#they gave boss unit a second song

[djxiao]

Ten will fight for a 7th sense unit 😭 https://twitter.com/cloudwinwin/status/1611434333977579522?s=46&t=pnrxdQQQ_L2OBFK-lPdgMA

SM YOU HEARD HIM!!!

[wooahaeruby]

Chapter 12: Shit, This is Red Too

Chapter Word Count: 4,239

Anything in Bold Italics are Korean/Another language.

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It had been about a week since your…fight with Jihoon. Things were rocky for a few days to say the least, trying to figure out what was a boundary and what wasn’t. One of the main points of contention was communication and finding a way to explain how you are feeling rather than just feeling them. 

You had insisted that Jihoon needed to talk about his emotions with you, at least ones that pertained to you. He needed to communicate what was making him uncomfortable if there was anything you were doing, but he needed to understand that you could have friends and relationships outside of him. He had pouted and huffed the first day after when you discussed it, mumbling something along the lines of ‘ Mingyu is gonna get my foot up his ass’. 

He countered that he’d like it if Mingyu wouldn’t hang off of you whenever you were to hang out with him, which you could do, however you did admit you thrived a bit on physical affection and wouldn’t just stop all contact. Was he a little miffed? Yeah, but when you huffed right back at him, he conceded and let it lie. 

The one thing you did take notice of over the past week was Jihoon’s now continuous mission to be beside you. As you watched them practice, going over choreography and perfecting moves, working with tape on the floor for new dimensions of the stages, Jihoon…hovered on each break. 

Earlier in the day, you had worked on documents for your new position, having to sign new contracts and have a zoom meeting to meet your new boss. You still had a few more days until needing to start work so you were taking the time to acquaint yourself with any new information that you could. Jihoon had messaged you that they were having practice in the afternoon and wanted you to join them. 

You had brought your laptop with you, wanting to get some things done and organized but Jihoon, each time he had a chance, was leaning over and letting his hair cover your screen to see what you were doing. When you asked if it was necessary for him to do it every single time, he simply looked at you with the utmost innocence, shrugged, and walked off back to whatever part of the dance they were at. 

Jeonghan wasn’t oblivious to his younger member’s antics. He even teased Jihoon when he came back into his position and you felt the beginnings of embarrassment flow between you. 

When Hip Hop unit was rehearsing for Back It Up and Game Boi, Jeonghan had taken a seat at your right while Joshua easily slid in on your left, leaving no room for Jihoon to sit beside you. You gazed at them in confusion, only to see them smile and look at your soulmate. 

“ Wah, Jihoonie, you need to be a little faster than that if you wanna sit beside our lovely Ruby-ah.” Jeonghan teased and you suppressed the urge to roll your eyes. This was the game they were playing. He even leaned towards you a bit, keeping the oh so innocent smile on his face. Jihoon pouted and gave a steady glare to Jeonghan.

Now you really rolled your eyes and closed your laptop, tucking it into your bag that was now flatted between you and the second oldest. Joshua gave the smallest of laughs, his shoulder shaking against yours. You held your hand out to Jihoon who easily took it and helped you up. Almost as quickly as you were up, you felt another hand take yours and pull. 

“ Ruby-noona, do you know any of our dances?” Seungkwan had a mischievous glint to his eye, looking from you to Jihoon. 

“ Oh they have to! Right?” Chan bounced beside Seungkwan, placing both hands over the other’s shoulders.

You froze, one hand still in Jihoon’s while your other was gently tugged on by Seungkwan. 

“ I can tell you almost every lyric to a song but getting me to dance will be like making a lazy dog move.” You said the statement so fast that a pause leveled the room, even catching some of the staff off guard.

The first to laugh was Chan, loud and innocent, full of heart. Seungkwan’s face twisted before his shoulders shook with laughter. On your other side Jihoon’s nose scrunched up and a wide smile spread on his face. A few others laughed and your own dread washed over you. 

Your face turned bright red before whispering out. “ Please don’t make me dance.” 

“ Why not? Wouldn’t it be fun?” Sarcasm was laced in Jeonghan’s voice as he spoke. You wanted to deck him with your shoe. 

“ Do you have two left feet, Ruby-ah?” Joshua added, snickering to himself.

Even Jihoon was laughing more, not even bothering to defend you against his brothers. 

“ Guys, leave them alone, they look like a tomato.” Seungcheol hushed the crowd, looking at you from behind Jihoon.

You quickly turned your head away, taking your hand from Seungkwan to cover your face. “I hate you guys.” 

Seungcheol scoffed, pursing his lips and crossing his arms over his chest. “ Not even a thank you for your savior?”

Like a choir, a chorus of ‘ oooooh’ came from a few of the more nosey members. You pursed your lips in annoyance, dropping the hand from your face despite it still being red and looking to Seungcheol past Jihoon. The leader looked a little smug, trying to keep a stern face but you could see the smile threatening to spread on his face. 

“ You? My savior?” You raised an eyebrow, stepping around Jihoon to better see Seungcheol. “What makes you my savior?” 

Jeonghan, from the floor, looked between the two of you quickly, eyes bright with pure, unadulterated joy.

“ Oh? So I can be your bias but not your savior?” The question in his tone held a challenge. 

“Oh, get over yourself-” You rolled your eyes hard , “Do you get off on this type of shit?” 

Still on the floor, Joshua absolutely loses it . Vernon wasn’t able to hide the pain he felt as he keels over laughing. 

“ Yah, Korean-” 

“Oh sorry, let me repeat myself.” You clear your throat, “ Do you have some sort of savior complex? Master-pet fetish?” 

Now all eyes were on you, some stunned, others amused to no end. Bated breaths were held in, waiting for a response from their leader. Feeling a little self-conscious, you squared your shoulders the best you could, raising your brow. 

Seungcheol gave you a critical stare but smirked. “ Do you wanna find out?” 

“ Dead ass?” You felt Jihoon squeeze your hand, easily squeezed his in return, pacifying the uncertainty that you felt from him. 

“ Stop- I can’t breath-” Vernon begged, slapping the floor as he gasped for air. 

“ No, let them continue-” Soonyoung said. In the reflection of the mirror you see his phone in his hand, most likely recording. 

“You could always-” Seungcheol started but the door to the practice room opened, promptly cutting him off as all eyes turned to their head manager and the choreographer walking towards the front mirrors. 

“ Let’s run through the songs again.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh. Now sitting in Jihoon’s studio, watching him stare at you after practice was priceless. 

“I said I was sorry!” You held your stomach, tears pooling in the corner of your eyes. “ Come on! It was funny!” 

“It was not.” He said flatly, turning in his chair to face the dark computer screen. It took a moment for the tower and screen to light up and illuminate the room better. 

You struggled to heave each breath in, covering your mouth to hold in any sound that escaped. The quick tapping of keys and murmured words had aided in bringing you down from the fit of laughter. He didn’t feel angry or annoyed, just a bit brooding. Wiping the tears that threatened to fall, you stood and wondered towards his desk, leaning yourself back against the table beside him. 

“ You’re brooding.” You state matter-of-factly. 

“ I’m not!” He let out, throwing his hands up to look at you. There was still a prominent pout on his face and a wrinkle between his brow. “ I’m not brooding.”

You leaned down slightly, coming face to face with him, “ You. Are. Brooding.” 

Jihoon leveled with your gaze, “ You are impossible.” 

“But entertaining.” 

He placed a palm to your face and gently pushed you back, snorting a laugh before turning back to his computer. “ Impossible. I’m going to hear some shit like that between you and hyung for the rest of my life.” 

“ Hey! Be happy. At least your soulmate gets along with your friends, right?” 

Giving you a blank stare then turning back to his monitor, Jihoon waved you off. “ I have things I need to work on. Either get lost in the building by yourself or sit and take a nap or something until I’m finished.” 

“You and I both know that if you just worked without a stopping point you would continue until all hours of the night.” 

His fingers stopped in the air just above the keys, twitching some at the sudden freeze in movement. Watching him reach down and slide his phone from his pocket, he glanced at the time, only early evening since practice ran well and they’d be at it again tomorrow. 

“ If I set an alarm for two hours from now…can we get dinner after this?” 

A laugh puffed out of you. “ Why are you asking me like I’m the one who is actually doing work? Set the alarm and we can figure it out then.” 

Leaning down to him once more, you placed a kiss to the top of his head and shuffled off back towards the couch. A warm flood of fondness came from his side of the bond and you kept the small snicker in as you curled up against the plush cushions. Not long into the white noise of typing and Jihoon’s humming, you drifted off into a peaceful nap.  

A quiet voice roused you from your sleep, the once sunlit room dark and soft fluorescent lights illuminated around you. 

“.... leep long?” The voice sounded familiar but you grumbled, using an arm to cover your face. 

You felt much warmer than earlier, taking note of a soft weight laying atop you. Confused, you cracked an eye open just barely, your head half covered by a blanket and what seemed to be the sleeve of a jacket. 

“ About two hours, I was going to wake them up soon so we can go get dinner.” Jihoon was whispering, clearly not noticing you were awake nor wanting to wake you. 

Whoever he was speaking to hummed quietly. “ Maybe you can finally start going to bed at a normal hour because of them.” Ah, it was Hoshi. He was trying to talk quietly but was not the best at whispering. 

“ Yeah yeah, don’t get your hopes up.” 

“What? One day you’ll be living together and doing all the cute mushy stuff that couples do. I can get my hopes up for you to maybe be a little normal and be happy, can’t I?” 

Jihoon didn’t reply right away, the once quiet sound of typing was nowhere to be heard. A subtle buzz of fondness fluttered into your chest from him. It was light and airy, filling you with warmth. 

“ I- Why-” He struggled to form proper words, embarrassment tucking into the fondness. You tried not to laugh. “ Shut up and get out, I need to finish what I’m doing.” 

Hoshi only managed to laugh softly and bid Jihoon a goodnight before he shuffled out of the studio. The typing didn’t continue right away as you thought. You heard the soft squeak of his chair turning and the quiet padding of feet moving towards you.

“ Are you hungry?” 

You paused, closing your barely opened eyes and stayed as still as you could.

“ I know you’re awake, don’t even try.” 

He pulled the blanket back, letting more light hit your face. Hesitantly, you opened one eye and looked up to him, meeting the half amused face of Jihoon. He looked a little tired, eyes a bit droopy but still awake enough to function. 

You opened your eyes fully and stretched out, curled up on your side under the blanket to keep warm. “ If you want to work more, I’m fine to just lay here.” 

“I didn’t ask if I could work more, I asked if you were hungry.” Jihoon sat on the edge of the couch near your middle, placing a hand gently over your shoulder.

Opening your mouth to speak, your stomach grumbled and your eyes widened. “Okay, that was dramatic-” You started, but he promptly cut you off. 

“ Up, come on, let’s get ramen before heading home.” 

He had taken you to a tiny shop not far from the Hybe building. When he opened the door and ushered you inside, comfortable enough to take his mask off as it was nearly empty, he was gleefully greeted by an older woman. She wore a worn and stained apron on top of a plain black shirt and trousers, speaking quickly but nonetheless looked happy to see your soulmate. 

“ Ah, look at you, have you grown more handsome since I last saw you? How was the tour? Come sit, sit! I can get you and Soonyoung a bowl of-” The woman paused when she turned to you, her gentle and welcoming eyes blinking a few times. “ This isn’t Soongyoung.”  

There was another pause as she took a closer look at you, stepping away from Jihoon to nearly get in your face and examine you. You felt self-conscious, your mask still covering a majority of your face. 

“ Song-nim, this is my soulmate.” Jihoon hummed. 

She blinked, staring in shock for a moment before turning back with a pointed finger at him. “ Lee Jihoon, you come into my shop and just present your soulmate to me without any warning and act nonchalant about it! I could have prepared something so nice for the both of you instead of your over the top ramen you always get-” 

Song-nim continued on a tangent, her words now coming out in a dialect where you could pick up some words but were otherwise lost. Jihoon was holding up his hands in defeat, startled at the sudden grilling he was receiving. 

“ Song-nim,” You spoke sweetly, her words getting cut off as she looked towards you, “ Don’t be mad at him, it’s barely been three weeks since the bond snapped into place and we haven’t really gone out much.” 

Once more, she studied you. Her eyes traveled from head to toe, taking in your form. 

“ You see Jihoon-ah, you caught yourself a good one.” She nodded her head at you, placing her hands on her lips. “ You both go sit and tell me what you want to eat.” 

The food was good…God the food was so good… 

Song-nim had given you plenty to eat, even adding extras to the ramen you customized for yourself and frying up a small plate of chicken for the two of you to share. She had bombarded you with some questions from her little spot in the kitchen just beyond the counter, asking about where you were from, how you knew Korean, and more. Jihoon stayed relatively quiet except for when questions were aimed at him, but mainly let you and her speak. She was nice, a little intrusive with some questions, but overall she didn’t make you uncomfortable. 

Her questions died down when a few new customers entered into the shop and for a bit, you just ate and enjoyed the food. 

“ How did you come across this place?” You asked, sitting back in your chair to take a short moment of rest from eating. 

Jihoon swallowed down the noodles he was eating and cleared his throat, focusing on nothing in particular as he gazed about the ceiling. “ Soonyoungie and I stumbled upon it back when everything was moved to the Hybe building. I wanted ramen but didn’t want to cook and Soonyoungie’s soulmate was craving something warm and filling. One online search led us here and we’ve come a lot ever since.” 

You laughed silently, your shoulders shaking at the simple story. “ I think we should come back here again sometime.” 

Jihoon couldn’t agree more. 

“ Stop!” You groaned, letting your legs give out under you despite the pull against your arms. 

“ Dance with us!” Chan yelled out while laughing as he tugged at your left arm. Soonyoung pulled your right arm, grinning wide. Both were easily strong enough to pick you up if needed but they enjoyed the weird game they made out of it. 

It was the second week of practice and joining them, watching as you worked through documents became part of your routine. Most times you just sit quietly, letting the music help flow your work, sometimes stepping out and hiding in Jihoon’s studio if you need to attend a meeting. Other times…specifically now…you were finished early with any work and someone – mostly Mingyu, Chan, and Seungcheol – found prime time to annoy you. 

Practice had just ended, they should be tired! Ready to go home! But no!

“ I can’t dance, spare me-” You continued to go limp as they tugged you along the floor by your arms. 

“ Jihoonie! Make them dance!” Soonyoung called out to your soulmate who just sat on the floor next to where you were last and laughed to himself. 

You looked for a few of the other members that took in the situation. Jeonghan and Joshua snickered, making no move to help. Mingyu was buzzing with excitement, you were kind of surprised he wasn’t joining their antics.

“ Anyone?!” You yelled to no one in particular. 

“ Give up!” 

Internally, you had to give in if you wished for peace. Externally you would be flushed brighter than a tomato again. 

Soonyoung and Chan were chanting your nickname and something inside you cracked. You whined out in defeat, leaning your head back on the floor as they pulled you up. The youngest dusted off the back of your sweatshirt, beaming in victory. 

“ Which choreo do you know?” 

Thinking back, you’ve never actually danced to any actual choreography, but you’ve watched enough dance practice videos and stages to know the moves well enough. Running through songs in your head, you mouthed some of the lyrics, attempting to jog your memory of any that properly stuck out to you.

“ Uh…” You started, blowing out air from your mouth, “ Clap I remember some of the chorus…A few parts of Home…Darling but I think I’ll trip over my feet if I try all the footwork-” 

“Oh oh! Darling is easy!” Mingyu jumped in, grabbing you and tugging you closer to the mirror. Seokmin was right behind him, slinging an arm over your shoulders. 

Looking at your reflection, you felt almost self-conscious. As your eyes darted around, you saw the eyes of those you called your friends watching you. Some were just simply looking on while others like 95 line were happy to see you getting along with them. Jihoon’s gaze had you pausing, he had that stupid little cute tilt to his head. When he noticed your eyes on him, he smiled and nodded towards your hostages, sending quiet encouragement to you with his eyes. 

Soonyoung clapped his hand and as slowly as he could, tried to gauge how much you knew of the dance and taught you anything unknown to you. Carats always said that he took his job as performance leader seriously and it showed with his teaching. Chan, Seokmin and Mingyu were kind enough to show a more easygoing side, not stressing when you messed up but were loud and encouraging when you got it right. The footwork wasn’t the easiest like you thought, while it wasn’t as hard as some of their other dances, you struggled here and there. 

The more you got right though, the lighter you felt and the more you relaxed. Their encouragement was so heartwarming and the laughter that bubbled out of you was contagious it seemed. They started to run through the counts faster, you stumbled the first time but quickly got the hang of it. Each of your group of teachers were so happy seeing you dance, breaking further from the shell you cocooned yourself in. 

“ Go from the top of the chorus.” Seokmin nearly skipped to your side giving a 5, 6, 7, 8 before he easily sang the lyrics to Darling, dancing beside you with Chan on your other side. 

“You know without you I’m so lonely-” You hummed out, keeping an eye on yourself in the mirror, nearly stumbling but caught yourself and handled the slight misstep well. 

With the chorus ending easily, your face scrunched up in a smile, giving into the bit of elation you felt. Mingyu was wrapping his arms around you for a hug, praising your little accomplishment with pinches to your cheek and pats to the top of your head. Seokmin grabbed the both of you and spun around, shouting praise in your ear that had you wincing and pushing him away with a laugh. 

Jihoon was easy to tug you from their hold, a hand coming to rest on your waist, questioning quietly if you were hungry and wanted to eat with how late it was getting. You bid the members a goodnight, making a comment about seeing them tomorrow at their practice and left with him. 

As you walked from the building into the underground garage, Jihoon whispered his own praise that had your heart fluttering. Dinner was ramen at Song-nim’s shop, a necessary evil with you leaving the country again for the another leg of the tour. 

When Jihoon walked you to your apartment, you felt the exhaustion that was creeping in through his side of the bond. 

“ Don’t go back to the studio tonight, do you hear me?” You poked him in the chest, feeling yourself getting tired from the exertion earlier. 

“ Okay, mom. ” He rolled his eyes, easily taking your hand into his. “ Make sure you start packing soon so you don’t forget anything.” 

You felt him lace his fingers together with your own, letting his thumb subconsciously run against the back of your hand. “ I will start tomorrow, promise.” 

For a moment, you stood in the comfort of each other’s presents. He was staring at you, clearly having a small internal battle with himself. His eyes scanned different parts of your face, a breath held in his chest that had you tilting your head in question. 

Opening your mouth to ask if everything was already, he cut you off, a flush reaching all the way to his ears spreading on his face. 

“ Can I kiss you?” 

Your heart stopped, a similar flush heating up your face. Just as he was, you held your breath, not knowing if he was really serious or not. 

“ Not that you have to- I mean, it would be nice to kiss you- Ah shit , am I messing this up?” Panic raised between you and you quickly calmed the feeling, squeezing his hand and nodding. 

“Yes. Yes you can-” 

With hesitation, he lifted his other hand to the side of your face, his touch gentle as if he would break you. His eyes were shaky and you leaned into his touch, letting your eyes close as your lips met in a sweet and caste kiss. 

The warmth usually that connected through the bond was present, the settled buzz that you felt was electrified at the simple kiss. Sparks were bursting in your chest and a mutual feeling of relief flooded your bond. The imaginative cords that linked you together were strumming rhythmically like one of the songs he played not long ago on your living room floor. 

When you both pulled back, the warmth faded and you almost craved more. The gaze that met yours had you flustered and looking away, covering your mouth with a free hand to hide the small, content smile that was threatening to spread. Jihoon was no different, removing his hand from your cheek and whipped his head away, clearing his throat to compose himself. 

“ I- Uh-” Jihoon cleared his throat again, pushing his hair back out of nervous habit. “ I’ll let you go.” 

Quickly, you entered the code into the keypad, stepping in and kicking off your shoes. You felt his hand release yours but he didn’t leave just yet. Looking back, his cheeks were still bright red but a new found confidence was dancing in his eyes. Just for the hell of it, you leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek, keeping your chuckle to yourself as his eyes blew wide and he covered his face with his hand. You bid him a goodnight through his flushed state and closed the door behind you.

[effloradox]

LOVER; the series.

a series of soulmate!au drabbles based on the album Lover by Taylor Swift

status: in progress (4/18 written)

TRACKLIST.

ONE. i forgot that you existed (dracula) 3.4k

↳ You share dreams of past lives with your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ i forgot that you existed, and i thought that it would kill me

TWO. cruel summer (aemond targaryen)

↳ You can see the world through your soulmate’s eyes occasionally

: ̗̀➛ i’m always waiting for you to be waiting below, devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

THREE. lover (tony stonem) 5.0k

↳ The red string of fate leads you to your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ have i known you twenty seconds, or twenty years?

FOUR. the man (steve harrington)

↳ You have an animal that shares the same personality / disposition as your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ every conquest i had made would make me more of a boss to you, i’d be a fearless leader, i’d be an alpha type

FIVE. the archer (dream of the endless)

↳ You can see your soulmate in reflections

: ̗̀➛ i cut off my nose just to spite my face, then i hate my reflection for years and years

SIX. i think he knows (eddie munson)

↳ You can share and hear your soulmate’s thoughts

: ̗̀➛ i want you, bless my soul, and i ain’t gotta tell him, i think he knows

SEVEN. miss americana and the heartbreak prince (jason ‘jd’ dean)

↳ You have a compass that leads to your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ i counted days, i counted miles, to see you there, it’s been a long time coming

EIGHT. paper rings

↳ You have a timer that counts down to your first meeting with your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ kiss me once ‘cause you know i had a long night, kiss me twice ‘cause it’s gonna be alright, three times ‘cause i waited my whole life

NINE. cornelia street (robert renfield) 3.2k

↳ Your soulmate’s first words are tattooed on your wrist

: ̗̀➛ sacred new beginnings that became my religion

TEN. death by a thousand cuts

↳ You have a matching tattoo / mark with your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ our songs, our films, united we stand

ELEVEN. london boy

↳ You think with your soulmate’s voice until you meet them

: ̗̀➛ but somethin’ happened, i heard him laughin’

TWELVE. soon you’ll get better

↳ You develop the same injuries as your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ what am i supposed to do, if there’s no you?

