#everyone wish me luck please <33

[mcnuggyy]

ough :-( realizing I may have to ship another box cause I underestimated just how much art stuff and clothes I still have left waa </3

[fleursbending]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲'𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. | Sully Family

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 : "You taught me that love doesn't make us weak, it makes us stronger." Sully! Reader to Sully! Parents? Just a fluffy family fic please

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 : sully!family x sully!daughter

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 : becoming one with the metkayina's has not been an easy task. as everyone continues to settle in their own ways, your family begins to grow more worried about your well-being. this isn't the sully they know. you're withdrawn, and quiet. what better way to fix that than to seek you out when you least expect it?

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 : hi if you're confused so am i! there were issues when i first posted this so i am reposting it again. thank you for the love on the previous one though! // trust me this is fluffy 😭 just have to go through a lil angst to get to that part <33 this is purely a self-indulgent hurt/comfort fic! didn't fully proofread this btw! pls feel free to reblog and leave your thoughts in the comments.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 : bullying, discrimination, angst but fluff at the end, descriptions of loneliness, hurt/comfort, you're gonna wish even more that u were a sully after reading this.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 : 3.2k words

𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 : hiiiiii my luvs you can read part 2: here !🙏🏼

The ocean was not your friend, you could only look at the endless channel of water in disdain. This was far too daunting for you, you liked the little rivers or ponds back at home. The sealife while beautiful, petrified you.

You missed the lush greens and the smell of the dew from the occasional rain back in the jungle. It was easy to forget your responsibilities, not that you had as many as your other siblings. Being the second youngest Sully had its perks. Not older than Lo'ak, and not younger than Tuk.

The "expeditions" you went on now made you look like a fool. You didn't know the terrain here, how to navigate fluidly through the water like Tsireya, Ao'nung, or Roxto.

Each passing day your siblings got better at managing to hold their breath, and riding their Ilu's. But you were still stuck in the past.

It felt reality kept kicking you in the face. Your stubborn self was annoyed as well. Holding a grudge against your family. It seemed like no one missed home. You understood why your parents made the decision they did, but it didn't make the act of doing so hurt any less.

At least you had these quiet moments before your thoughts ran rampant to practice your breathing.

You were suddenly interrupted from your twisting thoughts when a nudge was directed at your head.

It was Ao'nung and his crew.

"Leave me alone." You hissed at them, not wanting to deal with their bullshit today.

"Leave me alone." Ao'nung mocked you as he tugged on your tail.

You quickly stood up, looking to see if any of your family were close by. They weren't. You were supposed to be back in the Mauri but once again, you lost track of time.

"No one is here to help you, Y/n."

They grabbed your hand, poking insults at you and your family. You knew better than to talk back, especially if no one was here to help you out. It was 4 against 1. So instead you bit your lip and kept your mouth shut.

"Roxto, are you there?" His mother called from around the corner, startling the goonies.

"You're in luck, scram!" Ao'nung hissed at you.

Eyes widening, you stumbled as you rushed back to your Mauri. You didn't dare look back at your tormentors.

Once you were a few steps away, you slowed your pace. Catching your breath, before making your way inside.

The worried chatter of your family halted when you made your presence.

Neytiri stopped pacing, moving over to you and grabbing your face in her hands.

"Ewya help me before I lose it. Where have you been? You're 15 minutes late! I was about to send your brothers out to look for you."

Had it really been that long?

"I'm sorry." You looked down in shame. It's weird being on the brunt end of the stick. Even your parents have grown more accustomed to having to tell you off rather than Lo'ak. It was definitely odd.

"You didn't answer your mother's question, where have you been?" Jake didn't like being stern with you, but you being late to dinner had been happening more regularly.

You used to be a stickler for these dinners, being the one to push for them. How everyone had to be in attendance, and on time. It was family bonding time, moments to catch up on what everyone had done that day.

"Just around, I was with my Ilu - I'm sorry." You looked down to the Mauri's floor, unable to meet your father's eyes. It was hard lying to him.

Neteyams eyebrows arched in confusion, he had just been with his Ilu. You were nowhere in sight. He decided to let it slide this time, but he couldn't help but wonder where you snuck off too.

"Alright well, you really got to keep track of time yeah. You used to love these dinners!"

"Yes, and I still do!" You answered too quickly, not missing a beat.

If Jake wasn't suspicious before, he certainly was now. But like Neteyam, he decided to let it slide. Your brothers had told him and Neytiri how you've been struggling to catch up and learn everything in the lessons.

That was partially it, but if only he was aware of the bigger picture.

Jake nodded, looking to Neytiri. She also held a look of concern, but Jake made a silent signal that basically stated:

"We shouldn't push it, not now."

"Well, let's eat before the food gets even colder." Neytiri ushered her kids over, keeping a close eye on you.

Your family gathers around the food that was already set, and start eating. As all your siblings chatted excitedly about the activities they've done throughout the day. You didn't say a thing, not even piping in.

Neytiri and Jake once again met gazes, thinking the same thing.

Something's wrong with our daughter.

Soon dinner was over and it was time to rest, as your family rested together you couldn't help yourself as you removed Tuk's arm that clung to your shoulder.

Maneuvering your way outside, you jumped into the water. Why sleep when you can practice again?

Before Eclipse ended you made sure to squeeze the excess water out of your hair and made yourself comfortable alongside your family. Your body ached and could no longer fight off your sleep deprivation. But it was worth it, you could hold your breath a lot longer now under water.

From then on, it gradually got worse. Even your siblings would struggle to find you throughout the day. You'd take longer naps through the day, and Lo'ak knew you were sneaking out at night. Your essence seemed to further rid itself from you, and all that was left was a hollow shell of yourself.

They too, shared similar thoughts with their parents. No longer could they see you dwindle away. It didn't sit right with them, you're a Sully through and through. Sully's stick together.

So they did what they know best and was most accessible to them, track.

Instead this time they weren't on a hunt, or looking for what was to be a good meal for their clan. They were following the steps of their baby sister.

If you stepped out of your brain for a moment, you would have immediately clocked them. But once again, Y/n was shut in her own bubble.

"Bro, don't you find it weird that she hasn't realised we are here?" Lo'ak whispered as he looked at you behind the leaves keeping them hidden.

"Shut up, Lo'ak" Neteyam grumbled. He didn't want to agree even if his words held some truth.

"Hey, I have to agree with him. We shouldn't have been able to get this far. She's usually far too hyperaware of her surroundings." Kiri observed you, stunned and clueless.

They'd never been to this part of Awa'atlu before. They'd been so fixated on the ocean. They had yet to really explore the area that surrounded their new home. It oddly felt like they were waltzing through their past.

At last, you came upon your tree. You liked it because it had a specific branch that you could curve into. Blend in, and be one with your surroundings. Like you had used to do before in the jungle. This was now your next best option.

Your siblings looked in confusion at one another, not understanding how this could be the reason you've been periodically gone. Did you spend all your time here?

But then it came.

It was barely there, and you were struggling to catch your breath. The cries.

It strikes through the serene sounds of the waves crashing against the shore, and the nearby insects chirping.

Your sibling's ears flattened as they looked at each other in sheer worry. You were a spitfire, but you had always been calm and collected. The physical embodiment of the word warm. Happiness was always with you. So where did it all go wrong?

"Great mother, I fear that I am not good enough. I thought consistency was key, I've been trying to practice anytime I can. But I'm so tired. I've never felt this weak and useless?" You mumbled to yourself, looking up into the sky.

Groaning in frustration, you continued. "Maybe Ao'nung was right. I will never be one of the people. I will always be too alien. I will never be able to live up to my family."

Lo'ak enraged by the doubts you had voiced stepped out from their cover.

Your ears tuned into the noise, you finally tuned into your senses and became more alert. As you hopped off the branch, hastily wiping your tears.

"Brother." You choked out, lips trembling.

He took slow steps towards you, trying to soothe you as he brought you into a hug.

"Baby sister," he said so quietly, solemnly.

You couldn't remember the last time he hugged you, and neither he could he. It wore his heart down, seeing you in such a vulnerable state.

Soon the presence of more arms wrapped around you both, clinging onto you - securing you in their grasps. For the first time in a long time, tenderness surged through you.

"We've got you, Y/n. You're going to be alright. Let it all out now." Neteyam who was at your right side gave you a gentle kiss on your forehead, muttering to himself - "Oh my baby sister."

Kiri had never felt such pain from you, it came off in waves. And it almost debilitated her. In that moment, it was the most protective she had felt for you. It synced through all of them, a fire had awaken in the pit of their souls - so fierce that even Toruk Makto would flinch from it.

Slowly your breaths began to ease, and your tense shoulders slumped down. It was emotionally taxing having had all these emotions balled up inside you. Now it was unraveling, and it felt all too bittersweet.

Your siblings sensing this, mellowed out on their group hug they were giving you. Moving over, you all settled down against the tree you've been confiding in moments before.

Tuk grabbed your hand while Kiri tucked your intricate braids behind your ears. You mouthed a "thank you", leaning your head on her shoulder.

All it took was Neteyam to ask a very simple question, "What's been going on, baby sister?"

And once your mouth opened, you decided - why not just let them in on everything? So you did.

You told them about how ashamed and humiliated you had felt when you started lagging behind. How Ao'nung and his friends would tease you whenever they had the chance to do. (It was always away from prying eyes). Due to that, it only made the feelings of hatred you harbored for yourself - increase a tenth-fold.

A deliberately belligerent cycle was born. Self-doubt equated to "I will push myself to the brink of exhaustion". You'd seek out your family thinking they'd have noticed. But they were too caught up in their own commitments to realise your intentions.

All you wanted was for any of them to see the hard work you had been pouring in to adapting here. But how could they when you always lingered on the outskirts?

Late to dinner, late to the lessons, never seen. They couldn't appreciate what was in front of them because they hadn't witnessed it themselves. How utterly ironic.

"I see why you didn't, but I wish you had told us, Y/n. We could have helped you." Kiri insisted as she patted your head.

"I know." You grumbled, but you were grateful for how attentive they are to you.

"Ao'nung will pay." Lo'ak seethed, completely shifting the topic of conversation.

Neteyam rolled his eyes and interjected. "He will, but not in the way you are seeing it in your mind right now. We have to go to dad and mum about this."

Your irritated eyes widened, leaping up from where your back had laid against the tree. Y/n scowled at Neteyam, her tail flicking in anguish. No, not her parents.

"Absolutely not, 'Teyam. They mustn't know anything of this." You countered him, disbelief flooding your features. Your parents would only perceive you as a failure, and that was the last thing you could stomach right now.

Neteyam stood up by you, placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder. He shook his head at you and gave you one of his brotherly grins.

"Baby sister, they are just as worried as we are." He looked behind you, and urged you to turn around.

Oh great mother, that could only mean one thing.

Ember crashed on ember, one filled with panic, and two filled with distraught. The tension was taut, but all your parents wanted to do was cradle you in their arms like they had in your first few months of life.

"Kids, back to the Mauri." Jake ordered them, pointing back to where it was.

"But dad-" Lo'ak butted in, worriedly looking at you.

"It's okay. Thank you, Lo'ak." You coaxed him to join your siblings who were also hesitating a little.

They disappeared amongst nature, and their footsteps grew fainter and fainter. Until all that was left was your heartbeat pounding in your ears. It felt oddly comforting being in their company even though doubt was eating you up from the inside.

It's been a while.

Neytiri was the first to approach you, her hands shook as she cradled your face. She took you in for the first time in weeks, and this time she was able to do it properly. Lately, she'd only been able to admire you whilst you sleep, or during meals.

In the morning you'd be gone in a blink of an eye. Throwing a haphazard, "I'll see you later", over your shoulder.

She missed you profoundly, so much that it physically pained her sometimes. Neytiri treasured you deeply, to put it bluntly - her heart felt like it'd been slashed by a Thanotor ever since you started pushing yourself away.

Jake followed in his mate's footsteps. His eye's tearing into your soul and trying to catch if there had been any distinct changes that have occurred to you.

"You don't look like yourself." Jake stumbled on his words.

Neytiri hissed, smacking your dad on the back of his head. A slight giggle escaped you that made both of their hearts sing. "Ma jake."

"Sorry." He mumbled, giving you a cheeky grin.

Y/n's doubts were already melting away before she herself could even acknowledge it. She grabbed both her parent's hands, leading them over to her tree not too far away from where they had been standing.

Mimicking how she and her siblings were just before. She settled against the tree again, bringing her parents down with her.

The trio admired their surroundings, taking in the wonders of Pandora. Especially Jake, and Neytiri. This is the closest they've felt to something akin to the jungle they'd once inhabited.

"I'm sure you heard everything, and it is true. I am sorry if I've disappointed you guys. I thought I could manage it all on my own."

Neytiri played with your hair and could only chastise your words. "You did not disappoint us, if anything - you infuriated us. We were just worried about you, our dear daughter."

Jake nodded in agreement. "We love you, and we want to be there for you. We will if you allow us. That's what we are here for. You don't need to fight these battles alone. Remember what I told you, baby girl?"

You rolled your eyes and pushed your dad away from you jokingly.

"It's us against the world." You mumbled.

Jake teasingly put a hand to his ear. "I'm sorry? What was that? I couldn't hear you."

Neytiri let out a soft laugh at you two's antics, watching with endearment sparkling in her eyes.

Clearing your throat, you reiterated your words. "It's us against the world."

Jake did extravagant hand motions, "More enthusiasm please!"

You were beaming, yelling out, "It's us against the world!"

"That's right baby, it is." Jake wrapped an arm around your shoulders bringing you to his side. Neytiri instinctively leaned against you both.

Y/n couldn't help but admire her parents. They were her foundation, her protectors. She couldn't believe that she used to be ashamed of being a Sully. It was her legacy, one she is only beginning to pave. She wasn't about to let Na'vi who didn't truly know her, dictate her life any longer.

"You taught me that love doesn't make us weak, it makes us stronger." You started, staring at your parents.

"I just - I couldn't catch up. There are so many other bigger things to worry about, and I thought.. I don't know. That I'd overcome this. I tried to love the ocean and the people. But I miss home. I miss everything that was green, now it's just all blue! That's actually why I like this place so much." You rambled, arms waving erratically. It felt gratifying to get it off your chest, especially to the two people you have wanted to tell from the get-go.

Your parents nodded, taking all your words in. But they were still conflicted. Their daughter had a competitive nature like no other, every time the world pushed her down - she always got back up. If you were lagging behind so much, you would have just pushed yourself more. Work extra hard, and seek help from your family.

But you haven't done any of that this time. All the means necessary she could have used as a stepping stone were left out of this equation. Instead, you had suffered in silence.

"You know, Y/n. It's not your fault for feeling like you don't belong. But you are one of us. You are Sully, you are the embodiment of strong heart. It does not matter what others say to you when no one else is there. It does not matter that you have 5 fingers." Neytiri protested, sighing.

She made sure you were looking at her, hearing her.

"What matters is how you control how it affects you. You are still growing, baby. This is a lesson you will remember for a lifetime and the next." Neytiri advised you, squeezing your hand.

"Your mother is right. At the end of the day, the power is in your hands. So use it, sweetheart. Follow your heart, and let us know next time if it gets a little too much. Alright?" Jake expanded on what Neytiri had told you.

You looked down at their hands holding yours. Yeah, Sully's really do stick together. And you wouldn't trade that for anything else in this world and all the other's orbiting you.

"Alright." Y/n restated, tugging both of her parents up with her. They stared at their child with confusion.

"Let's go back home." This time what you threw over your shoulder to them was a sweet smile, dimples and all.

Neytiri and Jake spoke with only their eyes as they let Y/n guide them back to their Mauri.

Our daughter is going to be just fine.

࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ˳೫˚

bonus:

Y/n's laughter could be heard inside the Mauri as she played in the water with Tuk just in front of their home.

Jake turned to Lo'ak and Neteyam who were doing some chores.

He cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck.

"I'll turn a blind eye if you decide to give Ao'nung a beating or two. Just for today." Jake mentioned, before going back to cleaning his gun.

Lo'ak had a devious grin, rubbing his knuckles together, "Yes Sir."

𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 ━━━ 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

⤷ feedback and reblogs are always much appreciated ! feel free to ask through my inbox if you would like to join my taglist. ♡

[hitomisuzuya]

Scara sexting, I know he would be so so good at it <33

Scaramouche x fem! reader. Smut. Sexting. Very dirty texts. Masturbation. This is nothing but pure filth, honestly.

Oml 😳 He would so good at it. Good luck with your pulls tonight, everyone! And now, I give you the power of words.

It was very late at night. You were curled up in bed, reading a book when you felt your phone vibrate next to you, dinging that you had a text.

