#but I have wedding and baby and love fever I’m boiling over

[dilfcherricola]

call me travie mccoy the way cupids got me in his chokehold

[gashinabts]

anti-romantic | (m)

word: 4.1k

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Genre:  Slight Angst, Fluff, Smut

Summary: celebrating father’s day without actually having kids is more fun according to you and jungkook

Warnings: hidden oral sex (fem), blow job, public sex, slight choking, riding, some roleplay (hehe)

a/n: lol this was in my drafts and was supposed to be posted on father’s day but idk if you guys liked this couple...but here it is! Might do more drabbles and stuff with this couple. lemme know what you guys think.

Read this first —> anti-baby fever

“ Happy Father's day!,” you place the bouquet of flowers on the desk before jumping on his body that was peacefully sleeping in the bed. There’s a grunt that comes out and you nuzzle your way into his neck, kissing his moles until he wakes up.

Jungkook's eyes open slowly, yawning loudly before speaking. “ How’d you find out that I have a kid? I thought I did a better job of being discreet,” he smiles when you bite his neck. His large hands hold onto your waist moving you so that you are sitting on top of him. 

“ Yeah happy father’s day...because I do be swallowing your babies,” you hold back your laughter as you try to finish your sentence. 

Jungkook barks a laugh, shaking his head at the dirty joke. “ I’m surprised to hear that coming from your mouth but I’m also proud,” he brings your head down to kiss your lips. There’s a slight gap when he pulls apart, “ So where is my breakfast in bed?” Jungkook asks, his lips barely touch yours as he speaks.

“ Damn, you're taking this roleplay too far,” you huff a laugh. “ Do you also want me to buy you a barbecue grill?” His eyes playfully roll, bringing you down to kiss him once more.

----

As funny as it sounds your dad is trying to convince Jungkook to buy a similar barbecue as him, they are talking among themselves, grilling some meat as you are with your mother and sister. It's a small gathering and you just want to go back inside your parents house because it is a million degrees outside. “ Auntie Y/N come swim with us,” one of your nephews comes to splash water on you. He laughs loudly when you give him an annoyed look, as the cold water drenched your summer dress. 

“ I don’t have any swim suits and if I get in there I will probably drown you in front of your mom,” you feel a pinch on your left arm from your mom giving you a disappointed look. On the other hand your sister laughs, shaking your head as she breastfeeds her daughter. The little brat taunts you sticking his tongue out then swims along to play with his cousins. “ I’m kidding,” you tell your mom. 

Turning back to drinking your ice tea, you sigh at the words your mother says next. “ So when are you and Jungkook going to get married? You are not getting anymore younger and it will be hard to get pregnant-”

“ Mom...,” your sister tries to defend you.

The thought of swimming sounds more appealing to you, anything that makes you stray away from this conversation with your mother. “ We actually got married, we just didn’t invite you to the wedding,” you look at your mom, her eyes shooting daggers at you. “ Imma go swimming. My stuff is still in my old room, yeah?” Your mom nods her head, pinching the bridge of her nose, probably at the annoyance of you. 

Stepping in your old room feels nice, the cold air hitting your slightly sweaty face, instantly making you cool down. You toss your body on your bed, closing your eyes, taking a breather before going outside and into the boiling pits of hell. “ This brings up old memories,” you hear your boyfriend. Smiling you look to the doorway, his body leaning against your door entrance, his arms are crossed and there’s muscle definition on his biceps. 

“ Yeah, because we lost our virginity on this bed,” you hold your hand out so he can come closer to you. Jungkook leans down, giving you quick kisses before giving you a suggestive look. 

“ Should we recreate it?,” his eyebrows go up and down. 

“ Okay,” you whisper, bringing his head down to kiss him again. “ That means you have to come in the first minute,” you laugh as he lets out a groan. Pushing him away you get up from the bed, and go to the drawers and grab a swimsuit. Putting it on you feel the straps digging into your hips and your top barely covering your boobs. Of course you don’t fit your high school swimsuits. 

“ Fuck,” you hear Jungkook sigh. Turning around you give him a confused look until you look down and see a boner. “ You look so fucking hot,” he comes to grab at your ass but you smack it off. Jungkook likes that you can’t fit in your bottoms, your cheeks showing making him want to bite it. Your hips look wider and he wants to hold on to it, feeling your supple skin that spills out from the thin straps. And the way your boobs spill out like they are purposely begging him to suckle on them. 

The apple of cheeks blush, your eyes widening at the intense stare. Shaking your head while looking at the door entrance nervously to see if anyone saw this scene. “ We are not fucking here, wait till we get home,” you lift your top up to try to cover more skin. 

“ Let me just taste you, baby. I’ll be quick,” his hands hold your hands kissing it, giving you his best puppy eyes. He just wants to smell you and taste you. A whole parade happens in his head when you agree, leaning against the dresser and parting your legs. 

Maybe it’s the heat that went to your head, that made you dumbly nod without thinking about the consequences that might happen. It turns you on even more, that you guys have to be careful and aware of your surroundings. Jungkook goes on his knees, pecking the inside of thigh before moving the swimsuit to the side, showing him your glistening folds. Immediately, his mouth is on you, tasting your arousal on his taste buds. One of your hands goes up to your mouth softening your quiet moans. The other hand, holds the dresser tightly, afraid that you might fall down.

His tongue lathers you wetness, looking up to see your chest heavily move and down. Your pretty eyes looking down at his mouth work wonders on you. “ Jungkook,” you moan. His rough hands lift your thighs up, stuffing his face more in, tongue penetrating in and out in your entrance. 

Lewd noises are being made by the two of you. Jungkook’s lips smack against your pussy, while your moaning has increased despite your hand muffling the noises. Your eyes widen when you notice your door is still open, anybody can pass by because the bathroom is across your room. “ Pay attention to me baby,” Jungkook smacks the outside of your thigh.

Listening to his words, you look into his doe eyes, his tongue do small licks on clit then sucking it before his lips plop off loudly. “ I don’t want you wearing this outside, because all I want to do is fuck you silly,” his finger goes to your entrance, thrusting slowly with a slight curl. “ I love the way you look in this,” his other finger joins and watches your hips ride them like it was his cock. He blows cool air onto your folds watching your body twitch at the sensation.

“ Yeah? I can barely fit in it,” you say as you toss your head back. There’s a cooling sensation against your heat, pulling your bottoms more to the side so it doesn’t go in the way of his mouth.

“ That’s why I love it, your body spilling out of it and it’s fucking hot. Look at your tits barely covered, your nipples are begging to be sucked on,” he gives you a sloppy kiss on your clit before continuing, “ Your hips look really wide, you know that means you can take my cock better.” His thumb rubs your clit fast, more wetness seeps out of your entrance making his fingers slide in faster. “ I also love it because I got to see you grow into and out of this swimsuit. Just proves to you that I’m always here,” he pecks your thigh. 

The words make you blush, insecurities washed away because you never thought that not fitting your swimsuit could be this hot and liberating. More importantly it makes you want to come all over his mouth. “ I love you,” you whisper softly.

His eyes are sparkly, looking like he holds the constellations in his eyes. “ I love you,” he says. Then placing his mouth on your cunt. Eating you up like he didn’t eat at all today. He moans into you, as your hands hold his hair tightly, the vibrations hitting your sensitive nerves making you moan loudly as you come against his wet mouth. Your hips moving against his mouth as you come down your high, finally stopping after a few seconds. Jungkook places your bikini back in place, kissing your hip. 

His hair is in his face, you tuck a strand behind his ear, “ Yeah, I’m not going swimming anymore,” you laugh in disbelief that your boyfriend ate you out in your childhood bedroom while your family is outside. Taking off your bikini you return back to your summer dress.

“ Yeah, we don’t want you flashing a nipple when you do a cannonball,” he laughs, getting up and watching you look at the mirror. There’s a slight frown on your face, he comes closer plopping his head on your shoulder. “ What’s wrong?” his hands are placed on your waist drumming his fingers. 

“ Do you want to get married?” your eyes meet Jungkook’s. His eyes widening at your question, there’s a couple seconds of silence. His body immediately leaves your, creating a small gap. Turning around to face him instead of talking to his reflection. 

Jungkook's eyebrows raise. “ Are you asking me or is it your mom?” When he was talking to your father earlier, he noticed you looking annoyed while talking to your mother. There was a small frown on your pretty face, and he wanted to kiss it off but your father was talking about which charcoal he uses for the grill.

“ It’s better to just get it over with, so she won’t have to keep pestering me,” you shrug. Which is probably not the right choice of words, since Jungkook lets out a disappointed sigh. His hand pushes his hair back in frustration. 

“ Seriously, Y/N?” As much of Jungkook would love to get married to you, he doesn’t want to get proposed because ‘you just want to get it over with’, it leaves his heart feeling heavy that you don’t see the problem in this. 

The tone in his voice sounds just like your mother, a chastising tone, and you get annoyed.“ I thought you wanted that,” you toss your head back. Not knowing what you are doing wrong. 

Jungkook doesn’t want to argue, especially now, since you guys are supposed to be spending family time. “ Not like that,” he rolls his eyes at how unaware you are. There’s a few seconds of silence, his hands push his hair back in frustration. “ Let’s go back out,” he says in defeat. Walking ahead of you, not holding your hand like he usually does.

The slider door is right in front of you, your family are talking among each other. One thing you don’t want is to be on bad terms. “ Jungkook, are you upset?” You grab his hand before he can walk outside to carry on talking to your family. 

“ Yes. Let’s talk about this later, okay?” Jungkook turns around giving you a smile. Not the kind of smile that makes your heart flutter, it’s the type of smile that you give when you don’t want to deal with someone. In defeat, you nod letting go of his hand, as he walks to the pool getting splashed by your nephews. He brightly smiles at them, wiping the water off his face before getting a water gun and chasing them with it. 

Sighing you walk to your dad who is still grilling meat, he looks at you smiling. “ Something wrong kiddo,” he asks as he flips over the meat. Typically, you never talk to your dad about your problems, only ever going to your sister sometimes but she’s not much help because she’s with your mom.

“ Jungkook and I had a...little argument,” you say, looking to the pool to see him spinning your nephew around. “ I asked if we should just get married because of mom’s bickering. Jungkook got upset,” you scratch your arm. Looking back at your dad whose face is at a grimace, your eyes widening. “ What?” 

There is playful screaming and laughing in the background, you ignore it trying to listen to your dad’s words. “ Don’t you think that’s a little harsh? I wouldn’t want to be asked like that,” he chuckles lightly. 

Replaying the conversation that you had with Jungkook, you mentally smack your palm to your head. Your mom shouldn’t be the reason why you should marry Jungkook. Jungkook is a hopeless romantic, he likes to be swallowed whole by your love. So of course he wouldn’t want to be proposed like that. Your dad pats your back in comfort before leaving you in your thoughts as you look at Jungkook making funny faces at your baby niece.

Jungkook is back in the house grabbing plates from the kitchen cabinet, you close the slider door quietly, walking behind him as he reaches for the last plate. Wrapping your arms behind his small waist, his breath hitches, exhaling your name. “ I’m a dummy,” you whisper.

Jungkook softly laughs, “ No you're not. I’m sorry for overreacting-“

“ You weren’t though,” you lay your head completely on his back, hearing his heartbeat. “ I wasn’t being considerate,” you kiss his back through his shirt. The plate makes a small clunk sound when he places it on the counter, turning around in your arms. His brown eyes look into your eyes before kissing you on your cheek. 

“ Baby, do you want me to talk to your mom?” Jungkook asks, his large hand caressing your cheek. You give him a questioning hum. “ That we don’t have to get married right now. That we are perfectly fine just the way we are.”

The silky strands are gliding in between your fingers, as you push it away from his face.“ Hmm. Maybe she will listen to you better,” you smile. Jungkook can easily make your mom's views change within seconds with his charming smile. 

---

Jungkook lifts you up the ground before you enter the house, crossing the threshold as he holds you in his strong arms. “ Why do you keep doing this with every house,” you laugh, holding on to him tightly. “ We don’t even know we are buying this house,” you say as he finally puts you down. Looking around the empty house, you visualize a sofa and tv in the spacious living room. 

“Exactly we don’t know, it’s bad luck not to do that,” he also looks around. “ This is nice,” he whistles looking at your hips swaying as you walk to the kitchen. “ The kitchen I mean,” he cockily says.

Turning around you playfully swat him, “ Can you imagine yourself cooking here?” The cold countertops touch your fingertips as they slide against it. You can see yourself cooking here making food for you and Jungkook, his hands on your hips as he watches you. 

Jungkook likes the way the set up of the kitchen, the granite countertops and the dark brown wooden cabinets give the kitchen an expensive feel. Compared to the first apartment he got with you in college this place is a thousand times better. His heart flutters knowing that he gets to share the rest of his life with you in this house. He comes closer to you hugging you from behind as you look inside the empty cabinets. “ Mhm, yeah I can see myself cooking here,” his nose rubs against your neck loving the perfume you're wearing. He can also see himself doing other things in this kitchen. “ And eating here too,” he says, blowing a raspberry in your neck.

Laughing in his hold you turn your head to kiss his cheek, “ Let’s go up. Before you act on your fantasies,” you grab his hand. Going up the stairs you guys checked out the three rooms and bathrooms. This house is something that you’ve been wanting for the past year, it’s spacious, has a big backyard to plant your flowers, and two hours away from your parents. “ We can put our bed here,” you point in the middle. “ The dressers here,” you point in two different directions. 

Jungkook smiles fondly as you point at random spaces, he’s pretty sure that you pointed at the same area more than once for different furniture going there. “ How about the other rooms? You don’t think three rooms is big?”

You shake your head, “ I think it’s perfect. Our room, your gaming room, and maybe a guest room in case my mom wants to spend the night,” you shrug at the end. There’s a rush of serotonin just imagining getting this house. “ What are your thoughts?” His pretty eyes look around the empty big room and smile on his face.

“ Let’s get it,” he looks back at you. Your eyes meet and you grab his shirt pulling him down to kiss him to show him how happy you are. Pulling away, he holds your chin looking at your silly smile. ‘ Yeah, this is definitely home,’ Jungkook thinks to himself.

