#so basically he's grateful they can't get up to all the stuff he could when he first started out

[violent138]

Bruce is probably very grateful that the Robins look too young to sneak into most places undercover because it means they have to involve him in or can't go through with all of their craziest ideas.

[phas3d]

Famous!s/o Makes A Song About Him | Slytherin Boys

type :: fluff

tw/cw :: sexual hints (mattheo)

contains :: draco, tom, matt, theo, lorenzo

summary :: you're a rising pop star, similar to sabrina carpenter/olivia rodrigo and you dedicate a song to them

notes :: heavy inspo from @goldsainz and their writing for f1 drivers! i've been binge reading all of their stuff pls go read it :) they're lowkey inspiring me to make my own f1 page LMAOOOO

DRACO MALFOY "i know i have good judgement, i know i have good taste" - please please please by sabrina carpenter

He listens to the sing intensely, he's enjoying it but you can't read his face properly - thank god you were performing on stage so you couldn't look at his judgy face

But as you keep singing and poking jokes at him, he can't help but break his strong stare and chuckle. He hated admitting that you were funny, but goddamnit your fans just recorded him laughing and blushing

Once you finish performing, he smiles happily and cheers. He can't help but continue to laugh and shake his head from his own shock that YOU, the (y/n) who's famous, beautiful, and talented, is singing a song about HIM???

He'd never admit that all out loud, but you could read him so easily, you knew he was wrapped around your finger

Once your performance is over he greets you backstage with a smile that he's desperately trying to hide

"The song was a solid 8/10" he says as you scoff at him, you could tell he loved it and was too much of a wuss to admit it

And you were right, he has that song on REPEAT - he probably gave you like a million streams on his own

TOM RIDDLE "my baby, here on earth - showed me what my heart was worth" - my love mine all mine by mitski

When he first heard it, he's shocked that it's so somber and slow compared to your usual upbeat songs

He's even more shocked when he hears the lyrics and how simple yet impactful it is, it almost makes him blush

Tom has always been a sucker for poetry and music with simple instrumentals, so when you combined those both into this song he felt so loved

Once you finish performing it for the first time, he can't help but smile to himself, looking at the floor and putting his hand over his mouth to mask his happiness

When you finally come back stage, he walks up to you and hugs you tightly - despite PDA being literally vomit worthy for him

It surprises you so much, you weren't even aware you could have this impact on the cold-hearted Tom - but you did and you loved every second of it

Your song plays on repeat for him constantly, it reminds him that he's loved. He's never ever felt that in his entire life, even from his own brother

The song healed a small part of his deeply broken heart and soul, and he's so grateful for you to bring him even the slightest bit of joy, especially because he knows how difficult he is at times

MATTHEO RIDDLE "the boy is mine, i cant wait to try him, lets get intertwined" - the boy is mine by ariana grande

The second he hears the song and the lyrics, he's smirking and feeling so confident. The entire song is just basically flexing that he's yours - but he feels like he should be the one singing about you like this

Everything about the song is suited to match him perfectly, the beats, the sexual lyrics, even the choregraphy is amazing to him - it's like a perfect art piece just for him

Once you finish recording it, he's left dumbfounded and just smiling. It doesn't help that you send him a wink as well, making his already rapid heart beat even faster

After you finish the entire show, he can't get his hands off of you. He kisses you everywhere, does every command you ask of him, and drives you home at 100 mph

He wants to reward you :)

THEODORE NOTT "when i talk to you, oh cupid walks right through and shoots an arrow through my heart" - from the start by laufey

This song was basically a confession to him, which you hoped he wouldn't notice, but he did instantly and he loved every second of it

He had zero clue you had feelings for him, and vice versa. You guys were both known as the oblivious slow burn couple but you both were clueless to this rumor

Once you perform it live on stage, he decides to steal a random bouquet of flowers from a fan and run backstage to greet you

He gifts you the stolen flowers and smirks, "If you love me just say so," He says with a cocky grin on his face

Before you can tell him to shut up and stop stroking his ego, he leans down to your height and gives you a peck on the lips - making both of you blush

"Once you're done performing, how about we go on a little date" He says with a cute smile, making it impossible to say no

But he lied - that date was not "little" and instead one of the fanciest restaurants ever that he paid extra to play your entire debut album over and over for all the patrons to hear

He's your biggest fan ever and posts your song about him everywhere, literally fucking everyone god he can't stop

LORENZO BERKSHIRE "tangled in love, stuck by you from the glue" - glue song by beabadoobee

Oh my gosh he's already your biggest fan boy ever, so when you sing this song as a surprise gift for him - he's freaking out and shaking against the barriers

He bites his lip and smiles as you sing this cheesy love song about him - he's never had his ego been this inflated and he loves it

Once you finish singing, he screams and shouts so loud that even your die hard fans start to judge him

But he doesn't care and he runs backstage so fast you'd think he's the Flash. He waits backstage for you like an excited puppy waiting for their owner. You could almost see his tag wag from how bright his smile is

The second you walk off the stage, he hugs you tightly and covers you in a thousand kisses - your makeup artist won't be happy but you don't care

"Ohmygosh!!! I love it! I love you! You're so sweet! Ohmygosh!!! The hottest EVER just wrote a song about me!!! A happy little love song!!! Is that the song you've been practicing for so long? Why did you never tell me-" You laugh and shut him up with a kiss on the lips and then another one on his cheek - giving him a kiss lipstick mark on his face

He understands you need to go back and perform so he leaves

Oh, also he doesn't remove your kiss :) He keeps it there the wholeeee night

[sofiahchan]

How would Deepspace boys act when their wife (MC) is in labour? ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°)

— 𝐑𝐀𝐅𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐋

Rafayel was letting you hold his hand tight as he was sweating, he simply doesn't know what to do. He is nervous, offering you anything you want, even if it's a small piece of napkin or water. He would always give you a lot of praise while you gave birth. How come your journey together ends here, yet you have a new start? He feels so happy and so nervous right now in this moment that he will be a dad.

Rafayel doesn't know much about childbirth, just the basics. It's hard for him to see you in so much pain, and he wishes he could help and take all your pain away. He wants to give you strong support and he whisper compliments to you.

Looking at you, he could notice how you’re panicking inside. He tried his best to comfort you, making sure you were comfortable and knowing how much he’s proud of you. He’s grateful to have you as his wife and now the mother of his child. When the sound of a baby crying can be heard, Rafayel can feel his eyes getting teary as he stares at his newborn baby. He can't stop praising how strong you are, he is fully overjoyed. He lets you hold the baby in your arms. Performing the skin-to-skin contact as he looks down on such a memorable sight. I was thinking how adorable it is that now he has a baby that is a mixture of you and him together in your arms. evidence of how you both love each other and are willing to raise a child together. Finally, he gives you a comforting kiss on your forehead while keeping an eye out for you and his new little sunshine.

— 𝐙𝐀𝐘𝐍𝐄 

Zayne knows what you need most during pregnancy. Heating pads, pillows, even your favorite food? You named it. He got everything prepared for you, ensuring that your pregnancy would go smoothly as he tried his best to help you out. Even if he’s busy, he always answers your texts and calls quickly, making permission letters to the higher-ups so he can take care of you without neglecting his work too. In your final moments, he would still ensure that you have all the stuff that’s needed. He offers you a glass of water with a straw and even a handkerchief to wipe your sweat. Giving you a gentle squeeze as he holds onto your hand.

In his free time, he tries to learn more about your pregnancy, including which month you will be able to identify its gender, in which month you will need more supplies, and about the last trimester of your pregnancy. He convinced himself that everything would go well, so he had to be ready to deal with whatever challenges might appear. This way, he would always reassure you that everything would go well for the baby and yourself.

Once he sees the baby inside the hospital bassinet, a warm smile appears on his face. He was pleased to see the blessings that are now given to both of you. A warm hand suddenly lingers on your head, and you can feel how he is caressing your hair. He gave you a soft kiss on your forehead as he looked down at you. Looking down at you and the baby inside the hospital bassinet next to her hospital bed, “How lucky I am to be blessed with such a strong wife,” he whispers as he holds onto one of your hands.

— 𝐗𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐑

Xavier’s gentle nature shines through as he conceals his inner nervousness with a tender smile reflecting in his eyes. Not wanting his emotions to overshadow the moment, he soothingly murmurs words of encouragement not only to you but to the little life growing within your womb. With a caring touch, he delicately sweeps strands of your hair behind your ears, a gesture filled with affection and tenderness. Embracing you in a warm hug, he holds you close, his embrace a source of comfort and security as he endeavors to create an atmosphere of relaxation and ease for you.

He is struggling to avert his gaze from the unfolding scene, fully aware that the sight of blood could easily cause him to lose consciousness. Imagining a different scenario where you were not experiencing labor pains, this whole situation might have a hint of humor to it.

Seeing the tiny baby on his arms, Xavier held his tears as his fingers closed up to the baby's face, watching him pick it up. "He's so cute and lovely; you did a great job." You see Xavier smiling while hearing his praises for you and hoping the baby looks more like you. After going through all that, Xavier tries his best to cook for both you and the baby for the first time. He managed to make something edible and started to spoil you with his home-made food.

[hannigramislife]

I don't think people are able to comprehend how grateful I am to Beast Odasaku.

No, 'cuz he really is the only person who prioritized Akutagawa since he met him, and I'm so, so, so grateful to him for that. When he stood up for what B! Dazai did to him at the bar, I felt floored. Taken aback. I was like "Finally...finally someone sees this."

Finally someone who will take his side.

I find myself thinking about them two so often. The way Oda was so ready to help him in everything just- I can't handle it.

Not only did Oda take him in and give him like 15 siblings to look after (he wouldn't be lonely anymore), but the way he is quietly supporting Akutagawa in every move??

He sent him to the Agency to get a job that might allow him to find his sister. He then took a three day mission to find the person who took his sister, with next to no information whatsoever.

And the scene at the café!! Kunikida and the others are freaking out over Akutagawa attacking Oda, but Oda is so calm, not even bothered in the slightest, the way a parent wouldn't be bothered if their child started throwing stuff around. He doesn't berate him, or discourage him, or make him think he's weak when he inevitably loses. He just lets Akutagawa quench his curiosity and then quiets him down when he thinks it's enough.

His condition to Akutagawa joining the Agency is basically "go babysit the orphans," which in reality was more like "hey guys, i got you a new big brother, this is Akutagawa," introducing him to his little family. In addition, have you guys seen that one official art where Atsushi is playing with the orphans and Akutagawa?? Like, they're riding on top of him, and Akutagawa is sorta supervising as he does– whose idea was that?? Did Akutagawa walk up to him and be like, "Yeah, you know Mafia's top killer?? The guy who wears a spiked collar so he doesn't lose control and kill people?? You might remember him, he almost bit my head off? Anyways, can he come over?"

And, and!! Speaking of Oda never saying no to him!! He never told Akutagawa to give up on his revenge!! All he did was like "don't let your emotions control you" because they might as well get him killed.

And then you have the training that showed Akutagawa his weak spots, what could happen when he didn't think things through (the bullet through the cieling), making sure Akutagawa understood what he needed to improve, then he praised his strategy?? Took him out for lunch??

Oda literally gave him unconditional love and support, and it makes me fucking sob, because I love them both so goddamn much.

