#Up until the dramatic finale which was how far it could possibly go!

[selemina]

Unspoken words. Mean gills my beloved! :D

[supernovafics]

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐍

pairing: professor!steve harrington x professor!fem!reader

word count: 6.8k words

summary: in which it had been twelve years since you last saw steve harrington. and you never thought about him, mainly because you’d forced yourself not to. but, suddenly, it was hard to avoid thoughts or reminders of him when after all of those years, you finally saw him again. it was an abrupt moment that oh so quickly brought back memories and old feelings that managed to do a number of things; confuse, scare, and worry you. after everything that happened between you two, you fully believed that you would never want to talk to him again. but maybe that was the exact thing that needed to happen.

warnings: explicit language, mentions of cheating, a bit of fluff, implied smut, a shit ton of angst but with a happy ending

author’s note: this took forever and it's insanely long but i love the way it turned out<33 the rest of the trilogy will be out next, so "august" and then "betty" coming (very) soon!! (full "folklore" album series masterlist here!)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“and when i felt like i was an old cardigan under someone's bed, you put me on and said i was your favorite.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Fall Semester 1996

You rarely ever thought about your life pre-Rhode Island. Mainly because you never wanted to, but also because it felt so far in the past that there was never any reason to focus on what used to be. 

You segmented your life into two phases. One, before you left your hometown, and, two, the moment you drove past the “Leaving Hawkins” sign and never looked back, refraining to listen to the part of the sign that told you to “Come Again Soon.” 

It had been nearly twelve years since you left the small Indiana town, and there wasn’t one moment where you ran into anyone that you once knew from that “before” life, which, in turn, meant that you never had any reason to think about Hawkins.

Until you did run into someone. And it was probably the worst possible person you could’ve ever run into. 

Steve fucking Harrington.

You would’ve rather seen Simon Gardener— your crush from sixth grade who you’d thrown up in front of when the two of you got paired up on a Science project— than Steve. 

But, now here he was, standing barely twenty feet away from you. You’d nearly dropped the coffee you’d waited almost twenty minutes for from your favorite coffee shop. Instead, you spilled some on your hand and only inwardly winced at the feeling because you didn’t want to draw attention to yourself. 

You almost turned around and walked out of the building you just walked into, but your office was right down the hallway that Steve was currently standing in the middle of along with the head of the English Department, Dan. And now that there was spilled coffee on your hand you really needed to go in there and rummage through the drawer of your desk that contained a bunch of leftover napkins from random nights when you’d order takeout to your office.

Before you could contemplate further about what your next course of action should be, Dan spotted you and called your name, waving you over to where he and Steve were standing. 

“Hi, good morning,” You greeted him, expertly avoiding eye contact with Steve because you didn’t want to see his reaction to seeing you for the first time in what pretty much felt like forever.

“Let me introduce you to the new addition to the History department upstairs,” Dan said and then gestured to Steve, which forced you to finally look at him. “Steve Harrington.” 

You could tell he was surprised to see you, but he hid that surprise by smiling at you, and you hated that even after all of these years, his smile still managed to do something to you. 

Now that you were closer to him, you could see some minor differences about him. His hair was a bit shorter, nothing too crazy or dramatic, but you noticed how his “iconic” hair was a bit more tame compared to how it used to be. And somehow he managed to get a little taller, only a couple of inches, but still you noticed that too. 

He overall looked older, which obviously made sense because twelve years would do that to a person. However, there was still something all too familiar about him. That same boyish presence that you had gotten so used to seeing still lingered on him. Behind his eyes, you saw exactly that boy you fell in love with that one summer. 

The summer that you never really thought about; in fact, you’d forced yourself not to think about it. But, now with him right in front of you, random flashbacks to moments from that July and August, especially August, were the only things circling your mind. 

Your loud laughs and wide smiles as you swam in his pool and let your body wrap around his underneath the water, your drunken talks until the sun came up, the makeout sessions in his car that almost always led to doing other things in his bed since his parents were never home. 

You pushed those memories far away, just as quickly as they resurfaced. 

“Hi,” You said to him and forced a small smile. 

You could tell that he was studying you just as you had been studying him, taking note of what you looked like now and comparing that to the version of you that he used to know. Whatever differences you had, you felt like they were subtle like his were, and just came with the territory of aging twelve years, but maybe he saw something else. He was the only person who you felt was able to actually look inside of you; he had known the ins and outs of who you were.   

“She’s a Professor in the English department,” Dan told Steve, and you were insanely grateful for Dan’s presence at that moment because you knew that it would be hell if you had been alone with Steve right then. “Oh, what happened to your hand?”

You looked down at your hand, somehow you had actually forgotten about the spill that happened only moments ago. 

“Little coffee mishap,” You said with a small, awkward laugh. “I have some napkins in my office, though, so I’m just going to head in there.” You looked at Steve and directed another forced smile at him, you had a feeling you’d be doing that a lot now. “Nice to meet you.” 

You mentioned something to Dan about seeing him at a faculty meeting later and then headed to your office, which was only about ten feet away. 

When it was just you alone behind the shut door of your office, your brain could finally process everything that had just happened. 

Steve was here. Not Hawkins, not Indiana, Rhode Island. And not only was he simply in Rhode Island, but he now worked at the college you had been working at for the past two and a half years. 

The only word you could think of at that moment was “Fuck,” and then you couldn’t help but mutter it under your breath. You took a sip of your coffee and let the familiar sweet and slightly bitter taste soothe your nerves.

Barely thirty minutes later— after trying your hardest to finish up the planning for a lecture you had been working on for the past few days but failing miserably because your mind couldn’t help but wonder why Steve was here of all places— you were stepping out of your office and almost crashed right into him.

“Jesus Christ,” You yelped; once again so surprised to see him. 

“I swear I was about to knock and this is just freakishly weird timing,” He quickly told you. “I wasn’t being a creep and waiting for you to come out.”  

“Okay,” You said with a small nod. Somehow his nervousness at that moment made you feel less nervous. “Um, what’s up?”

“Can we talk, maybe?”

“I have a class in fifteen minutes, so I can’t now,” You told him as you glanced down at the watch on your wrist. “But, um, maybe soon, yeah?” 

You were completely lying, there was no way you were going to talk to him soon; at least not about what you assumed he wanted to talk about. You refused to do that.

Luckily Steve couldn’t see through your lie, or if he did, he didn’t call you out on it. Instead, he nodded at your words before you walked away.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“'cause i knew you. steppin' on the last train marked me like a bloodstain. i knew you. tried to change the ending peter losing wendy.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Somehow, and much to your grateful surprise, you rarely ever saw Steve. And when you did, because he was only just upstairs so it was sort of inevitable, there were only quick passing glances shared between you two along with tight-lipped smiles and small waves; both of you too busy to have any kind of actual conversation with one another.  

However, you did manage to learn a few things about him over the past month he’d been there. You heard through the grapevine— said grapevine being various faculty members that seemed to grow a quick liking to Steve— that he was taking over Tamara Wilson’s two Early European History classes for the rest of the Fall semester because she went on maternity leave, and in the Spring he’d be teaching it again along with a U.S. history course. 

None of that information answered the one question constantly running through your mind, though. 

What the hell was he doing here?

Because you had to admit, you were so curious to know about all of it. How he was here, why he was here, how this coincidence could’ve happened. 

But, you also really didn’t want to talk to him because you had the strongest feeling that the conversation would also involve the past, that summer, and how much you didn’t want that to happen outweighed your curiosity.

Therefore, on the night of the college’s annual Winter Gala, the first instance that could actually allow you two to talk to one another, you still tried your hardest to avoid him. 

You had always hated these kinds of events because they were solely used to schmooze alumni and other donors to get them to give the school money, and even though you understood the need for that, you still didn’t enjoy attending. However, you knew that you always had to show face, at least for an hour or two. 

And you made it nearly an hour and a half without having to see Steve and you were almost certain that you actually wouldn’t see him. But, moments before you were about to make your final rounds and say goodbye to people, mainly Dan so you could prove to him that you’d shown up, you felt a tap on your shoulder. 

It was almost too easy to know that it was Steve because it was only his touch that ever managed to send something equivalent to an electric shock through your body. And with the strapless black dress you were wearing, his hand making contact with your bare shoulder immediately made surprised goosebumps rise to your skin. 

“Hi,” He said, offering a small smile. Somehow the first thing you noticed about him was the bow tie he was wearing. He was also wearing a black suit with a white button-up shirt, but the bow tie caught your eye first. You were immediately reminded of a memory of him saying how much he hated bow ties, but you had told him how great he looked in one. In this moment, you hated how right you still were. 

“Hey,” You responded with a smile of your own, and you sincerely hoped he couldn’t see your nervousness through it. He opened his mouth to say something but you jumped in before he could. “How’s your first month here been so far?” 

“Good,” Steve answered with a nod. “A little weird just jumping in at the middle of the semester and trying to go along with what Wilson already set on the syllabus. A weekly quiz was on there, and I immediately told the students that we wouldn’t be doing that anymore.”

“They probably love you for that.”

“Yeah, I got a round of applause on my first day.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at that, you were only fifty percent sure that he was joking, but either way, the thought amused you.

You wanted to ask when he got into history and into teaching, but maybe that question would open a can of worms that would lead to other topics of conversation you wanted to stay away from. 

“I can guarantee that at least half of them will want to be in your class next semester,” You said instead of asking what you really wanted. “You’re gonna be doing U.S. History, right?”

“Yeah, and I’ll still be taking over for Wilson, so I’ll have three courses next semester, which should be interesting,” Steve nodded, and then a look crossed his face as if he just remembered something. “But, that probably sounds like nothing to you because I heard that you’re currently doing four American Lit courses and one British Lit course. Oh, and you’re the only person in the English department teaching that many courses, which sounds insane but that’s also pretty cool.” 

You pretended as if now knowing that he had asked about you didn’t affect you at least a tiny bit. And you also pretended that hearing the admiration in his voice didn’t affect you at all either.  

“Yeah, I’ve only been teaching here for a little over two years, so I still get stuck with most of the basic courses. Which isn’t horrible, but it’s pretty boring and easy, so I always do a lot,” You told him with a small shrug. All of the work that had been on your plate for the past few years sounded like a lot— maybe even too much— but in your mind, it actually wasn’t as crazy as it seemed. Because you liked drowning yourself in your job, it made you feel useful, and you’d spent so much time before and right after you left Hawkins feeling the exact opposite that you’d do almost anything to make sure you never felt that way again. “But, next semester I’m doing an advanced Creative Writing course for the first time, in addition to only two American Lit courses, so I’m pretty excited about that.”

Steve smiled at you. “That’s nice.”

This small talk felt okay to you, it was bearable. It was also mundane and a little trivial, but you’d rather that than talk about the past. Apparently, Steve had other plans, though.

“I had no idea you moved here.”

You pulled your eyes away from his and focused on your half-empty flute of champagne that you’d gotten when you arrived at the event and was probably disgustingly warm by now. You contemplated for a few moments whether or not you should avoid Steve’s question or allow the conversation to go in the direction that it was inevitably meant to go in. Maybe it was stupid to think that you’d be able to pretend as if your past, which Steve was quite involved in, never existed. 

“Yeah… I went to college in Massachusetts and then I went to grad school here in Rhode Island but in a different part of the state, a little more north. And I always just stayed here, always finding a reason to stay around, some small internship or job, and then I ended up at this college because a friend who was already working here recommended me. I had never done any teaching before, but I actually like it.”

You didn’t tell him that the main reason why you always found a reason— more so desperately searched for reasons— to stay in Rhode Island was so that you never had to go back to Hawkins. But, maybe that was obvious, at least to him, because he was a huge factor as to why you knew that you needed to leave that town and never look back. 

You silently wondered if he had been gone from Hawkins for a long time too, and then you realized that with the turn the conversation had taken, you could actually ask that question.

“When did you leave Hawkins?” 

“Almost ten years ago now,” Steve said, and you had to admit, you were kind of surprised by that answer. To you, he always seemed like the type of person that would want to stay in the small town. “Decided it was time for a scenery change and my parents, especially my dad, were more than happy to send me anywhere.” He let out a dry and slightly sad chuckle, and you were all too quickly reminded of why you had always despised his parents. “He pulled some strings at this small college in Ohio, so I went there and actually liked it a lot, and I haven’t been back to Hawkins since.”

You two were sitting at an empty table now, somehow silently agreeing to migrate to that spot as you continued your conversation. You placed the glass in your hand on the white tablecloth and turned to look at Steve. 

“When did you get into history?”

“My first semester I had this professor for a World History class and he was really great; Richard James. It was probably the first class ever that I actually cared about what was going on because of how he was teaching everything and I became pretty interested in history. I took a couple more history classes with him and some other professors too, and still really liked it so I changed my major to it. And after I graduated I started TA-ing for some of the advanced classes he was teaching.”

There was a smile on your face that you wanted to get rid of but couldn’t because it was just so nice to hear how happy Steve was as he talked about the past almost ten years of his life. You hated to admit it, and you’d probably never do so out loud, but there was still a part of you that cared about him so much, and you were glad that he was happy. 

“And then I ended up here because last month Richard was supposed to do a talk here, but he got sick last second and asked me to fill in for him. And for some reason, the head of the History department really liked me and offered me a job.”

You had never been the biggest fan of history so it wasn’t that surprising that you had missed the first time that Steve had been here, but your mind couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if your paths had accidentally crossed then.

“I want you to know, though, that if I would’ve known that you also worked here, I wouldn’t have taken the job,” Steve told you, somehow pretty much reading your mind and answering your unasked question. “Because I know you left Hawkins because of me. Because you never wanted to see me again, which I completely understand.”

His words right then surprised you and you had no idea what to say in response to that; your thoughts started running a million miles a second and you could only look down at your hands in your lap. But then you didn’t have to say anything because Steve kept talking. 

“I’m still really sorry about everything that happened.” 

You were so close to telling him to stop talking about it. You were fully ready to make up some lie about how the past was in the past, and how you were over everything that happened twelve years ago. 

But, right then you actually didn’t want to lie and pretend that none of it mattered. You didn’t want to avoid the past like a plague, as you’d been doing for the past decade, and like you especially had been doing for the past month since Steve showed up in Rhode Island. 

However, it couldn’t happen here. In the school’s basketball court that had been transformed for the evening into a ballroom-type of elegant space. No one was paying attention to either of you, but the potential for someone to come up at any moment while you were finally having this conversation with Steve worried you. 

You finally let your eyes meet his again. “Can we talk about this outside?” 

Steve nodded as you stood up and he followed you out the nearest door. 

It was dark outside, the time now nearing on ten o’clock, but the many lamp posts brightened up the emptiness of the quad. You found a bench and sat down, the cool metal against your back calmed your nerves a bit. 

You were suddenly reminded of the last time you and Steve talked to each other before you left Hawkins, which was about a month into Senior year at a random party at Rachel McKenna’s house. It was barely even a conversation because you refused to listen to him and his slew of apologies back then. And then you also refused to talk to him for the entirety of the school year. 

You were still unsure if you had any regrets about that. 

“I really don’t even know where to start,” You said now with a small sigh. “I always forced myself to never think about us; about that summer and the aftermath of it too. For the longest time I pretended as if none of it really mattered. Because I knew that we no longer mattered to each other.”

“You always mattered to me,” Steve told you and it was almost too easy to hear the honesty in his tone. 

Still, you were quick to shake your head at him. “Stop, you can’t say stuff like that.”

“But, it’s the truth.”

