#say hello to a new shitstorm everyone if we all thought we were done after spn

[freakygirlie]

YEs! Please give your take on the J&G PR show. I'm relatively new to the fandom and have only recently begun watching interviews/cons. One thing that's always bothered me (even before I started shipping j2 and being on the fence about tinhatting), was how MUCH J tries to talk about Gen...but always in the SAME way. Like everytime he has to talk about "fave moment" etc, it's always the same exact answer. When he talks about how amazing she is, it's always the same narrative and tone too. I get that there are people out there who like to talk about their SO whenever possible, but for me it always felt so forced and cringey. Which. He comes off as someone who's desperately trying to paint his spouse in an amazing light, tooting her horn etc, while the rest of the world is left scratching their heads when she doesn't measure up. It's all so weird. Now especially with all this PR stuff for Walker when she is no where near being the female lead. I feel bad for Lindsey. Like, J and LINDSEY should being doing all the joint interviews.

Hi anon! Welcome to the fandom! Hope you have fun(or as much fun as possible) scrolling through our fandom and tinhat blogs if you’re looking to be persuaded!<33

I’m going to start this off by first saying: I’m not a gigantic stan of Gen’s or Jay and G’s marriage. Tbvh even before i became a tinhat, or found out that there were people who shipped them/believed they were together, I wasn’t overly invested in any of the J’s marriages. I’ve always been a big fan of j2 first and foremost, and then came the rest. 

Now, for my take on the J&G pr show. Let’s go a little further back, just a tiny summary-ish of my thoughts and then we’ll tackle recent events. 

Everything you’ve said anon, is exactly what I think, and so so very true. Sometimes, I don’t know what het stans see in the marriage. I remember watching some of their interactions before I got involved in the tinhatting part of the fandom and always, I would always get such weird vibes from it. Forget the interactions, everything J says about her felt so forced. It was like he was trying to make her out to be this perfect goddess when she wasn’t. 

If I was a het stan or wanted to become one i would’ve hightailed it outta there in a week or something. Has anyone ever noticed that whenever Jared and Gen get asked about their marriage all they can say is: Working relationship is excellent! She’s a great mother! Handles everything so well! I fell in love with her on s4! Working relationship, kids, work, kids, mother, father, THAT’S IT! You’d think after 11 years of marriage they’d find something else to say about each other. It’s always the same narrative, same tone, same answer, GOD. It’s so boring and flat, idk how ppl put up with it. The contrast in how Jared talks about Jensen and his relationship with him and when he talks about Gen and his relationship with her IS HUGE. You can see it for yourself anon. J talks so much about G and that wouldn’t be a bad thing! Who wouldn’t love their S/O hyping them up and loving them all the time? And it’d be beautiful to witness...if it wasn’t the same thing over and over and over again. Look at the recent ‘The Talk CBS’ interview. They’re still hyping the marriage up(after 11 years!) like they’re trying to prove something is there even when it’s not. And even then, it’s all work, kids, work, kids. I don’t want to know about your work and kids! We’ve heard it a billion times! If you’re so in love, why can’t you find the chance to say something about each other as a couple?? Like that’s the shit i’d be into, I want to know about you guys, as a couple as a team! But instead we get the same recycled shit all over again. It’s so weird and so suspicious. 

Now let’s talk about recent events. Let’s break a couple things here before we can address the absolute shitstorm that has been recent events, regarding the amount of PR Gen’s been getting despite being a guest star on the show.

What is Gen’s character on Walker? Cordell’s dead wife, Emily. The storyline is about her. Finding her murderer and solving her case, moving on from her death as a family. In case you haven’t seen Walker, it’s similar to the finding dad/mom’s killer storyline on spn. That’s the main goal, but there are quite a few other things sprinkled in between. Gen is a guest star. REMEMBER THAT.

What is Lindsey’s character on Walker? Micki Ramirez, Cordell’s partner, co-lead of the show, she has her own stable relationship with Jeff Pierre’s character Trey, her own backstory and storyline revolving around her mother and her being the first female as well as WOC and a Latina Texas Ranger. She’s learning to trust others, to do her job despite the discrimination, and to build meaningful relationships. Lindsey is a co-lead of the show. REMEMBER THAT.

Now normally, the leads would be promoting the show giving joint interviews and getting all sorts of press for it. Who are the leads? Jared and Lindsey. Who are not the leads? Gen. 

Why is she getting this much amount of attention and press when she’s a guest star on Walker?! Why is the co-lead being ignored and passed up for interviews??? Jared and LINDSEY should be the one giving joint interviews, not Jared and Gen. This is blatant nepotism. 

Some of the excuses for this situation are(which I will shoot down right before your eyes):

-It’s a pandemic: Um, so what video calling suddenly ceased to exist? Honey, CBS has given interviews with 2 people from 2 different places. Did y’all forget about the J2 interview where they were in two different locations? Why can’t this be done with Jared and Lindsey? Not to mention, controlled environments, masks, covid protocols exist! If entire episodes of TV shows are being filmed, why the hell can’t one small interview be too????

-They live together: This one is just dumb actually. Gen shouldn’t be getting this much press ON PRINCIPLE because she is a guest star!!!! In that case, Lindsey and Jared film everyday! Why can’t an interview happen then??? Including Gen in every interview Jared does is going to garner too much attention ALREADY HAS!!! Her living with him has nothing to do with her getting this amount of PR especially because whenever an interview is done with her, it’s always about her character!(the same line too: ‘’There’s more to come’’) her projects!(Towwn, her blog) and their marriage!(more PR). There’s nothing in their about Mantra, or Jared’s character or any of the other storylines! If you think fans aren’t going to be mad about it, do i have something to show you

-Only tinhats are complaining!: Nope. Lindsey stans are too, heck even het stans have found it odd. Do a little research. Lindsey has barely gotten any press for her very important and influential character on Walker. Gen’s barely there, dead character is getting wayyyyy too much attention.

-The storyline revolves around Emily: Saying that Gen should get all the interviews because the story is finding Emily’s killer is like saying JDM or Samantha should have gotten all the interviews in SPN because the story was finding dad/mom’s killer. If Emily was being played by another actress, she would have been number 7 or smth on the call sheet. She wouldn’t be getting this much amount of attention.

So why isn’t Lindsey getting press for her character? Why haven’t we even gotten a single selfie of Jared and Lindsey on set? You want to use the pandemic or storyline excuse for that one as well? 

Now yesterday, there was a war of sorts on Twitter regarding this very issue. After some time the acc @/TheWalkerWiki provided some info on as to why Lindsey wasn’t getting press. They’d said they had emailed her manager and found out that Lindsey had REFUSED press. She was on a hiatus. 

Let’s debunk this as well? Here we go!

