#i don't like this man but i do appreciate his suit in this episode

[allottavabassa]

So, I don't really know where all the different factions stand as of Witch from Mercury episode 7—

—but I know that Vim Jeturk is mad about it, and that's a-okay with me

[thestarrynightslover]

Discreet Not Detached

Pairing: Harvey Specter x Fem!Reader

Word count: 1,397

Warnings: None, really.

Summary: Mike goes to Harvey's apartment to deliver some files only to be proved wrong about his boss being a lonely workaholic.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the show Suits, or its characters, also not associated with it in any way, or know anyone involved with it.

A/N: My first Harvey fic in a while, I had the idea based on an episode (I don't remember exactly which) and tried to elucidate to it here. Anyways, I hope it doesn’t suck and feedback is appreciated as usual!

(y/n) = (your name) (y/l/n) = (your last name) (y/n/n) = (your nickname)

| masterlist |

Another day in the office, another drama for Harvey Specter: this time it was his associate, Mike Ross, wanting to tell his girlfriend the whole truth about the terms of his employment and Harvey couldn’t let him do it, for obvious reasons. But, as you’d expect, namecallings happened and it all ended with Mike throwing in Harvey’s face his being an alleged workaholic in lack of a personal 一 and, in this case, love 一 life. Emphasis on alleged, cause what Mike didn’t know was that his boss actually did have someone to go home to…

It had been a long day but at least you got to go home to your excentric puddle of comfort of a boyfriend: New York City’s best closer, Harvey Specter. Once you got to your place, where the two of you lived together, you were welcomed with the smell and the view of a freshly cooked dinner that Harvey probably had someone making for the two of you.

As you started taking off your coat and shoes by the door, Harvey came out of your shared bedroom wearing nothing but sweatpants and looking like he’d just taken a shower. “Oh, hey, honey!” He greeted you with a smile on his face. “Sorry I didn’t wait for you to shower but I mingled too much with people of dubious hygiene today, so I kinda really needed to get clean.”

“Ah, that’s okay,” you said while pouting cutely at the same time. “At least dinner is ready, 'cause I am starving!”

“Ha! You say it like it’s cutting-edge news!” He tells you, as he puts on a shirt 一 much to your disappointment. 

“What is that supposed to mean?!” You ask feigning offense while putting away your bag, shoes, and coat.

“It means that you’re always starving, sweetheart,” Harvey answers nonchalantly like it’s nothing.

“That is not true! Or at least it’s not entirely true: I’m always starving if it’s past mealtime and I haven’t eaten!”

“Sure, whatever you say, baby!” He says it already knowing that your hunger and all the pet names will only soften you.

“You know what? After today I don’t even have the energy to bicker with you…”

“That bad, huh?”

“The ED was a complete chaos today, apparently all hospitals were swamped, which is why they called more surgeons downstairs to help out. I’ve been on my feet the entire day! I’m basically dead.”

“Dramatic… But I’m sorry you had a shitty day, baby.” He said coming to hug you from behind in your bathroom. Looking at your reflex in the mirror 一 both of you, together like that 一 filled your heart with love and your mind with peace. Harvey was definitely your happy place.

Some time later, after you’d had your dinner, gotten ready for bed, and watched a sappy rom-com you chose, you and Harvey were already cuddling, almost asleep when you heard insistent knocking on the door.

“Stay here, honey, I’ll go see what that’s all about.” You sorta heard Harvey say to you as you lost your personal space heater.

Out in the living, Harvey opened the door only to find his associate Mike Ross standing there looking all tired and disheveled. Before his boss could even say anything, he went ahead entering the apartment mumbling about the case they were currently addressing in the office.

“Harvey, you’re not gonna believe what I found about our not-so-innocent school teacher!” He said to the older man with such energy that sounded like he had had a few too many energetics.

“What the hell, Mike?! Why are you showing up on my doorstep this late at night?”

“Because I knew you’d wanna see this as soon as possible, besides, it’s not like you’d have anything important going here, would you?” Mike asked sorta mocking Harvey.

Ignoring his employee’s last comment, he took the papers Mike was offering and said: “This better be good, Ross, otherwise you’re gonna meet a whole different side of me.

As Harvey started reading all the documents, Mike started having a look around, cause when would he have another chance at taking a peek at his boss’s house like that again? And he couldn’t believe what his eyes were seeing, he would definitely be making a few thousand jokes about it in the near future: there was a romance novel lying on the table, one of those with drawings on the cover that were becoming so popular then.

“Oh my God, Harvey, when were you gonna tell me about your love for reading?” He asked while pointing at the book with his head. 

As Harvey’s eyes emerged from the papers in his hands with a confused look to them, Mike continued: “You know you could have told me, in fact after seeing the kinda genre you like I might actually ask for some recommendations, you know, to get my grandmother a few as presents.” The younger man said already starting to laugh loudly.

“That’s not mine…” Harvey began to answer with his mind still on the documents at hand.

“Oh no? You know there’s no need to lie to me, I promise I’ll try not to judge!”

“Funny. But that’s actually-”

“Mine!” You said as you came out of the bedroom wearing nothing but one of Harvey’s expensive dress shirts. “I don’t think we’ve met yet!” You exclaimed, already extending your hand to shake Mike’s. “I’m (y/n), Harvey’s girlfriend.”

“Girl- g- girlfriend?” Mike looked so shocked he almost choked on his laughter.

“Yes, but it’s doctor (y/l/n) for you.” He answered instinctively moving to your side. “What are you doing out of bed, sweetheart?”

“Sweetheart?” Mike murmured to himself in disbelief of the version of Harvey he was seeing, especially after their argument in the office and the things he’d said to Harvey.

“Well, I assumed it was something work-related when I noticed how long it was taking you to come back and came to drag you back to bed!” You announced to your boyfriend entangling your bodies with certain disregard for the other man standing there in shock.

Only then did Mike notice a framed picture on the sideboard behind him and it displayed both you and Harvey looking at each other with love in your eyes as he carried you bridal style into the water on a beach. Which was another surprise to the young attorney since he didn’t even know that Harvey was a fan of beaches.

“So you’re the famous Mike Ross, then?” You asked, catching his attention again. “You know, it’s very rare for someone to impress Mr. Specter here like you did!”

“Oh, honey, don’t do that, or he’ll spend an entire month finding new ways to subtly bring up in every conversation-”

“Oh, there won’t be anything subtle about it, Mr. Specter,” Mike said mockingly, finally coming out of the shock he had been on. “But I’m curious now, how long have you two been together?”

“About three years, isn’t it, babe?” You answered quickly not paying any mind to the mockery on Mike’s voice.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Wow, I never would’ve guessed it. Harvey never talks about you. Like ever.” Mike impolitely announced. “I mean, I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend and it’s been months since we started working together.”

“Well, that sounds about right since we don’t like to display our personal lives at work.” You said nonchalantly.

“But do Jessica and Donna know?”

“Of course they do. Must I remind you that you’re not a Donna or a Jessica, Mike?”

“Ouch. But do Lewis and Rachel know?”

“No, and no. And as interesting as your findings were, it’s time for you to leave. We’ll talk more about it tomorrow at the office.”

“But-”

“Mike. Now!”

“Oh, Harvey, don’t be like that.” 

“He needs to go now and we need to go back to bed, so bye, Mike!” Harvey said while shoving Mike out the door.

And after he was gone, just like in the picture, Harvey picked you up from the floor and started carrying you back to the bedroom.

“Harvey!” You squealed out. But he didn’t mind it as he tossed you on the bed, got on top of you, and started kissing you. Apparently, Mike’s visit had put him in a good mood. And, apparently, it was going to be a long night.                                                                 

[ninii-winchester]

Deepest Desire

Pairing : Dean Winchester X Reader

Word count : 2k

Warnings : angst, heartbreak, feelings of betrayal, alcohol, strong language, spoilers. Unedited.

A/n : This is a Supernatural x Lucifer crossover fic. I’ve only ever watched a few episodes of Lucifer. This is a work of fiction, I don’t own Supernatural or Lucifer. They belong to CW and Netlfix respectively.

I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION TO COPY MY WORK, TRANSLATE IT OR POST IT TO ANY OTHER PLATFORM. REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED.

Another day, another hunt. But it was nothing crazy. With Chuck being gone things are as normal as they could be. Y/n's friend had called in for help and she was happy to go. On her way back to the Bunker, her car stopped abruptly and wouldn't start. She slammed her hand on the steering wheel before calling Dean, filling him in on the situation.

"If only you'd let me take baby I would've been home by now." She groaned over the phone and she heard him laugh on the other side.

"My bad, sweetheart. You can take it next time." He chuckled before he added, "I'll be in an hour tops okay? Get some place safe."

"Yeah I see a bar its uh.. 'the tipsy tavern' I'll be there."

She hung up the phone and made her way towards the bar. It wasn't too far from where her car stopped, just a walking distance. She went inside and it was, well, typically how a bar is. She scanned the place thoroughly, her eyes landing on a woman with blond hair. She seemed troubled. She kept looking over her shoulder, continuously fidgeting with her hands.

Y/n walked up to her and slid in the stool beside her. The woman slightly jumped at the action and it didn't go unnoticed by her.

"Hey are you okay?" Y/n asked her, the woman eyed her cautiously before nodding.

"I'm fine." She replied curtly.

"Are you sure? You seem distressed." Y/n pressed hoping she could help somehow. The woman sighed, looking at her.

"You’d think I’m crazy."

"Try me." Y/n said mentally scoffing, what could this woman tell her that would be more unbelievable than what she deals with on a daily basis.

"I'm not from here."

"So you're a foreigner, are you lost?" Y/n questioned.

"No you don't understand." The woman seemed frustrated. "My name is Chloe Decker, I'm a detective." She said and Y/n nodded, urging her to continue. "I'm from LA. But this isn't my world." Chloe didn't know what it was about the woman infront of her that made her want to trust her.

"Your world?" Before Chloe could answer a man in a black suit takes a seat on the side side of Chloe.

"Well hello there. Made a new friend, did we detective?" The man spoke in a British accent.

"This is uh.." Chloe trailed off not knowing her name so Y/n quickly told her name. "This is Y/n." The man opened his mouth to say something but Y/n interrupted him.

"What do you mean this isn't your world?" She questioned.

"Well you see darlin' we were on a case, an then an explosion went off and we were here. I can feel the change in the cosmic energy around us." The man spoke.

"How do you feel the cosmic energies?" Y/n questioned the man.

"My bad lady, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Lucifer Morningstar." He said with a smooth voice.

"You're Lucifer? Like the devil Lucifer?" She questioned.

"Yes." He replied. "The devil Lucifer."

"That can't be." She said mostly to herself.

"I know it sounds implausible but-"

"You're dead. We killed you this isn't possible. You're not Lucifer. You can't be." She whisper yelled at the man who claimed to be Lucifer.

Chloe looked back and forth between Lucifer, the smirk on his face was long gone and it was morphed into a serious expression,

"Can we rewind back to when she said we killed you'." He said looking at Chloe who seemed even more troubled. "Who even are you?"

"God, this day couldn't get any worse." Y/n sighed. The trio had now shifted to a table for four. Chloe sat beside Lucifer and Y/n infront of him. She had foregone the glass and was now directly drinking from the bottle of whiskey. She needed as much as alcohol she could to process this.

"So, you're telling me, you hunt monsters and Lucifer of this universe was locked in a cage in Hell and then your..boyfriend's brother let him out and he wreaked havoc so you pushed him back inside and later killed him when he came back?" Chloe asked tasting the words on her mouth because it sounds absurd when said out loud.

"I know it sounds weird when you put it like that but yeah." Y/n said with humorless chuckle. "You weren't locked?" She asked Lucifer.

"No, Father just kicked me out from Heaven, I ruled Hell for a while but then I got bored so I came to Earth and I'm detective's partner now."

"Wow, so you're not a dick like he was. Our universe's Lucifer should've learned a thing or two from you." She scoffed. "Anyways, so if you have your mojo you can't teleport yourself back to your universe?"

"Mojo?" Chloe questioned.

"His powers." Y/n clarified and the former nodded.

"You I haven't actually tried if they're working." Lucifer admitted.

"Bit slow, aren't you?" Y/n sassed Chloe snorted, she found it amusing, this woman is sassing the devil himself.

"You seem so unbothered it's like it's just another Tuesday for you." Chloe commented and Y/n muttered a small 'tell me about it'. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she answered call the call. It was Dean.

"Hey I'm almost here. I saw your car and I'm heading to the bar now." He said.

"Alright cool. See you soon." She said hanging up. She looked at the couple infront of her. "Dean's here, I'll ask him if we can help you somehow."

"Thank you so much, Y/n." Chloe said gratefully smiling at her. The former nodded and mumbled a quick, 'I'll be back' before leaving the bar.

She waited a few minutes before she saw the black Impala pulling up. She watched her boyfriend get out the car and she made her way towards him.

