#I work at NASA and I fucking hate my job.

[iceskatingmobsters]

I have learned a lot of. weird shit. in the process of researching for this fic. for instance, before normal saline, the fucking fluid of choice to rehydrate someone who lost a dickload of blood was milk, fuck you if you were lactose intolerant. also sockeye salmon have eight different blood types and cows have at least fucking ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY

[lexosaurus]

Ghost Boy? In my college class? It's More Likely Than You Think

[ao3 link]

Warnings: None Words: 6,031

****

College was crazy. 

Okay?

There was absolutely no reason why college had to be as insane as it was.

Alright, maybe there was a reason. A reason called, "We have four years to make these students professionals in their chosen field, and some even less time than that."

Danny understood. He really, truly did. He knew that to work in his dream job at NASA, he needed to learn not just how to locate the constellations in the night sky, but also about subjects like chemistry, biology, calculus, physics—a lot of physics.

But seriously, when the hell was a guy supposed to sleep?

Last night's problem set only had five questions, theoretically. But it was run by a completely sadistic site that Vlad himself must have designed—that bastard—because while submitting a correct answer seemed to mark one of the five outlined stars in gold, the site also seemed to be more than happy to remove the gold star if he got a problem incorrect. 

Which meant that the theoretical five-questioned assignment ended up taking Danny many, many more questions than that. 

Just when he had thought the hell was over, he realized he still hadn't begun his paper for his mandatory freshman writing class. So then, he got the absolute pleasure of writing an essay about a stupid, Victorian-era play he didn't read regarding the symbolism of a hat as it related to...foreshadowing, or something. 

He didn't read it. He only signed up for this dumb writing seminar because the timing worked better on his schedule. He'd much rather be taking the writing class about horror novels. But unfortunately, that one happened during his mandatory physics course.

When it was all over and he finally caught sight of his pillow, he was pretty sure he’d shed a single tear. Did he remember sinking into the mattress? Closing his eyes, and drifting off?

No. He didn't. 

He was fucking tired.

But apparently, the universe did actually hate him because instead of being roused by his alarm the next morning, he was shaken by his ghost sense.

Oh yeah, apparently Skulker found his dorm.

Joy!

No seriously, fuck that guy. 

What the hell kind of sick weirdo wants to make a rug out of someone else's skin, anyway? Not to mention that Skulker had no conception of what a good time to hunt was, considering he seriously was trying to start chaos at five in the fucking morning.

Again, fuck that guy.

He only just barely had enough time to fly home, shower, hastily read over and submit his essay (he'd long since learned from high school that he couldn't trust himself that late at night to be coherent), and make a mad dash to his favorite bagel spot on the way to class.

However, the bagel guy—he had a name, Danny was almost sure—must have been under the weather today because, for some reason, he could not stop staring at Danny.

The instinct to run his hand over his face to check for post-fight ectoplasm splatters was a learned reaction at this point. But this time, he couldn't feel anything off. His skin was dry. Cold, like usual, but dry.

"Uh..." The bagel guy continued staring at him slack-jawed.

"Do I have something on my face?" 

That seemed to shake the bagel guy out of his stupor. He blinked, his eyes darting around to catch the eye of a few other customers who, for some reason, were giving Danny a really wide berth.

Did he smell or something? Had he forgotten to put his deodorant on?

Oh god, did his parents do something to make national news again? Did the news use a family photo when reporting the story or something? Why was everyone looking at him? Seriously, what the hell was going on today?

The bagel guy locked eyes with Danny once more, briefly, before darting back down to the register and handing Danny his change. "One everything bagel with cream cheese for the, uh—for—coming right up."

"Thanks," Danny said, trying to be as friendly as possible. Jazz always said that he shouldn't judge people for acting strange. That they could be going through something personal.

So, Danny shook it off. Maybe he missed a chunk of ectoplasm on his hair when he was showering. Skulker had nailed his shoulder pretty well. The green, ecto-infused smoothie he'd sipped that morning was working its magic to mend his skin, but who knew? Maybe a little bit of blood was leaking through his shirt. It wouldn't be the first time that happened, anyway.

Or the last.

Amazingly, he did get his bagel. But when the man handed it to Danny, his eyes were almost popping out of his skull. His heavily accented, "Ah, here is one—ah, your—your bagel," sounded especially halted today. 

But no. The big, gruff bagel guy wouldn't have stuttered. He wouldn't have been nervous to pass a bagel to a tired-looking college student either.

Danny must have misheard. 

He darted down the sidewalk. He was going to be late for class. And it was because of his internal panic that he didn't notice the girl with her nose buried in her cell phone at first. Not until she almost crashed into him, looked up, and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"HOLY SHIT!" she yelled, her hands flailing beside her. Her phone flew out from her fingers and clattered on the pavement.

"Sorry!" Danny scooped up her phone from the ground and handed it to her.

She stared at him as if he were completely insane, making no move to take the phone until Danny leaned forward a little closer and pointedly said, "Here."

Whether or not this girl was hungover or still drunk from whatever party she'd been at the night before, Danny did not have time to work around her brain. He was going to be late for class!

"Fuck," she said, eyes still glued on Danny. She did, however, finally reach out and gently take the offered cell phone.

Which was all he needed.

Mission accomplished, he whirled back around intending on continuing his fast-walk-nearly-run pace to the science building, but caught the eye of a biker who seemed to go into a similar trance as the bagel guy and ended up crashing straight into a parked car.

"Oh my god!" Danny darted over to the strewn biker. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Stay back!" the man yelled, struggling up and holding his hand out to block Danny from seeing his face.

Was this guy...cowering at him? Like he was some sort of ghost?

No, no. This was silly. Now Danny was just being paranoid.

"Just stay back!"

An oddly phrased demand, and a little biting at that, but the biker did just crash into a parked car because of Danny and that other girl—who was currently holding her phone up at Danny—so he guessed he could forgive this random dude for being a little snappish.

Danny didn't have time to dwell on this stranger anyway, because holy shit his class was starting in ten minutes and if Danny didn't get his ass to the room right now he was going to be screwed.

So with one more apology to the biker, and one more glance to the strange phone-obsessed girl, Danny adjusted the strap of his bag back over his shoulder and took off down the road.

Not literally took off. Though, he really wanted to jet through the air today. He'd had these urges to duck out of sight and fly to class before, but it never felt so compelling as right now. 

Unfortunately, the street was crowded as shit, and in between classes as it was, the building would likely be crowded too. Finding a discreet place to transform would probably take just as long as running to the classroom like his half-life depended on it. And so, the latter option it was.

Somehow, he managed to make it to class with five minutes to spare. Okay, maybe not somehow. Maybe he did risk using his flight to propel him forward a little bit. Could anyone blame him? 

College was crazy. And anyone who thought they saw a guy not quite touching the ground when he walked could have just as easily been sleep-deprived and were almost certainly hallucinating. Humans couldn't fly! Only ghosts could fly, and Danny Fenton was clearly a human college student just running to class.

Gaslight, gatekeep, ghostboss—or whatever the saying was.

Energy was buzzing in Danny’s veins, and he found it a little difficult to stay in his seat. An aftereffect of only barely using his flight powers, he was sure. His body got a taste of being airborne, and now it didn't want to return to the laws of gravity.

Danny could forgive his ghost core for that. Gravity could be very exhausting sometimes. Especially when he was in the middle of a ghost fight and his enemy was hurling him to the ground.

But he was in a lecture, and it would look weird if this random college student was hovering over his seat, so Danny forced his butt onto the chair as he dropped his bag beside him.

Whispers fluttered around him, which wasn't too unusual. People often talked in pleading freak-out whispers to their friends after an especially grueling night of homework.

Danny was about to turn to his chemistry lecture buddy and do the same—because seriously, he was going to have nightmares over that damn assignment for weeks—when he realized that his chemistry buddy was not in his usual seat.

And then, a whisper caught the attention of his enhanced eardrum.

"...ghost..."

"...Phantom..."

Ah, that explained it. 

Oh yeah, it was all coming together now.

They must have been talking about the ghost fight from this morning, the one with Skulker. This city wasn't Amity Park, so the students here weren't exactly used to ghost attacks. Of course, the initial fight was probably very exciting for them.

And, well, his parents probably were on the news that morning, but likely only to be interviewed about the attack. Maybe they ended up rambling about ghostly habits and migration patterns or whatever other bullshit theories they’d been churning with recently.

So then, the bagel guy must have recognized Danny as a Fenton, a child of Jack and Maddie, the infamous, kooky ghost experts.

The effects of that realization were delayed, but when they finally hit, he felt like his brain was hit by a semi-truck. Because, shit. He didn't know if he could deal with his bagel guy knowing who he was. He was going to have to find a new bagel spot, wasn't he? 

Danny craned his neck over to the door. The lecture was supposed to be starting, but his chemistry buddy was nowhere to be found.

But then, to his immense relief that he wouldn't have to suffer through this lecture by himself, the door opened to reveal the tall, lanky form of Cameron, his chemistry buddy.

Danny eagerly moved his bag out of the way of Cam's seat, his woes of that fucking assignment hot on his lips, but before he could begin his trauma-dumping session, something strange happened.

Really, really strange.

As Cam began habitually walking over to his seat, he looked up, caught Danny's eye, and froze.

His mouth parted into a perfect 'o,' his eyes widened, and his eyebrows disappeared under his hairline. Then, he backed up, caught the bewildered expression of another student near him, and moved to another aisle.

Danny sat there too stunned to call out to Cam, though the intent was at the precipice of his being. Hurt stabbed his gut, and the social anxiety the A-List had trained his brain for in high school started creeping up his spine.

Did Danny do something wrong? 

Why had Cam moved away?

What did that look to the other kid mean?

He tried to think of a reason why Cam might have suddenly decided that Danny was a weirdo freak that should be avoided, but the only thing he remembered doing between yesterday and today was the two texts he'd sent at eleven last night complaining about the assignment. But surely, everyone had complained, right?

Or was the assignment genuinely effortless for everyone? And Danny was just an idiot who didn't understand some really simple concept, and now Cam had suddenly realized that he'd picked the wrong chemistry buddy to sit next to in class?

That must have been it.

Why else had he moved away?

Danny turned around, looking to the back of the lecture hall. But all he could see was a sea of faces all looking at him.

Okay, honestly, what the fuck was wrong with everyone today?

He whipped out his phone, paranoia striking through his gut like a spear. Maybe he'd accidentally revealed himself during the fight? But he checked Google, searching for Phantom's human identity, but all he got at the top of the search were old Reddit threads theorizing about which historical figure he could have been, and celebrity news sites spouting completely absurd clickbait-type theories about his past.

Is Danny Phantom Napoleon's son?

Could Danny Phantom be Related to George Washington?

New Theory Suggests Danny Phantom is Alexander the Great!

Yeah, like Danny was leading legions of ghosts around Europe anytime soon.

As Danny wracked his brain for what the hell he'd done to deserve the wrath of having his classmates stare at him like he was some sort of weird alien species and everyone was plotting on how to initiate first contact, the side door opened and the professor came darting in the hall with a stack of folders all but falling out of his hands and a muttering of breathy, "sorry, sorry," light on his lips.

The muttering broke out into jilted, uncomfortable laughter, and Danny still couldn't help the feeling that they were laughing at him. 

He tried to brush that off as just the remnants of his high school on him and keep his attention focused on his short, salt-and-pepper-haired professor who looked like he couldn't remember if he was going to a beach party or Burning Man today, and decided to dress for both. 

Yang put the manila folders down on the front table, miraculously without spilling any of the contents inside, set his bag down on the rolling chair beside him, and picked up a piece of chalk to face the board.

He held a hand up and began writing Chemistry 101 — Stoichiometry on the board.

Behind Danny, the snickers grew louder. 

Was there some inside joke that he just wasn't getting? Had his classmates prepared some sort of prank for the teacher today and Danny hadn't read the email? Was it April Fool's Day, even though logic and reasoning told Danny that it was only October?

"Sorry I was late, everyone," Yang began. "Now if you don't mind, I want to begin by going over a few problems from last night's assignment. I noticed a pattern in the problems everyone was getting wrong..."

Someone coughed rather obnoxiously behind him.

Danny felt ice begin to build in his stomach. 

"...so as you can see here, I noticed a lot of people forgot to calculate the used excess of iron to find the amount of excess reactants. Remember, guys, you can't just subtract the bigger and smaller masses in the problem..."

Another obnoxious cough. 

Yang didn't break stride. "...you have to actually convert it to moles and set up your mole ratio, and then convert back to grams. I mentioned this in class but it seemed like too many of you—"

"Professor Yang?" the impatient voice of Brittany, one of his classmates, said from behind.

The class broke out in a fit of whispers and giggles, this time not even trying to hide their restlessness.

"What is it?" Yang turned around, his chalk still hovering on the board.

And then he looked at Danny. His eyes bugged out like a cartoon, sticking out beyond the rims of his glasses. His jaw opened and closed like a fish, and he dropped the chalk on the floor.

Now, the class was roaring with noise.

Danny stared eye-to-eye with the professor for ten seconds or ten minutes. He didn't know which, and it didn't matter anyway, because then Yang's thin lips opened to exclaim a word that may as well have electrocuted him all over again:

"Phantom?" 

Confusion and panic hit Danny like a sledgehammer.

How did Yang know he was Phantom? Had he been revealed? Did everyone know he was Phantom?

And then he heard the whispers. 

"It's really him! It's Phantom!"

"Why is he here?"

"It's Phantom!"

No!

No!

How did everyone know his secret?

Danny had to stop this.

He had over four years of hiding his ghost half from his parents, the world, and most impressively, his parents. Over the years, he'd honed his ability at lying and using his silver tongue to smooth over situations with such practiced ease, he was expecting his Oscar in the mail any day now.

