#no one is a) filing these claims or reporting damaged trees

[sp0o0kylights]

I've had a lot of people ask for updates or just give well wishes (and I appreciate every single one of you even if I havent been able to respond--Ive been stuck on the tumblr app and mine crashes constantly lol)

Some fun disaster facts for you: they had to get a special crane to remove both the trees due to the sheer size of them, and the second tree (pictured in the top photo but not in the bottom ones bc its fricken impossible to get them both in one shot on the ground) they had to cut at the property line bc it was through both mine and my neighbors house, and the arborists got uppity about potentially further damaging my neighbors house (which I laughed at but like, I get it.)

Our insurance would not condemn or assess the house until the trees were removed. Somehow that is normal.

My house was condemned--it has some insane damage not just from the collapse, but from the second ice storm that followed. The whole place is swollen (some of the floors are crazy to walk on.) Insurance did get a structural engineer to put in supports so we were able to get a lot of things out, but at the same time there's so much more damaged than you'd ever think (given some of the upstairs rooms were untouched, etc.) just from the weather.

It's spooky to walk in, and a lot of professionals wouldn't go near it (can't blame em.)

We're finally in a rental home, and we've picked a contractor to move forward with. Whole things getting razed to the ground and rebuilt.

What's insane is that only three homes so far have been condemned in the neighborhood. My neighbors house in the above image? Yeah they said it's fine.

Which I personally think goes to show how bad insurance is more so than like--the houses themselves being sturdy.

[droctaviolovecraft]

ANM-358: "Surprise, Cabron"

http://mothrainstitution.wikidot.com/anm-358

"Except for file 303, all other files are just for fun."

Subject Classification: A-08-358

Type of Damage: Both 🟣 (03-50)

Risk Level: Medium 🟡

Anomaly Type: Aquatic

Discovery Classification: Expedition (08)

Department: Department of Environmental Anomalies

Responsible Researcher: Dr. Flint (08)

Identification: "Surprise, Cabron"

Containment: The MOTHRA Institution maintains 24-hour surveillance over the lake, not allowing anyone to enter, claiming it is a preserved natural area. No animals are allowed inside or near the lake either. Surveillance is carried out by various guards patrolling and monitoring the area, in addition to security cameras and motion sensors. Any person not from the organization found near the lake must be quickly apprehended, interrogated, and released after the use of class 3 amnestics. Some warning signs have also been installed around the area.

An underground research base was established 15m from the lake to better study and understand the anomalous properties of the lake.

Description: A-08-358 appears to be a spring, giving rise to a large lake, an area of approximately 90m, located within a forest. The environment is constantly dark and humid, also affecting the lake, which is frequently covered by large mists and over the lake. Additionally, the water is considerably dark, making it difficult to observe the interior of the lake. The lake also seems to affect a significant forested area, as the trees near the lake are unusually thinner and taller, while their foliage is darker.

There are reports from survivors who entered the lake, each suffering the same effect with some small differences. One of the first victims reported that upon entering the lake, they felt difficulty breathing which became fatal until something was pulling them further down. For some reason, this victim cannot remember very well what happened. They only recall an environment seemingly without depth or width limits, remaining isolated and unable to breathe there. The victim suffered a type of stroke, and upon waking up, they were floating on the lake while unknown shark-like creatures surrounded them. The victim swam out of the lake, escaping, before being identified and captured by local guards.

The second victim reports that after entering the lake ANM-358, they were also pulled by something to the depths of the lake. Inside, they saw an immense fish watching them. The specimen was reported to resemble an anglerfish with arms, legs, and a human body (Melanocetus). The creature advanced towards them, but the victim managed to dodge and escape, before also fainting and waking up outside the lake.

The third victim exhibits trauma and poor mental health, currently undergoing psychological treatment. He reports that he was with a friend, and both were thirsty. They approached the lake, and the boy's friend was attracted by a light, getting closer and closer to it. The same creature bit him, tearing part of his body. His friend fled in panic. The body of the deceased boy was never found.

Addendum: Below is a brief description of ANM-358-2 based on all reports from surviving victims:

8m long, with arms, legs, and a humanoid torso. The rest of its body, including the head, is that of a Melanocetus fish. Needle-like teeth, white glowing eyes, its face is easily noticeable due to the light emitted from its lure. ANM-358-2 initially tries to lure its prey close to its mouth. Its hands end in long, sticky fingers, which help it grasp and pull its prey into the lake.

It remains unknown whether such a creature is real or a hallucination.

[elfwreck]

Legal changes I want include "environmental cost analyses" and "local community impact analyses."

Environmental cost is tricky, because right now, we allow ownership of the land, air, and water, as marked on a map, with a handful of caveats about how those can be used. Biodiversity has zero legal standing. A requirement to file a report claiming "We will cut down X trees for this parking lot" would be useless - we would need a way to convert that number to damages that the company would need to cover.

So we'd need analyses of how much "value" those trees currently bring (to the state, the nation, the community, whatever) which the company is removing - and a price tag that they'd have to pay. And not a one-time "$2 million fee to cut down these trees." A baseline starting point... and a continued fee every year those trees are missing, even if the factory shuts down. Even if the company goes bankrupt. Set up the state/nation/whatever as the first investor that's due payback - company goes bankrupt, assets and executive pensions are used to pay the debt, mitigate the damage, etc.

Do the same for local community impact. Note how many kids will have a harder time getting to school because there's more traffic on the roads now. How noisy is the factory? What does it do to cost of living nearby? Are people going to be more stressed living next to a factory? Will its alarm bells interfere with community gatherings?

Again, find a price tag. Charge money up front for expected negative impact on the community, and every year it continues. Throw that money in the community coffers - allocated by the local gov't in a way designed to mitigate the specific harms it causes. (It's an eyesore? Fund local parks or community art. It causes traffic delays? Fund better roads, more available routes. It throws smoke in the air? Fund health care for the community. And so on.) ("Gonna put our factory in another country to avoid these problems"--if they're registered to do business in the US, they don't get to avoid them.)

These are more-or-less fantasy socialist approaches to corporations. The point isn't, "we need to do these things." The point is, "to avoid the issues of profit-first operations, we absolutely need drastic changes to corporate law."

Adding some fees and fines isn't enough. Even if they were all enforced. What we need is an entirely different legal framework for corporate business activity, and to get that, we'll need to consider aspects of business that are currently considered irrelevant to the law.

While I'm writing things that I've been intending to write for a while... one of the things that I think that a lot of people who haven't been involved in like... banking or corporate shenaniganry miss about why our economy is its current flavor of total fuckery is the concept of "fiduciary duty to shareholders."

"Why does every corporation pursue endless growth?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

"Why do corporations treat workers the way they do?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

"Why do corporations make such bass-ackwards decisions about what's 'good for' the company?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

The legal purpose of a corporation with shareholders -- its only true purpose -- is the generation of revenue/returns for shareholders. Period. That's it. Anything else it does is secondary to that. Sustainability of business, treatment of workers, sustainability and quality of product, those things are functionally and legally second to generating revenue for shareholders. Again, period, end of story. There is no other function of a corporation, and all of its extensive legal privileges exist to allow it to do that.

"But Spider," you might say, "that sounds like corporations only exist in current business in order to extract as much money and value as possible from the people actually doing the work and transfer it up to the people who aren't actually doing the work!"

Yes. You are correct. Thank you for coming with me to that realization. You are incredibly smart and also attractive.

You might also say, "but Spider, is this a legal obligation? Could those running a company be held legally responsible for failing their obligations if they prioritize sustainability or quality of product or care of workers above returns for shareholders?"

Yes! They absolutely can! Isn't that terrifying? Also you look great today, you're terribly clever for thinking about these things. The board and officers of a corporation can be held legally responsible to varying degrees for failing to maximize shareholder value.

And that, my friends, is why corporations do things that don't seem to make any fucking sense, and why 'continuous growth' is valued above literally anything else: because it fucking has to be.

If you're thinking that this doesn't sound like a sustainable economic model, you're not alone. People who are much smarter than both of us, and probably nearly as attractive, have written a proposal for how to change corporate law in order to create a more sensible and sustainable economy. This is one of several proposals, and while I don't agree with all of this stuff, I think that reading it will really help people as a springboard to understanding exactly why our economy is as fucked up as it is, and why just saying 'well then don't pursue eternal growth' isn't going to work -- because right now it legally can't. We'd need to change -- and we can change -- the laws around corporate governance.

This concept of 'shareholder primacy' and the fiduciary duty to shareholders is one I had to learn when I was getting my securities licenses, and every time I see people confusedly asking why corporations try to grow grow grow in a way that only makes sense if you're a tumor, I sigh and think, 'yeah, fiduciary duty to shareholders.'

(And this is why Emet and I have refused to seek investors for NK -- we might become beholden to make decisions which maximize investor return, and that would get in the way of being able to fully support our people and our values and say the things we started this company to say.)

Anyway, you should read up on these concepts if you're not familiar. It's pretty eye-opening.

[dulibaninsurance]

What Is a Home Insurance Inspection?

As mentioned, a home insurance inspection is separate from a typical home inspection. When you schedule a home inspection, it’s usually for your own peace of mind. For example, you may want to be sure that the home has no major structural issues, such as a cracked foundation or damaged wiring. A certified home inspector can examine the home inside and out to look for any issues and summarize them in a report.

More info home insurance

Home inspections aren’t always required by mortgage lenders, though an appraisal is, in order to establish the property’s value. Mortgage lenders typically don’t ask for a home insurance inspection either; this is usually requested by the company through which you’re attempting to purchase homeowners insurance. However, whether you’re getting a regular home inspection, a home insurance inspection, or an appraisal, you’re responsible for paying the cost out of pocket. 

A home insurance inspection allows the insurance company to gauge the home’s replacement cost. This is also how the insurance company assesses risk to determine the likelihood that you’ll need to file a claim for damages and calculates your estimated premium costs. A home inspection may be more common if you’re buying an older home or a home in an area that’s prone to natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, or forest fires. 

For example, in Florida and some Gulf Coast states, homeowners can go through a wind mitigation inspection. This type of inspection looks specifically at what efforts are in place to mitigate wind damage to a home that’s being covered. Insurance companies can offer discounts on coverage for homeowners who undergo this type of inspection and show that they’ve mitigated wind damage risk.

What a Home Insurance Inspection Covers

In most cases your homeowners insurance company may do a visual inspection of the home’s exterior. This allows it to check out the condition of doors, windows, roofing, and additional structures on the property. If the insurance company decides that a more detailed inspection is necessary, it will also take a look inside the home.3

Every inspection is different, but generally the inspector will be assessing things such as:

The condition and age of the roof

Any exterior hazards that could potentially lead to damage, such as overhanging trees 

Exterior items that could be damaged, such as sidewalks, lighting fixtures, or separate buildings on the property

Interior and exterior drainage systems

The condition of the basement, if you have one, and the foundation

Plumbing systems

The age and condition of the home’s electrical system

Home appliances

The condition of flooring and walls

Attic spaces and crawl spaces

Anti-theft measures, such as a home security system or deadbolts

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

The age and condition of the HVAC system

Chimneys and fireplaces, if you have them

Overall, the goal is to assess both risk and replacement cost if the home ends up being damaged. You may not need to be at home for the exterior part of the inspection if the insurance company only wants to look at the outside, but you'll need to be present for the interior inspection if one is requested. The time frame can be as much as two hours.

[meera1990-tiwari]

ARE WINDOWS COVERED BY HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE?

Windows are an essential part of any home, providing natural light, ventilation, and aesthetic appeal. But what happens if your windows are damaged or broken? Does homeowners insurance cover window replacement or repairs? Let's delve into this topic in easy-to-understand points:

Standard Homeowners Insurance Coverage: Most standard homeowners insurance policies provide coverage for damage to your home's structure, including windows, caused by covered perils such as fire, vandalism, theft, and severe weather events like windstorms or hail.

Types of Window Damage Covered: Homeowners insurance typically covers a range of window damage, including broken glass, frame damage from impacts, and damage caused by covered perils such as fallen tree branches or vandalism.

Repair vs. Replacement Coverage: Depending on the extent of damage, your homeowners insurance policy may cover either repairs or replacement of damaged windows. Minor damage such as a cracked pane may be eligible for repair, while more severe damage may require full window replacement.

Deductible: Like other insurance claims, homeowners insurance claims for window damage are subject to a deductible. The deductible is the amount you're responsible for paying out of pocket before your insurance coverage kicks in. Be sure to review your policy to understand your deductible amount and how it applies to window damage claims.

Exclusions and Limitations: While homeowners insurance typically covers window damage caused by covered perils, there may be exclusions and limitations to coverage. For example, damage resulting from neglect, wear and tear, or lack of maintenance may not be covered. Additionally, certain types of damage, such as that caused by floods or earthquakes, may require separate insurance coverage.

Additional Coverage Options: Depending on your needs and budget, you may have the option to purchase additional coverage for specific perils or types of damage not covered by your standard homeowners insurance policy. For example, you can add endorsements or riders for coverage against floods, earthquakes, or accidental damage.

Replacement Cost vs. Actual Cash Value: When filing a homeowners insurance claim for window damage, you may have the option to choose between replacement cost coverage and actual cash value coverage. Replacement cost coverage pays the full cost of repairing or replacing damaged windows with new ones of similar quality, while actual cash value coverage takes depreciation into account, resulting in a lower payout.

Documenting Damage: In the event of window damage, it's essential to document the damage thoroughly to support your insurance claim. Take photos of the damage, gather any relevant receipts or estimates for repairs or replacement, and report the damage to your insurance company as soon as possible to initiate the claims process.

Working with Contractors: If your windows need repairs or replacement, work with reputable contractors who are experienced in handling insurance claims. Obtain multiple estimates for the work and communicate with your insurance company throughout the process to ensure that the repairs or replacement are covered under your policy.

Reviewing Your Policy: To fully understand the coverage provided for windows under your homeowners insurance policy, review your policy documents carefully or consult with your insurance agent. They can help clarify any questions or concerns you may have about window coverage and ensure that you have adequate protection for your home.

In conclusion, homeowners insurance typically covers window damage caused by covered perils such as fire, vandalism, and severe weather events. However, it's essential to understand any exclusions, limitations, deductibles, and coverage options associated with your policy. By reviewing your policy documents, documenting damage, and working with experienced contractors, you can ensure that your windows are adequately protected under your homeowners insurance coverage.

[providenceproperty]

Investing in Excellence: Vital Maintenance Tips for Your London Property

Investing in real estate can be a worthwhile endeavour, but it comes with the responsibility of proper maintenance. As a landlord in London, looking after your property isn't just about keeping your tenants happy; it's about protecting your investment. In this article, we'll explore important maintenance tips that every property owner should consider to ensure the success of their London property investment.

1. Regular Inspections Are Essential

Regular inspections of your assets are the foundation of effective maintenance. Schedule regular visits to check for wear, safety, or potential problems. Inspect the interior and exterior, paying attention to plumbing, electrical systems, appliances, and structural components. Fixing the problem as soon as possible can avoid costly repairs in the long run.

2. Preventive Maintenance Saves Money

Take action when the problem becomes a big one. Invest in preventative maintenance to extend the life of your property's components. Regularly maintain heating and air conditioning systems, clean gutters, and check smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. This small investment can save you significant repair costs in the long run.

3. Landscaping Matters

Curbing curb appeal is essential, especially in London's competitive property market. A well-maintained property not only attracts tenants but also increases property value. If your property has a front lawn, it is important to regularly trim trees and bushes, mow grass, and keep walkways clear. Consider investing in drought-resistant plants to reduce water use and maintenance.

4. Plumbing and Electrical Checks

Plumbing and electrical problems can be costly and disruptive. Schedule regular inspections of these systems to detect problems early. Look for leaks, corrosion, or worn parts in the plumbing system. Make sure the electrical wiring is up to code and safe. Keeping these systems in top shape ensures tenant safety and minimises costly emergency repairs.

5. Tenant Communication is Key

Maintaining a good relationship between landlord and tenant is important for property maintenance. Establish clear lines of communication with your tenants and encourage them to promptly report maintenance issues. Address their concerns quickly and professionally. Happy renters are more likely to take better care of your property, reducing wear and tear.

6. Budget for Maintenance

Set aside a portion of your rental income for maintenance costs. A dedicated maintenance budget ensures you are financially prepared for unexpected repairs or replacements. It also allows you to plan for long-term improvements and upgrades that can increase the value of your property.

7. Regular Roof Inspections

Your roof is one of the most important elements of your property. Check it regularly for signs of damage, such as loose or missing shingles, leaks, or sagging areas. Roof problems can lead to costly water damage and must be addressed quickly.

8. Pest Control

Pest infestations can damage your property and cause health problems for tenants. Implement a pest control plan that includes regular inspections and preventative measures. Promptly handle all signs of infection to avoid significant damage.

9. Keep Records

Maintain detailed records of all maintenance and repair activities. This document is not only useful for tracking costs but also for demonstrating asset maintenance. This can be beneficial when negotiating with a tenant or filing an insurance claim.

10. Seasonal Maintenance

Different seasons bring different maintenance challenges. In winter, focus on heating systems, insulation, and preventing frozen pipes. In the summer, ensure the air conditioning units are working properly and take care of the landscaping. Fall and spring are great times to check out shared properties.

Maintaining a property is an ongoing commitment, but protecting your investment and keeping your London property in top condition is essential. By following these ten maintenance tips and staying proactive, you can ensure that your real estate investment thrives, attracts quality tenants, and maintains its value in the vibrant rental market in London.

[roofingspecialist]

Emergency Roof Leak Repair: What to Do When a Leak Occurs

Discovering a roof leak can be a stressful experience for homeowners. A leaky roof not only compromises the integrity of your home’s structure but can also cause damage to your belongings and lead to costly repairs. When faced with a roof leak, it’s important to act quickly to minimize the damage and ensure the safety of your home and family. This article will guide you through the necessary steps to take when an emergency roof leak occurs.

Assess the Situation As soon as you notice signs of a roof leak, such as water stains on the ceiling or dripping water, assess the extent of the damage. Look for the source of the leak and determine if it’s safe to access the affected area. If the leak is severe or poses a risk to your safety, it’s best to evacuate the area and contact a professional roofing contractor.

Mitigate Further Damage If it’s safe to do so, take immediate action to prevent the leak from causing more damage. Place buckets or containers to collect dripping water and use towels or rags to absorb any excess moisture. Move furniture, electronics, and other valuable items away from the affected area to prevent water damage.

Locate the Source of the Leak Locating the source of a roof leak can be challenging, as water can travel along the roof’s surface before entering your home. Start by inspecting the attic or crawl space for signs of water infiltration. Look for wet spots, mold or mildew growth, or beams of light coming through the roof. This can help you narrow down the area where the leak is occurring.

Temporary Roof Patching If you have the necessary tools and experience, you may consider temporary roof patching to minimize water intrusion until a professional can assess and repair the roof. Use roofing tar or sealant to cover the damaged area. Remember that this is a temporary solution and should not replace professional repair work.

Contact a Professional Roofing Contractor Once you’ve taken initial steps to mitigate the damage, it’s crucial to contact a professional roofing contractor as soon as possible. Roofing professionals have the expertise and equipment to assess the extent of the damage and provide the necessary repairs. Look for a licensed and insured contractor with a reputation for quality workmanship and emergency response.