You awake? It was a text from Scaramouche.

I am. You texted back.

I'm horny. What are you wearing? That was Scaramouche, always quick and straight to the point.

Blushing, you threw the blanket off of you, angling your phone so you could take a picture. You were wearing a purple tank top with matching purple panties. You attached the picture to a text message. This. I was wearing one of your hoodies before I got into bed.

A few minutes later, Scaramouche texted back. You know I love it when you wear purple. Seeing you in it never fails to make me hard. Attached to the text was a picture of Scaramouche's cock, leaking precum. The sight of it made arousal start to dampen your panties.

You thought for a moment before texting back. What do you want to do to me? Stretching out on your bed, you waited for his response.

I want to hold your wrists above your head, rubbing your clit until you beg me to cum on my fingers. Make your cunt clench around the tips until you squirm and writhe.

You felt your clit throb just from reading the text. Can I suck on your fingers after I cum? You were tempted to start rubbing your clit as you waited for his response.

I'll make you choke on them while you whimper for my cock. Is the sight of it making you wet? A picture of Scaramouche's hand wrapped around his cock came with the text, his fingers massaging into the tip.

Your fingers dipped inside your panties, massaging your clit as you read his text. You took off your panties, spreading the lips of your pussy so he could see how wet you were. I'm always wet for you.

You could imagine how Scaramouche was groaning with need, his cheeks flushing with lust as he looked at your texts. A response came from him a few minutes later. Touch yourself and tell me what you want me to do to you. I practically cummed seeing your cunt spread like that, all for me.

Tugging your shirt over your head, you took a video of your hand trailing down between your breasts, pinching one of your nipples until you started moaning. You spread your lips for him again, rubbing and pinching your clit. You recorded every moan, pumping your fingers to the knuckle inside of you. I want you to fuck me dumb, Scara. Make me cum screaming on your cock. I'm throbbing for you, I'm clenching around my fingers, wishing it was your cock instead. Fuck me until I can't think straight. Make me call you Master while I beg to cum.

You hastily typed the text, and sent it to him. Putting your fingers on your clit again, you rolled your hips up, barely able to swallow back your moans as you waited for a reply.

Your hand shook, continuing to finger yourself when you read his reply. Fuck, I am so hard. I'm cumming in my hand as type this. I'll make you cum and you'll lick my cock clean, sucking the cum off of it while you praise and beg me to cream on my cock again. A video of him fisting his cock was attached, cursing and groaning as cum spilled into his hand. You could also hear quiet whimpers bleeding into his moans.

You sent another video of you desperately pumping your fingers in and out of you, bucking your hips up while you moaned and cried out for him. Please, Scara. I can't make myself cum.

A response came a few minutes later. Aw, my slut can't cum without me? You will be punished if you manage to cum before I get there.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy birthday! Hope its great! The Untamed please? Its one of my favorite fandoms you've gotten me into 🥰

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Mo Xuanyu is married to the Second Jade of Lan.

Song Lan had known she’d married into the Lan – it was obvious – but he’d thought it was some not so bright cultivator that had been bewitched by her pretty face, or possibly literally bewitched, which he’d already decided wasn’t any of his damn business. If some stupid Lan wants a terrifying and amoral demonic cultivator for a wife, then good luck to them. Except they obviously don’t know she’s a demonic cultivator, considering their clan’s history with the original. But again, not his business, not his problem. His first priority is Xiao Xingchen and if Mo Xuanyu is going help him, then he really doesn’t care about who she’s terrorizing in her spare time.

Except it appears he’d underestimated her.

Because she’s apparently Jin Xuanyu now, legitimized and married off to the second most eligible bachelor in the cultivation world, superseded only by his brother who’s been unofficially off the market for over a decade.

Hanguang Jun had lived as a widower and Song Lan had been convinced he was going to die as one. Uncharitably, he wonders if maybe Lan Wangji just has a type, then feels bad about it in the next moment.

She orders Sect Leader Lan around and he lets her. She glares Hanguang Jun down.

To say absolutely nothing of the way she’d taken down Xue Yang. And then given him that dubious honor of taking credit for the kill, likely because she didn’t want to try and explain to her family how she’d managed it.

She had been clever and dangerous as a teenager. She’s managed to vault herself from disgraced bastard daughter to wife of the heir to the Lan and the legal mother to the third in line who will likely be the one actually succeeding Lan Xichen.

Jin Xuan – Xuanyu is a friend. She has very firmly shown herself to be a friend, helping him and protecting Xiao Xingchen and showing what certainly looks like genuine kindness to the girl who’d helped them, A-Qing.

Possibly she’s done all this to ensure their silence over what she used to be, what she is, but if so then it’s been successful. Betrayal would be a poor repayment for everything she’s done. The Lan hadn’t helped him or Xiao Xingchen. She had. The Lan can take care of themselves and if they can’t withstand the machinations of one woman, they deserve what they get.

Xiao Xingchen hasn’t said much, and Song Lan owes him so many apologies, but not here in front of everyone. He at least agrees to fly with him without much fuss. It will be difficult for him to fly with all three of them for any significant distance, but A-Qing asks Xuanyu to fly with her and she agrees with a smile.

Lan Sizhui doesn’t seem particularly thrilled, but he apparently is far too respectful of his step mother to disagree with her.

They’re flying back the inn when Xiao Xingchen presses himself back against his chest and tilts his head back to say, “Song Lan.”

It’s been so long since he’s heard Xiao Xingchen say his name. He has to swallow before he says, “Yes?”

“That’s,” he starts, then stops. “Who was that?”

“Who?” he asks. “We’re traveling with the Lans.”

“The woman,” he says.

His lips tug down into a frown but he tries not to panic. He’s been under charms to confuse and dull his senses for months. “That was Mo Xuanyu.”

If he’s already confused, getting into her legitimization probably won’t help anything.

Xiao Xingchen is silent for a few more moment. Then he asks, “Are you sure?”

What on earth. “Who else would she be?”

“She moves like – and sounds – but. It can’t. She’s – different,” he says.

As wonderful as it is to hear him speaking, Song Lan wishes he were saying less worrying things. “It’s been a long time since we saw her last. She’s grown up and married. Of course she’s different.” He squeezes his arms around Xiao Xingchen’s waist, hoping it’s not too presumptuous when they haven’t discussed anything yet. “It’s okay, after everything that’s happened this all must feel very sudden. Xuanyu is the one that found you. We can trust her.”

He thinks they can trust her. They can trust her more than any other sect cultivator, which granted isn’t saying much.

Xiao Xingchen relaxes against him. “Alright. If you say so.”

[jpitha]

Drives like Crazy

So, humans have this thing where they underestimate risks that are long term, and overestimate risks that are short term. Since we come from such a dangerous world, it kind of makes sense. In the deep recesses of the past, if you were overly wary about that bear over there, you were more likely to survive. But eating healthy all life long to avoid heart disease? That's a problem for Tomorrow Me.

It could be that Xenos that come from less dangerous words have a different view of risk than we do, and would be... concerned by the things that we do all the time because we underestimate their risk.

****

"Set helm to manual, I have control." Jesse's voice was smooth and confident as she sat forward in the leatherette upholstered seat on the command deck. A joystick and a panel with buttons rose out of the floor as foot pedals rose up to meet her booted feet.

"Captain, I would like to register a concern." Unity said. They were the transport freighter that Jesse was now controlling, and they were clearly against this.

"Your concern is registered and noted" Jessie didn't stop setting up the controls. "But as you are aware, manual controls must be tested and verified working quarterly."

Mer'ally, the chief engineer, and unofficial voice of the K'laxi crew onboard Unity turned from her station and looked at Jesse. "I mean, Unity has a point. While we do have to test the manual control system, we don't have to test it while coming to dock at Hyacinth during one of the busiest times of the year."

Jesse's smile was thin and strained. "Once again, your concern has been noted." Jesse's eyes flicked up to the K'laxi staring at her. Mer'ally was unusually tall for a K'laxi, she was nearly Jesse's height. Her reddish orange fur complimented her large green eyes. With her large expressive ears flicking as she spoke her worries, Jesse couldn't help wonder why she was so distracted by her. She shook her head slightly. "Regardless. We have to test manual controls, and I want to practice docking with Hyacinth. We need to know how to pilot Unity in all situations, including docking."

Unity sighed. They weren't going to be able to talk her out of this. "As you wish, Captain, relinquishing control."

Jesse harumphed and got back to work. She ran the joystick in all directions, and everyone felt the ship wiggle in response. With a satisfied nod, Jesse adjusted the inertial compensators down a touch. She wanted to be able to feel the ship move, but not enough to get people motion sick. She nodded in satisfaction and looked up at the other people with her.

"Yen. Please request docking with Hyacinth."

"Aye Captain." Yen bustled at her station. Jesse wondered how she lucked out that all the officers on the command deck today were women, and once again had to push that thought out of her mind. She was on duty now.

After a moment Yen called out. "Docking approved. We're clear to dock on the lower ring, bay 33."

"Bay 33 aye." Jesse punched in the location on her control screen, and her vision was overlayed with the best path to the dock. She'll have to match rotation with Hyacinth, but since it's so large, they shouldn't have to go too fast. She goosed the thrusters and Unity started moving forward.

As they trundled towards bay 33, Jesse put Unity's controls through their paces. She gently rolled the ship to make sure the maneuvering thrusters worked correctly, she tumbled it end-over-end and she yawed it in place all the way around. It was actually a lot of fun. She could imagine the looks the other ships gave as Unity spun and pirouetted in place as it moved slowly towards their docking bay, but Jesse didn't care. Maybe she wanted to show off.

As the last maneuver finished, Jesse spun Unity such that with a few puffs from the main drive they'd match rotation with Hyacinth and being docking. Right before she fired the main drive, her console squawked.

"Collision imminent! Collision imminent! CHANGE DIRECTION NOW"

"What?" Jesse pulled hard on the joystick, and the front thrusters fired, sending the noise high while also stopping their forward momentum. With the compensators set low, everyone lurched forward in their seats. In the distance, Jesse heard a crash as something tipped over.

Unity called out. "Captain! There's a Starjumper that's thrusting away from Hyacinth without getting departure permission. Hyacinth is firing on it, and it's coming this way!"

"Why would they be shooting at a Starjumper?" Mer'ally's tail flicked. "Did they skip out on their docking fee?"

"Doesn't matter why right now." Yen didn't move her head from her console. "Comms are screaming with people yelling at them. They're not responding to anyone. They're on the run."

Jesse's screen was filled with the sight of one of the gigantic old interstellar starships bearing down on them. Orange lights of the tracers from the slug launchers oh Hyacinth were zipping past them. She felt ice in her veins as she realized that the Starjumper was going to hit them unless she did something drastic. An instant later, the collision alarm screamed loud again in the ship.

Jesse toggled ship-wide comms. "Juke charges! Brace for shock!" She fired the juke charges; small emergency explosives fired out of Unity and immediately exploded with their characteristic double boom. The area around the juke charge launchers were reinforced and bowl shaped to catch as much of the energy from the explosion as possible. The blast pushed the ship away with a lurch just as the Starjumper and slugs from Hyacinth passed where they were not a second ago.

"Hold tight everyone, I'm going get us away from here" Jesse's hands and feet danced over the panel as she increased power and started to thrust away. With the compensators still turned down, everyone felt the sickening drop as Unity dove and spun and turned as they were trying to get away from the attack.

"Jesse! You're too close to that ship!" Unity didn't even bother to call her Captain. Jesse saw the ship that Unity mentioned almost too late. She came hard on the portside thrusters and everyone held their breath as they glided by the ship.

"You were close enough to scorch their paint Jes-Captain." Mer'ally sighed in relief and grinned.

"The important thing is we missed, Mer." Jesse looked up and flashed a smile and a wink. Mer'ally quickly turned back to her station, but not before a ripple of fur went down her body, a K'laxi blush.

Unity sounded testy. "Captain. The danger has passed and you have more than proven your piloting ability as well as the function of the manual controls. Can I please have the helm?"

Jesse leaned back from her station and stretched. She was concentrating so hard it felt like no time at all had passed. "All right Unity. I release the helm. You have control."

"Aye Captain. Resuming docking with Hyacinth."

Now all Jesse had to do was wait for docking to complete and stress about whether she could ask Mer'ally out on a date. Unity was a civilian ship and they all worked for Houndstooth, one of the major Sol based corporations, so it wasn't like they had to worry about a higher ranked officer hitting on a lower ranked one, but Jesse still worried. She might say no. It was going to be a long wait to dock.

[livvyisb0red]

“Let me cheer you up ;)”

Wealthy!Best Friend!Hawks x Stressed!Reader

Summary: Keigo’s beloved best friend has been overly stressed with work at their agency; his only way he thought to calm them down is to have a night-in at his penthouse with some drinks and music.

- Best Friends to Lovers (?) -

**CW: overworked, kissing, alcohol, cuddling

*Reader is a prohero with their own agency

NOT PROOFREAD

Another sigh fell from his mouth as Keigo set his phone on the small table in front of him, careful not to knock over his glass of water.

“My one weekend off and everyone is busy!” He grumbled before falling back onto his sofa, the multicolored screen catching his attention as he sits upright, allowing him to fixate on the sitcom that illuminates from the screen.

A few episodes pass before his phone buzzes on the table.

*1 message from: Loser ^///^*

- dude i’ve had so much to do at my agency since my assistant got a new job - 9:30 pm

~ I bet :( Do you want me to send my assistant over to your agency? - 9:30 pm

- omg please i’d literally cry. - 9:31 pm

~ Of course! What all would he be doing? - 9:31 pm

He leaned forward to get a sip of his water before checking his phone again.

- honestly he could probably come in tomorrow. if there’s two of us looking through these reports we can get it done in about two hours. I’ll be paying him a little extra too since he isn’t part of my agency. - 9:32 pm

~ Alright! I wish you luck. You leaving now then? - 9:32 pm

- yeah probably. why? - 9:32 pm

~ I’m booooooooorrrreeeedd - 9:33 pm

Keigo had sent the message with hopes that his best friend would want to come over. He knew they’d want to!

- kei I’m so stressed idk. i just wanna chill tonight - 9:34 pm

Well this didn’t go as planned. He had another trick up his sleeve. Hoping it would work, he took a deep breath and pressed his thumb against the screen of his phone.

~ Let me cheer you up ;) - 9:35 pm

“Fuck why did I do that?!” Keigo immediately got anxious after sending that. What if they get mad? Will they hate him? Oh god. Intrusive thoughts starting swirling through his head, playing out the worst possible out come over and over again until…

- yeahh it’s friday why not lmao - 9:36 pm

Jumping off the couch, he cheered loudly before rushing back to his phone.

~ Dress up for me, and bring a bathing suit ;) - 9:36 pm

- okay feathers lol - 9:36 pm

Keigo rushed around his house speed cleaning everything to make sure it was nice for when (y/n) came over. He took the cover off of his hot tub, making sure it was the perfect temperature for the two of them. Throwing some snacks together on a plate for them, he thought it would be nice to pour some Rosé for them. Rushing to his room, he looks for something to where quickly finding some nice dress pants and a white button up for him to wear.

Taking off his t-shirt, he looks at himself in the mirror before taking a deep breath and throwing his dress shirt on, barely buttoning it up since they would be getting in the hot tub.

The knock on the door pulled him out of his trance, and brought him into a new one. He practically appeared at the door, opening it for his dazzling bestie.

“Hey feathers.”

Oh boy. They did NOT have to get that pretty for HIM. If it weren’t for his ego, Keigo would be on his knees IMMEDIATELY for them.

“Hi chickie” Keigo choked out with a wink. He took their hand leading them into his penthouse, while grabbing the glass of rosé to hand to (y/n).

“Oh my god, you didn’t have to do all this for me Kei! I’m serious!”

“Why wouldn’t I? After a stressful day I would wanna be pampered too.”

Walking over to his coffee table, he grabbed the remote putting on music that just begged to be danced to. Keigo strutted back to (y/n), hand out, inviting them to dance with him.

“Really, Kei?” (Y/n) shook their head, giggling before taking his hand and accepting the invitation.

The lights in the room changed to a hot pink before Keigo put his phone back on the table, looking back at his best friend, admiring their eyes. They danced for what felt like hours, the upbeat, glittery music mixed with the pink lights and alcohol had them ignoring anything that happened around them. Keigo grabbed (y/n)’s face, looking deeply into their eyes before asking a question which would change the night for the better.

“Wanna take a shot or two?”

Laughter erupted between the two of them before they made their way to his liquor cabinet, pulling out a bottle of Ciroc and two shot glasses. They each took a shot before chasing it down with more rosé. Slowly but surely they made their way back into the living room before Keigo looked at (y/n), gesturing to his balcony.

