#i should be ok i should just skip next weeks shot

[grubloved]

i so absolutely fucked up and doubled my first dose heeelp lmaooo

[astonmartinii]

i hope your finger’s ok!! please take all the time you need and remember you health comes first :) imma be selfish and send you a charles request cause ur writing makes me smile at my phone like an idiot and i can’t help it :p ok so!! charles x versteppen reader? shes max’s sister and drives for redbull (cause im delulu like that) and they’ve been fighting w each other since they were kids (no one knows why they started arguing they’re j petty and refuse to give it up even though they dk what they’re arguing abt anymore) and obvs they’re in love w each other - maybe another drivers flirting w her or smth and charles j snaps and hard launches the reader cause surprise they’ve been dating each other 🤭 holy shit this is long sorry for rambling 🙏🙏

angel baby, devil child | charles leclerc social media au

pairing: charles leclerc x verstappen!reader

enemies to lovers blah blah blah

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, carlossainz55 and 1,743,200 others

yourusername: crazy, crazy race. sorry not sorry to the tifosi, tell ur girl @charles_leclerc to kiss my ass not my rear tyre xoxo

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user1: okay they're clearly still in the enemies phase... when can we skip to lovers

user2: i personally love that charles is the mortal enemy of both verstappen siblings that's so slay of him

maxverstappen1: crop me out again and say goodbye to a tow in qualifying

yourusername: sorry maxy, not my fault i got all the photogenic genes xx

maxverstappen1: erm rude @christianhorner tell her to stop bullying me

yourusername: two can play at that game @sebastianvettel tell max to stop being a baby

user3: the way neither christian or seb replied they really don't get paid enough to deal with them

charles_leclerc: what is it with verstappens and their love for pushing me off the track

yourusername: what is it with your front wing and my rear tyre

charles_leclerc: umm i asked you first

yourusername: stop deflecting babe, we all know you love my ass so much you wanted a touch

charles_leclerc: i'd rather deep fry my hands than touch your rear

maxverstappen1: that can be arranged

user4: can't wait for these three to all be in the same press conference next week 🍿

carlossainz55: my favourite person to share the podium with

yourusername: thanks chilli (@tifosi you heard it here sainz is against ferrari 1-2s)

carlossainz55: NO that's not what i meant

landonorris: i see how it is ... god all men are the same AM I NOT PRETTY ENOUGH FOR YOU?

maxverstappen1

liked by charles_leclerc, landonorris and 1,204,809 others

tagged: yourusername

maxverstappen1: happy birthday to my bestest friend, biggest rival and favourite roommate. though maybe now you're 23 you can get your own place so you can sneak out to meet up with your secret boyfriend on your own terms and can keep that massive ballsack away from jimmy and sassy. i love you and verstappen dominance 4 ever.

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user7: i love y/n but i think she should bring her cat to races as a scare tactic

yourusername: wrinkle doesn't appreciate your tone but it is duly noted

yourusername: awwwwwwwww i love you maxy !! and you're never getting rid of your little sister unless you get married and ur a big fat nerd so that's never happening xx

maxverstappen1: attacking me after i just bought you a whole ass car

yourusername: i JOKE. thank you soooo much and you'll never get rid of me you love me too much to anyway.

maxverstappen1: enough to finally introduce me to the mystery man?

yourusername: blocked.

user8: are we all just ignoring her doing her literal eyeliner with a knife?

user9: or the fact that max likely walked in and was like oh wait this is a sick shot

danielricciardo: oh no that was me, i'm still traumatised but it's probably the best photo i've ever taken

yourusername: easy to do with a model like me

charles_leclerc: wtf is that thing in the last one

yourusername: rude of you to think ur balls look any nicer

charles_leclerc: what?

yourusername: what?

user10: does anyone want to elaborate?

carlossainz55: happy birthday y/n !

yourusername: thanks carlos, thank you for the flowers 👍

user11: this is either their way of flirting or y/n really couldn't give a flying fuck about carlos' obvious crush on her

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, danielricciardo and 2,098,560 others

yourusername: another trip around the sun and still following my brother around, difference is now i beat him x

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user16: your honour i am so obsessed with her

maxverstappen1: can't even be angry about it, you deserve the world

yourusername: you softy, i love you

maxverstappen1: also dummy i know who your boyfriend is now did you guys forget that we LITERALLY LIVE TOGETHER

yourusername: i was intoxicated my bad but we bought you breakfast?

maxverstappen1: literally the only reason he hasn't gone over the balcony, he might want to be gone before this hangover wears off

yourusername: noted.

user17: yall want to share with the class?

user18: based on ^^ this reaction i'm going to say it's not carlos

user19: watch out he'll drop a shit pick-up line in a second and be rejected

carlossainz55: hope you enjoyed your birthday beautiful

user20: bro this guy STINKS

user19: i told yall

yourusername: thank you carlos

user21: i'm sorry this is dry as hell it can't be carlos

charles_leclerc: my shoes will never recover, i'll be sending an invoice your way

yourusername: you're a millionaire boo, you can replace those tacky white trainers yourself

charles_leclerc: is having no manners a verstappen trait?

yourusername: come for max all you want, but the birthday girl? low leclerc

charles_leclerc: when you go low i go lower

yourusername: oh believe me i know all about you and going down

user22: DO YALL MIND?

user23: do they think we're dumb?

charles_leclerc

liked by pierregasly, lancestroll and 1,204,674 others

charles_leclerc: a weekend without racing?

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user24: what is biden doing about the soft launch pandemic?

user25: well this is oddly timed ...

yourusername: you look like you'd have sweaty hands

charles_leclerc: wouldn't you like to know

yourusername: unlike all ur fangirls i've actually smelt you sweaty after a race so you can keep your hands to yourself

maxverstappen1: you heard her 🤨

charles_leclerc: why are you here? is this a 2 for 1 deal on annoying dutch people

yourusername: you can call him annoying all you want, but you love me don't lie

charles_leclerc: my lawyer says i shouldn't comment on that ;)

sebastianvettel: when will you two stop?

yourusername: sorry seb :(

charles_leclerc: sorry seb :(

user26: i know carlos is sick reading this weird flirting when y/n never comments on his pics

user27: she comes here just to flirt cause she didn't even like the photo

user28: she doesn't even follow him 😭

pierregasly: i love a slow burn as much as the next person BUT NOT WHEN I DON'T KNOW WHO IT IS PICK UP THE PHONE

charles_leclerc: you're so dramatic, nobody knows calmar

maxverstappen1: he's lying i do

pierregasly: WHAT

charles_leclerc: by ACCIDENT i didn't tell him by choice

user29: so like, it's definitely y/n LOL

user30: oh no everyone get ready marca is going to run a story tomorrow about how charles leclerc is ruining carlos' career with psychological warfare by flirting with the girl he likes

user31: sainz sr about to wage war lol

charles_leclerc

liked by pierregasly, yourusername and 2,304,889 others

tagged: yourusername

charles_leclerc: i don't share. i love you. please follow me on instagram now (and let me come on max's jet) x

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user35: HOLY FUCK

user36: they're so fucking sexy my lord

yourusername: you're so weak, one teammate flirts with me and you hard launch, i've had 12 year olds use me as a face claim to pretend they're pregnant with your child

charles_leclerc: they took your face? i happen to quite like it, can they give it back?

yourusername: quite?

charles_leclerc: don't make me look bad you know i positively LOVE YOUR FACE

yourusername: and my ass since it's all you look at on track

charles_leclerc: okay you can drop the act now people know we're in love stop being mean to me :(

yourusername: but it's true, no?

charles_leclerc: rest assured i love your actual ass much more

maxverstappen1: believe me the people she lives with know WAY too much about how much you love it

user37: carlos sainz really thought he had a chance when these fools have been together for TWO years

sebastianvettel: congratulations you two, glad we don't have to watch you two trying to be subtle now

maxverstappen1: so wait when did you find out?

sebastianvettel: about two weeks into the relationship, they were very obvious

yourusername: thank you for keeping our secret dad <3

user38: y/n really said you ARE my grid dad

yourusername: oh no that's my actual dad

charles_leclerc: he's literally going to walk y/n down the aisle

maxverstappen1: please don't tell me you're engaged? i only just got over you actually being together

charles_leclerc: i'm not your brother yet don't worry (i will be soon)

carlossainz55: congrats guys

user39: it's okay bro you can cry

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, charles_leclerc and 2,301,541 others

tagged: charles_leclerc

yourusername: two years with the love of my life, still on max's side on val d'argenton x

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user40: they're disgusting (when will it happen to me)

charles_leclerc: we'll have to agree to disagree

yourusername: just admit it you love to push verstappens off the track

charles_leclerc: sorry babe as much as i love you, i'll never let you win x

yourusername: good thing i always beat you then x

charles_leclerc: either way victory sex still bangs

user41: yes, yes they're cute, but i need a full on play-by-play of how this relationship came to be

user42: i know these menaces were giggling and kicking their feet every time they had an argument in comment sections

yourusername: oh it was very fun

charles_leclerc: but the radio messaged are 100% real lol

maxverstappen1: thanks for having my back, you're welcome for all the gross pictures i've taken for you guys

yourusername: consider your payment like every meal i make us

maxverstappen1: well if i did it f1 would be down three drivers

user43: wait so does charles basically live with them now?

maxverstappen1: unfortunately yes. depressing music, even worse cooking than me and horrendously loud sex with my sister. i should kick him out

charles_leclerc: i literally bought you noise-cancelling headphones?

maxverstappen1: nothing you can say will save me from this trauma

yourusername: just shag daniel and get off of our case x

note: ahhhhh i am so sorry this request took so long, my inbox keeps moving stuff around lol. my finger is good thanks for asking, the human body is a wonder and i peeled off the last of my scab this week lol. i hope this was the kinda thing you were looking for !! xx

[in-my-feels-probably]

Older Art spoiling his 20 something yo girlfriend that goes to Stanford. She looks up to him and listens to him and does whatever he says and basically lives for his praise.

I Feel So High School (Every Time I Look At You)

Request: Older Art spoiling his 20 something yo girlfriend that goes to Stanford. She looks up to him and listens to him and does whatever he says and basically lives for his praise.

and: art being 10ish years older than reader? that’s all i got. go crazy

Hi! Challengers has been on my mind literally since the day it came out, and I think I've read every single fic on here about it, so I figured I’d give it a shot writing one myself. First of all, I combined your requests, hope that’s ok. Second, this is my first time writing for Art, so please bear with me while I try and get the hang of writing his character. I haven’t written a fic in weeks, so my skills are definitely a little rusty. Please be kind! Anyways, I hope you like this. Let me know what you think, and thank you for the request :)

(Warnings: none? idk, maybe very vague mentions of sex, art is divorced, swearing, i guess the age gap taboo. let me know if i missed anything)

—

You should have known trying to explain your situation with Art to someone else would’ve been difficult, but finally telling your roommate everything was just as humiliating as you thought it would be. She always had a knack for nosing her way into your business, and not even you were immune to her federal level detective skills when it came to getting information out of someone. 

“And I’m seeing him today,” you finished your rant as you sucked in a breath, wincing as you waited for the bomb to drop.

But it didn’t. Your roommate just grinned, standing up and walking over to your closet. You watched with a confused look on your face until she turned to you, already elbow deep in your clothes.

“So…you have a sugar daddy?” your roommate asked, trying to stifle a laugh as she rifled through your closet to help you find an outfit. “No judgment, I’m honestly jealous.”

You picked a pillow up off your bed, launching it at her when she smirked as you flushed. “I don’t have a sugar daddy! I have a…well—ok, I don’t know what we are. But he’s not my sugar daddy.”

“No, he’s just an ex pro tennis player with a famous ex wife who was also a pro tennis player that he had a perfect little girl with, complete with a house in the Hamptons. Now, he’s…what, exactly? A coach? A commentator? Part of Stanford’s glorified alumni? No, I’ve got it! I know what he is — hot. In a beekeeping age, recently divorced, kind of way.”

You rolled your eyes, standing up to help her look through your closet. “He’s only in his thirties. You’re making him sound archaic and washed up.”

“Look at you, gushing over him,” she grinned as she finally landed on something for you to wear, quickly handing it to you. “At least he has good taste. You’re hot, too.”

Your roommate turned around while you quickly changed, sitting down at the foot of your bed. She talked over her shoulder as you got dressed, her voice full of curiosity.

“So, how did this all happen anyway?”

You sighed, shaking your head. “Remember alumni week with all the guest lectures and presentations a few months ago?”

“You met Art Donaldson during alumni week? What the fuck! Why didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have skipped all my classes that week if I thought I was gonna pick up a trophy husband instead of being forced to sit through a mind-numbingly boring presentation from some guy who used to go here that I’ve never heard of.”

“Sucks to suck, babe,” you grinned, finished getting dressed. “I’m good, you can turn around now.”

She quickly turned around, patting the spot on the bed next to her.

“How did this even happen? I’ve never seen you step foot on a tennis court in your life, and I know they wouldn’t have asked him to speak in a graduate lecture.”

You sat down next to her, nodding. “He did a seminar down at the courts for the kinesiology majors or something like that. They were learning about sports related injuries and how to treat them. He told them about how he hurt his shoulder a few years ago during a match, and he talked about all the physical therapy he had to do.”

“You’re telling me you sat through a kinesiology lecture? On a tennis court? When you don’t even study kinesiology?”

“Absolutely not,” you laughed, leaning back against the headboard. “He told me about it that first week while he was here.”

Your roommate giggled, grabbing your hand and squeezing it. “Oh my god! Okay, okay. Spill. Now. I want to know everything.”

You playfully rolled your eyes, but started ranting again anyway. 

—

In truth, you didn’t really know what your relationship with Art was. You’d met when returning alumni who’d gone on to excel in their fields came to campus for guest lectures and demonstrations.

In a total mortifying cliche, you ran into Art in a hallway while you were rushing to a lecture that had already started ten minutes earlier. You would have been on time, but your roommate accidentally locked herself out of your dorm, and the RA wasn’t answering their phone. She had an exam she needed to get to, which—in her own words—“trumps your boring book lecture.” You had no choice but to turn around and save her, making the trek back across campus to let her in. That’s how you ended up running face first into Art, your bag and all your things scattering across the floor. By some miracle, at least the halls were empty.

You quickly kneeled, scrambling to pick up all your things. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’m late for class.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, kneeling to help you.

It was then when you looked up, and you felt your heart jump into your throat. Art Donaldson—famous alumni and world renowned tennis player—was crouched right in front of you, handing you half empty tubes of chapstick, a pair of headphones, and a stray pack of gum. Oh god, you thought to yourself. Why me? Why today? You quickly cleared your throat, standing up.

“God, sorry. Thanks…Mr. Donaldson.”

You cringed as you said it, the title of Mr. feeling off as it rolled off your tongue.

“Mr. Donaldson?” he raised a brow, shaking his head. “No, just call me Art. Uh, you know who I am? Am I actually still recognizable here? I figured no one off of the courts would have any idea who I was.”

You glanced down at his shirt, pointing. “You’re wearing a name tag.”

Art paled, raising a hand to awkwardly scratch at the back of his neck. Good one, he thought to himself. Very humble. He cringed to himself as his cheeks flushed, a small smile on his face.

“Right. I knew that.”

You smiled, pulling your bag back over your shoulder as you let out a little chuckle. “I know who you are. Stanford never lets us forget about their prized students.”

“Ah,” he nodded, grinning. “In my day, it was Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Connelly. Although, Reese dropped out halfway through her degree, so they don’t talk about her much—”

“And Jennifer left Yale to come study here,” you finished. “That’s one they do still brag about.”

Art smiled, leaning back against the wall as he looked at you. You suddenly became very aware of your situation, tearing your eyes away from him to look down the hall where your class was. Art’s eyes followed, and he straightened up, clearing his throat.

“Am I keeping you?”

“No!” you said all too quickly, biting your tongue for a second before you forced yourself to calm down and continue. “Uh, my class already started. It’s not really important, he doesn’t count attendance anyway. And, to be honest, he’s pretty dull. He managed to make Jane Austen boring.”

“Not Bazin’s class, is it?” Art asked, making you raise a brow.

“Yeah, it is. How’d you know that?”

Art smiled, letting out a little laugh. “That’s why I came this way, I wanted to see if Professor Bazin still taught English here. He was a dinosaur even when I graduated. I’m surprised they still let him teach.”

“If they actually read the end of term course evaluations they make us fill out, they wouldn’t,” you mused, making Art grin wider.

“I guess I should let you go then,” Art shrugged, glancing down the hall. “Wouldn’t want you to miss out on something you could use in your scathing evaluation.”

You glanced back down the hallway at your classroom, but you couldn’t get your feet to move. You weren’t sure why, but you didn’t want to go just yet. 

All you did at Stanford was go to and from class and stay on top of your studies. It was monotonous and boring, and you were always up to your neck in papers and projects. Other than your roommate, you hardly had any people left you talked to or hung out with. They all graduated with their undergrad degrees, and you moved on to your graduate studies. Your education was important to you, but it got lonely. You almost never took risks anymore. But as you glanced back at him, that’s what you did.

You took the risk.

“Or…you could save me from my misery?” you stuttered out, an awkward smile on your face.

Art looked at you with an amused expression, tilting his head as he waited for you to continue. You swallowed, fiddling with the strap of your bag.

“My classes are almost all entirely in this building. I’m sure you’re sick of talking about tennis, but between here and my dorm, I don’t think I see enough sunlight in a day to keep me going. Maybe you could walk with me somewhere that actually sees the sun? Doesn’t have to be the courts or anything, although I can say with full confidence that I’ve never actually seen that part of campus and I’m in my graduate studies. Uh, maybe you’ve got somewhere in mind? Or you could let me buy you a cup of shitty cafeteria coffee? I promise I’ll refrain from asking you about your career. But, as I’m sure you can tell just by looking at me, I don’t really know enough about tennis to ask anyway.”

As you rambled on, horrified by your own rambling but determined to put yourself out there, Art smiled. 

He’d met a lot of girls over the years. Some girls who had a genuine interest in him but didn’t last, and some who saw his fame and fortune as a one way ticket to an easy life. 

None of them mattered. 

