#asked and answered 160

[away-ward]

I would love to read KO’s post about Will but I can’t seem to find it 😭

I don’t understand why we gotta read dark romance, expect only the MMC to ruck up, and suddenly had to paint em as this innocent girl or woman or something, as if she did not had a fair share to will's ruin?

I’m not saying that Em didn’t hurt Will because she did I think that has been very obvious. But how he chose to cope with losing her is not on Em. Also Em can do no wrong in my eyes 🤷🏻‍♀️ yes she was bitchy but I support women’s rights AND wrongs! And I happened to love her bitchy attitude.

But finally when we meet emory and we saw her hurting will, we wanna change up her characterisation now?

I never said she didn’t hurt Will? What I meant was even after everything Will went through he was still close minded in viewing Em’s trauma and still refused to see that some people are forced to make tough choices. Idk maybe it’s because he has never been in a situation where he was forced to make a hard decision but for him to say

“I didn’t give a fuck about the why anymore.” — the why in question being about her abuse … is just a very weird thing to say. or for him to say “I know you know how to take a beating,” —ABSOLUTELY insane. Which is why in my eyes why should Em (which she does care bc she has held tremendous guilt for it but I feel like she shouldn’t) care about what he went through when he clearly doesn’t care about her trauma.

Em is a better person than me thats for sure. How she can easily forgive people is beyond me.

I also live in willemmy delulu land but I can do that and still hate Will 🤷🏻‍♀️

hey there again, Anon.

I also live in willemmy delulu land

At least this is something we all have in common.

I would love to read KO’s post about Will but I can’t seem to find it

The best way to read anything I posted about a specific character is to go to the character’s tag. I’ll tag this for will, so all you’ll have to do is click/tap his name and scroll to the bottom to get to the first posts. Start there and read what interests you. Tumblr’s search function is pretty horrendous, so it's understandable that you wouldn’t find anything if you just type 'will' into the search bar.

Or you could use the asked and answered. But I really like my will grayson tag.

Too bad there isn't a ways to filter tags, so you could look up asked and answered plus the will grayson tag.

The tag is #will grayson iii, by the way.

You didn’t really respond to anything I said, so I guess I’ll leave those alone. But I do think it’s interesting that the two quotes you pulled from were when Will was in the depths of his anger, not at all thinking about things rationally, and fighting his love for Emory with everything he had. Of course he’s going to say some of the worst things at that time. People say the most awful, hurtful things when they’re angry.

Not that it makes it right.

In reply, I’d offer:

“I dreaded dealing with her because even still – after the betrayal – I hadn’t wanted to lose her.

‘I should have come to you,’ she finally said. ‘I wish I had come to you and explained and faced you then.’

I swallowed the lump in my throat, knowing it wasn’t her fault. I wasn’t a passenger in all of this.”

And

“I should have stayed. She hadn’t needed a boyfriend. She needed a friend, and I’d been selfish and arrogant and spoiled. I should have been whatever she needed, whenever she needed me. She didn’t owe me her heart just because I wanted it. If I’d cared, I would’ve been more patient.”

And

“I love you,” he said again, “But I’ll let you go.”

And

“I’m sorry for everything,” I said.

“Me too, baby.” He kissed me. “I should’ve stayed. I’m sorry I walked away. I’m sorry I left you that day in the hallway at school.”

(had to include this one because I previously posted that he never said this directly to her. I usually skim over this scene, so I forgot it was there. I’m sorry, Will.)

My point is, Will very much did recognize that he was wrong, he recognized her trauma and that she didn’t owe him anything. He just didn’t do it right away, and let anger and resentment cloud his view of her.

You can hate Will. You may not think his words after the fact carry any weight at all, and that’s fair. I’m not demanding people love him. To me, his growth as a person is the most believable out of all the guys, and his love and devotion for Emory is the most obvious when taking the entire story into account. Which I really enjoyed (after several rounds of reading because he can be just the most insufferable person sometimes).

But that’s just me. Thanks for listening.

