Will joked.

"Just because she made one comment about your precious hair," Jay muttered. "Let the hair comment go, man. Let it go."

Will rolled his eyes. "So, how's she doing? She mention any headaches at all with her glasses?"

"Hasn't said anything to me," Jay answered. "She say anything to you, Hails?"

"Nothing," Hailey replied. "She also didn't say that kids were mean to her, so that's good, too."

"Yeah, I remember when Jay got his glasses. All the kids teased him about it," Will said.

"It wasn't all the kids. It was you! Just you! And, now they have more education for bullying and stuff, so maybe kids are nicer than when we were kids." Then, Jay changed the subject. "I'm just shocked she didn't throw a fit when I said we couldn't play soccer today because it was storming."

"But, she said she didn't sleep good last night," Hailey reminded him.

"Yeah, I know. But still, she loves Sundays. And, at the beginning of winter a few months ago, she threw a fit the first time there was too much snow on the ground to go."

"I would say consider it a good thing that she didn't fight with you this morning," Will began, "but you said she didn't sleep good. She say anything else to you? Her tummy or head hurt? I didn't notice anything off when I was here, but maybe she said something earlier."

Jay shook his head. "She seemed fine, other than her being tired."

"Okay, good. If she tells you anything else--especially if she's having headaches--let me know."

***

3 days later, Tuesday

You were usually so excited for Tuesday nights and soccer practice, but now, you were nervous. What if your glasses fell off and somebody broke them? You didn't want Jay or Will or Hailey to be mad at you!

So, when you were running at practice, you went exceptionally slow, which made Jay wonder if you were hurt. He watched you shake your head at your coach, so he must've asked you the same thing.

When you got in the car after practice, needless to say, Jay was slightly worried.

"You okay, kiddo? You didn't look like you were having fun out there."

"I was having fun," you answered, but that was only a half-truth. You only had fun when you were defending and didn't have to worry about running as much, and thus, your glasses falling off.

"Okay. You just didn't feel like it today then?" You shrugged. "That's okay. Everyone has days like that."

What he wasn't going to do was be like your dad and make it seem like you needed to be at 100% every single day. As long as you tried your best with what you had left in the tank, that was all that mattered.

You nodded and just looked out the window while Jay kept driving.

And once you got home, since you put your cleats away nicely without being asked, Jay added a sticker to your sticker chart. But, his detective senses were tingling.

Something was definitely off with you.

***

One week later

It had been a long week for both Hailey and Jay. They'd had their hands full at work trying to catch a serial rapist who ended up killing his last three victims.

During this time, you had spent most of your time with Will, except on Jay's RDO, and then Hailey's RDO when they each spent time with you instead. Even though each of them knew that the team would be a man down on each of their RDOs, they knew it would be difficult for Will to be the sole caretaker of you with his demanding job as well. So, even though they probably should've worked during their RDOs this week, they didn't.

But, they had been so mentally drained on their days off that neither of them remembered to check your backpack for important paperwork. And, both Jay and Hailey knew that Will always conveniently "forgot" to check this. (But, it was probably because he didn't feel like disciplining you if you got a bad report.)

Now, it was 8pm on Tuesday night, they had caught the guy, and both Jay and Hailey had quickly finished their paperwork so that they were home in time for bedtime.

Once Jay and Hailey had finished reading you a chapter of The Chronicles of Narnia, Jay did what he always did when he hadn't been able to see you on a couple of school days straight: he went through your backpack to see if he missed anything such as permission slips, notes from your teacher, and to ensure that Will had been making you do your homework.

When he went through your math folder, stuck between last week's homework assignments and this week's was a note written in cursive. Because it was written that way, he could only assume it was addressed to him or another adult.

Mr. Halstead, I'm writing you this to make sure that Y/N hasn't lost her glasses. I haven't seen her wearing them the past couple of days and wanted to make sure accommodations didn't need to be made. If she has lost them, please let me know and I will be sure to move her desk up to the front to help her see the board for the time being. If you have any questions, please call me at my office number or email me. I previously left a voicemail for you and emailed you, but I don't know if they went through. -Stephanie Harding.

Jay sighed, pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, and began scrolling through his phone. There, from Friday afternoon, was an email from your teacher as well as a phone call from yesterday morning. How could he have missed these?

"You okay?" Hailey asked as she walked into the kitchen, freshly showered. She grabbed two beers from the fridge, popped the cap off both, made her way to the table, and handed one to Jay. "We should be celebrating, not sulking."

"I know, and I'm glad that case is over and the guy's in prison because, you know, he's a monster, but look what I found in Y/N's backpack."

He slid her the note and she began reading.

When she finished, she looked up. "Don't talk to her tonight, Jay. You might dysregulate her so bad that she might go back to sleep because her routine got thrown off."