Which is why, like an utter pro, he jumped up from his seat and shouted, "It's a lie, I'm not a ghost!"

The room went silent, and then was launched into a frenzy.

"Phantom!"

"Is he delusional?"

"It's really him! It's Phantom!"

His panic was bordering on hysteria as it stampeded over him, beating his core so furiously that Danny thought it was going to jump through his ribcage.

He stood, his gloved hands held out in front of him as he began his best at pleading with the masses, but before he could grovel too much, Professor Yang's voice sliced through him like a knife, calling out, "Phantom! What are you doing in my class?"

Wait...

Gloved hand?

Danny looked at his hands again. They were gloved.

And glowing.

The relief was so heavy on his shoulders, his back, and every inch of his skin. It was also mortifying.

Because here he was, in his Chemistry 101 class not as Fenton, but as Phantom. 

"Holy shit," Danny muttered. 

What. The. Hell.

No, really.

What the hell?

How was this happening?

Had he really been so tired that he'd forgotten to change out of his Phantom form after Skulker's fight?

No, hang on—had he been walking around in his Phantom form all morning?

How had he not noticed?

Then all the memories came flying back to him at once. The bagel guy acting weird, staring at him like he wasn't sure if he should seriously give a ghost a bagel because "Do ghosts need to eat? Is human food poison?"

And then the girl. She hadn't screamed because she nearly crashed into a stranger, she screamed and threw her phone in the air because she'd nearly crashed into Phantom. And that's why she was recording him after, too. She was recording Phantom, a ghost that wasn't native to this college town.

Danny thought he'd die of cringe-fail right there because that meant she also recorded the biker crashing into a parked car and was probably uploading it to TikTok later. He was sure it would be trending in minutes.

That was, if she hadn't already uploaded it to Tiktok, and it wasn't already trending. His phone suddenly felt heavy in his pocket. 

He looked around at the faces of intrigue and excitement, feebly attempting to squash the anxiety that was currently tap dancing over his skin.  Okay, so his initial attempt at acting hadn't gone so well. That was okay; nobody could be perfect all the time. If he just channeled the inner cool and suave hero that he was, he could totally save the situation.

For sure.

He floated a few feet in the air. His legs felt awkward sprawled out, and he tried to form a ghost-tail, but somehow his sense of self was too strong for that today. No matter, to balance it out, he splayed his arms out wide and began doing jazz hands, saying, "It's me! Danny Phantom! Just here checking your classroom for ghosts!" 

There was a moment of collective pause before his brain caught up with what his mouth said, and then he scrambled, making a big show of ducking around the room to search for...ghosts, or something. He lowered to the floor to check under the auditorium chairs, flew to the front of the room to peek around the tables, and finally went up to the ceiling to glance around the four corners of the room.

Once he felt embarrassed enough, he stopped in the center of the room, puffed out his chest, and said, "Good news, citizens! There are no ghosts in this room!"

Whispers and mutters once again broke out from his classmates, along with a few giggles. In the front of the classroom, Yang's head was craned up to look at him, his expression showing pure bafflement. 

Okay, Danny was bombing this set. He was catching onto the vibe of the room, and had come to this very astute conclusion: there was no saving this. 

Time to abort the mission.

"Well, that will be all! Have a fun class learning about chemistry!" 

And then, without another word, he jetted through the wall and into the hallway of the building, turning invisible immediately. Fortunately, with classes having started several minutes ago, the corridors were mostly empty. Only a few stragglers remained, booking it down the halls and trying to duck inconspicuously into their classrooms. 

Danny cut around a corner of the hall where, thankfully, no one was standing. That didn't stop him from triple-checking over his shoulder (it was just the water fountain, Danny) before he let his ring wash over him.

Then, when he was sure he was human again this time, he ran down the hall and pushed open the auditorium door to his class which, by the looks of things, hadn't calmed down from their encounter yet.

The door hit the wall with a bang—oops, he thought he hadn't pushed so hard—and then every head was turned to him.

"Sorry!" Danny rubbed the back of his neck and gestured vaguely to the clock on the wall. "I lost track of time."

The room was...silent. Incredibly, confoundingly silent. 

That wasn't good.

On instinct, Danny glanced down again to make sure that he was wearing his red hoodie and blue jeans and not his Phantom black and white jumpsuit. He was, in fact, wearing the right clothes. And out of the corners of his eyes, he saw the glint of his black bangs.

So then, what the fuck?

Alright, there was no need to panic. He was human, his classmates were human, they'd just met Phantom, and now Danny was busting in the classroom late. It wouldn't be the first time he was late to class, anyway. Lots of students were late for chemistry! 

With his brain sufficiently pep-talked, he pointed as inconspicuously to his seat as he could and said, "I'll just...take my seat." 

No one responded, so he took that as his cue to begin his walk of shame up the steps of the auditorium aisles to his usual seat near the front, which was still amazingly void of students anywhere near it.

"Phantom?" a voice rang out from the spattering of students around the room.

Danny missed the next step and ate shit on the floor. His bag hit his back heavily, and he could have sworn his shoe nearly flew off his feet. He scrambled to stand, his hand missing the railing only once, before he managed to stand back proud and tall. Sort of. His backpack had slid off one shoulder, and his body was hunched forward and he tried to regain his breath because holy shit, it actually really hurt for his torso to land on the corner of the step.

He rubbed his sternum, sure it was going to bruise, and coughed out, "Uh—what?"

"Phantom!" the voice, now too familiar, repeated. "You're him. Phantom."

Danny glanced up, and dread not only slammed into him with the force of a semi, but also backed up and floored it into his soul again. And again.

Because that voice was none other than his Chem 101 buddy, Cam.

No, Danny was a magnificent actor. He surely could save this one.

What did people always say? Something about the third try being a charm?

He could really use a charm right now. Unfortunately, Murphy seemed keen on watching him suffer instead.

"No—no way! I'm not a ghost! I'm totally human, guys! See?" Danny said with quite a lot of conviction, waving his hands beside his body like some sort of circus display.

It was so conclusive of a performance, that Cam simply laughed. 

Shit. This was not how he wanted today to go at all.

"I can't believe I never put it together before! Did people really buy that in your hometown?" 

"What act? I'm not acting!" Danny insisted.

But his classmates, it seemed, were even less convinced. 

"Seriously, it's so obvious."

"How did no one notice?"

"They're literally the same person it's crazy."

"What? No! No we're not the same person!" Danny insisted, trying not to sound desperate and hopelessly failing. "He's my—uh—twin? Yeah, that. He's my twin."

"He's obviously not," a classmate said.

"He is. He died in the womb," Danny refuted.

"Okay, now you're just being ridiculous."

"Does it sound better or worse if I say that my mother drank ectoplasmic smoothies while she was pregnant and that's why he turned into a ghost?"

"Fenton!" Professor Yang called out.

Danny felt his blood turn so cold they started forming frost in his veins. 

And then, he refused to look down because he was pretty sure ice crystals were glueing his feet to the floor.

In his panic, he'd totally forgotten that this was, in fact, a classroom. With a professor. And not just any professor, his chemistry professor. As in, the guy that had the sole power of crushing all of Danny's dreams of working for NASA via the power of the curve.

Yang took a step back, colliding with the chalkboard behind him and smearing white dust all over his brightly-colored shirt. But he ignored this, instead finding it more pertinent to fold his arms and regard Danny with a look of pure incredulation. "Are you really Phantom?"

"What? No!" Danny said. However, as luck would have it, that gasping answer caused him to inhale the wrong way, and coughs shot up his throat to overtake his body.

And then like the valiant superhero he was, he began having a coughing fit. In front of his classmates.

He knew Sam and Tucker always called him a dork, but this was really unfair.

"You okay, Phantom?" one student asked.

Danny tried to argue, "I'm not Phantom," but unfortunately for him, he hadn't stopped coughing yet.

Taking his silence for a confirmation that he was in fact the elusive ghost known as Phantom, another classmate commented, "I didn't know Phantom breathed."

Not-so-quiet whispers and mutters broke out around the class at once discussing theories of his cardiovascular system.

All while Danny was doubled over, trying desperately to reclaim what little of his dignity was still left. As well as reclaim some of the oxygen that his body seemed more than willing to push away for some reason.

Seriously, was he out of karma yet? 

Okay, Universe, if this is your way getting back at me for reading the Cliffnotes of that book for the essay last night, I get it. Cheating is bad, blah blah blah. I'm very sorry in a deeply remorseful way, so can we please stop ruining my life now?

"...so he wouldn't need to breathe!" A classmate's voice had stepped above the rest.

"That's what I said!"

"Dude, he's literally fallen asleep on my floor once. I'm telling you he needs to breathe."

That voice must have been Cam's.

Danny took a deep breath, regaining control of his lungs. "Wait, guys!"

But it was too late. And, oh god, why were people now giggling over their phones? Had someone taken a video of him earlier? Was he trending online right now?

If this got back to Sam and Tucker, he was never going to live this down. 

"Okay, okay!" Yang's voice rose in volume. "Class, settle down!"

The class went silent.

"Alright, I know we are all curious to know about Fenton's secret double life—"

"I don't have a secret double life!"

"Sure you don't, Phantom," Cam said.

"—But please, we do actually have quite a bit of material to cover today, judging by the very impressive homework scores from last night. And, by the way, class, might I remind you all that my office hours are on Mondays and Wednesdays from two to four. I won't name names, but I'll just say that if you need to make it a point to come for some review, you know who you are."

Was Yang looking at him?

"Regardless, if Fenton is done screwing around with his ghost powers, we do need to get through the material sometime this year."

"But I'm not a ghost!" Danny protested.

"Dude, you're standing in a block of ice," a classmate argued. 

"Holy shit, he froze his legs to the floor!"

Danny felt frost on his cheeks. "The A/C system is broken! Everyone knows that!"

"The ice is glowing." 

"So? A lot of ice glows."

"Fenton, please." Yang had never sounded so disappointed in his life. "I'd expect anyone in this class to know that ice is made of which elements?"

Danny hated where this was going. "Hydrogen and oxygen."

"And please describe the bonds to me."

"The hydrogens have a double bond with the oxygen, and then there's two pairs of electrons leftover."

"What shape?" Yang pressed, pushing his wiry glasses up his nose.

"Bent."

"Good, thank you. So we have two hydrogen and one oxygen in an H20 molecule, yes? And so tell me, would that configuration with those two elements cause anything to glow?"

"Um, no." Danny had the sudden urge to die. "Water does not glow." 

"But, interestingly, ectoplasmic water does glow, correct? Because....?"

They'd touched over ecton science earlier in the semester. "Because ectons are larger and can sit closer to the nucleus which results in atoms fusing and due to the greater amounts of energy they emit, some this excess energy can be seen in our visible spectrum."

Yang smiled and then gestured to the seat devoid of any humans near it that Danny, previously Phantom, had been sitting in at the start of class. "Thank you, Mr. Phantom. Now, if we're all done dillydallying, we have some stoichiometry to go over."

It took Danny more than a second of the awkward silence that followed to realize that oh yeah, his feet were literally frozen in place.

"So..." He glanced around the room, meeting the expectant gazes of his classmates. "Just to be clear, none of you care that I might potentially be..."

A ghost?

Phantom?

Some sort of weird mutant hybrid thing?

"Danny, you're the only one making a big deal out of this," a classmate answered.

Danny guffawed.

"Yeah, it's whatever. You're dead, so what? We're all dead in college. You're not special."

"I have a biology lecture later right after this for my weed-out course and going to that is basically the same thing as dying, I'm pretty sure," Cam joined in.

Danny resisted the urge to smack his forehead with his open palm.

He turned back to Yang. "And if I were maybe the—uh—being that kind of has saved humanity from being invaded by ghosts give or take one or two times, would that maybe get me extra credit on the next test?"

"No."

Well, that was a brutally quick response.

Danny shrugged. "It was worth a shot." He reigned in on his core's fluttering, and the ice began to melt around his feet. 

He tried to ignore the obvious phone flipped his way as he did.

Shit, this was going to be all over social media later. How embarrassing. He could only hope that Tucker wouldn't find it. But who was he kidding? If he checked his phone, he bet he already had about sixteen messages from Tucker laughing at his misfortune.

Once he finished freeing himself from his ecto-ice like some ghost toddler, he began a very graceful and humiliating trek to his seat, complete with multiple instances of him bumping into chairs as he trudged down the row. When he finally reached his seat, it was just his luck that the rusty hinges let out an obnoxious creaking wail as he lowered himself down. He winced, hissing out apologies, but in the silent hall, the sounds of the withered metal were almost too much to bear.

It was for that reason that his entire body refused to unclench until the professor was well underway with his lecture about excess reactants and whatever else they were going to be quizzed on next week.

He tried his best to pay attention and not check his phone for the no doubt endless notifications. He'd already made his presence too obvious in this hall, anyway. Professor Yang would have been thoroughly annoyed if, after everything, Danny decided to spend the remainder of the class on his phone.

Miraculous as it was, he did manage to survive the lecture.  

After class when he finally was able to check his phone, he saw that the world was too focused on the viral posts about Phantom being spotted outside of Amity Park to give any attention to the little itty bitty post of Danny, in human form, frozen to his lecture hall floor.

As it turned out, that post only had two likes—one of them was Tucker—and one comment from a random user reading, "lol why phantom freeze that dweeby kid to the ground???"

Danny didn't resist the urge to facepalm this time, and in fact did it so hard he was surprised he didn't give himself a concussion.

Well.

At least his secret was safe.

****

"You really don't care that I'm Phantom, do you?" Danny asked, looking up from the barely clean dorm room floor that his back was currently stretched out against.

"No?" Cam glanced from his notebook. "Why?"

"Uh, I figured the whole part where I'm a part ghost would have been a little weird?"

Cam's thin brows shot up to his hairline. "You're only a part ghost?"