---

“ Fuck Y/N,” Jungkook moans loudly his head hitting the back of his seat.  Your mouth sucks his tip lightly as your hand moves up and down his cock. His breathing is getting louder, and he wraps your hair around his hand, wanting to see your eyes. “ Couldn't even wait to go inside the apartment,” he shakes his head in fake disappointment. But this was far from disappointing. 

Moaning against his tip, you shake your head. Deciding on buying the house turned you on and you couldn’t wait to fuck him. Your lips make a plop sound as you pull apart, “ That wouldn’t be any fun,” you kiss his tip. Causing him to groan at your cunningness. “ We should fuck one last time in this parking lot,” you blow cold air on his tip before going down again. 

Jungkook wipes the foggy car window to make sure no one is here looking at you choking on his cock. You're letting guttural noises and your eyes water at his size, your hips move side to side in the air, probably itching to be touched. “ Yeah, choke on it,” Jungkook pushes your head down more, throat tightening around his cock. “ Are you crying on my cock?” Jungkook condescending laughs.

 It turns you on how mean he is being, your tears come down even more at the humiliation but you enjoy it. You can feel your panties are getting stuck on your folds and you badly want to relieve yourself. Jungkook pushes your head down one last time before pulling your head by your hair to kiss you. His tongue pushes against your exchanging moans against each other. He helps you move your body over the center console so you are now sitting on his lap. “ Wait Jungkook,” you pull apart. “ I need to take my pants off,” you look at the tight space around you. There’s not enough room to take it off where you are.

Jungkook screams at himself for not owning a bigger car. “ Uhh, just take your pants off real quick outside and come back inside the car,” he looks out to see no one out. The things you do for sex, you hurridely take off your pants and returning back to the position. His hands are on your thighs rubbing them up and down, as he makes outs with you. Your hips move against his trying to pleasure yourself. 

Jungkook pulls away staring at you with a lustful gaze, his hands moving up to caress your face, “ Can’t believe we are doing this,” he says, laughing in disbelief.

“ Mmm, same.  Something about you signing the papers and paying the deposit turned me on,” you kiss his cheek, while stroking him in your hands.

He groans, tossing his head back showing his bare neck for a quick second, “ Yeah?” He gives you a boyish smile. “ When I saw you walking up the stairs. Kinda wanted to fuck you right there,” he kisses your neck. He moans your name when you insert his cock into your tight entrance. 

“ Next time, do it. Take me anywhere in our new house,” you hold his head close to your neck. Feeling him sucking on your skin, probably marking his love for you. “ Are you gonna fuck me like your little housewife?” Smiling to yourself when you hear him groan your name. You breath out heavily, thighs shaking as you move up and down on his cock.

Jungkook's hands wrap around your waist tightly, thrusting up into you. “ My little housewife,” he whispers to himself. It doesn’t necessarily fit your image, due to the fact that you have a high paying job and you guys aren’t even married but it turns him on. There’s something a little demeaning about it and it twisted as it sounds he wants to continue with this little act you proposed. “ Gotta have you wearing nothing but an apron on,” he snarkily smiles up to you. 

His hard thrust is making you jostle in his arms, and you cry even more just imagining him fucking you from behind as you cook him dinner. “ Yeah what else would you want from me, my lovely husband,” you put your hands to the car ceiling trying to keep yourself ahold. 

His heart does a little jump at the word of husband, he knows it’s only you teasing but he loves the way it comes out of your mouth. “ Mmm, you have to be waiting on your knees when I come home from work,” he says while one of his hands trails up your neck lightly squeezing it. “ Fuck your mouth since you’re a needy slut waiting for her husband like a good wife.” 

Your walls tighten when you hear him speaking nothing but filth to you. His thrust hits the spot that makes you drool and eyes rolling back. “ Fuck Jungkook,” you whisper. The car is probably moving from how hard Jungkook is fucking. If someone were to walk by they can obviously tell that you guys are doing the nasty, but you don’t care, this is your last day in this apartment complex.

Jungkook looks at your tits bouncing and his mouth does his best at sucking at them. He moans around it loving the feeling of your nipple in his mouth. His eyes look up at you staring down at him, sucking it hard. His lips plops off your tit, “ Are you gonna come for me, my pretty little housewife?” He watches as you nod your head up and down, holding the car ceiling as your life depends on it. He wants to remember this moment forever. His hand holds your soft tit, fingers pinching your nipple, while his mouth goes back to the other nipple sucking it softly. Your walls squeeze his cock tight as you come around it while moaning his name loudly. He prays that the windows do a good job muffling your moans, but he doubts it.

Your hands come down brushing his hair back, “ Come in your wife,” your body is still shaking from the intense orgasm. “ Make good use of me,” you tell him. His eyes roll back at words. He sucks harder on your nipple and you hiss in pain and delight. He holds you tighter in his arms, thrusting in quick motions as he comes into you. 

The feeling of his come in your cunt makes you want him to fuck you all over again. Knowing that you are the only person in the world to have him inside you like this makes you prideful. The breaths die down and Jungkook is now sucking your nipples softly, humming around it. Your hands softly brushing his hair back, letting him do his thing. “ I didn’t know you would be so into the housewife role playing,” you laugh to yourself. 

His lips part from your tits, and he laughs with you. “ You're into it just as I was,” he pecks your boob one last time before taking his cock out of you. The semen slowly comes down your lips, his finger coming to massage it into your folds. His mouth waters wondering what you and him taste like together. He looks up, “ Wanna quit your job and I’ll wife you up?” he laughs when you swat his hand away.

[ablogofthecriminalmindsvariety]

HotchReid for the ship meme... 1-15 😅😅😅

, For the ship ask 2, 3, 11 and 15 would be too much? With Hotch/Reid?

For your viewing pleasure, here’s your daily dose of HotchReid

1. Which one is the better cook

Aaron, most definitely to begin with. But they start to have cooking lessons, and then it turns into Aaron just letting Spencer help while he cooks. Letting him boil the water, or turn on the stove, stir the pot, put this or that in. Spencer becomes your very run of the mill, slightly mediocre chef. But Aaron compares it to chemistry at one point, and then suddenly it clicks for Spencer and he becomes a good cook. Aaron is still better, though.

2. What their love letters look like

Okay, funny story, for a roleplay I’m doing, I wrote a love letter from Spencer to Aaron, confessing love for the first time, so here’s that:

Dear Aaron,

I apologize for the oddities of this. I know that a letter wouldn’t be entirely typical of most people when confessing their feelings of affection, though I think we’ve established by now that I’m not like most people, so here goes nothing.

The feelings that I have for you are not, by any means, platonic. The way I feel when I look at you is unlike any way I’ve ever felt before. You make me feel warm from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, you make my heart twist in a way that somehow isn’t painful, and in all honesty, it’s entirely terrifying. Because it’s unfamiliar and I don’t feel things like that for people. Ever. I didn’t get to do the whole ‘dating and experimenting and finding myself’ thing. Not in high school, not really in college. And so, where I’m standing now is almost entirely unfamiliar ground.

Though if there’s anything that you’ve taught me, it’s that the unexpected and the new can be amazingly wonderful things. And I believe that you are one of those amazingly wonderful new things that has found its way into my life. Opening up to people is hard for me. Talking to people is hard for me. And yet, somehow, you’ve managed to settle yourself into my life and make it so you’re the exception to both of those things.

You’re easy to talk to, and you’re there, and you’re easy to open up to, and the thought of me losing you in my life is genuinely painful because you’ve sort of started to settle yourself into this little place in my heart and I genuinely don’t know what I’d do if for whatever reason you tried to uproot. Nor do I know what I’d say to you, so I’m writing you this letter.

Relationships are hard for me, and so is trust. There have been things in my life that have happened to make that true, and I can say with certainty that I think you’re one of the few people in the world who I’d be comfortable talking to about that one day. Which is saying a lot for me, which by default means that I care very deeply for you, Aaron Hotchner.

And this is the way that I found to show it to you.

Bette Davis said “Love is not enough. It must be the foundation, the cornerstone- but not the complete structure. It is much too pliable, too yielding.” I’d like to make a foundation to build something upon, Aaron, something that’s our own sort of beautiful. I hope that you say you’d like to build with me, but I understand if the feelings aren’t reciprocated.

I hope they are.

Sincerely,

       Spencer.

And as for Aaron? I don’t think he would be all that eloquent, he wouldn’t be able to sit down and write a love letter. His letter would be more one that he writes for Spencer every day in the words he says and the things he does. The good morning cheek kisses, bringing him his first cup of coffee, tying his tie because somehow, no matter what, Spencer always ties it crooked, good night cuddles, putting socks on his cold feet in the night. That’s what his love letters look like.

3. Which one outlives the other, and how they cope

Realistically, Spencer would outlive Aaron. There’s a ten year age gap, and it’s likely that Aaron would be the one to go first. They both manage to live to a happy, relatively old age, and when Aaron goes, Spencer is with him. He holds his head in his lap, and he reads The Little Prince to him and he combs his fingers through his hair. When the breathing stops, he just sits there. He marks that page in the story, and it will forever and always remind him of him. The book does to. He eventually can read it without crying. But he can never look at the page that they stopped on without breaking down in earnest. When he goes, Spencer doesn’t relapse. He’s spent too long being sober, and though it’s hard, he knows that Aaron would never want that for him. So he stays clean, and he stays locked up in their house for a little while, for a few days. He always, always lets friends in to come visit, and he sits with them, and he reminisces. In bed at night, in their bed, holding one of Aaron’s sweaters and his old stuffed rabbit that Spencer got for him years and years ago, he cries and he cries and he cries. Eventually, he starts to heal, and with the help of his friends, he gets to a better place. He keeps Aaron’s wedding ring on a chain around his neck that also has a little locket that he’d had for a very long time. It’s of him, Aaron, and Jack that he got for him on their two year anniversary, and he always keeps it over his heart.

4.What they do on date night

It depends on the date night that they have. They don’t go out to fancy restaurants, because that’s gross. They stay in and watch documentaries and old movies in their pajamas with wine and takeaway and they throw popcorn at each other. They go to local restaurants to support the business. Little diners and shops and such. They take walks around rock creek park together, hand in hand. They read in the back yard with the porch lights on, looking at the stars. They lay out on the grass on a blanket and Spencer tells Aaron about all of the constellations. They go to see the cats in the shelters and give the lonely ones love. They do a slew of different things.

5. How many kids they’ll have

Well, they have Jack, and Aaron claims that he will never go through the whole baby thing again. Spencer gets baby fever when he has to babysit for a neighbor on an emergency and Aaron tells Spencer horror stories from Jack growing up. It always makes it die down, but it’ll always flare back up again. Aaron arranges for Spencer to watch Jessica’s baby, who is a nightmare, but the baby gets sick and throws up all over him and so Aaron has to come save the day and help Spencer get all cleaned up and assist him. Spencer stops wanting a baby after that, and they’re happy to just have their cats instead. They have three (they were only supposed to ever have two, but that’s a whole headcannon list that I’m not going to get into right now). Mr. Mittens, Sherlock, and Artemis, and that along with Jack is enough for him.

6. How they decorated their bedroom

It’s quite simple. Spencer is an artist, and he likes to draw. He gets into painting at some point, and so there are a few of those hanging on the wall, some of the better ones. There are family pictures around the room. Of Jack, Jack and Haley, Aaron and Jack, Aaron and Jack and Haley, Aaron and Spencer, Spencer and Jack, Aaron and Jack and Spencer, Diana and Spencer, and a picture or two of the team, because they are their family. The furniture is nothing special, and their sheets and duvets rotate, because Spencer is anal about having them cleaned weekly and Aaron used to change him every other week anyways.

7 Which one is the worse driver

Spencer is the worse driver, but if you ask him, Aaron is scarier to be in the car with. They’re both good drivers, but Aaron has a bit more skill. On a case, in a high speed chase, that time Aaron crashes a car into another car to save the cyclists, and all of that junk. Spencer doesn’t like to let Aaron in the car after that. Aaron doesn’t like to let Spencer drive simply because he doesn’t like to not have that control.

8. What they argue about

They’re pretty good about communicating and not arguing with each other. Normally it’s about things like Reid taking off his vest when he’s talking to an unsub, or risking his life to save a victim. Or about Aaron working too much and not taking care of himself. They only ever fight out of concern for the to the other person. Or when they’re both really stressed, Reid might pick a fight over something small, and then he starts crying, and then Aaron feels bad, and Spencer apologizes because he picked the fight, and then they talk out their icky feelings like adults and they hug each other and they feel better.

9. Which one swears more

It depends. When Spencer is really stressed or ticked off, he swears more. But at home, Aaron is sort of more of a casual swearer. I’d say probably Aaron. Spencer swears in other languages sometimes if he doesn’t want people to know that he’s swearing, but Aaron probably swears more frequently.

10. What TV shows they watch together, and which ones they hide from the other

They don’t really have a lot of shows that they watch together. Spencer likes to watch old shows, like I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show and Leave it to Beaver. They watch a lot of history documentaries together, because Spencer loves documentaries, and Aaron loves history. They watch Doctor Who together, because it’s one of Spencer’s favorites. Aaron makes Spencer watch the movies that he likes so he gets the references that he makes.

11. What their first impression was of each other

Spencer was nervous. Aaron was a big, scary man, and Gideon introduced him while he was in the middle of a run at the academy. He’s clearly less than impressed by that and Gideon telling him that he’s going to do great things in the academy, Aaron doesn’t believe him. He is slightly surprised because Spencer is so... small. Frail. Fragile.

12. What they do for their anniversary

They don’t always celebrate day of, because work doesn’t let them. But even if they have work on the anniversary, they have dinner together, even if it’s pretzels and bottled water on the way home on the jet. But when they do get the chance to actually celebrate, they make a day of it. Breakfast in bed and cuddles. Going out to the park, Aaron pushes Spencer on the swings. They got to their favorite cafe and order hot chocolate and watch the people on the streets and make up their life stories. They go to Spencer’s favorite book store and pick random books, pages, and lines and make a story out of all of them. There’s a local carnival that comes around right around the time their anniversary is that they go to in the night. Aaron plays the games and tries to win Spencer something. He always manages to even if they’re rigged, and Spencer keeps each and every one of them. They go on the Ferris Wheel, and Aaron always slips the man working the ride some money to keep them stopped at the top for a little while. They look at the stars together and kiss under the moonlight. And when they go home, they cuddle on the couch and watch trash TV and when they go to be, they whisper how much they love each other and their favorite things about the other one.