He had married Tashi, head over heels from the first moment he saw her. He had a kid with her, a career with her, a seemingly picture perfect life with her. It didn’t even occur to him to look at other girls until his marriage started to strain under the weight of his career, and he’d almost forgotten what it was like to look at a girl for the first time and feel that sickening but addictive feeling of butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. After the divorce, it felt so foreign to him that he didn’t even try. He had resigned himself to being a single father who co-parents and lives the rest of his life comfortably and quietly.

But here you were, rambling on with flushed cheeks and bright eyes trying your hardest to ask him out, and he couldn’t be more captivated.

There was just something about you. You were pretty, obviously. Anyone with eyes would’ve been able to see that. But there was something else, too. You were still young and not entirely pessimistic yet, with your whole career ahead of you. Probably no more than a few heartbreaks under your belt, able to muster up some sort of courage to fight for what you wanted. He used to have that, and he missed it — admired it, even. As you finally cut yourself off and looked up at him with mortification written across your face, Art saved you from further embarrassment with a smile. 

“Um…coffee sounds good,” he said with a shy smile. “Not from the cafeteria, though. If it’s as bad as it was when I went here, I’m not gonna let you waste your meal card money on it. There’s a cart outside of the athletics center, I stopped by it this morning. It’s still good.”

Trying your best to mask the shock you were feeling by his answer, you quickly nodded. “Oh, okay. Sounds good.”

You spent the entire afternoon with him. Coffee turned into lunch, and lunch turned into a long walk. Although you both had things to do, neither of you wanted to say goodbye and go on with your day. You skipped the rest of your classes for the day, letting Art show you around campus. He took you to all the places you had never been, and you kept quiet and let him show you anyway when you passed somewhere you had already been a hundred times. He was polite and asked you about your major and career goals, even managing a graceful smile when it was his turn to tell you about his career and how it unfolded after he graduated. He was careful to leave out the end, but he found himself comfortable enough to tell you about the first few years. You asked what you could, but you really didn’t know enough about the sport to ask much of anything.

“I’m boring you to death, aren’t I?” he asked when there was a lapse in silence after you passed a poster with his face on it for a Wimbledon campaign.

“No, not at all!” you replied, tilting your head up towards the poster. “I’m just wondering how you managed it.”

Art cocked a brow, turning towards you. “Managed what?”

“Not becoming a complete asshole,” you shrugged, making him burst out laughing. “I’m serious! You’re not the first celebrity to come here during alumni week. The difference between you and them is that you didn’t show up and immediately start bragging about how successful you had become. As far as I can tell, you’re the same as when you graduated. That seems pretty rare.”

“There’s not much to brag about,” he shrugged, too humble for his own good.

“A career Grand Slam isn’t worth bragging about?” you asked, turning away from him when he gave you a confused look. “Okay, fine, I may or may not have Googled you back in the restaurant while you were in the bathroom. I was running out of things to ask you, and I figured I should know something about tennis. Anyway, I was impressed.”

Art just chuckled. “I’m flattered.”

After walking a few more minutes, the street lamps turned on. It had gotten late enough in the evening that they were starting to light up around the darker parts of the campus. It was your cue to stop walking and look around, both of you realizing how long it had been since you started talking.

“I guess I should be headed back to my dorm,” you said, a hint of disappointment in your voice. “My roommate is probably freaking out by now. She knows I never really go anywhere after class without her—and yes, I heard how pathetic that sounded as it came out. She’s probably gonna call campus security if I don’t show up soon.”

Art nodded, knowing you were right. And yet, his feet didn’t move. Neither of you made any attempt to leave, still standing under the soft light of the street lamps. Art looked at you with soft eyes, absentmindedly reaching to fiddle with his wedding ring with his thumb before he remembered it wasn’t there anymore. Finally, he cleared his throat. 

“Well…I guess this is the part where I ask you for your number.”

“It was nice meeting you, too—” you started, doing a double take once his words registered. “Wait, what?”

Art let out a nervous laugh, shrugging. “You bought me a coffee, it’s only fair that I do the same. I’m here all week. Maybe you’d want to do this again sometime?”

“Uh, yeah! Yeah, that sounds good,” you replied, trying your best and failing to sound as nonchalant as you could.

Art smiled and pulled out his phone, opening his contacts. He handed it over to you, watching as you typed in your number before handing his phone back to him. You fought the heat pooling in your cheeks, fiddling with the strap of your bag. Art grinned, breaking the silence. 

“Go find your roommate. Tell her to call off the search party.”

You chuckled, nodding. “I’m on it. Well…bye, Art.”

“Bye, Y/N. I’ll text you,” he replied, enjoying watching you shuffle back and forth on your heels. 

He made you nervous. And for some reason, he liked that. He’d spent practically the last decade of his life perpetually nervous. It was nice to know someone else felt the same way. 

He watched you go as you turned around and headed back to your dorm, a distant but still familiar warmth in his chest. He’d only known you for a few hours, but he could already tell he liked you. By the time you made it back to your dorm and managed to come up with an excuse for your roommate who immediately interrogated you the second you stepped through the door, your phone was ringing. You excused yourself to the bathroom with a bashful grin on your face, answering the call.

—

You spent the better part of a week with Art when you both had time between your classes and his seminars. 

It felt surprisingly easy and normal talking to him. Your small talk about your careers and plans turned into more personal topics, and then you were talking about anything and everything. You were fully aware of the age gap between you two, but it didn’t bother you nearly as much as you thought it would. If anything, it was part of the draw to him. He was also kind and friendly, with a surprisingly self deprecating sense of humor that made you laugh. Not to mention the fact that he was drop dead gorgeous. You had to actively make sure he didn’t catch you staring at him when his head was turned. He made you want to actually giggle out loud, which is something you never thought you’d do over a guy.

By the end of the week when it was time for him to leave and go back to New York, you both were dreading saying goodbye. 

It was late in the evening, about an hour before he had to leave to catch his flight. He’d finally taken you to the courts, once again only lit by the street lamps overhead. It was the first time all week he’d stepped onto the court and actually wanted to be there, not surrounded by onlookers who knew every nook and cranny of his life and career. Instead it was you, the sweet pretty girl who made him genuinely laugh when you asked him why the points system would ever use the term love to describe a lacking score. 

He fiddled around for a while, teaching you a few serves and how to hold the racquet to hit the ball. Eventually he was on the other side of the net, watching you giggle and chase after the few balls he’d softly serve your way. He could hear you panting and the sound of your shoes skidding across the court, but your laughter was too sweet to make him stop. 

Finally, you stopped to take a break, sitting down on the bench. “Don’t look at me, I might cough up a lung.”

“Very impressive,” he smiled, passing you his water.

“Thank you,” you grinned, motioning between him in the court. “Go on, let’s see what you’ve got. I’m down for the count, but I’m sure the ball machine will be more than happy to fill in for me.”

Art smiled, watching you grin at him with flushed cheeks and glowy skin. If anyone else was asking, he wouldn’t have done it. He wasn’t interested in showing off his skills, or lack thereof to put it more accurately as of late — he’d stopped training as intensely after the divorce, no new tournaments waiting for him to come and win. But the look on your face when you asked was just one he couldn’t say no to. Plus, your knowledge of the sport wasn’t that vast. You probably wouldn’t notice if he slipped up anyway. And if you did, you’d be too kind to make him feel bad about it.

“If you insist,” he groaned, but he was still smiling to himself as he moved to the other side of the court.

You watched him play for a few more minutes. He really was something to see. Every movement he made was smooth and graceful, a far cry from the stumbling around and huffing and puffing you had been doing. Every ball hit its target, every serve lining up exactly where he wanted it to. As silly as it sounded, you actually had to prevent yourself from clapping once he finally slowed down and turned the machine off.

“Look at you go,” you smiled from the bench, handing him back his water as he walked back over.

His cheeks flushed pink, and he was silently praying you couldn’t see it from under the low lights. He was too busy getting all flustered to reply to you, and it made you smile. It was silent for a long moment as you stared at each other, before he finally stood up. You followed him, a sinking feeling in your gut as you realized that it was probably time to say goodbye.

It had been a week you had never even dreamed would’ve happened to you, and yet it did. The one risk you decided to take had led to the most fun you’d had in your entire time at Stanford. You didn’t want to see him go.

As you looked up at him with soft eyes and a melancholy look on your face, like you were looking to him for all the answers, Art felt a sharp tug in his chest. He found himself immediately wanting to fix it, wanting to make you smile again — smile because of him. He’d have done anything in that moment to get you to laugh again.

So, against his better judgment, he leaned in and kissed you. 

It was a spur of the moment decision, one he almost immediately regretted. But then he felt you sink into the kiss, your hands coming up to his waist to steady yourself. He cupped your cheeks and pulled you into him, unable to stop the smile spreading across his lips. 

And that was all it took — he was falling, and falling hard. 

—

That was months ago now, and yet, Art still found reasons to visit you. 

When there was lapses in tours, or it was Tashi’s week with Lily, he always somehow found himself ending up coming right back to you. He’d pick you up from your dorm, and you’d spend the entire day with him. On weekends, you ended up in whatever hotel he was staying at, telling your roommate you were going back home for a few days. When you weren’t together, you were constantly texting or calling. He even sent a postcard once when the ATP took him to Europe. It was cheesy, but you couldn’t wipe the smile off your face all day when you got it in the mail. 

You hadn’t exactly put a label on the relationship, but it was clear to the both of you that you meant more to each other than either of you cared to admit out loud. Quite a bit more, actually.

And Art wasn’t stupid — he knew what your relationship looked like. 

Recently divorced, a younger woman by his side. If they knew, the media would paint him as one of two options: an easily manipulated victim of a gold digger, or a washed up athlete who split with his wife that was now taking what he could get, the younger and prettier the better. 

But that wasn’t it at all for Art.

It wasn’t just sex, or a new pretty face. You were something different. A breath of fresh air. Someone who didn’t care about his career or money or fame. You had no interest in what he could offer you, or what you could get out of him. You never made him feel pressured to do anything or talk about anything he didn’t want to. He’d spent so many years craving a sense of normalcy and peace. Time and time again, he’d wanted to go to Tashi and beg for a break in his routine. But, always too afraid to disappoint her and everyone else watching him, he stayed quiet. He never got a break. As odd as it was to say, that’s what you were to him when he met you — a break. A minute to breathe, a moment to relax. He always felt that way around you.

Simply put, he was head over heels for you. He didn’t think he’d feel like that for another woman after Tashi until he met you, and it shocked him how easily the feeling came to him.

And it wasn’t just him that had fallen. 

You practically hung on every word he said, and soaked up every ounce of praise he gave you. You had never been with someone like him before. Someone so experienced and sure of himself, but just as gentle and patient as he was sure. He made you laugh and smile, and he made you feel safe. For whatever reason he had taken interest in you, you didn’t care, you just didn’t want it to stop. You clung to it, enjoying it while it lasted.

And if either of you had anything to say about it, it would last.

—

By the time you finished explaining your relationship with Art to your roommate, she was already pushing you out the door. 

“Go, go, go,” she squealed, tossing you your keys. “Wait!”

She wrapped her hand around your wrist, stopping you in your tracks as she glanced down at the outfit she chose. “Is that a new dress? Did he buy you a dress? Oh my god, please tell me he has a brother.”

“Not sure,” you grinned, smoothing your hand down your front. “Show up to alumni week next time and find out.”

You were already pressing a kiss to her cheek and rushing down the hall before she could get out another word, giggling as you made your way to the stairs.

On the drive over to the hotel, the nerves in your stomach were making you nervously tap your fingers on the steering wheel. You must’ve got caught by every stop light, making the trip even longer. You were practically vibrating once you finally pulled into the parking lot, grabbing your bag and hurrying inside before your nerves got the better of you and made you stand like an idiot in the lobby, trying to muster up the courage to get in the elevator. You coasted on autopilot as you forced your feet to lead you upstairs to his floor, all the way down to his door. You only came back into your body when you raised a hand to knock on the door, pausing to take a deep breath.

Just knock, you thought to yourself. You’re a big girl. Just knock.

You had barely even knocked twice on the door before the door swung open, and you came face to face with Art. Your breath hitched in your throat, and you took a second to take him in. Still as pretty as you remembered, and every bit as alluring. You could feel yourself melting. 

The feeling was mutual. 

Art let out a sigh of relief, like it was the first good breath he had taken in weeks. A genuine smile crept onto his face as he reached for you, practically making grabby hands like a child. 

“Come here, pretty girl.”

You tried and failed to stifle a giggle, immediately burying yourself in his chest. You let out a hmph as you pressed your cheek against him, your arms wrapping tightly around his waist. You could feel his thumb running along the bare skin of your arm, his lips pressing a kiss to the top of your head. He nudged the door closed with his foot, tugging your bag from your shoulder and setting it on the floor without even letting you go. He was warm to the touch, and steady against you. He hummed into your hair, squeezing you tighter.

“There she is,” he murmured, letting out a small laugh. “My girl.”

“Hi, baby,” you giggled, the sound making his heart soar in his chest. 

He slowly walked you backwards to the bed, supporting most of your weight as you laid down. He was quick to follow, burying his face into the crook of your shoulder. His arms hooked lazily around your waist, his weight pressing you into the mattress.

This is what you both had been waiting for. This feeling, this moment. Just this.

“You look very pretty today,” he whispered into your skin, pressing a kiss where his lips rested. “All this for me?”

The humor in his voice made you grin, your fingers running through his hair. “Couldn’t let you be that pretty all by yourself.”

Art smiled, pressing his face further into your neck as he let out a breath. You tightened your grip around him, holding him close. You let your eyes close, resting your cheek against the top of his head. 

A comfortable silence fell over the both of you, as easy as it ever was.

—

A/N - Hi! So sorry this took so long to get out, thank you for your patience. I keep rereading this and editing it over and over, I’m not totally happy with it. But something is better than nothing, and I’m tired of staring at, so here you go! Hope this is ok, let me know what you think :)

[coeurify]

hear me out…. bumping into ellie wasted at a nightclub dancing makin out then she recognises u irl a week or smth later n it is on!!!!!!

ok.. this took a turn to be more post makeout fluffy loser ellie so.. yea!

Ellie was not someone who made out with girls in clubs, drunk off of whiskey she only ordered to try and show off to Jesse and Dina. Sure, she saw it happen— it was normal. But no, Ellie definitely did not.

Ellie never called herself a pussy, she would never admit that. But Jesse had no problem snickering it whenever her freckled cheeks were painted red after a girl looked at her at a bar or club. She didn’t usually do anything about it. Hell, the last time Ellie got laid it was because a girl had straight up asked her. Ellie just was not the best at all that.. seduction shit.

Nor was she good with no strings attached shit. That one-off hookup turned into a situationship that she couldn’t let go of. Ellie also had a tendency to pine over the most minor interactions with people. Once, a barista handed her a straw and after their fingers touched, she convinced herself it was the love of her life for the next week. So.. one night stands or messy kisses in the dim lights of clubs were not exactly her thing.

Except for once. Last Saturday, 12:07 am. Not that she had memorized it or anything. Totally not. She definitely had not scorched the night’s memory (of her hands against hips, lips that tasted like the cranberry juice mixer against her own, soft hands pulling her bun out to run fingers through it) into her brain. No way.

What Ellie will admit she remembers was the embarrassment that singed the baby hairs on the back of her neck as Dina slapped an arm on her back, the three drunk young adults clambering out of the tightly packed club close to 1 am. “I knew you had it in you! You totally rocked that girl’s world. Jesse, you owe me five bucks.” Then Dina had stuck an expectant hand out to Jesse, causing a short offended gasp from Ellie. “You made a bet on me?”

They did. Ellie’s own best friends had no faith in her ability to have quick and fun hookups like everyone else their age. But she had proved them wrong! She had made out with a really, really pretty girl.. no strings attached.

She didn’t even know your name. Not that she had to. You were both all too happy to skip the pleasantries and get straight to having your hands on each other. It wasn’t like she was wondering what your name was, and if she could find you somewhere on social media the entire walk home that night.

Definitely not. She convinced herself of this every day since then. Every time she saw a flash of hair that looked like yours around, or when her brain went a little haywire, and she came back to the messy sketch of your eyes on her notebook.

Within the week, Ellie had forced herself to get a grip. It was just some random making out, for fucks sake. She had no reason to daydream about how you had keened into her when she bit at your bottom lip. No right to be squeezing her eyes shut to remember how it felt to have your hand slip up the loose material of her shirt, heated touches against her stomach.

No, those flashbacks started to settle simply from the pure stubbornness of her own brain, which shot scoffs and head shakes straight out every time one popped up again.

But now, with her back pressed to the uncomfortable metal of a cafe chair, flannel pushed up to her elbows as she tilted her head back to enjoy the breeze from the sky, she started to think again.

Dina was leaning over a menu, biting her lip as she tried to decide what drink to order. It had been Dina who suggested they sit outside, at this particular cafe, so maybe El should blame what happened next on her.

The soft sound of the door swinging open sounded, bringing the auburn-haired girl’s face down from where it tilted into the sky.

For a second, she thought she was hallucinating. Really. Maybe something had been slipped into the water next to her, or maybe Dina had like— poisoned her for calling her annoying earlier. Because certainly, this was not real.

Your hair, the one she had brought her hands to tug at the other night, was on full display, your head tilted down as you rummaged through an apron with the cafe’s name printed on it. Ellie knew it was you right away, and blinked a few times to ensure this was not some evil hallucination.

The auburn-haired girl sat up a little straighter on the chair, causing an awfully loud screech against the cement. Your head came up simultaneously, the pen now in hand.

“Sorry,” you apologized, flipping to an empty page in your little order book. “Had to find a pen. What can I get you guys?”

You smiled, just like you had under the flashing lights of that club, and it was just as pretty as Ellie remembered. But when your eyes met hers, that smile faltered slightly. The pen slipped from your grip, clambering right onto the table with a very annoying ping sound.

Dina reached her hand to grab it, but Ellie was faster. As if was some competition, she leaned slightly over the table and wrapped her fingers around the pen, holding it up for you. “Here,” she mumbled, trying to keep any voice crack to herself. “Thanks..” you hummed, sniffling.

Dina eyed between the two of you, slightly convinced she had just been forced into the middle of some awful cheesy romcom, something that would be promoted with big blocky letters like ‘cafe meet cute!’ She cleared her throat, breaking the weirdly tension-filled stare down happening between the two of you.

“Sorry—“ you apologized, throwing on another cheery smile as you looked at Dina, “what can I get you?”

