#mostly because a lot of them are inside jokes and whatnot

[lesbian-rook]

really want to do more standalone character doodles but when i do that i tend to only draw Bishop :sob:

Also sorry to the people who follow me for my TADC stuff, KoN is my main thing and that's not really gonna change lmao (not that i won't keep drawing stuff for it)

[red-carter]

HAYGADiToDaGSYNA Background

For a bit of background now. In the sense of world building that is!

I was a ghost "hunter" by my lonesome when things got a bit difficult, I needed a bit of help. (This could have been a tad different and I forgot, but this is official now. XD) With needing help, I decided to reach out to some of my friends who don't have experience in this field whatsoever, or for the most part anyway. There's people who stream it, which is how people know about it in general. Some of them know things about the ghosts and whatnot.

Originally I was just gonna do myself and like just a few people but I decided to add more because why the hell not? Our group now consists of 9 people total and a ghost.

Our Crew:

Carter/Carpet (Myself) - They/He/(Occasionally) It

Melon - Any but preferred (They/He/It)

Nine - She/Her

Cat - They/It/Fae/Star and any other neopronouns

Micah - Any

Nellie - She/Her

Quill - She/Her

Nyx - They/He/She/Any

Bri - She/They

Fox - He/Him

Fox was a person... But became a ghost. We're adopted siblings in this AU and he died in "Ilania Manor". So I needed to figure out his death, helped that it was haunted, so I took my team to go investigate and see if I could find my sibling. It was a chaotic first mission, a few deaths. Bri, who hadn't joined us, just randomly wandered in and died during a hunt.

Bri and Fox are soulbounds, is an inside joke and thanks to me liking the idea of Double Life (Life Series) with pairs. So I ran me and the most active members of the CTHL server together into a pair randomizer and they got paired a lot. They argue a lot, but just for the bit. So when we had to go around trying to get spirit box, to check for the evidence, we'd just randomly come across them arguing about throwing microwaves or something at each other.

The ghost that was actually haunting the manor was a demon, and Fox... Well, for those that don't know, I'll let you take a guess what ghost he is. (A hint I'll give you is: a prankster). Me and him argue back and forth like siblings and best friends. We cuss each other out, and may seem like we're mad at each other but we're just joking around.

Now, there are certain people who go into the buildings to figure out the ghost (most of the crew). Then the others stay in the van. The ones who would go in, def: Melon, Carter, and Bri. Those who would go in but as soon as something spooky happened, they'd book it (more than likely, and some trying more than others): Cat, Quill, Nyx, and Micah. Our lovely truck/van royalty: Nine and Nellie, though Quill mostly hangs out with them and writing fanfic while messing around with those inside).

Found a picture of the notes, though older. Will def need to get some more, but this is how I described most people, at least in the earlier stages. Yes, we base knowledge and stuff off of the people that we watch play Phas the most. XD

Oh right! With the streaming and everything, I think we'd all have like, go pros/some kind of vlogging camera that can chill somewhere so people can see our perspectives. I usually wear the tier 3 headgear which has night vision. If not go pros or whatever, Nyx would be the one walking around with the video camera and stuff.

Thus, this concludes most of the background. If there's any specific relationships that y'all are curious about, feel free to ask, or reblog with them! <3 <3

[carter-carpet-writes]

HAYGADiToDaGSYNA Background

For a bit of background now. In the sense of world building that is!

I was a ghost "hunter" by my lonesome when things got a bit difficult, I needed a bit of help. (This could have been a tad different and I forgot, but this is official now. XD) With needing help, I decided to reach out to some of my friends who don't have experience in this field whatsoever, or for the most part anyway. There's people who stream it, which is how people know about it in general. Some of them know things about the ghosts and whatnot.

Originally I was just gonna do myself and like just a few people but I decided to add more because why the hell not? Our group now consists of 9 people total and a ghost.

Our Crew:

Carter/Carpet (Myself) - They/He/(Occasionally) It

Melon - Any but preferred (They/He/It)

Nine - She/Her

Cat - They/It/Fae/Star and any other neopronouns

Micah - Any

Nellie - She/Her

Quill - She/Her

Nyx - They/He/She/Any

Bri - She/They

Fox - He/Him

Fox was a person... But became a ghost. We're adopted siblings in this AU and he died in "Ilania Manor". So I needed to figure out his death, helped that it was haunted, so I took my team to go investigate and see if I could find my sibling. It was a chaotic first mission, a few deaths. Bri, who hadn't joined us, just randomly wandered in and died during a hunt.

Bri and Fox are soulbounds, is an inside joke and thanks to me liking the idea of Double Life (Life Series) with pairs. So I ran me and the most active members of the CTHL server together into a pair randomizer and they got paired a lot. They argue a lot, but just for the bit. So when we had to go around trying to get spirit box, to check for the evidence, we'd just randomly come across them arguing about throwing microwaves or something at each other.

The ghost that was actually haunting the manor was a demon, and Fox... Well, for those that don't know, I'll let you take a guess what ghost he is. (A hint I'll give you is: a prankster). Me and him argue back and forth like siblings and best friends. We cuss each other out, and may seem like we're mad at each other but we're just joking around.

Now, there are certain people who go into the buildings to figure out the ghost (most of the crew). Then the others stay in the van. The ones who would go in, def: Melon, Carter, and Bri. Those who would go in but as soon as something spooky happened, they'd book it (more than likely, and some trying more than others): Cat, Quill, Nyx, and Micah. Our lovely truck/van royalty: Nine and Nellie, though Quill mostly hangs out with them and writing fanfic while messing around with those inside).

Found a picture of the notes, though older. Will def need to get some more, but this is how I described most people, at least in the earlier stages. Yes, we base knowledge and stuff off of the people that we watch play Phas the most. XD

Oh right! With the streaming and everything, I think we'd all have like, go pros/some kind of vlogging camera that can chill somewhere so people can see our perspectives. I usually wear the tier 3 headgear which has night vision. If not go pros or whatever, Nyx would be the one walking around with the video camera and stuff.

Thus, this concludes most of the background. If there's any specific relationships that y'all are curious about, feel free to ask, or reblog with them! <3 <3

[trancetales]

Happy STS! How do your characters fare in a survival setting? (lost in the woods/stuck on a deserted island/etc) Who is immediately suggesting cannibalism? Who's adamant that they’re all gonna make it? Who takes this as a chance to become a ‘wild person’ and wear mud facepaint and no clothes?

A survival setting! I'm gonna go with my core Calleigh Hub cast from #🌌 The Trace Systems. That's Kith Gauer, Zhu Lin, Jacinda Caçador, and Naveed.

Next, I'm going to set up a little context too. On Calleigh, there is one city. Everything beyond the city is a barren wasteland. The most likely way they'd end up in a survival situation is if they try to leave the city by spacecraft, and end up crashlanding out in the barrens. So, we're gonna use that situation here. This is a little cheaty, in that it gives them a starting base, but so would a plane crash on a desert island, so I'm going to work with that as a start point here.

Kith is very used to adapting and getting used to new circumstances, its happened to her more than once in memory, and in some ways, a survival setting would be freeing her of a few shackles. So before anything else, she'd probably still feel less under pressure than you'd think, since she's mostly free from the control of the organisations that she was otherwise not able to get away from. Mostly, but not entirely. So she's pretty adaptable, and has a few particular talents that would help them a bit until it got them all killed. She has a couple of supernatural skills, one of which would help them with starting fires from whatever they can find about the place, either from things they have from their crashed wreck, or any occasional plantlife or whatnot around. Useful for keeping warm and cooking food. In short, Kith would probably be pretty pragmatic. However, she'd also be pretty upset about having her whole life ripped away from her again, and she'd definitely be the one to do them in, but thats a whole other story

Jacinda, she's a lot more hot-headed, and would probably be a lot more stressed, especially at first. You'd see her kicking the wreck, swearing, and probably hurting herself by punching something made of jagged metal. She'd probably also try to find someone or something to blame and would start arguments with the others. Unlike Kith seeing it as being away from her chains, Jacinda would be more, out of the frying pan and into the fire. However, once she does get her head settled, she'd be the one to get down to work on finding out what works in the remnants of the wreck. Is there anything with power? Is there anything she can fix? If she thinks she can fix it, she'll be trying to fix it, as much to keep herself busy and to distract herself, as much as to feel like she's helping out. She'd be more inclined to make the best use of what they crashed with, would probably want to fix it up and use that as their base rather than venturing out. She'd be more than happy to get by as long as they can there once its working though, because the law doesn't tend to chase a long way from the city. Until it becomes night, anyway. Jacinda does not like the dark even remotely, since she's always lived inside the city and never seen the night sky. There's so much light in the city that people hardly know what darkness is, and quickly became a source of abject horror for her.

Lin is always injecting her positive energy into things, but she's also got no particular experience managing things herself. Her only experience is based around apprehending bounties and criminals, and that doesn't translate to a survival situation all that much. That being the case, she doesn't bring much practical value to the team, beyond manpower. At least until Kith's little problem kicks in. So, Lin is going to be the shining light of hope, but not a lot more than that. She'd probably tell a lot of stories, and try her best to keep spirits up with jokes, anecdotes, and activities. She's the one who will assure everyone that everything will be fine, even to the point of grating on people. If Jacinda has an argument, it'll probably be with Lin early on, finding her overwhelming positivity to be grating. Does Lin truly believe that everything will be fine? In short, yes. She's been friends with Nav for a long time, she's seen him go through a lot, and never seen him come up short. She's seen Kith's tenacity take her through everything and come out the other side. She's seen Jacinda.. not as much as the others to be fair, but she's heard a lot about her from Kith, and is confident that she'll be a stalwart member of the group.

Naveed is kinda tricky, because he knows a lot, but does he know about surviving in the middle of a wasteland? No, probably not. Especially since a lot of what he seemingly knows is just because he's got the contacts both above and and below him to get the answers he needs. Without those contacts, is he any use? Well no, not really. Outside of that, his skillset pretty much narrows down to being able to mix drinks, and pretending he doesn't notice Lin cheating at pool. So, everyone's confidence will be misplaced if they trust him. But does he want people to know that? Probably not, he prides himself on being the one people can rely on when they need something, and although people may well understand that, he's not going to look good if his secrets come out. So he's gonna be deadweight, but probably worse than that, because the others will expect more from him. Thats not exactly on him, but he's not keen on letting the others find out he doesn't actually know that much himself. I'm sure he'd be able to apply common sense pretty well, probably the most of the group, but he's not going to know anything beyond the basics. Certainly not the guiding light that everyone will look to him to be. But he'll put the act on as best he can, to keep the group together, and to keep his reputation is one piece.

[theredkennedys]

CONTINUATION‼️

Additional note: See Donut's posts with his AU art here, here, here, and here! He's got some stuff over on his blog that I didn't post myself :D

I REMEMBER HOW I DECIDED CHURCH SHOULD DIE.

He's into nerd tech shit and was researching the collider when it went off like in the first movie... basically just died because wrong-place wrong-time..

maybe he was part of something that was trying to stop it,

ANYWAY

Tucker is major depressed. He isn't really willing or capable of moving past the guilt and anger and denial of the whole thing. "Grief often brings the sense of a loss of control" and Tucker feels like he's lost everything.

Another conversation was about Tucker keeping Church's glasses pristine in the case despite the cracks and dried blood. Maybe having a picture of him as well by his bed that he can never stand to look at but can't stomach moving it either.

Debated about whether Tucker's spidersense would flare up really bad causing him to be anxious and overwhelmed losing sleep all of the time or stop working somewhat and leaving him even more out of control in the world without a 6th sense.

He's like that for like? A month I want to say before he gets roped into spiderverse shenanigans. Y'know the weird portal thing, "where tf am I", the whole deal.

Despite his Church dying, it is called the multiverse for a reason. And Church never really dies.

From Earth E-52, meet Epsilon Church. He sucks and I hate him. (Donut's silly guy!)

Going to say this right now, I literally never fleshed out Epsilon's backstory. I don't even know if we gave him a canon event I asked Donut recently and I got head shakes from the studio. But most likely just Allison dying like in rvb.

(*Despite the whole fucked up weirdness of Church's existence and Allison teeeechnically being Church's wife because he's a copy of the Director. Um. I don't really care and I normally just default to Allison being Church's mom in non-rvb canon-compliant AUs. Makes my life easier. Director and Allison have Church and Carolina, Tex has no connection to any of them.*)

Tucker meets Epsilon and jeeeez. Absolutely the worst thing that could happen to this dude at this point. Losing your best friend and then seeing a carbon copy of him, alive, isn't great for the grieving process.

(Donut art)

Epsilon didn't have a Tucker on his Earth, so it's a strange ordeal being practically idealized into this version of yourself you never knew existed.

Epsilon starts working on stuff in the Spider Society and Tucker hangs around just to see him. And of course they have their banter and arguments but then Tucker tries to make an inside joke and Epsilon doesn't get it and it snaps Tucker back to reality that this isn't his Church. Really just a push and pull between them as Epsilon starts to understand Tucker's obsession with him and tries to prevent anything drastic between them.

Donut wrote a fic of that here, which kills me everytime.

(DONUT ART ATTACK)

Tucker stays there all of the time, I doubt he ever goes back to his Earth, it's not like he has anything else to go back to. Though it would be fun for angst to teleport him back for whatever reason and their room is still a wreak and whatnot. Just thoughts..

Tucker has sneaky ways for Epsilon to be forced to interact with him:

And Epsilon hates it mostly just because he dislikes a lot of things but also, he does start to care a lot about Tucker despite everything. And he can start to tell why Tucker's Church liked him so much. He's quickwitted and genuinely smart when his brain synapses decide to connect, and most of all a worthy spiderman.

Thoughts from another friend:

And I agree that Tucker is badass but it takes him a bit to get there even in canon. same with this au I think. After a while he's able to move on from Epsilon and grow by himself.

That's really most of the premise I've thought of, most of it revolves around these two..

Other thoughts:

All the rvb cast are spidermen it just differs how and why.

This isn't a role-fill au where each character fits each Spiderverse character perfectly but. Food for thought. The Director as Kingpin is perfect. Both searching for their dead wife in impossibly fucked up scientific experiments??? Yes please. And the counselor as like Tombstone or something.

And honestly. Tex as something Similar as Doc Ock? Super cool. She would be from the Director's universe, but I feel like there's also a good Tex around the SS..

Tex as SpiderVenom would be awesome as well. Perhaps more of a SpiderOmega lolz..

Carolina . jeez i reaaally want her to work with the Spider Society and Epsilon. She's almost like a leader of it like Miguel. Maybe she has a little Epsilon AI thing.. NOT evil like how Alpha was made but like automated responses and whatnot to help her out maybe. Like the s19 Epsilon (I hated him)

Though Carolina would make a great villian if she was based off of how loyal she was in early PFL. Still so much to think about..

Caboose and Lopez fight over a little Sheila AI. She's like Lyla..

Also Earths (I didn't follow how Multiverse makes them I just had fun):

Tucker/Church (Alpha): A-22-2

Church (Epsilon): E-52

Caboose: BL-002

Kai: 1228

Kai (spiderwoman): 2-280

Grif: 1228

Simmons: 18-2-T

Sarge: RE-42

Lopez: 1820-T2

Donut: 0040-18

Doc: 222-O

If you got this far thank you... I really love this AU despite the lack of significant plot development and I think about it a lot. Perhaps when the next Spiderverse movie comes out I'll have more inspiration on how to continue this :D

my au my rules. this au is literally called Chucker Spiderverse AU in the archived discord thread so be warned oooOoOOoooOo . gay men OoooooOo

writing out the backstory that me and my friend Donut have been working on for the better part of a year, most of it was inspired by the new itsv movie that was released then. and because I don't plan on writing anything huge for this I'd like my brainstorming to have a wider audience.

All art posted is most likely @franklindonuts , aka Donut the cocreator of this shit,,,hey buddy😆 go show him some love pleeeease

you can see my art of this au here

this will 100% be somewhat incomprehensive but hey I'm just a fag having fun and I was born yesterday🧚‍♀️

**

Tucker is the spiderman in his universe with Church as his "guy in the chair". (Putting it out there that this Church is Alpha, which is significant later on.)

They both share an apartment, I don't think I ever specified why but probably for school reasons. They're both young adults, I want to say around 19-21, similar to their Blood Gulch years.

Tucker loves being spiderman. He loves helping people, being almost an idol for people- a lot of jokes were thrown around about that:

Imagine Tucker after he got his sword. He has a genuine purpose now and he's going to be good at it.

but goddd Tucker is Tucker and is stupid and reckless. being spiderman doesn't make him invincible but he loves to think otherwise. he pushes himself too far too often because he knows if he doesn't he wouldn't be able to sleep at night if someone got hurt when he was taking it "easy". Church knows this but he's still pissed off when Tucker comes back bloodied and bruised from a Villain of the Week that he shouldn't have taken on :/

(Donut art)

mental illness

It's literally just the Spiderman Effect. No one will Ever be able to understand what it's like to be spiderman but other spiders, regardless of how much you tell them or show them, they won't get it. and Church doesn't Get it. He's not stupid, he understands WiTh GrEaT PoWeR y'know but there's a mental toll that can't be communicated in a way that makes sense :/

regardless, Church hates it but he also hates how much he cares about Tucker. Cocreator said that he figured they were both close and willing to become A Thing but the time was never right, and Tucker was scared of liking a dude, etc. Normal stuff between these two. But they're insanely close, I'd like to think even moreso after Tucker's whole spiderman thing and the fact that Church also has to realize that Tucker is not invincible.

(despite them not being A Thing, Donut art of The Spiderman kiss and other gay shit)

Now this is the kicker of why I said to take note of the fact this is Alpha Church specifically.

Now I'm aware of the clowning on the whole "canon event" thing and some people's opinion on it (mostly that it's dumb and cliche), but I find it a very unique and convenient way to give a character a significant plot boost.

That being said, Tucker's "canon event" is Church's death.

I don't ever think I solidified how/why he dies, moreso that it's just a wrong-place wrong-time type of thing. Some brainstorming from Donut about it:

but i never asked him for elaboration so I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. anyway

Tucker finds Church similar to how Miles found Peter in the first Spiderverse movie. He doesn't know what to do. He's frantic and scared and horrified that his best friend is coughing up blood with raspy breaths.

(Alpha s10 parallel with tex lalalala)

Obviously. Obbbviousllyy Tucker is distraught and inconsolable. Something something he has the Worst depression of his life. He doesn't know what to do with himself, the one person who knew about everything is gone, and I'm sorry (not) lol but it's not like in rvb where Church revives 8 times before dying like a normal person.