@/TheWalkerWiki is a very genuine and helpful account. I have no doubt these emails are true. However the reasons that her manager and publicist have given...

No actress would willingly refuse press like this. It’s like kissing your career goodbye for fuck’s sake. Lindsey’s character is a lead, a female lead, WOC and a Latina, that sort of representation is so important! If they keep refusing press this way, people who don’t know about J&G’s PR team, will automatically think this is WOC hate. And all of us who know Jared, KNOW that Jared would never have interviews refused for Lindsey simply because she’s a women of color. Forget Jared, Lindsey would never do that.

And if she’s on a press hiatus...what about the promo she’s doing for her movie Skylines??? What about this and this interview she’s done for Walker(these are the only 2 I know of, and they too are solo and short.) Those emails are dated March 3rd. The show began on January 21st. What about all the interviews before March? What about NOW? In April??? Its the 22nd of April today(happy birthday JDM!<3). Where’s the explanation for this??? She’s been doing PR for her movie, what about her RIGHTFUL PR for Walker???

Long story short, it’s cross PR work. J&G’s PR have interfered with Lindsey’s. She’s made to keep quite about Walker(at least until the 1st season is over I’m assuming, till Emily’s storyline gets wrapped up) so someone else can ride the newfound success of the show, as well as Jared’s coattails, so they can get all the PR. It’s nepotism, blatant PR of J&G’s marriage. 

I feel terrible for Lindsey and her stans. They don’t know what a shitstorm they walked into.

Now what about the recent interview, The Talk CBS, J&G’s one. God, I’ve seen better interviews. It was the same forced, uncomfortable stance rearing it’s ugly head again, the same stance Jared always takes when in an interview with her. Body language says so much. Jared looked terribly uncomfortable and nervous. They were their same weird selves like they always are, the same awkward moves around each other and whatnot. Lord.

And the interview itself? Nothing but PR for Gen. It was about Gen’s character, her blog, her Towwn project, their marriage, the same boring narrative they’ve stuck to for the past 11 years. And the way they kept saying she was the star of the show??? Hun no. She ain’t. Lindsey is, but y’all are passing her up in the favor of the other star’s wife. They even included that zero chemistry shower video in the interview dhjdjfkslf. It was pointless. Mantra didn’t get any promo, Walker(except for dear old emily) didn’t get any promo, it was just another one of those ‘’let’s convince you we’re in a happy marriage together!’’ interview.

And Gen’s latest post about it. Have y’all looked at the caption?

‘‘don’t take our faces too seriously, i promise we had a good time’‘ THE FACT THAT SHE HAD TO SPECIFY THIS. It’s so highly sus. Not subtle.

And then the things that happened today. Linds reposting the cbs interview post on her acc with the caption ‘’TV’s Hottest Power Couple!’’ , her interacting with fans as if to reassure them she’s here, a sudden glitter magazine interview, Jared(or should I say Gen bc his recent tweet and ig story was not his regular posting/captioning style) on twitter qrting Gen’s post with that sus af caption. I’m completely sure Gen did that. She even replied like 3 minutes later to it. Back in the day spn goss would have jumped on this like anything. Because hello??? Sus as fuck behavior. I smell damage control. 

well there you go. go nuts. i’ve said it. i’m praying for the lindsey stans because see I don’t blame them in the slightest for getting fucking mad about the lack of attention towards Lindsey. 

wow this was long.

[quickspinner]

Okay here is the Luka-dad fluff I was going for before. Sort of. It kinda turned into Luka-dad and Uncle Adrien fluff. Background in this one shot (which chronologically would come after this, but I wrote it first and it was the setting I had in mind for this ficlet), and this post.

Luka jolted awake from his doze on the couch at a knock on the door. He dragged himself up and went to answer it, glancing at his phone on the way. The message he saw explained the knock at the door and Luka opened it with a grin. “Hey, you’re back early.” 

“Not as early as I wanted to be,” grumbled Adrien. The two men exchanged a backslapping hug. “I can’t believe she came while I was out of town, and then there were a bunch of things I couldn’t get out of, or I’d have flown back the same day. Where are they?”

“Both asleep at the moment,” Luka replied, smiling sympathetically at Adrien’s disappointment. “Sorry.”

“Figures,” Adrien sighed, opening his coat to let Plagg fly out. The little kwami made a beeline for the kitchen. “Remind me to give you cheese money before I go,” Adrien said dryly, watching Tikki and Sass float over to join Plagg. “How’s Marinette?”

Luka grimaced. “Okay, but not great? As well as can be expected, I suppose. Tikki’s helping the incision heal but Marinette’s totally exhausted. Since the baby’s so small the doctor wants us feeding her every three or four hours and it’s murder on Marinette. At least her milk has come in so she’s not having to pump as often, but it’s been a strain.”

“Pump?” Adrien frowns. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

“You really don’t,” Luka agreed. It was about the least dignified process he could imagine. Best for everyone if Adrien kept his naivete for now. 

“Well, I know you’re going to yell at me,” Adrien said, lifting a bag at his side. “But I brought Erika a present. I couldn’t resist when I saw it.”

Luka took the bag and peeked into it. “Books? Pete the Cat Boxed Set,” he read, and then gave Adrien a deadpan look. “Really.”

“What?” Adrien said innocently. 

“It’s a cat.”

“He’s a groovy cat that plays guitar!” Adrien corrected, bouncing a little in excitement. “It’s perfect!”

Luka turned the box over to get to the book spines and pulled one out. “Huh.”

Adrien sensed weakness. “If you were a cat, you would be Pete!”

Luka glanced up from the book he was pacing through. “I am not a cat,” he pointed out mildly, and Sass and Plagg managed to snort in harmony from the kitchen. “And I have never in my life used the word groovy outside of a joke.”

Adrien’s face fell a little. “They’re funny,” he insisted, sounding a little hurt.

“They are that,” Luka chuckled, looking at the brightly colored illustrations before closing the book. “Relax, Adrien, Erika might not be able to fully appreciate them for a couple years but Marinette will love them. But you’ve really got to stop buying us things, this apartment isn’t big enough to store four years’ worth of toys and books.”

Adrien rubbed his neck sheepishly. “I know. I just—I wish I could do more, you know?” 

Luka squeezed his shoulder. “Hey, you know we appreciate your generosity and your enthusiasm. Just try to spread it out a bit, that’s all.” He grinned, waving the book. “Just keep walking along and singing your song. Because it’s all good.”

Adrien grinned. “I knew you’d love them!”

“That part was okay, I’ll admit,” Luka sighed. “Anyway honestly if you really want to help, I’m sure we’re going to need it. After the scare we had, Marinette’s incredibly anxious, and I know how much she trusts you. You might be the only person she’d be willing to trust to help outside of her mom.” He sighed. “She already ran Juleka off once, which is a shitstorm I’m not looking forward to dealing with later, but she’s—” He glanced down the hallway nervously and lowered his voice. “She’s not exactly at her most reasonable at the moment.”

