#i also want to start idea dumping again cause I miss the 'turtle ideas'

[kwamiwayzz]

Why I Left...Then Eventually Came Back (Vent)

Geez...I don’t know how I came to this, but I wanted to vent this out after looking at the last thing I posted before I abandoned took a long-ish hiatus from this Tumblr. 

It’s gonna be kinda long since it’s gonna go over a bit of history on the way I felt towards shipping Elsanna back when I was still deep in the fandom and why this account was made...

Warning: A lot of personal baggage under the cut [and I guess you could put mentions of suicidal contemplation] 

A bit of background on how I even got around to shipping these two in the first place. I’m not the kind of person to ship things so easily; it may come from the fact that I’m partially asexual/aromantic, who knows? I’ve had smaller ships on the side throughout high school and part of college like KiGo, FlutterDash, Korrasami, and Pearlmethyst (and I guess Bubbline sorta counts?) but the only major ships I’ve ever had in the past were Negitoro (MikuxLuka - Vocaloid), YumiKuri (YmirxChrista - Attack on Titan), and eventually Elsanna (ElsaxAnna - Frozen 2013). 

In my junior year of high school I had this huge crush on a friend who I thought I could trust with my feelings despite knowing they could never be reciprocated. She said it was fine at first but not long after she kind of turned around and said she was uncomfortable around me and didn’t want to be seen with me. I was really confused as to why she wasn’t honest in the beginning, but as a young teenager who was still getting used to the feeling of constant rejection it didn’t sit well with me and I panicked a lot because I got really scared of losing a friend also. She wanted to distance herself from me which I reluctantly agreed with, the went on a horrible breakdown that nearly led me to wanting to commit suicide. Holy shit...and this happened when the school year was starting also. 

I went along my days hoping the year would end. I was honestly so dead on the inside and didn’t think anything would help me get out of that even though my friends were there trying to cheer me up. I came across Frozen and after seeing the way the sisters interacted I don’t know...I guess it came from what I wanted in a relationship; not necessarily romantic, I just happened to ship it in a romantic way also. So, naturally I gravitated towards that and it distracted me and helped me get out of a 2-month long depression. And it really made me happy...for awhile.

Fast-forward, I came across some buddies on what’s now known (and possibly now-dead) as the ECC, the ElsannaCollabCorner, out of enthusiasm for wanting  write and collaborate with other people in this ship. It was pretty fun, I met awesome people like canitellusmthin, not-rotting, the-wandering-quill, and many others, despite not contributing as much as I would have liked (I was still iffy on my writing skills for that particular ship so it was difficult for me to actually put something out there).

I ended up making this account, and to be honest, I also may have lied a bit to some people on the ECC when I mentioned this account is my first experience on Tumblr. It’s not. Previously, I had another account which I’ve long abandoned due to it being associated with so much negativity directed towards Frozen/Elsanna. And I thought making this account would be a fresh start being involved in the fandom. 

There was a particular issue that I noted to myself time and time again that explains why I kept disappearing, then reappearing again and it mainly came from me trying to distance myself from the ship and the Frozen fandom in general because of how unhealthily attached I got to it. As much as I loved this pairing (and still do to a certain extent) I hated the way I got super stressed out over not being able to find new content or finding out other people who I’ve followed who shipped it, have lost interest/left the fandom. The biggest blow, I remember, was when one of my favorite EA artists, Patronustrip, had packed her bags and left the fandom completely due to her issues with the fandom itself, issues with the movie franchise, and slow disinterest in the pairing. To me, she was a bit like the Frozenmusings of the EA fandom, so having to see her leave on a bit of a bad note was really depressing, especially since I still wasn’t over what happened to me in junior year.

It was pathetic and horrible and the ship that was once seen as something I took comfort in to get away from heartbreak back in high school, from both rejection of that person and losing them as a friend afterwards, ended up turning into the equivalent of me being trapped in a ridiculously unhealthy, maybe abusive, relationship. That was how I spent most of my college freshman days and in the end I knew that I had to get away from it. 

Even after my messed up attachment to this pairing started to dwindle significantly, it didn’t feel right coming back to an account that mostly revolved around Frozen/Elsanna. And seeing nothing but that on my dash...I don’t know...stressed me out in a way? In the end, EA stuff just feels like a bit of a chore and it might be due to the fact that I’m so overexposed to it or that I’ve been spoiled enough by it that it doesn’t really feel like EA anymore. 

That’s why after I recently started shipping Saber/Irisviel, it really put things into perspective how spoiled I was being in a popular ship like Elsanna. A large fandom can sometimes attract not the greatest people and those people end up making the ship itself look bad. Lord knows how many times I’ve dealt with seeing bullshit Kristanna vs. Elsanna or Helsa vs. Elsanna bitch fights that went on when I was still in the fandom. Like, KA fandom has their stupid moments, but there were times I sometimes felt like the EA fandom would shift the blame away from themselves (some people, not all). So, in a way, the fandom was one of the few things that drove my interest away from both the pairing and movie for a while. It was a combination of that and me getting sick of running into certain NSFW art and fics that would clog up my dash even though I could easily blacklist it (kinda). It wasn’t always on Tumblr, but some people I recall on Reddit have made remarks on just taking whatever even if its low-quality, which I understand in way but doesn’t entirely apply to EA since the fandom is technically in abundance. I have other issues with the fandom as well, looking back as someone who is no longer really in it anymore, but I’m not sure if I want to go into detail about it right now for the sake of not extending this post any longer

I ended up coming back after curiously wondering what’s been up with some people I’ve been following, and after spending time away from my previous fandom, it’s kind of refreshing that I’m no longer really tied down to it anymore.

In the end I guess I came back because I missed the interactions I would have with some followers and having fun with that on Tumblr. I know I have my other account but I tend to be quiet on that one since I don’t focus on a specific fandom over there. I might not be into EA as much as I used to but I didn’t really have to abandon this account entirely...or the people I somewhat talked to on here. 

TL;DR: Left because EA was becoming toxic for me, needed to take a break, came back because I wanted to know how y’all were doing :) 

[mediocre-writerr]

all for us [the wilds girls]

the wilds girls x platonic fem reader

requested: I love your imagines a lot, you’re an amazing writer! I had a promt where maybe the reader is the youngest of all the girls and basically the younger sister they all never had and they all care and love for her very much (maybe short flashbacks with moments of her and the girls) and once their quarantine is over they realize she’s missing and it turns out she got internal injury or something else quite angsty and the girls do everything they can for her

*not my gif*

“So tell me about Y/N Y/L/N.” Agent Young says.

“Y/N Y/L/N?” Leah asks and Agent Young nods, “Where do I even begin?” 

You were the youngest of the group. Not too much younger than them, but still younger. And just like regular siblings being the youngest had its perks and downfalls.

For one, you could never go anywhere alone. Even to pee, the girls would not let you out of their sight. 

But, you got away with almost everything. The girls couldn’t stay mad at you for too long, not even Toni could stay mad at you. And she could literally stay mad at anyone until the day she died. 

“I’m taking you and her were close?” Agent Fader asks.

“Yeah, she was close to pretty much everyone. She’s like a little bean we all wanted to protect. You just wanted to squish her cheeks ever time you see her.” 

“Leah? What are you doing up here?” you ask her, plopping down onto the sand further away from everyone. 

She shakes her head staring out at the sun that was just beginning to set, “Just reading the notes he left me...again. I know I’m pathetic.” 

“I wasn’t gonna say that.” you reply and she looks at you wide-eyed.

“You weren’t?” 

You shake your head, smiling at her a little bit, “You were in love. I’ve never been in love before, but when you’re in love you’re in love. And he dumped you which wasn’t cool. I don’t support your relationship with him, but it’s only natural to be heartbroken over it.” 

“You’re wise for your age.” she says, ruffling your hair.

“If I ever meet Jeffery, I’m gonna kick his ass.” you warn her, looking at her dead in the eye.

“You probably can, if I’m being honest.” Leah states and she lets out a small laugh. 

Yes, mission accomplished.

You nod with your fists up, pretending to block, “Hit him with that one, two, punch. Pow. Pow pow pow!” you mimic, punching the air in front of you.

Your fake fighting causes her to laugh a little louder and harder. So you decided to take it up a notch, get her distracted a little more.

You get up from where you were standing. And lift one leg up, like Daniel did in Karate Kid, “Finish him!” you yell, making your voice a little deeper. 

Kicking your feet up in the air, however you don’t stick the landing. You fall onto your back letting out a small groan and the sudden hit. Leah starts laughing uncontrollably, releasing a little snort.

That small snort causes you to start laughing along with her. Jeffery long forgotten. 

“We heard from Leah that Y/N was close with everyone. Is this true?” Fader asks. 

“Oh yeah 100%.” Rachel says with a nod, “It was like having yet another younger sister to take care of. Or well...them taking care of me.” 

“You think you can beat me in a swim race.” Rachel asks, staring at you like you’ve just grown two horns.

You hum in response, “Yep!” 

“Fine you’re on! From this point to those rocks.” she says, pointing at the rock figures in the middle of the ocean.

“Who you got?” Dot asks, Toni.

Toni looks at her with a small smirk on her face, “I’m gonna bet on the underdog this round. I got my Diet Coke on Squirt here!” Toni gestures to you, using your annoying nickname that the girls named you after. 

They gave you the nickname after the turtle from Finding Nemo. You pretended to hate it, but you secretly loved your embarrassing nickname.

“You’re on!” Dot says, shaking her hand.

“On your mark, get set...GO!” Martha yells sitting along next to Marcus.

The two of you take off swimming. You start off a little slow at first trying to maintain your energy, but Rachel was the opposite. She was using everything in her power to get their as fast as she could.

When she finally started slowing down, that’s when you pushed on the gas. Moving your arms and legs in a perfect motion. Slowly, but surely you started passing her just as you made it to the rocks.

“Hell yeah!” Toni yells.

Dot groans before throwing Toni a Diet Coke. 

“How the hell did you do that?” Rachel asks you, out of breath as the two of you sat on the rocks.

“Honestly, no idea.” you say with a laugh and she rolls her eyes.

“Race you back!” she yells, jumping into the ocean.

“Cheater!” you yell before diving in after her. 

Dot was slurping down her milkshake. While the two agents waited for her to stop drinking. 

“Can I have another one of these?” Dot asks and Fader nods with a laugh. 

“Who do you think you wanted to protect most on the island?” Young asks after Dot finishes her ten course meal.

“Y/N, hands down. I think that would be every girls answer.” Dot explains, plopping another fry into her mouth.

All of you girls were relaxing on the beach. After two days of scavenging the jungle for any sorts of food and firewood. This was the first day all of you could just relax.

“I just came up with the best idea!” you exclaim. 

It was just you and Dot. The rest of the girls were scattered all over the beach, doing their own thing.

“What is it?” she asks as your eyes had that mischievous glint to them, “Oh no. I know that look!” 

“We’re already stranded on a deserted island, what if we pretended we were on an episode of Naked and Afraid?!” you say, excitedly.

She releases on of her famous hearty laughs, “You want all of us to strip down naked? You really think the girls would be up for it?” 

You nod your head, multiple times, “I bet at least 6/9 of the girls here have at least imagined one of us naked.” 

Dot raises her eyebrows at you, “Are you one of those 6?” 

“No comment...” you state.

After much convincing, you got the girls to have a pretend episode of Naked and Afraid. Everyone was stripping down of their clothes, looking at each other, trying to stifle a laugh. 

The air was awkward, yet comfortable at the same time. The only awkward part was standing there unsure of what to do next. 

“Y/N, you have a cute butt!” Fatin exclaims, giving you a high five.

Toni sidles up next to her to get a look, “Awe it looks like a little peach.” 

You throw your face in your hands, shaking your head as a chorus full of aw’s fill the air. 

Toni sat there with her arms crossed over her chest, not wanting to talk about anything to these phonies. 

“So we’ve been asking the girls their opinions on everyone else, we’re gonna go one by one on the list and you’ll say one word to describe them.” Fader says and Toni just nods.

“Leah Rilke?” 

“Over-thinker.” Toni replies.

“Rachel Reid?” 

“Driven.” 

“Dot Campbell?” 

“Resourceful.” 

“Shelby Goodkind?” 

There was a moment of silence, trying to find the right words to say, “Complex.” 

“Martha Blackburn?” 

“Sister.” 

“Y/N Y/L/N?” 

Toni laughs to herself softly, “Squirt.” 

You and Toni were out in the shallow waters of the ocean. Dot sent you and Toni on an experiment to see if watch she saw on TV actually works. Where you stand out in the water and catch a fish with your bare hands.

The two of you didn’t quite know the logistics on how it works, but you volunteered anyway. You were standing out, not too far away from the shore just reaching down trying to grab a fish to eat.

Each time you tried you came out short, “You look like an idiot right now.” Toni says, laughing at you flailing your arms in and out of the water.

“Shut up!” you say, splashing her with water. 

“You guys aren’t doing it right?!” Nora yells from the shore, “You need to stay still and patient so the fish will come to you.” 

“We literally picked the worst people for this job.” Shelby says and you and Toni flip her off from where you were standing, “You guys literally can not stay still for the life of you. And don’t even get me started on patience.”

“That’s rude!” you yell at her, “God can hear you! You’re supposed to be nice!” 

“I’m also supposed to be honest!” Shelby shoot back and you mock her actions, before she gives you the bird herself.

“Hey that’s not allowed!” Toni yells at her girlfriend. 

You start laughing with Toni, pushing her slightly. She pushes you back playfully, before it turns in to a full on battle to see who can get the other to fall first. But Toni being Toni decided to just tackle you. 

“Ahhhhhh!” you say letting out a little screen, “Something’s touching me!” 

“Pick it up! It could be a fish!” Toni exclaims.

You pick up the creature and yell a little louder when it bites you, tossing it in the process, “It bit me!!” 

“Y/N, it’s a baby turtle!” Toni exclaims, “You were scared of a baby turtle!” 

“Shut the fuck up.” you joke with her, but give her a serious look. 

Toni picks up the turtle examining the cute little guy. She looks at the turtles face and then back at you doing a double take. 

“It kinda looks like you.” she says, before letting it go back into the ocean.

“Fuck you.” you tease, tackling back into the ocean.

“We really picked the worst people.” Shelby says to Nora.

Both of them shaking their heads in disappointment.

“Thoughts on Y/N Y/L/N?”

“Oh intern for being the baddest bitch out there.” Fatin says with a smile on her face.

“Intern for who?” Fader asks.

“Me of course.” 

Nora and Rachel were currently fighting to the death. Neither you, Leah, or Martha knew what to do.

“Y/N come over here!” Fatin says, gesturing for you to go where she was standing, “Take this bottle of lube!” 

You catch the bottle of the lube she tossed you. And you raised your eyebrow up at her. 

“Just follow my lead.” she brings her toothbrush up to her mouth, “Nora has Rachel pinned on the ground.” she mocks an announcer you would hear on ESPN.

“But Rachel is not giving up too easily folks!” you go along with your guys’ bit, “I don’t know about you Fatin, but I have never seen a girl fight this interesting in my life!” 

“Agreed, usually it’s just a bunch of-HOLY SHIT that was a knee to the tit ladies and gentlemen!” she yells out. 

“Is Rachel out for the count?!” you add on watching the fight unfold in front of you. 

It’s probably not the best time to make jokes, but you all need to let loose once in awhile.

“Wait...she’s getting up!” Fatin yells.

“Oh my gosh she’s not...OUCH! That was knee to the twat!” you yell wincing at the pain that was just brought upon Nora.

“Y/N, how do you feel about this fight?” Fatin asks.

You shake your head, “I don’t know you have two amazing fighters going head to head for the very first time. We have Rachel, olympic diver, very strong and very determined. But then we have the underdog of the hour Nora who is small and scrawny, but she’s packing quite a punch. It could be anyone’s game.” 

“You’re absolutely right Y/N! But Rachel now as Nora pinned to the ground and she can’t seem to get up! This fight might be over everyone!!” 

“Hey there.” Shelby says, sitting down at the metal table. 

“Hello Shelby, can we get you anything?” the two men ask and she just sit back in her seat, shaking her head.

Fader nods, “Well let’s get started, shall we?” 

The three of them have a long conversation before Shelby ultimately decides to stop the interview all together. 

“Wait just one question!” Fader exclaims as Shelby stands up, “How do you feel about Y/N?” 

At the sound of your name Shelby freezes in her spot, “My favorite person on the island.” fear and worry start to fill her body at why the sudden question about you, “Is she okay??” 

You were trekking in the jungle looking for some source of food. All of you ate all the food when the rescue plane was coming, but it’s not coming anytime soon so here you were.

Shelby, Toni, and Martha said they were gonna go out looking, but none of them were to be found. So you decided to go on a little expedition to find them. You heard rustling coming from the tree up ahead, so you decided to follow the noise.

Only to see Toni and Shelby basically naked under a lychee tree, “Oh my god!!!” you yell, covering your eyes with your hand.

“AHHH!” the two girls scream, but you couldn’t see what they were doing.

You turned around facing towards the direction you came from, “Sorry sorry. I was just looking for you guys and food. I uh I didn’t mean to.” you say, shaking your head.