13. Which makes a bigger deal of birthdays

They don’t make very big deals of them. Spencer doesn’t like to be fussed over on his birthday, and Aaron doesn’t like to be reminded that he’s a year closer to death. They make special birthday pancakes, go out to dinner, and get each other a gift, but for the most part, that’s it.

14. What nicknames they call each other

Aaron calls Spencer a variety of things. A lot of variations of the word bug. Sugarbug, lovebug, bug, stinkbug are the go to’s. Along with angel, coffee bean, doc, and your run of the mill baby, sweetheart, etc.

Spencer calls Aaron bear, cherry blossom (because of his love for the cherry blossom festival in DC), and of course your run of the mill love, babe, honey, things such as that.

15. What they would change about each other

They both love each other dearly and would never want the other person to change who they are and things of the sort. They both do wish, however, that the other person had a slightly stronger sense of self preservation.

[thewnchstrs]

I Loved Her First

Pairing: DeanXdaughter!reader

Summary: Dean reminisces as he navigated his life through fatherhood, beginning with the moment he first held his daughter to now, on her wedding day. *based on I Loved Her First by Heartland

Disclaimers: so much fluff you WILL die

Word Count: 3.4K

Listen to the song here

Masterlist

Feedback keeps the oneshots coming!

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The day Dean had dreaded his entire fatherhood career was finally here. He knew it was coming, it was no surprise. Since that day back in November when Matt asked if he could marry his daughter, Dean knew the day would fast approach. After the near hour of interrogation, that is.

They’d set the date months ago, planning their big day since Christmas. Dean had always taken a backseat to it however, letting Y/N do her thing because this was her day, the one shred of normalcy she finally had in her life and the last thing he wanted was to get in the way.

And now that the ceremony was over, and as he sat at one of the cloth covered tables in the open field behind the bunker in the too-itchy suit Sam had helped pick out, Dean didn’t think about the twinkling lights strung from the trees or the pie Y/N had insisted on getting instead of a cake(at least, he didn’t think about it too much). 

It was his daughter he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about.

He watched his little girl dance with her new husband, neither of them taking their eyes off of each other for even a second. They laughed as they danced, her face lighting up at every little thing he said. Matt’s eyes seemed to melt at the sight of her.

Dean smiled slightly, memories of the past twenty-four years with Y/N flooding into his head, everything from the moment he first held her to now, on her wedding night.

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“And...you have no idea where she came from? Sam asked his brother as they watched the sleeping form of the baby as she still laid in the car seat that both of them were too scared to move her from. She couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old.

“How would I know, Sam?” he asked, pacing the floor as he bit the nail of his thumb.

“Well, you’re not exactly a saint, Dean. Is it really that hard to believe that, maybe...”

Dean’s eyes widened at the accusation that the child was his. He shook his head profusely, “No. No, no, no, no. It’s not possible! Okay? It’s not. I mean, sure, I’ve had a few one-nighters here and there, but none of them ever ended in-”

His sudden pause made Sam look up from the baby, eyeing his brother suspiciously as he thought about it. That one night, many many moons ago. Sam swallowed roughly, “Dean?”

Dean looked to his brother, his eyes wide. “How long ago were we in Pasadena?”

Sam sighed, running a hand down his face, “Just about nine months ago.”

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Dean had never run on so little sleep. The days and nights seemed to run together, the endless hours trying to soothe her high pitched cries, feeding her, changing her, burping her. 

It was a ruthless cycle that, frankly, Dean didn’t feel he was cut out for. Even though it had only been barely three days with her, he wasn’t sure how he would be able to do it.

“What’s it gonna take, kid?” Dean asked desperately, bouncing her up and down as he paced across the nursery. He’d fed her, changed her, done pretty much everything short of putting on a live lullaby show for her. Besides his efforts, she showed no signs of calming down.

Dean’s mind reeled, searching the air for an answer as to what to do until he settled on the last thing he still hadn’t tried. Dean nearly rolled his eyes at the thought of it, but it was really the best he had.

“I don’t know where I’m goin’, but I sure know where I’ve been.” he began, swaying to the tune that played in his head. Y/N’s face continued to twist in sadness, her fists clenched as she screamed at the top of her lungs, but Dean was sort of out of options. “Hangin’ on the promises in songs of yesterday, and I’ve made up my mind, I ain’t wastin’ no more time. Here I go again.”

As Dean sang off-key to the song, Y/N’s cries became softer and softer, Dean’s eyes widening. “Whitesnake, huh?” he questioned, but his abrupt end of the song made Y/N turn her lips downward yet again. “Hey, hey, hey, look! It’s alright.” he held her close to him as he continued the song, “Though I keep searching for an answer, never seem to find what I’m looking for. Oh, Lord I pray you give me strength to carry on, ‘cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams.”

He watched at Y/N yawned, her eyes beginning to fall closed. Dean smiled triumphantly as he sat in the rocking chair Jody had given to them when she’d heard about Y/N’s unexpected arrival. 

Dean marveled at her, how peaceful she was when she slept. He ran a thumb over her cheek, wiping away a stray tear. He smiled beside himself as he repeated the last line of the song he’d just sang like a mantra, “Oh, Lord I pray you give me strength to carry on.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“Happy birthday to you!” The group sang before Dean helped Y/N blow out the candles on her first birthday cake. 

She clapped enthusiastically, Cas, Sam, and Dean clapping along with her. Dean marveled at Y/N who, in the last year had changed so drastically he could hardly believe it was the same baby left at his door step. 

Dean stood next to Y/N’s high chair, letting Sam take pictures with the cake in front of her. Out of somewhat habit, Dean stuck his finger out to the edge of the cake, swiping up some of the frosting and popping it into his mouth. 

Y/N’s eyes traveled up to Dean before looking back down at the cake. In an instant, the three of them watched her bring her hands down, flying through the air as they smashed into the middle of the cake before bringing her cake coated hands up to her mouth.

“That’s my girl,” Dean laughed as she continued to fling cake as her hands smashed in and out of the cake. “Alright, kid, save some for the rest of us!”

Dean carefully picked up what was left of the cake and set it in the middle of the kitchen table for him, Sam, and Cas to cut into. However, the minute it was taken away, Dean caught sight of his daughter, her lips cast downward and big tears filled her eyes.

“Someone’s not happy,” Sam warned before the tears began to fall in large rivulets down her cheeks. Dean’s heart broke at the sight of it, his head bouncing between Y/N and the cake before shrugging.

“Hell, it’s the kid’s birthday.” He cut off a large chunk of the cake before setting it down on her high chair, her tears immediately cutting off. He smiled as she happily ate the cake. He used a clean finger to wipe away one of her tears. 

The rest of them grabbed forks, eating from the cake Y/N hadn’t destroyed with her fists, laughing and smiling as they watched Y/N. She’d come into their lives so unexpectedly, but they couldn’t believe how well she fit right in.

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Sam and Dean raced into the emergency room, Y/N clinging close to Dean’s chest as they frantically ran to the reception desk. 

“Please it’s my daughter- she’s, she’s been throwing up and has a fever-” Dean rambled, his words becoming jumbled from his mind running a million miles a minute.

The receptionist held his hand out in front of Dean, stopping him, “You’re going to have to fill this out and wait for your name to be called.”

Dean’s eyes bounced from the clipboard up to the man before leaning in, his finger pointed at him as his temper came dangerously close to boiling over. “You’re going to get us to a doctor, and he’s going to make my little girl better before I shove that clipboard where the sun don’t shine-”

“We’ll fill this out,” Sam interrupted, nodding to the receptionist whose eyes were wide. Sam grabbed the clipboard from the counter and lead Dean to the waiting room by the jacket.

“What was that for? I almost got us in-”

“No, you almost got us kicked out.” Sam corrected as he began to fill out Y/N’s information. 

Dean adjusted Y/N on his lap who’d resorted to quiet whimpering as she sucked on her thumb, something they’d only ever seen her do when she was in pain. It broke Dean’s heart as he held her, wishing it were him, not her.

After hours of waiting and numerous patients coming and going, they were finally taken back for Y/N to be seen. Dean sat up on the bed with Y/N in his lap whose cries only seemed to become more and more intense.

“Yep, it’s a double ear infection,” Dr. Wong had announced after examining Y/N.

“So, what...what does that mean?” Dean asked worriedly.

Dr. Wong smiled slightly, “Ear infections are incredibly common among young children and are easily treated,” he tore off a prescription off of a pad of paper, “she should be getting to feeling better within a few days.”

Sam and Dean visibly relaxed at the good news: Y/N would be okay.

“Here that, kiddo?” Dean smiled as he looked down at Y/N, wiping a tear from her cheek. “You’re gonna be just fine.”

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Y/N held tightly onto her lunch box, standing close to her dad as they waited for the bus. Today was her second day of kindergarten.

The last two mornings for Dean was rough, to say the least. He’d always worried about enrolling Y/N in school for a multitude of reasons that seemed to be running through his head on repeat.

He was taking this much harder than she was.

“You excited for another day?” Dean asked, trying to hide the sadness from the fact his little girl was no longer very little anymore.

Y/N sat silently for a minute, thinking before turning to her dad. “I’m excited for play time.”

Dean nodded, smiling. Ever since her orientation at the school a few days ago, she couldn’t stop talking about that damned playground.

He ruffled Y/N’s hair, hugging her close to him. However, when she didn’t return the hug, he knew something was bugging her. “Alright, munchkin. What’s on your mind?”

Y/N looked down at her shoes, twisting them on the concrete, “What would you do if people are being mean to you?”

Dean was taken back, “Why do you ask?” he squatted down next to her, holding her arms so she would look at him.

She shrugged, adjusting the strap on her backpack, her lip quivering. “There are these girls at school, and they won’t let me play with them because they say I dress funny.”

Dean’s immediate reaction was to get the names and phone numbers of the kids to knock some sense into. However, as the words sunk in, he felt guilty about her blue jeans, t-shirts and sneakers she wore everyday. 

“Hey, c’mon,” he said, wiping away one of her tears, “don’t let those girls get into your head, okay? It doesn’t matter what you wear or what you look like...if you’re a good person in here,” he said, pointing at her chest, “then that’s what matters. Those girls don’t know what their missing.”

Y/N smiled slightly, wrapping an arm around her dad just as the bus turned the corner and came down their street. 

“Okay, daddy, I have to go now.”

Dean squeezed her one last time before pulling away, kissing her on the head. He patted her on the back as the bus came to a stop, the doors huffing open. He watched as she climbed onto the bus, picking a seat next to the window, waving at him as the bus drove away.

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“Dad?”

The voice immediately pulled Dean out of the deep hole he’d been in, hunched over lore books and his laptop. His head snapped up toward the entrance of the library where Y/N stood in her pajamas.

“Hey kid,” Dean said as Y/N took a seat next to him, “everything okay?”

Y/N tucked her hair behind her ear, looking down at her hands in her lap before speaking the words that had been bugging her for nearly her whole life, “Where’s my mom?”

Dean sighed, setting his pencil down in the open book as he sat back in his chair, looking over at his daughter. He felt for her, he really did. A thirteen year old girl who had no relationship with her mom couldn’t exactly be characterized as a cake walk.

“I don’t know,” he said truthfully, watching as Y/N’s shoulders slumped forward slightly.

“What was she like?” Y/N asked, desperate for some kind of knowledge of her.

Dean shook his head, smiling softly, “She was badass.” Y/N raised her eyebrows at this, “One of the best hunters Sam and I ever knew. And she was beautiful...Y/H/C like yours, and that smile- I see it every time I look at you. She could light up any room, just by being in it.”

Y/N smiled, conjuring up an image of her mother in her head. “Did you love her?”

Dean paused, slightly taken back by the question, but knew the answer without having to think about it nonetheless. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.” Y/N slowly nodded, picking at the edges of her nails as Dean watched her. 

“Why didn’t she want me?” Y/N asked quietly, not being able to meet Dean’s eyes. 

Dean shook his head, holding the back of Y/N’s head so she would look at him, he ran a thumb over his cheek to wipe away a tear that escaped her eye, “Your mom wanted you to be safe and she...she knew she couldn’t provide that for you. She knew you’d be safer with Sam and I-”

“But why didn’t she come back and see me?” Y/N pleaded, her voice cracking in attempts to keep her sobbing at bay. She just wanted to understand. “Why hasn’t she called, or, or visited? Was I not good enough for her?”

“Hey, you stop that,” Dean said firmly, shaking his head at his daughter’s accusations at herself, “listen to me, Y/N...I don’t know why your mom hasn’t done those things, okay? And I’m sorry, I am...but don’t you ever think, in a million years that it was because you weren’t good enough, you understand me?”

Y/N bit her lip as Dean pulled her close to his chest, cradling her head, silently cursing Y/N’s mom for abandoning her.

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“Hey, hey! It’s not even that bad, see!” Sam lied as he examined the gunshot wound that’d gone clean through Y/N’s side, taking out a large chunk of flesh. She gritted her teeth as she writhed on the warehouse floor, blood pooling out of the wound.

Dean stood back, watching in horror as the scene unraveled in front of him, his knees buckling as Sam quickly shed one of his layers of clothing, wadding it up and pressing it over the wound in order to stop the bleeding.

Y/N’s blood-curdling scream pulled Dean out of his trance, rushing toward the two of them as he fell on his knees next to Y/N’s head, his hands hovering over her body, unsure of where to start.

“Stay with her, I’ll bring the car around,” Sam said quickly, as Dean took over holding the shirt on her side. She let out a low breath, groaning in pain.

“Didd I- I kill it?” she stuttered out. Dean laughed lightly, she sure as hell was a Winchester.

He nodded quickly, looking over to where the demon lay, “You got him, Y/N.”

