#the plot is plotting

[ranunculussy]

enigma | part 04.

ꕥ part 01. | part 02. | part 03. | part 05. | part 06. | part 07. ꕥ pair: Spencer Reid × BAU!fem!reader ꕥ warnings/tags: canon-typical violence, mentions of human trafficking, gunshot, blood, swearing, somewhat oblivious Reid and reader, age gap, moderately jealous Spencer, slow-burn, mutual pining, rivals to lovers, english isn't my first language so bear with me pls, idk about other warnings ꕥ word count: ~3.3k ꕥ summary: Spencer can't quite figure you, his rival out and this annoys him more than it should [this fanfic is also available on AO3 with the same title and username]

saturday

One of your best and worst traits was your competitiveness. You were able to turn anything into a race in your head. You loved the feeling of adrenaline rushing through your veins, making your blood pump and your attention sharpened. You always performed better like this, whether it was an important or a trivial matter. So, when you felt Reid was inviting you to tango by how he’s acted since Wednesday, you weren’t one to shy away from the challenge. You were sure that everything he did was to make you look less professional. You simply thought he was this childish, even in his late 30s.

There was a subtle but undoubtable shift in your relationship with the genius. Like, when spring was around the corner around mid-to-late February. You couldn’t exactly see the changes, but there was something different in the air. The feeling and even the taste of the wind got a bit gentler and more welcoming. Of course, around this time of the year, rain also became more frequent. Just the same as the weather around a new season, you two also became more unpredictable by the day.

Now, as the beginning of the auction got closer and closer, you’ve also grown more and more anxious. The pastel high heels made soft thuds as you paced back and forth in the bougie guest room of the lakeside villa that the FBI provided for the mission. This time, you were wearing a flowy, blush-pink dress with beautiful gold jewellery. The carefully created thin pieces were the fruits of exemplary craftsmanship and were closer to art than to simple products, in your opinion. It was a tactical choice, to dress yourself like this. This way you’d seem less threatening to the men by giving a false sense of naivety and harmlessness.

“My sweet-sweet sugar bomb, since your ears are like a fancy Swiss cheese, I was able to get some piercings with mics in them. It’s not much but at least this way I could stay in contact with you,” rushed into the room—which up until this point was only occupied by Hotchner and some AT unit members—and straight to you Garcia. “It’ll match your aesthetic, don’t worry.”

Penelope wasn’t lying but still. Your ears didn’t look exactly like Swiss cheese. Yes, you had a few piercings, but nothing over the top. However, people liked to tease you when you showed up with a new hole in your said body parts.

“Damn, how?”

“Oh, I just pulled some strings, nothing serious,” waved her hands and let out her signature giggles the tech wizard after she handed over the fake pieces of jewellery to you.

“From whom can I expect a complaint soon?” sighed your boss, who was sitting in an armchair, pinching his nose bridge. Similarly to you, he was already in a full formal set, looking handsome as ever, ready to head out. You were waiting for the rest of the team who’ll infiltrate the mansion of Jonathan Grace with you as servers.

“Nobody, sir. Pinky promise.” she grinned a bit too brightly as she held up her finger to further reassure the stressed man, but her attention quickly shifted towards the opening door of the room. The two other BAU members who will be undercover with you walked in, looking beyond annoyed. “Why hello, my beautiful behavioural analysts!”

“Help me out with this, dollface.” Morgan basically whined as he held up the black piece of clothing that needed to be tied into a bow and apparently, he was unable to do it by himself. A bit behind him stood Reid with the same defeated look on his face. Ah, this is wonderful.

Both of them looked great. Beyond great, even. They were wearing pristine white button-ups, black vests and black suits. The only missing accessory was the bowtie, and none of them were able to figure out the technique of it.

A small plan formed in your brain and without a second thought, you walked up to the genius. Your steps were deliberate, making your walk look elegant and eye-catching. Even though you were slightly panicking on the inside, you were way too proud to show it and let him win the contest of who can make the other more flustered, which probably only existed in your head. You stopped right in front of him and took the piece of clothing from his hand before he could say anything. “Let me help you with this.”

Reid wanted to say that there was no need, but he couldn’t. Not when you looked like someone out of a fairytale, with your pretty dress and carefully styled hair flowing around you so effortlessly. The makeup was a perfect touch, the cherry on top, the point to the letter ‘i’. Before he noticed, your tender hands were already around his neck, working efficiently. He tilted his head and found your eyes with his. You tried to ignore the blushing that kept creeping up on your neck and not break eye contact, but you weren’t exactly practised in this, so after a few seconds that felt never-ending, you lowered your gaze to his chest. Damn it, now I just look stupid. Get your head in the game, Y/N. Just take deep breaths and don’t think… about literally anything. Realistically speaking, only seconds have passed, I’m sure I wasn’t that awkward.

You were still halfway in your thoughts, reasoning with yourself when you finished with the bowtie and were about to pull your hands away, but he quickly caught your wrists and firmly held it in place.

“Hmm?” was the only reaction that you were able to muster out of yourself. You looked at the man in front of you with wide eyes as your brain short-circuited. Oh, how you’ll hate yourself for this in the future.

“Thank you,” he said in a low, slightly hoarse tone. From this close, you were able to smell his perfume which was a perfect match for him. It didn’t smell too strong or rich. It was deeper and more refined.

“Ah, uhm. It was nothing, really. Everybody has their shortcomings, doctor. Maybe this is one of yours?” you asked with a playfully arched eyebrow as a sly glimmer flickered in your irises, not missing Reid’s attention.

