#sarge being a father figure is my favorite thing ever

[justtkatt]

Couch nap

Grimmons napping is just peak content,,,

and i just wanted to draw everyone else too hehe

[teamhappyme]

all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing

aka the four times you save mike dodds + the one time he saves you

mike dodds x female!reader

word count: 9.3k

a/n: me? keeping mike dodds alive and well in every universe? absolutely. a good old fashioned 4+1 for you folks! this was another labor of love that has been years in the making because I could never string enough good things together - until I did! it's not my best, but it's one of my favorites, and i love writing for this guy! it's a niche character, but one near and dear to my heart. (I refuse to give up my Taylor swift lyric titles so fight me)

****

The first time you saved Mike Dodds, it was from the awful coffee in the squad room. 

It was his first week with SVU, and, let’s just say, everyone is adjusting. He stepped over you while getting the victim’s disclosure, he pursued a lead not pertaining to the disclosure without telling Liv, and to top it all off, Rollins’ sister was behind the whole situation. 

So, it’s been a tense week for everyone. 

After Kim was remanded to Rikers, and Amanda was released from the hospital, everyone could let out a sigh of relief.

You were wrapping up some paperwork in the squad room after getting back from the courthouse, Liv talking with the chief in her office. You could only assume the accolades he was giving his son, while Liv just had to sit there and bite her tongue. You don’t envy the position she’s in right now.

To keep your eyes open a little longer, you made your way to the breakroom to grab a soda. Much to your surprise, you found the sarge at the coffee machine, ready to pour a heaping cup of old coffee.

“I wouldn’t drink that if I were you,” You warned him as you fed a dollar to the vending machine, pressing for a coke to come out. “I guarantee it’s been sitting there since this morning, maybe even last night.”

He nodded, placing the styrofoam cup back on the table. “Thanks for warning me. I’m pretty sure everyone else would’ve let me suffer the consequences.”

“Rollins and Fin would’ve watched the whole thing, but Carisi would’ve ran in to save you. We’re not too fond of perpetuating the newbie pranks, especially on a sergeant.”

You offered him the coke once it came out of the machine, and he took it, giving you a nod of gratitude. He didn’t open it right away, taking a few seconds to fiddle with the tab. 

He looked up at you, looking quite defeated for the confident man that walked in here three days ago. “I’m not trying to step on any toes here, detective.”

“Dodds,” You started, but he cut you off. 

Again.

“I’m the new guy, the new second in command here, and I understand that it’s going to take some time for you guys to warm up to me,”

“Dodds.” You held your arm out in front of you, hoping he would stop talking. “First things first, stop interrupting me.”

He had a sheepish grin, and hung his head. 

“SVU isn’t like the rest of the department. It’s not as simple as getting the statement, arresting the perp, and going to trial. We have to connect with the victim, make sure they feel safe and supported enough to tell their story. And most importantly, we listen to Liv. She gives a masterclass everyday in being an SVU cop.” You paused for a second, taking another look at him. Of course he looked defeated, the welcome into special victims is never an easy one. “Listen, we’ve all been in your shoes. There’s a learning curve, and it takes a minute to get there, but you will. You’ve got good instincts, you’ve got the rank to prove it. You’ve just got to think in another way now.”

You saw the chief exit Liv’s office, and heard the dejected sigh leave Dodds’ mouth.

“I’m not worried about the learning curve. I know I have a lot to learn. What I’m worried about is not being taken seriously.” You looked over at him, and saw that he was locked on his father’s figure, following him out of the precinct. “I know everyone’s worried that I’m the boss’s son, thinking they have to watch themselves around me. But I’m not his puppet, and I’m not here to report back to him. What happens at SVU, stays at SVU.”

“I appreciate that.” He gave you a pointed look, not sure whether or not to believe you, but you only smiled. “Listen, we’re all straight shooters here. I’m not worried about who your father is or how you got this position. Everyone deserves a fair chance, and after these last few days with you, I think you’ll be just fine here.”

Honestly, you were never worried about his placement here. Sure, the rest of the squad was a little suspicious, and maybe gave him a hard time, but he’ll learn his place. And hopefully, they’ll see this guy, honest and vulnerable, instead of the shadow of his father the next time they look at him.

“Thank you. I know you could’ve chewed my head off after that disclosure, so I appreciate your patience.”

You laughed while moving back to the vending machine, getting a coke for yourself this time.

“It was your one free pass.”

“Technically two, since you saved me from the burnt coffee.” He added, walking back to the bullpen. 

“Yeah, next time I’ll let you drink it.”

****

The second time you saved Mike Dodds was after the Lily Evans case. 

It was never easy losing a kid, no matter how many years you have on the job. After three months with the unit, he felt like he hit his stride.

All until today.

It was late when Dodds and Liv came back from the Evans house, looking particularly jaded after informing the grieving parents they closed the case. 

It was business as usual for the next thirty minutes, paperwork was finished, a celebratory job well done for solving something in a timely manner. And just like that, we move onto the next one.

Once Liv emerged from her office, the rest of the squad started to pack up. 

“You going to see Amanda?” Fin asked.

“Yeah, I thought I’d stop by.”

“You know what, she’s been living off takeout. How about we all go up there, and I’ll cook us a real meal.” Carisi interrupted the Lieutenant, Fin in agreement to eat some real Italian food.

The smile on your face was automatic, loving the small moments in your day where there was a little room for happiness. 

“Hey Sergeant, you wanna join us?” You all looked to Dodds, slouched in his chair, the weight of the world resting on his shoulders. 

You’ve all been there before.

“Uh, rain check. Paperwork.” He sat up straighter in his chair, pulling a random file from his desk.

You exchanged a look with Carisi before setting your things back on your desk. 

“I’ll meet you guys up there. And don’t let Fin eat all the garlic bread,” you teased, trying to keep the happy moment alive.  

Once the rest of the squad left, you walked back over to Dodds desk. He continued to comb through the files on his desk, pretending to look busy.

“I know being a Sergeant is a big deal, but there’s no way you’ve accumulated this much paperwork since you’ve been here.”

“Well with all the joy rides you and Carisi go on, you’d be surprised how quickly those car change requests pile up.”

He said with a smile, and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes. 

“As appealing as that pile of paperwork may be, it’s got nothing on a home cooked Carisi meal. So,” you paused, giving him the opportunity to speak first if he wanted. 

He didn’t.

“Why are you beating yourself up over this case?”

“Lily Evans could still have been alive when we first got to her parents house. If I had taken this seriously, we could’ve got to her and maybe she’d be alive right now.”

“Sarge,”

“And I know I should have listened to Liv, she’s got this down to a science. But I just wanted to-“

“Dodds, what did I say about interrupting me?” You chided, and he held his hands out to you in surrender. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but she was gone the moment she got in the van. It’s not easy to accept that at first, but some of these cases, you have to believe it if you want to get through it.”

“I thought it was going to be an easy transition to SVU. Major Crimes was high stress, kidnappings, negotiations, terrorism, all while having the eyes of the media and the city on you.” He shook his head. “I thought I was doing okay. I was listening to the Lieutenant, I was really learning from her, from all of you really. I thought I was bringing something to the table. But Lily, she was just a kid.”

You placed your bag down on the floor, moving to sit in the chair next to his desk.

“My second case with SVU was the Johnny D take down. I transferred from Brooklyn Homicide, so I thought I’d seen it all. Until I walked into that basement, and found four teenagers and kids locked in that basement as sex slaves. I threw up as soon as we got out of the basement, just barely missed Rollins. I couldn’t sleep for the next week, and when I finally cracked, Liv was there to center me. She reminded me why we did this job, of all the people we help, despite the most gruesome cases we catch. It takes a special cop to work in SVU, and you don’t stick it out, you don’t feel this guilt if you’re not cut out for it.”

He looked at you for a few seconds, not saying anything as he took your words in.

“How do you get up and come back to work every day?” He asked and let out a long breath.

“I took Liv’s advice: go home, talk to someone you love, and don’t make this job your whole life. Easier said than done.” You said with a laugh and he joined in. “But you’ve got your dad, he’s been on the job your whole life. He knows what it’s like.”

“He’s not really the talking type. And I’ve never… failed at something before. He expects a lot out of me here, and I want to prove to him that I’m cut out for this.”

��You’re not failing here, Dodds. Trust me, you’d be hearing an earful from Rollins and Fin if you were. I’m actually really impressed with how you’ve adjusted. We’re not an easy squad to assimilate to.”

“You can call me Mike,” he started, a small smile on his face. 

You felt your cheeks get warm, and you hoped to god they weren’t bright red. 

“Okay, Mike. Then pack up your stuff, cause you’re going to eat the best Chinese food of your life tonight.”

“What about Carisi’s fantastic meal?” He joked as he closed whatever files were open and shrugged his coat on.

“He’ll understand. Now come on, we don’t want them to run out of egg rolls before we get there.”

“Alright, alright,” he joked, running to catch up to you. You waited in silence for the elevator, and you felt a shift in the dynamic between you two. A good shift, one that happens when you finally earn the trust of your partner. 

Mike spoke your name as you stepped into the elevator, and you looked over at him.

“Thank you for listening. It means a lot, to know that you have my back, in the field and otherwise.”

You smiled, gently clapping his shoulder as you responded, “Anytime you need an ear, I’m there. You’ve got a squad of incredible listeners surrounding you now. All we ask is the same in return.”

“You’ve got it.” He added without hesitation.

Mike Dodds was going to be just fine here in SVU.

****

The next time you saved Mike Dodds wasn’t exactly your finest moment.

Mike accompanied you to Gary Munson’s house on what was supposed to be a quiet Sunday afternoon. But after a call from his wife Lisa, saying she was finally ready to leave, your Sergeant graciously offered to accompany you to the house.

No one wanted to be back in the presence of Gary Munson, the rogue corrections officer accused of assaulting dozens of female inmates. The case hadn’t even gone to trial yet and it was already causing a lot of tension in the department, not to mention the DA’s office.

“Dragging me out on a Sunday is pretty cruel, even for you Detective.” Mike commented as you walked up to the Munson house. “I smell egg rolls and fried rice in the near future.”

“Hey, I paid last time. It’s not my fault you have a bleeding heart almost as big as mine and agreed to come along.” You said with a grin as you knocked on the front door.

Dodds had been at SVU just shy of a year now, and since the Lily Evan’s case it sort of became tradition to celebrate the closing of a case with that same greasy Chinese food. Even as the cases took longer to close, the two of you could be found there at least twice a week. It became your place, somewhere to meet when it was two a.m. and a case was keeping one of you awake; on a Saturday afternoon when the two of you had nothing better to do with the time off work; and of course, as a reward for helping each other out whenever they asked.

You waited for a minute before knocking on the door again as Mike walked around to the side yard.

“She calls and says she’s ready to leave, and when we get here there’s no answer?”

“What was her exit plan?” Mike asked, joining you back on the steps.

Before you could answer, Lisa opened the front door.

“Hi,” she began, “sorry for keeping you guys waiting.”

“Is everything okay?” You asked, attempting to take one foot in the door when Gary stepped out into view.

“Everything’s fine here.” He answered for his wife, her body stiffening at his voice.

“Mr. Munson, we're here at your wife’s request.”

“I… overreacted when I called you guys. We’re handling things.”

“That’s good to hear. So, you don’t mind if we come in?” Mike asked, trying to get some control of the situation.

“Do I need to call my lawyer?”

“We’re not here to talk about the case.”

“Oh right, you’re here because Lisa wants to leave me. Forgive me, I’m just a big, dumb CO.”  Gary commented as you shared a look with Dodds. 

He was already spiraling.

“Mr. Munson, we don”t want any trouble.”

“Great,” he replied, opening the door further for you to enter. “Neither do I.”

Lisa let out a deep breath as you entered the house behind her. You watched as Gary talked to their kids, trying to convince them everything was normal, but they were too smart for it.

“Why don’t I go upstairs with her and start to pack.” Lisa suggested as she moved towards the stairs, motioning you to follow.

“No.” He commanded back, causing you both to freeze. “She can stay down here with the kids. You go up.”

This was going to be the power struggle of all power struggles. You walked over to sit with the kids as Mike and Gary went into the kitchen. You exchanged another look with him, and he gave you a small nod. It was okay.

The kids slipped their headphones on as you tried to listen in on the conversation in the kitchen, but you couldn’t hear much. You took out your phone to text Liv, a gut feeling telling you this wasn’t going to end easy or as you planned.

You waited for a few more minutes as Lisa packed a bag for her and the kids before coming back down the stairs.

“Alright, Tommy, Annie, backpacks.” She handed her children their bags as they hugged their dad goodbye.

