#ok to be fair henry and jack were also in it and I loved seeing them :) mwah :)

[swordwife]

I GOT TO EXPERIENCE THE ERIK HOUSE AT HHN

I AM NEVER GOING TO RECOVER

[creepyalienghost]

literature club

Warning: suicide

——

“Henry. Please join. You would love the literature club.” Wally begged his friend Henry, as they walked to their lockers. This year they were next to each other and for the pass month Wally’s been wanting Henry to join their little book club after school.

It wasn’t like Henry didn’t want to hang out with Wally, he did. They have been best friends since they were kids. He just wasn’t sure that was what he wanted to do. He was an artist not a book worm, Art was his thing.

But he didn’t like to see his friends sad and eventually he gave it to Wally’s request. “Alright Wally.” He replied opening his locker and getting his books for the next class, history. “I’ll come check it out today.”

“Yay!” Wally jumped around with happiness and a big smile across his face that Henry loves to see. “Thank you Henry! Meet me outside room 278 after school!”

Henry nodded. “Will do Wally.” He shuts his locker just as the bell rang. “See you then!” He said with a wave as they go there separate classes.

The school day drags on for hours but eventually 3 o’clock finally came and everyone rushed outta there classes, some to get home others to hurry to their clubs or sports. Henry searched for the room Wally told him to go and found it within minutes. Outside Wally was there waiting and when he saw him that big smile came. “Henry toy came!”

He nodded. “Of course! I never back down on my promise.”

“That’s true.” Wally replied. “Come on in! Meet the others! Sammy even brought cake today!”

Henry followed Wally inside the class room and was amazed at how it looked. It was a regular classroom with desk and all but they made it more cozy. They had a soft chair in the back corner for anyone to read on and there was soft yellow fairy lights hung up on the ceiling. Calm low music played from the radio next to the chocolate cake and drinks. A long bookshelf ran under the windows and quotes from different book lined the walls.

“It’s so...relaxing In here.” Henry stated looking around the room.

“Thank you kind stranger” said a tall brown haired boy walking up. “You must be Wally’s friend, Henry. Welcome to the literature club. I’m Joey.”

Henry nodded in response. “I am. And thank you Joey! It actually looks fun! What all do y’all do here?”

Joey prompted himself on a desk before answering. “We read books of all kind. Horror, poetry, the classics. He decide on something and read that.” He paused for a minute before continuing. “We also right short stories and poems.”

Henry nodded while listening. “That sounds fun but I don’t think I can write poems.” He chuckled.

“Nonsense.” Joey chuckled with him, waving his head away. “It’s easy! If you join I’ll teach you how to write poetry.”

“Really?” Henry ask, feeling a bit excited to learn something new.

“Of course!” Joey nodded. “My mother taught me when I was young. Now I’m teaching these boys.” Joey gestures to the other boys.

Henry accepted his offer. “Yeah. Alright. I’ll join!”

Joey smiled in excitement. “That’s great! We should celebrate! Good thing Sammy brought cake!” He announced. “Come. Meet the other two!” He wrapped his arm around Henry leading him to the table where the others were heading.

Henry sat down next to Wally as Joey handed out pieces of cake and drinks. That hour he got to know the the three more better. Joey was the leader and starter of the club. He love to read the classic books like, to kill Mockingjay, and enjoyed writing about love. Jack was quite opposite from him. He loved reading manga and climes that it is literature. His favorite being the promised Neverland. The last boy, Sammy was the shortest out of all of them. His thing was dark and creepy literature. Anything Edgar Allan Poe he loved. Henry also found out Wally’s favorite books were funny books. Anything that would make you laugh in tears he would read and Henry found that suited his friend.

——

After school the next day Henry headed in the club a bit early. Sammy and Joey were already there and were talking before he came in. “Hello Henry!” Joey called out when he saw Henry, heading to him. Sammy smiled and waved before going to his book.

“Hello Joey! Hey Sammy!” He replied happily.

Joey sits upon the near by desk, facing Henry. “You ready for today’s activity? I thought it would be fun for the group!”

Henry nodded. “I am! I can’t wait to hear what it is!” He said just as the other two arrived.

Joey chuckled in response. “In do time Henry! Until then you can hang out with whoever for a bit. Hell these two just joined us! Welcome boys” he left Henry, going over to Wally and jack to greet.

Henry glances back at Sammy and noticed he had been watching them and he quickly turned back to his book once He looked at him. Henry thought he must be a bit shy for Conversation so he turned to Wally and jack. Wally was hanging out with Joey and jack was reading a comic book. He went over and sat next to jack. “Hey. What comic you ready?”

Jack shook his head. “It’s not a comic book, it’s manga!” He informed Henry. “Have you ever read one?”

“I haven’t.” Henry shook his head. “What is a manga?”

“You don’t know?” He chuckled. “Ah Henry you have lots to learn!” He added before tapping the chair next to him. “come. sit. I’ll teach you.”

Henry sat next to jack as he began talking about all he knew on manga. Henry didn’t interrupt he sat there listening to everything this excited boy to say. He was learning quite a lot about it as time went on. Like where it came from and what was the latest issues of the popular manga. Henry noted some titles he should pick up so they both could read them together.

Time quickly flew by and the hour was almost at a closed. Joey dedicated the last quarter for reading the poems so he left Wally to stand at front. “Alright boys. It’s time to share our poems.” He announced before turning to the newest member. “Henry you can sit this one out and listen to the others today.” Henry nodded in response giving the ok for Joey to continue. “Alrighty. Who wants to read theirs today?”

“I will!” Called out Sammy standing up and grabbing his poem then heading up to the front as Joey sat back down. He held up the poem and cleared his throat. “My poem is called hands”

The hands around, allow me to see

Show me things only they want me to see

The hands around, allow to speak

Using my voice as theres

The hands around, hold me in place

Guide me to one place to another

The hands around, pull the strings

And I can not escape

“Vary good Sammy!” Joey said while the others boys snapped their fingers. Sammy Smiled and headed back to his seat. “Is there anyone else that wants to read there’s?” Joey ask and waited. There was no takers today for anymore reading. “Alrighty boys. I hope to hear from y’all tomorrow. Club Dismiss.”

As Henry grabbed his bag Joey came over. “Hey Henry. Do you wanna go to the bookstore? I can recommend you some easy poetry books?”

“Sure!” Henry smiled with a nod. “That would be cool. Thanks!” He and Joey walked out of the room heading for the book store. Sammy and jack looked at wally before he signed and left on his on.

——-

During brakes in classes he read a few pages of his new poetry book. Joey had helped him pick out one for beginners which has a little of all kinds of topics to figure out what was your style. Love, light, happiness sadness, funny, horror and dark. Henry seemed to be most interested in the poems about happiness and love. He was excited to talk about poetry with Joey, Wally and the boys in the club as well as read his poem today.

When he arrived in the room after school Joey was the only one there at the point, getting the club sit up, Cleaning and fixing the desk back. “Hey Henry!” He greeted as Henry came in. “How’s the book?”

Henry waved at him as he walked up. “Hi Joey! And the book is lovely!” He smiled as he helped him with the table. “I quite enjoy happy rain and pink so fair. There really fun to read!”

Joey chuckled. “That’s great! I’m glad you found you style Henry!” He replied as he started sanitizing the food table.

“Thanks man. I wouldn’t have if it won’t for you Henry.” Henry praised Joey.

Joey smiled with pride. “Aww thank

You Henry.” He replied.

Henry nodded at Joey Just as the rest of the boys joined them. “Hey! There they are!” Joey announced happily . “Hia boys!”

After everyone greeted each other and got settled down with there books, Henry decided to read with Sammy today. He spotted him setting in the comfy chair next to the window. It was storming outside and judging by his book title, it was the right kind of weather for it. Henry pulled up a chair from the desk near by and sat next to him. “Hi Sammy. Hope you don’t mind if I read with you today.”

Sammy looked up from his book and shook his hand. “N-no. Not at all.” A small kind smile spread across his face. “I’m not sure if you’d like my kind of reading through. It’s dark poetry.”

“Oh really?” Henry replied. “That’s alright. I might enjoy it.” He said giving a smile back.

“Well. Alright.” The boy nodded and opened his book up to the first page to a poem called darkness. While Henry scooted his chair closer.

The two of them sat beside one another and silently reading each page as the storm raged outside. There was a lot of emotional and death related poems as well as depression and anxiety. Henry had question himself if he needed help but didn’t wanna asked. Besides the boy seemed happy every time he seen him so maybe it was just interesting to Sammy.

However when Sammy turn the page after reading a while his sleeve slipped down revealing a deep burn, making Henry worried. “Are you alright Sammy?” He ask looking up at him. “What happened?!”

“Uh. Y-yea...” Sammy calmly rolled his sleeve back up while nodded. “It j-just a cooking accident last night. Don’t worry..” he replied with a slight chuckle.

Henry nodded believe him. After all cooking does lead to accident. “Alright. But you might need to bandage that later.” He smiled.

“Thanks. Will do.” Sammy nodded. They both went back to reading the poetry book, Sammy only glancing up once to find Joey staring at him form across the room for a moment before returning to his book. Sammy didn’t dare to look again for the night.

Soon the last quarter of the club arrives and the boys made there way to the front role desks. “Alright boys. Today I want Henry to come forward and share his poem.” Joey replied. “Don’t be shy Henry, we all had our first time.”

Henry came up to the front with his poem ready to share. He’s been waiting for hours for this and now it was his time to shine. He held up his poem and reads it.

I look out in the night

To see a bright shining star above.

I wish upon that star

Things I wish to become.

That star with guide me to

places that I wanna be.

And one day I’ll find that

The whole time the star has been me.

The boys have a round of applause for Henry’s first poem as tradition in the club. Henry smiled confidently as he walked over to Joey. “I’m impress Henry! Vary excellent, for the first time!” Joey commented. “Soon you’d became a natural!”

“Thanks Joey. You are a good teacher.” Henry beamed.

Joey blushed. “Aww thanks Henry.” He chuckled. “Alright guys. Club meeting over. See you tomorrow!” He announced to the others

Wally gathered his two books and bag from the desk in the back then headed to his friend. “Hey Henry. Do you want to head over to the arcade?”

Henry frowns as his friend. “Sorry Wally. I would but I already made plans with Joey for tonight. We can tomorrow though!” He replied.

Wally nodded with a wide smile on his face. “Of course! That sounds awesome!”

