#by horrors i mean waking up early and going to work

[smusherina]

yard work - chapter 16 [final chapter] (regina george x reader)

fandom: Mean Girls (all media)

pairing: Regina George x OFC/Reader

summary: You'd been in the same class as Regina George since kindergarten. You'd lived on the same street even longer. Once upon a time, when life was sandbox disputes and who got the swing first arguments, you'd even been friends. Now, in junior year of high school, you doubted she even remembered you. The same couldn't be said about you. You definitely remembered her.

warning(s): talk of past drug use and withdrawal symptoms.

chapter 1 / chapter 2 / chapter 3 / chapter 4 / chapter 5 / chapter 6 / chapter 7 / chapter 8 / chapter 9 / chapter 10 / chapter 11 / chapter 12 / chapter 13 / chapter 14 / chapter 15

[love renée but fuck am i getting sick of this gif. been looking at it for sixteen goshdarned chapters. finally i am freed.]

You woke up first. Naturally. Every time, every single morning that you'd had sleepovers, you'd been the first to wake up. The sun was shining through the blinds in a pleasant, warm yellow tone. Still morning but not unreasonably early.

You shifted to a more upright position, looking down at the girl still snoozing, whose hand was holding onto your forearm. She was all sprawled out, starfished as much as one could be on a couch. Her body was taking up the shorter end of the L-shape, one knee curled up towards her body, just barely on the couch, while the other stretched well beyond the end of the divan. You were situated much the same, except the other way around. You laid on the longer end so that your heads had almost met in the corner.

Her arms reached out towards you, one around your pillow and the other holding onto you. You knew you'd fallen asleep with much more distance between you, but you couldn't say you minded her having drifted.

Did you, though? You sighed and grumbled as you got up. Might as well do something while you contemplated reality, or something. Mrs George had insisted on some classic American breakfast ingredients, such as bacon and pancake mix. You didn't feel like causing a fire hazard, so pancakes were a no-go, at least for now. Eggs and bacon you could do.

What did you even, like, want? Realistically, actually, no, unrealistically what did you want? There was no sense in trying to make your base wants and desires realistic because at that point was any of that yours anymore? Likely not.

You wanted nights spent with Regina, talking and eating take-out, laughing until your tummy hurt and looking at her glowing in the blue light of whatever Adult Swim show was on at the time. You wanted grocery trips with Mrs George and to go to Kylie's games. You wanted people at school to just, simply not be jerks. You wanted Janis to find peace. You wanted Cady to wake up.

You wanted yesterday to not have happened. You wanted Thanksgiving dinner at the Georges' to never have happened. You wanted for your dad to be different, for Mr George to be different. You wanted your mom to not have died.

Looking at the bacon sizzling in the pan, you chewed on your lips and thought about that. You wanted many things. So many things, mostly for things to not have happened or to have happened differently. It was all wildly unrealistic. You were not a wizard, a time-traveller, or some other mystic being. You were a teenager.

You cracked the eggs into the mix. God, it smelled divine. You pulled a salt and pepper shaker from the spice rack and sprinkled a reasonable amount on there. You groaned out loud and threw your head back when you remembered there was sriracha in the fridge. Mrs George had seen you eyeing the bottle and had not taken a no for an answer, despite your abundant protestations.

"Spare your kitchen utensils the horror and go masturbate in your room like a normal person!" Regina hollered from the living room.

"Oh! Spatula! Harder! Harder!" You cried, moaning like you were receiving the blowie of your life. "If you want breakfast you're gonna have to witness this sordid affair." You called back, giggling. You leaned back from the stove, bending back at the waist. Regina was leaning her chin on the armrest, still more or less sprawled on your couch. There was a pout on her lips and a light flush to her cheeks.

"I'll show you sordid, nerd." She grouched before getting up. You straightened your posture, turning back to the stove, and probed the eggs in the pan with the spatula with a satisfied grin on your face.

You wanted this and more, above all. Was that something you were allowed to want? More importantly, was that something you were allowed to ask for?

Regina came up behind you, hand coming to rest on the small of your back. You didn't jump, much, which you were proud of.

"Looks yummy." She pointed out.

You hummed in agreement. "Can you put toast in the toaster?"

"Sure."

Then, as if no time at all passed, you were sitting down. Then eating and chatting. There was toast, eggs and bacon, and you'd made yourself a bowl of oatmeal. Mrs George had splurged on some blueberries and local honey. Regina refused to make eye contact when you were chewing, citing that your O-face was hard to look at. You only moaned louder and made more faces at her.

Then, just as you were heading to the couch to digest the meal as god intended, lying down, Regina yanked you to the foyer. Still in your jammies and everything, she insisted you bundle up and go for that walk she was talking about yesterday.

You'd hoped she would've forgotten. Sure, the weather was nice for once but if you didn't have to go outside then why would you? It was below freezing!

Much like her mother, she would not budge. You were going on a walk.

"What am I? A dog?" You muttered as you wrapped your scarf around your neck.

"If you were a dog, you'd be a... A Doberman." She was already dressed. It was odd for your roles to have switched like this. Usually, you were the one waiting for her to get ready. She had on a thick, white parka and a cute beanie. She also had on black leggings sure to insulate absolutely nothing and bulky, also black, fur boots.

"What? 'Cause I'm big and scary?" You preened at that, smiling widely.

"Nope." She tilted her head, examining you. "Gloves."

"Geez, okay, mom." You grabbed some mittens from the hat rack. "Why Doberman?"

"They wouldn't look so scary if they didn't have their ears clipped, y'know?" She said. You just looked at her weirdly, not catching her meaning. Your ears were not clipped. "Anyway, let's go."

"Aye aye," With that, you were out of the door.

You walked the block and down to the street. The sidewalk stopped so you went by the side of the road. She was walking ahead of you. It was cold out but not too windy, so it didn't feel so bad.

The sidewalk started again eventually. There, you walked side by side. You were just looking at a bird perched on a wire when you felt her grab your hand. Thinking she had something to say, you turned to look at her. She was still facing forward, the other hand in her pocket, walking along. She was just holding your hand.

Oh. Oh. She was holding your hand. Out in public. Not a lot of people were out at this hour, not even cars since it was a weekend. There was a woman with a stroller. A psychopathic man out on a jog. A dog walker. Still, it was outside where anyone who walked by could see.

You arrived at the park, hands clasped together. You stopped by a bench.

"I don't think we should sit." You said, observing the coating of snow piled on top.

"Let's go over there." Regina pointed to a tree a little ways away.

You went obediently, following the tug of her hand in yours. She was holding your hand. You felt all warm in your chest, like you were full of warm water.

You stopped by the tree. She looked around, trying to spot if anybody was nearby. Then, like she had a secret to tell you, she motioned for you to bend down closer. You did. Her hand squeezed at your fingers as the other came up to your neck, pulling you down the rest of the way.

The warmth you'd felt became hot, like an oil fire erupting in the foil-covered saucepan that was your heart, kernels and half-popped popcorn sputtering out as she kissed you. Your eyes just barely got to shutter closed before she pulled away. Instinctively, your body so starved of affection and touch, you chased her and found her lips again.

She smiled against your mouth. It felt like a secret of the utmost importance being shared, like a pinkie finger wrapped around your own in the corner of the room during a sleepover, giggled promises and childish adoration. She tasted vaguely like breakfast, and maybe egg-breath should've been nasty, but it wasn't.

Cold seeping in, the anxious feeling like you were soon going to be caught taking hold, you pulled away. You didn't lean away entirely, crowding her against the tree. When you'd gotten so close, pinned her, you weren't sure.

"Do..." What were you supposed to say post-kiss? "Do you like it sloppy?"

"What?" Her brows furrowed and the smile on her face turned sharper. What to say post-kiss: Not That.

"Uh, I mean, I just- uh..." You swallowed. "I don't know how to, like, I don't have technique. I dunno. Was that good? I saw Aaron was doing it differently..."

Regina rolled her eyes, head thumping lightly against the tree as her neck lolled back. "You would bring up Aaron now." She sighed. "It's fine. It's- it's good."

"Okay." You swallowed again. A slow smile crept up to your face. "It was good?"

"Ugh, yes, shut up." She shoved you away, but you just allowed the momentum to swing you back to her. "I... I don't think I'm good at words."

You chuckled at that. "No, you're not." She glared. You shrugged. "But, hey, you know me. I'm Chatty Kathy."

"No," She huffed through her nose, seemingly in frustration. "I wish I could say to you what I mean. What I feel. But I just... It's... It's not supposed to be but it's embarrassing."

Looking at her, hunched in on herself like a girl her age was supposed to be at times, so different from how she was most of the time, made your chest feel tight. You figured a person having been raised like she was, having turned out the way she had, would find being vulnerable uncomfortable. Or, as she said it, embarrassing.

Then again, it wasn't your place nor your duty to psycho-analyze her.

"Reg, I..." You hesitated. "I'm tired of, like, sitting in the passenger seat while you bulldoze everyone. I'm tired of feeling like if I do something you don't like you'll push me under too." You pulled away from her, hands getting sore from leaning your weight against the rough bark. "And then there's this whole thing." You gestured around you at the empty park. "Even if we were the best couple ever in terms of, I dunno, vibes or something, we're still..."

"Lesbians." She finished for you. "I'm a lesbian, Jorts." A sentence you never thought you'd hear from Regina George. "I know. For me, it felt justified for a long time, keeping them in their place, but since we started talking again, doing all that stuff just started to seem... Unimportant. And stupid." She fiddled with her fingers, eyes glued to the space between you. "It hasn't gone away. I still want to, I guess, hurt people because it does make me feel better even if it's, like, fucked up. But I want something else more than I want that."

"What's that?" You couldn't help but ask, hope stuck in your throat. Choking hazard.

"You, obviously." She said it so flippantly as if those words didn't just send your heart into the Milky Way. "I want you. I'll stop doing that stuff for you. I know we can't be out yet, but I... I have good grades."

You looked at her, puzzled. She huffed and continued. "I'll go to college. Major in, uh, I dunno, some sorta politics and I'll change the law. Maybe a law degree would work better for that, actually." She seemed to think about it for a moment before returning to her point. "Whichever one would be best in getting gay marriage legalized."

"You..." You had to laugh at that, disbelieving as well as delighted. "You're gonna change the world for me?"

"If that's what it takes." She said, determination shining so bright it made your eyes water.

"Wow, okay." You licked your lips, trying to will the stupid grin off your face. You had some important questions still. "If I moved away, would you still stop?"

She paused at that. Took a moment to really look at you, like she hadn't considered that to be a real possibility.

"Yes." She sounded so sure you believed her. "I just don't have... What it takes anymore. I guess. I don't know if there's something wrong with me that I... I want to be mean, sometimes. It's funny. For me." She glanced down and then looked somewhere over your shoulder. "It took a lot of work to get to what Regina George is now. I don't want to put in all that next year."

"Y'know what they say. New year, new me." You quipped, looking down at her. You were quite sure your pupils had morphed into heart shapes, despite your valiant efforts to have this meaningful conversation without seeming like a love-drunk idiot.

(She kissed you. You kissed her. It was a beautiful morning, you were on a walk and you'd held hands and then you'd kissed under a barren willow tree. It was the first day of Christmas break and you were spending it with Regina George.)

"Does that mean I can be a raging bitch till January 1st?" She asked, eyebrow notching.

You laughed. "Only if you..." You bit your bottom lip, getting nervous. "Only if I get a kiss for every mean thing you say."

"Deal." She offered her hand to you, a cheesy smile on her face.

You pulled your glove off and spit on your hand, then made to take hers.

"Ew! That's disgusting!" She flinched away from you, violently shoving herself back against the tree. "Don't- no! Not near me! Don't touch me with that!"

She bolted and you ran after her, cackling maniacally. You waved your spat-on hand at her as you chased her around the park, her shrieking and you laughing.

"I'm serious, J!" She looked at you over her shoulder as she ran. "Stop chasing me!"

"Stop running away from me!"

"You're just gonna smear your spit on me, you- you fiend!"

"Pinky swear I won't!"

"I won't pinky-swear with your disgusting paws, you-"

With a yelp, Regina tripped over something, probably a root, and fell to the ground. You, having been closing in on her, put the brakes on, windmilled your arms, and tried to stop, but soon followed her into the snow.

"Ouf!" The breath wooshed out of her as you fell on her. She wheezed as you rolled off of her, half-heartedly punching in your direction. You giggled and dodged to the best of your ability, not even minding the snow seeping through your pyjama pants.

Giving some time for her to recover, you laid on your back and looked up at the sky. Clear blue with some thick, greyish clouds looming in the peripheral, morning was turning to day fast. Soon, the park would surely get some more traffic. Kids and their adults, mostly. There was a sizeable play area in the centre. You were pretty much on the outskirts of the park.

It was a familiar spot. You and the guys used to meet your other friends here all the time. Those times it'd been night, too dark to see the faces of the guys with big gym bags, filled to bursting with little plastic baggies and glass bottles.

You turned your head to look at her once her breathing had quieted down.

"You bitch," She hissed at you, the usual venom in her voice gone, replaced by exhaustion. You could only smile, somewhat sheepish but mostly just happy.

"It'd be a lot harder to resist if we were still in school, y'know." You said, turning back to watch the sky. "You can't change the law until we graduate. Until then, we're stuck here. And then, let's say you do change the law and it's passed, it's gonna take some time for people to accept that."

"Yeah," Regina agreed, folding her arms under her chin to lean on.

"And you can say that you'll change a hundred times easily, but actually doing it is different."

"When did you get so wise?"

"When I was all alone for years and did some stupid stuff."

"Like what?" You could tell she wouldn't be expecting what you said next. Even you weren't expecting it.

"You know how I sell drugs and alcohol, right? Where do you think I get the stuff from? I got to know some people while we weren't talking." You sighed. Remembering those times, the worst of them, still so fresh despite it having been years, wasn't nice. "Vandalism, underage drinking, shoplifting, driving without a licence... Did some harder drugs than weed... Stupid shit. I stopped most of it when I got caught the last time and almost went to juvie. Dad got me out, somehow. Probably threw money at people."

You turned your head to look at Regina. She was already paying keen attention to you. "I told my mandated therapist I was gonna change. I said I wasn't going to ever do anything like that ever again. I lied, of course."

"When did you actually stop, then?" She asked.

"Months after the mandated therapy was over." You put your hands in your pockets, getting cold. "I wanted to do it before then. I wanted to just, not be that. A druggie fifteen-year-old spraypainting some dilapidated trailer, hanging around guys that were way too old to be hanging around me. I didn't want to be that but at the same time being anything else was terrifying. I don't think highly of myself, but that was low even for me. Then, Mrs George found me one time."

"Mom?" The question was more out of shock than actual inquiry.

"Yeah." You blinked a couple of times. "I was in a bad state. Withdrawals. I made her promise she wouldn't tell my dad if I allowed her to take me home. She was talking the whole ride from downtown to mine, trying to keep me awake. I just lost it. I don't remember what I said or exactly what I did, but she had to pull over and restrain me." You gulped. "It was awful. Then she offered that I could mow your lawn for some money. I used it the first couple of times to get a new dose. She used to ask what I'd be spending it on and those times I had some bullshit excuse, but the first time I said I was probably gonna get some McDonalds', she cried. Cried real actual tears." You didn't feel like looking at Regina, but you could feel her eyes on the side of your head. "After that it just... It wasn't worth it."

"You never told me." Regina breathed out, still sounding shocked.

"I didn't want to." You turned onto your side, body facing her. "I was- am ashamed."

You didn't feel shame now, though. You undoubtedly would later, tomorrow perhaps, but not now. You were glad for it. You regretted it, wished you hadn't gone down that road, but lying there in the cold snow there was only indifference. That had happened. You had done that.

"Me too." She whispered. "Obviously, it's not the same, but-"

"I know what you mean. And it could be more similar than you think. Quitting an addiction is hard, but I wouldn't say quitting a behaviour is easy."

"It's stupid to compare drug addiction to being a bitch." Regina huffed, a frown on her face. "It's incomparable."

"Well, then let's not compare. Both can be hard in their own way without diminishing the other. What I'm trying to point out is that," You thought for a moment. "We're both trying to get over a bad, toxic habit that feels safe and good and like the only option, without seeing the merit or the other supposedly better option first. It's scary."

"Are you still trying to get over it?"

"I haven't been on drugs since, no. But it's not something that goes away. Not ever."

"And you're still kinda in it." She said, remembering your hustle around the school.

"Yeah. I can't expect you to be all buddy-buddy with everybody suddenly. That'd be hypocritical."

"So what do we do?"

What a question. One that you did not have the answer to. You didn't feel unsettled by the confusion. You hadn't told anyone of your dark past (gosh, could you be any more emo?) since those that knew had just kind of stumbled across it, so telling somebody felt... Good. You'd just sort of blurted it all out without thinking about it too much.

"Can we go back home? I wanna..." You stopped, realizing I wanna make out with you on the couch sounded awfully crude.

A lecherous grin spread Regina's cheeks. "Oh, I see. You just want me for my body."

"No!" You denied, indignant. "I would never."

"You would never want me for my body." She reiterated, purposefully misconstruing what you said. "Wow. Just wow."

"Regina, c'mon, I just mean..."

"Say what you were gonna say." She rolled away and up, towering above you with a twinkling smile pointed down at your prone body.

"Let's just go," You said and tried to get up. Like some bondage dominatrix, she pushed you back down with a shoe on your chest.

You hated how that sort of got to you. Your heart beat faster against her Ugg. Hopefully, she didn't feel it through the thick sole.

"Nuh-uh. Say it."

"I... I wanna make..." You took a deep breath and closed your eyes. "I wanna go home and make out with you on the couch."

"Oh, that wasn't so hard, now was it, baby? Let's go."

It was only once you'd made it back, chucked your wet clothes into the hamper, and spent a considerable amount of time in liplock, that either of you thought to circle back.

"Hey," Regina said, adjusting her weight to not be leaning on you so heavily. Your lips smacked apart and, gosh, now you were the gross ones. "I just now realized,"

"What are you realizing while you're supposed to be kissing me?" You pouted, falling onto your side and away from her. Your hand went over your eyes like you were a swooning maiden. Regina just patted your leg in mock consolation.

"You have your drug thing-" Only she would refer to your past addiction as your drug thing. "but I was, like, the only one doing anything actually wrong. Actively. You know what I mean." You craned your neck to look at her. Your double chin was probably epic.

