#like last time for anyone who wants to follow him^_^

[quarterlifekitty]

Desperate times

Based on the results of this post and poll

cw: dark content. Kidnapping, threats, drugging, noncon, restraint, the whole shebang.

❌ Gaz is starting to feel a little disheartened, babe. You don’t seem as committed to making this work as he is… But that’s okay. He told you he loved you, and love means always being willing to put in the effort, yeah? So if the public approaches aren’t working, maybe you need something more private. It’s easy to get one of his mates to follow you around bars, wait for the perfect moment, and slip something in your drink. It’s easy to know when on the walk home there won’t be any witnesses. The hard part is going to be training you out of hissing and spitting when he gives you sweet words and gentle touches. That’s no way for a bird to treat her man, not when he’s gone through so much for her.

❌Soap is starting to feel a little… restless. This was fun at first, this game of trying to win you back, of cornering you like he was some kind of creep, but now? He just wants his bonnie. He needs you, and he knows you’ll never be as happy with anyone else as you are with him. He starts right from when you wake up after that night of reigniting your passions. You’re saying things you don’t mean, things you’ll regret— and he’s never been able to keep his cool when you get emotional. So if he wraps his hands around your throat and squeezes until you still, he can’t be the only one to blame. Now, he’ll be the first to admit that his worship of your body last night was just a wee bit lackluster… he was too excited for the main event. When you wake up, tied to his bed and gagged, he won’t be making the same mistake. In fact, best start on it now.

⭕️ Ghost doesn’t keep it casual. He doesn’t take baby steps. Just as soon as you return one of his calls, you can barely say hello before he says “I’m comin’ over, dovie.” You’ve never seen him smile like he did on that day before, and quite frankly, you never want to see it again. He looks sick. Drunk on just his proximity to you. He attacks you with his mouth once you answer the door, grunting between heaving breaths that he knew, knew you’d come around, knew you were a good girl, knew you’d never wanna force him to do something he didn’t want to do. He takes you on a few surfaces before he can finally pull his mind together enough to take you to a real bed. Tells you he’s gonna put a ring on your finger and a baby in your belly so this can’t happen again, because honestly? He doesn’t wanna tell you what will happen if it does.

❌Nikolai thought it was cute at first, seeing you try to play at being the big, strong, independent girl. But while his love for you is endless, his patience isn’t. The longer he lets this go on, the more training you’ll need when you come back. So he decides to do the merciful thing, and take you home. It’s a shame you didn’t behave— he would’ve let you sit in the passenger seat with his hand on your thigh the way you used to love. Instead he had to drag you into the back, chemicals soaked in the cloth he put over your mouth and nose. It doesn’t do well for a princess to be out of her tower. No, it isn’t good for anyone, least of all the princess. You don’t realize the dragon is collared and chained to you, that’s okay— he’ll just have to put you in a collar and chains of your own while you get used to things again. Maybe you’d be a little happier with your life inside if you had something little and sweet to take care of, like he does? He could get you that, malýshka. You don’t even need to ask.

I was thinking of making this the last in the series, but maybe we can push it further?

[7seas-of-ryy]

5 Years of Agony

Author’s Note: This was another unfinished draft but I loved this idea so much so I had to finish it!! This one is more fluffy than angsty even though the title makes it seem otherwise :)

Summary: You are close to everyone except Azriel and he needs to know why!

Pairing: Azriel x Reader

Warnings: none :)

Azriel had never been quite so unsure of himself. He had his fair share of self doubting and insecurities but for some reason, this time was just... different.

Rhys had brought you to the Night Court, saved you from an awful situation and given you a place within his own family, the inner circle. Everyone loved you, how could they not? You were caring, kind, intelligent, and the most beautiful being Az had ever seen.

You had your own separate hobbies/hang outs with everyone. Everyone except Az. You went shopping with Mor, drew with Feyre while she painted, sparred with Cass, accompanied Rhys when he went to other Courts, and even researched with Amren. But you never spent time with the Spymaster of the Night Court.

It was starting to bother Azriel, seeing as he had been trying to approach you for the 5 years you had been living there. For some reason, it felt like you were avoiding him.

The first few weeks you were at the Night Court, the shadowsinger actually thought you didn't speak ever. That is until he was talking to Cass and Rhys and they brought you up. They began to tell him how funny you were and how much they enjoyed the insightful conversations you held. It hit Az then, you just didn't talk to him.

5 years in and you've only shared a handful of words. You were kind, telling him hello and goodbye but if you two were in a shared space, you normally were together in silence. He can't even think of a time you had a conversation for more than a couple minutes.

He could only think that he was the problem...right? You got along with everyone else, maybe his shadows intimidated you. Or you just didn't like him.

You were sat in the kitchen eating your lunch when you noticed a few shadows floating in. Azriel soon followed them in and started fixing himself something to eat. He took a seat across from you and began eating. The two of you ate in silence for a bit, you looked up and he was already looking at you. He gave you a smile, trying to show there was nothing to be intimidated by. You returned it with a tiny smile of you own and looked back down at your plate.

You could feel your cheeks heating up and started to get embarrassed. Before he could notice, you quickly got up and left. A frown took over Azriel's features as he looked to the chair you were once sat in.

A few weeks later you were in the Night Court's library reading. The small area you were in was nearly pitch black, the tiny light on the desk the only light for you to read your book. You didn't want to disrupt anyone so you always chose to read there.

It wasn't the best, but at least you weren't an inconvenience. As you strained your eyes to read the last line on the page, you felt a cool shadow brush across your neck. A shiver ran down your spine at the thought of who accompanied that lone tendril.

"How on Earth are you even able to read over here? There's no light!" Azriel spoke behind you.

You jumped slightly turning to look at the large male standing behind you. You placed your hand on your chest, feeling your heart beating quickly from the surprise.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," His features softened, "I happened to notice you reading over here and wanted to offer you my reading spot. It's much better than this one... no offense."

"Um... I'm okay, I don't want to be a burden-" You began to turn his offer down but he cut you off.

"It truly is no problem at all. It's out of the way, no one goes there so you won't be bothered by anyone." He tried to persuade you.

After a few moments of thinking it over, you gave him a small nod and a slight grin. He held out his hand for you to take and you hesitantly took it, winnowing to the place he wanted to share with you.

It was a gorgeous area of the library that you had never seen before. There was a small desk in front of a large wall of books. And to the right of the desk was an open balcony with the most amazing view of the mountains. The night sky was all the light you would need to read. There were long sheer curtains hanging from the ceiling and a slight cool breeze flowed through the area making it even more perfect than you thought was possible.

"Wow" was all you could whisper as you drew closer to the railing of the balcony.

Az followed close behind you, keeping his eyes on you and memorizing the look on your face.

"I come here to read or clear my head a lot. No one comes by here so please feel free to use it whenever you'd like." He softly told you.

"Thank you-" You turned around to speak to him but quickly realized how close you two were. You raised your head to look up at him, your nerves felt like they were on fire.

"Why don't you enjoy my company?" He whispered, you could feel his breath on your face.

"What are you talking about? I do." You responded just as quiet and turned back around, looking out at the mountains.

Azriel moved next to you, so close your shoulders were touching. He was silent while he enjoyed the view like you.

"You avoid me every time you see me, and you never talk to me. But you only do that to me." He spoke while staring straight ahead.

"...I..." The words got caught in your throat.

"Have I done something to offend you? Are you scared of me? Am I that awful to be with?" He quickly asked.

Your heart broke for him. How could he think any of those things would be true?

"The truth is embarrassing." You muttered, still staring at the mountains as well.

"Please, I will get on my knees and beg, just please tell me what I did wrong. This has been the hardest 5 years of my life." The feared spymaster pleaded with you.

"It's so stupid" you muttered, "...when I first met you, I thought you were the most beautiful male I had ever seen. I was so intimidated, I literally choked on my words."

You could see his head snap to look at you out of the corner of your eye, but you didn't look at him. You were so embarrassed, your face must have been blood red by this time.

"I was terrified I was going to embarrass myself by saying something stupid so I stayed quiet. Only, that never went away and I thought too much time had passed for me to change how I was."

There was a long moment of silence, then Azriel started to laugh...hard. He was full out belly laughing, you had never heard him do that before.

You couldn't help but crack a smile at the sound.

"So you're telling me, I've been killing myself over this for 5 years. Thinking I did something to hurt you, only for the real reason to be you think I'm attractive??" He said through laughs.

"I am truly relieved, oh darling.." He drifted off as he saw the mortified look on your face.

"When I first met you, I thought you were the most stunning being I had ever seen. Then the first time I heard you talk, I thought I needed to hear that voice every single day. The first time I saw you spar Cass, I thought you were the most breathtaking warrior I had ever seen. I hope you understand what I mean by all of this." He spoke, getting softer as he went on.

Looking over to the male next to you, you urged him to go on.

"If Cass stopped talking to me for five years, I would consider myself blessed. If Rhys stopped talking to me for five years, I would be a little concerned but appreciate the quiet. You, a female I have never met before, avoid me for five years and it felt as if my heart was being pulled out through my chest." He confessed as his shadows swirled like crazy.

"Well, if I knew you were in agony I would have swallowed my pride and talked to you." You told him with a slight smirk.

He rewarded you with a stunning smile.

"I suppose I should've confessed my love for you a while ago then, hm?" He stated smoothly, stepping closer to you.

"That was you professing your love?" You teased him.

"I can do it again if you'd like." He told you as he raised his hand to tuck some hair behind your ear.

You gazed into his eyes, saying nothing.

"I would very much like to kiss you right now but I think a gentleman would take you on a date to get to know you more first." He whispered, so close it felt as if your breath was one with his.

"Well I mean, you have known me for five years." Your voice unwavering.

Azriel's pupils were blown wide at your words and he wasted no time wrapping his fingers in your hair and pulling you in.

"You're such a tease." He whispered before his lips touched yours.

It was soft at first, then it turned hungry as Az realized what he had been missing all this time. His kisses turned sloppy, trailing down your neck before he pulled away.

"If I don't stop now, I don't think I ever will." He spoke, his lips brushing over the skin of your neck.

"Then don't." You moaned out.

Azriel groaned into your neck, already craving more of you.

"You're gonna be the death of me." He muttered as his lips started moving against your skin once again.

[rootspiral]

Agatha All Along deep dive: episode 9 part 6

(Wandavision entries: [1][2][3])

(AAA entries: ep1 [1][2][3][4] ep2 [1][2][3][4] ep3 [1][2][3] ep4 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][+1] ep5 [1][2][3][4][5] ep6 [1][2][3] ep7 [1][2][3][4][5][6] ep8 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] ep9 [1][2][3][4][5][6])

billy drives to westview again, I guess flying right now feels weird while he's so conflicted about his own witchy nature. and who boarded up agatha's door? were the neighbors afraid some other unspeakable horror was going to jump out of the house?

we get another good view of agatha's grave, with all the purple flowers and mushrooms rio grew for her

agnes' bike and señor scratchy's cage (I hope that fluffer bunny's okay somewhere)

NOT HELPING, AGATHA. did she just run down to the basement so she could do her 'it's britney bitch' face? (she does look like britney here)

sure, sure, you'll get your brooch back and then you'll be on your merry way doing ghostly shit with no regrets whatsoever. it's not like you've been following billy around like a lost puppy or anything

agatha sees billy drawing the circle and is all posture again, a big slice of "I'm cooler than you and you don't scare me little kid" with a side of "ooooh are we doing magic?? I love magic lemme see lemme see!"

she's truly embarrassing

you're the one with a buttload of black candles in your basement agatha who do you think you're mocking

a pentacle, the symbol of our coven surrounding him. wherever you are, a coven there shall be.

oooh book through the heart! we get it, symbolism.

agatha sees the brooch and gives a deep relieved sigh, immediately followed by more bullshit. JUST TELL HIM THAT'S YOUR SON'S BROOCH AND IT'S IMPORTANT, YOU USELESS DISASTER. JUST OPEN UP FOR ONCE.

the spell is vade (not valia) a lucem, relinque terram, noli esse phantasma. go to the light, leave the earth, don't be a ghost (bit on the nose.)

what's wrong agatha, not feeling so confident all of a sudden?

you know the drill by now, she won't go quietly. so she sneers.

ooh we're appealing to his better nature now? after your many 'never apologize for murder' lessons?

idk man, it's almost as if the people you keep pushing away will eventually get tired of your bullshit. it's almost as if billy here, the kid you supposedly care a lot about, just went through a terrible experience and could really need a wise mentor right now - instead of whatever you're doing.

and now we're begging. better make a decision there agatha, you're starting to fade away!

sure, that will help. great plan agatha, masterful gambit, turning into a ghost and losing even more of your agency

there you go. it only took this poor wretch nine episodes, killing three people, scaring away forever the love of her life, thoroughly traumatizing a kid and somehow losing her entire body to express ONE honest, uncensored feeling.

it's the little steps.

heartwarming: local 350 year old experiences for the first time the mortifying ordeal of being known.

another thing billy and agatha have in common is how good they are at reading people. with billy it's a natural talent (comes with being a mind reader) that he's still learning how to use, he can read people but doesn't know how to interpret what he finds yet, hence the whole trials fiasco.

with agatha, he's been trying to reconcile his instincts with facts and logic. on a surface level he shouldn't trust agatha at all, indeed she's the last person anyone should trust. but since he was that kid who liked hanging out at agnes' house, billy guessed something else in agatha, a vulnerability behind all the darkness that he's been (awkwardly) trying to bring to the surface.

why? I think it's for the same reason agatha has been reaching out to him: because they're so similar. billy wants to reconcile agatha's two natures because he wants to do the same for himself. he is the son of the witch who tortured westview, he has all this scary power. there is a darkness in him that he doesn't know how to deal with, but maybe, if agatha is redeemed, there is hope for himself too.

in other words, these two are kindred spirits (spiritual mother/son, mentor/mentee, whatever you want to call it) who recognize each other and instinctively want to stick to together, even though it's a bad, bad idea.

(I cannot believe it took agatha turning into a ghost to finally get a manicure for her nasty witchy nails)

and this is all it took to win billy over, that's how ready and eager he was to believe agatha has a heart! the moment he realizes that of course agatha loved nicholas! of course she's devastated after losing him! he steps back and dries a tear, moved. for the first time he sees agatha's pain and, the good kid he is, he's earnest to give her sympathy and comfort. he's still too young to fully understand what agatha has been trough, but he doesn't need to. he just needs to care and be there for her, and that's enough, that makes all the difference.

the salemites taught agatha that she cannot trust others, that if she shows who she really is people will hate her and hurt her. when nicky died she tried all she could to exorcise that devastating pain, except asking for help. she never allowed someone to give her even the most basic forms of comfort, no hugs, no crying on someone's shoulder, no 'I'm sorry this happened to you'. no 'I'm here for you, if you need anything'. no 'I know it feels like that, but I promise it wasn't your fault.'

agatha set out to mold and raise billy as another version of herself, but what she got instead is a kid who, just like nicky, is simply glad to love her back. yes, people will leave you if you keep pushing them away, but the opposite is also true: if you stick by and make an effort, no matter how many mistakes you make, most people will recognize what you're doing and respond in kind. it sucks that agatha can do that so rarely and with so much difficulty. but it happens sometimes, even to her.

I've talked about how a "coven two" is never sustainable on the long run, how you cannot just have one person be your whole world. humans, social animals we are, simply need a community. but for now it's a start, it's agatha cautiously letting herself be around another person again. and oh god she's going to be such a bad influence on this poor kid. I'm glad *he* has other people in his life, at least.

she's like, faIR WArNiNG

ookay drama llama. these two gays, I swear. already trying to outdrama each other.

she's all proud!! look at her boy paying homage to the dead and expressing his grief like a champ! meanwhile I'm sitting here like guys, guys, you cannot just write their names on the floor and call it a day, have you CHECKED if you have to break the news to their loved ones?! did sharon have children? did alice have friends or a partner that are looking for her right now?!?!!?!?! please make ONE phone call I beg you! is there an ADULTIER ADULT in the room, you CANNOT LEAVE THESE TWO IN CHARGE

and off they go, merrily causing chaos and mayhem. if I had to guess what happens next, agatha is going to love and help and teach that kid while making soooo many mistakes and causing soooo much emotional damage, and also very much try to manipulate him into giving her a new body, because lbr, this asshole didn't get herself close to the one person on earth who can do that by pure accident. all immaturity and ulterior motives aside, agatha is taking baby steps in the right direction and I'm SEATED for it.

AND WE'RE DONE. I cannot believe I got to the end of this?!!?! thank you from the bottom of my black heart to all the peeps who reached out and encouraged me, thank you for all your likes and reblogs and engagement, and special thanks to @idkbroletssee, @yodladi-yodlada, @aquaaquila, @onceuponalegendbg, @vinspiration-book, @sallysetonagathario, @2-the-moon-and-2-saturn, @yourlocalegotisticalqueerishere, @isagrimorie, @jojobobapalooza, @netellie, @nutella-icecream, @talysalankil, @ragnarockz, @misschanandlerbong25, @westviews-nosiest, @liminal-smith, @kendrysaneela, @whogirl42, @witchtwig, @nerdybeachbum299, @bogcrowe, @the-silence-in-between, @farminglesbian, @lazyreinelle @fantasticvoidnerdshoe, @ofutopia, I'm sure I'm forgetting many but I promise I see you all!

Last but not least, big, grateful thanks to @crybabyheathen for always messaging me and forcing me out of my shell and encouraging much needed human interaction 😉. And lots of love to @april-december, don't tell anyone but I look forward to your comments the most, it truly means the world that you appreciate and engage with my posts like you've been doing.

Happy new year, everybody!

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Waiting for Superman

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~600

Warnings: fluff

Summary: For decades, you’ve been coasting through life thinking you’ll never find “the one” until you take Spencer to a bookstore, and he manages to find something to pass the time.

Square Filled: waiting for superman by daughtry for @spencerreidbingo

Author’s Note: any and all comments are greatly appreciated <3

x

Spencer loves books. He reads nearly twenty of them in a week. However, he is a fan of nonfiction, not fiction like you love. The new bookstore that just opened near your house only had fiction books stocked, nothing that would ever catch Spencer’s eyes. Still, he goes because it’s what you love.

Most people who know Spencer know that he is patient, calculating, thoughtful, and very friendly. That all gets thrown out the window when he comes to the bookstore with you. He’s like an impatient child who only comes along because he has to. He gets bored very easily since his big brain is always running away from him, so it takes a lot to keep him engaged. It’s why he’s so good at his job. His mind is constantly engaged by whatever unsub has made it to the briefing room.