Church was always there for Tucker and he's at a loss of what to do now because, despite the threat of it, he should've never died. It wasn't even a concern in his head ever because it seemed so unlikely.

Tucker doesn't know what to do with himself, he wouldn't have gotten this far without Church. But really, it was All Tucker. All Church did was give him little tech bits to help him function better but it was All Tucker. But he isn't able to realize that through everything and it ruins him.

I will have to make a continuation post because I love adding images and Just hit the mobile limit🧚‍♀️

thanks for reading if you got this far

[777cherry-blossom777]

My really random fruity four beach headcanons

Swimsuits

1. Nancy- wears a one piece that’s really high cut (sort of like Karen’s in s3) and definitely has one of the flowy dresses that you were over it but takes it off as soon as they get there.

2. Robin- definitely a bikini but with a really baggy t-shirt over the top that she won’t take off unless she has to swim (usually because she’s racing against someone in the water and she doesn’t want it to “drag her down”). Nancy thinks it’s adorable and also dies a little on the inside whenever she takes the shirt off to swim.

3. Eddie- really baggy black shorts with the skulls on them and a tank top probably (some kind of shirt so that you can see his tattoos but not his scars). Steve teases him about the shorts a lot.

4. Steve- really tight swim shorts and absolutely nothing else. Eddie makes them both leave early to go… do things.

Swimming ability

1. Steve- obviously he’s really good at it and he loves to swim. But I feel like his worst stroke is breaststroke (only bc one of my friends can do BUTTERFLY like a pro but cannot do breaststroke, the EASIEST one and it confuses me constantly). Both Robin and Eddie make some gay joke about it until he gets sick of it and starts listing off all the women he’s ever gotten with until they’re both jealous.

2. Eddie- absolutely no swimming ability. I can’t remember how well anyone swam in the one episode in volume 1 but to me he cannot swim. Like he can but it’s SOOO BAD. He mostly prefers to just splash people and try to drown them. Definitely does the thing where you shake your hair out like a dog when it’s wet. Steve thinks it’s endearing. Nancy and Robin do not.

3. Robin- meh. She can kind of swim, but does like three strokes at once. Definitely does the thing where you try and see how far you can swim without coming up for air. Probably challenges Eddie to try and beat her. Her and Eddie also team up to splash people. However after the first time she splashed Nancy and then got the silent treatment for a whole week, she makes sure that her gf is protected at all times. Eddie has absolutely no such qualms about Steve.

4. Nancy- does not swim. She definitely can, fairly well, and on rare occasions will actually participate. But 90% of the time she will either be lying in the sun with some kind of tropical drink (“Nancy you look like the cover of a holiday magazine right now wtf you’re so prettyyyy”) or will be in the water but will not put her head underwater. She hates the feel of it but also she doesn’t want to ruin her makeup and hair. If anyone splashes her she will go home. She has done it before. Gets Robin to guard her so that no one splashes her and Robin does so very dramatically.

Random

1. Nancy hates the sand. She never uses her own car to go to the beach bc sand gets everywhere. She probably has one of the pool chairs that fold out that you get at fancy hotels bc even when you’re on a towel Robin sand still gets everywhere.

2. Eddie collects shells and sea glass and whatnot. Sometimes he’ll give some to Robin but mostly he keeps it. Steve thinks it’s the cutest thing ever.

3. Steve is the type of guy to reapply sunscreen at exactly the right amount of time, put it on the right amount of minutes before you actually go in the water, etc. He does like to tan but he’s also very aware of sun damage and years as captain of the swim team has drilled sun safety into him.

4. Robin forces Nancy to apply sun screen. Nancy wants to tan but Robin is very scared of sun damage and rambles on about it until Nancy lets her put it on (you know the thing in movies when the love interest gets the main character to get their back and they get all flustered? That).

5. Steve will occasionally rest but spends 99% of his time in the water (showing off for Eddie). He’s always loved swimming and it makes him feel “free” or something. Eddie thinks it’s stupid and splashes him with water a lot.

6. They very rarely bring the kids because when they do, they have to do everyone’s sunscreen (“how come Nancy doesn’t have to put any on?” “Wait Nancy wdym I told you to put some on” “wow thanks Mike”) and make sure they don’t drown (because both Dustin and Mike are the worst swimmers of all time, even though the rest of them are pretty good). It’s very tiring and after Max and El ran away to go and look at crabs meaning Steve had to spend an hour looking for them, they’ve learnt that trips to the beach are for adults only.

7. Jonathan and Argyle are often charged with looking after the kids while the fruity four goes to the beach (bc Steve gets nervous) and they are the worst babysitters ever. They let the kids do whatever they want as long as they don’t tell Steve and the kids love it.

8. One time Robin got stung by a jellyfish and Nancy immediately called an ambulance and was kinda freaking out but mostly staying calm until Robin was like “no don’t call an ambulance they’re so expensive” and Nancy (and Steve, except he was busy trying to do all the health stuff like elevate the foot bla bla bla) was immediately filled with rage at the stupidity of the American healthcare system and swore that she would cover all the expenses for it. Eddie was probably the one trying to calm Robin down but was basically doing whet Robin does when someone gets hurt which is ramble on about something and lowkey make it worse.

That’s all and can you tell I’m Australian?

[thenovelartist]

ok so we have a few fics here on tumblr on how tot boys would act when they’re jealous but what if it was the other way around? what if their s/o gets a bit jealous because the boys are spending more time with rosa than with them? they probably wouldn’t do that to their s/o but it would be fun to imagine haha. if you’re still taking requests, can i request for this scenario with the boys? thank you so much and i hope you keep writing more content for tot in the future!

Premise: MC jealous of another girl spending maybe a little too much time with her boy.

Luke

When Luke begins talking about this other girl he’s partnered with at work, MC doesn’t really think on it too much.

She really trusts Luke a lot, and she knows he’s only got eyes for her.

At most, she’ll feel a little jealousy bubbing up inside her if Luke talks too long about his female co-worker’s accomplishments or whatnot.

However, then she gets to meet said co-worker.

Just watching the way this woman and Luke interact, teasing and joking around while the woman stands maybe a little too close to Luke for MC’s liking, this is where the problem’s start.

It will take a while after the woman leaves for Luke to realize something is wrong with MC.

There are no secrets between the two of them. MC will eventually admit (with a little prying on Luke’s part) that she wasn’t comfortable with his female co-worker.

And once Luke realizes why that is, he’ll be falling over himself to apologize and assure his MC that she’s his one and only.

Which MC knows full well, but it’s always nice to hear.

Que snuggles and constant reassurances.

It won’t take much for MC to realize she was being an idiot, but she’ll take Luke’s attention for as long as he’s willing to give it, anyway.

Vyn

MC knows Vyn is a professional and sees many female patients. Furthermore, Vyn is really good at setting boundaries for female patients if they start being too forward.

However, the same doesn’t always apply to doctors and other medical staff.

So when one doctor starts to spend a little too much time with Vyn under the guise of “talking about patients”, that’s when the problem begins.

Vyn doesn’t realize it right away, but after a while, he’ll notice MC’s slight change in demeanor whenever a certain doctor is mentioned.

But he won’t realize it’s jealousy right away until MC reveals she’s uncomfortable with how close the doctor seems to be with Vyn.

Guilt. Trip.

(For a moment, I thought he’d be a tease about it, but thinking about his personality and how sincere he is in his relationship with MC, I don’t think he would. In fact, I think he’d be quite upset if MC felt jealous for a good reason like this.)

He’ll take a moment to hug her and reassure her that she’s the only woman for him after confirming that all he has with his colleague is a working relationship. And that if his colleague is thinking otherwise, then that’s on her and he’ll be sure to correct her.

Only then will MC feel silly for being jealous, though Vyn will assure her it’s a natural response before admitting he quite likes knowing she’s possessive of him.

Que blushing mess MC and giggling Vyn.

Artem

MC knows this boy needs some serious slack when it comes to women.

She knows he tries, though. It’s endearing.

But knowing that doesn’t always suppress the jealousy that will occasionally bubble up.

Like when a female client of his starts getting a little too friendly.

In the beginning, she knows Artem is oblivious, so the jealousy is easy to squash.

But when flowers appear as a “thank you” for helping her, MC gets really jealous.

And Artem is none the wiser.

Until Celestine drops a hint when he absently wonders why MC has been seeming a little off at work lately.

He’s horrified. Mostly because he never wanted to give MC any reason to be jealous, and yet, here he was. (It’s not your fault, Artem.)

This poor man will ditch the gifted roses immediately and buy flowers of his own for MC, appearing before her unexpectedly and apologizing.

MC literally cannot stay mad at him, even if she wanted to. He’s too awkwardly genuine in his attempts to reassure her.

He’s forgiven with a smile, and only then is he able to relax.

But he also asks her to talk to him next time about it. He really doesn’t want her to have those insecurities about their relationship.

(He’s too sweet. Seriously.)

Marius

MC knows that Marius is loyal.

But she’s also concerned because he’s a drop-dead gorgeous natural-born flirt with a fat wallet. So that draws a lot of unwanted attention.

She’s watched him shut down obvious flirting attempts and knows he’ll use PDA with her to do it.

Furthermore, there are times Marius will purposefully shoot MC a wink while talking with women, trying to see if he can get a rise out of her. But MC rarely ever gives him the satisfaction of playing the jealous girlfriend. If anything, she knows in these moments that he's purposefully trying to get her attention over the attention of the other women.

But there are some persistent, patient women around who know how to get under MC’s skin.

Particularly this one young board member at Pax.

MC wouldn’t say Marius is oblivious…

But he does get along with this woman quite well, and they tease each other back and forth often.

Often enough for MC to burn with jealousy.

Which Marius won’t notice for a long while. He only gets the hint after MC basically explodes at him.

At which point he’ll spend a sleepless night planning out an apology, complete with roses, chocolates, dinner date, the whole shebang.

And he’ll practically fall on his knees in apology for it.

MC, knowing him, will drag him on for a moment.

But not for long before caving and accepting his apology. You know, just right before he starts crying.

(She'll have to promise not to do it again.)

[enduracarrotchips]

YouTuber AU

Hello welcome to Dating Scandal but with Twitter Involved (nightmare)

A little exposition here: 

Link, Zelda, Sidon, Revali, and Riju are the most popular group of youtubers on the internet and have a huge fanbase that likes to theorize, draw fanart, and write fanfiction about them. Disclaimer, I don’t actually interact with real-person fandoms myself lol there’s just too much potential for drama and misunderstandings & they’re always bound to end in a dumpster fire but that is sort of what this au is about so.

Impa, Mipha, Daruk, and Urbosa are family friends that appear in a lot of their videos/streams. 

(This is an art blog I swear)

enter vidcon 20XX

Link: 

blows stuff up/sets stuff on fire with a side of cooking vids and gaming

most are filmed outside, he does those challenges where you try to cook stuff with limited ingredients/materials

has the largest fanbase of all of them, but not the most…intimidating.

does a lot of collab videos, mostly with Impa, Daruk, and Riju because they have similar interests/channels, but Zelda appears in his videos and is seen filming and the stans read too far into it

simps. i’m pointing at you.

Most popular videos are “shield surfing on rock!—how I broke my leg” “can Daruk eat Impa’s motorcycle?” and “how to inhale ranch dressing.”

Twitter handle is @ arsonistslullabye because he’s a hozier fan

45m subs

Zelda:

theories, analyses, conspiracies, and the occasional e x p e r i m e n t

she once got link to eat a frog for 50 bucks.

most people argue that she’s better than more popular YouTubers because she actually has quality content to give to the world and she has a lot of defensive supporters

She used to get a lot of hate before Urbosa spoke up about it and scared the bejeezus out of everyone

has an actual posting schedule

“Happy Sunday everyone, it’s Zelda Hyrule and today we will be talking about cryptozoology and why blupees exist, you cowards.”

Twitter handle is @ zeldaofhyrule and she is pan. just so you know. One of those calm extroverts that mystify me to this day.

18m subs

Sidon:

fashion/life hacks. Like gourmet troom troom but if they were real people.

Has the 2nd largest fanbase

most of them are girls

Sidon has a boyfriend though, which he told everyone at VidCon a few years ago

cue the drama and shipping and the entire fandom trying to figure out who the boyfriend is. A well known reddit thread emerged that presented the common guesses being Link, Sidon, and Zelda.

“But it can’t be Zelda, Sidon’s gay.”

“I’m not in the fandom but I thought Zelda was a boy??”

“Did you just say Sidon? Is that a typo? Are you saying that Sidon’s dating himself?”

Sidon x Sidon became a fandom joke.

Don’t look at me I’m just setting up all the worldbuilding. every fandom has their weird dark sides and Sidon x Sidon is the Linkcest of the Sidon YT fandom.

Mystery BF is actually Bazz, a pretty inconspicuous guy who appeared in a few of his videos. This was confirmed a year ago, but everyone still ships him with other YouTubers because they’re convinced he was lying to throw them off his scent. He really can’t catch a break and this is why you should not ship real people.

Twitter handle is @ officialprincesidon

says “beguiling” a lot

21m subs ᕙ( ͡❛ ▿ ͡❛)ᕗ

Mipha:

Sidon’s sister, hasn’t posted a single video but just has the channel for show because she appears in so many of Sidon’s videos as a model for his makeup tutorials and whatnot

has 328k for that. Everyone loves her, she’s great. @ mimipha

Revali:

Link’s sworn rival

Link thinks they’re friends

He kept popping up in link’s Twitter threads and making snarky comments until zelda called him out for not even following link (so why was he stalking his acc) which kept the Twitter drama to a minimum

Revali was the catalyst of a few popular memes and that’s where most of his subs come from.

drags link into a few challenges that always get a ton of views because of how competitive they get

“ITS JUST ASININE” is a running joke that everyone tries to get him to say. His @ is itsjustasinine as well

Urbosa is the only person who can win an argument with him

5m subs and growing rapidly. newer to youtube than everyone else.

Impa:

Doesn’t have a channel she’s just a mutual friend of Mipha, Zelda, and Link

Rides a motorcycle, so she is used in a few of Link’s videos.

@ ihaveamotorcycle because she thinks having a motorcycle is a personality trait. the most unruly on Twitter when it comes to replying to fan’s stuff, leaking upcoming videos and generally causing chaos.

Mipha’s girlfriend. That’s how she met Zelda and Link.

Urbosa:

Is actually a model, but she has a ton of YouTuber friends because she’s known Zelda since birth.

when she entered the youtube community she didn’t realize she would be adopting like 15 children

5m subs. her videos are professional & related to her modelling career. @ urbosasfury

I feel like she would do unboxing vids. I’m not sure what she’s unboxing.

Daruk

Just a friend of Link’s, fun guy. yells a lot. once ate a rock and had no reaction.

people are scared of him for that reason

Riju:

yoga & gymnastics & “ha look at how flexible I am its eAsY” videos

you know the type

she also does reactions and is sponsored by save the sand seals charities which she is very enthusiastic about. She’s also Urbosa’s niece and the only minor in the gang (15). I like to think that the champions YT community is actually not creepy so everyone respects her a ton

doesn’t post frequently, she mostly appears in Link’s videos to jump out of airplanes or whatever. And sometimes Zelda’s if she’s interested in the topic. 500k subs, but she’s always really popular when she appears in Link’s videos.

VidCon:

In the months leading up to VidCon, some fans on the internet made a few discoveries: first of all, that the inside of Link’s house is painted green. This is a big deal because all of his videos are filmed outside either in his backyard or on trips that he and the brosquad go on to do…whatever bros do. explosions. idk. The point is he had some announcement about VidCon and filmed it inside. Only the wall and a potted plant were shown.

However, the colour was similar to the the shade of Zelda’s living room. Fans dug through years and years of old videos and found a clip of Zelda walking through a hallway, where there was an open door and a glimpse of a houseplant.

There were 2 types of responses to the theory:

“They could just be roommates guys calm down”

“and they were ROOMMATES?”

others pointed out that Link could just not have a house and had to crash in Zelda’s

Some guy on reddit claimed he had a botany degree and declared that the houseplants in the clips were not of the same genus. Normal people pointed out that the plant would have grown 4 years between the clips and would look considerably different.

#Zelink trended on twitter for a while and people posted other old clips from both of their channels and the frog video blew up again

Impa retweeted a post tagged as #zelink with “rofl” and later publicly apologized for causing confusion.

Fans noticed that in the “can a motorcycle drive over my arm” (it was clickbait he’s fine) episode 2 years ago, Link was eating out of a paper lunch bag with his name written on it in handwriting that a few people claimed to look like Zelda’s, leading people to believe that she had packed him a lunch.

However, this theory was shot down with the counterargument that Zelda can’t cook. although. i mean how much skill do you need to make a sandwich.

No one knows what tumblr is doing at this time

Zelda wore a scarf in her “Save the Sand Seals” video that matched identically to the scarf Link wore when he travelled to Hebra to film a shield surfing video, but it’s been debated wether it’s actually the same scarf or not.

Neither Zelda nor Link has spoken up about the theories, and besides Impa’s one slip on twitter, neither has any of their friends. Zelda received a lot of backlash for the assumption that she was dating Link because he has a lot of delusional fans that didn’t want her to “steal their man” or whatever the hell that type of fan would get mad about

Oh yea and bolson & karson run a zelink fanpage on twitter sorry I forgot about that

after that whole mess, everyone was even more anticipant of VidCon in the hopes that some of their questions would be answered.

The whole batch went to VidCon this year: Link, Impa, Daruk, and Riju are a gang while Sidon and Mipha go together and Zelda & Revali each go separately. Urbosa is there for supervision moral support

Zelda has always been much better at dodging questions that she doesn’t want to answer than anyone else, so her Q&A went without a hitch. When asked to confirm the rumours she said “which one?” and then moved on to the next question (without actually confirming any rumours).

Link is generally a more awkward person but eventually said that he had filmed the video in Zelda’s house because it was nicer and didn’t realize it would cause such an uproar. Fans were disappointed, but Bolson claimed he saw Link and Zelda exiting the hotel elevator on the same floor after Link’s Q&A session. No one believed him.

Fans went back to theorizing over who Link, Zelda, and Sidon were all dating, because apparently they can’t just be dating unknown people and have to be with other YouTubers

Sidon and Bazz got engaged about a week after VidCon, making at least 4 preteen girls cry

actually try 4 million

Sidon x Sidon made a brief comeback but Sidon spoke up about his fandom for the first time ever on twitter and told everyone that no, he was not dating himself. eventually, everyone settled down and accepted that none of them were in a relationship save for a few loud fans.

