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xo-hugs-n-kisses-ox · 5 months ago

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Rumination

Ruminate

(v.) to think about something deeply

After Edward left her, Bella Swan fell apart. Desperate to try and save his eldest daughter, Charlie brings his youngest daughter to Forks to see if she can bring her sister out of her depression.

Now, y/n must try to help her sister find her way back to the light while also trying to navigate her Junior year of high school in the odd town of Forks.

Chapter Four: The Wolves

Now Playing: Heavy In Your Arms by Florence + The Machine

I followed Jacob’s instructions down a dirt road for a few miles before he told me to pull off the road.

I pulled over, cutting the engine as he and Bella jumped out of the truck. My sister pressed closely to his side as he came to stand at the front of my car, and I slowly made my way to his side as well.

Bella was visibly nervous, and I felt an unnerving sense of calm. I knew that, rationally, I should probably be afraid. But I just wasn’t, and that was somewhat worse.

I saw the four boys step out of the tree line, and I watched as Sam made eye contact with Jacob.

My eyes narrowed on him, but I couldn’t resist turing my gaze to Embry. When I looked at him, he stared back. His lips pursed together as I watched him, my gaze accusatory and unrelenting.

He looked away first.

I swept my eyes to Jared, and finally to Paul. Both of them looked about the same, but my heart stuttered for a moment when I met Paul’s gaze.

He was as handsome as I remembered him being. His expression was still grumpy, but his eyes held more light in them. His hair was loose around his head again, much like Jacob’s. His eyes flickered from me to Jacob, then Jacob to Bella, and his face pinched with anger.

“What have you done, Jacob?” Sam demanded, his deep voice drawing my attention away from where I was transfixed looking at Paul.

My eyes were drawn back to him, however, when he pushed past Sam to yell at Jacob, “Why can’t you just follow the rules? Is she more important than everything—than us, than our people, than people getting killed?”

His voice was accusatory, and my eyes narrowed on him. He started to shake, the trembling staring in his hands and moving up his arms.

“They can help—” Jacob tried to argue, but he was cut off by Paul’s mocking laugh.

“Help?” He demanded, “I’m sure the leech-lover is just dying to help us! And bringing her sister into this mess is callous, even for you and your tunnel vision!”

“Don’t talk about her like that!” Jacob snarled, reaching out to push Bella behind him.

I took a step back towards the door of my truck, watching everything unfold with a critical gaze. Paul laughed again, his eyes flicking to me.

“Yeah, protect Bella and not her sister, right?” He said viciously, “I suppose you’ve only ever had one sister in your head, huh?”

I won’t lie, his words did hurt, but I shoved the feelings aside as best I could.

Jacob said something, setting Paul off further. I watched in horrified fascination as he fell forward, his body shaking. Half way down, his body made an awful noise and dark, silver fur exploded from his body and he grew to the size of a bear.

My breath caught as I recognized him, and I swear that my heart stopped as Jacob rushed him and transformed into a massive black wolf, too.

“Oh my god,” I choked out, moving without realizing.

I grabbed Bella and shoved her into the truck, sliding around the hood and to the driver’s side to hurriedly get in. I locked the doors as Embry and Jared hurried over to us.

“Y/n, please let us in so we can take you to Emily’s and explain everything,” Embry pleaded, and I stared at him defiantly. Bella, making the choice for me, unlocked the doors.

I reached back to slap her arm, Embry getting into the back behind me and Jared hopping into the bed of the truck.

Embry and Jared made jokes as they directed me to someone’s house, Emily’s house? I didn’t remember whose name they said.

When we got there, I parked the truck and turned it off.

Jared hopped out of the back quickly, reaching out as he passed to open my door. I followed him and Embry towards the house, reaching out to hold hands with Bella.

Before we got too close, Jared stopped and turned towards us.

“Don’t stare at Emily’s face,” he said, “It bugs Sam.”

“Why would we stare..?” Bella asked, looking increasingly nervous.

“She’s Sam’s fiancée,” I said flatly, remembering what Jared and Embry had said on the ride here, “And turns out, it seems like hanging around werewolves has its risks.”

Jared’s lips thinned at my tone, but he nodded.

“Ok, well,” Embry said awkwardly, “Come on in. We don’t bite.”

It was a weak joke, and I wasn’t so easily amused by him anymore.

“Speak for yourself,” Jared joked back, glancing at me. I sighed, pulling Bella along and into the house as Embry held the door for us.

We got inside the house, and it was full of the smell of pastries. It smelled good.

Beside me, Bella was stiff. As we were led to the kitchen, I saw the silhouette of a woman. We got closer, and I saw that she had rich, warm toned skin and shining black hair that fell to her hips. When she turned, I saw her scars first.

On the left side of her face were three jagged, ruddy scars that curled around her skull. One ran over her eye, cutting her brow in half and making her dark eye cloudy. Another ran from her hairline to her jaw, cutting roughly through her cheek as the final one ran down to her lips, crudely pulling the corner taught. Her scars were vicious, but she was beautiful to behold.

I observed her for a moment only, but Bella made a point not to even look at her.

“We’re sorry for intruding.” I said calmly, my eyes falling to the muffins in her hand.

She observed my sister and I silently before asking, “Who are you?”

“Y/n, and my sister, Bella Swan.” I answered, and her brows rose slightly.

“Leave it to Jacob to find a way around Sam’s orders,” she muttered before pinning Bella with a look, “So. You’re the Vampire Girl.”

Bella hesitated, blurting, “Yes. Are you the wolf girl?”

Emily’s face warmed, the right side stretching into a smile as she laughed, Jared and Embry snickering.

“I suppose I am,” she agreed, then glanced over to address Jared, “Where’s Sam?”

“Bella and y/n, uh, surprised Paul this morning and he and Jake got into it.” Jared responded, and Emily rolled her good eye.

“I was about to start the eggs, do you think they’ll be long?” She asked, and Embry smiled impishly.

“Don’t worry, even if they are late, none of the food will go to waste!”

Emily chuckles at his comment, going to open the fridge. “No doubt,” she agreed easily, pulling out a carton of eggs, “Bella, Y/n, are you both hungry? Feel free to take some muffins.”

Bella was quick to grab one, muttering her thanks, and I watched as Embry shoved his third muffin into his mouth whole.

“Try to taste it, Embry,” I said dryly, Jared muttering, “Pig.”

Emily hit him over the head with a wooden spoon, telling him, “Leave some for your brothers!”

Her word choice surprised me, but not by much. All four of them moved in such a synchronized way that if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that they were all related.

I sat quietly, eating bites of a muffin that I had plucked from Embry’s hands as he and Jared fought over it.

They really were good. Maybe I’ll ask for the recipe.

In the middle of my thoughts, Sam came through the door and called so lovingly for Emily. She smiled widely as her fiancé came over to kiss her tenderly, and I laughed against my will as Jared and Embry made dramatic gagging sounds.

Jacob and Jared walked in soon after Sam, both of them playfully shoving at the other. Paul snagged a muffin and Jacob sat beside Bella, across from me. Paul sat beside me, looking past me at where Embry and Jared were rough housing for a muffin.

My attention was torn between trying to dodge stray limbs and paying attention to Jacob’s questions, and for the moment that I was paying attention to Jacob, Embry’s muffin slipped out of his hands and went flying towards the side of my head.

I flinched when I saw it in my peripherals, but Paul had reached around my head to grab the air-born pastry, stopping it from hitting me. He beaned it back at Embry, smacking him in the face with the dense food.

“Quit playing with your food, morons.” He said grumpily, and I thanked him for catching it. He just shrugged, going back to eating his own muffin.

As he reached for another muffin from the tray in front of me, I saw jagged scars on his forearm. They looked weeks old by now, but I knew they were from his and Jacob’s fight.

Without thinking, I reached out and touched them, gently pressing the skin with my finger. As soon as I touched him, he froze.

His skin was warm, like Jacob’s, and soft. The scars on his skin weren’t rough, like I expected them to be. Instead, they were only slightly indented into his skin and just as smooth as the rest of his skin.

“How…?” I asked, trailing off as I watched the marks slowly, so slowly, start to fade.

“Wolf thing.” Jacob answered, watching as I traced the angry red marks.

Paul watched me, still as a statue.

“We heal quickly. Part of the raised temperature thing,” he said slowly, “We run warm, we don’t get sick. We also burn through pain killers fast enough that they’re basically useless, since our body heals itself faster than they can keep up.”

“Huh,” I said, unsure how to respond. It was fascinating, but so, so odd.

“Jacob,” Sam starts, “Tell us what you know.”

Jake looks up, quickly swallowing the rest of his muffin. He clears his throat, then begins, “I know what the Redhead wants. She’s trying to avenge her mate, but it’s not the one with dreads that we killed the other day.”

I listen closely, my eyes fixed on Jacob as he speaks.

“The Cullens killed her mate during Bella’s sophomore year, after he tried to kill her. Now, she’s after Bella to get back at Edward.” He says gravely, and I wonder if that means that I’d be in danger, too.

“Will y/n be on her radar, do you think?” Paul asks, voicing my own concerns. Jacob sighs, and worry bubbles in my chest.

“We killed her spy before he could report back, so we don’t know that yet.” Sam replied, “She likely doesn’t know that Y/n is here, but in the event that she does, we’d have to keep a close eye on you both.”

The last part was directed to me, and I nodded, my lips pursed together.

Jared claps his hands together, “Well then! We’ve got bait!”

I watch as Jacob, faster than I would have thought possible, whipped a can opener at Jared’s head. To his credit, Jared caught it, but he didn’t see Paul’s hand coming down on the top of his head.

“Neither of them are going to be bait!” Jacob said angrily, and Jared muttered about knowing what he meant.

Sam cleared his throat, gathering their attentions again.