[007reid]

yay! (honestly don’t stress about the adhd characterisation being perfect)

r cannot stay still during one of the cases and the other officers at the *insert state* station get really frustrated with r's hyperactive tendencies (pacing, humming, fidgeting etc) (possibly a small bit of angst)

and of course because of that we get an overprotective dr reid because he can see that r is trying to mask to appease the officers (he most likely knows the facts and all that jazz about how harmful masking can be)

masking is where we basically try and suppress our actions - ignoring what our brain is telling us to do and trying to act ‘normal’ (it is very exhausting and honestly just sucks - can also lead to mental health issues)

also tysm if you consider this <3

- 🦕 xx

HI DINO ANON!! i imagined glasses reid for this cus he’s the sassiest and spencer is def sassy here. i hope i did it okay, kinda nervous about this one. enjoy!

spencer reid x adhd fem!reader

cases involving children always stresses you out more than usual, and this one is no exception.

hotch is cruel in the way that he requested for you not to join the team. 'request' is actually him being nice. you stood your ground until he demanded you to, and you know he's right, knows why you can't be with the team this time. "you're too shaken up, y/n," hotch had said, firmly, eyes as soft as steel. "you won't benefit the team. just hang tight and keep an eye out, alright?”

penelope had gone back to the hotel but it's hard for you to muster up the will to. you need to hear the news right when the team comes back, need to know what happens to the two siblings held hostage, and the only way to get immediate information once the information comes is to lurk in the louisiana's sheriff department and wait for the inevitable phone call.

one of the assistants were nice enough to hand you a donut with a pink napkin for it to sit on and a coffee, but god forbid you have any caffeine or sugar so you set it deliberately to the side for spencer, who, predictably, comes by a second later and it grabs his attention immediately, pointing to it as if to ask "you want this?" silently. you shake your head. he stuffs the donut into his mouth and takes the coffee with him as he makes to go somewhere else.

you're grateful for spencer, and you wish that you can say something about it but your mouth's clamp shut and you don't remember the last time you've been so nervous on a case. you're no newbie to the bau, you know the procedure and you know the horrific scenes that goes on but it's been a while since there is children involved and it took you for a toll and you don't know how to deal with it.

spencer had insisted staying at the station with you and you know the officers aren’t too pleased about it, having two fbi officers strolling around in their post just because. they can't send you back, but they’re dying too; you can tell it on their disdained faces that they're practically looking for a reason to kick the two of you out.

feeling constrained by standing in the hard, wooden stool, you decide to get up and take a walk around the pace, and a walk turns into just pacing back and forth between these two desks and then humming a little song that’s been stuck in your head, trying to keep your mind distracted and off the possibilities of what could be happening to those innocent kids right now if the team hasn't taken care of everything yet. your eyes stay on the dark green telephone that sits menacingly and quietly in the sheriff's office desk. you don’t pick up the glances directed at you.

“hey, ma’am?” someone speaks up. you pause and whip your head around. you could read the man’s face as legibly as a news magazine. he’s annoyed and fed up, his lips turned at an ugly angle. you feel embarrassment bubble up inside of you. “can you sit down? we have work to take care of.”

first thing that comes to your mind is to talk back. the fuck you know about workload? you want to spit into the man’s face. i’m with the fucking fbi, jackass. you just sit at a fucking computer.

the fierce words don’t come out of you, however. instead, you just feel silly and childish, walking back to the stiff chair you had abandoned earlier and try to make yourself comfortable, mumbling a half-assed “sorry” under your breath.

“no worries, ma’am,” the man says, and it sounds saturated and sarcastic, and you can feel yourself burn a brighter red, ridiculed.

you hide the tremble in your hands by tucking it in the pockets of your fbi issued hoodie and resists your foot from tapping on the floor, looking around anxiously for something to watch.

“does her pacing ‘round a little bit distract you that much?”

spencer suddenly appears right next to you, enough bitterness on his face to give the man a run for his money. he looks strange like this, the innocent, permanently confused frown on his face replaced with a glare, harsh and intense under the gleaming of his glasses.

“yeah, it does, you android,” the man sneers, stopping his typing on the computer. he leans back on his chair. you feel the defensiveness in you rising up at the man’s words. “this place’s for business, not you kids’ playground, kay?”

“kids?” spencer says incredulously, laughing. “kids and we have a say above you as federal workers and you as state. you work under your boss who work under another boss who work under my boss. that’s three tiers, if you got lost along the way. we’re kids and we got more going for us than you ever do,” and spencer says all this so casually, as if he’s informing the man of the littleness of his worth as a fact instead of an insult. it stabs twice as deep and it shows on the man’s face.

“whatever, fucking android,” the man grumbles, continuing to type.

spencer, bless him, can’t seem to keep his mouth shut for to long and spinning around to face you, water in his hand. “here,” he press the bottle to your trembling hand, making you accept it. “don’t do that again, okay?” he says, sternly.

“do what?”

“suppressing it.” he doesn’t need to define what ‘it’ is. you get the memo immediately and look down in shame, biting at your lip. “it makes things worse, okay? you know it does.” he frowns, except his lips jut out in a pout. it’s cute. you guess spencer reid’s a little bit cute. spencer is oblivious to your little revelation as he continues his tangent, without a thought in the world. “masking can lead to anxiety or depression if you feel like you're constantly under too much stress. this isn’t a stress free job, y/n. you can’t keep piling more on top of what you already got,” he says, softly.

“i know,”

“i know you do,”

right then, the phone rings and you nearly trip over spencer’s beat up converses trying to get to the sheriff’s office fast enough. spencer catches you by the hand as you come sending towards the floor and the both of you rush, your hand in his as sheriff brody picks up the phone and press it to his ear.

a beat.

“they’re safe.”

[vickyvicarious]

It's kind of striking how Jonathan already is expressing doubts and fears, he isn’t ignorant of what situation he might be in, but when the Count gives him food and a bed, he dismisses these fears as his mind playing tricks.

The warm hearth, the meal, all this transferred him from the darkness and the snarling, howling wolves outside, to the light and the safety of Castle.

So Jonathan stepping from the outside, is trembling, shocked, but now this powerful old man is giving him a warm fire, security, and food. He's now putty in his hands.

In retrospect then, Dracula manipulates Jonathan from the beginning, putting him in grave danger, and leaving him alone in the cold and surrounded by wolves. Later, he plays the kind host, providing Jonathan with food and shelter. Jonathan is now like a grateful puppy, completely dependent on Dracula for his basic needs, but he is unable to recognize this due to the carefully orchestrated emotional roller coaster Dracula has just put him through.

From the start, Dracula is doing textbook abusive, gaslighting codependent tricks to manipulate Jonathan, one could say...

I feel like as readers, it can be easy to dismiss just how easy it would be for characters to dismiss their fears and doubts once somewhere warm and well lit. Unless someone is truly already a believer in the supernatural, anyone would probably try to talk themself down, just because... well, the idea seems kind of silly, doesn't it? Sure, there were scary stuff happening, but - really, my host is impersonating his own coach driver? Why? Spontaneous fires in the woods that can be seen through a solid human form? Wolves that are driven off by a commanding gesture alone? What kind of ghost story is this? Jonathan sticks to his guns fairly well, being firm about what he's certain he did see, but he admits to having fears and doubts he's not going to mention because they aren't logical, they're fearful speculation about things that for the most part, probably are things he's always considered impossible.

So, yeah. Leaving Jonathan outside in the courtyard alone for a while, to really marinate in his fear and distress at realizing he's trapped alone, surrounded by wolves and who knows what else, and has no idea where to go to seek help... by doing so, Dracula not only has time to run around and take off his disguise, but he primes Jonathan to see his invitation inside as a welcome relief. At least it's better than being exposed to the threats outside. (Though interestingly, it seems it still took several invitations before Jonathan actually came all the way in.) It's setting Dracula himself up as a welcome savior. He brings Jonathan inside, out of the cold and dark to somewhere well-lit and warm. He feeds him, he's courteous and friendly, he shares Mr. Hawkins' praise with him. Jonathan gets to smoke a cigar and relax a bit. He gets to tell the whole story to an interested audience. * Of course he feels better than before. And it's thanks to Dracula. Dracula is the one who can protect him from all that scariness out there, who can make him feel comfortable again. It's a good way to build trust and influence quickly, by positioning himself as a friend/protector.

But Dracula can't restrain himself. He pushes too much, too soon, and Jonathan feels rightfully creeped out:

As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolves.

As soon as Dracula touches Jonathan, he feels repulsed. Part of this may be some kind of instinctive reaction to Dracula's supernatural nature. Maybe it's related to the memory of how incredibly strong his grip was earlier. Maybe it's simply because Dracula is being an overfamiliar creep - that would be plenty of reason on its own. (And I'm sure his terrible breath doesn't help matters.) But regardless, Dracula hasn't established enough trust between them here for Jonathan to welcome this touch. And he's not quite established a fearful enough power dynamic for Jonathan to force himself to accept the touch. Politeness is the only reason Jonathan doesn't move away, but his feelings are made obvious by his shudder.

Dracula pulls back, tries to play it off, but they still fall into a silence that is clearly a lot less comfortable than before. And the atmosphere around them reflects the sudden distance too: Jonathan notices dawn coming (presaging a physical separation as well, but also Dracula's power waning right after this blunder lessens his emotional power over Jonathan). Eerie elements creep back in: Dracula's frustrated smile shows his teeth more than all his deliberately charming ones have done before. Wolves are howling, which pleases Dracula and upsets Jonathan - the final exchange which they have before Dracula sends Jonathan off to bed, and one which seems to bring Jonathan right back to a much more distressed state of mind as he relives the night's experiences over again.

Dracula spoils his own fun a little bit here, because he puts Jonathan back on guard. And I think it's clear he's a little annoyed at himself for it. He finds Jonathan so interesting/enticing that he's having difficulty playing a long game. At least a part of him wants to jump right in to more intimate/threatening actions, and though he mostly restrains himself, the mask still slips and his victim notices. Which is lucky, as Jonathan needs that guard up to keep himself safe.

* I just realized that Jonathan does say that he "told [Dracula] by degrees all [he] had experienced" on his journey. I hope to god that doesn't include him mentioning the crucifix lady's gift with any kind of specificity, or else I fear very much for her life.

[reidmania]

FLICKER | SPENCER REID

chapter one ;

in which spencer knows falling for a victim is wrong, but he cant help himself.

warnings ;

all chapters of this will contain strong mentions and descriptions of rape and murder, violence, eating disorders, suicides, abuse, sexual jokes and references, and all the criminal minds stuff, please be aware of this when reading.

a/n ;

around 3k words idk tbh

this is based in the earlier seasons and doesnt follow an exact plotline, its kinda all made up, if things are inaccurate i apologise, please RESPECTFULLY let me know and ill do what i can to correct it!!

NOT MY GIF!!

"Kay pretty boy, heads up" The voice came from the familiar voice, belonging to the all well known, his best friend; Derek Morgan.

Spencer furrowed his eyebrows as he turned his head, the nickname had developed between the two pretty quickly, it was simply teasing.

His hand came in contact with the book that traveled away from Derek's own, it was a basic copy of the illustrated man by Ray BradBury, one of his favourites.

"Whats this for?" Spencer asked, eyebrows still furrowed as he looked up from the book back to Derek who was now leaning against Spencers desk, hip to desk.

Derek chuckled, "Its your favourite right? I wanted to give you something you could read on the jet" Derek shrugged simply.

Spencer hummed, furrowing his eyebrows further as he let the book rest on the edge of his desk, his head shook for a moment as he tried to figure out why Derek would think he would have to re-read the book when he could literally recite it word for word.

"You do know I have an eidetic memory right?" Spencer asked, his head tilted slightly to the side as he looked up at Derek.

Derek only nodded, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know man, you have read like every book in the world. I figured Id at least gift you a copy of something you like, why can't you just be grateful?" Derek said, his tone shifting to teasing rather quickly.

Spencer let his face relax, a simple shake of his head. "Thank you." He said simply, "We have a case?" He asked, mind replaying back to Derek's mention of the jet.

Derek nodded, and then as if on cue Hotchner and Gideon walked through the doors. The all familiar stern look covered Hotch's face as he looked over at the two boys.

"We don't have time to discuss, we need to go." He said sweet and simply.

Spencer nodded his head, pushing away from the desk. Morgan mirrored his actions. The two wasted no time getting their stuff before following the two older men out.

"Where are we going?" Morgan asked, seemingly enthusiastic. Spencer frowned slightly as he noticed they weren't walking in the direction of the jet.

"To the police station to get further details on the case" Gideon said, looking behind him at the two younger boys. Derek frowned, "The case is here?" He asked.

Spencer hummed, "Absolutely 65% of cases here that happen daily that we don't get called in on because we are out of town working on other cases" He muttered, although no one asked for the random bit of information he could stop it from spilling past his lips.

"Where's JJ and Elle?" Derek asked, obviously the two girls weren't around.

"They already left." Hotch said

Gideon nodded his head in agreement. "Do you remember the 10 murders that happened one after the other over the course of a month, about two years ago?" He asked the two boys.

"Which one?" Derek said, tone dripping confusion.

"2 women every week until the unsub killed four girls, in one day. He was the one that would target specific types of women, they all looked and acted the same, he would drug them and rape them and then kill them and leave their bodies out in the open" Spencer muttered as he and Derek got into the back seat of the car.

"I thought he was caught, and the case was closed?" Derek asked, eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked over at Spencer, who seemed to had thought the same of him.

"So did we." Hotch said simply.

