#so it's weird seeing people being all ''imagine not being able to focus on only one thing'' because. like. yeah. i don't gotta imagine dude

[pa-pa-plasma]

ah. just found out why i hate the whole "our attention spans have been ruined by modern technology" thing. it's because all the "symptoms" they're calling pathetic & sad & rage-inducing is literally just ADHD. that's my brain. like. that's how i live, phone or not. i guess we're just reinventing "you have to be looking the teacher in the eye to show them you're paying attention or else detention" then?

[daisyvisions]

Change Your Mind - (l.jy)

➺ Pairing: fboy best friend!Juyeon x afab!reader

➺ Summary: You befriend your college’s resident fuckboy who’s been eager to get with you since day one. But after a rollercoaster of emotions between your friendship, he wants you more than you could ever imagine.

➺ Word Count: 4k (wow who is she?!)

➺ Warnings: Smut (18+, minors DNI), friends to lovers, mentions of partying, drinking alcohol, fuckboy tendencies (flirting, hookups, ghosting), lying to reader (at first), lots of kissing and making out, dry humping, oral (f! receiving), slight handjob and masturbation, unprotected sex (but he pulls out), aftercare, pet names (sweetheart, baby), a lovesick Juyeon

➺ A/N: I’m officially back from my break! Really wanted to take some time off and focus on things irl, can’t really say if the break helped bcos I was still stressed haha but anyway!This took me a while to finish up, felt incredibly rusty writing again but glad I was still able to do it 😭 Considering this as my late birthday greeting for Juyeon. Hope you enjoy this piece! Proofread once. Let me know if I missed anything!

➺ Network & Tag: @deoboyznet, and my girlies @aimeecarreros @snowflakewhispers @winterchimez

If anyone told you that you’d end up becoming best friends with one of the most sought out guys in your campus (and not to mention resident fuck boy), you would’ve laughed at their face. All your life you’ve tried to avoid befriending guys like Juyeon. A guy like him just generally gave you the ick.

You never understood how or why people would want to be friends with someone whose only objective is to get into girl’s pants and be praised for it. Not only that, but also playing with someone’s feelings and just dropping them at an instant was wrong on so many levels.

But here you are, lending him a helping hand while you two clean out his living room after throwing yet another one of his bi-weekly parties, which was usually code for “Please let me at least make out with someone tonight.”

It’s crazy how you consider him one of your bestest friends. In another world you both knew this friendship would never work out. You were both opposite of each other in so many ways!

So how did you even end up becoming friends with Juyeon?

Transferring to a different university in the middle of the semester was one of the worst things that could've happened to you. Not only did you have to adjust to a new set of lesson plans and navigate your way around campus, but you also had to sit alone during lunch since practically everyone already knew each other from freshman year and had their own set of cliques.

During your first week, you thought you could at least find a table you could sit with just by going up to the group you vibed with the most and ask politely. But you decided to just sit by yourself instead and avoid any embarrassing introductions. You refused to be known as the weird new girl (which you already felt like one to begin with.)

You tried to fight off the tears emerging from the corners of your eyes as you sat quietly in the corner of the cafeteria, slowly poking the food on your tray as you try to drown out the noise around you.

You wish you didn’t have to transfer and leave everything and everyone you knew behind. Yes, you can still call or text your friends, but you knew it was different than actually being with them on campus.

You were convinced you’d be alone for the rest of your years in college. No friends to hang out, laugh, or cry with. No one to go through the same struggles as you. No one to tell you that everything was going to be okay. You were definitely on your own until-

“Hey.” The voice suddenly snapping you out of your self-loathing as you look up and see probably one of the most handsome men you have ever seen in your life.

The way his eyes held so much love, how his smile could light up anyone’s day, and how his aura was something you never felt with anyone before. He was practically radiating sunshine to your already gloomy day. It almost felt too good to be true… Because what the hell was he doing here in front of you?

“…Hi?” You sit up straight as you try to subtly dab off the tears in your eyes.

“I couldn't help but notice you sitting here all alone.” The man gently says.

Great, the first thing he notices about you is how much of a loser you are. But before you could even say anything back he continues on.

“Would you like to come sit with us? We have some space for you at our table.” He slowly smiles at you. You hesitated at first, confused by the whole situation but quickly made up your mind.

“Uh… yeah, sure! If it’s not any trouble.” You shyly respond.

“Of course not! Can’t let a pretty thing like you be all alone on her first week here right?” He holds out his hand to you.

“How did you-”

“I’m Juyeon.” He interrupts you again. You tell him your name, your cheeks slowly warming up as your hand intertwines with his as he looks deeply into your eyes.

“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” He smirks. You felt the butterflies raging within your stomach.

“So, let’s go?” He waits for your response, but you shyly nod your head instead as proper words get caught up in your throat. Grabbing his hand as you stand up and follow his lead.

You try not to make a fool out of yourself as you feel Juyeon’s hand rest on your lower back as you guides you through the sea of people. As you two are walking towards his table he leans close to your ear and whispers,

“We’re gonna be best friends, I promise.”

And ever since that day Juyeon really did keep his promise. He helped you catch up with some of the lesson plans you had, guided you around school, and always made sure to leave a space for you beside him during lunch.

You tried to wrap your brain around the idea of how someone like Juyeon just randomly entered your life and swept you off your feet. At first you felt like you were on cloud nine getting the most attention and almost boyfriend-like treatment from him. But as the weeks went by you soon discover that his reputation actually preceded him more than you thought.

You see, it was no secret that Juyeon was somewhat of a playboy. Well, somewhat was an understatement. During the first few weeks since you became friends he would walk you to class almost every time. In those moments you couldn’t understand why people would give you such weird looks or whisper to each other whenever you two would pass by.

Maybe it was because you stuck out like a sore thumb as the new girl? You decided not to mind it for a while, pushing down the thought that you were just overthinking all of this… that is until you accidentally learned about his reputation and the real reason why he approached you that day.

It was an accident. You were never meant to find out anything about Juyeon. But during a party that he brought you to, a certain loosed-lip drunk friend (Eric) decided to spill everything to you, down to every letter and detail imaginable.

To be honest, it didn’t bother you when you found out that Juyeon was indeed a fuck boy. You saw the signs as the weeks passed by.

The way he would flirt with someone while waiting for you to finish class, how the notifications on his phone would show a name of a different girl every week, and even the subtle touches he would leave on you which were definitely not considered friendly but not perverted either. What bothered you the most was finding out the reason why he even wanted to be friends with you.

“He’s been really working up to have his way with you, you know? And I mean who could blame him? Have you seen yourself? You’re so fucking hot-” Eric rambles on to you as he tries to lean his body against the wall to keep himself upright, slowly inching his way closer to you. You felt your blood boil in that moment, completely ignoring Eric’s advances.

How could Juyeon do this to you? Even after everything you shared with him about your life, your struggles, your secrets too? And to think you were starting to feel like he could be a really great friend to you. But this? Hell no. You were not about to let some handsome sleazy guy use you like that. Not in this or any lifetime.

You nearly crush the plastic red cup in your hand before storming out of the house, intentionally pushing past Juyeon’s shoulder in the way as he tries to approach you with the most concerned look you had ever seen on his face.

He ran after you that night. He even dropped on his knees begging for forgiveness in front of a crowd of drunk college people too. Over the top sure, but somehow you knew his apology wasn’t just a one and done thing.

And after the humiliating lecture you gave him as well as the list of promises he had said he will be doing in order to make up for his mistakes, you decided to give him another chance.

In return of accepting his apology, you offered to help him get out of his fuck boy tendencies and be his “guardian angel”. Juyeon was reluctant of the idea at first because it would mean he couldn’t be free to do as he pleased but he eventually gave in. He had to because well… He did owe you a lot for lying to you in the first place.

Somewhere in your mind you knew this could turn out to be a bad idea. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me, or however the saying goes. But Juyeon was different.

You knew somewhere in that deep conceited mind of his there was a version of him that was actually a good guy. A guy that can actually learn how to not fool around and maybe one day, find someone worth changing for.

You can tell it was a struggle for him at the beginning. But eventually he started to lessen the flirting, the hookups, the ghosting, and more.

Gone were the days where Juyeon had a line of women wrapped around his fingers (because they were too many of them to count). Dating was still a thing for him, but he had said and even showed you that he would take them seriously and not just move onto the next one as easily as he did before.

Eventually you realized over time that Juyeon turning over a new leaf was also becoming a struggle for you especially at parties when he would come up to you nearly drunk out of his mind, his subconscious would revert back to his old habits and he would act them all out on you.

His hands subtly snaking around your hips, your waist, how he would brush the hair off your neck and leave a warm kiss on shoulder. The way he would smile at you like a lovesick fool, never leaving your side as he attempts to drop his corny pickup lines.

Or the way he would jokingly confess how badly he wanted to kiss you. You knew he wasn’t in the right state of mind, that he was just being his old self. But it really did confuse you because sometimes it felt all too real.

Now you understood why someone could fall so easily for Juyeon. It was second nature to him.

You tried so hard not to give into his appetite especially in those moments. But it was becoming difficult each time since you the crush you had on him from the first day you met was screaming to be set free, desperate to overtake your heart and soul and just allow him to do as he pleased, no matter the consequences.

The many “what-if’s” that crossed your mind when you were alone in your room at night had plagued you constantly. Your walls were starting to crack and it was making you lose your self control around him.

“Maybe one little kiss wouldn’t hu-” No. You shouldn’t. The whole point of staying friends with Juyeon was to guide him to being a better person. It wasn’t about you or how you felt at all!

But… how bad could it be to become selfish just one moment in your life?

“Wow, I’m so tired.” Juyeon plops down on the sofa as you finish up collecting all the empty bottles and cups around the room. After the last bottle was thrown inside the trash bag you washed your hands and plopped right next to him.

You instantly close your eyes and let out a huge sigh of relief, showing the same exhaustion as he felt. As you stay silent and enjoy this quiet moment, Juyeon can’t help but just stare at you. He watches how your chest slowly moves up and down and tries to commit to memory the little details of your face.

You look so beautiful right now, he thinks to himself. As you always have since the first time he saw you. But he pushes down the feeling deep within his gut, having given up pursuing you a while back. But it doesn't hurt to look every once in a while right?

As soon as you open your eyes again, you catch him staring at you with a look in his eyes you can’t quite read. You chuckle at how silly he’s being and turn your body slightly to face him.

“What?” You ask.

“I-It’s nothing.” He shakes his head.

“C’mon, what is it? You can tell me.” You semi pout, and how can Juyeon say no to you?

“I was thinking-”

“Oh no he’s thinking.” You fake gasp and giggle as he playfully nudges your shoulder in return.

“It’s just- I still can’t believe how we ended up as friends despite everything, you know?” He smiles gently.

“Me too.” You respond, “To be honest, if I had known about your reputation before we met I would’ve rejected you that day.”

“Yeah?” Juyeon’s eyes grow wider as he scoots closer to you. He places his hand on your knee, making you become nervous all of a sudden. “And why is that?”

“W-well…” you feel a lump forming in your throat, the way his cologne invades your thoughts and has your head slowly spinning. Is it getting hot in here or is that just you?

“Because, guys like you just aren’t my type that’s all. And well-”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Juyeon interrupts you as he looks into your eyes. You nod in response.

“I haven't been with anyone else ever since that night you confronted me about my behavior.” He pauses for a moment. Dead silence filled the air as he waited for your response while you tried to grasp what he was trying to say.

“Huh? What about that girl you were with last week? Or the one you were texting?” You softly ask.

“I... I lied about them.” Juyeon looks away from you, afraid to look at your reaction. He looks up at the ceiling, pushing down any regret he’s feeling at the moment admitting the truth to you.

“But, why?” Your voice laced with concern.

“It felt wrong to be with those girls. To even think about kissing or touching them the way I would've back then, because…” He looks back at you, his hand on your knee now traveling up to your lap.

“…All I ever thought about in those moments was you.”

You felt your heart running a mile a minute. Eyes widening at his sudden confession.

“God you’re so beautiful it kills me inside.” he raises his hand and cups your jaw, thumb slowly stroking your cheek as his gaze turns into something more than just lust.

You subtly catch him quickly looking at your lips, your eyes nearly fluttering shut as he leans in closer. And with your lips just millimeters apart, he suddenly stops.

“But who am I kidding? I know you don’t see me that way-” Juyeon retracts his head, his face expressing a certain kind of sadness you can’t seem to properly label. You can feel your heart pounding in your ears as you watch him slowly slip away from you.

“Juyeon I-”

“It’s alright, I’m probably drunk. Just- forget what I said.” He shakes his head, but before he can attempt to get up from the couch, you grab his wrist. “No.” You sternly say.

Juyeon slowly sits back down on the couch and scoots really close to you, thighs pressing against one another. His eyes don’t leave yours, waiting for what you have to say or do.

“S-show me. Show me you mean it. Every word you just said.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for you to tell me that.” Juyeon lunges forward and wastes no time as he leans in to kiss you. His pillowy lips feeling like heaven as he guides your lips with his, both melting into one another like it was always meant to be.

As your arms start to wrap around his neck Juyeon pulls you in closer, his body slowly falls backwards onto the couch. His hands desperately grabbing your hips to make you straddle his lap.

Juyeon whimpers into your mouth as soon as his straining bulge rubs against your core. His member throbs harder as you begin to roll your hips subconsciously.

He’s fucked way too many times to count but for some reason, grinding yourself onto his crotch makes him feel like an untouched virgin all over again.

He swears he can burst inside his boxers any second now if you keep doing this to him, especially with the soft little moans coming out of your mouth that sound so sweet.

Juyeon pulls away from your lips and starts to kiss your neck, mapping out his kisses until he finds the spot that makes you melt into a puddle. He knows he’s found that spot as your moans become louder and drag on longer.

He starts to wrap his arms around your torso and without warning, he flips you both over, making you squeal as he giggles at your reaction. His eager hands waste no time to unbutton your jeans as he continues to leave marks on your neck. You slightly push him away as you feel him slowly sneaking one hand into your pants.

“Wait-” You grab his wrist before he goes any further.

“Do you want to stop?” He waits for your answer.

“No it’s not that.” Your eyes close for a moment as you catch your breath.

“It’s- well- It’s been a while I've since done this. I- I might not be good for you.” Juyeon senses the worry in your eyes. He leans down to kiss the space between your eyebrows, his free hand caressing your cheek.

“Oh sweetheart… you’ll always be too good for me.” He smiles down at you. “You sure you still want this?” You nod your head instantly.

“Use your words baby, need to hear you say it. Tell me what you want.” His hand travels to your neck and gives it a soft squeeze. The act alone is enough to get you dizzy again.

“Want you- want you to touch me, please.” You look up at him so innocently.

Juyeon leans in to kiss you passionately once more, his tongue immediately intertwining with yours. He helps you out of your pants in the process not wanting to pull his lips away from yours until he tugs the hem of your shift and lifts it off, leaving you wearing nothing but your underwear on.

His kisses start to travel oh so slowly from your lips all the way to your inner thighs. Juyeon can feel himself pre cumming at the deep inhale of your panty covered core. The wet patch luring him in to kiss it and practically mouth your covered folds.

You let out yet another ethereal moan as your fingers weave through his hair. His hands slowly pull the garter of your underwear down, throwing the damp material behind him as he continues on with his ministrations.

Juyeon wastes no time and grabs the back of your thighs and placing them over his shoulder, making sure that his face is locked onto your throbbing core. He kisses your folds before suddenly darting his warm wet tongue between them, reveling in the taste of you before flicking your sensitive bud. He looks up to watch your reactions, which motivate him to keep on going.

“P-please…” You whine as he hums and sucks on your clit. Juyeon doesn’t even need you to tell him what you want, by the sound of your moans and the way your thighs slowly squeeze his head he knows you’re getting closer to the edge.

He nearly lets go himself when you reach your high without warning, the sudden burst of your essence onto his lips as you moan out his name was something he never thought would feel so divine.

He pulls himself up and goes back to kissing you, tasting yourself on his tongue has your core throbbing for him once again. Your hands hastily helping him unbutton his own pants along with his boxers as he pulls them down and kicks them to the side.

Your mouth waters at the sight of his impressive length, your hand instantly wrapping around his member as you stroke him slowly. “Oh s-shit.” He growls into your ear.

“Want you inside me Juyeon, want you to fuck me.” You whisper in his ear. He grabs your wrist to stop, holding his own member as he aligns it with your entrance.

“Don’t want to fuck you-” He mumbles. You pull away from him, confused by his words. His other hand grabs the back of your neck as he pulls your face closer to his.