“Hey, whatever you need,” Adrien promised. “I’ll sleep on the couch if it would help.”

Before Luka could answer, a sharp cry echoed down the hallway. “Shit,” Luka muttered, jogging toward the bedroom, Tikki and Sass on his heels. He popped inside and scooped Erika out of the bassinet. “I got her,” he murmured to Marinette, who was already stirring. “Go back to sleep, babe, I’ll take care of it.”

Marinette mumbled something that he suspected translated as call me if you need me, started to roll over, and then groaned and rolled back onto her back. Tikki hovered over her, patting her hair lightly as Luka shut the door.

Luka brought the fussing baby out to the living room, aware of the way Adrien lit up as soon as they came into sight. “Let me get her settled and then you can say hello,” Luka said softly, taking Erika over to the spare changing station they had set up in a corner of the living room. Luka changed her diaper, a little self-conscious as he was still new at this and he knew he was clumsy, but he chuckled when he realized Adrien had turned away. Luka re-swaddled her (it took a couple of tries but he was getting better). Clean and cozy, Erika settled down quickly. 

The second he turned away from the changing area, Adrien was there, practically at his elbow, cooing as Erika’s squinty eyes turned in his direction, though she probably couldn’t see him. “She’s so—” he hesitated, and Luka chuckled. 

“She’s a little funny looking, I know. It’s a newborn thing.”

“She’s cute though!” Adrien said quickly. 

“Of course she is,” Luka nuzzled her briefly, and then looked at Adrien. “You want to hold her?”

Adrien’s eyes went huge. “Can I?”

Luka rolled his eyes. “You’re family, and I know you’ve had all your shots, of course you can.”

Adrien reached eagerly for the baby but cringed as his hands neared her. “Oh God, she’s so tiny, I don’t want to do anything wrong.”

“I’m right here,” Luka reminded him. “And you’re not much newer at this than I am. Sass has been laughing at me since we brought her home.”

“That isss an exaggeration,” Sass piped up from the kitchen.

“Sure it is,” Plagg snorted. 

“She’s made it this far, haven’t you, little bug?” Luka smiled at his daughter. “Okay, just take her under there and—wait, let me—” 

The transfer was a little awkward on both sides, but the look on Adrien’s face once he held the little bundle was worth it. Luka actually felt kind of guilty that Marinette was missing it, but she needed the sleep more. He snapped a quick picture to show her later and hoped she wouldn’t kill him for not getting her up. An alarm on his phone beeped and he silenced it quickly.

“I’m going to get her a bottle ready,” Luka said, stepping past Adrien. He barely dodged Plagg, who came zipping out of the kitchen right at that moment, Sass on his heels. Luka hesitated but decided to trust the kwamis—at least, he trusted Sass to make sure Plagg didn’t get up to too much mischief. 

Luka was concentrating so hard on remembering the steps to heat the milk that he lost all awareness of what was going on the living room until Erika began to cry. Luka darted back to the door but nothing seemed amiss except Adrien completely panicking as Erika wailed.

Adrien held her like she was a bomb. “Oh, shit, what do I do?”

Luka folded his arms to check the impulse to just take the baby. “Keep her close to you. Bounce her around gently, and make shushing noises. Yes, like that, but lean down close to her ear, you actually want to be really close—there you go. You can dance with her if you like, that’s what Marinette does. Just don’t let her head flop around while you move.” Luka couldn’t help the caution even though he could see that Adrien was holding her securely.

Adrien looked a little ridiculous, bouncing and swaying around the living room shushing the little infant, but Luka wasn’t about to comment considering the number of absolutely ridiculous things he’d done in the past week. Erika quieted, that was what mattered.

Luka’s eyes widened. The bottle! He turned back into the kitchen and checked it, and breathed a sigh of relief when it wasn’t too hot. He went back into the living room, bottle in hand, and seated Adrien on the couch, showing him how to hold the bottle. Plagg was curled up somewhere around the baby’s knees, purring. Luka took care not to comment on how cute it was.

“Adrien!”

Both men looked up to find Marinette standing in the hallway, wrapped in a robe. Tikki gave him an apologetic look from Marinette’s shoulder. Luka went to Marinette immediately, got her shuffling toward a chair, and helped her sit down. “I was hoping you’d sleep longer,” he fretted, smoothing her hair back.

“I thought you might need help when she started crying again. You should have told me Adrien was here.” 

“Hey, Buginette,” Adrien grinned. “I got back as fast as I could. Sorry it wasn’t sooner.”

Marinette’s face crumpled and Luka cringed. “I can’t believe I missed you seeing her for the first time!”

“I’m sorry!” Luka groveled shamelessly. “I just really wanted you to sleep, you’ve been so exhausted with the feeding and the pumping and the nobody-but-mommy wails...I took pictures!” 

Marinette gave him a look of absolute adoration that made his insides melt a little. “Thank you.”

Luka breathed a silent sigh of relief, and then glared at Adrien, who was shaking with repressed mirth. Luka went behind the couch and leaned over Adrien’s shoulder, reaching to adjust the way Adrien held the bottle as an excuse. “Laugh it up, jackass,” Luka muttered near Adrien’s ear. “Wait till you’re on the receiving end of one of her mood swings and you won’t be so quick to give me shit. You thought she was bad pregnant, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” He straightened up. “Adrien offered to crash on the couch if we needed help,” he announced.

“Oh, Adrien, that would be—but—you just got back into town, I couldn’t ask you too,” Marinette fretted. 

“Hey, if you need me, I totally will,” Adrien said, looking up at her.

“I mean...I don’t...I don’t need you, really…” Marinette said weakly.

Adrien glanced at Luka, who gave a small nod. As far as he was concerned at the moment, anything Marinette wanted, Marinette got. If her partner’s proximity made her more comfortable, he wasn’t about to object, even if it chafed his ego a little bit.

“I’ll have to go home to unpack and repack, but I’ll be back tonight,” Adrien smiled, and Marinette relaxed. 

“Thank you.” 

“Of course.”

Luka picked up the books Adrien had brought and put them in her lap. “Cat boy here thinks he’s funny.”

Marinette took the books out and looked over them, biting her lip to control her smile. Luka handed her a throw pillow and she pressed it to her belly as she laughed, only wincing a little bit. “That’s perfect! A guitar-playing cat!”

“I thought so too,” Adrien said, shooting Luka a triumphant grin. Luka rolled his eyes and resigned himself to the word groovy becoming far more prevalent in his life.

“Sit down, Dad,” Marinette said, looking at him affectionately. “I know you’re tired, too.” 