THIRTEEN. false god

↳ You know they’re your soulmate when you first touch them

: ̗̀➛ i know heaven’s a thing, i go there when you touch me honey

FOURTEEN. you need to calm down (billy loomis) 2.6k

↳ Your soulmate cannot physically harm you

: ̗̀➛ stressin’ and obsessin’ ’bout somebody else is no fun, and snakes and stones never broke my bones

FIFTEEN. afterglow (wednesday addams)

↳ You can feel your soulmate’s emotions

: ̗̀➛ it’s so excruciating to see you low, just wanna lift you up and not let you go

SIXTEEN. me! (peter parker) 2.4k

↳ The world is in black and white until you meet your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ but one of these things is not like the others, like a rainbow with all of the colors

SEVENTEEN. it’s nice to have a friend

↳ When you first see your soulmate, you just know it’s them

: ̗̀➛ something gave you the nerve to touch my hand, it’s nice to have a friend

EIGHTEEN. daylight (robin buckley)

↳ You can’t lie to your soulmate

: ̗̀➛ i’ll tell you the truth, but never goodbye

[drjohannn]

Name: Eugenia Komelkova Weapon name: Luzhin EGO: Omut Details: Revenge, Loyal to her commander Age: 24 Height: 167 cm Marital Status: in a relationship Biography: The girl comes from the quiet neighbourhood of Backstreets, where she studied and lived quite happily. Her childhood was busy with household chores, outings with her father and flirting with guys, to whom she never once gave a chance for a relationship. When Zhenya finished her Fixer training, her father introduced her to his boss, Luzhin. He liked the girl and so began in secret their relationship. Eugenia's whole fate was turned upside down by the Syndicate's attack on their area, which was under the protection of the Office where Luzhin worked. Her family was killed, and she herself managed to hide at a neighbour's house. Having escaped from the enemy, she is sent under Luzhin's wing to become a fighter in one of Mr Vaskov's units, which comes under enemy attack at the very edge of the front. Only three of the six escape. To avenge her battle buddies and help the second surviving girl she decides to go after a mysterious figure in the Limbus company. Character: Zhenya is a smart and sympathetic girl. She is the main soul of the company and easily joins absolutely any collective, trying to raise the mood with her songs and positivity. In a serious situation remains cool and judicious, giving herself slack only after the completed task. Among the team, she is the main support and ideal friend because of her kindness and understanding, as well as the ability to sympathise. Facts: -She is the only one who is not afraid to argue with Woland. -Took Luzhin's last name as a call sign, as he was the only one who helped her after losing her family. -Despite the number of guys in love with her, she's never been in a serious relationship. -Still carries around the underwear her mum gave her. -She still wears a garrison cap in memory of her friends. -Source: Boris Vasilyev - "The Dawns Here are Quiet…"

[thewestern]

Chapter 5

Helplessly the Mick looked as Mayor Mockingbird seemingly gravitated toward the small stage. The band was in between songs. Did Larry intend to sit in? Another funny thing about him was that he played the banjo. It was sort of his calling card — a whistle stop parlor trick for all the yokels. Sometimes you had to hand it to him. City slick politicians would go to great lengths to achieve the au natural aesthetic of down-home folksiness. Dress in head-to-toe denim … climb up on some farm equipment … pose with a prize hog. ( … But enough about his wife … ) Heck, the Mayor’s close friend and party-mate wore a bolo tie, boots and a six-x cowboy hat — day in and day out — and he got himself elected to the United States Senate. He stomped them genuine ostrich shitkickers all over them Capitol steps, and would you know what happened next? The President gave that wannabe hillbilly a cabinet appointment … Secretary of the damn Interior. Sure, by the time the next president swore in he was bucked off that gold pony before you could say Jack Robinson. He hardly lasted the eight seconds, but by the grace of god Himself he landed quite softly in a very cushy gig: consulting on behalf of Morningstar Petroleum. (Or more officially the industry group which fronted for them.)

Yes, in American politics it paid to be pastoral, or at least to appear as such. But whatever country-fried humiliation a man was willing to suffer for electoral advancement, few if any would go so far to learn the banjo and pick the fucking Foggy Mountain Breakdown. But that was Larry Mockingbird for you. Shameless in service of himself.  

Scurrying out a few steps ahead, the Mayor’s waifish male page removed a three-by-five note card from his leather padfolio, handed it to the musician stage left with the acoustic guitar, and scampered on back to his boss. The guitar player took a look down at the card, stepped to the mic and said: Ladies and Gentleman, thank you so much for being here on this lovely afternoon. The boys and I are going to take a short break. In the meanwhile, please give a warm welcome to the stage for our dear friend, Mayor Lawrence Mockingbird. [Metered applause.]

Thank you! Thank you all. So much. You know in my line of work it’s rare you have to follow live music, and if you’ve ever had the pleasure to attend a meeting of my colleagues on the City Council, you’d understand why. 

[Polite laughter.]

So let’s hear one more round of applause for this spectacular band, and please go easy on me, I beg you. 

[Frisbee golf clap.]

And … aand … I couldn’t help but notice the song you were playing when I came in. At the risk of incriminating myself, I’ll let you all in on a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell those persnickety councilmembers, because then I’m really in a pickle. Okay, so brace yourselves … Before I entered the beer business, once upon a time, I … was a Deadhead. 

[Stray yelps.] 

I know, I know. Shocking, but true. And people who know this about me often ask, how did you manage to go from following around the Grateful Dead with a bunch of hippies in your twenties — and to be completely honest a good part of my thirties — to becoming the Mayor of the greatest city in the world in your middle forties. And I’d tell them, I haven’t the slightest idea. 

[Incrementally shorter spurt of obligatory laughter.] 

It’s been a long strange trip you could say. 

[Laughter still, with interspersed groans.]

And … aand … It was the man who we’re all here to honor today, our beloved friend Hank, who traveled with me far and wide over this great country, from coast to coast and back, on our quest to see as many shows as was humanly possible. And I’ll spare you the details, for the sake of sparing my political future, so you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you we had the time of our lives. 

Already, the Mick couldn’t help but bristle at this, what was obviously revisionist history. Hank had gabbed incessantly about his Glory Days following the Grateful Dead. Like he himself was playing in the band. These were his war stories. Slanging grilled cheese sandwiches for gas money, rolling around a haystack with the farmer’s daughter, fixing a flat in a white-out blizzard on I-69 (his Vietnam). 

For a few years there I just went Kerouac on everyone’s ass, he’d reflected once, wistfully. Like any half-decent story, a fixture of these psychedelic parables was the comic relief, Larry Mockingbird. And it was laughter at his expense, in case there was any confusion. Recall: Moffett, Mary Ellen. Misadventures with the opposite sex aside, Larry was your classic Touch Head, or an In-the-Darker, which are just two ways of saying he was a phony, a pouser, a tinhorn, a Johnny-come-lately. (Or rather a Larry-come-too-early, as was oft-rumoured in various concentric social circles. Well, it beats the alternative, as Russ argued in a rare and telling defence of his nemesis, Lawrence.) Accusations not to be taken lightly, for If there were one thing a TrueBlue Deadhead could not abide, it was the misappropriation of their culture. 

On the low down, Larry was always more into that yacht rock, adult contemporary sound, Hank said. You know, Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan… blue-eyed soul and all that jazz fusion horse crap. He only tagged along with us to shows to chase skirts, not that he had hardly any luck at that. Give him credit for trying though. That was one thing you had to begrudgingly admire about Larry … he always went where the getting was good. I mean, you try getting laid at a Christopher Cross concert. 

But don’t you be fooled by any of that foolishness, Hank would warn the Mick. When you got between Larry and something he wanted, he could be meaner than a badger. A sow, on her period. For a fact, the most dangerous place in the Metro Area was anywhere between Mayor Mockingbird and a camera, once said one of his most trusted aides turned most fiercest political rival. Yea, he had the banjo, the big words. But when the chips are down? Well, you would do good to forget all that quirky bullshit, lickety split. Make no mistake. Mockingbird was a cold-blooded killer. He would cut your arm off to carry the Seventh District. Sell his own mother into white sex slavery. He’d do it. In a heartbeat.  

The Mayor continued … 

As for the man of the hour, let’s toast, to Hank. [Collective raising of glasses.] If I could be so bold as to try to describe him, I would say, here was a man for his place and time. You know, there’s this word that I love, and the word is Topophilia. Topophilia means love of place. More than anyone I ever knew, Hank had Topophilia.  

Sounds like an STD, the Mick thought. In which case, Hank probably did have it. 

A love of place. [Rehearsed contemplative pause.] Loving something means being willing to sacrifice for it. And we all make sacrifices. Though there are some who sacrifice all — the brave men and women of our armed services, ... and if any of you are here today, I’d like to personally buy you a beer. First responders, too. [Drunken hollers.] I think we all would. [U-S-A, aborted chant.] But, we all have to make sacrifices. When I think back on my life, I’m proud to have worked for the Federal Government as a citizen contractor, and here for the City Government as a civil servant. Still, I can’t think of a time when I’ve had to sacrifice more than when I was an entrepreneur. 

Here I am in a room full of entrepreneurs, and I’m seeing a lot of nodding heads. You’ve all spent the endless days that turn into sleepless nights. You know that to build something for your community. To create jobs that provide for families. To serve your customer in the marketplace. That, my friends, requires a sacrifice that is truly uncommon. 

Oh my god, this is taking forever, Grace thought. Julie was giving her all the signals … She was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. Lay it all on the line. Grace needed an exit strategy to get them out of this bar and back to her apartment, pronto. She had never gotten with a metal chick before. Jam bands were her scene, which made her a strong culture fit at the Newfy. Preferably they could beat her roommates back from their hike, Grace thought. She had a feeling this could get loud.

But then this asshole, who Grace did not recognize from Adam — she did not care for politics or keep abreast of political issues — was making a speech for some fucking reason … And these nerds were standing around all quiet blocking the way out of the booth. That he made allusions to the Grateful Dead had not charmed Grace in the slightest, even as a jam band fan herself. Most fans of the contemporary set — Phish, to a lesser extent Cheese, WSP, etc. — at the very least revered the Dead as the spiritual and artistic vanguards of the genre, such as it was. By contrast, there was a reactionary faction of hardliner Deadheads that dismissed the new school as derivative and shallow. Most of the younger generation were willing to overlook this minority resentment, but a defiant few, Grace among them, returned the favor and resented the Grateful Dead right back. Them and their Baby Boomer, Greatest Generation-ass fans could pound sand. 

Fuck’s sake, here he goes again … 

And I’ll tell you one quick story to that effect. One of our startup war stories, so to speak. When we were just getting going, before we sold our first pint, I called every wholesaler within a hundred miles, every direction. Every last one of them said, no thanks. So not only were we working seven days a week, fourteen hours a day to get our fledgling excuse for a beer business off the ground, but unbeknownst to us, we were simultaneously entering the highly competitive business of beverage distribution. Of course we didn’t have a truck with temperature control. We didn’t even have cars! We had both driven company leases to the jobs we got laid off from before starting the Newfy! 

So, Hank had an on-again-off-again girlfriend who had this busted-up old station wagon. This hunk was a beater’s beater — chipping orange paint job, accented with the wood paneling, lawn mower engine, had to be rolling started. And let me tell you before my administration got to work on the pothole problem afflicting our great roadways, driving that thing was like navigating the Titanic through the North Atlantic. But … buut, when you removed the back seat it could fit six kegs standing up on end. And that was all we needed. On good days we’d even have one riding shotgun, strapped into the passenger seatbelt. 

I can’t recall the girlfriend’s name, it’s been so long … 

(Liar … he fucking remembered.)

… But bless her heart, because somehow Hank convinced her to sell us that jalopy for a song. And I’ll tell you what else, we rode her till she bucked us. Driving to and fro to every dive bar, liquor store, VFW, pool hall, bowling alley. You name it. 

When we were through with it, or I should probably say when it was through with us, that car had more than two hundred thousand miles on it, which some of you know to be about the distance from here to the moon. We thought that was kismet, given our previous careers. As was alluded, many of you know that Hank and I were co-workers before we became co-founders. We spent a combined thirty years at Cavness-Baumann. And then the Space Race ended and the party was over. Here we were, a couple of down-and-out rocket scientists without a clue. 

Again, Hank would have strenuously objected to the Mayor’s accounting of their personal histories. One, not that it mattered, but Hank had worked twenty of those thirty years to Larry’s ten. Second, the term rocket scientist had been applied quite loosely indeed. Larry was a project manager, meaning his job was to hem and haw at the real rocket scientists until they got through with whatever it was he so urgently wanted. 

Hank was one of those quote-unquote rocket scientists, but even he wouldn’t be comfortable with that exact phrasing. Not the title as he understood it implied — guys that work on spaceships. It was true Cavness-Baumann had some NASA contracts, but those guys working on the shuttle program were the real hard cases. They had them boys locked away in a bunker somewhere, doing long division for the rest of their lives. Engineering a quarter-inch rubber gasket that made it onto a rocket booster would count as a career achievement. Unless those rubber gaskets weren’t adequately temperature tested and it was colder than usual on launch day. 

As for them two getting shitcanned when the Space Race ended, again, Larry was half right. The silent starter pistol for the Space Race was the Cold War, and the falling Berlin Wall its finish line. That was the real reason for the contraction of their industry — Aerospace, and Defense. Hank was more of a rocket scientist in the latter sense. Hellcat, Thunderstick, The Penetrator. These were missiles. (Although Hank always thought they sounded like sex toys, especially that last one.) All types — surface-to-air, air-to-surface, air-to-air, submarine-launched cruise missiles, ICBMs, antitank, antiship, assault, tactical. You name it. Yes, they made the rockets that blew up on purpose. Albeit quite often a safe distance from their strategic targets, at the expense of untold collateral damage and civilian casualties. 

If he did work on an aerospace application, it was almost always space-to-earth, as in satellites. Quite often as they applied to missile defense systems, CB’s second most profitable product line to the missiles themselves. Some bad faith critics would construe that to be a conflict of interest. More generously it could be interpreted as vertical integration. 

Other times though it was straight telecom — zapping hundreds of tv channels to a dish on your roof, or pinging that cellular phone in your pants pocket, holstered there atop your pelvic girdle, and by extension your reproductive organs, all throughout the day and the night. 

Privately, Hank was ashamed of what he’d done for Cavness-Baumann. (Would ashamed be the right characterization? Rather, conflicted? Let’s go with conflicted.) He could admit it to himself, and maybe that was more than most, but he wouldn’t go so far as to say so out loud. No, he had trained evasive maneuvers for whenever his previous life’s work came up in polite conversation. For his part, Larry did not share a mutual feeling of contrition. Factually, it was his idea to go with the whole Space Theme when they started out — the brand name being a reference to then-Senator Kennedy’s famous DNC speech, accepting the nomination at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in ‘Sixty, the rocket tap handles, etc. Since he couldn’t contribute around the brewhouse in any useful capacity, Larry appointed himself the strategic marketing and brand manager. Said rocket scientists-turned-brewers was a compelling founder story. When he sold his shares shortly thereafter, Hank thought about changing the name to something that didn’t remind him of how he personally made the world a worse place, but it was already screen-printed on so much stuff. Glassware, coasters, stickers, t-shirts, the big sign out front. 

Then Hank and I had this crazy idea. What if there was a third place? There’s the home, the workplace, and then what. For many that third place is a church or a temple or some other house of worship, but neither Hank nor I were regular parishioners. More spiritual — in the grand, cosmic sense — than religious. Besides, I don’t know that any congregation would take a pair of tramps like us. 

[Polite laughter, dissipating now quite noticeably.]  

A Third Place. Whither to be among family and friends. Or perhaps to meet new family and new friends. A place for love and fellowship. For community. A place for thinking about the future. 

###

That morning in the handicap stall of the ladies' restroom Kitty took a pregnancy test. I wonder how many girls have pee’d on one of these plastic indicator wands in a bar bathroom, she wondered before stopping herself. She just hated to be judgmental, of herself or others. Beside, it’s not like this baby, if there even was one, was conceived in said stall. Not that it would have made you a bad person. Although couldn’t we all agree though that it wasn’t especially hygienic or considerate of your fellow pub goers. Unless maybe they were into that sort of thing?

All empathy for exhibitionism aside, she would have preferred to take the home pregnancy test at her home. Unfortunately those quarters were somewhat cramped. She felt fractionally better about using the public toilet with the F-word graffitied right there on the door, than she would have, smuggling the soiled applicator stick out of the house in an old hamburger bag.  Either which way she wasn’t ready to tell Mick, whatever the result. And she felt really bad about that. Blend that bad feeling together with what she perceived to be morning sickness, and it had been an all-around crummy day so far. 

She even felt bad about feeling bad. By any reasonable metric, this was supposed to have been unequivocally the best year of her life. Starting a new job at what was considered to be one of the most innovative middle schools in the country. Sure the pay still wasn’t stellar, but it was commensurate with her experience, which was much more than she could say about her last gig. Getting hitched, to the love of her life. That also happened in a bar … this bar … but that was on purpose. Exchanging vows right there beneath the altar of Bertha the bison head. It was a beautiful ceremony, and a damn sight shorter than any nuptials you’d have witnessed in a house of worship. Only thing missing was the officiant. 

Now she was about to find out whether she was about to start a family with that man whom she loved like the sun would shine forever. The most joyous news of her life, it would be — all she ever wanted and more. And yet she couldn’t commit to telling him, the way she had always told him everything else, one way or t’other. Kitty wasn’t the secret-keeping type.

So she tried in vain to occupy her mind, first by grading five-paragraph essays, now by helping the bar replenish for the onslaught of orders sure to be inbound whenever Mayor Peckerwood was through delivering his speech. As for what he was saying, she wasn’t but half listening. 

We spent a lot of time in bars in those days, which we chalked up to our competitive advantage. But this wouldn’t be just another bar. We would brew our own beer! In that way we’d be self-sufficient. Cultivators of our own garden. A company of yeomen craftsmen. Crafting eccentric beer for eccentric people. Truly progressive ales that pushed the boundaries of expectations of style and flavor profile. Recipes that made use of local ingredients whenever possible, imparting our own Western American terroir. Simply put, beer that would inspire a stronger sense of topophilia in all those who imbibed. 

Beer that would make a promise to them. Challenge them. To be more. 

[Fart noise.]

Here we are, many years later. I look around this room. What do I see? Not only does the promise of the New Frontier endure, but here today there are people from all over this Nation who have risen to meet the challenge we set forth. And it all but brings a tear to my eye. You know something — Hank and I’d use to joke: wouldn’t it be great if this were a place where there could be a group at one table, planning a heist? And then maybe a group over here at another table, planning a revolution? Well I believe that dream came true. Because, in a way, you are all rebels. Freedom fighters, in a Craft Beer Revolution! 

Not what Hank was talking about. However, Larry had made out like a bandit. 

Say it with me now: I am … a craft beer … revolutionary! 

[Silence.]

You folks have taken an idea and made it an industry. I know that if Hank were here, he’d be proud as heck about it. 

If Hank were here he’d be wielding an axe, looking for whatever cord was connected to this funky-ass microphone, the Mick annotated again internally. Short of that he’d have been long gone.

And I can assure you that I am proud to be a part of this network of entrepreneurs, craftsmen and craftswomen! [Whoos.] Everyday, I’m inspired by the example you set. As such, in the Mayor’s office I’ve worked tirelessly to transform our city into an Incubator for Innovation, and not just in beer. We are a category-agnostic accelerator — across sustainable energy, natural foods, technology and telecommunications, health and biotech and aerospace and defense. 

The results speak for themselves. Our aggressive corporate relocation recruiting efforts and competitive tax incentive packages have attracted major companies to move their headquarters to this great city. Companies like Morningstar Petroleum, which has committed to creating hundreds of new, high-paying jobs right here in the Metro Area. Morningstar is making sure the world meets its energy needs, responsibly. They’re leading the charge to produce new technologies that reduce emissions. They’re creating more efficient fuels. Now they’re doing it all from a state-of-the-art, multi-million-dollar campus right here in our Seventh District!

That’s because the companies that do business here are a lot like the people that live here. They are engaged members of our community. Perhaps there’s no better example than one of your craft brewing brethren, #x_brüing (pronounced, X [space] Brewing … the hashtag and umlaut were silent and superfluous). Through the One Percent for the Planet initiative, #x_brüing has dutifully pledged to donate one percent of its net profit to social good causes, including crucial programs like the Urban Tree Initiative, which works to maintain and grow our city’s majestic Green Spaces. No doubt work that our friend Hank, who loved the outdoors so dearly, would find worthy of our admiration and support. 

Is Jaime Delano here? Where is Jaime? There he is … Let’s hear it for Jaime and all the folks at #x_brüing for all the great work they’re doing. [Applause muffled through ambient professional jealousy.] Not only have Jaime and I become close friends through his participation in these and other civic issues, but perhaps its no surprise that we are both proud Newfer alumni.

One percent, the Mick pshawed. Quite literally, the least they could do, assuming it’s integers we’re talking. He had a whole separate bone to pick with Delano. For one thing, back when they worked together, Jaime (HI-may) was still Jamie (JAY-mee). Motherfucker done iglesia’d up his goddamn name. No matter. The Mick would continue to call him Dandy Jim, by and by. He was three assistant brewers before Grace — Zeke’s predecessor’s predecessor. If Russ were alive, he’d say, Mick, your ABs have about the retention rate of a Spinal Tap drummer. But that reference would be lost on him; he was not familiar with that band. In any case, Dandy Jim would just have to wait until whenever Mayor Mockingbird was through, if they could ever be so lucky. The Mick trafficked in one grudge at a time … 

But it doesn’t stop in the private sector. We’re taking that very same entrepreneurial spirit and applying it to innovation in civil service. First and foremost, is public safety. Thanks to our public-private partnership with the Downtown Renewal and Revitalization Project, we’ve successfully activated our network of SAFE cameras, which enable the brave men and women of our law enforcement to better harness data and artificial intelligence toward protecting and serving our great city. Since the system went online, I am delighted to report that violent crime is down four percent year-over-year. 

An important aside about the SAFE (Surveilling Activity For Evidence) cameras. Among other peacekeeping applications, the devices were perhaps most effectively deployed in tandem with an integrated gunshot detection technology, which utilized acoustic sensors to identify the sound and pinpoint the location of any firearm discharge within an echo radius of several hundred feet. The camera systems were manufactured by a wholly-owned IT solutions subsidiary of Karakuchi, Ltd., the Japanese conglomerate. Although it provided advanced digital solutions to customers across industry sectors, the Karakuchi brand was perhaps best known for its Kuchi Kendo Stick line of vibrating personal massagers, which was widely adopted by the marketplace for the misintended use case as a masturbation aid for women. 

Secondarily is education. My administration has empowered high-achieving schools like Collegiate Academy of Scientific and Technological Excellence as they disrupt the increasingly obsolete model for public education in this country. Last spring they graduated their inaugural senior class. One hundred percent college matriculation rate. Kids of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds. Truly remarkable. In case any of you haven’t had the pleasure to visit the SciTech campus, I would urge you to seek it out. The architecture and interior design are stunning in and of themselves. Really, it’s the coolest school I’ve ever been inside by a long shot. 

As for the existing schools within our network that have perpetually underperformed, under my leadership, we no longer tolerate failure on behalf of our kids. Look no further than right down the road, to West High School. As of just a few weeks ago, our groundbreaking experiment is underway. With generous philanthropic support, we’ve made massive capital infrastructure investment, manifested in dividing the student body into three micro-academies, thus manufacturing more intimate and engaging learning environments, furthermore fostering a more competitive landscape, or dare I say entrepreneurial spirit among the student body. 

