#sorry this had less mike action in it

[felinecryptid]

Chasing Pasts in Shadows

part 3 | part 4 | part 5

"Great, fantastic." Will massaged his eyebrows. "We can't do anything more today, anyway. We just execute protocol and leave, because we are already an hour late for debrief."

"And my date after that."

"I don't think your boyfriend minds you being late, Max, he worships the ground you walk on." Mike sniffed.

"Who said I'm talking about Lucas?" Max smirked.

"No, no, Max, you stay away from my sister, or Dad and Jonathan will chase you away with guns. She doesn't need another rebellious influence in her life, Mike is enough as is."

"Will!" Mike protested. Will ignored him.

"You say that like Hop doesn't scream '3 inches!' whenever I come over."

"When did that happen? I thought you were still in the 'silent glare' stage?" Will hefted the heavy bag, handing it to Max, so she didn't have to come in. 

"A few months ago, Byers. Wheeler watch out, he is coming for your title," Max took the bag easily, walking away. 

"What title?" Mike called back.

"'The Most Oblivious'!"

"Fuck off!"

"Can't, we work together!" Mike glared at her till she turned the corner.

"Mike, hold these tripods and these cables." Will handed them, their fingers brushing.

"Thanks."

His own duffle slung over his shoulder, they returned to the place of interest.

Max had assembled some of the components right outside the door, waiting for Will to take them in. He and Mike quickly got to work, Will putting some of the cameras on their stands, connecting with the EVP mics and putting a piece of bread in specific spots, while Mike pointed out areas of high activity to focus on, like the knife block, and the island counter, while Reyes kept watch from a corner, finishing up sometime before evening. 

"-and turn on the system at 11:30 pm by pressing the black button on the camera nearest to the door. That's for today, we'll be back tomorrow to get the footage, and put more up after investigating more rooms," Will explained, putting his layered flannel back on. They stood at the gate, while Mike and Max put the rest of their special equipment back into the trunk. "I hope you understand why. It's just we were short-staffed today-"

"Oh no, no, it's okay, totally my fault," Reyes smiled as he reached for his wallet, pulling out a bill. 

Will's eyes widened as he saw the '100' on it. "Sorry, I don't have enough change-"

"Keep it, boy. You kids have more use for it than I do." Reyes gave a nod and started back in.

Will shuffled back to the car, a hundred dollars in hand. Max and Mike were done with the packing and pulling the car around to leave. Will got in the passenger side, his regular seat when Mike drove.

“Reyes tip you?” Max asked him from the backseat, tapping away at her phone,

“Thirty-three percent.”

“Damn, he was seriously that impressed with our half assed job?”

“I don't know, at least he wasn't a Karen about us upping the pay for the rest of the investigation.”

“Do you think Dustin would know what to do?” Mike asked, pulling onto an asphalt road. Finally the dust road was behind them, Will’s asthma could rest now.  

“I think we all need to come up with a plan now. All of us have never had to be on-field at the same time, so first of all we need to divide tasks, and assign partners.”

“I don't want to hear strategy while returning home,” Max hit the back of Will’s head lightly. “If we have to talk about work, at least read the info Dustin sent about the Reyes so we don't have to hear his rant about being ‘the only one smart and well prepared, about clients, locations and hauntings’, because he will chew us out for leaving the cameras unattended and the battery thing, as if we should be able to tell the future.” 

Will rubbed his head, “Alright, alright. If you interrupt with your stupid quips, I'll push you out of the car.” Will pulled up the google docs Dustin had shared with him, scrolling down to get an idea of how long it was. “What the fuck, why is this thing more links than text?” 

“Just read. I mean, how should I even know? I just don't want to get another rant about ‘not following protocol’.”

“Half of these links are for different profiles on Facebook.” Will muttered, scrolling down. “There’s a floor plan here, now definitely Dustin will be pissed.”

“Is there anything about Emily?” Mike peeked at his screen.

“Keep your eyes on the road, don't look down,” He scolded. “I'll try  to find somethi- Oh here, a page for someone named Emily Grimrose. It says she was 48 and married to Javier Reyes. She was apparently a stay at home wife and made a lot of knitted things to sell. There’s an alarming amount of Etsy stuff here. The usual selfies with weird angles that make her have a triple chin, some family photos with people who look like her extended family, a trip to some exotic place with lots of water, baking charity sales- wait wait wait, here's something weird, she posts stuff with fun, cute captions underneath, but this photo has a link with it. And that link looks like it leads to some weird occult website. Lots of crystals, incense, herbs and the like.”

“What?” Max leant from the back to get a better look at the picture. “She looks like she's in a dentist's office.”

“Is there anyone tagged in the photo?” Mike asked, thankfully not looking down at Will's phone this time.

Will checked. “A doctor named Amanda Maguire.”

“Maybe it’s her dentist’s name?” Max ducked back to flop sideways on the backseat.

“No, no, the dentist’s office belongs to Robbie Matthews, who has posters all over the city. Very popular dentist, no doubt expensive.”

“How did you know?” Mike asked, driving around a slow car. “Keep up with the speed limit, dick!” He said through the window.

“Just reverse image searched it.” Will was confused. “Amanda Maguire is a gynaecologist. I've never heard of her, or seen her. Why would someone who has a lot of money go to a gynaecologist who isn't well known?” Will scrolled further. “Oh shit.”

“Cut the dramatics, Byers, just spit it out.”

“Emily was pregnant when she died,” Will said, holding out the photo where the caption proclaimed “It’s time for the second trimester!” and showed a smiling Emily with another older woman, Dr. Amanda.

___

why do i keep ending at weird reveals? also lmao will really hates facebook for some reason

i have the entire thing planned out but i do not know how many chapters this will be sorry ;-;

aight disclaimer: i dont know shit about the service charge in america for anything, much less ghost hunting, so i tried my best to calculate it by using the minimum wage and product usage and wear and tear, the same way id do it here. if its too less or too high, lemme know

as always, this was betad by free version of grammarly and hemingway editor, so point out any errors you find

i cant seem to post in time but i do post around 1800 ist (i swear im trying to be more regular)

let me know if you like or disliked something :)

[harveysweakness]

Okay hi it’s me AGAINNNN 😌 I was wondering if eventually you could write something where reader and Harvey (who are literally the best of the best at what they do) both work at different firms and they have to go against each other in court for a really big case. Anyways reader is Harvey’s wife who’s pregnant and goes into labor at the court house. Happy ending please 🙏.

A/N: I am so sorry if this is not what you had in mind- it's not as fluffy of a fit but I guess it's something! I can always write the same request a different way in the future :)

"Okay, let's go over it one more time," Mike said, staring at the file of key arguments in front of him.

"You do know you work for the opposite firm, right?" you chuckled, taking a deep breath in and out. You couldn't quite explain it but something had been... off... today. Granted, you were 37 weeks pregnant so you pretty much always felt off but this felt different.

"Just say it," the young partner responded.

"Okay, so- your client clearly had no idea what he was-" you paused, gasping at the sharp pain in your lower abdomen, hand coming to rest at the low curve under your bump.

"Hey, Y/N, you okay?" Mike questioned, not even hiding the panic in his voice. No one could blame him, he certainly was not experienced when it came to pregnancy.

"It's just Braxton-hicks," you muttered, teeth clenched while you took deep breaths in and out. You tried to think of someone at the firm who was in court who had had a baby who could confirm that, but no names came to mind. Hating that you were about to say it, you groaned internally. "Get Harvey."

That was all Mike needed to hear before genuinely sprinting from the room.

----

"Mike, you were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago," Harvey greeted angrily.

"I was with Y/N, she-"

"You mean to tell me you were with the opposing team!?"

"No, Harvey, she's in pain, she needs-" Mike panted.

That's all it took for you husband to be racing out the door, thankful Mike had yelled 'across the hall- chamber- while he sprinted.

By the time your husband had made it into the room, you had been able to stand, the pain in your pelvis a small ache compared to what it had been. You were breathing steadily, your hand still holding a small portion of the weight your daughter added to your frame.

"Sweetheart, what-"

"I'm fine," you murmured, "I'm sorry I panicked, I just didn't- I haven't"

"You haven't been pregnant before," Harvey finished. "Neither have I, so I'm not much help."

You laughed, even the small action causing a small ache. He must have seen the expression on your face because he came to cup your cheek.

"Are you alright?"

"I think so," you replied softly. "I must have just been working too hard on the trial."

"You should be at home resting."

"You know perfectly well that I can handle a trial against you," you replied cheekily. It wasn't a secret that you were both two of the top lawyers in the city, and the trial certainly would be a show for all who were watching.

"So we're not having a baby girl?" your husband asked, his hands gently holding your rather large bump.

"Not yet," you corrected with a smile.

"Then I've got to get back," Harvey said sadly, before lowering and pressing a chaste kiss to your bump.

"Did you ever think I did this just so you had less time to prepare?" you smirked.

"Sweetheart, you wouldn't dare."

-----

"No further questions, your honor," Harvey announced, lips twitching at the thought of winning his case after the arguments he had given.

You stood. "Your honor, if you will just allow me to question-" you paused, both your words and your steps as the same sharp pain from earlier hit.

"Ms. Y/L/N?" the judge asked.

"Sorry, I-" you couldn't finish, needing to lean against the table for support, gritting your teeth. "I need-"

"Y/N-" Harvey said gently, rising.

"Harvey-" you paused, feeling a wetness spread down your legs. The pure shock on your face while you looked down was enough of a sign to your husband.

"Oh my god, she's in labor," Harvey muttered, Mike going pale next to him.

"Labor?"

"We're going to pause the trial," the judge announced. Even he had no idea what to do. He certainly had never, in all his years seen a defense and prosecuting team of lawyers be married and close to having their first child while in a court room.

Your husband came to rub your back while you still stood hunched over the desk. "What can I do?"

"I don't know," you whispered, the realization that you were having a baby overwhelming every fiber of your being. "We don't even have a bag packed for the hospital."

The two of you had been non-stop for nearly two months, working on opposite sides of what would be on the of the biggest trials the city had ever seen.

"Yes, you do," Mike interrupted. "Donna's had it packed for weeks."

Tears fell down your cheeks out of relief and gratitude.

"God, I love that woman," Harvey murmured, helping to turn you around towards him. "You can do this, sweetheart." He gently cupped your cheek and wiped your tears with his thumb.

You nodded, taking a moment to lean your forehead against his chest, the smell of his cologne comforting you.

"Are you ready?"

"As long as you swear you won't leave my side," you whispered.

"Never."

[rogueddie]

Thinkin Bout You T | 1,061 words Prompt for @steddielovemonth: Love is going out of your way to do something you know will make them happy

Even though he can admit that it's a selfish desire, Eddie still wants to use Steve's pool. He'd thought that, after finally defeating Vecna and saving Max, they could use it as an excuse to have some sort of party.

He's always wanted to go to one of Steves infamous, exclusive pool parties.

"No," Steve immediately snapped, when Eddie brought it up. It was the first time Eddie had ever really heard him angry. "No one goes in the pool. No one- just, stay away from it. It's off limits. That's it."

He'd been confused, but accepted his answer. It didn't matter what he wanted, it clearly made Steve uncomfortable. It wasn't his place to challenge those boundaries.

... but it did make him curious.

At first, he tried to figure it out on his own. Or, more accurately, tried to gauge how Steve fully and truly felt about the pool.

Steve avoided the thing like it would bite him if he looked at it too long. He always steered conversations away from it, or swimming in general, too.

"I'm worried," Eddie admitted, when he finally gave in and turned to Robin. "He can't keep avoiding pools forever."

"It's not pools," Robin says, reluctantly. "It's his pool, specifically. You'll have to ask him, but... you'd get it. If you knew why."

But the only answer he got from Steve was vague, something about Nancy and bad memories.

"I don't want to know what happened," Eddie starts, worming past Nancy as soon as she opens the door. "I only need to know if redecorating the pool might help. Like, if it's bad memories tied to it then spicing it up so it looks different... that'll help, right?"

Nancy stares at him for a moment, needing a moment to catch up.

"We are talking about Steve?" She finally asks.

"Yeah!"

"Right... um... redecorating..." She looks off to the side, frowning in thought. "It might help. He probably won't want to get in himself, no matter what, but... yeah, changing it up might make him more comfortable with it in general."

"Great! I don't know how to redecorate a pool."

Nancy rolls her eyes.

But she jumps into action. She calls Robin, Jonathan and Argyle, gathering them together so they can brainstorm ideas.

It's Jonathan who suggests they try and make it more kid friendly. Argyle is the one who collects pool decals, agreeing on placing them too. Robin insists on being the one to chose the colors with Nancy's help.

Eddie gets stuck with collecting floats and toys, making a mental list of what they could get.

With their hush money, they're able to put aside a decent amount of money for the budget. They're definitely going to be able to completely change that pool.

Getting the kids to agree to distract Steve for the entire day is too easy. They don't even ask why.

Steve calls Robins less than half an hour after they call the kids, pleading and whining about the kids plan. He tries to get her to come up with some excuse to get him out of it.

"Sorry," Robin says, wincing. "Need to stay home with mom. Sounds serious."

It takes another half an hour until Lucas is able to radio them, giving them the all clear.

Sneaking round to Steve's pool feels strange. Mostly thanks to how casual it is, how calm the others look despite the fact that they're technically breaking in.

"We're not breaking in," Nancy points out. "We have keys. He said we can come over whenever we want. We're welcome."

"Hey," Jonathan says, snapping his fingers to get their attention. "Come on, we have a lot to do."

And it is a lot.

Working together, they're able to get through the worst of it pretty fast. It's impossible to rush it all though, having to wait for paint to dry or glue to stick.

They've barely sat down, finally finishing everything, when Steve gets back with the kids.

"Woah, this is amazing!" Dustin says, grinning wide, the first to burst out the back doors.

"Holy shit," Mike says, next out. "How did you do all this in that time?"

"What are you guys yelling about?" Steve asks, voice distant.

The kids scramble out of the way, watching the door for Steve, excited.

"Where have you- oh."

He freezes in the doorway, eyes darting around the garden.

"Surprise!" Robin yells, jumping over to him. "You like it?"

"How did you..."

"It was easy," Nancy says, reassuring.

"Eddie noticed that you hate the pool," Robin adds. "He suggested we redecorate. Change it up. Make it something new."

Steve looks between them all, face blank.

"Steve?" Eddie says, shifting nervously.

"Thank you," Steve says. "It's... thank you."