"I lied to you by omission. I was really mean to you on Thanksgiving."

"Okay, lying by omission was bad and never do that again," She paused, waiting for you to affirm. You nodded solemnly. "But you were only mean after I was mean first. So, both forgiven. Anyway, I'm talking, like... I don't know how to say it."

You blinked. You didn't know what she meant so you couldn't really help. Regina huffed, nails scratching absent-mindedly on your calves.

"You made it sound like we were both wrong for how things exploded." She eventually said. "That was all me."

"I shouldn't have been such a doormat. I let you walk all over me and I never said anything about how I really felt."

"I don't think you can be in the wrong for that."

"I think I can be. At least the way that I was. I could've said something."

"And what would that've achieved? Me cutting you off and nothing changing?"

You clambered up to your elbows. "And now we're here." You smiled, one side a little crooked with how gleeful you were. "Look, we can hash everything out during the break, now just... Let's focus on other things."

Regina, still looking conflicted, caressed a hand up your leg. You shivered. You were in just a hoodie and loose briefs. Regina was more covered up than you, but still in just your old basketball shorts and a big band tee.

"Reggie, I'm getting used to asking for things I shouldn't want. Amuse me." You turned onto your back and hooked your legs around Regina. She fell forward, hands braced on either side of your torso. "Kiss me."

"I just don't want to mess up and have all this go away." She swallowed, a worried crease between her eyebrows.

"I think we're gonna mess up plenty of times. It's a possibility you'll find some justification to make somebody's life hell for a time. I could relapse." You pulled her closer with your legs, arms coming up to cross your fingers behind her neck. "A lot of the time we're not gonna want to admit it, we might not even know it. So, we can lay out a few... Promises, or something."

"Okay," Regina said, gazing down at you like you never imagined. Like you meant things to her. Important things.

"Promise me that you'll listen. Even if you disagree, please hear me out." She nodded seriously. "And, in turn, I promise to speak my mind. When I don't like something, or just like something, I'll say so." Again, she nodded. You loosened your hold on her neck and rubbed your thumbs on her cheeks. Getting to touch her like this, having her literally between your legs, was more than you ever thought you'd get.

Even if this ended in a similar fashion to the Thanksgiving kiss, or even much, much worse, you'd have regretted not taking the chance for the rest of your life.

"And... This is the most important one... Come closer."

Regina shifted closer, bending down, her elbows coming to rest next to your chest as she turned her ear towards you.

You whispered conspiratorially, like this was top-secret: "Still let me do your yard work."

Notes: Fucking christ. I wrote this all in one sitting. 4.3k words. That's like two chapters. I've written long chapters before, longer than this, but I got so used to the 2k on average pace that this felt huge.

Also! Don't be spooked by the [final chapter] marking! This is the last chapter in the story, yes, but we'll be hearing more from Reggie and Jorts still! I have a couple of epilogue sequences I want to write. Would y'all be interested in a poll as to what order those should be published? As in, chronological. Do we start from 10 Years Later... or something more like, idk, next summer? Lmk in the comments :)

This might be counterintuitive to add, and if my lovely amazing readers have exercised their reading comprehension during this series they might get why on a more nuanced level, revenge on Gretchen was left out purposefully. This will not be the last we hear of her, I have some plans for her in some of the epilogues, but yes. That plot point was left open on purpose.

The name. A lot of people like it! I was feeling insecure about my lack of foresight and impulsive naming, but hey, as it turns out it's not that deep! To add, it went really nicely with the end there I think :) No changes will be happening.

This note is getting so long. I just wanna thank everybody that's been along for the ride so far. I read every single comment and check my notifications way too often for new ones. I'm pretty used to writing for quite dead/inactive fandoms on AO3, and I love that site it's my origin, but it's very different to Tumblr. I just feel like people on here are much more open to sharing their thoughts. Everybody who's bore witness to my grief with the taglist, thank you for your patience. And thank you so much for wanting to be on it. I cannot believe people wanted that. For little ole me? Oh, you shouldn't have...

If there are spelling errors or grammatical weirdness, shhh. I'm not reading all that again at 1am. Toodles!

Taglist will be posted separately! Comment on that post if you want to be added to be notified when the epilogies are published!

[ionomycin]

[fuctacles]

LATE BLOOMERS

for @steddieholidaydrabbles Spring pop-up | T | 1k | no cw | t4t w transfem Stevie and transmasc Eddie, pre relationship, mutual pining | read on Ao3

Eddie hates spring. 

It’s getting warmer and swarms of people are going outside to piss on his good mood. Kids are screaming, parents are showing publicly how terrible they are, the sun is glaring into his eyes, and birds are chirping. Literal hell. His last slivers of peace are the nights and early mornings when everyone is still sleeping.

Except her.

She’s new here, moved in around Thanksgiving last year, and has been running daily ever since. Eddie had noticed her passing his house now and then, her chestnut ponytail swinging with the movement. 

Every morning, in a very un-Munson fashion, he sits on his porch, the cold planks digging into his ass, with a thick sweater, and a coffee warming his body. All so that he can nod at one of the many joggers blemishing the neighborhood.

He always liked drinking his morning coffee in the crisp, chilly air, still foggy and void of people, still in their beds or getting ready for work. She is a great motivator to do it every morning, to wake up to his alarm and start his day early. 

She’s like clockwork, always on time and never out of breath. Barely missed a step the first time he nodded at her in a casual “good morning, neighbor” greeting, and now every time she passes his house she looks to the side, catches his eye, and smiles, raising her hand in a small wave. 

Eddie’s heart swells in his chest and he’s on the verge of weeping into his coffee every time.

It’s all the interaction they’ve had so far, and he’s not even sure what the woman’s last name is, though the rumors he’s heard say it’s Harrington. He likes to imagine she chose this route to see him just like he chooses to wake up early every morning to drink his coffee on the porch, even though no jogging type would go for a metalhead freak like him. He might just be conveniently on the way to her favorite bakery or something. 

He hates spring a little less when it’s warm enough for local joggers to dress down. It gets him swooning over some ankle like an ancient bachelor. A couple of days later the temperatures rise to sports bra levels which he learns the hard way while choking on his coffee.

It’s tight, obviously, but no amount of support can prevent the obvious bounce accompanying the movement of running. He tries his best not to be a creep and greets her with the same smile.

He thinks he’s prepared for the sports bra the next day, but he’s heavily mistaken when the transgender flag rounds the corner. He gets the coffee on his t-shirt this time as he recognizes the top she’s wearing from the same site he used to get binders from. 

She's a little hesitant with her greeting this time, and Eddie can’t stand it. So he opens his stupid mouth and yells:

“Me too!”

She looks at him quizically so he adds, albeit a tad more timid:

“I’m trans.”

And to his absolute horror, she starts walking up to him. 

He’s thinking the worst things: maybe the colors are just a coincidence, maybe she got it because she liked it and has no idea what it means, or maybe he’s about to get shunned by the local community that he already doesn’t feel welcome in.

But then there’s a megawatt smile directed at him and every bad thought evaporates from his brain.

“Really?” she asks, and he can only dumbly nod. 

“Thank god! I worried it would be like, a problem.”

Her hand is out and she’s right in front of him.

“I’m Stephanie,” she says. Her hand is warm against the morning chill. Enveloping and strong.

“Eddie.”

She smiles, warm and teasing, wreaking havoc across Eddie’s internal organs. 

“Is there a chance I’d get a glass of water?”

Eddie straightens up immediately.

“Yes! Of course! Come in, come in!” He opens the door and motions her inside, hoping the filtering jug is full. 

It is, so he pours a glass for the gorgeous creature in his kitchen.

“Thank you,” she says politely and it’s so simple, but Eddie’s melting inside as he watches her swallow the water and lick her bottom lip.

“Hey, listen…”

“Mhm?” he makes a questioning sound, eyes drawn to the way she crosses her arms, making the muscles flex and frame her cleavage.

“Would it be weird if I asked to borrow a sweater? I heavily overestimated the weather today.”

Eddie was nodding before she was even finished, head bopping so hard he was getting dizzy. 

“No! Just give me a moment!” he said before running up the stairs to his bedroom to grab the first clean hoodie he could find. “Here.”

“Thank you.” She smiles and he has the pleasure of watching her put on his clothing. “It’s stupid, but I’ve been dressing up, or dressing down rather, to…” She bites her lip as she zips up the hoodie. There’s a flaking-away Metallica logo across the chest. “There’s this metalhead on my route I wanted to impress, I guess.”

Eddie swallows down the lump in his throat.

“I’m pretty sure you’d impress him in a skiing suit.”

She chuckles. 

“You think so? Maybe I should just suck it up and ask him out then,” she wonders out loud, turning to leave, and Eddie’s stomach sinks. But then she’s turning back and laughing again.

“Eddie! Do you want to go out with me?”

The relief he feels melts his bones. 

“Of course I do! Why do you think I’ve been freezing my ass on the porch every morning?” He goes for the snark because he doesn’t know how to deal with having this beautiful woman’s full attention.

“Breakfast tomorrow? The usual time?” she asks. Because of course, she’d take him on an early morning date.

“Should I buy a tracksuit?” he jokes, but to his horror, her eyes sparkle.

“That would be perfect.”

Stevie event interest check

[arkhamknightz]

TOLERATE IT

pairing: spencer reid x reader

summary; in which, spencer starts to get distant from you, and all you can do is sit and wonder why - part 2

warnings: age gap (just a few years, not specified but mentions of him being older) no happy ending, lots of angst, reader is angry and i mean very angry reader, sad spencer at the end, spencer before prison

notes: criminal minds obsession comes back every year and its on its annual visit rn! anyways I know reader kinda goes after him in their fight but I’m venting. i’m open to writing a part 2 with a happy ending if anyone wants it!

You sat on the other end of the couch while Spencer sat with his legs up reading a book, a small frown on your face as you watched him. He had suddenly become distant in the last few weeks. You had passed it off as a rough case, but usually his odd behavior never lasted this long.

You had asked the team if he had been doing alright, but to them nothing had been out of the ordinary, he was still the same Spencer at work that he always was.

You woke up next to him the morning after, and sat and watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful, but you couldn’t help but notice you didn’t wake up with your head on his chest or with his arms wrapped around your waist like you did before.

You sat and watched him for a while, savoring the morning. You knew things weren’t gonna be as peaceful when he woke up. He stopped waking up early to read to you at the kitchen counter while you made him a coffee before work, and he stopped rambling to you when he got back.

He stopped doing all the little things you loved, but you patiently waited for him. You waited for things to go back to normal and for him to stop treating you like you were some ghost in the house. It never happened. He started going to bed earlier, leaving the house later, avoiding your questions about what was going on with him. He stopped holding you at night and started facing away from you.

You laid on your back, facing up towards the ceiling. A million thoughts swarmed through your head at once. It wasn’t a secret Spencer was older than you. But had that started to bother him? He was much wiser than you were, even despite the fact he was a genius. Had you become too needy? Had something happened at work that none of them thought was appropriate to tell you about?

Spencer always told you when he was coming back from a case. He would always give you little details, not commenting much on the contents of it. He liked to keep you away from the horrors of his work, not wanting to subject you to such things. You would wait by the door and as soon as you heard the knob turn your face would light up like a kids in a candy store.

You stopped waiting for him. He stopped telling you when he was coming home. You turned your head, seeing he was still asleep. A small tear rolled down your cheek and you got up out of bed before getting changed and leaving the house. You walked to the small book store the both of you had met in, and you sat by the window.

You had put in effort to spend time with him, laying the table with your best dishes, his favorite food, but he brushed it off claiming he ate with the team. You made efforts to get him new books, make him coffee in the mornings before work, do his laundry and so forth. He never addressed it, never a thank you, you could hardly even remember the last time he said he loved you.

You thought it was all in your head, that maybe you had read things wrong and he was just having a really rough time. But his hard exterior hadn’t faltered in a while. Usually he was able to brush things off, talk to you after a few days and things would be okay. But there was this unsettling feeling in your chest, an ache. Things didn’t seem like they were gonna be okay.

You picked up a book off the coffee table of the bookstore. It was one of his favorites. You looked at the cover with a sad smile on your face. You used to greet him at the door like he had been gone for months, a hug and dinner waiting for him inside.

Now all that’s left were snarky comments when he got home, a bitter attitude and grumbles under his breath when you tried to talk to him. You sat and listened while he would poke at you after a long day, passive aggressive comments flying out of his mouth as you did dishes.

All you could do was just sit and listen. You couldn’t speak, couldn’t pull yourself away from your activities to be upset with him. You found yourself giving him the benefit of the doubt and more often making excuses for his behavior rather than addressing it to him directly.

It was getting a bit dark outside, the sun was starting to set and so you left the bookstore, the memories floating through the air as you left the shop. It felt like you left part of yourself in there somehow, you walked into the door of your shared apartment, dread seemingly started to fill your body.

“Where were you?” He spoke, his voice was quiet but you could tell he wasn’t happy. It wasn’t worry either, you know what he sounded like when he was worried. “I went out.” You put your keys down and walked past him, he turned around. “For hours? I woke up and no note, no texts, no calls, nothing.” You scoffed. “So you can do it but suddenly when I leave without saying something I’m the bad guy?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You shook your head. “You know what that means Spencer. Don’t sit and play dumb with me.” You looked over at him as he rolled his eyes. “Its my job.” “You know what else your job is?” He looked at you, waiting for you to continue. “To actually fill your title as my boyfriend. You stopped telling me when you’re coming home, you stopped talking to me completely. I feel like a ghost in this stupid apartment Spencer!”

You laughed bitterly. “I mean come on, why do you care I was gone for so long? You can hardly keep eye contact with me anymore. Why’s me leaving the house any different huh? Like I leave you alone all day by my OWN choice this time and you still find a reason to be mad?” Spencer furrowed his brows at you.

“Are you kidding m-“ you slammed your hands on the table, eyes brimming with tears. “No! No I’m not fucking kidding. Why act like you suddenly care about where I was when you’re the one pushing me away? Mind you, you didn’t make any effort to ask me where I was all day anyways. My phones been on the whole day so don’t even make some excuse that you called or texted me and I didn’t respond. So don’t sit and fucking ask me if im kidding.”

He seemed surprised by your outburst. But oh you weren’t done with him. “I mean come on? ‘Are you kidding’ like do you hear yourself? Spencer I have been nothing but patient with you for the last what, 2 almost 3 months? What happened to the man who would throw blankets over barbed wire hmm? What happened to him? Because you’ve done nothing but avoid me and shut me out. You’ve barely spoken 5 whole sentences to me in the last 2 weeks! Two!”

Spencer interrupted you. “For the love of god can you stop talking!” Tears of frustration were falling down your face. “No! No you don’t get to do this to me. I have spent so long giving you nothing but love for you to turn around and shut me out completely. I’m practically begging for you to even pay attention to me for more than 3 seconds. So what is it hmm? Did I start taking up too much space and time in your life? Because clearly it’s not work. I’ve asked repeatedly if something had gone on that I didn’t know about and they said you were acting fine so what is it?”

He said nothing and you scoffed. You walked away and went into your shared bedroom before grabbing a suitcase and shoving clothes in. He followed in behind you, seeming panicked. “What are you doing? No no stop packing talk to me please.” You shook your head. “I did. You said nothing.” He shut your suitcase and spoke, his voice cracking. “Please we can talk about this.”

That only made you angrier. “Talk about this? Are you fucking kidding me? You’ve had 3 months to talk to me about whatever’s bothering you and you still haven’t. I’ve tried my best I really have and that’s not enough for you apparently. I know you hear me crying at night. You’re a god damned profiler for crying out loud and you didn’t notice I’ve been trying to hold myself together in hopes you decide to care about me again?”

“I do care.” You opened back up your suitcase and stuffed in more clothes. “You didn’t think I’d leave? Spencer I love you but I’m not putting myself through this. When’s the last time you said that to me hmm?” He shamefully spoke. “2 months, 3 weeks and 5 days ago.” “Exactly my point.”

You went into the bathroom, Spencer pleading in the other room. You walked out with your stuff and put them in a backpack before gathering any other items you wanted to take with you. “I know my love should be celebrated. But all you do is sit there and tolerate it. I know I deserve better than to be shut out by you, I’ve tried my best to be patient, I really have. When you decide that you’re done dealing with whatever’s going on that you won’t tell me about, or you decide to let me back in call me. Otherwise don’t bother reaching out.”

“Where are you going?” He looked at you with tears in his eyes, voice shaking. “To stay with a friend. I love you Spencer, I really do. More than anything. But I won’t wait in this house any longer. Not when all you’ve done is shoot snarky comments at me when I’ve done nothing but care for you. I wont.”

You grabbed your bag and walked out the apartment. Tears rolled down your cheeks as you heard the door open back up. Not bothering to turn around. Spencer sat there and watched you walk into the elevator. A small whisper of his voice. “I’m sorry.”

[mochinomnoms]

The Private (not) Thoughts of a Moray Chapter 2: I love you means you're never, ever, ever getting rid of me!

Gender Neutral Reader x Jade Leech

Chapter 2 preview:

Slamming the front door behind you, you slid down to the floor. Cradling your burning face, Jade’s words played on repeat like a scratched CD. Little pearl~Pretty two-legs.You’re cute when you’re clumsy.I’d like to flip that skirt up and bend you over- “Oh my god, oh my god, ohmygodmygodgodgod-” you shrieked into your hands.

[wc} - 6,738

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“Hey!”

Mmh…

“Hello?~”

Ima comfy…

“Prefect?”

Sleeeeeeep…

“...I’m going to pinch them.”

Hmm?

“Don’t be mean!”

“I’m gonna do it!”

“Don’t!”

*SMACK*

“OW!”

Turning over in your bed, something smacking into your arm as you blinked the sleep from your eyes. Looking over at the side of your bed, you saw a sprawled out Grim on the floor. Presumably what you smacked with your arm. Floating above him was one of the Ramshackle ghosts, looking both amused and concerned. 

Your three undead companions were familiar faces who often enjoyed scaring you upon your arrival in the dorm. Though you were still fairly easy to spook with a surprise “boo!”, you were on quite friendly terms with Earnest, Albert, and Bernard. 

“Albert, Bernard, whaddya letting him wake me up so early for… it’s still dark out!”

Whining, you turned onto your tummy, raising the sheets up and over your head.

Albert and Bernard, the former the smallest and the latter the largest of the trio, floated above you, the small ghost tugging at your sheets with a giggle. 

“Wakey wakey! It’s time for breakie!”