-KO

[tickletails]

Formal apology to anyone whos sent me an ask in the past 6+ months, my inbox and drafts are a mess T____T

[dandelion-wings]

you know whats funny to me about Jean is that out of everyone in anemo, she's the only one without a dead loved one/friend

so anyways au where barbara's dead around the time or during jean's vision story and the reprecussions of such an event-

Oh nooooo D:

That said, on some thought, the damning thing about that idea is that depending on the circumstances, I could see it not changing things for Jean that much! If Barbara dies outside her sphere of responsibility, e.g. of an illness or something, given the level of separation canon implies... Jean is sadder and lonelier and wistful about missed chances, and maybe resonates more with the Traveler's specific quest the way Diluc and Kaeya do in canon (I will always hate that canon makes a huge point of the boys' estrangement and barely touched the girls'. Jean also has a sibling just out of reach, let her also make cryptic comments about likewise missing family and then highlight it in multiple later events), but it doesn't change her much as a person.

So, of course, to make the AU satisfying it has to happen within her sphere of responsibility.

Have Barbara killed as the result of the Fatui plants and Abyss Order schemes that Jean is rooting out when she gets her Vision. It still doesn't change Jean into a different person, I think mostly it intensifies her self-destructive sense of duty a lot earlier than canon (where it's implied that only gets bad when Varka leaves), but it potentially gives us a more run-ragged, hardened, sadder Jean by game start. The Diluc transformation, but doubling down on everything she's been raised to instead of abandoning it. If she'd been better, if the Ordo had been better, Barbara would still be alive. She'll reform them both so that it never happens again.

(@theabysscomeshome and I have an AU where the knight trio swaps Visions, and Jean has Pyro there because her overriding goal is to cleanse and purify the Ordo, and by extension Mondstadt, of all malign influence*. It's for different reasons, but I think Pyro might fit her here for the same reasons, or Electro c.f. the Crimson Peak AU.)

*Not a perfect match for Pyro, I know, but we were justifying the swap. >>

Anyway, I think the other thing with strong potential there is a shift in her relationship with Noelle. While canon is absolutely not doing this, I have previously posited this for other AUs and could probably write an essay on Noelle's potential to be a Replacement Goldfish for Barbara in Jean's subconscious. You have a sweet, determined younger girl driven to become a Knight, whom Jean doesn't consider ready yet... add in how she idolizes Jean and you have the perfect storm for a sadder, more hardened Jean determined to make Noelle everything that Barbara didn't have a chance to be. A miraculous healer, a prominent and popular figure (I already like Noelle as Jean's successor in a long-term endgame, but Jean deliberately trying to raise her up from the start is different), able to defend herself, spending the time with her she never got with Barbara.... Jean becomes Noelle's Fredrica but with substantially more affection, which I don't think balances out how bad this would be for both of them. :D

So! Tragic and fun! Thank you for the thought, anon, I will definitely be rotating this all morning to get me through the barn.

[housewifebuck]

"she sees more in me than I see in myself" my man she doesn't even know you. she even forgot you were a professional and could deliver a baby.

LMFAOOOO

[asterisque]

There's just something... very unique about a guy snuggling a drill with the biggest grin on his face.

"Ya wouldn't understand the manly bond between a man and his big bro of a drill." He wasn't sure if it was a mockery or something else, so he'll just go with the manly speech..

It usually... never works that much BUT- He'll do it anyway.

[burning-thistles-bt]

You guys crushing everyones heart in chap. 160-162

oopsies 😇

[mothocean]

trick or treat!!

You are getting... a cat plushie!!

[Image ID: a plushie of a cat that is sitting down and facing the viewer. The cat has pink fur with bright yellow, neon pink and purple spots all over it. However the fur on its belly, nose area and lower face area is white, and the insides of its ears are made of shiny neon green fabric. It has big round glass eyes with black pupils and glittery green irises. It has a glittery pink plastic nose, an embroidered pink mouth and two whiskers made of thread sticking out on each side of its nose. End ID]

(As you check your treat basket later, you notice I slipped a piece of paper into it. Surprise! It is the transcript for MAG 43 - Section 31!!)

[Image ID: a screenshot of the unofficial magnus archives transcript for MAG 43 - tightrope. The screenshot reads:

MAG043 - #0160919

Section 31

December 14, 2016

Summary

Statement of Police Constable Basira Hussain regarding her time investigating strange occurrences as part of Section 31. Statement taken direct from subject September 19th 2016. End ID]

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

🔥🥺? Hiiiii btw<3

Hiiii!!!!!!