Luka did as she suggested, sinking down into the couch, which felt far more comfortable than it had a few months ago. He let his head fall back and sighed. He felt Sass come to his shoulder and pat his cheek, and smiled. Maybe he didn’t want to admit it, but he was glad Adrien was here too. Somehow he’d felt...vulnerable, with Marinette recovering from surgery and Erika so tiny and helpless. Knowing that there was someone else to help stand guard, someone who would give his life for either of Luka’s girls and die happy, made him feel just a little more at ease, drained the tension from his shoulders.

There was no more Hawkmoth and no more Mayura and there were no more akumas and there was no reason for him to feel the way he did. He felt it all the same. Marinette and Adrien may have borne the brunt of that fight, they may be the ones with nightmares, the ones who jump when someone shuts a door too loudly, but Luka had scars too, scars carved by failures witnessed and wiped out over and over again, and now with this precious little life in the balance, he’d take all the backup he could get and be grateful for it.

He still laughed when Erika spit up on Adrien’s designer suit, though.

[rhysismydaddy]

Can you please do a fic for nessian where one of them is a teacher and the other is a student💖💖💖

________________________________________________________________

Light filtered in through Nesta’s shut eyelids and she groaned, nestling her head further into the pillow beneath her. Only it didn’t feel like a pillow. It was warm, and smooth, and breathing.

She pinched her eyes shut and shook her head, not wanting the obvious to be true. After realizing this shitstorm was unavoidable, she peaked up at the face of the man she was lying on. At least I know I still got it she thought grimly.

He was completely gorgeous, curly hair muffled from sleep and full lips open, and felt like he’d been built from stone.

Nesta supposed if she had to wake up completely naked on top of a stranger she couldn’t remember going home with, it helped that he was ungodly sexy.

After slowly peeling herself off of him—having to resist the urge to peak under the blanket to see exactly how good her night had been—she tiptoed around the room, trying to find her clothes.

“Morning, stranger,” a deep voice sounded behind her.

Nesta yelped, grabbing the blanket to cover herself. Which left him completely exposed. Not that he seemed to care. He propped his head up with his hand and smiled at her.

Oh, I definitely had a good night, she thought, trying and failing to look somewhere other than his tanned, toned body.

“Good morning…” she said quietly, struggling to remember his name.

He gave her a shit-eating grin that told her he was enjoying the blush on her cheeks entirely too much as he extended a hand and said, “Cassian.”

She quickly shook it, ignoring the feeling of his callouses and the faint memories of them on her skin, and replied, “Nesta.”

“So nice to meet you, Nesta,” he said, voice still clouded with sleep.

She was about to reply and say that they’d most definitely already met when she glanced at the clock and yelped again.

“Shit! I have to be in class in twenty minutes, and I have no idea where I am, and I can’t even find my fucking-”

Cassian held up the black lace bra she’d been wearing the night before and grinned. Nesta didn’t have time to bother with pleasantries as she snatched it and slid it on, reaching for her dress. It was an obvious walk-of-shame dress, the kind that was basically a second skin and would definitely gain her some disapproving stares as she left.

She didn’t think about how she looked, or the fact that she wasn’t wearing underwear, as she grabbed her shoes and speeded for the door.

“It was nice to… meet you, Cassian,” she shouted as she raced out his front door, ignoring his protests and slamming it behind her.

Squinting her eyes against the light, Nesta figured out where she was and thanked the heavens she was only a five minute walk from her apartment. She gripped her shoes in her hands and took off, praying she would make it to class on time.

____

Nineteen minutes later, Nesta raced into Professor Rhysand’s classroom, out of breath and sweaty. She’d had to run from the other side of campus to make it, but it was worth it. The prof had told them to come prepared for a “fun day,” and that usually meant a test, so she couldn’t be late. Professor Rhysand—and he made his students call him Rhysand because using his last name made him feel old—locked the doors exactly at 9 so late people couldn’t get in, so she’d had to practically sprint here. He was a hardass, but still Nesta’s favorite professor. 

She found her usual seat in the back--far away from her peers-- propped her head against the wall, and waited for her professor to show up. 

And waited. After ten minutes, Nesta was starting to get severely pissed off. She could’ve showered with this extra time. Or at least brushed her hair and put on a clean shirt.

But no, she’d been too stressed to worry about laundry, so she’d grabbed leggings and a tank top off the floor. One she was fairly certain she’d worked out in.

She squinted her eyes at the door, ready to give him a hateful look as soon as he walked in.

Instead, her eyes went wide as someone entirely too familiar strolled into the room, looking way too put-together. Whispers immediately arose from her peers about how sexy he was, how they’d definitely get with him, and all sorts of ridiculousness.

“Shit,” she whispered, trying to sink lower in her chair. The last thing she needed was for him to see her.

“Good morning, everyone. Sorry I’m late. Little Rhysand is out sick today, so I’ll be subbing for you all. My name is Professor Nezarra. I work over at Hybern University, which I know is the enemy school and all, but it’ll be okay. I won’t tell them that you guys liked me.”

A few generous laughs.

“Professor Rhysand has prepared a movie for you guys, so just relax and sign the attendance sheet whenever it comes around to you.”

Nesta sighed as the lights went out, proud of herself for staying hidden. He could not see her here. It was bad enough she’d had to face him this morning, but here? In front of her classmates? Oh, absolutely not.

She’d rather fake a medical condition and leave class than-

“Hello, stranger.”

Oh, fuck me.

She looked up slowly, dreading seeing the smirk she knew would be gracing his features. She almost groaned when her eyes met his. He was already insanely good looking, but this? This was ridiculous.

His hair was damp and pushed back off his forehead, making his eyes seem even more golden. The black of his shirt showed off the impressive build of his shoulders.

Why did it seem like he was even bigger than he’d been before? Had he worked out or something? 

“You had time to shower?” Nesta asked incredulously before she could stop herself.

He grinned down at her, having too much fun. “That’s what I was trying to tell you when you sprinted out this morning. You could’ve stayed, because I had to drive here anyway. Plus, you could’ve showered with me.” Cassian waved his eyebrows suggestively.

Nesta rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you go back up there?” She motioned to the front of the room where Prof Rhysand’s desk was.

“Nah,” he whispered confidently, sliding in the seat next to her and draping an arm over her shoulders. “If I go up there, it might give you time to sprint out of here again. You’re pretty fast.”

“I run track,” Nesta muttered back, gripping his arm and throwing it off of her.

Cassian acted like she hadn’t done anything and threw it around her again.

“Stop,” she whispered. “People can see.”

His eyebrows raised, a smile tugging at his lips. “See what?”

Nesta rolled her eyes and said, “That I fucked my professor!” she whispered furiously.

“First of all, sweetness,” he said, pulling her closer. “I’m not your professor. I don’t even work here.” True. “Second—and I meant to ask this this morning—do you even remember fucking me?”