"Does this mean we can use your pool now?" Mike asks.

Steve laughs, though it sounds slightly choked. "Yeah," he says, shaking his head. "Sure, whatever, let's have a pool party."

The kids cheer, rushing off to get changed. The others follow after them slower, leaving Steve and Eddie alone.

"This was your idea?" Steve asks.

"Kinda? We all worked together to actually... do it. I only suggested we do something. Nancy's the brains behind it all, really. And Argyle."

"Still, you thought to do all... this."

"I guess."

"Thank you, Ed."

"Oh, nah, don't. It was motivated entirely by, like... greed."

Steve snorts, disbelieving.

"It was! You never let us use the pool."

"You wouldn't need to redecorate this much to do that."

"That... yeah, I would," Eddie winces at how his voice cracks. "You're overprotective."

"Eds," Steve grabs his hand, finally drawing his attention to how they've drifted to each other. "Just accept the thank you, alright?"

Eddie glances at their hands, half expecting Steve to pull away. But, despite the flush in his cheeks, he keeps a tight hold.

"Alright," Eddie finally says. "You're welcome?"

"Great," Steve tugs at his hand, keeping ahold of him as he drags them to the house. "I have spare swim shorts that you can borrow."

"You sure they won't be too big?"

Steve glances back, just in time to catch Eddie's eyes drifting down. He laughs bumping his shoulder into Eddie's.

"Perv."

"You love it," Eddie teases, expecting Steve to take it ask a joke.

But he smiles, soft and genuine, squeezing Eddie's hand as he says, "I really do."

[joemothersfavoritechild]

“across the street” pt. 3

-mike schmidt x fem!reader

-3.2k-ish words

-no trauma au

an: sorry, i had a lot going on my life lol. not sure why this one took so long for me to finish, but here it is in all it’s corny glory. also, if it’s bad pls don’t tell me. idk how to do this lmao

summary: you bump into someone at the mall & go on a date with your hot neighbor

part two is here!

————————————————————————————

Clothes covered your bedroom floor and you continued adding to the pile. Your date was today. In a few hours, more specifically. Nothing seemed right, lunch is more casual than dinner but you don’t want to be too casual. A dress is probably too much, but leggings are not enough. You grumbled to yourself, Mike probably wasn’t worried about his outfit. He’d probably look good in anything, you decided.

You dropped another hanger on your bed, eyeing the growing pile. How could nothing be appropriate? You had a surplus of clothes, probably too many. How could one guy make you nervous to the point where you hated all of your clothes? Was that normal? Even your favorite dress was hideous to you right now.

Fuck this, you thought. If nothing feels right, you were just going to buy something that did. You were a responsible adult with a savings account, one outfit wouldn’t doom your finances. You reorganized your closet, swiftly taking your phone out to search for the nearest mall.

A mall was a good choice, you thought as you pulled into a parking spot. And being a Tuesday, it wouldn’t be packed full of teenagers. You stepped out of your car, locking it behind you, and walked towards the entrance.

As you walked through the doors, you noticed a map on the wall. Perfect, you can find something that’ll work. There are tons of stores, so you begin your shopping spree.

You spend a while browsing, more window shopping than anything. Clothes at the mall were kind of expensive, making you grimace at the price tags around you. Eventually, you found a small shop with decent prices. You settled on a nice shirt that you found, 22.99. Not too bad, and you could wear a pair of jeans that you had at home. As you checked out with the cashier in front of you, you glanced at the time on your phone. You glanced out of the shop, reading the sign that points to the food court.

You took the bag from the cashier, telling her to have a good day as you walked out of the store. You followed the sign, deciding to grab a treat on your way out. You deserved it.

The food court was massive and surprisingly empty. There was probably a total of ten people scattered around the building. Your eyes scanned the booths, trying to decide on which to stop at. Your eyes caught a familiar figure, doing a double take and stopping in place. Your heart pounded.

It was Mike, in his security uniform. He was surveying the room, hands on his hips. You inspected his face, noticing the serious expression on it. You knew he was a security guard, but seeing him in action was a completely different thing. It was hot.

As if he can sense your presence, you’re caught in his gaze. He’s smirking at you now. Your cheeks heat up, and you look away in embarrassment.

You look back up at him. He’s staring, looking you up and down. He makes eye contact with you again.

Fuck.

Before you can make a run for it, he’s walking towards you. His hands rest on his security belt as he struts towards you. You could make an exit, leave before he got close enough, and claim that you didn’t see him.

But he was fast, cutting through the middle of the food court, he stood in front of you in less than a minute.

“You miss me or something?” He asked. You internally rolled your eyes at his sudden confidence.

“You work here?” You ask, ignoring his question.

“I told you I worked at the mall.”

“I didn’t know it was this mall.”

“What other malls are there?” He asked sarcastically.

“You tell me.” You said, matching his banter.

He tried to hide a smile, but you could see it.

“What’re you doing here?” He asks.

“I was just picking up a shirt. I thought I’d grab a snack.” You answered, and he nodded.

“You like ice cream?”

You thought about it for a second, ice cream sounded good.

“Who doesn’t?”

“Follow me.” He said, leading you through the food court.

He stopped in front of a little shop, the two of you standing side by side. The place was cute, covered in rainbows and pictures of ice cream. He waved at the worker there.

“Your usual, right?” The girl asked.

“Two please.” He corrected.

You watched as she filled two cups with a swirl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. She placed them on the counter in front of you, inputting something into the register.

“Let me get it.” You say, reaching for your wallet. His hand on your arm stops you.

“I’ve got it.” He says, taking his wallet out of his pocket. It’s small, a simple dark brown leather. Very Mike.

He pays for the ice cream and grabs the cups from the counter. You grab the spoons and some napkins.

“C’mon.” He says, guiding you to a table nearby.

He takes a seat, and you sit in front of him. He pushes your cup towards you and grabs a spoon from your hand. His fingers touch yours for a moment too long.

“Thank you.” You say, scooping some of your ice cream into your mouth. It’s refreshing. The flavors are classic, but not too overpowering and the texture was perfect. Mike knew his ice cream.

“Of course.” He says, copying your movement. He sucks on the spoon for a moment, still making eye contact with you.

You have to look away, your mind putting torturous thoughts in your head. Maybe you were ovulating, or that’s what you told yourself.

His voice brought your eyes back to him. You didn’t hear a word he said.

“What?” You asked, noticing him laughing at you again.

“I asked, do you like it?”

“Oh,” You looked down at your ice cream. “Oh, yeah. It’s good, you didn’t have to buy it though.”

He looked at you in a way that you couldn’t describe, narrowing his eyes. You hid a smile as you watched him.

“What?” You asked.

“Nothing.” He said smiling, shrugging and looking away from you.

You kept your eyes on him, pondering conversation topics.

“Long day?” You asked.

“Nah, it’s been okay. I had to kick out some college kids earlier though.”

“No way.” You said in a skeptical voice.

“It’s true, they kept connecting to the speakers and playing weird shit. Fart noises, the whole nine yards.”

“Oh my god.” You said, laughing as you went for another scoop of your treat.

“Living the dream.” He said, pulling another laugh from you.

“You’re funny.”

“I try.”

You smiled at him again despite yourself. God, he was charming. In a “this is just who I am” kind of way. Your hangout went on for at least another fifteen minutes, both of you eating and smiling.

Talking to Mike was easy, he listened to you. And not like a nodding along to appease, like an “I remember every little detail about what you said” kind of way. He asked questions and added things to the conversation. He laughed along to your jokes and widened his eyes when you deemed it appropriate.

Eventually, though, he was torn away from you by the sharp crackle of his walkie-talkie. He eased up from his seat slowly, as though he was being pulled through molasses.

“I’ll see you soon,” He said.

“You will.”

As you watched him walk away, he turned and looked at you again. You smiled and gave him a small wave. His eyes lit up, and he held in a small laugh as he nodded to you.

You sighed as he was out of view.

———————————————————————————

You stood in front of your bathroom mirror, desperately looking at yourself. You had already changed, put a little makeup on, and you were attempting to make something of your hair. It seemed to have a mind of its own.

You decided to put it up, choosing a style that suited your face. As you leaned back to glance over yourself, you smiled. You looked nice.

You grabbed your phone, checking the time. You had about five minutes until Mike was supposed to be at your door. You smiled, thanking the universe for your timeliness.

You added a few spritzes of perfume to your ankles, thanking the internet for this piece of your routine. You froze as you heard a knock on the door, your breathing suddenly picked up.

You grabbed your phone, pocketing it as you walked into the living room. You fast walked to the door, looking through the peephole. Mike stood there, staring at his feet while holding a little bouquet. Your heart softened as you opened up the door.

He smiled at you.

“Hi.” You said, taking the flowers from his outstretched hands.

“Hi. Um, I hope these aren’t too much. A guy was selling them on the street, it just made me think of you.”

“No, not too much at all. Thank you, Mike. They’re pretty” You replied, looking at the small flowers.

He had gotten you a bunch of orange carnations, tied together with a green ribbon. Even if it was last minute, the gesture wasn’t lost on you.

“You’re pretty.” He muttered immediately.

When you looked back up at him he had a sheepish grin on his face, almost embarrassed at the words that slipped through his lips.

“Thank you.” You said with a smile, looking back at the flowers in your hands.

“Want to come in for a second? So I can put them in some water?” You asked, opening the door wider at the suggestion.

He nodded, following you inside. He tailed you as you went into the kitchen. You set the flowers on the island when you got close enough.

Vases were not something that you prioritized in your home, so you settled on an old mason jar that you found. As you filled the glass up, you could hear Mike fiddling with the flowers behind you. He met you at the sink, grabbing the jar from you and placing the flowers inside of it. He arranged them in a neater shape, noticing your gaze.

“It’s not a gift if you do all the work.” He stated, placing them behind the sink.

You paused, watching him. He was right, of course, but most people didn’t think that way. Most people gave you the flowers and called it a day, but that wasn’t Mike. Mike was caring, you noticed. Whether it was with you and flowers, or with his sister and the tender way he took care of her. He was a caring man, and you liked it. It was good for you.

“They look good.” You settled on, trying to push the fuzzy feeling to the back of your mind. You suddenly noticed his outfit. He was now in black pants and a grey button-down shirt.

“No uniform? You look nice.” You asked.

“Oh,” He replied, looking down as if he had just noticed. “I brought an extra pair of clothes to work.”

You smiled, god how was he so nice? He got you flowers and went out of his way to look good for you, and this was all after a few days of knowing you.

“You ready to go?” He asked.

“Yes, I’m starving.” You answered, following him back to the front of the house. You grabbed your bag and locked the door behind you.

The drive to the restaurant was a comfortable silence, the only sound being the quiet radio. His car was on the older side, but it was nice nonetheless. It was clean and smelled nice. Bare minimum, but it was still impressive.

You made small talk on the way.

“How’s work so far? You have to kick any other crazy people out?”

“Eh, it’s fine. It’s funny you say that because there was a crazy lady there today.”

“Oh, yeah?” You asked, suddenly curious.

“Yeah, she was just standing there in the middle of the food court. Totally staring at me.” He continued, eyes wide open as he glanced at you.

“What’d you do?”

“I bought her ice cream.” He said, smiling at the road.

You narrowed your eyes at him, finally understanding.

“That’s just mean.” You said, feigning annoyance.

“No, you don’t understand. Two very separate occasions.” He said as he pulled into a parking spot.

He brought you to a cafe, you realized. It was a small place, but it was beautiful. The inside was very homey, decorated with couches and rugs. The lighting was yellow, really bringing the space together.

He brought you up to the counter, which had plants placed on the corners of the granite. You smiled at him while he ordered, noticing his haste. He’d memorized his order, it was cute.

You ordered your food and drink after him, glancing at the menu as you spoke.

“Oh, and one of those brownies,” Mike added as he took his wallet out of his pocket. Your eyes widened, very curious about this brownie. You had a soft spot for sweets.

The worker nodded and then rang them up. As you walked with Mike to a couch in the corner, you spoke up.

“Let me send you my half, please.” You said, talking about the money.

“No way.” He laughed, sitting next to you on the plush loveseat.

“It’s common knowledge that the person who asks the other out pays.”

“Must not be very common, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He teased, looking at you mischievously. You shook your head at him.

“You’re annoying.”

“I was funny earlier.” He continued his teasing.

“That was earlier.” You retorted, narrowing your eyes at him.

He tried and failed to hold in his laugh. You couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

Soon enough, your food came. It was really good. Mike’s was also good, you assumed, as he very loudly groaned at his first bite.

“Let me try it, if it’s so amazing.” You suggested, holding your fork towards his meal.

“Go for it, you won’t be disappointed.” He said, pushing his plate towards you. You slowly took a bite of his food, trying to hide your enjoyment.

It was good, though you would think it’d be awful. He had gotten some weird salad, one with grilled chicken, apple slices, and a pomegranate vinaigrette. You chewed slowly, trying to put a facade of disgust on. He didn’t fall for it.

“Ah, you like it. I can tell.”

“Whatever.” You rolled your eyes, stubbornly.

Your date went really well, eating and talking about yourselves. That’s what dates were for, so you went all out. The two of you talked about your plans for the future, what you wanted out of life, and your equally boring and unfulfilling jobs. Eventually, though, the topics landed on parents.

“So your parents won’t babysit Abby, ever?” You asked with raised eyebrows. He sipped on his coffee.

“Nope. We haven’t spoken since I moved out and took her with me.”

“I’m so sorry, Mike.” You said emphatically, you knew what shitty parents were like.

“Don’t be, they sucked. Were yours any better?”

“Not really. We’ve just never really gotten along.” You said with a shrug. He nodded in understanding.

“Seems like we’re in the same boat.” He said, nursing his coffee again.

“Tell me a little more about Abby.” You changed the subject, desperate to know something about the girl you were going to be babysitting during the weekends. Mike’s eyes lit up.

He told you that her favorite color was purple. She loved drawing, puppies, and any form of glitter. She was very girly and always wanted to give him makeovers. She liked to build forts and loved spaghetti and pizza.

Hearing more about Abby made you adore her even more. You loved kids and they always seemed to gravitate towards you. It seemed like babysitting would be fun, especially since you had some tips on what she liked.

Your date had to come to an end at some point, although you were both hesitant to depart from the bubble you had created.

Mike still had to work for the rest of the afternoon, and no matter how many times he told you that they didn’t care, you didn’t want to get him in trouble. He drove you back home, holding your hand in his the whole time.