"Yeah? Why, what did you think?"

"Oh, I just figured you were legit dead or something."

Cam uttered those words with such nonchalance that Danny reacted immediately, shooting up from the floor so hard he accidentally switched into his Phantom form.

"You thought I was dead?" His voice echoed when he spoke, and his ghostly tail wiggled underneath him. 

Cam's pointed look and handwave were explanation enough.

"Okay, you know what? That's fair." Danny swiped his notebook off the floor and forced his adrenaline-spiked body back into human form. "That's actually super fair."

"Yeah I mean, being a ghost is sort of Phantom's whole shtick, anyway."

"Right but like...wait, you didn't even care that you thought I was a fully dead and deceased ghost taking college classes? And you still wanted to do homework with me tonight?"

Cam, once again, only gave a very lazy shrug. "Well, yeah. I just want to pass this class, dude, and we've already established that we should tag-team team this class instead of trying to rawdog it by ourselves."

"I mean...I guess?" Danny blinked at his friend, his mind reeling with astonishment. "You're weird, you know that?"

"Says the ghost-human person or whatever. Now, are we gonna finish this prelab assignment, or are you gonna keep having an existential crisis about your place in the Universe?" 

Danny slid back on the floor, propping his knees up to lay his notebook against. "No, you're right. We need to finish this prelab."

"Thank fucking god."

****

[read more of my stuff here]

[deobienthusiast]

be my only one | jacob bae

• pairing: ex!jacob x gn!reader

• word count: 3.7k words

• genre: exes to lovers, angst, fluff, non-idol jacob, non-idol tbz members, there is also a mention of non idol joshua because why not🤷🏾‍♀️

• rating: PG

• warnings: jacob makes the executive decisions in that make him and reader sad, the sad parts are pretty sad guys, BUT IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING I PROMISE!!!!, make out sesh also

• tagging: @deoboyznet

• notes: based off of leehi’s only (love that song so much! a favorite of mine) ex jacob trying to rekindle the flame with the only person he wants to be with! WELL WE LOVE THAT!!!!! i didn’t bother to have anyone beta read this because i feel as though we’ve collectively all waited long enough as a group. BANNA BANNA BY @daemour (thank you so much love🩵) THE ENDING IS SO FUCKING BAD OH MY GOD WHY AM I SO SHIT AT WRITING ENDINGS.

If Jacob had to pinpoint the exact moment his life went to shit, it would have to be when he lost you. You were his world, his life. Hell, Jacob would go as far as to say you made up his entire existence. There was no reason to go on if you weren’t there, no reason to wake up in the morning if he didn’t get to see you first. You were single-handedly the only reason Jacob continued on this planet. All the bullshit, violence, corruption, politics. He could ignore all of it when you were around.

To Jacob you were what the sun revolved around. Screw the solar system, screw space, screw NASA. The universe’s entire makeup was created specifically for you in his eyes.

Jacob only knew how to treat you like a delicate flower. He was the gentleman type. Constantly opening doors, lifting heavy objects, carrying the groceries in the house in one trip (which he was positive he could do each time until he tripped over one of his shoes the last time and face-planted). He wanted to be your knight in shining armor, and he was. Always coming to your rescue and supporting you in everything that you did. So, when you came to him that one day, almost three years into your relationship, to rave about getting the dream job opportunity you had been working so hard for, he was ecstatic. Jacob was so proud of you. This was what you had worked so hard for. All the late nights, plans canceled (something Jacob never let you feel bad about), the constant studying, numerous tests. It was all for this big moment.

The happiest moment of his life was finding out you were getting everything you wanted.

“I did it Cobie! I did it! I got the job.” You said excitedly, handing him the acceptance letter.

You were too caught up in your own excitement and emotions to notice Jacob’s dark eyes scaling the acceptance letter. He was particularly locked into the almost two year internship that would bring you across the ocean, away from your home, from your friends and family. More importantly, away from him. Jacob couldn’t be bothered to say anything. He would never want to take this moment from you, so he bit his tongue.

The next time you saw all your friends, you raved about the job opportunity, making everyone buzz with anticipation. They knew how hard you had worked, Jacob had kept them all filled in whether they liked it or not. Sangyeon suggested a party before you left to celebrate.

A going away party.

Jacob hated those words. He didn’t want you to go away, whether it was your dream job or not. He wanted you to stay with him forever. Jacob wanted to tell you that the job he had was enough to support the both of you. He worked hard so that you wouldn’t have to, but that would be selfish. That would make Jacob everything he’s really not. When it comes to you, though, he wants to be the most selfish person on the planet. He couldn’t, no, he wouldn’t. That wouldn’t be fair to you, and all the work you put into this.

The party came quickly. Jacob was heartbroken. Because the party meant you left quicker. You had noticed a change in his mood, the closer the party got. His attitude had changed so drastically that you hadn’t seen him in almost a week when the party arrived due to him staying with his friend Kevin. You weren’t sure what the issue was, why was the love of your life acting this way. You needed to talk to him about your leaving, you needed to reassure him everything was going to be okay. Jacob wasn’t giving you the opportunity, though.

Everyone arrived at yours around 6. Food, drinks, and lots of storytelling are what the night entailed, but it was hard to enjoy anything with your better half keeping a football field length distance between the two of you all night. Eventually, enough was enough. You watched two of your young neighbors pull Jacob into the kitchen to get him a drink, clearly trying to convince the older boy that alcohol will temporarily solve his bad mood. As you stood, you were stopped by Kevin.

“Jacob has been spending a lot of time at my place.” He said, leaning in close to speak into your ear so you’d be able to hear him over the bustling noise of your party.

You looked at the boy with sad eyes. “He won’t talk to me. I’m assuming this is because I’m leaving.”

“Can’t get anything past you, huh?” Kevin teased in an attempt to lighten the mood.

You frowned as you stepped away from him, heading towards the kitchen to hopefully rescue a sober Jacob before Sunwoo and Eric got him too plastered. This impending conversation would need to be done sober.

Jacob was in somewhat better spirits when you located him in the kitchen. He was sandwiched between the two boys, and they were all laughing about something, you weren’t sure what.

“Jacob,” You spoke softly, so softly that Sunwoo and Eric didn’t hear. Jacob did, though. He always did.

Jacob let his eyes slowly trail up and down your body. You always looked so effortlessly beautiful. He was so enamored with you, it wasn’t even funny. Your call out to him by his full name was a distress call. You were upset, you were bothered, and he was the cause of it. Jacob hated that. He hated making you upset. Jacob was a very sensible person, he wasn’t one to fret too easily on things. He was a very good communicator. So for him to leave you in the dark for days was uncharacteristic of him. He just needed time to process everything.

Jacob cleared his throat in a sign for the two younger boys to make themselves scarce in the kitchen. He was buzzing on account of the two shots they had managed to get into his system, but he was still sober enough to have a conversation with you. The conversation.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Stupid question. He knew the answer, so why ever ask.

Your eyes rushed to his, darting back and forth as a look of confusion crossed over your face. “Okay? Okay? Why would I be okay when my boyfriend has been avoiding me for a week?”

Jacob flinched at your frustrated tone. Your voice had raised just slightly, loud enough to echo off the white kitchen walls decorated with gold accents, but not loud enough to stop the party that was still going strong hours later.

“I just need time.” Jacob said quietly.

You shrugged, throwing your hands in the air in the process. “Time for what? Time to not talk about our feelings and process things together?”

Jacob sighed. “You’re leaving.”

“Which we knew would happen if I got the internship.” You countered.

“Yeah. But I was expecting like six months, not sixteen. You’re going to be gone for almost two years.” Jacob raised his voice this time.

Long gone was the boy you fell in love with. This was a whole new Jacob that clearly had formed in the week that he was avoiding you. His statement had filtered out of the kitchen, catching the ears of passerby’s. Some stopped by the kitchen doors to crack it open and eavesdrop. It was rare that the two of you fought, opting to keep any issues you had behind closed doors so this was new territory to your friends.

You chuckled to yourself. “Jacob, I didn’t know the internship was going to be that long. Nor did I know they would be sending me all the way across the globe. I thought you’d be happy for me.”

“I am happy for you, but you can’t expect me to not be upset that the love of my life is going to be leaving.”

Tears began to prickle the corners of your eyes. You had never seen Jacob like this before, he had never spoken to you in such a stern tone. You weren’t sure what to do, but you just wanted to make him feel better.

“Okay, so I’ll give it up then. I won’t go. I wouldn’t be able to focus anyway if my boyfriend is heartbroken over the fact that I’m not with him.” You said.

By this time the music had stopped, people were listening in, or standing outside the now open kitchen door, watching.

“You don’t have to do that. And I won’t let you.” Jacob said.

Kevin had pushed his way through the crowd, almost knowing exactly what Jacob was going to say next, as he tried to stop the boy.

“I’m not going to let you give up your dream job for me. I would never let you do that.” Jacob began.

“Hey, maybe we should all just take a breather.” Kevin chimed in softly.

“I’m breaking up with you.” Jacob said quietly.

Your eyes widened at his statement. “What?”

Jacob looked down at his worn sneakers, the same ones you gifted him when you first started dating. The same sneakers you would always tell him you’d buy a new pair because no amount of washing was going to make them look better.

“I’m not letting you give this up for me. And if you won’t be able to focus knowing I won’t be able to function without you, then I’ll make the decision simple. No reason for you not to go if there isn’t a reason to stay.”

You took a step towards the boy, grabbing his hand as you sniffled. “Jacob, please. Don’t do this.”

Slowly, he pulled his hand from yours.

“It’s already done. Party’s over.”

That was the last thing Jacob had said to you before you left for your internship. He didn’t want to make the situation harder than it had to be, so he didn’t go with you to the airport. Your shared friends were not pleased by this. A final opportunity to see each other, and Jacob chose to let you leave on your own. No goodbye, no see you soon, no I love you. None of this was like Jacob, like your Jacob. You decided to just let bygones be bygones. You decided to suck it up, and you left.

The first few months were the hardest. You missed Jacob terribly. You avoided Chinese restaurants and frozen yogurt stores. Botanical gardens and zoos were a no go. Jacob felt the same way. Every little thing reminded him of you. What he didn’t realize was that eventually you became numb to the pain. You had to push on, even if you didn’t want to.

When you got your first promotion during your internship, you had to resist the overwhelming urge to call him. One because he was in a totally different timezone than Los Angeles, and two because you weren’t together anymore. You did call Kevin and Sangyeon, though. And they made sure to inform Jacob of your successes. Jacob couldn’t have been happier for you. Everything was working out for you. You updated Kevin and Sangyeon whenever you could on anything new and exciting while you were in the states. It became a habit to talk to them, and it was no longer because you knew they would tell Jacob. It was because you just wanted to tell someone about what’s going on. You made new friends, started going out again. From Jacob’s heard perspective, you were happy. That was good enough for him. Sort of.

The sixteen month internship went by fast. Before you knew it, it was time to come back home. Jacob had managed to make it an almost full two years without you. He clearly was not the same. He hid himself away, and didn't like going out with friends. It got to the point that Kevin and Sangyeon stopped updating him about you, because they refused to feel sorry for him anymore.

Jacob knew his friends well enough to know that they had been visiting you when you got back home. They probably weren’t telling him to spare his feelings, but he just wished they’d let him know how you were. He wanted to know everything. If you had changed, if you were going to go back to the states, if the internship was everything you had hoped it had been or more. He wanted, no, needed to see you. Thus came his chance.

“A party?” Jacob asked softly, staring down at the takeout Kevin had brought him.

Kevin shook his head with a shrug. “It’s more like a welcome home dinner. No heavy alcohol, no loud music. Just friends catching up with a friend. You should be there, Cob. We’d all want you there.”

Jacob looked up from his food. “We?”

Kevin nodded, giving Jacob a reassuring smile. “We.”

To say Jacob was nervous would be a vast understatement. He was pretty sure he was sweating from places he didn’t know he could sweat from. Everyone was already at the restaurant Kevin had picked for dinner. There was talking and laughing, hugging, some people notably crying. Jacob was greeted warmly by his friends, and for the first time in almost two years a genuine smile made its way to his face. He sat down next to Kevin, joining into the conversation before someone spoke.

“Look who’s here!”

Heads turned to the doorway of the back room everyone was in, and Jacob felt time stop. You looked ethereal, stunning. Your hair had grown. Your style had even changed, but you. You were still you. You still looked like you did when you left. A smile was adorning your round face. The bubbly pep in your step had Jacob smiling to himself. There was a slight flush on your face, most likely from the uncharacteristically warm weather outside. You were looking around, being pulled in every different direction imaginable by friends greeting you. That was until you saw him. When your eyes met, Jacob felt fireworks go off in his stomach. He had never felt so jittery in his life. It was like he had drunk the world's biggest and strongest red bull. A small smile made its way across your full lips as you lifted your hand, giving Jacob a small wave. Jacob returned it.

He stood up to greet you, ready to give you a hug and feel you in his arms again, but you were intercepted by Sunwoo and Eric. Jacob could only laugh. Of course the two youngest of your friends managed to get to you first. You let out a loud laugh as they tackled you, and butterflies bloomed in Jacob’s stomach this time. The sound of your laugh brought back so many memories that Jacob became glued to his spot. He watched the rest of your shared friends get up and greet you, hugging you tightly as if you’d dare to even leave again. It wasn’t until a tall figure appeared behind you that Jacob was eventually pulled back down to Earth. For the first time since you walked in the room all but five minutes ago, Jaocb’s eyes weren’t on you. Rather they were on the person, the man, who showed up behind you.

You stepped back from everyone and looked at the boy. He smiled at you before giving everyone else a smile as your friends warmly greeted him.

“This is Joshua! He was my roomie in the states. I figured I would bring him back so he could meet some of my favorite people.” You told everyone.