“Let’s take this outside, babe.” Keigo practically drooled from his mouth.

They both got changed in his room before making their way to his balcony, with Keigo leading the way and opening the sliding door. He climbed over the side before grabbing (y/n)’s hand, guiding them into the hot tub with him. Thoughts started swirling through Keigo’s mind. He wanted to put his arm over (y/n) more than anything, but the fear of ruining the relationship they had took over. So he just leaned back and looked over to the city around them. They both let out a sigh, soaking in the relaxing feeling of the warm water washing around them. Keigo jumped at the feeling of someone’s head on his shoulder, looking down at (y/n), who was looking back at him before shooting a wink. They both laughed, realizing the others feelings.

“You cool with this?” (Y/n) asked in an almost whisper-like tone.

“Uh YEAH!” He cheered, causing them both to burst into laughter for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

They cuddled up to each other in the hot tub, his arm over their shoulder, their leg over top of his. Keigo looked at (y/n) with longing eyes before pulling them onto his lap. He looked up at them, running his hand up their body before resting it on the back of their head and pulling them into a kiss.

The kiss lasted hours in their head, when in reality it was only a few seconds. They looked at each other before Keigo let out a drunken giggle and kissing (y/n) once more, this one with more passion than the last. Alcohol running through their mouths, causing kiss to be sickeningly sweet to both of them. Keigo pulled away, leaving his hand on their waist.

“I think we are both too drunk for this, but just know that I’ve liked you for a long time. I don’t want anything happening between us while we’re drunk. I’d rather not have any regrets in the morning.”

(y/n) looked at him with the most mesmerizing smile Keigo had ever seen before kissing him once more and nodding in agreement.

“I was thinking the same thing, Kei”

They both got out of the hot tub, drying off before heading back inside.

“Do you want a sweatshirt and sweats to change into?” Keigo asked from his bedroom.

“Yes please! Thanks!”

Keigo came down the stairs with the promised clothes in his hands.

“You can get changed in my bathroom over there, you know where it is.”

Watching as his friend left the room before checking the time on his phone, 1:37 am.

“Wow” he laughed to himself before looking back up and seeing (y/n) in his hoodie and pants which were way too big for them, but he loved it.

He put his arm up, inviting them over to the couch with him so he could put his arm over them.

“You know it’s almost 2:00, right?”

“No?! That much time passed?”

“Yeah, we should get to bed, I got a TV in my room so we’ll have something to watch while we fall asleep.”

“But I just sat down!”

Keigo giggled before picking them up and carrying them up the stairs into his room and laying them on his bed. They both got under the covers before tangling themselves together. He didn’t even get to turn on the tv before they fell asleep together with a new future ahead of them.

[ohgodimafraud]

panic! at the drugstore (j/jk, nanami)

hiiiii @ezynse merry xmas, happy new year, happy day. <3

im ur secret santa. <33 i hope u like this fic. ily. i want u to know the j key on my keyboard is challenged so i wrote "Goo" by accident sm ToT

(sorry for the title i dont even rlly listen to them i- )

please keep this to sneeze kink blogs only! 18+ only!

Summary stuff:

Fandom: J/JK

Characters: Nan//ami, Go/jo, Ijic/hi, Yu/ji,

Pairings: slight nana/go. in the way la croix has flavor

Good future AU (no bad stuff, everyones an adult. set in 2023)

As soon as Nanami detected Gojo’s presence, he should have turned on his heel and left. Instead, he’d gone into the drugstore, reasoning that the necessity of his trip outweighed the aggravation it’d cause. He wasn’t naive enough to hope he’d get out of here without any additional psychic damage but maybe he’d luck out and Gojo would— 

“Nanami!” Gojo sang from a few aisles over. This was starting to play out like one of his nightmares. Verbatim. “Wow, you shop here too?!” 

“Not anymore.” 

Gojo laughed easily and brushed off the obvious rejection with a wave of his hand. “Oh, don’t act like you’re not happy to see your best buddy!”

“I have no such thing.” Nanami sighed and drew out a cough in the process which he managed to muffle into the sleeve of his jacket. Anyone else would have read the room and left him alone, but Gojo continued to chatter on at a volume unfit for the public space they were in. If only he’d move back a few centimeters so Nanami could escape without having to push past him and potentially causing a bigger scene than they’re already causing. He’d already used up his energy—both cursed and otherwise—at work today and he was quickly fading. 

 For the first time, he wished he could focus on the bubblegum pop blasting through the speakers with its sentiments of Sakura blossoms and old times; it would beat trying to follow the embellished story Gojo was telling. He pinched the bridge of his nose. To make matters worse, the temperature change had caused the congestion that had mostly settled by the end of the train ride over here to return with a vengeance. His nose threatened to drip and he risked a small sniffle. Immediately, he recognized it as a mistake when the lingering prickle sharpened and traveled deeper into his nose.

As if he hadn’t sneezed enough today. 

“And after all that I got some wagashi at this great place near the hospital, Great Luck right? And haha it was! Anyway, the point is… I got some stuff for Yuji, but then I got hungry waiting for the car so I figured I’d better make up for it.”

Nanami made a point of checking his watch as a last ditch effort for a polite departure, less for Gojo’s sake and more for the sake of everyone else in this godforsaken store. But most of all for his own sake, considering he’s quickly losing the battle against the pertinent tickle up his right nostril. “I don’t have time to talk,” he said evenly, breath only wavering once he’s gotten the last word out. 

Unfortunately, Gojo clasped his shoulder, refusing to let him leave. “Did you take the train here? We could carpool instead, Ijichi is—”

“ht’KKxt!” Nanami interrupted with a poorly restrained sneeze directed into the sleeve of his jacket. 

“Bless you!” Gojo’s head lolled to the side; he had the decency to release him, but otherwise didn’t move out of his personal space. Nanami nodded and turned away. “Wow, that sounded painful. You okay?”

It was. “hGNXt’ch! h’kKt…chh.” Damnit. “Hh- kmpht’Chhh!” He might not have been able to see Gojo’s eyes, but he sure could feel them on him. This tickle just wasn’t going to quit until he let it out, and he’d rather end this as soon as possible. “h’eSCHh!” 

“Oh bless you.” Gojo, ever uncaring of displaying any decorum, took zero steps away from him. He examined him from a few different angles, tapping his chin as he hovered. “Bet I can guess why you’re here today!”

“Excuse me.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed small circles all the way into the inner corners of his eyes and tried to ignore the heat that had risen to his ears. His head pounded even harder than it had before. 

“Always so formal, huh?”

Always so inappropriately casual, huh? Nanami glanced at Gojo’s basket and its contents: strawberry shampoo, bags of candy, winter apple body wash, face masks, moisturizer, cotton candy flavored lip gloss, and more items he couldn’t quite make out, but surely none of them were essential enough to inconvenience Ijichi in the way Gojo was. Everything he’s learned about Satoru Gojo has been against his will, and now he’s horrified that his brain was wasting the time wondering if he’s one of those people who can’t go to the store and truly buy one item.

“So, how was your—”

“I don’t have time to talk. Excuse me.” Risking a shoulder check, Nanami walked towards the aisles. He tried not to sniffle more than strictly necessary and tried to ignore the extra set of footsteps behind him. Key word was tried.

“Oh wow, you really sound terrible.” Gojo said sympathetically, continuing to haunt Nanami all the way to the cold and flu aisle. “How long have you had that cold?”

Why did it have to be Gojo?

“Stop following me.”

“You forgot your basket, though.” 

So he did. “I don’dt need that much.” It was true, but Nanami accepted the basket anyway from the pouting man. 

“Mm, really? You kinda sound like you’re dying, y’know.” Gojo wandered around the aisle and picked up a box of medicine that he held up to his blindfolded eyes. “No offense.” A man started walking in their direction, took one look at Gojo, and immediately turned around. Nanami released a small forlorn sigh through gritted teeth.

“I’ll be finde.” he said, clearing his throat. He could curb the hoarse quality his voice had taken on, but the congestion was something he’d have to live with for now. “You mentionded Ijichi is waiting?”

“Yeah, so hurry up, Nanami!”

“I will n’dot be ri-ridi’hhgg wih—” He’d gotten distracted and hadn’t noticed that the itch from before had been slowly respawning. Gojo gave a questioning hum as Nanami his knuckle to his nose, sniffled sharply, and cleared his throat again. “I will not be riding with you.”

 “Aw, not with me?” 

Nanami shot him a glare. All of his efforts were in vain because the urge to sneeze returned with a vengeance and demanded his attention in a way that put Gojo’s efforts to shame. The prickle spread like wildfire through his sinuses, and in spite of his efforts in snuffing it out, he’d allowed himself to get distracted enough to give the enemy the advantage. ���Hh-!” He inhaled sharply before shoving the back of his wrist up to his nose. “nGhthsCH! hh’NGXTCHh’ueh!” That last one had been particularly loud but had been just as unrelieving as its predecessors. “hehH’TSChhiuh!”

 Gojo patted his back. There was a warmth to his palm that Nanami could feel even through the layers of fabric acting as a buffer between them. “Bless you.” Using only his free hand, he easily broke the seal of a travel pack of tissues on the shelf and nudged a few tissues into Nanami’s palm.

“You’re supposed to pay first.” In spite of the protest, he fixed his glasses that were in danger of falling off his face and accepted the tissues; by noon, his handkerchief had become unusable and he’d already gone through the tissues he’d accepted at the train station this morning, so his options were limited. He turned away for a moment to blow his nose. While his efforts were productive, they did little to kill the taunting buzzing in the back of his nose. He pinched his nostrils shut from behind the tissue and willed the tickle to recede.

“Not yet! Hey if I buy your stuff will you ride with me? Wouldn’t you get back sooner that way? Oh, bless—”

“hh’MPHtchh!”

“—you again!”

He took a moment to massage the bridge of his nose in a silent apology to himself for the poor attempt at stifling before clearing his throat and bringing up sodden tissue to wipe the lingering moisture from the red rims of his nostrils. 

No amount of free cold medicine would make spending his free time with this absolute menace in a small enclosed space worth it, but at the same time it’d be less aggravating for him to just go along with it in the long run. Gojo’s already made it clear he has no intention of leaving him alone. He gave half a nod and picked up the first bottle of cold medicine that he saw and a bag of face masks and took a few steps in the direction of the check out. 

“That’s all you’re buying?” Gojo asked. His lips formed an exaggerated frown and his forehead wrinkled as if he was bewildered by Nanami’s shopping habits.

Nanami was too busy fighting a losing battle against the threat of another sneeze to tell Gojo to stop adding more items to the basket, but he managed to shoot him a pointed glare before his expression crumpled. “Hh- hehhH- …mPHTtshhiuh! Pardon,” he said more out of habit than anything and wiped his nose again, “I have more than enough now.” 

“So frugal.”

He supposed the cough drops, vicks, lotion tissues, vitamins, and nasal spray wouldn’t hurt, especially if accepting them will get Nanami out of here faster. Since he’d already opened the tissues, he figured he might as well put on one of the masks in the pack. His glasses immediately fogged and he tucked them into his inner coat pocket.

After they’d approached the register Gojo told the cashier they would be paying together and nuzzled his cheek against Nanami’s shoulder in an intimate way. He’d smack him later. 

The cold pierced through Nanami’s coat as soon as they opened the door. As annoying as this situation is, he can’t say he’s upset that he won’t have to walk back to the train station. They turned a corner and Gojo pointed out the car. 

“I know, I know.” Gojo opened the door to the passenger side and abruptly wrapped an arm around Nanami’s shoulder, yanking him into the field of vision as if he’d run away. “That took a little longer than I said, but look who I ran into!”

“Nanamin!” Itadori called out from the back seat with a cheery wave. Nanami is just as surprised to see him, though he’d mostly tuned out Gojo’s story. “No way, what a coincidence!”

Nanami shot Gojo a withering look and gave a slight bow to Itadori. “Itadori-kun…” 

“Think fast!” Gojo called out and threw a bag of candy at Itadori. 

He caught it easily. “Wow, thank you, Gojo-sensei!” 

“Gojo-san, we were meant to be back over a half hour ago—“

“Ijichiiii, you need to relax. Seriously, you’re already getting frown lines, that’s no good. Look, I even got something for you. Tadaaa~” He dropped a pack of instant udon into his lap and a face mask and made himself comfortable in the passenger seat. “Can you drop Nanami Kento-kun off first?”

“Don’t call me that.”

Ijichi sighed and took a moment before he half-heartedly thanked Gojo for the gifts. Then he turns to look at the backseat. “Of course, Nanami-san.” He and Nanami shared a quick glance as the cause of their stress tore into his own pack of candy and ate it noisily. 

“Oh, why are you wearing a mask, Nanamin?” Itadori asked as Nanami sat next to him and put on his seatbelt. “Do you have a cold?”

“It’s alright,” Nanami assured him and cleared his throat, “just a mild one.”

“I dunno if mild is the right word there, Nanamin.” Gojo interjected as Ijichi finally started driving.  

Itadori’s face fell and Nanami sincerely considered kicking the back of Gojo’s chair, though he was too busy pinching his nose shut over the fabric of the mask to stifle a sneeze that had nearly escaped his detection. “hGXxt’chshh!- excuse me.”

“Bless you. I hope you feel better soon.” Itadori frowned and offered him a piece of candy. Nanami shook his head and Itadori shrugged and ate it himself. 

“You’re gonna pop an eardrum like that,” Gojo chastised, clicking his tongue.

All of this was past the point of the nightmare he’d thought he was having earlier and was starting to veer into the fever dream category. Perhaps in more ways than one. Gojo flicked through the radio stations until he found what he was looking for and started singing along with a pop song. Itadori joined him and they pointed at each other while Nanami reflected on his life choices and folded his arms more tightly over his chest.  

Nanami glanced at Ijichi’s GPS. Twenty minutes of this felt like a death sentence. His limbs had started aching a few hours ago and now that the adrenaline was long dead and he was sitting again, he felt it in full force. The sudden urge to lean his temple against the foggy window arose and he indulged in it, ever so slowly pressing his forehead to the window. 

While Gojo was especially pitchy, the noise at least took the focus off of Nanami as he muffled a series of throat-tearing coughs against the crook of his arm. His lungs gave a slight whine as he regained his breath and he could feel the silent attention the other three men were giving him. 

“Can you breathe okay, Nanamin?” Itadori asked, patting his shoulder. If it were anyone else, Nanami would have batted the hand away, but doing that to Itadori would feel like kicking a puppy and it's not like he was heartless. While most people become hardened and jaded after living the life of a jujutsu sorcerer, Itadori remained as kind and genuine as ever over the years. 

Instead he nodded. “Yes. Don’t worry.” 

Itadori gave him a thumbs up. The singing continued and he pitied Ijichi for how long he’s had to put up with Satoru Gojo today. 

To Gojo’s credit, he toned down the singing, but Nanami almost wished he’d go back to his caterwauling, because his nose had chosen that moment to betray him yet again. It itched like mad and putting pressure on the tip of his nose did nothing to chase the feeling away. He did his best to muffle it into his sleeve anyway, hoping the extra layers would do anything to make it less intrusive than he knew it would be. “Hh- hgzt’SChhiuh! heHMPHhshh’ieuh!- pardon me.”

“Aw, bless you,” Gojo chimed in, stretching out his seatbelt as he turned his body around to face him. “Do you want my jacket, Nanamin?” He puckered his lips.

This time he let his shoe dig into the bag of Gojo’s chair. “No.”

Ijichi quietly turned up the heat. “Give him a break, Gojo-san,” he said tiredly. 

The rest of the ride quite literally blurred together as Nanami fought to keep his eyes open. With the heat on, his chills were kept at bay, and it was easy to drift off to sleep. He jolted and shook himself awake at least three times before the familiar building came into view, and the third time, it’d been because Itadori was saying his name to get his attention. Ijichi pulled up closer and stopped the car. Nanami thanked him for the ride and held up a hand to stop Itadori from offering a side hug. 

“Get well soon, Nana—”

Nanami shut the car door and ignored the rest of Gojo’s sentence. Getting into the apartment was a blur, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d come home in rough shape, relying on autopilot. He immediately hung his jacket and loosened his tie, and then he removed his face mask, cringing as he pinched away the lingering moisture from his nostrils. He’d done his best to avoid rubbing his nose all day, but his efforts seemed to be in vain considering how sore it still was. 

As much as he wanted to just collapse into the couch, his discipline won out and he managed to undress. Though, not without challenge. “huhh…HGSCHh’uh!” He sneezed all over his chest, too slow to cover in his exhausted state. Undeniably, it was a relief to be able to sneeze freely in the privacy of his bedroom. “hh-...hDJtSchh’euh! hhaH’DTzSHhh’ih!” 