Spencer sat up a little bit straighter in his seat, pulling his hand to his hair to put a bit of hair out of his face. "Was there another murder?"

Gideon shook his head as he turned back to look at the two boys.

"She survived."

"How do we know it's the same guy?" Derek asked, as they walked into the police station, they were met with many familiar faces, officers they had worked with on many cases before.

"We don't, not for certain but her story matches all the others, and she is exactly the type." Hotch said, taking the lead as they walked up to the commanding officer.

"Aaron Hotchner, with the bau, we need a conference room and to talk to the victim." He said.

Spencer tried his best not to watch in awe at how swiftly the elder did his job, he had the introduction down pat. Hotch and the commanding officer talked for a moment before they were directed to an empty conference room, where they each placed their stuff.

"Shes going to be sensitive, this would've been traumatic and we have to be insanely careful with how far we push." Hotch said, looking between Derek and Spencer.

The two nodded as Derek dove into the case file, reading over the contents of the piles and piles of paper. "Reid, come in with me to talk to her." Hotch said, nudging his head towards the door in the other room.

"Hey guys" All four of the men turned their head to face the blonde girl who walked into the room with a tray of coffee's.

"Hey JJ, how is she?" Gideon asked, wasting no time reaching out to take one of the coffee from the tray now placed on the table. JJ shrugged, "I want to say shes okay but that seems insensitive. Elle is in there with her now, she would know more than I do." JJ said, before handing another file in Derek's direction.

"Oh my gosh, how many files are there?" Derek complained. Spencer held back from saying how it really wasn't that much — because it was — just not to him. "Shes nice, funny, don't treat her like glass I think that makes it worse" JJ warned the boys simply, handing a coffee to Derek, who took it gracefully.

When she held out one to Spencer he was quick to thank her and take the coffee off her hands, but with no plans to drink it.

"Ready Reid?"

Spencer felt like the breath had been knocked out of his chest when his eyes rested upon the girl sitting in the corner of the room.

The chair had been pulled away from the interrogation table, instead placed against the wall in the furtherest wall away from the door.

He watched as the girls eyes traveled upwards to the door as the two men entered the room. Elle turned her head after, nodding as she stood up.

"These are some of my coworkers, you can talk to them, okay?" Elle said, Spencer watched the interaction and watched as the girl nodded her head.

"Im Agent Aaron Hotcher, with the FBI." Hotch introduced himself, taking a sensitive step towards the table. Spencer stayed in place.

"Im Agent Dr Spencer Reid." He introduced, although it felt like his throat had been closed off. His eyes stayed on hers and he felt like he was drowning when she smiled softly at him.

"Im Serenity May." Her voice was sweet like honey and Spencer had to remind himself to keep it professional as he felt his head began to swarm.

that never happened before.

Hotch offered the girl a half hearted smile, of course they already knew her name. They had an idea of what she looked like, since the unsub had a specific type.

Brunette, short, pretty face, younger than he was, girls who dressed nice, who smelt of vanilla. Every one of the victims had the same use of vanilla perfume.

Although that was something that was different, the brunette girl across the room didn't smell of vanilla. She smelt of honey and caramel, the scent took over Spencers senses.

"We need to ask you a few questions but you know how much you talk about and how deep we go is completely up to you." Hotch said, Pulling a chair to sit down, he sat at the table but made no effort to try and get the girl to move out of her place in the corner of the room.

Serenity nodded her head softly, a loose strand of brunette hair falling over her face. Spencer noticed how she was quick to push the hair back behind her ear. He noticed the way her knees were pulled up to her chest, and the way her chin rested upon them. He tried not to over analyse her body language, but he couldn't help it.

"I have a question though." She spoke up, Spencer felt his chest twist all over again with every word that left her lips. He hated the way his entire body was reacting, it was inappropriate.

"Of course, you can ask anything." Spencer said softly, taking a few steps around the room to lean against the table as he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning his hip comfortably against it.

She chewed at her lip for a moment, looking at Elle. Spencer watched the two hold eye contact before the brunette turned her head again to face the two men.

"After this.. Can I go home? I really just want to go home" The words came out desperate and sad, it broke Spencers heart because they would have to tell her No.

"Unfortunately not, If you escaped, then he would be looking for you. This is where you are safe" Hotch answered.

Spencer watched as the girls smiled dampened slightly, nontheless she nodded her head in understanding. "Okay. I get it, you guys can ask your questions now."

Hotch started, simply asking you to explain what happened in as much detail as possible without it being too much for you.

Spencer listened to her speak as if his life depended on it. His eyebrows furrowed slightly when she mentioned how she had been with the unsub for two days, yet no one filed a missing person report, when he was asked about it, the answer didn't help the way his heart was tearing away from its self as she exposed every little bit of her story.

"I don't have any family around here.. And I just finished university, things get busy. The people in my life are use to be not being able to answer for a few days.." It was horrible. Truely.

"You don't have any friends around here, room mates?" Hotch asked, furrowing his eyebrows slightly.

Serenity's frown only deepened at the mention of being slightly called out, "Well — No. Not really. I live alone, I wasn't all that social in uni.." She says, eyes shifting between Spencer's and Hotch's.

"What were you studying?" Spencer asked, passing it off as a question for the case, not a question for his own curiosity, trying to figure out her interests. That always helped in these cases anyways.

"Psychology." She answered simply, eyes lingering on Spencers for a minute. "Which Im regretting now because all I can think about is how maybe there is a valid reason he did this." She muttered quietly, as if she was so ashamed of the thought.

Spencer shook his head, "There is no valid reason for what he did to you." He was quick to say it. Because morally, there wasn't, and the idea of her sitting there trying to justify sickening actions because of something that might be wrong with the guy made Spencers stomach clench.

"Maybe it's valid to him." She spoke, still maintaining the eye contact between herself and Spencer, but her voice was soft and quieter than before.

"That doesn't make it okay." He said, eyebrows furrowed in a slight look of disapproval of the perspective she was providing. The girl's lip quipped up slightly as she noticed The agents expression. "I know that. I can't stop thinking that I got lucky, which is so horrible. Ten girls before me were raped brutally and Murdered and I wasn't.. It feels selfish for me to be happy about that."

She spoke with so much doubt in herself it was almost hard to listen to, because all Spencer wanted to do was sit there and tell the girl everything she was feeling was completely valid and normal, for hours, until she believed it.

Unfortunately that was unprofessional.

Elle spoke up before either of the men could, "Oh babe. I am so sure every single one of those girls are smiling down at you, so insanely proud of what you did." Spencer couldn't have worded it any better, he watched her frown shift slightly, not disappearing but that wasn't expected of her.

"Then I guess I need to give those girls the justice they deserve.. Where were we."

[borathae]

Proud of You

"Jungkook thinks that whatever mistake he makes defines his entire character and makes him unlovable. Yoongi shows him that mistakes don't mean the end of the world and that they most definitely don't define his worth."

Pairing: Vampire!Yoongi x Vampire!Jungkook

Genre: Slice of Life, Fluff, Comfort

Warnings: Jungkook accidentally breaks something and is sad about it, Yoongi shows him how to fix it, that's his little one everyone, he's so fond of him, Googie is so grateful for him in return

Wordcount: 1.7k

a/n: Requested by anonie literally two years ago 🥴 I found it buried deep under all the things on my wips list jsjs I can't even find the ask to it anymore but it was basically them wanting a domestic fluff drabble of yoonkook fixing something together to make Kookie see that his hands can do other things than break. I finally wrote it because i miss them and i'm big sad about it 🖤

The knock on his door is faint; shy in a way. Perhaps even hesitant. 

“Come in”, Yoongi allows whoever is nervous to see him entrance. 

He was playing the electric guitar before that, sitting on the floor against his sofa and only candlelight accompanying him. The guitar sits beside him for now.

Jungkook enters the room, having his head lowered and hands folded in front of his crotch. Yoongi waits for him to speak.

“Hyung, I did something bad”, Jungkook gets out quietly.

“Are you okay? What did you do?” Yoongi asks him in a soft voice.

“I’m sorry but I broke the, the door in the kitchen.”

“The door?”

Jungkook nods his head.

“The actual door?”

“No, a cupboard.”

“Mhm. How did that happen?”

“I, I was uhm, I opened it. I didn’t mean to, I swear!”

“That’s okay, kiddo. Accidents happen. Did you hurt yourself?” Yoongi speaks gently.

Jungkook shakes his head, sniffling.

“That’s good to hear.” Yoongi stands up. “Come on, let’s see what we can do to fix it, yeah?”

He intertwines hands with Jungkook, leading him to the kitchen. Jungkook follows him, barely daring to look at him in fear of seeing his anger. There is no anger on Yoongi’s features, Jungkook merely has the habit of beating himself up for every little mistake he makes. In his eyes, mistakes are awful when he makes them. They are the reason for anger and shame. Yoongi doesn’t share this sentiment, caressing his knuckles soothingly as he walks with him.

“Are you angry at me now?” Jungkook asks quietly.

“Of course not. You didn’t mean to break it.”

“I’m really sorry, hyung.”

“You’re okay, kiddo. Hyung’s not angry.”

They have reached the kitchen. The door Jungkook broke is lying on the floor. It is missing from one of the lower cupboards. 

“Oh this one. Little bugger, I meant to tighten it for ages but was too lazy to do so. It was about to fall off.”

“I swear I only opened it and it already fell.”

“I’m sure you did. Don’t worry, bun. The hinges were old. It would have broken sooner or later.” Yoongi says and squats down to inspect the door. “Let’s see.”

Jungkook kneels next to him, sitting down on his folded feet. He squeezes his hands between his thighs, rocking back and forth in self-soothing.

“Can you fix it?” he asks, gnawing on his lower lip.

“Of course. We’ll see if I have a set of hinges in my workshop. Come on, you’re helping”, Yoongi says, standing back up.

Jungkook scrambles back to his feet to follow Yoongi, “okay, hyung.”

Yoongi glances at Jungkook halfway to the workshop. Jungkook’s features are twisted in guilt and self-anger. Yoongi closes the distance and places his hand on the back of Jungkook’s neck sweetly. 

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, okay?”

Jungkook glances at him, hand coming up to rub his own cheek. Almost as if he wanted to wipe tears away.

“I feel so angry at myself.”

“I know you do, but don’t. Stuff breaks around the house, it’s prone to happen. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I could have opened it softer or, or been more careful.”

“Maybe, but you’ll never know if the outcome would have been different. You gotta focus on the now, kiddo, and in the now, nothing terrible happened. We’ll get new hinges and fix the door, okay?”

Jungkook hesitates with accepting the words. So Yoongi gives him a gentle shake, following it up with a pat to his butt. 

“Okay, kiddo?” 

“Yeah, okay”, Jungkook murmurs and smiles shyly. 

“That’s my boy”, Yoongi praises with a fond sparkle in his eyes, making Jungkook’s smile grow.

For the rest of the way, Jungkook walks next to Yoongi with lightness in his steps and his head held high. 

Yoongi’s workshop is in one of the many outhouses of the estate. The two men have to leave through the main door and then take the gravel path west, the opposite direction of where the horse stables are located. The outhouse is a sandstone cottage with one floor and a small herb garden and an outdoor smithy in the front. A few of the many workers are busy in front of it, greeting Yoongi and Jungkook with a bow of their heads as they pass them. 

Yoongi keeps his workshop very neat and organised. His tools are stored in cupboards and shelves on the walls. There is also a metal sink and many worktops to get crafty on. He kept one corner tidy, filling it with a two-seater and a table for refreshments. In winter when the nights are long, one can often find him cozied up in here with the fireplace lit and the radio playing music. He does all of his woodworking here and sees this house as a space to relax in. 

It doesn’t take him long to find what he is looking for, handing Jungkook the needed tools while he carries the new hinges. 

“It smells so good in here”, Jungkook comments between deep inhales of the woody air. 

“I worked on some wood carvings recently.”

“It smells really good. What are you working on?”

“Just some decorations for Emma’s town shop. She asked me to make cats.” Yoongi says, pointing at one of the worktops. 

Seven cat figures of different sizes are standing on it. Some are already completely finished, while others are still in the process of getting carved. 

“So cute, wow”, Jungkook gushes, petting each of them carefully. 

“Mhm, they’re pretty adorable yeah”, Yoongi agrees, watching his boy handle the figures so gently. He never doubted it, but Jungkook has such tender hands. Even if he thinks that they are only good for destroying. Yoongi knows better.

Jungkook turns to him, smiling shyly.