Document the Damage Take photos or videos of the roof leak and the resulting damage before any repairs are made. This documentation can be useful for insurance claims and can help support your case for reimbursement of repair costs or damage to your property.

Insurance Claims Contact your homeowner’s insurance provider to report the roof leak and discuss the necessary steps for filing a claim. Provide them with any documentation, including photos, videos, and receipts for repairs or temporary fixes. An insurance adjuster may visit your property to assess the damage and determine the coverage.

Regular Roof Maintenance Prevention is key to avoiding future emergency roof leaks. Schedule regular roof inspections and maintenance to identify and address potential issues before they become major problems. Clear debris from gutters and downspouts regularly, as clogged drainage can contribute to water buildup and roof leaks. Trim overhanging tree branches to prevent them from damaging the roof during storms.

Dealing with an emergency roof leak requires swift action and the involvement of professional roofing experts. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can minimize further damage, ensure the safety of your home and loved ones, and expedite the repair process. Remember to prioritize your safety and consult with professionals for proper assessment and repair of your roof.

[benitopaul1]

Hurricane Ian: State of Insurance in Florida

Hurricane Ian has caused all possible disaster in Florida that was expected of it and it will take a while before normalcy returns in this southeastern US state that is presently marred by wrecked houses, overturned cars, heaps of debris, and uprooted trees. Loss of lives was on the cards and fatalities have happened by the dozen. Power failure is a corollary of any natural mishap and for whatever duration it took place, it must have taken a serious toll on a lot of livelihoods.

Of all the sectors that comprise and contribute to the Floridian economy, one that will be most active presently is the insurance industry for claimants will be desperate to get compensated at the earliest and have their losses covered. So, before we move further, let’s first discuss the types of claim that will be filed in the wake of the recent tempest. One that is pretty obvious is storm damage and with reports of certain parts getting swamped, flood damage cases too are bound to be registered.

If you have the time and patience to wait for a while before your insurance company reimburses you for your losses and you are hopeful of getting a just reward, you need not involve anyone else. However, if you fear that you might get a raw deal and are in desperate need to get your damaged property repaired and restored, hiring a public adjuster will be highly advisable.

Storm damage claim & need to hire public adjuster

Unless you do not know how roping in a claim expert will result in a marked difference, you will not actually feel convinced to take this step. So, instead of just harping on the facts that your claim amount will be maximized and your claim will be settled faster, we will actually share some critical insights that will make you more inclined to seek expert assistance.

Read More : https://iambenitopaul.com/hurricane-ian-the-state-of-insurance-in-florida/

[cliniknote]

Streamline your practice with the right clinical notes’ software for your healthcare business

Over time, we all have become environmentally friendly, and people have learned about reducing paper usage and cutting trees less. Most industries have shifted to the digital world to reduce the paperwork, then why should we leave the medical or the healthcare industry? Where maintaining patients’ files and reports plays a crucial role. Experienced healthcare providers run the healthcare industry. They have been recording all the data in each patient’s files. When we talk about the patient’s medical history, these files are essential, as they contain their health history, surgery history, infections, and accidents. Doctors refer to these files and then prescribe the medicines accordingly. What if these files are damaged or misplaced? Then how will these doctors look into the previous data? That’s where clinical notes software come into active play. The app records endless files, and the history of every patient is transferrable to any department or doctor if required, making the administration work easier. So let us look into the clinical notes software and what they offer. Then we will see how it can help streamline the healthcare business.

Features of Clinik notes

Clinik notes the app is designed for the healthcare industry for the doctors to record medical history, consultation, medicines prescribed, diagnosis, and administration records. Instead of using paper and leaving them in the files, the doctors can access the patient’s account online during his consultation anytime. With the help of clinik note, he can even use android or apple products like laptops, iPad, computers, and even android. On this, the doctor can even draw and write his notes online. The app is free for the first trial month, and if the doctor is uncomfortable, they can cancel the subscription. These notes are transferable to other departments and doctors of the hospital. A private clinic doctor can use these notes to refer to another specialist doctor.

How these Clinik notes can help streamline the healthcare business

As mentioned earlier, it reduces paperwork — Everything is online, and doctors do not use paper to write any comment, even for administration purposes. He can send a note to the chemist listing the medicines prescribed under the patient’s profile, and the admin team can bill him based on those notes. The general physician can share his notes with a specialist to further investigate the problem.

It helps keep the patient’s records safe — There are no physical files and paper; therefore, there is no scare of losing the file or document in storage. All the files will be stored in the app, and nothing will be damaged. The visits and history of the patient will be appropriately maintained.

The app allows you to draw the anatomy on the app. As a doctor wants to keep notes of the injuries or discomforts the patient is experiencing, the app will enable you to web draw with the help of the stylus or finger, which allows the process to become faster and smoother. He can write his notes on the web drawing.

The notes are easily accessible by the other doctors and departments of the clinic or hospital, because of which the data will not be lost. It will be transferred to the concerned department or doctor, making the process seamless and smooth. This way, patients’ experience at the clinic or hospital will be better than carrying the files from one office to another.

Everything is stored on an online platform, so there is no space for error. For example, if the doctor prescribes some medicines, the chemists will find it easy to read the comments or medicines’ names. Or if the patient is admitted to the hospital, the nursing staff can access the notes, read the comments, and add further notes as they experience more changes. Therefore, there will be mistakes or slips of information.

The data can be shared with insurance companies, making insurance claims easier. When the patients share the insurance company’s details, the admin staff adds the details, and then the insurance company can extract the reports and pieces from the doctor’s office and then use them for filling the claims. So the process becomes more manageable.

Final Thought

clinical notes software are the future of the healthcare industry. It brings so much ease to the healthcare business and the patients. As all the notes are stored in the app, patients are not required to carry any physical files. The notes are easily accessible and shared with the departments and specialists. The records will not be misplaced or damaged, as everything is shared on the online app. These notes help you reduce the use of papers and files. The storage space which was earlier used to store files can be used for storing other necessary equipment and medicines. The whole experience at doctors will have become faster and smoother as the entire hospital will use clinik notes, not the physical files.

[rjturnerremodeling]

5 Steps When Your Roof Is Leaking From Snow

If your reading this you might be standing in line at local Lowes Foods or Harris Teeter getting some of the southern essentials to surviving a winter storm, bread, milk, and eggs! It’s an exciting time for a lot of families with children who are ready to break out there sleds. Or it could be extremely stressful because you know your home’s roof is one of the most compromised things on your home.

As a roofing contractor that sees a lot of roof damage from winter storms throughout the Triad, there is more than just the roof that can cause issues. Those beautiful trees become damage causing culprits when winter storms hit. Damage from ice on trees, power lines, with difficult conditions can result in some serious troubles.

What happens if I have a roof leak with snow on my roof?

Do not stress. Which is easy to say as a roofing contractor, however it is stressful as a homeowner. We are professional roofing contractors who see roof leaks daily. Our response to calmly address concerns.

Take Photos of interior damages – Its important to not skip this step if your have a roof leak or need a roof repair. If you can tell your have water damage on your ceiling, taking photos is the most important step. If you want to make a roofing insurance claim, photos will be needed to help prove your claim.

Clean up – There will be water inside your home. Maybe sitting on your carpet or flooring. There might be drywall coming down or starting to come down. Or you might have yourself a complete mess with insulation everywhere. With roof leaks this is typical. Again, do not clean up until you have detailed photos… And then get to it Mr or Mrs. Clean!

Mitigate Damages – Try and move any valuable items away from where the roof leak is occurring. This is where that bucket you thought about throwing away comes in handy, or if you did wishing you would have kept it.

Call a residential roofing – Most reputable roofing companies will be well educated in how to handle roof leaks like these. Explain the situation that has happened. With snow on your roof currently its not likely they will be able to do much besides removing some of the snow itself to reduce further damages. Depending on your situation and roof, a qualified roofing contractor would be able to access your roof still. Give EcoShield Roofing a call or request a quote to get us out there!

Do not worry – If you have take photos, cleaned up, and began to try and mitigate future damage, you have done everything you can in moment. Now you just need to be patient and wait for weather to clear up a little. (if a roofing contractor is unable to get on the roof.)

Insurance Assistance – If you want to file a claim with your insurance carrier, we are here to help! This is the natural next choice to make as a homeowner. Is it enough damage to justify calling insurance or is something that is under your deductible?

Power Outage Numbers

With the potential of losing power its always good to keep these numbers handy for any type of power outages. If you see any power lines that are down please call 911

Duke Energy (Report outage by texting OUT to 57801, report online or call 800.POWERON)

Blue Ridge Energy (Report an outage at 800-448-2383)

Emergency Roof Leak Repair

At EcoShield Roofing we offer emergency roof leak repairs in Winston-Salem, Lewisville, Greensboro, Lewisville, Clemmons, and surrounding areas. With snow on the roof performing an emergency roof leak repair can become costly due to various dangers. There are certain products that work best in certain conditions such as temperature

Roof leak?

Residential roof replacement may be required if your current shingles are significantly damaged or very old. If you have missing shingles or the ones left are curled up, then a residential roof replacement is necessary.

Damaged areas of your residential roof will allow rainwater to enter your home. Water leaks are not just an irritating inconvenience but can also cause severe damage to your home and possessions. After all, the roof is your first line of defense against the elements.

You should consider roof replacement if your roof is old and worn out. Most residential roofing lasts about 20 years, and residential roofing in Lewisville should be replaced after that time to avoid structural damage or leaks.

However, if your residential roof has damage from a recent storm or other events, you may only need to replace certain areas. In this case, residential roof repair is a more affordable and less time-consuming option.

Regardless of your residential roofing needs, residential roofers in Lewisville are available to help. But when do you know when your roof needs repair or replacement?

Signs that you require a roofing company in Lewisville:

Mold growth

Leaking ceilings

Impaired insulation

Rotted/damaged wood

Missing shingles

Sagging

Bald shingles

Curling or buckling shingles

EcoShield Roofing offers residential roof replacement services that are efficient and affordable. We understand that not everyone can afford to have their entire residential roof replaced at once, which is why we offer multiple options for residential roof replacement and repair.

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[stephenhnatpublicadjuster]

How To Avoid Insurance Damage Claims During The Holiday Season

The holiday season is a great time to gather with friends and family and make memories that will last a lifetime. As we prepare by decorating our homes and finalizing details for holiday gatherings, it is important for homeowners to acknowledge the increased risks the holiday season brings. Although most of these risks are covered by your homeowner’s policy, no one wants to be in the position to have to file an insurance claim. Here are some common incidents that homeowners should be aware of and what you can do to avoid them. Fires, freezing weather, and winter storms all take a toll and result in soaring claims. Yet it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some tips from Stephen Hnat & Associates on ways to lower your risk and have a safe and happy holiday.

Preventing a home fire:

Cooking fires are the most common cause of house fires year-round. During the holidays, homeowners are more likely to be distracted as they entertain guests while cooking. If you are entertaining this year, make sure to keep your cooking area free from clutter and always use a cooking timer.  

Christmas Trees also contribute to many holiday house fires. To avoid house fires caused by Christmas Trees, make sure to keep your tree at least 3 feet away from heat sources, such as, fireplaces, radiators, or space heaters. When using Christmas lights to decorate, make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for how many light strands to connect. If you have a live Christmas tree, make sure to water it every day and remove it after Christmas.  

Avoid open flames and use LED lights instead of candles.

Do not leave your fireplace unattended. Ensure the fire, and the embers at the back of the fireplace are out before bed. The National Fire Protection Association reports that more than a quarter of a million house fires yearly are caused by chimneys and fireplaces. If you haven’t cleaned your chimney, make sure you do that before the winter holidays.

Faulty space heaters cause 44% of home fires. Make sure all space heaters are at least three feet away from walls, curtains, or furniture, and turn them off before leaving the room or going to bed.

Theft Inside or Outside Your Home

The good news is that stolen belongings fall under your property coverage. Even items taken outside your home are qualified as “personal property held off premises” and should be covered. If you take the time to secure your home with deadbolt locks, security cameras, or a burglar alarm system, you may qualify for a premium discount from your insurance carrier. Other good ideas include: Keeping your vehicle locked, keeping valuables out of sight, securing any vulnerable entry points such as doors, windows, or locks, and verifying the personal belongings protection limits on your policy.

Winter Weather Damage

The typical homeowner’s dwelling coverage will pay for damage caused by frozen pipes, hail, wind, snow, or ice. Nevertheless, your policy may have specific exclusions, such as wind or hail damage. These exclusions are more likely to be expected in areas with frequent weather events. Tips for preventing any winter weather damage include: proper insulation of your home to prevent heat loss, insulating your pipes when they run through unheated spaces, cutting down any dead trees or loose branches near your home, and removing anything outside that isn’t fastened to the ground.

It’s always a good idea to be prepared and take suitable precautions. However, should property damage require an insurance claim, contact Stephen Hnat and Associates as soon as possible. We will assist you in preparing and submitting your claim and negotiate with your insurer to ensure you receive the best possible settlement for any covered damages. 

So if you are looking for a local public adjuster near you Stephen Hnat & Associates is the way to go!"

(412) 276-5555

https://getinsuranceclaimhelp.com/

#publicadjusters #waterdamage #molddamage#houseinsuranceclaim #houseclaim #housefireclaim #winddamage #holidaydamageclaim

[teddy06writes]

Out of Their Grasp

requested by this anon: “hey hey I was wondering if you could do dream x George x reader fantasy/royal au (bc I just read "for his hand" and I love it so much!!) where reader and dream go to battle but only dream returns from it. and he has to tell George that reader died. the more angst the better😝💅”

and also this one: “will there be a part 2 of For His Hand? It’s so good, i loved it!”

{Technically you don’t have to read part one but I would recommend it because this one takes place in the same universe}

Dream x George x reader

trigger warnings: swearing, yelling, major character death, aGnSt

premise: war breaks out near the borders of the SMP, you and Dream are sent ahead of the royal party to the front lines in an attempt to stop any further battles until a peace can be reached when disaster strikes, leaving your partners to deal with the repercussions. 

{dude I’m like manically laughing right now}

(y/n/n)- your nickname

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

“It was just skirmishes, here and there for the last few weeks,” Sam gestured to a few spots near the northern boarder on the map spread out across the table, before pointing to another in the center of the rest, “But then, yesterday there was a huge attack on the villages, and our military bases in this valley.” 

You glanced around the room, from person to person, gauging there reactions. 

George had visibly stiffened in his seat, and behind him Dream seemed equal tense. 

“Have we taken any measures to fight back?” Sapnap asked impatiently. 

“How bad are the damages?” George asked, ignoring him. 

Eret looked down at the report they’d been given, “There seems to have been more pillaging than raiding, they were breaking into peoples house, causing general destruction and looting, when our forces attempted to stop them they began to fight. All in all 30 of ours were killed and there was an estimated 10,000 in damages.” 

George frowned, as Niki spoke up, “We should pay the people reparation's and help them with any reconstruction that needs to be done.”

Many people nodded, but next to you Sapnap was still unhappy, “Are we doing anything about the invaders? We cannot just sit here and allow them to attack the people!” 

“Pushing, pushing.” You muttered. 

The king looked at him for a long moment, before turning to Callahan, the scribe, “Attempt to negotiate a peace. I don’t want anymore bloodshed to curse this land.” 

The man beside you groaned, and you were quick to elbow him in the side and Sam ended the meeting and everyone began to file out of the room, hissing, “I don’t know how they do things where you’re from but that is no way to behave in an advisory meeting. Next time you pull that shit you won’t be allowed back to one.” 

-You had taken the new coming warrior on as a sort of apprentice after he’d first arrived at the palace, and it was clear the change of pace wasn’t something he was ready for- 

“They can’t just stand by! The King is a fool if he thinks a peace can be reached like this!” 

You glared at him. “The King is no fool.” 

“You only say that out of obligation.” Sapnap fired back. 

You recoiled, burned, before crossing your arms and starting out of the room, “You may be a trained mercenary but you haven’t the faintest idea as to how to hold yourself among this crowd. It will be the death of you.” 

He followed you back toward your office, listening as you continued, “King George is a good and just man, to say that he is a fool is to say the sun is square. He has wiped this kingdom clean of many years of bloodshed. 

“The Kings advisors, and cabinet are kind, respectable people, you must remember to hold your tongue  unless spoken too, and never say anything brash as you have done now, lest you make a greater fool of yourself.” 

He huffed, “If I must stay silent in those meetings than how can I get my point across? Sending a messege to the enemy through force may be the only way!”

“Now you sound like Tommy, just as foolhardy and headstrong as the child,” You pushed the door to your office open, “I’m sure that Technoblade agrees with you, though he knows better than to speak freely.” 

“If he agrees with me than perhaps it’s the right move.” 

You turned to look at him quizzically, finally saying, “A wise king does not seek out war, no matter what his knights advise.” 

Sapnap turned, “Then the lot of them are fools.” 

“I have told you once to never disrespect the king, I suggest you don’t do it again. This land has seen it’s share of unjust rulers, be thankful you have not come here under worse authority.” 

~~ That night, when the palace grew quiet, and the sky dark, you found yourself back in Dream’s quarters, an overtired, overstressed George having wedged himself between you two and refusing to move. 

You sighed as Dream ran a hand through your sleeping partners hair, “He’s anxious.” 

“I mean, can you blame him? War may be on the horizon.” Dream murmured. 

“I meant even now- in the time of sleep. I think Sapnap is just adding fuel to the fire.” 

Dream sighed, “If he has another outburst like that-” 

“He’ll be cast out,” You nodded, “I know. He just needs to be willing to learn the way things go around here. In time he will learn.” 

Your boyfriend chuckled to himself, “Fucking hotshot.” 

“I think you’d like him, if you were able to spend more time with him.” You smiled. 

“Well someone had to go snatch him up as an apprentice!” 

“Well it was him or Ranboo, and Ranboo is far too- forgetful, for this sort of thing. I’d’ve had Tubbo but he and Tommy are a package set an you took ‘em.”

“What about Purpled?” 

You rolled your eyes, “He started an apprenticeship with Punz ages ago.” 

“SHHhhhhhhh, ‘m tryin’ to sleep.” George muttered, burying his face in your shoulder. 

In the darkness of the chamber you could barley make out Dream’s eyes sparkling as he took your hand, “Course love, course.” 

~~

As the weeks continued the damages on the northern boarder only seemed to grow, the new invaders claiming three of the villages there own. 

There was yet another large attack on the town that had been damaged the first time, this time a direct threat left etched on the walls, ‘You have made my people suffer, and now yours shall feel the same’

“Militia, both local and our own soldiers have taken it upon themselves to fight back, almost a hundred lived lost to each side.” The silence in the room grew deafening as Sam finished reading his report, not even Sapnap daring to speak. 

“Your Majesty?” Bad hazarded, “What is our next course of action?” 

George frowned, glancing around the room, “Peace is still the priority. Maybe- maybe we call a ceasefire, I could meet with there ruler-” 

“No,” Dream interrupted, drawing all eyes to him, “It would be too dangerous. How do we know they can be trusted to lay down there arms?” 

George shot him a look, “How do we know that we haven’t done anything to provoke them? Whatever we have done wrong we need to fix it. If we can work something out then people will be spared on both sides.” 

