#think I'm actually gonna finish tonight. I don't think I'll be able to sleep until I do anyway I'm too invested adjgksh

[byanyan]

struck by the sudden urge to make a stupid meme edit......... but i gotta finish my game first

[crowsongcaws]

(This inspired me to write from the moment I saw it back in May, but I only just finished writing this! Your art is amazing by the way, and hopefully this fic still makes sense even if it was patchily written across the span of two months!)

It was the day for Gem and the Scotts to make their first (actual, official) appearance when Scott's guitar amp broke.

He wasn't really living paycheck-to-paycheck, not with his full-time job at a gardening speciality store and his freelance web design work, but he wasn't exactly looking to drop a lot of money suddenly on an amp that he wouldn't know the quality of until the first gig later that night. So, much like when other things happened outside of his ability to fix them, he began to reach out to others.

"Sorry, Scott, me and Tango are out of town visiting his parents!" Jimmy said over the phone.

"Ah, my bad, I forgot about that," Scott sighed. "I've just got this gig tonight, and I've no clue what to do."

"Maybe you could ask Joel? He's been hanging out with that guy—you know, has the uh grey-ish hair, wears a face mask—"

"Etho," Scott reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah! Well Etho's good with that stuff. I don't think he'd mind!"

So Scott called Joel, who promptly said, "Nah, sorry, man. Eefo's been at some project all week and I just got him to go to bed. If I bring this up anywhere near him, he's going to run himself into the ground."

"Gods, I get that. I hope he's able to get some good sleep, but I really need this amp fixed. You wouldn't happen to have picked up any new skills recently, have you?"

"Even if I had, not gonna lie, I'm sticking around with Eefo to make sure he sleeps and eats better for at least today. Also, he sleeps so quietly."

Scott squinted at that and said, "He's at your house?"

"Why the fuck would he be at my house? I'm at his house. Lizzie's hanging out with her girlfriend, and I can't stand another night of her freight-train snoring."

Joel paused for half a second.

"Don't tell her I said that."

Scott snorted and rolled his eyes as if Joel could see it.

"Won't tell a soul," Scott dramatically replied. "Thanks for picking up, anyways."

"No problem. Bet you could try giving Grian a call, though. Not sure how much he knows about amps, but he does know a lot of people."

"Yeah, sounds about right for him. Thanks Joel, have fun with your date."

"Yeah, yeah, I know you must be jealous since it's just been you and righty—"

Scott hung up before he could get another word in, knowing that his one "innocent" jab at Joel would definitely have consequences later no matter how true the statement was.

He huffed at that, but the clock really was ticking, and he was beginning to actually get nervous. Without another thought, he phoned Grian, his heartbeat picking up every time the phone rang with no response. It wasn't until the last ring that Grian managed to pick up.

"Hey, Grian, do you know anyone who could help—" "Pearl has no idea what she's talking about, whatever she's told you is just not true—"

They both paused.

"What about Pearl—?" "You heard nothing."

Scott pursed his lips, and that itch to gossip grew, but at this point, he could feel the time ticking down.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Scott told him, "but whatever all of that is, it's not why I called. My first gig with my band is in a few hours, but the amp for my guitar broke. Do you know anyone who could fix it?"

Grian hummed (and, suspiciously, sounded very relieved. Scott would investigate it later) and said, "Guitar amp? Well I do happen to know someone who could help with that, and he owes me a favor. You're still in town, right?"

"Yeah, I am, I'll text you the address right now. I can't thank you enough, Grian, I was starting to get worried! You're the third person I've had to call."

"It's no problem! By the way, the person I'm sending to you is Mumbo, he's my flatmate. It shouldn't take too long for him to get to you, just add 10 extra minutes to whatever time you had in mind. He drives like the car will explode if he takes his hands off the steering wheel."

"As long as it doesn't take him hours to get here, I don't mind."

"It won't, it won't," Grian reassured him. "...Also... if Pearl happens to tell you anything—"

"—then I'll be sure to get some popcorn while she tells me everything, thanks for the heads-up! Bye!" And he hung up.

True to Grian's word, someone did eventually show up (15 minutes later than what he would've expected since the drive should've been 25 minutes long and not 40), and Scott vaguely recognized him. Grian's flatmate, yes, but also Grian's skittish partner in crime when he went trespassing, a friend of a friend that sometimes showed up to the field days that Grian liked to organize, and the person that had once knocked out the power for half the city (which, Scott figured, probably had something to do with Grian, too).

And he was devastatingly attractive.

"I am so sorry," Mumbo anxiously apologized. "I'm not familiar with the parking lot here, and I couldn't find a parking spot until just then!"

"Oh, it's not a problem, I'm glad you made it," Scott soothed, occasionally eyeing Mumbo up and down. He was really glad that Mumbo had made it.

Mumbo was wearing an oddly formal button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black vest, and matching slacks, but he also had heavy duty work boots and dark brown gloves that he clearly used for everything related to tinkering. Even if Scott only needed his guitar amp fixed, Mumbo had brought goggles, too, which sat on his slicked-back hair.

Scott blinked.

Mumbo wasn't nearly as far from his type as one would've guessed.

Lean with vaguely muscular arms, clearly knowledgeable, and Mumbo was taller than him. Not absurdly so, but enough that Scott had to tilt his head upwards to meet his eyes.

"I'm assuming this is your speaker...?" Mumbo eventually asked, and Scott realized he'd stared a few seconds too long.

"That's it, yes," Scott smoothly replied. "I hate to rush you, but my gig does start in three hours, so do you think you'll be able to fix it before then? If you aren't able to fix it, though, I get it. I appreciate the help anyways."

At that, Mumbo almost seemed mildly offended, and he said, "Well, I certainly haven't worked on something like this before, but it isn't that complicated. I'll have it done in an hour at most, so you'll have plenty of time to practice."

"You really are my knight in shining armor," Scott snickered.

Mumbo's face flushed red at that, and he poorly attempted to hide the fact by kneeling down to start working on the amp. Scott grinned. He didn't mind working to get the attention he wanted, but with easy reactions like that, it wouldn't be hard at all to get it.

As the first couple of minutes ticked by, Scott decided to settle on the ground with his legs crossed and text his bandmates. Gem and Impulse had decided to go out and buy glitter to make their usual band make-up really pop for their first show, but they were taking a while. As soon as he was done sending his check-in text, he glanced over to see the repair progress.

"So, are those goggles for style?" Scott asked.

Mumbo looked up in surprise that he'd even been addressed, and after a moment, he replied, "No, I was working on my own project at home, and it was a little more... risky. But I was in a rush to get here as quick as I could, so I didn't bother leaving them at home!"

"Do you do risky things a lot?" he teased.

"Yes, actually," Mumbo answered, horribly oblivious to Scott's intentions, "I can't put a number to the amount of times I've burnt myself or set something on fire!"

Scott let out a small, quiet sigh and began to watch Mumbo work. None of it made sense, but it made the time go by quicker.

Somewhere between 10-15 minutes later, he figured he might as well start applying the band make-up that he did have available to him. He leaned his phone against Impulse's drum set and opened the camera, then he started with the eyeliner. Next came the lightest amount of foundation and a small amount of dark eye shadow. With that done, he began tracing out a blue star on his cheek. His movements only slowed to a stop when he realized that just over his shoulder in the camera, he could see that Mumbo had stopped working.

"Did you need something, Mumbo?" Scott asked.

Mumbo opened his mouth to respond, then visibly paused for a too-long moment. He took in Scott's changed appearance, and judging by the sudden nervousness in his movements, Scott could only guess that he'd applied it just as intended.

"Yes, yes, I did... uh, I just wanted to know...? If you mind if I tamper with some other settings?" Mumbo stammered.

Scott grinned, all-too pleased with himself and replied, "You can tamper with whatever you like. Very polite of you to ask first."

"That's—that's what manners are for!" Mumbo weakly said, giving Scott an equally shaky grin before he went back to working. At least, he tried to. It took about a minute for him to reorient himself, much to Scott's delight.

Only when Mumbo regained his focus did Scott return to his own work. He finished one of the stars and spent a few extra minutes drawing the other star. He added a few small blue dots around the stars, almost like freckles, and then he patted them dry so the glitter would look smoother on it whenever Gem and Impulse returned.

Now it had been a little over 35 minutes, and Scott was thoroughly bored. He took to watching Mumbo again, alternating between watching the subtle flex of his arms and trying to make sense of whatever repairs or tampering was going on. Ultimately, he got bored of the mechanics and focused in on the mechanic.

"Grian told me that you owed him a favor. Care to share?" Scott idly asked.

Mumbo hummed, continuing to work, and then he answered, "Well, it's only one favor, but he uses it a lot. Not that I mind, I am very grateful, I just thought he'd use it for more pressing matters like... if he was in a life-or-death situation, or if he was being hunted down for an impossibly large debt!"

"You must really owe him, then."

"I definitely do," Mumbo agreed. "We've known each other since middle school, and we went to the very same high school and college. Thing is, that last year of college, I struggled with finding a secure place to live, and I was at risk of not being able to graduate after all. Well, he gave me a place to stay, and he did some of my easier assignments... for me."

Scott's eyebrows raised, but he didn't comment. He didn't think it was a big deal, but it wasn't something he'd expected from someone like Mumbo.

Instead of any criticism, he said, "Glad he did. What you're able to do is impressive. I just hope he's not taking advantage of that favor, or else I'll have to sic Impulse on him."

Mumbo huffed, easy-going and amused.

"He isn't, he isn't," Mumbo reassured him. "If I didn't want to, I wouldn't. Besides, this just means I can ask him for a favor in return, too. I'm already wondering what kind of redstone parts I can order with my newfound favor!"

"You really like redstone, huh?"

"Couldn't live without it!"

The conversation petered out as Mumbo focused in on a specific part, and then just a moment later, he seemed satisfied with what he'd done and put everything back together.

"Care to test it out?" Mumbo requested. "I was just curious how it'd sound if I made a few adjustments."

Scott nodded, stood up, and collected his guitar. He was all-too pleased when he saw the amp even show signs of working again, but then again, Mumbo had been too confident to ever doubt. Readjusting the settings, Scott got his guitar pick and strummed the strings a few times to test out the sound. Now, despite his experience playing the electric guitar, he usually needed to adjust his settings a few times to get the clean, tuned sound that he was looking for. However, somehow, Mumbo had improved the quality of it just by messing with it for a little over half an hour.

"Does that sound better?" Mumbo politely asked. "I'm afraid I'm not well-versed in this subject matter..."

"Yes, gods, this sounds great!" Scott excitedly said, testing out a few more notes. He'd readjust, anyways, and see if Gem and Impulse liked the sound of it, too, but this was far better than it'd been before.

"Glad to hear! Another job well done for me, then, and I suppose a new skill I may look into later on," Mumbo mused.

He began to get up, but Scott was still distracted. It wasn't until he'd allowed his mind to stop wandering on future performances that he realized Mumbo was heading to the exit. Quickly, he set his guitar down and grabbed some of his make-up, making a dash for the exit before Mumbo could get any further.

"Mumbo!" Scott called out, getting the other to stop just as he pushed the door open.

"Oh, yes? Did it break already?" Mumbo worriedly asked.

"No, no, you're fine, I was just wondering if I could repay you later on with dinner?" Scott asked.

Mumbo's worried expression melted away, and he said, "You don't have to do that, really, Grian will repay me just fine—"

"I don't have to, but I'd like to," Scott interrupted. "If you want to, that is. You just really caught my eye."

Mumbo's face flushed a lovely shade of pink, and quietly, he nodded. Scott grinned and held up a tube of lipstick he had. Before Mumbo could question it, Scott's gentle fingers, rough in some places from strumming guitar strings, took ahold of Mumbo's arm and turned it so the underside of it was exposed to his gaze. Then, glittery pink lipstick was gliding across his inner forearm, spelling out Scott's name and phone number in loopy symbols that ended off with a small heart.

"Text me if you're still up for that date," Scott said with a wink, and then he turned away, leaving Mumbo to dazedly stumble outside into the parking lot.

The sun was setting, warm sunshine dancing across his face and shimmering off of the pretty writing on his skin, and all he could think about was how Scott's careful touch had left goosebumps on his arms.

I guess I have a date.

Grian would never believe him.

Underrated duo (I'm delusional)

[yourmidnightlover]

never stop loving me

Summary - Spencer lashes out at y/n after being upset for a while, only to be far too harsh and push her away.

TW: mean spencer, swearing, bomb, injured reader, kissing

WC - 5,647

masterlist

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spencer had been acting weird lately.

and it wasn't his normal, quirky, adorable weird self. it was quiet. too quiet. he didn't ramble like he usually did when you brought anything up.

he was distant. he didn't sit beside you on the plane ride home, or hold your hand as you drove the both of you to your shared apartment.

you didn't want to push him to say anything he didn't want to, but you were getting worried. you rarely had to corner him into talking, but there was the occasional time where you knew he wouldn't get through whatever it was eating himself up until he spoke up and voiced the words in his mind.

so when you both entered the apartment, you hung your coat up on the hook and placed your bag beside the couch as you plopped down.

"spencer?" you asked quietly as he hung his coat up. he turned to face you as you began to pat the seat beside you, wanting him to sit down. he complied with a huff as you took note that he sat at nearly the other end of the couch.

"what?" he asked without looking at you, you could sense the attitude in his voice.

"i'm worried about you," you whispered. "can you open up? what's bothering you right now?" you moved closer to him and placed a hand on his lower thigh comfortingly.

"you're worried about me?" he spat out, looking at you incredulously. "i'm sure that's true," he scoffed sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he flicked your hand off his leg.

"spencer why would yo-" you started as you scooted closer to him on the couch.

"why would i what? why would i not believe you when you ask me that? you're a smart girl, y/n. figure it out," he nearly yelled at you as he began to get up from the couch. you grabbed his hand with both of yours, not wanting him to leave you like that.

"please, spence. i just need to kno-"

"you should be able to figure it out yourself!" he shouted. "and stop touching me! oh my god all you ever do is touch me! did you ever think that maybe something's wrong with you if you have to always be touching someone? god! just don't ever touch me! you're so annoying! what the hell is wrong with you?"

"i-i'm sorry. i didn't think it wa-" you started apologizing.

"exactly! you didn't think! you never think about anyone but yourself! you never stopped to think about how fucking uncomfortable you touching me is! i hate being near you. i can't do it," he started shaking his head as he ran his hands over his face.

"wh-what?" you asked as the teas you didn't know were gathering in your eyes began spilling down your cheeks.

"you heard me," he said as he started to turn around. "i'm just gonna sleep alone tonight," he started walking towards your bedroom.

"i'll sleep on the couch," you spoke up before he made it to the room, he stopped in his tracks. "your back's been hurting lately, and you're too tall to fit on the couch comfortably. i'll sleep on the couch," you whispered, partially afraid that he wouldn't be able to hear you, wiping at the tears.

"whatever," he said as he finished his journey into the bedroom, not bothering to look at you.

you wanted to wait until he was asleep to get any blankets or anything, so the only things going through your mind were his words to you.

what the hell is wrong with you?

i hate being near you...

just don't ever touch me!

you weren't sure what was bothering him this much, but if you knew anything about spencer it was that that man could hold a grudge.

when emily had 'come back from the dead' it was like it was a different kind of person. it wasn't the spencer you fell in love with and you knew it, but that doesn't excuse his words.

so, you did what anyone in your position would do. you gave him space. you dialed the number of a trusted friend and colleague, praying she would pick up.

"hello?" the groggy voice rang out from the phone speaker.

"hi," you meekly replied. "sorry, i know it's pretty late. i umm," you sniffled, "i just didn't know who else to call."

"what happened, y/n? are you hurt? is everything okay?" she asked worried.

"yea, yea. everything's okay," you sighed. "i think spencer might just need some space is all."

"ummm, okay. is there anything i can do?"

"actually, yea? i hate to ask you this or put you in a weird position, but i was wondering if i could stay with you for a while?" you rambled out.

"of course you can. do you even have to ask?" she replied quietly.

"oh my gosh, you're a lifesaver. i-it might not be for long, i'm not really sure," you began. "it might be until spencer is ready, o-or maybe until i umm," you sniffled again, "until i find my own place?"

"that's okay, honey. i promise," she answered sweetly.

"thank you so much. i owe you, em," you sighed as you wiped the tears from your cheeks.

"don't even worry about it, y/n. i'm glad you came to me. are you coming here tonight?"

"if you don't mind... i'm not sure if spencer would want to see me when he umm, when he wakes up," you nodded even though she couldn't see you.

"okay. i'll be waiting."

"alright. i'll probably leave in like half an hour. bye."

"bye," she replied before you hung up.

you snuck into your bedroom, and noticed how spencer was sleeping peacefully.

you had began as friends at the bureau. you didn't even think of him in a romantic way until he admitted his feelings after one drunk night out with the team. it was sweet, a bit sloppy, but sweet.

he kept rambling about how beautiful you were, and how good you smelt when you would lay your head on his shoulder to fall asleep or when you were cuddled up on your couch watching movies. he told you about how you made him feel like less of a weirdo when he would ramble about things he knew, just wanting to be liked by others.

he mentioned how he loved that he could come to you for anything at any time. he also told you about how he appreciated that when you met him, you didn't try to shake his hand. you knew how uncomfortable he was with touching a stranger and allowed him to make the first move. you let him be the one to cross the bridge that was physical touch because you were just that caring for others, and that's truly what he loved about you from the beginning.

then he said that he would never tell you how much he liked you because he never wanted those things to stop.

by that time, you had already driven him back to his place, and helped him into bed. he begged you to stay, so you obliged kindly and opted to take the couch. he told you to stay in the bed with him. he was the one to pull you closer onto his chest. he was the one to stroke you hair as you fell asleep to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

he didn't even remember that night. he woke up with you in his arms, content with the warmth you provided him. he loved the way you instinctively curled into his chest even more.

you never brought it up.

then you realized that you felt the same for him on one of the later cases. you wanted to hold him while he cried, and rejoice with him when he had his wins. you wanted to hear his stupid rants about something as miniscule as sprinkles on a birthday cake. you wanted that closeness he graced you with. you just wanted him.

and now, as you picked a few more pieces of clothes to pack, you heard rustling coming from the sheets. you turned to see spencer now sitting up in bed, looking at you.

"...hi," you whispered with tight lips.

"what're you doing?" he asked. you couldn't tell what he was thinking since it was still dark.

"i'm umm, i was gonna stay with emily for a while," you said as you wiped the tears from your cheeks for the thousandth time. "i um, didn't think you'd want me to be here when you woke up," you nodded as you folded the clothes in your hands. "i was going to leave in about 20 minutes, so i'll be out soon," you felt your lip quivering.

you didn't want to cry in front of him. maybe it was that you wanted to have a sense of dignity, but if it came down to it you would bet that you just didn't want him to feel bad. even after he basically said he hated you.

because that's who you were.

you were a touchy person. that's how you show love to others. that's how others know you care for them.

but now he said he hated that about you.

he hated the way you would gently graze his hand with yours when you could tell he was upset. he hated the way you ran your hand through his hair when he was stressed. he hated the way you placed your hand on his shoulders when he was sad or frustrated.

he hated you.

and he just looked at you standing there. he didn't say anything. he looked at you as tears welled in your eyes from his words.

the words that felt like a burning blade being dragged along your spine. the words that felt like bile rising from your stomach.