He found the tissues from the bag and blew his nose, letting out a slight hum of relief as some of the congestion came free. His eyes still ached and with a quick dose of medicine, he was ready to close them. He laid in bed with the extra throw blanket atop the comforter and waited for the chills to die down so he could sleep.

It  was restful for the first few hours. As he’d anticipated, he woke up in the early hours of the morning coughing, hair clinging to his forehead with sweat, and his mouth bone dry. 

3 AM. 

It was too early for this. He forces himself into the kitchen to fill a tall glass with water and to find a few more items from the bag. He took the cough drops out and put one in his mouth and placed the rest of the bag on the bedside table. 

Somehow knowing that he needed as much sleep as possible hindered him from doing so. He drifted in and out of sleeping for the entire morning, occasionally walking up mumbling something incomprehensible. 

He was finally asleep until his phone went off a few minutes past 6 AM. It wasn’t his alarm, but an obnoxious ding.

Gojo: 

heyyy nanamin~ 

… Nanami clenched his jaw as he watched the animated ellipses bubble and waited to see what could possibly be so important to disturb him.

Gojo:

good morning! 🌞hope u get some rest today hahaha :D you sounded awful 🤒dont go dying </3

Typically jujutsu sorcerers have about as much paid sick leave as he would’ve had at his former company: basically none. What kind of fucked up—

Nanami frowned, realizing he’d missed some other notifications, including the ones canceling his mission for the day. It’s easy to put the pieces together. He had to put the phone down to sneeze a few times, and it continued to ding throughout his fit.

Gojo:

we’ll have to go out when youre better!! next friday?? theres a new barcade i wanna try and then KARAOKE!!!!!! :DDD

Gojo:

Nanamiiiiii D: 

Gojo:

don’t leave me on read

Gojo:

bless youuuuu :3

Gojo:

no i cant hear u im just guessing

Gojo:

was i right?? o.O 

Nanami silenced his phone and went back to sleep, deciding to address the new situation, along with the strange feelings that’d started coming up, later. For now, at least he could relax. 

Nanami:

Thank you.

[harrysfolklore]

maybe for one of the brazil shows could you do an insta blurb with kenyabrown_? she’s a brazilian model from london 🙏🏻

brazil shows !! and also the last tour blurb of the year, i hope you like it <33

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ask me anything | masterlist | likes and reblogs are appreciated !

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yourinstagram home shows next 🥺🇧🇷

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harryfan1 stunning omg

annetwist Gorgeous curls ❤️

harryfan2 É uma mulher bela

harrystyles So excited x

↳ harryfan1 HE LOVES BR SO MUCH

↳ harryfan2 yeah they win

liked by harryfan1, harryfan2 and 3,973

harryupdates Harry watching the game with YN’s brothers today in São Paulo !

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harryfan1 MY BABYYY

harryfan2 is he tense about the game or about yn’s brothers splitting him in half

harryfan3 BABY BONDING WITH THE FAMILY

harryfan4 looking for their approval

liked by harryfan1, harryfan2 and 3,937 others

harryontour “Did anyone watch the football yesterday? Did Brazil win? Right, I couldn’t tell from all the shouting in the streets! They look quite good Brazil, don’t they? I watched it with my Brazilian brothers, we had a great time, Brazil is always a great time, right?” - Harry talking to the crowd at #LoveOnTourSaoPaulo

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harryfan1 STOPPP

harryfan2 his brazilian brothers i can’t

harryfan3 ele é brasileiro

harryfan4 ❤️❤️❤️🇧🇷🇧🇷

YN’S INSTAGRAM STORIES

//

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harrystyles Love On Tour. São Paulo I. December, 2022.

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harryfan1 MY LOVEEE

lizzobeeating ❤️

yourinstagram best show 🥰

↳ harryfan1 get him to show his brasil tattoo pleaseee

↳ yourinstagram i’m trying

↳ harryfan2 YEEEES

liked by annetwist, harrystyles and 510,826 others

yourinstagram you can thank me for his next post 🥵

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harryfan1 STUNNING

gemmastyles I wish I was as cool as you

harryfan2 SHE MEANS HARRY’S POST?

anthonypham 👀👀

harryfan3 HUHHH

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harrystyles Love On Tour. Rio de Janeiro. December, 2022.

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harryfan1 OH LORDDD

alessandro_michele 🍓

harryfan2 THIS IS WHAT YN MEANT

yourinstagram everyone say thank you yn

↳ mitchrowland thank you yn

↳ harryfan3 MITCH 😭

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yourbrother Nós te amamos irmão ! ❤️💚

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harryfan1 HARRY

yourinstagram i was really replaced…

↳ harryfan2 please 😭

harryfan3 that means we love you brother IM NOT OKAY

harrystyles ❤️💚

↳ harryfan2 AHHHH

↳ harryfan3 i love this

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yourinstagram i want this picture tattooed all over my body 🥲

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harryfan1 AWEEE

annetwist ❤️❤️

harryfan2 this is adorable

harrystyles It’s only fair, I have “Brasil” tattooed after all x

↳ harryfan1 they’re too cute

↳ harryfan3 acting as if yn didn’t have “H” tattooed on her ribs

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harrystyles Love On Tour. Curitiba. December, 2022.

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harryfan1 MY BUB

anthonypham Stilll soggy

harryfan2 🇧🇷🇧🇷❤️

yourinstagram i love you so much you have no idea

↳ harrystyles I do x

↳ harryfan3 I LOVE THEM SO MUCH SHUT UP

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harryupdates Harry with YN and the crew watching Koffee perform tonight !

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harryfan1 I LOVE THEMMMM

harryfan2 look at him taking pics

harryfan3 my babyyy

harryfan4 best couple ever

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harrystyles Love On Tour. São Paulo II. December, 2022.

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harryfan1 EU TE AMO

annetwist ❤️❤️

yourinstagram just one show left i’m crying 🥲

↳ lookitsnyoh same

↳ harryfan2 same

harryfan3 my baby

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yourinstagram last love on tour show of 2022 🥲 i’m the luckiest gal alive because i get to be by your side while you do what you love the most, thank you for keeping me around, lovie @harrystyles SÃO PAULO VAMOS FAZER ISSO 🇧🇷

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harryfan1 STOOOP 🥺

gemmastyles ❤️❤️

paulithepsm yooo let’s go

harryfan2 I LOVE HER

harrystyles I love you, I love you, I love you. You’re the reason behind all of this. Mi pão de queijo x

↳ harryfan1 THIS IS ADORABLE

↳ harryfan2 i can’t take this

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harryontour “I would love to thank my beautiful girlfriend, also. Without her I wouldn’t be in one piece performing for you every night, she keeps me sane during these intense months of constantly traveling and performing every night. So baby, thank you, I love you” - Harry tonight !

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harryfan1 MY HEARTTT

harryfan2 he literally adores her

harryfan3 best couple ever

harryfan4 if they don’t get married istg

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harrystyles Love On Tour. São Paulo II. December, 2022.

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harryfan1 MY BABYYY

anthonypham First one also me after this run 💕

harryfan2 im going to miss him so much

yourinstagram that’s a wrap 🥲🥲🇧🇷

↳ harryfan3 don’t leave queen

annetwist ❤️❤️

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harrystyles 2022 changed my life.

I can’t begin to thank all of you who supported me through it, I’ll never forget it.

I hope your end of year is filled with happiness and calm.

Love you all.

See you next year. H

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harryfan1 BABY YOU ARE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

harryfan2 my love :(

lookitsnyoh Our fearless leader 🔥🙌🏻❤️

yourinstagram can’t wait to make new memories with you next year, i love you 💓

↳ harrystyles Words will never be enough. I love you

↳ harryfan2 JUST BREAK MY HEART WOULD YOU

taglist: @cucciolafaerie @eleanordaisy @sunflowersndpeaches @golden-hoax @alienorknight t @daydreamingofmatilda @sunflowervolume66 @vanteguccir @ivyproblems @ayeshathestyles @stylesmygucci @gimsaysay @rosaliedepp @dontworrysunflower @milfrrynation @manifestrry @iceebabies @harrystylesrecs @pleasingrryyy @harianaswhore @leadmetogarden @abeanontoast @grapejuice-rry @vrittivsanghavi @msolbesg @tati813 @sad1esgf @ivegotparticulartaste @eviesaurusrex @itsgabbysblog @theekyliepage @gumballavocadoharry @watermelonsugacry @be-with-me-so-happily @a-strange-familiar @reveriehs @musicforcinemas @harrybabyyyyyyy @tinydeskwriter @noooovaaaaa @tenaciousperfectionunknown @mxltifxnd0m @rach2602 @balletdancerry @b-reads-things @juiceboxrry @lomlolivia @itsgigikay

[whatisthisno420]

Persuasion (Retail Au! Pantalone x Reader)

Your sales have been decreasing ever since you have transferred over to the jewelry department. Despite the below average performance, your boss decides to salvage this by pairing you up with the top seller in hopes of increased performance. What happens when that person just so happens to be the one coworker you can't stand?

Note: This is a Pantalone x Reader, but considering that this is an modern au that Pantalone is not a Harbinger, he will be referred to by the name Feiyu. Please let me know if I should change the name. The reader is currently gender neutral.

This is currently a one shot that I originally submitted to Fatui Con 2024, however I might make this a series as I see potential in this. Also let me know if you guys want any more Retail AU Harbinger fanfics (or any ideas). I got plenty of ideas in my head.

Sometimes you wish that you didn’t have to change jobs.

Though it’s not that you hated your job. Working as a Jewelry Sales Associate certainly has its perks after all. You get excellent commissions, practically free health & dental insurance, 33% employee discount, paid breaks, as well as being surrounded by decent people. Well, most of the people are decent, anyway.

It is rather difficult to enjoy the benefits when you only make enough to barely satisfy your sales goals. You used to be really good too, as you were considered the best performer in the shoe and purse departments, prior to getting promoted to the jewelry department. However, now that your boss has given you a final warning about your performance, you had resorted to looking for other jobs, in hopes that you were able to land another before your current employment ceases.

Except that you weren’t having any luck either finding jobs. Either the pay was less than you could afford, the commute would be too long, the job seemed shady or they couldn’t give the hours you needed. With the good jobs, you were either passed up or you wouldn’t be able to even get an interview.

So instead you were at your current job, about to head onto the floor after clocking in and putting your stuff away, when you get called to go into your bosses office. 

Though practically frozen in fear, you reluctantly agreed. As you made your way into his office, speculation of the possible reasons has clouded your mind, completed with the sound of your pounding heart. You had to stop yourself from spiraling into a full-blown panic attack.

You tapped your forearms in an effort to calm down. You are not going to get fired. You are fine. He might have some good news for once.

Luckily you have managed to calm yourself down enough to remain emotionless in front of your boss. When you reached his office, you knocked on the door before opening.

“I was told that you wanted to see me-“

You made the mistake of looking up. In front of you was your boss, and the coworker that you hated the most, Feiyu.

“Come and take a seat, (Y/N),” Your boss replies, his hand opening towards the empty chair. You made your way towards the chair, letting out a soft sigh as you sat down.

What in the hell was Feiyu doing here anyways? This can’t be good. Nothing good ever comes out when he’s around.

While you are able to get along with everyone at work, Feiyu is the one exception; you would rather be run over by  a bus than be anywhere near him. He talks like he is getting paid by words-spoken-per-minute, and also acts like he is some know-it-all. You also suspect that he is trying to steal your clients, as almost any new client you happen to make, often gets swept up in his charm, resulting in the sales going to him. Unfortunately you can’t tell your boss that, especially because in your bosses eyes, you would be ‘slandering his top performer’.

He also seemed to know how to always catch you off guard, which almost always ticks you off. It would make you feel vulnerable, embarrassed, and you hated that. 

What bothered you the most about him was that his sour personality was wasted on a rather pretty face. Perhaps that’s the only reason why people could stand him; he’s got a pretty face that draws them in before it’s too late.

Sometimes you wish that you make him shut up somehow and could get away with it in the workplace. Or better yet, meeting him outside of work and teaching him a lesson. But mostly you would rather avoid him at all costs, even switching with other coworkers if it meant that you didn’t have to work the same shift as him.

“Welcome in, Feiyu and (Y/N). You might be wondering why I brought you in here. I’ll be straight with you. As you know, (Y/N) hasn’t been on top of their game recently, and might be in need of a refresher. That’s were you, Feiyu, come in. Both of you would be working together until (Y/N)’s performances get better.” Your boss said, leaning forward and putting his elbows on the desk.

You couldn’t believe what was said. You feel like this was one of your own nightmares, if only you could pinch yourself awake. Maybe, just maybe, being terminated was actually preferable.

“Maybe it doesn’t have to be like this –“ You responded, trying to persuade him out of desperation. “Maybe I just need to move to a different department, or a different store even-“

“Given your options with your current situation, this is the best option, either that or letting you go entirely.”

You were speechless. Or more accurately, you couldn’t of anything to say in a professional manner, so you silent.

“Listen, I know you have potential. You have done extremely well when you worked in other departments. If that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t have accepted your transfer. Isn’t that right, Feiyu?”

Feiyu gave a nod.

“Maybe you just need to learn from the best of the department, learn the product a bit more, and then sure enough, you would be reaching astronomical profits.”

You glanced over in Feiyu’s general direction. He lets out a sly grin, which catches you off guard. Here we go again.

“Feiyu, you are expected to show (Y/N) the ropes, as if they are brand new. From now on, both of you will now be sharing the same shifts and lunches to make it easier to work together.”

This is great. Absolutely a fun time to be had.

“Oh and you both better be on your best behavior. I don’t want to hear any reports that you are misbehaving. Any questions?”

You stood silent. You had many questions alright, but didn’t know what to ask.

“I understand the assignment, boss.” Feiyu responded, nodding his head once.

“If you don’t have any questions, you may leave.”

With that, you and Feiyu left the office, going straight to work.

When you first worked with him and he would start rambling, you would often tune him out, zoning in on your own thoughts. Or alternatively, you would make your escape by finding different customers to help out, or find various projects to help out with. Either way, Feiyu would always find a way to bring your attention back to him.

Though as a few days passed, you noticed that he wasn’t really being condescending as you originally thought. The more you managed to listen to his ramblings, the more you realized that he was trying to be helpful. He also seemed rather happy when you graced him with your presence, contrary to the prior belief that he was trying to ruin your career.

You also couldn’t help but notice that for the last few days, he was dressed to the nines. Sure, he always dressed nice, but he dressed extra fancy, like he was attending an rich man’s party or something.

Not that you were going to complain about the tuxedo he was wearing, or the way he styled his hair. Or even the fact that he had cologne on that just so happens to be your favorite scent.

One day, you were trying to listen to another Feiyu’s rambles when you noticed how perfect his waist and chest look against the suit. The suit jacket seemed to fit perfectly. You accidentally zoned in as if you were studying it.

“I must of lost you at my chest.” Feiyu said, giving out a soft chuckle. 

You didn’t know how long you must of stared, which made you feel immensely embarrassed. And the fact that he caught you off guard, again. You wanted to change your name and move to a new country, never to be seen again.

“N-No I’m listening. Just continue talking.” You stammered out.

Feiyu raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I have no problem starting over if needed.”

“I’m good!” 

“Sure”

“I said I’m good.”

“Alright then, if that’s what you really want.”

Feiyu continued with his lecture, your mind too preoccupied to even pay attention to what he is saying. You were desperate to get out of his grasp, regain your composure. Luckily you were able to keep yourself busy with customers for the rest of the shift, and surprisingly he didn’t come around to find you.

That lasted until the very end of your shift, when you about to clock out and about to leave. 

“You may be able to lie to yourself, but not to me.”

Feiyu caught you off guard again, only this time he managed to actually surprise you. 

“Did you think I wouldn’t be able to notice how easily distracted you are? Especially the amount of times you keep staring at me. You cannot resist me, can you?”

You felt the heat rushing into your cheeks. You wanted to fight him, but you were frozen in fear.

“Ah! Is that why you acted rather,,, cold towards me. You have a thing for me, don’t you? Is it the fact that this attraction is too much for you? Or is it the fact that you cannot handle rejection?”

“I do not like you that way!”

“Your reactions say otherwise.” Feiyu said, raising his eyebrows. “You know, a big key in securing sales is to able to read the body language and hidden meanings of your customers. After all, you have to anticipate which ones would be interested in your product, and which ones you can easily persuade to buy your products.”

There was a moment of silence in the air. You didn’t know what to say. Instead you stood there, flustered out of your mind.

“And you, my dear, are just another customer looking to buy a product. Though, product may not be the best word Perhaps service would be a way to describe.”