“Shall we arrange for a ceasefire?” Eret asked. 

The King nodded as Wilbur spoke up, “We could set up a meeting place, on neutral ground, possibly similar to the holy lands, so there would be no worry of a security breech.”

Dream seemed to relax at this, and then eyes were turned to you and Sapnap, representing the royal guard, “We can, but even so we should stay vigilant, perhaps send a group ahead with the runners to see too it.” You said, noting the gratitude on Dream’s face, as well as the slight annoyance on George’s. 

“Well I see no one better to attend to the King’s safety than you,” Bad said, “You shall go with the party, and Technoblade with you, Sapnap can remain here to take over your day to day duties.” 

The man in question quietly shot you a pleading look, at which you sighed, “With all do respect I think Sapnap could be better severing to the crown if he joined the running party.”

Bad glanced around to the others, looking for any objections before shrugging, “We can find someone else to do the work. So that’ll be you, Technoblade, Sapnap, and we can send the usual scouting party, and Sam shall go with again.” 

~~ The next morning found you suiting up and heading out to the stables to tack up your horse. Techno was already down there, idly chatting with Phil as he readied Carl for the journey, and out in the courtyard you could see Sapnap talking to two men. 

“Good morning, (y/n)!” Phil chirped, waving your direction. 

“Morning Phil.” You moved down the row, reaching out and letting Beckerson nuzzle into your palm. 

After getting your horse cared for and saddled, the rest of the party had headed out of the stables as your partners entered.

George took your hand, “Don’t start any more trouble.” 

“Sounds like your talking to Dream not me.” You chuckled. 

“Hey!” Dream protested. 

“I’m not wrong!” You teased. 

George rolled his eyes, quickly pulling you in for a kiss, “Make things good for me to be out there.” 

“Stay out of trouble.” Dream advised, pulling you away from George to kiss you himself. 

“You underestimate me.” You smirked, grabbing Bekerson’s reigns. 

Dream rolled his eyes as you started to lead the horse out of the stable, calling, “And stay safe!” 

“I’ll see you in five days!” You chuckled, heading out of the stables and quickly mounting your horse, kicking at his sides to catch up with the others.

~~ The last three days had been spent anxiously waiting, and now the journey to the norther board was coming to a close. 

Dream rode alongside the carriage, eyes following the strange trail of smoke on the horizon; something was wrong, he could feel it. 

The quiet, almost calm of the morning was slowly being cut through by a growing noise, and then finally shattered as one of the runners sent ahead to signal their arrival came crashing through the trees looking panicked. 

“What’s going on?” Punz asked.

“They attacked! They broke the ceasefire!” 

Dream’s brain surged with panic as he turned to where George and his advisors were starting to climb out of the carriage asking why they had stopped, “Turn around! It isn’t safe here! Go! Punz! Tommy! Ponk! Get them out of here!” 

Before he could even stop to see if they were following his orders he was rushing forward down the road, urging Spirit to go faster as the road widened into the village. 

Dream was met with nothing but chaos, the royal insignia’s on the tents set up in the field were aflame, and the clashing of swords filled his ears as the royal army and the few commoners who could fought back against the pillaging people. 

 “About time you showed up!” Sapnap yelled from halfway across the field, “We could use some fucking help!” 

“No shit!” Dream yelled back, dismounting and unsheathing his sword. 

Almost immediately another person came barley towards him, throwing him into combat. 

He cut his way across the field, taking down people here and there, still searching the carnage for you. 

Eventually he made it to where Sapnap had just disarmed and knocked out another opponent, “Where are they?” 

His eyes danced around the wreckage, “Could be anywhere, saw ‘em trying to get the townspeople out of the way.” 

Dream cursed, running off the direction of the village, calling you name. 

The fighting continued, the addition of the extra royal guardsmen helping turn the tide of the battle, though Dream still couldn’t locate you on the battle field.

As the remaining invaders began to retreat, and the royal troops beginning to recoop be demanded, “Has anyone seen (y/n)?!”

“Last I saw they were on the ridge sir.” Someone said.

Dream nodded, quickly turning to head the direction they had pointed as they all went back to collecting the villagers from there hiding places.

The little valley seemed all too quiet as Dream climbed toward the ridge, the sounds of another skirmish erupting into the air.

Taking off at a sprint he made it up the hill to find you locked in combat with another warrior.

You panted, throwing up you shield to block another strike from his axe before shoving forward and swing your sword at his spear wielding hand.

He wasn’t excepting this, and the spear clatter out of his hand, the shock on his face giving you enough momentum to keep pushing forward, throwing attack after attack at the man as he edged backward.

You had just managed to shove him to the ground when a cry broke your attention.

“(Y/N)!!”

You turned to see Dream, smiling, words starting to form on your lips as a spear suddenly drove through your chest.

“NO!!!!!” Dream shrieked, charging forward and quickly slashing at the mans throat before turning to where you had fallen in the grass.

“T-that one was your fault.” You mumbled as he did his best to pull your shaking body into his arms.

“I know,” tears flooded his eyes, “It’s gonna be okay, I’m gonna get help.”

You did your best to smile through your fear, “What would George say if he saw you here cuddling me without him? Huh?”

“(Y/n)....”

“Bad time for a joke I guess,” you shaky voice was disrupted by a painful cough wracking your body, “Never really planned on being ran through with a spear this morning.”

Dream had resolved to muteness, watching you life slip away and out of his grasp with a murmured, “I’m sorry.”

~~

“Your highness, news of the boarder war has returned.”

George looked up as Wilbur ushered a scarily calm Technoblade and an all too quiet Dream into the room, “What is it? Where’s (y/n)?”

“Their gone,” Dream sounded all too hollow, “Th- they aren’t coming back.”

George froze and Techno sighed, “I think I’m gonna leave you alone to sort this out. C’mon Wilbur.”

The doors closed slowly behind them as Dream moved closer to the throne, quietly pulling a distraught George into his arms.

“Th- they died in my arms. I- I couldn’t stop it.”

George wipped at silent tears, “We’re going to make them pay.”

A funeral was planned and attended, everyone leaving the King and his Knight space to breath as they remained standing by the grave.

“Tomorrow.” George said with finality, “Tomorrow we make them pay.”

Dream nodded, looking down at the copy of the note that had been sent to the enemy:

‘Holy water cannot stop me now, a thours and armies couldn’t keep me out. I don’t want your money, I don’t want your crown, see I’ve come to burn your kingdom down’

[hotchscotchh]

Reimagined; Chapter 1 - Chester Hardwick

The comparison between this and the first time I wrote this chapter is honestly kind of crazy. I’m so excited for this rewrite! I will only be redoing chapters 1-7 :)

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Spencer Reid

Warnings: mentions of sexual activity, canon typical violence

Word count: 1.8k

Reid helps Hotch sort out some issues

Read on AO3

Chapter 2

Based on 3x14, Damaged

Chester Hardwick. A serial killer that managed to take the lives of twenty-three women before he was caught. Hardwick had decided he was ready to talk, and Spencer Reid couldn’t be more excited to get into this man’s mind. Aaron Hotchner, on the other hand, was just plain angry, and for good reason. Haley was being completely unfair with this divorce. He figured that if he had something else to focus on, the pain and anger would leave the forefront of his mind, at least momentarily.

None of that interview had gone as planned, though. Hotch had tried to fight Hardwick after he revealed his plans of killing two FBI agents as a way out of the death penalty. He thought maybe he’d put some of his anger to good use. Thank god for Reid, though, who had been able to talk the psychopath down, probably saving both of their lives in the process. He’d managed to talk for a full thirteen minutes until the guards returned. Hotch shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was, he’d heard Reid go on for hours about nothing before. Even if no one was listening.

He might’ve been surprised, but he was also impressed. Extremely impressed. He’d never seen someone district an unsub for that amount of time, let alone completely throw off his plans of killing. But, play on narcissism was always a strong one.

Reid was… well, Reid was turned on, to say the least. This sort of adrenaline got him going for some godforsaken reason that he would probably never completely understand. That combined with seeing his (extremely attractive) boss puffed up, ready to kill a man in their honor? Well, that memory was one he would reserve for a later date.

“So, Haley wants me to sign the divorce papers uncontested to nobody wastes money on lawyers,” Hotch started when they were in the FBI issued SUV on the way back to D.C.

“You don’t want to?” Reid questioned.

Hotch sighed. “What I want I’m not going to get.”

Confused, Reid answered, “What is it you want, Hotch?” He didn’t get an answer.

----

Back in Quantico, the rest of the team had just wrapped up a case of their own. Reid was currently witnessing an encounter that he didn’t understand one word of. Technical Analyst Kevin Lynch confronted David Rossi, claiming they needed to talk “man to man,” whatever that meant. Then JJ sang some song about Garcia and Kevin and a tree. He had no idea what was going on. Rather that continuing to sit there confused (no one would explain it to him, apparently what was happening was obvious), Reid decided to go check on Hotch. His superior had obviously not taken the request from his soon-to-be-ex-wife well, and he was sure to get some flack from Strauss about the outcome of the interview.

“Hotch,” Reid said quietly, rapping his knuckles on the door frame to Hotch’s office and poking his head in.

“Come in, Reid, close the door,” Hotch answered, not looking up from his paperwork.

Reid sat in the chair across from his superior and handed him a file. “My reports form the interview, sir.”

Hotch looked up then, meeting Reid’s eyes with a smile that didn’t quite reach his own. “Thank you. I appreciate you getting this done so quickly. I wanted to apologize for the situation I put you in today, it really was not appropriate. I shouldn’t have provoked him the way I did.”

“Hotch,” Reid started again, pausing to make sure the words that were about to come out of him mouth were going to come out correctly. “Let me take you out for dinner tonight. I think you need someone to talk to, and honestly, I probably do too.” Reid didn’t really need to talk, he had been doing much better in the aftermath of Tobias Hankel recently, but he did know that Hotch would be much more likely to say yes if he thought it wouldn’t only be benefitting him.

Hotch looked up from his paperwork again, giving Reid a look he couldn’t quite decipher, and thought for a few moments. “Well,” he finally answered, “that actually sounds great. Let me just finish this last file and I’ll come get you. I’m assuming you took the metro?” Reid nodded. “Okay. I’ll drive us and bring you home after. Think about where you want to go.”

Reid left his superiors office with a smile on his face. Sitting down at his desk, he thought back to the way Hotch looked preparing to defend himself and Spencer from the psychopath that had threatened their lives just hours before. He felt himself getting hard. He shook his head as if he could shake the thoughts from his head as he stood back up and made his way to the bathroom. There, he splashed some cold water across is face. He wasn’t supposed to think about coworkers like that, especially not his boss.

Reid reminded himself that his boss was married. Sure, it was a failing marriage, but a marriage, nonetheless. That single thought sobered him up. He made his way back to the bullpen to find Morgan giving him a weird look.

“What, do I have something on my face?” he asked.

“No,” Morgan replied. “You just were in Hotch’s office, come back all pale, and ran off to the bathroom. Are you feeling okay?”

Spencer huffed defensively. “Fine, just got a little nauseous. I’m okay now. Thanks for asking though, I appreciate it.”

An hour later, Hotch descended the steps from his office, finding Reid lost in a book at his desk.

“Reid,” he called out softly, placing a light had on his shoulder in an attempt to not startle him too much.

Reid jumped anyway, and looked up at him. “Hotch! You scared me,” he exclaimed before looking around and realizing that his coworkers had left without his noticing.

“Sorry,” Hotch chuckled. “I’m also sorry I took so long; I got a call from the Wichita police department.” Reid looked back over at him; disappointment evident in his eyes. “No case,” Hotch amended quickly, “they were just letting me know how that case from a few weeks ago turned out. Our unsub was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, landing him a life sentence, no parole. Have you decided where you want to go for dinner?”

Reid took the change of subject and went with it, nodding, standing, collecting his belongings, and making his way towards the doors of the BAU.

Spencer didn’t begin to feel nervous until his was sitting in the front of Hotch’s SUV. When they were settled, Hotch turned to look at him and asked, “so, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Reid answered with a blush. “I’ll be your personal GPS. Turn right out of the parking lot.”

----

Twenty minutes later found them in from of a small Greek diner. “Did you know that Greek is my favorite?” Hotch asked, a small smile playing across his lips.

His very kissable lips, Reid thought. He blushed again, not breaking their eye contact, before answering, “Yeah, thought you might want some comfort food. I’m not well versed in the realm of divorce, but I know what you’re going through can’t be easy.”

Hotch’s smile grew imperceptibly. “Thank you, Reid.” They got out of the car and made their way into the restaurant, finding a secluded booth towards the back.

“I’ll bet you that I can order for you and it’ll be exactly what you were thinking about ordering,” Hotch said out of nowhere.

“What’s on the line?” Reid asked.

“Loser pays for dinner.”

“You’re on, I’ll make the same bet,” Spencer answered, silently deciding that he would wait on the difficult conversation until they received their food.

The waitress approached their table, and Hotch informed her that they would be ordering for each other. She gave a small smile, looking between the two of them. “Of course,” answered, leaning down to look over Hotch’s shoulder to see what he was pointing at on the menu before turning to Reid and doing the same.

The next fifteen minutes were filled mostly with Spencer finally getting an explanation as to what had occurred between Garcia, Kevin, and Rossi. Spencer laughed, not believing he hadn’t picked up on it. Some profiler he was. Their food arrived, putting a stop to their conversation. The two men looked down at the food set in front of them. Reid had ordered a Greek soup for Hotch, and Hotch had order Reid a pork gyro.

They looked back up at each other and both said, “you win,” before laughing.

“How about this,” Reid proposed. “I’ll pay this time, and you get the next one.”

“The next one?” Hotch asked.

“We’ll I was hoping there would be another. I don’t know about you, Hotch, but I’ve really enjoyed myself tonight.”

Aaron looked back up, smiling in a way Reid had never seen before. “I have too, Reid.”

“So,” Reid started cautiously. “Let’s talk. You never answered my question in the car before. What is it you want?”

Hotch heaved a sigh, looking down at his lap before resignedly looking back up to meet his subordinate’s gaze. “You can’t tell anyone about this. I want to keep it quiet.” Reid nodded earnestly, excited that the man was going to open up to him. “Haley wants full custody. Which, in reality, makes sense because of how often we’re away, but it means I’m not going to be able to see Jack anywhere near as much as I want to.”

Reid thought it over for a few moments. “Why don’t you ask for a Skype or phone call at least every other night? I know he’s little, but hearing your voice will be good for him. And for when you’re home, ask to have him at least two nights a week. Weeks we have off and holidays can be negotiated by the two of you privately. You know, her lawyers probably just making an unfair offer to get you to contest it so they can make more money. She’s a reasonable person. I’m sure she’ll be willing to compromise.”

Hotch took a moment to process that. Letting out another sigh, he looked back up at Reid and replied, “that’s actually fairly realistic. I’ll talk to her about it. If she’s not wiling to change, this is just going to have to get messy.”

Relaxing back into his seat, Hotch gave a small smile. “I should come to you for advice more often, Spencer.”

Thant night, when Spencer got home, he got himself off to the thought of Hotch. The strong man he saw earlier, and also the soft one he had seen that night at dinner. He only felt guilty about it for an hour. Maybe two.

[retrievablememories]

a strange love | yuta (m)

title: a strange love pairing: alien!yuta x black!reader genre: sci-fi/fantasy, fluff, angst, smut request: “I read a good chunk of your NCT work and really liked them. Would I be able to request a fic where a black female reader meets an alien (can be Yuta or Jungwoo) and they're both coming to terms that they're attracted to each other and have to come to terms with being attracted to someone of a different species? Can be smutty and don't be afraid to give the alien a less human biology if you don't mind.” word count: 13.1k warnings: alcohol use, cursing, near drowning experience, lots of mentions of water so this one might not mesh well with people w/ aquaphobia, non-human biology/body horror, extraterrestrial sex, lots of cum, oral sex (female receiving), tentacle dick, unprotected sex, creampie, please heed the warnings because this is an alien smutfic lmao a/n: giving the shape of water teas. i’ve actually never seen that movie 😕 but i will at some point. forgive me in advance for the nerdy references in here.

It’s funny how things happen when you least expect it. You never would’ve thought you’d be sound asleep when your entire world changed.

The night the UFO crashes in your city, you’re awoken by the tremors of its landing. The vibrations feel akin to an earthquake, and they make picture frames and other trinkets fall off your shelves and hit the floor in a clatter of noise. You jump up from your pillow at the racket, your heart pounding. You glance at the things lying on your floor and quickly register that the room—your entire home—is trembling.

There’s not much you can do at this point but ride it out, so you huddle down in your covers and hope the roof doesn’t cave in on your head. To your knowledge, your particular area isn’t known for earthquakes, which makes all of this even stranger. What could be causing one now? Is the world finally ending?

Eventually, the tremors stop. By now, your shelves have been emptied of nearly all their contents, but you’re still alive, which you’re grateful for. You wait a few more minutes to see if the shakes will begin again, but they don’t, so you climb out from the warmth of your covers to clean up your floor.

Police and ambulance sirens start blaring through the city not long after you get out of bed. That’s nothing unusual; there are usually injuries and casualties with natural disasters like these, and you expect many poor souls will be needing rescue tonight. You sigh and look at your closed blinds, watching them be sporadically illuminated by the lights of the emergency vehicles rushing past.

Once you’ve cleaned up your room and gotten back in bed, you think about checking social media for what people have been saying about the quake. There’s no doubt that the city’s residents have taken to Twitter and Instagram to document it. However, your eyelids are already starting to droop, and you’d probably fall asleep in the middle of scrolling, so you decide to tuck in and wait until morning.

Waking up the next day almost seems like a normal Sunday until you look at your blinds again and are suddenly reminded of last night’s flashing lights. Right. The earthquake. Throwing the covers back, you stumble out of bed to turn on your TV. You flip through the channels until you find a news station for your local area. You go to open the blinds, keeping your ears open for reports on the earthquake.

“Last night, we experienced unprecedented seismic activity throughout the majority of the city, caused by what appears to be an unidentified flying object, otherwise known as a UFO—”

Huh?

You turn to the TV, thinking this must be some kind of ridiculous hoax. You get ready to reach for the remote, thinking you must have turned it to one of those parody news channels by accident, but you freeze at what you see. Video footage of the city center—or what used to be the city center—plays on the screen. In place of the large historical monument that used to stand there, there’s a huge...silver and black spaceship. Or at least you think it’s a ship. It apparently sustained major damage in the landing, and now it looks more like a hunk of melted metal. The area around it has been blasted clear in every direction. Instead of green grass and pavement, there’s nothing but dirt.

The area is blocked off with yellow tape, though hundreds of people have gathered at the location to check out the object and take pictures and videos of it.

“What the fuck…” you whisper to yourself.

“We’re currently unsure where this UFO originated from, though we can confirm that it is not affiliated with any aircraft fleets owned by the U.S. military. Researchers and scientists from top universities across the country are being called in to assist in identifying this craft…”

“There’s no just way,” you mutter, grabbing your shower cap and pulling clothes out of your closet for your morning shower. “A UFO...guess that alien invasion is coming sooner than we thought.” You would like to believe it’s all just someone playing a terrible prank, but pulling off this level of theatrics is impossible.