"Hey gorgeous." He cupped her cheeks and pulled her in for a kiss. "I could've come get you inside. You didn't have to wait outside." He said against her lips. She pulled away and bit her lip. Dean groaned as he recognised her expression.

~~~

"So you're telling me this Lucifer is British." Dean said looking at his girlfriend incredulously. The two of them had went inside and Y/n took her previous seat while Dean took one beside her.

"That's all you gathered from what I've told you?" Y/n asked her boyfriend and he shurgged. "Anyways, they need our help and i think we should help him."

"Really? You want to help the dick that possessed Sam and almost killed all of us twice?" Dean snapped. Lucifer seemed offended but he didn't comment.

"De, he's not him. That asshole is dead." Y/n added. Dean rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, his gaze scrutinising Lucifer. He then looked at Chloe who seemed helpless and then at his girlfriend who was sporting a pout.

"Fine." Dean sighed. "We'll help, but that doesn't mean I trust you." He warned the devil who raised his hands in surrender.

"Lucifer why don't you see if your mojo works in this universe as well?" Y/n suggested. Lucifer closed his eyes doing God knows what.

"Woah woah stop." Dean said to Lucifer, then turned to Y/n, "What if he's as juiced up as the one we encountered and blows up the place?"

"You're right, I guess." Chloe chimed in and turned to her partner, "why don't you do the thing?" She said to him and he smirked, it's clearly something he loves doing.

"The thing?" Y/n questioned.

"It's nothing harmful. I promise." Chloe replied.

"Y/n dear." Lucifer calls her and she looks at him, he leans a bit towards her making Dean's protective side take over.

"Hey back off." Dean growled but Chloe put a hand over his arm.

"Its okay." She reassured him.

"Tell me Y/n, what is it that you truly desire?" Lucifer asked but his smirk dropped.

"Am I supposed to feel anything or should I just tell you?" She questions.

"This usually works." Lucifer says. "I think I don't have my powers here."

"What were you even trying to do?" Dean questions.

"He can read into people's heart, find their deepest darkest desires." Chloe answers. "Things that you never tell anyone."

"Well maybe it didn't work because I don't have a secret desire." Y/n commented making Lucifer and Chloe look at her in disbelief.

"Everyone has something they desire." He retorted. "Things they never tell anyone."

"I agree but mine isn't hidden or a big secret, for me its Dean." She shrugged. "My deepest desire is to have a normal life with him a house, family, kids, the whole nine yards." She spoke as if it wasn't a big deal and Dean swore he felt himself fall for her all over again. He pecked her temple and Chloe gushed at them.

"Interesting." Lucifer commented.

"If you can feel the cosmic energy around here I'm sure you have your powers. Why don't you try it on Dean?" Y/n suggested.

"I think she's right." Chloe added.

Lucifer faced Dean and the latter shifted a bit under his observing gaze. "Tell me Dean, what is it that you truly desire?" He questioned the Winchester and Y/n watched in anticipation awaiting his answer. A few seconds passed before he answered and nothing could've prepared her for Dean's answer.

"Amara." That one was enough for Y/n's world to come crashing down on her. She felt herself tear up but she cleared her throat before speaking.

"Well at least your still have your powers." Chloe could hear the heartbreak in her voice and gave her a sympathetic look. Lucifer, who found this situation amusing, asked,

"Who's Amara?" Dean sucked in a sharp breath, glaring at the man in front of him, who just smirked in return. What could you expect from him, he's the Devil after all.

"Your Aunt." Y/n snapped unintentionally.

"Why, must you be this childish?" He asked, feeling offended.

"No literally. Amara is God's sister, the darkness. She was here a while back before we locked her up." Y/n explained her voice void of any emotion.

"I've never heard of her. She didn't exist in my universe." Lucifer replied. He pinched the bridge of his nose before adding, "one thing I've realised you lot's universe is way fucked than ours."

"I'll call Sam and ask if we know a way to open a portal to another universe. Excuse me." Y/n said getting up from her chair and walking out the bar. Dean immediately trailing behind her.

"Baby, Y/n." He called out for her but she didn't stop. She let tears fall free now that she wasn't in front of a crowd. "Sweetheart listen to me." He caught up with and turned her to look at him. He hated seeing her cry and hated it even more when he was the reason for her tears. "I can explain, please just..-"

"What's there to explain, Dean?" She cried. She harshly wipes her tears. "Do you want to add salt to wound, tell me it's pitiful that you don't want me as much as I want you?" She let out a sarcastic laugh. "You know what I realised?" She asked rhetorically. "It's always something before me, your car, Sam, Amara, hunting. I'm probably the last thing you need in your life." The moment she said that Dean felt like someone had shot him in the heart.

"No baby, don't say that." Dean begged holding her close. "It's not true. I want you more than anything in this entire world." She scoffed before pulling away from him.

"I need to call Sam. Even if he's been harmless until now, we don't need another Lucifer prancing around our world." She put some distance between them before calling Sam.

"Harmless, my ass." Dean muttered as he kicked the dirt on the road.

He needed to make this right, he wouldn't be able to live if he ever lost her and he needs her to know that. He has to make it right and he will be damned if he didn't.

Part 2

[weclassybouquetfun]

I see dead people and they are in the form of teenagers Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland killed in 1916 and 1989, respectively.

Yes, all eight episodes (too few episodes, I say. A good 13 eps would have been fitting) of DEAD BOY DETECTIVES is available on Netflix.

Series stars George Rexstrew (Edwin), Kassius Nelson (Crystal Palace), Yuyu Kitamura (Niko Sasaki) and Jayden Revri (Charles Rowland)

A bit about the series:

NO SPOILERS

Born out of DC Comics' Vertigo imprint and created by Neil Gaiman with its characters being spun out of the Sandman universe, how divergent is the series from the comics?Not very. They have retained the trio's backstories, but there were story arcs they could not delve into because Netflix's SANDMAN needs to get there first. Other than that, things are twists on canon or new creations.

Of the characters themselves, Neil Gaiman has said Charles was "more or less him" as a boy and in crafting the series characters, the costumes lent a hand. With his buttoned-up attitude, the bespoked suits for Edwin Paine belies his closed off demeanor. Jayden Revri's Charles Rowland had a ska/rude boy looked that was of fashion when he was alive. This was a nod that Revri appreciated as he has explained in the past he's, "half Indian, a quarter Jamaican and a quarter English." Charles also always has red on him as a nod to comics!Charles' red sweater.

While the characters were first introduced in HBO Max's DOOM PATROL, once the plans for a series was announced, it was quickly let known that this incarnation is not in the same universe as DOOM PATROL's characters, despite DOOM PATROL's Ruth Connell reprising her role as Night Nurse in the Netflix series. This series is firmly in the Sandman universe with Kirby (formerly Kirby Howell-Baptiste, briefly reprising her role as Death in the first episode.

Should DEAD BOY DETECTIVES get a second series, Rexstrew and Lukas Gage (who plays Cat King)

have already spoken of their love of Mason Alexander Park's character Desire from the series, with Rexstrew saying he would love to see Edwin's reaction to Desire.

There's no malewife like him.

Other cast members include Briana Cucuo, sister of BIG BANG THEORY's Kaley Cucuo. Briana voices Barbara Gordon and a sundry of other characters on Max's HARLEY QUINN.

Much too hot to be doing voice-work.

Jenn Lyon (Claws), Joshua Colley (Love, Victor) and Max Jenkins and Caitlin Reilly cutting it up in a (literal) small role.

Jayden says he can't wait for fan fiction and edits of Charles and Edwin and says their ship name will likely be Chedwin. Mans don't know what he's asking for!

[ai-megurine]

HOTD S2 episode 2 "Rhaenyra the Cruel" reaction

• This OST! Djamin Rawadi is a god

• Can we appreciate Aegon's friends? Staying with him despite the state of madness he's in and closing the door to make sure he has some privacy

• oh so that shot of Aemond was him realising that he was the target!!!!

• I'm sorry I'm not that sympathetic to Alicent's tears? I just wish we could see more of Helaena grieving. I love the dress though

• ALICENT B&C IS NOT ABOUT YOU

• Otto shut up.

• Get Tom an Emmy, an Oscar and every single award in the world. His "what?" of disbelief to Otto stuck with me, dunno why

• In love with Larys' entrance. No one notices him until he speaks, he's in the background. Perfectly suits him

• "Bitch Queen of bastards" lmfao

• Love that the Council is shutting up and just letting Aegon rant. They're all scared of him in a way

• Who knew I'd ever be happy to see Larys?

• "I'll kill him myself" feed him to Sunfyre pls. Or Shrykos

• Aegon losing it every time Otto speaks is such a mood

• Jasper Wylde has a lign! Who knew.

• "We know our enemy!" with the little hand thingy was funny, I'm sorry

• Tyland!!

• "you're already seen as weak" oh fuck you Otto

• Why would anyone think that Rhaenys committing mass murder means Rhaenyra should be Queen???

• Aegon "my little son's body" broke me.

• Alicent calling Aegon "my darling" was sweeter than I thought.

• oh so Helaena can be a spectacle but not you??

• HELAENA MY LOVE

• LET ME HUG YOU

• DAEMON WHEN I CATCH YOU

• BALERION HIMSELF COULDN'T PROTECT YOU

• Oh my lord she's holding Jaehaerys' clothes 😭😭😭

• She's grief personified I can't breathe

• Phia is an angel

• THE TEAR ON HER CHEEK

• AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH the "I don't want them closer I don't know them" breaks me. She's my angel, I will fight the world for you

• ALICENT WHO CARES YOU'RE BANGING COLE. IT HASN'T BEEN 24 HOURS SINCE JAEHAERYS DIED

• "This is for my boy" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

• The toy horse 😭😭😭😭

• The music is so good

• (when did they have the time to make all the uniforms and banners??? Sewing ladies have been doing overtime)

• Blood IMMEDIATELY giving up all the information was low-key funny but it really showcases who he is. A big bully who uses his strength to hurt people weaker than hip (women and children) but the second he's caught? He folds like a coward.

• Lmfao Larys' face. Even he was like "damn dude I didn't even start"

• Who the fuck is the herald? I thought Otto would be the one doing this

• OH MY GOD THEY SEWED THE HEAD BACK?????

• ANGEL, BABY, I LOVE YOU

• DAEMON I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF

• The little circlet on his bead 😭😭😭😭

• why barn owls on the shroud? I mean it's Helaena and she's flawless so I like it anyway

• So the death of Jaehaerys has FINALLY been acknowledged as kinslaying as well

• Blood's face when he understands that Aegon is coming and that it's going to be painful

• Noooooo, I wanted more pain for Blood

• Oh no my girl being so overwhelmed. She's in pain 😭😭😭

• Oh Rhaenyra's reaction to B&C

• I mean why wouldn't they accuse you? Like? Bestie? Who would it profit to kill Aegon's heir?

• Is Daemon actually smirking???? This man istg

• Rhaenys immediately knew, this woman is too good for these people

• Rhaenyra's realisation

• "Killing it"??? IT???? WOMAN.

• DON'T YOU FUCKING LAUGH. If you felt any ounce of remorse, you would be screaming in rage about it

• "you have wounded me" BESTIE A CHILD DIED WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STANDING

• JFC the way she reacted when he broke that glass!!! She's obviously scared, it's definitely not the first time.

• Emma the actor that you are. Rhaenyra looks ready to rip Daemon's head with her bare teeth (which she should do, it would be iconic)

• You are a monster dude

• Oooh that silence

• "because of your virtue" hshshsjsj

• Bestie Viserys named Rhaenyra heir out of grief and guilt

• "You're pathetic" is so iconic, love it

• Baela exists! That coat is atrocious though

• So no risking Jace but Baela is fair game huh? Bitch (and I don't even like Baela). Good scene though

• Behold, Daemon runs away from his family

• HELAENA STILL DOESN'T HAVE A GUARD???? WHAT???? AEGON HAS TWO HE COULD SPARE ONE

• Oh god her and Aegon. Grieving, broken, but unable to connect. I feel like she wanted to reach out in the stairs, but he runs away because he's on the verge of breaking down and be can't have that in public.

• The nodding???

• NOOO THE BED

• I mean, I know it's better but

• Oh god the mattress covered in blood

• The juxtaposition with Rhaenyra being with her son is heartbreaking. The way she realises that this is what Helaena lost, that Jaehaerys was that age

• ALICENT STOP THINKING ABOUT YOU BANGING COLE NO ONE CARES

• Also Cole should be guarding Helaena and Jaehaera

• The religious trauma of consensual sex

• I wished the Alicole storyline would take less screen though, I mean good for them but that mess of a relationship shouldn't overshadow Helaegon's doomism and greek tragedy right now

• Cole needs to stop beefing with the rest of the world, Arryk isn't responsible for it

• Love Arryk for calling out Cole

• LMFAO THE OTHER KINGSUARDS NOPPING OUT. Valid ngl

• YOU'RE MAD SER. Love him

• Cole's hypocrisy is a delight. He's a terrible person, but he's so interesting

• Why don't they use poison though

• Laenor being mentioned? Neat. Him teaching the boys about fishing and Sea Shanty is pretty fun

• Damn that scene is actually good!! A shame I couldn't care less about Baela and Rhaena

• Oh so that's the famous brothel scene?

• Aemond's mummy issues on fill display 🙏🏻

• I love the relationship between him and the madame ngl. Like I know he pays her for it but her gentleness with him seems to be at least partially genuine. Her facial expression when he doesn't look at her are pretty telling

• Hugh Hammer the return! Fuck if I care but hey, I'm not against them developing the Dragonseeds. I wish Nettles was around too. I guess Hugh will join TB after his family's death? Or he'll be a spy for TG? Dunno

• So we know Baela ends up with Alyn, and he looks so much bigger and older than her 😭 Like it makes sense but DAMN

• I genuinely cannot begin to care about Corlys to save my life

• WAIT RHAENYRA DIDN'T KNOW WHO MYSARIA WAS???? THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY

• Mysaria being a good character wasn't on my bingo card but I don't dislike it

• Seasmoke following Addam around like a lost puppy is so funny to me. Also his sounds are so cute. I guess Laenor died off screen?

• The focus on the smallfolk is great. It reminds me of Varys' quote about the smallfolk always being the one to suffers.

• Cheese didn't suffer enough and I wish that dog a very nice "find a better owner"

• "Oh, I had them hanged" is so fucking funny.

• Otto is right, though. Like, this was a terrible idea.

• Ooooh mentioning Jaehaerys was a dumb move. You should Aegon isn't going to be rational about it

• Aegon, you can show strength by, you know, USING YOUR DRAGON. Honestly a public execution of Blood would have been better

• Otto's "wtf" face is so funny. I love him. Tom and Rhys are carrying this entire episode. Phia too, but she's less present

• Otto, do you REALLY think Aegon gives a single fuck about Viserys???

