#and this woman comes in yelling about my car and I have to say ‘YUP THAT’S ME I’m not going to turn it off I’m almost done here thank you’

[howdoyousleep3]

i spent my morning at the DMV and it was the absolute worst way to spend my morning, 0/10 do not recommend

[justash02]

Womanizer; 07

A/n; lemme know if you have feedback! It’s always welcome! So are Requests! Text me! I’m nice:> THIS IS BEN, CLAIR AND ADAM BTW^^

Plot; Everyone who knew who Tom Kaulitz was knew that he was girl crazy, he's very well known for having girls around him all the time.

Pairing; Tom Kaulitz x fem reader.

Previous chapter -> next chapter.

Master list

Taglist<3

Ps; I was so high while writing this hope it’s good at least lol

*^*^*

The night went on pretty smoothly, Bill stuck by Clair and my side for the night as did the rest of the boys.

Tom on the other hand was nowhere to be found, at one point I asked if he even came along and Bill thinks he might have just gone home.

Adam and Ben were also nowhere to be found but I really couldn't care less.

"Yeah do you remember when Tom was asked to be in the shot with Y/n and Adam just complete lost his shit?" Clair said laughing drunkenly hitting Gustavs arm.

"Babe he wasn't there." I laughed as she corrected herself by turned to the black haired boy.

"Yup, 'Can't believe that little shits gonna be with my Y/n!'." Bill mimicked, "Can't believe he gets to hit it before I do!" Clair said in the same tone.

I couldn't help but feel the alcohol hit as I started laughing uncontrollably, "No way he said that." I blurred out before throwing another shot back.

"Very close to it tho, homie wants to hit it." I couldn't help but roll my eyes, "If he has feelings for me he can come to me and stop being such a bitch about it." I said.

"Who has feelings for you?" I heard a familiar voice say, my head shot to the side to see the boy that I was kissing so nicely a few weeks ago. Fuck he was looking so good.

"Hey Tom, we thought you left." Georg said as Tom plopped down on the couch. He put his hand over his crotch and leaned back into the couch. I couldn't help but let my eyes flicker over to the placement as I felt my thighs heat up.

"Nah, was getting sucked by some girl." He said carelessly, "Bitch kept biting my dick though." He said chuckling. Georg shook his head but still gave him a fist bump to feed Toms ego.

"Probably deserved it." I said boldly, Clair looked over at me with slightly widened eyes as she let out a giggle.

Tom looked over at me, he leaned closer and placed his hand on my thigh, he gently rubbed the skin before leaning closer to my ear, whispered; "I was imagining it was you"

Current state?; deceased.

Before I could say anything someone familiar approached the table, "Yo!" Ben yelled loudly over the music as he sat on the couch next to Georg.

"Where's Adam?" Clair asked taking a slip from her drink, I didn't fail to notice that Tom's hand was still on my thigh but now it didn't feel... sexual.

It feel more as a comfort.

"He said he was gonna go home with some girl." Ben said taking a slip from Clair's drink without even asking making Clair roll her eyes before snatching it back.

"Oh? Dry dick getting some pussy?" Tom said surprised making me hit his arm with my free hand, "What?" He asking with a smirk.

I just shook my head, laughing a bit. “Can we dip? I’m so tired.” Clair complained leaning against Bens shoulder. I nodded went to stand up, “Wait we can’t go.” Ben said quickly stopping us in our tracks.

“Adam has the car.” Tom groaned loudly behind us, “Such a dumbass that dude.”

“Can’t we call him?” Clair asked blurring out from the alcohol she has consumed till this point. “Nah we’ll be traumatized for life. I don’t wanna see our leader fucking some girl.” Ben said shaken his head violently.

“We can bring you guys home.” Tom suggested standing next to his twin now, “Yeah but Y/n and Adam share a room.” Clair pointed out.

“Why don’t you guys come to our house?” I looked over my two band members looking for their input, “I’m fine with it.” Ben said smiling at the others.

“Never would I have thought I would have a sleepover with Tokio Hotel.” I said chuckling grabbing my bag from the couch, “Lucky you.” Tom said winking at me.

I laughed waiting for the rest to grab their stuff and walked over to the cars Tokio Hotel bought with them.

And indeed Adam did take our car, “Why did you even give him your keys, Ben?” Ben shrugged his shoulders, “Like Tom said, his dry dick needs some pussy.” Tom give him a “bro” hug.

“I like this dude, he gets me.” I couldn’t help but grab onto Clair for support, “I think you drank too much babe.” She softly spoke, gently pushing some hair out of my face.

“You two look cute together.” I heard Bill say, “Do you go both ways Y/n?” I heard Georg ask me curiously as he opened the car door for us, “As long I fall in love with them, gender doesn’t matter anymore to.”

He nodded and went over to grab me from Clair but Tom quickly pushed him away from me, Tom’s hand quickly went over to my waist and slowly guided me in the car.

“Do you have some blankets in here tommy?” I asked wrapping my arms around myself trying to keep myself warm. He shook his head, he seemed to think for a second before throwing his jacket off and laid it over my shoulders.

“Is that better?” He asked grabbing the seatbelt in his hand, I nodded before grabbing the seatbelt from him, “I luckily can still do that.” He nodded, waiting for me to be done. As soon as I was he nodded his head once again before smiling at me. He walked over to the drivers side.

“We’ll be there in a few minutes.” Georg said as Tom and bill started driving in the other car.

And Georg wasn’t joking when he said we would be there soon, blame it on my drunken state but I definitely didn’t notice sitting in that car for more then a minute.

Bill and Tom both parked in their garage and helped us out, I stopped in my track making Tom look at me confused.

“Feels like we should at least tell him where we are…” Tom tilted his head before holding out his hand for my phone.

“Lemme text him.” Too tired to disagree with the boy, I handed my phone over to him and boldly put my arms around his waist making him smirk a bit, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders before tapping around on my phone.

After a few seconds the boy handed me my phone back to let me read what he said;

“Adam, we are at Tom’s if you need us.” I send send not really caring and looked up at Tom making him grin back a bit.

“Want to sleep in my bed?”

“Are you going to be in it?”

*^*^*

Taglist; @oh-kurva @ajaxisbae @mycherry-melody @erensslut @ladyofladies @just-a-gay-loser420 @woodandwaxwings @hazashiovo @jay14344

(If I didn’t tag you I couldn’t find you’re tag!)

[so-much-for-stardust6]

High School Reunion- Patrick Stump

-

-

-

summary: you go to your high school reunion and bump into old friends. but seeing a certain someone makes you question your life

lowercase intended

warnings: smut

a/n: i did NOT proof read this so if there’s any spelling mistakes pls excuse them 🙏

-

-

-

-

i fiddled with my car keys, an uneasy feeling in my stomach. i sighed before opening my car door and getting out. i stared at the club, seeing people walk in and out. i shut my door and locked the car. i took in a deep breath before heading towards the building. once i told the bouncer my name, he let me in. i didn’t want to be here, but it’s my high school reunion. i was nervous to be here alone, all my friends i had became exes so i really had no one here. my eyes scanned the room, seeing so many familiar faces. i walked towards the bar, instantly wanting a drink. i saw my wedding ring glisten in the club lights. my heart skipped a beat, feeling some sort of guilt that i forgot i was married. i shook off the guilt once i remember how unhappy i am with him. i sat down on the stool, waiting patiently for the bartender.

“what can i get you?” the woman asked.

“shots of tequila, please.”

“coming up.” she started making my drink.

she placed at least 5 shots of tequila in front of me. i didn’t hesitate to grab them and quickly swallowed. i took a quick look at my ring, somewhat glad my husband was working today. he would’ve forced me to stay by him all night, and i wouldn’t be downing these shots.

“y/n? is that you?” i hear behind me.

i turned around to see joe trohman, my old best friend.

“holy shit, joe?” a smile breaks out on my face.

“holy shit, how have you been?” he brought me into a hug.

“livin’ the best life.” i lied.

“how about you, still in that band?” i ask.

“yup! one of our records sold millions!” he beams.

“oh joe! i’m so proud of you!” i smile.

“you should come say hi to the rest of the band!”

“are you sure? i’ll be intruding.” i say.

“it’s no worries, don’t you remember all of us hanging out? going out to get pizza and end up blasting music in pete’s shitty old car.” he laughed.

“i totally forgot! it’s been so long since i’ve heard from you guys.” i grab a shot.

“let’s take one together.” he took a shot.

“ready? go!” he exclaimed.

we both tilted our heads back, making the liquid go down smoothly.

“now we’re talkin’! let’s go.” he lead me to a booth.

“guys! guess who i found!” he pointed at me.

“Y/N!” they all yelled.

i looked at everyone in the booth. of course they all looked different, but i could still recognize them. andy had short hair now and a lot, and i mean a lot, of tattoos coving his arms. pete has tattoos as well, plus he grew out of his emo phase, i’ll miss that guy-liner. then there he was, my high school crush, patrick stump. he looked so different, a black fedora sat perfectly on his head.

“h-hey guys.” i waved at them.

“it’s been so long. how have you been?” pete stood up and hugged me.

“i’ve been great. how about you guys? joe told me you’ve sold millions with a record.” i say.

“yup! our band blew up!” andy beamed.

i sat down next to joe, catching up with the guys.

“woah, y/n. is that a wedding ring?” andy asks.

i look down at the ring, a feeling of sadness filled me.

“oh, yeah. it is.” i awkwardly chuckled.

“who’s the lucky man?” joe playfully winked at me.

“oh uh, y-you wouldn’t know him.” i fiddled with my ring.

“he’s a lucky man.” patrick spoke up.

hearing his voice made my breath hitch. tears started to form, threatening to spill.

i quickly stood up, excusing myself to the bathroom. i ran into a stall, having my back against the wall. i started sobbing, rethinking my whole life. once i started dating my husband, i was happy. we laughed and had our fun times but once we married, i was just a person in the house. i’ve had thoughts about divorce but couldn’t bring myself to it. but seeing patrick again brought back so many memories, memories of how much i’ve liked him.

i wiped my tears and stared at my ring. i quickly took it off, shoving it inside my pocket. i walked back out to the floor, wanting to go home. i looked back at the booth, not wanting to leave without saying goodbye. i walked back over, their eyes landed on me.

“are you okay?” pete asked.

“yeah, totally! i’ve got to go, it’s getting late.” i lied.

“here, let me give you my number, so we can stay in touch.” joe wrote down his number on a napkin and gave me it.

“thanks, i’ll call you in the morning.” i tell him.

“see you guys later!” i waved.

i quickly walked out the club, wanting to get away.

“y/n! wait!” i hear someone yell.

i turn around to see patrick running towards me.

“what’s up-“ i was cut off by his lips on mine.

i felt a warm feeling that i haven’t felt for years. i instantly kissed back, our lips molding together. he quickly pulled away, the look of guilt spreading across his face.

“i-i’m so sorry. i shouldn’t have done that, i know you have a husband- i just really like you. i’ve liked you since high school, but never had the guts to tell you. seeing you tonight has brought back so many emotions and memories. i’m so sorry.” he rambled on.

“shut up and kiss me again.” i mutter before pulling him into another kiss.

he grabbed onto my hips and pulled me closer to him.

“can we go somewhere private?” he whispered.

“your place. my husband would be home soon.” i said.

“oh god, your husband. i totally forgot, we can’t do this.” patrick pulled away.

“don’t go, please. get in the car and i’ll explain.” i held onto his hand.

“okay…” he hesitated.

we got into the car and sat in silence for a few minutes.

“i’m unhappy, ‘trick. i don’t love him, not as much as i did before we got married.” i confessed.

“is that why you took your ring off?” he pointed at my hand.

“oh uh, yeah.” i nervously gulped.

“one thing though, i’ll move countries and change my name if he finds out we’re sleeping together.” he said.

“we’re what?” i asked.

“i said, we’re sleeping together…” he came closer to my face before softly placing his lips on mine.

he rested his hand on my cheek, slowly deepening the kiss. his other hand rested on my thigh, rubbing soft circles.

“give me the directions to your house.” i mumble against his lips.

we quickly pulled away, buckling up and heading towards his house. the sound of my phone ringing made me jump. patrick picked it up, reading the name.

“it says, “josh”. do i answer?” he asked.

“no! i mean- no. that’s him, my husband. if you decline it, he’ll know i saw his call. let it ring.” i explain.

patrick nodded and set the phone back down. i stared at the road in front of me, the sound of my phone filling the sexual tension in the air. we finally reached patrick’s house, immediately parking in his driveway and rushing in the house. he fumbled with his keys but eventually unlocked the door. once the door was shut, his lips were on mine again. i was shoved against the door, his hands roaming my body. we quickly took our shoes off, not wanting to track dirt around the house. we swiftly moved throughout his living room, ending up in his kitchen. his breath slightly smelled like alcohol, while mine probably smelled like pure tequila. he led us to his kitchen island, shoving me against it.

“jump.” he muttered.

i listened to him and jumped on the island. he stood between my legs, his hands resting on my thighs. his tongue explored my mouth, discovering every inch of it. his hands slowly snaked higher up my body, landing on my boobs. he began to softly squeeze and massage them, causing me to let out a soft moan. i’ve never felt this good in forever, the way his hands softly caress my body makes me feel a type of way. he pulled away from me, his lips now going towards my neck. he began to suck on it, definitely leaving dark marks. his hands went to the hem of my shirt, pulling it up. i grabbed ahold of the hem, practically ripping the shirt off of my body. patrick set his fedora aside, slipping his shirt off as well. he went to unclasp my bra, doing it on the first try.

i widened my eyes at his action, not expecting him to do it well. he saw my reaction and smirked at me. he dipped his head down towards my boobs, creating even more hickies for me to hide. i ran my hand through his hair, softly tugging at it. he smirked against my skin, knowing that he’s doing it right. i began to fumble with the buttons on his jeans, desperately wanting them off. he obeyed to me and unbuttoned them, pulling his pants and underwear down and letting them pool around his ankles. he swiftly unbuttoned my jeans, catching me by surprise. i leaped off the counter, pulling both my pants and underwear down and throwing them on the kitchen floor. i hopped back up on the counter, patrick immediately going back to his position.

“are you sure you want to do this?” he looked me in the eyes.

i nodded, not caring nor thinking about my marriage. he smiled brightly, giving me a quick peck on the lips. he pumped himself a few times before slowly inserting himself inside me. we both let out loud moans, feeling pure bliss from the warm feeling. he began to thrust, biting his lip and whimpers escaped his mouth. i threw my head back, letting out a throaty moan. he took this opportunity to pepper kisses all over my neck, occasionally lightly sucking on it. i pulled him closer to me, but i felt like we weren’t close enough. i scooted towards the edge of the counter, wanting him to be deeper inside of me. i felt him grab my legs and wrap them around his waist. i obeyed and squeezed my legs around his waist, burying him deeper inside of me. our moans echoed throughout his house, the sound of our skin hitting one another followed right after.

he lifted me up off the counter and lead us to his fridge, where he pressed my back on the cold door. i arched my back, not expecting the feeling of coldness on my back. he pressed me against the door, the fridge shaking with every thrust he made. he rested his face in the crook of my neck, softly biting down on my shoulder. i tugged at his hair, feeling a burning sensation bubbling up in my lower stomach.

“i-i’m close-“ i gasped out.

i forgot how good this feels, almost like getting a really good massage.

“me too.” he grunted.

soon after he said that, he let out a loud moan and i felt his warm cum fill me up. his hips stuttered as he jerked back and forth. i expected him to pull out and finish me off with his mouth or something but he ended up getting back on track and began thrusting again. the feeling in my lower stomach rose again, quickly building up.

“i’m gonna cum-“ i moaned out.

“do it.” he gritted through his teeth.

and on command, i came. i arched my back, throwing my head back as i tightened against him. that sent him over the edge, making him cum once again. he slowly thrusted, riding out both of our highs. once he stopped, my body felt limp. my legs were numb and shaking a bit.

“you were so good. you did great, baby.” he whispered against my neck, softly kissing it.

i felt butterflies erupt in my stomach. i never had josh tell me stuff like that, he’d just immediately go to sleep. aftercare is really important, but i’ve never experienced it. i just hugged patrick closer to me, not wanting this feeling in my chest to leave. i pull away, seeing his sweaty face staring at me.

“can i please stay the night. i-i can’t go home looking like this.” i tell him, pointing at the hickies he left.

“of course. let me get you some of my clothes.”

he pulled out of me, causing me to drop my legs down to the floor.

as soon as i had the chance to stand up by myself, i fell to the floor. patrick quickly ran by my side, picking me up bridal style.

“i’ll clean up our clothes later.” he smiled.

i chuckled at his words as he lead us upstairs. he sat me down on the bed as he went through his closet.

“how about this, a nice long family guy t-shirt and some batman underwear.” he smiled before throwing them towards me.

i caught them, looking at the design.

“wait- isn’t this my shirt?” i look at the shirt sitting on my lap.

“y-yeah. we hung out one day by the lake and we ended up swimming. when we drove you home, you left the shirt in the car so i took it home and washed it so i could take it back to you.” he nervously explained.

“but i never got it back. why?”

“i-i forgot. i promise i’m not a stalker! i’m not those guys who steal clothing and j-jerk off to them!” he quickly defended himself.

“it’s okay, ‘trick. i don’t think you’re those type of guys.” i laugh before putting on the clothes.

“you look pretty sexy in my underwear.” he eyed me up and down.

“and you look pretty sexy in- well, nothing.” i laugh.

he puts on some clothes and gets in bed. we cuddle up against one another, talking about how we’ve been the past few years. and throughout this whole night, i forgot that my wedding ring is in the pocket of my jeans that are sitting on the kitchen floor of another man i used to love.

[cyrassol]

HI i wrote an incredibly self-indulgent avery fic instead of drawing the requests, here's hoping folks enjoy anyway!!!

Avery x PC — who will they believe?

pc: unnamed, no Y/N either. gendered terms "woman" and "girl" used, but no mention of genitals or defined pronouns. second person POV

avery: male pronouns, amab

word count: little over 2k

content warnings: mild violence (hair pulling, not the kinky kind), "whore" used as a derogatory term once, yelling (avery is ANGRY), typical toxic dol relationships, mentions of and brief (albeit graphic) descriptions of sexual activities in dialogue

description: y'all know the scene with high crime and at least a little rage!avery where they drive you to the police station and threaten to turn you in? and defiant pc claps back? yup, this is based on that one! PC is a successful phantom thief who slipped up, and avery is none too happy about the effects that might have on his reputation

enjoy!!! likes are appreciated, replies and reblogs even more so ❤

•••••••••••••••

There's no way in hell.

"What's wrong, my little nymph?" Avery asks, a worried frown tugging at his mouth as if he hadn't parked on Barb Street, a stone's throw from the fucking police station. At least his car windows are darkened so there's no way for anyone to see you from the outside, but if a cop decides to come closer and investigate then it might all be over.

How does he know, anyway? You've been careful, you've been so goddamn careful—face hidden, gloves to avoid any fingerprints, staying out of sight from any would-be witnesses, doing favors for Landry every other week. No one should have been able to trace you, so how does he know?

And more importantly, why does he care?

"So quiet, all of a sudden," he hums, eyeing a couple of police officers as they escort someone with the same build and hair colour as you into the station. "Nervous, perhaps?"

"What's this about, dear?" you ask, tone dripping with the same insincerity, because one does not mingle with high society every weekend without picking up a thing or two.

"I was hoping you could tell me," he sighs, finally meeting your gaze. His expression and voice are perfectly composed into faux-concern, but as adept as Avery is at pretending he fits right in with the upper echelons of society, he still hasn't learned to mask the rage in his eyes. "I've tried to assume you must have good reasons each time you reject my generosity," he continues, mask briefly slipping when wrath makes his voice quiver on the word 'reject'. "But alas, it'd seem I was mistaken."

He doesn't expect a reply yet, and so you don't give him one. You've turned him down here and there for months and while it's clearly hit a nerve, it's nothing new. He hasn't told you the real reason he's mad yet.

"Instead," he goes on, just as you knew he would, "I start hearing rumours."

Ah. Shit.

"What sort of rumours?" you ask, curiosity feigned and genuine at the same time—feigned because you can already imagine what they are, but you also need to know where you fucked up.

"A phantom thief," Avery says, reaching out to twirl a strand of your hair between his fingers. "Several of my acquaintances have been hit by this scoundrel. They say the thief breaks into a new mansion every night, leaving no trace except for emptied coffers and missing family heirlooms."

You won't lie, the way he's describing you makes you a little proud. It's concerning that your victims have connected the dots that you're a single individual, of course—the chances of you getting caught are significantly higher if they've figured out your modus operandi—but hearing yourself being spoken about in such a romanticised way almost makes you want to keep going exactly as you are.

Provided Avery's bluffing about turning you in, naturally. And if you've messed with his reputation through people somehow figuring out the girl hanging off his arm at social events is the very thief who's robbing them blind, unfortunately there's a very high chance he isn't.

"And what makes you think I'm involved in anything like that, babe?" you ask, perhaps laying it on a bit too thickly with the nickname. He's never asked you to do it, but you figured out a long time ago that hearing a beautiful woman half his age call him that always makes him preen a little.

Avery gives you a tight smile, and it's the only warning you receive before his grip on your hair turns to iron.

"Because, my little sunshine," he grits out through his teeth, "the thief happened not to notice a security camera on their latest little exploit."

"Fuck."

It comes out before you can stop it, but it wouldn't have been any use keeping quiet anyway. Not if you've been caught on a fucking camera.

"Aptly put," he says with a chuckle that's entirely devoid of mirth. "The acquaintance who caught this criminal on camera made sure to show the footage to a whole group of us as well as the police, so we'd know who to be on the lookout for."

"Surely the thief had a mask on," you say, because you did, and also because you're desperately trying to find anything that might give you the plausible deniability you need to save your ass. "And their hair was definitely hidden, too. How would they have been recognised?"

"Their identity is still unknown," he agrees, before pulling painfully at your hair to tug you closer until you're inches from his face and you can see every fleck of green and every speck of rage in his eyes. "I, however, would recognise that ass anywhere, grainy security footage or no." Avery's smile is all teeth and no warmth. "I fuck it every weekend, after all."

You breathe out slowly through your nose, closing your eyes in defeat. "And if you can recognise me, it's only a matter of time until someone else does."

"Good girl," he says, letting go of your hair. "We finally understand each other."

A few moments of silence pass by as you consider your options, and he considers you.

Finally, he turns forward, hazel eyes cold and staring straight ahead at the police station. "Tell me why I shouldn't turn you in."

Chewing your bottom lip, you study him from the corner of your eye. "... Have I ever robbed you?"

He snorts. "Not yet, you haven't."

That's good, at least you haven't made it overly personal. "To be fair, if I had then it wouldn't have been on purpose. I don't know where you live."

"Don't try to distract me," he hisses, immediately erasing any trace of mirth from the conversation. "You're a liability. Who's to say you won't get caught again? Do you have any idea what I'll go through if people find out I was the one who introduced a thief into their midst?"

You'd have robbed them regardless of knowing them or not, but saying that won't do you any favours.

"If merely knowing me is an issue, you're already in trouble," you say instead, and instantly realise it wasn't the correct thing to say either.

"Yes, brat," Avery snarls, eyes flashing. "That is precisely the problem. And right now, I can only see one way to solve it."

"Come on, they don't know who I am yet," you snap, patience running out now that you've already antagonised him anyway. "Turn me in and they'll know for sure that you've been hanging around a criminal."

He scoffs. "I'll plead ignorance, naturally. They have no reason to think I knew anything."

"I'll tell them everything else, then," you vow, because at this point you have nothing left to lose. "Every sordid little detail. They may forgive you for unknowingly associating yourself with a thief, but will your reputation survive word getting out that you approach vulnerable orphans so you have an easy target to groom into the arm candy you want? Into your perfect little sex toy?"

"Whore!" he roars loud enough for you to fear it was heard outside the car, and grabs you by the hair again. "You think you can threaten me?! It'll be my word against a random orphan's, who do you think they'll believe?"

"They may not believe me at first, no," you half-chuckle, half-gasp from the pain. "But once I'm gone and you've found some pretty little socialite to hang off your arm—because it certainly wouldn't do to hang around any more 'random orphans' for a while lest they really start getting suspicious—you know that won't be the end yet."

He opens his mouth to reply, but you don't let him, too incensed to stop now. "It won't be the end, because when that pretty little socialite is sucking your cock in my place, you can bet she'll want to see if those other rumours are true so she can tell her friends. So tell me, sir, when she runs her tongue along the vein under your dick and your eyes roll backward like I said they would, or scrapes her teeth just the tiniest bit against the tip and your hips thrust forward, just like I said they would, who then will they believe?"

For a few seconds, all that's heard inside the car is the sound of your combined laboured breathing. His jaw is clenched so tightly that it'll be a wonder if his teeth are intact after this.

You break the silence first. "Let me go, Avery."

His grip tightens for a moment, before he finally relents. He doesn't speak a word as he turns away from you, switches the ignition on and leaves the parking spot.

"The orphanage?" he asks curtly.

"No," you reply tiredly. "Harvest Street, if it's alright. Need to get some footage deleted as soon as possible."

It's not a request you'd ever risk making normally for many reasons, but these are special circumstances. He hums in acknowledgement, and the rest of the journey is silent.

Finally, Avery parks in an alley close to Harvest Street. The very last part of town that's still respectable, in case there's anyone around to recognise his car.

"Don't tell me where you're going," he says, eyes still staring ahead. "But when you're done, you're coming straight back here. I'll wait."

You grind your teeth, considering your options. He's obviously not happy and you're definitely going to catch hell for earlier, but at least he's not dropping you entirely.

"Twenty minutes, tops," you finally say, and he only nods in reply.

You're back in fifteen. Landry had cringed when you told him about the footage, and luckily you still had some favours he owed you so it didn't take much at all for him to assure you any traces of you would be gone from both police records and private security cameras by the end of the day.

"Will this happen again?" Avery asks, turning on the car as soon as you're back inside it.

"No." You'll make sure of it.

"You must be rather satisfied with yourself." His voice is calm, but when he glances at you, there's still traces of his previous anger in his gaze.

You really aren't. You got caught on camera and nearly lost both your freedom and your most stable source of income for it, as well as whatever weird relationship you two have outside of the sugar daddy and sugar baby dynamic. Avery is a nasty, angry man who thinks throwing money at people will make them love him and cares far too much about what others will say, but none of that means you want to lose him.

No, you're not satisfied at all. But you can't say any of that without reigniting his temper, and you're already on thin ice. So you stay quiet.

Until you notice you're no longer heading towards the orphanage, that is.

"Where are we going?" you ask before you've had time to make sure no panic would slip into your voice.

"My place," he replies, instantly flooring you. "After all, it wouldn't do for you to rob me next simply because you didn't know it was my house."

You open your mouth, but no words come out.

"Plus," he continues, voice far too nonchalant in a way that instantly snaps you back into reality. "You didn't think you were getting away with your little tantrum without consequences, did you? You're lucky I don't give up on you once and for all."

He only briefly looks at you before turning back towards the road, eyes full of rage and lust in equal measures which immediately tell you everything you need to know about what your next hours are going to be like. Possibly the next day.

"Come on, babe," you chuckle nervously, hoping to appeal to the lust you saw in hopes that it makes your punishment if only a little bit lighter. "You know whatever little socialite you found after me was never gonna feel as good as I can make you feel."

His eyes flash towards you again, but he doesn't reply—and yet that matters little, because that brief look was enough to know with full certainty that you're right. You both know damn well he doesn't want to lose you either, whether he wants to admit it or not.

Which he won't, but there's no need for it. After all, Avery's weakness has always been and will always be that no matter what words leave or don't leave his mouth, the truth never stays hidden for long once you look into his eyes.

[coffee-prince-kyungsoo]

My Monarch Butterfly (4/?)

Eddie Munson X Reader

WARNINGS: Fluff, Mentions of suicide, Verbal Abuse coming from parents, Eddie being a QT

Word Count: 2.5K

Gif not mine credits to @ildre

Summary: Eddie and Y/N start the journey as a couple together and some things from the past come to light.

Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

You laid with Eddie until the sun started to shine through the curtains and hearing the birds chirping and signing a good morning to Hawkins. You knew that by the time your mom would wake up she’d notice that Eddie’s car never moved from his spot outside your home, so you devised a plan in the short moments of waking up. You both heard your moms alarm going off for a good minute before she turned it off.

“Shit, hide under my bed” Your whisper yelled at him as you started to throw his shoes and the rest of his belongings under with him.

You both heard her footsteps come near the bedroom door. All you could do was pretend to be asleep under the covers. The door squeaked and you could tell your mom peaked inside the room.

“Y/N, I’m gonna head out soon. Get up so we can eat breakfast together before I leave.”

You rose your head from the pillow and turned your upper half to look at your mom.

“Yeah sure, give me a sec. I’ll be down soon.”

As you heard your mom make her way to the bathroom and turn on the shower you made sure to quietly get Eddie’s stuff and put them in your closet.

Your bend down and make eye contact with the man under your bed. “Please be quiet, and I’ll let you know when my mom’s left, okay?” He didn’t say anything but raised a thumbs up. In that moment you both heard small scratching at the door. Faces paled and waited for your mom to come in. But when the door opened you saw Leo’s head pop from the back of the door and began to make his way to where Eddie was. “God damnit Leo, don’t do that. Jesus”  

After getting both of your boys situated you headed downstairs to turn on the stove to boil water for coffee.

After preparing everything you waited for your mom to come down the stairs.

“Why’s your friend’s car still outside?”

“Oh, his car wouldn’t start up, so he had Steve come pick him up.” Trying to be as nonchalant as you could be.

“Hm, okay, well let’s get to eating you have to leave in an hour.”

After having breakfast as fast as could you waited for your mom to finish up so she could leave giving Eddie enough time to go home and shower or change, but the woman seemed to be eating slower then usual.

As she finished you grabbed the plates and cups and washed them in a hurry.

“I’ll be back, I’m gonna get my keys.” Your mom goes into the living room and looks for her keys. After getting everything that she needs you followed her to the door. “Bye ma be safe.” You hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. “Bye love you too, but for the love of God get that poor boy from under your bed please. And get him something to eat before school.” You were to stunned to speak. “How di-” Your face bright red. “I was young once too you know.” Your mom proceeded to walk to her car and waved as she pulled out of the driveway.

As the door closed you yelled to Eddie to come downstairs. “Did your mom leave yet?” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around your waist when he found you in the kitchen. “Yup, she even knew you were under the bed. Asked her how she knew and all she said was, and I quote, “I was young once too you know.” And the fact that I know she was talking about her and my dad too, makes me want to puke.” He giggled as he snuggled his head into your neck before you both made your way to the dining room table.

As both sit while Eddie eats the breakfast Y/N made, Eddie comes up with the brilliant plan of skipping classes, probably go to lover’s lake or watch a movie in Eddie’s trailer. As the two began to clean up the mess they made on the table and the coffee table in the living room Y/N gave Eddie some spare clothes she had and let him shower.