After you get out of the shower and start making breakfast for yourself, you get a text from one of your coworkers, Alex.

10:30 A.M. Alex🍸 You seeing this shit on the news right now?

10:31 A.M. Obviously! It’s fucking wild. Do you really think it’s true? OR some elaborate government hoax? Anything’s possible. I’m betting “true,” but...

10:33 A.M. Alex🍸 I honestly don’t know. that’s why me and some of the others from work are about to head over there now. Wanna come?

10:34 A.M. The hell! I’ll pass. There could be all types of radiation n shit, I’m not tryna turn into the Green Lantern or the Hulk or somebody.

10:35 A.M. Alex🍸 lmFAO. Suit ypurself. If I gain superpowers don’t be surprised if I fly over to your house today.

10:35 A.M. You’re a mess. 💀

You spend breakfast watching more news reports and scrolling through Twitter feeds for firsthand information. People who visited the site, including your coworkers, have uploaded pictures of the UFO from various angles, inciting a frenzy of conspiracy theories and warnings that the world is about to end.

You don’t know what to make of the situation, but it stays on your mind throughout the day as you leave the house and go about completing your usual errands. The city center has been blocked off to all vehicles other than those belonging to people who’ve been called in to help, which means that traffic is sky-high everywhere else—even for a Sunday.

Sitting in a mishmash of cars, you roll down your window and sigh, looking out at the red traffic lights, and beyond that to the horizon. Things are about to get very weird for the next few weeks. Maybe months. You can only hope you’re prepared for it.

You don’t know why, but the air seems strange tonight.

It’s been 2 days since the UFO crashed. There haven’t been many more answers apart from what everyone already knows due to the ship’s destroyed state. The city has professionals out for that sort of thing, but they’re taking their sweet time analyzing the ship—though you can’t really blame them. Jumping straight into unknown alien tech seems like a death wish.

Your life has been pretty much the same as usual, though you know a few people at work who have been more directly affected by the events. One girl, Sooyoung, who lives in the neighborhood near the crash site claims the officials are thinking about having that entire area evacuate, though you don’t know why they’re beating around the bush about it if it’s true. Whatever radiation or chemicals they’re worried about has probably already leached into all the surrounding homes, and now you’re just waiting for someone to walk into your workplace with antlers or purple skin.

Admittedly, you’re morbidly curious about the case and what all of this could mean for Earth’s future, but you keep your fascination lowkey. You don’t need any of your coworkers thinking you’re the next alien-obsessed Mulder from X-Files. But then again, you’re not curious enough to visit the actual scene, so maybe you’re not the crazy one here.

You feel fine when you get home from work that day, but as you get washed up and settle into your usual evening routine, you can’t shake the eeriness gripping your subconscious. It’s not necessarily a bad feeling, either, just...foreign. Like an emotion you’ve never felt before, though you didn’t know there were even still new emotions to discover. Shaking your head, you figure maybe you should lay off the alien stuff for the rest of the week.

Before you head to bed that night, you go around the house making sure all the doors and windows are locked as you normally do. You pause at the backdoor for a reason you can’t explain, and the strange feeling grows stronger. At this point, you’re a bit frightened about what this is all about, but you can’t go to sleep without knowing. Curiosity takes over as you open the blinds and stare into the darkness of your backyard.

You don’t see anything right away. There are trees, bushes, your potted plants, and lawn chairs...everything looks normal. It’s only when you lean closer to the glass to squint that you see a figure lying in the grass. You jump once you catch sight of it, terrified that some monster or murderer has found their way onto your property. There was nothing there earlier when you closed the blinds, so whoever or whatever it is must’ve recently showed up.

You’re about ready to dial 911 when you realize the figure is curled in the fetal position and unmoving...almost like they’re unconscious. Or dead.

This is ridiculous. You feel like one of those people who always dies first in the horror movies because they went into the room the killer was obviously hiding in, but you’re overcome with the strong impulse to step outside. You grip the doorknob tightly, debating whether you should unlock it or not.

“...Fuck. Don’t let me regret this.”

You open the door with your phone in hand, the device serving as your flashlight. There’s still the screen door to get through, which you pause at for a moment. The figure remains unmoving even with the sound of the door opening.

“Hello?!” You call out to the individual, but there’s no response. Your phone’s light can’t reach them from there, which forces you to open the screen door and step out onto the porch. They’re still feet away, but from this closer distance, it seems like they’re wearing a sort of armor or full-body suit...maybe like a cosplay?

“Hope this isn’t some weirdo weeb passed out on my lawn…” you mutter, cautiously stepping onto the grass. As you approach, you can see now that the figure is likely male, though their back is to you so you can’t be totally sure. “Um, hello there? Can you hear me?” No response.

By now, you are only a few feet away from them. The person looks to be an Asian guy, with long blonde hair haloing his face. His features are angular and smooth, and he is indeed wearing some kind of body armor, its color unlike anything you’ve seen. Instead of being all one hue or even a few, it reflects the light from your phone and glows with a rainbow-like phosphorescence. The material itself looks translucent, but you can’t see through it; it creates a mind-bending optical illusion.

Your stomach suddenly drops to your feet. Is this who was in that UFO in the city center? It seems too out-there to be true, but your intuition is telling you otherwise. This can’t be fucking real.

You kneel on the wet grass next to the man and try to look for signs of life. You can hear his breathing, so he’s thankfully not dead. But he doesn’t look to be in good shape, either. He definitely won’t be able to get up on his own; he probably used the last of his energy to drag himself into your yard.

“Damn.” You turn the flashlight off and slip your phone into your sweatpants pocket. It seems like there’s no other options right now. You could call the police, but they’d probably accuse you of being in cahoots with this weird dude and drag you off to jail. Or they could cart him off for government experimentation, which sounds equally terrible. So with those things in mind, you gently maneuver his upper body until you’re able to hook your arms under his armpits and drag him towards your house.

You just really hope none of your nosy neighbors are seeing this right now.

He’s surprisingly light, and you get him inside the house fairly quickly. Once you’ve locked the door again, you pull him over to the living room so he’s propped against your couch. He still isn’t fully conscious, but his head and lips move as if he’s dreaming about something.

“What was that…?” You lean closer, trying to read his lips for some sort of clue. Surprisingly, you can make out the word water, which he mouths over and over again. “Water…” You run into the kitchen to pour a glass and bring it back to him, making sure not to spill any on the way over.

You press it to his lips, unsure if he’ll be able to drink, but to your amazement his muscles respond and he drinks quickly as you tip the glass. Soon, the water is all gone. You set the glass to the side with your palms sweating and watch as his face flutters even more. 

“Can you...hear me?”

His eyes open only slightly. This movement seems to cause him some pain, though you aren’t sure why. Maybe he has a headache since he was dehydrated? You scramble to turn the overhead light off, not wanting to make matters worse. He still doesn’t try to open his eyes any wider, though.

“Who are you? Were you...did you crash here?” You feel a little bad about asking so many questions, but you’re dying for answers as to what the hell is going on.

The man licks his lips, and his mouth parts like he’s going to answer. But his throat is still dry, and it hurts to talk.

“...Shit.” You get him another glass of water and let him drink until it’s gone again. He seems a little better after that.

“Th-this...” He clears his throat a couple times and tries again. “This is E-Earth, right?”

Now you’re the one lost for words. Although you already figured he couldn’t be from here, hearing it out loud makes your blood rush and your heart race. “Um, yes...this is Earth. Was...the UFO yours?”

He sighs, and his head falls back against the couch arm. “Yes.”

“It’s destroyed,” you say, and then feel silly about it. “But you already know that.” 

He doesn’t answer that. He just slowly glances around your living room instead, looking as if he’s never seen a stranger setup. The quietness is awkward, and you almost feel like he must be judging your taste for interior design. “Do you have a name?”

More silence. You decide he probably won’t answer until he finally says, “You can call me Yuta.”

“Yuta.” You tell him your name too, and he just nods, almost imperceptibly. He doesn’t say much without prompting, which makes it hard for you to know how to approach the situation. You don’t want to overwhelm him with questions, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to speak unless you do. “How did you end up here? I mean, in my—uh, my yard?”

Yuta shakes his head and then winces. “I crashed, and then...I just ran. The ship was melting. I just ran. I hid...I went from place to place, hiding. Don’t know how I got here.”

You wonder how he made it all the way from the city center to your home without being spotted, especially with that armor. You can only conclude that he must be stealth at hiding. Or maybe someone did spot him and the feds are about to bust down your door any minute. You take a shaky breath and try to push that anxious thought to the back of your mind.

Suddenly Yuta fixes you with a suspicious glare. “Will you reveal that I’m here?”

You try not to get offended, because you’d honestly be thinking the same if you were a newly-landed alien in a foreign land. “No. I don’t have any reason to do that. I just want to help. I’m not looking to be on anyone’s 6 o’clock news or cheap tabloid. You probably don’t believe me, but you can have my word for it...if that means anything to you.”

He’s quiet again, though you can tell he’s still skeptical.

“Um, do you need anything? More water?”

He sits up straighter at the mention of that. “Water.” You reach for the glass again, but he frowns. “Not that. I need…something more than that.” He looks around again, but when he doesn't see what he’s searching for, he attempts to stand only to slump down again.

“Slow down there, I don’t think you’re gonna make it like that. Can I help?”

You end up slinging his arm across your shoulder and letting him lean his body against you while you lead him to the bathroom. That’s the biggest source of water in the house, and you assume he must be wanting a bath or shower or something. Even aliens have their hygiene needs, you guess.

You turn the bathroom light on and have Yuta sit on the toilet lid as you turn the bathtub faucet. “Is...this what you meant?” He nods, and you put the plug in and let the tub fill up.

“Just water. Nothing else. I need to recharge,” he says, and before you can ask what he means by that, he starts undressing in front of you. 

At first, your reaction is delayed; you’re struck with surprise when you realize the armor isn’t actually a whole bodysuit, but more like...connected panels of material that can be taken off. You don’t understand the material at all, it doesn’t resemble anything on Earth you can think of—but of course, it’s alien tech. It conforms to his body as he’s wearing it but takes on a more rigid form once it’s peeled off, like actual armor.

Then, he gets ready to take the bottoms off and something finally clicks in your brain that oh my God he’s about to get naked in front of me.

“Whoa!” You spin around and cover your eyes for good measure, glad that your brown skin hides the way your face is burning right now. You step towards the open door. “Uh, I’ll just leave, sorry—”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Um, what?”

“Doesn’t really matter to me,” Yuta says, pulling the last of his suit off. He steps into the tub and sits down in it, putting his hands underneath the stream of water rushing out of the faucet. The skin on his hands seems to ripple, like it’s readjusting itself, and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck at that. You forget to be embarrassed at his unclothed state as you watch it happen.

“What’s going on with that? And why did you need the water?”

Yuta splashes his face before answering, and he turns to look at you, the droplets of water sliding off the ends of his hair. “I’m part of a Water Race. Water is my home. Our bodies have adapted to be built for living in water, and it’s dangerous to be without it for too long.”

“Adaptation? But you look like a regular human.”

“It’s just a skin.”

“A skin?” You echo in horror, a sudden flashback to Silence of the Lambs popping into your mind. “Someone else’s skin?” 

Yuta gives you a look that seems to say he can’t believe you’re asking such a stupid question. “No, it’s my skin. It’s just not my natural form.” To prove his point, he holds his hand out, and right before your eyes his human skin pulls back and morphs into something much more scaly and green. His fingers are actually more like talons, with long black nails on the ends, and there’s translucent webbing between each one.

You gasp and step back, trying to catch your breath at the sight of something so very not human. The skin reforms around his hand—you assume he has to be willing it with his mind somehow, because he doesn’t even move—and his digits look just as human as ever.

“How the hell do you hide your nails under there? Isn’t it just like...wearing a bodysuit?”

Yuta shakes his head. “No. Once the skin is on, it becomes...part of me. My hand becomes a human hand. I’m not hiding anything, it just is. It’s hard to explain.”

“Have you been to Earth before? Is that why you have a human skin, because...adaptation or some shit? This is all so wild.”

“I can shift into different skins if I want, if I gather enough genetic information on certain species’ inhabitants...but there are limitations.” That doesn’t exactly answer your question, but you figure maybe it’s best if you didn’t know. You can at least assume he’s been in contact with humans before.

“I see…” You fidget for a few seconds before speaking what’s on your mind. “Okay, one last thing...you said there are limitations. Does that mean you can’t transform into, like...a dung beetle or something?”

Yuta gives you another are you serious look and you put your hands up. “Just wondering. It was worth a try.”

You feel awkward just standing there, and you feel like maybe you should give him some privacy even if he doesn’t care much, so you leave the bathroom to find something for him to wear.

You’re not sure if you’ll find anything that fits him, so you end up settling on a light pink bathrobe and decide he’ll have to work with that for now. You slip back into the bathroom to leave it on the sink, averting your eyes from his nude form in your bathtub. “Um, here’s something to wear...not sure if anything else will fit, this is all I have for now. Sorry.” You don’t wait for him to respond— he probably won’t anyway—before slipping back out.

It’s nearing 1 A.M. at this point, which is late considering you still have work tomorrow. You sigh and curl yourself up on the couch, hoping you won’t have to stay up for very much longer.

You’re not sure when you drifted off or how long you were out, but you wake up to the sound of footsteps and see Yuta coming out of the bathroom wearing the robe you’ve given him. You have to laugh a little at the sight of him in the light pink material, though you think it suits him in a way.

“Yeah, you’re gonna need some clothes.”

Yuta raises his eyebrow. “I still have my suit.”

“Yeah, but...don’t you want something else to wear? Your ship is pretty much gone, so you’ll probably be on Earth for a while...and if you don’t want anyone realizing you’re not from here, you’ll have to wear regular clothes.”

Yuta visibly upsets at the idea of his ship’s destroyed state, even though he knows there’s not much he can do about it. “I guess. I shared which planet I was heading to before I left, but...Earth is a very big place. And my trackers were destroyed with my ship, so…”

“I’m sorry,” you say, though you don’t know how much comfort that can be. “We can look for some clothes tomorrow. It’s probably better for you not to leave the house right now, but...that’s what online shopping is for.”

“Online shopping…?” Yuta seems puzzled by the concept, but he doesn’t ask any further. Then he looks around the room again. “Is there somewhere I can rest?”

“Oh, yeah, follow me.” You get up from the couch to head upstairs where the guest bedroom is. The house isn’t huge—it was your grandmother’s before she passed it on to you—but it’s more than enough for you alone, and it should fit one more just fine. You open the door and turn on the light, illuminating the small room. “It hasn’t been used in a while, so excuse any dust. I can fix that tomorrow, but it’s getting late...” you stifle a yawn, “...so we should probably go to sleep now.”

Yuta looks at you and nods. 

“Um, well...goodnight.” You wave at him from the doorway before closing it.

As you make your way down the stairs, a sudden weariness and apprehension comes over you. An alien in your home? Escaped from a recently crashed UFO? Wearing one of your bathrobes? You’re almost positive you haven’t thought this through deeply enough, but you’re in it now. Might as well see where the rabbit hole leads to.

The next morning, you prepare yourself to go to work like you usually do. For a while, the house is so quiet that you almost forget Yuta is there until you see him standing in the kitchen entryway, still wearing his pink robe, and you almost jump through the ceiling.

“Jesus, you came out of nowhere,” you gasp, holding your heart.

“Where are you going?” Yuta asks. He steps into the kitchen and tentatively sits down in one of the dining table chairs.

“To work,” you say, and then pause. Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to leave a freshly-landed alien at home alone. “Will you be okay here by yourself? I could come over on my lunch break…”

“What am I supposed to do here the whole time?” Yuta asks, sounding displeased at the thought of being abandoned for hours.

“Well...you could watch TV? There’s the on-demand channel...the fridge is available for you too, just try not to clean out my—wait, do you even eat human food?”

Yuta shrugs, crossing his arms. “Not really. It’s not a big source of nutrients for us.” 

You nod awkwardly. “Huh. Well, that’s...interesting.” The stress of the situation is already making your head pound and you haven’t even left for work yet. “Uh, yeah—I think I’ll just come over later and check in...come on, I’ll at least show you how to work the remote before I leave.”

You bid Yuta goodbye once you’re about to go, though you feel more than a little hesitant about leaving him there. There isn’t much other choice, though; you can’t afford to take a day off on such short notice.

The extraterrestrial sighs, sprawling across the couch and looking at the ceiling. The TV is already playing the channel you left it on, and Yuta turns to the screen and watches as a group of humans make weird food dishes he’s never seen before.

“This is stupid.”

The rest of the week with Yuta manages to be an adventure even though he never steps foot outside the house. 

Yuta doesn’t take a liking to human food, which means he opts for spending most of his time in the guest bathtub instead, claiming that the water gives him more nourishment than meals can. You don’t know how true that is, but you’re not going to fight him on it. Less food you have to prepare, you reason...although you often end up making extra anyway and getting him to try a few bites. It feels odd to not see him eat.

Living with someone from outer space is not really as weird as you expected it might be, which surprises you. Yuta stays in his human skin whenever he’s around you, and you steer clear of the guest bathroom when it’s occupied lest you walk in on something crazy. 

You’ve taught Yuta about new concepts he didn’t know before or wasn’t overly familiar with. He’s particularly intrigued with online shopping, and you ended up buying him a bunch of outfits that you both thought he’d look nice in. He doesn’t seem to be big on technology, which surprises you considering how advanced his UFO looked even its ruined state, but maybe human tech is more primitive than what he’s used to. He’s quite fascinated with the microwave, though, and how it can heat anything up in minutes.

With you uncovering new bits of information each day, you continually wonder how different his homeworld must be from the Earth. You can’t pull much out of him about it, for whatever reasons he has for keeping the information close, but you try to let him talk about it at his pace without pressuring him.

You could probably get used to living like this. 

Maybe not your wallet, though. You’re definitely not loving how your water bill is going to look once it comes in the mail.

None of your coworkers or neighbors know—not that it’s any of their business anyway. You don’t know how long Yuta is going to stay, or what the hell you’re going to do when his people finally catch wind of his whereabouts and land a UFO in your backyard, but you figure you’ll get to that part when it comes.

On one Saturday morning, you wake up to the sound of tapping on your door. You try to ignore it, thinking it’s just some woodpecker setting up shop outside your window, but you’re proven wrong when the door swings open.

You pull the covers away from your face for a moment to see Yuta standing there looking at you. You stare at him for a few seconds before sighing.

“Why are you up so early? It’s the weekend,” you groan, pulling the covers back over your head. 

“Why do you sleep so late?” Yuta retorts, still standing in your doorway. You don’t know whether he expects you to get up and do a trick, but it’s not happening. You peel the blanket away so it’s just below your eyes and look at him.

“What?”

“It’s not fun being here alone all day, you know,” he says, crossing his arms.

“So...what? Do you want me to play with you or something?” You can’t stop your sudden laugh, but you feel bad about once it’s out. He has just lost his ride home and has no foreseeable way back until someone notices his absence. Plus, needing to stay hidden and cooped up like a criminal can’t be enjoyable.

Yuta rolls his eyes at your response and starts down the hallway again, but you jump out of the bed and follow him. “Wait, Yuta, I’m sorry. That was stupid. I know it can’t be easy living like this. I’m not sure if I can make it better, but I’m willing to try.”