“Cool” Henry nodded. “See you tomorrow”

Wally frowns watching his friend leave with that monster he know trusts, as jack and Sammy came up to him. He looked over at them and sadly sighed. Jack gives Wally a hug. None off the boys said anything. They didn’t have to. They knew each other’s pain. They knew there plan wasn’t working. Henry wasn’t noticing the signs even when Sammy purposely showed a big one. Eventually the three left the classroom and went to there homes for the night alone.

——-

Last night had been fun! Joey had taken Henry to poetry slam. Together they watched as people came and read there poems in front of an audience. Some good, some bad. Some short, some long. Some about happy times, others about horror. Henry was enjoying his time with Joey and the boys. He was actually really happy that Wally begged him to join. It turned out great and he couldn’t wait to tell talk to him.

However when Henry walked though the door the vibe was a bit different. Sammy, jack and Wally were in the back of the room talking quietly to each other about something Henry didn’t know. When they all

Saw Henry standing there they all welcome home. “Hello Henry!” Wally was the first. He jumped off the desk with a big smile, walking over and given a hug.

Henry, feeling better then a second ago, hugged back. “Hey Wally! Sorry I couldn’t hang out last night. We will tonight though.”

Wally nodded eagerly. “Great! I can’t wait. We could go to the movies to see one of the new ones showing! Or we could go to the park! Or the arcade?” He listed off things to do, happily

Henry chuckled and nodded. “Ya! We can! You can choose where we go!”

Wally nodded as Joey came in. Everyone then gathered there books there on and choose a comfy spot to read at today. Henry decided to buddy read with Wally today. Another chance to be with his best friend. Wally was on the the couch and reading a book that looks like it was funny. “Can I read with you today?”

Wally looked up and nodded. “Of course you can!” He replied and scooted over for Henry to sit then patted the space. “Come sit.”

Henry did indeed sit down beside him, getting comfortable. After he was settled he looked at his friend and asked. “So what’s the book about?”

“It’s about this guys Journey in a wacky world. There’s all certs of funny things about the world and it’s people.” Wally answered him. “It’s one of my favorite books.”

Henry nodded. “That wonderful to hear. What page your own?

“Oh I’m on page 208 but we can start from the beginning.” Wally smiled and opened the book to the first page. Wally read quietly out loud as Henry followed along. He found himself enjoying the characters the best as they read together. His favorite became a purple man who helped the main character in his Journey.

As always Joey was on time with the last quarter of the club. He got to the front and ask for volunteers. This time jack wanted to read his. Jack got his notebook and flipped to the latest poem he had written. “Alright. This ones called The field.”

In my dreams I see a field.

One so beautiful. One so elegant.

It’s golden sunlight like rays spread across

No darkness can be found.

In my dreams I see a field

Surrounded by friends

Happy as ever

No sadness can be felt.

In my dreams I see a field

Laugher is the only thing to hear

Peace all around

No cries can be herd.

Jack finishes and bows as the others snapped their fingers. He went back to his sit as Joey took his place up front. “Nice job jack! Your getting better!” He replied before turning his attention to the rest. “Alright before we go I have an announcement.” He waited for a moment before continuing. “As you all know the festival is this weekend. I think we should give it a shoot and try to bring more people to our club for once, like the others.”

“Oh! That would be fun!” Wally agreed. “I second that!” Sammy jack and Henry agreed as well.

“Alright guys. I can make the pamphlet but I’m no good with designing them. Wally want to help me?”

“Sure!” Wally nodded happily. “We can start it tonight after hanging out with Henry.”

Joey nodded. “ perfect.” Joey looked at jack and Sammy. “I think we should have a banner as well as treats for the other students.”

“I’ll make the treats!” Sammy suggest.

Jack nodded. “I’ll take care of the banner.”

Joey smiled. “Thanks you guys.” He looked at Henry last. “You can choose who you want to help with.”

Henry turn his attention to jack and Henry. He has to decide who to help. Sammy with the treats or jack with the banner. After some thought he turn to jack. “ I’ll help with the banner.”

Jack nodded and Exchanged their Numbles for later. Once all roles were settled each one began to leave. Henry and Wally left with each other as planned. Joey left after getting belongings, giving a warning glare to jack on the way out, and jack left with Sammy after they cleared up the room.

—————

The next morning, Henry woke up like Normal and started getting ready for school. As he got ready he was reminded of his and Wally’s time together and how he got the sense Wally was off. He had looked and sounded happy but it was like there was sadness. He asked Wally about it the night before and Wally told him he was good. He didn’t bother him again on it that night but was still worried.

Henry grabbed his phone and decided to call him but he didn’t answer. He wasn’t to worried by this as Wally liked to sleep in a bit longer. He’ll meet him outside and everything will be all good. Henry continued getting ready for the day. He got dressed, ate some breakfast then brushed his teeth and headed out to there meeting spot.

There was no signs of Wally as he arrived which was also normal behavior of Wally. Henry decided to read some of his book as he waited and pulled it out, flipping to the page he was on.

He got lost in the book and read longer then he thought. Almost half an hour has gone by with no Wally showing up. This was strange. Wally would have call him if he was sick or not going to school. He would’ve been here if he was. Something was off.

Henry headed to Wally’s house and knocked on the door then waiting. No one came to the door so he tried again meeting with the same results. He turned the noob to see if it was unlocked and sure enough it was. “Wally?” He called out opening the door. There was no answer in the dark house making his stomach to knot up. He walked deeper in the house, calling out again. “Wally? Are you home?” And again no answer. He got to the bottom of of the stairs and looked up calling one more time with no answer.

He claimed up the stairs and approached Wally’s bedroom, knowing on the door. “Wally it’s me, Henry. Are you in here?” He ask pressing his ear to the door. After a long moment with no answer he opened the door only to find a Horrible seen.

His friend...his best friend was hanging from a noose. His desk chair kicked away from him. Wally’s skin was a pale blue grayish color and there was no light in his eyes.

Henry was frozen in place there, unable to look away from his friends corpse. He felt cold tears pour down his cheeks but he couldn’t acknowledge them. It felt like his would just got turn upside. “N-no...” he finally spoke after a long while of Silence. “Wally....” he said then fell on his knees and sobbed in his hands.

Once the shock was gone and he was numb he pulled out his phone to call for an ambulance. It took 20 minutes for them to arrived there and was taking out of the house for them to take down the body. Henry watched them carry his friend out in a body back and loaded in the back of an ambulance, driving away soon after.

He went back to his own house after answering questions and sat on his bed. He didn’t feel like going to school today. He didn’t feel like doing anything today after that. But it wasn’t long before his phone rang. He looked at it and saw it was jack. He didn’t want to answer but he did. “ y-yea..?”

“He-hey Henry.” Jack spoke sounding nervous” I herd what happened...it’s so sad..” he said.

Henry was suspicious of this. How would Jack know if he was at school and why was he sounded so scared. “Jack how do you know..?” He ask.

Jack went silent for a long moment before speaking quickly into the phone. “Henry, Joeys not a good person!” Right then his phone hung up on Henry.

“Hello?” Henry asked. “Jack you there?” After no answer he tried to call him back a few times but couldn’t get a hold of him again. After the fourth try he gave up and wondered what he was taking about. He laid back in his bed in thought staring at the ceiling. He let his mind wonder in memories of him and Wally. The first time they meet, there times at the fair and the last movie they seen.

His thoughts got interrupted again with another phone call, But not jack. It was Sammy. “Hello?” He said once he answered. He immediately herd crying from the other end

“Henry..” Sammy said after taking a moment to calm himself down. “I-I need to tell you s-something...but first I n-need you to p-promise me you will believe me..” he ask sounding desperate.

Henry was so confused and didn’t want to deal with anything more today. But the boy started scared and Henry could swear he herd pounding on a door on Sammy’s end. “Yea I promise Sam. What’s going on.” He ask sitting up.

“It’s Joey...” He told, sniffling fight after. “Joey isn’t a kind person...”

[duchesschameleon]

dreidel, dreidel, dreidel

summary: Aaron and Jack’s Hanukkah education continues with playing dreidel and some shenanigans ensue. (continuation of light the candles)

pairing: Aaron Hotchner x GN Jewish Reader words: 2.3k a/n: Happy Hanukkah everyone! I’m so excited I finished this in time for the first night (I just lit my menorah) and I hope you enjoy it! There are some resource links at the end to explain dreidel, show pictures of what one looks like, and to the song referenced in the fic. The song is also linked as you’re reading the fic. As always, feel free to ask me questions about Hanukkah and I will answer to the best of my ability!

Jack insists that you teach him how to play dreidel so he can play it at Rossi’s annual holiday party. Aaron smiles at the two of you sitting on the couch as you show him the dreidel and explain the game. Thankfully, you’d been able to find a dreidel that had the sides labeled so it’s easier for Jack to pick up on the game and learn the different Hebrew characters.

Of course, you’d also sang the dreidel song which Aaron laughed at. You shot him a glare; you’d never claimed to be a good singer. The song is just helpful, especially for kids. And one of the few Hanukkah songs you can teach Jack. Jack sings along, catching on quickly. You smile, happy that he seems to be so interested in Hanukkah and celebrating it. Aaron’s hand falls on your shoulder, squeezing as he joins in the song. You feel so surrounded by warmth and love, despite only being with Aaron for a few weeks.

They’ve made this spot for you in their lives, and even when midway through Hanukkah the BAU had caught a case and had to travel, Aaron made sure you weren’t alone for lighting the electric menorah you had grabbed from your desk. The one he’d given you. Even if you were lighting it at 10 pm, after a long day at the local precinct, he was there with you. By the eighth day, he was trying to say the prayer with you, stumbling over the unfamiliar words. It’s a sense of comfort, not being alone and having someone to take in the beauty of a fully lit menorah with you. Of course, an electric one isn’t as beautiful as the real candles you have back home, but Aaron tells you that Jack wouldn’t be opposed to one more night of Hanukkah, of a fully lit menorah, maybe some latkes, and definitely some dreidel.

Which is how you found yourself here, on the couch beside Jack playing dreidel while the candles burn low in the menorah in the windowsill. Aaron’s hand stays on your shoulder as he comes around the couch to sit next to you, curling into your side.

“So, do we use the same dreidel for the whole game? Or do we each have one?” Jack asks you.

“Usually, all the players use the same dreidel. It’s more fair that way,” you explain.

“Fair? Why would using a different dreidel be unfair?” Jack looks confused, his eyebrows furrowed just like Aaron’s.

You pause, searching for the right way to explain this to Jack. “Well, some dreidels tend to land on one symbol more than others. To keep the game even and fair, everyone uses one dreidel so there’s no chance of cheating,” you say slowly.