Make no mistake … The rest of the country is taking notice of what we’re building here. Assorted national media publications have ranked us the third best city in which to start a small business, the fourth best city to raise a family and a top eleven city for overall quality of life. And for everybody out there with their love lights turned on, according to another reputable ranking, we are the number two city for singles and dating. [Assorted oohs]. 

Get a grip, Zeke, he scolded himself. On this, unequivocally the most important day of his already fledgling career, all Zeke could think about was Grace, with whom he was deeply in love, and quite hopelessly by the looks of things. Like a flesh eating bacteria, love consumed him. From morning, stepping on his first bus of the day, commuting to work … Till night, stepping off his sixth bus of the day, headed for home. 

Really he was having his first office crush, which anyone with experience can tell you is an altogether separate phenomenon from your standard school crush, for some inexplicable reason. But to Zeke, each new infatuation, regardless of from whence it came, was exactly the same — like spring bloomed anew. Indeed, he was a sensitive young man. And because he also filled out a large frame, he was the sort one might call a Gentle Giant. But really wasn’t that moniker misapplied to any big man who wasn’t proportionally brutish? It’s true Zeke did possess an innocent exuberance that endeared him to many, although usually not in that way. Romantically speaking. So on the other side of the coin, his unguarded personabiity could be a double-edged sword, when even a fleeting attraction would be so easily misconstrued for undying devotion. This making His an existence that was at once blissful and torturous.

Far as he knew, Grace was the first gay person he’d ever known. Here it was just his luck to fall head over heels for someone so uniquely unavailable. The amorous feelings were almost totally unspoken; they had hardly uttered more than a few stray words between them — out of paralyzing nervousness on his account, and unconscious indifference, hers. Rather for Zeke, the spark was physical. Something to do with the way she moved about the brewhouse, with undo elegance, exceedingly worthy of her name. Shot putting fifty-pound sacks of malted barley like they were feather pillows, on which for him to dream of her. Shoveling spent grain from the mash tun with the mechanized fluidity of an excavator, razing the planetary core of his soul. Spraying down the kettle as if to extinguish the fire that burned within him for her. Perhaps he was attracted to her competency in the occupation for which he had proven so inept. Who could say? Whatever it was, the suffocating feeling of seeing her with Julie, and also Margot the night prior, had emotionally metastasized into a fist-sized lump, lodged right there in his larynx. Somewhat confusingly, that sensation was a symptom of heartbreak and asthma. 

Both afflicted him chronically. 

Powerless to fight this feeling, Zeke wanted desperately to shake free from the shackles of his woe, and seize this professional opportunity that had fallen into his lap. After all, here was the Mayor, giving an unannounced speech at one of his coordinated events. The possibilities for social media engagement seemed endless. Actually it was the only moderately engaging thing to occur during his short tenure, outside of a heated dispute over Harry Potter-themed pub trivia that de-escalated just shy of magical violence. (The would-be combatants had managed to fire off a couple of rounds of dueling spells: Expelliarmus and Expecto Patronum, respectively.)

He was even peripherally interested in politics and other local issues  —another thing he and Grace lacked in common — and had in fact cast his very first vote in any election for this very elected official. Twenty-some months previous, during his final semester before graduating West High School, Mayor Mockingbird had appeared at a special assembly to announce the aforementioned awarding of a multi-million dollar grant, endowed by the second richest man in the world, at the time. Wasn’t that something, Zeke thought. The money would be allocated to divide West High into three autonomous academies, to be housed within the existing facility. They were: an academy for culture and the arts, an academy for global marketplace and international studies, and an academy for Future Leaders. 

Zeke didn’t have to give much thought unto which category he fell, being that he already had plans to attend City College in the fall, where from he had since taken a sabbatical of indefinite duration. He also didn’t have any opinion on the consternation the decision caused among his classmates and the broader community. In that moment he was more swept away by the spectacle of the thing. The mayor, visiting his school, on behalf of the second richest man in the world — at the time — no less. Alas, the latter could not attend personally. However in his stead, he was kind enough to dispatch one of those really big checks for the photo opp. You mean like Happy Gilmore, Mick would have asked. Zeke didn’t know who that was, so no … he could not be certain. 

In a flash of clarity, Zeke remembered his new touchscreen camera phone. The Mick had issued it to him for work purposes, under the auspices that he could take photos and post them to the internet. But really because Kitty wanted Zeke to have any phone at all, on account of how he took the three buses to-and-from work, even though he only lived the five miles as the crow flew.  In case of there was an emergency. Actually it was the same phone she had given to Mick on his last birthday. Not the same model — that exact one. Mick favored the old Flippy anyway, and he knew Kitty wouldn’t take offense to his regifting, especially if Zeke were on the receiving end. 

Further snapping himself into focus, Zeke trained his digital lens on the Mayor, who any minute now would be arriving at a point … Before I raise one last toast to our old friend, Hank, I have a small announcement I’d like to make here in this place that was so special to us both. Before that though, I want to leave you with an old marketing parable I have cellared away from my days in the beer business. It’s something I share with all my incoming interns, as Charlotte and Schuyler here can surely attest. 

Here the Mayor briefly gesticulated in the direction of the two Larry Youth members whom the Mick saw arrive in his wake. That brief moment of public acknowledgement was one they would not forget as long as they lived. 

It concerns an old brewing outfit by the name of Schpunk Beer. When was the last time you all had a sip of Schpunk? Have any of you even ever tasted Schpunk? Here I am dating myself. Your fathers probably all drank Schpunk. I certainly guzzled more than my fair share of Schpunk as a young man. In any case, there was a time when this company you’ve never heard of, Schpunk Beer, was the third-largest domestic beer producer in the country. Life was good at the Schpunk plant. Until one year, all the corporate bigwigs got together in a boardroom, and some young hot shot came waltzing up with a presentation. He said, you know we’ve done some market testing, and we can change the recipe to cut costs on our ingredients by X percent, whatever it was, and our consumers can’t identify any discernible difference in the taste. 

All the Schpunk VPs looked around at one another and said, well, what are we waiting for? And so they changed the recipe, ever so slightly. Two years go by, and some new slick marketing guy gets back up there in front of the boardroom — by now his predecessor has been promoted for saving the company untold millions — and he makes the exact same pitch. You know we could change the recipe … save X percent …  can’t taste the difference … yada, yada, yada. And all the Schpunk guys say, wow, what a great idea. And they change the recipe again, ever so slightly. 

This cycle repeats itself a handful of times until about a decade goes by, and all of a sudden Schpunk is in the toilet. Chapter Eleven. All those executives are looking around at each other as they’re cleaning out their corner offices, wondering what in the Sam Hell happened here? For Pete’s Sake, they did the market testing … And the tests were accurate. After each time they changed the recipe, and remember they only tweaked it, ever so slightly, the Consumers could not tell a difference in taste. However, what the executives failed to account for, was that all those small compromises compounded on one another. And when you taste-tested the nectar of the gods they started out with, against the backwater dregs it became … You could see the difference from outer space. 

Listen here. 

This is something I tell all my old friends, and I’ll tell you now. In the history of this great country, we are the first generation that is in danger of leaving less to our kids and our grandkids than we had. Take a moment and let that sink in … It’s true. And we are taking losses across the board. The economy, our education system, the environment. Bottom line: in the so-called land of opportunity, the next generation is heading toward a future with less of It. I look around the faces here and I can tell that scares the hell out of you just like it scares the hell out of me. I know you don’t want less. I can promise you I don’t want less. And we can be damned sure that our old pal Hank wouldn’t put up with less. 

No-no-no. We want more. More for our future. More for our kids’ future and their kids’ future. We want more economic development. More education. More environmental conservation. More public safety. And we don't just want more … We need more … We demand more … And no matter what the cost … … … We will sacrifice for more!

As the gathered crowd roared, Mick looked up to the wall at Bertha, then down to the bar at Kitty who met his gaze intently. 

So I put it to you, let’s make a choice, together, right now … to invest in our future. And make no mistake, it’s up to us right here in this room. The leaders. The disruptors. The innovators. The builders. The dreamers. The crazy ones. Those who will show up. Do the work. Folks who get things done.  

Now allow me to put my money where my mouth is. It is my great privilege, in honor of my friend Hank and the dream we all together made come true, to declare my candidacy for the governorship of this great state. 

Welcome to Day One … starting right here and now, we all take more! Thank you all! 

As the Mayor again stuck both hands to the sky, a small passel of balloons fell from the ceiling. Where in the smoking hell did those come from, the Mick wondered, feeling bamboozled.. Right on cue, the band started back in on what figured to be the official campaign song. Out of a career that spanned decades and thousands of hours of recordings, for the Grateful Dead, this was their only ever single to crack the top-one hundred charts. Their one hit. How about that?

Sorry that you feel that way

The only thing there is to say

Every silver lining's got a

Touch of gray

[Groovy standup bassline] 

The Mayor resumed shaking every hand within a wingspan radius, retracing his steps on his way back out the door, his campaign already rolling with the popular momentum of a runaway train. Zeke was holding his camera phone behind the news cameraman, demonstrating the cinematographic instincts to piggyback off his pro lighting rig and better capture the moment. Grace meanwhile was stuck in a moment she wished she could escape. Margot had arrived unexpectedly and had sat right back down in the booth on the other side of Grace from Julie. There she sat betwixt them, awaiting their inevitable discovery of her romantic indiscretion. Kitty was situated behind the bar, still awaiting the oncoming rush. She was wearing her same back-to-school ensemble, accessorized for the fall season with a denim jacket she’d had since she was herself a student. How had Hank’s sort-of funeral been highjacked by a popup campaign rally, she wondered, not that he’d have minded much — whatever animus he felt toward the Mayor. I know I like to take the piss at Larry, he confided in Kitty one Wednesday, getting late, but I want you to know that I truly do hate the man. And it’s a rotten hatred too. It scares me how I could hate another person so completely. Frankly I’m ashamed of it. 

One of the preppy minions — the puggish female page — reached across the bartop and handed her an envelope. The underside was a form for making a donation. In the box marked required, you had to fill out your Name (First and Last), Address, Occupation and Employer. And credit card number and expiration date if that was your preferred form of contribution. The envelope itself was for depositing checks, or better yet cold hard cash. Kitty flipped it over. In the corner there was a little rectangular outline for postage, and then the logo. A shooting star underlining the slogan: More for Mockingbird.

The Mick drop-kicked a balloon away half-assedly as he watched the Mayor make his grand exit. Dandy Jim had joined the party. They were standing back by the front door, waving back at the adoring mass. The news anchor remained in the foreground, producing a microphone and talking into the camera. The sheriff’s deputy was in the shot, chewing gum with purposeful rigor. Off to the side, the representative from Morningstar Petroleum was chatting up an as-yet unidentified woman in a wax canvas barn coat with a corduroy collar, worn over a black turtleneck sweater. The Mick knew he recognized her too, but from where, he couldn’t immediately place. Wait, now he got it.

Well I’ll be damned, he said, out loud this time to no one in particular. 

There goes Hildy Wolff.

[babyjamiebarnes]

Build-A-Bear

Part One

Featuring: Bucky x Stark!reader, dad!Tony, Peter Parker (platonic), background MCU characters

Warnings: [chapter] language; [series] language, smut, violence

Summary: The only people who knew she was actually a Stark were her dad, her step-mom Pepper, and her “uncles” Happy and Rhodey. A promotion within Stark Industries takes her from an already-sought after position in the Weapons Anaylsis Unit straight to the Avengers as a Weapons Enhancement Specialist... which means her dad is her new boss. There’s only one rule at work: no fraternizing with coworkers. There’s one more rule at home: no dating any Avengers. So what is she supposed to do when a grumpy super soldier becomes not-so-grumpy around her? At 25, do her dad’s rules still apply? Or is her entire livelihood at risk?

Author’s Note: I’ve written a decent portion of this but know I won’t keep writing it or post it unless I hold myself accountable and get it out there in the first place 🙈 I haven’t written much for Marvel yet but I’ve read plenty and have written for other fandoms in the past (not to mention the writing degree on my wall lol). I’ll try to post every 2-3 days to keep this moving! And if you like it and want to, buy me a coffee!

No one knew Tony Stark had a daughter. No one but Tony Stark and his daughter. Well, and her step-mom Pepper. And her godfather Rhodey. And her uncle-not-uncle Happy. But no one in their everyday lives knew. She was given her mother’s maiden name and kept a secret, even when she turned 17 and moved to a small apartment near NYU’s campus (with Happy stationed right next door, of course) to start life as a truly normal adult, or as close to normal as an undercover Stark could be. When she graduated with her PhDs in robotics and electrical engineering at 25 — proving brains really do run in the family — she moved into her own apartment in Manhattan, funded by her father under the pseudonym “Michael Myers.” Subtlety was never his strong suit.

Fortunately for you, growing up without the Stark name let you live a relatively normal life. It also allowed you to apply for a position within Stark Industries without being ushered past any red tape because of who your father is. Outside of the financial advantage you had, you worked for your spot in a STEM career. You suffered through every man in your field belittling your work despite knowing less than you. You dealt with the constant interruptions and “well, actually” because of your gender. You powered through late nights and early mornings when your mind was flowing too smoothly to quit.

The last thing you wanted to do was have all that work disregarded because you shared a name with genius billionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark. So you filled out the application, sent in your resume and cover letter, and attached three letters of recommendation from your professors. You went through hours of interviews, background checks (conveniently redacting your father’s name), and polygraph tests until that offer letter showed up in your email. You even had to sign the Non-Disclosure Agreements that would bar you from discussing *anything* work-related with anyone outside of your department.

You spent your first year in the weapons analysis department, evaluating alien weaponry and determining how it worked and how to disable it. You had your fair share of mishaps, of course. Holes blasted into walls, fried robot dummies, even burnt animal carcasses. By the end of your first year, your supervisor sent a commendation and proposal for you for an undisclosed promotion. After Pepper Potts “thoroughly examined your resume, cover letter, and accomplishments during your tenure with Stark Industries,” as the letter read, you were awarded a position working on the Avengers’ weapons as a Weapons Enhancement Specialist. You’d never see a fight in-person, but you were assigned to work on advancements and post-battle repairs for everyone, from the Winter Soldier’s arm to the Falcon’s wings to Vision’s... everything. The only heroes you wouldn’t work on were Iron Man and War Machine (those were your dad’s territory) and Spider-Man.

On your first day in your new position, the one and only Pepper Potts showed you to your new lab on the 47th floor. It took all your willpower to look your step-mother in the eye and say, “Wow, Miss Potts. This is amazing. It’s such an honor to meet you,” with a straight face to convince any passerby that you had no outside affiliation with her. Even if her eyes stayed steady on you, you could see her mentally rolling them.

Once you were alone behind the doors of the elevator, conversation changed course.

“You’re going to be sharing a lab with someone else,” Pepper said.

“Sweet. As long as they’re competent, that’s fine by me,” you shrugged. Part of earning your degrees was learning to share a workspace with others, even those who bumbled and fumbled with no idea what they were doing. You’d had more hair singed by nearby explosions than you’d like to admit.

“He’s still in college so he’s not here as often as the others. Most of his work will be on Spider-Man’s gadgets and suit, but you can use him for any help you need.”

Walking past the familiar faces of Dr. Banner and Dr. Cho in their respective labs, Pepper ushered you into your lab, where you were met by your father and put on the same excited facade you did with Pepper.

“Oh my god, you’re Tony Stark! This is incredible! It’s such an honor to meet you, sir!”

He shook his head at you and reluctantly accepted your outstretched hand. Oh, the jokes you’d be making at family dinners.

“Yeah, anyway, this is your new lab, Miss [Y/L/N]. Make yourself at home. This lab rat over here is mister Parker. If you have any questions, he can at least bullshit an answer for you.”

The young man on the other side of the lab perked up at the sound of his name. He tugged the goggles off his face and set down his soldering rod to rush over to you.

“Hi. Hi, I’m Peter,” he said, reaching his hand out to you.

“I’m [Y/N]. It’s nice to meet you, lab partner.”

He looked to be a bit younger than you and at least relatively smart, if the MIT sweatshirt peeking out from under his lab coat said anything. If your dad gave him an internship like this, you knew you shouldn’t question it. He had to be a genius.

The kid just smiled at you, continuing to shake your hand past what most would deem socially acceptable.

“Okay, enough of that,” Tony said, pushing on your joined hands to separate you two. “Mister Parker might be in and out of the lab from time to time. He joins the Avengers on the occasional recon mission for immediate repairs but since he’s on break from classes, you’ll see him more often than not. Play nice.”

When he noticed you surreptitiously looking Peter up and down, he added, “Remember, no fraternizing with coworkers.” He pointed a finger directly at you before he spun and pointed to your fellow lab mate, realizing he should warn Peter too to save face.

“All the blueprints you need for the Tin Man’s arm are in the system. We’ll have you start on that and see what you can do about minimizing the sound that thing makes. Any other questions, give Pep a call.”

“Thank you, mister Stark. I really do appreciate everything,” you said genuinely.

“Yeah, well… don’t let me down,” he replied, patting you on the shoulder on his way out. Pepper followed close behind, leaving you alone with Peter Parker.

“So Peter,” you started, sliding onto the lab chair next to where he remained standing, “tell me about yourself.”

“Uh… what do you want to know?” he asked as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

“How old are you?” you asked immediately.

“I’m 21.”

Only four years younger than you. So you’d probably get along just fine.

“I assume you’re at MIT?” He nodded. “What are you studying?”

“Biomolecular and mechanical engineering.” He said it so casually, you’d think he was talking about the last song he heard on the radio.

“Damn,” you responded, eyes wide. “I thought robotics and electrical engineering was wild but fuck, that sounds like hell.”

He laughed and nodded, letting a bit of the tension in his shoulders fall. “Yeah, it’s not easy. But it’s worth it.”

He shot you a small smile before gesturing back at his project. “I should probably get back to work and let you get started.”

For the rest of the day, you familiarized yourself with the Winter Soldier’s arm to figure out how to… turn the volume down? You assumed it was the gears inside causing the noise, but part of you wanted to outfit an audio jack and speaker just to fuck with your dad.

You and Peter worked in relative silence, aside from the playlist he had quietly playing through the lab sound system. When lunch rolled around, however, you finally spoke up.

“Hey Peter,” you called, his eyes flicking from the chemical beakers in front of him up to you. “First of all, what are you doing?”

“Um, it’s Spider-Man’s web fluid. Just trying to find more durable combinations.”

“Interesting.” As much as you wanted to touch the stringy substance, you knew better than to fiddle with someone else’s lab work. “Okay so second thing, in my last position, I’d just order food and have it brought to my floor but now that I’m on an exclusive floor, what do you do for lunch?”

“Oh, there are a couple security guys who have clearance to come into this floor. They just can’t get into any rooms so you’d have to meet them at the elevator. But I usually find something in the kitchen down the hall.”

“Oh, sweet. Thanks!” you said as you made your way out the door. Before you could fully exit, you turned back to see if Peter wanted you to grab anything. Once he promised he’d take his own break ‘once I get this one thing figured out,’ you continued to make your way to the kitchen.

As you drew closer to the doorway, you could hear three voices speaking over each other. They didn’t sound angry, but they were definitely arguing. You opened the door anyway and almost immediately froze in your tracks. The Falcon stood with one hand on his own head and one on the Winter Soldier’s head while Captain America rolled his eyes before those same eyes landed on you, along with the rest of the room.

“Perfect,” Sam started. “Hey new girl, between the three of us,” he said, pointing to himself, the Soldier, and the Captain, “who has the best hair?”

“First of all, my name is [Y/N]. Second,” you continued, making your way past them to the fridge you hoped your dad kept stocked with goodies, “that’s an unfair question.”

You grabbed a soda and popped it open before turning back to the three men. “Your hair suits each of you. Cap wouldn’t look good with Winter Soldier hair and Falcon wouldn’t look good with Cap’s hair.” You took a few steps closer, leaning against the island counter between you and eyeing each of them. Your eyes settled on the Winter Soldier, unashamedly flitting across his face and admiring the sharpness of his features. “You,” pointing at him, “could probably pull off either of their looks, though.”

Bucky smirked at you, but his rosy cheeks gave away a hint of embarrassment at your compliment. Steve and Sam, on the other hand, weren’t taking it quite as gracefully.

“What?!” Sam shouted. “Okay, now I know you’re lying. I could pull off Cap’s hair for sure.”

“You know, I think shaggy hair would really suit me,” Cap said, only half sarcastically.

You giggled to yourself as the three of them started talking over each other again, all dead set on their own hair being the best of them and positive they could pull off the others’ looks. While they bickered, you searched the pantry until you found a snack to at least get you through the remainder of the day.

“Alright boys, it’s been fun but I have work to do,” you said as you walked past them again. “Actually, wait. Bucky — can I call you Bucky?” He nodded even though you continued anyway. “If you could stop by lab six today, I’d love to check out your arm in person. The digital renderings aren’t quite the same.”

“Uh, okay. Sure. I’ll find you,” he said quietly.

“Sweet, thanks!” And with that, you skedaddled back to your lab.

[wiypt-writes]

Rock ‘n’ Roll People In A Disco World

Part 1- Disco Down

Intro: It's range day. SWAT vs LAPD Special Crimes branch. You and your finance decide to have a bit of fun with the interdepartmental competition.

Pairing: Paul Diskant x Reader

Warnings: Bad language, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar the reader and any other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

A/N: So yeah, I started another series. Bad WIYBUPT. But there aint enough Disco out there so I thought I’d rectify that situation. This is also another entry for @imanuglywombat​ ‘s  “Is That Even A Sex Position” weekly challenge. This position is called “Juicy Ass”. See here for more information.

Rock ‘n’ Roll People Masterlist // Main Masterlist

It was early in the morning, the first warm rays of the LA sunshine had barely begun warming the pavement when the two of you had started your day. Paul was already pouring you both coffee to go as you met him in the kitchen, dressed in your Swat training tee, utility pants and standard issue uniform boots, hair French braided back. You smirked at the dapper young detective before you, slacks, dress shoes, button down and tie. 

It'd been a gruelling last few weeks for you both. You were working a SWAT case with your unit and Paul was busy working an LAPD Vice officer's homicide. He would trudge in late at night, either from the precinct or more recently from a night out with Vice following some leads. You were always already asleep and he didn't want to wake you. He'd kiss you softly, shower, kiss you again and crawl into bed, hugging you close.

Now, you were both getting ready to head out, finally having slept in the same bed together for the first time in weeks. Given your nature, the two of you were playfully squabbling over the upcoming late afternoon's task, a joint fire arms training session between your unit, LAPD SWAT and Paul's unit. The joint time spent at the range always turned into pool of who'd win and, usually, was too close to call rounding off with each team going head to head in a final duel. 

And things were getting competitive in the Diskant home. 

"If I can make it," Paul grumbled, "we should sweeten the deal."

