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my biggest fear about writing fanfiction is accidentally mischaracterizing someone

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a modern-day cinderella story

atsumu miya x reader

3.3k words // content: not proofread, atsumu pov, second person, underage drinking, underage partying/clubbing

it’s a regular friday night. atsumu’s on a high after achieving win after win during the preliminary rounds for the spring tournament, securing a spot at both the nationals and the all-japan youth training camp before it. a couple of friends had invited him out to a party to celebrate, and who was he to decline? he was always down for a good time. besides, he knew how to pace himself well enough now that he was in 2nd year, so he wouldn’t be waking up to a painful hangover the next morning. he still needed to stay in good shape for nationals, after all.

an hour or two into the night, he meets you by one of the tables after your drunk friend is saved from a fall by resting on his back. though you also seem a bit unsteady, you’re definitely more in it than your friend, apologising profusely on her behalf. atsumu himself is a little tipsy, but he isn’t too inebriated to notice how mesmerising the person in front of him looked. he quickly expresses forgiveness and helps you lift your clearly wasted friend into what he assumes is your booth. even after she’s all settled, the fake blond still lingers, trying to make small talk with you.

“I'm miya atsumu, by the way. what’s your name?”

he starts with simple introductions before diving into his usual tactics to try and impress you. atsumu feels uncharacteristically nervous about the conversation, but ends up pleased with himself anyway when you do take interest and offer him a drink, both as an apology and to get some privacy away from your friends. not that they were an inconvenience anyway, either too drunk to notice or subtly encouraging the conversation. atsumu declines the drink, saying it feels backwards for the girl to buy the guy a drink, offering to get you one instead. you’re not necessarily offended by the notion, but try to reject anyway as you’re still pretty apologetic over your friend.

“no please, it’s my pleasure,” the setter flirtatiously reassures you. “letting me stay and talk to you is enough of an apology, seriously.” you seem to take the compliment well, tucking your head into your shoulder to try and suppress a smile. he even thinks you called him cute between giggles, but he wasn’t sure if it was just his intoxicated mind playing tricks on him. an unprecedented warmth appears in his chest when he hears you laugh, and it’s not from the alcohol. he then walks you over to the bar and orders on your behalf, carefully eyeing your glass as it’s being prepared.

time passes by in the blink of an eye while you converse. too soon, he finds that you’ve been talking for an hour and the clock’s hit 2am. people have already started streaming out of the party, including your now-sobered up friends, who wave you over to leave. when you notice them calling you over, you show him a look of remorse. “i’m sorry the night had to end so quickly, atsumu.”

a buzz fills his head when you say his name, blocking out everything that wasn’t your voice. he feels intoxicated on not just the drinks now. “i think you’ve apologised to me too often tonight,” he says, recalling how you met earlier that night. “i should be the one who’s sorry this time.” you offer him one last laugh in return to his corny joke, and he starts wishing the night could last forever.

to atsumu’s disappointment, the two of you did have to exchange goodbyes, even though he was wishing it had been a ‘see you later’. he doesn’t say it, but atsumu really hopes to see you again soon. the blond slumps back to his friends, hoping they hadn’t abandoned him yet. suna had a terrible habit of leaving him behind for kicks at parties, and his twin brother just loved to go along with it, no matter how many times their mother had scolded him. luckily, he finds them still hanging around outside the club in a crowd, impatiently waiting for him so they could leave. ‘prolly ‘cause the others tagged along this time, though,’ he thinks to himself.

once his twin spots him, osamu gets up from his spot leaning on the wall next to suna and asks where the hell he’d been for the past hour. “it’s like ya just straight up disappeared!” he complains.