“Jesus Y/N you scared us!” Shelby yells and you can hear rustling. 

Hopefully, they were putting their clothes back on. 

“Damn it I was getting laid!” Toni says jokingly and you could hear a smack hit her arm.

“Leave our daughter alone!” Shelby jokes and you laugh softly.

“Can I turn back around now?” you ask meekly.

“Yes.” the two girls say and you release a sigh and turn around to face the two girls.

You look at their flush faces, “You guys couldn’t have gone a little farther away?” you ask, “Thanks to you I’m more traumatized than I already was.” you joke. 

“Oh c’mon you know you liked it.” Toni nudges your shoulder as the two of you walk back to the camp.

Your face flushes as you put your head in your hands, “Stop corrupting her!” Shelby yells at her. 

“Let me see her!” Shelby yells at the two men.

“We can’t let you do that. You girls aren't allowed to see each other yet. Not for awhile.” Agent Young says.

“Can you at least tell me if she’s okay?” she asks, looking at the two men with her eyebrows raised.

“She’s fine.” 

That didn’t relieve the feeling in Shelby’s chest that something could possibly be wrong. But she couldn’t do anything, even if we tried.

The girls didn’t know how long they were quarantined. It felt like months and it probably was a couple months. They finally let all of the girls hang out together in the small courtyard.

All of them hugging one another, super glad to see each other. Knowing that everyone’s okay. Well...everyone who made it.

“Y/N? Where’s Y/N?” Leah asks, looking at all the other girls.

“She was okay when we left. She should be here.” Dot adds on. 

Shelby face was flushed with worry, “They wouldn’t let me see her when I asked about her. I asked if she was okay, but they said she was fine.” 

Fader was standing there with a guilty look on his face. Toni’s blood was boiling at the look on his face. She runs up to him, pushing him against the wall, holding onto him by the collar. 

“Where the fuck is she?!” she yells.

Which causes Agent Young to burst into the room, “What’s going on here?” 

“Where is Y/N?!” Toni yells again, but at the other man.

Agent Young locks eyes with Fade and he subtly nods, “She’s in the infirmary. Her heart was in bad condition, so she needed open heart surgery. The surgeons are working on her right now.” 

“You told me she was fine when I was being interrogated.” Shelby says in between gritted teeth, “Did you lie?” 

The two men don’t answer. They just stare anywhere, but at the other girls. The silence spoke louder than any words did. Fatin scoffs at the men’s actions.

“That’s why you wanted to know huh?” Leah asks, her imagination running wild, “You wanted to know about her because you were wondering if she was worth saving. Isn’t that right?” 

Neither of the men decided to speak again.

“Let us see her.” Rachel says, staring at them intensely.

“We can’t do that. She’s in surgery right now.” Young says.

Toni pushes Fader up against the wall yet again, “You’re gonna let us see her when she’s out. No excuses. No bullshit. You’re gonna let us see our friend.” Toni threatens.

The girls sat in the waiting room of the infirmary. Leah paced back and forth chewing on her fingernail. Toni was trying to console a worried Shelby. While Dot, Rachel, and Fatin sat in the seats waiting impatiently.

Agent Young filled the girls in on your condition. You had a heart disease before you came onto the island. And your parents gave you a little trip to help because of the depressive state you were in. Little did they know you would be trapped on an island with none of the medication that was needed to help you survive.

All of the rigorous activity brought your heart to a weaker state than ever before. When the girls got saved, you were already experiencing symptoms of heart failure. And you were put under immediate watch when you reached the facility. You were getting better, but then your heart gave out and you needed to get an artery reconstructed.

“We already lost too much.” Fatin whispers in the tense silence of the waiting room. 

“Nora, Martha...” Rachel draws out.

“We can’t lose Y/N.” Toni adds. 

“The girl who loved the most has a heart condition. How ironic is that?” Dot asks.

“I’m scared guys.” Leah whispers.

“She’s strong, she’ll pull through.” Shelby says, trying to boost their hope, but she’s losing faith herself.

After God knows how long the doctor finally came out. All of the girls looking up at her. Tears brimming all of their eyes, scared for the answer they were about to get.

“She’s okay. We managed to repair it without too much trouble. You guys can see her now.” the doctor says and everyone lets out this huge breath.

A smile breaks out on Fatin’s face as tears spill from her face. The six girls walk into your hospital room where you were laying peacefully. Your eyes somewhat open, you had a soft smile on your face as you stared at the girls.

“Hey guys!” you exclaim, as excited as you can.

Dot lets out a small sniffle, “You scared us, asshole!” 

“Why didn’t you tell us about your condition?” Fatin asks, tears still streaming down her face.

You shrug, “We already were going through too much. I didn’t want to worry everyone more or get treated any differently. Rachel, if I told you about my heart would you have raced me?” 

She shakes her head, “No.” 

“Exactly.” 

Rachel, Dot, and Fatin take a seat on the foot of the rock-hard hospital bed. You scooted over so Leah could cuddle in next to you. While Shelby and Toni pulled up a chair right by your side.

Leah rests her head on your shoulder, “We thought we were gonna lose you Squirt.” Toni says, ruffling your hair. 

Shelby was still crying, looking at you full of worry. You look at the blonde beauty who was now bald, but she still looked beautiful.

“Come here.” you whisper to her. You scoot over closer to her Leah, making room for her.

She sits next to you, crying into your chest, “Hey. I’m okay Shelby.” you look at all of the other girls who still had worry on their face, “I’m okay guys. We’re all okay.”

But the girls don’t look convinced.

“Listen to my heart Shelby, it’s still beating. Just focus on that okay?” you tell her and she nods. Even Leah could hear your heart beating from here. 

“You’re really okay?” Shelby asks and you nod.

“I’m okay. I promise.” you say, giving each of the girls a look, They all nod with small smiles, “Now how the hell do we get out of here?” you whisper.

And each of you give each other a small smirk, “Time for the Great Escape.” 

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 06 part two

(Masterpost)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Bathing Boy Beauties

So, now we and Wei Wuxian get to see Lan Wangji with his shirt off. Eventually Lan Wangji will realize that his brother set this up, and will think of some way to get back at him, possibly by spending three years being stubborn in a cave or maybe by chopping an arm off of someone his brother cares about. 

This is A+ Yibo fanservice but it's also a male-male version of a trope that's ubiquitous in c-drama, in which the male lead takes a bath and the female lead sees him. The purpose of the scene is almost always so a woman can look a man’s body over and decide, not to put too fine a point on it, whether she wants to fuck him. 

Examples:

The Pillow Book - “Which part of Shen Ye is better than me?”

Women’s sexual agency is not often at the forefront in c-dramas, but the bathtub scenes are an acknowledgement of the female gaze, and of male objects of desire being subject to evaluation & approval.

Tientsin Mystic is a show with a lot of muscley swimming in it, In case you’re looking for your next Netflix show. 

As a CGI artist I have to mention that water does not reflect or refract 100% of light. If you look at a naked dingle-having person in a bathtub full of clear water you will definitely be able to see their dingle. But C-drama water is magic and nothing is visible below the waterline, to the point that Bai Yu is modestly covering his thoracic surgery scar chest in Detective L while leaving his lower half uncovered.

Note: that caption isn’t fake; she is really saying this on her way out the door, after having a long chat with him in the bathroom. You can find the whole series on YouTube.

Seen in this context, The Untamed’s two bathing scenes are saying quite a lot. Wei Wuxian, being a boy, doesn’t display any female-encoded shyness or modesty, but he and his sword pause for a moment of admiration.

(more after the cut!)

16 years later, Lan Wangji will sit quietly in this pool and let Wei Wuxian examine his wet body thoroughly from multiple angles, in a more prolonged invocation of this C-drama mating ritual.

Carrying on - was Xiao Zhan supposed to kick his boot in the water like that? Because if not, he rolls with it like a champ.

Wei Wuxian starts trying to be direct with Lan Wangji, giving him the worst, most neg-filled compliment ever, bless his heart.  

Then he says that there are benefits to being his friend, and starts taking off his clothes.

Wei Wuxian here takes his first step into the bold new world of respecting Lan Wangji’s boundaries, asking Lan Wangji to stay and saying he will keep his clothes on. 

Lan Wangji actually does stay, so he's apparently not too angry with Wei Wuxian about the drinking. Wei Wuxian invites him to visit Lotus Pier sometime (see my gifset here), but the promise of lotus pods doesn’t impress him. Then Wei Wuxian tries to tell him that the Yunmeng chicks really knock me out, they leave the rest behind. This also doesn’t impress him. 

You could read this macking-on-ladies talk as a sign that Wei Wuxian is oblivious to LWJ's feelings for him. But I read it as a bisexual boy being horny on main with a boy he likes, not  understanding yet that some boys don’t share all of his turn-ons.

Lan Wangji is sort of mildly startled when Wei Wuxian disappears under the water. His eye makeup is good here, isn’t it?.

Ice Cave

They end up in an ice cave and both spend the rest of the episode showing how good they look with wet hair. 

When the guqin starts attacking, Lan Wangji is only mildly perturbed about Wei Wuxian getting his shit rocked over and over.

Eventually he sends Bichen to protect his very bedraggled date. Lan Wangji’s sword is faster than the speed of a very slow sound wave.

Beauty's where you find it not just where you bump and grind it 

Gusuship Down

I feel like there are a couple of things in this show that are so problematic the fandom has silently agreed to never discuss them. Well, I’m here to talk about this one:

There are rabbits in this ice cave and they are wearing headbands. HEADbands. On RABBits.  

EXCELLENT FUCKING QUESTION, LAN WANGJI

*deep breath*

Are these rabbits lineal Lan descendants? Who makes the headbands? How do they stay on because “headband” here means “glowing cloud on forehead” without any actual band.  When rabbit babies are born, how do they stay safe while they’re waiting for someone to make them baby-sized headbands? Do these rabbits adhere to the other 3499 Lan Clan principles or just the headband one? Is any ol' rabbit allowed to touch a rabbit’s headband or is it limited to parents and significant others and is that even relevant when presumably these bunnies are all fucking each other like...bunnies?

The characters are like “oh, the rabbits are wearing headbands; killer guqin problem solved.” And then they move right the fuck along with their lives and the rabbit headbands are never seen or discussed again and I just want a hit of whatever the author or creative team was smoking when they came up with this whole idea.

Headband Sharing

When Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji to hand over his headband, Lan Wangji understands his entire rabbit-based thought process without asking

Gen-X Joke Alert

Wei Wuxian is awfully impressed by this sword-recall trick, considering that he did it himself when they went to the lake.

I see you know your way around a sheath

Killer Guqin

When they approach the guqin I hope that the subtitles are mistranslated, because Wei Wuxian keeps promising not to touch it and then says he can't look at it without touching it. I'm not going to touch it, I just need to touch it. 

Lan Wangji is going to teach Wei Wuxian some goddamn boundaries no matter how many times he has to make him fondle his sword.

Nothing suggestive here

Lan Wangji sits down to play the guqin and immediately goes off into the ether where there are seagull noises and plenty of fans. This is either a state of pure bliss, or he just really likes seagulls.

Did Lan Wangji just have a stealth orgasm?

Speaking of getting off, get your ass off of my desk

The Yin Iron

Lan Wangji does some spirit whispering, and suddenly the cave starts yelling at them. A bunch of clans are chanting in unison about a plan, which is the cultivator version of a battle cry.

Lancestor Lan Yi shows up. She is elegant and has a combination of sweetness and gravity that is similar to Lan Xichen’s. And none of Lan Qiren’s douchiness.

Search Party

Lan Qiren is worried and Lan Xichen is worried and they have sent people to look for the boys. It's really too bad nobody around here knows magic.

All these powerful cultivators search for missing people by running around outdoors yelling for them. 

Yanli is excused from PE class because she’s not feeling well, so she sits on a rock in the woods instead of, you know, staying home in the first place. She gets bored sitting down and unwisely decides to walk two or three steps. Xuan Lu, seen here competing in a gymnastics event, gamely pretends she can’t climb a small rock. 

Yanli falls into Jin Zixuan's arms and they gaze at each other for a long heterosexual moment. 

No homosexual explanation possible

This means two things: 1. he isn't looking very hard for her brother if he's hanging out here catching wobbly girls 2. soulful longing looks from him ain't shit, because he's going to dump her in the next episode.

Lanny Granny

Lan Wangji intros himself to Lan Yi and does a full prostrate bow. Wei Wuxian does a standing bow since he's not a descendant, just a future in-law.

No I mean come on, HEADBANDS

Lan Gran explains the entire history of the yin iron. It's bad, it's full of resentful energy, no-one should use it. She’s going to dump it on a couple of 16 year old boys, one of whom has a woody for using resentful energy, because it’s destiny and her battery is about to run out. 

Props to the Prop Department; this thing does look pretty cool

Xue Chonghai was the most problematic cultivator back in the old days. He killed a lot of dudes and fed their resentment to...a turtle? To the disk? I don’t know; I literally am unable to pay attention when anyone is explaining the intricacies of the unobtanium Yin Iron. 

Anyway there’s a disk and it’s soaked up a lot of resentment.  

Using it makes people evil. Well except..clearly this dude started off evil, yeah? If he was feeding people to his turtle.

Side effects may include: being fucking crazy

Here Wei Wuxian brings out his "resentful energy is awesome" theory and has an experienced grown-up grand master tell him that she also thought this, and has spent 100 years locked in a cave with headband-wearing rabbits because she was super fucking wrong. Does this deter him? ...nope

Baoshan Sanren

Now she name checks Baoshan Sanren, and Wei Wuxian has a big reaction and Lan Wangji has a big noticing of Wei Wuxian’s reaction. He’s very attuned to Wei Wuxian’s emotional state, in the moments where WWX lets his actual feelings show through the sass and swagger.  

Lan Gran talks about her search for the Yin iron, and Lan Wangji wisely says, if you can't neutralize it, why look for it? And she says, I was filled with hubris just like ya boi Wei Wuxian.  Lan Wangji points out the exact same shit he will later point out to Wei Wuxian.

So now we have a parallel in which Lan Yi is just like Wei Wuxian and Baoshan Sanren is just like Lan Wangji, yeah? Which is kind of sweet; it shows how these types are drawn together and how your clan doesn't determine your personality. Also it shows how the Lan clan has room for an unorthodox clan leader. Also it shows how the Yin Iron causes some really bad breakups. 

These boys are standing on snow barefoot which has got to take a pretty high cultivation level. Look how short Lan Wangji is without his stilettos, aww.

Flashback to Baoshan Sanren, just long enough to appreciate how beautiful she is.

Did OP give up on recoloring that flashback-blue-hazed image and just start fucking around with random filters? Yes she did. 

We also get to see that Lan Yi and Lan Wangji have more common than just guqin, because they both like to solve problems by kicking them.  

So after breaking up with her girlfriend, Lan Gran became invisible in this cave for 100 years while trying to contain the Yin iron and put headbands on rabbits. 

Soundtrack: Vogue by Madonna Writing prompt: Watership Down rabbits meet Lan rabbits

Bonus extended bath clip:

Bai Yu, Detective L

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis 38

One more til Heroes Day! So I'm really happy with how this turned out. I think adapted it well. Though this didn't need as much changing as a few of the others. Also the nickname Luth that Anatis gives Leatherback. It is actually another name for the Leatherback turtle as it is sometimes known as either the Lute Turtle or just the Luth. Yep, I did my research. Anyway, hope you peeps like this chapter :D Keep an eye out because I'm able to start work on Ikari Gozen so that should be out by the weekend if I keep going on this little roll I have :D

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

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Anansi

"Look at them go," Adrien grinned as Nino and Alya danced around the living room. He had managed to sneak out of the house with Kagami again, who nodded as she watched them. Ivan and Mylene were sat next to them on the sofa and Rose and Juleka were curled up next to each other. Marinette was sat at the kitchen island, next to Luka, who was writing a song. He would occasionally glance up to see what was happen but was mostly focused on his song. Not that anyone minded. They all knew that's how Luka was. Sadly, Nathaniel and Marc couldn't make it, due to having to finish the next comic of the Adventures of Anatis and Lady Noir and neither could Chloe or Alix but that was ok. They would hang out with them on the weekend. Alya and Nino slid across the ground before finishing the dance with Nino posing like a ballerina, causing everyone to laugh. The screen on the TV told them that they had beat their high score.

 "Nice!" Nino grinned, happily. "Ok, who's next?! Adrien, Kagami... you up for it?"

 "Oh, you guys know I have two left feet," Adrien laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "What about... Marinette and Luka?"

 "Adrien, I'm more clumsy then you," Marinette pointed out, making everyone laugh. "Besides, he's writing,"

 "I'll say. Poor Luka will end up with a flying Marinette as a dance partner," Alya grinned cheekily, causing Marinette to gasp before they both began to laugh. "How about you and Mylene, Ivan?"

 "Sure, we can give it a try," Mylene smiled, getting up as Ivan nodded. The two of them began to dance as the door to the apartment opened as Alya's older sister, Nora, came in and glanced around.

 "I didn't know we were having a gathering of fly weights today," She mumbled before dumping her gym bag on the floor as she looked around.

 "Nora!" Alya gasped as she looked at her. "Is your match over already?"