"i'll just go now," you said as you ran out of the room and into the living room, not noticing the way that spencer followed you.

"hey," spencer spoke up as you piled the clothes into your go bag that was still beside the couch.

"yea?" you sniffled, not bothering to look at him while pulling on the sweater that was keeping you warm.

when you finally turned to see him he was looking at you with a blank expression. he was looking at the sweater you were wearing. you looked down at it, not remembering it was one of his he had let you worn during the case in north dakota. it was the one you wore when you realized your feelings for him, almost a month after he admitted them for you.

the one you wore when you shared your first kiss in the snow.

"oh," you said as you felt the tears build up again. "you... want it back?" you asked as the tear fell down your face, leaving a burning sensation that felt far better than what you felt inside.

he didn't say anything. you couldn't even see him since the tears were blinding you. so, you slowly unbuttoned the sweater and folded it nicely as you handed it to him.

"i-i'm sorry," you sniffled. "i didn't um - i didn't want to make you un-uncomfortable," you said as you zipped the bag up and grabbed your keys, heading to the door. "just know that i um, i love you."

and you were gone. you rushed out of the door. you didn't want to wait to see if he would tell you he loved you back, scared that you'd be waiting for a lifetime. so you ran to your car and drove off to emily's place, leaving spencer standing in the living room, frozen from what just happened.

but you couldn't see his heart breaking in return. he pulled his sweater up to his face and recognized the sweet scent of you on it that made him break down.

when he noticed how cold you were from the snow from forgetting your jacket at the hotel, he automatically gave you his. he didn't even care how cold he would get - just that you'd be a bit more comfortable.

he draped the sweater over your shoulders to help you put it on, and rubbed your arms for more friction to get you more warm. then, when you turned to look him in the face, you leaned in slowly and grabbed his face.

"can-is this okay?" you asked kindly.

he didn't even respond. he just connected his lips with yours after giving you the brightest smile. he relished in the moment of feeling content, whole, peace. you.

and now you gave him back that very sweater.

in reality, he was looking at the sweater you were wearing as a sign of hope. he thought that maybe since you were still wearing it, he hadn't completely squandered his chance of forgiveness with you.

but you gave him his sweater back with tears in your eyes.

he made you cry.

he drove you away.

when emily answered the door, you broke down in her arms, which was quite the role-reversal.

you were always the one to comfort the other team members. you never really went to anyone for help, you never wanted to burden them with your problems when they all had lives. you just wanted to help them. that's just how selfless you were.

"i'm here, y/n," emily consoled you. "let it out, sweetie. that's it," she stroked you hair as she led the two of you to the couch so you could cry in her arms.

when you finally calmed down a little bit, you started apologizing.

"i'm so sorry. i know it's really late, i just didn't know who else to go to and i'm just so..." you sniffled.

"don't worry about it. i'm glad you came to me. now, care to tell me what happened?"

so you told her. everything.

okay, so you made him seem like less of a douche bag, but you told her. you just tried to explain to her his side of the story, trying to be more understanding.

"and you feel bad? you aren't mad at him?" she questioned in disbelief.

"yea, of course i feel bad. being myself has made him uncomfortable, em. how could i be mad at him when i'm so hopelessly in love with him?" you asked in question.

"oh, sweetheart," she said as she pulled you back into a hug.

she had a plan.

okay, it wasn't much of a plan.

it was more of just chewing him out.

but she knew that would work.

because she also knew how much he loved you. and she knew there had to be a reason he was treating you like that.

the next day you had gotten called in at 4 a. m. with a new case. you drove to the office with emily and walked in behind her. once you saw spencer sitting at the round table in his normal seat beside yours, you felt a kind of rage boil inside of you.

he was just sitting there with a gloom look on his face, not trying to apologize for what he had said to you or anything. you'd thought that maybe he'd even look at you by now but he hasn't even noticed your presence. nothing.

you huffed, walking over to sit in a chair you normally wouldn't be in. spencer finally turned to see it was you who sat down, so you looked him up and down before turning your eyes towards hotch who was giving you all the briefing.

there was a bomber in charleston, california. he would send bomb to local corporations that had a history of animal testing. He was essentially trying to rid the world of those who harm animals, which is quite ironic since that involved killing humans.

each of the buildings were two stories, yet the bomb didn't level it. that's how you knew the bomb was meant to send a message rather than kill more people.

so until his message was spread and out in the open for all people, he'd continue to kill people without hesitation. human life wasn't valuable to him, so it was your job to stop him.

once you had gotten to california, you had all been divided into teams. you went with morgan and spencer to the most recent bomb site to analyze anything they might've missed.

the entire scene smelled like burnt papers, no surprise there. aside from the fact that people had previously died where you were standing, the tension in the air was so thick it felt as though the smoke had remained from the explosion.

you had avoided spencer, tried to talk to him as little as possible when you had to. unless it was for the case, you didn't speak. until hotch decided to room the two of you together.

you had asked the girls if you could room with them, only for them to refuse and make you 'work things out with your beau.' so essentially, you were screwed.

you trudged into the room before spencer had made it, being sure to lock the door behind you just to annoy spencer. was it petty? sure. did he deserve it? yes. would you apologize? absolutely not.

once you turned around, you realized there was only one bed. of course hotch would do that. what a dick. you sighed before placing your things on the couch, deciding that spencer's back pain is completely different than being temporarily locked out of your room. you were truly doing it for yourself so you wouldn't have to hear him complain the next day about his back hurting.

after you had gotten out of the shower, your body in only a small towel, you heard the door knock. you knew it was spencer, his signature knock giving it away, and decided you could open it for him. when he realized you were practically naked and everyone had a view of you from the hallway, he quickly pushed you further inside along with himself and slammed the door shut.

"what the hell, y/n?" he whisper-yelled at you, gesturing to what you were wearing. "anybody could've seen you and you're practically naked!"

"and?" you crossed your arms over your chest. "i don't see why you should have any say so in what i'm wearing."

"you're wearing a towel," he stated as if you hadn't already known.

"and?" you shrugged. "is my body making you uncomfortable? is that why you don't want to touch me, spencer?" you rolled your eyes before turning to get your clothes from your suitcase.

you decided to just strip right in front of him, just to tease him a bit more. you slowly slid the towel down your body, your back still towards spencer as you shimmied into your shorts that barely covered anything. you turned around to get your shirt, revealing your bare chest to spencer who stood in awe of what was happening in front of him. you put your thin shirt on tantalizingly slow, aware that he could probably see your nipples through the fabric, but that was the entire point.

spencer walked over to you slowly, you smiled at him happily as he approached you. when he brought his hands up to cup your face gently, you swatted his hands away from you.

"ah-ahh," you shook your head no. "there's no touching allowed," you rolled your eyes one last time before getting comfortable on the couch, pulling the one extra blanket in the room over your body in an attempt to keep warm.

as the minutes turned into an hour, you felt yourself becoming more upset. his words, even if he didn't mean them, had an impact on you. he couldn't just unsay the words or take them back, that's not how it works. instead, he made you live with the thought and constant worry that you made him uncomfortable by touching him.

and that pained you. that pain turned into tears, which ensued sniffling because of your runny nose. and your tears and sniffles pained spencer even more. he listened in wait as you cried yourself to sleep once more, the sniffled slowing down which told him of your slumber.

when you woke up, you had realized you were awake before spencer. you quickly got ready and made your way downstairs to retrieve some mediocre coffee. deciding to not be a complete asshole, you got spencer his own cup as well just how he liked it and placed it on the bedside table for when he would wake up.

when he did wake up, it was to the smell of coffee beside him. he had obviously realized you had gotten it for him, he wasn't a complete idiot other than the fact that he had hurt you in the first place. when he took a sip of it, it was just as he liked it.

of course it was, he thought, it's you.

since there were so many animal activists that were recorded online, you couldn't really narrow down the suspect range. once you had all made it back to the precinct that morning, they had widdled down all the companies that have ever used testing on animals. there were four companies in total, so you would all split up and investigate each one.

you, of course, had been paired with spencer once again. it was obviously the rest of the team conspiring to get you two to make up, but he hadn't even apologized. and you refused to make the first move.

so as you drove to the company you had been assigned, there was yet again that irritable tension in the air that made it seem like someone could choke on it. you pulled into the parking lot and got out as quickly as you could.

making your way inside, you asked where the owner of the company was while flashing your badge, spencer making his way inside just in time to catch where you were going and follow.

"hi, ma'am," you introduced yourself, extending your hand for her to shake. "i'm here in regards for the-"

"recent bombings? yes, i figured you would be," barbara cooke sighed as she released your hand.

"yes, i'm agent y/n yl/n/ and this is dr. spencer reid," you motioned to him as he gave her an awkward wave. "we were wondering if you've received any recent threats concerning your history in-"

"animal testing? we get those all the time, agent... what was it again?" she asked disrespectfully.

"y/l/n," you informed her once again.

"right, well we get those too often for it to be significant. in fact, we get those almost weekly," she rolled her eyes before turning back to the computer on her desk.

"ma'am, if you wouldn't mind just trying to think of a threat that stuck out to you. one in particular that made it seem as though they might follow through?" spencer asked kindly.

"i actually do mind. i have a company to run and don't need to waste my time on something that won't ever affect me. so please, see yourselves out," she motioned to the door with a sigh.

you and spencer looked at each other before turning around and leaving her office. instead, you decided to ask the employees if they saw anyone that seemed as though they were landscaping the office.

"no, not really. i'm too busy trying to finish the work cooke gives me."

"i'm sorry, no. i try to just ind my own business around here."

"i'm sorry, there have been bombings?"

there wasn't much luck.

you were making your rounds right back to the front of the office, asking nearly everyone that you passed if they noticed anyone suspicious until you noticed a mailman near the front of the room.

he was dressed in an all-brown outfit, but with no logo of what company he worked for. not even a hat to display the name. all the companies that delivered had company logos displayed on the outfits, just to display for publicity.

when you looked around at who was near you, your eyes locked on spencer who was walking towards you, his head down. once you saw the mailman walk out of the office and saw the lady at the front desk begin to open the tape, you grabbed spencer by the arm.

it all happened so quickly.

you pushed spencer out of the door and locked it, blocking him from the blast that would surely ensue, and ran as quick as you could to drag the woman away from the box. you shielded her with your body, turning your back to where the bomb would go off to lessen the impact on her body. before you could even register what happened, you were pushed into the wall cati-corner the desk, knocking you unconscious.

-

spencer didn't know what was happening until he heard the bomb.

he assumed the blast wasn't as intense as it was previously by the fact that the second story was still standing. the blast from the other bombs at least made a bit of a dent in the second story.

in an instant, he realized that he might've lost you forever. the love of his life. gone.

and you were still mad at him. you hated him. you thought he hated you.

once he was able to form a coherent thought, he pulled his phone out and called 911, being sure to tell them there was a possible agent down in an explosion. once he hung up, he mustered up his inner derek morgan and kicked the doors in, it helped that they were already frail due to the explosion.

with the doors now open, smoke flowed out of the now open space, looking for an escape as spencer was looking for his love. all he could hear were coughs and whines of the employees around him. then he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked to see the face of the lady from the front desk.

"she-she saved me," the woman told spencer in reference to you. "she's over here," spencer helped her navigate himself to where your body lay limp on the ground, drywall covering your face and body.

"oh my god, y/n," he called as he moved the rubbish from your body before looking for a pulse.

he found himself whispering a series of pleas that you were okay, that he would find the pulse in your neck or wrist. that he would feel the warmth off your body against his, be able to touch your skin and have you grab his hand when you were nervous. he wanted you to never stop touching him.

because ever since you had joined the bureau, you had been a touchy person. you were the person people went to when they needed comfort because they wanted a hug. you were the person the team counted on when comforting the mothers or children because you had a comforting touch.

and he wanted that comfort. he needed that comfort right then. but the one person he needed the comfort from didn't think he wanted it from them. you didn't think he wanted you anymore.

so you had to be okay. because he couldn't imagine a world where you weren't his, which sounds so cliche but couldn't be any more true.

ever since you waltzed into his life, he could never remember what it was like without you. what it was like without your hand running through his soft hair. without your hand on his knee underneath the bau table during a meeting. without your face buried in his neck while you were cuddling at night. without your kiss...

without you.

he needed you.

and he found the small, faint, minuscule pulse that beat throughout your body. a gentle but safe way to know you were alive and still with him. maybe you'd still want to be with him.

when the ambulance arrived, he didn't hesitate to hop in the back of the van, opting to call the team to inform them of what happened.

they had put an oxygen mask on you to ensure your safety and had told him that you had a concussion from the blast. they would do further tests once they got to the hospital, which felt like it took forever, according to spencer.

once they had wheeled you away, spencer sat in wait once again. the team slowly trickled in, trying to comfort spencer but ultimately failing. when the doctor finally came in, spencer was the first to jump up and ask how you were.

"she'll make a full recovery, she's rather lucky," he nodded at spencer before checking his chart. "she has three bruised ribs and a minor concussion. she'll be able to fly in a couple of days, but will have to stay out of the field until her ribs are fully healed. she shouldn't be doing any strenuous activities until then as well," he informed the doctor. "other than that she's healthy as a horse."

"thank you. can i see her now?" spencer asked eagerly.

"yes, of course," he nodded before turning around. "right this way."

when spencer came into your room, your eyes were barely open. it looked like you were struggling to stay awake. your face and arms were littered with an occasional bruise, which he's sure were worse on your stomach and legs. your skin was a bit paler than usual, it didn't have that glow you normally had, that liveliness.

but you still looked like you. you still looked beautiful.

spencer took the seat beside your bed and moved it closer to you, taking your hand in his before you snatched it away, turning on your side to face the wall opposite of where spencer sat.

"y/n, please..." spencer pleaded, feeling his eyes well with tears. he thought you were just angry at him until he heard your soft sniffles. "darling, please look at me," he placed his hand on your shoulder, gently pulling you back to face him. you turned yourself back around to face him, eyes red and swollen as your lip was quivering.

"what?" you spat out, trying to maintain your own composure until you saw he was crying himself. you raised your brows in shock before asking him, "what's wrong?"

he laughed, "you're asking me what's wrong?" you nodded. "i'm just so, so sorry i'm sorry i said all those things about you. i'm sorry it took you almost dying for me to apologize. and i'm sorry for ever making you feel like i didn't love you, y/n. i love you so much. every part of you, your touch included. it's anything but annoying. it's comforting, and sweet, and calming, and does so much more to help me than it does hurt or annoy me," he took your hand in his once more, placing a kiss to your knuckles. "i love you so much and i'm so sorry."

"and i'm sorry i had to touch you to push you out of the way of an explosion," you rolled your eyes with a chuckle so he knew you were joking.

"thanks for that, by the way - saving me," he shrugged. "which brings me to my next point... do you know how reckless that was? how dangerous and stupid and how you could have died? because you could have died and if you died i don't know what i'd do with myself. especially knowing you were mad at me when you died," he held your hand to his chest so you could feel how his heart broke in those moments he didn't know if you were alive. the moments he thought he might've lost you forever.

"but i'm alive. i'm right here," you assured him, bringing his hand to your lips this time to press a kiss before holding the one with both of yours. "why'd you say those things anyway? why were you so upset?"

"well remember the officer that was on the case?" you nodded. "remember how he kept touching you?" you rolled your eyes with a nod.

"god, it was so annoying," you interjected.

"well it didn't seem like you thought it was annoying," he avoided eye contact with you, you pulled his arm to get his attention once again.

"are you saying you thought i wanted him to be so handsy?" you questioned, he nodded guiltily. "spencer, are you kidding?" you chuckled. "i had to do that because if he knew i hated him he wouldn't have been so cooperative. i promise, you are the only one for me. you're the only one i want to touch me like that. but that doesn't excuse you talking to me like that. you saying those things hurt me, a lot."

"i know, i know they did... and i plan on making it up to you. i will make it up to you, i swear," he nodded along eagerly.

"yea, you better dr. reid. i'm holding you to that," you huffed out a laugh, spencer following suit as he leaned forward to press a kiss to your forehead.

then to your nose. then right and left cheeks. then your lips. it wasn't a kiss that demanded anything. it wasn't hostile or passionate. it was content. it was a way of showing you love and saying that your love was enough. that you were enough.

"i love you, spencer," you whispered as he pressed his forehead against yours.

"and i love you, y/n," he whispered back. "please never stop loving me the way you do."

[anystalker707]

I Wanna Be Your Slave

Pairing: Frank x [amab] Reader Word count: ~ 2 400 Genre: Fluff / Smut Summary: (Y/n) f*cks Frank harsh as a kind of reward and punishment at the same time. Kind of content: Praising / Hair tugging / Handcuffs / Harsh / Temperature Play / Safe / Dirty talk / Edging / Fingering Requested on Wattpad Help with details by @frank-ieros-lip-ring

*not proofread this is the last part of a 3 parts story, afab reader smut coming soon

"You will never redeem yourself." I light a cigarette, bringing it to my lips. "Stop trying. Once your hands are dirty, the stain never comes off." A smile tugs on my lips, although completely humorless, as I take a drag of the cig, leaning back against the chair, watching the smoke go out through the window. "Not redeeming yourself doesn't mean you can't be a good person. It depends on how much you're up to changing or how well you are with yourself."

"And sleeping at night is just that easy?" Frank raises an eyebrow at me, shifting in his place on the armchair by the other side of the desk.

"If you bury it deep enough." I shrug. "It doesn't matter, honestly. You shouldn't overthink because that's exactly what will end up killing you. Or not. I don't know. I don't like to think about it."

"You're confusing." He twists his lips lightly.

"I guess. But I'm doing well. I'm alive, I'm here, I have you." I let my eyes fall to the papers again, signing my name over the line. "And that's what matters to me."

It's silent, dense. For the first time in a good while, I'm actually the one uncomfortable with the silence I've imposed after my last words and the room has never felt so small. Having feelings for someone like this feels almost wrong. I have a whole company, a whole family to run, but again, it doesn't mean I can't be happy or that I need to live exclusively for them – on the other hand, that'd mean someone else to threaten me with. Sometimes I want to leave Frank.

"I supposed I can live with that," Frank says quietly.

I never look up. A true smile forms itself on my face this time and I only hum in response as I brush the cig's ashes away from the paper.

It's already late at night when I'm heading back to my bedroom, halls dark and only the sound of low chatter filling the ambient. Frank is in the room when I walk in, sitting on the bed only in his underwear, reading a book.

"Who said you could crash here tonight?" I hum, shrugging off my blazer, kicking away my shoes.

"I don't need anyone telling me what I can do or not." He doesn't even look away from his book, turning the page. Not really his book since I can recognize it as one of the books I got in my office.

"True?" I get rid of the suspenders so I can remove my shirt, then do the same with my pants. "Didn't know you'd gotten such a moral around here, Mr. Iero."

"Oh, but I do, actually!" And the way Frank sounds so cynical is somehow so funny.