Opinion- Werewolves are much cooler than vampires however neither of them are as cool as Dullahan (which are frankly underrated), Mermaids (specifically deep sea fucked up monster mermaids) and Dragons.

[its-arson-time]

My best friend just listened to 160

you who watch and know and understand none

[dozingzzz]

you are soooo tinyyyyy so smalllll little miniscule little guy

where my short kings at 💪

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[systlin]

I've got a question about beekeeping that I think is probably dumb, but I couldn't really find a definite answer anywhere online. And you keep bees, so I figured you might know. Some background:

A friend of mine recently told me she doesn't eat honey because she was told beekeepers kill their bees at the start of winter because it's more lucrative to start the new year with a fresh hive, apparently because the one they used that year is supposedly to exhausted from being overworked or something.

now from what I know about bees, that is probably bullshit. I think someone somewhere might have confused the thing about all the drones getting chased out at the start of winter maybe? But the point was made that maybe hobby beekeepers don't, but industrial beekeepers do. I can't find anything anywhere about how industrial beekeeping works and if it's any different from hobby beekeeping apart from in scale. And I do always think it's weird how cheap honey in stores can be if I look at the work that goes in honey and the fact that I think you can harvest honey from a hive 2 times a year or so?

basically, I think she's very wrong about this and want to be able to convince her otherwise. (or be very very surprised and learn she was right but I doubt it) I don't want to be a bitch about it to her because you can't really fact check everything you hear all the time. but this is just. such a weird idea to me.

(this may have turned into more than one question and I'm now interested in bees a lot, so if you wanted to infodump about a ton of bee related info I didn't ask for too I certainly wouldn't mind)

It is 100% prime bullshit

Bees are fuckin expensive. A package of 3 pounds of bees is $160+. A nuc is $200+. New hives usually don't even produce honey the first year. The first year is letting them settle in and build up. Hives that have wintered over at least once are the ones you can actually harvest honey and wax from.

No beekeeper is going to kill their bees. Even if they're utterly amoral profit driven weirdos, that's simply not how it works. It would be absolutely absurdly expensive.

Most beekeepers who do it professionally don't make money from honey. They make their REAL money from pollination services and from selling bees. AKA, swarms. AKA, those things you only get from overwintered hives. See prices of a new colony above.

The older a colony is, the more valuable it is!

[theronanlynchshow]

making one of these bc i’m bored

5 notes and I’ll look at my summer reading assignment (done)

10 notes and I’ll post another chapter of my hamilton fanfic (Chapter will be posted this week, hopefully)

20 notes and i’ll ask my parents about getting a pride flag for my room (I have asked but not been answered so idk)

40 notes and I’ll clean my room (almost done)

80 notes and I’ll actually do my summer reading assignment (i read the book, still need to do the packet) (ugh this actually sucks sm)

160 notes and i’ll do a face reveal (done)

320 notes and I’ll do a room reveal (i’ll post later this week)

640 notes and I’ll bleach my hair

1280 notes and i’ll try to actually get a regular sleep schedule

only 5 per person please

[yuoimia]

DAY 5: KEEP THINKING OF ME ❅⋆⍋

summary: when you ‘forget’ to kiss him goodbye.

characters: alhaitham, lyney, neuvillette, xiao.

notes: i have this weird thing of progressively making the paragraphs longer than the previous, wanted to try a different format, gn! reader. wc: 160 - 200 per character.

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ dreamy december event masterlist

alhaitham

Let’s be honest, he’d remind you.

Alhaitham is attentive to detail, fairly organised when it comes to routine, and certainly notices when something that ties his hasty mornings together is forgotten. He likes to say the work of a scribe is so endlessly dreary that he should be at least deserving of some reward. Preferably, though not outwardly stated, affection in the form of a tender kiss of your silken lips, brisk, energetic or longing, he’s not fussy.

Alhaitham believes that your affection is one of the only divine cures that could possibly be the remedy to the multitude of poisons inflicting his sanity. You find it a little funny; who knew the Akedemiya’s renowned scribe and former Acting Grand Sage could be so dramatic?

So, when you do forget to kiss him before he exits the door, he makes sure to mention it, makes sure that you won’t forget the next morning, because otherwise, the Akedemiya would have to deal with a missing employee.

lyney

The thing with Lyney is…he probably had more than plenty before he even reached this dilemma.