Yuta pauses in the hall and turns back to look at you. “I’m tired of being in here all the time....no offense. But there’s only so much I can take. I know I’m supposed to be in hiding, but it’s not like anyone can tell the difference. Even you couldn’t. Can’t we go out for one day?”

You think about it for a moment and figure he’s right. You both were trying to be overly cautious at first, but there’s no real way anyone would notice anything unless he shifted. “I guess we could...as long as we don’t go anywhere with a lot of water.”

“I have more self-control than that,” Yuta scoffs, though his words trail off as he’s already heading back to his room to get dressed.

You and Yuta walk around downtown for a little while, although you can’t shake the lingering nervousness you feel. You both decided not to head back to the city center any time soon; there’s not much left of the broken ship anyway, with scientists carting off pieces of it for research. Just as you thought. It’s too big to transport all at once, but you’re sure the remaining parts will be gone within the next couple weeks.

Yuta is continually surprised by how many new and unfamiliar things he spots along the way—things he actually gets to see up close and in detail. Kinda hard to focus when you’re running and hiding for your life.

Eventually, Yuta slows down as you walk past a small and colorful restaurant. “What’s that?” he asks, pointing up at the sign. You stop to turn around and see what he’s gesturing to.

“That’s just a hamburger joint...you won’t wanna go in there,” you say, raising your eyebrows. Because you don’t eat food. Despite that, Yuta still seems curious about the restaurant and he hesitates to walk away. Realizing that you aren’t going to get anywhere, you go to stand next to him and peer inside. There are a few people already inside, sitting at scattered tables and eating their food. “Do you want to go in, or…? ‘Cause you have to eat something if we do. This is your idea.”

“I’ll eat, let’s just go,” Yuta says, grasping your hand and pulling you into the restaurant.

You wave at the person behind the counter who greets you as you walk in, while Yuta is busy scanning every inch of the place. You let him look over the menu for a little while, but with so many options available he isn’t sure what to get—especially when he’s not sure if he’ll like any of them—so you end up picking for the both of you.

When you finally get your food, you take it to one of the tables. You watch attentively as Yuta takes the first bite of his hamburger, and you try to stifle your giggles as you watch his face go from nonchalance to bewilderment to shock.

“This is actually...good.”

“Wait, this is really the first meal you’ve liked? Are you saying my cooking is bad? Damn.” You chuckle, shaking your head. 

“I’m not answering that.” Yuta laughs along with you, which is probably the first genuinely happy expression he’s shown since he’s been here.

Yuta has a very pretty smile, you realize. You’re a little taken aback by it. You haven’t seen much of it since you met him, but it’s here now and striking in its genuine quality. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside...which you mainly attribute to the satisfaction of doing something nice for someone else. Of course. Who wouldn’t enjoy a nice meal they didn’t have to pay for?

Things go smoothly for a while as you both eat and pretend to make boring small talk since you can’t talk about him being an alien in public. However, you feel sweat on the back of your neck when you see your coworker Alex walk through the door with his boyfriend. This city is too small for its own good sometimes. 

You try not to call attention to yourself and Yuta, keeping your gaze on your food, but he spots you anyway and waves enthusiastically. Alex gestures for his partner to go ahead and order while he comes over to your table.

“Hey, Y/N! It’s great to see you! Too bad we missed you at the UFO wreck today, though; we went out again one last time before they take the whole thing away,” he rushes out in one breath. Yuta’s eye twitches at the mention of his ship, and you’re suddenly on edge, hoping the situation doesn’t turn sour.

“Oh, uh, wow, that’s...cool!” you choke out, pinching your straw between your fingers. Before you can think of a way to divert the subject, Alex turns to Yuta.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Alex! Who’s this? Your boyfriend?” The last few words are directed at you. Alex gives you a playful grin, and you toss him an embarrassed smile back.

“Uh, no, he’s my friend! Yuta.”

“Nice to meet you,” Yuta says, though you can recognize his tone is a bit dry.

“Pleasure’s all mine!” Alex’s boyfriend calls him from the other side of the restaurant, and he turns to respond before taking his leave. “Ah well, looks like we’ll have to cut it short, but it was so great to see you guys. Enjoy your lunch!”

You let out the breath you were subconsciously holding once he leaves.

“Boyfriend…” Yuta murmurs.

“What?”

“That would be really weird. Wouldn’t it? We’re not even the same species,” he says, lowering his voice. It’s not like you don’t agree, but you admittedly don’t appreciate the way Yuta screws his face up at the thought. You prickle with embarrassment.

You scoff, taking a sip of your drink. “Well I’m not exactly eager to date an overgrown fish, so…” You almost expect Yuta to fall into another one of his moods at your words, but he actually chuckles a bit, which surprises you.

“Then it’s mutual!” Yuta sticks his tongue out and you roll your eyes.

The warm and fuzzy feeling, you soon find out, is not a one-time thing.

You don’t quite know what to make of that. You wouldn’t like for Yuta to go back to his initial broody state, of course, but you’re starting to believe this feeling can’t just be attributed to your charitable actions. You can’t stop thinking about the more playful side of Yuta you saw at the burger place that day, and the way he’s been gradually more open with you since then.

Yuta usually spends his nights splashing around in the guest bathtub, but one night he wanders into the living room and sees you putting your afro in plaits. He becomes weirdly fascinated with the process, watching you carefully and asking occasional questions. Amused by his interest, you answer all his questions and even offer to let him do one section. 

“It’s probably not the same, but I used to braid my friend’s hair often…” he says wistfully as he settles in behind you. “We did a lot of things together.”

Your ears perk up. “Oh? You sound like you were very close,” you say, resting your chin on your knees.

“Really close,” he affirms. His hands are gentle in your hair, as testament to his words. You close your eyes and relax into the sensation, and before you know it, that warmth is spreading through your chest again. You even allow yourself to wonder what it’d be like for him to do this all the time, tending to your hair and telling you about his homeworld, before you open your eyes again and quickly pull yourself out of that reverie. You probably shouldn’t get too used to this, you reason with yourself. “I think she’s what you’d call a mermaid...except the look is a bit...different.”

“Different?” you echo, wondering if you’ll get an explanation.

“They don’t have human arms or anything like that...it’s more like tentacles.”

“Ah,” you try to imagine that, though it’s hard. “That’s certainly unique.”

“Maybe you’d like it...my planet, I mean.”

“You think I would? Why?”

“I dunno, just a feeling…”

“If only I could breathe underwater,” you laugh. “You’d take me back, though? Hypothetically, of course. I’m not too human for you?”

“Will you ever let that one go? It’s probably the least I could do after setting up residence here. Maybe we’ll get you an alien costume, though, so you’ll fit in.”

“How nice of you to think of me in all my humanness. God, the universe is something else…”

You start when Yuta’s hands leave your hair. “I think I’m done?” he says, sitting back on his feet. You grab the mirror from the coffee table and look at the braid you let him do.

“Oh wow, it looks good.” You purse your lips to hide the grin about to break across your face. “Do you wanna do the rest?”

“If you’ll let me.”

“Go ahead then, my hands needed a break anyway.”

You sit back and let Yuta finish the rest of your hair, listening quietly as he tells you more about his friend from his homeworld. Her name is unpronounceable to you, but it sounds pretty all the same. They grew up together, he says, and have been on lots of adventures over the years, though he still keeps that same vagueness he always has when describing his life. He ends up getting you to tell him more about your life, which you do; you figure he probably doesn’t know a whole lot about you, either.

Yuta hands you the mirror when he’s done, and his head pops up next to yours in the reflection. “Good?”

“It’s great!” you say, and you really mean it.

You discover that, strangely enough, Yuta has an affinity for sci-fi movies. Go figure. He especially seems to like the campiness of alien films; then again, everything is campy to him because of how different it is from how extraterrestrials actually live.

You are in the middle of watching The Fly when it comes to one of sex scenes, and you try not to sweat. It’s always a little awkward to watch sex scenes with other people, but doing it with an alien gives the whole thing an extra layer of weirdness.

“Human sex is so funny,” Yuta says out of nowhere. You just barely avoid choking on your drink.

“Uh, o-okay. Do I want to know what that means?”

Yuta only shrugs and leans farther back onto the couch, looking completely unbothered about what he’s just said. “It just is.”

“...I’m sure your people must procreate some kinda way?”

“Yeah, but it’s not quite this. But when I’m in this form, I can do it as humans do.”

That makes you pause, and you’re not sure what to do with that information. Actually, your mind has already decided for itself and is trying to go to a place you don’t want it to, and you’re mildly horrified by that revelation. There’s no real reason why you should be curious about it. And yet...

“Hummm...have you done it before? In this form?” You keep your eyes glued to the screen, which is now showing a shirtless Jeff Goldblum doing acrobatics—but that’s still less awkward than looking over at Yuta right now.

“There was one time.”

There is a twinge of something in your chest. Fascination? Sure. Revulsion? Maybe not that. Dare you call it anything close to jealousy? You immediately throw that one out the door, sink further into your seat, and try not to think about what your life has come to.

“Okay, since you still won’t tell me directly if you’ve been here before, at least tell me this; did it happen here on Earth? With a human?”

Yuta shakes his head. “Some other aliens have weird fetishes. I only did it because she asked and was really adamant about it.”

“Ooookay, you know what…” You get up from the couch and walk to the kitchen, laughing awkwardly all the way. You don’t have any particular reason to go in there, but you have to do something with the nervous energy that’s about to make you jump out of your skin. You pretend to shuffle around in the fridge for a minute so you don’t look too silly getting up for no reason.

After taking a moment to calm down, you turn back to Yuta. “Okay. Hypothetically, if you wanted, could you actually…? With a human? In your natural form? Or would the parts be incompatible, or...”

“Maybe...I’m not sure. It’s not like I’ve ever tried. Why?” Yuta gives you a look that’s partway between curiosity and incredulity, and you wave your hand in dismissal.

“It’s just a question.”

Yuta leans forward on the couch, barely concealing his own amusement at whatever he’s cooking up in his mind. “Are you saying you want to try it with me?”

“You’re not funny,” you sigh, trying to ignore the way your skin is burning at that suggestion. “Remind me not to ask you anything like that again.”

When you get home from work one weeknight, you roll your eyes at the mass text sitting in your inbox, forwarded to you from Alex. Another after-work party, which means another event where someone will run through the sprinklers naked and everyone will pretend like they don’t remember it the next workday.

You don’t know how you’re going to get out of this one, especially with Yuta, who will likely want to go if he finds out, so you decide to just come out and say it and see what happens.

“Hey Yuta…” You slide up behind him where he’s sitting on the couch. “I just wanted to let you know I won’t be at home for a few hours on Saturday. I’m going to a party this weekend. It’s a friend’s party, someone from work.”

Yuta looks at you forlornly. “The same person we met at the restaurant?”

“No, but he’s gonna be there too. Look, I know what you’re thinking, but I really don’t know if it’s safe for you to go…”

“That’s not fair, the last time at the restaurant went well,” Yuta argues.

“Yes, but this guy has a pool and he’s a dickhead who likes to push people in and what if you get caught off guard and change unexpectedly?”

Yuta’s response is as straightforward as you expected it to be. “Then I’ll punch him in the face.”

You laugh at that and shake your head, coming to sit beside him on the couch. “Ugh. As satisfying as that sounds, I don’t need the extra stress of dealing with the aftermath. I don’t know, Yuta...do you think you’ll be okay? God, I feel like an overprotective mom or some shit.”

“Y/N, it’ll be fine, stop worrying. I can take care of myself,” Yuta insists, putting his hand on your shoulder and looking into your eyes. He’s a little closer than you anticipated, which makes your heart rate increase a little. You chalk that reaction up to his invasion of your personal space and shift away, groaning.

“Fine, I’ll bring you. But if shit goes down, I can’t promise an easy way out. Let’s just keep things lowkey, alright?”

“Of course I can do that! I’ve been doing it so far haven’t I?” he says, but somehow you’re not entirely convinced.

The party is filled with people you know from work and a slew of unfamiliar faces, probably your coworkers’ friends. It’s mostly a backyard party, like you already knew, although there are some people mingling within the house.

There are already a few people lounging in the pool. In any other scenario, it might be inviting to you, but now you just look at all that water with a looming sense of anxiety. Yuta sticks close to your side, saying nothing but studying everyone around him.

“Y/N!” your coworker David shouts from the backdoor of his house. He holds up his beer in salutation and you wave back at him, mildly annoyed that he’s brought everyone’s attention to you both. He hustles over to you and claps you on the back strong enough to make your bones rattle, and you wince. “Hey dude!” He reaches across you to pull Yuta into a handshake, and Yuta also winces when he grips his hand a little too tight. “Make yourselves at home, I’ve got everything you could ever need—including the booze and babes!” You both nod awkwardly before David goes off to greet someone else who’s just pulled up. You roll your eyes once he’s gone.

Yuta’s eyebrows draw together. “That was…”

“Annoying,” you finish for him.

“You don’t seem to like him. Why did you decide to come?”

“Workplace politics, if you’re the only one who doesn’t come it’s awkward, ugh. It’s just bullshit. Let’s not get into it.” You walk towards the house and Yuta follows, and you nod at a few people you know along the way.

You find Alex in the kitchen, where he offers to make drinks for you and Yuta. You cast a glance at Yuta, wondering if he’ll take up the offer; you have no idea how he’ll react to alcohol, or if they drink any equivalent of it on his homeworld.

“Um, I think I’ll pass.”

“Oh okay, straight-edge guy! That’s cool too,” Alex grins, making just the one drink for you. As you and Alex talk, the girl from your department whose neighborhood was about to be evacuated sidles up to your little group.

“I’ve never seen you before. What’s your name?”

“Oh...it’s Yuta.”

“Yuta? How cool, I’m Sooyoung.”

Little did you know that that one introduction would expand into them having a half-hour long conversation right there in the kitchen. You really don’t know how Yuta is pulling this off without spilling the beans, but then again, you do; he’s good enough at manipulating the conversation to make it seem like he’s sharing personal info when he’s really not. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he throws in things you taught him every so often.

Alex notices your changing demeanor and follows you as you walk into the living room, finally exhausted with playing third wheel. “Hm, someone seems a little spicy.”

You cough. “I’m fine, it’s just cramped in there, David should really invest in a bigger house..this place could use a remodel.” You throw a glance around the living room, not wanting to see the mischievous look in Alex’s eyes.

“Well, remodel aside, it’s not really my business, but you certainly seem to have a little green monster brewing here.”

You give Alex a long look. “Don’t. He’s my friend. He’s not even—” You have to stop yourself before you expose anything, and you shift nervously on your feet.

“Not even what? Your type? I don’t know, he’s handsome enough to me. You can’t go wrong with a pretty boy. Don’t tell Xavier I said that, though.”

“Lord, let me get the hell out of here…” You leave Alex to cackle to himself while you go out into the backyard again, holding your drink and mulling around the edges of the activity. Too busy wrestling with your own emotions, you don’t realize how close you’ve drifted towards the pool.

“Hey, Y/N?” David says from behind you.

“Yeah?” You go to turn towards him, but before you can, you feel a huge shove from behind and the next thing you know your feet are off the ground and you’re in the pool. It all happens so fast that you can barely catch your bearings, and for a terrifying moment you’re convinced you’re about to drown.

The seconds feel like minutes, and you can’t even open your eyes to tell up from down. The next thing you register is an arm around your waist, and somehow you’re being pulled up even though you’re too panicked to even control your limbs. Your head pops above the water and you cough and sputter loudly, trying to take in air. You try to blink the water out of your eyes, though it drips off your hair and makes it even harder to see.

You’re still not sure what the hell is going on until you’re hauled out of the water and sitting on the ground. Someone hands you a towel, and you hear a female voice saying you’re such an asshole, David.

You wipe the water off of your face and then you’re finally able to see; Yuta is crouching in front of you, just as soaked as you are and staring at you with a worried expression. You look back at him, disoriented and a little dumbfounded at his still-human state.

“You didn’t…”

Even though you’re still trembling with the fear of almost drowning, you’re unable to look anywhere but at Yuta for that moment—at the pure concern on his face.

“Nice going, David,” someone else says sarcastically.

“It was just a bit of a prank! No hard feelings guys, come on. Y/N?” You realize David is standing on your left, and he tries to come closer, his hands open in an apologetic gesture. You jerk away from him, holding the towel to your shaking form.

“Get the fuck away from me. You’re a fucking idiot!” you shout. “All you do is ‘play pranks’ and then you wonder why no one likes you!” That draws a few barely concealed laughs out of the people standing nearby, though you don’t think any of it is funny. David steps back, unsure how to respond and looking truly embarrassed for once in his life.

Filled with anger, you try to get to your feet but you’re still unsteady. Yuta puts his arm around you again, lifting you up and encouraging you to lean your weight on him.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

You don’t have much to say on the way back home. You insist on leaving right away even though Yuta suggests you sit and wait until the tremors subside. He obviously can’t drive you back home, so it’s all he can offer, though it doesn’t make you feel much better.

The silence itself isn’t particularly awkward to Yuta, but he is uncomfortable anyway because he knows it stems from your own discomfort. At a red light, he turns to you.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really.”

He’s quiet for a few moments, and then he speaks again. “I know you’re mad about the pool, but...it seems like there’s more than that. Did...you not like me spending so much time with Sooyoung?”

You scoff. “You can’t be serious. I don’t care what you and that girl do.”

“You’re not a very good liar.” You’re too worn out to argue, so you merely give him a sidelong glance. Yuta sits back in his seat and watches a few cars zip past, their tail lights looking like clashing stars against the night. He’s not used to so much...manmade stuff. There was his ship and his trackers, of course, but he still has a hard time adjusting to be surrounded by so much iron and steel. His own planet is ruled by nature, by the vast oceans in all their unpolluted original essence, but Earth—or at least this portion of it—is much, much different.

He means to glance back at you, but his eyes linger for a while longer than intended. He’s not sure why. Maybe it’s because your outfit is a pretty color, or because the coils of your hair look shiny reflecting the light. He’s never put much thought into human beings before, and his limited experiences with them were mostly better left unremembered. Taking a human form was no huge deal for him; just a move that was necessary at the time.

But now, he’s seeing humanity—and most specifically, you—in a different light, and he’s uncertain what to do with this realization. People have feelings, thoughts, and dreams, like his own species, or like any other. He’s beginning to care what you think of him, how you react to him, even though he doesn’t know why this matters.

“You look pretty,” Yuta says. The compliment is the last thing you expected from him. It seems especially random after what happened at the party; here you are, soaking wet and incredibly uncomfortable. You’re a little late to put your foot on the gas pedal once the light turns green, and someone behind you honks.

“Pretty? I thought humans were weird to you.” Your mind goes back to The Fly and the subsequent conversation you had, and your hands tighten minutely around the steering wheel.

“You are. That hasn’t changed.”

“Good to know.” You don’t want to laugh, but this does make you crack a smile. “But...thanks. And...thanks for that, at the pool, you know. I should...probably trust you more.”

The rest of the ride is a little more talkative after that, and Yuta is happy that he could lighten your mood if even a little bit. Although he wouldn’t tell you, he’s becoming accustomed to your smile, and he’s more displeased than he thought he could be when it’s absent.