“Jesus, this hurts,” she groaned, clenching her jaw and banging her fists against the floor. 

“I know, I know, you’re gonna be just fine, we’re gonna get you to a real doctor, okay?” he said quickly, just trying to keep her talking to him. He pushed down harder on her side, eliciting a mangled cry from her lips. He looked over to her, grabbing her face in his hands. “You’ve gotta stay with me, Y/N. You ain’t got a choice, alright? I can’t lose you over a lousy gunshot.”

Y/N swallowed roughly, as she nodded, “Okay. I’m- I’m with you.”

Dean smiled, wiping away the tears on her cheek, “There’s my girl.”

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Y/N hooked her arm through her father’s, gripping the sleeve of his suit jacket as they stood outside of the chapel doors as the bridesmaids and groomsmen filed in in front of them.

Dean glanced at Y/N out of the corner of his eye, patting the top of her hand. “You’ll be okay.”

Y/N let out a breath, nodding as she caught a glimpse of the inside of the church, a swell of emotions swirling inside of her. She was excited, scared, overjoyed, sad. There was so much waiting for her at the end of that aisle, a life she couldn’t wait to start.

“Well,” She sighed as the music in the church began, signaling Y/N’s cue to begin her descent down the aisle. “Lets do this.”

She held tightly onto Dean as they slowly walked down the aisle, her eyes trained on Matt, who, at the sight of her, broke down into tears. He smiled nonetheless, wiping the tears away with a sleeve.

Dean felt his throat constrict as he assisted Y/N down the aisle. He was getting ready to hand her off to someone else, to love her unconditionally just as he had, and to care for her even though she was more than capable of doing that just fine on her own.

The end of the aisle seemed to last only merely seconds, because before he knew it, Y/N turned to him, tears brimming her eyes. Dean smoothed back her hair as he wiped away a tear. “I love you, sweetheart.”

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Dean met his daughter in the grass, not sure how to feel about the large group of people watching their father-daughter dance. The music filtered in through the speakers, the two of them swaying slowly.

“You look beautiful,” he smiled sadly, “did I tell you that already?”

Y/N laughed, “Yeah...that was the fiftieth time, I think.”

Dean watched his daughter as they danced, and she smiled up at him, that same smile he remembered from all those years ago. Dean shook his head, how had the last twenty-three years gone by so fast? 

"Hey, dad?” Y/N said, “I just- I just wanted to say thank you...for everything.” Dean’s eyebrows cinched together in confusion but stayed quiet at she continued. “You’ve always been there for me, especially when nobody else was. You took me in when my own mom didn’t want me and I- I can’t thank you enough for being the father every girl dreams of having.”

Tears pricked at Dean’s eyes as he kissed her forehead, hugging her close to his body, his cheek resting on top of her head. Y/N pulled away as she looked up at her dad, wiping away a tear that rolled down his cheek. 

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Y/N.”

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[madaboutmerlin]

Merlin Writer Month: Round up

Hello Merlin fans! We hope you’ve all had a fabulous week and that you found new authors to enjoy. 

We wanted to let you know that we’ll be posting a compilation of all your recommendations every sunday so, please, if you uploaded something remember to use the hashtag: #MerlinWritterMonth2018; so that we may include what you shared. 

This post will always be divided by the pairing that is the focus of the fic, if it is not tagged under one, then it will go under a General category that  will be at the end. Also, all fics will be found after the cut, because this is a long post and we don’t want to clog yout timeline.

With all of that out of the way, enjoy!

Arthur/Merlin

1. If Merlin’s Into It, by Remianly Length: 660 words Summary: Arthur realizes he’s in love with Merlin and wishes to convey his feelings. He asks Gwaine for advice to help him in writing a love song.

2. The Witchfinder by StoriwrYNos Lenght: 4,669 Summary: When a witchfinder comes to Camelot looking for the person responsible for the magic witnessed there he quickly settles on Merlin as the perpetrator. Will Arthur be able to come up with a plan to save Merlin in time, and will he even want to if he knows what Merlin really is?

3. Em-bare-assing by alienvomplanetenwooh Lenght: 1,589 Summary: Letting down your pants in public can lead to unexpected outcomes.

4. A More Comfortable Place to Sleep by JimJamDavis Word Count: 912 Summary: On the floor in front of the fireplace he could see the tasseled edge of one of his cushions, where it had no place being. The misplaced cushion wasn’t what had stopped him however, but the curl of delicate fingers loosely grasping it.Apparently the room wasn’t quite as empty as he’d thought. Merlin falls asleep on the floor, and Arthur makes him more comfortable.

5. Dead And Breakfast by yourrockyspine Lenght: 4,345 Summary: After his Mum’s demise, Merlin kept her beautifully-maintained B&B up and running.And though he mostly loves having his mother’s ghost nearby, it’s some of the other deceased residents that make it exceedingly hard to please his (living) clients.[This was originally going to be a Happy Merloween chapter, but it’s just too silly and whimsical. No scary here, just utter madness. And a spot of smut and romance.]

6. My Major is Pre-Sorcery by princepratness Lenght: 5,843 Summary: Merlin’s in the pre-sorcery department and Arthur’s in the Prince program. The last thing Arthur expected is for them to ever get along. However, they do. In fact, they get along so damn well that Arthur’s stuck wondering how he never noticed when the insults became kisses instead.

7. Modern Merlin AU by V_L_G_4200 Summary: Inspired by tumblr posts by ‘katiemcgrath’“Almost got arrested.” Lenght: 6,494 “What?? Why?” “Punched the Prince of Wales.” “Was he angry?” “I don’t know. Gave me his number.” “You going to call him?” “Nah, gonna post it on Twitter.”

8. all the best it could be (just you and i) by pynk (pinkjook) Lenght: 7,860  Summary: Arthur’s never been much for pining, but he’s never been much for lying, either. Not even to himself.

9. Between the shadow and the soul by fireatwill52 Lenght: 29,333  Summary: Arthur meets Merlin at a wedding and falls head over heels. About an hour later his fiancee Vivian talks Merlin into being their wedding planner. Arthur thinks this is fantastic, because he gets to spend more time with Merlin… if only there wasn’t going to be a wedding that married him to someone else at the end of it.

10. of blowjobs and candy rings by coffeeandparchment Lenght: 6,221  Summary: "No.“ "What? I didn’t even say anything yet.” “You didn’t have to. It’s all in your beady little eyes. You want me to give you a piggyback to the club.” Arthur said. “My feet hurt,” Merlin said, as if that was a good enough reason for a piggy back. At Arthur’s silence, Merlin pouted. Gods, maybe he was a little more than tipsy. Arthur slowed down as Merlin walked past. “What are you doing now? For someone who is all about doing these quickly you sure ar—” Merlin cut off as he turned to see Arthur stopped and crouching down. "What are you doing?” Arthur huffed in annoyance. “What does it look like, Merlin? Are you going to get on or just leave me crouching here like an idiot all night?”

11. If You’re Still Breathing You’re The Lucky Ones by Withstarryeyes Lenght: 1,722 Summary: But the concern wasn’t the fact that his eyes itched, but what that meant. Ever since Merlin was a child he’d get random fevers at least once or twice a year. They’d stay for a day or two but they always spiked during the night, leaving him delirious and shaking under blankets. He would wake up with itchy eyes, then at midnight he’d have a 105-degree fever and his mother would have to tend to him all night to make sure didn’t die or boil alive. But tonight, Arthur was going on a hunting trip with the knights and Merlin had to tag along to cook and clean and polish armor and his eyes itched.

12. Carry On, Calm or Not by yourrockyspine Lenght: 14,765 Summary: After an inadvertent attempt on his life, 17-year-old Merlin finds himself stuck in the Camelot Ward for Troubled Adolescents. Forced to work through his feelings of helplessness, Merlin develops a new lease on life and learns to find happiness in the strangest of corners.

13. You Can Be King Again by asuralucier Lenght: 14,886  Summary: Victorianesque — Arthur Pendragon, Marquess of Harington flees to his (father’s) country estate for a well-deserved summer holiday. He has his hands full with Merlin, the surly stable boy and Arthur is also pretty sure there’s a ghost haunting his father’s house.

14. The Vacation by Mina264 Lenght: 5,718  Summary: Merlin needs a vacation from Camelot and Arthur tags along. They make some realizations during this vacation that will change their lives forever.

15. Fractured Magic by LunaCanisLupus_22 Lenght: 141,847 Summary: “Oi!” Merlin shouts. “People are trying to study in here. Piss off somewhere else!” “What did you say, spellbegger?” he calls back, tone arrogant and haughty like just about every other Knight on Campus. “Come down here and say that to my face.” Or the Sky High AU where Knights and Magic Users attend University to learn how to fight evil magic and Merlin and Arthur do not get along. Until they do.

16. Knights on the case by TheGameIsOn_Geronimo Lenght: 3,707 Summary: The knights decide that they just can’t deal with all the pining and sexual frustration that comes from being near Merlin and Arthur, so they decide to take matters into their own hands. As (probably) expected: chaos ensues.

17. The Jealous King by guessimaclotpole Lenght: 2,057 Summary: “How about jealous Arthur when he finds out there are loads of other knights and servants who have crushes on Merlin (who sometimes flirts back) and he loses his shit when one starts to court him and is just like “no” and kisses him up against the wall and afterwards Merlin is just like “it’s about fuckin time” mm yeah that’s some good shit right there”

18. inhiare ardens by mishcollin Lenght: 9,616 Summary: Merlin starts a courtship, and Arthur’s fine with it. Completely fine with it. In which Arthur discovers that he’s not fine with it, and some other things about himself.

Gwaine/Merlin

1. For the Love of All Who Gather by  Nebula5030 Lenght: 92,053 Summary: Merlin hadn’t wanted Arthur to discover his magic like that: with Merlin performing a spell in the woods and Arthur simply stumbling across him. But with wounds both old and new festering within him, Arthur believes he has no choice- and banishes his dearest friend. Forced from Camelot, Merlin and Gwaine find themselves living amongst Druids, and Merlin discovers he has the chance to learn more about his magic, his heritage, and the prophecy that binds him and Arthur together. But with tensions stirring both near and abroad, past lies come to light, and everyone finds that not everything is truly as it seems.

2. My Dearest Merlin by Nebula5030 Lenght: 2,305 Summary: A week after the Battle of Camlann, Merlin receives a letter.

3. Private Moments by Nebula5030 Lenght: 758 Summary: With Gwaine’s body against his, the mattress to his back, and Gwaine kissing him slowly and deeply, Merlin found himself wondering why they didn’t do this more often. Why they always waited before taking time to do this. Merlin’s hand began to slide up under Gwaine’s shirt- “Merlin?” Gaius’s voice came through the door. Merlin and Gwaine both froze, their heads snapping to the door. Oh. That was why.

4. Obelus: Doubt The Tale by Lion_owl Lenght: 2,427 Summary: Gwaine's got back to Camelot and Gaius is safe; now, he's worried about what's become of Merlin. But soon they're reunited and they talk everything out.

Arthur/Gwen

1. got to be (something bigger than me) by CyberQueens Lenght: 30,620 Summary:  A thousand and a half years (or thereabouts) after Camlann, Gwen finds two strange men at her door. Written for roundtablemanagers' Round Table Minutes March 2016 prompt 'Once and Futures'.

2. Baby this is it by sadpendragon Lenght: 342 Summary: It had given Arthur a certain joy to tease Guinevere about the words she had told him during his illness. But it had also made him think.

3. Knights & Merlin (+ Gwen) by tymedfire * Lenght: 9,171 Summary: This is a collection of unconnected fics, with each fic focusing on the relationship between Merlin and a Knight of the Round Table, with a bonus addition of Gwen. There will be fluff and angst, though mostly angst, but who knows. There WILL be fluff, though, I promise you that.

* We decided to put this one here because even though most of the fics in this series are not tagged to go with a certain ship, one of them has Arthur/Gwen as the tagged pairing.

Gwen/Merlin

1. Kiss me when I’m down by sadpendragon Lenght: 937 Summary:  We were each other’s first after all.

Merlin/Morgana

1. Any Other Name by RemixConstellation Lenght: 1,024 Summary:  She fits him, like nothing else he has ever worn. Nothing he will ever wear again. There’s a bounty on their heads. One they cannot out run. One that flows in their veins and lights up their eyes. Sometimes, in the glow of the fire, he wonders what crime it is to just be born. How could a king with magic under his sign, put a sword through a sister’s chest for the magic under her skin?

Arthur/Leon

1. A Poetic Affair by sadpendragon Lenght: 732 Summary:  Leon knew what poetry meant, and Leon wasn’t so sure he was amused by it anymore.

[padfootagain]

Cute Alphabet : Charlie Weasley

Here are the answers to my cute alphabet for Charlie Weasley! It's the first time I write something about him, so please, tell me if you think I'm wrong somewhere (although his characterization is near inexistent in the books). I have only one more alphabet to do after this one and I'll be done! Hope you like it, and thank you for requesting it :)

Affection : What are those little things they do to show you that they love you?

 Charlie is a Weasley, and he inherited, like most of his siblings, a real talent to create chaos and get himself into trouble. Although, despite his jokes, it doesn't mean that he is not good at showing his feelings for you. He has this crooked smile on his lips that you adore, but he's also handing you flowers. And even if he doesn't speak that much, trust me, if he has feelings for you, you will know it.

 Birthday : What do they do to celebrate your birthday? What is the thing you need to do to make them happy on their birthday? Are they good at giving gifts?

 He'll travel to wherever you are on the planet to make sure to be here for your birthday. He'll joke with your friends, and you'll spend a great time. When the party is over, and all your friends are home, he'll stay with you to talk about everything that you've missed of each other's life, and you'll fall asleep in his arms.

 It's easy to please him for his birthday. If you can make it to Romania, he will be the happiest man on the planet, although he understands that you have a job as well. Buying him anything that deals with dragons or Quidditch is enough.

 He's good at making gifts. Actually, he's kind of the expert in the Weasley family. It's an inexplicable talent of his.

 Cuddles : Do they like to cuddle? Big spoon? Little spoon?