“-Want to make love to you.” He whispers into your mouth. And before you know it he’s pushing his entire cock inside you, bottoming out instantly. You both moan into each other’s mouths at the stretch. Juyeon moves his hips slowly as he starts to fuck you deeply, making sure you feel all of him going in and out of your pussy.

Juyeon wishes this moment could last forever, but the way your walls grip onto his member like a vice brings him closer to the edge faster than he had hoped. Especially with how you’re moaning into his mouth and wrapping your arms around his neck so tight? He was a goner.

He’s never fucked anyone like this before, and now he can’t imagine doing this with anyone else except you.

With every deep thrust, you feel yourself on the verge of cumming for the second time. Each stroke hitting that sweet spot in you has you reaching for the stars.

“Fuck Juyeon, you’re gonna make me cum again.” You whine as the wet sounds you're both making has you feeling dizzy.

“C’mon sweetheart, cum on my cock. God you can keep cumming on my cock as much as you want I don’t care.” His thrusts start to pick up the pace. “I’m yours forever.”

Those three words were enough to snap the coil within, breathing heavily as your walls flutter around his length. You’re so caught up in your own head you don’t realize Juyeon uttering a string of whimpers until you feel him quickly pull out his cock and blow his load all over your stomach.

The both of you take a moment to calm down from your highs before Juyeon gets up to each for the box of tissue on the coffee table. You watch him gently clean you up before he pulls his boxers back on to find your discarded underwear and also helps you put it back on.

He hovers above you before leaning down to leave small kisses around your face and on your lips. You caress his cheek slowly as he leans into your touch.

“Did you mean it? Everything you said?” You softly ask him.

“Down to every letter.” He responds. “But… I think you broke me.”

“Broke you? How?” You playfully scrunch your eyebrows at him.

“Don’t want to see myself with anyone else now.”

“Oh really?” You raise an eyebrow. “And how should I fix it then?” He smirks and kisses you again,

“Let me take you out on a date and we’ll call it even.”

[bvbygrl-writes]

Wrong House

Pairing: Stu Macher x Nerdy!Reader x Billy Loomis

Word Count: 3.2k

Summary: A step into wrong house leads to a night of the right fun.

A/N: I was not supposed to upload this tonight but I'm too excited about it. I'm not proof reading this long ass shit either so if something is spelled wrong use your imagination to fix it, mwuah! <3

Warnings: reader has afab anatomy breaking and entering, knife play, homoerotic themes (they kiss but nothing more than that), mentions of murder, eiffel towering, loss of virginity, coercion and ultimatums, rope bandage, panty kink, and panty sniffing.

THIS FIC IS 18+!!! MINORS / ACCOUNTS WITHOUT AGE DNI YOU WILL BE BLOCKED WITH NO WARNING BUT THIS ONE.

(Y/n) was naturally an anxious girl but, with her parents out of town and the string of murders happening, she was on edge. She had every single light on in the house, the downstairs tv on, anything to make it seem as though the house was full of life. The reporters on the radio had told people to stay together and while most of the students in school had that option, she didn’t. Nobody wanted to be friends with the quiet girl who still wore Care Bear sweaters and could recite Star Trek lines from memory.

Nibbling the end of her pencil, she let out an exasperated sigh. She had been staring at the same math problem in her textbook for a good 45 minutes. “Focus, (Y/n/n), focus. If you do end up living through all of this, you’ll want to get into a good college.If you fail, mom and dad will make you wish you were dead.” she said out loud to herself, a sad laugh falling from her lips. At that same moment, her stomach began to grumble. When was the last time she ate? Reaching for the phone, she dialed the number to her favorite chinese food place. She loved it because the food was cheap and they were one of the only places that delivered something other than pizza after 10PM. 

“Alright, thank you!” she said, placing the phone back on the receiver. It’d be about a 20 minute wait, giving her time to focus more on her work. Sighing she sat back down in front of her textbook, staring at the page until the numbers started to blur together. “Well, that’s enough of that! I should get the money for the delivery driver seeing as it’ll be here in…” glancing at the clock on her wall she sighed, “Twenty minutes.” ignoring that face, she stood up, bunny slippers stomping over the carpeted floor to the piggy bank on her dresser. She pulled out a 10 dollar bill along with a 5 for the tip. But before (Y/n) could even get to her door, she heard a noise at the front door. 

“Th-that’s weird. There’s still nineteen minutes an-” she shrieked at the sound of the door bursting open. Every anxiety filled thought she had had since being home by herself was coming true. The blood drained from her face, her body growing light at the sound of the voices coming from the living room. Tears began to form in the corner of her eyes as she turned off the lights and closed her bedroom door. The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs put in perspective just how real this all was. She silently cursed her dad for never fixing the damn lock on her window. She might’ve broken a few bones from jumping, but that’d be better than being completely dead! Looking around her room she made the decision to jump in her closet, closing the accordion door.

She became aware of how loudly she was breathing, clamping her hands over her mouth. Her body trembled with terror. ‘Is this how I die? Alone, never experiencing friendship or love?’ Was this really the time to be feeling sorry for her lack of social and love life? ‘Well to be fair, this may be one of the last times I’m able to feel anything whatsoever.’ The sound of her bedroom door opening instantly made her mind go blank. The girl felt as though she was having a heart attack and honestly? She would have preferred that to whatever death she was about to experience.

“Are you sure this is the right house? This doesn’t look like Chelsea’s room.” A male’s voice remarked, the lights flicking on. She could see through the small slots on the folding door that there were two men. One had dark hair and a knife in his hand. The other one was taller with blonde hair and a backpack with god knows what inside of it.

“Yeah, dude! This is 345 Avalee Lane.” the other one exclaimed, an almost sinister grin on his face. The dark hair one made a sound that was a mix of a growl and a sigh.

“You fucking idiot! Chelsea lives in 348, we’re in the wrong house!” he pinched the bridge of his nose, kicking over the little trash can near her desk across the room. (Y/n) relaxed a bit. Maybe since they weren’t looking for her they’d just leave?

“Well at least no one’s home, we can just get out of here.” The blonde one rasped out, eating a piece of candy off of her dresser before tossing the wrapper on the ground. ‘Rude’ she thought.

“The lights and the tv were on. Someone’s definitely in this house. I’m going to go check the other rooms and you look around this one a bit better. We can’t take any chances.” The brunette exited the room and in the distance he heard the sound of different doors being opened. 

The blonde one began to hum, snooping around her room. He walked over to her dresser, opening up her panty drawer. A smile grew on his face as he held up a pair of white ones with a pink lace trim, shoving them in the back pocket of his baggy jeans. “Cute.” he said to himself (or so he thought). Walking over to her bed, he tossed the covers back before bending down to check under the bed as well. Next, he walked over to the cupboard of her collectable figurines, opening up the door. “Hm.” he shrugged before beginning to exit the room. She removed her hands from her mouth, placing them on the floor beside her as she let her body relax. However, before he could leave, she could see a lightbulb go off in his brain as he turned around walking towards the closet. The girl’s eyes went wide as she shook her head. As he opened the closet door, she couldn’t even manage to make a sound. A look of surprise made its way onto his face before he began to grin. “You’ve got cute little undies. Hey Billy!”

All (Y/n) could do was sit there in shock. She recognized this boy, he was in her art classes although he rarely showed up. Now that she could really see his face, he was quite attractive. Before she could delve into why she was letting herself think that, the other one (who she assumed was Billy) appeared right next to him. Although he had a scowl on his face, he was just as attractive. ‘Well, you always said you wanted a cute guy to notice you. There’s two! But you should’ve been more specific, huh (Y/n/n)?’ 

“She’s kind of cute in a dorky little way, ain’t she?” Stu commented as Billy used his knife to lift her chin. She didn’t dare stop making eye contact with Billy for fear of what he might do with that knife the second she did. He tilted her face around, examining it from all sorts of angles before he chuckled.

“She is. (Y/n), right? You’re the girl that’s always winning those sciences awards at school. We have AP English together.” he said in a calm tone. This was the strangest thing she had ever experienced. Why were they dragging this on so much when they could just kill her and get it over with?

“M-mmm-mhm!” she stuttered out, nodding her head ever so slightly so she didn’t cut herself on the blade. 

“Although I agree with my friend here, you still find yourself to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. See, I’ve got a plan and if I let you live, there’s a big chance you’re going to blab and ruin it for me.” he said, his words coming out through gritted teeth towards the end. “So unfortunately, your time’s up.”

“No, no please! I-I-I won’t blab and tell! I don’t have any friends or anyone to tell I won’t tell please! I promise!” she sobbed, begging for her life as he pressed the knife against her neck harder. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins, which would also explain the sensation happening between her legs. Fat tears continued to stream down her face. “I promise please there’s gotta be a way!” she continued to plead for her life, waiting for something, just anything to happen. Whatever it’d take for this situation to be over. However, she was surprised when the knife suddenly was no longer pressed to her neck. Looking up, she saw the blonde one’s hand had moved it away and he was whispering something into Billy’s ear. Their eyes kept flickering to parts of the room and then back to her before Billy gave a singular nod. 

“It seems my friend Stu here has taken quite a liking to you so here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to have a bit of fun with you and if we enjoy it, you live and we’ll be back to get you after we finish some…business. And if not, I’ll slit your throat right after we finish. Does that sound fair?” Billy said, tugging her from her sitting position to be in between the both of them. She nodded frantically, happy to have even a small chance of living. She knew they were probably going to kill her when they were done, but at least that moment was suspended for a bit longer.

“Wh-what do I need t-to do?” she asked, her heart racing as she looked up at the two of them. They were completely dwarfing her with their size, it was like being trapped between two incredibly hot trees. Stu grinned at her once again before stepping back a bit.

“Well you can start by stripping!” he instructed, phrasing it like a suggestion even though she knew it wasn’t. She nodded, taking off her cream colored sweater, sliding her Power Rangers pajama pants down right after. She began to hesitate slightly as now she was just in her slippers and underwear.

“Allow me.” Billy said, using his knife to snip off her bra. He started at the shoulder straps, taking a moment to stare at her breast before tearing the backband as well. She didn’t try to cover up, knowing her chances of survival would dwindle to none. He went to pull down her panties but Stu stopped him, shaking his head.

“Leave those on her.” he said, before getting down on his knees in front of her. Billy held her arms behind her back with one of his, peeking over the girl’s shoulders to see what his moronic friend had planned. What she didn’t expect was for him to bury his face into her underwear-clad pussy and sniff. Stu let out a low moan as he did, eyes rolling back in pleasure. He continued to sniff at her front, his nose nudging her clit through the fabric. “God that’s amazing. Looks like she’s enjoying it too.” he said, rubbing his finger on the wet spot forming on her panties. He gently pressed his fingers against the fabric causing (Y/n) to squirm a bit, a gentle moan falling from her mouth.

“Oh, that’s such a pretty noise.” Billy purrs lowly in her ear. Standing from the floor, Stu lifts his fingers up to Billy’s mouth and without thinking, he opens it. The girl watches in awe, her clit beginning to throb at the way the two men were interacting with one another. Stu slowly pulls his fingers from the man’s mouth, biting his lip as the other man licks his. “Did you want a taste?” he asks in a deep tone. At the same time, they both lean over and begin to share a passionate and heated open mouth kiss. Little moans and grunts fall from them, a gasp falling from her own lips as Stu grips at her waist, beginning to grind against her front, his bulge slotted between her slit. Billy mimics his actions, grinding his cock against her ass. She was glad the two were holding her up, because at the current moment she wasn’t sure if her legs would work. This was a whole new world for her. She had never been kissed or even touched by one man let alone two. The noises falling from her mouth were completely out of her control, the sensation of their rhythmic rubbing along with the scene of them kissing above her was all too much for her to handle. 

As though they could hear her thoughts, they pulled away from their kiss, turning their attention back to her. She hadn’t even realized that the knife was completely gone now. If she wanted to, she could’ve ran and gotten away. If she wanted to. Billy gripped her arms once more, beginning to walk her over to the bed. She felt her face grow warm at the collection of stuffed animals, causing her to look at the ground. “They keep me warm at night.” she defended weakly. Stu laughed, cooing at her before picking one up and turning it to face the wall, repeating the action several times with the other one.

Billy groaned, annoyed. “Seriously?”

“What? I know how the girls get about that sort of thing.” As Stu continued with his antics, the brunette reached for his friend’s bag. (Y/n) eyed him curiously, thinking he had changed his mind on their deal but was relieved when all he pulled out was a bit of rope. Wait, rope? He tossed it up and down smirking at her before positioning himself behind her as he began to tie her hands together. ‘This is better than whatever they usually probably use this for.’ She tugged at the rope, the friction causing a mild irritation from the action. He pushed her a bit, causing her to fall forward onto the bed. Her ass was in the air while the upper part of her body fell down due to having no support. She listened to the sound of belts and pants clambering before feeling the bed dip down behind her. At that same time, a pair of legs kneeled in front of her as well. She felt as a hand carded it’s way through her hair before tightening, lifting her face to be eye level with a cock. Peering up, she saw that it was Billy.

“Are you gonna open up or am I going to have to do it for you?” he asked, causing a bit of panic to flash through the girl’s (e/c) eyes.

“S-sorry. I’ve never done any of this before.” she muttered, causing a whistle from behind her. She could imagine the grin on Stu's face.

“A cute virgin?! How lucky are we tonight? Oh this is going to be fun. I haven’t popped a cherry in quite a long time.” Stu gushed, rubbing his hands together. “I can barely contain myself!” her panties were then pulled to the side, long fingers beginning to rub all along her slick covered folds. She let out a whimper, her knees trembling as he began to rub circles on her clit. As he slid a finger in, her mouth fell open which Billy saw as the perfect opportunity. Gripping her hair a bit tighter, he began to slide his cock into her mouth slowly. He stared down at her face, watching as her mouth began to struggle with the girth of him, tears falling down her face.

“You better stop with all those tears, I really don’t wanna cum this early.” Billy teased, beginning to rock his hips back and forth. He hissed in pleasure at her tight and warm little mouth, tossing his head back as he let out a guttural moan. Behind her, Stu had managed to work the third finger in, stretching and scissoring them around.Gripping her hip with one hand, he used his other to glide his cock along her lips causing them to both moan. “Hurry up, I wanna pick up the pace but I’m trying to make it easier for you.”

“I’m going!” and with that, Stu slid his cock in with one swift motion. His grip on her hips tightened at the same time her walls did as he fell forward for a bit, head resting against the small of her back. “G-god, oh fuck! You’ve got a tight little pussy, huh?” he said through gritted teeth, beginning to pound into her at an almost animalistic pace. Her pussy drooled around his cock as she continued to moan around Billy, choking as he also picked up his pace. Their thrust were alternating. As Stu would pull his cock out some, Billy’s would enter her throat deep, barely giving her a chance to get used to anything. She had already came around his cock twice, the feeling being overwhelmingly pleasurable. 

They were using her like a doll, holding her up and angling her just right. All she could do was sob and take it, the only thing on her mind was their cocks and her life. She didn’t even care if she was going to die after this, this was the best thing she had ever experienced in her life. 

“You look so helpless when you cry. God, Stu I wish you could see her right now.” Billy moaned out, staring down into those wet (e/c) eyes. Picking up his pace, he gripped at her scalp, full on skull fucking her now. His thrust had grown sloppy and so had his counterpart’s. 

“Tr-trust me, my view is just as good. I’m cl-close!” he whined out, reaching a finger down to rub at the girl's sensitive and swollen clit. (Y/n) screamed around Billy’s cock sending him over the edge. Pulling out, he coated her face and hair in a load of sticky white cum. Watching Billy stroke his cock over her face pushed Stu over the edge as well, causing him to bounce her back on his dick, whimpering as he came deep inside of her. 

The room fell silent and as (Y/n) came to her senses, the question of the hour came back to haunt her. Was she going to live?

“Are you satisfied, Stu?”

“More than, man.”

“Well..” Billy trailed off, stepping off of the bed. As Stu pulled out, she felt cold and exposed. Both men stood behind her, staring as the load of cum began to roll down the back of her legs. The brunette reached forward, grabbing her wrist rather roughly before untying her. “I guess you live. We’ll be back. In the meantime, get cleaned up.” the sound of the doorbell ringing caused the two men to look out the window, thinking she had somehow managed to get in contact with help. However, they both relaxed at the sight of the delivery truck on the outside of the house. 

“Make sure you save me some chow mein!” Stu said. The girl rolled over on her back, letting out a breathless laugh watching as the two quickly got dressed. Before they headed for the bedroom door, Stu took her panties off of her, sticking them in the front pocket of his jeans. 

“For good luck!”