“This tee is really comfortable, who’s is it?” Y/N glanced up as she watched Eddie come out of the bathroom with his hair wet and the clothes resting perfectly on his frame. The rest of his clothes in his hands. “An old friend of mines. Just leave your clothes in the bathroom. I’ll wash them later.” This caused Eddie to shake his head, “No ma’am, if you think I’m leaving you to wash my clothes, you’re mental, I’ll do laundry tonight so no big deal” With one look his way, he set his clothes on the counter next to the sink. “Jesus’ woman, no need to give me a death glare.” She giggled and placed a small kiss on his cheek and whispered in his neck has she hugged him from behind, “I would never handsome.” He only chuckled and kissed the side of her temple and kept his cheek on the top of her head. “Flattery works very well on me doll.” Y/N slid her way to the front of Eddie and kept her arms wrapped around Eddie’s torso and softly spoke into his chest. “So I’ve been told.”  The pair continued to partake in one another’s company and do some assignments before heading out on what would be the first date of many the pair would have. As they both started to wrap things up and got ready to head out, Eddie stared at Y/N while she was putting on some make-up and fixing her hair. He could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a couple of seconds, with the sight in front of him he felt like he was watching an angel getting ready to grace the normal folk with her presence.

“You know it’s rude to stare at someone Eds.” Y/N looked up from the mirror on her vanity as she finished the last touches of mascara and eyeliner. “It’s rude of you to be so beautiful, but I’m not complaining.” His complements seemed to always fluster her in the best way possible, how he was able to complement her and make her shy so quick was a mystery to the girl’s heart.

“Dustin, I need you to get me an extra seat for tonight’s match, Y/N’s gonna watch how the game flows before she joins the next one.” Dustin looked towards his dungeon master and just nodded his head before taking a mental note to help out Y/N. It wasn’t long before the boys had everything set up and ready for the rest of the party to show up. With everyone getting to their places for the session, Y/N seemed to be lost for the first couple of minutes before Eddie’s voice boomed throughout the drama room and captivated the rest of the group’s attention. It wasn’t that difficult to keep up. Especially since the man’s actions were very animated and entertaining to watch. The group continued for forty more minutes before Dustin excused himself to the bathroom. The boys huddled and discussed how they should proceed with the rest of the campaign without issue or if they should just play it safe. When they resumed the rest of the campaign it only took a couple of hours before the boys decided to call it a night and to start heading out.

“I didn’t think it would be this easy to follow along. I honestly thought I would be completely lost, though when to use what dice isn’t sticking with me.” Eddie hugged her from the back as she helped clean up the table from the snacks and trash the boys had laying around. All the man did was humn in acknowledgement.

“You think I can come over later? Or do you want to come over mines?” What the two of you didn’t notice were the boys by door watching the man who seemed to never have a soft spot in him be all mushy with the girl who was practically the girl next door. “We can go to lover’s lake and star gaze; I’ve always wanted to do that.” It seemed almost comical how Eddie latched on to you while you moved around and cleaned the tables. “Fine by me, as long as we’re together.” Eddie pulled away in order to get his things from the throne at the end of the table. The boys had seen quite enough before quietly leaving the building forgetting all together the question they wanted to ask the twenty-year-old.

“Ok, let’s get this straight; did we just see Y/N and Eddie in a very intimate position or am I just seeing things now?” Lucas choked out when the group reached the rack of bikes.

“Nope we saw that too, do you think they’ll make it official by the end of this week? Or do you think they already did?” Mike asked the two boys. They all started to mount on their bikes and started to make their way to Mike’s house for a little DND of their own.

“I don’t know, if they’re going to lover’s lake, I’m positive they’re going steady already?”

The boys headed off to Mike’s before they got to witness the older pair get into the big rusty van that Eddie had deemed one of the most useful things he’s ever owned, thanks to his uncle Wayne.

Y/N seemed to remember to bring her case tape to listen to, she waited a while to show Eddie her music taste. (For the sake of this chapter let’s pretend that the album Grow by Bedroom was released in ’76 instead of 2014 ) As Eddie was fixing things and setting his and Y/N’s things in the back, Y/N inserted her tape in and let the music play. Eddie didn’t seem to mind the music; all he could do was sit in comfortable silence with the girl he liked and enjoy the moment. The van started up and the music filled the empty silence, the pair would glance at one another, and simply smile, they knew there weren’t going to be many places the pair could do this, the comfort of being in each other’s presence and not have to worry if they were bothering anyone or making them feel uncomfortable. With the boys and the rest of the group not present it felt nice for once not being surrounded by loud noises and the wondering gazes of the group.

“You know this has to be the first time in a while that I listened to something that wasn’t metal, it’s nice.” Eddie laced his right hand into her left one. He softly ran his thumb along hers in a soothing affectionate way.

“I’m glad you liked it, I used to listen to this constantly when I just needed to think.” The rest of the ride was just filled in silence.

As the van started to slow Eddie did a K-turn so the back of the van would face the lake, making it a better viewing experience later. The pair exited from the van and got the materials they brought and adjusted them so they could lay down and look at the calm starry view.

“You know….I’ve never really felt like this for someone. I think you’re the only person I’m most comfortable around.” Eddie wrapped his arm around Y/N’s shoulders, and they laid back onto the pillows that provided a cushion for their back although Y/N’s back was partially on Ed’s chest.

“It seems like you’re not the only one who feels that way. I didn’t expect it to be you, if I’m being honest.”

“Who did you expect? Steve? Adam from chem?” Eddie snorted out.

“Surprisingly no, for the both of them. There was this one guy I was seeing. His name was Angel, we met when we were kids through our parents. He was homeschooled because apparently the educational system wasn’t up to par with their standards. Uh- we started to date at the end of eight grade, and once high school hit, I guess our parents expected a lot from us as students but as a pair, I think they thought that we would last and get married just like them. I really did like him, but it was puppy love. I don’t think it was love, we were so young you know. Deep down I thought that we’d be each other’s endgame and be that perfect couple who went to college together, graduated, got married and starte a family by 26. I really thought that. That was until I walked in on him making out with his friend that he met weeks before I caught them”

“What was her name?”

“His name was David.”

“Oh.”

“ I froze when I walked in on them, it was like time slowed down and I couldn’t think, my mind went blank for a bit. But that wasn’t the worst of it, his parents were behind me and saw everything. His parents were furious, they said the most hateful things to him, and I just stood there, I was scared to say anything, mind you I was head over heels with him, part of my world completely flipped. Over time his parents begged me to stay with him and to not tell anyone, they wanted to send him to conversion therapy and all. It was really fucked up. I hated who they became, they went from being the nicest people-parents, to people I didn’t recognize anymore. Angel told me everything. That he feared his own emotions, how he was sorry for hurting me, that it scared him to know that he couldn’t love the person he was with despite all the good times, but to know how quick he fell in love with David. I wasn’t angry, we were best friends before anything, so I did what I could and listened to him. Guess it wasn’t enough in the end. He hung himself in his room after another fight with his parents. I guess he couldn’t take it anymore, I mean who could.” Y/N sat straight up and looked forward and gazed into the mirrored reflection of the moon on the lake.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I told you.”

“It’s okay, just means that you’re comfortable enough to tell me these things.” Eddie wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder.

“If you met someone else and started to fall in love with them, could you tell me? That way it’s easier to part.”

“You know, I always knew that I could care less for gender when looking for a relationship, as long as they loved me and I to them it was gonna be okay. But Y/N, I promise when I say this, I couldn’t think of anyone better to share my life with other than with you. I promise to be completely transparent with you. In the short amount of us actually being together I know that I want you as my endgame.”

[pbandjesse]

Today was a good day. It was the first day of my winter break! I'm excited to have this break. And I got a lot done today.

I slept alright enough. I felt very very bizarre when I woke up! Like not bad but very very strange. Body just felt very odd.

I went and washed my face first and would come back to make the bed. James had given me a big hug before they left. I texted them good morning and got myself ready for the day.

I decided to just be cozy. Layers and fleece. I would actually overheat in my jacket later. I was perfectly warm in my fleece.

I decided to just hang out for a little. But very soon I decided to knock out all my errands.

I had a whole plan and I stuck to it pretty well. My first stop would be value village. I was continuing to find those last minute gifts. I put on a podcast and enjoyed looking around.

I forgot how many resellers are out during the week. Because man. Multiple people with absolutely overflowing carts. And it's always just random. But a lot of stuff and it always looks very old (antiques) or very nice (depop). They are also always way to close to me. Like they are trying to snipe from what I'm looking at.

At one point I was looking at an old metal bank. I knew what it was but the mechanic that opened it was jammed. Soni was messing with it to see if I wanted to get it. And a man reached over to me and took it out of my hands?! To explain what it was. Like I didn't know. And I was like yup. It's a bank. And I took it back and he starts talking about how it's an original and I think he was trying to persuade me to put it down so he could have it. But I wanted it and walked away.

I had a good time though and was pleased that I got a few gifts. The woman at the register was nice to me. And headed out in a very good mood.

Next stop was target. I know I was just there but I got home I realized I forgot one of the things I had needed. So I headed back there and had an excellent time. I got the things I needed. I also checked the clearance and found a dress that was just perfect for 80% off. I tried it on and loved it. I'm going to wear it for Christmas Eve.

I had to wait on a very long line but that was fine. I just enjoyed my podcast and followed the person in front of me. It wasn't a bad wait but man were other people pissed off and yelling. Like guys. Calm yourselves.

Once I paid I quickly headed back to the car to drop everything off. And then walked to the five guys.

I didn't have to wait long for my food. I ate and listened to my podcast and watched the people around me. A lot of elderly people. A few couples. I liked seeing people interacting and being nice. I smiled at everyone. And whenever I could I have been saying happy holidays which makes people smile big at me. It is the most Christmasy I have felt.

I still had more to do. I would jump back in the car after using the bathroom at the restaurant. And figured out where the pet store was. Which, lucky me, was next to Michael's and Home Depot. The last two places on my list. But on the drive there I passed a goodwill. So I decided to stop there first.

And I'm glad I did because I found the coolest desk chair! It is very reminiscent to the Eames chair. I love the dusty blue grey velvet. And it is very comfortable. I am very pleased. I think as an object this is going to be a very cool piece to have. Especially since I work at a lot of different sizes tables this is a really nice thing to have.

I rolled that around the store while I looked at other things. But not finding anything for gifts I headed out, back on mission.

I went right to the pet store to get a vacation feeder and enjoy looking at the fish. The man in the fish department went to try and find a second feeder for me but no luck. That's okay I will make it work with the automatic for the frog, and a slow release for the fish. It's only a few days.

After that I walked to Michael's and was very happy to see the yarn was on BOGO. So I got a much of the colors I was looking for. I looked very silly carrying 9 skiens of yarn I'm sure. But I got to the self check out and was out of there pretty quick.

I went to the car and drove across the shopping center to go to the Home Depot. I was getting a little tired at this point but that was okay. I actually had a really quick in and out at this stop. I figured out where the magnets were with a little help. I was in the right aisle but just didn't see them. But I got what I needed and headed home.

It was not a bad drive. And I got back here in one piece. I had enjoyed my music and was feeling good.

I brought most of the stuff I got upstairs. And put things away. I had some painting to do and some finishing of project. I decided to do some purging today.

I would get rid of some shoes. Which was exceedingly hard. And I went through some sweaters and that was also very hard. But I really want to start purging for moving. Like we aren't in a rush but also. We are moving!

Our loan started processing yesterday and the final part of the home inspection went through and I am just thrilled. We are in a holding pattern now basically. Later this evening Harold would call us and told us how happy he felt for us and how he felt really good about even the cosmetic stuff we might have to do. Because it's really not much. And I'm thrilled about that. There are things we will have to fix and update, and then there are our big changes we want to do. But it just feels like a fun challenge.

I would really get a lot done today. But eventually I ran out of steam. I would get in bed with sweetp and just enjoyed hanging out and resting until James got home. I played around on Pinterest and making plans. And enjoying the day.

James would get home and I was happy to see them. They got some laundry and went to start that. But when they came up we decided to go to dinner and then go look at Christmas light. Once the clothes were ready to go into the dryer we headed out.

But we were not on the same page. James suggested we go to Golden West and I was down but we could not get parking and they were driving us all around trying. Finally I said we don't have to go there. I wasn't even that hungry. And they were obviously frazzled and so once we were out of the neighborhood we pulled over because I said we were not on the same page and we needed ot regroup.

It turns out James thought we were seeing the Hampden lights and I thought we were seeing the druid hill lights. We had both just been confused.

So James said we could do the druid hill lights and I suggested we get pizza to eat in the car. And that ended up being great. We went to mod pizza. And each got our own little pies. We ate in the parking garage and I showed James my ideas for the house. James has decided they want the living room to be "pastel salmon". So basically an orange pink. And so I showed them some ideas. And I'm very happy with that. I think our house is going to be full of color and it's going to be so fun.

We headed to druid hill and has to get some direction from a security guard. Because these lights were a drive through at the park. And I was so excited. I love a drive through light show. I always have. When I was a kid we would do a huge one at Shady Brook Farm and I loved it so much. That one was synced up to the radio. It made Christmas, Christmas.

And this one would be fun too. James had a very good playlist and I really enjoyed the displays. The big colorful orbs and the stars were my favorite. The boat with the water was also super cool. James was disappointed that the football player wasn't moving anymore. But everything was really beautiful.

But then we had. Something go wrong. We were towards the end and the people in front of us had been struggling with following the people in front of them and had slowed down and stopped a few times. So we lost the line. And when we got to a weird place they turned so we all followed them. And when I say we, I mean like 20 cars of people. Followed them into the baseball field. We were legit on a walking path. We got to the bottom of some stairs and we're were like. Well this isn't right. I was laughing this was so ridiculous. James parked and decided to quickly go get some help. They were great in this moment and ran up to the security booth. They left me in the car which has made me a little nervous in a dark park but I would be okay.

Apparently when James got up to the booth and explained the guard was like. How did that happen?? That was apparently the first time this has happened. And the only way to fix it was to come up the hill and do the whole thing again.

I did not mind that at all. I loved seeing all the things again. And then we were free. And we were able to go home. I felt a little more cherry and in the holiday spirit.

We would talk to Harold about moving forward. And he said we can pop champagne and celebrate. The appraisal comes next and I'll be shocked if it appraised for less because it has originally been listed for so much more. So I think we will be good. I am still trying to be normal about everything but also. Ah! Exciting.

When we got inside we hugged and talked about some stuff. James had said some not nice things about themselves and I needed to tell them how I didn't like that. Which didn't make me feel good. But it was healthy to talk about it.

James would go thrum their bears and I would finish up some stuff in my studio. And eventually I would come and hang in bed with sweetp and organize my Pinterest. And now I am just ready to sleep.

I think I'm going to go take a quick shower and go to bed. James is already asleep. Looking very peaceful. I hope you can all be peaceful tonight. Sleep well my friends. Goodnight!

[bubblyhoney]

buncha kisses

warnings: mature language, Good music mention, slight suggestive content, lotta name calling!, basically just fluff

tags: sapnap x fem!reader (a continuation of [renamed from “a collection of moments at the beginning of your relationship”] win for me, basically, with college!au)

words: 1447

A/N: a very sweet anon requested a continuation of college!au with sappy and had some great ideas for me! i love when you guys interact and talk with me pls continue to do so! been receiving a lot of really encouraging attention from some of my favorite people (ahem, for example @strawberrymilkgeorge [among others] <3) so i just wanted to say thanks for that :)

-

It’s a sticky day in May.

It’s that kind of hot that irritates under the skin and works its way through the hair on your arms. Makes you want to either rip your skin off or sink into a pool full of ice.

May is a month that Florida doesn’t take very well; it’s either raining like it’s the Great Flood, or hot as a mosquito’s ball sack.

And to make matters worse, it’s the due date of a huge calculus project. Like— weighted heavier than the final kind of huge.

You’d gotten up three hours before your final at 9 just to cram. Your desk was littered with folders, chapter notes, and highlighters dull with use. A half-eaten bagel was off to the side, staling by the second.

That was before your AC broke. Yup. Broke. Ka-put. Just full on died—it was almost audible. Your roommate had stumbled into your room, face creased with sleep, and cursed for thirty seconds straight.

Completely understandable, actually.

But you didn’t have time to fret about the damn temperature. You just took your shirt off, kicked the box fan near your bed into the highest gear, and breathed hot anger down into your notes.

The only relief you would find would be lunch with Sapnap after your final. His apartment had air conditioning, and he was surprisingly deft with a knife and cutting board. Dude didn’t know how to figure the mechanics for emailing his film class project to you that one time last semester but could whip up a Greek salad and broiled chicken like no other. Your own little Gordon Ramsey.

He was yours now, officially. As of last month he was yours. A month full of drive-in movies, failed study dates, and an absurd amount of McFlurry’s.

And that’s what is waiting for you in Sapnap’s cup holder when you swing your way into his car with an exasperated look on your face. You just melt, eyes flicking up to his gratefully and silently taking it.

“How was the final?” He lays a hand on the gear shifter and nudges the AC up one more tick. The door closes behind you and you shuffle your legs apart, leg hair tingling in this heat.

“It was fucking brutal. I think I developed an ulcer just looking at the reference page,” you huff and he just shakes his head, laugh hot on his lips. “Absolutely not worth the studying—think I got a good grade, though.”

“Well, that’s cool. I’m proud of you.” The engine chugs to life when he shifts into drive and starts for the side street.

“Thanks.” Your cheeks blush ever so lightly but you pass it off to the heat. A moment passes. “So.” The straw makes a choking noise as it nudges at the bottom of an empty cup. Jesus, you finished that fast. “What’s on the menu for today?” Brandy’s Sunny Day lilts softly into the blasting air as you settle into a comfortable conversation, schoolwork at the back of your mind.

“Thinking of making banana chocolate chip muffins and pigging on those. Thoughts?” Flicking on his left turn signal with his left hand, the right slides onto your knee.

It’s never too hot for that.

“Sounds perfect,” you reply, voice small in a sudden bout of shyness. He double-takes with a smile, squeezing once at your leg.

Pigging is a perfect term for what you two do the second those muffins are out of the oven; it is too easy to shove three of those in a matter of seconds. Bellies full and in a sugar coma, you two lay under the whirring of his living room’s fan and stare up at the ceiling.

“This feels so good,” he mumbles, eyes half-lidded. Reaching a hand out, he pats his way to your hand and takes it, immediately squeezing it. “Wish you were kissing me right now.”

“Oh, yeah?” You taunt and hike a leg up onto his hips, swinging onto his lap and leaning to get your lips near his.

And that’s that.

The night is perfect.

Sapnap ushered you into his car at midnight and within four minutes you were on a US freeway with your head out the window. Like a dog.

A lone bird flies past in the dark air and you watch it swing into a patch of trees. You just close your eyes and breathe.

The stress literally melts. Melts into a puddle and drips out of you, falling onto the black pavement whipping past at a moment’s notice. School is a bitch already, much less an American college education. Grades and tests and professors and GPA’s and all that.

You swear Logan Lerman’s character knew what he was talking about when he said “we were infinite” in The Perks of Being A Wallflower. That’s what this feels like: infinity. Going 70 in a car driven by your hunk of a boyfriend, feeling the wind in your hair and the taste of midnight in between your teeth.

The inside of the car feels sweet when you duck your head back in, smile wide and hair crazy and a content look in your eyes. Sapnap gives you a glance before looking back at the road nonchalantly and lifting to curl and twitch two fingers at you. You instinctively move forward, eyebrows drawn together in curiosity. Three fingers grip your jaw tight, and then his mouth is on yours as the chorus of The King swells through the speakers. You only get two seconds to hum in happiness and slide a hand up his chest before he’s pulling away and has those beautiful eyes back on the road.

“You’re mean to me,” you sigh, and settle back into your seat with a ‘hmph’. He just looks smug. Bastard.

The nights Sapnap plays video games with his friends are—hm. Definitely something. You like to let him have those nights with no distractions most of the time; and you’re categorized as a distraction by the amount of times he “lags” when giving you a kiss or getting you on his lap.

Tonight, he got off work early and on the drive home called and asked if you’d come over and sit with him while he Robloxes with his friends. (“It’s like you can’t go one day without your hands on me,” you’d teased, but he couldn’t say a thing in response. You were right, needless to say.) “You can bring your paints!” he’d even added, knowing you like to watercolor as a hobby. You weren’t necessarily Etsy-worthy but it was fun and a stress-reliever.

And so here you were. Legs crossed, sketch pad in your lap, watching your adult boyfriend yell so loud that his voice cracks and breaks with every change of tone. You really had to remember to apologize to his neighbors…

“Baby—,” Sapnap starts, swinging around in his chair to hit you with a look so pouty his lip was in danger of falling off. “My dear girlfriend. My lovely woman.” His question doesn’t even need to be asked— he wants you to go get him a drink.

“You’re a misogynist. I’m calling NOW on you.” But you’re already heaving yourself off of his mattress and heading into the hallway, faux-annoyed look on your face. It melts into a smile upon seeing that little canvas mounted on the wall next to the door to his bathroom. It was a haphazard portrait of his parent’s dog Bowser that you’d drawn the few days his step-mom forced him to bring you home over spring break.

When you return to his room a few minutes later with a Bang and a couple of snacks for yourself, Sapnap has his headphones off and is swinging his feet in his chair like a child waiting for their parents to pick them up from school. You approach him, apprehensive smile on your face, and hand his drink over.

“Thank you,” he drawls, mid-yawn, and sets it down on the desk. Snaking an arm around your waist, he drags you between his legs and stuffs his face into your shirt. He inhales deeply but pulls away after a pause, hands tight on your abdomen. You press a thumb into his cheek and rub fondly at his facial hair, watching the way his eyes close calmly and relax.

“You’re so cute it causes me physical pain,” is all you get out before leaning and pressing a kiss square on his pink lips. They move against yours like they were meant to, one hand sliding up the material of your shirt and onto your warm skin.

“You smell like Subway,” he murmurs, and then the moment’s over.

Typical.

-

A/N: ask or send me some stuff!! requests, rants, anything. :D let me know what you think in the comments!

[arrowflier]

if you still taking prompts, I wish you could write something about... since Ian's always over-worrying about Mickey's safety, what if he gets a call saying something happened to his husband? maybe Ian's freaking out thinking Mickey could be locked again or hurt so he runs to get him? Thank you!!

Spoiler alert--nothing bad actually happens to anyone in this ficlet.

--

Ian is at Whole Foods when the call comes.

They usually go together, Mickey whining about rich privileged fucks and overpriced organic shit but coming anyway to, and he quotes, “make sure you don’t drop our whole paycheck on fuckin’ tomatoes this time.” But Mickey had begged off today, claiming he didn’t feel up to “dealing with those judgmental dicks at the checkout actin’ like cash is fuckin’ dirty”, and Ian hadn’t pushed.

Now he’s wishing he had.

“You need to come now,” Sandy is saying into his ear, voice tinny and thin through the cheap speakers of his second-hand phone.

“Where are you?” Ian asks her numbly. He kneels down on autopilot, picking up the now-bruised oranges he had been holding when she greeted him with the words, “hey, it’s Mickey.” The tile floor is as unforgiving on his knees as it was on the fruit. He turns one of the oranges over in his hand. He had been planning to make Mickey fresh orange juice with that later.

“That little corner store by your apartment, you know it?” Sandy is asking him.

Of course he knows it. That’s were they run to in the middle of the night when they run out of lube, or beer. Where Mickey bought him flowers once and tried to pass it off as an error by the cashier, until Ian found the receipt in the bottom of the bag. Where they take Franny to pick out candy every other Friday when they pick her up from school.

“Yeah,” is all he says. “I know it.”

Then he’s hanging up, and running out of the store, leaving an overturned basket and the handful of oranges on the floor in his wake.

His heart is pounding as he runs toward home. Not toward the apartment—toward Mickey.

His heart is pounding and his legs are churning and his feet are slapping the pavement with every step, chest aching to force air into his lungs. But his brain is moving faster.

He doesn’t know what happened. He should have kept Sandy on the line longer, gotten more of the story, but it only would have slowed him down. But he doesn’t know if Mickey is hurt, or in trouble, or in danger of being carted off to prison again for daring to live his life on parole.

And Ian’s mind has never exactly been his greatest ally to begin with, so it’s no surprise that the scenarios it comes up with as he runs aren’t exactly comforting.

As he rounds a corner, narrowly missing an old woman and her shopping bags, he pictures Mickey injured, collapsed on the floor of the shop, like back at the Kash and Grab when they were just kids. He won’t let anyone near him like that, no one but Ian, and he’s bleeding out onto white tile waiting for his husband to save him.

Crossing the street between cars and ignoring the honks, he pictures Mickey backed into a corner by his father’s cronies, refusing to look for an escape as Sandy frantically tries to call for help. He still doesn’t know how to back down, would never back down from men like that, would never let them take what they have and try to turn it ugly. He’d held a gun to his own father’s face, more than once, but thanks to Ian he didn’t even have one now.

Approaching the shop, finally, only to see the familiar red and blue flash of police cars, he pictures Mickey cuffed to the counter inside, glaring at the officers and spouting curses to the questions they ask. Knowing that despite living clean for over a year, they could take him in any time they wanted, with no more evidence than his last name and his rap sheet.

Ian dashes across the last street, desperate now, only to come to an abrupt halt as soon as he’s close enough to take in the scene.

Because there’s Mickey, all right. Not hurt, not cornered, not arrested.

But stuck.

Ian’s mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, and he bends over, hands on knees, to catch his breath and his heart. Mickey is whole, and healthy, and right in front of him. Well, in front of him and up a little, pacing along the edge of the single-story shop roof.

“Hey!” Sandy calls out from the entrance of the store. Ian keeps his eyes on Mickey, who starts at the sound and looks down, gaze quickly finding Ian. He grimaces when he sees him, and starts pacing faster.

“Uh, hey Sandy,” Ian manages, finally looking to her just long enough to take in her shit-eating grin before he’s back to watching his husband. “What exactly is happening here?” The question might come out a little unhinged sounding, but sue him, he’s allowed.

Sandy comes up next to him, shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand as she joins him in observing the roof. “Apparently,” she tells him, voice raised enough that Mickey can probably hear, “Mickey here got robbed.”

Mickey can definitely hear, if the finger he throws up toward them is any indication.

“Robbed,” Ian repeats faintly. “On the roof?”

Sandy snorts. “No, you moron, in the store. Some kid swiped his bag on his way out, then went up the maintenance ladder. Mickey followed, but,” she shrugs. “Little fucker started jumping rooftops, and Mickey couldn’t keep up.”

“Uh huh,” Ian says, nodding once. “Okay. So why hasn’t he come back down?”

“Ladder broke,” Sandy offers, and Ian closes his eyes.

“The ladder,” he parrots. “Broke.”

“Yup,” she says, popping the P.

“And your first thought,” Ian continues, “was to call me, and tell me that Mickey was in trouble, giving me a heart attack in the middle of the fucking grocery store, instead of finding another one?” His voice rises until he’s nearly yelling, and when he opens his eyes, Sandy is wincing.

“Um,” she answers. “Sorry?”

Ian just sighs, deflating immediately.

“Mick,” he calls up to his husband.

The response he gets back isn’t even addressed to him.

“The fuck did you call him for?” Mickey shouts down to Sandy instead, finally stopping his incessant pacing. “It was supposed to be a fuckin’ surprise!”

“Well, I am surprised!” Ian yells back. “Thought you didn’t like heights?” That just earns him a middle finger, as expected.

“Why aren’t the cops helping?” Ian asks Sandy at a normal volume, but Mickey catches it and responds before she can.

“Cops ain’t here for me,” he grunts, rubbing at his nose and looking to the side. “Shopkeep called ‘em about the burglary, they got the kid ‘round the other side of the building.”

“What did he steal, anyway?” Ian questions, but Mickey goes silent.

Sandy tells him anyway. “He had a big order come in,” she whispers to Ian. “Told me all about it, had me come help pick it up. Something about some fancy booze and chocolate you like?”

Oh. Ian’s heart, now recovered from its scare, warms.

“Come on, Mickey, come down,” Ian cajoles. He wants to hold his husband.

“Oh, brilliant fuckin’ idea man!” Mickey rants. “Why didn’t I think of that?” He pretends to think for a second, then adds with an overdone gesture, “Oh yeah! Cause I don’t wanna break my fuckin’ neck!”

“It’s one story, Mickey,” Ian points out. “I could probably reach the gutters if I jumped.”

“Yeah, well, not all of us are giant gangly fuckers like you!” his husband shouts back.

Ian rolls his eyes.

“I meant,” he says slowly, “that if you hang down off the edge, I can reach you, dumbass.”

Mickey is silent at that, then promptly sits and scoots so his feet are hanging off the roof.

All the warning Ian gets is “don’t drop me, fuckhead,” before Mickey is sliding down right into his arms, sending them both stumbling backwards until Ian regains his footing.

They stay like that, pressed together from knees to chest, Ian’s arms around Mickey’s waist and Mickey’s looped around his neck, until Sandy coughs from behind them.

“Adorable,” she drawls, and they both flip her off this time. Ian hold Mickey tighter instead, and kisses his hair.

“So,” he whispers into Mickey’s ear, “Sandy scared the shit out of me about this.”

Mickey just hums into his neck.

“I think you might need to make it up to me,” Ian adds. “What’s this I hear about a surprise?”

Mickey pulls back just enough to scowl at him. “Surprise got pinched,” he mutters. “Evidence now or something, greedy pig bastards.”

Ian grins. “I’m sure you can think of something else,” he muses, shifting to that they’re side by side, and starting off in the direction of their apartment. He waves over his shoulder at Sandy, a clear dismissal. “You’ve never lacked for ideas before.”

Mickey sighs, but leans into him as they walk.

“You’re gonna make me buy you fruit again, aren’t you?” he asks, resigned, and Ian thinks of the oranges he had left at the store, and the tomatoes that Mickey liked to tease him about.

“Maybe,” he answers, and smiles all the way home.

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Ch. 19: Lack of Communication (Wayne Gala)

AO3

Prev

The shrill ringing of her phone tugs Marinette from her sewing machine. Glancing at the caller ID, she grins widely.

“Hey Uncle Jagged.” She says, pushing her chair away from her desk. It’d been a couple weeks since she last heard from the man as his tour had really picked up at the end. It was practically back to back concerts, so that didn’t leave a lot of time for phone calls or face times.

“Little Rocker! Glad I caught you. I have an event next week and I was hoping I could drop by the bakery so you could fix a tear in one of my suits.” He says. Marinette winces. That’s what she was supposed to do. Tell Uncle Jagged about...well, everything.

“Yeah, about that…” She trails off, wishing she’d thought to tell him about the whole ‘adopted’ thing the last time she’d seen him in person. “I’m actually not in Paris right now. I’m in Gotham spending the summer with my birth father.” She says, deciding to just rip the bandaid off. There’s silence for a minute. Then two. She looks down at the phone, frowning. Did he hang up?

“You’re in Gotham?” He finally says.