 He loves them. He won't tell you, but he does. He loves holding you in his arms, and he knows to recognize that little look you throw at him when you want to cuddle, and you adore that tender smile he gives you then, opening his arms wide for you to climb inside them.

Dating : What are they like on their first date? And those after that?

 He doesn't look particularly nervous, but when his cheeks match his hair, you can't refrain a smile. He's very sweet with you, and his sense of humour has you laughing like mad and giggling all evening long.

 The closer you get to each other, the more confident he is, and the more flirtatious he gets as well. But you're still able to bring this cute blush to his cheeks, and you are very proud of it.

 Evolution : How fast does your relationship evolves? Weeks, months, years?

 He doesn't mean to rush you, but Charlie can figure out the nature of his feelings for you pretty quickly. If you don't slow him down, your relationship can evolve quickly.

 Flirting : Do they flirt a lot?

 At first not that much. He's hilarious though, he will make you laugh so much, but it's not flirt. But as your relationship evolves, he does flirt more and more.

 Generosity : When they're with you, is it about you or about them?

 A relationship must bring happiness to both parties. He will make things to please you, but he does expect you to make a few efforts to please him as well. Although, let's be honest, most of the time he's the one doing whatever you may want because he just adores your smile so much and would do anything to bring it to your lips.

 Honey : Do they use pet names? What's their favourite for you and for themselves?

 'Babe' and 'darling' are his favourites for you, he just adores calling you like this, and he loves how your eyes shine when he uses one of these.

One day just for joking, you call him 'Dragonboy'. Now, he loves it so much...

 Isolation : How do they react when they are away from you?

 He misses you terribly, but he knows that you have a life of your own, with a family, friends, a job... and he will never pressure you to come and see him wherever he might be working. You write to each other almost every day.

 Jealousy : Are they jealous? How do they react if you are jealous?

 He trusts you, so no, he's not really jealous. Actually, he'll laugh at the face of the guy who tries to seduce you. He trusts you too much to think for just a second that you could have a fling with someone else.

 Here again, he laughs it off if you're the one to be jealous. It's ridiculous. He loves you, and you're the only one in his mind and heart. He reminds you of it to ease your mind.

 Kisses : Lots of them? Peppering ones? Languid ones?... What about your first kiss?

 He adores your neck and that sweet spot behind your ear. He peppers kisses there every time he gets the occasion. He loves kissing your lips as well (of course...) and his kisses are often very passionate.

 Light up : What do they do to make you feel better after a rough day? How can you lighten their mood?

 He tries to make you laugh. He has such a good sense of humour, he just tries harder than ever. He'll make dinner, prepare everything that night to make sure that you can rest. He just tries hard to force your mind to think about something else, and he generally wins.

 He'll try to hide it if something is wrong, but you can recognize the signs : this unfocused look in his eyes, his Adam's apple pulsating from time to time, this little frown that crosses his brow... He's quiet as well. You need to be particularly tender then : lots of cuddles, lots of kisses, and eventually, he'll either give you a tender smile and you know that he's better already, or he'll open up and talk about whatever is wrong.

 Mommy : How do they react to parenthood?

 He's so happy and excited. You can be sure to be brought to the Burrow to announce the news to the entire family five minutes after you've told him. Molly is over the moon, she hugs you tight and starts to cry, before forcing you to sit down and she gives you a thousand tips and advices to go through pregnancy, but also to raise your child. Arthur hugs you as well, tears shining in his eyes, although he's calmer than his wife and just congratulates you warmly. Charlie's siblings are all happy and excited, bickering over who is going to be the child's favourite.

 The first thing he buys for the baby is a stuffed dragon, and the child loves it so much, he/she starts crying whenever you try to take it away.

 Nurse : How do they take care of you when you're sick? How do they behave when they are sick?

 He'll make sure that you're not alone, even if he's away and can't be here. He'll ask his mother to check on you, so you can be certain to soon find a worried Molly on your threshold, holding dozens of different potions and soups to give you. If he's here, he'll ask his mother some advice, but he won't wait for long before calling for a healer. He's just worried about you, and won't take any risk. He'll stay with you if you're really sick, and make sure that you have tons of blankets and tea.

 Charlie will just act as if he was fine and it was nothing. He might be boiling with fever, he will tell you he's just a bit warm. You have to struggle to force him to see a healer. When he comes home from work wounded though, he's too shaken to complain when you take care of him. The wounds left by dragons are pretty nasty, and he knows it. When he comes home, he's been already patched up but he'll let you be a zealous nurse and take care of him all night long. The truth is, he was scared to die for a moment, and he just wants to be with you for a few hours, just to be sure that he didn't lose everything.

 Objects : Are there any object, song, place that have a particular meaning for them or for the two of you as a couple?

 He's not particularly attached to objects. The only thing that really has a particular place in his heart is the Burrow. It's home. He misses it often. And you love it too, actually. It feels warm and welcoming, and you feel at home there as well.

 There's this specific Romanian song that none of you can remember the name of but that holds a special place in your hearts. You danced together for the first time on this song. As a surprise, Charlie manages to get the band to play it for your first dance as a married couple at your wedding.

 Partners : Are they looking for flings, one-night stands, partners to be with until their last breath? What makes them fall for you?

 He doesn't plan much, to be honest. He's rather spontaneous, so he doesn't really think at first. He knows that he likes you, and he wants to see where these feelings will take him. He quickly understands that your relationship is serious though.

 Quarrels : How is it to have a fight with them? What do they do to make you forgive them? What do you need to do to make them forgive you?

 Rows don't happen often, but when they do they're generally not easy to sort out. Charlie doesn't shout often, but when he does it breaks your heart.

 If he wants to make you forgive him he'll write letters to you. He'll write until you answer and tell him that he can see you again. He'll come with an apologetic smile and a little bouquet of your favourite flowers, and let's face it, there's no way you can resist to that.

 If he's mad you just have to wait for a bit. Wait until he is calmer again, he will come to you first when he's ready.

 Rings : How do they propose? The wedding? The honeymoon?

 He asks you out of the blue. It's not planned. He's been thinking about it for a while but you've never really talked about it before. He just asks you as the two of you are cuddling in bed on a Sunday morning. You don't care if he doesn't have a ring though, of course you say 'yes', there is so much love in his gaze after all...

 Obviously you get married at the Burrow. Your two families are gathered, along with your friends. There are flowers everywhere. You thank Molly and Ginny, you know they're responsible for the pretty decoration.

 You split the honeymoon in two. He doesn't know it though, at first. You're to go to Spain for a week to play the tourists, but you prepare a secret destination to go see some of the rarest dragons in the world. Charlie is just awestruck during the whole week. And whenever he turns to you, it's to kiss you and tell you how much he loves you.

 Secrets : Do they keep secrets from you and how do they react when they learn that you've been hiding something from them?

 Charlie is loyal and trustworthy. There are no lies or secrets between the two of you, and you can be sure that he will hate it if he learns that you've been hiding something from him.

 Tease : Do they like to tease you? How much humour is there in your relationship?

 He loves teasing you. He loves teasing his siblings as well, but with you, it's even more pronounced. Sometimes it's part of his humour, sometimes it's part of his flirt.

 U-turns : What can transform your relationship in a good or bad way (what makes them confess their feelings or scares them off)?

 Your relationship will evolve pretty naturally, and there's nothing that would make him really rush.

 But one thing that will be lethal to your relationship is how you get along with his family. If you don't like them, Charlie will always choose his family over you (or anyone else for that matter). Although, it's not really a problem, the Weasleys are very kind after all.

 Voicing : How hard is it for them to talk about their feelings? How do they tell you that they love you for the first time?

 It might take a little while before he confesses his feelings for the first time, but then it's not really a problem. He doesn't speak that much, about his feelings specifically as well, but he does tell you now and then, and you know that he means it.

 Waking up : What is it like to wake up by their side?

 His morning voice is the best sound in the entire world. It's low and deep and warm and husky and it's just... honey and sexy and you melt every damn time. You adore his disheveled red hair as well.

 Yielding : What do you have to do to convince them to do what you want?

 He may tease you a bit and make you think that he doesn't want to do whatever it is that you're asking for. But minutes later he has proved you wrong and is prepared to do what you wanted. He can't resist you.

 Zoo : Could they have a pet with you? What kind of pet?

 Now, don't give him the choice or he'll bring home all the baby dragons right after they etch! (Actually... he already does it but then you wouldn't be able to protest...)

[quoteoftheweekblog]

QUOTATIONS - VIKRAM SETH’S ‘A SUITABLE BOY’ (FIRST PUBLISHED 1993)

First sentence:

‘ “You too will marry a boy I choose,” said Mrs Rupa Mehra firmly to her younger daughter.’ (Seth, 1994, p.3).

On reading:

‘She loved reading, and people knew better than to talk to her when she had a book in her hands.’ (Seth, 1994, p.32).

‘She had read; and, despite that, she had thought.’ (Seth, 1994, p.345).

‘ ... Sandeep Lahiri sat down in the station master’s office and pulled “Howards End” out of his bag.’ (Seth, 1994, p.675).

‘ “I’ve been reading one or two Hardys again.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1249).

‘ “But I too hate long books: the better, the worse. If they’re bad, they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes. But if they’re good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies out of friends. I still bear the scars of ‘Middlemarch’.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, pp.1370-1).

‘ “ ... Proust makes me weep, weep, weep with boredom. Weep ... Weep, weep, weep ... I weep when I read Proust, and I read very little of him.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1371).

‘ “I came in to buy a Wodehouse, but I’ve bought myself a Jane Austen instead.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1406).

‘ “You have too good a brain to waste on English literature.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1416).

On ‘a suitable boy’:

‘ “Now the time has come to get Lata well settled, and I must look all out for a suitable boy.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.47).

“ “I want you to find her a boy at once. A suitable boy. She is getting involved with unsuitable boys, and I cannot have that.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.594).

‘She was dreaming - of a kiss - but it was of Kabir she was dreaming, the one who was absent, the one who above all others she should not meet, the most unsuitable boy of them all.’ (Seth, 1994, p.1240).

On learning:

‘Whenever she opened a scientific book and saw whole paragraphs of incomprehensible words and symbols, she felt a sense of wonder at the great territories of learning that lay beyond her - the sum of so many noble and purposive attempts to make objective sense of the world.’ (Seth, 1994, p.49).

‘ “It’s unusual for someone to be interested in both poetry and mathematics.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.52).

‘ “He says that the fresh air ‘opens up his assumptions’ ... Once, when he came down from the hills he said that like Zarathustra he had gained enough mathematical insight on the mountainside in six weeks to last a lifetime.” ‘ (seth, 1994, p.178).

‘ “Studying is a good discipline ... It needs application ... it does not matter what you study. As long as you study hard, it improves the mind.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.473).

‘ ... “we are all learning, no matter how aged ... “ ... ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.789).

On life:

‘ “Don’t add chillies to boiled potatoes.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.52).

‘I’m not a mouse or a tigress, she thought, I’m a hedgehog.’ (Seth, 1994, p.156).

‘ “God save us from people who mean well.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.279).

‘ “How do you fuck in a sari?” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.435).

‘ “For me, you will always be my baby.”

“Even at sixty?” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.479).

‘Being a bit of a layabout, he lay about a bit.’ (Seth, 1994, p.722).

‘ “The secret of life is to accept. Accept happiness, accept sorrow; accept success, accept failure; accept fame, accept disgrace; accept doubt, even, accept the impression of certainty.” ‘ (Seth, 1994. p.812).

‘ “Cricket has a lot to answer for.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1056).

‘When all else fails, thought Lata, there is always soup.’ (Seth, 1994, p.1253).

On James Joyce:

‘ “There is the unreadable ‘Ulysses’. There is the worse than unreadable ‘Finnegan’s Wake’. This kind of writing is unhealthy for our students. It encourages them, as it were, in sloppy and ungrammatical writing.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, pp.56-7).

On religion:

‘All over India, all over the world, as the sun or the shadow of darkness moves from east to west, the call to prayer moves with it, and people kneel down in a wave of prayer to God.’ (Seth, 1994, p.127).

On exams:

‘ “You’ll have forgotten all about it in five years.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.150).

‘ “ ... there are more important things in the world than exams.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.151).

On P.G. Wodehouse:

‘ “Read a P.G. Wodehouse or two ... “ ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.167).

‘She went to Pran’s bookshelf and picked up the first P.G. Wodehouse she saw: “Pigs Have Wings”. ’ (Seth, 1994, pp.168-9).

‘She had finished “Pigs Have Wings” and had gone on to “Galahad at Blandings” ... she would have to distract herself with as much P.G. Wodehouse as possible.’ (Seth, 1994, p.186).

‘But she couldn’t concentrate even on Wodehouse.’ (Seth, 1994, p.187).

‘ ... lost in Wodehouse ... ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.195).

‘ ... the ubiquitous Wodehouse ... ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1021).

On education:

‘Sunil Patwardhan had believed as a student that to get one true mathematical insight a fortnight was enough by way of work; for the rest of the time he paid no attention to his studies, and did excellently. Now that he was teaching students he found it hard to impose an academic discipline on them that he himself had no faith in.’ (Seth, 1994, p.224).

‘ “ ... there are three kinds of teachers: those who are forgotten: those who are remembered and hated, and the third, the lucky ones ... those who are remembered and ... forgiven.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.902).

On dyslexia:

‘Considering his almost perfect memory for objects, it was odd that he had emerged from his English B.A. Honours course with a third, and had messed up his Poetry paper with innumerable misquotations.’ (Seth, 1994, p.224).

On politics:

‘The police force before Partition was very largely composed of Muslims as a result of the sound imperialist policy of divide and rule: it helped the British that the predominantly Hindu Cogress-wallahs should be beaten up by predominantly Muslim policeman.’ (Seth, 1994, p.253).

‘ “Politics is like the coal trade. How can you blame people if their hands and faces become a little black?” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.349).

‘ “Politicians, you know, prefer to appoint mediocrities to important posts not merely because they themselves will look better in comparison or because they are afraid of competition, but also because, you see, a person appointed on merit feels that it is owed to him, while a mediocity is only too conscious that it is not.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.901).