“Let’s just say that my fingers are skilled in a different way,” he replied almost immediately, shattering that tiny amount of false confidence you were able to gather. You couldn’t believe your ears. Yes, you knew that the man wasn’t that innocent, lost boy that the others often reminisced about. You didn’t know Reid when he began his career at the BAU, but you heard he was different back then. Shy and even naïve when it came to topics like this. He obviously changed a lot. This job changed him. You knew that it cost him everything, like it did for most of the team. Also, he simply grew up, which was an unavoidable side effect of life. Still, this kind of suggestive talk was more like Derek’s style, not Spencer’s. You had no idea how to react cleverly.

Luckily, Penelope unintentionally saved you from having to come up with anything at all. “Look at that, boy wonder has finally learned something from you!” she teased the tall man while she pushed Morgan’s shoulder with her own. You took advantage of the distraction and pulled your wrists out of his massive hands, then took a few steps back.

This case seemed so doomed by the narrative from the very beginning that you genuinely had no idea at which point things went diabolically sideways. But they did, and now you were bleeding out as if you had nothing better to do, as if you had so much free blood in your body.

At first, everything went smoothly. You and Hotch were able to play the perfect couple with awfully conservative values and noticeable dominant-submissive dynamics. Those assholes were eating it up and the only thing holding you back from frowning was the knowledge that they’ll all be behind bars very soon. Or you hoped.

Occasionally, you caught glimpses of the two other men serving drinks and honestly unappetising finger food that looked borderline inedible to the attendees while taking mental notes about their faces for later. Aaron’s left arm was constantly around your waist, keeping you close to him at all times. Both of you were sure as hell that the rest of the team will be up in your asses about this for months at least.

As the event lazily stretched into the sultry night, a strong sense of discomfort and worry sneaked upon your shoulders, making your stomach twist. Something felt off. You couldn’t quite explain it, but you were sure that there was something definitely wrong.

Jonathan Grace has never left the crowd, not even for a few minutes, which didn’t seem logical. Managing this many victims from different locations was extremely risky and required a high level of organisation. His attention was a crucial factor for the traffickers to be able to pull this off without complications, still, Grace seemed almost nonchalant.

You carefully looked around, searching for any prying eyes, but only found the occasional gaze of your unit members. This was good. You managed to avoid suspicion so far.

When you made sure you weren’t being watched, you wrapped your arms around your boss’s neck and leaned to his face, as if you were hinting a small peck on his slightly stubbled skin.

“We’re missing something,” you murmured into his ear.

“I know, Grace is too calm.”

“When the auction starts, go alone. Say that you’re testing my trust in you. I’ll look around.”

“Fine, but be careful, Agent.”

After this, you did exactly what you agreed on. When Jonathan announced that the auction was about to start and opened the way to a secluded hall, you stayed behind, like many other women and all the staff members. You tried not to worry about your boss, who just entered a den of snakes all by himself and instead, you slipped away from the small crowd.

“Garcia, can you pull up the layout of this place? Or some kind of surveillance footage? I’m looking for a private study,” you whispered, hoping that the incredible tech goddess would hear you.

“In a second, my gorgeous, sweet macaron!”

You already started snooping around while you were waiting for the directions. You felt like staying in motion would help in not getting caught. Echoes of footsteps broke the silence of the dimly lit corridor where you currently were, making your pulse quicken and your breath hitch. You turned around and were ready to come up with some bullshit excuse when you noticed those all too familiar hazel curls.

“God, you almost gave me a heart attack,” you mumbled but couldn’t help a smile spreading across your face as Derek and Spencer reached you.

Instead of reacting to your sentence, Reid said “We’ve missed something.”. His tone seemed normal, as if he was stating a simple, harmless fact but his expression gave away the anxiety he felt.

“Yeah, Hotch and I thought so too,” you nodded. A few seconds later you’ve got some possible rooms from Penelope, who was only able to find a ground-plan, and decided to split into three, all of you covering a place.

“Here,” before you all went in different directions, Derek grabbed your forearm and handed you a gun.

“Damn, I’m impressed. How did you manage to get this in?”

“Found a window that was left open while I was clocking in,” he shrugged and revealed another weapon, hidden at his ankle, which he gave to Reid. “Imma be honest, it’s a miracle that I didn’t get busted. These guys are throughout.”

“Regardless, I could kiss you right now,” you joked as a wave of relief washed over you. You were nowhere near wrapping up this case, but you felt much safer.

“What’s stopping you, pretty girl?”

“I’m married,” you sighed as you held up your hand, showing the fake wedding ring hugging your finger.

Derek laughed and ruffled your hair. “Be careful.”

“You too,” you nodded, then looked at the silent doctor, “And you too, Reid.”

He nodded, but nothing left his lips. His eyes did the talking instead, which were more expressive than anything he could’ve said. He was worried and filled with anxiety. He was never a fan of splitting up on the field when the area was unknown and they had no way of communicating, but now they had to be quick, so this was the only logical option.

Well, it’s safe to say that you weren’t careful. You reached the room that Garcia was guiding you to and slowly pushed down the handle, but the door didn’t budge. So, you did what any skilled agent would’ve done in this situation, which is taking out a hairpin from your decorated hair and fucking around with the lock until something would work out. After you heard a quiet clicking noise, you eagerly opened the door and stepped into the poorly lit study room, only to hear a loud noise and feel a sharp pain in your right side, above your hip. Your reaction was instinctive, aiming the gun in the direction of your attacker and shooting before a second thought.

You only stumbled after a loud thud let you know that whoever was in there, wasn’t alive anymore. You took a deep, shaky breath and lowered your gaze towards your waist, which was now covered with warm, crimson blood, ruining the dress that was probably more expensive than your monthly mortgage.

“Oh, the Bureau will hate me for this,” a painful groan left your lips as you tried to ignore Garcia freaking out at the other end of the line and instead walked towards the massive desk in the middle of the room. You were extremely lucky that the bullet missed every vital organ, but still, you were heavily bleeding. You knew you only had a few minutes before blacking out if you were lucky. You had to make this search as quick as possible.