“Ok kids, let’s go,” you started, trying to shuffle them and Lisa out the door.

“Wait, I don’t get a goodbye hug from Mommy?” Gary asked, now cornering Lisa on the stairs. “Isn’t that the jacket I bought you for your birthday?”

“Okay, we’re going to go now,” you ushered the kids onto the stoop, still keeping one foot in the house as you saw Lisa throw her jacket on the floor.

In one motion, he grabbed Lisa off the stairs, pulled a gun from his waistband, and slammed the front door in your face, kicking you onto the step.

“Gary! Open the door!” You yelled out as you got to your feet, banging on the door. “Right now Gary! Open the door!”

After thirty more seconds of incessant knocking with no response, you turned to find the kids huddled together on the sidewalk.

“Ok guys, it’s okay. My sergeant is just going to talk to your parents for a couple more minutes. While we wait, can you go into your nice neighbors house until I come get you?” You noticed the older woman two houses down standing on the stoop, a young girl and a dog with her.

You walked the kids over quickly while calling this in over the radio. You checked your phone to see Liv had answered your earlier text, and that she was already on her way for backup. She should have just come along in the first place.

Instead of going back up the front steps, you ducked under the bay window to try and get a look inside the house. You could see Munson holding Lisa in a headlock, his gun pointed at Mike as he handed over his own guns.

“Shit,” you breathed out, knowing this was going to end with a gunshot from someone.

You backed away from the window and called Mike, hoping to god that you could try and talk Munson out of this before any patrols showed up.

“Detective, you’re on speaker.” Mike said when he answered, the sigh you let out when you heard his voice was a little too loud.

“Dodds, what’s going on in there? The kids are asking for their mom.”

“Tell them she’s not going anywhere.” Gary piped in, his voice beginning to shake.

“I’ve told Gary that we can talk this through, get him what he wants, what he needs.”

“That’s right, I’m here, listening to you, my Sergeant is listening. Do you want me to call a family member, or your union rep?”

“No, I’m done talking. I want you to get my kids somewhere safe, that is all I need. Now, hang up the phone.”

“Mr. Munson-“ the line went dead before you could finish.

“Dammit,” you ran your hands through your hair, trying to think of a way to slow this down. You ran to the back door, then to the storm door, both locked. He had planned this from the moment he came home. This is always how this was going to end.

Back at the front of the house, you saw Liv pulling up and you ran to meet her.

“What’s going on? I got the radio on the way over.”

“Munson’s holding Dodds and Lisa in the house, he’s armed.”

“You didn’t search him?” She asked, and you tried not to take the agitation in her tone personally.

“Lisa told us there were no weapons in the house, we confiscated his piece already. I was getting the kids in the car when all of this went down.”

“Okay. Is anyone hurt?”

“I spoke to Dodds five minutes ago, and they both seemed fine for now. But he doesn’t want to talk anymore.”

You heard the distant sirens, and you could only imagine the escalation Gary was making inside the house.

“Is there another way in?” Liv asked as the first of the patrol cars made their way down the street.

“Back door and storm door are both locked, I haven’t checked for anything else.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

She ran over to the first patrol car, getting ready to set a perimeter around the street and then the house as the rest of ESU began to roll onto the street. Liv kicked it into gear, ordering everyone around and trying to come up with the best plan of action.

It wasn’t until Finn got out of his car that you ran into action to. You began to debrief the hostage negotiators on your last phone call, and to describe Gary’s demeanor through the entire duration of this visit. You stressed to them that he was no longer in the talking mood, but they were still going to try.

“ESU is going to try to plan a route in. You know the layout, what’s the best way in.”

“Fastest and clearest is through the back door. But, Lieutenant, give me two more minutes to find another way in. If I can get in there, one female cop is better than twelve SWAT guys taking him down.” You asked, trying to prove yourself in an attempt to earn her forgiveness quicker.

She thought about it for a moment before slowly nodding her head. 

“You have a minute to sweep the perimeter again for a secondary entrance. Go.”

You wasted no time in running back through the driveway, past the back door and into the backyard. All the shades were drawn except for one cracked piece, giving you a clear shot to the living room. Munson had a tighter grip on Lisa, his gun still pointed at Mike.

You had to get in there. 

The back windows were locked as well as the doors, but you weren’t going to give up. On the side of the house, you noticed the top window opened the slightest bit, and prepared to go in. 

You pulled a lawn chair over to give yourself a boost, and took a deep breath in. The window opened quietly at first, and you could begin to hear Munson’s voice again. Slowly but surely you got the window open in silence, and you swung one leg in to the kitchen.

You froze for a second, stuck without a view of what was going on in the living room, praying no one could hear you. After a few seconds, you swung your other leg in, quickly getting to your feet and grabbing your gun.

“… maybe your lawyer will plea out, 9 out of 10 corrections officers cases don’t make it to trial.” Mike was still trying to talk him out of it, even with a gun to his face.

You peaked around the corner quickly, making sure no one had moved since you looked through the window.

“Munson, drop the gun!” You yelled out as you entered the room, catching him off guard enough for Mike to make a move. 

Lisa slipped out of Gary’s grip and ran over to you as Mike struggled for Munson’s gun. 

“Put it down, Munson!” You yelled out again, but before you could move closer, a shot went off and Mike went down.

Gary froze, putting his arms up as you ran into action. You kicked the gun away from him as SWAT barged in, all guns pointed to Munson.

“Take him.” You yelled out to them as you turned to Mike, finally able to give him your full attention. You knelt down next to him on the floor, watching as he applied pressure to his shoulder. “Hey, can I take a look?”

He nodded, breathing heavily through his nose. You pulled his hand away as blood continued to pour out, but it was a through and through, thank god.

“It’s a clean shot, Mike.” You said as you placed his hand back over the wound, covering your hand with his to apply more pressure. “Hey, stay with me. The medics are on their way in.”

“You shouldn’t have done that.” He got out with a grimace as Liv led the medics into the house.

“I wasn’t just going to leave you in here.” 

You moved out of the medics way, your hands covered in Mike’s blood as they treated him.

“He’s right. What the hell were you thinking climbing in through the window without any view?” Liv asked, slightly less agitated than earlier.

“I was thinking I’m the one who left him in here.” Her eyes softened the slightest, the way they always do when she cares for someone. “And I think you would have done the same thing.”

“Careful,” she replied, a small smile crossing her face. “You don’t want to end up like me.”

“There are worse people to be.”

They finished wrapping Mike up, and you two followed him out to the ambulance. 

“Detective,” one of the medics called out to you as they loaded him in. “He’s asking if you can ride along.”

You looked to Liv for approval who gave you a nod.

“Keep us updated.” She added as you hopped in the back of the bus, sending her a thumbs up before they shut the door.

Mike fell asleep almost as soon as he got in the ambulance, but the medic assured you he was stable. He had lost a good amount of blood, but given the position of the shot, they were confident he would be okay.

The surgery was quick, and the doctor said it was a routine procedure. He’s been sleeping and recovering in the ICU for a couple hours, and the rest of the squad would be on their way over once he was awake.

“Detective, he’s awake.” A nurse came out to find you, escorting you to Mike’s room.

He was sitting up straight, arm bandaged from shoulder to elbow, but he looked completely unfazed.

“I come out of a workout class looking worse than you do right now. How is that fair?” You said as you walked into his room.

“Well, I regularly go to the gym, so that helps.” You rolled your eyes, resisting the urge to smack him on his bad shoulder.

“Ok, hotshot, we get it.” You let out a breath, taking in his hospital state again. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got shot. I know it was a through and through, but God, it hurt pretty bad.” He said with a laugh, only to grab at his shoulder, moving too fast for his new injury.

You thought about what he said earlier, how you shouldn’t have gone in the house on your own. Maybe he and Liv were right. If you hadn’t gone in, without telling anyone, without any backup, he may not have been shot. It could’ve ended peacefully, without any harm to anyone.

“What you said earlier, you were right. I don’t know what I was thinking going in by myself. I put you and Lisa in danger, I got you shot. If you didn’t get the jump on him he could have hurt you two even worse-“

“Stop.” Mike interrupted you, placing his hand on your forearm, gesturing for you to sit down on the side of the hospital bed. “I didn’t say that because I was mad at you. I don’t blame you for me getting shot. You shouldn’t have come in because it could have been you in this hospital bed, with a gunshot wound much worse than mine. And I wouldn’t be able to have that on my conscience, you getting yourself shot for me.”

You didn’t say anything for a few seconds, instead you just sat there, looking at the man that you most definitely would have taken a bullet for. And you’re pretty sure he would do the same for you; how terrifying to know someone cared for you like that.

“I’m really glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would’ve done…” you trailed off, not wanting to think about what could have happened.

“You shouldn’t have come in, but if you hadn’t, I don’t know if I would be sitting here, relatively unscathed.” he reached over, grabbing your hand in his. “Thank you for that.”

You squeezed his hand in recognition as your eyes began to water, not knowing what to say next.

“Are you sure you want to stay with us in SVU? You get shot twice in one year, that would have most people running away.”

“And let you drink the squad room out of coke on your own? Not a chance.” He replied.

“Good. Joint Terrorism would be too boring for you anyway.” You said with a smile.

“In all seriousness, I feel like I can make the biggest difference here. There’s time to move up the ranks later. Right now, I want to be at SVU, with you by my side.” He admitted, as his hand held onto yours tight.

There was a shift in the air, a conversation the two of you had been avoiding for a few months. It wasn’t the time now, and it may not be for a while, but now it’s out there. And neither of you are going anywhere.

A knock on the door pulled you out of your bubble, dropping Mike’s hand as the rest of the squad came into the room. They greeted Mike, lightly ribbing him about having nine lives.

A hand fell on your shoulder, and you looked up to find Liv behind you. She had a knowing smile on her face, but you knew she’d never ask. At least, not yet.

Instead, you focused on your family in the room, and how grateful you were for everyone to be here, safe and sound.

****

The fourth time you saved Mike Dodds happened off duty.

You agreed to be his date to an NYPD fundraising gala that his father was dragging him too. Mike warned you that they were a long night of politics and fake smiles, but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t a little curious to see how the brass lived.

Unfortunately, Mike hit the nail on the head with the political atmosphere. You’d been at the gala barely an hour and you’d already spoken to two people running for district attorney. If you weren’t listening to someone’s campaign pitch, then you were hearing from the brass how much trouble the SVU squad caused the department, despite the “good work” we all do.

“I hate to say I told you so, but, I told you so.” Mike said while handing you a glass of wine. 

“How many of these has your dad dragged you to?” You asked as he took a sip of his beer.

“Too many. And now that I’ve ruined his dreams by staying at SVU, he’s going to continue to drag me to them as punishment.”

“Well, if the drinks and the food continue to be free, I’ll come to as many of these as you need me too.” You offered.

“First I’m paying for Chinese food, now I’m paying for galas, you’re an expensive date.”  Mike joked as you shoved his completely healed shoulder. He hasn’t let you pay for dinners since he got shot.

“That’s the price you pay for greatness.” You said with a smile, making him laugh. “Is he really still pissed at you for not going to JTTF?”

“The Five-Year Plan has been officially ruined, I’ve been told. I must have really pissed him off if he’s calling Matt and begging him to come home.”

“Your brother?” You asked.

The little brother that Mike had spent his whole life looking out for. He was responsible for him since he was a kid, and every one of Matt’s failures was considered one of Mike’s in his fathers eyes. The last time Mike talked to him was last year, after he picked him up from rehab. He was catching a plane to Mexico City with no plans of coming back.

“He called me last week, asked to help get dad off his back. I guess I’m the new disappointment in the family.”

“Hey, if your dad wants to go play savior with your brother, let him. But don’t let him and his agenda get in your head. He’s no better than these political puppets surrounding us.”

“Speak of the devil,” Mike muttered under his breath, nodding his head behind you.

You turned to find his father, Chief William Dodds, approaching the two of you.

“Hi son,” he greeted Mike with a firm handshake, then turning his attention to you. “Detective. It’s nice to see you.”

“You as well, Chief.” You shook his hand next, resisting the urge to squeeze too hard.

“Don’t you two clean up nice. Most cops that come to these things have no idea how to dress, they’ve spent too much time in the ranks to know what life is like outside of it.” Chief Dodds commented, and you gave a polite nod of your head.

If you didn’t care so much about Mike, or your career, you would’ve chewed his head off right here, right now.

“Well, we don’t have time for all the show business like you guys do, we’re busy keeping the city safe.” Mike added.

“My son, he gets so defensive, takes every comment personally.” His father said and turned towards you. “Mike didn’t tell me you were coming tonight, or else I’m sure he would have asked me to be on my best behavior.”