[tomwaterbabies]

disneyland happenings

featuring varian and hugo. since thats what our costumes were

^(us trying to be very spooky) (there is a lot below btw lol)

someone asking if i (dressed as hugo) was from atlantis. surprisingly this only happened once

we went to kingdom hearts mickey first bc that was gonna be a popular one the rest of the night. the idea of varian in kingdom hearts is definitely really funny. i do not go here im just being honest

OH. new addition to the costume. i had olivia with me as a shoulder friend

met bruno from encanto who commented on her. we talked about our rodent friends he was very nice. he said he brought "all 200" of his rats with him and wanted to help feed them and knows mickey is a big mouse so maybe we could ask him. i said we could just steal some food. varian got mad

went over to see sid from toy story because he seemed like a mean little bitch. he was a mean little bitch. i may have said that his creations could use a little work but thats no reason for him to say "your mouse needs a little work" and "i hope you kept the receipt".... cunt

laughing about how mother gothel was no longer part of the characters to meet. "they killed her forever this time" etc etc

watching the parade and varian almost jumping out of his skin when mother gothel was in the parade. her ghost

we went to this thing called villain's grove which was a bunch of light and effects n stuff through their little forest area. it was mostly a cool immersive experience so most of the footage is on the Lights And Effects Themselves but here's a few of us that look cool lol. gay tunnel (maybe not) (that segment was themed after frollo)

met hans from frozen. we absolutely had no clue he was going to be there it was pretty funny. you may guess that my friend @kristoffs-lullaby (varian cosplayer) is a frozen enjoyer. so we hopped in line to see him

hans asked if varian's alchemy balls were some sort of magic or enchantment and you'll Never guess what varian responded with

though explaining its alchemy and science and all that didnt really make him feel better. he even asked if its something that would be in danger of bringing in an "eternal winter". varian did not like that :)

saw dr. doofenshmirtz (?) i didnt watch that show. he was pretty fun to meet though. i know some people dont like his creepy ass design, but i do, its fun and weird to me. he wanted to collaborate with me and varian since we're scientists. really funny to have him say "i'll have my people call your people". a possible strange message that rapunzel will get later /j

also encountered hades. though our friend @iammisswow was with us and so i had him focus on her since shes a big hercules fan. the visual was hugo getting this scary man's attention to be put on someone else by calling her out. it worked obviously. "oh SHE is a HUGE fan of hercules"

madam mim from sword in the stone didnt really have as big of a crowd so we actually talked with her a pretty good amount. shes SO fun. lots of discussion about magic vs science and how she thinks knowledge is stupid. you can imagine how we of all people felt when she said "KNOWLEDGE is not power, MAGIC is power". she also liked olivia (she thought she was a familiar)

meeting judge doom from roger rabbit was kind of scary LOL. very intimidating man. but his area had vats of chemicals and all that so you can imagine we had fun with that. WE can be trusted. obviously.

nervously just nodding our heads as judge doom tells us to come to him if we have any information regarding where "that rabbit is" (we are not doing that)

and also we saw ernesto de la cruz from coco. we were actually able to catch him right as he started performing which is rad but i dont actually have any interactions to tell u about here it was bad ass though

and, unbeknownst to Hugo (as in i also didnt know about this), varian had a surprise for him. he had a whole... horribly genuine and flustery spiel to say about messing around in his lab and all that and made something for hugo. which was a necklace with a piece of colored glass-like material (teal) in the shape of a heart. hugo handled that whole situation really well (lie)

ANYWAYS ! that's it. i've mentioned before but Disneyland Trips will be retired really soon since I'm not too fond of a lot of their wack shit right now, but wanted to share some of the last bit of enjoyable times to be had there before that happens

[xxmayxx05]

I won't let go, if you don't let go

pairing: Eric x Fem! reader

Contents: blood, weird aliens, Fluff (involves a cute man with puppy eyes). 18+ in the next chapter!

a/n: Hi everyone! I hope you like my first Eric imagine! Joseph Quinn did such an amazing job as Eric. If you haven't watched A quiet place day one, I highly recommend it. I am going to make this a small series, and I want to make more Eric content. So please please send requests. Reblogs and comments are highly appreciated. - May<3

Day 5

Closing your eyes, you sighed softly and stood infront of the window of your apartment. You were still trying to process and understand what day happened just five days ago. It was a regular day for you, you were coming back from Law school. You were in the subway to go back to your apartment after a very stressful day. All you wanted was to go back home to your apartment, cry your eyes out, order some take out and drink your favorite wine. 

You never would of guessed that the world was practically going to end. At your last stop, you were about to step off the train when you heard screaming all around. Your heart dropped to the pit of your stomach when you felt the floor shake hard, and the sounds of bombs deathened your ears. Not knowing what to do, you stood there frightened. Out of nowhere you saw, what seemed to be a monster. The monster was killing people, with every victim, the walls were splattered with blood all around and people were running around. 

“Y/N!” you heard some scream out your name and felt someone wrap their arms around your waist. 

The unknown person pulled you back into the train and threw you both onto the ground. Finally getting out of your frightened daze, you had realized that it was Eric. He was one of your classmates in law school, the british man had worked with you in one project last semester. Both of you would meet up after school, would go to each others places to work on the project. You had grown really fond of being with Eric in such a short amount of time and it scared you because you would feel butterflies in your stomach when you would see him. It sounded unbelievable but you had a crush on Eric but always tried to push it aside so you could focus on law school. 

“Love!, look at me. Look at me please” Eric begged quietly as he softly caressed your cheek. The train started being flooded with water and very quickly. He helped you get up slowly as he looked around to see if the unknown creature was around, but it had gone all the way down of the subway. Eric could only think was about getting you out of your state of shock. All you did was blink and look at him. You started breathing heavily as you started gain more consciousness of what your just had seen. 

“E-eric” you cried softly and realized that what had just happened. 

“You have to be quiet” he whispered as he quickly covered your mouth and nodded his head. The water had now risen up to his waist. “We need to find the way out quickly and quietly” he said and gave you a small smile when you had nodded your head and tried to calm your breathing. 

“Follow me” you whispered and grabbed his hand. You were thankful that this was your stop and you knew your way around the subway. Finally being able to calm yourself down, you carefully stepped out of the train and gasped softly when you saw the amount of bodies that were floating in the water. 

“We have to keep going Y/n” he whispered in your ear as the water had risen mid stomach. Eric felt you begin to softly cry at the sight of the floating bodies. He was scared at the sight as well but he needed to survive and you as well. “Please, the water is rising” he plead in a hushed tone. 

Making yourself knock out of the shock, you practically began to flutter kick in the water softly. The water was rising faster but it didn’t stop you from almost getting to the entrance.

“Take a deep breath and swim y/n” Eric breathed heavily. The water had risen up all the way to his neck now, and he had his arm wrapped around your waist to keep you upfloat. 

“Please don’t let go” you cried softly, thinking that this could be the end of you both. He shook his head immediately. 

“I won’t, if you won’t” he said and panicked softly as the water had risen up to his chin. “Now” he said and took a deep breath. 

After taking your final deep breath, you saw at the semi dark water. You and Eric had your hands intertwined tightly. Looking around in a panic you saw light. Swimming close to the light, you tried touching the floor but you recognized that there were steps. You swam practically half up the steps with Eric. Finally getting close to the surface you, gasped for air when you were out of the water. Immediate relief filled your chest when you were gasping for air and realized that you were alive. Turning around, you immediately wrapped your arms around Eric and hugged him. 

“It’s a-alright love, we are a-alright” he said quietly and still trying to catch up on his breathing. Eric was about to slip into a state of shock himself, he was about to die down there in the subway. His soft cries took over, feeling too over whelmed about everything that was going on around him. All he wanted was to have a regular day at law school, hoping that he could grow the courage to talk to you in the hallway but he would retreat everytime. Now he was here in what seemed to be the end of the world in his eyes, all he wanted to do is hide and try to survive with you. 

“We h-have to go” you whispered and caressed Eric’s cheek. He had began to worry you as his eyes were wide opened and his body shook in fear. “Eric please” you begged silently and made him look at you. “Look at me” you whispered and smiled softly when started blinking rapidly. 

“Good job” you reassured him and kept caressing his cheek. “My apartment is down the block, we have to be quick and careful” you said quietly and looked around. The streets were quiet, cars flipped and wrecked, some building were on fire. Relief came over you when you didn’t see any of the scary creatures. “We have to go now” you whispered and intertwined your fingers with Eric’s. 

Both of you had walked carefully and quietly down the block. His grip tightened, scared that he was going to loose you at any second. Walking up the steps of your building, you caught your breath that you didn’t know you were holding in. You lead Eric up to the sixth floor and walked to your door. Crouching down, you looked underneath the door mat. Feeling relief that your apartment key was there, you always kept it there for any type of emergency. Grabbing it, you unlocked your door carefully and opened the door. Trying to open the door softly, you both walked in and you locked the door behind. 

—-

Sighing softly you kept looking out the window and smiled softly when you felt a hand on your shoulder. You felt comfort with the thunderstorm that had just started and knowing that you weren’t alone and had Eric. Both of you were afraid to step outside after what you guys witnessed, all you both did was cuddle in your bed, try to draw, play tic tac toe, and finding out that Eric was a very good magician. 

“Are you okay?” he asked softly and wrapped both of his arms around your waist. Eric knew that you were still trying to get yourself out of the state of shock, he was also trying to do the same but he knew that it was going to stay with you both for a very long time. 

“Yes” you whispered and leaned your head back on his chest and closed your eyes. Being with Eric made your anxiety and nerves calm down. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, you were falling more and more for him. 

“What are you thinking about?” he asked and hugged you. Leaning his chin on top of your head, he loved how you both became so close with each other. He didn’t feel embarrassed, that he would follow you around the apartment like a lost puppy because he was afraid that with a blink of an eye you would be gone. 

“We need to leave soon, Eric” you said and turned around. Looking up your eyes teared up at the feeling of fear began to rise. “We only have food for two more days and then it’s gone. We have to get to those boats” you said, crying softly. “I don’t want to loose you” you admitted and gasped softly when Eric immediately kissed you.

Eric couldn’t help himself anymore and kissed you. He was happy that you felt this way towards him, he was afraid that he was going to loose you too. Eric knew that he had to man up and get you both to those boats. Mostly you, he had to get you to safety but he promised himself that he was going to protect you until the very end. 

Feeling relief that you kissed him back with as much passion made him feeling butterflies in his stomach. Loving how your soft hand caressed his cheek and your other arm wrapped around his neck. Leaning back softly and leaning his forehead against yours. 

“You aren’t going to loose me, I promise you that” he said with a small smile. “In two days, we will head to the boats first thing in the morning. Once we get to safety, it’s just you and me” he reassured you and pecked your lips. “I’m not letting you go if you don’t let me go” he said. 

“I won’t” you promised and pecked his lips. Gasping softly when he picked you up and wrapped your legs around his waist. 

“I want you” he said and searched your eyes for permission. 

“I’m all yours” you smiled softly and kissed him. Giggling softly when he began walking to your bed, he was going to worship your body. The way that he had wished to do since he met you the first time in class. 

[saguette]

What do you think Johnny's art looked like before he was stripped of his powers? This is something that bugs me a lot, and I'm curious about what you think.

ok i needed to draw a few shitty pictures to demonstrate cuz i wanted to talk about more than just his previous art but his art journey in general IDC if there's some canon tweet that proves something i said wrong or out of timeline these are my headcanons and projections so you either like it or not.. anyways I think his style pre-pre-JTHM (lets say 15-18) depicted many things, He was good at realism and fluctuated just fine between stylized art and big hefty works with a lot of detail. His stylized works looking similar to Jhonens and the whole 2000's artstyle cuz its fitting.

Of course he's like, a late teenager around this time so its GOOD but not perfect. If you pulled up a few of his drawings from this time he would probably be embarrassed by all the disproportionate limbs and goth girls he sketched and thought were badass. He probably has old sketches of friends in his style regardless if they asked to be drawn or not since his art was something he was proud of and people around him made him feel proud of. His old art also feels like it'd have anime elements unintentionally to add to that amateur artist swag. Johnny doesn't like anime copies but stuff he rips inspo from was anime inspired so it rubbed off on his work too. Moving onto PRE-JTHM (18-20) Is when his art started to get more serious and complex. In his happy era he took to drawing lovecraftian horror sometimes but it was always the secondary focus of any drawing.

Moving out and growing up was around the time his mental state started to worsen and he started using art to cope with emotions rather than just use it for fun, drawing complex monsters was a subconscious way to depict underlying mental illness that's out of his hands. He cant depict what he doesn't know he has, he can only scribble things that feel someone close to him because there is no physical appearance to emotions. He never liked his art around this time because it always felt unfinished or wrong or like it just didn't interpret what he wanted right. Overtime his art lost coherent appearance, quality, and meaning which made it feel worthless. It wouldn't be all that bad but it reached a point not even he knew what it was trying to be and it was frustrating. How can your own art not make sense to you? Its weird to let your hands go and do their own and you not recognize what they're trying to say. Which leads to SHORTLY BEFORE JTHM-and later.. Johnnys NEW preferred method for art currently is a little abstract, it became two extremes of the same thing; nothing. his art lost alot of what it used to be so he says he cant draw anymore.

Johnnys lovecraftian horror art slowly engulfed itself over time and always becomes an abstract mess. Its purposely made to be incomprehensible by having too much, regardless if its creation is poetic, an outside view not being able to tell what it is or how much work went into it is on purpose. its metaphorical or whatever.. Johnnys fucked up or something.. Whereas Noodleboy i imagine was made by him drawing a stickfigure one day to see if he can still "draw" and overtime gave him his features like angry eyes and that big hair, creating his own sort of vent sona to replace the sketchy abstract art he used before. Noodleboys chaoticness is too sporadic to rip any meaning off of, he also purposely represents nothing. His existence uses up paper the same way, just without all the extra effort. SORRRYYYY long tangent thats probably super messy i just winged it. but i cant help myself ive thought about this for a while ik i didnt strictly answer the question but i had so much more to say

[muffinrecord]

I've been pretty positive about Yuu so far, but watching her magical girl story... hmm.

Basically I like everything about Yuu, but man that serial killer bit is the only thing that really sticks out as an overt bad choice. Having Nagisa stand around and watch Yuu kill people is such a weird choice, it feels more like fanfic than actual canon. Like this doesn't feel like something that could happen in Magia Record-- or hell, even in Madoka Magica either.

For example, Sayaka has a scene on a train where some dudes are being sexist assholes and it's left up to the viewer to decide if she kills them or not. It doesn't go: Sayaka killed them and also they were calling out for help the entire time while Madoka watched you know?

That said, this is something I can see in a bunch of the spinoffs (Kazumi, Oriko, Suzune), but I think everyone agrees that the spinoffs are of dubious quality. I love me the spinoffs but they're a hot mess.

I dunno. It's one thing to know that Yuu is a serial killer, it's another thing to have a character watch her go around and kill people and not intervene in any way. Especially in a story that goes out of its way to not do that. Walpy hitting Kamihama is noted to have no causalities at all (which goes a little too far in the other direction imo but it is what it is), Suzune isn't able to kill anyone in Kamihama and is dealt with by kicking her out (and not killing her), the deaths in arc 2 are mostly accidental and have massive consequences, everyone is forgiven in the end-- this isn't a story that really has "watch someone kill people and do nothing" in it's cards, you know?

I actually liked Nagisa's Wish for a lot of things. For example, I like that Nagisa didn't think she could be a magical girl until she saw Yuu, because she assumed that magical girls had to be good people-- aka, Nagisa did not think she was good. But that's not because Nagisa is a bad person. Nagisa is just unloved, and since she's a young kid, she's internalized that to mean that something is wrong with her, not that something is wrong with her mom. It's heartbreaking to see her go from "I can't be a magical girl," to seeing Yuu the murderer, to then going "oh okay if she can be a magical girl then so can I." Like sweet pea, your mother not loving you is not the same as being a killer. You've done nothing wrong. You are not a bad person for having Feelings and Emotions about the neglect you are experiencing.

However the serial killer/organ seller bit just goes too far for me and it kind of overshadows a lot of the better ideas present in Nagisa's Wish. Like how can you focus on the interesting ideas about justice or self worth when there is a serial killer/organ stealer walking around.

I think that the best qualities of Yuu are her design and how creepy she is-- having her actually go all the way and be a serial killer/organ seller actually makes her less creepy in my opinion. Yada yada, less is more, leave it up to the viewer's imagination. If she was just off, if we just knew that something was wrong with her and that people are disappearing but it's not outright stated what she's doing... I dunno. That would make her a lot more scary to me. A lot of fear can be found in apprehension and outright telling all the details will fill in too many gaps.