When you stopped in front of your house he stopped you from opening the car door.

“Wait.” He mumbled, jumping out of the car and running to the passenger side. He opened the door for you, holding out your hand to help you out.

“How chivalrous.” You commented and you stepped out of the vehicle.

“You know me.” He said, shutting the car behind you. He followed you onto the sidewalk in front of your house, walking you towards it.

“This is me.” You said sarcastically as you walked to the front door. He smiled at your words, letting out a little chuckle.

He followed you to your front steps, just looking at you. You returned his gaze, suddenly warm with the tension that you felt. You looked at him curiously, as he glanced at your lips. You understood his intentions.

“Can I?” He asked, getting closer to you.

“Please.” You whispered.

He pulled you close by your hips, your fronts touching. You giggled at the quick movement, cut off by his lips on yours. You closed your eyes on instinct. His lips were soft and warm, all sweetness.

After a few moments of gentle kissing, you pulled away from him smiling. He shared your sentiments, smiling at you as he pushed a stray hair behind your ear.

You had wanted this so bad. And the real thing was even better than you had imagined, it made you want more. You crushed your lips back onto his, eagerly this time. He met your pace with vigor, picking up on the lust behind your actions.

He pushed you up against the door with his hands at your waist. You hungrily pulled him closer by his hair. He groaned into your mouth, allowing your tongue in. You sighed as he brought you impossibly closer.

God, he tasted good, like the brownie you shared earlier, and something else that was distinctively him. His hands eased under your shirt, kneading into the skin of your stomach.

He spread your legs apart with his knees, caging you in a little bit more. You moaned shamelessly when he pressed it up against the crotch of your jeans. He breathed it in like a breath of fresh air.

The sound of a front door shutting brought you both back into the present. He detached his lips from yours, drawing deep breaths. You felt his warm breath on your face.

His glossy eyes looked down on you as he licked his lips. He rested his forehead against yours, both of you coming down from the high of making out on your doorstep.

You started smiling at the situation, pulling one out of him as well. He pecked your lips again as if he couldn’t bear to be away from them. You fought against pulling him back to you. You suddenly remembered his words from the day before.

“On the first date? I thought you wanted to take it slow.” You remarked, he chuckled.

“I just needed to taste you.” He said, kissing your lips again. Your eyes closed involuntarily.

“And it’s basically our second date, so it cancels out.” He murmured as he pulled away.

————————————————————————————

**i do not give anyone permission to use my work as your own

this belongs to @joemothersfavoritechild **

[love-kurdt]

Swooping, Sloping, Cursive Letters: 27

word count: 498

PLEASE READ THIS IS ME TRYING FIRST, AS THIS STORY RELIES HEAVILY UPON THE CONTEXT OF TIMT

August 16, 1989

Dear Will,

It’s been 2 hours since you left, and I’m a mess. I mean, I always am, all of my letters to you make that crystal fucking clear. I don’t think this is something we can come back from. I would say I’m sorry for kissing you, but that would be a lie, and friends don’t lie. If I were to be sorry for anything, it would be for hurting you. But kissing you… aside from asking you to be my friend all those years ago, kissing you was the best thing I’ve ever done. I mean it. Even if you don’t believe me, I mean it.

I know it was bold of me to assume you’d want to kiss me back. I should’ve taken into account that just because you’re gay, that didn’t mean you’d automatically like me back. And I should know by now that when it comes to you, actions don’t speak louder than words. If anything, you only prefer words, because you actually value verbal communication in your family. I would normally blame my own family for my stunted emotional intelligence and communication skills, but at the end of the day, I acted on impulse like I always do. And that’s not something I learned from my parents. That was just me being an idiot.

You can’t deny all the mixed signals you sent my way over the past two years. I mean, look at the conversation we had about the painting, for example. It obviously took a lot out of you to admit that El didn’t commission it. Yeah, I know I apparently misinterpreted it into oblivion, taking it as a love confession, but can you blame me for that? You got all misty-eyed and affectionate, telling me that I was the best thing to ever happen to you.

And not to mention all the glances and knowing smiles, all the hand holding and cuddling, all the midnight excursions… they couldn’t have meant absolutely nothing to you. And when you came out, it was like… everything made sense, you know? Like, everything seemingly fell into place, like pieces of a puzzle. So when you approached me with all the letters, which I never intended upon you ever seeing, it felt like fate had thrust this situation into my hands as if to say, “your move.” I decided to take a leap of faith, and ended up metaphorically tripping and cracking my head open on the pavement in the process.

I ruined everything. And for that, I’ll be sorry for the rest of my life. You were– and still are– everything to me.

I’ve been over here trying to figure out how I could possibly manage to fix things, or at least make the situation a little less… severe (???), but I’ve got to face the fucking music now. The damage is done. And now I’ve got to live with myself. So what’s a few more letters gonna do?

Love,

Mike

-

previous letter | next letter

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[artiststarme]

The Long-Lost Wheeler

This fic is based on this post from @kcsplace! I'm sorry it was such a long wait but thanks for letting me use your idea! There was no way I could compress all of my ideas into a one-shot so this will be a series. I hope you like it!

~*~*~*~

Eddie had never known who his mom was. He didn’t know her name or what she looked like. All he knew was that she left him with his dad when he was barely two months old and never turned around to look back. He would dream of meeting her as a child. His childish mind would dream up faceless women hugging him, making him lunch, playing games with him, and anything else moms were supposed to do with their sons. He would imagine being part of a happy family when he saw the other kids at school getting picked up by their moms and dads. 

After so many disappointments though and so many years gone by, he gave up hope on ever meeting her. She didn’t want anything to do with her own kid? He didn’t want anything to do with her. The nameless, faceless woman that gave birth to him was nothing but a surrogate in his mind. Just a stranger that brought him into this hard world to abandon him when the going got rough. From then on, he viewed her with little more than mild disinterest. 

Whenever he had asked his dad about her, he never had anything good to say. Old Richie Munson said she was a manipulative bitch that was always too good for everyone around her, always looking to find something better. His old man would get upset whenever Eddie brought her up and on one fateful occasion, shaved his entire head because ‘he looked too much like her’. After that, Eddie never asked his dad about her again. 

A few months after he moved in with Uncle Wayne, he felt safe enough to ask him if he knew who his mother was. Wayne was a lot more tactful and nice with his description of her. He told Eddie that she was just a scared lady, unsure of what she wanted and too skittish to take care of little Eddie with his dad. He made her sound like leaving Eddie was a byproduct of escaping his dad and Eddie lost some of his anger towards her after that. He’d been trying to get away from his dad for eleven years, he couldn’t fault her for fleeing when she had the chance. 

He thought about her even less after the Upside Down once he had a group of friends close enough to call family. They filled the void that his dysfunctional and fractured family had left behind. He also found an unexpected best friend in Nancy Wheeler. They had a lot more in common than he thought they would and they got on like a house on fire. Things were finally going well for Eddie which was ironic since it was a near death experience and week in hell that led to it. 

Hellfire was back in action after being banned from the school due to its “Satanic connotations” and was now being hosted in the Wheeler’s basement. Eddie didn’t have his throne anymore or his chalice of Mountain Dew and it smelled a bit like a sweaty armpit. However, he was surrounded by his friends and the happiness he felt more than made up for the downsides. 

They were on their fourth day of the campaign when everything blew up. The entirety of Hellfire club was situated around the Wheeler’s kitchen on the singular snack break that Eddie allowed over the course of the day. All of the boys were talking amongst each other while Eddie relaxed against the counter happily watching his friends being happy and munching on baby carrots. Everything was fine until Karen Wheeler walked in carrying several grocery bags that Eddie immediately went to help her with. 

“Here, I can help you with that,” he said, leaning down to her height to take some of the heavier bags out of her arms. 

“Oh, thank you. Mike never helps with the groceries, you would think one would want to help their mother-” Karen abruptly stopped talking once she made eye contact with Eddie. He stalled a bit in response before setting the bags down on the counter next to where he was previously situated. 

She nodded at him jerkily before moving over to Mike and dragging him by the ear just out of sight, not out of hearing though. Eddie could hear what she said loud and clear. 

“Michael, what is he doing here? You didn’t tell me that you were going to have that… that boy over to my house!” She sounded pissed and Eddie narrowed his eyes as he listened. 

“Who, Eddie? He’s my friend, I told you he was coming over. You said it was okay for me to have my friends over to play Dungeons and Dragons today!”

“I want him out of my house, Michael. Don’t invite him over again, he’s not welcome here.”

“What the hell, mom? Why? He didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Now, Michael!”

Eddie didn’t know what the fuck was going on but he knew when he wasn’t wanted. Prior to the Spring Break from Hell, he would have rebelled and relished in the unease his presence caused. However, with the majority of the town still gunning for his arrest even after he was proven innocent, he knew not to make waves. 

When Mike turned the corner into the kitchen, still glowering and angry, Eddie clapped his hands to gather the rest of Hellfire’s attention. “Alright my fellow gremlins, let’s call it a day. We’ll resume our merciless quest next Friday. Expect a call with the updated Hellfire destination sometime next week. Godspeed.” 

Understandably this caused an uproar with the Hellfire members protesting and even Mike tried to convince Eddie to stay. “No, no, no, we’re all done for the day. We don’t want to overstay our welcome. We’ll wrap up the campaign next week. End of discussion!”

He gave everyone one last look and made this way back downstairs to pack up his things. He didn’t really blame her, he thought as he grabbed his things hastily. He wouldn’t want an alleged murderer in his house either. When he made his way past Karen on his way out of the house, he paused in front of her. 

“Thanks for letting us play here a few times. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable, Mrs. Wheeler. I didn’t mean to. We’ll meet somewhere else next time,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

And with that he walked out of the Wheeler’s house with the dulcet sounds of Mike screaming at his mother following behind him. 

When he brought it up to Nancy just a few days later, she was perplexed. She had no idea on why her mother would be so vocally against having Eddie in the house. Karen Wheeler was known to be the perfect doting mother. To have her kick Eddie out of her home and to hate him so blatantly was almost unfathomable. She told Eddie that she would get to the bottom of it and she did. She didn’t expect to discover that Eddie was her long-lost brother that her mother abandoned. Now how was she supposed to tell Eddie?

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[darthpastry]

*Slaps Michael on the head* This strange creature can fit so much trauma.

It's time for a character analysis of one of the protagonists of all time! Because what do I do if not overanalyze things and characters we only have crumbs of?

So, childhood. We have pretty few things confirmed about his childhood.

Both he and Evan were tormented with the fear gas from who knows how young.

He bullied Evan.

He killed Evan.

Foxy was his chosen animatronic.

Yep, that's all we have to work with. But that's more than enough!

First of all, shout out to Evan for dealing with the most bullshit and never doing anything wrong in his life (next game comes out and reveals that if he lived, he would've been worse than William or smth and this whole post ages like milk) or afterlife unless you count the Golden Freddy jumpscares, but those feel justified, and this post isn't about him.

Back to Michael. Since all three Afton children were abused, it does make sense why Michael would act out the way he does towards Evan. Heavy emphasis on the fact that reasons are not excuses and that just because reasons behind his actions can be found does not mean it wasn't any less horrible.

Besides that, I don't really have much to say about the bite of 83, it's already gotten a ton attention, so I don't feel the need to analyze it either. It's interesting that we don't what the dynamic between Elizabeth and Michael was, I do like the theory that Elizabeth wasn't around until after the bite, but that's an entirely separate post.

Yeah... that's about all I have to say about his childhood. So, let's just skip ahead for years to FNaF 2's events!

I'm going to be honest and say it's unlikely Jeremy and Michael met during this right off the bat. Sorry, but with how much Mike is treated as a punching bag in canon, it's unlikely he had any friends at this point. The bully gang probably just drifted apart without any hard feelings against each other.

I'm curious about what exactly Michael's age would be at this point, minimum working age is the same, at 14 and considering the workers are paid exactly the minimum wage at the time ($3.35 an hour), I don't doubt William would put Michael to work as soon as possible, and at ten years old the bully group probably would've been able to lift Evan to shove him in Fredbear's mouth, I would say between Michael was probably 14 and at oldest 18, just because due to the sprite design of the bullies and he appears in earlies 20s in SL, which I'm placing 1993, but I'll save that for later.

Sheesh. First time really thinking William just plopping 14-year-olds in that situation for minimum wage. Nothing in comparison to being a serial killer of children, but, still, yikes.

Why was he there? I don't know, actually. I do think he's Fritz Smith, but why he would need a pseudonym or want to work there I haven't a clue. Unless he ran/moved in with Henry (doubt) and was trying spare cash and maybe track down William after hearing about how his sister died and it was six years before he actually caught up to William and that was because William had figured the only way to get Michael off his back was to get rid of him.

And this is already a horribly long post, so if I expound upon this anymore it'll definitely be a part two talking about SL, Springtrap, and the thirty-year time gap. FNaF 3, Pizzeria Sim, and theories about how he could still be around and what he'd be doing in modern FNaF would probably have to be a part three, knowing me.

[sugarywishes]

Considering the age they grew up in, I figured I may as well ask: What were the Afton Family's favourite movies & video games of the era? Naturally I'm mostly asking around the 80's, although I will be happy to hear about how they changed as time went on (and games in particular improved) as well...

I think the only ones who would even enjoy video games are the kids, Clara and William seem too 'old school' to understand them 💀💀, but anyway, on with the questions! Answers below as usual.

I'm gonna mix things around and start with Evan! I can definitely see him as an animated movie enjoyer, so I think Disney and Warner Bros and other such studios would be his favorites (although most of the stuff the companies put out during the time kinda stinked...sorry about the poor catalog of choices Evan) His favorite animated movie would probably be Cinderella, he totally understands her. For live action movies, he has a lot less options since the movies around his time were a bit scarier than the ones we have today. I guess I can see him liking the Muppets movies? It's the only franchise I can think of that wouldn't scare him with special effects or violence or anything like that. (I'm not too well versed in any media that's not from my time lmao, any suggestions would help) He prefers the world of animated TV shows than he does movies, Fredbear and Friends was his favorite, but he enjoyed others as well!

For video games, I don't see him playing them a lot actually. William probably disapproves of his kids messing around with video games so he doesn't let them near them (despite the fact that his restaurant had an arcade, of course the kids would get access to them bro!) Evan I think would like Pac Man! Very generic 80s video game I know, but tons of kids loved it, including him! Maybe he would also play Pole Position and Galaca? Or Frogger or Circus?? I dunno, just think of any tame/kid-ish and kinda repetive games, and Evan would probably like them.