"I know, but when am I supposed to talk to her? I don't want her throwing a fit in the morning before school, and who knows what's going to come across our desks in terms of cases tomorrow."

Hailey grabbed one of Jay's hands. "Jay, we'll figure it out. And, if we need to wait for your RDO or the weekend when we both hopefully have off, then we'll do that, okay?"

"Okay." He gave his wife's hand a squeeze and then took a sip of his beer.

Thank god for Hailey Upton, he thought.

***

The next day, Wednesday

Once you and Jay got home after he picked you up from school, he made you a snack and you pulled out a chapter book to read to him to practice your reading skills like it was just any other day. He set the addition and subtraction flashcards next to him. You'd do those after you read to him.

But, when you took your first bite of your ants on a log (celery with peanut butter, topped with a few chocolate chips), he reached over and slid the book over to himself. Then, he set it down on the chair next to him so as not to distract you from the upcoming conversation.

"We're not reading?" you asked, furrowing your eyebrows at him.

"Listen, kiddo, we need to talk about why you are not wearing your glasses at school."

"I am!" you protested.

But, Jay saw how your eyes widened slightly when he first said it. He knew you were lying; now he just needed you to admit to it.

"Y/N, your teacher called me and told me that you aren't wearing them. You're not in trouble--"

"No!" you shouted and jumped off your chair. Then, you ran to your room and slammed your door.

Tears pricked your eyes as you threw yourself on your bed.

You couldn't play soccer when you were in high school if you had glasses! At all the games you went to, none of them had glasses! You couldn't give up soccer just to wear these stupid glasses! What did your brothers and your teacher know, anyway? None of them even wore glasses!

You were waiting for Jay to come yell at you for slamming your door, but he never came. And you were so tired from school and from the short conversation that you had with Jay, that you eventually just cried yourself to sleep.

As for Jay, the second he heard your door slam, he sighed and laid his head on the table. What the hell was he supposed to do?

***

You woke up to someone gently shaking your shoulder.

"Y/N, c'mon it's time for dinner, honey."

Hailey.

"No," you mumbled.

You didn't want to face Jay after everything!

"You need to eat, Y/N. You didn't even finish your snack earlier. Just c'mon out and eat dinner with me and Jay."

"Jay gonna be mad at me," you said quietly and rolled over so that you were facing the wall.

"He won't be mad; we just want you to eat something. He made your favorite, fettuccine alfredo, remember?"

That's right! You got to pick dinner once a week and told Jay last week that you wanted fettuccine! And today was Wednesday! It was your dinner day!

"Oh yeah! I forgetted!"

Then, you jumped out of bed and ran downstairs.

Hailey shook her head as she walked behind you. Kids and their moods.

When you got to the kitchen, your plate was set right where it usually was with fettuccine, broccoli, and garlic bread.

You eyed Jay suspiciously when you sat down.

Then, Jay noticed you weren't wearing your glasses. Hailey noticed the very slight tilt of his head, so she quickly jumped in.

"They're on her bedside table," she said. "She was sound asleep when I went up there."

"Mhm," you agreed and then took a bite of your pasta.

Jay figured it was better to let you eat almost all of your food before he started in on the glasses conversation again. He needed you to eat something because, at this point, you hadn't eaten anything except your one ant on a log since 11am at school, which was seven hours ago. He didn't know how you hadn't woken up and been hungry but hey, he knew as well as you did that tantrums made you utterly exhausted.

Once you only had half of your garlic bread left, Jay decided it was time to have another go at this.

"Y/N, me and Hailey were talking, and we thought that if you came home from school wearing glasses, you can get an extra sticker on your chore chart," Jay said. "How's that sound?"

You shrugged. "Okay." You had already been doing that. You'd put them on right when you got in the car. You didn't need them for up close stuff like talking with your friends anyway and you could see Jay, Hailey, and Will just fine without your glasses; they were just a little blurry around the edges.

"That means we need to see you wearing them when we pick you up," Jay continued. "You can't just put them on when you get inside the car." Your brother was nothing if not perceptive.

You could do that. You'd just put them on when you walked out of school for pickup. You couldn't wear them all the time because then what if someone said something about you not wearing them while playing soccer at recess? Then you'd have to wear them at recess and you couldn't play soccer with them on!

"Okay," you said.

"Okay, good," Jay replied.

But, he shot a glance at Hailey. That was way too quick for you to agree to this without a fight even with the added incentive of getting a sticker on your sticker chart.

Something was off and both he and Hailey knew it.

***

Two days later, Friday

Jay walked out of an interrogation, relayed the info to his team, and then sat down at his desk to do some digging into this guy's financials. But, his phone lit up, notifying him that he had a voicemail.

He saw it was from your teacher and his brow furrowed.