Ellie doesn’t even hear Dina’s order, and she also doesn’t prepare hers. She is too busy nervously twisting a finger between her other hand in her lap, sneaking very obvious glances at you, and then back down to the menu that looks like pure gibberish.

“Cool! And for you?” your voice questions next, smooth and sweet in a way that had the film reel of Saturday playing in Ellie’s head all over again.

“You can kiss me, you know?” you called over the loud music of the club, ignoring how bodies bumped against you every other second, sending you stumbling further into Ellie, who you had flipped to face, her hands still gripping your waist. Your eyes blinked slowly at her, glossy lips twitching up, head dizzy with the vodka and cranberries you had. Ellie wasted no time after your request, pressing forward harshly to capture your lips.

Ellie cleared her throat, “Uh..” great, she had totally no idea what to order. “Honestly, I’ve never been here... I’m not sure what I’d like. What’d you recommend?”

Dina didn’t even hold back the scoff from the other side of the table, because, really.. that was Ellie’s line?

You seemed to find it endearing, though, meeting her eyes again as you suggested your favorite sandwich and drink, pointing toward it on the menu.

“Cool…cool.. I’ll try that,” Ellie nodded, leaning back into her chair again. The sandwich you recommended had tomatoes, and she hated tomatoes. But it was fine.

You nod one too many times before turning on your heel and speed walking inside.

Dina started immediately. “Why the hell did you just eye fuck our waitress?” she accuses, leaning in to squint her eyes at you. “Also, you are fucking ass at flirting. Staring at someone with those freakily green eyes just doesn’t work.”

Ellie frowned, “fuck off, Dina.”

She waited to speak until she was sure you were inside the cafe again. “That’s the girl I made out with at the club,” she muttered, flushing slightly.

Dina’s mouth dropped open, “You’re shitting me.”

Auburn hair shook slightly out of place as the other sighed. “Nope. It’s totally her.”

“Damn… maybe you’ve got some weird curse on you that, like.. bans you from having one night stands.”

Ellie only scoffed in response. It didn’t feel like a curse, maybe more like a blessing to see you again.

“Hey, you can go two for two with shitty lines for waitresses and put your number on the receipt.”

Ellie rolled her eyes like it was a bad idea, but she definitely would do it.

[babymetaldoll]

Are you mine - Chapter five: “Our flaws are who we really are”

Summary: Spencer and (Y/N) have to return to work, and for once, the idea isn't appealing to any of them. There is a new member in the team...  Word count: 6.010 Warnings: Nothing but some Criminal Minds case info and some curses. A/N:  Is it weird to consider a 6K words chapter "short"?

Series' Masterlist - Author's masterlist

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(Y/N)’s point of view

Because being a mother, a wife, an FBI S.S.A. and part of the BAU wasn’t stressful enough, I decided to finish my Ph.D. after Raven was born. I still had one more year left, but my husband supported me to fish it.

After getting shot in the neck that year, Spencer took a month off and we returned to the BAU together. I will never forget the first day we left Raven with my mom at our place. Spencer wouldn’t let our baby go that morning. We were standing in the middle of our living room, mom stared at us, nearly chuckling, as my husband kept talking to Raven, explaining what would happen.

- “So, remember what I told you, Raven. You are going to stay here with your Nana until we come back from work. If things go well, we won’t go out of town on a case today.”

- “Things are going to go well.”- Mom pointed out, but I guess neither of us was paying attention to her. I kissed Raven’s forehead one more time and sighed.

- “I love you, birdie. Be good with Nana, ok?”

- “She is three months old. She can’t be naughty.”- Mom added, chortling.

- “She can. Trust me.”- I turned to her and shook my head.

- “Ok kids, you are running late. Give me my granddaughter.”- Mom stood next to us and reached out her arms to grab Raven. But Spencer didn’t move. He held our baby closer to his chest and sighed, staring at her big, brown eyes.

- “I love you so much.”- he whispered against her forehead as he kissed her carefully.- “Dad will be thinking of you all day long.”

It melted my heart to watch him being so loving and sweet with our baby girl. I always knew he was going to be a good dad, but watching him in action was a completely different thing. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I knew he didn’t want to leave her alone, because of course, neither did I. But we had to.

Mom walked to him and literally took Raven from his hands. Spencer looked at her and frowned, ready to argue. But stopped himself in his tracks. He knew he had to let her go that morning, even when it hurt.

- “We are going to be fine.”- mom assured us with a big smile. - “I’ll call you at noon, and you can text me whenever you want. Now go there and be heroes. Make your baby proud.”

And I guess, that’s something Spencer loves doing, ‘cos after he kissed Raven one last time, he held my hand and headed to the door.

- “Did you realize this is the longest we’ve been alone in over three months?”- I said as I sipped my coffee, and watched Spencer smiling as he drove us to work.

- “I know. It’s weird.”- he replied and chuckled. - “We should get more mommy and daddy alone time.”- I raised an eyebrow as I heard those words and opened my mouth to tease him about his kinks, but the phone interrupted me and made me skip a bit.

- “Is it your mom?”- Spencer asked right away.

- “No, it’s Garcia. Hey Pen, what is it?”

- “Are you guys coming?”- she asked right away.

- “Yeah, we just got late waiting for my mom, ‘cos she is staying with Raven. Why? Do we have a case?”

- “No, I’m just making sure you two are coming today. We miss you.”- I giggled and shook my head, though I knew Penelope couldn’t see me.

- “We’ll be there in ten.”

- “Everything ok?”- my husband asked. - “Do we have to go straight to the jet?”

- “No, she was just anxious to know if we were coming.”

- “I hope she baked us cupcakes.”

- “I’m sure she did.”- I replied and rubbed his leg with my left hand as he drove. We hummed to the song on the radio, the first non-kid song we had heard in weeks, and we drank our mugs of coffee as we got to work.

- “I miss her already.”- I whispered after a few minutes of silence.

- “I didn’t want to tell you, but I miss her too.”- Spencer replied and we both sighed.

- “But she is going to be ok.”- I assured her- “Mom is a pro.”

- “Yeah, I know. I’m glad Sofia can help us, otherwise, I would have lost my mind. I could never leave her at daycare. I would have rather taken her to the BAU with us than leave her with strangers.”

- “You know we will have to send her to school eventually.”- I teased Spencer and tried not to laugh as he parked in our old parking spot at work and neither of us moved for a few seconds.

- “I know she will eventually have to go to school, but I am not ready to think of that today.”- my husband whispered. I looked at him and nodded, holding his hand.

- “One day at a time.”- I replied and cut him a smile.

- “One day at a time.”- he repeated and leaned in to crush his mouth on mine. His kiss was sweet and slow, he took his time, rubbing his lips against mine and tasting me.

- “Come on kid!!”- and of course, Morgan had to ruin it all. - “Let the lady go and get to work!”- he teased as he knocked on our window, nearly killing us with a heart attack.

- “We hadn’t had a minute alone since Raven was born, and you had to interrupt us!”- I argued as soon as I stepped out of the car. Derek chuckled and opened his arms, giving me a triple hug before I could continue talking.

- “I missed you, pretty girl. How is my baby girl?”

- “She is so big! She started grabbing everything and putting it in her mouth. She is so cute!”- I quickly replied and nearly took my phone to show him the million pictures we had. But I stopped on time. I had promised myself I wasn’t going to be that kind of mom, pushing their baby pictures on everybody’s face. I always hated that, and I didn’t want people to hate me as well. At that minute, all I really wanted was to come back to work and find everything just as we had left it.

Of course, it wasn’t. The only constant at the BAU, I guess, was change.

Garcia was, in fact, waiting for us with homemade cupcakes and cookies. That was the sweet part of our morning. Then came the meeting with Hotch, to catch up with everything that had happened when we had been away. He told us about Alex Blake’s departure, how she had quit the FBI and decided to move to Boston, with her husband, and teach full-time. We both knew it, she had called us to deliver the news before leaving, and though we invited her over, I knew it was too much for her to see Spencer again. She had developed a motherly bond with him, and watching him get hurt had pulled a string in her. One she didn’t want to relive. I guess some wounds are not meant to heal. The BAU can cause you that.

- “And are we getting a new teammate?”- I asked Hotch, and he nodded immediately.

- “Yes, but so far I’ve interviewed nine people, and I still haven’t found the right one.”

- “Nine? Have you tried with someone we know? Maybe bringing back Emily.”- Spencer suggested, reading my mind.

- “I already tried, she is not interested at the moment. But if things go well tomorrow, we might get a new member. Despite all that, today you just have to worry about catching up with work. You’ve been out for a long while, and we needed you back.”

- “We are ready.”- I replied and stood up from my chair right away. - “Anything else, sir?”

- “I just wanted to make it clear I can’t keep any of you in Quantico anymore. You’ll have to start traveling to the cases with us. Are you both ready for that?”

I knew neither of us wanted to do it, but we had to. It was our job, and we had to do it. So we agreed, stood up, and walked back to our desks.

- “We missed you here.”- JJ said from her desk and smiled at us. - “It was too quiet without your facts, Spence.”

- “It’s nice coming back.”- my husband replied with a warm smile. I looked at him and sighed at the sight of the pictures on his desk. He had three family pictures framed, one from our wedding, one from our first Comic Con together a million years ago, and one with Raven. Our first picture as a family. My phone hummed and a picture of mom and Raven playing made my day. So I walked to my husband and interrupted whatever he was talking about with JJ to show him the picture. He smiled and chuckled, pleased to see our baby girl was having a good time with her grandma.

Spencer’s point of view

Going back to work after Raven was born was a mistake. Now that I see it in retrospect, that was the moment we should have stopped. I could have started teaching full-time, like (Y/N) wanted me to do. And she would have finished her Ph.D. and might even have taught with me. We could have had a different life. More calm, at home. We wouldn’t have missed all the important moments in Raven’s life like we did. We would have been there when she needed us.

We wouldn't have ended as wounded as we did. With more emotional scars than we could ever deal with. On the bright side, at least we are still together. Despite the hell we went through.

The newest team member was Kate Callahan. We had seen her around in some FBI get-togethers like the time we all did karaoke at Rossi’s favorite bar. (Y/N) remembered that when we bumped into her the following morning, at the elevator.

- “You were singing karaoke at the Benjamin the night it closed.”- (Y/N) pointed out as the three of us shared the elevator on our way to the 6th floor. That’s how I guessed Hotch was about to interview her for the position.

- “I was! Good memory.”- Kate smiled at us and added - “Billy Joel might have died a little that night.”

- “Sadly he was not the only one.”- I replied and chuckled. - “He got the team started, but we went on to do a six-song set.”

- “The 80s took a fatal hit if I remember correctly.”- Kate said, chuckling along with my wife, and somehow I realized Kate would make an amazing match with ma cherie. They shared a very similar sarcastic sense of humor.

- “Have you seen the place that took over?”- she asked us and both of us shook our heads at the same time. Since we had turned into parents, our social life was basically nonexistent. - “It's like techno and twerking.”

- “It's not really my crowd.”- I replied and Kate turned to me immediately, shocked by my answer.

- “What? You don't twerk?”- I frowned and shook my head, somehow embarrassed by my own answer. Meanwhile, my wife had to cover her mouth so as not to laugh in my face.

- “I was... I was kidding.”- Kate explained, surprised I hadn’t got it. - “I don't twerk.”

- “Neither do we, don't worry”- my wife added and chuckled. The three of us walked out of the elevator and I hurried to open the door for Kate and my wife.

- “Ah. A gentleman and a scholar.”- Callahan pointed out and I just smiled.

- “Agent Hotchner's office is the first one at the top of the stairs.”- I said and though she looked at me confused I knew why she was there, she just thanked me and walked away.

- “Good luck!”- (Y/N) said and smiled at her. Kate nodded and disappeared.

- “We have to schedule Raven’s next pediatrician appointment.”- I said, leaving my things on my desk and turning to look at my wife, who just nodded. - “I’ll call the doctor's office at lunchtime, ok?”-I wrote it down though I knew I wasn’t going to forget it. (Y/N) simply stared at me and sighed.

- “Let’s pray we are in town to take Raven to that appointment. I don’t wanna miss it.”- I was about to tell my wife we couldn’t foresee how things would go in the BAU when Rossi, JJ, Penelope, and Derek walked into the bullpen, all of them talking at the same time.

- “Hotch talked to Emily.”- JJ announced and I turned to my wife knowing Em wasn’t planning on returning to the team.

- “And?”- Garcia was clearly excited by what she had just heard.

- “She just doesn't want to come back.”- Rossi killed all her hopes with just one sentence. I took a few steps closer to the team as I heard Pen arguing with David’s words.

- “Why? She loves us!”

- “For what it's worth, Hotch is interviewing someone we've met before.”- I announced and (Y/N) nodded.

- “He is?”- JJ asked right away and everybody turned to Hotch’s office to try to catch a glimpse of the candidate.

- “Yes. And it’s someone we actually like”- (Y/N) added from her desk. I turned to her and she smiled back.

- “How many candidates is that now?”- Derek asked

- “This one makes lucky number 10.”- Rossi announced and my Garcia turned to him shocked.

- “Ten candidates? Are you for real? And no one ever mentioned that? See, this is what happens when I don't sleep. I miss things.”- Pen whispered and I wondered why she wasn't sleeping well. But I didn’t get to ask, she just continued talking. - “Now can someone tell me who this person is? Are they nice? Why is that the first question I always ask?”

Pen started rambling as my wife explained we had bumped into agent Callahan on the way over. All of our friends nodded as she told us what had happened until JJ mentioned the one fact I wished we all could have forgotten.

- “Didn’t she use to work with Seaver? At Andy Swan’s Unit?”

- “What?”- (Y/N) asked as her face fell- “She is Seaver’s friend?”

- “You know, pretty girl, that simple fact doesn’t mean she has to be your enemy.”- Derek explained with a silly grin on his face. (Y/N) just turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

- “Of course, it doesn’t”.- she whispered and made a short pause before she added - “But did you just meet me or what?”- I looked at my wife and raised an eyebrow. She just smiled and shook her head.

- “You already liked her, face it.”- I whispered and (Y/N) sighed.

- “Yeah… but what if Seaver talked shit about me ‘cos I was mean to her when she was part of the team.”

- “Then she wouldn’t be lying.”- JJ replied and my wife glared at her immediately- “What? you know you weren’t nice.”

- “I know that, but you weren’t here to witness the whole deal, so you don’t know the whole story.”- the way (Y/N) nearly spat those words on JJ’s face left me speechless. And JJ didn’t know how to react either. So she just turned around and looked at me, shocked.

- “Come on, don’t argue.”- Pen said and stood between JJ and my wife. - “We have to stay together, we are a team, and we might be getting a new member.”- her cell phone finished her speech and her face went pale in a second.

- “What is it?”- Rossi asked, noticing her change.

- “The Bakersfield’s unsub killed again.”- she mumbled and started walking, she had to tell Hotch.

I looked at (Y/N) and she sighed. She knew she had been rude to JJ, though her comment hadn’t been the best either.

- “I’m sorry I snapped”- (Y/N) said and cut JJ a short smile. She was being honest, and I knew it was hard for her to deal with apologies.

- “I’m sorry too, I know it was a hard moment for you… I shouldn’t have said that.”- JJ rubbed her arms as she stared at my wife, and the two of them nodded.

- “Come on, we have a case.”- Rossi said and started walking to the briefing room, I waited for (Y/N) to grab her things and followed her.

- “Everyone, this is SSA Kate Callahan from Andy Swan's unit. She'll be joining the team.”- Hotch announced as soon as he walked into the room with Callahan, who waved at us with a grin.

- “Congratulations.”- I smiled at her as she sat at the other side of the table.

- “How are Andy and Seaver doing?”- Morgan asked her.

- “Oh, they're great and they say hello. They told me a lot about all of you.”- Kate said with a cheerful voice, and the entire team stared at my wife, who just nodded at Callahan with a warm smile, ignoring them. They weren't being subtle at all, and (Y/N) knew it.

- “We can get started.”- Hotch said and Pen started presenting the case.

(Y/N)’s point of view

It was sad knowing Prentiss didn’t want to come back to the team. I knew she loved her job at Interpol, but I always hoped one day she’d return to us. I was also feeling weird about JJ. I didn’t have any logical reason to snap at her the way I did, but something inside of me felt uneasy about her. However, she was my friend, so I did my best to put that feeling aside and be nicer to her. I know when I’m upset I can be incredibly hurtful, and that’s no way to treat a friend.

I called my mom as we gathered our things to get to the plane and announced to her we were heading to California.

- “We have been consulting on this case, and this guy just dumped the third body, so we are heading over right now.”- I explained as I grabbed my casefile, purse and looked at Spencer.

- “Take care, peanut. I will keep you posted on this beautiful baby girl.”- mom said and I heard her kissing my daughter’s cheeks.

- “Thank you, mom. I love you.”- I sighed after I hung up and shook my head. - “I hate leaving her behind.”

- “I know. Me too.”- Spencer whispered and held my hand- “Let’s hope we catch this guy fast.”

That day, Hotch paired me with Rossi and Kate. And guess what? I enjoyed it more than I imagined I would, considering we were trying to catch a serial killer. But Callahan was a great addition to the team. She was fun witty and incredibly smart. She had amazing comebacks to any random comment I would make. Three hours in the field and we were besties already. That made me feel more confident about anything that Seaver might have said to her about me.

We were back at the police station. Spencer was working on the geographic profile and Garcia was on the phone from Virginia, updating us on the number of websites that she found on the deep web where our suspect got to buy limbs from the victims. He wasn’t the unsub we were looking for, just… a weirdo with a problem. At least we already had a profile, and it felt like we were a little closer to catching our guy.

- “You'd think after 10 years I'd seen it all.”- Garcia sighed through the line. I knew she was definitely shocked by what she had found on those sites. It was sick, to be honest.

- “How many sites are there, mama?”- Derek asked her as I stared at the board my husband was working on. I was sitting at the other side of the table, next to Kate, going through the case file again.

- “Hundreds. And that gem of a fellow you've got in custody has looked at all of them at one time or another.”- Garcia explained.

- “I’m guessing there is no lead to get our unsub, right?”- I asked her and Pen automatically explained there wasn’t.