Bernard similarly began tugging at your foot, which stuck out from under the covers, “Yeah! You told Grim and us to make sure you were bright n’ early today!”

Owwww henchman, that hurrrt! “What’s the big deal? You were the one that wanted to greet the dumb and dumber duo when they came back!” Nyeh, I can’t believe this is the thanks I get!

Bolting up from your bed and slamming face down as Bernard still held your leg, all your exhaustion left your body.

“Shit! I forgot!” Kicking your leg out of Bernard’s grasp, you scrambled to get up from your dirty (damn, when was the last time I cleaned up?) and begin your morning routine. 

Ever since you hosted the training camp for the SDC, and thus fell under the strict eye of Vil in the name of your skincare, you’ve maintained a simple but healthy routine after he provided everyone with his brand of skincare products. 

A few weeks after the performance, you grew nervous as your supply dwindled down, and Vil’s incessant need for beauty and perfection among his little spudlings (you still had no clue how you got roped in with Epel in that regard) had grown following the commotion between Idia and he other housewardens at S.T.Y.X. 

It was then that small, intricately wrapped packages began appearing on your doorstep every month with that very same brand and product. 

Dutifully, you followed the 15 step-by-step routine he had laid out for you, if just to avoid his wrath. 

Somehow, I’d bet he’d figure out I’m skipping out his routine, even at his internship.

The next hour flew breezed as you finished getting presentable. Grim entertained himself with your phone, presumably scrolling through Magicam. 

“Are you putting on makeup?”

You let out a small shriek, more surprised than frightened, jumping as you looked at Earnest floating right next to where you were standing. 

“Hehe, fancy new power and we can still spook ya!” He cackled gleefully, twirling himself upside down in the air.

You huffed, rolling your eyes. “It’s not like it works on you guys, probably because you're dead.”

“We’re dead!?” Albert cried in mock horror, poking his head through the wall of the bathroom while you cleaned up. “Why didn’t you tell us!?!?”

“Dummy!” Bernard phased through as well, hovering above Albert as he whacked his hat off (“Hey, that’s my good hat!”). “We’ve been dead for 840 years!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot!” 

Giggling, the three ghosts followed you back to your bedroom, where Grim was still scrolling through the Magicam feed. 

“Hey Henchman, do you think we’ll get new students in the dorm this year?”

“Hmm? Probably not.” You sighed as you looked through your closet for your most recently purchased uniform, trying to decide between a skirt or pants for the day. “Doesn’t the mirror assign us by the color of our soul, or whatever?”

Grim handed you your phone as you decided on the pleated uniform skirt with long striped socks that matched your tie. “The mirror couldn’t read my soul before without magic, plus I don’t think incoming students are exactly looking to be placed in a dorm called ‘Ramshackle’ anyways.”

Grabbing his own striped ribbon for you to tie into his usual bow, Grim’s voice entered your mind. 

I told you! We should’ve renamed it the Dazzling Dapper Dorm! “If those incoming freshies can’t appreciate our greatness, then they don’t deserve a spot anyways, harumph!”

“Oh, of course Grim!” You giggled as you adjusted the bow, arranging the gem on his collar to set neatly between the loops. “I wouldn’t want to share this space with anyone other than you anyways!”

Nyah! Exactly…purrrrr~

Scratching under your feline friend’s chin, you noticed Bernard and Albert “hiding” (you guys’ see through bodies don’t really help, huh?) boxes behind them, while Earnest held your old ghost camera at the ready. 

“... Yes?”

Giggling, Bernard floated up to you and Albert to Grim. “Revealing” the boxes behind their translucent bodies, you noticed that they were nicely wrapped in a light and dark gray striped box. 

They look a bit like the couches, cute. 

“Open them!” Bernard grinned wider, handing you the larger box while Grim got the smaller one from Albert. “We got them especially for you two, hehe.”

Squinting your eyes at the ghosts, you smiled and took your gift. You tried to focus on any semblance of their thoughts that might hint at what the gift was. It didn't work, of course, since you'd discovered during your summer here that ghosts were an exception to your telepathy. 

Ha? Why is henchman’s bigger than mine?! Grim’s thoughts still came loud and clear. You weren’t sure why ghosts’ thoughts were an exception, but it was nice to be surprised, since gaining your powers prevented anyone from hiding anything from you

Though, other times, reading other’s minds was actually quite helpful.

Like when Mrs. Spade, such a high-spirited and pretty lady really, immediately flooded your head with thoughts of excitement of meeting her son’s new “partners”.

She heard of you and Ace and your misadventures with Deuce, and was immediately smitten with the idea of her son with a cute duo that smothered her boy with affection as much as they got him in trouble. 

If you remembered correctly, she specifically thought: Wahhh! What a couple of cuties!! I didn’t know my little boy was so popular with such pretty people! I’m gonna have the cutest grandkids between these three!!! I’ve got to make sure I set them up together!

It took you hastily whispering to Deuce about her sweet, but frankly embarrassing thoughts to have him explain more thoroughly how your friend group worked. Though disappointed, she wasn’t completely convinced, but let you three be. 

Since you couldn’t hear the ghosts, however, you couldn’t whisper to any friend to make preparations for overexcited mothers or pranking ghosts. Instead, you opened your present with mild caution. 

“Oh!” You exclaimed excitedly, removing the cream white vest and ribbon from its box. You noticed that attached to the ribbon was an emblem of a shield crest. A tattered ribbon on the bottom that curled along the edges of the shield displayed the words ‘Ramshackle’ on it. In the middle, there was a crystal ball with the familiar face of a cat with glowing eyes, its flaming ears appearing like a vision in the ball. At the top center of the crest you recognized a three-pronged trident at the top, reminiscent of Grim’s tail. 

“Is this what I think it is?” You squealed, briefly removing your blazer to slip on the vest, then slipping the ribbon on your left arm, admiring yourself in the mirror. “I look so cool! Like an official student! What about you Grim?”

Grim grabbed your phone and brought it over to you. Propping it up to face himself, he preened over his reflection. Though the ribbon shorter and the emblem smaller, his own dorm ribbon looked as new and impressive as yours.

“I think you should send a picture to the others!” I really look like a mage now! “I bet they’re gonna be fawning all over the Great Grim, cause I look mighty!”

Chuckling at the silly poses he made, you obliged as you took out Magicam. While he continued his little poses, you took a quick mirror selfie, holding a peace sign before sending it over to the group chat you held with the other (now) second-years. Immediately, Deuce and Epel replied with phrases of affirmation and praise for your new uniform, while the other three liked your photo.

“Aw, why do that when I’ve been taking pictures over here like crazy!” Earnest whined, the flash still going off as he continued to take pictures of you two.  

“Ah sorry, sorry.” You picked up Grim (“MEH?!”) and motioned over the ghostly trio to you. “Let's all take a picture together!”

Earnest eagerly took a picture of the five of you, beaming smiles and all. As he and the other two ghosts crowded over the camera to take a look at the selfie, Albert spoke up. 

“We also got you two of you your own dorm uniform! You can thank the old ghost bride, Mrs. Eliza, for sending some of her old wedding attire! We added some additions to make it more you, but still kept the ghost flair.”

Winking, Albert continued, “We think you’ll like it! You’re truly a part of this dorm, and this school, so it’s time to dress like it!”

Speechless, you and Grim looked up at your companions in disbelief. Tears started to flood your eyes as you smiled. 

“Guys…thank you this is so sweet.” You wiped the corners of your eyes and fanned them, to keep the tears from streaking your makeup. “Where’d you even get all the materials, or the okay from Crowley to make this?” 

Snickering amongst themselves, Bernard waved you off and straightened your tie. “We spectral spookies have been here long enough that he can’t tell us what not or not to do!”

“Yeah!” Earnest continued snapping pictures, undoubtedly running it out of film. “We don’t work anywhere on the school grounds like the other ghosts, so he can’t tell us what to do. Anyways, you should head out! The first few students should be arriving at the Dark Mirror here soon.”

Nodding your head, you grabbed your phone and Grim, placing him on your shoulders. Eee! I’m tall again! Once he settled, you waved goodbye to the ghosts as you left your room. 

“We’ll be back later!” You hopped from the second to last stair into the lobby, giddy to see your friends again and ready to start a new school year in your new home. 

The walk to the Hall of Mirrors wasn’t long, but it did give you some time to contemplate your time at the school. A year ago, you wouldn’t have imagined yourself being here, let alone staying. 

Yet, your time here has been delightful as it has been stressful. Even with the blots, you’ve made friends and a family here. The thought of having to leave through the mirror was more distressing now than it would’ve been before. 

Speaking of mirrors, you arrived at the Hall of Mirrors. Entering the building, you waved at the Headmage, who was busy organizing the check-in procedures before the first students arrived. 

“Ah! Prefect!” Crowley waved back, delighted to see you. “Perfect timing, I need you to take charge of check-in for the students! I am busy with…my own matters, I’m sure you understand!”

He handed over a few items from the table set up a few feet at the entrance of the hall, which faced the Dark Mirror. 

It wouldn’t be Crowley if he didn’t make you work and take attendance for each time a student arrived through the mirror. 

You took the clipboard, pen, and an inch thick stack of papers containing each students’ names, picture, dorm, year and class number. 

Resolving yourself to the task, you nodded with exasperation. “Of course, Headmage. Happy to help.”

It’s nice to see them so delightfully acclimated to the school! At least he seemed to approve of your new and improved school uniform. And I still get my free school admin for another year! Classic headmage. 

“Wonderful!” he clapped his hands in delight, pushing you to the table. “We have a few students arriving at any moment, so do your best, lest we have to make some budget changes to your food allowance~”

Leaving in a flourish, you sighed and clicked your pen. Readying the barrage of students that would eventually arrive. 

Surprisingly, it was much more calm than you would expect from NRC, the students more preoccupied with claiming the best bedroom, rather than causing a ruckus. 

So far, you’ve only checked in the sophomores and juniors of Pomefiore and Heartslabyul, as the lineup started with the oldest dorms, down to the youngest. 

Let’s see, first Pomefiore, then Heartslabyul, Diasomnia, Octavinelle, Scarabia, Savanaclaw, and last is Ignihyde. I should be seeing Epel soon then?

“Hello, do I check in with you?” It’s really the Prefect…

Looking up you saw a tall, slim built man with near black, dark purple hair tied down into a high ponytail with a few features framing his tan face. He was incredibly beautiful, his purple eyeshadow and lipstick suiting him. You recognized him as one of the Pomefiore students that would come to collect Epel on the many occasions that he’d wander to your dorm seeking refuge from Vil.

“Yes! Can I get your name and student number?” you smiled, to which he politely returned

“Of course.” He looked you up and down with dark brown eyes. What a cute outfit, are those thighhighs? “Yev Quispe, 2-C18.” You’re just begging for someone to eat you up, aren’t you?

Smile faltering and turning uncomfortably red, you ignored his thoughts and flipped through your papers, finding his name. He’s one of the new housewardens?

“So you’re the one Vil appointed! Congrats!” you checked his name off your list while Grim handed Yev the keys to his dorm room. “I’m sure you know, but as a housewarden, please ensure that your dorm is ready to receive the freshman at the end of the week!”

Pretty bold of you to tell me what to do when you’ve only had magic for a few months. Smiling politely, Yev nodded. “Of course my dear, I will have my vice pick up the last of the- ack!”

W-what the!

Suddenly lurching forward, Yev, gasped as the arm of a short, white-haired rabbit beastman yanked him down to their height. Quite the contrast to Yev, this student was extremely pale with wide, bright red eyes and freckles all over his face down to his neck. 

“Hiya Y/N! Check me in won’t you?” He smiled, a familiar face finally! Prefect! They look good! “Timothy O’Hare 3-D19! Say why didn’t you visit me at the same time you saw Ace and Deucey~”

Holding on tight despite Yev’s struggle to remove his arm, Timmy pouted at you, looking away as he held his other hand to his eyes and faked cried. It’s been too long! 

“I wanna hangout with you too ya know!” Now that’s no fair—stop struggling Yev. “I’m a good boy~ Also, I’m here to pick up the froshies’ stuff before Riddle’s here, so fork it up!” I can’t be late!

“Nice to see you too, Timmy. Sorry, I only had the weekend to visit so I couldn’t go out much.” You handed him his keys, giggling once Yev managed to knock his arm off. “We can hang out more this year, I got bumped up for some third year classes, so we might see each other more!”

Surprise and delight entered Timmy’s features, who opened his mouth before he got interrupted. 

“Oi! Hurry it up, we have a line building up here!” Another student spoke up behind him, while the ever-growing line of boys started to murmur. 

I gotta get the better bed first, I don’t want one next to the vent again. 

I wonder if Sam’s store is open right now? Once I check in I’ll go see.

Oh dear, I wonder if they’re the only one doing check-ins right now?

Noticing the frustrated thoughts growing, you waved Timmy off, Yev already making it way to his dorm mirror. “Let’s talk later! I gotta get these guys going, tell Riddle to invite me to the next tea party!” 

Once Timmy left, it was fairly smooth sailing as you continued to check in students. Most of them were students you recognized from Heartslabyul unbirthday parties. You’d even had a few classes with some of the Pomefiore students, though you’d never heard their thoughts before. 

I can’t believe they stayed, they shouldn't have even been here. 

Why are they wearing that? They don’t even have an actual dorm, let alone colors!

They look nice~ No wonder those two idiots want to keep them for themselves. 

The longer you kept working, the more your smile dropped, looking rather uncomfortable. Though there were some nice thoughts, many being happy to see you, it was hard when you could practically feel the crude, spinecrawling thoughts of the more unsavory students. 

You brightened when Epel had eventually shown, but he left as soon as he came, claiming that he needed to “git in the good dangone bedroom” before it was snatched, leaving you alone with the rest of the school. 

Afterwhile, the students were becoming more preoccupied with claiming their rooms rather than focusing on your presence. This was when you were particularly grateful for your telepathy, as the minds of young adult men in college were just as funny. 

Sometimes you could see what a person was talking about, rather than hear it. The current student in front of you, a Pomefiore senior, was thinking about a breakdancing cat. It was also crying. 

The next student was singing a song in his head while visualizing what you presumed to be the  music video, with him as the lead singer. 

Never gonna give you up~ Never gonna let you down~ Never gonna run around and desert you~

You snorted, and covered it with a cough, at him as he grabbed his keys and continued to star in his imaginary music video.

You suddenly heard some loud voices fighting amongst themselves, turning more rowdy as you’re favorite ginger’s voice yelled out:

“Let me through! We get to skip the line.”

Another student angrily responded, “What! Why? We've been waiting for 15 minutes already! You just got here!”

“Special privileges as the esteemed Prefect’s favorite classmates!”

“Ace!” You heard Deuce hiss, sounding as exasperated as you felt, “Wait in line like everyone else!”

Shouting out and waving his hands, Ace smiled “Hey Prefect-”

“No!” You shouted back, the room suddenly silent as the two of you held each other’s glares.

“But-”

“No.”

“Prefect-”

“No.”

“But I don’t wanna-”

“Noooooooooo!” 

Ace pouted as you pointed your hand to the back of the line. Damn, I thought you loved me Prefect.

“Back to the line Ace! I’m not letting you shenan-once, just so you can shenanigan!”

DAMN! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!

Laughter bursted out as he dejectedly followed Deuce to the end of the line, the check in resuming as normal until the two met you at the front. 

Y/N! You look nice in your dorm colors! “Ace, don’t they look nice in their new uniform?” Deuce gave you a particularly tight hug, while Ace squeezed in and nuzzled his cheek into Grim’s, who claimed that “this is harassment!”. 

Despite his earlier embarrassment, Ace was more than happy to tease you as a small act of revenge.

“Heyy~ Prefect, look at you~” You tryin’ to get a boyfriend? “Wow I can’t believe you dressed up all for me! Unfortunately, I’m not into your type, sorry!” That’s illegal, you have to be lonely forever just like me.

You stuck your tongue out at Ace as he squeezed your cheeks, doing the same to you. 

“Ace, leave them alone!” Deuce rolled his eyes, huffing at both of your behaviors. Why are you both like this? “Have you been working all day for check in?” You should take a break soon.

You shrugged, “Yeah, but I’ll be taking a break soon anyways. I’m sure one of the ghost staff can take over.”

Ace frowned as you signed both he and Deuce in the sheet, “That kinda sucks.” Glad I’m not stuck here. 

“Oh!” Deuce held his fist in his hand as he suddenly became animated, a mannerism he still had to break. I know! “What if we help you out? We can drop off our stuff and come back, I’m sure the housewarden wouldn’t mind us helping since it’s just move-in day for the rest of us.”

Noooooooo, I wanna nap! Ace whined, “Don’t say we, I didn’t volunteer.” Prefect, say no thanks!

“Sure!” You chirped, smiling cheekily at a pouting Ace. “I’d love that! Just come right back and I’ll take a lunch. We can then finish check-in way faster with four of us!”

Deuce nodded as he took his and Ace’s room keys, who was still whining about “having to work right away!” You waved as they left through their dorm mirror, turning back to the task at hand. You noted that several students’ thoughts were growing increasingly frustrated with the long line, so you focused on getting your line down before the rowdy Savanaclaw students arrived. 

As the last of the Heartslabyul students were checking in, a mix of Diasomnia and Octavinelle students began arriving. 

A handful of the former had begun checking in, you noticed that Sebek and Silver were the first of their dorm to arrive. Giving a small wave, you smiled at them as the two sophomores, one of Heartslabyul and the other Pomefiore, when a very loud, almost migraine inducing thought AND shout emerged from the crowd. 

“SHRIMPYYYY~” The two students suddenly shoved out of the way as a pair of large, pale hands slammed themselves down on the desk SHRIMPYYYY~

You cringed at the volume of his voice and thoughts, looking up at the sharp-toothed grin of one of the most infamous students at Night Raven College. 

“Hi Floyd, you cut the line you know-”

“Shrimpyyy” he whined, slumping over the desk and looking up at you with his droopy eyes. “Don’t tell me off, aren’t you excited to see me? I’m very excited to see you~”

Hehe, so small~

He grinned and reached for your sides with grabby hands, “I’ve been waiting to give the cutest little shrimpy a good squeeeeeeeze~” Let me at you!

You squeaked as he grabbed you by your waist and held you up like a parent holding a toddler. Suddenly, your vision blurred and dizzy. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Gripping onto his shoulders, you clutched your arms around him, willing yourself to not throw up. 