  "First round! Totally knock out!!" She grinned, holding her arms up before lowering them and pulling Alya over to her, hissing something at her before straightening up and glancing at everyone. "I recognize Cappy and Baguette but who's the rest of the gang?"

 "Oh, I'm Adrien," Adrien smiled before gesturing to Kagami. "And this is Kagami,"

 "It's a pleasure to meet you," She replied in her calm voice, making Nora rise an eyebrow.

 "Uh huh," Nora nodded before glancing at the rest of the gang. "And who's the emos and the pink one?"

 "I'm Mylene and this is my boyfriend, Ivan," Mylene smiled as Ivan waved. However, Nora didn't look impressed as she glanced at them. Rose grinned at her.

 "I'm Rose! It's really nice to meet you!!" She gasped as Juleka played with her hair.

 "Juleka... um... I'm Rose's girlfriend..." She mumbled, quietly as she twirled Rose's hair in her fingers. Nora nodded and turned to Luka, who was scribbling down some notes. Noticing Nora in front of him, he glanced up as Juleka cleared her throat. "That's my older brother Luka,"

 "Hmm, don't seem like much to me," She replied, making him frown before gesturing to herself. "The name is Anansi! Like a spider,"

"I prefer Ladybugs over spiders," Luka muttered quietly, making her frown but everyone else giggle. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "Just saying,"

 "Well, no one asked for your opinion on it, Tips," She stated before walking over to the fridge. "Anyway, what are you all still doing here this late? Shouldn't you be heading back home? Don't you have school tomorrow?"

 "We're waiting for it to get dark," Alya stated as Nora took out a carton of milk and began to drink it. "It's the world cup fireworks display tonight and we're going to watch it from the Place de la Concorde Ferris wheel!"

 Nora spat out the milk and turned to face Alya, causing everyone to glance at them.

 "Oh no! Baguette and Cappy can go with the rest of your little gang if they want but you are staying here!" She declared, pointing at Alya before crushing the cartoon and crossing her arms as she gave her best stern look. "It's far too dangerous!"

 "But Nora... I mean Anansi... you can't do that!" Marinette gasped, causing everyone to agree.

 "Yeah, no way, dude," Nino gasped. "Alya has to come with us,"

 "Yeah, we're not going without her," Ivan added, making Nora frowned deeply. 

 "Look, Sis, I appreciate you worrying about me and all but I'm not a little girl anymore," Alya gasped, causing Nora to face her. "Besides, Mum and Dad are cool with it and we've been planning it for a while,"

 "I don't care. You're not going," Nora declared before shaking her head. "There's been way too many akumatized peeps in Paris recently. Literally just a few days ago, you were captured by that weird musical one. Desperate or something,"

 "Desperada," Luka pointed out, making her glare at him. "Again, just saying,"

 Nora rolled her eyes and ignored him, turning back to Alya.

 "Just look at how many times you've been in direct danger," She pointed out, making Alya frown as she remembered. It had been quite a bit. "So you're staying home safe and sound period!"

 "That's ridiculous! The twins were akumatized right here, at home!"

 "Well, that never would have happened on my watch!" Nora growled back, slamming her fist on the table. Luka flinched a little and grabbed his notepad, putting it in his bag before moving over to where the rest of the group were. Marinette moved over to him and asked him if he was ok, getting a nod of him. Not that Nora noticed. "I won't let anyone mess with my family!"

 "You mean like the other day in the square?" Alya pointed out, making everyone look at her as Nora looked nervously. Luka frowned a little before turning to Marinette.

 "I'm a little afraid to ask what happened," He mumbled, getting a nod of agreement from Mylene and Rose. Alya sighed and pinched her nose as Marinette glanced around nervously.

 "What happened?" Adrien asked, causing Marinette to look over at him.

 "Well, we came across a man handing out flyers..."

 "And Anansi here thought the man was akumatized and wanted to turn me into a banana zombie," Alya stated, glaring at Nora.

 "Uh... well, how was I suppose to know that it was a stupid costume?!" She pointed out before turning around and holding out her hand. "Anyway, what if the ferris wheel stopped working because some akumatized dude decided not to pay?"

 "Uh... that's not how akumatizations work..." Luka mumbled, causing Nora to spin and glare at him.

 "Oh and I suppose you're the authority on akumas, Tips?!" She growled, making him frown but he bit his tongue. He would love to turn round and say 'well, I should know since I'm Anatis' but he couldn't reveal his identity plus that would be petty. Funny but still petty so he remained quiet, making her smirk before crossing her arms. "Once you flyweights can actually defend yourself, like me, we'll talk about it,"

 She then proceeded to show off by kicking and punching the air.

 "Well, it doesn't matter because Anatis and Lady Noir will save us if there's any problems," Marinette pointed out, causing everyone to agree. Nora rolled her eyes and glanced over at her.

 "And what if Miss Whiskers is chasing a mouse and that beetle's been sprayed with bug spray," She pointed out, causing Luka to frown and take a quiet breathe. It took all of his strength not to point out that they weren't really those animals but he could imagine Lady Noir trying to catch a mouse. Knowing her, she would probably keep as a pet instead of trying to eat it... unless she got hit by Malediktator again. Then she would probably try and eat it. "What you gonna do then? Rely on Cappy to protect you?"

 "Well, I'll try," Nino gasped, causing Nora to laugh.

 "That's sweet but who's gonna protect you when you fail?" She grinned, pressing her finger in his chest. He frowned and glanced down but to everyone's surprise, Ivan stepped up.

 "Hey, leave him alone," He gasped, making Nora look at him. She ran her eyes over him, clearly not impressed. "If it came to it, I'll protect my friends!"

 "Uh huh," She grinned. "The only thing you've got going for you in your build but build isn't enough. You need strength and speed. Think you got that, Big Guy?"

 Nora laughed, causing Ivan to growl a little.

 "I do anything to protect my friends!" He declared, making her nod.

 "Alright, Alya can go out with you guys..." She stated before walking over to the table and placing her elbow down on the table. "If you or Cappy can beat me in an arm wrestle.. you know since you two are so determined to protect everyone,"

 "Please, don't arm wrestle on my account," Alya sighed, clearly embarrassed by Nora's actions before she looked at her. "Nora, I don't need to be protected,"

 "No offence, Nino but you're not strong enough to go against Anansi," Adrien pointed out, making Nino frown.

 "But neither is Ivan!" He pointed out, making Ivan also frown.

 "But if we don't go soon, we'll miss it," Marinette gasped, looking at her friends. "We have to do something,"

 "Forget it," Alya sighed, looking down as her shoulders slumped. "You guys go without me,"

 "Huh?" Juleka gasped as Rose gulped like someone had destroyed the color pink.

 "No way!" She gasped, causing everyone to stare at her. "We're not leaving you behind!"

 "Yeah, you're our friend so you should come with us," Mylene nodded, causing Nora to snort as she laughed.

 "That's all cute and all but Alya ain't going unless one of you flyweights beat me in an arm wrestle," She grinned, causing Marinette to grin as she got an idea. She caught Luka's eye, who gave her a knowing smile. 

 "You'll honor that if you're beaten no matter what right?" He asked, making her glance at him.

 "Yeah, I'll honor it, Tips," She grinned, clicking her neck. "Not that I'll need to though. None of you have a chance,"

 "Ok, Nino? You wanna go? Or should Ivan?" Luka asked, causing Nino to rub his neck nervously but Ivan stepped up and sat down. He wasn't sure what the two bluenettes had plan but he trusted them. He took Nora's hand and nodded. She grinned as Adrien stood by them and held out his hand. 

 "Alright! In position!" He called, causing everyone to gather around. He lifted his hand as the two looked at each other. "Ready... set.... go!"

 He swiped his hand down, causing Ivan to try and move her hand. Nora yawned but then her eyes widen as he managed to move it, causing her to push against him. His arm returned to it's position before Luka glanced at Marinette, who grinned in a mischievous way.

 "Oh no! An akuma!" She gasped, pointing at the window and causing Nora to look that way. Seeing a chance, Luka grabbed Ivan's hand and pulled it downwards.

 "And the winner is Ivan!" Adrien called out, making Nora look back.

 "Huh?!" She gasped, making Marinette gasp.

 "Oops, it was just a fly... my bad," She grinned, causing Ivan to grin and get up. He gave Marinette and Luka a knowing look but didn't say a thing as everyone grinned. "Come on, guys, let's go. If we leave now, we can get there on time,"

 "You're a bunch of cheaters!" Nora growled, slamming her fist on the table and causing everyone to flinch before she pointed at them. "There's no way I could have been beaten! If I hadn't been distracted, I wo-"

 "You said you would honor the agreement if he won regardless of what happened and he won," Luka pointed out, causing her to glare at him.

 "Stay out of this, Tips! Or I'll crush you!" She growled, causing Alya to pinch her nose.

 "That is it, Nora!" She shouted, making everyone look at her. "You lost the challenge so deal with it! I've had it with your overprotective, big sister smothering! I'm going out with my BFFs and I don't care what you think! Alya out!"

 "Uh... we should all go too...." Luka pointed out, causing everyone to nod and begin to leave but not before Nora hissed at them. The gang left outside and began to head to Place de la Concorde before Nora decided to intervene again. Alya turned to them and gave them a smile.

 "Thanks guys for sticking up for me," She smiled as they walked over. It didn't take them long to get there but as soon as they did, Rose grabbed Juleka's hand and rushed over to the wheel, causing most of them to follow but Luka, who decided to go over and listen to a street musician who was playing. Alya gently nudged Marinette and gestured towards Luka before heading up into the wheel. Marinette walked over to him, causing him to look down at her.

 "Aren't you gonna join the others?"

 "Nah, I've been on the Ferris wheel before plus it was Alya's idea. She wants to film them for one of her blogs," She replied, making him nod. "What about you?"

 "Fireworks aren't really my thing," He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I kind of just came along because I get to hang out with you... and everyone else too... you know it's not very often we get to hang out with Kagami or Adrien so yeah... plus Juleka and Rose insisted I come by,"

 "Yeah," Marinette nodded, smiling a little at his comment. "Well, I'm glad you came along. I like hanging out with you,"

 "Really?" He asked, looking at her with a little surprise. She smiled and nodded, making him smile back before she gently nudged his arm.

 "You're my friend, Luka and I like spending time with my friends," She smiled, causing him to smile back as the fireworks went off. She looked up and waved at Alya and the rest of their friends who were currently riding the Ferris wheel. However, she stopped and frowned, making him frown as he looked at her. She looked confused and a little pale.

 "Marinette, are you ok?" He asked, making her glance at him before she frowned.

 "I thought I just saw-" Before she could finish her sentence, people began to scream and run away from the Ferris wheel. Both teenagers glanced over and gasped as they saw a super villain crawling on the wheel and covering it in webs like a spider would before it glanced up at them and hissed. "Um... Luka, I think we should run...."

 "Agreed..." Luka stated back in a way before jumping out of the way as the spider spat webs at them. She turned towards Marinette, stalking towards her. Luka frowned and glanced around. He noticed a store selling hula hoops and ran over. He grabbed one and looked around. His luck vision lit up another store and the hula hoop. He smirked and threw it at the tent, causing it to bounce off the material and fly over to the villain. It landed around her arms and distracted her enough for him to run over and pull Marinette to her feet. The two of them ran off as the akuma tried to break free from the hoop. They went down into the metro before stopping as they let out a breath. Luka straightened up and glanced at her. "Are you ok?"

 "Yeah," She nodded before gently kissing his cheek. He blushed a little before clearing his throat.

 "Uh... I need to g-go find Juleka and the rest... they might be in danger..." He mumbled, making her frown. He thought she would argue with him but to her surprise, she nodded. Both of them knew that arguing would be pointless anyway. Marinette played with her hands a little.

 "Just... be careful ok?" She asked, making him nod.

 "I will," He replied before he ran off. As soon as he was out of sight, Marinette rushed over to the steps of the platform and headed down them, away from prying eyes. She opened her purse and Plagg flew out, stretching a little before he glanced at her.

 "Did you have to wake me from my nap, Dollface?" He asked, causing her to nod.

 "Sorry, Plagg but Paris is in trouble again," She replied, holding up her hand. "Plagg, Claws Out,"

 Plagg yelled out a little as he was sucked into the ring before a green light engulfed Marinette, transforming her into Lady Noir. She jumped out and ran up the stairs, just in time to see the Ferris Wheel roll away and Anatis chase it. She ran over and caught up with him, causing him to glance at her before pointing ahead to the two lion statues. She nodded and took out her baton before extending it and throwing it at them. It landed perfectly in their mouths and stopped the Ferris Wheel. The two of them rushed over and helped everyone get off it.

 "Thank you, Anatis and Lady Noir," A woman gasped as they got off, causing Anatis to turn to his partner.

 "I'm glad you turned up when you did," He smiled before throwing his yoyo around a car and dragging it over to the wheel. He placed it so the wheel was leaning on it and grabbed Lady Noir's baton before jumping back over to her and handing her the baton. "Not sure how I would have stopped it if you hadn't turned up,"

 "I'm sure you would have worked something out," She grinned, taking it before glancing up at the wheel. "But there's one booth missing from the wheel?"

 "Yeah, the spider took it just before I got there," He replied before taking out his yoyo and throwing it. It wrapped around one of the flag poles on a building. "It was this way,"

 He swung off, causing Lady Noir to jump up and follow him before they jumped down and landed near the booth. Juleka was stood shaking, jumping as Anatis and Lady Noir landed near them. Luckily, Kagami and Adrien were stood with her but Rose and the others weren't there. 

 "Anatis," She gasped, rushing over. He frowned at her panicked expression. "It's Alya's big sister. She took Rose!"

 "Who's Alya's big sister?" Lady Noir asked, frowning as Kagami walked over.

 "It appears that Nora has been akumatized," She explained, making both heroes frown. "She took three victims. Alya, Mylene and Rose. I imagine she took them because they are the 'weakest' in her eyes. While we know Alya can defend herself, Nora considers her weak as she is her little sister. As for the other two, I'd say that's pretty obvious,"

 "Nino and Ivan went after them," Adrien gasped. "Juleka was going to join them but we told her to stay here and wait for you two,"

 "A good suggestion," Anatis nodded. "Stay here. We'll rescue your friends,"

 "My brother, Luka, is also missing... I don't think Anansi got him but I haven't seen him," Juleka gasped, causing Adrien and Kagami to nod.

 "And our friend Marinette," Kagami added in, making Anatis frown.

 "Luka is fine. I ran into Luka on my way here and told him to hide in Tuileries Gardens," He mumbled before frowning. "But I haven't seen Marinette..."

 "She's ok!" Lady Noir gasped, making everyone look at her. "I also bumped into her on my way here. She was hiding by the metro station but I advised her to hide in the platform. Anyway, we should try and capture us a spider. Stay here and be safe, kay? Annie, let's go,"

 "Right," He nodded before the two heroes jumped away and followed the trail of webbing. The two of them heard a yell and frowned as they saw Ivan flying across the sky. Anatis threw his yoyo to create a web and caught him in it before letting him down. He jumped over and landed next to him as Ivan got up. "Are you ok?"

 "I'm fine, Anatis but my friends are in real trouble," He frowned, glancing over to the Arc de Triomphe. Anatis glanced over and frowned as he saw a huge web between it's arc. He took out his yoyo and zoomed in. Alya, Rose and Mylene were trapped in the middle with Nino next to them, making him frown. He put it away and turned to Ivan.

 "Stay here and leave this to me and Lady Noir," He ordered, making Ivan frown. "I promise we'll get your friends back,"

 "But Mylene... she's so special to me, Anatis," He muttered, looking a little love stuck before he shook his head. "I won't let anything happen to her,"

 "And I admire that but I wouldn't forgive myself if you got caught so please stay back," He ordered again before swinging towards the spider's web with Lady Noir. Ivan frowned and chased after them. The two heroes landed in front of the spider and took out their weapons as Anansi glanced at them and smirked.

 "So it's two vs one now?" She asked before holding up her six arms and bouncing side to side. "Fine by me! Round two!! Fight!"

 She threw a punch at Anatis, who dodged and ducked. Lady Noir jumped up to hit her with her baton, causing her to punch her into a car before she swung at Anatis. He dodged and backflipped over to Lady Noir, who was rubbing her jaw as Anansi laughed.

 "On the floor already? We just started," She laughed, punching the air a few times. Anatis landed by Lady Noir and offered her his hand, helping her to her feet before he lifted her chin to check for an injury. He was honestly worried that her jaw had been broken.

 "Are you ok, kitten?" He asked, concern covering his features as he gently touched her jaw. She blushed a little and gently pushed his hand away, making him frown a little.

 "I'm fine, Annie," She grinned, making him look relieved before they turned round. Anansi was bouncing around, punching the air as she waited for their next attack, causing Anatis to frown. "Where do you think the akuma is?"

 "I'm thinking it's in her head gear," He mumbled, causing Lady Noir to frown a little.

 "I agree but she's so strong that I don't think I can get close enough to destroy it," Lady Noir admitted, making Anatis frown but he nodded never the less. "Got any ideas?"