Okay now moving onto his brother (pre bite, I'm gonna start clarifying which version of Mike I'll be talking about from now on since pre bite and post bite Mike are basically two different people personality wise) Mikey is *COOL* and *EDGY* and *NOT A BABY!!* So you can expect his favorites to be pretty intense! He is a huge action and horror fan (he kinda forced himself to like horror in an attempt to look cooler for his friends) I think Halloween, Carrie, The Outsiders and Night of The Living Dead would be his top picks, maybe also Star Wars, but he'd rather die than let anyone know he liked the movies. For Post-Bite Michael, he only watched, you guessed it, The Immortal And The Restless! It brought him a little bit of comfort when uh...everything was going on, he developed a big interest in romance movies (if only he had a romance himself...) But as time went by (yk post scoop when he was stuck indoors for a while) he just started watching *whatever* to pass his miserable days, he basically became a couch potato for a little bit.

Okay so um now to video games, Post-Bite Mike didn't play video games at all after that, but pre-bite Mike, that's a whole nother story! This man was on the gaming grind, from Wizards of Wor to Space Invaders to Robotron to...whatever video games were popular with teens at the time I suppose! (He tried begging his mom to let him keep an arcade machine in his room, but he already had a TV in there, why would he need more?) (And plus there was like no room in there)

Onto Elizabeth! She had a collection of "girl" movies she owned like The Last Unicorn and Grease (she would've died for HSM if it came out during the 70s/80s) and things like that (although she usually preferred going outdoors than she did watching movies and stuff, so her collection would just collect dust mkst of the time, unless Evan wanted to watch some of it, which he did!) Her favorite movie was probably between Footloose or E.T (wow, those are some choices girl, she probably likes E.T because Charlie really liked it) She also enjoys a plethora of animated movies and TV too, if she knew what anime was back then she would've been an avid Candy Candy and Rose of Versailles fan, she liked drama too okay? (As a matter of fact Mike probably developed his like of drama because of her)

For video games, I don't think she would play a lot of those. She did her best to obey her father's rules so she stayed away from them as best as she could (One day she got to play Dragon's Lair with Charlie and Mike, she really enjoyed it because of the visuals!) But I guess she has no favorite because she didn't play them at all.

Now onto Clara, her favorite types of movies were drama and tragedies, her favorite movie was Eyes Without a Face (I think it would count as a horror movie but I don't really consider it one tbh) and maybe Family Secrets? It reminded her a lot of her old family and she sometimes imagines that maybe she'd be able to reconcile with them one day (Well, that never happened!) But she also enjoyed artsy movies, she just understood them to a deeper level than most would. As I said before, she did not play video games because she didn't care to.

Now finally, William. I see him as the kind of guy to not even watch movies or TV shows. He is straight up BORINGGG. (He will of course watch anything Evan asks him to watch with him, for the sake of his dearest son 🤧) I know there are people who headcanon him to like horror movies because they're violent and scary and he's also violent and scary, but I personally think he finds horror movies weird and annoying. (Nothing can compare to true murder and fear in his eyes) The closest thing to a favorite movie (genre) are 'humanoid object possession' movies (by humanoid object I mean like dolls or mannequins or wax figures, stuff like that) it reminds him of a few certain possessed robots...

He doesn't like video games because he absolutely sucks ass at them.

[winchesterszvonecek]

Prosecutorial Misconduct 18+

Chapter 7 - A Long Awaited Reunion

Word Count: 8518

Series Masterlist | Full Masterlist

It’s just a knock on the door.

That’s the only phrase that swirled around Melanie’s mind as she lingered outside Mike’s apartment, rocking nervously back and forth on her heels as she did nothing but stare absently at her own reflection in the golden numbers before her. 

It’s just a knock on the door. That’s it. 

A simple tap tap of her knuckles against the wood and she could easily have jumpstarted the moment she’d been longing for. All she had to do was raise her hand. All she had to do was announce herself and she’d finally get to see her brother again after five long years spent apart. 

It’s what she’d wanted, after all. To have Mike back in her life and back by her side, but the longer she stood there… The more nausea she let brew in her stomach… The more thoughts she let plague her mind…the less confidence Melanie seemed to have in herself that she could do it. 

What if things didn’t go the way she planned? What Mike didn’t want to see her? What if… What if she had ruined things permanently and was out of her mind in thinking she ever could mend them? What if he hated her? What if he despised her with everything he had because of the simple way in which she had treated him? 

It was possible. The likelihood of their bridge being nothing more than a pile of smouldering ash was high and she wouldn’t have put it past Mike if he chose to bury it. It’s not like she deserved anything less as she hadn’t exactly been the best sister to him lately. Hell, she hadn’t even been his sister as the way she had treated him… The way she had so cruelly taken things out on him, simply because he just so happened to be there when she needed to? It was nowhere near close to how she was supposed to treat her brother and if you were to ask anyone, they’d happily tell you that she should be downright ashamed of herself.

And she was. She couldn’t be more ashamed of herself if she tried, and if she was telling the truth she was absolutely disgusted by it. She was horrified over her own actions as… how could she? Mike was her twin brother — her literal other half, how could she do that to him? How could she hurt him? How could she betray him? After all he’d done for her… After all the times he’d been the only one by her side, she had still had the audacity to throw him away like garbage and now…what? 

Now she thought she could just show up to his home with her tail tucked between her legs and beg him to forgive her? Beg him to let her back in, and for what? For her own gain? For her own amends? How selfish could she get? She didn’t deserve him. She didn’t deserve his forgiveness, or his advice, or his love. She didn’t deserve anything from him and he sure as hell didn’t deserve to be dragged back into any more of her messes. 

He may already be being forced into her unit, but that didn’t mean he had to be shoved back into her life alongside it and with that in mind, Melanie was quick to spin on her heels and make a run for it. She had to get out of there. It wasn’t right for her to be even here and so, with tears already brewing in her eyes, she headed straight for the exit, hoping to make a swift escape before Mike decided to leave the confines of his apartment himself. 

Only, as she hurried down the corridor with her heart in her stomach, Melanie quickly came to learn that Mike had never been in his apartment. Not for a single second of her anxiously standing there had he ever been inside those walls, as when she passed the elevator… And when those doors creaked eerily open, he walked right out from between them and almost knocked her clean off her feet. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I…” 

As Mike’s clumsy gaze rose from the ground and drifted slowly up the short length of his sudden near-miss, his words were quick to fall silent. His mouth drew tightly closed. His eyes failed to complete their path to her face and even so he didn’t need to go any further. He didn’t need to carry on up and catch a glimpse of her to know her identity, as he already knew who it was. From the mere way in which she stood before him, rigid beneath the hands he’d used to help steady her and fiddling anxiously with an identical bracelet to the one on his wrist, he knew who it was.

And truth be told, he almost couldn’t believe it. 

“Mellie?” Mike whispered, allowing his hands to fall as he took a small step back so as not to crowd her. He drew in a shallow breath, forcing his gaze to carry on up the last stretch of her body, whereupon reaching the top, they instantly tightened at the worry that swam in her own and he couldn’t help but think the worst. “Mellie? What is it? What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” Melanie said immediately, shaking her head and flashing him a forced smile as she nervously began to shuffle to her right, her eyes shifting past his arm as she marked out her escape route. “It’s nothing. I, uh, I shouldn’t be here. I’m sorry.” 

Before her words could settle in the air Melanie was already trying to rush past him, but given the irksome little detail of Mike knowing her, and her go to moves, better than anyone else on the planet he was quick to jerk to his left to try and stop her. However, like the fool he sometimes was, he made one critical mistake in that he raised his arm, allowing Melanie to duck seamlessly beneath it and make her break for the stairwell. 

By the time Mike realised what had happened and spun on his heels she had already slipped through the door, leaving it to swing noisily in place as he followed swiftly after her. He barreled through it like the cop he was, not even remotely surprised to find that Melanie was already two flights down by the time he reached the very first step and began his descent.

“Melanie, wait!” Mike called after her, his voice echoing around him as he jumped the last four stairs of the first set. He landed roughly on the cement, swirling round the bend so fast that he nearly fell headfirst down the next. 

But what would a chase with Melanie be if he hadn’t almost killed himself, and with a fond smile tugging at his lips he easily brushed it off and regained his footing, descending the second flight in fewer jumps than most regular people could. He kept going, his long legs giving him a proper fighting chance of catching Melanie before she reached the bottom, but even still, he had that lingering fear that he’d lose her in the street for good, and so he picked up the pace. 

However, as he finally reached the bottom floor and made his break for the door, he didn’t need to go any faster, as Melanie had made the rookie mistake of slowing down as she crossed through the foyer. Mike caught up to her easily, hooking his hand around her elbow and stopping her dead in his tracks, which was easier than he thought it would be as it seemed as though the mere touch of his hand caused Melanie to lose all incentives to flee. He loosened his grip a little, allowing her to slip freely out of it as her feet began to move on their volition, a sharp sigh leaving her lips as she spun slowly on her heels to face him. 

“You never could outrun me,” Mike said matter of factly, a small grin splitting his lips at the deadpan look that engulfed Melanie’s face.

“Alright, Edward Cullen , pipe down,” She muttered, rolling her eyes and folding her arms over her chest as Mike chuckled softly to himself. “So you caught me. Who’s to say I didn’t let you?” 

“Your eyes,” Mike huffed out cockily, raising his finger and swirling it in circles in front of her face. “Is that defeat I see in there?” 

“Stop it,” Melanie grumbled, swatting at his hand and trying her best to act outwardly annoyed despite the smile that was tugging at her lips each time he tried again. “God, you’re such a dick sometimes.” 

“Yeah well,” Mike began, exhaling quietly as he tucked both hands into his pockets and shrugged, his voice quiet, “I’m your brother, aren’t I? It’s my job.” 

“Yeah,” Melanie sucked at her teeth, her eyes falling to the foyer floor at the intense wave of guilt that washed over her. “You are… But if you were wise, you wouldn’t be.” 

“Mellie,” Mike whispered, the raw pain that dripped from her tone breaking his heart entirely. He stepped forward, removing one hand from his pocket and placing it on shoulder, feeling as it all but trembled beneath his touch. “Mellie, look at me.” 

Like a child, Melanie refused.

“Melanie Grace, you look at me,” Mike said again, this time with enough firmness that it mimicked their dad and took him by surprise. 

It worked, though. It took Melanie a second, as she cringed over the use of her middle name and the eerie similarities the moment had to all the times her dad had been the one to say it, but eventually she gave in, sighing deeply through her nose and glancing up at him. 

With his features softening, Mike lifted his hand and placed it gently aside her face. “I’ll always be your brother, Mellie. No matter what.” 

“Then that makes you an idiot,” Melanie sniffled, trying her best to keep her tears at bay as she pressed her fingertips to her chest. “Because the way I treated you…”

A disbelieving, disgusted scoff left the back of her as she fell silent, her lip wobbling and her eyes squeezing shut as she struggled to find the right words to fully express herself. To fully express how sorry she was, for everything. It had already been hard, just facing Mike again without a pre-written script in her head, but to hear him say that? To hear him say he’d always be her brother? No matter what? 

Well, let’s just say it made it so much harder for her to figure out how to properly showcase just how deeply sorry she was for causing him the need to say it. But luckily for her, Mike knew her better than anyone else and didn’t need her to say anything. He didn’t need her to fill the void by forcing more pain soaked words out of her mouth, not when he could already see what was so obviously haunting her. 

It was written all over her face, sitting heavy beneath her eyes and cascading over every ounce of her skin like a rippling wave of thick, murky fog. But most importantly, he could see it in her eyes once they opened again, as though it were carved into stone as it sat etched into every shimmer of the brownness staring back at him. He would have been blind to miss it. 

The regret. 

The self-hatred.

The all round, and deeper than the ocean they both loved, guilt that swam in their entirety was exponential, and from the way she struggled... The way she failed at keeping them focused on him for longer than a few seconds, he could easily tell that she was drowning in it. That she was all but gasping for air beneath the heavy weight of the repressed emotions that had come crashing back down on top of her and so he allowed his hand to fall, his arms wrapping instantly around her small frame as he invited her to lean as much of that weight as she could onto him. 

And boy did she ever. 

As her own arms slipped comfortably around him, Melanie felt heavier than she’d ever been before and it very nearly caused him to stumble backwards. He managed to steady himself before he did, thankfully, and as his legs stiffened in place he could already feel his t-shirt dampening as she continued to cry against his chest, her shaking fingers curling tightly around the fabric as she allowed every drop of it out at once. 

Years worth of guilt, of pain — agonising pain seemed to come pouring out of the flood gates in those few small minutes during which held her, doing nothing but stroking the back of her hair and providing her with all the comfort she could ever need to finally let it all out. He had no idea just how much she had in her. How much she had bottled up deep inside. How much she’d been struggling these past few years without him. And it hurt. Like a bullet to the gut, the thought of her suffering in silence for this long pained him in ways he didn’t even think were possible. 

He always thought she was okay. He always… Every time he asked, their dad always made it seem as though she’d gotten her life back together and was finally happy again. But just looking at her now… Or rather, seeing her not look at him out of fear of showing vulnerability as she all but crumbled into pieces in his arms? He didn’t think she’d ever been okay and if he had known… If he had really, truly known just how badly she was suffering, he’d have broken down her front door a long time ago and refused to leave until she’d talked to him. 

“I know I hurt you,” Melanie whispered, lifting her head from his chest and using her shoulders to wipe at her eyes as she sniffled softly, “And I understand if you hate me, but Mikey I need you to know that I am sorry. For every horrible thing I said to you, I am so sorry.”  

“I know,” Mike said softly, bringing one hand up to wipe away the tears that kept rolling down her cheeks. “But you don’t need to apologise, because I don’t blame you.”  

Melanie’s brow dipped, “You don’t?” 

“No, I don’t,” Mike said assuringly, and it was true. He could never, ever blame her for her actions, not after what she’d been through. “You went through a terrible tragedy. One after the next, and I didn’t understand that. I didn’t… I didn’t know what you needed or when you needed it and I pushed too far. I forced you to snap…”

“No, you didn’t…”

“Yes, I did ,” Mike cut her off, his eyes serious, “Now I may never be able to know just how you felt back then, but I know how you feel now. I know what you carry with you every single day, but you don’t have to do it anymore…because I forgive you. Even though I don't need to, I do forgive you, Mellie. For everything. And if you’ll let me… I’d really like to be your brother again.” 