A blush exploded across Nesta’s face, all the way down her neck. Cassian’s grin grew, and he propped his head up with a hand, face entirely too close to hers.

“Of course,” she said, the lie bitter on her tongue.

Cassian nodded, eyebrows squinted. “So you remember my friend being there too, then?”

“What?!”

She dropped her head into her hands, squeezing her eyelids shut.

Oh my gods this was so much worse than she’d thought. It was one thing to have a one night stand, but to have a threesome and not even remember? What kind of woman what she, and what had she had to drink?

“I’m kidding, Nesta,” he said teasingly, poking her side.

She looked up at him, ready to give him the verbal smack down he apparently wanted, but he spoke quicker. “Really, I’m surprised you don’t remember.”

“I was drunk,” she replied defensively.

He smiled and said, “I was too, but I remember. I mean we fucked on the roof for crying out loud.”

She waited for him to tell her he was joking again.

“Are you serious?”

The shit eating grin was back as he laughed and said, “Oh yeah. You said it made you feel like you were in the clouds. Although maybe that was just the orgasms-”

His voice carried a little to far that time, and half of her classmates turned around to stare at their position and raise their eyebrows.

“Oh my sweet heavens, shut up! You cannot talk about my orgasm in front of my peers-”

“Orgasms. Plural,” he said, a cocky smirk planting itself on his face.

Nesta believed him, but still raised an eyebrow, looked him up and down, and said hatefully, “Oh, I very seriously doubt that.”

His hand found its way to her thigh, fingers tracing light circles as he dropped his head to her ear and whispered, “Nesta, baby, you came seven times last night. I remember each one.” His teeth tugged on her earlobe, and she almost saw stars. “They’re replaying in my head like my personal movie.”

She shoved him away, ignoring the way her pulse had risen and the gooey feeling in her legs.

But he wasn’t done.

“Let’s see. There was the one against the wall, the two—or was it three?—on the roof, the one on the floor-” he laughed at that. “The one in my bed, and oh, of course. The one where I went down on you,” Nesta’s breath hitched as he drew too close again, “That one was my favorite. I can still taste-”

“Shut up shut up shut up!” Nesta whisper-shouted as memories started to assail her. He let out a laugh. That one had definitely been her favorite too, but she wasn’t about to admit it, or let her classmates hear about it, for heaven’s sake. 

“You remember that don’t you?”

His hand was still on her thigh, and it drew higher as he said, “You remember moaning my name, pulling my hair as I slid my tongue up your thigh, right here,” his fingers tapped against her inner thigh. “You remember, don’t you?”

Nesta was pretty sure she’d never breathe normally again. She stopped caring about her classmates and started only caring about the new throbbing between her legs. 

“No,” she said shakily, holding on to the lie.

“Hm,” he hummed, gripping her thigh tighter and whispering, “I’d be happy to show you again, you know, to refresh your memory.”

In the back of her mind, she knew the video had ended and people were staring, waiting for Cassian to do something, but she couldn’t be bothered to care.

“However, right now I have to deal with your classmates.”

She fought a groan as he got up, and Nesta hated how she already missed the warmth of his hand on her. She was too worked up over this guy, someone she’d literally only known for less than a day.

But she couldn’t help but remember last night, how those hands had felt on her, how they’d squeezed the thighs she wrapped around his waist-

“Ms. Archeron?”

Nesta snapped out of the haze she’d been in and said, “Yes?”  Everyone stared, and Cassian’s eyebrows raised knowingly. “Can you repeat the question?”

“How did you like the video?”

Oh, the little prick. He knew she hadn’t watched a second of whatever dumb video Professor Rhysand had “prepared.”

Nesta shrugged, narrowed her eyes, and said, “It was fine.”

Cassian’s lips twitched up as he said, “Just fine? You seemed to really enjoy it.”

“And you would know this how, exactly?” Were they still talking about the video?

“Oh, you told me.” He said confidently. “Multiple times.” No. Definitely not.

Nesta was going to kill him. Everyone in the room was watching them with a mixture of confuse and amusement written on their faces.

“Well, like I said, it was fine, but I won’t be watching it again. Ever.” She narrowed her eyes.

His eyebrows rose, and he said, “Oh, I think you will. You might even watch it again tonight.”

A few of her classmates chuckled at that.

“Oh?”

“I think, if you look back at it, it was the best movie you’ve ever seen.” That stupid, confident little smirk was driving her crazy.

Nesta wanted to… to.. well she didn’t know what she wanted. All she knew was that this stupid argument, what they’d done last night, was the most fun she’d had in a while. He had some affect on her she couldn’t describe. Half the time she wanted to punch him in the face, the other half she wanted to fuck his brains out.

Probably not the healthiest combination, but Nesta didn’t care one bit as she smirked back and said, “It was definitely the best movie you’ve ever seen, but not me. I’m somewhat of a movie master. But I might be nice and let you watch it again later. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

Cassian gave her a huge smile, cleared his throat, and said to the class, “You guys can leave. Tell Rhys I’m a much cooler professor than he is.”

Nesta stayed perfectly still as her classmates filtered out, ignoring their whispers, and stared at Cassian. He was leaned up against the desk, arms crossed over his broad chest, thumb running over his bottom lip.

When the last student left and the door clicked closed, Nesta rose to her feet and slowly walked down the isle to stand in front of him.

“Did you find my answer satisfactory, Professor?” she asked lightly, putting her hands on his chest and looking up at him.

His hands wrapped around her hips and pulled her flush against him, and his voice was cloudy as he replied, “I’m not going to lie. You might have to sleep with me if you want an A.”

Nesta sighed dramatically. “Oh, the things I do for my studies,” she whispered as she rose onto her toes and pressed her lips to his.

 _______________________________________________________________

Sorry this took a ridiculous amount of time. Thank you for the ask!! 

[james-stark-the-writer-wips]

A Year At The Opera - Excerpt

Chapter 10, Part 2: An Investigation in the woods.

WC: 4500 words.

Chapter 11 is going to take some time so I’ll be working on OWAD until then. Expect OWAD content instead for a while. Hope you enjoy this!

*

Joe

Detective Joe Vega slammed the case file on the table. “Captain, what is this?” He stood with his hands on his hips, lightly pushing his coat aside, waiting for an answer.

Captain Marco Santorelli didn’t react. He slowly took a sip of his coffee and wiped a thin trace of foam from his moustache. Letting out a quick breath, he grabbed the file and opened it up, quickly scanning through it. “It’s your last conviction.” He put the file down again.

“Yeah, but he was let go.” Joe walked forward and pointed at the last page in the file. “Apparently, the charges against him were dropped.”

“So? What do you want me to do about it? Talk to the victim.” Santorelli leaned back.