You bypassed that softly spoken statement because even though you could hear that he was being honest, you didn’t want to acknowledge it right then. So, instead, you focused on something else that he previously said. 

“You’re right. You were the main reason that I left Hawkins, not the only reason but definitely one of the big ones. But, it’s also funny because you were one of the reasons why I almost wanted to stay.” Your next words sat right on the tip of your tongue, but they were almost too hard to get out. You cleared your throat and took a quick breath before speaking. “Because I loved you, I literally loved you. So much. But, I knew that I couldn’t, or that I shouldn’t, because nothing could actually happen between us. That summer we were living in a dumb fairytale that could never become a reality. And it was so fucking stupid of me to ever think that we could actually be something real.”

“I wanted us to be something real,” Steve said and you had to bite back the scoff you wanted to let out in response. 

“Yeah, weeks after you told me that what we were doing would have to be over because it was the end of summer and Nancy was coming back to town,” You said, trying hard not to let yourself get thrust back into that memory because the exact words he had said to you that day were still etched in your mind. “But, when we abruptly ended, it finally put everything into perspective for me. I felt like such a shitty person because of what we did and how it was a fucked up thing to do. And then immediately having to pretend as if none of it ever happened made it all feel so much worse. I hated you, but I hated myself so much more for everything that happened. That’s why I never wanted to see you or talk to you again, especially at that stupid party.”

You hadn’t realized you were crying until a soft look took over Steve’s face and you suddenly felt the wetness on your cheeks. You haphazardly wiped them away and averted your eyes from his, feeling immensely embarrassed because you hated that talking about all of that, things from years and years ago, still made you cry like you were that seventeen-year-old girl all over again. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry you felt that way,” Steve told you. “But, it was all so much more my fault than it was yours. I was the one that cheated on her.” 

“But, I knew. I knew about Nancy, and I knew that what we were doing was wrong.” But, I still did it because I wanted you so bad, and I loved that you wanted me too. You didn’t say that part because you hated the way it would make you sound. 

“Still, it will always be more my fault. I was such an asshole back then. All of that ‘King Steve’ stuff really got to my head and I did a lot of shitty things,” He said, and you could tell that he wasn’t proud of that part of his past and he really did feel bad about it. “But, I don’t regret you, or us, or that summer, though. And maybe that still makes me somewhat of an asshole, but that’s okay because it’s true. I don’t regret you. Not at all.”

Somehow hearing him say those words made you realize that you didn’t regret any of it either, which was a thought that actually made you want to cry harder. Because even though you should’ve regretted everything because of every single thing that happened after— the hurt and shame you felt so strongly for months after— you knew that you’d let yourself do it all over again. 

You’d still stupidly talk to him for the first time ever outside “Ralph’s Sandwich Shop” after he mocked you on the fact that you liked to put potato chips inside your sandwich and then praised you once he tried it and realized how good it was. And you’d definitely still let him kiss you for the first while swimming in his pool in the middle of the night after whispering to him, “Are you sure?” and his answer being a small nod and his lips pressing against yours that led to the chain of events that brought you both to where you were now.  

You wholeheartedly knew that you’d do it all over again. And because of that, it made you say your next statement.  

“I don’t want to be angry and upset with you anymore, or pretend you don't exist. I want us to be okay with each other.”

“I want that too. I want us to be friends,” Steve said, and although being friends was a lot different from simply being okay with one another, it actually didn’t sound like too crazy of an idea to you. 

You nodded at him. “Okay. Yeah, me too.”

You held out your hand for Steve to take, which he did, and the two of you shook hands to seal this “deal.”

Your gaze broke from his and you glanced down a bit. “Nice bow tie, by the way.”

“I remember someone told me that I looked good in them and I believed her.”

“She’s still right.”

“Good to know.”

You both smiled at each other and then laughed, and it may have taken twelve years, but it finally felt like the past was really in the past.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“but i knew you. dancin' in your levi's, drunk under a streetlight. i knew you. hand under my sweatshirt, baby, kiss it better.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Spring Semester 1997 

It was during the most random of moments that you were startled by how close you were able to become with Steve again, and how almost too easily it was able to happen. 

Joking around with one another actually felt normal to do, and even talking to each other about anything and everything somehow felt like second nature all over again.  

Steve was the one person from your “before” life that you had wholeheartedly believed you never wanted to see again, and now you were glad that he was in your life again. Those stark lines between “before” and “after” that you had drawn twelve years ago were now completely smudged.

Sometimes when the two of you were in your or his office late at night simultaneously working on whatever you needed to while eating takeout from random places, you were hit with the thought, “Holy shit, I can’t believe I’m here with Steve fucking Harrington right now,” and when you would tell him that random thought, he’d laugh a bit and agree that this sudden turn of events did feel at least a little unexpected. 

But, he liked how things changed these past few months, and you really did too.  

Now it was you asking to use the shower in his hotel room that once again made you feel surprised by how comfortable you were with him. 

“Can I use your shower? The one in my room doesn’t get hot for some reason,” You had said and then immediately laughed because of how insane the request was, but of course, Steve didn’t mind. 

“Yeah, sure,” He answered with a nod of his head, opening his door further to fully let you in the room.

“Thank you,” You said, smiling at him as you walked in, a towel from your hotel room next door in hand along with a change of clothes. “I’m gonna tell the front desk about it tomorrow. I would do it now, but after the four-hour drive today, I actually feel disgusting and am in dire need of a shower.”

The two of you along with a handful of other faculty from the English, History, and Theology departments were in upstate New York for a small weekend-long conference. Things like that were definitely one of your favorite parts of your job. Hearing talks from the authors of books that you loved, and then being able to pick their brains afterward. It felt like you were a student all over again, but in a better way because you were only listening to the stuff you cared about. 

It was also pretty endearing seeing how excited Steve was about everything too. He’d gone on and on about a lecture on World War II that was scheduled for tomorrow for at least an hour during your car ride together, and his happy rambling somehow made you want to go to it too.  

“I haven’t taken a shower yet, so I actually don’t know if mine works either,” Steve told you as you headed toward the bathroom. 

“Oh God, please don’t say that,” You responded and went to turn on the shower. You sighed in relief when you felt the water get warm on your hand. “Okay, we’re good!” 

After your shower, you joined Steve where he was sitting at the foot of his bed. It probably would’ve made sense to head back to your room, both of you had to be up fairly early in the morning, but you didn’t necessarily want to leave just yet; even though the two of you had just spent the past four hours holed up in a car together. 

He was clicking through channels on the small television placed atop the dresser, trying to decide on something to put on, before settling on a movie that looked quite familiar to you; Footloose. It was the movie that the two of you watched the first time you went over to his house that summer.

“Do you remember this movie?” He smiled at you and it was hard not to laugh at his question.

You met his gaze. “I definitely remember, but do you? Because you fell asleep during it.”

“I eventually got around to watching it,” He responded and you smiled at that.

“Good,” You told him as you pulled your eyes away from his and turned your attention back toward the television, the movie was close to the end. 

When the credits started rolling ten minutes later, you were about to say goodnight to Steve and finally head back next door to your room, but he started speaking before you said anything. 

“Do you ever wonder how different things would be now if we had ended up together back then?” He asked, and the vulnerability and genuine curiosity laced within the question made your heart constrict. “If I hadn’t been an idiot and gone back to Nancy at the end of the summer. If I realized earlier that I really wanted to be with you.” 

His words actually managed to surprise you because, over the last few months of you and Steve becoming friends again, that part of your deeply intertwined past was something that neither of you talked about. What the two of you used to be to each other, so deeply and utterly in love, hadn’t once come up in your conversations. Maybe it was the elephant in the room that had yet to be addressed. However, a part of you also felt that it was unnecessary to talk about it because, just like everything else, that was also in the past. 

“Things would’ve definitely been different,” You ultimately said, words feeling unsure because you now felt so confused. Your next statements came out rushed as you leaned back on the bed, your back hitting the comforter and your hands covering your face because you were purposefully avoiding eye contact with him. “Sorry, I don’t really know what to say right now. I didn’t expect you to say that, and now my mind is kinda spiraling a bit.” 

The question became a broken record in your mind. 

Do you ever wonder how different things would be now if we had ended up together back then?

You actually had never wondered about that because, for the longest time, you had forced yourself not to think about Steve, or that summer, or even Hawkins in general. But now your brain was spiraling in a thousand different directions with potential answers to the simply stated but insanely loaded question. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That was a stupid question. I don’t even know why I asked it, honestly,” Steve responded, words coming out rushed just as yours had. Something about his current sudden nervousness reminded you of the first encounter you two had in the hallway when you learned that he lived in Rhode Island. “Please forget I said anything.” 

You didn’t want to forget, though. 

“It would’ve been good, I think,” You said softly. You could feel Steve’s eyes on you, but you still didn’t want to meet his gaze. “I think we would’ve been really good together. I wouldn’t have spent almost every day working at the library, and instead, I would’ve gone to your basketball games and swim meets, and I’d actually enjoy it all because I was watching you. And we would’ve gotten drunk at parties on the weekends, and then the next morning you’d still drive me to my shift at the library and stay the entire time because there was nothing else that you wanted to spend your Sunday morning and afternoon doing. Maybe after graduating, we would’ve chosen colleges somewhere close to Hawkins, or even somewhere so far away from the small town. Probably someplace far away. But that part of it doesn’t really matter because we would’ve been together, and that’s all that would have mattered.” 

There was really no doubt in your mind that that would’ve happened, or a different but similar version occurring that also included you and Steve simply being happy and in love with one another.

You felt the bed shift a bit after a few moments of your previous words lingering in the air of the hotel room and settling heavily over Steve, and you finally pulled your hands away from your face to look at him. He was now also leaning back against the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

“God, I was such a dumbass,” He muttered, and you could hear the sadness in his voice.

You turned on your side to face him. “We both were. I wish I let myself forgive you at that party.” 

“I didn’t deserve your forgiveness then,” He responded as he turned on his side as well and met your eyes. “Sometimes I feel like I barely deserve it now.” 

There was so much you could’ve said in response to that but words didn’t feel right in that moment. So, instead of saying something along the lines of, “Please stop beating yourself up about it. You’re a good person,” you shimmied yourself closer to him, closing the small gap of space between you two, and pulled him in for a hug. 

The position was awkward, one of your arms was sandwiched underneath him and you knew that it would almost immediately fall asleep and cause some discomfort. However, any and all awkwardness faded away when you felt Steve reciprocate and his arms circled around you. 

“It’s okay, okay? I promise everything is okay between us,” You whispered, almost certain that your words got lost in his neck, but when you felt him squeeze you tighter you knew that he was able to hear you clearly. And not only that, but he believed you. 

And then it felt like almost second nature for you to make a joke to make things feel light again. “Actually, I’m still offended that you fell asleep during Footloose the first time we ever hung out. I don’t forgive you for that.” 

You felt his body shake with laughter which made you smile, and after a few moments, you pulled back from the hug to find him smiling softly at you. 

“I’ll redeem myself when the sequel comes out,” He said. 

“It’s been twelve years, I think the sequel ship has sailed.”

He laughed again. “Okay, yeah, that’s true.”

You should’ve taken the newfound silence as your opportunity to say goodnight to him and head next door to your room. However, you couldn’t find the will to fully pull yourself away from him. His arms were still around you, like yours were, and your faces were dangerously close. But, the current proximity didn’t feel dangerous or worrisome to you. Instead, it simply felt right; which was an abrupt feeling that should’ve confused you, but somehow it didn’t. 

“I really missed you,” He told you, breaking the silence with a statement that only cemented that “rightness” you were feeling at that moment. 

“I missed you too.” Your four words somehow felt so effortlessly honest. Even though you had pretended that he and that summer never mattered by forcing your thoughts away from it all, Steve always still held a place in your heart. Deep down inside of you, something that resembled a yearning for him almost always lingered. “I constantly tried to tell myself that that wasn’t true, but I really did miss you… And I’m so glad we’re here right now.” 

“Me too.” He looked at you so softly that you felt yourself slowly melting under his gaze.

In your mind, which now suddenly felt so clear and the farthest thing from confused, the next thing you wanted to do seemed like the best thing to do. In fact, it was something that you felt like you needed to do. 

Your hand that was resting at the nape of Steve’s neck moved to his cheek as you dipped your head just a tiny bit closer to him. 

Steve closed the small gap some more and his lips ghosted over yours for what felt like a fraction of a second before he pulled back a little and looked at you. “Are you sure?”

“Now that sounds awfully familiar,” You joked, referring to that moment in his pool all those years ago, and although he cracked a smile at your statement, you knew his question was serious. 

You weren’t kids anymore. The two of you couldn’t just kiss and let it mean nothing in the end. 

But, you truly didn’t want it to mean nothing. 

You couldn’t have a good ending back then, but did that mean that you still couldn’t have one now? 

“I’m so sure about this,” You told him and before he could potentially respond with anything, you let your lips find his, and how quickly Steve kissed you back nonverbally told you how he felt about it all too.

You were completely done for, you knew that for certain. There was nothing that could compare to this and there would never be anything that could compare to this— Steve’s lips on yours for the first time in years, but it feeling like the last time it happened was only yesterday. It was all so innate and easy, probably the easiest thing you’d ever done. 

The way his hand found your waist to pull you even closer to him, which made you inwardly smile, and the way you let your fingers settle in his hair and lightly tug on the brown locks, which elicited a soft sigh in contentment from him— you still knew every part of each other so well. 

Two people that had been apart for so long finally coming back together. It was a statement that technically summed up you and Steve, but in your eyes, that felt too simple and didn’t accurately summarize the hurt, pain, and turmoil that had accompanied the past twelve years. And it especially didn’t correctly encompass the current part of it all, the “coming back together” part. 

Because that part felt indescribable. 

A part of it felt similar to watching a movie that ended just the way you wanted it to, or having someone right there to help you get back up and patch up your wounds after you’d fallen off your bike. A feeling that said that even though everything had once felt so uncertain and the complete opposite of perfect, it wasn’t that way anymore. 

Things quickly felt so good and right, and both of you were already making internal promises— promises that you’d later whisper to one another while wrapped up in the sheets of Steve’s bed— to never let each other go so easily again.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“​​and i knew you'd come back to me. you’d come back.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

let me know ur thoughts<333

(read “august” here!)

[vidavalor]

"There will come a tempest" scene & possible S3 Crowley & Aziraphale foreshadowing...

When Gabriel is apparently possessed in the second half of Awning of a New Age, he and the woman who appears to be possessing him say something that is strangely repetitive:

"There will come a tempest and darkness and great storms, and the dead will leave their graves and walk the Earth once more and there will be great lamentations."

There is no actual difference in definition between a "tempest" and a "storm." A tempest *is* a storm-- both are wind and rain together. The usage of them is more of a matter of manner of speaking-- it's situational. "Storm" is the common usage while "tempest" is just the more literary, more poetic way of saying "storm." Your local news station reports on an impending "storm" but a poet might call that same storm a "tempest." As a result, the prophecy is weirdly repetitive at the start, right? It really reads like this:

"There will come a storm and darkness and great storms..."

Ok, why repeat it? Why use "tempest" and "storms" in the same phrase? Why separate them? To Crowley? Maybe because whoever this is is trying to warn Crowley specifically of events, not just warn of them in general. Because the word that triggers the whole thing is "tempest"-- and it's Crowley who said it. It's Crowley who called what he just did in Awning of a New Age "a tempest" and not a storm because he's poetic and dramatic like that.