• Otto being fired for upteenth time is so funny. This man files for unemployment every three weeks

• Otto's last act of defiance was great

• Yeah, Mysaria isn't exiting the show

• Oh, that's how she'll stay

• Elinda Massey exists!

• I'm glad they didn't make Rhaenyra fight Arryk like some believed. It makes much more sense for her to be genuinely scared for her life. Like, Arryk is a grown ass man in armour and literally one of the best knights of his time

• They deserved better

• Otto unknowingly dissing his daughter's bf right in front of her was peak irony.

• "Petty revenge"? A FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD WAS DECAPITATED

• FUCK YOU ALICENT. Your son isn't "valuable", he's YOUR SON

• DAERON MENTION!!!!!!!! VICTORY!!!!!!!!

• The generational trauma of zero communication 🙏🏻

• Aegon sobbing and breaking down

• Nooooooooooo

• My love

• Let me hug you

• He's so beautiful

• A fallen angel

• CRISTON LEGIT SITTING ON HER BED WAS SO FUNNY LIKE WHAT

• HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WAITING

• ALSO WHO IS GUARDING HELAENA

Conclusion :

Tom is a god, Phia is an angel, I will start a cult for Ramin Djawadi. The acting in general was top notch, but Tom and Phia have ascended to god-like.

Helaegon's doomism and Greek tragedy will be my death, I love them your honour.

The focus on the smallfolk was very good, and I hope they do it for both sides.

[bird-inacage]

Only Friends: Why Ray x Mew is Doomed to Fail

This show is consistently catching me off guard and I LOVE that. I was not expecting this to come out of the fallout, mostly because I didn't see Mew ever choosing this. But here we are. As soon as the final scene of Ray and Mew dancing at Yo's bar came on screen, I was wildly uncomfortable. Something felt so inherently wrong and off-kilter with this image. So let's discuss why.

Resigned Acceptance VS Active Choice

Let's be clear firstly; Mew hasn't chosen Ray. The entire exchange between them is Mew doing calculations in his head. And what he concludes is if someone loves you far more, then you don't lose out. Logically it's a far easier and safer proposition to try. (Whereas with Top, who was supposedly so out of Mew's league, has now caused Mew a tonne of insecurity because of his betrayal). Ray can't hurt him because Mew has never regarded Ray as suited for that spot.

It's with an air of resigned acceptance (and an obvious lack of any enthusiasm) that Mew accepts Ray's pursuit of him. Like a lukewarm shrug, 'Yeah. I guess. I suppose. Why not.' Right now Mew needs a distraction and here is his perfect opportunity to appear as if he's 'moved on' already. That he's unaffected. Mew is only doing all of this because he's hurting. If Top hadn't cheated, his stance on Ray would still be unwaveringly firm.

This also serves as an ideal way to punish Top. Top's reason for cheating was thinking (wrongly) that there was something going on between him and Ray. So why not rub that in his face and actually have something going on now to spite him? Top's worst nightmare manifested.

Mew Playing Mew 2.0

I had a really strong feeling this episode that Mew was trying to emanate Ray, especially with his new look. Bit by bit, Mew is denouncing everything that once made him who he was. He's trying to embrace the opposite end of the spectrum and his closest point of reference is Ray.

Ray isn't responsible. Ray is impulsive. He has everyone else taking care of him. I think in some ways Mew may envy Ray at times. The luxury to be reckless, spontaneous and have people around you to pick up the pieces. To test run Ray's 'fuck it' mentality for a change and forego accountability is freeing, it's seductive.

However, Mew 2.0 is just Mew playing 'dress up'. It's a costume and a form of armour but nothing more. Mew is not coupling up with Ray as his authentic self (and ultimately the 'self' that Ray fell in love with). The man Ray loves VS the man Ray is now dating are two different people. There's already a layer of falsehood sandwiched between them.

Ray's Glorification of Mew

In Ray's eyes, Mew can do no wrong. The way that Ray sees Mew is faultless, blemish-free, almost saintlike. Mew is his saviour and Ray holds him on a incredibly high pedestal. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on anyone who is the subject of this adoration.

When we love someone, what we really desire is to be seen for all the things that makes us painfully human. The things we hate about ourselves; the ugly, the unsightly, the flaws - for someone to know us at our very worst and still love us despite all that.

Ray's opinion of Mew means he can never truly appreciate who he is as just another person who has his faults and shortcomings. It also means Ray is likely to look to Mew to have the answers, to share his wisdom and that's just not always going to be the case.

For now, Ray may be basking in the awe of living his ultimate fantasy but I don't think he'll be able to cope with the reality being less than perfection. Of Mew being less than perfection. You've set Mew up to fail, and you've doomed this relationship to fall short of the spectacular grandeur you may have conjured in your head.

This pairing is fundamentally not on equal footing. Mew is vicariously living through Ray like some rollercoaster ride to hedonism. Ray is a means for him but not a destination.

[phantompoguefangirl]

GREEN LIGHT-SPENCER REID

'Love compels cruelty To those who do not understand love.'

'I learn a great deal by merely observing you, and letting you talk as long as you please, and taking note of what you do not say.'

'In my end is my beginning.'

T.S. Eliot

A/N: Based on the episodes Green Light and Red light and basically that whole section of Season 12. Fluff and ANGST. This is also on my wattpad SerpentBeauty1710 and will be on my AO3, MayaGillespieReid

**********************************

Y/N POV:

Nothing could have prepared me for any of this.

Not for the way my soul left my body when the words "Spencer is in jail in Mexico" came out of Emily's horrified mouth.

Not for the anxiety being stuck home waiting for answers when half the team went down to get him.

Not for the relief and yet underlying tornado of emotions when the beautiful, kind and innocent boy wonder, the love of my life, my sweet Spencer...walked into the BAU in handcuffs.

The frustration when my short legs and rapidly expanding belly wouldn't let me get to him faster. The pain when he couldn't hug me back, then the love and desperation I felt him return by nuzzling his face into my neck as best he could while his bound hands caressed my bump. The soft but urgent warmth of his lips as I reached up to kiss him. The brief touch of his forehead to mine and the whispered reassurances right before Emily led him back to the elevator.

The way I broke down sobbing when the judge denied bail.

And the agony of waiting, of knowing he was so close to home and not being able to hold him or keep him safe. And on top of that, the stress of not knowing if he would get out in time, if at all...

The team did their best to support me through it and took turns helping with Diana when they could, along with the caregiver Spencer and I had hired for her. We had decided to move into a house with a mother in law suite for Diana when Spencer brought her to live with us in DC. We'd agreed Diana would do better with her own space and it ended up being a really good thing we moved. The team helped me finish settling in. Garcia was all over decorating, Emily JJ  and Tara helped me organize everything, Derek and our new agent Luke handled any repairs and/or replacements that needed done and Rossi brought his delicious food regularly. Hotch had very recently gone into in witsec with Jack, but I knew he'd be here helping too if he could.

I smiled appreciatively at the thought of our friends as I struggled to roll out of bed and padded to the kitchen for breakfast. I was grabbing a croissant from the container when I felt a small pinch in my neck and everything went dark.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in what seemed to be a trunk. I was going to kick a tail light out or or scream or something but my hands and feet were tied up and there was duct tape over my mouth. It was cold, much more so probably due to the fact that I was only in a tank top and pajama shorts.

I didn't recognize my captors' voices but I tried to listen to the youngish girl and older man when they spoke. They mostly talked in low tones so it was difficult, but I heard them whisper Diana's name and something about the caregiver which caused my heart and stomach to constrict in terror. I wanted to scream at them to tell me where my mother in law was, but I knew it would probably do no good and I still had the tape on my mouth anyway.

What felt like days(but was probably only hours) passed and the only respite I had was when the man moved me to a different trunk and removed the tape before holding the phone to my ear. I recognized the phone number on the screen.

"Spencer?" I whimpered, shifting umcomfortably as the man held on to the ropes around me.

"Y/N, are you okay?!" He cried out desperately.

"Yeah we're okay, I think," I answered softly. "But Spencer, they have Mom. I don't know where, she's not with me but-"

The man shoved the tape back over my mouth and closed the trunk. I thought I heard Diana's scared voice right before he took the phone away, which was odd. I did hear a gunshot right outside a second later though, followed by a loud explosion, before the vehicle I was in roared to life and was suddenly in motion.

I tried to mentally document all of my surroundings, while simultaneously looking around for something to cut my bindings with, in order to keep myself from panicking. However, every so often the tightening feeling would return and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

Spencer's soft voice in my mind reassured me and reminded me how amazing our team is, which helped to soothe me a little. That led me to distract myself with thoughts of my wonderful husband. Of every little thing about him that I was so in love with. Things like his ridiculously cute laugh, our shared fascination with books and learning, the way he loved so deeply with his entire heart, his gentle kindness, his relentless determination, etc. One of my favorite things was the expression on his face whenever he concentrated hard on anything or whenever he was deep in thought. The way his brow furrowed while he rested his chin on his folded hand, every so often running his thumb or knuckle across his bottom lip or sometimes against his chin. I'd never seen him do this so intensely until the day he figured out this special puzzle box I'd had made for him.

*FLASHBACK*

It took me a bit to think of a good way to tell him the news. I didn't want to just say the words or show him the test or something simple. I wanted it to be as special as he was to me. It was a conversation we'd had about Sherlock Holmes that finally gave me the idea. I created a little scavenger hunt for him, the last clue of which was a puzzle box for him to solve. He loved puzzles and riddles. The answer to open the box was a phrase that he would have to guess.

He figured out the clues to the hunt much faster than expected, but the puzzle box actually took him quite a while to figure out. He got so determined to crack it that he brought it to work, unbeknownst to me. I was shocked when I walked into the round table room(I'd stopped in the break room for some tea which we were sadly out of) and found him studying it, eyebrows furrowed very deeply, head on hand and thumb brushing against his lip while Garcia and Hotch were briefing us on a case. I tried not to stare at him, because let's be honest it was unbelievably hot when he looked like that, and silently hoped he would not crack the code till later. Of course I had no such luck. He was a genius after all.

"I'm pregnant? What? I'm not-" Spencer suddenly said out loud, causing us all to stop and look at him. He was silenced by the box unlocking as he finished turning the small knobs to the correct letters. He saw what was inside and his eyes grew to the size of bowling balls as he picked it up. His face snapped up to look at me and he jumped out of his seat at the same time. "YOU'RE PREGNANT?!"

Everyone gaped at us. I froze, having not even made it into a chair yet.

"I...um...yeah," I managed to get out after a moment.

Spencer's mouth dropped open and his eyes somehow softened while staying wide. His floppy brown curls made him look even more like a puppy as he reached for me and squeaked out the word "Really?"

My heart melted, every emotion flooding to the surface, as I stepped closer to him.

"Yeah really. We're gonna have a baby, Spence," I said softly, smiling tentatively.

A gasp escaped Spencer's lips as he pulled me into his arms and spun me around while everyone cheered. He set me down and kissed me passionately through happy tears before the team engulfed us in hugs.

"Congratulations, you two," Hotch said, revealing a rare, genuine smile.

"Tanta Felicità!" Rossi exclaimed in Italian as he kissed our cheeks.

"You guys! This is amazing!" JJ said, "You're gonna be great parents!"

Tara echoed this enthusiastically, affectionately wrapping her arms around us for a brief moment before backing up.

"Wow, I was totally kidding when I asked if you wanted little baby geniuses some day. I'm so glad I was right though. This is wonderful news!" Emily quipped, grinning.

"BABY GENIUS THERE IS GOING TO BE A BABY GENIUS OH MY GOD I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD!" Penelope all but screeched as she embraced us tightly, continuing to ramble. "Auntie Penelope is gonna spoil the heck out of this little one just like I do with Henry and Michael! I hope it's a girl but as long as he or she is healthy that's all that really matters."

"Way to go, Pretty Boy. I didn't know you had it in you!" Morgan joked once Garcia was done, clapping Spencer on the shoulder as we all giggled. "But I couldn't be happier for you both."

"Thanks man," Spencer chuckled, as he looked down at the object in his hands and teared up some more.

"What is it?" Morgan asked. Nobody had seemed to notice the object before but now they all zeroed in on it.

"A onesie?" JJ asked.

"It says 'Daddy's little Genius'...Daddy... I'm gonna be a dad...," Spencer murmured, smiling in that adorable way he does when he's emotional.

A chorus of awwwws filled the room followed by them scruffing Spencer's hair or clapping him on the shoulders again. I also received more hugs and a couple kisses on the head from Morgan and Rossi.

Hotch let us celebrate for a second, and celebrated with us, before drawing our attention back to the case at hand. Of course, Penelope told us we were having a real celebration when we got back and would not take no for an answer. And that's exactly what we did.

I hadn't meant for everyone to find out like that, but it ended up being the happiest moment in my life so far.

The memory faded as the tightening intensified. It felt like a weight pressing on me, like I wasn't going to be able to relax until I knew that Diana was safe. If anything happened to her, I wasn't sure what the hell I would do. She'd been doing so much better and she'd been absolutely over the moon upon learning she was going to be a grandmother. She'd nearly screamed out joyfully when we told her the news. She'd insisted that Spencer and I take turns reading to the baby every day and when Spencer was away, she took his place, picking up wherever he left off while I rested. Diana was genuinely wonderful and I was not violent by nature but I would go absolutely feral on anyone who hurt her, even in my current condition.