“I’d really like you to be too,” Melanie whispered. Barely. She didn’t want to open her mouth more than a fraction out of fear of what would come pouring out through it. Instead, she just smiled tearfully, leaning herself against Mike’s chest and feeling as his arms tightened around her again. “But you might regret that once you start working with me.” 

Mike laughed, releasing her from his hold, “I’m sure I’ll manage.” 

“Yeah we’ll see,” Melanie said playfully, yet doubtfully. She wiped at her face, doing her best to settle herself as she elaborated further, “I’ve been told I’m a handful.” 

“No surprise there…” Mike mumbled, before asking quickly in case Melanie assaulted him for it, “You want to go get a drink?” He raised his eyebrow, adding enticingly, “My treat?”  

“I’m on duty,” Melanie sighed sadly, as she would have loved nothing more than to drink his wallet dry. She then shrugged, adding lazily, “Technically, anyway. I’m on desk duty.” 

That I walked out on, she thought to herself. But whatever. Duty is duty, and unfortunately for her that meant staying sober. 

“Okay,” Mike drew out, choosing not to ask why she was on desk duty just yet . “Coffee then?” 

Melanie hummed in disagreement, “I’ve already had six cups and an energy drink today, my heart won’t take any more.” 

“Jesus, Mellie, what is wrong with you? No one needs that much caffeine before…” Mike glanced down at his watch, his eyes widening as he shook his head. “Three in the afternoon… Do you have a death wish?”

“Not at the moment, no,” Melanie said casually, and Mike couldn’t help but narrow his eyes worryingly. He always hated when she talked like that. “But I do have a hangover, so it’s justified.

“Barely,” Mike scoffed, yet he brushed it off and rolled back his shoulders, releasing the tension from on top of them. He took a second, his forehead creasing as he tried to think of the best place, besides home, for his hungover, chaos-embodiment of a sister. “How about a walk through Central park? Get some fresh air into your lungs? Clear your head?” 

“Boring,” Melanie groaned dramatically, her face scrunching up at the mere suggestion as does she look like a dog who needs walked? “There’s too many people there, also I just tackled a public masturbator in there like thirty minutes ago, so you know… Ew.” 

“Fair,” Mike exhaled, tilting his head agreeingly. “Sounds pleasant, though.” 

“Oh, it was,” Melanie replied with equal sarcasm, and with an evenly matched satirical smile that made Mike chuckle. “And it’s everything you have to look forward to.” 

Mike nodded in fairness, a small amount of relief coursing through him when Melanie didn’t appear outwardly peeved by the mention of his transfer. “Where do you want to go then?” 

With a shrug, Melanie mumbled, “I don’t know… Maybe the aquarium?” 

“The aquarium?” Mike repeated questionably, his brow furrowing a touch as when it came to Melanie, the aquarium was pretty much a full day excursion. “I thought you were on duty.”

“ Desk duty,” Melanie reiterated, unamused. “And besides, I just got my gun taken away from me so I feel like I deserve to see some fish.” 

“You gonna tell me what’s going on?” Mike asked, “Because dad hasn’t stopped calling me all morning.” 

“Well, if that’s the case, then you already know what’s going on, don’t you?” Melanie huffed out, with an unintentional bitterness as leave it to her dad to spread her business around like wildfire. 

“I didn’t say I answered,” Mike retorted humorously, watching as Melanie failed at stopping her mouth from curling upwards — he knew that would get her. He cocked his head to the side, giving her arm a gentle nudge, “Let’s go, you can tell me all about it once you’ve seen some fish.” 

“I do like seeing the fish,” Melanie exhaled fondly, catching the subtle smile of agreement that crept up on Mike’s face as even though he preferred exploring caves and finding shiny treasure in the sand when they’d dive together, even he couldn’t deny that there was nothing more relaxing than fish watching. 

And so, after Melanie ducked into the foyer bathroom to clean herself up, as Mike made a point of telling her she looked like she was high, the two of them left the apartment building and headed straight for the aquarium.  

When they arrived, not a single employee, the security guard included, so much as batted an eye when Melanie and Mike strolled straight past the kiosk without stopping to buy a ticket. If anything, the only whispering double-take they gave each other at the ticket-less entrance was at seeing the two of them together. As for the past five years they’d only ever come to visit the sealife separately and oftentimes, when that happened, they would both miss passing each other by a split, painstakingly small second. 

It disappointed the staff each time they did. They’d all been secretly rooting for a M&M reunion for so long that it was honestly overwhelming to finally see them together again, and a few of them even teared up at the sight… Okay, one of them teared up, but that was only because she was an overly emotional person and would cry at anything even remotely heartwarming.

The rest of the staff just smiled fondly, having lost count of how many times they’d had to watch one twin head towards the exit whilst the other would come simultaneously strolling in through the entrance. It had grown exhausting by the fourth go around, so you could imagine how thrilled they were to finally change the metaphorical ‘ days without seeing the twins together’ board back down to zero as they watched them stroll amicably down the hallway towards the exhibits.

Let’s just hope it stays amicable and that they don’t end up finding one of them floating limbless in the shark tank later… Otherwise they’d have daddy Dodds stopping by and he wasn’t anywhere near as fun as his kids. 

And speaking of his kids… Having not said a single word to each other since they entered, Melanie and Mike continued to delve deeper through the aquarium tunnel as they headed towards their favourite exhibit, gazing briefly at the carefree fish swimming aimlessly above them rather than react to the blatantly obvious, yet happy, surprise that riddled each staff member they passed. 

Even the diver in the tunnel tank did a double take when he spotted them, causing a baby shark to accidentally knock him in the head with its tail as it swam seamlessly overhead, easily catching Melanie’s attention with it and making Mike jump when she gasped.

“Mikey, look,” She nudged him eagerly, pure wonderment clouding her face in a way that made Mike smile as she rushed towards the glass, her finger almost snapping with how hard she pressed against it. “Betty had her baby.” 

“Why am I not surprised that you know that?” Mike breathed out, following her over. He may have liked ocean life himself but he was nowhere nearable to identify certain mammals by family and honestly…he wouldn’t have put it past Melaine if she knew the family tree of every single creature inthe aquarium, not just Betty. “Also when did you name the shark?” 

“A few years ago,” Melanie shrugged, gazing up at the shark in question as she loomed almost hauntingly over their heads. “Trev let me dive with him back when Betty first got here, you know, to make sure she settled okay. And she was nervous at first, as most of them are but then all of a sudden she just sprang to life. Almost like she realised she was finally safe and then she just swam right up to me…booped me on the mask with her nose.” She booped Mike as she said it, making him scrunch his own nose up as it tickled beneath her touch. “Ever since then… she’s been Betty Boop.” 

“You are insane,” Mike laughed, yet he wasn’t surprised at all as she had names for literally everything. 

“I’ve been called that before,” Melanie agreed, carelessly. “But they need names, okay, you can’t just go around calling them by their species, it’s gonna get confusing.” 

“I thought… Betty,” Mike began reluctantly, as he couldn't believe he was calling a shark Betty. “Was the only lemon shark they had?”

“No, they have two. Well, three now,” Melanie said, backing up to the middle of the tunnel and rotating slowly as she searched around her. Her eyes scanned easily through all the sea life surrounding them, passing turtles, sting rays and all kinds of small fish until she finally spotted it, the second large lemon shark that swam right along the tank’s surface. “There…” She pointed, waiting until Mike’s eyes followed her finger and he nodded, “That’s Benny, he got here around about the same time as Betty.” 

“Why is he all scarred like that?” Mike asked curiously, his eyes narrowing as they trailed along the thick, ragged scars on the shark's underside.

“He got tangled up in a fishing net and dragged into the propellers of a fishing boat… An illegal fishing boat,” Melanie elaborated bluntly. She’d always hated illegal fishermen. “He was found by some divers off the coast of California and they called in a rescue team. He spent months in a specialised rehabilitation facility before they transferred him here.” 

“He can’t go back to the ocean?” 

Melanie shook her head, her voice saddening, “His injuries were too extensive he won’t survive out there on his own. But at least here he gets a chance.” 

“And a friend,” Mike added in amusement, “I’m sure he’ll be growing tired of you soon with how much you visit him.”  

“You shut up, he loves me,” Melanie defended, making Mike huff out a laugh and shake his head as she went back to staring in awe at the shark in question. “He always comes looking for me when he knows I’m here.” 

“Okay, Mrs Brody,” Mike muttered sarcastically, making her frown as she glanced over her shoulder to glare at him. He then wiped the smile from his face, his features shifting as he tilted his head, easily telling Melanie that it was time to get down to the real reason as to why they were here.

And with a defeated sigh Melanie agreed, she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer and so she hopped down from the bench, hesitantly motioning for him to lead the way towards the cafe, which just so happened to look directly into their favourite exhibit.

The coral reef.   

The two of them could spend hours, alone or together, simply gazing into the reef from their seat. Allowing the peaceful atmosphere to drown the world out entirely as they studied the fish, watching as they weaved their way through the tubes and tunnels, twisting and turning through the coral like a child going down the slide at a waterpark. 

If they were lucky, they’d even get to see the octopus that often lurked around the reef, camouflaged and hidden amongst one of the small coves and almost invisible, did you not know the signs to look out for. And given that the twins very much knew what to look out for, they alway spotted old Hank skulking across the reef easily, often looking for the best place to settle in for his afternoon nap. 

“You want something to drink?” Mike asked, as the two of them stepped into the relatively quiet cafe and headed for the table in the corner — the one that was always reserved specifically for them. 

“Anything but coffee,” Melanie said with a partial chuckle, one that was more like a wisp of breath that escaped when she sunk down into her seat, feeling a small weight lift from her feet as hadn’t realised how tired she was. 

As Mike nodded briefly then headed towards the counter to grab them something, Melanie turned her head and fixed her gaze to the vibrant, colourful reef that surrounded them. She could already spot about four different species of fish swimming idly throughout it, swirling and swaying as they all but put on a show — her favourite show as she could sit there for days and never get bored.

The first one she noticed was everyone’s favourite: the clownfish, popping playfully in and out of its anemone with its little fin swishing away happily. Next was a large, dark brown sweetlip who was just casually floating slowly by, his big beady eyes scanning the area for the perfect crustacean for dinner. There were even a handful of angel fish, who always looked so grumpy all the time despite living in one of the most magical places Melanie could think of. 

If it were possible, she’d swap her legs for a tail and move to the ocean in a heartbeat, but unfortunately for her there were no evil sea witches living on land so unless she could hijack a submarine to go find herself one, she had no choice but to stick with her stupid shore legs. 

“Here you go,” Mike’s sudden, and almost apologetic for doing so, voice pulled Melanie from her dreams of living as a mermaid and she turned to him. He rolled his lips together, setting a glass in front of her and watching as she drew her narrowing eyes slowly down to see what he was trying his hardest not to smile about. “You said no coffee.” 

“So you got me…diabetes instead?” Melanie questioned, gesturing towards the extravagant milkshake he’d just placed in front of her. It was chocolate, naturally, with the top piled high with whipped cream which was then smothered with a thick, chocolate syrup and sprinkled with extra chocolate flakes. “I feel ill just looking at it.” 

“Oh please,” Mike scoffed, settling swiftly in his seat with a simple cup of coffee for himself. “I once saw you eat half a chocolate cake in one sitting, then fifteen minutes go back for the rest.” 

“It was a small cake,” Melanie said in defence, yet she drew her tongue knowingly across her teeth as it had not been a small cake, and she was well aware of that. Nevertheless she frowned, waving it off with her hand, “Whatever, just leave me alone.” 

Amused, Mike laughed quietly into his mug as he took a sip, watching as Melanie eyed her milkshake suspiciously as she slowly began to stir it with her straw. He knew she’d like it, she was the biggest sweet tooth he knew and the chocolate cake story had not been a dramatic exaggeration. She had actually eaten the entire thing herself, and still had room for a bag of M&M’s afterwards so it was no surprise to him that when she eventually sipped cautiously at the drink, she perked up visibly the moment it reached her tongue.

“Now that you’ve…fed, so to speak,” Mike began, tilting his head a little from side to side as Melanie glared over her glass at him. “Are you gonna tell me why you lost your gun or do I need to call dad back?” 

With a look that said you wouldn’t dare, which in turn got a response that said try me, Melanie let out a deeply peeved sigh and leaned back, running her fingers through her hair as she pondered the best place to start. From the beginning, obviously, she thought to herself. Where else would you start if not there? And in this instance, in this mess of a situation she’d found herself in, the beginning would be none other than the push-in rapist/Terrance Reynolds case. It had been the very first domino to fall in the chain of events that followed, therefore Melanie came to the easy conclusion that that was the best place to start. 

And with that in mind she then sucked in a breath and before she knew it, had the words tumbling out of her mouth so fast that she didn’t get a chance to go over them in her head beforehand. She couldn’t even hear most of what she was saying due to her heart beating inside her ears, but she knew from Mike’s reaction that she was telling him everything. And by everything she meant everything. She literally told him, word for word, exactly what she’d said at the grand jury — which she was fairly certain might have been a crime… Maybe. Or if not, then it was at least frowned upon and could get her into a lot of trouble should anyone find out she’d talked about it. 

Not that they would find out, as she and Mike had a twin bond that was basically like a priest's confessional meaning neither of them were allowed to say anything about what the other one had told them in confidence. They’d even used it in court a few times, and obviously they didn’t say it aloud to anyone, but they have willingly perjured themselves to the point where they should be in jail for life simply because they didn’t want to break an unspoken law between twins. 

But anyway, crime committing aside, Melanie still told Mike everything — well, almost everything. 

As much as she trusted her brother not to spill the beans to anyone, she couldn’t risk telling him about Barba. She didn’t want to take the chance that he’d accidentally mention in passing that the ADA once stopped by her house to ask her to testify for him, therefore she purposely left out every single thing relating to Rafael Barba. She didn’t even call him by name either, as she couldn’t trust herself not to blush just thinking of him. And whilst most people wouldn’t pick up on the small detail of her scarlet flushing cheeks, Mike definitely would and she really didn’t want to divert the conversation to the dumpster fire that was her attempt at a love life.