Link and Zelda still got the occasional “when will you tell us who you’re dating?” comment but most of them were joking and the people who still hardcore shipped them were generally frowned upon. Zelda’s popularity went up after VidCon and she regained the 200k subscribers she’d lost after the first theory dropped.

Two months after VidCon, Link posted a video titled “Zelda and I’s House Tour!” and gave around 45 million people a heart attack

as revealed in the video, they had actually been dating since they were 16 and everyone’s just a fool.

the potted plant is named Hestu.

[retvenkos]

“this place feels like home”

A/N: someone mentioned it, so here i am

WHAT THE HOGWARTS COMMON ROOMS LOOK LIKE, IN MY CLEARLY SUPERIOR OPINION...

gryffindor common room

i’m no interior decorator, and i’m betting godric gryffindor wasn’t either, so it looks like a glorified man cave

lots of designated areas for just hanging out, a huge, central fireplace, lots of open places perfect for pulling your wand on someone to duel, but very cluttered in other areas where you are meant to be close for house bonding!

secondly, there are a total of like, 4 desks you can use to work on, and they’re pushed to the walls, the chairs constantly stolen for something or another.

the main focus of the gryffindor common room is the couches and chairs

there’s a recliner that some muggle-born student brought in, and when they first kicked it out the purebloods went absolutely feral

they don’t know how it works, but they love it

there are so many radios... gryffindor has the best sound system for any kind of party. the other houses have to use charms to get the sound evenly distributed, but gryffindors just use their like, 10 different radios

there are a lot of spare pillows and blankets, but they don’t exactly have a place to go - they’re usually just thrown on the back of the couches or cast to the floor.

sometimes the 1st years will play “the ground is lava” and it’s vvv sweet

the ceiling has constellations mapped onto it, and they’re actually accurate. using your wand, you can “shift” the sky and it’s a really effective way to get your astronomy homework done

harry didn’t notice it because he’s as observant as a doorknob

the most chaotic thing about the gryffindor common room is the fact that there are real swords and battle axes on the wall, all of which belonged to godric gryffindor himself

students will 100% try to use them as jokes, but they can never manage to actually grab them? their hands just go right through them like they aren’t real

but if you approach them with nothing but wonder and reverence, when you reach out, you can most definitely feel them, and they are real

i really just want someone to have picked up a battle axe during the battle at hogwarts, now

there are a couple of portraits that give life advice, but most of them are #tired and leave their portraits to go visit others because the common room can get so crazy

the amount of animals this common room has,,,, i sure do hope you’re not allergic

there are lizards, rats, toads, cats, tarantulas...

if you’re afraid of any of them, tell your classmates when you’re still a first or second year and the whole of gryffindor tower will rally behind you to make the other person put their animal in their dormitory

there always seems to be leftover food from a party, so you’re well fed. 

and if you’re from another house, this is the easiest house to steal food from.

oh, and the carpet (because YEAH, someone put in carpet with some kind of magic) does not match the furnishings at all.

minimalists cry at the sight of this common room 

slytherin common room

first of all!!!! this common room has a glass ceiling because someone else came up with this idea and it is legendary

they mentioned the merfolk help with classes! they know sign language! i am very here for it.

then,,, there is an entire section of the common room that is dedicated to games - checkers, chess, poker, solitaire, even some muggle board games

it’s how they foster community. friendly competition is everything to slytherins and slytherins can actually do friendly competition, unlike ravenclaws

at lot of purebloods are still trying to win risk. it confuses them so much.

there’s probably a cat or two in this common room

they actually get along fairly well with the owls, but every so often snape has to come in and stop then from attacking each other and it would be hilarious if he weren’t so intimidating

there’s a lot more space in this common room, or maybe it’s just set up as to give the illusion of more space. either way, the slytherins are more spread out.

they don’t like breathing on each other

the gothic aesthetic does exist, but it’s not all gloomy because some intelligent slytherin’s know that’s bad for mental health.

they probably have a fourth of the room (maybe in a corner) that’s a little more lighted and cozy, with the most supportive portraits in that area

the slytherin common room has bean bags

this was a later addition, ofc, seeing as there is no way in hell salazar slytherin would ever allow that to happen

but everyone loves them a whole lot. 1st years always beeline for them

and slytherin was a good interior decorator, so we have the perfect ratio of portraits to wall space and the amount of lamps is actually palatable.

and there might be a dramatic hamlet skull on a table or two, but they’re not real - just decor. sometimes slytherin’s use them for pranks.

there’s actually a fair bit of communal property, too? like, there’s a lot of blankets, a bookshelf, and a table that always has food on it because the dungeons are hella far away from the kitchens and many slytherins like a good midnight snack

the slytherins actually talk more to ghosts than the other houses - ghosts like to hang out in the dungeons, and the amount of ghost jokes that the slytherins know is incredible

a group of hufflepuffs swear they once heard professor binns laugh at a ghost joke one of the slytherin’s retold

the snake iconography of this room is so high - it would honestly be a little unnerving if everyone wasn’t just used to it.

there’s probably a game going around where someone will conjure up an extra snake decoration and every week the first and second years are trying to find out which one it is

sometimes a very tired 5th year will give you a hint

there’s not a space that’s specifically designated for studying, but you can often find space in a few different places.

the desks are always being used for games, like i mentioned above, but someone had introduced the idea of lap desks and slytherins love that so much.

ravenclaw common room

this is the most minimalist of the common rooms in decor and style, but there’s so much happening at all times that it never looks bare

and a fair few ravenclaws are BIG about organization, so this is one of the more compartmentalized common rooms

it’s also formatted this way because the studious ravenclaw has threatened the musically inclined ravenclaw, saying that they will not hesitate to sabotage the other’s saxophone if they ever hear careless whisper while trying to study for n.e.w.t.s again.

also, i just want to say that ravenclaw house is probably one of the most diverse houses because creativity is so broad, and that combined with their individualistic streak means that community is a little less strong in this house, but there’s a place for everyone

i have no doubt that someone has enchanted the common room to expand on the inside, so it has much more room than say gryffindor common room or hufflepuff common room. 

they’re also big about making boundaries - there’s probably actual walls and doors between different areas. 

like, one for studying, one for art (like drawing and painting), one for music, etc.

also, you would think this is a quiet common room but you would be wrong.

the quiet ones are slytherin and hufflepuff. gryffindor and ravenclaw are both p chaotic.

except for the quiet room, which is as silent as they come. if you need quiet inspiration, you go there. it’s also the study room, though, so when you’re struck with inspiration, you have to keep quiet.

now, ravenclaws like to keep what is theirs, but they do have some communal property, mostly in the form of books and materials like typewriters and art supplies (although some people are very territorial about their brushes. it’s a toss up.)

there’s a floor to ceiling window that can actually be opened up - kind of like doors. the ravenclaws have it instead of the gryffindors because they have self control and won’t jump out the window without a sure plan of survival.

there’s also statues and busts! rowena ravenclaw was decent at interior design, and she loved sculpture - maybe she had a sculptor lover at one point? who knows? there’s just a lot of busts in ravenclaw tower

no doubt they’re enchanted to give advice or tbh just to gossip. i imagine there’s a lot of gossip in ravenclaw tower

the walls are painted in some places. it’s a rule that you don’t paint over other people’s art, but the paint is also enchanted so that if you look closely, you can see the name of who has painted what, and ravenclaws are too proud to do idiotic things like drawing crude doodles on the walls.

the only person to ever paint on the ceiling is luna lovegood, and she was commissioned to do so after her time at hogwarts.

there’s also a chalkboard wall for when you’re studying and need to write things down to think. beware, though, because your work can and will be erased.

you can also write on the large window i talked about! muggle students have brought dry erase markers and they are much needed.

oh, and ravenclaws have a lot of owl access - they owls like to stop at ravenclaw tower for treats and whatnot, and ravenclaws definitely use this to their advantage. they have priority for mail service and it’s a win tbh.

hufflepuff common room

now helga hufflepuff was no interior decorator either, but she was a homemaker, so we all know that this common room is the most home-like of the bunch

first of all, there are potted plants everywhere. hufflepuffs are known to be good at herbology, and that tradition means there are a whole lot of life in this common room

there’s also a curious amount of sunlight, too, despite being in the basement. i’m not exactly sure how it’s done, but the common room has actual sunlight - it’s important for the plants.

i also imagine there’s one wall that is a long mirror. you can use it for whatever you like, introspection, self affirmations, or reflecting light or whatever, but helga thought it was important to always be aware of yourself.

muggle students have brought sticky notes and now the mirror if full of them - little reminders, little motivations, fun quotes, jokes, etc.

there’s also a lot of couches and desks. the desks are usually very cluttered, but you can always find space for your stuff, somehow. and the couches are the softest at hogwarts, gryffindors have been trying to steal them for years.

also, the marauders were incredibly presumptuous, thinking they had found all of the secret passageways in the castle - there are at least 3 secret passages that only hufflepuffs know about and it’s one of the best kept secrets at hogwarts. they all connect to the common room.

and as initiation, on their first night as hufflepuffs, first years traverse secret passageways in the dark trying to figure out where they lead, all of them having to work together to figure out the lumos spell for some light.

and one of those passageways leads to the kitchens. it’s how they get the best food for parties. hufflepuffs often put in requests for what they want at breakfast or dinner.

this is also the warmest common room. i’m not exactly sure how it’s done, but the common room is never cold - maybe a little chilly, but not cold enough that you need a sweater.

the flooring is carpet, but parts of it are hard wood - it’s clear it used to be carpet, but was stained beyond repair from a broken pot or two.

there is toad supremacy in the hufflepuff common room. there’s probably one or two toads that don’t have real owners but are treated as the house pets.

there’s also a few paintings - all of them are smaller because there’s so much going on in this common room already, the walls have to be mellow to account for everything else, but there’s a couple and all of them like to tell jokes and give really good advice. 

two of the newer (and favorite) additions include cedric diggory and tonks. they both get along quite well, although tonks is more mischievous and cedric is more down to earth.

cedric will often tell you how to charm a professor, if you ask, and he might give answers to homework questions to favorite students.

similar to gryffindor common room, there’s a lot of cozy areas that encourage students to chat with each other and spend time together.

but similar to slytherin, there is a lot of games about - they involve less strategy and more fun (like hide and go seek or charades) - but games is a bonding strategy that hufflepuffs utilize.

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

-- taglist: @musicallisto, @theletterhart, @locke-writes, @randomfandomimagine, @brokenandheadoverheels, @timeofmadness, @writerdream22, @lotsoffandomrecs, @neelia-thedaughtherof-athena, @coffee--writes, @lenalxvegood, @cooloaflandhero, @swanimagines, @noesapphic​, @amortensie // message me if you want to be added!

[peralta-guaranteed]

do you have any hc’s of jake meeting or being at santiago events from early relationship to fatherhood

ho booy, that's like.. a whole fic collection if you get deep into it!

- he went to one sibling meet-up / visiting-the-city-event pre-relationship and half the brother's were like... THIS is the dude Amy has to work with? he's fun but oh god they're like oil and water. While the other half was like JESUS you can cut the tension between those two with a knife!!!

- the first official relationship meeting is luckily not a big holiday or anything, just an annual summer BBQ afternoon/evening at the parents'. Jake knows he's gonna be under everyone's scrutiny and stresses out like crazy beforehand. He doesn't want to ruin things with his jokes, but he also can't pretend to be some straight-forward serious dude if this relationship is gonna last and they'll get to see him more often. He ends up mostly talking to Julian whom he knows, and who makes him feel easy enough to be his normal, goofy self. Which may or may not be a good thing.

- (he also definitely raids the grill - wouldn't dream of offering help or info, Victor's the king of the BBQ - and brings Amy exactly the items she likes the most without knowing that she usually has to fight at least two brothers for them, so that's quite a lot of plus-points from everyone for him)

- the first big, big event is Noche Buena (christmas eve) where everyone brings a dish, so he and Amy are expected to now bring two. Actually, Amy is only expected to bring drinks, because... they know her, after all. But Jake wrecks his mind over what he could cook, he doesn't know any Cuban or Latin dishes, heck, he doesn't really know American christmas dishes, because while he did celebrate it his mom never made too big a deal out of it all... so he ends up bringing his mom's passover brisket, which Karen might or might not have helped with a lot. Anyway, it's a hit, and abuela Claudia tells him to bring it next year too, which... they all know what that really means. He's still expected to be in the picture next year.

- about a year and a few months into their relationship one of Amy's nephews gets christened and that's when the Santiago-baby-testing starts, definitely. Jake is basically volun-told to take care of the older kids during the day outside of the church (inside which the parents shush them, luckily, because Jake would never be able to handle that). He also gets handed the baptism-baby and silently thanks a God he doesn't actually pray to that the kid stays calm in his arms while everyone is staring.

- between Florida and Jail things get quite bumpy for the Santiagos re: Jake, because he's missed several events, and involuntarily made Amy miss a few as well because she didn't feel up to it, and, well, they all don't really know what to think of that, really, especially since Amy couldn't tell them the truth about WitSec (except for Matteo and Julian). But they do make it to the annual cabin week that year, and they're still so happy from being back together and actually moving in with each other and just having each other back, for realz-realz, that Jake completely forgets to be anxious about re-meeting the family and Amy completely forgets to be anxious about how she acts in front of her family, and they all basically get the lovey-dovey show of their life. Which is surprisingly reassuring for them all.

- some of the Santiabros, one abuela and, unexpectedly, Camila send Jake things when he's in prison. Even during his short stay, he gets picture updates of the family (and Amy), and some Cuban snacks and sweets (that he refuses to trade or barter with), and a letter-set from Camila (so he can write to her daughter, which she's sure Amy'll love). It's all very sweet, but most of all it's a very clear sign that despite it all he's absolutely a part of the family now and no Santiago is going to let someone from their family fall. They throw him a small-ish party when he gets out, without really mentioning what the party is about but just a general welcome back.

- once they're engaged things turn even more. All the tias and tios who were still suspicious of him (a boyfriend is a very unstable thing) finally accept him as much as they can (a fiancé is a thing for the future, however). The baby-testing and husband-duty-testing definitely amps up during every single event.

- post-wedding (which they're all still bitter about not attending but oh well), Jake actually gets handed proper jobs during events. Before, he was always dragged in as a helper or general support, but now he gets his properly assigned areas. Which, as Amy lets him know, means he's definitely a Santiago-Peralta now even if he hadn't taken her name.

- there's a bit of a rabble during a birthday party for one of the brothers when Amy is heavily pregnant, because Camila and Victor expect everyone to follow their planned schedule and do things properly and whatnot, while Amy is at that stage where she needs to sit down a lot / wants to nap a lot / feels unwell really fast. Jake is extremely adamant about her doing what is best for her, while Amy feels the pressure of being the perfect daughter, and it ends in yet another scene where Jake tells Camila where, exactly, she can stick her schedule if his wife needs that time window to lie down in her childhood bedroom (okay, maybe that's not his real word choice, because he'd never dare say that to his mother-in-law, but the point comes across). Amy is mortified, Camila is angry, and Victor for the first time ever thinks he might actually be the right one for his daughter. The santiabros give him several high fives in secret later on.

- Victor is completely convinced once he watches Jake carry sleepy baby-Mac through his cousin's quinceañera like he's the most precious cargo in the world, which he is. There's a crazy party happening, with all the stuff that Jake would usually go wild for - cake, party games, silly costumes, good drinks. But instead he holds his son close to his chest, and stays off to the sides so the noise doesn't bother him too much, and tells Amy to go back and enjoy herself every time she checks in on her two boys. And when they leave earlier than everyone else, because Mac really needs to go to bed at home and Jake doesn't want to drive through the complete darkness with a baby on board, Victor gives him the first hug ever to say goodbye to his son-in-law and his grandson.

[alisonsfics]

Christmas Traditions🎄

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Summary: All day Reid has been telling Y/N about the many Christmas traditions around the world, but at the end of the day she shows him her favorite tradition.

Word Count: 2.1k

It was Christmas Eve and the whole team was at the office. You all weren’t on a case though, just finishing up all your paperwork so you’d be done for Christmas.

You were in the kitchen getting a cup of coffee. Someone had set up a Christmas tree in the kitchen. You were looking at the ornaments while sipping on your coffee.

Then you sensed someone standing behind you. You glanced over your shoulder and saw Spencer standing there, with his cup of coffee. “What are you doing?” He asked you, curiously. “Just looking at the tree, it's so pretty” you told him, smiling.

“Did you know that the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree originated in Germany?” He asked you. “Hmmm, well now I know” you said, smiling while looking over at Spencer. “So do you have any fun Christmas plans, Spence?” You asked him. “No not really, I normally just read” he told you, sheepishly.

“You can come over tomorrow if you want to, we could make gingerbread houses or watch Christmas movies, or whatever you want to do” you told him, praying he would say yes.

“Did you know unmarried women in England would eat gingerbread in hopes that it would help them find a suitor?” Spencer asked you, his face lighting up when he realized he knew a fact about the topic. “Is that yes? You’ll come over tomorrow?” You asked him, excitedly.

“If it’ll make you happy, then I’ll be there” he told you, smiling. You were elated, you were going to get to spend Christmas with your best friend, who had the biggest crush on. Your eyes lit up and you wrapped your arms around Spencer. “Thank you so much” you told him, smiling up at him. He seemed shocked, but wrapped his arms around you, in return.

“Hello lovebirds” you heard a very familiar voice say behind you. You both jumped apart and you saw Penelope had just walked in the room. “I convinced Spencer to come over for Christmas” you told Penelope, feeling accomplished. “I need a picture of him in a Christmas sweater. I just need it, Y/N” she begged you. “That is not happening” Spencer said, walking back to his desk.

“I know what you need to do” Penelope said, her eyes lighting up. “I’m not making him wear a Christmas sweater” you told her. “No, not that. You need to put some mistletoe up in your apartment” she told you, mischievously smirking.

“What? Why would I do that?” You asked, pretending like that didn’t sound magical to you. “Come on Y/N, we all know you are head over heels for our resident genius” Penelope told you, not buying your lie for a second.

“What if it freaks him out and he leaves and never talks to me again?” You asked her, thinking of only the bad ways that could end. “But what if he likes you too?” Penelope suggested. “Do you know something I don’t know?” You asked her, wary of her smirking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but we’ve all been trying to get Spencer to hang out for Christmas and he always says no. But you asked him and he said yes, without a second thought, right?” She asked you, wiggling her eyebrows.