- “Anonymity is huge for these sites. They use a Tor network, which is an onion router. The point is, you're not gonna be able to find anyone this way. Do you know there are actual variations on a disarticulation fetish?”- my friend sighed at the other side of the line and whispered. - “I need baby kitten pics asap.”

- “Oh! Have you seen the hippo who lives with the family?”- Kate asked out of the blue, and I turned to her confused.

- “What?”- Garcia asked right away.

- “Sleeps with a blanket, gets massages, eats better than I do.”- Kate explained and looked at me nodding.

- “Where is that?”- Pen questioned and I could almost picture her face as she googled it.

- “South Africa. It's amazing.”- Kate explained. Morgan and Spencer turned to us and raised an eyebrow as Garcia got hyperventilated at the other side of the line and continued talking.

- “Trust me, I have an arsenal of cuteness. Have you seen the one with the baby elephant…”

- “Oh, with the baby chicks?”- Kate interrupted her, excited as well

- “Yes, I love that one!”

- “I love the one with the kitten cuddling with a baby, it’s so cute!”- I added and both Kate and Pen agreed with me, very enthusiastically. - "I keep telling Spencer we should get a kitten for Raven to grow up with, but he is..."

- “Uh, hey, you guys?”- Spencer looked at us from the board and I nodded.

- “Sorry. Sorry.”- the three of us said at the same time as my husband took us all back to work.

- “The most recent victim was taken from Riverside.”- he pointed out. - “That's more than 2 1/2 hours away from here.”

- “So his comfort zone isn't limited to here.”- Morgan added.

- “That's not good. He's got a lot more confidence than we thought.”- Kate said as I nodded.

- “Yeah, but this area has to mean something to him.”- I pointed out and Morgan supported my words.

- “Yes, he's leaving vics here, so he must have some connection to Bakersfield.”

- “The M.E. says he's gotten better at ligating each victim, which means he may have had practice.”- Spencer pointed out as he walked closer to the table and stood next to me.

- “On what?”- Morgan asked

- “We didn't originally profile him as an acrotomophile, but that sort of attraction typically has deep roots in childhood.”- my husband added.

- “That makes sense, maybe growing up he was constantly around dead bodies. Maybe his family had a funeral home.”- I said and my husband nodded at my words.

- “Exactly, it wasn't that big of a leap for him.”- Kate added, supporting my thoughts.

- “It could be. We know he wasn't social enough to continue the family tradition, so maybe he found work in a morgue or a hospital.”- Morgan pointed out.

- “When you say work…”- Garcia asked right away.

- “Security guard, janitor, anything entry level.”- I explained to her and heard her typing as I spoke.

- “Uh, the UC system has a medical facility in Bakersfield.”- she announced in a few seconds.

- “Anyone fired recently?”- Spencer asked him.

- “No, but there's an anatomy Professor on sabbatical.”

- “What's his name?” I asked and grabbed a pen right away.

- “Dylan Myers.”

The team went to the suspect’s house and left me and Spencer at the police station. I wasn’t complaining that time, I didn’t want to go. A part of my brain was relieved neither of us was in danger during that case. I wanted to go back home and hold my baby, hopefully, that very same night.

That last part was probably not going to happen when we got a call from Hotch, telling us the unsub wasn’t there. So the search for a secondary location started. However, Garcia had nothing on the guy, and the search was turning incredibly frustrating.

I was at the kitchenette in the police station, pouring a fresh cup of coffee for Spencer. He was a few feet away from me, reading the M.E. reports one more time. That was when I saw him reach the bullet scar on his neck and rub it. He would do it from time to time, I was sure it hurt, though he always denied it. Surely, he didn’t want to worry me. But nevertheless, I was worried. The fear of getting hurt or even worse had always been at the back of my brain, since I joined the BAU. But now that I was a mother, facing my own mortality was harder than ever.

- “Kid? Are you ok?”- I heard Morgan ask my husband as he walked into the room. I grabbed the cup I had poured for Spencer and headed in their direction.

- “Yeah. You?”- he replied, pretending nothing was bothering him. And Derek acted like he didn’t notice. A dangerous game to play at the BAU, if you ask me.

- “Just tired.”

- “Here hon.”- I gave my husband his cup of coffee and he sat straight on his chair right away, acting as if he wasn’t in pain at all. That was still upsetting to me, knowing Spencer wouldn’t be honest about those tiny things because he still wanted to protect me.

- “Dr. Lee sent this over. The most recent victim had more than just leather particulates in her stomach.”- Spencer explained to Morgan as I sat next to him and went through the file again. - “She chewed through it, leaving entire chunks behind. She also found traces of horse hair. He's using a bridle.”

- “This guy could have used anything. Why that?”- Morgan questioned and Spencer tried to get an answer.

- “It's either specific to his fantasy or something he had easy access to.”

- “How many horse ranches are around here?”- Derek asked my husband, but before he could reply, I said:

- “One hundred and thirty-four.”- Morgan frowned and turned to me as Spencer smiled and looked at the M.E report in his hands.

- “You are spending too much time with your husband, I’m gonna ask Hotch to pair us together instead.”- the phone interrupted our conversation, and speak of the devil, it was Hotch, with shocking news. Our suspect David Myers wasn’t actually the unsub, but his first victim and the killer had framed him.

- “That’s what I call a plot twist”- I whispered as I heard Hotch’s explanation.

- “He took out a lot of rage on this man for a reason.”- our Unit Chief added.

- “Maybe this Dylan Myers stood in the way of the unsub's true object of affection.”- Spencer suggested.

- “Well, it makes sense since we thought the first and second victims were connected.”- I added, but Spencer quickly shook his head.

- “Only Dylan Myers was single.”

- “Garcia, was Dylan Myers dating anyone?”- Hotch asked at the other side of the line.

- “He was a bit of a hermit, and like I said, zero social media skills. Did go old school with a landline. Tracking his frequently called numbers. He called a young woman named Christine Locke several times. She's a former student, lives in Bakersfield.”- Garcia made a pause and somehow, we all knew exactly what she was going to say next. - “And she's missing. Sending you her picture now.”

We stared at our cell phone’s screen and watched the image of a young blond girl appear in front of us.

- “She looks like the second victim.”- I whispered and looked at my husband for a moment, he was frowning, trying to connect the dots in this crime. If you ask me, he was desperate to crack it and go back home.

- “Did she have a restraining order out on anyone?”- Hotch asked.

- “Checking now.”- Garcia replied and typed as fast as she could. - “Uh, yes. She filed for and was granted a restraining order on August 6 from Steven Parkett.”

- “And where is he?”- I asked quickly, and Pen answered in a second.

- “Probably on his way to hell in a handbasket, munchkin. He was raised and lives at a cattle ranch and slaughterhouse in Bishopville just outside of Bakersfield. Sending you the coordinates now.”

The team got the killer, and before we knew it, we were on the plane, on our way back home. JJ and Morgan welcomed Kate with a long speech about their battle scars, that made me chuckle from the other side of the plane, at least the few minutes it lasted, ‘cos soon everybody around me was snoring. Everyone but me. Somehow I couldn’t close my eyes. I was too excited about going back home and holding my daughter in my arms. So I stood up carefully, trying not to wake Spencer, who was softly snoring next to me, and walked to the kitchenette to make myself a cup of tea.

The water hadn’t boiled yet when Kate appeared next to me, and cut me a short smile, clearly still half asleep.

- “Is there enough water in that pot for another tea?”- she whispered and I chuckled.

- “The correct question would be: is there enough tea in this plane to keep you awake?”- I answered and Kate Callahan laughed under her breath, trying not to wake any of our teammates.

- “Pick your favorite.”- I whispered and handed her a box with different kinds of teas- “If you need help, I can tell you my favorite pick to keep me awake during trips is Earl Gray.”

- “Earl Gray it is.”- she grabbed one bag and put it in an empty mug. We both stayed quiet for a few minutes. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just a little weird. We hadn’t actually been alone since we met, technically 48 hours earlier.

- “So why don’t you wanna sleep?”- I finally asked her, pouring the hot boiling water in her cup.

- “I can’t stop thinking about the case.”- she simply replied and smiled at me.- “How do you deal with catching a different serial killer every week and not… taking it with you?”

- “That’s a good question. I don’t know how we do it, actually.”- I answered and grabbed my cup with both hands, feeling the warmth against my cold skin right away.

- “Seaver told me a lot about the team when she transferred.”

And there it was, the pink elephant in the room. I bit my lips and looked at Kate, waiting for a snarky comment, a complaint, maybe a threat not to be mean to her. But no. That’s not what happened. Instead, Kate smiled at me and whispered.

- “She said everybody on the team taught her a lot and made her a better agent. Especially you and Prentiss.”

- “Me?”- I didn’t even try to mask how shocked I was by that confession. It made no sense. Yes, at the end Seaver and I were on better terms, but she wasn’t my friend. She wasn’t even invited to our wedding. And, like JJ had pointed out a few days earlier in the worst way possible, I hadn’t been nice at Seaver.

- “Yeah, she said you two had a rocky start, but that you were an incredible agent, and that she put to use everything you taught her.”- I raised an eyebrow and waited for the “but” to come any second.

But it never came.

- “I don’t know if Ashley actually meant it.”- I finally confessed and sipped my tea - “I was very mean to her when she joined the team. We had… considerable issues.”

- “Whatever it was, you two managed to work together no matter what, and you really taught her a lot. She was very proud to have worked alongside you and agent Prentiss.”- I tried to read Kate, try to find any trace of deceit, irony, or any lead that showed me she was lying. But there was nothing. Was I losing my profiler’s touch? Or was she actually being honest?

- “Wow.”- that was all I managed to say. - “I’m glad we were a good school for her.”

- “You definitely were. She said it was the first time she actually managed to skip her father’s stigma and be herself.”- I sipped my cup and nodded. On that very same plane, I had yelled at Ashley about how her father had killed my aunt. It felt like ages ago. In another life.

- “So, how long have you and Spencer been together?”- Kate asked after a few seconds. I smiled and whispered.

- “It’s gonna be three years already since we got married, and four since we started dating.”

- “You didn’t wait long to tie the knot!”- she replied, shocked, and raised an eyebrow.

- “It might sound weird, but most people thought it took us too long.”- it was funny looking back now, but god! It had been a long journey.

- “Really? Why?”

- “‘Cos we were in love for four years and a half and none of us said a word about our feelings.”- I confessed and giggled. Kate wide opened her eyes, shocked.

- “You what?!”

- “Yeah! We wasted four years in love with each other ‘cos we were both terrified to deal with our feelings.”

- “Oh my god! That’s… like a rom-com!”- Callahan chuckled and I smiled, thinking it was funny now, but back when Ashley was in the team, it was the closest I had ever been to hell on earth.

- “Yeah, that’s why after we started dating, we decided to get married very soon, and no one was actually shocked by that.”

- “And do you have kids?”- Kate asked, and I had to do my best effort not to jump with excitement when I started talking about our daughter.

- “One daughter, Raven Marie. She is three months and a half.”- I made my best effort not to be the kind of mom I always made fun of, showing pictures of their babies to anyone they could. Until I heard Kate ask the questions:

- “Do you have pictures?”- and I know I grinned like a maniac, grabbing my phone.

- “I have so many!”

For the rest of the trip, Callahan and I stayed in the kitchenette of the plane, drinking tea and chatting. She told me she didn’t have kids of her own yet, but that she and her husband were guardians of her little niece “Meg” after her sister died. I didn’t ask much about it 'cause it was clearly a sensitive subject, but she did tell me a lot about Meg. She was thirteen already, which gave me a glimpse of what raising a teenager meant. And it sounded creepy.

That morning we reached home and found my mom walking in the living room with baby Raven. I nearly ran to her and held her in my arms. Me and Spencer kissed her chubby cheeks and somehow, I felt at peace. That’s a feeling I only get when we are all together, at home. A feeling that’s very elusive when you are an SSA. 

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[harpersdragons]

New Fic!

...This was actually posted about 3 weeks ago, I just forgot to post here as well.

Anywayyyy

If My Engine Works Perfectly on Empty...(Spoiler: It Doesn't)

Title from Growing Sideways by Noah Kahan

My first Dick-centric fic!

Summary: Dick has a hard time accepting help, Bruce is more emotionally competent than usual and somehow helps

Tags: Hurt/comfort, emotional Hurt/comfort, soft batfam

TW: I don't think there are any, but if there is let me know

Words: 3776

Dick is fine.

100%, completely fine.

Ok…maybe not right now.

But he will be, he always is.

He just maybe feels like he’s drowning, currently.

But it will be fine.

He will be fine.

He has to be.

He just has to go home for a couple hours, have dinner with his family, and make them believe his life is going great. And ignore the restless energy clawing under his skin, ignore the endless torment of his thoughts, all his responsibilities, and then everything will be fine.

Easier said than done.

Dick is currently sprawled on his couch, staring blankly at the ceiling.

He has so many things to do, it’s only lunch time and he hasn’t eaten all day. He needs to make food, needs to look over a few cases—some of his own, a couple of Jason’s—he needs to sleep.

He hasn’t been lately, not for lack of trying. If he does sleep, it’s not restful. The itching, restless energy burning under his skin makes sure of that.

When he first started feeling it, he did extensive blood tests. It almost feels like Ivy’s pollen, though that feels more like cold, stabbing needles.

The craving for human touch is there, though.

Perhaps he could ask his family for a hug, but none of them seem to enjoy physical affection. When he was a child he threw himself at Bruce often, used to affection being freely given. As he grew he learned some people didn’t enjoy it, or crave it, like he did.

And that’s fine.

He’s not going to force affection on his family.

He just needs time, and real, restful sleep, and then he’ll be fine. He can get past this.

He needs food too, but that takes so much effort.

Maybe he could just take the day, lay here for a while.

The next couple hours pass in a haze, it seems like half an hour passes every time he blinks.

He needs coffee.

Or a 3 week nap.

He sighs heavily, glancing at his phone. He has to leave, if he wants to get to dinner on time.

Tonight’s family patrol night too. Maybe he should get six shots of espresso and call it good. That should keep him up for a bit.

Is it the smartest idea when he hasn’t eaten in 36 hours? Probably not.

But fuck this.

He could just skip.

He’s not really family, is he? He wasn’t adopted, they won’t miss him. Nightwing doesn’t have official patrol routes in Gotham, he just rotates teaming up with the others.

Dick barely stays at the manor, he’s barely been going at all outside family dinners or meet ups at the cave.

If they haven’t missed him by now, they won’t miss him tonight.

He sighs, and banishes that thought process. He has to go.

He told Alfred he’d be there, back when he was feeling social, and he doesn’t want to disappoint Alfred.

Dick heaves himself off the couch, grabbing his keys and finally making it out the door. He can grab his concerning espresso monstrosity on the way. At a coffee shop where the baristas do not know his name.

The drive is short—too short, in Dick’s opinion—and he doesn’t remember most of it. All he knows is his coffee is gone, and he’s mostly sure he didn’t break that many traffic laws.

If he doesn’t remember it, it didn’t happen.

The knot in his stomach only got tighter the closer he got to manor. He’s not even entirely sure why, he loves his family. He just…maybe doesn’t have the energy to pretend tonight. And he’s out of time to put himself back together enough for them to be fooled.

The thing is, your family is supposed to be your safety net, right?

Well, his just…isn’t.

Not that they don’t care, they do.

…He thinks.

Anyway, Bruce is, well, Bruce. And he would never burden his younger siblings with his problems, they have more than enough of their own.

DIck throws his car into park in the garage, not entirely sure how he made it in one piece. The caffeine made him mildly more awake, but even that didn’t make him more aware. He definitely wasn’t in a state to drive, and he’s probably not in any state to properly interact with his family.

Who is he kidding, there’s no way he can fool his family of detectives. His only hope is if they’re all preoccupied. In the case of his younger brothers, that’ll be in the form of trying to kill each other, even if they’ve gotten better about it.

Dick thinks it’s mostly playing now, but you can never quite be sure.

He hopes Cass isn’t here tonight, and immediately feels bad for thinking it. He loves her, but she’s way too perceptive. He’ll barely be able to fool Bruce, let alone Cass.

Dick takes a few more minutes to collect himself.

He rubs a hand down his face, wishing, for once, he could wear his physical mask. It could at least hide some of his mental state. Taking one more deep breath, he forces himself out of the car.

Damian greets him at the door, Titus just behind him. “Grayson.” Oh great, Damian already sounds pissed, and Dick only just walked through the door.

Dick didn’t even do anything to him.

“Where were you? We were supposed to go to the art museum in Metropolis.”

Shit. so maybe Dick did do something to him.

“I’m sorry, Dami, I—”

“Whatever.” Damian huffs and storms off.

Dick sighs, leaning back against the door.

He’s such an idiot. He’d had the plans in his calendar for weeks, he was looking forward to it! He knew Damian was looking forward to it too. Hopefully someone still took him, though knowing Damian he probably brushed them all off.

“Dick, you alright?” Bruce takes him by surprise, and Dick jumps a little.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine! Why wouldn’t I be?” He hopes the fake cheery tone is enough to fool his father, because he really doesn’t think he can summon anything else.

“Well you sat in the garage for 15 minutes, and now you’ve made it two steps inside and you look like you’re going to collapse.” Something in Bruce’s gaze sharpens as he scans Dick. “Are you injured? Your reports didn’t say anything—”

“I’m fine, B, really.” Dick interrupts him before he can come closer. If anyone touches him, he might fall apart. “Just been a long day.” It really hasn’t. It’s been a strangely short day, and Dick doesn’t know where most of the time has gone.

“Hn.”

“I’m fine! Let’s go, I’m sure Alfred’s almost got dinner ready!” He practically bounces past Bruce, heading towards the kitchen.

“You’re early, actually. We still have a bit before everyone else shows up. Why don’t we go hang out in the living room?”

“Who all’s here?” Dick pauses in the hallway.

“Tim is upstairs, Damian is around somewhere, Jason is hit or miss on whether or not he’ll show up, Stephanie and Cass will be along eventually.”

So it’ll be a full house. Everyone gets to witness his mental breakdown/whatever the fuck else is going on with him.

“Yeah I saw Damian. I…I messed up with him today.”

“You did. We can work that out later. I took him to the art museum, so he still got to go, but he was looking forward to spending the day with you.” Bruce’s voice is light, but Dick still flinches.

“I know. I didn’t mean to forget.”

“I figured you didn’t. Come on, let’s go sit down.”