“They’re really pretty, hyungie.”

“Thanks”, Yoongi says and gestures Jungkook to leave. “I hope Emma will like them.” 

“I’m sure that she will. They’re really so, so pretty.”

“Thanks, kiddo”, Yoongi says, turning off the lights behind them now that they got everything that they needed. 

The two men wander back to the estate, greeting whoever passes them. They don’t chat a lot with each other, but that was alright for both. They are lovers of silence and sharing it together is a way to bond for them. 

The kitchen is how they left it and other than before, Jungkook doesn’t feel sickening guilt at the view of the broken cabinet. He feels hopeful. 

They lay out the tools, both sitting on the floor cross-legged. 

“Did you fix a cupboard before?” Yoongi asks Jungkook. 

“Yes, just not that type of cupboard.”

“Mhm, well it’s probably not that much different than other cupboards. You see this?”

Jungkook inspects where Yoongi points with squinted eyes. 

“The plastic is cracked.”

“Exactly. Old fucking shit finally gave up. That’s what modern hinges do. Back in my days, you would wither away before your hinges gave up.”

Jungkook laughs. 

“I’m serious. The older the earth gets, the younger companies make the life-expectancies of their shit. One day, I’ll rip out this modern dust catcher and build a good, sturdy kitchen. Just how I built it back then. With real wood and real metal hinges and good stone oven.”

Jungkook laughs harder, painting a fond smile onto Yoongi’s face. He scoffs and shakes his head. 

“I’m talking too much, aren’t I?”

“No, I like it when you talk like this”, Jungkook assures him and rests his cheek on his shoulder, “when you do that, can I help?”

“Of course you can, kiddo. I’d be happy to do that with you”, Yoongi promises him with a chaste kiss to the crown of his head. “Now look here. I need your help.”

“What do you need?”

“Hold the door right there and I’ll tighten the screws.”

“Yes, okay.” Jungkook does as he is told, watching Yoongi work. “This was really quick.”

“Mhm. Just had to unscrew the old hinges and put on the new ones”, Yoongi murmurs, fixing the door back into its place. Three more tight twists with the screwdriver and the cupboard is officially as good as new. 

Jungkook gazes at it with sparkling eyes while Yoongi gathers all the tools. He stands up, placing the tools on the kitchen island so he could wash his hands. 

Jungkook stands up, looking at Yoongi. He has his back turned to him, wiping his hands on the towel.

He made his life worthwhile again, Jungkook thinks, he is the reason that Jungkook is able to actually exist again. And he has no fucking idea. He goes day by day thinking that his impact was minimal, when in reality he is the very reason for Jungkook’s perfect life. 

Jungkook closes the distance and takes Yoongi into his arms. The smaller man freezes up, dropping the towel in surprise. Jungkook has both arms around him, chest melted against his back and face buried in the crook of his neck. 

“Thank you.”

“For what?” 

“For coming into my life.”

Yoongi lowers his head, feeling flustered. His embarrassment about the highly emotional moment is instant. He begins wiggling to pretend that he doesn’t want to be hugged.

“Yeah, yeah whatever. Let go of me, you brat.”

But Jungkook doesn’t let him go today. He hugs him tighter until Yoongi has to give up with an involuntary whimper which Jungkook squeezes out of him. 

“Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.” he chants, kissing his neck and shoulder over and over again.

Yoongi hums, patting his lower arm. 

“You are so important. You are so loved. Oh so loved, hyungie. And, and you make my life possible.”

“The one who’s making it possible is you, kiddo. You’ve come so far.”

“I only came that far because of you.”

They share a moment of deep, comfortable silence. It is filled with emotions. Yoongi takes a deep breath and turns in Jungkook’s arms, cradling his face in both hands. 

Jungkook meets his fond eyes. His features are so soft and adoring. 

“Hyung is….” He shakes his head and smiles, “I’m proud of you, Jungkookie-ah.”

Jungkook exhales in emotion.

Yoongi pulls his head down and kisses his forehead.

Jungkook whimpers, closing his eyes. He never kissed him there before.

“I’m so proud of you, my little one. And…and you’re loved too.”

“Hyungie”, Jungkook breathes, falling around Yoongi’s neck to hug him tightly. 

Yoongi hugs him back, ruffling his hair. He is so very fond of his boy. Quite frankly, he would steal the stars for him if he asked him to. They may not have had many happy endings in their past, but at least in this life they will. Together. Because being together is the best which could have happened to them.

[bloodycyrano]

K, so I'm in a depressive episode, and I'm craving chocolate. Nobody probably cares, but here's what type of chocolate members of Team Tadpole prefer and how I think they'd react to receiving it as a gift! This is purely headcannons, and I haven't been able to play the game in a few months, so if I get something wrong, don't be mad at me, lol.

Shadowheart: She absolutely adores dark chocolate, and she's absolutely one of those pretentious fuckers who hate milk chocolate, and take anything other than 90-100% cacao as an insult on their fucking bloodline. She does think that she's better than you for liking Dark chocolate- This does not change if she gets her 'good' ending.

If you bring her her favorite type of chocolate, she will not only be impressed but grateful. I feel like she probably has chronic migraines or something and would enjoy sharing it with you some late night with a bottle of wine and a charcuterie board. Probably making flower crowns or feeding animals in a meadow, basic cottagecore lesbian romance stuff. I could be wrong, I've never romanced Shadowheart, but it's just a gut feeling.

Karlach: Karlach likes milk chocolate best, and doesn't see the point in putting up with something bitter just because some people think it's 'better'. More than anything, it reminds her of her mums baking, back when she was a kid. Chocolate is expensive and hard to get your hands on, but by god when the holidays came around or her birthday, I feel like her mum would've baked her the best cookies or chocolate chip muffins after working extra hard to afford it.

Karlach would love whatever type of chocolate you gave her, but I think especially if you brought her hot chocolate or chocolate chip cookies/Muffins/etc, she might even tear up a little. After all, she hasn't had something like that since her mom died.

Wyll: Wyll is a proud enjoyer of chocolate in general, but actually seems to favor white chocolate and dark chocolate the best. He likes to enjoy the contrast in flavors.

I feel like Wyll would just be grateful to be given chocolates, and wouldn't care much what form they came in. He'd probably invite you to enjoy them alongside him, and simply spend time with one another. I do believe he loves dark hot chocolate with whipped cream, and would probably try to set up a day to go to his favorite cafe in baldurs gate for hot chocolate, to return the favor. It's a treat for him, too, since he hasn't been there since his father cast him out. It'll bring a wave of nostalgia, and maybe some unkind memories.. But he will feel happy to be there. Especially to be there with you. And maybe, it'll become a much more common thing.

Astarion: I feel like he prefers dark chocolate, if he's able to eat it at all (I don't remember how vampires work in DnD.)..

If he can't eat it, I feel like he'd miss it.. the simple things. Pleasures like imported chocolates. He might go on a monologue about things he enjoyed as a Mortal that he no longer can.-.. If he can, however, eat chocolate.. I think he'd be surprised. Surprised you thought of him, surprised you spent the money, surprised you wanted to give him anything at all. I think he'd be very happy, but he probably wouldn't want to show it. He'd brush it off with a sarcastic comment or something, yet still taking the mental note that if nobody else cared, at least you did.

Gale: Gale is the most pretentious motherfucker there is, are you kidding me? I think he, himself, loves milk chocolate and it's a major guilty pleasure, but he tells everyone it's dark chocolate. He doesn't shame anyone for their preference, but there comes an air of arrogance whenever he says he likes dark chocolate.

He will definitely be grateful no matter what type you give him, but if you give him milk chocolate and tell him you know it's his favorite? He might try to deny it at first, but his heart is beating a mile a fucking minute knowing that you've been observant enough to bring him his actual favorite type without making a big deal about it, or calling him a liar.

Lae’zel: Has never had chocolate before, and doesn't know why you're giving it to her. She does, however, adore white chocolate after you get her to try some. You'd assume she'd prefer dark, but she doesn't. She believes that if you're going to have a sweet, or a desert, it shouldn't be bitter because that defeats the purpose.

After you get her to try it the first time, she'll insist she doesn't like it or see the reason for it, but at any party or gathering or anything where there's chocolate? She's sampling the fuck out of that snack table, and hovering over the bowl of sweets like a dragon guarding a hoard of treasure. She actually really likes fancy chocolates and truffles. If you bring them to her while in an established relationship, she won't act very different, but she's very happy and feels very loved.

I might do Halsin, Jaheira, Minsc, and Minthara later. Idk.

[kikiwooo]

𝑹𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅....𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒕.

notes: gn! flying squirrel reader. I'm just fuckin' around.

@/kikiwooo

Reincarnated as a flying squirrel is honestly pure luck. Those guys are pretty flexible and being small makes them fit into nearly everywhere. I'm not even mentioning being able to glide.

Finding you was a surprise to König, you just came out of the thin air and landed on his chest. He was on a mission and trying to not get shot, which is pretty hard when there's such a cute distraction on his chest.

When the mission is over, the giant just ran towards to Horangi and showed you onto his face,,, which didn't help since Horangi was too busy catching his breath. When he finally got a good look at the creature in the König's hands " It's a wild animal we can't keep it. Leave them where you found them "

Due to two pair of puppy eyes from König and you, Horangi decides to let you stay, a big mistage really they are about to get addicted. König takes it upon himself to look after you, constantly feeding you little treats here and there and just watches with heart eyes how quickly you gobble them up in just mere seconds. Horangi warns him to not feed you too much but at the end of the day König would stuff your cheeks so much that they'd look they could pop off any time.

Horangi got you a cage for your size and it's just sitting there not used at all, reasons; 1) you never liked the cage even if it's full of rich thingies 2) you always sleep with them at nights 3) König always wants you by his side even if Horangi put you to your cage forcefully, König would find a way to get you out without Horangi noticing him sneaking you out.

Another reason why König keeps you with him is that you shut down his anxiety very quickly, Horangi never says something about that and is actually very grateful that you're there to make König focus. Your fur feels so nice to touch.

They both have pockets that you can hop in them anytime. Mainly Horangi though because he is very carefully with you, König too but sometimes he gets a bit too excited and ends up hurting you a little unintentionally, it's all good since he quickly apologies smothering you with kisses.

You sometimes sneak under König's hood and just stay here,,, whilst watching Horangi searching all over the place turning everything upside down to find you. König keeps his gremlin voice at minimum or never open his mouth to shout smthbg in German to not to scare his love ( he actually calls you that go ask him ), whenever he gets pinned to the ground or the wall his enemy will find themselves in front of a very furious squirrel. Squirrels can be dangerous if provoken, do be careful.

Now...imagine when König decides to mess with you, play fighting basically. His fingers can alone trap you under his palms " So tiny so cute! " [ also he takes his hood when it's just the two of you so ], when he goes for your nose for a kiss, suddenly there's a whole ass human beneath him( what was the name of the disney film agushsh I can't remember ). Both of you staring at each other wide eyes and flushed cheeks.

[talaok]

Since all the nominations for Emmys, I need one fic where reader is either video calling or with Pedro when nominations are announced. Somethig fluffy and full of emotions cuz Pedro deserves all of this 😊

a/n: this ask skipped the line just cause I felt that if I posted this next week it wouldn't have made as much sense, so yeah here it is (also, I’m so happy for him and Bella, like omg man)

Today was the day.

Pedro was never usually one to care about this stuff, yes he was grateful, and yes he was happy, but no other time had he felt this electricity in the air, this buzz telling him that something was about to happen... something good of course.

He had set up his tablet on the coffee table in front of the couch, waiting for the announcement to start, but he hadn't even managed to sit- he was too nervous, too excited.

A ringing sounded through the room all of a sudden, and after an initial scare, he smiled, glad you finally could call him.

You were on set. In Vancouver. A thousand miles from him.

"Is it on yet?"

Your eagerness spurt through the screen.

And he thought he was exited

"nope"

"what? How much longer?"

He glanced at the screen, feeling a tiny goosebump traveling up his back at the countdown.

"two minutes"

"Oh my god!" You squeaked, smiling so wide your cheeks almost hurt "how are you feeling?"

"nervous" he chuckled drily

"Oh c'mon, what about? We both know you're gonna crush it"

"I hope so" he sighed "God I don't know why I care so much" he laughed "The only important thing is that Bella and the show get nominated"

"And you, of course" you chirped in

He tried to fight a smile, but it still pulled at his lips "Well if there's room..."