 "How about a change of plan?" He suggested, making her to look at him. "I'll distract Anansi and you rescue the prisoners,"

 "Of course, that might distract her enough for her to drop her guard and for you to restrain her,"

 "Exactly, then you use your cataclysm to destroy her head gear," He grinned but he suddenly pushed Lady Noir out of the way as Anansi threw a car at them before picking up another one.

 "Ding, ding, ding. Bell's ringing!" She declared, holding it above her head before she threw it at them. "Round three! Fight!"

 They jumped out of the way, causing Anatis to dive at her and try to kick her. She blocked and tried to get a hit on him before he blocked her attack and moved under her arms before wrapping his yoyo around her legs and pulling her down. She caught herself and threw her fists at him but he grabbed them and used them as leverage to land a kick to her face before backflipping down and dodging another one of her attacks. Seeing Anansi busy fighting Anatis, Lady Noir to the chance to jump and begin to climb up the web but her hands got stuck on it. She frowned and tried put her hand free, only for her other hand to get stuck once she had free the first.

 "Seriously," She gasped, pulling that one free and trying to climb up but her feet had gotten stuck too. She tried to pull free but she ended up rolling on her back and getting completely stuck. She tried to pull away but was completely stuck. "Uh... Annie! I think I've gotten myself into a sticky situation,"

 "Looks like I've already got a catch," Anansi laughed evilly as both her and Anatis looked up at Lady Noir before she turned her attention back to Anatis, who was spinning his yoyo. "You'll be next, Beetle,"

 "I don't think so!" He declared, blocking her hits with the yoyo before throwing it at her. She moved her head to the side and grabbed it before spinning him around and throwing him away from the web. He hit a car and bounced off it, rolling on the floor. He groaned and looked up, trying to get up but found his foot stuck on some of the webbing. Anansi smirked before jumping up onto the web and stalking up to Lady Noir. Anatis frowned and tried to pull his foot free as Lady Noir to tried to hit her with her baton but Anansi grabbed it and threw it aside. It landed by Anatis just as he got his foot free. He grabbed it and looked up as Ivan rushed over.

 "Anatis, are you ok?" He asked, helping the hero up. 

 "Yeah but I'm gonna need some help," He declared, glaring up at Anansi. He hooked Lady Noir's baton to his belt and threw up his yoyo. "Lucky charm!"

 He caught the candle and rose an eyebrow as Ivan watched him.

 "A candle? What are you gonna do with that?" He asked as Anatis glanced around. Nothing lit up so he glanced back at it before his eyes widen in realization. "Anatis?"

 "Of course... but I don't have time to do that," He muttered, glancing up at Lady Noir.

 "Well, maybe I could help," Ivan suggested, causing him to look at him. "Uh... I mean... Nevermind... I'm not exactly a hero... I tried to save Mylene and my friends but I'm not strong enough..."

 "Ivan right?" Anatis asked, making him look at him and nod. "Been a hero isn't about how strong you are. It's about determination and courage,"

 He took out Lady Noir's baton and held it out to him. 

 "We can't let Anansi get Lady Noir's miraculous," He declared, placing it in Ivan's hands. "Use this to defend yourself and distract her from getting the ring. I won't be long,"

 "Alright, Anatis!" Ivan grinned before turning to face Anansi as Anatis threw his yoyo and swung onto a rooftop. He ran across it as fast as he could then jumped off the edge and swung through the city. He landed in the ally near Master Fu's and detranformed, catching Tikki before rushing Master Fu's shop. He ran up the stairs as fast as he could and burst through the door, causing Master Fu to look up startled.

 "Luka?"

 "Master, Ivan won't hold off Anansi for long," He gasped, holding his knees as she sucked in a breathe. He looked up as Master Fu gasped. "She has Lady Noir caught in her web and she's able to get her miraculous,"

 "We can not allow that to happen," He gasped, getting up as Luka gave Tikki a macaroon. He moved over to the phonograph and put in the combination as Tikki began to eat the macaroon before taking out the miracle box and placing it in front of Luka. "Luka Couffaine, pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you this mission,"

 He opened the box, allowing the draws to pop open as Luka glanced at them.

 "Choose wisely. Such powers are meant to serve the greater good," Master Fu stated, causing Luka to nod and reach out for one of them. "Once the mission is over, you must retrieve the miraculous from them and return it back to me. Do you have one in mind?"

 "I need a protective miraculous..." Luka mumbled, glancing at all of them yet none of them called out to him. He glanced to the side and noticed Master Fu's bracelet before pointing to it. "That's the one I need, Master... uh... that's if it's ok with you and Wayzz?"

 "I'm fine with it as long as you are," Wayzz nodded, causing Master Fu to smile and take it off.

 "Do you have someone in mind, Luka?" He asked as he held to Wayzz, who disappeared back into it before handing it to Luka. Luka picked it up and walked over to the draws before taking out one of the small boxes and placed it inside.

 "I think I've found just the right person," He grinned before placing the box in his pocket and bowing to Master Fu. "Thank you, Master,"

 "Good luck, Luka," He replied as Luka rushed out. Once back in the allyway, he re-transformed and jumped up onto the rooftop before heading back to Arc de Triomphe. He got there just as Anansi threw Ivan across the sky again. He swung by and caught Ivan, landing on the roof with him. Ivan let out a sigh of relief.

 "Thank you, Anatis," He smiled, leaning against his legs. "I thought I was gonna be toast then,"

 "No problem, Ivan," Anatis nodded as Ivan straighten up.

 "Did you get what you needed?" He asked, causing Anatis to nod.

 "CATACLYSM!" Lady Noir shouted, making both boys look over as she glared at Anansi, who growled and flipped back. She placed her hands behind her and closed her eyes, making Ivan frown.

 "What's she waiting for?" He asked as Anatis frowned.

 "For Lady Noir's transformation to drop," He replied before turning to Ivan and gesturing for him to move. They jumped down to a slightly lower roof but it was one that took them out of the sight of everyone. Once they were on it, Anatis turned to Ivan. "I'm gonna need help to defeat Anansi so are you still willing to do anything to help save your friends?"

 "Of course," Ivan nodded before glancing at him as he reached into his yoyo. "Why?"

 "Because I need you to be a hero," He replied, taking out the box and holding it out to Ivan, who blinked in surprise. "Ivan Bruel, this is the miraculous of the turtle that grants the power of protection. You will use it for the greater good,"

 "Me?" Ivan asked, pointing to himself. Anatis smiled and nodded, causing Ivan to smile back and take it. He opened it and jumped a little at the bright green light that circled around him. "Whoa,"

 Anatis smiled as Wayzz formed and looked at Ivan, who blinked in surprise.

 "Hello. My name is Wayzz,"

 "Uh... I'm Ivan...." Ivan muttered in a shy manner before looking at Wayzz. "Are you like a genie or something?"

 "Oh, no. I'm a kwami," Wayzz explained as Ivan listened. "I can't grant wishes but I can give you super powers,"

 "Once the mission is done, you must return the miraculous to me," Anatis stated, causing Ivan to look at him while he put on the bracelet. "Can I trust you?"

 "Of course, Anatis," Ivan nodded, making both Anatis and Wayzz smile.

 "Then all you have to say is Wayzz, Shell on," Wayzz explained, causing Ivan to nod before he took a deep breathe and held up his arm.

 "Wayzz, shell on," He declared, causing Wayzz to be sucked into the bracelet, charging it up. Feeling the energy build up, he stomped on the roof and pushed his arms out, causing a green energy to creating his outfit. His main suit was a forest green with brown sides and he had armor across his chest that resembled a turtle's stomach. His gloves were brown and matched his boots but his transformation wasn't done yet. The green energy burst from the center off his chest, creating an emblem that resembled a turtle's shell attached to a harness that was green and brown in color. On his back was a shield that also resembled a turtle's shell. The energy traveled down his arms, leaving a gray strip in it's place before causing green spikes to burst from his gloves before he pulled down a pair of goggles over his eyes. At the same time, the blonde tuff of his hair turned a forest green, completing his transformation. He glanced down at his hands and turned around as he checked out his new look. "Whoa... this is so cool..."

 "Don't get carried away," Anatis stated, making Ivan face him. "Normally, I'd give you a whole brief but time is of the essence today. We need to save Lady Noir and the others before her transformation drops. To that, we'll need your power and mine,"

 "How do I use mine?" Ivan asked, following Anatis as he climbed back on to the higher roof. 

 "You'll need to lift your shell and use the magic word, Shell-ter," Anatis explained, glancing around. "It will create a force field around you for roughly six feet and is basically indestructible but before you use your power, I need to use mine. Lucky charm!"

 He threw his yoyo up in the air and caught the boxing gloves that were created, causing Ivan to frown as he looked at them.

 "You're not going to try and fight her, are you?" He asked, worried as Anatis looked around in his luck vision. Ivan lit up, followed by the Arc de Triomphe then finally Lady Noir.

 "Why not? It's a simple plan after all," He grinned, hooking the gloves onto his belt. "I need you distract her while I make us a boxing ring and then when the time is right, you'll need to protect all of us. Can you do that?"

 "Uh... I'll try my best, Anatis," Ivan nodded, causing Anatis to smile at him as they dived off the building and ran towards the web. "So are your plans always this crazy?"

 "Well, this one is pretty simple compared to some of my other ones," Anatis replied as he took out his yoyo. Ivan nodded and threw the shield at Anansi, causing her to jump down and land in front of them before holding up her arms.

 "Change of pet? You replaced your kitty with a turtle?" She asked as Anatis grinned at him and Ivan caught his shield.

 "What can I say? I love animals but I'm not overly keen on spiders!" He replied, throwing his yoyo. Once again, Anansi moved her head to the side and grinned at him. 

 "You missed,"

 "Did I?" He replied, grinning before Ivan dived at her, getting her attention. Anatis ran around them, wrapping his yoyo's string around the pillars of the Arc de Triomphe as Ivan fought against Anansi, giving her as good as he got. He used his shield to block her attack and protect himself before landing hits as well. Anatis jumped over the string and put on the gloves once he had finished making the ring. "Anansi!"

 "Huh?" She called out, causing Ivan to jump back as Anatis grinned at her before he pointed one of his hands at her.

 "I challenge you to a fight," He grinned, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him. "One match. You win, I'll surrender my miraculous but if I win, you free your prisoners,"

 She remained quiet for a second, causing Anatis to continue.

 "Come on, what have you got to lose?" He asked, making her look at him. "Lady Noir's only got a few minutes until she transforms back anyway,"

 A purple butterfly mask appeared around her eyes, causing her to shake her head.

 "Don't worry, Butterfly man," She stated to Hawkmoth before clicking her neck. "This nasty bug is no match for Anansi... alright, bug boy, you're on,"

 She walked over to the middle and held out her arm. Anatis walked over and tapped his fist against it. Anansi smirked at him as Ivan took out Lady Noir's baton.

 "I'll devour you, little nasty bug," She declared as Ivan hit his shield, signaling the beginning of the fight. Anansi charged at him, pulling her arms back. "One hit will be enough,"

 "You can't punch the wind," Anatis replied back, dodging her hit before jumping over the other side of the ring. She growled and ran back at him, punching him. He ducked and slid over before backflipping out the way as she tried to punch him again. He jumped over to another side and grinned as she cornered him.

 "It's over!" She shouted, throwing her fist at him. Only for him to duck and roll out the way before flipping back to his feet as her fists hit the pillar, cracking it. 

 "Not by the looks of it," Anatis replied, holding up his arms, causing her to growl and face him. "So much for that one punch huh? Course it would be nice for you if you could actually land one,"

 "Why you?!" She growled, trying to punching him again but he moved around, dodging her hits as he continued to back chat her. "Shut up!"

 "Why? Having trouble doing two things at once?" He asked, jumping back and landing by another pillar. She growled and charged at him, throwing her fist but he jumped out of the way again, causing her to growl as the pillar cracked. "Missed me,"

 "Uh! Stay still!" She growled, throwing fists at him again but once again, he dodged and she hit another pillar cracking it. She turned around and dived at him again but he flipped out of the way. She growled again as he did. She threw her weight into the next punch but he ducked and stepped out the way, causing her to crack another pillar.

 "Wow. All those hits and you didn't hit me once," He grinned, bouncing on his toes. She yelled out and threw more hits at him but none of them hit. "Missed me! Missed me again! Wow, Anansi, you're really bad at this!"

 "Why you?!" She growled, kicking him and grabbing him. She threw him onto the other side of the ring and landed before stalking over to him as he leaned on the rope. Ivan looked extremely worried as he did. "You can't win this, Nasty Bug so just give up and give me your miraculous,"

 He laughed a little as he glanced up at him.

 "You wish," He grinned, pulling back on the rope and causing it to cut into the pillars. It was enough to causing it to collapse. A piece of brick fell and caused Anansi to dive out of the way as Anatis took off his gloves and fixed them back on his belt. He then grabbed his yoyo and pulled back the string, freeing the Arc de Triomphe. Ivan rushed over as Anatis placed his hands to get. He jumped onto it and Anatis pushed him up, causing him to land onto the web. He climbed over to the girls and Nino as Anatis threw his yoyo and pulled himself up onto the web, moving over to Lady Noir. "This is where we need your power. Everyone, get ready,"

 "Shell-ter!" Ivan called out, throwing his arm up while holding the shield. A green light burst from it, creating a ball of force field around them and cutting them free from the web as they fell to the ground. Nino grabbed Alya and Ivan held Mylene. Anatis caught Rose and Lady Noir, making sure no one was hurt as the Arc de Triomphe fell around them.

 "Everyone ok?" Anatis asked, getting nods of everyone. "Excellent,"

 Ivan lowered the forcefield as Lady Noir dusted down her ears before grinning at Anatis.

 "Are you creating a zoo?" She asked before a fearful expression appeared on her face. "Wait! You're not placing to replace me, are you?"

 Anatis opened his mouth to answer but before he could, Anansi broke through the rumble and growled, running towards Anatis.

 "You cheater!" She screamed, going to throw her fist at him but Lady Noir kicked out her feet, causing her to fall on the ground and before she slammed her hand onto her helmet, destroying it and releasing the akuma. She stood up straight and flicked her braid with pride as Anatis smiled.

 "Thanks, Kitten," He grinned before taking out his yoyo and capturing the akuma. He released the now purified butterfly before throwing up the boxing gloves. "Miraculous Ladybugs!"

 The gloves burst into the magic ladybugs before swarming over Paris, fixing everything their path. Anatis smiled as Anansi turned back into Nora and looked around confused. 

 "The beetle and Miss Whiskers?" She asked, looking around. "What's going on here?"

 "You were akumatized but everything is ok now," Anatis stated, making her look at him in surprise before he knelt down. "Look I know you were just trying to look out for your sister but she's not a little girl anymore, Nora..."

 "I... I know..." She mumbled, looking to the side. "I just worry about her you know,"

 "I get it," He smiled, standing up and offering her his hand. She took it and he helped her onto her feet as Lady Noir's ring beeped. She gasped and nervous waved before running off, causing him to look at her. "Lady Noir!"

 She stopped and looked at him.

 "You know you're irreplaceable," He smiled, making her blush before she ran off. Ivan was stood with Mylene but before he could say anything, Alya squealed and held up her phone.

 "This is a first for the ladyblog! A brand new hero!!" She gasped, moving around him and causing him to blush a little from the attention. "So what's your name?!"

 "Uh... I'm...." He looked towards Anatis, who was smirking with his arms crossed. He gave him a nod of approval before Mylene cleared her throat, making everyone look at her.

 "Um... you call call yourself Leatherback... as in a Leatherback turtle... they're a vulnerable species you know and your suit looks like one... so maybe you call name yourself after one..." She mumbled, making him smile.

 "Leatherback... I like it..." He grinned, making Anatis smirk. 

 "Come on, Luth. We need to get going," Anatis grinned before saluting Alya and the video. "See ya, bugheads,"

 The two heroes ran off and jumped onto the building before disappearing into the city. The two of them dropped down into an ally and Ivan called off the transformation before taking off the miraculous and handing it back to Anatis.

 "Thank you for choosing me, Anatis," He smiled as Anatis put away the miraculous. "If you need help again, just let me know,"

 "Thank you, Ivan. It means a lot," He smiled before throwing his yoyo and disappearing into the rooftops. Ivan smiled and ran off to find everyone else. Anatis grinned as he looked down before swinging off into the city to return the miraculous.

 ~Later That Night~

 Luka gasped as he heard the sound of something been knocked down, causing him to frown as he got up. Tikki was still asleep as was everyone else in the boat so he carefully moved through the living area. He moved up the stairs and carefully sneaked onto the deck as he heard the person move by. He frowned as he saw their silhouette before grabbing one of the guitar cables and throwing it at them. They hissed and caught it as he turned one of the stage lights, causing the person to gasp and fall over covering their eyes. He quickly moved over and blinked as he saw Lady Noir.

 "Lady Noir?!" He gasped, rushing to turn off the light as she got up and dusted herself down. "What are you doing here?"

 "I came to see if everyone was ok. I've already checked on the others but I was worried... about... you..." She mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. He blinked in surprise. "I know Anatis said you were safe and it's not that I don't trust him cause I do. I trust him with my life and I don't think he was lying... I was just worried..."

 "About me?" He asked, generally surprise. Part of him was afraid that she had worked out his identity. "Well... not that I'm not grateful cause I am but Lady Noir... it's 3 am..."