Like, the things that we all like about Yuu would be her voice direction, her memory issues, the way her Live2D is designed to be slightly off kilter from everyone else, the gap between her attitude and the darkness she engages in, the weird weaponry she uses and how it changes the way she walks/moves-- all of this is effective because it is offputting and different, not because the narrative is telling us "hey she kills people and sells their organs."

Basically I really love Yuu, but I do have some criticisms for her character and I understand why some folks don't like her.

That said, it did lead to this fantastic line from Kyubey so like,

You take some, you lose some.

[cripple-punk-dad]

i hope you don’t mind this but like i’m 14 (not white, trans, gay, that stuff) and seeing a lot of people talk about how a lot of countries are going far right & extremism is coming back in full swing & no rainbow capitalism, etc is kind of scary. how do i like. not be so scared all the time? i just thought you’d know but if this is a weird ask i totally get it

It is scary. It's downright terrifying, looking out into the world and seeing the pattern of hatred, bigotry, and violence that is feels like its only growing more prevalent. Sometimes it feels like I'm on an island in a huge ocean of people who just want me to die, or change who I am, or both.

Not only that, but being 14 is fucking terrifying. You're not an adult yet, so you can't enact 'real change', you can't even drive (in the U.S) so your transportation is limited. You can't (legally) even get a job or anything. The world has done pretty much everything it can to keep you feeling scared. That's really hard to deal with!

This is usually where I'd say something dramatic, like "don't let them get away with that." But that's easier said than done. And that doesn't really answer your question, either. So instead I'll say this: It's hard to be scared when you 1) know your enemy, and 2) have other things to focus on. I don't mean that you should go debate every conservative you see, or even interact with them. But taking the time to understand the ideologies of fascism, alt-right conservatism, TERFS, white supremacists, etc. not only helps you to see how wrong they are, but also how they always fail and will continue to fail. This is also a good time to research and reinforce your own ideologies and beliefs. No one is immune to propaganda, but it's a lot easier to recognize it if you know what you're looking for.

But don't let that consume you. Remember, these people want you to be scared and isolated. If you spend all your time obsessing over everything wrong with the world (which is very easy with social media and the internet) then the people who want you gone will only grow stronger. So it really is a good idea to fight against that by building up a community of friends, and by building yourself up too. What I mean is this: Go outside, look at the ground, find a weird bug you don't know anything about. Read the obituaries in a newspaper. Go dumpster diving. Learn about something that interests you. Write a letter to somebody and never send it (or do). Pick up a weird hobby. You can just start gluing shit together, no one is gonna stop you, there are a lot less rules than you think.

But above all, remember that while history is full of empires collapsing, and wars, and horrors beyond imagination. The fall of Rome didn't happen overnight, it happened over centuries. But even in the midst of all that, people still made art, and had families, and not only survived, but lived fulfilling lives. I promise that you can and will be able to do that too. The sun will continue to shine, the grass will continue to grow, and the Earth will keep on spinning.

[webshooterrr9]

merman diary 4

[TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. ORIGINAL WRITING IN THE LOCAL LANGUAGE OF THE MERFOLK]

w.c: 0.8k

content warning: brief mentions of war/conflict

written with no specific character in mind - so imagine this as a mermaid!au with whoever you want! male!char x fem!reader

Diary Entry - 11/2/2024

I haven’t seen her in a while.

It’s not her fault, it’s mine. I’ve been too busy with colonial affairs to visit her lately. The colony has been preparing for conflict with the Octocrae. Those tentacled freaks have always weirded me out, but that’s not my problem. I’m not in the colony’s Leader Council - I’m just a regular merman. But if the colony did descend into war, I’d be expected to fight alongside any other able-bodied merfolk. If I had it my way, I’d spend all of my time on the shore talking with my human. But life isn’t fair, I guess.

“Hey, ule! Come here.” I turn around to see Tasi gesturing towards me, his tail swaying excitedly side-to-side. I swim over, shaking my head.

“What’s all the fuss about? And I told you, there’s no need to use honorifics when referring to me. We’ve been friends long enough.” I say, crossing my arms.

“Aegean sent for all the eligible merfolk to come to the council meeting,” he said, leading me away towards the center of the colony’s settlement. “They want us all to be present for the discussion over war preparations.”

“We’re not actually going to war, are we?” A look of concern crosses my face, but Tasi just seems to consider this normal. “I thought the Council was trying to avoid conflict with the eight-tails.”

“Steady your shells, man. It’s not a big deal. They just want to discuss preparations for if conflict were to actually happen; we were only called so that we could be informed.”

We kept swimming, entering the council building. Our settlement has been around for thousands of years, with this edifice being one of the oldest. Grand archways and spirals decorate every wall of the council building, with details so delicate that only the gentlest of hands could craft them over the centuries that the colony has been around. There are merfolk swimming all around, rushing to the auditorium to get the best seats in front of the Leaders.

I almost get smacked by the tail of one of my scurrying peers. “Do we have to go? These meetings always take forever to end.” I whine, giving Tasi a pleading look. “Why don’t we just ditch? It’s not like they’ll realize we’re missing with all the people crowding the seats.”

My best friend looks at me like I’ve lost my head, but it quickly shifts into a look of curiosity. “Why do you care? You got somewhere else to be, something else to do? Someone else to do?” he interrogates. I shove him in the shoulder, earning a chuckle.

“Don’t be an ass. I just don’t feel like it, is all. I’m not particularly interested in listening to the Leaders drone on about information I already know.”

“Relax, ule,” there’s that title again. “It won’t take long. Then you can go back to whatever it is you think is so important.”

***

I spent the entire meeting zoning out. How could I not? There’s no way to focus when my human plagues my mind. Besides, there wasn’t anything of substance to be heard, anyway. The second that the meeting was over, I swam towards the shore. When my head breached the surface, she wasn’t there. I expected as such, since she told me that humans normally don’t go out at night - due to the fact that they need more rest than we do. But rather than retreating to my home, I stayed on the beach to admire the world above. I don’t know how long I spent there, lying in the sand and looking up at the Earth. The sky was ink black, adorned with clouds and the occasional star here and there. It’s hard to see the sky from under the water, so I never really took the time to admire it. I wiggled my webbed fingers, feeling the sand fall in between them and exfoliate my hands with the miniscule rocks that made up the scratchy dust. The world was so much warmer above the surface - it was as if I was lying on a volcano rock that never cooled. But it was pleasant. I enjoyed the rare privilege of being on the land. If my peers knew, if Tasi knew, if the Leaders knew, I’d surely be chastised for straying so far from the line of what’s acceptable.

But I can’t help it. I’m addicted. I’m infatuated. My human showed me a world that I had never known, and there was no way that I could go back now. I can’t wait to see her again. I know I say that every time, but it’s true. No one intrigues me like she does. And if Tasi and Aegean and all the others punish me for being so in love with the world above, then that’s just my fate.

I love her.

a/n: will update this whenever i feel like it. no regular schedule set. sorry that reader wasn't present in this one, it was more lore-based for the merman lol

dividers by: @cafekitsune

taglist: @ninani-nanina

comment if u wanna be added to the taglist!

[jhilsara]

The Midnight Owl

Summary: After Spencer is shot he can't do much in the field for a while, being stuck to the offices in Quantico. His insomnia starts to amp up and instead of an urge for McDonald's at 1 AM he finds himself desperate for a new book and a coffee. Somehow, he finds the Midnight Owl, the late night bookstore/cafe open at weird hours with a cute southern co owner who probably gets the same amount of sleep as he does.

She also makes the best coffee that is disgustingly sweet. Exactly how he likes it.

Word Count: 11k

Warnings: Mentions of Season 5 100 episode and canon typical BAU themes

Artwork and beta read by @aninaska

Next

The one with the late night bookstore  

If Spencer could pace, he would, but his new semi-permanent crutch situation was impeding his mobility. He hasn’t been able to sleep, much less relax with the knowledge of Hotch being stabbed by George Foyet in his own home. Or how it’s clear that he’s playing an extreme game with the BAU, but mostly Hotch. Spencer didn’t even want to think about poor Haley and Jack being thrown into witness protection. These were scenarios Spencer knew came with the job he does, but seeing it happen to people he knows and cares about, makes his stomach churn. He couldn’t imagine if it was his own mother being threatened. It sends a cold chill down his back. He needs a distraction.  

Spencer’s eyes drag over to his used and abused bookshelf. Looking through his collection trying to find something to read. Even for a distraction he’s not very interested in rereading any of the texts on his shelf. His go to comfort of Sherlock Holmes doesn’t even seem all that appealing at the moment. He needs something that isn’t about criminals or detectives right now. Too bad nothing else on his shelf seemed to catch his eye. Spencer eyes his clock and the analog clock on his wall tells him it’s two in the morning. He’d be lucky if anything besides a dingy twenty-four-hour cafe was open, much less a bookstore.  

He sighs and looks over at his discarded laptop on his desk. He boots it up to see if maybe he could at least check how early the library opened. He could try to sleep but his insomnia was eating away at him, trying to focus on anything else but work seems harder and harder. Spencer had to get out of his apartment. He looks up the library hours as well as a few bookstores. Just trying to see how soon he could sit down and avoid the never-ending running in his brain. He’s surprised when he finds a bookstore that was advertising its hours as open. Surely that was wrong. He spots the phone number on the webpage, and he decides to call to double check.  

The line rings for roughly two seconds before it’s picked up, a melodic voice on the other line states, “Midnight Owl, this is Margaux how can I help you?” The cadence of the woman’s voice much too chipper for the middle of the night.  

Spencer’s shocked into silence for a moment before he responds, “I thought the hours posted were wrong...” He finds himself stating. 

“Nope!” She replies, unbothered by his blunt response. “We’re open 24/5, only closed on Fridays and Saturdays!” She tells him brightly, “You wouldn’t be the first to call thinking we posted our hours wrong though. More common than you think.”  

He coughs awkwardly and finds himself nodding even though she can’t see it. “Okay, great, thank you so much.”  

“Not a problem, swing by some time we have the best drinks crafted by yours truly!” She jokes with a soft laugh trailing her sentence. She drawls out the end of her words in a way that has them twisting together as sweet as the tea he’s almost positive she drinks. 

“Have a good night.” He states before hanging up the phone.  

He looks at the address listed and finds that it’s just up the street, barely a block away.  

Spencer eyes his crutches for a moment debating on whether he should go or not. His good leg shakes in anxious movements as he sits on his couch. What were the odds that there was a bookstore up his block that was open at odd hours that catered to him? He knew the odds; they were incredibly low . He shrugs to himself and hobbles to grab his crutches, he’ll check it out. Why the hell not? If it’s too good to be true he can add it to the list of places he’ll never visit again like that one coffee shop downtown that burns everything he’s ever ordered.  

He desperately needs to get out of his apartment.  

- 

Margaux's night at the Midnight Owl was going slowly. She had a few of her regulars wander in, which she was happy for since they had only officially been open for four months. There was a couple that sat on the loveseat in the cafe every Thursday night reading their books together and drinking the cafe’s famous homemade lavender lemonade. Not that she could brag about it, her co-owner makes pastries and premade drinks. All homemade family recipes. On the opposite side of the store was the guy who came in every other day to check for anything new. He grabs a coffee and roams the stacks for an hour. Sometimes he buys, sometimes he doesn’t. He comes in at the same time though, so Margaux thinks he works a graveyard shift.  

There were a couple of students at a table in the cafe section clearly up studying and writing papers. The semester for school had only just started a month ago, but the influx of students coming and going was increasing by the day.  

She loved her little bookstore, and during the day they were popping. A rising trendy place for local university students. Margaux preferred the quiet of the nights though. It gave her time to make orders for books, restock, and change out displays. It was the methodical cleaning and sorting that kept her sane. Margaux’s daytime life was overly complicated and having her own corner of the world was nice. It felt like a safe bubble that didn’t necessarily feel like work.  

She’s in the middle of compiling a list of books to reorder that have already sold out when the front doorbell chimes telling her someone just entered. She’s behind a stack finishing what she's writing on her notepad when she calls out, “Be right there!”  

She bounds around the stack to the counter to meet the newcomer, “Welcome in! How can I help you?” she asks happily pushing her short hair behind her ear nervously.  

She scans the guy from head to toe, he’s definitely new. He looks like a grad student, probably around her age. His mousy brown hair is tied back into a low ponytail and he’s in a well-worn Caltech shirt and sweatpants. The oddest thing about him is the crutches he’s sporting as he comes in. Margaux sends him a warm smile. 

Spencer looks at the woman standing at the counter and finds she is not what he expected her to be. She looks like the moon; her round face is framed by dark midnight hair that hits just above her shoulders. It almost looks like it’s reflecting blue under the warm ambient light of the bookstore. Her dark blue eyes are like the ocean as they meet his hazel forest ones. Spencer almost loses his train of thought as he takes in the bookstore worker’s soft round features that just made her seem so inviting.  

It takes a second before he registers that she asked him a question. “Oh, yes,” he rushes out awkwardly. “Is the cafe still open?” He questions, tilting his head to the empty-looking bar on the other side.  

Margaux nods happily, “It is! I’m the only one who works the night shift, so I run the register and the cafe. Would you like something?” she asks him, already walking toward the counter that holds the cabinet of pastries and coffee machines.  

“A latte would be great actually.” He says in a much clearer voice.  

“Can do.” She grins at him radiantly and it’s so infectious he finds himself returning one to her. She turns and almost has a skip to her step as she walks, far too awake for him to deem reasonable for two in the morning.  

Spencer watches her as he slowly moves forward on his crutches, she almost dances around the machines as she makes his latte. She’s humming to the music that he’s finally registered playing in the bookstore. She’s radiating a warmth that Spencer doesn’t get to see much day to day except for the one and only, Penelope Garcia. Garcia looked and acted like the sun, one giant ball of pink and blonde energy. He watches Margaux move around her workstation making his latte and it’s seamless how she moves, it’s her second nature.  She’s just at ease here, which settles his uneasy nerves about trying a new place out in the middle of the night. He looks around and sees a few people mingling about. 

Spencer takes time to look around the store and notices how it feels much more lived in than any box stores he’s been to. The overhead lights aren’t fluorescent like a normal store but a few well-placed wooden chandeliers that are carved to look like vines. Every other light is a floor light or table lamp that has mismatched covers and stained glass. He turns to the large windows, and he guesses the store probably gets great sunshine when it’s daylight. The multiple house plants by the window and on the empty tables being a good indicator. The ambiance is so inviting, not to mention the amount of comfortable faux leather seating he sees.  

He could imagine spending a lot of time here, it was just so cozy. Spencer can’t imagine he would have missed this place opening but with all the cases they’ve been busy with, he actually isn’t surprised at all.  

He’s brought out of his thoughts by her placing the drink on the pickup bar, “So what ails you?” Her voice carries to him and her head is tilted as she looks at him expectantly. 

“Excuse me?” He finds himself stuttering out. 

She shrugs nonchalantly, “Well, it’s the middle of the night and I’ve never seen your face in here before.” She states the facts like it's so obvious.  

“So, what’s buggin’ you?” Her voice drawls out sweetly as she looks at him expectantly. 

It’s almost like the lights in the cafe frame her from behind, bright and dazzling. She’s clearly personable and Spencer isn’t used to people with Margaux's personality being overtly kind to him. He’ll see how long it takes her to dismiss him like most people do. It doesn’t annoy him like it used to, he expects it really. Especially when his own team and friends do it almost regularly.  

She’s waiting patiently for his response with unwavering kind eyes. 

“Insomnia,” He settled on admitting to her, he gave her a tight lined frown. “I needed a new book; I’ve read through my catalog.”  

Margaux’s eyes light up, “That’s my specialty! I mean, I make a mean latte, but my favorite part of this place is the books.” She whispered conspiratorially.  

“So,” She comes around from the back of the bar and puts her hands on her hips, “What genre were you looking for? Or was it a specific book?” She asks him.  

“Fantasy, preferably. I’ve read all of Tolkien and Gaiman’s works.” He tells her.  

She nods in understanding her blue eyes giving a quick look of him from head to toe, “You look like a man who’s read The Hobbit and American Gods .” She said, almost more so to herself.  

Spencer gives her a quizzical look, unsure if he should be insulted or not. Margaux reads his face and her own cheeks flush with embarrassment. Her hands start moving exaggeratedly as her voice pitches, “Not in a bad way! I promise, I’m here for a well read person! Not that you have to have read those two authors to be well read, I just-” She takes a deep breath and stops herself.  