“W-well you are wrong.” You managed to say, crossing your arms. “I am not buying your services-“

“Based on the flush on your cheeks and the toes pointed towards me, I cannot buy into your statement. Though if I am truly wrong, perhaps you can persuade me over at the new restaurant across the street that just opened up.”

Your eyes widen in shock. Did he just-

“The best time to go is now before 7, unless you want to wait a while for a table… I guess you could persuade me as we are waiting, but I find it much easier to listen when we have out table, away from the chatter from other people, Don’t you think? Unless you prefer to take a walk around before our meal, get some shopping done… My treat of course.”

Feiyu took a good look at you, his eyes looking up and down. His hand moved towards his chin, resting two of his fingers below it. He tilted his chin slightly upwards.

“This is a good chance to practice your persuasion skills as well. That’s another key in making a good sales pitch you know. And if you take up on that offer, it would help you with your sales, and with your sales going through the roof, you wouldn’t have to deal with me for much longer, if that’s what you truly want-“

“Just a dinner is fine…” You mumbled 

“What was that? I didn’t quite get that-“

You repeated your statement, only that it was much louder and with a bit more frustration.

“Is tonight at 7 okay? Unless you have plans after work. Gives us enough time to look our best, prepare our arguments-”

“7 is fine.”

“Alright then, dear. See you there~” Feiyu then left the building, and you followed suit. You got in the car, replaying the day’s events as you drove home. 

What in the hell did I agree to?

You plan to meet him at 7, hoping that you could get it over with and done, or even better, that he decides to cancel and forgets to reschedule.

Little did you know, you were about to fall into a rabbit hole that you could never claw your way out of.

[puckinghischier]

400 follower celebration!!

i’m absolutely floored that in the short amount of time i’ve been writing on here that somehow there’s 400 of you that enjoy what i write enough to follow me and keep coming back for more.

i didn’t do any celebrations for any other milestones because i wasn’t confident enough to commit to it at the time, but i know the only way to truly get over my fear of being a bad writer is to keep writing.

so, with that being said, i’m going to put this out there. if you want to, if you don’t want to, it’s up to you, but i’d absolutely love if you guys sent me requests for the prompts you want to read!!

if you want to send in a request, just send me the number and the person you want me to write it for!

as i get requests, i will be marking out the numbers that have already been requested, in order to avoid duplicates

i currently write for:

- Nico Hischier

- Luke Hughes

- Jack Hughes

the only other player i would consider writing for is Quinn, but i’ve never written for him before, just given him a few cameos in other fics. if you really just want a Quinn fic i’ll consider it and try, but no promises.

i just don’t feel like i have enough knowledge yet of other players and their personalities off the ice to commit to writing a fic about them.

i grabbed these from another blog, but I cannot find the post again for the life of me, so credit to whoever originally posted these. if i find the page i'll tag them here later

Angst/Emotional:

1. “All I’ve ever wanted is for you to see me.”

2. “Just please open your eyes.”

3. “Wake up. You have to wake up. Please. For me.”

4. “Just please, don’t leave me.”

5. “Why does everyone always leave?”

6. “It hurts so much. Why does it hurt so much? I just want it to stop.”

7. “Forget it. Just like you forget everything else.”

8. “I never ask for help because I’m not sure I know how.”

9. “It’s alright to feel broken every once and a while. And it’s alright to take time to heal.”

10. “What is it about me that isn’t good enough?”

11. “I wish I was brave.”

12. “You almost died and you’re making jokes?”

13. “I’m scared.”

14. “I don’t miss you. I miss us.”

15. “I can’t lose you.” “You already did.”

16. ‘“You weren’t there…why weren’t you there? I needed you! I needed you! And you weren’t there!”

17. “All I wanted was a happy ending.”

18. “You don’t have to hide your tears from me.”

19. “I’m not leaving you here.”

20. “You left without saying goodbye.”

21. “For once in your life, do what you want! Be selfish!”

22. “Being strong doesn’t mean never asking for help or admitting you’re in pain.”

23. “You said you wouldn’t leave, and then you did.”

24. “This is the third time you’ve broken a promise to me, I’m starting to think you are doing it on purpose.”

25. “Whatever you do, do not make a sound.”

Fluff/Romantic:

26. “I just cant see myself ever living without you.”

27. “If there was ever anybody meant for me, it’s you.”

28. “The closest thing to love at first sight I’ve ever experienced happened when I first laid eyes on you.”

29. “I didn’t believe in soulmates until I met you.”

30. “Did you just tell the person I was gonna go out with that we’re dating?”

31. “You owe me a kiss.”

32. “Go with me?” “Only if you hold my hand.”

33. “I’d feel much better if you’d let me walk you home.”

34. “If I asked you to stay, would you?”

35. “You make me feel alive. For the first time ever, I feel like I can breathe.”

36. “I’ve never felt this way before, and truthfully it scares me. But, the idea of never trying scares me even more.”

37. “You’re telling me you believe in love at first sight?” “I’m starting to.”

38. “I promised to love you forever, and that is a promise I intend to keep.”

39. “Is that my shirt?” “You mean our shirt?”

40. “You give me a reason to be better, to do better.”

41. "All I’ve ever wanted was a place to belong. Somewhere I could call home. And you gave me that. Because you are my home.”

42. “They don’t compare to you. No one does.”

43. “I thought I had the worst luck, until I met you.”

44. “I could see the worst parts of you and still think you are the most beautiful person I’ve met.”

45. “I think I’m in love with you.”

46. “You brought me breakfast?” “Well you said you always forget to eat before you go to work, so I thought I’d make sure you ate something.”

47. “Everything feels right when you are with me.”

48. “I don’t care what others say, I want to be with you and that’s all that matters to me.”

49. “You bought me flowers?” “Yeah, well I noticed you’d seemed kinda down, so I wanted to cheer you up.”

50. “I’ll be damned if anyone makes you feel like you aren’t worthy of being loved.”

51. “I wasn’t sure what love really felt like until I met you.”

52. “You owe me.” “I owe you $20 not a day of pretending to be your partner to get your parents off your back.”

53. “I can braid your hair for you- I mean, only if you want.”

54. “Maybe if you stopped staring at them and actually talked to them, you might have a chance.”

55. “You said you wouldn’t fall in love with me.” “I lied.”

56. “I want you. All of you, and not just halfheartedly, but wholly. And maybe that’s selfish, but I don’t care.”

57. “Can you stay? Just for tonight, please. I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts.” “'l’ll stay for as long as you need.”

58. “You are my family.”

59. “We’ve been by each other’s sides for years, you think I’m gonna leave now?”

60. “Take my jacket, I don’t want you catching a cold.”

61. “I’d wait a thousand lifetimes for you, because you are worth waiting for. So when you are ready. I’ll be right here.”

62. “I will never stop fighting for you. I will never stop protecting you.”

63. “I can’t stop thinking about you. No matter how hard I try, you’re always on my mind”

64. “Don’t go on that date.” “Why?” “You know why.” “Say it.”

65. “Can I kiss you?”

66. “I can’t remember the last time I laughed like this.”

67. “How long have you had this planned?” “Since the moment I fell in love with you.”

68. “You came all the way here for me?”

69. “Why are you staring at me?” “Because I think you’re beautiful.”

70. “I think I’m falling in love with you.” “I think I’m okay with that.”

71. “What are you doing here?” “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

72. “The world gets a little brighter when you’re around.”

Miscellaneous:

73. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone screw something up that fast before.”

74. “I’ve never told you that before.”

75. “You come here often?” “Well, I work here. So I think I’d have to say ‘yes’.”

76. “I’m too sober for this.” “You don’t even drink.” “Maybe I should start.”

77. “You couldn’t handle me even if i came with instructions.”

78. “Wake me up when it’s over.”

79. "Abort mission, I repeat abort mission.” “What? Abort what mission? All you were doing was introducing yourself to your neighbor?” “Yeah, and they’re too attractive. I can never speak to them again.”

80. “At least I kept my promise.”

81. “I saw you looking at it last time we were in the store together, so I got it for you.”

82. “…Did you just sniff me?”

83. “Of course I noticed, I notice everything about you.”

84. “Are you alright?” “Yeah, why?” “You look mad.” “That’s just my face…”

85. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

86. “You don’t actually have to like me, you just need to pretend you do.”

87. “Since when did you open a bakery in your house?” “Since I got bored.”

88. “You’re bleeding.” “No shit.”

89. “For the most part, I am, in fact, an idiot. But I fully admit to it, which should count for something.”

90. “Stop grumbling and just tell me where your medicine cabinet is.”

91. “Close your eyes and hold out your hand.”

92. “I hate that I let you convince me to do this”

93. “We really need to stop meeting like this. "Then stop breaking into my house!”

94. “Why are you creeping outside my bedroom window?!” “I thought it would be romantic if I climbed up here.” “You gave me a heart-attack!”

95. “What are you doing here?” “I got locked out of my house.” “Again?”

96. “Run.”

97. “I can’t stand you!” “Then sit down.”

98. “Where are we going?” “It’s a surprise.” “I hope the surprise involves food.”

99. “You wont regret it!” “Already am.”

100. “I am nothing if not consistent.” “Yeah, a consistent pain in my ass.”

101. “What happened?” “Do you want the long version or the short version?” “Uh, short?” “I made a mistake.” “Okay, long version.” “I made a very very big mistake.”

102. “What happened to your hand?” “I hit my hand on something.” “On what?” “Your ex’s face.”

103. “I heard that!” “You were supposed to!”

104. “I’ve been thinking-” “Uh-oh”

105. “If I survive this, I’m killing you.”

Scenario Prompts:

*For prompts with Characters A and B; you can choose who is who in your request (who is reader and/or character)

106. Huddled together to keep warm.

107. Fall asleep in same bed, on opposite sides, wake up in each others arms.

108. Character A comes to talk to Character B, pretending to be B’s s/o when a stranger is making B uncomfortable. Leads to them asking B out on an actual date.

109. Continuously running into one another for days after having a meet cute.

110. Hands brush as you stand next to each other, you think it’s on accident until their hands gentle wrap around yours.

111. Shielding the other with their body to save/protect them.

112. Caught staring too many times for it to be a coincidence.

113. Size difference hug; they engulf you.

114. You refuse to leave so they pick you up and throw you over their shoulder.

115. Character A can tell Character B is getting nervous in a big crowd, so A slips their hand into theirs to help them calm down.

116. Character A teaching B to ice skate/roller skate.

117. B taking care of A when they are sick.

118. Holding hands underneath the table.

119. Bandaging the other and then kissing the injury gently.

120. A surprises B with a picnic.

121. Getting stuck at the top of the Ferris Wheel.

122. B sitting/standing behind A and leaning into them as they show/teach them how to do something.

123. As you begin to fall asleep, you feel a gentle kiss pressed to your temple and a blanket draped over you.

124. B comforting A as they wake up from a nightmare.

125. A realizing that they have feelings for B when they see them with someone else.

126. B bringing A hand-picked flowers.

127. Thinking you are alone in the house but you hear a noise upstairs.

128. B buys A’s dream house and surprises them.

129. Sharing an umbrella.

130. Walking together and it starts to rain, so they grab your hand and you start running until you can find somewhere to escape getting wet.

131. Fake date to a wedding; leads to confession.

132. A game of 20 questions that ends with “Can I kiss you?”

133. There’s a big storm going on outside while A is at B’s house, so B insists they sleep over.

134. A hears that B got hurt and rushes over in a panic to see if they are okay.

135. B just moved to town and really only knows A (just met). B is being followed or is lost and calls A for help. Of course they come to help and it turns into a date of sorts.

136. A falling asleep while sitting next to B, as there head falls onto B’s shoulder, B stays as still as they can, afraid to wake A.

137. Cloudgazing or Stargazing together, as you lie next to each other, their hand slips into yours.

138. Looking around for the shirt you left at your s/o’s house; only to find it in a drawer with other clothes and items you’ve left.

139. B get’s so nervous about their dinner date with A that they accidentally make enough food to feed ten people.

140. A hand written love letter left at your doorstep.

141. B dancing to music as their cooking or cleaning, and as they spin around A suddenly appears, grabbing onto B and continuing to dance with them.

142. A grabs B’s hand instinctively out of surprise or fear, and continues to hold it.

143. B helping A step down from a high place by taking their hand, and then not letting go as they continue to walk.

144. Comparing hand sizes, then linking fingers together.

145. Dancing around the living room of the first home you’ve bought together.

146. A asking B on a date until they say yes.

147. B asking A to attend a wedding with them, to get out of going with someone their parents tried to set them up with.

[causenessus]

HELLO!! okay lowkey i feel like we talk more through your inbox than we do in dms so im just gonna start ALWAYS talking here 🙂‍↕️ idk tumblr dms just don't work or something so GOOD AFTERNOON!! I HOPE YOURE GETTING A TON OF REST NESS bc tomorrow... we have to go back... sigh. and i have picture day tomorrow so i probably need to make myself look presentable ykwim?? 😞

but like about that friend i yapped about HIGHKEY SHE IS NOT IT YOURE RIGHT!!!! i think what makes it worse is whenever she thinks theres an issue between her and me and she goes to literally everyone but me about it to try to get other people to validate her?? FUNNIEST THING EVER because usually people side w me too pls 💔 like they'll defend me, and the people usually tell me when she starts yapping about it to them so like... just wondering why she feels the need to tell everyone in the world about what i apparently did wrong ⁉️ live laugh love i suppose... AND IF YOU EVER WANNA HEAR ABOUT STUFF THAT SHES DONE TO ME I LITERALLY HAVE STORIES FOR DAYS

ALSO!!!! IM SO EXCITED IM FINALLY GONNA GET MY DRIVER'S PERMIT AND START DRIVERS ED AAAA like ive been waiting for ages!!!! i had to like save up and stuff so it took a bit CAUSE WHY IS IT LIKE 400 DOLLARS IF YOU DONT TAKE IT THROUGH THE SCHOOL LIKE PLEASE 💔

its been days and the try again playlist is literally the only thing pulling me through... ness im forever grateful for the existence of this playlist‼️try again isnt even finished but like NESS i would marry it if i could i think i think about it even more than love notes omf 😭 i need yn as my therapist NOWWW!!! AND ADDING ONTO THAT, TONICS LOOKS SO AMAZING SO FAR OH MY GOD?? LIKE ALL THE DETAILS AND THE GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR ARTIST PROFILES AND EVERYTHING UGHH IM SO EXCITED

okay another thing, i think i told you about a phone vault before cause like my school was really talking it up... it was the stupid pocket thing on the wall. they're out there calling it a phone vault GOODBYE 😭 anyway ive given up on paying full attention in class and have reverted back to wearing and airpod in class so i can listen to music (the SOLE reason why i have airpods is bc they were a christmas gift i dont have enough money to buy those on my own 🫡)

ANYWAY I HOPE YOURE HAVING AN AMAZING DAY LOVE!! MAKE SURE YOU EAT, DRINK WATER, AND TAKE YOUR MEDS LATER!! <33 ILY

HELLO SAV!! AND PLEASE TALK WHEREVER U WANT!! I WILL RESPOND WHEREVER <3 and omg good luck with picture day!! 😭 literally those pics never turn out good like they PURPOSELY WANT ME TO LOOK BAD they're always like "no no!! push your hair out of your face behind your shoulder so we can really see how much of an egg you look like!!" but i'm wishing you the best of luck and that your picture turns out well 😔

and also HELLO??? I'M SO GLAD EVERYONE TAKES YOUR SIDE BC LIKE,, THAT'S JUST EMBARASSING FOR HER 😭 I HOPE SHE TAKES IT AS A SIGN AND REALIZES LIKE...maybe she's in the wrong...or maybe she should go to you and sort it out with you!! instead of just complaining about it to others!!

AND AA YAY GOOD FOR YOU!! it's def expensive but so so worth it in the end 😭😭 i remember for me (idk if every state does this!!) but i actually did my lessons when i was like 16 1/2 (for many reasons we won't get into 😔) but anyway!! in my state or at least at the drivers ed school i went to if you were that age they'd allow you to do this thing where basically they just threw all the information you'd learn over the course of the week (or however long all the drivers ed courses are) in one night crash course style!! and then u take the permit test at the end of it and then u get ur permit!! and although i felt a little behind everyone else bc i didn't start drivers ed immediately yk i was kind of glad i got it all done in one night!! and like you learn all the info and then IMMEDIATELY take a test on it so it was kind of easy!! but best of luck to u!! i hope it all goes well <3

AND AA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I'M SO GLAD YOU LOVE THE TRY AGAIN PLAYLIST!! i always listen to it in the morning when i'm still waking up and then will switch to the tonics playlist when i'm more awake LMAOO BUT YES!! DW i think now that i've gotten tonics intros out of the way i'm gonna work on try again while trying to outline tonics!!