“Dad,” Mike tried interrupting him, but it was no use.

“But I never thanked you, for acting quickly at the Munson call. If it weren’t for your quick thinking, Mike could have been hurt a lot worse.” You took the compliment from the Chief, but waited for the other shoe to drop; you knew when you were being set up. “Although if you didn’t leave him in there alone with an armed perp in the first place, we could have avoided all of this. Nevertheless, it was handled, and I’m sure you acted just as your Lieutenant trained you to.”

It was no secret that Chief Dodds was not Liv’s biggest fan. He undermined her every chance he could, and he never tried to understand how SVU was different from every other department. Mike being placed as the Sergeant was his way of getting an inside scoop, but boy did that backfire on him.

And once you piss off Olivia Benson, you piss off her whole squad.

“Our Lieutenant is the best commanding officer I’ve had in my time at the department. Ask anyone that has served with her in SVU and they will tell you the same thing. It’s a shame that you didn’t get the opportunity to learn some things yourself. A lot of people hold her in high regard, so I’d be careful what you say about her around here.” 

“And if I were you, I’d watch my tone around your District Chief, Detective. Especially with your Sergeant standing in ear shot. It’s clear to me that SVU has no respect for the chain of command, and it would be a shame for you to learn this the hard way. Mike has already had to deal with the repercussions of being tied to SVU.” Chief Dodds threatened, and you actually had the audacity to scoff at him.

Mike began defending you, but you stopped him, holding your hand out in front of him.

“I don’t scare easily, Chief, and it's going to take a lot more than threatening my reputation to get me to turn my back on Lieutenant Benson and Special Victims. As for your son,” you looked back at Mike, his eyes steady on you the entire time. “Sergeant Dodds has been an incredible asset to our squad, so much so that our Lieutenant wanted him to stay in permanently, which I know is a sore spot for your ego. So you can continue to take shots at me, and my character, because you don’t really know me. But I’ll be damned if you think I’m going to stand here and listen to you drag Mike’s name, and his stellar reputation through the mud because he decided to make his own path. One that doesn’t involve all these fancy parties and pictures that you so thoroughly enjoy.”

Chief Dodds was stunned into silence, running a frustrated hand through his hair. He looked at Mike who also had a stunned expression on his face, but a smile was starting to show through.

“Excuse me.” The Chief removed himself from the situation, moving on to the next party goer with a smile on his face.

Once he was out of ear shot, your shoulders deflated and you turned around to apologize to Mike. 

“I am so-“

“Do you want to dance?” He interrupted you, his smile now fully covering his face. 

It took a few seconds for you to actually hear what he said, and when you did, you couldn’t help but laugh. Clearly, he wasn’t mad about you going off on his father. 

“I’d love to.” 

Mike took your hand and led you to the small dance floor, weaving in and out of older couples dancing the night away to the orchestra. You quickly took in your limited audience, including two Sergeants from your precinct, and the deputy commissioner of communications. He wrapped his arm around your waist drawing your attention back to him.

“You alright?” He asked as you curled your hand around his shoulder.

“Just a lot of people here, watching,” you said as Mike began to laugh.

“You just chewed my dads head off, a district chief, in front of these people, and now you’re scared of them seeing you dance with two left feet?”

“I don’t have two left feet.” You replied, squeezing his shoulder in jest. “I just don’t want people talking about me, that’s all.”

“Cmon, they’ve got better things to talk about than me and you.” 

“If they heard anything I said I’m sure they’ll be talking about the crazy SVU detective for ages.”

“Hey,” he squeezed your waist, drawing your attention back to him. “No one has ever stood up to my dad like that, not for me.”

“Well someone should have. I know he’s your dad and you love him, but that doesn’t give him the right to control your life or talk down on you.”

He shook his head as you continued swaying together, slowing down a bit to match the tempo of the music.

“It means a lot for you to do that. And if I wasn’t so impressed with your outburst, I would’ve done the same for you. I should have.” 

“I’m not worth getting into a fight with your Dad, Mike. Like he implied, I’ve got no real future outside of SVU, not that I’m really looking.”

“You’re worth it to me.” Mike said, eyes locked on your own. “If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have made it a week in the squad. You’ve changed my perspective on a lot, both on the job and off.”

You smiled, lightly ducking your head as you felt the blush creep onto your cheeks. 

“Well you’re not so bad yourself, Dodds. You’ve taught me a lot too, maybe too much. One day I’m coming for that Sergeant’s shield of yours.” You joked, and he threw his head back in laughter. 

It was so nice to see him like this. It was rare to get a moment of pure happiness on the job, and you weren’t sure how honest you wanted to be about changing your relationship outside the precinct.

“As soon as you pass the Sergeants exam, you can have it. You’d be better at this job than me any day.” 

You moved a step closer to Mike as more people stepped onto the dance floor. You’d never seen this many cops dancing in your life. 

“I meant to tell you earlier, but, you look beautiful tonight.” Mike said, trying not to be obvious in looking you up and down. 

You were blushing now for sure.

“Would you take it back if I told you I had to borrow this dress from Liv?” You had panicked last night, not knowing what to wear to a gala, and not wanting to embarrass Mike. 

“Not a chance, extra points for trying so hard.” You laughed as he put some space between you. 

“Mike, I know you’re a show off, but you better not be doing what I think you’re doing.” You warned, but it was too late as he lifted up your arm, gently spinning you underneath him. He smoothly pulled you back into him as a few people cheered for you. “Do you have to be good at everything?”

“Unfortunately, I do.” You hid your smile in his shoulder, not missing the way his hand slid comfortingly over your waist and lower back.

And unfortunately, you fear you could get used to this feeling.

****

The first time you were saved by Mike Dodds was in the middle of a bar fight.

This wasn’t your finest moment, yet you rarely seemed to be on your best behavior around Dodds.

The two of you were undercover in a joint operation with Vice. The bar had been home to an underground gambling ring for years, and a few weeks ago you got credible intel that they may be branching out into sex trafficking.

Three other Vice detectives were in the bar with you as their Captain and the rest of their squad surveilled from an unmarked van outside.

“You want a refill?” Mike asked as you finished your second club soda, trying to hide the sour look on your face from all the bubbles.

“And pretend I’m not choking on this awful carbonation instead of a smooth vodka? No, I’ll pass.”

He got the bartender’s attention and ordered himself another alcohol free beer and a Diet Coke for you.

“Thanks.” You tipped your glass to his and took a refreshing sip before conducting another once over around the space. 

“Simmons is still situated by the door, Ruiz and Lawrence have been under for an hour now.” Mike stated into his earpiece, updating the team outside. 

There was no timetable on this, and as far as Liv was concerned, we were on our own in terms of conducting our investigation.

“This whole joint investigation thing is feeling a little one-sided to me.” 

“Well give it a little longer before doing a lap to check-in with Simmons. If they don’t want to help us, they can tap in two of their guys from outside. Lieu already made that clear to their Captain.” Mike said before taking a sip of his non-alcoholic delight, his face scrunching in discomfort.

“Looks delicious.” You said with a smile, earning a laugh from the Sergeant. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, have you talked to your dad since the gala a few weeks ago?”

“Oh, you mean since that SVU detective tore a Department Chief to shreds?” He joked as you rolled your eyes. “I have, and he was extremely talkative thanks to the fact I avoided him for a week after.”

“Do I owe you Chinese food for the rest of the year in order to keep my job? I should know that my outbursts don’t come cheap.”

“He told me that he was impressed by you.” Mike started, a smile slowly appearing on his face. “He was mostly upset about your blatant insubordination, especially in such a public place, but he was impressed. I think he may even like you.”

“Are you messing with me?” You asked, not fully trusting the relaxed smile he was giving you.

“He asked that I bring you along to the next gala, all of them actually, ‘if it wouldn’t be too much trouble’,” he finished in air quotes, signifying the direct words from Chief Dodds. “My father is impressed with you, and probably wants you to be his next conversational opponent.”

“And what did you say, you know, about bringing me along?” 

You hoped you didn’t sound pathetic, or eager, or anything other than an inquiring friend. But it was hard to act normal when you felt the butterflies in your stomach and your heart rate increasing over the fact that Mike and his dad were talking about you.

“I said I’d have to ask her. Not sure how she feels about spending so much of her free time with the Dodds.” He said before turning in his chair to face you. “But I told him I had a good feeling you would, you don’t just tell off a Police Chief for a work friend. And of course, as long as Liv lets you keep borrowing her clothes.”

“Funny,” you said while shoving his shoulder, earning another laugh from him. It was then that you saw Ruiz head up the stairs, subtly motioning for you to meet her in the bathroom. “Ruiz is back up, I’m gonna go check-in with her.”

You walked straight to the bathroom, having to dodge a noisy bachelorette party on your way. Ruiz was washing her hands when you walked in, and you quickly cleared all the stalls before she began talking. 

She kept it short so that she could get back to the game, but they weren’t getting far on the sex trafficking front. Apparently the boss was going to be here later on, but even then there was no guarantee he would offer anything up. Their investigation, of course, was going to be handled by the end of the night, but there were no promises for us. 

You waited a full three minutes to exit after Ruiz in case anyone was watching her. When you left the bathroom and started making your way back to Dodds, you saw a Blonde woman sitting in your seat, cozying up next to him at the bar. As you got closer, you recognized her from the bachelorette group, a sparkly pink sash giving her away.

“Hey, everything okay?” Mike asked as you joined the two of them.

“Yeah, just a bit of a line in the bathroom.” You said, watching as the new girl continued to look Mike up and down. “Did you make a new friend?”

“I’m Alex!” She jumped in, big smile covering her face as she moved to place a hand on Mike’s arm. “I came up to get a round of shots for my group of friends. It’s Lizzie’s last weekend as a single woman, and we cannot let her be sober for one second of it. But then I got distracted by Mike over here - a guy as handsome as him shouldn’t be sitting alone at a bar.”

“Well, luckily I came back in the nick of time.” You said, hoping she would order her shots and be on her way. 

“I was telling him about our weekend - we’re down here from Albany, we’re not city girls. We’re headed down the street for our next stop, apparently there’s a popular karaoke bar that all the famous people stop in at. I told Mike he should come with us, invite a few of his cute friends along too to keep the party going.”

“I don’t really see him joining you for the rest of your night, Alex, but thanks for the invite.” You replied while taking a step toward Mike, lightly wrapping your arm around his shoulder, hoping she would take a hint. 

“Okay.” Alex said with a chuckle before continuing, “But you should be careful, leaving your man alone in a bar with those pretty brown eyes of his, cause someone’s gonna come up and take him away.”

“His eyes are hazel, actually, they’ve got a little bit of green in them depending on the lighting. I know it might be hard for you girls from upstate to differentiate colors, so I can help you out.”

You never considered yourself to be a jealous person, especially over someone who wasn’t even yours to have. But something about this girl coming up to Mike on this night, after the recent events that have gone down between the two of you, you felt a little protective over him.

“Everything alright over here Alex? Where are those tequila shots?” Another blonde woman with a pink sparkly sash came over to us, checking in on her friend and drinks.

“Yeah, they’re coming. Just trying to tell my new friend here to keep an eye on her boyfriend or he may decide to join the group of pretty out of town girls for the night.”

“Listen, Alex,” you remove yourself from Mike, taking a step closer to the girl who was really ruining your already shittiy night of undercover work. “I don’t know how bar etiquette works at your little townie spot up in Albany, but us city girls like to take the fight outside.”

“Alright, why don’t we just continue our night and let you girls go back to your party.” Mike interjected, feeling his hand on your lower back, steadying you out as Alex only laughed.

You took another step toward her, not knowing what your next move was, before the bartender stepped in.

“You,” he pointed to you, then to the door. “Fighting’s gonna get you thrown out any night lady. You’re done.”

“Thank you, sir,” the girls replied.

Before you could open your mouth to say anything else, Mike was standing behind you, arm wrapped around your waist to lead you toward the exit. Simmons eyed the two of you as you walked out, shaking his head with a smile on his face. You weren’t going to live this down.

The two of you made it down the block before breaking away from each other, looking back to see if anyone followed. When you looked back at Mike, his hands were on his hips, a growing smile on his face. 

“Don’t,” you warned while running a hand through your hair. “Don’t say anything.”

He didn’t, but he couldn’t keep his laughter in any longer. You wanted to yell at him, tell him it wasn’t funny, that there was still an investigation going on, and this was completely embarrassing for you both. Instead, you joined in his laughter.

“Were you really going to fight the innocent bachelorette party from Albany?” He asked through his fits of laughter as you rolled your eyes.

“Of course not. But how else was I supposed to get the drunk bridesmaid away from you so we could continue our surveillance? Offer her more sparkles?”