"You'll make it.” You popped a shoulder. “Paul Diskant doesn't miss a day at the range, nor friendly competition. So, name your terms?" You smirked mischievously over the rim of your mug, watching him adjust his tie. 

"Winner gets a favor." Paul devilishly replied. 

"What kind of favor?" You played along and the look on his face already made your insides squirm as he raised a brow and curled his lips further in his smirk. "Paul!"

"Y/N!" Paul mimicked, cutting the distance between you, big hands on your hips, thumbs rubbing along your shirt. "Baby, it's been days. This Vice case has me pulled away longer than I have been since I was a beat cop."

You rolled your eyes and wrapped your arm around his shoulder, fingers grazing the point where the short hairs of his buzz-cut met his neck. 

“Fine." You kissed him deeply, the taste of coffee on both your tongues but something that was just him too. "We'll call it a bonus." “Bonus...” he nodded. “I can run with that.”

“You couldn’t run a fucking bath, Disco.” "Oh Sweetheart, you're on." The challenge in his voice and mischief in his eyes lit a fire under you. You kissed him again and moved away, a swift smack from his hand to your ass made you yip but you kept walking. 

****

The drive into the station was quiet, you reading over your training schedule for the day and Paul driving. The only sound that filled the vehicle was the sound of him humming along to the radio, thumb tapping along to the beat of the song on his steering wheel, before you heard him let out a loud sigh.  

"I have some stuff to chase down this morning but if nothing pans out, I should be at the range with the rest of my unit."

"Well, then I'll hope it doesn't pan out, just so I can kick your ass with my Glock," you chuckled as he let out a groan.

"Baby, you know, watching you handle that Glock and riffle makes me horny as fuck right? Nothing like a woman that can shoot," Paul admitted. He took your left hand away from the file and pressed his lips to the top of it. He knew why you did it, but he still hated not seeing your diamond flashing on your finger all day. 

"Oh yeah?" You turned your standard issued sunglass covered eyes to him, "is that why you wanted to marry me?" 

Paul chortled, “one reason among the many."

He pulled into the carport and parked in his designated spot. You exited the vehicle and gathered your bag from the popped trunk. 

"See you at the range, don't be late, or I'll have to listen to Rodriguez bitch as she drives me home." You gave him a teasing kiss and slung your bag over your shoulder, walking away. 

"Hey, Y/N?" He called after you. You stopped and turned around to look at him, lifting your sunglasses to the top of your head. "Don’t waste too much energy today, huh? You’re gonna need all the strength you have tonight, Baby."

You chuckled to yourself, "Just show up, we'll talk energy later," you rolled your eyes and walked off, flipping him the bird over your shoulder. 

The scorching sun boiled across the training facility tucked between the hills of the valley, away from the hustle of the city and just far enough out of reach for civilians. Abandoned buildings and, green fields and a simulated neighborhood made up the grand, multi-million dollar facility. You and your team had been at it all morning, moving through the buildings in full tactical gear and safety equipment. Together you cleared buildings, fired upon fake assailants and suspects. You and your partner, Alma Rodriguez, even hit the weights and boxing bags to keep loose after a hand to hand session against Everett and Evans. To keep your trigger fingers hot and ready, you played a round of long range sniper poker, you of course beating the team with a straight flush, bullets hitting their targets dead center. 

It was the last hours of daylight by the time Special Branch showed up and you couldn't help but smirk as you watched Paul set up his gear from across the field. Long gone were his slacks and tie, and now, he was dressed in a tight black tee with the edges of his two bicep tattoos peeking out from the hem, and uniform issue pants and boots, his wrap arounds shielding those beautiful blues you loved getting lost in. 

You smirked as the two of you locked glances, his smile forming across plump lips. A cocky flick of his head was sent in your direction and you laughed, pulling a hundred dollar bill from your pocket and slapping it flat against the table. 

The competition started, pairing SWAT members against Specials, two by two until both your captains were the final two. 

"Shooters on the line," the facility command officer called. Each shooter stepped up, readying their rifles. Your team lined up behind your boss, Paul and his desk buddies watching from their side. "Stand by... Ready..." The whistle sounded and the first shots at their prospective targets were fired. 

Firing judges followed behind each shooter, judging accuracy, safety and protocol. Three rifle shots fired down range and the shooters tossed their weapons to the side, tucking and rolling one roll with their hand on their pistol all while watchful eyes looked on. Your boss didn't roll, but Paul's did and the snickering started from Special Branch. It didn't deter your focus as you watched your boss, Captain Rogers, finish the round. Three shots fired at metal targets, each one going down in accuracy, then a clip reload and three more shots fired at a close range target before the commanding judge asked both men to put their weapons on safe and holster them. He approached each target for accuracy and declared Paul's boss, Captain Wilson, the winner of the round. That brought the two teams to a tie. 

The Detectives cheered and razzed SWAT but both captains settled their groups down. The field judge confirmed the tie in the competition and groans sounded from both teams. 

"I'll tell you what, I'll toss in an extra two hundred bucks to pit Y/L/N against your pick," Rogers held two one hundred dollar bills up, handing them over to the field judge for safe keeping. 

"Alright, I see your two and raise two," Captain Wilson held out his bills, "for Diskant to take that challenge."

"Oooooooh", both teams razzed the real life couple. 

You couldn’t help the smirk on your face as one of Paul’s colleagues piped up that this could back fire spectacularly as would Paul really want to risk pissing off the woman who controlled his sex life.

“That’s exactly why he wants to win,” you jibed back, causing him to roll his eyes and scoff, “because his sex life is on the line if he doesn’t.”

More laughter rang out across the area as Paul merely shrugged, a smile flickering across his face as you heard Rogers speak loudly to Wilson from behind you.

“Between us, two hundred on my girl to blow your man outta the water."

Paul leaned down, to whisper into your ear, a smirk plying on his lips, "something's gonna get blown."

"What was that?" You coyly played. 

“Sure you wanna do this?” He asked, turning to look at you, his brow arched. “I mean you could just forfeit now and save yourself the embarrassment.”

You held his gaze for a moment before you made a show of dragging your eyes down his body, your gaze lingering on his crotch as if you were contemplating his offer, before you raised your head, your tongue poking out from between your lips a little.

“Did you forget to zip up?" You asked. Paul gave a start, his head jerking down to look at his ‘piece’ so to speak, and at that moment the whistle was blown to start.

The first shots were fired, Paul's just seconds behind yours. Tucking behind the mailboxes for your next shot, you nailed your target and moved forward to fire your final rifle round, using a metal barrel as your cover. You laid your riffle to rest, took a few steps, tucked your chin and rolled, planting your feet and rising up to draw your personal firearm. Poised for your next quick shot behind a mock window frame, you fired at the target and moved on, Paul's form in your peripheral, matching you shot for shot. Coming around the frame you fired a walking shot at your next target and then took your place at the final marker, firing away before the expected reload and emptying your clip into the standing paper target with his hostage. 

"Safety on... Holsters." The range judge called after he blew his whistle. You and Paul followed his commands and waited as he examined your individual targets. It was close, you knew it. Paul was an excellent shot. 

You watched as the judge looked over Paul's target first, poking his finger through two holes in the face before moving on to yours. You nailed your target, all three shots hitting the suspect. One dead shot to the center of his head, the other in the chest and the last in the torso. 

"Here's your winner," the judge declared, pointing at your target. 

Cheers began to ring out and you heard Paul groan loudly, turning to you. "You cheated.”

"I guess the favor's on you," You quipped as behind him you saw Captain Rogers holding his hand out, ready to receive the cash prize from Wilson.  

“You still cheated.”

“I did no such thing!” You scoffed.

“You distracted me.” He folded his arms across his chest, a sullen pout on his handsome face.

“Well, you should know better than to take your eye off the target, Disco,” you smirked and he narrowed his eyes playfully. “On second thought, I think I will let Rodriguez take me home. Burgers and beer on you. Don't forget the extra pickles."

He smirked, his lips brushing yours as he spoke, "come on, ride back with me, I'll make it worth your while."

"Erm, unless I'm mistaken you just lost so..." You popped a shoulder, your eyes not leaving his as you began walking backwards away from him. "I'm in charge."

“I want a divorce.” He shot back and you laughed, shaking your head.

“We’re not married yet, hot shot.” You winked.

“Details.” He waved his hand and you snorted, before you turned and jogged to catch up with your colleagues.

*****

As per your instructions, Paul didn’t forget the extra pickles and later that evening the pair of you were sat on the sofa in your comfy clothes, food and beer in hand as you lounged back watching a film on the Television. You stole a glance at your fiancé for a moment, his sharp profile illuminated in the soft light of the lamp to his right. He really was incredibly handsome, and you often wondered daily how the hell you’d gotten so lucky, as he could have had his pick of women, they tended to fall at his feet wherever you went. But he’d chosen you. Not only that, he’d pursued you. It had taken him a good few weeks after you’d both met on a case when he was in Uniform to finally accept his offer of a date. The dates had continued, and six months later you’d moved in together, and a year or so after that, he’d gotten down on one knee in the middle of your apartment and asked you to be his wife.

Which, reminded you of something you’d heard before.

With a smirk you turned your attention back to the film, took another bite of your burger before you spoke, your tone light and airy.

"So... strippers huh?"

Paul hastily swallowed his food and turned to look at you. "What?"

"Nothing, just typical."

"No, what?" He chuckled.

"I just heard one of the guys before commenting about how the wedding is getting closer so the stag do needs planning. The words Vegas and strippers were mentioned. Several times"

"Fucking Adler, man," he shook his head, dropping his empty burger container into the paper bag on the table in front of you.

“So you are going to Vegas, then?” You shoved another fry in your mouth to stop the smirk from spreading at the teasing.

"Uh, yeah," his reply was nonchalant, but he rubbed at his neck in that way he always did when he was a little nervous or uncomfortable. His big tell.

"Right. And there will be strippers?”

“Yes, there PROBABLY will be strippers." He side eyed you a little as he reached for his beer, the faint flush of red visible on the back of his neck as you took the final bite of your food.

“How probably?”

"There MAYBE be a night at the club." He leaned back, bottle in hand.

"Dicks." You gave a dramatic sigh, dropping your now empty food container into the bag with his. You made a show of scrunching down the top of the bag, dropping it to the floor by the side of the sofa, ready to be taken to the trash, before you leaned back, shaking your head.

"What?" he turned to you, beer paused halfway to his mouth.

"Oh, no, I was just saying, at my hen do there will be dicks. Lots of dicks."

“What the fuck?” He spluttered and you shrugged, not looking at him, feigning concentration on the television.

“I can't have strippers too? Tut, tut Disco, that's very old fashioned."

There was a pause, and you waited for his reaction, knowing it could go one of two ways. Out and out petulant protesting, or some sort of childish, half witty come back.

"You know, my dick is by far the most important." He chose the latter.

"You mean you are the most important dick?"

“Yeah.” He conceded. “Hey, least I’m important in some way.”

At that you laughed and moved a little closer to him. He shifted, allowing you to snuggle under his arm, pressing a kiss to your head.

“You know what else is important?” You asked, your hand gently tracing shapes on his white tee.

“What?”

“That you don’t forget that you owe me a favor, Detective Diskant." “That I do.” He agreed, and you felt him nod.

“So, there’s a pile of ironing that needs doing and the bed sheets need changing tomorrow. Can you manage?”

At that he let out a loud guffaw, his chest rumbling against your cheek. "Seriously, Baby?" He glanced down at you as you tipped your head up to look at him. "Absolutely," you winked

“I am at your complete mercy to satisfy you in any way you want... and you ask me to do chores?” He rolled his eyes. “You’re losing your sense of adventure, Sweetheart.” "Oh I have a sense of adventure, but a bet is a bet and we've pulled three doubles between the two of us so shits gotta get done, and you lost, therefore, you... are... my... bitch.” Your words were punctuated by soft jabs to his chest with your index finger and Paul groaned, throwing his head back against the sofa as he scrunched his eyes closed.

“Fuck my life.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” You looked at him and he opened his eyes. “Fuck my wife?”

“We’re not married yet.” He smirked, arching an eyebrow at you as he played back your words from earlier.

“Details,” you played along and he laughed as you shifted a little more so your face was level with his. “Now shut up and kiss me.”

With a cheeky grin he leaned over, pressing his lips to yours, his hand sliding to the back of your neck as the kiss grew deeper, his tongue slowly sliding against yours. You let out a soft moan, shifting a little, your hand cupping his face and then he pulled back. You pouted at the loss of contact and opened your eyes to shoot him a glare, to find him smirking a little.

"Double or nothing, I bet I can make you cum in less than two minutes.”

“Two minutes?” You arched a brow, biting your lip a little as you squirmed at the frankly filthy look in his eyes. “Now?”

“Yup.”

“Bring it on.” You threw down the gauntlet. “But that doesn’t include the time it takes me to get you naked.” He grinned, shifting a little so he was side on, facing you.

“Fine.” You rolled your eyes. “Or the foreplay.”

“Jesus Christ, Paul, just get on with it. You said two minutes. Clock starts the second you start, your challenge not mine. He grabbed your beer bottle and placed it along with his on the table with a bang. “You saying you don’t want me to love on you a little bit before I bang you into next week?” His voice was low as he hovered over you a little, his face inches from yours. "I'm saying I'm fucking desperate, that's what I'm saying."

"Then I won't need two minutes.” He grinned, pressing further into you, causing you to lay back on the sofa.

“God, you’re so full of it.” You narrowed your eyes.

“You’re gonna be full of it soon.” He smirked, his lips pressing to yours. "Stop... Talking... And... Do... It," you demanded between his dizzying, little pecks. His lips curled into a smile against yours as his hands gently trailed up the outside of your smooth thighs, thumbs grazing under the hem of your cut offs. The assault from his lips already soaking you.

It wouldn't take much, you both were fully aware of it. Nearly a week apart or just missing each other had you two desperately seeking release. The question was, who would cave first. He said two minutes and you knew he could hold off until you were good and worked over. His fingers slipped between your denim shorts and he gave a low groan as he felt your damp panties. His kiss grew hungrier and he was quickly on your flies, your shorts were down your leg in a matter of seconds, tossed over the back of the sofa, panties with them. 

He moved to a kneel, one hand gently hooking your right leg up to rest against the back of the couch, knocking the other to the side, your foot falling automatically to the floor, toes pressing onto the soft carpet, leg bent at the knee. You don't even register how fast he moved downwards, and part of you wondered if he lost on purpose. A flat long swipe tasted at your folds.

"Jesus," it felt glorious and your back arched off the sofa in delight. There was a wee bit of scruff causing a tease of friction against your inner thighs and although you weren't timing him, you knew it couldn't have been more than sixty seconds when his tongue dipped into your hole causing you to cry out. 

"Fuck, Paul..."

He gave a little chuckle, mouth vibrating against your nub which he grazed with his teeth. You bit your lip as your insides began to tremble, you were so desperately trying to hold off just to get that last win over him, but it was useless. That rumble had you in the throes of it and you were gone, your legs shaking as you came, your walls clamping around nothing as you gasped, your body shuddering with pleasure.

The smirk and glisten that was evident on his lips as he sat up and caged you in, had you clawing at his shorts. "I win."

"Yeah, okay, you smug little shit,” your voice was breathy as you recovered from your high, your hands pulling at the drawstring in the middle of his abs. “Dare I ask how you want me?”

His baby blues, already dark with desire, flashed and he pressed his lips to yours, his mouth dominating and you could taste yourself on him. You groaned as his hands slid up, cupping your face and he pulled back.

“Hands on the floor, feet on the coffee table, knees bent.”

You blinked, “what?”

“Hands on the floor, feet on the coffee table, knees bent.” He repeated.

Okay, so this was new…

With a final, suspicious look at him as he moved back, you stood, jumping and emitting a little squeak as he slapped your ass as you went. Taking a deep breath you turned, placed your hands on the floor and rested the tops of your feet on the coffee table, your knees bent.

“So you can do as you’re told.” Paul smirked, standing up off the sofa.

“When I want to.” You peeked up at him as best you could to see him sliding his shorts down his legs, stepping out of them before he moved round and threw his leg over your shins. His hands slid up the outside of your thighs, coming to rest on your waist as he pulled you back a little, his erection pressing into your behind as he ground against you, giving a little hiss.

“Fuck, baby you look so good from back here.” He moaned, bending over slightly to press a kiss to your spin and you shivered, your arms wobbling a little and you began to worry just how much of this you could take.

“Paul, seriously, just…”

“Patience.” He cut you off as he gave your ass a soft slap making you emit a noise that was half way between a squeal and a laugh as he positioned himself behind you, and you immediately missed the warmth of his chest where it had been pressed to your back moments ago.

You felt the tip of his dick as it poked at your entrance, and he had no problem slipping inside your already soaked folds. But the angle and the pressure of your body closed off as he slipped inside you set your nerves on fire. You both moaned out together as he slid home, his balls to your clit.

You felt how thick he was against your walls. A little twitch and flutter from his shaft as you both remained still, you silently begging and waiting for him to move. His fingertips gently dug into your hips as he slowly pulled back and moved forward again.

"Fuck, baby, so fucking tight, like this," Paul ground out as he pumped slowly in and out of you. He was taking his time, slow thrusts and long pulls back. In truth, it was agony, but a beautiful torture. And a torture that he continued again, and again, and again. Over and over, in no rush whatsoever, a sharp contrast to where he’d brought you off before on the couch as fast as he could.

Your arms were shaking from baring the position but you wanted more. And as the bubbles of pleasure slowly simmered through your core and deep into your belly, you moaned out your demand. "Harder."

"Oh, fuck," Paul quivered inside you but picked up his pace, his hips slamming into yours, your insides squeezing him tightly as his hands gripped at your hips, blunt nails biting against your skin. With every thrust forward you were jolted, your palms sliding on the rough surface of the rug underneath you, and you curled your fingertips into the deep, cream coloured shag in an attempt to prevent yourself from face planting straight onto the floor.

"Yeah, just like that," you panted, your elbows locking as you pushed yourself up slightly, "oh fuck, Paul!" You could tell by his breathing and how he felt inside you that he was ready to cum but he could always hold off until you had yours. "So close," you managed to pant out, letting him know you weren’t far.

He slowed his pace, bending his body down your spine again, and pressed his lips to the back of your neck, "just," he thrusted, "let", again, "go". 

His words flipped the switch inside your body and you felt yourself going, the blood already rushing to your head from the position you were in, and the pressure was pounding in your ears as you came, hard. "Oh my God!" You cried out as your walls clamped down around him, milking his hot seed to explode inside you. 

"That’s my girl, fuck!" He roared at the feel of you around him, and his hips grew sloppy as he came, grunting, pulling you back onto him as he let go of his thick payload. 

With your chests heaving, bodies stilled, his fingers still around your hips, his thumbs drew lazy circles on your back. You felt his blue gaze on you and you couldn't see it, but you knew he was smirking. 

“Paul.” You managed to swallow, “baby, my arms.”

“Oh, shit, yeah.” He moved gently to pull out of you, curling his arm around your waist in the nick of time as your elbows gave way and the pair of you tumbled rather ungracefully to the rug by the table in a tangle of limbs, your giggles ringing around the room, drowning out the sound of the television.

“You okay?” He asked gently, as you moved so you were lay on your back looking up at him as he lay on his side, propped on his left elbow. He tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear with his right hand as you nodded, leaning up to kiss him deeply.

“I’m not even gonna ask where you saw or read about that.” You chuckled and he grinned, glancing around the room cheekily before he looked down at you.

“Boys talk, sweetheart.” He shrugged. “But admit it, that was better than making me fold sheets.”

You chuckled as he pressed his lips to yours again, your fingers gently twisting his silver chain between them as you looked at him and arched your eyebrow. “If I admit it will you do it again? Only not tonight, don’t think my arms could take another round.”

Paul let out a laugh which rumbled in his chest and he pressed his lips to yours again. “Maybe we can make a game out of it, see how many other surfaces I can use to I prop your feet on and fuck you from behind.”

You scoffed, slapping at his arm as he grinned down at you cheekily, and you bit your lip.

“I can run with that.” Your hands moved so they slipped round his back, gently tracing shapes over the muscles, making them twitch a little and he sighed as your nails reached that spot on his neck that always turned him to putty in your hands.

“Stop, you know what that does to me.” He looked down at you.

“I do.” You agreed, continuing nonetheless.

“Seriously, you want more?”

“Well, like you said.” Your fingers curled round the nape of his neck, pulling his face down so it was inches from yours. “It’s been a while since we got time together, best make the most of it.”

“Oooh, you’re a bad, bad woman future Mrs Disco…” he smirked, kissing you deeply. “And I’m so down for that.”

****

It was late in the evening, the two of you having carried your sex-capades from the lounge to the bedroom, both of you spent and spooning in the aftermath of bliss when Paul's cell rang out. 

He grumbled and shifted slightly, turning to grab the offending item form the night stand before he answered, "Diskant."

You strained your ears to listen to who was on the other end but it wasn't audible.

"Yeah, okay, got it. I'll call you back," he replied and hung up. Then he quickly made an outgoing call. "Hey, so I just talked to Scribble. Freemont and Coates, or whoever they are, want to meet us." There was a brief pause, "tonight." Another pause and he closed his phone. 

He sighed, turning to you, "I got to go."

"Okay," you sat up, an uneasiness filling your veins. 

"I'll be back," he slipped out of bed, dressing quickly in black jeans, a black button down and hat. He clipped his badge from the nightstand to his belt after slipping into his uniform boots. Then leaned over and gave you a long, deep kiss. "I love you."

"I love you. Come home to me," you kissed him and pulled back, your fingers pressing the medallion of safe keeping against his chest. Paul touched his forehead to yours before he pressed his lips to your own in a soft kiss and headed out. You heard the door click as he left your apartment, and you gave a sigh, settling down into the bed, pulling his pillow to your naked chest as you closed your eyes. Whilst you knew that this was the job, hell, you’d done it yourself for long enough, it still never made it easier and for some inexplicable reason, tonight it made you even more twitchy than normal. But, that was more than likely down to the fact you’d managed to enjoy some quality time together tonight, and it had been so good.

Before long you drifted off to sleep, and you had no idea what time it was when the cordless rang, shrilling through the apartment, raising you from your slumber, but as you blinked yourself awake, it was still pitch black outside. 

"Hello," you croaked. 

"Y/N," you recognized the voice immediately, given your own happenings with IA. 

"Captain Biggs," you replied, suddenly fully awake as you sat up in bed, the covers clutched to your chest.

"It's Paul,” his voice was low and serious and instantly you felt a cold, icy dread floor your system from your head to your toes as he passed, taking a breath, “a unit is on its way for you."

***** Part 2

[reidgraygubler]

short skirt, high heels (spencer reid/reader)

Title: short skirt, high heels, 

Anon requested: Hi! May i please have a Spencer one shot? y/n has been part of the team for a while, she’s confident, fun and always wearing professional but slightly sexy workwear. Spencer is caught staring at y/n legs while she’s wearing a skirt. Her and Spence have a flirty friendship that leads to more?