“FLOYD, PLEASE, I’M GONNA PUKE!”

Slowing down, still giggling, he set you down on your wobbly feet. “Eeeeeh? You’re fine Shrimpy!”

Hehe, look at them wobble like they're fresh on land! So cuteeee~

“Floyd! You can’t just cut the line!” approaching sternly, exasperated, Azul impatiently tapped his foot. I don’t know what else I’d expect, honestly. 

 Holding on the end of the table, where Grim was still checking in (working for once), you gave Azul a small wave.

“Hi Azul, how’s it going? Gimme a sec, everything is still dizzy…”

Poor little thing. Azul smiled politely at you, “Hello Prefect, it’s nice to see you again, I must say it’s nice to see you acclimating so well to the school culture!”

It’s unfortunate, I won’t ever get Ramshackle at this rate.

“Ha, thanks Azul, uh I’m gonna have to ask you both to head to the back of the line to check in.” You smiled apologetically, gesturing to the back. 

“Oh of course! It wouldn’t be fair to-”

“Nah, I don’t wannaaa!” Floyd whined, draping his arm and weight over Azul who buckled slightly under him, “Jade, you don’t wanna wait either, right?”

Looking behind Floyd and Azul, you saw the other Leech twin approach, his usual polite smile on his face. 

“Now now Floyd, let’s not make the Prefect’s job harder than it needs to be.” He replied, soft-spoken, with his hand up to his chest, “I’m sure they’d like to make an exception if they could, isn’t that right Prefect?”

Smiling in relief, you opened your mouth to reply when Jade’s thoughts floated through, crystal clear with no room for doubt, in your mind. 

Little pearl, I missed you! Did you dress up just for me~ Look at you, pretty little two-legs. Oooooh~ I’d like to flip that skirt up and bend you over-

You saw a mental image of you, bent over the table with Jade over you, skirt lifting up as his hands slid from your legs up to your-

*CRASH*

Pain shot up your wrist, your head throbbing, looking up at the Grim from the floor. In your shock from the unexpectedly lewd thoughts from the usually polite and formal Jade, your hand had slipped from the table you’d been leaning on, banging your head on the edge and falling on your wrist.

“Henchman!” Grim cried out, jumping from the table to look at you as the trio looked over you with concern. You locked eyes with Jade and froze, physically feeling the red flush from the tips of your toes to the top of your head.

“Oh my, Prefect, are you alright?” Look how red they are, how cute~ Are you embarrassed? Don’t worry my pearl, you’re cute when clumsy. Why didn’t you fall onto me? I would’ve caught you. 

Jade held a hand out to you, his smile betraying nothing. “Here, let me help you up.”

I’ll take you to the nurse! Then I’ll heal you up, you’ll be so grateful~ You’ll give me a kiss then, won’t you?

Another scene, this time of you in an infirmary bed, Jade hovering over you as you looked into each other’s eyes longingly. 

“Oh Jade, you’ve been taking such good care of me. I don’t know how to thank you!” “Dear Pearl, it’s my pleasure to care for someone as lovely as you. But, there is no need to thank me.” “I need to Jade! Maybe—” You unbutton your blouse, blushing as you looked up at Jade shyly. “—I can thank you… with my body…”

You bolted up, surprising Jade and the others near you, and shrieked at the top of your lungs. “NOTHANKYOUIMFINETHANKSFORASKING!”

Everyone nearby looked at you in shock, Grim included, as Ace and Deuce entered the mirror chamber. Approaching you, they looked at the small crowd that had gathered, confused. 

“Hey Prefect, we came to help.” Deuce looked between you and Jade nervously, “Is everything alright-”

“YES! Everything is fine, I just need a break!!” shoving the clipboard you’d been using into Ace’s hand, you rushed out of the Hall of Mirrors. 

Oof! Hey!

Huh?! Prefect?

“Okay thanks, I’mheadingoutnowbye!!!!” Flying out of the room fast enough to have Coach Vargas begging to have you in the track and field club, you made it to your dorm in mere minutes. 

Slamming the front door behind you, you slid down to the floor. Cradling your burning face, Jade’s words played on repeat like a scratched CD. 

Little pearl~

Pretty two-legs.

You’re cute when you’re clumsy.

I’d like to flip that skirt up and bend you over-

“Oh my god, oh my god, ohmygodmygodgodgod-” you shrieked into your hands. You’d brushed off crude comments from the other students, and even enjoyed the sexual jokes Ace would make in his head at your expense, bantering back with him. 

But hearing something so risqué and just straight-up raunchy from Jade Leech. A polite, albeit unsettling man. All your conversations had either been formal, patronizing, even outright mean during your first interactions with the contract fiasco. 

“I’d never even- I can’t believe-” you curled into a ball. “When? How? WHY???”

You sobbed. Were you shocked? Yes. A bit horrified? More than a bit. Embarrassed? You were hyperventilating in the fetal position after turning a 20-minute walk into a 5-minute sprint to your dorm, so take from that what you will. 

How am I supposed to speak to him now? I don’t even like him, he’s scary! Oh my god, did he have these thoughts before? Are they always so-so-so explicit? He said he wanted to bend me-Oh my GOOOOOOOOOD!

The floor became the victim to your muffled screams and sobs. You failed to notice Earnest floating past the hall to the living room. 

Upon seeing your sobbing, shaking form, he turned back the way he came. “Nope!”

You eventually calmed down, turning over to stare at the ceiling, the clock in the kitchen showed that it was half-past one. You’d been sobbing on the floor for roughly an hour. 

Groaning, you took your phone from your pocket. “Oooooooh crap, Grim and the others are probably wondering where the hell I am.” True to your word, you had well over 20 missed messages and even a few calls from your friends on both Magicam and Twister. 

@traaaaaaaaapola: ayo?? wya dont leave me alone w juice

@deuce♠️: are u ok did something happen?

@traaaaaaaaapola: bitch come back im nah getting paid for this

@JackHowl: Hey, I heard you hurt yourself earlier, are you okay?

@vilmademechangethis: deuce said you ran off u ok???

@deuce♠️: its been a while, are you okay?

@traaaaaaaaapola: i didnt mean to call you a bitch come back ily

@traaaaaaaaapola: bae pls ur loml come back riddle is yelling at us for not being at the dorm

@deuce♠️: Y/N?????

@traaaaaaaaapola: me and juice are coming to the dorm to check on you

@leechj: I hope you’re okay, Prefect. Let me know if you’re in need of assistance, I’m more than happy to provide. :)

You stared at the last message, contemplating on whether you’d resume your fetal position or instead launch yourself off the roof. Super healthy response to learning that someone likes you. 

Like is putting it lightly. There’s no way those are normal thoughts for someone with a crush. God, who actually thinks things like that! It’s like a boy entering puberty and finding porn for the first time. Groooooooss!

Someone knocked at the front door you’d been leaning at, and Deuce called out. “Y/N? It’s us, we brought you snacks, can you let us in please?” 

We know you can hear us, please Y/N. 

I’m not even mad anymore! I got to be incharge of everyone. It was nice. 

Slowly, you stood, groaning from your stiff back, and opened the door. You peaked out to look at the two, and a sleeping Grim in Ace’s arms. Noting the lack of any others, you opened the door wider and gestured to them. 

Stepping in, both boys looked at you softly, Ace pointing to your face.

“You, uh, been crying?”

You wiped at your face, your fingers smudged with black eyeliner. 

“...A lil bit.”

What happened? Deuce placed a bag from you presumed Sam’s shop on the ground and peered closer to your face. “Everyone said you fell and hurt yourself on the table. Is that all?”

Shifting uncomfortably, you nodded your head. 

Did someone hurt you? Ace came back from the living room, where he’d placed Grim on the couch. 

“Nuh-uh” you hummed. 

All three of you stood in uncomfortable silence, the other two waiting for you to explain further. But you remained quiet, refusing to meet their eyes. 

Until Ace opened his mouth, trying to deflate the situation “What did you hear someone’s dirty thoughts or something-”

“Yes.”

“...What”

“Yes. I heard dirty thoughts.”

“O-oh.” Deuce stuttered. “That’s all-”

“I heard Jade’s dirty thoughts.”

Both stiffen.

“I heard Jade’s dirty thoughts about bending me over-”

“What” Ace choked. 

“— And flipping my skirt over-” Deuce made a sputtering noise.

“— I think he must be an exhibitionist cause i think he wanted to fuc-”

Both rushed over to smack their hands over your mouth, effectively cutting off your rambling. Deuce was burning a deep red that would rival Riddle’s hair, while Ace held a poker face. 

“........”

“.............”

“........................”

“Pffft-AHAHAHAHAAAAA!” Ace bursted out laughing, falling to the ground in hysterics. 

“NO WAY! JADE LEECH?!” He pounded his fist on the floor, heaving for air between laughs.

You started pounding on his back as Ace turned over and held his arms up in defense. “Don’t laugh! Do you know how embarrassing it was to hear that? How would you-STOP LAUGHING!!”

You started pulling at the ginger’s hair, who was still giggling as he held onto your hands to keep you from scalping him. 

“Ace! Stop laughing, they’re obviously embarrassed.” Deuce sighed, still red, looking as if he’d age 30 years suddenly.

Was that all?

Your head snapped to glare at him. “What do you mean ‘was that all?” HOW’D YOU FEEL IF SOMEONE WAS TALKING ABOUT FUCKING YOU IN FRONT OF EVERYONE?!”

Embarrassment fueling your rage, you got up to hit Deuce. Honor student be damned, his delinquent past made an appearance as he grabbed your hands and twisted them so that he pressed them against your back. 

“IT WASN’T EVEN JUST THOUGHTS, I SAW THINGS TOO!”

Sighing, Deuce let you struggle in his grasp until you froze as Ace spoke up.

“He didn’t actually say anything though? It was thoughts, which might I remind you, are supposed to be private.” 

Shrugging out of Deuce’s hold, you pouted as Ace continued.

“Telepathy isn’t something that’s heard of, even here.” He reached into the bag the other had brought with you and threw you a bottle of your favorite drink while he opened his own bottle of soda.

Deuce hummed in agreement, “Yeah, I mean you can’t fault someone for thinking stuff. Especially since no one else really knows about your, uh, thing.”

You sighed, sipping your beverage.

“...I guess. It’s still weird though. Other’s make little comments here or there, but they’re always short, something I can ignore as typical college guys and their rudeness. But this?”

Both winced a bit, understanding why you were at the very least uncomfortable. 

Yeah…

We get it…

“Look, it’s not like you have to be cool with it, but-” Ace threw an arm over your shoulder. “-you’d better get used to it, Jade’s definitely not the only one you’re gonna be hearing things from.”

Lots of the students here find you pretty hot you know~

“Huh.” You deadpan at him, mouth agape. 

“What? I thought you knew, lots of the students talked about you and how cute you are.”

Ace smacked his hand into Deuce’s chest. “Right Deuce?”

Grunting and smacking Ace back, he nodded. “Yeah, we thought you knew Prefect, lot’s of the others in our classes would talk about you, especially after dealing with the first overblot.”

You’re awfully pretty Y/N, didn’t you know?

“You better get used to it then.” Ace dragged you over to the dorm kitchen to sit. 

“Not just in general, but with Jade too. Didn’t you say you had the third-year potions class before we left for break?”

You might end up seeing him more often, and hearing him more often too. 

You furrowed your eyebrows at that comment, waving him off. 

“It’s just the potions class, there’s like five different classblocks.” You huffed, resting your head on the cool table. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. We hardly interacted in the shared freshman/sophomore classes.” 

You took a long sigh and ignored the two men’s shared glance. 

It’s a big school, and I hardly visited the Monstro Lounge anyways. I bet I’ll be able to count our interactions on one hand by the end of the year!

It was a few days before the opening ceremony, you and Grim decided to split up and see where your classes would be. Since you had little expectations for new Ramshackle students, you two were able to be a bit more leisurely during preparations. 

You’d sent Grim to scout out the morning classes, while you wandered the hall for the afternoon ones, seeing as a few of them were advanced classes with the juniors. 

That was alright though, you weren’t just the magicless human now. You were the Ramshackle Prefect, now a semi-capable mage with a surprising affinity for potionology, even before. 

Potionology was actually quite enjoyable, as you’d discover it wasn’t magic dependent. Rather, it reminded you of cooking back in your home world, following simple instructions and measurements.

 At least, the type of cooking could actually follow, you shuddered at having to follow the instructions your mother would give: “take a little bit and then watch it and once it looks good add a bunch of this—pay attention! Put that one over there in the pot!”

Yeah, Crewel is a saint compared to cooking with mom. 

You continued your relaxed pace, looking down at your copy of the schedule. You’d notice that the classes that had required little to no magic last year: potionology, history, musicology, and even magic analysis, were quite easy for you since it focused on the theory of magic. 

Looking up at the classroom numbers, you looked for class 3-H for your next class. You noted that following lunch, you had Ancient History, followed with Advanced Magical Potions as your last class of the day.

Ah, it looks like me and Grim got placed into the afternoon Magical Potions class. Thanks to my hard work last year, I got us to take the advanced class with the juniors, so I might ask-

“Why, hello Prefect.” 

You froze, turning to the 6’2” man towards you from down the hall. 

There you are my pearl. “I was worried about your incident during check in, tell me did you make it home alright?” I missed the opportunity to care for you~

“Ah, Jade.” You shuffled nervously and smiled politely at him. 

He’s thinking sorta normal thoughts, so that’s good.

“I’m alright, there’s no need to worry about me. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing exploring the halls? You need to prep your dorm for the freshman, right?”

So sweet, are you curious about me? Cutecutecutecutecute-

“Why yes, but I figured that I’d see where my classes would be at and prepare the most efficient route. Are you doing the same?”

You nodded, relaxing a bit. “Yes, I’m looking for my afternoon classes, a bunch of them are the advance classes for juniors, so I’m trying to figure out where they are.”

Showing Jade the class schedule in your hand, you pointed to the potions class. 

“I was looking for class 3-H for my potionology class, you wouldn’t happen to know where it is?”

Ah… YES!

Slightly jumping, you noticed that Jade’s smile grew ever so slightly. One would think he was just being nice, but you knew better.

“Why yes,” Thank the Sea Witch!! “I happen to have that very same class with you, just down the hall.” Same class with Y/N!

Wait what.

“O-oh, what a…nice surprise!” you stammered out, forcing a smile back.

A VERY nice surprise, I’m delighted that you agree. 

“Indeed. I look forward to seeing you every day this year, Prefect.”

Hopefully we’ll be seatmates, and I’ll have the chance to gaze upon your sweet face every single day! Those soft eyes, sweet lips, oh I wonder do you taste as delicious as you look?

A vision of you and Jade again. This time, he was pressing you up against the wall of the hallway. This version of Jade pressed open-mouthed kisses against your neck, hands guiding your legs and arms to wrap around him. 

Soft lips and sharp teeth pressed into the crook of your neck, as you let out a heady moan.  “Jaaaaaaade~” you gasped, pressing your own kisses unto his temple.  He hummed, licking up the blood from the bite he left. “Fuhuhu~ I was right my darling, you’re sweet enough for me to eat up.” 

You could feel the sweat drop from your temple, forcing yourself to keep your smile steady. 

“Aha… Looking forward to it.”

This is gonna be a long year, isn’t it?

[casuallyawkardd]

In His Vice

Pairing: Dark!Miguel O'Hara x Wife!Reader

Summary: Something seems different this time when Miguel comes home late

Warnings: non-con in terms of pretending to be someone else, lowkey gaslighting, me attempting to write suspense, not fluent in Spanish so correct me if I mess up

A/N: I made the executive decision to write this fic in a first person perspective because I feel like that adds to the horror aspect so don't come for me. If you enjoy, be sure to join the taglist! Dividers by cafekitsune

I could hear the wind outside, whistling as it shook the trees and bushes. When the weather woman had said there would be a storm tonight, I hadn't expected it to be this bad. Lightning could be seen in the distance, the sound of thunder following after. It took a second more this time, hopefully meaning the storm was going to pass quickly. The television had become background noise, my attention focused on the window as I watched the rain streak down the glass.

Today had been one of those days, the kind where I couldn't wait for it to be over. I had woken up on the wrong side of the bed, a recurring nightmare waking me at three in the morning; its contents making it difficult to fall back asleep, so I inevitably decided to start the day early. Coffee and an aspirin did little to help the headache I'd been developing over the last few days, deadlines at work materializing the throbbing just behind my eyes.

Miguel had seemed to take notice of my struggles, taking over breakfast duty and getting Gabriela ready for school. The feeling of his kiss still lingered on my temple, my fingers now massaging the spot absentmindedly.

"I'm gonna be a little late tonight," he told me, gently prying the emptied mug from my hands and taking it to the sink with the other dishes.

"But what about Gaby's soccer game?" I asked, the look of remorse on his face telling me he had forgotten. "Honey, this is the one that determines if they qualify for the championship. It's a big deal for her."

"I know, mi corazón," he soothed, but I pulled away from his touch. Quiet fell over the kitchen then, Gaby's happy giggles heard from the room over. "Y/N, look at me," he said and I reluctantly turned. Soft brown eyes looked back at me, the hand rubbing my back reassuring. "You know work's been hell lately, my boss really wants me to finish this project. After that, I promise I'll make it up to you and Gaby." That's what he always said. "I know things have been.. tense between us lately, but-"

"Let's not talk about this right now," I interrupted him, hiding the pang in my chest when a look of defeat crossed his features. I had every right to be mad at him. This wasn't the first time he had forgotten. It wasn't just about this soccer game, it was about every forgotten soccer game, birthday party and date night before. Was I happy my husband had gotten the promotion he rightly deserved? Of course, but had I known just how much his job would take away from our family, I would have suggested he negotiate terms.

Which was why I held my tongue as he and Gaby left the house. In hindsight, I could've been kinder to Miguel. Could have turned my head as he leaned in for a kiss, said 'I love you' when he whispered the same phrase in my ear. With no way to turn back time, I figured I could redeem myself tomorrow. He was always quick to forgive.

The rest of the day was as mundane as any, the stress from the deadline had seeped into my very being, becoming familiar as I submitted my final drafts. Then I was left with nothing, returning to the start of the vicious cycle that came with the job. At least I got to clock out early, meaning I had time to spend with Gaby.

She was a bundle of excitement, squealing when she saw I had come to pick her up early from preschool. Relatives always told me she'd grow up fast; I found that to be true. Expected to start kindergarten next year and she was already being mistaken for a second grader. Her father's doing most likely, maybe she'd end up being as tall as him someday. Sharp as a whip too, but that trait I always said came from me.