Jack still catches on though, clearly inheriting Aaron’s brains. “So there are some dreidels that land on gimel more? So that means I’d win more!”

“Yes, I guess that’s what that means,” you laugh, “but c’mon, that takes the fun out of the game doesn’t it? And what would that get you anyway, more chocolate? We aren’t playing for money.”

Aaron huffs out a laugh next to you and you lightly elbow him in the ribs. “More chocolate isn’t a bad thing!” Aaron says in defense.

“He can always ask for more chocolate! He doesn’t need to cheat to get it. And shouldn’t you be putting a stop to this?” You raise an eyebrow at Aaron, and he matches it, leaning in to peck you on the lips.

“Can we bring the dreidels to Uncle Dave’s next weekend?” Jack asks, drawing your attention back to the game at hand. All the dreidels Aaron had bought and the ones you’d brought over from your place are strewn across the table.

“Sure we can,” you start slowly, “were you, uh testing them out?”

Jack nods, his smile wide and blinding. “Yup! I know which ones mine. We can teach everyone else! You said before they don’t know the game. That means I can tell them that we each pick a dreidel.”

You bite your lip, holding back laughter. “So, you want to help me teach everyone dreidel?”

“Yeah! It’ll be fun. Please?” Jack asks, his big, brown eyes pleading with you. You sigh and nod and Jack lets out a whoop of excitement, throwing himself back into the couch cushions. You laugh and turn more fully towards Jack, reaching your fingers out to tickle him. He laughs and Aaron joins in, the both of you tickling Jack mercilessly until he’s laughing so hard he can’t breathe.

At bedtime, Jack gives you a big hug and you kiss his cheek as he scampers off down the hallway. Not much later, you’re giving Aaron a kiss goodnight as you leave the apartment, a little more excited for Rossi’s holiday gathering the following weekend.

A few days later, Aaron calls you into his office around lunchtime. You go, glancing at the pile of consults on your desk and wondering if you’d missed something on one of them. He motions for you to close the door as you enter and you do, your suspicion growing.

“Did I miss a paperwork deadline? Why the closed-door meeting?” you ask, a slight panic to your voice.

“No, no this isn’t work related,” Aaron reassures you and you take a deep breath as you sit in one of the chairs opposite his desk. “It’s about Jack. And Dave’s party.”

You nod, silently urging him to continue.

“Jack wants to help you teach the team dreidel, as you know. He also wants to, well, he wants to omit or slightly alter some of the rules,” Aaron explains. You raise an eyebrow as Aaron continues, “He says it’s their fault they never asked you how to play before, so he wants to make, well his own rules.”

You nod slowly, catching his drift. “So, Jack wants to fudge some of the rules to his advantage? This have anything to do with the questions he was asking the other night?”

Aaron bites his lip as the tips of his ears turn red.

“Ok then. Could be fun, teaching this team a lesson.”

Aaron huffs out a laugh at that and you smile at him. He releases you, saying that’s all and you return to your desk.

Dave greets you with a hug and a kiss on each cheek as you walk into his house, a bag on your arm filled with supplies Jack had requested, via a text from Aaron’s phone.

“Let me take that for you,” Dave says, reaching for the bag.

“It’s fine, I’ll bring it to the living room. I need to show it to Jack anyway.” Dave motions his understanding as he retreats to the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on dinner.

You make your way to the living room, delighted to see not only traditional Christmas decorations but some blue light strands and even some blue and silver tinsel. The menorah Aaron bought for him and Jack is on the mantle, all nine candles in place, and you can see gelt on the coffee table. It makes you smile, Aaron being so insistent that there are Hanukkah decorations and even bringing his own. You feel his presence at your back, broad and close and you can just smell his aftershave and you turn to smile at him.

“Jack insisted on the menorah. Even though Hanukkah ended, he wants to see it fully lit one more time. And give you the opportunity to teach the team the prayers, if you want,” he explains, ever aware of the personal boundary that comes with prayer.

“We’ll light them once everyone’s here and the foods in the oven,” you say, “maybe we can pull up that song you found that actually has the prayer in it?”

Aaron nods, remembering the YouTube spiral Jack inspired in a desperate attempt to find more Hanukkah songs. He wraps an arm around your shoulder, giving you a hug before he goes into the living room and sits on the couch near where Jack and Henry are playing by the tree. JJ looks up from where’s perched on the arm of a chair Will’s occupying and smiles when she sees you. You make your way over to them, saying hello and placing the bag under the coffee table.

“What you got in there princess?” Derek asks, leaning down to peek in the bag.

“You have to wait and see,” you say, slapping his hand lightly. Jack meets your eye and beams, and you wink back at him. He scrambles up to give you a hug and squeezes tight, his excitement palpable.

Once everyone arrives and the food is in the oven to cook or stay warm, the whole team settles in the living room. You quickly explain the menorah and light the lights with “Hanukkah Blessings” playing from Aaron’s phone and then it’s time for dreidel.

Jack bounces on his knees, excited to share this game and explain his version of the rules. He’s perched next to you on the couch as you take everything out of the bag. You put the dreidels in a pile, and Jack takes his out of his pocket and places it in front of him. The team tries to keep their faces blank as you pull out gelt, some money, and a few pieces of paper out of the bag.

“So, this year we’re playing dreidel. Jack is going to help me teach you guys how to play. Dreidel is the spinning top game kids – and adults – play during Hanukkah. The little pieces of paper tell you what the symbols mean. They’re Hebrew characters and not all the dreidels have them written on them. The goal of the game is to win the pot. Depending on what your dreidel lands on, there are different actions. Jack, do you want to explain?”

He nods, “There are four sides to the dreidel and each has a different symbol. We start by each putting some money into the pot. Then, we take turns spinning our dreidels. If you land on nun, you do nothing. If it lands on gimel, you win and take the pot. If you land on hei, you take half the pot, and if you land on shin you put money in!” Jack explains, pointing out the characters on the dreidel.

Everyone nods along and then there’s a scramble to claim a dreidel. You notice Jack pushing one towards Henry and smile, knowing he’s looking out for his buddy. Spencer tests a few out before choosing one and shoving the others towards Morgan and Emily. Aaron catches your eye from across the table and your smile turns a little sharp, excited for the chaos that is about to ensue.

“Jack! How do you keep winning?” Morgan yells after the third time Jack landed on gimel, winning a sizeable pot. You have to hand it to him; he’s done a great job hiding the fact that he has a loaded dreidel. Spencer definitely knows what’s going on and has thankfully kept his mouth shut, choosing instead to play along and see the fallout. You’re fairly certain JJ has caught on to the plan, eyeing the piles of money in front of Jack and Henry. You bite your lip, trying to hide your smile and just shrug in Morgan’s direction.

“Lucky kid?” you say, as you put a dollar in the center of the table to start the pot again. Morgan grumbles as he does the same and Will commiserates with him. “It’s not like there’s a strategy to dreidel, it’s really in the luck of the spin.”

And oh, that was the wrong thing to say. Emily’s eyes light up in recognition and she gasps. “No way!” You and Aaron lock eyes and wince a little, knowing that the game is up. You’d both been holding back laughter and enjoying seeing the team get more frustrated as the two kids rake in the money while their own piles dwindled.

Dave catches on next, humming and sitting back in his armchair. He raises his glass of scotch to you and Aaron, conceding the game and just shakes his head.

It’s Penelope who gasps next and points an accusatory finger at you, “You didn’t! Are these even the official rules of dreidel?” she asks, her voice a little shrill.

You blush and look down, knowing you’ve been caught. You pat Jack on the shoulder as you tell him, “you had a good run buddy.” Jack looks at his pile and nods, understanding that the game couldn’t go on forever. Morgan squints his eyes and looks at Jack. He starts shaking his head and you know he’s putting the pieces together. “Technically, these are not the official dreidel rules. But you guys never asked about playing it before, so we figured we’d have some fun with it,” you explain with a shrug.

“Wait wait wait, we?” Morgan asks, pointing fingers at you and Jack before turning to Aaron, “Hotch you let your son hustle us?” Aaron just shrugs and takes a sip of his drink. “Do you even play dreidel with real money?”

You shake your head, laughter bubbling in your chest. Will looks betrayed too, but JJ ruffles his hair and points out the pile Henry has. It placates him a little, knowing that Henry wasn’t caught up in the shenanigans. Jack belly laughs as Morgan shakes his head and talks about never playing dreidel again with him. Penelope and Emily have their heads together and you’re a little scared that they’re planning revenge, but you turn your attention to Spencer instead who’s now seated on the floor next to Henry and spinning the different dreidels with him for fun.

“We are never talking about this again,” Derek says, pointing a finger at you. “I cannot believe you let Jack hustle us at dreidel! And change the rules!”

Penelope laughs and places a hand on Morgan’s arm, “Morgan, think about it, now we have the perfect prank for any newbies on the team!” she exclaims. “BAU initiation – you must get hustled by the kiddos at dreidel!”

resources: all about hanukkah

all about dreidel

Hanukkah Blessings

taglist: @qvid-pro-qvo @averyhotchner

[fuji09]

7, 12, 13 and 19 for the fandom ask ?

(About IT anxiously)

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

I used to like how we all collectively loved the IT kids, adopted them as our own children, and stayed up to date in their lives and watch them grow.

I hate that now because these poor kids keep getting canceled for the stupidest things. Fans aren't allowing these kids, who are not their characters, to grow, make mistakes, and figure out who they are.

For a while, Jack and Finn's beautiful friendship was strained because fack shippers wouldn't leave them alone. They would ask them questions about the other and make them uncomfortable.

Every time these kids get a new boyfriend or girlfriend, fans instantly hate the partner and give the actors shit for dating someone.

These kids have also been quite sexualized as soon as they hit 18. Like people literally wait for them to turn 18 so it's ok for them to now find them hot.

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I like redemption arcs. For some reason this fandom seems to find redemption arcs as abusive. The way I look at it, these characters aren't real, if someone wants to write Henry Bowers or Patrick Hockstetter with a redemption arcs, go for it!

Also these characters were kids and I believe all kids can be redeemed because kids are constantly growing and learning. It's usually less likely for adults but it still happens with adults too.

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

A lot of people hate Bill. Either finding him boring, annoying, or a terrible friend. I think that has a lot to do with the mixture of how his character is portrays through 3 forms of media. The book, the 1990 miniseries, and the 2017 and 2019 movies.

In the book Bill cheats on Audra with Bev.

In the movies Bill as a child tends to have tunnel vision when it comes to Georgie. His friends are put in danger because he's trying to find his little brother. Although to be fair, when he is an adult he tries to go face IT alone so he doesn't do that again but of course they all choose to go with him.