So... what if the first part of the prophecy is actually already in motion? What would this potentially tell us about S3?

What if it's kind of like Agnes Nutter's first prophecy for Aziraphale was in S1-- "...thy cocoa doth grow cold" being about *that particular moment right then* with a difference of it being unclear right now if Crowley really understands that someone is trying to warn him through Gabriel? If this is the case? Then S3 isn't about *preventing* The Second Coming-- it's about somehow trying to *reverse or fix it*... because it's already happening. The tempest is Crowley's storm in Awning of a New Age... which Crowley thinks he failed at but didn't really entirely. It's his failure, in his estimation, to get Maggie and Nina to fully vavoom that causes him to tell Aziraphale that it's Aziraphale's turn to try-- setting up the meeting/ball to go the way it does, leading directly to the end of S2. What comes next?

Darkness and great storms. The end of the world. The dead rising from their graves and walking the Earth once more. The Second Coming. And there will be great lamentations...

Obviously, The Second Coming sounds horrible in GO. It's The Metatron's plan and he's the main antagonist. It sounds like they're going to destroy Earth and the known universe and only the the chosen few will survive it but what intrigues me about this is why whoever is delivering this prophecy is warning Crowley about great lamentations. Crowley is the one who prophesied in S1 that he thought the real war that was coming was "all of us versus all of them", and he meant he and Aziraphale and humanity versus the system of Heaven and Hell. So far, he seems to be correct on that and given that it was a set up line in the final moments of the season for future plot, it seems likely to be true. This would be how he survives it. Armageddon in its S1 round was supposed to trigger a war between Heaven and Hell that could have resulted in Crowley and Aziraphale being separated for eternity after it. They managed to push it off until the end of S2 and now Round 2 is a different flavor of Armageddon. The Second Coming is what Crowley seemed to predict in S1... but someone here is trying to get a message to Crowley and it sounds as if it might be meant for him directly as much as it is for the world. And what might that prophecy possibly be saying about S3's Crowley & Aziraphale plot, specifically?

That after Crowley's tempest comes darkness, comes great storms, comes the end of the world, comes The Second Coming... comes great lamentations-- great grief, great mourning. I'm not saying that Crowley wouldn't be broken by the end of the world but I am saying that someone warning Crowley that in an era of "the saved" being given eternal life, that will Crowley will be experiencing great lamentations feels very much like Aziraphale is not among them. (I am not saying that the show will end like this-- it will be fine.) It also would be the height of irony if Crowley and Aziraphale spent their time together always thinking that they had the about 6,000 years until Armageddon and that it was probably Crowley who wasn't going to make it beyond then and then it turns out that Aziraphale, who always thought that he was the one who was going to spend eternity alone without Crowley if they couldn't figure out a way out of Armageddon... it's Aziraphale who then doesn't make it.

It might also be worth considering that Crowley is the character who was given information along with us about The Book of Life from Beez-- someone who would know and whose memory isn't damaged. He doesn't need this information if he's the one getting Book of Life'd. He needs it if his plot in the future is to try to un-Book of Life someone.

There is also that while Michael was threatening to Book of Life Aziraphale in the bookshop, they didn't just *do* it-- and then The Metatron said that Michael wasn't qualified to do it. I'm not sure how true that is or if it was just him getting Michael to knock it off and stop giving everyone spoiler alerts for his game plan lol but The Metatron *would* be qualified and is the angel associated with The Book of Life in religious texts and S2 ends, as we all know, with Aziraphale getting in the elevator to Heaven with The Metatron.

You know those unused concept art images of the bookshop that didn't make it into S2 where it's the last thing standing in what looks like some kind of apocalyptic nightmare around it?

Crowley saves the bookshop during The Second Coming? Sends as many from Whickber Street as he can to Muriel in the shop and makes sure it survives because he can't see it destroyed again and, in doing so, he might have preserved evidence of Aziraphale's existence enough for a plot to bring him back when he finds out he's gone? (I'm aware that the idea with The Book of Life is that the person is erased from existence and so never existed at all. I'm a romantic and this show is too, really. Aziraphale can't be fully erased and Crowley can't fully forget him. Fight me on it if you want to lol but I also can't see how a plot to bring him back happens unless Crowley somehow remembers him.) S2 also gave us way too many things Aziraphale has made in a way that kind of foreshadow his disappearance in a way that makes their existences more relevant. His sketch of Gabriel. His diaries. The photo Furfur took of him and Crowley in 1941... Then, there's this line. This bloody line:

...and that one...

...and this bit from S1 when Aziraphale is in a state of semi-existence and what can help them is what Crowley saved from the bookshop...

[benkeibear]

⋆꙳✧༄ Take a ride

❖ Character: Kunigami

❖ Reader: genderneutral | AFAB

❖ Wordcount: 0.9k

❖ Summary: Kunigami's thighs are perfect to get rid of some stress

❖ WARNINGS: no dynamic, thigh riding, clit rubbing, mentions of penetrative sex / shower sex, reader getting called "angel"

❖ A/n: don’t want to miss a post? Sign up for my Taglist in my Navi!

Your day didn't start well, having overslept for an important meeting and everything just seemed to go downhill from there on, building quite the amount of frustration up. So when you arrived back home after possibly the worst day of the year so far, you wanted nothing but get rid of the stress in the best way you could think of - with your beloved boyfriend Kunigami who was always more than willing to help his sweet angel relax. The moment you stepped through the door, all you heard were grunts coming from your little home gym and as it seems, Kunigami wasn't done with his daily workout yet, meaning you have to wait for him to finish.

When you got rid of your uncomfortable work shoes and walked over to where he was walking out, you leaned against the wooden door frame with a more than dramatic sigh leaving your lips. “Gamiii when are you done?” You whined, letting him know that his presence is needed outside of this very gym but your needy whines only made him chuckle. “We can cuddle after my shower. Almost done, my love” he grunted between reps, looking up at you now with his piercing amber eyes, making your core throb from the view. His muscles were flexing beneath his skin as drops of sweat ran down his defined face, making him look ethereal but it only made you more impatient. The way he was far too focused on his training made you cross your arms and pout “what if I join you in the shower instead?” You asked more boldly now, hoping that he understands that cuddles aren't on your mind but rather his body and the way he can make you crumble with a single finger.

Of course you didn't miss how those words made him gulp, the grip on the weights loosening for a split second, almost letting them fall to the ground so he could ravage you right then and there but he shook his head as if he took himself out of a dirty day dream and continued his curls. His ignorance didn't sit right with you, far too impatient to wait for however long he decided to make you suffer so you put an end to it by walking over to your handsome boyfriend, removing the bothersome fabric of your pants right as you stood in front of him but Kunigami stayed strong, his gaze falling everywhere but on your figure, even when you moved to straddle his thick thighs, muscles tensing up and clearly prominent beneath you. The only barrier between your core and his bare thigh was the thin layer of your undergarments which made him gulp. “If you ignore me, I need to get what I need myself” you hummed as you turned his face to yours, practically forcing him to finally take a look at your desperate self which resulted in a needy nod coming from him. “Take what you need, angel” he whispered, almost forgetting that he was mid workout when you finally dragged your wet core over his muscled legs.

Your panties didn't do much to hide the fact that you were drenched just from watching him this entire time, your pace slow when you dragged your hips along his thigh. Kunigami had a hard time staying focused, each time your warm folds dragged along his muscles it made him tense up, only providing you with more pleasure until you couldn't keep it slow anymore and started to rut your hips in a desperate manner. Your juices started to leak through the fabric of your underwear, slowly mixing with the thin veil of sweat on his skin - his next grunt sounding more like a moan and you knew that you were breaking him slowly.

Despite how much his cheeks were burning and his aching cock was straining against his shorts, he kept going with the reps until weights fell to the floor with a loud thud, his big hands finding their way to your hips. The tensing of his muscles beneath you were more calculated now, giving your sensitive clit not a second to recover from the constant stimulation of getting dragged over his thigh by him now. Your loud moans for a sweet release were filling the otherwise silent room which gained you a deep chuckle “then cum” he whispered, his eyes looking right into yours and it was enough to throw you over the edge. Despite the way he was guiding your hips, they jerked against his toned legs in such a desperate manner, trying to prolong the intense high only he could give you, tasting your own slice of heaven as your head rested against his defined shoulder, allowing yourself to ride your orgasm out.

“How about we continue this in the shower? You need to pay for interrupting my workout” he mumbled softly, his thumb drawing circles against the burning skin on your hip. You only nodded tired, wanting to reward him for making you feel so good and you knew how badly he needed to bury his cock in your velvet walls, the outline of his thick length clearly visible in his shorts. You didn't need to say anything or do much more than give him this little nod, already getting lifted up and carried to the bathroom, your slick slowly running down his thigh.

Network: @tokyometronetwork

[fairyhaos]

how seventeen react to their s/o letting them win a game

requested by anon: "hi!! can i request letting seventeen win at something they're not good at?"

masterlist

seungcheol

there is righteousness surging through him, the insistent need to let things be Just and Correct, but he's been losing this chess game against you for a solid hour now so when you make a rookie mistake he jumps at the chance to finish you off and end the game victorious. it's obvious that you made the mistake to let him win, and even though you won't admit it, you're grinning so stupidly wide and wow he just loves you so much actually

jeonghan

he knows you're planning to let him win this game, but he's not gonna let you. definitely not. okay you've been playing this with him for a really long time now, maybe you could give him a few pointers? how about you play as him for a little bit? you know what, is that offer of letting him win still on the table bc he is so close to slamming his hands down on his keyboard and destroying it by accident

joshua

he's not letting you intentionally lose against him. nope, not happening. you're doing it to make him happy? no no no, baby, seeing you win and let out those cute cheers makes him the happiest. but he'll be pathetically losing snakes and ladders (of all things) against you yet again? that's okay, he's playing for you, and yeah maybe he is losing pathetically to you but seeing you smile like that is, in fact, a win

junhui

the happiest. he's like a little child bouncing up and down when you help him finally manage to work the claw machine properly to pick up the adorable pink elephant plushie he's been hopelessly grabbing at for ages. does that cute little "whoo ^-^" thing he does with his hands in the air as he spins around a little, before giving the elephant that he spent far too much money on to you <3

hoshi

so touched. he knows that you intentionally let him win the game against you, but he's still gonna tease you and pretend that he won entirely of his own merit. is so annoying that you almost regret letting him win in the first place, but he's beaming so radiantly that you can't bring yourself to want to take it back. he's already added this kindness to the ever-growing list of stuff he loves about you, anyway. 

wonwoo

blinks at the cards in his hands, in disbelief that he's reaching an uno stage before you. how was this possible? it takes a moment, but once he's won and you still have half the deck in your hands, it's obvious that you've been intentionally putting down your bad cards so he can win. laughs, pinches your cheek, and asks what was that for, do you really love him that much? when you reply innocently that you have no idea what he means, he just laughs again and leans in to kiss you quickly

woozi

you're defending him so passionately during this game of mafia that he's honestly quite touched. it leads to you getting killed off in his place, but it means that he manages to stay in the game undetected as the mafia until the very end, which he dramatically thanks you for during his big reveal. you don't talk to him for an entire hour after that, betrayed that your boyfriend had indeed been the mafia despite you so vehemently protesting his innocence

minghao

stares you right in the eye and asks if you'll let him win just this once. how many times has he had to pay for your meals because he's lost rock, paper, scissors? go easy on him just this once, please, you're bleeding him dry through the money spent on your dinner dates. he's joking, of course, but you let him win anyway, but he just kisses you on the forehead before taking out his card, because honestly there was no way he was gonna make you pay in the first place

mingyu

still likes to pretend he has some semblance of dignity so he's not going to ask you to let him win, but he's steadily growing even more anxious with every minute that passes. this is why he doesn't play against you, bc you're just way too good at playing pool for some weird, weird reason. you watch him struggle to hit the ball properly for several moments and then finally offer to teach him (for like the 50th time) before he just asks if you'll push the ball into the holes for him instead

dokyeom

oblivious. didn't even realise. not until he saw you laughing at him while he prances around the room, controller limp in your hands, and the pieces slowly click together. instantly he's cooing over you, kissing your cheeks, petting your hair, telling you how adorable you are for letting him win like that. has zero shame, isn't embarrassed at all that he only won because you 'let' him because that's the sweetest thing ever actually

seungkwan

refuses to accept a victory like that. well, he pretends that he won't. figures it out the minute he wins, because he's normally horrible at this so how did he win against you? asks for a rematch, but you remind him that he's terrible at foosball so does he really want to potentially lose yet again when he could bask in his victory instead? quickly agrees, kisses you on the cheek and says if there's anything you wanna eat then just tell him and he'll call mingyu to make it for you

vernon

he's looking at the arcade screen in shock, stunned that he's actually managed to beat you for once. fully believes he's won. he's just so happy, grinning that toothy grin and you keep quiet because he looks so overjoyed. finally realises it a few hours later, and yeah he's a little disappointed he didn't win all on his own but then again, he still kind of did because he didn't get any pointers from you, so he's still rlly happy ^^

chan

he's all "you let me win, didn't you? you did! there was no way i won by myself!" keeps pestering you even though you deny letting him win. doesn't believe he won against you purely on his own merit, because he's terrible at this game so how did this happen??? eventually caves, letting you believe what you want to believe, even though secretly he knows that you made it an easy victory for him and he finds it so adorable that you'd do that for him

request guidelines

reactions tags: @jeonginssa @magicaltonaru @weird-bookworm @minhui896 @turningcarat @zarara @bunnyiix @slytherinshua @haowrld @belladaises @iheartyujin @summery-bat @newgirlygirl @moonlitskiiies @ejspencer14 @mirxzii @wonranghaeee @saythename-chess @yonabutnotyuna @youthoughtiwasfeelingyou @crackedpumpkin @wqnwoos @sunshinekyeom-sang @ocyeanicc @zozojella @thesmellofcoffeeandrain @kthstrawberryshortcake-main @kawennote09 @a-wandering-stay @icyminghao @nananacomeonnnn @valenhui @sweet-like-caramel @hansolaria @gam3bo1z @marisblogg @evasaysstuff @odxrilove @kyeomyun @chansburgah @pepperonijem @jeonride @kellesvt

[inf3ct3dd]

01. BAD LIAR

warnings: none!!!

authors note: going cray rn guys….sorry if this is a bit long 😓😓

previous chapter. next chapter. masterlist.

the rest of summer break was….depressing.

as they say, lesbian heartbreak hits hard.

ellie must’ve texted you a thousand times, and you couldn’t reply because every time you saw her name on your phone you started bawling.

and your daily stalks of her instagram had you completely salty-faced.

you were so obnoxiously upset, that everything that had anything to do with her made you upset. you worried that if you even saw her face to face, you’d fold on the floor and drown in your own tears.

which was what made being in your room even worse, because it was covered in HER.

open your closet? her old hoodie.

sit at your desk? a framed picture of the two of you.

vanity? polaroids taped to the mirror.

even your BED. which held the stuffed animal she bought you, mr pickles.

mr pickles might as well have been a real pickle from how salty he was from being covered in TEARS during one of your very frequent breakdowns.

you basically lived in your room, your sister having to literally drag you outside to do anything. the only thing that worked was bribing you with food.