We decided on a mommy-daughter date at a nearby cafe, one I knew Gaby would like. The owner's cat loved to brush against her legs, mewling until I told her it was alright to give him a dollop of whipped cream. Keep her happy until she saw her papi wasn't at her game. She was disappointed, the bounce in her step fading when she came up to me afterwards, frowning in confusion.

"Papi?"

"Not today, sweetheart," I offered her a sympathetic smile, "work needed his help very badly. You understand, yeah?"

Gaby nodded, but I knew my daughter well enough to know she was still bothered, "I wanted to show Papi that I used the move he showed me."

"Well you can show him after dinner, right?" The idea seemed to help perk her up, the two of us walking hand in hand back to the car to head home.

Only Miguel didn't make it home for dinner. Odd but not uncommon, unfortunately. It wasn't until it neared Gabriela's bedtime that I felt something was wrong. He's always home in time to put her to bed. A nagging feeling started in the back of my mind. He wasn't answering his cell either, going to voicemail instantly. After promising Gaby that I'd send him in to kiss her goodnight later, she finally settled and I took my post on the couch. Which is where I've been up until now.

A quick glance at my phone told me it was nearing one in the morning, that nagging feeling became something more. Something that dug into my gut and constricted my chest. The amount of missed calls he had was probably bordering on the edge of warranted worry and psychotic spouse. The thought of calling the police made my fingers itch, but I abstained. Miguel's a big guy, he can take care of himself...right? I winced as my teeth bit into the skin around my fingernails, pulling my hand away to assess the damage. It was a nervous habit I couldn't seem to shake, the cuticles an ugly red from irritation.

Then came the sound of a click, followed by the ominous crash of thunder. It was quiet, I almost didn't notice, but it was a new sound compared to the rain, thunder and static of the TV. My heart lurched forward, taking me with it as I rushed to the entry hallway. In the dark, I could make out a figure. Large and imposing, it hunched in front of the main door of the house, grunting as it shifted about in the black of the hall. I had become so paranoid that the sight left me momentarily speechless, throat suddenly dried when I tried speaking.

"Miguel?" was what I managed to get out.

The movements stopped, tension rising around me as the figure stood to its full height. I almost back pedaled as it approached, step by agonizing step coming closer and closer to me. The air around me felt thick, hard to breathe until the glow of the TV revealed this intruder.

"It's you," Miguel's voice rattled my eardrum, reminding me to breathe. "Why are you still up?"

"Where have you been?" I demanded, forcing my voice to remain at a reasonable volume. "Do you know how late it is?"

Miguel's expression hardened, not answering me right away and keeping me on the edge of my seat. I searched every inch of his face for a reason, a tell to let me know what had kept him, and yet I saw nothing. Why did I still feel so uneasy? "There were some complications at work," he explained, "It took some time to fix. I figured you'd be asleep by now, so I grabbed something to eat after everything was sorted."

"And that took you until one in the fucking morning?"

"Didn't know I had a curfew." He said it so bluntly, almost accusatory. The eyes that looked into mine were unyielding, wanting no question or fuss to his response. Not to push that which was unmovable. It wasn't an expression I was familiar with, at least from him, the glint of affection that lingered no matter how mad he got at me now snuffed.

"I..." I trailed off, unsure what to say next. The whirlwind of thoughts and emotions collected within me had me feeling unhinged. Was I being crazy? "I'm sorry, I was just worried about you," I settled on, swallowing thickly so my throat had lubrication.

"Where's Gaby?"

The question gave me pause, his evident impatience spouting words from my mouth. "Oh! Um... she's in bed," Miguel didn't seem impressed by my answer, "u-upstairs," I pointed in the direction mentioned.

"Mmm," was all he responded with, leaving me to shuffle out of the way as he beelined to the staircase. Then I was left alone once again, the suddenness of it making me wonder if I had just dreamed everything. The heavy footsteps above my head confirmed that our interaction was all too real, another crack of thunder giving my body the jumpstart it needed. All was well now right? That's what I told myself as I folded the blanket I had been using, shutting off the TV and making my way up to the second floor.

Miguel's home now, Gaby's in bed, everyone is safe and sound. I thought as I passed by my daughter's room, catching a glimpse of her father sitting beside her bed. I repeated it as I got myself ready for bed, brushing my teeth and washing my face of any leftover makeup. My pajamas were one of Miguel's t-shirts and I tucked my nose under the collar as I lay down, letting the smell of him ease my lingering nerves. There was nothing more to worry about, everything would go back to normal tomorrow.

The sun woke me up, bright rays peeking through the curtains. Blinking away the haze of sleep, I still felt restless. The nightmares again, most likely. A nuisance that was bold enough to show itself in the night, but cowardice in that I'd forget them in the morning. As I wiped my eyes, the clock on my nightstand became readable.

7:30 AM

Overslept. It was what I needed to get me out of bed, rushing as I did the bare minimum to look presentable. Cold water to wash my face, teeth brushed, hair pulled back and managed, some sweatpants and slip-ons for good measure. Thank God I worked from home.

Gaby was next on my radar, moving quickly down the hall and rapping on her door with my knuckles. Opening my mouth to tell say it was time to get up, the words left me when I saw she wasn't in bed. Come to think of it, Miguel hadn't been in bed either. Did he even come into the room last night? Shaking my head to clear the thought, the sound of dishes clattering drew me to the kitchen. As I descended, the smell of pancakes was clear, the sound of quiet chatter and little giggles following after.

"Papi, quiero voltear el siguiente." Papi, I want to flip the next one.

The baritone of Miguel's laugh followed after, "Lo sé chiquita, pero debes tener cuidado." I know little one, but you have to be careful.

The sight of my husband and daughter making a mess of the kitchen was touching, last night's events feeling like a distant memory. Almost. To think those cold, hard eyes that had pierced through my very being, were now looking down with such warmth and tenderness.

"Mommy!" Gaby spotted me in the doorway, squeezing between Miguel and the counter to come greet me.

"Well, good morning to you too," I cooed, bending forward so we were eye level. Her arms wrapped around my neck in an embrace, my lips finding purchase on her cheek before returning the gesture with one arm. "What do you have going on here?" I asked once we had parted, smoothing down her curls.

Gaby shrugged, "I wanted pancakes," was her simple response. "You were sleeping, so Papi said he could make them."

I looked up at the man in question, who seemed more occupied with what was cooking on the stove than what we were discussing. "And they haven't burnt?" I teased, approaching him from behind. My hand touched the small of his back, thumb rubbing small circles into the muscle as I looked over his shoulder to analyze the aforementioned pancakes.

"I know how to make pancakes," Miguel quipped back, his tone suggesting I might have struck a nerve.

"Of course you do. It's just that last time-"

"I said I got it."

"Okay," was all I could really say, kissing his shoulder apologetically. "You're tense, Mig. You should take a warm bath," I commented, pulling away so as not to disturb him further. Gaby had taken a seat at the kitchen counter, nibbling on a small plate of fruit. Miguel had most likely prepared it so she didn't get impatient.

"Well, breakfast will have to be quick today," I announced, grabbing a grape for myself, "We still have to get you dressed for preschool and then-"

"I called the preschool," Miguel interjected and I turned to him, "she's not going today."

A small frown graced my features, "Well, I wanted to get a head start on my next article."

"Called your work too. Told them you weren't feeling well." Before I could protest, Miguel continued, "I took the day off as well, figured we could have a day together. As a family."

"Oh," is all I had left to say, "Are you sure? I mean that sounds great, but you said your boss was really strict about time off."

Miguel huffed, smiling wryly at my comment, maybe even condescending. "Yeah, well if he has a problem with it, he can kiss my ass."

My eyes widened at his sudden crassness, "Miguel!"

"Papi, that's a bad word," Gaby chimed in, nose scrunched in determination as she scolded her father.

Miguel's smile shifted to a genuine one, rounding the kitchen island to reach the little girl. "You're right, mi vida, I'm sorry," he said, kissing her temple and she squirmed at the contact. I watched as Miguel pulled away, combing his long fingers through her hair. Did she always look so small next to him? "Come on, help me plate the pancakes. The sooner you eat your breakfast, the sooner we can figure out something to do."

Gabriela nodded eagerly, jumping out of her seat and following Miguel to resume their work. I figured I'd let them enjoy each other's company, preparing coffee for Miguel and myself. As I had hoped, everything seemed to be as it always was once more, if not better. Usually it was hectic in the morning, Miguel sleeping in until the last possible second before getting dressed and walking out the door for work, Gabriela in tow. So having a moment like this was a rare treat, one usually reserved for the weekend.

And yet, there was still something that felt so entirely wrong. Something that made my stomach churn and the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Call it intuition, but as to what it was cluing me into, I had yet to understand. I racked my brain as to what could be causing this feeling to linger inside me. Chewing the inside of my cheek as I poured the coffee into two mugs. To one, I added milk and a spoonful of honey. The other simply got milk, each getting a thorough stir. I took both cups, sipping from the one with honey and offering the other to Miguel.

He took it without even looking at me, focused on making sure Gaby didn't hurt herself as she flipped a pancake. I thought nothing of it as I went to go sit down, maybe scroll on my phone now that I had time, but Miguel's disgruntled murmur had me turning to face him. "I don't want anything in my coffee."

"Oh, sorry I didn't know."

"It's fine, can you just remake it?" Miguel asked in a dismissive tone, holding out the mug to me to take. I set my drink down, taking his in both my hands and going to discard the contents in the sink.

When did he start taking his coffee black?

Tags: @lazy-idate @lilly5799 @yougavemeyourheartyouknow

[katiesbowlcut]

hiii i saw u needed requests to blurbs/ headcanons so here i am 🤭 could u write julien x reader where julien has a crush on a random youtuber (that like talks about books and stuff) and phoebe and lucy makes fun of julien bc she wasn’t this type of person before and then one day this bookworm youtuber says that she’s going to a boygenius show and julien tries everything to meet reader?

pls and thank u

i hope this isn’t too long

julien baker x yt!crush ღ

format: blurb

warnings: none!

a/n: i literally fell in love with this the second i saw it omg it’s so cute<3 been working on some anxiety comfort ideas but can’t choose a member of muna or boygenius to do first so if there’s one anyone would like to be first please do request it!! thank you so much for all the likes on my stuff it means the world 💞

okay so, the boys are on tour but tonight is a very special night for them becauseeeee… they have a night off!! they go out, have some nice dinner then decide to just chill in the tour bus for the rest of the night because they don’t need to wake up extra early to go to their next tour destination

so julien is in her lil bunk (pls i can just imagine how snuggled up she is) and she is so beyond bored

so what do you do when you’re bored? you browse tiktok until you fry your brain!!

she’s scrolling on her fyp not really bothering to actually watch through any of the tiktoks she's starting, that is until she sees…you

she mutters a barely audible “woah”

within a minute she’s followed you and is now stalking your whole account

cut to around 20 minutes later and she’s holding her phone sideways (pretty close to her face but not that close that she can’t see) watching one of your youtube videos.

this spiral continues until she is that exhausted she physically can’t keep her eyes open anymore

for the next few weeks this is her new routine: getting ready for shows watching your videos, buying your favourite books online and reading them on her phone when she gets the chance. she never falls asleep without watching at least one of your videos & a few tiktoks

one time she’s watching your newest video after having to wait a whole excruciatingly long day, she’s got headphones in, she’s never been so relaxed until…

you say you HATE people who read books online

“just buy the real book? why can’t people put down their screens anymore” and you’re clearly not being serious as you laugh and continue to joke about how all millennials are just taller ipad kids

but julien? it is no joke to her. in an instant she has removed her online books and has planned to go to the nearest bookstore when she’s next free and buy them all ‘for real’

i feel like the moment phoebe and lucy find out is SO FUNNY like i can picture them all sat together before a show, lucy just talking about the most recent book she’s been reading when julien chimes in with “oh yeah i just finished reading that, so good”

silence fills the entire room… phoebe and lucy share a look of horror

“where’s julien and what have you done with her??” phoebe would joke absolutely cackling with lucy about it

this is where the ‘bullying’ starts and never ends!

somehow they manage to convince julien to give them your name so now all of boygenius + katie gavin follow you on tiktok AND instagram

after seeing this you obviously have to make a tiktok about it. your favourite band members of all time just followed you back! you continue to rant and rave about it in your tiktok, also choosing to mention that you are seeing boygenius the following week and how crazyyy it is that they have followed you for a reason unbeknownst to you

this causes julien to go into panic mode. she was going to be performing to you NEXT WEEK

jump forward a week to the show, it’s going great! julien spent the whole day checking your instagram to see where you were at and when you’d be arriving. there’s barely and service in the venue, so unfortunately, her last update was a photo of you in the queue (she definitely took a screenshot because you look amazing)

so, they’re around 5 songs into the show, then she spots you. you’re standing only one row back from the barrier. julien can’t help but stare because you look beautiful

phoebe and lucy take notice of this but play it off cool. they share a menacing look before phoebe leans into the mic and says, “so, anyone got a crush right now?”

julien swears she nearly puked the second she heard that.

the conversation drags on for what feels like hours to julien when in reality it was only really around 5 minutes, majority of it being taken up by the crowd screaming in response to their several questions about crushes

it goes quiet for a second

“jb has a crush… she’s actually here tonight” the crowd starts SCREAMINGGG. people literally praying it’s them (so real)

julien has now sat on the floor of the stage with her face completely buried in her knees, lucy is still standing in front of her microphone dying with laughter over how embarrassed julien is getting.

little did she know though, it was about to get so much worse!!

lucy had dmed you the night before and basically just told you that julien had like changed her whole personality because of her crush on you. she also very sneakily organised for you to come backstage after the show and meet for the first time ever!

PLEASEEE imagine LUCY DACUS messaging you randomly and telling you that JULIEN MF BAKER HAS A CRUSH ON YOU.

lil time skip to that but imagine julien stood there fiddling with her fingers while she waits for you because she’s so nervous

you asking her the best books she’s read because of you<33

i can perfectly picture lucy and phoebe just stood there like ‘😁’ before having an “oh shit” moment and realising they’re intruding LMAO

your first date is to your favourite bookstore btw

I LOVE SOFT MASCS. (i am one)

a/n: this is my first blurb ever 😮 i’m so sorry i didn’t see this until now! hope you liked it :) again please feel free to send any other requests you have i love munagenius 🫶

[bau-drabbles]

a/n: creds to the prev people that did this! :)

your insta but you're dating aaron hotchner, part 3

okay i promise this is the last time 😭 i made this in such a rush, it's so ooc. pls forgive me and enjoy 🤍

part 1, 2, 4

liked by itslukealvez, reid.gram and 500 others

y/n_xo: aaron and his dimples 😍🫶

view all 240 comments

d.morgan: and then you have reid who's standing behind him like a skin walker

its.emilyp: he looks like a kid who's gone to tell his dad he ate all his food including the veg

itsjj: he looks like henry when he vomited at 2am and came into my room to announce it

penny.garcia: my sweet boy, he looks like he needs a big long hug!! 🥹🥹

d.morgan: he's fine sweetness, he's going to live 😐

its.emilyp: its okay derek, spencer loves you too

d.morgan: i already know, who wouldn't 😏

y/n_xo: this is not tinder pls, i just wanted to appreciate aaron's dimps 🥲

itsjj: aww father and his son 💗

a.hotch: one is enough, thanks

d.morgan: loool you heard the man, reid. no one likes you

a.hotch: you leave him alone right now 🤨

reid.gram: you heard the man, morgan. no one likes you 🥱

liked by its.emilyp, penny.garcia and 490 others

y/n_xo: he's so cute 🤍🥹

view all 301 comments

d.morgan: yknow sometimes i forget hotch is a whole father

reid.gram: same. he's so angry all the time. i can't fathom him showing any other emotions beside it

y/n_xo: he's so nice to jack, i can't remember last time i even got a kiss 🥲

itsjj: this morning when we walked by your office 🤨

penny.garcia: or last night when we were at the dinner 🤥

the.davidrossi: or literally anytime you both are together 😐

a.hotch: i literally kissed you just a minute ago. but okay

its.emilyp: ignore them all, baby. i'll give you all my kisses 👭

its.emilyp: has he been working out? 🤨

a.hotch: it's all natural, i assure you

d.morgan: he's lyin. he asked me to help him work out

a.hotch: have you never heard of privacy before??

itsjj: i was going to say, he's been looking.... a little bigger lately 🤔

y/n_xo: JJ 💀💀

itsjj: is that not what the kids are calling muscular?

penny.garcia: right?? recently he's been coming in sweaty like he's been running for miles

y/n_xo: sometimes he does ;)

itsjj: 👁👄👁

reid.gram: i am so close to blocking you from my phone

d.morgan: i really did not need that vision in my head 🤢

penny.garcia: i also did not need to see our boss in that light please

y/n_xo: shouldn't have asked 😌🫶

the.davidrossi: i think its time to slip into early retirement

y/n_xo: finally❤

liked by a.hotch, itsjj and 578 others

y/n_xo: i love u my grumpy man

view all 309 comments

a.hotch: i love you more, my sweet ❤

its.emilyp: wake up and break up rn

reid.gram: the way i fell into a endless void of nothingness for all of eternity

itsjj: aww you guys are so cute😁🔫

penny.garcia: right, you guys are so adorable!! (i've had enough of living)

d.morgan: highway during rush hour looks mad comfy rn

a.hotch: please every single one of you seek professional help

its.emilyp: two bros holding hands 6 feet apart because they're not gay

y/n_xo: EMILY :(

itsjj: em you know he's just shy

its.emilyp: of what? me personally, i'd be flaunting y/n everywhere 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

y/n_xo: (s)creaming 😻

a.hotch: Y/N! 😠

d.morgan: you do know... we can read these right?? 🤢

reid.gram: i think she likes feeding off our fear and horror

liked by kate.callahan, blake_alex and 503 others

y/n_xo: i'm abt to give strauss a quick call 🤨

view all 234 comments

the.davidrossi: please like erin would go for you 💆‍♂️

y/n_xo: i didn't think she'd go for a mean old pasta man yet here we are

penny.garcia: is that jealousy i smell? 🤔

its.emilyp: he's actually ecstatic that his secret is out #rotch4life😍

reid.gram: you mean *roach

a.hotch: is that how this team refers to me, as the chief supervisor? 🤨

its.emilyp: yep 🫂

d.morgan: she said it^^

its.emilyp: omgg conspiracy theory, hotch dated y/n so he could lust over rossi in private 😹

reid.gram: it's not a conspiracy if it really happened ☝

a.hotch: this most certainly did not happen!

its.emilyp: well you know what they say, guilty until proven innocent

the.davidrossi: nobody says that!

its.emilyp: okay and how do you know?? exactly you don't. case closed 🗣

d.morgan: honestly rossi... it feels like you're trying to cover up your tracks 😏

its.emilyp: the closet is glass, we know and it's okay ❤

itsjj: we all love youu 🥹🫶

the.davidrossi: all of you better sleep tonight with a lock. i'm coming after every single one

penny.garcia: if you kill me, could you try not to ruin my hair? the curls are no joke 😩

[dangowon]

title » boyfriend hcs !

pairing » lee heeseung x gn!reader

requested? » yes

genre » fluff

word count » 0.8k

a/n » lee heeseung is babygirl central tbh.