You thought about it for a second, and you could feel the butterflies in your stomach. What if Spencer did like you?

“We’re just friends, Penelope” you said, mostly trying to assure yourself, and not Penelope. “You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart” she said, smiling and walking back to her office.

It was later in the day now, and you were still sat at your desk still doing paperwork. You set down your pen for a second. You did a few little stretches in your chair, trying to wake yourself up. This paperwork was boring to say the least.

You thought about what you could do that was more interesting than this paperwork. One idea quickly came to mind. You rolled your chair over to Spencer’s desk. He watched you and chuckled to himself at how childish you were being.

“Spence, I’m bored. Tell me another Christmas fun fact” you whined. “1.76 billion candy canes are made each holiday season” he told you, going along with your request.

“Woah, that’s a lot of candy canes. Thank you” you said, rolling back to your own desk.

What you didn’t see was the smile on Spencer’s face as you went back to your desk. It was the smile of someone who was completely lovestruck.

Finally, you had finished all your paperwork and you felt so relieved. Now, the only thing you had to think about was spending Christmas with Spencer. You grabbed your bag and looped her arm though the handle of the bag.

You walked over to Spencer’s desk. “So I’ll see you some time tomorrow? No earlier than 9am though” you told him. “Are you leaving?” He asked you, frowning. “Yeah, I’m done with my paperwork. Plus, I have to stop by the store on my way home.

“I’m almost done. Wait for me, and we can walk out together?” He propositioned. “Okay, I’ll be in Penelope’s office” you told him, figuring it was a good way to spend your time. You walked over to Penelope’s office and you peeked in the door.

You saw Derek and Penelope both sitting next to each other, talking about something. “Hey guys” you said, smiling at them. “Oh great Y/N, you’re here! I was just telling Derek about yours and Spencer’s romantic Christmas planned for tomorrow” Penelope said, smirking at you.

You groaned as you sat down in an extra chair. “That is not what’s happening” you said, looking towards Derek. “It doesn’t sound that crazy to me. He looks at you like you’re the only one in the room. And you are the only one he’s ever agreed to spend Christmas with” Derek told me. Now, Penelope and Derek were both smirking at you.

“He agreed to hang out tomorrow because we’re friends and he had no other plans” you explained to the both of them. “If you say so” they both said, in unison.

Then someone else appeared in Penelope’s doorway. It was Spencer, he was standing there with his bag. “Hey Y/N, you ready to go?” He asked you. You knew that this was only going to encourage Penelope and Derek’s teasing.

“Yeah, I’m ready. Bye guys, see you in a few days” you told them, as you stood up. As you walked out of the door, you could see them both winking at you.

“So do you need me to bring anything tomorrow?” Spencer asked you, as you both started to walk to your cars. “Ummm no, not that I can think of. Just bring yourself and all the fun facts you can carry” you joked. You saw him laugh at your joke. It was the first time Spencer had laughed at one of your jokes. You felt the butterflies start to appear in your stomach.

“Okay, so I’ll take that at as a no” he said, chuckling. “I will supply anything you need, just come over and keep me company” you told him. “That sounds good to me” he said, smiling.

You realized you both had reached your car and you felt disappointed. You had to say goodbye to Spencer. “So I’ll see you tomorrow?” You asked him. He nodded and smiled at you. You resisted every urge that you had to lean in and hug him, instead you just got into your car.

Spencer waved to you as you drove away. Instead of driving straight home, you stopped at the store to pick up some of the essentials. You bought hot chocolate, candy canes, and some cookies. You were standing in the Christmas aisle at the store and you couldn’t stop staring at the mistletoe.

Was Penelope right? Should you give it a try?

You grew tired of trying to decide if you should buy it and just grabbed it. You got home later that night and put away all the food. Then you stared at the mistletoe in your hand.

Could this ruin your friendship with Spencer?

Completely.

But was there a part of you that still wanted to know if there was a possibility that Spencer liked you back?

Absolutely.

So you walked over to an archway in your apartment and hung up the mistletoe. You sighed, having given into Penelope and Derek’s teasing.

You cleaned up your apartment a little bit and then decided to head to bed. As soon as you laid down in bed, you fell right asleep. But only to have multiple dreams about hanging out with Spencer tomorrow.

You woke up, more excited for Christmas than you had in a while. You quickly changed into some jeans and put on a cute Christmas sweater. You turned on some quiet Christmas music, just to have in the background. You set out all the cookies and candy canes and whatnot. You looked around, wondering if everything was ready when you heard a knock at your door.

You jumped a little and felt the butterflies back in your stomach. You walked over to your front door. You took a deep breath, before opening the door.

You opened the door and Spencer was standing there in a Christmas sweater, you were shocked to say the least. “Spencer! I’m so glad you’re here. You look pretty festive” you told him, smiling.

“Hi, I figured that you would get mad if I wasn’t dressed in the festive spirit” he told you. You giggled to yourself and invited him in to your apartment.

You followed him inside and then he turned to face you. “I got you this” he said, sheepishly. You looked down and he had a present in his hands. It was neatly wrapped with a bow on top. “Aww thank you Spencer” you said, taking the gift from his hand. You saw the gift tag, that had your name scribbled in Spencer’s hand writing.

You opened the wrapping paper, carefully. When you opened the gift, you found a novel. It was your favorite novel. You and Spencer had had a conversation about this book, a while ago. You raved to him about it and how much you loved it. And now, you were holding a signed, first edition of the book.

“Spencer! This is amazing, you know this is my favorite book. This is so thoughtful” you said, pulling him in for a hug. He seemed shocked, but hugged you back. Although, he seemed like he didn’t really know what to do in the situation.

“Did you know that out of all age groups, baby boomer are most likely to give gifts to the fewest amount of recipients?” Spencer asked you, probably relying on statistics because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Hmmm is that so?” You asked him, stepping away from him. You wanted to him the space he needed. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable” you apologized. “Oh no, you didn’t! You just told me to be prepared with facts. I’m glad you like your gift though” he said, smiling at you.

You realized now was the best time to attempt whatever you were trying to attempt with the mistletoe. That way, you had less time to spend dreading the outcome. It was better to just get it out of the way.

“Okay, so you’ve been teaching me all about Christmas traditions and it’s been really fun. But I want to teach you about my favorite Christmas tradition. Do you know what my favorite tradition is?” You asked him. “I don’t. What about baking cookies?” He asked, completely guessing. You shook your head no. “So what is it?” He asked you.

“Come here, I want to show you” you said, grabbing his hand and leading him over to the archway with the mistletoe. You both were standing under the mistletoe, but he hadn’t noticed yet.

“What are we doing?” He asked, as you faced him. “Look up, Spence” you told him, simply. He looked up and you saw the realization in his eyes.

Spencer looked back down at you, and had a worried expression. Then, he took a deep breath and you noticed him starting to lean in. You were surprised, you couldn’t believe that he actually liked you.

You smiled to yourself and placed your hands on his chest. You both leaned in and eventually your lips connected. It was magical, and it felt like a cliche Hallmark movie. You could feel Spencer smile as he kissed you.

You both eventually pulled away with the biggest smiles on your faces. “Best Christmas ever” Spencer whispered to you.

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[llendrinall]

As we all know, Charlie Weasley could have played for Britain had he not gone off chasing dragons. There’s a lot of gold that comes with being a good international player. What do you think it would have been like if the Weasleys were doing better financially?

Frankly, I don’t think things would change all that much. Not everybody is a Ronaldo or a Messi (to draw parallels with football/soccer) making really stupid amounts of money. At least during the first few years, until Charlie became a Big Name, he would make money, maybe even tons of money, but I doubt it would be enough to change things significantly.

Mostly I think Charlie would be very unhappy and Percy’s break with the family would be much more intense (what! After the way he behaved in canon? Yes, more than that. Percy would be the next Charlie, getting a job far away and visiting home rarely).

The question here is: why are the Weasleys poor? There is a quick and dirty answer, which is that JKR wanted a rich=bad, poor= good - noble, structure. But she didn’t build a reason as to whyit is so. (There is also no reason why the Malfoys are rich, but money has inertia so we can half buy it). Thus, she accidentally made the Weasleys come across as reeeeally financially irresponsible and the creators of their own poverty.

Let’s look at the money. Supposedly, Hogwarts is free for all students, which makes sense because a significant portion of those students will me muggleborns and I can’t imagine how that conversation would go with their parents (“Your child is gifted! Magical! Now let us take them for 10 months of the year and give us money”). Hogwarts budget must come from the Ministry and the expenses are supervised by the Board of Governors. This, together with how big the Ministry infrastructure seems to be, makes me think that taxes in the wizarding world must be pretty high.

(US readers, double whatever number you are thinking).

Let’s say… 40% of income at the very least. That’s a big chunk for the Weasleys, considering they only have one salary. Since Arthur is overlooked for promotions, we can guess his salary isn’t high. He is head of a department, but it’s a joke department.

The books hint that the Weasleys own the land they live in. If they were renting the Burrow, and it would be hilariousif their landlord were Malfoy, then the house should be in a better state and they wouldn’t be responsible for the gnomes or the ghoul. Since there was no dramatic subplot about Malfoy trying to kick them out, I will assume they own the house and the land. Maybe they have a mortgage on it? One with ridiculous high rates, for argument’s sake.

So that’s most of the money accounted for. What other expenses do they have? According to the ONS the average UK household, after taxes, has a budget as follows (simplified):

Housing (rent, interest and upkeep) – 33%

Food and utilities – 20%

Transport – 14%

Recreation – 12%

Holidays – 11%

Restaurants – 7%

Other – 3%

Let’s say that the mortgage has an insane rate, so 40% of the budget, after taxes, is going there. But we can scratch transportation right away since they have apparition and side apparition and, more importantly, they have nowhere to go. The kids are homeschooled and the one person in the household who has to go to work everyday, can simply apparate right before the office. So that 14% of transportation can go to the housing budget.

Next, food. The Weasleys have many more children than average so the food expense should be higher. On the other hand, they have a lot of land. Supposedly a plot of land of 24x30m (80x100 feet or, for the Americans, about the size of a small Starbucks, the kind that is integrated inside a business) is enough to feed one person for a year in an exclusively plant-based diet. My experience is that a plot of 10x10 meters (32x32 feet or a small Subway shop) can feed a family of 4 if they supplement with eggs and milk and they are smart with the crop distribution.

If the Weasleys kept hens and an orchard, they could keep the food costs low enough that the large family size wouldn’t matter. Plus, during the teenage years, when the calorie demand is higher, the kids are in Hogwarts 10 out of 12 months of the year.

This still leaves them with a very small budget. But considering the only thing magic can’t produce is a) food b) a property deed, almost everything else can be procured with a spell. Furniture wear and tear? A reparo will take care of that. Kids are growing and we need bigger beds? Transfiguration. Clothes? Buy the fabric and use a spell. Maybe it won’t be pretty, but it will be cheap. There will be many luxuries they can’t afford. No eating out, no holidays, no fancy broomsticks. And there are some unavoidable expenses, like school supplies (although books could be reused). Although with the exception of Ginny, there are 2-3 years between children so they have time to save. The moment a kid reaches Hogwarts age they have to make a big investment of wand, cauldron, etc. and then they can write them off. The high taxes also mean they have services like free healthcare and free education with board and room.

It’s a difficult situation. But notice that it’s one that I have created myself. We don’t know if they have a mortgage and we don’t know the tax duties. I’m just coming up with reasons for the expenses while not giving them supplemental income, like Molly selling preserves and whatnot.

I still think that things shouldn’t be so tight that they can’t afford a new wand for each kid. Yet Ron went to Hogwarts with Charlie’s old wand and spent a whole academic year with his wand broken. The Weasleys should had been able to afford a wand. Sure, they just bought Ginny’s school package, but Harry gave her some of the books. It might set them back, it might mean no new robes for the family, but they ought to have that money. Books you can reuse and hope the content is pretty much the same. Wands, you cannot. With broken wands, you are putting your child’s education and even life in danger.

Ron didn’t get the new wand because it was useful for the story that his wand was broken, but the internal logic of the story speaks of extreme economic irresponsibility. Despite all the excuses I tried to come up with (high taxes, high mortgage, Molly is working all day at the garden) not giving Ron a new wand points at a situation of extreme financial ignorance.

So, if Charlie went the Quidditch route the Weasleys would do a bit better, they might pay off their debt, but I don’t think they would be able to grow savings because they simply don’t know how. Charlie would have the added stress of not only performing well in his job but also being the main bread-winner for the whole family. Percy, who is quite observant, would have constant fights about what he considers unnecessary luxuries. He would resent his father even more and he would accept the first job that took him out of the country. The twins would probably resent Ron and Ginny a bit, since they would be the ones to experience having new things.

Charlie would have to make truly astounding amounts of money so that his earnings overcome the family’s blundering of the budget.

[spencerspecifics]

What about a moried fluffy fic based on You Belong With Me by: Taylor Swift

You have no clue how much I absolutely love this song prompt thank u anon moreid is my shit here we go. (It is fluffy but it’s angsty in the beginning so yeah stay for the fluff thanks.) And I’m so sorry this took so long to get up! I took some time off from writing bc of lots of factors.

Lowkey TW?? Slight homophobia Bc Derek’s gf thinks he’s “too gay” even tho he’s just bi Also, song lyrics are in bold lettering. They’re going to be part the story here and there to help plot and whatnot so yeah!

———————————————————————

You Belong With Me

———————————————————————

Spencer had a problem. Namely a person problem. A Derek Morgan problem. Spencer didn’t hate Derek, quite the opposite, actually. Spencer was crushing hard on the man. And he couldn’t do anything. Spencer would rather lose his right hand then tell Derek how he felt about him, he couldn’t risk their friendship over his stupid little crush.

But just because he hid his feelings, ignored them through hell and high water- it didn’t mean they weren’t real, or weren’t there. They were both very real and apparent. Every time Derek called him ‘pretty boy’ or ‘genius’ or ‘handsome’, every time Derek wrapped his arm around him casually or did small things to showed him he cared, caused Spencer to blush and go speechless. Spencer was smart, but how to react to someone you’re infatuated with giving you attention, he’d never be able to solve that.

Time and time again, though, he found himself in situations where it was just him and Derek- and everything in his brain and body would scream at him to tell him how much he liked him, tell him how they should be together. It just made sense, after all.

Long paragraph short, here are the four times Spencer felt like they belonged together, and the one time Derek realized they do belong together.

~

“...You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset. She’s goin’ off about something that you said, ‘cause she doesn’t get your humor like I do...”

~

Spencer hung out with Derek a lot, it was just by default. He wasn’t a social individual, but he pack bonded with the team. Spencer saw everyone there as his friends, so yeah, he hung out with Derek. They would go do things together, grab lunch, get coffee, meet up to go shopping. Painfully mundane tasks that were so domestic it could cause spencer another migraine if he thought about it for long enough.

It was on one of these mundane days when problems slowly arose. They were in the mall, sat in the food court. Spencer was looking over a new book he had just bought, it was a thick book on physics, it would probably take him a day or two at most to read it, his tray of food in front of him was still mostly untouched.

Unlike Spencer, Derek was eating. Though it was greasy mall pizza, it was still food. Derek decided he’d run a few extra miles to work it off as some sort of consequence for his action.

They sat in silence, Spencer already flipping through pages quickly, mouthing the words he was reading over to himself; and Derek chewing silently as he watched the genius in front of him.

That was, until, Derek’s phone rang. Breaking the ambiance that had surrounded the two. Spencer didn’t look up, he was too invested in the book in front of him. Derek reacted, though, wiping his hands off on a napkin before grabbing his cell phone out of his back pocket. He looked over the caller ID, it was Melissa.

Melissa was his newest fling, Spencer had heard bits and pieces of Garcia and Derek’s conversation surrounding the topic, but he knew the bare minimum- deciding best to not involve himself with how his crushes romantic life was soaring- meanwhile his was crashing.

Spencer didn’t know it was Melissa though, not until Derek pulled the phone up to his ear and said; “Hey, Melissa!”

If anyone on their team was with them and watching Spencer, they would have noticed the way his eyes looked off the book for a moment, up at Derek, before immediately turning back down; to reread the same page he didn’t need to reread because he could just go back into his memory to figure out what the words on the paper meant to say. But he had to reread the page. The strongest memory in the whole universe couldn’t tell him what was on the page in front of him, he was distracted.

Melissa on the other line started speaking. Derek listened before responding; “Oh, not much, Y’know- just at the mall with the doc.”

Spencer kept himself staring down at the book in front of him, even though he could feel the blush rising up to his ears. It was stupid that made him blush like a schoolgirl. But he couldn’t help it. So instead, he hid in the pages about quantum mechanics. Something real, something not confusing. Something that was pure and basic and understanding.

“No-“ Derek chuckled, “No, pretty boy ain’t that type of doctor,” god, this was going to be the death of Spencer. Pretty boy always was something that made him melt. He couldn’t help it, god knows he tried. He did all the distraction techniques he could find. None of them really worked.

Spencer opted to hide in his book more, act like he wasn’t listening to Derek. Even though he was. He was always hooked on every last word the man spoke, it always mattered. This was just a hopeless effort, Spencer realized, as he sunk down in the uncomfortable plastic chair.

“Now, what on earth are you- hey, baby- beautiful, what are you-“ Derek started, sounding concerned.

Spencer couldn’t help it at this point, he looked up over the top of the book. Derek was looking at his phone in bewilderment. It was no longer up to his ear.

“...Everything okay?” Spencer asked curiously after a moment. Derek just sighed setting his phone down on the table next to his food tray. “I don’t even know, man. I called you pretty boy and that made Melissa flip- she was all like ‘who’s pretty boy? We discussed you being bisexual already, you better not be changing up on me’. Then she hung up.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Spencer replied, book still up between him and Morgan. “Yeah, I’m confused. It was a joke.” Derek explained to Reid, as if Spencer was ever owed an explanation regarding this.

“She must be insecure.” Spencer theorized plain and simple. Derek watched him curiously instead of asking anything to lead him on, “If she gets the idea that we’re a thing- just based on a nickname, then she’s gonna hate you and Garcia. You don’t need someone like that.”

Derek sighed, “You’re right. But I really thought she was great.” “Maybe she is,” Spencer shrugged, “I don’t know her. You do. All I’m saying is, she won’t like you and Garcia if she didn’t like my nickname.”