“Yup.” She says, sighing. “I’m really sorry I won’t be able to fix your suit.”

“What, no, this is great! See the event is in Gotham! It’s just a bunch of rich people and- hold on. Penny!” He yells. She catches bits and pieces of their conversation, Penny agreeing wholeheartedly with whatever it is Jagged has suddenly decided. “I have a rocking idea.” He adds.

“Okay? I’m listening.” She says, glancing at the new dress she’d started that was pinned on her dress form. She was having trouble with the shape and was quickly getting frustrated with her struggles.

“You could come with! As MDC, of course. You could wear one of your designs and get known in Gotham. The event is supposed to be highly publicized. Penny thinks it’d be a good way to get known in the US. So, whatdya say?” Jagged asks, and Marinette can just tell that he’s grinning widely, can hear it in his voice. She thinks for a minute, glancing at the dress form with a new sense of determination.

“I’ll have to double check with my dad.” She says, trying to think if they had any plans for next week.

“Of course! Let me know soon, okay? Penny says she wants to start publicizing MDC’s appearance if you’re gonna come.” Jagged says. Marinette agrees before hanging up, thinking. Would her dad let her go alone? Or would he insist on coming with? She knew Gotham was dangerous, it’s why she hadn’t gone anywhere by herself despite being a hero herself. She didn’t want to risk her Miraculous falling into the wrong hands, even if the person didn’t realize what they had. Making up her mind, she sets off to find her dad and ask about the event. She still wasn’t quite sure what it was, just that there would be plenty of big names and plenty of journalists- the perfect opportunity to build up a clientele outside of France. Checking his study first, she’s unsurprised to see he’s not there. Knowing chances were good that he was in the cave, she pulls a domino mask out of her purse. Her dad had asked her a couple days ago to wear one in the cave just in case they had unexpected visitors. Kinda like how her and Chat Noir had shown up unexpectedly that one time. Complete accident. Changing the time on the clock, she presses the button that opens the entrance, sliding in and walking through the passage. Glancing into the cave, she grins when she sees her dad, in costume, sitting at the computer.

“Hey B!” She says, knowing not to call him Dad while he was in the cowl. Something about it making him seem less intimidating, or something.

“Ladybird.” He nods. She frowns, glancing at the computer screen and wincing when she sees Superman on screen.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were busy.” She apologizes, waving awkwardly at the man on the screen. He quirks an eyebrow.

“Hello. Ladybird, was it?” He asks and she nods.

“Er, yeah. Ladybird. Nice to meet you.” She says, rocking back and forth on her heels, eyes darting around the cave. Maybe she should just leave and ask later.

“Is everything alright?” Her dad asks, obviously confused at her presence in the cave. Not that she wasn’t allowed, she just didn’t spend a lot of time there.

“I was just wondering if I could go to an event next week with my Uncle.” She says, trying to stay vague. He’s silent for a moment before nodding.

“We can discuss details later, but that should be fine.” He says. Marinette grins, bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She cheers, resisting the urge to hug him. “Bye Mr. Superman!” She adds, waving before running back through the passage to work on her dress some more. This was going to be amazing!

---

Penny had picked Marinette up early the morning of the Gala. She still wasn’t sure what it was for, but that didn’t bother her. She was just excited that she had finally finished her newest dress in time for the Gala. Penny had insisted on her coming over early so that she could help Marinette do her hair and makeup, which she was thankful for. Selina apparently had something to do tonight and couldn’t help her, and she would’ve definitely been her first choice. Smiling down at her dress, Marinette looks at Penny with a grin.

“Could you take a picture for me without my face covering so I can show my parents later?” She asks. Penny nods, smiling back.

“That dress is amazing, Marinette. Truly one of your best designs.” She says. Marinette blushes at the compliment before smiling at the camera. She thanks Penny and takes her phone back, sending the picture to her Maman and Papa as well as her dad and Selina. She was extremely proud of the dress and wanted them to see her in it before she added her ‘disguise’ to protect her identity.

“Hey, Aunt Penny?” Marinette says, looking up at the woman. Penny hums, putting on lipstick. “What is the event for? All Jagged said was that it’s a Gala.” She says, Penny huffs.

“Of course that man didn’t give you any other information. Honestly, sometimes- you agreed without knowing what the event was?” She says, eyebrows raised. Marinette shrugs.

“Uncle Jagged said that it’d be fun. I trust him.” She says. Penny sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Remind me to read any contracts before you sign them, okay sweetie?” She says. Marinette nods and Penny smiles. “Good. Anyway, it’s a Wayne Gala. The family hosts several every year to help raise money for the Wayne foundation.” Penny says and Marinette freezes. Wayne Gala? As in, her father? Her family? Were they really having a Gala tonight without telling her? Or inviting her? Were they….were they embarrassed by her?

“Like, Bruce Wayne?” Marinette manages to ask, trying hard to ignore the way her heart breaks when Penny nods. That was why Selina couldn’t help her. She had to get ready for the Gala. And if she had to guess, the rest of her family was also going. What would they have done with her if she hadn’t had plans? Would they have told her then? Or would they have acted like nothing was happening. Where even was the Gala? Oh my god. It was at the Manor, wasn’t it. The thought strikes her and she winces, giving Penny a small, tense smile.

“Are you okay?” She asks, obviously concerned. Marinette nods sharply.

“Yes, one last question. Where is it?” She asks. Penny frowns, obviously not believing that Marinette was okay, but luckily not pushing it.

“Wayne Manor. The Galas are the only time the manor is opened to other celebrities. The family is usually very private.” Penny says. Marinette huffs out a puff of air, working hard to ignore the hurt in her chest. The feeling that she wasn’t enough. That they didn’t need her. Suddenly, she wasn’t excited anymore. She really wished she would have asked Jagged for more details last week, because now she was stuck going. And it was going to suck.

---

Feeling confident in her design and disguise, Marinette walks through the wall of journalists with Penny and Jagged at her sides. She was working hard to push down the intrusive thoughts that were threatening to take over. Instead, she tried to focus on the questions being called out by the journalists.

“Jagged! Jagged Stone, is this really MDC?” One of them asks. Jagged immediately stopping and shooting the reporter a wide smile.

“Of course it is! She designed all three of these outfits.” He says, gesturing between the trio. “Isn’t she rocking!”

“MDC, why did you pick the Wayne gala to make your first public appearance?” Another journalist asks. Marinette turns to Penny, trusting her to answer the question. They’d agreed before leaving the car that it was best if Marinette didn’t speak directly to any journalists. It would make it easier for them to place her age and where she’s from, given her accent.

“She was in the area and Mr. Stone insisted his favorite designer needed a chance to flaunt her skills in America.” Penny says, flashing the journalist a wide smile before gently pushing Marinette along down the line of journalists. Marinette nods to the man who’d asked the question before following Jagged and Penny closely, her stomach churning as they walk up the front steps of the manor. Of the place she’d been living since summer started. Where apparently they didn’t care to tell her about one of the biggest family events of the year. No big deal. She thought they were accepting her, that they were all getting closer. But maybe not. Her dad not telling her didn’t hurt nearly as much as her brothers not telling her. That felt like a knife in her chest. Trying hard to move gracefully instead of tensely, she follows Jagged into the manor and into the ballroom. Her jaw clenches as she spots her family across the room.

“Mr. Stone, I’m Clark Kent. Nice to meet you.” A man with a notebook and camera says, walking over and extending a hand. Marinette narrows her eyes. She thought the journalists were supposed to stay outside. And this man looked oddly familiar….

“Rocking meeting you man! You a journalist?” He asks, his calculating look hidden by a wide grin. Mr. Kent chuckles.

“Yes, sorry for being so forward. Mr. Wayne and I are friends, so he lets my wife and I have an exclusive pass to come inside the Galas.” He says, glancing at Marinette over his glasses. She watches as his eyes widen slightly before he schools his features back into a neutral expression.

“That’s pretty rock n roll of him!” Jagged says, clapping Mr. Kent on the shoulder.

“It is. Pardon me, but are you MDC?” He asks, turning to look at Marinette once again. She glances at Penny, shaking her head to let her know that she’ll speak for herself for this one. As upset as she was with her dad, he obviously trusted this man. So she would as well.

“I am. Pleasure to meet you, Monsieur Kent.” She says, extending her hand. He smiles, shaking her hand.

“And you, ma’am. I must say, I was not expecting to see you here. I was under the impression that in person events weren’t your forte.” He says, clearly fishing for something. She knew how journalists worked, she’d seen Alya at work enough times to understand that the man in front of her was looking for a story. One she wouldn’t be giving, no matter how much her father trusted the man.

“I like to occasionally surprise people.” She says, waving her hand in a noncommittal way. “Keep them on their toes.”

“I can respect that. Well, I’ll let you all get back to your evening. Nice to meet you all.” He says. She nods back at him, not missing the way he immediately darts off to her dad. She watches as the two start talking, a surprised look on her dad’s face before he turns and sees her. She knows he recognizes the dress. Knows that he knows as well who is underneath the veil. She turns, deciding to ignore him. He didn’t want her here, fine. She’d make sure she stayed out of his way.

---

Clark Kent was confused. He’d known that Bruce must have another kid, adopted in some way. He didn’t just work with random vigilantes, especially not in his city. So knowing that Gotham had a new vigilante named Ladybird, he put two and two together. Didn’t take the world’s greatest detective. But what was confusing was the fact that no new faces showed up with the Waynes as they walked into the ballroom for the Gala. Making a note to ask him about it later, Clark makes his way around the room, talking to familiar faces and names, writing things down that would help the story he was being forced to write on the Gala. These events were not his favorite to cover, hardly anything ever happened. Until he heard the commotion outside, other journalists calling out to MDC. He blinks in surprise. MDC had never made a public appearance before. This was an odd one to choose. Preparing himself to confront the designer, he’s surprised as she walks in behind Jagged Stone. He’s even more surprised when he realizes she had to be a teenager. He chats with the girl and Jagged, glancing down at her over the top of his glasses, shock immediately flooding him. The girl had injuries. Hundreds of them. Bones fused back together haphazardly. Quickly excusing himself, he rushes over to Bruce.

“Do you know who MDC is? Because that girl is definitely younger than Tim. And she has hundreds of injuries, Bruce. Hundreds.” He says quietly, watching as Bruce turns and glances at the girl, his eyes widening slightly.

“Shit.” He mutters.

“What?” Clark asks, trying to figure out if he should also be concerned. Bruce smiles, but it's tense.

“That is my daughter.” He says. Clark blinks.

“That’s the new one? Why didn’t she show up with the rest of the family?” He asks.

“I knew she had plans for tonight, so I didn’t tell her about the Gala. I was going to warn her about it, if she didn’t have plans. So she knew to stay in her room.” Bruce explains. Clark frowns.

“You were going to keep her locked up?” He asks incredulously. Not even the least social Wayne was kept locked away for the Galas.

“Of course not. It’s just- she hasn’t said she wants to be announced yet. She hasn’t even said anything about being MDC because she hates the spotlight. I couldn’t just throw her to the sharks. I’m just trying to do what’s best for her.” Bruce says, standing up straighter. Clark sighs.

“Did you actually talk to her about it? Or did you just assume?” He asks, Bruce huffs.

“I think I know my daughter a little more than you do, Kent.” He says.

“Really? Because from here it sounds like she’s about two breaths away from a panic attack. And Penny Rolling keeps reassuring her that they don’t have to stay long. Oh- and now she’s apologizing for not telling her it was a Wayne Gala until today, but she’s also clearly confused as to why it’s upsetting her. And now-”

“Okay, I get it.” Bruce snaps, cutting him off. Clark raises an eyebrow.

“I’m not sure what happened, but you should fix this.” He says with a pointed look before walking away. God knows the Bats all need a push in the right direction every now and again.

---

Jason frowns as he looks around the room for Marinette. He knew that she hadn’t come with the family, B hadn’t explained that one. But he had heard that MDC was there. And he wanted to talk to her, make sure she was doing okay. These things were annoying as hell and he knew he wouldn’t get through it if he didn’t have his brothers (even if they were little shits). He finally spots her near a wall, clearly trying to disappear. He grins widely, walking over and grinning at her.

“Well, MDC, fancy seeing you here.” He teases with a wink. He watches her for some kind of reaction, frowning when he doesn’t get one. “Pix?” He says, softer this time as he looks at his baby sister.

“Oh, that’s right, I wasn’t supposed to be here, was I? Well, sorry to disappoint.” She snaps bitterly. Jason flinches back, surprised at her tone.

“What’re you talking about?” He asks, eyebrows furrowed. Why did she sound so hurt? Why did she think they didn’t want her there?

“Clearly I’m not as much of the family as I thought I was.” She hisses under her breath. He starts to deny that, but she cuts him off with a humorless laugh. “Bruce didn’t even tell me that there was a Gala. None of you did either. A Wayne family Gala and I wasn’t told. I should’ve known better.” She says, turning to walk away. He grabs her wrist gently, stopping her.

“I promise you, we want you here. Dick, Damian, Tim, me- we all want you here. I can’t speak for B, I’ll definitely be having words with the son of a bitch later, but we want you here.” He says, frowning as he listens to her sniffle under her veil. “Pixie, we thought you knew. He told us you weren’t ready to come to this. I swear to you, we would have told you if we knew. I swear.” He adds. His heart breaks as he hears a hiccupped sob break free from her. He wants nothing more than to wrap his baby sister in a hug, but he knows he can’t. Media’d have a field day.

“Really?” She asks in a small voice. Jason nods.

“Hell yeah Pix. Tell ya what, I’m gonna go get the others and then we’re all gonna sneak out. Take one of the old man’s cars and get some garbage fast food. Who needs this lameass party anyway.” He says, hoping she’ll agree. He’ll let himself be mad at Bruce later. And boy was he gonna be mad. The old man had really fucked up this time. It was one thing to ask Mari to not go to the Gala, or to think she wasn’t ready for it. It was a completely other thing to not even give her the chance to decide, or tell her at all. Cause now she was hurt and thinking everyone hated her. Well, he wasn’t gonna let that happen. Not on his watch.

“Lemme just go tell Jagged and Penny real quick.” She agrees, scurrying off. The second she walks away Jason lets his smile drop into a scowl. That son of a bitch. Storming over to his brothers, he tugs them over to the wall. Better not to let B get word of where they’re going.

“What is the meaning of this?” Damian asks with a scowl.

“Pixie’s gonna tell her Aunt and Uncle that she’s leaving and then we’re stealing one of B’s cars to go to McDonalds.” He says simply. Tim frowns.

“And we’re doing this because?” He prompts.

“Because B apparently didn’t tell the kid about the Gala. And she assumed we knew, and that we all hate her.” Jason explains with a frown.

“Father said she didn’t want to attend.” Damian says, and Jason huffs.

“Yeah, well apparently he lied. She had no clue that the event she was going to as MDC was a Wayne Gala.” He says.

“I’ll go get the car and pull it up front.” Dick says, a determined look on his face. Sometimes his ‘we’re a family and we stick together’ shit annoyed the hell outta Jason, but he was thankful for it today.

“I’m gonna go grab Selina’s coat for her to put on. I saw her dress, and if any MDC fan sees her leaving with us it’s gonna start a media circus.” Tim says, walking away to the coat room. Jason sighs, watching Marinette from across the room. A cleared throat beside him tugs his attention back to his youngest brother.

“What?” He asks, pushing his frustration down. He’d go shoot something later, but right now he was determined to not take his frustration at Bruce out on his siblings.

“Why would Father intentionally keep her from the Gala? She is far more adept at social interaction than I am.” Damian says with a frown. Jason sighs, shrugging.

“No clue. But I’m not about to let her push herself away from the rest of us just because B fucked up.” He says, watching as she walks over to the wall, almost disappearing in the shadows. He nods towards her, making sure Damian follows. The second Tim has Selina’s coat, their small group is off, sneaking out one of the side doors and walking past the journalists, sprinting to Dick and the waiting car. They all jump in and she tears the veil off her face, making Jason wince slightly at her red, puffy eyes. Dick slams on the gas, eliciting a curse from Jason and a squeal of surprise from Marinette.

“So! We broke out of that stuffy party. Where are we headed?” Dick asks, glancing in the rearview mirror to make eye contact with Jason. Jason grins.

“We go get a shit ton of junk food from McDonalds and eat it in the car. Give it the old, fast food smell that B loves oh so much.” He says. Marinette snorts, and Jason grins at her. He’d give B hell later, but for now, he was going to enjoy spending time with his siblings.

---

Bruce frowns as he glances around the Gala, not seeing his daughter. Or any of his other children. He made a mental note to talk to them later. Perhaps keeping the Gala from Marinette wasn’t his best decision.

Next

Tag list: @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82

[thegreatestofheck]

dark of the night [A. Hotchner]

word count – 25,555 (its so long im so sorry) warnings - a lot, blood, torture, mentions (but no descriptions) of sexual assault/rape, murder, canon violence stuff, this is essentially a hurt/comfort fic so expect a lot of hurt to come before the comfort, also a slow burn. synopsis - an agent gets taken in the middle of an investigation. in a race against time, the team at the bau must find her by diving into her deepest secrets. when a video tape arrives with horrible images of the state of their friends, aaron hotchner realizes just how terrified he is of losing her.  tagging: @magicalbluepanther (i hope you don’t mind the tag lol) a/n – did anyone order an extra long aaron hotchner slow burn? Because here you’ve got one. so my mental health is declining again and that means I have to write a criminal minds one shot that involves a lot of hurt/comfort. also I gave y/n a name because i don’t really like y/l/n or anything, but you’re more than welcome to replace it with your own! please dont be mad at me. anyway, stay happy, healthy, safe, and groovy!

The moment Agent Hotchner realized that she wasn’t coming back, his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach. It had happened once before, this feeling, the day he was in his car and he got that call from Foyet and heard Hayley’s muffled sobbing over the phone. Panic settled into his bones, unable to shake it away even as the terrified eyes of the rest of the team looked his way. 

“Did we just lose her?” Emily Prentiss asked, her words wavering ever so slightly as she tried to keep herself calm. 

At the sound of her voice, Hotch finally found himself able to look around the room. 

Morgan had shifted his eyes back to the door that his friend was supposed to come through. Reid stared at Hotch, wide eyed, lips parted. JJ was chewing on her thumb nail, waiting for Hotch to do something, say something. Emily was looking between the door and Hotch. Rossi was standing behind him, so he couldn’t see the look on his face, but Hotch couldn’t imagine he looked any different than the rest of his team. 

Agent Evelyn Caro had walked into the meeting, undercover, in hopes of baiting a serial killer into a quick and easy arrest. After three years of horrific killings, the BAU team was so close to catching him and Agent Caro was more than willing to be the one to take him down. 

Hotch knew this particular case was a sore spot for Caro, as all torture/murder cases were. But during this entire case, she had been far more on edge and far more eager to tear their suspect to shreds. He shouldn’t have let her go to the meeting, he knew it was too personal for her, even if she had never told him why. 

She had refused to take in a ear piece, said that the stories that would be told at the meeting were personal and their privacy was to be respected. Hotch trusted her. He agreed. They all stood outside and waited. The meeting should have been only two hours, Caro promised that she would be back with the suspect in less than three hours. 

But it had now been three hours and almost thirty minutes. The door hadn’t opened a single time since the last of the members of the meeting left, all except Caro and the suspect. 

She fit his physical appearance preference and possessed the confidence he appeared to have deep hatred for. It should have been an easy job. 

“What went wrong?” Hotch murmured out loud, more to himself. 

His words seemed to trigger something in Morgan, who pushed open the van door and unholestered his weapon before anybody could stop him. 

“Morgan!” Rossi yelled after him, but there was no slowing down, and once Morgan was running toward the meeting building, Emily and Reid were on his tail. 

“Hotch, what do we do?” JJ asked, turning toward him as Rossi hopped out of the car to go after his peers. 

Hotch ran through every single protocol that he knew like the back of his hand. They flitted through his brain like smoke, a flurry of useless words and numbers that meant nothing to him. Not a single one told him how to deal with this. Tightness squeezed at his chest as the rules and regulations he clung so tightly to began to fail him once again. 

“We find her.” 

Gun drawn, Hotch entered the building with JJ on his tail. His heart pounded in his chest, but he kept his composure about him. The same couldn’t be said for some of the others. 

“Evie!” Morgan called out, kicking down a door. 

“Evelyn?” Rossi’s voice echoed through elementary school. 

Hotch was seconds away from calling out her name himself, but he kept his jaw clenched tight. JJ followed every move he made. If he lost himself now, so would JJ. He needed at least one person on his side whose head was still level. 

They scoured the entire grounds, but they could find nothing. The room where the meeting had taken place was empty. Not even the leader was there anymore. This dark room was where the team met up after searching every inch of the grounds. 

There was silence for an eternity as they passed glances between each other, wordlessly asking if anyone had found anything. 

“There’s not even a footprint,” Morgan said helplessly, his eyebrows pulled together in concern. 

“I didn’t hear her scream.” JJ’s voice was weak and her eyes downcast. 

“None of us did,” Rossi replied. 

“We have to find her quickly,” Hotch said, finally trusting himself enough to speak. “He only keeps his victims for five days and if he knows she’s FBI, it’s probably less than that.” 

“I’ll call Garcia, track Evie’s phone,” Morgan said, pulling out his phone and turning away from the group. 

“We start from the ground up,” Hotch instructed. “Right now, Agent Caro isn’t our coworker but a victim and we have to treat her as such if we want to find her. Dig into her life, figure out what connects her to the other victims. Did he take her because she’s FBI or because she’s connected to the others. Morgan?”

“Her phone’s off,” Morgan said, pulling the phone away from his ear. 

“Tell Garcia to look for a connection between all of the victims. Dig and dig deep. Hold nothing back.”

Morgan paused for a moment. They all remembered when they had to do this very thing to him, when he was a suspect all those years ago. He knew what it was like to have his friends digging into a personal life he long wanted buried, how they looked at him differently after they knew, even if they didn’t mean to. He didn’t understand then, that they were trying to help, but he did now. There was no time to hesitate. This was Evelyn they were talking about. 

“Garcia, give me everything on Evelyn Caro that you can find. Dig deep. She needs us,” Morgan said. 

“Got it.” 

“Call me when you get anything.” 

“Yup.” 

She ended the call and Morgan turned back to the team. 

“Garcia’s on it.” 

“Okay, then we need to get back to the station and look at everything again. We have a name. We know it’s him. We just need to find them.” Hotch turned away from the team and started for the exit. “No one goes home until we find her.” 

___

Hotch meant what he said, but no one needed to be told twice. Red rimmed eyes scanned the same files over and over and over again as they waited for any amount of information from Garcia. 

“There has to be something here,” Morgan said with a frustrated sigh. “Something we’re missing.” 

“Why did he take her?” JJ asked as she set down her file. The woman rubbed her eyes before crossing her arms and looking up at the rest of the room. “I mean, what changed in that room that made him want her?”

“He found out she was FBI?” Reid suggested, leaning back in his chair. 

“How though?” Rossi piped in from his position leaning up against the wall. “Caro isn’t dumb enough to reveal herself, we were careful.” 

“She must have said something in that meeting that convinced him that she was a good target,” Hotch said. He could feel all eyes on him as he watched the ground, unable to meet any of their gazes. “Maybe this is how he finds his victims. At these group meetings.” 

“So we sent Evie into a death trap.” Morgan shoved his chair away from the table and stood, hands on his hips as he breathed heavily. 

“We have to figure out what connects her to the other victims,” Emily said. “Just like any other case.” 

“But this isn’t any other case is it?” 

“Morgan-” 

“This is Evelyn we’re talking about!” 

“Morgan, I need you to calm down,” Hotch said, standing from his place. 

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Hotch.” Morgan trembled with rage, his eyes glazed over with water. “You can’t expect me to sit here and-” 

“I expect you to do your job, Agent Morgan, seeing as that is the only thing that will get Caro back home.” Hotch struggled to keep his voice low. He curled his fists so the others couldn’t see how badly his hands were shaking. 

“You think we’ll get her back?” 

“If you do your job.” 

Morgan breathed in deeply and nodded his head. Before he sat back down, Morgan put his hand on Reid’s shoulder. The kid had his hand covering his mouth, his eyes glazed over like Morgan’s had been. 

Hotch knew how close Morgan and Caro were. Ever since she signed on to the team, the two had been nearly inseparable. Hotch wondered if it was something he needed to discuss with them. Every time that he seriously considered it, he had to question his motivations. Was it to keep complications out of their team or was it something else, something he wasn’t ready to admit? 

Turning his eyes away from Reid and Morgan, Hotch opened his mouth to address the team when Garcia stepped into the open doorway. They all turned to look at her only to see that her cheeks were streaked with tears as she clutched a file in her hands. 

“Garcia, what is it?” Emily stood and walked toward her, a hand out open for her. 

“You...you told me to dig deep so I did,” she stammered. “I...I did and I found...oh, God.” 

“Come in,” Hotch said, trying to smooth the furrow in his brows. 

Garcia took Emily’s hand and shuffled into the briefing room, sniffling through her tears. 

“Our poor baby girl,” Garcia said, setting the file gently onto the round table as if it was fragile. “She never told us-” 

“Garcia.” 

Garcia cleared her throat and nodded her head, flipping the file open. The team crowded around the table. Staring up at them was a picture of a young girl, her face purpled and bloody. Morgan clenched his jaw, Reid turned his face away from the picture. 

“Is that Caro?” JJ asked, her hand hovering over her mouth. 

Hotch had seen this picture before, attached to the file so covered in black redacted lines that he barely gleaned anything from it. But there were no more black lines. Everything about Agent Caro was there for him to read. Her life was an open book for him. This was his job, the only way to get her back, so why did he feel so dirty doing it? 

“When Evie-”

“Evelyn,” Hotch corrected. “She can’t be our friend right now.”

Garcia nodded, her eyes still glassy. 

“When Evelyn Caro was 12 years old, she was kidnapped from her front lawn. She was held captive by her...by her uncle for four years. He did...he did horrible things to her...I’m sorry-” 

Garcia choked, turning away from the file. Morgan put his hand on Garcia’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. 

“She was held by her uncle,” Hotch continued, eyes scanning the page, when it was clear that Garcia wouldn’t be able to. “There were clear signs of r-pe and physical violence, even though she never spoke about it afterward.” 

“She was held captive by her uncle?” Morgan asked. “How did no one know it was him?”

“Police talked to everyone in the family,” Garcia said, turning back into the conversation. “He was never on their serious list of suspects.” 

“How did she get out?” Rossi asked from his place near the back of the crowd.

“She broke out,” Garcia said, her voice like iron even as her lower lip trembled. “She stabbed that son of a bitch the moment she got the chance and she ran until someone found her.” 

“She killed him?” JJ asked. 

Hotch let out a heavy sigh. Something like pride blossomed in his chest. Maybe it was vindication. He would have killed the bastard himself. 

“Why wouldn’t she tell us?” Reid asked, looking up at Hotch like a lost dog. 

“We all have secrets we’ve kept from each other,” Hotch told him, even though he was wondering the same thing. “Now we need to figure out if this is somehow related to why he took her.” 

There was a moment of silence hanging over the room. 

“Garcia, look into the lives of the other women again,” he continued. “See if there is any kind of connection.” 

“I’m on it.”

There was a new kind of determination in her voice, like a fire was lit underneath her.

“Videos of the other victims were sent to the families of the victims,” Hotch said, looking back at the rest of the team. “JJ, contact her brother, see if he’s received anything and tell him to contact us as soon as he is.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What about the rest of us?” 

Once again, all eyes were on Hotch, expecting him to have all of the answers. But he didn’t. He didn’t know anything. 

“Do your jobs.”

___

When the video was sent to her family, it wasn’t her estranged brother who received it. 

“Hotch.” Morgan’s voice was shaking as he picked up the yellow envelope on his desk. “Hotch!” 

As soon as Hotch saw the package he knew what had to be in it. He had seen four of them before all from the previous victims’ families. His heart constricted in his chest. He knew what they were about to watch. Their team member, their friend. 

Grinding his teeth together to keep his face straight, Hotch took the package from Morgan and started back for the briefing room. 

“Do you want me to round up the team?” Morgan asked. 

“You guys shouldn’t have to watch this,” Hotch told him. 

“You’re not watching it alone.” 

Without another word, Morgan went to collect the others. 

Once they were all in the briefing room, Garcia put the recording onto the big screen. 

“You don’t-” 

“We’re staying,” JJ said, her fingers laced with Emily’s. 

Hotch nodded once before looking over at Garcia and signaling her to start the video. 

As soon as Garcia hit the play button, Morgan put an arm around her shoulder and she put a hand up to her mouth. Hotch leaned against a chair, his knuckles going white. 

The screen was black for a few moments. When it turned on, Agent Evelyn Caro was sitting half naked on a cot. Bruises littered her body, her ribs on the left side blackened. A cut ran across a purple cheek with dried blood running down her face. One of her eyes was black. But Caro stared straight ahead of her, eyes made of steal. 

“Oh, baby,” Garcia breathed. 

The room was small, bland. It looked cold. 

A man stepped into the frame. Caro didn’t even look at him, she just kept staring straight ahead. Before he even said anything, he raised a hand and slapped her across the face. Reid flinched, but none of them turned away. Their attention needed to be on this video, gleaning as much information as they could to get her home. Hotch refused to let her suffering go to waste. He would watch every second of it, no matter how much his stomach burned with hatred. 

Caro barely reacted to the backhand, her head snapping to the side, but the rest of her body stayed in the same place, her hands clasped together in her lap. When she straightened her head, blood trickled down from her lip. She lifted a hand to wipe the blood away before looking up at the man. Her eyes carried the heat of a thousand suns as she looked at her assailant, almost as if daring him to touch her again. That was the Caro that Hotch knew. She would never back down, never give in. 

“What do you want?” She asked. 

Hearing her voice so raw sent a chill down Hotch’s spine. Everything about this was wrong. 

“I know what happened to you when you were young,” the man said, walking in front of her. 

Caro clenched her jaw and turned her face forward once again, seeming to pretend that he wasn’t there. 

“Does this feel familiar to you?” the man asked, spinning in a circle. “The room, the bed, the chain.” 

Hotch’s eyes shifted away from Caro and he looked more at the bed. There was indeed a chain attached to the metal of the bed frame. Caro’s jaw tightened again and Hotch watched as she ran a finger over a scar he had seen on her wrist a million times before but never asked her about. He could only imagine a young Agent Caro, chained to a bed. She carried that scar around with her and he had never even cared enough to ask her about it. 

“It’s exactly the same,” Caro said.

The man sat next to her and still Caro didn’t flinch. Not even her breathing changed. Amidst his anger and his fear, Hotch felt pride. Damn right she would not even acknowledge him. Hotch expected nothing less from her. Though he wouldn’t fault her if she did. 

The Unsub put his hand on her knee and Hotch’s eyes went red. His ears rang, his heart pounding like a drum in his chest. He watched Caro look down at the Unsub’s hand and Hotch noticed a slight tremble in her body. Her shaking was rage, not fear. He knew her well enough to know that. 