“Or offer to buy the next round of shots.”

“Now you tell me,” you said as you leaned against the side of the building. “At least we didn’t mess up the whole op, then I’d be in really deep shit not only with Liv but with Vice, and there’s nothing I hate more than owing a favor to a Vice cop.”

He nodded, agreeing with you as he settled in next to you. You knew you should go check in with the Captain, confirm they don’t need you for anything else before leaving the investigation, but you weren’t going to move until Dodds did. And the way he relaxed next to you, you had a feeling he didn’t want to leave any time soon.

“No one ever notices that my eyes are hazel, you know. It’s kind of weird how you hit the nail right on the head with the fact about them turning green.”

You turned to look at him, a little smirk on his face as he leaned his head back against the wall.

“As weird as talking to your dad about your close friend’s gala availability?” You hit back, watching him laugh and nod along with your point. You smiled to yourself for a second, remembering the conversation from earlier. “You’re sure I don’t owe you, he does like me, or at least tolerate me?”

“Do you want to talk about how much my dad likes you or how much I like you? Cause let me tell you, I’ve got him beat by miles, I like you more than I’ve ever liked anyone.”

“Mike,” you started, watching as he pushed himself up to stand in front of you.

“Are you really going to look into my hazel eyes and tell me you don’t like me? That you weren’t going to get in a bar fight with a random girl for me?” He asked, and you let out a shaky breath.

“You know it took me a while to figure out your eyes were hazel, I thought they were brown for a while. I’m not some crazy person who just studies people’s eyes all day.” He nodded, trying to hide his smile as he let you finish, “and I wasn’t going to get in a fight with her. Maybe, maybe I would have shoved her, but I wouldn’t have thrown a punch.”

“Well that’s reassuring.” Mike added, and you couldn’t deny him now. Not when he was listening to you ramble on about his eyes, and his father, and all the weird things you two knew about each other.

“I like you too.” You confessed. “And you’re right, I wouldn’t attend galas and tell off police chiefs for just anyone. I’d only do it for you, Mike.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He said while wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you close.

Mike’s eyes flickered down to your lips, taking his time bringing his gaze back to your eyes. You felt yourself nod the slightest bit, gently guiding him closer to you. His lips were soft against your own, slow and gentle as you kissed him back. He pulled away for a second, another check-in, before you leaned in again. You let him take the lead as you ran your fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, trying not to smile as you felt his teeth graze your bottom lip.

“Sorry,” he mumbled against you, lightly pecking your lips a few times.

“Don’t be, I’m not going anywhere.”

Hours could have been spent lazily kissing Mike Dodds, feeling your stomach slowly build with butterflies. But you caught the smile he was trying to suppress, and it became contagious.

“Well,” he said with a laugh, gently resting his forehead against yours. “I guess you do really like me.”

“I guess so.” You leaned back to kiss him again, not wanting to let him go now that you know how good he feels. His tongue danced across your lips for a few seconds, and you relished in the feeling before slowly pulling back. “I don’t mean to be a total buzzkill, but we aren’t exactly going to be able to hide this for long at the station.”

“We’ll figure it out.” He assured you, gently kissing your forehead. “If some shuffling needs to be done, or conversations need to be had, we’ll take care of it.”

“So your dad may get to move you around after all, how nice.” You said with a laugh, as Mike nodded. If it meant you could be together, and Mike was happy with it, why the hell not. 

Before he could say anything else on the subject, his phone began to ring.

“Please don’t be Liv, please don’t be Liv,” you begged as Mike pulled away from you, quickly answering his phone.

“Hey Lieutenant,” he greeted Liv on the other end of the call and you closed your eyes. This was going to be good. “No, the Captain got it wrong. She got us thrown out for threatening to fight another woman.”

You rolled your eyes as he continued to talk to Liv, pacing the sidewalk trying to set the story straight and wrap up this godforsaken joint investigation.

Mike pulled the phone away from his ear now, walking back over to you.

“She wants to talk to you.” He said, trying to hand you his phone.

“No, she’s going to yell at me in that Liv tone, when I didn’t really do anything wrong!”

You caught his small smile before he gave you a quick kiss.

“Then you can explain that to her.” He said, holding out the phone to you. He kissed you one more time, for good luck and courage, before placing the phone in your hand.

You tried to hide your smile as you took a breath and placed the phone to your ear, ready to plead your case.

“Hey Lieu, I did not get into a bar fight with the bridesmaid from Albany.”

****

[readinginthereadyroom]

let’s talk about 9-1-1 buddie headcanons:

- eddie gets rid of his truck. christopher is getting older and wants more independence so he gets something with better clearance. and I’ve decided that something is a dodge durango. eddie is actually really into it. can’t stop talking about the fold down seats and towing capabilities. buck teases him and calls it his soccer mom van. then immediately starts researching CP-friendly soccer leagues for chris.

- buck strikes me as a podcast kinda guy. I feel like a lot of his random facts probably start with information learned via podcast and then researched separately on google or wikipedia. 

- luddite eddie my beloved. but not like luddite luddite. eddie’s a millennial so I see him as okay with all the 20th century technology he grew up with and just not all the newfangled smart home/internet gaming stuff. 

- abuela gives eddie an old turntable and a box of records and he falls in love with it. likes to play spanish love songs while cleaning on the weekends.

- eddie breaks up with ana. he does it quietly and cordially a couple weeks after the sniper incident.

- buck and taylor date for a little while but never really take off. and it’s super important that it’s buck who makes the decision to break up. they both have very busy lives and different priorities. and taylor acknowledges she probably shouldn’t have kissed him in the first place. she just hated to see buck so broken and wanted to comfort him. they decide they are better as friends.

- bosko and eddie friendship rights! eddie actually apologizes to her and they become gym buddies. lena stops going to the junkyard fights and finds an MMA gym that she’ll take eddie to. during the pandemic they somehow find themselves doing socially distanced tai-chi in the park. they keep it up once the gyms reopen.

- side note: lena does in fact get a cat. he’s a huge floofy maine coon named sarge who absolutely adores eddie. rubs his head all over him and immediately worms his way into his lap when eddie visits. he hisses at buck tho and lena finds it endlessly hilarious.

- demisexual eddie! I like the idea of lena no-nonsense asking eddie if he’s ace one day and eddie just having an internal panic attack but not being able to figure out why. karen gently brings it up few months later and he’s just deny deny deny. then he overhears david telling michael that he gives off ace vibes and that’s the last straw. so eddie pulls a full buck and starts researching just to prove everyone wrong. except it’s like a lightbulb clicks on and yeah. maybe there’s something to this.

- eddie and karen have a book club every other week. usually novellas or a short story collection. queer theory and literary fiction. the occasional poetry book. at some point they invite david to join them. they also have a not-so-secret romance novel exchange because they are big saps.

- eddie is also a sucker for a really good cup of black coffee. has a favorite hole-in-the-wall cafe where he buys beans in bulk. buck calls it his diesel fuel drink and grimaces at the taste. he prefers simple oatmilk latte from the place near the station. and yet buck always seems to know what days eddie will be running late and rushing to work and has a cup from said hole-in-the-wall coffee waiting. despite it not being on buck’s route. 

- christopher loves buck’s loft. buck keeps a stash of toys and coloring books in his coffee table trunk for when he visits. chris sees the stairs as a fun challenge and will often ask to go up and sit on buck’s bed to watch the city. or sit on the patio while buck bbq’s dinner for the three of them. he thinks it’s the coolest house ever.

- buck actually rides his bike. it’s not just for show. especially after the pandemic hit. he likes to go out in the mornings. drives to a nearby trail on his days off and enjoys the scenery while the sun comes up. sometimes eddie and chris meet him there after his ride and they have a breakfast picnic.

- the diaz-buckley-han’s share one netflix account. it’s technically buck’s in that he pays for it, but when maddie moved to LA he set her up with her own profile. then logged into his account at eddie’s one day and never logged out. renamed the profile buck & eddie after he setup a kid’s profile specifically for chris. then after learning about maddie and chim’s not-dating buff-fridays, buck put both their names on her profile as a prank. and then it just stayed that way. jee-yun even has a profile despite being a literal infant that doesn’t watch tv. maddie cried when she saw it.

- buck takes the legal guardianship thing very seriously. he’s already really involved in essentially co-parenting chris but he starts getting really nervous about asking invasive questions about chris’ medical history. so eddie sits him down with chris and the three of them talk about it. eddie very specifically asks chris if he’s okay with sharing that kind of info with buck. because even tho christopher’s a kid eddie always wants him to have a say in his own health decisions. then he has a more in-depth convo with just buck about insurance and bills and doctor’s visits. makes sure buck has access to all of it. 

- chris played secret matchmaker. went to his old friend santa claus and asked if buck would stay forever. santa came thru, as always.

- also carla knows. buck starts spending more nights at the diaz house and one morning she lets herself in and sees buck coming out of eddie’s room in just a pair of sweatpants. she gives him a coy eyebrow raise and buck blushes. then she just laughs, pats his cheek affectionately, and says your secret’s safe with me buckaroo. when a bleary-eyed eddie wanders out a half hour later she pushes a cup of coffee into his hands, waits a few moments, looks eddie dead in the eyes, and points at buck. I see you took my advice. eddie chokes on his coffee.

- speaking of carla she is family. she and her husband are regular guests at the 118 get-togethers, holidays at the firehouse, and family meals. she occasionally takes on other clients, but she’s mostly exclusive to the diazes these days. esp as christopher gets older and wants more independence. she’s been around since he was 7 and he’s comfortable with her. she stays his home heath care aide until she retires. then she personally vets a new one. because not just anyone will do for her boy. they throw her a huge retirement party.

- gonna jump into the future because christopher absolutely names his daughter carla shannon buckley-diaz. there isn’t a dry eye in the house.

- and I don’t actually see chris calling buck pops or anything. he’s just his buck. tho I can see eddie asking christopher if he wants to hyphenate his last name when buck officially adopts him. buck’s his hero so chris is 100% onboard. 

- buck and eddie don’t have more kids. eddie never wanted more and buck is surrounded by the ever-expanding horde of firefam kids. they love their little trio.

- also eddie is hilariously terrible with other kids. he just. doesn’t know how to talk to them. he’s literally the best father ever with christopher, but any other kid and he’s all awkward hello small human. it’s also the reason the team sends buck to handle kid rescues. he knows how to speak to kids and they light up around his sunshine energy. but then there are certain kids who just glom onto eddie. usually the quiet ones. they find something about his calm dad presence very soothing so they just cling to him until buck can coax them around. 

- I do not see the buckley-diazes getting a pet. buck and eddie work long shifts and it’s not fair to put that kind of extra responsibility on carla when her job is to care for chris. however, as chris gets older he does get a mobility service dog to help with counterbalance. she’s a golden retriever named stella and she’s a very good girl. 

- buck proposes by accident. they’re at the park with christopher and marriage just sorta comes up during one of his infodumps. eddie is eating his sandwich, nodding along, and just casually says of course I want to marry you. buck stops talking. christopher giggles. eddie panics. but when he looks at buck he’s all puppy-eyed and hopeful. you do? eddie nods. chris chimes in with a stage whispered ask properly buck and say yes dad. so they do.

[killianglyndon]

Someone you care Ch1

A/N: okay, so this is the chapter 1 of my Rafael Barba x reader series. Again, my first language is not English, so there will have some grammar errors and typos. I will try to update at least one chapter a month. Feel free to give me some feedback! And I will stop writing any Rafael Barba x Reader oneshot until I finished this series. This chapter is mostly background mention.

Warnings: rape mentioned.

Series masterlist

Next chapter

Greg Yates’s case bought SVU and Intelligence together. Nadia was brutally raped and murdered by him. It was extremely hard for everyone, especially Intelligence.

SVU and Intelligence had worked a few cases together before, that was how you met Sergeant Benson. You remembered after a case she told you that you were good with victims.

—————————

(Flashback)

“Hey, (y/l/n).” Liv called you as you walked out the break room. “Hey, Sarge.” “Good job in there, you were really good with them.” Liv told you. “Thanks, I was just doing what I can... All I can do is telling her that she’s strong and she will come through...but god...sometimes I can’t even imagine what some of them had gone through...” You said sadly. “This is what we do, (y/n)...have you ever thought about joining SVU?” Liv put a hand on your shoulder, you were surprised that she asked you. Before you were going to answer, “You don’t have to give me answer now, just think about it, will you?” She gave you a little smile. “And I already mentioned it to Hank, so give it a thought.” She added before leaving.

————————

Here you were, sitting in front of your desk and staring into your computer screen. You knew that Sergeant Benson had mentioned it to Hank before, but you were still a little nervous to told him about your decision.