"Hi, Mr. Halstead. This is Stephanie Harding calling. I received your email a couple of days ago explaining how you talked with Y/N about wearing her glasses and she said that she'd wear them and that they are not lost. I just wanted to inform you that she hasn't worn her glasses at all throughout the school day, but will put them on for pickup.

I just wanted to inform you of this and please let me know if there's anything that I can do to help."

Jay clenched his jaw and sighed frustratedly after he finished listening. He thought he'd be dealing with this level of sneakiness when you were a teenager, not now!

"Nothing in the financials?" Hailey asked from across from him.

"Still working on that," Jay answered. "Y/N's teacher called. Said she still hasn't been wearing her glasses."

"What? She was wearing them yesterday when I picked her up."

"Her teacher said that she'll put them on at pickup but won't wear them at all during the rest of the day."

Hailey shook her head and rolled her eyes. "We are getting played by a first-grader, Halstead."

"Don't I know it. I'm gonna give Will a call and see if she wore her glasses at pickup. Maybe he can get to the bottom of it while she's at his house tonight."

***

"Alright, kiddo. Game plan today is homework, snack, and reading. Then we'll grab a quick dinner somewhere and go to the girls' soccer game. Sound good?" Will asked when you got inside and set your backpack down.

"Don't wanna do my math homework," you complained. "It's stupid."

"What are you working on?" Will probed. "Maybe I can help you."

"Subtraction. My friends say it's like adding, but the opposite, but it's not!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'll make you a snack and then we'll work through it together. How's an apple with peanut butter sound?"

"Do you still have the green apples?"

"I do. Green apple with peanut butter coming right up."

***

Will wasn't stupid. He knew why Jay probably couldn't get the answer from you about not wearing your glasses. And that was because he was asking at the wrong time and because he was the one who disciplined you. Will never had to do that except for taking away ice cream as a bedtime snack a couple of times when you mouthed off to him. You didn't have to worry about having to go to bed early or not being able to watch more tv because you had gotten in trouble with Will. And, you and Jay were very much alike; both of you bottled up your emotions and were stubborn to no end...which is probably why you argued more with Jay than you did Will and Hailey and why Jay couldn't get you to talk about your glasses.

So, Will didn't bring up the glasses at dinner. He didn't even bring them up when you were at the soccer game.

But now was the time for him to bring this up.

You were currently sitting down next to him on the pull-out couch with your teddy bear and your favorite blanket, all ready for a chapter of Narnia and then for bed. You were comfortable and there was nothing to overstimulate you. You had food in your system and the excitement from the day was over.

You were calm.

"Before we start reading, kiddo, I need to ask you a question," Will started.

"Okay, what is it? Is it about what happened in Narnia when me Jay and Hailey readed it last week? Because I can tell you so you're not con...con—" You scrunched up your eyebrows as you tried to remember the word. "So that you know what's happenin'," you said instead.

"It's not about Narnia, but you can tell me before we start reading if you want. But first, I want to know why you aren't wearing your glasses. Do they make your head hurt? Did someone laugh at you?" You shook your head. "Okay, then what is? What's going on, Y/N?"

"Soccer," you mumbled, but it was so quiet that Will couldn't even hear you.

"What was that?" Will asked softly. "It's okay. You can tell me. I won't be mad at you."

You looked up at Will's face. He didn't look mad. Maybe you could tell him. Maybe he wouldn't tell Jay either and then everything would be fine.

"I can't play soccer no more be-because I have glasses!"

At this, you started to cry. All of the nerves you had felt about lying to your brothers and Hailey and the sadness about not being able to play soccer anymore all came tumbling out of you. And, it didn't help that no one on the high school girls' soccer team that you just went and watched earlier wore glasses. That just proved your point!

Will sighed and held back a laugh. Leave it to a little kid to catastrophize from A to Z.

"Who told you that?" Will asked, now realizing that he needed to get to the root of the problem.

"No one did! But none of the big girls wear glasses when they play soccer! And one boy's fell off at school and they got smashed and I'm the only one on my team that has glasses and---"

"Hey, hey, slow down. Take a deep breath, okay?" He allowed you to take a few breaths before he placed a hand on your shoulder. "You can still play soccer."

You looked up at him and your eyebrows furrowed before your mouth fell slightly agape. "I can?

"Yes, silly! We just need to get a strap for the back of your glasses because then they'll stay on when you're running."

"And I can play soccer with Jay Jay on Sunday?!"

"And you can play soccer with Jay on Sunday, yes," Will confirmed.

"Yay!"

"Now what do you say you fill me in on Narnia before I start reading to you, hmm?"

***

"Tell me you got something out of her," was the first thing that Jay said when he answered Will's call later that night.

"Jay, this is our sister we're talking about, not a criminal investigation."

"I know that, smartass. Still...anything?"

"She thought she couldn't play soccer with her glasses."