Spencer huffs as he follows you around the bookstore, and you pick a romance book off the shelf.

“You know you didn't have to come with me.”

“I want to hang out with you, even if it means being in here.”

“How romantic,” you roll your eyes playfully.

“Are you almost done? I know of another bookstore that has books we’d both like.”

“Spencer, this one is closer, and we have to meet my parents for lunch. If we went to the other one, we wouldn’t get back until late.” Spencer leans against the bookshelf and is quiet for maybe five seconds. “Okay, how about you go to the cafe and get something to drink, yeah?”

Spencer grumbles but doesn’t answer you. You go back to reading the backs of books, pushing Spencer aside in your mind. He leaves your side to go find something else to do. If this is Spencer’s only flaw, then you consider yourself pretty lucky. You were at the point in your life where you thought you’d be alone forever.

Every date you went on, you weren't connecting to anyone. Either they were too boring, too stinky, too full of themselves, or they had their eyes on other girls. None of them were ever right until you met Spencer. He kept his attention on you every time you two were together, always put your first, and made sure to remember every detail you’d tell him about yourself.

Okay, that last one is his natural ability to remember everything, but he made a conscious decision to do it.

You spent what felt like a lifetime for someone like Spencer, so you’re not going to let him go that easily.

Over the next hour, you read and grab books that are interesting to you until you have a pile in your hands. You had just gotten paid and felt like spending a chunk of your paycheck on books. Knowing there is nothing for Spencer in here, you search for him in the small bookstore. He’s upstairs sitting in a book nook with half a dozen kids sitting around him. Their parents are near just watching Spencer read a book to them.

His eyes are wide, he does funny voices for the characters, and he engages each of the kids in the story he’s reading. You set your books down on a table and lean against it, content with watching him. Each kid is mesmerized and hooked to every word he’s saying, and the parents don’t mind the nice break from their children.

“What about the dragon? Who is going to slay it?” a child asks.

“Princess Annabelle is.” All the children gasp. “I know. Usually, the prince does but I think Princess Annabelle is tired of waiting for someone to do it for her. Let’s see how she does it.”

Spencer flips to the next page and continues to the story. He looks up and locks eyes with you, and you give him a slow-growing smile.

It’s right here and now that you’ve decided this is the man you’re going to marry. You’ve been waiting decades for your Superman to show up, and it’s been in front of your face the whole time.

x

Want to be tagged? Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[lost-in-fandoms]

Winter Warmers Day 31: NYE countdown. Maxiel. About 1.5k words.

"Max, Maxy, Maximum, Maximus Prime!"

Max turns away from his conversation with Alex just in time to catch Daniel around the waist as he stumbles into him, the drink in his cup sloshing over his wrist.

"Hello, Daniel," Max says, unable to stop himself from smiling, readjusting his grip so that he can hold Daniel more comfortably.

From the corner of his eye he catches Alex moving away, probably deciding that their conversation is over now that Daniel has Max's attention. Which is a very fair assumption, given that in all the years they've been friends, Max has always dropped anyone and anything to focus on Daniel.

Some might call it pathetic, to still be in love with his best friend after so long, but Max doesn't really care about what other people think. He just cares about Daniel's warm weight in his arms, and the fact that when all the people at this party will have left their house, Daniel will still be there, probably moving stuff around to pretend he's helping with the clean up.

"Are you having fun, Daniel?" he asks, trying to maneuver them towards the kitchen, both to clean up Daniel's wrist before he complains about the stickiness and to not feel like every single person is staring at them.

Well, every single person other than Charles and Carlos, who seem to be trying to get acquainted with each other's tonsils.

"Yes," Daniel answers, letting himself be dragged away, stumbling unhelpfully on his own feet.

Once they're in the kitchen, occupied only by Logan and Oscar, heads bent over a phone, a half empty bottle of wine next to them, Max hoists Daniel on the counter, right next to the sink, swiping away a few empty paper plates.

"Stay still, please," he tells Daniel, grateful he doesn't have to shout as much over the music anymore. They should probably start lowering that actually, if they don't want the cops called on them again, but it's new year's eve, for sure old Meredith could let it slide this once.

He plucks Daniel's cup from his hand, something of not clear nature inside it, and wets a couple paper towels, gently wiping at his wrist and hand.

"Maxy," Daniel says, dropping his head forward to rest it on Max's shoulder. He's making Max's job harder like this, but Max is not going to complain. He just hums, showing Daniel he's listening.

"I have decided on my resolutions list," Daniel tells him, sounding slightly more sober than he did before.

Max drops the paper towels and grabs an empty cup, filling it with water from the sink and handing it to Daniel, coaxing him to raise his head to drink it.

Daniel had been talking about his resolutions list for more than a week. Max is not sure why he's so set on having new year's resolutions, since in the past eight years he's known him not once Daniel has been the kind of person who follows a plan, but he's been listening anyway every time he brought the topic up.

Max doesn't understand why he's having so much trouble creating the list either. Sure, Daniel does have his moments of perfectionism, but seeing him actually get stressed about this had been puzzling.

"Yeah? Can I know it?" he asks, dropping the now empty cup when Daniel hands it to him before opening his arms, letting Daniel comfortably slump into him again.

Somewhere on his left, Logan and Oscar leave the kitchen, closing the door behind them, cutting off a little more of the noises of the party, making Max feel like he's in his private Daniel bubble for the first time this evening.

He's not ashamed of saying that he's a bit possessive, greedy about having his fair share of Daniel's time, but he's gotten better with the years. The last time Daniel had been in a relationship, Max hadn't even tried to scare them off, but they had gone anyway after a couple of months, leaving a very mopey Daniel behind. Max had keyed their car.

"First thing, I want to learn how to play the banjo," Daniel says, way too loud way too close to Max's ear.

It makes Max smile anyway, knowing this point will be abandoned in a few months at most, just like every other instrument Daniel had tried to learn, getting bored with each one of them.

"Good start," he encourages anyway, because he's nothing but disgustingly soft when it comes to Daniel, even worse when he's tipsy like tonight.

He gets rewarded by Daniel pulling back to beam at him, before going back to Max's shoulder.

Sometimes holding himself back from kissing him takes all of Max's strength.

"Then, I want to improve my handwriting."

Yep, just as Max had thought. Another task that will be abandoned, like all the other times Daniel had tried before.

"I can read your handwriting," Max tells him, because it's true. No matter the kind of drunken chicken scratch he finds on the grocery list, Max has learned to interpret it all. It's not that hard really, when you manage to recognise the subtle differences between the squiggles. Part of the game is actually learning what is supposed to be a word and what is a doodle.

"You can, because you're great," Daniel mumbles against his shirt, as Max tries to pretend he can't feel himself blushing, "but I am so tired of people complaining about it."

"People should just learn how to read," Max tells him, unhappy with someone making Daniel feel like he should change. Which is very stupid, because Daniel is perfect, chicken scratches included.

It makes Daniel laugh, waist moving under Max's hands, his wet bottom lip dragging against the exposed part of Max's shoulder.

"Do you have any more?" he rushes to ask, trying to distract himself from the feeling of it.

In the other room, the music gets lowered, and for a second Max thinks it's the cops again, until he hears someone scream two minutes!

They should probably rejoin their friends, celebrate midnight with them, but Max is quite comfortable where he is, and he doesn't want to see Daniel grab someone to kiss, even if just to laugh about it afterwards.

He had long learned his lesson, after one year he had tried to angle himself in Daniel's line of view, just for him to reach around him and grab Charles instead. Max had gotten way too drunk that night.

"One more," Daniel says, voice even lower now that the music is off and they're so close. He sounds more hesitant suddenly, nervous fingers fidgeting with the hem of Max's shirt.

"Do you want to tell me?" Max asks, just to be sure. Sometimes Daniel needs a little push before he opens up, but it's always a very thin line between getting an answer and being shut out with a joke instead. This time Daniel nods.

"I want to suck your dick."

Max chokes on his spit, trying to push back Daniel to be able to see his face, feeling his eyes go wide.

It wouldn't be the first time they joke about it, but Daniel doesn't sound like he's joking, and if this is a prank Max is going to get very drunk again and probably go cry in the bathroom, but...

But when he manages to push Daniel's head up, he's blushing and he's looking at Max from underneath his lashes, fear and determination mixing on his face.

"You mean it?" Max forces himself to ask, sounding breathless. His heart is beating too fast, so loud he's sure Daniel can hear it too.

Daniel nods, one corner of his mouth turning up in a shadow of his usual smile.

"My last resolution is to stop lying to myself about my feelings for you," he says.

It echoes around his brain, bouncing around and amplifying: feelings for you feelings for you feelings for you feelings for you.

In the other room someone starts the countdown, and Max reaches forward, cupping Daniel's jaw with his hands.

"Are you gonna buy me dinner first?" he asks, just to see Daniel smile properly.

"Can I do it next year?"

Max rolls his eyes, but he still chuckles, weak for Daniel always, even when it's his bad jokes.

Three, two, one...

On the other side of the door sound explodes, their friends cheering and screaming, but Max barely hears it as he presses his lips against Daniel's.

(George screams when he opens the door to come grab the champagne chilling in the fridge and finds them making out against the counter, Max's thigh between Daniel's. The new wave of cheers that follows it is so loud Max starts mentally preparing his apologies for old Meredith and the cops, even as he copies Daniel in flipping them all off.)

[biggest-geo-oogami-enjoyer]

So I just wanted to say your writing is the most delicious, delighted thing I ever read, I could basically inhale it :D It's like wow!!

Anyway just a small request (If ur not that busy) can you make hcs of how good parents the kid at the back characters would be if they had a kid with Mc. Please with ur fav ice cream with sprinkles and a cherry on top (if u like cherries) with extra scoops (u don't have to do it if u don't want to) If u do then ur officially getting a geo plushie for Christmas

THE ART OF PARENTAGE

First of all, thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you felt like you could request me, despite my inactivity and overall lack of existence here. I do thank you for the plushie though, looking forward to it. ;)

Sidenote: Pretty sure Brittney and Jess are too gay for each other to have the thought of kids cross their minds tbh.

-- Signed solemnly by @biggest-geo-oogami-enjoyer AKA Sky Fort(resse)s and Burning Citadels <3

Let's start with the following: this man detests children. Cannot stand them. Would rather die than be in the immediate vicinity of one. Alas, all rules have their exceptions, and for Sol that exception would be your child. His child. The happy little accident that must've happened during one of your more intense sexual escapades. Oh well. Least you both agreed on just one.

Anyway in terms of being a parent, Sol is a very supportive and soothing dad. Considering how he grew up in neglectful, isolated and abusive circumstances, he would be nearly obsessive in the desire to make this family as safe, loving and wholesome as possible. He would rather be spat on by Ichabod than even consider the option of laying hands on either you or your child. He feels repulsed at the sheer idea.

Sol's a very poetic and artistic man, with a love for history and literature; in short, the 'humanities' side of things. He's the type of guy that would put in extra effort to entertain or educate his kid, especially if they're the more curious type. He'll also encourage his child to experiment with things, with a focus on arts and crafts and the theatrical. Don't be surprised if your kid starts spurting out "Splendid!" or "Stupendous" in the middle of dinner - which Sol cooks, mind you.

He'll be self-conscious of walking with his child, especially if you're with him, because despite how happy he is alongside you and this child, he's got a lot of insecurities. He's been attacked several times during uni in the middle of the day, the last thing he wants is for some idiot to recognise him with a child - call him a kidnapper or childfucker - or pull some other shit unto him.

If something happens to you? Or his kid? That man or woman is fucking 66 feet under. No way is he letting that slide, only thing that's gonna be sliding is his cock inside you every single night. His sex drive is insanely high, the fact you somehow only got one offspring from him is astounding.

Sol's a very patient man, and in topics he's good at (which is everything, to the surprise of many), he serves as a tutor, often encouraging his kid to ask him questions of any sort - he loves the morbid ones - and he does his best to explain in as child-filtered a way as possible.

Very protective father figure, will be insanely watchful over your child and especially anyone else who interacts with it. He's often torn between wanting his kid to be popular and happy, while also subtly wishing his kid learns that it's better to be a loner and to pick and choose friends through shared interests, hobbies or beliefs.

As for you? This man is dying to be inside you, whatever breeding kink he had amplified significantly after you fell pregnant, and while part of him was terrified at the idea of being a dad (and annoyed he has to hide his lust for you now), he gets so horny at the idea of you being pregnant he's willing to dick you down 24/7. To be fair, if you both had the stamina and your bodies held the endurance, he def would, but that's besides the point.

Put succinctly, Solivan Brugmansia is an awesome dad, and fully plans on being the absolute best parent (and husband and sex fiend) possible.

Here lies Subaru Oogami (2002-2024)

Cause of death confirmed to be sheer fear of sexual intercourse, ire at a 5yo and, of course, "The Big Question". that big question being "do you want kids"

May he eternally rest in peace.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

KIDDING!!! However, all jokes aside, Geo would rather be shot dead than be near a kid, and unlike the almightily horny emo 'freak' we know as Sol, Geo is repulsed by the idea of sex. AND children, so biologically the chances of him even considering it are near 0. Getting him to like you was labour enough, going into even more after 9 months is a crazy ask let's be real, and there's no way Geo will not be questioning why he's even here (look he's adopted if his dad left him he's gonna be shitting himself but at least he somewhat understands y'know).

The one way Geo can have a 'kid' with you is probably gonna be the same way Hyugo's family had him - adoption, and preferably not a newborn baby who shrieks and shits itself. Like a toddler is fine in his eyes (anything is fine but he'll never tell you that).

This child is definitely going to learn Japanese, piano and whatever the fuck else Geo and Hyugo were raised with and deemed somewhat useful.

Geo is a pretty stoic guy, and would remain so as a parent, but unlike with many others, he's much more attentive and considerate of both you and this child (he definitely gets along with this child, especially if it's also quiet and a loner like him).

Is the type of guy who gets severely attached but hates showing it, probably expresses affection through cutting fruits, cooking or doing something musically. Probably gives the child private concerts.

Would be extremely protective over the child, defends them at all costs, will use bodyguards - realize he doesn't trust them enough - and have the child holding his hand or in eyesight all the time. Hates feeling like he's not knowing what they're up to, if they're safe etc.

In terms of you, this man holds you in much higher regard. The fact you accepted his visceral hatred of sex, of everything, his fears and insecurities and stayed with him? Love him? AND decide to give another child a chance at life, like how the Sugimotos did for him? His heart is swelling his heart is ready his soul is in Heaven and his body is flushed at the thought that in a way, he does have a family with you. And, he doesn't hate it.

Banger parental figure and mentor, would be the type to drop bombshell level life lessons out of nowhere. ALSO IF THE KID IS INTERESTED HE DOES LITTLE COSMETIC THINGS WITH THEM. Mans would def play dress up to make the child satisfied.

"Mother, did you realize that Japan named an entire car franchise after dad?!" (Geo refuses to shatter this child's hope and faith in him lmfao).

Hyugo is a man of many words and a harsh past. He's seen a lot, done more, killed too many. In short, he's seen a lot of shit, so when he finds out you're pregnant after one of your more passionate escapades, he's stunned. Legitimately thinks you're kidding for a hot moment, before realizing you're serious.

He stood still when you told him, face eerily empty of emotion or feeling, before he stood up and lunged at you, pulling you into one of the most intense kisses he's ever placed on you. honestly considers doing it all over again to be certain but you don't need to know that

Mans is genuinely so excited he wants to burst. This child is learning Japanese and when old enough - self defense, jujitsu, kendo, whatever Hyugo thinks is efficient to learn (and also what he finds fun lmao); anything that can help the kid protect themselves and others. Speaking of protecting others, Hyugo's love of justice definitely is passed on. The kid and him watch true crime shoes (Rotten Mango and MrBallen are banger channels btw highly recommend).

Hyugo would 110% play video games with his child, the two would get highly competitive at times (Hyugo often lets the kid win, unless he's feeling particularly unforgiving), or stealing candy from the pantry and sharing it. May or may not take his kid to a gun club to learn how to shoot.

Wants the kid to stay away from the world of crime and murder by all means necessary, he can't afford letting that part of his life spread to his family - hence why he never speaks about why he tends to go missing for a while sometimes.

He'll even actively try to leave, and if he somehow temporarily escapes, he's taking you all somewhere far away, where no-one can ever find you.

He's wiling to kill, die and even live for you two, and that for Hyugo is everything.

Crowe is definitely on edge when the reality of his situation sets in. He's gonna be...a parent. He's the father of your child, you're the mother of his; the thoughts are swirling and twirling in his head as he's spiraling into a loop of sheer excitement and anxiety.

He's wealthy, he knows that he can provide well for you and the child, but all the logic and reason in the world can't calm his heart down. This is something he's secretly wanted for so long, but...the fact it's actually happening just hits different for him.

During the course of your pregnancy, this man may or may not get hot and bothered at the thought that you're so round and pregnant because of him. The fact you wanted this with him. Part of him is definitely struggling to remain composed. Definitely has anxiety about whether he'll be a good parent. Just to clarify, he is an incredibly good dad.

Crowe is someone I see being the dad who reads things to his kid, before bedtime or just in general. He's the type to serve as a role model asap. Will turn this child into the most well-spoken, respectful, kind little person the world has ever seen.

Is someone who helps with his kids homework, calmly explaining and re-explaining things and concepts to it. Tutoring always gave him a sense of calm peace, and it helps him bond with his kid, along with showing them early on that despite how sucky school is, you can still have some fun with learning.

Would do his kids' hair. Would go shopping with them and let them sit in the trolley (with some negotiation done by the child). He also like to share life lessons on these 'adventures', dropping quotes and morals so hard that the night said child was conceived looks light and dandy.

Would teach his kid how to cook, clean, do every chore possible, will find a way to make it fun( he def needed motivation as a kid lmfao). Also encourages his kid to go for walks outside, sometimes he even takes you all out stargazing. He'll teach you and your child every constellation and every star.

Crowe is definitely the type to memorise every appointment, friend, school, teacher etc. your kid has. The child and you matter so much to him, he's willing to ingrain everything to memory - the fact other men don't greatly concerns him - because you both are so worth it.

Would not mind if you asked him for another one, he loves the idea of building a family with you - and, well, seeing you pregnant - so expect that you both'll stop at...3?

TLDR: Crowe is a magnificent parental figure. Also teaches his kid how to be sarcastic.

Deryl is SO excited to be a dad, like beyond the normal levels a decent person would have. This guy is over the moon in terms of excitement, he becomes a jittery mix of terror and joy in the span of that day.