✧ the best way i could describe him as a boyfriend would definitely be comforting. he's such a good bf </3

✧ he lets you sit in his lap while he plays on his pc, burying his face in the crook of your neck and pressing light kisses over the area in between his matches. usually, he ends up playing until the late hours of the night, so it's no surprise you'd end up feeling drowsy in his arms eventually.

✧ a smile grows on his face every single time he hears your breathing even out, the sound of his keyboard having lulled you to sleep — at that moment, he decides to finally let his computer (and himself) rest as he turns it off and presses one last kiss to your neck before carrying you to bed.

✧ for some reason, you two always end up going out to get icecream at incredibly late hours. it often happens because neither of you can sleep and you end up sharing an icecream in tranquility that only the night can offer. oh and he lets you have most of the icecream, of course.

✧ when you go out at night without a jacket, he laughs at you when you shiver because he had specifically told you that you'd regret not taking one. he opens up his arms for you to fall into his warm embrace and kisses the top of your head lovingly. maybe you forget your jacket on purpose so that he hugs you the entire time, but he doesn't have to know.

✧ he's the cuddliest boyfriend ever, he can't sleep without holding you (or you holding him, either one works) and pouts and whines when you're not in bed next to him in the morning. he has to cuddle and talk to you for at least half an hour before going to bed and after waking up as well.

✧ if you have classes or work really early in the morning and you two can't cuddle? heeseung instantly acts like he's dying. the only way you can make it up to him is peppering kisses all over his face with a promise to give him extra attention once you get back home.

✧ whenever you're cuddling, he gives you back rubs and it's the most comforting feeling ever, especially when you've had a tiring day. he plays with your hair with one hand while the other one strokes your back, giving you kisses occasionally as he stares lovingly at you.

✧ he's so supportive of you no matter what you do. no, seriously, you could tell him you were about to commit grand larceny and he'd go "i'm so proud of you, baby <3". but of course, he's just as encouraging when it comes to more normal situations.

✧ he fully supports your choices and decisions, except if that means you're not taking care of yourself. if you're doing work or studying, he sits by your side to keep you company, ensuring that you're eating well and taking breaks so that you don't overwork yourself.

✧ he watches horror movies with you with the plan that he'll comfort you when you get scared, but after 10 minutes he's clinging onto you out of fear the entire time and burying his face in your neck when he knows there's going to be a jumpscare. you end up having to be the one comforting him honestly.

✧ jealous hee = pouty hee. if he sees you paying attention to anyone more than him, he gets petty so quickly. acts like a giant baby; he sulks as he stares at the person you're talking to, glaring at them in silence because 'that should be him you're smiling so sweetly at'.

✧ he's not very big on pda, but when he's overtaken by jealousy, he holds you close to him as if you'll disappear if he lets go. it's not as if he's insecure in the relationship you have, it's not that at all, he's just a really petty boy </3

✧ he loves showing off in front of you. when he's playing basketball, he brings you alongside him and winks at you with a smug expression right before scoring a shot. (one time he did that and ended up missing the hoop completely afterwards, you never let him live it down).

✧ he takes you with him when he's going shopping, because he trusts you enough for you to give your opinion on what clothing articles you think suit him the best. he also does this because most of his wardrobe also doubles as your wardrobe, and he'd very much prefer if you liked the hoodies that he lends to you <3

✧ on days where he's feeling a little more sentimental, he holds you as he tells you how much you mean to him. he could never imagine his life without you in it — you're his other half, he's so painstakingly in love with you and he ensures that you know it at all times.

✧ he loves you so much, it's almost painful to look at </3

[rudeflower]

JESS ANGST SCHOOL ANGST COMPLEX TRAUMA ANGST

In Keg Max! Principal Merton tells Jess he has missed 31 days of school. Now that makes him a chronic truant for sure, it means he's missed more than 10% of the school year, the standard school year is 180 days. Let's say there's 10 days left in the school year.

That's a LOT of school to miss. Young people improbably here, do not miss that much school

But relative to what we're being told about Jess, it's a weirdly low number? Jess never goes to school!!!! He's working 10000 hours at Walmart instead of going to school no school never heard of him!

That means that Jess attended school 139 days. Most schools I've worked with define that as a certain number of hours attended, more than half the day. So even if he was skipping that's 139 days he went to more than half the day NOT GOOD AT ALL BUT

Even after he was eighteen (early in the school year) he still laced up his boots and showed up somewhere he hated at saw no point in going to WHY!!????

First of all this is actually a ridiculously overcommitted young person let's at least acknowledge that.

He works before school at Luke's, and he works in the evenings too, closing up at 11:30 in one episode. Not just filling coffee mugs anymore. By season 3 he's closing alone, keeping tabs on the delivery schedule and capable of (furiously) running the morning rush alone.

AND he's working 45 hours a week at Walmart doing physical work, AND (poorly) maintaining a romantic relationship, AND reading obsessively, AND YES GOING TO SCHOOL! Jess starts working at Walmart in November (if you treat the air date as the canon date with the show roughly does), combined with Luke's it's probably 60-65 hours a week and still went to school 139 days!

He's making ridiculous choices because he is a tiny little fool but also has a trauma soaked brain

Jess chooses to be maxed out every minute of his life because he cannot tolerate being unoccupied, like a lot of people with complex trauma (and ADHD and Autism and more all of which could apply to Jess but rn I am talking about complex trauma)

When someone is used to chaos in their environment they actually feel less safe when things are quiet and still. It leads to someone who needs to have their RAM at 100% every waking AND sleeping moment

So they work 65+ hours, go to school most days, and they

cannot relax without extreme stimulation AKA needing the music on to sleep

Walk while reading because walking and looking ahead isn't enough is not occupied enough need more occupied

and starts reading the second he's stops talking to someone or using his hands to do something else. Reading as default in any given second.

He reads compulsively, no matter how chaotic the environment.

Reading ALSO isn't enough must be annotating and analyzing too passive reading is NOT ENOUGH

So Jess would rather show up at school for 139 days where other people are moving around, where there are fights to get into and classes to move to and from, even after he's an adult and Luke wouldn't find out that he isn't showing up. He'll show up to a test just to be in the classroom, not to take it.

This is not mentioning what I'm too lazy to screencap, that he's always doing something. that especially when he's talking to Luke Jess is constantly and doing things with his hands constantly.

There's really only one time we see Jess sitting still doing almost nothing

But not really nothing because smoking really is something.

My dude needs to be as occupied as possible from the time he wakes up all the way up to and including when he falls asleep to stay occupied and all that he's got on hand is going to a school that says the pledge of allegiance in six different languages then he will go! It's 100%%% occupation or the horror of possibly relaxing and WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN

[storiesforallfandoms]

Masterlist 3!

Here’s the third masterlist for all of my works! If you want to check out more of my work, here’s the links for masterlist one and masterlist two Imagines marked * are smutty imagines! Imagines marked ` are requests! Imagines marked ⭐ are personal favorites!

IMAGINES

STRANGER THINGS small ~ jim hopper` dance with me ~ eddie munson ⭐ starry night ~ steve harrington* (part five) ⭐ at the hip ~ steve harrington` ⭐ triple date ~ steve harrington (part six) ⭐ the freak ~ steve harrington (part seven) ⭐ oblivious ~ eddie munson ⭐ jason doesn’t know ~ eddie munson ⭐

SUPERNATURAL strange human feelings ~ castiel` cleaning ~ dean winchester`

HANNIBAL into fiction` sob story ~ hannibal lecter

THE BOYS obsession ~ billy butcher* ⭐ herogasm ~ soldier boy* ⭐ alone on christmas ~ billy butcher can’t get too close ~ billy butcher ⭐ change in a heartbeat ~ billy butcher ⭐

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY life father ~ diego hargreeves` rescue mission ~ klaus hargreeves’ ⭐

THE LAST OF US (HBO) friendly neighbors ~ joel miller ⭐ too sweet ~ joel miller

BARRY attraction ~ barry berkman` treat him better ~ barry berkman

AMERICAN HORROR STORY late night sins ~ xavier plympton (1984)*`

VICTORIOUS lost dog ~ tori vega` junker ~ beck oliver

HEMLOCK GROVE i don’t ever wanna see you with him ~ roman godfrey ⭐

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES roses are red ~ damon salvatore` ⭐

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH captive ~ blackbeard/ed teach ⭐

FUTURE MAN winner ~ josh futturman* ⭐

GAME OF THRONES littlest lion ~ oberyn martell (part one) ⭐ freedom ~ oberyn martell (part two) ⭐

THE WITCHER destiny ~ geralt of rivia

DOCTOR WHO looks of a princess ~ eleventh doctor ⭐

THE GENTLEMEN the assistant ~ raymond smith ⭐

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN spirit of nature ~ jack sparrow`

THE MAZE RUNNER i’ll keep you safe ~ newt`

MARVEL how things are now ~ marc spector and steven grant` ⭐ kneel ~ loki* the most wonderful time ~ bucky barnes fast ~ pietro maximoff ⭐

1917 early morning ~ will schofield*`

THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT happy birthday ~ javi gutierrez ⭐

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S i need someone older ~ william afton ⭐ the ice cream girl ~ mike schmidt

SALTBURN new toy ~ felix catton ⭐ partners ~ oliver quick ⭐

THE SANTA CLAUSE santa’s sister-in-law ~ bernard the elf

8 MILE one of the guys ~ jimmy smith jr ⭐

PETE DAVIDSON your gift` favoritism`

HARRY STYLES the perfect tree a star in the making` sleepy head`

MACHINE GUN KELLY baby mama` ⭐ my queen*` getting your attention*` all the mistakes` not what it looks like` can’t keep doing this*`

EMINEM may the best artist win*` too close for comfort` ⭐ when it’s wrong but it feels right` in the dressing room*` he’s acting different` we have to stop meeting like this` every inch*` let’s surprise the world` i’m sorry i let you down`

GOODGUYFITZ wake up call*`

CORPSE HUSBAND letting go` they forgot` ⭐

ASHTON IRWIN home life` cover me*`

CONAN GRAY pushing`

MATTHEW LILLARD accidental drunk confessions`

JOHNNY KNOXVILLE feeling good*`

ALEX TURNER more than a song*` ⭐

BO BURNHAM can’t handle this right now ⭐ look at me*`

KRISTEN STEWART special customer`

TARON EGERTON he already has my approval ⭐

ROBERT PATTINSON my favorite superhero

GERARD WAY good girl*`

GWILYM LEE history repeats itself`

RYAN GOSLING play date`

JOSEPH QUINN bad idea, right? ⭐

RANBOO fluffy haired gamer boy`

JACOB ELORDI height advantage`

MOTLEY CRUE she is mine ~ mick mars`

CHRIS EVANS not used to normal` ⭐

SWAGGERSOULS our next step`

SHIPS

family reunion ~ hermione granger x draco malfoy`

HEADCANONS

showing pedro pascal fan edits ⭐ sitting on jschlatt’s lap ⭐

NSFW ALPHABET

rook (jp capellette)*` eddie munson* ⭐ billy butcher* ⭐

[kimbap-r0ll]

For dorm leaders, a so that sleepwalks and scares the living crap out of them. Dorm leaders are aware of the problem, but only realize it one night their walking and they see reader in a horror movie like way and think they're a ghost!!! ;) Headcanons please, I love you blog!

Hi, thanks for the ask! This might be sort of short but here's what I think would happen (I changed a bit of the plot too, but I hope you like it nonetheless)

Dorm leaders x s/o who is sleepwalking

Riddle

He really shouldn't have read that horror book right at 11pm, but here he is trying to navigate the halls for something at 2am and the last thing he wanted to see was you also roaming around

You probably didn't hear it but he swore (the only time he ever will), made a little "yelp" and then nearly offed your head. However, upon looking at you more closely, he realizes it's just you

Wakes you up immediately, tapping you on the shoulder and asking what you are doing so late (basically early in the morning?). Riddle will probably tell you softly (slightly annoyed) to go back to bed, walking with you to your room

He's pretty nice about it, not scolding you for sleepwalking (he knows you can't control it) but he will never tell you he got startled by you haha

Leona

He doesn't get scared easily, most of the time he's pretty immune to horror. However, this was the one night he wasn't

He wasn't thinking of anything scary, nor was he really expecting anything to jump out at him. However, he just didn't expect to see you walking around in the hallways when he was sure there was no one out.

"Herbivore, what are you doing walking around like that?" he shakes you a bit, but realizing you're sleepwalking he probably just carries you back to your room and gently places you back into bed. He's surprisingly gentle about it

Will Leona ever tell you he did all of that? No. Will he tease you about sleepwalking? Yes. If anything though, Leona is pretty chill about it too, as long as you don't hurt yourself he's fine

Azul

Got scared bad haha. He listened to a horror podcast because that's just what he does now when he's doing work (multitask enjoyer right here) and here you are walking around at night like a ghost

He literally screams, waking you up and you screaming as well because you got jumpscared by your bf and he's all like "what are you doing here?!" while you're like "what are you doing here!"

You two probably spend a few minutes drinking some tea together and then sleeping in his office since you two are tired. He's understanding of sleepwalking, he just didn't expect you to scare him that badly haha

He knows about your sleepwalking now, so that means he won't have to get startled in the night if he sees you. Also, he's switched back to jazz music instead of podcasts while working

Kalim

This poor boy got scared badly too, but it was because he was reading a horror story from Jamil's bookshelf. He really thought it wouldn't be that bad but then boom one of them stories shook him badly

He probably woke you up since he shouted "GHOST" really loudly. But when you wake up and he realizes it was you, he's immediately apologizing that he got scared by you. "Didn't expect you out here this late, c'mon, I'll help you back!"

The next morning, he'll ask about what happened and learns about your sleepwalking habits. Kalim's super open to any possibility, so you sleepwalking won't be an issue to him (as long as you are safe)

Kalim is super imaginative, which didn't help him that night. But looking back at it, he probably laughs about it since it was a little funny how you sleepwalking scared him

Vil

Probably didn't get scared, just a little startled but nothing too noticeable. He probably doesn't care too much about ghosts or scary stories (he's had to play villain roles so much and because most of them happen to be the scary thing in scary stories he doesn't find them frightening)

You sleepwalking was more concerning to him than anything. He'll gently wake you up and ask you if you're alright. If there's anything that he can do to help, he'll try his best. However, if it's nothing bad to your health or if it's just something you don't worry about, he'll just brush it off

He might've been a little annoyed at how he nearly dropped his perfume that night, but he won't blame you for it. Sure there might be some scolding about getting a healthy amount of sleep on your bed

Overall what matters to Vil is your health. If you are healthy, then no worries. If it's something that you feel needs to be checked on, he'll support you. Whatever you decide to do, he'll be by your side

Idia

Didn't think you were sleepwalking, honestly thought you were roaming around the halls like he does looking for snacks haha

However when he tried to talk to you, he realized that you weren't responding and you looked more like you had just woken up after he tapped you on your shoulder. "Omg were you sleepwalking? Sorry for waking you up." "What do you mean?" you look at him puzzled

He apologizes for waking you up, but if anything you two probably just go to sleep right after that. He doesn't really worry about you unless it's something you worry about as well. He probably got startled after realizing you weren't responding, but he wasn't frightened

Ortho on the other hand might've been scared when he just saw you in the hallway with white sleepwear, which he then told Idia was you being a "ghost." That was probably the closest time he was super scared of you

Malleus

He's the least scared out of the dorm leaders, he honestly just saw you, picked you up, walked to your room, and placed you back in your bed. He likely doesn't sleep much (for preference or for other reasons) so seeing you up so late was more of a "I hope you're getting enough sleep" than anything

He was more surprised to see you walking around in the late hour. At first he tried to strike up a conversation like Idia, but upon closer look he realized you were sleeping. He probably lightly teases you about the incident the next morning, but he says that he's glad you didn't get hurt last night

Similar to Vil, he's more concerned about your health. If it's a habit that you worry about, he'll try his best to help you out. Besides, somethings aren't solved by magic, but he does his best to support. If it's something you don't worry about, then he won't worry about it either

He actually liked picking you up and dropping you off at your room, sort of like a prince in one of those fairytale stories. However, Sebek could've been startled badly by you haha

[muffinsin]

Sorry bothering you again, i asked about the reincarnated reader having nightmares about their death and it was a bit all over the place 😅 so how do you think each sister would react to reincarnated reader screaming from her nightmares?

Absolutely adore ur content

Not a bother at all hon! :) I understood, don’t worry😊 I’m glad you like my works! :)

(Full/original request attached as pictures, will be answered by a text linking to this post)

Let’s get into it!

