#the Diana to my Anne

[themetaphorgirl]

who wants some adorable Hotch and Haley??

This was prompted by @fragolinaa with ASL knowledge provided by @thesassprincess!!! two of my favorite people in the whole world!!!

also Aaron is both Brenna and Maeve’s favorite, so I’ve been writing a lot of Aaron things lately ahahahaha. He’s such a sweetheart. but also shoutout to the commenter from the early days of Patron Saint who told me that the way I wrote Hotch had no personality at all. I still stress about it to this day. but hopefully he’s a lot more interesting to read now!!

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Oh my god, Haley thought. He doesn’t know this is a date.

She sat in the back of the car, listening to James and Aaron talk about an upcoming test, as horror slowly sank into the pit of her stomach. Surely he’d figured it out by now that this was a double date. 

Aaron twisted around in the passenger seat. “Birdy, when we get back, would you mind helping me run through my calculus study guide?” he asked. “James thinks we’ll be back too late for me to get Spencer to help.”

“I mean…I suppose,” Alex said, looking up from her book. “You don’t want to wait for tomorrow?”

“No, we can do it tonight, a movie and dessert shouldn’t run that late,” he said. 

Alex poked him in the arm. “Turn around before you make yourself carsick,” she said. 

He blushed. “I’m not-“ he started to say. He shifted towards Haley. “She’s joking, I don’t-“ He turned back around quickly. “So what time is the movie?”

Haley hid a smile. “Not till six, so we have plenty of time,” James said. 

It would be okay if it wasn’t a date. She was happy to spend time with him, especially off campus. 

But the school year was ending in a month, and she wouldn’t see him all summer, and what if he met another girl before they came back in the fall?

James pulled into a parking spot and Haley got out, unsure of what to do with herself- which was a rare and unsettling feeling for her. 

“While you guys are getting tickets, I’m going to run to the bathroom,” Alex said as she slid her book in her purse. “Haley, do you want to come with me?”

“Uh…yeah,” she said. 

James helped her smooth her long red hair free of her purse strap. “We’ll meet you at concessions,” he said. “Aaron, you’re getting Haley’s ticket, right?”

Aaron blinked. “Oh, yeah, sure,” he said. “I can do that.” James shot him a weird look. 

Haley followed Alex inside the theater and into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed Alex whirled around. “Oh my god, he doesn’t know this is a date, does he?” she said. 

“I don’t think so,” Haley groaned. “Oh my god. I thought I made it super clear.”

“How exactly did you ask him?” Alex asked. 

Haley ran her fingers through her hair. “We were at the Honeybean!” she said. “We were in line, and James said you wanted to see the movie, and Aaron said he wanted to see it too, and then he asked me if I wanted to go, and I said yes, absolutely, could we go together? And he said yes.”

“Oh, no,” Alex said, leaning against the sink as Haley started to pace. 

“And then James was like ‘oh perfect, Alex and I will be together and you two will be together’, and then we picked out the day and the time, and then Aaron was like ‘meet us in the parking lot at five’ and I was like ‘perfect, it’s a date’.”

“But neither of you…actually…agreed that it was a date,” Alex said. 

“No,” Haley said, shoulders slumping in misery. “You guys thought it was a double date too, right?”

“Oh, absolutely, that’s why James gave him that weird look, he assumed Aaron was getting your ticket because it was a date,” Alex said. “I even talked to Aaron about it the other day and called it a date. It’s weird that he didn’t pick up on that.”

“Do you think James will ask him about it?” Haley said. 

Alex sighed. “There’s no telling,” she said. She rested her hands on Haley’s shoulders. “Listen, Brooks. Underneath Aaron’s stern, serious, intelligent facade is a very sweet, very shy, very dumb teenage boy. Emotionally dumb. And underneath that, he is so in love with you he’s seasick in your presence.”

“Really?” Haley said. 