“did ya happen to look at the bar?” atsumu asked with a hint of sarcasm. osamu could only stare at him in return, not bothering to make up some terrible excuse for the fact that he was just too lazy to search for his brother. “just cut me some slack, samu. i met a girl and we started talking for a while.” he tries to mask his excitement as he tells his twin about you.

though initially uninterested, suna looks up from his phone when he hears atsumu  mention a lady. “a girl? was she hot?” the blond twin rolls his eyes and steps closer to the wall suna’s leaning on to slap him over the shoulder, knowing his friend meant to insinuate that he couldn’t pull.

meanwhile, osamu raises an eyebrow at the news. “i thought you said you were swearing off girls until after the spring tournament?”

atsumu replies with a shrug. “some drunk girl fell over on me and i thought her friend was cute so i helped her out and started talking to the cute friend. i just offered her a drink, and without knowing it, bam! i spent the whole hour with her. she was actually really cool, i think she laughed at every joke i said.”

“wow, she must’ve been really drunk then,” osamu teased, prompting atsumu to turn to him and tell the other twin to shut the fuck up. suna piped up from behind their quarreling to ask about your socials, no doubt so he could stalk you. “okay but seriously, what’s her instagram? i gotta know if she’s actually as hot as you say she is.”

that’s when atsumu’s night came crashing down. he faltered, not knowing what to say. he realised just then that he had been too caught up in the moment and forgot to ask for anything other than your name. osamu is dumbfounded at his brother’s idiocy while suna simply asks him, though not without a disappointed sigh, if he at least got your name. it doesn’t calm him down much, but as soon as atsumu tells them your name, suna instantly starts searching away on his phone. “is this her?” he shows the blond a profile on his phone, asking him to identify if it was his ‘mystery girl’. atsumu shakes his head and suna swipes back to the search results, moving on to the next account.

they go through several of them, atsumu shaking his head at each one. that is, until they find a private account with an unclear profile picture. it’s a distant photo of the account owner during a sunset, the glare of the flash covering most of her face. suna hands the phone to atsumu to get a better look and he thinks it could be you, based on the similar hair and figure, but he’s still unsure. suna decides to investigate further, snatching the phone back to look through any mutuals you and him shared. it was just their luck that it was an invite-only party, so they were bound to know someone who knew someone there. the twins watch him work from over his shoulders, observing how he quickly scrolls through feed posts and story highlights until atsumu sees you, or at least one of the friends who were with you that night. suna lands on a story from one of his mutuals from that very night, where atsumu recognises your drunk friend that he’d helped out earlier. to their delight, her account was public and she appeared to be a very close friend, with plenty of photos of you on her profile. with the confirmation that the account they found was, in fact, yours, suna sends the profile link to atsumu.

on their way home, osamu suggests that his brother send a follow request to you right then and there, but atsumu protests, all flustered and the like, saying that it would be weird and creepy if he did so without you telling him about it yourself. while suna agrees with atsumu, he also reminds them that, if he couldn’t follow or message you, there was really no point in knowing her account since it was private and all. atsumu becomes more frustrated as they travel home, both at his friends for making him acknowledge his unfortunate situation, and himself for being stupid and getting himself into this situation in the first place. 

come monday morning, atsumu is still upset about his girl issue and osamu was starting to get fed up with his grumbling. “you have got to be in love with her or somethin’!” osamu exclaimed. “there’s no way ya’d be so caught up about it if ya weren’t. i don’t think i’ve ever seen ya overthink something not-volleyball-related since like, ever.”

when they enter the practice room that afternoon, the grey-haired brother calls up aran to offer some advice. he tells the older boy about atsumu’s situation while holding off an angry ball of yellow hair trying to stop his brother from “running his mouth”, on account of the story of you and that night being “his privacy”, or something. osamu wasn’t really listening. aran, already used to the stupidity of the twins from a young age, could only muster a deadpan look in response to hearing of atsumu’s oh so heartbreaking tale. he tells them that he’s on the osamu’s side, agreeing that there was no harm in following the girl and messaging her.