"What? Where'd she get that idea?"

"Well, kids are very observant, Jay. Maybe more observant than you seeing as you didn't even catch this--"

"Neither did you!"

"Last I checked, my job doesn't involve me doing a stakeout or working undercover."

And then Will launched into a recap of the conversation he had with you.

"Come to think of it," Will began when he was done and had answered all of Jay's questions, "I'm shocked you didn't think to get one for her right away because you didn't get contacts until high school and wore your glasses with a strap when you played soccer all the way from elementary school to middle school. You know what? I think I still have some pictures of that from the family photo album I took from Dad's--"

"Don't you dare!" Jay threatened.

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"Name your price...within reason."

"Breakfast tomorrow, 9am before me and Y/N go pick out her glasses strap. And you're paying."

"Deal!"

And years later, once you got to high school, you never did get contacts because one, you thought you looked better with glasses than without, and two, you wanted all of the little kids that came and watched your games to know that they could play whatever sport they wanted regardless of whether or not they wore glasses.

A/N: Thank you for reading and don't forget to vote and comment! Also, fun fact, I didn't get my glasses until I was 21. I went to renew my driver's license and barely passed the eye exam, so now I wear glasses.

[foxnikki]

*enters breaking everything*

Resquests are open!!

Nikki, Nikki... Could I ask for Izo and Killer (separately) with a gn/nb s/o who clearly has a bias towards them?

Like, some crew member gets hurt and s/o scolds them for being careless, but with Izo/Killer, s/o is like "my love, are you okay?? 🥺🤜🏻🩹" (the fist is supposed to be a hand holding the band-aid 💀)

Maybe you don't even realize that they CLEARLY have favoritism??

Headcanons pls <3

It's totally fine if you don't wanna write it!!! 💗

— XOXØ, Meli

𝕵𝖚𝖘𝖙 𝖞𝖔𝖚

They never really understood your behavior at times: the only thing they were sure of was that you took care of them without complaints. Ah, if only they knew they had favoritism!

Pairing: Izou x gn!reader, Killer x gn!reader [separately] Genre: fluff a/n: this is a really cute idea for a story, thanks for the request ♡

izou

Oh, to say that he was scared at the idea of ​​you taking care of him at first was an understatement. Or rather, it would have annoyed him quite a bit, on the other hand he had heard that you had a particular way of taking care of the wounded, and saying taking care seemed like a funny way of saying that while you were taking care of them you repeatedly complained that they had to be more careful. Izo didn't want to hear any complaints.

He had once injured his arm during a battle, but Marco was already busy treating the others, so he had to go to you even though he didn't want to. You disinfected his wound, stitched it up and bandaged it, all this in silence. The only thing you said was at the end, when you gave him a pat. “Here you go" you told him.

It was a pretty calm situation, though maybe it was just because it was the first time he'd come to you, he thought. Oh, how wrong he was.

The next time the wound reopened and he had to return. That time you talked more. “You should be more careful, you know?” you told him, and your voice sounded worried rather than annoyed. "I care about your health..." Izo started to think that the others were exaggerating and said that you were quite aggressive in your ways. How could I be, if you were nice to him?

Sometimes he would even just show up to talk, and you seemed more than happy to listen to him. Of course, he didn't pay attention to the fact that he was probably the only person in the crew who was given that treatment.

Seriously, if he finds out he has favoritism he might find an excuse to get hurt more often.

killer

He was already used to Kid and his outbursts, so when he learned that the crew's new doctor was a rather aggressive guy he didn't pay much attention to it at first. Then one day he saw you with his friend and, oh my god, you were literally scolding him for getting hurt. It was definitely worse than he thought.

The first time he came to you he had a similar if not lighter treatment, you muttered annoyed about how your companions weren't paying attention to what they were doing. Well, at least you didn't yell at him.

One time he saw you bandaging up Bubblegum and, he would say, you were literally crushing his arm. For once he felt lucky.

The second time was a quieter visit, you simply disinfected his wound and put a band-aid on him while humming under your breath. When you finished you said your goodbyes and you gave a smile. He didn't know why but he felt reassured by this gesture, maybe after all you could be kind. Then, you were the doctor, and you just wanted your companions to be well, even if you had your own ways of doing so. Well, maybe he was an exception.

Yet he doesn't pay much attention to the fact that he has a favourite, and perhaps it's for the best. If he found out, he might tell you to treat others the same way because, as he says, he doesn't like favoritism... even though he probably does it himself by giving you the plate with the biggest meal.

© ꜰᴏxɴɪᴋᴋɪ on tumblr - do not repost, copy, translate, modify, etc my work on any platform. Comments and reblogs are appreciated.

[ironstrange1991]

A Very Busy Sorcerer

Pairing: Doctor!Strange x Fem!Reader

Synopsis: Stephen has been very busy the last few days and the reader decides he needs a moment to relax.