That elicited a chuckle from Derek, a sound Spencer always cherished in hearing. “Yeah, I can’t have someone hating my favorite boy wonder,” once again, Spencer could feel the blush coming onto his face. He was just hoping the lighting inside the mall food court didn’t make it all too obvious. “I’ll talk to her about it.” Derek decided. Spencer just nodded, not entirely wanting to talk right now.

“Yeah.. um, do what’s best.” Spencer agreed blandly. He wasn’t sure what else to say. And wasn’t this just laughable? Giving his crush dating advice? Spencer wasn’t stupid, but he was in this scenario.

“Yeah, I will. Anyways,” Derek continued the conversation casually, reaching out covering Spencer’s book with his hand. “What are you-“ Spencer started, confused. “Taking away your book. Eat before your food gets cold.” Derek spoke plainly, as if this was so obvious. He pulled Spencer’s book out of his grasp, setting it down next to himself; before pushing Spencer’s untouched tray of food in front of him.

“I’m not very-“ Spencer started, already trying to reach back for his book. Derek just shook his head, pulling the book closer to him. “Nuh-uh, not today. Not today. You’re eating. No if’s, and’s, or but’s.”

Spencer sunk down in his seat a little as he finally caved, agreeing and eating the mall food. Granted, it wasn’t great, but it was food, and he did need to eat. Last thing he had eaten that day was a granola bar for breakfast, and Derek knew that he forgot to eat.

He ate in silence as Derek watched him, before moving his gaze to casually watch the other mall patrons. It was so entirely stupid and domestic of them. It was nothing special, it wasn’t even that good of a memory. But for some reason, Spencer knew that was the first time he felt something new towards Derek. More new than just his crush. It was a new, overwhelming feeling of “I wouldn’t treat you that way” “I wouldn’t care if you called someone babygirl” “I would be better for you” before finally, his mind landed on, “you belong with someone who wouldn’t judge. Someone like me. You belong with me.”

That’s when Spencer knew he was fucked, more so than before.

~

“...I’m in the room, it’s a typical Tuesday night. I’m listening to the type of music she doesn’t like. And she’ll never know your story like I do...”

~

The second time was at Spencer’s apartment. He had complained about his bookshelf not being stable enough to hold all his books, and Derek had practically invited himself over; “C’mon, Reid. It’ll be good. Get some quality time without the ladies, we can order Chinese, plus I can show you how to fix your shelf so you don’t have to ask for help next time.”

So yeah, now they had gone directly from work to Spencer’s apartment- the only pit stop being to Derek’s house to pick up his toolbox, as Spencer didn’t have one.

Spencer wished he wasn’t such a pushover, because damnit, now he was gonna be in his apartment with Derek. That didn’t seem like a problem to anyone else, obviously- because they weren’t crushing hard on the guy. So Spencer just had to stand there and hide how much he liked Derek, and how at home Derek made his apartment feel- because it felt better with him there. He belonged there.

Spencer ignored his thoughts as they got into his apartment, he led Derek over to the problematic bookshelf in question. Some of the books had toppled off the shelves, and were on the ground below. “Damn, Reid, you don’t mess around with all these books.” Derek joked lightly as he looked over the immense amount of books Spencer had shoved onto the shelf; Derek squatted down, lowering the tool kit next to him as he started taking books off the shelves one by one so he could further inspect what was wrong with it.

Spencer protested, not understanding Derek was joking, “It’s not my fault- the bookshelf is supposed to hold books, if it can’t do what’s promised then that’s on the manufacturers error.”

Derek just chuckled slowly in response before replying, still pulling books off the shelves “Don’t worry, pretty boy, we’ll get this sorted out for you, alright? Just get some music on so we got something to hang to.” Derek wasn’t looking at Spencer, thank god- or he’d see how the genius got so flustered so quickly, how quickly a blush spread across his face, and how he immediately looked away from him, to the walls, the floor. To look at anything but Derek.

“Yes- right. Music.” Spencer changed his focus, he couldn’t think about how good it felt to be called a pet name by Derek. He couldn’t let himself think about it, or else he’d never stop. So he busied himself with getting some music to play through the quiet apartment, he turned over to his old radio that was sat on his study desk, it was a loud radio, that’s why he got it. It was compact, but if he put it in the bathroom he could hear it from the kitchen. It was the perfect device for him.

Spencer turned the radio on, the channel he always listened to was already tuned in, so he left it that way. Soft instrumental music started flowing out of the speakers, Derek stopped his motion of putting books down to turn and look at Spencer semi-curiously; “What’s this music?” “Classical.” Spencer replied easily, looking down at the radio as he messed with the volume dial that always seemed to be loose. “It’s on 88.1, they play strictly instrumental and classical pieces. It’s nice.”

Derek didn’t respond, Spencer didn’t need him to respond. It was an inconsequential conversation about music. If Derek didn’t like the station, he was more than welcome to change it to another. But he didn’t, it was Spencer’s apartment, and the soft classical music playing just seemed fitting to play there. Plus Derek just wanted the music as a background sound to help him focus, it wasn’t really important what it was- just that there was music playing.

Spencer went off to the kitchen to find the menu he had saved from the local Chinese restaurant that does deliveries, meanwhile Derek continued pulling books off the shelves. Melissa would hate him for being here, ever since the call at the mall, she was convinced Derek was going to leave her for him- or for another guy. She thought he was “too gay” to stay with her, obviously that’s not how him or his bisexuality works. But Melissa didn’t see it that way.

God, everything Derek saw, Melissa saw differently, it was ironic he was even with her. He saw Penelope Garcia as his best female friend, his babygirl. Melissa saw her as a threat, they had a whole argument about it. Melissa had finally stopped seeing Garcia as a threat when he told her that Garcia was wrapped up in Kevin drama. He wanted to tell Garcia about all of this, but he knew that if he did she would immediately tell him to dump her. Anyone that came between their friendship wasn’t allowed, and that wasn’t a rule Garcia had made up, it was more of an understanding they had come to about their dynamic as friends.

Derek just hadn’t dumped her yet out of fear. This was his first significant other in so long, it felt like a failure to start something and end it. He wanted to fix it. Though he knew it was unlikely he could, he still wanted to try.

Derek kept thinking as he finished pulling the books off until there were none left, he then pulled on the board of the shelf to see how unstable it was, all while continuing to think. He thought about Melissa, but none of it was really positive. It was all what she would hate about him being here, other than the obvious of being with Spencer (which she already disliked. She hated the genius and she hadn’t ever spoken to him, which Derek didn’t think was rational at all.) She would hate how Spencer’s apartment was, the green walls and shelves of books, the lack of a television, the soft glow from the lamps. Derek found every single last one of these qualities endearing, it helped show who Spencer was as a whole. Melissa would see it as a problem.

She’d say green was a gross color, that Spencer needed to be aware of pop culture and get a television, she’d say that Spencer didn’t get out enough and he lived like a hermit; she’d say the lighting was weird and dark, instead of soft and calming.

Derek let out a sigh, deciding to abandon his thoughts as a whole, because they were just starting to irritate him. Spencer was great the way he was, Melissa was being problematic; and him and her really needed couples counseling or something. That was the decision he landed on as he gave his full attention to the wiggly boards in Spencer’s bookshelf.

Derek pulled on the shelf again to test it’s strength. It was loose, pretty close to just falling down altogether. It was good he was here to fix it, Derek concluded, as he reached for the screwdriver in his toolkit.

~

The night continued on, Derek went through part by part, working on fixing Spencer’s bookshelf; meanwhile Spencer had ordered them dinner from the local Chinese place. Reid had thought about setting up the dinner at his kitchen table, before immediately regretting that idea. This was casual, it wasn’t some type of sit down dinner with Derek. That’s the last thing he needed, Spencer decided, as he walked over to Derek and handed him the carton of beef broccoli and a pair of chopsticks to go with.

Derek took them and put them down next to himself quickly, before pivoting into a sitting position on the floor and turning himself away from the bookshelf, facing exactly to the dinner table- which is where Spencer had opted to sit at, alone.

“What’re you doing all the way over there?” Derek’s spoke out to him. Spencer tried to be casual, “All my stuff’s over here, and it’s not that far from you,” he shrugged, hoping Derek wouldn’t go any deeper. But of course, he did. “And I’m over here, so bring your stuff my way- you’re gonna make your repairman eat sitting on the floor alone? That’s cold, man.”

Spencer rolled his eyes as he picked up his carton of orange chicken and rice, “Okay, I’m here.” He tried to sound like he was annoyed, instead of stupidly simultaneously happy and unhappy with derek’s request (happy because his stupid crush on Derek, unhappy because of the same, unfortunate reason).

He made his way over to Morgan, sitting down across from him and using the back of his couch as a makeshift chair prop to lean against. He opened up his food, as Derek was now satisfied with this series of events and had gone back to paying attention to his beef broccoli. Spencer picked up his fork, ready to eat and just ignore how he was feeling, when Derek spoke up again; “Seriously- you still don’t know how to use chopsticks?”

Suddenly, Spencer was giving Derek a glare that had no malice, while Derek just chuckled at Spencer’s fury. “I’m tellin’ you. You need to learn how to use chopsticks.” “It’s fine.” Spencer argued weakly, “No way, if suddenly all the forks, knives, and spoons vanished, you’d have to eat with chopsticks.”

“Not true if sporks are still a thing.” Spencer pointed out, “I’m gonna smack you.” Derek replied, now it was Spencer’s turn to laugh.

~

“...But she wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts, she’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers. Dreaming ‘bout the day when you wake up and find. That what you’re looking for has been here the whole time...”

~

The third time was when Spencer had resigned, accepting his feelings for what they were. He was now simply playing the waiting game, of waiting his crush out- because god knows he can’t go on like this forever. He hated how things have changed from a small crush into a serious never ending stream of thoughts he had whenever he was with Derek, but that’s how it was for him now.

He had ways to keep himself in check, though. As he always did. One was re-reading long old stories to himself from memory. It usually worked pretty well, and it was a good way to just pass the time in general.

Except for one, especially horrid time, when the FBI baseball team had a game against the CIA’s.

Spencer wasn’t playing, thank god for that. He wasn’t good at sports, though that one time he played baseball with Derek earlier in the season was a great memory he loved to go back to and remember. But that was a fluke, and he knew if he played again it wouldn’t go nearly as well.

Since he wasn’t playing, him and the rest of the team had come along to bring Morgan moral support from the sidelines of the bleachers. What Spencer hadn’t expected was Melissa showing up, too.

~

She showed up at the same time the team did to the field, they set up on the bleachers with some blankets and a basket full of snacks (courtesy of one Penelope Garcia.) and then she was suddenly walking over, surprising the team.

“Hi- um, are you Garcia? Is this the area for the BAU?” She asked, she had shoulder length brown hair, hazel eyes, and was wearing a flowy pink and yellow sundress. She was pretty, borderline beautiful, there was no denying that.

Spencer decided to start re-reading the books in his head by that point. He could already guess it was Melissa, as Rossi wouldn’t have invited a woman to this event until at least the ninth or eighth date (though with Rossi, Spencer never really knew how he operated in terms of dating, and he had no desire to know). Spencer also knew she wasn’t Hotch’s, as Hotch was too focused on Jack and the team to even consider dating.

Emily was single, and definitely would not invite a guy (or girl) to this either. J.J. was happy with Will, and Penelope had the on and off thing with Kevin. So yeah, Spencer deduced easily that this beautiful mysterious woman was Melissa.

The fact Derek invited Melissa rubbed Spencer the wrong way. But it wasn’t his business, he reminded himself, as he did his best to start focusing in on pride and prejudice in his mind.

Garcia began welcoming Melissa, even though it wasn’t necessary; “It is! And I am! Hi! Are you Melissa? Derek told me you were coming!”

Spencer did his best to not focus on Melissa, skipping forward a few chapters into pride of prejudice in his mind, to keep himself focused. He got pulled from his book though, as Melissa introduced herself and Garcia started introducing the team back;

“Well, grandpa over there is David Rossi,” “Easy, or else you won’t get those extra vacation days I offered you.” Rossi replied simply as hell, reaching for a bag of chips from the basket. “Fine- that esteemed gentleman right there is David Rossi.” “Better.” Rossi responded, a small grin showing across his face. Melissa laughed softly with Garcia and Rossi for a moment before Penelope continued on;

“That’s Aaron Hotchner, and his son Jack.” Garcia pointed them out, Jack was playing on his Nintendo DS, only looking up to wave briefly as Hotch reached over to shake Melissa’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” “You too.” She smiled at him.

“Those two lovely ladies are Jennifer Jareau and Emily Prentiss, plus Jennifer’s hubby Will and their adorable son Henry,” they all shook hands with Melissa, and J.J. briefly told her that it wasn’t necessary to call her “Jennifer” but instead “J.J.” as that was the name she was most used to.

“Then, we got Doctor beautiful brain, Spencer Reid.” Spencer looked up, giving Melissa a small wave, finally looking her head on. He had seen her, sure, but he hadn’t made eye contact with her until right now. And damn, she looked wild behind the eyes. And not in a good way. She was perky, seemingly almost as positive as Penelope. But that positivity didn’t reach her eyes. She looked Spencer up and down, and there was something deep in her gaze that made him want to get up and walk to the CIA side of the bleachers. It was clear he was going to have to walk on eggshells around her, and he wished he knew why.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Spencer offered up as a greeting, “You too,” Melissa replied, smiling as she turned on her polite charm again. It was only in her eyes he could see her distaste towards him. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

~

Melissa settled down, sitting next to the rest of the team as they waited for the game to start. She was thankfully seated near Emily, J.J., and Garcia. So Spencer and her’s conversation was limited.

That was until, he was brought up in conversation; “Oh geez- one of the funniest things was when Spence and Morgan got stuck in that elevator together,” J.J. recounted, causing all four of them to laugh; meanwhile Spencer didn’t react. He was still deep in his mind reading, and though he heard his name called, it didn’t cause him to want to stop.

“Yeah- I heard about that from Derek, he said Spencer spouted off some fact about people and elevator deaths because he was scared.” Melissa turned to Spencer as she spoke, giving him an in to speak. Spencer didn’t realize she had even turned to him, as he was fully focusing his brain power on the pages of the book he had read over before.

“Uh.. what’s he doing?” Melissa asked in a hushed voice to J.J., “Oh- he’s just reading. Spencer, hey.” J.J. said, leaning over and tapping his shoulder, finally catching his attention; causing him to open his eyes.

“Sorry- what?” Spencer finally spoke, as he was fully there and listening to them now, instead of somewhat ignoring them and focusing on a memory of a book.

“..J.J. said you were reading?” Melissa asked curiously, obviously confused. Spencer nodded, “Yes. I was. I have an eidetic memory so I can look back at anything I’ve ever read. So sometimes I go back and read books I’ve read before.” Spencer explained awkwardly, “I do it to, uh, pass the time.”

“Hm.. that’s.. that’s cool. Derek mentioned you were smart, recounting lots of facts.” Melissa said slowly, it seemed like she was trying to gain some sort of edge in the conversation, but thankfully Emily butted in casually- not realizing the odd atmosphere that was slowly building.

“Oh yeah- Reid’s always doing that. Talk to him on Halloween and all he talks about is how paganism played a major role in the now very American, very non-pagan holiday.” The girls laughed on innocently as Melissa gained a serious look in her eye again.

“You know everything?” She asked him, “No.” he replied, he was self assured in this field, he knew how to handle himself when people were doubting his intelligence level. “I just know a lot.” He clarified.

Melissa looked like she was ready to speak, say something to him- he had no clue if it would be good or bad. But everyone’s attention got redirected on the whooping sounds both teams made as they entered the field. The game was starting.

~

Spencer had stayed focused on the game, even running statistics and probabilities in his head on who would come out victorious. Rossi made a joke they should bet on the game like people do on horses, and he’d just cheat and use Reid to make sure he won.

The rest of the team didn’t go for that, as they would employ the same strategy as Rossi, and Spencer was smart enough to give them all the wrong answers so he would actually win.

It was now the third inning, J.J. had gone with Hotchner and Will to take a short walk with the kids, as they were getting bored in their seats. Rossi went off to flirt it up with the older woman who was running the concessions stand, and Emily and Garcia had gone off to the bathroom together.

Now it was just Melissa and Reid alone, and Reid didn’t like her company. He didn’t mean it in a rude way, but also maybe he did- for his very stupid and very personal reason that she was actively dating his crush. But besides that reason, she seemed off, and on a team of behavioral analysts, he couldn’t be the only one who noticed.

There was something wrong with her, but Spencer couldn’t place his finger on what. That was, until, she sat down next to him on the bleachers. “So,” she started casually, “what’re you reading up there?” “Pride and Prejudice.. have you read it?” Spencer replied, doing his best to make polite conversation.

Melissa shook her head, “No, way too long of a book for me.” Spencer just nodded, an “Ah” sound escaping his lips before their conversation entirely diminished as they sat in silence, watching the CIA’s team line up for batting.

Derek was on second base, and while he waited for the CIA team to finish lining up, he turned to the only two people still on the bleachers and waved. Melissa waved in response excitedly, “Go Derek!” She shouted for good measure, Reid on the other hand just gave a small wave to him.

Their personalities were very different, Spencer gathered.

“Derek helped you with a bookshelf the other week, right?” Melissa asked after silence had settled over them, and Reid had almost returned to his brain book. Her question stopped him from reading, though.

Spencer nodded, “Uh, yeah. He helped fix my bookshelf, the boards were all wobbly and books couldn’t stay on.” Melissa hummed in response for a moment, before looking back out to the field. Derek was now busy talking to a teammate, a guy Spencer recognized from the terrorist division.

“Look, Spencer,” Melissa finally spoke again, letting out a sigh before she continued on; “We both know Derek is an attractive man, a great man. But he’s my man. I don’t need you confusing him and making him switch sides- believe me, I want to think that you two are just the best of friends and that’s it. But I don’t believe it, not for a second, especially not after hearing how he talks about you, and finally meeting you.”

Spencer stayed quiet, not looking at Melissa, instead opting to stare at his hands, that were now firmly clasped together as he took in what she was saying. “We are just friends, though..” Spencer finally spoke up in a weak defense for himself. Melissa just chuckled, their pleasant conversation had somehow turned to her speaking to him in a sickly sweet malicious tone.

“I don’t think you are. I think there’s something more, and I don’t want things to go any further- with either of you.”

Spencer stayed quiet again, seriously considering exiting the bleachers and getting a cab (as the team had carpooled over to this event together.) and just leaving, going back to his apartment and faking the stomach flu for a day and a half. It seemed so appealing to just disappear right now.