"Being a bad boy today?" I struggle to hold back a chuckle, suppressing it before I can face Frank. He's about to say something, but I'm taking the book away from his hands first. "Mary Shelley? I never thought you'd like her books. Nothing against, tho," I mutter, marking the page so I can put the book down. "It's a really good book."

"What are you doing?" He shifts on the bed, glaring at me. "I was reading that!"

"You'll have all the time to read, tomorrow." I glare back, but actually amused.

"But–"

"Why don't you stand up for me?" I make a come on motion, ignoring all the questioning looks shot at me.

Frank tenses up, but is eventually doing as told, eyes only meeting mine for a couple of seconds before they're falling to the ground. Not like I need him to look at me right now, after all. I cup his face and let my thumbs run across the soft skin – he leans into the touch, hands resting over my chest.

My lips meet Frank's in a soft kiss, one that's returned only after a few seconds, his lips slowly moving against mine until I set a pace, letting a hand fall to his hip to pull him closer then touch him through the thin underwear; his hands twitch on my chest, closing themselves around nothing.

"Safeword?" I whisper into Frank's ear, giving the side of his face a kiss.

"Redemption," Frank mutters back and I slowly nod.

"Good boy." I step back. "Now, undress and sit on the bed."

Frustration crosses Frank's eyes momentarily, but it doesn't stop him from doing as told, soon becoming unquiet because he's already half hard so, of course, I'm not going to rush things. One by one, the lube, handcuffs, candles and matches come off one of the bedside table's drawers, clearly intimidating Frank.

The candles go on the bedside table, over a couple of saucers whilst a third and a fourth candle are left aside along with the lube, the fire slowly burning and casting a warm light over Frank when I'm finally moving to give him some attention.

Creaking comes from the mattress with it sinking under my knees as I move towards Frank, my hand on his chest slowly pushing him down against the sheets; he chews down on his lip with me straddling his hips, but all I do it for is to use the handcuffs to lock each of his wrists to the bedposts despite his wide eyes watching me in silent complaints. A whine escapes Frank's throat with it, but I silence him with a peck, moving off of him.

"You're not to come until I tell you so, do you understand?" I grab the lube again, kneeling between his spread legs. "As you already know and have experience with, I'll stop at the same moment if you say the safe word. I thought that'd be great to remember."

Frank meekly nods in response, chest falling with an exhale.

The swallows around Frank's hips deform lightly as I sink my thumbs into the skin, rubbing circles into it, and watch him miserably push his hips up. "Please," he mumbles, but I barely give attention to him, starting to press kisses from his belly button down, mouthing around his crotch, seconds that probably feel like forever to him, but compensated with the pleasure once I take the tip of his cock in my mouth. A loud moan comes from him with it, squirming intensifying, in a way I can't help but to feel anxious to finally touch him properly.

I sigh softly, holding onto Frank's hips while taking him in completely, hearing the sound of the metal against clinking the bedposts under the cries coming from him.

"Tell me," I whisper once I pull away, letting my thumb sink into the inside of his thigh to rub circles into it – it's pathetic how he continues whimpering even with such a simple touch. "What are you, Frank?"

"Yours," he manages to say, voice tight.

Great. I fondle his balls lightly, watching his thighs quiver. "My what, hun?"

Frank gasps, a shaky moan escaping his lips. "Slave."

"Good boy." I press a kiss to his thigh and move away from him completely so I can reach for the lube, which makes Frank actually quiet instead of complaining about anything. "I'm gonna fuck you until I come," I tell him, covering my fingers with lube, "and if you come before I tell you to, you'll sort yourself out, okay?"

"No," Frank groans. "I–" He cuts himself off when my fingers start tracing his entrance, feeling it fluttering under my touch, before a finger finally sinks in, which snatches a sound of discomfort from him. "Please, just don't hold me back from cumming, I–" A moan.

"And what if you don't cum until I finish foreplay?" I can't help but to grin. "Then you can cum, but I won't stop until I've done it myself."

Frank mutters something under his breath, something I can't identify whether it's a complaint or a plea, however, he's frantically nodding. "Yes, master."

"Oh, fuck you," I mutter almost in the same moment, feeling my underwear grow way too tight.

With a second finger, Frank is being louder and almost pushing himself down against my hand when I brush against his prostate, not touching it as much as he'd like me to when scissoring and twisting my fingers around. The third finger makes him gasp, only moving more frantically. So hopeless.

"Fuck!" Frank throws his head back and arches his back when I'm pulling my hand away, eyes pressed shut tightly.

"You're doing really well, hun," I whisper, cleaning my hand away so I can reach for a candle.

"S-Sir," he swallows, breathing shakily.

I light the candle with one of the others and, opposite to them, this one burns easier, meaning the wax isn't harmful. Wax soon starts pooling in it and I tilt it to pour the warm liquid over Frank's torso – he lets out a gasp, a moan, as he uselessly tries to escape the inevitable touch of the wax.

"Fuck," he curses, melting down along with the wax.

"Tell me how it feels," I say softly, peeling away some of the dried wax while waiting for more to melt.

"I– It's good," he breathes. "Hurts in a good way." He hums, biting down on his lower lip when I pull onto a chunk of wax. "More, please."

And I do as said, carefully letting it fall over Frank's nipple and appreciating each little sound that escapes his lips – he arches his back like to meet the wax, humming as he moves his hips, pushing himself down and ending up finding a little of friction when his balls meet my leg for a second.

"Such a whore," I whisper, peeling the chunk of wax away from his nipple. "I had no idea you'd like something like this, look at how pathetic you are."

Whatever complaint Frank has is lost among moans once my hand is wrapped around his cock, working on it while I let more of the wax pour over his chest and without many pauses now, snatching a chain of gasps from him whilst he thrusts into my hand.

"S-Sir," he says breathlessly.

"I said not to cum during foreplay." I let go of Frank at the same moment, blowing the half burnt candle out before I can return it to its previous place.

"But master, sir," Frank says and these are honestly the only words I'm able to make out from all the babbling and cries coming from him.

"Shh, baby, it'll be just a moment." I stand up from the bed to get rid of the boxers and grab the lube again. Having my hand around my cock feels like such a relief; I almost immediately gasp, though trying to focus more on lubing myself up than jacking off. "Right," I mutter to myself, returning to kneel down between Frank's spread legs before I can adjust my position, bringing one of his legs up to make things easier. "My pretty boy, all mine," I say softly, "what'd it be of you if it wasn't me, hm?"

"Nothing, sir," he replies. Well, I wasn't waiting for that.

All I do is to flash Frank a smile in response then lean in for a kiss, a short and sweet one.

I use my free hand to guide myself in, not so slowly as Frank doesn't need it at all nor a slow pace at first – his body jerks with the heavy thrusts, instantly snatching high pitched sounds from him with every movement.

Frank is fucking tight, clenching around me each time I slam right back in, not bothering to miss his prostate this time. The pleasure is sent ringing up my spine instantly along with this immense relief, incessantly, and it's all about the small details. Clinking echoes through the bedroom along with the sound of the headboard hitting against the wall, but none of these are as loud as Frank.

"Please– Touch me, sir, touch me," he whines among all the gasps and moans.

"You can cum without it, baby boy," I reply softly, my fingers sinking into his thighs, holding both of them up so I can go in deeper and Frank's squirming shows how successful it is. He starts pleading again, but stops after a harsh slap is delivered to his thigh.

Frank fucking comes. Just now I become aware of his spluttered attempts of telling it to me, which I ignored due to being too focused on observing him and myself instead.

It'd be a lie to say it's like nothing; he immediately tightens around me and my hand shakes, sending some of the wax dripping down my fingers instead. "Fuck, fuck," I mutter, putting out the candle messily so I can set it aside and once again take a hold of Frank's thighs, fucking him through his release.

Frank is so messy, throwing his head back – I don't waste the opportunity, quickly attacking his exposed neck with my lips to leave behind marks among the few tattoos decorating the skin.

His skin is hot. Almost like mine, I imagine, burning, though certainly not as much as the muscles on the back of my thigh, which are already complaining by now with a sharp and annoying pain.

"A good boy, aren't you?" I breathe into his ear, not stopping to thrust in, feeling him pulsate, clench around me just so perfectly. "But also such a whore. Look at how you're letting me use you. Mine and only mine. Who's the only one who can touch you this way?"

"Y-You, sir," he stutters, thighs twitching under my touch already, but it doesn't take long for me to cum already, letting out a low moan escape my lips, mind momentarily going blank with the pleasure climbing up the back of my thighs and unraveling the knot in my lower stomach. My movements don't stop until I can feel the oversensitivity threatening to kick in.

"Hell," I breathe, slowly letting go of Frank. "Hell."

I rest my forehead against Frank's, both of us not sharing a word.

"You did so well, baby, so well," I whisper, moving to release him from the handcuffs and his arms just fall limp to the mattress. Fuck. So small and hopeless. "C'mere." I wrap my arms around him, pulling him close. "Relax for a bit so I can clean you up, hm?" I pull his sweaty strands back from his forehead and press a kiss to it. "I love you, hun."

"Love you, sir," he mumbles, eyes half lidded, though I'm sure he's barely conscious.

[strugglingyetvibing]

first export attempt done!

it looks pretty okay (especially considering we've crossed the 3am mark)!

there are some shots that i could lower the exposure on, and plenty will likely need image stabilization before presenting next week, but it doesn't look too bad overall! i found a cute little bossa nova track on a royalty free site that was 47 seconds long that i made it to.

ooh, y'know what i'm gonna do? i'm gonna write down the names of the source clips so I can show the difference in my color corrections and see what my mentor thinks i should do to improve it.

honestly, i'm gonna roll with my export and let my mentor tear me apart in our meeting (i'm absolutely joking, he's really awesome and even if it's terrible he wouldn't be anything but kind about it)

if he thinks it's solid enough (bar the things i mentioned above), then all i need to do is finish the powerpoint that's going to go with this, and then i'll be ready for the presentation!

after that, i just have to make the actual project (screaming crying throwing up)! what i was doing tonight was just a teaser snippet kind of thing, not the full project. but that's not due until april, and while that'll come quick, we have time to do non-3am work on that :)

definitely didn't eat dinner, but i don't think eating at 3am would make my stomach a happy camper. so! i'll set my alarm early enough to eat something and make sure i don't get funked up blood sugar, and i'll drink plenty of water in the meantime.

thank you for joining me on this (quasi) all-nighter! while i could stay up and make it a full all-nighter, i run on the principle that some sleep is always better than no sleep, and i want to be able to focus on my meeting tomorrow that i did all this for, haha.

goodnight! <3

alrighty, it's all-nighter time

essentially, my mentor wants an export of a project snippet i'm to present next week, and we meet tomorrow at 10am. i wasn't expecting him to want an export, i thought we would just go through my wip. i get why he wants an export, i'm working on a newer version of premiere than he is so his computer can't open my project, but it's no less stressful.

i have a start on the snippet - the idea is to show the prettiest images, not necessarily the meat of the project, in a 30-second to 1-minute edit - but it's not coherent enough to export. i was really just putting luts on clips to see if they would work for the cut. 30 seconds to a minute isn't that long, but i have (legitimately) about 4 terabytes of footage to sort through and cherry-pick the best clips. i also need to pick audio (music? if so, what do i pick? can i use a copyrighted song? who knows?), but depending on how long the visuals take (and how coherent i am by the time i'm ready for audio), i may just export a silent clip and ask my mentor for advice in the morning.

he confirmed our meeting at 10pm tonight, it's currently 12:17am, and we meet at 10am.

let's fuckin' go dude

[anonquack]

| 3am Calls |

Alex Quackity x Reader, Oneshot!

Word Count: 1700

Warnings: None! Just some fluff.

Summary: Unable to fall asleep, you reach out to a friend in order to help ease you into peaceful slumber.

The seconds are passing quickly, 1am turns to 2am, and it doesn't take long for 3am to hit. Stirring around in bed doesn't make the restlessness stop, the little sheeps jumping around your head fall and get back up, attempting once again to lure you to sleep, but it doesn't work. You find yourself staring up at your ceiling, hands resting on your stomach. There is a stinging in your eyes that lets you know you are indeed tired, yet when your eyes finally close, they can't seem to stay that way. These restless nights had been going on for a while, yet you didn't want to be a bother and reach out to any of your friends. Who knew if they were either sleeping or had better things to do. You wouldn't be finding out any time soon. But.. perhaps tonight it wouldn't hurt to reach out. You felt lonely just staring up at your ceiling, and your own thoughts were eating up at you, making the restlessness feel even worse.

You reach out for your phone, turning it on and immediately being blinded by the bright light. Once your eyes became accustomed to the light, you opened messages and took a glance at all the people you had sent some to. A certain someone definitely caught your eye, but you really weren't sure if he'd be up, considering some days he'd wake up super early. He was a busy man, and fitting into his schedule could be a bit difficult. After some thought and the skin of your bottom lip slowly being bitten off, there was a single message sent.

y/n

hi

It was too late to consider his possible sleeping state or the embarrassment that might overtake you in the morning when you get a text with something along the lines of "i was asleep. sorry". You run a hand down your face, deciding to accept your fate and that your luck ran out. Perhaps you'd go back to counting sheep.

alex ((:

hi

The notification casted a bright light on your face, but this time it was welcome. Your finger quickly clicked on it, taking you to the message app.

y/n

did i wake you up by any chance?

alex ((:

i was editing a video, dw

why are you up?

"i don't know." you said out loud as you read the message. "i really don't know.." a small frown appeared on your lips as you texted back:

y/n

can't sleep

alex ((: ahh, is that where i come in?

y/n perhaps.. if you don't mind ofc

alex ((: call me

The message caught you by surprise. Of course you had talked to him on the phone before, but never this late. Never without it being planned beforehand. Never this sudden. Not because you couldn't sleep. Millions of thoughts rushed through your head as you stared at the message. call me. How could one possibly say no to that?

You cleared your throat before pressing on his contact and clicking on the call button. Soon enough, the sound of ringing could be heard, and you held your breath. Of course, he would answer, but you couldn't help the nervous feeling of talking to him this late, and just.. randomly.

"hello?"

Your breath hitched slightly at the sudden halt of the ringing, and the smooth sound of his voice. It didn't sound like it usually did. His voice wasn't full of energy, like it is when he's screaming at his screen or joking around with friends. It was calm, and sounded like he was a bit tired. Who could blame him? He was up editing at 3 in the morning. And here you were, making him talk on the phone rather than encouraging he get some sleep.

"Hi.." you said as a small smile formed on your lips at the thought of how hardworking this man was. "How's the editing going?"

"Mm.. it's going pretty well. I'll probably upload it by tomorrow. I'm planning on just working on it for a bit more before heading to bed." He stated, to which you let out a small hum, "That's good. It's important that you get your rest."

Now it was his turn to let out a small hum of approval. "What's keeping you up?" He asked. You closed your eyes, letting his voice ring and echo inside your head, letting the calmness his voice carried take over you, making you feel calm as well. "To be honest, I don't know. Whenever I close my eyes I just can't seem to doze off."

"Well, do you wanna keep me company while I finish editing? We can talk about random stuff until I bore you enough for you to knock out."

His words made you let out a small chuckle, shaking your head before realizing he couldn't see you. "You could never bore me." You admitted, thinking about his previous words for a few seconds. "That sounds good, actually. If you don't mind.."

"I offered it, didn't I?"

You hum in response. "True.. its settled then."

He let out a small chuckle in response, and the sound alone made you smile. You took a moment to really think about what was happening. You'd keep each other company until either he finished or his soft voice lulled you to sleep, and you'd talk about random stuff. It was a sweet deal.

As you lay in bed, you could hear the clicking sounds his keyboard made when he typed or when he'd move his mouse around while editing the clips. During small moments of peaceful silence, you could hear his steady breathing or light humming.

You'd asked how his day was and listened as he talked about how busy he'd been lately, some of the stuff he had planned for the upcoming month, and how his hard work would let him relax for a few days.. soon. Just hearing how hard he was working and how genuinely excited he sounded about everything he talked about made a warm feeling appear on your chest.

You gave small comments here and there, asking if he could expand on certain projects that caught your attention, as well as asking how he was keeping up with school work. He gladly answered all your questions, but always made sure to ask, "What about you?"

You hadn't noticed that it was mostly him talking, besides your occasional comment. You were just happy to listen to him speak so passionately about everything he did, and to be completely honest, the calm tone in his voice was also making you feel sleepy.

But you'd never deny that it made you feel so.. included. Yes, this was a 1 on 1 call but he always managed to make you feel like your inputs mattered just as much as everyone else's. It was one of his qualities that you adored wholeheartedly.

It could be during a stream, a group call, or even group chat. He always made sure that everybody felt included. He was just that sweet.

So even if you were now half asleep, you always made sure to respond and also tell him how your day went and what you had been up to. It was nice just being able to talk about simple things like that with him so late.

"I think I'm gonna stop editing for tonight. Just have a few things left but fuck, my eyes are killing me." He finally stated after a questionable discussion.

"As you should. You work too hard.. give your eyes a well deserved rest." You said, slightly rubbing at your eyes. The faint sound of shuffling and a few clicks could be heard, presumably him turning off his PC and heading to his bed.

A few more shuffling sounds could be heard before he spoke again. "I know. Thank you, Y/N. You always remind me how important it is that I take care of myself." The smile was evident in his voice, and he sounded way closer than before.

"Of course.. that's what I'm here for."

"I'll remind you too. Don't worry."

"Thank you, Alex." Small pause. "Are you gonna head to bed now?" You looked at how long the call had been going for and realized it had been well over an hour, making your eyes widen slightly.

"I could. Orrrr I could keep talking to you."

"You could.. but you should also head to bed and-"

"I'm already in bed. Got my blankets covering me and everything. Tucked in."

"Did you tuck yourself in? I should do it for you next time." You joked, before realizing you might have overstepped some boundaries. You froze as the call remained silent for a bit.

"Maybe you should– But you're not really down."

Your body relaxed as you realized his response had the same joking tone as yours did, and that it was okay to joke around about this stuff. You let out a small scoff.

"I'm not down? I will gladly go tuck you in. Just send your location and I'll be there in 5 minutes."

His voice had gotten raspy, quieter, and even more soothing if even possible. Each of his responses seemed to calm you more and more with each passing second.

"Well I'm already tucked in so you missed out on that opportunity." He boldly stated.

"We could tuck each other in next time." You said with a smile on your lips, and that earned a small chuckle from him. "Maybe." He hummed in response.

You felt so elated at that moment. You'd had a wonderful conversation with Alex, and he'd managed to make you feel more relaxed. At that moment, you found your eyelids fluttering shut, and at last they didn't force themselves open again.

Alex had been trying to get comfy himself while you were falling asleep. When he realized the silence had gone on for too long, he listened closely for any sound coming from you, and was only met with steady breaths.

"Y/N..?" He asked, quietly this time. Nothing. He let out a small hum, a small smile on his lips at the realization that you had fallen asleep. "Goodnight, Y/N."