I tried to keep distracting myself with thoughts of Spencer and eventually began to doze off.

SPENCER POV:

I realized who the girl was as soon as she left the visiting room with my mother. I contacted the team as soon as possible to let them know, unable to keep from panicking.

Convincing them to believe me and the wait for news was excruciating but that was nothing compared to what I felt when Emily visited to update me on everything.

As soon as she walked in the room, I could see that something was very wrong, aside from Lindsey taking my mom. I think subconsciously I already knew what it was when I first saw Lindsey, but I couldn't bear to let myself even consider it.

"We found your caregiver dead in a house just a few houses down from yours. Ballistics came back and turns out Lindsey used her father's gun. We don't know whether it was to prove a point or something else, but the reasons are unimportant." Emily began, urging me to sit. I politely refused and she continued, "The point is that you were right, Reid. You were right and I didn't believe you. I'm so sorry."

"She's a daddy's girl. She can't help but use his gun," I mused out loud, going over the memories of her case in my mind.

"Good. That's good. That helps," Emily said, but there was something about her voice that alerted me.

I sat there across the table, shaking at this point, but I made myself look at her. "There's something else you're not telling me, isn't there?"

Emily looked down, hesitating for a second before answering.

"It's Y/N," she finally said, holding back tears,"Lindsey took her too."

My heart stopped. I heard Emily shout my name but couldn't focus on her at all. I couldn't think. I couldn't even pull oxygen into my lungs.

This was not happening.

This could not be happening.

Not my wife... not our baby...

I felt a hand on my arm. I shoved it off of me.

"You have to find them, Emily. Promise me you'll find my mom and Y/N." I begged, desperately.

"I promise you, Reid. We will find them," Emily assured me. "Right now you just have to find a way to isolate yourself."

I stormed toward the door and had the guard take me back to my cell.

I ended up having to make it look like Shaw stabbed me with a shiv to get put in solitary confinement. I couldn't handle anything else happening and I had to least try and stay safe on the off chance I got to get out and search for my wife and mom. Not that I had any hope that I would get out at this point in time, but I trusted my team with everything and I knew they would not rest till they found my family.

Sometime later, I found myself being brought out of isolation without any warning and I was terrified that Shaw had conjured up his own way to get to me. The guard left me in a room alone and I tried to remain calm, bracing myself for what was to come.

I was not prepared for my best friend to walk through the door.

"We're taking you home," JJ choked out as her eyes watered.

I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding as I pulled her into a tight hug. After a minute, she led me out the door and took me back to the BAU.

The sense of ease at seeing my work family again, especially the radiant embodiment of sunshine that was Penelope Garcia, was brief. It was soon overshadowed by unbridled rage when we discovered that Cat Adams was the true mastermind behind all of this.

She had Lindsey frame me for murder.

She had me put in prison.

She risked my sobriety by drugging me.

She had Lindsey kidnap my family.

Now, she was demanding to speak to me by using them as leverage.

Of course she wanted to play a game just like we did before when I arrested her, using my watch as the timer. She was angry that I'd outsmarted her so she wanted to break me. I was not about to let her have even a sliver of satisfaction.

She almost succeeded, however, when she revealed she was pregnant with my child.

Almost.

Apparently she'd told Lindsey to pretend to be Y/N after she dosed me with drugs so she could collect a sample from me down in Mexico. I knew it should not be possible, but I had been drugged and my memories of that day were still very hazy so I couldn't be sure.

"That's right, Y/N's not the only one carrying a baby protegé," Cat said in almost a sing song voice as I rushed out of the room. "I was thinking, if it's a boy, Spencie Junior. Or if it's a girl, Y/N. You know, since she played a part in her own conception."

JJ was waiting outside with Cat's file, hesitantly holding it up. I barely heard the words she said as I read it, then threw it against the wall once I saw the confirmation of pregnancy.

"Sorry," I said gently, upon noticing I had scared JJ. I ran my fingers through my hair. "I just...just need a minute."

JJ just nodded in understanding.

Some time later, the team discovered that Cat was lying about the child being mine and we eventually got her to call her cohort for proof of life.

My heart swelled when I heard the love of my life's voice on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah we're okay, I think," she answered softly. Dread filled me at her next words. "But Spencer they have Mom. I don't know where, she's not with me but-

She'd conferenced in the call for my mom too and their voices made me hopeful for a second before both calls were cut off with explosions.

I forced the metal table out of my way before shoving Cat against the wall by her throat.

"I'm gonna kill you," I hissed, enraged once more. "I'm gonna kill you."

I kept repeating that until JJ pried me off of Cat, reminding me over and over that she was pregnant.

I stormed out again with JJ hot on my heels. I didn't have time to break down before the team told us that there was a call in about an amber alert Emily put out for Lindsey. Two vehicles at the scene were blown up but the only victim inside was male.

I felt bad for the man who was killed, but this meant there was hope again.

JJ and I talked some things through and pieced together what Cat really wanted me to say. While I told Cat what she wanted to hear, the team discovered the prison guard who had actually been the one to impregnate Cat and found two properties he owned.

I won the game by telling Cat that I could have done several different things to get out of the situation with Shaw and his men but I chose the one that would cause the most pain. In the process, Lindsey overheard us on Emily's tablet which had been connected to the visiting room cameras, realizing Cat betrayed her and therefore giving up.

As I was heading out, Cat piped up again. "How are you going to be a father now that you've proven you enjoyed hurting those men in prison? I mean, because once you've crossed that line, you can never go back."

In a split second I was on my knees in front of her, yanking my watch off of her wrist.

"Watch me," I retorted before walking out.

The team found my mom first and they let me see her briefly, then they took her to the hospital to make sure she was okay. We went to a secondary location we'd discovered which was where they were holding Y/N. I wasn't technically supposed to go because I was not reinstated yet but I couldn't think clearly enough to obey that rule when my girl and my unborn child were in danger.

Luckily, JJ was a parent and knew me too well so she had my back. Rossi also understood and had a helicopter standing by. We managed to make it there in time for the team to breech the house and I rushed in along side them without thinking.

That's when my whole life changed.

Y/N P.O.V.

My captors brought me to a house and left me in a room on the floor. I was alone for awhile and attempted to move to relieve the tight cramping sensation, which had gotten so much worse. I tried to conceal my pain from the man who was walking around the house setting stuff up and attaching rectangle shaped objects to the walls.

I was horrified when I saw that they were C4 charges. The resulting panic ran concurrent with another very intense tightening sensation, followed by what felt like a toilet flushing inside me and then a few minutes later, warm liquid spilled out between my legs.

All at once, the realization hit. The pains I'd been feeling all day were contractions and the liquid was my water breaking.

I was in labor. I had been kidnapped, was about to be blown up and I was in fucking labor.

I wasn't even due for another few weeks so this shouldn't be happening yet. I mean, I knew from the books Spencer and I read that babies rarely came on their actual due dates, but I was still incredibly frightened.

I wept quietly. Three or four more excruciating contractions ripped through me much more quickly before I was distracted by the doors being busted open.

I almost didn't even notice Tara knocking out the unsub or the others disarming the bombs because all I could focus on was the beautiful face of my sweet Spencer as he rushed over to me.

He hijacked Luke's pocket knife from his belt, swiftly slicing through the ropes before wrapping his arms around me.

"Spence," I sobbed hysterically into his shoulder.

"I'm here, love. It's okay," he murmured into my hair, kissing the side of my head.

"How are you here?" I asked, almost unable to conceive that he was really in front of me.

"I'll explain later. Right now we have to get you out of here," He answered, reaching to help me up.

"Wait, is Mom-" I started to say, but he was way ahead of me.

"Mom is fine, Emily and Luke got her back." he responded, relief in his voice.

"Oh, thank God. I-oh!" I grimaced, grabbing my belly.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked, his face instantly distressed.

"The baby is coming," I managed to say through gritted teeth. "Like, right now."

"What?!"He nearly shouted. He located and motioned to the paramedics that had followed him in. "She's in labor. We need to get her to the hospital immediately!"

The EMTs rushed over to us.

"Ma'am how far apart are your contractions?" one of the paramedics asked as he opened his bag, applied a blood pressure cuff to my arm and took my vitals. Another EMT started setting up a stretcher for me.

I gripped my husband's bicep for dear life as I felt another contraction after a little bit. He winced in pain but he supported me through it.

"I don't know, but close enough to know we ain't making it to the hospital," I groaned, leaning against him once it passed.

"Damn it, you're right. That last one was 2 minutes and 48 seconds from the one you had when I got here. How are you in active labor so quickly? The books said the first child usually takes the longest and it could be hours if not days before the baby is born," Spencer rambled anxiously.

"Um, pretty sure I've been having contractions since they took us," I told him,"How long has it been since then?"

He gaped at me,"It's about 1:30am. It's been approximately 17 hours. God, I'm so sorry, Y/N. This is not how this was supposed to happen. It's 3 weeks early and you're under too much stress-"

"It's okay, Spence. We're okay," I reassured him, grabbing my belly as another pain shot through me. "Oohh nope we're not!"

Spencer looked so freaked out which was sort of scaring me.

The EMT seemed to notice and stopped what he was doing,"Hey, it's going to be okay, guys. Her vitals and everything look good and babies are delivered a few weeks premature all the time and are in perfect health. We'll take good care of you all, I promise."

It seemed to work. Spencer relaxed a little bit and switched into doctor mode, holding my hands.

"You're alright, just remember the birthing classes. Breathe with me like this, okay?" He instructed in a gentle voice, demonstrating what the lamaze teacher taught us. I did what he said as best as I could.

The team, who was still standing there awkwardly, left when Spencer and the paramedic started to remove my short bottoms and slid a large pad thing underneath me. JJ said they would meet us at the hospital since they needed to check on Diana anyway. At some point in the process Spencer slipped behind me, sitting with his legs on either side of me and his arms under mine, probably without thinking about it. We sat like this a lot in the classes and also at home because he'd read that sitting like this while carefully lifting my belly provided some much needed relief from it weighing down on me.

"Looks like you're fully dialated. It's time for you to push," the paramedic said, after he checked me. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"I need," I grunted, shifting back against Spencer, who as quick to assist,"I need to be up..."

"What?" the medic asked, confused.

"Statistically, it's much more beneficial and effective to give birth in an upright position such as squatting or kneeling on all fours," Spencer prattled off facts as he lifted me so I was sitting up against his chest. He kept his arms underneath mine and entwined our fingers so I could squeeze his hands whenever I needed to."In fact, up until the 1700's, women were even known to give birth standing up. It allows the pelvic bones to open up for the child to pass through more easily and gravity helps the process move faster."

The medic gave him the look everyone gives him when he spouts facts and I supressed a giggle.

"Are you a doctor?" he asked my husband, incredulously.

"I have 3 phD's so technically yes-oh owww,"Spencer's sentence was interrupted by me squeezing the life out of his hands as another one hit.

The medic gave him a 'wow' look and then focused on me again,"Okay, anyway I'm gonna have you push through this contraction. Are you ready?"

I nodded and inhaled deeply, pushing on his cue. He counted down and told me to stop. I exhaled harshly and rested for a second before I was told to do it again. We repeated this a few times, Spencer lovingly encouraging me through it. The medic also reassured me that I was doing great, even though I was exhausted and didn't feel like I was doing well.

Sooner than expected, a tiny wail filled the room, changing everything and stirring an indescribable feeling inside me.

"It's a girl!" The paramedic announced, cleaning her, wrapping her in the blue towel things they use and placing her in my arms.

"Oh my gosh" I gasped as I stroked her small head, in hysterical tears at this point. "Hello my little love...oh Spence, look at her..."

Spencer, gaping at her in awe, managed to speak, "H-hi princess, I'm your dad...wow you're so beautiful...you look just like your mommy."

He wasn't wrong. She had his round, hazel eyes, but most of her facial features and her hair color were the same as mine. I smiled warmly down at her through my tears.

I was going to throw back a smart remark but it was forgotten as more tightening and the need to push again overtook me. "Something else is coming out what the-?"

"It's probably the placenta needing to be delivered," Spencer said, without taking his eyes off of our daughter.

"I don't think so," The medic said, reaching his hands out as I instinctively pushed some more.

Just when I thought I could not exert myself anymore, whatever it was came out and the medic grinned, holding it up. "Does that look like a placenta to you, Doctor?"

Our eyes just about popped out of our heads at the sight of the tiny wriggling form.

Another baby??!!

"I-No but- that's impossible," Spencer stuttered, in shock. I mirrored his expression completely.

"You didn't know?" The medic looked confused as he grabbed another towel thing.

"No, the ultrasounds only showed one baby," I said, in disbelief.

"This is a surprise then!" the medic chuckled. "Well congratulations Mom and Dad, it's a boy!"

He placed the baby in my other arm and reminded Spencer, who was still completely astounded, to cut the umbilical cords.

"We have twins?" Spencer whispered increduously, staring at the two small bundles wiggling against my chest.