Jacob watched the way you two were looking at each other. He couldn’t read the look on your face, apparently you had gotten really good at masking your emotions while in the states. He was able to get a good read on Joshua’s face, though. The look he knew all too well, because he would give you the exact same look. You both managed to make your way through the sea of friends and sit at the large table set up for your party.

You ended up being seated right next to Jacob. Joshua sat across from you and was able to be bombarded by Kevin and your other friend Chanhee to tell his life story. This gave you an opportunity to give Jacob a look over before speaking.

“Hi Cobie.” You whispered softly.

As always, Jacob heard you. You could be a million miles away, and he would still hear you. You just had that effect on him.

He looked at you, finally getting an up close look and felt his breath catch in his throat. You looked perfect.

“Hi.”

A smile made its way to your face at the sound of his voice. “How have you been?”

Jacob smiled back. “I’ve been good.”

Jacob ended the conversation there, much to your dismay. He didn’t want to get into how he had been while you were gone. The truth is, he hadn’t been good at all. In fact, he had been an absolute wreck. He felt like he was trying to function without one of his limbs. He didn’t want to ruin your dinner, though.

The night went by smoothly. Everyone seemed to get along well with your friend, if that’s what he was that is. Jacob mainly kept to himself. Only getting a moment of silence when he excused himself to use the restroom. Kevin followed the boy, stopping him at the restroom door as he looked over Jacob.

“So are you two going to talk or just ignore each other the whole night?”

Jacob shook his head. “We have talked.”

Kevin scoffed. “That’s not what I meant. There are unresolved issues that need to be fixed. I’ll lock the both of you in the closest until they are.”

Jacob let out a sigh, knowing the boy was right. He sulked on the way back to the table, catching your eye in the process. He sat in silence for a moment, feeling your gaze on him. You let out a sigh before laying your hand on his arm.

“Maybe we should talk.”

Jacob looked at you as he nodded. You both stood up to excuse yourselves and headed for the entrance. When you both got outside, the silence of the dark night sky greeted you both. The moonlight cast shadows across your face that made your features pop. Jacob probably said this every time he saw you, but he was still convinced he had never seen you look more beautiful than you did in this moment.

“How were the states?” Jacob asked, breaking the silence first.

You smiled, turning to him as you tucked a stray piece of hair behind your ear. “It was amazing. I learned so much. Made new friends, experienced new things. I missed home, though.”

Jacob nodded. “You missed your friends.”

A small nod followed his statement. “I missed you, Jacob.”

The boy could only look at you before finally letting it all out. “I’ve missed you. So much. You remember earlier you asked me how I was doing. I told you I’m doing okay, but the truth is, I’ve been absolutely terrible. I literally just got back into a healthy eating and sleeping routine again. When you went to the states, you took a piece of me with you. I never wanted to leave our, I mean, my apartment. I stayed inside all the time. I practically became a recluse. I turned down every offer to go out and spend time with friends. Kevin even tried inviting my family, but it was enough. I thought I would be able to handle ending our relationship. I would never want to hold you back and when you mentioned giving up your internship just to make me happy, I panicked. I was afraid you’d end up resenting me in the long run. I figured I might as well break up with you, because I knew you would leave. There would be nothing to keep you here.”

“You’re wrong.” You whispered.

Jacob gave you a confused look. “I am?”

You chuckled. “Yes. I’ve always had a reason to not leave home, and it’s you Jacob. It’s always been you.”

You stopped only to open your mouth and then close it again just so you could formulate your feelings correctly. “Jacob, I learned a lot about myself while I was in the states. I learned a lot about myself as a person, and I learned a lot about what I want in my life and my career. A lot of things changed for me for the better while I was away, but the one thing that didn’t change was the strength of my feelings for you. The love I have for you, how in love with you I am, that never once wavered. I didn’t even bother trying to find a way to get over you because no one would’ve compared.”

“Not even Joshua?”

His comment made you laugh as you took a step towards him. Jacob took the opportunity to wrap his arms tightly around your waist, trapping you against his chest.

“Not even Joshua, Cobie. He’s just a friend. I promise. I love you, Jacob Bae.” You told him, inching yourself closer and closer until your nose was bumping against his.

Jacob grinned, laying a long passionate kiss to your lips. You practically melted against him, dragging your hands up his chest and to his shoulders before wrapping them around his neck. You tugged ever so gently at the hair sitting at the nape of his neck, making the boy shiver. You pulled away from him, giggling slightly as he whined quietly and tried to chase after your lips.

“Easy tiger. Plenty of me to go around.” You told him jokingly.

Jacob let out a breathy laugh, tightening his grip around you. “I’m not sharing you with anyone. Not Joshua or the states. I’m dragging you back to our apartment and locking the door.”

He lifted you just slightly off the ground, giving you another kiss before he pulled away this time. “I love you, too.”

all the fics belong to @deobienthusiast and are protected under copyright- absolutely no translating/reposting or claiming my work as your own.

[jellogram]

ok you know this viral tweet. this pisses me off.

The story is always like "Haha, dumb twitter user doesn't know when to shut up!" and I HATE that.

Like does no one consider how fucking INSANE and TERRIFYING and FUCKED UP it is that this man stepped in to police this woman's usage of the word "fuck"?

And then when she fired back in typical twitter user fashion, as is normal online, he threw down his position at the company as a gotcha? Does that not make anyone else completely uncomfortable?

Details after this are murky but she did lose her internship (he says he didn't do it, but like come on, clearly the virality of this interaction jeopardized her job). She might have gotten it back afterwards, which would be great if true, but that's not the point.

The point is that people see this interaction and act like she's the one at fault.

The internet saw this and went "Haha, what a stupid person!" As if she was supposed to know he worked for NASA. As if "suck my dick and balls" is not a completely reasonable response to a man who has jumped into your replies to tell you not to swear.

He heard her say fuck, treated her like a child, and then when she responded, he silenced her by announcing his position of power, thus jeopardizing her job. Because she said "fuck" on the internet.

And everyone blamed it on her.

[athene-studies]

ok this blog has fallen out of use bc (a) im not a student at the moment [i miss it :(] (b) i have plenty of other aesthetic blogs so im not rlly posting aesthetics here anymore (c) ive begun to like. hate. things that have an Aura Of Instagram around them (its the capitalism) but the needs to do shit and fall in love with life (not to mention the obsessions with stationery and beverages) have NOT gone away so we're getting a revamp. the new goals of athene-studies.tumblr.com are, in rough order of priority:

live a life where i feel like a real person and not just a depressed pleasure machine floating from moment to bittersweet moment (all the other points are really subsets of this one)

take advantage of the parts of life that arent quite in my "comfort zone"— while i am disabled and do need the rest, I'd really like to have a LITTLE less trouble not taking the path of least resistance! another part of this is becoming okay with being weird or going against the grain around people.

take care of myself (for instance, try to go to bed at a reasonable time)

find a place where i can help— work toward a job i like. participate in community, on smaller and larger scales. is it too late to meet my neighbors?

get shit done (always the real purpose of the blog. yknow ive been tentatively diagnosed with adhd and we tried like 5 different meda and none of them helped at all with my executive functioning? fucked up)

continue to learn without the pressure of school. im talking discrete study paths with goals (independent courses, languages, learning hobbies), small lessons (reading more. oh my god), AND just sort of ambiently learning from life around me

see the beauty in the world around me (not higher on the list bc... well, for one thing, im already good at that, baby! also my main blog is already basically a hopepunk blog. ...and i have a proper hopepunk blog thats fallen out of use. um)

i will attempt to do things like share lists of goals in these categories! for now, though, its bedtime, and im gonna try to take a walk. the whole "8 degrees fahrenheit" thing might cut that short though. also hey i never posted on here abt how i did an internship at nasa during school it was awesome :D

[beardedmrbean]

Oh yeah Ronald Erwin McNair, sorry I thought he was on that other space shuttle that fell apart during launch.

Also that program with Nichelle Nichols, I recall a lot of space exploration and travel polices were created to prevent another colonial empires power struggle which gave us the world wars and the eugenics horror show.

So space was showed to be “EVERY HUMAN CAN BE IN OUTER SPACE!” Now of course only humans of peak condition can be astronauts but stuff like Star Trek suppose to show a possible future where we all can coexist with each other.

Of course NASA was like “okay let not pull a Nazi and show that non whites and women can be astronauts too” but when most of your organization made up of geeky white people…

I can see why Nichelle Nichols was chosen as she inspired many people especially in the blacks and women into science with her uhura role.

And the whole racial tension that she of all people understands. So she basically help convince a lot of black people and women who you know grew up in segregation and heavy gender roles so NASA definitely felt like an out of reach idea for them.

Sorry you are a bigger NASA fan than me. I’m just curious how da fuck is math racist when we had a black astronaut that grew up in the Deep South?

🤨

He was, that was his 2nd flight, Challenger, Jan 28 1986. That's a day embedded in my memory.

NASA has pretty much always been THE government agency that didn't care about anything other than if you can do the job, obviously politics still showed up and they weren't going to send a woman or black man to the moon, woman bit was less sexist than it was a technology and biology thing, going potty and all, still sexism but it was really more cost effective to not have to worry about the other bits.

Nichelle Nichols thing, I hope she fully grasped how important she was to women in general and black women especially. This is the best anecdote about her, at least that fits the theme.

Roddenberry knew what he had created already, why else have a black woman and a Russian on the bridge crew, Nichols found out when Dr King let her know what she meant.

She also wrote that she had "a short, stormy, exciting relationship" with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1959.

GIRL!!! lol

>Sorry you are a bigger NASA fan than me. I’m just curious how da fuck is math racist when we had a black astronaut that grew up in the Deep South?

And a physicist at that.

It's not, I think the issue is that people don't like that there's going to be a right and a wrong answer for math, 1+1 will always equal 2 is problematic somehow.

There's also claims that the way it's taught is geared toward white students, which I'm not sure how that works, but even if that's true they're playing to the majority which sure would come out discriminatory but that's a no win situation unless you bring back segregation.

It's reading but, I think we may be in the market for this happening in math too.

As a teacher in Oakland, Calif., Kareem Weaver helped struggling fourth- and fifth-grade kids learn to read by using a very structured, phonics-based reading curriculum called Open Court. It worked for the students, but not so much for the teachers. “For seven years in a row, Oakland was the fastest-gaining urban district in California for reading,” recalls Weaver. “And we hated it.”

The teachers felt like curriculum robots—and pushed back. “This seems dehumanizing, this is colonizing, this is the man telling us what to do,” says Weaver, describing their response to the approach. “So we fought tooth and nail as a teacher group to throw that out.” It was replaced in 2015 by a curriculum that emphasized rich literary experiences. “Those who wanted to fight for social justice, they figured that this new progressive way of teaching reading was the way,” he says.

Now Weaver is heading up a campaign to get his old school district to reinstate many of the methods that teachers resisted so strongly: specifically, systematic and consistent instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics. “In Oakland, when you have 19% of Black kids reading—that can’t be maintained in the society,” says Weaver, who received an early and vivid lesson in the value of literacy in 1984 after his cousin got out of prison and told him the other inmates stopped harassing him when they realized he could read their mail to them. “It has been an unmitigated disaster.” In January 2021, the local branch of the NAACP filed an administrative petition with the Oakland unified school district (OUSD) to ask it to include “explicit instruction for phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension” in its curriculum.

From a different article same subject

I like that they put the numbers in this one,

But ya, they didn't like the system they had and even though they were getting year to year improvements with it they changed it because why not throw students under the bus.

Maybe they should learn from Ron McNair, but that would be the students taking the initiative and learning on their own, which might require a sea change in the community as it relates to education.

There's a reason this program has kept going since 1987, but ya colonization of students minds, there's a math one too not sure how good that is.

And there's people who just can't get some math honestly, I know I'm one of them, full spectrum dyslexia is not something I'd wish on anyone.

[our-reality]

ok if i don’t ask i’m going to go insane forever. GRABS YOU . TELL ME ABOUT THESE GAY LITTLE OCS

UAAHWBABSNENSBFNSNGBDNDBFMSDBRB FUCK OKAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

might throw up forever trying to formulate this in a. coherent way but I'LL TRY !!!!!!!!!!

ok uhehdhrjtkg i currently have 7 named ocs, those being ruby, java, python, swift, c+, vysel, and requiem. yes ik the first five are named after programming languages it doesn't mean anything though HEJSBRJSJFJDKGNG uh. i will try to be brief with them because i could honestly sit here forever talking about them and i actually wanna answer this ask so. L

uuhhshdhdhb first up is ruby!!!! she's like. the main character. along with java :3 she's very very sweet and makes friends w pretty much anyone (in fact 2 of her 3 best friends at the moment are people she literally found on the street and was like you. me. friends. NOW) she cares so much and she has so much compassion but she wears her heart out on her sleeve all the time and she. I LOVE HER SO MUCH SHE'S EVERYTHING TO MEEEEEEEE

and w her is java !! java's like. the co-main character and she's very lowkey, esp next to ruby LOL she's also ever so slightly bitchy and blunt sometimes but i promise it's the autism and the Troubled Childhood you gotta believe me . she is also very gay for women and is absolutely pining over ruby <333333 (they get together by the end though so it's okay LOVE WINS 🎉🎉🎉)

uhhhhhh next is python and he's an asshole forever . but real talk it's the assigned funnyman of the group but in the condescending n annoying way but IT'S A FACADE he actually cares so much about its friends forever and can be mature and wise when he needs to but it BURIES its FEELINGS in SARCASM!!!!!!!! (and maybe violence) also he's 8'3" cuz suprise it was a god at one point who forfeited its god powers to be a human . that's also why his eyes n teeth r bright yellow and he has strange markings everywhere lol oops

and next is swift !!!!!! sky's the dogsitter of the entire universe good for them LMAO she's still a god and used to be work partners/best friends w python before he fucking Left but let's not worry about that <333333 anyways she's very calm and elegant and they always put the interests of others before skyself whcih . uh . can be a good or bad trait depending on how you look at it but sky's trying SO HARD leave them alone . also they like to be alone a lot and they would play the flute and read books if skies role in the universe allowed them to have Hobbies

next is c+!! that's not his actual name i promise it's a nickname because he doesn't like ppl knowing his actual name . he's definitely the least plot relevant of the seven but he's still so silly 2 me <3 he's that character trope of a guy who's somehow done Everything and worked Every Job Ever but can't hold down any of them so he just pulls random anecdotes about his internship at NASA out his ass and no one believes him (least of all his good buddy java) but he also has a lot going on under the surface . which is preddy neat :3c

then there's vysel. i hate him so much. blond hair blue eyes son of a bitch . he's a former swing turned alt rock artist who got popular for being hot and shippable i guess . also he's a reanimated corpse piloted by evil spirits but shhhh no one knows that (though it would probably add to his sex appeal if ppl did know . so.) he's like the biggest bitch forever and ever he is very celebritycore mentally i'm ripping him apart with my teeth . he uses his visual illusion powers TO GIVE HIMSELF BLOND HAIR BLUE EYES WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

uhhh and then finally requiem !!!!!! they're very socially closed off and hates talking to like. Anyone and Everyone. including their parents i mean what . they wear fucking only black and white clothing and their hair is Also black and white and it's like bro get a better wardrobe got DAMN!!!!!!!@!@@!@@!! they don't really become relevant until the "second season" because i like to think of my own story as like. a tv show . because i'm just like that but when they do they become VERY important cuz they're kinda the whole reason ruby and java were involved in this story . the narrative plagues their being with every second that they breathe. they will never be free.