Great. Bruce is purposefully not pushing. Bruce never does that.

He lets Bruce walk ahead of him, carefully stepping out of the way of the arm his father tries to sling around his shoulder. Bruce shoots him a look, but keeps walking.

Dick’s really not doing a good job pretending to be normal. He should have just skipped, no one would miss him after all.

Damian’s pissed at him, Jason’s…Jason, Tim and he still haven’t gotten back to normal after what happened while Bruce was in the time stream, and Bruce…he doesn’t know where he stands with Bruce. Surely it would have been better if he stayed home.

“Dick, you coming?”

Oh, he stopped walking. Oops.

“Yep! Right behind you.” Dick forces himself to start moving again, “Am I really that early? I thought I was running late.”

Bruce hums, “Dinner was pushed back a bit, rough night on patrol last night.”

Really? He didn’t hear about anything going wrong last night.

Or maybe he did? Did he just forget?

“Oh. Is everyone ok?”

“Everyone’s fine, it was in the mission reports. Just a busy night, and we all got in late.”

Oh, so he wasn’t told explicitly. He meant to read the reports last night, but he’d been so tired he collapsed in bed immediately. Not that it did him any good, he still laid in bed awake for hours, but he tried.

Dick nods as they finally make it into the living room. There’s a show already on the TV, but Dick can’t even begin to figure out which one it is.

DIck’s legs almost give out as he tries to sit, so instead of sitting like a normal person, he practically flops onto the couch. The gracelessness of it draws Bruce’s sharp eyes back to him.

“You sure you’re alright?” He scans Dick even as he takes a seat himself.

“Perfectly fine, B,” physically anyway, “just lost my balance for a second!” The anxiety that has been ever present only tightens in his chest, a thick, unbreakable coil.

Just a few more hours.

A few more hours, get through dinner, then patrol, then sleep.

And do it all again the next day.

Dick is fine.

Will be fine.

He has no other choice.

____________________________________________________________________________

Bruce knows something is going on with Dick. He just can’t figure what. His son isn’t injured, there was nothing in the patrol reports from the last few days, he’s not favoring one side or another.

But he’s been jittery since he arrived, and at the same time, he hasn't been fully present.

There’s something weighing on his son, even as Dick tries to bounce around like he would normally.

Watching him fold himself into the corner of the couch only confirms his suspicions. Dick likes to spread out, he doesn’t like being confined. Even most of the family is on the couch—because the whole family absolutely can’t fit on the same couch—Dick likes to spread across them, joking and laughing.

Whatever’s going on, Dick is determined to not talk about it, and for once, Bruce isn’t going to push. It’s never gone well for him in the past, so until Dick actually says something, or the problem gets worse, Bruce can drop it.

Despite deciding not to push the subject, Bruce keeps a close eye on Dick. He watches the way Dick appears to be watching the show, but his mind is clearly elsewhere. The way he curls in on himself, arms wrapped around his abdomen, legs tucked under him. The way he lets his hair fall into his face, slightly greasy from going too long without washing it. That, in itself, is a red flag. Dick has always been careful about his hygiene, especially his hair. It’s a point of pride for him.

It only serves to make Bruce more determined to get to the bottom of this.

It doesn’t take much longer for the rest of his kids to start showing up. Tim and Damian both emerge from their rooms—Tim only stayed because of how late they got in last night—Jason shows up not much later.

Dick doesn’t even seem to notice when they walk past him to the dining room, content to stare off into space with his head on the armrest.

Jason frowns, watching Dick for several seconds. Then he throws himself on the couch next to him, and jabs a finger into his side.

Dick has always been ticklish, so Bruce is expecting a reaction. He’s not, however, expecting the magnitude of the reaction.

Dick startles, somehow throwing himself into a backflip over the couch, ending up almost in the wall behind them. Bruce and Jason both stand, facing Dick.

Dick’s eyes are wide, and his chest is heaving. His eyes dart around the room, and once he seems to register where he is, he collapses, like a puppet with its strings cut. He shoves himself against the back wall and buries his head in his knees.

Bruce and Jason share a glance, and Bruce rounds the couch to get closer to his eldest. He stops a few paces away, making sure not to crowd Dick.

“Dickie, it’s ok, it’s just Jason and I. Can I come closer?”

Dick shakes his head vigorously, then seems to take a few deep breaths and look up, much calmer now. “Sorry, I’m fine. I just got startled. Dinner?”

By all appearances, Dick is perfectly calm now, except for the way he’s still curled against the wall. It’s a flimsy lie, he trained Dick himself. He knows how hard it should be to catch him off guard. Especially to the magnitude it seemed to occur today.

Bruce hums, scanning Dick again. He decides to let it go, for now. He should probably bench Dick from patrol though, if he’s this jumpy, patrol won’t go well.

Bruce nods, standing and offering a hand to his son. Dick ignores it, bracing against the wall to stand. Bruce lets Dick walk ahead of him, heading to the kitchen. He gestures for Jason to follow, it is dinner time, and Cass and Stephanie will show up when they show up.

Jason watches them, disbelief clouding his gaze. “No, hold on. That’s it? Dick gets so startled he vaults over the couch and apparently has a breakdown, and you just let it go? What the fuck happened before I got here?”

Bruce glances at Dick again, noticing the way he tenses when Jason speaks. “It’s fine Jay, nothing happened.”

“Obviously something did. Dick is not fine, and you’re just letting it go? Where’s the Bruce that’s pushy and doesn’t know when to keep his thoughts to himself?”

“I’m learning, Jaylad. If Dick doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t have to.” Bruce fixes a look on his second eldest, urging him to drop it. He’ll talk to Dick later, while everyone else is on patrol.

Jason huffs and stalks towards the kitchen, shoulder checking Bruce as he passes.

Rolling his eyes, Bruce follows.

They time it perfectly, getting to the kitchen just as Alfred finishes up. They each take their seats, Tim and Damian having already claimed theirs.

Dinner passes quickly once Alfred lays the plates out—though Stephanie and Cass never showed, they must have gotten caught up elsewhere—and his kids chatter amongst themselves. It seems they’re all concerned about Dick, they’re noticeably subdued as they eat and interact. There’s no fighting or yelling, and they keep obviously stealing glances at the oldest. Bruce himself keeps an eye on Dick, watching as he pushes food around his plate and seemingly forces himself to take bites every so often.

After dinner, Bruce pushes his chair back, and collects the dishes for Alfred. “I’ll meet you in the cave. Start pre-patrol checks.” He delivers the dishes to the kitchen, thanking his pseudo father for the meal, and then heads back to the dining room. Jason, Tim, and Damian have all headed to the cave, but Dick is still sitting, staring at the table

“You don’t need to bench me, I’m fine.”

“Why do you think I’m going to bench you?” He is, but maybe if Dick lists the reasoning it’ll be less of a battle.

“I can see it on your face, B, I know you think I’m not fit to be in the field right now.” Dick’s still staring at the table, his voice soft.

“Chum…Tell me honestly, do you think you’re completely safe to be in the field? Do you think you have the reaction time to fight, or watch your brother’s backs?”

“I…” Dick’s breath hitches, “I have to be ok. I don’t have another option.”

Bruce sighs, sitting in a chair next to Dick. “Can you look at me, Chum?”

Dick shudders, but eventually looks up.

“You have to let yourself feel what you’re feeling, right now, before you can be okay. You can’t suppress it, or run from it forever.”

Dick snorts, looking away: “Hypocrite.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, brat. Do as I say, not as I do.”

“That’s a terrible parenting tactic.” Dick laughs a little, but the sound is harsh and grating, nothing like his usual laugh, “But I never was your son, was I?”

Bruce recoils, brows furrow as he scans Dick’s posture. “Do you actually believe that?”

Dick just shrugs, stubbornly staring at the table again. “What proof do I have otherwise?”

“Dick, you have been my son from the moment I chose you, and brought you home from that detention center. You are my son, and that will never change.”

Dick doesn’t have a response, he peeks at Bruce from underneath the fringe of his hair, studying Bruce’s face.

“I will do everything in my power to fix this, sweetheart, but I can’t help unless you talk to me.”

“...Not right now. I don’t think I can handle any more right now.” Dick’s eyes are glassy, voice getting wet and nasally.

“Okay. Why don’t we take the night and hang out? We can have a movie night, like we used to.” Bruce stands, but waits on Dick to follow.

Dick gives a weak smile, though it looks more like a grimace. “You have patrol, I’ll be fine.”

“Gotham has the rest of the family. I think it’ll survive if I take one night off.”

“Are…are you sure?”

“My kid is more important. Why don’t you get set up in the media room, and I’ll let the others know not to wait on us. I’ll grab snacks on my way up.”

DIck nods, standing and heading out of the dining room.

“Hey, Dick?” Bruce asks, waiting until Dick turns back to continue. “Do you want a hug?” He gets his answer, in the form of his eldest son colliding with him, almost before the words are fully out of his mouth. Dick’s arms latch around Bruce’s neck, his head buried in his shoulder. Bruce wraps his arms around Dick, squeezing his son tightly. One hand comes up and cradles the back of his head, the other wrapping securely around his back. Bruce can feel Dick go lax against him, trusting Bruce to hold his weight. Bruce smiles softly, through the undercurrent of worry.

He had missed his son, Dick had been getting more withdrawn, spending less time in Gotham. He’s not happy he let it get this bad, but he is happy they’re finally getting somewhere.

After a few minutes it becomes evident Dick isn’t letting go, and like hell is Bruce letting go first. Not when his son went this long without knowing he is Bruce’s son. Not when he’d clearly been longing for the contact.

____________________________________________________________________________

Dick barely registered anything after launching into the hug Bruce offered. As soon as he’s wrapped in his father’s arms, his mind stops spinning. The restless itch finally ceases. Hell, even the jitters caused by the caffeine seem to ease, his headache practically disappears. He sinks deeper into the hold, mind finally quiet, no longer in fight or flight. Bruce takes his weight easily, and Dick barely registers a command to jump, and then they’re moving.

He feels like he should be embarrassed at how he’s being carried like a toddler, but he can’t bring himself to care. He’s still mostly supporting himself with his legs wrapped around Bruce’s hips.

He doesn’t know how long they’re walking, only distantly registering as Bruce sits and Dick lets his legs drop. Bruce arranges them on the couch, letting Dick lay flat on top of him. A fluffy blanket is tucked around him, followed by a weighted blanket.

Dick appreciated the thought, he prefers the texture of the fluffy blanket, but he needs the weight to help ground him.

Dick doesn’t know how much time has passed, but he does register the position they’re in getting uncomfortable. His arms are squished awkwardly under Bruce, and it’s not all that comfortable to lay across him. Dick has to work himself up to shift positions, nudging Bruce until he’s sitting up and Dick can lay against his shoulder.

“What do you want to watch?” Bruce asks softly.

“I…I don’t know. Something funny?”

“I can do that.” Bruce fixes the blankets from where they had fallen, tucking them securely around Dick and then turning his attention to the screen as he sets the movie up.

“Wait, don’t you have to go talk to the others?”

“I texted them. They left from patrol, if there’s an emergency they’ll contact me. Alfred should be bringing up some snacks for us before he goes to monitor them.”

“Right here, sir.” Alfred enters with a tray and a big bowl. The tay has fruit, some desserts, and pretzels. The bowl is piled with popcorn. He rests his hand on Dick’s shoulder after he drops the food off, “I am glad you are here, Master Dick.”

Once Alfred leaves, Bruce hits play on the movie. Dick doesn’t pay a lot of attention, he’s finally relaxed enough to feel sleepy and he finds himself dozing off.

“Love you, kid.” Bruce murmurs into his hair.

“‘M not a kid.” Dick responds tiredly, words muffled and slurred.

“My kid. You’re always my kid, I don’t care how old you are.”

Dick hums, drifting off.

At some point, he wakes to Titus making himself comfortable by their feet, curling up on the couch with his massive head on Dick’s legs. Alfred perches near their heads, tail curled neatly around his white paws.

Dick is asleep by the time his siblings find them there, but he wakes up briefly at the jostling as they all settle in.

In the morning, he and Bruce will need to have a more in depth talk. In the morning, he’ll have to come clean about how he doesn’t feel entirely safe to show when he’s not ok.

But that’s the morning.

Right now, he can sleep peacefully, surrounded by his family and wrapped in his father’s arms.

[blackheartsclub]

Working out || Xaden Riorson

You and Xaden hate each other... Or do you?

warnings: smut, reader has a female body, praise, dom Xaden, sub reader

word count: 2,6k

authour's note: ok sooo I loved fourth wing so I just had to write this... anyways enjoy

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   The sky was blue for the first time in two weeks, and you decided to take a walk to clear your head. Threshing was finally over, and you had bonded a red scorpion tail rather quickly.  She was probably away hunting sheep or something at the moment, since she had cut you out mentally.

   The parapet was slightly visible in the distance. You had been on it several times after making it over the first time, (stupid, I know), but there was just something so peaceful about being there. Not to mention that it was one of the few places you could be alone. You liked your friends of course, but sometimes you wanted to be alone with your thoughts.

   You stepped onto the narrow stone overpass in front of you and immediately felt your body relax. Even though it was fairly good weather today, there were always some fog around the parapet. Which explains why you didn’t see the 6 foot huge man sitting in the middle of it until you were standing directly in front of him.

   Xaden Riorson.

   “What the hell are you doing here?” you asked and glared at his profile.

   He slowly turned his head towards you and fixated his onyx-colored eyes on yours.

   “Well, y/l/n, I could ask you the same thing,” he muttered and cocked his head to the side.

   “Ugh, just leave,” you pointed behind you demonstratively.

   “Is that the way you should talk to your wingleader, Little One?” he stood up.

   Ugh, you hated that nickname.

   “Riorson, please just leave me alone for once,” you muttered, not in the mood today for his teasing.

   “Alright, alright,” he threw his hands up and stepped towards you.

   You stared up at him, he was so freaking tall it was scary.

   “Move, Little One,” he said quietly and gently moved you by your waist so he could pass.

   “Don’t touch me, asshole,” you muttered, ignoring the butterflies in your stomach.

   You were just met with a laugh as he walked away, leaving you alone on the parapet.

   Xaden was your wingleader, and an annoying one at that. He loved to tease you for some reason, and you hated it. The nickname “Little One” came from when he had helped you up onto your dragon the second time you were riding. Now he saw you as tiny because of that, but on the other hand everyone must seem small to him.

   There was some tiny piece of you that liked talking to Xaden… and looking at him. But come on who could blame you?? The man was gorgeous, no doubt. Everyone basically swooned when they saw him, and that didn’t make you jealous… Not at all…

When evening came, everyone assembled to eat dinner. You sat down with your two friends and started talking about the day.

   “So, you disappeared for a while today y/n, where did you go?” Autumn asked.

   “Yeah, we looked for you,” Ian said.

   “Oh, I just needed to study some more,” you said.

   “You always say that,” Ian looked meaningly at you.

   Before you could answer there was something else that stole your attention.

   Xaden and his friends just walked in, and you couldn’t help that you stared. He looked so damn good when he had casual fits on, gosh.

   “You’re staring,” Autumn nudged you with her elbow.

   “I am not,” you shot back and quickly looked down to avoid eye contact.

   “Whatever you say,” she snickered.

   You couldn’t stop yourself from looking up again and was met by onyx eyes staring right into yours. Your heart skipped a beat, and you felt your cheeks heat. Shit.

   Xaden smirked at you, freaking winked and then looked away.

   “Are you blushing, y/n?” Ian blurted out.

   “SHUT UP!”

   The next morning started with sparring with the other first years. Occasionally you could fight someone from the second year. Imogen looked suspiciously happy today, which could mean she was fighting you…

   “Alright everyone, first pair for today is Simone Casteneda and Jace Sutherland,” Professor Emetterio calls.

   You try to focus on the fighting but it’s hard when the hottest brunette ever is staring at you. Like, really staring. Xaden hadn’t taken his eyes of you since you came in the room. He’s standing beside Imogen with his arms crossed and jaw locked, his gaze fixated on you. That can’t be good.

   When the fight is over and Simone wins by taking Jace in a headlock, Xaden walks over to the professor and whispers something.

   “Uhm okay, next pair is y/n y/l/n and Xaden Riorson,” Emetterio says.

   What the hell?

   “What?” Autumn whispers from beside you.

   “Whatever, I’ll try,” you mutter back and step onto the mat.

   You check so that you have your knifes strapped on where they’re supposed to be and look up at Xaden.

   “Hey, Little One,” he says.

   “Riorson,” you nod.

   “I’ll be a bit fair with you, okay? I took away my weapons. But it doesn’t matter anyways ‘cause I’ll still win,” he smirks.

   You feel the anger build in your chest.

   “You think I’m no match for you? Huh?” you snap.

   You leap forward, grabbing a knife from your thigh and aiming for his stomach. Xaden grabs your arm and quickly disarms you, making the knife fly away on the floor.

   “You can’t let your feelings take over,” he says quietly, like he only wants you to hear it.

   You twist your arm from his grasp and step back, massaging the skin absent mindedly.  

   Xaden gestures for you to come at him again with two of his fingers, and you gulp.

   You try again. And again. And again. Finally, you only have one knife left strapped to your right thigh. You’re panting, and your hair has come undone slightly and little strands of it hangs in your eyes.

   “Come on, y/l/n. Try one more time,” Xaden mocks.

   You glare at him, but charge at him again. This time you try to go for his legs to make him loose his balance, but instead of him falling, you end up on your back with Xaden on top of you. You groan when your back hits the mat harder than you expected.

   “Ow,” you mutter.

   “Come on Little One, how can you take advantage of his situation, hm?” Xaden pins his arm against your throat, pressing slightly.

   You consider sticking out your tongue at him but then slowly realize what you could do. You have one knife left. Before he can react, you’ve slid the knife from your thigh and press it against his abdomen. It’s hard to hide the triumphant smirk on your lips.

   “Good, now you’re on the right track,” Xaden says and grabs the knife from you in one swift motion.

   You groan and try to get up. Fine, he won, whatever. The guy is like a damn giant, who thought you had a chance anyways?

   “y/n,” Xaden hiss.

   He never uses your first name, what…?

   “Don’t move like that, I’ll get up,” he says from gritted teeth.

   “Why? What’s wrong-“ and that’s when you feel it.