He becomes significantly more affectionate with you (so regular Deryl *12), insists on doing all the heavy work for you, is willing to fulfill all and any cravings you have during pregnancy; and even when the child is born, this man is hyperexcited.

He's a very loving and protective dad, willing to do whatever it is they wanna try or do (as long as it's not dangerous), especially if it involves sport. This man is willing to do all kinds of things in order to entertain his kid (and you).

Would definitely piggyback carry them everywhere while sharing random stories or fun facts he knows. Building off of facts, this man is pretty and smart, so he's gonna be a source of knowledge for your kid as well. He's an awesome role model as well, he's loving, sweet and he ensures his kid grows up respectful and loving life!

Deryl's a social butterfly, so he'd somewhat prefer if his kid was social as well, with good reason of course. He'd encourage your kid to know its worth and pick friends wisely. Would be an undying source of support if the child is sad or upset, whatever it is, he's gonna sit them down to watch a show and eat ice cream (totally doesn't get slightly more than acceptable for the both of them no he'd never).

Singing battles. Karaoke. Music, dance, performance. Deryl is so introducing his kid to music, every genre and every song you both like, will be princess twirling and everything.

He's become a source of prime amusement for the kid, not that anyone's complaining. He's also a prime partner and father.

The man will do his absolute best for you and this kid, and you're never gonna question or contemplate it for as long as you're with him (forever <3).

[lovely-parasite-04]

Iced Coffee, Detective?

Agnes!Agatha Harkness x Fem!Reader

Prologue of ?

SUMMARY: One of the victims of Westview goes a little further than everyone else to be nice to the town hero, Agatha Harkness, or Detective Agnes O'Connor. She doesn't know what she's getting into when the Detective asks her to come in for "further questioning."

WARNINGS: Mention of murder (its only like a sentence), Agatha being Agatha

NOTE: This is mostly experimental because I hardly ever write and when I do, it never sees the light of day. However, I am In Love with Agatha, and I never see anyone write much about when she was under Wanda's spell. The experimental part is that this is meant to be comical and reader doesn't immediately start out with a big fat crush on Madame Harkness. It's also more on the simple side in terms of plot. I'm posting this first little bit to see how people enjoy it, and if it gets a lot of attention, I'll try to write more.

"Large Americano for Agnes?" I shout from my corner behind the counter, swiftly setting the paper cup down as I see the familiar brunette make her way towards me. I turn to begin making another order, but stay put to ask the older woman, "Any new cases, detective? I heard you on the phone over there talking about a lot of work to get back to. "

Agnes (Agatha) takes a large sip of her iced coffee, testing the flavor and swallowing, before responding with, "I'm not supposed to talk about the investigation and I don't entertain rumors about how the victim passed." She barely made eye contact with me, but I'm shocked she didn't immediately leave after receiving her order. She is usually in a hurry to get her coffee and go.

"Oh... of course. Sorry." I have no idea what she heard me say, because I didn't mention anything about a victim. I know I don't necessarily have to play along with her delusions like I do; most people simply tell her to have a nice day and direct her towards the door, but I can't help but be fascinated by what she is going through.

Seeing it from the outside, anyway.

I was among the rest of Westview during the Scarlet Witch's spell. Just the thought of it sends a shiver down my spine. Losing control of everything but your mind can be terrifying, wanting to say something but saying something else. Being frozen in time until you were needed for a plot point for a completely deranged woman. Losing track of time and wondering if it will ever end.

Agatha Harkness had been a town hero, stopping Wanda Maxifmoff and freeing everyone in Westview. But now she was stuck in the same spell with no end in sight.

Her Nosy Neighbor character lasted for about 2 years and everything seemed to be normal. She would gossip with her closest neighbors and those who volunteered to check in on her and bring her groceries, and she pretty much kept to herself. However, her characters have started to derail into different "genres". The first shift the town noticed was around Christmas last year. She seemed to be acting out a Hallmark movie, following around this one guy while pretending she was just bumping into him and trying to show him the "true meaning of Christmas."

It was funnier to watch than any actual Hallmark movie I had ever seen. The guy was married with a family, and continued to tell Agatha as such until she shifted again. That was when I made the observation that in Agatha's delusions, she doesn't always hear exactly what we say. It's like her brain can't comprehend anything that doesn't fit the little world she's made, so it makes something else up entirely for her to play off of.

I'm also convinced that she is controlling her delusions now. Maybe not intentionally, but I no longer see the hold Wanda had over her. Maybe this spell that Agatha is under is different from ours. She has no control of her mind. We only had control of our minds.

I feel bad for her, and I'm really intrigued by her as a person in general - I mean she's a fucking witch from 1690's Salem - so I steal any chance I get to talk to her. It helps that she is a regular at the coffee shop I work at.

Back in the moment, I need to move to the other end of the counter to finish this new order, and I'm positive she'll walk away once I do. I simply say, "Have a nice day!" And start to step away when she surprises me again.

"You knew her, huh?" Holding the coffee close to her chest and mouthing at a straw she slipped in while I was lost in thought. She follows me around the counter, not bothering to mutter anything to the other customers she runs into along the way. Her whole focus is on me.

"I...knew who?"

She heard me that time, giving me the full name of someone I'd never heard of before.

"Oh, her? Yea. Yea, me and her go way back."

  I'm a sucker for improv, okay? What's the harm? Even if she found out I was lying, she can't hurt me. She lost all her magic. Right?

"If you don't mind, I'd like you to come with me back to the prescient, so I can ask you a few questions about the girl and the nights leading up to her death."

Well, fuck. My boss would never let me leave for this. A real cop, sure. The town cook? Absolutely not. "I'm sorry, detective O'Connor, I'd have to wait until I get off work."

"Relax, hon." She said condescendingly "Let's just wait until you get off work -" What a great and completely original idea, Agatha. "I'll give you my card and you give me a call later today, okay?"

She proceeds to hand me an index card with the name Wanda gave her, Detective Agnes O'Connor, above a phone number. On the back is her house address. All handwritten.

  Bless her heart.

  "Okay- I hope you don't hand these out to everyone..." The last part was more of an outside thought, and thankfully Agatha didn't seem to hear it anyway, waving over her shoulder and exiting.

----------------

[ledesaid]

Billy has strange dreams

║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║║

It started when he turned twelve. Everything was fine; he lived in... a reasonably cleaner place, technically his, until the place is going to demolished.

And he had no negative comments from Batman on the last mission.

He hadn't received any particular attack.

So why did he wake up as a six-year-old every time he went to sleep?

Everything feels so strange to Billy at first that it seems like just a dream. It isn't until he gets a cut, and the scar follows him to his present that everything becomes real.

So... Here’s Billy. With a slight headache...

He can't contact anyone from his past or present. What else had Flash told him?

Yes, basic notions of time travel.

Zero contact or the end of the world.

It sounded so dramatic, but not as much as his vast collection of newspaper clippings. In his first base located in an abandoned station, the walls are papered was mostly news about the league heroes, but there was a special feature on Batman and Robin.

The first Robin had inspired him to keep doing good; he had been a substantial part of his day-to-day, of many children indeed throughout the country and the world.

He always wanted to meet them; in the future, he had achieved it, but he never met the second one... Nightwing always told very good stories about him, especially the one about the Batmobile tires and how they hid on a gargoyle in the city center.

But would it be so deadly to obtain his powers a year earlier? Could he help Miss Bambi leave her abusive boyfriend earlier? Could he call Batman and tell him that his second Robin is going to die? Or could he...? Or could he...?

He scolds himself. He is being tempted.

He won't give in.

He really tries, but he can't help but look at the newspaper... This Robin already looks like his last known photo. He learned from Starfire that Dick still cried for his lost brother.

Billy wondered if hypothetically he broke a couple of rules... What can he do being so far away?

He has no powers. He has no money. He has no influence. He has little time.

This last lack pushes him to do something so foolish that he knows it will haunt him in his future... He is convinced there will be a terrible consequence when he wakes up.

He is going to do it.

He mentally apologizes to Flash.

Billy goes to where it all began.

The start of the abandoned train station...

He calls the wizard. He shouts for his help.

And as expected... No answer. Maybe it was his age. Maybe. Maybe the wizard is asleep.

Billy makes his second most risky move while trying to figure out how to get to Gotham.

He meets Bambi when she was just eighteen years old. She has just run away from home. She is dating a bad guy. That will lead her friend down a very dark path...

Billy manages to expose that man, Bambi thanks him and tells Billy for the first time that she is from Gotham City. Fights with her father had taken her far from the city, and with what happened, she is considering returning home to study nursing as her family always wanted.

She offers Billy to take him with her.

The six-year-old Billy and the twelve-year-old Billy have already made a decision.

He is going to try, he is going to save everyone he can, and although he is afraid to go to sleep... he does it.

He wakes up in a bed, in a house... He doesn't know who the people having breakfast with him are, but one of them is definitely Bambi...

She is older; she must be twenty-five... and she looks very happy.

He slightly escapes the watchful eyes and sees the newspaper. It’s a picture of Batman with several children running across the rooftops.

"I finished reading it, add it to your collection."

Bambi's voice wakes him from the joy he feels, Billy tries to navigate his new life, and that night he discovers that he can no longer travel to the past.

[miidnighters]

It's the end of 2024, and man what a wild time this year has been for me. A whole host of things changed in my life but I knew I always had this space to fall back on. I came back to RP in October 2023, so this time last year I was still somewhat finding my feet but this year things really took off, and I have made some real friends that I absolutely treasure. Anyone who's followed me for a bit knows that I love surprising u all w a follow forever because I love to shout out the people who have made being here so fun and so special.

Much love to you all and I hope 2025 brings you everything you've ever wanted ♡.

@92328 / @laidbear

Every time I see you pop up in my notifications, I know I’m in for a treat. Your creativity is unmatched, and I love how real all your characters thoughts and motivations are even if it’s unconventional. I’m always so excited for whatever you have planned next.

@defloweir

We also haven’t written together a heap yet but I think your characters are really interesting and I’m really enjoying what we’re starting to do together with Callie and Colt. I’m excited to start digging into some of the others.

@demonstigma

Kage is so well-crafted, and I’m always wanting more every time we write together. You have such an incredible way of balancing chaos and heart, and I’m obsessed with our nonsense.

@epistrefei / @kinlochs

I know Artemis is a little quiet right now, but even though they were the one that sparked us off first, I love every single character you make. Every plot feels so rich and alive, and I’m so excited for whatever we cook up next.

@exquisitexagony / @cursedvessels / @distantsongsofjoy

Moss, the way you explore Sami's happiness and pain (as Arthur) and growth is so compelling. No matter what blog you’re on, I’m always excited for what we’ll create next together. You’re a star.

@filthystill

We also haven't been writing very long but even already it seems like your brand of nonsense matches my brand of nonsense. Your characters seem so interesting and I can't wait to see what else we cook up.

@freekzout / @hungryyheart

The most chaotic yet well-crafted duo I’ve ever seen. Not only that, but the rag-tag team on the multi, and Conrad (getting war flashbacks from that one time I called him Conan w my whole chest)? You bring so much life to every plot, and I love seeing the wild ideas we come up with take shape. Truly iconic.

@fvzzyelf

You are such a light on my dash. The creativity and care you bring to Kurt (and all your other characters) is so inspiring, and every time we write together, it’s something truly special. I’m so lucky to get to collaborate with you.

@gingerspiice

The way you craft Frenchie is so detailed and compelling to me. Every thread we’ve started is so fun, and even when you’re not writing with me I love seeing what shenanigans Frenchie is up to with everyone else.

@gollldrush

I know we’ve only really just started writing but I’ve seen you writing with other people on the dash and I’m already in love with Leo and Billie’s antics. I can’t wait to see what else we can throw together.

@idnull

The layers you bring to your characters is so inspiring. You’ve created some of the most complex and intriguing characters I’ve ever seen, and it’s always such a joy to explore their dynamics with mine no matter what pair or context we throw together.

@inrovina / @holyrots

There’s no character of yours that doesn’t feel alive and captivating. The way you build worlds and relationships is nothing short of masterful, and I’m so excited to play in this huge interconnected network we’ve built.

@interxstitial

I love seeing how Jiwon interacts with anyone I throw at him, and every dynamic we’ve explored has been so fun and meaningful. He and Flynn especially are so special to me, and I can’t wait to see what else we can throw together.

@kurjaks

Every time I see your writing, I’m blown away by Kurjak. Full stop. I’ve said it before but the choices you make for him, be it what he says or how he acts are so interesting and it makes for such compelling interactions.

@narrativedemanded / @narrativeanomaly / @narrativeobsession

The way you write your characters is so rich and full of life—I’m always captivated by the way you bring them to the forefront. The threads we’ve had by just throwing muses together have been some of the most fun I’ve had in ages.

@recitedemise / @mageister

Dean, your writing is like poetry, and I’m constantly in awe of the way you bring Gale and Dorian to life. Every thread feels so rich, and I can’t wait to see what more we can create together. You’re truly amazing.

@sorrowsick

Elliot, your creativity knows no bounds. Every time we come up with something, it feels fresh and exciting and just a little insane. I love the relationships we’ve built, and I’m so excited for whatever wild ideas we dream up next. 

@starlyht

You bring so much creativity and heart to everything you do. Every character you write feels so real and captivating, and as much as I love our interactions with Sol’rys and Fox, I’m so excited to explore this new stuff with Kyran and Sszefryn too.

@strszyga

Klava is so interesting to me. I love that she’s not easy to talk to in the first instance, because it makes me think of how my own characters interact differently. I can’t wait to see what else we do.

@soulmissed

The way you write August’s emotions is so beautiful and raw. Every interaction feels so meaningful, and I’m always excited to see where our threads will go. You’re such a talent.

@tewwor

You’re a master of chaos, and I love every second of it. Your characters and concepts are so vibrant and full of life, and I’m always so excited to see what we come up with together - or what you’re coming up with with other people.

@unpossession

Willow is such an incredibly rich and captivating character, and I love how we've started exploring her dynamics with Bella and Flynn. I'm so looking forward to what else we can throw together.

@vitalphenomena

I am in awe of your mind. The world building and depth you bring to your characters is so inspiring, and I’m so glad we get to write together. Every thread we put together is so much fun. 

@whileurmine

Every thread we’ve done has been an absolute joy. Your characters feel so real and layered, and I’m always so excited to see what we come up with next - particularly when it comes to the Roosevelt men and what grief my characters are giving them.

Also special shoutout to my darlings who were/are on hiatus but who I still think about lots:

@abysswarden @bloodykneestm @cigarettesandcoffee / @whiskeyneat @draconisa / @fairytaletold @fangmother / @luxbrumalix @pohlepen @solrites @womanlives @yxkanna / @cxldblxxded

[witchygagirlwrites]

Broken Bonds-Part 21

Former(ish) Greg "Mouse" Gerwitz x Reader, Jay Halstead x Reader

When Jay refuses to talk about what happened between him and Mouse and begins to push you away you decide its time for you and Mouse to finally face each other, alone.

Warnings: cursing, mention of violence, (kinda cheating?) NSFW happenings 👀

You hated arguing with people you cared about. Stella, Kevin, anyone you loved you hated to argue with. Stranger? You would stand ten toes down, scream and yell until you were blue in the face but if the person across from you had some sort of place in your heart you despised arguing. The most recent development was that you hated not being able to yell in an argument nearly as bad as arguing with someone you cared about.

You stood in the center of your bedroom facing Jay who had one shoulder leaned against the doorframe. The purplish bruise gracing his face was a stark contrast to the rest of his jaw. He refused to tell you what happened. You weren’t an idiot.You knew it had to have been Mouse. There was no other option. He hadn’t gotten hit at work and besides the morning before he hadn’t been without you or Hailey at his side.

You glanced at the clock, Addy would be up soon but he hadn’t come in until after you were asleep so once you got out of the shower and he was up and dressed you started back in on the questioning. “Just fucking tell me what happened” you whisper shouted, waving a hand around the space between the two of you. He shrugged “Nothing, ok? Just let it go” you clenched your jaw hard enough you felt it pop.

“I know it came from Mouse. I’m not a fucking idiot Jay. When did you and him see each other again?” you crossed your arms and he dropped his gaze down to the floor. Damn he better be glad he was a detective because at this rate he’d be a shit criminal. If you could crack him like this you would’ve hated to see him on the other side of the table from someone like Voight or even Antonio once upon a time. 

“Like I said, let it go. It doesn’t matter” he argued and you shook your head “It does to me! I come out of the bathroom at dinner and you two are facing off then he leaves in a rush. The following morning you’re late getting to the daycare for drop off and when you get there your fucking face is bleeding and all day yesterday if you wanted to tell me anything, even about the fucking case you sent Hails with it. Really? You can fuck me but not talk to me? Really mature”

He scoffed lightly “Yeah, I’m being unreasonable here” “You are Jay! I have no clue what the fuck is going on!” you almost shouted before reeling your voice in at the last moment. He raised his eyes to yours finally “Maybe I should just stay at my place for a few days, clear my head” 

You couldn’t believe him. You had no idea what had even gone down, nor why he hadn’t told you he was going to see Mouse. Now he was acting like you were to blame? “What happened?” you asked again and he shook his head “Can I take her to my place tonight? If that’s ok, I know you and Stel wanted to see that new movie anyways” 

You blinked back tears of frustration “She’s your daughter Jay. You don’t need my permission to take her to your place. Do you want me to go with you to pick her up from daycare or not?” he shook his head “No, I’ll let you do a solo drop off and I’ll do a solo pickup” “Ok. Do you need anything for her?” you asked, trying to keep your voice steady.  He was focused on a place on the wall just over your head which was successfully pissing you off “No. I have clothes, diapers, and food. Anything else I can buy or get Will to drop off”

“Ok. Call me or Stella if you need anything” you reminded him and he nodded “I know” then turned to walk out of the bedroom door. “Jay?” you called and he looked back. You expected him to tell you he loved you, kiss you, something. “I love you?” you made it a question and he nodded “Yeah baby, I love you. I’ll see you at work”

“See you at work” you replied and watched him walk across the living room, stop to grab his jacket and keys then continue out of the door. You didn’t have time to think too hard on anything because the moment the door closed Addy started fussing. “Of course, now she’d wake up” you mumbled before calling out “Ok sweetheart. Mommy’s coming” and walked out to her room.

___________

When you made it into her room she was sitting up in her crib, dark curls sticking up at every angle and babbling like crazy. You laughed and shook your head “Good morning my love. Let’s get you dressed and we’ll go out for breakfast since you’re staying with daddy tonight. That sound good?” She made a oo sound in response so you grinned “oo” 

You picked her up and her hand went to the bracelet on your right wrist, playing with it as you picked her some clothes out. “Give auntie Stella and Hailey some time. They’ll get you one” you promised her, kissing her cheek before sitting her down to change her. 