In the miniseries I believe Bill and Bev kiss, but it's been years since I've watched it so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.

All those things and more combined really seem to stick with fans over the good qualities Bill has. I think it just caused fans to dislike him and make him a terrible friend and totally asshole in a lot of fics.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Hoo boy, that's a loaded question.

I think a lot of this fandom tends to be hypocritical. I've had friends write dark content and people have attacked them or ran them out of the fandom entirely. This fandom is for a horror story and I think a lot of people forget that. Most content is sweet and hell fucking yes I love it, but the original story is horror and dark content shouldn't be not allowed in a horror fandom.

I've seen people send death threats, insults, and telling people to kill themselves because their content is on the darker side and not uwu sunshine and rainbows. Those same people will enjoy other horror content in other fandoms just fine, but almost see dark content in the IT fandom as like a personal attack against them.

[notimefics]

When Will We Get The Time To Be Just Friends - H.C.

Word Count: 2.6K Requested? No, I wish! ahahah Warnings: Nothing much, some swearing and references to sex I guess A/N: So this idea came to me after listening to Hozier’s “Almost (Sweet Music)” and Amy Winehouse’s “Just Friends”. Two absolutely brilliant musics that I highly recommend you listen to while you read this. 

The silence between us as he put the plates in the washing machine and I plated the desert got unbearable and I decided that I had to say something. Some part of my brain also decided that I had to say the most stupid thing ever. 

“You seem happier,” I said, thankfully the stupid part of my brain refrained from also expressing the mixed feelings I got as a result. There were few things in the world that brought me more joy than seeing him happy, but it was also so painful to be aware that it nto because of me but because of her. 

Henry’s face fell and he looked pained, I cursed my brain for making stupid decisions. I shouldn’t have said anything. He hesitated for a second and then just blurted it out. 

“She laughs like you,” He said it so quickly that I was sure I had heard it wrong. A silence fell between us. 

“What?” I said, once again interrupting the silence.

“I didn’t notice it until tonight. But a while back Jack said a joke and you both laughed and she sounded almost exactly like you. I realised that that’s why I find her almost bearable,” 

“Oh,” I said shocked. We were silent again. 

“I know it’s fucked up,” He said, making him the one to break the silence this time. I wasn’t able to answer right away, it was all... so much! And then, I started laughing lightly. 

“It really is kind of fucked up, yeah,” I said with a chuckle. “Oh god! Now I’m thinking about whether I laugh like her or not! I hope you’re happy knowing that you’ve ruined laughing for me,” He laughed as well but after a second he was frowning again, his face fell a bit to the side and his shoulders slumped a little and he just looked tired. 

“Why can’t we be together?” He asked putting the plate he had been holding down on the counter. 

“Come on...” I whispered and looked down. “We’ve talked about this.”

“I know, I just... I need you to remind me,” I sighed, it wasn’t fair, but still I did as he asked.

“We can’t be together because we like each other so much. But our jobs means that we are always away from each other and if we started dating then we would resent each other. So we agreed, that even if we did have... other types of feeling for each other it was better to remain friends, when the alternative was that in a few weeks or months we would be hating each other,”

“You know, at the time it made so much sense,” He said and he was smiling as if it was a joke, but his eyes betrayed him. “Except now, every time I think about it it sounds dumber and dumber and I just want to be with you,” Henry said taking one step closer to me, resting his hand on my waist, eyes looking down at where his hand was. I couldn’t help but put my hand on top of his, longing for contact, my hand now looking so small in comparison to his. A small smile reached his lips as our hands touched. 

“Come on, I know we haven’t been any saints, but you have a girlfriend now and the guilt would kill you... if she doesn’t first,” I joked, but much like Henry, I’m afraid my eyes were probably betraying me as well. That and the fact that I wasn’t able to get away from him, not even to take my hand from its resting place on top of his. 

“That’s not what I meant,” he said softly, almost in a whisper. “It’s never what I mean when it comes to you. I mean actually being together,” He sad, finally looking up from where his hand rested, and looking into my eyes. 

“You have a girlfriend who is currently having dinner in my dining room with some of our friends and we’ve slept together got knows how many times without actually being together, like you put it. So forgive me for not knowing that it’s never what you mean,” I said, growing frustrated and finally being able to take my hand from his and taking a step back, away from him.

It was unfair. We had agreed that it was a bad idea to start dating. We had agreed! together! It was not fair for him to ask me to be the one to uphold it and remind us of that when I wanted to break their pact as much as he did, even if I knew it was a bad idea. It was not fair that he got to make me confused all over again. 

He groaned when I took a step back. “Well, I’m obviously going to break up with her now that I know about the laughter thing. I’m fucked up, but not that much!” 

Before I could answer Jack walked into the kitchen and I was thankful I had taken that step back.

“My god, how many deserts do you have to take you guys so long to brin--- Why the long faces?” He asked as soon as he got a good look at our faces. I think the tension between us was palpable. 

“Henry was just telling me he didn’t get a call back for a role he really liked,” I lied as I scratched my hear. Taking that opportunity to get away from Henry before we could say anything worse, I grabbed the plate with the desert and headed towards the door. 

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that man,” Jack says as I am passing him.

“Yeah, it’s all the worse because it was one of those roles of a lifetime, you know?” He said loud enough so I could hear it. He wasn’t fair. 

“Oh my god, is that meringue? I love meringue!” His girlfriend, Rose, said before I could in any way react to what he had just said. “It looks amazing!” 

“Thank you,” I said trying to smile at her and the other people in the table who were also commenting on the meringue. 

The rest of the night passed and I think I probably didn’t say more than 10 words except to say goodbye to my guests. I wanted to have a good time with my friends, that was all I wanted. That was why I planned this dinner and then as I was talking to Jack and Henry, Jack said in a mocking tone that I had to invite Henry’s girlfriend so we could all meet her. I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend, but I pretended that I wasn’t hurt and I invited her.

I knew that I wasn’t going to enjoy the dinner as much now that I had to deal with a constant reminder that I was not with Henry and was not going to be with him anytime soon. But it was bearable. And at times, Gemma and Julia were so much fun that they managed to distract me from that prospect (a prospect that was seating in the chair just next to mine). I was managing to get through the dinner! I was managing to be ok! But then he had to come and do this! 

I thought about all of this after they were gone and I finished cleaning everything up and putting my pyjamas. I tried to use my anger at him for being so unfair to force a realisation that he was actually a knob and that I didn’t like him. A task made that much harder because I knew he was actually a wonderful person. 

As I was to get into bed, accepting that I wasn’t going to get over Henry anytime soon and that only distance and time would allow for that, someone rang the door bell.

Someone must have forgotten a coat or a scarf or something. I walked to the door but at the last second decided to ignore it, hoping that whoever was on the other side of the door would think that I was asleep and would return in the morning. 

"Y/N!” I heard Henry’s voice calling from the other side. Oh now, I was definitely going to ignore it. Time and distance was what I needed from him, not being alone with him after a few drinks. I just wished he would stop talking so loudly, he’d wake up the neighbours. Still, I was ignoring him, so I turned around and silently started walking back to my bedroom.

“Come on Y/N, open up. I know you’re not asleep, I saw your light was on when I was getting out of the car.” I heard Henry say again, this time louder. Oh god, my neighbours were going to kill me. Uffing and puffing I rushed to the door. 

“Were you really ignoring me?” he said a little hurt as soon as I opened the door. 

“No, I was getting in my pyjamas so I couldn’t come right away,” I lied, always quick on my feet. 

“You always scratch your ear when you lie,” He said with a small smile and I quickly took my hand away from my ear. “It’s your tell,”

“I don’t have a tell,” I said as I moved aside for him to come in. 

“Why were you ignoring me?” He asked and I decided that maybe it was best if I just said the truth, then maybe we could move on. 

“Because I think that I need time and space from you, we both need it,” I said trying to be as calm and collected as a doctor explaining a diagnosis. 

“Don’t say that,” he said and everything about him, from his eyes to his shoulders to his voice expressed his sadness at my statement. All I wanted to do was to hug him and kiss him and tell him that I take it back, that I didn’t mean it. “I broke up with Rose,”

But we had agreed that it was a bad idea. 

“I think it’s for the best if we just stay apart for a little while,” I repeated

“Why?” He said throwing his hands in the air. “I meant it when I said that every time that I think about all those reasons we said I realise that they are bullshit!” 

“That’s not true,” I said trying to remain calm. 

“Oh really? Because the main reason for us not to be together is so that we can remain friends, but now you need time and space from me. So, I say that if we’re going to fuck up being friends we might as well do it for a good reason!” He said loudly, a certain desperation in his voice. 

“No because this would be temporary and then we could go back to being friends, but if we start dating and we break up... I don’t think we could come back from that,”

“What if I don’t want to come back?” He asked this time softly, almost as if it hurt to say it. “We are making all these rules based on the assumption that we will break up, what if we don’t?” 

“What?” I said with a chuckle. “And we get married and live happily ever after?”

“Is that so hard to imagine?” He asks with a frown when I don’t answer he smiles a little. “And wouldn’t it be worth risking everything?” He said walking towards me again but this time, with no one in the other room to catch us I wouldn’t be able to stop us if he touched me, so I took a step back making him look hurt again. 

“Henry, we made the assumption that we would break up because neither of us have jobs that are easy on relationships,” I told him softly. 

“Yeah, but it’s us. If we managed to stay friends for so long now, why would we not manage to have a relationship?” He asked. 

“It’s different, you know that” I told him. I was only able to argue with him because I have argued all of these things with myself, late at night when all I wanted to do was text him and tell him that I missed him. 

“Yeah, from friendship it might be. But is a relationship that different from what we had the last two times I was back, before we got all caught up in this nonsense of how we would ruin everything by being together,” 

The first time we slept together was when he went out to celebrate the fact that he was back home after shooting I can’t even remember where for too long. We went out with a bunch of friends but we were so drunk when we got to the club that we danced with almost no one else and then, we took a taxi with Jack and we dropped him off and then it was just me and him in the taxi and we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, so when the taxi stopped in front of my place we both got out. He was home for a week that time and we were together every day, Sometimes it was just breakfast or dinner because he had to be with his family and other people, but everyday we were together. Then he went shooting in LA and we called each other every night, well my every night his every afternoon. We didn’t say anything much on the phone, it was just us talking about our days, and it was easy and fun. And he was back not too long after that and it was still easy and fun and then before he left again he remembered about our friendship! How we couldn’t endanger it. 