You and Hank were close, he was like a family to you. Fifteen years ago, you father got killed on duty, he was trying to save a little boy from a hostage situation. And Hank had been checking on you from time to time since then. Your dad was one of the reasons you wanted to become a cop, you remembered when you mentioned it to your mother, she was happy for you. She always knew you were just like your father, willing to help anyone. But sadly, your mother never got a chance to see you being a cop... she died from lung cancer when you had just went to police academy. Since then, Hank took you under his wings and let you live with him.

“Okay, you can do this.” You said to yourself.

You walked towards Voight’s office, and knocked on the door. “Hey, I want to talk to you about something.” You walked slowly into his office, and he gestured you to sit down in front of his desk. “ What’s wrong?” Voight asked. “I...uh...made up my mind.” “About?” “About Sergeant Benson’s offer, I want to go.” “I know.” Voight said and gave you a knowing look. “You...what? How?” You tried to figure something out. “I just knew... You just like your dad, compassionate and always dedicated to your job. I know, kid...” He gave you a small smile. Voight stood up and moved his way to you, pulling you in for a hug. “They would be proud of you. Intelligence will always have a spot for you.” He patted lightly on your back. “Thank you, Hank. I really appreciate it.”You two slowly pulled away. You wiped away the tears which rolled down your cheeks. “Call me if you need me, kid.” You knew Hank was a little sad that you were leaving Chicago, but in deep down you knew he was happy for you.————————

(After a few weeks)

You have finally settled things down, you never knew finding a place to live in New York would be this hard. Thankfully, with Sergeant Benson’s help, you found a nice place to live. It was nothing fancy, but it was cozy. And the rent was reasonable, the best part was that it was not far from 16th precinct.

You looked into mirror and checked yourself one more time. You knew you worked with SVU before, but you were still kind of nervous about actually working there. Nevertheless, you got yourself together, grabbed your bag and keys then head out.

You decided it was a good idea to bring something to everyone, since it was your first day. You wanted to make a good impression, so some cupcakes would work, right?

You anxiously waiting for the elevator, you didn’t hear someone approaching you. “Detective.” He said. You jumped a little. “Counselor.” You smiled and tried to ignore the fact you just jumped a little. “Ding” The elevator had arrived, “After you, detective.” He smirked. You two were now in the elevator, the air was a little quiet. “So, you think this will work?” You gestured the box of cupcakes in your hands. “It’s working now.” He replied. You blushed to his words. You could feel your cheeks heat up a little. “Text me.” He handed you a piece of small paper before walking out of the elevator. You looked down at the paper in your hand, he gave you his number.

You walked into squad room after Barba, Carisi first approached to you, “(y/n), welcome to SVU.” He said and tried to help you with the box in your hands. “Thanks, you want one?” You pointed to the cupcakes. “Yeah. Oh, and sarge said your desk is here.” He gestured the desk in front of his. “Looking forward to work with ya, partner.” He smiled. “I’m looking forward too.” You smiled back. Fin walked to you and Carisi, “You’re officially my favorite detective now.” He said to you and took one of the cupcakes. “Hey, I brought some food when I first started in SVU. Why didn’t you said that to me?” Carisi asked. “Yeah, but I love cupcakes more. So...” Fin said while walking away. You laughed and patted on Carisi’s back.

————————

A case came in, a child named Owen was kidnapped, but from what the squad had known. It seen that Owen knew the man who took him. The parents, Dana and Sam were having custody issues. The mother, Dana, was a mess, and Liv were doing her best to comfort her. You and Carisi were checking Dana and Sam’s finances. Because the man who took Owen asked for $37k in cash, and that was to specific to be ransoms.

The squad and ESU found Owen at some point. Luckily, he was unharmed. But the kidnapper said that it was Dana who told him to do it. After some efforts, the squad found out that it was the father, Sam, who planned this.

You first case in SVU was a little overwhelming for you. While you were in Intelligence, you never saw a case like this. One of the parents tried to kidnap his own child and framed the other. It was understandable that both parents wanted the custody of child, but going this far? Guess this was the thing that you would always ponder the reason.

————————

After finished up some paperwork, Liv asked you to drop some case file to Barba. You would be lying if you said you weren’t looking forward to see him again.

You strolled into One Hogan Place and looked for Barba’s office.

He must spotted you wandering around like a lost puppy, so he called you “Detective.” You heard him calling you, and you walked over to him. “Sorry, it’s been a while since I came to here. I thought I remember where your office was, but turns out I don’t.” You explained. “It’s okay, you’re lucky I was heading out.” He chuckled. “So, Liv asked me to drop you this.” You handed the files to him, and your fingers brushed his. You definitely felt a election when your fingers touched. You couldn’t help but blush to this contact.

Rafael definitely felt it too, the slight brush of your fingers. His mind had been occupied with someone, you. He been dying to know when would he see you again since Yates’ case. He was regret that he didn’t asked for your number then, so he made up his mind that if he ever seen you again, he would give you his.

He took the file from your hand,

“ Thanks, (y/l/n).”

“It’s no big deal, Barba.”

“Rafael.”

“What?”

“You can call me Rafael, we’re not at work now.” He smiled.

“Okay. See you tomorrow, Rafael.” You smiled back.

“Good night, (y/n).”

[cinaed]

Red vs Blue Season 2 Rewatch

Well I'd meant to do my season two rewatch Saturday but was sick most of the weekend. But now I'm feeling well enough to watch and enjoy! 

Aw, I forgot that the first scene of the season is Doc's introduction. 

Church being so done with Caboose and Tucker, and the combination of O'Malley and Caboose means that his threats involve giving Church a birthday present (sure it's Tucker's head, but you know). 

Just imagining Doc's expression as the Blues explain that Church is a ghost and now a ghost in a robot makes me laugh. Also another thing is that the Blues apparently have a Spanish-English dictionary, which somehow the Reds never bothered to get for years. Sorry, Lopez! 

I love that Church actually knows military lingo and it's Tucker and Caboose who are like "???" whenever he tries to be smart in earlier seasons. Also Tucker just being like "Nope, I like my blood on the inside."

God, I forgot that Church went "I can't pronounce Frank, we're calling you Doc." Like..Frank? At least protesting over DuFresne makes a little more sense! Church really does love to mess with people. Also Doc's speech about the differences between being a medic and a doctor remains iconic. "Well, a doctor cures people. A medic just makes them more comfortable.. while they die."

I also forgot that Church just straight shoots Caboose (and actually hit him!) so Doc will go over and help him. Stone cold. "I can't believe he shot me!" "Oh, don't even START Caboose!"

Also love that the Reds have staff meetings, which Grif presumably sleeps through. Though why they all even trusted Grif to carry ammo around, I just don't know. 

And the beginning of the iconic surrender exchanges. Cake, flags (wait no flags), Lopez. Doc turning into a fake hostage. "You don't get anything except humiliation and ridicule!" "We've already got that! What else do you have?"

I forgot that Doc immediately assesses the Red Team, realizes Grif is the least popular of the group, and immediately starts insulting him to curry favor. Speaking of stone cold, like dang, Doc. 

Another iconic scene is Church ragging on Tucker as he wiggles his switch. :D And of course Sarge's amazing code is "drive." He's definitely that guy whose password is Password1235. 

Fun parallels with Donut's "I'm so freaking lost" and Doc's "Help, this Jeep is kidnapping me!" 

Lopez is like a son to Sarge! Sarge loves him so much that he forgives him for turning against him and murdering him. Also Sarge thinking he can fight a machine gun. 

Tucker: "You hardly ever used your legs before anyway. I've never heard of a grown man asking for so many piggy-back rides." Church: "Hey, I already told you: that was for science." And thus canonical piggyback rides were established. 

Bold of Simmons to call someone else Poindexter. 

Everyone thinking Church is shy because he can't turn around. 

Grif using Doc's words against him, and thus a low-key dislike of each other was born. 

Poor Doc. Stuck wandering the wilderness aka the 60 feet or however much space there is between the bases. 

Simmons and Grif squabbling like an old married couple trying to tell the story about the Blues and Doc.

I am usually against love triangles, but the Lopez/Sheila and Sheila/Caboose is so good. 

Caboose having a good idea, except they didn't consider that Lopez would immediately escape.

Ah, the old days when Lopez actually believed in the Red Team. Also will always love "Primary objectives: 1. Fix everything. 2. Hate the orange one. 3. Call mom more often." Lopez calling Sarge father! And then his brutal disillusionment as the Reds almost kill him. 

Simmons loves that machine gun. 

Lopez/Sheila is such a good ship. Love their meet-cute. Of course then Tex steals his body. Also Sheila being into Lopez AND Tex. I'd forgotten about that. 

"Tucker, there's a very fine line between not listening and not caring. I like to think that I walk that line every day of my life." 

Love Tex just rolling with "Sure, I'm a ghost." And now we're finally into the O'Malley plot which is so much fun. 

Sarge's been wanting to get a cyborg on his team for this whole dang war. He's so happy when Simmons becomes a cyborg. Meanwhile Grif and Simmons are united in hating the idea. 

Tex telling embarrassing stories about Leonard's high school years. :D And the beginning of this very weird plan to rescue Caboose from O'Malley. And seeing the inside of people's heads. Or at least Caboose's head, which means a stupid Tucker and a Church who is even more foul-mouthed than Church himself plus he's Caboose's very best friend. Sarge the southern pirate. Donut the girl. Grif's yellow armor. 

Grif sounds almost impressed when he does the 1-2-3 count that he pulled on Simmons and realizes that Donut beat him at his own game. Unfortunately then he promptly gets run over by Sheila.

"Suck it, Blue!" 

I honestly love Lopez's love song to Sheila. He's such a romantic. 

Church is such a nerd. His insults are so bad. 

And the beginning of Doc and O'Malley's saga begins. Their juxtaposition is amazing. 

And the beginning of cyborg Simmons! I still love that even if Simmons instantly insults Grif, the fact remains that he went through surgery to save Grif's life. And he sounds genuinely worried when Grif starts coughing, right up until the point he figures out Grif is using his brand new replacement lungs to smoke. And Simmons trying to get Grif to eat healthy and stop smoking. Good luck with that, Simmons...

Simmons apparently likes to dance, if his fury over the assumed cancelled holiday party is any indication. That's a prompt for someone! 

Donut and Tucker are both the romantics of their team because Tucker thinks Sheila/Lopez is sweet, he just doesn't want to deal with love triangle bullshit.

Meanwhile Lopez and Sheila go on strike for machine rights and I for one support them wholeheartedly. 

Double O Donut! I love Donut and Grif's misadventures together. 

Tucker: "Sheila and Lopez are now considering leaving to form their own robot army. They said no one would dare oppose them." Church: "What?! Did you try to talk them out of it?" Tucker: "No way, I wouldn't dare oppose them!"

Poor Donut. He has no sense of direction. And poor Doc, stuck with O'Malley for company. 

Sarge talking about the entertainment value of being tortured. Sarge...what.... I'm not gonna kinkshame, but I'm definitely gonna think about kinkshaming Sarge. 

Donut and Caboose's truth or dare scene is so cute. They're such a fun dynamic. And I really wonder what Donut was gonna say about the Red Team plans until Church possesses him. And Church is immediately super chill in Donut's head, and wants to just relax and do some arts and crafts. And Donut considers Caboose his friend! And Caboose really likes Private Biscuit.

Church trying to bargain for two robots so he can have Tex back is sweet right in the middle of a ridiculous scene. And Donut being so excited for a sleepover with the Blues. 

I'm just saying, Sarge would make an excellent car salesman the way he's messing with the Blues over these robots. And Donut must be rubbing off on him, heh, because "I've been told my lube jobs are fantastic!" is definitely a Donut line.

Church using military lingo in one episode and then a handful later not understanding military time is such a Church thing.

Finally to the iconic Tucker line of Grif and Simmons. "It's just the same two guys bickering like an old married couple. I've only been listening for like five minutes and I can already tell they're really in love. Why can't they see it?" And Church doesn't even bother to argue.

Tucker discovering Red vs Blue is a lie is still amazing. As in the ironic discussion, which I will always love. 

Donut's sarcasm when he realizes they're leaving him and Sheila behind to guard each base. Man versus tank. Should go well for him.

And set up for season three, which has some of my favorite team ups-- Sarge and Caboose, Grif and Church. That'll also be a fun rewatch. 

Time for the bonus features aka Outtakes, PSAs, and deleted scenes!

Honestly most of the PSAs this season weren't great, but the Fourth of July fireworks safety one did make me laugh. And it does have Donut with his Kiss the Cook apron!