You rummaged through every drawer of the heavy oak furniture with one hand while you pressed the other one at the open wound, trying to gain some conscious time. At first, you found nothing worthy, which made you panic. You were about to faint in enemy territory without any information. But just as you were about to spiral, your knuckles hit the back of one of the drawers, creating a hollow sound. With all your remaining strength, you tore the fake divider out of its place and found a folder behind it.

“Y/N please say something, I heard shots, what happened?” Penelope’s worried voice dragged you back from your momentarily dazed-out state which occurred sooner than you’d anticipated. You placed the folder on top of the desk and started looking through the files.

“Everything is fine Garcia. Look something up for me real quick, please. Since when does Jonathan Grace deal with transporting fish? We thought all his business was related to constructions.” you tried to sound stable to calm down the analyst, but your head was already spinning so you had to lean on the edge of the desk.

“Since never. There is nothing under his name or any of his aliases with connection to the fishing industry.”

“Then why…?” you mumbled to yourself, but the answer came quicker than you could’ve finished your own sentence. The other victims were never meant to be brought here, all of this is a fucking distraction. “Pen, alert the others. The victims are getting deported in containers, hidden under the fish, right now. There’s a contract for cargos to overseas, we’ll lose them forever if they leave the States.”

By this time your vision got blurry and most of your strength left your body, so you didn’t notice the two other agents hurriedly entering the room and rushing towards you. Only when someone’s arms secured your numb self and laid you down gently did you realise that you weren’t alone.

“Y/N, listen to my voice,” Reid’s firm tone slowly reached your brain as you tried to blink the dizziness away, with no success. The doctor placed his strong hand on the wound and pressed on it, trying to slow down the process of you, bleeding out. “Stay awake.”

“I’m fine, you should see the other guy.”

“Do you really feel like this is an appropriate time for your jokes?”

“If it annoys you, then the answer is obvious.”

The harsh, sharp sound of sirens that filled the air calmed you down. The place probably was being raided, meaning that the end of this tiring case was near.

“Reid, I’ll go look for Hotch. Make sure she’s okay.” Morgan's words almost sounded like an order, and even though it was meant for the agent who was a bit more collected than you at the moment, you held up your arm and showed a thumbs-up in the direction of the leaving man.

“Keep still. If your body loses more than 20% of its blood, you could go into haemorrhagic shock. That is when the heart slows down and can't circulate enough blood around the body. Blood pressure plummets when this happens and there’s a massive drop in body temperature. If the body loses more than 40% of its blood, all the organs start to shut down and death is likely.”

“I know, and you aren’t exactly calming me but don’t stop talking,” you mumbled. You were about to close your eyes when he gently grabbed your cheeks and turned your head towards him.

“Only if you’ll keep looking at me,” he said, his voice soothing but commanding. After a painful groan, you opened your eyelids and even if you had to narrow them so that you wouldn’t see two of him, your eyes still found his. “Good girl.”

Am I tripping that hard or did I hear him correctly? If you weren’t in your current state, you would’ve become a blushing mess at those two words. You were sure that it had no meaning behind it, not when it came to Reid. He was just probably trying to take control of the situation and didn’t even notice what he said. Yes, it must be it.

For a few minutes, Reid rambled about techniques that were used even in ancient times to prevent soldiers from bleeding out, and how many methods are used in modern days too. His captivating eyes were focused on your face which has slightly glimmered since you started sweating. You tried not to break the eye contact, but you felt more and more tired to the point that you were hardly able to control your heavy eyelids. As if your lashes suddenly weighed tonnes. He was about to explain in depth the history of cauterisation when the medics entered the room, taking you away from his warm arms and lifting you with a stretcher.

From this point on, you had no memories. Everything went dark and silent. In a sense, you felt comfortable.

thank you so much for reading my work, hope you're having an awesome day! taglist: @halfbloodwriter divider from @cafekitsune gif from @reidgif

[mymoonss]

⟡ ݁₊ . jegulus exes to lovers fame au part 13

part 12 ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

[ennablue]

Me every time the main characters in a show start to get to the romantic part of the plot:

[optimisticdreamtacoshark]

So...twins separated at birth? Clones? Resuscitation with memory erasure?

And how does he know this?

[starshideurfics]

Mother’s Love - part ten

part one, part nine

steddie, wenny, omegaverse, thank god marsha’s coming home soon

“I don’t know how many ways you want me to say it, but the last time I saw Billy Hargrove, I punched him in the face; I am perfectly willing to admit that.” Eddie points to his own bruises. “There was mutual punching. But he was standing and talking just fine when I went inside the Harringtons’ house. And he wasn’t in the driveway anymore when I left. You know how wooded it is over there, he could’ve been 100 feet away and I’d never have noticed him.” Eddie shrugs, crossing his arms over his chest.

“And I’m sure you conducted a thorough search of the area when you found the car there. If he was there to find, you’d have found him,” Wayne adds, staring Powell down. ���From what I know of his father… Lots of reasons for a teenage alpha to run away from home…”

“How do you know Neil Hargrove?”

“He was brought in by the higher-ups at the plant, something about efficiency, gets in a lot of tussles with the union.” Wayne shrugs too, arms crossed in a mirror of Eddie’s. “Seems like a hard man.”

“It would explain why he reported the car stolen…” Powell mutters to himself, but clear enough to hear. “If I have more questions, I’ll call. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Munson.”

“Yeah.” Eddie watches the cop walk away before retreating to the kitchen. The oven is definitely preheated by now.

❤️❤️❤️

“I still don’t see why we have to wait until tomorrow!”

“Because we ain’t running into this half-cocked! Whatever that thing was, we need a real plan, with as much info as possible, and for that we need Marsha.”