On Jane Austen:

‘ “You should go up to your room ... and settle down on a sofa with Jane Austen.” ...

“Jane Austen is the only woman in his life.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.415).

‘ “What’ll you read on the way?”

“ ‘Emma’.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.604).

‘ “Don’t leave your book behind ... ‘Mansfield Park’? I haven’t read that one. Tell me if it’s any good.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1407).

On Economics:

‘ “ ... economics is a pointless subject. He would have done far better to study mathematics.” ‘ (Seth, 1994. p.423).

‘ ... “economics is the worst possible qualification for running anything. It’s the mosty useless, impratical subject in the worls.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.454).

‘ “There isn’t a single decent human being I know who is an economist.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.501).

On being a writer:

‘ “He’s just a writer. He knows nothing at all about literature.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.426).

‘ “What’s wrong with writing poems and novels?” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.444).

‘ “ ... I think that the more people write, the less they think.” ‘ (Seth. 1994, p.446).

‘ “ ... I wrote it out in a single draft ... Once I counted sixteen desperate triplets building upwards to fever pitch. Can you imagine: sixteen. It drove me crazy. And then I polished it over the next few days. I didn’t really want to loof at it, and kept making excuses. I always do. I hate writing, you know.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1209).

‘ “ ... I often like my work when it’s done - it’s just the doing that is so tedious. With a short poem there’s the inspiration of course. But with this novel I have to whip myself to my desk ... “ ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1209).

‘ “Why, then, is it rumoured that your forthcoming novel ... is to be so long? More than a thousand pages! “...

“Oh, I don’t know how it grew to be so long ... I’m very undisciplined.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1370).

On books:

‘ “One feels so bewildered among all these millons of books,” said Lata, astonished that several hundreds of yards of a city could actually be given over to nothing but books - books on the pavement, books on makeshift bookshelves out in the street, books in the library and in Presidency College, first-, second-, third- and tenth-hand books, everything from technical monographs on electroplating to the latest Agatha Christie.‘ (Seth, 1994, p.524).

On marriage:

‘She would not change; he would not change; he knew that she would not change; she knew that he would not change; and each knew that the other knew this,’ (Seth, 1994, p.818).

‘ “You too will marry a girl I choose,” ...“A suitable girl, that is what I want for you ... A suitable girl, and no exceptions.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1467).

REFERENCE

Seth, V. (1994 [1993] ) ‘A suitable boy’. London: Phoenix.

[mybettymom-blog]

Just the tail-end of my first book, Pioneer Wife.  I can’t seem to edit out the stuff the site puts in, but you can still get the gist, although not the drama, I’m afraid.

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Christmas came and went with no fanfare.  New Year’s Day was like any other.  Charlotte spent her time tending to chores and caring for Horatio, who seemed to weaken daily.  Toward the end of January, he nearly stopped coughing.  He couldn’t breathe unless he was sitting up. Charlotte piled both pillows behind his back and pulled him to a sitting position.  Then one night in early February, she touched his face and knew that his fever was back and that he was much too weak to survive it this time. She was both physically and mentally exhausted and beyond tears.  She did her best to make him as comfortable as possible, but it was obvious that he couldn’t get enough air in his lungs.  He slipped into unconsciousness and worked for each breath.

Charlotte sat by his side for three days, thinking each breath was his last.  And when he finally did draw his last, she waited, believing there would be another. It was then that she discovered that she was not beyond tears.  His condition had become grave so quickly that they hadn’t even said good-bye.  She said it to him over and over as she wept.

She had thought about what to do when he was gone. Beginning the process she had thought out was a form of grieving that kept her busy, too busy to cry any more.

Charlotte went outside and filled a washtub half full with water.  She carried the tub into the cabin and added boiling water to it until the water was comfortably warm.  She knew it was insane to bathe a dead man in warm water, but she couldn’t bring herself to use the cold spring water.  Once he was clean and dry, she dressed him in his wedding suit and white linen shirt. It was much too big for him, so she took a few tucks in the waistband and sewed an extra seam down the back of the shirt and coat.  No one would be seeing the back, she thought.  She put on her wool dress and the cloak she had made for herself the winter before.

Charlotte packed the wagon with the featherbed, all the garments she had completed for Bea and enough food for several days, not knowing what sort of conditions she might encounter on her way to the trading post. She put a few undergarments and some stockings in her carpet bag along with a clean skirt and blouse.  She hitched all six oxen to the wagon and tied the three horses the cow and the calf to the tailgate.  She would sell all the oxen, the cow and the wagon at the trading post and keep Big Girl and her foal, and possibly Beast, if he behaved himself.  She was sure she could navigate the pass, even in winter, on horseback.  Young Jack did it every year and he was no better on a horse than she.  With the money she received from the wagon and oxen, she would try to buy a ride with someone returning to the east.  There must be a mail route.  Perhaps there was a regular stage to Independence by now.  She knew nothing about progress in the rest of the world while she and Horatio had been surviving and building their home.  She hadn’t even thought about it.

Horatio had shrunk so that she could pick him up without great effort.  She carried him to the wagon, which she had pulled up right by the cabin door.  She placed him on the feather bed and covered him with a blanket as though he were merely sleeping.  It was the only way she could keep doing what must be done.  She would have buried him here in the clearing next to his home, but the ground was frozen solid.  All she could think to do was to take him to the trading post, where she hoped she still had friends in Bea and Jack.  She refused to entertain the possibility that Young Jack had turned them against her.  If she could find out whether or not he had told them about their encounter, she could act accordingly.  If he hadn’t told them about it, then she wouldn’t, either.  It didn’t matter now.  Nothing mattered except getting away from the homestead, getting away from the memories, good and bad, which flooded over her everywhere she looked.  It caused her physical pain to remember how happy they had been here in their tiny cabin.  She clucked to the oxen and headed them down the terraced hillside without looking back, the morning sun making her squint.

However, Charlotte couldn’t completely abandon the homestead. She hoped to find someone to take care of it for her, so that if she were ever able to return, it would be here waiting for her.  Once again, she surprised herself by crying.  How different her life would have been if Horatio had lived.  If their baby had lived.  If, if, if.  It did no good to think that way.  She didn’t want to forget about Horatio; far from it.  She wanted to remember him forever, but without the debilitating pain that now accompanied all her memories.  Only time could accomplish that.

Charlotte drove straight through the day and half the night.  The snow didn’t slow her or bother her, nor did the cold.  The trading post was closed when she arrived, but she drove past it to Bea and Jack’s cabin.  They heard her approach; Jack came onto the porch with his rifle to see who was coming. He called to her and she responded.

“Bea,” he said over his shoulder, “It’s Charlotte – alone.”

Bea rushed out onto the porch and down the steps to the wagon.  â€œIs he in the back?” she asked.

Charlotte nodded.  â€œHe’s already dead, Bea.  He died – it must have been last night, very late.

“Oh, Lord, I’m sorry.  I was hoping I was wrong.”  She climbed into the back of the wagon.  â€œYou’ve done a good job of laying him out,” she said.  â€œWe’ll have the funeral tomorrow, if that’s what you want.” She climbed out of the wagon and walked to the front.

“Yes, Bea, that would be good, the sooner the better. I have no money for a coffin, nor do I know whether you have a way to get one, so we can wrap him in a blanket.” She hesitated a moment before asking, “Is Young Jack here, or has he gone back to Independence?”

“He left weeks ago, Charlotte.”  It was Bea’s turn to hesitate.  â€œHe told us he made overtures to you and that you rebuffed him, which is exactly what you should have done, dear.  I hope you can forgive him.  He’s been in love with you for a long time.”

“Yes, of course I can forgive him,” Charlotte said. “I’m going to pull the wagon around behind the trading post where we usually park.”

“No, you’re going to pull the wagon over to the side of our cabin, then you’re going to come inside and sleep in Young Jack’s room. You must be exhausted, Charlotte, after driving straight through.  You did drive straight through, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.  Thank you for your generosity Bea, and you too, Jack,” whispered Charlotte. “I’m so tired I can barely even do the basic things that must be done.  But will Horatio be all right out here alone?”  She knew as soon as she said it that she sounded like a crazy woman.

“He’ll be fine, sweetheart,” answered Bea immediately. “Come in the house now.  Bea took Charlotte’s hand and helped her from the wagon and up onto the front porch.  She was alarmed at how thin Charlotte had become.  She must not have eaten much while she nursed poor Horatio. “Come inside, dear,” Bea repeated, leading Charlotte across the porch to the front door.  “Jack will move the wagon and he’ll stay with Horatio for the night.”

“Yes, of course I will, Charlotte,” said Jack.  â€œI’ll take good care of him.”  When she walked past Jack, Charlotte saw tears in his eyes.

[intrepidolivia]

The Killing Moon pt 1

This is for @noodlecupcakes Negan writing challenge!

I had Detective Negan as a prompt... and I realized I cannot make this a one-shot. So now I’m writing another multi-part AU story and I blame her.

Pairing: NeganXOlivia (OC)

Warnings: cursing, discussions of death and violence

Summary: AU! Negan is nursing a hangover, when a girl in trouble knocks on the door of his detective agency, and gives him a case that may well end up his last.

A/N: My inspiration is hard-boiled film noir style detective stories. I hope I did them justice. To be continued, since I can’t seem to stop with the AUs.

    I was hot and I was tired. The first part couldn’t be helped, not with the fucking AC broken (again) during a record-setting heatwave. The second part was all me. I woke up that morning with a nearly empty bottle of Jim Beam and only a vague memory of the night before. Something to do with a silly acronym the kids use nowadays. YONO? YOLO? At the time it seemed pretty profound. That morning I wanted to fucking punch whoever came up with it.

    I sat in my office nursing a cup of black coffee and a headache, hoping for the first time that today would continue the month’s tradition of zero meetings and zero clients. Of course, it didn’t pan out that way. It never did for me. They should rename Murphy’s law to fucking Negan’s law.

    So there I sat, hoping the whole world would just fuck off and leave me to die of my hangover in peace, when someone knocked on the office door.

    I always liked that door. It had one of those frosted glass windows, with Savior Investigations painted on it in gold. Real classy. I never changed a thing when I had to get it replaced from time to time when clients got pissy and had to take a trip through it.

    I could see from the silhouette on the window it was a woman, otherwise I might have crawled under my desk and ignored them. I was in no fucking mood to talk to anyone, but then again I needed capital to keep me in booze. And maybe I got a soft spot for the ladies. Fucking sue me.

    “Door’s open,” I called. Maybe it’s more polite to open the door for someone, but I like staying at my desk and watching people when they come in. You can tell a lot about a client before they even open their mouth by how they enter a room. Their posture, where their eyes dart to first, how they walk. All of it good information. Also I was too fucking hungover to want to move much.

    What watching the client walk into my office told me was this: I was fucked.

    She was on the petite side, with curves that if you were in a car would make you want to hug the road. Her green dress rode her body like it loved her and damn if I could blame it. She had great big emerald eyes set in a soft, cute face with pouty lips. And she was a redhead. Of course she was a redhead. Clearly someone went down a checklist of “Things to Get Negan Into Trouble” when they made her.

    I tried to act like I wasn’t feeling like shit, and leaned forward with my best smile. “Hi there. Welcome to Savior Investigations. Please have a seat.”

    She seemed nervous. It was hard to tell if it was whatever she was consulting a PI about, or if it was me. Apparently I am seen as somewhat intimidating. It’s part of why I stayed seated; the difference between our heights would have made me seem to be looming, which isn’t all that helpful at putting clients at ease.

    The redhead hesitated, glancing around the room before settling on me as the most interesting feature. She shut the door behind her, and sat down. “I… hello. I’ve never consulted a private investigator before. Do I jump right in, or…?”

    “Well, first things first. I’m Negan. Would you like some coffee miss--?” I didn’t think I had a clean mug, but those big eyes gave me plenty of motivation to wash one.

    She blushed, looking down. “I’m sorry, I just--”

    “No need to be nervous,” I assured her. “I don’t bite.” That last bit was a lie. One I couldn’t help hoping she’d find out.

    A little smile. The girl was nervous about something. She fidgeted with her necklace, perched at the edge of her chair, back straight and stiff. No wedding ring, which made me happy. I guessed boyfriend troubles. I almost hoped I could catch him cheating and break her poor little heart. I’d be right there to help sweep up the pieces.

    She took a deep breath and looked up at me. “M-my name is Olivia. Olivia Sullivan. And I think someone is going to kill me.”

    I forgot my hangover.

    Tailing cheating spouses, blackmail issues, insurance fraud… sure, I’d done it all. Even missing persons a time or two, even though those tended to be fucking depressing. But thwarting an assassination attempt? That was a little above my paygrade.

    I laced my fingers on the desk. “Right, well, Miss Sullivan--”

    “Mrs.” she corrected. Damn it all.

    “Mrs. Sullivan,” I continued. “I think maybe what you want is the police.”

    She gave a bitter little laugh, and I knew what she was going to say before she said it. “They don’t believe me.”

    “Fuck,” I said. Hungover, a married woman tailor-made to be my own personal weakness, and a complicated case. See what I mean? Negan’s law. “Well, I guess you should start at the beginning.”

    She nodded, folding her hands on her lap. It didn’t make her look any less tense. “I suppose the beginning was a little over a year ago. My husband was murdered.”

    I winced, feeling shitty. God knew I was more than familiar with how fucking awful it was to lose someone you loved. “I’m sorry.”

    “The police said it was an accident,” she continued softly. “I was--it was in the evening. I had the flu. John decided to walk to the store to get some soup and medicine while I took a nap.” Her voice was empty, the words like a recitation.

I knew the drill. Everyone wants to know the story. Oh, first is the ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ bit. Then they give in to that morbid curiosity. Human nature I guess. So you find yourself repeating the story over and over, until the words lose their meaning, and all the emotion attached retreats down into a little speck of screaming pain you can almost ignore sometimes.

“I didn’t wake up until that morning. I didn’t know where he was. I had a fever, and I was frantic, and--” Her voice cracked.

“It’s okay,” I told her. “Take your time.” I didn’t have tissues, or a handkerchief to offer. I passed her a couple fast food napkins. Better than nothing.