Throughout the day, from the first sunbeams to the final streaks of moonlight, he was quite bold when it came to the showers of love he craved most frequently. In truth, Lyney considers a day terribly incomplete if he hasn’t been exposed to the warm feelings of your beloved affection. He sincerely promises you that the simple regret doesn’t leave his mind, despite all the distractions he hopes to divert his thoughts revolving madly around you. Something that beautiful should never go overlooked.

Depending on the cruciality of the situation, he’d turn back and come knocking on your door with such a solemn expression that you’d assume that someone had died. The question would arise, his voice uncertain and curious, “Did you forget something important this morning?”

The best option would be to just give him that precious kiss. You don’t want him to do anything too extreme for it, do you?

neuvillette

Did he upset you the night before?

Neuvillette’s knowledge of the complexities of human emotions and responses was, in comparison to anyone else, a little rusty, he admits. That, of course, does not stop him from trying. The often ‘lost in his thoughts’ face the people of Fontaine regularly noticed about him was merely Neuvillette grasping in the elements of human nature, for to deeply understand them was essential if he ever planned on living alongside them.

The lighthearted experiment was just to see how he would react—a small prank, you convince yourself—but perhaps, just maybe, the chief justice had sincerely thought you were mad at him.

You haven’t seen him all day.

Neuvillette seems to have abandoned the customary meeting spots you’d typically bump into him, and that’s when you know.

The idea of putting the blame on himself, making up some complicated scenario that was certainly not true, elicits a newfound determination to make it up to him, to apologise with the compensation of the truth.

That evening, you wait for the door to open, and when it does, you ensure the person entering is gifted the sincere caress of your lips—a few more than what he expects.

xiao

Xiao would continue on with his day. He’s fine, thank you for asking. So what if you forgot to kiss him goodbye?

However, it would be a downright lie to assume that he was 100% veritably unaffected. Xiao was never particularly good at masking emotions, but rather more skilled at intensifying them.

He’ll ponder and wonder; the same question answered with the same reply, repeating like a lament, carving into the inconsolable space of his mind. In other words, Xiao is sulking and in brutal denial of it.

You observe him from the distance, standing on the tip of a faraway mountain, and there’s a strong feeling that he’s gazing at you, too.

Call out my name, he almost begs, a foolish excuse to inexplicably confront you.

The sound of your voice summons him instantly; it breaks him out of his trance, and what you say next cuts through all the tragic thoughts he ever contemplated beforehand.

“I forgot to kiss you this morning,” you smile, playfully apologetic. “Did you realise?”

Xiao doesn’t say anything, there’s nothing to be said, but his actions prove all that needs to be said—how the corners of his lips tug just the bit upwards as he leans into you.

[annabelle--cane]

Feel free to ignore this ask. What do you think is the sluttiest Magnus episode is?

there are a few obvious answers here. mag 06, for the worm clubbing and worm sex. mag 32, for being consumed by what loves you (also worms). mag 153, for all the lovey dovey touchy feely sweet slick bodies intermingling (not worms this time). mag 89 could also work as a non-corruption option, for all of jude's descriptions of heat and flesh and agnes.

there is much to be said about mag 160 and the sexual undertones of dehumanization and the stark vulnerability of the body. I have certainly spoken before about the freudian quality of mag 200 and the implications of kissing your lover before impaling him with a blade that he had just used to penetrate another man. also, there's a point during season two where the audio suddenly jumps up in quality and all the statements gain a very sensuous whispered-in-your-ear feel to them, which inherently gives them a certain eau de slut.

but for my final answer, it's gotta be mag 118, for the sheer flirtation and provocativeness of martin deliberately trying to goad elias into entering his mind and leaving him in tears. that is slutty.

[strawwritesfic]

Kelvin!Spock x Female!Human!Reader: Mr. Right

Summary: When one door closes, another opens—perhaps the door you were meant to enter all along.

Warnings/Tags: Starship Enterprise; post-Star Trek Beyond; friends to lovers; breakup; almost kiss; counselor!reader; Star Trek: The Original Series references; Star Trek: The Next Generation references

Relationships: Spock/Reader; Spock & Nyota Uhura; past!Spock/Nyota Uhura; past!Kevin Riley/Reader

Challenge: “160 Collective Drabbles” challenge by BobaPop on Lunaescence Archives.