Couple: spencer reid/fem reader

Category: spicy fluff

Content Warning: comments about sex, sex jokes, swearing, low-key sub!spencer, low-key dom!reader, mentions of drinking (but no actual drinking) 

Word Count: 2,371

Summary: Spencer has had a crush on reader since she basically started working for the BAU. It doesn’t help that reader dresses to leave a little to the imagination and is constantly flirting with him.

A/N: this is my first time writing dom(-ish)!reader… let alone sub(-ish)!spencer… so pretty please bare with me with this one… i mean, i think i did a dom(-ish)!reader... but yeah! thank you everyone for the love and support! check out my masterlist!

{***}{***}{***}

I don’t know why I wear such revealing clothing to work. It’s modest and professional, I just have to put that out there. But, it is on the sexier side of clothing. I suppose I do it because I like it, it makes me feel more confident. And you need a certain level of confidence to have a job at the FBI’s prestigious Behavioural Analysis Unit. 

The way people's eyes followed me felt great. I loved it. But it was always one person who caught my attention, or I caught their attention I should say. It was always the same person, and will forever be the same person. Spencer Reid’s eyes have been on me since day one, not that I’m complaining. 

I could picture it clearly how his eyes followed me from the elevator all the way to Hotchner’s office. And how red his face was when Derek called him out about. It was honestly my favorite thing in the world. I kinda felt bad about the teasing he got. But, he shouldn’t have been staring in the first place. It was my first day! I didn’t know him… Let alone did he know me.

A pile of files was sitting in one arm, while my free hand held a small briefcase. The elevator was a scratchy silvery color, and the lights from above reflected off every surface. 

My hair was pulled back in a high and curly ponytail. A tight, navy blue, pencil skirt clung to my legs, and a modest, yet very low, red blouse hung from my shoulders. I typically try to do subtle makeup for professional days, but I always look like some sort of supermodel at the end of the day. 

The doors to the elevator doors dinged open, showing me, behind a floor to ceiling window, the open offices of the BAU. Aaron Hotchner would be the man I was looking for, but their offices were so open, people were walking around, bustling because of their copious amounts of work. Can’t wait for that to be my life.

I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear as I entered the main office area. A few people were sitting and standing around one person’s desk. They were all laughing and talking to each other as the people around them worked their asses off. Their boss just lets them do this?

I furrowed my eyebrows as I walked into the office area some more. People were still rushing past me, not talking to me. I know for a fact I don’t look familiar to anyone here, and I look lost to everyone. A little help would be nice.

“Could you tell me…” I started to talk but didn’t get to finish my thought when the person just continued walking. I let out an annoyed sigh and went to stop someone else, but fail when they glared at me and kept walking. 

“Uh, Aaron Hotchner’s office?” I failed again. I threw my head back and let out a deep sigh. I didn’t realize just how busy it was today. If I had known it was so busy, I wouldn’t have come in today.

“Excuse me,” I stepped right in front of someone else and they stopped to look at me. 

“I’m sorry, I gotta go. Time-sensitive thing,” they pointed at their watch before pushing past me. I bit my lower lip and shook my head again.

“Can anyone please tell me where Aaron Hotchner’s office is?!” I only half-shouted. I still gotta maintain some level of professionalism. I was just getting fed up with everyone ignoring me. Everyone around me stopped their movement and looked at me. 

The group of people at the desk all stared at me with wide eyes before pointing towards the other side of the room. I looked at everyone before looking at where they were pointing. A man wearing a black suit and a businessman haircut was standing on a small catwalk, looking at everyone in the office area. Although, he was mostly looking at me. I widened my eyes and looked down at the ground with wide eyes before walking over to him.

“Hi, you must be Aaron Hotchner,” I looked up at him before introducing myself. “I didn’t mean to cause a scene,” I looked back out in front of us. Everyone was back at their work, even the people at the desk. All except for one person.

A man, who was with the group around the desk, was staring at me. Not near me or at Aaron, but right at me. It was just obvious that he was staring at me. His eyes carefully lingering on my legs, or arms, or my chest for the briefest second. But never long enough on my face. Although when he did look at my face, I smiled and winked. His face grew three shades red. 

“No, no, don’t worry. I understand the hustle and bustle of this place,” Aaron laughed before turning to look at me, “Let’s step inside my office.”

So, that’s where I was work-wise. Working on the team with the BAU, with the man who stared at me and became a tomato the second I winked at him. Ah, good ole’ Spencer Reid. That boy doesn’t even know he’s infatuated with me… But I do.

I’ve had my fair share of flirts with him, and scandalous comments made about the two of us. Or, the jokes and teasing made by others. Although, our friendship always had some sort of flirtiness to it, even if he didn’t notice he was flirting with me. There was still something there. I smiled at the thought of him being so oblivious and clueless. 

Derek giving him pointers or tips was my favorite. The help was nice, honestly. But, it was the execution. It was a little sad when Derek left to be with Hank and Savannah, leaving poor Spencer to fend for himself. Of course, Rossi tried but no really let Spencer listen. 

I could hear his voice now when he told Derek and David that he didn’t need tips or pointers, because ‘He doesn’t have a crush on her.’ They never really gave up on that though.

“Seems like you’ve caught someone’s attention,” Emily muttered as she looked down at the desk. I glanced over my shoulder and noted that the eyes one Spencer Reid were wandering up and down my lower half and backside. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dressing for a guy. I mean, I dress mostly for myself. But the unwanted, yet wanted, attention from one guy was excellent.

“And he says he doesn’t have a crush on me,” I looked back at Emily with a smile. She laughed as she looked at the paperwork I was signing. “Do you think he even knows he’s staring?” I spoke as I placed the pen down on the desktop.

“I don’t think he knows he likes you,” she replied, finally shuffling the papers together in a neat pile. I scoffed and shook my head. “C’mon, you know Reid. He’s got the innocence of a 1st grader when it comes to relationships and romance,” she laughed as she stood up straight.

“True, this is true,” I returned the laughter as I stood up so I was no longer leaning over my desk. “All done with paperwork?” I asked, smiling at Emily.

“For now, I hope,” she laughed as she picked up the papers. “Good luck with you know who,” she spoke in a sing-y song tone before slipping away to her office. I looked back over my shoulder and smiled when I saw that Spencer was still staring at me.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” I winked once he looked up at my face. And I swear, his face changed several different shades of red as he looked at me. He went from looking normal to looking like Roma Tomato. I didn’t feel bad about my joke either. It wasn’t the first time I’d caught him staring at me. “Or just close your eyes and use your robot brain to take a picture,” I smirked at him.  

“I… I wasn’t staring,” Spencer muttered as he pulled his eyes from my body to look at his own paperwork. I slowly walked away from my desk and over towards him. I leaned over so I was the same height as him. But, that also gave him a great look at my cleavage. I smirked when he struggled to not stare at my chest.

“Sure you weren’t,” I placed my hand to his cheek and smiled. For a moment he leaned more into my touch, but instantly jerked away from my hand, “It’s okay, you weren’t staring at me. I get it.” I smiled and cocked my head, “I know how I look. I’d stare too if I was you,” I pulled my hand away from his face before sitting down in his lap. Spencer held his hands up so he wasn’t touching me at all. I had to force myself not to pout. I’d be okay if he touched me in any way, innocent, not innocent… Doesn’t matter. 

“What are you doing!? There are people here! Watching!” He exclaimed once I was settled on his legs. I smiled and nodded.

“I know, I know,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around his neck, “But, the next time I catch you staring at my ass, I’m gonna do a lot worse than sitting on your lap, Reid,” I smiled and blinked at him. He stared at me and nodded slowly, like even though he understood the words I was saying, he knew he wasn’t going to follow through with them.

It was impressive how his face got even redder. But it was crazy. I kinda liked it too. 

“Do you understand?” I whispered as I looked at him. He nodded. I smiled again before I stood up. “I’d understand if you look again, I won’t be upset. In fact, I’ll encourage it, Spence,” ” I kept smiling at him as I walked away from him. 

I returned to my desk and gathered my things before I left the office for the day. As I looked over my shoulder, Spencer was definitely staring at me, and he knew I definitely caught him. So, I smiled before winking and waving as the elevator doors shut.

{***}{***}{***}

“O’Keefes anyone?” Luke asked as we stepped off the elevator. I rolled my shoulders and looked at him with a somewhat flirtatious smile. He returned the smile and winked.

“I’m always down to go to O’Keefes with you, Lukey Poo,” I cooed as I pinched his cheek. A groan came from the back of the group, causing me to turn and look. A smile grew on my lips when my eyes landed on Spencer, who had rolled his eyes and looked away from Luke and I. “You comin’ with us, Pretty Boy? First-round on me?” I smiled at him.

“I’m definitely in if you’re buying drinks,” Jennifer looked at me before stepping ahead of Luke and I. I smiled at her before looking back at Spencer.

“Pretty please,” I half begged as I pouted my lower lip and gave my best puppy dog eyes. Spencer looked back at me, a pointed stare in his eye. I gave him my best puppy dog eyes and playful pout as I looked at him. “You don’t even have to drink. You can just sit there and be quiet,” I spoke before abruptly stopping in my tracks. And just as I turned around, Spencer walked right into me. In order to keep me from toppling over, he grabbed both my arms to keep me upright. His hands were touching the exposed skin on my arms, causing me to smile. This would be the first time he was touching me, off of a case. Working on a case is a whole different story. Pulling me out of the way of an unsub is different than firmly placing his hands on my arms to steady me from falling.

“You need to be more careful… I won’t always be there to catch you when you fall,” he spoke low just so I could hear him. I smiled as I looked up at him.

“But, I’d love it if you were there,” I lifted a hand to place on his chest. Just as he opened his mouth, someone appeared beside us. I smiled as I looked over at the person.

“Will you two just get a room already?” Emily looked between Spencer and I before leaving us alone. I looked back up at Spencer with a new, confident, and flirtatious smile. He looked clueless as always. Of course, he didn’t know what Emily meant by that.

“Whaddya say we go find a broom closet and show up to O’Keefes a little later than the others,” I carefully wrapped my arms around his neck. Even in my highest heels, Spencer was still a good few inches taller than me. So, I stood on my toes to try to get closer to his personal space and lean closer to his face. “I know where some great broom closets are to get… funky in,” I whispered as I leaned closer to him. We were a good few inches away from each other, and it was taking everything in me to not press my lips to his.  

“I… I, uh... Uh,” Spencer started, but clearly couldn’t find the words to say anything. I smiled before lifting a finger to his lips.

“Just a nod or a shake of your head will be okay…  And, if you say no, I won’t be upset. I’ll stop and I won’t bring it up again… Now, Doctor Reid,” I whispered as I pulled my finger away from his lips. “Do you want to go find a broom closet and have some fun in there?” I asked again. Spencer stared at me with wide eyes before rapidly nodding. I put my arms back around his neck before pressing my lips to his. Spencer placed his hands firmly on my waist.

And after 8 years of working here, I’m finally getting what I want. 

taglist: @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto

[equestrianwritingsstuff]

Summer of Whump #4: Escape

Warnings: drugging, vomit, blood

Villain's face was smacked against the roof of a "Villain Containment Practices" AKA a VCP car. He groaned and elbowed the ruthless Hero who dared to lay hands on him.

"Calm down," the unlucky Hero seethed. "Things will be easier for you."

"But not for you," Villain sassed which resulted in the hero lifting his head and smacking his nose hard.

"Will you mind?!" Villain yelled. He felt blood pouring out of his nose and draining into his mouth. Broken. He groaned, annoyed.

"Serves you right," the hero taunted close to Villain's ear. She pulled on his earlope and clicked the handcuffs into place.

The second that Villain was settled into the VCP car, he started blabbering and wiping his nose against his sleeve.

"Okay," he said between wipes. "So here's how it happened. I was literally walking home, minding my own beeswax, when this homesless guy comes up to me. Now, me? I am very clean and I like my cleanliness. So anyways, this guy comes up to me and now, he is begging for money and I'm like, 'Dude, personal space here'. I mean, of course this guy has no etiquette skills so he attacks me. Now, my wallet was in my pocket. Still is, for your information, you can find some nice cash in there. Anyways, this guy he touches my wallet and tries to grabs it- wait, guys, I shouldn't be being arrested. It was self-defense! Hey, hey!" Villain reached his hand forward and jostled one of the hero's head. "Wakey, wakey," he said. The hero turned and scowled at him.

"Did you hear me?" Villain asked. "It was self-defense."

"But, Villain, did you have to steal that guy's own wallet and hospitalize him?" The hero asked. "We know that he was doing something illegal also, but he being taken care of. So, please, shut up."

"But, but," Villain whined.

"Zip."

Villain threw himself back against the leather seats, scowling himself. This was unfair. Why couldn't he be a normal citizen without being arrested?

He placed a hand over his nose and summoned his healing powers. In a flash of painful light, the nose clicked into place.

"I thought we inhibited his powers," The driving hero mumbled to the other.

"Shoot. Pull over," the other, also known as the sassy one who broke Villain's nose (we'll call him Nosey), hopped out of the car and joined Villain in the backseat with a clipboard.

"So, Villain," Nosey said. "We are going to have to administer a power suppressor. Do you have any allergies to any drugs or medications?"

Villain glanced at Nosey with a "you serious?" expression. He then shook his head.

"Verbal confirmation."

"No you idiot," Villain snarled. "Are you blind in there." He waved a hand in front of Nosey's face.

"Cut the attitude man," Nosey warned and started to recite all of the questions in a bored tone like they have done this one too many times. Villain answered with the same montone tongue, sneering at Nosey like he was trash- which, in Villain's mind, he was.

"Okay," Nosey finished and plucked a hypodermic needle from their pocket. Villain watched suspiciously as they filled it up with a clear liquid from a small bottle. It was something actually from a pharmacy, he could tell. He reached forward and plucked the bottle out of the other's hands with a sharp, "Gimme."

Villain quickly skimmed over the words, stopping at each -zephines or -pams with a confused look on his face.

"What's in this?" Villain asked. Before Nosey replied, they jabbed the needle into Villain's neck and administered the contents.

"Hey!" Villain exclaimed, pulling the needle out. Almost immediately, he was hit by a cold sensation.

"Hey," he mumbled drowsily, his eyelids drooping. "Did-did you drug me?"

Nosey grabbed Villain's chin and forced the Villain to look at them.

"Of course, you were quite intolerable," then they reached behind them and pulled out another needle. The power suppressor.

Nosey easily emptied the drug into the vein on Villain's wrist with a satisfied smile at Villain's shock. They then unbuckled Villain and helped him lay down on the seats.

"Sweet dreams," Nosey said right before the darkness engulfed Villain.

Villain woke in a damp room, shivering out of his skin. He groggily looked around, found nothing of interest, and closed his eyes again. He vaguely recognized that the drug was still running through his system- whether it be the sedative or the suppressor, he didn't know which. He also knew that he should take advantage of the chance to rest while he had it.

That "chance to rest" actually became only five minutes. The damp coolness of the cell was replaced by a gust a warm air. Villain didn't care, or didn't realize, that Hero was standing in front of him.

He did open his eyes, however, when he heard Nosey's pipsqueak voice, "I thought he was awake."

"He is probably still drugged up," Hero said in her calm, orderly tone. "Oh there he is," she ran her fingers over Villain's cheek, checking for any type of reaction. Finding none, she stepped back and whispered something to Sidekick that Villain couldn't make out.

His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, but being the positive guy he was, he decided on cotton candy. Make the situation a little better.

He closed his eyes again, even though Nosey and Hero were standing right there and talking about him. He picked up bits and pieces:

"Move him to a warmer cell, one with a bed," came Hero's assertive voice.

"He doesn't deserve it!" came Nosey's ear-shattering chirps of a voice.

"He is laying on the ground in a cell, hardly able to keep his head from rolling around. Make him comfortable. He needs the rest for what's about to come."

Even though Hero's voice was indeed calming, it still made Villain's heart pump faster. They were going to so something to him. He frowned weakly- hardly a frown in the hero's eyes. He didn't know why, but it sounded like they were going to do more than just hurt him.

Kill him, or maybe do tests on his healing powers.

Villain whimpered loudly which brought the heros attention. His eyes were squeezed shut, unable to look at them. A wave a fear came over him when someone's (hopefully not Nosey's) arms wrapped around him and lifted him from his spot. He squirmed, trying to break free.

"Shut up," came a sing-song voice. It made Villain freak out, kicking and panting. It was Nosey. Nosey was touching him.

"Sheesh," Nosey exclaimed at the outburst and readjusted Villain so that they (Nosey) was much more comfortable, but the newly formed position stressed Villain's limbs.

"W- w," Villain croaked. "... taking?"

"Aw look at you, so out of it and quiet. Hardly able to form a complete word," Nosey gave a fake pouty face that Villain didn't even register.

Sleep once again tugged at him, but he tried to keep his eyes pried open. He would never forgive himself if he fell asleep in Nosey's arms.

Suddenly, after what seemed like an eternity of floating through the air, Villain was sat down on a bed. Without any resistance, he allowed his limbs to be moved around and a thick, warm blanket to be draped over his body.

He closed his eyes, relishing the warmth and inviting comfort. He let out a few grumpy mutterings as the drug took hold once again and he fell into a deep slumber that only time could wake him from.

Nosey left immediately after tucking Villain in, if they even called it that. More like heeding to their boss's orders, but they hated it. Hated the way that Villain was being treated like a hero himself.

Hero entered the warm cell that Villain was placed in. The room was much nicer than the damp one, with a bed, light, and heating unit, but still a cell nevertheless.

She walked over to Villain's sleeping figure and traced his cheek with her long, unkept, fingernails. He didn't stir, which was good. Very carefully, she lifted the covers off and placed her hand on his chest.

And then she worked her powers, digging into Villain's conscience. It was foggy, which was understandable, and very difficult to navigate through, but she still found her destination.

The truth about what happened.

She watched the scene in her head. An imposter homeless man stalking up to Villain, asking for cash. Villain refused, beginning to walk away, but the homeless guy took out a gun and smacked the back of Villain's head. Villain then wheeled around and shoved the man against a nearby wall, giving him a round of punches. As Villain performed his beating, the homeless guy reached around and took Villain's wallet out. Villain quickly finished his work with a devastating punch that left the man in a heap. He then swooped down and grabbed his stolen wallet with a shrug.

Hero gasped and stepped backwards, quickly making sure that Villain didn't wake up. He didn't, so Hero put the blanket back over him and left the room.

As she strolled down the hallway, she thought of the feeling that she was getting from Villain's memories. Innocence. Villain was innocent. Not that he didn't do the extravagant illegal works that he regularly took part in, but that he had no idea that what he was doing was wrong.

He was misguided.

It took Villain some time to completely recover from the suppressor, but when he did, boy he felt like he could fly to the moon and back.

The downside of having healing powers was that you needed them for everyday function. They run your body systems like your nervous system does. It powers them like food and water does, so when those were taken away, Villain's body went on momentarily shut down. Hopefully Hero realized this before she decided to drug him again.

One day, Hero entered his cell as he was picking through breakfast. He had no recollection of Hero's impediment of his memories only days before.

"Villain," Hero cleared her throat and eyed Villain's plate in curiosity. "It's not poisoned," she laughed, wondering why he wasn't eating much.

"Not hungry," Villain replied, glancing at Hero for a brief second.

"You need the energy. We are going to start, uh, well, work today."

"Work?" Villain asked, absent-mindly.

"Yes. You are a prisoner," the words hurt Hero almost as much as she was the one receiving them. He really wasn't a prisoner. He was going to get reformed, learn morals, and hopefully become a hero, which was a long shot, but one should always hope for the best.

Hero sat on his bed as he finished lapping up the breakfast, which took a good thirty minutes. Hero was patient, however. Villain would need time to be assimilated into a hero's society. Spending some time in silence, watching him eat was insignificant compared to what he was about to do.

Two days later, Villain was throwing up in a toilet. Throwing up, not due to sickness or eating something funny, but from stress and exertion. The exercises that the heros made him, along with all the other "reforming" villains, were insane and taxing. Not to mention the mental strain with all of the "moral speeches" and assessments. Mulitple choice questions like: Which is the right thing to do when you see someone being beat up? A.) Call the cops or heros; B.) Stop the fight; C.) Talk them out of it calmly; or D.) All of the above. Villain put down B.

He failed the test.

Villain rested his forehead against the cool toilet seat. He had to get out of here. Runaway and leave. If only two days led up to the this, Villain glanced down at the bloody vomit in the toilet, then what would two weeks result in? Power suppressing? Villain shuddered. He couldn't go through that again.

So, Villain made the decision right then and there, infront of the toilet, that he would escape tonight and leave the city.

Forever.

[danielxricciardo]

Prompts

1. "Hi, my ex just walked in. Would you hold my hand please?"

2. "I didn't expect to see you here."

3. "Have you seen this dog?"

4. “That mouth of yours, does it ever stop making noise”

5. “Seven minutes in heaven is for virgin teenagers”

6. “Slam that door one more time and I’ll shove my foot straight up your cute ass”

7. “Jesus! Knock next time would you”

8. “You have money go and get yourself a hoodie that’s not mine”

9. "I hate roses, I thought you knew"

10. "Do you think I am an angel? Ha"

11. "I wanted to sleep but someone decided to die"

12. "I can kill you right now, what are you talking about?"

13. "Hi, I am lost, can you come after me?"

14. "When I first saw you I wanted to date your best friend"

15. "I am so funny and you are just jealous"

16. "If I have to choose... no"

17. "Stop breathing like that!"

18. "I just did my nails"

19. "I'm the best driver în the world"

20. "Will you marry me?" "No"

21. "I think I broke my arm" "So?"

22. "I think I love you" "Thanks"

23. "My arms are lonely, don't you think?"

24. "Apparently we are dating"

25. “Well it’s kind of hard to move when you’re sitting on my lap”

26. "Those things you said yesterday, did you mean them?"

27. "If we elope, you think they'll kill us?"

28. "This is yours"

29. "You can’t just kiss me, laugh and then walk away."

30. "Are you using ass as a pillow?"

31." I find your lack of faith disturbing."

32. "And I took it personally"

33. "In here I am the boss"

34. "Oh, bite me!" "Where?"

35. "What will you do if we break up?"

36. "Where is my T-shit?"

37. "This is no time for sarcastic comments."  "There is always time for sarcastic comments."

38. "I’ll keep quiet, you won’t even know I’m here."

39. "The way you flirt is just awful"

40. "Don’t be fooled. I’m the epitome of mess."

41. " If you are on TV should I congratulate you?"

42. "And this, is why we can’t have nice things."

43. "That's what he said"

44. "I am scared of your boss"

45. "You should know, a lot of girls have a crush on me"

46. "Everyone is afraid of you"

47. "If I'm watching that movie one more time I'll lose my fucking mind!"