[silky-stories]

Just a Bad Day (Corpse and Friends/Reader)

Genre: Light angst, Fluff, sort of Platonic but you could take it otherwise

Words: 1628

Related Songs: PETIT BISCUIT - Sunset Lover https://youtu.be/wuCK-oiE3rM ZYAN, Sia - Dusk till Dawn | slowed https://youtu.be/7LLKAL6ERDA

Summary: (Y/n) has a bad day and her friends are suspicious

Disclaimer/s: Depressive episode, slight anxiety, big sad :(

Notes: I left out what it was that made the Reader upset so you can let it be whatever you want :)

———————————————————————

"(Y/n) you're fine, you don't even have your webcam on today, you'll be okay." Rae teased you softly, getting a couple chuckles from the few people that had joined the Among Us lobby a bit early.

She had overheard your quiet mentions of being nervous and having your webcam off, both due to the fact that you had a bit of a hectic day and didn't have time to make yourself presentable. It didn't bug you that she responded with a joking tone, she wasn't aware of the tear streaks that framed your cheeks and red, puffy eyes you just couldn't hide with the high quality camera you have. She didn't know, no one knew, how were you supposed to be mad about that?

"Ha ha, yeah... guess you're right." You plastered the most fake smile you've ever made to your face to at least make it sound like you were happy. Thankfully, it seemed to work as the conversation moved on without you.

Less fortunately, your fans were a little more perceptive, although you should have expected that considering that some of them watched you on a daily basis. Your chat was filled with near exclusively kind remarks, from a modest 'Are you alright?' to full on paragraphs that passed by a bit too fast for you to get through more than the first few words. You muted yourself in the discord chat so only your audience could hear you, reassuring them that you were fine, no matter how much your broken tone betrayed you. It didn't work as well as you wanted, but that wasn't their fault.

Soon enough the whole gang was together and ready for the game to start, they sounded excited. It was nice to hear that your bad mood hadn't leeched onto your friends, that was the last thing you needed right now.

A deep sigh came from your mouth as you saw the red lettering fade in and off of your screen, "Dammit..." You weren't ready for an imposter game, you were sort of hoping that you could go a whole stream without one actually. Even worse, Corpse was your partner, which meant you'd end up dragging him down with you.

The game began, the layout of the Skeld loading in and the colourful avatars of your friends scattering to do their assigned tasks. You did yourself a favour and didn't move right away, giving yourself a second to take a deep breath and at least attempt to put some effort into doing a good stream. Your fans deserved it, they were all so nice and had been so supportive, they didn't need to be worried about you.

Unfortunately, when you did move, your partner had unknowingly sabotaged the reactor the second before you did anything, making it look a lot like you sabotaged it yourself. It wouldn't have been a problem if Toast hadn't been passing by the second you did. You went to kill him, but since you were both right next to the emergency button, there wasn't anything you could do in time.

The pit of anxiety in your stomach only grew as the animation flashed across your screen, you didn't even know how you were going to defend yourself. As the voting screen came up you only felt worse, no one had even died yet, so you were going to be the first one out on the first game. Great.

"So (Y/n), did you just sabotage reactor?" Toast piped up the second he had the chance.

You were silent as everyone did their played up reactions for the camera, trying to use that time to think of something. It didn't work to say the least.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Your words didn't sound even slightly convincing, not to mention the tired tone of voice you couldn't seem to get rid of that did nothing for you.

Before Toast could get too far into his rebuttal, which didn't really matter after your lame defence, your partner piped up.

"Hey Toast, was anyone else near you guys?" His low tone said nothing of his intentions, you were jealous.

"No, it was just the two of us in cafeteria." He responded, not sure where Corpse was going with this.

"So, technically speaking, it could have been you and nobody would have seen it except for (Y/n)?"

The gasps that followed in response to the new idea were small, but promising nonetheless, even if they were more as a joke than an actual response. It was because of that fact that you were so surprised when the vote ended up being skipped, only two people actually voting for you, one of them being Toast.

You felt a twinge of relief, maybe you could still win this, maybe you could actually have a good night to make up for the terrible day you had.

...

It hadn't even been a minute when you accidentally killed Toast in front of Poki and Jack.

As the meeting started, you tried to say something but you just couldn't seem to get any words in by the time everyone had voted except for you.

"So (Y/n) first and then Corpse?"

You didn't even know what to say.

"C'mon (Y/n), just vote, it'll all be over soon."

What was there to say?

"(Y/n)?"

Why were you taking this so hard?

You quietly clicked on the checkmark to vote for yourself as fresh tears began to spill over your cheeks. You hadn't said anything during the meeting and, seeing as your avatar was now floating through space, you wouldn't be able to say anything now. Useless...

Your chat was going crazy now, flooded with concerns and kind affirmations directed towards you. Your gaze drifted over them mindlessly, not taking anything in, it just looked like a big white blur.

By the time you shook yourself from your dazed state, Corpse's avatar was just finishing it's trip across the screen, floating hopelessly through space as yours had mere minutes ago.

The defeat screen only hammered in how stupid your mistake was as it came and went, just as everything else had without any input from you.  The conversation picked back up quickly, jokes and teases were exchanged, you couldn't even make out what they were saying until the attention was put on you.

"You okay (Y/n)? Not feeling too into it today?" Toast's remark was clearly a joke, just a little jab to get a chuckle like usual.

Unfortunately, you weren't feeling like usual tonight.

"No..."

It was almost pitiful how broken and sad that one word came out. Your voice had even cracked as you spoke, you figured you must have been just depressing to listen to. If you weren't downright embarrassing you probably seemed like a child for not keeping it together like the others did when they were upset.

Surprisingly enough though, that's not what happened.

"Wait really? Crap I'm sorry."

"Oh no, are you okay?"

"Do you wanna stop playing?"

It was stupid, but for the first time that day you felt okay crying. So you did.

"I'm sorry... thank you..." you mumbled, using your sleeves to wipe your tears, "I just had a really bad day, but I... I still wanna play with you guys I just..."

Damn it, what did you do to deserve friends that cared so much about you?

"I know what to do." Rae spoke up, her grin shining through in her tone, "Group hug!"

Her avatar ran over to yours, nestling herself beside you in a sort of makeshift hug. Everyone else followed suit shortly after, and soon enough you were in the middle of a little circle, fitting perfectly in the middle.

A small sob-like laugh broke free from your lips, "Damnit, you guys are the worst." You joked with a smile, chuckling at the childish but heartfelt display.

The night only got better from there, and even though you weren't at your best, everyone was even nicer than usual and it helped to turn that bad day into a pretty enjoyable night.

After about an hour you decided to stop your stream, deciding to cut it short for the sake of your mental health.

"Yeah I think I'm gonna get going too." Your farewells seemed to spark a response from someone else.

"You too Corpse?" Jack piped up, somewhat confused as he hadn't mentioned anything earlier about doing a shorter stream.

"Yeah, I got some stuff to do, don't worry I'll still be playing with you guys on Friday."

"Alright, well see ya both later!"

"G'night!"

"Have a good sleep!"

"Feel better soon (Y/n)!"

You sighed gently as you disconnected from the discord call and the Among Us server, leaving your audience with the usual 'Stream Starting Soon' screen that you didn't feel like changing.

"Well, that's about it for tonight." You spoke, taking a minute to read the chat silently before continuing, "Thank you guys for all the support, I know I didn't say much tonight but I read a lot of what you were saying, it's really appreciated."

A buzz came from your phone, you picked it up and smiled at what you saw.

Corpse

[ hey, wanna talk? ]

You said your goodbyes to your chat and shut off the stream, grabbing your phone and heading straight to your room. You hadn't even made it to your door by the time you were dialling your friend's number. Flopping down onto your bed, you put your phone on speakerphone and felt a warmth fill your body as a familiar voice filled your room.

"Hey."

"Hey." You responded, turning to your phone even though neither of you could see each other.

You supposed today wasn't so bad after all.

[nothingbutfangirlsmut]

The Maze Trials: A Gally Fanfiction

Pairing: Gally x Emi(OC)

Background: Emi, first girl the Glade has seen. Tougher than she looks and more than ready to prove it. Since day one her and Gally have been at each other's throats. Fighting constantly and not just with their words.

(Gally fanfiction which will include smut. It also has an actual story line. Think of it as an AU to the original Maze Runner. It'll mostly follow the main story line with some changes. Mostly focusing on Emi and Gally and their relationship.)

Chapter Five

I was sitting in a circle on the floor with a few other kids. We were chatting and laughing like old friends.

"She couldn't even make it a quarter of the way!" The boy next to me laughed then patted my knee.

"I could too!" I shot back at him.

"Oh really? Every time I've seen you run you can't make it but a few feet before you start panting." He laughed sticking his tongue out at me.

Instead of answering I lunged toward him knocking him back on the floor. We rolled around playfully fighting each other.

"Gally! Emi! That is enough!" A woman's voice shouted from somewhere in the room.

We jumped away from each other knowing the woman meant business when she sounded like that. We quickly went back to our seats in the circle. Once I was seated an arm draped over my shoulder then pulled me to the side. It was the boy on the other side of me.

"Minho stop it" Gally said then swatted at the boy's arm around me.

"Alright kids let's go!" A man's voice shouted making all of us jump up and run towards him.

___

I shot up into a sitting position.

"Bloody hell" the thick accent shouted.

What the hell was that? I thought to myself as I stared at the wall in front of me. Then I had another thought. Gally? Minho? Emi? We were kids. Just little kids. What kind of dream was that?

"Emi" I said aloud.

"What?" Newt asked.

I snapped out of my little trance and jumped out of bed. He took a startled step backwards. I grabbed his shirt pulling him against me.

"My name is Emi." I said with a grin.

Newt started laughing. He grabbed my hands releasing himself from my hold.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Emi." He smiled at me.

Once we got outside to where everyone was eating Newt walked to one of the tables then climbed on top of it.

"Can I get everyone's attention!" He shouted.

Everyone stopped and turned to look at him.

"Our greenie has remembered her name. Everyone, this is Emi." He smiled gesturing down to me.

All the boys shouted "Emi" at the same time then cheered. As Newt climbed down from the table everyone went back to what they were doing. Just like yesterday I sat between Newt and Minho with Clint and Jeff across from us.

"Emi, I like that." Minho said more to himself.

I started eating ignoring the chatter around us. It wasn't until I was almost done with my food that Newt nudged me.

"Today you're with Fry in the kitchen." He said matter of factly.

I nodded glancing over to the boy in the shack. That shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully I'll be busy most of the day.

"Before I go to work would I be able to have a quick chat with Alby?" I asked Newt.

"Yea, he's in his office. Everything alright?" He asked raising a brow at me.

"Yea everything's fine" I smiled then turned back to my food.

After I finished eating I made a quick beeline for Alby's office. He was sitting there head down looking at something.

"Hey Alby" I said quietly in the doorway.

"Greenie, how are you?" He asked with a smile.

"Well first, I remember my name. It's Emi. Second, I wanted to see if I could talk to you about a dream I had last night." I said stepping into the room.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Emi and yes of course you can have a seat." He gestured to a lone chair.

I sat down then thought about what to say for a moment.

"I'm not sure if this means anything but it felt more like a memory than a dream. We were little kids maybe 7 or 8 years old. When I say we I mean myself and some of the boys from here in the Glade. We were sitting in a circle just chatting and joking like kids do. The boys were making fun of me for something to do with running. I ended up fighting with a young Gally. At least that's the name the woman yelling at us used. Then Minho was there too sitting next to me. I have no idea what any of that was but it felt weird." I explained the best I could.

Alby sat there for a moment like he was thinking up an answer to my dream. He shook his head lips drawn tight as he thought.

"I'm not sure what to say. It's very intriguing. Will you let me know if you have anymore dreams like that?" He asked.

"Of course" I nodded with a small smile.

"If I think of anything I'll let you know until then go ahead and get to work. Thank you for sharing that with me."

I waved at him as I left the room then went straight to the shack with Frypan in it.

"Sorry I'm late I had to talk to Alby." I stated as I walked inside.

"It's all good Newt told me. So let's get straight to it. After breakfast I work on cleaning up everything. Which is what we are gonna work on now but after everything is clean we will start preparing for lunch."

I nodded then followed Fry's lead. He showed me what to clean and how to clean it. With both of us working on it we had it all finished it pretty good time. After that we immediately got started on cooking lunch. This is where things got a little rough for me. I felt like a bumbling fool. Fry was explaining everything to me and I was trying to remember it but there was so much to remember. How in the world did he do all of this by himself?

"This is stressful" I said as I went back and forth between a large pot and a skillet full of meat.

Fry chuckled then grabbed the meat out of my way.

"It can be if you're not use to it." He smiled at me.

I somehow made it threw the cooking process. It was rough and I felt like I'd never worked harder. We only had a few short minutes to rest before the lunch bell tolled and here came all the hungry boys running towards the shack. Fry and I both served making the line go faster. Newt made a joke about how cute I looked. I thought about throwing my large spoon at him but decided not to. Gally came threw to get his food. He didn't comment but he did smirk and look me up and down.

When all the boy's had their food Fry and I made ourselves plates then went out to the tables. Fry went to sit with Gally while I joined Newt, Alby, Clint, and Jeff.

"Hows the kitchen?" Newt asked.

"Awful" I said quietly.

The four boys chuckled knowing exactly what I meant.

"Fry can be tough to deal with when it comes to his food." Clint said matter of factly.

"Not really it's just really stressful. I don't know how he does that by himself but I know I'm not gonna be much help to him." I said shaking my head.

Lunch was over all too soon meaning I had to go back to the kitchen. Fry and I chatted a bit as we cleaned up from lunch. Then just like we did earlier we jumped straight into prepping food for dinner.

"How'd you learn how to do this?" I asked him as he showed me how to cook tonight's meal.

He shrugged.

"I have no idea just came naturally I guess." He smiled at me.

This meal wasn't too bad to cook but I still felt a lot more stressed out than I should have. Fry had a good time laughing at me for it.

"I can tell cooking isn't your thing." He chuckled as we finished up.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked laughing.

He nodded as he prepared to start serving in a few short minutes.

As the end of work and dinner bell tolled I watched the boys once again run towards the shack. No one made comments to me this time which I was thankful for. I might have actually thrown my spoon this time. I joined the others at my usual table.

Minho and Newt left me very little space to squeeze in between them but I managed. Newt chuckled and scooted over once I was seated. Minho on the other hand stayed right next to me.

The normal chatter about the day went on around me. I just ate my food silently. I was more than ready for bed. After I finished I went to get up but Minho threw his arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer to him.

"Wanna take a walk?" He asked in a whisper.

"Sure, why not?" I questioned chuckling.

The two of us got up and put our trays back on the counter of the shack then I followed him towards the forest. Even though I was ready for bed I figured I could do something other than work and sleep. Once we were past the tree line Minho put his arm around me again.

"How are you liking the Glade so far?" He asked as we walked.

"It's not too bad." I smiled watching my feet.

"I figured you hadn't seen this part of the Glade yet. Thought I could be the one to show you." He smiled at me.

"That's very nice of you Minho." I chuckled.

We were far enough in the trees now that I couldn't see the Glade behind us anymore. Minho stopped walking and looked around. Then he did something I wasn't exactly expecting. He grabbed my waist and pulled me against him. He wrapped his arms completely around me holding me tightly.

"You know you're incredibly beautiful right?" He asked in a hushed voice.

I couldn't help the blush that crept up my face. With my messed up memory I had no idea if anyone had ever said anything like that to me before so it was like the first time.

"Thank you" I whispered.

One of his hands moved to grab my chin. He lifted my head slightly so I was looking at him. He smiled at me then slowly leaned closer. My heart started thumping in my chest. Do I let him do this? Do I want him to do this? Before I could decided his soft, warm lips found mine. This could possibly be my first kiss. He seemed like he knew what he was doing. I couldn't help relaxing into him. I kissed him back feeling my stomach swirling and flipping around. He turned us around and pushed me backwards until my back hit one of the trees. He pressed himself against me. His hands grabbing each side of my face. I felt his tongue skim my bottom lip. One of his hands was suddenly on my ass. He squeezed causing me to let out a small moan. He chuckled into the kiss then pushed his tongue into my mouth. It was an odd but good feeling. My tongue fought against his but he overcame me. He groaned when he started to grind his hips against mine.

My eyes flew open when I felt him rubbing against me. My hands pushed against his chest sending him stumbling backwards. I manged to grab him and keep him from falling.

"What was that for?" He asked with a hurt expression.

"Sorry Minho, the kiss was amazing but I'm not letting you go any farther." I said quietly but sternly.

He put his hands up in surrender. Without another word I made my way back to the homestead. I really needed some sleep.

—

[kaluawoo]

Apparently not because it's quiet now 😔

Oh? A thunderstorm? 👀

[thebrotherssalvatore321]

Keeping Secrets Ch. 1

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Pairing: DamonxOc. TylerxOc in future chapters, ElijahxOc, KlausxOc is endgame. She’s never sleeping with more than one guy at a time. This is just a long story with 25 chapters so far that I’m also posting on FanFiction.net. Warnings: She does however cheat on someone in future chapters if that counts as a warning.

Keeping Secrets 

Katie Finnegan’s house sat on a beautiful street lined with beautiful houses. It was actually right down the street from her best friend Elena’s. Elena had recently lost her parents and was now under the guardianship of her aunt Jenna. It was a bleak situation, but one that Elena and her brother Jeremy could with time bounce back from with the loving support of their aunt. Katie on the other hand had long been plagued by the loss of her parents who died from a cause unknown to her when she was just ten years old.

Unlike Elena and Jeremy, Katie didn’t have any loving aunts or uncles to take her in. All she had was the abusive grandfather who she had never even met despite the fact that he lived in the same town that she did. She didn’t even know what he looked like until he showed up on the doorsteps of her parents house with a suitcase and two moving trucks. One was for her parents stuff to be packed up and auctioned off and the other was full of his.

Only after he showed up did she realize that she had seen him around town, but her parents never acknowledged him. At first she couldn’t understand it. For the first few months he was okay. He didn’t talk to her or play with her much but that was fine with her since she was always good at playing by herself, but once the social workers stopped coming by to make sure she was settling in okay, things started taking a turn for the worse. If she accidentally spilled her drink or dropped even a crumb he would lash out at her. Then she started understanding why her mother ran away with her father at the age of seventeen.

As she got older she got to know how to stay out of his way when he was sober, but when he was drunk there was no avoiding him. By the time she was seventeen she was sneaking out of the house on weekly biases just to get away from him. She thought over the years that her friends, Elena, Caroline and Bonnie would have figured out what was happening to her at home, but they never did. She became too good at hiding it and brushing off the bruises and cuts as her being clumsy. So they never asked more and she never told. She put on a good face and acted like every other sporty teen age girl looking forward to getting into college on a scholarship. She dreamed of the day she could leave Mystic Falls in her rear view and never look back.