“cmon, i made pasta.” was her best excuse to get you out of your self inflicted prison.

ellie showed up at your house a few times, and each time she did, you hid in your room. at one point she actually came upstairs, and you crawled out of your window and hid on your roof until she left.

you did not want to talk to her.

after a while, and constant berating from all your friends and your family, you got over your extremely dramatic episode. well….not really? but at least you weren’t in your room sobbing over a tiktok you saw because the girl “looked like ellie.”

the days leading up to the first day of school basically consisted in you being in a constant state of panic.

what if she talks to me?

what if i have to sit next to her in class?

what if she-

“DUDE. CAN YOU STOP BEING A BATHROOM HOG AND LET ME GET READY?”

you heard your sister yell from outside the door, interrupting your thoughts.

you had been pacing in the bathroom for thirty minutes, losing your fucking mind.

you shouldn’t be this stressed out. it happened almost a month ago. you’ll be fine girl, calm down.

you give yourself a final once-over in the mirror , fixing the two plaits on the sides of your head before adjusting your glasses, and swinging the door open, revealing your pissed off sister.

“fucking finally.”

she muttered under her breath, before dramatically slamming the door behind her.

you gave your dad a hug goodbye before walking over to your car, twirling your keys in your fingers. you had just gotten your license last year, (too scared to get it when you were 16), and you still weren’t very….good at driving.

you opened the car door, making your hand wet from the raindrops , and sat down inside the car.

you watched your sister walk over to the car, with a fucking helmet.

she swung open the door and sat down in the passenger’s seat, setting her bag on the ground.

“…..are you serious?”

you looked over at your sister, a look of disbelief plastered on your face.

“with the way you drive? very much so.”

you roll your eyes at her before pulling out of your driveway, making your way to school.

after you got to school, you really wished you would’ve stayed home.

or transferred schools.

to one in a different country.

because when you walked into your first period, ellie was there.

and your second.

and your third.

and your fourth.

the first half of your day was spent basically hiding from her. sitting as far as possible, making your presence seem non-existent.

it was definitely a chore, but you’d rather do this than actually have to confront her.

even during passing periods, you practically speed-walked to your next period classes, avoiding the brunettes persistent attempts to talk to you.

it was hard to focus on anything in class when you could feel her eyes burning a hole in the back of your head.

lunch was….once again, very depressing. your usual lunch table was just full of ellies friends, and of course, ellie herself.

you looked around the cafeteria for a while , scanning the large room for one of your friends. and yet, you turned up empty.

do i just have zero classes with them?

you finally gave up, walking to the courtyard outside.

the courtyard was fairly empty, given that it was still soaking wet .

you walked over to a bench that looked fairly dry, sitting down and slinging your backpack off your shoulders before sitting it down next to you, grabbing the lunch you packed for yourself.

you started to eat , biting into the quesadilla you made yourself , looking around the courtyard and nodding your head to the music blaring in your headphones.

the noise cancellation blocked out the sound of a door swinging open, and footsteps quickly approaching you.

you continued eating your lunch, this being the most calm you’ve been all day, slightly kicking your feet back and forth as they dangled off the bench.

you don’t notice ellie walking over to you until its too late, and shes standing in front of you, repeating your name.

“hello???”

you look up at her, slightly jumping at her presence and pulling your headphones onto your shoulders.

“uhm….hi.”

you utter, meeting her eyes.

“are you just never gonna talk to me again?”

ellie responded, a disappointed look on her face.

you avoided eye contact with her, staring at your hands in your lap.

“i don’t really…..have anything to say to you.”

you mutter, still avoiding her gaze.

“nothing? you don’t have anything to say about what happened?”

“what do you expect me to say?”

“….i don’t know. i just want to talk to you.”

she looked away from you, fiddling with her rings the same way she did the last time you saw her.”

“are you alright? you haven’t really been posting or anything lately.”

she was looking at my account??

“i’m fine. just haven’t been on my phone much.”

you lied, staring at her shoes.

“i can tell….i must’ve texted you 1000 times and you never answered.”

she anxiously rubbed her arm, trying desperately to hold eye contact with you.

“ ‘m sorry.”

“its fine, i kinda deserved it.”

she lets out a dry chuckle, rubbing her arm with her opposite hand.

theres an awkward silence between the two of you, both fidgeting with your hands and looking everywhere but at each other.

“so… are you and dina like, a thing now?”

you boldly questioned, crossing your legs in front of you.

“no- we were just drunk. we’re just friends.”

“real friendly.” you mumbled under your breath.

“are you uh…seeing anyone?”

ellie asks, slightly bouncing on her feet.

ellie only asks because she knows you aren’t. she wants an ego boost. she just wants you to say it.

she doesn’t expect you to say yes.

and neither do you.

“actually? who is it?”

the realization of what you just said hits you like a truck, the false confidence disappearing and replacing it with fear. you think, maybe for a bit too long, about what to say.

and then you finally utter-

“abby.”

ellies look of confusion is replaced with anger at your answer.

abby anderson. the one girl you knew she hated.

constant bickering and dumb fights, arguments that meant absolutely nothing that lasted their entire high school careers, and the constant competition between the two of them brewed your perfect opportunity for jealousy. your thoughts moved as fast as your mouth.

“cmon, you’re joking right?”

ellie asks before scoffing, readjusting her feet and crossing her arms in front of her.

you shake your head before packing up your things, starting to leave.

you don’t notice that you left your class schedule on the bench.

“you’re not fucking with me?”

ellie was practically fuming, the tips of her ears turning red as she dug her fingers into her arms.

you give her a nod before walking away, quickly turning on your heel.

“are you serious?”

“dead.”

your best friend mina was staring back at you, mouth agape in shock as she listened to you recall what happened during lunch.

your heart beat speeds up as you run around the track, even though you were already basically having a heart attack before you started.

having gym outside was already brutal, and the fact that it was extremely foggy and depressing-looking outside made it ten times worse. usually, you would’ve tired out by now, begging the gym teacher to let you inside because you had a “headache”, but for some reason you were feeling extremely bold today.

as you and your friend slow your pace you feel someone running behind you. you take a deep breath, expecting ellie to pop up behind you, but you’re suprised when you hear an unfamiliar voice call out your name.

you turn around to face her, and you look up and see abby.

your heart hammers in your chest while you try to catch your breath, simultaneously trying to calm your nerves.

“um…hey.”

you reply, staring up at her.

your eyes move to her hands, and you notice a piece of paper in one.

“is this yours?”

abby reaches her hand with the paper towards you, realizing its your class schedule.

“oh yeah, thanks.”

abby smiles at you, shoving her hands into her hoodie pocket. you subconsciously mirror her actions, slipping your hands into yours.

“welcome. we have pretty similar schedules actually.”

“oh really? i didn’t notice.”

you smile at her, and she offers the same smile back.

mina makes her hands smooch, making an obnoxious kissy face behind abby.

“yeah, you seemed like you were kinda staying to yourself today.”

you give her a death glare before looking back to abby, slightly shifting on your feet.

“i guess, i’ve just been….avoiding someone.”

you look away for a second, and see ellie angrily storming towards the two of you, all her anger and eye sight directed towards abby.

shit.

abby looks in the same direction as you, watching you get anxious as ellie walks over.

“you okay?”

you redirect your attention to abby, watching her eyebrows quirk at you in concern.

you give her a quick nod, but the look on her face remains unchanged. she doesn’t believe you.

you feel ellie get closer to you. you run through the thousands of scenarios that could go wrong if she gets over to the two of you.

ellie would think you’re a pathetic weirdo, and abby would think you’re an insane person.

however, your body moves faster than your thoughts, and you choose the absolute worse option to get out of this.

you slightly stand on your tiptoes and smash your lips onto abbys, holding her face with your hands.

her eyes widen in shock, blind to you as you shut yours as hard as possible.

surprisingly, she doesn’t pull away.

ellie sees the sight in front of her and scoffs, staring at the two of you in disbelief.

“guess she wasn’t lying.”

taglist:

if ur name is crossed i cant tag u :((

@rimaybank @nickiminaj689 @ leomcshizzle @planetflorxa @teawithnosugar @sawaagyapong @how-to-disappearrr @vsselz @pepperispicy @chrry1ovr @ 4yn1y4h @lottienatfinalgirls @honeycinnamonenthusiast @heartrobynn @ibatman @sugarbag @arizvla

[chirpsythismorning]

This makes me feel like Mike is lying and knows he’s lying in his monologue:

And…

And dot dot dot…?

El’s literally choking and Mike is frozen.

Will pushes Mike and tells him not to stop, reminding him of his speech in the van.

Then, even as he is about to say it, HE STALLS.

It’s clear Mike is having a serious internal conflict when it comes to saying I love you to El, and for a character whose most important rule is ‘friends don’t lie’ and whose sister had an identical plot line where she couldn’t tell her boyfriend I love you when she realized she didn’t love him and was starting to have stronger feelings for someone else, I feel like the answer is right there.

But the And dot dot dot just does it for me.

Like what is with the dramatics.???

It’s so weird to me because if the problem was as simple as Mike being scared of losing El, he wouldn’t have risked things by not saying it when she was crying in her room during their fight.

As the cop car was taking her away, it wouldn’t have been the perfect moment, and yet the way Mike said everything he could to reassure her but avoided simply saying the one thing he knew she wanted to hear, something that had her crying not even 5 minutes earlier, saying it could have been a way for Mike to comfort her in this moment of uncertainty.

Then there’s the letter, where El says from instead of love, and this is the last semblance of contact they have with each other, which has given Mike the impression that they had a fight they could never come back from. And so, he lost her in that moment. His greatest fear has apparently already come to fruition.

The rest of the season he continues to grapple with his insecurities and his concerns with where him and El stand, with Will reassuring him. He nods his head about someone he cares about not liking the truth. Him constantly talking about his conflict with El as if it’s something that cannot be fixed?? Dude it required 3 words?? And what reason exactly would he have to agree with what Will said, unless there is some truth he’s already aware of that he doesn’t think El will like?

And then their reunion in the desert happens. THIS could finally be the moment he makes clear to El how he feels. He hasn’t lost her, they’re back with each other and she’s safe and alive and happy to see him.

So why when she leans in fully, does he hold himself back (El’s face is perfectly symmetrical vertically with the frame when their foreheads meet, whereas Mike is more so leaning back horizontally as much as he can, doing his best to keep his mouth as far away from El as possible)?...

So, no kiss then?…

After they separate and smile at each other relieved, instead of making a point to say ‘that thing’, Mike decides to shift focus from them, to those around them, seeking our Will specifically.

At Surfer Boy, they get interrupted by Argyle and his pineapple pizza. Leading up to it, Mike doesn’t look like he’s about to confess this deep and emotional reason for why he couldn’t say I love you.

I guess… I dunno… I guess I just wanted to say that—

AGAIN WITH THE DOT DOT DOTS!

If Mike was going to say I love you, that would have been the most anti-climactic love confession in the history of television. He doesn’t sound like he’s about to tell her something genuine from his heart. He sounds like he’s about to say something because he feels obligated to.

And then that leading to the monologue, where there is more stalling…

Mike had soooo many chances to say it, and if he was truly scared saying it would make losing her eventually ‘hurt more’ (words inspired by Will’s speech), then he could have said it any one of those previous instances and could have saved them and their relationship.

Instead he treats it like no man’s land, as if it’s this bad word that isn’t an option, until it’s quite literally the only option.

I think that while it is heartbreaking, it makes Mike a very complex character. While he did lie, it was a pretty selfless act, because he was breaking one of his most sacred rules, he was lying. He put it off for sooo long for a reason. He goes against how he truly feels in his heart, and that’s in large part why they lose .

Another factor to all of this, that makes me think this is very likely, is again the major theme of friends don’t lie. And how there is one scene from s1 in particular that offers up a really good Mike and El parallel we could get for them in s5, that I think would make this whole situation and the buildup to it, just sooooo fucking layered.

Imagine something similar to this conversation in s5, but switch Mike and El around:

Rewatching all the seasons in general opens up a lot of possibilities for brainstorming about potential callbacks we could see in s5. When it comes to the importance and impact of lying in the story, with s4 being filled with characters lying, there is just something so full circle about s4 opening with El’s letter filled with lies, Will’s veiled love confession filled with lies that his feelings are El’s and the season closing off with Mike lying to save the world and as a result failing.

And then in s5, kind of bringing together all of these lies, with the truth this time.

Having a parallel to this, with El calling Mike out, would finally give her the chance to voice to Mike, face to face, how she feels truly about everything, and having it be in a way that will sort of put Mike in his place, in a similar way he did to her, would be kind of insane.

Not only that, but in doing so, along with making byler canon by the end end of the series, this entire scene in s1 could be re-contextualized to something much more incredible than it was to viewers in their initial viewing.

After s5, this scene would never be the same:

[sebsallowapologist]

Charcoal

Sebastian Sallow x F!MC

Rated: 18+

Warnings: so much fluff, suggestive language, references to a naked MC.

Sebastian reveals a secret talent to his muse.

Spring had finally sprung in Scotland, and after a long cold winter it felt like a true blessing to have a sunny day. Sebastian and I had decided to spend out Sunday by the lake, catching up on reading, looking out for the giant squid and just overall enjoying the nice weather. 

We hadn’t been the only ones of course, the great lawn what flooded with students all trying to do the same, but we had lucked out with a nice spot by the lake.

We’d laid together on the grass for a while, looking up at the soft fluffing clouds which were few and far between. We talked about what life would be like after the end of term. Where we’d move together, what jobs we were going to do, how far we’d have to drag Ominis.

The plans ranged from moving to London, to going to Paris or hell- maybe even America if we got bored over here. Sebastian’s only prerequisite when you asked his opinion was that you were there with him. And he needed a job that paid enough to get you the ring you deserved.

Eventually I’d begged Sebastian to go sit in the shade, his skin turning pink with the sun exposure, and I didn’t want him to get a burn.

We’d fallen into a silence as we picked up our books and read, just enjoying each others company. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d put his own book down until I lifted my face toward the sky, eyes closed to soak in the sun. “Look down again please.” He said and my brow furrowed as I turned to face him. 

My boyfriend was leaned over a large book of bound plain parchment, his hands covered in the dark charcoal he was drawing with. “What are you doing?” I giggle. I had no idea he drew, you think you know a man... 

“Look at you book, love.” He smiles, a playful twinkle in his eye. I make a big show of dramatically looking back down at my book, but it was impossible to read. Now that I was aware of what he was doing, I cold feel his stare on my face, the charcoal running over the paper rhythmically was soothing. 

Eventually he switches to an erasers stored in his pocket, and the sleeve of his robes were being used quite often too. I turn my head ever so slightly, desperate to get a look, but he catches me immediately. 

“No no miss, back to your book no peaking.” He teases and I roll my eyes, turning to face the same page I’d been looking at for at least ten minutes. 

The sounds of his drawing stop after a while, and he sighs. “Alright.” 

He scoots from his spot until the tree in the shade and comes up behind me. He grabs me around the waist to pull me to his front in between his legs. His sketchbook ends up in my lap, and he rests his chin on my shoulder to look with me. 

“Sebastian.” I sigh, looking over the page. This couldn’t possibility being a drawing of me, the woman on the page was far too beautiful. “This is wonderful. How long have you been drawing?”

He shrugs, like it was nothing. “Since I was young. It passes the time.” 

“I’d say more than that.” I mutter and turn to kiss his cheek. “Can I keep this?” I ask and he nods. "Of course my love.” He kisses my shoulder blade and I start thrumming through the sketchbook.

How could he be so casual about this, these drawings were absolutely wonderful. Soft edges, beautiful highlights, if i drew like this I’d wear it pinned to the front of my robes. There were scenes from around the Hogwarts grounds, Feldcroft, even one of Ominis looking absolutely annoyed. “You captured his essence beautifully.” I joke and Seb laughs, moving back under the tree to grab his book that he had put down earlier. 