“What do you want?” The tremor reached her voice. Hotch could see her holding back from killing the unsub then and there. Her restraint told him that her captor was the only way out of her room. If she killed him now, she would be trapped. 

The unsub sighed and tilted his head to the side, his eyes fixed on the ground. 

“I want to break you,” he said.

Hotch clenched his jaw, but still Caro’s face stayed straight. She didn’t even blink. The words ‘I dare you to try’ never even passed her lips, but it was a clear challenge in her eyes. 

The image cut and Hotch almost thought that was going to be the end. But then it suddenly clicked on. Caro was slowly sitting up from laying on the bed. The unsub was halfway in the frame, buckling his belt. Hotch heard a quiet ‘oh’ come from Garcia and when he glanced over at her, he noticed tears in Morgan’s eyes. 

Caro seemed stiff as she sat up. The chain that had before been only attached to the bed was now shackled to her wrist. Hotch watched her grimace as she moved her feet to the ground. Her toes curled, telling Hotch that the ground was cold. The entire room must have been freezing. 

A silence hung over the team as they waited for something to happen. 

“You’re tough, I’ll give you that,” the unsub said. Caro refused to look at him. “The other girls gave in at this point.” 

“And then you killed them.” Caro looked over at him, moving slowly and clearly despite the pain that was obvious settling into her bones. 

The unsub shrugged his shoulders, a proud smile on his face. 

“Some girls seem to think that death is better than what I did to them,” he said. “But maybe you kind of like it.” 

Caro pulled harshly against her chain, shutting her eyes and turning her face away from him. 

“Son of a bitch,” Rossi breathed. Hotch refrained from looking back at him. 

“How does she not strangle him?” JJ asked. Her words were tight from the swelling in her throat. 

“He’s her only way out of that room,” Hotch told her. “She kills him and she starves in there.” 

“Not if we find her.” 

They fell quiet again, just soon enough to hear a low rumble of a laugh from the man. 

“I see I struck a nerve.” The unsub said. 

Caro steadied her breathing and straightened her shoulders. 

“I’m not surprised you’ve lasted longer than the other girls, being an FBI agent and all. I wonder how your friends are doing.” 

Caro pulled against the chain again, her eyes squeezing tighter. 

“Ah, another nerve. Should we poke at that one a bit more?” 

The unsub stepped out of the frame. For the briefest moment, with his back turned on her, Caro’s eyes flicked toward the camera. 

“She knows it’s there,” Reid said. “She knows about the camera.” 

Caro sucked in a deep breath and gave a short nod of her head. She knew her taker’s MO. She knew about the videos and the envelope. She knew they were watching her, and she was telling them that she was okay. 

When the unsub walked back into frame, he was holding something in his hands. With his back to the camera, they couldn’t get a good look at what he was holding.

“I am aware that your brother is the only remaining relative of yours who will speak to you, is that correct?” The unsub said.

Caro breathed deeply in once, her eyes staring straight through the unsub.

“This is him and his wife, their two daughters. Beautiful family. When was the last time you spoke to them?”

Agent Caro’s eyes moved from the unsub to the object in his hand and her eyes immediately welled up with tears. The unsub clicked his tongue.

“It’s the shame, isn’t it? It eats you up inside. You can’t bear the thought of tainting your brother and his perfect family with your past.”

She closed her eyes and turned her face away.

“This is Penelope Garcia, yes?”

Garcia straightened her back, surprised at hearing her name.

Caro opened her eyes and Hotch noticed a drastic shift in her breathing. Once steady and calm, her chest now rose and fell at an uneven pace. Her eyes darted between whatever the unsub was holding and his face.

“Jennifer Jareau?”

The unsub tossed something onto the bed next to Caro. And then another.

“David Rossi?”

For the first time, Caro flinched as he flicked what Hotch was starting to realize was a picture in her direction.

“Emily Prentiss. Spencer Reid.”

Two more pictures were thrown at her and Caro flinched twice more.

“Derek Morgan.”

A fire lit in Caro’s eyes as she stared up at him again.

“Aaron Hotchner.”

Before he could even throw the picture her way, Caro jumped up from the bed and charged at him, pulling on the chair.

“If you touch them, I swear I’ll kill you,” she seethed.

The unsub shoved her backward onto the bed, but she scrambled up again. He hit her across the face, sending her back with a yelp. Breathing heavily, she turned to look at him, like a rabid dog.

“That’s a hard promise to make seeing as you are chained to a bed and I am not.”

“She has to know that he can’t hurt us,” Emily said, looking to Hotch for answers.

“She’s panicking,” Hotch replied. His knuckles tightened over the chairs.

“You think I won’t go after them?” the unsub said as he dropped a hand onto her shoulder.

Caro turned her face away from him and shook her head.

“You can’t,” she said. Her voice was growing weak, shaking more. “They’re FBI, you can’t just-“

She didn’t get the chance to finish before the unsub threw a fist across her face.

“I won’t even have to hurt them though, will I?” The unsub sneered, bending down close to her face. “I bet by now they know every dark secret about your past. Every skeleton in your closet. They know about the blood on your hands.”

Hotch had read her file that Garcia dug up a thousand times over in the last few days since she found it. Something in him told him he had to, though another part of him wanted to wait until Caro was there to tell him herself. But she deserved better than for her story to go unknown. She deserved to have someone know.

“No,” Caro whimpered.

“You really think they’ll accept you after that?” The unsub let out a laugh.

“Evie, we love you,” Garcia said as she took a step forward. “Evie-“

“Garcia, quiet,” Hotch said, putting out a hand.

“Sir, she has to know, she has to know.”

Morgan put his arm back around Garcia and pulled her in for a hug.

“She knows,” he whispered to her.

“You lost your family once because of what you did to your uncle,” the unsub said. “Now you’ll lose another.”

“No!”

Caro threw herself at the unsub once again, her fists flying. Hotch had seen her fight before. She was well trained, and she was calculated, confident. But this was animalistic. This was pure instinct. Her punches were weak and light, hitting the places of the unsub where very little damage would be done. The chain prevented any real effort from her, though the bed shook and rattled as she yanked against the metal. It didn’t take him long to wrestle her onto the bed, pinning her down by her arms.

Her face was clearly displayed to the camera. She breathed sporadically, panting and gasping for air. Sweat beaded down her battered face. Her eyes were wide and flitting back and forth, terrified.

“How would you feel if I paid one of them a visit, huh?” The unsub asked, his nose brushing against her cheek.

Caro struggled, a growl of frustration strangled in her sore throat.

“That Spencer Reid lives alone, doesn’t he?”

Rossi put a hand on Reid’s shoulder, who had suddenly gone pale.

“Don’t touch him!” She thrashed again, trying to throw the unsub off of her. She tried to kick her feet, but they were effectively pinned under her by the weight of the unsub. She grunted and groaned in the effort it took to try and get him off of her.

“I doubt it would take much to strangle that skinny neck of his.”

Caro suddenly stopped struggled. The sweat that pooled down her cheeks suddenly started to look more like tears as her body went still.

“Please don’t hurt them,” she said, her voice quiet.

“What, you don’t want me creeping into Emily’s apartment tonight, pay her a little visit?”

Caro let out a quiet sound, something that was almost like a sob.

“Please.”

“What will you do for me in return?” He asked, pressing still closer to her face.

Caro rolled her head back and forth on the bed and Hotch could see the tears that pooled in her eyes.

“Anything.”

“Anything?”

She just nodded her head, lower lip quavering.

“Don’t give up, baby girl,” Morgan whispered. Garcia clung tighter to his hand.

“Well, well,” the unsub said with a sigh as he sat up, releasing Caro from his hold. Her body sagged even further into the cot. He stepped away from the cot and bent down to pick up some of the pictures that fell to the floor. “There isn’t really anything I want from you just now, so I might go and visit one of your friends just to keep you on your toes.”

“No!” Caro leapt from the bed and attached herself to the unsub’s back.

He threw her against back against the cot. Hotch could see him lift his hand to deliver hit after hit to his agent, but he was grateful that the unsub’s back blocked the view of the camera. He didn’t think he could stand to watch her get beaten.

Caro was surprisingly silent as the unsub hit her.

It was over relatively quickly. The unsub straightened himself out, squaring his shoulders. Without a word, he turned to the camera and walked toward it. Caro let out a quiet groan just before the unsub picked up the camera and shut it off.

There was a heavy silence that fell over the team.

“What the hell did we just watch?” Emily asked, setting her eyes on Hotch.

They were once again expecting him to have all the answers, but he had nothing to say. His hands were cramping from how hard he was clenching onto the chair. It took all the strength in him not to throw it across the room. Caro should be here with them, not in that room, not with that man.

“Garcia, can you play the end again and turn up the volume?” Rossi asked.

“No offense, sir,” Garcia said, teary eyed. “But I can’t watch that again.”

“Just the very end, as he’s walking toward the camera. Agent Caro said something.”

“Did she?” JJ asked, crossing her arms.

Garcia pressed a few buttons on her laptop and the video returned. Hotch was almost tempted to look away. The audio was louder as the unsub heaved out an exhausted sigh and started walking toward the camera. And then they heard it, the quiet groan. But it wasn’t a groan at all. She had said something, just a quiet name.

His name.

Aaron.

___

Sitting at his desk, Hotch couldn’t seem to lift his heavy head from his hands. The window, which was almost always closed, was wide open. His office was too stuffy, too hot. He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t get the sound of his name from her lips out of his head.

A knock came to his door and he finally lifted his head. Rossi was standing there with his usual “something is wrong and I’m going to fix it” face. Hotch wasn’t sure if he was in the mood for this conversation.

“What can I do for you, David?”

“We have to talk about what just happened,” Rossi said.

“I don’t really think-“

“Aaron, listen to me,” Rossi said, walking into the room. “Evelyn needs you right now.”

“There’s nothing I can do that the team isn’t already doing.”

“She said your name.”

“I know that. You think I don’t know that?” Hotch’s tone was a little sharper than he meant it to be. He let out a sigh and stretched out his fingers.

Rossi sat down across from him.

“Why? We all know that she’s closest with Morgan, so why say your name?” Rossi asked. Hotch squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw. The exhaustion headache that was plaguing him wasn’t helping the fact that thinking about who Caro was and wasn’t closest with lit a fire in his gut. “And why your first name? She only ever called you Hotch, like the rest of us.”

“That’s not true,” Hotch said, memorizing the lines on his hands so he wouldn’t have to look at Rossi.

“What isn’t?”

“She’s called me Aaron.”

“When?”

“When she was angry with me,” Hotch said. The thought of it pained him. He could hear her sharp tone, the way she hissed his name like venom. When she thought he was too cold, too apathetic.

“Or….”

“Or what?”

There was another time when she called him Aaron. Three other times.

On the worst day of his life, when he held Hayley’s body in his arms, Caro had sat next to him on the floor. People were calling his name. “Hotch, Hotch, Hotchner.”

She sat there on the ground and whispered his name just once, “Aaron.” It was quiet, like a pin dropping during a storm. But still he heard her.

“Aaron, your son,” she said.

That decision, to stay with Hayley or go find Jack, tore his soul into pieces until she spoke again.

“I’ll stay with her.”

The second time was a few weeks after Hayley’s death. Hotch wasn’t handling it well, or at all. She saw right through the façade that he had put forward. He was at the office late one night and so was she. Even when he tried to send her home, she politely refused, saying there was a lot of work she needed to get done.

He spent hours in his office, the grief and the sorrow and the shame building and building and building until he was suddenly standing over his desk. Everything here reminded him of Hayley. The baseball, the picture of Jack, even the piles of papers that were stacked high, shaming him for not being there for her more.

The only way to keep himself from crying was to let the anger take over. Anger at Foyet, anger at the job, anger at the world, anger at himself. Forgetting where he was, Hotch had dumped everything off of his desk with one sweep of his arm.

Collapsing to the ground, Hotch didn’t remember how long he sat there, leaning against his desk, hyperventilating, until Caro walked in. She didn’t say anything to him. She just lowered herself to the ground next to him, letting out a long sigh. She just sat there, breathing louder than Hotch was used to her breathing, but he found after a few minutes that his breathing began to match hers. A calmness returned to his body, at least enough to breathe normally.

“Aaron?”

He turned to look at her, the edges of his eyes lined with red.

“Let’s get you home, yeah?”

Hotch nodded his head. He pushed himself to his feet before helping Caro to hers.

“I’ll drive,” she said, stepping around all of the things on the ground.

“What about-“

“We’ll deal with it tomorrow,” Caro had said. “Come on.”

She talked to him all the way back to the car. She asked if he wanted to talk about what made him dump all of his stuff on the ground. When he said no, she asked him about Jack instead. It felt comfortable to talk to her about his son, even though he tried to keep personal life and business separated. He had never really talked to her about anything other than work, except for the times when the team would go out to eat, back when Hayley would come with them. She would talk about her brother, his family, but very vaguely.

Now he supposed he knew why she was always so vague.

The third time she called him Aaron, they were on a case. Young girls being kidnapped, assaulted, and dumped. This was one of many cases just like it. Hotch couldn’t even remember what town they were in now. All he remembered was walking by Caro’s hotel room and feeling like he needed to go inside. Something pulled him to a stop outside her door that night and he couldn’t ignore it.

He knocked on the door, but didn’t wait for a respond before he opened in.

Caro was still up, even though they had left hours ago. She had skipped the meal they all shared together, which was unlike her. She sat at her desk, the lamp on but not the overhead light. The case that they were working was laid out in front of her. When she looked up at him, startled that he had come in, her eyes were red and he couldn’t tell if it was all of the reading or if it was something else.

“What can I do for you, Hotch?” Caro asked, one of her legs propped up on the swivel chair.

“I….” He hadn’t really thought this far ahead. “….wanted to check on you, see how you were doing.”

Caro’s lips pulled into an amused smile.

“You never check on me.”

“Maybe now’s the time to start.”

They were quiet for a few moments until Caro let out a sigh. She patted the bed, signaling for him to sit.

“These cases, the ones with the young girls, they’re hard,” Caro told him after he sat down.

Hotch felt like a foreigner sitting there and talking to her, awkward as he sat on her bed, like it shouldn’t be him here doing this. But she seemed so eager to talk, like she was just waiting for someone to ask.

“I understand,” Hotch said finally, looking at the carpet. “They’re hard on all of us.”

“Aaron.”

At the sound of his name, he looked back at her and he could see the tears in her eyes. He didn’t realize it then, but she had been begging him to understand so she didn’t have to say. She didn’t want to have to say it.

He couldn’t sleep that night and he didn’t know why.

“She called you Aaron when she was mad at you or….” Rossi’s voice pulled him back to the present.

“Or she needs me to listen.”

“So, what does she need you to hear?”

___

“He knows her,” Hotch said suddenly, startling the life out of the half sleeping agents.

“What?” Morgan asked, sitting up.

“The unsub knows her. There is no way that he learned all of this about her at the meeting they went to. No way he could have replicated the room that she was kept in when she was a child unless he had personal information.”

“He knew everything about her…and us…before he even took her,” Rossi said, his voice laced with awe. “Which means….”

“All those other murders were about getting her here.” Hotch felt his heart restrict in his chest. “This has all been about her. She was the piece we were missing.”

“Sir?” Garcia hurried into the room, meaning she had found something. “The link between all the victims, I think I found it.”

The team turned toward her.

“Evie is the link.” Garcia swiped up on her laptop, a couple different screens popping up on the big screen. “Sarah Jordans went to kindergarten with Evie. Paulette Bobin was the daughter of the police officer who found Evie after she escaped her uncle. Robin Everard was her high school drama teacher’s niece. Celia Hough was the sister of a woman she walked dogs for in middle school. They weren’t close enough to Evie for her to recognize them, but they were all a part of her life in some way.”

Hotch looked over at Rossi and shook his head.

“It’s been about Caro all along. All of it.”

“That means that the place she’s being held is about her too,” Morgan said. “More than just making the room look the same. He’s holding her somewhere that means something to her.”

“Garcia,” Hotch said, turning his attention back to the tech analyst. “Who owns the uncle’s house now?”

“You think he took her back there?”

“She said the room looked exactly the same. Maybe because it was the same.”

“The house passed onto his wife’s son when he died,” Garcia said.

“Where is the son now?”

“He is….” They all watched her carefully, waiting for the last piece of information. “…. He changed his name just after his father’s funeral to….”

Hotch turned back to the screen, where the picture of the unsub was plastered so none of them would forget it.

“Ralph Bennet,” Morgan said, venom in his words. “The unsub.”

“How did she not recognize her own cousin?”

“His father and mother got divorced when he was young. He didn’t even know he had a step-dad who was still alive until he was dead,” Garcia said.

“So, Ralph Bennet was the step-son of Caro’s uncle. He feels like he has to punish her for taking another father figure away from him,” added Reid.

“He wants her to pay. He wants to hurt her in any way possible.”

“He’s got her at her old house.”

___

Evelyn could barely see. Her eyes were weak and tired, partially from the crying and partially from the lack of sleep. She was terrified of letting her eyes shut, of letting her guard down. She needed to stay awake, to keep her guard up. But she couldn’t take her eyes away from the red stain on the floor.

The cot mattress was itching her skin. If she could ignore the itching, she would begin to feel the sting of the metal chain against her skin. She preferred the itching.

A thud from downstairs echoed to her room. The attic. Pretending like this wasn’t that room she had been kept in for all those years was the only thing that was keeping her from breaking down, but that wall between what she pretended was real and reality was growing thin.

Breathing in through her nose, Evelyn shut her eyes and imagined herself back in her apartment, safe and warm. In her hands was a cup of tea, chamomile with only one sprinkling of sugar. It was raining outside. Not too hard, but hard enough that she could hear it pattering against the window. Her dog slept at her feet, breathing softly. In her lap was-

Another thud from downstairs, tearing Evelyn from her fantasy. She opened her eyes and looked toward the door.

“Ralph?” She called out, voice hoarse. There was no response.

When the door burst open suddenly, Evelyn yelped and jumped backward, curling her legs in on herself.

Ralph stood there, his face red and sweat beading down his forehead.

“What’s going on?” Evelyn asked, curling up tighter.

Ralph let out a growl of frustration and started toward her.

“Ralph- no!” Evelyn kicked out at him, but he grabbed hold of her ankles and dragged her to the edge of the bed. “What are you-“

“Shut up,” Ralph snapped, unlacing the chains around her wrist. “We’re leaving.”

“What-“

“I said shut up!”

He tugged down hard on the chain, making it dig deeper into the wound around her wrist. Evelyn hissed in pain, but she quieted as he told her. There was another thud from downstairs and Evelyn snapped her head in the direction of the sound. Things were slowly starting to come together; Ralph’s shaking hands, his red face, the thudding downstairs.

Evelyn looked between Ralph and the door. She sat a still as she could while his trembling hands, waiting for the just right moment. As soon as the chains were loose, Evelyn slipped her wrist out of the chain, kicked Ralph over with as little strength as she had, and ran for the door.

“Aaron!”

Her cry echoed through the house just before Ralph grabbed her from behind, clamping a hand over her mouth.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” He hissed, dragging her back into the room.

“Caro?”

Evelyn gasped through Ralph’s hand at the sound of Hotch’s voice, trying to shout back. She struggled against Ralph as he pulled her back to the bed, thrashing her shoulders to try and break free.

“Agent Caro?”

I’m here, Hotch, I’m here.

Ralph threw the weak Evelyn onto the bed and backhanded her across the face so hard that her head started to spin. She stretched her jaw, blinking away the blackness in her vision.

“Evie!” From somewhere far away, she thought she could hear her best friend, Derek Morgan, calling for her. She opened her mouth to call back, but all she felt was numbness.

By the time she finally felt like she could see again, there was someone else in the doorway. At first glance, she thought it was Ralph, but he was still there in the room with her. The man in the doorway had a gun, the man in the doorway was Aaron Hotchner.

“Ralph Bennet, step away,” Hotch said.

Evelyn watched, head blurry as Ralph did as he was told, backing away from her. But he was going the wrong way. There was something wrong that way. Something she needed to tell Hotch about.

“You came for me,” she said, trying to smile.

“Are you okay, Caro?”

Evelyn could feel the headache behind her eyes begin to fade. She nodded her head once, letting her eyes close. There was something she needed to tell him, something really important.

“There’s something,” she said, shaking her head to try and clear it. “Over there-“

Before Evelyn could even finish, Ralph stepped forward and swung a bat at Hotch, the bat that Evelyn knew was in the corner. The bat that broke her ribs. That was what she needed to tell Hotch about. But now it was too late.

The bat knocked Hotch’s gun out of his hands and onto the ground. Hotch wasted no time in jumping into action, springing at Ralph without a second thought. Evelyn tried to shake herself out of her stoper. She would be no help to anyone weary. Even if malnutrition and the beating she got that morning were the cause of her exhaustion, she wanted to be of more help.

Hotch knocked Ralph backward, but Ralph held tight to the bat in his hands, using it to push Hotch backward. It was hard for Evelyn to follow the fight, her eyes not able of following every hit and swing. When her eyes finally caught up with what was happening, the ringing in her ears starting to fade, Evelyn found that Hotch was on the ground, Ralph standing over him with the baseball bat, ready to bash his head in.

Evelyn pushed herself off of the bed, her legs weak and shaking, and ran toward Ralph.

“Don’t touch him!” She growled, reaching up to grab hold of the bat.

“Let go, bitch!”

It didn’t take much for Ralph to throw Evelyn’s grip off the bat, but only by throwing the bat out of his hands as well. She hit the ground with a thud, the force rattling through her bones. Ralph immediately turned his attention back to Hotch, who was still on the ground but in a less vulnerable state.

On the ground with Evelyn were the bat and the forgotten gun, but they were all the way on the other side of the room. She didn’t know if she could make it there and back before her legs gave out.

She was laying on the ground by the edge of the bed, hearing Hotch and Ralph go at it. There had to be something that she could do. She had to do something. As she pushed herself up, Evelyn’s had grazed over the chain, the chain that had been used to keep her tied to this bed for days. Looking up at Ralph, Evelyn dug into all that bitterness and all the rage that she had been brewing for the past twenty years of her life and found some ounce of strength.

Strength enough to wrap her hands around the chain. Strength enough to pick to chain off the ground. Strength enough to stand.

With Ralph paying attention to Hotch, his back was left exposed to her. He didn’t think she had the strength left. He thought he broke her.

But she was unbreakable.

Wrapping the chain around one of her hands, she walked up behind Ralph and swung the chain around his neck. He let out a startled gasp, lifting a hand, but not before Evelyn grabbed the chain with her open hand and pulled. Ralph stumbled backward into her. He slapped at her hands. He tried to hit her with the back of his head.

But the adrenaline coursing through her veins kept her strong. She pulled tighter, tensing her hands.

Ralph gagged and Evelyn scrunched her nose. He let out a gurgling sound and Evelyn groaned as the muscles in her arms began to cramp from the tightness. But still she did not let go.

Hotch stood, his lip bleeding and his eye beginning to bruise. Ralph and Evelyn stumbled over; he fell to the ground and she landed on the bed, never once letting the chain go slack.

“Agent Caro,” Hotch said. “You can let him go.”

Evelyn only pulled tighter. Ralph smacked at her hands lamely, choking sounds gurgling from his throat. His legs kicked out, struggling in the same way that she had been. His legs kicked and his body twitched and his arms flailed out and he maybe felt an ounce of the terror that Evelyn had.

“Caro.”

Evelyn’s face twisted she breathed heavily, pulling tighter against the chain until Ralph’s eyes were rolling.

“Evelyn.”

She froze, looking up at him. All the tension in her face faded as her eyes met Hotch’s. She always used his first name when she needed him to listen to her, but now it was her turn to listen to him. Ralph gasped for the air that was slowly entering his lungs.

“You can let him go.”

Evelyn remembered that scared little girl she was all those years ago. There had been no other option then. It was just her, her uncle, and the knife in her hand. It was kill him or live the rest of her life in a prison. She felt like that again. Alone, terrified, trapped, cornered. There was no other way out.

“You’re safe now, Evelyn,” Hotch said. “You can let him go.”

She wasn’t alone anymore. Hotch was here with her. She wasn’t that terrified little girl with no way out. She was an FBI agent. She had grown and she had learned and she was no longer alone. Her team had come from her. Her family had found her.

She let go of the chain, pulling her legs onto the bed. Ralph heaved in lung fulls of air, but Evelyn kept her eyes on Hotch. He took a step toward them, pulling out his handcuffs. Evelyn flinched away, pulling her legs in tighter.

“These aren’t for you,” Hotch told her. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Relaxing her muscles as best as she could, Evelyn nodded her head.

“I know,” she said. “I know.”

She sat there on the bed while Hotch roughly rolled a still coughing Ralph onto his stomach to handcuff him. Once the handcuffs were on, Hotch turned back to Evelyn, who was still staring at him. Her eyes were full of tears.

It was hard for Hotch to say that he didn’t enjoy beating Ralph into the ground. He shouldn’t want to keep beating the shit out of the man now that he was in handcuffs, but seeing those tears in her eyes made Hotch want to. He had been tempted to let Evelyn kill Ralph. She deserved that bit of closure. But he knew the guilt that she already carried, the guilt she would carry on top of that. He knew because he carried that same guilt.

Still, he wanted to see that monster dead. He wanted to wipe those tears from her eyes before they even had a chance to fall.

“Caro-“

“Evie!”

Morgan burst into the room, his eyebrows pinched together in worry. Evelyn tore her gaze away from Hotch at the sound of Morgan’s voice.

“Derek.” The relief in her voice as she said his name made Hotch’s stomach drop.

Morgan rushed toward the bed and dropped to his knees in front of it. He reached forward and pulled the tattered blanket on the bed up and around Evelyn’s shoulders, covering her. Evelyn just stared at him, the tears threatening to fall from her lashes. Morgan brushed hair from out of her face as a smile began to pull at his lips. His smile made her almost able to break a grin too.

When Morgan first put his arms around Evelyn, het body immediately tensed. She expected to be surrounded by Ralph’s smell, feel his clammy skin on hers. But it was Morgan’s smell; that expensive cologne she had bought for his birthday mixed with the laundry detergent he always used. He held her tight. Even when she opened her eyes, she wasn’t able to look down enough to see Ralph, which was probably Morgan’s intention. She would have done the same thing.

The adrenaline had succeeded in keeping her heart rate steady, but now that Morgan was holding her, her heart started to pound.

Hotch grabbed Ralph off the ground and hoisted him to his feet. Evelyn listened as he shoved Ralph down the stairs, Ralph grunting and groaning all the way down.

It wasn’t until they could no longer hear him that Morgan pulled away. She didn’t want to let him go, afraid that she would begin to crumble without him there. Morgan put a hand on her cheek and leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“Let’s get you home.”

___

The first worst part about walking down those stairs was remembering the last time she had done this. That red stain on the floor had been there for twenty years. Evelyn had left her uncle bleeding out on the floor while she stumbled down the stairs, dazed, terrified. She knew the blood was the same because she had been covered in it too.

The second worst part was when everyone turned to look at her.

JJ, Emily, Reid, and Rossi were all in the downstairs of the house. They had holstered their guns, but Emily still had her hand on hers. The stairs were too narrow for Morgan to walk alongside her, so he held her hand as he walked in front of her. She was almost hesitant to take that final step, terrified of how the others would look at her.

When they heard the stair creak, they all turned their heads toward Evelyn. She froze, her blood running cold. She expected the concerned stares, the pitied eyes, it was all she got last time. Tightening the blanket around her shoulders, Evelyn couldn’t bring herself to look them in the eyes.

JJ walked toward her, stopping only a few feet away.

“Can I hug you?” JJ asked.

Evelyn looked up to see that there were tears in her friend’s eyes, but a smile on her face. There was no pity, only relief.

Slowly, Evelyn nodded her head. JJ didn’t need to be told twice. She closed the distance, wrapping her arms around Evelyn’s neck. Emily was next, pressing a gentle kiss against the side of her head. Reid’s hug was awkward, shaky.

“If you ever need to talk,” he said quietly.

Evelyn nodded her head. She knew that he understood what it was like, to be taken and held against your will. She gave him a gentle smile that he returned. Rossi was the last to approach her. He had teary smile on his face as well. He didn’t hug her entirely, but instead put his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her toward him to press a kiss against her forehead.

“C’mon,” Morgan said. “Ambulance is out here.”

“I don’t need to go to the hospital,” Evelyn said, looking over at him and giving a shake of your head.

Morgan raised his eyebrows, a hint of a smile on his face.

“Same old Evelyn.” He put an arm around her shoulder, as he always did. The action was simple, but it was enough to make her smile, to make her feel normal. “But yes, we’re taking you to the hospital.”

Evelyn rolled her eyes but let him lead her outside to the ambulance. Hotch was already out there, talking quietly to the EMT. Ralph must have gone in a different police car. He was nowhere to be seen.

“I’ll meet you at the hospital?” Morgan said once she had a quick once over by the EMT.

“You’re not going to ride with me?” She asked. Evelyn hoped that the fear of being alone again that she was feeling didn’t show through in her voice.

“Hotch’ll go with you.”

Morgan dropped a hand on Hotch’s shoulder, who wore his usual scowl, his arms crossed. He turned toward Morgan, who raised his eyebrows and walked away.

“I’ll be right back,” the EMT said before turning and walking away.

Evelyn sat on the bed, still wearing the blanket Morgan had wrapped around her. Her stomach twisted as Hotch walked toward her. She kept her eyes at the ground, chewing on the inside of her lip. She could feel only shame as he looked at her. Maybe it was because he could see the bruises and the cuts and the blood. Maybe it was because she was at her lowest and he was her boss who should only ever see her at her best. Maybe it was because he had to talk her down from choking the life out of a man. Maybe it was some combination of everything.

“Are you okay?” He asked her, leaning up against the ambulance.

Evelyn nodded her head slowly. She would have responded with a decisive yes, but her mouth had gone too dry to talk.

“That’s a stupid question, of course you’re not okay,” Hotch muttered and looked down at his feet.

“I’m okay,” Evelyn affirmed. “I’m okay.”

When he looked back up at her, Evelyn was surprised to see his eyes were watery.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get you sooner.”

Evelyn shook her head as aggressively as she could manage.

“I knew you would come, Hotch,” she told him. “I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault.”

Hotch let out an almost bitter laugh.

“I should be saying that to you.” Hotch looked at her in such a way that made Evelyn’s stomach squeeze. “All this time, and you’re still looking after me.”

Evelyn gave him a small smile in return.

“Thank you for coming to get me.”

“Of course.”

The EMT returned, telling Hotch that they were getting ready to go. He pulled himself into the ambulance and the EMT followed after him.

“Lie back,” the EMT said. Evelyn did as she was told, feeling a suffocating feeling settling on her chest as she stared up at the white ceiling. The sting of tears returned to her eyes and she wasn’t sure if she had the strength to hold them back.

Her hands tensed at her side, clenching around the blanket of the gurney. Hotch, now sitting in the chair beside her, reached out and took her hand in his. She turned her head to look at him, sniffing in deeply.