“ya know, instead of being creepy, it could actually be a great conversation starter.” 

atsumu furrows his brows and calls the senior’s idea silly, wondering why his twin even called aran of all people over for relationship advice in the first place. taking feint offence, aran tried to defend himself. “what, you can easily open up a conversation with that! just be honest. tell her that ya told yer friends about her and when one of them asked about her instagram, you realised that ya didn’t get it, so they tracked it down for ya. it’s not like ya followed her home or found out where she goes to school. if she really liked ya, she might even be flattered.” after relaying his advice, aran quickly returns to the other side of the gym to start stretching – and maybe maybe to avoid atsumu altogether.

after practice, the setter contemplates actually taking aran’s advice. he’s also gotten sick of his own misery at this point –something he really didn’t want admit to osamu– so he might actually throw caution to the wind and do it. just like his brother said earlier that day, it was uncharacteristic of him to put so much thought into something like this. he supposed that the others were right –also something he’d never say out loud– and it really wasn’t too big of a deal, but he didn’t want to risk scaring you off in any way. 

to everyone else’s dismay, atsumu ended up deciding not to send you a follow request that night. instead, he comes up with a bigger, better, and more complicated –or in osamu’s words, stupidly exhausting– plan to meet you again and ask for your instagram directly. he thought he was a genius for it.

based on your friend’s instagram that they found the night of the party, she was quite a frequent partygoer. so, going off both on your closeness and the fact that you seemed comfortable that night at the club, he assumed that you must’ve been one, too. as such, his master plan involved going to as many parties as he possibly could in hopes that he’d run into you again. when he told suna and osamu about it, they both called it dumb, saying he didn’t have the time and energy –or, frankly, the money– to be doing all this when he should be preparing for the spring tournament. atsumu interjected their complaints, reminding the two that being the prefecture’s most popular highschool volleyball player (a statement which earned even more protest from osamu, who insisted that he shared the title) had plenty of perks, including the connections and charm to get free entry into any party he wanted. as for volleyball training, he noted that parties were typically hosted only on weekends, so they wouldn’t take away too much energy from him. “besides, i’m not even planning to stay long at any of them. i’ll just stop by to look for her, and if she doesn’t show after a while, i’ll leave right away.”

although suna didn’t express any further concerns, instead being more vocal about how interested he was in seeing where this went, osamu was still hesitant about letting his twin go along with the foolish plan. though he tried not to show it, the younger twin was still worried about atsumu. “we need you in good shape for the tournament and you have that training camp at the end of next month, ‘tsumu. don’t go getting any more stupid because of some girl you talked to at a party.” 

even though atsumu saw where osamu was coming from, he still expected a little more support from his own brother. “‘samu, ya don’t get it. she’s not just some girl.” the apprehension from his twin thinned out atsumu’s patience and sparked an annoyance in him, getting him even more fired up. the two of them started to go back and forth, atsumu becoming more insistent as they went on. “ya don’t have to worry about this taking me away from volleyball or whatever, i just need to find and talk to her again. it’s not like an impossible task or something.”

“I know it’s not necessarily impossible, but there are just better ways to go about it, don’t ya think?” osamu proposed.

still, atsumu was adamant on his choices. “and we’ve already talked about them. but just let me do this, will ya?”

with a final sigh, osamu gave up the fight. he knew his brother’s stubbornness well, and he knew when to back down from a battle he wasn’t going to win. he was getting exasperated over the debate anyway, so he just let it be, hoping that atsumu wasn’t going to regret it later on and praying that you weren’t going to disappoint.

over the next couple of weeks, atsumu went to as many parties as he could in the area, looking for you at each one to no avail. although he did catch glimpses of the group you were with that night you met, he never saw you with the crowd. he just about gave up in the final week leading up to his training camp, finally admitting defeat to suna near the back of the club they were at.

“i don’t think i’m gonna find her again. man, i really thought she’d be at one of these.” the blond sorrowfully sips on the glass he’s nursing in his hand while he watches people move to the house music blaring over the speakers. However, as he takes one last scan over the room, a familiar face catches his eye. shoving the drink into suna’s empty hand, he rushes over to a spot near the edge of the dance floor, paying no mind to the crowd of drunks he has to slip past and shove over to get to you.

when he reaches you, you’re startled by the feeling of a hand on your shoulder while you’re dancing on your own. you let out a shriek, turning some heads from a few people over. you grimace, realising that most of the attendants aren’t sober enough to notice you scream over the loud music. all your friends are scattered around the area, either at the bar or back at your table, which instilled a sense of danger when you felt the touch. but as soon as you turn around to who you expect to be a stranger, you’re met with a somewhat pleasant surprise in the form of a messy head of bleached blond hair.

atsumu lifts his hand again as soon as he hears the high-pitched noise coming from you, realising all too late that suddenly grabbing your shoulder in the middle of a crowded club was probably a bad idea. “shit, i’m so sorry i scared ya like that!” he yells over the deafening sounds of the party.