Chapter 1

Katie Finnegan sat at the dimly lit roll top desk, in her bedroom writing in a spiral notebook that had the word journal written on the front cover in black ink. Her auburn waves, tamed with just the right amount of styling product, hung around her face and she tucked one tendril behind her ear then pushed her glasses up her nose and continued writing. "Today was the second day of school. Summer is officially over, no more avoiding my friends as much as possible. I saw Caroline and Bonnie at cheer camp, but Elena didn’t make it this year. So it's back to the real world. And the real world has given us high school girls some new eye candy. His name is Stefan and he already has eyes only for Elena. Although, it seems like Caroline is going to give her a run for her money. She's already practically stalking the guy. I'm supposed to be getting ready to go to the stupid back to school bonfire tonight, but I don't really want to go. Why would I? It's just going to be a bunch of people getting drunk and hooking up and that will just remind me that no one wants to be with me. I'm invisible. Sometimes I think I'm just a ghost that only my friends can see and sometimes even they don't see me. I'm not looking forward to sneaking out tonight. Last time I got caught Grandpa nearly beat me to death. But I have to go tonight otherwise I will never hear the end of it from Caroline in the morning. So I’ll talk to you later, Journal."

Katie tucked the pen inside, closed the book and pushed it away from her. With a sigh she pulled on a pair of dark wash distressed jeans, a black ac dc tank top and her favorite black leather jacket that she'd found for a good price at the local resale shop. She finished the look off with red converse and touch of tastefully smudged eyeliner.

With tentative steps she pushed open her bedroom window and eased herself out onto the roof. After glancing over the edge to make sure her grandpa wasn't waiting for her at the bottom like the last time, she started climbing down the surprisingly strong rose trellis. Now that she was safely out of the house she put her car into neutral and pushed it a few blocks away then started it and headed to the party.

The party was what she expected it to be and after drinking a few cups of beer and having a few laughs with Bonnie, she decided to stop, otherwise she wouldn't be able to climb back up to her room. She was tossing her empty cup into the trash when she spotted Stefan, who had taken up most of Elena's time, near the treeline watching her talk to her ex boyfriend Matt. Excusing herself from Bonnie who was telling her how she saw a crow when she touched Elena's hand she headed over to Stefan. "Hey." She greeted him with a small smile that he returned with his own greeting as if he didn't want to talk to her. "Don't worry unlike every other girl at this party I'm not going to throw myself at you." She laughed as she moved to stand a few feet beside him, making Stefan surprisingly give her a laugh and a genuine smile. "I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Katie, Elena's friend." She informed him. "I saw you over here looking all jealous and I figured I'd let you know that you don't need to be."

"Yeah, why's that?" He asked turning toward her without moving his feet as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"I know it's not my place to say and I'm sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, but...she's over Matt. Has been for a long time now. She just couldn't make herself hurt him." She answered. "She's sweet like that."

"Well, you're..."

"Weird." She finished since it seemed like he was looking for the right word to describe her.

"I was going to say forward, but weird works." He laughed. "You know, you're the first girl that hasn't tried to hit on me since I got to this school. It's kinda refreshing, but I don't get it." He looked at her with pursed lips and puzzled eyes. "Why are you trying to help me get the girl?" Stefan asked.

"Because I’m weird.” Katie answered as if she were trying to sound mysterious then laughed. “Na, it’s really because I knew I didn't stand a chance." She answered as she dropped her eyes to the ground then got quiet for a second. "And also because she's one of my best friends and she's had a hard year. She could use a little happiness."

"How do you know I'll make her happy?" He asked with a tight lipped smile.

Katie glanced up at where Matt and Elena had been to see that Matt was gone and Elena was looking at the two of them. "Because," she started then turned to look at Stefan across her shoulder, "now she's the one looking jealous."

She was pretty sure that once Stefan looked at Elena he forgot all about her. So she went back to the party, meeting Bonnie at the top of the small hill. "Hey, where you goin'?" Bonnie asked when Katie walked past her.

"The grill. I need coffee if I'm going to sober up enough to get home before Grandpa leaves for work and realizes my car isn't there." She replied and kept walking.

"Okay, we’ll meet you there later." Bonnie called after her and Katie waved over her shoulder letting her friend know she heard her.

After getting a hot coffee Katie chose a table outside and pulled the book they had been assigned for English out of her bag. She was half way through the assigned chapters when sirens started blaring and cop cars sped past the grill toward the party. After they passed out of sight her phone vibrated and she looked at the screen to see a text from Bonnie that said, "Vicki was attacked by an animal."

She didn't have enough minutes left on her phone to text Bonnie back, so she called her since it was free. "Hey, what do you mean she was attacked by an animal? Is everyone okay?"

"I don't know, Elena and Jeremy found her in the woods with some kind of bite on her neck. No one else seems to be hurt, but they’re putting Vicki in an ambulance right now." Bonnie answered, sounding worried and tense.

"Oh my god, do I need to come back?" Katie pressed her fingertips to her lips not knowing what else she could say.

"No, me and Caroline are about to head your way. We’re gonna sober up while we wait for news." Bonnie told her.

"Okay, just...stay safe okay?" She got a positive answer from Bonnie then hung up the phone. Not being able to read anymore she tucked the book into her bag and focused on sipping the still hot coffee. Ten minutes later Bonnie pulled up and parked in front of the grill. They got a table inside and the other two girls ordered coffee.

"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline asked sounding whinier than usual, clearly talking about Stefan. "How come the guys that I want never want me?"

"I'm not gonna touch that one." Bonnie answered.

Caroline looked to Katie for answers. "Yeah, I'm not answering that either."

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing..." She started listing off the things wrong with herself. Katie pulled a I'm gonna keep my mouth shut look and took a sip of lukewarm coffee. "And Elena always says the right thing. God, she doesn't even try and he just picks her. She's the one that everyone picks for everything. I try... SO hard and I'm never the one."

"It's not a competition." Bonnie said, looking at Katie for back up.

"Sorry, Bon, but sometimes it kinda feels like one." Katie said with a shrug.

"See." Caroline said with a motion to Katie. "Thank you."

After things calmed down and Caroline sobered up a little, Bonnie left the table to go pay the bill. Katie looked up from her empty cup and noticed Caroline smiling at someone and followed her gaze to a dark haired, ice blue eyed, gorgeous guy who was smiling back at her. "Looks like you found someone to like you back." Katie told Caroline with a grunt as she slid out of the chair and grabbed her bag. "Tell Bonnie I said good night."

"I will." Caroline replied not breaking eye contact with the guy. Katie just rolled her eyes and walked away.

She managed to sneak successfully back into her room and sat down at her desk, pulling her journal out and flipping to a fresh page. "Well the party was as I predicted it would be, except Vicki Donovan got attacked by some kind of animal. I wasn't there to see it, but it was apparently pretty bad. After the party Caroline, Bonnie and I met up at the grill to sober up. I got to listen to Caroline complain about how she never gets the guy and Elena gets everything. Of course right after this conversation she catches some super hot, blue eyed guy’s attention. Like, I can't stress enough how hot this guy was. The contrast of his dark hair and ice blue eyes was enough to make a girl's heart melt, not to mention the cute smirk he was giving Caroline. I hate to sound like Caroline, but why don't guys ever look at me? I mean I may not be crazy beautiful like Elena, Bonnie and Caroline, but I don't think I'm ugly either. Maybe that's why, because no one notices the average girl. And that's exactly how I would categorize myself. Whatever, who needs a guy anyway? All they bring is trouble. I need sleep. Ttyl Journal."

[brideofcthulhu10]

Alright I was finally able to get this finished. I'm pooped, but don't worry to all you who've sent in requests, I'll get to yours either tonight or tomorrow. Asks are still very much open, don't worry about that. Okay, now get ready to cry! I'm serious, I was actually CRYING while typing this! So, here we are my fang babes! Get your tissues ready, here it is:

The Tragedy of Marko [2/2]

CONTENT WARNING: Gore, Themes of Violence, Self Harm, and Suicide, Offensive Language

The drive up to the abandoned hotel made your heart race. You were a few hours late and that did not look great. Well being up till 5 am was a new habit. You were sure it must've been easy for him but you weren't the nocturnal dweller he was. Well now the sun was down, so he had to be awake. 

Gripping the steering wheel you took a slow, deep breath inward. The engine shut off with a sputter, the whole road turning pick black once your headlights were gone. 

It was eerily silent. No music, no cheering echoing out the cave. Just the waves rolling over. "Maybe they slept in too," you quietly spoke to yourself. Every step down that staircase gave you a heart attack. This was easy hundred year old wood being hit all day and all night by ocean water. One wrong step could really hurt. Even as you stepped inside it just felt.. wrong. Where were they? Only one fire was lit, barely illuminating the walls of the hotel's unstable walls. You waited in the darkness. Any second now Paul would jump out and scare you, or Marko would fly down and smother you with kisses. But there was nothing. Nothing but those waves. 

"Marko?" The first time you asked you were almost afraid to say it too loud. Those caves could echo, and who knows how stable the structure of this hotel was. No answer.

"Marko?!" Your voice echoed throughout the room, spoken softer with each utterance. It sounded lonely. A draft whistled out an old collapsed tunnel. That had to be where they were. It didn't take you long to touch damp cobwebs, rapidly shaking your hands. "God! Ew!" 

Oooh if they were hiding in there you were gonna kill them! Carefully scooting yourself across your stomach you dodged sticky cobwebs, obnoxious flies that wouldn't stop buzzing around you and ugh, there was something slimy all over the dirt. Further in the stink went from sweaty men to just full on rotting corpses. Pulling through you nearly screamed at the drop, still trying to cover your mouth to shield your delicate nose from the foul odor. "Marko?!"

Come to think of it, no one was in here. Not Paul, David or Dwayne. Just you in the dark. A hard piece of plastic brushed against your hand, and after a few rapid taps a thick flashlight flickered before shooting out a fluorescent beam. There was a bizarrely blackish-red substance all over the walls. It coated the ground, your hands, your clothes. You followed the trail. 

"NO!"

Still limp atop the edge of cave rock was Marko with his chest heaved upward. Bhis beautiful blonde hair was caked to his face in that slimy substance, head tilted back with his hands still clutching what had killed him. There was a splintered stake of wood jutting out between his ribcage coated in this sludge that was just everywhere. This morning's breakfast rose up in a flood of bile, splattering to the dirt in a sickly horrid concoction. It was his blood! This black sludge was his blood! You could only scream. Such a blood curdling scream that tore over waves and echoed out into the sky.  "Marko, oh god-! No, no no no no! Marko baby, please no, fuck, no," you sobbed, pulling his body to you. Tears dripped onto pale cheeks, his blue eyes shut. "Wake up baby, wake up! Please, please! Don't die, please Marko, open your fucking eyes!"

Using everything you had you grasped at the end of the stake with both hands. It was wedged tight between torn muscles and ripped flesh, blood squirting onto you the more you pulled. You yelled as loud as you could, face red until you finally wrenched the abomination from him. Barely able to drag him over, you held his head to your chest. Fingers dug into his jacket while you rocked him back and forth. You just spoke to him. It had only been this morning that he left with that mischievous smile plastered on his face. You wanted to see it again. You wanted so desperately for him to crack open his sky kissed eyes, make a Cheshire cat's grin jealous and yell "gotcha". But he just laid in your arms, almost like he was just sleeping. There was no pain known by men or beasts alike that was akin to what you felt. Everything burned, your head was being crushed, lung burned and all you could do was cry…

Well. It wasn't all you could do. A sudden rush hit you, such an unfamiliar feeling. Just… hollow. 

You didn't turn your head. Just your eyes wandered to the stake beside you. It was still sharp, cruel edges jutting out mockingly. Taking it into your hand you tightly wedged it between his fingers. What could have been was all that remained. Nights of gandure, riding through the Santa Carla nightlife together, choosing to abandon your mortal life for one with the vampire you loved so dearly. If you knew that was your last chance for goodbye you would have never let him leave. Wrapping his limp, gloved hands around the stake you propped it tightly so the end was breaking the skin of your sternum. "I love you," you whispered, savoring one last look at his beautiful face. "I'll see you in Hell, my darling. Save me a spot, okay?"

Taking in a deep, slowly breath you used every ounce of strength in your muscles to ram in right into your heart. You didn't feel much after that. One hot, searing shot of pain that resonated through every limb, screaming until the blood flooding your lungs left a silent gurgle. Then, only blackness

There your body sat hunched above his in a massive pool of blood, flooding his pale face. It stained everything until you were painted in the forbidden color. Your fingers over his, his clenching the stake straight through you. The universe showed Marko a sliver of mercy, allowing your cold lips to grace his just one final time, eternally kissing each other. Forever lost in time. Forever lost together.

Just you, and your only love, Marko.

[kellyashcroft]

It’s You C.7 - Why Does It Hurt?

Summary:  I’m Embry and I don’t think much of this whole soulmate business. What are the chances that in a sea of 7 billion people you’ll just find your soulmate? What’s the point in wasting your time with relationships with people that aren’t your soulmate? On the off chance that one or both of you do meet the one you’re destined for, it’s just gonna cause unnecessary pain but what’s the alternative? Stay alone forever waiting for someone that might never show up? I’m 26 and I still don’t have my mark and I’m tired of waiting.

Word Count: 3900

Warnings: Angst, mentions of parental death, mentions of physical pain, mentions of torture, fluff

A/N: Sorry it’s late, it’s been a busy week! This is the longest chapter yet, I’ve combined two chapters because the next one was really short but the next update will still be on Monday. Please let me know what you think and I will list the masterlink below for you! Thank you fpr reading, I hope you enjoy it! 

Series Masterlink

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Will wakes up not much longer after me and as I keep my eyes on the television, I feel his head shift down to look at me.

"Sorry, I fell asleep" he mumbles and I move my head to meet his eyes, still being held in his arms. 

"It's okay, so did I, I've only been awake maybe, ten minutes, I didn't want to wake you"

"I should go" he says as he moves to get up off the couch. He plants his feet on the ground as he stands up and brushes his hand through his hair as I turn my body to sit upright on the couch, wishing it was still two minutes ago rather than this awkward, weirdness.  “I don’t mean, I don’t want to- - I mean” he stutters as he scratches the back of his neck and I squint my eyes at him, “it’s late and I can’t stay the night, I’ve got no clean clothes here or anything”

"No, I get it" I answer quickly, realising that I did actually want him to stay and a silence falls over the two of us again as we both look anywhere but at each other.

"I'll just, get" he points behind his head, "get my coat then" he says quietly as I look back at him as his voice grabs my attention. 

"Okay, I'll walk you out" I say back as I get up and walk him towards the front door.

He hesitates just outside the door frame as he turns back to me and I lean slightly on the door.

"Embry" he starts, "do you? I mean, um, I" his nervous energy makes me stand up straighter, my heart racing in my chest. He lets out a breathy chuckle as he rubs the back of his neck with his hand again; I guess he does that a lot when he's nervous. "I had a really nice time tonight, thank you" he smiles up at me once he's decided on his words.

"I had a really nice time too, we should do it again sometime" his smile only grows wider at my words and a second later he leans in and places a quick, unsure kiss on my cheek and I feel my face blush.

"See you tomorrow" he says quickly as he turns to go to his car, looking back towards me as he gets into the driver’s seat and I offer a small wave and then he's gone.

I go back into my house, making sure to lock the door and find my phone, already having received a text from Will.

   ⁃    I really had an amazing time with you. Sorry I fell asleep. I really hope we can do it again, maybe next time I can cook for you? Good night, Em. 

I can't help but smile and notice the nickname he's given me and I realise no one else has ever shortened my name. It seems weird to think about because it seems so obvious, but no one ever has and I like the thought that maybe he will be the only one to ever call me it. I quickly text back.

   ⁃    I had a great time too. It's okay, you look cute when you sleep. I'd love that. Goodnight.

I walk up the stairs into my bedroom, put on my favourite pyjamas again, now that they're washed, and slip into bed, hoping for a peaceful night’s sleep, but that's not what I get. 

-

"You really just can't stay out of the way can you?" I hear a woman's voice say in an angry tone as I feel something being dragged from my face and I take a deep breath. "Always in the way!" 

The woman grabs my left arm and picks up a metal device as she places it over the mark on my wrist and I let out a scream in pain. 

"It'll stop hurting soon, we've done this before, stop fidgeting" she scolds and my blood turns cold at the pain and fear I'm feeling.

"What did you do with him?" I whisper through the pain. "Where is he?"

"Oh he's fine, don't worry, you won't remember him soon enough anyway" she says. What does she mean, I won't remember him? 

The woman keeps the device pressed against my skin for what feels like forever and the pain increases and decreases in intensity over time. I hear my own screams and whimpers and I try to fight her off as she has more straps added to restrain me. 

Eventually she stops and the pain subsides a little as she removes the device. I manage a glance down at my mark through my hooded and watery eyes, exhausted from the torture I've just endured and notice that the mark on my wrist is lighter, less prominent.

-

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I jolt awake, yet again, to the sound of my alarm blaring and slowly I reach over to hit the snooze button, hoping for just five more minutes; enough time to collect my thoughts, before I get up out of bed, and start my usual routine of brushing my teeth, washing my body, putting on make up and getting dressed. 

I decide again to drive to work today, feeling too tired to walk, as much as I miss my near the beach walks home and as I stop at some traffic lights I remember being here and my wrist hurting. I realise it was him I saw, Will. He was the guy walking across the street. I remember the same dark brown hair, the same smile, the dimple. He was the guy who's hand I shook and felt the same pain again. But the mark isn't supposed to hurt. I've never heard anyone ever say it hurt them to get their mark, so why did mine hurt?

I'm pulled from my thoughts yet again as the lights change and I continue my drive to work but I can't seem to shake the feeling that something's wrong. Surely there must be a reason that ours was so different? I make a mental note to go to Clive's after work and ask him if he knows anything about it. He knows an awful lot more about them than me, he practically wrote a thesis on them at one point, maybe he can help. 

As I pull into the car park at the school, I see Will walking across a few metres from me and he raises his hand in a wave as he catches my eye and I think about how used I'm getting to seeing my mark on his wrist, and his on mine. 

"Hey" he says as our paths cross near the doors of the school and we smile at each other. 

"Hey, you okay?" I start as he shakes a plastic cup at me containing my favourite mocha, passing one to me and keeping one for himself. “Thank you”

"No problem.” He pauses as he smiles at me. After a few seconds he shakes his head as he looks down to the floor and continues, “Yeah, didn't sleep the best though, you?"

"Me either actually, I had the weirdest dream" as I'm about to start to tell him about it, the bell rings for the first class of the day and I feel like I've lost time, not a lot, only about ten minutes or so, but like as if somehow, the day is passing by earlier than it should. I was sure we had longer to talk.  

"So today, class, we're gonna have a study session, so if everyone could take their notepads and textbooks out, I want you to all read through your evolutionary perspectives of eating behaviour essays and write notes on your essay. Try and shorten it into key points and then that into bullet points until you'll be able to know your paragraph from a few key words. If you need any help, just ask, otherwise, you can work in small groups" I finish as a few tables scrape across the floor, kids moving closer to their friends as a quiet muttering overtakes the room and I sit in my chair behind the desk. 

My mind falls back to the dream I had last night and I can't help but feel like there's more to it, like it's not just a dream and like I'm missing some of the information. I start to look at my mark and notice that it's full in colour, unlike my dream, but as I stare at it, it starts to itch again and I get a sharp pain in my head as a flood of words enter my brain. They're all fumbling over each other too fast for me to hear most of them, the only ones I make out don't make any sense to me and I hold the side of my head as I scrunch my eyes, opening my mouth in a silent scream and hope the pain will subside quickly.