“Really,” Alex said. “Hopefully he’ll figure it out this is a date on his own. Or you’ll get the chance to talk. But in any case, I promise that he’s absolutely thrilled that you’re hanging out with us.” She brushed the pads of her thumbs under Haley’s eyes. “Don’t cry, your mascara’s running. Let’s clean that up.”

Haley dabbed at her eyes with a wet paper towel and touched up her makeup. “I look like I’m dressed for a date, right?” she said, surveying herself in the mirror. “I’ve been saving this dress for ages so I could wear it to something important.”

“You look beautiful,” Alex reassured her. “I’m sure he’ll figure it out. Eventually.”

They walked back out into the lobby; James and Aaron were waiting near the concessions. “What snacks do you guys want?” James asked. 

Alex linked her fingers through his and he kissed her temple. “Nothing too crazy if we’re getting dinner afterwards,” she said. 

Aaron frowned. “I thought we were just getting dessert,” he said. 

“Nope,” James said. 

Aaron looked down at Haley. “You’re not much of a popcorn person,” he said. “M&Ms, right?”

She smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “We can share them if you want.”

His ears immediately turned red. “Uh…yeah, that’s…we can do that,” he said. 

Haley hid a smile. He might not have figured out they were on a date, but Alex was right, he did have a crush on her. 

When they took their seats in the theater she ended up between the twins, Aaron on her left and Alex on her right. James plunked down next to Alex with their small popcorn and cherry Coke. “If this movie sucks, I’m suing,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for this for ages.”

Alex tossed a piece of popcorn at him and he caught it in his mouth. “You’ve never even read the book,” she laughed. 

“Yes, I have,” he protested. “You let me borrow it last summer.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Haley pried open the M&Ms box. “The third book in the series is better,” she said, tipping some of the candy into her hand. “I don’t read a whole lot, but I like those.” She offered the box to Aaron. “Have you read it?”

He smiled at her shyly and took some. “No, I don’t usually have a lot of time to read,” he said. “Alex is making a list of books I need to catch up on.”

“You should send me a copy of the list, I need to read more,” she said. 

The four of them chatted idly, their conversation settling as the trailers started to roll. “You can have some of my drink if you want,” Aaron offered. “Diet Coke?”

She nodded and took a sip, more for the excuse to smile at him than anything else. Even in the dim lights she could see him blush. God, he’s cute, she thought. I wish this was an actual date.

By the time the movie started, Alex and James had drifted into each other, the armrest pulled up between them so she could lean on his chest and he could wrap his arm around her shoulder. Haley bit back a sigh.

She kept her hand on the armrest between herself and Aaron, giving him as many opportunities as possible to accidentally brush against her as he reached for his drink. Luckily it kept happening, his fingertips grazing her knuckles, until finally about twenty minutes into the movie she curled her palm upwards and caught his hand lightly.

He immediately slipped his fingers through hers. He was staring straight at the screen, but she could see him smiling. This is good, she thought. This is progress. 

They held hands in silence, her heart skipping beats. She worked up to tracing her thumb along his in a slow, steady pattern. His hand was so much bigger than hers.

Every so often she caught James and Alex leaning into each other to kiss- not often enough to be gross, but just enough that jealousy puddled in the pit of her stomach. God, why couldn’t he have just known it was a date, she thought. That could be us, but he’s so dumb.

Forty-five minutes into the movie Aaron glanced over at James and Alex, rolled his eyes at them kissing, and looked back at the screen. After a beat his hand suddenly twitched.

Haley frowned, but he slid his hand away from hers, leaned over her, and tapped Alex’s arm. “What?” she whispered.

Aaron started signing. Haley watched, trying to keep up. She knew the twins were both capable in ASL, after Alex had started teaching Aaron and Spencer what she was learning in class, but she knew very little. Their facial expressions were hard to see in the dark, but she tried to figure out what they were talking about. Aaron seemed frustrated to the point of despair, and Alex was barely holding back a laugh. 