“hey, it’s fine!” you laugh, leaning in a bit to make sure he can hear you more clearly. “i didn’t think i’d see you again so soon.”

the boy in front of you lets out a nervous chuckle at your words. “oh yeah, hi again, by the way. i was kinda hoping i’d see you again soon, to be honest.”

he seems less confident than he did the last time you met, which piques your interest. “oh really? if we’re being truthful here, i kinda was, too.” you watch as the light in his eyes brightens up at your response, evident even under the dim LEDs in the room.

“seriously? then is it kinda weird that i’ve been looking for you everywhere?” atsumu asks, to your shock. observing the look on your face, he’s quick to clarify himself, stating, “i mean at every party i’ve been to. sorry, i think ‘everywhere’ does make it seem a bit weird, huh?”

he makes you laugh again, even without meaning to. “yeah, it kinda does. and have ya been to a lot of parties recently?” you question him, truly interested in how much he’s been looking for you in these past weeks.

atsumu nods in reply, admitting that he usually doesn’t, but he went out more in an attempt to find you. “my friends called me stupid for it,” he says, earning another smile from you.

“well, they might be right, considering i don’t actually go out that much,” you reveal. “once every few weeks, at most. and i’ve been busier since it’s the end of term now, so other things have been holding me back from partying.”

atsumu feels the shame rising into his face at this revelation, finding out that his assumptions were poorly mistaken and his efforts were somewhat futile. it’s his turn to laugh now. “i’m sorry, i guess i made the wrong judgement then, didn’t i?”

your smile grows wider as something dawns on you, recalling a detail from your previous meeting. “yeah, i guess you did. hey, look, you’re the one who’s apologising too much, now.” the blond matches your expression, glad that you remembered the comment he made the last time you spoke. the two of you launched into easy conversation once again, moving away from the crowd so that you could hear each other more easily. you eventually made your way out of the club altogether. suna spots the two of you walk out the door and inconspicuously slips out behind you while being sure to leave some space. although osamu had given up on coming with atsumu during his initial outings to find you, suna still tagged along, eager to see what you looked like for himself. he watches from a distance as the two of you talk, hoping that atsumu doesn’t forget to ask a crucial question this time around.

and luckily for all of them, he didn’t. before you exchange goodbyes that night, atsumu remembers not to make the mistake of forgetting to ask for your socials. no way he was letting you go this time.

note/rant this fic honestly isn't as good as i hoped it would be, especially the bit of conflict between the twins 😓 it's somewhat of a brainfart 'cause it really doesn't feel like good writing by my standards (maybe bcs i've been writing too many research essays) but i had the idea in my head and couldn't let the concept go to waste so i just pumped out whatever i could with my creative juices running low. also, the teenage party scene in this is based off my own hs experience, and ik it probably doesn't fly in jpn but I really wanted to write something based on it so

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note dipping my toes into the harry potter fandom again

cw / tw : angst, suicidal thoughts (hinted)

you and fred got separated during the battle of hogwarts and there hasn't been a single day in your life where you didn't regret it.

the two of you started off in the same area, both assigned to guard the secret passages along with his brother, george. as the three of you got pushed deeper into the castle by the oncoming death eaters, you were split up in the haze of the fight. you got backed up into a hallway, not too far from the room of requirement. in fact, you heard the explosion happen. you just didn't think anything of it. you were too caught up in the fight.

looking back, you think, if only you were a little bit closer. if only you had taken a few more steps backwards, or if you ran a bit faster, or if you had made a point to stick with fred, something could've changed. you could've done something, anything, to save him. or maybe, if just the right events had happened, you could've been right there beside him.