The thunder booms so loudly that it makes your window frames shake. It almost reminds you of the day Yuta’s ship fell out of the sky. You pull the covers tighter around yourself as if they alone could protect you from the storm’s fierceness. Storm clouds have been brewing all day, but the skies didn’t open until you and Yuta went to bed. Now, the rain and lightning is in full force. The rain pounds against your window, sounding more like hail or even bullets.

You’re startled for a second time when there’s a knock on your bedroom door.

“Come in?”

The door opens slightly and Yuta appears in the small sliver of space. “Sorry, but...can I sleep here? The storm...” He gestures to the window, where a crack of lightning strikes right after. He’s wearing a sleep shirt and loose pants, and his blonde hair is disheveled. 

“Uh, sure.” You shuffle over to make room for him. “I guess this isn’t your type of water, is it?” He huddles underneath the covers with you, facing you with his arm tucked under the unoccupied pillow.

“Not when it’s so intense like this.”

You hum in acknowledgment. “It’s scary. Does rainy weather make you think of your homeworld often?”

“Often,” he repeats. “But...I think I’d be worse off if I weren’t here.”

“Here...on Earth?”

“I mean, here with you.”

“Oh,” is all you can think to say. It’s a surprisingly personal confession, though you are grateful you’ve become someone so important in his life already, even if it’s only because you’ve given him shelter. That familiar warmth spreads through you again. 

Warm and fuzzies = gratefulness to a friend, the feeling you get when you pet a cute puppy. Right. It’s not the sensation you get when you think you might have feelings for your extraterrestrial friend, you try to convince yourself. “I’m...glad you’re here. Maybe not under these circumstances, but still.”

Yuta nods without speaking, but he doesn’t take his eyes away from you. You think he must be waiting on you to say something else.

“What?” you ask quietly when he keeps staring at you. “Take a picture, it will last longer.” Your joke does little to clear the air, and the tension keeps rising. You should probably be the first one to look away, to end whatever weird game this is and go to sleep, but you can’t. It’s unexplainable.

Yuta props himself up on his elbow, and you’re about to ask him where he’s going when he slips his hand onto your bare shoulder. You’re already covered by the blankets, but you suddenly feel even hotter with his hand on you, sliding up from your shoulder to the side of your face. “Y-Yuta…?”

You don’t know what to say or do, but you don’t object when he leans closer. Your faces are only inches apart now, like he’s hesitating and wondering if he should cross the line. The thunderstorm is intense, but this moment feels much more suspenseful than that could ever be. And then, it’s suddenly satisfying when his lips are on yours.

The kiss starts gentle. He’s careful as if he’s afraid to hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable. It’s soft and sweet. Things get more heated when his tongue prods against your lower lip and enters your mouth. You don’t know when his hand made it from your face to your side, but he pulls you close with his fingers pressing into the flesh just below your breasts, and you tremble at the proximity.

When you pull away, both of you are breathing harder and unable to look each other in the eye.

“Should we be doing this?” you whisper.

Yuta shakes his head. “I don’t know. But it feels good.”

At those words, you pause for a moment before moving to kiss him again. His lips respond deftly to yours, his body crowding you in and making you feel hot and enraptured with desire from where you still lie under the covers.

His hair is very soft when you slide your hands through it, though you can’t push away the thought that suddenly manifests in the back of your mind. This isn’t really his hair, or his lips, is it? It’s all a mask to cover whatever is underneath, which is something you still don’t entirely know, yet are increasingly curious about.

Yuta’s hand drifts up just high enough to caress the underside of your breast—all still over the cover of your clothes. Abruptly, that thought forces its way to the front of your mind, making itself unavoidable, and you have no idea how to reconcile it. This is all so...very unfamiliar. And undeniably scary.

You pull away from him, your face creased with conflict, and his hand stills on your body. “S-sorry, I…um...this is...”

Subsequently, he pulls his hand away from you, though some part of you doesn’t really want that to happen. “I-it’s fine.”

You both settle back into the sheets, the tense aura from before replaced with one that’s thick with unease. The storm continues on outside, unknowing and uncaring of anything else but its own nature.

Though you would like to pretend it isn’t so, things become strained after the night of the storm.

You and Yuta don’t talk about the kiss. You expected him to say something about it that morning after, but he didn’t acknowledge it, and so you figured you just forget about it, too. What are you thinking, anyway? You’re literally from two different worlds. You don’t have the first clue about what a connection would look like between you, whether it be just sex or a relationship.

Why couldn’t you just fall for a coworker and have a bit of office drama like everyone else? Even that would be simpler.

Why did you have to let your thoughts get the best of you? You don’t have any answer for that, except for maybe your own need to come to terms with your attraction. People have never been very skilled at accepting others different from themselves, you know that much. But that usually counts for people of different ethnicities or cultural backgrounds, not two entirely different species.

You spend the whole week afterwards tearing your mind up with this monologue and trying to figure out what you should do next, because you’re quickly growing weary of coming home to a tense atmosphere. Alex can only give so much advice—not that you’d really tell him the entire situation—without knowing just how complicated everything is.

Where he used to hang out with you and help you with your hair, Yuta spends more time up in the guest bathroom again. You wonder if he thinks you’re disgusted by him. You’d probably think the same if he reacted the way you did.

Unbeknownst to you, Yuta is facing the situation with a similar amount of inner turmoil as you, wondering if he’s gone too far. He’s done many silly things in his life, but he doesn’t know how to undo this mistake. The mistake of kissing you? The mistake of seeing you as more than just another human? The mistake of knowingly flying in a faulty ship? Maybe all of it.

He feels guilty about freezing you out and pretending as if nothing happened, especially with all you’ve done to make him safe and comfortable in your home. But, at the same time, he is equally frightened to face you and discover the real reasoning for why you pulled away that night. Because you’ll never see him as someone you could like? Or maybe even love?

If that’s your truth, he’d rather leave it unsaid.

There aren’t many choices left but to face it. Whether this idea is smart or not is yet to be seen, but you suppose you don’t have many solutions left. And you are sick of being cooped up in the house.

“You sure this is safe?” Yuta asks as he stares at the scenery whizzing past. “You were all freaked out about me being near water before...now you want to go to a lake?”

You glance over at him. “Yes, it’s my parents’ lake property. It’s private, Yuta. No one will be there but us. I think we could both use a mini vacation this weekend, yeah?” 

“I guess, sure.” Yuta shrugs. His demeanor is more closed off than it was before that dreaded kiss, but you can still tell that he’s interested in the idea of getting access to a bigger body of water, even if he doesn’t outwardly express it.

The lake house is two hours out of your city. It hasn’t been used much in the past few years with both you and your parents being busy with work and life, but if there was ever a good time to use it, it’s probably now. You just hope there aren’t any squatters of the furry variety; the last thing you need is to be fighting raccoons or squirrels after stepping through the door.

Luckily, there’s really no one but you two once you reach your destination. The lake is big and pretty like you last remembered it, sparkling under the sun and throwing the rays back in your eyes. Yuta is automatically captivated by it.

“Here it is!” you say, walking along the sand and spreading your arms out towards the body of water. “It might not be much compared to your homeworld, but I hope it’s enough.” You carry your bag up the stairs to the house and turn back to Yuta, who’s still standing by the shore gazing across the water. “You can go in, you know? Get comfortable!”

That seems to snap him out of his trance, and he turns back to you, following you up the steps. “Not right now...I’ll go later.” You’re a little disappointed at that, but you simply nod and open the door to go in.

You spend the day getting increasingly more restless as you and Yuta hang out together. You go on the pier, walk around the entirety of the lake, and even take your dad’s boat out on the water, but he still doesn’t get in.

You eat dinner together later that night, although you’re the one doing most of the eating, and there isn’t much conversation to be had. You’ve both run out of things to say that don’t center around the kiss or why he refuses to get in the water.

Yuta spends a few more moments watching you push your food around your plate before leaning forward. “Why did you bring me here?” he asks.

You sigh heavily. “Do you not like it?”

“No, I do, but…” he hesitates. “Can you answer my question first?

You raise your eyebrows. “Okay, well. I brought you here because...I don’t know. I figure you deserve to have somewhere bigger to swim around in than my guest bathtub.” You laugh nervously.

He seems unconvinced. “Is that it?”

“I’d say so! Why won’t you even take one swim, is the better question? I want you to relax and be yourself.”

He furrows his eyebrows as if he doesn’t know how to reply. “You...aren’t you...repulsed by it? I just figured you wouldn’t want to see me in my natural form. Especially since…” He trails off at the end, and your palms sweat a little.

“No! I know I was weirded out at first, but...I-I guess that was the point of this whole trip, to show you that…” You grapple with your words for a moment, unsure if now is the time to fully confess what you’re feeling. “Look, I want to try, alright? I want to see it at least once. I want to accept you as a whole being, and that means, you know...all of you.”

Yuta smiles gradually at that, and you feel swept up with a sudden wave of affection you weren’t expecting. You are still a bit scared, but you don’t want to turn back now. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” you reply, clasping your shaking hands together.

Yuta nods and stands up from the dining table, gesturing for you to follow him. It’s late now, with the moon shining brightly and the last vestiges of dark blue sky giving way to black. The air outside is cool, but not uncomfortably so. You follow Yuta to the pier and watch timidly, your stomach flip-flopping, as he sheds his clothes, leaving them on the wooden deck. Then he slips into the water, disappearing underneath its still surface.

You crouch down, looking intently at the rippling water and anticipating whoever is going to resurface. The sounds of croaking frogs and crickets press in from every side, ringing in your ears so loudly that it’s hard to think straight.

You gasp when Yuta lifts from the water, his human skin gone and completely transformed into something that’s more...amphibian, if that’s any accurate way to describe his appearance. His skin is still scaly and green like you saw that first day, but in the moonlight it seems to glitter and reflect a spectrum of colors like his armor did. There are two fins on the either side of his face, translucent and shining a pale green. They slowly move back and forth as he treads on the water, as if they’re conveying an emotion to match whatever he’s thinking, and you watch them in fascination.

Yuta floats on his back in the water, the long gills on either of his sides catching the moonlight. You watch in fascination as they move with his breaths. Using the pier post to keep yourself stable, you reach out to touch them. They’re slick under your fingers, but not in a slimy or gross way. Your hand drifts to the rest of his skin, across his torso and along his sides, and every portion has a strikingly smooth texture. His alien eyes stare at you silently as you do, glittering big in the moonlight.

“What do you think?” his voice is quieter than you expected, as if he’s afraid of your reaction. He doesn’t break his gaze, though, studying your face carefully.

“You’re...amazing,” you say breathlessly. “Incredible.” 

His lips, which are green like the rest of him, form a small smile, and then he dives underneath the water. He does a few laps as if he means to impress you, his lithe marine form sparkling just below the surface of the water. You keep your hand suspended over the pier as you watch him, your fingers sliding against his body every time he passes by. You smile at his display, a laugh coming out of you at his impromptu performance.

When he’s finished, Yuta climbs up onto the pier with you and kneels in front of you, much like he did that day he saved you from David’s swimming pool. His feet are webbed like his hands. Droplets of water slide off of them onto the wooden boardwalk while others linger on the clear webbing like tiny jewels. Your hand is magnetized to his face, drawing across the scaly skin and tracing over his lips, which are just as smooth as the rest of him.

Before you can think twice about it, you lean forward and capture his lips with yours. Did you expect it to be fishy? Maybe. But it’s not that at all. He still manages to taste distinctly like Yuta, even though you’re not sure what that taste is. It’s a flavor that makes you feel...held. Yuta is surprised for a moment, but he responds to your kiss, one of his webbed hands inching close to your face. He doesn’t touch you at first, a little reluctant and yet wanting to let you lead the pace so he doesn’t scare you off.

You welcome his touch, carefully brushing your fingertips across his hand and bringing it to make contact with your skin. His own skin is still a bit cold from the water’s temperature, but it doesn’t bother you much.

The kiss soon grows more intense, and a mounting desire makes itself known in you. You won’t pretend like you’re 100% confident about all of this, but you don’t want to shun it anymore, either.

Yuta’s hand drifts to your neck, his long nails pressing into your skin ever so slightly. You dare to explore his body more, sliding your hands across his chest and over his side gills, feeling the way they contract under your hands, and farther down still. You haven’t looked down there yet, and you’re nervous over what you’ll find. But you keep going until your fingers meet something slick and hot and throbbing, seeming vaguely like a regular penis, though you quickly realize it’s more of a tentacle.

Yuta shudders and draws away from the kiss, and you feel alarmed, wondering if you’ve gone too far without thinking.

“If we’re going to do this, I should...probably shift back—”

“Don’t,” you blurt out. Yuta looks at you questioningly. “I...you should if it makes you comfortable. But...I don’t mind.” He’s quiet for a few seconds—seconds that feel much longer than they really are. You’re apprehensive of what he’ll say, but you keep your eyes on his face.

“Okay,” he agrees. “If you’ll accept me like this...okay.” 

Neither of you bother with moving to somewhere more comfortable like the lake house or even the sandy shore. Instead, Yuta peels your clothes away right there on the pier, covering every new bit of flesh with his strange and lovely mouth, his head fins ghosting across your collarbones and breasts like moths’ wings.

You tremble and grow wetter under his soft caresses, which are much gentler than you’d initially expect with his sharp black nails. His hands leave streaks of water across your body, which cools your burning hot skin.

Yuta carefully maneuvers your lower body at the same time as he bends his graceful head, bringing your sex close to his mouth and licking deeply into you. Your back presses hard against the pier, the wood scratching your skin as you cry out into the night air.

“Oh God, Yuta!” You soon realize that his tongue is much longer than any human one, and it reaches to a spot deep inside of you that makes you twist around in his grasp, your fingernails scrambling for purchase on the surface below you. He uses his tongue to pleasure that spot continuously, drawing moans and ever more wetness out of you as if he were controlling the waves in the ocean.

You find yourself coming apart on his extraordinarily long tongue, your legs shaking and then going limp with the pleasure flooding through your body. Your breaths come fast and hard. Yuta lifts his head from between your legs and pulls you carefully into his lap so his slick tentacle is pressing against you. It’s not hard like a dick would be, though it is clearly responsive to your body, and you momentarily wonder if it can even go inside you.

“Is this gonna work?” you ask, a tremor in your voice.

“It will work,” Yuta replies, and you’re not sure how, but you decide to trust him on it. 

It does, to your surprise. With your legs crossed tightly over his lower back, Yuta presses into you, wet and warm and very unexpectedly soft. It doesn’t feel like anything you’ve ever experienced before. It’s not a bad sensation, though—far from it. His tentacle is similar to his tongue in how it flexes and throbs inside you, pressing tight against that spot again and making you shiver in his arms.

You both quickly find a rhythm that works, your bodies moving together in an otherworldly combination of two beings, two species, two souls.

Yuta’s long nails scrape gently against your skin as he holds your back, guiding you on his sex and pushing his hips up into you. You sigh into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, feeling the cool scales underneath your lips. You seek a firm grip on his slick skin, bringing your body as close to his as possible.

“Yuta…” You moan his name. His hand slides to the back of your neck so he can bring your face to his again, kissing you deeply. There’s a wet squelching sound as your bodies connect, Yuta’s tentacle slipping in and out of you and pleasurably stroking your walls.

“Y/N…” Yuta whispers into your soft hair, pushing into your spot repeatedly, his thighs tensing under you as his pace increases. You grip his arms as you feel your orgasm swelling up in your abdomen. You tip your head back and Yuta’s mouth goes to your neck and farther down, his heavy breaths warming your skin and making you overheat from the inside out.

You tighten and cum around him, your voice stuttering out of you in broken gasps as he keeps thrusting into you, drawing your climax out. He pulses inside of you, which sends little shockwaves up your spine; you know he’s probably close, too.

When Yuta comes, there’s a lot more of it than you expected. His cum overflows and drips out of you with a consistency like syrup and a transparent color like precum. It makes the inside of your thighs sticky and shiny.

Yuta pulls out, and more of his cum spills out of you, leaking onto his lap and staining the pier underneath you.

“That’s not gonna get me pregnant, is it?” you say quietly, half-jokingly.

“Probably not,” Yuta chuckles.

“Probably!?”

Yuta carefully gathers you in his arms and stands to his feet, walking you off the pier and back towards the lake house. Your clothes are still on the pier, but you’re quickly getting sleepy and aren’t very worried about it; you’ll get them in the morning.

“What happens now?” Yuta murmurs as he walks up the front steps. You already know he’s referring not just to your relationship in this present moment, but to every event that will make up your future. Does he need to continue hiding, or is it really safe? How long will this last?

You close your eyes, resting your head against his chest. “We stay together.”

Yuta’s arms tighten around you as a silent affirmation of your words.

[harlot-of-oblivion]

The Devil’s In The Details

All work and no play makes Dante a dull devil. But he soon finds a cure for his boredom when a smokin' hot detective comes a-knockin' on his door.

The title and overall feel of this chapter is inspired by the song "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins.

Chapter 3: Never Met A Girl Like You

You look up Dante’s profile as soon as you get back to your desk. The Lieutenant was not exaggerating that this man’s file is incredibly long; it almost reads like a fictional novel filled with colorful characters and bloody descriptions. Unfortunately, all these reports are real and if any of what you read is remotely true, then you really have your work cut out for you this time.

It all starts with the infamous demon attack on Sparda Manor, which is common knowledge to most locals nowadays. The only body found in the rubble of their burnt down home was Eva Sparda, the matriarch of the family, and the rest of the family was pronounced dead soon after the incident. You narrow your eyes at that little detail…it’s rather strange that they just jumped to that conclusion even though there isn’t enough sufficient evidence to back up the claim.

The next notable part of the profile is all about the escapades of Tony Redgrave. You resist the urge to facepalm yourself while reading about all the events that occurred under his on the nose alias. It all seems to be standard fare on par with mercenary work, so you skip ahead a little until hitting another infamous incident involving some crazy ass tower…a lot of information about what happened has been redacted except that the Son of Sparda was definitely involved as well as an associate only known as Lady.

You read ahead again and raise an eyebrow at the strange report about a beautiful woman smashing through his shop while riding a motorcycle. This mysterious woman is later confirmed to be another associate known as Trish. Then it seems he left to do some outside work, so there isn’t much details except for a few witness statements here and there. The most noteworthy detail is the sudden appearance of a young man bearing a striking resemblance to the white-haired mercenary known as Nero.

A memory flashes before your mind at the name. You’ve seen this young man before; it was during the Red Grave incident involving the demon tree. You did not get the chance to speak with him…all you can remember is nodding to a young man with short white while leading a group of citizens caught in the demonic fray to safety. And speaking of that debacle, you skim through the reports about Dante’s role in that devastating event, which again seems to be scarce except that he was definitely hired to take care of whatever or whoever planted that freaky ass tree.

From what you can glean from the extensive damage reports, complaints about disturbing the peace, and the high rate of death and destruction…it paints Dante as a womanizing playboy who shows no concern for the wellbeing of others, which makes him a highly dangerous individual. Your fingers tap on your desk as you carefully sift through the information you have just gathered, noting that some of the reports have a healthy dose of prejudice attached to them. A good detective knows that preconceptions should never be taken at face value when searching for the truth. So, perhaps he’s more of a flirty troublemaker with a pension for hunting demons, which has earned him quite the reputation among mercenaries and police alike. You lean back in your chair and mentally weigh the risks of seeking out this infamous devil hunter in hopes of ridding the city of another demonic threat.