"We have twins," I repeated, gazing back and forth between my babies and my husband, dumbfounded, "I can't believe it."

The second baby looked exactly like his father. The same brown curls, the same nose, lips, eyes, everything. He was perfect. Both our children were. I'd never felt so much love and joy in my life and I could tell Spencer hadn't either.

"Hi, sweet boy, we were not expecting you, but we are so happy that you're here," I cooed at my son.

"Yes we are. We love you so much, little buddy," Spencer agreed, resting his head on my shoulder as he brushed the boy's cheek lightly with his thumb.

I turned my head to face him and he pressed his lips to mine, murmuring. "I love you and I'm so proud of you."

"I love you too," I murmured back, feeling the warm wetness on my cheeks return as I pressed my forehead to his.

"Congratulations, again. They're adorable," The medic said, warmly as he cleaned everything up.

"Thank you," We answered simultaneously, smiling widely.

When the EMT was done, Spencer moved out from behind me and took the babies so the medics could lift me onto the stretcher. They put a warm blanket over me and then Spencer handed me one of the babies, still wanting to hold one.

Once we got to the hospital, Spencer went with the nurses who took the babies to get checked out. I was taken by other nurses who set me up in a room and made sure I was okay. While he was gone I asked one of my nurses to bring Diana and our friends up to my room.

Diana was a little confused for a minute when she saw me, but luckily her son walked in with a rolling bassinet at just the right moment, parking it next to my bed.

"Spencer's here," I told her softly.

She looked up at him and after a second she rushed into his arms and he embraced her happily, crying.

"Hi, Mom," he murmured.

She pulled back and took his face into her hands. "Don't you ever leave me again."

"I won't," He told her, pulling her back in for a hug. "I love you."

She said it back and after a bit, he was the one to pull back.

"Mom, I have a surprise for you. For all of you, actually," He said, looking at our friends. He smiled as he handed me one baby and then picked up the other and turned to face the group.

Everyone gasped or looked at us wide eyed.

There was a chorus of attempted quiet reactions from the team while Diana moed closer to us, some recognition beginning to spark in her eyes. I could see Garcia using every ounce of her strength not to freak out and accidentally scare her.

"Am I a grandma?" She asked, tentativel.

"Yeah, you are," Spencer answered, warmly.

Diana looked back and forth between us, confused. "But I thought there was only one?"

Spencer chuckled, gesturing to the blue bundle in his arms. "Yeah, we thought so too, until this little guy showed up unannounced."

"He's shocking people just like his father already," She grinned, earning a light laugh from all of us. "Well, do they have names yet?"

"Well, we have a girl name since we knew we were having a daughter, but we are still trying to figure out a boy name since he was a surprise," I answered.

"What's the girl's name?" she asked, sitting on the bed next to me. Spencer sat on my other side.

"Say hello to Amelia Diana Reid," We told her happily as I shifted the pink blanket away from our daughter's face so she could see better.

She gasped again and looked back and forth between Spencer and I in shock once more before smiling and gently hugging us. Awwww's filled the room at the scene.

"The middle name obviously needs no explanation, but the meaning behind the first name is something we want to share. Neither of us had good fathers and I don't have a good mother. So Amelia is the closest thing we could think of as a kind of combination of Aaron and Emily, our work mom and dad,"I explained, smiling adoringly at Emily.

She came over and embraced us carefully. "Thank you. I wish Hotch were here. I think you two are the only ones beside Jack that can get him to smile, and this would definitely turn that stoic frown upside down."

We giggled and so did several of our team members.

I helped Diana hold Amelia for a little bit, and then our son in turn until she started to be less lucid and wanted to rest. Emily had arranged for her to sleep and be cared for in a room close by ours so she could be near us. JJ took her to that room with a nurse and the others left our room for a little while so I could feed the twins. We were burping and changing them when everyone came back.

As soon as she was able to, Penelope pretty much exploded, accidentally interrupting Spencer as he was trying to tell me something. "Oh my gosh TWINS? Two baby geniuses for the price of one! This is the best news ever and I am going to buy tons of stuff for baby boy since you're gonna need double the baby supplies and you only have girl stuff right now and I am going to love them and hug them and be there for them and teach them lots of cool things and-"

"Garcia, breathe," Rossi said, patting her on the back as we all giggled. He turned to us, "Congratulations, both of you."

"Oh they're so precious, guys!"JJ cooed, coming over for a closer look. She was very careful as she hugged us,"You know, anything you need, I'm here for you. Okay?"

"Yeah same, we got you," Luke agreed.

"Well done, Dr. and Mrs, Reid," Tara said in admiration.

"Thanks everyone," we responded happily.

"You did good, mama. The babies are beautiful," Morgan said, leaning down and kissing me on the head as he touched Amelia's hand with his pinky finger. He smiled over at Spencer, "You too, kid. Gideon would be proud of you, you know."

The look on Spencer's face brought me to tears. I'd only been on the team a short time before Gideon left, but I did get to briefly experience the kind, caring, brilliant man he was, who loved Spencer like his own son and knew him better than he knew himself. He even knew the second Spencer and I met that we were falling for each other because he would pair us up a lot and whenever we were together or he caught us looking at one another, he got a look on his face like he was seeing something we were not. He later told Spencer this in his letter and told him to hold on to me and to not let the job get in the way of us. He said to find solace in each other and remind each other of the good things in the world when we were bogged down by all the bad things we saw at work.

This was what finally gave Spencer the courage to ask me out and thank God for that because I was going out of my mind over him by that point and I was so close to just giving up entirely.

Suffice it to say, that man meant the whole world to Spencer and by extention, to me as well. His loss had been beyond devastating for us and I had since been looking for a way to honor his memory....

I looked at my husband, "Hey love, what were you saying before Garcia's outburst?"

"Hmm?" He mumbled, having been pulled out of whatever thought process he was in, "Oh, I was saying I have an idea for our son's name..."

"Oh? What is it?" I asked, curiously.

"I noticed that the medic who delivered the twins had a nametag that said Elliot and I really liked it because it makes me think of the author T.S. Eliot, but also because it reminds me of my friend Elle who used to work with us and who I miss very much. So I was thinking we could name him Elliot, if you're okay with it, of course," He whispered, rambling a bit excitedly.

I knew who Elle was. He and some of the others had talked about her a lot and she seemed like a good person who had just been through a lot. She was like an older sister to Spencer and the name was really cute and meaningful so I was sold.

"I love it...and I have a suggestion for his middle name," I told him, eagerly.

"What?" he asked.

"Gideon," I whispered back, tentatively.

He stared at me for a second with his huge puppy eyes, looking like he was about to cry. He nodded fervently, his eyes moving to his tiny carbon copy sleeping in his arms. He'd barely taken his eyes off the twins since they'd been born and watching him become so  enamored by them made me fall even more in love with him.

"Hey guys, we came up with a name for our son," He said out loud, grabbing everyone's attention as he lifted one of the baby's hands, waving it. "I'd like you all to meet Elliot Gideon Reid."

Tara and Luke only partially connected the dots, since they only knew stories of Gideon and Morgan had just mentioned him.

The rest of the team, however, got both names immediately and there was not a dry eye amongst them. More hugs happened and then everyone took their turns holding the twins and talking with us for awhile until they saw us having trouble staying awake. They handed the babies back and quietly made their way out, one by one.

We put the twins in their bassinet and Spencer curled up next to me while we stared at them.

"Welcome to the world, Amelia and Elliot," we whispered. "We love you."

***********************************

EPILOGUE(Spencer POV):

I was reinstated to the FBI, after some substantial time off to be with my wife and new babies, with mandatory sabbaticals every so often. I did my best to balance work and home, actually electing to stay behind with Garcia sometimes so I could be close to home. A few years later, we had another set of twins, this time both showing up on the sonograms. They were a boy and girl again, and we named them Lilliana Jennifer Reid and Theodore Morgan Reid(Lilly and Theo for short).

Then, another year and a half later, we got pregnant with our last child, a complete surprise since we were told we could not have any more. We named her Davina Penelope Reid, Davina being the closest female name to David(for Rossi).

After that, we were done and our family was complete. Of course, the team adored them and spoiled them rotten. We also realized not long after Amelia and Elliot were born that my mom would be much better cared for in a facility, which was very difficult for me to come to terms with. Fortunately, we found an amazing facility nearby. She's actually thriving there and she loves her grandbabies so much. We bring them to visit her or bring her home sometimes. She often reads to them or teaches them about literature and history the way she taught me.

Life is good. And I am thankful for every day with my gorgeous wife, my five wonderful children, my awesome friends and of course, my mother.

***********************************************

[halliescomut]

Love Sea Ep 2 Thoughts

Okay. I've had some time to consider the episode, organize my thoughts (potentially) but I think this still might be a bit of a ramble....sorry.

So we do start off right where we left off where they're coming back on the boat, and they're talking on the beach. I mentioned in my watch along a lot of these thoughts, so I'm kind of just expanding on them, so it might be helpful to read that first. But I've taken an interest in a lot of the body language happening in the show, and looking at the scene it gives me this feeling of Mut sort of invading Rak's space, but just enough.

Like their legs are entwined, but there's decent distance from their upper bodies, which given Rak's hesitation to get too close, or be too charmed by Mut really works for me. Given the scene prior, and Rak's sort of level of upset, it feels pretty clear that Mut is working to kind of distract Rak. And Rak basically jumps on that opportunity. It actually kind of reminds me of Sky in that way, like we don't have a confirmation of Sky's general MO in regard to sex, but the ONS read a little bit to me as an intentional decision to distract himself. I get that same feeling here, Rak doesn't want to think about why he reacted as he did, or consider how vulnerable he made himself, and so he kind of thinks by jumping into a sexual experience that will distract both him and Mut.

I have (as is kind of always the case with Mame) reservations on the kind of D/s undertones she uses. I got to be honest, part of the issue is the weird commitment to putting Peat's character in the more submissive position (she did it with Sky too) I honestly don't find that it suits him or his characters well, and is based solely on his body type versus his personality. Setting that aside for now, I will say that I appreciate direct expression of oral sex. In LITA specifically (I know I'm calling back to that a lot, but it's hard not to use it as a comparison, specifically for the NC scenes) we saw two separate allusions to oral sex, or honestly we were robbed of two NC scenes involving oral. The ONS, where Pai doesn't let Sky give him a BJ, and then the bathroom scene that ended up getting cut where we see Prapai giving. I made this observation (among friends, not publically...I don't think) that I think the intentional exclusion of that specific sex act in Thai BL leads me to believe there's a particular reason why it's not included. In terms of MM sex we see your standard penetrative sex pretty regularly, and then small sprinkles of handjobs in general, but oral is almost never even alluded to, much less shown. Now I'm honestly not super caught up on a lot of Thai BL, but I would say I've seen more direct expressions of oral in the last year, than I had seen in two years prior since I got into Thai BL. So overall I think it's a step in the right direction in encouraging a more well-rounded and accurate depiction of the gay experience.

In terms of the actual physical acting of the scene...I'm gonna say C+. It's less about their facial expressions and more about positioning and timing...in a way. I will salute the decision for oral sex if you're doing it on a beach, because that is going to be your least chafe-y option.

Following this we get a return of the humor with Rak saying they need to go back to the hotel room immediately...Clearly leading Mut to believe that the sexy times will continue, but they do not. Rak starts writing, we don't get insight into the specific scene, but I do wonder if the written scenes mirror the IRL experiences or not. Like how similar are they? During that time we see Mut basically pouting and then googling Rak. This gives us our first suggestion in the show I think that Rak is basically a self-insert for Mame. And we see the covers for The Boy Next World as well as Love Director, two novels that 'Rak' has written and are being made into series. He follows that up by checking what looks to be basically Rak's Instagram, containing many pictures of Rak looking incredibly attractive and then basically excuses himself to take a shower.

Rak finishes his scene, and I'm not really sure if he's kind of run out of mojo, or if he's just done with that scene in general, but he goes looking for Mut and he sure does find him. Now I did miss the arm movement initially and thought we were just appreciating the rear view so to speak, but then you realize that Mut is in fact jacking off.

Overall, it seems a case of "Well, we've already crossed the line" and we have the most minimal discussion of terms. I'm not a person who cares at all about the sexual decisions that adults make, but as someone who is close friends with people who have and continue to work in the sex industry, it is of course not a necessarily safe way to go about those types of negotiations. This is not a dealbreaker for me by any means in regards to watching the show, I genuinely don't expect anything overly realistic, it's just an observation.