“Sorry, I just mean, you look like you’ve probably read some of the most popular titles in that genre.” Her voice grows smaller, and her face is bright in a flush as she was rushing through her words, drawling out her words in that voice that sounds like sugar. She bites the inside of her cheek forcing herself to stop talking.  

Spencer chuckles and shakes his head, “I get it, you’re good.” He tells her reassuringly.  

She sighs in relief, pushing her bangs out of her face nervously, “Sorry, I really didn’t mean anything by it. I just meant you probably want something different and not recommended every time you ask for fantasy.”  

Spencer just gives her a smile, “I appreciate it.” He shifts his weight on his crutches to awkwardly sip his latte.  

Margaux ushers him over to one of the comfortable chairs with a nice side table lamp that has beautiful green and red stained-glass roses on it.  

“Here sit, I’ll grab some recommendations, and you can let me know what you think.” She doesn’t even give Spencer a chance to rebuttal before she’s off and disappears into the stacks.  

The silence that followed her absence was overwhelmingly loud, except for the soft music playing from the speakers. Spencer takes his time drinking his latte and it’s delicious. Better than the place the BAU grabs coffee from, and much better than whatever was in their coffee pot at the office.  

Margaux pops back out from the stacks within ten minutes holding at least five book options for him to sort through.  

“These all have different sub-genres but are fantasy in nature. Let me know if any look good to you.” She hands them over to him happily. He notices her biting the inside of her cheek again, as she watches him look over the books.  

Margaux’s rocking on her feet, as she watches Spencer thumb through the books, reading the summaries keeping his face neutral. She’s picking at her nails trying to not seem like a dog waiting. She should busy herself with something else besides trying to gauge Spencer’s reaction to the books, but she can’t help it. 

Spencer pauses on a book with a bright colorful cover that was in the middle of the stack. It’s the only one he pauses on and Margaux’s face lights up.  

“I loved Howl’s Moving Castle !” Her voice pitches up in enthusiasm. She starts talking with her hands again, “It’s fun, and the cast of characters who, in a magical world, feel so relatable. The two leads also have great dialogue! I was genuinely laughing out loud.” Margaux’s face is split into a grin as she explains the book to Spencer without spoiling anything.  

She’s so filled with joy as she talks about the book, it doesn’t take him but a second of listening to her to know he’s sold. He’s reading this, her genuine joy selling him on it. He doesn’t have to look through the rest of the stack, though he’s sure she’s likely read all the books she offered him.  

“I’ll take it.” He said, moving to stand up to purchase it at the counter.  

She moves to stop him, “Don’t worry about it! You can pay on your way out. You look like you’ve been struggling with those crutches.” She tells him waving him back down to sit.  

“Just relax, drink and read. It’s what the Midnight Owl’s for.” She chirps happily shooting him a triumphant look as she moves to walk back to the counter.  

Margaux goes back to working on creating an order for books back at the checkout counter. She has the work desktop open back to the list of books she was cross referencing for prices. She goes back and forth from looking at her handwritten list to researching prices from different distributors.  

The couple who was there earlier finally get up, waving goodbye to Margaux.  

“Have a great night y’all! See you next week.” she tells them with her own wave that’s brief as she makes her order.  

The only noise in the store is some shuffling and the music playing overhead and Margaux humming along to it. It’s a mix CD she burned a few years back and most of the songs are still her favorite. She keeps meaning to make a new one, but she just hasn’t had time. Her eyes wander from her computer to check on her new customer reading. She doesn’t want to hover, but she is trying to gauge if he’ll be a regular or not. She hopes so, he seemed nice enough.  

Spencer can feel her eyes on him occasionally, he can see her fidgeting behind the counter. Every other song he can spot her leaning out of the corner of his eye to look over to him. He tries to hide his grin; he knows that look well. She’s trying to see if he’s enjoying the book. Spencer tries to read at a normal pace, even though he can read twenty thousand words per minute, that defeats the purpose of him trying to get out of his apartment to just devour this book. Plus, he kind of enjoys watching the store clerk. 

She’s full of energy and he has no idea where it comes from, but it’s almost a nervous energy. She’s constantly moving, either fidgeting or walking through the stacks to check or tidy the books. She’s also passed in front of him a few times to check the cafe machines or even grab a pastry he’s sure has been there for too long, and she feels bad about selling it.  

Spencer stays there for a few hours; he really doesn’t notice how long until the door opens and the bell chimes again.  

“Morning!” The new woman cheers sleepily.  

Margaux waves at her, “Morning Josie. There are still a few pastries left from yesterday, but I put them in the back fridge for you.” 

The new woman waved back, “Thanks, I’m going to prep for today.”  

Spencer finally looks at the time and realizes it’s five in the morning, he sighs standing up. He grabs his crutches and pushes himself toward the counter to pay for his book. If he’s lucky he could get an hour or two of a nap before work.  

He gently slides the book over to her and her whole face brightens, “Have you liked it so far?” she asks him.  

Spencer grins “It’s charming. You were right about the cast, it’s a great blend of characters that shouldn’t fit as well as they do together.”  

Margaux’s nodding excitedly. “I don’t know if you’ve gotten to a certain part, but I won’t spoil it, I loved how they explain the magic that affects Sophie! It was a fun book.” 

Spencer hands over some cash to pay for his book. “I’ve liked it so far. I’ll have to ask for another recommendation.” He tells her.  

If Margaux was a dog, her ears would be pointed up and tail wagging, she cannot contain her pure joy.  

“Absolutely! Anytime, it’s one of my favorite things.” She pushes her dark hair back and she looks down at the table nervously pushing his book back toward him with his change.  

“I’m always happy to see a returning face.” She said looking up at him, her indigo eyes sparkling. “I’m Margaux by the way, I don’t know if I introduced myself.” 

Spencer takes the book and his change; she smiles brilliantly at him, and he feels a little enchanted by the bookstore clerk. He returns it. “Spencer. It was nice to meet you.”  

He gives her a small wave before walking out, crutches pushing him forward.  

The one about Halloween  

Margaux has decided that she does not care if it’s only September, she is decorating for Halloween. Maybe it’s that she’s festive or maybe it’s from growing up in a southern community that went all out for decorations, but she is determined that the Midnight Owl will be the place to be for October. She’s also planned a few events for the spooky month for all ages.  

She has a few reading hours planned for children during the day, costume contests, and some trick or treat candy lined up to buy. Her shopping list was filling up quickly. For the nighttime events she’s gotten together with Josie to throw a movie night every Sunday night at eight in October. She’s already planned a lineup of movies to play and popcorn to order. Margaux still can’t decide on having two movies or not, a family friendly one first and then a scary one. She’ll figure it out.  

To say she’s bubbling with excitement is an understatement.  

She was in the middle of dragging out one of the boxes of decorations from the attic when the door chimes open.  

“Welcome in! Help yourself to shop or if you wait a few minutes, I can fix you a drink at the cafe!” She shouts from behind the large box she's carrying. It’s not heavy, filled mostly with paper and plastic decorations. The box itself is just quite large and it blocks her view when she’s walking. 

“What are you doing?” A soft chuckle passes through, and she recognizes it immediately. It’s her new favorite regular.  

She sets the box down in a huff behind her counter and looks at Spencer exasperatedly. 

“If you must know, I’m preparing for Halloween.” She said matter-of-factly.  

Spencer’s hazel eyes light up, the same way he gets when he’s about to tell her a long list of facts about something. She loves it when he gets excited. It’s contagious. 

“Oh, please continue then. It’s never too early for Halloween.” He said happily. 

Margaux let out a burst of laughter and it echoes in the room, “Thank you! Finally, someone who understands.” She teases him. 

Spencer’s been coming in almost every night since his first visit. It’s only been a month, but Margaux loves talking to Spencer. He’s full of endless information and he loves to read just as much, if not more, than she does.  

He has an unfair advantage though. He had admitted how quickly he could read to her in passing a few weeks ago and her jaw dropped. She didn’t believe him at first.  

- 

 “Okay, that’s the fifth book you’ve finished in like two days Spencer. Are you even actually reading them?” Margaux had teased him, when he returned to the shelves looking through her selections.  

“Of course I do. I just happen to read twenty thousand words per minute.” He said easily running his fingers along the spines of the books as he pursues.  

Margaux scoffs, “Yea right.” She rolled her eyes. “Just say you skim through them.” 

Spencer shakes his head, “I’m serious, I have an eidetic memory too.” he tells her.  

She blinked at him a few times in disbelief before just bursting into a fit of small giggles. 

“Wow, I wish I could read that fast. I’d get through my TBR so much faster!” She said impressed.  

Spencer pauses looking at her, trying to assess if she’s trying to make fun of him or not. Her face is split into a wide grin, and he realizes she is intrigued by this little tidbit. She didn't think it was weird, that he’s weird.  

Spencer felt his face flush a bit, and he just shrugged it off. “It’s not a big deal.”  

“No, it’s just a really cool fact about you.” She said like it was obvious.  

Spencer mouth tighten into a fine line, and he shook his head, “That would be a first.” he had mumbled under his breath.  

She didn’t press him, but she did file away in the back of her mind his response for later. Clearly Spencer wasn’t used to someone reacting positively to this tidbit about him.  

- 

Margaux looks at Spencer as he stands there watching her. He’s in his work clothes, which she’s used to by now, but it’s the opposite of what he wore when they first met. He’s in a purple button up shirt that he’s rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. His cardigan is hanging off his faded brown leather satchel sitting against his hip. He’s leaning on his crutches as she assesses him.  

“C’mon,” she says waving for him to follow her. “Let’s make something fall flavored to get rolling with the season.” She suggested a small smile tugging at her lips.  

Spencer just nods and follows her toward the cafe section.  

“Are you a fan of pumpkin flavors or do you prefer other autumn flavors?” She asked him as she walked around the counter to the coffee machines. 

The pickup counter for the cafe doubles as a normal place to sit and Spencer grabs a stool to sit in, leaning his crutches against the counter. 

“I only like my drinks sweet. Flavor isn’t too important.”  

She hums in acknowledgement and gets to work on making him a drink. “I’ll just surprise you then.”  

Spencer brings out a few books he’s reading and places them on the table. While Margaux’s making his drink she asks him, “What’s your favorite book to read to get into the spooky spirit?”  

He perks up, “There’s plenty of options, I think I prefer something classic like The Shinning or maybe even an old compilation of ghost stories. Those are always good.” he said passionately.  

“Ooh! I’m obsessed with the paranormal!” She gasped in excitement. 

Spencer feeds into the enthusiastic response, “Did you know there are a multitude of categories of the paranormal? Most people only associate it with ghosts or demons, but ufology and cryptozoology are also subcategories. Personally, as interesting as ghost or demon possession stories are, I’m far more fascinated by cryptozoology and the creatures that different areas of the world claim to see and state they have proof of.”  

Spencer realizes he’s rambling and tries to cut himself off, but Margaux's eyes are wide as she actively leans against the counter giving him her rapt attention.  

She notices his abrupt stop and she tilts her head, “Keep going, you have my full attention! I’m trying to get into the spooky spirit!” She drawls out, her rich accent seeping through.  

Margaux turns to grab his drink and hand it to him. It's in a nice burnt orange colored mug, “It’s a maple chai latte. Felt like fall to me.” She said quietly, having a matching mug with him. She leans against the counter and bats her hand at his forearm. 

“C’mon tell me more!” She giggled.  

Spencer stared at her in awe for a moment, before he tried to hide his expression through drinking his latte.  

“Ghost hunting became popular in the early 2000s, but it’s been around since the 1920’s and even before then there were popular ghost stories told throughout history! Humans have always been interested in the afterlife which is why we’re probably so fascinated by looking for proof of the afterlife.” 

Margaux nodded and sips from her own mug, “Have you ever watched those ghost hunting shows before?” she asked curiously.  

Spencer shook his head no. “I don’t watch a lot of television.”  

She hums in thought, “Yeah, that checks out. Well, they’re super cheesy and trashy. Love them to be honest.”  

“Which one’s your favorite?” he asked, leaning closer toward her against the bar. 

It felt like it was only the two of them in the bookstore. Inside their own bubble, the world moved slowly inside the confines of the Midnight Owl.  

“This is gonna sound so awful!” She laughed lightly shaking her head, “There’s a show called Ghost Adventures, and the main guy, Zak Bagans, he’s such a dick to the ghosts! He instigates all the time, and I mean, regardless of if ghosts are real, he goes in hot ! Not to mention he always throws his costar Aaron into the worst places! It’s just insane, absolute trash.” She shakes her head in disbelief.  

“But you love it?” Spencer asked.  

Margaux gives him a deadpan stare, “Oh absolutely, it’s the best kind of quality trash.” 

She burst into a fit of giggles and Spencer couldn’t help but find it contagious.  

“Aaaaaaanyway~” She drags out, moving to grab her box of decorations.  

“Wanna help me decide how to decorate?” she asked him, grabbing a pumpkin garland out of her bin and tossing it dramatically over her shoulders like a scarf. 

Spencer brushes his loose hair out of his face and nods. He may still be useless on crutches, but he could help her... Kind of.  

Margaux empties the containers of the bin on the counter where Spencer’s sitting and he quickly grabs his mug to lift it up to avoid being knocked over from the avalanche of orange and black. She smiled at him apologetically before trying to dig out her favorite decorations.  

- 

Spencer’s face is twisted in a look of frustration as he sits in the corner reading. He came in a while ago and besides his drink, he hasn’t spoken much to Margaux.  

Which isn’t a bad thing, tonight was one of her busier nights. It was mid-October, and the festivities had been nonstop. Tonight was vampire night, which upon entering the building Spencer was already grimacing. There was a special drink deal on the board hanging above the cafe for anyone buying a vampire related book. Twilight , Dracula , Carmilla , Interview with a Vampire, just pick a title it was an option with its own fun themed cafe drink that was absolutely red. 

 It wasn’t like Margaux knew he had just finished working on a case that involved vampirism, but the odds weren’t in his favor for finding an escape from the most recent case. Halloween season had its ups and downs he supposed. 

There was no way of explaining his slightly irritable mood. Spencer hadn’t mentioned his work to her. She didn’t ask, and he didn’t feel like explaining that he spent most of his waking hours profiling serial killers. In the past it hasn’t made the best openers in conversation. It’s also nice to have this small corner of his life not be coated with unsubs, victims, and death. It’s just his favorite bookstore. 

Spencer looked up to see Margaux making more drinks, the cafe was popular tonight. She’s chatting up another woman who’s laughing at the joke Margaux’s telling her. The other woman is holding a book that Spencer is positive is a vampire novel.  

“And I have one raspberry mocha for a Carmilla lover!” Margaux’s voice rang out and she handed over the drink to the customer.  

“Come back Sunday for our movie night, we’re playing Beetlejuice !” Margaux said and waved goodbye to the customer.  

For eleven o'clock at night Margaux was busy. Busting out drink after drink and ringing up books at the cafe register. It was her idea to do a deal with a themed book and drink combo, but she didn’t expect to still be busy into the night. She hadn’t even had a break in customers to say hello to her regulars.  

For business, this was great, for her own mental health, she was struggling. She just needed it to slow down enough to catch her breath. She should have scheduled someone else on shift with her, but she wasn’t about to call for help now. It was her mistake, and she’ll live with it. She will make a note to make sure someone is on shift with her tomorrow night for a different themed deal.  

After another round of five more customers Margaux finally has a break. She sighed leaning against the counter and took a grounding breath. She doesn’t move for a minute, just catching her breath before she looks up and catches Spencer from his chair looking at her. She shoots him a shaky smile that is supposed to be reassuring but actually looks like she's about to cry. Spencer’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise and he decides to get up and go toward her. The cafe was still bustling but no one was sitting at the counter. Spencer shoves his book into his bag, grabs his crutches and hobbles to the counter.  

“Busy night?” he asked, already knowing the answer but trying to see how she was doing.  

Margaux’s midnight eyes look up into his hazel ones and she looks worn. “In my head, the whole vampire bomb and Halloween themed event seemed like a good idea. For profit, absolutely. For my sanity? I never wanna see another Twilight shirt or raspberry flavored item for a while.” she said in a groan leaning against the counter.  

“What is Twilight ?” Spencer asks her.  

He doesn’t know anything except that it has something to do with vampires and its popular enough that the victims of the latest case were also obsessed with it. He knows it’s a book, but besides that, he has no clue.  

Margaux blinks at him for a moment, trying to deduce if he’s being serious or not. “Very funny Spencer, I know you’re not asking what the pop culture phenomenon Twilight franchise is.” She replied with a laugh. 

After a moment of looking at Spencer’s confused face she realized he was in fact, unaware. Her eyes widen.  