“That’s the thing, Captain. No one can find him. He’s gone missing. I called his office, his house, his friends. No one’s heard from him in a few days.”

“Look, Vega.” Marco let out a quick sigh. “The case is closed. Cool off. I’m sure the vic will turn up somewhere. Meanwhile, here.” Marco opened a drawer and grabbed a file from inside, handing it to Joe. “This should keep you busy.”

“What’s this?” Joe asked, opening the file.

“Murder, from the looks of it. Some kids found the body in the Shadow woods. Go check it out.”

“Were they interviewed?” Joe flipped through the pages to find their statements but didn’t find any.

Marco shook his head. “No, too traumatized to say anything. But you can go and ask them about it. Their addresses are in the file.”

Joe opened the file and looked at the addresses. “They’re over in the next town?”

“Yep.” Sanotrelli said, taking a quick sip of his coffee. “And they all have Rebecca and David Shaw as their lawyer, apparently.” 

“Oh Jesus.” Joe said.

Santorelli placed the cup down and then, with just a hint of sarcasm, said,  “Good luck.” 

Joe turned and started to walk away.

“Oh, don’t forget to go check out the crime scene.” Santorelli called out.

Joe stopped in his tracks and turned around. “Yeah.” He mumbled.

This time more sincerely, Santorelli said, “Good luck.”

“Thanks, Cap.” Joe opened the door and walked out.

-

Cruising over Rikers Bridge, Joe Vega arrived in Athea a little past noon. The asphalt was blazing hot and despite it being the middle of September, it felt like the height of summer, a wave of warmth surrounding the town, enveloping it in a warm cornucopia of sin and evil.

Joe wiped beads of sweat from his forehead as he cranked up the AC. 

“Turn right.” The navigator said and Joe took a turn onto Grisly Drive, one of the more run down parts of Athea. The place reeked of smoke and what smelled like burnt food. As his car stopped at a light, Joe grabbed his phone out of its holder on the dash and checked his notifications. Nothing new to report.

“Come on, Maxine.” He mumbled, forcing the phone back into its place. He tapped the steering wheel impatiently as the light seemed to be stuck on yellow for an eternity. He grabbed his phone again. Still nothing.

A car horn behind him jolted his attention back to the light. It had finally turned green.

He slowly pulled into an alleyway and let the car behind pass him by. Joe wished he was in his cruiser. Then he’d show the guy. But that wasn’t what he wanted to focus on right now. If there was no news about Maxine by midnight, he’d have to go see her himself and he was desperately trying to avoid that.

He glanced at the time. Fuck, he thought. I’m going to be late. He backed out of the alley and started to make his way to Black Oak Boulevard.

Ingram and Joe

“Hello?” Ingram asked as he swung the door open.

“Ingram Shaw?” The man at the door asked.

“Yeah?” Ingram crossed his arms, shifted his weight to his other foot and leaned against the door.

“I’m Detective Joe Vega from the Ellesburg Homicide Department. I had a few questions about yesterday and I was hoping you could answer them?”

“Mom!” Ingram called.

“Yeah?” Rebbeca shouted back.

“There’s a detective here!” Ingram said.

“Call him in, I’ll be there in a second!” The reply came.

“Well come on in then, Detective Vega.” Ingram stepped aside to let Joe walk inside.

The inside of the house looked like a grand movie set.

“Take a seat, please.” Rebecca’s voice came from the top of the stairs. She vaguely gestured to the sofa. Ingram looked up at her. “Would you like anything to drink?” She asked. “Whiskey, tea, coffee?”

“No, I’m good, Mrs. Shaw.” Joe replied. “Water’s fine.”

“Perfect.” She said turning to Ingram. “Get him some water, won’t you? And some for me too.”

“Yeah.” Ingram scurried off to the kitchen.

“Please, sit.” She said, taking a seat on the lush leather couch. Joe hesitated but finally sat.

“So, you had some questions?” She asked as Ingram reappeared with two glasses of water. She took one and Ingram offered the other to Joe

He mumbled a quick thanks as he took it. “Yes, I did,” He said turning back to Rebecca. “I actually wanted to ask Ingram here some questions.”

“Oh, about that body behind the cabin?” She asked, almost rhetorically.

“Yeah.” Joe said.

“Of course, go right ahead.” She said. “Of course, I’ll be right here for the interrogation because he is a minor.”

“I know, Mrs. Shaw.” Joe said. He didn’t have the patience for this. He had to interview the other kids too and go check out the crime scene.

Ingram took a seat on the couch next to Rebecca. Joe cleared his throat, grabbing his notepad and recorder from his pocket. He placed the recorder on the table and flipped his notepad open.

“This is Detective Joe Vega of the EPD and I'm here with Ingram Shaw and his lawyer Rebecca Shaw.” Joe said. “Just go ahead and introduce yourself, if you could.”

They quickly rattled off their names. 

“So, Mr. Shaw—” Joe began. 

“Ingram is fine.” Ingram said.

“Right. Ingram, you and your friends arrived at the cabin, when exactly?”

“I believe it was the morning of the [date].”

“And what did you do all day?”

“I spent the day with Mason, my boyfriend.” Ingram said.

“And how about that night?”

“Well, the lights went out and the generator wasn’t working so we just played a game and then we all went to bed.”

“All?” Joe raised an eyebrow.

“Yep. All four of us. Me, Mason, Aaron and Eleanor. All four of us.”

“Right.” Joe scribbled a note of their names even though he already had them on file. “And what time would you say that was?”

“Around 9, maybe 9:30.”

“That early?” Joe gave him a suspicious glance

“Yep.” Ingram nodded. “It was a tiring day and we just needed to sleep it off.”

“Uh huh. And did anyone leave the cabin after that or in the morning?”

“Not to my knowledge, no. I was the first one up and everyone was sound asleep.”

Rebecca smiled. He could see she was proud of him. She’d trained him well.

“Right. And what did you do after you woke up?”

“Uh, brushed my teeth, got ready and waited for Mason to wake up.”

“Did anyone else wake up during that time?”

“Eleanor did.” Ingram replied calmly. “She got ready as well, I could hear her through the walls because her room is right above mine.”

“And when did the other two wake up?”

“Uh, Mason woke up a little bit after Eleanor was done getting ready and then she woke up Aaron.”

“So, none of you went to the woods in the last two days before the body was found?”

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

“And then how did you end up finding the body?”

“I didn’t.” He said. “Aaron did. He called me.”

“I see.” Joe mumbled to himself. “And what was Mr…” Joe opened his file to double check the name. “Adler doing in the forest?”

“He and Eleanor had gone for a walk that morning.”

“Just the two of them?”

“Yep. Mason was busy cooking me breakfast.”

“And so, when they called you and you arrived at the scene of the crime, you saw the body, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You called the cops immediately?”