Requester: @lovemesomeescapism

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Notes: For once, this is not a repost for this challenge…technically. I did write a response to the prompt "Mr. Right" ages ago, but when I was reposting, I decided that the Now You See Me one shot I wrote really wasn't worth keeping. Someone on Tumblr asked me for a Spock one shot, so I slipped him in as a replacement.

It's been a really long time since I finished something new. I realize that I am rusty. This is actually several drafts into attempts to write this one shot. For the first time ever, I actually cannibalized previous drafts while trying to get the meandering dialogue and point back on track. It still doesn't feel quite "right" to me, but it's probably going to take some time before I get back in the swing of things, and I'm ready to let this one go.

Mr. Right

Throughout Terra's history, human beings had sought the comfort of white noise. Quiet droning sounds proved beneficial for many aspects of mental health in the species. As a counselor on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, you'd recommended listening to white noise to dozens of fellow crewmates and patients alike. The best way to do this in the deep space you'd all been exploring for nearly five years was to turn everything in one's quarters down until the low hum of the ship's warp drive became audible. Many of those crewmates and patients reported back to you with decreased stress levels, improved mood, and a distinct uptick in ability to concentrate. Almost all of them said they got better sleep.

Now you learned that every single one of them had lied to you.

You'd spent the better part of the evening-adjacent hours lying face-down on your sofa, trying and failing to take a nap. The scratchy, standard-issue pillow beneath your face was soaked with tears. Your chest ached. Worst of all, any attempt on your part to get your mind off what upset you just ended with you crying harder. All the while, that awful rumble went on and on and on and on relentlessly, allowing you no respite long enough to drift off and forget your current predicament.

A chime cut through your misery. You paused without so much as lifting your head. As of three hours prior, you were officially off duty for the day. Nothing required you to answer the door unless an order came down from a superior officer, and they would call first. Probably it was only Uhura coming by to check on you. Having been through her own breakup during this voyage, surely she would understand when you didn't let her inside.

The chime sounded again, and with it came a surge of possibilities flooding your mind. What if your visitor was dealing with a crisis? Cases of PTSD had been on the rise since the events on Altamid. You could hardly ignore that in favor of your own small, personal crisis. Off duty or not, your role as a ship's counselor would not allow you to wallow in self-pity when someone might need your help.

As your boots hit the floor, you pressed one sleeve of your rumpled blue uniform to the corner of each eye. The gesture wouldn't do much to disguise what you'd been doing over the course of your time off, but you felt a little steadier afterward. Breathing deeply in and out helped too—until you hiccuped. But you could prepare yourself no more. Squaring your shoulders, you stood, walked over to the door leading to the corridor, and opened it.

Just outside stood the familiar, lanky figure of the ship's science officer. The second you spotted him, you wiped your sleeve across your face with greater urgency.

"You're not one of my patients," you said, "or Uhura."

"A very astute observation, Lieutenant [L Name]," Spock replied.

A long moment elapsed during which the two of you stared at one another. Several fellow crewmates in various uniform colors threw curious looks at his back as they passed by on their ways to wherever they were headed. Your friend, meanwhile, allowed a single dark eyebrow to drift toward his hairline. He clearly had no intention of moving on.

"What are you doing here?" you sighed at last.

The wayward eyebrow rejoined its brother. "Lieutenant Commander Uhura informed me that you left your office this afternoon in distress. I note that her assessment was an accurate one. If anything, you appear to be in more distress now than she described to me then."

You couldn't lie to Spock, not when you looked the way you looked after a crying jag like the one you'd just had. So you didn't bother to try. "Fine. I'm in distress. But really, Spock, it's not the kind of distress you can help with. I'm sure Captain Kirk will need you on a landing party any minute now, so if you'll excuse me—"

"Lieutenant Commander Uhura also informed me of the cause of your distress."

"Of course she did." Sometimes you wished your two friends were a little lighter on the "amicable" part of "amicable exes." "Let me guess: You came by to tell me that you told me so."

"As a Vulcan, I have no reason to rub my correct prediction in your face, if you will forgive the Terra colloquial."

You let out a wet laugh despite yourself. "You're pardoned."

"What I have done is stopped by the mess hall. If I am not much mistaken, ice cream is a traditional consolation food in these types of situations."