The soft chiming of your phone breaks you away from your deep contemplation. You pull it out your pocket and shuffle through a series of texts from Carmen. A couple of them are pictures of the victim’s garage, specifically a set of golf clubs found in the corner. She goes on to explain that this could be the murder weapon, but she will have to run some tests to confirm her suspicions. You take out your sketchbook and update the depiction of the crime scene with a drawing of a golf club with a question mark beside it. The other texts inform you about the safe key and missing dog. Carmen didn’t find any kind of safe or lock box that goes with the key, so she’s just adding it with the rest of evidence for further investigation. And there is still no sign of the family dog either.

No surprise there, you thought while texting her back about your heated argument with the Lieutenant and your plan of seeking outside assistance from a demon hunter. You also let her know that Graves is fine, just shaken up from the missing body that could very well be the zombie bride she gushed about earlier. While waiting for her response, you check your email for the record of medical examiners that Graves sent, and you file a report about the missing body from the morgue.  

After completing those tasks, you decide to grab a quick breakfast and do some more investigating before setting out to find the Legendary Devil Hunter. You collect your sketchbook and grab another cup of coffee on the way out, gulping it all down in a few long sips while you walk through the station. Your phone chimes multiple times as you approach the exit, but you withhold from checking it as you slip past a slew of reporters standing outside the station. All of them are none the wiser as you gear up for a long ride before hopping on your motorcycle.

You rev the engine a couple of times before zooming out of the parking lot with a loud roar, hoping that you can make it to Devil May Cry before closing time.  

(A few hours later…)

Another day spent doing absolutely nothing, Dante thought drolly as he rereads yet another dirty magazine while rock music blares from the jukebox.

It’s late afternoon and there is still no sign of Morrison. The phone rang a few times, but none of the callers gave a password. Dante knew that business has been slow recently, but he’s going to die of sheer boredom at this rate! He leans back in his chair and props his feet up on his desk, not really ogling the half-naked ladies in the magazine as his mind wanders through less vulgar musings.

Dante’s life has taken one hell of a U-turn for the better ever since getting back from hell with his brother in tow and having a very awkward but needed conversation with Nero. Just the fact that he even has a nephew still makes him shake his head in wonder, and having Vergil back to being his old cranky self…it all seems too good to be true. But a few pinches every now and then, as well as some stabs from his dear brother, knocks some sense back into him and erases all doubt from his mind.

Dante has never felt more alive now that he has finally found his family. And it would truly be a shame if this tedious dry spell takes him out before he gets the chance to really enjoy it. Morrison better bring the cure to my boredom before I find it myself, he thought, absentmindedly turning a page while letting out a huge yawn.  

A loud knocking echoes throughout the shop. Dante glances up from his magazine towards the entrance. Huh…that’s not Morrison, he surmises as more knocking bangs on the door. “It’s open!” he announces, not one to turn down a potential client coming to him directly. He tosses aside the dirty magazine as the door swings open to reveal an attractive woman entering the shop.    

Dante’s brow quirks in curiosity as you look around with mild interest. “Well, well…what’s a pretty lady like you doing here?” he asks nonchalantly while his keen eyes roam up and down your form, already spotting the concealed gun holstered inside your riding jacket.  

“I’m looking for the owner of this shop,” you inform in a calm and even voice while slowly approaching the landing area of his office. “Is that you?”

Dante smirks mischievously. “That depends on who’s asking, babe.”

“Don’t call me babe.”

Your stern voice startles him for a moment as you step up to the landing and pause by the edge of the carpet under his desk. You’re close enough now for him to get a better look at you; confident stance, sharp eyes, and a stoic face that could rival his brother’s stony expression. And yet it still captures his full attention despite your cold reception of his playful retort.  

“The name’s Dante,” he introduces himself as your head swivels around, taking in every detail of his office as you walk around his desk. “And if you’re looking for the bathroom…it’s in the back.” Dante motions with his head as you get closer to the couch, which gives him an opportunity to check you out from behind. His eyes linger up your slender legs and the curve of your ass…but then he does a bit of a double take when he notices a knife hidden in one of your boots.  

“Legendary Devil Hunter, Son of Sparda…and the embodiment of sloth apparently,” you muse aloud, stoic shell cracking a little as your lips curl into a grimace while examining the copious piles of trash strewn all over the floor.

Dante crosses his arms with a shrug. “I see my reputation still precedes me,” he quips back cheekily as your gaze turns towards the small bar in the corner.

“Please tell me that hasn’t just been hanging there rotting since the Red Grave incident,” you mutter in disbelief while pointing at the Empusa nailed to the wall with numerous swords and one small dart.

“What does a babe like you know about Red Grave?” he inquires casually while his eyes narrow suspiciously.  

A subtle spark of anger lights up your eyes. “Stop calling me babe.”

Dante slides his feet to the floor before leaning over on his desk. “How about you give me the pleasure of your name and maybe I’ll call ya by something more your style,” he offers with a wink, hoping to rekindle that spark of yours with his flirty banter.

Your smoldering eyes squint hard at him for a moment, the fierce spark now glittering as you reach inside your riding jacket. “Detective Y/N of the Red Grave City P.D.” You take out your badge and flip it open to show him your photo I.D. as you move close to his desk. “And if you call me anything but Detective…I’ll show you why some of the boys down at the station call me Ice Bitch,” you warn with a low growl filled with simmering anger.  

“Ice Bitch, huh?” Dante repeats while giving the badge a quick glance so that he doesn’t miss the show when the sparks start flying. “I dunno…you sound pretty fiery to me.”

Dante watches with fascination as your eyes burst with searing heat, but your entire face remains completely composed. It’s not exactly the kind of show he was hoping for, but there is still time to figure out what really lights your fire so long as you are here. There’s just something about you that begs him to stoke the flames flickering in your eyes…maybe it’s the way you carry yourself with utmost confidence around the shop despite the infamy around his name and reputation. Or it could be that fiery spirit hidden beneath your frosty exterior…all he knows for certain is this:

He’s gotta have more.

“So, what does the fuzz down at Red Grave want with a guy like me?” he asks, relaxing back into his chair with an amused grin, detecting another knife hidden up your sleeve as you put away your badge. “Wait, wait…lemme guess: you’re here to arrest me for being too damn good lookin’,” he jests, arching his brow while stroking his chin in a dashing manner.

“Last time I checked, it wasn’t illegal to have a scruffy beard and unkempt hair,” you retort smoothly while straightening out your jacket. “I’m here to request any insights you have about demons.”

“Well, you definitely came to the right place,” he boasts, dramatically waving his hands around the shop before tilting his head inquisitively. “Is this for a case?”

You raise a well-trimmed brow in surprise. “You catch on quickly…yes, it’s for a case,” you confirm, resting one hand on your hip while the other hangs down by yet another knife in your pants pocket. “We need to determine if demons are involved in a series of disappearances and murders.” You pause for a moment, blinking your eyes once as you tilt your head in thought. “There’s also the possibility of a Devil Arm being involved as well. And if either of those are true…” You trail off with a weary sigh before finishing your explanation. “Maybe we can team up and work on this case together.”

Dante kicks one foot up to rest atop his knee. “It sounds like you already know a lot more than your average cop,” he notes while his brow twitches with interest at your proposal.  

“When you live in a place like Red Grave, you learn to pick up on a few things…” The spark in your eyes dims down while a haunted look flashes across your impassive face. “Never know when it might save your life,” you quickly explain, crossing your arms as your expression hardens, but the dull ember of your eyes glimmer softly.

Now that’s a look I know very well, Dante admits silently, having seen the very definition of anguish staring back at him in the mirror for years. “Alright, you wanna know more about demons…why come to me? I know for a fact that there are plenty of mercenaries in your area,” he points out with an exaggerated twirl of his finger.

“Because you’re the best of the best, Mr. Dante.”

This isn’t the first time that Dante has heard those exact same words. His usual response is to just laugh it off and comment about hearing it all before…but this time it’s different. The absolute certainty evident in your voice sends a chill down his spine. And the spark in your eyes is roaring with the flame of total conviction as you seemingly stare straight into his devilish soul.

“Hmm…you sure are painting a pretty interesting picture,” he imparts, fidgeting a little under your intense gaze, which makes him wonder if you’ve noticed just how tight his pants have gotten while talking with you. Not that he minds…but it seems you are more interested in business than pleasure right now. So, he brushes that notion aside and scoots his chair closer so that his arms can rest on the desk. “Look…I’m really flattered and all, but you’ve overlooked one minor detail: mercenaries and cops aren’t really known for working together.”

Dante flashes you with a toothy grin, hoping the reluctant act he’s putting on will illicit another feisty show. “Oh, I didn’t overlook it,” you reveal, quickly snuffing out his attempt at lighting the fuse with a shake of your head. “I just don’t give a damn.”

“Really?” He leans in closer over his desk as he pokes that wild temper of yours from another angle. “Didn’t know it was okay for you to break the law whenever you want and openly carry that gun just because of some fancy badge,” he provokes with a challenging smile.

Your stoic face contorts into furious scowl as the spark in your eyes ignites in searing rage. You quickly close the distance between both of you and slam your hands down on his desk, proving that he skipped lighting the fuse and just kicked the entire damn barrel into the fire! But it doesn’t bother Dante one bit as you lean in real close to his face over the desk, inflamed gaze boring into him while you launch into an explosive tirade.  

“Now you listen here! I took an oath to protect and serve, and that’s exactly why I’m here now! I did not work my ass off for this badge just to waltz around with this gun! And I have no intentions of abusing that sacred trust the citizens of Red Grave have put in me!”

You pause to take a couple of deep breaths before continuing in a calmer but still irate tone. “Your expertise and experience with demons may lead to the break in case we need…and it’s what I need to uphold that oath.” The harsh scowl on your face softens as the rage in your eyes dies down to a flickering flame of hope. “I need your help, Mr. Dante…I can’t crack this case wide open and finally bring this insidious killer to justice for the families and friends of their victims without you.”

Dante stares at you in awe as your impassioned speech buzzes around him like a temperamental honeybee. He couldn’t help but to watch your lips as you unleash your fury upon him…wondering if your kiss would be just as passionate as your volatile rage. And you are so close now, waiting for his response as you loom over his desk like an unmoving statue. But your intoxicating scent ensnares his senses while an all too familiar presence awakens inside him. His heart beats faster as blood rushes straight down his groin, forcing him to subtly readjust himself under the desk while the devil within purrs beneath his skin.

The door behind you suddenly swings open before he can come up with some clever one liner about enjoying the show. Morrison strolls on in and effectively pulls both of you out of the intense moment as he starts talking. “Hey Dante! Word on the street is that a detective from Red Grave City has been snooping around and…Oh!” He stops in his tracks when he finally notices you. “Looks like you’ve arrived before the rumors, Detective,” he notes smoothly while lighting up a cigar.

“I’m a firm believer of getting the whole picture before putting my pencil to paper, Mr. Morrison,” you divulge coolly without tearing your fierce gaze away from Dante’s stunned face. The corners of your mouth twitch into a fleeting smirk as you straighten up your posture while backing up from his desk. “I’ll be in the city for a couple more hours. You can find me at the Simmer Down Diner if you change your mind…and if you don’t come around, I’ll just assume that your answer is no.”

You turn and step down the landing before walking past Morrison towards the entryway. Dante’s eyes follow your every move, hypnotized by your swaying hips and confident stride as you reach for the door. “But make no mistake, Mr. Dante,” you murmur, grasping the handle as you turn to look over your shoulder. “There’s a serial killer on the loose and I intend to catch them with or without your help.” Your eyes sparkle with determination with those final words as you open the door and exit the shop.

“Did I hear her right?” Morrison questions, puffing on his cigar as he walks across the shop towards the couch. “She wants your help catching a serial killer?”

Dante keeps his eyes on the door as he nods. “Yep. Seems so.”

“Huh…that’s something you don’t see every day.” Morrison takes a seat on the couch and flicks his cigar over a nearby ashtray. “What’d she offer you in return?”

“We didn’t get that far when you busted on through the front doors.”

Morrison puffs on his cigar in quiet contemplation for a moment before cracking a knowing smile. “You’re thinkin’ about following after her, aren’t ya?”

Dante finally turns away from the door towards his dear friend. “What makes you say that?” he inquires, casually leaning back in his chair while Morrison shakes his head with a soft chuckle.

“You never could resist a beautiful lady asking for help. Even when all they brought was trouble…you still hear them out and almost always take whatever bait they dangle in front of ya.”

Dante shrugs at his friend’s logic while pondering about possibilities of working with a detective. On one hand, he’d have to play nice with the police and not break too many laws if he agrees to help you. But on the other hand, he gets to hang out with a smokin’ hot detective with one helluva temper. And if he takes up your offer…his heart throbs while the devil in him purrs at the thought of reigniting the flame in your eyes and seeing more of this sizzling chemistry between the two of you.

“You know me too well, Morrison,” he discloses with a puckish grin. “I’ll let ya know if I take the bait this time.”  

Morrison waves his cigar in the air as if to say told ya so as he gets out of his chair with a small flourish. He recalls the restaurant you mentioned as he steps out the shop, knowing it to be one of many greasy spoons in this area of the city. His hands are practically shaking with anticipation as he summons Cavaliere while a blur of different emotions swirl around in his head. If you can get this kind of reaction out of him already, then he’s gotta see where this may lead because honestly…he’s never met a girl like you before.

And now that he’s had a taste…he wants so much more.

Read Chapter 4

My Ao3

My Masterlist if you want more 💖

Tagging: @bettybattaglia @drusoona and @exsultry

[stahlop]

Where the Love Light Gleams

Hello @scientificapricot! I'm your Secret Santa! Merry Christmas! I've enjoyed talking with you, and I hope you enjoy this piece of Captain Swan canon divergence that I have written.

 And a huge thanks to @profdanglaisstuff and @thisonesatellite for being my betas and helping me work through the ending.

Rated T

It has been such a whirlwind of a day. Pan’s curse was on its way. Emma’s car was packed. Hook told her he’d think of her every day and she flirted back, thinking it really wouldn’t matter. The curse cloud was practically on top of them, and then Regina kissed Henry goodbye, and before the curse could even reach them, a rainbow of true love exploded around them and the curse ended before it could even begin.

A strange calm surrounds all the Storybrooke residents. Emma and Henry look around to see confusion on everyone's faces.

“Did you just stop Pan’s curse with a True Love’s Kiss?” Mary Margaret squeaks out in disbelief. Regina looks just as shocked as Mary Margaret.

“I...I think so?” Emma has never heard Regina sound so surprised. Regina is always the one in control, even when she isn’t. She’s never seen her so vulnerable.

“Mom!” Henry exclaims, surging into Regina and giving her a hug. Emma smiles, happy that she didn’t have to take Henry away from everything he’s ever known. Happy that she didn’t have to leave her family. Happy that… oh shit!

Emma looks at the faces of all her loved ones that had come down to the town line to say goodbye on this crisp fall day, and she sees both Neal and Hook staring at her, almost as if they’re expecting some sort of response from her now that the curse didn’t happen. She’s going to have to deal with Neal and Hook now, isn’t she?  Dammit!

“Hey guys, I’m going to drive back to town and assess if there’s any damage. Mary Margaret, why don’t you come with me.” Emma says abruptly as she quickly hops into her yellow bug. Mary Margaret follows her, confused, into the passenger seat, moving some of Henry’s comic books that he’d packed for the ride. Emma can see David looks perplexed as he is technically her deputy, so it would make sense for him to go with her and not Mary Margaret. She backs the car up slowly, making sure not to hit anyone, turns the car around, slams her foot on the accelerator, and heads toward town.

The second the small group is just a dot in the rearview, Mary Margaret places her hand over Emma’s on the gear shift. “Emma?” She asks tentatively, “Are you all right?”

“I…” Emma starts, but she doesn’t even know what to say to Mary Margaret. Does she talk to her as her mother or her friend? Those are two totally different conversations. She’s been struggling with that balance ever since the curse broke and she’s had to come to terms with the fact that her parents are the same age as her, which, god, was that only a few months ago? It feels like it’s been years.

But Mary Margaret, true love believer extraordinaire, guesses correctly on the first try what is bothering Emma.

“This is about Neal and Hook, isn’t it?” she asks slowly. Emma should talk with her about this. Isn’t that what mothers and daughters do-- talk about boys? But she’s not there yet. Instead, she thinks of something else they can talk about.

“Do you celebrate Christmas?” Emma asks out of the blue. Halloween had happened while they were in Neverland. Henry was upset that he was basically dead on the holiday. He’d been excited to finally celebrate it since it had never happened during the curse. Thanksgiving was right around the corner and plans were already underway for dinner at the loft, despite the lack of dining room space.

Mary Margaret frowns at the sudden change of topic, but realizes this is a battle she isn’t going to win. “Well, we certainly know what it is. It’s in our memories from being cursed. Have we actually ever celebrated it? I don’t think so. We should have when you first came here, when the curse was starting to break and time started to move again, but then Graham died and we didn’t.”

Emma considers this. Mary Margaret is right, they should have celebrated Christmas when she first came to town. They celebrated Valentine’s Day a few months after Graham’s death, but there were no festivities for Christmas. No grand tree lighting in the town square, no shops decorated for the holiday. There was nothing to even suggest it was Christmastime. Graham’s death wasn’t even an excuse; it just wasn’t celebrated.

“I think we should do something big for Christmas this year. After everything that’s happened, we need something to lift everyone’s spirits.” Emma says, surprised at her own words. Christmas has never been an important holiday for her. It just happens around her. Living in foster or group homes for most of her life, she never got the presents she wished for. Usually she got the essentials: pairs of socks, underwear, maybe a new pair of shoes if the family was really nice. But this year she has a family, this year she has a community, and this year she’s going to have to deal with Henry’s father and the man who claims that he will win her heart, and she needs a good distraction.

Mary Margaret’s face lights up like... a Christmas tree. Emma should have known that Mary Margaret would be on board. Despite the fact that she almost had to stay in Neverland indefinitely because of David’s brush with Dreamshade, and that she almost lost Emma again due to Pan’s curse (damn, she was almost separated from her family twice in less than two weeks), she’s still as optimistic as ever.

“I think that’s a lovely idea, Emma!” Mary Margaret practically squeals in delight. “As long as you and I can plan things together?” she asks hopefully.

Emma smiles a genuine smile at Mary Margaret then looks back at the road. They have reached Storybrooke proper and it looks just like they left it when they headed out to the town line only an hour ago. As if the curse never even started to happen. Emma parks the car in front of the sheriff’s station and turns to Mary Margaret. “I’d love to plan a Storybrooke Christmas with you.” she says. And the funny thing is, she actually means it.

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Emma Swan has always been good at avoiding people. Avoiding drunk foster parents, avoiding teachers, avoiding police. She was really good at blending in so she wouldn’t be noticed, which was really helpful as a bail bonds person. But being the Savior and the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming make the avoidance of people much harder. Especially when it comes to Neal (who taught her many of those avoidance tactics) and Hook (open book as he would say). She tries to busy herself with planning the biggest Christmas celebration ever, but they both seem to find her every day.