48. "I thought being on vacation will be stress free"

49. "My parents don't trust you"

50. "I don't think I should give my last name so easily"

51. “I really wish I could unsee that.”

52. “Who would’ve guessed we’d be sharing a room.”

53. “I feel like you have an unhealthy obsession with me.”

54. “Nah he’s fine, it’s the other one you really got to watch out for.”

55. “I have a suggestion.” “I’m not taking my clothes off so forget it.”

56. “You’re the genius, why don’t you tell me?”

57. “Have I ever told you your accent makes me swoon?” “Really?” “No.” He/she smiles. “ that’s why I’ve never told you.”

58. “I’m alive? How am I still alive?”

59. “You’re crazy! I love it!”

60. “Never have I ever is about to get a lot more interesting.”

61. “What did they do?” “Dude. They did the do.”

62. "You can’t keep pretending it didn’t happen, cause guess what? It did!"

63. "Well this is awkward."

64. "Im too sober for this."

65. "Im pregnant." "Wall done, Virgin Mary!"

66. " I want to protect you."

67. "Kill that spider and maybe I'll forgive you"

68. "I have no one to go to the wedding"

69. "Don’t you dare touch _______!"

70. "I thought you were dead!"

71. "This is, without a doubt, the stupidest plan you’ve ever had. Of course I’m in."

72. "Take care of you, please"

73. "If your best friend single?"

74. "Just remember, if we get caught, you’re deaf and I don’t speak English."

75. "Why does everyone assume we're a couple?"

76. "Im craving something sweet" "Are you pregnant or something?"

77. " What is the magic word?" "I'll kill you în your sleep"

78. "When I see you my knees get weak"

79. "Finally you're single. Can I take you on a date?"

80. " So, I guess you don’t do after hours?"

81. "I know what I'm doing, I've watched two whole seasons of Grey's Anatomy."

82. "I can't believe I'm stuck here with you right now."

83. "Okay, this did not go as I planned it in the shower."

84. "I'm not going to sit around and watch you destroy yourself."

85. "You were my best friend"

86. "You did what?"

87. "Can you just pretend to love me for a second!"

88. "You are enough"

89. "Take the shirt off"

90. "Your nickname is bitch"

91. "What do you want to watch?" "You"

92. "How could you ask me that?"

93. "Your mouth does this thing and I can't resist it"

94. "Are you allowed to drink?"

95. "I said Im done, leave me alone!"

96. "Don’t raise your fucking voice at me”

97. “Yeah, I remember the drill”

98. “Tell me again, slowly this time, why that dog is in my bed.”

99. “Gave you so much, but it wasn’t enough.”

100. “You and me, we were destined to fall apart.”

101. “No, you don’t know who you are until somebody breaks your heart.”

102. “I want to tell you everything. The words I never got to say the first time around.”

103. “It’s better to feel pain, than nothing at all.”

Song lyrics prompts

1. “It’s the little things about us, that I love so much.”

2. “Last night I told you I loved you // woke up blamed it on the vodka”

3. “It’s a better place since you came along”

4. “You make me love the things I hate  “

5. Just a paper sheet and half a cigarette are left in my hand

6. Your faith walks on broken glass

7. "And can you teach me how to dance real slow?"

8. "I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe"

9. "One night, you won't forget the rest of your life"

10. "We only said goodbye with words"

11. "I'll try to give you love until the day you drop"

12. "I like the pretty boys with the bow tie"

13. "Lets get drunk forget what we did"

14. Your kisses lift me higher

15. When you're ready we can share the wine

16. "And if you don't love me now you will never love me again"

17. "Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?"

18. "When there's nothing to lose and there's nothing to prove"

19. She's the kind of girl who only asks you over when its raining, just to make you lie there catching water dripping from the ceiling.

20. Now I understand, you're a human, and you got to lie, you're a man

21. The good and the bad times: we've been through them all.

22. Now I ain't educated but I sure ain't stupid

23. I grew up in the shoes they told me I could fill

24. It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep

25. A lover would just complicate my plans

26. And in the morning, i’ll be with you, but it will be a different kind

27. My heart is yours, it’s you that i hold on to

28. And with one kiss, you inspired a fire of devotion that lasts for twenty years

29. I let go of my claim on you, it’s a free world

30. I’m in my bed, and you’re not here and there’s no one to blame, but the drink in my wandering hands

31. Cause you gave me peace and i wasted it, I’m here to admit that you were my medicine

32. Oh, dear diary, i met a boy, he made my doll heart light up with joy. Oh, dear diary, we fell apart, welcome to the life of electra heart

33. For you, I would cross the line, I would waste my time, I would lose my mind

34. Is it really me you're missing?

35. Remember that night?

36. How many times can I break till I shatter?

37. As long as I breathe, I’ll call you my home

38. "You wouldn't know love if it crushed your fucking chest."

39. "When we scream our lips don't make a sound."

40. "Please don't let me sink, wrap your arms around me and carry me home."

41. "This hasn't torn us apart so nothing ever will."

42. "A long time ago we believed that we were united."

43. "I miss the person that you were but I don't miss you."

44. "If home is where the heart is, why do I feel so fucking heartless?"

45. "I can't live, I can't breathe with or without you just go away."

46. "I'm not afraid to die, I'm afraid I'll survive and have to watch you suffer."

47. "I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away."

48. "I'm not like you I just fuck up."

49. "All because of you I believe in angels, not the kind with wings, no not the kind with halos. The kind that bring you home when home becomes a strange place."

50. "I just want to go to sleep and never wake up again."

51. “I wish people liked me more.”

52. “How could I ever love someone else?”

53. “I guess you’re getting everything you want.”

54. “She probably gives you butterflies.”

55. “I hope that you’re okay.”

56. “I defended you to all my friends.”

57. “I never cared about what they say, only care about me and you” 

58. “Either way i’m gonna lose, so i’m just gonna keep on loving you”

59. “You know i’m bad at communication, it’s the hardest thing for me to do”

60. “Iwas your lover, i was your friend, now I’m only just someone you call when it’s late enough to forget”

61. “It’s fucked up but it’s true that i love you like i do”

62. “Well we both had nights waking up in strangers beds but i don’t wanna, don't wanna, i don’t wanna give up yet”

63. “Tell me I’ve got it wrong somehow.”

64. “I’m begging for you to take my hand.”

65. “I can’t make it go away by making you the villain.”

66. “He feels like home.”

67. “I’d be breaking all my rules to see you.”

68. “But I know you’re not scared of anything at all.”

69. “When can I come back?”

70. “I’m ready to owe you anything”

71. “I’ll always look best in your head”

72. “I know you know it’s wrong, but I’m ready”

73. “All I ever want is breaking me apart.”

74. “Let's talk sweetly like all our love is false.”

75. “You put a fire in my heart, painted blood on my stars, gave me faith.”

76. “I wanna meet your girlfriend, she sounds nice.”

77. “How is kissing me so wrong?“

78. “Can’t you see that I’m already yours?”

79. “I’ve been losing track of the romantic sh*t I’m tryna say but basically I love you"

80. “I don’t wanna be your friend, I wanna kiss your lips, I wanna kiss you until I lose my breath”

81. “I apologize for all your tears, I wish I could be different but I’m still growing up into the one you can call your love” 

82. “I’m out of my head, of my heart, of my mind cause you can run but you can’t hide, I’m gonna make you mine”

83. "I never loved someone the way that I love you"

84. "It's the way that you know what I thought I knew, it's the beat that my heart skips when I'm with you"

85. "I hope she gettin' better sex, hope she ain't fakin' it like I did, babe"

86. “I know we’re young and people change and we may never feel the same”

87. “I can’t change the world, but maybe I’ll change your mind”

88. "You don't own me. Don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay."

89. "Leave everything that is worth a single cent and just take me instead."

90. "And then I got you off your knees, put you right back on your feet, just so you can take advantage of me."

91. "Hey, I can't let you go with nobody. Cause I love you, baby."

92. "Tell me that it wasn't my fault and that I was enough for you."

93. "We were good at faking forever, I get it, whatever."

94. "Cause you had your chance and you blew it. Yeah, you ripped it up and you chewed it."

95. "Well, I'm too busy for your business. Go find a girl who wants to listen."

96. "Stop looking at me with those eyes, like I could disappear and you wouldn't care why."

97. "Oh, we could do whatever you want, but boy, don't go falling in love, you can't stay with me, all you'll ever have is one day with me"

98. "I pray the medication slow me down, but that shit doesn't work when you're around"

99. "Told her that I loved her once and now she'd kill for me"

100. "What the tell were we? Tell me we weren't just friends"

Who I write for

Formula 1

Daniel Ricciardo

Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen

Charles Leclerc

Esteban Ocon

Carlos Sainz

Lando Norris

Lance Stroll

Sebastian Vettel

Mick Schumacher

Pierre Gasly

George Russel

Football

Erling Haaland

Jadon Sancho

Giovanni Reyna

Jude Bellingham

Julian Brandt

Marco Reus

Roman Bürki

Emre Can

Mats Hummels

Leon Goretzka

Joshua Kimmich

Kai Havertz

Mason Mount

Christian Pulisici

Ben Chilwell

Gerard Pique 

João Félix

Ianis Hagi

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Trent Alexander-Arnold

Virgil van Dijk

Jens Petter Hauge

Martin Ødegaard

Alexander Sørloth

[slutdery]

Never take a break, u’r always working overtime.

make a wish series.

A series (for each member of the unit) about their lines in make a wish (english version).

pairing | xiaojun x fem!reader

genre | smut, fluff

words | 2.5k

warning | overstimulation, vibrator (using on f), degradation, softdom!xiaojun, mature content.

author’s note | my native language isn’t english, so if there’s something wrong with anything i wrote tell me and i’ll edit.

It was one of those chilly mornings. People running desperately through the sidewalk and lots of cars on the streets, typical mornings in Seoul. You on the other side was just walking with a cup of coffee on your hand, your phone ringing nonstop as you kept strolling, you knew it was Xiaojun, but you were too focused on looking at the boy who was walking in front of you. He was tall and very thin, his hair had an pretty blue color that was almost fading and his roots were already growing. Xiaojun didn’t stop even for a second, he wanted to talk to you so much. You sighed and finally accepted his calls.

“You’re such a burden, you know that?”

“Uhm, yeah. A burden of hotness.” He laughed while finishing his sentence which made you roll your eyes at his stupidity. “You’re so stressed these last weeks, needing to relax a bit.” He chuckled, making you let a sight out.

“I have to work, bye.” You ended the call not waiting for a response, receiving tones of messages from him minutes after, it was actually pissing you off. You sighed again as you lost the cute boy that was in front of you. Xiaojun was your best friend since high school, you two always bullied each other in a friendly way, but it the last months he has changed so much. Every time you see him he starts talking about personal things ‘Sex.’ you thought. And it was so odd, cause you’ve never talked about this with him. It isn’t a strange subject to talk about, it’s such a normal thing, but with him? Made you so shy. Thank god you wasn’t seeing him often, your work and college was taking all of your time. Of course you missed him, but you had to pay for your bills and you weren’t spoiled as Xiaojun to have what you wanted from your parents. Sometimes you just wished you were him. Finally getting out of your thoughts, you returned to walking, almost late for your shift. As you kept ambling, a sudden droplets ran down your face, seconds lates followed by many of them. ‘Shit, i didn’t bring an umbrella.’ Running to the closest covered place, you got your phone out of your pocket. Already calling the emergency number, it wasn’t such a surprise that it were Xiaojun’s number. Quickly calling him and waiting for a response, since he was the only friend you had and plus he had a car. He didn’t made you wait much, answering the call right away.

“What’s up? Felt sorry for treating me rudely?” He made a cry voice as he talked.

“Yeah, sure. I need you... Like now. Can you pick me up? I’m scared to take an Uber alone and i don’t have money. Pleaseee.”

“Now you need me, huh?” He giggled, after a few seconds you heard the keys and sighed in relief, knowing that he’ll actually pick you up.

“Where are you?” You heard a door banging and quickly sent him a location to where you were through Imessage. He ended the call without saying a thing, just like you did before ‘Such a vengeful bitch.’ You laughed while leaning against the wall behind you. Looking around you recognized where you were, surprisingly it was next to Xiaojun’s house, so it wouldn’t take long for him to arrive. The rain just intensified with the time, making you got a little bit scared of the thunders, it seemed like was falling so close to you. Minutes passed and he didn’t appeared yet, you started to worrie since it wasn’t so far away, but you managed to calm down as you saw the traffic, it had so many cars, so you thought that may be the reason why he’s taking so long. When Xiaojun popped in your head, you suddenly felt butterfly in your stomach, hands sweating even with the coldness and your whole body nervously waiting to just see him. You didn’t understood why you were so nervous about, you couldn’t deny that he’s the most gorgeous person you’ve ever seen in your entire life, but liking him? That’s a no, no! He’s your best friend, there’s no way you’re in love with him. Your thoughts were vanished away by a horn, as you looked at where the sound came you spotted a smiling Xiaojun inside of his car. You quickly walked to his car and entered in it as soon as possible, getting a little wet on the way there.

🌟

The ride was quiet, he didn’t said a word and neither did you, but he kept jamming his fingers on the wheel with a song that you couldn’t recognize. As soon as you entered in his house he started screaming the song that he was jamming before, you laughed looking at him doing an highnote on his way to the kitchen.

“I have to call my boss, could you shut up?” You threw yourself on the couch and started looking for your bosses number on your list, finding it not much time later, you brought the phone next to your ear after calling him. Xiaojun came back with two mugs. “Hot chocolate?” you whispered, receiving a nod and a lovely smile of his, returning the smile as you got one of the mug. Your boss didn’t answered your calls so instead you sent him a message explaining why you couldn’t go today and hopefully he would understand your side and wouldn’t fier you.

“I missed you.” Xiaojun threw himself next to the spot you were, quickly wrapping his arms tightly around your waist, resting his head on your chest, which made your eyes wide at the closeness. His mouth was so close to your nipples that you thought he would suck it through the fabric, sighing in relief as you noticed he just laid there. “Yeah?” You moved your hand to reach his hair, caressing it with your fingers while drinking the hot chocolate with the free hand.

“Yes. You’re always busy with work and when i call you to go out and relax a bit you start being rude.” He moved his head so he could face you, making a sad puppy face while looking at your eyes. You could swear it seemed like he were going to cry, but he quickly looked away. “I don’t have parents like yours, i actually have to work so i can live. You know that right?” He nodded, biting his lower lips as his eyes got down to your chest, making you surprised by the strange action. His eyes studying your breast turned you on more than you thought and now you may be slightly wet on the thought of him sucking it.

“What are you looking at?” You moved your hands to reach his chin, tilting it so he could look at your face. As his eyes met yours, you raised an eyebrow, still surprised by the lip biting.

“I think you need to relax. You’re too stressed, what do you think?” His straight line mouth turned into a sexy smirk, making your thoughts go wild.

“What do you mean?” His face got closer, lips almost touching and his eyes were already closed. It took you a few seconds to understand the situation, just when you felt his lips touching yours you pulled away with a disgusted look on your face. “What the fuck you think you’re doing?”

“Fuck. Sorry y/n, i thought you wanted too. Please just forget about this.”  He got back to the place he was before, laying his head on the couch while facepalming. You could see he was frustrated and that made you a bit sad, you wouldn’t have turned him down if he asked, he just caught you off guard. “Don’t need to be sorry Dejun, you just caught me off guard.” You smiled trying to comfort him, receiving a giant smile back, seemed like he gained a free pass to do it again, and he didn’t hesitated. It happened so quickly that you got lost, his hands found your neck pulling you closer to his face, meeting your lips not much time later. The kiss was full of lust, hungrier than all the ones you’ve had before, so warm that made you want to spend the rest of your life kissing him. Your hands moved to his waist trying to pull him closer, you needed him just for you. It was indeed the kiss you felt more safe, his body felt like home as you hugged him, such a comfortable position to stay. You tightened your arms around his waist to the point he groaned from the slight of pain, pulling away from the kiss while smiling. “Slow down there.” He laughed being followed by you.

“I have to tell you something.” His gaze pierced in your eyes with a thoughtful expression, you changed yours to an worried one as you noticed the seriousness in his tone.

“What? What happened?” He straightened himself, ready to say something but closed his mouth again. After a few seconds he finally said. “Uhm... I love you.” You saw his ears turning into a red tone and couldn’t hold your laugh back, he was the cutest person alive and you always thought that. “Awww, i love you too cutie pie.” His eyes widened and a contagious smile appeared on his lips, such a pleasant thing to see, this will be always on your mind.

He got up from the couch, grabbing your hand to help you get up as well, putting the mug on the tiny desk after getting up. He guided you to his bedroom, with his hand still wrapped on yours. When you two entered on the room he lead the way to his bed, pushing you there as you got closer, making you fall on the soft sheets and lots of pillows.

“You trust me, right?” He walked until it reached his wardrobe, opening one of the drawers and grabbing something that you couldn’t see yet, after a few seconds he moved to face you. Your face turned into a shocked one as you saw the vibrator on one of his hands and a rope on the other. “Yes... i actually do.” Your smile gave him confidence to do what he wanted from the start. He made his way to the bed, spreading your legs in a butterfly position and sitting in the middle of them. He passed his hands through your body until it reached your arms, putting the two of them together and tying it up with the rope. He didn’t make a tight knot, cause he was afraid it could hurt you and surely he didn’t wanted the experience to be uncomfortable. His hands moved to the hemline of your skirt, pulling them down without thinking twice, your underwear was gone within seconds too. He licked his lips as he saw your pussy soaking wet, he wanted to fuck you like this so bad, but he wanted you to beg for that.

“You’re so wet babe, you always wanted this, right whore? Now if you feel like it’s too much say ‘Bunny’” You nodded at him, making him finally get the vibrator on his hand. He got it closer to your cunt, making you flinch as you felt the coldness of the object, a few seconds after he placed it on your clit. You were already preparing yourself for the sensation it would send your whole body when starts the vibration. A deep breath left you as he turned it on, it started with the lowest level, it was amazing but you still needed more.

“You want more, what a naughty bitch.” He smiled and moved his hand back to the vibrator, clicking on the ‘+’ button lots of time, getting in the highest level, making your whole body feels the wave of pleasure that the vibrations were sending.

“That’s better, right slut?” Your moans were so loud that you barely heard what he said, the pleasant feeling taking control of your body, it was placed directly against your clit which made you almost cry from the heavenly stimulation. Your fingers curled and your legs started trembling, it was amazing the way the vibrator sent you so much pleasure, your belly warmed in anticipation you were already going to reach your orgasm.

“Daddy, i’m gonna cum.” He looked surprised at you, but you didn’t pay much attention to what you said, closing your eyes as you felt the orgasm hitting you. Loud moans leaving your mouth and the sensation of the vibrator still on your clit, making tears form in your eyes. “Daddy, huh?” You opened your eyes and tears were all over it, the overstimulation was too much, you wanted it to stop but didn’t at the same time.

“Stop, stop, stop. MAKE IT STOP, XIAOJUN. PLEASE, please... too much” You mew at him while tryng to close your legs attempting to make it just stop, he pinned your thighs with his feet and moved the vibrator up and down so it would send you even more pleasure.

“I want to see you crying as you cum again, do it for Daddy.” He didn’t have to say much, your orgasm was already being built in your stomach, crying moans being followed by you screaming his name. Your orgasm happened again, tears running down your cheeks and your sensitive clit still feeling the vibrations. You knew he wouldn’t stop unless you said the ‘Safe word’ you wanted to last more on this but it was too much for you to handle, all the vibrations sending more pleasure to your body while your legs wouldn’t stop trembling.

“BUNNY. STOP, PLEASE. T-TOO MUCH.” He quickly moved his fingers to turn it off, looking at you with an worried face while removing the vibrator. You sighed in relief hoping that the discomfort finally ended.

“I didn’t finished yet.” Xiaojun passed his index finger on your cunt, making you flinch from the touch. He leaned his head so it could reach your pussy, your hands were still tied so you couldn’t stop him from doing what he was trying to do. As you felt his tongue kitty licking your sensitive clit you couldn’t hold your moans back, it was still too much for you to handle. After two orgasms you didn’t know if you could handle a third one for now, but that wouldn’t stop Xiaojun from doing what he wanted, unless you tell him to stop. He kept eating you like it was his last meal, kissing your clit and teasing your hole with his tongue, but most of the time he focused on your clit so he could make you cum again.

The moment he sucked your clit you felt a giant wave of pleasure, your body reacted without anticipating for it, you came without even knowing you would’ve, your eyes closed and stars appearing on your head. It was fascinating, such a pleasant feeling, all of your body relaxed as the liquid kept coming out. You thought you pissed on him and was ready to apologize, but after opening your eyes and looking directly at him you couldn’t belive what just happened.

“That was hot as fuck, do it again.” Both of you started laughing while he cleaned his face from the jet of your squirt, you didn’t wanted to agree but it was really hot seeing his face covered with the nectar of your pussy.

He untied the knot of the rope and threw it somewhere while making his way to lay next to you. “Sorry babe... for not stopping.” He wrapped his arms on your waist, tightly hugging you while leaving lots of pecks on your cheeks.

“Baby?” You moved your head so you could see his face, he smiled at you and left a peck on your mouth before answering. “What?” His expression was full of confusion as you started to laugh your lungs off, he had an ‘?’ on his face while you couldn’t stop laughing.

“You came in your pants, idiot.” His cheeks got a pink tone and an awkward smile set on his lips, following your laugh while facepalming.

“Yeah. You were hot as fuck, you would came if you saw your face too.” He buried his face on your neck, still laughing, you had goosebumps as you felt the tip of his nose touching your supple skin. You closed your eyes from the tiredness, after two orgasm you were already exhausted and not counting you woke up early to ‘Work’ so it didn’t took you long to sleep. And after all of this you could finally say that you were, indeed, in love with Xiao Dejun.

[ssa-daddyhotchner]

Undercover - Chapter 1

Story Warnings: Smut, rape, mention of suicide, murder, domestic abuse, sexual assault, mention of abortion, addiction, torture, kidnapping.

Just a mention that these are serious topics and are not promoting anything and those topics are specifically for character development....

Chapter Selection

______________________________

I walk into the building and feel a rush of cool air. Dammit I wish I brought a sweater. When I walk into the office I get called by a man wearing a black suit with a red tie, 

"Agent y/l?" I turned my head and walk over to the man that called my name; my Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner. "Yes?" 

"Can I see you in my office." He asked in a clam stern voice. I walked up to his door and walked inside.

He gestured for me to take a seat. "I see that you have a degree in criminology and criminal psychology."

"Yes sir." I started to rub my thump over my fingers. "Why the BAU", I couldn't read the emotions on his face. He was like stone. "I've always been interested in criminals and their behavior the why was the question I constantly asked myself when I'd see or read a story of a crime." 

He doesn't say anything he just looks. His brows furrowed with his eyes focused on my body language.