BUT HELLO THE "PHONE VAULT" BUT BEING THE SHOE HANGER THING?? MAN THAT IS NOT A VAULT 😭 THE WAY SCHOOLS ARE OUT HERE COMING OUT WITH THE CRAZIEST NAMES EVER JUST SO THAT IT LIKE FITS THE AESTHETIC OF THEIR SCHOOL OR WHATEVER IS CRAZY but yes!! i think my wireless earbuds were also a christmas gift or something and then during this one play during high school that was literally the bane of my existence (and also simultaneously the best play i ever did) i NOT ONLY lost my earbuds but i ALSO bit my phone on accident and then broke the screen so like...i sacrificed blood sweat and tears for that play frfr (i also bled all over the set after cutting my finger on accident so i mean it...) so i had to buy myself another pair after that bc my mom was sick of me 😭😭 but they were like an off brand pair and tbh they're better than like samsung buds!! (what i have to use bc i'm not an apple user </3) so honestly it worked out in the end!!

BUT I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY AS WELL!! THANK YOU SO MUCH SAV <3 HAVE A LOVELY DAY AND REST LOTS AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!

[celestie0]

Hi hun! I just caught up with your blog (insane week for me, a lot happening against my will) and i just wanted to pop in and say that im really sorry about the horny asks you get. I know theyre few and far between but it still must feel disappointing.

I have kind of become a bit of a nihilist in the sense that nothing is consequential in the grand scheme of things. If a reader sits through one of your stories and is disappointed for the lack of porn, then tough luck. They should go read something else, or write their own AU story. At the end of the day you're a wonderful writer, you make your characters feel so real and fun to read about.

There isn't much that I can tell you about your wonderful writing that hasn't already been said, but I hope you dont let further inconsequential comments/asks bother you.

Lots of love ❤️

hi bb!! omg i hope your weekend can be restful at least, please take care of yourself <33 and thanks my love!! yea i mean i get horny asks or demands for updates pretty frequently actually but i usually resort to just deleting them ☠️☠️ i think this past couples ones just doubly pissed me off bc they were right after i posted a chapter i spent hrs working on like damn at least wait a day or two before pressuring me for smut 😂😂 there's only sm i can take before i blow a fuse

and aaa yea true! i wish they would adopt that mindset. it's not encouraging to receive those asks, and in turn that means they won't get the content they want to see anyways. so everyone loses lol.

i just have to try my best to not let things get to me. it's either that or i lose my passion. and unfortunately not all those feelings can be within my control, while some can.

i appreciate you <3 much love!!

[tonycries]

hi it is me the anon that loves your write (i specifically said like "hello i love your write" and then called it delicious)

i want to maybe write a nanami fic of my own (just fluff!! i am not brave enough for the smut world yet. one day, tho...)

do you think husband nanami would go well withthe fans

(also we can call me uh.,, neuroscience anon? is that too much of a mouthful? idk how tumblr work)

Ahahah yesss please I found that so cute <33

And Oooo YES!!! Everyone loves a gooood husband! Nanami smut, he's just so hubby-coded - I write him as the reader's husband in literally every headcanon I do just because it feels so RIGHT 😩😩

I wish you luck with writing it!! And also, welcome new anon 💕💕

Neuroscience is cool asf and I plan to study it in the future heheh so I LOVE that 🧠

[itzymidzy]

240629 TWITTER: itzyofficial

🦊: Ready for the 2nd night too? Is everyone ready??

🦊: See you sooon!💕

👤: LETS GO CHAERYYYYY

🦊: Legoooooo

👤: chaeryeong please say hii 💕!

🦊: Hi~~😘

👤: HIII MY LOVE!! HOW ARE YOU? 🤍

🦊: I'm good Thank uu

👤: have fun tonight <333

🦊: Let's have fun tonight!

👤: CHAERYEONG 🍒 it’s the last concert for now! time goes by fast ㅠㅠ you worked hard!!!!! ENJOY THE STAGE WITH MIDZY AND THE MEMBERS! HAVE FUN AND GOOD LUCK TODAY FIGHTING FOR DAY2!!!! 사랑행 🫶🏻🥰

🦊: Time goes by fast😭

👤: there isn’t anyone who i love more than this cute little fox ❤️ thank you for existing in my life, i love you more than anything else in the world 💕🦊

🦊: i love u 222

👤: CHAERYEONG what has been your favorite city so far on the tour?

🦊: every cityyy was really good 💕

👤: Enjoy today healthy and injury-free

🦊: Yes!!

👤: HIII CHAERY have you eaten??

🦊: I’m going to eat now!! ㅎㅎ

👤: I LOVE YOU CHAERYYY 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

🦊: Loveyaaa

👤: chaeryeong my favorite song these days is cruel summer too!!!!

🦊: cruel summer~~~

👤: It’s the last tour for the US stop, and you did amazing in each concert!! Enjoy tonight and stay healthy!! 🤍 오늘 하루도 좋은일이 가득하길 바라 🦊ILY!!

🦊: ILY💕

👤: It's morning in Japan. I'm going to sleep from now on, but I'm rooting for you!!! ☀️☀️

🦊: Good night~ 💕

👤: every time i see you smile i smile too :D

🦊: i love when you smile😉

👤: chaeryeong i miss you soooo much :(

🦊: miss u tooo💕

👤: Have you tried Turkish food? You should try kebab🫵🏼❤️

🦊: okay! i'll try !

👤: So that we can reach Chaeryeong!!

🦊: Arrived! Take it

👤: chaery what’s your favorite thing about being on tour ?🧡

🦊: 1. MIDZY 2. midzy 3. MidZY 4.믿지

👤: make sure to comeback to canada with lia ~ 💗

🦊: 🫶🏻🫶🏻🙆‍♀️

👤: Chaeryeong, I have a prom tomorrow, wish me luck🙏🤍

🦊: good luck🍀

👤: did you like europe?? have a great time i love you 🩷🩷🩷

🦊: of course~

👤: Chaerrryyy what hair color would you like to try next ?? I miss your red hair soo much💞💞

🦊: Do you miss my red hair??🤭

👤: next time ur in irving i'll open the pool for you queenie 🤞🏾🤞🏾

🦊: yeahhh Promise me? 🤭

👤: Have fun in your last US spot<33🦊

🦊: Okeyyyy🫶🏻

👤: what song do you wish was on the setlist? mine is Sooo lucky🥹

🦊: in the morning~

👤: CHAERYEONG I LOVE YOUUUUU DO YOU LOVE MEEEE

🦊: I love u

👤: can’t believe i saw you two months ago already in santiago 🥹 i love and miss you so so much my chaery. you saved my life 💗

🦊: Already??🫢🫢

👤: I also want to prepare for the concert... I also want to see the concert... Why am I not in Canada?...

🦊: Go to sleep quickly

👤: chaeryeong i have been your fan since i was 12 i am now 17 and still your fan i love you 🥹🥹

🦊: So sweet 🥹🥹🥹Thank u 💕

👤: ILY MY FIVE BEST GIRLS I REALLY DO. Hope to see you again with Lia soon 🫶🏻

🦊: Hope to see you again 🔥

👤: Chaeryeong, what makes you smile these days? 🥰💖

🦊: Midzyyyyy

👤: What did you eat, unnie?

🦊: I haven’t eaten yet. I’m drinking coffee!! ㅎㅎ

👤: OMG CHAERYEONG I’M LATE ARE YOU STILL HERE

🦊: I'm hereeee~

👤: i drove eight hours to see you, hopefully you come to my country next time🥹🇦🇹

🦊: OMG ... next time? I'll go there

👤: i traveled from italy to spain to see you.ᐟ.ᐟ.ᐟ i hope you will come to italy for the next tour ❤️❤️❤️ i love you

🦊: ok!😘

👤: I saw you in LA, you caught my attention don’t tell yuna that I recorded yourself a lot because you looked amazing !🫣

🦊: 🤭🤭🤭

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 33: Back to Triumph

[Story Masterlist] // [Aitana’s Masterlist]

Fandom: Criminal Minds // Pairing: Spencer Reid x OFC

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​​​​ @arrthurpendragon​​​​​ @anotherunreadblog​​​​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​​​​ @stareyedplanet​​​​​ @averyhotchner​​​​​​ @foxesandmagic @kmc1989 @midmourn​​​​​​

If you’d like to be a part of Aitana’s taglist, please let me know!

Also available on Fanfic ○ Ao3 ○ Wattpad

As it turned out, Aitana did not have allergies.

It was the ruddy flu. She was bedridden for a whole week. All she did was stay in bed and feel awful. Her body didn't have the energy to do anything else, not even feed her poor fishes or water her plants.

Penelope Garcia immediately volunteered to visit her first and with her she brought necessities. Aitana saw her bedroom surrounded by oddly colored trinkets and new kinds of plants that Penelope swore were for good luck. Her bedroom began to look more like a botanical garden more than anything else.

JJ was more level headed and brought groceries. She even brought over some cooked meals. Aitana reminded JJ that she had no stomach for anything but JJ never left the house without making sure that Aitana had something to eat, whether it was crackers or soup. Emily was a little more busy to visit Aitana as often as Penelope and JJ. She apologized profusely to Aitana because it was all due to her re-certification. The one day that all three women were able to visit together, Emily explained more thoroughly how her training was going.

"Morgan is making it difficult," she muttered. "He's being an ass, basically. He's going to make me redo everything."

"I think that's probably more the FBI than anything else," Aitana said. She laid in bed with several blankets over, half of which were gifts from Penelope. "I mean, I don't think Morgan made the training booklets, right?"

Emily playfully rolled her eyes and reluctantly agreed with her. "It's still just annoying! And it's the reason I can't visit as often too. So blame Morgan."

"And not the cases, right?" Aitana chuckled, her eyes flickering to JJ and Penelope on her other side. "I get it, you guys. Work is work and our work is even more. You do not have to worry about me right now, alright? My mom's been around and Angel helps me a lot. And besides, you've all been alternating. Penelope," she reached for the blonde's arm, giving it a gentle pat, "came two days ago. Emily," she crossed gazes with the dark haired woman, "was here yesterday. JJ's been here all morning. Morgan dropped by yesterday and Spencer came by after. Rossi says he'll come by with a plate of pasta! I even got a small text from Hotch wishing me well. So trust me, I am all too well. Spoiled, actually."

"Well we can't wait for you to come back," JJ said, "Things are a little hectic at work right now. The boys—"

"Spencer and Morgan," Penelope muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"—are annoying the hell out of all of us with their little prank war," JJ said, shaking her head. "Honestly, not even Henry gives me this much trouble."

Aitana smiled lightly. "They're still doing that?"

"Yes," went all three of the women with the same irritation.

"They don't go that high but it's still super annoying," Emily muttered. "They won't stop until someone pulls the best prank."

"Mm, and what's the wager?" Aitana curiously asked. She had vague memories of her "assistance" on their pranks the last time they were on a case together. She wasn't all that mad about it, maybe just the decent annoyed. She was no stranger to being used for petty pranks since her brothers were notorious for doing it multiple times when she was younger and didn't understand what they were doing.

"Whoever wins owes the other one a favor," explained Emily. "Everyone else be damned, I guess."

"Interesting. You know, I guess this is also partly my fault," Aitana said, "My mind was so foggy the last time I was at work. I helped them one-up each other and I didn't even know it."

"Oh, I'm sure," Penelope said disapprovingly. "And trust me, I almost pulled both their ears for it."

"Well," Aitana hummed ever-so-innocently, "If you're interested in helping me get a little payback, I'd be all for it. Now that I've got all my senses back, I'm planning on letting them know they used the wrong gal." Her words made the other three women curious but Aitana elected to hold off on what she had in mind for the time being.

~0~

Spencer wasn't even surprised anymore that his things were going missing at work. There was no mystery; he knew exactly who was behind it. The only thing is he had to go and find them which was more of a pain than anything else.

"I know Morgan has them," he said seriously while Emily just sat at her desk and shook her head. He was ransacking his own desk in search of his missing items. "He took my stapler, my pens, my stapler remover."

Emily had no intention of listening to the lame list of missing items. She looked away and happened to see JJ and Aitana walking into the bullpen. "Oh, Aitana's back!"

Spencer briefly paused his search to confirm with his own eyes. Soon as he saw Aitana, he went back to opening drawers. "Honestly, this isn't even a prank! It's downright theft!"

"Hey, look who I ran into?" JJ brought Aitana up to pair, the latter chuckling with flushed cheeks.

"Gosh, I feel so special the way I'm being welcomed," Aitana remarked. "Even security noticed."

"Welcome back." Emily got up from her seat to hug Aitana. "Don't mind Reid here, he's going through another session of Grand Theft Desk." She shot Spencer a smirk that he didn't really appreciate.

"What?" JJ asked, watching as Spencer slammed shut another of his drawers.

"Morgan took my stuff!" he cried.

JJ groaned and shook her head. "Oh boy, it's too early for this guys. Can we just — can we have one day off?"

"Yeah," Emily said with heavy emphasis as she sat back down.

"It's not a prank if you're just stealing!" Spencer continued to search through his second level drawers. "And Morgan's welcome to back down at any time!"

"Funny, we could say the same thing about you," said JJ purposely.

Aitana watched silently as Spencer went through the other lines of drawers. Finally, she made a suggestion. "Did you check the bottom right drawer?"

Spencer moved for that specific drawer when her words hit him. He stopped altogether and met Aitana's eye. She had the smallest of smiles but a knowing one at that. Slowly, Spencer reached for the drawer she said and pulled it open. He froze again.

Emily tried leaning over her desk to see what was inside. Aitana grabbed JJ's arm as the blonde went to do the same.

"Did you find it?" Aitana asked Spencer, still calmly and with a smile.

Spencer didn't say anything. Instead, he reached inside the drawer and pulled out a big plate out of it. When Emily and JJ saw what it was, they burst into laughter.

Aitana remained absolutely calm.

Stunned, Spencer put down the plate of jello on his desk. He had found his things now. They were located inside the bright green jello.

"The girls mentioned you like jello. Was green okay?" Aitana inquired like she hadn't stuffed office supplies inside a wobbly jello herself. She never thought she would have to but she wasn't upset that she got the chance to do it.

Spencer was absolutely stunned. Not even JJ's and Emily's laughter shook him out at first. And they were laughing pretty loud.

"You...you did this?" He eventually sputtered out a few minutes later.

Aitana giggled and raised a hand in the air. "Guilty as charged! I have always wanted to pull that joke but my mother would have killed me if I used her kitchen for these kinds of things so I couldn't do it when I was younger. I guess I should thank you for the amazing opportunity."

Spencer stared at her, both bewildered and utterly confused. To add onto those two feelings, a loud horn broke through the entire bullpen. It stopped JJ's and Emily's laugh and froze everyone else.

Once again, Aitana was calm. "That would be Morgan."

For a second, Spencer was genuinely afraid. And then Morgan came storming out with a bullhorn still having remnants of duct tape on the bottom.

"REID!" He was coming straight for Spencer.

Spencer's hands shot up in front of him. "It wasn't me!"

"Like hell!" Morgan couldn't come down the steps any faster.

"Actually, it wasn't him. It was me," Aitana waved her hand. "Good morning, Morgan." She smiled sweetly.

Like Spencer, Morgan froze altogether. His head turned in Aitana's direction, eyes narrowing as he decided whether or not she was being honest.

Aitana's smile widened. Her eyes flickered to JJ and Emily, both of them struggling not to laugh again. "Ta-da?" Aitana made a gesture with her arms open.

"You did it?" Morgan finally concluded she was very much guilty.

Aitana nodded. "Aha!"

"Why?"

Aitana raised an eyebrow at him, no longer playful. "Really?" She stepped forwards, putting her hands behind her back. "You're asking me why I did such a thing?"

Morgan nodded expectantly at her. He couldn't understand why she would decide to pull pranks herself.

"You," Aitana pointed at him, "took advantage of my state during a news broadcast," she said, watching Morgan lower his head immediately. "And you," she pointed at Spencer next, "used me to get back at him later. Naughty boys. I had to get back at you for that."

"Well done," JJ clapped her hands for Aitana.

"How'd you pull this?" Spencer curiously asked. He wasn't going to even argue against Aitana's statements. They were true and he should be sorry. He was.

"Oh that was easy," Aitana waved him off. "I came in yesterday night, with Hotch's permission of course."

Morgan's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Hotch let you do this?"

"Aha," Aitana nodded. "He's very tired of your little war as is everyone else."

"Yes," went both JJ and Emily together.