“We’ll need to change our patrol patterns.” He says, serious and grim, “I don’t like it, but we’ll have to split up into groups to make sure Bella and Y/n are safe, while maintaining the safety of Forks and the Rez.”

“Quil’s likely close to changing now,” Embry muttered, “We can split evenly when he does.”

I watched mutely as each of them looked morose. How odd that they all seemed so comfortable in their own fate, yet so unwilling for their friends to share it.

“Well, we won’t count on it.” Sam said with a sigh.

“What do you want us,” I gesture between Bella and I, “To do?”

“About?” Sam asked, and I looked at him flatly. Embry snickered, having been on the receiving end of this same look.

“Where is most convenient for us to be?” Bella clarifies, her mind in the same wavelength as mine.

“It would be most convenient for the two of you to be here for as long as possible.” Sam replied, “So that we can be on our own land to trap the Redhead and destroy her.”

I nod, and Emily butts in to ask, “What will the arrangements be for patrols?”

“Three of us will be patrolling the perimeter at all times, the other two will be here to guard you three.” He answered, “We will likely have to cycle out to keep the Redhead on her toes.”

Bella worried her bottom lip before asking, “You’ll be careful, right?”

Most of the boys burst into laughter, hooting and snickering. I rolled my eyes and got up to go to the bathroom to wash my hands as Emily announced food was ready.

I got back after a moment, and the majority of the food was already being scarfed down.

“Good lord, I forgot how much food you eat,” I muttered, about to scape together any leftover food when Paul reached out to hand me a plate.

“Oh,” I said, “Thank you, Paul.”

He nodded glancing at me before going back to eating.

After a while, Charlie came down to fetch Bella and I. I said goodbye to everyone, hurrying to the truck and heading home with Charlie on our tail.

I went to my room and grabbed a notebook, writing down all my questions to ask tomorrow.

1. Is there a way to mask our scent so Victoria can’t track us?

2. Does it hurt to change? What causes it?

3. What’s it like being a wolf? And what does it mean that you can hear each other’s thoughts? Is that always?

4. Why do you all turn into grown men after you change? Second puberty?

I wrack my brain to think of more questions, but I’m so tired from this emotionally draining day that I can’t. Instead, I take a long shower and go to sleep.

As I fall asleep, I wonder about Paul. I wondered about his words before he had changed, in the forest: why was he so sore over Jacob protecting Bella and not me? She was the one he had been angry about, after all, so it would make sense to protect her over me. I wasn’t the one in danger, not that she really had been.

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Author again! Made my edits (1/4/25), bye bye!

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multifandom--mess · 4 months ago

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Hannigram Fic Recs! pt.3

part 1 | part 2

here's some fic recs for youuu (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆ definitely took me way too long to add a part 3 to this but whatever, enjoy a variety of fics in no particular order that i've read the last few months that deserve to be shared and enjoyed ��

old-fashioned divinity candy [series, ongoing]

Explicit, 115k+ | the relationship between old money, med student hannibal lecter and his newly rich sugar daddy, will graham

Like a Lucid Dream

Explicit, 75k | In the days following Will's fateful fall from the bluff, Molly Graham begins to understand the extent of her ignorance regarding Hannibal and Will's relationship. The discovery of her husband's deceit leads her to seek refuge and escape in their cottage in the mountains. There's only one problem: she's not the only one who is looking for a place to hide.

you swallow my heart and flee (but i want it back now)

Explicit, 65k | After they killed Francis Dolarhyde, Will was certain he pulled Hannibal off the cliff with him, but when he wakes up, he’s still on the edge of the bluff, surrounded by FBI agents and paramedics. It’s apparent Hannibal got away safely, and Will is put on the job to help find him. When Will finds Hannibal’s journal in his old cell, filled with entries about, and drawings of, himself, he sneaks it into the waistband of his pants and takes it home. It forces Will into dealing with his own feelings, and figuring out what he wants. Will can only hope the journal gives him the answers he seeks.

And the Winter Sheds His Grief in Snow

Mature, 4.5k | On a car ride, Will spots something... abnormal. And it somehow breaks the normality of their relationship, in ways neither of them expected.

According to Winston

Mature, 7.9k | Winston this, Winston that — everyone in Will Graham’s life is now privy to his new stray, the lucky seven of his pack of dogs. It comes as a surprise when Winston isn’t what anyone expected, and this new light sets a backdrop to Hannibal’s carefully manipulated plans to make Will into his full and whole self.

Mundane Madness

Explicit, 104k | After a traumatizing experience, Will decides that maybe he deserves a shot at a normal, healthy life. It just might be nice to have Hannibal at his side too.

Leviathan

Mature, 24k | Three years after they fell into the Atlantic, Hannibal and Will have made a new life for themselves in the sun-soaked Douro Valley. But old hurts and unaddressed fears lurk beneath the idyllic pretense, threatening to consume all semblance of peace.

Between Black and White: Crimson

Explicit, 9.6k | After surviving the fall and undergoing a proper treatment, Will and Hannibal moved to a place from the past to start their future together. Till death knocked at their door...again.

Suffer A Sea Change

Mature, 29k | Hannibal meets Will, a fisherman with something oceanic lingering behind his eyes, one stormy summer in coastal France.

Omnipotence Paradox

General Audiences, 14k | The trap springs too quickly in Florence. Will and Hannibal adapt.

There's Something So Lonesome About You

Explicit, 90k | When will Graham is released from the BSHCI, he realizes that there is little left for him with the FBI. He packs up the essentials (and Winston, of course), and leaves. Hannibal has to deal with the sudden loss of Will, and he is not very happy about it.

Leila Isabella

Mature, 11k | Will has been utterly miserable in the long months since Hannibal turned himself in, but he gave Hannibal an unexpected gift in the last hours before everything fell apart.

Hidden Place

Not Rated, 5.5k | Two years after the fall, Will and Hannibal share a heated evening in Cuba.

More Myself Than I Am

Explicit, 9k | Everyone has a soulmate. Someone they will connect with on such an intimate level that they are like one mind in two bodies. It comes on the cusp of adulthood, a shared link between two minds. It will start with feelings, emotions shared across the connection. Some people claim senses; smell and sound. Those who are thoroughly, intensely intertwined can claim to send their very thoughts towards each other, although it’s generally considered bad luck to use the connection to find each other sooner than you are meant to. It is a wonderful thing, to know that no matter who you are or what you’ve done, somebody out there will understand you. Or at least, it’s supposed to be.

In the Darkest Recess

Mature, 12.7k | As a child, Hannibal has problems making friends. A therapist gives him a doll to practice social skills on. Hannibal calls him Will, and quickly becomes obsessed with his new best friend. He never leaves it, even when he begins to hear Will's voice in his head, promising that he will never leave Hannibal, as long as Hannibal is willing to give him 'life to live'. Great love, after all, requires great sacrifice.

#hannibal #nbc hannibal #hannigram #will graham #hannibal lecter #murder husbands #hannibal fanfiction #hannigram fanfiction #fanfic #fic rec #ao3

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lunemai · 8 months ago

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L I K E ?

Honey!Y/n x Luke Castellan

Summary: Luke likes honey? okay believable, but still, Luke liking someone? so impossible.

Luke realizing he likes you.

Warnings; the term y/n is almost never mentioned in my writings so her widely known nickname is honey in this, it's HEAVILY implied this isn't her real name. she/her pronouns, fem!y/n, sweetness all over, physical touch, third person view at first, and that's it I think.

•••••••••••••••••••••★•••••••••••••••••••••

i. the reading thing

"How do you even read that?, I mean you do know nearly all of us suffer from something you might not know about called dyslexia, don't you find it prideful?" Luke was nearly tired of the girls who nagged you on and on mad about your skill in reading even with dyslexia.

"Yes, I do find pride in my reading skills. It's no different than the way you find pride in your archery abilities, Florence," you responded, never with irritation or sadness, you always lived up to the name granted to you.

They call her Honey. She's always been sweet and kind to everyone around her. Luke has known her for a while now, but he never really thought about her deeply. She's just always been there, like a steady presence in his life. Sure, he's been noticing things about her that he never really paid attention to before.

The way she smiles when she greets you, her infectious laughter, and how she never seems to have a bad word to say about anyone.

He doesn't know why he's suddenly seeing her in a different light, but there's something about her that's drawing him in. Maybe it's because she never spoils in a mood, or maybe it's because she's always been there for everyone without ever asking for anything in return. Whatever it is, there should be a proper explanation for it.

"Maybe you should stop staring and just walk up to her," Chris says nudging Luke as he moves his stare anywhere that isn't you.

Luke uncrosses his arms and turns to walk away, "I don't know what you're talking about man." Luke mumbles as he starts to walk away, where? don't ask him where he doesn't know, yet.

Chris walks along Luke matching his fast pace, "Okay, so you wouldn't mind if I asked her out?" Luke stopped in his tracks and turned his body towards Chris "Why would I? At least two guys ask her out, a day." Luke says nudging his head towards a son of Ares already moving to approach you.

Luke doesn't blame him, you're stunning, always glowing brighter than the sun, and somehow no daughter of Aphrodite draws attention like you do. Yet that's not all, you're smart, ambitious, and determined, how can someone be so amazing all the time?

After minutes of Luke staring off into space, Chris lets out an audible huff, "Wouldn't mind my ass."

ii. flowers

No, it's just a joke, he wouldn't actually be right. Why am I even thinking about this a day later?

Though I mean seriously, a son of Ares? pfft, as if.

He's not good enough for her.

Are you?

an ugly voice said.

Maybe not, but I do know I'm willing to try, for her at least.

Honey knelt in the wildflower field, her slender fingers delicately plucking vibrant blooms from the earth. The sun bathed the meadow in a golden glow, casting a radiant halo around her as she gathered the colorful blossoms, her focus entirely on the beautiful task at hand.