“You brought it up!” I said angrily. I should have just ignored him and let him wake everyone up, at least I would have avoided this conversation. 

“Yes! Because I feel and act like god damned teenager and I was afraid of fucking things up with you, but I’m still fucking things up with you somehow so...!” We were silent again and I felt too tired to be angry. 

“You can’t do this to me,” I told him tiredly. “I was starting to resign, and accept that we were not going to be together and you come and you make love declarations and... you can’t do this,”

“I’m sorry. I really am.” He took another step forward and hrld my hands in his, and he looked at them as he spoke. “But don’t resign. Just... give me another chance.”

“And how do I know you won’t change your mind again?” I asked.

“Because, I changed my mind because I was afraid of how much I loved you and I still am but I know now that there is nothing I can do about it,” he smiles and squeezes my hand comfortingly. “What would I do without you making fun of me?”

“You’re head would get too big for your body... and that’s saying something,”

“See?” He said with a chuckle, I could fee his eyes on me but now I was the one looking at our hands. 

“It was a compliment if anything,” I told him with a little smile looking up at him.

“And you do need someone to warm your hands and feet,” He said remembering me of how whenever we’d wake up together he’d complain that my hands and feet were freezing and proceed to try and warm them up. 

“I love you, too,” I conceded finally. “But this is your last chance, yeah?”

“I won’t need another one.” He said and, with a brilliant smile he leaned in to kiss me. “Happily ever after remember?” 

I chuckled and nodded. “Happily ever after,”  A/N: I hope you liked this, if you did feel free to send a request and/or follow me and like this! Thanks a bunch!

[raging-violets]

“I know you still love him/her.” + your choice

Criminal Minds: Because of You / Prompt / JJ, Spencer, and Averey

Based on: 15x04, “Saturday”

Authored by: Rhuben

Standing side by side, JJ and Averey took in the sight of Spencer Reid. He was tall and gangly as he always was. But, he was in a sweatshirt. A sweatshirt. Ever since she had met him, she hadn’t ever seen Spencer in anything casual. Not even jeans. Except one rare occasion they tried hard not to bring up. Not even a t-shirt. Never without multiple layers. He was the physical embodiment of “dress to impress,” if his big brain wasn’t already doing so.

“Whoever this conversation was with,” JJ said with a knowing smile, “she’s put a smile on your face I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Spencer pressed his lips together, pursed them, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it. He bowed his head. Then, his eyebrows furrowed together, and he looked JJ in the eye. “Wait, ‘she’?” he said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t say who I had this conversation with.”

Averey rest her arm on JJ’s shoulder, using her hand to cover her smile, scratching around her mouth. “It was definitely a girl, mate,” she said, her nose wrinkling as she smiled. “Clearly. JJ’s right, the only other time I’ve seen you smile like that is Halloween.”

“Because it’s the greatest holiday of the year,” Spencer said, lighting up. “It’s the strangest, most mystical day of the year. You get to dress up as whoever you want, watch scary movies, go door to door to get candy, carve pumpkins – you can take the time to remember those who’ve passed. I mean, it’s great. And…” He cleared his throat, his smile shifting to one side of his mouth, “and for one day, I wasn’t the weird kid.” His smile returned, and he shrugged. It was gone a moment later, a troubled expression suddenly appearing on his face. “Hey, so let’s go see the new baby.”

“Not so fast.” Averey stuck out her hand as Spencer moved to pass them. JJ followed her lead and the two of them pushed him back. She squinted, scrutinizing him. “What’s that look in your eyes?”

“What look?” Spencer asked.

“Spence.” JJ’s eyebrows shot upwards. She crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Spencer replied. “Just, uh, anxious to go see Simmons’s new baby.”

JJ and Averey exchanged glances. “Well, you know there’s only a certain amount of people they can have in the room at one time, it’s probably already too crowded,” JJ said. Averey nodded emphatically. “In fact, I remember when I just gave birth to Henry – phew – it just about wore me out.”

Averey waved her hand in the air. “Yeah, and, really how big is a baby going to grow in a few minutes, or hours, or days?” Averey asked. “They all look like potatoes, anyway.”

“Well, with women only being dilated ten centimeters, it’s not uncommon for people to think newborns are ugly,” Spencer quickly explained. “In fact, most newborns have a point to their heads because of all the pressure and the muscles forcing it out of the birth canal for hours.” He started nodding his head, slowly stepping around them. He started walking backwards, nearing the Simmons family’s hospital room. “It would even be more defined if the baby needs to be taken out by suction because the fontanelle hasn’t all fused together yet because baby’s bones are softer, to allow for more flexibility in the birth canal. It could take as long as four months or so before the baby’s skull is fully formed.”

“JJ,” Averey said, “You mind if I talk to Spencer alone for a few minutes?” She turned towards JJ, pulling her mouth to one side. She tapped her bottom lip with her index finger before she pointed at Spencer. “I think I know what’s up.”

“Sure, of course,” JJ said with a nod. “I’ll just be at the vending machines. I practically had Will buy out all of the Hot Cheetos in the hospital after both my pregnancies.”

“Ooh, if they have any Cheese Curls, get some for me, please?” Averey asked, giving JJ a toothy, pleading smile, clasping her hands together.

“You’ve got it.”

“You know, it’s been found that the chemicals that make the spicy powder on Flaming Hot Cheetos has been linked to many hospital visits,” Spencer said. JJ lifted her eyebrows, giving him a close-lipped smile as she turned away from him, clicking her tongue as she did so. “It can lead to ulcers, intestinal erosion, and gastritis.”

“Spencer, sit down,” Averey said, putting a hand to her forehead. “I know what you’re doing.”

“Hmm?” A confused look crossed Spencer’s face. “What?” He used his thumb to point over his shoulder. He pulled is lips downwards in the corners. Widened his eyes in innocence. “I’m just going to see the baby. And saving JJ from severe abdominal pain.”

“Right. Fair go, Spencer, but you’ll have plenty of time for Matt and Kristy to pawn the baby off on you,” Averey said, swinging her arm in a circle, pointing towards the empty seats in the waiting room. “You can help accelerate her reading level, teach her the wonders of the world, and all of that. She’ll be graduating secondary in no time. And if a little pain is a result of those Hot Cheetos, I’m sure JJ will enjoy herself in the meantime.” She pointed to an empty chair. “Sit.”

Spencer darted his eyes back and forth before doing as he was told. Lowering himself into a hard, plastic seat, he placed his hands on his knees, drumming his fingertips on his kneecaps.

“Spencer, you don’t have to beat yourself up for enjoying a conversation with a woman,” Averey said.

“I-I’m not,” Spencer said. He stopped tapping and rubbed his hands on his thighs before clasping his hands together.

“Ok.” Averey let out a soft sigh before leaning forward in her seat. “Maeve wouldn’t want you to hold yourself back from being happy.”

“I’m not doing that, either.”

“Then why are you still here?” Averey asked. Spencer looked startled, his face scrunching into a look of confusion. She tilted her head to the side, holding it up with her index finger, elbow resting on the arm rest of her chair. “Mate, your face was lit up like a Jack O’Latern when you walked in here. Just because you spent the afternoon talking to someone you just met. Why aren’t you still talking with her?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer. “It wasn’t easy for me to feel like I was ready to start dating after Noel died. I felt like I was cheating on him in a way.”

Spencer blinked. He swallowed. Sat up straight in his seat. “You did?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah. It sucked,” Averey said bluntly. “How do you not feel like you’re doing something wrong? I thought Noel would be the only bloke I’d ever spend the rest of my life with. It felt weird to find out I could have the same strong feelings for someone else. Anyone else.”

Spencer bowed his head for a moment, before looking back up at Averey. “Maeve made me feel like I was normal,” Spencer replied. “Even when I worried I was having a psychotic break. She made me feel like I wasn’t weird for knowing so much, because she was intelligent, too.”

“Being an intellectual isn’t weird, Spencer,” Averey reminded him, “it’s who you are.”

“That’s what I mean,” Spencer said, his voice cracking slightly, “Maeve made me feel…like me.”

“Believe me,” Averey said, slowly blinking, “I know the feeling.” She watched as Spencer’s eyebrows pulled towards each other in the cute confused face he always made. She cleared her throat, leaning forward in her seat to rest her forearms on her knees. “Does this other girl give you that same feeling?”

“Well,” a thoughtful look came across Spencer’s face, “my therapist asked me to have a normal conversation with someone today. And we did. We—we had a nice conversation. Not about work.” Averey lifted an eyebrow. “Well, maybe a little bit. But we also talked about everything else.” He blinked. “And then she pushed me into the sprinklers.”

Averey snapped her fingers. “That explains the civvies,” she said with a smile.

“Yeah, and then I carried her through the sprinklers in retaliation,” Spencer said with a nod. A sly smile slowly spread across Averey’s face. “She was talking about decency and then turned right around and did something not decent.”

“So, you were flirting?”

“What? No, I was…”

“Flirting.” Slack jawed, Spencer’s gaze darted around the room from object to object. Averey hid her smile, and a small laugh, behind her hand as she watched him. “You know all Maeve wanted was for you to be happy,” she said as soon as she managed to get control over her laughter.

“I was happy with her,” Spencer replied.

“True,” Averey agreed. “But who said you could only have one thing, or in this case, one person in your life to make you happy?” She leaned forward and gently hit Spencer’s knee with her hand. “I know you still love her but take it from someone who’s done this; don’t ever let your happiness be determined by one person. No one’s asking you to forget Maeve. And knowing that you have an eidetic memory, I reckon you never could, anyway.”

“Thomas Merton,” Spencer whispered with a smile.

Averey’s nose wrinkled as she did a double take. “Who?”

“Maeve knows,” Spencer replied. His smile widened.

JJ slowed her footsteps as she neared them, arms filled with bags of snack foods. “Is it ok for me to come back?” she asked, making a show of extending her footsteps. “Everything ok over here?”

“I don’t know,” Averey said, slouching in her chair, albeit with a grin, “with a big brain like that, it’s hard to know if it’ll understand such simple topics.”

“We’re ok,” Spencer said to JJ.

“Good,” JJ replied. “So now you can get out of here.”

“But…” Spencer grabbed the arm rests of his chair and lifted himself to his feet. “I still haven’t seen the baby.”

“She’ll still be a baby whenever you see her,” JJ replied, handing Averey a bag of Cheese Curls (“Yay!” Averey cheered, grabbing the pack and hugging it to her chest). “Matt will understand.” She fixed Spencer with a hard stare. “Go, Spencer.”

“Run if you have to,” Averey added.