 "Yeah... I couldn't sleep..." She grinned, cheekily. He chuckled and shook his head.

 "You know my friend, Marinette, is exactly the same," He replied, failing to notice her panicked expression. "Do you want me to get you a dish of milk or would you prefer some tuna?"

 "Ha, ha. Very funny," She stated before tapping her finger against her chin. "Though some cream sounds really nice,"

 "Only cream we have in is Irish cream and that belongs to Ma," He replied, making her shake her head. "Are you ok though? I know you said you were worried about me but you've never turned up here before,"

 "I guess... I guess today's akuma kind of hit close to home in a way..." She replied before letting out a sigh. "Not that I should be bothering you with this. God, Anatis would probably tell me off if he knew I came here today,"

 "Hey, I don't think he would and isn't it better to talk to someone then bottle it up?" He asked, making her smile at him before sitting down on some of the boxes. He sat next to her. "So what's on your mind, kitty-cat? Did you know the akuma?"

 "Yeah... I can't tell you how but yeah, I do..." She replied, nodding. "And it's not like I'm emotionally invested in her you know but if she got akumatized then anyone can and I worry that maybe one day, Hawkmoth will claim someone really close to me and I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my cool like Annie does. You know he's so strong and brave. If I had been the one choose to take down an akuma like Princess Justice, I don't know if I could do it,"

 "I think you're stronger then you give yourself credit for," He smiled, making her look at him and blush a little. "And Anatis is lucky to have a partner like you,"

 "You think?" She asked, looking over at him. Her ears twitched a little as she played with her braid before she looked to the side. "I think it's the other way round. I'm the lucky one to have Annie as a partner, which is kind of ironic since I'm never been that lucky..."

 She let out a little sigh, causing Luka to frown a bit.

 "You sure you're ok?"

 "Oh, yeah, I'm fine," She grinned, nervously. "Just having self doubt again. Honestly, I don't think I could do this whole hero gig without Annie,"

 "Really? Cause I think you do a great job," He smiled, making her blush. "You're both really good heroes and I think you'll could do this 'gig' as you put it solo but the point is you don't have to. You have Anatis's back and he has yours,"

 "You understand this quite well," She grinned before tapping her chin as she made a thinking face. "Say you're not one of the other heroes, are you?"

 "Me? Oh no... I'm not..." He gasped, a little surprised as she cackled. "It's just... well, it's like been in a band right? Like Kitty Section... you've got me on guitar, Juleka on bass, Ivan's our drummer and Rose sings... each one of us can play on our own easily. Probably do good as well but we work better together. It's like our individual songs come together and work in sync with each other. The drums help keep the timing of the song going but the bass keeps the rhythm. The guitar brings it together and acts like a glue and the lyrics breathe life into it... on their own, these things are good but together they create something amazing. I guess that's how I see it with you heroes. Alone, you both are good and can save people but together, you become a powerful melody that gives people hope and save the whole city. However, for that melody to be heard, it requires both of you so you say you couldn't do this hero gig without Anatis but I think you're wrong. I think you would be a hero even if you didn't have the miraculous,"

 "Really?"

 "Yeah... the miraculous is like an amplifier and you're the melody that is played. In your every day life, you play your melody on an acoustic guitar. It's loud enough to be heard but sometimes people miss it but when you become Lady Noir, your melody is been played at full volume on an electric guitar but it's the same melody that's been played. The only different is that it's been amplified and played a full volume. It's still you but just played in a different way,"

 "Wow..." Lady Noir gasped, looking at him with amazement. He gasped and rubbed his neck as his neck. "That actually makes a lot of sense. You're really wise you know,"

 "I dunno," He mumbled, looking to the side shyly. "Music just makes sense to me,"

 "Yeah? So I'm guessing you're a musician then?" She asked, making him smile and nod before he yawned. 

 "Sorry," He mumbled, rubbing his eyes a little. 

 "Oh no! Don't be! I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm gonna get going so you can get some sleep," She stated, jumping up. She went to walk away before she stopped, causing Luka to look at her. "Thanks for listening and talking to me..."

 "Anytime, Lady Noir," He smiled, making her smile back before she jumped off and headed into the city. He smiled and shook his head as he went back inside. "Silly kitty, you're my best friend. I couldn't do this without you,"

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

Next Chapter: https://ultra-sassyduck.tumblr.com/post/637262678330589184/miralcous-rise-of-anatis-39

[nataliecarsonsuniverse]

Say You Will Remember Me (Part 4)

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) 

Summary: 2016: Spencer has just gotten married to (Y/n), the girl of his dreams. The two navigate their new life together as they work through his demanding job and a stalker that just won't leave them alone. 

2018: Wendy and Peter have been hiding out in Maine for nearly a year now from Wendy's abusive ex. The two are just starting to settle into the new lives that they hope to spend with each other.

2020: After two years of searching for his missing wife, (Y/n) and Spencer are brought back together again. However, things take a turn for the worse as Spencer realizes that she is no longer the same girl he married.

2015 November

Washington D.C.

“Spencer!” (Y/n) whined from the bathroom as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her neck and chest were absolutely covered in hickeys while her wrists each had several bruises from the night before. “I told you no marks.” She said as he walked into the bathroom taking a look at her reflection in the mirror before he wrapped his arms around her from behind nuzzling his face into her neck.

“I’m sorry.” He said and with any other guy she would be absolutely pissed right now but she knew Spencer meant it when he said that he was sorry. “I got a bit carried away.”

“Clearly,” (Y/n) said. “God I’m going to look so unprofessional in front of these parents today.” She ran her fingers over the bruises on her neck while he left the bathroom retreating into the bedroom to grab something. Once he was out of sight she allowed herself to smile as she looked at them. She was mad without a doubt but there was also a small part of her that loved that she could see just how much she drove him crazy.

“Why don’t you have any turtle necks?” He shouted from the bedroom.

“Because I don’t like them.” She yelled back.

Spencer then came back into the bathroom holding up an infinity scarf. “Would this work?”

“It will be better than nothing,” (Y/n) responded by taking the scarf from him. She then reached down into the cabinet to pull out her makeup bag as she applied a ridiculous amount of concealer all over her neck hoping that it wouldn’t be obvious what she was trying to hide. Once she was finished and got dressed ready to go for the day, she slipped the scarf on. “How does it look?”

“Shit.” He said. “I’m sorry (Y/n) .”

“Oh my gosh does it look that bad?” (Y/n) shrieked at him turning in the mirror to see that it was still pretty obvious that they were there. “You’re the fucking worst.” She said to him.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated and she laughed slightly easing his nerves. “I just got carried away when I remembered that you actually agreed to marry me.”

(Y/n) smiled, her eyes tearing up slightly as she remembered the two of them walking down Tidal Basin last night when he got down on one knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with him. It was adorable how nervous he was and last night as she laid in his arms he confessed that he didn’t really expect her to say yes. Which she promptly reminded him “for a genius, my genius is pretty dumb.”

“It will be fine,” (Y/n) said, kissing him once, cupping his face in her hands. “I’m not seeing any students today, it’s just parents, everyone in the room will be an adult today. It’s going to be embarrassing as fuck, but not the end of the world.” She said looking at herself in the mirror one more time adjusting the scarf. “And the scarf hides it well enough that no one is going to really notice unless they are looking for it.”

Spencer nodded hoping that she was right. He glanced at the clock before realizing just how late it had gotten. “You should go or else you’re going to be late.”

(Y/n) nodded before kissing him one last time. “Call me if you end up having to leave?” She asked to hope that he didn’t hear the tremble in her voice. She didn’t want him to leave, at least not yet. She wanted just a few more days where the two of them could live in this little bubble without any distractions from the outside world.

“Of course,” Spencer said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” (Y/n) responded, grabbing her bag and heading out the door blowing him one last air kiss before she went. Outside in the hall, she broke out in the widest smile as she realized just how happy she was.

Late August 2017

Washington D.C.

It was three am when Spencer woke up gasping for air his throat abnormally dry. He sat up in bed grabbing the sheets trying to ground himself. “Spence,” (Y/n) whispered, rolling over and reaching out for him.

“It’s okay babe.” He responded reaching down and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ears. “Just go back to sleep.”

“Spence,” (Y/n) said again and the way she said made his heartbreak. She reached out and grabbed onto his arm and as much as he was trying to ground himself by grabbing the sheets it did nothing compared to her touch.

“It was just a dream,” Spencer whispered to her knowing that she wasn’t really awake and in the morning she would have no recollection of this conversation. “I’m just going to get some water.” He finished climbing out of bed. As soon as he did he watched as she curled up into herself gripping tightly to the warm sheets that he had just left behind.

The cold air of the apartment felt nice against his clammy skin as he walked down the hall toward the kitchen. He flicked on the hallway light as he walked stopping dead in his tracks when he noticed the white envelope slipped under the door. He stared at it hoping that maybe if he just pretended it wasn’t there it would go away. This was the eleventh envelope he had received since the first one. There was one for every month. Each envelope contained an ominous threat and several pictures of him. As the months have passed there have been more and more pictures indicating that this unsub was escalating. Till there was no trace of who he might be or why he might be targeting Spencer. The BAU has been keeping a close eye on it but it was still unnerving.

This one particular though was unnerving to him because it was the first envelope dropped off when he was at home. All the other ones had been dropped off when he was away on the case, but this one was dropped sometime in the last three hours. (Y/n) and he had gone to bed around midnight and when they had gone to bed there had been no envelope.

He picked the envelope up off the floor walking over to the kitchen where he got himself a glass of water. He then took a deep breath resting his elbows on the counter putting his head down on his arms. After a few minutes, he picked himself up and opened the envelope dumping the contents out on the counter. What he saw however when the photos landed had him running over the to sink and emptying the contents of his stomach.

There were twelve pictures this time, the most that had ever come in an envelope. And this time they weren’t just pictures of them out doing their daily routine. These pictures were taken from inside the house. There were pictures of him and (Y/n) laying on the couch, laying in bed, in the bathroom, the kitchen, everywhere. Spencer threw up again.

Once he felt settled enough to move away from the sink he walked back over and read the note carefully. “You think you can hide from me?” It asked. “I know exactly what you’ve done and you will pay for your sins. Soon.” Shaking Spencer picked up the pictures looking through them trying to contain his stomach. A part of him felt weak for throwing up over this. He spent all day looking at dead bodies and yet a few pictures was causing him to empty his stomach twice? Then again though he thought that at least deserved the right to feel this way.

These pictures instantly brought the dream that had him leaving the comfort of his bed unable to contain the sobs that wracked his body. He had a dream that he lost (Y/n) the same way that he lost Maeve and he just couldn’t handle that. Not again. In his dream, the stalker had become irate at Spencer for whatever reason and decided to take it out against (Y/n). He dreamed of finding her in an alley, her body covered with burns and bruises. He dreamed of her screaming out his name as she was brutally tortured and yet there was nothing he could do to save her. He couldn't lose her. He just couldn’t.

Knowing that he was going to have to make a call to the BAU at this point, Spencer flipped through the pictures until he found the one that he was looking for. The one that he was not interested in anyone seeing. It was of the two of them in the bedroom very clearly having sex. It was destroying evidence and he knew that but what difference would it make? It was one picture and the idea of everyone on his team seeing and then of it being logged into evidence was more horrifying than losing his job over destroying evidence. So he took the photo and ripped it up before putting it down the garbage disposal.

He looked at the time trying to decide if it was too late to call everyone. It was after 3:30 in the morning and while this could probably wait until morning light, the idea of being in their house knowing there were cameras everywhere made him want to get sick again. The unsub could be watching him right now for all he knew.

But then he remembered (Y/n) who was sound asleep in the next room over if he called them all right now, his house was no doubt going to turn into a crime scene, everyone would be over here combing over every centimeter of this place. There was no way that she would be able to just stay in the bedroom sleeping through all that. And maybe it was wrong, but he wasn’t quite ready to tell her what was going on. He didn’t want to worry her, she was always worried about him and he didn’t want to add more to it. Nor did he want her to feel unsafe in their home.

So that made his decision for him, he would call them first thing tomorrow morning and ask that they come over to his house instead of going to the office, then they could find all the cameras and figure out how the unsub got into the apartment.

Spencer shut off all the lights in the house praying that the camera did not have night time vision as he headed back to their bedroom. He pulled the blinds in the room blocking out any kind of light before he crawled back into bed. He then pulled the blanket over (Y/n) who was laying there in only one of his t-shirts. The idea that this unsub might have compromising pictures of her made his blood boil. So he did the best he could to cover her with the blanket before pulling her into his arms and holding her as tight as he could.

“Spence.” she murmured again into his collarbone, her hands grabbing fistfuls of his shirt as he rubbed her back. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing baby.” He responded. “Nothing,” he said again. “It’s all going to be okay.” He whispered almost more for his sake than hers. His eyes remained glued wide open while she peacefully dozed off against his chest. It was going to be okay he promised himself one more time.

2015 November

Washington D.C.

Peter and Aimee walked down the long corridor of the school where Tim went. “This is all your fault,” Aimee said bitterly as they continued to walk down toward the classroom where they were to meet Tim’s teacher Ms.Watson. “You’re a bad influence on him.” Aimee continued. “I’m tired of constantly having to hear about how Time is misbehaving in class.”

“We don’t know that that is what she’s going to say,” Peter said back the anger evident in his voice. “They are having parent-teacher conferences with everyone you know?”

“Oh, I’m sure that she’s about to tell us he’s an angel. Is that really what you think?” Aimee asked him as they stopped outside the door continuing to bicker until Ms.Watson opened the door for the two of them to come in.

“Hi.” Ms.Watson greeted the two of them and Peter froze as soon as he laid eyes on her. The resemblance was uncanny. If she were just a few years older he would swear that they were twins. “You guys must be Timmy’s parents.” Peter and Aimee both nodded as Ms.Watson opened the door to let them both into the room. “My name is Ms.Watson but please call me (Y/n). Please come on in.” Peter just stood there in the doorway staring at (Y/n) trying to convince himself that his eyes were betraying him. They had to be related.

Aimee elbowed Peter breaking him from his trance momentarily as they all entered the classroom. (Y/n) showed them Tim’s desk but Peter didn’t catch a word that she said. All he could think about was Wendy. He had never seen someone who looked so much like her. Even the way she talked sounded like Wendy. She had that southern drawl that he remembered all too well. Wendy was from South Carolina so when she showed up in Nevada it was her accent that got her the most amount of attention.

“Do you have any siblings?” Peter blurted out before he could stop himself. Was it possible that she shared a parent with Wendy? He never really knew what happened to Wendy’s mom after the incident. It was possible that she moved out here and had another daughter. The timeline checked out.

“I do,” (Y/n) said, clearly taken aback. Peter wasn’t sure what she was talking about before but it was clear that the question came out of the blue. He didn’t miss the glare that Aimme shot him but he also just didn’t care.

“Sister, brother?” Peter asked.

This time Aimee did step in. “Peter.” She said. “Does this have anything to do with Tim?” Aimee asked. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”

“No it’s okay,” (Y/n) responded, flashing a smile. “I do, I have a brother and a sister.”

“How old is your sister?” Peter asked before he could stop himself.

“She would've been 35 this year,” (Y/n) responded.

“Would’ve been?”

“Peter!” Aimee yelled at her husband glancing over at (Y/n) trying to offer a sympathetic smile. “You really don’t have to answer him.” She said again. “I’m not sure what’s gotten into him.”

“Honestly it’s fine,” (Y/n) said. “She was murdered before I was born. I never knew her.”

Peter felt his entire world stop. Here he was in a classroom for his son’s parent-teacher conference and now the woman in front of him was telling him that she was Wendy’s little sister. His Wendy. He stared at her in awe as all the memories of Wendy came rushing back to him. He remembered sitting on the swings with her at recess talking about anything and everything. How he always shared his sandwich with her at lunch because her parents forgot to pack her one. He remembered the day he first felt his heartbreak when he saw her kissing Patrick Owen outside in the school quad and she dug the knife even deeper when she told him that she only saw him as a friend and then when he heard her friends talking and she told them that the idea of kissing him was revolting.

But then there was the day when he felt a part of himself die. Sitting in the homeroom staring at the empty desk while the principal stood in front of the class trying to explain to them that Wendy would not be coming back. That she had died two days ago. That grief counseling would be offered to any student who felt they needed it. They were twelve years old. He was twelve years old when he watched them lower the small casket into the ground. They said she was gone. But yet here she was sitting right across from him talking about his son.

He tried to listen the best he could, he really did. But his eyes started to wander her face down her neck when he saw the bruises she was trying to cover up. He stared at each of them, poorly covered by makeup hidden below a scarf. It was almost like she wanted someone to notice them. Like she wanted him to notice them. And he did. He noticed them and this time he could save her. He wasn’t going to lose her like he did Wendy.

Peter had spent so long wondering how he missed the signs, how did he not see that Wendy was being abused. She always wore long sleeves even when it was one hundred degrees outside. She was careful to hide her body from prying eyes. Then there was how timid she became around older men, especially father figures. For so long he blamed himself, he could’ve helped her. He could've saved her from a piece of shit dad who one night had a little too much to drink and threw her down the stairs before coming down to finish the job. Twelve years old.