My eyes widened in awe at the sight of Honey amidst the sea of wildflowers, her quiet grace juxtaposed against the lively landscape.

I approached her with cautious steps, not wanting to disturb the tranquility of the moment.

"Hey, Honey right?" I ask, my voice is filled with fake curiosity. Startled by my sudden presence, Honey looked up, her cheeks flushed with surprise.

A soft smile graced her lips "Erm- yeah, but you already knew that Luke..." she said, yet there was no hint of judgment in her voice.

"Oh right, yeah I did." I rub the back of my neck, okay what? I've never been this nervous. Where's overly confident Luke when I need him?

"I was just wondering- I mean I've seen you around you know and I was wondering if you wanted to like go apple picking with me tomorrow or something? I don't know we've never even talked so we don't have to." yet again she gave me another soft smile, maybe in sympathy. I'm not sure.

Fuck this. I'm not a nervous guy.

I knelt down and plucked a wildflower, just as beautiful as her.

Her gaze shifts from the flower in my hand, to me.

"I know I'm being weird, of course, I know who you are." slowly just in case she wants to protest I reach up and pull a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Every time you walk into the room, I can't help but watch you. It's like you have this light around you that draws me in, and I find myself captivated by everything you do. The way you smile, the way you laugh, even the way you get lost in your thoughts- it's all so intriguing to me. I just wanted you to know that you've been on my mind a lot, and I can't seem to shake this feeling of wanting to know you better." I say softly.

placing the flower there on her ear, I couldn't help but admire how the vibrant flower complements her natural beauty. The vivid petals of the flower stood out against her soft skin, creating a striking contrast that accentuated her loveliness.

feeling overwhelmed by the sight of her, awestruck by her beauty that outshone even the most exquisite bloom, I look away only looking back up at the sound of her soft laugh.

"Oh Luke, please don't feel embarrassed; if anything I'm flattered really," she gives me that smile again, gods I like the feeling of being the one who makes her smile like that.

"If it helps I've been thinking of you too, the way you carry yourself with such confidence, I've caught myself looking for you in a crowd, hoping to catch your eye and share a smile." Relief urges itself through my body, and hope swims in my eyes.

I nod with a smile on my lips,

"I'd love to go apple picking with you."

This felt like it took me YEARS to complete, I'm on summer break so i'll be on here more often. Thank you guys for reading and remember to follow me!! 😼

should I make a tag list?

REQUEST ARE VERY MUCH OBLIGED.

#luke castellan #luke castellan fluff #luke castellan x fem!reader #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan x y/n #luke castellan x you #luke castellan fic #percy and annabeth #percy and luke #percy jackon and the olympians #luke castellan imagine #luke castellan oneshot #pjo series #the last olympian #percy jackson #percabeth

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miryum · 6 months ago

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"The Red Arrow"

Summary: Detective!Jason Todd x detective!Reader based on Jake and Amy's relationship

Series Warnings: Swearing, descriptions of violence (but nothing descriptive), guns and other police stuff

Series Masterlist

Mp/n: mispronounced name W/n: wrong name N/n: nickname

I combined two episodes- just a heads up

Y/n stood next to Cass behind the two-way glass, carefully watching a redhead sitting in the interrogation room. Jason stood silently in the corner. The redhead was a burly man, feet thrown up on the metal table, causally singing. “What’s going on?” Y/n scrunched her nose.

“Picked him up on more than a dozen counts of identity theft,” Cass said. “His name is Roy Harper. Ever seen him?”

“Nope. Although, I will admit, he’s one of the hotter perps. Definitely smash.” Jason grunted at Y/n’s words.

From inside the interrogation room, Roy sang, “Cassandra…. Cassandra…. Caaaassandraaaaaa…. oooooh yeah….” Y/n snickered and Jason couldn’t hold back a smirk.

Ignoring Roy, Cass said, “he said he wanted to talk to a Mp/n or W/n L/n. Whatever.”

“Why would he want me? And, should I change my name to W/n L/n? Cause it sounds super badass.”

“He said he has some info about someone with arrows?” Cass shrugged.

“Arrows?” Y/n’s eyes widened. She muttered to herself, “he knows the Red Arrow.” She grabbed Cass by her shoulders and demanded, “listen to me. He specifically said he knows someone who uses arrows?”

“Yeah. I literally just said that.”

“Right, right, sorry.” A laugh bubbled out of Y/n. She practically ran into the interrogation room, Jason following on her heels. He wasn’t about to let her be alone with a criminal. Cass sighed and marched after them.

“So, I used to work in a pawn shop,” Roy explained after introductions. Y/n sat forward, hanging on to his every word. “Chill hours, absent boss, perfect place to snag jewels and stuff. Uh, not that I’ve ever done that,” he hurriedly added. Cass’ jaw twitched. “Anyway, this guy came in a lot, selling rubies.”

Y/n gasped. “Just like the Red Arrow!” she exclaimed.

“I mean, we called him Miguel, but whatever.” Roy shrugged.

“I’ve been chasing this guy for six years!” Y/n turned to look at Jason and Cass, explaining her passion for this random thief. “He always steals red rubies from high tech jewellery stores and spray paints a red arrow before he leaves, hence the name. He never left any evidence and he’s never been caught on camera. He’s a ghost!”

“Super ghost,” Roy whispered, eyes gleaming.

“Super ghost!” Y/n yelled out, agreeing.

“Before anything else happens, we need to know this guy’s legit,” Jason said. “Describe him.”

“Uh…” Roy hummed. “Mexican dude, maybe 5’8”? He has this pointy little beard and always wears a purple tie.”

“So would you say he looks sort of like,” Y/n whipped up a drawing of the man Roy was describing. “This?”

Roy winked. “There‘s that sexy motherfucker, Miguel.”

“This is a composite sketch from ten interviews I've done,” Y/n said in awe. “A perfect match.”

Cass wasn’t satisfied. “So all you know is what a bunch of other idiots have said over the years. Big whoop. Anything else?”

“Yeah.” Roy sat back and his teeth flashed as he grinned. “I know how to get in touch with him.”

Y/n gasped and emphasised, “Roy Harper!” Jason clicked his tongue, unimpressed.

“Ah, Brown. Just the woman I was looking for.” Captain Wayne stopped by Stephanie’s desk, looking down at her. “Clark has accepted an offer to teach at the University of Florence for the next six months.”

“Oh, I love Italy,” Steph said, still unsure as to why her Captain was telling her this.

“Clark and I belong to the Park Slope Racquet Club, where we've established a squash doubles dynasty.” Bruce explained, “we've taken home the trophy two years in a row. Unfortunately, he’ll be flying to Florence this year during the tournament. I remember you told me you played in college…” he trailed off and glanced at Steph hopefully.

“Three-time intramural champion at Sarah Lawrence,” Steph said proudly. “Would have been four, but senior year I played Lord Farquaad in our school's production of ‘Shrek.’”

Wayne hummed, unsure of how to respond. “In any case, I would be honoured if you would take Clark’s place so that I could still compete.”

Stephanie blanched, yet offered a thumbs up. “Absolutely! I would love to do that!”

“Fantastic,” Wayne said.

“Yup! That is great. This is great.” She slowly stood and manoeuvred over to Dick’s desk before collapsing in a seat next to him. “This is terrible.”

“Why? You’ve always said you wanted more quality time with Wayne.” Dick set down his pen.

“No, not like this,” Steph shook her head. “Squash brings out my competitive side. Breaking racquets, cursing, excessive use of the bird.” Her eyes widened in fear. “One time, just to psych a guy out, I locked eyes with him and ate a squash ball.”

“That's not possible.”

"I can still feel it rolling around in me, Dick.”

“Look, the point is to have fun,” he tried to reassure her. “So just relax and have fun.”

“Right, right, right, yeah. I mean, it's just a game. It's fun. There's no need for Wayne to see me unleash the beast.” She laughed nervously. “Okay.”

“The burner phone that Roy uses to contact the Red Arrow is at his house.” Y/n pressed her hands together and pointed at Captain Wayne, a hopeful look plastered on her face. “He's agreed to help us catch the Arrow if…. We drop all charges against him,” she said quickly, almost as she hoped her superior didn’t hear her.

Captain Wayne sat behind his desk, analysing his detectives. “How many rubies would you say this Red Arrow has stolen?”

“Fifty-eight, that I know of.” Y/n said, “but the real number could be in the thousands!”

Wayne squinted at Y/n. “You’re not very good at maths,” he stated. Turning to Cass, he asked, “what are the charges against Harper?”

“Thirteen counts of identity theft, but I’ve been chasing him for more than a month.”

“A month?” Y/n scoffed. “I’ve been chasing the Red Arrow for more than six years. Do you know how many months that is?”

“Seventy-two,” Wayne answered instantly.

Y/n pursed her lips and murmured, “Ten…? Five and seven… and four years… wait, months?”

“Do you need a maths tutor?” Captain Wayne asked. “Because the department will provide one.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious,” Y/n muttered.

“I’m on the fence,” Wayne admitted, returning to the matter at hand. “Cain, you caught him. It’s your call.”

“Cass,” Y/n turned to her friend, practically begging. “This guy is for real. One thousand pushups.”

Cass’ eyebrows shot up. “One thousand pushups? Alright. I’m in.” She shrugged.

“What’s one thousand pushups?” Bruce asked.

Y/n explained, “we were in the academy together and hated the drills. So now, when we're on a case, if one of us says one thousand pushups, it means ‘I'm so sure I'm right that if I'm wrong, I'll do one thousand pushups.’”

“It’s a pact we made,” Cass added. “It means ‘trust me.’ And I do,” she added with a smile.

Wayne nodded. “Make the deal.”