Once she was ready you gathered what you needed and picked her up on your hip “Let’s go sweetheart” she made a mmm sound as you walked out of your door, locking it behind you.

OMG she is adorable!!! You’d sent Stella photos of Addy from yours and her impromptu breakfast date. She’d of course gushed over them like you expected. You loved catching mornings like this, regardless of the chaos around you. You’d gotten a solid hour of just you and Addy before you had to take her to daycare, considering Jay would have her tonight and you wouldn’t know until you asked him at work what time he was bringing her home the following day considering it was a saturday. You couldn’t very well tell him he had to have his own daughter home by a certain time. It was just weird considering this was the first time in a long time you’d been without her.

We had a mommy/daughter date since Jay wants her tonight you replied as you walked into the precinct. You didn’t even get your phone back into your pocket before she texted back ??? Since when do you and Jay not spend nights together??? You’d told her about the mystery bruise but not about Jay’s attitude change towards you, mainly for the fact that she’d come storming into the district with Kelly trailing behind her.

Idk? He came in late last night,then dropped that this morning you headed for the palm scanner and watched the bubble pop up that meant she was texting Wtf? Do you want to come over after work? You opened the door when it popped and stepped in before replying I’ll let you know. I love you she sent back Ok love you too

You headed up the stairs and your eyes locked onto Jay’s the moment you made it to the top of them before you headed for Kevin’s desk. You didn’t know what was going on with Jay but if he wanted space from you so be it you guessed. 

Kevin smiled when he saw you “Hey lil mama” you grinned “Hey Kev” and laid your stuff down before glancing towards the board “What are we doing?” he shrugged “We got a cell number? You wanna see if you can get a ping?” you held out your hand “Oh please give me something to do. I will love you forever and a day” he laughed and passed you a post it with a number. You winked at him and pointed towards the hall that led down to the tech room ��I’ll be downstairs”

________________

You were typing on two different keyboards and running down three different cells attached to the one number that popped on your suspect. When you ran the idea past Voight he’d given his go ahead. You heard someone walking behind you but didn’t bother looking. From the sound of the steps it was either Jay or Ruz.

“Anything?” Jay’s voice hit your ears and you glanced back “Oh, you’re talking to me without Hailey as a buffer?” he shrugged “Yeah” You nodded and turned back to the screen “Hoping if I triangulate the frequently traveled location of the four numbers and find the areas hit the most we can narrow down where these idiots may be hold up” he nodded “Good idea”

He stepped up next to you and looked over at the screen. You cut your eyes up twice before saying “Um, what time will you and Addy be at my place tomorrow?” he shrugged “By ten. I don’t have anything planned, Will’s gonna come see her” “I don’t mean for Stella to hog her, she’s just able to work her schedule around more” you explained and he nodded “I know, I love that Stel and Kelly loves her as much as they do. Why I agreed on them being her guardians”

You looked back at the screen, eyes tracing the locations before saying “I still don’t understand how the civility I’ve been witness to ended up with a punch being thrown” he scoffed “I can’t understand why you can’t let it go. Isn’t the first time one of us has hit the other and that was before we were both in love with the same woman” you looked up at him “So you finally admit you hit each other?” he shook his head “I’m heading up. Call Hailey or Kev if you find something” “Yeah” you replied, turning your eyes back to the screen in an attempt to ignore the impulse to call him a stubborn jackass.

Your idea ended up paying off. By two you had the location of the safe house pinned down to a two block radius. You and Kevin were in one area, Kim and Adam in one, Jay and Hailey in one while Hank was in his SUV and had patrolmen covering the remaining area.

“On my count, we breach 'em all” you looked at Kevin who nodded. You dropped back next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Take ‘em” Hank’s order came and you called out “CHICAGO PD” and nodded to the patrolmen with you to hit the door, you and Kevin going in first.

_______________

Five arrests were made. Three of which were who you were looking for. The other two were low tier drug dealers but they still had active arrest warrants out on them. A win was a win. All in all a decent day considering the takedown was fairly calm and no one ended up at med, not even any offenders.

You sat next to Kevin, finishing paperwork when you noticed the time. “Jay?” you cut your eyes up and he looked up at you “Yeah?” you held a hand out “I’ll help Hailey with your half. Go on and go so you can get baby girl” he nodded and passed you the file in his hand “Thanks sweetheart” you smiled “Of course” 

He grabbed his stuff and headed for the stairs. Hailey raised an eyebrow before saying “If he’s fucked things up, do I get a turn?” and grinned playfully. You shook your head but laughed and knew that was her goal when she winked at you. “I’m still waiting on my ring Upton”

Kevin shook his head “Get to work” Adam tossed a balled up piece of paper across the bullpen “Y/N, are you through trying to take partners?” you cut your eyes up at him “Nope, I haven’t collected Kim yet” he shook his head with a laugh and Kim grinned at you.

Around five Stella texted you to see if you were off and when you told her you weren’t yet she told you to come over when you got off,considering the alternative was an empty apartment you sent back a thumbs up.

____________

It ended up being a little after six by the time you were trudging up to her door and knocking. She opened the door and smiled when she saw it was you. “Hey little sister” she opened the door to let you in.  You followed her to the couch, flopping down onto it. She sat down and cut her eyes at you “Long day?” you nodded “I had to do all my paperwork and Jay’s so he could go pick up Addy”

About the time the words got out of your mouth a text came through from Will. It was a photo of her in her scrub pjs. “Aww look” you turned the phone around to show Stella and she squealed “She is stinking adorable”

You nodded “That she is..wait why did Will send it and not Jay?” she cut her eyes at you “What’s going on with you two anyways? And what happened when you saw Mouse?” you took a deep breath and caught her up on everything from how it felt to see Mouse through him leaving the restaurant in a rush, all the way to you asking yet again today what happened to Jay’s face and him pretty much admitting they hit each other.

“I kind of just want to track Mouse down and ask him face to face what happened” you groaned and she shrugged “If that’s what you wanna do” you shook your head “I don’t know. I mean for one I’d have to illegally search to find what motel and room he’s in..”

“And?” she asked, leaving you yet again in awe at the fact of just what extremes your sister would go to in support of you. “And, I don’t know about being alone with him..” you admitted and she raised an eyebrow “Why?” you shrugged “Is that the right thing to do?” “Do you want to see him?” she asked and you laughed “Stella, you know I can be wrong sometimes, right?” she shook her head “No, even when you’re wrong…I’m backing you and bringing Kelly with me”

“I love you” you laughed and she grinned “I love you too” the two of you went into talking about Addy’s birthday and upcoming events at the firehouse. Around eight you headed home.

You sat staring at your laptop. You wanted answers. You wanted to know what happened between him and Jay. That was why you wanted to find him. Not that you craved to see him, talk to him. Even arguing with him would be better than no communication at all.

“Fuck it” you muttered before grabbing the laptop and turning it on. The search wouldn’t take you but maybe ten minutes. It was a bad idea, a horrible idea. That did not stop your fingers from moving across the keys.

The thought didn’t occur to you until you were walking down the hallway towards his room that maybe he wouldn’t be alone. What the hell would you do if he had a woman in his room? You knew what you would do..the question was, what right did you have to do that?

You froze with your hand poised to knock. Should you do this? Too late to go back now. You couldn’t let him be this close and not know, not tell him everything you needed to.

You rapped your knuckles against the door and heard his voice “Yeah, hold on a second” . It didn't take but a breath before the door opened and he was standing in front of you. He’d shaved since the dinner, a new bruise gracing his jawline as well. Your eyes were drawn to it first then up to his blue eyes that were staring into yours. His hair was down, falling into his eyes before he shoved it back with a hand “Y/N? What are you doing here? How did you know where I was staying?”

You shrugged one shoulder “Are you forgetting who taught me?” and saw a tiny smile tease at his face “Can I come in?” you asked and he nodded slowly “Um, yeah” and stepped to the side to let you in.

_______________

Mouse watched you walk into his room, trying not to eye the way your ass looked in the jeans you were wearing. Why had you found him? Did Jay know you were here? Why were you here? Damn you looked good. What was that perfume you were wearing? Damn he wanted to touch you, kiss you.

You stopped in the middle of the room and turned around to look at him “Greg?” he took a deep breath before closing the door so he could face you “Yeah” you waved a hand around “Can I sit?” he nodded “Anywhere you want”

_________________

You walked over and sat on the dresser, Mouse sat on the edge of the bed across from you.  Your eyes hadn’t let him one time. He was really here, in front of you. Alive and whole. The light blue shirt he wore hugged his shoulders deliciously and the color made his eyes seem even brighter. You loved his hair at this length, any length suited him but now? You wanted nothing more than to tangle your fingers in the locks.

He was barefoot, jeans riding low on his hips. Never before had you ever craved to touch someone so damn bad. The love you had for this man astounded you. Nothing had changed it. Not having Addy, not loving Jay. You still loved him just as much. It was like your heart had just expanded but he still felt like yours.

“Last time you looked at me like that was that zoom call and you broke my heart” he spoke, breaking the silence. You scoffed, meeting his eyes “Wow! Going straight at it, huh?” he shrugged “If you’re here, you’re here for a reason” “Why did you and Jay clock each other?” you asked and he laughed “and here I was thinking you wanted to see me..you’re here to check on your boyfriend”

You jumped to your feet “Fuck you Greg!” he was to his feet a moment later “It’s the truth sweetheart. You’re fucking him, you have a daughter with him. You love him. What would you call him?” “I don’t know..I don’t fuckin know” you admitted and saw him flinch slightly from your tone “Were all those times you told me you loved me a joke?” he asked and you felt your jaw drop open in shock “How dare you come here and judge me. You fucking left me Greg! YOU LEFT ME!” you screamed, tears breaking free from your eyes.

“We could’ve worked out, hell Addy would’ve been your child if you would’ve just fucking stayed! If I would’ve been enough for you. I don’t know why I wasn’t enough” you felt more tears falling and didn’t try to stop them.  “You were baby, I swear you were” he whispered and you shook your head “No, fuck that. Argue with me dammit. Yell. hate me. I love you. I love and I fucked your best friend I have a baby with your best friend”

_________________

“I can’t fix that now, can I? I have tried to forget you and I can’t” he admitted, taking a step towards you. You took a step back “Do you love him like you love me?” he asked and you shook your head “No. I fell for him through being pregnant and having her, through him being there for us. I do love him Greg, he’s a good man but..”

You trailed off, taking a shaking breath “But what?” he asked and you choked back a sob “I love Adeline with my whole heart Greg. She’s my baby. She is everything to me but you? I didn’t fall for you because something pushed us together, I fell for you because you’re you. You’re the one made for me. You’re the other half. You know me inside and out. You’re the man I have always wanted to grow old with, the one man I have always trusted fully, the one man who I have loved wholly for so long I barely remember a time I didn’t love you. Now the possibility of facing a future without you in it fucking terrifies me because I fucking love you so damn much, I love you Greg. I fucking love you”

“I love you too baby. I love you with my entire heart and soul. There has not been a single moment where I stopped loving you. I’m so sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry for everything you’ve went through because of me, for every ounce of pain I’ve caused” he admitted, taking a step closer to you.  “But know I don’t regret your babygirl or resent her. Not for one damn second. She is a part of you. She’s perfect and nothing but the good there is in this world”

_______________

You took a step towards him, eyes never leaving his. “I’ve missed you so much” “I’ve missed you too” he admitted. One moment you were staring at each other, the next your lips were crashing against his, a light moan escaping you when his hands went to your hips, gripping tightly. You flicked your tongue across his lips and when he parted them to give you access you deepened the kiss, rolling your tongue against his and earning you a low groan from him. 

He broke away from your lips, eyes searching yours as both of your chests heaved. “Baby, think about what you’re doing..” you smiled “I am. Greg please. I have cried so many times missing you..I don’t want to miss you anymore”

Your hands went to the hem of his shirt, cutting your eyes up at him for permission. He groaned lightly before slipping the shirt over his head. The moment his chest was bared you pulled him into you, lips finding his. You needed to tase him,feel him close. You needed to convince your head and heart that this was real, that this was actually happening.

Your fingers trailed over his chest then up his back and you felt a thrill shoot through you and seeing his eyes flutter shut from your touch. “I want you” you whispered “I love you, I’m in love..I have been for years” you added and he swallowed hard.

When he opened his eyes the light blue was now darkened by lust and need. “Are you sure about this? I can’t..I can’t have you regret me..I can’t live with that” “I’d never regret you” you promised and he took a deep breath as you walked backwards to the bed, pulling him with you.

“Kiss me” you begged and he pushed you backwards onto the bed, crawling up your body. When he got up to your face, his dog tags were dangling loosely as he held himself above you “If you want me to stop just tell me” you hooked one finger into the chain of his dog tags and pulled him down “Please kiss me love” when his lips met yours it was charged, the energy changed. He grunted, lips moving from yours to your neck. “I missed you” he whispered, fingers ghosting under your shirt.

You felt yourself freeze and his eyes flew up to your face “What’s wrong?” “Greg..I’ve had a baby..my body…it isn’t the same..” he raised an eyebrow “sweetheart..you think some stretch marks will make me love you less? That I won’t be attracted to you because you gave birth to your daughter?” you swallowed hard and he grinned, your heart flipping “I’m gonna show you just how fucking sexy you still are”

When his fingers hit the hem of your shirt this time you simply leaned up to let him pull it over your head. He tossed it behind him then leaned back to look down at you, tilting his head to the side as he looked at your body “My god, that’s not fair” “What?” you asked in a whisper. He cut his eyes up to yours “You got even more gorgeous” 

His lips went to yours as his hands slipped under you,fingers easily finding the clasp of your bra and pulling it off your body. He rolled his tongue against yours as you tangled your fingers in his longer locks, angling his head to get better access to kiss him. He smiled against your lips “I love you”

He moved from your lips down across your chin then to your neck. It amazed you that he remembered every tiny spot that pulled a noise from your lips. He winked at you when he got down to your chest before rolling a nipple between his teeth. “Fuck, Greg” you sobbed, fingers finding his hair. He grinned against your skin “You like that baby?”

“Feel so good” you moaned. He rutted his hips against yours, trying to relieve some pressure but to no avail. You pushed his hair back with one hand and gripped his dog tag chain with the other to force him to meet your eyes. He smiled lazily at you “Hey beautiful”

You grinned “Hey handsome” he moved up to press a messy kiss to your lips, hands finding yours as he gripped them both in one of his and held them above your head just so he could stare at you for a heartbeat “You are so fucking beautiful. I don’t care what I have to do. I can’t walk fully away from you”

You chased his lips with yours so he gladly met them, releasing your hands. When you gripped his back he grunted. You spread your legs, allowing him to nudge his shoulders between them. “Please Greg” you moaned and he chuckled “I got you baby”

His hands went to your jeans and you felt his fingers shaking. “Are you ok?” you whispered, brushing his hair back out of his face. He smiled “I’m just afraid I’m gonna wake up, still over there and dreaming about having you” “I’m here baby” you whispered, covering his hand with yours to help him unzip and unbuckle your jeans.

“Lift your hips love” he spoke softly so you did as he asked and felt the air in the room hit your bare body. He rocked back on his heels and anyone else on the face of the earth would’ve made you feel judged but him? He made you feel like fine art truly being appreciated for the first time. He started at your knees,kissing down to your ankles on each side.

__________________

You were a quivering mess underneath him and he’d barely done anything. He settled between your legs and licked a solid line up your folds. Your entire body shivered and he chuckled against you “There she is” before he turned his tongue to begin to kiss you there like he had your mouth, fully and messy, Letting his tongue explore every inch and see what noises could be pulled out of you.

He added one long finger then another, curling them to find that spongy place deep inside of you. When he brushed them across it you gasped out his name and he chuckled, the vibrations pulling more moans out of you. Damn him he knew just how to pull back to back orgasms out of you, even after this much time without your body underneath him. 

_________________

When you finally shoved weakly at his shoulders “Greg..please baby I can’t” he rocked back on his heels and grinned up at you as your legs shook. “How ya feeling?” you curled a finger at him and he crawled up your body, kissing and nipping at every inch of flesh could reach.

When he got to your lips you pulled him down by hooking two fingers into his chain. He worked his lips against yours, letting you taste yourself on him. You hesitantly broke away from his lips to drop your hands to his jeans “Take these off, please” you were not above begging.

He grinned into the kiss, unzipping his jeans and pushing them off his hips. You reached a hand between you and your eyes fluttered shut when you wrapped it around his hardened length. He wasn’t exactly a small guy.

Your legs fell open further and his head fell over into the bend of your neck “I don’t have a condom here baby” you shook your head “I have an IUD. I’m good” he cut his eyes up at you “You’re sure?”

“Please” you begged and he slipped his hand between you, fingers gracing yours before he lined himself up with your opening. He buried his face in your neck as he slowly sank into you. You felt tears spring to your eyes, not only from the stretch but from the emotional part of being gone from each other that long.

You gripped his back, pulling him as close as you could. “You feel so damn good,like finally being home” he whispered against your skin before giving a tentative roll of his hips. Your head fell back against the pillows and a moan of his name fell from your lips. He pressed his lips to the hollow of your neck “It’s ok baby, I’m here”

______________

When he knew you were ok, he started to move, trying to find a pace that was good for you and him both. When he hit a particular angle that made your nails cut into his back from the pleasure that coursed through your body he groaned “Fuck”

Your eyes rolled back into your head from the building pleasure, his light groans and grunts pushing you closer and closer to that edge. When his hand slipped between the two of you, fingers rubbing tight circles onto your clit you felt that building pressure burst as the edge around your vision went soft.

_____________

Your voice would be wrecked the following day from screaming his name but you would have cared less. He was home, he was in your arms, making love to you. You felt his hips stutter and knew he was close “Come for me Greg, let me feel you” you begged, holding him close.

He buried himself inside of you with a hard thrust and you felt when he came, somehow dragging you over that edge with him. His head fell over against your chest, your head against the pillows. Your fingers were smoothing down his back,he slowly raised his eyes to meet yours and my god he looked..young and scared.

“I missed you so damn much baby” he admitted and you smiled “I missed you too” he leaned up to kiss you, your bodies still connected. “I don’t want to be apart from you anymore” he admitted and your heart ached because you felt the same.