“Oh, that’s so exciting!” Aimee said looking at the ring that (Y/n) was holding across the table. “Where does he work and what will your last name be?”

“Reid, he’s an FBI agent actually.” (Y/n) answered and that’s when it hit Peter that her fiance was abusing her. Judging from the ring, Peter would say that the fiance was pretty well off which meant that (Y/n) probably felt trapped in the relationship. She needed help he thought to himself and this time he was not going to drop the ball. He was going to save his Wendy this time, he would not lose her again. Aimee said something else but Peter completely turned her out only focusing on Wendy, (Y/n) corrected himself.

So while (Y/n) and Aimee discussed Tim, Peter sat there watching her closely formulating a plan to save her, it would take time no doubt, maybe even years, if her fiance was an FBI agent this plan would have to be perfect so that he could never find them. And while it scared Peter to let her live with him for more than another week he also knew that he could keep close tabs on her and if things started escalating and he thought that she was in danger he could take her a moment. It’s just not what he would prefer to do. Peter watched as (Y/n) cracked a smile at something Aimee said and for the first time since Wendy was buried. Peter thought that everything was going to be okay.

Late August 2017

Washington D.C.

“This is clear escalation,” Hotch said looking at the pictures while standing in Spencer’s kitchen. Spencer had called the team as soon as (Y/n) left for the day. He hadn’t slept since he found the pictures and he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to for a while either. How was he supposed to sleep in his home when he knew that there were cameras in every room just watching him.

Garcia was walking around the house with a device that would let her know whenever she was near a listening or recording device. “There’s one over here.” She called the team motioning to the entertainment center in the living room.

Reid and Morgan both made their way over there while the rest of the team stood around Spencer’s kitchen island studying the photos and the note. In the living room, both Spencer and Derek started pulling things off the entertainment center looking for the bug that had been planted.

“Here it is,” Derek said grabbing a picture frame off of one of the shelves. Spencer grabbed it from Morgan covering the camera with his thumb as he looked at the frame, it was just a simple black frame that held a picture of him and (Y/n) from their wedding. “Does this look like the original frame?” Derek asked.

“Exactly,” Spencer said, recalling standing in Hobby Lobby with (Y/n) as they looked at frames. After a while of debating they had both agreed to just go with the simple frames, nothing special but they kind of liked it like that. Derek nodded as Spencer put the picture frame in the ever-growing pile of bugs that had been hidden around his house.

“I think that’s all of them in the living room,” Penelope said. “And we got all the ones out of the kitchen.” Spencer nodded. “Bedroom or bathroom next?” She asked.

���Bathroom,” Spencer responded wanting to avoid his co-workers going through his bedroom as much as possible, plus he hasn’t used the bathroom here since last night. This morning he had lied and told (Y/n) that it was broken and that she wasn’t going to be able to use it. He claimed that he was going to call someone. In reality, though he just couldn’t stand the idea of her in there showering with someone watching her. It made his blood boil just thinking about how long those cameras might have been in there and just how much this unsub might have seen.

Garcia nodded as he followed her into the bathroom. She took the device and started scanning around. “I’ve got two of them in here.” She said as she and Spencer started going through everything. After looking at every object the two of them faced each other exasperated looks on their face. So far all the buses had been placed in objects but why was this room different?

Spencer looked around the room imagining himself as the unsub trying to decide where to safely hide cameras in a bathroom. It would have to be somewhere where they would never look while also still having a decent angle for watching. Spencer’s eyes traveled up the walls locking onto the vent on the ceiling. Without giving it a second thought he reached up and pulled the vent off the wall feeling around inside the ceiling and sure enough, he pulled out a small little camera.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Penelope said.

“I’ve already thrown up three times,” Spencer responded.

“We’ve still got one more in here.” She replied as Spencer left the bathroom to put the little camera with the pile of others that would be taken into evidence after Garcia disabled them all. Walking back into the bathroom he took a deep breath trying to assure himself that it was all going to be okay. “I think I found it,” Penelope said.

“Where?” Spencer asked thankfully that she found it because he really didn’t know where to look next.

Garcia pointed at the mirror before saying “The reflection is slightly distorted, I don’t think this is the original mirror that you guys bought.”

Spencer nodded, pulling the mirror off the wall. “So how do we see if you’re right?” He asked.

“We smash it,” Emily said now standing outside the doorway. She then took the mirror from him before heading out into the living room. She set the mirror down on the floor before turning to Spencer. “Do you have a hammer?” She asked and he nodded before disappearing to go get it.

When he came back he handed it to Emily and watched as she smashed the mirror to pieces, glass going everywhere on the hardwood floor but then sure enough there was the camera hiding behind the glass. “Wow.” She said after a moment. “This guy is intense.”

Spencer, Garcia, JJ, and Emily then retreated to the bedroom to find the last of the bugs hidden in the apartment. Spencer stood off to the side watching idly as his coworkers tossed every drawer in the room, every nook and cranny they searched until they had all four cameras. Spencer tried to keep his stomach settled as he realized that this unsub had angles of every single inch of the bedroom. He had seen everything. Spencer thought to himself. On the way out of the room, JJ gave Spencer a pat on the shoulder knowing that this was incredibly difficult.

“Alright, so what do we know?” Hotch asked as everyone joined again in the living room.

“This seems to be really personal,” Derek said. “This unsub clearly thinks that Reid has done something wrong and needs to pay for said thing.”

“He’s got a hero complex,” Prentiss added. “ I know what you’ve done. I will make sure you pay. It sounds like he is going to take matters into his own hands.”

“So maybe he thinks that you hurt someone Spence,” JJ said. “Like maybe he’s related somehow to unsub who you had to take down.”

“Maybe.” Emily agreed. “But this seems more personal than it needs to be. He wants you to know that you’re not safe anywhere, that he’s always watching you. It almost implies that he thinks you are still doing something bad.”

“Rossi?” Aaron asked. “you’ve been awfully quiet, what are you thinking?”

The teams turned their attention to Rossi who was currently still over at the kitchen island examining the pictures closely. “What if this isn’t about Reid?” He asked.

“All the letters have been addressed to him.” Morgan countered.

“Yes, but look at these pictures,” Rossi said as everyone made their way over the counter. “Almost all of them have (Y/n) in them.”

“She lives here,” Morgan said.

“I know but it seems to be more than that,” Rossi responded. “She doesn't look happy in any of these. In half of them, it looks like she’s crying and in the other half she looks nervous or almost scared.”

“That’s ridicu-” Derek started but Rossi cut him off.

“I’m not saying that I think she’s not happy here. She clearly is. I’m just saying it can’t be a coincidence that this unsub was watching all the time but only chose to put pictures where (Y/n) looked unhappy in the envelope.

“Do you recognize any of these pictures?” Hotch asked Reid and he nodded.

“Some of them.” He said reaching across the counter he picked up where (Y/n) was sitting on the bathroom toilet sobbing. “This one here was when she had a negative pregnancy test.” He put it in a pile before grabbing another one. “This one,” he said, picking up a photo where (Y/n) was curled into a ball on their bed. “When we got called on an emergency to go to New York at three in the morning, she was upset that I was leaving in the middle of the night.” the team nodded as Spencer picked up the last two photos that he recognized.  The first was of the two of them at dinner at a nice restaurant. (Y/n) was wearing a little black dress and one of his cardigans over it. He couldn’t quite remember why she was wearing the cardigan, was it that the restaurant was cold? The other picture was from the same night only this one was taken in their bathroom, she had ditched the cardigan and was looking at her reflection in the mirror while crying. And then just like that, it hit him why she was wearing his cardigan. “He thinks that I’m abusing her,” he said quietly.

“What?” JJ all but shouted. “Spence, how could he think that?”

Spencer put the picture of the two pictures down on the counter. “These were taken the same night.” He said. “She’s wearing the cardigan in the restaurant about four days before she had been in a pretty bad car accident down in Georgia, she had a lot of bruises and a pretty bad rash from where the seat belt had cut into her.”

“That’s why you drove to Georgia in the middle of the night,” Garcia said, all of a sudden.

“Yeah.” He said. “She was admitted overnight to the hospital because they thought that she might have a concussion.”

“The bruises themself aren’t really too obvious in this photo,” JJ said. “I can see some discoloration but I wouldn’t immediately jump to the idea of bruises.”

“But he’s been watching,” Reid said. “He saw her come home with all these bruises, saw her struggle to lay down at night because she was in so much pain, hell he even watched her cry in the shower because the water burnt the cuts so bad.”

“Sure” JJ agreed. “But he also would’ve seen you there to take care of her I assume.” Spencer nodded.

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Hotch said. “He had already made up his mind that she was being abused. Plus we all know that the abusers will often take care of their significant other after they hit them.” They all nodded.

“So just to recount, this unsub thinks (Y/n) is being abused and that’s why he keeps saying that Reid needs to pay for what he’s done.”

“Right,” Hotch said. “I don’t think it’s safe for you and (Y/n) to stay here. This unsub has made it into this house before without being detected, he knows your guy’s schedules, he knows just about everything there is to know about you too. Where is (Y/n) now?”

“She’s at school.” He responded to the panic rising in his throat. “Where are we supposed to go?”

“There’s a safe house out in Maryland that we can transfer you guys to tonight. Since she is in a school I would say that she’s pretty safe there, we will let her finish her day, and then we will pick her up and take you guys to the house.”

“What about work? I mean can we both still work?”

“I’m sorry,” Hotch said. “I think that the best thing we can do is have you guys hideout for a little bit. We need to go to the BAU though because he is going to know that we are onto him if he doesn’t already.”

“Wait Hotch, this is crazy.”

“Spencer,” Aaron said sternly. “I don’t mean to be blunt, but you’ve already lost one girlfriend to a stalker, do you really want to take any chances?” Spencer shook his head no realizing that Hotch was right, he would do anything to protect (Y/n), he wasn’t going to lose her like he lost Maeve.

----

2020 January

Washington D.C.

Louise dropped (Y/n) off at the therapist’s office as she did every Thursday for the past three months. She pulled up outside the building putting the car in the park before looking over at (Y/n). Wordlessly she grabbed (Y/n) ’s hand and gave it a squeeze to let her know that she would be just right outside. (Y/n) returned a small smile before getting out of the car and heading into the small brick building.

Dr.Adams was waiting inside the office and (Y/n) smiled at her as she walked into the small room. She took a seat on the couch just like she always did neatly folding her legs waiting while Dr.Adams got her file ready for the hour appointment.

“How have you been (Y/n) ?” Dr.Adams, Abigail as she insisted (Y/n) call her, asked.

“Much better.” (Y/n) responded honestly.

“That’s good to hear,” Abigail said as she flipped through her files as if to remind herself what they had discussed last time. (Y/n) had a hard time believing that she was not her most interesting patient. She was a twenty-nine-year-old woman in love with the man who held her captive while maintaining that her husband was abusing her. “How is living with Lousie going?”

“Pretty good.” (Y/n) replied. “I sometimes feel bad.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know.” (Y/n) responded, earning a knowing glance from Abigail. (Y/n) then took a deep breath to continue. “I sometimes feel like I’m invading her space. I mean she has a fiance and is planning a wedding. I don’t want her to have to worry about me or have to live around me.”

“Has Louise given any indication that she felt that way?” Abigail asked and (Y/n) shocked her head no. “Louise is your best friend, when I have talked to her she has expressed nothing but love for you. I know that she has your best interest at heart.”

“I know that.” (Y/n) said. “I mean deep down I know that she doesn't care that I’m living with her, it’s just that she’s getting married in March and so I’m feeling some anxiety about where I am going to live come March.”

“Understandable.” Abigail agreed. “Have you talked any more to Spencer?” She asked implying that she had talked to Spencer at all. (Y/n) knew what she was getting at and didn’t like it one bit.  She was hoping that come March maybe (Y/n) would be ready to move back in with Spencer, but it wasn’t going to happen.

“No.” (Y/n) responded. “I don’t want to see him.” She added.

“(Y/n),” Abigail said. “The goal of these sessions is to get you adjusted back to your normal life, your normal life which included being happily married to Spencer.”

(Y/n) was silent for a moment thinking through everything that had happened. It felt like her brain was just one big pile of mush sometimes. “I’m scared.” She finally whispered tears springing to her eyes.

“Tell me why.” Abigail prompted. “You don’t have to do this alone, there are tons of people surrounding you who would be more than happy to hold your hand and help you cross this bridge. What you are going through is incredibly difficult and asking for help is not a weakness.”

(Y/n) nodded once understanding that what she was saying was true. “I’m still scared of him.” She said after a moment as Abigail handed her a box of tissues which she gratefully accepted. “I know that he didn’t abuse me. I know that he loves me. But there is some wire in my brain that is crossed and telling me to be afraid of him and I don’t know how to fix it.”

Abigail nodded jotting something down in her notes. “I know that it’s hard when your brain and heart are at war with each other. And it’s going to take some time. The kind of trauma that Peter induced was extended. And what you said about a wire being crossed is exactly what is happening. You know for a fact that Spencer never hurt you but yet you are associating memories of him with the pain that Peter caused you for those weeks back in September.” (Y/n) nodded sobbing slightly at the memory of the warehouse.

“I know that you claimed you’ve talked to him some but I also know that you’re lying.” (Y/n) tried to open her mouth to lie more and say that it wasn’t true and that she had talked to him but Abigail silenced her. “Meeting face to face is scary, I get it. But do you think that maybe you would be able to call him if you were in the comfort of your own home with Louise right there with you?”

“I don’t know,” (Y/n) said, feeling uneasy.

“It would be just his voice.” Abigail continued. “I know that your brain is trying to tell you that he’s going to hurt you, I know that’s why you lied and said you had met up with him when you hadn’t. If I had to have a guess I would say you drove all the way to the restaurant but then decided last minute you couldn’t do it.”

(Y/n) nodded remembering all too well that Friday night when they had agreed to go out for a late lunch. He picked a place ensuring she would be surrounded by people at all times. She had thought that she could do it, but then when she got to the parking lot her anxiety took over and she couldn't do it. The worst part was that she didn't’ even call him to let him know. She knew that he was upset because later that night Louise was talking on the phone with Derek when she thought (Y/n) wasn’t listening and she heard Derek tell Louise how heartbroken Spencer was when she didn't’ show up.

“Do you think you could call him? I believe in you (Y/n), I know that you want to, that your heart is telling you to call him and make it work.” She was right, when she heard Derek say that she broke Spencer’s heart she locked herself in the bathroom and cried for thirty minutes praying the sound of the shower would drown out her sobs.

“I think I can do that.” She said after a moment her voice sounded much stronger than she had expected.

“Excellent,” Abigail said, glancing down at her watch. “It looks like our time is up, I look forward to hearing about your conversation with him next week.” (Y/n) nodded thanking her before leaving and heading back out to Louise’s car.

“Hey you,” she said as (Y/n) opened up the passenger door. “How did it go?”

“Good.” (Y/n) responded. “I think I’m making progress.”

“That’s awesome. I knew that you would. If there is one word I would use to describe you, it would be resilient.” (Y/n) smiled at the compliment as Lousie glanced down at her phone. “Listen.” She said. “Do you think you would up for lunch with Derek at this cafe just downtown? If not I totally understand and I can let him know and I promise I won’t be upset. I’ve already told him that if we do we aren’t to discuss Spencer at all-”

“That sounds good.” (Y/n) said, cutting off her rambling. “But if it’s okay with you I would actually like to talk about Spencer.” She said slowly. Louise’s head snapped to look at (Y/n) and (Y/n) could’ve sworn that she was going to have whiplash now.

“You want to talk about him?” Louise questioned. “Wow you really are making progress,” she said and both girls laughed together as Louise put the car in drive and headed to the cafe.

----

Late August 2017

Washington D.C.

“Alright,” (Y/n) said. “Let’s try this one, 168 divided by 8.” She said as she wrote the long division problem on the board. “Alright so how many times does 8 go into 16?” She asked, turning to face the class. “Anna?”

“2” Anna responded looking pleased with herself.

“Good.” (Y/n) said smiling as she wrote a 2 on the problem. So then we can subtract 16 and we are left with 8, so how many times does 8 go into 8?” She asked as every kid in the room shouted out one. She laughed along with them before writing one next to the two. Alright, so the answer is 21 then. Does anyone have any questions on this problem?”

“Mrs.Reid?” (Y/n) turned her attention to the door where the school secretary was standing holding a giant vase of flowers. “These were dropped off for you.”

(Y/n) stared at them for a second, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. “Thank you,” she said walking over to take the flowers before setting them down on her desk. “Go ahead and do the next problem class,” (Y/n) said as she opened the card that came with the flowers.

“Just a little something to let you know how special you are to me.” (Y/n) read the card smiling to herself at how sweet Spencer could be.

“Mrs.Reid?” Anna asked her hand raised high in the air.

“Yes?” (Y/n) asked.

“Are those from Mr.Reid?”

“They are.” (Y/n) responded.

“That’s so romantic,” Anna responded, and (Y/n) had to try her hardest to stifle a giggle. “How come he never comes in to see you? I heard from my friend Mia that Mrs.Blanch’s husband came in the other day with their daughter. Are we ever going to get to meet Mr.Reid?”