Y/n cheered, “yes! I’ve got you now, Red Arrow! Wow! It feels good to say that in front of actual people instead of the mirror. Okay! Let’s grab the burner, contact and catch the Arrow, and become police legends.”

Later, Roy stood in front of his house, flanked by Y/n and Cass, the latter in her signature leather jacket. “Babysitter’s car is here,” he said. “They’re home.”

“Babysitter?” Y/n scrunched her nose. “You have a kid?”

“Yeah,” Roy beamed. “Little girl called Lian. Can I take my cuffs off?”

“No,” Cass deadpanned.

“Lian doesn’t know I’m a criminal!” Roy protested. “She thinks I own a construction company.”

“Why stop there?” Y/n shrugged. “Tell her you’re an astronaut.”

“Nah, man,” Roy shook his head. “Space is scary. You saw what it did to Matt Damon. I don’t wanna staple my skin together.”

“You got a point.” Y/n shot Cass a look. “Come on, Cain.”

Cass huffed and rolled her eyes. “You can play-act with your daughter for three minutes until we get the burner. One false move and I tase you in front of your daughter,” she threatened.

“Geez, dude. Harsh,” Y/n sucked in a breath. She mouthed towards Roy, “Don’t worry, she loves me too much to do that.” Roy nodded back dramatically.

He unlocked the door and a small voice shouted out, “Daddy!” A tumbling mess of toddler came barreling down the hall and into Roy’s arms. Y/n cooed, heart melting. Roy grunted, picking Lian up and spinning her around.

“Hey, baby! How you doing?”

“Good! Lois and I were playing Veterinarian.”

“Ooh! Sounds fun. Where is Lois?” Roy looked around.

“Cleaning up!” A voice shouted from down the hall.

“Why aren’t you at work?” Lian asked. “And who are they?” She pointed at Y/n and Cass and Roy gently reminded her it’s rude to point.

“They’re my coworkers!” Roy snickered, “Cass is a director on my board of directors and Y/n is my financial planner.”

Y/n winced and hummed, “yes. Stocks and numbers. Money. Very important. Did you know that four twenty-five dollar bills equal a hundred dollar bill?” Cass simply sighed and rubbed her temples. “Speaking of which,” Y/n said, noting her friend’s expression, “we should find that phone. So we can get back to building… buildings.”

“Right, right.” Roy let Lian down and said, “it’s in the spare bedroom.”

“I’ll go with you,” Y/n volunteered. “Cass can stay here with Lian and Lois.” Cass glared at her, but agreed.

Roy led Y/n through the house, waving to Lois and asking about Lian’s day. The spare bedroom was filled to the brim with toys and stuffed animals from Lian and memorabilia from Roy’s younger days. Roy dug the out burner phone and presented it to Y/n who quickly typed out a message. “Back in the game,” she narrated. “When can we meet up?”

“Ooh, you’re good at this criminal thing,” Roy commented. “If you ever wanna quit your cop thing, I could use your intelligence.”

“Aw, thanks man. How long until he usually responds?”

“Like, ten minutes?” Roy shot her a look. “Chill, dude.”

“I can’t chill!” Y/n bounced up and down. “I've never been this close before.”

“I gotta admit, your enthusiasm makes me want you to catch him.”

Y/n placed a sincere hand to her heart. “Thank you.” She noticed a pile of DVDs in the corner. “You still have those?”

“Yeah. I robbed a store a couple years back and kept my favourites.”

Y/n crouched down and scanned the titles. “Goonies, Princess Bride… The Sandlot! Dude! You have the best taste in movies!”

“Gotta have the classics,” Roy said. “Yes, ma’am, the American stories of promise and inspiration.”

“Inconceivable,” Y/n muttered, grinning.

“I’m not sure that word means what you think it means,” Roy said in a stilted accent.

“Hey, you guuuuys!” They crowed together.

“Hurry up, Benny! My clothes are going outta style!” Roy quoted.

“They already are!” Y/n cried back, both giggling.

“Hey,” Cass stepped into the room. “You guys having fun?” Lian gripped onto the detective’s hand, smiling brightly. Cass’s eyes screamed, 'Cause I’m not. Her hair was decorated in braids and she looked as if she wanted to rip them out.

The phone suddenly chimed and Y/n practically dropped it trying to see the Red Arrow’s response. “Parking lot on Flatbush and Vanderbilt in 15 minutes. Let's go.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Roy held up his hands. “Cain looks like a dirty criminal. But you,” he pointed accusingly at Y/n who still wore her GCPD jacket, “look like a cop, man. You can't go over there like that.”

Y/n raised an eyebrow. “...What'd you have in mind?”

A couple minutes later, Y/n stepped out of Roy’s house wearing a striped shirt and jeans with a white suit buttoned in the middle, sleeves rolled up. Y/n giggled, a moment away from breaking out into laughter. “I don't look like a cop now.”

“No, you look like Backstreet Boys meets Jonas Brothers,” Cass said.

Roy laughed, “Burn!”

Y/n shook her head, “Nah, that's not a burn, that's cool.” As they walked to the parking lot, she commented, “Not gonna lie, the suit is kinda growing on me.”

Cass grunted, glaring out the parking lot. “There’s no one here. L/n…”

“A thousand pushups,” Y/n said softly. Cass took a slow, deep breath and nodded once.

“Incoming,” Roy hissed, eyebrows up and hands in pockets. “Who the hell are you?” he cried to the man walking towards them, very clearly not Miguel. “Where's Miguel?” Y/n frowned and eyed Cass.

“He hadn't heard from you in a while, so he sent me to make sure everything was cool,” the man said, shrugging.

“Apparently it's not,” Y/n muttered, kicking the pebbles at her feet. She had been so close.

“Who are they?” The man nodded to Y/n and Cass, glaring.

“They're with me,” Roy said. “This is the buyer. Rosa Santiago.” He gestured towards Y/n.

The man shook his head. “I don't know ‘em, I don't trust ‘em.” He stated his terms, “He meets with you alone or it's off. I'll text the address.”

The man walked away, not giving them another option. Once he was out of earshot, Y/n groaned, “Come on! I promise you this: they have not heard the last of Rosa Santiago!” She shook her fist at the back of the retreating man. She pivoted to face Roy and Cass and announced, “Okay, it's worth the risk. We send him in alone.”

Cass argued, “no, we don’t! Something doesn't smell right to me.”

Roy shrugged. “Could be my dad's suit. He died in it.”

Y/n’s eyes widened. “He died in it?! Wait… this is a man’s suit? Why does it fit me so well…?”

Roy’s burner phone pinged and he said, “they just sent the location.” He studied his phone and exhaled loudly. “Man, this dude is cautious. If I show up one minute late or I'm not alone, he is done with me.” He pursed his lips and said to Y/n, “this is your last shot.”

Y/n shook her head and picked at her skin. “I can't let the Red Arrow get away.” After a moment of contemplating, she decided, “put a wire on him, get a tactical team in as backup.” She begged Cass, “please, it's the only way.” When the older detective didn’t look impressed, Y/n tried to convince her. “Harper and I know this guy. You have to trust us.”

Cain scoffed. “Do I? One of you is a criminal, and the other one is dressed like a knockoff of fucking Steve Harvey.” She poked her tongue in her cheek and decreed, “it's over. I'm ending this now.” She sighed. “Sorry, Y/n. Truly, I am.”

Y/n stared at her and couldn’t help but cross her arms. ”Seriously, Cain?”

“Yeah.” She repeated the words Y/n had promised earlier, “one thousand pushups.”

Y/n’s chin jutted up. “Well, I raise you. Two thousand pushups.”

“What?” Cass frowned. “That's not how this works. I said "one thousand pushups.” You have to back me up, L/n. That's the pact; end of story.”

“Well, I break the pact,” Y/n said abruptly. “Cass, I hope you understand how serious this is to me.” She whined in a deep voice, “Can't you read between the lines, man?”

“Don't quote Die Hard.”

“Sorry. But we're still sending him in alone.”

Captain Wayne wore shorts and a t-shirt, something Steph was still getting used to seeing. She, however, was on the sidelines, fiddling with her racquet. “You ready, Brown? Psyched up?”

“No, why?” she asked. “Do I seem psyched? 'Cause I'm definitely not. I- I just want to have fun!” She ran a hand through her hair.

“And to win,” Wayne reminded her slowly.

“Hey hey hey!” Steph shrugged dramatically, pulling at her shirt. “If we all have fun and don't throw any racquets and don't eat squash balls, then we're all winners.”

“What?!”

“Nothing. I'll serve.”

The game started with Stephanie serving and after a couple hits, their opponent called, “out.”

“What?” Steph shouted. “Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Then, as if a switch flipped in her head, she gave a high-pitched chuckle and gritted her teeth. “That was... fun. That was a fun call. You're a real fun guy, fun guy. This is fun! This is fun! Right?” Her knuckles turned white on her racquet.

Y/n prepped Roy Harper in the back of a police van. “We need evidence, so get him talking,” she encouraged him. “Ask questions about money, jewels, specifics.”

Roy clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I'm getting kind of nervous, man. This dude is for real. You sure you have everything covered?”

“Yeah. There's a guy on the back door, eyes on the side door, and two dudes on the corner. You'll be fine.”

“What about choppers?” Roy asked. “Do you have access to choppers? With snipers and rockets and shit?”

“No one has rocket choppers,” Cain deadpanned.

“Although that does sound amazing,” Y/n added, eyes lighting up with the possibilities.

“We got eyes on the Arrow.” A voice announced through a walkie talkie. “He's a block and a half away.”

“You ready?” Y/n asked Roy.

Roy nodded. “You and me, N/n. We were born ready.”

“Yeah! Go, Roy, go! You got this! Show me your game face! Whoo!” Y/n hyped him up as he exited the van, clapping him on the shoulders. Once the doors had closed behind Roy, she turned to Cass and stage-whispered, “his game face makes him look constipated.”