“My son is stuck with that thing! Benny, you can’t ask-”

“I ain’t asking, Joyce! There’s no asking in all this!”

“Mom, you know Benny’s right, we need to plan. And Will’s smart.”

“He’s worried about you too,” Steve adds, finally cutting into the panicked argument that has reduced them to talking in circles. “Will doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

That starts Joyce crying, Jonathan holding her close, everyone else standing there even more awkward and uncomfortable.

Suddenly, a stick snaps behind them, Steve and Nancy both whirling around as Benny moves to put his body between Steve and any potential danger. Steve only manages to catch the faintest movement, but Nancy yells, “Mike! What the hell?”

Which allows Steve to bend around his mama and see the pups, all nervous at being caught, only shocked for a moment to realize there are four of them instead of the three he expects.

They’ve got a redheaded girl with them, too.

“You all should be at home,” Benny chides softly.

“We were just trying to help,” Dustin says, the boy going straight to Steve’s side, seeking comfort instinctually.

“Yeah, we were looking for clues,” Lucas adds.

Dustin has already tucked himself under Steve’s arm, and he looks up to say, “We started over by your house actually, since they found Will’s bike over on Kerley, and because of-” He cuts himself off, eyes darting over to the redhead.

Everyone’s eyes follow and Nancy asks, “Sorry, who are you?”

“Max Mayfield.”

“She’s Billy’s sister,” Mike adds.

“Step-sister,” Max clarifies coldly. “Now what the hell is going on in this weird town?”

❤️❤️❤️

“A monster…” That’s Dustin’s response to the very brief answer Nancy gives to Max’s question. Not that anyone but Steve hears it over the shouting from the other kids.

“A monster!” Lucas hisses, eyes darting between his friends before looking over to Steve.

“A monster’s got WILL!” Mike yells, looking around for something to fight with, like he’s ready to take the thing on himself.

“Monsters aren’t REAL,” Max insists, scowling as she turns to look at the adults. “I get that you wanna scare us off or whatever, but we aren’t babies.”

Benny shakes his head, squaring up with the redhead like he isn’t more than a foot and a half taller than she is. “Kid, I would love nothing more than to scare you off of poking your nose into all this—would love for the monster to be a fake—but I don’t think that’ll work, especially if you’ve thrown in your lot with these troublemakers.”

“Hey!” the boys all shout, ready to defend themselves, only to be quieted by a look from Benny.

“No matter what you think, there’s something prowling the woods, something not from here. We just ain’t sure where it is from, or what it’s doing. It can clearly go back, and back is…”

He hesitates, searching for the right word, only for Nancy to pipe, “Parallel.”

“Right, parallel to us. That’s how we know, Will’s finding ways to communicate-”

“WHAT!” from the boys.

“What about Billy?” Max asks.

“Billy didn’t go missing at the Byers,” Steve says with a shrug. “I only felt Will and that th-”

“FELT?” Dustin shouts, looking up at Steve, his kid-genius brain working overtime as his hand wraps around Steve’s fingers. “Steve?” he asks, quieter.

Steve glances over to his mama, and he knows he messed up. “No,” Benny says, gentle yet firm, “We are not bringing them into this, not now. You pups need to go home, and stay out of all this. I don’t want anyone else going missing.”

Joyce nods her agreement. “Will wouldn’t want anyone else getting hurt, especially not any of you.” She goes to Lucas and squeezes his shoulder, before turning to look around at the others. “Grab your bikes and head home. Jonathan needs to drop Nancy at home anyway, he’ll follow you in the car, make sure you all make it.”

There’s more grumbling from the pups, but they all know they’ve lost this fight. Steve gets hugs from Dustin and Lucas before they go to fetch their bicycles, while Mike completely ignores him, and Max keeps her eyes on him, like she’s trying to work out just what he meant, even if she doesn’t really know who he is or why he’s involved in all this.

They watch the kids leave, followed by Jonathan and Nancy, leaving Steve alone with Benny and Joyce. “We should go too,” Benny says, “I don’t like the idea of you and Jonathan here while that-”

“I’m not leaving! If Will is here-”

“He’s not,” Steve interrupts softly. “I could feel him leave.”

Tears fill Joyce’s eyes as she nods, repeating, “He’s good at hiding. Will’s always been good at hiding.”

“Right,” Benny agrees, “But you still shouldn’t be sleeping here. It’ll be a tight fit, but when Jonathan gets back, we can head over to my place.”

“Okay, yeah,” Joyce says, nodding more to herself than in agreement, suddenly so much quieter, the wind taken from her sails as she finally crashes from the adrenaline rush. A car passes on the road, gravel crunching under the tires, and she perks up. “What if Hopper comes? Maybe he’ll have news, and I should be here.”

“I highly doubt Hop will find anything to lead him towards the truth. And it’ll just be for the night. Like I said, we’re waiting for Marsha to get home.”

“Then maybe we should stay at the house,” Steve says, thinking out loud. “So we’re right there when Mom and Dad get back.”

Benny grumbles, pulling Steve to his chest. “Baby, after everything I don’t want you over there-”

“As far as I can tell, nowhere is perfectly safe, and Mom will freak out to get home to a crime scene, you know? But if we’re all together there, isn’t that better?”

His mother’s lips press to his hair. “Yeah, Baby, you’re right.” Benny turns to Joyce, face a bit grim, “Slight change of plans.”

❤️❤️❤️

The whole afternoon into evening, Wayne has kept everything light, for El’s sake. But now she’s asleep, tucked safely in Wayne’s nest with the shirt Steve slept in clutched to her chest. Now Wayne is pacing in the kitchen, glancing at the phone every few minutes.