“Dr.Reid is very busy with his work Anna as you should be too.” (Y/n) pointed out walking over to see that Anna actually already had the whole sheet completed. Not surprising, (Y/n) thought to herself. Anna was definitely the smartest kid in the class. (Y/n) may or may not have had a soft spot for Anna as Anna is almost exactly how she imagined her and Spencer’s daughter to be.

“He’s a doctor?” Anna asked.

“Yes. That’s great that you’re done with these problems, so maybe you should get started on tonight’s homework?” Anna nodded quickly, pulling out her homework to start working on it. She would have it done in ten minutes no doubt.

(Y/n) returned up to her desk pulling out her phone to send a quick text message to Spencer thanking him for the beautiful flowers. She sent him a picture of the bouquet with the message card flipped open.

After the message was sent, (Y/n) got up to do another walk down the rows to make sure that none of the kids had any questions, they all seemed to be picking it up remarkably well which wasn’t surprising considering that (Y/n) taught that accelerated fourth graders of the private school.

When she returned to her desk she taped her phone to see that she had three text messages from Spencer. As she read them though her smile quickly faded from her face, panic rising in her throat at the tone of his messages.

“I didn’t send those.”

“Did you see who delivered them?”

“(Y/n) ?”

----

2020 January

Washington D.C.

It was 10 pm on Tuesday when (Y/n) finally worked up the courage to call Spencer. She wanted to do this, wanted to make Abigail proud, wanted her life back even if she no longer believed it to be possible to get her old life back. But still, calling him was a step in the right direction. Derek had told her that he stayed up pretty late at night reading, just like he used to she thought. He told her that she could call him at four am in the morning and he would still pick up the first ring for her.

So before she could talk herself out of it, (Y/n) hit the call button next to his name. She held her breath as the phone rang and cursed him that he did pick up on the first ring. She was slightly upset that he did as she needed just a few more seconds to decide what she was going to say to him. “Hi.” she barely whispered into the phone cringing at how weak her voice sounded.

“Hi.” He responded back almost sounding out of breath. She imagined him sitting on their couch with a book in his hands which has now been discarded on the coffee table. On the coffee table, she could picture his mug almost filled to the brim. It was strange to hear the way she could almost smell the house through the phone. It smelt of old books and coffee. She used to be able to smell his cologne lingering in the air and she wondered if he could still sometimes smell her if the draft from the open windows blew just right. “How are you?” he asked her.

“Pretty good.” She responded. “All things considered.”

“That’s great, (Y/n) .” He said back and she could hear the sadness in his voice that she knew she caused. No, she thought to herself, that Peter caused.

“Yeah,” she responded lamely the awkward silence killing her. It never used to be like this she thought bitterly. “How have you been?” She asked after a moment.

“Alright.” He responded but she could hear the subtext, ‘would be better if you were here with me’.

“I um.” (Y/n) stuttered on her words while her brain tried to decide if it’s a good idea to tell him this next piece. “I had lunch with Derek and Louise the other day.”

If he already knew this, which she was sure he did, he didn’t tell her that “How’d that go?” he asked. In her mind, Derek had called him the second they left the cafe and recounted every word that she had said. She could almost hear Spencer’s frustrated sigh when he had hung up the phone annoyed that Derek didn’t have an eidetic memory like him. “(Y/n) ?” Spencer asked softly and she had to pull the phone away from her face for a second so he wouldn’t hear the sob that erupted from her throat.

“Yeah.” She said. “I’m sorry, I’m here.” She took a deep breath opening her mouth to answer before she realized she had no idea what he asked her. “I’m sorry what did you say?”

He laughed slightly into the receiver and she couldn't help but laugh as well, she forgot how infectious his laugh was, the same could be said about his smile. Even now she had a small smile on her face imagining him sitting there smiling too. She wondered if he also had tears silently streaming down his face. “I asked how your lunch with Morgan was.”

“Right, sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize for ba- (Y/n) ”

“It was really nice.” (Y/n) said, almost apologizing again. She was slightly relieved that he cut himself off, she wasn’t sure that she was ready for him to start calling her “baby” again. “He um, said you don’t work at the BAU anymore?” she asks him.

“Yeah.” Spencer breathed out. “I still consult every once in a while and my phone still blows up with texts when they are out on a case, but no I’m not technically with them anymore.”

“He didn’t say what you are doing now?”

“I’m teaching full time. Part-time at the FBI academy and then part-time at Georgetown.”

“Oh wow.” (Y/n) said. “How come you decided to leave? You never really gave any indication of wanting to leave before. At least not seriously.”

“I was prepared to leave before,” Spencer said suddenly. “If um, we had uh had children I would’ve left.” (Y/n) poured her lips at the idea of what could’ve been. By now they probably would’ve had at least two kids running around. “But I left because it just got really hard. Even the cases that ended relativity well did not comfort me anymore because I just kept wondering why I could save them but not you. And so I quit and started teaching full time so that I could focus all of my energy on finding you.”

“Do you regret it?” She asked before she could stop herself. She needed to know. She couldn't stand living with the idea that he quit because of her and now he regrets it.

“I don’t,” he responded immediately. “I haven’t regretted it even for just a second.”

“Thank you.” (Y/n) whispered so lightly that she wasn’t even sure he would be able to hear it. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“How are you so calm?” She asked him. “I mean your wife who was missing for two years finally comes home but she’s so fucking afraid of you that she stands you up at restaurants and then only talks to you on the phone because her therapist assured her that a voice could not hurt her. I’m sitting here sobbing as quietly as I can and I don’t even miss you.”

“You think that I’m not crying right now?” Spencer asked her and then she heard it, the way that his voice slightly quivered as he spoke. The way she could hear sharp intakes of his breath over the line. “(Y/n) I have cried myself to sleep so many nights now that I’ve actually lost count. When you first disappeared I didn’t wash the sheets for two months because I could still smell you on them. Every night since you’ve been gone I have sprayed your pillowcase with your perfume and then fallen asleep burying my face into it because it made you seem closer.”

(Y/n) then choked on her own son not bothering to hide it anymore. She listened as he did the exact same thing. “I’m not calm (Y/n). But I also understand that you are scared of me and the best thing I can do is act as calmly as possible, as normal as possible, hoping and praying that it will jog your memory and your brain will stop telling you to be afraid of me. I spend so much time mentally preparing to let you go, to lose you all over again. One wrong move (Y/n) and now you’re gone for good.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered through tears.

“You haven’t done anything wrong.” He said.

“Doesn't mean I can’t still be sorry.” She said glancing at the clock, they had been on the phone for nearly an hour and a half and this conversation has left her seriously drained. “I think I’m going to go to bed.”

“Okay,” he responded. “It’s getting pretty late.”

“Maybe I can call you some other time this week?” She blurted out not even really realizing what she was doing.

“Yeah,” he said, sounding almost relieved. “I would like that very much.”

“Goodnight Spencer.”

“(Y/n) ?”

“Yeah?” she asked

“I uh. I um”

“I know.” She whispered. “I know.”

[newagesispage]

                                                                        OCTOBER 2017

 *****The beautiful dino, Sue will be moved to her own gallery in Chicago’s field museum. New to her long fixed spot will be a cast of patagotitan mayorum, the biggest dinosaur ever found.

*****Richard Thomas is selling his NY midtown coop for $2,995,000 and is located at 7th Ave. and w. 58th.

*****California is waiting for Jerry Brown to sign a bill that bans puppy mills.

*****WWF has released wild tigers back into Kazakhstan. Scimitar horned oryx were released into the Sahara desert and indigo snakes were reintroduced into Florida.

*****Toys “R” Us has filed for bankruptcy.

*****Tom Price, health and human services secretary, has resigned after hic charter flight scandal.

*****After 50 years Rolling Stone may be up for sale.

*****Doc Martin is back on Acorn for series 8.

*****As social media has been telling us, we don’t need a border wall. Tourism is down about $37 billion. Thanks Trump!

*****Trump supporters don’t seem to like him fraternizing with the Dems and waffling on DACA. They have been burning their red hats but scary clown already got the money for selling them so what does he care. Anne Coulter wonders if there is anybody left who does not want Trump impeached.** Some states are suing over DACA.

*****”Holes separate men and women.”- Billy Connolly

*****The dreamer program has been signed away. The Deferred Action for Children’s Arrival has been handed to congress for 6 months to deal with. The administration says it violates the rule of law.

*****The Peoria Blues and Heritage fest went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect and we should all be looking at the Jamiah Rogers band, these guys are fucking awesome. John Butler checked them out before his own set and was great with his fans.

*****Bill Withers has his first solo record since 1985 with a cover of (You’ve been quite a doll) Raggedy Ann.

*****In this country, a woman dies every 2 hours of cervical cancer because of improper health care.

*****Can I just say that I do not want to see reporters in the middle of hurricanes. Can they just stay safe in a room and fix a camera outside? I would much rather see different angles of the storm and see no people out there.  It was often impossible to hear then anyway.  The communication between the studio and location was fucked up and did not help anyway. It also seemed like they showed an awful lot of Shell stations. JS

*****An estimated 70 million Americans saw the fake Russian ads during the campaign.  No impact??

*****The Stones are on their No Filter tour in Europe and they brought out ‘Dancin with Mr. D’ which hasn’t been played live since 1973.

*****Trumps lawyers seem to want Jared out.

*****Steve Bannon’s Great Great Grandfather was an immigrant from Ireland who needed no papers to get in this country.

*****Montgomery , Alabama is going to open a Museum of lynching.  There is a wall lined with jars of dirt that were collected from sites of lynching’s from around the country.  Very powerful.

*****Thanks Trump administration for removing references to ‘LGBTQ’ youth from a federal program for victims of sex trafficking. It also eliminates funding to international groups that provide abortions. This comes from mostly evangelical lobbyists who are reporting that they are having more discussions  with this administration than they ever had with any President.

*****Vanity Fair has their best dressed list out which includes Harry Styles, Rihanna, Solange, Jack Schlossberg, Justin Trudeau, Janelle Monae, Dev Patel, Cate Blanchett, Zoe Kravitz, Ruth Negga, and Donald Glover. The hall of fame mentioned Lauren Hutton, Jeremy irons and Prince Phillip.

*****More police brutality against the black man with the subduing of the Seahawks Michael Bennett for no apparent reason.

*****Leslie Van Houten has again been granted parole. As last year she is waiting out the 120 days to get the word from Gov. Jerry Brown.

*****Lovin’ Greg Garcia’s The Guest book on TBS. What is not to love about seeing Charles Robinson and Carly Jibson again.  It made my day to see guest Orson Bean!!

*****The U.S. office of government ethics has changed a policy that will now allow lobbyists to donate to staffers legal defense funds.

*****Cameras have taken the first pictures of white giraffes in Kenya.

*****The Simpsons will be going to New Orleans this season!

*****The Middle is starting its last season. We will miss U!

*****Jay Pharoah has a new show on Showtime. White Famous is loosely based on the life of Jamie Foxx who is the executive producer.

*****John Davis Washington, son of Denzel may head the cast of Black Klansman. Spike Lee will direct and Jordan Peele will produce the true story of an African American who in 1978 infiltrated the KKK. Ron Stallworth used phones and his own writing to communicate with the organization. When he had to appear in person he sent a white officer in his place. They were able to sometimes sabotage cross burnings and other activities.

*****IT just had the biggest horror movie opening ever. The acting is quite nice for chapter 1 but the ending a bit long.

*****Netflix is bringing a delicious doc : Jim and Andy  The great beyond featuring a very special contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton. Spike Jonze is producing with the hundred  hours of footage from Man on the Moon. ** Other new docs on the way look at Eric Clapton, Grace Jones and Sammy Davis Jr. It is the first time that Kim Novak will talk on camera about dating Sammy.

*****September 16 brought the Juggalos march on Washington. They have been bringing awareness about their gang designation and the harm that it has caused. The running man with a hatchet is considered a gang symbol and gives cops probable cause to search. The FBI labeled Juggalos a hybrid gang in 2011. Also marching were some of the alt right calling their march the mother of all rallies but it only produced about 500 people.

*****Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin requested use of a government jet for his honeymoon and he later withdrew that request.

*****Finally there was a confirmation from a charity that Trump claims to have given to after the Hurricanes. Direct relief received 25 thou. ** There have still been no charities that received money from the inauguration fund.

*****WGN is bringing us a new show called Bellevue.

*****Howard Buffett will be the new Sheriff of Macon county in Illinois. His father Warren had donated millions to the area.

*****Prophets of Rage are here to raise awareness with members of Cypress Hill, Rage against the Machine and Public Enemy.

*****LA summer Olympics in 2028?!

*****Sean Spicer landed on Jimmy Kimmel. Wow.. What a kiss ass whiny bitch. He tried hard to stay in Trumps good graces with compliments for the Pres and constant berating of the press. He reminded me of a ventriloquist dummy with a hand up his ass.** His cameo at the Emmy’s did not go over very well either.

***** Model Monroe Bergdorf was fired by L’oreal because of her anti- racist remarks.  She has now been hired by Illamasqua.

*****Boycott Dragon Dumps! Don’t pay your bill on time and the owner dumps garbage on your lawn.

*****It looks like Trevor Noah will stay with the Daily show until at least 2022.

*****James Woods used his twitter account to try and shame a movie about a gay romance between a 17 year old and a 24 year old. Amber Tamblyn tweeted that Woods had hit on her for real when she was only 16.

*****Scientists are trying to bring back the chelonoidis elephantopus Galopagos turtles. 80 blood samples of modern day island turtles have genetic traces of the lost species. Even though they have been extinct for 160 years, scientists think they can reproduce though not to 100%. Could they reverse the negative effects that humans cause in the environment?

***** Why do bullies feel the need to use the art of artists who want nothing to do with them? It is like using ‘You can’t always get what you want’ for Trump when there are plenty of artists who agree with you that would love for you to use their art. Now Universal music and American recordings had to send a cease and desist letter to the white supremacist site Stormfront to stop using Johnny Cash’s version of ‘I won’t back down.’ The host blames the Jews.

*****Tru tv will bring us At home with Amy Sedaris.

*****North Dakota paleontologists have been uncovering so many bones that they are inviting the public to help.  It sounds like a dream come true.

*****Paul Newman is Jake Gyllenhaal’s Godfather. JS

*****St. Louis exploded into protest with yet another acquittal of a police officer after the shooting of a black man, Anthony Lamar Smith. Peoria, Il is also dealing with the shooting of an alleged bank robber who was shot 18 times.

*****The NFL is standing together in solidarity for equality and scary clown is sniping at them like a bitch. Our leader would not know respect and maturity if it bit him in the ass.** The Packers asked their fans to stand arm in arm with them on their Thursday night game with the Bears. Respect to Aaron Rodgers and the guys for speaking out before the game on equality. Some ‘fans’ are burning their Packer stuff. ..  Why do these Trump supporters always want to burn everything? Do they have any idea how racist and ridiculous that looks?

*****Veep is going to bring us their last season while Julia is battling breast cancer. Joe Biden tweeted that us Veeps must stick together to show his support.

*****The Emmy’s with Stephen Colbert have come and gone. My best dressed were Ellie Kemper, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Leslie Jones, Matthew Rhys, Claire Foy, Evan Rachel Wood ,Gabrielle Union, Donald Glover, Emmy Rossum, Zoe Kravitz, Nicole Kidman and Julia- Louis Dreyfus. My worst dressed were Uzo Aduba, Debra Messing, Anna Farris, Tracee Ellis Ross and Prianka Chopra. I love Sarah Paulson and the back of her dress was great but …?? There was so much black fabric which was awesome. Was it mourning for the earthquake and hurricane victims or just a general sadness for the country?  Whatever the reason.. hooray black!!**Also happy that hairstyles were mostly long and loose.** I was happy to see Laura Dern win for supporting actress in a limited series or movie. ** The Handmaids tale won for show, directing and writing , for Anne Dowd who looked more shocked and appreciative than I have ever seen and Elisabeth Moss. ** I was happy for Alec Baldwin for best supporting actor but was really routing for Louie Anderson. ** When the noms came out, I could not imagine anything beating out FEUD but everything did. ** The girls from 9 to 5 stole the show with their mention of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot. ** Donald Glover won for directing and acting. **Alexander Skarsgard won which gave he and his brother quite a week. ** John Oliver won two and he again flew in his whole staff. ** Julia- Louis Dreyfus has now won the most Emmys for the same character in the same show. Veep got best comedy.**It was a wonderful moment when Carol Burnett and Norman Lear came out but DeNiro looked so disinterested.** Cicely Tyson has often been described as a bit of a diva and seemed a bit out of it on the broadcast but her counterpart saved the day.** So sad that Bob Odenkirk did not win but kudos to sterling K. Brown. They seemed to play him off too quickly while Nicole Kidman and big little lies had all the time in the world.

*****Bobby Moynihan stars in the new  ‘Me Myself and I’ on CBS.

*****Word is that the Trump campaign is asking supporters to contribute money to build the wall.

*****Can we pay a little more attention to Puerto Rico? Why is the Pres giving them grief? Things were tough enough before the devastation. Puerto Rico has no bankruptcy and running a business is so costly there. Companies there must buy American which we don’t have to do.  Forty percent of residents don’t have insurance. So many of the supplies sent to help are just sitting there in San Juan.