Y/n leaned over the audio transmitter and muttered, “we meet at last, Red Arrow. For six years I've tracked you. And today I'm taking you down.” She said into the microphone, “Roy Harper, can you hear me? Say something to test the wire.”

“Hey, Cain, after we put the cuffs on this guy,” Roy waggled his eyebrows. “I'll be free for dinner. And I’m sure Lian would love another playmate. What do you say?”

“The mic works,” is all Cass said.

“Miguel! What's up?”

Roy called out and another voice filtered through. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Roy rambled, “let's talk about jewels. I’m working at the shop again. I can deal with anything you want. Red jewels, blue jewels, one jewel, two jewels. Jewels are really great, aren't they? Real pretty.”

“What is he doing?” Cain asked in disbelief.

“Talking about jewels,” Y/n said as if it was obvious.

“You know what else is great about jewels?” Roy continued, “The way they look. They’re just so pretty.”

Cass shook her head. “That's it. I'm calling it.”

“No!” Y/n shrieked.

“Move, people, we're going in now.” She banged open the door and the other officers ran onto the scene. “On your knees! Hands on your head!” In the basement where the deal was going down, they surrounded a man who was Mexican, maybe 5’8”, had a pointy little beard, and wore a purple tie. He was clutching a thick briefcase and nervously complied with their demands, dropping the briefcase.

“Gotcha, Red Arrow,” Y/n’s chest bloomed with excitement and pride, having finally caught her prize. “Wait, where's Roy Harper?”

“Uh, he went to the bathroom.” The man stammered, unsure if this was all a trick. “I- I'm just here to cut his hair. I don't know what's going on.”

Y/n hummed, “A likely story, Red Arrow…” She bent down and opened the briefcase, revealing scissors, razors, and other supplies. “But you actually do have a lot of hair products.”

“He's gone. He ran,” Cass confirmed.

“Why would he do that?” Y/n exclaimed. “He helped us catch the Red Arrow. That was the deal. This doesn't make any sense unless…” Her mouth fell open and she realised, “Roy Harper is the Red Arrow.”

As Y/n stood there, shocked, Cass immediately jumped into action. “Put out an APB. Seal off everything for a 20-block radius.”

The audio transmitter beeped and Roy’s voice said, “Yeah, don't bother looking for me. I'm in the wind.” He made a ‘whoosing’ noise into the microphone.

“If you're close enough for me to hear you, you're close enough for me to catch you!” Y/n called back.

“Nah, I got a relay set up, sister.”

“So if you're the Red Arrow, who's this dude?” Y/n asked.

“Well, a couple of years ago you were getting really close, so I started telling all my peeps that if they ever get caught, they should say I’m Mexican, 5’8”, have a pointy beard and always wears a purple tie.”

Y/n nodded stoically. “So then you hired a guy who matched that exact description….”

Roy laughed. “No, no, no, no, no, no. That's my barber, Miguel Barragan. He gave me the idea.”

Miguel was cutting Roy’s hair and commented, “you know, if you can't come in, I do house calls. You just text me a location and I could be there in half an hour.”

Roy beamed. “Good to know.”

“You know, you should actually use him while he's there. He'll give you a crazy good fade. Lian says he… layers her hair? I don’t know.”

“I get crazy good layers from my current barber, thank you very much.” Y/n deduced, “So you dragged us over here, went in there, pretended to talk, and then snuck out the basement. Am I right?”

Roy squealed. “The basement connected to another basement! Which connected to a garage, which is where my boy picked me up with Lian.”

“Your boy? Oh, that guy from the meet-up. He works for you.” Y/n rolled her sleeves up and tugged at a strand of her hair. “He pretended to be spooked by me and Cain in the parking lot to make sure we let you go to the next meeting by yourself.”

“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! You win a prize!”

“You lied to me, Roy Harper,” Y/n whispered dramatically, somewhat hurt and somewhat impressed.

“You brought your daughter along?” Cass mumbled.

“Gotta be honest, I'm pretty disappointed right now,” Y/n shook her head.

“Sorry it had to go down this way, L/n.” To his credit, Roy sounded a little sad. “Maybe we could've been friends in another world.” He paused then cackled. “If I hadn't just fooled you like a little- Lian, cover your ears- bitch!” An engine revved in the background. “Bitch!”

Y/n shouted back before the line when dead, “You use that mouth to kiss your daughter, Harper?!”

“Brown.” Captain Wayne approached his teammate after a particular gruelling and unfortunate match. “Is everything okay, uh, with your brain?”

“Yeah yeah. I'm great,” Steph said. “I am having… a lot of fun.”

“Yes, I’m sure, given as you’ve said that one hundred and forty three times today.” Wayne pulled her aside and reminded her, “you do realise that if we lose this next match, we're out of the tournament?”

“Yes, but the important thing is we had a good time.”

“No!” Wayne yelled. ”The important thing is that we win the trophy! I promised Clark before he left for Italy that we would do that.” He sighed before admitting, “do you know why I chose you as my partner?”

“Because I'm the most athletic person you know?” Steph’s voice ended in a high pitched question.

“No, otherwise I would chose Todd. I chose you because of an article I read in the "Sarah Lawrence Phoenix" about a young woman they called ‘squash's unhinged lunatic.’” He pokes her in the chest for extra measure.

Stephanie swallowed harshly. “I- I haven't a clue what you're talking about, Captain.”

“According to that article,” Wayne said, ”that lunatic was 27-0. I need her on my team. I need you… to unleash the beast.”

Steph’s eyes grew wide and she inhaled sharply. Captain Wayne’s smile was just as sharp.

“Whoo!” Steph paraded into the court. “You butternuts ready to get squashed?” Their opponents stared at her and she mocked them. "’Huh? What? Duh?’ That's gonna be you guys while I smoke your butts, because Brucie and the Beast don't even give a what.” She sang the last word and waved her arms dramatically.

Bruce repeated stoically, ”we don't give a what.”

“Unh-uh. Whoo! Let's do this.”

The matches went on, and with the Beast unleashed, Stephanie and Bruce won every single one- not without earning a reputation.

“Boo-ya-kah, suckers!”

Whenever someone called her shot out, Steph had a few choice words. “You kidding me? Are you kidding me?”

But when they won a point, she was enthusiastically crazed, even to the point where she slapped Captain Wayne on the butt. “Way to go! That's it, baby!”

Y/n approached Cass’s desk. “Hey,” she mumbled. “So… I went back to his house. Unsurprisingly a dead end.”

“I have a lot of work to do, L/n,” Cass said firmly, standing up to leave.

“Wait. I want to say something.” Y/n sighed and began, “we've worked together long enough to know that you hate apologies. So, I just wanted to ask you to join the Roy Harper case. Officially, as partners. I wanna catch this guy and I can't do it without you.”

“No, you can't,” Cass agreed.

“Now I believe I owe you one thousand pushups.” Y/n grimaced.

Cass gave her friend a small smile. “I don't care about the pushups, Y/n. I care that you didn't honour our pact. I've always trusted you, and when you went against me, it made me feel like you don't trust me.”

“I know and I'm sorry. It won't happen again,” Y/n promised.

“No, it won't. Now get down on the floor.”

What?” Y/n yelped. “You just said you didn't care about the pushups!”

“I changed my mind.”

Taking a long breath, the detective said, “Fair enough. A pact's a pact.” She nodded at Cass, knowing she couldn’t back down. Y/n shed her jacket, stared Cass in the eye, and stooped to the ground, beginning to honour her deal. “One, two, three…”

“Two hundred and sixty nine…”

“Heh. Sixty-nine.” Damian chuckled as he sauntered by, snapping a picture of his best friend. “I’m using this for blackmail,” he shouted back at her.

“Okay!” Y/n gave him a weak thumbs up before going back to her pushups.

“Five hundred and thirteen…”

Jason walked past her, calling out, “Night, L/n.”

“Night. Five hundred and fourteen…” she panted.

“Hey, Derek,” Y/n greeted the night janitor. Derek waved back. “One thousand…” she did one more pushup before whining the rest of her sentence. “Is so many pushups! I'm never gonna make it.” She shouted out, “What am I at?”

Captain Wayne marched by. “Nine hundred and one.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“You said two thousand, remember?”

“Argh! I should've trusted you, Ca-a-a-in!” she sobbed loudly, a stripe of sweat staining the back of her shirt.

“Clark, there's something we'd like to show you.” Stephanie and Captain Wayne day in front of his computer, face-timing with Bruce’s husband, Clark.

“Ta-da!” Steph held up the trophy proudly.

“Ah, magnificent.” Clark said from Italy. “The trophy is ours! I look forward to getting number four next year.”

“Actually, we've been banned for life from all future tournaments.” Wayne sucked air in through his teeth, leaning back in his chair.

“Oh, geez. What happened?”

Stephanie popped back into screen. “My fault, Clark.” The bruises on her arms and legs confirmed her words. “I snapped the second-place trophy over my knee and threw it in a toilet.”

“...Oh, my.”

“Yeah.”

“But the important thing is, we had fun,” Bruce smiled softly.

“Yeah,” Stephanie agreed.

“I don’t want to do it,” Dick said. “She’s not my problem.”

“She’s literally your problem,” Steph rolled her eyes. “You’re her sergeant.”

“And as your sergeant,” Dick said. “I command you to take care of L/n.”

Stephanie glared at him. “You’re abusing your powers, Grayson,” she whispered ominously. “Get Todd to do it!”

“Todd’s already taken care of her,” Dick nodded to Jason who had placed a doughnut and a cup of coffee on Y/n’s desk and a blanket over Y/n’s sleeping form. He had attempted to place a pillow under her head, but when he tried, Y/n had grumbled and whined. Jason didn’t want to disturb her, so he just left her on the floor. Every moment or so, Jason would glance down at Y/n to make sure she was still sleeping peacefully and a loud noise hadn’t roused her.