"Embry?" I hear and just as quickly the pain started, it goes and I look up to find Will, his hands on my forearms, his body twisted as he tells the class to pack up their stuff and that they're dismissed for the day. As the class empties he turns back to me with concern in his eyes, "are you okay? I walked past and you looked like you were in agony. What happened?"

"I, I don't know, my head just started hurting. I couldn't make much of it out"

"Make what out?"

"The words" I answer, "my head was flooded with words, I could only make a little bit out through the jumble: lost, taken, soulmate and you, but it doesn't make any sense, I don't know what happened". He sighed in response as he moved one of his hands behind my head and pulled me into his chest and held me.

We stay like that for what feels like forever, one hand never moving from the back of my head while the other dances up and down my back, trailing small shapes over my green dress. 

After a couple of minutes he pulls back from me and wipes the remaining tears that have fell from my eyes off my face. “I’m gonna go and get you some water okay? Don’t go anywhere”

I nod as he hesitantly stands up and leaves the room, coming back only a minute later with a bottle of water. “I haven’t drank any of it, you need to have a drink okay? It’ll make you feel a bit better”. He says as he crouches down in front of me again, one hand finding its way back to resting on my forearm.

“Thank you” I whisper as I take a big gulp of water and he continues to look at me with worry in his eyes. “I’ll be okay, I just haven’t been sleeping very well” I say through a still croaky voice and he gives me a small smile in response.

“Just, relax for a little bit” he advises as he moves in slightly closer to me, “you’ve got like twenty minutes until the next class, will you be okay?”

“I’m good, honestly” I answer too fast, “you can go, but thank you”.

We share a tentative smile as he stands up and leaves the room, and again, I’m not unaware of his eyes lingering on me as he does so. 

I spend the next twenty minutes trying to breathe through the almost crippling anxiety I keep feeling, devising it’s probably better to just leave the remnants of my coffee rather than adding more caffeine to this situation. I find a small post it note and write down the words I felt drum around in my brain and stare at them, holding for an explanation to drop from the sky when the bell rings again. Too quickly my students pile into the classroom and still not feeling great, I inform them they will be doing the same study exercise as my previous class as I sit back in my chair, tapping my pen against the desk trying to figure out what this could mean. 

Not much longer passes before lunch has come around and before I can even move from behind my desk, Will is at the door waiting for me. 

“I was wondering if maybe you’d want to sit with me at lunch today?” I hear him say.

“We sit together every day?” I question with a squint of my eyes. 

“I guess that’s true” he laughs, “I mean, just me” he says as he slowly moves into the room as I walk around my desk. 

“Are you asking me on a date to the cafeteria William?” I smile as he blushes slightly. 

“No, not a date, I promise” he laughs as he looks back up to me and wipes his hand over his chin. “Just, I’d really like to have a meal with just you again.” 

“I’d love to”. 

Walking down the corridor to the cafeteria, I feel his eyes on me every few seconds and the questions he wants to ask are almost hanging in the air in front of us like a fog. 

“I’m okay” I say as I turn to face him, nodding my head, trying to convince us both. 

“I know” he says too quickly, “I just want you to know that if you’re not, if you need help, me to cover your class, if you need anything, I can feel the anxiety coming off you” his words make me turn my head to look at the floor as I feel him stop next to me and take hold of my wrist, his thumb rubbing absentmindedly against the mark that lives there, “that’s okay too. I’m here”. His final words have me lifting my head to look at him again, a small smile finding its way into my face as he slips his hand down to hold mine and intertwines  our fingers. As I nod my head, he gives my hand a small squeeze before releasing it as we start up our walk to the cafeteria again. 

Sitting down at a table on the far side of the room, we both dig into our meals, mine being chicken pasta and Will’s being bolognese, as we discuss his classes that day. Nothing major happened, like for example, he didn’t freak out all of his students by having an agonising pain in his head and had to have them excused by another staff member, but he did teach one of his classes about an obscure battle that I had never heard of. As the conversation about our classes dwindles down, we both turn to continue our lunches, comfortable in each other’s presence and my anxiety is easing from just being around him. 

“I know you might not want to talk about it but, I meant it, anything you need, ever” he says with a level of sincerity I’m not sure I’ve ever heard before and I know he’s not just talking about today, he really does mean anything and with what time is coming up, I can’t even begin to express how much that means to me. “Chloe mentioned something this morning about this being a tough time of year for you?” He asks innocently and I can’t work out if I’m mad or grateful that my friend started this conversation for me. 

“I don’t really talk about it at work but yeah, um, it’s coming up to the anniversary, of um, my parents death” I almost whisper, being brave enough to continue looking at Will. 

“I’m so sorry” he says quickly, “she didn’t say that- -, you don’t have to-“

“It’s okay, I don’t mind, but like I said I just don’t talk about it at work, sometimes I’m okay but sometimes I cry and I don’t want to cry at work”

“I get it, so do you like baseball?” He changes the subject quickly and I can’t help but laugh. 

The rest of the day goes by without a problem, each class going over the same study exercise based on what topic they’re focusing on currently and I spend my time catching up on grading essays. 

As soon as the final bell rings, I practically run from the school needing to see Clive as soon as possible. As much as sitting with Will at lunch may have eased my anxiety for that time, it came back in floods throughout the second half of the day. 

I walk into Clive's book store, hearing the bell above the door as I open and shut it. I nod in greeting at Clive, still by the counter, where he always seems to be and he nods back.

Knowing that the conversation I want to have with him is probably going to stir up some memories he'd rather forget, I take in a sharp breath as I start to walk over to him and he gives me a quizzical look. He must be wondering why I'm not just walking around the store like I usually do. 

"I need to ask you something, and you might not like it, but it's important, I'll explain as best I can but I wouldn't bring it up if it wasn't really important. Not to you" he gives me a knowing look after taking my words in and gives me a small nod, assuring me that I can ask, but not confirming that he will answer, or even have one in the first place. "Okay, have you ever heard of anyone's mark hurting? Like when they get it? Or even after they've got it? Because the first time I saw Will, it was when he was walking across the road and I was driving and I felt this sharp pain in my wrist; I didn't have my mark then of course and I ignored it, but then later it got itchy and I thought I could see something but I was wrong, although now, I'm not so sure. And then, the first time we touched, after we met, we both got a sharp pain, so bad we had to pull our hands away from each other and then mine was itchy later in the day again, I never asked about his" I'm not sure at what point we moved, but as I continue I realise I'm sitting in my usual spot on the couch at the back of the store, Clive opposite me.

"So then, today all of a sudden, it starts to get really itchy again, but like, painful itchy, like I want to scratch through my skin itchy and then I get this splitting pain in my head and I can't see or hear anything apart from these words going round and round in my head, too many to make out except four. Only four make their way through to me" I tell him the four words I'd told Will about earlier in the day as he leans further towards me, intently listening to everything I'm saying, a look of confusion on his face. "So I think they're connected, I mean, the pain, the itch, and the word soulmate came up, that can't be a coincidence right? So, I mean you know more about it than anyone else I know so have you ever heard of this happening? I mean, is it wrong? Is it trying to fight its way off my body because it's a mistake?" I ask, scared of what the answer could be as he stops me.

"I don't think it's that. The marks are never wrong, ever. He's your soulmate, there's no doubt about that but it hurting?" He turns away from me slightly, looking nowhere in particular as he thinks. "The only times I've ever heard of someone's mark hurting is when someone tried to take it off, they physically tried to tear it from their skin, it didn't work of course, the marks are protected, something in them. And when you spend too long away from your soul mate, mine hurts occasionally when I miss Mary, a few other people who've lost their soul mates or have had to be away from them have said the same thing but it's an ache, not a sharp pain".

He looks back at my disheartened face, disappointed at feeling like I still don't really have any sort of answer. "I see him every day, we talk after work until we go to sleep, he's text me goodnight, every night and neither one of us has tried to get rid of the mark" I trail off, defeated.

"Leave it with me, okay? I'll have a look through my stuff, see if there's anything I can find that might explain it and I'll let you know if I find something but just, try not to worry about it too much, okay kid?" He offers me a small smile as he pats my shoulder and I realise that's the first time since Mary died that I've seen any type of real smile on his face.

"Yeah" I surrender, "thanks Clive, it means a lot, thank you" I add sincerely as I get up to leave the store before quickly turning and adding, "oh I almost forgot, Will asked me to ask you if you could order 1984 for him? You know by George Orwell?" 

"Sure, I'll get on it straight away, I'll make up an invoice when it comes and keep it back for him or if you pick it up, okay?"

"Thanks Clive, for everything" I say as I leave the store and make it to my car.

On the drive home I decide it's been too long since I've walked near the beach and if there was ever a time I needed to be calmed by the ocean, it's probably now when my mind can't seem to stop spinning. I pull up on my driveway, get out of my car, and walk back towards the beach, deciding I'll spend a couple of hours there and maybe watch the sunset before I walk back home. 

Sitting on the beach, this is the calmest I’ve felt since I was laying in Will’s arms. Making that realisation only panics me more, I mean, I’ve only known him a few weeks. How is it that someone I’m still aware I barely know has had such a profound effect on me? I feel like there’s an internal battle inside of me of running away from this and what it means because I can’t help but feel like I’ll be hurt, and another side of me that wants nothing more than to jump in, head first because I know he will never hurt me and I don’t think I’ve ever been so confused in my life. 

Trying to shake all thoughts of Will and the dreams and the mark and my feelings about any of it out of my head, I focus on the sounds of the waves crashing in front of me and the feel of the sand against my bare feet, my shoes being placed carefully in front of me. As I dig my feet further into the sand, I wrap my arms around my knees, bending them up to sit in front of my face and I enjoy the beauty the beach offers. 

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Taglist: @yourideasarepointless​ @stiles-o-dylan24​ @moongoddesskiana​ @wydobrien​ @ashleyjeanthomas​ 

Date posted: 04.08.2020

[lousimusician]

Distractions

Pairing: Boxer!Tom x Reader

Summary: Your friend makes you go to a boxing match where you unintentionally distracted one of the boxers.

Warnings: none

-------

You sighed, unlocking your dorm room, completely exhausted after finally finishing midterms. Your roommate was out which you were thankful for, she was never the quiet type. You fell on your bed, face first, getting comfortable you closed your eyes and nearly drifted off to sleep until three loud knocks made you jump.

You groaned, "Who is it!" You yelled.

"Your best friend, now open up!"

"Go away Chase, I'm trying to sleep!" But he continued to knock over and over again. 

"Fine!" You yelled, stomping over to your door and swinging it open, seeing him mid-knock.

"Great! We're going out now."

You deadpanned. "No." You said, closing the door but he stopped it and barged in. You sighed closing the door behind him.

"Yes we are." He said, jumping on your bed.

"And what exactly do you think we're doing tonight."

"Boxing match." He stated simply.

"Ha, you're funny. Besides the fact that underground boxing is illegal, I'm not too crazy with the idea of watching two grown men beat the shit out of each other either. Besides don't you usually go with Jack." You said laying down next to him.

"Yeah, but Jack has to work tonight and I'd ask Kayla but she's sick, so that leaves you."

You rolled your eyes, "Then go by yourself, or you could just not go."

"I mean I could, but it's more fun with a friend, and my friend Alex is competing tonight so I have to go."

You looked at the puppy dog eyes Chase was giving you and finally relented. "Fine! Fine! I'll go, but you're buying me dinner after."

"Yes! Thank you, I promise you won't regret it!" He yelled standing back up. "Now the match starts in an hour, I'll pick you up in like 45 minutes and wear something slutty so we can get a discount." 

You rolled your eyes again, "Yeah whatever, get out."

Once Chase left, you turned over letting a long dissatisfied groan out.

---

You sighed, pulling down the short skirt you were wearing. Chase had been right at least, you nearly got in for free. But now you sat uncomfortably in a sketchy building, in one of the many folding chairs that sat around the ring. 

"This was a mistake." You groaned.

"Oh quiet, you're gonna love it."

"Yeah because watching two people try to kill each other sounds like a lot of fun." You muttered.

"Trust me, it's a lot more fun than you think, now shut up it's about to start."

The announcer had just come out and introduced the two fighter's. Chase's friend was tall, and pretty big while the other fighter, who you learned was Tom Holland, was much leaner but still looked plenty strong. Your eyes seemed to be glued on Tom- that was until the fight started. After the first few punches were thrown you were finding it harder and harder to watch the match.

You winced and averted your eyes towards Chase as Tom punched his competitor again. "Jesus Christ, your friend is getting killed out there." 

You saw Chase wince as you assumed Tom hit him again. "What can I say, Tom's been doing this a while. I just hoped Alex would've been able to get a few more in." 

Your eyes flicked back to the fight and almost instantaneously your eyes surprisingly locked with Tom's. And as cliché as it sounds it felt like time had stopped. It was almost as if the two of you were in a trance and what was realistically 2 seconds felt like ten minutes before he broke eye contact with you by getting hit by a punch. You winced once again, and looked away, feeling the butterflies fly in your stomach and a warm blush covering your cheeks. 

You looked back noticing Tom's now split lip. 

As the match progressed even further, you noticed Tom's eyes straying more and more to you and each time that had happened he got hurt. You shrank in your seat, thinking about leaving the room so he could actually focus.

The match had finally finished causing you to sigh in relief. Tom had been declared the winner, making Chase a bit mopey.

"Okay are we done, cause I'm starving and I really want to leave right now."

"Not yet, I wanna say hi to Alex, then we can go." Chase said, standing up, pulling you with him and dragging you off towards the locker room.

You groaned, "Please make it quick."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now wait out here." He said walking into the locker room."Yo Alex!" Chase called out.

"Over here man!" 

Chase went to where he had heard his friend's voice. "Hey, you okay? You were killed out there."

Alex shrugged as he let someone clean the cut on his eyebrow from where he sat on the bench. "Don't worry about it. I didn't expect to win, I'm actually surprised by the number of hits I was able to get in. Holland must've been distracted tonight or something." 

As if on cue Tom started walking past the two friends before stopping as he recognized his opponents friend from the audience. 

"Hey, were you the guy sitting next to the pretty girl with the (y/h/c) hair?"

Chase cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, why?"

"She your girlfriend?"

"No, she's my friend." Chase said knowing where this conversation was going.

"Where is she?"

Chase hesitated before saying, "She's waiting outside."

"Thanks." Tom muttered, before heading towards the exit.

~~

You tapped your foot as you waited for Chase to finish talking to Alex so you could finally get some dinner. You looked down at your phone, reponding to a few texts until you heard a voice behind you.

"Looks like I've found my distraction." 

You turned around, being met by a very beat up Tom. You raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

Tom smirked, "Don't play dumb princess, I know you're more than aware that you were the reason I kept getting distracted tonight, and for that I think you should go out on a date with me."

You scoffed but also blushed, "Well maybe if you didn't get distracted so easily..."

Tom smirked down, admiring your shyness. "I'm usually not easily distracted darling, but I just couldn't take my eyes off you tonight." Your blush darkened even further. "Come on princess, just one date."

You rubbed the back of your neck, you were flattered and probably would've said yes if it wasn't for his particular lifestyle  "I-I'm not sure-"

"Is it because I'm a boxer? I know you just saw me beat someone up, but I promise I'm only like that in the ring."

You bit your lip, 'Oh, what the hell' "Alright, one date."

Tom smiled, quickly wincing because of his busted lip. "Great." He said pulling out his phone and handing it to you so you could put in your phone number. "And hopefully next time you see me I won't look so rough."

You handed back his phone. "I hope you know this goes against my morals to go on a date with someone who beats others up for a living."

He laughed at that, "Well then I'm flattered you'd do that for me. I'll call you tonight, yeah?"

You nodded. "Okay, I'll talk to you later then."

You let out a breath after he had left, but suddenly jumped when you felt someone tap your shoulder. You turned around being met by Chase's smug face. 

You rolled your eyes. "Shut up."

"I haven't said anything."

"Yeah but you were gonna." You said, grabbing his arm so the two of you could finally leave.

"You're right I was. So does this mean you'll become my permanent buddy to these things. You know Jack is gonna lose it when he hears that Holland asked you out- you think you could get me in for free from now on."

You punched his arm "Don't push it, you still owe me dinner you asshole."

-------

Permanent Tags:

@Spiderdudeparker @peterparkers-waffles @smexylemony @ultimategalaxyprogram @xxxxdelenaxxxx @chonisberonica @meaningoflifeisfandoms @aegis-s-s @Just-random-stuff-18 @etherealhollandd @yourwonderbelle @roi-yang @ironspiderstark @runningoutofwordstosay @retroparkers @marvelismylifffe @marvelhoeingismyhobby @thebadtruth

[emo-floof-child-writes]

The Sword of the Solstice.

Chapter Nine: The Warrior Village of Leeno.

We return to our other adventurers, Izuku, Katsuki, Ochaco, Eijiro, and Momo; who are about 4 days into their trek. The 5 of them have been going nearly nonstop for those 4 days. Katsuki claimed his home village was close, but the other adventurers were starting to doubt him. He said that it was hard to find, seeing as how Leeno is surrounded by the Lerow Forest and the Leanna Kingdom of Elves to the East, and the Pland mountains to the West.

Izuku sighs, deciding to voice the thought everyone was asking themselves. “Kacchan?” Katsuki stops, and turns to him. “Yeah, Deku?” He says and Izuku bites his lip. “Do you actually know where you’re going?” Izuku asks, and Katsuki sighs. “Look, I know you guys think I am stupid, but I swear I do know where I’m going. And even if the Pass of Honor isn’t quite where I remembered it, we still cut off a lot of the time to get to Loyaci. We’ll get Light Bringer back.”

Izuku shrugs. “I can’t deny the logic in that, but do you think we’re close to your village?” Katsuki nods. “If all goes well, we should be there by nightfall.” Eijiro exhales, with a little smoke from his firebreath coming out of his nostrils. “Phew, it’d be nice to get a full night of sleep.” Eijiro says, as he waves the smoke away. Ochaco nods. “We should have a significant lead on them, so we should be fine.”

They reach a clearing that seems entirely blocked off except the way they got in. Katsuki gets down off his horse, and walks into the center of clearing. He sighs. “Okay, is it that one?”  Katsuki asks, in a mutter, looking off to the left side of the clearing. Ochaco frowns, and dismounts Momo’s horse, and jogs over to him. “You alright there, Dunderhead?” He rolls his eyes. “Tch, I just need to remember the exact way into Leeno...”

Ochaco nods. “What does this entrance look like?” She asks. “Look for a triangle with a circle in the middle, it should be carved into a tree.” She smiles, and looks around at the trees surrounding the clearing. She squints, and off to Katsuki’s right she sees a tree with a large triangle with a circle that looks like it's blackened, perhaps burned, that's carved into the trunk. Surrounding it are dense trees that you couldn’t hope to get past. With a smile, she nudges Katsuki. “Is that it?” She asks, subtly pointing to it.

He follows her finger, and sighs. “Yup, that’d be it. I’m blind.” He says, in a whisper. She giggles, and he walks over to the tree, and places his hand on the symbol. The others on the horses ride closer. The ground shakes, and two of the trees beside the marked one magically disappear. Ochaco gasps. “A magical barrier?” She asks, with shock. Katsuki smirks, looking proud. “I did say we are sophisticated in our own way. Now, come on. It’ll only stay open until I walk in.”