Spencer lifted himself up and stopped part way between standing and sitting; an odd squat. “But, maybe I should—”

“Go,” both girls said in unison.

With that, Spencer jumped to his feet and ran out of the hospital wing. “Oh my gosh,” JJ whispered, sitting down next to Averey. She set the bags of snack foods down into the chair next to her before pulling open a bag of Hot Cheetos.

“Jayje.”

“Hmm?”

Averey used her hands to indicate between herself and JJ. “We both know that Spencer was able to skive the physical tests at the Academy,” she said. JJ nodded, popping a Cheeto into her mouth before licking the powder off her fingers. “But that,” she pointed to the spot Spencer was just standing, “was the worst running form I’ve seen in my life.”

“Yeah, uh,” settling the bag in her lap, JJ used her free hand to push her fingers into her hair, scratching at the back of her head, pulling her hair to one side of her neck. “I can’t explain that. Stick a gun in his hand, and he follows through with the correct form; finger off trigger, down at his side.” She lifted her hands and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t think anyone can explain that,” Averey said, settling back in her seat, laughing quietly. She was silent for a moment before saying, “Hank Spencer Morgan for Spencer, Rose Mary Simmons because ‘it’s close to Rossi’, what do you reckon I have to do around here to have a bloody baby named after me?”

-

[ Random Angst Starters | Ask Box ]

[broadway-book-badger]

April Reads

Hey everyone, its that time again. It’s now May, which is crazy, and I’m back at uni for the final term of my first year. The Easter holidays just weren’t long enough! Exams are in 2 weeks, and I’m like not prepared at all, and over the next few weeks when we could be revising, we have to do this massive group design project. We’re half way through now and its not too bad, but I could really just do without it…. I went on a Star Wars pub crawl the other night, dressed up as Rey, which was a lot of fun, and there are balls and other exciting end of year things coming up. I can’t believe how quickly this year’s gone - I’m done with uni on 7th June, and then I have about a week before I fly out to the US for the summer which is very exciting! But also, time passing, very scary, all the rest of it.

Anyway, over April I managed to read 4 books, all of which I will be discussing under the cut. As always, full spoiler warnings in case I go into specific plot points - enjoy!

1) The Graveyard of the Hesperides by Lindsay Davies

The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence is one of my favourite childhood book series, and I saw this a while ago and thought it looked like the same sort of thing, but for grown-ups! I actually didn’t realise until I started reading that this is actually like the 4th book in a series that’s a spin-off of a different series, but that didn’t really matter and I thought it worked pretty well as a standalone. I feel like maybe I’ll read more at some point, because I enjoyed the characters and its a period of history that I love. 

I thought it was an interesting mystery, and thought it was cool to see a different side to life in that period to what I’ve read before, as this centres around the bars and prostitutes in a pretty rough bit of Rome, and the contrast between the terrible and sometimes quite uncomfortable to read about lives of these girls compare with Flavia Albia’s big wedding and happy home life. I can’t work out how old Flavia is supposed to be though, because she has younger sisters who are in their teens, but she’s marrying a guy who’s about 40, but back then they often used to marry older guys anyway, so I’m just not quite sure, but that’s just a stay though that bothered me a little bit.

The mystery didn’t go where I thought it was going to go, but I was pretty happy with the resolution that we got, even if I thought that the murderers being randomly struck by lightning and killed was pretty silly.

2) Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

I read The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul back in 2014, and really enjoyed it, so it was really nice to pick up this sequel and see what all the characters are up to several years later. Firstly can I just say - I cant believe she killed off Jack! He was such a great guy, although I appreciate that it did then give Sunny a nice storyline about trying to work out what to do next. I really loved Joe as a character, and I cried at the part where he told her about his experiences in the internment camps in WW2.

As with the first book, I enjoyed reading about life and the culture in Afghanistan because its a part of the world that you see a fair bit of on the news, often not in the best way, but you don’t actually know a lot about it, so I found all that really interesting. Halajan is an absolutely brilliant character; I love the way that she’s seen so many different regimes come and go that she almost seems to know that things will change for the better again and does what she wants and doesn’t care. One of the storylines I enjoyed the most though, was the culture clash between Kat and Layla in America, because it is really interesting to see both sides of that “Why do these people do that?” sort of thing. Also because they’re both teenagers so I can relate a little bit more than I can to the older women.

The storyline with Zara wasn’t quite what I thought it was going to be. It’s not that I thought it would play a bigger part (it lead to the coffee house having to close after all), but I think maybe I thought that it would have a happier ending, like Yazmina’s story did in the first book. But I suppose that’s what makes it more realistic - that these things do happen and they often don’t have happy endings. I did love that they turned the coffee shop into a women’s refuge though, I thought that was a nice touch and I liked that all the characters were reunited at the end, even if its just for a visit!

3) Blue Lily, Lily Blue and The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Aaaaahhhhh, so I read these back to back because I just had to finish the series and it was so good! Although, I did have more thoughts when I finished Blue Lily, Lily Blue that I now can’t remember because the Raven King happened and oh my god. I have a lot of feelings and yes, I cried.

First, what I remember thinking during book 3, I loved the bit where Maura was thinking about the note she left, and wishing it had been more specific, and I thought Gwenllian was an interesting twist - “When I didn’t mention the second sleeper, I did not mean bring her here!” Blue and Gansey’s developing relationship was so cute, and everyone’s increasing magic and powers were really cool too. The bit in the cave at the end where Gansey wakes all the bones was so good, as was the bit where Gansey and Ronan show up for Adam’s court case. Alex told me that someone got killed off near the end of this book, but Persephone! I wasn't expecting it, until just before when I realised where it was going, and got sad. Then the scene in TRK about how the 3 psychics met was perfect, but also sad because Persephone. Finally, that ending. Yeah, I sort of screamed a little bit then immediately picked up the next one. I’m glad I didn’t have to wait!

Now, book 4. One of the things I love is how well this series balances all the weird magical stuff with mundane teenage stuff, like college applications and the toga party scene. The toga party was great. I thought the demon was very well done, especially all the descriptions of it unmaking Cabeswater. Horrible, but at the same time good, especially as it got stronger towards the end and took over Adam and stuff. I was nearly late for something because I was trying to finish it, and my friend rang me after I’d been crying and wasn’t sure if I was ok. I mean I was upset when I read the prologue and was like - Gansey knows?!?!?!

But yeah, the ending. She went there. I know it’s been promised for the whole series, but Gansey died, and I cried because it was so well written and his sacrifice and the kiss and everything. I was hoping that they would find a loophole and I was so glad that they did, and I’m happy with what it was. It didn’t feel like a cop-out which those sort of things sometimes can. It was when he went into the cave where Glendower was and he had Henry’s jumper on and the water was dripping on his shoulders and I was like no, no, not yet, it can’t happen yet! I also thought that Gansey was going to die at 6:21, and that was the significance of all those chapters where the time had stopped and it was freaky as hell. It wasn’t, but that would have been cool. I had another theory to do with Gansey actually being Glendower reincarnated, but that was neither proved nor disproved and I'm not sure how I feel about it now. I also thought that Glendower being dead worked really well for the story even though Gansey’s breakdown and decision afterwards was heartbreaking.

I think that the sort of circular time thing is a little bit hard to get your head around, even though it works with the sort of vague rules of the magic, it can be a little confusing, like how that Ronan dreamed Cabeswater but it existed before that and Noah was the one who told Gansey to find Glendower in the first place because he’d stuck in a loop. Speaking of Noah, I understand that he had to move on, it was the only way I could really see his story ending, but I wish he’d gotten the chance to say goodbye to the rest of the Gangsey. I like how Adam finally managed to make his peace with his old life, and that Blue, Gansey and Henry are going on a road trip.

Finally, just a couple of favourite quotes: “Trees in your eyes. Stars in your heart.” Basically, I love everything about that scene with all the psychics in the bath talking to Blue about her future. Also, “He was a book, and he was holding his final pages, and he wanted to get to the end to find out how it went, and he didn’t want it to be over.” Words guys. Words. I’m going to stop now because this got incredibly long and rambly, but I loved this series and all its characters a lot, so there’s that! 

[thisgeekyteacher]

October. That was a month… And November has been so brutal that this is coming supremely late in the day! But back to October: Two jobs, one crashed and burned the other one stuck, so I can now say I work in London, how surreal is that… I commute on the tube, there is a boy, a routine is slowly coming into being, and all these wonderful people I have known all over the world are popping up all over London. I’ve no idea how life works, but it does so in mysterious ways, that’s for sure!

HEADLINE OF THE MONTH

October has been another month of fact buried deep under the weight of untruths, opinion posing as fact, and illusion. In the run up to the US mid-term election, the world has been watching the already sinking ship be battered by ever more waves of racism, anti-semitism and white supremacy, all wrapped up in the neat package that is “Make America Great Again.” At time of writing, the results of the mid-terms have been coming though, and the Democrats have taken a majority in the house.

In a world where borders are becoming increasingly meaningless, no matter what Trump and company are trying make people believe, I take a vested interest in what’s going on across the pond. As of today, whilst by no means a fix in any stretch of the imagination, things are looking a little brighter for our friends in the states.

It’s a start.

FOOD / DRINK

Having a job is an amazing way of getting the diet (by which I mean regular meal times, because diet, who’s she? I don’t know her!) My month hasn’t been completely bereft of food or cooking, however, but I am ashamed to say that there is a lack of photographs – what kind of blogger have I become (one who is remedying this in Novembers post, that’s what kind, but for now imagination will have to suffice.)

First up, the Thai round the corner. A few minutes walk from the homestead is a pub-come-Thai restaurant by the name of Latymers, which is as good as the Thai round the corner from my flat in Hong Kong. The food is good, the atmosphere is great and the staff are so utterly delightful I wish I could go more frequently just to see them! A Thai Red Curry is always my default, however they’re also surprisingly easy to get wrong. I’m please to say that the Red Curry at Latymers is everything you could wish for (I always have the beef) and Ali informs me that the Pad Thai is on point also.

I think it was early October I ended up in Neal’s Yard with my sister. It was time for food and as we were in the area, went to the Wild Food Cafe. The food was utterly delicious and we felt very virtuous. Neither of us are vegan or vegetarian, but we appreciate our veggies and good, seasonal, healthy food. The menu has changed since we went, so I won’t bore you with the details, but I highly recommend checking it out. Take a friend and share so you can try lots of things!