“Wait, wait, wait, you seriously don’t know? I mean it’s like everywhere. The second movie is coming out in less than a month. I don’t think I’ve sold so many copies of a book in my life. I can’t keep New Moon on the shelves.” she said almost exasperatedly, but the smile on her face gives her away. If Spencer didn’t know any better, he’d think she was getting a kick out of it. He knows by now Margaux won’t make fun of him; she’s elated for a completely different reason. 

“I just know it’s popular and about vampires.” He replied with a shrug.  

“Oh my god, I get to explain Twilight to you.” Her face splits into a massive grin, her energy returning quickly.  

Spencer quirks an eyebrow at her, “I thought you were over hearing Twilight?”  

“No, no, no, no! This is totally different!” She’s almost vibrating with excitement. “I’ve read all the books, I’m gonna let you borrow my copy next time you’re in! Actually, I’ll give you the first two since you read so fast!” her words are running together in a run on sentence she’s talking too fast. Her accent came through stronger than ever with her eagerness.  

He doesn’t have it in him to turn her down, she’s so thrilled. Spencer just finds himself too caught up in her own joy to tell her he had no interest in the book series. He finds himself agreeing to her letting him borrow her copies.  

“I can buy them if you need me too. I don’t want to take your copies unless, you’re sure.” He offers. 

Margaux shakes her head, “I can’t keep them on the shelves long enough for you to buy them. Just go ahead and take my copies.” She moves to make Spencer a drink that isn’t one of the red blood themed drinks on the menu. “It’s not a big deal. I do have a lot of sticky notes in there though, my friends and I read it for a book club night.”  

He sits up a little straighter, suddenly becoming more interested in reading these books. Not because of their pop culture relevance but because he could read Margaux’s commentary. There was something special about that, sharing a book with annotations. 

“I’ll bring one too.” He finds himself offering before he can think.  

Margaux’s face glows as she hands him a chai latte. “I’d love that! It’ll take me a bit longer to read than you will.” she joked lightly. 

“It’ll be worth it; I haven’t had someone to talk to about books since my mom.” He said looking down at his drink, his eyes growing distant for a split second. 

Margaux opens her mouth to ask but quickly shuts it, biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself. She might be nosy, but she knew when to not pry. It was how Spencer seemed to be somewhere else in his mind, if only for a moment. It was enough to know that she had no business asking him to open a can of worms he maybe didn’t want to. Instead, she turns around to grab a set of fake vampire teeth to put in her mouth. They were small and awkward and not cute by any means, but if she could get him to smile, that was all she needed.  

She patiently waits for Spencer to look back up at her as she rests her head in her palm and keeps her face neutral. The fake teeth are making her mouth uncomfortable, but she’ll survive.  

When Spencer does look up and sees Margaux dramatically batting her eyes at him and grinning madly with children’s plastic vampire teeth, he can’t control the bubbling laughter that takes over him. His shoulders shake with the full body movement, and he shakes his head in disbelief. 

“Where did you get those?” he asked through his fit.  

She turns to spit them out into the trash, her mouth disgustingly filled with drool from the uncomfortable teeth. She covers her mouth and grabs her own drink to flush out her mouth.  

“They were a gimmick for the themed drinks tonight.” she finally replied. “Good for a quick joke not for actually wearing.” she said groaning. 

“Pretty sure they are made for children’s mouths.” Spencer teased. 

She shrugs and sighs, “Well, being a vampire for Halloween is off the list of options this year. I don’t want to wear those for a whole night.” 

“Probably better off.” He said trying to not immediately focus on Dante and his manager coercing a mentally ill young woman into committing vampire ritual like murders. 

“Yeah, the whole thing with that celebrity kinda left a sour taste in my mouth.” she mentioned grimacing.  

“Dante?” Spencer asked for clarification. 

“Yeah, it was all over the tabloids,” she pointed to the magazine stand by the main register. “Got them in this morning.”  

Spencer tries to not make a face as he sees them, “You read that?”  

Margaux lets out a loud snort of a laugh. “No, no, no, oh god!” She stands up a little straighter and pushes her dark hair out of her face. “I don’t trust a TMZ article as far as I can throw it, but those murders are real. Making it look like vampire bites... that just skeeves me out.”  

Spencer drinks from his mug but nods his head in agreement. He didn’t peg her to believe paparazzi reports. The magazine articles would be wrong anyway; they didn’t make the arrest until that afternoon. It was refreshing to see someone not believe everything they read.  

“If vampires are off your list, what other costumes are you thinking about?” he asked, trying to change the subject.  

“No idea.” Margaux groans out in irritation. “I usually do group costumes with my friends but, kind of hard when they live 600 miles away.”  

“South?” he asked.  

She snorted with a roll of her eyes, “Aw geez what gave it away?” she teases with an exaggerated drawl, making her accent thicker than normal.  

Spencer shakes his head in amusement. “Very funny. Why move here?”  

Margaux tenses up, avoiding his doe eyes. She looks down biting her lip nervously. “It’s uh, a long story.” she said quietly.  

Her body almost looks like it’s trying to shrink in on itself. Spencer doesn’t need to be a profiler to understand her body language. Whatever it is, she’s not ready to share it.  

Instead, he tries to be reassuring that he’s not prying for information.  

“I’m a transplant too. I grew up in Las Vegas.”  

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, “I’ve never been, is it really just the strip filled with casinos or are there nice pockets of peace and no tourists?” she asked. 

Spencer sighs, “It is a lot of tourists. There’s plenty of local places, ones that are only there if you’ve grown up knowing how to get to them.” he told her in a quiet voice, almost conspiratorially.  

Her mouth splits into a smile that reaches her eyes, her dark indigo eyes sparkling, “So you’ll be my tour guide, right?” 

Spencer’s face heats up from the suggestion and Margaux’s giggles fill the room.  

“I’m just teasing you,” she pats his arm reassuringly before going to grab a pastry from the front display.  

“Come on and split this last cookie with me, I know I'm not going to sell it.” She said grabbing a chocolate chip cookie and warming it up before cutting it in half.  

Spencer’s face is still tinted pink but the soft cookie and the way it melts when he bites into it and seeing Margaux look happier than earlier, it's enough for him. A small corner of peace in the world inside the Midnight Owl. 

The one after Haley’s funeral  

Margaux’s sitting at the checkout counter reading the book Spencer most recently traded with her. It’s one of the Sherlock Homles books, which she had admittedly never read before. She had watched plenty of films and shows but reading it never really crossed her mind.  

She joked about making Spencer watch The Great Mouse Detective when she finished so she could explain her first introduction to Sherlock Holmes. He had no idea what she was talking about, which Margaux found charming in its own way. She loved introducing Spencer to the pop culture media that just filled her brain. Even if it was trashy. She had promised him The Great Mouse Detective was anything but trash. A childhood classic for her.  

She takes her time reading the books Spencer gives her. He started leaving small post-it notes for her in them with commentary and questions. It was like they had their own language, and it was books. Even if he let her borrow a genre, she had no interest in, she suddenly was invested. It was a way to get to know him, and in turn he took her books happily. Her annotations were way more scattered brained and filled with tiny commentary to herself.  

She saw Spencer reading one of her books she let him borrow and he laughed, loudly, in the middle of the store. They were both flushed in embarrassment. It was a busy night, filled with university students studying late at night, so it was mostly silent besides the music Margaux was playing through the speakers. She also knew she had written something insulting about one of the characters on that sticky note. She got creative with her insults, and she had completely forgotten to take that out before giving it to him. Spencer had teased her about her comments on Gale from The Hunger Games for the rest of that night.  

She’s in the middle of The Hounds of Baskerville when the door opens. She looks up to greet them but her face falls when she sees Spencer. She slowly closes the book and moves to walk toward him. 

His eyes were hollow and the normal dark circles under his eyes seemed impossibly darker than usual. Spencer just seemed sad and defeated. Margaux had not seen this side of him and all she wanted to do was press her thumb to his forehead and smooth out the furrow of his brow. To get him to relax, if only for a moment. 

“Hey honey, what’s wrong?” she asked gently walking toward him. She reaches out to rub his arms affectionately, “What happened?”  

Her voice is soft and sweet, the way she said honey with her drawl feels like a hug. Spencer just needed a minute. One second of peace. The image of Haley’s body unmoving with blood still fresh behind his eyes.  

“It’s been a long week.” His voice comes out a little rough. He’s haggard from the flight from Nashville and he really didn’t want to go home.  

The only comforting place he could think of immediately was the Midnight Owl, Margaux. Her warm voice and comforting drinks were the only things he could stand to be around.  

Margaux’s face softens at his words, and she tilts her head, “Do you need a hug?” she asked softly.  

There’s a shaky sigh that escapes Spencer’s mouth and he just nods his head, unable to form the words.  

Margaux pulls him into her embrace gently, her arms wrapped around his shoulders tightly. She rubs soothing circles into his back and Spencer holds onto her waist. Her body radiates heat and it's comforting as he shoves his face into her shoulder. She smells like vanilla, cloves, and parchment paper and his whole body relaxes into her. She holds onto him until Spencer pulls away, not wanting him to feel like he was burdening her. The store was empty anyway, it's been a slow night. 

He takes a deep breath before peeling himself off her. He moves his hands to hold her arms so he’s supporting himself. Margaux’s eyes soften as she looks him over, her hand coming up to cup his face.  

“You don’t have to talk about if you don’t want to, but I’ve been told I’m a great listener.” She whispers softly.  

Spencer relaxes against her touch and doesn’t say much, just hums in response. He eventually finds his words, “My friends wife died recently, and it just, it was a shock.”  

He doesn’t want to get into how Haley died. That his job makes him and his coworkers targets. The people they love. George Foyet died at Hotch’s hands for killing Haley and attempting to kill Jack. Spencer watched Hotch’s face crumble, fall and lose what he loved the most. He knew Hotch didn’t want to divorce Haley, he loved her and his son with his whole heart.  

That love had cost him Haley’s life. 

“Oh hun,” Margaux’s voice brings him back, “I’m so sorry.”  

He shakes his head, “I’ll be fine. I’m just processing it.”  

“You don’t have to justify yourself to me, you’re allowed to process and grieve, especially if you knew her.” She tells him firmly. “C’mon, go sit down and I’m gonna make a delicious warm drink and we can just relax alright?”  

Spencer gives a tiny, tight smile and lets her grab his hand to pull him to one of the nicer chairs. He sets his cane against the armrest and is floored by how easy everything is with Margaux.  

She doesn’t push or pry for information, let’s him ramble, and Spencer doesn’t think he’s had a real friend outside of the BAU in a long time, much less someone his age. As much as he loves his team, there are times where they don’t understand him. It’s a lot easier to be himself with Margaux. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t know what he’s doing most of his days, and he could argue with himself that she doesn’t know him. Almost 90% of his life is the BAU, and who is he if he isn’t Dr. Spencer Reid, FBI agent in the Behavioral Analyst Unit? A small part of him hopes he would be the person he becomes when he enters the Midnight Owl.  

He’s too lost in his thoughts to notice her walking over with two steaming mugs.  

“Here, it’s just tea but I think you need a relaxing drink. No caffeine.” She said her tone is sweet as she looks him over.  

She sits on the arm rest of the chair cradling her own mug. “Can I try something?” she asks him.  

Spencer is drinking from his mug, but he mutters an agreement under his breath.  

“Lean back fully in the chair.” she instructed. 

He does as he’s told, he lowers his hands to his lap, mug still warmly pressed into his hands. Spencer isn’t sure what she’s trying to do until her hands are running through his hair, feather light. She’s not massaging his scalp, just the lightest of touches as she cards her fingers through his long hair. Spencer’s eyes close and he almost moans from how the tension leaves his body immediately.  

Margaux lets out a tiny snort but continues the motions.  

“My momma used to do this when I was little.” She whispers to him, keeping her voice low.  

“I would be asleep in an instant.” she emphasized with a quiet snap of her fingers. 

Spencer’s eyes flutter open to look up at her, his big doe eyes looking up to see Margaux’s soft features look highlighted in the warm glow of the lamps. She looks down at him and tilts her head.  

“I might pass out like this.” he murmured in a low voice. 

“You can if you want. Promise I won’t let anyone bother you... not that anyone’s coming in anytime soon.” She drawls out looking around at the empty shop.  

“Just a quick nap, twenty minutes.” he told her, voice already fading and his eyes growing heavy.  

She doesn’t respond to him, just continues stroking his hair until he falls asleep. He feels the warm mug leave his hands and he hears ceramic clank onto the wooded side table next to him. 

Margaux watches Spencer sleep, giving him much longer than twenty minutes. His dark circles told her enough, he needed this nap more than he was letting on. It takes less than five minutes for Spencer to pass out. His body relaxed into the chair with all tension leaving his body. She slows down her movements until she feels safe enough to stop. His small snore telling her he was asleep.  

She moved to stand and went back to her duties, which wasn’t more than inventory tonight. Mondays were always slow. 

Margaux moved about the bookshop, filing away books, crossing off things on her checklist, and besides the few customers that came in for less than twenty minutes each, the night was quiet. Enough so that she let Spencer sleep much longer than twenty minutes.  

Spencer sleeps peacefully for most of the night. She checks on him occasionally, and besides the few snores, he’s sound asleep.  

Around four in the morning he stirs awake, blinking blearily and looks around the store. Margaux hears him and pokes her head out from behind a shelf.  

“Good morning sunshine!” She teases in a chipper tone.  

Spencer looks at her confused before looking down at his watch. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” he asked, tone not accusing, just confused.  

Margaux shrugged and made her way over to him, “You looked like you needed the sleep.”  

She gently reaches her hand up to smooth the furrow of his brow. “You’ll die young from all that stress you’re carrying on your shoulders.” She tells him softly. The way she’s gently touching his forehead is like she’s trying to erase the stress and pressure.  

Spencer sighs into her touch, “For sleeping on a chair, it was pretty peaceful.” he murmurs.  

Margaux snorts in amusement. “Well, at least I know they’re comfy.”  

“I sleep on planes frequently, so this is much better.” he tells her. 

“Travel a lot for work?” She asked. 

Spencer just nods. Not wanting to explore too deep into his job. The job that was leaving him sleepless most nights. 

“Do you feel any better?” she asks quietly.  

He nods solemnly. “Better than when I arrived.” he said with a shrug.  

Margaux frowns but doesn’t push, she pushes his hair back again giving him a reassuring smile.  

“I’m a good listener if you ever need to talk. Promise.” She puts out her pinky finger in the childish gesture of a pinky promise.  

Spencer finds himself smiling, finding it charming. Regardless of his problem with germs, it doesn’t feel so intense with Margaux. She’s not a stranger anymore. He hooks his pinky with hers.  

“Not now.” He whispers. “But someday...” 

“Someday.” she reaffirms. 

The one about family  

Spencer’s surprised to see that Margaux isn’t working one random night in November. He knows that, of course, Margaux can’t possibly be working every single night he comes in. It just throws him off when he doesn’t see her immediately. The sunshine woman behind the bar making him a new sickly sweet coffee to try. She’s only ever missed one day max two, so he doesn’t think much of it. Just a blip on his night. 

One night without her suddenly turns into half a week. Everyday Spencer walks in and it’s not her bright bubbly voice greeting him. It’s one of the handful of people who work the late-night shift. They aren’t strangers, Spencer’s ran into a couple of them occasionally. So, when Spencer comes into the bookstore to see, yet again, Robert, manning the front desk lazily flipping through a magazine, his mild frustration turns to worry. Margaux’s been gone for four days and none of her coworkers seem to know why. 

What if she’s sick? What if something happened to her? Did she take a vacation? Is she in danger?  

The thoughts consume Spencer so much he almost calls Penelope to track her down. Or at least give him her address to check on her. He pulls himself together and realizes that it would be a bad idea and an invasion of her privacy. He’ll just have to wait it out. 

Spencer does wait, mostly because he’s forced too. The BAU never truly stops working. 

When he finally sees Margaux again it’s near the tail end of November and way too close to Thanksgiving for his liking. He feels like she’s been gone for ages, but it’s only been two weeks. The door chimes behind him as he walks in, he’s expecting to see her big dark indigo eyes light up with a smile on her flushed pink cheeks. The way she’s always greeted him.  

Instead, he sees a side of Margaux that he’s not used to at all. She looks tired, exhausted. The dark circles under her eyes could compete against his natural ones. She’s wearing glasses which he’s never seen on her before. Her hair is haphazardly tied up, and Margaux’s in a large well-worn sweater that reads, ‘Read Banned Books’. He doesn’t think she’s slept much, if at all, since he last saw her.  

She looks like a zombie, barely functioning. 