While he did have some landscapes, and one or two other portraits the book was filled with... me. My profile, head on, sleeping, laughing, this book had me literally written all over it. 

Sebastian makes himself comfortable leaning against the tree with his book, content to just let me flip through the pages.

“Sebastian?” I hum after flipping to the next page in his sketch book.

“Yes my love?”

“Where are my clothes in this one?” 

He leans over to see which drawing I’m looking at, and the man has the nerve to smirk. “I took some artistic liberties with that one.” 

[hotchgirlsummer]

sweeter than fiction ⤷ aaron hotchner x reader

summary ⤷ the bau decide to throw a small birthday party for hotch. the reader is tasked with baking a cake, could this be their chance to express feelings?

pairing ⤷ aaron hotchner x female bodied!reader ; mentions of jack, jess and the whole team.

warnings ⤷ food mentions. slight angst. fluff

word count ⤷ 5.5k words

a/n ⤷ hello! this is my submission for @hotch-central's Aaron Hotchner's birthday celebration 🎉 the prompt is from @creativepromptsforwriting i may have a couple more entries in line, depending if inspiration strikes, of course. as usual, feedback is appreciated. have a great day, everyone!

It’s tradition in the office that when it’s someone’s birthday someone else brings a cake. Person A’s birthday is coming up and B finally sees their chance to make a move. 

“I apologize for cutting this meeting short but I do need to go to this meeting with Strauss,” Hotch apologized as he locked the screen of his tablet and gave one last look through at the files he had prepared for his monthly meeting with the higher ups; he was having somewhat of  momentum where instead of being turned down on their requests, they asked to compromise — which may seem insignificant but, yes, that was considered as a win. “Is there anything else we need to discuss?”

“If there is, rest assured I’ll handle it from here on out,” Rossi was quick to wave off the unit chief’s responsibility from their current meeting, “Go on over to the meeting and fight for higher wage and if possible maybe aim for a fancier jet?” The rest of the team laughed at Rossi’s absurd and far-fetched request. With one final smirk, Hotch gathered all his belongings and nodded to them, “Best I can probably do is a bigger mini fridge.”

Chuckling at the rare times their unit chief cracked a joke, they all shook their heads as they watched their leader scurry off to go meet with the higher ups. Just as everyone was about to follow suit and leave the round table when Penelope held out her hands in a dramatic fashion, preventing the rest of the team from leaving their spots, “No one is lifting their cute butt until we discuss one important agenda – Hotch’s birthday is coming up soon.”

“And what exactly about it do we need to discuss, Garcia?” Emily wondered, for as far as she knew the man, he never was the type to make a huge fuss out of his birthday. Seemingly thinking the same, JJ nodded as she spoke up, “We all know how the last party that we threw out for him went, right? Like it was not some fever dream that I had?”

It was a few years back when the team decided to plan a mini-celebration for their leader; but much to everyone’s horror, it didn’t go well. A balloon popped out of nowhere which startled both Spencer who was carrying the cake and Y/N who was decorating the walls of their conference room, resulting into the decorated doctor mishandling the cake, leaving half of it devoured by the floor while the agent accidentally knocked on over two pitchers of juice right over the wrapped presents that the other members of the unit brought. The icing on the cake? Hotch walked right in the conference room a few seconds after the disaster commenced and sighed out as he quickly pieced together that this debacle was a result of his birthday. Even though he won’t admit it to himself , and most importantly to the team, his disappointed/annoyed look was just really a cover up to hide how adorable he thought Y/N looked when she smiled brightly — as if she was willing for the mishaps to go away — and extended her hands and said, “Surprise! Happy birthday, boss.”

“Maybe it’s not as bad? I mean, it’s not like he punished us that badly,” Spencer offered, Y/N nodded as she chuckled, “In my defence too, there is no reason for us to separate the gift table from the food and drink one.”

The team collectively laughed at how optimistic the two were, but the hesitation could still be felt around the team as voiced out by Derek, “But ultimately, I don’t think throwing a whole party, in general not just for Hotch, maybe too ambitious,” He threw in a sympathetic pout at Penelope’s way, “Even for the party-planning goddess like yourself, baby girl.”

“One, I do take offense in that,” Penelope said sternly as she swatted his extended hand, “And two, we still need to show him that we care about him and treasure him as our mighty leader!”

“What if we just book a restaurant somewhere? That way they can do the decorations for us and all we need to do is show up? There is absolutely no way we have an incident like the last time,” Reid proposed to which everybody nodded in agreement, finding no hole in his plan. 

“Oh I know which restaurant Hotch loves to go to,” Her mindless comment was met with smirks and teasing smiles which Y/N did not appreciate, “What? What are you guys looking at me for?”

“And how exactly do you know that?” Emily teased which was immediately backed up with Rossi’s jab, “Don’t tell us you guys went on a date without us knowing hm?”

Scoffing, she shook her head and clarified, “Or maybe I’ve babysat Jack enough times that sometimes they buy me dinner.” It was no secret among the team that ever since Y/N joined the team, she stepped up to lend Hotch a hand when it came to looking after Jack. It started when Jess had to go on a work trip and the unit chief brought his son to the office with him, the little ball of sunshine clicking instantly with the newest agent. Whether it was the way she was patient in teaching him new things that he was curious about, or the way she treated him with the utmost care and respect. And somewhere along taking care of Jack also mixed in with looking out for Hotch — by helping them prepare their meals for the day, helping Jack with his everyday routine, or even by spending time with the both of them on her day off. 

“Mhm, it’s just from babysitting Jack,” JJ also joined in on the teasing as she nudged her softly. Penelope was writing down what the whole team had agreed upon when her head shot up in shock, “We forgot about the tradition! Who’s gonna bring the cake for Hotch?”

Almost instantly, the rest of the team looked at Y/N with a grin which left the young agent confused, “What? Why are you all looking at me?”

“You know, typically the one who brings the cake for the celebrant is the one closest to or the most important to the celebrant,” Rossi winked at her. Not wanting to get her hopes despite the numerous hints that multiple members of the team has dropped, hinting that her affections weren’t one-sided as she suspected, she just rolled her eyes playfully, “Don’t you guys think that Jack is a tad bit too small to carry that big of a cake.”

“Not Jack, you dummy!” Morgan lightly flicked the back of her neck as she groaned when that spot was hit and was gonna appeal that maybe someone else could do it but as soon as Garcia put her pen down, everyone’s roles for this little gathering had been finalized, “Alright, so JJ is booking the venue, Rossi will keep Hotch occupied until we need to bring him to the restaurant, my lovely chocolate thunder and I will be taking care of the decorations so that there won’t be a repeat of last time,” A jesting glare was thrown at Reid’s way before she clarified, “While your brilliant brain will take care of sending out invitations to everyone.”

Everyone was nodding their heads, satisfied with their assignments when Y/N raised her hand up in curiosity, “Uh, hello? You kind of glossed over what I’d be doing for the party.” She was all the more confused when half the team smirked at her while the other half looked at her in disbelief. Garcia, bless her kind soul, did not have the time to fool around and instead took patience with the newest member of the BAU and clarified, “You, my lovely yet clueless little dove, will be baking and bringing the cake to Hotch.”

Just as she was about to speak up and contest it, Morgan jokingly teased as he wagged a finger at her, “Not buts there, missy. Have fun in the kitchen.” A slight pout was on her face when she realized that there was no way she could have weaseled her way out of this little arrangement. 

Deep in her thoughts, she failed to realize when Rossi slid near her, “You know, kid, this could be your grand gesture for Aaron. Let him know what you feel.”

With a sigh and a brave face on, she nodded to herself and stood up, “Alright! But if he doesn’t reciprocate them you will sign my transfer papers right?” Hiding her possible insecurity with light-hearted humor but it still didn’t settle any nerves within her. Rossi shook his head once more and patted her on the back, as if to let her know that she was worrying her head for nothing.

Upon returning back to her desk, she tried to distract herself by flipping through the pages of the reports that were assigned to her. After about an hour of mindless writing, she clicked her tongue and decided to look up some cake recipes. Just as she was about to be knee-deep in her search for a cake when she heard a little voice call out, “Y/N! Y/N!”

Swiveling her chair at the right time, she was able to open her arms wide and was able to engulf little Jack Hotchner into a hug as she greeted him, “Hey there, bud! Did your Aunt Jess drop you off?”

The boy nodded widely as he pointed at the approaching aunt who gave her a half hug, “Sure did! Buddy insisted that you were never too busy for him.”

“Because you’re my favorite and I’m your favorite Hotchner!” Jack squealed and her heart warmed and nodded as she ruffled his hair before grabbing her Jack kit which consisted of coloring books, paper, crayons and some markers and handed them to the little Hotchner, “Well that is certainly true! Why don’t you grab one of the chairs over there so you can go draw a picture, hm?”

The boy nodded and made his way through the other agents, saying his hello’s before asking them to borrow one of their chairs. Turning at Jess, she smiled at her, “I’m sorry to have to drop him off. It was a work emergency and I know for a fact that Aaron will be thrilled to see him.”

“Oh it’s all good, you know I don’t mind spending time with him,” She smiles as she watches the boy pitter excitedly beside her, “Oh which reminds me,we’re planning a small gathering for Hotch’s birthday coming up soon.”

Jess smiled at that but suddenly remembered something as she looked down at her watch, “I love that idea, we’ll talk about it more once I have the time but we’ll talk again okay? Bye Jack, be good.” With one last kiss to the top of his head, she waved goodbye and made her exit.

Smiling at the little man who was happily scribbling, just as she was about to continue on her scroll an idea popped into her head. She tapped Jack’s shoulder before showing her the different cake recipes that were on her screen, “Hey bud, you know how your dad’s birthday is coming up?”

The little boy nodded his head excitedly as he lifted the paper he was drawing on, “Mhm! I’m drawing him a picture for this picture book I’m making for him!” His excited chirp melted her heart once more as he leaned closer to share a possible secret surprise they could do for him, “Well I’ll tell you a secret, okay? Can you promise not to tell anyone — especially your dad?”

The boy put down his crayon with a serious look on his face, he held his pinky up to which she smiled as she tangled his pinky with his, “I pinky promise, miss Y/N!” At that, she pointed to the cakes on her screen, “You see, your Auntie Pen is planning a little birthday party for your dad; and she wants me to bake a cake for him. I’m gonna need your help choosing which cake to bake, okay?”

“Can I bake the cake with you?” He asked sweetly, wanting to make his dad’s birthday special while also enticed at the idea of having some sweets.Nodding her head after booping his nose, “We sure can do that, little buddy. How about I pick you up after school next week? That way we can bake the cake?”

Jack nods as he claps excitedly, “I can’t wait! We’re gonna have so much fun!” Just as she was about to get into further detail she could hear footsteps approaching — though unsure of to whom they belong to — she quickly closed the browser. “What are you so excited about, Jack?”

At the sound of Hotch’s voice, the duo turned around, trying to pass off a non-scheming team. Jack got off of the chair and jumped on his dad, the unit chief carrying him and pressing a loving kiss to his forehead, “Hi dad! Aunt Jess dropped so Miss Y/N is hanging out with me right now!”

The usually stern-looking boss was biting back a smile but ultimately made way into his soft lips, “And have you been behaving for both of them?” The boy nodded as he pointed to the art materials that were prepared for him, “Yes! I promised I’m being good,” Both Y/N and Jack knew that the little boy was so close to slipping up about how what he was currently drawing was something designed for his father. 

“Which reminds me, I was thinking maybe I can spend a day with Jack next week? I have a fun day lined up for him,” She tried to give an explanation that while vague could still provide sufficient enough details as to what their day would look like. Hotch thought about it, placing a hand on his hip, “I do have a short meeting that day, and it would be nice to give Jessica a break for a little.”

“See? Win-win! Plus, me and Jack need some little bonding time, Hotch,” She gently nudged his side which came as a surprise to the two of them, “I promise to give him back to you in one piece!”

Meanwhile the unit chief struggled to keep his composure; despite the fact that her hand briefly touched his sides, he could feel the warmth spreading all over him, causing him to be slightly flustered. With a warm smile, he nods, “I trust you completely, Y/L/N.”

Ruffling his son’s hair, he nodded his head to the direction of his office, “Buddy, once you’re done hanging out with Ms. Y/N you can come up to my office, okay?”

The boy then nodded with a toothy grin, “Okay daddy! I’ll knock on your door like we said.” Once Hotch walked away, the pair grinned excitedly amongst themselves, looking forward to making a cake for a special someone in their lives.

* “Now can I please add the chocolate chips and sprinkles?”

In all fairness, Jack has learned to space out when to ask. But once again, she shook her head as she was just at the final touches of piping the flavored whipped cream on the already scraped cake, she squeezed out the topping one more time before looking at Jack with a huge grin, “You can do it now, buddy! But remember, don’t add too much okay? We don’t want it to be super sweet!”

“But super sweet is the best!” Jack giggled as he began decorating the cake — he’d argue that this was way more fun than cracking eggs or mixing the ingredients together, perhaps because he got to snack on some of the toppings. 

Swiping some of the chocolate chips had Jack giggling too as he copied her, “I guess you’re right,” She got some of the leftover icing as she placed a dollop of it on his nose, “You are a super sweet boy, and you’re the best!”

That made the boy grin wide as he tried to reach for the whipped cream on his nose by extending his tongue, the scene being too hilarious for her not to giggle; she was in the middle of snapping a picture of Jack when he did the same to her and revelled at her shocked face.

“I had so much fun today, miss Y/N,” Jack sighs happily after he was all done with decorating the cake. Taking this as her cue to let the cake chill properly, she carried it into the fridge and poured him a glass of milk, “I’m glad to hear that, Jack. I like spending time with you too.”

“I wish you can live with us, so we can always do something fun everyday,” He added. And she could not prevent the wishful thinking about how she would love to live with him and the man she fell hopelessly in love with, she understood that he just loved her companion.

As she was starting to wash up the different utensils they had used — she was pleasantly surprised upon seeing how Jack tried to help on his on way by placing them on the sink that was half filled with water and dish soap, another reflection of how Hotch raised him well — when she joked, “I don’t think your dad will like knowing that we have way too much fun every time we hung out.”

Shaking his head allowed his blonde locks to stray away from the earlier perfectly combed bunch of hair, “He won’t think that! Daddy told me how much he likes it when you take care of me, and he likes whenever you come over and cook for us and eat with us!”

The boy’s revelation caused hope to, annoyingly, stir up within her once more. Hotch really thought that? She had to bite down her tongue to prevent the smile that was making its way to her lips as she put on an exaggerated thinking face which once more caused the boy to giggle, “Then I guess I’m stuck with a couple of Hotchner boys, hm?”

“Your Hotchner boys, Y/N!” Jack cheered as he threw his hands up in the air in delight. She could only shake her head as she wiped Jack’s milk mustache with a napkin as she willed her imagination to not wander too far into what she wishes her relationship could be like with the said Hotchner boys; instead remaining grateful for what they already shared.

*

“Okay everybody, Rossi just texted me and said that they were a good 10 minute away so is everything ready?” Penelope was frantically walking around the reserved function room they had rented and was looking expectantly at each member to provide updates on their assigned tasks.

Derek sent everyone an “I got this glance” — which the rest of the team very much appreciated — before heading his way to Penelope, gently massaging her shoulders and whispering cooly in her ear, “Mama, calm down. Everyone’s here, no decorations popped or fell down, food’s hot and ready, everything is perfect; just like you are, of course.”