Instead, she breezed easily past their ‘ Would they? Won’t they?’ moments and moved swiftly on to describing her confrontation with Campesi in great detail. She mentioned how it started…how it played out…how it ended, and whilst Mike wasn’t thrilled to hear about his sister getting hurt, the only thing that truly shocked him about the entire situation, besides Melanie’s comeback at Campesi — which honestly he was rather proud of her for — was the simple fact that Campesi had left the stairwell alive. That little detail blew his mind extensively, as attacking Melanie whilst her back was turned? Sneaking up on her when she didn’t expect it? Well, even he knew better than to do that and he was genuinely surprised that she hadn’t pulled her gun and shot Campesi dead right where she stood.

“Now she’s claiming you attacked her?” Mike asked, taking a sip of his coffee as Melanie nodded, happily slurping away at the milkshake she ‘ felt ill looking at’ through her straw. “What did dad say?” 

“He said he knows that I didn’t do it, but Tucker?” Melanie scoffed distastefully, “I tell him I have no alibi and that automatically makes me guilty.”

“There’s seriously not a single person who can vouch for your whereabouts?” Mike asked in disbelief, causing Melanie’s gaze to fall as she began picking at the already chipped polish on her nails. His eyes drew narrow, suspicion circling him as he studied her, watching the small flecks of polish lift from her nails and land on the table.

Curious, he thought to himself. She only ever did that when she was truly anxious about something, and he was beginning to suspect that there were a few details she was purposely leaving out of her story. He then leaned forward, resting his arms on the table as his voice grew firm, yet taunting,

“Mellie, I know you’re hiding something…”

A sharp, annoyance filled huff left Melanie’s nose before he could finish, her fingers now tapping anxiously at the tabletop as she did nothing but stare menacingly towards him, her jaw twitching as she watched the blatant smugness roll noticeably over his face at how quickly he’d figured her out. The bastard. He always did like to gloat when he caught her in a lie, but honestly, it was no fault but her own. After all these years, she should have known better than to try to lie to him whenever he already knew all of her tells, nail polish picking correctly being one of them. 

It was even so bad that, to this day , the two of them still weren’t allowed to play Poker together. As they were always able to tell when the other one was bluffing, which only ever led to threats of physical violence and extensive search history on how to properly throw cards. 

“Fine, you got me,” Melanie grumbled sarcastically, mentally calling him an asshole and finding herself greatly amused when he glared at her as though he’d heard her. She let out a breath, leaning back against her chair and pausing momentarily to watch a tiny little surgeonfish float by. “I just… I don’t want IAB, or dad, to know where I was, alright, that’s all.” 

“Why not?” Mike asked curiously, yet he was almost worried to hear her answer as lord knows what could come fumbling out of her mouth. “Where could you have possibly been that’s so bad it's worth getting framed for assault?” 

“It's not where I was. It’s… It’s who I was with,” Melanie mumbled, feeling her cheeks already start to heat up and she hadn’t even thought about Barba yet. She sucked in a nervous breath, letting it out slowly as she reluctantly drew her eyes back over to meet him. “I was with… a guy, okay? For the whole night.” 

Oh, thank God, Mike thought to himself. The way she was acting, all shady and secretive, he’d half expected her to tell him that she was off doing something illegal, like assaulting someone else somewhere in the city. Or perhaps even committing arson, or something equally as heinous as that. But no. Turns out, she had been with a guy ! Of all the nerve-wracking, it’s time to flee the country, scenarios he’d been imagining in his head, she had literally been off getting laid somewhere. 

Talk about a relief. 

“So you were with a guy,” Mike shrugged, “Who cares? It’s not like dad still thinks you’re a virgin.” 

Melanie frowned, “What a lovely thought, Michael, thank you.” 

Mike chuckled, “I’m just saying, it’s not like he’s gonna care if you were off getting laid somewhere when it could help clear you for the assault.” 

“But that’s the thing, though, I wasn’t getting anything… Other than hammered,” Melanie added quickly, and with a shameless tilt of her head that didn’t surprise Mike one bit. She then leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table before running her hand over her chin, her tone growing serious, “But if I tell dad…” She shuddered at the mere notion. “If I tell IAB that I was passed out drunk in this guy's bed an hour before the supposed attack then they’re just going to assume that I was getting laid and I can’t have that.” 

“Why not?” Mike questioned, his intrigue sparking at the obvious way in which Melanie’s cheeks slowly began to redden. That was strange. If she didn’t sleep with him… Then what the hell was causing her to blush so much? “Are you that embarrassed for a handful of people to think you were having sex even if it could save your career?”  

“It wouldn’t save my career,” Melanie said bluntly, “If anything it would make things worse as this wasn’t just any guy, Mikey, this was… He’s…” God, she didn’t even want to say it out loud over fear of it travelling, but she knew she had to. Mike wouldn’t give up till he’d all but beat it out of her, and so she gave in, confessing quietly, “I work with him.” 

“Ah,” Mike exhaled, nodding. Now the blushing made sense... Sort of. “Is it your partner?”

Melanie shook her head timidly, widening her eyes as though she were trying to tell him who it was without actually having to tell him. And he seemed to get that. He always did pick up what she was so subtly putting down and as the realisation slowly kicked in, Mike’s brow began to lift on his forehead. 

“He’s not a cop?” He mused, hearing Melanie hum in a half-assed agreement before she went back to picking at her nail polish.  

Now this was interesting, Mike thought to himself. If the guy wasn’t a cop, and if Melanie was this against telling IAB the truth then he had to be someone much higher up the food chain and that didn’t really leave him with many professions left in the small circle of those it could be. 

Was it… a judge, maybe? Was that who his sister was fretting about? Some guy with a robe and a gavel? Surely not. Mike knew best of all that Melanie hated most judges, and they themselves were openly inclined, if not happy, to reciprocate those feelings given how many times she’d been held in contempt of court so it couldn’t be that… Could it? 

“Jesus, Mikey, I’m not seeing a judge.”

“Stay out of my head,” Mike said bluntly, hearing Melanie chuckle smugly into her milkshake. “And hang on, I thought you said you weren’t seeing him.”

“I’m not,” Melanie said quickly, chewing at her straw as she added, in a mumble, “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”

Ah-ah , now the blushing made more sense, Mike thought to himself, his eyebrow raising curiously as he went right back to pondering this wannabe lover-boy’s profession. 

It wasn’t a judge, okay, that much he should have known, but by the subtle gleam in her eye when she spoke he could tell he was on the right path. Defense attorney, perhaps? It was possible… There were relatively attractive ones floating about and they were Melanie’s type after all, right down to the suit, the tie and the briefcase. But honestly, that just seemed even more unlikely than a judge given how frequently, and how many of them, Melanie had gotten herself into trouble over because she’d threatened them…

Yeah, it wasn’t a defence attorney and that really only left him with a prosecutor…if he was even on the right path. Which, honestly, he was starting to think he wasn’t as last he’d heard, SVU’s ADA was a woman and unless Melanie had come out in the last five years, he was fairly certain that she didn’t swing that way. 

“Will you please just tell me who it is?” Mike finally said, a deeply fed up sigh leaving his lips over his failure at sussing things out. “I’m getting a headache.” 

“I can’t,” Melanie whispered, making Mike frown as after all that… She still wasn’t going to tell him? Rude . “But it doesn’t really matter who he is, okay? The only thing that truly matters is that if IAB even so much as thinks we’re seeing each other then it could rain a lot of heat down on him.” 

“And on you,” Mike added, as she seemed to be forgetting about herself in this little scenario. “You could get in trouble too, Mellie, not just him.” 

“I know, but the thing is… I don’t really care about myself right now,” Melanie confessed, holding up her hand to silence Mike when his mouth opened as she knew what he was going to say. “ Not in that way. I just…” She swallowed thickly, forcing back the lump that was slowly rising in her throat over the truth as to what was really holding her back from Barba. “I’m worried about how it’ll look for him . He's a reputable guy, you know, with an important job and a really, really great future ahead of him and I’m just… Well, me.” 

“What’s wrong with being you?” 

“Nothing’s wrong with it, I like being who I am…”

“Then what’s the problem?” Mike asked, his brows knitting together tightly as for the first time in his life… he was barely grasping at the straws of what she was getting to. 

“The problem is that he's a respectable — a respected member of the community, whereas me?” She gestured to herself with a delusional scoff. “I’m about as far from respected as can be, I mean… Just look at my record. It shows that I’m nothing more than a reckless detective with way too many dings for disorderly conduct. Major anger issues that always land her and those around her in hot water… Not to mention my untreated ADHD. That’s a whole problem in and of itself and it gets me in way more trouble than I like to let on.”

“Okay listen,” Mike said, bringing his hands to his chin, as though praying for the strength he’d need in order to unravel this string. “I’m gonna get to everything you just said but for the moment… And please, if you could refrain from attacking me…”

“I can’t guarantee that, but go on.” 

Nervously, Mike cleared his throat, “Maybe… And I’m just saying this as a possible solution to your problem. But maybe you should think about taking those meds Dr Simmons prescribed for you.” 

“You shut your mouth,” Melanie said immediately, clearly offended and Mike even leaned back in his seat in case she tried to lunge at him for simply suggesting it, “I’m not taking those pills, okay, I like being like this.” 

“But you just said-“

“I know what I said,” Melanie snapped, her eyes then closing regrettably as she didn’t mean to come across so harshly. She just didn’t like thinking about this, but she knew if she kept it bottled up any longer then it would eventually break her. 

With a shallow, shuddering breath slipping past her lips, Melanie ran her hands up her face and into her hair, curling her fingers tightly around the softened strands beneath her touch. She lingered there for a moment, feeling the slight sting to her scalp and wishing she was able to rip the thoughts permanently from her mind. But unfortunately for her, things were never that easy and she simply couldn’t get rid of her fears that way. And so, after opening her now glistening eyes to see Mike’s patient, yet worry riddled, own staring back at her, she finally let go. 

Both physically, and emotionally. 

“I really like him, Mikey, and I’m pretty sure he likes me too but I just…” She took a breath, her eyes drifting towards the tank beside them. “I’m scared… I… I’m scared that if I let him in he's one day going to realise that he’s made a mistake.”

“Have you talked to him about any of this?” Mike asked, his voice soft as he tried his hardest not to openly show his sympathy, as he knew Melanie hated being pitied. 

“No,” Melanie said plainly, her blurring eyes remaining focused on a small clown fish that swam in circles beside her head. “And it’s going to stay that way as I’d like to keep what’s left of my dignity.”

“Even if it means repressing your feelings for him?” And going down for assault, Mike added mentally, as something told him Melanie didn’t need that added reminder right now. 

“Yes.” 

“Because that’s healthy,” He muttered, yet he was unsurprised to say the least. 

“It’s not as simple as you’re making it out to be,” Melaine said, finally turning back to face him and wiping at her eyes. Again. God, they were really working her today, weren’t they? “There are other… factors involved here too, okay, it’s not just me.”

“Isn’t it?” Mike questioned doubtfully, his firm tone taking Melanie by surprise. But he couldn’t help it. He didn’t like seeing his sister so worked up over something so…stupid, honestly, “You’re saying this isn’t just you doing the exact same thing you always do when you want to avoid facing your feelings?” 

Melanie’s eyes narrowed almost angrily, “And what might that be?” 

“Making things more complicated for yourself... Imagining the worst possible scenario in your mind and simply sticking with it…” Mike said plainly, causing Melanie’s eyes to dart away from him, and totally not because he was right. “All because you don’t want to face the fact that what’s eating away inside of you might not be as bad as it seems.” 

“Okay, Dr Phil,” Melanie muttered sarcastically, as she couldn’t bring herself to answer properly. “When did you start giving lessons in psychology?” 

“When you started showing me you needed them.” 

“I do not.” 

“Don’t you? Cause from where I’m standing…”

“You’re sitting.” 

“From where I’m sitting, ” Mike corrected himself, annoyedly. “I can clearly see that the only reason you’re allowing yourself to suffer like this is because you’re afraid of what other people might think of you.” 

“I don’t care what they think of me,” Melanie spat, exhaling deeply again as God, she really didn’t know how to control her anger sometimes. “I care about what they think of him, alright, because like I said he’s…”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s respectable. I get it. And you’re worried you might damage his precious image…” Mike said, in such a condescending tone it caused Melanie to grit her teeth together. “But Mellie…” His tone then changed, growing softer and more brotherly, “Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe he doesn’t care about his image? And that maybe… The only thing he really cares about… is you?” 

When he put it like that, Melanie couldn’t ignore the sharp pain that pierced through her heart like an arrow at the sole idea of it. At the mere thought of herself being the one and only thing that Rafael Barba truly cared about. She’d considered it, of course she had, as the way he was with her… The way he acted around her…all flirty yet flustered, like a teenage girl around a cute boy, there was no doubt in her mind that he was crushing on her... Perhaps harder than she thought as it was only yesterday that he’d come running frantically into his bedroom at the sound of her screaming, having no clue, nor caring about whatever dangers might have lay beyond that door… not whilst she was behind it. He’d all but been ready to sacrifice himself to save her and if that didn’t scream I care about you then God knows what would. 

Even after it, when they’d been sitting on the couch and he’d been so gently tending to her wound, Melanie could see it. The way he touched her, so soft and so tender… The way he looked at her… The way he gazed at her, with such incredible fondness and such deep adoration in those glistening green eyes of his that she would be oblivious not to see it. It didn’t matter to her that he’d almost kissed her. That he’d almost allowed her to finally feel the caressing sensation of his lips on hers, Melanie could see, simply from the way he looked at her, that he was in love with her. 

Rafael was so madly in love with her and the worst part was… He’d never get to know that she loved him too, as no matter what… No matter how much it hurt to repress those feelings, there was nothing that her dad, or Carisi, or even Mike could say… that would ever convince her to admit that she did. 

<- Chapter 6 | Chapter 8 ->

tags: @the-nerd-dimension

[milevenstancyendgame]

Okay, I quickly wrote this, before the adrenaline from the new ST photos subsides.😁

First part of a short Stancy fic, completely based on s5 speculations around some hospital drama.🏥❤️‍🩹

Haven't decided on the rating of the whole thing yet.😏 But for this part, I guess it's K+. Just has some mention of blood/an injury, nothing graphic.

✦ . 　�� 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Nancy sighed, not really focusing on what she was doing (sorting files).

She had signed up as a candy striper after the first attacks on people by creatures from the Upside Down. They needed all the help they could get at the hospital.

But it wasn't like she could do anything really significant. She was aware of this, no matter how often some of the staff thanked her for volunteering (others were more of the Hawkins Post breed and treated her like a sub-human).