Moving on to the main event as it were, the sort of antagonistic flirting is on point, which with Fort and Peat is not surprising. They mentioned that Mame gave them an opportunity to do what felt natural for their characters and I do feel that in the conversation and acting in the shower. Once we move back to the bedroom things move very quickly, and while I think the scene is very good, it doesn't feel passionate in the same way the earlier scene does, or previous NC scenes we've seen from FortPeat as PrapaiSky (except for one in particular and I'll get back to that). I'm not personally sure if this was an acting choice, if it was just how the scene ended up, if it was directing, I truly don't know. I think though it really fits the situation in a particular way. The almost emotionless sex feels appropriate because they don't truly have feelings for each other yet, not really. Flirting and attraction aside, there's not a true emotional connection, especially on Rak's part. And I'm sorry, but it reminds me of the ONS in LITA. It's the only sex scene we see of Prapai and Sky where there are positions where they aren't facing each other, which creates an emotional distance. It's why we see missionary position so often in BLs even when that may not be the go-to position for MM sex. Having characters face each other creates an emotional connection.

The choice makes sense if you consider that both Rak and Sky are going into this sexual encounter with the intention of maintaining emotional distance. And even Mut and Prapai at this point, while intrigued by this very attractive person, aren't coming into it from an overly emotional place. So, overall I do think in this scene it's a vibe that really works for me, and I'm interested to see how these scenes change as the characters open up more to each other.

Once Rak is done, he's very definitively done and sends Mut away, but does admit to himself that this Mut is one of the best he's ever had.

We then cut to the next day and get more of what I personally call Mut's village rounds, just him going around and talking to different people from the community, and we see more interactions with Palm, the bartender from episode one. They're interactions are really cute, I actually really enjoy him. He has good doofus energy. Anyway, after that Mut heads to the hotel because Palm told him that all the single staff there were trying to 1- figure out Rak's sexuality and 2- potentially woo him because he's rich. So Mut is there sitting with a group of ladies, to Rak's eyes he's flirting, but we don't hear much if any of the conversation, so it's unclear if there's actual flirting or if it's just Mut's general charisma. I also don't think we've gotten any specific clarity on Mut or Rak's sexuality in terms of whether they are gay, bi, or pan. I personally suspect that Rak does not feel attracted to women, but that's my own read on it. Mut is harder to nail down, but we haven't seen nearly as much of him in a flirting-approriate situation. But back to the point. Rak sees Mut with the women, he hears hotel staff talking about how he's a catch or something (I skimmed over that on the second watch, sorry) and he's jealous.

We see a peek at Rak's impulsiveness here (like the beach and the shower, and even the robe scene of last episode) and he sends Mut 65,000 Baht which is $1,771 in USD, so not small change, and basically comes up and stakes his claim on him. We get more of Peat's English here, and I'm guessing we might get more of it when he returns to Bangkok, or maybe just more if we see more conversations with Connor. I have feelings about the whole "I paid for you, I don't share", as discussed above, but I do think it gives insight to Rak, and the kind of slippery slope he's found himself on here.

Mut leaves with him after agreeing to feed him and we do get an adorable montage of them on the motorbike. While the tone of the episode shifts throughout, I don't feel like it's quite as abrupt as the previous episode, and I think the motorbike scene really sets up the future of Rak kind of finding some peace not only in Mut, but also in this rural community. Once they arrive at the area where the restaurant is we get the joke that the motorbike ride set up, which is that it may not be the best mode of transportation if you spent the previous night engaging in pretty vigorous anal activity. Fair enough, and the teasing there from Mut using his Southern dialect is downright adorable, but what's most interesting is we get confirmation that both Mut and Rak are out in their communities.

While this is not necessarily surprising with Mame, outside of her university set stories most of her characters are reconciled of their sexuality from the start. They may not necessarily be publicly out, but they're aware of and enerally accepting of their sexuality and even confident in it. I actually think Mame's spectrum of where people are at in their coming out journey is one of the better aspects of her shows, as it gives people at all different parts of that journey characters they can relate to.

We re-encounter Palm here, he's kind of similar to Mut, or at least Mut a few years ago, a less than flush native of the island who works whatever odd jobs he can find. Rak finds him a bit annoying which is fair, but I did enjoy the small bit of teasing between Palm and Mut. I think they have a pretty cute bro relationship. Once they go to sit down Rak (and we the viewer) get to meet another community member who heaps quite a bit of praise on Mut for his work and contribution to their community. Mut's shy reaction is very sweet and the scene overall offers a glimpse to Rak of the person Mut truly is, beyond the shameless flirt.

We also get backstory for Mut, learning that he had a falling out with his father at 15, leading to him leaving that home. It's not clear if his sexuality may have been a factor, but homophobic parents have been present in Mame's work before and are something that very sadly continues to be consistent in many queer kids lives IRL, so I don't think it's farfetched. This particular scene is one of the most well-acted I think we've gotten from Fort in it's minimalism. I think Fort feels comfortable with the flirty-charmer character type, and the way he holds himself, how he schools his face, his tone, as he talks about the fallout with his father is so well done. His eyes too, Fort does a lot of really excellent acting with his eyes. What particularly felt accurate to me was the sort of emotionlessness that we see. Experiences like he had, particularly with a parent are really hard to reconcile. As humans we want to have a loving relationship with our parents, more specifically we want to be certain they love us. When it becomes clear they don't, it's a very difficult thing to accept, in particular because it's necessary to simultaneously recognize that you are not at fault in the situation. That's kind of why most people require actual therapy to work through experiences like this. But when that's not an option, the way you deal with it is usually dissociation. You can't dwell on it, let it get to close, because then it will cause a problem, so you keep it at arm's length. That's what we see here with Mut, and what Fort portrays so well. We also get one of the most heartbreaking lines in Mut saying "My dad never takes back what he says. I suppose that's the only thing we have in common." Mut is proud of being a person who keeps their word, we see him mention it before, and we now see that it's a trait with a direct connection to his father. Seemingly the only potentially positive connection he can create there.

For Rak's part, we see those little cracks forming in those walls, he recognizes Mut's vulnerability, he's practically appalled at the idea of Mut's father kicking him out, which based on what we can presume is a very close relationship with his mother, sister, and niece, is understandable. He doesn't understand that betrayal from family really. But he's starting to see Mut as a more well rounded human being, versus the way he'd initially saw him which is solely a potential sex partner/distraction. We then start to get our first bit of insight into Rak when Mut asks him why he became a writer. In the voiceover we hear that he started writing to escape, but his spoken response is that it started as him just wanting to share stories he loved with people. Given that his chosen genre is romance, he wanted to escape to these happily ever after love stories, and share them with people who also want that, because to him happily ever after is only a fantasy, it's not attainable in the real world. Peat's body language is wonderful here, the crossed arms, and looking off kind of the side instead of meeting Mut's gaze directly show that he's being deliberate in how much he's sharing, but in the end I think he still reveals more than he intended with his answers. Mut questions if he's happy, and Rak says that if he weren't he wouldn't be Tongrak, the writer, to which Mut replies "That's all there is to life. And you've been doing a good job". Now I kind of feel like there's nuance missing in the translation, but I'm not the person to address that. But the sentiment seems to be 'happiness is what's important, and by valuing that you're doing a good job' and Rak is very touched by that. He says he doesn't recieve compliments very often, and while I don't know if that's fully accurate given his success and handsomeness, there's a great deal of difference in someone complimenting your work or your looks and someone recognizing that that you're doing a good job as a person, especially a person with a traumatic past. Being a survivor of any kind of trauma creates a lot of pitfalls that are difficult to overcome and create even a semblance of a normal life, and so having that effort recognized, even if not directly is really affirming. We see Rak very intentionally return this compliment to Mut, which communicates a level of recognition.

This conversation also kind of confirms for me that Rak is a bit of a self-insert character for Mame, especially considering that he brings up criticism that his stories get. I've never directly seen or encountered it, but I have heard rumors of Mame getting upset and even responding to negative critiques of her work. Her use of more problematic tropes is a valid criticism, and while I can see some progress from one series to the next, I do also feel like she falls back on what's "easy" instead of really trying to push her stories into more positive directions. While her sexuality is her business, she is a woman writing about gay male relationships, and honestly sometimes it's unrealistic to the point of being distracting. As I've said before, I don't truly expect realism from Mame, but her stories are meant to be in the genre of realistic fiction, they're not fantasy or sci-fi (leaving TBNW out of it for now). It's also very important to recognize that many gay men who watch BL do find some of the tropes she often uses to be damaging, both because they portray gay men in not the best light, but also because they set up potentially problematic expectations in young queer or questioning men who might partake in her stories.

We then cut to night again, joining Mut at home and he's trying to weasel information out of Kom, who does ask Connor, but Connor refuses to give any, only telling him to ask Rak himself, which I appreciate. We can suspect that Connor is kinda trying to matchmake here, but I appreciate him being a good friend to Rak and not revealing his secrets. In the end he calls Rak and invites him diving and we get to the last portion of this episode. Let us pray I can fit my thoughts in a single post.

Now aside from how honestly weird it is that Rak showed up for diving in a small fortunes worth of luxury jewlery (why?), when he sees Palm there as well he gets a little upset, seemingly because he thought there was potential for another hookup. Which I guess is fine, but why would you think diving is the code word for that, when it's literally part of how Mut makes is living? But moving on, they get out into the water, Mut get's Rak all set in his gear and as he's going to get Palm to help him get his gear on Rak goes ahead and dives (that impulsiveness again!). Setting aside my frustration with Rak's fully dangerous decision here, we do get a really lovely little scene of the underwater flora and fauna. Things take a downturn when Rak has a series of flashbacks. It's not really clear what triggers them here, but we see three scenes back to back. First his parents arguing, when he's quite young...8-9 (?), then him comforting his sister, both of them late teens it looks like (they look to be in school uniforms, but could potentially be college), after her boyfriend leaves her after finding out she's pregnant, and then with his mother again, the final sentence is a bit garbled, and not translated in the captions, but logically I think it's something along the lines of "Don't trust in love, if you don't want to end up like me."

As a child, watching two women he cares for deeply suffering because men that they trusted to love and care for them simply didn't would certainly put a bad taste in anyone's mouth about love. So we've kind of identified the catalyst for why Rak doesn't believe in love, even having witnessed it with Kom and Connor. Though I understand in the book there's perhaps some insight into negative feelings related to that relationship, and Kom "taking Connor away". I haven't read either Love Sea or Love Sand, so this is based off of conversations with people who have, so I could be wrong, but I don't think it's a stretch to think of Rak grappling with negative thoughts related to Kom and Connor, even if he's recognizing that those thoughts are a bit ridiculous. It's normal to mourn the loss of what was easy and comfortable when friends find romantic partners and you have to figure out what the new normal is, you just have to make sure you keep resentment and negative feelings under control and don't let them fester.

I will point out though, is that one cinematic choice that's made here is having the sort of washed out blue tones of the flashbacks match the underwater coloring. It keeps the scenes from being too jolting as they cut back and forth, an dI think it was an excellent idea.

Due to the flashback Rak kind of panics, looses his regulator and Mut basically finds him just in time. Giving him some mouth to mouth oxygen before getting him reset so they can go back to the surface.

This type of scene would have been very difficult to film, even if it wa managed in a single take, which is kind of unlikely, and so massive props to Fort and Peat for doing some amazing work here.

Returning to the boat we see Mut become very serious about how dangerous Rak's actions were, but that seriousness is balanced with a lot of empathy as well. I can't fully express my thoughts on the metaphor I feel like is intended in the "they need buddies" conversation, but there's something happening there. Mut does try to talk about why Rak panicked, but Rak shuts him down and we get a convo about the wordplay that is their names instead. Mut here is trying to lighten the situation a bit, and I think Rak kind of recognizes that, but is too stuck in his darker memories to really let it happen and he says something I don't know that he means to. That "Love is a figment of our imaginations". And he believes that, and you can see that Mut know he believes it, and his reaction is the most "Oh sweetie" look I've ever seen. (Seriously, Fort's expressions are always so fantastic). The moment is broken when Rak pulls a Kim Theerapanyakul and says "I'm hungry" and walks away.

We do get s teensy post credits scene which returns us to the restaurant where Rak sadly finds out that at many fresh seafood restaurants those tanks aren't just for ambiance (Bless you red fish for nourishing us) and we get some more good natured flirting from Mut "Will you eat me if I'm tasty"...boy if you don't.

Now we saw this same kind of thing last ep, where we ended on a pretty serious tone, go the end title screen and then a more humorous scene after. I think it's kind of intended to leave us as an audience on a more positive note instead of just wandering through the rest of our day traumatized and sobbing.