She doesn’t even register Spencer enter; she’s standing at the checkout counter finishing a transaction with a customer. She’s swaying on her feet the whole time.  

Spencer lets her finish the interaction before coming over to the counter, concern clear on his face. 

“Margaux?” He says her name softly as he approaches.  

Her eyes fly up to him and widen a little in surprise, her body reacts with a small flinch. “Oh god Spencer!” She gives a soft laugh her hand coming up to clutch her chest, “You scared me! I didn’t hear you come in.” she tries to calm herself down. 

Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes and Spencer can tell. It doesn’t take a profiler to see she’s not herself. Her eyes are only half open, her hands shaking from what he can only assume is the obscene amount of caffeine she probably has in her system. Everything just seems muted, not in the bright colors he used to seeing her be framed in. 

“Are you feeling okay? You’ve been gone for a while.” he prompts, trying to get something out of her. A clue to what might have happened. Anything. 

She shakes her head, “I’m fine, everything’s fine.” She said a little too quickly.  

Spencer doesn’t buy it, but he’s kept enough secrets to himself to know he probably shouldn’t go looking into friends’ private lives. Some things he knows he’d rather keep to himself... but seeing her like this, he wants to help.  

She avoids his eyes and starts to play with her hands on the counter. “I-” she opens her mouth but promptly shuts it again. She bites her cheek with a frown plastered on her face.  

“Sorry, it’s nothing. It doesn’t matter.” She says quickly before turning to grab some books from behind the desk to busy herself with.  

She doesn’t want to talk about or think about it. It’s been a long two weeks, and she just needs some normalcy. Something that she knows she can do and enjoys.  

Margaux feels Spencer’s eyes burning into her. She’s trying to keep her usual high energy, she truly is. Everything has been so rough this month; she just needs a break. The bookstore was her solace. The Midnight Owl wasn’t just a job, it was Margaux’s home. Her safe haven. 

She didn’t want to bring her real life here, not when sometimes her only highlight is seeing Spencer and sharing books back and forth. If he starts asking about her life outside the four walls of her shop, she doesn’t know if she can hold herself together. Not today.  

“Margaux,” he opens his mouth trying to get her attention again.  

“Really Spencer, it’s fine, I’m fine!” she tells him, a short tone to her voice.  

She spins on her heels to walk somewhere, anywhere, else. “You know I have your book actually, let me return it. I left some notes in there.” She makes it five or six steps before she falters and sways again. Spencer reaches out to grab her and steadies her.  

“Forget the book Margaux, you don’t look fine.” He makes her face him. “You look exhausted.” He chastises her.  

She deflates immediately and lets Spencer guide her to a chair. He gently sets her down and he pries the book out of her hand and places it on the side table.  

“Sorry, you don’t have to take care of me.” she murmurs feebly swatting him away. “I just...” Margaux takes a deep breath. “I had to take dad to the hospital on Tuesday and it’s just been downhill all week...” she admits timidly. She pushed her glasses up her hairline and pressed the heels of her palm to her eyes.  

“I haven’t gotten much sleep.” she admits.  

“You’ve run yourself ragged.” Spencer lowers himself to be eye level with her. “Is he home now?” he asks gently. 

“No, they’re keeping him one more night.” She said with a heavy sigh.  

Her arms fell in between her knees, and she leans her head back exhausted. “It’s just been hard this past year...” Her voice is small and lingers with sadness.  

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked hesitantly.  

Spencer maybe doesn’t like talking about his hardships, but he’ll listen to Margaux’s if she lets him. He wants to desperately ease her mind, see her smile.  

She looks up at him, eyes wide as she assesses him. “I don’t want to put my problems on you Spencer.” She gives a tight smile. “I’ll figure it out.” 

Spencer reaches out to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Talking about it doesn’t mean that you’re inconveniencing me. I'm just worried.” 

She sighs, already feeling him chip away at her. She didn’t stand a chance against his big doe eyes looking at her like she was fragile.  

She takes a deep breath before answering him, “My dad has ALS, he was diagnosed a few years ago... I’ve been taking care of him.” she admits.  

“Where we were, the doctors just weren’t cutting it. So, I did some research and of course there were stellar doctors in DC... plus my baby sister came here for university so I just thought... maybe it would be easier. On all of us.” The tone of her voice gives her worry away.  

“Anyway, he just, he had an accident and fell down the other day. His legs are finally giving out and he’s being so stubborn about needing a wheelchair.” Her voice shakes and she closes her eyes.  

“It’s been a long week.” She finally admits looking up at Spencer with watery eyes.  

Spencer understands. He’s spent most of his life taking care of his mom because of her own illness. While Margaux’s dad is suffering from something different, he understands. Probably more than she realizes.  

“I get it, I do.” he tells her. Margaux goes to retort, but he cuts her off. “I took care of my mom for a long time. She...” He pauses looking at Margaux, debating for a moment on if he should tell her.  

“My mom has schizophrenia, and I committed her when I was eighteen.” he tells her with a tight frown. 

“It’s hard to take care of your parents, especially when it’s their job to take care of us.” He tells her sincerely. 

Margaux has tears pricking her eyes, “Oh Spencer, I’m so sorry.” 

He shakes his head, “I’m telling you this because I understand. I promise I do, it’s not easy.”  

Margaux takes a shaky breath; her heart feels like it’s a thousand pounds. “Does it ever get easier?” she asks softly.  

Spencer squeezes her hand, “No, it doesn’t. There are happy moments though. Moments where you know you’re doing the right thing, even if it’s difficult.”  

She sniffles and wipes her face, “Thanks, I uh, I needed that.” she said with a small smile.  

- 

It’s getting closer to Christmas. The bookstore is decorated and busier than ever. There’s a handful of special events but between people coming in to buy presents and university students staying all night to study for finals, Margaux has her hands full.  

There’s a second staff member working nights with her this month until the holiday break starts for the store. Which Margaux and Josie were adamant about closing the bookstore between Christmas Eve and New Years. If someone needed a book that badly they could go to a big box store.  

What she really doesn’t need right now is her baby sister coming to her place of work and harassing her about Christmas and their dad.  

“Bridget, I don’t have time to discuss this with you right now!” Margaux hisses out at her younger sister. “You didn’t spend Thanksgiving with us and daddy really wants you to come home just for Christmas.” She chastised her sister with a frown.  

Margaux has a pause in customers for the moment, but she knows that the large study group is coming in half an hour like they have been for the past week and half.  

“That’s not fair Maggie!” Her sister groans in frustration using Margaux’s nickname. “I made these plans months ago; Mark really wants me to spend Christmas with his family.”  

Margaux crosses her arms and looks at her baby sister sadly. “Birdie, we don’t know how much time we get with dad-” she starts but is cut off.  

Bridget’s face scrunches in disgust at her sister’s words and huffs exaggeratedly. “Good god Maggie! He’s not gonna die over the holidays, stop fucking guilt trippin’ me over every decision because it doesn’t revolve around dad!”  

Bridget’s annoyed and Margaux can tell, she always tries to skirt around her problems when she’s frustrated. She thinks Margaux’s trying to back her into a corner.  

“Birdie-”  

“It’s Bri. I go by Bri here.” Her baby sister crosses her arms and looks at Margaux in annoyance.  

“Look, I know dad’s sick, I’m not stupid.”  

“I didn’t say you were Bridget.” Margaux said defensively. 

She rolled her eyes, “I didn’t decide to pack everything up and move dad out to DC. Just because you’re closer doesn’t mean I’m going to stop living my life to take care of daddy.”  

Margaux bites her tongue. Trying to not fight with her sister, but her irritation rises in her throat. Burning words of resentment linger in her mind.  

“Fine. Would you please just call him on Christmas and please come by after the New Year. He really misses you.” She tries to plead with her sister.  

Bridget just waves goodbye as she walks out the door, “Will do. See you next year Mags!” she almost ran out the door.  

Margaux deflates, her shoulders dropping. She almost doesn’t hear Spencer walking up next to her holding a gift bag in his hands.  

“I didn’t know you had a sister.” he said.  

She looks up at him and smiles at her favorite regular. Her friend. She thinks they’re allowed to call each other friends now. He already saw her cry and that was a big step for her.  

Margaux shakes her head, “Yeah, we’re not as close as we used to be.” she mumbles under her breath.  

Spencer nods his head. He never had any siblings, but he can read her face well enough to know she’s not thrilled.  

“It’s fine.” she shrugs and gives a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. She leans against the counter. “What’s that you got there?” she asked, changing the subject.  

She’s pointing to the gift bag in his hands. She tilts her head curiously.  

“Oh, this is,” he flushes for a split second rushing his words out. “This is for you. I know you’re closing for the holiday soon and I don’t know if I’ll have a last-minute work call or not so., I brought your Christmas present.” He fumbled through his words quickly, but he held out the small bag for her. 

She lights up immediately. Her eyes shimmer with excitement. “Aww, Spencer! This is so kind thank you!”  

She bends down below the counter and grabs her own item, “I actually have your present too.” she said shyly, handing him a wrapped package.  

Spencer is quiet as he gently takes the gift from her, a tiny smile on his face. He brushes his hair back out of his face as he looks at her softly.  

“This is so kind thank you.”  

Giddy giggles consume her, and she holds the gift bag. “Should we open them together or do you want to wait until Christmas?” She asked.  

Spencer shakes his head, “No no, you can open it now.” he reassures her.  

Margaux smiles, biting the inside of her cheek and opens her present. Under the tissue paper is a sweater that’s twice her size and it’s the softest thing she’s ever felt. She pulls it out and it’s a purple crocheted sweater with a beautiful sun right in the middle. It reminds her of one of the tapestries from the late nineties that would have been in Practical Magic or something like that.  

“Oh Spencer, this is perfect.” she says quietly holding it tightly to her chest. “Thank you so much, I love it.”  

Margaux pulls off her cardigan and immediately shoves the sweater on. She nestles herself inside it and grins widely, “It matches your scarf!”  

Spencer just takes in her joy and how she lights up, and he’s happy he could make her feel better.  

“Well go on open yours!” she said excitedly pushing her wrapped package toward him. 

Spencer gently peels back the wrapping paper and uncovers a white box; he opens the box to find a ceramic mug. Its custom made, with some uneven texture. It’s glazed a speckled purple and wrapped around the bottom is a quote, “Some books are so familiar that reading them is being home again.” -L.M. Alcott  

Spencer is quietly inspecting it, and Margaux starts explaining. She pushes her midnight hair behind her ear, “I uh, I took a pottery class in my free time this past year. Since you’re here so much I thought you would like your own mug.” she said hesitantly.  

Spencer’s eyes widen, “You, you made this? For me?” he asked in surprise.  

She nods, looking down at the counter nervously.  

Spencer makes his way around the counter and pulls her into a tight hug. “This is the best gift anyone's ever gotten me.” he whispers to her.  

She returns the hug holding Spencer tightly. She presses her face into his shoulder, and she feels infinitely better than how her night started. 

When they pull apart Margaux plays with the edge of her new sweaters' sleeves, a small blush on her face. “Do you go visit your mama for holidays?” She asked him.  

Spencer shakes his head, “Not all the time. My job doesn’t usually care if it’s a holiday or not.” he tells her.  

She nods, “Well, I hope you get to this year Spencer. I’m sure she’d love to see you.”  

He takes a shaky breath and nods in agreement. “Yeah, I’ll try to see her soon.”  

Margaux nudges him lightly, trying to keep the tone light, “Want a fresh drink in your new mug?” she teases. 

Spencer chuckles but nods his head. “I’d love that.”  

“We’re about to test run if I’m actually good at pottery. So, fingers crossed it doesn’t leak.” She jokes moving to the cafe counter at the back of the store. 

Spencer watches her walk away, with a skip in her step like the first night he came to the Midnight Owl. The way she easily glides through the crowd and chatters with customers and giggling.  

She shines bright like a star, like the sun. 

A/N: This is the first part of a series of long one shots following Margaux and her relationship with Spencer Reid. This starts in season 5.

[mazeinthemiroh]

hey!! idk if you’ve already done this but could u do something like skz as ex’s? cause i think chan would be the type of ex to be friends after the break up (unless you’ve done something really bad) and i’d like to know how you think the other members would be

- 🦭

stray kids as ex boyfriends

genre: headcanon; hurt, angst

word count: 1.3k

warnings: cursing, jeongin's hurt the most (gotta warn yall <///3 )

thank you for requesting! please like and reblog if you enjoy <3

bangchan

the friendly one

this is purely depending on circumstance because if you hurt him or any of his members in any way he's literally cutting you off and out of his life

but that is if the situation is severe

most of the time he likes ending on good, mutual terms if possible. he knows things aren't going to be completely the same or aren't going to be particularly smooth but he's willing to work past that

especially if you have been a good friend before dating each other

so he will make an effort to talk to you at social events if you're in the same friendship group. just a casual catch-up to see how you are doing

it might be hard seeing you without being able to be the same touchy, loving way he's used to. he feels he has to hold himself back quite a lot

i can see him being hurt if you have moved on and are in another relationship and he isn't

minho

the messy one

feelings are... complicated

and minho is too

he's a very intricately formed human being, filled with unpredictabilities and chaos, good and bad.

minho as an ex can be messy. you'll see him sometimes during social gatherings; he will avoid you most of the time, but occasionally interact with you as if you're his best friend

he'll be sarcastic and make snide remarks with that shit-eating grin on his face

sometimes he'll lure you back into his life, his heart

other times he wants to forget he's even known you

you guys are on and off and on again. the wannabe ross and rachel, if you will

but all of the craziness boils down to the fact that he misses you, more than he expected

and the only way to fill the hole in his heart that you left him is by chasing what you had together

changbin

the self-improvement one

changbin tries to move on as quickly as possible

he thinks it's healthier that way: no point in dwelling in the past when he knew he wasn't going to turn back to you

he needed to put the past behind him and focus on himself

which means a lot more working out, more than he had ever done before

eating healthier, going out more and with different people, making sure he had enough rest

his friends were worried, at first, that he would over-do it, perhaps burning himself out in order to deflect the feelings of loss you left him

but he's never felt better as he looks ahead rather than dwelling on what once was

still, there are moments, perhaps when he is alone, where he catches himself missing you. your laugh, your smile, your body to hold at night. yeah, he missed that a lot...

hyunjin

the one who's still in love

it would be hard for hyunjin to move on

whether you hurt him, or he hurt you, or you both end on good circumstances, he's not ready to leave you

life without you? well, up until now he hasn't even begun to imagine life without you. and why should he? he thought you'd be together forever

so now he's devastated, trying to forget you when really you never left his mind

oh and he'd write poetry about. lots and lots of poems about the heartbreak and the longing and everything in between. he's a wistful guy, and it's a way of coping with the loss of you

but it's not very... 'coping' of him. coping would require him slowly but surely moving on

but he doesn't do that

no. instead, he holds on to the memory of you and what could've been.

jisung

the one who keeps coming back

he knows he shouldn't, but he can't help it

oh he tries, but soon he finds himself staring at your number on his phone screen, tempted to drop you a text or even, at times, call you

it's weird. he thought he'd be fine after the breakup. he thought he would be able to have his moment to grieve and then move on

but if that was the case... why was he still thinking about you?

that's a question that tortured his mind to no end because he had absolutely no answer for it

he couldn't like deeper inside himself to realise he still, ultimately, has feelings for you

and so he always ends up coming back into your life, usually by accident

he calls it manifesting but is it really manifesting if its at the worst moments?

like when he bumped into at the supermarket, running on 0 hrs of sleep with eye bags bigger than his eyes. yeah, that wasn't a good day

but any chance he runs into you, there is a flicker of hope you could end up back together with him. so he will take all the chances life throws at him

felix

the sensitive one

similar to hyunjin only, perhaps, less severe

he cries over you often

and everything seems to remind him of you

sometimes he is okay. sometimes he is really okay. perhaps too okay. the members would look at him in surprise as he woke up one day, bubbly as ever. it's as if he hasn't been crying the whole week at all. nope. he's a new man now. and when he looks in the mirror, he gives himself a smile and a nod. "today is a new day and i'm happy."

and then a small thing will set him off all over again

perhaps he will find one of your hoodies that you lent him one night when he was cold. and he kept it because it smelt like you

but now, seeing this makes all his newfound positivity dissolve instantly. soon, he was grabbing the material of your hoodie and stuffing his face into it, sobbing his heart out

seungmin

the nonchalant one

he's the definition of unbothered

of course, it hurt at first to have to leave you, but it will all depend on the circumstances of the breakup

if you guys left each other on bad terms, he'd be a lot more bitter about it. he will most likely ignore you and make every attempt not to run into you because he just doesn't need that in his life

but if you guys are on good terms he is more likely to get over it quicker. that way, he isn't dwelling on the bad feelings and being wrapped up in his own negativity

rather, he has left that all behind and tried to be productive, focusing on himself

that way, if he happens to run into you again, he would probably feel indifferent

there is a sparkle of feeling that he misses. the feeling of familiarity that only you bring

but he hopes that most of his feelings are long gone noe

jeongin

the one that wants to forget

perhaps you were his first love

perhaps he thought that you'd end up together, forever

and ever

and ever.

perhaps he was a bit naive when it came to his approach to his relationship with you. he knew he shouldn't be thinking in such a rose-coloured, idealistic romantic way. he didn't think he'd feel like that at all. but you made his life infinitely better

and now you're gone. how is he supposed to cope?

he just wants to forget everything. forget his life with you. because if you weren't in his life anymore, what was the point?

its painful to reminisce so he makes a conscious effort not to dwell on the past

because once he does, he loses himself. the tears start to brim and flow down his cheek

if he didn't remember such happier times, it wouldn't be this hard

skz taglist: @hearts4sungie, @seokshineswiftie, @alyszaen, @jtrstp, @a-wandering-stay, @hyungenie5

[quartztwst]

Tbh Quartz ya know what needs to happen in twst?