Melissa continued on after she realized Spencer wasn’t going to say anything. “I’m not trying to be the bad guy here, Spencer. You seem very kind, and smart. You told me earlier you don’t know everything, but you know a lot,”

Spencer nodded, that was true, he had said that, she kept going; “I hope you now know where your place is. Away from Derek. And I hope you know you aren’t alone with me talking to you, I would be telling Penelope Garcia the same exact thing, except she has a boyfriend, Kevin. Derek told me. So you’re the only single one who poses a problem. I hope we can be friends- but you need to back up.”

And that was all, she got up and moved away, and just in time as Emily and Garcia made their reappearance from the bathroom and onto the bleachers.

Spencer stayed frozen, however. Not really sure what he could say or do. All he knew now is that he had a very good reason to dislike Melissa. And he did, as much as he hated to admit it. He disliked Melissa, he wanted her gone. He didn’t want her and Derek together.

He was now only more sure that he would treat Derek better, he wouldn’t go around threatening his friends- he couldn’t even imagine that as something he would ever want to do.

Spencer stayed, shrunken on the bleachers as he watched the team play, staying quiet and reserved while Melissa and the rest of the team cheered.

Spencer just hoped Derek figured out that Melissa wasn’t good for him sooner than later, or else he’d never get out of the relationship scratch-free.

~

“Walkin’ the streets with you and your worn out jeans. I can’t help thinking this is how it ought to be. Laughin’ on the park bench thinking to myself, ‘hey isn’t this easy?’. And you got a smile that could light up this whole town. I haven’t seen it in a while since she brought you down. You say you’re fine I know you better than that. Hey, whatcha doing with a girl like that?”

~

Since Spencer’s unfortunate encounter with Melissa, he had done his best to steer clear of Derek. Only being with him when necessary (and they were only really together for work, though for the few latest times that Derek’s invited him out to get food or see a movie, Spencer’s declined).

Derek had subtly caught notice, wondering why Reid had been declining his invitations. At first he thought it was because Reid was busy, he was somehow also getting a bachelors degree in philosophy at the moment, it made since if he had limited free time.

But then he did more thinking, and even if reid was busy- he always made time for Derek. Morgan knew that for a fact, because every time he needed help (work related or not) Spencer was there, and ready to assist. Even if Reid was studying, the kid read so fast he only needed to read something once to remember everything. So it didn’t make sense. Not at all. Spencer was avoiding him.

So why? Derek now had to get alone with Reid, he needed to see what this was about.

~

And Derek got his chance, after solving a case in the sleepy city within Maine, called Rangeley. The teams plane was having a malfunction issue with a part of the engine, so they were stuck there for an extra day. Unfortunate for everyone else, but a blessing in disguise for Derek. It was the perfect time for the team to hang together, maybe get some meals or see a movie. But Derek set up a plan.

~

Morgan knocked on Spencer’s door the morning they had nothing to do, with his plan already getting set in motion. This was step one, of many.

Reid responded in his own special fashion, opening the door a crack to look out at Derek and into the hall, his hair looked messy, he was still slightly bleary eyed- and he was still in his pajamas and mismatched socks. He had just woken up.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Derek asked, he didn’t want to start this morning off on Reid being rudely awoken. Reid nodded as he opened the door more, stepping forward the slightest bit. “Yeah, but it’s okay. What’s going on?” Reid was already aware of the plane situation, the whole team had been told last night, which forced Derek into making this last minute plan.

“Nothing- the team doesn’t have anything to do. Wanna go get breakfast?” Derek asked, trying to phrase his words and himself casually. He didn’t want Reid to get suspicious and back out. He just wanted answers from his best friend, that’s all.

Spencer rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before responding. “Okay, yeah. Let me go get changed.”

~

They arrived at an Ihop. It wasn’t anything special, but it was the nearest breakfast place to the hotel, so it worked for them. They were greeted by a hostess who showed them to a booth.

Spencer didn’t know why he agreed this this, he shouldn’t have. But in his half-awake and still somehow sleep deprived mind, breakfast seemed like a good idea. A great idea, in fact. But he now was anxious again. He didn’t want to deal with Melissa, call him scared, nonconfrontational, weak- whatever. He just didn’t want to have to deal with her. He enjoyed hanging out with Derek, but he knew if he did then it would be inevitable that he would end up facing her wrath again.

Almost immediately after the hostess showed them to their booth, their waiter appeared to take their orders. “Goodmorning, what can I get started for you two?” The older gentleman, whose name tag simply read “John” asked them.

“Just some coffee, please.” Derek ordered for the both of them. He knew what Spencer would want to order, and he also knew how bad Spencer was at conversing with people he wasn’t familiar enough with. John just nodded, saying a quick; “Comin’ right up!” Before walking off to leave them alone.

“Is the rest of the team coming?” Spencer asked as he stifled a yawn with his hand. Derek shook his head, “No, they all wanted to sleep in. Lucky I dragged you out of bed, though.” He joked, hoping to lighten the mood in the room. Spencer just smiled sheepishly for a moment before looking back down at the table.

They stayed quiet, which wasn’t unusual for the two, especially considering they were both still tired. But Derek didn’t want there to be silence, he wanted to talk about what was going on. “Reid-“ he started, but before he could continue his sentence, John was standing by the table with a pot of coffee. Derek and Spencer both wordlessly pushed their mugs over towards John, watching him fill them up with coffee in silence.

John finished pouring and stepped back, “I’ll give you folks some more time before ordering.” Derek just nodded at him, “That would be great, thank you.” And with that, their waiter was gone.

Reid was now focused on his mug of coffee, grabbing some sugar packets from the container on the table and ripping one open after another, before finally pouring it into his coffee. “How many sugars you plan on putting in there?” “Two.” “You’re already ripping open a third packet, Reid.”

“Oh.” Was all he said in response, Derek sighed, Spencer wasn’t acting right; he hadn’t for a while but this morning was peak Reid-being-weird, so Derek needed to take a stronger approach; “Reid. What’s wrong?”

“Hm? Nothing’s wrong.” Spencer said all too quickly to be believable. Derek rolled his eyes, watching the tired genius grab a spoon and stir his coffee with an intensity he never normally used. “That doesn’t work on me, man. We’re all profilers. I know when something’s up.” Spencer stayed quiet, still stirring his coffee with the spoon.

Reid didn’t want to be in this situation. He knew he should’ve hidden himself better, said and acted in different ways. Derek knew something was up, and Spencer couldn’t hide it forever. Especially not from him. He hated lying to Morgan.

“So..” Spencer spoke quietly, “What do you think is up?” Derek rolled his eyes at Spencer again, “Don’t talk to me like an unsub trying to stall. Somethings wrong. Did I do something- was it something I did or said?” Spencer put his spoon down as he watched Derek.

“I gotta be honest, Reid. I don’t know what’s going on here. We used to hangout so much, and suddenly you’re giving me the cold shoulder. I thought it was because of your studies- but you’ve done written whole thesesis while we’ve hungout. So it’s not you being busy with school. You make time. Why isn’t there any time now?” Derek kept going, voice raising in intensity as he got to the end.

Spencer wanted to say something, he wanted to say something so bad. But he didn’t know what. So instead he took a sip of his not-sweet-enough coffee. Derek watched him as he did so, intensity not wavering.

Spencer put the mug back down onto the table before he finally found his words, “It’s not you. You didn’t do anything.” “So what is it?” Morgan asked him almost instantly. Spencer sighed, he didn’t want to say it was Melissa. He couldn’t, he didn’t want to make Derek feel bad, he thought Derek was happy with her. He didn’t want to ruin that, even if Melissa was terrible. Derek was seemingly glad, and Spencer didn’t want him changing from positive to anything else (except somehow maybe more positive.)

“It’s nothing.” “It’s definitely not nothing, Reid. Please tell me.” Derek pried more. He couldn’t let this go. Spencer sighed, a weak sign of defeat. “Okay- but. I’m sorry. This involves Melissa.” He admitted, looking up to see Derek had a confused expression on his face. “What about her?” “When we went to the baseball game a few weeks ago and met her. She was really pleasant at first, but as soon as we were alone on the bleachers together she told me that I needed to stop being so close with you. And it really freaked me out, she saw me as a threat.”

Derek leaned back in the booth bench, unsure of what to do. “What did she say?” Derek finally asked after a moment, deciding he wanted to know what Melissa said to Spencer in full to make him act like this. Spencer didn’t deserve to be treated this way, he just didn’t. “I’m not going to-“ Spencer started, Derek just cut him off, “Yes you will. I know you remember what she said. So tell me. Please.”

Spencer fidgeted with the handle of the mug, “Okay, okay.. she said that you were her man and then she said, ‘I don’t need you confusing him and making him switch sides’...” Spencer spoke once more after that, before he could forget, “She also, um.. she said she would tell Garcia the same thing, except she didn’t because she knew she was with kevin.”

Derek stayed quiet, looking at Spencer before looking back down at his mug of coffee. Spencer stayed quiet, he didn’t know what he could say or do right now to make this better.

“I’m sorry.” Spencer finally decided to speak after it had been silent for a few minutes. “I didn’t want to tell you because you-“

Derek held his hand up as a simple gesture, indicating Spencer should be quiet. Spencer hushed up quickly, watching Morgan, who was sitting silently still, staring down with an intensity that could burn stronger than the sun. He stood up after a moment, pulling out his wallet and putting two twenty dollar bills down on the table, in front of Spencer. “For the coffee. Get some breakfast, too. I need to go.” “Derek, I-“ Spencer started, standing up, he wasn’t gonna leave Derek alone, especially to process this large amount of information. but he had started walking away, back turned to reid- leaving him alone at the booth. He wasn’t going to come back, and as much as Spencer wanted to follow him and never leave his side- he could tell he should leave him alone, at least for now.

~

After that whole experience, Spencer didn’t stay to get breakfast. He finished his coffee, paid, and left quickly. Deciding Derek needed space, and he wasn’t sure what else he could do, so he tucked tail back to the hotel. He lied to himself, saying maybe he could nap or watch T.V and ignore his imploding thoughts.

He couldn’t ignore his imploding thoughts, if that wasn’t painstakingly obvious. Spencer’s mind reeled from every aspect of their breakfast, to how he was curt and almost rude to Derek- he now wished he hadn’t been, but how else could he have acted? He didn’t know. He hated how things had went. He should’ve lied and told Derek he didn’t have the time for breakfast.

So, when Spencer finally got the hotel, he sat and thought and waited, waited for any sounds outside of his hotel door. Derek’s room was directly across the hall from his. So he waited for the sounds of the door opening, the beeping of the keycard, the sound of footsteps that were muffled by the soft carpet. Anything that would show Derek was back, back close to him, close enough to him for a conversation again. Because he knew that they needed to talk.

~

Spencer was counting. One hour and eighteen minutes passed before he heard any sounds of life that would match what he was waiting for. Namely, he heard the footsteps approach by his door, and then the beep of the keycard. And finally, the door opening and shutting quickly. Derek was there, he was back, Spencer got off his perch on the bed in record speed, exiting out to the hall and crossing quickly.

He was about to knock on the door, hand raised in the air, before he slowed himself down. Was this too much? What if Morgan didn’t want to talk to right now? What if Derek thought he was lying and was mad? Oh god, that terrified Spencer. He hoped Derek knew he wasn’t lying, he could run any behavior test he wanted to, but he wouldn’t lie to Derek. Not now, not ever.

Spencer still had his hand raised in the air, standing directly in front of the door. If Derek thought he was lying, he would prove he wasn’t. Nothing mattered right now, Spencer decided as he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Spencer heard movement from inside the room, before Derek opened the door. He looked stressed, the lines in his face were hard set, this was how he looked when he dealt with an unsub. This isn’t how he should be looking on a day off. Derek said nothing as he looked at Spencer, “Can we talk?” Spencer asked him after it was clear Derek wasn’t going to start talking.

Derek nodded. Wordlessly opening the door more, and stepping back to allow Reid inside. He stepped in, Derek’s room was a mirror copy of Spencer’s, simple and small. He had his duffel sat on the floor by the small twin bed provided by the hotel.

Reid stood in the room, Derek moved past him to sit down on the edge of the bed as Spencer messed with some loose thread on his jacket, “I, um... I got your change..” Spencer started, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the wad of cash and coins. He wasn’t sure what to say now that he was inside Derek’s room. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, so he wasn’t sure how to prepare. Derek wasn’t acting like himself, so he didn’t know what would work.

Spencer went to hand it back to him, “Reid, no.” Derek started, causing Spencer to stop in his tracks, holding the money in silence.

“You didn’t come here for that.” Derek motioned to the money with his hand. “No. I didn’t.” Spencer mumbled awkwardly, shoving it back into his jacket pocket, the coins clinking together all too loudly for his liking.

“I’m sorry.” Derek sighed after a moment, “I shouldn’t have ran off like that. It’s just- I couldn’t believe what you were saying.” Spencer nodded, he wanted to say so much to Derek. He wanted to say, “I swear on my mother I am not lying”, he wanted to say “I’m sorry, I should have stayed quiet” he wanted to say “I care about you so much and I don’t want to see you walk away, I don’t want to lose you”. But Spencer couldn’t talk, he wasn’t sure what would come out if he spoke.

“I, uh, I called Melissa.” Derek told him, “After I left. I called her, I asked her if she said that to you, and she said she didn’t say it like that,” He took a breath before continuing on, “I asked her what she meant, because she wasn’t denying what she said. She just was saying the wording was off.”

Spencer found his small, awkward voice, deciding to look down at the floor instead of Derek. He was scared of what he would see. “What did she say the wording was?” He asked Derek, “She said she was harsher than that, told you to back off. Then she tried to explain herself, as if any of what she did was acceptable and could be fine under the disguise of caring for your significant other.”

“Reid, look at me. Please.” Derek sighed, not continuing whatever else he was going to say. Spencer finally looked up to meet his eyes. Derek just looked tired, leaning awkwardly on the couch, as he kept his gaze on Spencer.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause this.” Spencer apologized, he had no clue if he needed to. But it felt like what he had to do.

“No, don’t.” Derek shook his head, as if to knock the apology out of his brain. “Thank you for telling me. Thank you. The red flags were there, Reid. And there were so many. I was just ignoring them.”

Spencer stayed quiet, watching Derek as he admitted this out loud; “I just- I wanted to make it work. But the fact she said that to you, and was gonna tell garcia, I just-“ Derek shook his head again, a mixture of defeat and anger simultaneously now instead of a signal for reid to stop.

“It upset me. I couldn’t believe it. So I called her and that happened and... and...” Derek trailed off, sighing simply as if that was the end of the sentence.

“...You broke up?” Spencer asked carefully, not wanting to misjudge. Derek nodded, rubbing his face with both hands. He was stressed. Spencer could tell.

“We did. It’s for the best. I can’t be dating someone who is like that. Especially not to you, or Garcia. That’s the biggest deal breaker out there.” Derek spoke, he was still serious but he was also sort of joking in a way to help calm the atmosphere down.

Spencer didn’t respond right away, instead moving to sit down on the edge of the bed, a few feet away from Morgan to give him plenty space. Derek didn’t like that, pulling on Spencer’s hand and motioning him to sit directly by his side.

Spencer complied, but cursed his face for causing a blush to form. This wasn’t the time to savor the feeling of Derek’s strong grip on his hand. It wasn’t.

Spencer was now sat down next to Derek, he wasn’t sure what else to say, so he stayed quiet. But he knew he didn’t want to leave Derek’s side now. He needed to be here. It couldn’t be easy for Derek.

“I’m sorry I left you at the restaurant.” Derek spoke after a while of them sitting side by side. “It’s okay,” Spencer told him, Derek gave him a sideways glance that proved he didn’t believe what he was saying.

“I didn’t end up having breakfast, though. I was worried.” Spencer admitted. Derek let out a low chuckle, and god, Spencer loved that sound. When was the last time he heard it? It used to be as common as hearing traffic in downtown Quantico, but as of lately; he hadn’t heard it often. Spencer knew in the back of his head, it was probably Melissa. Small things had changed with Derek during their time of dating.

First, it was calling Spencer “pretty boy”, and Garcia “baby girl”. Derek stopped saying it, and as much as garcia was worried about him, Derek had assured her he was okay. (Spencer didn’t mind the nickname stopping, as he finally didn’t have to come up with an excuse every time he blushed in front of the team when Derek would call him that.)

But then, Derek showed up to work looking tired, and sure- the job took long hours and restless nights and way too many coffee breaks. But he looked like he was losing that energy in his eyes. The excitement that made him join the team. He had told Spencer it was originally he missed Melissa. But now, Spencer was second guessing that.

Things had slowly changed with Derek, so small that Spencer didn’t even notice fully. But if you looked at all the reasons why he changed, it could be tied back to Melissa.

Good riddance. Spencer thought to himself. In ordinary situations, he would hate to think that, but today he didn’t; as he heard Derek’s soft, low chuckle. He didn’t want to ever stop see Derek being himself. He wouldn’t stop him from anything, he knew he wouldn’t. All he would want to do is care about him, kiss him, fall asleep in his arms, have a nice dinner with him- things a real boyfriend would do.

He would let Derek be himself, he wouldn’t stop him from working, he wouldn’t want to fight, he wouldn’t want to play games, and god knows he wouldn’t stop Derek and Garcia flirting. That’s what kept them happy, together, and secure.

“I’m sorry you guys broke up, but if it’s any consolation. You belong with someone better.” Spencer admitted, not adding on the last part he always wanted to say. If he could say it, lord knows he would. But he couldn’t tell Derek they belonged together. He sounded insane.

Derek softy bumped shoulders with him in an act of thanks, “Thank you. Now c’mon, let’s go get you some real breakfast, pretty boy.” He said as he stood up, the blush immediately rushed back into Spencer’s face. God, that name would be the death of him. He was seriously going to die like this.

“You still got my change? ‘Cause you’re paying.” Derek joked with him as he turned to pull on his coat, “It’s your money, why don’t I give it back to you?” Spencer asked him, the conversation now changing to a much lighter tone. Derek shrugged, “You paying a cashier will help your people skills. Now c’mon, I saw a good restaurant with outdoor seating that’s by a garden. You can give me plant facts while we eat.”

~

“...Oh, I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night. I’m the one who makes you laugh when you know you’re ‘bout to cry. And I know your favorite songs and you tell me ‘bout your dreams. Think I know where you belong, think I know it’s with me...”