“Looking at it won’t make it ring,” Eddie teases gently. They both know he’s as desperate to hear from Steve as Wayne is to hear from Benny. More importantly, they both know neither of them is going to call.

“Don’t sass me, Ed, not tonight,” Wayne says with a sigh.

“Sorry, just… I hate this. I really hate it.”

“Why don’t we put on the TV, take a little distraction time before we try and fail to sleep tonight,” Wayne offers, forcing a smile.

Eddie nods, ready to return to silence as he follows Wayne out to the couch. He lets Wayne flip through the channels, moving past the news as quickly as possible, and Eddie turns away to take a breath.

Looking out the window, Eddie notices movement at the end of the street. It’s a girl on a skateboard with red hair, the girl from the arcade over the summer…

“God damnit,” Eddie huffs, getting to his feet and heading out the front door.

“You aren’t being very sneaky,” the redhead says, barely glancing over her shoulder as Eddie jogs down the street after her.

“Neither are you, and in case you forgot, there’s a curfew.”

She stops, flips the end of her board up into her hand, and turns to glare up at Eddie. “Why do you even care? You don’t know me.”

Eddie takes a step to the side, moving into the yellow glow of the streetlight. He clocks the moment the girl notices the bruising on his face, her eyes bugging out. But she stands her ground, and Eddie can’t help smiling. “Kid, people are going missing.”

“I know,” she says, defensive and clearly irritated.

Eddie knows she knows. So he says just that. “I know. You’re Billy’s si-?” he starts, guessing at the relationship.

“Step-sister. And I know how you got that black eye. Munson.”

“Do you know why?” Eddie counters, tilting his head, getting a bit more defensive and irritated himself. “Fuck, not the point.” He shakes his head and turns, scrubbing a hand at the back of his neck. “I am not arguing about this with a child,” he huffs, mostly to himself.

Then she surprises him. “I know why, I have to live with the asshole.”

“You still need to go home. You don’t want your parents freaking out over both of you going missing.”

“Neil wouldn’t care, and I’ll be fine! I can take care of-”

“Kid, you have no idea-”

“It’s Max, and I know what I’m dealing with!” She drops her skateboard with a growl, stomping into Eddie’s space, a pup acting tough as she stares him down.

Eddie won’t be baited, shrugs, “I promise that you don’t.”

“I bet I know more than you do. How long has it been since you talked to Steve?”

A protective rumble starts in his throat, growl building. She isn’t even trying and she got right to the heart of him. “What’s Steve got to do with this?” he asks, only to switch gears immediately, scent souring as he asks, “How do you even know Steve?”

Her face softens then, and Max shrugs, bending to retrieve her board. “You know, don’t you? About the monster?”

“Max…” Eddie starts, feeling like he’s been doused with a bucket of ice water. “Please, go home. This is really fucking dangerous, and-”

“I need to know! Steve said he felt Will, and I just… I need to know if he’s gone.” Tear stains glimmer on her cheeks, and Eddie reaches out, ready to offer comfort, only for her to step back. “So, I’m going, and you can’t stop-”

“You won’t make it across town on your board. Someone will catch you—probably a cop—and drive you home. What happens when you get dropped off like that, hmm?”

Biting her lip, Max finally looks away from him. “I thought you’d at least understand. I need to know he’s gone,” she whispers.

“Okay,” Eddie says, because he does understand. When his dad finally went away for real, it was like he could finally get a full breath. No more waiting for Al to breeze back into his life and start breaking shit again. No more screaming matches that ended in Eddie running down the street before the storm door could slam behind him. No more hiding in his room and hoping he wouldn’t be noticed when Al was drunk.

He knows there’s more than one kind of monster in Hawkins.

“Grab your board, I’ll give you a ride, but I need to tell my uncle where I’m going first.”

“Does he know… About everything?”

“Yeah.”

“And he won’t try to make me go home?”

“Can’t guarantee that, but Wayne’s got other stuff on his plate. I’d be more worried about Benny.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Max leads him then, striding ahead, back down the street to the Munsons’ little house. His long legs allow Eddie to overtake her, and he opens the door to Wayne looking out the front window, arms crossed.

“I know it’s stupid, but I’m giving Max a ride over to Benny’s. She has questions for Steve about her brother-”

“Step-brother.”

“Right. And she won’t take no for an answer. Figure it’s safer if I drive her, unless you wanna…”

Wayne shakes his head, looks between the two of them and says, “I’m stayin’ at my post.” He won’t leave Eleven, and he won’t put her in harms way. “I trust ya not to do anything too stupid, Ed. But try to make it quick.” Relaxing his shoulders, Wayne reaches out and pulls Eddie close, marks him with his scent.

“I will,” Eddie agrees, taking comfort in Wayne’s warm, spicy scent before stepping back and grabbing his keys. Max follows him back out the door, shooting Wayne a little salute in thanks as she does.

The drive through town is silent. Creepy. And when they get to Benny’s the lights are all off, Benny’s pickup nowhere to be found. “Shit,” Eddie breathes, having to force himself to calm down. Clearly, a lot has happened since he last saw Steve and Benny. They changed their plans for a reason, and the best reason Eddie can think of is Marsha Harrington. At least it isn’t much further to drive.

He’s proven right as he pulls into the driveway behind Benny’s truck. The Camaro must have been towed, but he’s pretty sure that’s Jonathan’s car next to the pickup.

Eddie kills the engine, looking thoroughly around the yard for any unexpected movement before he gets out of the van and motions for Max to follow. They don’t even make it up the walk before Benny opens the front door and barks, “What in the hell are you doing here now? Get inside!”

Max and Eddie follow the order, and Benny locks the door behind them, turning the deadbolt. Steve is waiting in the entryway in his pajamas, and as soon as he sees Eddie he closes the distance between them, stepping easily into his arms. “I missed you,” he whispers, quiet enough only Eddie can hear.