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: SMUT: Handjob and some dirty talk. Use of the word daddy one or two times. Mostly fluff.

A/N: Working two jobs I haven't had much time to write, but I managed to finish this one for you guys and I hope you like it.

One of the things you tried not to do was disturb Stephen when he was working. You were still getting used to the idea of ​​living together, even though you had been dating for almost 2 years and you were used to him sleeping in your apartment or you sleeping at the Sanctum almost every day, but actually living together was completely different and you wanted to show him that you knew how to respect his space and that you understood how busy he was.

However, since Stephen had set the date for the next mission with the Avengers he was always stressed, always worried and barely left the library, always reading and preparing for whatever he had to do. - As time went by, you stopped asking him to explain his missions to you. Today was no exception, Stephen was in the library, he was there all day in fact and even though it was Saturday, Wong was still wandering around the Sanctum instead of going back to the Kamar Taj like he normally did on the weekends, and you were bored and upset at being left aside and knowing that soon you would be alone in that huge house.

But you weren’t worried about yourself, you were worried about Stephen. He had barely been eating the last few days and when you brought it up he always said he was fine, but all that nervousness and stress couldn't be further from fine. You just wish you could find a way to make him stop and breathe for a minute and perhaps relax a little bit before going out on his mission. If you could just get him to talk to you a little, or eat something healthy, you'd feel less worried.

You found yourself searching for Wong to make sure he wasn't in the library too and found the Sorcerer Supreme in the Window of Worlds room doing who knows what. Having decided, you went to the library and found Stephen at his desk reading a huge book. He was so absorbed in his reading that he even noticed you approaching, even though Cloaky broke free from his shoulders and flew towards you.

He only noticed you when you were already at his side, asking so that the sentient relic could leave your both alone for a moment. Cloaky flew away happily and you smiled feeling a warmth in your heart. Sometimes you caught yourself thinking it was weird to have so much affection for a piece of clothing, but Cloaky was so much more than that you end up telling yourself every time.

Stephen sighed heavily as if he expected you to complain to him, even though he knew you never complained. Maybe he simply knew he had crossed the line today.

 "Sweetheart, I know its Saturday and I know I should be spending some time with you, but I really need to find this specific spell..."

You shushed him wrapping your hands around his shoulders and positioning yourself right behind him. "I know. I didn't come here to complain, Steph. Do what you have to do." You said in a honeyed voice and began to massage his shoulders slowly. "I just want to spend some time with you while I can, if that's okay. I promise I won't disturb you."

He sighed heavily as you started working on a knot on his right shoulder and you could feel him melting under your touch and that was one of the things you loved most in the world.

"You could never disturb me, sweetheart. Hmm, this feels so good. I don't deserve you, Y/n."

"Shh. Enjoy it."

You smiled to yourself and continued with the massage and Stephen did his best to turn his attention back to his book which from what you could see was all written in runes.

It wasn't your intention to distract him, but you couldn't help but feel a little proud when you noticed how much he was melting into your touch, the slight moans he made every time you put more pressure on an area of ​​his shoulders that needed to be worked on more carefully and – of course – it didn’t took long for dirty thoughts start to creep into your mind.

As the minutes passed, your hands began to become more daring, going down his defined chest covered by his blue robes and he sighed contentedly when your lips began to place little kisses on the back of his neck, going up to bite his earlobe and finally whispering into his ear.

"Does it feel good?"

He groaned, lolling his head back and closing his eyes and resting it on your chest.

"It's perfect. I'm so tired, sweetheart. You have no idea."

You nodded "Yes I do. I’ve been worried about you all day. That's why I'm here. I wanted to make you relax a little bit."

He hummed positively, "God, it's working. I love the way you work your hands, Y/n. They're delicate, but firm at the same time. Perfect."

You felt your heart flutter in your chest and decided to dare a little by running your hand down his chest until you reached his belt. "Yeah? What if I use them here. Do you think I can make you relax even more?"

Stephen almost purred feeling your fingers ghosting over a growing bulge. He let out a low moan when you held him over his pants, rubbing your hand against him to tease him and then you dedicated yourself to unbuckling his belt.

You placed a kiss on his neck and walked around his chair, placing yourself between him and his desk. Stephen moved the chair back, giving you more space and watched you kneel in front of him with a big and warm smile.

You unbuttoned his pants and quickly took his cock out. He was already half hard and you couldn't resist giving him a little kiss on the head as he moaned a little louder this time but quickly tried to compose himself.

"Sweetheart...Wong is still at the Sanctum."

You smiled mischievously, licking your hand and started pumping him up and down slowly.

"I know."

Stephen let out a nervous chuckle, but his cock quickly hardened in your hand. "You know he could come in here at any moment, then.” Though his words should sound like a warning, his voice broke with sweet moans and you thought they were really cute.