*****Angela Merkel has won a 4th term as German chancellor.

*****Singapore got their first female President, Halimah Yacob. She was the only candidate.

*****There was a settlement in a lawsuit against Club Cabaret. Dancers sued to be employees instead of individual contractors. The dancers won a million and cost of legal fees.

*****Art Garfunkel has a memoir/diary/ book of musings out called ‘What is it all but luminous.’

*****The personal account of Ted Cruz hit ‘like’ on a porn site on 9/11. He calls it a mistake by a staffer. A college roommate of Cruz said that he was not surprised.

*****After a tweet from the Pres about hitting Hil with a golf ball, Stephen King tweeted: Thinks hitting a woman with a golf ball and knocking her down is funny. Myself, I think it indicates a severely fucked up mind.

*****Brooklyn 99 is back and funnier than ever with the same great cast and opening.

*****Bill Maher and Jimmy Kimmel are rated number 1 of tv personalities based on Facebook, Instagram, twitter et al.

*****R.I.P Richard Anderson, Walter Becker, Don Williams, David Tang, Troy Gentry, Murray Lerner, Mexico’s earthquake victims, those lost to hurricane Irma, Frank Vincent, Len Wein, Grant Hart, Harry Dean Stanton, Michelle Rounds, Bonnie Angelo, Hugh Hefner, Jake La Motta, Eddie Russell Jr., Edith Windsor, Tony Booth and Monty Hall.

ȅ

[mollykittykat]

The Cupboard Game Pt. 3

AU in which Splinter evaded the contents of the mutagen canister and ended up raising the turtles as a human.

No real warnings apply. Mostly family fluff and adventure with a teeny hint of angst. (Also available on A03: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10471893/chapters/23216127)

The rain started down at seven, pattering lightly on the roof of the old car as it rumbled down an unseemly backroad downtown, distant flashes in the sky warning that the weather wouldn't remain a mild shower for very long. Splinter kept his eyes on the world outside, the nauseating scent of cigarettes and the dilapidated surroundings making him want nothing more than to back out of the offer and instead go home to make his sons ham sandwiches like he had originally intended. However, knowing that this conversation needed to happen eventually, he figured he might as well get it over with now rather than risk another unexpected visit from his current host. And besides, turning Nezumi down this far into the drive would’ve been rude. Shaky past partnerships aside he was no heathen.

Despite the lack of new texts for the past few hours Splinter had put his phone on silent, and was now taking a moment to read over the recent messages, holding them close for reassurance as the car finally halted to a stop, Nezumi declaring a cheerful “Here we are!” as he put the vehicle in park.

Splinter peered out through the droplets that had gathered on his window and spotted a wooden sign swinging in the wind, which read “Dell’abate, Ristorante” in svelte cursive letters. Definitely Italian. He hadn’t heard of it before, but it’s exterior was nice enough to dissuade the fear of food poisoning. Opening the car door Splinter lifted the collar of his jacket over his head and made a run for the safety of the awning.

Once inside the thick air of humidity evaporated, replaced by a gentle warmth and the scent of garlic, seared meat, and marinara. The atmosphere was a cozy burgundy that spoke of soft chairs and hot food, but Splinter’s opinion of the situation took a sharp downward turn when he noticed the large man sitting at the end of the central table, lips red with tomato sauce, enormous paunch pressed up against the massive buffet before him. Nobody else seemed to be here except the men in suits surrounding the sole diner, eyeing the newcomers suspiciously as they polished the weapons they had at the ready.

Splinter took an instinctive step backwards, the name of the overweight figure at the table writhing at the back of his mind, when Nezumi quickly came up behind him and said it aloud. "Don Visioso! I mean, Mister Visioso sir"

The mob boss glanced up from his meatballs with a look of annoyance, but the moment his gaze fell on Splinter he seemed to be graced with small smile. Sitting up straight Visioso slurped up the last few strands of pasta into his mouth, patting his fat lips dry with a cloth napkin, mouth still half full as he spoke. "Siddown Mister Takada."

"What is this?" Splinter's question was greeted with silence as pair of rough hands took him by the shoulders, guiding him into the seat at the opposite end of Visioso’s table where a plate of spaghetti and a basket of garlic bread were placed in front of him. Though the situation was enough to put him off his appetite altogether Splinter didn't want to start off this sort of meeting with insult, so he played it safe by carving up one of the meatballs on his plate with his fork, looking around the room for a sign of disapproval before placing a bite in his mouth.

"Daiki, you' know why you're here?"

Splinter didn't look at Visioso, rather he kept his eyes down, corner of his gaze gracing across Nezumi who was standing at a distance amongst a group of gangsters like a convict standing amongst cops. He couldn’t be certain, but Splinter had a guess as to what was going on. Visioso had likely gotten into another feud with opposing gangs and Nezumi, as always, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. But rather than kill the thug right away he probably remembered the underground fights all those years back and a deal was struck: rat out "The Splinter,” don't end up in a back alley with two missing kidneys and a Colombian Necktie.

"I would suppose… you need a favor from me?” Splinter said under his breath, and the mob boss let out a harsh laugh, one that sounded less like a jolly chuckle and more like the throes of a heart attack. “Ha ha! Don Visioso don't need no favors. You on the other hand? You're looking for money aren't you?"

"Isn't everyone?" Splinter continued to cut up his pasta with his fork, refusing to allow the look on his face or the tone of his voice betray how nervous he was, hoping to stay in the safe zone of “respectful yet levelheaded” until he found a way out of this situation. "Nezumi told me there's a big fight with a high price. I want to go out with a final hoorah and retire. Simple as that."

Don Visioso laughed again, harder this time, fat lips suddenly spraying breadcrumbs all across the table… and onto his dinner guest. “You think that just some muscleman off the street can get into something like this?” He broke out of his laughter into a cough, which he medicated by shoving an entire lamb shank into mouth, gnawing on it like a starved dog. “Nah nah... you want big money? you need connections."

”Connections?” Splinter brushed the spewed flecks of garlic bread from his hair. Don Visioso, gave a red-stained grin.

"I want you as a bodyguard Takada" The mob boss ripped another roll of bread in half, the fine crust making a loud cracking sound in his hands which Splinter found somehow evoked a very morbid image. "Getting good help ain't easy these days. Given the way you turned my guys into minced meat before going underground I figured I'd find ya' and give ya' a chance."

Splinter nodded in understanding, paused for a few seconds in thought, then continued to carve up the food on his plate. He took another bite, earning himself a little extra time to consider his answer, and when his mouth was finally empty he looked up. Every eye in the room was now dead set upon him, ready to pass judgement on whatever may be his response. “I…” he hesitated “I… wanted to retire."

“Ya’ ninety years old or somethin’!?” Visioso pointed his fork at his dinner guest, the prongs of which were still speckled with red sauce and bits of meat, painting yet another unintentionally morbid image in Splinter’s mind. “You’s a fighter. It’s in your blood, nobody gets as good as you without some serious training and dedication. Sure, you ain’t no fellow Italian, but I ain’t an easy man to impress, so I thought I’d extend this’ere once in a lifetime opportunity.” The Don Belched, jostling the table forward as he leaned back in his chair. “We’ll get you a nice suit and a paycheck to match, and soon you’re gonna practically be one of… us… er… what’reya doing?”

Everyone in the room looked at Splinter in confusion. The man had now unscrewed the top of the salt shaker and was dumping half of the contents into his palm, causing Don Visioso to momentarily lose his train of thought and inquire about the antics. “Salt over the shoulder. For good luck” Splinter explained, tossing just a pinch of what he’d collected over his shoulder before shoving the rest into the pocket, taking a second to brush his forefinger over the lump marking where the switchblade was hidden, double-checking to ensure it was still there The expression “one of us” had immediately struck a negative chord with Splinter, as he knew exactly what this “bodyguard” position would entail. He would no longer just be skimming the surface of the underworld for a quick buck but he’d be all in, no holds barred. He’d be expected to intimidate and maim and kill at the beck and call, risking the lives of innocent people, and that wasn’t even mentioning all the crimes that he’d be forced to remain silent about or else run the risk of getting murdered himself. He looked over at Nezumi, frail and nervous between the dapper armed men. Splinter hated to admit it but he felt a little bad about the thug’s situation. Hopefully his safety hinged on arrival, not agreement, because otherwise Splinter knew he could not go through with this. Not to this extent. Money or no money there were some lines he just could not cross.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Siddown Mister Takada.”

“I’m sorry, but I must get home” Splinter put his fork aside, stood up, pushed in his chair, and began to back away “the weather outside is growing worse and I don’t want Nezumi to have to drive me home in a storm. Perhaps we can continue this conversation at another time?”

The answer to this suggestion was immediately made clear, as he made it approximately five steps to the door before the sound of a cocked gun stopped him in his tracks. Three broad-shouldered bodies stepped in to block Splinter’s path, two more walking up to either side of him to take him by the shoulders and forcefully guide him back toward the table where Don Visioso sat waiting.

“Mister Takada, I am a generous man but I ain’t patient. How'bout you finish hearing me out before runnin off, eh?"

Splinter was shoved back into place, now held to the chair by heavy hands that remained firm upon his shoulders. Fighting off the urge to defend himself Splinter continued playing calm, feeling the barrel of that loaded gun beat heavily on the back of his head, the increased sound of thunder itching at his growing impulse to panic. “So, you really want me that badly?"

"Gotta get to you before anyone else got the bright idea of hiring you on"

"I assure you,” Splinter picked his fork back up and continued to eat, his eyes now dead set upon his morbidly obese confronter at the other end of the table “I don't have any intention of joining anyone."

“You say that now, but ya' see, there’s other gangs in New York who are gonna want you on their side, gangs who won't be so friendly with you" Visioso argued back as he shoveled another forkful of noodles into his mouth, splattering a fresh coat of sauce on his lips. His fat fingers gripped a bowl of soup, bringing it to his mouth before he continued on his point, somehow forming words between greedy slurps of broth. "Bribes are one thing, but every man has something he wants to protect... family, possessions, secrets... what'll ya' do when those things get threatened, eh?"

Splinter's thumb brushed against the hidden weapon once more as he took a deep breath and gathered himself, prodding at the food on his plate with his fork, going so far as to give his captor a somber smile in attempt to keep himself from the looming brink of an outburst. ”No need to worry about that. I don't have any family left. My secrets are small and insignificant, and though I am not exactly against money there are some jobs that I'm simply not interested in"

“Yeah? well we'll see about that"

Splinter stiffened half way through sawing through a meatball, his hands shaking ever so slightly as he stared at the mob boss with a narrowed expression. “What do you mean?"

“Well ya see, Nezumi gave me your address” Visioso nodded at the thug in the corner of the room, who actually looked a little bit regretful about the revelation “I sent some of my guys over to your place just a few minutes before you got in.”

Splinter would’ve stood up if the hands on his shoulders hadn’t kept him in place, but he couldn’t help the sudden demand that flew from his lips, his palms slamming down on the table in front of him. “Call them off!”

For what might have been the first time since Splinter arrived, Don Visioso stopped eating completely. The hands of the surrounding men flew to their individual weapons and held them at the ready, followed by a long agonizing silence clouded by the sound of rain, punctuated by a thunderclap. As seconds seemed to stretch into an eternity, the mob boss eventually settled into a hearty chuckle. Seeing their leader in good humor, all the surrounding men began all began to laugh themselves, letting loose a wave of mocking chuckles that seemed all too genuine.

Splinter’s calm conserved manner had snapped so suddenly unexpectedly that, after the initial shock, it created an air of sick amusement, like a sudden instance of slapstick in the middle of a long boring drama. Unthreatening, unexpected, and hilarious, to the audience it was simple impersonal schadenfreude, but to Splinter it was deeply personal and viscerally terrifying. The turtles would be waiting for him to get home, they might lower their guard in anticipation, and whoever Visioso had sent would not recognize them as loved ones or even as valuables. To them the children would be nothing but terrifying mysterious monsters cloaked in shadow, which they would defend themselves against with whatever weapons they had been armed with. The only thing Splinter could only think of in this moment four innocent pairs of eyes staring into the barrel of a loaded gun, seconds away from going off.

“So, Mister Stoic does have secrets” Visioso guffawed, his laughs bursting out of his obese form like the death throes of a stuck pig “Don’t worry Daiki. You and me? We’ll practically be family by the time your an official part of the gang. We can keep your secret so long as you accept our offer.”

"Call them off!" Splinter repeated, shouting to press through the surrounding laughter, which only seemed to get louder with his own ever increasing tone of desperation "I accept your offer, just call them off!"

“I don’t think I will”

Splinter felt the grips on his shoulders grow tighter, the thugs reaching out firmly take hold of his forearms as well to ensure he stayed in place.

“I’m curious to see what this deep dark secret of yours is Daiki. My guys are gonna tear apart your apartment until they find it” Visioso leaned forward, stomach shoving the table into Splinter’s chest “When they do, you’ll either be working for me, or the whole world’s gonna know exactly what it is you’re hiding”

Another thunderclap; bright, earsplitting, jarring, the electricity losing function for a split second, flickering the lights. Hamato Yoshi did not hesitate to take advantage. In a half second of darkness the two men holding him in place crumbled, their captive forcing his own release with sharp blows before he moved on to clenched the edge of the tablecloth and yank it free, entangling everyone in reach in it’s folds as he scattered Visioso’s lunch about the floor. The Fulchi twins drew their guns and took aim, but their target had been lost a mess of scattered food and confused colleagues intertwined in marinara-stained cloth. By the time the lights had regained their glow and Splinter was back in their line of sight he was rushing right at them, clenched fist releasing a billow of table salt into their faces. Sudden random gunfire embedded bullets into the walls, but ultimately the twins were left dazed on the floor far from their guns, clutching their bruised abdomens as they worked to free their eyes of the burning salt.

Nezumi stared in awe, seeing his old colleague fight just as well as he had they day they’d met, striking with all the power of a spurned racehorse and moving twice as fast. However, Splinter seemed to have a fixed goal of clearing away the men blocking the door, and with the unwanted guards having fled to attempt to take down the infuriated Daiki the thug saw his opportunity to exit stage right. Back pressed against the far wall Nezumi eased his way to the doorway, taking off at top speed the moment he had an opening while The Splinter went about dealing with Don Visioso’s men the way a bull would deal with matadors made out of fine china.

“Leo… Leo…” The eldest turtle let out a tired moan as he gradually woke up, examining his situation with a hazy sense of sleep-induced amnesia. He was wrapped in a nest of blankets on the floor, the television left on as the forecaster talked about a weather alert and severe thunderstorm warnings. The covered windows clacked and rattled with the sound of large wind-driven raindrops and rumbled with the approaching thunder. Their apartment, warm and dry and safe as it was, had since been covered in bits of food and empty plastic packaging. Michelangelo’s mouth sported a beard of cracker crumbs as he snored a short distance away, curled up in the arms of Raphael who was now serving as his momentary guardian from the thunder in Splinter’s absence. That was when Leonardo remembered Splinter was gone, as well as the fact that it was now long past their bedtime and nobody had brushed their teeth or washed their face like they’d been told.

“Leo” “Donnie! we need to get ready for bed-“ “Shhh!” Donatello, the perpetrator of the much needed wakeup call, suddenly slapped his hand over his older sibling’s mouth. Leo made a frustrated “mfff” noise beneath the palm, shooting Donnie a furious glare, two seconds from writhing his way out of the grip when he heard it too: A loud, angry slam.

“Hey! I told you to let me get my lock picking kit” “And I’m telling you, just break the knob!”

Their gazes flew to the entrance, the locked metal knob jostling violently within the door.

“Won’t that draw attention?” “In this trashcan of an apartment? We could shoot somebody in the hall and the staff probably wouldn’t notice the corpse out until a month later, now c’mon…”

Now Raph too was drawn out of sleep, leaving Michelangelo curled up on the floor as he sat up, the sound of foreign voices bickering right outside the door jolted him into full awakening. Another slam, this one accompanied by the audible sound of bolts cracking, the doorknob sent askew in the impact.

Rule one. The crumbs and packages were wrapped up in a blanket and stuffed beneath the couch. They were going to turn off the tv too, but Raph couldn’t find the remote in time.

Rule two. They walked on the balls of their feet, which was a little harder for Leonardo since he was now carrying Michelangelo, who somehow hadn’t woken up in the commotion.

Donatello amongst the pots below the kitchen sink, Raphael buried in the laundry basket in the bedroom area, Leo and Mikey taking the space in the coat closet, nestled amongst the winter garments that had been pushed to the far back corners of the meager storage area. One final slam and the knob shattered. Heavy feet tore their way into the dark apartment, flashlights flickering about the walls and furniture amidst the hazy glow of the tv where the weather woman continued to track the progression of the storm making it’s way through the city.

Leonardo clutched his youngest brother tighter, hoping his sibling’s inevitable awakening would be a quiet one, praying that the intruding figures wouldn’t be around long, that they would see that there was nothing of value here and make their leave.

Rule three. Wait for the signal.

Wait for the signal.

Shave-and-a-hair-cut, two-bits.