As we see the actual credits roll we get confirmation of my suspicion that the scene might change and progress as the episodes go on and indeed this episode we see Mut join Rak at the beach at a companionable distance. A bit curious to see if we might also have a change up when they go to the city.

Overall this was an excellent episode, clearly much to unpack (as you can see by this 4000 word post. It's well paced, the acting is very good, we're kept engaged as an audience. I didn't talk much about P'Vie and Mook, but I'll make a much shorter separate post for that.

[lemonhemlock]

so, after having a little break and seeing the last two episodes in pretty quick succession of each other, i will have to say that overall i thought they were fair to middling, sometimes decent, sometimes with abysmal plot choices, alternating with nuggets of greatness (welcome back, alyssa targaryen).

i don't think they are going to solve my fundamental problem with this adaptation, in that, with my specific narrative preferences, i just find myself uninspired when presented with a heroic framing vs a villain-adjacent one. this dynamic remains too simplistic for me to be super enjoying the writing. i just find myself weighing out these interactions and coming off dissatisfied.

i'm turning into a broken record, but it's disappointing to see how they just always seem to lean towards showing the greens as supremely disconnected, cynical and cold to each other, disassociated from any kind of positive emotion or bond, except for a couple of very brief, very rare moments (eg. aegon/jaehaerys). i am a little surprised at the reviews suggesting that the blacks stagnate in their boring ways, because, to me, the writing for tb has improved massively since last season. if the children were borderline NPCs in season 1, i thought they did a pretty decent job in fleshing them out this time, making effective use of limited screen time.

jace, baela and rhaena get to be frustrated with their family, confused, struggling, but also get scenes of genuine connection, they seem to like each other, they look like an actual team. people who could fight for each other and who have kinship even if they don't have perfect relationships.

that being said, i was appalled at how they completely reversed the corlys-baela dynamic (that man did everything in his power to prevent baela from inheriting) and had baela say with her own mouth that she wasn't suited to be the heir to driftmark. i maintain that baela & rhaena should have developed resentment for being cheated by rhaenyra (and corlys!) out of their inheritance and will probably die on this hill. they tried doing this a little with rhaenys by highlighting this point of conflict with her husband, but to have baela outright refuse driftmark is nuts. a targaryen dragonrider can't hold a keep of her own? on what grounds? is dragonstone not also an island surrounded by salt water and boats and sailors? rhaena has this storyline of feeling useless and sidelined by her family because she doesn't have a dragon, yet being overlooked for driftmark doesn't make her feel any kind of way?

imo that remains a huge weak point in how they're writing the girls, but at the very least i can appreciate that they are trying to forge a sense of connection between these people, because they still have to explain how they didn't betray each other and go on their merry way. human relationships can be complicated and sometimes the ones you love the most hurt you and disappoint you the most, so there maybe even is a believable story here.

a story that could very well also be applied to the greens, but they are just almost invariably made to act so frigid with one another. it would be something else if it were just one or two characters, but all of them? all the time? while the other side get to be friendly and affectionate? even rhaenyra and mysaria get scenes of sincere camaraderie. whereas whatever the greens get, it's always in this somber negative light. the non-canon additions overwhelmingly carry this nefarious vibe: aemond tries to kill aegon (not canon), aegon is too dumb to speak high valyrian (not canon), killing the ratcatchers is suddenly so upsetting it can damage the war effort (not canon),* the smallfolk are eager to rebel in king's landing (not canon), alicent actively opposes and is distressed at aemond becoming regent (not canon), the smallfolk think slaying meleys (who killed a lot of innocent people during her escape) is an ill-omen (what the hell?), even the not-canon alicole can't just be sexy, it has to be frostily tinged somehow with the guilt of child murder. compare that with the non-canon addition of rhaenyra and jace working together to organize the dragonseeds or the messianic speech she gives him about how he has to pass on aegon's prophecy.

*they even have AEMOND, who, by then, has committed kinslaying twice and has one attempted regicide under his belt, comment on how, yes, the ratcatchers should be absolutely taken down because it is bad form.🤦‍♀️

it would be something else entirely if the greens were in a stand-alone story and this was the characterisation given to them. we would be having a completely different conversation about dysfunctional family relationships. but they are presented IN COMPARISON to another side and thus you cannot analyse them in a vacuum and it is impossible to escape this comparative approach or pretend that it doesn't directly invite the viewer to a pre-determined conclusion.

(even cersei & tyrion or tyrion & tywin had moments when they were just chilling and not at each other's throats)

likewise, they make every decision taken by the greens range from bad to catastrophic. name one thing that otto, alicent, criston, aemond or aegon get to do that the writers chose to paint in a positive light. one success. it's alicent wanting peace because she feels sorry for rhaenyra. meanwhile, tb has ONE character that acts out and on whom everything unsavory can be pinned: daemon. everything unappealing about rhaenyra's war effort can be traced back to daemon. everyone else in her camp is just so earnestly engaged in harm-reduction.

i'm not even getting into how AEGON of all people is the least developed dragonrider in the show, he who was supposed to have the best and purest bond with his dragon🤦‍♀️meanwhile we've seen how many shots of caraxes and syrax by now? even MOONDANCER. i'm sorry, guys, but baela rode her ass just THEE ONE TIME. for fuck's sake. even rhaena is going to have more flying time than aegon by the end of this show.

the way i can explain my dissatisfaction better is like. imagine succession (yes, it always comes back to this, doesn't it). only that, alongside the dysfunctional roys and their hot mess of a family and questionable (atrocious) morals, you would simultaneously be presented with, say, the old-money pierces. only THEY get to be a quirky bunch of honest-to-god people just tryna do their gosh darn best in this wacky late stage capitalism. unironically. maybe they have a couple of flaws, maybe they even fight sometimes and say things they regret, maybe they have an old crazy un-woke uncle that they try to keep under wraps (hey! nobody's perfect!). but with little to no commentary on their misdeeds and heroic framing compared to the roys. also completely ignoring that they, too, have a corruptible media empire of their own. it would be much worse as a show, no?

[sophieabigail2021]

I am in a good mood so let's salt on this interview because why not

"Sébastien explains that they always plan the scenarios well in advance. For example, what happens in season 6 was already planned when season 3 was written. They've already written two pages of ideas for the Season 7 finale."

Considering these are the same people that admitted that the whole "Adrien doesn't confront his dad or know anything about his villain persona" was planned since the beginning of the goddamn show..........yeah expect the worst from them

"Thomas says they have ideas to go to a season 12 but it will all depend on the success of the series."

And then decades later when season 68 is in the work they will be like "Oh well we really need 40 more seasons to expand our ideas because they're just so many"

"Miraculous will never evolve into an adult series, it will remain a children's series. But they will always try to satisfy the fans who have been following the series for years."

Oh yes the same fans that Thomas complained for years about how they don't get his "amazing" and "masterpiece" of a show and kids understand it better (Sure Jan) to the point of having an episode about that, which wow really meta of you Asstruck /s

"Sébastian teased us that there will be a song in season 6"

If Cristina Vee isn't the one singing it y'all will hear from my lawyers

"Thomas sincerely believes that season 6 is better than season 5, which was off to a bad start because he wondered how they were going to do better than season 5."

"Buckle up because Season 3 is going to be better than Season 2" and then Season 3 turns out to be underwhelming

"Be excited for Season 4 because it will be more amazing than Season 3" and then Season 4 turns out to be a giant waste of time and potentials

"Y'all taught Season 4 was amazing, well prepare yourself for Season 5 because it's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions" and then Season 5 turns out to be the most painfully unwatchable season of a show known to man

Stuff like this doesn't make me hyped for the upcoming season, it's instead making me scared for what bullshit these writers are going to do next

Also it will be really funny and embarrassing for the writers if Season 6 turns to be worst than Season 5

"As season 6 begins a new arc, they consider it a season 1."

So more pointless and boring filler episodes got it 👍

"Sebastien says we'll appreciate season 6 even more when season 7 comes out."

Stop just........STOP!!!!

"Thomas hints that he didn't write the Shadybug and Claw noir universe to exploit it in a single special. But he remains very vague."

Bet you 10$ they will only show up in the Season 6 finally just like Lady dragon and the American heroes

"Thomas explains that there are many details in previous seasons that fans didn't understand, but which will make sense in later seasons."

Making sense has never been this show's strongest suit so why even bother

"There's a reason why Lila is a mythomaniac, and they'll tell it one day in the series. Thomas even says they've already told it in the series, but we haven't figured it out yet."

You mean her being born evil yeah we already knew that

"Thomas says that Chloe will remain an important character in the coming seasons, as she has always been in the series."

BITCH WHERE???!!!, Chloe is the biggest waste of time so what even is the point in bringing her back?????, Thomas we all know you have a deep hatred for this girl but for the love of god stop, you're just beating a dead horse that has already been dead for years just let this shit go

"They will soon be meeting to decide whether Miraculous will be made into a live-action series or not. It will be different from the series. Thomas mentions kwamis in particular, which are complicated to integrate into live action. Thomas has already written the concept. For the series to see the light of day, it will mainly be a question of budget."

OH GOD NO, I will be nice to you Hawkdaddy just please don't make a Miraculous live action series

Also raise your hand if you think Thomas made that decision to rival Zag's Miraculous Awakening movie ✋✋✋

[imperatorcaesaraugustus]

the Ds are Hot. the mind has thoughts. ThoughtD: thoughts on HotD is back again for another week. House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6, here we go

they've added Storms End and Rooks Rest to the opening tapestry, that's nice. i like that

Triarchy mentioned! (for those who did not read F&B, the Triarchy is a union between the free cities of Tyrosh, Lys, and Myr that existed at this time)

man, Aemond sucks. i can't wait for all his plans to fall apart around him

you'd think someone with such mommy issues would be just a little more willing to listen to his mother's opinion

i like the choice of Darklyn as the guy who secretly has Targaryen ancestry. the marriage in question is enough generations back to have been before the conquest, a time when we don't have a very detailed Targaryen family tree, and the Darklyns are close enough to Dragonstone that a marriage back when the Targaryens were just a regional power makes sense

it makes sense that, if they were getting people back for Daemon's visions, they'd get Paddy Constantine

"did you say it" i like that, at least in this one thing, they're leaning into the ambiguity of F&B

oh my god Daemon is loosing his mind

i quite like Alys Rivers as a character

can't believe Seasmoke let this man think he was gonna ride him. what a scamp

and now that the search for dragonriders is stalling, here's Addam and Alyn of Hull!

and now that the search for dragonriders is stalling, here's Ulf the White!

if only Aemond knew what his one and only sex worker was saying about him

YES RHAENYRA SLAP THAT MAN

"it suits you" is it just me or is there, like, a sapphic vibe coming from Mysaria this episode?

damn, Larys really thinks he's smooth. "you need a hand. someone... shrewd" yeah alright my guy

they're still not shy about showing us Aegon's wounds, huh?

Aemond! get away from him! he did nothing wrong did many things wrong but he doesn't deserve this!

love Rhaena talking with little Joff. adorable

that's an enormous burn. how did they not notice that earlier?

it has become very clear now that they are, in fact, giving Nettles' plot line to Rhaena. i am incredibly disappointed by this

Alyn* of Hull is pulling an Egg, shaving his head so his Valyrian hair isn't obvious

Mysaria's plan was... a canoe full of produce? what?

MANY produce canoes??

there is war in the reach. will we see the war in the reach? will we see a certain boy riding his beautiful blue dragon in the war in the reach?

DAERON MENTION

we're learning a lot about Daeron this episode. we would learn even more if we ever got to see him no i will not let this go

and now that the search for dragonriders is stalling, here's Hugh the Hammer!

produce canoe riots

this is the second time this season Helaena has gone into town with her mom and had a horrible time. when will it end?

Mysaria lingering there with the Queen, overlooking the sea. i'm once again sensing sapphic vibes? am i just reading into this?

look Larys I can appreciate you sharing your experience with disability with the permanently injured king but for god's sake man, let him have his painkillers

the path to redemption lies through hallucinations of your dead brother grieving his wife

guys, i don't think Daemon's doing okay

"fine, i'll do it myself" - Seasmoke, on being provided with potential new riders

Mysaria tragic backstory unlocked and, uh, holy fuck

guys am i just imagining these sapphic vibes NO APPARENTLY I WAS NOT IMAGINING. this woman already fucked Daemon and now she's going for Rhaenyra, what a legend

once again, loved this episode, loving this season, see y'all next week

*edited because i cannot for the life of me remember which one is Addam and which one is Alyn (Addam is the dragonrider)

[yoon-topias]

Yoontopia | Chapter 3 {Dresses and touches}

⟡ Warnings: Strong language, depression, mental health issues, references to self harm, references to violence, references to sexual assault, manic episodes, smoking, risky behavior, jealousy, smut.

⟡ 18+ (minors DNI, some chapters have mature content)

⟡ Best friend's older brother x OC