after the battle, you spiraled. once the dead were buried and the debris had been cleared up, you didn't know what to do with yourself. you didn't know what to do without fred. he was the light of your life.

you couldn't survive going back to the little flat in diagon alley that you shared with him. everyone knew you couldn't be left alone in your state. so you lived at the burrow for a while. the weasleys took you in as their own, just as they did before fred's passing. you grieved together, sharing stories of fred with the others when the terrors kept you up late into the night. but you eventually felt useless at the burrow. at some point, you realised you had overstayed your welcome. even though the family had reassured you, you knew you needed to leave. nearly everyone had gone back to their regular day-to-day lives after a few months. so you had to as well.

the idea came to you when ron returned from an auror mission. he came back with quite old news, that some death eaters involved in the battle of hogwarts were still on the loose. but that one day, it seemed like you were finally listening.

you were back in fred's old bedroom when you had the idea. you spent as much time as you could in there, trying not to let any memories of his scent, his laugh, or his smile slip away from you. although being surrounded by reminders of him could've suffocated you, the thought that you might forget a single detail about him was far worse, far more unforgivable.

the reminders of fred and the reminder that the people who caused his death were still out there, on the run, sparked an idea. rather than let yourself live in regret, you decided to do something about it. although you didn't take up the auror position when it was first offered, you figured it was better late than never. so the next day, you set off to the ministry.

you started off patient, sitting through the training and the waiting for news of stray death eaters, but you eventually grew antsy. you were too eager to avenge your beloved and hunt down the people who hurt you. so you went rogue. you became a vigilante of sorts, going into the deepest, darkest crevices of the wizarding world to hunt down every single death eater left on the face of the earth.

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???

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imagining sakusa with an equally meticulous and cautious partner; and someone who’s just as blunt as he is.

it scared sakusa’s teammates to death when they first met his partner. the brutally honest comments they faced, now double the amount, was almost too much to handle. even to this day, komori still finds it eerie how identical their expressions are when they see something they find disgusting. it’s like they mirrored each other, he thought. they’re both just as careful and diligent in taking care of their own health, as well. they’ve made dates out of their bi-weekly cleaning days. and both of them work equally hard, sharing that persistence and stubbornness to never leave things unfinished. you can always trust this couple to get things done.

beware of making a competition out of anything with them around, though. it would be like putting two flames together. both of them are incredibly competitive, and they'd burn brightly with each other. now, if they were back in highschool together, their classmates would always want either one of them on their teams, whether it be for regular classroom or physical activities. things always got exciting whenever they were pit against each other. on the other hand, getting both of them on your team was a guaranteed win. post-timeskip though, whenever msby or the jnt has any sort of team bonding activities involving partners and family, everyone knows not to get on their bad side. they both get an equally sinister glint in their eyes. if you're teamed up against them, you'd be lucky to come out alive.

even though they burn with equal passion, imagine that sakusa’s partner is just a bit brighter than he is. just because you’re a realist doesn’t mean you can’t be cute about it. they’d colour-code everything with stickers, even sorting the masks, medicines, and vitamin bottles in their shared apartment into adorable little patterned baskets. they have brightly coloured hand sanitisers covered in stickers attached to their bags and even got one for kiyoomi. his teammates would see the almost 2-meter tall athlete carrying around a cactus-shaped hand sanitiser to practice and start teasing him. that is, until his partner comes up from behind him and sends a death stare their way, promptly shutting them up.

so imagine them, a masked couple standing in the corner of a crowded room, facing only each other while avoiding everyone else. imagine the two of them whispering among themselves as they’re pressed against the walls (and each other) with their hands in their pockets. and imagine sakusa’s usual grimace due to the crowd replaced by an almost-smile while they’re talking, maybe even a laugh escaping him.

his partner was almost exactly like him, but with just the pop of colour he needed in life.