She cleared her throat. “He’d been hit by a car. They drove off. It wasn’t a busy street so no one saw it. And since it was dark out, no one found him until the next day.”

I nodded. “I can understand how fucking awful that must have been, but… A hit and run would probably be prosecuted as manslaughter, not--”

“He was targeted,” she interrupted. The heat in her eyes and voice had me reevaluating her. Interesting. There was a tiger in this lady.

“Alright, go on.”

She reached in her bag and pulled out a manilla envelope. One of those big jobs with the string-closure. It looked like it had seen some rough treatment, and when she handed it to me, whatever was inside was heavy. “I think this is what got my husband killed,” she told me.

I unwound the string, pulling out the contents. Notebooks, paperwork, a few CD-Roms with weird-ass labels.

“I couldn’t stay in our house after--” she looked away, biting her lip.

“Yeah, been there,” I muttered. I guess I was distracted. I didn’t mean to say it, but I was fucking hungover.

I saw the play of thoughts over her pretty face. Confusion, realization. I waited for pity, which was the usual chaser, but she just gave me a little, sad smile and nodded.

“There was a break-in. Day of the funeral. I guess they wanted to be sure no one was in the house. Everything was trashed. They stole the whole safe. A few other things to make it look like a robbery but… they took apart the office. Stole the laptop. All the files in the cabinet.”

I knew where this was going, and I didn’t like it one little bit. “They were looking for something.” I suddenly really, really wanted nothing to do with the pile of shit that was on my desk right then.

“Yes,” she agreed. “His computer at work was wiped as well. His laboratory partner died in a house fire the next week. Along with her husband and kids.”

“Fuck,” I said, because I didn’t have any better response. “The police don’t see this as awfully convenient?”

She gave a frustrated sigh. “There’s perfectly plausible explanations for everything. And I’m a grieving widow looking for someone to blame or some higher meaning.”

I opened one of the notebooks out of curiosity. It looked like next-level science bullshit, so I closed it again. “What did you say your husband did for a living?”

“He was a virologist,” she replied. “He and his partner were researchers.”

The sinking feeling that I’d been getting since she started talking was taking me into all new and undiscovered depths. “And this…?”

Olivia seemed to sense my bad feeling. “I think that’s what they were looking for. When I realized someone was looking for something… John did woodworking. He made a big chest that sat at the end of our bed. The blankets we kept in it were all pulled out, but… When I was cleaning up I noticed the inside seemed smaller than it should have been. I started looking at it, and--”

“False bottom,” I completed. “Simple but effective, I guess. So what then?”

“It was right after that when the fire happened. I… got scared. I was afraid whoever it was might come after me next. The police were no help so I moved. I thought maybe since they didn’t find anything, no one would think I had it.”

I looked at the mess on my desk. I knew the prudent thing to do would be to pack all that shit back in its envelope, give it back to the widow, and ask her to fuck off. This was beyond cheating boyfriends or even missing children. This had ‘bad shit’ written all over it, and was sealed with ‘you’re fucked’ tape.

That’s probably why I was so fucking excited.

“All right, baby. You’ve got my fucking attention. Tell me everything.”

[iamthechocobabe]

We All Have Battle Scars

Almost done. Holy shit. Just a few more. 

Then a nap. 

The longest motherfucking nap. 

I had to split the epilogue into two parts because it was so damn long. Sorry, but not sorry because I BAWLED LIKE A BABY HOLY SHIT.

We All Have Battle Scars A PromptoXOC Soulmate AU based on We Intertwined ~Epilogue: Part 1~ Slight NSFW (like, it’s barely there) Word Count: 3,368

One thing about having a husband whose hobby was photography meant that the apartment was now covered in pictures and Alaea was going broke trying to keep up with constantly buying frames. 

Alaea walked through the hallway, dusting the frames with cleaner to occupy herself, looking at her favorites: the photos of Prompto and his friends when they were on their journey, the pictures he took of Alaea while she slept, Libby and her new wife Kris when they got their new apartment, Prompto and Alaea's wedding photo that was captured just as Prompto bent down to kiss Alaea after they were declared husband and wife. Alaea even managed to look beautiful that day, her scar being blended well with the make up to the point where it was only a little noticeable, with her hair pulled back away from her face and the veil that was made from leftover lace after altering her mother's wedding dress was attached to a clip that held her hair back. 

But she didn't care about the plethora of pictures-Alaea loved all of the pictures Prompto took, though her favorite would always be the first one he took of her and him together, back at the Chocobo Outpost almost ten years ago. It now sat in a simple black frame, taped back together with scotch tape on their dresser so that they could look at it each and every night before going to bed, knowing that they were together where they belonged. 

"Ow," Alaea flinched again at the next kick in her stomach, starting to get tired of always being beat up. "Easy, already, quit kicking me," 

It had been over six months since Alaea had first discovered she was pregnant, and she wasn't surprised when Gina explained the reason she was constantly puking up a storm every morning for three months straight. While Alaea and Prompto had agreed that they wanted to wait and not have children when the world was so dangerous right outside the city, it was easy to let lust get in the way of those plans.  

Especially when Alaea had bound Prompto's wrists to the headboard that night with the bandanna he always had on his arm, denying him orgasm time and time again until the headboard cracked with him constantly yanking on the ties. When she finally gave him what he wanted and rode with him to the edge, they had forgotten to use a condom and spent the next few months insisting that one time without a condom wouldn't hurt anything. 

Then again, it only takes once. 

But it was hard to regret having a child with Prompto, even when Alaea was about to pop any day now, she was so big. Her maternity pants and shirt no longer fit her, so she was forced to wear big dresses and stretchy skirts that made her feel like a balloon. 

Alaea put the squirt bottle down when she heard the front door to the apartment open and waddled towards the entrance, feeling more and more like a penguin each day. 

"Hey, babe," Prompto walked through with a plastic bag and pecked Alaea's lips, tired from a hunt that happened at HQ-ever since Prompto joined the Hunter's after the Starscourge, he was gone more and more often to help others out, though when he found out Alaea was pregnant, he requested that they send him on hunts closer to home. "How are my Chocolings?" he asked, rubbing Alaea's stomach softly. 

"One is trying to kick their way out of the other, I swear to the Gods," Alaea grumbled. "It's been like this for three days, you'd think they'd settle down by now," 

"Remember what Gina said? It's probably because you're gonna be due soon-I already requested that they don't send me on any more hunts until after the baby's born. Speaking of Gina-" 

Alaea groaned, walking away from Prompto into the living room to collapse onto the couch, exhausted from being on her feet for more than thirty minutes (Alaea had decided a few weeks ago that this kid needed to get out or she was gonna go crazy). "If this is about my dad, I'm gonna pop you-don't think I won't just because I've got a baby in me," 

"They've been dating for almost three months, Chocobee-" 

Alaea shook her head, loosening one of the curls from her messy bun. "It's fucking creepy, Prompto! She's his ex-wife's sister," 

"Swear jar," Prompto reached over to a jar they had that was already filling up quite a bit so Alaea could drop a few gil into their emergency funds. "He's happy-isn't that all that matters?" 

"When it's not my aunt, sure," Alaea only partially meant this because she knew how happy her dad was and how hard it was for him and Gina to open themselves up to trust each other-they had bonded when Alaea had a fever shortly after discovering she was pregnant and had agreed to watch her until Prompto could get back from a hunt. Next thing Alaea knew, she was waking up to the sight of them practically making out on the couch. 

Alaea swore that it was morning sickness that made her go to the bathroom to vomit, but Gina and Wiz didn't believe her. 

Prompto sighed, bringing the plastic bag he was carrying closer. "I got dinner," he brought out the two Cup Noodles, smiling at Alaea to hope to cheer her up. 

It worked-despite her hating Cup Noodles, she'd done nothing but crave the damn stuff while pregnant. "Get over here so I can kiss you," 

"Much obliged," Prompto was all too eager to peck Alaea's mouth, then ease more into the kiss while he leaned over her on the couch. He snaked his tongue into her mouth, exploring while he cupped her cheek with his right hand, tracing the ridges in her scar gently with his fingertips. When he broke away after a playful bite to her bottom lip, he smiled teasingly at her. "You've already eaten Cup Noodles," 

"I was hungry and couldn't wait for you," Alaea grumbled, rubbing her chin that was a little raw from Prompto's goatee. "I wish you'd shave that thing, it's hard to kiss you when you're giving me a beard burn," 

"Goatee burn," 

"Tomatoe, Tomato," Alaea watched Prompto as he boiled some water on the stove, feeling the same love for him that she felt every day, happier than she'd ever been. Happy that she had trusted him with her heart. "Seriously, I'm shaving that thing in your sleep," 

"Then you're gonna be stuck changing the diapers until I grow it back-that's the deal," 

"Fuck it," Alaea stood up to hobble over to Prompto. "I'll just toss the diapers into the sink and poor some tequila on it-we'll light 'em up like Chocobo Moogle Carnival fireworks," 

Prompto snickered as Alaea wrapped her arm around Prompto's side, trying to hug him close to her despite her large stomach and Prompto squeezed her back. "Swear jar-and we're out of tequila," 

"Go buy some-also, you're bankrupting me," 

Prompto smirked and glanced down at her stomach once again, his face full of love as he reached down to coo at the baby inside. "Has my little Ellie been giving her mommy a hard time?" he placed a gentle kiss on Alaea's stomach. 

Alaea grimaced once again at the name Prompto wanted to pick if the baby was a girl. "Noctis is being an absolute nightmare-do they bring soccer balls in there with them or something? Also, again, we're not calling her Ellie if it's a girl," Prompto pouted to show his frustration and Alaea rolled her eyes while giggling. "Come on, Prompt-Ellie, Ali, it'll be too confusing," 

"You know what'll be confusing? When she goes to school and other kids finds out her name is 'Wendy'-what kind of a name is that, anyway?" 

"Uh, classy," Alaea pointed out. "It was my grandmother's name, after all," 

Prompto was about to respond when his phone rang-stepping away from the stove, Prompto answered it, listening to the person as Alaea poured the now hot pot of water into the two Cup Noodles, placing some chop sticks on top and moving it to the counter. 

"Alright-yeah, I'll be there soon. Thanks," Prompto hung up, not saying anything as he turned to look at Alaea, his eyes now red. Prompto stared at Alaea for almost a full minute before looking down at her full stomach, his face full of hurt and contempt. 

"What is it?" Alaea asked, already knowing what it was. "Is it..." 

"They found him," Prompto's voice was now husky as he held back tears and wiped his eyes. "He's on his way to Hammerhead right now with Talcott...I...I have to go," 

Alaea had been prepared for this, she had mentally prepared herself to face this if and when Noctis came back from being in the crystal, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch. "Go," 

"I..." Prompto went over and wrapped Alaea in his arms, careful to move around her full tummy and squeezed her so tightly that she had difficulty breathing. "Ali, I can't promise I'll come back this time," 

Alaea hugged him back just as tightly to show her support, despite her heart feeling like it was caving in on her. "I know," 

Pulling her back, Prompto cradled her face in his hands, memorizing every curve, dip and pattern in her face so that he would remember it always. "I love you," 

Alaea nodded, smiling the beautiful smile that never faded or darkened in ten years. "I love you, too,"

Alaea had pulled a chair up to the window that overlooked Lestallum and was angled towards the meteor, though it was now drenched in darkness and daemon's. She didn't know how long she sat there, only getting up occasionally to munch on some food or going to the bathroom, then returning to her seat to continue staring. 

Prompto had called Libby, Gina and Wiz to let them know he was leaving. Gina had been on a hunt, so Wiz and Libby came over to help Alaea and make sure she was alright, but they only found her staring out the window. Waiting was unbearable, but that was all Alaea could do. 

"He's a slippery fish," Wiz said for the fourteenth time. "He'll come back," 

Alaea nodded to show that she heard him, but didn't say anything-the truth was that even the most slippery of fish would struggle with what was going to happen, with the fight Noctis would have to face. The thought of being a widow with a child to look after alone made Alaea want to scream, but she knew that Prompto was needed-that the world needed him. Asking him to stay and choose his family over the world felt unfair, even though Alaea wanted to beg him to stay. 

The door to the apartment opened, so Alaea turned her head to see Gina walk in with a few books and some CD's to calm everyone's nerves. "Hey-I brought scented candles," 

"Ew," Libby scrunched up her nose, always and forever sensitive to strong smells. 

"Thanks, Gina," Wiz reached over and pecked Gina's lips and it turned Alaea's stomach at the sight. 

"Gods, not in front of me. You guys are disgusting," Alaea shivered and focused her attention back on the window, fighting the urge to get up and go to the bathroom to throw up. 

"Who caught who in a compromising position again?" Gina asked after a soft swat to the back of Alaea's head. 

"What compromising position?" Wiz asked. 

Alaea rolled her eyes-it figures Gina would bring that up. "Thanks, Gina," she said with sarcasm on her tongue. 

Alaea kept her chair to the window as Libby, Wiz and Gina all sat down to talk about things-whenever the subject of Noctis or Prompto came up, their voices went to whispers, irritating Alaea that they thought she was so absorbed in her own misery that she couldn't hear them. 

Alaea finally stood up to use the bathroom, hobbling over to the small room in the back of the apartment that was littered with even more pictures and a collage Prompto had made that had a poloroid picture that Prompto took every day ever since Alaea found out she was pregnant, showing her belly growth. 

"Ow," Alaea hissed when the kick she felt this time was extremely sharp and she swore this kid was playing soccer in there. "Give it a rest, Noctis-or Ellie...Wendy. Whatever," Alaea would never admit that she actually adored the name Ellie when Prompto suggested it, mostly because she knew it actually would be too confusing when people would start calling her Ellie and Alaea would think they were saying 'Ali' or vice versa. 

But they had both agreed on the name if the baby was a boy. 

Alaea sat on the toilet seat to breathe during the intense kicking and started singing to the baby softly as she often did when he or she was restless, a specific song she loved to sing to try and get him/her to relax. 

Baby mine, don't you cry, Baby mine, dry your eyes, Rest your head close to my heart, Never to part,  Baby of mine. 