James leaned around Haley. “They do this sometimes,” he whispered. “It’s a twin thing.”

“Do you know what they’re saying?”

“Not really. They’re so good at languages, and I barely passed the school language requirement, and only because Alex tutored me.”

Haley watched them. They kept repeating the same signs- they both had their hands curved like lowercase d shapes, their fingertips tapping, but Alex made the sign more upright, and Aaron tilted his hands forward. Alex kept shaking her head, and finally Aaron flopped back in his seat, slumping down and staring blankly forward in a daze.

Haley sat quietly, hands in her lap, watching him out of the corner of her eye. She couldn’t figure out what had just happened. 

Suddenly Aaron got up and half-jogged down the steps to the exit. Haley’s heart sank.

“I know what happened now,” Alex whispered. She shifted towards her. “This means dessert.” She signed the way Aaron had, the lowercase d shapes tilted forward. “And this means date.” She tilted her hands back up and made the same gesture. “Remember when I told you that I said it was a date? We were signing. And I think he got confused.”

“Oh my god,” Haley whispered. She slid down in her seat, trying not to laugh too loudly in the quiet movie theater. “So he thought-”

“That’s why he kept talking about dessert.”

The two of them burst out laughing, attempting to smother the sound and failing. “Okay, okay, wait, can you teach me something really quick?” Haley said, trying to stay quiet. “Before he gets back.”

She was ready by the time Aaron sat down next to her again. “Here,” he whispered, handing her another box of M&Ms. “I thought that…” He paused. “Never mind. It’s stupid.”

He was clearly frazzled, his dark hair falling over his forehead as he avoided making eye contact with her. Haley squeezed his forearm. “Wait,” she whispered, and she waited for him to look up.

She pointed to him, then to herself, and then touched the tips of her thumb and middle finger together and drew her hand from her chest like she was plucking an invisible string from her heart.

Aaron’s eyes lit up. He signed back, and she knew what he saying.

I like you too.

Impulsively she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, her hair falling against his shoulder. He smiled at her in a daze, and this time he reached for her hand on purpose, closing his strong fingers around hers and squeezing tight as he moved the armrest out of their way so they could be closer.

[themetaphorgirl]

yall I am SOBBING I love this so much I am EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED

Sicktember 2024 #7: Borrowed Hoodie

The idea for this was, literally, "Aaron’s hoodie being passed around like a healing balm." It was @themetaphorgirl's prompt, and I love her for it, because if there's anything I love, it's when the person that's usually the whumpee becomes the caretaker, even in the short form. Honorable mention comment goes to @fragolinaa, who said, and I quote: "Alex calling him Aaron is the equivalent of showing a glock"

Spencer

“I’m tired,” Spencer mumbled against Aaron’s side. It was Friday night, and they were at another one of Derek’s football games. Aaron knew the rules of football against his will, having been Derek’s roommate the year before, but it seemed that no matter how many times he tried to explain them to Spencer, it wasn’t sticking.

That, or Spencer couldn’t get over why a sport about passing and running had to be so violent. He didn’t like it when they tackled one another, which was every play, and he really didn’t like it when Derek got tackled. 

“I know, Bug,” Aaron said gently, pulling Spencer closer to him as his eyes stayed locked on the field. It was getting colder as the season went on, and Spencer was shivering, so some extra snuggles were in order.

“I wanna go home,” Spencer whined, flopping down so his head could lay in Aaron’s lap. 

Aaron ruffled his hair. “I know, Bug,” he echoed. “The game’s almost over. I told Derek we’d try to stay for the whole thing. There’s four minutes left.”

“That could take a million years,” Spencer mumbled, and when Aaron’s hand paused against Spencer’s scalp, he noticed how warm his ‘little brother’ felt. 

His mouth tugged down into a frown, and he looked over at Alex, but she wasn’t watching them. She was buried in her book, her back against James’ side while he watched with rapt attention. James liked to give Derek specific praise after his games – something he said that Ned always did for him – and while it was sweet, it made him oblivious to the world for the two hours they were on the bleachers.