“Oh my love,” Penelope smiled as she gently stroked his cheek, “Thank you for all your help.” The sight caused Y/N to shake her head as she spoke, “As cute as they are with their banter, it’s way too cheesy for me.”

Jess chuckled as she took a sip of her wine, “Agreed, you’d think they were a married couple or something.” When they were planning this little party for their unit chief, there was no doubt that they would be inviting his sister-in-law. Not only is she the other primary caretaker of Jack, but she also provided the family and warmth he was looking for. “I heard you and Jack baked a cake for Aaron?”

“We did,” She nodded towards the cake that was sitting in the middle of the table, “Little man helped in a lot of ways, even helped me wash the dishes, you know.” Jess smiled at that, remembering when she was told she wouldn’t have to look after Jack since he would be taken care of by one of his agents.

“He really likes you, you know,” Jess mentioned and her mind went to Jack who was playing with Henry and a smile made its way to her lips as she mused, “Jack’s a sweet kid. Always so kind and warm to others. I know I may not have met Haley but I can see how much care and love she gave him, the both of them.”

No matter how many times Jess has heard people talk about Haley, it will never fail to make her feel a pang of hurt; but what comes quickly after that hurt is joy — joy in knowing how she touched and shaped the lives of others, Jack’s and Aaron’s the most. “That was a sweet sentiment, but I wasn’t talking about Jack.”

It was now Y/N’s turn to be confused as she furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Jess who was chuckling softly at her expression, “I was talking about Aaron.”

“Hotch?” She squeaked a little louder than expected because everyone frantically looked at the door and was surprised to not find the man there to which she clarified, “Sorry! We were just talking, didn’t mean for it to be a bit loud.”

Once the laughter in the room died down, Jess then nodded to answer her question, “Like I said, I was referring to Aaron. He really likes you.” That however did not clarify things for her, instead making her all the more baffled. “Well I suppose it makes sense; I haven’t really been doing anything reckless or indifferent to following his orders. That, and I have been helping him out with Jack.”

When Jess shook her head, her blonde curls moved with her which made her see how Jack resembled the Brooks side before she spoke again, “Maybe that too. But I spoke to him recently and he mentioned how grateful he was to have you in Jack’s life, as well as his. And I agreed, saying how lighter and happier he seems because of you.”

She was rendered speechless as Y/N did not have a clue how to respond to that. She did not want to seem like she was overstepping her bounds or making room for herself in their lives so she replied, “I’m touched that he thinks so, but I don’t know. I don’t wanna assume anything or make them feel uncomfortable or even you. ‘Cause it might feel weird to see me caring for Jack or something.”

Before she could fully delve deep into her insecurities and worries, Jess gently stroked her forearm and smiled, “I know Haley, and she would take comfort in the fact that you love and care for her boys the same way she does, she did. You may not see it, but you’re family to them, to me.”

Her words warmed her heart and she had to blink back her tears from falling as she lovingly squeezed back Jess’ hand and returned the smile but just as she was about to speak Penelope excitedly shrieked, “Okay they’re on their way! Y/N have the cake ready! Someone please dim the lights.”

“We’ll talk more later,” Y.N hurried out as Spencer was scrambling to dim the lights in the hall they were in. Jack ran to the agent when he saw that she was lighting the candles in the cake, “Y/N can I hold the cake too?”

“If you want to hold the cake you need to stand still on this chair,” As soon as she slid the chair, Jack stood up tall and proud as he held out his hands, “I’m gonna need you to have steady hands, okay bud? We don’t want the cake we worked hard on to fall, right?”

“Right!” Came his reply. It did not take more than a two minutes when Rossi and Hotch walked in, “Dave if this is one of your other blind dates I am telling you right now it won’t work.”

Just as Hotch finished his sentence he was greeted with wide smiles and cheers as Spencer turned the lights back on and everyone yelled, “Surprise! Happy birthday!”

The team were graced with a wide smile on their unit chief’s face as he was clearly pleased that this party did not end up like the last one. As he walked more towards the guests, his smile widened even more upon seeing the cake being held by Jack and Y/N. “Happy birthday, daddy! Make a wish!”

Standing right in front them, he took in their excited grins and smiled at Jack, “Okay bud,” He looked at Jack, thinking about how all he wished was for his son to remain safe so he could grow up to whatever he wants to be; his eyes then drifted over to Y/N — whose eyes were surprised seeing him focus intensely on her — and thought about how he wished to have her presence, comfort, and love all the time. Closing his eyes, he blew on the candle which prompted more cheers by everyone.

From there on, everything seemed like a blur since the rest of the team busied themselves by sharing laughter and stories in between bites of their meal. Throughout the night, both Hotch and Y/N kept stealing glances from each other as they were delighted upon seeing the other relax. When everyone was all done with their dinner, it came time to eat the cake. As Jack was helping Hotch cut the cake and distribute it to everyone Aaron inquired, “Is this what you and Y/N did the other day? You bake a cake?”

The boy grinned excitedly as he handed a slice to Henry and JJ, “We did bake it, dad! Did you like it? What does it taste like?” Once they cut a piece for themselves after they had given all of their guests one, Aaron fished for a piece on his mouth before feeding Jack a piece, “It tastes really good, Jack! You did great!”

Beaming at his father’s praise, he hugged him tight saying, “I’m glad you liked it dad,” He looked up at him with his puppy dog eyes and sweetly asked, “Can I have some more cake, please?” Hotch chuckled as he handed the plate to his son, “Don’t eat too fast or too much, okay? We don’t want a tummy ache now do we?” The boy nodded as he made his way over to Henry, presumably to talk more about dinosaurs.

With a shake of his head, Hotch then spotted Y/N who seemed to be having a talk with Jess, sighing shakily, he then decided to make his way over to her. Jess spotted him first and excused herself from the conversation. Shock replaced her momentary confusion when Hotch took the side beside her, “Hey, birthday boy. How’s it going?”

“It’s going good, and I think I have you to thank for that,” Came his smooth reply which flustered her as she was quick to clarify, “Oh Penelope was the main mastermind for this. So you have her to thank — or reprimand, but hopefully you won’t do that. Jack and I just baked the cake, you know.”

“And it’s very good,” He said after taking one more bite before placing the plate of cake on the table in front of them, “I wonder what’s your special ingredient?”

Amused with how her usually-seen stern boss was leading a light conversation, which was further emphasized with how a smile ghosted over his lips and not a frown, she decided to ride along with it by replying, “Well Jack’s enthusiasm did help, but really it’s nothing a little vanilla extract can’t make better.”

Another hearty chuckle rumbled from his chest as he said, “You need to stop selling yourself short, you know? You’re great.” The heat was unpreventable from spreading throughout her face. As she simply crossed her legs and shrugged, unsure of what to say, “Well so are you. Everyone in this room can attest to how great you are — whether as a father, unit chief, or you know, a friend.”

It was now his turn to blush slightly as he looked at her sincerely and thought about how he wants to lead their conversation, “And is that all that you think of me? Nothing more than that?”

“Would you fire me if I were ever too honest with you? Like on a personal level?”

Though she knew that her remark was meant to be taken playfully but could sense her hesitation and to help appease her he helped out for her hand and led them over to a secluded part of the restaurant. Pleased with the way his hand enveloped and radiated warmth over hers, she looked at him with an intensity she had never seen before, “One of the things I admire most about you is how you speak your mind; sure this is useful during cases and briefs but it’s different on a personal level. So, please, whatever you wish to say, just say it.”

She thought about it for a second, thought about the possible outcome her action or words may arise; and came to the conclusion that it was better to risk rather than regret so with a trembling breath she breathed out, “I like you, Aaron. For the longest time I tried to think that maybe it was just admiration? But it was more than that,” In a surprising surge of confidence she held his hands in hers and kissed his knuckles, “I liked that you were this tough person who still sees the good in others. Being in your presence radiates warmth and joy,” Perhaps they were both thinking the same thing, that it’s funny how he radiated joy when he rarely smiled, “I, I could go on and on about how much you mean to me, but I’m hoping that maybe this could be the start of me expressing what I feel for you? Only if you would let me, of course.”

The unit chief took in her nervous expression which to him was utterly adorable before smiling at her, “Have I ever mentioned how adorable you are?”

“No, not really, it hasn’t exactly come up in between cases,” She humored him as she still nervously wondered what was going on in his mind. “I’ll cut you a deal then — how about we remind each other how much we mean to one another?”

Taking a step closer so their fronts were touching and they could take it in everything about each other smiled, “I like the sound of that. Does that mean we’re seeing each other now?”

Wanting to make it clear for her, he untangled their hands delicately on her cheeks to pull her in, letting their lips collide softly; her hands rested on his arms to anchor herself with the intensity in which he kissed her. She could feel the relief and  delight spread to her and wishing to share it with him by fervently pressing her lips into his as she smiled into the kiss and let out a whimper when he gently bit her bottom lip. 

Snapping them back to reality was the sound of some yelling — that thankfully, did not sound urgent — they both parted ways yet still remained pressed against each other as they focused on steadying their breathing, “Can I take you out tomorrow on a date?”

Smiling at his polite question, she nodded and smiled, “I would love that, Aaron.” He pressed one last kiss to her lips before taking a step back to just look at her beautiful features before speaking, “That sounds perfect then. I’ll ask Jess if she can watch Jack.”

“How about for one of our other dates, we can take Jack too? So he doesn’t feel like he’s left out or so he can, you know, gradually get used to us.”

At that Aaron could feel his heart warm up at the thought of why he admired her, because she always looks after his son. He nods and places his hand behind her back, guiding her back in the function hall, “God, as if you couldn't be any perfect.”

Just as she was about to ask him what he meant she was interrupted by the teasing and cheers of the team who were delighted to see that the two agents now had some sort of deeper relationship. Hotch decided to give them a pass for the teasing, deciding that celebrating another year of life with Jack and his family; and even better he finally landed the person of his dream 

[sunrisemill]

✮From the start✮ Pt.4

Chris and y/n have always been inseparable, they’ve always relied on each other but what happens when one of them falls?

(Warnings: mentions of mental health such as Anxiety and possibly depression. Please take care of yourself, I love you 🤍)

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Finale

Y/ns’ POV

(Present)

I feel a wave of anxiety crash down on me as he stares at me from across the dining table. How in the hell am I supposed to do this? I feel the tension rise within seconds as I remain silent, I just wish I could see what he's thinking. The look he has on his face is unreadable and stern. God, I've fucked everything up. I continue to tell myself that until I hear him clear his throat. “Well…are you going to say something?” Right, with my emotions at an all-time high, I completely forgot how much time had passed. “I'm so sorry, Chris,” I whisper before taking in a deep shaky breath. “It was wrong to treat you like that and it's okay if you don't forgive me, I understand. But I couldn't go on until I gave you an apology.” I watch him carefully as he processes my words. Please forgive me, please Chris. He nods his head before leaning back in his chair. “I'm sorry too. But could you just tell me what's wrong? You continue to shut me out and that's not healthy Y/n, you can't just bottle everything up and expect it to be okay.” He sits up straight and leans forward again, propping his elbows on the table as he reaches his hand out to gently hold my hand in his. His touch sends shockwaves throughout my body. “Just talk to me. I'm here.”  My chest tightens as I stare down at our hands which are interlocked. I can feel his eyes bore into my head as the air grows thicker. I can’t tell him, he's gonna think I'm being dramatic or I'm just being silly. Oh my god, he's gonna think that something is wrong with me, or that I'm too much for him to handle and he's just going to leave me. “Y/n?” The concern in Chris’ voice when he notices how my breathing has picked up causes me to spiral into a deeper panic. I lift my head to look at him but my vision is blurred by tears. Chris’ face drops when he sees me in such a distressed state. “Y/n, please talk to me.” The slight squeeze he gives my hand pushes me over the edge. I can't do this. I need to leave. Right. Now. I tell myself as I quickly drop his hand and shoot up out of my chair, the speed of my action causes the chair to fall back, but I don't care. The only thing I care about is getting out of that damn house. The sound of Chris calling after me is cancelled out as the sound of my heartbeat in my ears drowns it out.

~~~~

Chris’ POV

I feel as though everything just blew up within a few minutes. I shouldn't have done that, I pushed her too far now. I can't believe I had her back and now im watching her run out of my house because of my idiotic actions. “Y/n!” I shout out to her but she doesn't stop…shit. I quickly stand up to chase after her but get stopped by a tug on my arm, my head snaps to look at whatever has tugged on my arm and im met with my mother. “You have to let her go, Chris. She's not worth it.” Nothing but rage fills my senses as I hear those words leave her mouth. She's not worth it…How dare she say that about Y/n, she doesn't know her like I do.  “you have no idea what you’re talking about.” She looks up at me with sympathy. “I've seen enough to know that she's no good. If you go after her now she’s gonna trip up again and drag you down with her, I used to know people like her, and They did nothing but destroy everything in their paths. Do not go.” I stand there in pure disbelief. “So what? Im just supposed to stand here like a fucking imbecile when she's obviously distressed?!” I spit out as I yank my arm away from her, looking down at her with disgust. “Im not doing that again. Im going after her, whether you like it or not.” I give her one last gare before turning around and walking out of the house in search of Y/n.

~~~~

Y/ns’ POV

The sound of crickets chirping in the long grass and wind rustling withered leaves has an eerie but soothing sound. I can't believe I ran out of there but I know that's what I needed to do. I stare at the reflection of the moon across the lake as I think back to when life was simple before reality struck me like a bolt of lightning. I think back to when I was just a little kid sitting on the same ground that I am now, I remember a small Chris running to me to show me a small daisy that he thought I'd like. He has always been like that, the kindest soul I have ever known. But I just had to ruin it, ruin us. Sometimes, I think he would be better off without me, im only just dragging him down. He insists that he wouldn't know where he would be without me but I know… He'd be happier and not have to deal with all the stress and sadness I've caused. It's like I destroy everything I've ever touched, why can't I just be normal? I let out a silent sob as my fingers tangled through the grass below me, If Chris was here he'd tell me that it would be okay, that I'd be okay. But how could he be so sure of that? He’d be horrified if he took even a peek into my brain. I still remember how he looked at me on that night. “I’ve never met a girl like you before, I feel like all my problems go away when I'm with you. I'm so glad I get to call you my best friend.” I shake my head at the memory. How could I be so stupid? He’d never like me, he's gonna end up with a happy bubbly girl and realize how horrible I am. I bring a shaky hand up to wipe away the tears on my cheeks when I hear a voice. “I thought I'd find you here.” I keep my head down as I feel Chris sit beside me.