He produced from behind his back a number of different colored tapes. So startled were you that you found yourself unable to say anything. Never in a million years would you have imagined Spock of all people standing in front of you and offering you junk food of all things. Your silence went on for so long that he had to prompt you to speak:

"Was I incorrect in my understanding of how to handle Terran breakups?"

"No," you said, then, "I just didn't want you to find out about the breakup until I could pull myself together."

"I surmised as much, given that Lieutenant Commander Uhura found out about your circumstances before I did, although you and I are closer friends. It would have been more logical for you to contact me for assistance than her."

Vulcans as a whole were difficult to read. Even factoring in your education and training, as well as your friendship with Spock that had gone on for several years now, you could only guess his feelings the majority of the time. Not so then. Something about his tone made him sound hurt. Maybe you could chalk that up to projecting your own feelings onto him, but you couldn't risk that assumption.

"It's just that you warned me against dating Kevin," you explained. "As ship's counselor, I should have seen the end coming a kiloparsec away."

"Perhaps. But one might also say that your extensive proximity to the crew's emotions might cause some loss in objectivity on your part."

"So you're not here to make me feel worse?"

"I came for consolation purposes. That is all."

"Well, all right, then."

You stepped away from the doorway. Spock followed you in. He paused only long enough to press the button to close the door before he came to join you in your sitting room. A crate sat on the floor along his path, and he looked at you questioningly as he walked by it.

"Those are Kevin's things," you said.

"Expedient," he observed.

Normally, you might have tried to go for a little more decorum around him, but that day you didn't have the energy to do more than flop back onto your couch. At least you were upright. Spock, on the other hand, claimed a dignified perch at the end of your chair. The two of you certainly made an odd pair.

"He had so many hair products!" you burst out when the awkward silence turned unbearable. "I should have known we wouldn't work out. Who brings that much hair spray into deep space?"

"Humanity can hardly be expected to iron out all its flaws when you all cling so hard to your baser emotions."

"Do you mean Kevin's desire to look nice, or my need to be in a relationship?"

Spock blinked, then smoothly said, "In this case, I refer to your former beau's preoccupation with personal grooming."

"Right. Either way, I'm about ready to get rid of all my own baser emotions. Not feeling them would be a blessing." You got back to your feet and thrust one hand in Spock's direction. "Ice cream tape, please."

He offered one to you.

"Spock," you said warningly.

"I do not believe that heartbreak is an excuse to overeat. I only brought so many because I was unsure which flavor you would select."

The glare you leveled at him seemed to make him think better of lecturing you on the dangers of gluttony—as well it should have. This was the same glare that you gave Dr. McCoy when you were tired of listening to him. Unlike with Dr. McCoy, you smiled once Spock dropped the rest of the tapes into your outstretched hand.

"Thank you." You headed for your in-quarters food producer, then turned your head to ask over your shoulder, "What flavor do you want?"

"I do not require ice cream."

"Come on, Spock. If you're going to spend the evening commiserating with me, you have to have some ice cream, too. That's a critical part of the Terran breakup process."

One corner of his mouth twitched. "I'll have pistachio, then."

You fed the yellow-green tape into the slot. A quiet beeping noise covered the hum of the warp drive as the computer worked. While you waited, you flipped through the remainder of the flavors until you found the one you wanted.

"I don't think it would be a good idea for you to give up emotions," Spock said.

"Huh?" Frowning at him, you replaced his tape with yours. "Aren't you the guy that's been talking about doing the Kolinahr when we get back to Earth?"

"That's different. I am a Vulcan."

"Half Vulcan."

"Vulcan enough."

A shriller beep put an end to this potentially sticky subject. The ice creams were ready. You dumped the rest of the tapes in a basket next to the food producer, picked up the bowls, and brought them back to the living room. Spock took his with a grateful nod, though he waited until you sat down again before taking a bite.

"Maybe I'd be a better counselor if I didn't have emotions," you mused. "If I wasn't blinded by my own feelings, I could help the crew more with theirs. I shouldn't have the same problems as they do after all the studying I've done."

"While that may indeed make sense, it is hardly realistic. Besides, if you did not have your human emotions, you would no longer be the [Name] that I know, and I believe that I would miss her."

You couldn't help but smile around the spoon in your mouth. Popping that out, you said, "I bet you say that to all the Terrans you like."