1. The mc being able to date a twst NRC/RSA boi(minus Ortho and the dwarves that is)

2. SILVERS LAST NAME TO BE VANROUGE!!!

Tbh I wouldn't want to date them in the game bc it'll probably make the writing icky.... HELEP sorry IM REALLY SORRY 😭😭

It's just that I'm more into the actual story than them being romancable bc... like it would be strange....

I mean yeah fanservice and flirting is ok idc BUT DATING THEM??

Idk mann... I don't wanna see Azul having a mental breakdown and then 2 seconds later he's like "i love you"

Also hearing Azul say "I love you" is kinda gross HELPE MAYBE ITS JUST ME

"Omg I was bullied into altering my appearance to not become a target again which gave me trauma and affects my self image and how I perceive myself but everything changed when I met you, mc...." ummmmm what

Idk I find it weird since the story isn't written in a way to somehow romance the boys and I'm not saying they can't be written that way. It's just not the narrative and unimportant.

I've played Obey Me and I also felt like some of the writing needed to he worked on but then I realized it was a dating game 😭😭 some parts of the writing are left a mystery because of the romance

And it's really better off to make hcs of the boys being in love bc it's more fun that way.

Idk like imagine book 6 where they had to split up to go to the underworld and Azul says, "no!! I need to protect mc!! They're... mine...." like it's kinda... cornyyyyyy

I'm not against people making fan games where you date the boys though, it's just that it doesn't fit right into the canon story when all the boys' focus is not the mc. They have their own lives and goals and that's what makes them so appealing rather than them saying "mc.. I live... only for you..."

ALSO YESBWE NEED SILVER TO HAVE THE VANROUGE LAST NAME TWST PLEASEEE PELALSOELAPPLEEEASEEE

[gremlinmodetweeker]

hi hi! I’m a little too embarrassed to go off anon, but

thanks for writing the König ick posts, they actually motivated me to clean my room after a couple months of not being able to bring myself to do it. also, I just like your takes on König, it makes him feel real - like, absolutely, we all have weird little quirks and his icks you write make me so happy. so… thanks again!

Okay so that's really a big reason why I make the ick posts. I make them because I find that the imperfections in people are what make me love them more.

With my boyfriend, it's when he's being stubborn and difficult that I realize I love him. Mostly because I think to myself that the only reason I put up with this BS is because I love him.

So, when writing König, I see so many people make him either too soft (he's essentially the same rank my grandfather was in the navy, and nothing about that man was soft) or too horrific (which I do think he has an incredibly twisted moral compass, but I can't imagine him losing his self-discipline and hitting his partner out of rage). He's just a weird, eccentric gremlin man.

In high ranks in the military, they can't indulge their inner goblin like everybody else. They need to be... Creative. And I think König is very, very creative. He also definitely watches other soldiers fuck up before he intervenes just to watch them suffer. He is absolutely a shitter.

Like, having dealt with military people who are very highly ranked, they are not externally monsters but they would never make it to their rank by expressing softness (or any form of weakness). So when you're writing König, I really focus on figuring out how the human weirdness comes out in a way that would still be acceptable in the military.

The military might frown on him crying, but will they frown on a man for reading books and going camping? No. Instead, they'll politely ignore the fact that he's reading upside down in his chair and his form of camping is a wilderness survival gauntlet.

The military makes monsters of men, but it can't take the human aspect out of the monster. It just sometimes comes out in weird ways.

OH ALSO

Congratulations on cleaning! As someone who also struggles, just know that my heart goes out to you. Being a human is super hard, but I'm proud of you for working to be better!!!

[youremyheaven]

this is gunna sound so weird... men make my skin crawl. Like im attracted to men but everytime i see a man, my rbf awakens and i become hyper aware of my surroundings 😭

it doesn't help that im attending an all girls college now... any advice on how to ease up pls around them? I find it hard to even want to talk to them 😭 ik all men aren't bad and i may always not be in danger (imagine that in all caps and red) but i just wanna be able behave and think like a normal person around them ( this is so much that i even can't stand strangers)

Loads of luv to you ❤

honestly i hope u meet better men!!! there are some disgusting nasty perverted pieces of shit out there who dont deserve to be around women and i completely get why u would feel repulsed by them.

i wonder if u have malefic influence, they usually struggle the most with the opposite gender

tips on how to ease up around men:

think in terms of energy. dont project anger or hatred because thats what you will see in return. i know this is very triggering and difficult for many people but you HAVE to believe in good to SEE good. despite absolutely everything that ive gone thru, i still believe that people are inherently good, kind and helpful and i see proof of it everyday.

ive had men treat me with dignity, respect and kindness in the shadiest of circumstances and ive had men be nasty to me out in the open, so it just comes down to character. just think of men as people honestly and not as hound dogs about to attack u.

2. imagine them as little boys

sometimes when men are soft or boyish with me, it reminds me of how they mustve been as kids and it warms me. i have two little boy cousins who are 12 and 6 respectively and they both adooooreeee me and want to marry me when they grow up🥺🥺🥺theyre the sweetest kids on the planet and i could never ever feel otherwise, theyre my babies. idk if this is something u can relate to but think of a little boy you're close to, how innocent and silly he is and how you could never see him as a threat or hate him and understand that grown men can be like that too.

3. how we treat people has a lot to do with how people treat us

if you have a rbf and generally act standoffish and cold/distant, then you're probably perceived as being bitchy 😬😬and nevermind men, even women probably find u intimidating or hard to approach. im only saying this because learning how to navigate social situations is 90% of adulthood and the key to personal and professional success.

learn to smile more. i know women hate being told to smile but honestly we should alllll smile more. force yourself to do it until it becomes a habit. be that person who smiles at strangers. dont u feel happy when someone smiles at you??? so in turn, be that person to others!!! <33

learn to get out of your head. most people think too much. i hate spending time with people who talk about everything from a victim pov. like yes sure u/we women, are in a position of disadvantage in many ways, historically speaking but ???? this attitude?? wont get u anywhere. (I'm speaking generally and not about you particularly)

i would say the key is to turn inward and work on yourself. read all those cliche self help books about "how to influence people" yada yada,, learn social etiquette and watch all those youtube gurus who teach soft skills. forget about men and hating them for a second and just focus on self improvement. as you change, youll see the world change with u.

just think of men as people basically. also idk if youre familiar with carl jung but i feel like you have a wounded animus. many women who grew up with an absent (emotionally or otherwise) father grow up to project all that onto men. and in turn have damaging relationships with men!!

im not a man defender and im in no way saying all men are good but i genuinely dont think its healthy to hate, thats all!!

idk if any of this is helpful sikeee but lmk if u have any updates

also lots of love to u too angel!!<3

[billpottsismygf]

There's so much to process that I don't even know where to start. Just off the bat, it was a very fun and very campy episode. I imagine there will be a lot of people annoyed at some of the goofier elements (eg. lava erupting just under the streets, then knitting right back together), but I don't mind a bit of goofiness and it felt enjoyable the whole way through.

All the moments between Donna and the Doctor were so great. I love how much Donna is still just Donna at heart, even if she's forgotten things. The little quiet moment after she says she wanted to "be like him" was especially effective.

Rose is great, too. I love that her first instinct was to hide and help the Meep. I also love that her transness is important to her character, and that the show isn't shying away from unapologetically depicting a trans teenager. I do think some of the stuff that comes later is a little clumsy, however.

Onto that, I'm fine with the idea that Donna having a child has diluted the metacrisis enough for them both to survive a little longer with it. The weird parts were:

1) The suggestion that it works because the DoctorDonna is binary (a man and a woman), while Rose is non-binary. Is that suggesting that she's trans because of the metacrisis? That the metacrisis is only safe because she's trans? Both of those seem weird. Why is gender at all relevant to how safe/balanced the metacrisis is? I need to rewatch it and see if it's more coherent on second view, but on first viewing it just seemed like a dumb way to make Donna's "binary binary binary" breakdown have more meaning than it does.

2) The whole bit about them being able to just let the metacrisis go. How come they can just let it go? Again, why the focus on the Doctor being "male presenting"? Why the bit about only women knowing how to let things go?

I want to be really clear that I very much appreciate RTD putting trans themes so front and centre in Doctor Who, and I will be vehemently defending it against anyone who tries to be transphobic about it. Unfortunately, I just think it's a little clumsy in parts of this episode.

Small things:

Beep the Meep was adorable, and then adorably evil. We love the Meep.

Shirley's weapons-firing wheelchair was amazing, and I like her character so far. Is she Osgood's replacement? She feels like the deliberate antithesis of Osgood, who was such a fangirl of the Doctor, while Shirley pointedly doesn't care. I do actually love Osgood, so I'll be sad if she's not around anymore, but hey ho.

I like that Donna is in such a stable and loving relationship with Shaun. After all her troubles with men in previous series, it's nice seeing her loved and appreciated.

What the hell was going on with the sonic this episode? I don't like the sonic being too overpowered generally, and suddenly the Doctor is capable of creating bullet proof shields out of thin air with it? And crumbling brick walls in seconds? It's not a magic wand!

That new TARDIS interior is absolutely huge. I love the classic design, but I'm not sure that such a stark look works when it's so enormous. If it's going to be that big, I'd rather it had a little more going on. I do like the colour-changing lights, though!

Meep said they were going to tell "the Boss", which immediately made me think of the Toymaker, which then immediately made me realise that Rose is also a toymaker. Is that going to be relevant? It's definitely deliberate. (Sidenote, her cyberman and ood are adorable and I would absolutely buy them.)

[weebsinstash]

Ok but like

Imagine if there is 1 spider who can tell the difference, a bestie you had that was perhaps the one who was sent to recruit you in the first place, and/or the one who was the first to go on a mission with you, and the first(outside of Miguel because ofc he had to watch and decide to let you join) to go yandere.

And imagine when YT shows they dont care, actively trying to distance themselves from her in any way they can. And they're the only one who can tell the difference, with just even seeing how they walk being enough to know it's not you.

But when they point out that's not you all the other spiders deny it, saying they'd be able to tell the difference without even trying(they cant lmao).

Then YT decides to make they're life hell because how fucking dare this rando try to out her?! So all the spiders bounce back and forth from treating them like shit to treating them how they normally would depending on which you they talk to.

Then when they nearly or they think they kill you they freaking the fuck out, having to be restrained to stop from helping you. Possibly even being degraded for trying to help 'YT', with some even saying they should kick them out of the society after.

Holy shit- imagine if they're the reason you live taking off their's and throwing it to you because they'll just go back to they're universe unlike you.

Or imagine they leave the society after you 'died', possibly even getting kicked out for attempting to attack 'you' in a fit of rage. Only to once back in they're own universe do their best to try and find a way to bring the real you back.

Queue you at your new home or job and what a looks like a hobo bursts in sobbing they're eyes out and calling your name. Tackling you into a hug, insisting their never letting you go and never letting those monsters near you again.

God love all this drama and heartbreak ♥️💕♥️💅

An idea I had thought of was "what if a Spiderperson Reader had been close to had to go do stuff in their own universe and that made them too busy to come and visit and during all the YouTwo drams they're instrumental in saving your ass"

Like for example Peter Porker and Spider Noir are absent from the second movie so say we've got Miguel and the other relevant Spiders are having their weekly "We Love Reader" power hour when Noir descends from above and shares the findings of his investigation, pure detective style, with pictures and everything, or lil Porker can tap into some toonforce shit and just glance at YouTwo and say "haha OK really funny, but where's the real one?"

Say you're good friends with Hobie and he has to "go underground for a lil while" cause he has to focus on fighting the fascists back home, and then he pops up like two months later, you're glitching out because YouTwo just smashed your bracelet and Miguel and tons and tons of other Spiders watching and facilitating and Hobie takes one look at YT, "who's this slag?"

Or, before he takes his trip, he comes to visit you at your apartment, definitely knowing it's you he's speaking to, and YouTwo is in Nueva York and you're starting to get paranoid and you open up to him about all your worries and the weird shit starting to happen, how you're worries about being replaced and how people are coming up to you about things you didn't say or do, and you even suggest a secret password so that the next time he speaks to you, he can know it's really you, and Hobie can tell you're just, absolutely stressed the fuck out about all of this, probably even passes the word on to Gwen and Pav since they're mutual friends to help keep an eye on you while he's gone, and to watch out for YouTwo

Cue Hobie "I hate fascists and tyrants" Brown coming back and you're just glitching all over the place with your bracelet broken on the ground while Miguel and tons of other Spiders are just WATCHING and you see him and immediately start screaming the password and "hobie, don't let them kill me, this is gonna kill me hobie, please help me, i dont wanna die, please i dont want to die" and, obviously best case scenario is "Hobie convinces them that YT is the fake" or "he opens a portal back home, gives you his bracelet, and both of you immediately fuck off to go flee into his home universe" but of course the more chaotic "you vanish and all hell breaks loose, a full on civil war between 'the Reader Loyalists' vs 'the YouTwo beta cucks' and everyone is scrambling to find you while you're off like, hanging out with Miles as he helps heal your trust by being a good little brother or getting creampied by Miguel 2

But like. Lmao. Imagine some shit happens like Reader was good pals with Sun Spider, told her you thought it was really inspiring to see a disabled Spider (and I mean depending on your preference Reader has problems themself) and like. It's a week after you've been "poofed away" and everyone is hanging out at like a celebration party or something just because, so many of then are convinced YT is you which means they're also still being nice as fuck to YT because you had been starting to become depressed and also the whole elevator incident and, everyone's having drinks and snacks and suddenly YT makes this sort of. Comment. It's either something like "who's the Spider in the wheelchair" or something like. Vaguely or super offensive "it's just kind of, awkward, you know, being around one of THOSE people"

And Pav is there and just kind of chuckles because he's confused and YouTwo continues "I just mean, you know. We're kind of better than them, you know? How did a cripple become a Spider?"

Cue everyone in earshot just, like, all but dropping everything in their hands as the realization sweeps over the room, "oh shit that's a fake, the real you is gone"

I imagine until they got caught that YouTwo is an absolute menace. Could suck up to one of the scientist Spidermen to help make bugs and wiretaps to spy on you in your apartment so YT can better impersonate you, intercepting any social plans and showing up in your place, learning personal info, private mannerisms. YT, to be blunt, using sex to control any Spiders who like you thst way to have them make fake alibis or spread rumors or help YT make other helpful connections (who are all also furious when YT is exposed, because, like, for ones who slept with them, dude that's rape, they all thought they were sleeping with someone else. Could you imagine Miguel fucking YT and that's like the first person he's been with since his wife has died and he had meant it to be with you and it actually be some big impactful like extremely emotional thing for him, and it's this massively personal invasion of his privacy and trust that it turned out to be an imposter. He feels dirty and disgusted and, oh my god he GOT RID OF YOU for this, this evil, selfish, manipulative whore

Reader off trying to mind their own goddamn business in their new home, either on their own or New Miguel, and you bump into someone who you USED to consider a friend and, with good intentions they tell the Spider Society you're alive and, it begins this massive manhunt with the intention of bring you "back home". THEY are all super extremely happy, making preparations to throw one big "We're So Sorry We Kind Of Replaced You And Almost Killed You" party, meanwhile YOU are terrified at the sight of any of them because you can't trust them and the Society as a whole anymore and, what if they tried to kill you again?

Miguel: I can't even express how glad I am that you're still alive. We've been looking everywhere for you because we're sorry and--

Reader, shoving bagels into their purse: sorry I have to go