One delight I have found, in returning to the UK, has been brunch. There is nothing like a full English for making your Sunday great, and there’s a fantastic wee place near the boy’s that’s that good we’ve made return visits. My stomach is not enough of a bottomless pit for me to handle the supreme breakfast, or whatever it’s called, on my own, but it’s well worth it, and the boy makes no complaints at having extras!!

Cooking wise, it’s still been pretty simple. Honey ginger chicken is a regular, Chili con carne is back on the rotational menu, spiralised courgette salad was a thing for a week, and parsnip and butternut squash soup has been made. My cooking is still haphazard as I’m still (well into November) lacking a solid routine, but I’m, closer than I was!

READING & WRITING

When it comes to reading, I’m having a bit of a love-hate battle with the tube. On the one hand, you have a designated reading slot thrust into your lap. On the other hand, I’m still enough of a noob to the London Underground that I dare not read for fear of zoning out and missing my stop. I find I get quickly engrossed and miss a handful of stops. I’ve not overshot my stop yet, but I have a feeling it will happen one day.

Despite this inner battle, I have managed to get a fair bit of reading done this month – some old favourites (which is apparently a weird thing to do, re-reading books…) and some new ones.

Matthew Reilly has been high on my reading list, with the newest Jack West Jr. book, ‘Three Secret Cities‘, being released on Thursday November 8th in the UK (I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s already out by the time this is published) I’ve been re-reading the earlier books, and other Matthew Reilly books too.

I forced one of his books, ‘Temple’, upon the boy. I think it’s a pretty good introduction into Reilly’s world of fast-paced, action-movie-in-a-book fiction. A stand alone that weaves a modern day and historical narrative together, it was demolished within no time – and to my shame it was taking me a lot longer to read a book in the same time frame! The Reilly books I’ve read this month are, in no particular order, ‘Four Legendary Kingdoms’, ‘Six Sacred Stones’ and ‘Area 7′, the latter being the second Shane Schofield book.

Other books I’ve read this month include, in fiction, Ruth Hogan’s ‘The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes‘ and Mo Hayder’s ‘Birdman‘, and in non-fiction ‘Natives‘ by Akala.

There has also been much reading of cookbooks after the discovery that was Leon, a fast food joint in the UK which is utterly delicious. And yes, cookbooks are their own separate category. It was the ‘Little Leon: Lunchbox‘ that kicked it off, and the possession of an iPad consolidated. I have a lot of cooking to do… and if I were to recommend any Leon books to you, they would be ‘Leon: Fast and Free‘ and ‘Leon: Family and Friends’.

  WORK

So, I have a job. Phew!

I actually love my job. A bit of researching, a bit of writing, a lot of learning about all sorts of new things, and a lot of stuff I can’t put here.

But that’s ok, because this blog is for other things. So in a work related sense for the teachers out there, I’m working on updating my Narnia Winter Camp, and (finally) making templates for my felt advent calendar. I’ve been using mine for years before finally getting round to this! But, it is the season, after all.

Look out for posts on these coming soon!

TV / FILM

Honestly, I’ve barely watched anything. There’s been much Star Trek (again) some Doctor Who (because UK Netflix rocks) and Stephen Colbert, naturally!

There are a millions and one things I’m keen to watch, should I ever get round to it… but we’ll see!

ACTIVITY

London is full of so much stuff it’s overwhelming, and blink and you miss it. Unless you know people. One of the most amazing things I saw this month, and possibly ever, was the Thomas Cole exhibition in the National Gallery. Ali took me, wanting to see the paintings in person. I had no idea who this guy was, let alone anything about the series of paintings in question.

They were incredible.

Not only is he an incredible landscape artist – the way he captured the afternoon light on the aqueduct outside Rome was as good as any photograph, but the depth of detail, and the brutal yet ethereal constant truth of The Course of Empire series, leaves an impression that still has not been shaken.

If you are ever lucky enough to see them for yourself, I highly recommended you go.

Another art museum I visited in October was the Tate Modern. Not the easiest to navigate, but full of some fascinating and varied artwork. The Magic Realism exhibition particularly resonated with me. Feature art from Weimar Germany, it’s fascinating, disturbing and so, so compelling you can’t look away. I still need to get my hands on the book of 5 essays that accompanies the exhibition.

Another exploratory trip with Ali was to the Cutty Sark, a former tea clipper. She is an utterly beautiful ship, a masterful piece of engineering combining all the beauty of a wooden ship with the industrial nature of steel as nautical engineering moved into the Industrial Age.

She has been beautifully preserved, and it’s amazing being able to clamber about her and go in and out of her cabins. It helps when your pal is a wee bit of an encyclopaedia giving you all the cool info (no, I’m not going to tell you – where’s the fun in that!)

We went home via a Thames ferry, which gave us a totally different view of London, driech day though it was, and it was fascinating seeing all the through ways, doorways and passageways that are still here or blocked up on the banks of the Thames. You just don’t see them when you’re on land and, pricier though it is, I would highly recommend a wee trip on the Thames if you can!

CRAFT

The limit of my crafting this month has been my letter writing. I’ve not had the time, or the wakeful brain, to do much else. It’s a slow return to form, and it’s been knocked back by life in recent weeks, but slowly and surely the creative buzz is returning and I’m desperate to let it run wild! Watch this space. I hope.

MUSIC

Autumn brings with it a rush of releases. I don’t know if that’s because of Christmas, or if the summer months are more conducive to creativity or song writing (I say that like there are rules to how long it takes to write an album) but hands down the best release – or acquisition for October – has been SIX. It absolutely has to be the first to go in here, because oh my days, what an album! Telling the stories of Henry VIII’s six wives, it’s clever, funny, insightful, packed with cracking tunes, and if I were still teaching, I’d be working this into a class (there goes that creativity, and hopefully worksheets will be coming to a post soon!!!)

Six is, for me, one of the best musicals I’ve heard since Hamilton. It’s touring the UK just now, and will be back in London after Christmas. I can’t wait to go and see it on stage! Until then, you can find me busting out ‘House Of Holbein‘ (and ‘Couldn’t Get It Up‘ from Hot Gay Time Machine, another cracking tune, I highly recommend.)

Outwith music from the stage, there have been some stellar releases this month, some I know I’ve missed, like the new Black Eyed Peas. There have been offerings from Twenty One Pilots, You Me At Six, KT Tunstall, Monsta X, Stray Kids, Ella Mai, Jess Glynn, Tom Odell, BoA, Lukas Graham, Zion. T, IZ*ONE, among many others, and an honorary mention goes to Christine and the Queens, as I’ve only been listening to the new album solidly since early October, so I’m counting it despite its September release.

There’s too many to go through them all individually, but I think it’s about time for another Mixtape Monday post!

FASHION & BEAUTY

I’m going to be honest, I am all at sea trying to deal with a British autumn, and one in London, which carries it’s own set of challenges. One day it’s warm, the next it’s freezing, but I’m still not sure it’s cold enough to warrant the layers, and thickness thereof, that I see on the tube any given day. My Northern Pride as returned with a vengeance. It’s pretty much been rotating striped jumpers… I’m a woman of simple tastes (in bright colours…)

Makeup wise, I’m holding on to my Korean faves, but have also moved on to The Ordinary. At my sisters persuasion, we headed off to Covent Garden (the same day as Neal’s Yard, in fact) and she wheeled me into The Ordinary store. I’ve been using their hyaluronic acid, foundation and primer for the about a month now, and they really are excellent. It’s the best primer I’ve ever used, my skin is better than it’s been in quite some time, and they’re so affordable! 10/10 would recommend.

I’ve also been enjoying the BaByliss Tight Curls Wand. This little baby makes tiny curls, that stay in your hair and fall out beautifully. It may take a hour to curl my hair, but it’s worth it (well, debatable, but I’m sold!)

MISC.

It’s hard to think of any miscellaneous items or events when most of your time has been spent job hunting, working, sleeping or just trying to re-assimilate back into your home country – not the easiest of walks in the park, I can tell you.

If I’m pushed, what shall go here is my lamp. Because, you know, buying a lamp is a sign you’re staying put in a country!

The lamp in my room peaced out early in the month, and Ali picked out it’s replacement before I did (I mean, she is an Architect with an on-point interior design eye!)

So, yes, I have a lamp (mine has a grey shade) it’s beautiful, and it’s good to be home.

  If you fancy keeping this geeky teacher running, chip in for that finest of energy juices: coffee!

Best of… |October 2018 October. That was a month... And November has been so brutal that this is coming supremely late in the day!

[filmclingon]

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

OK, I did my usual ten-hour-flight-four-movie-minimum my last trip, was totally underwhelmed by EVERY movie I picked. ”Call Me By Your Name”:  Don’t ask me why, but for some reason the movie “Tammy” came to mind as I raised the mental question, “Wouldn’t this movie be rape-y disturbing vs. arthouse if Timothee Chalamet were an underage girl?”  “Victoria and Abdul” was simply an anachronistic abomination, and I was felt embarrassed for both Judy Dench and Eddie Izzard.  “Wonderstruck” was interesting, but I wasn’t always able to follow all the convoluted plotting; but I adore Julianne Moore (I too dream of owning such a bookshop), Tom Noonan (nice to see him NOT playing a psychopath, e.g., “Manhunter”), and of course the Queens Museum 3-D NYC Panorama that I first saw via faux “helicopter ride” as a five-year-old at the 1965 World’s Fair.  And then there was this film.  I do like Frances McDormand, even as her offbeat artistry threatens to engulf her in irritating smugness.  And I have loved Sam Rockwell since “Galaxy Quest” -- which was a performance every bit as terrific as his turn here.  But for me, the Oscarworthy turn was Woody Harrelson’s -- you wuz yet again robbed, Woody.  The sound track was interesting, winning me over immediately with Renee Fleming singing that lovely 19th Century ballad “The Last Rose of Summer” (I’m a sucker for Thomas Moore -- as in the Irish poet/composer, although I’m fond of the 16th century English More as well).    LOL I was trying to remember where I’d seen ex-husband John Hawkes, and Googling revealed he was the Henry Fonda character in the Amy Schumer spoof of “12 Angry Men.”   Jeez, actress Sandy Martin as Martin’s mother:   Fantastic performance, but a double-take clone here of 50′s actress Betty Garde (”Caged,” “Midnight Sun” episode of “Twilight Zone”). But cast aside, there were so many holes, distractions, annoying loose ends, abrupt plot developments, as if the obviously liberal-leaning creators were doing their best to squeeze in every social justice issue possible.  Just finished reading a 2/22/18 Vox review online suggesting that Irish film-maker (ah, could explain “Last Rose of Summer”)  Martin McDonagh “...seems to have crash-landed into a setting he doesn’t really understand and didn’t particularly care to learn about before he tried to mimic it onscreen...”.  Yeah, that sounds right.  And I have questions about Harrelson’s character:  Couldn’t someone have taken a little time to explain how this small-town police chief ended up with a much younger Australian wife?  And wouldn’t Harrelson’s killing himself to spare his wife and young children the horror of his cancer death ALSO have screwed them all out of collecting on his life insurance?  That last one really bothered me, since it’s likely something that would never have occurred to the (let’s admit it) elitist film creators.   OH AND:  NEVER WATCH THIS MOVIE ON AN AIRPLANE.  The ubiquitous profanity was so ridiculously bowdlerized as to be jarring.  I don’t think “crud” has been used for “shit” since Jack Lemmon’s final line in “Mister Roberts.”  And replacing “cunt” with “cook” -- WTF?  Ditto “motherlover” and every other damned variation of the word “fuck” -- I think they even changed “damned” to “darned.”  The word "cock" was replaced with something so silly I've blocked it from my memory bank. Awful, awful, awful -- I’d rather they simply omitted the film from the selection.