"Hardly. In fact, that captain may benefit from an hour or two without his usual emotions."

"I appreciate you saying that, Spock."

"I am only speaking the truth. I have no intention of bolstering your ego artificially, even if doing so is a part of the Terran breakup process."

"I know." You slowly lowered your spoon back to the bowl, staring off into space. Something was dawning on you—something that might have dawned on you sooner had you not been so enthralled with your own feelings. "You know what else I appreciate? You coming here to help me today. Not every first officer would go out of their way for a ship's counselor like that."

Spock fixed you with an unblinking gaze as he said, "You mean a great deal more to me than most ship's counselors mean to their first officers."

"I don't care what Captain Kirk says. You sure know how to make a woman blush."

"I have had some practice with the activity."

"Remind me to thank Uhura later."

"Thank her for what?" Spock asked.

Maybe you were reading the signs wrong. Maybe you were just desperate. If he had to ask, you had to be wrong. But you took a deep breath anyway, and said, "Helping me realize that maybe the guy I've been looking for this whole time has been my best friend all along."

How could it have taken you this long to work it out? No one else spent as much time with you as Spock did, not outside of your office hours. It didn't matter if you were in the mess hall asking for a round of Fizzbin after dinner or you wanted a quiet night in your quarters. He always seemed to be there. You felt comfortable around him. Maybe you didn't always understand Spock; maybe Spock didn't always understand. But you didn't enjoy anyone's company the way you did his. And you had to wonder when your eyes met just then if he felt the same way, and if this coming-to-see-you-with-ice-cream thing was his way of showing you that.

"Well," he moistened his lips before going on, "I certainly feel that our relationship is founded more steadily upon mutual interests and desires than it is upon a passion for hair products."

You leaned forward. "You know, that sort of relationship sounds really appealing right about now."

"It does?" Spock shifted closer to you.

"I think it's about time that I dated someone whose first thought in the morning isn't beating me to the sonic shower, don't you?"

By that time, you both had come so close that it wouldn't have taken much more movement on either of your parts to touch lips. Your heart gave a painful leap inside your chest. Was this too much too fast? Even if you had just realized you'd had a thing for Spock for a while now, you had only just broken up with your last boyfriend that morning. Treating Spock as a rebound was the last thing you wanted to do. He didn't seem to mind, though. His mouth drew closer and closer to yours until you could feel his breath on your face.

The communicator in your room chirped. You jumped. Spock paused before sitting back up in his chair. Then you rose wordlessly, stepped over to the panel, cleared your throat, and pushed the button.

"[L Name]," you said.

"[Name]?" Uhura did not remark on how breathless you sounded, thankfully. "I need to talk to Spock."

"It's for you," you said unnecessarily. Spock had already reset his face into its typical blank mask and made his way to the communicator himself.

"Spock here. What is it, Lieutenant Commander?"

"Captain Kirk needs you on the bridge. We have a situation up here."

"What kind of a situation?"

"There's a former United States President floating outside the ship. He says he needs our help."

"I will be there right away."

A second chirp signaled that communications between your room and the bridge had ceased. Spock turned back to you.

"My presence is needed on the bridge," he said.

"So I heard."

"I apologize. I believe we were in the middle of something."

"It's all right."

He didn't move.

"Spock, go. Don't you want to know why a deceased historical figure has asked for the Enterprise's help?"

"I'd prefer to stay here," Spock said. "But you are correct. I must leave. Will you still be here later tonight?"

"Yeah." You surprised yourself with the eagerness of your answer. "Yeah, I will. I promise I won't run off with any other lieutenants while you're away. I'll save the rest of the ice cream. We can share it when you get back."

There it was: The slight curl to Spock's mouth that told you that you weren't making up the mutual attraction between you both after all. "To use another Terran phrase, it's a date."

He hesitated another moment longer before he quickly exited your quarter. You grinned as the door slid shut behind him and the white noise returned full force. As you sunk into your couch and pillow this time, you found you didn't mind the hum as much. In fact, the sound did exactly what it was supposed to do: Relax you. Kevin and his excuses from that morning felt farther away than your own home planet. Maybe you owed him a thank you, too, because if you were still with him, you wouldn't have slept as well as you did that night knowing that Spock would be back soon.