Ochaco climbs onto Momo’s horse, as Izuku cautiously guides his horse through trees. Katsuki notices his skeptic attitude and sighs. “Trust me, Deku, it’s not a trap.” Izuku swallows. “Okay, if you say so, Kacchan.” Momo and Ochaco follow behind him, and Katsuki gets back on behind Eijiro. The barrier reforms behind Katsuki and Eijiro. “Alright, Deku, if you keep along this path, you’ll soon see the village.” Katsuki says, and Izuku gives him a thumbs up.

Momo looks down, and notes that the path they are walking on isn’t just a dirt road with random branches and stones lying on it, but she instead finds that it is smooth cobblestone. Maybe they are more than just brawlers. She thinks, in appreciation. They walk further into the forest, they see off to their left, a clearing that looks like it has corn fields. On their right are various buildings, and a large animal pen. Cows are mooing and a couple pigs snort. Eijiro points to the two buildings, and looks back at Katsuki.

“What are those for?” Katsuki laughs. “That’d be the tavern and the storeroom for said tavern.” He smiles, and Eijiro gasps. “Ooh, you have a tavern?” Katsuki nods. “Yeah, there’s the horse stables on the right, and the dueling grounds on the left.” He adds, and Ochaco sighs. “Ah. There’s the ‘warrior village’ norms. HA! YOU HAVE A DUELING GROUND!” She teases. He grunts. “Shut up, Cheeks.” He says, as they arrive at some tents.

An older man, maybe 30 to 40 years old walks over. He has shoulder length black hair, with black eyes and a scar under his right eye. He is wearing a black tunic and grey scarf. He walks up to Izuku, and groans. “Who are you, and how did you get into our village?” He asks, and Izuku turns to Katsuki. “K-kacchan?” He says, looking back. Katsuki jumps off the horse. “Relax, Deku. He means well.”

He walks over to the older fellow. “Aizawa, it’s okay. They’re with me.” Aizawa gasps. “Oh, I see. Well, your mother is leading a hunting party, but I could notify your father about your return.” Katsuki cracks his knuckles. “No need for that. I’ll notify him myself.” Aizawa sighs. “You’re gonna give that man a panic attack.” Katsuki laughs. “I know! I find his childish panic hilarious.”

They others get off their horses, and frown. Aizawa motions to the horses. “Well, can I at least bring your horses to the stables?” Katsuki looks at the party. “Is that fine?” They nod, and Katsuki smiles at Aizawa. “Go ahead, old man.” Aizawa rolls his eyes. He guides the three horses away, mumbling about needing more sleep. Izuku frowns. “Who is that man?” He asks, and Katsuki wraps his arm around him.

“That lazy old man? Aizawa Shota. His family has served the chieftain’s family for generations.” He says, with a grin. Eijiro scoffs. “So what, he’s like a servant?” Katsuki shakes his head. “Nah, they kinda just chose to serve. I honestly think it’s a family tradition?” He shrugs. Ochaco grunts. “Can we just rest? Because my body is falling into my trance.” She asks, and Momo nods. “Same with me.”

Katsuki nods. “Follow me, I’ll talk to Father about getting you some accommodations.” They follow him past the tents, to a large tent with a fur pathway leading into it. “You guys can stay out here, or you can come in with me. I honestly couldn’t care less.” Izuku sits down, and so does Momo and Eijiro, but Ochaco decides to follow him inside. He pulls the flap of the tent, to reveal a brown haired man with a green robe and fur on the end standing with his back turned.

His attire was pretty similar to Katsuki’s, but instead of the orange and red, it is blue and green. The room was spacious, with animal skins as the floor. Three mats in one corner, with silk dividers to give each one their privacy. In another corner, there is a campfire. Large stones surround it, and there are large metal shafts that make a hole in the tent’s roof, which Ochaco assumes is for ventilation.

Katsuki puts a finger to his lips, indicating for Ochaco to be quiet. He tiptoes up towards the man, who is humming to himself while he stitches a torn garment. Katsuki winds up, and swings his fist at the man's arm. The man yelps, and drops the garment and the needle onto the ground. He takes a deep breath. “There is only one person who would do something like that to me.” Ochaco frowns, not liking his tone.

The man turns around, a wide smile on his face. “Katsuki! You've returned to us!” Katsuki laughs. “Yeah, I'm back.” He pats his father's shoulder, which makes him stumble a little. “It's been awhile since I've been able to scare you this badly!” His father kneels down to pick up the garment and needle, and chuckles. “It has been a long time since I have seen you, son.” Katsuki scoffs. “You exaggerate. It hasn't been that long!”

His father, who is shorter than him, looks up at him. “But son, it's been a year.” Ochaco gasps, but immediately regrets making any sounds, for she doesn't want the attention to be focused on her. Katsuki whimpers. “Mother is going to kill me...” He says, a hint of fear in his voice. “Have I really been gone a year?” His father nods. “Yes, and I was wondering when you'd—” He pauses as he turns to see Ochaco. “Come back...” He finishes.

Ochaco bites her lip, regretting her decision to follow him in here. While Katsuki's father doesn't seem threatening, she cannot help but feel awkward, if not a little nervous. Katsuki motions for her to come closer, which she does. “Father, this is Ochaco, she is a travelling companion of mine.” He says, and she waves. Katsuki's father bows his head. “Ah, and I am Masaru Bakugo, Chieftain of the Leenoan Tribe.” Katsuki rolls his eyes. “You and I both know that Mother is the true leader here. You are Chieftain in name only. In every other affair, she is the Chieftain.”

He sighs. “Can you not do this today? I understand that you feel like I don't deserve this title, and I do know that I probably wouldn't have it if it weren't for technicalities, but please not today.” Katsuki nods. “Okay, um, to get to the point of why I'm here, my party and I are trying to save a friend that was taken hostage, but we need accommodations for at the very least tonight.” Katsuki says, and Masaru laughs.

“Ah, as always, it's straight to business with you! Could you not for once come to just to see your old man every now and then?” He asks, and Ochaco fiddles with her hat. Katsuki scratches his head, and frowns. “I— I'll be back soon! I just need to stop some evildoers who took my friend!” Masaru shakes his head. “Then what, Katsuki? You'll come back in another year?” Katsuki bows his head. “I— I promise I won't be gone that long again!” Masaru sighs.

 

“I suppose there's nothing I could do to stop you from leaving anyways, so I'll see to it that your companions have a tent to stay in. How many are in your company?” Katsuki tugs on one of his necklaces, and sighs. “Including this pink-cheeked Mage, four.” She kicks his shin. “Can't you call me by my name? You slow witted oaf!” Katsuki grabs her hat, and holds it up out of reach. “Oh, what's that? Can't hear you, you're so short.” She reaches up towards the hat, but he lifts it higher, taunting her.

Masaru groans. “And here I had hoped that your immaturity had left when you embarked on Honor's Highway. It turns out I have not received a pleasure such as that. Give the young lady her hat.”

Katsuki sighs, and passes Ochaco her hat back. Masaru smiles at Ochaco, and walks towards the door flap. “Well, they can stay in the war tent, at least for the night.” Katsuki nods. “Thank you, Father.” He says, as he and Masaru leave the tent. Ochaco follows. When they exit the tent, the other three stand.

Katsuki directs them to where they'll be spending the night. Once they were settled in, Ochaco tries to go into her trance. Despite her body telling her that she needed rest, and how tired she had been earlier, she couldn't drift into unconsciousness. She looks around at the others, Izuku has passed out, face planted against the ground. Momo is in a corner, knelt in her trance-state, and Eijiro is curled up in a ball not unlike a cat.

Masaru had insisted that Katsuki stay in his old room in his tent, so she was sitting in the dark of this tent trying to force herself into a trance. The more she tried, the more awake she felt. Is this Dendar doing? She asks herself. She shakes her head. No. Dendar's control isn't like this... You can always feel her presence, this feels like an absence of her control... She sighs, and decides that if she wasn't going to get any sleep, she'd prefer to not wake the others with her tossing and turning.

She leaves the tent, and all she hears are the hoots of owls, the chirps of crickets, and the fluttering of bat wings. She walks over to a tree, and reclines against it. She sits there in silence, drumming her fingers against her leg. She hears a twig snap, and she lifts her hand, uttering the first word in the incantation of Eldritch Blast. But before she could get any further, she realizes that the twig snapper was just Katsuki. She lowers her hand, and he smiles.

He walks over to her, and crouches beside her. “Can't sleep either?” He whispers, and she nods. “Is it because you're worried about Light Bringer?” He asks, and she shrugs. “Honestly, I don't know what is keeping me from sleeping. That's just how it is.” She responds in a hushed tone. He pats her shoulder. “Is it because of her?” He asks, referring to Dendar. Ochaco shakes her head. “I feel odd here, like her presence isn't as strong? I usually can hear her voice in my head, or maybe a hiss, but my brain is pretty much silent here.”

Katsuki nods. “We do have magical barriers, inscribed with holy symbols, perhaps she is trying, and evidently, failing to break through them?” She smirks. “That's one of the only smart things you've ever said.” He hits her shoulder and groans. “Shut up, you pathetic weakling.” She gasps. “Take that back.” He shakes his head. “Not unless you take back your comment.” She folds her arms, making it clear that she wasn't going to apologize. He yawns. “Well, I'm not going to take it back then. You pretentious Elf.”

She grins, as he sits down next to her. She lays her head on his shoulder, and he chuckles. “Hm, maybe it isn't Dendar and/or lack of Dendar that's keeping you awake...” He mutters, and she frowns. “Whatever do you mean by that?” She asks, as he wraps his arm around her. “As of late, you haven't been that far away from me at all times. You tend to stand close by me, or when we set up camp, you put your bedroll next to mine. Whatever it is, you're always nearby to me.”

She looks down towards her boots, in thought. Have I really been doing that? I mean, I do feel less scared and more safe around him, but I haven't been purposefully staying as close as possible, right? She shakes her head, hoping to clear her head. No, there's nothing wrong with that...right? Nothing weird about it? I mean, when I stop to think about it, I do have a harder time sleeping when I'm not vaguely near him...but why?

Ochaco can't seem to come with any concrete reasons as to why that was, but when she glances at Katsuki again, he's fast asleep. That drowsiness that her body was feeling earlier starts to kick in again. Her eyes close, and she lays her head in his lap, too tired to go back to bed in the tent.

[agentunwin]

DEAR ELYSE [Part 1] [*Read Prologue First*]

In his newest book, famous author Shawn Mendes tells the story of his life with his wife, Elyse. However, when she becomes hospital-bound after an incident, the narrative is changed forever.

— A/N: ok this definitely might be more than 3 parts but they’re all gonna be super short so i hope u enjoy this part thanks for reading :)

— WORDS: 1.1k

— WARNINGS: angst

[Prologue is on my masterlist.]

-

Dear Elyse,

Today, you didn't wake up.

No matter how hard I shook you out of desperation, no matter the volume of my broken sob of your name, you didn't wake up.

From the moment I walked into that hospital room, I knew that things would never be the same for the two of us. My breath became caught in my throat the first time I laid my eyes on you like this, and soon after, the tears came. I didn't talk for a long time; the first few hours of my arrival, at the very least. I didn't say a word when doctors poured into the room to explain your condition. I didn't speak when nurses attempted small talk while connecting you to machines as if you were one yourself. I ignored their company, their worry, and their pity. I was far too numb.

I would do anything in this world to take your spot; for it to be me laying in that hospital bed instead of you. You never deserved this.

A coma, they called it.

Bullshit.

I know that you're here with me. You're only resting; biding your time to return to me.

However, at the end of tonight and at the time of my writing this, I have finally attempted to find my voice once more. I called out your name. My voice, rich with hope and heartache, called out for you.

It got no response.

But I know that you would be proud of me for attempting such a feat, even if it was just one measly word.

I'm proud of you. I'm so proud of you. You always have been and always will be the strongest person I have ever known, and I will always love you to the moon and back. I know that you will pull through, and that some time soon, you will come back to me. You will wake up for me.

And I'll wait for you for however long it takes, I swear it on my life.

Eternally yours,

Shawn.

Two hours of sleep in an uncomfortable hospital chair certainly wasn't enough for the young man, but it was all he could grant himself throughout the night. When he opened his eyes that morning, he expected her own eyes to be staring back at him, glazed over and dazed with love as they typically were. Instead, he was met with reality. Her eyelids remained shut, the bruises and cuts on her skin still painfully prominent amongst anything else.

Their breakfast that morning wasn't their typical of making a meal together, sitting with one another at the kitchen counter, and discussing their plans for the day. No; instead, Shawn found himself lost within the bowl of cereal on his lap whilst the tube strung through her nose fed her her meal. He couldn't bear to watch.

When it was finished, he assumed his new position. Sometimes, when the nurses weren't around, he liked to rest his head on her tummy and chest as gently as he could manage. He would intertwine their fingers and listen to her heartbeat and the blood coursing through her veins, the feeling calming him. He often found that his own heartbeat would attempt to match hers, and to him, it was beautiful. To him, it was as if he could communicate with her like this. With their pulses connected, he believed and prayed that she was on the receiving end, feeling everything.

It was his only hope, at that moment.

My darling, Elyse,

I'm sorry I haven't been writing as much. I've been consumed with.. Everything. I'm sure you'd understand.

It has now been 12 days since the crash and your hospitalization. Ever since the beginning, my voice has been rather muted apart from a few hushed sentences now and then. However, today, a nurse told me something that actually interested me. She told me that, apparently, if you speak to someone while they're in a "coma", it can help them wake up faster.

I've never been much of a loudmouth as you know, but today, I talked my ass off.

I told you everything, and for a long time, I felt good. I felt as if I were having an actual conversation with you as I held your hand and talked about how the hospital food was awful, or how your friends and family miss you, or even stories from my childhood that you've heard a million times over. Anything I could tell you, I did. I know that you hear me. I know you aren't gone.

I'd like to think that beneath those eyelids is a wonderful place. A place where you can do anything or go anywhere you want. Maybe you're flying over mountains or on that vacation to Italy we never got to go on. Maybe your world is colorful and bubbly, just like you. Or maybe you're with me, somewhere, somehow. That's what I tell myself.

Underneath the happiness of talking to you, though, my despair looms perpetually. I cannot ignore the reality of the situation any longer. It hurts, Elyse. It hurts more than anything I've ever experienced, and no matter how hard I try to mask it, the guilt and sadness churning in my stomach always finds its way to the top, exploding at the end of each day.

They have no idea when you might wake up, and that is what worries me the most. I have no idea when I'll be able to see your beautiful eyes again, or hear your beautiful voice. I don't know if I will ever, and that haunts me to the ends of the earth. I know it's terrible, but I can't help but think that the last conversation we had might have actually been our last ever. At the end of it, we exchanged I Love You's and went on about our days, completely naïve as to what laid ahead. If I had known before.. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what I would have done, El.

I'm finding it hard to eat, sleep, and write. What was once my passion, something that consumed nearly every waking moment of my life, has been put on a back-burner. I have no motivation for anything anymore. I cannot focus on anything or anyone but you. These pages to you are the only things I've found the strength to write. I hope you'll get to read them one day.

Until then, I'll continue to talk to you as if nothing is wrong. For you, I'll be strong. I'll tell you about my day and ask you questions, even though I know you won't answer them. I'll hold your hand, kiss your marks, and watch over you; Protect you.

I'll wait. I'll always be here next to you. Don't you worry.

Take your time, my love.

Sincerely,

Shawn.

[punkscowardschampions]