____________________

He slowly pulled out of you, apologizing when you hissed slightly from the feeling before laying down on the bed and pulling you into his arms. You felt safe against his chest, like for just a few moments the worries of the outside world couldn’t completely wreck your heart.

He had  both arms wrapped tightly around you “I didn’t hurt anywhere did I?” you shook your head “No” he smiled “Good”

You nuzzled into his neck,kissing the skin gently “I don’t want this moment to end. Then reality sets in, I gotta go home alone and you gotta leave in a couple days” you admitted so he used one hand to gently cup your chin and force your eyes up to his “Tell me to come home to Chicago and I will”

“I don’t want to ruin your life Greg. I want you happy” he looked down at where you were laying on him “This makes me happy. You make me happy. The rest? I’ll figure it out after training. If you want me, you’ll have me”

“If you still want me after training” you whispered and he smiled “Baby, I have wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you. I have loved you for years. I will love you until the day they put me in the ground. I have tried, believe me I have tried, there is no other choice for me. I will never put an ultimatum on you. Just know that my heart will forever be yours”

______________

“What about Addy?” you asked in a small voice and he smiled “I already love that baby. She’s you. How can I not?” you pulled him into a kiss “What about Jay?” you asked, knowing that elephant was currently the biggest in the room.

“I’ll stay in contact with you the entire time I’m gone. I’ll let you figure out what you want to do and if you still want me in any capacity..I don’t give a fuck what it says about me..I can’t not be in your life Y/N..I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give” “I love you Greg” you whispered, turning to pull him on top of you. “I love you” he whispered, lips crashing against yours.

You stood at the door of Mouse’s room.You didn’t want to leave, god you didn’t want to leave but he had a point. It was seven in the morning. You needed to be home and showered before Jay got there with Addy. He still had a couple days before he’d need to leave for Glynco, Stella for some reason wanted to see him so he was gonna plan that too before he left.

He pulled you into him by your belt loops. He slipped his dog tags over his head and pulled your right hand up to drop them into it “You can wear them, you can shove 'em in a drawer. I just want to know that you have something of me. You own my entire heart. I hope I can see you again before I leave, you have my number, I have yours. We’re gonna talk and when you decide, I will be waiting for you baby”

You nodded slowly, feeling tears threaten your eyes “I love you Greg” he smiled before pulling you into a kiss “I love you too. Now get home to that baby girl. I’ll text you later, ok?” you nodded “Ok”

You were showered and changed into a fresh pair of jeans and tshirt. You stood in the middle of your living room staring at Mouse’s dog tags in your hand, running a finger over his name. After a moment you slipped them over your head and tucked them into your shirt. You wanted to have a part of him close.

You heard a knock and looked to see it was nine fifty. You walked over and answered the door. Jay stood there with Addy on his hip. “Oh, there’s my baby” you said and she cooed, reaching her hands out. Jay laughed and moved closer so she was easier to transfer. 

You hugged her tight once she was in your arms “Oh I missed you! Did you have fun with daddy and uncle Will?” Jay smiled “Yeah, she has Will wrapped around her finger” you laughed “Good”

___________________

He stared at you for a moment before finally saying “I asked him to meet” you knew your confusion was plain on your face even before he explained “Mouse. I asked to meet. I wanted to try to explain. He pushed buttons, I pushed buttons. We threw punches” you nodded slowly “What buttons?”

Jay didn’t want to admit he hit Mouse because he had to face the insecurity of the fact that you would never fall out of love with Mouse. Nor did he want to admit that Mouse simply hit him because he’d hit first. “It doesn’t matter. We both agreed hitting each other was stupid before he parted ways. I should've told you that when you asked”

You nodded “Thank you for telling me” “You’re welcome..I’m um..I’m gonna go..if you two wanna get supper later..call me” he offered so you smiled “I will. Thank you Jay, for always being there for us both and being an amazing father to her”  He laughed “You’re welcome baby. Thank you for being there for us both and being the absolute best mother to my daughter I could ever imagine her having”

He stepped closer to press a kiss to Addy’s head.You saw his eyes flutter from yours down to your neck then back up before he gave you a small smile “Bye sweetheart”  “Bye” you replied watching him walk to his truck before closing your door and locking it.

_________________

Addy babbled and reached for the dog tag chain, a part of your heart warming at seeing it. You weren’t sure what was going to happen next. You were fucking terrified of hurting either of them, you truly did love them both. The question was could you live without either of them or could you possibly find a way to live with them both in your life and if you did what did that even say about you?

You laughed, twirling around gently with Addy “What ya say we go get lost babygirl?” she cooed lightly so you laughed “Yeah, I knew we couldn't but can’t blame me for trying” you had no choice but to figure it out, if not for you but for her. Your heart wanted Greg, she needed Jay. You loved them both. What the fuck were you supposed to do??

@desimarie12

@allisonargent144

@nevaehstreater18

[multiheadcanons]

TF2 MERCS DRIVING

scout: scout is actually one of the better drivers. undistracted, and he will lecture anyone who attempts to take his eyes off the road. knows stick shift because soldier taught him how to drive stick shift because “men know stick shift”. however, he doesn’t have his license, so he is legally not allowed to drive for Mann Co. for whatever reason, THAT rule is the one they follow.

soldier: he’s…. definitely capable of driving. nobody would willingly ask him to drive anything that handles better than a campbells soup can, the dogshit cars always act so well maintained with him. he eats at mario kart tho. he’s allowed one (1) shitty car that doesn’t even turn over unless he’s the one with the key in hand. if you ask him about how he happens to start the car he says “just jiggle it!”

pyro: will eat up a vespa. wants so badly to drive a fire truck. can’t for obvious reasons. also eats at mario kart.

engineer: a GREAT driver until you get him on the back roads. then it’s “darlin’, i’ve been driving on texas roads longer than you could see above the wheel, i got this” while your drink is splashing onto your shirt and you’re holding onto the the car handles for dear life and it seems like he’s actively going out of his way to hit every single pot hole and whooping like he’s a kid jesus fucking christ—

heavy: also a great driver! does his best driving on snowy roads, and will not drive a car not within legal parameters. he refuses to allow sascha to be taken because of something as silly as the insurance. easily distracted on the roads though, does better with a passenger princess taking care of directions. brakes for critters, brakes harder for road rage. he does love a good fight.

demo: a bad driver with a lead foot. treats the actual roads like mario kart. he’s also not allowed in the drivers seat of the company cars. that’s why he’s the main user of the teleporters. he uses his turn signals though, and frankly he thinks that’s all that should matter. once tailgated heavy so hard that heavy pulled over and as demo got out, fully ready to fight, and made eye contact with heavy he jumped back in his car and sped off. that was a sobering experience. heavy still laughs about it though.

medic: please do not ask this man to drive. he will be making calls, eating, drinking, changing the radio station, yelling at everyone in the backseat who’s “distracting him”, swerving in and out of lanes, using his knees to keep the wheel straight so he can clap to whatever music he decides on, and if you try to call him out on it, this fucker… this fucker scoffs. “don’t be a baby! i’ve been driving longer than i haven’t been driving, i am a wonderful driver!” with road rage to boot. he is not in his lane half the time. the last time he was allowed to drive for the company he also got into it with heavy. he’s the only one who didn’t get back in his car, but he did apologize. he will fight anyone who asks to fight on the roads, he will race anyone who asks to race. it’s lawless country. sighs about the autobahn often.

sniper: a good enough, responsible enough driver, because he’s the only one (aside from soldier…. technically….) with his own van to maintain. he will never let anyone else in the car if he’s in the car; he has no interest in letting people find out if he’s a good driver or not because his van is his sanctuary and that means everyone else get out. spends most of his time in his van anyway. doesn’t like sedans. does have a habit of tailgating people, and if you are allowed the rare opportunity to be in the vehicle with him and say something about it he’ll go “oh! am i? i’ll stop, thanks for letting me know mate” and then you will never be allowed in the car again. only thing he hates more than passengers are backseat drivers. he will tailgate whoever he wants to. fuck off. has also tailgated heavy so hard heavy pulled over to fight him, and he also got immediately back in his car and waved him off with an appeasing smile. heavy laughs about that too.

spy: you ever wanted to feel like you’re the worst driver in the world? get in a car with spy. feels like james bond. drives with no music, and one of the few times he won’t smoke. feels like an uber frfr. please do not speak to him when he’s driving, he would like to forget about the life he’s actively living and you are a part of that. makes a KILLER getaway car driver. prompt, punctual, professional. won’t drive anything without window tints.

[e-dubbc11]

A Christmas Wish

Photos are not mine. They are courtesy of Pinterest/Google.

Pairing: Billy Russo x F! Reader

Warnings: Fluff, smooches, mentions of Billy’s shitty childhood and a couple of swear words.

Word Count: 2.1K-ish

Summary: You love decorating the Christmas tree but Billy doesn’t and he tries to put on a smile for you so you try to make it better by giving him a few special gifts.

A/N: Greetings and Happy 2025 to my lovely friends! Hope you are well and I apologize for being quiet lately. I’ve been sick and my entire week off from work was spent trying to recover from whatever lovely cold is going around.

I tried to put this out before Christmas but obviously that didn’t happen and I’ve also been a little bummed about friendly interaction, everyone seems to have disappeared but whatever, I digress.

Oh I’m also thinking about trimming down my tag list again just because I don’t feel like wasting anyone’s time if you’re not interested in reading my fics anymore. I dunno, I’m just feeling sorry for myself. I’m sure it will pass…

As always, thank you for reading!  I appreciate it so much and comments, reblogs are welcome and encouraged. Don’t be shy to tell me your favorite part. 💕💕 💕

Some of them were very delicate.

The ornaments were old, made from very thin glass and passed down to you by your parents, that they received from THEIR parents. There were a handful that said “Baby’s First Christmas” followed by your name written in beautiful script. A pink bulb that was stuffed with “angel hair” was one of your favorites. That’s what your dad used to tell you when you were little which you thought was a cute story.

Billy had taken the ornament tote out of storage so the two of you could decorate the tree together. Mostly, he just sat back and let you decorate the tree. He wasn’t particularly fond of this time of year or any holiday.

A brass ornament with a sleeping baby and the year you were born, a red bauble with your name written in silver glitter on the side, and a bone ornament with your childhood dog’s name on it were a few more of your favorites.

Each ornament had a story like who gave it to you and what year, and if there was a reason they picked that particular one. The dates ranged from the time you were born up until recent years. Some of them were handmade from when you were a child that your father thought you might like to have along with the one he gave you last year with a picture of you and Billy inside for your first Christmas together.

Trimmed to perfection, which was obviously Billy’s doing, the tree stood impressively in front of one of the large windows in the penthouse so it could be seen by others, looking out from the tops of their buildings. The warm white lights shined against the dark green needles, giving off an enticing invitation that made it so you couldn’t help but stare at it.

The branches were full and abundant with plenty of room for all of your ornaments as shades of red, green, and gold bounced off the delicate glow of the white lights.

This time of year brought back so many fond memories for you. Billy couldn’t say the same thing. Growing up without a family, this time of year was just a reminder of all the holidays he spent in the group home, alone.

He didn’t have any ornaments from childhood to hang on the tree.

“The decorations they put up just made me more depressed.” He had told you. “The old pathetic little fake tree, it was all bullshit, and it just made me hate her even more for leaving. They called the group home Ray of Hope but there was nothing hopeful about that place.”

He had a mother, she had been out there somewhere but she didn’t want him. She never did. That shattered your heart, twisted your stomach into knots, and left you wondering how a mother could do that to her own child.

The darkness that comes with the winter months is hard enough so you thought a tree would light up that darkness, make it colorful, and maybe brighten his day just a little bit.

Billy put the tree up for you, because you wanted it and because he loved to see you smile, even though the Christmas season didn’t bring him any happy memories like it did for you.

But you were determined to make it better, he deserved it and you loved him more than anything.

**********

If he had ever wanted to talk about it, Billy would be the first one to tell you that his childhood was shit but he worked hard to make sure children in need would have a better Christmas than he ever did so he helped out collecting Toys for Tots during this time of year.

So he had a lot of long December days where he wouldn’t get home until late.

The lights in the penthouse were dimmed to create a warm and cozy environment for when Billy came home. The presents you had for him were nicely wrapped and sitting on the large coffee table near the couch, you picked up his favorite cookies from the bakery, and had a glass of his favorite bourbon ready and waiting for him.

His keys jingled in the door handle as he walked through the door.

“Another late one, sweet girl. I’m sorry.” Said Billy.

He was always so apologetic when he worked late but you understood.

On cold nights like tonight, you loved to sit in the dark, a fire blazing in the fireplace, relax in comfortable clothes, with nothing but the Christmas tree lights on, and quietly look out at the city skyline. You had been enjoying a cup of hot chocolate and reading your book when Billy walked through the door.

He walked over to the couch to give you a quick kiss and then head to his office but you stopped him.

“Can you sit for a minute, handsome? Please?” You asked.

He desperately wanted to get more work done before really calling it a night plus he liked to find any excuse he could to not be near the Christmas tree.

“Can it wait, baby? I just wanna get a little work done.” He said, firmly.

Normally, you could wait a little while until he was finished but tonight was different, this was for him, and you just really wanted to give him something special.

But you decided to put your foot down.

“No…actually, it can’t wait, Billy.” You said.

Billy hated to disappoint you or make you angry with him so he sat down on the couch, next to you. He noticed the present as he took a sip of bourbon.

“Did you get an early present from someone at work or somethin’?” He asked.

Biting down on your lower lip, you shook your head and tried to keep from smiling. You were excited to give him his presents.

“It’s for you, Billy.” You said, softly.

Billy set his glass down, looked at you and then looked at the box.

“But Christmas isn’t for two weeks, sweet girl.” He said with a slight smile.

You replied, “I know…open it.”

The wrapping paper was all white and you had tied a perfect bow with royal blue ribbon. His long fingers carefully untied the ribbon and set it aside. Billy then tore into the wrapping paper, revealing a large white box. As he removed the top, he stared at the blue tissue paper inside for a minute before digging around for the gifts underneath.

Billy first pulled out his United States Marine Corps ornament. He read the saying on the back out loud for you.

“From the Halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli

We fight our country’s battles

In the air, on land, and sea;

First to fight for right and freedom

And to keep our honor clean;

We are proud to claim the title

Of United States Marines.”

Billy looked over at you and started to say, “Baby, this is…”

But you stopped him.

“There’s more, my love. Keep going.” You said, kissing him on the cheek.

He found his Christmas stocking next. It looked like yours except his was red to go along with your green one and his name was embroidered at the top, in the same font to match yours, and a hook to hang it from, over the fireplace. The final gift in the box was a plain red bulb ornament with his name written in silver glitter on it, just like the one you received as a child.

You wanted Billy to have ornaments that were his and his alone for him to hang on the tree. You hoped it would make this time of year a little happier for him.

“Sometimes I forget that this time of year isn’t pleasant for everyone. I was hoping to make it a little better for you, Billy. So I got you ornaments that are just for you.” You said.

He replied, holding the stocking and glitter ornament in his hand, “They’re just like yours.”

“I wish I could take away your bad memories, but I can’t. So I thought maybe if you had new memories…that, um…” You trailed off with a hitch in your voice.

Billy didn’t let you finish. He just leaned in and planted a soft kiss on your lips, the sweet taste of vanilla and a little spicy from the nutmeg on his from the sips of bourbon he had a few minutes ago, and the woodsy scent of his cologne floated past your nose as you kissed him back.

The warm white lights reflected in his onyx colored eyes and his smile traveled from the curl in his lip, up to the lines around his eyes. Billy didn’t have to say how he was feeling, you could see it in his eyes, see it in his smile, and you felt it in the way he kissed you.

“These are just…I don’t…thank you, sweet girl.” Said Billy.

He looked over at the tree for the first time since he arrived home and actually smiled. Billy finally had his own ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree and he looked excited about it.

“Go ahead, baby.” You said with a warm smile.

Billy rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, loosened his tie, stood up while carefully holding his ornaments, walked over to the tree and pondered about where he should place them. You knew the perfectionist in him wanted to pick out the perfect spot for them.

He found your ornament with your name written in silver glitter and he placed his on the branch next to it. Billy then found a branch near the top for his Marines ornament that he needed the stepladder to reach and he hung his stocking on the opposite end of the fireplace from where yours was. He said he had to keep it “symmetrical” which made you chuckle. There’s that perfectionist trait hard at work again.

Billy actually looked content, finding places for his ornaments and hanging his stocking on the fireplace. He finally had the experience that he didn’t get to do when he was young.

Forced to grow up faster than he should have, Billy Russo’s childhood was stolen from him by the person that was supposed to protect him and love him but she didn’t. His mother left him and never looked back so it really wasn’t a mystery of why he didn’t trust anyone, why he never got close to anyone, or why he never had a long term relationship.

You were helping him work through some of that pain and building trust so he would never have to go through any of that hurt ever again.

As he sat down, you let your head gently fall against his chest as he kissed the top of your head. You felt your eyelids getting heavy and it was a relief to close them as you pulled your legs up onto the couch. His body was a warm cradle for yours.

“I love you.” Whispered Billy, kissing the top of your head again.

With your eyes closed still, you smiled and replied, “I love you too, Billy. I just want all your Christmas wishes to come true.”

“You’re all I’ve ever wanted, my love. My only wish is I wish I didn’t have to wait so long for you.” He said in barely more than a whisper.

Tears stung the back of your eyes as your heart began to race and your fingers started to tingle. All Billy had ever wanted was to be loved and something as simple as a Christmas ornament with his name on it, you knew he’d cherish it forever because it came from someone who showed him he deserved to be loved and he was worthy of affection.

You finally understood why Billy always kept you close, why he never let you wander too far from him, and why he had a hand on you at all times. Sometimes he held on a little too tight but it was because he didn’t want what he had to go away or be taken from him like it had all those years ago.

The little toy soldier that was attached to his keys was the first thing you ever gave him and he was constantly reaching into his pocket to make sure it was there. Just like the ornaments, the toy soldier might seem insignificant or small to anyone else, but to him, it was everything.

You gave him back some of the childhood that was taken from him and you will never forget the smile that stretched across his face.

Your parents always said that it was better to give than receive…and giving Billy a happy Christmas memory allowed you to finally experience what they had been talking about.

And they were absolutely right. Making Billy Russo smile really was the best feeling in the world.