~

Derek’s growing love for Spencer Reid was so slow he didn’t realize it until it was bursting out of his chest. It wasn’t obvious, it wasn’t, at least not to Derek. But suddenly it was everything Spencer did, it had his attention and captivated his thoughts. If Spencer was rambling about something, Derek would listen. Even if he didn’t care, even if he was tired, or hungry, or even mad.

To put it simply, it was every single thing that Spencer had ever done for him, suddenly making Derek feel something. It was every little funny thing Spencer did, it was every factoid he spat out to the team at the round table, it was how he was there for everyone in less than a second if needed, it was how Spencer complained about modern television, it was how Spencer grumbled in his sleep when they had to wake him up to get off the team’s jet after a long case. It was everything.

Every one of those instances just made something inside Derek squirm. Before, when Derek was dating Melissa- he was able to hold that feeling at bay. But it had now been months since his and Melissa’s breakup, and he had nothing to stop his mind from thinking about Reid, so the feelings and thoughts about the genius only grew stronger.

He thought about him nonstop. About how Reid was precious, amazing, handsome, smart, and god- he was borderline perfect. And what had originally started as a small inkling feeling inside of him was growing, growing into something almost unmanageable. It took everything in Derek not to just lean over and grab the genius’ hand as he was waving it around when speaking about something he was passionate about, and holding it tightly.

It was getting worse, day by day it was hell at work. But it was the best suffering in the world. Seeing Spencer sat at his desk, deep in thought as he typed reports out, along with emailing scientists and doctors on the side. God, Reid was an absolute genius. Morgan wasn’t sure if he could easily get over that fact anymore as he used to. Now Spencer’s smarts had more meaning, and he wasn’t sure why.

Spencer’s smarts always mattered, and definitely came in handy for the team, saving their asses more than once. But now, his IQ level was something Derek caught himself almost worrying about.

Spencer wouldn’t ever say it, but what if he thought Derek was stupid? The brawn to his brain. Nothing more than a dude to tackle the bad guys and handcuff them down. What if Spencer thought he wasn’t a good person, a good friend?

Now, along with the growing admiration, he also had growing fear. Derek was now going back and forth between doubting himself and wanting nothing more than pulling Spencer into a janitors closet and kissing him until they needed air.

Yeah, Derek was screwed. Work was painful. But he wouldn’t stop, he couldn’t. Even if he wanted to, he kept going along, because every day he saw Reid that feeling inside him only grew, and he didn’t have the willpower to stop it, and even if he did- he probably couldn’t. This was the strongest he had ever felt in a long time. It would take an army to stop how he felt (and even then, he might still beat the army).

~

The night it all went down wasn’t what derek intended it to be, he was pretty much planning on hiding his crush on reid to the grave, not admitting it to anyone ever about how he felt. Because as Derek saw it, Spencer was too smart for him. Definitely out of his league.

Because in Morgan’s mind, how dumb could he be? He had been slowly falling in love with his best friend, all while not even realizing it- and dating someone who was absolutely horrid during that entire process. It was enough to make him smack his head against his wall.

~

Derek was working late the night it happened, going over this same dilemma in his head as he finished up the last of his reports to turn over to Hotch.

Nothing was happening in the bullpen, and for the first time in forever, Spencer had left before the work day ended. He had been complaining of a stomachache, and Rossi had smartly deduced he was sick, and even though Reid didn’t want to leave- the team all but kicked him out the door, telling him he wasn’t any good working when feeling like vomiting.

Derek had missed him since he left, he felt stupid admitting that, but it was the plain and simple truth. His days were just better with Reid, and there was no other explanation than that. As stupid as it was, Derek had come to agree with that fact a while ago, and now it was just normal, him missing Reid. But thankfully Reid didn’t leave often enough for it to be bad.

That being said, Derek still worried. Deciding to call Reid, it was only 7 p.m., after all. Surely Reid was still awake.

His cell phone ringed as Derek held it up to his ear, twirling his pen absentmindedly between his index and pointer finger as he waited for Spencer to answer.

And he did, he sounded groggy, but he answered; “Hello?” “Hey, Reid.” Derek spoke, a small stupid smile creeping its way into his face. “How are you feeling?” He asked, he heard Spencer shuffling on the other end of the line, then the faucet running.

“I’m okay... just really dizzy now, so I got myself some water.” “Did you eat enough today?” Derek asked him, changing tones from a concerned friend to something more.

“Yes, I did. You don’t need to worry about my eating.” Reid said simply, he wasn’t the type of guy who liked being watched over. Derek understood why, but this was still necessary.

“Reid, c’mon now. When was the last time you ate?”

“11:23 a.m., Garcia gave me a muffin.” Spencer admitted after a beat of silence, “Reid, you’ve been not eating for almost eight hours- no wonder you felt so sick, man!” Derek said into the phone as he stood up, shrugging his jacket onto his shoulders, deciding to leave now. The reports were almost done, anyway.

“Well, I’m not hungry so it’s fine..” Reid argued weakly in response, “Oh no, no. Don’t even, Spencer. I’m getting you food and taking it to your place. Now go lay down and take some tylenol, drink that water you got.”

Spencer huffed weakly, but made no move to argue or protest Morgan inviting himself over. “Fine. Please get me chicken noodle soup.”

~

As agreed, Derek got Spencer some chicken noodle soup from a great nearby deli Spencer had told him about a while ago. Derek was proud of himself for this choice in food, even if Spencer had requested soup, he hadn’t requested where. And Derek felt smart for remembering one of Spencer’s favorite places.

Derek arrived to Spencer’s apartment, the door was left unlocked so he came in, carrying the container of soup in both of his hands, so he pushed the front door shut gently with his foot.

“Hey, Reid. I’m here,” he called out into the apartment, as he made his way to the bedroom, finding a sleeping Spencer on the bed, covered in a few miscellaneous blankets to keep him warm.

Derek sat the container of soup onto the nearby bedside table, next to spencer’s near empty water glass, before looking down at reid.

Spencer was perfect, regardless if he was awake or asleep. But asleep he was so peaceful, so calm. Derek could so easily keep Spencer safe from everything in his sleep, hold him in his arms and help ground him. He knew Spencer got nightmares, everyone on the team did. But he knew if he was there, he could help, he could make it better.

Spencer was breathing softly, his face looked slightly flushed, and his hair was all over the place, some strands had fallen onto his face directly, which Derek gently pushed out of the way to get a better look at Spencer.

“Mmm..” Spencer mumbled in his sleep, a response to Derek touching him, Derek took a sharp breath in. God, he wanted to just tell Spencer right now he felt, he so badly did. And Spencer was asleep, what was stopping him? He could say it and Spencer wouldn’t remember. Because unlike conscious Spencer, unconscious Spencer didn’t remember things.

So before his brain could catch up to his body, he did. “I love you.” He told Spencer softly, it was barely above a whisper. It was so quiet he was sure Spencer didn’t hear it at all, but it was just Derek’s unfortunate luck that Spencer started to stir.

“Hm?” He asked, sitting up slowly, Derek pulled his hand away from where he had tucked the strand of hair away.

“I said, I brought you soup.” Derek lied easily, hoping that “I love you” and “I brought you soup” were interchangeable sounding sentences. Spencer just nodded, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes slowly as he turned to look at the container on his bedside table

He didn’t suspect anything, Derek let a breath of relief out internally as Spencer reached for the container. “It didn’t come with a spoon, so I’ll go get you one.” Derek told him, getting up to go back into Spencer’s kitchen and grab a spoon from the silverware drawer.

When Derek came back, Spencer was more awake, holding the container of soup in his hands expectantly as he waited. Derek handed him the spoon wordlessly, before sitting down on the bed next to Spencer. “How are you feeling?” Derek asked him, as Spencer hadn’t tried out the soup yet (he was waiting for it to cool a bit more.) “Tired- sorry I left, by the way.” Reid responded slowly, he still felt the tiniest bit groggy.

Derek shook his head, “No Reid, don’t apologize. Are you feeling any better?” Spencer nodded slowly in response, starting to stir the soup to help it cool down. Derek watched him, the soft light from the only lamp on in the room casted off shadows throughout the walls and onto Spencer. He looked beautiful, even if he was wearing pajamas and his hair was messy and he was stirring his soup while half awake.

To Derek, he looked perfect. And once again, Derek’s body moved too fast for his brain to catch up with. He was suddenly talking; “Reid, can I tell you something?” He asked the tired genius, who just nodded and gave an “Mhm” sound in return as he continued to stir his soup.

Derek breathed in, he couldn’t go back. It was now or never. He turned to face Spencer, and if he hated him after this, so be it.

“I was an idiot, Spencer. When I was with Melissa, searching for a good moment to stay happy about was rare. But the entire time I’ve known you, everything’s been a good moment. Every opportunity I’ve had with you has let me grow and become smarter, and a better person..” he took a second to look back at Spencer, who was now looking at him with an expression he couldn’t read.

“But I’ve still been stupid. Because the entire time I was with her, I only looked forward to being with you. I missed the best thing right in front of me, and I hope you know that I am not normally this dense... but..” this was the hardest part of his whole speech, how the fuck was he supposed to admit something like this?

“But,” he started again, “I like you, Reid. I really like you. This entire time I was chasing the wrong person and following dead leads, like a rookie on a new case. But I realize the only person that makes me feel anything is you- and... I think, I- no. I am. I am falling for you. And I don’t even know if you like guys but-“ It was by this point Spencer put his soup down back on his bedside table, the soft sound shut Derek up easily.

“You’re falling for me?” Spencer asked, just simply clarifying what he had said. Morgan nodded, standing by it. “Yes. I am.”

Spencer breathed out a sigh of relief, something Derek hadn’t expected him to do. “You aren’t stupid... I- um. I’ve been falling for you too.”

That made Derek light up instantly, “You have?” Spencer nodded sheepishly, staring down at his fingernails instead of Derek. “I wasn’t expecting you to...” Spencer mumbled, as if that was a sufficient enough explanation on his part on why he was relieved and surprised.

“It just snuck up on me. I can’t get you out of my head, you’re all I want.” Derek admitted, more brashly than he would’ve liked to phrased things. But that didn’t seem to bother Spencer at all, as he started to lean forward slowly, Derek leaned forward too, reaching up to put his hand on the side of Spencer’s face to help him stay steady. Their lips were inches apart, but Spencer spoke. “Derek, I want to kiss you so bad. But if I’m sick I don’t want to risk infecting you-“

“Pretty boy, I’m breathing your air already. And I don’t think you have the flu, just low blood sugar.” Derek told him, which quickly shushed Reid up. They leaned forward more, and all the feelings of angst and dread that had built up between the two disintegrated as their lips touched slowly.

It was a soft kiss, a chaste one. But there definitely was passion behind it. Morgan stayed close to Spencer, resting his forehead against his.

“I belong with you...” Derek mumbled, he didn’t care if Spencer heard it anymore. He should hear it, he deserved to hear it. He deserved to know he was the only one Derek wanted.

Spencer pulled back, a small smile playing on his lips the entire time. “I can’t believe it...” he mumbled to Derek after a moment. “You should. You said it yourself, I belong with someone better. And it’s you. I just hope you agree.” Derek told him honestly, not leaving anything he said to chance. Spencer nodded, “Yes- you belong with me. Absolutely, yes. I agree.”

Derek smiled, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind spencer’s ear, before leaning forward and planting a soft kiss on Spencer’s forehead. “You eat that soup, I’ll go get you some more water.”

———————————————————————

[lovemesomesurveys]

What do you dislike about the house you live in? It’s just too small for one with 4 adults and a doggo in a 2-bedroom. We’ve outgrown it a long time ago. Apart from that, we’ve experienced a lot of problems with it. Lastly, they’ve been upping the rent and just did so again recently and the amount they want for what it is is outrageous. My family and I have wanted to move for awhile, but we haven’t been able to for various reasons. We’re really going to look into now because it’s just ridiculous. Do you prefer iced tea or hot tea? Hot. Is there a gas station near your house? When was the last time you went? Yes. It’s been several years now since I’ve last gone inside, but I used to all the time. It’s super close walking distance, so I went all the time growing up to get snacks and whatnot. The bus stop is also in front of it, so whenever I had to take the bus in college sometimes I’d often stop there before or after.  How do you feel right now? What do you think has contributed to that? Tired, mostly. My joke of a sleeping schedule I’d say plays a big part. Do you watch a movie at least once a week? No.

What's your favourite movie genre? Horror, psychological thrillers, drama, superhero, sci-fi, adventure, action, rom-coms... variety. Have you ever been clubbing? Did you have fun? I went once and it was so not my thing. What were you doing in the year 2013? I was attending UC working towards my BA in psych. What's the weather been like lately? Cold, but the temps have been sneaking up a little and it needs to stop. It’s still winter and I want it to stay cold. Do you check the weather forecast regularly? Yeah. Do you live in a city of at least one million people? Nooo.  What's your favourite colour? Pastels, rose gold, sea foam green, coral, and yellow. Do you own any clothes in your favourite colour? Yeah. Would you say faucet or tap? I’d say tap water. Do you watch any sports? No. Have you ever eaten carob? No. I don’t even know what that is. Are there any plants around your house, inside or outside? Outside, yes. Which bugs do you truly hate the most? ALL. What's your favourite kind of puzzle? Word searches and jigsaw. If you were going on a daytime date tomorrow, where would you go? A cafe. 

Where are you right at this moment? I’m all cozied up in bed. Is your nose blocked right now? No. Do you live on a main road? No. Have you ever volunteered? Yes, many times. What colours are you wearing today? I’m in all black. How old were you when you graduated high school? I was 18. Describe your favourite pair of socks. I have Baby Yoda socks that are really cute.

What holidays do you celebrate? I mainly celebrate Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. My mom gets my brother and I a little something and some candy on Valentine’s Day, she makes corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day, and we do a little something on the 4th of July, but those holidays aren’t a big thing for us.  If you could dye your hair any colour for one month, what would you do? I miss my red hair. Do you own a pair of sunglasses? How often do you wear them? Nope. What's your go-to order at McDonald's? I like their breakfast burritos. That’s the only thing I get there now. Do you know anyone who was born in the Caribbean? Not that I know of. What brand is your fridge? I’m not sure. Speaking of fridges, what drinks do you have in there right now? A few different sodas, milk, almond milk, protein shakes, orange juice... I think that’s it.   Do you live in the northern or southern hemisphere? Northern. What's your dream car? I don’t have one. Do you have a best friend? How long have you known them? Yes. She’s my mom, I’ve known her literally my entire life. How often do you take selfies? Very, very rarely. Are you hungry at the moment? What are you craving? Not at the moment. What do you think your life will look like in 3 years from now? I can’t even think about that, I have to take it day by day. When was the last time you received a card? What was it for? It was a Christmas card. Do you like yes or no questions, or questions that make you think? More so ones that make me think.

[mcwriting]

The Marriage Project (3)

Anddddd I’m back with this bby. Sorry I’ve been slowing down some of my content. Last Friday I had to deal with family health matters on top of schoolwork and a sorority function I had to be at. Anyways. 

High school AU. Tom Holland. Yeah.

Story Masterlist

Warnings: mild language

Rating: Between T and M

Word Count: 2351

% approximately the 3rd week of September %

You’d had two away volleyball games that week and Tom had an away football game, so by Saturday you were exhausted. Your Friday game hadn’t been too far, but the football team had traveled a decent distance, so you figured they’d gotten home late.

You still showed up at Tom’s on time, though, as planned the day before.

Nikki opened the door at your arrival.

“Oh, hey, y/n! Come on in!”

You returned her greeting and entered, looking around expectantly.

“If you’re looking for Tom, he’s not up yet. They got home pretty late last night.”

“I figured that would be the case.”

You noticed that on the dining room table were a few grocery bags.

“Oh, do you need help with those? I can wait on Tom,” you offered.

“No don’t worry about those bags, but if you’re looking to do something, I was about to make some apple pies for a get together tomorrow. I’d love your help.”

You agreed and followed her into the kitchen. After peeling and chopping apples for a few minutes, someone else walked into the kitchen.

“Well who’s this? I don’t remember having a daughter,” Tom’s dad said. You turned to look at him and smile, then continued cutting fruit.

“Oh Dominic you know y/n. She’s the one Tom’s always talking about, competing and whatnot. They’re doing that marriage project together.”

Your face heated up so you continued to look down at the apple.

He talks about me? Like how much he hates me or what?

“Yes of course, how could I forget? You’re one of the best soccer players I’ve seen! Good to see you again,” he said.

“Nice seeing you, too, Mr. Holland.”

“Please, call me Dom. Now how come you’re down here and not with Tom?”

“I was waiting for him to get up. Plus, Nikki promised me a slice,” you grinned.

“Well I’d definitely call that a fair trade. Nikki’s pies are the best in the world,” he turned to his wife, “I’ll be back in a bit. I’m meeting with the publisher today.”

“Good luck, honey. I’m sure you’ll be great,” Nikki encouraged, giving her husband a quick peck.

“Thanks, dear. Once again, it was nice seeing you, y/n. Feel free to come make desserts here any time,” he joked and you just laughed and waved.

A few minutes after he’d left, Nikki spoke up again.

“You know, y/n. I’m glad you and Tom were paired up for this project. I’ve really liked having you around the past few weeks, and it seems like Tom has learned a lot from you. I mean, He even went out and bought some pads and tampons and things for his bathroom this week.”

Now your face really burned. 

“He did?”

“Yeah. He said he’d better be safe than sorry. I’m glad you two look out for each other like that, even if you are rivals. By the way, I made sure he didn’t get the cardboard ones,” she added. With that, you fell into rhythmic silence.

Not long after, you heard footsteps coming down the stairs. From the hall, Tom’s voice called out.

“Mom? It’s almost 2. Have you heard anything from-” he walked through the kitchen door. “Oh. You’re here. What are you doing?”

You grabbed a towel to wipe off your hands as you turned to face him.

“I got here at 1 but felt bad about you getting home late so I’ve just been helping your mom make pie. She promised me a slice.”

“You’re really gonna give her some mom? She doesn’t even deserve to see how they’re made!”

“Oh Tom I swear. Y/n is a nice girl, just get over yourself. But, if you two want to go get to work I think I’ve got it handled from here. I’ll bring you both some when the first one’s done.”

You grabbed your bag and headed up behind Tom and got to work quickly. Eventually you took a break when Nikki brought up pie and ice cream as promised with a couple waters. 

You ate in silence, Tom leaned against his bed and you against the wall across from him, when something she had said earlier popped into your head.

“Hey, Tom?”

“Yeah princess?” he replied, not looking up. You rolled your eyes and continued.