[junker-town]

Top daily fantasy football plays for Week 3 of the NFL season

With Week 3 of the NFL season upon us, we take a look at some of the best values to be found on DraftKings and FanDuel, and some players worth fading.

SB Nation will be bringing you the top daily fantasy options each week through the regular season and into the playoffs. We have a small sample size of which offenses look good to target and others to avoid until further notice. As for who should be in your lineups, here are the top value plays of the week, with an eye toward low ownership and high upside.

Quarterback

Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions vs. Atlanta Falcons ($6,200 DK, $7,900 FD)

Stafford is as hot as any quarterback in the league, yet he is still priced like a third-tier starter. And facing the Falcons at home should not be a sign that things will slow down anytime soon. This game has shootout written all over it, with Stafford perfectly capable of 300 yards and 3-4 touchdowns. At his price, that is an epic steal.

Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints ($6,600 DK, $8,100 FD)

I believe in the redemptive powers of the Saints defense. I believe Newton, after two sluggish performances, is ready to show off his surgically-repaired arm. I expect Christian McCaffrey will turn at least one short Newton pass into a touchdown. It’s get-well week for Cam.

Kirk Cousins, Washington vs. Oakland Raiders ($6,100 DK, $7,600 FD)

Like Stafford, Cousins is priced low and takes part in a game with shootout potential. That’s about all Cousins and Stafford have in common after two games, but I’m willing to give Cousins the benefit of the doubt here, especially with Rob Kelley potentially out of the lineup, forcing Washington to throw first and throw often.

Trevor Siemian, Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills ($5,500 DK, $7,400 FD)

Until he actually shows that his touchdown explosion the first two weeks is some sort of fluke, I’m totally ok with throwing him into my lineups. The Bills defense has been impressive, but the Broncos offense has it all working, with Siemian the main benefactor.

Discount Darling: DeShone Kizer, Cleveland Browns at Indianapolis Colts ($5,000 DK, $6,900 FD)

Throw last week out the window. Everyone knew Kizer was going to struggle on the road against a brutal Baltimore defense. The Colts are nowhere near as dangerous, especially if Vontae Davis is out again. Kizer should be able to wake up a few echoes this week as a passer and a runner.

Avoid: Drew Brees ($7,200 DK, $8,400 FD)

Brees at home is one of the best fantasy quarterbacks there is. Brees on the road against a good defense is another matter. If this game were at the Superdome, I’d be all set to get on board for the second-highest QB salary on DraftKings. But in Carolina, I can’t justify not paying the extra $100 and going up to Aaron Rodgers. Frankly, if I’m paying up at QB (and I’m not) I would fade both of them and go down to $7,100 and play Matt Ryan.

Also consider: Derek Carr, Oakland; Philip Rivers, Los Angeles Chargers; Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks.

Running back

Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers ($8,000 DK, $8,300 FD)

Here’s hoping players on DraftKings see Le’Veon Bell just $800 more – and an unusually cheap $8,800 overall – and also get spooked by the red “No. 1” under opponent’s rank and just stay away, because that Chargers’ stat is super misleading. C.J. Anderson and Jay Ajayi had big games against the Chargers the first two weeks and we know what Hunt is capable of. I love him as a sneaky high-priced play.

Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints ($6,100 DK, $6,800 FD)

I wrote about it in my start/sit article, but the Saints are the worst team in the league at defending pass-catching running backs and McCaffrey is certainly due for a breakout game. His price tag is depressed for the amount of production available to him this week and his ownership should be low after two underwhelming performances.

C.J. Anderson, Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills ($5,800 DK, $6,900 FD)

Anderson has been one of the top stories of the year at running back, completely ending any mystery over who should be the main back in Denver, something that wasn’t decided when training camp began. Anderson should keep on rolling against a Bills defense that has been better, but hasn’t faced a back as hot as Anderson through two weeks.

Theo Riddick, Detroit Lions vs. Atlanta Falcons ($5,100 DK, $5,600 FD)

Tarik Cohen lit up the Falcons as a pass-catcher in Week 1. Ty Montgomery was almost a carbon copy in Week 2. See a trend here? Riddick should be just as busy in a back-and-forth affair, having posted a big game against the Cardinals in Week 1 when his services were needed. He was quiet against the Giants after his team took a big lead, so hopefully that drives people away. He’s got 20-point upside, maybe more.

Discount Darling: Chris Thompson, Washington vs. Oakland ($4,500 DK, $5,600 FD)

Thompson has already racked up three touchdowns through two games and should see an increased workload against the Raiders if Rob Kelley is unable to play. He should also see an increased workload because this potential shootout is going to call for more passing than handoffs. Thompson is well underpriced for his level of production.

Avoid: LeSean McCoy, Bills ($7,000 DK, $8,100 FD)

If the Broncos can totally remove Ezekiel Elliott from a game even though he’s on a team with a great offensive line and established wide receiver options, what can McCoy do, despite the huge number of touches he’s expected to receive? Most weeks, McCoy’s price would seem fair, but in a matchup that’s as tough as it gets, he’s a bit too rich for tournament blood.

Also consider: Ty Montgomery, Green Bay Packers, Chris Carson, Seattle Seahawks; Derrick Henry, Tennessee Titans.

Wide receiver

A.J. Green, Cincinnati Bengals at Green Bay Packers ($8,100 DK, $7,500 FD)

Green has not been anywhere near the player we expected him to be thus far in 2017, and that’s great news this week, as the Bengals finally get a defensive matchup that they can exploit. I believe the shake-up on the coaching staff and the 10-day break will all work together to finally get the Bengals offense moving in the right direction, and Green is more than capable of putting up a big number against a defense that was shredded last week by Atlanta.

Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($5,700 DK, $6,000 FD)

The Buccaneers are among the league’s worst at stopping slot receivers, and if Sam Bradford is back under center, Thielen is in position to take full advantage. Even with Case Keenum starting last week against the Steelers on the road, Thielen posted a respectable number. Check Bradford’s status, but regardless, Thielen should be a solid play this week.

DeSean Jackson, Buccaneers ($4,600 DK, $6,400 FD)

With Mike Evans expected to draw Xavier Rhodes, this seems like a good week to look to the opposite side of the formation and give the Buccaneers’ newest acquisition a look. For almost 2k less on DraftKings you get a receiver who can burn the Vikings deep while they focus on stopping Evans.

Mohamed Sanu, Atlanta Falcons ($4,500 DK, $5,400 FD)

Along the same lines as DJax, I had some Sanu in my lineups last week and he paid off nicely with 13.7 points on DraftKings. With all the attention paid to Julio Jones, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sanu duplicated that performance this week, which would pay off his salary nicely. He’s a low-owned contrarian play in a game likely to be a shoot out.

Discount Darling: Devin Funchess, Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints ($4,200 DK, $4,800 FD)

Funchess is in a terrific spot to crush his salary against a terrible pass defense in a role that should expand now that Greg Olsen is on the shelf. The potential has always been there for Funchess and this is a great spot for him to realize it.

Avoid: Jordy Nelson, Green Bay Packers vs. Cincinnati Bengals ($7,800 DK, $8,400 FD)

I always hate paying up for guys who spend the week on the injury report. Even if they play, it never seems to work out with the kind of game you need to justify the salary. The Cincinnati offense has been awful, but the defense is strong enough to make me think twice about relying too heavily on the Packers offense, especially the injured players like Nelson and Randall Cobb.

Also consider: Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks; Michael Crabtree, Oakland Raiders; Brandon Coleman, New Orleans Saints.

Tight end

Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers ($6,000 DK, $7,100 FD)

Kelce exploded last week with an 8-103-1 line against the Eagles. The Chargers are among the worst teams in the league at defending the tight end position and Tyreek Hill is likely to draw the Chargers’ best defender, Casey Hayward. The field could be wide open for Kelce to post another monster game.

Zach Ertz, Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants ($5,000 DK, $6,500 FD)

Ertz is racking up targets and yards as Carson Wentz’ favorite pass-catcher, and that should continue against a Giants defense that allows big games to tight ends. Ertz gets an even bigger boost if Janoris Jenkins is able to suit up and defend Alshon Jeffery.

Hunter Henry, Chargers ($3,900 DK, $5,500 FD)

Antonio Gates got his milestone touchdown last week, and now the Chargers can get back to focusing on the true talent at tight end. The Chiefs allowed Ertz to go wild last week, so the opportunity is there for Henry to improve on his 7-80 line at a discount price.

Jack Doyle, Indianapolis Colts vs. Cleveland Browns ($3,600 DK, $5,300 FD)

The Browns remain the gold standard for targeting tight ends and Doyle has been about the only bright spot in the Colts offense through two weeks. He should be plenty active – and perhaps chalky – this week.

Discount Darling: Seth DeValve, Browns ($2,600 DK, $4,500 FD)

No one seems to be paying attention, but DeValve has posted two solid performances in a row, with eight DK points in each game. That’s better than 3X his salary, which makes him an excellent punt.

Avoid: Charles Clay, Buffalo Bills vs. Denver Broncos ($3,400 DK, $5,100 FD)

Also consider: Evan Engram, New York Giants; Eric Ebron, Detroit Lions; Austin Hooper, Atlanta Falcons.

Defense

Miami Dolphins ($3,700 DK, $5,100 FD)

Denver Broncos ($3,600 DK, $5,100 FD)

Philadelphia Eagles ($3,000 DK, $4,500 FD)

Cleveland Browns ($3,000 DK, $4,400 FD)

Carolina Panthers ($2,600 DK, $4,500 FD)