“Oh fuck... these hands... devilish."

You giggled, stopping just for a second so you could spit on his cock and go back to stroking him. The wet, lewd sound only adding even more to his pleasure.

Stephen bit his lower lip hard to try and suppress a loud moan at which you tsked.

"It's okay, let me hear you, Steph. Wong is up stairs, it's just you and me here. You know I love hearing your moans, they make me so wet. Sometimes I touch myself just thinking about it, replaying the sound on my head."

Stephen gasped as you held him tighter twisting your hand while moving it up and down. His legs shook a little and he moaned loudly for you just the way you loved to hear.

"So fucking dirty, sweetheart. Oh I love it! I love when you work your hands in my dick. The best handjob I ever had."

You smiled proudly. "Yeah? You're flattering me just because you want me to make you cum."

Stephen moaned even louder this time.

"God yes, please. I need you to make me cum, sweetheart. But it's not only because of that. You're perfect. You know I always say this. You’re always so good to me."

One of the things you loved most about Stephen was how controlling and rough he could be in sex and at the same time be sweet and affectionate. He was always so sweet when he let you have control over him like that, and you loved it.

You spat on his cock again and started working with both hands, rotating one from the base to the tip and the other massaging his balls. Stephen let out a groan and caressed your face, his thumb pulling your bottom lip down.

"Why don't you put that little mouth to work for me, uh? I'm dying for a blowjob."

You smiled mischievously, but even though his voice sounded so pleading and sexy, broken by small moans, you didn't give in. You know he would take back control to himself if you let him fuck your mouth, and you were loving that little submissive moment of his.

"I want you to cum on my hands, Stephen. You just told me how much you love them. They are not enough?"

"Yes I do.  Shit! They’re more than enough, sweetheart. I could cum just from thinking about them as I did so many times. " He whispered between moans and his thighs trembled under your hands and his cock throbbed. "Fuck… but I need it faster, need more."

You bit your lip holding back a moan of your own. Seeing your man in that state was a huge turn on for you.

"Fuck Stephen... I'm so wet right now. Pussy is begging for you, and I know you want me too. So badly. You wanna put your cock inside me, don't you? Fell my pussy stretching around it..."

"Fuck yes." Stephen groaned and his cock jumped in your hand.

You started to work both hands on his cock, feeling him throb beneath them. He was so close, all he needed was a little push.

"Come on then, Steph, show me how much you love my hands. Cum all over them, make a mess for me. I just want you to feel relaxed, you deserve it. Have been working so hard these last few days. I just want to make you feel good."

"Oh yeah, sweetheart..." He moaned loudly. "Keep talking to me."

You smiled, satisfied now that you had him the way you wanted. "Give me your cum, daddy. Love you so much. I just want to be a good girl for you, wanna make daddy cum in my hands. I know you love my hands, Stephen. Show me how much. Give it to me."

Stephen let out a loud groan and started to cum. Warm and thick ropes of cum spurting from his cock and spilling onto your hands.

"There you go, Steph" You praised.

"Oh fuck... oh sweetheart. God, I love you, sweet girl." The words escaped his trembling lips as his body shook. His cum running down your fingers, some soiling the top half of his robes. A delicious mess.

He caressed your face, laughing softly, the sound making your heart jump in your chest.

"Such a good girl for daddy. Love you so much, Y/n."

You smiled sweetly at him watching as he conjured a cloth and began to clean himself as best as he could, but you knew it would take a lot more than that to get the smell of cum out of his robes.

He took your hands and began to gently clean them and then got rid of the dirty cloth and buttoned his pants and belts again with a flick of his fingers.

"I'll let you get back to work now." You said, getting up and threatening to leave, but he was faster. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you closer to sit on his lap.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you go that easily?" He threatened with a smirk.

"I don't want to disturb your work, Steph."

He buried his face in your hair inhaling deeply.

"Too late for that, don't you think? Or did you really think I could go back to work after a handjob like that?"

You let out a small giggle "I didn't mean to."

He pulled your hair to the side and purposefully rubbed his goatee across the crook of your neck making your skin prickle. "Well, I think that was exactly your intention and now you got what you wanted."

"And what exactly did I want?" You asked, feigning innocence.

Stephen bit your earlobe "Making me hard for you, wanting to fuck you senseless until you ask me to stop."

"That’s not true." You said petulantly, turning to look at him and pulling him to your lips. "I never ask you to stop." You said biting his lip.

Stephen held you tight in his lap, standing up and opening a portal to his room. Work would have to wait.