UHHH YAH THAT'S MAINLY PERSONALITY WISE because if i sat talking about their roles in the story or their relationships with each other past the surface level or god forbid their backstories i'd be here for 8 billion years so. YIPPEE ^_^

[artdecosupernova-writing]

Fictober ‘21 Prompt No. 15 — “I like that in you.”

Category: Original WIP: For The Stars Rating: T Timeline: an AU in which both Warren and Thrive are human CW: None Word Count: 1,099 Additional Notes: N/A

***

PART III ➳ PART II ➳ PART I

Warren set his cup on the table and passed his eyes around the café, watching the families piled together with their lunches while conversing and laughing amongst themselves. He took stock of the strollers, the frazzled mothers and fussy fathers, the well-behaved kids and inquisitive babies cradled in their parents' arms. He squinted.

"I'm a little confused," he said, addressing Thrive wiping his fingers on a napkin across from him. "I'm not…hating this, exactly, but I think I'm missing the joke."

"What joke?"

Warren's brows furrowed. "I'm really trying not to assume the worst, here. Did you bring me to the Air and Space Museum to…gloat? To rub the fact that I'm not gonna be starting my dream career anytime soon in my face?"

Thrive folded his hands under his chin. "So you are upset."

"Of course I'm fucking upset." Warren's voice remained calm and appropriate for a public setting despite his words. "Look…I meant it when I said I'm happy you got the job. Envious, sure, but I'm happy for you. Nobody deserves it more than you. This, though…" He gestured around at the general building. "Unless this is supposed to teach me some kind of valuable lesson or you're about to drop the sickest life advice using aerospace technology as a metaphor, this sucks, Oliver."

"It's a date, actually."

"It's a—" Warren sat back in his seat, surprised. "…This is a date?"

Thrive nodded. "I took a calculated risk. I figured you were feeling low about being rejected by NASA, and in the short time I've known you, I've gleaned that you have a love of space that only rivals mine. Compliments, we'll say." Thrive's eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief. "I wanted to try to remind us of why we love it so much."

Warren messed with the lid of his cup, popping one side of it off and back on again. "I don't mean for my gloominess to bring you down, too."

"It's not. I've decided not to take the job after all."

"What?" Warren almost shouted, then, quickly lowering his volume before he drew attention to himself. "Why in the star-spangled fuck—oh god, did you turn them down already? Gimme your phone, I'm gonna email them back as you to tell them you made a mistake…"

Thrive carefully pushed Warren's outstretched hand away. "I haven't solidified my decision yet." He looked as if he wanted to add something else, and his gaze darted quickly between the other museum patrons. He seemed to shut down slightly, shoulders tensing as he stirred his drink with his straw. "I'll inform them before the working day is over."

"Why are you doing this?" Warren pleaded. "You…you wanted that job so badly, I watched you pace the living room of the beach place for practically hours reciting equations under your breath. You left everything behind in Alaska for this, wh—why?"

Thrive caught his eye yet kept silent.

Warren felt a pit open in his chest. "C'mon," he said, standing to dispose of their trash in the bins before all but dragging Thrive into the main part of the museum.

—

The two of them squeezed through a group of elementary schoolers on a field trip to fake interest in the wheels of half a commercial aircraft used to display the interior to visitors. Warren took a breath as Thrive bent to get a glimpse of the landing gear from beneath.

"Not to make myself out to be a self-absorbed ass or anything," Warren muttered, "but you're not doing this because of me, are you?"

Thrive turned a curious look onto him. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you were fine with jumping aboard until you found out that I'm not gonna be working there."

"It's entirely because of you."

Thrive moved on to a wall of information and interactive displays, leaving Warren shell-shocked. He hurried after him.

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Well," Thrive sighed, clasping his hands behind his back, "from the motel to here I kept thinking about this morning. I kept thinking about when I got the email, how enthusiastic I'd been at the prospect of working with you, and how disappointed I'd been when I learned that wasn't going to happen. Then I thought about it through the first half of the museum, and I couldn't stop hearing the dejection in your voice when you told me."

"That's not a reason to put your dream on hold," Warren said, his skin going hot. "It's not like I'd be going anywhere. And…let's face it, we're very new to each other."

He'd said this last bit under his breath, but Thrive offered a modest shrug. "If we're going to see more of each other, I'd rather something like this not come between us."

Warren shook his head and walked with him to another plane display. "You've only known me for three months, not to mention I am a grown man who can handle a little bit of career envy toward a potential boyfriend."

Thrive grinned slyly at him. "Bold."

"Please reconsider. If we do want this thing between us to work out, I don't want to be the cause of resentment down the line. I'm going to get a job at NASA if it's the last thing I do. Just…maybe now's not the right time."

A parent called out to their kid with a gleeful wave by the opening to the half-plane upstairs. It caused a brief but considerable distraction.

"You're almost as excited about my life as I am," Thrive said, leaning down to Warren's ear. "I like that in you."

"Yeah?"

"It's somewhat of a turn-on." Thrive cleared his throat. "I'll…reconsider. I can give it a week. A month. Only if you do something for me in return."

"At this point, I'll do anything."

"Stay with me." They both turned their attention to some of the overhanging planes. "Wherever that may be. At least until you can support yourself. I don't think I could sleep at night not knowing if you were able to eat or if you had a roof over your head."

Warren was proud, but he was also smart. He knew better than to tempt fate or to disregard a good thing when it waltzed up to him. Plus, spending more time in close proximity very much held appeal to him. "You got it."

They shook hands on it, and Thrive squeezed his arm. They went through the rest of the museum in much better spirits, and Warren moved into Thrive's motel room as soon as they got back.

[ramrodd]

How did the veterans of the Korean War and Vietnam War feel about Richard Nixon's visit to China in February 1972?

COMMENTARY:

I got back from Vietnam in May 1971 and started a job with a DC bank in September. Through a Roommate Referral, a service that put individuals and group houses together, I ended up living with a artist/painter and his dancer wife, a Navy Beach Jumper and a Army captain who loved Janis Joplin and Hated Nixon with a PhD in Mathematics who was working with computers at the Navy Ship Yard.

The Navy Beach Jumper had worked for EDS when he got back to the World and was working for The Alliance For Businessmen engaged in veteran employment issues. He was an informal Nixon activist and did volunteer work around veterans issues with CREEP, Nixon’s re-election apparatus. He got me involved in several veterans events with the campaign, including a bill signing at the White House where I shook hands with Nixon along with several hundred other vets. Charley ended up being a level or so beneath the point where the Watergate convictions ended but I really had no desire to be around the CREEP political activists and didn’t pursue any further involvement after the White House bill signing.

I voted for Nixon before I went to Vietnam and I voted for him after I got back. I’ve had absolutely no regrets for my vote and am satisfied that Nixon kept his promise to depart Vietnam with honor and that he kept the faith with veterans in that regards.

I also think Watergate was an unnecessary self-inflicted wound, on the one hand, and that the Plumbers was the cancer growing around the Nixon Presidency that fucked up Nixon’s legacy and that it was a good thing they all went to jail. Subsequent events tends to suggest that they learned the wrong lessons from their political failures and convictions, that is, instead of never doing anything like that again, they focused on avoiding getting caught the next time and helped guide the political agenda of the GOP into the January 6 Conspiracy with Donald T. Regan during the Reagan administration.

All that being said, I went to Vietnam to give whomsoever was POTUS the space and time to advance the national agenda along the critical path surveyed and initiated by George Washington and, in particular, Nixon accomplished that.

As I say, at the time, Nixon’s reprochement with the Soviets and Mao was above my pay grade. I knew that, by 1965, the Pentagon’s strategy in Vietnam was a battle of attrition against the Soviet economy by proxy and that it had been successful after I attended a lecture on the Soviet banking system at the ExIm Bank at about the same time. I have heard several times since this Russian incursion in Ukraine began that the Russian economy is the size of Finland’s economy and that’s exactly the way it looked to me from that lecture.

In retrospect, It has come to be my opinion that Vietnam convinced both Brezhnev, as a proxy for the Kremlin, and Mao that Marxism was untenable as a sustainable social agenda and that they were reconsidering Stalin’s rejection of the Marshall Plan as a rational program for economic recovery from WWII and the Cold War leading to the economic reconfiguration of Sino-Soviet Marxism.

This reconfiguration is why they agreed to Nixon-Brezhnev Detente and Mao-Nixon “Leaky Umbrella: summit, the premise of which was the transformation of the global Military-Industrial Complex to the Aerospace-Entrepreneurial Matrix required to sustain a Trump hotel at the NASA-Soyuz lunar base for the next 100 years that the combination of Eisenhower’s 1956 Presidential Platform and Apollo 11 made possible in 1972. The legislative package known as Affirmative Action that Nixon and Daniel Patrick Moynihan passed into law set this transformation into motion and, if Carter had been re-elected, there would have been a Trump hotel on the moon by 2001, just like the movie.

Reaganomics brought that transformation to a dead stop and the Conservative libertarian activists that came to town with Reagan in 1981 have dedicated the last 4o years to dismantling Affirmative Action, the Eisenhower 1956 Presidential Platform and the New Deal while doubling down on the Military Industrial Complex.

But, in 1972, that was all in the future. In 1972, I think I connected Detente and the China opening as connected to Nixon’s promise to get out of Vietnam. I had arrived in Vietnam in July 1970, just after Nixon’s Cambodian Incursion had deflated and just before the wholesale withdrawal from Vietnam really began. When I got there, there were 500,000+ troops in Vietnam and, when I left, there were less than 165,000. The Cambodian Incursion was a brilliant coup de main that had the effect of a battlefield angioplasty that robbed Hanoi of the capacity to conduct sustained combat operations until 1973 or so and allowed the US military to withdraw, with honor, on its own schedule without a reprise of either Dien Bien Phu nor Dunkirk.

And that was about as far as my thinking went in 1972.

It is also my opinion from living through it in DC that what happened to Nixon with Watergate is what would have happened to LBJ if he had stayed in the race. Until the January 6 Conspiracy, America came as close to blowing up in 1968 as we needed to get and LBJ’s withdrawal from the race let enough air out of the SDS anti-war balloon that Nixon was able to capture the initial global synergies wave from Apollo 11 and the celebration of Woodstock to launch his Peaceful Structures diplomacy and Affirmative Action domestic program successfully, in spite of Kent State.

As I say, Watergate was a self-inflicted wound amplified by the collective stupidity and anti-constitutional expedience of the Plumbers which was the cancer growing around the Nixon Presidency that has become the dominant coalition in the GOP and the core cadre of the January 6 Conspiracy obstructing BBB and the launch of the Green New Deal.

[scentedchildnacho]

Stalker - Robert Rich, B Lustmord ~ full album

I haven't seen the film mentioned....but to me the music is about a San Diego homeless man that survived it 40 years and only now may he have security groups that let him go to an apartment...

They wouldnt apparently let more people see how humiliating and inappropriate low income jobs are....or completely invalidate it so only now was his information called secure and free from jobs i guess

I wouldn't go to an apartment in San Diego all they want to do here is call all low income and poor women schizophrenics so I have a pedophile that wants to forcibly marry me

Schizophrenics can be tranqed comatose like NASA.....just slept or put down all the time till forced awake for moronic tasks.....very very illegal labor the tranqs are also based off half or brain severing....so it disconnects the frontal lobe from the back brain and the subject loses all consciousness of physicality like a paraplegic

The landlords have told me I have to take these drugs or I can't go home so I assume it's to use my federal work allowance to be near poor children as a stimulus but mostly defile my body while I'm comatose so a pedophile owns my apartment...

Women are the only group penetration is assumed legal on ..

If my conditions aren't kept very uncomfortable it can't control itself otherwise ...

I was raped in Gainesville Florida and if I can be tranqed they can be hyper stimulated....and he wouldn't get off me till concrete could be a pelvic thrust hazard...