“Bug?”

“Mhm?”

“Are you feeling okay?”

Spencer nestled further into Aaron’s lap, the tip of his thumb between his teeth. “Mm. ‘m cold.”

Aaron sighed. Spencer ran mystery fevers all the time, and they usually found out the cause later in the night, or the next day. Some cold, or flu, or worse, a stomach bug that reared its ugly head and made them all stressed out for a week, and usually got Aaron sick, too, in the process.

He thought for a second before stripping off his hoodie, and then laying it over Spencer like a blanket. Spencer sighed in relief, snuggling into it and balling his fists in the soft, blue fabric.

“That help?” Aaron asked, and Spencer nodded sleepily, closing his eyes as he turned his face into Aaron’s stomach. 

“Uh huh. Thanks, Bubba.” __________

Alex

They’d been fighting about it for five entire minutes.

“Birdy, come on.”

“I’m fine, Aaron. Leave me alone.”

Aaron, not Bubba. I really must have done it this time.

“I won’t,” Aaron said, moving to try to stop her as she marched down the sidewalk. “You’ve been trying to dodge us all day, I barely caught you now, and I had to ask Penelope for your work schedule.”

“How did Penelope get my work schedule?”

Aaron gestured vaguely, moving again so he was in front of his pseudo-twin. “Penelope could find the president’s schedule if she wanted to.”

Alex rolled her eyes, not moving to push back the hair that was blocking some of her face from his view. She always pulled her hair away from her face, she’d said once that it was a sensory nightmare, but she didn’t have a headband or a clip pulling it back, and it wasn’t in a ponytail or a braid like she usually did.

“Are you mad at me? Is this about Spencer? Because if you’re mad at me, you shouldn’t be avoiding everyone, just tell me what I did.”

Alex huffed, pushing past him again. “I’m not mad at you, you’re reading into it.”

Aaron raised an eyebrow, but then used his lank to his advantage, stepping in front of her again. He put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her in place, and bent a little to look her in the face.

“Birdy, please, come on. Spencer’s worried, he doesn’t know why you’re avoiding him.” When he said it he knew it was a low blow, but he was starting to feel anxiety like bubbles popping in his chest. “I told him I’d make sure you were at dinner.”

Alex looked up at him after a second, some of her face still blocked by her hair,, and if looks could kill, he would have been six feet under.

“Let go of me, Aaron.”

“Alex–”

“I have homework to do. I’ve got too many things–”

Her words cut off as she shuddered under his hands, goosebumps erupting on her arms as she shivered in weather that was already too warm for him to be wearing his hoodie in the first place.

“Woah,” he said reflexively, “Are you… cold?”

She shook her head quickly and shivered again, before tucking her face away from him, and he didn’t even think as he reached out and gently grabbed her chin, turning her head so he could actually see her face.

When he did, everything clicked into place.

“Holy shit, Alex, you look awful.”

She frowned, and to his horror, her lower lip started trembling. “Stop, Aaron–”

“No way, Bird,” he said, the popping of anxiety in his chest going from slow moving bubbles to sparks like fireworks. “No wonder you’ve been a ghost today, you should be in bed, not running around trying to dodge us.”

“I’m fine,” she tried to say, but it was painfully obvious she wasn’t, and Aaron took a second to breathe before he was rubbing his hands up and down her arms, trying to help somehow. He was good at taking care of Spencer, but Spencer was ten.

Plus, Alex was usually the one taking care of him, and Spencer, so how was he supposed to do anything to help her?

“We should… find James. I’ll text James. He can meet us back at my room, and he’ll know what to do.”

She started to protest, but as she shivered harshly again, all of the fight seemed to go out of her. Her eyes started to fill with tears, and she nodded slowly. 

“Okay.”