“It’s going to be okay,” Hotch told her before giving her a sharp nod.

Evelyn nodded back at him, breathing in deeply. She let go of the blanket and shifted her hand around until her fingers were laced through his. She didn’t know how comfortable he was with holding her hand, but at the moment she didn’t care. She needed someone’s hand to hold. She needed his hand to hold.

She wasn’t in the hospital for very long, which she was grateful for. Garcia got there as soon as Evelyn was released and put a pair of shaking arms around her, already dissolved into tears. Evelyn laughed, grateful for her friend’s antics.

“I love you so much,” Garcia said, her tears watering Evelyn’s neck.

She had ditched the gross blanket and was currently sporting a wonderful hospital gown and Hotch’s coat.

“Are you staying somewhere? Do you need somewhere to stay? I’ve got some clothes and a warm bed and I can make you some tea-“

“I really appreciate it, Pen,” Evelyn said, “But Hotch offered me a bed already.”

Garcia stopped her rambling to stare at her, glancing behind Evelyn to where Hotch was talking to the rest of the team.

“Hotch offered-? Right, okay. That’s good. I still brought you some clothes to wear. Come with me.”

“O-okay.”

Garcia led Evelyn to the bathroom to put her in some clothes.

“As soon as they went to get you, I went home to grab you some clothes.” Garcia dropped her bag on the ground. Evelyn covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from laughing. It was sweet of her friend, but Evelyn didn’t think she needed that many clothes for a few nights. “I hope it’s enough.”

“Thank you. It’s perfect.”

Evelyn stepped into one of the stalls and pulled a thin sweater on over her head and a pair of sweatpants. It wasn’t the cutest outfit, but it was comfortable, and it covered her ill looking body, so it would do.

Penelope was wiping tears away when Evelyn stepped out of the stall. Evelyn smiled at her and put her hands on her friend’s shoulders.

“I’m okay, Pen.”

“Evie-“

“I’m really okay. I promise.”

Penelope let out a heavy sigh and nodded.

“Can I have a smile? It’ll make me feel better,” Evelyn said in a sing-songy, letting her hands fall back to her side.

A smile tugged at Penelope’s lips and she turned away, letting out a little laugh.

“There you go. Now the world’s right again.”

Evelyn and Penelope left the bathroom and rejoined the group just as Hotch was finishing his little speech.

“Go home, everybody. Get some sleep. We’ll come back to work on Monday,” Hotch was saying.

“Thank you,” Evelyn piped up before they turned to go their separate ways. “For everything.”

___

Hotch opened the front door of his apartment. It was dark inside, only one of the lamps were on. It was silent, still. Part of it was reassuring, the stillness. Part of it was unsettling, the quiet.

She looked back at Hotch and he nodded his head, so she stepped inside.

It felt better once she was inside. It was warm, warmer than the attic.

She had never even imagined stepping into Hotch’s home. She expected it to be stiff and cold like his office was, impersonal. But it was lively, with pictures hung on the walls and décor covering shelves full of books. Evelyn wondered absent-mindedly how much of it was Hayley’s sister or if Hotch had a secret interior designer in him somewhere. The thought made her smile.

“You’ll sleep through here,” Hotch said, his voice in a hushed tone. Jack was probably already in bed.

“Your room?” She asked, keeping her voice equally as low.

Hotch nodded.

“I’m not going to displace you,” Evelyn said. “I can sleep on the couch.”

On the couch, there was already a blanket and pillow set up.

“No, Caro. I can’t let you sleep on a couch your first day back,” Hotch said, giving his head a shake.

“Hotch, seriously-“

“Agent Caro…”

Evelyn tilted her head down and raised an eyebrow.

“Now you’re using your boss voice on me.”

To her amazement, Hotch actually smiled. He was looser here, less uptight. Something about passing into his house must have been some kind of release. Domestic Hotch was very different than at work Hotch.

“Fine,” Evelyn said. “But only for tonight.”

“I’ll be out here if you need me.”

Evelyn nodded her head. She turned down the hall as Hotch walked toward the couch. Evelyn stopped, turning to say one last thing to him, but she decided against it. He sat with his back to her, taking off his shoes. She watched him let out a deep sigh and roll tension out of his shoulders. Evelyn couldn’t help but think that she was the cause of that tension and the sooner she was out of his hair the better.

It was strange, standing by Hotch’s bed. This would be the first warm, safe bed she would be falling in to and it wasn’t her own, it was Hotch’s. It felt wrong to touch. It wasn’t hers. Even if he had said she could, it wasn’t hers. This bed belonged to someone else. Hotch’s permission didn’t feel like the only permission she needed.

On the bedside table, there was a picture. Hotch, Jack, and Hayley, all huddled together and smiling. Evelyn felt herself smiling as she looked at it. Reaching out her hand, she ran a finger along the picture frame.

“I hope it’s okay with you,” Evelyn whispered, looking at the picture of Hotch’s late wife.

They’d met a few times in the past and she was just the gentlest woman. She loved Hotch and she loved her son. There she was, staring up at Evelyn and smiling. But the only image that Evelyn had of her in her mind was Hayley’s limp body, the blood that stained her shirt.

Turning away from the picture, Evelyn pulled the blankets back before she kept overthinking. She dropped the bag that Garcia had given her onto the ground, flicked off her shoes and socks, and crawled into bed.

The warmth of the blankets was strange to her. Even her own bed wasn’t as warm as this one was. Still trying not to over think it, Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut and rolled onto her side. She breathed in deeply and was overwhelmed by his scent. With a heavy sigh, she rolled back onto her back and opened her eyes.

“Get over yourself, Evelyn,” she whispered to herself.

Breathing in slowly and steadily, Evelyn let her brain relax. She went to that safe place in her mind, that place far away. She didn’t even realize she had fallen asleep, safe and warm in that room where no one could reach her.

It wasn’t until blood started to seep through the walls that she realized she was asleep.

She woke up to someone screaming. The sound echoed off the walls of the bedroom. Someone was crying.

“Caro. Caro.” Someone was calling her name. Someone close by. Someone far away.

“Evelyn!”

Her eyes snapped open, her heart pounding so hard she thought she might be having a heart attack. The room was still dark, but the bedside lamp was turned on. The blankets were half on the floor. She had been throwing them off when she kicked her legs. Hotch was sitting in front of her. Not just sitting in front of her, but holding onto her shoulders. He had been shaking her. There was worry on his face, his eyes wide. Behind him was Jack, tears rolling down his face.

He was the one who was crying. That must have meant she was the one who was screaming.

“You’re okay,” Hotch said. “You were just dreaming.”

Evelyn lifted her hands to her face to find that there were tears on her cheeks.

“I…I’m sorry,” she said, a scowl in her eyes. “I��m sorry.”

Hotch shook his head. He looked tired. She must have woken him up.

“Is she okay?” Jack asked and sniffled.

“She’s fine, Jack, go back to bed,” Hotch said. When Jack hesitated, Hotch gave him a smile. “It’s okay. Go back to bed.”

Jack nodded and shuffled out of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Evelyn whispered again, pulling her knees up to her chest. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Hotch said again and dropped a hand onto her knee. “You’re safe here, no one can hurt you here.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean….”

Her hands were shaking too badly for her to say anything else. She already couldn’t remember the dream, but there was blood, so much blood. And she remembered she couldn’t breathe, like there was a chain wrapped around her neck.

Evelyn shut her eyes and put her shaking hands up to her head.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said.

Hotch let out a sigh. He was frustrated with her. The thought made tears sting her eyes.

“It’s not your fault.”

Even with her eyes closed, the tears still managed to slide down her cheeks. Hotch reached out his hand and rested it on the back of her neck. The contact only made her tears fall faster. She moved her hands to cover her face, ashamed of her reaction. Hotch pulled her in toward him and the closer she got to him, the harder she started to cry.

He put his other arm around her and she lowered her forehead to his shoulder, the sobs shaking her shoulders. But Hotch held her tight, one hand on the back of the neck, the other on her back.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t sure what she was really sorry for. Sorry for waking him up. Sorry for sleeping in his bed. Sorry for invading his space. Sorry for getting kidnapped. For getting in the way. For making his life harder. For setting them back from work for days.

“It’s okay, Evelyn. It’s okay.”

At the sound of her name, she stopped her apologies. She heard her first name come from his mouth so rarely, she didn’t want to talk over him. She just wanted to hear him say it again. Finally letting her hands fall away from her eyes, she let her hands fall into her lap.  

“It’s not your fault, Evelyn,” he whispered, hesitantly letting his fingers lace through her hair.

She sniffed.

“It wasn’t your fault and none of us are upset with you,” Hotch told her.

Slowly, her breathing started to return to normal, sucking in short, gasping breaths of air, but they were steadier.

He pulled away from her, brushing her damp hair out of her face and resting a hand on her cheek. She wouldn’t look at him, still taking shallow breaths, tears still rolling down her cheeks, body still shaking.

“None of us blame you for any of it,” he told her, leaning down to try and catch her eye. “And there’s nothing that could have ever happened to you or that you could have possibly done that wouldn’t make us come for you.”

He brushed a tear off of her cheek as it slid from her eye.

“Evelyn, look at me.”

It took her a moment, but she finally managed to lift her eyes to meet his. They were wide and terrified, trembling like the rest of her body. Hotch tightened his jaw.

“We’re not going anywhere. I know your last family left you after what happened, but I promise you, we are not going anywhere.” Evelyn let out another shuddered breath and nodded her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

It took a few more moments to calm her down and by the time she had stopped crying, her eyes were getting heavy.

“Sleep now,” Hotch said, slowly standing up from the bed. She was still sitting up, her head hanging and her hands in her lap.

“Aaron?” He paused at the door and half turned toward her. “Will you….”

She scowled and cleared her throat, shaking her head.

“What can I do for you?”

She breathed out heavily and looked up at him again.

“Would you stay, here, with me?” She felt stupid, asking.

But he wasn’t looking at her in pity or loathing. He nodded his head before walking to the other side of the bed.

Evelyn laid back onto the pillow, pulling the blankets up to her chin. She closed her eyes, embarrassed to see him, as if her request was ridiculous and gross. But she didn’t think that she could have fallen asleep if she was on her own.

She felt the other side of the bed dip in and the blankets rustle.

“Do you want the light on?” He asked.

“You can turn it off if you’d like.”

The light flickered off and they were shrouded in darkness.

“Goodnight, Evelyn.”

“Night, Aaron.”

___

When Hotch woke up the next morning, the other side of the bed was empty. He got used to the empty bed a long time ago, but there was a pit in his stomach this time. Evelyn should be there. She should be-

There was a smell coming from the kitchen. A pleasant smell.

Sitting up and stretching, Hotch made his way to the bedroom door. He heard laughing coming from the kitchen. When he opened the door, he had a direct line of sight to the kitchen. Jack was already awake, sitting happily at the table. There were usually only two chairs at that table, but Jack had pulled up a third.

Standing in the kitchen with a smile on her face was Evelyn. Jack was saying something to her, barely incoherent through all his laughter. Evelyn was just laughing along with him. Hotch shuffled through the hallway, leaning his shoulder against the corner of the and crossing his arms.

“What is going on here?” He asked with a smile on his face.

Evelyn and Jack both turned to him, both smiling.

“Eggs, bacon, French toast,” Evelyn said. “Want some?”

Hotch couldn’t help the smile on his face. He nodded, walking toward Jack and sitting down at the chair next to him.

It was strange, seeing Evelyn this way. She was generally serious at work, like he was. She would laugh and tease with Morgan and the girls and Reid, but Hotch was so used to her being solid, so stoic, so ready. But here she was, smiling and laughing and making jokes with him.

Evelyn walked over to the table carrying three plates of food and set them onto the table. She sat down, the biggest grin on her face.

“Dig in,” she said.

Hotch and Evelyn both knew that this happiness on her face went only so deep. Her suffering and her pain were just starting to bubble to the surface. But for now, she could eat this breakfast, laugh with Jack, pretend everything was okay.

“Would you like to watch my soccer game today, Evie?” Jack asked as they took the empty plates back to the kitchen.

Evelyn looked over at Hotch, hesitant.

“That would be great, buddy,” she said before looking back at Hotch. “Would you mind?”

“No, of course not.”

Jack’s grin was the brightest Hotch had seen in a long time.

Hotch knew of course about Evelyn’s competitive nature. They had been working together for years. He had seen enough games between her and Morgan to know that she liked to win. He still somehow didn’t expect that much competition to come out of her during his son’s soccer match.

She yelled from the sidelines, cheering for Jack and shouting at the ref and even exchanging glares with other parents. It was hard not to be distracted by her as Hotch tried to coach his team, trying to keep his laughing to a minimum. When the game ended, after Hotch had a word with the players, Jack ran straight for Evelyn. He stopped just in front of her, remembering what his dad had told him about not getting too close, and grinned up at her.

Evelyn put her hand on his head and ruffled his sandy blond hair.

“You were great out there, kid,” she said. “You got the most goals on your team.”

“We, uh, don’t usually keep score,” Hotch said as he walked over.

Evelyn looked up at him with the brightest smile.

“Well, I did and your team did a great job.”

One of the other moms walked over, her daughter and Jack immediately engaging in teasing and chatting about the game as they tried to kick each other in their still guarded shins.

“My name is Mary,” the mother said, reaching a hand out for Evelyn to shake. Evelyn startled, her heart rate spiking at Mary’s sudden movement. She recovered quickly, shaking Mary’s hand.

“Evelyn Caro.”

“Are you and Aaron-“

“We work together,” Hotch said.

Mary nodded her head.

“That explains the….”

She gestured toward Evelyn’s face before pausing and forced a smile.

“Right.”

Evelyn had forgotten how horrible her face must look. She had been absently rolling the scab on her lip between her teeth all day. Her bruised and cut cheek was sore, her other eye throbbing every now and again. The battered shape of her face hadn’t even crossed her mind while she offered to go to Jack’s game.

Evelyn looked over Hotch for assistance. His smile was still there, but thinner.

“Mary, how is your husband?” Hotch asked, clearly trying to direct the attention away from Evelyn. She was grateful for it.

She listened to their conversation with a smile until Jack walked back over to them and grabbed her by the hand. She turned to look at him with a smile. He beckoned for her to bend down and she did. Jack even stood on his toes so he could whisper in her ear.

“Can you ask Daddy if we can get McDonald’s on the way home?” He asked, his voice so quiet that Evelyn barely heard him.

Still, she let out a laugh and straightened her back.

“I can do that.”

Jack grinned and ran back toward his friends. She couldn’t help but smile as she watched him run away. She had met Jack only handful of times in the past, but he was such a light. He meant so much to Aaron that it was impossible for Evelyn not to love him, too. The poor boy had been through so much already.

“What did he want?” Hotch asked.

Evelyn turned back around to find that not only was Mary talking to Hotch, but three other unaccompanied women were hanging around as well. She resisted the urge to tease him about it right there. Teasing Hotch was also something new. She never would have done it before. Their relationship was strictly professional.

“Jack wants to go to McDonald’s on the way home,” Evelyn told Hotch.

“Ah,” Hotch said, his hands on his hips.

“The kids always do,” a blonde mother said, no ounce of amusement in her tone as she glanced at Evelyn.

“I suppose he thought you asking would make the likelihood of me saying yes higher?”

Evelyn shrugged. The other moms stood there, laughing joylessly, but Evelyn didn’t even see them.

They did stop at McDonald’s on the way home. Jack happily sang a song to himself in the backseat, munching on his apple slices and French fries. Evelyn was sitting in the passenger seat with one of her feet propped up on the dash.

“This feels like cheating,” Evelyn sighed, staring at the fries in her hands.

“How?” Hotch asked with a short laugh.

Evelyn shrugged, shoving the fries in her mouth.

“Something about it. They’re too good, I guess. There’s gotta be a downside.”

Hotch opened his mouth to say something but she held up her hand to stop him.

“You don’t have to profile my eating habits, Hotchner,” she said.

Hotch simply laughed.

When they got back from the game, Jack went to take a nap, leaving Evelyn and Hotch alone in the apartment.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited the team over to watch the game this afternoon,” Hotch said.

“Of course I don’t mind,” Evelyn said. “This is still your home.”

“Right.” Hotch nodded his head.

She dropped herself onto the couch, her eyes tired, but she had no desire to sleep, especially if the team was coming over.

But her eyes were beginning to droop against her better judgement. The apartment was quiet, she could barely hear Hotch moving around until there was the soft sound of music flitting through the room.

Hotch sat down at the table, trying to be far enough away from the sleeping woman on his couch to help her feel comfortable. Light music floated through the room as he sat, flipping through a book that he wasn’t really reading. It seemed like every three seconds, his eyes would move from his book to where Evelyn was sleeping. He justified it to himself, trying to tell himself it was just to make sure she wasn’t having another nightmare. Last night had been hard on all of them and he didn’t want a repeat. But there was something else that kept drawing his gaze to her.

She just looked so at peace. Like none of the thousands of terrible things in the world could touch her. Her breathing was short, but steady and there was almost a bit of a smile on her face. His hands were tense around the book, just waiting for her breathing to change to signal to him that she was going to a place in her mind where she didn’t want to be.

He was almost tempted to ask the others to not come to allow Evelyn the chance to sleep. But Hotch thought it was best to allow her the time to socialize with the people she loved. She needed to be surrounded by support at this time and Hotch knew he couldn’t possibly provide enough of it to be any help.

An hour and a half later, fifteen minutes before the others were due to arrive, Hotch walked over to where she slept on the couch. Again, he was tempted to just let her sleep. But he put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a light shake in hopes of rousing her.

“Caro,” he whispered.

She woke with a startled gasp, her eyes snapping open. Hotch was prepared for some kind of emotional response. He was ready in case she needed his help, but after the initial shock of being woken up, she sat up normally. Rubbing her eyes, Evelyn let out a yawn.

“Are they here?” She asked.

“Not yet,” Hotch said. “Soon. I’m going to wake up Jack. Will you be alright?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” There was a little bit of a scowl on her face as she continued to try and wake herself up. “Anything I can do to help get ready?”

Hotch was already halfway to Jack’s room, but he shook his head.

“Everyone else is bringing food. We’re off the hook for this one,” he told her before slipping into Jack’s room.

Evelyn forced herself off the couch, even though her bones were still stiff and tired. She straightened the cushions she slept on before rubbing her eyes again. She didn’t think she had dreamed, which was the first time she hadn’t in a very long time.

She was rubbing tension out of her neck when there was the first knock at the door.

Evelyn started and reached for the gun that should have been there but wasn’t. Her heart pounded in her chest, her hand still on her hip where her gun should have been. She wanted to move, but her muscles felt frozen. Eyes wide and body tense, Evelyn struggled to breathe. There was a tightness in her chest she couldn’t shake.

There was a knock at the door again, but she still couldn’t move.

“Caro, you okay?” Hotch asked as he came back from Jack’s room. “Evelyn?”

He stopped on his way to the door. She saw him standing there, staring at her, but all she could do was watch the door. Her body began to shake ever so slightly from the tension in her muscles.

“It’s just the team, Caro,” Hotch said, slowly putting his hands out toward her. “They’re not going to hurt you.”

Evelyn heard what he was saying, but something in her bones told her that it was a bad guy, someone who wanted to come in and hurt her, hurt Hotch, hurt Jack. She wouldn’t let that happen.

“Caro, I need you to look at me and just breathe,” Hotch was saying, taking a step toward her. There was another knock at the door and she flinched. “Look at me. Breathe.”

Evelyn sucked in one deep breath in through her nose before flickering her watery eyes away from the door and toward Hotch. He titled his head to the side, taking on a non-offensive stance. Her eyes strained to look at him.

“I’m going to open the door, okay?” Evelyn gave a sharp shake of her head, her body jerking forward but her feet not going anywhere. “I’m going to open the door. It’s going to be okay.”

He took a step toward the door and Evelyn shook her head again. Hotch turned away from her and kept walking toward the door.

“Hotch,” Evelyn said, her words just barely above a whisper.

When his hand touched the handle, Evelyn shook her head again, staring at the door unblinking. The door unlocked and the handle turned.

“Hotch-“

The door opened. Evelyn’s eyes widened even further, waiting for Ralph to be standing there on the other side.

But it was just Penelope and JJ and Emily, all grinning wildly.

Evelyn blinked her eyes hard and shook her head, dropping her hands back to her sides and relaxing her defensive stance.

“Come in,” Hotch was saying.

Evelyn forced a smile onto her face and went to greet her friends as they came in. She helped them set up the table with the food and drinks they brought.

“How are you doing?” JJ asked as she tore into the chips.

Evelyn sighed, still trying to smile.

“I’m doing okay,” she said.

“I might not be as good a profiler as any of you guys,” JJ said. “But I know you well enough to know when you’re lying.”

Evelyn turned to face her, leaning her hip against the table and crossing her arms.

“I am doing as well as you can imagine I’m doing,” Evelyn said. “But most of the time I’m doing okay.”

JJ put a hand on her friend’s arm and offered a small smile.

“If you ever need anything-“

“I know you’re always there for me, JJ,” Evelyn said. “I won’t ever forget it.”

JJ nodded and they turned back to the table. It was only a few more minutes before the boys arrived. After greeting Hotch and Emily, Morgan came straight for Evelyn, who was still at the table rearranging everything for the fifteenth time.

“I swear I’m going to lose it if you ask me if I’m okay, Derek Morgan,” Evelyn said, moving the napkins off the plates where she had just put them.

Morgan let out his signature laugh before throwing an arm over her shoulders.

“I know how you’re doing, so I don’t need to ask,” Morgan told her. “I just came over here to give you a hug.”

Evelyn let out a breath and turned toward him, eagerly putting her arms around his waist. There was safety in his arms. Her muscles were still tense from her moment before, and it felt impossible for her to relax and fall into normalcy with her friends. But with Morgan there, everything seemed to be at least a little bit okay.

“Keep fighting,” he whispered in her ear. “That’s how you win.”

Evelyn nodded her head. She pulled away and quickly swiped away a stray tear before wiping her hands on her jeans. She back at Morgan briefly with a strained smile, glad to see him smiling back.

“Let’s go sit,” Morgan said to her.

Evelyn sat herself on the very end of the couch, knowing how much her team loved to cram in together and not really feeling comfortable being stuck in between Morgan and JJ as they shouted back and forth at each other about their opposing sports opinions. She sat with her feet up on the couch and her knees pulled up to her chest.

Reid sat next to her, still and quiet.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hey, Reid.”

He didn’t say anything else. Evelyn didn’t really want him to. Still, she leaned toward him and put her head on his shoulder. Reid tensed for a moment, but then he relaxed.

“It’s good to have you back,” he whispered to her.

“It’s good to be back,” she whispered back.

A few minutes before the game had started, there was already yelling going on between Rossi and JJ about something Evelyn couldn’t really follow. Jack came out of his room, hair a mess and eyes looking tired.

“Hey, buddy!” Hotch said. “Come for some food?”

The newly awake Jack shook his head and hobbled over to Evelyn. She dropped her feet to the ground as he struggled to crawl into her lap. He dropped his head to her shoulder.

“You okay, kid?” she asked him, rubbing her hand up and down his back. He nodded and yawned.

A chip flew over her head that Morgan had definitely thrown at Rossi who sat in the chair next to Evelyn. Penelope was watching the commercials eagerly, shouting at everyone to quiet down. JJ had roped Emily into her argument with Rossi and Reid was telling Morgan something about some sports statistic that Morgan was desperately trying to refute.

Evelyn looked over at Hotch, who was watching them with a look in his eye that she couldn’t really read. She was usually good at reading Hotch, but every now and again, he’d get this look that she didn’t understand. When he noticed her looking, he gave her a smile and nodded his head.

Part way through the game, Jack left her lap to go and grab some food. She offered him her seat when he came back so that she could go over to the table for some food and a breather. Hotch met her there, scooping cheese dip onto his paper plate.

“Intense game,” Evelyn said, popping a grape into her mouth.

“Very.”

“Oh, come on!” Morgan yelled.

Evelyn laughed quietly to herself.

“If you need to step out-“

“I’m fine, Hotch, really,” she said, turning toward him. “Everything’s good. What happened earlier-“

“Was a completely normal reaction.” Evelyn was startled by his rebuttal interruption. “You’re allowed to have bad moments or even bad days.”

“I know that.”

“You’re also allowed to have fun.”

“I know that, too.”

Morgan stood up quickly from the couch, letting out half a expletive before remembering Jack was there and switching it up half way through.

“I really missed this, though,” Evelyn said through a laugh.

Hotch looked at her and then looked over at Morgan and let out a sigh.

“He was really worried about you,” Hotch told her, his hands tightening around the poor paper plate in his hand.

Evelyn nodded her head, looking down at the grapes in her hand.

“I thought I’d never see him again. I thought I’d never see any of you again,” she told him.

“You didn’t think we’d find you?”

“Oh, I knew you would,” she looked back over at him. “I just didn’t know if it would be soon enough.”

“Evelyn-“

“Evie, come look at this!” Penelope called, waving her over.

“Pardon me, Hotch.”

Hotch watched her walk away and kneel on the ground beside Garcia. They laughed about something. Smiling looked good on her, but he knew that it only ran so deep. He couldn’t wait for the day that smile would be real again. He just hoped he was there to see it.

By the time everyone left, the sun was almost down. They stayed long after the game, talking and laughing and throwing things at each other like a bunch of children. Penelope was the last to go, always asking for one last hug while Morgan waited for her just outside.

“I’ll see you soon, Pen,” Evelyn laughed, trying to push her friend toward the door.

“I hate leaving you,” Penelope said.

“I think I’m in the safest hands I can be.”

Penelope pulled away at that.

“You’re right.” She looked over at Hotch. “Hotch won’t let anything happen to you. You’re perfectly safe here.”

Evelyn gave her a smile.

“Exactly. Now, go. Morgan’s waiting for you.”

Penelope straightened her jacket and nodded her head.

“Right.” She turned and walked out the door. “Let’s go, Derek.”

Morgan offered one last wave, tossing an arm over Penelope’s shoulders. He sent a look Evelyn’s way that she read perfectly. If she needed anything….

Hotch shut the door and the apartment was silent. Evelyn let out a heavy breath.

“That was fun,” Jack said, laying on the couch.

“Time for bed for you, buddy,” Hotch said.

The team was generally good at cleaning up after themselves and taking the food that they had brought with them, but there was always a mess to clean up afterward. The few times Evelyn had one of these gatherings at her own place taught her this well enough. Hotch walked Jack toward his room while Evelyn turned to start cleaning.

“You don’t have to do that,” Hotch said, emerging from his son’s room as Evelyn pulled the full trash bag out of the trash can.

“I won’t be able to sleep knowing this place is a mess,” she told him.

It was these quiet moments when it was just the two of them that Evelyn felt the most exposed, the most terrified. Not that he would hurt her because she knew he never would, but just knowing that all of his attention was on her made her almost sick to her stomach.

“I’ll take the trash to the can outside,” Hotch said, walking toward her.

“Alright.”

She handed the bag off to him, his fingers just barely grazing over her hand. Evelyn elected not to look up at him as electricity crackled up her arm. She breathed in deeply and turned toward the couch.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said. He took a few steps away from her and Evelyn just nodded her head.

She didn’t look at him as he left the room. With a pounding heart, Evelyn sat slowly onto the couch, shutting her eyes and breathing deeply until she dropped her head into her hands.

What was wrong with her? She had always been able to keep her emotions under control around Hotch. Always. Even when he was talking about Hayley, even when he cared so deeply about people it made him rage, even when he did that thing with his eyes that silenced even the haughtiest narcissist, even when he gave her a look that put all other looks to shame. She had always kept her cool because that was what she had trained herself to do.

But now her training was backfiring on her. Her training was making her think danger was there when it wasn’t. Her training was making her question the movements of everyone she loved. Her training was taking her sleep from her. Her training was crumbling and slowly revealing that terrified girl that lay underneath.

Evelyn opened her eyes, hoping to think of absolutely anything else than the heat in her cheeks and the pounding of her heart in her stomach.

Maybe keeping her eyes closed may have been better because as soon as her eyes were open, they landed on Hotch’s bag propped up against the coffee table. Someone must have moved it during the game. Sticking out of the top was a file. There was no name on the file, but Evelyn knew it was hers, or at least from the last job they’d done, which was hers.

Instinct took over and she bent down, snatching the yellow folding from his bag. It was thick, thicker than she’d have liked. Laying it on the table, her suspicions were confirmed as she flipped open the first page. It was this last case and the very first picture on it was the one they took in the hospital when she first arrived.

Evelyn didn’t realize how terrible she looked until just then. She was thin, trembling. Her hair was matted with blood. She looked dirty, covered in blood and bruises. Evelyn gagged, covering her mouth with her hand. That was how all of her friends had seen her that day. The thought made her shiver.

The picture just underneath it was the one they had taken when she was a kid. The similarities in the pictures made her even sicker.

She shuffled through the files, eyes scanning the pages just like Reid had taught her, until she found Hotch’s report.

She pulled it out, hands shaking as she held it in front of her. She had always wondered how Hotch managed to write these reports, summing up everything they went through during the case in just a few short pages.

Her throat swelled as she read through the beginning. She read about the women Ralph killed, how they were assaulted and murdered, how the team discovered it was Ralph. She read through them deciding to send Evelyn into the meeting to find Ralph and lure him in. She didn’t know then that he was the step kid of her uncle. If she had, she wouldn’t have gone in there empty handed.

Then she read how they had found out she was missing and what they did to find her. Her heart plummeted into her stomach, dropping from her chest like a ton of rocks. She lifted a hand to cover her mouth, hoping swallow the sob that was threatening to come from her mouth. Sitting in that attic, Evelyn had wondered what the point of killing those other women was. She had spent hours pouring over ideas. She thought him running into her was an accident, pure coincidence. This case already put her on edge, seeing as it took place in the very same town she grew up in.

But the team had solved it. They had figured it out. All those women that Ralph had killed….

Tears clouded her vision, but she refused to blink. A quiet moan of distress came from her. She didn’t even hear the door of the apartment open.

“Evelyn?”

She didn’t jump at the sound of Hotch’s voice. Instead, she turned toward him slowly, those same tears gathered in her eyes.

“It’s my fault,” she said, holding the report in her hands. The tears dropped from her lashes, hitting her cheeks with the strength of a butterfly.  

“It’s not.”

“It is!” Hotch let out a defeated breath. “It says right here that-“

“That report says Ralph Bennet made the decision to assault and murder those four women.”

“Because of me!”

Hotch walked over to her and sat on the couch beside her, but not too close.

“Did you kill those women, Caro?”

“No, but-“

“No, you didn’t.”

“Hotch, he killed them because I knew them. He killed them because he knew it would lure me in. If I hadn’t-“

“What? If you hadn’t what?” She was quiet. “If you hadn’t killed your uncle? You did what you had to do to survive, Evelyn. No one will fault you for that.”

“If I hadn’t….” she trailed off, staring at the paper with her teary eyes.