Tag List: @wheresthesunshinesblog @idaoftheburningmind @rafaelakelley @snowkestrel @music-indie-tv @kayhi808 @munsonownsmyass @gijos @fictional-hooman @k-marzolf @nutmeg17 @vaguekayla @danzer8705 @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @aoi-targaryen @mysteriouslydeafeningwerewolf @rachlovesactors @qu1etwolf @sweetserendipity65

Others that might enjoy: @itwasthereaminuteago @fluffyprettykitty @jvanilly @ittybxttykxttytxtty @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @mrsbillyrusso @colereads @jediwizardelf @thejanecampaign @milea @folkloreofyennefer @mysweetlittledesire

If you’d like to be added to (or removed from) my tag list for the ever so handsome Billy Russo, just let me know and thank you again for reading! 💕💕💕 If I tagged you but didn’t want to be, just let me know and I’ll never do it again

[jeonginslefthand]

A day in your garden 🪴 🌱

Pairing: FlowerShopOwner!ChoiSan x reader Genre: Little Shop of Horrors AU/Fluff Word count: 3.7k+  Plot summary: You decide to see that flower shop owner again and he decides to show you his favorite place.   Warnings: Murder towards the end. That’s it. A/N: This is part two of my Little Shop on 8th Street series! For those who’ve been keeping up so far, thanks for waiting so patiently!! Also, this is technically my last fic for the year so have a happy new year everyone, and here’s to more writing in 2025!! Click here for part 1 of the series! Little Shop on 8th Street masterlist ATEEZ masterlist

~~~

After a long day of running more errands, you swiftly lay down on your bed as tiredness washes over you. You pull out your phone to begin your nightly doom scrolling, but your mind continues to wander off to the flower shop owner San. You replay your interaction with him today over and over thinking of all the things you could’ve said to him, questions you should’ve asked to get to know him better, wondering when you could see him again. Your heart flutters thinking about his visuals, the structure of his beautiful face, the slickness of his hair, the way his shirt perfectly hugged his toned muscles, it’s an image you paint in your mind over and over again. Until you break out of your trance and come back to reality.

Wait, why am I acting like this? You think to yourself. You haven’t felt this way about anyone in a while. You also don’t usually believe in love at first sight, but something about San is different. Maybe you are too focused on his looks, or maybe it’s the way he carries himself. Maybe it’s his passion for what he does. Whatever it is, you want to see where this goes and that hopefully it works out well. 

~~~

A week passes by and you return to the flower shop once more. Only this time, you’re not looking for anything specific, at least regarding plants. This time you’re hoping to see the owner again, who’s been making your heart race every time you think of him for the past week. You walk up to the door only to be met with a disappointing sign posted on the door. 

“Little Shop on 8th Street will be closed today. Come back tomorrow!” The sign read with a cute drawing of a bunny in the corner. 

“Dang…” you say to yourself. A part of you understood. It seemed like he ran the shop by himself. Of course, he’ll need a break now and then. Maybe you can stop by tomorrow. You still have work in the morning, but can always visit in the afternoon.

“We’re not closed for my new favorite customer!” you hear a voice behind you say and you turn around startled. 

You see a smiling San towering over you as he’s carrying lots of gardening supplies and a heavy bag of soil. 

“Jeez this is the second time you scared me like that!” you respond. 

“Sorry, bad habit of mine. Do you want to come inside?” 

You nod in response and wait for San to get the shop keys. You notice him struggle reaching for his keys and you offer to help hold some of his supplies. He eagerly agrees and hands you some plant potting and plant seeds. He then successfully reaches his keys and opens the door to the shop, leading you inside. The shop looks just about the same since the last time you visited, but there’s a feeling of emptiness this time. Maybe it’s the knowledge that no one else will dare enter the shop, but following around San while standing mere inches away from him feels different than the last time the two of you were in the shop alone.  

“I realized I never got your name the last time,” San says breaking the silence. 

“Oh! I-It’s [Y/N]!” you stutter startled by his sudden statement.

“[Y/N]... such a lovely name! A pretty name for a pretty girl like you!” San responds making you blush hearing your name from his mouth. 

San leads you to the back of the store to a storage room and turns on the lights. You’re welcomed with more gardening supplies, plant starters, and flowers growing small buds that aren’t in bloom yet. 

“You can put the gardening supplies over on that shelf,” San says breaking you from your trance.  

“Oh! Okay!” you say eagerly heading over to the supplies. You begin sorting through the supplies, doing your best to figure out where the right places are. You eventually pick up on where things go, but get stuck on the last item realizing it goes on the top shelf. You do your best to reach the shelf but continue to struggle for a while trying to find a way to reach the top. Until you feel a hand graze your wrist and take the supply you were holding, moving it to the top shelf. 

“You know you can ask for help! Nothing wrong with that!” San says behind you. You start to realize how much taller he is than you. And how bigger his body is compared to yours. Add that with the sound of his breathing filling the room and the air of his breath running down your neck is enough to give you goosebumps, making this situation more intimate than anticipated. 

“G-good to know!” you respond holding back how worked up you are right now. “Anyway, that was the last thing I had so I’ll be on my way ou—”

“Wait! I want to show you something.” San interrupts. 

“Yeah?”

San steps away and begins walking out of the storage room as you follow. You both walk around the shop until you reach a staircase and you follow San up. This leads you both to the shop's second floor where you’re now standing in a common area. You look at your surroundings, noticing the kitchen with the sink halfway filled with dishes, the couch mostly clean with some clothes here and there, and another staircase you assume leads to a third floor. San quickly realizes the mess and frantically straightens a few things up. 

“Apologies for the mess. Had I known you would stop by, this would have looked much neater,” San explains as he throws clothes into a laundry area. 

“It’s okay! I’m the one who stupidly stopped by on your day off.” You respond. “And trust me, my place is much worse.”

“I would love to see it sometime! I’m sure it’s lovely messy or clean.”

“Hmm… maybe give me a heads up so you can see it in its fresh clean state!”

“Or maybe I’ll swing by on your day off! Then we’ll be even no?”

“Fair point. Now I’m sure the thing you want to show me is not your living room right?”

“Oh! That’s right! Follow me.”

San walks up the second set of staircases and you follow. The stairs lead to a rooftop patio filled with an assortment of plants. You recognize some you have seen in the store, but plenty of others you haven’t seen. The collection of plants are arranged like a garden. With the carefully crafted color scheme and the combining scents of the flowers filling your nostrils, you feel like you could get lost in this garden forever.

“This is so beautiful…” you say to San in awe.

“Welcome to the Little Shop’s secret garden! I come up here to work on personal plant projects and sometimes to get some fresh air after a long day.” San replies.

“Personal projects? Like what?”

“Well… I like cross-breeding different flowers. It’s so interesting to see what new features come from them. And sometimes I grow the plants I sell here. I have to know how best to take care of the products so I can inform the customer. What better way than to experiment in my own home.”  

“That’s amazing!! And cross-breeding is difficult. Tried it one time and didn’t get far…”

“Takes a lot of practice. Everything that goes into the process is very strategic. Believe me, it took a long time to get my method down.”

San picks up a watering can and starts walking around. You tag along admiring the array of plants bringing life to the patio. As San is watering plants, he stops on a particular flower. You stand next to him, feeling something drawing you to the flower. 

“Seems like you like the lilacs!” San says.

“Had a feeling they were lilacs. They look a bit different though.”

“These are my crossbreed lilacs and they’ve been the most difficult ones. They only crossbreed with other lilac species so it’s been a lot of trial and error, mostly error.”

“The way the colors blend is so pretty, reminds me of a sunset. And the leaves… they’re shaped into tiny hearts.” You go to touch one of the leaves as you’re admiring them. 

“Want to know something? The two breeds that created this can only be cross-breed with each other. I tried other lilac breeds on them but it hasn’t worked out. It’s like the two breeds were made for each other. Like they were waiting for their perfect match.”

“Huh, true love found through plants… who would’ve thought—” You think to yourself. 

San gets closer to the lilacs as he carefully waters them. Something is soothing about the way he waters this specific plant. The way each droplet falls on each leaf perfectly and how he monitors the amount of water going in. Delicately tipping the watering can making sure the water pressure is just right, like the lilacs could break at the slightest miscalculation. 

You follow San around some more as he waters more plants. He even hands you the watering can and lets you water some of the plants. You’re very familiar with this sort of task but you still allow San to help you. And by helping you, putting his hands where your hands are, and guiding them to water the plants with just the right amount of water. 

Following the garden adventure, you stay a little longer in San’s apartment. San pulls out some wine and two glasses and you both begin to loosen up and get comfortable. A little too comfortable. 

“So what’s a handsome man like you really doing in this small town?” You ask in a more sultry tone than usual.

“I already told you, I wanted to get away from the big city. I love the smaller towns anyway. They have so much more to appreciate than the crowded stuffy cities.” San responds. 

“Reallyyy? Are you sure you’re not getting away from other things? Like a dark secret past? Or… a dark secret ex?” You mentally question why you said the last part. Why would you randomly ask about his relationship life when you barely have gotten to know him?

“You’re funny. Unfortunately, there’s no dark past or… crazy ex for me. I had a… pretty uneventful life in the city…”

“Dang. Not even one crazy ex story? I feel everyone has a crazy ex story.”

“Not me, unfortunately. But… what about you? Do you have a crazy ex story?” 

“Oh yeah! This one dude I dated Minho was insane. I don’t know why I even dated him. First, he was so obsessed with his cats which was weird but I didn’t think anything of it. Then he would always get jealous when I hung out with my guy friends, a little too jealous. He even got jealous when I hung out with my brother once and it was super weird. One time, we were on a break from each other and it turned out that he was stalking me and taking pictures of me wherever I went. It was so strange!”

You kept going on and on rambling about Minho as the alcohol fully took over you. In your mind, you wondered why you were even telling all this to San. Being with Minho was not the best moment of your life but here you are joking about it like it was nothing. Part of you wondered if you would have been able to tell all this to San without the alcohol. Perhaps he just has a presence that makes him easy to trust. After all, he did let you into his home so you assume that there is some connection between you two.

“Anyway, I definitely only kept going back to him because he was hot and I was desperate. I mean who wouldn’t keep going back to a beauty like this?” You wrap up by showing San a picture you still had of Minho. “It’s a shame he turned out to be a psycho…” 

San closely examines the photo like he wants his face imprinted in his mind. He chuckles and mumbles “Not as pretty as me though.”

“What was that?” You ask. You heard what he said, you just wanted to hear it again.

“Nothing,” San responds. “Anyway, it’s getting late and you are in no position to drive home. Do you want me to call a cab?”

“It’s fine. I walked here and I can walk back.” 

“Then, let me walk back with you!”

You let San walk you back to your home. The two of you are about to part ways on your porch when San suddenly says “Do you maybe want to hang out again sometime? Maybe we can go somewhere that doesn’t involve flowers.”

You pause, shocked at the sudden proposition. “S-sure I would love that!”

“Great!” San pulls out a notepad and pen from his pocket and starts writing something down. He then tears the paper off, folds it, and hands it to you.

“Here’s my cell number. Text me when you’re available!” 

“Well, guess I’ll be seeing you again soon!” You smile. 

You unlock your door and head inside and you see San start walking back toward the direction of his shop. As you close the door you giggle to yourself feeling like you just scored big time. You open the note and pull out your phone ready to save his number as you read it to yourself:

“3XX-5XX-8XXX! Text me soon dear ;)” it reads with a bunny doodle and some flowers surrounding it. 

~~~

Three days pass without San hearing from you. He worries a little bit that he was too forward, but also assumes that you’re hopefully just busy. He keeps himself distracted by interacting with the other customers in the store remembering he still has to make a living. 

About two hours before closing San decides to clean up around the shop and he hears the front bell jingle. 

“Oh hi! Welcome to the Little Shop!” San cheerfully says looking up toward the door. “Anything I can help you with today?”

“Oh, I’m just looking around for now.” A man with a soft voice says.

“Well let me know if you need any help! You can come find me at the register.” 

San finishes cleaning his area and walks back to the register. He also gets a clearer look at the man who is currently checking out the begonias. In his mind, San feels he looks familiar and he’s searching through his mind where he’s seen his face before. And then the dots start connecting and a lightbulb lights up in San’s mind.

“Oh. My. God. THAT’S Y/N’s ex!” San thinks to himself. Granted he was a little tipsy when he saw the pic of him, but San was sure that was Minho. He looked a little different from the photo, possibly because of his longer hair, but his facial features are an exact carbon copy. 

San wasn’t sure what to do. On one hand, he thinks he should leave him alone and let him shop like a normal customer. On the other hand…

“Audrey keeps pestering me about needing to be fed. And that plant’s not gonna last on my blood much longer. It’s not like I would be killing an innocent person either. He seemed like he caused so much pain in Y/N’s life, despite her hiding it through her jokes. And I can do it discreetly now that I’ve waited long enough to drive out suspicion…” 

“Hey! Flower boy I need some help!” Minho calls out to San.

Snapping out of his thoughts San quickly walks over to Minho, holding two flower pot samples. 

“Which one would be the better option for my girlfriend? It’s our anniversary and I want to get something special.” Minho asks. 

“Well I’m not familiar with your girlfriend’s preferences, but for an anniversary, I would recommend the lilies. They’re in season and will look stunning bundled in a bouquet.” San responds. 

Minho contemplates San’s suggestion and nods in agreement. 

“Alright! Then I’ll take two bouquets! One all black and one all pink.”

“Great! Follow me to the register and I’ll ring you up and get some more information!” San responds, putting on his best customer service voice. 

San leads Minho to the register and starts ringing him up while taking down other important information.

“So I will need time to prepare the arrangement which should take about 1-2 days. I will contact you by phone when the flowers are ready. Would you like to add a personalized note with the bouquet?” San says to Minho.

“Actually yes,” Minho responds clearing his throat. San prepares to write down the message in his notes.

“Awesome! What would you like the note to say?”

“To my kitten… Fate may often separate us, but it will always align for us to be together. Love you dearly my darling Y/N, waiting for fate to bring you back soon.” 

San stopped his writing as soon as he heard your name. Now he can confirm, this dude is psychotic. He also now knows that he’s been lying the entire time. According to your tipsy rant last night, you’re not his girlfriend, at least not anymore. 

“This man is beyond insane he’s delusional… just what is he planning?” San thinks to himself. 

He pretends to write down the part that he missed after your name and seemingly reads it over to himself. 

“Huh… interesting note for an anniversary bouquet. Is your girlfriend traveling right now?” San asks.

“Not really. But um, we haven’t seen each other in a while, and last time we talked she said she wanted to “take a break.” I hope to make up with her on our technical anniversary with these lovely flowers.” Minho responds. 

San pauses to think to himself again. 

“I was hoping this guy had changed and gotten over Y/N but seems like that’s not the case. I can’t let him get close to Y/N. Who knows what he’ll do if I let him go…” 

San returns to reality with Minho.

“Well, if that’s the case… might I recommend one more flower to add to the arrangement?” San says.

“Hmm, depends on what it is,” Minho responds.

San walks across the store to a cabinet. He opens the cabinet that is filled with fresh poppy flowers. He takes one of the yellow ones and walks back over to Minho, holding the flower between the two of them but holding it closer to Minho.

“These are a rare breed of California poppies. I think this would show how much you value and care for your girlfriend. Also, they smell nice and can lift the room's mood. Go on, take a sniff and see for yourself…” San explains. 

Minho gets a good whiff of the flowers and lets out a pleasant sigh.

“Wow… they smell delicious. You know they remind me of—” Minho starts, but cuts himself off as he passes out on the ground in front of San. 

San puts the plant down on the cashier counter and quickly walks to the door, adjusting the front sign from “Open” to “Closed.” He quickly walks back to Minho’s unconscious body and leans over to pick up his legs.

“Oh, one more thing I should’ve mentioned… poppy scents are so intoxicating, they can also be used to render one unconscious. So don’t sniff them for too long.” San says to Minho almost mockingly. “Oops! Guess I should’ve said something sooner.” 

San hums to himself as he drags Minho’s body across the shop floor into the forbidden room where he keeps the now larger plant. He unlocks the door and the plants sprouts up hearing San enter.

“Guess what Audrey? Looks like you’ll be eating a real meal tonight!” San says in his usual happy upbeat tone. He’s also happy that he won’t have to use his blood for the next few days.

“About time flower boy! I’m dying here!” Audrey says in response.

“Yeah, I know. It’s all I’ve been hearing from you for the past few days. ‘Oh I need some food’ ‘Some real human food’ ‘Get me some human food…don’t you love me boy?’ I’m sick of the whining so hopefully this shuts you up.”

“It would if you quit your yapping and gave me the damn food.”

San pulls Minho closer to Audrey and takes a step back.

“He’s all yours!” San says smiling. 

Audrey uses one of its vines to wrap Minho up. The plant brings Minho closer to its mouth getting a taste of the savory meal to come. Minho however, slowly starts to wake up and notices what is going on, and begins to let out a scream. But Audrey uses a smaller vine to cover his mouth. San walks over closer to Minho and leans in toward him.

“Shhh. Not too loud. The lovely baker next door will get suspicious.” San softly says with a sly smile.

Minho angrily mumbles something, but San couldn't care less what he has to say now.

“Well, let’s say I heard a thing or two about you, and now… this is your karma.”

Minho says another muffled line.

“Don’t worry I’ll be sure to deliver the flowers personally to Y/N. On the house!” San says in response. 

Minho struggles to get loose and tries to call out for help. However, San steps backward as the large plant throws Minho into its mouth taking a big chomp. Some blood splatters as Audrey bites down and San closes his eyes as some of the blood accidentally sprays on him and his clothes. 

“I always forget this happens sometimes…” San mutters to himself a little annoyed. 

San walks over to a corner and gets a mop and a towel to start cleaning up Audrey’s mess. As he’s cleaning he feels a buzzing in his pocket and takes out his phone to see what’s going on. He smiles when he sees it’s a message from you. 

“I guess we’re both having good days Audrey. Seems like I got that date with Y/N!”

~~~

If you enjoyed this leave a like, reblog, and/or comment! I appreciate it and thanks for reading. If you would like to be added to the taglist for this series let me know with a comment too! 🫶

[itzkingbo]

butterflies and roses

chapter two.

Stray Kids ot8 x fem!reader

masterlist / prev chapter / next chapter

overview: you are one of their managers. you're tired, overworked, and sad. the last thing you want to do is worry your boys. but they notice everything. and they love and care for you, like you do for them.

word count: 2.1k

contains: cussing, mentions of pain, fluff, nicknames, use of y/n, mental illness, forcing to eat

a/n: HAPPY NEW YEAR MY FRIENDS!! mwauh mwauh!! id like to thank everyone who liked the first chapter and followed me ☺️ welcome to the family. expect great things! if you're new here, HAI im bo! this is chapter two! make sure to catch up!! MORE TO COME I SWEAR. remember! comment to be added to the taglist down below!