“You’ve got to eat, Emma.” Neal whines for the third day in a row. He’s been trying to do a family lunch with her and Henry ever since the Curse that Wasn’t (as it’s being called in town).

“Neal,” Emma says through gritted teeth, “I don’t know how many times I need to remind you of this, but I am the sheriff. I have things to do. Henry is at school, and I will not pull him out just because you want to have lunch with him.” She continues to walk past him, hot chocolate in hand, towards the sheriff’s station, where she hopes to hide herself in paperwork. She’s convinced David to take any of the calls that might come in while she’s taken on the task of digitizing all the files (because they are in the 21st century, regardless of how old the computers are; she also mentally makes a note to upgrade their computers at some point). Neal doesn’t follow her, thank goodness, and she settles herself at her desk, ready to tackle old files and her Storybrooke Christmas Extravaganza (as Mary Margaret has dubbed it) list. Which is, of course, when Hook walks in.

The prospect of almost losing her seems to have made Hook lose some of his trademark swagger. Oh, he’s still good with an innuendo here and there, but he almost seems humbled by the fact that Emma is still in his life and he didn’t have to part with her by going back to the Enchanted Forest. And then, of course, there’s the fact that she really wants to kiss him again, which is why she’s avoiding him. It’s hard to avoid someone when they casually walk into your place of business though.

“If you’re not here to report some kind of incident, please leave,” Emma says a bit forcefully.

“Actually,” he says, producing a greasy bag that smells delicious from behind his back, “I brought you lunch.” He smiles triumphantly as he sets the bag down on the desk, careful not to get it near any of her paperwork. “Grilled cheese, just the way you like it.”  Emma opens the bag and sees a grilled cheese sandwich plus onion rings from Granny’s.

“I know you tend to forget to eat when you’re working.” He gives what Emma supposes is a wink, before he starts to head back out the door.

“You’re not joining me?” she asks incredulously. He turns back to look at her.

“You look like you have a lot on your plate, Swan. I didn’t want to be in your way.” He gives a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, and then leaves.

Well, now. How is she supposed to work after that?

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It continues like that for the rest of November. Neal trying to get Emma to do anything with him and Hook just being there for her. It’s a testament to how different these two men are. Neal is still the selfish bastard that he has always been. If Henry isn’t available on his terms then he tends to throw a fit about it. Even Regina notices it which eventually gets Emma to confess all of Neal’s past misdeeds toward her. Considering the awful things Regina did as the Evil Queen, she’s appalled at how much of an ass Neal was… is. She refuses to let Henry see Neal when he’s staying with her, which Neal accuses Emma of orchestrating somehow.

Thanksgiving is a complete disaster with Neal and Regina coming to blows over Henry.  Emma isn’t sure why Mary Margaret and David thought it would be a good idea. Maybe they watched too many YouTube videos of the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, but hosting a dinner that includes a variety of former enemies (Regina and Gold, and by extension, Belle, were all invited by Henry) couldn’t be anything but a catastrophe.

“Henry is my son!”  Neal shouts as Regina says no to another request to have him stay over at his apartment that weekend.

“More mashed potatoes anyone?” Mary Margaret says, trying to defuse the tension.

“You didn’t even know he existed until a few months ago!” Regina says rudely. She is refusing to get into a screaming match during Thanksgiving. Emma can see how she is working to control not only her temper, but her magic. Little flares of fire sparking at her fingertips that only Emma seems to notice. Emma can see Belle trying to tame Gold’s temper as well, reminding him that Neal is a grown man and can fight his battles.

“Cranberry sauce?” Mary Margaret tries again.

“That’s not my fault!” Neal yells back at her, his face practically purple with rage. “Emma, tell her that’s not my fault!” Neal pleads.

She’s been trying to hold it in. She really has. With the exception of Regina, no one knows much about her’s and Neal’s past. Just that they were together and then somehow apart when she went to jail and found out she was pregnant. No one has ever asked why Neal didn’t know. No one has asked why she lied to Henry originally about who his father was. Everyone was just so happy that Neal could be in Henry’s life and that he, coincidentally, happened to be from the Enchanted Forest.

But Emma is tired of all the lying. She’s tired of tiptoeing around her parents because of their stupid hard-ons for Neal. She’s tired of Mary Margaret and David asking her to give Neal a chance. She knows David is doing it because he still doesn’t like or trust Hook, but Mary Margaret has deluded herself into thinking that because Neal was Emma’s first love, he’s also her True Love, and Emma hopes to God that isn’t true because what kind of True Love leaves you to rot in jail for their crime?

And Emma finally realizes why she’s been avoiding Neal since the Curse that Wasn’t. It’s not because she doesn’t want to choose between him and Hook. That was never a choice she needed to make. It’s because she doesn’t want to put up with all his bullshit, and specifically, having to explain to her parents exactly how much pain he caused her. Except he’s just asked her to explain to her family why him not knowing about Henry wasn’t his fault, when it is, in fact, all his fault.

“Neal!” Emma says standing up from her seat so fast that her chair topples over. Mary Margaret audibly gasps. Regina smirks.

“It’s not your fault that you didn’t know about Henry?” Emma’s trying to sound calm and collected with just a hint of a raised voice, but instead it’s coming out angry and vindictive. But she doesn’t care. She’s played his games and she’s done. “Then tell them, Neal. Tell them why you didn’t know about Henry. Why I had to give him up.” Emma’s voice wavers. The room is completely silent. All eyes look from Emma to Neal. This is not how Emma wanted this to go down. Not at all, especially not with Henry there hanging on every word, but Neal has forced her hand.

“Well, I...I mean, that is…” Neal bumbles around for something to say.

“Emma,” Mary Margaret cuts in trying to steer things back to Thanksgiving dinner, “maybe we should…”

“Could it be because I was in jail when I found out I was pregnant with Henry?” This is not news to anyone. Babe birthed behind bars is how the Storybrooke Mirror had worded it when she’d first come to town. “And why was I in jail, Neal? Hmmm? Why was I sentenced to 11 months in juvie?” Emma’s voice is getting louder and louder with each question asked. Neal seems to shrink back in his seat while Emma continues on her tirade.

“Could it be because you framed me for stealing watches that you stole? That you called in a tip for the police to catch me with one of them? That you did that because August had discovered you were from the Enchanted Forest and you were afraid to see your father again? Is that why you didn’t know Henry existed?” Emma is practically screaming now. She sees the looks of pity and then shame wash over Mary Margaret’s face, as anger starts to rise in David’s. She sees Regina’s smirk and Henry’s look of utter horror while looking at his father. Gold’s face, as usual, holds no emotion, but Belle is now in tears.

And Emma does what she does best, she runs.

She swears as she grabs her coat, hat, and scarf she hears David whisper to Mary Margaret, “I told you Thanksgiving would suck.”

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Emma feels like the debacle at Thanksgiving should have eased some of the tension she felt about Hook. She’s not worrying about what Neal thinks anymore, she’s not trying to appease everyone, and wasn’t that why she had started the whole Storybrooke Christmas Extravaganza in the first place?

She hasn’t seen Neal since Thanksgiving. If he wants to see Henry he either asks Regina or he has Belle ask Emma. Henry, on most occasions, does not want to see Neal though. After finding out exactly why Emma went to jail, Neal was ousted from the loft by David, who physically picked him up and threw him out. Neal at least looked chagrined, according to Mary Margaret, but did not try to explain himself whatsoever. Gold and Belle made a hasty exit after David threw Neal out on his ass.

The Rabbit Hole is the one place open on Thanksgiving, for those who don’t feel the need to celebrate a holiday that is not from their realm. And after leaving the sham that was Thanksgiving dinner, Emma needs a drink, badly.

She sidles up to the bar and orders a whiskey.

Then another.

And another.

She feels pleasantly buzzed by the time Hook comes in. He sits down next to her and orders himself a glass of rum and sips it. He doesn’t say a word, just watches her. Emma’s pretty sure someone sent him to watch over her, make sure she doesn’t drink herself to death. She’s not sure who, but she’s pretty sure David’s feelings towards Hook are a lot friendlier now than they were before.

“I guess you heard about Thanksgiving dinner?” Emma asks debating whether to get a fourth drink. The whiskey had been making her feel good, but now it is sitting like a stone in her belly.

“Nothing specific.” Hook says as he takes another sip of his rum. “Was just told that you might need a friend right now.”

“Is that what we are, Hook? Friends?” She’s right in his face now, batting her eyelashes, and lowering her voice to sound more seductive.

“Emma.” He warns. He brings his glass up in between them as a barrier. “I promised I’d make sure you didn’t do anything stupid.”

“And would kissing you be stupid?” Emma asks. She sees a hint of surprise in Hook’s eyes, but his features immediately change into the cocksure pirate.

“With the amount you’ve had to drink and from what I gather happened at dinner,” he takes a breath, “yes, I believe it would be stupid.” He finishes his rum and sets the glass on the bar, then takes out some money and leaves it next to the glass.

“I’m not going to force you to go home, but I know your parents are worried about you, Emma.” It’s that he calls her by her name and not Swan or love or the other myriad of nicknames he has for her that does it. She grabs some money from her coat pocket and leaves it next to Hook’s.

“I don’t want to go home yet.” She says slumping against Hook. He’s warm and he smells like leather and sea salt.  He just nods and leads her out the door.

They walk to the Jolly Roger. Emma starts to wonder if this was a bad idea and she should have just gone home and dealt with the consequences. The walk has sobered her up slightly, but not enough.

They walk up the gangplank onto the ship and down the ladder into Hook’s quarters. Emma feels like she has butterflies bouncing around in her stomach, and she’s not sure if it’s nerves from being in Hook’s personal quarters, or if it’s from the three glasses of whiskey she consumed in less than 20 minutes.

Hook seats her on the bed and heads over to the leather wingback chair that is at his desk. He gets out his flask and takes a swig and then offers her some. She shakes her head, she’s had too much as it is.

“Care to talk about it, Swan?” He asks.

“I outed Neal to everyone in my family and his family.” Emma says as quickly as she can. She tells Hook about meeting Neal when she was 16, about stealing the bug, about losing her virginity to him in the damn backseat, about the wanted poster. Hook’s expression grows serious when she tells him about the watches and the jail time. About finding out she was pregnant and then having to give Henry up because she was a 17-year-old kid in jail, all because she trusted the wrong person. Emma can see he’s reining in the anger, can see his jaw ticking and his fingers tapping. She sees in his eyes that he wants to pummel Neal within an inch of his life. But he doesn’t. His expression turns from anger to sorrow.

“Of all the things I imagined for Bae and his future, him setting up the woman he purported to love for a crime and with child in jail was not one of them.” His expression has now become somber. Like he could have stopped what Neal did in some way. And Emma begins to realize that is exactly what he’s thinking. If things had ended differently for him and a young Bae in Neverland, none of this would have come to pass. And Emma intends to tell him this, except those butterflies in her stomach start climbing up into her throat and Hook sees it a few seconds before it actually happens and manages to get her something to vomit into (some kind of chamberpot she assumes). He holds her hair back while she pukes up all the whiskey and part of her Thanksgiving dinner and then tucks the blankets around her when she passes out from sheer exhaustion.

When she awakes the next morning she sees Hook asleep in his desk chair. She quietly sneaks off the Jolly Roger and spends the rest of the day holed up in bed with a wicked hangover.

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She and her parents talk. Really talk. Mary Margaret can’t apologize enough for trying to push her toward Neal. David expresses much interest in beating Neal to a pulp. And as much as Emma wants to run away, she stays. They talk all day and into the night, Emma telling them her story of growing up in the system and her life with Neal and after. David calls Ruby to bring over food at some point. Mary Margaret cries, a lot. But Emma has put everything out on the table. Mary Margaret and David also tell them about their pasts. About all the terrible things that occurred before the curse, but all the happy times they had. Emma has seen it in the book, but hearing first hand accounts is a whole other ball of wax. The fact that Mary Margaret and David forgave Regina and are working through things with her blows her mind. Mary Margaret’s optimism flabbergasts her, but Emma realizes that she’ll need that as well to live in the same town as Neal now.

Emma starts calling Mary Margaret and David Mom and Dad. She feels they’ve earned it after everything. David beams with pride. Mary Margaret cries, again.

The Storybrooke Christmas Extravaganza starts consuming much of Emma’s days. When she’s not patrolling or dealing with the denizens of the town (specifically Leroy and his drunken antics), she’s working on the placement of pop up shops for the Christmas Market. Mary Margaret has posted flyers around town looking for people to compete in a Christmas talent show. Both Emma and Mary Margaret have gone around to all the businesses around the center of town to coordinate Christmas lights and decorations. Regina finds a whole stash of Christmas decorations in one of the town hall supply cabinets (“It’s called supply and demand, Miss Swan. How else would a magical town have food and goods when no one can find us to deliver those things?” Regina scoffs at her, like it’s common knowledge how curses work) that they use to decorate the 15 foot fir tree David and Hook cut and brought back to town.

And speaking of Hook, Emma notices he’s keeping his distance after Thanksgiving. He has become good ‘mates’ with David though.  He and David seem to hang out all the time and Emma is perfectly fine with that. At least, that’s what she keeps telling herself. She’s not jealous that her father is hanging out with the man she wants to kiss again... and maybe more.  She tells herself that she’s too busy to start anything with Hook. Being sheriff and planning Christmas is too much on top of starting a possible relationship.

Whoa, where did that come from?

Relationship? She just wants more kisses, right? Maybe an orgasm...or two? She doesn't ...She can’t want ….

But now that Neal is completely out of the picture, she doesn’t feel so guilty about wanting to be with Hook. She’s lost the guilt she had for kissing the ever-loving daylights out of him in Neverland. She hopes he still thinks of her every day like he promised he would when Pan’s curse was pressing upon them, even though she hasn’t given him any reason to.

And it’s Christmas Eve, and Emma realizes that she wants to share that with Hook. She wants to see his eyes filled with wonder at all the lights, and the tree, and the present that she bought for him (yes, she bought him a present).

Everything has been going off without a hitch. The Christmas Market opened a week ago and Mary Margaret... Mom (she’s still getting used to that) made a speech and put Emma in the spotlight since this whole thing was her idea.  And Emma has been laying low at the station again, but not to avoid anyone this time, no she’s just trying to understand her feelings for Hook.

Because she suddenly feels like Harry when he realizes he wants to be with Sally for the rest of his life. And she kind of wants that life to start now.

“Dad!” Emma yells grabbing her coat, scarf, and beanie from the station coat rack. David comes out from the office with a huge grin on his face. He’s still so happy every time she calls him Dad. “I’m going out. Please only call if it’s an emergency.” He nods. She’s almost out the door when she realizes his present is still in her desk. She plucks it from the drawer, shoving it into her coat pocket, and she can see the understanding dawning on her father’s face. Emma runs out before her dad can either deter her or congratulate her on what she’s about to do.

She runs over to Granny’s where Hook’s been staying since the snow started. With no way of heating the Jolly Roger, he needed a warm place to stay. And because Granny is wrapped around his little finger, she gave him a pretty good deal on housing as well.  Of course with the Christmas market being right there, many people try to talk to her or tell her what a great job she did. But Emma doesn’t have time for that. Even Ruby gives a big, wolfish grin when Emma bypasses her to go directly to the stairwell.

Emma takes the stairs two at a time, barely noticing the garland strands and various decorations all around. She gets to Hook’s door and doesn’t even hesitate to knock. It’s in the two seconds that it takes him to answer the door that she starts wondering if she’s crazy.

He opens the door wearing just his leather pants and his linen shirt untucked. Emma notices bare feet, and eyes free of his sexy eyeliner. It strikes her how young he looks when he’s not all made up.

“Swan?” Hook asks concerned. “Has something happened?” She can see how this might look. Out of breath and knocking at his door. He probably thinks they’re under attack again.

“No, nothing has happened. Storybrooke is still getting ready for Christmas.”

“Oh.” He says confused. “Well, I’m sure it will be great, Swan,” he says. He looks at her, waiting for an explanation for why she is there.

Emma realizes that she has no plan. She just walked out of the sheriff station with a hazy idea and a When Harry met Sally quote in her head and expected… she’s not even sure what.

“Fuck it!” she says, surprising Hook, who gets even more surprised when she grabs his shirt and kisses the ever-loving daylights out of him. It’s similar to their Neverland kiss, a lot of heat and teeth, hands in each other’s hair, but this time it’s Hook who pulls away.

“Emma” He says, sounding completely wrecked.

“Killian,” she says sounding just as wrecked. He jumps a little at the sound of his true name and dares to look at her. Emma hopes he can see the love shining in her eyes; she can definitely see it in his.

“Do you know why I started this whole Christmas Extravaganza?” she asks him.

“I assumed it was so you didn’t have to deal with either myself of Henry’s father,” he says, grinning as her mouth drops. “Open book, love.” He smirks.

“Well, yes. That’s how it started out. But, Killian,” he shivers when she calls him that, “I realized that I never wanted Neal back. It wasn’t ever a contest. It’s always been you.” This time he surges forward and kisses her. The kiss is once again full of heat, but softer, more loving this time.

“Am I dreaming?” Killian asks nipping at her bottom lip. Emma pinches his side and he yelps in surprise. “I guess not, minx.”

“Look, Killian, I was sitting in the sheriff’s station and it just hit me. You’re who I want to be with. You’re who I wanted to be with even before Neal came back. I just-- I just had to figure it out for myself and it took a little longer than I expected. But I’m in now. All in.” Emma smiles at him.

Killian looks like he could be bowled over by a feather. He’s in complete and utter shock. “Swan, are you sure I’m not dreaming? Because this seems very much like the best dream I could be having.” Emma kisses him in response. He drags her into his room, kicking the door shut behind him.

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The next year, the Storybrooke Christmas Extravaganza is even bigger than it was the first year. David and Killian get a 20 foot tree this year and have an official tree lighting ceremony in the center of town, just like Rockefeller Center.

On Christmas morning, Mary Margaret, David, Regina, and Henry are not surprised to see Hook with them when they open presents. Emma remembers back to last year when they were surprised to see him, announcing their relationship to all on Christmas morning. He presents Emma with a carved wooden swan from Marco and August’s shop. He’d known the minute he saw it that he had to get it for her.

Emma gives him a glassy-eyed smile when he hands it to her, trying very hard not to let the tears fall. While her parents presents are heartfelt, she still has that feeling that they’re trying to make up for lost time. Killian’s present simply says he’s thinking of her.

“Thank you.” Emma says and gives him a kiss. “Here,” Emma pulls away but gives him another kiss on the cheek. She pulls a wrapped present out from behind her back. “Merry Christmas, Killian.”

Killian takes the present from Emma. He carefully unwraps the paper from the box, opens it up, and looks at the gift nestled in the tissue paper inside.

It’s a compass, like the one he and Emma had to steal from the giant. A memory of their first adventure. It’s not the same one of course, but it’s the fact that she thought about it. He’s speechless.

“It’s so you can always find your way home.” Emma says kissing him again.

Emma can vaguely hear David say something about breakfast pastries and coffee being served, and she’s pretty sure she can hear Mary Margaret sniffling in the background, but she’s too busy looking at Killian.

“I think I finally found it with you, love.”

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