Reblog please! Leave a comment if you liked it. Interact! I will love to read all of your comments and opinions. It inspires me to keep writing ;)

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[theotherbuckley]

I like you (because you're you) - bucktommy 2K

read on ao3

“Who was that?” Tommy asks, walking up to where Buck’s sat on the couch, phone placed down in his lap. They’d just finished dinner, Buck had cooked a delicious pasta dish that had Tommy coming back for seconds. He’d told Buck how much he liked it, and Buck had promised he’d make it again before his phone started buzzing and he’d apologised before taking the call.

Buck gives him a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. His cheerful self from earlier seemingly replaced with a faded version. He has this distant look in his eyes which he quickly blinks away before he speaks. “Uh, that was my friend Connor. He, uh, just wanted some of my medical records.” He waves his hand like it’s no big deal. It isn’t. Not really. His brain is just being stupid, is all.

Tommy raises his eyebrows before frowning. “Why’d he need those?” He questions, coming to sit down next to Buck. He places his hand on Buck’s thigh momentarily, squeezing softly like he just knows that Buck needs a little bit of comfort right now even if he doesn’t quite understand why.

“Uh, their son was at a doctor's appointment, just having a check-up or something, and I’m well— they used my sperm so, you know, they just want to make sure everything is in order, I guess,” he rushes out the last part, desperate to get the words out like if he says it fast enough Tommy won’t even realise what he’s said and it won’t cause any issues. 

Tommy’s brows rise further as he takes that in. Buck watches him process, afraid that his life will once again be too much for someone, and they’ll walk out. It’s what people do — when Buck inevitably becomes too much and when they decide what he’s offering, what he can’t give them, isn’t enough in return, they leave.

“Is that— is that a problem?” Buck hates the way his voice wavers as he speaks. Hates the way he can’t hide his emotions at all. He really likes Tommy, really wants him to stick around. He’ll do what he can to make that happen. He’ll make himself more useful so that Tommy won’t want to leave. He’ll—

“No, no, of course not.” Tommy says it like there’s no other answer. Like he can’t imagine anyone thinking that’s a problem. Buck waits for the inevitable ‘but’.

“But.” Buck braces. “But I’m just surprised I’ve never heard of this guy before is all,” Tommy says. Buck exhales a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

“Oh uh, yeah, we— we aren’t really close.”

“But you donated sperm for him?” There’s genuine confusion in his voice.

“Yeah, well, I guess— he asked. I may not have spoken to him in a while but, I wasn’t gonna say no.”

“You have the biggest heart, Evan. I think what you did is incredibly honourable. How are they doing now?” Tommy asks gently, seemingly comfortable to move the conversation on.

“I’m—I'm not actually sure.” He sighs. “That was the first time they’d called since the birth. And that was only because they needed something.” He laughs at the end like his words don’t speak to some greater insecurity deep inside him. Like it doesn’t hurt that his friend hasn’t talked to him until they needed him.

“Ah,” Tommy says, and Buck can here the judgement dripping from his mouth. He’s not sure exactly what he’s done, but it’s always something. Maybe he should have been the one to check in on them, maybe—

“I don’t think he sounds like a very good friend,” Tommy states. 

Buck frowns, he didn’t expect him to say that. The truth is, Buck sometimes wonders that himself. What he lands on instead is that there must be something wrong with him. Because it’s not just Connor who wants things from him and then doesn’t care about any other part of Buck. It’s just how it’s always been. People take, and Buck gives. He gives, and he gives, and it’s never quite enough, but he tries.

“Sometimes I feel like people only like me when I’m useful,” Buck admits in a whisper, letting the words stuck inside his head free. It’s not that he thinks it; he knows it. He knows he’s only worth something when people can use him, and he’s lived with that his whole life. He was born to save someone, and he failed, but that’s his whole purpose even now. 

He saves people for a living. He’ll babysit whenever anybody asks, he’ll be your trivia partner when you need to win. He’ll let his friends use him for his sperm. And it’s not that he doesn’t want to. He does. He loves doing these things for his friends because he can. But sometimes it hurts a little knowing that it’s not him that they want. They just… like his ability to do things.

“Evan, I like you. Regardless of anything you can or can’t do. I like you.” Tommy emphasises the you like Buck being Buck is somehow special.

Buck can’t stop the wet laugh that escapes his throat. He shakes his head, sniffles before composing himself. “No, no,” he says, because it’s not true, it can’t be. “But—but it’s okay because I’ll make sure you don’t get bored of my I-I’ll cook dinner, and I’ll do the dishes, and I’ll make sure we always win at trivia and— and I don’t know anything about cars or Muay Thai, but I’ll learn.” Buck’s rambling, the words tumbling out of his mouth in one breath. He needs to make sure Tommy knows that he’ll do his best; even if it’s hard, he’ll be useful because then Tommy will stay, and he really wants Tommy to stay.

“Evan.” It’s that soft voice again. Placating, like he’s talking to a small child. Like he’s trying to get him to listen.