Eddie kisses his temple, whispers back, “Missed you, too.”

“Still waiting for an answer,” Benny says, eyes squarely on Eddie.

Max is the one to answer. “I made him bring me.”

“Oh, did you now?”

She nods, and gives a curt, “Yes,” only to turn her attention on Steve, getting up close and taking his much larger fingers in hers. “If Billy disappeared here, can you feel him? Like you felt Will?”

Benny blanches. “Steve, no. What if that thing can feel you when you take down your walls?”

But Steve simply shakes his head. “I checked when we got home. There was nothing. If Billy’s where Will is, he didn’t hang around here.”

[n30ncr1ptid]

A little headcanon i just came up with

What if the johhny from "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" was none other that Soap.Like think about it:

Soap, Ghost,Price and Gaz taking a day off between missions so they end up relaxing in some random field in Georgia with all their things cause they're too tired to make it to some hotel.

In the middle of their relaxing Soap decides to play his fiddle a bit cause it remids him of his ma' and pa' and suddenly there's a man standing on a hickory stump saying he bets a golden fiddle that he plays better than him and Johhny who's middle name is trouble doesn't need any other reason to whip out his best playing skills (not even waiting to hear that he's risking his soul before he says yes).

Imagine price sleeping against a tree close by, Ghost and Gaz who were calmly chatting until Soap "troublemaker" Mctravish decided to risk his soul to show he's a better fiddle player. Ghost isn't surprised, he's seen Soap risk his life for a beer before, multiple times, why should he be surprised that johhny would risk his soul to prove his playing skills are impeccable?

Ghost and Gaz try to warn him even though for some reason they are now singing ? Neither of them really care, they've been through worse and besides ,who would mind hearing Simon's singing voice?

The both of them decide to spur Soap on, if he's gonna risk his soul in a fiddle duel he might as well play it good.

So imagine their surprise when after seeing the devil himself bowing his head and placing the golden fiddle at Johhny's feet, the devil himself admiting that he's lost against Soap! The cocky bastard will never stop bragging they already know it, and on top of that Soap "balls of steel" Mctravish decides to tell the devil that if he ever wants to try again to come back!

Simon is pinching the bridge of his nose trying to think of how they'll explain this to the captain when he wakes up, Gaz is still trying to see if he's dreaming or if he just heard the most beautiful fiddle solo come from the man who sounds like he's chanting in scottish half the time he speaks.

They manages to make Price understand, of course they do, the old bastard has seen enough shit that nothing surpises him no more.

The four of them smirk at the face of the chopper's pilot when Soap walks in and plops down on a seat with a golden fiddle in one hand and his large bag on the other.

After that they don't know more about the golden fiddle until Simon walks into Johhny's room without knocking and notices the gold staring back at him from atop Soap's bed displayed proudly.

[brandnewtrack]

Chapter Six |  04.17.25

He’s gonna get fired for sleeping with the CEO’s daughter. Blacklisted, too, cause there’s no way any company in town will take on a guy who’s pissed off the Eagans. Hell, Mark’ll probably be barred from ever setting foot on Lumon-owned land for the rest of his life. Once Milchick escorts him out of the building, his landlord will evict him, and after that the troopers’ll swing by to boot him over the state line. Goodbye and good riddance, all by close of business.

- - -

AU: Mark meets Helena months before his innie gets brained by Helly R. He’s gonna need a lot more bandaids.

[finalgirl1984]

I’m thinking for the Kendra lives fic there’s Faith who is so down to be with either or both kendra and buffy. But she assumes they’re straight and settles for making lewd jokes.

Buffy is the queen of denial. She’s simultaneously jealous of faith for being close to kendra and kendra for being close to faith, whilst also thinking they’re so pretty and being weird about them getting with anyone.

meanwhile kendra is like

[reading-the-dragon-book]

WHAT is Mira hiding?? Something plot related obviously. Couldn't help but notice that the falling out with the grandparents came once Violet was old enough for her hair to be pulled back... Old enough for the silver to have started?!!?!??? Mayhaps?!??

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 11)

When N entered Uzi's room what he was expecting to see was her sitting on the bed, annoyed with him for taking so long talking with her dad, or even practicing lightly with the solver out of boredom.

What he was not expecting was the absence of her beanie and her hoodie, leaving her in only her purple undershirt, and her wings and arms stretched up, her tail stiff and straight.

N felt his internal temperature skyrocket and a golden blush consume his face. Should he leave? He was probably not supposed to see this, when the hell had she gotten so attractive?!

“There you are! What did my dad want?” She turned to him before looking confused at his flustered face and looking down at herself.

A small blush crept up to her visor. She hadn't done this on purpose, she'd just thought she'd overheat less if she'd ditch the beanie/hoodie combo. Plus the fleshy parts of her tended to itch if left unused for too long, so a good stretch was needed every now and then.

She tried not to read too much into it, it had probably just startled him, seeing her like this as soon as he walked in.

“Uh, I can put them away?” She quickly willed away her wings and tail as they tucked away back into her chassis, the first time it had felt odd, now though she was used to it.

“I-it was fine! Just uh… didn't expect it is all.”

See?

“What did dad want?” She asked again, putting a hand on her hip. N refused to look anywhere but her face, crap crap crap crap!

“He uh, knows about Tera.” He admitted, taking the chance to look away and gather himself. It’s Uzi! Stop being a creepy weirdo who stares!

“Seriously?! Aw man I thought I was keeping it from him pretty well.” She crossed her arms, looking upset.

“Was that it? You were out there awhile.”

“He asked if I wanted to adopt her.” N replied, that prospect still hanging in his mind even now. He wasn't the best choice for it, there would be so many more better options then the murder drone who lived in a pile of corpses. Tera deserved to have a normal upbringing, something he couldn't give even if he wanted to.