“They really are idiots,” Steph muttered.

“Yeah,” Dick sighed. “They are.”

#title of your sex tape #jason todd x reader #jason todd #dc x reader #dcu #detectives au #brooklyn 99 #b99 #b99/dcu #slow burn

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blueiight · 9 months ago

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“…i was haunted by my brother’s death, by the abandonment of my sister…”

majority of the conversation around paul in the amc setting revolves around the question of whodunnit, jokes about him at the second dinner table scene of the pilot, or paralleling his mental illness to louis [a parallel the show admittedly draws upon - with louis stopping his suicide attempt bc “paul forever ruining grace’s wedding night, and [louis] not wanting to do the same to claudia on the anniversary of her escape”] what i intend to focus on, is the specific nature of paul’s complaints with respect to levi, and what paul and claudia represent to louis.

in the book, paul wants louis to sell the plantations & town homes they own in new orleans, and give louis the money so that paul could travel and become a missionary saving france from the godless jacobins. the paul that we’re introduced to in the show is… similar in motivation, but fundamentally divergent. tithe the money over to st. augustine’s so the house dont fall in on them, but the first dinner table goes as this after he says that:

whats of note too is the divergence of the draft v the pilot release. the show excises the freniere family w the exception of levi himself to drive home how paul’s objections to levi’s religious and ethnic background are overruled by the lingering shadow of jim crow.

paul is also reminded that his autonomy is conditional in this first dinner scene here: louis quips back to his point about sugarcane with “if daddy was still here, you’d be locked up in that asylum over in jackson”. its a reminder of the earlier point, but also speaks to something else.

bc of paul’s profound mental illness, he would never be allowed to live an autonomous life, much less hold authority over anyone: whether its the man of the house [as louis was in the du lac family], or as a bride [grace] or as the mother [florence].

this is strongly reminiscent of claudia — someone whos personal autonomy is entirely dependent on the purview of physically mature vampires by nature of permanently being trapped in the body of a preteen. it is also reminiscent of claudia in that louis in both cases plays a sort of savior in relation to them — whether its louis taking paul out of the asylum, or louis taking claudia out of the burning rooming home. louis views paul and claudia, especially claudia, as people that save him from his own self-loathing.. claudia somehow possessing this redemptive quality re: baby jesus…

louis loves both of them deeply, but as iwtv has established, love as a feeling does not exempt someone from enacting violence toward you. in fact, the very loved one that harmed you has an entire framework of rationalizing that violent act as being ‘for your[my] own good’ as is.

the title of this little post comes from the season one finale, where louis collapses in on himself to try to make sense of why he spared lestat, invoking paul and grace to create this red herring to the ‘murder of lestat’. but truly, the thread is false. louis did not abandon grace, and lestat’s death was only an attempted murder sabotaged by louis. modern day louis in the season finale triggers himself through daniel in order to provoke armand, the “protector of his pain”, to reveal himself + question him on the death of claudia, just as he questioned lestat on the death of paul in s1e6.

#yn.#iwtv #louis de pointe du lac #claudia #paul de pointe du lac #tldr: he ended on a good note w paul but a bad one w claudia & thats why hes so regretful/did the 2nd interview in 2022

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dearmantis · 2 years ago

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So I stayed in the darkness with you

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova/The Darkling x wife!Reader

Summary: When you finally wake up and the joy of seeing your husband alive and well dies down you have a conversation you've always wanted to avoid.

Warnings: mentions of death, murder and violence, mentions of grisha persecution, this is not a healthy relationship but they love each other very much, slight gaslighting, mentions of human trafficking

Word Count: 3.6k words

Authors Note: I really thought I would never write this, but I'm having a rare moment where I crave comfort. Also, a few people asked for this (and apparently, some people cried after part 2??? I'm so sorry about that I hope you guys are alright now!). I think this is the end of this? Its not the ending I expected when I first wrote the A lost embrace one shot but it is where we ended up. I hope you guys like it :) I'm not a native English speaker and this isn't edited.

The title of this part (and the name of the series) is from Cosmic Love by Florence + the Machine

Previous Part | Masterlist

When you wake up, it's to the sound of a few birds chirping outside and waves crashing against rocks. You don't open your eyes for a while, instead choosing to enjoy the soft atmosphere around you, letting yourself glide into consciousness slowly and carefully.

It's warm and soft, wherever you are. You feel safe.

Your arms and legs still feel a bit sore even without trying to move them, so you simply breathe in and back out, enjoying the fresh air that faintly smells of lavender, salt and rosemary.

With every minute you spend laying there, eyes still tightly closed, you notice more things around you.

A weak breeze moves the leaves on a tree outside. Occasionally, you can hear muffled steps coming from somewhere other than wherever you are right now. Someone other than you is in the room, fabric rustling quietly when they move. You're not afraid.

It takes a while until you feel ready to try and open your eyes, and when you do, your gaze imediately and instinctively move to the chair next to your bed where your husband is waiting for you, his dark eyes glued to your face and a glass of water in his hand. He's not wearing his kefta, you notice. Just a black shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Not a single speck of gold is visible on him.

A small smile charms itself onto your lips before you can stop it.

"Do you feel ready to rejoin the world of the living?" he asks quietly, waiting for your nod before reaching over to hold the glass of water against your lips.

You empty the glass quickly, your dry throat desperate for any kind of liquid. He takes the glass away slowly, moving to fill it up with more water before placing it back against your lips.

You drink three glasses of water that way. That's how much you need to drink to banish the itching from your throat. Damn those soldiers.

"How long... how long was I asleep?" You ask after Aleksander places the glass back down on the nightstand next to the bed. He doesn't respond for a while, instead moving carefully to check if your body is fully tucked in and warm under the thick blanket covering your body.

"Two weeks," He answers finally while he shuffles around. "You were woken up a few times to make sure you eat and drink, but I doubt you remember that. Fedyor thought it was best if your body got time to recover energy on its own. The two weeks in the cage, the torture, the starving and dehydration, lack of sleep, and even the healing took a huge toll on your body."

The Shadow Summoner moves back to his chair, but before he sits down, he checks if your pillow is fluffy, his gaze awfully serious considering his current task.

Letting the information settle for a bit, you look around in the room you're in. You don't recognize where you are. The old, dark wooden floors are new to you, just like the walls decorated with small drawings and letters you're too far away from to read. When you look outside, you see the ocean.

"Where are we?"

Your hand moves to grab Aleksanders wrist before he can step back to sit down on his chair again, carefully pulling him closer towards you. He looks tired, deep shadows visible below his dark eyes. He needs to rest, probably more than you do, considering you apparently slept for two full weeks. A small, amused smile finds its way onto his lips before he carefully moves to sit down next to you on the large bed you're occupying. You move to give him space, encouraging him to lay down instead of sitting.

"I'll be more relaxed if you're next to me," you reason when he tries to argue, and the mighty, dangerous Darkling gives in, slipping under your blanket and resting his head next to yours on the pillows. You're still mad at him, a deep-rooted hatred for him burning deep in your chest, hotter than the sun itself, but feeling him next to you is nice. It almost feels safe.

Once he settles down, he answers, his voice even quieter and softer than it was before.

"In Fjerda. Kenst Hjerte, to be exact."

Ulla. You're with Ulla. Outside of Ravka. Away from everything he has built. Away from his sun summoner.

"Ivan is still in Ravka with a few others to make sure that no Grisha are left in cages. The rest is up here."

You want to say something, like acknowledge the fact that it must've been almost impossible to move a large group of Grisha through Fjerda undetected, but you don't want to interrupt him. He has that far away look in his eyes, and you assume this must be the first time he's letting himself actually work through and think over the events of the past month.

"Ulla wasn't particularly excited to see such a huge group, you can probably imagine. She has never been fond of company, after all, but she accepted it as long as she could stay away, and I don't tell anyone about her presence."

A smirk appears on his lips, and his eyes find yours. "The last bit that convinced her was the absence of Baghra, of course. As soon as she found out that she was still in Ravka, she was suddenly alright with everyone staying as long as the group doesn't pull attention towards the islands, and no one get's close to her."

Mirroring his smile, you watch him for a few seconds, carefully turning your body to lay on its side.

"So we're hiding again."

Aleksander opens his mouth to respond, probably ready to justify his decision, not realising that he doesn't have to. You're glad. Disappearing back into hiding is arguably the first sensible decision he has made since the sun summoner showed up. You're just surprised that he got to this decision himself. He's usually not someone who admits defeat, at least not without you forcing him to. You expected him to do something stupid, like try to fight the entire First Army and the Sun Summomer on his own and get killed in the process.

"I've never really been in hiding before, not since I was a child, at least. Most of the others never had to be. This will probably be really weird, but I'm excited to learn. Are we going to stay here or move somewhere else?"

He seems a bit surprised by the fact that you're not against his decision, pausing for a few seconds to study your facial expressions before he answers.

"I hope to stay here as long as possible, but we have to be prepared to leave any minute. I hope that Ivans group can collect the last Grisha that don't want to serve Vasily and come up here without attracting too much attention, but it's impossible to tell if that will work out."

You nod slowly, carefully putting together a picture of what has happened in the month that you've been out of the loop.

"Do you think there's a risk that Vasily could find out that we're hiding here and tell the Grimjer family? Maybe as an offering of some kind to kindle peace between Ravka and Fjerda and end the war?"

The darkness that flickers in his eyes for just a second makes clear that he has thought about that possibility as well. It would make sense, after all. Give up the Darkling, his wife, and the Grisha that side with them in exchange for peace. You are all considered enemies of the ravkan royal family anyway, so it wouldn't be a loss for Vasily.