“If you hadn’t come with us to solve this case? More women would have died.”

“I fell right into his trap,” she whispered, her hands tightening around the paper. “I didn’t even know he existed, and he knew me well enough to set the trap and just wait for me to walk right into it. I can’t believe I was that stupid.”

“Do you want to know what that tells me?”

She looked up at him.

“You returned to a town where you had been traumatized to help bring justice to these women. You went into that meeting trying to catch a killer. You stayed alive long enough for us to find you using clues that you gave us.” Evelyn sniffed, wiping the underside of her nose with the back of her hand. “You’re not stupid, Evelyn. You’re the bravest person I have ever met.”

She looked over at Hotch again, her lower lip trembling.

“They died for me,” she said and took in a shaky breath. A tear slid down her nose. “How do I repay them for that?”

Hotch was quiet for a moment and heaved out a sigh, just allowing him time to think of a proper answer.

“You live,” he told her. “You survive this and carry on for them.”

Evelyn closed her eyes. She was hearing him and her brain was telling her that he was right, but her heart wasn’t believing him. She couldn’t believe him.

Without saying anything, Evelyn pushed herself off the couch and made for the door, hoping to escape before he could see the tears that were threatening to run from her eyes again.

“Caro, where are you going?” Hotch asked, standing after her.

“I need some air,” she replied as she struggled with the lock on the door.

“I’ll come with you.”

“I need to be alone right now,” she said, finally getting the door open.

Hotch put his hand on the door and pushed it shut. Evelyn froze, keeping her hand on the doorknob.

“You’re not going anywhere by yourself.”

Evelyn turned around slowly. Hotch was looming over her, his hand still on the door to keep her from opening it again.

“Let me out, Hotch.”

“You’re not a prisoner here, but you’re not going out there alone.”

She stared at Hotch unblinkingly. Evelyn’s breathing started to speed up, her chest rising and falling rapidly, but it wasn’t anger or fear that made her heart rate spike.

“Why not?”

“What do you mean, why not?”

Evelyn knew she was poking the bear, but she felt like she had to. Poke the bear yourself, make it roar on your terms before it decides to do it itself.

“Why can’t I go out there alone? You think I can’t handle myself?”

“No, I know you can-“

“Then why won’t you let me leave?”

“Because I want you to be safe.”

The calmness of his voice made her even angrier. It made her want to poke harder.

There was a gaping wound in her soul and it was still gushing blood. Hotch was trying to patch it up, help her to heal, but he was getting too close to the only thing that kept her breathing. He was getting too close to the wound and she was terrified of the idea of him seeing her, feeling her, so she recoiled. She would snap at him until he left her alone. Until he left her wound bleed in peace.

“Why did you come for me?”

“Why did we come for you?” Hotch repeated, astounded by her question. “You’re part of the team. Why wouldn’t we come for you?”

“I’m not asking about the team, Aaron. I’m asking about you.”

Hotch straightened at the sound of his first name. She knew why. She’d done it on purpose. She needed to convince him she was angry. That was the only way to keep him at bay.

“I couldn’t just let you rot there; the team needs you.”

“The team?” She let out a bitter laugh before pushing past him and stalking into the middle of the room. “It’s always about the team with you, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“I could have died in that house, Aaron, and all you can come up with is the team needed me and that’s why you came?”

She hated the taste her words left in her mouth. She hated saying them. But she had to. She had to push him away if she had any hope for surviving. She had tied her heart to his and if she didn’t severe it now….

There was real anger in his eyes at her words. Finally, an emotion. A chink in his armor.

“If you had died in that house, I would have killed that bastard myself!”

Evelyn sucked in a sharp breath. It was so rare to see an emotion on Aaron Hotchner. In the last few days alone, she had seen more from him than she had ever seen in all her years working with him; fear, joy, grief, anger, relief. And it was mostly because of her.

“Enough with the team needs me bullshit.” Evelyn dropped the tone of her voice. “I’m going for a walk.”

She turned her back on him and walked toward the front door. She made it all the way there, her hand on the doorknob before Hotch spoke again.

“I need you.”

Evelyn froze, her hand glued to the doorknob as if it was ice and her hand was burning hot. Her blood ran cold and her heart stopped in her chest.

“What?”

“You don’t accept that you’re a vital member of the team as a worthy reason for us to come and help you? Fine.” There it was again, anger in Hotch’s voice. His dark eyebrows were pulled together. “I need you.”

Evelyn had started this argument because she needed to keep his hands away from the wound she was nursing, the wound that every breath seemed to tear open a little bit more. His kindness and compassion were just insult to injury. But his sincerity in this moment punched through every wall around her wound that she had been attempting to build up in the last few minutes.

He said it like he would say any other truth. He said it like he would say anything during a case; without a hint of uncertainty.

She turned toward him. For the first time in a while, she felt no shame as tears glimmered in her eyes.

“You mean it?” She asked, pulling on the edges of her sleeve.

“Have I ever lied to you before?”

“I mean when, Emily-“ Evelyn stopped herself and cleared her throat. “No. You haven’t.”

Hotch stood there, clearly not wanting to say anything else that would set her off. Evelyn bowed her head, let her hand fall away from the doorknob, and she crossed the room, putting her arms around his waist before he even realized that she was coming toward him.

Hotch was frozen for a second, her change in mood so rapid that he almost couldn’t register it. Evelyn’s eyes were screwed shut as she prayed that he wouldn’t reject her embrace, though she could understand if he did. But, eventually, he put his arms around her, pulling her in closer and she could finally relax.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, letting the tears stream down her face, fast and hot. “I didn’t mean it.”

“I know,” he told her, his words just as quiet.

“Please don’t give up on me.”

“I won’t.”

“I’m trying.”

Hotch knew from the report what happened with her parents after she had escaped from her uncle. He knew how they turned their back on her in the following months. She had come back to them after four years, after killing her father’s brother, and she wasn’t the little girl they had lost anymore. They reported anger issues, lashing out, screaming and hitting and breaking things. They told authorities they couldn’t handle her anymore. They just didn’t know what to do.

But Hotch also knew that she was a child who was cut so deeply by someone she trusted and that she deserved to be loved and protected by her family no matter what. No matter how loudly she screamed, no matter the mess she made, they should have loved her. They should have fought for her just as hard as she was fighting to survive. He wouldn’t abandon her like they did.

“I promise not to give up on you if you promise me not to give up on yourself,” he told her.

Evelyn nodded her head.

“Promise,” she said.

___

The following months were hard. Moving back into her own apartment where it was quiet and the silence was deafening was the hardest part. When there was no one to wake her from her nightmares or hold her while she cried, when there was no Jack to make her laugh even when she wanted to cry, when there was just her and the mirror. She hated being back home. She wanted to back at the Hotchner’s, but she knew she couldn’t impose on them any longer.

There were days when her promise to Hotch was the only thing that kept her going. He had made her promise not to give up on herself and she would be damned before she disappointed Hotch again. So, she fought, tooth and nail, just to stay afloat. Some days, that looked like lying in bed and letting the tears fall. Some days, that looked like calling Morgan or Penelope and asking them to play a board game with her. Some days, that looked like running until she couldn’t breathe. Some days, that looked like dancing around her apartment at 3 am.

Slowly, she began to remember what it was like to feel alive. And she started to love it again.

The day she came back to work, the smile on her face reached deep into that wound in her soul. It wasn’t healed, but it was better. It didn’t hurt to breathe anymore.

The team acted like she knew they would on her first case. Hotch didn’t let her go anywhere by herself. Someone had to be by her side at all times. It was suffocating, but she knew it was for the best.

By the time the case was finished and the guy arrested, Evelyn almost felt like herself again. This is what she was meant to be doing. She wasn’t supposed to be sitting by herself in her room all day, wasting away. The field was in her blood. It was part of her.

They all went out to dinner that night and everything was right in the world again. Evelyn used to sit in her apartment, Hotch and Morgan and Garcia sending her updates as they went. She knew when she got the triple text that the case was over that they’d be going out to eat, celebrating, having a laugh to cope with everything they had seen. And she would sit in her dark apartment.

But now she was in the right place. They went to a pub downtown. She ordered fries and a coke with a little cherry on top. Morgan made fun of her for smothering her fries in ketchup. She stole a bite of Emily’s pasta as she talked to Rossi. Life had returned to normal, and it was just what she needed.

The next few cases went the same way. Hotch began to trust her being alone again, allowing her to have the space she needed to do her job. There were cases where she needed to step into the bathroom and cry. There were times when she stayed behind with the local police because she couldn’t even think about going in without panicking. And the nights in her apartment alone were the worst.

But as long as she was on a case with her team, things were actually okay. She could push away her fear and the anxiety that made her bones rattle and her muscles freeze. She could go back to be Agent Evelyn Caro, where she was at her best.

Almost a year passed. Evelyn knew that the anniversary fear was a thing, but she was determined to be fine. The case they came in for was the farthest away from anything that could remind her of what she went through. Men were being taken and killed. The pattern was easy to solve, the profile quick to figure out. Everything was going to be okay.

Until Hotch and Evelyn were hunting the killer on their own. Evelyn was walking through a suspect’s house with her gun drawn, knowing that Hotch was upstairs doing the same thing. There was a thud coming from the second floor.

“Hotch?” Evelyn called out. “You okay?”

There was no reply. Her heart started to seize.

“Hotch?”

Walking toward the stairs, her gun drawn, Evelyn told herself to breathe. She would be no help to Hotch if she was panicking. She took one step up the stairs before a sudden and sharp pain exploded against the side of her head, sending her into the wall, knocking her unconscious.

When Evelyn woke up, she was in a basement. Her head squeezed and ached, jaw stiff. She shook her head and forced her eyes open.

Sitting across the room from her, still unconscious, was her boss.

“Hotch!”

Evelyn scrambled over to him, barely standing at all before she dropped to the ground next to him.

“Hotch, hey, you good?”

She saw him breathing, so that was something, but he was unresponsive to her voice. She shook his shoulders, but still he slept.

“Please don’t fire me,” Evelyn whispered before pulling her hand back and slapping him across the face.

Hotch gasped and his eyes flew open, his body falling over to the side.

“Oh, thank God,” Evelyn breathed.

“Did you slap me?” Hotch asked her, sitting back up.

“You wouldn’t wake up.”

“So you slapped me?”

Evelyn shrugged as Hotch rubbed his jaw with his hand.

“Remind me to never piss you off,” he told her. Evelyn felt herself almost smile. “Where are we?”

Evelyn looked around the basement and let out a heavy breath.

“Not sure,” she said. “We got the profile wrong, didn’t we?”

Hotch nodded his head and used the support beam in the middle of the room to push himself upward.

“There was a woman. I thought she was hurt, but….”

“She got the drop on the mighty Aaron Hotchner? I’m impressed.” Evelyn teased, needed to joke about something before her brain exploded from the pain or the panic she felt growing in her bones took over completely.

Hotch looked down at Evelyn with a stern look that told her maybe joking wasn’t his favorite way to cope with being kidnapped. Evelyn pursed her lips and pushed herself onto her feet.

“Lions got me, I think,” Evelyn told him, using the support beam to keep her standing.

“So there are two of them and one of them is a woman.” Hotch breathed out a sigh. “How does that change the profile?”

“We know that the men were chosen because Lions wanted something they had.”

“Position, status, money-“

“A certain woman.”

Hotch turned to look at Evelyn, who was scanning the basement as if it would hold the answers. There were blood stains on the ground. This was definitely where the victims were killed. There was a door at the top of the stairs, but if these guys were any good at what they did, the door would be locked.

“You think his partner could have been the wife of one of the victims?” Hotch asked.

Evelyn looked back at him and shrugged.

“A wife, a girlfriend, a sister, a daughter. Maybe the person he wants to take her from isn’t even dead yet, but he’s the reason Lions is killing.”

“Why would she help him?”

Evelyn breathed out again.

“Maybe she feels trapped where she’s at and he’s got her convinced this is the only way to save her? If she feels completely dependent on him, she might just do whatever he says.”

“Even kill?”

Evelyn shrugged her shoulders again, but they both knew that the answer was yes. A woman caught in a corner was just as capable of killing as anyone else.

“Well, that’s good then,” Hotch said, putting his hands on his hips.

“How is any of that good?”

“It means I’m the one they want, not you,” Hotch said.

Evelyn’s eyebrows pinched together.

“That really doesn’t sound good, Hotch.”

“You can get through to the partner, Caro,” Hotch said, walking back toward her. Evelyn narrowed her eyes even further at him.

“Maybe, yes.”

“Good. That will get us out of here.”

He turned away from her again. He pulled off his blazer and loosened his tie and the temperature in the room raised about fourteen degrees. Evelyn had to shake away her imagination before responding.

“And what are you going to do?”

“What they brought me here for.”

___

“Please, stop!”

The female unsub, Rosalie, held tight to Evelyn’s arms, holding her back as the male unsub, Jeremy Lions, pounded his fist into Hotch’s face.

“You think you’re so strong,” Hotch laughed, taunting Lions. “Don’t you?”

Lions hit Hotch in the face again.

“You have to stop him,” Evelyn said to Rosalie. “No one else can get through to him.”

“He’s doing what he has to to keep us safe,” Rosalie whispered to Evelyn, but despite the strength in her arms, her voice was weak. “Your friend just needs to give in. It’ll be easier that way.”

Lions hit Hotch again and Evelyn cried out, pulling against Rosalie.

“Shut her up, Rose!”

“Shh, shh,” Rosalie whispered in Evelyn’s ear, holding her right from behind. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

“No!” Evelyn struggled against the woman holding her, jerking her shoulders in hopes of breaking free.

“You really think that any of this will earn you manhood, Lions?” Hotch said with a laugh, turning the unsub’s gaze back onto him and away from Evelyn.

Lions hit Hotch in the face again.

“Stop it, damnit!”

Lions whirled around and backhanded Evelyn in attempts to get her to quiet down. Rosalie gasped and let Evelyn fall to the ground.

“Jeremy! You said we wouldn’t hurt her!”

Lions let out a growl and grabbed onto Rosalie’s arm, dragging her out of the basement and leaving Hotch and Evelyn behind.

“You need to get through to Rosalie, Caro,” Hotch said as soon as she took a single step toward him.

“I am,” she huffed. Hotch raised an eyebrow at her. “She doesn’t want me to get hurt, that much is clear. If she associates you getting hurt with me getting hurt, she’ll push for Lions to hurt you less.”

Hotch nodded his head once, stretching out his jaw.

“You trust me, right?” Hotch said.

“Of course.” Evelyn’s response was immediate.

“Good.”

That night, they slept in the basement on opposite sides of the room, even though it was freezing cold. Saying they slept was an over exaggeration. Evelyn could barely even close her eyes. It was the cold that kept her eyes frozen open, but it was also the reality of it all. She was trapped, once again. She was a prisoner, once again. She was at the mercy of a man, once again.

And Hotch was here but she had never felt more alone.

The door creaked open and Evelyn sat up with a gasp. She shuffled backward, away from the door, but it was just Rosalie walking down the wooden stairs. The woman locked the door behind her, but still flinched.

“Hi,” Rosalie whispered as she neared. There was a cup and a plate in her hand. She watched the sleeping Hotch as she walked by, only turning her attention back to Evelyn once she passed him.

“Hi,” Evelyn whispered back, pulling her knees up to her chest.

“I…I’m not going to hurt you,” Rosalie said. She lowered herself to the ground a few feet away from her. Rosalie set the cup and the plate down and scooted it closer to Evelyn.

Evelyn looked between the food and the woman.

“You need to eat.” Rosalie’s voice was soft. Kindly.

Evelyn straightened her back and lifted her chin, giving a slight shake of the head.

“I’m not hungry.”

Rosalie let out a sigh and turned to look over at Hotch, who still slept soundly.

“Saving it for him won’t do anything for either of you,” Rosalie said, almost sadly. “Only one of you is making it out of here. I think you know which one it’s going to be.”

___

“Here, eat.” Evelyn pushed the plate of cold potatoes and toast in his direction, the cup of water sitting on top. Hotch raised an eyebrow at her. “Rosalie came in last night. Brought us some food.”

“Did you eat?” He asked her, sitting up from his sleeping position.

Evelyn nodded her head.

“Caro-“

“I ate, Hotch,” she said, a little more harshly than she meant to. “You need to keep your strength if we’re going to have a repeat of yesterday.”

Hotch almost laughed as he hooked his finger over the edge of the plate and slid it toward himself. Evelyn watched, her stomach gurgling as he took a bite out of the bread.

“Stale toast is just ravishing, isn’t it?” Evelyn asked as she leaned up against the wall he also sat against. Hotch hummed his response. He ate slowly, took a sip of water.

“How are you?” He asked.

Evelyn rolled her head against the wall to look over at him.

“Just peachy, Hotchner. How are you?”

“I’m serious. How are you doing?”

Evelyn let out a sigh, looked up at the ceiling, and closed her eyes.

“Taking it one breath at a time,” she said. “I’ll deal with the aftermath once we’re out of here.”

Evelyn looked over at him again and attempted a half-cocked smile. Hotch wasn’t smiling. He was staring at her, staring right through her smile and her outer shell of calmness and straight into her soul where her wound was, her wound that was slowly starting to heal.

“I’ll be okay, Aaron,” she said, dropping her smile. “Promise.”

Hotch nodded his head and turned away from her.

“Don’t do anything stupid today, Caro,” he told her.

“Do I ever?”

___

“I told you not to do anything stupid,” Hotch sighed as Evelyn let out a hiss of pain.

“I didn’t realize that trying to stop you from dying was considered something stupid.”

“It is when you get put in harm’s way.”

Evelyn held a strip of her shirt against her bleeding nose. Hotch rolled up his sleeves.

“We’ve got two days left here,” Hotch said, pacing back and forth in front of Evelyn.

“The team will find us,” Evelyn replied. She lowered the piece of her shirt and scrunched her nose before stretching it out again.

“I don’t doubt it.”

The sun went down sooner than Evelyn thought it would, meaning she had slept longer than she thought she had.

“You should sleep,” Hotch said.

“I’m not tired.”

“He won’t hurt you, Caro.”

The dark concealed Hotch’s face from her, even though he was only a few feet away. Evelyn shifted uncomfortably.

“I know.”

“If I don’t make it out of here-“

“Hotch, stop. We’re both going to walk out of here just fine.”

“But if I don’t, promise to take care of Jack.” Evelyn breathed in deeply, ready to shake her head and tell him again that they were going to both survive this. “Promise me.”

Instead of arguing, which she knew would get them nowhere, Evelyn nodded her head.

“I promise.”

Hotch didn’t say anything else. Evelyn didn’t sleep. The change in his breathing after a while told her that he had fallen asleep.

She didn’t know how long it was before the door creaked open. Evelyn startled and sat up straighter, gasping in a breath. But it was just Rosalie, coming down with more food. This time, she didn’t say anything. She sat right next to Evelyn and set the food between them.

“You have to eat,” she said finally.

Evelyn reached out and took the cup of water and brought it to her parched lips. She drank some, but set it down before it was finished.

“You don’t have to save it for him.”

Evelyn turned her head to look at Rosalie.

“He’s my friend. I’m not going to let him starve.”

Rosalie was quiet for a moment.

“I think he’s more than that.”

“How did you meet Jeremy?” Evelyn asked. She thought she saw a smile on Rosalie’s lips.

“I lived with my brother and his wife as their live-in nanny of sorts. Jeremy worked for them as a gardener. My father kept me locked up my entire life and when he died, my brother took over. His sister’s keeper or something. But Jeremy he…. he made me feel free and alive and seen. And so, so loved.”

Rosalie stopped there, her smile lingering for a few moments before falling.

“But he changed, didn’t he?”

Rosalie nodded her head slowly, her lower lip curling and tears starting to run down her cheeks. Evelyn just let her cry for a few moments, until the woman collected herself. She sucked in a sob and stuffed her hands full of her dress.

“He took me from my brother’s house, brought me here,” Rosalie said. “Said he needed my help.”

“He used you to lure in men that he saw as superior to himself so that he could kill them.”

Rosalie nodded again, tears still rolling from her eyes.

“I never wanted to…I tried to tell him that I love him as he is…that he doesn’t need to-“

“Rosalie, listen to me. Nothing you could ever do will convince him of that because his issues have nothing to do with you,” Evelyn said, turning to face her.

“I don’t….”

“Jeremy Lions may love you, Rosalie, but he is very sick. He is not killing people to be a better man for you, no matter what he has told you. He feels inferior so he thinks he has to kill to be superior. That’s why he wanted Hotch.”

“I don’t think I understand.”

Evelyn heaved out a breath.

“Hotchner is everything Jeremy thinks he’s lacking. Confident, strong. He’s got a high-ranking job. He’s respected by his peers. He’s good looking and has a nice home and great friends. Jeremy doesn’t think he has any of this and he wants it, which is why he wants to hurt Hotchner.”

“To take something he doesn’t think he has.”

Evelyn sucked in a breath and reached forward to take Rosalie’s hands in hers.

“No matter what you do, Rosalie, you will never be enough for him, do you understand? He has you, he has love, but that will never be enough for him.”

“No, no!” Rosalie stood up quickly. “No. Once we’re married, everything will be okay. We’ll buy a new house. Live a happy life.”

“Rosalie-“

“No! You’re wrong.”

“Rosalie….”

“You’re wrong!”

Rosalie hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Evelyn shut her eyes again. With a growl, she pounded her knuckles into the hard concrete ground.

“You okay?”

Hotch was barely awake, his voice gravelly and tired.

“I’m okay, Hotch, go back to sleep.”

He grumbled something and was soon asleep again. Evelyn could do nothing but sigh. Still, she didn’t sleep.

The next day went no better than the last. It was night again before Evelyn knew it. She sat on the ground, head between her knees. Hotch stood, leaning up against the support beam in the middle of the room.

“You’re not sleeping,” he said. Evelyn didn’t move. “Talk to me.”

“I told you, I’ll deal with it after we get out of here,” she told him, her words muffled by her knees.

Hotch walked toward her and let out a groan as he lowered himself to the ground.

“You can sleep,” he told her, his words even quieter than they were before. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

Evelyn lifted her head finally to look at him.

“That’s not why I’m not sleeping,” she said, which was partially a lie. She didn’t sleep because she needed to be aware at all times. She couldn’t risk nodding off and letting her guard down. But there was another part to it.

“What’s bothering you?” he asked her.

“I thought I was going to die alone in that house, Aaron.” Her voice was thick with tears. “Twice. I stay awake because I can’t stand the thought of dying alone. And if you die while I’m sleeping-“

Hotch reached out and took her hand in his. When she looked over at him, he was staring straight ahead, not looking at her. She let out a shaky sigh and let him lace his fingers through hers. It was all the comfort that she needed.

“You’re not going to die alone,” Hotch told her. “You’re not going to die here at all.”

Evelyn nodded and let a few of the tears in her eyes fall, grateful for the darkness to cover her face. She lowered her head slowly to his shoulder, damning all protocol to hell, if there even was protocol for maybe dying in a basement with your boss. When Hotch didn’t immediately pull away from her or shake her off his shoulder, she settled in and shut her eyes.

“You’re not dying here either,” she said. “Not if I can help it.”

For the first time in days, Evelyn slept.

She awoke to someone grabbing hold of her hand. Her first thought was that it was Hotch squeezing her in his sleep. But when she gasped and opened her eyes, she found that it was just Rosalie sitting in front of her. It was still dark outside. She thought that the woman had brought her more food, but she turned out to be wrong.

“We have to go,” Rosalie whispered. “We have to go.”

“What?”

“Shh, shh,” Rosalie put a shaking finger to her lips and pulled on Evelyn’s hand. “You were right. We have to go now.”

Rosalie pulled Evelyn to her feet, dragging her toward the door before she was even fully awake.

“Wait, stop,” Evelyn whispered, trying to shake herself awake.

“No, now! This is the only chance you have.”

Rosalie dragged Evelyn out of the basement doors and up the stairs into the house above. It wasn’t the same house that Hotch and Evelyn had been searching before, she could tell that even in the dark.

“Where are you taking me, Rosalie?”

“You have to get out of here, now! Jeremy doesn’t want to kill you, but he will,” Rosalie said, pulling her through the rundown and dirty home.

“Stop. Stop!” Evelyn dug her heels into the ground and forced Rosalie to stop. “I’m not leaving Aaron.”

“You don’t have time!” There was nothing but pure desperation in Rosalie’s voice. “Jeremy knows I left. He’s coming here. You have to go now or you’re not going at all.”

Evelyn wrenched her arm out of Rosalie’s grip.

“I’m not leaving him.”

“Jeremy will kill you.” Rosalie sounded desperate, terrified.

Evelyn shook her head and took a step backward.

“I don’t care. I’m not leaving him.” Rosalie’s shoulders sagged in defeat. “Go. Call the police. Tell them where we are.”

Rosalie nodded her head.

“Go.”

Without another word, Rosalie turned around and ran from the house.

Evelyn watched her go. Her heart rate spiked when headlights flashed through the front window. All she could do for Rosalie was hope that she found some place to hide until Lions entered the house. If Lions was here, this was it. He was coming for Hotch.

Evelyn ran back to the basement as quietly as she could. She shut the basement door, hearing it lock with a heart wrenching click, just as the front door opened. She hurried down the stairs and dropped to the ground next to Hotch, startling him awake.

“What’s going on?” Hotch asked, still sounding stuck in sleep.

“Lions is here,” Evelyn whispered to him. “Rosalie is gone, she’s calling the police.”

“How-“

“We need a plan and quick,” Evelyn told him.

“We don’t know how long it will take for the police to respond,” Hotch replied quietly, his voice surprisingly calm. This might be his last few moments on earth, and he wasn’t terrified or angry or anxious. He was just calm. “All of his attention will be on me. You can escape then.”

She shook her head.

“I’m not leaving you here.”

“This isn’t a time for heroics.”

“That’s not what this is about.”

Before Hotch could argue, Evelyn pushed herself to her feet.

“What are you doing?” Hotch asked, standing after her.

“Like you said, Lions’ attention will all be on you. He won’t be expecting me.”

“Caro-“

She sunk into the shadows just as the door of the basement opened. Lions trudged down the stairs, grumbling to himself.

At the bottom of the stairs, he turned toward Hotch.

“Where’s the girl?” Lions asked, his voice low and gruff.

Hotch was silent.

“Doesn’t matter,” the unsub grumbled to himself. With his back to her completely, Lions started for Hotch. Evelyn would make sure he never reached him.

She crept out from her shadows, walking toward Lions. The ever present ache in her head from when Lions knocked her out didn’t even stop her. She was silent as she moved until she was right up behind him. In one quick motion, Evelyn kicked the back of his knee, dropping him to the ground before wrapping her arm around his neck.

Lions struggled against Evelyn. He was strong and she was weak from days with little food and water as well as the head injury. But she held on as tight to his neck as she could.

Hotch ran to check the basement door, but Lions had closed it, leaving it locked.

As he did so, Evelyn was so focused on keeping her grip on Lions, that she didn’t see his hand moving toward his pocket. He pulled out a knife and rammed it into her shin. She cried out, falling back and away from Lions.

“Evelyn!”

Hotch turned away from the door and ran back toward her as Lions stumbled away. Evelyn fell back against the support beam, lowering herself to the ground as she pressed her hands against the cut on her leg.

Hotch ran toward Evelyn, but Lions intercepted him. Fire spread throughout Evelyn’s leg, dark blood seeping through her fingers. She clenched her jaw in hopes of easing the pain. Hotch and Lions tumbled, a blur of bodies that Evelyn once again couldn’t distinguish. This scene was all too familiar to her.

Hotch was trained, but he was weak. Lions relied mostly on his size and strength, but lacked any formal training. Evelyn needed to get back into the fight, that was the only way Hotch would win this.

With a groan of effort and a sharp stabbing pain shooting through her leg, Evelyn forced herself to stand. Using the support beam as her support as well, she allowed herself a few moments to breathe through the pain before lurching forward.

Lions had Hotch pinned against the wall, his arm across his chest to keep him there. Evelyn hurtled toward Lions, pushing through the pain in her leg and barreled into him. This knocked him off balance. Being unable to stop herself once she started, she and Lions tumbled over each other until they were both on the ground. Hotch started forward to help Evelyn to her feet, but Lions had an arm around her waist and the knife pressed to her neck before either of them could really react.

“Back off,” Lions said, his voice even more gruff than before. Blood dribbled down from a broken nose and he wheezed, telling Evelyn that Hotch had hit him enough times near the diaphragm to knock the wind out of him.

The cool of the metal knife pressed against Evelyn’s throat didn’t scare her. Especially when she met Hotch’s gaze. That dead calm he always put forward she now felt flow through her veins. Everything was going to be okay, she could see it in his eyes. Evelyn breathed as shallowly as she could, trying to keep her throat from extending too far into the knife.

Lions pushed himself off the ground and brought Evelyn up with him. The knife cut into the first few layers of her throat and Evelyn flinched, feel the cool of her own blood dribble down her neck. Hotch put his hands in the air, trying to show that he meant Lions no harm.

“She’s not a part of this,” Hotch said. “You know that, Lions.”

“She’s a bitch is what she is,” Lions snapped, pressing the knife harder against Evelyn’s neck.

Hotch flinched forward and Evelyn shut her eyes.

“You want me, Lions, not her.” This was the calmness that Evelyn had never understood before. Her negotiation skills had never been good. Hotch said that she was too emotional. She cared too much and it was too easy to read in her voice. But Hotch was too good at pretending not to care at all. “Let her go and I’ll go with you.”

“No, Hotch-“

“Shut up,” Lions seethed in her ear. “You don’t get to talk.”

“Is that how you treat Rosalie, huh?” Evelyn asked, her hands on his arm that held the knife to her throat. “You call her a bitch and tell her shut up?”

“Be quiet!”

Evelyn could feel blood soak into her shirt, weighing it down.

“Lions, look at me,” Hotch said, pulling his attention away from Evelyn. “You can let her go.”

Evelyn felt her wounded leg start to grow numb and her balance shifted. In not too long, she wasn’t sure that she would be able to keep herself standing upright.

The door behind them burst open and Evelyn let out a gasp. Lions flinched and loosened his grip on her just enough that she broke free from him and stumbled forward, right into Hotch.

“Jeremy Lions, drop the knife and put your hands in the air!” Emily Prentiss said, her voice deep and commanding.

Evelyn’s leg gave out, every ounce of weight put on it causing a shooting pain up and down her entire body. Hotch held her up by her arms, her back pressed against his chest. He was the only thing keeping her standing and she could barely even do that.

Lions didn’t turn around, but he put his hands up in the air.

“Rosalie did this,” he said, his voice deadly low.

“Drop the knife, Lions,” Emily said again.

“You turned her against me.” Lions shifted his angered eyes away from Hotch and onto Evelyn. “You did.”

“I don’t want to shoot you, Lions, but I will.”

“You turned her against me!”

Lions took half a step toward them, the knife now facing her. Hotch turned Evelyn away, preparing to step between them, but Emily fired a single shot, the bullet tearing right through Lions’ shoulder. He fell to the ground with a cry of pain, the knife falling out of his grip.