Masterlists

(Full request), torture post referenced can be found here

Bela

You’ve been taken from her entirely too early

She knew she had enemies, just never thought you would fall victim to them. And that she couldn’t protect you

When they took you, and took you from her in the end, she was completely broken

She’d never forgive herself

Yet, you returned to her. Somehow

At first, she doesn’t believe her eyes to see you work at the castle

She can’t understand it. It’s been nearly a lifetime

And still, she has never stopped loving you

To have you back brings all the feelings back up within her. All those she has stuffed down and covered with cement, simply back at the surface

Against her better judgement, she immediately swarms to you when she sees you

She needs to apologise, to make it better, somehow

But, she finds things have changed

You are yourself. But, you’ve forgotten your past life. She’s nothing but “Lady Bela” to you now

And perhaps, she thinks, it’s for the best. Her mind is plagued by what happened in the past, and if it takes her distance to keep you safe, it’ll be done

She watches from afar, never truly interacts with you or allows you to see her

But she watches out for you. She ensures not too much work is dumped on you

She pulls strings to allow you a room for yourself, quite a spacious one. Officially this is “for your hard work”, despite having only started at the castle

She watches you smile with the staff. Your happiness is still the most important thing to her, even if the distance makes her heart ache

She yearns to feel you back in her arms. But your safety comes first

Bela understands, her love means danger

She wants you to live a happy life now. And you do, for a while

Yet, the castle, as well as time, brings memories

Nightmares

Each night, building up

It starts with innocent dreams, memories, of holding Bela’s hand and being intimate with her. Kissing, dates, confessions of love, quality time together

Bela knows nothing of this. She does notice you looking around, however, more often than not when you work

She feels your eyes stare at her when you are in the same room as her as her dinner is served

She hears your breath hitch when you are tasked to place a plate down in front of her and smell the oddly familiar scent that Bela carries with her

Still, she stays distant. She can’t risk your life for her love again

Yet as time goes on, you begin to have nightmares

Smaller ones, of horrors that have your heart beating wildly and have you wake up drenched in sweat

Then, there are major ones

Bela is immediately alerted by your scream at night. She fears for your safety, and immediately comes rushing to you

Instead, she finds you screaming and crying in bed, sweating and turning in your sleep

For just a moment, she agrees to screw her promise to stay away

You need her

Perhaps you won’t even remember this in the morning anyway

It hurts, yet feels so right for her to move over to the bed and pull you into her arms

You struggle and scream still, caught up in whatever dream you have

Bela shushes you and coos, her voice low and her arm tight around you. Securing you

The scent of her perfume surrounds you. Even asleep, you seem to take notice of it. You relax a little, crying and gasping out words like “No” and “Bela”

Are you having a nightmare about her? The thought pains her. Maybe she shouldn’t be here, she figures

Yet, just as she attempts to let go, your eyes flash open wide, fearful and confused, and your hands grip her wrists tightly

Upon looking at the tall fly woman in your room, you manage to calm yourself a little

Memories have been coming you, and seeing her- really seeing her- and feeling her, opens the floodgates

She gasps when you tug her forwards, arms around her midsection as you bury your face in her stomach. She stands awkwardly next to the bed, unsure what to do. Are you aware of your actions?

You sense her confusion and nervousness. You just need to feel her close. Even closer

“Iubirea mea”

Bela’s eyes widen at this. You stare up at her, shaking and with teary eyes

“My love”, she repeats back in nothing but a whisper, emotions welling up in her and silent tears wetting her cheeks

When you tug her again, she wastes no time. She’s yearning for you, and incredibly deprived of you. She wants- needs- you. She has, always

You grip her tight as she swarms into your bed, your body rested against hers

In a way, you’re both each other’s teddy bears, content and desperate to be as close as possible

Dresses and shirts are discarded and tossed away. She wants to feel as close to you as possible

Only when you’re on top of her, with your bare skin pressed against hers, the two of you can begin to feel content

You haven’t realised how much missed her cold skin until you remembered everything

Bela has missed your warm skin each passing day

She has her arms around you, and you’re holding onto her shoulders tightly, the blanket slung over both of you

“I felt something missing. I spent each day wondering what it was. Now, I remember”

Bela pulls you tighter. Her finger tips run lightly against your back

“I don’t want to lose you again”, she confesses quietly. You feel her nuzzle against your neck, where a mark laid long ago

“You won’t”

“I won’t”, she promises

She spends all night with you, and all day the following morning. Never lets she go of your hand

The two of you have a lot of catching up to do

8

Cassandra

She’s lost you- not to time, nor animals

To humans

Hunters

Kidnappers

They took you when she wasn’t around, and never was she able to forgive herself for it

Upon finding you dead, Cassandra feels utterly broken

How could she not have saved you? How could she not have been there?

Even as the years pass, this makes it very difficult for her to go about her life

She can’t stop thinking about you and has never found herself a replacement

No partner, no flings with random maidens, even

Then, one day, she finds you at the castle again

She doesn’t trust this. She can’t

She is enraged someone is pretending to be you, her lover!

But- you aren’t

You have no idea who she is, and are terrified when she comes for you, sickle raised and demanding answers you don’t have

She’s hurt by this, at first, and it confuses you

Her appearance, though, seems familiar to you. You’re not entirely sure why

Cassandra sees the confusion in your eyes. The lack of fear

No- she won’t let you get close again, she decides

She won’t let you get hurt

And so she snarls at you, bares her teeth and shows her sickle, fake laughter ringing out as she chases you away

She ensures you’re too scared to be intrigued by her again. It hurts, but it will have to be done

She refuses to let you get hurt again

So, as time goes on, Cassandra distances herself. And not just that

She ensures you will not reach out to her, by scaring you, often

Still, she is protective of you

Those that give you a hard time are dragged to the basement and become her newest playthings

It’s more or less an open secret, that you’ve got the murderous sister on your side

And it’s giving you strange, mixed messages. To feel you must fear for your life around her, while knowing she will make your life comfortable among servants

Even does Cassandra secretly leaves plates of food on your bed, knowing the staff never quite receives as much food as they possibly should

You begin to have dreams of her, however, and she can tell

Cassandra rarely sleeps since your oblivious self is at the castle. She wants to ensure your safety

And with this comes that she likes to have a few flies in your room. Spying, no- watching over you

She hears you sigh her name dreamily when you sleep, and knows your memories are returning

She sees the yearning look you send her when you think she doesn’t notice your presence

And lastly, she sees the small paintings you make of her. Secretly, she pockets them. You never know where they go off to

She remembers being your muse before your death…

Cassandra tries to be distant more and more. She snarls at you, but it hardly does anything

It’s as if you know she won’t hurt you. That around you, she’s not going to bring her sickle down on you

Cassandra even goes as far as to bite your neck roughly, even if your familiar taste brings back memories

Still, you don’t flinch away from her

It’s incredibly frustrating to try to stay away when you’re reaching out to her more and more with each passing week

Eventually, she feels like the chased prey. Backing away against walls and swarming when you approach, wide eyed and trying to move when you catch her eye

She knows, you remember her. She knows, you want answers

But she also knows you don’t yet remember the whole truth. As much as she wants to, she can’t give in

Your death is all that is on her mind

She fears, when you eventually remember, you will hate her. Rightfully so, in her eyes

For weeks on, she avoids you. She knows you remember more and more of your life

Then, one night, she notices something is up

You cry and squirm, whimper and gasp

Immediately, she swarms to your room. She jumps when you scream, hands grabbing the sheets and twisting them

All her distance, her caution, her worry is thrown out the window the moment you are distressed

She climbs in bed with you, and pulls you to her large and soft chest. Tears fall on it as you cry

Cassandra isn’t sure what to say. She has never been good with her words

She holds you though, tightly, in a comforting embrace, her fingers in your hair and on your back, gently stroking you

She can’t help but press a kiss to your head. This closeness is bringing up feelings and thoughts she shoved so far down

She holds you tighter as you tremble and shake, scream and gasp

When you wake up, your wide, fearful eyes stare up at her

And she stares back at you, unsure what to do. Is this right? Should she not distance herself?

Cassandra can’t bring herself to move

She gasps when you pull her tighter, cuddling her like a gigantic, sadistic teddy bear

“They hurt me so much”, you gasp out between cries

Her eyes widen at the realisation that you finally remember

Tears flood her eyes too

“I’m so sorry”, she cries, words she has never said in her newborn life, but ached to tell you the moment you returned to her, even oblivious to who she was

Cassandra gasps again when she isn’t pushed away, but rather you climb fully on top of her like you used to

She can’t help but cup your cheeks, and hums happily when she crashes your lips against yours

Perhaps, this is the most intense and passionate kiss she has ever shared with you

With both of your cheeks wet from tears and memories making both of you shake

Daniela

Daniela still remembers your death

She remembers racing to find you, the adrenaline and the fast beat of her hearts

She remembers you dying her in her arms

And she can never forgive herself for it

She sees your face in her dreams years later, a decade later even. Haunting her

She still loves you. She still sees you in everyone. She tries to be happy again, to move on, yet finds herself yearning for you

Her lovers reflect this; she chooses only those that reminds her of you

And yet, none of them are you

This is to change

Daniela nearly faints when she sees you at the castle one day, fixing curtains and cleaning the shelves of the library

She feels so much at the same time

Love, happiness, relief, guilt

She so wishes she could have saved you

The moment she sees you, she swarms for you and pushes herself against you

In return, she receives a scream, before you can cover your mouth

She hears your heartbeat, fast, yet not the way it used to be

You’re terrified. Of her

Daniela draws back immediately. You stare at her, scared and confused, your rag dropped to the floor

Daniela just doesn’t understand

“Is there anything I can help you with, Lady Daniela?”, comes your shaky voice

For a moment she wonders, are you playing a cruel joke on her?

Is this because she was unable to save you?

No; you would never do such a thing to her. She knows, she was precious to you

Was

No longer. Your memory is gone, it seems

She croaks out a “No”, and immediately swarms off. She can’t stand seeing you while knowing you are no longer hers

Daniela considers trying to court you again. She’s won you over once, after all

Then, she remembers how it ended. How you’ve died in her arms

She decides, it’s best to stay away

She doesn’t want you dying again. She loves you so much

Staying away is the most selfless thing she has ever done, she feels. And the hardest

She yearns to be with you, to feel your touch

For a long time, this holds up

Though, Daniela can’t help but try to keep you isolated. Should she hear someone express interest in you, she tries her best to intervene

It would hurt so much to see you with someone that isn’t her

After a month or so, she notices you act stranger than normal

You glance at her, when normally you try to avoid her attention entirely

Daniela feels you stare at her sometimes, and sees you advert your eyes a second before she can fully turn around to face you

You seem to be curious about her, but she can’t understand why

She’s entirely unaware of the sudden memory flashes you experience at times

Nor the dreams that sometimes appear in your mind when you’re asleep

Memories

Memories of Daniela

Memories of holding her. Cuddling her, kissing her

Memories of reading together and giggling under the covers

Memories of shared baths and serious conversations

Precious memories, that suddenly come to you

Are they truly memories, or dreams?

Daniela feels observed by you. Yet, she doesn’t try to scare you off

She can’t, not with you so important to her. She can’t bring herself to even snarl at you

Of course, this is also picked up by you

You’re bold around her, bolder than a staff member should be

When you step close to her one day and look into her eyes, trying to see whether it was a dream that her eyes reflect beautifully, her breath hitches

She knows she should be distant. She just can’t help herself properly at times

Most of the time, she opts for escaping you. It’s a fun thought, considering she is a predator

Still, she swarms away when she sees you walk in her direction, acting as though she can’t hear you call out for her

You desperately want to see her. You’ve been having an odd dream as you of lately

It showed you a memory, of cuddling naked with Daniela. You need to know if it’s real

In the dream, you are shown a small scar between her shoulder blades. You must know whether the memory is real

It’s as though you remember and don’t remember her at the same time. Your feelings are still in the past, not yet discovered fully

Daniela blushes bright red when she finds out you volunteered- no, asked, to be assigned as her private maiden

Made to clean her room, to dress and bathe her, to tend to her every need

At first, she shuts this down. She picks someone else

Eventually, nobody else is available. No other staff member wants a position this deadly

Daniela attempts to stay cold and quiet when you bathe her. You used to always do that, and often joined her in the warm water

She notices you still remember, it seems, the bath temperature she likes, somewhere in the back of your head

No matter her efforts though, Daniela is a flustered and blushing mess under your fingers

She hears you gasp once, but your face is difficult to read when she turns to you

You’ve got your answer in the form of the small scar underneath the sponge and soap. It’s real, whatever your dream have been showing you

Yet you can only remember parts. Without the full picture, you feel as if lost in the dark. Curious, yet not quite the same yet

As another month passes, your memories come back more and more

Daniela jumps to attention when she takes a stroll through the castle and hears your scream

Immediately, she swarms to you

Is there an intruder?!

No, she finds your room empty, save for you on the bed

Crying, shaking, trembling, screaming for Daniela

She runs to you and immediately wraps her arms around you

These screams remind her far too much of what was done to you. What she couldn’t prevent

“I’m here, my love”, she whispers, over and over again. She’s not letting go of you again. She’s not

Daniela shakes with you, but holds you tight. When you awaken, your eyes are wide, terror written across them

Daniela knows, you remember it all now

She cries with you as both of you attempt to escape the painful memory

Your arms are tight around her, the way they used to be

“My precious Daniela”, you whisper shakily. She cries, and holds you even tighter

“My perfect love. It’s always been you”, she reassures

All night you two hold each other. Daniela is so happy to be given another opportunity with love

This time, she will ensure you are never taken from her again

[babyhatesreality]

The Sinner and the Saint Ch 11

Pairing: Mob!Boss Bucky x f!reader

Warnings: NSFW, f!reader, language, reader is referred to by her stage name of Angel, pet names, post and morning after pillow talk, oral (f and m receiving), playful banter, everybody has secrets, reader is insecure, reader is an extremely flexible exotic dancer.

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN MEDIA CONSUMPTION. MINORS DNI. THIS IS AN 18+ STORY ONLY AND IS NS/FW. I DO NOT CONSENT FOR ANY OF MY WORKS TO BE COPIED, REPRINTED, OR TRANSLATED ONTO ANY PLATFORM EXCEPT MY OWN. Likes, comments and reblogs deeply appreciated.

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

You both lay in the bed next to each other, gasping for air as you came down from your respective highs. The sweet smell of arousal and sweat permeated your senses, and you managed to turn your head to look at him- you weren't entirely sure that you could move until you did. As high as he had gotten you, you couldn't help but wonder if he felt the same way...

The look of wonder on his face was completely unexpected- and made you feel like the goddamn Greek Goddess of Erotica. He sensed your eyes and turned towards you as well, both of you still breathing hard.

"Jesus Christ," you managed to gasp out before you could stop yourself.

"Nope, Bucky Barnes, but we already covered that earlier. Also, told ya you'd be calling me that."

The shit eating grin on his face made you burst out laughing. He snickered, pleased at your response, and wrapped his arms around you, pulling you in to snuggle on his bare, warm chest. You gently inhaled his musky scent, letting out another sigh of absolute contentment at this life-altering night.

"Go to sleep, baby," Bucky whispered gently into your hair. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head, and you felt his metal fingers tracing your arm lazily as you immediately drifted off.

*****

You were way, way too comfortable to wake up. It was deliciously warm and soft, and your body felt like you'd just received a massage of the highest caliber. You hadn't felt this good in a long, long time.

You felt consciousness tugging at your eyelids, and you grumbled like a child, just a little. It was only when that sound was met with a low chuckle did you remember...and you were no longer upset about waking up.

You opened your eyes and without meaning to- and to your horror- let out a huge yawn right in Bucky's face. What if he thought that meant you were bored with him? What if he took that as a bad omen? What if you had horrid morning breath?! You snapped your jaw shut as fast as you could.

But to your ultimate surprise, he leaned in and kissed you reverently. "Good morning to that gorgeous mouth," he murmured against your lips, making you giggle in relief. That was all the invitation he needed to roll on top of you and press his tongue gently into your mouth. The feeling of his exquisite body on yours, holding you down, worshipping you with his lips, made you get all hot and bothered all over again.

Definitely worth waking up for.

You made out like teenagers for at least ten minutes morning breath be damned. You could feel his cock stiffening again, and the idea of round two with Bucky Barnes nearly made you orgasm. He finally pulled his lips off yours, but looked down on you with that menacing grin that shot a thrill through your veins. He rolled onto his side, his blue eyes never leaving yours as his fingers traced up and down your torso.

"So you should know something..." Bucky said, cocking one eyebrow challengingly at you.

"More personal revelations? You didn't get them all out last night?" you teased back, tilting your head and feigning innocent while reveling in the feather light touches you were receiving.

"Not even by half."

"Not sure I can take another 'I'm a dangerous gangster' secret this early in the morning."

"Oh, you'll take it. You'll most definitely take it."

"Oh really? And what exactly am I taking?"

"Well, as a Mafia Don, I am entitled to a certain level of....friendship."

"If what we did last night was 'friendship' to you, I'm going to have some follow up questions about your relationship with Steve."

"Har har. What I mean is that, when you're with a man like me, and you spend the night...I'm going to require payment the next morning."

"...."

"Every time you spend the night, you owe me one morning orgasm."

The delightfully wicked grin on his face called to your inner sassy pants. He thought he had one on you. Fine. Two could play at this game.

"I see," you said carefully, letting your eyes wander over his head as you pretended to think about it. "Well, guess I have to pay up then," you said cheerfully, and before he could do anything, you suddenly dove under the silky purple top sheet, rolling over and trapping his legs beneath you, and grabbing a hold of his morning wood. He couldn't do anything more than splutter before you licked a long, slow stripe up his impressive length.

"Wha-whoa, that's not what....ohhhhh," Bucky moaned suddenly, as you drug your tongue over the head, before gently cupping his balls. "Angel, I-" he suddenly let out another erotic cry as you suddenly closed your lips around his tip and gently sucked. He seemed to give up talking after that, resorting to the most filthy sounds that you'd ever heard. You took your time, aching to make him feel even a tenth as good as he'd made you feel last night. You sucked him for another moment or two, before pulling off. Before he could protest, you gently ran a fingernail up his cock, causing it to twitch violently and him to arch his back. You dove back onto him, relaxing your throat as much as you could to take as much of him into your mouth as possible. You teased and suckled and licked until he just couldn't take it any more.

"Angel, I'm cl-close, I'm so close," Bucky panted. "If you don't want me to cum in your mouth, then-" He never got the rest of that sentence out as you began sucking his huge cock with a fervor. Of course you wanted him to cum in your mouth- what kind of a question was that? You bobbed your head faster and faster as his breath grew more and more ragged, until finally he came down your throat with a scream. You milked him for all he was worth, swallowing all he was giving you, and it was only when you could feel him stop that you gently slowed down and pulled off, giving him one last kiss before you emerged from under the sheet and got a good look at your man.

Bucky Barnes, the huge, dangerous mafia boss, was actually pale and shaking, his body beaded with sweat as he tried to recover from your amorous attack. His blue eyes rolled to your face, a wild look in them. "Jesus. Fucking. CHRIST," he moaned out.

"I think we've already established that that's not either one of our names," you said nonchalantly, making a big show of wiping the corners of your mouth with one finger, then licking it devilishly. His eyes snapped and sparkled at that. "So did I pay up, Godfather?"