Outtakes were okay, with the running theme of Burnie trying to explain adlibbing to everyone else, haha. Also "Great Caesar's Dressing!" is as catchy as "Great Caesar's Ghost!" And the outtake of Sarge being Hamlet. And Tarzan. And the Grif and Simmons audition tape was fun. 

Deleted scenes! Doc and Vic having some weird chemistry. Calling Doc hot and saying he missed him. And Doc complaining that no one likes him and that someone stole his wallet. Of course then Vic immediately gets mean. The others include Sarge and Grif prepping Simmons for cyborg surgery before Grif gets hurt and they actually go through with it, which mostly includes getting Simmons super drunk.  Sounds about right for Blood Gulch!

[averyrogers83]

When I See You Smile: pt2

Title: When I See You Smile Author: @averyrogers83 Warnings: Angst, fluff, cursing, death Word Count: 2606 Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader Author’s Notes: #chelseaswritingchallenge @bvcks 4.2 writing challenge. I am so incredibly sorry that it has taken so long for me to get this part out. I have been struggling on where I wanted to go with this and I decided Bucky needed some attention.  As always a huge thank you to my awesome beta @shield-agent78 for helping me out. Prompt: “I’ve never seen you smile like that” + “I don’t have many reasons to” Prompt will show up in 2nd installment.

About a month on your new job you finally began to feel comfortable with your surroundings and the people you worked with, that is when the big guy decided to make an impromptu visit.  Everyone was suddenly on high alert.  Making sure everything was in order and they looked appropriate as Tony walked through the halls on his was to Pepper’s office.

You tried not to let the thought of Tony being in the same building as you affect your ability to be professional and you just focused on your work.  That is until you had to take the latest reports to Miss Potts.  

“And who might you be?”

Your heart began to race when you realized that Tony was talking to you.

“Tony, this is Y/N is our new Tech Analyst, she’s been her for about a month now.”

“Hi.”  You croaked out, you cleared your throat. “Hi, Mr. Stark, it's an honor to meet you sir.”  

“Please call me Tony, Mr. Stark was my father.”  

“Yes sir, I mean Tony, sorry.  If you’ll excuse me Miss Potts I just wanted to drop off the latest

reports, so if you don’t need anything else from me I’m going to head back to my office.”

“Thank you Y/N.  Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes ma’am..I mean Pepper,” you quickly corrected yourself before she could say anything.

You said goodbye to Tony and headed back to your office, smiling to yourself.  That night at home you pour yourself a glass of wine and smiled to yourself as your recalled your first meeting with the man you have admired for a long time.  You were especially thankful that you didn’t do anything to stupid to embarrass yourself.  Over the next few months you worked harder than you have ever worked, which in turn got you fully noticed by Pepper, and not necessarily in a good way.  That means she noticed that you spent way more time in the office then anywhere else.  Often the first one in the office and the last one to leave.   Several times she had to have Happy escort you out to make you leave before five on Fridays.  Happy was a good egg. He was loyal, kind, and caring, you really liked that about him.  Happy was the only other person outside of Pepper that you talked to, so it came as no surprise when Happy was asked to go with you to shop for a nice formal dress to wear to the Tony’s party the next night.  

You really appreciated your boss and the fact that she seemed to take a personal interest in you, but when she made it a requirement for you to attend the party, part of you shut down.  All you wanted to do was go through your weekly routine of going home, getting take out and veggie on the couch watching tv or reading a book.  You didn’t like being around a lot of people other than at work, and in fact would get anxiety attacks in crowded situations, but here you were now, in the elevator on the way up to the penthouse suite where Tony lived and about to partake in your first infamous Stark soiree

Immediately you veered towards the bar, if you had to be there amongst the crowd of people you didn’t know, you were going to make sure you had a good buzz going on first. The bartender had just placed your third glass of wine in front of you when Pepper gently grabbed you by the arm and took you over to meet some of the other guests.  

Your buzz must be hitting because you were calm as a cucumber when you met Captain-Freakin-America, Sam, Natasha, Wanda, and Hawkeye.  Normally you would be freaking out and stammering as you tried to talk, but you were completely fine.  You listened to stories from Thor and Rhodey, watched Pepper and Tony mingle with other guests and Steve and Sam play pool.  You walked back to the bar and watched the Avengers laugh and joke, they were a family and you wish you had that kind of connection, a family.  

“You don’t look like you’re having much fun.” Remarked the man to the right of you.  

You’re not sure how you didn’t notice him earlier, but the moment he spoke you couldn’t take your eyes off him.  Dark hair, broad shoulders, and just the right amount of scruff.  Damn he looked good, but he was an Avenger and way out of your league. The two of you make small talk and you learn that he’s not big on the whole party scene either.  You figured most of that stemmed from what he dealt with in the past before the reprogramming.  

You had stopped drinking hours ago, nursing the last glass of wine that was placed in front of you, as you stifle a yawn and decide that it may be time for you to go.  

“Thank you Sergeant Barnes for keeping me company.  It looks like the party is winding down and I should be going.  It was lovely meeting you.”  

“You as well...I’m sorry I never did catch your name.” The thought of giving your name escaped you, didn’t think you would ever see him again after tonight so you didn’t bother with formalities.  “Y/N...Y/N Y/L/N.  Have a good night Mr. Barnes.”

“Good night Y/N.” He watched as you said goodnight to Pepper and Tony then walked away towards the elevator.  There was something about you intrigued him, and he wanted to get to know you better.  He wanted to know why there was so much sadness in your eyes, why you didn’t smile, and when you did it never actually reached your eyes.  

*****************************************************************************************************

It’s been two months since the party where you met Bucky Barnes and even though you occasionally thought about him you knew it wasn’t going to go anywhere and you emerge yourself back into your work.  Where you were most comfortable, but you didn’t mind.  You were soon back to old routine, with the exception of an occasional lunch or dinner out with the Pepper and when they weren’t out on a mission you’d meet up with Wanda and Nat.  

Bucky’s name came up a couple of times, but nothing more than a brief mention of something that happened during one of their missions or some prank that Sam tried to play on him and you smiled at the thought of how Bucky would retaliate, but it was nothing more than that.  

One weekend that all changed.  You had just finished cleaning out your closets and reorganizing your life.  Something you did at least once or twice a month when there was a knock at the door.  You hadn’t yet ordered your takeout so you had no clue who it could be.  You about passed out when you opened the door to find Sergeant Barnes standing outside your door. Your hair pulled back in a messy bun and you in your faded black pajama shorts and purple tank.  

“Um..Sarg...uh...Bucky..what are you doing here?” You stutter

“Hi…” Bucky stands in the doorway looking down at his feet sheepishly. Bucky clears his throat. “I’m sorry, Y/N...It’s...it’s been two months since we first met and I can’t get you outta my mind.”  

You blushed at his words. You had that kind of affect on anyone, and truth be told after meeting him that night, you couldn’t help but think of him too.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“Oh my gosh...Bucky would you like to come in?” You held the door open for him to enter.  “Sorry my place is a bit of a mess, I wasn’t expecting company.”

“Naw, it’s fine.  

“Um, would you like something to drink..beer, wine…me.” The last part you mumbled, forgetting that Bucky had super hearing and he heard you anyway. “The reason why I came over Y/N...was because…”He took a deep breath “Because I wanted to see if you’d like to have dinner with me tomorrow ngiht.”

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. Bucky just asked you out.  You’re mind was racing, you were calm on the outside, but inside you were completely freaking out.

“I’ll understand if you don’t want to…” Bucky looks back down at his feet, he’s never had a problem talking to dames before, but now he’s always so unsure of himself and shy.

“What?! NO!...I mean Yes. I’d love to go out with you James. I was just...surprised that’s all.” you stammered.

“Surprised, why?”

“Because” you let out the breath you were holding “because guys don’t...I’ve never had a guy look at me that way.” Tears begin to form and you try to keep them at bay.  Last thing you want to do is scare Bucky away by being emotional.  

Bucky takes two strides and is in front of you, his right hand caressing your cheek while his thumb wipes away the stray tear that was able to escape.  “Hey, please don’t cry. Obviously those other guys were too stupid to see how beautiful and smart you are.  Which, if I’m being honest, I’m happy they were.  Because now I get to be that guy.”

You couldn’t help but blush at his words.  No one had ever made you feel the way Bucky was making you feel right then.  “Um..have you eaten yet?” You can hear a low growl came from his stomach, and it makes you giggle. “How about we order in and you can take me out tomorrow night.”

“Sounds perfect doll.”

“Chinese ok?”

“Sure.”

“Make yourself at home.”

You called your favorite Chinese place around the corner where they knew by name.  You ordered your regular plus a couple other dishes, not quite sure what Bucky liked and grabbed a couple of beers before heading back to the living room and sat next to him on the couch, were the two of you talked about everything and everything from your rough childhood, time in the military to what your favorite movie is.  You had already known what Bucky went through in his life and you didn’t want to dredge up any bad memories, so you let him tell you want he wanted you to know about him and Steve growing up together and how Steve used to be this skinny kid who used to put newspapers in his shoes so they would fit.  

The two of you talked, ate, and talked some more, before you knew what happened it was well past midnight.

Bucky stretched and yawned. “It’s getting late, I should leave...tomorrow say around six?”

“I look forward to it. Thanks Bucky, for stopping by….um, I had fun.”  She leaned in timidly and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Me too.” he said smiling.  

The next night you had changed your outfit ten times and redid you hair and makeup at least twice, you were so nervous and you weren't really sure why.  You had already spent a good amount of time with Bucky the night before so to be nervous now really didn't make much sense, but needless to say you were. You had finally settled on a simple red dress with scooped bateau neckline, half sleeves and flirty skirt, finishing off the look with your black Louis pumps.  You had bought the dress years ago for a date, but the guy never showed up so you stored it in the back of your closet never to be seen again till now.  You started to have second thoughts about your date, part of your fearing that you’d be stood up once again, but Bucky arrived promptly at six o’clock and it was too late to back out.   You weren’t sure what to expect when you opened the door, but a tall, dark, walking sex god, dressed in an all black suit with black dress shirt opened at the top showing just the right amount of chest to make you drool and forget what you were doing, but still covered enough to allow your imagaination to wander.

The two of you  stood there gawking at each other for several minutes before Bucky finally found his ability to speak again and break the awkwardness. “You look, incredible.”

You felt your face heat up from the attention he was giving you, taking a deep breath you finally managed “You pretty good yourself.” Another beat of complete silence and the two of you smiling at each other like a couple of school kids going on your first ever date.  “Shall we go?” You asked? His response was to take your hand in his and head out for your first official date together.

He took you to a nice restaurant where the food was fancier than you were used to, and from the moment the two of you walked in people would look your way.  Bucky was a complete gentleman, pulling out your chair for you, holding open doors. Acts that men you’ve come across before had never mastered.  He made you feel special that way.  Sitting there at the table the two of you talked more about your likes and dislikes, where you grew up, things you hadn’t already discussed, but even though you were happy to be there with Bucky you felt uncomfortable and you could sense that he was as well.

“Bucky” you said timidly, almost in a whisper, as you looked over the menu, you were afraid to voice your thoughts of leaving this snobbish place and going somewhere that would better suit the two of you.

“It’s ok doll, you can tell me anything.” Bucky reached over and took your hand in his.

“Can we go somewhere else?” You blurted out feeling a bit sheepish “It’s not that I don’t want to be in public with you, it’s ju...it’s just I don’t feel like this place is...I feel like this is a place that Tony and Pepper would go.  I’m more of a pizza and beer kind of girl.”

Bucky gently squeezed your hand and laughed so loud people nearby stopped and stared.  “Yeah doll, let’s get out of here.”

They couple quickly exited the restaurant and got into the car driving off to Bucky’s favorite pizza place in Brooklyn, where they shared pizza, beer, and lots of laughs.  It was the best time that Y/N had in a very long time.  Your face and stomach ached from all the smiling and laughing you were doing from hearing all the stories Bucky told you of him and Steve growing up.  You had never felt so at ease with anyone before.  Your breath hitched when Bucky ran the back his hand over your cheek, “I’ve never seen you smile like that.” He looked into your eyes so intently it was like he could see into your soul.

“I don’t have many reasons to”  your eyes began to tear. “Not until now.”

It’s been a year since you and Bucky met and since then so many things have changed.  You still work as Pepper’s Assistant at Stark Industries, you and Bucky found a place and have since moved in together and now the two of you were in negotiations about adopting.  You finally came to an agreement on the chocolate lab puppy that you saw at the pound.  Now the hard part, agreeing on a name for the little guy.