And a part of him did really want to.

Uzi went silent, something he only noticed because he'd expected some sort of reply like: “oh that was a dumb question, you're like 19.” Instead she looked like she was deliberating something.

“I mean… we're kids. And I live with my dad and you live in a mass grave. I don't know why he even thought that.” Ah there it was.

“But I can't lie… I'd thought about it.” She admitted, looking sheepish. That made him jump, he wasn't expecting her to even entertain the idea. Much less give it that same amount of thought he did.

“Just as a hypothetical!” She quickly added, a voilet blush on her face. She rubbed her shoulders and looked away before starting again.

“There are so many better options than me. I… don't know if I'd be a good parent. It's not like I had much of an example.”

“I live… in a pile of corpses. I grew up in a manor where every minor mistake could get me killed. I didn't have parents… unless you count Tessa. But she was just a kid too…”

They were both quiet, not knowing how to continue the conversation without it turning even more depressing.

“I think you'd be a good dad.” She said softly, unsure but absolutely genuine. “Maybe not… like right now. I think we're both in agreement Tera needs more than you or me…But, if you want them eventually.” Why was she blushing? She was just trying to make him feel better, not offering to have his damn kids.

Although… No! don't you even think about it!

“I think you'd be a good mom too.” He replied, equally as soft and unsure, “You're really good with Tera. And I saw you making silly faces at her this morning.”

If anything she blushed harder, both at that he'd noticed and at the compliment. She wasn't sure how to take that, but she felt warm and fuzzy anyway.

“Bite me…” She mumbled, making him laugh. That usually signified she was done with the conversation. He was fine with that, considering how warm it had gotten him. He wasn't sure how to take her compliment either, but it still gave him butterflies.

“You wanted to practice right? Did you have an idea on where to start or…?” He blessedly changed the subject, thank Robo-God, she didn't know how much longer she could think about Dad N without melting into an embarrassed puddle.

“I got a bunch of pens from J’s nest. I was going to try and work on duplicating them.” She showed off a handful of pens that she'd gotten from her bag, N smirked.

“You stole them?”

“She's dead!”

“Stealing from the dead is worse!”

“Bite me! I do what I want!”

They both dissolved into laughter, nerves disappearing as they settled back into what felt natural for them, N felt a warm smile fix on his face and couldn't make it leave, this was better than being nervous by a long shot. Just the two of them, being goofy idiots.

And so that's what they did, N watching as she used the solver on each individual pen, spining it, making it float, before attempting to duplicate them like Doll had done with her knives.

The first two broke in half, spilling their contents out onto the floor (and themselves). The third one exploded, showering everything in plastic shrapnel and ink and making them both jump before they laughed at each other's startle.

Her visor beeped, telling her that her temperature was rising, and she took a deep swig of the large container of oil sitting between them. Wiping off what was left in her hand before turning her attention back to what she was doing.

He saw her fangs glisten for a moment, and something in him jumped before he settled it back down. Right, she has fangs now. She was more like him and V now then her fellow worker drones, her need for oil and her wings and tail both copied theirs almost identically, even her tail had a venom similar to their nanite acid, only less nanite and more just acid.

On the fifth one N was less focused on what the pen was doing and more on Uzi, one eye bright with the solver symbol and the other in deep concentration, her tongue out again and her eye squinted, keeping all of her focus on the currently spinning pen.

He was still concerned, he knew Uzi was strong on her own. And that her mastery of this was a good thing. But these powers were the same as Cyn’s, his little sisters. The same one who murdered an entire gala with it.

The Cyn he knew wouldn't have ever done that, she had been the sweetest little girl he'd ever known. She was strange yes, with her partly broken voice box and motor control issues. But not murderous.

Had the solver caused that change? Or had it been the Elliots abuse of her, of all of them, that had finally caused her to snap? He didn't know, after the gala, all of his memories consisted of blurry nothing, punctuated by the taste of iron in his mouth.

“Oh come on!” Uzi let out a sound of frustration, and N was brought back into the moment, there were several more destroyed pens laying about. And clearly she'd begun to get impatient, she held the arm using the solver with her other one.

“Hey now, don't try and force it.” He tried to calm her, hand resting on her shoulder before she swatted him away, looking more determined than ever, it stung in his core a little, but he shook it off. This was just how Uzi was, determined, if nothing else.

“Doll made it look so easy! She just flicked her wrist and boom knives.” She grumbled, taking another gulp of oil and finding another pen, which she flicked into the air effortlessly with her solver.

“We don't know how long Doll had those powers. She may have years ahead of you.” He replied, getting more concerned when he saw the digital sweat begin to drop in her visor.

“Which is exactly why I need this. What if we get into another fight with her? I can't just be throwing pens at her!” Her frustration was only growing, her visor beeped again, telling her her temperature was rising, but she didn't seem to notice, too focused on trying to duplicate the pen.

“I'll be there to protect us!”

“But who's going to protect you N?! Not V if she gets incapacitated! I n-need to be able to do this!” Her breaths turned to pants and her visor beeped again more frantically, telling her she was beginning to overheat, this time she did notice. But didn't care.

“Just… one more try.” She spun the pen, clearly straining, and flicked her wrist.

The pen vibrated, slowly getting faster as it seemed to reach it's peak. Uzi made a noise of strain, as if something inside of her chassis was vibrating as well.

Then two more pens popped out of the sides, spinning in place along with the original.

“I did it! N! I did it!” She squealed happily, jumping once for joy before her solver turned a vibrant gold.

She gasped. Before there was the sound of shattering glass and she suddenly doubled over, all three pens falling to the floor.

“Uzi?!” He was immediately at her side, touching her back before ripping his hand away. She was boiling.