He thought for a second before unzipping his hoodie, and he helped her thread her arms through the sleeves before zipping it for her. It hung like a dress down to the middle of her thighs, but she didn’t seem to notice, or felt too awful to care.

After a moment she leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her face in the fabric of his shirt. 

“Thanks, Bubba.”

“Of course,” he said automatically. “Of course, Birdy.”

“Love you.”

“I love you, too.” __________

Haley

“You don’t have to do this, Ari. It’s sweet, but you’re gonna–”

“Hay, James said you probably should be with someone to watch your fever. It’s fine, I don’t care about getting sick. I care about you.”

Haley sat next to him on the bench outside of Roosevelt house, her head laying against his arm as he tried to coax her into following him back to Lincoln house. He’d thought she was acting weird at dinner, and by the time she’d finally admitted to him that she wasn’t feeling all that great, Alex and James had taken Spencer back with them and the others, granting them enough privacy for him to convince her to let him help.

She’d fought going to the nurse harder than he thought she would, but he’d been able to convince her to on the thermometer in his backpack, normally reserved for Spencer. After that he’d called James, and she’d already gone inside and grabbed a tote bag with the things she thought she might need.

When she’d gone in she’d been wearing his hoodie, which he’d given her even after she’d protested that she was going to get germs on it, and he’d fully scoffed. Odds were he was going to get sick anyway. When she’d come out with her bag and was still wearing it, he’d told the bees in his stomach to knock it the fuck off.

“Harper just…” she turned and muffled a cough into her elbow, but he finished the thought for her. “Is the worst?”

She laughed and shook her head, clearing her throat before speaking again.

“She just gets really freaked out about getting sick and missing class, and missing cheer. It’s like, she would rather die.”

“That’s a little dramatic,” Aaron said simply, rubbing Haley’s back. She’d started shivering again, and it was making him anxious. “People get sick all the time. Spencer and I get sick all the time. You’ve got like, a cold virus or something, and it’ll go away.”

Haley turned and raised a weak eyebrow at him. “A cold virus, or something?”

“I don’t want to be a doctor,” he said simply. “I want to be a lawyer.”

“A man with ambition,” she said, teasing him, but he could tell her heart wasn’t in it. She was more miserable than she was letting on. “I like that.”

“And I like you feeling well,” he said, standing up and offering her his hand. “Come on, Haley. It’s alright, I promise.”

She looked up at him, glassy eyed and fever flushed, and sniffled quietly before taking his hand and letting him help her up. He grabbed her bag, even though she protested, and couldn’t help but feel a swell of fondness at the fact that his hoodie dwarfed her, the sleeve pooling around their connected hands while the other completely covered her hand. He nodded towards it, giving her a shy smile.

“When JJ’s cardigans do that to Spencer’s hands, she calls it ‘Sweater Paws,’ like he’s a kitten.”

“Are you calling me a baby?” She said, but she laughed listlessly, so he knew she wasn’t serious.

“It’s cute,” he said, trying and failing to not blush like a moron.

“Well, maybe I should wear your jackets more often. Not just because I’m so cold.”

“You’re hot.”

“Wow. Forward.”

“I mean–!” He blushed darker, fumbling for the right words. “You know what I meant! You have a fever!”

“I know, I shouldn’t be giving you a hard time,” she said, leaning her head against his arm as they walked. “Thanks for letting me stay. I feel silly about it.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” he said, squeezing her hand. “I already said it, I don’t care about getting sick. I care about you.” ___________

James

James was raising an eyebrow at him, though it looked misplaced on his pale yet darkly flushed face.

“Your hoodie won’t fit me.”

“Try me,” Aaron said, holding it out to him. “Or do I need to help you put it on?”

James grumbled, taking it from him. “This is silly.”

“You’re the one that tried to hide in a study room to finish homework instead of calling your dad and telling him to pick you up in the first place.”

“I didn’t know Penelope had tagged us.”