Normally, the song would soothe the baby into calming down, but this time the baby insisted on kicking Alaea despite it all. Flinching again, Alaea patted her stomach and focused on controlling her breathing. "I know-it's better when you're dad sings it," 

Sighing, Alaea looked at the wall of pictures, her eyes drawn to the one right after their wedding-one side of the photo frame revealed Prompto carrying Alaea bridal style as they entered their apartment and the other had Alaea trying and failing to carry Prompto on her back. Libby had to back away as the two fell so that they didn't break the camera. 

"I know," Alaea mumbled as the baby continued to kick and squirm. "I miss him too," 

Alaea often talked to the baby whenever she was alone after hearing that it helped soothe the baby to memorize their parent's voice. She would talk about random little things, like her life back with the Chocobo's, how she discovered she loved singing, things of the nature. But as Alaea sat there, looking at the pictures, she began to cry as the realization of facts began to hit her. 

She had tried to be brave when Prompto left, but now it was clear-there really was a good chance he wasn't going to come back. The thought of that monster, Ardyn, sitting in the city...what if Prompto was caught? What if he had to endure the nightmarish torture like he had ten years ago? Prompto still had nightmares about it, waking up screaming like he was on fire. 

"You know I was your dad's soulmate?" Alaea said softly, her voice soothing and gentle to the baby and it began to calm down as Alaea talked. "He came up to me one day and thought we were gonna be together forever, expecting me to be overjoyed when I found out we were soulmates. But I was scared-I had seen the pain soulmates brought to others, the pain people brought to each other and was determined your dad was just playing some sick joke on me," Alaea paused and looked down at her stomach. "Do you even know what determined means? Do you know anything about what I'm-well, I guess it doesn't matter," 

Alaea looked up at another one of her favorites, one that Gina had taken shortly after the Darkness. Prompto had insisted on teaching Alaea how to shoot a gun, despite her being too much of a chicken to join the hunter's, but he still wanted her to know in case of emergencies. They were at a shooting range in Lestallum, with Prompto standing behind her and positioning her elbows and showing her how to have a steady aim; the picture had been snapped shortly after Alaea hit the target and she was beaming with excitement and pride. 

But it was Prompto who stole the show on that picture-he was looking at Alaea with such a look of love and adoration, it was almost ridiculous. He looked at her like she was the sun, the stars and the moon all combined into one. To this day, Alaea had a hard time believing sincerely that all that love was meant for her. 

"Were your dad and I meant to be together? Did the Gods match us specifically?" Alaea rubbed her stomach after another sharp kick, trying to soothe the baby once again with her voice. "I wish I could say I knew, but I don't, not really. But one thing I will say," 

Alaea glanced at the memorial wall full of pictures, some not even having frames and smiled to herself. "Without the soulmate mark, I wouldn't have met him. Without the soulmate mark, I wouldn't have you growing in my tummy right now. Without it, I wouldn't be as happy as I am right now...so, that's gotta be worth something, right?" 

Another sharp kick landed inside Alaea and she laughed, a tear falling and she rubbed it away with a finger. "Are you telling me to shut up or are you agreeing with me?" Rubbing her tummy, she continued to sing, picturing Prompto next to her and singing with her as well. 

Little one, when you play, Don't you mind what they say. Let those eyes sparkle and shine, Never a tear, Baby of mine. 

Alaea was about to continue the song when Libby burst in through the door without knocking. "Ali! It's the sun!"

Alaea watched from the window as the sun gently rose into the sky-at first, Wiz had thought maybe it was just some large explosion out to the West, but after the sky began to lighten more and more, it was clear that the sun was coming up. 

They did it. 

People gathered in the street to watch, though Alaea chose to stay inside because her legs were weak. Even though Alaea wasn't facing the sun, she still heard the city cheer and roar when the first rays of sunlight peaked over the mountains, the darkness and Starscourge now gone forever. Looking over the valley, Alaea began to notice the constant crowd of daemon's slowly disappearing, as if fading from light. 

Alaea leaned her head against the window, closing her eyes and unable to wipe the smile off her face. 

But with every high, there was an equal low. 

Alaea suddenly felt an intense fear and anguish, a feeling unlike anything she'd ever known before. The fear Prompto had felt when Ardyn had threated Alaea was nothing compared to this, the anguish he felt when Noctis knocked him off the train was nothing compared to this. 

This was heartbreak. 

And Alaea could practically hear Prompto's mind at that moment, that intense feeling that he was going to die. The feelings he felt-the regret of all the things he was unable to do, the sorrow from leaving his wife and child alone, the anguish that he would never see the woman he loved again, the heartbreak from never being able to meet his child. 

But, strangely, there was happiness. 

Happiness that he at least left his wife and child in a safe world filled with sunlight. And Alaea knew she felt Prompto thinking that it was all worth it, in the end. 

"Ali," Libby had stayed in the apartment with Alaea while Wiz and Gina went out to watch the sunrise, Kris joining soon after, but Alaea didn't care as she felt herself collapse against the wall, fighting the urge to slide down into a massive heap due to her enlarged stomach. 

"He's gone," Alaea whimpered and a sob ripped through her chest. "He's...he's gone," 

"Alaea," Libby said and Alaea looked to her, expecting to see Libby with comforting eyes and would go over and hug Alaea before going to get Wiz and Gina. 

But instead, Libby was staring down at the floor, right at Alaea's feet. Looking down, Alaea saw what Libby was staring at. 

A small puddle of water.

[paradox-oflife]

MASSIVE q and a post pt 2 dont mind me

 part 2 of the q and a sessions I have to do for class. feel free to steal

1. What do you typically have for breakfast? Bread or cereal

2. Do you like scary movies? Only if I’m watching them with friends.

3. Whats your favourite Milkshake flavour? Vanilla/oreo or something like that. Actually, strawberry and mango is really good.

4. Have you ever been in a newspaper? My school was one time, but not me personally.

5. How long can you balance on one foot? Pretty long. I don’t know, but pretty long.

6. Have you ever fired a gun? No and I hope I don’t have to. 

7. Have you ever tried archery? Yeah. Much harder than it looks.

8. Whats your favourite condement? Ketchup. Mayo only for some sandwiches.

9. Whats your favourite clean word? Catharsis

10. Whats your favourite swear word? I used to swear a lot but I dropped the habit.  “Shit.” But I mainly say “Bugger” lol.

11. Whats your least favourite word? I am so sorry but I HATE it when people call their husbands “Hubby”. I just can’t I’m sorry.

12. What was the last film you saw? Gladiator (2000). Iconic.

13. What football team do you support? Um. Idk. 49ers? But of course, I live in the Bay Area so.

14. Whats the longest you've gone without sleep? 28 hours. At the 20 hour point I felt like I was in a weird fever dream.

15. Whats the tallest building you've ever been up? Taipei 101.

16. Do you have any scars? Yeah. Fell from my bike when I was like, eleven. I got a big scratch near my eye. Had to get stitches >:(. I also got scratched by a cat and it looks like a self harm scar. It’s not, I promise

17. Do you like marmite? EW EW EW NO

18. Did you ever win any sportsday events? Powderpuff if it counts!

19. What did you want to be when you grew up? I had to think about this recently. I always wanted to be a vet when i grew up. But it’s hella competitive. Also my colorblindness (blue-green) really screws things up sometimes. So I decided to abandon the dream and do Physical Therapy lol.

20. If you could change anything about yourself what would it be? A lot of things actually. But maybe having ADHD? But I also really want to not be colorblind.

21. Whats the longest you've ever grown your hair? The longest was to lower half of my back.

22. Are you scared of flying? Airplanes - no. Skydiving - yes.

23. Would you rather trade some intelligence for looks or looks for intelligence? I’m very average looking, which is subjective. But I think I’m okay. I’d want more intelligence.

24. Have you ever tie-dyed your own clothes? Haha yeah in a summer camp for 3rd grade.

25. How often do you buy new clothes? Only if I have to, or I really want to. Like I mainly wear graphic T-shirts and I really want to get a Stardew Valley shirt.

26. Are you reliable? Depends on what. Reliable for secrets and stuff like that? Yeah, totally. Reliable in terms of work stuff. Mm debatable.

27. Are you proud of yourself? I can recognize good qualities about myself. I’ve been through a lot. I’m still doing alright! So Yeah, I get a gold star for being alive.

28. Have you ever had a secret admirer? Yes this is lowkey embarrassing but... in 10th grade, this girl came up to me and asked me out. And I’m straight. It was SO awkward I had to reject her AAAAH. I said something like, “Oh... haha... um. I’m flattered but I don’t... swing that way.” god im cringing.

29. If you could ask your future self one question what would it be? Probably like. “Are you doing well” or “Are you happy”

30. Do you hold grudges? Nah. I probably am too chill with things sometimes.

31. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature what new animal would you create? A dog/bird hybrid. Best case scenario, I’ll get a dog with wings. Worst case I’ll get a duck with paws or something.

32. Do you decorate the outside of your house for christmas? Nope.

33. Can you solve sudoko puzzles? Yeah but it takes me SO LONG.

34. Have you ever played conkers? (Whoever wrote this template must be british) Nope.

35. Whats the most unusual conversation you've ever had? It digressed from politics to philosophy to weird things like are monkeys capable of thought. It was one of the best convos I ever had.

36. Are you much of a gambler? No I’m way too indecisive. So naturally I suck at Fire Emblem lol.

37. Are you much of a daredevil? Nah. I’m a coward.

38. Are you a good liar? Only for small stuff. I try not to lie.

39. Are you a good judge of character? Pretty decent.

40. Are you any good at charades? Yikes not really.

41. How long could you go without talking? One day. Two days at most.

42. What has been your worst haircut/style? My little kid bowlcut every asian gets when they’re a baby.

43. Can you iceskate? Yeah, but I haven’t done it in a long time.

44. Can you summersault? Yeah, it’s a bit scary ngl.

45. Whats your favourite joke? THERES TOO MANY DAMN IT.

46. Whats been your best present? A heartfelt card from my friend for my birthday. I’ll take that over anything.

47. Whats been your worst present? One Ferrero Rocher.

48. Have you ever sleepwalked? No.

49. Can you build a house of cards? Nope.

50. Whats your favourite TV advert? The Gorilla Glue advertisements are SO FUNNy

51. Can you play poker? Never tried before

52. If your parents hated your partner you currently loved would you ditch him or carry on with him despite the protests? I would probably carry on. Cause I mean, what can they really do?

53. Have you ever been professionally photographed? Nah. I am not photogenic lmao. 

54. Have you ever baked your own cake? One time and it turned out horribly.

55. Whats your favourite pastel colour? I really like the blue one.

56. What traditionally adorns the top of your christmas tree? My family and I don’t celebrate Christmas.

57. What would be your dream sandwich? Turkey, lettuce, cheddar, butter, baguette bread. Lee’s Sandwich combo #1 is SUPER good.

58. Can you inpersonate anyone famous? Not well lol.

59. Can you do any accents other than your own? American southern, New Zealand, Australian, the Received pronunciation British. I can kind of do Scottish.

60. Do you have a strong local accent? I have this weird mix of the general American accent and New Zealand. By that I mean I sound pretty American until words like “seven, definitely, yeah, bro, pro”

61. Whats your favourite accent? For listening: Australian. To talk in, Scottish.

62. In Tic-Tac-Toe which do you normally pick? X

63. Do you prefer blue or black inked pens? I have a hard time distinguishing between the two.

64. What was the last thing you recorded off TV? I don’t actually record shows on TV. Never figured out how to.

65. What was the last thing you dressed up as for fancy dress? Church. Well, it’s not that fancy. My last actual fancy one was for a wedding.

66. Do you prefer green or red grapes? Green.

67. What do you like on your toast? Butter or jam.

68. Do you prefer liquid soap or bars of soap? Liquid. Easier to deal with.

69. How do you have your eggs? Sunny side up or scrambled. Or boiled/soft boiled.

70. Whats your favourite saying? I have a lot. I really like saying, “Pass the bread, here comes the bologna.”

71.Have you ever been in a tug of war? and did you win? Yup! I won. I fell so hard on my back but I won.

72. Can you stand on your hands unassisted? Nope.

73. What do you have on your fridge door? Some goofy magnets.

74. Do you love or hate myspace? I only used it once. And never again.

75. Who was the last person to knock/ring at your door? My dad’s uncle who was visiting.

76. How old were you when you last went trick or treating? Nine years old.

77. Have you ever been bobbing for apples? No lmao I’ve actually never seen anyone do that in real life.

78. Whats your most expensive piece of clothing? Hoodie. Man, do they cost a lot sometimes.

79. Whats the last thing you took a picture of? A meme from reddit.

80. Whats the last thing you drew a picture of? A MF Doom mask

81. Have you ever bought anything from ebay? No.

82. Whats your favourite smell/scent? Bread baking in the oven.

83. Can you blow bubbles with bubblegum? No, never been successful.

84. What was your favourite birthday? My fourteenth birthday. Lots of things happened. Can’t begin to explain it.

85. Can you curl your tounge? Yeah

86. Is your bellybutton an innie or outie? Innie

87. What would be your dream car? I literally don’t care. Toyata, Honda. Whatever.

88. Are you left or right handed? Right handed, but I can kind of write in left hand.

89. What was the last book you read? Joy Luck Club

90. What was the last song you danced to? Uuuuh, more of a head bang but I was BOPPING to Jimi Hendrix.

91. Have you ever owned a yo-yo? Yeah and I broke it in five minutes.

92. Have you ever been on a pogo stick? No that looks so scary

93. Have you ever been on a space hopper? Had to search this up - Been on something similar.

94. Who was the last person to send you a text message? My brother

95. Have you ever accidentally injured anyone? Omg yeah it wasn’t serious but I felt so guilty. I did fencing a while ago and I lunged and stabbed the mate right in the balls.

96. Are you scared of spiders? Yes

97. Can you down a pint (of anything) in one? Ive done it with water and I felt like dying.

98. Have you ever been banned from a public place? Nah

99. How much spam email do you tend to get a week? Dunno, I send it to a separate email that I never check.