James & Ava

James: I can't see you today Ava: Oh Ava: Well, that's a shame James: it is Ava: What are you up to? James: my dad wants me in the office Ava: Ahh, okay Ava: Well no worries, Monday then James: I won't let anything stop me Ava: I understand Ava: It's cool James: if I can find time to call you later, hearing your voice would make me feel better about a lot of things Ava: That'd be nice Ava: really nice James: missing you is the nicest cliche I think I've experienced James: for a long time Ava: I can't stop thinking about you Ava: so it's good to know you've thought about me too James: of course I have James: I am James: it's what's going to get me through today Ava: Oh James Ava: I'm going to talk to you all day, in my head James: I was going to take you to [insert a cute date location that wouldn't take very long to get to because he wouldn't have had long] so make sure you tell me what you think Ava: Would it be entirely too tragic for me to go alone and pretend you're with me? James: no more tragic than if I ask you to take enough pictures for me to be able to pretend that I'm there Ava: Of course Ava: I owe you for my picture of you 🥰 James: you don't owe me anything James: I'd give you so much more if I could Ava: Me too, I wish I could take pictures just for you Ava: Have to get old school and get a P.O. box James: or keep them on your phone & show me when you can Ava: That I can do James: but will you? Ava: If you tell me how much you want it James: the only thing I want more is to see you in person Ava: I really, really miss you Ava: It, I can feel it James: I'm really sorry, darling Ava: It's not your fault Ava: and it reminds me it's real James: It's my fault James: I could stand up to my dad & say I don't want to work there Ava: If it were that simple, you would've Ava: it's security for your family Ava: you can't just do it without a backup plan in place Ava: least of all for me James: I should have a backup plan James: it's bullshit that I don't Ava: You can make one Ava: you'll have a degree and experience now Ava: you can at least apply to other places with that, get out from under your dad, then think about what you want longterm after that James: Oh Ava Ava: You can, and you will Ava: You're like just finished with Uni now Ava: who knows what they're doing before then, you only have to front you do because children James: I want you to be right Ava: I am Ava: You're smart and driven and good James: how do you know? Ava: Because I said, you can't live like this forever Ava: and you won't Ava: what's the alternative? James: that actually she's right James: everything she says & thinks about me Ava: She's not Ava: She's not right about anything and she knows it Ava: that's why she has to go so hard James: you're right because you said I need you & I do Ava: I'm right because it's true Ava: you're worthy of good things, James James: I'm not a good person, Ava James: I'm barely a person at all Ava: But you are, James Ava: You're a person Ava: whether she wants that or not James: Jay can start boarding school in a year, I've already made that plan Ava: Is that what you want? James: it's what she needs Ava: Okay, so that's a start then James: I don't want to send her away but I don't want her to stay here Ava: Once you've sorted the rest, you can bring her back Ava: She's young, kids are so resilient James: It was so much easier when she was too young to understand what was being said or done Ava: Yeah Ava: I see that, with my family Ava: it's all okay until it needs to be explained Ava: because it can't be explained, or isn't James: exactly James: what words am I ever going to be able to find to make it okay? there aren't any Ava: Actions count Ava: and you love them Ava: that counts for so much James: will it count for enough? James: my actions certainly aren't good enough Ava: Almost definitely Ava: I can't say 100% but a good 99% James: you don't have to say anything James: I'm in my wet clothes today, that's all Ava: You don't have to excuse yourself, ever James: don't I? Ava: Not with me James: that wipes out well over half of my current vocabulary, just so you're aware James: it won't be an excuse that I'm speechless around you Ava: We'll work it out together Ava: I don't mind not talking for a while and just James: I'm going to be here until it's very late but if you can get away, I'll say I'm staying even later Ava: Yes Ava: I can make it happen Ava: People are here but I can get out James: me too then Ava: I don't care if it's five minutes Ava: well, I do Ava: but I'll take it James: I definitely do James: but it won't be James: the girls will be asleep before I'm done, I'm not rushing home for her Ava: Then rush to see me James: I promise James: I know you don't want me to, but I do Ava: As far as promises go Ava: that's a pretty good one Ava: they're like cliches James: I'll work through lunch for the possibility you'll be awake by the time I'm allowed to leave Ava: I can catnap if necessary James: oh, well now that's a mental picture I wish I had Ava: Sadly I can't take photos of myself sleeping Ava: and I don't think I can promise I'll waste any time with you napping Ava: 🤔 James: I'm so very conflicted James: what a dilemma James: but we'll be able to solve it when my dad decides I can be trusted on business trips Ava: 🤤🤤🤤 Ava: Please come through for me J I James: knowing him it'll take a while but I'll come through so he'll have no choice but to do the same Ava: All the faith Ava: and Monday when you come over you can have a preview of what to expect Ava: for motivation James: in order for you to keep it & for him to begin to harbour any, I should go James: but I feel very motivated at the thought, so thank you Ava: You've got this Ava: Later, love James: [let's skip then chicken, come at me drunkenly lol] Ava: You probably can't reply Ava: but I wish you were here James: [a dramatically long pause because imagine how extra weekends would be] James: but you're having fun? Ava: Hey ☺️ James: hi Ava: It's alright Ava: everyone's going a bit hard James: I'm sure your brother would happily throw them all out for you Ava: That may be Ava: but he is not invited James: that wouldn't stop him if he's still anything like I remember Ava: 2 kids and a wife might Ava: ha James: from being a protective older brother? I don't think so James: you either are or you're not Ava: yeah but my cousin is here Ava: so no need for the 'adult' supervision Ava: it's cool James: I'm happy to hear it James: there's no opportunity for me to drag Teddy home if he's there & he wouldn't thank me for it Ava: that's a bummer Ava: though I've already sacrificed him once tonight so rude of me James: to who? Ava: said cousin Ava: he isn't actually who I had in mind but you know Ava: be weird if I ❌ James: it sounds very romantic, I have no doubt he'll be thrilled Ava: Yeah it's like Paris in here tonight James: it's like Venice here, by which I mean flooded Ava: ??? James: 🛁 Ava: ahh Ava: awh Ava: 🐥🧼🧽💙 James: so yes, I'd say I wish you were here too, but I can't Ava: that's fair Ava: someone is in my bath alas James: theirs was meant to be hours ago so the chaos is somewhat relatable Ava: uh-oh Ava: I did think it was more like 💤🛌🌃 James: it's actually really far past that time too Ava: yeah Ava: you must be knackered James: if only I could join you in a drink Ava: There's still plenty 🍾🍾 Ava: I'll leave a full one out on the step Ava: for the milkman, like James: 😂 thank you, Ava Ava: my curtsy is so real James: that reminds me, I like your outfit Ava: 🥰 Ava: you're always nice Ava: are you wet? James: drenched, of course James: but actually not in the metaphorical sense Ava: Yay Ava: I'm happy James: are you smiling? Ava: cheeeeeese James: 📷 Ava: I'll take a real one for you Ava: but not right now James: [the longest pause ever like is he gone or what? but no he's just trying to sort the chaos out of course] James: later is an undeniably tempting prospect Ava: all dry Ava: what are you doing now Ava: a story James: well guessed James: would you like to pick it for us? Ava: You have to make one up Ava: a happy ending, naturally James: & there has to be a dog involved or Jay will be very angry indeed Ava: Frank! James: Oh right, I forgot you have one Ava: He's very angry indeed Ava: 😡 James: about the party? Ava: No Ava: about being forgotten Ava: he isn't actually here he's been dogknapped James: he'll forgive you Ava: me! James: yes Ava: you forgot him Ava: he's devastated James: you haven't taken enough selfies with him Ava: are you questioning my love James: I'm not but he could be, that's what I'm saying Ava: this is a sad story James: I'll do a re-write Ava: good idea Ava: he's on holiday James: working on his tan James: you two are very competitive about it Ava: well we've gotta be summer ready Ava: his diet is going awfully though James: he's lucky he doesn't need to go on one James: it was purely hypothetical Ava: he likes baked beans with the lil sausages in James: what do you like? I can't picture him happily sharing Ava: 🤔 Ava: that's a big question Ava: chinese food James: [when you know he's gonna send her some tomorrow for the hangover bye] James: can you use chopsticks? Ava: yes Ava: v dexterous Ava: shame that's not a sexy skill Ava: like cherry stems James: it could be James: you doing it Ava: 🥢 grab your tongue with that boy Ava: 🤭 James: it could work to shut me up James: but it's only making me laugh right now Ava: I like when you talk Ava: and laugh James: I used to be able to do that cherry stem party trick Ava: you'll have to show me Ava: we'll get some, see if you can do it James: It's been years, I probably can't Ava: you don't lose skills like that James: it's not a real skill, it's a boast Ava: yeah Ava: an implication of other skills, I know James: we all tried it out to mock the girls over how 'easy' it was but only a few of us could do it actually Ava: wink wink nudge nudge is how boys do Ava: 'course Ava: don't always have to back up a boast James: especially when it's one you made in another life Ava: nah Ava: i'll judge you and be so disappointed James: Ava! that's outrageous Ava: that's me James: you're supposed to not even be hypothetically disappointed by me Ava: I'm also not meant to lie to you James: okay, I'm backed into a corner, now what? Ava: what I would do to you if I had you in a dark corner right now is not suitable bedtime story-telling Ava: unless you wanna be up all night James: some stories demand to be told regardless James: & I wouldn't be upset about being kept up for as long as this one takes to be told Ava: You're the storyteller Ava: I'm a journalist, I like to report what happens James: [writes her a very sexy essay right here and right now about the life they should be living in the dark corner, like soz Jimothy you've been usurped as the writer & poet in residence] James: well then, you can tell me what's happening to you Ava: I don't know if I can describe that Ava: how you make me feel Ava: like you're here Ava: the only person here James: I think you've described it perfectly Ava: you are perfect James: no Ava: yes James: Ava Ava: James James: you're not meant to lie to me Ava: I'm not James: it's not true, it can't be Ava: opinion can't be wrong Ava: you can say i'm not well-informed if you wanna Ava: but i'll still think it James: I'm not at your party, I won't ever be able to be there Ava: you don't have to be at my party James: but you wish I was James: that's compromise, it can't be perfection Ava: only 'cos I'd rather be with you Ava: because you're so perfect James: if I don't give you what you want, I'm not perfect Ava: i want you Ava: as you Ava: i can miss you and i can wait Ava: i don't need anything else from you James: I don't know who I am Ava: i see who you are Ava: who you could be James: but I could become someone else James: like my dad wants James: like my wife wants Ava: you can't change who you are Ava: even when you try really hard James: you can lose who you are though James: & I have Ava: I'm telling you, I can see you Ava: even if you can't James: when you stop looking at me, it's going to be really hard Ava: I'll only stop if you tell me to Ava: no other reason James: if I tell you to it'll only be because I have to James: for your own sake Ava: you don't have to worry about me James: it's not the 1st time I've done this or had to stop doing it James: I know I have to worry about you Ava: i don't think i'm special Ava: but i know you like me too James: I think you're very special Ava: but i don't care if you can't be with me Ava: well, i do Ava: but i mean i'll be your friend no matter what Ava: you need me and no one can stop me Ava: not your wife or my brother or anyone James: the problem isn't who my wife is or who your brother is, the problem is that I don't care James: that's dangerous Ava: i said i wouldn't cause trouble Ava: and i won't let you get into any either Ava: not 'til you're ready to face it James: I've never met anyone like you before James: it's the most ridiculous cliche Ava: i know Ava: and I've never felt like this before Ava: so there we go two for two James: it's none of my business & you're under no obligation to answer me, but is that because you've not dated a lot of people before or in spite of everyone that you have dated? Ava: you're so cute Ava: I've dated plenty of people Ava: I liked a lot of them, some of them I thought I loved but then it was easy to be friends with them so I don't know, I think it was just that Ava: this is different, whatever it is and whatever they were James: understood Ava: did you date much James: I wasn't looking for that when I was in school & I'm not allowed to seek it out now James: I had a lot of sex before I got married & after but it's far from the same thing Ava: sure Ava: you weren't getting to know them as well as Ava: that's how lots of people operate James: I didn't intend to get to know you, Ava James: I don't know how it happened Ava: I'm not going to apologize for it James: please don't Ava: can i ask you something though James: of course Ava: did you just wanna sleep with me 'cos you thought i was cute or was it anything to do with who my brother is James: why would it be anything to do with him? Ava: i don't know Ava: 'cept i know him and i know there's history there James: I don't hold any grudges against him, we were all liars & fakes then James: all I cared about was my expensive drug habit & sleeping with as many girls as possible Ava: okay, i just had to ask Ava: things can be confusing enough without worrying about shit that ain't even real James: there's history for you too, it's not about any of that, is it? Ava: no Ava: it isn't James: my wife & your sister have so much history James: honestly more than me & her have Ava: i know Ava: but i'm not gonna exact revenge on her behalf via you James: I doubt she'd want that, she's not Chloé James: I don't believe there's anyone capable of holding onto something for as long & as tightly as she can Ava: I don't know Ava: I'm sure her therapist would tell her grudges are pointless but I don't reckon she can live that truth James: at least she has a therapist Ava: hooray for her James: I should probably get one, instead of talking to you like you are Ava: its what you should do Ava: talk to people Ava: work it out together Ava: nancy can't talk to anyone James: all my adult conversations are carefully overseen & orchestrated, it's only her laziness and the inescapable necessity of my parenting that has stopped the way I talk to my children from being put under the same restrictions James: what she did to Nancy was James: & that's only what I can remember Ava: its fucked James: it's already started with Jay James: if I can't find a way to stop it Ava: you have to James: I know Ava: you know its abuse don't you James: It doesn't matter what I know if nobody else knows it James: believes it Ava: how can they not, everyone knows what a total insane bitch she is Ava: sorry James: you don't need to apologise for telling the truth Ava: i'm not trying to make getting out sound easy though when it so clearly isn't James: it wouldn't be that hard for me to get out Ava: with the kids, or access to, though James: she says Jay's not mine whenever I criticise anything she says or does regarding her James: maybe she isn't James: her sex life was as active & varied as mine was Ava: wait Ava: what James: it's what she says if my bags are packed & nothing else has worked James: because I'd never see her again if she's not biologically my daughter James: but she can't say it about Matty, the dates line up too well Ava: are you on Jay's birth certificate? James: yes Ava: then you either are, and you have rights, or she knowingly lied on an official document but also, gave you full parental rights in the process Ava: if she really is lying then she has to incriminate herself and there's more than a case in your favour James: I don't know Ava: she got you to marry her under false pretenses, she stole years of your life James: it'll just be more of her bullshit James: of course she's my kid Ava: she'd do that? Ava: jesus James: she'll say & do anything to stop me from leaving James: in other circumstances it'd be flattering Ava: does she love you James: does it sound like love? Ava: no think she loves you then James: she thinks she's come this far James: not many of my friends would have agreed to marry her if they'd been put in the same situation James: if any, from the ones I had at the time Ava: i just wanna know what she gets from it Ava: she doesn't work or go to school, right? Ava: you seem to do most of the parenting James: isn't that the answer then? she gets a lifestyle that started out easy financially thanks to my parents & has been made easy by me in every other aspect James: I told you, it's my fault Ava: okay, granted but like she's happy to settle for not being crazy in love, just tolerating her kids and having no ambition of her own? at 22, 23? its not as if her parents would let her starve, Christ.. it'd be sad if she weren't evil and happy to take down you and the kids with her James: as I also told you, I've given up trying to figure her out Ava: sorry James: no, I am James: you don't need to worry about this Ava: yeah i do James: no James: you're a 17 year old at a party, Ava James: you shouldn't be worrying about anything Ava: don't patronize me James: that's not how I mean it James: I like you & she'll take you down too if you aren't careful James: I don't want that Ava: no she won't James: if you think that we shouldn't do this Ava: do what James: see each other as much as we are Ava: why not Ava: because i'm not duly afraid of chloe James: because you don't understand the risks Ava: again, don't patronize me James: do you want to end up like your sister? Ava: that won't happen James: it could happen James: & I'm not worth it Ava: it won't Ava: if you don't want to see me then that's your choice Ava: i think you're making a mistake but you're entitled James: I do want to see you James: I so badly want to Ava: then don't put a stop to us James: just please be careful Ava: I'm not afraid to like you James: Ava Ava: I'm just not, okay Ava: and even if i were, i couldn't stop myself and i won't so there James: you're really gonna age me horrifically, aren't you? James: 👴 Ava: well i do only like you 'cos you're older, obviously James: well, the back cover of the book can be all my worry lines Ava: 😂 Ava: sexy James: I can't make everything I do sexy like you do, darling Ava: don't joke i'm trying so hard to seduce you here 😏 James: I'm not joking James: you are & everything you do is Ava: Monday needs to be here now James: will you dance with me when it is, because we can't now Ava: only if you hold me really close and even tighter James: that I can do Ava: come on Ava: say you will James: of course I will Ava: James James: yes? Ava: I wish I could call you James: I'll go outside to smoke, wait a minute Ava: me too Ava: can't hear myself in here James: [another dramatic pause] James: okay Ava: the perks of being one of the only smokers Ava: and its warm out still Ava: i love summer James: it's a bad habit, but I've had worse James: & I still like winter the most somehow Ava: sorry it looks sexy and I've got a rep to maintain Ava: when were you born are you a winter baby James: January Ava: knew it Ava: awh its not your birthday for ages James: & you only like me because I'm older, I remember James: you must be truly devastated Ava: mhmm Ava: hurry up and hit 30 so we can really make it a moment James: you'll have me looking 30 soon enough James: all these smoke breaks Ava: not if you get to talking please and thank you James: you're supposed to be calling me James: as you wished it Ava: oh Ava: wanna facetime Ava: assuming 🥴 this is not my face James: you could still 'make a moment' I'm sure James: & I probably look better blurry Ava: shut up Ava: you're beautiful James: so you don't want to talk to me, you want to look at me? James: understood Ava: I wanna listen to you talk Ava: [ring him bitch] James: [telling her a story of everything he wants to do on Monday & it's hot & cute & funny & a mood] Ava: you're so so lovely Ava: stick around please James: you're quite drunk Ava: if I was drunk I'd say lots more James: you are so you can James: I'm listening Ava: no Ava: 🙈 James: you're not afraid of my scary wife but you're afraid of me? Ava: no Ava: but I'm scared of feeling crazy, being Ava: a little madness is key but James: I don't think genuinely crazy people are that self-aware typically Ava: maybe James: You're not crazy, Ava Ava: thank you Ava: probably not curtsy worthy but still James: you've devastated me, but I'll hide it expertly Ava: 😞 nooooooo James: I'll dedicate a suitable amount of book pages to it James: but otherwise, be utterly unaffected Ava: as long as that's the only conflict you're planning Ava: know it propels plot but I'll be very sad James: you'll get your happy ending, that means more to me Ava: you too James: that'll require a very long re-write Ava: maybe Ava: the middle can be shit though Ava: think that's writing 101 James: 😂 Ava: come on Ava: reluctant hero is a great trope James: I'm more of an anti-hero James: it's less about reluctance & more that I lack the necessity attributes, like courage or a trustworthy nature Ava: there's plenty different ways to be a hero Ava: there's plenty different ways to be heroes Ava: it isn't all capes and a misplaced sense of authority and vigilante justice James: I'm aware of that, but isn't the advice to write what you know? I'm hardly surrounded by viable examples James: you can't play every role, darling Ava: or write for the life you wanna have, the person you wanna be Ava: usually advice reserved for making you buy shit suits but I think it applies James: that explains why I've never heard it, in that case Ava: 😏 you were born in a tailored three-piece right James: if my parents were authoring the story, absolutely Ava: as much as parents love me Ava: probably not result in my happy ending James: or mine Ava: no Ava: we'll save that meet-cute James: thank you James: though it's unlikely I'll curtsy either Ava: shame James: I can add it to Monday's to-do list if your heart is set Ava: Your Monday sounds very busy as is Ava: I wanna help you relax and feel good not run yourself into the ground with curtsies etc James: you're sweet Ava: come taste me James: your party guests are bound to notice me Ava: I know Ava: I'd make them all leave if you could though Ava: but you can't James: no, I can't Ava: it's not long to wait Ava: just feels it James: it'll go faster for you, half of it spent in bed Ava: ha Ava: actually will have to entertain children too, worst of all my brother Ava: he's as annoying as he is protective etc and will definitely make me spend time with him before he leaves so we can have Monday James: it's a shame a playdate is out of the question Ava: even if I stole his Ava: can imagine your wife's joy to bump into us at the park James: she'll be far too busy shopping or having brunch with her friends Ava: then tell me it's still not feasible before I think it actually is James: it's a bad idea James: isn't it? Ava: it must be Ava: it's too good James: your brother wants to see you, he'd probably invite himself anyway, right? Ava: Probably Ava: but what if I show up really early and annoy him all day Ava: hype the kids up too James: 😈 Ava: there is one problem James: is there? Ava: my cousin will probably wanna come Ava: idk how I'm telling her no James: you said you'd already sacrificed my brother to her once James: how did that go? Ava: I've not been 👀 on 'em Ava: but I see 😈 what you're saying James: if get Jay to insist that he brings himself & a jumper for goalposts, he might Ava: oh Ava: no we can't James: you don't think it'll work? Ava: I told her some stuff Ava: not about you specifically Ava: but she can't meet you, obviously, she's not daft James: why would you do that, Ava? Ava: I didn't tell her anything James: that's obviously not true Ava: well she has no idea who you are James: you can't tell anyone about us James: I shouldn't even have to be saying that Ava: I haven't Ava: I told her about a boy Ava: I'm sorry but it's not going to affect anything Ava: she's not from here, she's not gonna say anything and she's got nothing to say anyway James: if you've told her enough that she could figure out who I am from seeing me at the park, you've told her too much Ava: I'm saying if your brother is there, it's just obvious Ava: I'm trying to be careful James: it doesn't matter, I'll see you Monday as previously arranged Ava: Well it does Ava: I'm sorry Ava: I'm just saying I don't think I can pretend you're just Teddy's brother, there's no point James: I agree Ava: I can tell her it fizzled out soon okay James: like you said, it won't affect anything Ava: you're still angry James: it's a frustrating situation Ava: yes James: I'm not angry at you James: I shouldn't have done this Ava: Be angry at me Ava: it was stupid but I'm not Ava: I won't tell anyone anything James: I know you're not, how smart you are is one of the 1st things I noticed James: but I obviously need to be smarter Ava: You don't want to do this James: I think we should slow down, you won't have to lie to your cousin & I won't get so carried away Ava: okay James: it's for the best Ava: alright, so what does that look like James: I don't know Ava: just let me know then James: I'll call you Ava: 👍 James: okay Ava: later then