“Ah…n….wha?” Her voice box glitched heavily, sounding like it was coming through miles of white noise. N crouched down and lifted her up before his eyes hollowed and all the oil in him turned to ice.

Her visor had shattered, the source being a massive hole where her solver eye would normally appear, oil poured from it openly, her other eye looking terrified out of her mind. Her breathing was erratic, her hand trying it's best to staunch the oil flow from her visor.

“Uzi!” His hand was bigger and did the job much better than just her own when he laid it over hers, she whimpered, instinctually gripping his coat as her other eye squeezed shut.

Already it was repairing itself, small puffs of smoke coming off from where her solver sealed the wound shut, he slowly took her hand away along with his own as the repairs got closer, until her visor was fixed and he was gripping her hand as tightly as she was gripping him, and he didn't care if the heat radiating off her hand was going to make his plating warp.

Her purple eye flickered back into place and she let out a shuddering breath, one of his hands found the oil container and brought it to her mouth. He all but made her down it, all of it. Until she was trying to cough some of it back up.

The steam wafting up from under her chassis slowly faded, but they stayed in silence, processing what the actual hell just happened.

N pulled her into a hug. His breathing sounding like he'd just run a marathon and his core running similarly.

“Don't you ever do that again.” Was the first thing out of his mouth, sounding deadly serious. His hand combed through her hair as he felt her core running as hard as it would go, he felt her nod quickly but wordlessly.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry…” She gasped out, holding him tightly, using the fur of his coat as a pillow.

“You didn't do anything wrong… you just scared me…” He replied, answering her affection with more of his own, resting his head upon hers, completely enveloping her as if he could protect her from herself.

“I ignored the warnings. My fault.”

“Not your fault. You got excited.”

“It's still-”

“No It's not.”

All she did was embrace him even tighter. His tail wrapped around her and he closed his eyes, trying to steady his core. She's okay, it's fine, you're fine.

He looked back at the pens she duplicated as if they would somehow come alive and harm her or both of them. But they just continued to sit there, just as normal as any other pen.

“N…?” His head flicked back to face her, she was blushing heavily and looking down at the floor.

“Yeah? You good?” He asked quickly. Hands traveling down from her shoulders to her hands, clasping them gently.

“T-thank you.” She choked out, obviously still shaken up by what just happened. “For like… everything.” She finished, squeezing one of his hands slightly tighter.

“Always.”

Next ->

[therealtbonetpm]

Spy X Family Chapter 96 SPOILER WARNING

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'M FREAKING OUT

This chapter had me laughing at first with all of Twilight's overreactions and Anya's antics,

BUT THEN THIS ABSOLUTE NUCLEAR BOMB WAS DROPPED.

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

I lowkey feel like I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said 😭 I just needed to post about this before my brain exploded

[deadscorpio]

"On The Edge", a Death Note Cyberpunk 2077 AU (chapter 1)

Chapter 1 (click here to read)

"Light Yagami started off as an employee of the Arasaka corporation, until a certain task was about to change his life for good. Or for worse. Becoming one of the most powerful netrunners in the whole Night City comes with a cost."

Ah, the brainrot is eating me alive. This is going to be a Lawlight and ReMisa centric fic, but there's also MikaLight in the first chapters. For now, enjoy the backstory of how Light and Mikami end up as mercenaries.

Heed the warnings, tags will be updated as the fic progresses.

I made a Spotify playlist for this if you want to hear it, music references will be featured a lot in this fic.

[daily-hercules]

I watch Record of ragnarok for the plot 🦁

Hercules ft. His hands and feet 🦶

[melljam]

oml … the past three lookism chapters have genuinely been so good (and i swear it isnt just because my standards were lowered after the disaster known as hunting gun)

[liittleemiixeer]

okay, so about garden of eden 🫠 (buckle up for a loooong rant)

That's the title of the book and the shady nightclub who's luring idols to manipulate them to the point of resorting to s*icide. It's an obvious reference to the book of genesis.

The story in the Bible tells the tale of humanity's first steps:

God creates the world in seven days, culminating in the creation of Adam, the first man, from dust. God places Adam in the Garden of Eden, instructing him to take care of it. Then he creates Eve from Adam's rib as his companion.

One tree is off-limits: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warns them that eating its fruit will result in death. Then, a serpent (symbolic of Satan) tempts Eve, convincing her the fruit will grant wisdom, not death. She eats it and shares it with Adam. In the end, God confronts them, banishing them from the garden.

In the book, we have many references to that story. However, the way I see it, there's a twist.

Here, the entire k-pop industry is the Garden of Eden and the club—that goes by the same name—is the tree of knowledge of good and evil (mostly of evil, in that case). Their managers, friends, fellow idols, etc. tell them to beware of it, yet, some idols (being a bunch of Eves) get tempted by the snakes that work in there and blackmail them into doing shady work for them in exchange of privileges in the industry. When the idols accept, blinded by fame, and then realise the truth about the whole deal, obviously they want out, but they've already been tempted, so they obviously get banished, aka, they push them to k*ll themselves to keep their business under lock by silencing them. These idols who are already "working" for the Garden of Eden, try to tempt other idols (Adams), growing their net of crime.

Luna, driven by the inconsistencies revolving around her sister's death, tries to get to the bottom of all these deaths and the suffering her fellow idols are going through, but it's getting harder and harder to stop succumbing to temptation the closer she gets to knowing what the club does and how it works. Moreover, in the book covers and loading screens, Luna appears surrounded by apples and snake symbolism, indicating that she is constantly surrounded by temptation, yet she still chooses to ignore it and keep working to reach her goal. So, in a sense, she is like the force who's trying to get the idols expelled from the Garden of Eden, but, in that case, it's so they escape their manipulation. She's trying to save them, but will it it save her?