“Your mom said something earlier that I wanted to ask about.”

“If she told you anything incriminating it’s not true.”

“Suuuureeee. Anyways, she said you, uh, stocked up your cabinet in the bathroom. That’s really cool of you.”

“Yeah, well, can’t have you bleeding everywhere now can we? But, em. Yeah. The fact that you were so panicked over something that seems so trivial spoke pretty loud. I thought it’s better to just stay safe.”

You sat in silence for a little bit, just eating.

“Mind if I ask you something?” he said.

“Shoot.”

“What does it feel like? You know? They don’t mention that stuff in health articles.”

You contemplated for a little bit before answering.

“Well… like I said before, it’s different for everyone, but I’ll try my best. Cramps are kinda like being scratched and punched from the inside all at once. Freebleeding just feels like… wet and sticky. I find it disgusting so I wear mostly tampons.”

“Interesting. Thanks, princess.”

Once finishing off your snack, you got back to work. By the time you were done, it was almost 4.

“See you Monday, y/n”

“Yep. Oh, by the way, I have a small volleyball tournament next weekend so I can’t do Saturday. Is Sunday okay or do you wanna get together another day?”

“Can you do Thursday? We just have morning workouts that day.”

“Yeah I have practice last period so I’ll just shower and meet you in the parking lot? We can go to my place.”

“Can’t. I have to take the boys home.”

“If you want, you can take them home and I’ll pick you up. It’ll give me time to shower and change and then we can just carpool.”

“I don’t know. Sure you even know how to drive?”

“I’ll have you know I passed that test with flying colors sophomore year.”

Eventually he agreed and with that you were back out the door, giving one final thanks to Nikki.

%

By Wednesday you and Tom had finished your little quilt and Mrs. Flynn loved it. 

You and Tom obviously didn’t play when it came to grades, even if it was home economics.

Thursday, you were leaving your last class before practice and reminded Tom you were picking him up that afternoon, to which his friends looked at him funny and kinda messed with him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

When you pulled up into his driveway after school, he plopped into the passenger's seat and held out a foil-wrapped object in his left hand.

“What is that?” you asked.

“My mom wanted you to have it. She made bread.”

“Oh. Well thanks. I’ll have to thank her for it next time I see her. You can just set it in the back seat for now.”

You drove back to your place, pulling into the garage and leading Tom through the door. Your parents were still at work, so you told Tom you’d just work in the living room.

“I don’t want them to say anything weird about us being home alone in my room,” you explained.

You sat on the floor quietly typing when you remembered something.

“Hey, how did you do on the calc test?”

“95. You?”

“Damn. 94. I’ll make a comeback next time,” you joked, earning an eye roll.

After a half hour, your mom came home.

“Hey honey, how was your day? Did you beat Tom in whatever you were competing with him in today?” she asked, part joking since she knew of your rivalry well.

“It was fine, and mom. We have a guest, remember?” you said through gritted teeth.

She looked over the couch, where she found Tom waving at her awkwardly.

“Oh. Hi there. I forgot you were coming over today. So sorry about that.”

“No worries, Mrs. y/l/n. I beat her by a point today so it evens out,” he joked. You were annoyed at his banter with your mom and cut it off.

“Okay, well, Tom. Let’s go finish this in my room now that my mom’s home,” you said, getting everything and carrying it to the bedroom.

You tossed your bag and papers on the floor and quickly picked up some random things laying around, such as a pair of volleyball shoes and stray athletic socks. You especially rushed to snatch a rogue lace bra.

From the corner of your eye, you could see Tom standing still, looking around the room like you had the first time at his house.

Your walls were light grey but covered in your paintings and other art. One shelf mounted to a wall held all of your ribbons and trophies from sports, quiz bowl, and art fairs. Your bedspread was baby pink and sheets light yellow, and the same pink was strewn around the room in the form of desk accents and other blankets. You had a large plush cat resting near your pillows.

“Wow. So you’re like… a real girl. Huh.” he stated flatly. You stood up from tossing everything into your closet.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, like, you’re all tough and smart and sporty but you have pink everywhere and a stuffed animal on your bed.”

“You do realize women are complex creatures right? Considering we’re human and all?”

“Yeah, of course. I guess I’ve just never seen this side of you. I shouldn’t have worded it that way. Sorry.”

It surprised you to hear Tom apologize over something so small. Usually he would stand his ground, wave you off, or just move on. 

“It’s fine. I just hate when people stereotype, you know? Like I can love science, art, sports, pink, sweatpants, and skirts all at the same time. And I do. And I’m not trying to sound like the ‘I’m not like other girls’ girl, because I am a girl, but I’m more than just one side or the other.”

“So why do you hide the ‘typically girly’ stuff? I’ve never seen you at school wearing a pink dress and makeup. I mean even at dances you always wear dark colors and at parties I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in something other than jeans or shorts.”

You shrugged as you made your way onto the floor next to your computer, Tom following suit.

“I guess I try to stick to one aesthetic. I mean, it already seems to shock the administration that I’m good at and enjoy doing two sports, art, and honors stuff. I don’t think they could handle another layer of me,” you chuckled. “Isn’t there anything you hide?”

He thought about it for a few seconds, leaning his head against the wall.

“Well, I guess you know this now, but I like Spider-Man.”

“Yeah, but it’s considered normal for guys to like comic book characters. When I tell people I like Spider-Man, they just assume I have a crush on the actor. Come on, there has to be something you don’t show off at school.”

“Okay fine. I’ve got a couple. One, I actually like to cook. A lot. It almost kills me to be partnered up with the guys sometimes because they’re so clueless in the kitchen. And two, I love dance. I did it for a bit as a kid but got embarrassed and decided to go the normal sports route. I still go to the Nutcracker every year, though.”

You found yourself smiling at his honesty.

“Really? You know my mom put me in little kid ballet classes for a while, but I was really disruptive in class because I had too much energy, so I got into other sports instead. Has the football team never done a ballet class? I know some schools make them.”

“One summer. Maybe two years ago? We were doing a team building thing and they made us take one. I couldn’t make myself pretend to be bad so I just let everyone believe I was a natural talent,” he laughed, causing you to do the same. “You should’ve seen those guys. That’s probably one of my best football memories.”

You both sit in comfortable silence for a while. You couldn’t remember a time that you both were open to each other without the slightest bit of tension.

After a few more moments, you both got back to work.

%

You didn’t realize that it was past 5 o’clock until your mother was at your doorway telling you dinner was ready.

“Feel free to stay. We’d love to have you for dinner, Tom,” she offered, then went back to the kitchen. 

“Do you mind? I can just walk home if not.”

“Just stay, man. What’s one dinner? I’d feel at least somewhat bad to make you walk all the way home. We’re done for the week anyways, so I’ll just drive you after we eat.”

You led him to the kitchen, where your mom had cooked some ravioli and tossed a salad. You built your plates and thanked your mom, then sat at the dining room table.

You ate in awkward silence since your parents were in the living room. Your dad had greeted you and Tom when he came home from work, not really realizing who Tom was.

Once your plates were practically cleaned, you cleared the table and took Tom home.

“Thanks again for dinner and driving me. Good luck this weekend.”

Who is this guy and where did he take Tom? He never wishes me luck.

“Yeah no problem. Thank your mom for the bread. And good luck on your game tomorrow, too. I hear it’s gonna be a tough one.”

”They just haven’t met me yet,” he joked, then got out of the car and headed to the door. He tossed one last wave back as you pulled away.

%

A/N: I’m happy to be posting the next part and with the free time that I have at the moment of formatting this I’m hoping that I can reedit ch 4 and have it up by next week. As always, love you all and thanks for reading!

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[acousticcheeze]

Here's my 100 questions for my OC thing!

My OC is Laureli, a 6'2 Altmer trying to make his way in Skyrim

1. What do they smell like?

Whatever alchemy ingredient he’s been working with, really. Lavender is what he smells like most often, though.

2. What is their voice like?

A smooth-ish medium pitch Altmer voice that has elements of calm and irritation.

3. What is their biggest motivator?

Helping others through his alchemy. He wants to improve medicine for Skyrim, as well as all of Tamriel.

4. What is their most embarrassing memory?

He had a whole scientific presentation one year that ended up being completely wrong. He got humiliated in front of everyone.

5. How do they deal with/react to pain?

Winces at it, curses, and then gets to treating the problem.

6. What do they like to wear?

Functional clothes that keep him warm and allow him to carry alchemy ingredients in his pockets.

7. Which of their relationships have impacted them most positively?

The relationships with some of the people he’s helped over the years. It gave him a sense of purpose and fulfillment knowing that he could help people, save people.

8. What’s the weirdest thing they’ve ever eaten?

He’s an alchemist...in Skyrim...I’m pretty sure there are a few contenders… (giants toe, large/small antlers, ectoplasm, the list goes on)

9. Describe the way that they sleep.

Normal side sleeper. Prefers to sleep on his left side.

10. What is their favorite food/kind of food?

Horker stew. It’s actually way better than he thought it would be.

11. What do they feel most insecure about?

If what he’s doing is good enough. He has big problems with perfectionism that still persist with him even after leaving Summerset.

12. How do they like to dress?

Robes with an alchemy enchantment and a hood.

13. How do they react to feelings of guilt?

He tries to shake them off, but has panic attacks and whatnot sometimes as a result of them.

14. How do they react to/deal with betrayal?

Is completely shattered by it. He’s dealt with this so many times before, though, so he keeps his cards close to his chest.

15. What is their greatest achievement?

Creating potions that help much more than the average cure disease potion would, as well as all sorts of other concoctions. Also, he’s created a sort of disinfectant and is working on a hand sanitizer.

16. What are they like when they’ve gotten too little sleep?

Cranky, cranky, cranky.

17. What are they like when they’re drunk?

Drunk? Oh no no no no Laureli does not drink (and even if he did he’d be out real quick)

18. What kind of music do they enjoy?

He isn’t really into music, but he enjoys the songs the bard plays at the Bannered Mare.

19. Are they right or left handed?

Right, but is practicing with his left hand too in case something happens to his right.

20. Fears?

Death and failure, mostly.

21. Favorite kind of weather?

As the sun rises and there’s dew all over the grass, the light reflecting through each drop.

22. Favorite color?

The color of eyes. Or, more specifically, the hundreds of little pinpricks of different colors inside of eyes, It’s really quite fascinating.

23. Do they collect anything?

OH YEAH. So many different alchemy ingredients and random stuff to be used in his next works-

24. Do they prefer either hot or cold weather more?

Cold, which is good since he lives in Skyrim.

25. What is their eye color?

Chartreuse (like most Altmer)

26. What is their race/ethnicity?

Altmer

27. Hair color?

White

28. Are they happy where they are currently?

Yup. Breezehome is small, but manageable, and Whiterun is a decent hold to live in.

29. Are they a morning person?

Yes. He gets tired around 9 and can’t stay up past 12.

30. Sunrise or sunset?

Sunrise.

31. Are they more messy or more organized?

Very organized. Again, he’s a perfectionist.

32. Pet peeves?

People touching his things as well as people inserting themselves into his business.

33. Do they own any objects of significant personal importance?

An amulet of Talos a Nord gave him. He hadn’t gotten the chance to learn much about Talos at home, and he found it very interesting talking to the local Nords about their beliefs. That amulet reminds him of his first day in Skyrim, the first day of his new life.

34. Least favorite food?

Taffy treats, or anything with that sort of texture and stickiness that can get stuck to his teeth very easily.

35. Least favorite color?

Very pale green. It looks gross.

36. Least favorite smell?

Death. (Yes, death has a smell)

37. When was the last time they cried?

Recently.

38. Were they with anybody the last time they cried?

No. Oh Auri-el, no no no no. He cries alone and he makes sure of it.

39. Tell us about one of the times they got injured?

Was in a fire when he was younger, he has a burn going up the inner leg on his right leg.

40. Do they have any scars?

Only mental ones. (and the burn scar on his leg)

41. Do they struggle with any mental health issues?

Perfectionism, past abuse, self hate, among others.

42. Do they have any bad habits?

Picking at his nails. He knows it makes them hurt and get bloody, but sometimes he just can’t help it.

43. Why might someone dislike them?

He can be very rude if he’s working, but to be fair, it is really annoying to be bothered in the middle of your work.

44. Why might someone love them?

Who wouldn’t love an overworked science boye? But in all seriousness, if he loves someone, he will be very caring towards them and is also just great listener. Tries not to care any more though because of personal trauma.

45. Do they believe in ghosts?

Yup. He’s heard of people’s encounters with them. Honestly, you’d be stupid to not believe in them.

46. Is there anyone they would trust with their lives?

At this point? No. Farkas later down the line? Yes.

47. Are they romantically interested in anyone?

Farkas, but we ain’t talking about that yet~

48. Are they dating/married to anyone?

No

49. Do they like surprises?

No. Please do not surprise this poor man he will stagger back and crash into everything.

50. When is their birthday?

9th of Hearthfire (September 9th)

51. How do they usually celebrate their birthday?

He takes a few seconds to acknowledge it and then gets on with his work.

52. Do they have any family?

Yup! A Mom, a Dad, a younger sister, and a male cousin that lives nearby (he’s in the Thalmor and the whole family has very Pro-Thalmor views)

53. Are they close to their family?

HAH- no~

54. What is their MBTI type?

INTJ (Damn this list for making me look up stereotypes for this. Honestly I hate the MBTI system so much-)

55. What is their zodiac sign?

Virgo

56. What Hogwarts House would they be in?

Ravenclaw

57. What D&D alignment are they?

If lawful chaotic good was a thing then yes

58. Do they ever have nightmares? If so, what about?

Yes, but they are often so tangled up that it’s hard to get any real meaning from them.

59. What are their views on death?

“It’s fine, it’s fine, I’ll be fine-” Hopes that he’ll be fine but is really scared about it.

60. What is something that they’re sure to laugh at?

Bad science puns. He will stifle a chuckle before telling you how bad your joke was.

61. When bored, how do they pass time?

This man does not get bored. He will always find something alchemy related to study or look into.

62. Do they enjoy being outside?

Yes. Laureli loves the Skyrim weather (for the most part. Places like Dawnstar and Winterhold suck)

63. Do they have an accent?

Yes. He has the typical Altmer accent.

64. Upon seeing a slice of chocolate cake, what is their first reaction?

“Why is this here? This isn’t mine.”

65. If they knew they were going to die, what would they do/say

He would probably take too long deciding and die before he could do/say anything.

66. How do they feel about sex?

Sex repulsed asexual.

67. What is their sexuality?

GAY

68. Do they become squeamish at the sight of blood?

Nope.

69. Is there anything that they find really gross?

He’s seen so much it would take a lot to surprise him here.

70. Which TV Trope(s) best describes them?

Grumpy scientist with no people skills.

71. Do they enjoy helping people?

Yes, definitely

72. Are they allergic to anything?

Not really. (Lucky)

73. Do they have a pet?

No

74. Are they quick to anger? What are they like when they loose their temper?

Nope, unless you press his buttons. His anger is pretty much “What in the name of Auri-el is wrong with you?! Don’t touch my equipment!!”

75. How patient are they?

Very...until you hit his limit. Then he gets passive aggressive.

76. Are they good at cooking?

Not really. He can be good at it, he just chose not to learn in favor of working on his projects. Can make enough to live on, though.

77. Favorite insult? Do they insult people often?

He doesn't have a favorite insult (he rarely insults people).

78. How do they act when they’re particularly happy?

Talking fast, pacing, flappy hands.

79. What do they do when they learn about other people’s fears?

Try to avoid bringing those fears up around them and avoiding making fun of them. If their fear is nearby, he will either tell them or take care of it. (which is good because Farkas is scared of spiders)

80. Are they trustworthy?

Yes, but you have to be a very certain kind of person to work with him.

81. Do they try to hide their emotions? Are they good at it?

Sometimes, especially romantic feelings. Romantic attraction? Nope, not possible- (It totally is; he’s in denial)

82. Do they exercise regularly?

With all of the walking he does around various holds, yes.

83. Are they comfortable with the way they look?

Yes. He’s a perfectionist with many things, but has learned to let go a bit more when it comes to his appearance. He still will take ages to get ready, though.

84. What are some physical features that they find attractive on people?

Tattoos, braids, basically everything you’d see on a typical Nord. It’s so different from his home and he’s completely enamored.

85. What kind of personalities do they find attractive?

Himbo nord men. Sweet morons basically.

86. Do they like sweet foods?

Not really. Sweet foods do have their place, but he isn’t wanting to get any cavities, so he tries to limit his sugar. (Especially since Altmer live 200-300 years aprox)

87. What is their age?

52 (~20s for an Altmer)

88. Are they tall or short or somewhere in between?

Tall, but about average for an Altmer

89. Do they wear glasses or contacts?

No, but if he did he would have half-moon spectacles.

90. Do they consider themselves attractive?

Not really. He doesn’t really think anyone is attractive. (Well, except for Nord himbos, but he doesn’t know that until he meets Farkas)

91. What is their sense of humor like?

Practically nonexistent, but when there is humor it’s mostly dry and sardonic.

92. What mood are they most often in?

That sort of focused work mode you get in when you’re really concentrating, as well as somewhat-sociable-but-still-kind-of-tired-and-grumpy

93. What kinds of things anger them?

People messing up his equipment. Oh sweet Auri-el, if you touch his things he will explode. Also, he hates the racism that the Thalmor promote. (He hates racism in general, but he hates the Thalmor’s views the most).

94. Outlook on life?

“It sucks, but I do find quite a bit fascinating and I’ll help where I can.”

95. What kind of things make them sad/depressed?

His perfectionism, how lonely he knows he is, and more.

96. What is their greatest weakness?

Again, his perfectionism, as well as having his work dictate more in his life than he should.

97. What is the greatest strength?

His brain. He remembers small details extremely well, and is practically an encyclopedia when it comes to alchemy.

98. Something that they regret?

How awful he used to be to everyone back home. He got a lot of pushback on his dreams and who he was, so he lashed out. Even though there wasn’t much he could do there, he still regrets hiring his family and wants to try at a relationship again with them (lol good luck).

99. Biggest accomplishment?

How is this different from “Greatest Achievement”?

100. Create your own! (Why is his alchemy so different from the norm?)

Because he’s trying to do something much more along the lines of modern medicine as opposed to just potions.

101. (Bonus!) Why is he in Skyrim?

Because it’s rather lacking in the medicine department compared to the other provinces, so he decided his talents would be best used there. Obviously, his family protested, but he went anyways.