“Well,” Aaron said, “Yeah, the ethics on that are sketchy. But how else was Alex supposed to find you when you didn’t show up after classes let out? And then no one could find you for two hours until Penny finally ratted on herself!”

He hadn’t meant to get a little loud, and only noticed when James winced and rubbed at his temples, but James was usually their rock. The fact that he’d been the one to go MIA hadn’t sat right, and he’d been fighting off the anxiety ever since.

“I didn’t mean to worry everyone,” James said quietly. He’d pulled Aaron’s hoodie on, which had stopped the fever chills a little bit, and had fit, which Aaron had known it would. It was just baggy enough in the shoulders to fit James’ broader ones. “I wanted the opposite.”

“Well you got the not-opposite,” Aaron said, way too flustered to think of a good retort. Instead he stared at James longer than was appropriate, and was startled when someone honked their car horn.

“Shit,” he said at the same time that James said, “Stars,” like they were in a southern sitcom.

“Jeff, cut it out!”

Ned was walking up to them, concern etched onto his face, while Jeff, his best friend and bakery partner, was sitting in the driver’s seat of the van, sheepishly waving and mouthing “sorry.”

Aaron liked Ned. Ned was a good dad.

“Mini, why in the world would you have stayed here feeling bad when you know I would’a come to get you right quick had you called? Alex sounded worried out of her mind.”

“That’s just Alex,” James said, but Aaron watched him quickly wilt as he laid eyes on his dad. “It’s not that bad.”

“He’s got a fever over a hundred n’ one,” Aaron said, his accent strengthening the second he heard Ned talk. “He’s full’a crap.”

Ned nodded at Aaron, ruffling his hair before he grabbed James’ backpack off the ground. “Thanks, Bubba. Charlie’s anxious to get him back. Mama’s worried.”

He said it in James’ direction, but didn’t take his eyes off Aaron, and it made him feel warm inside.

James got up to walk with him back to the car, mumbling a thanks to Aaron, but was half way there when he turned around.

“Oh, Aaron, this is your hoodie.” He started moving sluggishly to take it off, but Aaron shook his head. 

“It’s fine. I’m not worried about it.”

“Didn’t your brother pick it for you, though? It’s important.”

Aaron nodded, taking a beat before shrugging. “It is. A, um. A different brother needs it right now.”

He watched as James’ face went from confused to thoughtful, a small and sheepish smile crossing his face before he nodded, turned, and followed Ned to the car.

[cyanbeetle]

My Wonder Woman and friends

[soranatus]

WONDER WOMAN vs. THE CHEETAH In Multiversus: Collision Detection (2024) #1

[partiallypearl]

then it is.

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

Royal Mothers + Piggybacks 🤍

[leonisandmurex]

Best royal summer hairstyle(s) — (✿◠‿◠) *.ﾟ❀.*

Royal summer 2024 challenge

[invisible-pink-toast]

interactions / relationships that i was waaay too captivated by growing up that i honestly can't believe i ever thought i was straight

+bonus definitely not a ship thing but also i think these awakened something in me

[leoleolovesdc]

cheetah: *agressively biting diana’s arm*

wonder woman: nono, it’s fine, she js gets cranky when she’s hungry :)

[othellho]

Two years before his suicide, Diana Khoi Nguyen’s brother cut his image from family photographs. It’s these photographs—each with a scissored void—that served as the starting point for the complex, visually-driven elegies in Nguyen’s debut book of poetry Ghost Of.

[flowersandfashion]

Platonic Love

requested by anon

[ghostsoforpheus]

anne with an e -> "an inward treasure is born"

[queeringclassiclit]

Anne Shirley & Diana Barry

from the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery

[cyanbeetle]

I love her for her nefarious and tragic demeanour

[potatounicoorn]

Real bitches don't limit their warrior princess/human cat creature toxic yuri shipping to Catradora

[chelshiart]

Fire and Hemlock!! Aka the one with like a gazillion recommendations for other books 😂