   Xaden is in a perfect position to… Oh. And he’s thinking it too.

   You move again and Xaden grabs your wrist.

   “No, stay fucking still,” he hisses again and stares at you.

   Oh, this is… fun.

   You move again and shit, you can really feel him against you.

   “y/n, I swear to the gods I’ll take you right here in front of everyone if you don’t stop.”

   Oh. My. God.

   “I uhm…” you stutter.

   Xaden just shakes his head at you and gets up, nods, and leaves the room.

   What the hell just happened??

   The next few days you don’t see Xaden at all, it almost seems like he’s avoiding you. But that can’t be it… right? You on the other hand has had your mind occupied by him every hour of the day. You can´t stop thinking about how close he was, how good he smelled, how he felt…

   Almost as if he can read your thoughts, Xaden appears in the gym where you´re currently training on your own. It´s 11 p.m., perfect for working out if you want to be alone. Well almost perfect apparently, since Xaden just walked in.

   You look up from where you´re standing doing squats with a bar.

   “Oh, it’s you,” you say and continue.

   “Hello to you too, Little One,” Xaden says and walks over to stand beside you.

   “Something you want?” you ask.

   “Nah, just wanted to work out,” he says and starts to take his shirt off.

   Oh fuck.

   He´s so perfectly built it´s unreal, and his rebellion relic looks stunning on top of that amazing body. Omg.

   “Did you hear what I said?” he asks.

   “Uh-huh,” you stare at him.

   “Little One,” he walks up to you and tilts your head up towards him by putting two fingers under your chin, “Eyes up here.”

   You stare at him, unable to answer. He has made you freaking speechless.

   Xaden softly strokes his thumb over your lower lip, making a small electric current run through your body. You part your lips slightly at the touch, which makes Xaden´s eyes fall on your mouth. When he looks up at you again there´s heat in his eyes.

   “Can I kiss you?” he asks in a low voice.

   “Please,” you breath.

   Xaden slowly moves closer, almost painfully slow, and you sigh when you finally meet his lips with yours. He kisses you slow, but hard, making you long for so much more. You put your hands in his hair, his extremely soft hair, and tug him closer. His hands slide from your cheeks, down your curves and rests on your hips. He tugs you against him, and you push your body flush against his. Your heart drums hard in your chest, and you feel how the room seems to turn warmer.

   Xaden pulls away for a second and just looks at you. You look back, in chock from what just happened.

   “I don´t think I´m going to be able to stop kissing you, Little One,” he says.

   “So don´t,” you almost whisper.

   “You sure?” he pulls you towards him again, and gathers your hair in his fist to tilt your head back.

   “Yes,” you breath against his lips.

   He kisses you again, this time hard, and deep. He pushes his tongue into your mouth, and you whimper into his at the feeling. That seems to have an impact on him because he pulls your hair back to be able to kiss you even deeper. His hands squeeze your waist as he backs you against a table. In a moment he has you on top of it and steps to stand between your legs. A little yelp escapes you when he presses against you, fully hard, and squeezes your thighs.

   “Feel that, Little One? That´s what you do to me,” he says and moves to kiss down your jawline.

   “Xaden…” you sigh and hold on to his hair for dear life as he nibbles and bites the skin on your neck.

   “Mhm,” he mumbles and starts sucking a spot just below your ear.

   “Oh… Xaden!” you whimper.

   “Fuck, Little One,” he says and steps back.

   “What?”

   “I don´t think I´m gonna be able to stop, you sure about this?” he says and licks his lips.

   “Yes, I’m sure, Xaden,” you look up at him.

   “Good. Shirt off. Now,” he orders.

   You involuntarily squeeze your thighs together at his tone, and keep eye contact with him as you slowly pull your shirt over your head and drop it on the floor.

   “Beautiful,” he breathes.

   “Pants too,” he says then.

   “Xaden…” you blush.

   “y/n, take off your pants right now so that I can touch you,” he growls.

   Fuck.

   You nod, quickly letting your pants fall to the floor as well.

   “Good girl.”

   He walks up to you and kisses you hard again, this time letting his hands gently move over your now naked thighs. You feel goosebumps appear where his fingers touch you, and heat pools in your belly. Xaden slowly strokes his fingers over your panties, making you whine. He moves down to kiss your neck again and gently adds pressure, stroking you in lazy circles. You breath harder, holding onto his shoulders. Oh gosh.

   “That feel good, hm?” Xaden murmurs.

   “Y-yes, more…” you whimper.

   “Oh, someone’s needy,” he chuckles.

   “Shut up and- oh…” you whine when he pulls your panties to the side and continues stroking your now swollen clit.

   “And what?” Xaden breathes into your ear and slowly slides a finger into you.

   “F-fuck,” you moan.

   “Mm, you´re so wet, Little One,” he groans while adding another digit.

   “Xaden!” you moan, clutching his arm when he starts moving his fingers.

   “That´s right, say my name,” he murmurs.

   Xaden speeds up his fingers, and at the same time strokes your clit with his thumb. You see stars, it feels so good. It´s almost embarrassing how close you are already.

   “Xaden… I-, I´m gonna…” you whimper.

   “That´s right, come for me, Little One.”

   You cry out and dig your nails into his arms, coming on his fingers while letting out small moans.

  “Oh my god,” you pant.

   “You okay?” he asks.

   “Yeah,” you smile.

   “Alright good, ´cause I´m gonna fuck you now,” he unzips his pants.

   “Oh, fuck, okay,” you lick your lips when you see how huge he really is.

   “You scared?” he smirks.

   “Never,” you say back.

   He grabs your hips and pulls you towards him, making you whine when you feel him rub against you. He looks at you and you nod, telling him it´s okay. Then he slowly sinks into you, and you hiss in pain when he´s all the way in.

   “Oh fuck, Little One, you’re so warm,” his voice shakes.

   You whine when he starts moving.

   “You´re doing so good, y/n. You can take it. That´s it. Good girl,” he praises, while increasing the movement of his hips.

   Soon the pain has turned into pleasure, and you hold onto his back for dear life while he feverishly drives into you. You can feel him so freaking deep inside you, it feels amazing.

   Suddenly in the middle of it all, you both stop and listen. Footsteps. Someone´s coming.

   “Oh shit,” Xaden grabs you of the table and quickly carries you into the nearest room with a door, which happens to be a cleaning scrub.

   He sets you down and then manages to get your clothes inside as well just before the room to the gym opens.

   You both stare at each other, not making a single noise. Shit.

   Someone´s walking around out there, probably searching for who was in the gym this late.

   You look at Xaden and sees he has a devilish grin on his face.

   “What?”

   But he just smirks and lifts you up, pushes you against the wall and fills you up again.

   “Fu-,” Xaden slams a hand over your mouth.

   “Shhh, Little One,” he hushes and drives into you harder.

   You feel your second orgasm building, and you grip onto Xaden to tell him.

   “I know, y/n. That´s it. Come on my cock,” he whispers, making you come undone.

   You can´t stop yourself from moaning out loud, and Xaden presses his hand hard against your mouth to stifle your sounds. A few seconds later you feel him spill inside of you while he groans in your ear.

   You rest your foreheads against each other, panting, sweating and smiling.

   You sniff the air feel a whiff of… smoke? You look to the left and see a black spot on the floor where you could´ve sworn there had been a wooden stool.

   “Was that…?” you start.

   “Yup, guess we know what your signet is now,” Xaden says and laughs.

[lost-walmartbag]

Prom with Kyle Broflovski

Warnings: N/A

Background: In this one-shot, you and your boyfriend Kyle go to prom together

Status: Request Open

Previous part

Next part

Kyle was Wendy's vice president on the student council. Your prom was coming up but Kyle still hadn't asked you if you wanted to go. You did want to go but you wanted Kyle to ask you as cheesy as it was. You tried dropping hints that you wanted to go but it didn't seem to stick. As every day passed it made you more and more upset to the point where the prom was a week away and you were just flat-out ignoring Kyle. Kyle noticed you were upset but because he was so busy planning the prom he didn't have time to talk to you about it.

One day at lunch you were sitting with the girls while Kyle was across the room with his friends. Clyde stood up on a table drawing everyone's attention to him. He cleared his throat and looked over at Bebe.

"Oh Bebe, sweet Bebe, would you do me the honor, Of being my date to the prom, my lovely flower? I've been hoping and dreaming, for this moment so long, To dance with you all night, to the beat of our song. Your smile, your laugh. your beauty so fair, Make my heart skip a beat, and forget all my care. I promise to treat you like a queen, with love and respect, and make this night unforgettable, a memory to protect. So Bebe, my dear, will you say yes to my plea? And make my prom night, the best it could be." Clyde recited his poem he was clearly nervous and it was a bit cringy but Bebe was beyond happy.

She stood up at rushed to him hugging him tightly. You felt a bit sad as you watched them happily hug and laugh. You look up seeing Kyle staring at you like something finally clicked in his head. You get up and excuse yourself to the bathroom leaving the cafeteria. Kyle followed you out and caught up to you. He grabbed your hand making you turn to him. Before you could get a word in he cut you off.

"I'm so sorry. I should have known what was bothering you. I'm so stupid." He said blushing.

You turn your body entirely to face him and stayed quiet just watching him apologize. He blushed heavier and got on his knees and even though no one was around it was beyond embarrassing.

"Please forgive me.." He said looking up at you and making you hold in a laugh. You couldn't hold it in anymore and just start laughing so hard your stomach hurts. "I'm trying to apologize here," Kyle said clearly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry I'm so sorry." You say in between laughs and try to gain your composer again. "It's ok baby you've been busy and I probably should have just talked to you."

He stands up and kisses your head. "No, I should have known love. So let me make it up to you." He said standing back and looking at you. "Y/N will you go to prom with me?"

You smile and kiss his cheek softly. "Of course love."

After that because Kyle was so busy planning you took charge and handled everything for both of your outfits. You decided on a floor-length silk green dress. You managed to find a place to get your dress and Kyle's tux in such a short time. you got him a basic black tux with a green undershirt with a black bowtie.

You didn't have anyone to go dress shopping with you and because Kyle was so busy you barely were able to get him to try on his tux. His mom caught wind of it and had him take a few hours off of the prom organization to try on his tux. It was fun to be able to see him in his tux and see how much he loved being in it.

The day of the prom was hectic, to say the least. Kyle was late and only had an hour to get ready because of the time he spent setting up for prom before he and Wendy were forced to leave to get ready. You were at his place to get ready as his mom was doing your makeup. So when Kyle burst through the door he didn't even notice you in the living room with his mom.

He ran straight upstairs clearly worried he would be late. You and his mom laughed hearing him running around upstairs in his room. Once you finished getting ready you walked upstairs and entered his room seeing him trying to put on his bowtie.

"Hey, it's ok if we're a bit late." You say walking up to him startling him a bit.

You help him with his bowtie as he looks down at you blushing a bit.

"I just want to make this day perfect for you." He said with a sigh.

"As long as I get my dance with you I'll be happy." You say smiling up at him and ran your fingers through his fluffy hair.

"I'm glad you're here with me." He said hugging you close making you giggle.

"Let's get out of here. And once we get there don't stress out trying to make things perfect. You already did." You say kissing his cheek and leading him downstairs.

Once you both get down there his parents take no less than a million pictures of you two together. Once you two were finally able to get to school you looked around seeing all of Kyle's hard work coming together perfectly.

"Everything is so perfect." You say smiling up at him.

"I tried to put your favorite color everywhere." He said smiling.

You felt so happy being with Kyle just being able to dance with him made all the work you put into the last week worth it. Kyle tried to sneak off to make sure everything was running smoothly but you made sure he couldn't so that he could have fun.

"Ok everyone it is time to announce prom king and queen!" Wendy said drawing everyone's attention.

"I have to get up there to crown the king and queen." He said pulling away and going on stage before you could protest.

"Our queen is.." Wendy said opening the envelope in her hands. "Y/N L/N!"

You let out a gasp as people started clapping and cheering as you walk on stage. Kyle smiles at you clearly not surprised you had won as he places your crown on your head.

"I never nominated myself." You whisper to him. He let out a quiet chuckle and gives you a wink.

"Now time for our prom king," Wendy said opening another envelope. "Kyle Broflovski!"

Kyle looks surprised and looks at you seeing your smirk. You had submitted Kyle's name for King a week prior just as Kyle did yours. You took the crown from his hands and placed it on his head with a smile.

"Now clear the floor for the royal dance," Wendy announced making people leave the floor.

You and Kyle head onto the floor as a salsa dance plays. You groan and smile. "You plan this too?" You ask him causing him to nod and smile as he twirls you and dances with you.

You two salsa dance happily as the crowd of students watches. As the song ends Kyle dips you making a few students clap and cheer. Once the song changed people flood the dance floor. The night was perfect while Kyle was worried about not making everything to your liking, but the minute he saw you in your dress and held your hand it all felt so trivial. He was more than happy to be able to have you by his side while it was all so cheesy it definitely was something he can look back on with a smile.

A/N: Two stories in one day I'm slaying I think. Anyway hope you enjoyed will def try to get more and more stuff out, love yall 🩷

[mikolovesracing]

are you gonna kiss me or not? pt 1

//::george is constantly teasing oscar about how cute him and lando would be together, until an incredibly questionable night with the boys::\\

🧡🖤requests and inbox is open🖤🧡

ok dont judge me. but ik lando has listened to country music on occasion and i love country music. unapologetically:) two parter for you guys who like that kinda shit:)

—————————————————————

“lando! i told you five minutes ago to be ready in five minutes!” charles shouted from the bathroom as he smoothed down his button up and placed his sunglasses in the middle like an accessory.

“and i told you i thought this was a fucked idea and you’re all muppets!” lando replied, criss cross on his bed but most certainly could be ready to go if forced to.

“we’re in VEGAS! get off your ass, fluff out your hair or whatever and come with us! look! i got shots!”

“it won’t even be fun, we’re just going to lose a bunch of money and be hungover tomorrow from running around, what about this seems like a good idea? besides, we have a RACE this weekend, may i remind you? partying on a wednesday is like, weird?”

charles huffed and pulled his phone out of his pocket, furiously typing away. lando tapped on the group chat and watched, silently enjoying the show.

charlie lec: lando is being a bitch

maxxy v: well in his defense he’s not much of a gambler

danny ric: I DON’T CARE HE’S FUCKING COMING

sir hamilton: someone come get they boy fr

chronically shirtless: oscar*

alex albon: oscar*

carloOOOOOs: oscar*

lance stroll: oscar*

no1 american: oscar*

yukiiiiiiiiiiiii: oscar*

gasLY: oscar*

oscar piastri: what is wrong with all of you, honestly?

oscar piastri: were NOT dating

oscar piastri: NOT TOGETHER

oscar piastri: just happen to be two homos on the same team. you’re all freaks.

chronically shirtless: well somebodys gotta match MY freak

gasLY: what i’m here for!

charlie lec: JUST COME GET HIM

chronically shirtless: drag him if you must oscar

oscar piastri: if he doesn’t want to go don’t make him???? you all suck???? peer pressure much?????

charlie lec: OSCAR

charlie lec: PASTRY

charlie lec: piastri*

charlie lec: just come get him! 616.

oscar piastri: fine.

maxxy v: charles is very convincing

chronically shirtless: should i come too?

chronically shirtless: correction, can i come too?

lando onewins: if even one of you besides oscar steps in this room, i will make it my personal ojective to kick your ass from here to next week.

“you really are just a massive pain in the ass, charlie.” lando huffed, letting his body fall backwards.

“yes.” charles replied, spraying cologne on himself, there was a knock on the door and he practically skipped to the door, opening it and letting oscar come in. he stepped inside and walked over to the far end of the room, standing over lando, arms crossed over his chest and grinning down at him.

“come on, get up.” oscar said holding out a hand.

“i really don’t like gambling, oscar.” lando defended himself. oscar grabbed lando’s hand and pulled him forward, lando let his body stay limp and smirked to himself as oscar was still succeeding againt lando’s deadweight…with one arm.

“come on, please? you don’t have to gamble you can just like drink or something, i dunno, i’m just not gonna be bullied by a group of twelve year olds in mid twenties bodies tonight.”

“if you’re asking me to babysit, absolutely not.”

“not babysit just join us! be there in like the moment and shit.”

“you sound so corny right now.”

“and you sound like a bitchy gay. get up.”

lando felt his face go white and he nodded with pursed lips, flopping himself over and sitting up on the bed. he could leave in what he was in, a completely sheer black button down which he felt incredibly exposed in, a pair of black slacks and lime green trainers that he insisted upon even when charles said they were the most hideous shoes he had ever seen. he twiddled with his bracelets, snapping a particularly stretchy one that a fan had given him against his wrist to calm his anxiety. he hated vegas. it was so campy and stupid and a waste of money, sure there were neat parts like seeing the different hotels, the cirque shows, booze, but gambling was so far out of his forte that it ruined the entire desert city for him. oscar equally as hated gambling, quite literally the opposite of fun for him but he had been really enjoying roulette this trip around and was hoping to sit at a table for maybe twenty minutes before getting bored and watching someone else lose money.

but oscar loved seeing lando, and the pictures that lando took when they went out with their friends. lando was always incredibly observant and had a way of capturing moments that otherwise would be lost to time and memory. oscar had saved and printed a lot of the pictures that lando would take, sticking them to the wall in his room above his bed so that he could always reflect on good memories, find some solace of peace when he was thinking too hard at odd hours of the night by himself that he longed to be spent holding the older mclaren driver to his chest, running his fingers through his hair and pressing soft kisses on his forehead.

danny ric: did you peer pressure little lando norris enough into coming pastry boy?

sir hamilton: ^^^

yukiiiiiiiiiiiii: i’ll come pull him off the bed if you need help

gasLY: you can’t reach the bed yuki

yukiiiiiiiiiiiii: ouch:(

maxxy v: did pierre upset little yuki :,((

danny ric: womp womp

chronically shirtless: yeah womp womp:(

alex albon: the slander lol

charles lec: you can all be here in five if they don’t end up having sex on the bed

chronically shirtless: I’M SORRY WHAT?

no1 american: SORRY??????

danny ric: not surprised

carlOOOOOs: >:( ew

maxxy v: well thats now a vision in my head that i can’t get out

estie bestie ocon: have i missed something?

yukiiiiiiiiiiiii: i hate all of you separately and on a deeply personal level.

lando onewins: i will ensure

lando onewins: that each one of you

lando one wins: dies slowly

oscar piastri: and painfully

oscar piastri: very painfully

lando onewins: this is homophobia and you’re all dead the moment you enter the threshold of this suite.

oscar piastri: AND STOP CALLING ME FUCKING PASTRY BOY

chronically shirtless: lol

maxxy v: lol

danny ric: k pastry boy

yukiiiiiiiiiiiii: YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN WITH THE BULLYING??? YOU’RE ALL SO MEAN

gasLY: sorry yuki can’t hear you from down there get a chair to stand on

yukiiiiiiiiiiiii: eat shit and die pierre.

gasLY: love you too!!!!!!!

chronically shirtless: wait esteban is still in this chat wtf?

estie bestie ocon: yes? why? problem georgie?

chronically shirtless: YOU NEVER REPLY! i have perfect reason to think you’re not in it besides you always threaten to leave when i start sending memes

sir hamilton: and you reply too much

chronically shirtless: we are TEAMMATES lewis! you should be on my side:(

danny ric: exile the brit.

sir hamilton: which one?????

lando onewins: suddenly im only belgian.

chronically shirtless: you can’t mean me, i literally keep this chat alive!

danny ric: goodbye george russel.

danny ric removed chronically shirtless

lando onewins: hey im british again!

estie bestie ocon: lol

charles re-entered the room and smiled at the sight of a standing lando and frowning at his once again horrendous choice of balenciagas. he clasped his hands together, pulling the two mclaren drivers who were seemingly having a staring contest out of their hypnosis.