She stifled a yawn - getting up early was no problem for her, but it was undeniably a very dull morning. She didn't know how she was supposed to hold out until the early afternoon.

The sudden noise of an ambulance and slamming doors made her look up in surprise. Oh no.

There was a commotion at the emergency entry, so it was impossible to see what was going on, but no doubt it was another attack victim being brought in.

Her heart was racing and as always she longed to do something to help, but she knew from experience not to get in the way.

She was about to pick up the box of files and carry it to a different room, when she spotted a mess of dark blonde hair, and the distinctive rambling of Robin reached her ears.

"…. And I have no idea how many there were, or if it was only bats, might have been a demogo- I, I mean one of those larger things thrown into the mix as well!"

Nancy's stomach filled with ice. If Robin was here, then who…?

She got up abruptly, running over to the group of people, trying hard not to think…not Holly, not Mike…please…

But then one of the doctors moved aside and she saw him: Steve was lying there, unconscious, his shirt had been removed and was currently being used to be pressed against his side, soaked with blood.

She stopped dead at the sight.

"Nancy!" Robin had spotted her.

The sound of her name made her snap out of it - in an instant, she was at Robin's side, gripping Steve's shoulder protectively.

It was a completely instinctive action, no thoughts attached.

No one payed her much attention as she ran along to the emergency room, only when she followed inside, did one of the nurses stop her.

"I'm his-" She started to protest, outraged. But then she didn't know how to finish the sentence. "Friend," she finished lamely.

"Sorry dear, only family. You know the rules."

Robin put a hand on her shoulder as the doors flung shut in front of them.

An unbearable sense of powerlessness hit Nancy like a wave - she had to escape!

"What happened?"

"We were on patrol…" Robin looked around frantically to see if there was anyone in earshot. "You know, by the gate at the cemetery. And just before sunrise…it was like an explosion, Nance! Monsters everywhere, we couldn't get to the car fast enough and…and…"

She broke down, starting to sob uncontrollably.

Nancy rubbed her friend's back, a flashback of what she had seen in Vecna's vision back in '85 hijacking her mind. Monsters everywhere…

"Did anyone else…?"

"No…just Steve. Dustin was with us, he couldn't keep up, so Steve…he…"

Nancy's jaw clenched. She didn't need to hear the rest to know what had happened.

"Somebody's gotta go down and check this out. It's gotta be me. No complaints."

His words echoed in her head, reminding her of the last time he had been attacked by demobats.

"Where's Dustin?" She clung to the questions - anything to keep herself talking and away from thinking.

"He was a mess," Robin sniffed. "Must have reminded him of…you know…To be honest, I didn't give him much of a choice…thought it was better for him to stay and tell the others…" She shrugged. "He'll probably come bursting in on a bike any moment now."

Nancy never felt less like laughing. What else could she say?

"Okay, it's okay," she repeated mechanically to Robin, whose tears didn't seem to want to stop. She was glad, it gave her something to focus on, something to do.

She didn't know how much time passed like this, but suddenly the doors swung open again, startling both of them.

"It's okay," the nurse from earlier told them. "No vital organs hurt, just a lot of blood loss…it's stopped bleeding now. We'll transfer him to a room."

Robin looked like that was entirely too much information.

Nancy sighed a very different sigh than the one from earlier this morning. God, she would never complain about boredom ever again.

"He needs rest now." The nurse held her back again, as she made to rush to Steve's side.

Nancy narrowed her eyes, ready to argue, but then she changed her mind.

"Please, we just want to…" Robin started before Nancy interrupted her.

"She's right, Robin. He'll be okay."

Robin stared at her, incredulous.

"Is there anything you need, nurse Watkins?" Nancy asked sweetly.

"Not for the moment, dear. You can return to your chores." And with that, she was gone.

"I swear to god, Nancy-"

"Robin. Let me show you around and have a look at my work." She grabbed Robin's arm and dragged her over to the main desk, where her box with files still waited - as if her world had not been turned upside down.

Robin's face was a question mark, but she followed along, having learnt to trust Nancy's hunches and intuition.

Nancy sat down and started telling her friend all about the art of ordering files, seemingly not paying any attention to what was going on around her.

Although she was clearly impatient, Robin tried to play along, asking her nonsensical, dumb questions, waiting for god knew what.

Nurses came and went, picking things up and bringing them back. Robin paid no heed to it, but after one of them left, Nancy quickly grabbed a book, opened it, and closed it so quickly, that Robin felt dizzy from just watching her.

"Room 315," Nancy hissed between gritted teeth. Then she got up. "Come on, Robin - I need to deliver some flowers, would you help me?"

As they went to the flower shop, it dawned on Robin.

"Nancy, you're a genius! With a capital G!"

Nancy smiled, appreciating the compliment despite of the situation. They picked random bouquets and rushed back to the hospital as quickly as possible, without trying to look like they were in a hurry.

"315…315…" Robin muttered, as they went down the corridor. "Aha!"

They quickly stole into the small room, both stopping at the sight of Steve lying in bed, still unconscious.

There was entirely too much white for Nancy's liking. White bed, white hospital gown, white face. Lying in the morning light streaming in from the windows, he looked as pale as a ghost.

She willed herself to move forward, placing the flowers on the bedside. Before she could think twice, her hand was cupping his cheek gently.

"Steve Harrington, you idiot," she whispered. "You're going to get through this, do you hear me?"

He did not react, of course not. Still, she felt somehow disappointed. As if she really had expected her presence to work some sort of healing magic on him. She blushed, feeling presumptuous.

Robin had moved to the other side of the bed and took his hand.

"Dingus, you heard her. You'd better wake up soon."

She turned to Nancy. "Do you think we can bully him into waking up?"

Nancy gave her a weak smile before looking back down at Steve. She felt like the stitches that had held her heart together until now had become undone, one by one. She had been running away for so long, she had forgotten what it was like to stand still, to be present. But now there was no more escaping it. Her feelings could not be hidden away any more, they were swirling inside of her, all around her, like a swarm of butterflies.

Strangely, she did not feel afraid of them. The only fear that clenched her heart, was that it might be too late…

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

I think we knew that a federal indictment of former president Donald Trump would elicit a collective primal scream from the right-wing fever swamp — and they have not disappointed.

In true Trump-era fashion, the response from most elected Republicans has been a collective whine about "unfairness" and the "weaponization" of the "deep state." Some have even gone so far as to at least hint around that it's a nice little country we have here, be a shame if anything happened to it. I would expect nothing less. This is how they roll.

There are, notably, a few dissenters from that party line.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney put out a statement saying that Trump "brought this on himself" and it's "consistent with his other actions offensive to the national interest," which is true. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a 2024 GOP hopeful, said "these facts are devastating," which is also true. But they, and a handful of others, are outliers among GOP elected officials.

One very significant former GOP official has come out swinging, however:

There are a number of Trump defenses out there. But the main talking point, which we can assume was coordinated, is that this is a political prosecution engineered by President Biden to take out his most threatening political rival. And their main proof of this is that the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to prosecute Hillary Clinton. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina probably articulated this the best, including the deployment of some very emotional righteous indignation:

He's not saying it's ok, he's just saying that Hillary Clinton got off so that cancels out Trump's crimes. Or something.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wi. says that Trump refused to prosecute Clinton but Joe Biden sent in a SWAT Team to torment Trump:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sounded the same theme:

“Is there a different standard for a Democrat secretary of state versus a former Republican president? I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country. Let's enforce it on everybody and make sure we all know the rules.”

It wasn't a perfect defense of Trump but as long as he makes sure to condemn Hillary Clinton is probably good enough for the moment.

As much as I loathe the idea of re-litigating "but her emails," I'm sorry to say that it's necessary. There was almost no pushback to this talking point from the media, probably because they didn't get the Clinton story right in the first place. A few have since stepped up to point out that Clinton didn't refuse to cooperate with the government, as Trump did, although Trump and his accomplices will no doubt cry inanely about her "bleaching the emails" and "smashing the phones" and that will be enough to sustain the argument. Trump may even say "Russia, if you're listening" again. But those allegations are just plain silly and always have been. And the fact that she didn't obstruct the investigation is only part of the story.

As it happened, Clinton copied all work emails to the State Department system so they had them. The Justice Department inspector general issued a report in 2018 about the FBI Investigation and determined that the people tasked with marking documents as classified had not done so clearly. Moreover, only three email chains "contained any classification markings of any kind," and they were low-priority "call sheets" marked with the lowest priority of classification, which had info and details for Clinton to refer to when talking to a foreign leader. There were no nuclear secrets or war plans among them, needless to say.

The State Department under Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo did two separate investigations and found in 2019 that there was "there was no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information" and that Clinton bore no "individual culpability."

And let's dispense with the "magnanimous" Trump defense. Trump tried desperately to get the DOJ to investigate Clinton (and many others he considered his political enemies.) His White House counsel told him that the DOJ operated independently and if he ordered it there would be tremendous unrest from career officials and massive political blowback. That didn't stop him. He conspired with Matthew Whittaker, then an assistant to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to get Sessions to assign a Special Counsel to investigate Clinton. In the end, they succeeded in getting Sessions to assign John Huber, a US Attorney in Utah to look into all the allegations against Clinton, including the bogus "Uranium One" scandal which had also already been dismissed. That investigation didn't turn up anything either.

Notably, when Bill Barr became Attorney General he looked into all of it and also came up with nothing. If anyone thinks that Barr wouldn't have prosecuted Clinton if he could have doesn't recall just how much he hates her guts. The evidence just wasn't there. So, the FBI, the DOJ Inspector General, two State Department probes, a Clinton-hating attorney general and a U.S. Attorney assigned to review all the evidence found that Clinton committed no crimes. (I'm not even counting the 10 Benghazi investigations which were the genesis of the email scandal —- and also came up empty.)

I know your eyes have glazed over by this point and you wonder why in the world anyone should care about this. And frankly, we shouldn't have to. It's long settled ancient history. But the right's "whatboutism" and the media's continued unwillingness to acknowledge that, once the FBI determined there was no crime, there was no crime, I fear that a lot of people who aren't already down the right wing rabbit hole will be persuaded that this is a partisan prosecution simply because of the words "classified documents."

When former FBI Director James Comey held that first notorious press conference in the summer of 2016, in which he larded with inappropriate personal judgments about Clinton, he laid out the criteria the Justice Department uses when it decides whether to prosecute classified documents cases. He said:

“In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.”

Assuming they have proof of the charges in the Trump indictment, there can be little doubt that they met three of those four criteria, (the fourth being disloyalty to the United States which I believe to be true as well.) So when you see these Republicans emitting their epic whines about how unfair all this is because Hillary didn't get indicted, keep in mind that it wasn't for lack of Trump trying to get it done. It was because, unlike him, she didn't break the law. And even Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson, Mike Pompeo and Bill Barr couldn't find a way to make it so.

In case you were wondering, yes the House Republicans are considering a new investigation into —- you guessed it —- her emails. Because of course they are.

[sinister-things]

Hi!! Could I request a fic or headcanon for a first date with Mikey?? Thank you in advance 🧡

Guide:

Y/N = Your Name

L/N = Last Name

F/C = Favorite Color

Headcanons at the end!

Reblogs > Likes!

"Can You Pass This To Y/N?"

Whoever invented math had to be the cruelest person alive.

Mikey sat at his desk, doodling in his notebook and pretending to take notes while the teacher explained the problem on the board.

Okay, that was a lie.

He was ogling one of the girls sitting in the front: Y/N L/N.

In Mikey's opinion, Y/N was the prettiest girl in the school, and the only reason he looked forward to math class was knowing he could see her.

The most interaction he ever had with her was waving to her in the hallway, and other then that, he found himself just a little too shy to ask her out.

But at home, it was a completely different story. According to Donnie, Mikey spoke of Y/N so much it was "making his ears bleed!"

But today, right now, was the day Mikey was going to do it. He was going to ask Y/N on a date.

He took a F/C glitter pen out of his pencil case and took a notecard out of his bag and quickly jotted something down. All he had to do now was wait...

After a few minutes, the teacher had assigned some questions for the students to complete. This was Mikey's chance!

One problem: while Y/N was sat all the way in the front of the room, Mikey was sat all the in the back. He couldn't just get up and give it to her! That would be embarrassing.

So, he tapped the shoulder of the guy sitting in front of him. Sam, one of Mikey's friends, turned around, "What is it, Mike?" He whispered.

"Can you pass this to Y/N?" Mikey whispered, diverting his eyes to the girl in the front.

Sam, being the all-around good guy he is, smiled and nodded, and repeated Mikey's action.

Mikey tried to focus on the problems in his textbook, but the only thing on his mind was that note! What if she didn't get it? Or worse, what if she said no?!

Finally, the fateful moment arrived. Madison, the captain of the cheer team, tapped Y/N on the shoulder.

Mikey held his breath as Madison nonchalantly handed Y/N the note which was held between her index and middle finger.

Y/N smiles and mouth's a "thank you" to Madison, and turns back in her seat, most likely to read the note.

"Mikey, Mikey!"

"Hello, Mikey? Anyone home?"

The youngest turtle was summoned back to reality by his brother, Leo, waving his hand in Mikey's face.

"C'mon, we gotta go! The bell rang and Raph's gonna flip if we aren't outside!" Was all Leo said before running out of the room.

"Leo, wait– hold on!" Mikey shouted, grabbing his things and chasing after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were absorbed in one of the math problems when you felt a gentle tap on your shoulder.

You looked behind you and saw your best friend, Madison. Between her pointer and middle finger was a folded up notecard. She smiled and gestured for you to take it.

You did so with a smile, mouthing a quick thank you, as not to disturb the peace of the quiet classroom. Checking your surroundings, you unfolded the note. It read:

Y/N, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Will you go out with me? From: Mikey

□ Yes

□ No

You blushed. You weren't exactly the most popular, people only knowing your name because you're friends with Madison. But, for lack of a better word, you had always had the biggest crush on Mikey!

He was the nicest, kindest, and biggest sweetheart you had ever seen, and was insanely popular(more or less because of his brothers). But on the bottom corner, he left his number! He even wrote the note in F/C!

You were so excited, you had completely forgotten that the bell rang. You didn't even notice Madison reading the note over your shoulder.

"Somebody has a crush~" she teased, your face only growing redder.

"Let's– Let's just go!" You stuttered, grabbing your bag.