"There you are" you nodded, your smile fading ever so little after a brief moment "god I wish I could be there"

"Me too" he agreed "but at least w-" a noise in the direction of the coffee table caught his attention

"Oh shit, it's starting"

"shit, go go go go" you mumbled, feeling all too powerless in your position.

He sat down in front of the screen as the announcers appeared on it.

"what are they saying?"

"uh- just their names and stuff"

"ok-"

A moment passed 

"what about now?"

He laughed, ever so thankful for your presence "Still that, sweetheart"

"fine, just- tell me when they start telling the categories"

"ok ok here we go" 

"what is it?"

"talk series"

"Bo-ring" you huffed, making him chuckle "I want the good stuff"

"they're doing reality programs now"

"oh my god! it's like they want to torture us"

...

"Oh shit" 

A pit created itself in Pedro's stomach

"what?"

"lead actor in a drama series"

"oh my god" you screeched, doing a poor job of trying not to freak out "C'mon baby I know believe in you"

"jeff bridges... Brian cox... Kieran Culkin... Bob Odenkirk..."

come on come on come on

His mouth widened as he let out an incredulous breath.

"baby?" you called, already knowing but wanting a confirmation "baby pl-"

"I got nominated"

"I told you!" You basically screamed, jumping out of your chair "I told you, baby! I'm so happy for you! You deserve all of it babe, all. of. it." 

"I can't believe this" he smiled, his eyes glimmering with that spark in his eyes he only got whenever he was truly happy "This is crazy"

"Well believe it baby, you're an Emmy nominee"

"I just-" he interrupted himself as the next category was announced "shit it's best actresses"

You nodded, trying to cool down while really just mindlessly pacing around your trailer 

"Bella Ramsey!" he laughed "Bella Ramsey! They did it! I knew they fucking would"

"oh my god!" you grinned "What a power couple"

"I know right?" he chuckled "I'll have to call them I-" and once again, the announcers interrupted his train of thought.

His gaze moved from you to the tablet again.

"best drama series?"

He only nodded, clearly all the anxiety coming back.

"Andor... Better call Saul... the crown... House of the Dragon..."

he fell silent as his eyes came back to you, and this time... this time they shined with tears of joy.

"yeah?" you asked, feeling your heart beating out of your chest.

"yeah," nodded.

You felt your heart and chest and body fill with pure joy as you let some tears fall from your eyes.

"you did it baby" you sniffled "I knew you would. You deserve it, all of it" you smiled, wishing with all your heart you were there to hug him and kiss him and whisper in his ear

"How are you feeling?"

He laughed "I don't even know, I just- I think I need time to process this" he smiled, his hands slightly shaking "A-Are you ready to go to the Emmys?"

"are you?" You laughed, quite literally quivering from the excitement

"As ready as I'll ever be"

[suratan-zir]

Hi. I wanted to ask how you have those among Ukrainians who believe in russian propaganda. I just met one refugee from Kharkov, and he told me that Putin is fighting for the Russian world, and it was the United States that started the war. He reasons that since he speaks Russian, he should support Russia's actions. And this despite the fact that his city was bombed, and he and his family were on the verge of life and death.

Hi. I can't really answer this. I mean, I can try, but I'm not good at answering vague questions. I'm not well-spoken enough.

How come so many USAmericans worship Trump and see him as a savior of the poor when he's the exact opposite? How come far-right parties all across Europe gain more and more popularity, with people believing that fascists in power will resolve all their problems? Hell, we can take it a step further and ask how come people become anti-vaxxers and flat Earth believers? The answer is only one - propaganda. People fall under the harmful influence.

Russian propaganda has been extremely active in the southeast of Ukraine basically since we gained independence. Russia has been spending millions upon millions on brainwashing Ukrainians. The propaganda became more and more aggressive since the Orange Revolution. It was everywhere in the Donbas, you couldn't even wear a piece of orange clothing without risking being beaten up.

I was only a middle-schooler, but I remember it in detail. Propaganda materials such as leaflets were distributed everywhere. I remember one with Viktor Yushchenko (pro-European presidential candidate) against the background of the US flag and Uncle Sam who's saying, "Yushchenko is our pResident." I remember asking my mother what it meant, and she said it means that Yushchenko is a very bad person. This stuff was wild. And it only got wilder.

Russian propaganda claims over the years varied from the statement that "Donbas feeds the entire Ukraine" to "pro-European politicians and the US will make concentration camps in the Donbas for the Russian-speakers and will populate the territory with people from the West instead." I don't know how, but people believed in this purely artificial conflict. Not only were there never any persecutions against the Russian-speakers, but you would actually feel more comfortable speaking Russian in Ukraine. In most regions, the Ukrainian language was considered a "redneck" language and would get you nowhere. Of course, the Ukrainian government is also to blame for letting Russia control the narrative. But for most of these independent years, Ukraine was basically externally managed by Russia. During Yanukovych's presidency, we were like Belarus is now - a false "president" taking instructions straight from the Kremlin. So the brainwashing was getting worse and worse.

I told this story several times, and I'll tell it again. Before the "referendum" in Donetsk, most people laughed at the idea of the "republic." It was supported by some local lunatics, but mostly the whole thing was done by russian mercenaries and russian military. During this time, my aunt told me that those who support this are crazy and they're calling war into our homes. She was a reasonable person. She had a job, a nice apartment of her own, a happy family, and a bright future ahead. In 2015 they fled from Donetsk to russia, along with my grandmother. Why to russia? Propaganda. Then they got russian citizenship and used it to vote for putin. I asked how they could vote for him after what he did to them, after they lost it all. "We're thankful he gave us a home, gave us citizenship," was the answer. At first, he took everything from you, ruined your life, then let you restore a tiny bit of it - and you're grateful. I don't know how this works. It's not like they were welcomed in russia, they faced a lot of prejudice and oppression for being from Donetsk. To the point that my cousin was bullied at school for being from the Donbas, not only by kids but by teachers, despite being an excellent student and graduating with honors. Russians are outraged that their state "rescues" and "helps" those Donbas khokhols instead of helping "true" russians.

In the second month of the full-scale invasion, my grandmother proposed that I move to them, to the moscow region of russia. "This is the country that is trying to kill us all, how can you ask me to move there?" "What difference does it make which country to live in? It's safe here." So along with pro-putin brainrot comes also apoliticalness, passivity.

I'm rambling at this point. I don't want to go on about this forever, like I know I can. Let's leave it at this.

[dangermousie]

What guts me so much in their scenes together is the tendeness and the care. This whole sequence was amazing - from his admitting he watched that cartoon many times because he did it whenever he thought of her, or her worried, vulnerable "will you ever break up with me" but what gets me the most is this:

When she went "touch wood." Oooof.

The thing is - she has mostly recovered (her eyes are occasionally messed up but psychologically, she is mostly OK from war trauma) but he has not and I think she is the one thing tying him to sanity. The whole sequence where he is by her side when her mother is ill is wonderful and he's wonderful BUT it's also something he desperately needs - to be needed. It's not really love that's tethering him to peace and some semblance of functioning, it's being a caretaker. We see in the recent bunch of eps how he is so so falling apart (and I wonder if some of his desperation is driven by "she was also traumatized but she's recovered, why can't I" not thinking that everyone trauma's and reaction are different; plus she was not the one with PTSD) and this is going to sound weird but Ran calling him and confessing about her mother's illness and how much she wants him by her side was something he desperately needed - at least temporarily he can replace his feeling that people in the war zone need him, that he needs to be there to repay his debts and save people, by being driven by needed by her and it is so much better for him tbh.

So much of eps 21-24 is his trying to practice bomb/mine disposal to be ready to pass the test to go back to the war zone and it's really breaking him into pieces - he takes his meds, he's on the phone with his psychiatrist, but it's the worst thing he could do to himself, this drive to go back, this test. But it is so much who he is, who the very basics of his character are, that it feels inevitable even as your heart breaks watching him self destruct for the most selfless reasons.

He's there who knows how long (weeks?) and he just can't. In fact, he remembers something else and it breaks him more - how he was going to shove the suicide bomber inside a building to protect the people in the square and only after everything blew up, he saw a family with children hiding there and if it wasn't for his friend dying and all this stuff and his original plan was carried out, he'd have killed children! (It's much kinder than in the novel where he did carry the plan out and only saw the family when it was too late. For once, my weak heart is grateful for the censors.)

And then, in a truly brutal bit, he learns the kid he saved from the rubble, the one who survived the orphanage bombing (at least some bright spot for him), has been blown up. He has failed saving anyone, it must feel like. It's Sisyphean task and nobody can possibly succeed but someone like him cannot not blame himself (and calls from his friend that basically let him know how bad it's over there still give him even more guilt tho the friend does not mean it that way because it feels that he should be there helping but he's too weak to.)

Btw, Chen Zheyuan is blowing me away in this drama. He's always been solid (he's been by far the best thing about some truly terrible dramas and then in HL he shone when he actually had a good script and role, but this is a whole other level. This might very well be the performance of 2025 for me.)

Ultimately, the story is very much whether his damage or his hope will win.

The novel has one answer to this, the drama hopefully another but oooof - this is the most exquisite pain to watch. L&P might get dethroned as my fave cdrama modern.

[shaunamilfman]

Cowboy Like Me

Summary: You've seen a lot of things in the six months you've worked at Tj Maxx. A lot. What you've never seen is the so-called 'Tj bandit' that your boss insists has walked off with hundreds of dollars of merchandise. You've got a vested interest in keeping the bandit free, given that they provide the perfect scapegoat for your own crimes.

OR

You can't say that you've ever spent a lot of time thinking about the elusive Lottie Matthews, but after a chance meeting in the parking lot of a Tj Maxx she just wont leave your mind.

A/N: another long fic im afraid. enjoy!

You yawn silently into your arm, desperately trying to hide the motion. You've been sitting in a meeting with your boss for the last half hour and you honestly can't remember anything past the first five minutes of it. You sneak a glance at the rest of your coworkers and are relieved to find them in a similar state of disarray. 

He'd stuck you in yet another meeting about the so-called 'Tj bandit', a name he believed to be absolute artistic genius; A name that the rest of you made fun of behind his back, and sometimes to his face. He never seemed to catch on, or maybe he just didn't care. You certainly didn't. 

You held the Tj bandit at a higher level of importance than your coworkers do, but you were readily willing to accept an easy scapegoat for your own crimes. The main benefit that drew you to this job was for the discount: the five finger discount, to be exact. 

Sure, you could get a job somewhere else, but most of your paycheck would have ended up being spent here anyways. You weren't particularly concerned with catching the Tj bandit, you were rather grateful for how easy they made it for you to rob the place with basically no repercussions. 

You weren't sure why your boss decided that all of these thefts were attributed to one super thief, but he never struck you as a particularly intelligent man. Maybe he had his reasons, maybe he didn't. You didn't get paid enough to care in all honesty. 

… 

You pull the cart behind you lazily, monotonously pulling items off it to stock on the racks. Once you'd been here long enough stocking things in the right areas became a matter of muscle memory more than anything else. You glance up at the sound of plastic hangers scraping against each other, hoping someone wasn't going to ask you to check in the back. 

You look at Lottie Matthews curiously, wondering what she of all people would be doing shopping at a Tj Maxx. She's holding a pretty pink blouse up to the light for inspection and startles nervously when she sees you watching her. You give her your very best customer service smile and she gives you a quick uncomfortable smile in response. 

You get back to stocking and finally finish the cart, and with that your four hour shift; Coincidentally, a shift just long enough that your boss wasn't required to give you a lunch break. Go figure. You head back to the break room to grab your stuff and discreetly pop the security tags off your brand new jacket, tossing the tags in the box with the rest of them. 

You fold the jacket over your arm as you walk out, all of your coworkers none the wiser. You wave at your boss before stepping out, using the door to hide your smug grin. You hum along quietly to a song that's been stuck in your head, twirling your car keys around your finger. 

You look around as you reach your car and watch in awe as the Lottie Matthews, sole heir of the richest family in Wiskayok, untucks her shirt from her skirt to pull out an eight dollar blouse that she's clearly stolen. 

You drop your car keys in shock, unable to believe what you've just witnessed. She glances over with a guilty expression, eyes going wide when they land on your Tj Maxx lanyard. You awkwardly wave your fingers in her direction and she takes it as a sign to walk towards you. You practically dive in your car and nearly jump the curve in your haste to get the hell out of there. 

What. The. Fuck. You think. 