“there’s about to be a lot of people in this room. i would stop undressing each other with your eyes now.” charles stated, fixing his hair in the full length mirror one last time. oscar joined him in the mirror, trying to fix his flop of hair so it laid perfectly across the side of his face. lando wasn’t too pressed about his curls, knowing they were going to get blown around in the cool breeze of las vegas no matter what he did. he had thought about bringing his camera but remembered that he does indeed fall easily to peer pressure and will do the utmost to outdrink pierre gasly at all costs.

charles leclerc wasn’t lying, within the next ten minutes over half the grid was in the rather small hotel room, crowding the two beds and talking incredibly loudly amongst each other. lando slipped in an airpod and shuffled his playlist. brooks and dunn’s sweet melodic tone filled his ear and he was able to drown out the chaotic part of the room where someone was passing around fireball shooters of all liquors, one of them ending up in his hand. he cracked open the lid, regrettably sniffed it and threw it back down the hatch. he physically shivered at the spicy liquid and rubbed his face, tossing the empty bottle in the bin. oscar smiled directly at him and put a stabilizing hand on lando’s shoulder but neither was sure who it was meant to hold up, the touch was welcome anyways and lando slung an arm around oscar’s back.

oh god what if this is too much? what if someone notices and catches on? we say it as a joke but what if like, someone thinks we’re actually together or something? would that be such a bad thing?

lando wouldn’t let himself just have anything, letting his brain spiral and pick apart the implications that having his arm around oscar’s back might have. he was supposed to be the cool headed, older and mature, chill natured one and instead he felt like a giddy teenager talking to his crush for the first time. everyone kind of unspokenly knew there was something between them that neither would admit to, but everyone had a rough idea that lando liked oscar and vice versa. but with neither of them confirming nor denying rumours, it was eventually decided on that they’d just bully the two into being together as painfully obvious as they were.

“allright lando?” oscar said looking to the brit who nodded with a smile. “what are you listening to?”

“oh just all your favorite american bands.” lando replied with a smirk. oscar hated country music, lando enjoyed it some and shared the enjoyment with logan who was always humming some brooks and dunn or luke bryan song.

“ugh you and your weird taste in music i swear, it’s never something normal lando.”

“never. who would i be if not for my shit taste in music?”

“gentlemen may i have your attention please?” daniel yelled over the commotion and excitement in the room, “it’s been a banger of a season so far mates, i enjoy every second i get speeding down the track next to some of the most elite racers…and max verstappen!” there was a laugh over the group, “but on this the eve of starting a weekend of exhaustion, heat and hell, it is time. tonight? we party like men! let’s get out there, load ourselves with liquor, win some money and fuck shit up!”

there was a resounding cheer in the room from every driver and another round of booze was passed around. this was going everywhere horrible fast and lando was silently enjoying every second of seeing some of his closest friends enjoying themselves. a malibu shooter ended up in his hand and one in oscar’s as well. they shared a smile, linked their arms together and tossed the coconut rum down, oscar gagging slightly at the taste.

“i don’t drink often!” oscar said over the noise. lando laughed at the already tipsy aussie who was using him for support. lando could drink six more of these and never feel a thing but he was letting the familiar buzz of relaxation wash over his body. he would regret this tomorrow.

“i know! pace yourself!”

“i don’t know that i can! i’m just a mere young lad with potential to be ruined by the most horrible influences i know.”

“i’ve got you, don’t worry!”

this was the only time tonight when lando would pick up his polaroid camera, flipping it so that he could snap a shot of him and oscar with the seemingly uncontrolled chaos in the background. it was perfect

and lando was in love.

so was oscar.

[thegorysaint]

Long Time No See

Hello everyone! I'm finally at the tail end of the rough month I had (and years).

 I wanted to get back to streaming today but i think i will take a couple extra days and start on Tuesday. Now I will explain what happened, so if you are not interested in that you can skip the read no problem : )

Mid May I got a really bad case of gastritis that lasted for 3 to 4 days, meaning, I had really bad stomach ache, I honestly dont remember but i probably ate something too spicy. Then after that week on a Sunday at 2 am I got what i thought was an allergic reaction to some ham and salami. I went to the ER when I started feeling itchy all over and my face swollen.

I stood around the ER for about hour and a half and I was not getting treated, so i just decided to go at the drugstore for at least some allergic medicine, i was feeling better on the way home but as soon as i was pulling up I felt bad again, i was really tired, it was almost 6 am so i went to take a nap to rest and let the medicine work. I woke up an hour later with a rash all over my arms and itchy all over my neck and chest. I googled to see if there was a 24/7 doctor nearby and luckily there was one.

After explaining everything I got a shot for the allergic reaction and some pills to take the next 3 days. Omg, it was so bad, at that time i didnt know the shot should of taken care of the reaction, so i thought it was normal and was gonna go away with the pills. The rash was going away little by little the next couple of ways but still very itchy and visiting the bathroom too many times during the day (not the good kind of bathroom visits).

After going to the same clinic but different Doctor, i was diagnosed with Food Intoxication, not food poisoning or allergic reaction, I had a fever that i didnt notice. So they were gonna give me antibiotics pills but i asked to get the injections, because I know antibiotics are really bad for my gut and i was already at my limit with the bathroom visits. Luckily the Doctor said ok and i had to take only 3 injections, 1 each day, and some pills in case i felt more pain or fever. Literally 40 minutes after the first injection i felt great, no pain in my stomach or guts, it got so relaxed that i was able to burp and without feeling nauseous for the first time in a week.

I was finally so relaxed that i was able to sleep a full night. After the 3 days have passed i was feeling so good, better than what i've felt in the last couple of months. I was able to eat without wanting to puke it out as soon as it touched my mouth, and the bathroom only saw me once a day. Funny thing is, my brother came for a surprise visit so, while i was still recovering physically, he helped me to recover mentally, he stayed for a week and by the end of it i was feeling so good and full of energy (even tho I was under the sun sweating my butt off a couple of days).

He left before this past weekend so i've been just recharging my social battery. I was feeling so good i got into the pool a couple times to just relax, pretty much I had a vacation week because my bro was here (totally making me want to go to my hometown again but the heat is worse there for some reason).

So, for now I just need to get my energy back and not let the bad energies to return, I'm trying to focus this week on getting my sleeping schedule back to normal (something i fixed before i got sick), and trying to get in the rhythm of drawing again. I want to get some stuff before I go to visit my bro for a couple of months around mid August or September but I really need to sell some stuff I dont need. Also kinda making plans to move to Japan as soon as possible, the forecast for my country is not good with the election and if the new term people have it their way, Mexico is heading to a really bad place.

I wanted to visit USA before going to Japan to visit friends but obviously I havent been making enough money to save up, so unless i win the lottery that aint happening because my mom doesnt want to go to USA for whatever reason. That means I will start fully focusing on getting on track with projects so I can afford a living.

Sorry for the delay of all my stuff, last year was really bad mentally and physically for me, and sentimentally was devastated for the second year in a row, now I will try to focus on not getting attached to people for a while and just work work work (dont worry, that just means im not going to search for a romantic long term relationship, specially not long distance online)

So, I apologize for my lack of professionalism and I really appreciate your patience, it really means a lot.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/long-time-no-see-105561594

[dreamteamecho]

this is a long one, tw for death, violence and the law

i was streaming & got a notif that my dad was also streaming. i pull it up offscreen & hes chatting with joe rogan. i couldnt fucking believe my eyes so, at the risk of doxxing, i showed it to the stream. he said something about how women should just be baby carriers & mothers and nothing else so i said something like "he says those types of things and then wonders why no one wants to talk to him." he ends up seeing that, i assume we got into it on a call the next day (dream skipped past it) and so one night, he breaks in. i woke up to a bad feeling & started recording on my phone, only to be met with a rag to my face only minutes later. i go into selfdefense mode and flip out, knockkng over a lamp, i get a break and i grab my machete. well he starts coming back after me, so i slice his eyes (he can still see) after a little bit we back off each other and he starts pulling out a gun. i slash his wrist, grab the gun, back away and point it at him. i warn him not to do anything, when it comes to life or death i dont care who i have to deal with, i already majorly damaged him, he should run away before the cops get here. im not bluffing but i really dont want to do it. he goes into the hallway. im about to go in after him but it seems off, so i keep pointing. he comes barreling back through so i shoot his shoulder. he stays on the ground, i grab a rag and throw it to him so he can keep himself from bleeding, i race over to my mom and wake her the fuck up. he runs away before anyone gets here.

timeskip a week! hes pressing charges against me. because i used "too much force" or whatever. im up on the stand, they question me things that i cant really recall now, but i am like "my feelings toward him are 45% love 45% fear 10% dislike" at some point. i get down, dads put on the stand, his own lawyer starts questioning him and he ends up going into an angry tirade about me. hoping i was killed, insulting me, hoping i have violence against me, and hoping i have the other type of violence against me. i look a bit bored so the judge asks me about it. i say its due to the freeze response, and ive heard all of this from either myself or from nightmares anyways. he keeps going on, the judge at this point is just letting him build his own case against him, and he starts pulling out a gun. i duck & flip the chair so its harder to see me. he shoots and the bullet grazes my shoulder and lands in the wood behind me. (alternatively he points at the cops, my dreams like to go back for alternate paths) 5 shots are heard and i stay curled up in a ball, not allowing myself to look as they carry him out. i sit up and say to my lawyer "yknow, even after all of this, a small part of me hoped that maybe one day, maybe a decade later, we would have a decent relationship, i could feel safe around him and have fun playing videogames together." the judge asks for us to rise & puts me down as innocent/cleared. im very much not ok mentally. dream decided to take two paths after the hearing.

path one: i ask my mom for 10 bucks & if i can be alone as i go and get some dairy queen. after some bickering, i just say i need 15 minutes and then you can also come in. she agrees, frustrated, and lets me go. i grab a blizzard, i sit down, im visibly not ok, someone sits in the booth across from me. i vent to them after asking if theyre ok with hearing really heavy stuff, and then after recounting, say im dreading when my mom comes in. i see her a moment later and beg him not to leave me. he obliges, she sits next to me, and she starts talking shit & bitching about people to me. he tries to hint to her to knock it off. she ignores it, i end up snapping, leaving the table, and it cuts off to try a different route

path two: we come out, my mom goes immediately into bitching about him & people in her game shes playing. i cut her off and tell her i want to be alone & could i please have 20$ for dq. (btw i dont have a bank acct or job in this) she ends up trying to push my buttons as best as she could, and i tell her if shes worried she can get an officer to look after me, otherwise im running into the wilderness and shes going to lose me for an hour & im going to be lost for an hour. she huffs, and gets a police officer to watch over me because ""she was afraid i was going to do something to myself."" cop brings it up, i shut that shit down, and say i thought it was for my safety against other people (and myself, but im not going to do something like that!!) i ask if i can vent to him about smth heavy, he says no, and now we're at the dq. i ask if he wants anything, he mentions bribes, i say im sorry i offered i didnt know that. i grab the blizzard, i sit at the table, im visibly not ok still, i say to the cop that i just cant make ends or tails of what the hell just happened. the cashier offers to be a shoulder, i tell the cop to go further away so he doesnt hear, he obliges, bro didnt want to be there. i go up and vent to the cashier, she says my moms borderline unhuman for not even asking if im ok or how im feeling or shes sorry that happened. at some point i bang my head against the metal counter so the cop goes over and asks if im ok. i say "physically, im alive, mentally, im scarred." eventually the cops called away, i thank the cashier, and i wander over to the university library and study until i either fall asleep or went back home. at some point im just looking at the ceiling, someone comes over to look at books and im like "i feel like im going 70mph up the road to mount [redacted]'s town" theyre like man thats a pretty high speed to be at on that road and im like yeah. anyways timeskip i end up getting a therapist and im at the park after dark, i have to leave bc a cop shows up & it just turned to closing hours.

thats the end of my daymare. i was trying to go back to sleep during this. i dont control my daydreams most of the time.

[countrygals-stuff]

Solby-letters part 3

Colbys POV:

I woke up early this morning and didn’t know what to do i knew i was gonna write Sam another letter but I didn’t what to write, i had so many compliments and things i could say but I couldn’t choose so i called Kacy. “Colbyyy why the fuck would you wake me up this early in the morning!” “Sorry kac I can’t get back to sleep and im lonely”. “Why dont u call Jake or something that ugly ass bitch would be fine but now im gonna be in a mood all dayyyyy.” I know kac but it would be weird to call Jake at 4 in the morning, im not even that close with him”. “You have a point ngl, still im pissed tho”. “Ok but i need help.” Like mentally or physically?” Haha so funny i say sarcastically” “Ok but what do you need help with?” “So im gonna write Sam another letter but i dont know what to write.” “I have an idea, you should give him hints about who you are very letter but not to specific like “im a boy” or i “have blue eyes”. I dunno kac what if he find out it’s me?” “I dont think he will.” “Yeah ok I’ll write something like that.” “Thanks Kacy.” Wait colbs do you realise you live a couple houses down from him”. “ from Sam?” “Yeah.” Wait are you serious!” “Yes Colby im serious, how have you not noticed.” “I dont know…i guess i dont really pay attention much.” “i guess, but im gonna go get a snack, ill be right back”. “ok,”

(5 minutes later) “im baaaack.” “Someone’s feeling better” i say. “Yeah i just rinses my face with some cold water and now im more awake.” “Cool, hey kac?” “Yeah colbs”. “Do you have a crush”. “Umm why?” “Cause surely you have a crush by now, its been over a year since your last relationship.” “I mean maybeee.” “Who is it?!” “Don’t tell anybody”. “Kacy i dont have anyone else to tell, pleaaaase tell me!” “Ok, ok I’ll tell you, its …ur mum”. “Kacyyyyyy! Your so annoying sometimes!” “Yeah i know, but i gotta get ready so see ya at school!” She hung up on me.

Time skip to lunch, Sam’s POV:

im running to my locker in hopes c.b wrote me another letter, yesterday’s letter was so sweet but i hope c.b isn’t lie and this isn’t a set up. When i open my locker a piece of paper flyers out and i emediatly grab it and sprint to the cafeteria to open it with Kat, i look round and see her talking to the girl that hangs out with Colby. “Sam!” She yells“coming Kat!” I run over to her and sit down and that girl goes and sits down with the footy players and then i see Colby sit down next to her and starters eating his lunch. The i remember the note. “Oh, Kat I got another note!” I squeal with happiness. “Have you opened it yet?” “No i wanted to open i with you.” “Aww Sammy that’s so sweet.” “Yeah yeah, know let me open it I can’t wait anymore”. “Ok go ahead”

The letter:

Hi again Sammy, i love you soooo much i wish i could just hug you and hold you But I can’t yet. Eventually we can be together if u like me back but im gonna give you hints to who i am every week for a month and then we can meet up and you can see who i Am so the first one is that i am a boy(: love from c.b

“Kat i was right he is a boy! And he is gonna give me hints for a month and then we’re gonna meet up!” “Awww Sammys got a crush!” Yeah but what about Colby I whisper so no one can hear.” “Yeah but what if he is better than Colby she whispers.” “I think that’s impossible but I’ll give it a shot.”

Colby’s POV: i was watching Sam from a crowd in the hall i saw him run to his locker and open it and see the letter fly out, he quickly grabbed it and ran to the cafeteria i quickly followed and sat down next to Kacy and pretended I wasn’t watching him. I heard him talking to that girl and he gets out the note and reads it and he talks happily to the girl but then they whisper something and then Sam talks again and says i guess ill give it a shot.