Evelyn, still unable to stand on her own, turned to Hotch, her neck still bleeding.

“Are you okay?” she asked him, noting the bruises on his face.

“Are you guys alright?” Emily asked, her gun trained on Lions.

“We need a medic,” Hotch said. Emily nodded her head, her eyes flickering down the cut in Evelyn’s shin and neck.

Emily relayed the information through her earpiece, as well as saying the offender was down. Evelyn stayed leaned up against Hotch, his hands clinging to her arms to keep her steady, as Emily took Lions away in handcuffs.

Morgan and Reid came running into the basement along with the paramedics.

“Evie,” Morgan stepped toward her and she just smiled.

“We’re okay,” she told him.

“Ma’am,” the paramedic said. “Let’s get you to the ambulance.”

The paramedics stepped forward, one taking hold of Evelyn. The other moved toward Hotch.

“How are you feeling?” the paramedic asked him.

“Can you make it to the ambulance?” the paramedic asked Evelyn, who nodded her head.

“I can carry you,” Morgan said, stepping forward. Evelyn let out a quiet laugh.

“I can manage on my own, Derek,” she told him. Still, he followed her and the paramedic, his hands out just in case she started to fumble.

They helped her up the stairs and she looked back at Hotch, to find that his eyes were still on her. He nodded her head and she smiled at him.

The pain that flared throughout Evelyn’s leg was white hot, but with the paramedic taking most of her weight and Morgan just behind her, Evelyn was able to make it to through the house and to the ambulance without letting a single tear fall from her eye.

Hotch came out of the house a few minutes later, the paramedic still trying to get him to sit for a moment while Reid filled him in on everything they missed in the case.

“I’d like to speak with Rosalie,” Hotch said.

“She’s over here,” Reid said.

Hotch tried not to look over at the ambulance where he knew Evelyn was. He still had a job to do and he couldn’t focus on that if all he could think about was whether or not she was okay. He knew she was okay. She was always okay.

Rosalie sat in the back of one of the cop cars, her eyes closed and silent tears running down her cheeks. Hotch popped open the door, but she didn’t look at him.

“Is he alive?” she asked.

“He’ll survive,” Hotch told her. Rosalie let out a shaky breath and slowly opened her eyes. “Why did you help us?”

“I didn’t help you,” she said, looking away from him and toward the ambulance. “I helped Evelyn.”

Hotch scowled.

“She loves you, you know?”

Her words startled him and Hotch felt ice run through his blood.

“What?”

“She loves you. I gave her food at night but she’d only eat part of it, saved the rest for you. And last night I came to take her somewhere safe before Jeremy came back to kill you, but she refused to leave. I almost had her out of that house, but she ran back in. For you.”

Hotch looked down at his feet. He didn’t really expect anything less of Evelyn Caro. She always put everyone’s lives above her own. He shouldn’t expect her to act any different toward him.

But anger still bubbled up inside of him. She could have gotten herself killed and for what? She should have left him there and ran to get help. She should have….

“You better be damn sure you’re worth it.” Rosalie’s words were venom and Hotch could feel their sting deep in his blood.

Hotch shut the door, leaving Rosalie to her silence and grief. He turned to look at the ambulance, just as Morgan was stepping into the back. The paramedic shut the door, closing Hotch off from Evelyn. The siren started to blare, and the ambulance rolled out of the driveway.

“They’re taking her to the hospital,” Prentiss said, walking over to him. Hotch nodded his head. “Lost too much blood to just let her come back with us.”

“She kept antagonizing him,” Hotch said as he placed his hands on his hips. “If she had just let me go with him-“

“Caro was protecting you, sir,” Prentiss said. He looked at her, scowl deepening. “She knew that as soon as Lions had you, he would kill you. She had to make sure that didn’t happen.”

Hotch watched the ambulance as it drove away, the sirens ringing.

He never got the chance to ask if she was okay.

___

Evelyn lay back in her bed at the hotel, staring at the ceiling. A bandage wrapped around her leg and it itched, making it impossible for her to sleep. There was something else keeping her awake. Her mind reeled, the last few days playing over and over in her head. Trapped in a room with Hotch for days on end was the perfect time to talk to him about all the things that were bothering her, but even then, she couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t even know where to begin because she didn’t even know what she was feeling anyway.

Sitting up with a huff, Evelyn glowered into the darkness. She threw off her blankets that were making her too hot, lowering herself onto the ground and landing on her good leg. She hobbled over to her discarded clothes and threw them back on.

Air was what she needed. A breath of fresh air. And then she’d be okay. She could go back to pretending that everything was fine and normal, like she always did.

As she pulled a coat onto her shoulders, she opened the door and froze.

Hotch was standing there, wearing a broken down version of his usual suit. His tie and jacket were discarded, his shirt buttoned up sloppily. She wondered if he had ever even gone to bed. And he was standing in front of her door, his hand not even raised to knock. He was just standing there.

He looked at her with wide eyes, shocked to find her there.

“Um, hi,” Evelyn said, dropping her hand from the doorknob.

“I just wanted to check to see how you were doing,” Hotch said.

“Hotch, it’s like three in the morning.”

He looked down at his hands. He was actually fidgeting. Something had made him motivated enough to come here, but nervous enough not to knock.

“I know. I can go-“

“No, wait.” He froze. “I never got to ask if you were okay.”

Hotch nodded his head.

“I’m okay.”

“Good.”

They stood there in silence. Evelyn felt her throat tighten every time she wanted to say something. Hotch wouldn’t look at her. The silence seemed to drag on for eternity before Hotch finally broke it.

“I talked to Rosalie, after everything, and she said something,” Hotch said. Evelyn finally put her eyes on him.

“What…what did she say?”

There were a thousand terrible things that Evelyn could think of that the woman could have possibly said to land her standing in front of her boss at three in the morning.

“She said that you had a chance to leave that house and you came back,” he told her. Evelyn straightened her back. This was going to be a lecture, she could just feel it coming. She just didn’t know why it couldn’t wait until morning. “Why?”

Evelyn scowled and looked at the ground, her hand still on the door.

“Why?” She repeated. “Because I couldn’t leave you there.”

“You should have.”

Evelyn felt her temper begin to rise. What was it with this man?

“A ‘thank you for saving my life’ would suffice,” she said, her tone harsh. “If I hadn’t come back, Lions would have killed you. From where I’m standing, I made the right decision.”

“And got yourself hurt in the process.”

“I’ll survive.” Hotch fell quiet again. “Listen, Aaron, if you’ve come to pick a fight, I think it can wait until morning.”

Evelyn took a step back and started to close the door, but Hotch lifted his hand and stopped it from closing. She looked over at him, jaw tightened, and found him staring back at her.

“I’m not here to pick a fight with you,” he said.

“Then why did you come?”

She could see the question rattling around in his brain, as if he had been asking himself that very same question ever since he left his room.

“I’m sick of this, Aaron,” she said finally, when he didn’t answer. “I’m sick of neither of us being able to say what we really mean. I’m sick of running in circles around each other. Just tell me why you came here.”

“I came to make sure you’re okay.”

“Mission accomplished then. I’m fine. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She started to close the door again and this time he didn’t stop her.

“Rosalie also said you loved me.”

Evelyn froze, the door almost shut so she couldn’t see his face anymore. Which was good because it meant that he also couldn’t see hers and the fear that was etched into every feature. Her breathing became heavy, like every breath took so much more work. She closed her eyes, and slowly started to open the door again.

“Rosalie said that?” Hotch nodded his head once. “Did you believe her?”

He was quiet for a moment, letting out a long but quiet sigh.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re a profiler. Tell me, what do you think?”

He took a while to answer.

“I think you’re a deeply compassionate person who cares for the team. I think you would give your life for any one of us in a heartbeat.” Evelyn looked down at her feet and Hotch tried to follow her eyes with his. “I know that you would never do anything to jeopardize the dynamics of this team because we’ve become your family.”

“Okay.”

“So, I don’t know how much of what you say and do is because the team is your family and how much is because-“

“-I love you.”

The words came from her mouth like any other fact would. She had known it for so long, never said it, not even to herself, but she knew it. And she managed to say it so casually. She was just completing his sentence after all.

Hotch stood still, as if trying to decide whether or not she was finishing what he was saying or confessing. He searched her eyes, but she stayed motionless. It was time he figured things out for himself, she decided. They’d both spent so long trying to figure the other out, it was high time someone just made the first move.

“When you were at Ralph Bennet’s house,” he said finally, “I had these horrible dreams about finding you there already dead. I was too late to save you.”

Evelyn could have sworn there were tears glimmering in his eyes.

“You did though, Aaron. You did save me.”

“But was I too late?” He asked. “Did I wait too long for…everything else?”

“What do you want, Aaron?” Her voice was just at a whisper, her hand still on the door.

It was the last time she would ask. This was the last time and then she’d let it go, let him go. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life, however short that might be, pining after one man.

Hotch surprised her then. He didn’t say anything else, he didn’t try to talk. Talking was clearly getting him nowhere. Everything he said somehow came out wrong. Instead, he took a step toward her, closing the distance between them. Putting a hand to her cheek, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.

His answer was clear. It took her a few moments to over come her shock, but when she did, she reached out to grab hold of his shirt collar, pulling him in closer.

She pulled him into her room and shut the door, leaving the hallway empty and quiet.

Her room was still dark as he moved her backward, his hands never leaving her. He thought he had lost her. But here she was, with him, and that’s all he needed.

“You,” he whispered against her skin. “Just you.”

Every raging fire that made up Evelyn Caro met the calm seas that built Aaron Hotchner, burning and boiling and soothing in every possible way.

He kissed her lips, her bruised cheek bone, her jaw. His hands rested against the side of her neck, gently though, so as not to irritate her wound. She tugged at his wrinkled shirt, trying to pull him closer.

Hotch knew this was breaking protocol. But he left behind every rule in the book when he left his room two hours ago. Every inch of contact with her made his stomach twist, every time her teeth grazed his lip made his heart pound. For so long he had wanted her and for so long he had pretended otherwise. He was so, so tired of pretending.

He was pulling off her shirt and she didn’t stop him and he didn’t stop himself, but he couldn’t. He just needed all of her.

Evelyn gasped, her intake of breath so sharp that Hotch pulled away. She breathed raggedly, her chest rising and falling.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, his eyes moving to her neck.

Consumed by her, he had forgotten the shape she was in. He couldn’t bear the thought of hurting her.

“I’m not that fragile,” she told him. There was a smug look on her face, her lips twitched up into a smile.

Hotch leaned forward to kiss that smile, soft and gentle. His hands dropped to her waist and he kissed her again. He intended to pull away, leave her be for the night, but every time he tried, he came back to her like a magnet.

Evelyn had just as hard as a time keeping away from him. His calloused hands were grazing over her sides, her waist, her stomach, her back. Her hands were trembling as she fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. Her heart pounded like a drum beat in her chest, so hard that she could hear it in her ears and it made her hands shake.

She expected him to stop her, to realize what he was doing and take her hands a politely decline, but when the last button came undone, he pulled away from just long enough to take the shirt off himself.

Hotch put his lips back on hers as soon as he could. Evelyn smiled against his kiss.

As if she had burned him, he suddenly stepped away, leaving Evelyn leaning against the wall, heaving for breath. He stared at her, his own breath ragged, his dark eyes smoldering.

“Is something…did I…?”

Shame pooled in Evelyn’s cheeks, making them burn. There she was, completely and utterly exposed, barely able to stand well enough on her own to scurry away.

“You’ve had a very hard year, Evelyn,” he said.

She tilted her head to the side and looked at the ground, locking her jaw.

“Hotch….”

“And I can’t take advantage of-“

“Aaron!” She said with a laugh, forcing him to look at her. “I’m fine. This is fine, more than fine.”

“Is it what you want?” he asked.

She gave a small smile and heaved out a sigh.

“Aaron Hotchner,” she said. “Have I ever done anything I haven’t wanted to?”

Lifting a hand, she curled her finger, beckoning for him. He stepped toward her until he was just a breath away.

“I’ll tell you if I need to stop,” she said to him, just above a whisper.

Evelyn reached up and kissed him again. It took him a few moments to respond, but once he accepted what she said, he leaned into her.

He placed a hand on her chest, right over her heart.

And for once, in a very, very long time, that wound in her soul didn’t feel so gaping.

[user21340]

i hate that i adore you

(not my gif nor characters)

pairing: natasha romanoff x fem!reader

summary: you are best friends with yelena. however your relationship with natalia is rocky until one night you comfort her after a nightmare, someone takes a picture of you and natalia lies. will you forgive her?

warnings: a few curses and just fluff :)

word count: 2.131k

a/n: thank you so much for 138 followers that is insane to me! i hope everyone is having a nice week. i’m almost done with school (not really 🥲). my requests are open atm so feel free to send something i just don’t write smut. enjoy!💕😌

I just about finished work and see Yelena’s name appear on my phone screen and accept her call.

“Hey y/n/n, I know you are probably wrapping up with work right now but wanna come over when you are done so we can watch some movies?” Yelena speaks.

“Yeah sure, that sounds like a good time... Wait is Natalia going to be home?” I say with disgust.

“Nope, she’ll be working.” Yelena says as she rolls her eyes just thinking about the ongoing feud between her two best friends, one being her sister.

“Okay then, I’ll be there and I’ll grab snacks on the way.”

“Sounds good see you soon!”

Yelena and I have been friends for a while now after attending college with one another and becoming roommates. We both moved out of our small apartment after graduating and parted ways when career searching. We both found nice jobs fairly close to each other. At this time Yelena’s sister Natalia moved in with her. Our relationship had been fine at first until Natalia started making comments about me always being over to spend time with Yelena and being a ‘clingy’ friend. I could brush off those and even fire some of my own comments back. As time progressed and the sisters had been living with each other for a couple years now Natalia’s attitude only became more hostile towards me. Between the constant one-upping over the smallest accomplishments I was proud of (until she ruined it for me) to the constant embarrassing me in public or even when I’d take a date to hangout with Yelena and I after a long night of clubbing. It got tiring. Worst part is, I never knew what I did to cause such treatment.

I stop at five-below and get a bunch of candy and even grab mine and Yelena’s favorite drinks.

I hop out of my car and approach the doors of the Stark Tower. Yup. Natalia happened to be one of earth’s mightiest heroes. She also happened to be one of earth’s bitchiest ones too. Yelena and her sister shared a floor in the tower.

I mosey in through the familiar doors of the tower and enter the elevator with the bags full of junk food in my hands. I make it to Yelena’s floor and yell,

“‘Lena you there?”

“Yup, over here.” Her voice sounds as she raises a hand up over the couch in the living area.

I walk over to the couch and peek around only to see Yelena sitting comfortably sprawled on the couch. however, there is also a particularly annoying fiery redhead sitting atop the large chair placed to the left of the couch.

I freeze and glare at Yelena. If looks could kill she’d for sure be dead at least five seconds ago. Yelena looked at me with an apologetic expression. I look over to where Natalia is sitting only to find her smirking at me from her stupid chair.

“Yelena,” I say gritted teeth, “you said she wouldn’t be here.”

“I know, she technically isn’t supposed to, but if you’d be so kind to stop your bellyaching and sit down, we could get this movie started.”

“Oh I’m sorry, did I step on your moment.” Natalia’s grin widens.

“Ugh no you’re just- Never mind you aren’t worth my breath.” I say before sitting next to my friend.

Why does she have to be so frustrating for no reason I hate everything about her. Her stupid aviator sunglasses she always wears, her stupid low-cut shirts, her arrogance, her plump pink lips, perfect nose, beautifully piercing green eyes, her hot cat suit she wears for wor-

No, no, no, there is nothing perfect nor beautiful about that woman. I try and convince myself. My mind is at constant war when thinking about her.

My thoughts are quickly halted when Natalia clears her throat. I realize I was staring at her this whole time. I quickly look away to hide my reddening cheeks hoping Yelena didn’t catch on as well.

I hand Yelena her drink and a package of sour patch kids. She thanks me and returns to selecting a movie.

Natalia quickly moves and before I can comprehend what she is doing she steals the package of peanut m&m’s from the bag. I groan but let it go knowing that arguing is only going to further her amusement.

The movie is relatively boring so I start drifting off and lay my head on Yelena’s lap. She combs her fingers lightly through my hair which furthers my drowsiness.

Third Person POV

Both Natalia and Y/n are asleep in the living area of the this floor. Yelena slowly slips out of the position she is in and places a pillow under Y/n’s head and drapes two light blankets, one over Y/n and the other over Natalia. Yelena then retreats back to her room.

Y/n’s POV

I’m woken up by small whimpers and unfamiliar cries. I sit up only to find Natalia shaking and practically sobbing in her sleep. For a moment I contemplate whether I should intervene or try and go back to sleep. However, no matter how annoying and utterly frustrating to me she is, I decide it isn’t fair for me to sit back and watch her suffer when I’m aware of her rough past.

I lightly touch her shoulder and her eyes shoot open. It takes her a minute to grasp her surroundings. Her cries don’t stop, they only grow louder. I look into her tear-filled eyes asking for permission to touch her which she understands and complies with. I pull her into a tight comfortable hug while softly stroking her back. This goes on for a bit as I break the comfortable silence.

“I know we aren’t on the best terms but you can talk about what your nightmare was about if you’d like. I know you won’t go back to sleep until you do.” she nods.

She goes on to explain her side of her journey through the red room and helping Yelena escape to ensure her sister a better future. Nat tells you about all of the horrific torture methods as well as the treatment of the young girls as you just nod along absorbing all of this new information. Yelena had told me her story plenty of times but it was more sincere and refreshing when coming from Nat.

Nat’s cries have stopped as she thanks me continuously for listening and understanding why she is so guarded all the time.

“One more thing, can you lie (is it lie or lay?) with me? Even after talking about my dream I’m still not sure if I can fall asleep again.” I agree seeing as it is only two in the morning knowing it is still a long time until sunrise.

Her and I walk back to her room which I’d only gotten a few glimpses of when either walking past and seeing as the door was rarely open or if Yelena asked me to give Nat packages that she’d ordered.

The room was very simplistic. Boxy bed frame, glass desk, made bed, sorted books on a floating shelf and a perfectly clean room, so clean it looked like no one lived in there.

Nat goes into her closet and changes into sleepwear asking me if I need any clothes to change into which I just ask her for a pair of shorts. She hands them to me and I quickly slide them on. She pats her bedside and I lie down with her feeling oddly at peace.

I wake up alone in an unfamiliarly familiar bed. Only to see my phone is being being blown up with texts reading them all only to be more confused about my situation. I exit the room and enter the floor’s living space which is also empty. I also know Yelena’s room is empty due to her door being wide open. I head to the elevator and push the button to the main floor of the tower.

I step out of the elevator to see the whole team surrounding the redhead. As well as an image of Nat and my own legs intertwined as well as our whole bodies closely gripping one another on the large flat screen. That is when it hits me. That is why I woke up alone with my phone blowing up.

“I’m telling you. She literally cannot find anyone to go out with her. You should’ve seen her on her knees literally begging me to just lie down with her in the middle of the night. Holy, I could never imagine being with someone like her.” Natalia says chuckling.

“Shut up, Nat. She’s my best friend and I’m not going to stand here and let you slander her when she isn’t even here to defen-“ Yelena is cut off when I make my presence known to the team my clearing my throat from the entrance of the elevator. Natalia’s previous shit-eating grin is quickly wiped off when she looks into my hurt eyes and uneasy posture, somewhat mimicking her own form last night.

“What. The. Actual fuck. The nerve you have to- You know what. There is no fixing this one Natalia. Next time you wake up in a puddle of tears go find comfort elsewhere.” With that, I storm out of the tower after seeing everyone in the living area frozen mouths agape.

“Y/n wait!” Natalia shouts. I respond by flipping her off behind my back.

I make it back to my car with tears in my eyes now and drive back to my apartment. I push my door open as every step gets heavier before collapsing on my bed.

It must’ve been a couple days of just laying in bed with the occasional glass of water being refilled and drained by my thirst when I hear a knock on the door. I get up and look through the peephole only to see Natalia in all of her glory holding an edible arrangement. Something is different about her though. As I investigate further I see her red puffy glazed eyes. I crack the door open.

“Y/n, I totally understand if you never want to talk or see me again after that cruel stunt I pulled recently but I really just need to apologize to you. Not just for this incident but about everything.” I look at her and nod finding no words to comfort her due to my anger towards the woman still, ”I’d like to apologize for being a bitch to you ever since you hung out with ‘Lena around me and I understand it was and will never be my place to judge the time you spend together. I’d like to apologize for the constant comments I make just to get a rise out of you. Lastly, I’d like to apologize for badmouthing you after you helped me a lot.”

“Why?” is all I manage to squeak out overwhelmed by all of these apologies direct towards myself.

Nat shifts around, places the edible arrangement on the ground and rubs the back of her neck with her hand. “Well, as far as you spending time with either ‘Lena, any dates, or even avengers, truth is I get jealous.” my mouth drops, “I just want to impress you all the time and it feels unhealthy. I hate the way you laugh at their jokes and easily converse with anyone and everyone. Most of all I hate how you can’t be mine.” she exclaims.

Still reflecting on what she just said I just stand still saying nothing until I hear Nat mutter,

“Sorry for bothering you. I should’ve just kept my distance I guess.” she says with a sad look on her face. As she turns around I jump in front of her and initiate a long desperate kiss. I back away.

“Wow. I-. Just wow. I’ve been waiting so long to feel your lips.” I say and Nat still has a look of shock on her face but chuckles nonetheless.

“You are such a dork.”

“Possibly your dork?” I ask.

“Wow, I never thought I’d see the day. Y/n L/n asking me out.”

“Uh I- Yes. Natalia would you let me become your personal dork?” I ask jokingly with a hint of hope laced in my voice.

“There is no one else I’d rather have my personal dork be than you. Well, maybe-“

“Natalia Alianovna Romanova, don’t even finish that thought. The only thing you need to do is meet me back here at seven tonight. Wear something pretty.”

It was Nat’s turn to shy away from the conversation.

“Of-of course. I’ll be here.”

“Don’t make me regret it Romanoff.” I smirk only for it to be dropped when both Nat and I see her sister leant up against the hallway wall with a smug look on her face and her back camera facing our direction. So she must've been the photographer of the image that started all of this.

“Ughhh.” both Nat and I groan.

At the end of the day Natalia, I hate that I adore you.

[motherjoel]

hostile (spencer reid x fem!reader)

summary: after months of trying to get pregnant and a miscarriage, you finally succeed. will you get the chance to tell spencer this time?

a/n: this is my first oneshot in a veryyyy long time so im sorry if im a little rusty! trying to get back into it :) also i know very little about pregnancy so forgive me! (i got the hostile uterus part from greys anatomy lmao)

wc: 2.3k

warnings/includes: lotsa fluff, angst if you squint, criminal minds stuff, pregnancy, miscarriage

-

“Spence, were you even listening in there? I have a hostile uterus. Not only am I feeling incredibly hostile right now, but my uterus?” you yelled as Spencer guided you to your car.

“All I’m suggesting is that we keep trying, Y/N. And I’ve already done plenty of research on adoption and surrogacy, did you know that 140,000 children are adopted by American families each year?” he asked, opening the passengers side door for you and running around to hop in the driver's seat. “And there's always in vitro fertilization,” he suggested as he reached to shut his door and start the car. 

“Of course you wanna keep trying Spence, all you have to do is stick it in and thrust,” you huffed as he winced at your harsh wording, grabbing your hand over the center console. “I’m the one taking hormone shots in my ass and drinking less than 5 cups of coffee a day,” you complained about your attempts at increasing fertility. “Who knew a miscarriage would be the thing to get me to cut down on caffeine.”

Spencer was silent as he drove back to your shared apartment, both of your minds on your struggles to get pregnant in the past year. You thought back to your miscarriage and the impact it had on you both- it had only been a few months since you and Spencer became official. It was new, and this pregnancy was unplanned to say the least. Not telling Spencer about it was the only solution you could think of at the time- until it was too late. 

You remembered the feeling in your chest, your entire body running cold after being tackled by an unsub. You hadn’t told anyone of your pregnancy, not even Spencer, but as the blood ran down your legs it was pretty clear what had just happened. Derek dragged the unsub away in handcuffs as you sat in the open back of the ambulance, a paramedic wrapping your wrist. You barely remembered JJ’s look of pity or Rossi’s concerned gaze. The only thing you remembered was the pale face of your boyfriend as you had been lying on the ground moments before trying to hide the blood. He eventually made his way over to sit next to you after a few minutes of stunned silence.

“Hey, Spence,” you whispered as he sat next to you, the paramedic finishing up and walking away.

“How long?” He looked at your stomach, fidgeting with his hands in his lap.

“Three, um, three months,” you fiddled with the bandage on your wrist.

“And you didn’t… you didn’t think to tell me?” he asked, eyes welling up as he finally made eye contact.

“I’m so sorry Spencer, I just, we never talked about kids before and we haven’t been together for too long… I just needed time. To think.”

He nodded and swallowed thickly before softy taking your hand in his, running his finger over the fabric of your bandage.

“You never have to hide something like this from me, y/n. We’re in this together and... not to be um, too forward, but I love you,” he confessed. You knew you loved him, but neither of you had dared say it. “I love you now and I always will, so you can trust me with this kind of thing.”

Since that day, the two of you had only gotten closer. Now, a year into your marriage, you were actively trying. And after months of trying to no avail, a trip to the obstetrician was called for- the obstetrician who called your uterus hostile, which was likely the reason for your first miscarriage. You could barely fall asleep for a few weeks after your obstetrician appointment, which made this early morning case call all the more difficult. The two of you dragged yourselves out of bed and began your morning routine of getting dressed and making coffee, moving in sync with each other as you prepared for the day. It was a quick drive into the office and before you knew it you were sitting in a room full of your coworkers looking at pictures of human remains. 

“Four men killed in Ohio in the past month, each left with a note written in the same handwriting,” Penelope says as you all look at the case file. You normally had an iron stomach- in the BAU, queasiness wasn’t an option. But for the first time in your career, your face turned green at the pictures of dead bodies.

“It says here that they are all men in long-term relationships?” Emily asks.

“Correction: Were in long-term relationships. Right before they died, it was reported that they left their girlfriends,” Garcia explained.

“That’s important for the victimology, but there has to be something more to set off the unsub,” Spencer commented.

“Yeah, I bet that there was a common reason for them leaving,” you suggested, closing the case file and averting your gaze from the pictures.

“We’ll discuss more on the jet. Wheels up in twenty,” said Hotch.

You all gathered your things and began to leave for the jet, Spencer walking in stride with you.

“You know what, Spence, I’m actually gonna run across the street and grab some tampons before we go, I think i'm gonna need em,” you said. “Go on ahead without me.”

“Are you sure? I can just come with you,” he offered.

“No, no, go brainstorm with the team. I’ll be right there,” you smiled at him as you parted ways. You were going to the convenience store across the street, but it wasn’t for tampons. Your stomach fluttered as the bell jingled at the entrance. The aisle for pregnancy tests was easy to find, and you were on the jet five minutes later.

“Hey, did you find the, um…” Spencer trailed off as you sat down next to him on the jet. He wasn’t one of those men who got weird about menstruation, but you knew he was avoiding the word “tampon” to save you any embarrassment .

“Yup, I’m good,” you smiled and focused on the team who had now gathered around to further discuss the case.

“So, is there any link between the men yet? There has to be a reason that they were all killed soon after leaving their girlfriends,” JJ mused. You thought back to your past fears and your current situation and something suddenly clicked in your brain.

“Wait…” you picked up the case file. “What if… what if they were pregnant?” you asked, looking up to see furrowed brows. “I mean, the handwriting is feminine, so maybe the unsub is a woman who’s getting revenge on men leaving their pregnant girlfriends?” you concluded.

“I’ll call Garcia. We land in 30, keep looking over the files,” Hotch said before you all sat back down in your respective seats, the outside of your thigh pressed against Spencer’s.

You were trying to think of a good time to take the pregnancy test- you couldn’t do it on the jet, it would be really hard to hide on a plane full of profilers. You decided that the best time to take it would be back at the hotel, but after working for hours you found it hard to focus with the pregnancy test in your bag. Excusing yourself to the bathroom in the local precinct, you snuck the test with you. You locked the door behind you and took the test, trying to control your breathing as you waited for the results. As you waited, you got a text from Morgan telling you that there was new information. The moment you finished reading his text, your alarm beeped. Taking a deep breath, you dared a glance at the stick. With shaky hands, you picked up the test and bit your lip to hold back your yelp of joy at the tiny little +. Shoving the test into your bag, you rushed back to the rest of the team to continue working on the case. You would tell Spencer this time, but you decided it would be best to catch a serial killer first.

Garcia confirmed through the phone that all of the girlfriends were pregnant and shared the same obstetrician who was a single mother with a young child. This seemed to be the perfect profile for an unsub killing men who walked out on their families, but something seemed off to you. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but something was bugging you about the case. You were on the way to Shelby Meyerson’s, the obstetricians house, with Morgan and Spencer when Garcia called.

“Whats up baby girl,” Morgan answered, one hand on the wheel.

“So I’ve been doing some digging and it turns out that Shelby actually has a boyfriend, Andrew. Recent social media posts show that they started dating a little over a month ago, and it looks like Andrew grew up without a father” she said.

“Right before the killings started,” you looked at Spencer from the back seat.

“Garcia, send his address,” Spencer spoke into the speaker.

“Already on it my loves,” Garcia replied, and you could hear the clacking of her keyboard as she hit send. You looked at the address in your phone.

“Morgan, that's right down the street from where we are right now,” you pointed out. The three of you didn’t waste any time getting there. You hopped out of the car and approached the door, hand instinctively resting on your gun.

“FBI, open up,” you said, rapping on the door. You waited for a moment, but when nobody answered, Derek took matters into his own hands. Within seconds, the door had been kicked down and the three of you spread out around the house, Morgan going upstairs and Spencer going into the basement as you canvassed the ground floor. You took notice of a cup of tea on a coffee table, still warm. Once you cleared the area, you made your way into the basement, gun drawn. Your heart dropped at the sight before you- a man you recognized as missing tied to the radiator in the corner of the room, and your unsub restraining your husband with a gun to his head. You kept your gun pointed at the unsub as you heard Morgan come down the stairs behind you.

“Don’t move!” The unsub, Andrew, yelled. You raised your hands when he pointed his gun at you, dropping your weapon to gain trust.

“Andrew, there’s no way to get out of this, just let him go so we can talk,” you tried to soothe him, his grip on Spencer only tightening.

“No, no, you don’t understand. These men deserve to die for leaving their children, they-they’re terrible people, I’m giving them what they deserve,” he argued, becoming frantic.