"You saucy little minx," he growled playfully, the mischief growing in his own eyes. "You know damn well that's not what I meant."

"Huh?" you asked, all piously innocent. You squealed as Bucky suddenly put his huge hands under your arms and flipped you effortlessly onto your back. You'd never been manhandled like that before, and quite frankly it was one of the hottest things that had ever been done to you. He threw back the bed sheet before trapping your legs beneath him like you had just done to him. He leaned down to kiss your stomach.

"Don't you 'huh' me, you little brat," he growled, his lips never leaving your skin. "Oh, I'm gonna have fun taming you."

"If you think you can 'tame' me, you've got another thing coming, bub."

"Challenge accepted. Now lay back while I collect what I'm owed."

You honestly didn't remember much past that except overwhelming and wild intensity. Bucky's tongue and lips performed their magic between your thighs, and you were an absolute mess of a human being under them. He seemed to find every little spot that made you bow and arch, delighting in drawing out every cry and gasp that you made for him. He found just the right place on your clit and sucked so hard that your legs actually shook. He was just as relentless and unmerciful as you had been, and when you came you swore later that the heavens split open inside you.

As your vision cleared and your ears stopped ringing- yeah, it had been THAT good- you became aware that he was nuzzling your lower abdomen with his nose and feather light kisses. He finally looked up and caught you staring at him in wonder.

"Don't you look at me like that," he teased. "You deserved that, and I always get what I aim to collect." He grinned as your mouth dropped open. "With the blowjob you just gave me? Your name may be Angel, but you, madam, are no saint."

"And anyone that can make me see God like that, sir, is no sinner, even if he is a big Mafia Don," you quipped back playfully in between breaths. He chortled a bit, then scooted back up beside you.

"Tell me again how 'big' I am," he said cheekily, before kissing you hard. You sighed into his mouth and let your hand travel down again, gently teasing. He shuddered with delight, then pulled away just a bit, forcing you to stop before you could make him come again.

"So, seeing as we're both apparently fantastic at oral," he said frankly, turning his wicked grin on you. "You ever tried to sixty nine?"

You laughed, delighted that he was already thinking about the next time. "Always wanted to, never done it," you said honestly. "I think we have quite a few things like that to talk about, don't we?"

"You bet your sweet ass we do," he said triumphantly, making you giggle again. "God, that's a conversation I can't wait to have. We definitely cannot have it at the club or at the restaurant."

"Why not?"

"Why not? You think that I'm not going to tear the fucking clothes off your body after we get through just the first point and fuck you until you've got no voice left to scream my name? You're insane."

"Okay, when you put it THAT way." A wicked thought popped into your mind at that....oh, you knew what song you were going to dance to tonight...But before you could tease him any more about it, he suddenly sprung from the bed.

"Come on," he said, walking around to your side and holding out his hand. "Come shower with me, then I'm taking you out to breakfast."

Well. Who were you to argue?

To Be Continued...

[cellarspider]

20/?? Special delivery

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⛬

We return to a movie that has never been to medical school, Prometheus. 

Here it is. The scene that everybody remembers because it gave a fair few people the screaming heebies. This is their version of the chestburster scene–except for the less impactful, literal version of the chestburster scene we’ll get later, I mean. This one, though, this one, they got it right.

Content warnings for gore, nudity, nude gore, exhaustive discussions of the place of chestbursting in franchise history.

But first! I saw a tag with a desire to see the scene with David and the star map. To spare everyone from watching the rest of the movie to get there, here it is!

[See previous post for lengthy description of the events. I didn’t talk about the music in this before though! It really adds to the sense of wonder in this scene. It reminds me of Daft Punk’s Overture to Tron Legacy (2010), another beautiful and flawed movie. Given the modern use of temporary music in editing that definitely sneaks into what directors demand of scores, there’s a chance this was a direct influence. In terms of the “oh wow, space!” feeling it gives me, I’d also mention the Star Trek TNG opening theme.]

Anyway! On with the horror.

In Alien, the creature’s life cycle was developed by writer Dan O'Bannon, who had two major ideas for its early appearances: sexual, reproductive threat directed at a male character, and Crohn’s disease. O’Bannon had Crohn’s, and he said that inspired the idea of a critter chewing its way out of a man’s guts. 

That personal connection has been lost through subsequent media, in part because the series has continued to use the same creature and the same method of killing, minor deviations like in Covenant and tasteless ones like AvP Requiem notwithstanding. The chestburster is a thing that can only ever really work once in a movie. The first time is relatively drawn out, made a setpiece of the movie, and is a horrifying plot twist for anyone who goes in blind. After that? Drawing it out may risk becoming meaningless gore or boring, so most movies have chosen to just have the little bugger pop out within seconds. It’s the sideshow before you get to the main event, despite being the iconic scene of Alien.

Prometheus’ equivalent scene wins back a fair amount of tension by altering the details of the event, if not the general arc of it. It certainly hammers on the reproductive horror aspect, but loses the original subversion of targeting a male character. Which is a shame, because male-targeted reproductive horror is still boundary-pushing. From the world of horror gaming, Outlast: Whistleblower produced some notably panicked reactions from male players when they encountered the emasculating, specifically reproductive threat of Eddie Gluskin. (Content warning for gore, death, forced feminization, misogynistic language, censored nudity.)

Regardless, we have The Chestburster Scene again, but now it’s in the back half of the movie, and happens to the main human protagonist.

I find it very odd that this movie is so self-consciously iterating over things that were first done in Alien. It’s like watching a devout Catholic pray at the Stations of the Cross.

Speaking of crosses

Before we get to the main event, there’s the first actual attempt at character work between David and Shaw in the movie, as we’re in the final act. David confiscates Shaw’s cross as she wakes up from her post-boyfriend-barbeque faint. “It may be contaminated,” he says.

Shaw’s christianity is one of the few character traits in the film that ties into one of the themes, and has its own arc. She’s giving up her cross to the person who killed her partner, a metaphor for a crisis of faith which is so blatant as to barely be a metaphor at all. And, given the general arc of how these things go, means she’s going to get it back at some point. The context for it is going to be confusing and disappointing, frankly.

And it’s especially weird given the other metaphor going on simultaneously: David runs some scans on her, and declares she’s three months pregnant. This is a non-virgin virgin pregnancy. She is Alien Mary. This, then, is the narrative reason why Shaw is infertile–so that she could be the Mary figure, and, more practically for the plot, have foreknowledge that something was wrong. 

Except it really didn’t have to be that way to make this work. While christian allegory and the creation of life are themes in this movie, Shaw’s infertility was handled with zero grace. And honestly, the movie could work without it–Shaw and Holloway did not have romantic chemistry, as far as I could tell. Lean into that! Just say they haven’t had sex in ages. This scene would actually flow better, because Shaw explicitly objects that she only had sex with Holloway “ten hours ago. There's no bloody way I'm three months pregnant.”

Which again hammers in how stupid fast this movie has been racing its characters toward their doom, but I’m immediately distracted by David pronouncing “it's not exactly a traditional fetus.”

It certainly isn’t. It’s an alien squid, placed there by the holy spirit of black goo. She’s all set to give birth to Squesus. 

I think that’s the only worse way he possibly could’ve said it.

David, frankly, gets some of his worst dialog of the movie here, because he is infected by The Plot for a bit. “It must feel like your God has abandoned you,” he says, after sedating her, “to loose Dr. Holloway after your father died under such similar circumstances.” Which leaves one momentarily with the wild mental image of Dad Shaw sacrificing himself to a flamethrower-welding corpo, but no, David means ebola. David found this out via that dream-watching tech that exists solely to be a mildly unnecessary plot point. Blessedly, this is the last time we see any mention of it.

It’s very strange, how the movie is stuffed full of plot and edited so tightly around the plot that characters barely have room to breathe, yet what it prioritizes as plot-relevant is so scattershot. This failing is also inflicted upon the part of the otherwise very effective Chestburster: The Prequel scene.

Shaw attacks the people who come to take her away to cryo, running in her underwear to the PAULING MED-POD the movie very loudly announced earlier, so that you wouldn’t forget it exists. She tells the PAULING MED-POD that she needs an emergency caesarian. The PLOTPOINT MED-POD informs her that it’s only formatted for male patients.

I’ve seen many people complain this makes no sense. It’s in Vickers’ quarters,  why would she have an expensive medical device that she can’t fully use? Others counter that no, it makes sense, because the med-pod was actually installed for Peter Weyland, thus justifying its male specificity. He’s a selfish bastard, he got it for himself, plot hole avoided.

…Except that doesn’t address the more fundamental problem: What does this add to this scene, to balance out the fact that the audience is now distracted by this information? It slows Shaw down a bit as she figures out how to cue up a foreign body extraction from the abdominal cavity, adding to the tension. But you don’t need that to be what draws out the scene. Maybe the PAULING MED-POD has a slow boot-up sequence. Maybe someone follows her there, and she has to fight them off, possibly killing them in her panic. A dead body in the room would solve an actual logical problem with a later scene.

It’s frustrating, because the pacing of this scene is actually excellent, as is its premise. Shaw has to forego anesthesia and make do with self-administered local painkillers, because the prosthetics and CG teams have done a bang-up job making her stomach writhe unpleasantly, making it very clear that whatever’s in there is mobile enough to be a danger to her, even if it’s removed. 

The pods instruments are mostly CG, but its combination of unhurried routine and abrupt, industrial roboticism adds to the uncomfortable nature of the scene. Sound design is also important here, with all sound effects well-chosen, and mixed to imply claustrophobic closeness and how trapped Shaw is.

The creature itself? Eh. It’s a slightly phallic squid, and squids were already slightly phallic to begin with. They added on a slightly vaginal mouth, which is also a lateral move--squid mouths already look quite a lot like an unworksafe orifice with a beak tucked away in it. Unless you're looking at Promachoteuthis sulcus, whose inner lip structures fold into patterns that look distressingly like human teeth.

Honestly, this is freakier than the actual prop. Good job, Promachoteuthis sulcus. You're only 25 mm long, and a delightful tiny terror.

...But the fact that Shaw’s stuck in the pod with her flailing squid-child is what actually adds another minute of fear and wince-worthy pain, as the almost comically brutal medical staple gun closes her incision and the pod slowly opens up.

She tries to kill it with what appears to be a soothing mist of decontamination spray. This is the one other stumble of the scene, because it’s just… I mean, look at it.

It’s just been spritzed with Febreze. There’s nothing that leaves you wondering if the thing’s still alive for later, you know it’s still alive.

But overall, a well-done scene. The standout horror scene of the movie, which is light on scares. That sparsity wouldn’t even be worth mentioning if the movie were going for slow tension, but with its strange blend of existential quandaries and unremarkable horror tropes, it takes a very strong, singular scene to feel like the tension has actually paid off. I don’t think it completely balances out the deficits of the rest of the horror, but it very nearly manages it, and does manage to be memorable.

Next time: An entirely underwhelming horror scene, and the movie takes another swing at having themes.

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Citations for alt-text rambles:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/30/memory-the-origins-of-alien-review-francis-bacon-greek-myth-dan-o-bannon-sci-fi-classic-film 

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/aliens-chestburster-mechanism-behind-the-scenes 

https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/Seegson 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3314219/how-do-u-v-coordinates-work 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_staple (medical gore cw)

https://sites.uw.edu/pauling2020/ 

https://www.paulinamarket.com/

Overflow Ramble #1

A shot of the screen on Chekhov’s g–I mean the PAULING MED-POD, showing the text “EMERGENCY PROCEDURE”, and that it is “AWT VERBAL CMD”. The med-pod turns out to be a Weyland product, because all corporations in Alien movies are either Weyland, Yutani, or Seegson, if you’re particularly unlucky (cite 3). 

They made the mistake of putting more actual words on here, and so I’m squinting at the top right corner at “CARDIAC STRESS TEST”, “ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY” AND “MECH ALGN TCH”, which means the pod appears to think she needs to have her heart checked or her wheels aligned.

But what I find funniest is that there’s coordinate sliders in the center bottom: X/Y/Z and U/W. You know where I recognize that from? 3D modeling. U/V/W are used as an alternate coordinate system in that context (cite 4). Somebody was designing this, thinking “well, we need more buttons. Where can I get more buttons?” and then looked at the horrid mass of options and sliders in their modeling software and realized they had the answer.

Overflow Ramble #2

A close-up of David’s hands, holding a sample container and placing Shaw’s necklace inside. Two details, one of them insane, the other just plain funny: First of all, this is a different set of hands than the one when David was messing with the black goo–there was a small but notable blemish on the fingerprint that wasn’t there, proving once again that hand and arm doubles are one of the odder things you don’t think about in film production.

Second: The container is turned so that the label on it is facing away. This allows you to see the necklace, but it also highlights a completely flat Braille label, reading “PN#ZTZouSthe#Z”, which is obviously very informative.

But the real reason why the label is facing away is because it almost hides the fact that the label says “PRODUCT CODE” on it, which means he may have just put Shaw’s necklace in an empty peanut butter jar.

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[ryeriy]

haunted

warnings: mentions of gore, (fake) blood, being scared, foul language, haunted house so don't read if that bothers you

navigation post

"Boo!" I jumped as it was just Ethan behind me. "Don't do that to me! It's not funny!" I said to him. Mark came over to me and pulled me into a side hug. "Oh come on babe, it was just a little scare!" He said while he placed a kiss on my forehead. "I'm sorry y/n, I didn't mean to. It's just that it's so funny." He says while laughing. "How is she going to survive the horror night?" Luca chipped into the conversation. "I'll be there to protect her," Mark said while pulling me into a hug.

We are going to Six Flags in Michigan. It's about two hours away from Ann Harbor. It's a group thing. Mark, Ethan, Luca, and Luke are going. Luke was in town this weekend so they decided we should go to this. Mark brought me and Ethan brought his girlfriend. We had to rent a van for the trip so we could fit everyone in the same vehicle. It's early in the morning and we are going to get there right about an hour before the horror night starts. "Everyone ready?" Luca said. Everyone clicking their seat belts. "Yes." We all replied. "Let's get this show on the road then.

Luca was driving us there, Luke sitting next to him, me and Mark in the row behind them, and Ethan and his girlfriend in the back. It worked out perfectly. I enjoyed the car ride. Me and Mark were sharing headphones and listening to music together. All we kept doing was playing iMessage games on our phones. It was going to be a long car ride so we needed something to keep us occupied. When we got bored of that we were fifteen minutes away so we talked. "Ok guys we are here so that means wake up and be prepared to get out. After I find a semi-decent parking spot...or not. It's busy." Luca said while we parked in a spot close to the entrance. All six of us got out of the car, making our way up front to the entrance of the park. "How many?" The ticket booth lady asked me. "Two please," I said as I pulled out my credit card. Mark walked in front of me. "Don't worry, let me pay." He said to me. "Thank you," I said while smiling. "Are you love birds coming or not?" Luke nagged at us. They were already up at the entrance. We caught up to them and we all walked together in a group.

"So what's first?" Ethan said. We all looked around the park. "Let's do that one!" I pointed to one of the roller coasters. "You sure you want to go on that?" Ethan asked me. "Yeah, why?" I questioned him. "Well, it's just I didn't know if you'd be scared." He said jokingly. "Oh, would you stop!" I said while laughing at him. We started walking towards the ride. It was a nice day out. A bit cold outside but the sun's out so it is a little warm. Perfect.

Once we were at the ride entrance we took a few group photos. Then we put our belongings into a locker while we were on the ride. We had about an hour till the horror night started. The line wait was about thirty minutes. Once we got to the front of the line. He asked us "How many?" Luca replied. "Six." "Rows 1, 2, and 3." He said. "Come on babe, we're going front row!" Mark exclaimed. "Oh god..." I said while walking up to the front row. Luca and Luke are behind us and Ethan and Zoe sit in the third row. Behind Luca and Luke.

We sat down on the ride. The ride operator comes around and makes sure everything is secure. The next thing I know, the ride is starting. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." I kept saying as we were going up the hill of a coaster. "Relax, I'm right here." I heard Mark say while he grabbed my hand to hold it. "Ay! This was your idea y/n!" I heard Ethan yell. "Oh shush!" I yell back. That's when the drop happens. I start screaming and yelling as we go down. We kept twisting and turning for about two minutes before we came to a stop. "It wasn't so bad," I say while looking over at Mark. "See I told you," Mark says while getting off of the ride. We made our way back to the lockers. Unlocking the locker and grabbing our belongings. "Dude look!" Luca says. He's pointing to a guy dressed up as a clown with a bloody axe in his hand. "Oh shit!" I said while moving closer to Mark. "Just remember, you wanted to come," Ethan said. "Yeah, I know," I say. "So let's go get scared!" Ethan says while walking forward with Zoe and Luke. "Oh yeah, don't show weakness or it makes you an easy target," Mark says to me while holding my hand.

We walked around and we kept getting scared as a group for two hours. Luke and Luca got scared the most. Me and Mark haven't gotten scared yet but that's going to change. "Who's ready for the haunted house?" Mark said while we got in line. The park was closing soon. This was probably the last thing we were going to do. "It's only two people at a time so let's do this. Who's going first?" Luke said. "Me and the lady should. We haven't even gotten scared yet!" Mark said. "Really?" I said. "Yeah! It will be fine let's go!" He said while holding my hand as we walked in.

When we walked in there was blood everywhere. All you could hear was screaming, chainsaws, and screeching nails on a chalkboard. "I don't like this at all," I said while walking through. I walked close to Mark as we were walking through. "AHHHHAHAHA!" I jumped and screamed as I saw a clown with a fake chainsaw and fake blood dripping from it. We walked past and I started to feel my eyes watering. "I'm scared," I said. I rushed myself through the haunted house as more clowns and girls dressed in nurse gowns. Everyone was drenched in blood. I screamed and slightly cried as we got to the end. The end was the worst. Clowns and people in masks raided us screaming in our faces. I just wanted it to end. It ended and we stepped out. "That was fucking horrible!" I said while walking out. We waited at the exit for the other four. We hugged until all of them got out. "How did everyone like it?" Ethan asked. "Hated it," I said while walking with Mark on the one side of me and Luca on the other comforting me. "Can we stop for ice cream on the way home?" I asked Luca. He is the one driving us home. "Yeah, we can do that." He said while we all walked back to the van. "This was all a fun night," I said while smiling. "You enjoyed it?" Ethan questioned me. "Yeah, it was fun. I had fun." I said while smiling as I got into the van.

31 days of Halloween

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