@bvcks @ellaprime68 @chuuulip @dj-lowkey @buckysforeverprincess @hotoffthepressfics @shield-agent78 @littlemarvelfics @bloodiedskirtts @patzammit @drakelover78

[xadoheandterra]

@gdipalomo I really struggled on this because fuck I couldn’t think of anything worth it involving found family that wasn’t angsty as all shit (my depression is coloring shit) but I finally got something together although I’m still not too happy with it. Hope you enjoy this mess of a fic! (I was gonna draw, but I couldn’t find my pencils...so I had to write something instead) Also ngl I reference my favorite Christmas Movie in this. Santa Clause is the BOMB and I will fight any who say otherwise.

Eight Little Lights

Winter was not something easily discerned in Blood Gulch, but Church had an internal clock now that he could read the day and time from as simple as could be—except even now Church found himself distracted with the insanity of the Reds, and even of the Blues, enough that he didn’t realize the date and the time until it was the day of. To be fair Church had never been the best Jew when he’d been alive—to concerned with the science of the world, computers, attempting to be a good soldier and failing—and then failing at—at something he couldn’t remember.

(Charmaine)

(David)

(being a father)

(except that wasn’t him, really)

(even if he wanted it to be)

When it did strike him, the date, time, the significance, Church felt like a gut punch had torn through him. His father would’ve had his head as a kid for forgetting—his grandmother would’ve scolded him something fierce even more—and it made him miss them for the first time in forever because for the first time in forever Church was aware. He’d never been the best Jew, that was to be fair, but he’d not once ignored the Menorah when the time came. Except now there was no Menorah, no candles to light, nothing to say for himself despite the observed tradition for twenty strong years. It tasted like ash.

As the sun dipped beneath the canyon walls that night Church didn’t light a Menorah, didn’t recite the payers, and felt like a generally shitty person for the lack of any real observance something that had been normal before Blood Gulch. Instead Church stared up at the starry night sky and wondered how his life got to be this.

Tucker dragged Church out with the promise of little nuanced talk, shooting the shit, and trying to figure out what Grif and Simmons were saying upon Red Base. Church sat against one edge, Tucker laid flat even though both knew that neither Grif nor Simmons would ever shoot at them. Blood Gulch was a game they kept going because it was familiar and because it was expected but no one really intended to kill one another anymore. Not since Flowers died.

“I swear their flirting,” Tucker grumbled. “The two should just fuck already and get it over with.”

Church snorted. “Please. Those two will continue to dance around one another until they’ve got no other choice.”

“Should just get the both of them drunk and stuff them in a closet. Think that would work?” Tucker glanced up at Church who cracked a grin, helmet off.

“Nah, I say tell ‘em they’ve beathed in magic sex pollen or something like from one of your porno’s. And get them drink. Then stick them in a closet. It would do them a load of good, wouldn’t it?”

“Damn straight,” Tucker snickered, reached out, and fist bumped Church with a grin.

Later that night Church sat atop the base and once more watched the stars, didn’t light a Menorah, didn’t’ say his prayers, and tried not to think about how upset his grandmother would be over his failings to get something this simple right. He did see Tucker sneak off the base in the middle of the night, and it made him wonder, but then he saw Tucker heading to Red Base and decided he didn’t want to know.

The third night was actually Donut’s Wine and Cheese Hour so Church found himself for a little while just forgetting and relaxing and it was blissfully perfect. Sarge really knew how to put together a functioning robotic body and fuck he didn’t realize how much he missed things like sex until he had a physical means to do so.

Sneaking into one of the heads of the various Reds and Blues as they masturbated—mainly Tucker—really didn’t quite cut it as physically being capable of something like an erection and arousal and Church had no idea what it was about Donut or the Wine and Cheese Hour that tended to become sex. It was different when it was him and Tex because those things were a violent mess of regret. This shit with Donut was different and Church liked it. His happy little bisexual ass wanted to be pampered from time to time and Donut liked to do the pampering.

Church took what he could get, let himself feel a small sliver of happiness in a cesspit of grey and depression, and moved on with his life. He didn’t quite fall asleep—he couldn’t sleep these days, but he drifted in static afterward feeling like a warm puddle of computer goo and it was nice.

The fourth day had always meant something special during Hanukah for Church and he couldn’t identify why, but as the day dawned and then moved toward dusk despite having a happy, wonderful night the night before the melancholy bit itself back into his mind with a vengeance. Church stayed in his room all day on base and stared at a photo of Tex and wondered what it was he forgot. There was something about the image that was so wrong, that had been so wrong since Blood Gulch and maybe before that even, and it gnawed at him. What was he missing?

(Allison was dead)

(it’d been just him and Charmaine for years)

(so then where was she?)

(where were the kids?)

(where was his daughter?)

Caboose lingered out of his doorway like a bad smell and more than once Church tossed a pillow, a lamp, anything at the door to get the behemoth to leave him alone because that was what he wanted. To be left alone with memories that didn’t line up quite right, with a tradition that didn’t fit, and the realization that his family was incomplete. Church ground his teeth together and tried to ignore the way Caboose spoke to Tucker in a loud whisper.

“He’s angry right now.”

“Yeah I know man. Any idea what?”

“I didn’t do it.”

“I get that dude. Maybe it’s something important about the date? Do you know what’s important about the date?”

“The santa man is coming soon. Could that be it?”

“…fuck, maybe?”

“FUCK OFF ASSHOLES!” Church screamed, threw the desk at the door, and buried himself in blankets into the silence.

Day five; still no Menorah, still feeling like an utter shitheel of a human being—dead or otherwise—and Grif shouldered open Churchs blocked off door. He was out of armor which when Grif came by the base for reasons not pertaining to ‘Red versus Blue’ he was typically sans armor—it was how they showed they meant things to be more casual than anything although usually one of the guys had something armored somewhere. Caboose was a disaster of a man and no one was safe except, for some reason, Grif. Still his arms were packed full of snack cakes and a few shitty holiday movies. Some were titles Church recognized.

“Bum over we’re having a movie day,” was all Grif said as he shoved Church to the side, piled the snacks onto the bed, and commandeered his computer.

“The fuck?” Church mumbled faintly to himself, too exhausted to really care that his space was being invaded right now. He found himself with handfuls of candy, the kind that had hidden gifts instead, Church noted, all were uniquely holiday themed although not all were necessarily Christmas themed but they were definitely holiday themed.

“I’m putting on a favorite, so deal with it,” Grif said and put in some old santa related movie that Church vaguely recognized.

“Is that…Tim fuckshisname?” Church cocked his head. He wasn’t too certain of some of the old actors that were well before his time, but he thought he recognized this one.

“Tim Allen,” Grif nodded, “and yeah.”

“…I think I remember this one.”

“Good. Then enjoy it, will you?”

Church let himself be manhandled until he found himself squashed next to Grif, the pile of candies littered in front of him, eyes glued to the computer screen as Tim Allen’s character got drawn into being Santa through magic and bullshit and bad luck. It was funny, and it was something Church didn’t realize he needed until he did and it was there.

Church’s gaze may or may not have lingered on the dreidel that very briefly entered the screen and then left, and he may have mumbled, “Used to have one of those,” half into candy that he couldn’t digest as he watched the movie with rapt attention. Grif didn’t say anything if he did.

Day six and seven of the week blurred together with restless energy that Church spent cleaning up after Grif left the following morning. He hated the way the base looked, so he cleaned. He reorganized. He reorganized again. He reorganized things a third time. Eventually an intervention was needed and it came in the form of Sarge who stormed up dressed completely in armor because it’s Sarge and Church was pretty sure the bastard slept in his red suit.

“Quit yer frenzied nonsense right this dangnabbit minute!” Sarge hollered, enough to stop Church just outside of the base who blinked and stared and wondered what he did to deserve this. “It’s a right eyesore and those two lugheads can’t stop jabberin’ about it. I can’t take it no more!”

“What?”

“Jes shoot at us or enact your damn dirty blue plot already you heathen and quit it with the cleanin’ torture!”

“What?”

Church stared, baffled at the man as he ranted and raved about the depravity of a Blue cleaning and couldn’t quite parse what he was hearing. This wasn’t typical Sarge behavior at all as usually when the man came over it was to berate Church for not taking care of himself, to beg him to come and surrender already and ‘rescue’ one of his ‘captured teammates’ or to make surrender himself for the ‘return’ of ‘one of his men’ that Church somehow captured and/or brainwashed. Church could never quite parse the insanity that tumbled out of Sarge’s mouth and blamed ninety percent of it on trauma left over from the man’s helljumper days.

Eventually Sarge took Church’s silent staring as compliance and left. Church didn’t go back to cleaning and instead wondered what alien came and replaced Sarge this time.

The last day was beautiful and Church didn’t want to get out of bed. By the time night would roll around he’d have spent eight days with no Menorah, no prayers, and feeling like an even shittier man that he felt going into the holidays. He didn’t want to leave his room—except it was Donut Wine and Cheese Hour day again and Church hated to miss those. Donut would come and physically drag him out of he missed one of those, whether they had sex or not.

Begrudgingly, as night began to fall, Church made his way over toward the cave system that he and Donut snuck off into for Wine and Cheese Hour even if he didn’t feel quite up to it. At first Church didn’t notice the lights, but then the bright red Christmas décor suddenly was in his face and he couldn’t ignore it. The cave looked as if someone set Caboose and a thrift store for Christmas and holiday paraphernalia at it and that just hurt Church’s eyes something fierce.

When he finally rounded the corner, resigned to going through this farce of whatever the guys had put together, it was to Caboose loudly proclaiming, “SURPRISE,” which echoed and caused everybody within earshot to groan and cry out.

Tucker snapped out, “Caboose! Use your fucking inside voice, man!” and Caboose shouted, “OOPS,” and then quieter, “oops,” as everyone groaned and yelled again.

Church eyed everyone—Sarge, Tucker, Caboose, Donut, Grif, Simmons—and the mess that surrounded them. There were piles of pretty wrapped papers, snow that Grif somehow brought into the canyon although who knew how long that would last, an actual Christmas Tree what the fuck?! It was like the guys went and just decided to dump every wintry holiday right in the middle of Donut’s Wine and Cheese Hour and Church didn’t know what to think of it.

“Here!” Donut thrust some prettily wrapped gift of weird shaped nonsense into Church’s hands. The paper tore and Church could see something metal glint inside and felt his nonexistent gut twist. “We all saw how down in the dumps you were, Church, and thought we’d better plough those holiday blues away! So we greased up and dove right in to that—”

“Donut!” Grif and Simmons both chimed in, each in scolding tone, as Tucker pulled Church just the slightest bit away.

“Open it, numbnuts,” Tucker shook his head and Church carefully tore at the wrapping paper. He was surprised to find a hand-crafted Menorah the result behind it, and even more surprised at the fact that he wanted to cry. “We all kinda saw what a little shit you were being and it took some google fu on my end to figure out what the fuck was up.”

“Next time man just tell us it’s a major fucking holiday or something,” Grif waved one hand negligently. “None of us even realized it was December until like five days ago!”

“I…” Church floundered for words. How did they even know?

“You made us put a Jewish star on you grave maker, remember?” Tucker grumbled and slung one arm over Church’s shoulders. “Once I figured out it was Hanukah Grif realized you were missing a Menorah and Simmons said something about that being important or some shit and, yeah. Here we are.”

“This way next year you’ll be able to light the candles and not feel all shitty about forgetting an important holiday tradition,” Simmons nodded.

Donut moved up around Church’s other side and leaned in. “I know it’s too late and all for this year, but we really didn’t know what was going on in that head of yours, Church. You should’ve said something!”

Church struggled to put into words what he felt, instead he hoarsely said, “You assfuckers,” with a choked off laugh a minute later when Caboose unveiled the large human sized dreidel and asked how to play.

It wasn’t perfect, not yet, but damn if it weren’t as close as—and damn if it didn’t mean the world to Church. These were his assholes, in his little box canyon, giving him holiday gifts on the last day of Hanukah and fuck if it didn’t mean the world to him. Him—the shittiest human being that ever existed.

“Fuck you all very much!”

“AND A FUCKING HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU TOO ASSHOLE!” Grif yelled, and they all burst out into laughter.

“A LITTLE TOO EARLY THERE FATASS!”

“Oh, are we not celebrating the birth of the baby managers son?”

Church laughed.

“It’s baby Jesus in a manger you idiot,” Tucker grumbled, “and no, we aren’t! Fuck,” and Church laughed.

Yeah, it wasn’t quite perfect, not yet, but it was as good as for this little box canyon in the middle of nowhere.

[caramellody]

Rvb 16 episode 2 liveblog below:

- fjjdfjd GRIF CRASHED THE PELECAN AGAIN

- a whole hour of roasting

- PRIMARY CAST ONLY

- caboose. ily

- oh. Hrjfdnjdjdj the non ominous woods

- grif's getting meta. Its....its getting a little scary.