… 

You hide your wide eyed look into your locker, desperately trying to seem nonchalant. You finally manage to school your face into something sufficiently neutral as you sneak another glance over your shoulder. Yep, Lottie's still there. Still leaning against her locker and just staring at you from across the hall. 

You've caught her doing it a lot lately ever since you caught her stealing from your job. She keeps trying to talk to you the second that you're alone, so you've started following Nat around like she's the second coming of Jesus to avoid her. You wouldn't mind talking to her if you knew why she wanted to talk to you. 

Was she going to beg you to keep it to yourself? Was she going to threaten you into silence? Not knowing was the worst part of all of it. Normally you'd just leave a note in her locker to tell her that you really didn't give a shit, but you knew if you took a single step towards her locker she'd be on you just like that. 

Prior to the 'incident', as you've been referring to it in your head, you couldn't honestly say whether Lottie Matthews even knew who you were. She's always been one of those really pretty girls who were popular without ever really trying, despite you never really seeing her talk to anyone else. You'd been to a few of her parties, there wasn't really anything else to do in this town on a Saturday night, but you can't say that you've ever really thought of her much before the incident either. 

"What are you doing?" You hear an amused sounding voice behind you ask. You jump and curse quietly as you smack your head on your locker. 

"God damn it, Natty." You complain, whirling around and rubbing your head painfully with your hand. 

"Oh, no." She draws out dramatically. "You really didn't have any brain cells to spare." She holds her hand over her mouth in feigned horror. 

"Didn't really have any brain cells to spare." You mimic in a high pitched mocking tone, slamming your locker shut and walking off down the hall. "Bitch," You mutter quietly. Nat laughs as she speeds up to catch up with you. She throws her arm over your shoulder and playfully pulls you against her. 

"Don't be like that, Y/N." She says with a grin. You roll your eyes, and sigh loudly. "What's Lottie staring at you for, anyways?" She asks. You laugh softly and turn to face her excitedly. 

"Between you and me?" You ask. 

She rolls her eyes fondly. "Always." She promises, shifting uncomfortably at the attention. 

"Okay." You say, clapping your hands together. "So the other day I saw Lottie at work right?" 

"Lottie Matthews shops at Tj Maxx?" Nat interrupts incredulously. 

"That's not even the best part," You lean in and murmur in her ear. "I caught her shoplifting on the way out." Nat's eyes widen in shock, her lips forming a crooked grin. 

"You caught Lottie Matthews shoplifting?" She asks. You nod wildly. "Have some competition, do we?" You shush her, glancing around to see if anyone is listening. 

"Make fun of my shoplifting all you want but we both know who got you that jacket you're wearing." You tease. She shrugs, conceding the point. 

"Is that what she's been following you about? Guess she'll get a chance at practice later." She says. Your eyes narrow in confusion and you shoot her a questioning look. Her grin falls and she fidgets a bit, looking uncharacteristically unsure. "Said you'd drive me home, remember?" 

"I'll just find ano-" She starts. You place a hand on her arm, interrupting her. 

"Just forgot." You promise. 

She grins. "Suppose you'll see me later, then. And your new best friend Lottie." She teases as she separates from you to head into her own class. You shake your head exasperatedly as you do the same. 

As you watch them practice you can’t help but wonder. If this is the state championship soccer team, what the fuck do the rest of them look like? It was undeniably a shitshow. As Lottie trips over her feet for the third time since practice began Jackie runs up to her on the verge of yelling to help her back up. They have a long and tense conversation as the rest of the girls stand awkwardly around the field. Tai herself looks like she’s on the verge of walking over there and giving Lottie another talking to as well. You and Nat make eye contact as she gives you a confused and exasperated look as she keeps glancing back and forth between you and Lottie. You shrug your shoulders in confusion. 

Sure, Lottie had been fucking up in practice all afternoon because she couldn’t take her eyes off of you, but you really weren’t sure how that was your fault. Maybe she’d tripped for the third time right after you had taken your jacket off, but surely it was just a coincidence. You eye her long legs thoughtfully: maybe she’s just clumsy? It was definitely a lot of leg to have to keep track of. They certainly distracted you often enough, why should Lottie be any different. You nod slowly, deciding that must be why. You look back up from your homework as the whistle blows again,  signifying that practice has resumed. 

You see Jackie Taylor staring at you curiously, eyes narrowed slightly. You wave awkwardly and go searching through your bag for your calculator. You think you might wait for Nat in your car next time, this seems to be more trouble than it’s worth. 

… 

You’re leaning against your locker a few days later talking to Nat when Jackie approaches you. “Hey,” She says brightly, extending her hand for you to shake. You eye it wearily before slowly extending your own to meet it. “I was just wondering how you knew Lottie? You know, since you kept distracting her at practice?” She says pointedly. You shrug helplessly, tinged with a bit of exasperation. Why is everyone assuming you’re the Lottie whisperer?

"Well, listen here El capitan. Captain my captain," You start. 

"I'm not your captain." Jackie interrupts. 

"Captain not my captain," You continue to Nats crooked grin and muffled laughter. "I would promise not to, but I really don't know what her deal even is. Scout's honor."

Jackie eyes you suspiciously. "You weren't a girl scout." She concludes. You hold your hands out placatingly and nod in agreement.

"Mm, no. I wanted to go camping but apparently only the boy scouts did cool shit." You acknowledge. "I went to that first meeting though so it definitely counts." Jackie sighs in exasperation and shares a commiserating look with Shauna as if to say 'you see what I'm dealing with?', and the two of them walk off together. 

"Oh my god," You loudly whisper to Nat in feigned excitement. "I can't believe that the Jackie Taylor just talked to me! I'm never gonna wash this hand again!" You hear a quick snort of laughter from Jackie's ever present shadow, that quickly gets muffled at the offended look Jackie sends her. 

Jackie turns and gives you an assessing look. You grin playfully at her and shoot her a quick wink. She rolls her eyes but you can see the quirk of her lips as she turns back around to talk to Shauna. As you turn back to Nat you can see Lottie Matthews watching you from her locker just out of the corner of your eye. 

She's been doing that a lot lately, and it was really starting to make you paranoid. You had no idea how someone so fucking tall could sneak around the school like that. Maybe, You thought. It was easy when no one was looking for you. 

You felt an undeniable pang of sadness at the thought and turn fully to her to force eye contact. Her eyes widen slightly at the move and she has an unsure and hesitant look on her face, but still she doesn't back down as she meets you head on. She starts to blush the longer you stare lazily at her, the corner of your lip quirked up in a wry grin. 

You nod in acceptance of Lottie's win as Nat finally tugs you away to your car. You watch as Lottie's expression slowly turns smug, her lips forming a smirk as you walk off. Fuck, has she been this hot the whole time? You wonder. 

… 

You wave unenthusiastically at your boss as you walk out of work, zipping your jacket up higher as a rush of cold air greets you. You rub your hands together for warmth on the walk over to your car. You search through your pockets with numb fingers to find your keys when you hear the sound of someone clearing their throat. You startle at the action, glancing up in panic. Right in front of you is Lottie Matthews leaning against the door of your car. Seems like she finally got tired of you avoiding her then.

"Returning to the scene of the crime, huh?" You joke. Lottie continues to stare at you, looking utterly unimpressed. "Tough crowd." You mutter. This, of all things, is what finally makes her laugh. You grin brightly at her, happy to have finally broken the facade. You hold your keys up pointedly. “Talk if you want,” You promise, “But can it be with the heater?” She hums in agreement and pushes herself off the driver side door and rounds the car to the passenger seat quicker than you’d previously thought possible for her.

You shut the door hard behind you, turning the key and starting the heater as quickly as you can. You can hear the sound of the passenger side handle catching as Lottie sends you a betrayed look. You snicker quietly as you lean over and pop the door for her. “Handles busted.” You explain.

“Oh.” She says softly as she slides into her seat. You watch with amusement as she shifts uncomfortably in the seat trying to find somewhere to put her legs. Nat was typically the one riding in your passenger seat, so it was clearly too far forward for her. She finally gives up and starts feeling under the seat for the lever, quickly pushing the seat back. She looks oddly proud of herself as she finally manages to get comfortable in your car, finally turning to look at you. “Hey,” She says.

“Look. I’m not going to sic the police on you if this is what this is about, Lottie.” You say. “I really don’t get paid enough to care, promise.” She tilts her head to the side in an imitation of confusion.

“The police?” She asks, as if bewildered. Your eyebrows furrow slightly in confusion. 

“Y’know? Because of the shoplifting?” You say slowly. She looks over at you, extremely confused.

“What shoplifting?” She asks. You scoff. Is this how she’s going to play it?

“That shirt you stole? The one you stuffed down your shirt?” You ask.

“Oh, no I paid for that.” She says with a giggle. She leans forward and murmurs conspiratorially, “Just didn’t have anywhere else to keep it. You know how it is.” She shrugs, as if it really is that obvious. You watch her in utter disbelief, mind running a mile a minute as you try to figure out her angle. Surely no one could be this stupid? She had to be pretending, you knew that much. On the other hand, you knew that had you not seen the expression on her face when she caught you watching her you would have fallen for her stupid rich girl act hook, line, and sinker. 

The longer you stare at her in silence the more unsure she seems to get. She watches you in wide eyed confusion, expression making her seem much younger than she is. She’s really good at it, but you knew her type; In fact, you were her type. You’d learned that playing dumb helps you get away with things so much easier than just flat out lying. It must be easy when you looked like she did. You think, eyes glancing over her again. She had such a natural innocent look, soft wavy hair and big brown eyes. 

You’ve never considered Lottie Matthews to be particularly manipulative, but the proof was obvious in the pout that graced her face. You were in awe as you watched a master at work. Lottie was more intelligent than you’d given her credit for, probably more intelligent than most people gave her credit for. You gave her an approving nod. “Sure.” You say, “If that’s what you want.”

She nods slowly, seemingly unsure if this is really a victory or not. “If you're not here for that, then what are you doing here?” You ask.

She grins shyly at you as she nervously fidgets with the ends of her hair. “Needed a ride home.” She lies, “Knew you worked here after the other day.” You scoff but pull your car out of the parking lot regardless to take her home. The two of you talk for the twenty minute drive back, and you find yourself more enamored with her than you’ve ever been with anyone else before. She extracts a promise from you in your driveway to hang out again, and you easily agree. You wonder if she’d set out in that parking lot to get you under her thumb like that, but you remember back to her soccer practice and think you might just have that effect on each other.

… 

“You have to say that, Natty.” You accuse, pointing a fry in Nat’s direction. Nat scoffs in offense while Lottie looks on with an amused look on her face.

“What’s that supposed to mean, L/N?” Nat asks expectantly, feigning an angry look. You can’t help but smile. She looks like an angry racoon.

“Just that,” You start, then stare down at your empty hand in realization. You give her a look of disbelief. “Did you seriously just eat my fry?” You ask. She gives you a strange look and shakes her head, making you roll your eyes. She makes a show of looking for the fry before shrugging. The corners of her lips are noticeably twitching. You turn to Lottie to complain when you notice her pinching the fry between two fingers as she eats it.

“Traitor,” You whisper in absolute shock, making her burst out laughing. This seems to finally break Nat’s cool girl facade as well as she laughs so hard she’s tearing up. You fake a betrayed expression as you look back and forth between them, sending Lottie into hysterics. You don’t have to fake your slightly confused look, not quite sure what was funny. She clutches onto your arm as she laughs and you have to stop yourself from tensing in shock. She’d never touched you before but you could totally be cool about it. No big deal, really. Friends touch each other all the time.

You exhale loudly as you turn back to your fries, figuring you’d just let them get it out of their systems. As they start to calm down Lottie reaches down to grab another fry off of your tray, you watch her hand with narrowed eyes but ultimately let her take some. Nat gives you a curious look for a long moment, before reaching forward to grab a fry of her own. You swat her hand away in offense. She scoffs, rolling her eyes as she looks accusingly between the two of you.

“Some bullshit,” She mutters, crossing her arms back over her chest. 

“Anyways,” You say, giving her a long look. “You have to say that because you’re my best friend.”

“Oh, come on Y/N. You know I would have told you it was shit if I thought that.” Nat argues. Which, you will admit, is an incredibly good point. Nat had hurt your feelings more than once with her sometimes brutal honesty, but it was a quality that you greatly admired about her all the same.