“Hey…” He whispers as he wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me close to him “It’s gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay.” I let out a small chuckle. “I knew you’d say that.” I sniffle, leaning into his touch, it takes me a moment but I finally look up at him. He lets out a sad sigh and brings his hand up to my face, wiping away the tears that continue to roll down my cheeks. “Am I that predictable, huh?” He asks teasingly with a slight tilt to his head. I smile softly as I take my chance to fully take in everything about this moment. The way his hair brushes against my face as he looks down at me. The moonlight casting a pale light around us. I bask in the comfortable silence between us, wishing it could last forever. “I'm so sorry Y/n… I shouldn't have pushed you-” “It's okay, Chris.” I quickly cut him off. “It's just… I'm not good at talking about my feelings. Ever since I was younger I was told I was sensitive and I was overreacting. Everyone made me feel like I was crazy when I would open up, they’d say it was all in my head but would never comfort me or even try to help me. So I thought that if I could hide my feelings we’d be fine, but it didn't work.” My heart drops down to my stomach as I open up for the first time. “I'm just so tired of it all…” I sigh as my head hangs low. “I feel like everyone is moving on with their lives and I'm stuck frozen in time. Look at me right now… one thing goes wrong in my life and I come running back to the lake.” I shake my head as I look back out towards the water. Why does this have to be so difficult? “I try so hard at everything but nobody seems to notice or care, But when somebody actually notices I chase them away 'cause I get scared that I'd be a burden to them, I feel like such a coward.” I whisper the last part as I wait until the moment when Chris finally speaks up. It takes him a minute but he tightens his arms around me as he whispers. “I'm sorry… I know how hard that was for you and I just want you to know that I'm so proud of you. I take back every word I said to you, You are not a coward Y/n, you’re the strongest person I know.” He ends that sentence by placing a kiss on the side of my head. Oh my god, he just kissed me. I'm sure it was just a friendly kiss. “You think so?” I whisper back, hope glimmering in my eyes. “I know so. You’ve gone through so much, Y/n. I’ve never been more proud of somebody else before. Just know…you could never be a burden to me, Y/n. I love you so much and I care for you so deeply, you can come to me always. I could be anywhere, I could be at a concert and I'd still drop everything to come see you” He looks down at me with his infamous boyish grin.  I smile back at him as I finally feel my tears dry up. “You love me?” I whisper in disbelief, how is this possible? He loves me back. He nods his head as he replies with a voice so soft that it puts clouds to shame

“More than anything.”

(A/n: Omg I worked my ass off on this one. I hope that you enjoyed it 🤭 the next part is gonna be the last one (don’t take my word on it cause I’m indecisive) anyways, thank you for reading, I LOVE U 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩💋😽)

Tags: @guccifrog @junnniiieee07

[florencetypemaniacs]

Ebeuwjjdhdi AHHHH I love your IF! If you are doing RO questions, what would their reaction be if they forgot the MC's B Day in the relationship stage?

💛 Marcel

Marcel would never forgive himself; he would feel so guilty and do everything in his power to make it right. I could see him surprising you with something you really loved, like a night out at your favorite restaurant or watching your favorite movie, and trying to make it as special for you as possible. 

💙 Rosemary

Rosemary would test the waters; she is very good at reading people, so if you were upset, she would know. If you weren't upset, she would apologize to you, of course, over dinner or in private. If she could tell that you were upset, then that would be a whole other story. She knows how it feels to be disappointed, especially with a partner, and would try to fix it the best way she knew how with....romance. She is romantic at heart, so she would get all your friends and family to help set up a private moment between just the two of you. So you would be surprised when she drove you up to a romantic spot with fairy lights in the trees and a picnic basket that your aunt packed with all your favorite deserts. 

❤️ Owen

On the outside, it would seem that he didn't care at all that he missed your birthday, but on the inside, he would be so full of guilt. So anything you wanted, you got for a week. You need the trash taken out. Owen has it handled. You need to babysit Jezebel? Owen will help you get her to bed. You might not even notice it at first how Owen is buzzing around you like a bee. 

🧡 Margaret

Break down and cry. How could she do this to you? Her family always went big on birthdays and holidays, and this was no different, and she ruined yours. As soon as Margaret found out what she had done, she would jump into your arms and ask you to forgive her. I could see her buying you flowers and chocolates, even if you said you were fine. She would continue to do it until you finally had a sit-down conversation with her and told her that you had forgiven her. 

🩵 Tai

Tai would mentally kick himself. How could he forget your birthday? What kind of partner was he? Honestly, he would have a dramatic monologue in his head about how he was the worst partner ever until someone, whether it be Rosemary or Owen, told him to stop having a pity party. So to make it up to you, he made a romantic dinner. Food is something he has a passion for, and you are someone he loves dearly, so why not treat you to your favorite dish, no matter if it is junk food or unhealthy? Hell, it could be greasy hamburgers from the dinner up the street, and he would still serve them. 

💚 Zane

Zane would try to play it off that he didn't forget at all and try to plan something big for you, like a party with all your family and friends, even going as far as to help Marcel invite people since he isn't good in a social setting, which he would never speak of that he asked for help.

[great-cats]

The Compress Analysis (2/?)

(From: This Post) Ⅰ - Ⅱ - ...

Part Ⅱ: The Mask

Yep, I see the mask as a key part of his character to the point where it simply must get a section of its own in this increasingly more insane ramble. One may immediately assume that the thing is used for identity concealment. While this is partially true, I reckon that its primary purpose is the concealment of his emotions, as implied in the ultra analysis entry for him (attached below). He may have a near perfect handle on his body language, but I will personally headcanon that he has a terrible poker face until the day I die. As a villain, his identity is going to come out at some point, you know? Even after the Kamino raid (where he got doxxed the hell out of), he continued to wear the mask up until his ta-da moment in 294. So with that info, we can reasonably assume that identity was on the back burner, and emotion/dramatics took centre stage. The latter option is thrown in because he obviously was saving that reveal to an extent. One can even go so far as to assume he hadn’t even taken his mask off around the league, which would be pretty interesting. We don’t ever see him without it while he’s with them, after all.

Beyond keeping his facial expressions behind closed doors, the mask may very well bolster Atsuhiro’s confidence. We don’t particularly see much of this in action given he wore the thing for so long and has only a select few moments of casual interaction, but I still like to think of it as a very real possibility. For all intents and purposes, Atsuhiro Sako is just a normal man with an interesting background and some past poverty. Despite this, the villain that is Mr.Compress– or what quite nicely amounts to a stage persona –is flamboyant, clever, and has a penchant for monologuing. I quite like to create a separation between “Mr.Compress” and “Atsuhiro Sako” because of this disparity. The latter is the flawed man behind the mask whilst the former is a faux, ideal identity put on for the audience. Only in those rude remarks and reckless actions do we see the facade begin to slip. So, what of the moment in the climax of chapter 294 in which he throws that covering off? Well, for starters, he couldn’t not. Jeanist’s quirk could nab anything fibrous, and the fellow couldn’t take any chances. But, beyond that, Atsuhiro thought that moment would wind up his final stand. What’s the use of concealment if you’re going to die soon? He might as well make things flashy.

A big thing in my opinion regarding the mask is how it often reflects Atsuhiro’s status. While I do like to make the distinction between him and Mister as mentioned prior, again, there’s that smidge of him shining through. When he lost his arm, the mask was solemn and in the times he was at his best, it portrayed a smug/snide grin. That grin in particular is by far his most iconic design! It gets the cogs turning in my head when his real emotions don’t seem to match it, though, Regardless of how Atsuhiro is really feeling, that mask keeps up the smile until it’s either broken or otherwise removed. It circles us back to that emotion concealment point, if that wasn’t already obvious. In pursuit of the perfect villain and the next in line for the illustrious goals and teachings of the late Peerless Thief. Atsuhiro has no room for error with that heavy load on his shoulders and must keep up appearances, even if he has to hide behind a smiling mask to do so. But why hold this legacy in such high regard? Atsuhiro claimed that it was the very reason he was there with the league, so what could’ve possibly gotten the man to be so dead set on the wishes of a long gone relative he likely never met? Perhaps, answers to questions like that could be found in what minimal information we know about…

Ah dear! That's part three exclusive content!! Tune in for "The Upbringing" later in which we'll pick right back up from where we left off!

[daydreamgoddess14]

Salvation pt. 1

From the 200 Followers Celebration 🎉 *horn tooting noises!* This one is for the wonderful @ashtonirwinwh0re who requested "What did you say?" for the gorgeous Roy Kent.