- "that is so stupid grif....im so proud of you." God Simmons not you too.

- DONUT IS DUBSTEP JESUS

-saving the world by going through the past? this is exactly what Grif DIDN'T want

- TIME. TRAVEL. WARRIORS.

- I mean....refusing the call to adventure has very much been a a plot point. Grif...didnt really think through all this didnt he. Of course he didnt.

-imagine if the credits DID roll when he said roll credits

-JFJFJRJEJEJE

-JEREMY! THATS JEREMY!

-"well...there is no god." Nice callback to grif being agnostic

-DONUT TRAVELED THEM BACK TO THE PAST FOR PIZZA.

- Him. With a capital H.

-suddenly...religion????

- GRIF AINT HAVING ANY OF IT.

- PLOT

- Shes only appeared for less than a minite and im in love with kahirama

- GOD SARGE IS A MOOD

-NO NOT THE PIZZA PLACE

- FINALLY SOME TIME TRAVEL.

- oh. Oh god. Id ask where sarge and simmons landed...but I think the better question would be...when???

Okay this one needed a real talk because...a lot happened in the span of 2-3 minutes after Kahirama's apperance.

- first of: I REALLY LOVE THE ART DIRECTION OF THIS SERIES. A LOT. ITS SO BEAUTIFUL BUT SO RVB AT THE SAME TIME.

-secondly, the groups that got split aregreat to say the least.

Lopez and Caboose. Which brings me to my first confusion. Um. Where he hell did lopez come from???? Wasnt his head at the bottom of the ocean by the end of season 15??? Im not the only one who noticed that right???? Anyway, that aside. Lopez and caboose will be interesting. Mainly cause one is caboose the loveable.bumbling idiot and the other is...well. lopez. Thats definitely gonna be an interesting dynamic for sure.

Tucker and Kai entered second. Which, is also an interesting dynamic, we havent seen Kai and Tucker (or just. Kai with anyone) interact since the end og BGC, so this will be interesting for sure. Also its Kai, and its also tucker. Tucket mightve grown to be a leader. But hes still Lavernius Tucker (he literately called kai babe before going in)

Then comes my next two personally favorite groups( is it cause red team bias. Yeah, probaby):

Grif and Doc (and huggins), with Doc jumping in to save grif (even though grif has been trashing on him this entire season so far). I am excited for this duo since 1. Grifs stuck with the one guy hes been trashing on so far, 2. Grifs now in the situation hes tried to avoid this season thus far and 3. Grif is stuck with doc: the one guy hes trashed on this entire season. Also with huggins around, huggens has to definitely explain themself. Which brings me to the fact that huggins couldve gone and followed anyone. By that point the only one left were the reds and doc, yet they panicked when they saw grif and doc leave. They could've very well followed the others, yet huggins panicked when grif was enering the portal.

Lastly, theres sarge and simmons, which.is definitely the secind group im interested about. Mostly for how the dynamic's going to work. And normally this wouldnt be something I would say for the duo that wouldve consisted of sarge the leader and simmons the kissass. But thats the thing. Would've is the key word in this. Ever since at least late season 11 onwards, Simmons as clearly started to depart himself from being a kissass (to the point that even grif asked him how he hasnt been kissing sarge's ass ever since the gang reunited). And thats not to say simmons turned into grif in relation to how he treats sarge, he clearly shows he still very much respects him (hell, there have been clear points to point towards the fact that simmons sees him as a father figure). its just that. there’s definitely going to be some conflict (especially if that episode 3 description is anything to go by)

overall, this is definitely the last of the set up-esuqe episodes, episode 3 definitely is gonna be plot-full with stuff.

[meteoratdusk-blog]

RvB Bingo Wars: Junior entry

Title: Goodnight Sun

Summary: Night watch in Blood Gulch might be the most boring thing ever, but Church gets a midnight visitor that he didn’t expect.

Word Count: 1.7k

Notes: no warnings except maybe Church’s joking thoughts about self-harm, but as always let me know if there’s anything else I need to tag!

Goodnight Sun

It was night in Blood Gulch, or what passed for it.  At some point in their history the Red and Blue bases must have agreed on synchronizing their clocks or something, because when “night” fell in the canyon everything went dead.  Well, usually.  A few weeks ago Sarge had decided that canyon after hours would be prime infiltration time, but stealth and the Reds had never exactly been best friends, and you couldn’t really call it a sneak attack when everyone in the base was waking up at 0400 to the sound of Grif and Simmons bickering in the hallway or Donut complaining about the décor.

After the third time they were forced to surrender all of their Oreos just to get some sleep, the Blues had decided that maybe posting a watch would be a good idea.  For the first few nights, the watch had been taken by Sheila, and suddenly the Reds were a lot less interested in sneaking in.

Of course, all that really meant was that now that it was Church’s turn to stand watch, it was really, really fucking boring.

Church sat on the edge of the base’s roof and wondered how much damage he would do to his robot body if he threw himself over the edge, just for a distraction.  He was already dead so it wasn’t like it could kill him, and it wasn’t actually that far down anyway, only about twenty feet or so.

Probably better not to, if he broke himself in a way he couldn’t fix he’d have to try and find help.  The Reds would make ludicrous demands just to loan him a wingnut, and Tex would laugh at him and then say he owed her a favor, which was even worse.  The last time Tucker tried to help with robots he deactivated Church’s legs, he didn’t really want to know what Sister might do with a wrench, and Caboose… the less said about Caboose, the better.

The wind would whistle and a tumbleweed would blow past right about now if Blood Gulch ever had wind.  As it was the air was dead and hot, the sun beat down like a punishment, and Church was just looking forward to taking his metal body inside the shade of the base and listening to it cool down with soft pings and ticks like a fucking car.

He’d never felt like he and Sheila had so much in common.

Sheila had put herself into stand-by mode, unfortunately, so he couldn’t tell her about the newfound camaraderie.  Tex had just laughed at him when he suggested they sit out under the stars together.  Everybody else was organic, and therefore asleep.

He’d revel in the peace and quiet, but after several hours it mostly felt like tedium.

Shhh, shh, ssshhhlk.

Church almost didn’t hear the faint noise, but as soon as he did he grabbed his sniper rifle, assuming it was the Reds dragging something big and inconvenient across the canyon, or—

Shhh, sshhhhlk.

—that sound was coming from behind him.

Church whirled around, the sniper rifle pulling up, even though it wasn’t really meant for targets at close distances, and fuck if he’d ever managed to hit anything with it anyway—

Large, wide, alien eyes looked up at him, a tiny hand stuffed into a collection of mandibles, like a child sucking his thumb except with a lot more teeth that weren’t sucking so much as gently gnawing.

Junior.

Church lowered the gun.  Then he looked behind the little abomination, but Tucker didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby.  It was just Junior, standing at the top of the base with his chubby fingers in his mouth—mouthparts?—and something big and white dragging on the ground behind him.

They stared at each other.

“What… the hell do you want?” Church asked, his tone more puzzled than acerbic.

“Blaaarg,” Junior replied, taking his fist out of his mouth.

“Uh…” Church said.  He still hadn’t figured out if Blarg meant “yes” or Honk meant “no,” but neither one of them made much sense in this context.  “Isn’t it past your bedtime or something?  Oh shit, did you have—do aliens have nightmares?  I don’t—do you want me to… get your… dad?”

He didn’t know what you called someone who carried a parasitic alien embryo to term, but Tucker seemed keen on being a father all of a sudden, so what the hell.

“Honk! Blarg honk!” Junior said, and it was pretty clear by the vehemence in his tone that he meant no.  

Junior slept in the same room with Tucker, so probably if he’d wanted to wake him up he would have just done that and not gone all the way outside into the hot sun for no reason.  Maybe he wanted to make sure Tucker stayed asleep.  His dad was still kind of worn out after Junior’s birth.

“Okay so… what the hell do you expect me to do?” Church asked.  “Shouldn’t you be sleeping like everyone else?”

Junior blarg’ed miserably and then, after a moment of hesitation, held up the thing he had dragged there with him.

“What is that, a book?” Church asked. “A really… really shitty book?”

“Blaarg,” Junior insisted, holding it out to him.

Church put down the sniper rifle, and took the messy collection of pages from him.

“Okay, now I have your really shitty book.  Is that—are we done now, will you leave?”

Junior gave him a look that was wholly unimpressed, which was a real feat for an alien toddler.

“Honk blaaarg blarg blarg honk,” the kid said, gesturing at the book.

Church looked at the book.  He looked at the alien child, who waited surprisingly patiently for a Tucker, and he looked back at the book.  He groaned.

“You’re not going to go away until I read this to you, are you?” he asked.

“Honk.”

Church checked the time function in his robot body: 0330.  Three and a half more hours before it was what they called “day” again.  He looked around the hot, empty canyon, devoid of anything interesting to look at that he hadn’t seen a thousand times, and back at the book and the little alien with the disturbingly cute puppy dog eyes.

He had wanted a distraction.

“Ugh,” he muttered, but he moved his gun aside and plopped onto the base’s roof with the sound of creaking metal.  “Alright, fine,” he told the little abomination, “I’ll read you the fucking book, but only once and only if you stop making that face, it’s disturbing as hell.”

Immediately Junior’s pleading expression morphed into something that looked outright smug.

“Yeah, alright, that one’s not any better,” Church complained, but he opened the book anyway.

Honestly it could barely be called a book.  It was a bunch of large sheets of paper stacked on top of each other, about an inch of the left side folded in on itself in a sad attempt to keep it all together.  It looked like just holding it the wrong way would make it spew pages, although it was anyone’s guess whether that would make it less coherent.

“A Young Alien’s Guide to Making Friends,” Church read.  “By Frank Dufresne.  You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

Junior honk’ed and it sounded annoyed.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it,” Church griped, turning the page.  “Oh. It’s illustrated.  In… crayon?  God, I hope that’s crayon, if Caboose has found the catsup again I am not cleaning it up.”

“HONK,”

“Right.  Uh… The first thing you should know about making friends is that you can’t judge a book by its cover.  Yeah?  Because the cover of this book told me it was terrible and so far you have not proven me wrong.  This is always a good lesson!  You should always give people a chance, no matter what their color or creed.  Oh wait, there’s a note underneath it.  Is that Tucker’s handwriting?  Unless they’re Reds, because they all suck.  Useful insight, Tucker, very original.”

“Blarg,” Junior said, pointing to lower on the page.

“Oh shit, you’re right, there’s another note. What does that… but…pats…pastries are dill… delicious.  …is Caboose vouching for Donut here, or what?”

Junior just honked, and so it went.  Church didn’t even know how long they spent on the roof of the base trying to parse that cobbled together book before they were interrupted.

“Sneaking… sneaking…”

Briefly Church considered whether or not ignoring the extremely loud whisper would make things better or worse.

“Sneeeeaaakiiing…”

“Jesus Christ, Caboose,” he said, breaking almost immediately, “just get over here and shut the fuck up, it’s story time.”

“Okay Church!” Caboose said, far too loudly for four in the morning.  He plopped himself down on Church’s other side, away from Junior and his teeth.  “I will be quiet as a mouse and they are very quiet.”

“That’s great buddy,” Church grumbled.  “You do that.”

“OKAY!” Caboose yelled and then, in an exaggerated whisper.  “Okay.”

“Alright, so chapter two—”

“Oooh, this is my favorite chapter,” Caboose whisper-yelled, creeping closer and draping himself over Church’s shoulder so he could better see the pictures. The ones Caboose had drawn himself.

Church just rolled his eyes and kept reading.

When Grif found them, wandering over about an hour later, both Junior and Caboose had fallen asleep and Church was no longer capable of moving his arms.  Caboose was just heavy, and it turned out that Junior had quite a grip for a toddler when he thought you were a teddy bear.

“Uuuhh….” Grif said, and helmet or not Church could hear the raised eyebrow.

He glared at Grif.

“Don’t fucking start with me,” he hissed quietly. He didn’t want to wake them up. They might make him read to them again. “Scram, Red.”

“Okay, but we’re out of Oreos again and I’ve gotta tell you this is amazing blackmail material—”

“In the cabinet over the stove,” Church said immediately.  “Now fuck off, and if you ever mention this again—”

“Whatever you say, dude…” Grif said, wandering away, but Church could hear him laughing.

Church shifted a little, but Junior made a sad, sleepy blarg-honk noise and just clung tighter, and Caboose didn’t even stir.  He sighed, and settled in for the rest of the night.

He’d never admit that it was actually kind of comfortable.

[trashinyourpockets]

This the good shit.

Couch nap

Grimmons napping is just peak content,,,

and i just wanted to draw everyone else too hehe