"I love watching the Office and the jello prank that Jim pulled was always so funny to me so I figured why not do that one for you, dear old Spencer," Aitana smiled sweetly at him. "A classic, am I right?" Before Spencer could think of an answer, because right now he had nothing to say, Aitana switched to Morgan. "And the bullhorn was something my brothers pulled on each other. That's right, you guys forgot I grew up with two brothers. I was always caught in their pranks so eventually I had to learn. Ladies and gentlemen, I think I win." Aitana did a curtsy bow for the group.

"Nu-uh," Morgan was quick to wag a finger, "You didn't win anything. You are not a part of this."

"I believe the terms were whoever pulled the best prank wins," Aitana pointed at JJ and Emily for their support. "Right?"

"Right!" Emily was happy to agree.

"Nowhere in those terms did you explicitly say that one of you had to be the winner," Aitana went on, flashing smiles at the pair of men.

"I think she won, fellas," JJ said. "Learned your lessons?"

"You didn't win," Morgan insisted. "You—"

The door to Hotch's office opened to let out a striding Penelope and Hotch. Their grim expressions cut the conversation short, but Morgan vowed it wasn't over.

~0~

"We have a child abduction in St. Louis," Penelope started the meeting urgently as the situation demanded for. "Bobby Smith, 9 years old, vanished 48 hours ago from a residential area, where his mother, Marlene Smith, claims to have dropped him off."

"Forty-eight hours and we're just learning about it now?" Morgan asked, slightly irritated. Half of the group suspected his irritation had nothing to do with the case. He kept shooting Aitana glances, clearly still holding his stance about her winning status.

Penelope didn't know what was going on so she just nodded. "Yeah. That's because mom didn't know her son was gone. She assumed that he was with the grandmother and just left him there."

"So, she's not exactly on the short list for mother of the year," remarked JJ. "What about the father?"

"Uh, he was convicted of embezzling from his workplace 2 years ago. Currently cooling his heels in state prison."

"If it's a stranger abduction, the first 24 hours are critical," Spencer said, not that they didn't already know how high the stakes were.

"This kid's already been missing twice that long," Rossi said, checking the file for the original time the mother had called it in.

"Which is why we shouldn't waste any more time," Hotch said, prompting the team to close their files. The jet was leaving almost immediately.

"Hey Hotch," Morgan called as he hurried to catch up with Hotch before he walked out of the room, "A word?"

Aitana snorted a laugh as they disappeared. "He's going to ask Hotch about the bullhorn."

"That was you?" Rossi gave her a pointed look until Aitana nodded proudly. He smiled. "Good. I was getting tired of it." On his way out, he looked directly at Spencer.

"Seriously, well done," Emily reached over to give Aitana a congratulatory pat on the arm.

"Well done with what?" asked Penelope, head turning between the women fast enough to make her dizzy.

"Aitana put an end to the prank war," JJ said, eyes glued on Spencer. Unlike Morgan, he had yet to give his opinion on the matter. "Isn't that right, Spence?"

"Um," Spencer cleared his throat, hands reaching for his file on the table, "I don't really think we should be discussing that during a child abduction."

"Mhm, you still lost," Emily said, "Women can multitask."

Spencer grabbed his things and left in a hurry. The women high fived Aitana afterwards and they began offering ideas on what Aitana could ask of the pair for winning. Penelope hated that she had missed the whole thing but after Aitana suggested to go through the camera feed, Penelope seemed more inclined to help celebrate the triumph.

~0~

"Who do you think he's talking to?" JJ whispered the question to the others while Rossi entertained some kind of conversation over the phone. It had been going on almost as soon as the jet had taken off.

"Isn't it obvious? A special friend," Emily giggled but immediately stopped when Rossi ended the conversation and turned around to see all of their collective smiling faces.

"What?" He cluelessly asked.

"Nothing…" Emily said, clearly struggling not to say more but in the end she lost. "Just somebody's got a lot of extra pep in their step this morning, that's all."

"Probably doubled up on his vitamins," remarked JJ.

"Oh, he doubled up on something," Morgan chimed in with a smirk.

"Garcia's back on," Aitana cut in suddenly, unknowingly getting a grateful look from Rossi for her timing. She was pointing to the screen where Penelope's face had come through. "Hey, did you get something on the mother?"

"Oh," Penelope's mouth pulled together in an 'O' shape, "I have so much on the mother, and try as I might, none of it is good. Marlene Smith has a history of erratic behavior, seriously clinically depressed, two suicide attempts in the last 5 years."

"Was she being treated for her depression?" asked Hotch.

"Oh, my gosh, yes. Like more pill-popping than Elvis. Yes!"

"Depression is one of the few things that can overwhelm the maternal instinct," Spencer said. "What about the grandmother?"

"I don't have anything on her yet, but don't reach for your remote. I'll be ba-a-ck!" Penelope exclaimed before the screen went pitch black.

"Two suicide attempts…" Rossi remarked with a shake of his head. "Why hasn't child services intervened?"

"Probably talked her way out of it," Emily said, "Most social service organizations are overworked and underfunded. Things slip through the cracks."

"If this boy's mother tried to commit suicide and he's from a chronically unhappy household, maybe this wasn't an abduction at all," Morgan theorized. "What if Bobby simply ran away?"

"When 9-year-olds run away, they're usually home for supper," Aitana said. She really doubted a nine year old would have the guts and the smarts to formulate a good running away plan.

"JJ, you and I will talk to the mother," Hotch started giving the instructions, "Morgan, Reid, and Serrano, go to the boy's house. Prentiss, you and Dave assess the site where the mother claims to have dropped him off."

From behind her file copy, Aitana flashed a sweet smile at Spencer and Morgan. They had yet to speak to her about the incident.

~0~

The victim's house was closed off for the time being while the mother resided at the precinct for questioning. The first thing Aitana, Spencer and Morgan noted was the clean lawn. However, although the lawn was indeed clean, it was clear that it could still use some attending to. There were patches of yellow all around. Inside, the story was almost the same. The trio lounged about in the living room taking note of the neatness of the furniture. While Morgan and Spencer wandered upstairs, Aitana took the rest of the downstairs.

She was most surprised with the kitchen's state. She only had one nephew close to her but she knew what a kitchen with children would typically look like. Every kitchen she'd been inside of where a young child lived, it was always clear of anything potentially dangerous. No knives, no open outlets, nothing sharp. Everything was up and out of reach for a child.

This kitchen was the complete opposite.

There were no safety locks on the fridge and when Aitana opened it up, it was fully stocked with everything that a child could possibly want. And in multiple pairs. Individual water, orange juice and milk bottles—everything plastic—were filed on the door. Fruits were stocked inside the drawers, along with cut up vegetables. Even the stove was accessible to the child. Aitana remembered a moment in which her nephew had been deeply reprimanded for attempting to move their stove's knob. Bobby was left at ease with the stove and the microwave. The latter was also placed on what would be his level. To top it off, Aitana found the key ring hole set up at the entrance of the kitchen. She was baffled. She would never let her nephew go in and out of the house, even if he was 9 like Bobby.

Later on, Aitana headed upstairs to see what Spencer and Morgan had found so far. It seemed like they were bickering and somehow she walked into it again.

"Hey Serrano," Morgan called as soon as she walked into the mother's bedroom, "How many pairs of shoes do you own?"

Aitana's face scrunched in confusion. "First, you don't talk to me and then you ask me that? You see how it looks, right?"

"I'm making a point here!" Morgan motioned her to answer the question. Beside him, Spencer seemed more or less puzzled as well.

Aitana rolled her eyes. "I don't know, 30?"

"What?" Spencer openly gaped at her. Aitana lifted an eyebrow at him. "Why do you have so many?"

"Because I need them?"

"You can't possibly need 30 pairs of shoes!"

"I most possibly can!"

Morgan cleared his throat, eyes on Spencer and hands gesturing in Aitana's direction.

Aitana stomped her foot on the ground. "Stop using me like that, dammit!"

"I was making a point," Morgan said as he walked out the room, leaving the other two to follow. "No woman has just 4 pairs of shoes in their closet. And the kid's bedroom is fully stocked with everything he'd need."

"She even set up a separate area so he could do his homework," Spencer said, going in full detail about the desk they'd seen in Bobby's room.

"You should see the kitchen then," Aitana said, "That thing's more organized than my entire house."

"Mom has serious financial issues, denies herself even the smallest luxury, and yet…" Morgan had listed off his fingers, "She splurges to take her son to an expensive theme park and then buys a pricey picture frame so he can remember the experience."

"No way, those things are easily $30," Aitana said out of her own experience. Her parents hardly bought those things for that reason.

"He had several," Spencer said for her benefit.

"Well then, I guess we can cross her off the suspect list," Aitana concluded. "Which makes this even harder…"

~0~

When the trio returned to the precinct, they joined JJ, Rossi and Hotch just Hotch were discussing the interview JJ conducted with the victim's mother. They, like Aitana, Spencer and Morgan, were beginning to disregard the mother as a suspect.

"The concern for her son was genuine. Her tone of voice, body language," JJ was saying, "She didn't once ask if she was in trouble, under arrest, 'where's my lawyer?' None of that." The woman behaved like a genuine concerned, scared, mother.

"That's pretty much what we found at home too," Aitana said, glancing back at Spencer and Morgan for their agreement.

Spencer was making his way up to one of their evidence boards. While they were gone, the others had added new details under the mother's name.

"Home environment points in the same direction," Morgan said, "The money's tight, but mom did whatever she could to create a nice world for her son. Whatever cash she had she spent on him. Only 4 pairs of shoes in her closet."

"And she taught her son to be self-sufficient," Aitana said, barely holding the urge to make a comment about the pairs of shoes. "The kitchen was scaled down to a 9-year-old's level so he could microwave his own meals, get food and utensils from the pantry. He even had his own little key ring so he could come and go as he pleased. That's a hell of a lot of liberties for a 9 year old if you asked me."

The others agreed.

Shortly after, Emily and Rossi returned.

"It took a while, but grandma's alibi checked out," Emily announced, "She was with two lady friends in Seneca, on the other side of the state."

"Acquaintances, relatives, teachers. So far they've all checked out," Rossi added.

"This is starting to look more and more like a stranger abduction," Morgan said what many of them were beginning to think.

"Yeah, except the area Bobby disappeared from has a decent amount of foot traffic," Rossi said, having seen the site with Emily. "If he'd put up a struggle, chances are someone would have noticed."

"My guess is Bobby knew his abductor or trusted him," Spencer then theorized, "The trip to grandma's house was a spur-of-the-moment decision. The unsub must have been staking out the mother's house, saw them leaving, and followed. The only thing I don't understand is how the unsub got into Bobby's life in the first place. Self-sufficient kids learn to trust their own judgment."

"Well at the end of the day, he's still only nine," Aitana reminded them. "He's going to fall for something." It was the inevitable and now they were dealing with it.

~ 0 ~

The next morning, the team were informed that Bobby's mother had been found murdered outside a convenience store the previous night. The team gathered in their room to go over the pictures of the new crime scene and their victim. As far as they knew, Bobby had yet to turn up dead.

"There's something strange about the body," mused Spencer as he went over a couple photographs, "She was slaughtered by someone completely out of control, yet on her wrists there are precise wounds on top of where she already cut herself, only deeper. Like he was trying to replicate her suicide attempts but then lost control."

Beside him, JJ grabbed one of the pictures in Spencer's hands. "Maybe this was never about the kid at all, but about the mother. Make her suffer for a few days by taking the child, then kill her?"

"Wouldn't that mean the unsub knew Marlene's personal history?" Aitana inquired. She stood in front of their evidence board, her eyes falling over the details they'd written about Marlene under her picture. "And that would put the unsub somewhere in the medical department?" She turned around to meet the others' gazes.

Morgan could see why she would think that automatically. It was the sensible idea. "Not just medical, it could be friends…"

"Yeah, but as far as we knew, she didn't have any friends," Aitana reminded them then asked JJ, who had conducted the interrogation with Marlene yesterday, if Marlene had said anything about friends.

"None," JJ said.

"So what about the people who walked into the house?" Spencer suggested. "Anyone who walked into the house would immediately know there were problems. That the child had to be independent for most of the day."

Morgan liked the idea and for that, he called Penelope to get further on it. "Hey, baby girl, whatever you're doing, drop it!"

"Oh, yes, and with pleasure," Penelope was sarcastic right off the bat, amusing everyone who was listening in, "Let me tell you something, sweetheart. This is a Lamborghini you are talking to. You have to drive me. You can't just leave me parked in the garage collecting dust or I will wilt."

The others nearly laughed with Penelope's tidbits. She had no idea she was on speaker.

Morgan smiled but nowhere near surprised. He long ago lost the surprise when it came to Penelope. Going along with things made it more fun anyways. "Please forgive my neglect. I need you to rev up that fine-tuned Italian engine of yours, then."

"Where do they come up with this stuff?" Aitana quietly whispered to the others while the pair continued. "I mean, is it in, like, books or something?"

"Not in any books I've read," Spencer remarked, causing a quiet round of snickers.

Their research was cut short when they got word that another child had been taken. It was clear the unsub wasn't going to lengthen gaps between abductions and kills.

Aitana and Spencer were sent to the park where the child's mother was. She was a frantic woman, a natural response given the situation, but it was making her explanations fast paced and incoherent.

"I was sitting on the bench, and he was playing right there," she flapped an arm towards the playground still filled with other children. "I looked away for two seconds."

"And you were you by yourself?" Aitana asked. Mrs. Tanner nodded quickly. "So you told the police you live in McKinley Heights but that's almost an hour away. You drove your son all the way out here just to play?" Aitana took another scan of the park for any outstanding features that would draw parents in but to her it looked like any other park.

"I was doing things, shopping" Mrs. Tanner reasoned. Spencer noted the constant tapping of her fingers against her leg as well as the other hand taking her hair every now and then.

"Mrs. Tanner, please don't take this the wrong way, but exactly what drug are you addicted to?" Spencer abruptly asked, stunning both women with him. Aitana's eyebrows raised at him, unprofessionally bemused with his directiveness. "You're displaying symptoms of withdrawal."

Mrs. Tanner dropped both her arms on her sides. "Are you crazy?"

Spencer disregarded her offended tone. "Ma'am, we saw two deals going down on the other side of the park when we arrived. You were here to buy, weren't you? That's what had you distracted."

Mrs. Tanner was outraged. She glanced at Aitana as if waiting for the female agent to come to her aid.

"He's hardly ever wrong," Aitana said. "So it's best if you just tell us the truth unless you're not interested in finding your son?"

"I can't believe that you actually think I would—"

"And yet we're still talking about this instead of what exactly happened here," Aitana continued, her expression growing flat as the mother insisted on denying things.

"Your child is missing, Ms. Tanner. Every minute, every half-minute counts," Spencer said, "You need to tell us the truth and you need to tell us now."

The mother looked between the two agents helplessly, still holding onto her story for another minute before giving in.

Half an hour later, Spencer was calling Hotch to inform them of the new pattern they were discovering. When Spencer returned to the car, he found Aitana leaning against the hood of the SUV, looking out at the park.

"What is it?" Spencer asked, presuming that he'd learned enough about her to recognize her thinking face.

"I've been watching the kids," Aitana started, eyes combing over the children using the slide again. "And the parents. They're mostly vigilant but of course they would look away for a couple minutes. It's natural."

"Right…" Spencer agreed, patiently waiting for her to reach her point. He leaned against the SUV as well.

"Maybe it's just because I have a nephew, I…" Aitana smiled lightly and glanced at him. "Do you have nephews or nieces? Little ones?"

"Neither, actually," Spencer admitted. "It was always just my mother and I."

"Oh, well, I have several in Mexico but I do have Logan here. Remember him?"

"Hard to forget," Spencer tapped the side of his head, making Aitana laugh.

"Oh right, my bad." That was stupid of her to forget. "My nephew Logan is five and even though he's pretty young, he understands the stranger-danger concept. My brother, being a detective, has drilled that into Logan. We've all taught him that he should never talk to anyone he doesn't know even when that person says they're a friend of his parents, or a friend of his auntie's and uncle and grandparents—the whole shebang."

"Right, children are more intelligent than most adults give them credit for," remarked Spencer. "Their brains are like sponges at this point in their life."

"Yes!" Aitana nodded. "So if somebody walked up to Logan with that crappy excuse that they're his parents' friends and tried to take him with them, Logan would make a fuss. At the very least, he would keep saying 'no' until someone inevitably notices. If that happened in, say, a park," Aitana gestured to the scene before them, "then somebody would have noticed a kid being fussy. Even if it was just a parent handling a fussy child, someone always looks over."

"But that didn't happen here…" Spencer said, studying the various parents still around. They were all focused, perhaps more now since the abduction, on their children.