Buck shifts his gaze from the floor to Tommy. He looks sad. Buck wishes he wasn’t the one to make him look like that. He tries to smile at him, anything to bring those soft creases at the edges of Tommy’s eyes back, but his heart’s not really in it.

“Evan,” Tommy says again, locking his eyes on Buck’s. “You don’t need to be useful for me to like you. I like you because you’re adorable. I like you because you’re funny and you don’t care what people think. ‘Who cares’, right?” Tommy chuckles. Buck likes that sound. “I like that you were willing to try again with me, even if you bought me god-awful coffee with it.” Buck lets out a wet chuckle at that. “I look at you, Evan, and I see someone who cares so deeply about your friends. Willing to put your life on the line for others. But it’s more than that, I like the way you ramble about random things you find on the internet, and how you try out 100 different lasagna recipes because you need to find the right one even though you burn half of them.”

“Hey!” Buck says in weak protest. He’s right, though. There’s a warmth in his chest at the fact that Tommy noticed.

Tommy keeps going. “I like how big your smile gets when you talk about Chris or Jee-Yun. I like the way that your cheeks turn the colour of your birthmark when you’re flustered. I just— I really like you, Evan. You could— you don’t have to cook for me every day or give me the answers at trivia night for me to want you to stick around. I like you because you’re you.”

Buck can’t stop the tears trickling down his cheeks. His whole life has been about being useful, and it’s so hard to believe anything different but the way Tommy talks about him. Like maybe he really does see him. “I don’t know how to— I want to believe you but it’s just, every relationship I’ve had has felt like people want something from me. Abby needed help when her mom died, and then she just left. I always felt like Ali just wanted a place to crash when she was in town. I mean, she’s the reason I have this apartment in the first place. Taylor just wanted sex at first, and then she started getting insights into news stories from the firehouse, and she always valued that more than spending time with me. She’d ask me how my day was, not because she cared but because she wanted to know if there was anything worth writing about. Hell, she even published a book about me. Even after it was over, she used me as much as she could.” The tears are flowing faster now, and his voice cracks as he speaks. It’s stupid to get so emotional about this, but Buck can’t stop now. Now that he’s opened the faucet of this insecurity of his, it’s like everything he’s been bottling inside is bubbling to the surface and he can’t stop it.

“And Nat—Natalia,” Buck continues, hiccuping through his tears. “She just wanted to understand my death. Asked me a hundred— a hundred questions about what it was like, and at first, I thought maybe she could actually see me, but I feel like she was just using me for something too.” Buck wipes his face. He’s sure he must look like a mess right now — tear-streaked face, snot dripping down from his nose. Tommy doesn’t deserve to deal with all this. “Sorry,” Buck chuckles,  the sound getting caught in his throat. “You didn’t need to hear about all that.”

“Hey,” Tommy says, moving closer towards Buck. He tucks his fingers under Buck’s chin forcing him to look Tommy in the eyes. He holds Buck’s face tenderly in his hand, always so gentle. “You can talk to me about anything, and I will listen, okay?”

“I don’t want to bore you,” Buck says softly, moving to look down at the ground once more but Tommy doesn’t let him get away, holding him firmly yet soft, like Buck’s something precious.

“You couldn’t,” Tommy replies sincerely. “If it weren’t for you, how else would I know that the Australians started a war on emus, huh?” He jokes.

“And lost,” Buck whispers because he can’t help it.

“And lost!” Tommy repeats. Buck had gone on a tangent about it just the other day. He’d gone to the zoo with Christopher, and they’d been having a lot of fun until they stood too close to the fence, and an emu had come up and startled them. Buck had decided in that moment that he needed to find out every single detail about them, which led him to discovering that in 1932, Australia declared war on emus —and then proceeded to lose. He’d met up with Tommy after and rambled about his findings because he thought it was absolutely hilarious. Tommy sat there smiling at him, evidently listening to every word that he said, taking it in and remembering it all.

“I like listening to you talk, Evan. I like you. And I’ll tell you that as much as you need to hear. Now,” Tommy claps his hands together. “Tomorrow, I’m cooking for you. You don’t need to do anything except sit there and look pretty. Let someone do something for you for once. Okay?”

Buck just nods, wiping at his eyes before slumping into Tommy’s now open arms and relishing in the comfort of his boyfriend. He doesn’t quite believe him, not yet. He wants to. It’s just prior experience has moulded his brain a certain way and now he just can’t believe any different. He wants to. He wants someone to like him, to love him, even when he can’t be useful. He hopes that maybe Tommy will show him that that’s possible.

For now, he tucks his head into Tommy’s shoulder, clutches onto him like he’s going to disappear and lets himself be held. Tommy kisses his birthmark like it’s sacred, holds him and tells him he likes him over and over. Buck thinks maybe he really does.