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absolutely obsessed with the fact that tsukki works in a museum + is still in university post timeskip because it highly indicates that he absolutely will end up living a double life. personally I am of the persuasian that tsukki goes on to get a masters / eventual doctorate in history (and/or an adjacent field, like archeology, paleontology, anthropology, you get the vibes)

but like I imagine the fucking Sendai Frogs (or any of his volleyball friends) dont exactly enjoy chatting about 9th century kings or 12th century architecture so it just never comes up. except for when tsukki tells them he's going to be missing practice because he's flying to China to a few small villages with local churches and temples to study old medical records and put together a timeline of the opiod wars in less documented places and the rest of the Frogs are just like !!!!!!!!!!! you're doing what now????? and he's just like yeah its a government grant :/ but it'll be nice to get published in this journal and then all of his teammates go home and google him and find the half dozen articles he's published that high school students are citing in their research papers

but then when he's working in the archives and reading through old newspapers a coworker of his comes down and is like "hey kei would you be able to fill in for a docent that called in sick tomorrow? we just need someone to lead a few tours" and tsukki is like "sorry, I booked that time off. the d2 volleyball league starts tomorrow." and the coworker is just like. what?

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MAAF NORAK SEDIKIT kamu orang indo????? OMGGG your writings are sooooo nice

IYAA HALOOO n makasih banyakkk 🥲🥰 kyknya jarang bgt ya ketemu org indo lain di tumblr skrg omgg

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I love how MGG’s audition process for Criminal Minds was so similar to Spencer Reid’s hiring process for the BAU Aka ‘this guy has like no experience and we don’t think he’s right for this job but there’s something about him and he’s oddly skilled so I guess he’s hired’

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There’s something so hot about this, I can’t explain it 🤤

Matthew helping to parallel park someone’s car in Texas recently

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congratulations star-redfiles enthusiasts i just went through a horror of an exam and to reconcile how bad i thought my writing was in it, im gonna bury myself in writing fanfics and try to finish my wips in order to beat my writer’s block

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Mom "don't you think you're watching too much of that show?? You really like crimes that much?"

Me "yes, it's definitely the crimes"

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this man could literally punch me in the face and i would still profess my love to him

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mornings with you – drabble, aaron hotchner x reader

notes: gn!stay-at-home spouse!reader, reader wears lipstick but no other specific features mentioned, inspired by an instagram post sorta, fluff <3 0.6k words

life in the hotchner home is almost as routine as aaron himself is. though he doesn't press it, the family simply grows in tune with his habitualness.

your mornings with him are a prime example of this.

you get up at the same time, the ring of aaron's alarm clock waking you both. it always takes you a bit longer to get out of bed – he's typically in the bathroom by the time you gather yourself out from under the covers. even so, he awaits your presence beside him at the sink each time. his hand rests on your back when you appear next to him in the mirror, the other already holding his toothbrush. his morning habits had grown on you, so now, you brush your teeth and wash your face together each possible morning – with hands, fingers, or legs brushing and entwined throughout – before heading down to start breakfast.

aaron makes a point to help out whenever he can. he'll do absolutely anything you ask of him – whether that be to chop something, measure another, or simply set the table – so you've never denied his offers. the routine continues on once you finish breakfast, when you go to wake up jack while aaron gets ready. afterward, you normally send him off at the door before urging jack to start getting ready for school.

your morning routine is always the same whenever aaron isn't away on a case. however, you're now starting to pick up shifts at a local cafe to pass the time. so this morning, you're getting dressed by the time aaron should leave for work.

you expect him to be out the door when you descend the stairs but shockingly enough, he stands right by the entryway table, looking expectantly towards you.

"you're not leaving yet, honey?" you wonder as you walk up to him.

"i have the privilege to wait a bit today." a smile creeps onto his face and he stretches out his arms to welcome you into a soft embrace. "i couldn't miss you seeing me off like you always do."

his hands rest above your hips and yours on his chest. they trace the lines of his suit and you pause for a moment, studying his face as you think.

"well, just my luck, then. i need your help blotting my lipstick."

aaron tilts his head and lets out a breathy chuckle, but shifts to reach for a box of tissues on the table beside him anyway. just as he's about to extend his arm, you move your hands up to his face. he looks at you quizzically now, eyebrow raised.

the question that's about to leave his lips is quickly sealed in by yours with a kiss.

your husband's confused face quickly relaxes into pleased one. you feel his small smile widen through the kiss before pulling back, a look of content displayed on your face.

you're about to pat him on the chest when he leans in for another peck, surprising you this time.