“She’s right, Y/N. I thought it was really good.” Lottie adds. You nod slowly, deep in thought. You’d been mulling over your college applications for weeks now, continually fine tuning your essay. You were glad to have Lottie to complain about it with, as none of your other friends really showed all that much interest in it. You knew Nat wasn’t all that interested in college and was mostly just waiting to see how Nationals went recruiting wise. 

“Think I should send it in, then?” You ask.

“They’d be stupid not to take you.” Nat says teasingly, “Can’t have a nerd school without the nerds.” You sigh, sharing an amused look with Lottie. She squeezes your hand gently as she laces your fingers together. You just try not to blush.

…

You exhale loudly, leaning your hair against the top of the wheel with your fingers tapping anxiously against your thighs. You and Lottie had been hanging out a lot in the last couple weeks, more than you and Nat ever had despite still considering her your best friend. When you brought that up to Nat, unsure if you were upsetting her or not, she just started laughing hysterically till she finally managed to tell you it was “so cool with her” through uncontrollable fits of laughter; You still weren't sure what that was about, to be totally honest. Still, in all that time you hadn't been brave enough to accept Lottie's multiple offers to sleep over at her house. That was, of course, until now. 

You check through your bag one more time to make sure you packed everything, knowing full well that it was just an excuse to put it off for a moment longer. Gathering all of your courage you finally get out of the car, throwing your bag over one shoulder haphazardly. You lock the car and look up the drive only to find Lottie Matthews leaning against the doorway staring down at you looking charmed. You give her a lazy wave as you begin the trek up her driveway. You were sure it had probably served as a runway at one point, or at least it should've. 

“You sure took a while,” She says playfully with just a hint of a smile at your expense. You shrug in response, she'd caught you red handed on that one. She gently grabs your hand and pulls you upstairs after her. You'd been to Lottie's house a few times before, but you couldn't help from being in awe from the sheer size of it as you followed behind her. 

She gestures vaguely to the floor of her room and says, “You can just leave it anywhere.” You hesitate in the doorway as you shift on the balls of your feet awkwardly. 

“Oh? Are we both going to be sleeping in your bed?” You ask unsurely. 

Lottie turns to face you, tilting her head to the side in an expression of confusion. “Where else would we sleep, Y/N?” She asks innocently, but she can't hide the way her lips twitch slightly at the edges. You sigh. Not this again. 

“I'm just surprised you'd give up room in your bed.” You say, giving her a quick glance up and down. “Seems like there's already a shortage of it.” She gasps dramatically in offense as she sits down on the edge of her bed. 

“You'd come to my house just to make fun of me?” She asks. 

“Why else would I come here?” You ask, dropping your bag haphazardly on the ground. “Oh!” You say suddenly, as if deep in thought. “I remember now. You agreed to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre with me.”

Lottie forces a smile as she lies through her teeth. “Yep. Looking forward to it.” You snicker at just how unenthusiastic she sounded. You knew she hated horror movies with a burning passion, mostly because she was such a scaredy-cat. Still, she'd agreed to watch it as your price of entry and you were planning to milk it for all it was worth. 

It's not everyday that an excuse to have such a pretty girl climbing all over you falls into your lap like that, after all. 

Lottie lets out a horrified gasp as she tries to climb even further into your lap. She gave up on watching and buried her head in your neck about 10 minutes ago, but it seems that even the sound effects are getting to her. You chuckle softly as you rub soothing circles into her back. “Don't laugh at me.” She whines, pulling her head away to visibly pout at you. 

She’d started the movie full of unearned confidence given that nothing particularly scary happened in the beginning. She’d actually turned to you and said, “I don’t think this is really all that scary, Y/N.” You tried valiantly to muffle your laughter, knowing it would come back to bite her later on.

You're about to respond when the sound of a chainsaw revving fills the air and Lottie makes a squeaking noise as she dives for cover again. This time you can't stop yourself from bursting out laughing, and even Lottie giggles a bit at it. “You're such a wimp.” You accuse teasingly. Lottie makes a sputtering noise but doesn't try to deny it. You look down fondly at the top of Lottie’s head at the sight of her hair getting messier by the moment as she keeps pressing herself further into your shoulder

You finally decide to have mercy on her and reach for the remote to turn it off. She peeks out of your shoulder with a faint blush on her face, trying to appear unaffected. “I was watching that.” She complains, without any actual force. You snicker and gesture vaguely to the cabinet full of VHS tapes.

“Go pick a movie you actually want to watch.” You say. “I’ve had my fun.” Her grin splits her face as she jumps up to the cabinet. You stand up gingerly and go and rewind the tape while she’s sorting through her movies. You smile softly as you can hear the faint sounds of her humming as she does so. After a long moment she turns and holds her movie out proudly. You give it a cursory glance, sure that you already know what it is. You sigh.

“Breakfast club, again?” You ask listlessly. Lottie, of course, picked The Breakfast Club for at least half of all of her movie picks. She gives you a smug look as she hands it over. You have a feeling that she’s chosen it this time in an act of revenge.

“Y/N?” Lottie asks softly. You try not to visibly react to it as you're much too comfortable laying with your head on her shoulder feigning sleep. “Y/N.” She draws out. “I know you’re awake.” You stubbornly keep your breathing even as you try not to react. She laughs softly and blows a stream of air into your face making you crinkle your nose in annoyance. 

“Got you!” She says smugly, pulling on your arm a little. You’re still pretending to be asleep so she ends up pulling you a lot further than she meant to, sending you sprawling across her lap. That’s what finally gets you scrambling to your feet. You clear your throat awkwardly and Lottie avoids your eyes as her face burns red. 

“Guess we should get to sleep, huh?” You ask. Lottie nods quickly and leads you up to her bathroom. You sit awkwardly on her bed after brushing your teeth, unsure of the logistics of sharing Lottie’s bed. She walks out of the bathroom and rolls her eyes at the sight of you. She lies down gracefully next to you and tugs at your shirt to get you to lie down. You decide just to let her maneuver you as you lay down, not that it would have stopped her anyways. She pulls your back up against her chest and wraps her arm around your waist. 

“This okay?” She asks quietly into your ear. You blush at the feeling.

“Yeah.” You stutter out. She makes a contented sound and pulls you closer against her. This is going to be a long night. You think idly as you close your eyes.

…

You’re in the middle of what looks to be a long and draining shift when you see her heading into the changing rooms. You wave at Lottie with a big grin on your face and she waves back. You make sure to fold shirts extra slowly so you can still be there when she’s finished trying on clothes. You're more than ready to abandon the pretense of working when you hear the lock click open, but you can’t help but notice how shifty she seems. You watch her for a long moment, trying to see what seems off when it clicks suddenly: the clothes are gone with not even a hanger to show for them.

Your face falls slightly at the realization and you look around to see if anyone else saw it. The cameras had been busted for months, your boss far too cheap to replace them, so you weren’t all that worried about being caught that way. No, you were far more upset that she wouldn’t be able to stick around. You look back at her to see her sitting there staring at you with a slightly curious look on her face. You get the feeling that she’s testing you, but you’re not sure what for. You nod slowly at her and shrug as you get back to folding shirts. You don’t look back up from them even as you hear slow and hesitant footsteps move past you and out the door.

“Hey,” Lottie says, fidgeting from foot to foot behind you. You hum in acknowledgement, sparing her a quick smile as you don’t take your eyes away from the book in your hand. English started in ten minutes and you still hadn’t finished the reading. She sighs in exasperation and reaches forward to gently pluck the book from your hand. She flips the book over to see the title before smiling at you. “Little last minute, huh?” She asks. You reach your hand out for it but she moves it further away.

“Daisy runs a guy over, it's a metaphor for the American dream. You’ll do fine.” She says. You give her a wry smile.

“Is there something you’d rather talk about, Lottie?” You ask sarcastically.

“About last night,” She starts.

“You mean, when you blatantly stole something right in front of me?” You interrupt.

She makes a shushing sound as she glances around anxiously. You snicker. “Like anyone would believe that Lottie Matthews is stealing from Tj Maxx.” You tease in a loud whisper. “You’d just bat your eyelashes at them anyways.”

She smiles prettily, tilting her head to the side in an expression of confusion. “Are you saying you’re immune?” She asks softly. You shake your head.

“What are you going to do about it, then?” She asks, a little more serious. You shrug.

“Nothing? I guess. I don’t really care, Lottie.” You say. You glance around quickly before admitting, “I stole this jacket too. I’m not one to judge.” Lottie gasps dramatically, leaning back to scrutinize the jacket.

“Didn’t realize I was friends with a criminal.” She says playfully, fingers tugging at the lapels of your jacket. “You’re such a bad influence.”

You scoff. “You were robbing Tj Maxx blind long before me, Ms. Tj Bandit.” You accuse.

She actually laughs at this leaning forward to pull you in a hug. She pulls back a moment later, hands resting on your shoulders. “Tj Bandit?” She asks curiously. You blush slightly.

“Oh, it’s just something that my boss calls you.” You say. Her face lights up.

“I have a criminal alias?” She asks, tapping her fingers on your shoulders excitedly as she bounces slightly on the balls of her feet. Her excitement is contagious and you can’t help but smile in response. You're close enough to Lottie’s face to see the intense way her eyes follow the curve of your lips. She starts to lean forward just as the first bell goes off. You laugh nervously as you finally snatch your book back.

“Don’t let it go to your head.” You warn, trying to break the tension.

“Too late.” She says, pulling you into another quick hug. “I’ll see you at my party later, right?” You just smile in response before heading down the hallway.

…

“Oh, really?” Shauna asks distractedly, head turned to the side to look at Jackie who's being animatedly talked to by Mari in the distance. Talked to being the keyword as she looks bored out of her mind, not that Shauna seems to notice. You and Nat share an amused look as you both try to muffle your laughter. Neither of you have spoken in the last five minutes as you've been waiting to see how long Shauna would keep responding before she realized she was talking to herself. 

“That's crazy.” Shauna agrees aimlessly. This is what finally sets you and Nat off in peels of laughter. Shauna jumps slightly in shock as she looks back at the two of you. She fakes a chuckle, not really sure what was funny but this only makes the two of you laugh harder as you lean against each other for balance. She looks between the two of you a little unsurely as she smiles awkwardly. 

You're about to reassure her when you feel arms wrap around your stomach from behind. “Hey,” Lottie says quietly in your ear. 

She rests her head on your shoulder. “What's so funny?” She asks the group. Shauna herself looks interested in the answer as well. 

“Shauna just made the funniest joke.” Nat says, shooting you a smug grin. “Tell her, Shipman.” Shauna's eyes go wide as she sputters slightly trying to think of a joke. With her big brown eyes gone wide in panic she truly looks like a deer in the headlights. Just as she's seemed to settle on something to say she's saved by Jackie calling her over. She shrugs as if inconvenienced but hurries back to Jackie's side to escape the conversation. 

Lottie makes a confused noise against your ear. “Was it something I said?” She asks cluelessly. She pouts as you and Nat share a look and shake your heads. She lets go of you to take a few steps back and you turn to face her. “We're gonna play spin the bottle.” She says. 

“Spin the bottle?” You ask in disbelief. “What are we, 12?” Lottie shrugs, but doesn't look all that put off about it. 

“It was Jackie's idea.” She admits. 

“I bet it was.” Nat says wryly. You turn to look over at Jackie to see her fussing over a faintly blushing Shauna as she corrals her over to a group of people gathering around a bottle. You and Nat share another look as you both silently agree to leave, but Lottie grabs you both by the arm. 

“Please?” She asks, pouting down at Nat. You watch the way Nat softens and gives in almost immediately. Nat turns to glare at you as you quickly hide your shit-eating grin. You don't even bother to look over at Lottie as you make your way over to the group. 

You plop down gracelessly next to Tai who looks just about as happy to be there as you do. You weren't super familiar with Nat's teammates, but she drags you around enough that you know them by name. You watch curiously as she shoots an annoyed look at a pleased looking Van. Ah, you think. She's been dragged here too. 

“Okay!” Jackie says excitedly as she claps her hands together. “You know how this works so I'll go first.”

“How big of you Jackie,” Nat says sarcastically. Jackie chooses to ignore the remark as she leans forward to spin the bottle. The bottle finally comes to a stop at Laura Lee. You fight hard to resist the urge to laugh at the visibly disappointed look on her face as she leans forward to press a chaste kiss against a blushing Laura Lee. The urge becomes even stronger at the jealous look on Shauna's face. You cover your mouth with your hand as you look over at Lottie, her eyes alight with mirth. 