Once again, you got little to no sleep that night. You managed to throw yourself into a cold shower the next morning to try and wake up a little. It only did so much. Then you were on your way to the company building once again.

Today's schedule for was slightly more relaxed. You have a meeting with the higher ups to get flights and hotels arranged for the tour, then the boys have an interview. After that you figured you'd spend the rest of your time trying to finish off the paperwork.

The meeting was stressful. No one could seem to agree on anything and kept looking to you to solve their problems. That's how it always was. Everything was thrown onto your shoulders to deal with.

By the end, you had more paperwork to get done than you originally thought. You huffed and packed your bag, then made your way down to the lobby to meet with the other manager.

He was standing there on his phone, pocketing it when he saw you. "Good morning, Y/n-ssi." He greeted you with a small bow. "Morning Eunwoo-ssi." You said tiredly as you joined his side.

The man led you out the front doors and towards his car so the two of you could meet the boys for their interview. When you sat down and buckled into his passenger seat, he handed you his phone.

You raised a brow and took it cautiously. "It's a long drive. Put something on." He says as he starts the car and begins to drive.

Silently, you scroll through spotify to try and find something to put on. Recently a song has been stuck in your head, so you choose that then set his phone aside to look out your window.

As the song begins to play, Eunwoo stiffens up at the lyrics. He wasn't blind. He could tell how much more distant you had been with him and the boys lately. Something was clearly wrong, but you were too stubborn to talk to anyone.

He chose to stay silent, and kept his eyes on the road.

Soon the car came to a stop in the parking lot of a tall building. You and Eunwoo silently made your way towards the front entrance. "Y/n." He starts, and you simply hum in response.

"You know you can talk to me, right?"

You look over at him and give him a faint smile. "Sure." You say. Before he can continue, the sound of the boys' loudness makes its way towards you.

Instantly, you look to Chris, who is already staring at you. You look away and begin to lead them down the halls to the room for the interview.

They take their places in front of the camera, and makeup artists move around them meticulously. Chris eyes you from his spot, worried. "Channie-hyung.. What's bothering you?" It's Jeongin's voice that breaks him from his thoughts.

He looks towards the youngest and sighs, leaning in. "Doesn't Y/n look sadder these days? Pale and thinner? She isn't taking care of herself." He whispers.

Jeongin's lips part slightly and he looks towards you, inspecting you from afar. A frown form on his face and he looks back to his elder brother. "You're right.. have you asked her what's wrong?"

Chris nods. "Last night. She's closing us off."

Jeongin hums in thought. "I have an idea."

With that, he leans over and whispers into Chris' ear his plan, right before cameras begin to roll.

After the interview finished up, you quickly told Eunwoo that you would just take a bus back to JYPE. He protested at first, but couldn't get you to change your mind. As you were leaving, you felt something tug at your wrist so you turned to see. It was Felix. "Y/n-ah. Come eat lunch with us." He says, giving you that bright smile he knew you couldn't resist.

You bit the inside of your cheek and looked over his shoulder to see the others pouting at you in a pitiful manner. You looked back to the sunshine before you. "Felix.. I have paperwork to do."

Then he bats his eyelashes at you. Obviously you fold in seconds with a sigh. "Alright. Lunch it is." He smiles and tightens his grip on your wrist and pulls you towards the door.

The others follow behind you, and suddenly theres an arm around your shoulder. "We were thinking hot pot. Is that okay?" Jisung asks, making sure he's as close to you as humanly possible. You simply nod. Although you weren't very hungry, maybe you could eat a bit.

Felix looks back at you, then at Jisung with a knowing look. The boy removes his arm from you and falls back, now next to Minho.

By the time you all arrive at the restaurant, you've barely said anything to the boys. Not because you're ignoring them. You just don't feel like talking.

Felix makes it a point to squeeze you in between him and Minho, Jisung to the left of him. You set your bag on the ground by your feet and look at the menu. Nothing looks good or sounds good and you grimace at the thought of anything.

The server comes, and takes your orders. Soon, everything is brought out and the boys begin to cook the food. "Y/n. Look at this new phone game I got." Felix says, grabbing onto your wrist to get your attention. You look over dutifully, wanting to make sure he had your full attention. He showed you every little detail about it that he possibly could. It made a small smile fall onto your face.

What you hadn't noticed, was a certain menace next to you rummaging around in your bag whilst you were distracted.

The evening went on normally from there. You ate a few pieces of meat off Felix's plate, not wanting any for yourself. Then, you were off to the office. Work needed to be done.

You were incredibly exhausted still, barely running on caffeine. By 9:30pm, you were falling asleep at your desk. It was when your forehead smacked into your keyboard that you finally got the hint to go home. Usually you could force yourself to stay awake, but today it wasn't working.

But, you knew the moment you got home, you'd be wide awake again. Regardless, you stood from your desk and collected your things. Finally, you checked your phone for the first time in hours. That was when you realized you had a message from Chris. 'text me when you leave jype'

He always wanted to make sure you got home at a decent time, especially when he wasn't there to monitor your every move, so you thought nothing of it. You send him a quick next saying you're finally leaving before 10pm, then start leaving your office.

What you didn't know, was there was eight people waiting at your apartment for you.

"She's leaving now! We have like twenty minutes!" Chris called out from your bathroom. He heard several 'okay's and 'got it's from around the apartment and he quickened his pace. Currently, he was cleaning it up for you. Minho was hard at work in your kitchen making dinner, Felix baking your favorite sweets.

Jisung and Jeongin had been tasked with cleaning your living room, setting it up for a movie night and games. Changbin and Hyunjin were picking up your room, even folding the clean laundry you had left in a basket a week ago. Seungmin had been sent to the store to get snacks, drinks, and a few things on your shopping list you had been lacking.

On the bus, you were starting to become more awake now. You regretted leaving early, but you were so worn out that you didn't care. You stepped off the bus and gripped your bag tight, beginning your walk down the dark streets of Seoul.

You popped in one airpod, and chose a song from your playlist to keep your mind from wondering.

It's usually pretty quiet at this time of night. Strangers passing by every so often. Convenience store bells dinging in the distance. Peaceful. It didn't take you long for you to make it to your apartment building, and you could already feel the longing for your mattress growing. How long had it been since you got a good night sleep anyway? Two weeks? You had lost count.

You walked up the steps, putting your airpod away and making your way down the hall to your door. You pulled your bag around to your front and rummaged around for your key.

Your key. That's odd. You could have sworn it was there this morning. Where could it have gone? Your brows furrowed and now you practically had your whole head in your bag searching for your key.

Then the sound of a door opening caught your attention. You looked up. It was your door. When you locked eyes with Chris, you became even more confused. "Chris?" He opened the door wider for you and you stepped in cautiously. It was dark. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

Right on cue, the lights turned on and you winced slightly before your eyes adjusted. You looked around. It was.. clean!? The boys were all sprawled out around your now clean living room, minus a few. You felt tears well up in your eyes and you covered your mouth. "You-"

"We figured we'd help you out a bit, Y/n. You've clearly been stressed." Chris says, causing you to turn to him. You quickly embrace him in a hug as tears stream down your face. "Thank you." You mumble.

"Is she home?" You hear a familiar deep voice call out. Then, the smell of baked goodies hits your nose and you look up from where you stood in Chris' arms. The moment your eyes land on the brownies in his hands, you shoot over to Felix like a rocket and snatch one up. "Oh. Lixie." You say, mouth full.

He chuckles happy to see a smile on your face. "Minho-hyung has dinner going." He says, moving over to hand brownies to the others.

For the next hour or so, you stay huddled up on the couch trapped in Felix's arms as you all play Uno. Soon, everyone gets up to go make a plate of food, but you stay on the couch. This doesn't go unnoticed, and the man himself takes a seat next to you and shoves a plate into your hands. "Eat." Minho says, leaving no room for argument.

"I'm not hungry." You say quickly, moving the plate to the coffee table. Minho glares at you. "Yes you are. Look at you, y/n. You're to thin I'm afraid you might snap if I poke you. Eat."

You frown and grab the plate again. It does smell delicious. And who were you to say no to his cooking anyway. You pick at it for a few minutes before a hand interrupts and grabs your chopsticks. "He said eat." Jisung growls, picking up some food and then grabbing your jaw with his free hand. "So eat." And you open, and he shoves the noodles into your mouth.

You look up at him with your eyes as the others laugh at his sudden burst of outrage. You chew, and then swallow. "Do I have to keep feeding you like a baby, or will you eat?"

With a scoff, you take your chopsticks back and begin to eat properly.

The night passes by, and soon it's midnight. Everyone is cuddled up on the couch, your head leaned against Hyunjin's shoulder. A movie played on the TV, but you weren't watching. You were passed out, and had been for a while. As the film came to an end, Chris looked over at you and smiled. "Finally.." He sighed. "Let's take her yo her bed."

Hyunjin nods and maneuvers carefully to scoop you up without waking you. Then, he caries you down the hall and into your room where he lays you down, and makes sure you're under the covers. You stir a little, and he places a gentle kiss to your forehead. "Good night, y/n-ah."

None of them left, in fear that you'd wake up and fall back into your habits quickly. So they slept on pallets on the floor and the couch. All eight of them would be spending the next day helping you heal, or the next week if they had to. You needed them.

---

taglist: @helialaufeyson28

[sequinsmile-x]

Keep My Hand in Yours

A quiet Saturday morning goes wrong, and the team finding out about her relationship with Aaron is the least of Emily's concerns.

-x-

Hi besties <3

It feels absolutely wild to say that this fic takes me over 2.5 million words of fanfic. 2.5 million words of Hotchniss!!

I'm cooking up a fic to celebrate the milestone (y'all know I love a milestone...I'm a water sign, I'm emotional haha) but for now I just want to say I appreciate every single one of you and all of the comments/kudos etc that you leave on my fics. It truly means the world and I love this little corner of the internet.

As always, let me know what you think <3

-x-

Warnings: mild peril, canon typical violence

Words: 4.8k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

Emily wakes up slowly, drawn from sleep by a hand skating up and down her back, warm and newly familiar calluses chased by shivers they created on her bare skin. She groans and buries her face in her pillow, blindly hitting out at Aaron as he chuckles at her. 

“Good morning to you too.” 

She opens one eye and looks at him, fighting a losing battle against a smile as he captures her hand and kisses her knuckles, “Morning,” she replies, furrowing her brow when she sees he’s dressed in a pair of jeans and a polo shirt she knew had been in her closet, “Where are you going?” 

Aaron smiles and leans in to kiss her, his lips stamped against her cheek and then her lips as she turns her head to capture them, “I was going to make you breakfast, but you don’t have any eggs.”

She grumbles and wraps her arm around his neck, pulling him and the warmth that seemed to follow him like a shadow closer to her, “I don’t need breakfast,” she mumbles, kissing him again, “I need you to get back in bed.” 

“I’ll only be gone for 30 minutes,” He laughs and pushes some of her hair out of her face. He runs his knuckles down her cheek, the impossible softness of her skin making his chest tight just like it always did. She was everything he always knew she’d be and more, and the four short weeks they’d been together had been worth every painful thing he’d been through to get to her, to them. He swallows thickly to push back down the three words they hadn’t exchanged yet, “Then I’ll come back and cook you breakfast, and then I’ll get back into bed with you.” 

She hums, “What time do you have to get back to Jack?”

“He’s with Jess and Roy this weekend,” he says, “So I can stay as long as you’ll have me.” 

Emily’s cheeks ache with the smile that spreads across her face, love for him warming her from the inside out, threatening to spill out of her in the safety of her bedroom and his embrace. He’d become her safe space when she came home from Paris, had been the one person who truly understood what it was to put yourself back together after you’d been so brutally torn apart. Bit by bit, all the feelings she’d felt for him, everything she’d stuffed down into the deepest parts of herself ever since Foyet had attacked him, started to make themselves known. She’d loved him for a lot longer than the four weeks she’d had him, had wanted to kiss him years before she’d leant forward one evening in his apartment and stamped her lips against his. 

It was early days still, she knew that, but she also knew that this was it, that he was it. With anyone else, she’s sure it would terrify her, that it would have her running as far away as possible, but with Aaron all she wanted to do was run with him. To grab his hand and go wherever life led them both. 

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Agent Hotchner,” she replies, stamping her lips against his before she lets him go, “You and I both know I’d keep you here forever.” 

“And we both know I’d stay,” he smiles at her, and she can’t help but cup his cheek again, her thumb pressed into his dimple as she drags him in for one last kiss, “I should go.” 

She hums and wraps her arms around her pillow again, “Don’t be surprised if I fall asleep before you get back.” 

He watches as she settles back down, her eyes drifting shut as she sighs contentedly. He’d always known she was beautiful, even when he was still married to Haley. When he looked back on it, he knew it was part of the reason he’d been so cold to her at first. His attraction to her something that poured gasoline on the fire of his mistrust of her, guilt sparking in his gut every time her smile made his chest warm or her laugh had him suppressing a smile. He’d always known she was beautiful, but she’d never been as beautiful as this - laying in her bed, her hair a mess and her face free of make-up. It felt like a privilege, something he wasn’t entirely sure he deserved.

He chuckles as he stands up, “I wouldn’t expect anything else, sweetheart.” 

“Shush,” she says, pulling the covers tighter around her shoulders, her smile pressed against them as she breathes in his scent, “I’m sleeping.” 

She’s asleep again before he leaves the apartment, lulled to sleep by the residual warmth and safety he’d left behind. She slips in and out of slumber, and finally gets out of bed when she can’t settle any more. She frowns when she sees the time and realises Aaron has been gone for close to an hour, and it makes concern flicker in her gut. She gets out of bed and slips his shirt over her head and walks into the kitchen to get her phone to call him. She furrows her brow when she hears sirens outside, but ignores them as she tries to call Aaron, her concern getting worse when it rings twice before going to voicemail. 

She blows out a breath and tells herself that she’s overreacting, that he’s likely at the cashier and paying, that he’d got distracted by picking out flowers for her as he had before. She settles onto the couch and picks up the remote, smiling to herself when she switches it on and sees the local news. She wasn’t one for watching it herself, she thought that there was enough doom and gloom in her life because of her job, but Aaron watched it all the time. She’s about to change the channel, to find one of the reality shows she secretly loves, when the rolling bulletin across the bottom of the screen catches her attention. 

Breaking News: Local convenience store held hostage, one known gunman inside. 

Time slows down around her, the air thick as she struggles to suck in a breath as she waits for the anchor to say something, to make her feel stupid for worrying and immediately thinking the worst by saying it was a store way across town. When they discuss the story, when they say it’s the store she knows Aaron has gone to, she feels nauseous, her stomach rolling with it as she scrambles for her phone. 

He was just going to buy eggs. He was making her breakfast. He was just buying eggs so his gun was still in her safe. 

Her thumb lingers over Penelope’s contact in her phone. She knows if she sounds the alarm, if she calls her and asks her to contact everyone else, that she’ll be doing more than letting them know Aaron is in danger. She’ll be letting them know about the relationship none of them knew about yet. They were planning on telling the team soon. Dave was hosting everyone for dinner in a week and that felt like the perfect time, mutual ground to explain to their friends that they were together now. 

She shakes off the thought and calls Penelope, knowing she’d much rather deal with all of their questions by herself rather than not have their help.

“Peaches, what are you doing calling so early on a Saturday?” 

She blows out a breath and heads towards her bedroom, her phone sandwiched between her ear and her shoulder as she starts to get changed, “Pen, hi. Something’s happened to Hotch.”

___

He spends too long looking at flowers. 

He eventually settles on sunflowers, even though he’d bought them for her before, because he knows they are safe for Sergio. The cat may not exactly be his friend, but Emily loved him and therefore Aaron did too. Even if that love was returned in the form of scratches on his chest and two torn-up silk ties. 

He’s looking at the eggs when he hears it, when there’s a commotion at the front of the store that distracts him. There’s a scream followed by shouting, but he’s barely able to register what’s happening, barely able to think about the fact he’d left the apartment to simply buy some eggs, when there’s a man standing at the end of the aisle waving a gun around, pointing it at him as he demands Aaron comes to the front of the store with everyone else. 

Aaron’s belt feels heavy, the absence of his gun almost weighing him down as he puts his hands up, the carton of eggs and the flowers hitting the floor, and does as he’s told. 

This couldn’t be the way he went out, not after everything. He wasn’t going to die in a strange twist of fate after everything he’d survived. He wasn’t going to leave his son without any parents. 

And he wasn’t going to die before he told the love of his life how he felt about her, the words he wished he’d said as he left her less than an hour ago heavy on his tongue. 

He was going to live, because, for the first time in a long time, he had so much to live for. 

He sits on the ground with the other people unfortunate enough to be in the store just at the wrong time, and he jumps when his phone rings, the sound cutting through the forced silence they are all in. 

“Give me the phone,” the gunman demands, and Aaron nods and swallows thickly as he hands it over, Emily’s name and picture staring up at him for only a second before the man pointing a gun at him drops it to the floor and stands on it, the call coming to an abrupt end as the screen cracks. Aaron watches the man carefully, his focus on his shaking hands, wide eyes, and uncovered face. It seemed like this was done on a whim, in a fit of rage for one reason or another, and that it was unlikely he had an exit plan. “If everyone listens to me, no one has to get hurt.”

Aaron had done his job long enough to know that wasn’t true. 

___

She flashes her badge when she arrives at the scene. She takes a deep breath as she steps past the barricade and does her best to slip into Agent Prentiss mode, to remind herself she wasn’t here as a girlfriend worried about her boyfriend. She stares at the store, at the place she’d gone to countless times, and wonders how yet another place she’d gone to without thinking had now been marred by violence, how she’d ever walk through the aisles looking for whatever she wanted for dinner without thinking about the fact Aaron had been in danger there. 

“Bella.”

She turns and sees Dave, Derek and JJ behind her, and she walks towards them, forcing a smile on her face she knows they’ll see through, “Did you guys all carpool or something?” 

Derek shakes his head, “We just all got here. Reid is on his way. Garcia has gone to the office, she said she’d be more use there.”

Emily nods, her gaze drifting back to the store behind them and the temporary command centre the local cops had set up, “Good, that’s good.” 

“How did you know Aaron was in there anyway?” Dave asks, and Emily closes her eyes and blows out a breath before she turns to look at them, ready to give the answer she was sure would only create more questions. 

“Well-”

“This store is significantly closer to your place Emily than it is to Hotch’s,” Spencer says, appearing behind everyone else, his eyebrows furrowed as he says what the others hadn’t realised yet, “There are three convenience stores and two grocery stores between here and his apartment.” 