Ingram shot an awkward what-do-I-do look at Rebecca. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “No,” She said. “He called me while Eleanor called the EPD.”

“Right.” Joe stood up. “I think that should be all for now then. We’ll follow up with more questions, if we have them.” He shut off the recorder and quickly shoved it back into his jacket pocket.

“Come, let me show you to the door, Mr. Vega.” Rebecca said.

“Do you mind if I come with you?” Ingram heard Rebecca ask.

“To where?” Joe asked innocently.

“Well, you are going to the rest of the kids’ houses, aren’t you? Might as well go together, right?”

“I suppose so.” Joe said awkwardly. 

Rebecca grabbed her coat and vanished out the front door with the detective.

Aaron

Going back a day, Aaron had just dropped Eleanor off and driving back to his house. It was a fairly quiet drive where he mulled over what he'd say to Mary and how he'd deal with everything. He found no answer. And, unfortunately, there was another shitstorm to come. 

He slowly pulled into the driveway to be greeted by Mary waiting by the door, furiously tapping her foot. 

“Ar, where have you been?” She jogged up to him and hugged him as he got out of the car. 

He struggled awkwardly to get out of the hug. “I was dropping El off.” He said. 

“God, are you okay?” She worriedly ran her hands over Aaron, checking him for bruises.

“I’m okay.” He delicately lifted her hands off.

Her expression turned from worried to relieved to worried again in a matter of seconds, like she was foreshadowing something..“Come on inside.” She said, stepping aside.

“Yeah, lemme just grab my bag.” Aaron opened up the trunk and quickly grabbed his bag.

Aaron followed Mary into the house and found Ryan sitting on the couch, staring at the wall with a blank expression on his face.

“Ryan.” Mary said, making Ryan jump from his seat.

“You’re back!” Ryan rushed to Aaron and hugged him.

Aaron hugged him back but skeptically. “Is… everything okay?” He asked, pulling away from the hug. “You’re making me worried.”

“Just… sit down, Ar.” Ryan said, walking back to the couch and sitting down.

“What’s the problem?” Aaron asked, sitting down. Mary walked over next to Ryan.

“It— It’s about your Uncle Joe…”  Ryan’s voice trailed off.

Mary put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder, slightly squeezing. “He’s… he’s dead, Ar.”

“Remember that leak at the plant you told me about?” Ryan said, leaning forward. “Well I decided to check up at the factory and turns out there was a leak last two days only I wasn’t the one who was… dead.”

“What?” Aaron couldn’t believe or even process what he was hearing.

“It’s true, Ar.” Mary said.

“Can we step back a second? Who’s Uncle Joe?”

“Baby, I know you were very close with him but you don’t have to pretend you didn’t know him.” Mary walked towards Aaron and hugged him. “I know this might be a bit of a shock for you but however you’re feeling, just know that it’ll be okay, okay?”

Normally Aaron would have objected to Mary calling him baby — it honestly seems so creepy — but there was no time for that right now. Aaron pulled away from the hug and stood up. “I’m going to need a minute.” He awkwardly ran out of the room and up to his bedroom. He quickly slammed the door shut and took his phone out.

“Nathan. Please tell me the spell didn’t invent a twin brother for my dad.” There was a calm rage in his voice.

“Can I talk?” I asked, remembering our no talking rule.

“Yes!” He said, frustrated. “You can talk! Now fucking talk!”

“Fine. It might have. I can’t check but if you’re saying he didn’t exist, I’ll believe you.”

“What do you mean you can’t check?”

“Well, once a person dies, we can no longer observe anything about them. All their data is wiped.”

“Do I even wanna ask about the system?” Aaron rubbed his forehead.

“Believe me, you don’t. Certainly not right now.”

“So what the fuck do I do right now? How do you expect me to go downstairs and tell them I don’t have an uncle?”

“I mean, not anymore, you don’t.” I said, cheekily.

“Nathan! Focus!”

“Sorry, bad time for a joke. Look, I know he wasn’t real for you but he’s real for them so, I don’t know, maybe pretend to be sad and channel the feelings you were feeling before the spell for your dad?”

“I’ll try my best but good god this is getting worse every minute.”

“Good luck. Going silent again.” I said.

Aaron opened the door and carefully peeked outside. No one was around. Good. He cautiously walked back down to the living room where Ryan and Mary were whispering something to one another.

“— Just give him time, he’ll come around.” Mary whispered to Ryan.

“So,” Aaron began. Mary turned to face him. “How did it happen? The leak at the plant?”

“I don’t know the exact details yet but from the sound of it, your uncle Joe got sloppy and messed something up. That was his thing, you know.” Ryan choked up a little. “Messing things up. I’m surprised he made so few with you.” He sniffled.

Aaron’s phone buzzed. He didn’t see it then but I acknowledged the joke of Sloppy Joe. It was funny. Or at least I think so.

“Yeah.” Aaron took a step forward, giving Ryan a weak smile. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“We didn’t want to ruin your vacation. Your dad found out a little while after you left for the trip.”

“Hmm.” Aaron said. Here it was, a perfect opportunity for him to say all the things he wished he could have said to Ryan before the accident but he couldn’t find the words. So he just walked over and hugged Ryan.

Ryan gently patted him on the back. “It’ll be okay, bud.”

“So, are we having like a wake for him or something?” He asked tepidly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course not. He would have hated that.” Mary said.

“Right.” Aaron muttered under his breath. “Of course he would have.”

Rebecca

Mason was not home so Joe and Rebecca had to go to Aaron's instead and then maybe come back to Mason's later that day. But, they did arrive at Aaron's house soon after they’d left her house.

Rebecca knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. Eventually, Aaron did open the door.

“Mrs. Shaw?” He asked. “Were you looking for mom?”

“Oh no no.” She said, moving aside to reveal Joe standing behind her. “Detective Vega here had some questions for you.”

“Oh, right. Please, come in.” He said.

The pair followed them in and quickly sat down in the living room.

“Should we start?” Joe asked. 

Aaron looked at Rebecca who nodded so he followed suit. “Just be as truthful and precise as possible. If you’re unsure about something, just give me a nod. You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.” Rebecca whispered to Aaron.

“Great.” Joe took out his recorder and placed it on the table. “So, if you don’t mind introducing yourself.”

Each of the three quickly introduced themselves as Joe grabbed his notepad.

“So, Mr. Adler.” Joe began, readjusting in his seat. “When did you go to the cabin?”

“We left early morning, two days ago on tuesday.”

“And who was with you?”

“It was me, Ingram, Mason and my friend Eleanor.”

“And did you make any stops before reaching the cabin, preferably a place with cameras so we can verify your whereabouts?”

“We stopped at a gas station so yeah, I think so.”

“Could you give me the address of that place?”