You watch as the next few people go until it finally gets to you. You reluctantly lean forward to spin it, watching as it slowly comes to a stop in front of Nat. Her eyes go wide as she glances between you and the bottle in disbelief. 

“Yes!” You cheer. “Pucker up Scatorccio!” She makes a noise of protest but stays still as you lean forward to kiss her. Her lips part slightly in surprise and you take the opportunity to deepen the kiss to the sound of the cheers in the background. You pull away after a long moment with a smug grin as you look at Nat. 

She's blushing to her ears and her eyes are wide with shock. “Nat?” You ask teasingly. She just shakes her head and looks down at the ground. You fall back in your spot on the floor laughing, but stop suddenly when Lottie gets up and storms off. “Lottie?” You call out, but she just waves you off as she keeps walking. 

Tai reaches forward for the bottle just as you hurry to your feet and walk after Lottie. Van boos loudly at you but you just flick her off. “Lottie?” You call out again. She doesn't answer but you can hear sniffling coming from the kitchen. 

“Lottie.” You say softly as you walk in. She's not actively crying but you can tell from her red eyes that you'd just missed it. “Hey, what's wrong?” You ask. She laughs wetly with a darkly amused grin. 

“No guesses?” She asks. You frown. 

“Is this about Nat?” You ask.

She just sighs in response. “That's not fair.” You complain in a whine. “We didn't want to play in the first place, remember?”

Lottie softens considerably as she reaches her arms out. You step forward and let her gently fold you in her arms. You rest your head against her chest and breathe in the scent of her perfume. “What’s up with you today?” You ask softly, nestling your head further into her chest. She laughs quietly at herself, rubbing gently at your back with one hand.

“Got jealous.” She admits, steadfastly returning  your eye contact as you look up at her. 

“Jealous of who?” You ask quietly, more to yourself than anything. You pause. “Jealous of Nat?”

“You say it like it's a ridiculous idea.” She says.

“But she's my best friend. My Nat.” You say simply.

“What am I, then?” Lottie asks, looking uncharacteristically unsure.

“My partner in crime.” You tease, sneaking a quick glance at her sweater. You’d know the winter collection anywhere. Lottie looks a little disappointed but nods stiffly and lets go of you. “Maybe.” You add. “Maybe I want to kiss you sometimes, too. If that's okay with you.” Lottie smiles joyfully in response, and the rapid change in her expression nearly gives you whiplash.

Lottie leans down to kiss you and you step up on your toes to meet her, reaching your arms up to wrap them around the back of her neck. You can still feel Lottie’s grin against your lips as she kisses you, her arms running down your sides to rest against your hips. She pulls you impossibly closer as you deepen the kiss with Lottie meeting you step for step. She backs you up blindly towards the counter, making you hiss in pain as it stabs into your back. With a few murmured apologies against your lips she moves her hands down the back of your thighs and helps lift you up to sit on the counter.

She gently cups your face with one hand as she quickly reconnects your lips again. You use your new position to wrap your legs around her hips, desperate to eliminate the distance between you. She gently strokes her thumb across your face as you break away to try to catch your breath. You intently watch the way her chest rises and falls in heavy breaths, eyes slowly moving up to focus on her swollen lips.

“Hi.” She says shyly with just a hint of a blush on her face. 

“Hi.” You say breathlessly as you reach a hand forward to rest on her chin, gently tilting it in the other direction. She lets you direct her curiously, her question being answered as you lean forward to press a gentle kiss against her neck. She makes a whiny noise in anticipation and you grin against her skin as you latch on to her neck after deciding she wasn’t leaving this room without a hickey or two.

“Y/N?” She asks softly later that night, just as you're on the verge of sleep. 

“Lot-tie” You murmur sleepily in response.

“I set it up earlier.” She admits quietly, a little nervous of your response. You slowly open your eyes as you give her a confused look. “Spin the bottle,” She clarifies. “I gave Jackie the idea because I wanted to kiss you.”

You don’t say anything in response and just close your eyes again. Lottie watches you in concern until she realizes that you're shaking in silent laughter. “Don’t laugh at me.” She whines, pulling you ever closer. You nestle your way back into her neck, breathing in deeply as you're surrounded by the smell of her shampoo. She sighs happily as you're finally allowed to drift off to sleep.

…

Nat gives you a deeply amused look at school on Monday as you walk in wearing the same outfit you wore to the party on Saturday, but you just wink at her as you fall into step next to Lottie. You’ve spent the entire car ride here trying to convince her to sneak off to a janitor's closet to make out, and you think you’ve almost made a breakthrough. As Lottie laces your pinkies together you can’t help the smug grin that adorns your face as she tugs you to a less occupied part of the school.

[sparklesandpudding]

Qin Shi Huang absolutely wrecked

⚠️btw, no hate to any of these characters! I just wanted to make another story. Please don't come at me alvitr and ying Zheng fans, I really like them I swear 🥲⚠️

Part 2 here!

⚠️Cheater QSH × reader angst where he can't really understand what he's feeling. I haven't continued reading the manga so I don't know when he'll wake up after recovering, so the part where he does wake up is made up by me.⚠️

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Imagine being his wife, is empress, and his supporter. Yet, he still has the audacity to do this to you?

You watch on the edge of your seat, excited for your darling's entrance, hope and excitiment running down your veins.

But, there was no denying the sadness it brought you to think of what would happen to him if he were to lose the fight. But you decided to have hope, because he was your dear husband.

Any negative thoughts like that would be bringing dishonor to him.

Happiness bursted through you when you saw him make his big entrance, not even noticing the big funny looking smile you had on, just for him. When he walked, he looked towards you, before slightly raising his blindfold upwards, Giving you a wink.

Your face flushed in embarrassment, before you quickly redeemed yourself.

Nows not the time to be playing around, especially when his life and the sake of humanity, was on the line. So you give yourself a nervous smile, a small little prayer mumbled from your lips in hopes of guiding your darling through the fight.

You suddenly snap out of it when you hear a yell from below. Seeing that it came from a pretty looking girl, who looked gravely upset.

"who's she?" Your eyes trailed off to where she was looking, before seeing that her grumpy little comment was towards your husband.

You couldn't hear much due to all the talking and whispering amongst watchers, but you could make up a few words— Like how Zheng didn't practice völundr with her, and other stuff. Not that it really mattered right now.

You giggle to yourself. Of course, that was so like him; one of the many things that made you love him so much. Such a charming man he was, indeed.

Before you could happily ascend into cloud nine with all the lovey dovey memories, your thoughts were quickly disrupted when you saw your dear beloved husband, pick her up with little effort.

Your heart dropped, a little feeling of sadness clouding your emotions. Why was he picking her up like that? And Why's she blushing so much?

You shook your head a little, shaking off those negative feelings, knowing your darling would never do anything to betray your trust.

Right?

You were immediately proved wrong when he pulled her closer, as her face heated up even more. Before there was a flash of light, along with her loud whine of how it was "unfair" or something.

Something in you felt like it was going to crack. Him? Her? YOUR HUSBAND, and, HER?

When the transformation of völundr was set in place, Huang felt a strike of energy hit him like an arrow through the head.

Yes, the man had an upset wife sensor 🙂

He quickly looked over to where you were sitting. A hint of worry plastered on his face which you couldn't really make out because of his blindfold.

But both of you exchanged sweet smiles, before the fight soon started.

...

As Huang was announced the winner, you watched as he fell down after a brief exchange of conversation with the Valkyrie girl.

You were horribly worried for your husband, but you were also very happy that he was the winner.

Things could have ended worse. This was basically a miracle which you were very grateful for.

Somehow, in some way—you couldn't get rid of the weird feeling swelling up in your chest. Especially whenever you saw him and that Valkyrie together. You just couldn't understand, why did you feel so negative even though he ended up winning? You already got the miracle that you wanted, so what else could have possibly been missing?

Everytime you saw them speak to one another, you'd see so much adoration in your beloved's eyes.

No, actually, Both of them had that look. One that could only be described as love.

You knew it was selfish to think that way, especially when they were just trying to help each other survive..

But, when you saw how he held her so gently when she was about to fall, even when he was literally MISSING an arm...

that was it.

Jealousy

...

A little while passed, and you went to a different Valkyrie girl, who went by the name of Brunhilde, who led you to your husband.

He was recovering from his injuries , so you figured you'd just come back later. Maybe you can just get some food and breathe up some fresh air.

Finally, when he did wake up, you find him staring down at the Valkyrie—who you heard from Brunhilde, was a girl who went by alvitr.

They stared into each other's eyes, her face flushed with a soft pink, a puffy angry face while his gaze lingered on her smaller figure.

You quickly hid, wanting to see where it would lead to.

"I have..feelings..."

"you...huh?- wh-What are you on about?!"

"I know it's wrong...but..seeing how much you were willing to go down with me through such events...I liked it very much"

"...."

"I'd like you to be...my..new bride. If that's alright with you."

He gave her a charming smile, as she was left with her brows knitted and cheeks flushed red from the embarrassment it brought her.

And with that, he gave her a small kiss, retreating his face, giving a little "Hao!" Afterwards

....

*CLANK*

You drop the tray of food you carried with you, your eyes wide with fury and betrayal, as the two turned their heads towards the noise that came from a distance.

Huang's eyes widened, and alvitr looked at you and him back and forth, a feeling of panic and worry quickly taking over her senses.

"Zheng....?" You mumbled, as he stood there, speechless, quickly opening his mouth to respond while the Valkyrie near him stood frozen.

"my empress! I-i didn't think you'd come looking for me-"

"save it.."

Your face contorted into one of sadness, as you looked at the face of your dear beloved husband, which was full of dread and nervousness. The Valkyrie also had a similar look, but you couldn't think well enough to process everything.

You storm off as your husband shouted your name, trying to reason with your now angry state, but was quickly stopped by alvitr, who knew that it would put him in danger to walk around in a place swarmed by angry gods.

So now you were left crying, deciding to go to a waiting room to dry your tears, just hoping for the best.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

idea,, readerbot au, but. Eclipse(tm)

short explanation: Eclipse is, in simple terms???, a virus or stray few remanents of code (thought to be deleted) gone haywire and MIA. he only exists as that code, though complex, he has no processor or body in any way; he just kinda (after getting free) runs around through the Fazbear systems peeking through cameras n occasionally tampering with with stuff in small ways (oh nooooo the lights went out when u crossed the room,, oh nope theyre back on just as u reach the switch! oh wait darn theyre out again as soon as ur halfway across th room again how could that have happened)

ReaderBot accidentally 'catches' the 'virus' while working on the arcade machine Eclipse had been stuck on, and is, naturally, quite worried n freaked out but can't seem to isolate the 'virus' in order to anti-virus it out of their system. Eclipse, having been trapped, isolated, and bored for years now, is erratic and unpredictable, inadvertently messing with ReaderBot's systems at odd times n making them confused n scared. After a while, Eclipse kinda chills out a bit after realizing Readerbot is actually afraid of him, and by the time Readerbot isolates his code and can antivirus him, he's too much of a sort-of-roommate for them to go through with it. the two become friends, Readerbot grateful for someone who can actually understand them, and Eclipse ecstatic to have someone to interact with after so long alone. and yeah Eclipse definitely starts crushing on them like hardcore sorry i dont make the rules he just does that on his own

tidbits: -Eclipse can alter their sensors to 'appear' in their field of view, but only as a sort of 'illusion' only readerbot can see -Eclipse can sort of 'hear' Readerbots thoughts, and is always very upset when they are feeling anxious or down, partly bc he can't physically do much to comfort or help them; instead, in an attempt to do anything he can to cheer them up, he does,, silly stuff? like if readerbot is almost knocked over by a customer and just stands there lowkey going 'geez, some people' eclipse will appear and mime kicking the rude person in th ass skhfjsdhfjskhdf -readerbot almost gets caught reacting n 'talking' to,, nothing. like multiple times. the kids think 'oh, they have an imaginary friend! neat!' while everyone else is like squints 'staffbot,, buggy? staffbot needs debugging? maybe reset staffbot? hmm. but so much data in there,, maybe is nothing? hmmmmmmmm. better keep eye on staffbot.' -(and yea sun n moon would have some kinda feelings abt readerbot basically letting a whole entire other entity/deleted version of them live in their head rent free) -(and also yea Eclipse is the remains of a prototype Daycare Attendant that got scrapped n replaced by Sun n Moon hehe :3c this definitely causes no drama at all 100% none)

ok now doodles,