Hello! Nonexistent fans! I need to tell u some things , so first of all i suck at editing, second is that im Australian and when i say football or footy players i mean soccer, i guess, or jocks might be easier and i might accidentally add some slang without noticing so dont mind that, and i plan to have 10 parts to this story so thx and sry for not posting in a while, i was busy but I’ve got a couple of parts that i just need to edit and then they’ll be out so, byeeeeee<3

[emma-radfemcanu]

Time for my first 'I am upset because of tennis' post of the year! It is literally 2 days into 2024 and the season has only just begun, and my beloved Stefanos has stressed me out already 😍

He was struggling at the end of last year with a back injury and we didn't know how severe it was- he didn't start training until quite late on, but he played an exho last week and seemed ok, and a few days ago his brother Petros said he was almost back to normal. But currently it is the United Cup (a national team tournament), Stef didn't play his scheduled singles match and then he and Maria lost a doubles match which if healthy he should have had no trouble with, he was visibly struggling :(

I'm hoping that it might have just been a bad day and that he'll be ok in a couple of weeks for the Australian Open- if nothing else he's defending a lot of points there and he's likely to drop out of the top 10 afterwards (this is dependent on other players but I think it will happen unfortunately) but it's so hard to tell. And he loves playing in Australia, he has a huge amount of Greek pride, but he needs to take care of himself long term and it really wouldn't be the first time he's pushed through injury and probably made it worse by doing so 🙃

I want him to win a slam so so bad, his best shot is AO or RG- he doesn't stand a chance of winning AO this year and so part of me wishes he would just skip it altogether and take a proper break until he's healthy- but I get why he won't want to do that, and the more events you miss, the more points you lose and the more your ranking slips... thankfully he isn't defending a huge amount immediately afterwards (nothing from Acapulco and barely anything from the Sunshine Double) so if he's in better form there's a lot to gain, but that is a big if

And I've just seen on twitter that him and Maria are apparently playing another exho doubles match next week, WHY. Team Greece are likely to lose early at the UC (which is another 200 points off his ranking but he's still guaranteed a top 8 seeding at the AO so it's not a disaster) and he'd be better off resting up until he really needs to play- and then focusing on singles, not wasting time at an exhibition that doesn't count for anything. I truly do not understand him sometimes

I adore him and I say this out of love lol but I want to shake him sometimes. But in all seriousness it just feels so unfair- I look at the injury trouble Stef has had, same with Matteo, and then you look at someone awful like serial domestic abuser Zverev who made an objectively incredible comeback from what should have been a career ending injury (and would have been if karma was a thing)... it's a bit juvenile to cry 'it's not fair' but it really isn't :(

The next few months will be bumpy for sure but I think/hope he'll be ok. Meanwhile, Matteo pulled out of Brisbane qualifying, Felix was also meant to be playing UC but hasn't played a single match, and Shapo is missing in action- truly I have no idea where he is. Please can 2024 be kind to my boys they have all suffered enough

At least my url-sake Emma won :) I've missed seeing her

[onepoly]

Week 3 | The 25th Year | Terrain, Grass, Movement

Welcome to week 3 of my weekly blog where I post the progress I’ve made on my open world RPG… every week. You might think it’s weird that a WEEKLY blog has mysteriously skipped from week one to three. Well, dear reader, I won’t lie to you.

I forgot.

Now that I’ve explained my absence, let’s talk about (most of) the stuff I’ve done this week… or uh, these last two weeks…

Terrain

I showed off a very early implementation of my terrain system in my last post. It’s changed quite a bit since then.

As you can see, it looks a bit more interesting now. I still don’t have any tools for editing the terrain, so I’m just generating a heightmap with some perlin noise and randomly scattering some dirt on it.

The astute among you have probably noticed a couple interesting things in this image.

The balls and, the missing triangle in the bottom right.

I’ll talk about the balls first.

I’ve taken my first shot at implementing collisions. The balls are there to confirm it’s working. There are currently two problems though. First, it’s just slightly offset from the actual surface.

Second, I can’t seem to get holes working. I suspect this isn’t Godot’s fault though.

Godot comes with its own physics engine, but I decided it wasn’t suitable for my game, so I’m using Godot-Jolt instead. This is an extension that adds support for the new-ish Jolt physics engine that was used in Horizon: Forbidden West. The extension isn’t finished yet, so I assume this is probably a bug that hasn’t been fixed yet.

Now about that missing triangle… I first noticed it as I was writing the paragraph below the image. You’re probably wondering what caused it to vanish, huh?

SO AM I.

At first, I checked to see if I somehow deleted a triangle from the base mesh. I didn’t. Then I messed around with the shader for a bit to see if I could fix it. Nothing I tried worked. Then I reverted all of the changes, and it suddenly reappeared…

After spending a couple minutes trying to figure out why it suddenly started working, I eventually decided the most logical answer was that Shaveiliax the Shader Fairy must have visited me and fixed my code.

Anyway, you may have also noticed that the terrain’s colors are blending together in a rather strange way. This is because I’m actually “painting” the model’s vertex colors, rather than sampling from the splatmap directly. Why? Well, there’s two reasons…

1. It’s fast (I think)

2. If I didn’t, it would look like this:

I’ll explain why in next week’s blog. Trust me, it’s a good reason.

Grass

I’ve started work on the grass model and shader. I’m putting a lot of time and effort into the grass, since it’ll be on screen for most of the game. This is what I have so far:

I think you’ll agree that it already looks pretty damn good. But it’s not good enough for me. No, I want the best damn grass an indie game has ever had. Grass that can even rival the mighty Breath of the Wild.

Here are the improvements I want to make:

Interactions:

If something moves through the grass, it should be pushed around. If I set it on fire, it should burn.

Flow:

Ok, so just hear me out… What if the wind was dynamic? I don’t mean just changing the speed and direction, I can already do that. No… what if I actually simulated the wind?

It would obviously be an approximation. I won't do something crazy like allow walls to block the wind (though that would be pretty cool), I’ll just run a basic wind simulation in a compute shader, save the result to a texture (maybe a 3d one for extra coolness), and use that to push the foliage around. Maybe I’ll even use it to create small ripples in the water.

It’ll look a lot better than the looping sin wave I’m currently using, but it’ll probably be a lot of work to implement. However, I can use it for more than just wind! It can be used for displacing foliage as something moves through it, and it would probably make stuff like explosions look a lot more exciting.

Movement

Lastly, I’ve begun working on a character controller. Currently, it’s only usable for a player, but I’d like to share the logic with NPCs and monsters.

It’s pretty basic and uninteresting right now. Currently you can just walk around and jump. The only feature that stands out is the ability to fine tune your speed.

While playing with a controller, it’s easy to control your movement speed. Just change how much you’re pushing the stick. You don’t get that kind of precision with a keyboard though. You’re either moving, or you aren’t.

This isn’t the case in my game. By either scrolling the mouse wheel or pressing the page up and down buttons (this is rebindable), you can increase or decrease your movement speed. This should make precise movement much easier when playing with a keyboard and mouse.

End of Blog

Like I said at the start of this post, this is most of the work I’ve done. The stuff I excluded was either uninteresting / scrapped, or would’ve been a spoiler. For example, I started modeling some [VERY LOUD AND LONG BEEP].

Next week’s post will probably include more terrain stuff, and at least one monster.

[another-heroine]

Wip: The Windmill

Yes, that's me again. One of Laura's traits (if I can call it this way) is her anxiety issues. Since I watched Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, I felt encouraged to talk more about it (and I have problems with it as well, oh crap)

Then one thing leads to another, and on next chapter she will have a breaking down again. Poor thing.

Read the available chapters on AO3 and make a writer happy today!

...

And then she regretted it.

Although Ignacia lended some clothes to her, it was obvious that Laura was the fish out of water there. The elder folks recognized her and went to talk to the girl, asking about her father and how she was doing.

A bunch of religious gossipers. What an irony.

At least the cider was delicious, and listening to accordion music made her feel nostalgic. Families were gathering around the bonfire, the sun was setting, and the chill of night was coming.

As Catalina had promised, she didn’t leave her side as well. The girl even did her hair, carefully threading the wavy locks with pins.

“Am I hurting you?” she asked for the tenth time.

“No at all.” Laura replied.

Aunt Rosalinda, Catalina’s mother, came again to check if her niece needed anything. She sat next to her and observed for a while the youngest girl playing with the cousin’s hair. The woman nodded. “It’s getting beautiful”. She touched Laura’s hand. “Are you still hungry, preciosa? Get some quesadillas, don’t be shy. There is some matzo soup, too. It’s our family secret recipe.”

Laura felt her stomach twisted, but she could smile coyly. “Gracias, tía. But I’m fine.”

Rosalinda didn’t look convinced. But before she could argue, they listened to tío Juanito calling, “Mi pastelito, come here!”

He had more shots than he should, and the man’s voice sounded funny. Catalina grimaced with her father waving to her mother like a lovedrunking teenager. “It’s so embarassed.”

Rosalinda glanced at her daughter and mocked, “One day it could be you”.

The girl grumbled, “I would rather drink poison”.

“Catalina!”

“Qué?”

Laura hid a chuckle with a sip of cider. On the other side of the bonfire, a group of men yelled after someone hit the bull’s eye at the axe throwing competition. Usually she didn’t get scared easily, but that time she jumped.

Catalina touched her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Laura just shook her head. She was a bit frustrated; if she was not feeling anxious, she would join them. In Biskaia, Rodrigo used to play with her every week.

But her hands were trembling, and the drink was getting too warm.

“¡Listo!” Catalina announced and admired her work like she was an artist charming by their muse.

Laura touched her hair, feeling the braids texture. It seemed that her cousin had divided it in two parts, pulled lateral locks from the root and tangled it to thicker sections behind her head.

“I would show you the result, but I don’t have any mirrors here. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, I trust in your fashion tastes.” Laura looked at her.

“Oh you,” Catalina giggled and got up. “I will take some soup, would you like it?”

“No, go on. I won’t disappear.”

“You say so.”

Alone for the first time, Laura felt the heaviness in her chest grow. She was very aware of the occasional curious glances towards her. What were they thinking about? Were they being polite only because they wanted to know what to use against her? Was that a really good idea?

Breath, she repeated to herself. Focus.

Five things that she could look at: the fire dancing, the darkened top of trees, her unquiet feet, some sparing wood, and her tankard almost empty.

Four things that she could listen to: kids’ laughter, wood crippling, an accordion, and the wind howling.

Three things that she could touch: the trunk under her, the grass, and…

“Can I sit here?”

Her heart skipped a beat. That was definitely not the voice of Catalina.

[imagine-you]

Living As Foes (1/11) [Eddie Munson/Reader]

Summary: It only takes you one week to realize Eddie Munson hates you. It only takes you one year to fall in love with him. Go figure.

Word Count: 1.8k

Author's Note: Based on a prompt I received: "ok random idea because eddie seems like a bug flirt but when he has a legit crush hes hopeless so reader is so confused because eddie flirts with everyone except her"

Really nervous about this, so if you've enjoyed this, please let me know! Also, huge shout out to @joz-stankovich for helping me iron out some details. You're the best. 💖

Read on AO3

March 1985 (pt. 1):

"Alright, class," started Mr. Greer, commanding the attention of the class. "I know you're all seniors and you're all eager to graduate, but you're not quite there yet."

You somehow knew that whatever Mr. Greer said next was going to suck.

"So, that being said, I'm going to assign a project."

There was a collective groan from the students in the room.

"I know, I know," Mr. Greer said, holding his hands up in a placating manner. "How about this, alright? I'll assign partners. That way you can share the work with someone else. Sound good?"

"I've got a suggestion for you," Eddie Munson spoke up from the back of the room.

You could tell that Mr. Greer was already annoyed by whatever Eddie was going to say before Eddie even continued.

"What do you say we just skip this little project and you give us all an A? How about that?"

"How about no?" Mr. Greer shot back, his tone distinctly unimpressed with Eddie's antics. "If you want to graduate this year, Mr. Munson, then you'll put all your focus into this project."

Eddie made a noise of disinterest. You glanced over your shoulder to see him leaning back in his seat, quirking an eyebrow at Mr. Greer. "I just don't know, y'know? I mean, this might not be my year. Not if Ms. O'D has anything to say about it."

"She's probably failing you because you call her Ms. O'D. Ever think of that?" Steve Harrington asked, shooting Eddie a disbelieving look.

"I think she likes it. Why else would she keep me around?"

"God help your partner," you heard Mr. Greer mutter. "I'll be drawing names out of a bowl," Mr. Greer continued, choosing to ignore Eddie. "This keeps it fair, and everyone is guaranteed a partner. Now, you guys ready for some learning?"

Mr. Greer frowned at the silence that followed before he sighed. He pulled a large, neon green bowl out from a box beside his desk.

"Now, everyone should write their name down on a slip of paper and then come drop it in the bowl. When you're done, I'll draw the names."

"Think if we write really slow, he'll forget there was a project in the first place?" You heard Eddie ask the person sitting next to him. You glanced back to see that it was Billy Hargrove sitting next to Eddie.

"Just shut up and write your name already," Billy muttered. "You're starting to annoy the shit out of me."

"High praise," Eddie mused before he made a show of ripping out a piece of paper from his notebook. When he realized he had your attention, he shot you a wink, placing his pen in his mouth. He ripped the pen cap off with his teeth before spitting it to the side.

You rolled your eyes before turning back around in your seat. As you wrote down your name on your own slip of paper, you couldn't help but agree with Mr. Greer.

God help Eddie Munson's project partner.

***

You let out a sigh as you dropped into a chair at the library table you had claimed. Your books were already spread out on the table and your notebook was open, ready for you to take notes. You had an idea of what you wanted to do for the project and how you wanted your future presentation to go, but there was one key part that was missing.

Your partner.

You had been waiting in the library for the past ten minutes. You were starting to grow bored and impatient. You had already walked to the water fountain twice to get a sip of water and now you were absentmindedly drumming your fingers on the tabletop.

You were just about to leave, figuring that you were being stood up, when someone dumped their bag on the table in front of you.

"Sorry about that. Had a little business to attend to," your partner said before dropping into the seat across the table from you.

"You're late," you pointed out, quirking an eyebrow at your partner.

Eddie shrugged his shoulders, reaching out to grab his bag. "Like I said..." he trailed off, glancing curiously at the girl that was passing your table. "I had something else to take care of first."

You glanced at the girl, watching her walk away, before you looked back at Eddie. You wondered for a moment if his business had included hooking up and you found yourself rolling your eyes.

"Look, if you're too busy getting laid to do this project with me--"

"Getting laid?" Eddie's incredulous expression threw you for a moment. A smirk pulled at his lips as he leaned across the table. "Is that what you think was happening there?"

You shrugged your shoulders. " I mean...yeah? What else could it have been?"

Eddie chuckled, bringing a hand up to brush his hair away from his face. "That's just..." he cut himself off, his expression morphing from amusement to something you couldn't quite recognize. "Priceless," he finally finished with a sigh. "Look, we going to get this project started or not? I've got a meeting later I can't exactly miss."

You were thrown off guard by his abrupt change in demeanor. At first, he seemed like he was attempting to get along with you, but now you weren't so sure. Now, he kept his eyes down, rifling through his bag, and barely looked at you.

Was it something you said?

***

"So," Stacy said, catching up to you outside the cafeteria the next day. "What's it like being partnered up with the freak?"

You shook your head, shooting your best friend an unimpressed look. "Don't call him that, alright?"

"Why shouldn't I? Everyone else does. Besides, the guy is kind of freakish, wouldn't you agree?"

"I wouldn't say that," you argued, thinking over your afternoon with Eddie in the library. He had seemed nice enough at first, but as the evening wore on, he seemed like he wanted nothing to do with you. You had worried for a moment that there was something wrong, but he seemed to have a smile for everyone except for you.

There was even a moment when the librarian had walked by your table. She informed you that the library would be closing in ten minutes. Eddie had been methodically ripping up pieces of paper, seemingly listening to you talk about the project, when a grin had appeared on his face.

"Why Mrs. Jennings," he had said, leaning forward in his seat. "You're looking lovely as ever."

Mrs. Jennings was well into her seventies and had been married for at least fifty of them. And yet, her cheeks flushed and she looked as if she was a young girl getting complimented by her crush. "Oh, Mr. Munson, what am I going to do with you?"

"Nothing we can tell Mr. Jennings about," Eddie crooned, gifting her with a wink.

"You're terrible," Mrs. Jennings said, a huge grin still on her face.

"The worst," Eddie agreed, holding his hands up, as if saying 'guilty as charged.'

"You've got ten minutes," Mrs. Jennings reminded the pair of you before making her way towards a girl paging through a book a few tables over.

"Guess it's time to go," Eddie said, a waver in his voice that had you looking to him in confusion. His smile had dropped and now he was hastily pushing his things into his bag. "Got places to be. Things to do."

"Right," you mused, wondering if you had managed to somehow royally piss off Eddie Munson at some point in the past couple of hours. "See you tomorrow?"

"Sure," he had agreed before grabbing his bag. "Tomorrow."

"Why wouldn't you say that?" Stacy asked, elbowing you in the side as she steered you towards your next class. "All he does is disrupt class and heckle the popular kids and go on and on about D and D, whatever that is," she muttered. "He's terrible."

"The worst," you found yourself echoing Eddie's words.

But that was just it. Eddie wasn't the worst. He had been kind, if a bit standoffish. He had smiled at people and cracked jokes with people and basically looked at everyone except for you.

You had found yourself wishing he would give you the attention he was giving everyone else. If you were being honest with yourself, you had been the tiniest bit jealous. Even of Mrs. Jennings, because at least Eddie had had a genuine smile for her.

"What's that look for?" Stacy asked, drawing you to a stop outside your math class. "Did he do something funny to you?"

"No," you immediately defended Eddie. "He was fine."

But you couldn't help but think it over and over and over again as you coasted through your math class. You had been jealous of everyone having Eddie's attention. Did that mean you wanted Eddie's attention?

Did that mean there was just the smallest of possibilities that you had the beginnings of a crush on Eddie?

It should have been impossible. Eddie was loud and dangerous and everything you had never been drawn to in a person before, but now?

Now, you thought getting paired with him for a project wasn't the worst thing that could happen to you. Maybe you could learn more about Eddie Munson if he would only give you the time.

The thought carried you through the rest of your day until you were set to meet Eddie at the library again after school. You sat at a table for fifteen minutes, assuming Eddie was just going to be late again.

It wasn't until fifteen minutes turned into half an hour that you realized Eddie simply wasn't going to show up at all.

Maybe you had done something to piss him off the day before. Maybe he was blowing off the project because he simply didn't care about it or graduating this year. Maybe, you couldn't help but think, you should demand some answers from him. If he was going to waste your time, then weren't you entitled to at least know why?

You found yourself packing up all your books and papers, anger and indignation sharpening your movements. You offered Mrs. Jennings a weary, tense smile on your way out the door to your car. You fumbled with your keys, finally managing to get your car unlocked after a few moments of grumbling and cursing. You dropped your things into the passenger seat, your hands tightening on the steering wheel for a moment as you settled in the driver’s seat, and mentally mapped out the way to the trailer park where Eddie lived with his uncle.

You could do this, you reasoned with yourself. Eddie was sure to be home, right? Never mind that you weren't invited or expected. Eddie had stood you up and you deserved to know why he was content to let you wait for him when he would never show up.

However, by the time you were turning out of the library parking lot, all of your resolve had fled from you. You simply turned right instead of left, knowing that it was the route that would take you home.

If anything, you couldn't help but think, there was always the chance you could get your answers from Eddie the next day at school.