I didn t have such an interest in collecting weapons as alternates to knives and guns till then....tactical is interesting to me

Who all knows who would break in and out of my apartment....so

Dachau concentration camp was mostly a work atrocity of mental handicaps ..but before it could concentrate was shut down at the end of the war......I assume its bad enough now to threaten the whole restaurant union so

I guess some of the whites are Russians if that explains white privilege instead of poor white......so I assume Russians finally will tell the feds to westerners....kamela harris again voted against malcolm x and again disproportionately funded blacks if I could do my duty...

This is terrorism the enemy has to finally be able to control government terrorism to westernized people here

Americans to osama bin laden about muslims that's kamela to westernized people

I can die a cop in a jail to go home or in combat to kamela so I just wouldnt be native enough for kamela to stop hateing me as The executive bitch

I can be condemned for black deportation to never stop causing a virus nothing black ever failed or declined to kamelas alien the blacks have it worse for an eternity blame the white throw parties off it's massacre

Jhumpa lahiri Indians though do have a lot of hatred and blame of the United states and often show venusian tendencies to passive aggression they act nice and do things to really fuck us over...

Nothing done about terrorism no relief given at all constant begging for other nations conflicts refusal of blameing the black nation for mistakes it's made

My guess is Russians finally made common process leave that homeless man alone....

If it's Russians about white under westernism it can only concentrate and kill me

That facility wasn't just mental it did murder a lot of people of viruses.....

[wallacewellsbian]

So today I heard someone voice their shitty opinion about US higher education...

To preface, about 90% of the folks I work with each day are from somewhere else in the world.  Usually, I love being part of a global community of scientific exploration.  But this person...really ground my gears.

She stated that US educational degrees aren’t worth anything because we “pay” for them rather than, in her opinion, “earn them.”  What you need to understand is that I typically deal with people with double the degrees that she has and three times the experience, so her opinion means next to nothing to begin with.  However I still need to say this.  What she said was possibly the most insulting, and elitist piece of word vomit I’ve heard since the last speech from Trump or Betsy DeVos.  (Both of whom did, in point of fact, buy their degrees.)  BUT it shows such a fundamental lack of knowledge and understanding in the shitshow that is US education that it basically tells me that this person is a complete fucking idiot, bereft of any knowledge or sense of any kind.

Higher education in the US is a disgustingly classist and elitist mess that requires those who don’t come from money to work about five times as hard as someone born into wealth to get half as far.  It’s even worse when you consider the racial and gender/gender alternative gaps in our educational opportunities, but that’s a whole different late night rant.  (And I’m not even talking about the recent admissions scandals because who gives a shit about rich people going to jail.  They deserve it.)  Using money as the gatekeeper for academia is nothing short of setting a society up for utter and complete failure, which the US is doing in spades.  I genuinely believe this will be a nail in our country’s coffin, give or take about 60 years.  And that’s coming from someone with an advanced scientific degree in sustainability...because there’s absolute no chance of the US helping to abate climate catastrophe on a governmental level until about 2036.  Trust me on that. 

However, being a bitchy cog in that machine from what you “believe to be a world view” is actually playing into the Reagan-era nonsense that’s led to the average millennial’s horrific amount of average school debt and the complete disenfranchisement of gen z.  When your education is free, you can’t even BEGIN to comprehend what it’s like to work 40hrs/wk and simultaneously go to school full time  just to keep your bills in check and loan amounts down.  You have NO concept of the mental and physical tolls that sort of pressure takes on you, every.  single.  second.  of the day.  THAT is earning your degree.

This person was so dripping with EU white privilege that she couldn’t even see that was she was saying was egregiously incorrect and it’s just so deeply reminiscent of every boomer article crying wolf about how I’m killing the ketchup industry or a toxic dry cleaning business that I’m just hear to beg you about ONE THING.  Think before you open your mouth.  Don’t bother to speak if you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, unless it’s to ask a question or to better inform yourself.  I don’t know why this is so hard.   People are dying over here because they can’t afford insulin.  Maybe don’t insult one of the ways that people feel like they can better themselves, their lives, and their families, if they choose to pursue it.  And the majority DO fucking earn it.

[seat-safety-switch]

One day, some stellar object is going to come flying out of the sky and smash into the Earth. That’ll be inconvenient, for sure. If you had anything scheduled for that day, maybe move it up a bit. Some folks think that we’ll be off of the planet by then, and we can simply watch our home be demolished by an errant stone without much worry for our continued existence. Others, and I should point out that this includes NASA, have asked themselves: why not just shoot the asteroid?

That’s right. As these words go to press, those rocket-scientist eggheads at the Big Loud Noise Factory are slamming a bad-ass spacecraft into a giant rock out somewhere in the ass-end of nowhere. It’ll hit at over twenty thousand kilometres per hour, which is the part where I became interested in the whole thing. When did we as a species develop the technology to go really fast and whack a flying death-boulder into a different orbit? Apparently, sometime between when the dinosaurs got fucked up and last night.

There’s only one problem I can think of: what if our current society doesn’t survive until that asteroid shows up? It would suck if we manage to transcend petty concerns, organize ourselves into nature-respecting collectives, and endeavour to live a holistic and fulfilled life only to look up one day and remember why we made all those cool bombs and rockets and drove 48 minutes each way to jobs that we hated. That’s why I do all the crap that I do: even that future hippie civilization can figure out how to shake the dead wasps and aerosolized tire marbles out of a Weber carburetor enough to get one of my Volares to stir back to life, assuming that they have someone equally as dumb as me and a NAPA within walking distance from which to get a new twelve-volt lead-acid starter battery.

That’s why I’ve decided to start my own asteroid smashing project. It will be made as simply as possible, contain directions that anyone can use, and ideally I won’t be around to watch it not work. Hey, if we get wiped out in this scenario, who are you going to get mad at: NASA, or the guy who sold City Hall a fake rocket filled with Estes E-class model rocket engines?

[a-is-for-abel]

"“I’m moving.” He froze, glancing up at his friend. The other boy’s eyes were gleaming with suppressed sobs, breath hitching and jaw clenched. “Mom got a job in another state and we’re moving in a month.”

Inspired by this prompt by @givethispromptatry

Sand and shells crunched under the belly of the kayak as it ran aground. With a wobble and a curse he tumbled into the water, paddle floating away from him and kayak shooting off in the opposite direction.

"Fuck."

He scrambled to collect both, tossing the paddle up onto the beach and grabbing the handle at the bow of the kayak to tow it onto shore.

"You're late."

He rolled his eyes and glanced over his shoulder to see Warren in all his cut-offs and sandals glory. "And you're early."

Warren crossed his arms. "I'm literally the most on time, dude."

"Whatever, just-- Help me grab the stuff."

He popped open the watertight chamber in front of the seat and reached into the belly of the kayak, all while Warren struggled to pull the backpack out from under the cage of bungee cords at the front.

"Just unhook them, dude," he said, his cellphone and two unopened cream sodas finally in hand.

"Don't tell me how to do it."

"It's not going to--"

"Shit!" Warren yelped, recoiling and clutching his hand.

"Told you."

Warren flicked him off, but turned to do what he said anyway.

"Come on, suns gonna start setting soon." He grabbed his backpack from Warren and stuffed the drinks and his phone inside.

"What? Afraid of some gators?"

"No," he said. "Rather a gator than my dad."

Warren grimaced. "He still got you on that curfew?"

"Yup."

He picked his way through the mangrove thicket that cut the beach off from the rest of the spoil island. The roots of the black mangroves jutted up like fingers through the sand and the stilts of the red mangroves tried their best to snag his feet as he ducked under the sprawling web of an orb weaver hidden in their midst. Thankfully, it cleared out past the initial wall of foliage, becoming more barren with only the occasional thicket.

He remembered when his dad had led them through here the first time and explained that the mangroves kept the spoil islands standing. That when hurricanes and storms threatened to wash them away, their roots would act like a little army, keeping off any barrage and harboring whatever took up shelter under them.

He frowned. His dad and him hadn't come out here since--

"Fuck, fuck, fu--" Warren sputtered behind him, high-pitched.

"Web?" he asked, glancing back to see Warren flinching away from a tree.

"Yeah, fuck--" Warren brushed his arms off frantically and patted at his hair. "Fucking spiders all over the fucking place, man. They call it Mosquito Lagoon, but it really should be spider god damn la-- Fuck!"

"Nice one, ‘spider god damn la-fuck’ really has a special sort of ring to it."

Warren shot him a glare and dusted off his shoulders and the front of his shirt with quick flicks. "You owe me for psychological damages..."

"Come on, we used to come out here all the time."

"When I was like ten! And with your dad!" Warren cowered away from another web that sprawled from a lone tree. "And I didn't have as much free real estate for a spider to like, you know-- Crawl all over me or whatever."

"Free real estate?"

"Yeah, you know the whole--" Warren gestured vaguely. "The meme."

"God, please stop," he groaned. "That shits like, what, twenty-seventeen? That's like ancient history, man."

"It's a classic."

"Sure," he muttered. "A classic."

"Whatever, man, you're just not cultured."

He scoffed. "That's definitely it."

The other end of the island unfolded into a drop-off, all coquina and shells packed tightly together and built up into a mound that cut off abruptly into nothing. It was the highest point of the island-- of most of the spoils out here honestly-- even though it's small cliff had been eaten away and eroded over time, shrinking and shifting as the island shrank with the waves.

Dropping his backpack, he sat and dangled his legs over the edge, shoes knocking back against the coquina with a scratchy rasp. Warren plopped down beside him, keeping his legs folded and away from the plunge. Not that it was much of a sheer cliff. Only about eight feet down at the most, but enough that it felt like a lot. Compared to the average of three feet below sea level for the rest of the mainland; eight feet felt pretty fucking huge.

The tide lapped at the base of the island, the water hissing and coiling, writhing and alive where it squirmed through the holes bored through the coquina face and back out with a soft crackle. Crabs, tiny and mottled, darted in and around the rocks and he could see finger mullet, their scales flashing as they turned and twisted with the waves.

"You tied up your kayak, right?" Warren asked.

"Naw, but it should be fine. I pulled it up pretty far."

"I'm not sharing if you get stuck out here."

He frowned, shooting Warren his best puppy dog eyes. "You'd leave me out here?"

"Yes."

He chuckled. "Fair."

Seagulls drifted in lazy circles far overhead, the occasional cry working its way down to them as the birds banked with the wind, following the gusts up to where they could catch a glimpse of a meal beneath the water. One wheeled down in a sudden arc, wings folded close to its side as it plummeted, beak first, into the water with a snap and then back out with a spray.

"Man, tough luck..." Warren said. "Hate whenever they miss. Makes me feel kinda bad."

"They're just gonna go do what the rest do and steal some fries at the jetty once they realize it's easier than doing this."

"Yeah, but it's like-- I don't know, man. Just wish he'd get a win."

"You don't even know him!"

"I feel like we have a connection." Warren pointed at where the seagull had gone back to patrolling the waters. "Me and seagull number one thousand and three, we're like this--" He crossed his fingers.

"Shut up," he snorted.

They watched the seagull try again and fail.

Warren started up a running commentary after the third attempt, cupping a hand over his mouth to imitate the slight grain of a sports announcer's microphone as he dramatized the whole thing. When the seagull finally managed to snag a fish Warren cheered, arms thrown up in a touchdown motion that he copied with a grin.

"Hell yeah, dude!" Warren high-fived him.

"Where's all that enthusiasm for when you're at my games?" he asked.

"Come on, dude, you know I always cheer the loudest. You're just too far out on the field to hear me."

"I'm sure that's what it is."

"Whatever, man-- What'd you bring anyway?" Warren grabbed his backpack and began rummaging through it. "Oh shit! Gummy bears, dude! And the good kind, hell yeah!"

"Yeah, grabbed them before I came here. That's why I was late, idiot."

Warren tore open the package. "Crimes forgiven, man. This is worth it."

"Give me that--" He pulled his backpack out of Warren's lap. "I also got some soda, but I guess all you care about is your precious little bears."

"Naw, naw-- Hand that over."

"Rude much?"

"What? You want me to kiss you on the lips for it first, bro?"

He laughed. "Now, that would be the polite thing to do."

Warren puckered his lips at him and then snatched the soda. "Fuck off."

"Not even a little kiss?" he teased.

"You dragged me out to spider-fuck-nowhere, while it's ass fucking hot out and where it smells like rotting fish taint-- Just to watch the fucking sunset, when we could have sat on my roof and done the exact same thing-- You expect a kiss for that?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Bro code."

Warren snorted. "Hand me a bottle opener, dip shit."

He popped open his own bottle and passed it over to Warren, who struggled for a moment before finally getting it with a triumphant 'whoop'. The mixture of saccharine flavored soda and the slight rotting stench of algae, and whatever else the lagoon had to offer, wasn't exactly pleasant, but it wasn't terrible. It was familiar.

It was homely in it's off kilter sort of way.

"So, why'd you bring me out here anyways?" Warren asked.

He sighed and kicked his heel back against the coquina. "I’m moving.”

Warren sucked in sharply and he glanced over at him.

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the water below his feet. "Dad got a job in another state and we’re moving in a month.”

"Dude…"

"I didn't know how to tell you. I just--"

"Is that why you decided it'd be a good idea to sneak out and go to that dumb party with me?" Warren asked, frowning.

"I figured it would be one of the last chances I had to do something fun, you know. Here. Before I just-- Leave all this shit forever. I mean, we're moving to fucking Ohio, man. Where the fuck am I gonna find a party on an island out there?"

"Right…"

"And look, fuck my dad--"

"Jake--"

"No, fuck him-- He didn't even--" he huffed. "Things were looking up, man. Varsity lacrosse in sophomore year, that's huge, dude. And I wasn't just the fucking loser kid in the back of class anymore and he just--"

"Works rough here, dude..." Warren cut him off, sighing. "Space programs taking a shit. Whole island's taking a shit, really. Plenty of people left the first time NASA tanked, remember? It's just… it happens, man."