"The risk is always there, but I have hope that the preparation of the royal wedding will distract everyone enough to make sure that we can get everyone out of the country without anyone noticing. The people want to celebrate their sun queen and hope for a better future. It should be easy for skilled soldiers to get through and out of the country unnoticed."

It takes you a few seconds until you realize what he just said, and when you finally do, a confused frown appears on your face.

"Sun queen? Is Vasily marrying Alina?"

Aleksander nods.

"And you're not... you're not on your way to rip him to shreds and take her for yourself?"

He let's out a long, loud sigh and turns his head to look at the ceiling, choosing to stay silent for so long that you start to believe that he's not going to respond at all. The only proof that you have that he's actively thinking about his response are the shadows slowly crawling over the floor and walls, swallowing the room and covering you under the familiar blanket of his very own darkness.

You have spent many private moments like this, cloaked by his powers, including your first kiss, your first time sleeping together, and your wedding night. As long as he controls his shadows, you will always have a home.

When he finally does speak, it's soft and light as a feather, his voice drifting through the air like an ancient melody.

"In those two weeks where I was convinced I would be too late, that you were dead, I learned something very important about myself."

Behind him, the shadows crawl up to cover the window, swallowing the last bit of light in the room.

"You are part of me the same way the shadows are part of me. Even if I hate you and you hate me, I can't change that. Losing you would be like losing a vital organ. Even if you chose to despise me for eternity, to never speak to me again, I need to be around you. I'm not fully myself if I'm not with you, sweet girl. You are part of me, just like I hope I am part of you."

You can't see him, but you can hear how he turns his head to look at you. "You can hate your heart and your powers as much as you want, you can't get rid of either. You need both to survive. And I need you the same way."

If anyone else, literally anyone else in the whole world had said this to you, you would've laughed so loud that you could still hear it in the Fold, but hearing those words come out of Aleksanders mouth, especially in that tone, makes you pause.

You know how he sounds when he lies, how his tone shifts to make every word sound just a bit smoother, a bit more convincing, but none of those signs are noticeable now. It's just his voice, in the same, normal, serious tone he uses during important discussions. The same tone he uses when he marries you once every hundred years.

"I have waited many centuries for the sun summoner. I can wait a few more if that means I can keep you with me."

The shadows retreat from the window, letting sunlight back into the room, but they continue to cover the walls, floor, and ceiling.

The light shows you his facial expression, the warm smile that softens his features and smooths the wrinkles in his skin.

"And what if I don't want to stay with you?" You ask quietly, afraid that you could shatter the atmosphere if you speak too loudly. "You hurt me a lot, Aleksander. I don't think I can do this again. What do I do if you randomly decide that you actually want the sun summoner more than me? If you leave me behind? What do I do if she dies and a new sun summoner appears in 300 years and you fall in love with them as well? I can't be your little bed warmer that fills the space next to you until your sun summoner comes back. I'm not strong enough to go through this again. Not tomorrow, not in twenty years, not in a thousand years. I can't do it again."

You try to turn away from him, but before you even get the chance to move, he wraps his arm around your torso and pulls you on top of him, every inch of your body touching his. His large hands cup your face, forcing you to meet his gaze.

"What can I do to prove to you that I will never leave you again?" he asks earnestly, and you can't stop yourself from whispering as you harshly move your head to escape from his grasp, your voice so quiet that it barely makes a sound at all.

"Kill Alina"

Your husband laughs, this time louder, amusement clear in his gaze as he grasps your face once more to make sure your eyes meet his.

"What was that, little wife?"

"What?"

"What you just said. You said something about Alina."

"No, I didn't. What are you talking about? Why would I talk about her while I'm lying on top of you? You must be hallucinating because of how exhausted you are." Your face contorts with mock concern, and Aleksander scoffs, swatting your hand away when you try to touch his face the way he's touching yours. "You should really sleep, my love. This isn't healthy for you at all. Come on, let's sleep. Good night."

You lean forward to press a quick good night kiss onto his lips – more of a peck than a kiss, really – when his grip on your face suddenly tightens, a loud squeak leaving your lips as he pushes you off of him and positions himself above you, switching your positions.

For a few seconds, you just stare at each other, taking each other in for a few seconds until Aleksander slowly bends down to press his lips against yours.

It's a soft kiss. Slow and sweet with an underlying bitterness that you want to ignore but can't.

His weight on you is familiar despite the fact that he isn't crushing you into the mattress the way he usually would, holding himself up with his arms to keep the majority of his weight off of your still recovering body.

When he finally lifts his head and ends the kiss, you smile at him for a second before seriousness washes the softness from your face.

"I'm serious, Sasha. You hurt me. A lot. And I'm not strong enough to withstand this again. If you want your sun summoner, tell me now. I won't even leave, I promise, so you can just tell me. I just want to be prepared, please." Unshed tears fill your eyes, turning your sight blurry as you stare up at your husband who simply watches you, his own face focused solely on you, face blank like a sheet of paper as he listens to your words.

"You left me. After more than 200 years together, you left me for a child. You lied to me and deceived me, pushed me to the side, and ignored me. Two centuries of partnership thrown away because of her. How am I supposed to ever trust you again?"

You regret letting him turn you now. Sitting on top of him gave you a bit of strength, made you feel stronger and bigger than you really are, especially right now in your weakened state. Now you feel small, caged in by his body and his watchful gaze that you're unable to escape. Pathetic, that's how you feel. You should be stronger than this by now, yet here you are, fighting back tears like a child.

"What if you suddenly decide you want her instead of me in a year or two? Do I have to put myself into a life-threatening situation just to remind you that I'm apparently important to you? What will it take next time? All of Fjerda hunting me? Getting sold like cattle in Ketterdam? Experiments in Shu Han? Is that what needs to happen to keep you interested in me? Because that's not worth it, Aleksander. I love you, I do, but I deserve better than that."

He doesn't react for a while, his eyes simply studying your face while he thinks over his response. After a few minutes, he lets himself sink down next to you, laying back on his side, his gaze still glued to you.

Aleksanders dark eyes do not move from you for what feels like hours, taking in every pore, every wrinkle, every bit of texture, taking his time to catalogue every single milimetre of your face in his mind.

He watches how you try to blink away your tears, angry at yourself for showing weakness in a moment where you have to be strong, and he hates himself for pushing you so far away from his heart that you feel like being vulnerable around him, showing weakness in from of your own husband, is a mistake.

He watches you bite your chapped lips, tearing the flesh and covering your front teeth with a bit of blood. An act of self-punishment or a nasty habit you may have developed while he was occupied with Alina? He hates himself more for not being able to answer that question.

It takes a while, but then his hands move to cup your face, holding you like a precious gem, his rough hands suddenly softer than cotton.

Aleksander doesn't tear up like you do. His hands don't shake, and his voice doesn't break when he speaks, but you can feel his sincerity ringing in the air like a bell.

"I'm sorry."

He apologized several times when he found you. Panicked, pained apologies filled with dread and relief and more fear than anyone should be able to feel. But now he's calm. He's not scared of death ripping you out of his grasp in the next minute, isn't trying to lift some of his own guilt off his shoulders before you die in his arms. He had two weeks of processing his thoughts on his own. He had time to think over every mistake he has made, and he intends to right them, starting with you and what he has done to you.

"I'm sorry that I ever made you feel like you weren't enough. I'm sorry for acting like you aren't enough. I'm sorry for forgetting how much greater you are than me. You are and will always be the most precious thing in my life, the most wonderful thing the making could've ever given me. I am a foolish man, but I should know better than that. And you shouldn't forgive me. I do not deserve forgiveness, but I can't help but hope for it anyway. I pray that you find it in your endlessly kind heart to give me one last chance. If you do, my love, my beautiful, wonderful, perfect little wife, I swear I'll make you queen. I will end the Lantsov line and kill the sun summoner and give you the country we once called home. I will give you anything you want, I promise it."

A loud sob tears through your throat, tears running freely over your face and soaking into the pillow below you as you listen to him bear his old, rotten heart and soul to you.

"I don't want the throne," you rasp out. "I just want you. That's all I've ever wanted."

"I know. And I failed to give it to you, but I promise that this will never happen again. Kill me if it does. Stab me in the heart while I sleep, poison my food, slit my throat. I swear that I will not defend myself. Bring my head to the Apparat and let him turn you into a Saint if I betray you again, my love, but please give me this one chance to prove myself to you. I will not fail you again, I swear it."

You almost laugh at that, but the shimmering in his eyes stops you before you can even smile. It's like he's fighting himself to make sure he doesn't cry, reminding you that this is serious.

"I will actually do it, you hear me? If you betray me again, I will rally the Grisha against you. Ulla, too, while I'm at it. They like me more than you anyway. I'll chop your head off and give it to the Apparat and become Sankta Y/N of the dawn or whatever they end up calling me. I'll make sure there are thousands of paintings of how I murdered you. And I'll make it seem like it was easy, too. I'll tell them I overpowered you effortlessly and cut your heart out while you confessed your love to me or something. All of Ravka will make fun of how you died. It'll overshadow the horror stories about the Black Heretic. You will become the joke of a whole nation."

He smiles softly. "I would expect nothing less of you, my love."

You mirror his smile weakly, eyes flickering down to his lips twice before slowly leaning in. Aleksander waits for you, refusing to move while your breath ghosts over his lips.

"Are you sure?" he asks, waiting for you to decide what to do. The tension between you two is heavy, your nose filling with his oh so familiar scent with every breath you take.

"I am," you answer almost silently. "I don't forgive you, not yet. But I think I can give you one last chance. I think I can do it."

Laughing weakly, you continue, "Especially now that I'm allowed to murder you if you betray my trust again."

He hums, his nose brushing softly against yours as he waits for you to confirm your decision.