She sighs as she watches the moment it clicks for everyone else, sees the mix of emotions that pass over their faces as they realise what she and Aaron had kept hidden from them. 

“Well I’ll be damned,” Dave says, shaking his head as he smiles at her, a spark in his eyes that infuriates her given the circumstances. They fall into silence, all of them just waiting for someone to say something first.

“What’s happening?” Spencer asks, his brow furrowed as he looks back and forth between Emily and the rest of them. 

“Hotch was at Emily’s place, Spence,” JJ says, patting him on the shoulder, her lips pressed together when he just looks more confused. 

“What? Why?” 

“Well,” JJ says, flicking her eyes to Emily’s, “When a man and a woman love each other very much-”

“Can we stop please?” Emily says, crossing her arms over her chest, “Yes, Aaron was at mine,” she clears her throat, “We’re together.” 

Derek furrows his brow, “How long has this been going on?” 

“A month,” she replies, “And I’m sure you have questions-”

“Damn right we have questions,” Derek replies, his jaw tight with anger that only serves to make her angry. 

“And we’ll answer them,” she huffs out a breath, “Most of them. But for now can we please focus on getting him out of there?” 

The reality of where they were, of why they were here on a Saturday morning, seems to sink back in and they all nod. Derek’s shoulders loosen and he swallows thickly, his irritation and mistrust still painted all over his face. 

“Have you spoken to anyone yet?” 

She shakes her head, “I got here just before you.” 

“Then we’d better get going.” 

Dave takes charge and talks to the local cops, something she’s grateful for when they ask why the FBI are interested in a case like this, sure that her response would have been a lot more forceful than his calm ‘one of our own is in there’. They find out the gunman, Neil West, is an ex-employee of the store, and that his ex-girlfriend is the cashier currently in there. Penelope pulls his history - a story of stalking and assault charges that turn Emily’s stomach - and makes her more nervous. She’s sure West doesn’t have a plan, that he’s devolving as they just stand there outside unable to do anything, and it makes her feel sick, any pretence that she’s just here as an agent, as a member of Aaron’s team, disappearing by the second. 

The team spreads out, all of them helping the cops in whatever way they can. Emily feels frozen, the three words she couldn’t say earlier stuck in her throat, her lungs full of what felt like cowardice how she was faced with the thought that she may not get the chance to tell him that she loves him. 

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” 

She sighs, “Derek-”

“Secrets never end up being good for any of us,” he says, shaking his head as he looks at her, “Especially yours.” 

She scoffs in disbelief, a humourless laugh sticking in her throat, “You have got to be kidding me,” she shakes her head, “You’re not equating my relationship with Aaron to…” she swallows thickly, her jaw tight as she holds back everything she wants to say, sure if she started she wouldn’t stop, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Because you two didn’t tell us anything.” 

“It’s been a month, Derek,” she says, “A month. We wanted to know where we stood with everything before we got everyone involved.”

“And that took a month?” 

“No, it took me maybe a few minutes to realise that I’m in love with him, but-”

Derek’s frown slips away as he cuts her off, “You’re in love with him?” 

Before she can answer, before she can even catch up with what she’s unintentionally said outloud, a gunshot rings out from inside the store. It feels like time stands still, like she’s underwater and she can’t hear anything apart from the echo of the gunshot in her head. She tries to move forward, tries to get to him but she can’t, like she’s frozen in place. Everything around her speeds back up and she realises Derek’s arm is around her middle, that he’s holding her so tightly her feet are no longer on the floor.

“Derek, let me go.”

“I can’t princess, I’m sorry,” he says, holding her tighter as police storm the building, “We both know he wouldn’t want me to.”

She stops fighting against him because she can’t anymore, all of her energy thrown into not crying, into not letting the pre-emptive grief settle into her chest, because if someone in there had got themselves shot trying to be a hero it would be Aaron. Stupid, loving, considerate, Aaron. It feels like a lifetime passes before they hear anything, every possibility playing out in front of her in a mix of static and vivid technicolour as she thinks of her life with and without him, fractures of everything that could and might not be slotting together until she feels nauseous. She feels stupid for letting herself get carried away with the thought of a future with him, for letting herself think for one minute that she’d be able to hold on to him. She’d never been able to keep anything good for long. 

When she eventually hears the crackle of the radio of a nearby cop she sucks in a breath preparing herself for the worst because life had never been too kind to her. 

“We need a medic for a gunshot wound to the gunman’s shoulder. All hostages are on their way out now.”

The relief almost makes her knees give out, and she’s sure if Derek still hadn’t been holding her they would have, that she would have collapsed under the weight of it.  He doesn’t let her go until the doors open, until Aaron is in sight. She runs towards him, her heart in her throat when she sees a cut on his forehead, and she throws her arms around him, not thinking about the team just a few feet behind them.

“You were gone a lot longer than 30 minutes,” she says, her throat tight as she pulls back to look at him, her eyes fixed on the cut on his head. She reaches out to touch it but stops short of doing so, worried she’d hurt him as her brain catches up with her. 

“Sorry,” he replies, catching her hand and kissing her knuckles, “Time got away from me.” 

She laughs humourlessly and leans forward to kiss him, her hand on his cheek as she holds him in place, “Aaron…”

She almost says it, almost admits that she loves him here and now, but she stops herself because she wants it to be something just for them. Not something that one of their friends or a stranger could overhear. They had so little that was just theirs, and now their friends knew about their relationship they’d have even less, so she wanted this to just be for them. 

“I know,” he replies, because he did, his own confession heavy on his tongue before he swallows it down, and he stamps his lips against hers before he pulls back, “I’m okay.” 

She looks at his forehead again, “What happened?” 

“He was devolving, kept waving his gun at his ex-girlfriend and I saw where it was going,” he clears his throat and looks over at the team, their gaze burning into his side, before he looks back at her, “So I did what I had to do.” 

She shakes her head, “You disarmed him.” 

He brushes some of her hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear, “I did what I had to do. He hit me with the gun before I took it from him,” he repeats, “You’d have done the same thing.”

She sighs, because she knows he’s right, “We need to get you checked out,” she says, linking her fingers through his and leading him towards the medics. He opens his mouth to argue, to tell her that he’s fine, but she raises an eyebrow at him, “No arguing. You’re getting that looked at.” 

“Okay, sweetheart,” he says, squeezing her hand, her residual panic following her like a perfume, the scent of it clinging to her skin in a way he knew it would for days, “I’ll let them look at me,” he looks back over at their friends, at the way they weren’t even trying to hide the fact they were staring at them, “I take it that they know.” 

She hums, “Thanks to Reid and his strange amount of knowledge about all the places you can buy groceries between here and your place they figured it out pretty quickly.” 

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that by yourself.”

“They weren’t too bad,” she replies, smiling when he raises an eyebrow at her. She wants to talk to him about Derek, to find out if there is more to know about his poorly hidden comments about her and Ian, but she doesn’t want to talk about it now, not when they’d had such a hard day already. She smiles at him and leans in to kiss him, her lips catching the corner of his mouth, and they both know it’s more for their audience than either of them, “Now we know you’re okay they probably won’t hold back.” 

He winks at her, “Bring it on.” 

She doesn’t leave his side when he’s being checked over, listening intently to the paramedic’s advice like neither one of them had never taken a blow to the head before. Once he’s bandaged up, and she’s assured more than once that he doesn’t need to go to the hospital, she finally feels more relaxed, her hand still wrapped in his as they walk towards the rest of the team.

“Oh god,” he says, turning back to look at the store that was now cordoned off, “I need to go back in.”

“Honey, it’s a crime scene,” she says, squeezing his hand, “You can’t go back.” 

“But I didn’t get the eggs, we have nothing for breakfast.” 

She rolls her eyes at him, because of course he was worried about the eggs when if things had been different he could died, “Aaron-”

“I have a solution for that,” Dave says, a grin on his face that makes Emily glare at him, something that only seems to encourage him, “Why don’t we all go out for breakfast? My treat.” 

“That sounds like a great idea,” JJ says, pulling her phone out of her pocket, “I’ll let Pen know, she can join us.” 

“Oh god,” Emily says, turning her head and pressing her forehead against Aaron’s shoulder, “We’re never going to hear the end of this.” 

___

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

Emily chuckles at Aaron as she closes her front door behind them, “It wasn’t bad for you,” she says, her hand on his back as she slips past him, “But Pen asked me a lot of questions about our sex life when we went to the bathroom.” 

His eyes go wide, and the embarrassment that tinges his skin pink only makes the white bandage on his forehead stand out even more, “What?” 

She smiles and wraps her arms around him, tugging him and his warmth closer. She basks in it, soaks it all in because for a moment today, she thought she’d lost it forever, and she leans in to kiss him.

“If it makes you feel better,” she says, kissing him again, “I was very complimentary.” 

“Oddly, sweetheart, that doesn’t make me feel better,” he grumbles, unable to fight his smile when she looks up at him, her teeth sinking into her lower lip, “How complimentary?” 

“Oh very complimentary,” she says, running her fingers through his hair, her nails scratching lightly at his scalp as her eyes flick to his forehead, “Do you need any painkillers or anything?” 

He shakes his head and stamps his lips against hers, “I’m fine, I promise.” 

She nods, not entirely sure she believes him, and she reaches for his hand, “Let’s go sit down.” 

She sinks into his side the moment they settle onto the couch. She wraps both of her arms around one of his and holds it to her chest, and she rests her cheek on his shoulder, her eyes drifting closed as she breathes him in. She tries to commit it all to memory - all the things she may have taken for granted even just this morning. The press of his skin against hers. The scent of his cologne. The warmth that she never wanted to live without. He knows what she’s doing, because he knows he’d been doing the same earlier. Desperately trying to remember what she sounded like when she first woke up, or how she felt pressed against him just like this - idle moments of beautiful normality he once thought he’d never get again.

“I really am okay, Em,” he says, hooking his finger under her chin and making her look up at him, “I promise.” 

She smiles tightly, “I know…” she says, swallowing thickly, “I know you are, but earlier…” she shakes her head at herself as she chokes back tears she refuses to shed, “I didn’t know you would be,” her smile trembles, “I was scared.” 

He cups her cheek and pulls her close, the bandage on his forehead rubbing against her skin, “I know. I was too,” he kisses her, “But I’m right here.” 

She nods and suddenly she doesn’t feel close enough to him. She shifts so she’s in his lap, her side pressed against his chest as he holds her close. She tilts her head so she’s looking up at him and she cups his cheek. Any fear she’d had that morning about it being too soon is gone, replaced with a strange sense of calm because it felt right. For as many arguments as there were to say it was quick to know she loved him and that she wanted everything with him, there were just as many to say they’d been slow. That they’d let countless opportunities pass them by over the years and she wasn’t going to let this one slip by her too. 

“I love you,” she says, a weight lifted off her chest the moment she says it, “I love you so much.” 

He smiles, his cheeks aching with it as he pulls her in for a kiss, unable to stop himself before he replies, “I love you too, sweetheart. I love you so much more than I can ever possibly explain.” 

She kisses him, her hand on his cheek to hold him in place as if he’d want to be anywhere else. She rests her forehead against his and sighs contentedly, “It’s not even lunchtime yet and I’m exhausted.” 

“I think we’ve earned an indulgent nap,” he replies, kissing the tip of her nose and smiling when she scrunches it up, “But why don’t we watch one of those reality shows you pretend to hate first.” 

 “You say that like you don’t enjoy them too,” she hums and reaches for the remote. As she flicks through the channels she can see him watching her out of the corner of her eye and she turns to face him, “What?” 

“You’re beautiful,” he says, kissing her forehead, “That’s all.” 

“How hard exactly did that guy hit you in the head?” She jokes, and he rolls his eyes at her, stamping his lips against her forehead one more time before he pulls back. 

“I should thank the guy really,” he says casually, and she raises her eyebrow at him, making him suppress a smile as he shrugs, “If I’d have known a blow to the head is what would have finally made you say you love me, I would have been held hostage weeks ago.” 

She scoffs, choking on a laugh she couldn’t hold back if she tried. She shakes her head at him and lightly slaps his shoulder, narrowing her eyes when he captures her hand and kisses her knuckles, “Don’t joke about that.” 

“Too soon?”

“Far far too soon,” she mumbles, resting her head on his shoulder, “You’re lucky I love you, even if you do have a terrible sense of humour.” 

He wraps his arms around her and kisses her temple, “I really am lucky,” he replies, feeling the smile she hides against him, “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” 

[kissingghouls]

Last Xmas / First Xmas (aka part two) (part one is here ♥) Mary Goore x f!Reader

Summary: It's your first x-mas with (soft) Mary // from an anon prompt - "I get so sappy when I'm with you." (Part Two takes place after the other More Goore stories ♥ or on its own. choose your own adventure!)

tags: just kissin' & mentions of zombies/zombie attacks

The radiator hisses quietly as fog clouds the living room windows. Mary’s sitting on the floor of your apartment wearing a pair of boxers, a ratty old t-shirt, and a determined look. A festive pair of socks decorated with snowmen cover their feet as they tap out a rhythm playing only in their head. In front of them is a sea of carnage, a mess of bright paper and ribbons smattered across the hardwood. Their hands are covered in bits of tape and there’s a glittery bow stuck to a shock of their black hair, but Mary’s focused. They’ve refused your help a few times already, so you retreated to the safety of the sofa to supervise and drink cocoa.

A zombie show plays on the television with handfuls of students meeting a grisly demise next to a completely pathetic excuse for a miniature Christmas tree. The kind of pathetic that looped right back to being the cutest tree you’ve ever seen. It’s a sad, old, thrifted thing that’s barely more than a handful of pipe cleaners, but Mary covered it in construction paper bats and ghosts before wrapping enough lights around it to power a small city. The finishing touch was a corpse-painted Santa lovingly crafted by your very own death metal boyfriend.

It’s funny how it all just fits. A weird little slice of domestic bliss that probably looked like a horror movie to anyone else. The whole apartment smells of sugar and vanilla thanks to the fresh batch of cookies cooling in the kitchen—cookies Mary insisted on baking from scratch while following a family recipe he’d copied in his own handwriting. Doodles of demons line the margins and you wonder if maybe he’d let you frame it someday.

Tomorrow you’ll spend the day bouncing between your families, doing your best impressions of responsible adults. But tonight it’s just the two of you and the teenage zombies eating their way through the upperclassmen. There are vague plans forming in the Chaos group chat, talk about heading to bar later along with arguments both for and against. Mary opts out for both of you without looking up, prompting a flood of lewd emojis.

“You’re being awfully quiet, darlin,” he notes, still completely focused on his task. There’s only two presents left in his to-wrap pile, a couple of carefully selected items for the boys at Chaos House. It was another task in which Mary put an incredible amount of thought. Watching him pick items for his friends made you that combination of nervous-excited about the neatly wrapped gifts bearing your name.

“Just watching you,” you admit fondly. Their hair is clean and fluffy, falling over their eyes a bit as that stupid bow wobbles with their movements. They’re so cute you can’t stand it, barely containing your urge to tackle them to the floor and kiss them until it all becomes too much. But you stay in your spot, legs pressed together to ignore your growing need so they can finish up.

“Wha? Why? Being a creep? Little Christmas creep.”

“No, it’s just…I guess I never thought you’d be this into the holidays?”

He shrugs, still facing away from you. “Maybe it’s more about where I am and who I’m with than a frankincense and baby Jesus kind of party.”

“Sooo…it’s not Christmas you like, it’s me.”

“Duh,” he laughs and spins around to look you dead in the eye. “I love you,” he replies in a serious tone he doesn’t often use in situations like this. He abandons the box in front of him, half-wrapped with all of those neat creases left in the paper and climbs onto the sofa next to you. “Darlin, I want this Christmas to be better than the last one we spent together.”

“We weren’t together at Christmas last year—”

“No, but do you remember that stupid party Chaos House had a while back? The one where everyone was running around in those stupid ass Christmas sweaters?”

Your eyebrows knit together as you try to think back. There’s a vague, blurry memory attached to feelings of unease. Mary is there too for reasons you can’t quite place, but there’s different feelings attached to a memory of  looking up at his face in the dark. “Yeah, I don’t, um—I don’t really remember a lot about that one.”

“Not much to remember,” he says with a shrug. “It wasn’t exactly one of their best. But you—I remember you had these little sparkly things in your hair that night and you just…” he trails off and smiles to himself for a second. “You were so cute, you know? And after I saw you I couldn’t stop thinking about how you were supposed to take all those little things out of your hair on your own. Because I knew—like, he just fucking left you there. And I—I wanted to—I wanted things to be different. I wanted things to be so much better for you by actual Christmas. And when you and that dickhead broke up for real I knew you would find someone who would help you take the sparkles out of your hair when you were drunk.”

“Mary—“

“I know. I’m sorry.” He shakes his head and cringes. “I get so sappy when I’m around you. Go on, call me Marshmallow Goore.”

You lean in and press your lips to theirs. It’s a reprieve Mary welcomes, hands immediately twisting in your hair as the kiss deepens to express feelings neither of you have found the words for. None of the whispered I love yous seem to match the intensity of what you’ve felt for them since before that first kiss and Mary’s better with words than you anyways.

“I’m so glad it’s you,” you manage between labored breaths, hoping it offers even a fraction of what you mean to say.

He pulls away, trying to hide a slight blush and a shy smile. “Darlin, I—" He shakes his head and intertwines his fingers with yours.

“I mean, I’m not drunk and you’re the one with glitter in your hair, but it’s all the same right?”

“I have glitter in my hair?”

You smile. “Yeah, like a lot.”

“Aw fuck,” he groans and swipes a hand through his hair. “I’m glad it’s you too, you know. There’s not many people in this world—no, you’re the only one I would learn to drive for.”

“Mary, that’s not a promise you have to make me.”

“I know, but that’s the beauty of it, darlin. I already did it.”

“Hang on, are you telling me—“

“Mary Goore, licensed driver.”

“…How?”

“There was a lot of yelling. Why do you think the Chaos House gifts are so nice?”

“You are so—“

“That’s not your gift, by the way. I got you something way better, but that’s for later. I could use a break from all the paper though. You wanna help me draw spooky occult shit on the cookies?” he asks with a wide grin. “I got that gel frosting that looks like blood.”

“Mary Goore, I’m so in love with you it’s stupid.”

“Well, sweetheart I dunno what to tell you. I’ve been stupid over you for years,” he replies with that crooked grin you love so much. He pulls you into his lap and plants a kiss on your cheek. “Merry Christmas, darlin.”