"So, you're just fine with it then?" he asked, brows furrowing. "We're never going-- I'm never going to see you again and you're just okay with that?"

"It's not forever!" Warren said, throwing out his hands. "There's planes, man! It's the twenty first fucking century. We got phones, dude. We'll stay in touch."

He grit his teeth and looked down.

"Jake, bro. C'mon-- Look at me."

He met Warren's eyes.

"It's gonna be okay, dude." Warren said, smile wide, and he could see the little falter at the edges, but he didn't call him on it. "Look--" Warren held up his bottle. "We'll cheers on it."

"Cheers on what?"

"To staying in touch, to meeting up in the future. To staying friends and all that, I don't know."

"To you finally getting a boyfriend?"

"Actually, you know what, I'm not going to miss you at all."

"Come on--" he grinned, nudging Warren with his shoulder. "You'll miss me."

"Yeah," Warren chuckled, looking down with a small smile. "I will..."

His fingers tightened around the glass bottle in his hand, bottom lip threatening to worry between his teeth. "Look, let's do your dumb cheers thing before it gets too sentimental or whatever."

Warren sighed, seeming to shake himself off before raising his soda bottle above his head and towards the slowly setting sun. "To us."

"To us?" He wrinkled his nose. "Isn't that kinda cheesy?"

"Just shut up and do it."

"Fine..." he grumbled with a grin, raising his bottle to clink against Warren's. "To us."

--

//photo credit// me and my phone c. 2020 //

[diaryofabeautyfiend]

🚨Warnings: Light p in v smut. Some angst. Lots of fluff. My grandfather’s name really is in the Smithsonian.🚨

Plain Gold Ring V:

Exactly Like You

“I know why I waited

Know why I've been blue

I've been waiting each day

For someone exactly like you” - Nina Simone

——————————————————————

Your last day in D.C. felt like the last day of your life. This life. Every article of clothing was packed. Every knickknack and tchotchke sent with the movers. You were ready for your next life. Did your next life include Andy?

The weather was beautiful. Sunny. Not too hot. You and Andy had planned on spending it outside seeing the sites. He had never toured any of the museums. You invited Jacob along. The second you said it you wished you hadn’t. You felt like a home wrecker even though Andy promised Jacob wouldn’t see you that way.

Andy was bristling with excitement. “He’s going to love you, baby.” You were not great with kids. You actively chose not to have them. You loved your nieces from a distance when they were little. Now that they are teenagers you feel a little more at ease with them. You are their cool rich aunt who spends an absolutely outrageous amount of money on them when you visit. You nearly fainted when Andy asked if you’d like to have children.

“Aren’t I too old for that?”

“You’re only three years younger than me. I know a lot of women who had their career before they had a family.” Your face snapped from terrified to anger real quick, “Not that you can’t have a career and be a mother. People do it everyday. Shut up, Andy.”

“You’re cute when you’re nervous. Have you thought of having children with me?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, yeah. I’d like to have a couple more.”

“Oh. A couple he says.” You could feel the hives forming. “This seems like a good conversation to have right before I leave.”

He ran his hands up and down your arms. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to pressure you. You haven’t thought about it? Not even a little?” The door buzzed in the nick of time.

“Jacob’s here! Hallelujah!” You wiggled out of his arms to grab your shoes.

He laughed shaking his head. “We’ll finish this conversation later, young lady.” he pressed the intercom button, “Hey come on up, buddy. This is going to be great, honey.” He loved your nervous laugh and the way you fidgeted with your fingers. Just the fact that you were nervous told him you would love his son.

You heard voices coming from the living area. Fucking hell. Was that Lori? You contemplated going out of the window. You went into the bathroom to grab some lip balm. You knew full well that it was in your bag on the kitchen island. You were just staying out of their way. When you heard the front door close you reemerged.

“Ready to go?” Your eyes were wide and you were way too smiley. If Andy didn’t know better he would think you were on drugs.

“Yeah. I think no more coffee for you ok?”

“It’s nice to see you again, Miss Y/N.” Jacob extended his hand.

“Nice to see you too. So! The Smithsonian. What part are you most interested in seeing?”

“Air and space I think.”

“Then that’s where we’ll start. My grandfather’s name is actually on a plaque. I’ll show you. He was in the navy and built planes that were used in Korea I think. And my dad’s picture is there. He works for a division of NASA back in Louisiana where I’m from. He developed this little part of the rocket booster. He’s literally a rocket scientist.”

“That’s really cool. I’d love to meet him sometime…..”

Andy was loving every second of this. You and Jacob really got along. You were making plans to visit your father and stepmother over the summer and maybe hit the beach in Florida. Jacob’s face lit up at the prospect of meeting your family. Both Andy and Lori were only children. Jacob didn’t grow up with cousins or really any kids his own age outside of school. He seemed pretty comfortable with the idea of you and Andy together.

Andy tested the waters a little by holding your hand. Jacob didn’t seem to notice. By the time you got to the next part of the museum he had his arms around your waist. He even kissed you a couple of times. Nothing but a tender peck here and there. Jacob didn’t seem to mind when he showed you affection.

After lunch Andy dropped you off and then ran Jacob back home.

“So, what are you thinking?” Andy asked with nervous trepidation.

“The museum was cool. I really liked the rockets. It’s cool that Y/N’s dad made those.”

“Did you like Y/N?”

“Yeah. Sucks she’s moving. Do you think you’ll move to Chicago too?”

“Kind of depends on you, bud. I know you’re getting older and you don’t need Dad around very much anymore. I don’t want to miss anything. You’re my only baby.”

“I could spend summers with you. You look really happy. I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time. Even before the trial. I’d miss you but you should be happy.”

The whole way inside Jacob talked about you. He clammed up when Lori walked in.

“Hey, guys. Did you have a good time?” She kissed Jacob on the forehead.

“We had a great time. Ok, Jake. You have the number where I’ll be. I’ll be back on Wednesday. If you’re not busy next weekend you can spend the night. I have your room all set up. Love you.”

“Ok. Love you. Have a safe flight. Tell Y/N I said bye.” He escaped to his room before the arguing started.

“If it’s ok I’ll pick him up from school Thursday. Did you sign the papers?”

“She went with you?” Her voice was deadly quiet.

“She did.”

“Didn’t want to tell me that before hand I guess.”

He sighed and wiped his face with his hands, “I’ll have him back Sunday night. See you later.”

“Fuck you, Andy. You can’t even give me the courtesy of telling me my son would be meeting his father’s whore!”

He slammed his fist on the counter, “Did you sign the papers or not?” She threw the manilla envelope at him.

“They’re signed.” He took the papers and walked out slamming the door. He contemplated moving again. He has a month to month lease on his place. It wouldn’t be hard for him to find a job. He knew Jacob would be fine. Chicago was looking better and better. After all the baby talk this morning he wouldn’t burden you with anything else domestic for today.

——————————————————————

You were zipping your last suitcase when you heard Andy come in. You packed all of your sleep clothes so you were wearing Andy’s t-shirt and panties. Dinner was ordered and he had a drink waiting on the counter. He called out for you. When you rounded the corner into the living room he caught you in his arms.

“Hey, handsome.” you cooed in his ear. He nuzzled your neck and stroked your back. “You ok? Was Jacob….he hates me. I knew it.”

He tightened his hold on you, “Honey, he loved you. He talked about you the whole way back.”

“Then why is your face all worried?”

“Because I’m keenly aware that this is our last night together in my place. That when I come home Wednesday you won’t be here. I’ll go to work on Thursday and Jeremy will be in your office. I have really good memories in that office and now they’re ruined. I don’t want to wake up without you.”

His hands traveled up your bare back then back down to cup your ass. “The delivery app says they’re going to be here in twenty minutes. Think you can finish in time?”

He lowered his head between your breasts and nodded yes. Before you knew it your panties were off, his pants were down and he was fucking you against the wall. His pace was relentless. You hooked your ankles at the small of his back and leaned back so you could rub your clit. Your fingertips brushed against his dick every time he pumped in and out of your cunt. You both came in fifteen minutes.

You ate dinner on the veranda loving the cool breeze on your bare skin. As much as he wanted his t-shirt to smell like you, he like naked picnics way more. Admittedly, a big chicken Caesar salad wasn’t the sexiest food in the world. Still didn’t stop him from licking dressing off of your chest when it dropped off your fork. He was determined to fuck you in almost every room in this place.

You slept tangled and sticking together all night. You had finally gotten over your need for bed space. You’d miss it when he wasn’t there. All night the two of you wanted to bring up moving in together. Neither of you had the guts to say it. You didn’t want to beat a dead horse. He didn’t want to freak you out. Good thing you’d be long distance for a while to work on your communication skills.

——————————————————————

Your new place was beautiful. You rented a big new condo close to Millennial Park. Your office was on Michigan Ave so you weren’t far from there thought walking was highly discouraged. It wouldn’t be possible in heels anyway.

You and Andy worked diligently unpacking and cleaning. When the last box was unpacked and broken down you both collapsed on the couch. “I feel disgusting.”

“You have that nice big bathtub. Bet we can both fit.” He raised an eyebrow at you and nudged your side.

“You are insatiable, Mr. Barber. Whatever will I do without you?”

“You’ll bust from horniness. Come on.” He hoisted you up from your comfy spot and pulled you into the bathroom. While he undressed you filled the water with soft musky oils and some bubble bath. You lit candles and eased in to relax. He washed your hair massaging your scalp with his fingertips. He held you in the warmth until your fingers and toes were pruned.

For the rest of the week, if you were sitting it was on Andy’s lap. If you were sleeping it was in his arms. By Tuesday morning, you had both finished up conference calls and responding to emails. You had cleared the rest of your day to spend together.

As the sunlight dwindled it had become harder and harder to part. You couldn’t take it anymore. You had to have the conversation you had been dreading since you stepped off the plane.

“Andy, I don’t want to sound like a nagging girlfriend but, I really want you to move in with me. I know it would be so hard leaving Jacob but I have plenty of room. He can spend every summer here if he wants. I’d love to have him. I feel really strongly that this is leading somewhere. I’ll even talk about babies if you want.”

His heart was bursting. You kept rambling on trying to convince him. Little did you know he was already convinced. “Stan is going to kill you.” He laughed and pulled you onto his lap. “Give me a few weeks to wrap up everything.”

When you dropped him at the airport there were tears but you knew you’d see him soon. “I love you, baby. I’ll call you as soon as I land.” He kissed you like he would never get to do it again.

“I love you too. See you soon.” He smiled through his tears.

“See you soon.”

——————————————————————

That weekend he spent all of his time with Jacob. He planned on spending every moment he could with his son. Jacob even had his first few weeks planned starting with meeting your family in Louisiana.

When he brought Jacob home on Sunday he worked up the courage to tell Lori the news. “Do you have all of your stuff for your English assignment? If not I can bring it by before school tomorrow.”

“I got it, dad. I had fun this weekend.” They hugged. He smelled Jacob’s hair and kissed him.

“Love you. Be good for mom.”

“Love you too!”

Lori stood in the doorway with her arms folded protectively over her chest. “So she’s gone?”

“Yep.”

“So what now? What does this mean for you?”

He pulled out the kitchen chair and rested his head in this hands. “This wasn’t a fling, Lori. I’m moving to Chicago. Jacob is real excited about spending summers with us.”

“Do you love her?” Tears shimmered in her eyes and her voice wavered. It would be cruel to lie to her.

“Very much.” It stung to hear. With nothing left to say Andy stood to leave.

“Andy!” she called after him. When he turned she wrapped him in a hug. The two of them embraced for several minutes.

When he stepped onto the sidewalk outside of the building his phone buzzed in his pocket. He saw your face smiling back at him.

“Hey, baby. How was your day?” He looked up at your old window and thought of how the two of you started, the past he left behind and smiled at the sound of his future on the other end of the line.

[write-orflight]

Galileo: Chapter 1

**Gif Not Mine**

Prev -  Next

Pairings: SpencerXReader, enemies to friends to lovers trope

Rating: M

Words: 2.1K

Warnings: None right now. but will eventually be smut.

Request: OPEN/CLOSED

Summary: Y/N is an astronomer with her head constantly in the stars. But when a serial killer is threatening NASA’s top scientists, she is left in the protective custody of a man who’s gravitational pull threatens to pull her back down to earth. 

A.N: I made the reader jewish (or from a jewish family really) for reasons I don’t even know. Message to be added to the taglist! Much love, Cia

                              Chapter 1: Venus

Spencer never really “understood” women but he thought in the passing years he got at least, a better understanding. 

He still, however, didn’t understand you or your clear adverse feelings for him. Spencer immediately thought to do what he did in most situations when he didn’t understand people. He profiled them. 

He watched you from across the room, seated in a barstool height chair so you could look into the telescope, legs crossed as you scribbled into a notepad placed on your right thigh. No ring or any form of jewelry, Which most likely meant no significant other. Your work space was clear devoid of any pictures or sentimentals except for one small photo of you and Victim #4, clearly at a bar of some sort. He looks completely in his element while you look slightly uncomfortable. You’re both smiling brightly though he’s looking straight at the camera while you’re slightly looking up at him. That, how none of his desk or items were cleared, and how you seemed to move around his stuff like you were used to the routine of it all told Spencer what he needed to know. 

“Were you dating your coworker?” Spencer asked. You stopped in your track on your way to one of the chalkboards you set up for equations. Dr. Cliff often told you it was so outdated but you preferred to do things right yourself not let a computer decide for you. You leveled a heated look to Spencer. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Your partner, Jonathan Brewer.” Spencer pointed out. “You didn’t say in your initial interview that you were dating. If that was the case, that’s something we need to know. It could help find his kille--” 

“We. Weren’t. Dating.” You say, angrily. Spencer almost flinches at the pure venom that is seeping out of your voice. “Not that it’s any of your fucking business, by the way. Everything I already told your agents was the truth. He was my best friend, My only friend, and now he’s dead. Please do not distract me from my work with idiotic questions again.”  You turn away from him, going back to your math. 