Madison stopped you dead in your tracks, stepping in front of you. "Sorry bestie, but I got cheer today and I promised Sam that I'd get ice cream with him!"

You sighed. Sam was Madison's boyfriend. You'd met him a few times and he was a really nice guy who absolutely adored your friend. So, you were happy for her. Even if it meant having to walk home by yourself.

You stepped out the main entrance, preparing to go home and launch yourself into bed.

From the corner of your eye, you saw Mikey and his brother's sitting on a bench, most likely waiting for someone.

"Hey, Mikey!" You waved to him from a distance. His sparkling eyes lit up and he waved back with a smile.

You walked over to him, trying to appear as calm as humanly possible. "C'mon Y/N, don't mess this up!" You thought, attempting to give yourself a pep talk.

"Hey, Y/N!" Mikey beamed, cheeks warm from his blushing. "Need something?" He asked, surprised that he spoke with his whole chest.

You picked at the skin on your hand, a bright smile on your face. "I got your note." You revealed.

Leo smirked, thoroughly enjoying the show he was watching. Mikey's face lit up just a bit more. "You did?!"

You nodded. "And I've been wanting to ask you the same thing." You admitted.

You found yourself locked in a tight embrace, Mikey muttering "thank you!" And "Oh mi gosh!" like a broken record.

Despite the puzzled stares and envious whispers, you smiled bigger than you ever did in your life. By the time you were home, you were texting Madison about how much your face hurt. But if anything, it was totally worth it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Your first date is a carnival. No questions asked

• This is Mikey's first date and he want's to make sure you both have fun!

• He's spending his entire allowance trying to win prizes for you(it's funnier to imagine you winning on the first try)

• OH LORD IF YOU WIN HIM SOMETHING–

• He'll love you forever and whatevers after that

• He's already planning your wedding(in his head)

• He L O V E S you

• You're the prettiest, kindest girl Mikey's ever seen!

• And he's gonna make sure you know that

• Doesn't matter what you look like, you're a princess to him!

• Once he returns to the lair, he is rubbing your guy's date in his brother's faces

• Needless to say, you both knew you wanted to see each other again

[driftingvoid-155]

Do you have any good fnaf Fan fiction recommendations?

Oh lord, where do I even begin lol. There’s so many good ones out there.

His Empire of Dirt by pearlandpine. One of my favorites. Made me feel emotions I didn’t even know I had. 10/10. Basically, time travel Michael fic who goes back in time and tries to change the path that his father is on.

Eye of the Hurricane by ghostlychances ( @gh0stlychances ). If you like jeremike, I cannot recommend this one enough. Another one of my favs and don’t let the large word count scare you. Everyone of those chapters is an absolute banger that will leave you wanting more. Really dives into the lives of Mike and Jeremy and their relationship together as Mike tries and hunts down his dad. I also recommend this authors other fnaf fics too. They’re all so good.

Literally all of Lucius01 ( @panaramic-art ) fics. Idk how they do it but every single one of their aus is amazing and immediately draws me in and every chapter they post has me running to ao3. I think my favorite of theirs tho is Life of a Living Corpse as it’s the fic that actually got me hooked on jeremike as a couple.

Caught to the Bone, the Rise of Foxtrap by Shadow_Joker ( @shadowjokerao3 ). AU where when working in fazbear frights, William actually manages to get the better of Mike and traps him in an old springlock Foxy suit which he then possesses. I absolutely love the concept and the author does such an amazing job writing it. I also recommend their other fics as well, they have plenty more fnaf ones and they’re all must reads in my eyes.

Yes, We Take Walk-Ins by IDs_Fantasy & LizardsInTheGarden. I love the concept of Mike being like ‘huh, what can I do to fix what Ennard did to me’ and deciding going to a taxidermist was his best option. Every chapter of that fic is an absolute treat and I await anymore that the authors decide to write.

PSA: Don’t Let Stupid Dead People Run Pizzerias by Quetzal1553. Literally one of the funniest crack aus I’ve ever read. Plot is basically Michael fucking up running the pizzeria in fnaf 6 in every way possible. Leaves my dying laughing every time I reread it.

Left Undone by PetePepsi. Fic that focuses on Mike and a crew, which includes Phone Dude, building and running Fazbear Frights. It’s not too far along but I’m already hooked on the concept and eagerly await any updates.

You Won’t Die (You Never Have Before) by PrinceJakeFireCake. Another half crack fic that I love to pieces. Immortal Mike who just dies constantly and gets up and walks away from it each time, completely unbothered.

Lights! Camera! Action! by AshstoAshs. Fic that was recently recommended to me that I absolutely tore through reading. After being scooped, Mike possesses Funtime Chica and from there escapes and runs into Jeremy who decides to try and help him out.

Breaking and Reentering by biteof22. Just some Jeremike shenanigans of them breaking back into sister location.

William D’Afton: A Less Terrible Father (Than His Contemporaries) by PrinceJakeFireCake. Chaotic Michael, clueless Will, ‘would help his bff hide a body if that body is the neighbor he hates’ Henry. Everything is chaos here and it is great. I would literally read a million more words of this AU if the author decided to write it.

People Like Him by WTFGayLittleZooid. Fic where the night shift workers of fnaf Mike, Jeremy, and Fritz all meet up to talk about their time spent surviving five nights at Freddy’s. One of the first fnaf fics I ever read and one I go back to reread ever so often.

Sorry this got long. There’s just so many that I love and so many I didn’t even get to add here seeing as my bookmarked fnaf fics total over a hundred lol. I do hope that if you’re looking for something to read, one of these manages to catch your eye :)

[jhutch-girl]

Jhutch Promptober day 8: friendship

Mike X Reader Angst with a happy ending!

You never knew your heart could hurt like this. You’d been through a lot, but the biggest source of pain in your heart wasn’t mistreatment. It was having the man of your dreams so close yet just out of your reach. He was so fucking kind. You told yourself it was you confusing kindness with love.

You knew he had eyes for the babysitter. You didn’t want to badmouth her, but you couldn’t help the jealousy. She didn’t seem interested in him. Or did she? Did she just express it differently? Was it just wishful thinking?

This wasn’t for you to decide. It was Mike’s life, and what made him happy was what made him happy. If you truly love someone, you want what makes them happy. That didn’t make it hurt any less, though.

You’d agreed to watch Abby until late that night. There wasn’t any other motive, you just wanted the kid to be okay. When Mike got home, sweaty and tired, he hung up his jacket. “Thanks for watching Abby on such short notice. You’re a life saver. I didn’t want to bother, but Max wasn’t answering her phone and…”

You cut off his rambling. “Seriously, Mike, it’s okay.” You chuckled. “I made dinner if you want some.”

“Stauffer’s?” He chuckled tiredly.

“No, I brought stuff I made at home.” You smiled.

Mike paused. “You…you did?”

“Yeah, I know Abby likes pasta, so I brought some with the sauce I made. There’s plenty for you, I can heat it up!” Were you overstepping? Cooking for him like a girlfriend, was it your place to do something so…intimate? Well, maybe it only felt intimate to you.

“I’d…actually love that.” The hint of a tired smile made its way to Mike’s rugged features.

You should leave. You know you should. Being tired does things to your filter. So why were you so weak-willed now?

“Mike?”

“Mm?” He mumbled around a mouthful of food. No going back now.

“Are you and Max…”

“Dating!?” Mike nearly choked. That was not the reaction you expected.

“Are—are you not—?”

“No! Gosh, no, wow-“ he laughed, “my aunt Jane got me set up with her, I—I’ll be honest, Max is cool, but I’ll never be able to not look at her and think about my—“ he shuddered with a cringe.

You were tired. That had to be why you felt seconds away from crying. Mike’s amused smile faltered upon seeing the way your eyes had glossed over. “Hey…what’s the matter?”

“Sorry, I just—“ you choked, desperately trying in vain to swallow back the lump in your throat. Mike, ever so kind, stood up from his chair at the dining room table and crossed the room to stand inches away from you.

“What’s going on, hm?” He hummed, and the words came tumbling out.

“I can’t…keep pretending I don’t…! I don’t—don’t want to put you in this situation, I know it isn’t fair to you, I just-!”

“Hey, shh, shh, listen…” Mike’s hands cupped your cheek. The action was so intimate that it made you stop rambling and look up at him. “It’s okay…you’re not doing anything to me with this…”

“I just…can’t take the way this is anymore…just being your friend while knowing that’s not how I really feel…a-and if this makes you not want me around anymore, I—I’ll pack up and I won’t bother—!”

You couldn’t say any more when Mike decided to shut you up with a kiss. You sniffled quietly into the kiss and Mike only broke it to gently shush you and mumble gentle words. “I don’t want you to go. I want this too. I love you. I love you.”

“I love you too…”

[askbellaswan]

ARE👏YOU👏OKAY?👏

I guess, yeah.

Things are pretty good, and I know it has been a while since I updated this in a while (getting used to the new school and all).

Living with Charlie is less stressful than living with Rene, even if I do miss my mother, I get more free time to study and read. It's still lame because I can't use my abundance of free time to go outside without being drenched, still I have been wanting to visit the beach

In terms of school, the classes are interesting. I still hate Trig but Biology is easy because I was in AP back home. More interestingly though, There's this boy in biology class who's kinda weird and paler than me of all people, but he seems smart so there's at least he can do his share of the work on partner assignments. I think his older sister hates me though, she always gives me the death glare and I can't figure out why.

On the weekends I try to teach Charlie how to cook. He's not as adventurous as Rene but he's gotten a lot better at making his favorites, like steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

We've tried cobbler twice now, but it never goes well. The first one had to be thrown out and the second I pawned off on Mike, (an action which I'm sure I'll only end up regretting seeing as I'm trying not to make it seem like I'm interested).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out of character: It's been so long this I stared this blog, I honestly forgot about it.

When I saw this ask I didn't immediately see what blog it was for and I was like, "Ahhh! what did I do to make people think I'm not okay?!"

Also, we're just gonna pretend that no time has passed since I last updated.

I'm still deciding if I'm following the canonical order of events, I think I am. So as of now, Bella is still in high school. I'll probably make a post about her getting hit by Tyler's van soon or something.

Sorry about my crapy writing, bye!

[gillianthecat]

Thoughts on A Boss and A Babe episode 1:

(I wish that whole scene had been like this.)

Are we about to find out if the Boss is also a Babe, or if it's the intern that's the Babe. Perhaps it's clearer in the Thai title? Anyway, until I learn their names I will be calling the intern the Babe.

These contrasting parallel morning montages are fairly common way of introducing characters, but for some reason I'm finding this one hilarious. I think it was the boss's robe drop that got me.

I was not excepting to enjoy this show because the trailer made it seem very much Not My Thing. And it's not. Yet somehow I am enjoying it anyways (at least so far, 7 minutes in. At first I was like, oh vey, the Babe (Cher? I think?) is overacting all over the place, doing that all that stuff with his mouth to try and make him seem young and dumb (like Rain did, sorry LITA fans but it annoyed me there don't be mad) but, like, it's so over the top and ridiculous that it might work? And honestly I think I love every permutation of enemies-to-lover at least a little bit, so it's got that going for it.

Ah, Laem, the babe-intern's name is Laem. I guess Cher was how they translated an endearment?

Or maybe his name is Cher too? I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.

Boss is surprisingly plausible as a boss, given that he looks 24 at the absolute oldest. But honestly more like 20. I would not be surprised if the intern actor is older than the boss actor.

Characters bullshitting nonsense about video games is marginally less irritating than them bullshitting nonsense about advertising campaigns, I guess.

Lol, I was not expecting my confusion over Intern-Babe-Sarun-Cher-Laem's name to be cleared up so soon. And so thoroughly!

This gets my "the sexual harassment is weird and mysterious enough not to bother me" pass. At least so far. I was not expecting to see echos of The Director Buys Me Dinner (which I still haven't finished) here, but here they are.

Oh yes, I did know about this ASMR thing from the trailer, but I had completely blanked on it.

I think I might end up actually liking this show?! Laem has already endeared himself to me. And his complete disregard for authority or social rules has rid me of my worry of the boss-intern relationship feeling icky. And I do like Mike as Jack—the only thing I recall seeing him in was Theory of Love, but I thought he was quite good in it (and v. pretty).

Oy vey. GMMTV seems to like to pretend the characters are in bed together when they're miles apart talking on the phone. It confused me in My School President (which I also still haven't finished) and I don't like it here either. I guess I really like the intimacy of a phone call. (Kabe Koji used it so effectively!) Especially since it's all about Laem's voice! It's not so much that I hate the idea of showing things that aren't actually happening, I just like phone call scenes so much. I love seeing them hearing but not seeing each other and watching the vulnerability of their actions and reactions as they're alone in a room. In pretending they're in the same room all that magic gets lost and becomes ordinary. Alas.

I love how Laem is such a known storyteller and exaggerator that no one believes what he's saying about his interactions with the Boss, even they're completely true. It's a nice way to keep their relationship feeling intimate and private, without making it a secret.

And yay for ADHD rep! I mean, I don't know if it's intentional, but those are certainly the vibes I'm getting from Laem.

I've figured out what his names are, but what are we as a fandom calling him? He seems to want to be called Laem, so that's what I've been using, although I personally prefer Cher.

I laughed out loud at the Jack pinching Aoi by mistake. Sad to see the employees all terrified of their boss, but also hilarious. (Also a part of me is tempted to do a deep dive into depictions of The Office and Work Life in QL. But I will not do that. Partly because it's a major project, partly because I haven't actually seen that many (GAP is yet another show I haven't finished) and partly I feel like I would need to watch more non-QL Thai, Korean and Japanese shows to have context. So that's a lot of things I shouldn't be doing because I need to focus on schoolwork instead.)

I do like the use of sound effects! GMMTV seems to have figured it out. Like in MSP, they fit the slapstick comedy feel of the show, and they're well chosen and timed.

Ok, I had already seen a post about Yacht showing up, but a still gave a little startled yet excited jump when he did. Yacht!!! ily :-* (And yes, Between Us is another show that I haven't finished yet.)

omg I think I may love them? I was not expecting this at all. This little standoff over the coffee with whipped cream feels surprisingly nuanced somehow? I was not expecting nuance. Hmm, why do you always give into Cher, Gun?

And we end with a crash-into-you, and soulful staring into each other's eyes. *heart eyes* *big smile*

Well. I'm not sure I will manage to keep watching this, just because I'm not sure that I will manage to keep watching anything. But I am hooked. And delighted.