Full Masterlist

Roy Kent Masterlist

Roy Kent / Reader

Meet the woman who stole Roy Kent's watch...

~~~~~

No matter how hard you tried, you always felt like an imposter. It had gotten to the stage where that feeling would never disappear fully. You accepted it, embraced it, made peace with it. It was a friend you carried around with you, keeping you grounded, reminding you of your past. To some, the past was something to run from, to hide away in a cupboard and never speak of. And though your past was not good, you didn’t want to stash it in a box and not think about it or remember it. You wanted it to haunt you and remind you of how things could have turned out. You were an imposter, and you were determined not to be ashamed of that. There were some elements of your past that you never, ever anticipated revisiting though. Things that you’d done that you’d always be ashamed of, no matter how hard you’d worked to change your circumstances. Making your own peace with your actions was one thing, but actually seeking peace from the other parties involved was tricker. So tricky that you hadn’t thought it possible until now. Right now. Sitting in your car, twisting your hands in your lap, and trying to control your shaking breath. It was time to go in. You stepped out of your car, locked it, and followed the group of men through the double doors and into a room you’d only ever seen on screen before. 

The seat at the front was already occupied, which was your worst nightmare, you had to go up there to put your phone on the desk. He wouldn’t recognise you, it had been a long, long time, and you'd changed dramatically. Of course he wouldn’t recognise you. You made sure you went up with a larger group who were already setting up their recording devices and slid your phone into a gap amongst the others. You couldn’t help but look up despite every fibre of your body begging you not to. He must have been looking at you because you locked eyes immediately. Don’t recognise me, don’t recognise me, don’t recognise me… You heard his intake of breath, a gasp which he quickly turned into a cough.

“I don’t want to listen to you choking to death when I play this back later!” A voice behind you called out.

“Fuck off, New Trent.” You quickly slipped away and took a spare seat as far back as possible, your heart pounding so hard you thought it might be a heart attack, yeah… he’d definitely recognised you. You let the usual rumbling and discourse happen around you, not wanting to stand out as the new person. Everyone clearly had a routine and their own little cliques so you didn’t want to push in and rock the boat. You instead fiddled with the zip on your bag, trying to find a pen. Where the fuck was the fucking pen? You looked down at your blouse where you often attached it to yourself - not there, you reached up behind your ear - another no, finally you tried your half up/half down ponytail and came back successful. Finally, when you’d stopped fidgeting, you chanced a look back to the front of the room. He was actively not looking at you, his eyes were looking anywhere and everywhere except at you. You took a deep breath and composed yourself, but as soon as you did, you caught his eye again. You could see his frown of confusion, his mind whirling as he tried to make sense of why you’re here - in his domain, on his turf. “Right, let’s get started, you lot. Some of us have got shit to do.” He said gruffly. Hands went up, “you with the bald spot?”

“How are you feeling ahead of the second game?”

“Pretty good. The lads are all feeling alright, we had a good first game.”

“Still feeling the loss of Ted Lasso?”

“Fuck no,” he paused, “course we are. He’s a great friend and we miss him.” The questions came thick and fast and gave you plenty of opportunity to observe Roy Kent from afar. Older now than when you’d known him, the mullet was gone and the beard was under control. Of course you’d seen him over the years on TV, but in the same room, god he looked good. Really, really good. You sat back in your chair while the questions bounced around, there was no chance in hell of you putting your hand up. At last, you could tell things were starting to wrap up so you shoved your notepad and pen into your bag, getting ready to escape at the earliest opportunity.

“Oi, what about you? With the… smile.” You weren’t smiling. A smile hadn’t graced your lips since you’d set foot in the office that morning. Your heart broke a tiny bit at the knowledge that he remembered your smile.

“I didn’t say anything,” you mutter.

"What did you just say?" He demands. You clear your throat and speak louder.

“No questions from me.”

“Does your boss know you’re a quitter?”

“What? No, I’m not… I’m just here for today.” There was a weirdness in the room, an odd tension that the other journalists noticed immediately. The ones closest to you were peering at you like they were trying to remember where they might know you from, the faintest recognition in their eyes. You hadn’t said a word, there was no reason for Roy to have even spoken to you, but in doing so, he’d drawn attention to both of you. “I’m sorry,” you mumble, grabbing your bag and rushing to stand. The media room is busy behind you so you have to push through the crowd to get out, your chest feels tight and you can feel the panic rising. You knew this was the worst idea. You told Sammy that he should have asked someone else to cover for him. 

“Wait!” You hear him call out, but you can see the door and you’re nearly there - daylight and fresh air! As you pull the door open, it swings on its hinges more than you’d anticipated and whacks you in the shoulder. Tears spring to your eyes as you barge through the door and collide with tiny Keeley Jones on the other side.

“Fuck, shit - sorry!” You stop at last, your hand going to your shoulder to try and massage the pain away. “Shit, Keeley Jones!” You marvel. She came after you in more ways than one. She looks at you wide eyed, recognition dawning,

“It’s you!” You can hear the bustle behind you of the others leaving the room, which means Roy won’t be far behind so you carry on your original path out of the Richmond stadium by the easiest, quickest route possible. She’s hot on your heels but you manage to squeeze out through the main doors and to your car. While you fumble with the key in the ignition and your seatbelt, you look up to see Keeley watching you from the doorway. Your clutch control and gear finding abilities are a mess as you crunch the car into first gear and just as you tear out of the car park, you see Roy run out behind your car to try and stop you. When you finally come to a stop again at a set of traffic lights, you put your head in your hands and lean into your steering wheel. It’s only the sound of someone beeping behind you which brings you back to the now green light in front of you. 

At Nelson Road, Roy had turned from Keeley and gone back to his office. The door had stayed shut all day. When Keeley approached as she left for the day, she knocked softly and peered around the door.

“Alright?” He grunts in response. “That was a bit weird.”

“Yeah.” He breathed, not looking up from the desk.

“So, tell me if I’m wrong… but… wasn’t that the girl who stole your watch?”

"Yeah." He said again quietly. 

"She left her phone." Keeley puts it gently on his desk and closes the door behind her. 

[kc5rings]

If you're doing the sticker prompts I rolled 1 for Nian

I more intended it as a game for folks who want a prompt for themselves for art or fic, but luck is on your side because I happened to be thinking about Nian already this morning after seeing some metal gear that made me insane

(Not taking any other prompts at the moment but the game is here if anyone wants to use it for themselves)

Under the cut: Chastity, heat reference, improper use of medical equipment, improper definitions of medical equipment, Nian Gets Trolled.png

“I should have figured when Hibiscus messaged me to come drag you out of medical that it would be something ridiculous like this.”

Nian crossed her arms, grinning and unrepentant, as ever immune to Lava’s scathing reprimands.

“All I’m saying, is you’d think an open minded medical facility like Rhodes Island would be a little more receptive to a holistic, non medication approach to a very common medical concern for many of its op-“

Lava cut into Nian’s speech before she wound herself up into full pitch mode, leaning heavily on her cane with one hand while gesturing vaguely at what Nian was wearing.

“Is that what we’re calling….. all this then?”

Far from being deterred Nian’s grin only widened as she did a little turn to make sure Lava got a good look, which she happily did, taking a moment to appreciate forge hewn muscle before sighing and taking in Nian’s “outfit”

Her regular clothing had been discarded the moment Lava had shut the door to her quarters, Nian having been in a hurry to show off her latest project. Across her chest was a tight band of steel, with a cup covering the entirety of each breast. Continuing down from there revealed a steel waist corset cinched reasonably tight, though Lava couldn’t begin to imagine how that was accomplished with metal.

Finally, there was the belt.

Just a bit below the edge of the corset sat the waist band of what could only be described as what it was, a chastity belt. Perfectly shaped to fit the lines of Nian’s body, with a ring in the waistband to settle at the thick base of Nian’s tail, a sturdy, contoured, front shield and capped off by a pair of wide metal bands on her thighs. As with the rest of the ensemble it was all secured with ornate locks and polished to a near mirror shine.

Lava pinched the bridge of her nose

“Nian, this is obviously fetishwe-“

“Medical aids, Lil Lava, please”

“Not calling it that.”

Despite her curt tone Lava knew this was a losing battle, once Nian had a concept she wanted to talk about she refused to let it go until someone heard her out and that someone was usually Lava

“Fine. I’ll bite.”

“Promise?”

“Just make your pitch Nian. How is any of this possibly medical?”

Lava could swear she saw a literal flame in Nian’s eye for a moment before Nian gave her an overly dramatic bow, setting the many locks adorning her accessories jingling

“It’d be my pleasure. Ya see I’ve done my research and found that a sizable number of Terran species experience heat, now heat is the common term for-“

“I know what heat is Nian, you know I do.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll skip ahead.”

Nian made a placating gesture and rolled on with her pitch, pointing to each relevant piece of gear as she went

“The cups on the top prevent contact with sensitive nipples even during rigorous activity or while laden with equipment, the front shield prevents contact that might worsen symptoms and splits at the back for comfort, the bands on the thighs and tail help keep everything in place and secure. Obviously it’s all padded, every measure had been taken to ensure both comfort and hygiene during long term wear while-“

“And the corset? What “medical” benefit is that providing”

Nian flashed her teeth again, despite her protests Lava was an excellent “yes and” partner when she felt like it, and now Nian had gotten her to play.

“Well you see.” Nian drew herself up to her full height, head and shoulders over Lava to the point she almost loomed.

“They are great for your posture.”

Lava rolled her eyes, sure that Nian was familiar enough with the movement that she’d recognize it even with Lava wearing her visor

“Right. Well putting aside the frankly astounding number of ethical problems with all of that, it still wouldn’t work here at Rhodes.”

Nian tilted her head, curious.

“Oh? And why’s that?”

It was Lava’s turn to grin, she knew she was playing Nian’s game now, no helping that. But they’d been at this for years and Lava had gotten very good at playing.

“Haven’t you ever seen the combat logs of some of our operators once they get riled up in a fight? That pretty belt of yours wouldn’t last a second against someone like operator Horn in heat, no chance in hell”

“Lil Lava you wound me! In my pride as an artisan no less.” Using her tail Nian fished something out of her pile of discarded clothes and with a flick, sent something through the air at Lava. “Catch.”

Lava snatched the object with one hand before taking a moment to look it over. “Key” would be an accurate description but a very reductive one, the body of the key was cylindrical, with the teeth numbering in the dozens all around its circumference. Stranger though, was the fact that as Lava stared at the key it’s teeth became less defined and fuzzy, seeming to almost move.

“Give me fifty years and I *might* be able to produce that same exact key from memory, anybody who’s not me though? No chance.” Only Nian could make admitting she couldn’t do something in less than fifty years sound like a boast. “And that’s not all.”

Nian lifted one clawed finger up for Lava to see, the tip glowing forge hot after a moments concentration, and reached down to drag it up the front shield of the belt. Lava winced at the terrible screech and sparks the contact made, but when Nian finished her little display the belt hadn’t even lost its shine. “I built this piece as sturdy as I can make something, trust me when I say that without that exact key it’s not going anywhere.”

“….. Ok I’ll admit it, that’s pretty impressive.” Lava had seen Nian shape ingots by hand and shear chunks off of them with those same claws, that belt really was something else.

Lava pocketed the key.

From the same pocket she’d stored the key in Lava produced a small injection gun, with casual ease she reached out and pressed it against the exposed skin of Nian’s hip, right in the gap between the bottom of the corset and the top of the belt and pulled the trigger.

Nian, for her part, made no move to stop Lava and barely reacted to the injection. Lava had the basic medical training afforded to all higher level Rhodes Island operators and had long since become adept in administering her own meds so Nian hardly felt a thing.

Aside from a sudden burning curiosity.

“What was-“

“Highly concentrated heat inducer.” Lava let the now empty injector clatter onto a nearby table. “Gavial slipped it to me when I was coming to get you, mentioned something about how she owed you a prize after handing her a string of losses and that because you never had a proper physical she had to take a “Gavial Guess” at the dosage.”

Lava took advantage of a rare moment of stunned Nian silence to close the gap between them. “You’re so sure this stuff is a good answer to heat? Fine, but you’re doing the testing. Be sure to record your findings while I’m gone.”

Lava allowed herself a smile only after turning away from Nian’s dumbfounded expression, trying to process what had just happened. Only the last word of “gone” snapped her out of it. “Wait, what do mean by “gone” Lil Lava?”

Lava tossed a hand up in farewell as she headed out the door. “Oh didn’t I mention? I’m leading an away mission of new recruits later today, shouldn’t be gone more than three weeks, probably.”

With that, Lava turned down the hallway, the staccato rhythm of her cane on metal flooring slowly growing distant. Leaving Nian reeling.

“Ok Lil Lava I get it, you got me fare and square this time, you can come back now!” The only answer Nian received was a sudden involuntary muscle clench, a spike in temperature and sweat slowly beading on her brow.

“L-Lava?!”

[fluffyprettykitty]

Lunchtime

Pairing: dad! Tony Stark x female reader (no other specifications!)

Word Count: ~600 words

Outline: What happened to the cookies in the jar?

Author's Note: Thank you nonnie for this request. I left the child nameless, so is up to your interpretation. Also I was that weird kid that loved raisins :P

Warnings: food mention.

P.S: dividers by @firefly-graphics //​ banners by @maysdigitalarts

Main Masterlist ・❥・Tony Stark Masterlist

“Tony!” 

You shout exasperated trying to run after him.

“Tony!” 

He only chuckles and starts running faster holding your son a little tighter.

“You can’t keep running forever you know.” You warn him and wrap your arms around your chest to stare at him.

“Oh, mommy’s got trouble for us.” He chuckles rocking the little child.

“I think…” You sigh tapping your foot. “Is time for you to admit defeat.”

“I am afraid I don’t know what you are talking about.” 

“I think you are full of shit, Tony.”

Tony gasps and covers the ears of the child who is now giggling. “No bad words in front of the baby.” 

“Tony…” You roll your eyes at his dramatic overreaction.

“I could potentially admit that…” He sighs looking around. “That we might have dug inside the cookie jar.” He shrugs his shoulders. “He wanted one and I wanted three, so you see…” 

“Ah-huh…” You look at them both darting your eyes from one’s gaze to the others.

“And why is the jar empty then?”

“Maybe because it took you too long to come home today?”

“I was in a meeting meant for you.”

“And I am thoroughly grateful for that.” He gestures as the little boy starts running around the kitchen, zooming as children do. 

“Which is why you should be encouraging little one here to eat healthy snacks while I am gone…”

“In our defense, those were raisins cookies and you should be thankful a little child is as obsessed with raisins as he is.”

“But did he eat what he was supposed to?” You raise an eyebrow looking at him.

Tony moves around the kitchen to open the fridge and show you the now empty shelf where you had left the designated lunch. He only grins and points.

“And daddy didn’t eat the food by himself?”

“I would never!”

“Little one cannot possibly eat a full jar of cookies on a full stomach.”

“You see is almost amazing what little children can do. In fact, I have been researching and you are not going to believe what I found.”

“Tony.”

“Yes, dear?”

“Did he eat his lunch?”

“Maybe he shared it with the dog.”

“Hm…” 

“But the dog says it was delicious.”

“He needs to have some proper food.”

“Couldn’t agree more.”

You both laugh and shake your heads. The rest of the afternoon you cooked together, and happily ended up eating altogether. The little baby boy named affectionately after both of your fathers really enjoyed being flown around like a small airplane before he even attempted one bite. Sometimes you honestly wondered how he could eat like that but he always refused to sit down and eat. 

The days at the cottage far off the city hustle were a blessing. Spending time playing in nature, running around the greenery, taking the boat for rides in the rivers, kayaking, and chasing the dog.

It was a quiet life, a life you both deserved after fighting so many battles with the avengers, and whenever duty called you were of course there to consultant and help but your biggest priority was your child and the other on the way. 

And Tony was never far away from you. You both finally had the home life you always wished for.

Until the children had to go to school…

for updates please follow @fluffyprettykittylibrary and turn on post notifications!

[slayerlevampire]

Technically Untitled - Almost got burned at the stake for this one lads

Idk a very short written thing I made a while ago about Robotnik becoming a vampire

Or something like one anyway

Since everyone is posting about their monster AU's around here aidnakxnskxj

It was a dark and stormy night, perfect for dramatics, dark magic, and mad science... Even if the "storm" was actually heavy snowfall in the form of a blizzard. Ivo Robotnik delved deep into his own writings, his notes scattered across a table as he took his own advice from each paper. As delicate as this process was, he was frantically scrambling to get it right this time, as it would be his last chance. The power to unlimited life came with human sacrifice, he knew that early on in his work, so with his failed attempts so far? The nearby village had finally figured out what was going on despite how much of a recluse he was in the woods. He knew they would be here by morning, so this was his last chance to get this right before he was most certainly taken and executed.

His human sacrifice was currently tied up, wrapped round-and-round in rope to keep them as still as possible. Alive of course, but unconscious by virtue of getting hit really hard on the head.

From tales of magic to science he's tested to be rooted in fact; he finally found that he compiled the key to eternal life. At least, a form of it anyhow. There was no way of truly knowing if this method was the most effective, but he figured that if it worked, it didn't really matter as long as he wasn't making any demonic deals. As easy as making a deal with some otherworldly being might be, there was no way he'd let himself be overshadowed by or even as much as connected to someone more powerful than him, nor would he allow himself to be put in a debt so deep.

This reasoning of his meant that it required him to do a little extra work, crafting his own demonic sigils rather than using ancient ones, so that he could make his own life rather than summoning an existing demon. Not to mention his dabbling into the science of lightning and its electric properties was something that most people this day and age thought was just things to do with deities of sorts, but he knew better. Variations of demons and maybe even angels might exist - along with other "supernatural" entities such as spirits, fairies, or werewolves - but gods, at least of the "all-powerful" kind, were nonexistent. No, this electricity from the sky was the work of natural forces that could be tapped into by less natural means. It just took skill and know-how, both of which Robotnik had acquired.

He took his various items outside into the blizzard, setting up a large circle in the snow of a cleared out area from the forest, his sacrifice in the middle. It pained him inside a bit to be letting his notes get wet from melting ice, but if this worked, he'd have plenty of time to rewrite them anyway. He followed his own instructions, drawing his symbols in the snow, cutting deep enough down to trace them into the icy mud below. Lightning struck a tree not too far off in the forest as he was doing this, almost as if it was a warning, but he ignored it and kept his concentration, mumbling an incantation that was honestly just him repeating a general idea of what he wants to happen. A form of manifestation, if you will.

Once he's got his magic items carved and laid out, he brings his human sacrifice out and in the circle. Then, he looks up to the sky, and counts between lightning strikes. This is the part he's yet to ever get to… And may or may not be the end of him here. So, admittedly, even through his intelligence and certainty that this was going to work, he was still just a tad nervous.

1… 2… 3… 4…

1… 2… 3… 4…

1… 2… 3… 4…

1… 2… 3… 4…

With each set of numbers, he drank from a new vial, each tasting more bitter or rancid than the last. It was like a waltz, counting the time between crashes of thunder and flashes of light until the electrical storm was dancing around his very circle, making it impossible to hear his own chanting even as he raised his voice louder and louder for nature itself to shy away from. The air was full of static, hot like fire despite the torrents of frozen rain that continued to pound down harder on the two forces of life on the ground. Robotnik raised his dagger high as sweat poured from his brow, melting into the clean snow on his face and running down into the earth, and he soon plunged the blade down dramatically into the chest in front of him. The sacrifice's waking scream from the burst of pain wasn't heard by anyone, not even Robotnik himself as the desire for immortality burned in his eyes while he watched the life drain from the only other pair around.

He pulled the dagger back out, and before he could hesitate or second guess himself, ran the side of the blade along his tongue before the air could freeze the blood or make his mouth stick to the metal. Then he plunged the dagger into the ground and raised his arms to the sky, calling out one last incantation to the clouds above.

That's when the first lightning strike hit the inside of the circle, hitting him directly. The pain was indescribable, like he should have been ripped apart from the very impact, but entirely energizing at the same time. The burn was searing just afterward, as if he had been in a fire for hours in the span of a second.

A second strike, hotter than the last, and Robotnik felt his body convulse as he fell backwards into the snow. He couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't hear, could hardly feel.

A third strike, and he knew no longer. Nothing but electricity and heat as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Into death.

~~~

Everything was too much. Way too much.

Robotnik was already trying to pull himself off the ground, but the snow piled on top of him was oddly sticky. The wind was too loud. Smells too strong. Everything was heavy. He couldn't have possibly been out for long, it was still dark out. However, he may have woken up just in time: The torches and lanterns were already sputtering in the distance. He had to try his best to block out as much as possible. No matter how weak he felt, how overwhelming it all was. He had woken up from a short visit from Death themself, and he was already on the run. He could hardly lift them, but his pure determination got him to pick up what was left of his notes after being in the pounding blizzard so that he could stumble his way back to his house. He needed to hurry, but he needed to change, as he wasn't getting anywhere far like this.

He slammed and barred the door behind himself, and had to continue pushing forward to refrain from just sliding down the wall.

He didn't even realize he wasn't breathing. Wasn't blinking. Wasn't shivering despite the cold, but his hands trembled as he shoved as much of his life's work as he could into a bag. That's all he cared about. No other possessions mattered other than that of his notes. He could hear the mob approaching as he shed his outer layers of heavy clothing, only having enough time to throw on a dry coat before banging sounded at his front door.

A lantern crashed through his window as he lifted his bag over his shoulder, and when the oil spilled it didn't take long for the old, wooden floors to catch fire, along with all the other flammable objects that were nearby. He went to escape out the back door, but it was blocked. They had trapped him inside.

At least, they thought they did, but Robotnik wasn't about to let that stand. He sidestepped what he could around the fire to make sure it didn't catch onto him as he made his way to a ladder, climbing up it and to the roof above in order to escape. It was hard to open with all the snow, but he managed to climb out and look around. His little house here is mildly surrounded, in a sense that if he hits the right spot, he could probably book it. So, that's what he aims for - knowing they'll gather too close if he waits too long - and hopes the snow is deep enough to break his fall somewhat as he jumps from the quickly burning building.

He hits the ground harder than anticipated, pain shooting up his legs, and thus he collapses then and there with all the rest of the pain he has going on. He shakily tries to stand, but before he knows it he's being lifted off the ground and slammed into the wall, the heat from the fire inside burning at his back. He grits his teeth as the man who lifted him up shines a lantern near his face, illuminating both of their angry faces. Though the anger on the man's face changes swiftly to one of disbelief, even mild fear.

"Глаза демона!"

The eyes of a demon.

While the man was distracted, Robotnik took the opportunity to reel back and send a punch as hard as he could muster, which - surprising even himself, with how weak with pain he's been feeling - manages to knock him reeling, dropping Robotnik in the process.

That's when he could smell it.

Another look up from both parties, and that's all it took. The sight of fresh blood pouring from the man's nose, less than a meter away.

Everything else seemed to go hazy, time felt slower. All he could think about was the warm, red flow of life.

Something he no longer had for himself.

Everything went out of focus. Everything, including what was right in front of him.

When he came to, the mob was gone. The snow was red. He was covered in red.

Robotnik felt temporarily satisfied.