How dare he pretend to know anything about you and Jon. What a fucking pretentious asshole. Accusing you of sleeping with Jonathan, not that you didn’t want to… or didn’t at least think about it. You never got to tell Jonathan how you really felt about him, how he had the unfiltered ability to make the room feel lighter like you were in the zero gravity chamber, or how every shoulder press, hand on your back as he passed by, bright smiles from across the room while he did the math and you tracked Gaia would feel like lightning down your nervous system. 

You never got to tell him you were in love with him. 

And now you never will. 

You knew you were only angry at Spencer because he was able to clock you on what never occurred to Jonathan the year you’d known him in an hour of knowing you but in the end it was none of his business and he had absolutely no right. 

Thankfully, he had learned silence was a virtue and didn’t say anything the rest of the night, opting to read some of the books you had around. You stretched as you stood from your desk grabbing your bags to head out the door. Spencer also notices this and follows suit. 

“What’re you doing?” You ask as he’s following you out the door. 

“I’m your protective custody which means, I’m with you always, not just at work.” He says, awkwardly. “Did Dr. Clifton not explain?” 

“No, he did not...” You trail off. “Fine, come on.” You say going to your car, Spencer automatically climbs into the passenger seat and you drive home in silence. 

When you arrive at your apartment, the cat greets you with beady eyes from the top of his cat tower. 

“You know some people’s cats greet them at the door.” You say, approaching the tower to pet him, he purrs and pushes his head into your palm. You turn back to Spencer who is standing awkwardly by the door. “The sofa folds out if you want to take that, I guess I’ll bring you a blanket and pillow.” Spencer watches as you disappear from the room to give him the items you just said. “Don’t be confused if Alfonso is next to you when you wake up, the couch is his spot.” 

“Alfonso?” 

You gester to the cat. “Context clues, might help you out someday.” You say sarcastically. “I’m going to shower.” You brush past him on the way to what seemed to be your only sanctuary away from the doctor. 

Spencer takes this time to survey your apartment, making sure there’s no way for someone to break in without his knowledge. He pulls out the sofa bed and almost like clockwork, the small cat moved from his tower onto the corner of the couch and slept. Spencer also looked around the apartment like he would with any victim, though you weren’t one yet, he still had to figure out why you’re specifically being targeted. But he couldn’t get a gage of who you are because there was nothing that said who you were in this house. Living room was obviously designed by an interior designer, the kitchen was neat only things on the counter were a coffee maker, kettle and a stand mixer. Different plants lined your balcony along with a small telescope. The only thing he could get a reading on was that you lived here, you had a cat, and that maybe you baked. 

“Mom, I’m fine.” Spencer hears, he turns toward the bathroom to see you exiting in a pair of pajama shorts and a large Georgetown University sweater. He knew you didn’t go there but Victim #4 did, he could only assume it was his sweater. “Obviously I’m not in danger, we’re talking on the phone.” He watches you pause and roll your eyes. “No mom, this isn’t an elaborate hostage call. I told you to stop watching true crime before bed.” Spencer tries not to listen to the conversation, he really does. But it’s been a while since he’s been able to have a normal conversation like this with his mom. So of course that made him a tad jealous. 

“Mom it’s almost 7am. I should really sleep…. for the last time, mom, I have to work at night my job is to watch planets…. You’re right I’m probably not going to find a husband this way, but I also don’t want one…. I do not need a yenta, Ma! Now I really have to go, give my best to dad.” You say, hanging up. Spencer watches you groan in frustration. 

“God, can you believe that woman! I love her to death but I don’t need a fucking matchmaker, there’s a serial killer after me for god’s sake! Dating should be her last concern—“ You cut off realizing you’re ranting to a man who’s just met you and that you also despise. “You don’t give a shit about this.” You say, Spencer just tilts his head at you. You roll your eyes. “Goodnight.” You say, closing your bedroom door quickly. 

Some things stayed the same though because as soon as you hit your pillow, you were deeply asleep. 

———————————————-

Spencer wakes up in the late afternoon to the cat sprinting across his body. He opens his eyes a little to see you placing food and water in a bowl. You pet him briefly before letting him eat and then you sit at the dining table with a hot mug in your hand. 

“You made coffee?” Spencer asked, groggily. 

“Yes.” You say, obviously. 

“The pot is empty…” 

“I didn’t say I made some for you.” You looked at him. “I’m sure, they taught you how to use a coffee maker in the academy.” 

With that you turn away from him, back to the book you were reading. Spencer rolls his eyes but makes the coffee anyway, he knew if the entire day was going to be like this he’d need it.

“You know, this would probably be easier if you would stop fighting me at every turn. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together. There's no point in arguing constantly.” 

“No, what would make it easier is if you caught the serial killer, so I could have my apartment back.” You say, rolling your eyes. 

Spencer just throws his arms up. He tried, he’s officially giving up trying to find common ground with this she-devil. He grabs his phone and steps into the hall for a second. 

“Oracle of Quantico, speak and be heard.” He hears Penelope say over the line. He sighs in relief at the tone of his friend. 

“Garcia, do you know if the others have found anything on this case yet?” He says. 

“No dice, my friend. Far as I know they’re still doing victimology. You know I would call you if we found anything out. Why? What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing, I’m just… trying to gage how long this’ll be.” 

“Jesus Spencer, it’s been one day. It can’t be that bad.” 

“It can, Garcia, this woman….she hates me. And I don’t know why.” 

“Well what did you do?” 

“Nothing! I didn—” 

“Spencer…” Penelope said in an almost scolding tone. 

“I may have… accused her of dating Victim #4.” 

“Jonathan Brewer, her coworker. Why would you do that?” 

Spencer tells her of the things he’s found in her office as well as her sweater this morning and Garcia cuts him off. 

“Ok, I’ve heard enough.” Garcia says. “Spencer, I may not be a profiler but I understand women, especially smart, nerdy women. So you told me she has a picture of them on her desk and that she still hasn’t cleared his desk?” 

“Yes.” 

“Did you see any pictures of her on his desk?” 

“No.” 

“And you already know from when we went to his apartment, there were no photos of her there either.” Penelope says, like it’s kinda obvious. “So combine that with the sweater and everything else what do you get?” 

“She was in love with him....” Spencer says, confused why it took him this long to get it. “And it wasn’t reciprocated…” 

“Points to Ravenclaw.” Penelope says. “Now you’re already a constant reminder that she’s lost someone, so bringing it up every second and accusing her of lying probably isn’t helping. She probably isn’t even angry at you, she’s just grieving, let her do that.”   

“You’re right, Garcia.” He sighs. 

“I always am. Adieu.” She says hanging up. Spencer re-enters the apartment and sees you sitting in a chair next to the window reading, he notes that you are dressed for work. You were wearing a knee length black pencil skirt with a mint green blouse. All tied together with your floor length lab coat that held your badge. Your hair was tied in a high bun and round rimmed glasses adorned your face. Spencer hated to say it but he wasn’t blind, you were breath-taking. 

“I’m leaving in 45 minutes, if you want to put on something less… firetruck-y.” Spencer looked down and he was still wearing his Pajama pants that had a pattern of fire trucks on them. 

Well, she was breath-taking until she opened her mouth. 

Spencer just sighed and went to change. 

The two of you drove to the office in silence, the only sound being classical music playing through her speakers. You put the car in park and you start to get out when you feel a hand circle your wrist you pull your arm back and look at the man in disgust. 

“Wait before you get out.” Spencer says looking you in the eye. “I wanted to apologize for making accusations about your relationship with Jonathan. It was not my place to do that.” 

“It wasn’t.” You say. 

“I know. I’m sorry… we’re going to be with each other constantly until we find his killer so I don’t want to fight everyday. Friends?” He says offering his hand for her to shake. Spencer didn’t like shaking hands but if it would show her he was serious he’d do it. 

“I appreciate the apology but we’re only working together briefly, there’s no reason for us to be friends. Colleagues.” She agrees, looking at his hand but not shaking it. Just choosing to get out of the car without another word. 

God, you were not going to make this easy. Spencer knew that for a fact.

[spacetimewraithwrites-archive]

Fictober '21 Prompt No. 15 — "I like that in you."

Category: Original WIP: Thriving series Rating: T Timeline: an AU in which both Warren and Thrive are human CW: None Word Count: 1,098 Additional Notes: I’m only slightly concerned about the soundtrack for this AU lol 😔 also I’ve taken some liberties with the setting; I’ve been there many times but I can’t remember specifics

***

PART III ➳ PART II ➳ PART I

Warren set his cup on the table and passed his eyes around the café, watching the families piled together with their lunches while conversing and laughing amongst themselves. He took stock of the strollers, the frazzled mothers and fussy fathers, the well-behaved kids and inquisitive babies cradled in their parents’ arms. He squinted.

“I’m a little confused,” he said, addressing Thrive wiping his fingers on a napkin across from him. “I’m not...hating this, exactly, but I think I’m missing the joke.”

“What joke?”

Warren’s brows furrowed. “I’m really trying not to assume the worst, here. Did you bring me to the Air and Space Museum to...gloat? To rub the fact that I’m not gonna be starting my dream career anytime soon in my face?”

Thrive folded his hands under his chin. “So you are upset.”

“Of course I’m fucking upset.” Warren’s voice remained calm and appropriate for a public setting despite his words. “Look...I meant it when I said I’m happy you got the job. Envious, sure, but I’m happy for you. Nobody deserves it more than you. This, though...” He gestured around at the general building. “Unless this is supposed to teach me some kind of valuable lesson or you’re about to drop the sickest life advice using aerospace technology as a metaphor, this sucks, Oliver.”

“It’s a date, actually.”

“It’s a—” Warren sat back in his seat, surprised. “...This is a date?”

Thrive nodded. “I took a calculated risk. I figured you were feeling low about being rejected by NASA, and in the short time I’ve known you, I’ve gleaned that you have a love of space that only rivals mine. Compliments, we’ll say.” Thrive’s eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief. “I wanted to try to remind us of why we love it so much.”

Warren messed with the lid of his cup, popping one side of it off and back on again. “I don’t mean for my gloominess to bring you down, too.”

“It’s not. I’ve decided not to take the job after all.”

“What?” Warren almost shouted, then, quickly lowering his volume before he drew attention to himself. “Why in the star-spangled fuck—oh god, did you turn them down already? Gimme your phone, I’m gonna email them back as you telling them you made a mistake...”

Thrive carefully pushed Warren’s outstretched hand away. “I haven’t solidified my decision yet.” He looked as if he wanted to add something else, and his gaze darted quickly between the other museum patrons. He seemed to shut down slightly, shoulders tensing as he stirred his drink with his straw. “I’ll inform them before the working day is over.”

“Why are you doing this?” Warren pleaded. “You...you wanted that job so badly, I watched you pace the living room of the beach place for practically hours reciting equations under your breath. You left everything behind in Alaska for this, wh—why?”

Thrive caught his eye yet kept silent.

Warren felt a pit open in his chest. “C’mon,” he said, standing to dispose their trash in the bins before all but dragging Thrive into the main part of the museum.

---

The two of them squeezed through a group of elementary-schoolers on a field trip to fake interest in the wheels of half a commercial aircraft used to display the interior to visitors. Warren took a breath as Thrive bent to get a glimpse of the landing gear from beneath.

“Not to make myself out to be a self-absorbed ass or anything,” Warren muttered, “but you’re not doing this because of me, are you?”

Thrive turned a curious look onto him. “Why would you think that?”

“Because you were fine with jumping aboard until you found out that I’m not gonna be working there.”

“It’s entirely because of you.”

Thrive moved on to a wall of information and interactive displays, leaving Warren shell-shocked. He hurried after him.

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

“Well,” Thrive sighed, clasping his hands behind his back, “from the motel to here I kept thinking about this morning. I kept thinking about, when I got the email, how enthusiastic I’d been at the prospect of working with you, and how disappointed I’d been when I learned that wasn’t going to happen. Then I thought about it through the first half of the museum, and I couldn’t stop hearing the dejection in your voice when you told me.”

“That’s not a reason to put your dream on hold,” Warren said, his skin going hot. “It’s not like I’d be going anywhere. And...let’s face it, we’re very new to each other.”

He’d said this last bit under his breath, but Thrive offered a modest shrug. “If we’re going to see more of each other, I’d rather something like this not come between us.”

Warren shook his head and walked with him to another plane display. “You’ve only known me for three months, not to mention I am a grown man who can handle a little bit of career envy toward a potential boyfriend.”

Thrive grinned slyly at him. “Bold.”

“Please reconsider. If we do want this thing between us to work out, I don’t want to be the cause of resentment down the line. I’m going to get a job at NASA if it’s the last thing I do. Just...maybe now’s not the right time.”

A parent called out to their kid with a gleeful wave by the opening to the half-plane upstairs. It caused a brief but considerable distraction.

“You’re almost as excited about my life as I am,” Thrive said, leaning down to Warren’s ear. “I like that in you.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s a bit of a turn-on.” Thrive cleared his throat. “I’ll...reconsider. I can give it a week. A month. Only if you do something for me in return.”

“At this point, I’ll do anything.”

“Stay with me.” They both turned their attention to some of the overhanging planes. “Wherever that may be. At least until you can support yourself. I don’t think I could sleep at night not knowing if you were able to eat or if you had a roof over your head.”

Warren was proud, but he was also smart. He knew better than to tempt fate or to disregard a good thing when it waltzed up to him. Plus, spending more time in close proximity very much held appeal to him. “You got it.”

They shook hands on it, and Thrive squeezed his arm. They went through the rest of the museum in much better spirits, and Warren moved into Thrive’s motel room as soon as they got back.