"Yeah, because Tommy didn't make a fuss," Aitana presumed, "And if he didn't make a fuss then that meant he knew the person who took him. Trust him. That won't be your local plumber or your I.T. guy…"

"No it would not be," Spencer agreed. They were circling back to Aitana's original belief that their unsub was someone in the medical department.

"Question remains...which one makes rounds to the parks and houses?" Aitana leaned off the car and made a clear gesture that she was waiting for Spencer to give her the answer.

"Well—I don't know it on the spot," Spencer made a face, earning another small laugh from her. She shook her head at him and went around the car for the passenger's seat.

"So are you saying that with a little bit more time you would know the answer?" Aitana pulled the car door open.

Spencer made his way to the driver's side. "I mean, maybe? I don't know…?"

"Just like Morgan," Aitana said as she climbed inside. "You can't admit defeat!"

"What—that's not what I meant!" Spencer exclaimed and quickly got into the car.

"Mhm," Aitana crossed her arms. "Drive, Dr. Reid," she instructed, her tone laying down the finality of the conversation.

~ 0 ~

With what the team now had, they were confident they were ready to deliver the profile to the rest of the precinct. Hotch sent Morgan to collect the new victim's mother because, if they were right, the unsub would soon be attacking her. But it all turned into a rather sharp confusion when, only a couple hours after the profile was delivered, the second victim turned up at a random adult party.

Further down the evening, Penelope called the group back with very few findings. Even though Emily and Rossi had figured out that their unsub had to be a 911 dispatcher, they weren't able to single out the unsub.

"I'm literally going as fast as I can," Penelope huffed after Morgan asked her if she was closer. "There are literally hundreds in the great St. Louis area. Can you help me narrow this down?"

"Refine your search to males between 25 and 30 years of age. And our unsub probably has abandonment issues, so look for backgrounds that reflect that," Morgan was more than helpful, at least that was his opinion. "A history of foster care or someone who was farmed out to other relatives by his own parents."

"Can you trace individual 911 dispatchers based on calls they would have received?" Spencer thought to ask and almost shrunk in his chair when Penelope answered sharply.

"Ok, look, let me make this clear. There are a quarter of a billion 911 calls annually. That's like 10 calls every second of every day. And non-emergent calls are disposed of quickly!"

"Okay, well let's look at it this way," JJ tried her shot, shooting a small smile at Spencer in the process, "This operator would have been on duty when both calls came in from the Smith and Tanner families. And he would have been off duty at the times of the two abductions and Marlene Smith's murder."

"Oh, my God. This brings the needle in a haystack to a whole other dimension, but I will go to that dimension and I will cross-reference and I will call you back!" Penelope promptly hung up with her promise.

"I'm actually afraid to answer that call," Aitana mumbled under her breath. She pushed herself out of her seat and announced she was making a coffee run and by that, she meant right in the bullpen.

She was tired, this case was touching home for her. All she saw with these kids were her nephew and she knew that was completely unprofessional. And yet, she had the big urge to call her sister-in-law right now.

"Hey, want some help?" Morgan startled her into nearly dropping the cups in her hands.

"Uh, yeah, thanks," Aitana handed him the cup that was more likely to slip out of her hand first. "Penelope call back yet?"

"She's good but she's not that fast."

"Oh, don't let her hear you say that," Aitana said, causing a laugh between them. Aitana grabbed another of the coffee cups on the table and handed it to Morgan. She would take the last one. "So, you're talking to me again? Did you finally accept that I won?"

Morgan hummed. "More like I'm putting pause on that until we're done with the case."

"Right," Aitana started the way back to the conference room, "But you do know that I won, right?"

"Uuh, no," Morgan looked at her crazily, "You did not."

"I thought my tricks were pretty classic..."

Morgan scoffed. "Classic? You nearly took my ears off!"

Aitana smirked. "A classic."

They returned to the room shortly later, letting the others hear the ending of their conversation.

"Hotch, I cannot believe you allowed this," Morgan said, shooting Hotch a mock glare.

"You and Reid were getting out of hand," Hotch said simply, eyeing a decently guilty Spencer at the end of the table. "And I made Serrano promise me that she wouldn't go overboard and disrupt colleague's work."

"She used a bullhorn on me! How is that not distracting?"

"I wasn't distracted."

Aitana barely covered her mouth before an unladylike snort slipped out. Who said Hotch couldn't be funny?

~0~

Penelope called the them back about an hour later and she was nowhere near happy. "First off, you are on restriction from my inner Lamborghini!"

"Garcia—"

"I mean it! This high-performance engine may purr like a puma on the prowl, but this time, Derek, you have seriously overheated my engines and I will require some cool-down laps upon your return, if you know what I mean by that—"

"Baby girl, you're on speaker," Morgan finally managed to break through Penelope's rampage. The others were very close to laughing.

"...I knew that," came Penelope's voice a moment later. This time, she was able to hear some chuckles on the other end. "Okay, um, so I'm calling to tell you, sir, there are eleven 911 dispatchers in the greater St. Louis area that were on duty when the calls were placed but not working during the murder and abduction. Of those 11, there's one that fits your profile—George Kelling, age 27, 1181 Clay Street, apartment 8. Sending his picture right now."

"Do you know where he is now?" Hotch inquired. Aitana and JJ hurried to collect their tablets and see the photograph that Penelope was sending their way.

"He was scheduled to work today. His supervisor said he showed up for his shift, but then he left early."

"Can you get the log of all the calls he took tonight?" Spencer walked over to the landline.

"Yeah, of course. But there are a lot."

"Skip to the last one!"

"Last one is a domestic disturbance at 788 4th Avenue, number C. Attempted sexual assault of a young girl. Kelling dispatched the police and then he took off."

"Meaning we need to hurry," Emily said to the others.

They divided into two teams, one going to the site of the last 911 incident and the other to Kelling's home. Both groups came to the same empty conclusions. They had to call in Penelope for help again.

"Hey!" JJ found Aitana in what seemed to be the unsub's bedroom. The brunette was shopping around and had been since they realized Kelling was gone. "What are you doing? Hotch has Garcia on the phone tracking other possible sites."

"That's good. I was just looking for some clues," Aitana shrugged as she turned away from a disorderly bookshelf. "With the amount of dust on this furniture, it's safe to say that Kelling hasn't been here in a while."

JJ nodded. The room did seem pretty still in place.

"But check it out," Aitana hurried towards one of the bedside tables. She picked up a portrait of Kelling with an older woman. "Parents?"

JJ hummed. "Maybe." She looked around the room again and found no other portraits except for the one Aitana held. "They're the only people important to him," she assumed.

Aitana put the portrait down and hurried out of the room with JJ. Hotch and Spencer were in the middle of a talk with Penelope outside the house.

"...Kelling entered the foster care system and I don't know why…" Penelope said in a hurried ramble.

"Oh, that must have been the picture we saw then," Aitana cut in, her eyes slightly wider. "Kelling has a photograph of an elderly woman in his bedroom. It's the only picture he has in that entire room."

"Makes sense," Penelope said, "His father abandoned the family when he was a baby. I can't figure out what happened to mom yet."

"All right, we need the address of the foster family he was placed with," Hotch instructed as he led the way back to the SUV."

"I know. He bounced around a lot. Give me a second!" Penelope exclaimed. " I'll call you back!"

"Okay, what I don't understand is why would he keep Bobby but release Timothy?" JJ started once the line was dead. "If he wants to get rid of the parent, why not kill them first and then take the child. It's so much riskier to wait."

"Unless the children are a crucial part of his killing ritual," Aitana said off-handedly.

Hotch turned to her, head tilting.

Spencer followed her idea and tried to develop it as quickly as he could. "He needs something from them before he can murder the parents."

"What could a child possibly give him?" JJ made a face.

"Their approval," Hotch concluded first.

~0~

"Deja vu all over again!" Penelope's voice rang in the SUV. "So, get this. George Kelling's mom committed suicide when he was 10! She jumped off a bridge. Before that, she attempted to kill herself multiple times, cutting her wrists. This sounds really familiar, huh?"

"Did you find the foster home address?" Hotch asked, fingers tapping along the wheel as he waited for the answer.

"The foster family lived on a farm 10 miles northwest of the city on Parkhill Road!"

The engines went on within the second.

"So what happened to the foster parents?" Aitana curiously asks from the backseat. "Kelling didn't have anything else but a picture of those people."

"The father died years ago. The mother just died last month—heart attack!"

"That must have been the trigger," JJ said, "The last person who rescued the unsub was gone. He assumed the mantle."

"And now he suddenly has a house to take these kids to," Aitana shuddered. "Childhood house gone wrong."

"Wait," Spencer leaned forwards from the back seat as well, "Garcia, you said the mother jumped off of a bridge, right?"

"Yeah," Penelope said. "Why?"

JJ recognized the look on Spencer's face. There was something not adding up for him. "What are you thinking?"

"Suicidology is an imperfect science, but it's uncommon for women to kill themselves so violently," Spencer explained, "For lack of a better word, they tend to choose more feminine ways to die. Men shoot themselves, jump off of buildings onto pavement. Women are less messy. They take pills and drown themselves."

"Oh...don't tell me…" Aitana was looking at him in full fledged horror.

~0~

Morgan, Emily and Rossi were already at the secondary location when the others arrived. Once more, they split between the front and the back of the house. As far as they knew, Kelling had at least two of his hostages in the same room.

Hotch led the way into the only room making a noise and sure enough, Kelling was inside holding a woman at gunpoint.

"Put the gun down! Drop the gun!" Hotch gave the first round of orders.

Kelling was nothing if not frantic. "You have to let me finish! Nobody else can do it. Nobody's strong enough!"

"Like you were strong with your mother?" Spencer called.

"Don't talk about her," Kelling snapped. "She was weak. She killed herself and left me alone."

"I don't think so," Hotch said, "Because she tried to kill herself before, nobody would question it. But you did it. You pushed her off the bridge. You killed her."

"No. I helped her!" Kelling made the mistake of moving and was shot along the arm. He dropped to the ground, clutching said arm.

Spencer and JJ rushed to collect him before he would get up.

"The boy's in the closet!" cried one of the hostages.

Hotch ran for the closet and pulled the door open to find Bobby trapped inside. Meanwhile, JJ and Spencer pulled Kelling up, now handcuffed behind his back.

"We'll need medics," Spencer called it in. And perhaps a mouthpiece because Kelling would be yelling for hours to come.

~0~

"How about 10 pairs of shoes? I mean, that has to be enough, right?" Spencer thought as logically as possible despite feeling the topic of shoes was more than redundant. If anything, it was Morgan's fault for bringing up the topic again. In an attempt to make fun of him again for not realizing there was something off about the lack of shoes in Meredith's closet, he told the story to Penelope which then brought on the attention of the others.

"Ten?" JJ made a face. "Ah, Spence, it's different with the ladies. We need them to match our belts, our handbags, our skirts, and the fashions change with the seasons."

"Oh, what are we talking about?" Aitana found the group coming towards the elevator. She'd gone a little ahead to use the restroom first before they left.

"Reid's still trying to guess the right number of shoes women usually have," Morgan said, swinging an arm around Spencer's shoulders and downright ignoring the mini-glare Spencer fixated on him.

"Ah, sweetie, there's no exact number," Aitana mocked a little pout, causing the rest of the women to laugh.

"Yes. Boys are so boring," Penelope groaned sarcastically, "Pants, shoes, out the door."

"Although it's not like men don't have their things," Emily remarked, "I dated a golfer once. He had 12 putters in his closet. But this conversation is reminding me I need new boots."

"They're having a sale at DeMille's on those tall-shaft kitty heels," Penelope was quick to say, "You like those. Do you want to go?"

"Yeah," Emily nodded.

"You getting all this, kid?" Morgan quietly asked Spencer while the others started making shopping plans.

"No," Spencer said with the deepest frown marking his face. Essentially, nobody had answered his question.

"I don't know what you're all smiley about," called Aitana as they began making their way towards the elevator, ""You two still owe me."

The smiles had indeed dropped from Morgan's face. "Oh, not this again!"

"Oh, this time I have backup," Aitana promised, gesturing towards Penelope, JJ and Emily.

"Save it, you didn't win!"

"But technically she did," Emily said with a pointed finger in the air.

"Yes," nodded JJ, "You two said that whoever pulled the best prank would win but you never said it had to be one of you two. Essentially, anyone else could have joined if they wanted to...and I wanted to."

Spencer's eyebrows knitted together as he went over that conversation in his head. "Technically speaking…"

"No," Morgan sharply cut him off, "Don't you start because then she'll really think that she won."

"It's just...that is what we said," Spencer said, still making a face. "And I can't really say that I ever expected to have my stapler inside jello." He knew he couldn't truly forget anything anyways but that had been completely memorable for him.

Aitana grinned. "You can thank Jim Halper for that one. So then," she clapped her hands together, "Ready to admit defeat? And perhaps apologize for using me while I was sick?" Her expression dropped flat.

"Yeah, that was very naughty of you two," Penelope wagged a finger at the two men. "Shame on you!"

"We didn't mean to do it like that," Morgan tried to explain but the way all of them were glaring didn't leave him with a lot to say. "Oh, alight. You win!"

"Thank you," Aitana mocked a curtsy, "And now that it's out of the way, we can get to the good part. You two owe me."

"What do you want?" asked Spencer curiously.

"Oh, I've been thinking about it during the case," Aitana said, glancing at the other women, "And I think I'll be doing you a favor too, Spencer."

"What?" Spencer made a face. "Me?"

"Yea, you're going to find out how many shoes a woman typically has," Aitana chuckled. "You and Morgan can come by to my house this Saturday to clean and rearrange my shoe closet."

JJ, Emily and Penelope nearly lost it on the spot.

"Of course you're all invited too," Aitana told them, "I'll give Hotch and Rossi a call."

"You are one evil woman, sprinkles," Morgan declared.

"Don't mess with me," Aitana winked. Her laughter, combined with JJ's, Emily's and Penelope's, would echo through the floors on their way out.

[multiplicity-positivity]

Hi, I'm George, and I suppose I'm questioning whether or not I am a system. I'm not sure if this is the right place to come for this, but I saw some similar asks on the blog, and doing this myself has been very frustrating, so I figured I might as well try. So I occasionally have these very strange dissociative episodes, where I have these intense screaming arguments in my head with myself. I spent a long time thinking they were just auditory hallucinations, but I'm not so sure about that anymore. In the past year or so I've been under a lot of stress, and some of these arguments have turned into almost calm conversations where I actually start sorting problems out. I've noticed in these conversations I'm both an active and passive participant on both sides, if that makes sense. In addition to this, I often feel like I have multiple identities. I am an atheist, but I sometimes strongly feel I am part of religious groups that I have literally nothing to do with. I'm also transmasc nonbinary, but sometimes I get the idea that I should be transfem, which is always very confusing to me. I will occasionally refer to myself with we/us pronouns on accident, but other than that I've never had the common symptoms of plurality, like amnesia, or people I don't know knowing me, and I'm running out of other explanations. Again, I'm not sure if this is the right place to come, but I couldn't find a better place, and therapy isn't an option for me right now. I'm just not really sure what to do or where to go, so any resources or insight you might be able to offer would be a huge help. Thank you : )

Hiya, George! So we’ve got a few things we can say that might help you :3

Since it sounds like you’re questioning things right now, the best resource we can give you is our resource post for questioning systems! It has a ton of links to articles with info on a bunch of different kinds of systems and plurality. It’s a great place to start for anyone hoping to learn more about multiplicity! >w<

Honestly, we’re not going to be able to confirm or deny whether or not you’re plural… sorry about that! >_<” But! What we can say, is that amnesia is not a requirement for plurality! And as far as dissociative amnesia goes, it’s possible to experience it without really knowing that’s what’s going on! We’ll link a post we wrote on dissociative amnesia, too, in case that might help! :3

We’re not trying to deny or dictate your experience at all here!! Members of our own system didn’t really know or understand that we were experiencing amnesia before we knew about our system, so we thought it was worth it to bring this up >w<

In the mean time, while you’re still learning about yourself and whether or not you’re plural, we’d like to say that anyone who feels like the plural framework is good for them is welcome to use it. So you can definitely call yourself plural if you want, as you are! If you find out later that you’re not actually plural after all… no harm done! It’s okay to question, and it’s okay to be wrong, too :33

Um, one last thing we’ll include here, is a post we wrote on establishing contact with headmates. If you’re questioning whether or not the voices you hear in your mind are other system members, this post might help y’all begin to make connections!

Gosh, we hope that this response here will be useful for you in some way! No matter what you end up deciding or discovering about yourself, we’re wishing you the best of luck with everything!! :3