“I’ll have to look it up.” Aaron’s hand reached halfway to his pocket before stopping. “You don’t mind if I check my phone, right?”

“No, please, go ahead.” Joe said.

Aaron grabbed his phone and quickly pulled up the address of the station and gave it to Joe who quickly jotted it down.

“Perfect. And you’re sure this was the station?”

“Positive. Couldn’t forget it if I wanted to.”

“Why’s that?” Joe asked, slightly amused.

“This creep there who came up to Eleanor asking if he could lick her feet or something like that.”

“Yikes.” Joe said.

“You’re telling me. But we got rid of him.”

“Any descriptions you remember about the man?”

“I mean, he was around my height but beyond that you’ll have to ask El. And if there’s security cams, you can just check those, right?”

“Right.” Joe flipped a page in his notepad. “So, what did you do when you got to the cabin?”

“Uh, I just started to work on my book.”

“Oh, you’re a writer?” Joe inquired.

“Yep.” Aaron nodded.

“Cool. So, you were writing all day?”

“Well, up until the lights went out. Which was sometime in the evening. I wanted to save battery on the laptop so I shut it off and just played some games on my phone.” Aaron lied. He really spent the time listening to me..

“And then what did you do after the lights went out, during the night, I mean?”

“Well, I waited for El to come home because she’d gone out for something and after that we just played a game of truth and dare, got bored and went to sleep.”

“So, what time would you say that was?”

“Around 9-ish? You could check with the guy who delivered us some food, we stopped playing about twenty minutes after that.”

“What guy?” Joe asked.

“Oh, some guy came to deliver us some groceries so we’d have food in the morning.”

“Oh,” Rebecca chimed in. “It was just my assistant. I sent him to get the kids some food because I forgot to stock the fridge.”

“I see, we’ll need to talk to him. And then you said, Ms. Easton went out during the day?”

“Yeah, she was out the whole day.”

“Do you know why?”

Aaron shook his head. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“Alright, then what did you do next morning?”

“Uh, El woke me up asking what I wanted for breakfast and I decided to go for a walk with her because we needed to talk about… stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” 

“That’s kinda personal, detective…”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to answer that.” Rebecca said.

Joe sighed. “So, you went on a walk, correct?”

“Yes.” Aaron said.

“And that’s when you found the body?”

“No, we found it on the way back to the cabin.”

“And what time did you leave the cabin, approximately?”

“I think we left around 9am.”

“And what time did you start getting back?”

“I don’t know, it took us like maybe twenty-thirty minutes to get to the stream which is where we were gonna walk and we were there for like an hour so I’d say around 11am-ish is when we started heading back give or take ten minutes.”

“And on the way back is when you found the body?”

“Correct.”

“So, did you take a different path back or did you not notice the body the first time?”

“No, we took a different path because we thought the road El took was slow so I wanted to see if we could stray off the trail and cut straight through to the cabin.”

“I see.” Joe scribbled something down in his notepad.

“And how did you find the body?”

“Well, we were walking and El tripped on like, a root sticking out of the ground so I had to carry her back ‘cause I couldn’t just leave her there, you know? So I picked her up and we started talking and that’s when I noticed a hand sticking out of the ground.”

“And so you called the police?”

“No, I called Ingram because we were so close to the cabin and he was the fastest source of help.”

“And then you called the police?”

“No, I didn’t know if it was actually a body and I didn’t want to cause them any trouble to come out here and waste their time if it was fake.”

“Right. How very considerate. And then how long did it take for Mr. Shaw to arrive?”

“Maybe ten-fifteen minutes after I called him?”

“And so when he arrived, you called the cops?”

“Well, El did but yeah, we called the cops.”

“And before the cops arrived, did you contaminate the scene in any way? Did you go near the body, did you touch anything, anything at all?”

“No, we all stood at a distance a few feet from the body, leaning against a tree waiting for the cops to arrive.”

“Right.” Joe closed his notepad. “Okay, I think that should be good enough for now.” He stood up. Rebecca stood up with him. “Don't go anywhere, we might have more questions.” He added, stuffing the recorder back in his pocket. 

“Come on, I'll drop you off.” Joe said to Rebecca. 

“Drop me off?” Rebecca asked. I got up and started walking to the door.

“Yes,” Joe said. “I’m going to go check out the crime scene.”

“Weren’t you gonna interview the other two?”

Joe checked the time on his watch. “It’s getting late I have to go look at it before dark.”

“Oh. Alright, then.” Rebecca said. Aaron opened the door for them and they walked out. Aaron stayed still watching Joe’s car pull out of the driveway and off towards the Shaws’ place.

Joe

Dropping Rebecca off at her house, Joe headed straight for Shadow Woods. It would be dark soon.

The car pulled up to the Shaw cabin. Joe would have to walk from there. The walk was short, the sun sinking towards the horizon every passing minute.

As the light dwindled, mostly because of the cover of trees, Joe had to be careful and watch his step to not slip into the mud or accidentally step on something — especially if it had a possibility of being evidence.

But he soon arrived at the crime scene with just enough light to peek around for a little bit. He figured he had maybe an hour before it got too dark to do anything without a flashlight.

“So they stood over here…” He muttered to himself as he found where the kids were standing. “And the body was over there…” He ducked under the yellow tape and trudged through the mud to come closer to the actual grave, as shallow at it was. It was barely a foot tall, looking like it had been dug in a hurry. The body had left an imprint in the grave, although mud had started to seep in. There were no footprints to be seen anywhere beyond the ones left by the teens. Even the photos from yesterday confirmed that. Joe carefully maneuvered around the grave to see if the killer had left any evidence that the CSI might have missed. He found nothing. 

That only meant one of two things: either the killer was a ghost or the footprints had been erased by the mud before they could be found. Did the killer know that the mud would hide their footprints?

The Shadow Woods were a nice place to hide a body, that was for sure. With how muddy the area was, it was a perfect place to hide a body if you could keep it undiscovered for a while. Before long the body would be covered in mud and decompose soon with no one the wiser. 

Unfortunately for this killer, the kids found the body. 

The preliminary reports would be ready by tomorrow. And Joe would have more questions.

As the sunlight dimmed, Joe turned on his flashlight. As he swung it around the area, he noticed a light glinting off something shiny to his right. “Huh.” Joe slowly walked over to it and crouched down. His shoes sunk further into the mud and he had to lean on a tree to not sink in too deep.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed his handkerchief, picking up what was shining to look at it.

A coin.

“Hmm.” Joe turned the coin around to look at it. He wrapped the coin in the handkerchief and stuffed it back in his pocket. Maybe the guys at the ME’s office could find something off of it.

Before long, the sunlight vanished and it became too hard to see anything. Joe hurried back to his car.

*

[theofficialcunt]

Simplicité - Chapter 8