"Okay", Hotch stands up and holds out his hand. I follow his movements and shook his hand. He walks out from behind his desk and walks to the railing outside. "I'd like to introduce you to Agent y/n y/l."

A crowd of 6 people came around from all over the bullpen. Hotch pointed to all the people; "This is Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss, Spencer Reid, David Rossi, and Penelope Garcia,"

We all made conversation about how it was at the BAU and the types of cases they had gotten in the past. They were quick to disperse having paperwork to do. Hotch showed me to my desk and Garcia helped me get familiar with the system. 

"Hey you need some help." Morgan approached me. "I'm already in the system and I have nothing to work on." He looks a me. 

"I can show you around the building if you want; I'm already done my paperwork and I don't get off till 5 so." I shrug I've got nothing better to do. 

JJ walked into the bullpen with a file at hand, "We've got a case." Everyone files to the round table taking a seat. Emily looks around taking notice at y/n and Morgan's absence, "Where's y/n and Morgan." 

"He took her on a tour of the building, he was done his work." Reid says. 

Me and Morgan were walking back into the bullpen when we notice everyone at the round table.

Hotch gave Morgan a disappointing look and showed me no emotion. "Don't be late. Garica." He wanted her to start. 

Garcia starts ,"16 yr old Julia Martin went missing in Georgetown, Delaware Tuesday night at 10:32pm. She goes to Sussex Central High School, she is a sophomore and keeps to herself, she has a few close friends. She doesn't go out very often." 

Now it's common knowledge that with cases like these it's time sensitive. "Wheels up in 30", We all head out to get our go bags, getting into the SUVs and heading to the jet.

We start to go over the case again. Hotch starts, "Prentiss, Morgan and I will go to the police station to set up, Reid and JJ go talk to the family. 

Y/N you're with Rossi I want you guys to go to the school and talk to her teachers and friends."

The plane lands and we all get into the cars.

Rossi gets into the driver's seat. "So how do you like it so far." He continues to look at the road. 

"It's great I've always wanted to be in the BAU since I was a kid." I look at Rossi, "Is Hotch always so serious?" He glances at me, "Most of the time but he'll warm up to you."

The rest of the car ride is filled with small conversation. 

We get to the school and walk and start talking to her teachers. I asked "What was Julia like in class? Did she talk to anybody that she usually didn't and how were her grades?"

"She didn't really talk to anyone other than a few of her friends. I would try and help her to talk but she would end up doing the work independently even with a group and she would do all the work and as for her grades they were great. She was an A, B student for the most part."

The rest of the teachers said the same thing as the first. 

"Okay so if nothing was going on at school and there were no suspicious people hanging around then they must have grabbed her at home."

 I told Rossi as we walked back to the car. Someone caught our attention. There was a boy leaning against our car. 

"Can we help you", Rossi asked. "I might know what happened to Julia, she was talking to this guy online... she might have mentioned that she was gonna meet up with him." 

"Can you come by the station later we're gonna need to talk to you", I said and he agreed. 

We drive back to the police station and the rest of the team is there. "So apparently Julia was talking to someone online and her friend thinks that's who might have taken her." Rossi says. 

"And she's never met this guy. He doesn't even go to the same school according to her friend" I continue, "The friend's name is Kevin Philips and he's coming by tomorrow."

"Okay everyone we have a long day tomorrow let's get some rest." Hotch tells the team.

We go outside to the cars and drive over to the hotel. "There were only four rooms left so we're gonna need to share.

 JJ and Emily I'm assuming you two are gonna share, Morgan and I will share so that leaves Hotch and y/n." Hotch stares at Rossi

"So you just get a room to yourself?" "Exactly." He walked off going to his room. 

Of course.. "Are you ok with that, you can just share a room with JJ and I." 

"No really it's fine." It wasn't fine. It was my first case and I sharing a room with my boss. Not just my boss but someone I found attractive. 

Hotch grabs the key and we walk to the room. He walks in, drops his stuff on the chair and I just look at him then the bed. "What is it?"

"Um there's only one bed."

He looks at the bed and then the floor. "If it bothers you I can sleep on the floor I dont mind." 

"No, it's ok, it's a large bed." He then turns around, grabs a towel and hops into the shower. I heat up our leftovers from lunch; I know he hasn’t eaten since this afternoon. 

I put on some music and I start to change into a black crop top and grey sweatpants when he walks out of the bathroom. 

I don't notice him at first but I can feel his eyes traveling up my body. I turned around and he's looking at me and I was staring at him. 

He was buff, not ripped, but perfectly toned. You could clearly tell he had abs and a V line that went straight to..... I hadn't put on my clothes yet I was only in a black lace bra and some matching underwear.

He kept staring and I was too lost in thought to do anything about it. "I'm sorry", and he turned around and walked back into the bathroom out of embarrassment. "It's ok Hotch really." 

"You sure." "Yes I'm sure." He walked back out with just the towel when I finished changing. While I was eating at one of the desks. 

There was a mirror in front of me and I could see him perfectly. While I was chewing I could hear a faint voice. "y/n...y/n" I snapped to look up at his eyes through the mirror. 

"Uhh you were staring." I didn't answer but I didn't have too. The brush rose to my cheeks and he could tell.

"You made my food?", "Yeah i knew you hadn't eaten so I figured."

Once I finished I turned off most of the lights as Hotch was still awake; I crawled under the covers and drifted off to sleep.

Aaron POV

I finished up eating the food she made me. I noticed the music she had on was still playing, the song was Brian Crain - Earth. 

She was already sleeping...she looked so beautiful and peaceful. I turned off the music and crawled into bed. She didn't move and I went to sleep. 

I woke up at 2am and her arms wrapped around my torso. Her head was laying on my chest; I slowly got up and went to the bathroom. I looked into the mirror and saw the sweat through my shirt so I took it off.

I went back into bed and right as I put one foot in she grabs my hand and pulls me toward her.

I'm now laying next to her with my arm wrapped around her back with my hand on her waist. She pulls me closer to her, puts her head back on my chest, and put a hand at the base of my neck. 

"Where'd you go", she whispered into my ear. I got chills that ran up and down my spine.

"I had to go for a second but I'm back now", my voice was soft and low almost a whisper as I didn't wanna wake her even more. It was nice, I did like her. 

She nestles her head in the crook of my neck. I felt her breath on my body. We both just drift in each other's arms.

She's just so beautiful... everything about her. The dips and curves of her body to the sound of her voice.

I notice something though, the scars running down her back. Like someone had dragged a knife down it.

-----------------------------------

I woke up first again this time; it was 6am. I didn't wanna wake y/n so I just stayed in bed laying down looking at her. 

This time she wasn't holding me, she was almost on top of me; I could feel her heart beat at a steady pace. Her legs were on mine, her face nestled into my chest and her arms around my body. 

I put my hands on her holding her close. After about 10min she started to open her eyes. "Hey", I said with a soft tone. Surprisingly she looked at me and didn't visibly freak out but her heart rate was picking up, she closed her eyes and tightened her grip. 

"How'd you sleep", I asked her and she looked down at my chest. "It was good", She said lazily. Y/N let out a loud sigh and got up into the bathroom. 

The heat that was next to me started to fade away as her side of the bed got cold. I heard the shower turn on when I went to get some food. 

When I came back she was out of the shower and dressed. "I got you some coffee." She took it from my hand and waited for me to get ready for work.

Y/N POV

Oh my god, I was sleeping on my boss....all night. I enjoyed it- he didn't get up when he saw me. Did he enjoy it too?

I get out of the shower and Hotch is gone. I started to get changed; I put on a white dress shirt and a black slacks with black heels. I hear someone knock at the door. 

It was Hotch holding some coffee and two muffins. "I got you some coffee." He said holding it out.

I start eating my food and he started asking me questions. "So what made you wanna join the FBI?", that was one question I didn't really wanna answer right now. 

"It was my sister for the most part but also the fact that basically my whole family was involved in the government."

"Why your sister?", He looked at me studying seeing how I was reacting. When he asked that question my heart sank into my stomach. "She-", I was trying not to cry; I took a big gulp. 

"She was murdered when I was teenager, I was the one who found the body...It was a long time ago but it still hurts", tears started to fill my eyes and my face was getting red. I looked up for a moment trying to blink the tears away. 

There was a flash of regret in his eyes, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get upset." 

"No it's okay you didn't know." I was trying to hold it together clearly it wasn't working when he walked over to me, he put his arms around my waist and back and hugged me. 

I was caught off guard by the sign of affection but I put my arms around him and hugged him tight. 

"it's okay, I'm sorry." A few tears managed to escape from my eyes; they rolled down my face they were absorbed by his shirt. He cupped my face and wanted me to look at him. 

He didn't say anything, he used his thumb to wipe the tears that were still falling from my face and hugged me again.

I started to calm down in his arms listening to his breathing. I felt protected, secure, and warm. Being in his embrace was like a shield; nothing else mattered. 

Time skip

While waiting for Kevin to get here we all are gathered around talking. I walked over to Reid; he has his nose buried in a book, "Hey." He looked up at me. "Hey", "How's it going." I was getting a little nervous running my thumb along my other fingers. 

He seemed to notice when his face softened a bit. "Good"

"Look I'm sorry in advance I'm not really good with conversation." I said as he stood up from the chair. "It's okay neither am I, I always worry if I'm saying too much or saying the wrong thing." 

Knowing there was someone else on the team that was also awkward it was comforting. "Well since we'll be working together a lot how about when we finish this we go get a cup of coffee." 

His shoulders eased and his eyes lit up. "Yeah I'd like that." I can tell the corners of his mouth were turning up and his cheeks were slightly pink. 

Reid sat back down when I walked away he looked slightly disappointed but resumed reading. I was about to talk to Morgan but Kevin walked into the station. 

JJ walked up to him, "Kevin?" He nodded. "Follow me", JJ brought him to a back office and sat him down. "Before Julia left did she say anything to you."

Kevin started, "I might be her best friend but she didn't tell me much only that she'd been talking to him for a few months and that he wanted to meet up with her. She said his name was Danny. He went to another high school but she didn't say which one, he was 17, and lived near Middletown or New Castle; I don't remember which. If it were up to her she wouldn't have told me at all, I was bugging her about it and she finally let it out." 

Morgan called Garcia, "Hey baby girl, Do you think you can trace her phone?", then Garcia started talking "Honey if you don't think I can do that then your in for a surprise on what I can do." Morgan laughed. He's obviously the flirty one. 

"Her phone is off best I can do is get the last known location....and that is in...New Castle Glasgow Park, its roughly an hour and 30 away." "Alright thanks babygirl"

"I'll call you back if it goes online." She ended the phone call and told the team.

Reid looked at Hotch, Morgan and I. "Either that's where they took her or she really didn't wanna get caught", I stated. 

"Y/N and I will drive up there." Hotch glances at me and nodded his head towards the door. 

The drive with Hotch was nice. We talked and I learned he had a brother in New York that works as a chef. His dad was a lawyer and his mom was a nurse. He likes dogs, Bon Jovi, and the beatles. 

I told him more about my sister, how my mom was a Marine and my dad was a detective. I told him I liked the beatles, cold weather, and Elvis. 

When we got to the park we noticed there was no one there, it was silent and secluded. "Walk with me", I tugged his hand gesturing to follow me. "Were on a case", "I know were just looking around." 

His eyes looked down at my hand on his, I let go and my cheeks blushed, he took notice; the corners of his mouth turning upwards. There was no one else on the trail.

Trees surrounding the majority of the area. "What did you do.. ya know before this." As we were walking he averted his gaze from the ground to me. "Before the FBI?" I turned slightly. "Yeah", "I was a prosecutor." 

I slowed my steps, "Why'd you stop, you were still putting the criminals away. Why'd you lose interest." He smiled a bit when he looked to the side to see me already looking at him. 

"I don't know, I guess it was because I was tried of it. When those cases came to me they had already committed the crime. I guess I thought I wasn't doing enough. I wanted to get them before those cases reached my desk." 

We were approaching some of the wooded pathways that broke of in two directions.

That's when we stopped, I walked in front of him and kept my eyes of the ground before looking up. 

"Well sir congrats you were successful. I mean think of how many lives you've saved based on that one decision you made." His eyes softened and his face eased his shoulders dropped, he was relaxed. 

"What's that", he points to the ground in front of one of the gates by the woods. I bend down and grabbed it, "It's a phone. Still has power, no password." 

Hotch calls Garcia, "Hello sir what can I do you for." "Can you run a number for me...302-555-4276." After a few seconds and the sound of typing she speaks. 

"The number is registered to a.. Julia Martin. Sir, that's her phone" Hotch ends the call. 

"The phone was in front of the woods if you were taking someone to a public park to meet with them the woods would be an easy exit", He states. 

Hotch gestures me to continue walking into the woods I look at him then the woods. "No you're going first", I put my hands up and he stares down and chuckles. "You scared?", I shrug and grin, "Maybe."

"Think about it in the movies where do the people go missing" I pause before continuing, "the woods and I'm not gonna be one of those people." 

While he's stiffing a laugh I follow behind him. It's starting to get dark so we pick up the pace. We go on for 2 miles before I stop him, "Right there", I point to a broken house at a clearing.

I remove my gun, he takes the back while I stay in the front with my gun raised. 

I hear Hotchs footsteps through the house, I walk in the front door; seeing nothing but broken chairs, torn wallpaper, and rotting wood. He signals me to go upstairs. 

The floor creaking below me feeling like it's going to fall any second. I get to the top and check the rooms. There's a chair in the middle of the room, blood on the walls and clothes covering the floor but they are worn and discolored. They've been for awhile. 

As I go back downstairs I fall through into the basement, "Fuck!". "Y/N what happened, are you okay." "I'm fine", I say strained. I slammed my back on the concrete knocking the wind out of me. 

I hear something moving in the room with me. "Hotch there's something down here." I call out to him yelling in a whisper. 

[lost-in-the-80s]

Winter Memories pt. 2

Pairing: Axl Rose x reader

Words: 3,156k

Summary: The pressure of making a new album is finally hitting Axl. To get rid of some stress he decides to take a trip to Norway, however, he did not expect to meet a mysterious woman there.  (smut + fluff)

A/N: I am back with part two!! Let me know if you liked it! Sorry it took me so long! There will be some lines in norwegian again, the translations will be below in italics.

Warnings: Mature content, swearing and unprotected sex. (Use a condom, guys!) ​​

Tag list: @roger-taylors-car​​ @ladieswttda​ @teasid​ @metalheartofgold​ @slashscowboyboots​ @ginny-rose-sixx​  @rumoured-whispers​ @normatural​ add yourself to my tag list :)

Tagging who showed interest for a second part: @sugwinter​​ @vinylvintage​​ @fosterchild-3203​ @littlemisscare-all​​ @ultrabithc​

Part 1

A year passed after that weekend. December arrived and Y/N got ready to spend another weekend at Anna's cottage.

As she packed her bags, she couldn't stop thinking about Axl, the mysterious redhead she had met the year before. He never left her mind, not even for a day.

But finding him would be impossible, so she ignored her heart's pleas that begged her to go to the United States to look for him. Her best chance was to hope he was in the cottage.

During the flight to the mountains, anxiety washed over her body. It was the longest two hours of her life. Her stomach was full of butterflies, as the memories of that night filled her mind.

Taking a taxi she asked the driver three times to go faster, ignoring the fact that the track was slippery with snow.

As soon as she reached the cottage she strode toward the front door, hoping to see him already waiting for her. But he wasn’t there.

After asking Anna she was sure, he wouldn’t come. His name wasn’t on the schedule list, nor had been since that weekend in December.

Han må ha gått videre med livet sitt, og du fortsetter å tenke på ham. She thought to herself.

He must have gone on with his life and you silly keep thinking about him.

Y/N tried to stick to her routine schedule, but spending twenty minutes on a bus to go skiing seemed too tiring. So she spent the entire Friday in her room, reading and whining about her life.

The next morning she woke up late and walked slowly down the steps. She had decided to have breakfast and go back to the airport, catch a flight to Oslo and try to forget all of that. Staying at the cottage brought too many memories to her mind.

“God morgen, Anna” She said calmly.

"Good morning, Anna."

“God morgen Y/N" The lady replied smiling.

"Good morning, Y/N."

Looking at all the breakfast options, she just couldn't feel hungry, so she took a big mug of coffee and sat at a table, sighing when she realized she had sat at the same table he was at the previous year.

After a few minutes, Anna came over, pulling the chair across from her to sit down.

"Hva skjer, Y/N?" The lady asked, touching the younger woman’s hand on top of the table.

"What's going on Y/N?"

“Det er ingenting, Anna, du trenger ikke å bekymre deg.” She gave a weak smile.

"It's nothing, Anna, you don't have to worry."

"Det er ikke gutten?"

"It's that boy, isn't it?"

Y/N looked out the window, avoiding the lady's gaze.

"Han så veldig trist ut dagen han reiste."

"He looked really sad the day he left."

She looked at the lady, seeing compassion in her eyes.

“Ikke bekymre deg, Anna. Jeg klarer meg. ” She smiled, trying to look convincing.

"Don't worry, Anna, I'll be fine."

----

During the next two years, she improved. She focused on work and was able to be distracted from her own thoughts.

She had a few boyfriends during that time, but she couldn't help comparing them to the redhead, and given his color and brilliance, all the others became gray and opaque.

During the nights, his face appeared in her dreams, they were always together and happy and she hated waking up every day and knowing that it would never go beyond that, a dream.

Sometimes she could even go a week without thinking about him, but then something simple reminded her again. Like when she wore the sweater she was wearing that night.

She felt stupid, it was ridiculous to feel that way after so long, especially for someone she only met for a weekend. But every time a rock song played on the radio, she remembered him.

He had said he worked with rock and she always wondered what he meant by that. Was he a band manager? Or was he a member of one of the bands that had already crossed her ears? She would never know and maybe it was for the best.

"Y/N!"

The sound of her name made her look up from the papers she was signing.

It was Hanna. She had moved from the United States to Norway the previous year, working in the office's accounting. The two became close very fast and today they were best friends.

"Hanna..." She looked up smiling.

“Guns n Roses will be playing here in June!! I can't believe it, I thought I would never see them live again! ” She gave little leaps of joy.

"Hmm that’s great, I'm happy for you," Y/N said, smiling at the girl one more time before going back to work. She didn't listen to much music so going to concerts and festivals was not quite her style.

"Come with me?" She crouched down in front of the table.

"Oh I don't know, you know I don't like these crowded places."

"Please. I don't want to go alone. ” She made puppy eyes, staring at Y/N.

"Do not look at me like that!" She pointed her index finger, but Hanna was persistent. "Ah, fine, I'll go with you!" She gave in.

"Yess!!" Hanna celebrated as she stood up doing a victory dance.

Y/N started laughing, making the girl stop.

"What's it?"

She pointed with the pen. Looking back, Hanna saw her boss shaking his head as he looked in her direction.

"Shit!" She scratched the back of her neck, sitting on the chair in front of Y/N’s table. "Do you think he's going to fire me?"

"No ... but he'll think twice before inviting you to the Christmas party this year." She giggled a little.

"Thank God..." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"What day will the concert be?" Y/N asked, going back to signing papers.

“June 10th. I'm going to buy tickets today after work, I'll bring yours tomorrow.”

Hanna looked like a child when she was happy, which always relaxed Y/N's serious mood.

"All right." She prolonged the first word, writing the day on a post-it note.

---

June 10th arrived and Hanna made sure they arrived two hours ahead to get a spot close to the stage.

Wearing denim shorts and a black T-shirt, she accompanied Hanna across the field until she reached the edge of the stage. At least she would be able to see the show up close.

The hot afternoon sun went down and a cool breeze came with the night, but Y/N's irritation didn’t fade away. The band was almost an hour late for the concert and every few minutes someone was bumping into her, making her wish she had stayed at home.

The stage lights came on and a guy with black curly hair came on stage, playing a riff that sounded wonderful to her ears.

Kanskje jeg vil glede meg over denne konserten. She thought to herself

Maybe I’ll enjoy this concert.

Soon the rest of the band members appeared and she became convinced that it would be a good show. That's until the vocalist entered the stage.

He was wearing tight white shorts and a leather jacket, his hair in a red bandana and her heart missed a beat.

Her mouth was slightly open and she put her hand on her chest, to make sure her heart was still beating.

It was him. Axl. The guy from the cottage.

He funnily ran and danced around the stage and his voice sounded so different from what she remembered. But there was no doubt, it was him.

"What's it?" Hanna screamed near her ear when she saw that her friend was not moving.

"It's him!"

"Who?"

"The guy from the cottage!"

She had told Hanna about the event, although she had never mentioned his name.

"Axl Rose??" Hanna's eyes widened, looking from Y/N to Axl and to Y/N again. "Holy shit!"

For the rest of the concert, Y/N couldn't take her eyes off of him anymore. But he hadn't noticed her. They were on the side and he spent more time in the center.

But then the guitar solo started and the same guy from the beginning took over from Axl, who started to leave the stage.

He was smiling, laughing at something and then his eyes shifted to the right and he saw her. The smile disappeared completely from his face and stopped walking.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before he walked over to the edge, making the fans next to Y/N scream out of control.

"Good to see you." He smiled, lowering himself in front of her.

She nodded, smiling, not being able to form words.

Fans around her started trying to push her to get closer to him, the screams making it impossible for her to understand what he had said.

He could tell by her face that she didn't understand, pointing sideways with his thumb and making a sign with his fingers that meant later.

"Backstage later." He spoke again and she could read his lips, finally managing to assimilate the information.

She nodded quickly, giving him a thumbs up.

After the solo, the band played a few more songs before finishing. At every chance he got, Axl came over to her, singing while looking into her eyes, making a huge smile come over her lips.

When the show was over she pulled Hanna by the hand, heading backstage. Where a security guard at the entrance made her stop.

"Hi, I'm Y/N, Axl is waiting for me." She said with a small smile.

"Identification, please."

"She showed him the concert ticket."

"This is the common ticket, I’m sorry Y/N, but you can’t pass."

"Wait! Y/N? ” A man in a red button-down shirt appeared behind the security guard. "Are you Y/N?"

She nodded.

"Let her in, Axl wants to talk to her."

"What about this one?" He pointed to Hanna.

"She’s with me!" Y/N said, taking her friend's hand.

"Let her in too."

The security guard made room, letting the two pass.

"Come, this way." He started walking down several corridors. "I'm Doug Goldstein, by the way." He turned for half a second offering them a small smile.

"We're here," he said after almost a minute of walking.

Opening the door there was a spacious room with several couches, all the members of the band were there, except him. There were other women in the room, some on the lap of the band members.

"They are groupies." Hanna whispered in Y/N's ear.

"What is it?"

"They like rockstars, travel with bands and sleep with them."

Y/N nodded, understanding what she meant. "Lucky for them, they are very cute."

"Aren’t they?" She laughed softly.