“Andrew, if you hurt that agent, you’re just as bad as the men you kill,” you began, taking small steps toward Spencer. “He’s my husband and…” you started, locking eyes with Spencer. “And I’m pregnant with his child,” you confessed. Spencer's eyes went wide, shock overtaking the previous expression of fear. You continued to speak. “If you kill him, you make him leave his child. I know you don’t want that, I know you don’t want someone else to go through what you went through,” you bargained. Thankfully, you seemed to get through to him, as he dropped his gun and collapsed to the ground, his grip on Spencer loosening as Derek moved in to cuff him.

You immediately ran to your husband, throwing your arms around his midsection as he wrapped himself around you, kissing the top of your head and whispering reassurances to you. 

“I was so scared,” you said into his chest, your voice muffled by his kevlar vest. He put his hands on the side of your face and wiped your stray tears, his own falling as he started to smile.

“Were you serious? Are… are we pregnant?” he asked, his hopeful smile spreading wide as ever. You bit your lip and nodded, squealing with joy as he picked you up and twirled you around, not even noticing the rest of the BAU had arrived at the scene.

“Hey, be careful with Y/N! She’s carrying my god child,” Derek smirked as Spencer set you down, his arms still wrapped around your waist. 

“Hold on, why does Morgan get to be the godfather?” Rossi questioned, putting on a mock italian accent, making you all laugh.

“That’s not important, what's important is that we're gonna have a baby genius running around,” JJ smiled as she walked over to hug you both, which turned into a group hug between the entire BAU. You all broke up the hug when Morgan's phone began to ring.

“Yes, baby girl everyone's safe. Actually… Pretty boy and pretty girl have some big news,” he said, putting Garcia on speaker.

“What! Tell me right now, I can't handle this!” she begged. You and Spencer smiled at each other before you began to speak.

“You’re gonna be an aunt,” you said excitedly, receiving the loudest gasp through the phone.

“You mean… you… Spencer… you guys… oh my GOD!” she began to ramble about her excitement as you all laughed, Derek taking the phone off speaker to calm her down.

“Our kid is gonna be so loved,” you smiled, grabbing his hands and standing on your toes to press a kiss on his cheek.

“We got really lucky,” he blushed, pulling you back into another hug, the world around you frozen in that moment.

-

just ask if you wanna be on my taglist! <3

taglist: @rigatonireid​,  @aworldoffandoms, @moonshinerbynight, @averyhotchner, @s1utformgg

[angryschnauzer]

Imagine you're Henry's neighbour, you've heard his conquests, have to admit you're a little jealous as they all sound happy. But it make you wonder if they are faking it.

You chat to friend on the phone whilst in the garden, not realising he can hear you.

The knock on your door later that evening was unexpected but when you see your hot neighbour there you have no idea why.

Until he offers to show you just why those other women were so happy

Okay so i decided to continue my PE Teacher Henry series with this one, previous parts below:

Thigh Riding,  Jingle My Bells , An Epic Quickie

Warnings: Fluff, a little bit of Angst, talk of breakups, young idiots in love.

The Boy Next Door

The sun was shining and the sounds of late summer could be heard as the four of you settled on dining chairs that had been pulled out onto the ramshackle patio so you could celebrate moving into the shared house for your last year of Uni and doing Post-Graduate for teaching. Opening a chilled bottle of Echo Falls Rose Zinfandel, Marie sloshed it into the four waiting glasses, handing on to each of you;

“Here’s to just one more year of Uni, then we can be set free onto the world of teaching education rather than being taught!”

The four of you had all done your degree’s together, and by the end of your 3rd year you had moved into a shared house to save on halls of residence costs. When you’d all decided to attend the same Uni for your Post Graduates qualification it was the easy choice to decide to rent together, and you’d manage to snag a gorgeous multi level Victorian town house to rent for the year. The landlord had admitted a few things needed to be updated, but it was a short walk from campus so in exchange for a reduction in rent you’d found the perfect place. 

By the time the 3rd bottle of Zinfandel was opened you were all pleasantly merry, and from the advantage point of the raised patio where the garden dipped away as it went downhill you could see the road that ran alongside the house next door that yours was connected to. The corner house had looked a lot more appealing, but the rent had been considerably higher, so the compromise was that you’d rented the one away from the street corner. Just at that moment another Removals Truck pulled up alongside the corner house, and you could hear various cars park behind it, the sound of young male voices easily heard. It was obvious you had a group of male students living next door.

-

Three weeks into term and you were sat at the desk in your room, glaring at the wall in front of you. No matter how hard you tried to concentrate on how to teach fronted adverbials, the screams of the woman obviously on the verge on an orgasm from the guys house next door just reminded you of your lack of love life. With a sigh you set your pencil down and headed downstairs, away from the obvious now orgasming woman.

“Oh hey Hunny, thought you were catching up on some English Lit stuff?” Marie smiled as she poked at an egg she was attempting to fry on the small electric cooker.

“I was… until there was another screamer next door”

“Oh… another one?” she winced, knowing that from the 2nd day the guys next door had moved in, the one that was in the room next to you had been able to bed a different girl about every three nights or so.

You grabbed a glass of water and stepped outside, letting the sunshine warm your face. Opening your Motorolla Flip Phone you scrolled through your texts, smiling as you saw messages from last years classmates, checking in on how everyone was doing. You were vaguely aware of Marie coming outside, setting a plate down on the patio wall and the click of her lighter as she lit a Royals cigarette.

“You still miss him, don’t you?” she asked.

Pulling your gaze up to her, your eyes immediately growing wet. Nodding you swallowed the lump in your throat. Wrapping your arms around your body you looked out over the garden;

“I know… it’s stupid. Its been two years, and it was a mutual decision to part ways, but Henry was my first, you know? He was my first everything. We got together when we were sixteen, we made it through our A-Levels together, we even managed a year doing long distance when we didn’t get into the same Uni…”

“What about that dude… Chris? Didn’t you two have a thing a while back”

You let out a laugh;

“He loves his politics too much to commit to a relationship. If i had to listen to one more rant about Tony Blair whilst we tried to go out for dinner i would have screamed…”

You looked at Marie who was now halfway through her fried egg sandwich whilst her cigarette sat smouldering in the petunias that had mostly gone over for the season, and she gave you the ‘sad puppy eyes’ as she chewed. You let out a grunt of frustration;

“FUCK! I just want to not feel like this anymore! I’ve spent two years moping over Henry-fucking-Cavill, i just want to be able to get on with my post graduate and move on with my life without being constantly reminded of his skills every time i try to do any work in my room!”

-

Henry smiled and waved as Monica, no Michelle, no… wait… whoever made their way down the front steps of the house, closing the door with a sigh of relief. 

“Another one dude?”

Looking at where Anthony was coming down the stairs he nodded;

“Yup. Sorry about the noise” 

He followed his housemate through to the kitchen, switching the kettle on. He was now used to Henry’s conquests screaming the house down, but it was still fun to taunt Henry about the noise they would make;

“So, this was was faking it again?”

Henry looked at him in mock-shock;

“I can assure you none of them fake it”

Chucking teabags into two mugs Anthony chuckled;

“I know man. But i also know you’re still trying to fill the void she left. Its been two years man”

“Yeah, but she’s long gone, i’m her past, i’d only drag her down. She’s probably got some hot politics graduate about to propose to her. She wouldn’t want some dumb physical education ass like me anymore”

Handing him the strong cup of tea Anthony nodded;

“Whatever man, but i still think you should message her, you haven’t spoken in two years and you’re still hung up on her, one last try, huh?”

Heading out to the garden Henry sat on the patio wall and lit a cigarette. He’d sworn he’d never smoke again, what with being a physical education student, but there were still times when he buckled to his nerves and stresses. Lighting up he inhaled deeply, enjoying the quiet of the garden before he heard his neighbours come out onto the patio next door. Through the trellis covered in a thick layer of ivy he could hear everything, as although it did a great job at giving visual privacy, the clear voices of the young women next door carried easily through the greenery.

Ten minutes later Henry almost knocked Anthony over as he bolted up the stairs;

“Sorry man, got something to do… gotta get my Blackberry”

-

The next morning you were on your way to class when your phone chimed, looking at the screen you felt your blood run hot then cold at the name on the display;

“What does he want?” you muttered to yourself, before with a sigh you pushed the phone back into your bag, deciding to look at it later once you had finished your class. The last thing you needed to get your mind off of Henry was a text from him.

-

Making your way out to the patio, you threw your bag onto the sofa and smiled as you saw the rest of the girls already out enjoying the last of the days sunshine;

“Heeeyyyyy there she is” Janelle called, sipping from a bottle of Becks

“Is there any more of those? I need a drink”

Handing you a bottle Marie smiled as you smashed the cap off using the top brick of the wall, sipping the tart bubbles of Lager you let out a sigh;

“Henry texted me today”

The three girls went quiet before Jo spoke;

“What did he say?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t read it. I’m trying to get over him, the last thing i need is getting my hopes up. He’s hundreds of miles away, no doubt doing something super sporty that only makes him look even better, probably coaching kids rugby or something. He’s not gonna want some boring English teacher wannabe like me”

At the mere mention of the word ‘Wannabe’ the others broke into a poor rendition of the Spice Girls song, unaware of the silent frustration happening the other side of the ivy trellis.

-

After one beer you’d excused yourself, deciding to take advantage of the quiet to get some coursework done, thankful that your room neighbour on the other side of the wall wasn’t entertaining any female guests again, but you had no idea how long that would last so the sooner you got some work done the better. With your bedroom window open you got back to work, getting in a full hour before your phone chimed again with another text. Glancing at the little screen on the front you scowled, another text from Henry.

Setting the phone down you went back to your work, frowning as you struggled to concentrate, until five minutes later your phone chimed again, your eyes going wide when you saw it was yet another text from Henry;

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!” you yelled at your phone.

“A REPLY!”

You sat at your desk, surely your ears were now playing tricks on you, you could have sworn you’d heard Henry’s voice. With a sigh you set your pencil down and opened your phone, reading the messages;

Received 8.46am: Hi. I know its been a long time but i’d love to call you at some point. Would be good to hear your voice. Hen. x

Received 4.55pm: Miss you. Can I call you? Hen. x

The phone beeped whilst you held it, another text coming in;

Received 4.59pm:

Look outside.

Glancing at your window you moved to it and looked out, before a voice so familiar it sent chills down your spine shouted out;

“Down here!”

-

Janelle shouted out as you flew down the stairs, Jo and Marie both staring at the blur you made as you ran past the lounge and out the front door, letting it swing on its hinges;

“Where is she going so fast?”

The three girls stood at the window and smiled as they wanted to run into Henry’s arms;

“Into her future Husband’s embrace” Marie sighed, the three watching as the young lovers fell back into each other's arms.

“Wait, is he the ‘loud’ one?” Jo asked to no-one in particular

“Unfortunately… i spoke to one of the other guys - Anthony - last week, he apologised for his housemates noises”

“Oh well… guess she can get us some ear plugs then”

[milliumizoomi]

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓡𝓲𝓭𝓮!

Pairings: A! TodoKiriBakuDeku x O! Black Fem! Reader

Synopsis: You, your friends and all your pups went out and it took a turn none of you were expecting.

Warnings: Slightly Mad Alphas, Mild Cursing Fluff, Implied angst at the ending if you squint.

Masterlist

Go Back ⇢ Part 2 ⇢ Up Next

So here you were on a Saturday, driving with your little pups purring and playing with each other in the back seats as you somehow got dragged out of your house by your friends. You hadn’t heard from the boys yet but you know that they will most likely not be too happy that you suddenly left the house.

Your friends wanted to carry the pups to the annual carnival that was being held. You decided to go since you knew that your little pups would love it. And plus, it would allow them to get used to all the different smells in the world. You scent was still lingering on them as they grew so you would have to make sure that no one else’s smell gets on them.

You had already called the girls and told them you and your pups were ready. You made sure to scent them so you could make sure of where they were at all times. So you were driving to the carnival with your friends following.

As soon as you got to the carnival, you parked and hopped out of you car and went to the backseats to unbuckle the pups out of their seats. “Mommy! This place is huge!” Katsuo said with stars in his eyes as you unbuckled him from his car seat. “I know baby that’s why I need all of you to stay close to me ok.” “Yes mommy!” All of your little pups said in unison.

“Cmon girls it’s time to goo!” One of your friends said as she help her pup’s hand. You and your other friend nodded. You told your two oldest pups to hold onto the their younger siblings hands and then you would hold onto the younger pups. Your friend got her two pups hands and started walking towards the entrance.

‘I hope the pups enjoy today!’ You thought to yourself as you smiled. You look down and your pups who were beaming with excitement. ‘Yup today’s gonna be an eventful day..’ you thought as you purred softly.

If only you knew how right you were..

With the boys...-

They had no clue you weren’t even home.

They were currently on patrol in the same area but different streets. Kirishima was with Bakugou and Todoroki was with Midoriya. They were just walking around and doing their job. “I can’t wait to get home and and see y/n and our little pups..” Kirishima sighed and said as he stretched. “Got that right weird hair. It sucks ass that we have to work today" Bakugou groaned. They knew they don’t get much days off being pro heroes and such but they wanted to spend some time with you and the pups.

“I’ma call pebbs and see what their up to” Kirishima yawned. “Plus we’re practically finished with patrol so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Bakugou just shrugs. “Tell that nerd I said hi” he smirks and says. Kirishima nods. He took out his phone to see the message you had sent. “Bakubabe... can you take your phone out for a sec.. I need to see something” He continued, growing weary. Bakugou sideeyed him, looking very confused. “Hah? For what?” Bakugou asked. “Please I just want to check something.” “Fine whatever. Here.” Bakugou digs his phone out of his pocket and hands it to Kirishima. Kirishima takes the phone and as soon as the phone lights up, he sees the same exact message he saw on his phone. “They aren’t home..” Kirishima whispers to himself. “What??” Bakugou asked as he tilted his head to Kirishima and quirked his brow. “Pebble and the pups.. they aren’t home” Kirishima tells Bakugou. “What?! The hell you mean they aren’t home?? That shitty woman didn’t tell us she was planning to go anywhere today especially with the pups!” Bakugou said as he raised his voice a little and grabbed his phone from Kirishima.

Lemme fill y’all in btw.. ya see the boys are very territorial and protective of you and the pups. They don’t like anyone getting too close to any of you.

As Bakugou took his phone and saw the message you sent, Todoroki and Deku were coming around the corner from the area they just patrolled. Btw Kirishima and Bakugou were still walking. “Oh hey Kacchan and Eiji,are you guys done with patrol?” Midoriya asked as he rounded the corner with Todoroki. There was no answer to his question. “Uh.. guys? Did you hear me?” “O-oh uh hey babes um.. y-yea we where just about to head back to the agency..!” Kirishima stuttered trying to contain his anger while Bakugou was still fuming at his phone. Midoriya looked at him suspiciously. “Something’s wrong” Todoroki chimes in.

Kirishima growls and so does Bakugou. Midoriya furrows his eyes at the sound of the growling. “Guys what’s wrong??” Midoriya asked growing impatient. “Look at your phones..” Kirishima says while running a hand through his hair. Todoroki and Midoriya looks at each other confused then fish their phones out of their pocket. They watch as the screen flashes on and immediately your message is the first thing they see. “..what?” Todoroki says as he looks up and Kirishima and Bakugou for confirmation. Kirishima nods as Bakugou just turns away. “Did she mention this before?” Todoroki asks. “Not from what I remember” Kirishima answers. “Midobabe? Bakubabe? Calm down ok we can just blow up like this on the sidewalk.” Kirishima tells them. When they are silent that means they are LIVID. “Yeah.. granted were all on edge about this but we can call when we get back to the agency.” Todoroki says as he walks up to both Midoriya and Bakugou and rub their backs. “Now let’s get back ok?” They all nod and begin to walk to the closest agency, which was Bakugou’s.

While walking there and greeting civilians, Midoriya looked at his phone one more time to realize that you had left your location on. “GUYS! HER LOCATION! IT’S ON!” The other three men perked up at hearing this. “Nerd are you serious?! You better not be f*cking with us!" Bakugou growls. “Kacchan none of us play when it comes to our love and our pups you know that!” Midoriya exclaims. It’s clear that they are all frustrated right now but are trying to not let it get to them too much since they’re in public. “Look I’m sorry ok.. It just makes me frustrated that we don’t know where she or our damn pups are.. Makes me wanna blow something up..!” Bakugou says as he clenchs his fists. Midoriya walks over to Bakugo and runs his hand through his hair and gives him little kisses all over his face in an effort to calm him down. “It’s gonna be ok Kacchan.. it gonna be alright.. how about we see where she is now so that we can all feel a little calmer?” He along with Todoroki and Kirishima nod. Midoriya looks back down on his phone. “Uhh.. it says that she’s at a carnival” he said. “Oh you mean the annual one that the have every year?” Todoroki asks. “Yeah I think that’s the one. The pups probably wanted to go or she got invited or something.” Kirishima asks. “Probably.. nobody better touch her though ‘cause I will find them and when I do I-“ Bakugou starts. “Calm down hothead we all get territorial when it comes to her so cool your jets. We can scent her when she comes back or we could even surprise her and the pups.” “Ok whatever” Bakugou says as he rolls his eyes.

They walk and walk and walk until they finally made it back to the agency. They open the door to see nothing but absolute chaos unfolding. “HEY! WHAT’S GOING ON IN HERE?!WHAT THE HELL DO YOU PEOPLE THINK YOURE DOING RUNNING AROUND MY AGENCY?!” Bakugou screams, seeing red. His agency was a complete disaster. Paper was being thrown everywhere, people were frantically running around the place and people were talking a mile a minute on the phone. Everyone froze at the sound of Bakugou’s voice. They looked up to see the heroes in the top 10 rank standing at the doorway with a pissed off look on their faces. “W-were s-s-sorry Dynamight sir..! But we’re in a lot of trouble right now and police are re-requesting a-a-all of your a-assistance..!” A young woman bowed and said. “Trouble??“ ”What’s wrong?!” Todoroki and Deku asked at the same time while they all we fanning Bakugou’s face to help him calm down. “Villains...! Their attacking!” The employees yelled. “WHERE?!” The boys frantically asked. “AT THE ANNUAL CARNIVAL THAT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR..! THEIR ESCAPED CONVICTS AND THEIR TERRORIZING AND KILLING THE CITIZENS..! WE JUST GOT THE REPORT!” The same young woman screamed. The Alphas froze as their heart dropped to their stomach. The people they swore to protect with their lives... are at that carnival..where dangerous villains are attacking.

©Property of Miashimaa. Please don’t rectify, repost or modify without my permission.

Taglist: Open (just let me know if you would like to be added)

[kaimelia]

enough for you (ch 8)

The scissors made a soft clink against the ceramic of the sink as Amelia set them down, her hands steady as she ran her fingers through her hair, smiling at her reflection in the mirror.

Her hair was a few inches shorter, the longest strands reaching down to her chin, and she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Quite literally, it was only a small amount of hair, but the change was needed. She had gotten tired of staring at the same sad woman in the mirror, the one whose eyes looked so tired and whose jaw was constantly clenched. Now, that same woman looked relieved.

She grabbed the broom from the wall and swept up the pieces of her hair on the floor, into the dustpan, and then into the trashcan without a second thought. She beamed once more at her reflection in the mirror before leaving the bathroom.

"Amelia?" Meredith furrowed her eyebrows as her sister walked into the kitchen. "Your hair."

"I needed a change, and I might regret this tomorrow, but right now, I'm happy with it," she ran a hand through the shorter locks, smiling when her hand hit the air.

"It looks great, although Scout might be upset that he can't pull it as easily." Amelia smiled and looked to the living room, where her nieces and nephew were spread out on the couch with bowls of popcorn, watching a movie. Her son was beside Ellis, running his toy car down the seams of the couch cushions. "Is this a post-breakup haircut?"

"I don't-I don't know. We've barely talked about where we stand, other than being there for Scout." Meredith folded a towel and added it to her growing pile of laundry. "He'll be here to pick up Scout in about an hour."

"Did you do it to make him jealous? See what he's missing, how we'll you're doing without him."

"I told him about the depression, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't think I'm thriving without him," she muttered, picking up one of Scout's shirts and folding it. "I don't know. I just needed to be able to control something about myself, and cutting my hair was the easiest way I could do that."

"I get it. Alright, you wanna help with laundry or braid Ellis's hair?"

------------------

"Woah," Link muttered under his breath as he stepped out of the car. "Your hair."

"Yeah, I wanted a bit of a change." She felt a slight flush on her cheeks, and she looked at the ground.

"Mama hair!" Scout pointed excitedly. "Mama nice hair."

"Yeah," Link laughed, taking Scout into his arms. "Mama's hair looks really nice, hm?" The heat in her cheeks was now evident, and she rolled her eyes in an attempt to hide it. Her arms crossed over her chest, and a shaky hand tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Alright, I'll drop him off on Thursday?"

"Yup." She handed him the bag, watching as he threw it into the backseat and sat Scout down in his car seat.

"Uncle Link!" Bailey screamed from the doorway, running out to where they were standing. "I missed you!" He wrapped his arms around Link's legs, and the man sighed and ruffled Bailey's hair.

"Hey, bud, how're you doing?"

"You have to come to play baseball with us, please? Mommy and Auntie Amelia can't pitch, and I wanna practice my swing." Link put a smile on his face and kneeled to Bailey's level.

"Maybe some other time, alright? I've gotta get Scout home."

"You could stay if you're not in a rush," Amelia shrugged, stepping towards them. "Bailey's been offending my pitching for the past week now, and my feelings are a bit hurt." Link raised his eyebrows.

"You sure? I don't wanna-"

"It's fine. It'll shut him up for the next week."

"You can't say shut up! Mommy says that's a bad word!" Bailey pointed up at his Aunt, his mouth wide in awe.

"Okay, well, if you don't tell your Mommy that I said that, Uncle Link will come and play baseball with you now." Bailey nodded quickly and ran back inside, shouting about his new baseball glove.

"I can come up with some excuse to leave; I won't stay."

"No, I'm serious, it's fine. Bailey's been asking when you'd come by, he's been working on his swing for a while, and he wants someone good to practice with." Link lifted Scout back out of his car seat and set him down on the ground, holding both of his hands as he found his footing.

"Alright, Scout, let's go to the yard." They slowly walked towards the back gate, with Scout glancing between them as if he had never seen them together before. "Woah, we're all playing?" Link exclaimed as they walked in, seeing Bailey holding the bat and the other two setting bases down on the ground.

"Uncle Link!" Ellis yelled, running up to him. "I wanna hug," she tugged on his pant leg, holding her arms up and grinning as he lifted her. "I missed you."

"I missed you, Elle," he smoothed down her hair, giving Scout's hand to Amelia. "You ready to play?" He set Ellis down, and she nodded eagerly. Zola tossed him a ball, and he walked into the middle of the make-shift field. "Alright, Bailey, you ready?"

"Ready!" Link tossed the ball, and Amelia settled on the picnic table with Scout sitting on her lap, both of them clapping as Bailey hit the ball across the yard.

"Dude, nice swing!" Link called out, grabbing another ball from the ground. "Keep your feet farther apart, okay?" He threw the ball, and Bailey groaned as he missed.

"What'd I miss here?" Meredith came outside with a steaming mug in her hands, sitting across from Amelia at the table. "I thought he was just picking Scout up, but now Scout's in your lap, and he's practically fathering my children," she muttered, sipping her tea.

"Bailey came outside right as he was leaving and wanted him to play, and I didn't wanna say no and make it awkward, and Bailey was so excited, and I-"

"It's fine. I'm glad; it means I don't have to throw that ball for a week. Are you okay with it?" Amelia shrugged, watching as Bailey dropped the bat and Link began to walk over to them, taking Scout into his arms.

"Scout, you wanna hit?" Link set his son down and grabbed the helmet from Bailey's head, carefully dropping it on Scout's and holding it back so it wouldn't cover his eyes. He kneeled to the ground, the one hand holding the helmet, the other guiding Scout's hands on the bat. "Stand still, okay? And Bailey, throw it gently." Bailey tossed the ball, and as it approached, Link helped Scout push the bat forward, the ball falling to the ground in front of them after making contact with the bat. "C'mon, Scout! Run!"

Amelia watched as Link held Scout's hand and ran with him towards the base, lifting the boy into his arms as Scout's steps slowed down, his cousins cheering as they ran through each base. She sighed as she watched, feeling her pulse race when Link walked towards them, smiles on everyone's faces. "One home run and this guy's all tired out," he muttered, passing Scout back to Amelia. "I'm gonna throw some more to Bailey and then head out."

"Thank you for doing this," Meredith added, nodding her head. "There's barely any testosterone in this house anymore, and I think Bailey's struggling with that." Link picked up a baseball that had rolled towards them and tossed it between his hands.

"He just wants to get ready. Little league's gonna open again soon; you don't want him to be behind everyone else."

"I'm ready!" Bailey shouted after fixing the helmet on his head. Link jogged back over, collecting baseballs on his way.

"It's not as uncomfortable as I imagined," Meredith murmured while nursing her cup of tea between her hands, blowing away the steam. "You'd think after you basically rejected-"

"Shut up, okay?"

------------------

"Thank you for staying," Amelia whispered, holding Scout's hand as they walked out. "Bailey really appreciated that."

"Of course. Hopefully, I tired him out enough that he won't bother you tonight." He picked up Scout, opening the car door and setting him down in the car seat. "Alright. I'll see you on Thursday."

"Bye, bye," Scout waved, grinning at his mother.

"Bye, Scout." Link closed the door and opened the driver's door, pausing before he got in. "See you on Thursday," she whispered, waving softly to him.

"Thursday. And Amelia?"

"Mhm?"

"I really like your hair, for the record." She blushed and looked down for a moment, biting her lip as she brought her gaze back up.

"Thank you."

[roachsource]

𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐦'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 :  𝐞𝐩.𝟔𝟑𝟗  some tweaked with a little for writing purposes, but always mess around with them as you need 💙

❛ well, that’s cute. ❜

❛ good to be with you today. i love you. ❜

❛ you’ve had alcohol today. ❜

❛ it felt like a good day to day drink today. like, why not? ❜

❛ you’re feeling aggro? ❜

❛ alcohol is for punching and fucking. ❜

❛ i had a friend who headbutted me. ❜

❛ that turns me off. ❜

❛ holy shit. ❜

❛ i had a cousin who, one time, who pulled my hair and punched me. ❜

❛ yeah, she’s been drinking. ❜

❛ she just assaulted the shit out of me. ❜

❛ i couldn’t let it go. ❜

❛ i’ve yelled at a car for not being mine. ❜

❛ this is a big fucking deal. ❜

❛ it wasn’t some piece of shit. ❜

❛ do not fucking disturb me, you bitch. ❜

❛ i can’t believe how big his dick was. ❜

❛ take a baseball bat and go smack him with it! ❜

❛ i am your mother. that’s it. get your ass in line! ❜

❛ that’s super trash. ❜

❛ are you fucking with me? are you messing with me? ❜

❛ those eyes are kind of crazy. ❜

❛ what a handsome woman. ❜

❛ i love a rock hard lady. ❜

❛ her thighs are so meaty. ❜

❛ oh, god, cover it up. take it away. ❜

❛ i’m gonna barf. ❜

❛ i don’t like long nails. ❜

❛ it’s a world i’m not familiar with. ❜

❛ i would be worried if you picked that up. ❜

❛ you wanna come? ❜

❛ come with me and see me get all hot and bothered the whole time. ❜

❛ this is the dumbest thought that you can have, probably. ❜

❛ i’m attracted to symmetry. ❜

❛ i like high and tight balls. ❜

❛ i’m not a fan of big loose hanging balls. ❜

❛ you’re gonna like the way you look. ❜

❛ it’s hard to pull off pockets on the tits. ❜

❛ you used to wear this a lot! ❜

❛ aww, you’re so cute! ❜

❛ you wore that when we met. ❜

❛ that’s a really nice jacket. ❜

❛ i’ve never had somebody talk me out of doing charitable things! ❜

❛ looks good to me, chief. ❜

❛ that jacket is good for travel. ❜

❛ well, look at ol’ moneybags. ❜

❛ look how cute you are! you look adorable. ❜

❛ i wanna wear something cool. ❜

❛ this is the person you think you are, versus the person you really are. ❜

❛ i’m a little flashy. i’m a little out there. ❜

❛ you’re pretty subdued. ❜

❛ can you stop spending money on stupid shit? ❜

❛ i’m done with this jacket. ❜

❛ it’s because i love you. ❜

❛ do you feel okay? ❜

❛ do you want to hear a cool story? ❜

❛ i love her so much. ❜

❛ i like this video very much! ❜

❛ i’m just not into gross ass bitches. ❜

❛ i’m a fartophobe. ❜

❛ i’m super piggy. ❜

❛ it was very sex positive, as the kids say. ❜

❛ you think we can make a candle that smells like my genitals? ❜

❛ it doesn’t stop there. ❜

❛ no it’s not. it’s not funny. ❜

❛ look at her fucking face! ❜

❛ something’s going on, right? ❜

❛ look at me, i’m a pig! ❜

❛ when we make sweet marital love, i’m not farting and ripping! i turn it off. ❜

❛ can you please tell them what you said to me? ❜

❛ look at you. you’re finally drinking water, huh? ❜

❛ is that your first water of the day? ❜

❛ i season the shit out of steak. ❜

❛ i don’t like this. ❜

❛ i feel for you, bro. ❜

❛ i don’t wanna watch it. i’m not gonna watch it again. ❜

❛ yup. that’s pretty bad. ❜

❛ that’s horrible. too horrible. ❜

❛ that’s what my teeth fucking look like. ❜

❛ i have nightmares a lot about losing my front teeth. ❜

❛ when you knock your teeth out, it is the fucking worst feeling in the world. ❜

❛ you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. you shouldn’t be getting hurt. ❜

❛ we’re not gonna tolerate you, weather. ❜

❛ stop it now, or you’ll have to mess with me! ❜

❛ thank you for bringing that to my attention. i really enjoyed that. ❜

❛ don’t just move on, i need you to process this. ❜

❛ this is one of the saddest fucking things i’ve ever seen. ❜

❛ don’t post this. ❜

❛ who’s that going to attract? ❜

❛ this guy is one hundred percent going back to prison. ❜

❛ i wanna see what kind of shit this guy gets into, and how quickly. ❜

❛ prison guys need love too. ❜

❛ you’re right. i’m so glad we had this talk. ❜

❛ that’s awesome. you’re so sweet. ❜

❛ get the fuck out of here, bitch. ❜

❛ i don’t wanna think about it anymore, it’s such an upsetting fucking thing. ❜

❛ what a fucking bizarre world. ❜

❛ keep looking. don’t look away. ❜

❛ ... thank you. ❜

❛ i just want you to be prepared for what’s going to happen later in life. ❜

❛ will you still love me when my toes have fungus on them? ❜

❛ i don’t need to fucking know what you’re doing. ❜

❛ i’m pretty hip! ❜

❛ they don’t love you like i love you. ❜

❛ i’ve seen roaches in crazy places, though. ❜

❛ we’ve been around the world and back today. ❜

❛ it’s the man you think you are, and it’s not who you are. ❜

❛ i promise not to sabotage you. ❜

❛ thanks for listening. ❜