When you do, your lips pressing against his, it tastes like ash and death, like destruction and poison and chocolate and peace and promises.

It tastes like sin. It tastes like coming home. It tastes like love.

Taglist: @budugu @purebloodwitch @hells-escapees @savagejane1 @deadunicorn159

#aleksander morozova x reader #general kirigan x reader #darkling x reader #the darkling x reader

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gigglesandfreckles-hp · 1 month ago

Note

hi abi! hope you're doing good! since I'm curious, I wanted to ask for a prompt with number 100 from your wrapped!

(what was that one song that just barely made it onto your most listened to list? 👀)

And I am freaking out in the middle of the street With the complete conviction of someone who's never had anything actually really bad happen to them But I am committed now to the feeling Choreomania by Florence + the Machine

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

“Shit.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god. James!”

The voices sound distant, warped, like echoes trapped in a seashell. He used to press them to his ear on the beach as a kid, listening to the rush of waves with his mum and dad. Sandbanks. He hasn’t been there in years.

“Sirius!” Lily’s voice sharpens, louder now, though still strangely far away. “Go get a teacher! I’ll stay with him—I’ll…Rennervate.”

Warmth floods through him, pulling him out of the cold, aching numbness. His joints feel sluggish, his muscles protesting as they remember how to move. Lily is on the ground beside him in an instant, pulling his head into her lap, her hair cascading down like a curtain around his face, obscuring his view of her.

He feels an odd surge of frustration. He wants to see her.

She’s so pretty.

“James. James, look at me.”

“Trying,” he manages, his voice hoarse and barely audible.

She lets out a laugh, a sound of relief so raw it makes his chest tighten. Her forehead drops to his, her breath warm against his face.

“You’re freezing, Potter,” she murmurs, her hands cupping his cheeks. He wonders if she knows they’re icy, the touch almost jarring, but he doesn’t want her to stop touching him.

“Say something,” she demands, giving him a small shove even as her lips brush against his in a kiss that’s searing but far too brief. “What happened, James? Talk to me.”

He wants her to keep kissing him.

“James,” she repeats, and her voice wavers now, breaking. “Please. You’re—you’re scaring me.”

“They hexed me,” he croaks. “Body-bind.”

“Who?” she asks, her tone instantly snapping to fury. She hisses through her teeth. “I’m going to burn Slytherin House to the ground, I swear to God. If Slughorn doesn’t get his shit together and—” She stops abruptly, shaking her head and turning her focus back to him. She brushes her hair behind her ears, and he smiles faintly. He can see her now.

“I don’t understand. How did they find you? What were you doing out here?”

“I was flying,” he mutters. “Didn’t even see them—”

“They hexed you while you were flying?” she cries, her voice rising in anger. “They could have fucking killed you.”

He doesn’t know if he should tell her that was probably their intent or let her draw her own conclusion.

Lily’s grip on him tightens. “Sirius has gone to get a teacher,” she says quickly. “Can you walk? Did they—” Her voice falters, trembling. “I mean, was it just a body-bind? You’re not bleeding. I don’t—please open your eyes and look at me, James.”

He obeys, blinking up at her, but the sight only seems to make her sadder.

“Jesus,” she whispers. Her fingers leave his cheek, and for a moment, he panics, but then she retrieves her wand and casts a warming spell over him. The heat seeps into his limbs, dulling the worst of the cold. She sets the wand aside, her hand returning to his hair, softly carding her fingers through his curls.

“They have my mum, Lily,” he says suddenly, his voice barely above a whisper.

Her fingers freeze. “What? You found out—”

He shakes his head, the motion weak. “No. Not any names. But they—Mulciber and Dolohov. Avery. They were talking about her. After they attacked me. Saying my Christmas… that it—”

“Oh, James,” she sighs, her voice breaking as her thumbs brush over his cheeks. He realises belatedly that he’s crying.

“What if she—’’

“No,” Lily cuts him off firmly.

“Lily, I—” His breath hitches, a sob escaping. “I’m not strong like you. I can’t…I can’t—”

“Sh,” she soothes, her voice low and steady. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, James Potter. Besides, you heard the Aurors. Mad-Eye himself is on the case. They’ll get her back, and your family will have the loveliest Christmas of your life. All three of you. And Sirius,” she adds, a wet laugh escaping her.

“You’re my family, too, Evans,” he says.

A small, shaky smile crosses her lips. “I love you, you know.”

“Do you really think she—”

“I do,” she interrupts, leaning down to capture his lips in another kiss, this one softer, lingering, and full of promises he desperately wants to believe.

#of course no 100 is a song about the dancing plague and panic attacks hahahahaha #somehow this is my brand #my fic #jily #writing prompts

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localwhiskeyuncle · 2 days ago

Text

In my last post [x] I briefly touched on (book) Hannibal showing repeated kindness to women, children, and animals and I feel like that's worthy of expansion so here's my breakdown on that:

As far as the animals go - we see this as early as like 13? 14? years old when he beheads Paul Momund. He kills Paul, but he takes the time to free all the fish he had hooked on his line.

We see it again when he is in the last stretch of his revenge killings. After killing Kolnas, he knows he is low on time to find Grutas and save Lady Murasaki, but he still takes the time to free all the ortolans in the cages before setting course for the boat.

And, perhaps this is a little disconnected, but it happens again with Mason Verger. Mason is keeping dogs in a cage, starving them just to see what will happen, and in his attempt at murdering him, Hannibal makes him feed the dogs (his own face, but still lmao).

You'd think a man like Hannibal wouldn't react well to children, but there's material to back up how patient he could be with them.

To start, Mischa is a glaring example, and perhaps the driving influence as to why he is so forgiving to children later in life. Even before tragedy struck, he was described as an odd, cold child - but not with Mischa, never with Mischa. He had an instant overwhelming affection and fascination for her and sacrificed everything he had for her up until the very end of her life.

This trend continues - at the orphanage when Robert Lecter comes to pick him up, after he's found by the Soviets, the headmaster warns Robert of his violent streak. Robert expresses shock that Hannibal is a bully, but the headmaster clarifies that Hannibal is not a bully, he is violent only to the bullies.

Then in France, the reason he is booted from the local school is that he attacked a bully picking on a smaller, weaker child.

The last example you see is when he is leaving Florence, well into adulthood, and he is stuck next to a young child on the plane to America. The kid pesters him for the expensive meal he brought from France, and his parents are terrible and entitled and are offended when Hannibal (understandably) doesn't want to share with this random kid he doesn't know. He begrudgingly gives it to him (mostly bc the kid's mom already shoved her fingers in it and he was like uh gross) and retreats to his mind palace to pout pass the time. He falls into a nightmare about his past and comes to with a shout, making a bit of a scene, but the child shows him high levels of empathy and he is struck by it, and able to return it:

"You had a bad dream, huh?" The child is not frightened, nor does he care about the complaints from the forward rows.

"Yes."

"I have bad dreams lots of times too. I'm not laughing at you."

[...] He bent his head to the child and said in a confidential tone, "You're right not to eat this swill [airline food], you know."

At first he only kept his cool because he was trying to lay low and not draw attention to himself, but the child's reaction to his momentary fear was to comfort him and he was almost stunned by that, and instead of becoming further upset, he starts looking for something to like about the kid. That kid would even drive me insane, it's impressive he could not only keep his composure but find kindness for someone that annoys him so deeply (bc we all know how he feels about annoying people; he killed that cello player in Florence simply bc they sucked but were a nepo baby and wouldn't be fired and he was not gonna put up with bad music lol).

And I suppose you could also tie Mason Verger into this category as well; Mason was an unpleasant man, there were plenty of reasons for Hannibal to want to kill him, but I do think that his crimes against children - children Mischa's age - especially disgusted Hannibal. This is never explicitly stated, but he has a special kind of disdain for Mason.

And lastly, because I believe he feels this the strongest, is his fondness for women.

Very early on in his life, his mother was clearly one of his favorite people. The very first room he built in his mind palace was her bedroom. We don't get a ton on his relationship with his parents, but it's clear he preferred his mother to his father. He admired her beauty, her lineage, her grace, her class. And while Mischa falls under the category of child, she is also a woman, and he loved her most of all.

The next woman he shows reverence for is Lady Murasaki and - while that was driven by romantic feelings - he was still incredibly respectful and kind, even when he felt overwhelmingly bitter about her rejection and her friendly relationship with Inspector Popil.

And then there's Clarice. He did drug her a whole lot for a bit there while he poked around in her psyche (very on brand lol), but he also loved how rough around the edges she was, how she was a 'rude' woman (the kind of woman that gets called a bitch and a cunt by insecure men), how expressive she was, how she had "too much nerve for her own good" (as he put it), he described her as "cursed with taste" much like himself, and he deeply valued her opinion and input. He derailed his entire plan for his (their?) future because he was more than willing to sit and genuinely listen to what she had to say instead of sticking steadfast to his own ideals. When Barney is called on to talk about his take on Hannibal's relationship with Clarice, he first hears a (stupid) psychiatrist talk about how Hannibal only responds to Clarice when she's in distress (I'll get into that whole convo in another post because there's a lot to dig into). In response, Barney says: "In the asylum, Dr. Lecter responded to her when she held onto herself, stood there wiping come off her face and did her job. In the letters he calls her a warrior, and points out that she saved that child in the shoot out. He admires and respects her courage and her discipline." Barney didn't really spend all that much time around the two of them and he was still able to grasp the level of admiration and respect he had for Clarice (and know how stupid it was to believe that his sole interest in her was her distress).

Say what you will about Hannibal Lecter, you cannot deny that he had a soft spot for victims/marginalized people. He was deemed a 'monster', but he was honestly kind of gentle at times. Of course, he was also highly dangerous, but that was not always his default mode.