"that was definitely worth being a few minutes late," he says.

"you mean being right on time?" you tease, knowing full well that he always leaves when he does to be early for work. the two of you share a giggle while your arms circle past him to reach the door. he picks up his briefcase and exits your home, yelling a goodbye to jack as he does. you're met with the sound of his son scurrying to the front door to watch him leave, just as usual.

while you watch aaron walk to his car, you catch him lifting his arm to his face, rubbing it about where his lips would be. you smile to yourself as he examines the bit of red that's gathered on his thumb.

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Reid relies heavily on people to influence him because he was never allowed to develop emotionally and so he looks to them to teach him

What people don’t realise is a lot of development happens between your pre-teens and early 20s and the American education system is built (poorly) to adhere to that development. Reid skipped it all

He skipped the school events and the making friends. He graduated high school at age 12 so at that point, any chance of normal socialisation with anyone even close to his age was gone. He was alone with his unwell mother and didn’t even have the opportunity to make true friends (apart from Ethan, but we don’t know what age he was or how old they were when they met), his only true socialisation would have been with adult academics

My point is, he missed out on a lot of social and emotional development. He then joined the FBI when he was (from what I can work out based on the flashback in season 3) 21/22. As a 21 year old myself, this is a prime time for learning about the world, about life and how it works and about your place. It’s a time to make mistakes and learn from them as you get used to adulthood. Reid never got this, he entered into a field where mistakes aren’t allowed, where he has no free time to explore all of the experiences adulthood has to offer

Reid relies heavily on people like Morgan and Hotch and Rossi and Gideon to be his guidance because without it, he would never have any other opportunity to learn how to grow and navigate life. Even with all the intellect in the world, there’s so much about life you can’t know unless you experience it, and he was never given the opportunity to

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Once again, the photos of Thomas Gibson aka Hotch are so random ><

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been absolutely obsessed with criminal minds lately. so imagine...

pro barista!reader who visits the bau to drop off a freshly baked treat from their cafe for hotch and tries some coffee from his mug. only to be appalled by what's in it. considering the fact that they have a jet you'd think they could afford higher quality coffee. but of course, who could blame a group of overworked federal agents for just wanting any caffeine fix they could get. still, you refused to let your husband drink the office brew when you could make better.

so, despite his initial reluctance and insistence that he's fine with the bureau's coffee, you start making hotch his own coffee every morning. at least, the ones he starts from home. with the help of your espresso machine, you spoil him with freshly ground beans and his perfect ratio of foamed milk to espresso. you even surprise him with different types of beans every week to figure out which is his favourite.

when the team realises what's in the tumbler he's started bringing to work and why he hasn't been drinking the office coffee as often, they start protesting. they tease him relentlessly about being spoiled, or that he should be a "man of the people" and drink the same coffee they do. so in an attempt at humour, aaron jokes that if they have a problem with it, they should take it up with you.

to his own surprise, they actually do.

imagine his shock when you walk into the round table room the next day with a crate of six coffee cups in one hand. you place it in the middle of the table, noting that each one's been named. "a little going away gift," is what you call it as you set it down. everyone picks theirs up with a smile and a chorus of thanks makes its way to you.

"hope this going away gift becomes a regular thing," emily says. to which you simply chuckle and nod.

however, you still clutch a seventh cup in your other hand. this one you carry over to aaron, who's standing by the table. "and this last one..." you turn the cup around in your hand, as if looking for the name. "is for the handsome unit chief."

the smile reaches your eyes as you hand it to him. your fingers brush and both of you stay in place for a bit, wanting the touch but knowing he's not partial to pda. his own smile graces aaron's strained features. it's a kind that's rarely ever seen by the rest of the team. a kind of smile reserved only for you, paired with a kind of gaze only you ever see. "thank you, honey."

[star-redfiles]

NOT MY FLAMINGOS

[A gift for squigglejot, thank you for supporting me!]