"Hey, I saw you two at the gig!" A tall, blond guy said getting closer.

"Oh my God, Duff McKagan noticed me during the gig!" Hanna said, putting her hand on her forehead as if she was going to pass out.

Duff laughed.

"And you are?" He offered his hand for them to shake.

"My goodness!!" She gave a little squeak. "I'm Hanna and this is Y/N." She shook his hand. "I shook Duff McKagan's hand!!" She looked at Y/N. "Do you believe? Me?" Hanna pointed to herself.

Y/N and Duff laughed.

"Is she always that excited?" He asked as he shook Y/N's hand.

"She is a huge fan." She said laughing.

"I am! I am! I even have a T-shirt signed by Slash. I paid

200 bucks on it.” She said the last part with a little remorse for the money spent.

"We can get you another one, I can ask the guys to sign it for you." He smiled a little and Hanna smiled, nodding quickly.

“So you are the famous Y/N! Axl has talked about you for years! ”

Before she could answer she heard his voice saying her name.

Looking to the side, Axl was standing in the hall, wearing only his shorts while a towel was slung over his shoulder.

Det forblir varmt. She thought.

He’s still hot.

He nodded, indicating that she should follow him, so she did.

After a few steps, Axl stopped, opening a door that had his name written on it, and letting her in first. As soon as he closed the door, her lips were glued to his.

Their kiss was hot as summer rain and urgent as if they only had a few seconds to do it. Her hands touched his face, bringing him closer, while his hands infiltrated in her hair, gently pulling the strands at the top of her neck.

A small moan left her lips and he smiled during the kiss, pulling away just long enough to say, "God, how I missed that sound."

He moved his hands to her waist, starting to walk farther into the room, taking her with him.

"Axl." She sighed his name when their lips parted.

He moved away from her a few inches as he stroked her face with his right hand, the left one remaining on her waist, keeping her close.

"Fuck, you haven't changed a thing." He looked at every detail on her face, as if he wanted to memorize it.

"I missed you." She smiled, touching his face.

Axl closed his eyes, focusing on the feeling of her touch.

"I missed you so much, you have no idea." He opened his eyes, kissing her again.

The kiss grew hotter and when she realized Axl's hands were on the hem of her shirt. She lifted her arms, breaking and kissing and allowing him to remove the garment.

He let out a small growl in the kiss when she pulled his hair gently and he lowered his hands to her ass, squeezing her flesh before he propelled her upward.

Y/N intertwined her legs around Axl's waist and he started to move towards a sofa in the living room. He laid her down gently, removing his lips from hers just so that he could make a trail down her neck, slowly going into the valley between her breasts.

She moved her hands to her back, unclasping her bra and allowing Axl to enjoy her nipples. He took one of them to his mouth, sucking lightly by biting the skin while his fingers played with the other, causing a small moan to come out of her lips.

Y/N moved her hand towards Axl's shorts, feeling his already rigid erection over the fabric, making him moan and look her in the eyes. His gaze was filled with lust with a touch of malice, his pupils dilated.

Continuing his kisses to the south, Axl stopped at the waistband of her shorts, unbuttoning the garment and removing it from her body. His fingers caressed her core over her panties, making her gasp.

He slowly removed the last piece of clothing from her body, applying soft kisses to the extension of her leg, until the material was finally free and she was completely exposed to his gaze.

He stood up, removing his white shorts, tossing them on the floor before removing his sneakers in a hurry. He wore no underwear and the sight of his free and throbbing member made Y/N bite her lower lip while she sat down.

Axl climbed onto the couch, kissing her again. She moved her hands to his shoulders, pushing him to sit on the sofa, his back against the armrest when she climbed on his lap, making him smile mischievously.

Y/N touched his member, running its length a few times before collecting some of her juices with its tip and positioning it at her entrance.

Slowly she started to go down, keeping her gaze fixed on Axl's, she felt him fill her completely, letting a small moan leave her lips with the sensitivity.

She started with her movements, going up and down. Axl's hands found her hips, squeezing them firmly and guiding her movements until she reached a steady rhythm.

"Axl" She moaned his name, throwing her head back and allowing the sensation of pleasure to take over her mind.

"Fuck, you're so beautiful." He moved his lips to her now exposed neck, making her moan even more.

After a few minutes, Axl started to move his hips, meeting her movements, hitting her G-spot with strength and precision, making a loud moan leave her lips.

"Yes, moan for me, baby." He moved his thumb to her lips, allowing her to suck it, and he grunted at the sight.

"Axl ... I’m going to ..." Her breathing was rapid when she uttered the words between moans.

"I know baby. Cum to me. ” He said, moving his right hand to her clit, applying precise movements that made her moan even louder, if that was possible.

A cry with his name filled the room when she reached her peak, rolling her eyes and feeling her legs tremble with the wave of pleasure that spread through her body.

Axl's hands cupped her face, bringing her close to him as they continued to move. He enveloped her in a deep kiss and her hands tugged at his hair, knowing it was his weak spot.

"Oh, fuck." He groaned after a few minutes, parting their lips, but staying close enough that their noses would bump up every few seconds. "I love you." He said looking into her eyes, his thrusts becoming sloppier.

"I love you." She whimpered due to sensitivity, she could feel her walls tightening for another orgasm and she scraped his back with greed when a long moan left her lips and she closed her eyes.

“Fuck… Y/N.” It was all that Axl could say before they could both be hit by another orgasm, his jets filling her while her walls tightened his member, their juices mixing inside of her.

Sweaty and out of breath, all that could be heard in the room were their heavy breaths.

She leaned her forehead against his, holding his face with both hands as he hugged her.

"You don't know how much time I spent looking for you." He whispered.

She opened her eyes to meet his gaze.

"I hired a guy, but he never found you." 

She removed some locks of his hair away from his sweaty forehead. "I went back to the cottage the following year, but you weren't there."

"Shit, I was on tour." He giggled a little.

"When I was told we were going to play here, I couldn't help but hope that you would come."

"Well, I'm here now." She smiled sweetly, kissing his lips.

“Come to America with me? I don't want to be away from you anymore. ”

She stopped for a few seconds, thinking about his proposal.

"Please." He pleaded in a whisper.

Slowly she started to nod. “Yes, I will go with you! I don't want to be away from you anymore either. ”

The two smiled at each other before engaging in another passionate kiss, glad for finally being together again.

[dojae-huh]

I didn’t watch Castle 127 but from the clips I have seen, Jae seems so smiley and lovely which is so wonderful. I am glad he is happy and comfortable with whatever he is doing and the position he is at with his life, whether it is career or personal life. Onto my real question, do you think SM “exploits” the NCTU concept effectively, in that do you think they use it to the best extent, not exploiting as in anything corrupt but you mentioned that they are the strongest “unit”, with MAW and BOSS being some of the most well known songs, or do you think they are effective with how they use it? I personally think, just cos NCT U is my fav unit(haha cos it has all members), that they could use NCT U more effectively, not just one off OSTs like what they have been doing this year, but singles and whatnot, mini albums, make it like an actual unit rather than one who only has physical sales when they are all together. I know it would be a lot of work, but a lot of profit could be gained, fans are itching for new combos, and the album doesn’t even have to be physical all the time. Just releasing comebacks where they promote on music shows will increase fans, and also allow them to experiment with music more since each unit has a certain sound already, NCT U has no limit in what they can do. And also the boys who aren’t interested in activities such as acting or musicals or what not can do something in the year rather than a once in a year comeback because each separate unit takes time, the fans complain less about them being jobless (I don’t really agree, I feel like in general the boys are busy), but from what I have seen, many smaller groups do digital releases that do well and its less time consuming. I think by promoting U more often, it really encompasses the NCT brand as one that has unlimited members rather than one that has mini groups that sometimes collab.

I've been daily monitoring JaeDo for the past 3,5 years and it's the smiliest and content Jae and Do since the summer of 2018. The success of the group and of their own projects (the casting for the new series in Jae's case) really let them relax and be confident. The break was also benefitial in part. Jaehyun said after the cancellation of Dear M he thought a lot (and talked to his father, probably), it's evident he has a new approach to the interaction with fans as well, he is much more obliging and patient (cute dances during fancalls, more bubble and IG posts). Doyoung got an outlet for his desire to sing properly (the musical scene).

I don't think U is used to the fullest, but I also think SM is figuring it out. TaeTen released a Thai song and promoted with it a bit in Thailand. WayV got several units, and all performed on Korean Shows. Different NCT members feautured in EDM sonsg. Taeil even performed. NCT2020 with its inter-unit contents and a whole show was the first big-scale project, which faced a lot of opposition at first, but ended well.

The problem with digital releases is that they don't bring money. SM released Timeless, Yestoday and Coming home. All MVs have low views. Not all new fans even know about these songs.

Kun and Chenle had a song. Woo, Chenle, Renjun and Do had a song. Who noticed, who remembers? Yes, those were covers, but the views were still very low. And in k-pop covers is a usual thing. The whole solo album of Joy consists of covers. aespa did a cover as their second official song.

Music doesn't bring money, performances and brand deals do.

NCT2020 was a success because all members were in it, bars bought the albums to support their biases.

Look at the case with Baekhyun. His solo stuff sells in millions, his projects (duets, mini-units, Super M) don't. His fans don't want others to share his fame. They want only his name to be on top, so they put their money into solo projects.

The question is, can mini-units gather concert halls to bring in money?

In short. It wasn't the time for U when the main units were still making it. Sm gave it a try with smaller projects (Christmas songs, duets), but the responce from the fans was lukewarm to say the least. The time for U will come with enlistments.

[jimbotnik-fanboy-smh]

Hello there! Can I request a Male Reader x Robotnik where Robotnik wants to slow dance with their reader for the first time and eventually have the reader get their first kiss from Robotnik?

Of course!! This is!!! So cute!! :))!!Warnings: none. There are none. It’s all fluff. I guess there are a lot of repressed feelings and mabye some repressed homosexuality.Male!Reader!!

---[+]--- It had been a while since you’d been hired by one of the biggest, strangest tech lords in the ‘’fantastic’’ united states of the great America. Of course, this was.... Sarcasm. You didn’t really like it in the USA. But, it was whatever. The Doctor wouldn’t exactly let you leave. He made sure to have you by his side at all times. For some reason. He was always either stoeic, or absolutely unhinged. So you made sure to keep him calm. His actual name was Ivo, but he wouldn’t let you call him that. It was all Doctor and Sir and Dr. Robotnik. Weird names for a weird guy, you assumed.  But, of course, there was something that ruined this otherwise... Normal-ish assisstant job. You were sort of into The Doctor. Aka your boss. He was just... Your type. Tall, lanky, a bit nonsensical, dark eyes, a bit dark in general.... Kinda evil. It wasn’t your fault that every single movie villain was so goddamn sexy. You sighed, looking down at the tray you were holding. God, sometimes you felt like a butler. Honestly, you didn’t really mind, but... Whatever. You quickly knocked on the door, hearing a muttered ``come in....`` from the other side of the metal sliding door. It opened, and you walked in, giving the Doctor a quick smile. ``Your lunch, Sir. I got your red bull, that one chicken salad you requested last time, a ham and cheese sandwich and some painkillers.`` Your posture straightened up the second you walked into the room, and your voice became more clear and proffessional. You had learned from many run-ins with him that being meek wouldn’t make him happy. He’d just tell you to pin yourself against the wall and lecture you on the importance of standing up for yourself. Usually followed by a sort of sad look from him, and then being thrown out of his office. So yeah.... Best to stay proffessional.  ``Just leave it on the table, Agent.`` The Doctor replied, clearly busy with something. He waved a gloved hand toward a messy table, and you held back a sigh, seeing the mess of old plates, utensils and old cans of redbull. You moved it all out of the way as best as you could, placing the tray down. You could feel his eyes on you. Strange. Usually he’d be much too absorbed in his work... You looked back, seeing him fiddling with his hands, leaning on his workstation. ``What are you working on, Sir?`` You asked, seemingly snapping him out of his thoughts. He shook his head, turning back to his work, looking at it for a moment. You walked up behind him, looking at the work. It was messy. Just a clump of wires and a red eyeball looking thing. You shot a worried look over at him, and he seemed to flinch a bit, straightening up. ``It’s... Not important.`` He answered, waving the thoughts away with his hand, the leather squeaking slightly as he curled it into a half-hearted fist. You walked back to the table with the tray with a light smile, starting to pick up some plates and such, looking back at him. He was looking at you. His eyes were set... A bit lower than usual. You were probably just imagining things. This wasn’t about you anyways. He seemed.... Really out of it today. And not the normal sort of out of it that he could usually get into. He seemed... Nervous. ``Wait. Agent. Set the plates down. I have a request..`` You did as you were told, placing the plates down and folding your arms behind your back, calmly looking at him. ``I’m all ears, Sir. I’m here to help after all.`` You said, giving a light chuckle. For a second, in the bright glow of the floating screens, he looked almost... Embarrassed. Shy, even. God, you needed to stop imagining things. He was probably just going to ask for an extra sandwich or something. But why would he be so nervous about that? Something had to be going on. ``Well.... I was wondering if you.. Perhaps. Wanted to... Dance. With me.`` He said, grabbing a peice from the unfinished robot, fiddling with it. You didn’t even notice the suprise on your face before Ivo jolted a bit, tossing the peice. ``Augh- Forget it. Forget it. That was an idiotic question. You’re... free to go.`` He said, whirling back to his creation. You could tell he wasn’t actually working when his hands started moving. He was just tearing the thing apart. ``Sir I-`` You started, taking a deep breath. How could you possibly make this sound proffessional at all... ``I would love to have this dance with you.`` You slowly said, reaching out your hand as you moved a bit closer. Ivo turned slowly, looking down at your hand blinking. You gave a smile and a slow, encouraging nod. He took your hand. He actually took it. The leather of his gloves felt soft against your hand. It felt nice.. You pulled him in a bit closer, smiling up at him as you took the first step of a dance you learned long, long ago. Before any of this. He sheepishly followed along, learning the pattern of the dance just as quickly as you had hoped. You brought him in a bit closer, feeling how tense he was. His shoulders were pulled up so high, they damn near touched the top of his head. You brought up a gentle hand to his shoulder, and he seemed to flinch just a little before slowly lowering his shoulders. ``Relax, Doctor. You’re doing amazing.`` You muttered, smiling yet again, rubbing your thumb against his shoulder, drawing small circles with it. Slowly, you closed your eyes, starting to hum a gentle melody, syncing it up with the steps of the dance. This seemed to relax him a bit more, and somewhat helped his rythm. He really couldn’t focous when he wa nervous and you knew this. So it was your job to make sure he was relaxing. You figured you were doing a pretty good job. Plus, he didn’t need to know how much you were enjoying this. You leaned in, resting your head on his chest, feeling his hand shyly drift down to your waist. That made you shiver... He must’ve noticed. You could feel his heartbeat pick up ever so slightly. Different music started flowing through the lab. The same song you’d been humming, but it was the actual version, the one with instruments and shit. Not just you, humming aganst your Boss’ chest. You looked up, and Ivo was smiling. You smiled back, laughing lightly as you pickd up the pace, causing him to trip a little. A mischevious laugh escaped you, and he laughed aswell, pulling you in. ``Oh, you’re getting it now, Mister.`` He said, his voice teasing and filled with a mischeif that was highly unusual for him. Before you could reply, he was spinning you around, leading the dance. He was a really good dancer, and you knew, but you didn’t know he could dance like this. You barely even thought he liked other people, much less dancing with them. But here you were, laughing as Ivo spun you around, bringing you in before spinning you again, Sometimes the dance slowed down a bit, but there was always a sense of humour to it. Always a whirring sense of energy in the air. Up until the song ended. He spun you around, dipping you down as the last note hit. You gave a laugh, calming down a bit, slowling your breathing. It was quiet for a bit, nothing but the two of your catching your breaths. Then you looked up at him. At his face. At his eyes, hiding behind those dark, intimidating glasses. And you saw him. Fully saw him. Not as a two-sided coin of either manic energy or stoeic nature, but as the complex being he always had been. He looked so much.. Smaller now. Tired. Nervous. Just like you.  You slowly brought a hand up to his face, hesitantly removing his glasses. he let you. His eyes were greyish, a little darker than you would’ve thought. You met his eyes, and knew what was going to happen. You had both been waiting for it for so long.... He hesitantly moved in, and you closed the gap, feeling him melt as he brought you up to a standing position, pulling back a bit. ``I..... Thank you. For the dance.... And.... That. I’ve never.... Done that before. It was.. Enjoyable. You’re good at it.`` He said, awkwardly coughing as he turned to look at the screen, his face almost entirely flushed. You gave a light laugh, turning his face and gently pressing your lips against his. He melted yet again. What a big softie... ``You’re not bad yourself, Sir.`` He gave a chuckle, bringing you into a light hug. ``Please... Call me Ivo.`` ---[+]--- Wowa wowa!! Uhhhh Mad pogz, Ig??  Honestly, I just love writing soft Botnik, and this was perfect. Thank you so much for the request!! I hope this scratched your Jimbotnik Fluff itch!! #jimbotnik #dr robotnik #fluff #x reader #x Male!reader #dancing #slowdancing #fanfiction #sonicmovie #thesonicmovie #jimbotnik x reader #jimbotnik x Male!reader #dr robotnik x reader #dr robotnik x male!reader

[mayraki]

“You are my secret”

Emily Prentiss x reader

the lovely @itsarayofsunshine requested: i have to tell u you’re writing is so good! i have an interesting (at least i think it is) emily x reader request. since we know, emily’s character was supposed to be lesbian, i would love a fic where she has a secret gf, who is an agent, but like maybe she works in a different unit than them (?), but shes afraid to tell the team, bc she fears that they would judge her. but one day reid finds them making out in her office or something.

note: I hope you like it! ✨

“Why can’t I say that I’m in love? I wanna shout it from the rooftops.”

You opened your eyes when the alarm you had on your side table started to make that terrible noise you always hated. You turned it off and felt an arm wrapped around your waist. You gently turned your body to the other side and the beautiful face of your girlfriend Emily was in front of you.

“Good morning.” She said almost in a whisper.

“Good morning.” You got closer and kissed her forehead. “Do you want breakfast?”

“Mhm.” She said complaining “You know I don’t have time, I have to be there earlier.”

You sighed and nodded “Sorry, I forgot.” She smiled and gave you a little kiss before getting up. You watched her go to the bathroom of your room and gave her a wink before she closed the door.

You got up and grabbed the shirt that was on the floor next to your bed, and you smiled remembering the night before.

“C’mon, at least tell me you have time for a cup of coffee.” You said when you watched her get into the kitchen while you were making your breakfast.

She looked down to her watch on her wrist and slowly moved her head telling you ‘no’ almost in a whisper.

“Ok, I’ll see you in the office then.” She stopped and looked at you with a serious face. “Right, you don’t like it when I visit you. Noted. See you tonight.” You took a sip of your coffee and Emily noticed in your tone that you weren’t alright with the situation.

“Y/n...” she said but when she was about to get close to you, you stopped her.

“Don’t profile me, Em.” You gave her a little smile “It’s alright, I understand. Now go, you’re going to be late.” You took a sip of you coffee and turned on your computer to finish a report you had.

You heard the door closed and sighed. No, you weren’t alright. You wanted to be able to go and hug your girlfriend when you two were free, you wanted to wait for her when the shift was over and go to dinner together. You wanted to wait for her at the airport when she came back from doing a case. You didn’t want to hide it anymore.

You walked inside your office and the noise of phones ringing came into your ears.

“Hey, y/ln, I need the file of the last case. Can you go to the third floor and get it for me?” Your boss asked and you nodded.

You went to the lift and pressed the bottom of the third floor. As it started to move, the lift stopped immediately on the floor ‘2’. The doors opened and the face of your girlfriend and her coworker appeared in front of you.

You smiled at them and Spencer gave it back, but you noticed that Emily was a little bit tense. They entered the lift and they continued talking about a case they were working on.

The number ‘3’ appeared on the lift’s screen and as soon as the door opened you started walking towards the file room.

The memory of her telling you to stop visiting her at her office appeared on your mind. You felt kinda hurt, like she was embarrassed to be your girlfriend.

You opened the door and a million of boxes with files inside of them were in front of you. You sighed and prepared yourself for the long search.

Twenty minutes passed but it felt like hours. Looking for files were not your favourite thing about your job, and it wasn’t what you did, but the fact that your boss was lazy enough to not go and look for the thing he needed.

You heard the door open making you jump from the scare and dropped the file you had on your hand.

“Sorry!” Emily said and helped your pick up the thousands of papers now on the floor. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s ok, I was very focused on the file and didn’t expect it.” You said with a smile putting the file back into the box “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I wanted to see you.” She said getting closer to you and gently touching your arm but you moved it slowly away from her.

“I can’t do this.” You said.

“Do what?”

“This. Hide it. Hide the relationship. It doesn’t feel right. It makes me feel like you’re embarrassed of being with me.”

“What? No! I’m not embarrassed.”

“Then why do you wanna hide it?” You said and felt a little bit on anger inside of you.

“I don’t know.” She said trying to look for a answer.

“You do, Emily, you do. And unless you want to work it out I can’t...” you started to walk towards the door forgeting completely about the file you needed to find.

“Wait!” Emily stopped you by grabbing your arm gently and pulling you closer to her. “You’re right. I do know. I’m not as accepting as you are, this... is new for me. I’ve never been in a relationship so serious. And never with a woman. And... I don’t know, my family is not very ‘modern’ as you already noticed. And I’ve never talked about this with my coworkers.”

You sighed “I know. And I know how that feels, but if they can’t see that this makes you happy, they are not the right people to be around anymore.”

“I’m scared. I’m scared that they are going to judge me. They are like my family, what if they treat me differently?”

“C’mon, that’s not the Emily that I know, the one who doesn’t give a damn about what people think of her.” You said with a smile and she give you a little one.

“I’m sorry.”

“No... I’m sorry. I should be the one who understands you. I have to put my feelings aside and help you.”

“But you shouldn’t put your feelings aside, it’s not making you happy.”

“If I can spend the rest of my days with you, I’m happy.” She smiled and you gave her a hug. “You should say it when you’re ready.”

“I am” she said after a couple of seconds. “You’re right, what if they think is wrong? It doesn’t matter, I am in love. And I want to shout it.” You smiled at her words.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She got closer so your lips would meet and felt the desire you had of her since this morning, you wanted to be with her. You needed to. The rest didn’t matter.

She touched your waist and felt the kiss get more heated. Your tongue want to joined hers and you grabbed her cheek with your left hand.

“Sorry!” Emily’s coworker, Spencer, said quickly once he opened the door. You two separated like your life’s depended on it and heard the door close.

You stayed there in silent keeping you from going into laughter because you noticed that Emily was still shook about what just happened.

“I think the conversation about our relationship is going to be more soon that you thought.” You let out a little smile and she laughed.

“I think so.” She nodded going after Spencer.