⟡ Summary: When dress shopping turns into more than just shopping in a dress room where Yoongi pushes boundaries.

⟡5.9k words

Violet Pov:

Getting off work today Yoongi is taking me to go shopping for the dress. Shopping is a pain in the ass let alone being curvy. Everyone stares and nothing looks how it's meant to on my body. I pack my bag up, take off my heels, slide on my boots, a suit and boots yeah that totally looks okay, not. Yoongi has seen me at my worst anyways, there is always this comfortability with him. I don't have to act nor do I have to put up a front. Whatever I'm feeling is what I feel and he accepts it. As I'm about to leave, of course the goons have something to say.

"You going out with that guy again, violet you could do better don't you think?"

"I bet he is using you as a safe goat if he ever gets caught"

That's it they pissed me off, walking up to one of them and sticking my finger in his chest "you know what, Mark you're only saying that because you're friends with Jackson. So what if he makes me happy and actually fucking appreciates me huh? Someone who is a better man than Jackson ever was. So how about you fuck off and let me live, Yoongi brings out the best in me and makes me feel things that Jackson could never. I may be a little selfish, because I wanna keep him to myself but just a little longer and I'll set him free so for fucking once Mark leave me the fuck alone."

They are standing there in shock and slowly back off from me. Fixing my black coat and zipping it up since it can get cold with the wind riding, but what Vi didn't see was Min Yoongi standing there around the corner coming to get you. He wanted to help you hold your bag, make sure you didn't forget and worked late. He doesn't know what you think. You practically confessed your love for him to someone else, but why couldn't you do it to him, and set him free. What does that mean?

He turns around and goes around the hall so you don't see he heard it all, yeah play it cool Yoongi you can ask her later enjoy the time with her while you have it because it can all fall apart in seconds for all he knows. Fixing your coat, grabbing your bag and starting to walk down the hall and needing to say bye to the security guard you always make sure to bring him his banana milk. "Bye Kook, have a good shift." He is a closing shift guard so you get him as he wakes up for the day so at lunchtime you bring him banana milk he loves. "Bye violet, thanks for the drink again. How do I ever repay you?"

Turning to look at him and give him a smile "I don't need repayment Kook, everyone needs someone watching out for them" and you turn on your heels, walking out the door the sun is out shining bright you haven't seen sunlight all day been stuck on research for a case. It's going to be a nice day to be on the bike to get some sun and just feel alive. Smiling as you see Yoongi's bike parked, but no Yoongi now where could that man have gone. He can't go far lost in thought, your brows crease. He is around the corner planning to grab you, scare you always been an easy scare. As you pull out your phone to call him he jumps out and wraps his arms around you from behind.

"Vi, you ready to go try on dresses?" He goes to your ear like he's telling you a secret "I'm gonna need a fix though, because I won't be able to handle seeing you all dressed up. I  nearly died when you went to prom" turning your head to look at him your eyes go wide as you see the gummy smile he has on.

"Yoon do you mean that? Why didn't you say anything at prom?" blinking at him and you can see his throat do a gulp.  "Well you know you and Hans banned Ma, Pop, and me from saying anything how y'all looked also didn't wanna come off the wrong way to the others Violet'' he shrugs as he looks away from my face he has a slight tinge of red to his cheeks. Cute.

"Well thank you Yoon, but next time you better tell me because that night I felt so ugly even though I was dressed up, but standing next to Hans I knew I wouldn't compare and who had a date? Hans and I was the third wheel"

"You know Vi, I wanted to ask you as friends of course but being already graduated. Also your best friend's brother. I didn't wanna push boundaries. I wished I maned up and asked you cause to spend that night with would have been a fucking dream."

Humming in response not finding words to respond with after he just said turning to him and giving him a hug "Well looks like we'll have a do over Min Yoongi. Let's go shopping"

Pulling away looking at him in the eyes and I see a spark flash in them "I need my fix Vi." Reaching into my pocket and grabbing a lollipop, unwrapping, putting it in my mouth, and running down the stairs. "Looks like you're gonna have to steal it." Yelling as I go down the stairs.

"Vi I swear if you fall and hurt yourself there's no remorse coming from me, you clumsy ass!" he is starting to try and catch up to me getting to the bottom of the stairs before he does and I stare up at him as I take a seat on his bike and pull my lollipop out crossing my arms.

"What took you so long Yoon? Gotta get the dress shopping done so we can make it to the aquarium remember case is closed I won. " giving him a smirk popping the lollipop back in and he rolls his eyes at me.

Yoongi Pov:

This woman will be the death of me. She is in a suit and on my bike waiting for me and I wish I would just go between her legs, grab her face and finally kiss her. Min Yoongi you are just the best friends brother get your mind out of the gutter. "Oh yeah, Vi looks like we gotta find the perfect one for you, then we gotta tell Lewis you won so you can buy him all his lettuce huh?" She nods her head and smile with that fucking lollipop.

Sweet. Sweet. Pineapple.

Taking my backpack off to get her helmet out, my bag left mine on her seat. She is looking at me tapping her thighs god those thick thighs. Stop. Yoongi. Zipping my backpack, I intentionally put nothing else in it, grabbing her bag, shoving it into my backpack, setting it next to the bike. I walk up to her and tap her chin to look up at me. She blinks at me with that fucking lollipop.

"Vi you can't have a lollipop in your mouth you know that" she shrugs and blinks at me. "Looks like you'll have to steal it Yoon" I take a deep breath and take everything in me to not lose the control I have had for so long. I bend down to her ear and risk what I'm saying. "Looks like I'll just have to take it then from a bad girl, and bad girls don't get what they want huh?" She turns her head slightly, shakes her head no understanding and her lips part and I reach for the lollipop stick and pop it in my mouth.

Sweet. Sweet. Pineapple.

She looks at me like I just did something she never expected. "Violet, you know it's bad to leave your mouth open." Tapping her chin, she just slowly closes her mouth.  I put her helmet on her, buckle it for her making sure it's tight enough, the shield is open. I see her wide gray eyes staring at my every movement. God her eyes pull me in and take me to my utopia with those silk sheets over our bodies. She's not just laying next to me but she is on top of my lap and looking at me in my eyes. We could be talking, joking around, or fucking and those eyes will be my weakness. Two of those I can do on a regular occurrence but the other? No it'll never happen and that Vi will live in my utopia in the home she has built there. Her home, it's not mine anymore.

When I get done I bite down on the lollipop, take the stick out and toss it on the ground looking her in the eyes "I'ma need another one later Vi later, but time to go. It's time for my backpack to be behind me" Nodding her head and I push the face shield down, putting the backpack straps over her arms. She stands up. I swing my leg over, putting my arm out for her to grab onto. She swings her leg over, putting her feet on the pegs, scoots down and attaches herself to me. She wraps her arms around me and intertwines her fingers.

I start my bike and give her thigh a tight squeeze

"You ready, Vi. You're gonna look like a fucking goddess" kicking the stand and rev my bike and take off, turning the volume up already having her playlist playing since I was listening to it already. "Yoon you already have it playing. Look what I'm doing to you"

God does she know what she is doing to me.

We have a decently long ride to get to the mall, that just means I get to have her wrapped around me longer.

Violet Pov:

"Hey Yoon you think they'll have something for me" there is nothing ahead of us yet I find his hand making its way to my thigh, his thumb rubbing in circles those black leather gloves. I don't know why But they stir up those butterflies in my stomach. "Violet, sweets they will have the perfect dress for you that will fit all your curves and make you feel like a thousand words.''

Trying to remove your hand and he takes his hand away from your thigh, he  places his hand over your hands on his stomach.  "No. Violet safety."

"Okay, Yoon I just wanted to hold your hand"

"Oh so you admit it this time, well then here Vi."

He grabs your hand from on top and locks his hand on top so if he needs to use his hand he can quickly take it away. Feeling my cheeks turn red thank god for the helmet, looking at the cars passing by you wish you could see him again like when you would ride behind Hana. "You think Hana would be mad at us? You know being close?"

He squeezes my hand and releases it as he goes to tap my knee to turn left, bracing and leaning my body with him. "Ya know she always said, if she could have you a part of the family she would. Doesn't matter what way that happened."

"What do you mean Yoon, you wanna marry me now?"

"I mean I already know how you taste might as well make you family. Hold on Vi let's have some fun"

He down shifts and takes off on an open bridge, you tighten your thighs and arms and make a scream "I'm gonna get married"

"That you are Vi, one day" he laughs and continues to go as fast. At this moment it feels like it's just us on the road, no one else.  He squeezes my right thigh "hard right Vi" and as he follows through with the turn you hold on like never before. Maybe you could get used to this with him.

Hell do you even need a bike anymore?

Was that crush you made yourself push deep down worth it now?

Yoongi Pov:

Grabbing and squeezing her knee one more time as we pull into the mall to go shopping, she squeezes a little tighter today. This banter we have goin' on I can't read too much into it. I can't let myself fall and stumble I have came too far and even if that means loving her from a distance and just have some fun I will. We pull into a spot and kick the stand, putting my arm out for her to swing her leg over and get off. She comes and stands in front of me waiting for me to take her helmet off. I get off my bike, take my  helmet off and smooth out my hair. She comes and sits on my seat as I set my helmet on her spot.

Tapping her chin "Look up at me, Vi" she tilts her head up unbuckling her helmet, taking it off her head, and smoothing out her hair for her. "There you go pretty"

Her mouth parts and she looks at me like she is in shock I called her pretty. "Vi, you know you're gorgeous right? I have always thought that since the first time I laid my eyes on you." she shakes her head at me "You never said Yoon."

"But didn't my actions ever show you, silly?" She looks at me confused, her brows crease looking for an answer in her head.  Stepping forward as she sits on my seat putting myself in between her thighs as she bites her lip nervously. Fuck hold it together Yoongi. 

"Violet look at me right now" she locks eyes with me, those gray eyes staring back at me searching for answers she has never noticed. I'm going to lay them all out for her. 

"Violet Rose. Did you ever notice how I would literally stare at you anytime you were in our house. when you learned how to backpack, how I was insistent you ride with me because I didn't want no guy to think they could have you, how I literally called you princess all of middle school? Huh? You think it was just to bother you Violet? No it was because your beauty is otherworldly. You hear me Violet. I want you to say it back tell me. Tell me you're beautiful"

Grabbing her hips, pulling her off my bike, Putting my fingers under her chin to look at me. She is blinking at me in shock. I know I said too much may have gone too far, but I can't stand and watch her not love herself. "Y-you said my middle name you never use it Yoon"

"I'm waiting, Violet Rose."

"I- I'm b-beautiful."

"See, was that so hard, Vi?"

Nodding her head "Yeah, it was everyone besides you and Hans told me I was ugly Yoon."

Placing my hand on her cheek and rubbing up and down. "Well maybe that's cause' we're the only ones who matter. We see you for you. Now let's go get you that dress. I know that body of yours has changed and I'm ready to see it in all of its glory"

"You sure Yoon? Cause' I have done my own damage to my body"

"Vi what do you mean, huh?"

"I guess, You'll see Yoon."

"So help me god Violet, if it's what I think you're gonna see another side of me" she places her hand on top of the hand that's on her cheek and pulls it down. "Promise me, no pinky promise you won't see me different" she is holding out her other pinky waiting for me to kiss, accept it.

"Violet Rose I'll never see you differently you're still the same girl I met all those years, from my sister who never left me alone. I accepted it. I Accepted you the day I met you. You are in my life for a reason."

Holding out my pinky to her not knowing what I'm committing to, but with her I'll walk to hell and back on my knees. Locking our pinkies together looking her in the eyes and placing a kiss on my pinky as she does after me and stamping out thumbs together.

"Pinky"

"Swear"

"Time to go shopping, Vi. You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be Yoon"

I grab the backpack from her and place her Helmet inside. Choosing to leave mine on the bike if it's stolen I don't care as long as she has a helmet that's what matters. I hold my hand for her to walk into the mall. I see her chest rising up and down. Why would dress shopping be so nerve wracking I know it's hard for her to find sizing which is honestly fucking bullshit it's a body it shouldn't be ashamed, left out but that's another topic. She wraps her whole fist around my pointer finger.

Something about her being small makes me smile, yeah we are crossing some boundaries, but maybe it's time to do it. It's been over twelve years in the making. It's time I need to step up to the plate and take the risk. As we walk into the mall she is by my side and I see the nervous little girl who would walk into her homeroom class looking back at me like she was going into hell after I encouraged her each and every year to just take the first step into class if she wasn't with Hans. I'm going to make this the best shopping trip she has ever had.

"How about we go get a snack, Vi?" Looking down at her. She smiles and hums in response.

"Smoothies Yoon!"

"Yeah we can get smoothies bubs."

Violet Pov:

Walking into the store we both have smoothies. We both got orange, mango, and pineapple.  There are dresses lined everywhere. I start to look where my sizing is always the smallest section. Hopefully they have something either black or white since it's black and white theme. "Yoon, do you have your outfit?"

"Don't worry about me Kay? Today is for you" what you didn't know was that the night he came home he called Jin on his way home, told him about it and said he needed help and of course Jin called Hobi over  by the time he was home he was already there. They stayed up all night going through what Hobi brought and all the closets in the house to find the perfect outfit that is not a suit. He'll wear whatever, but a suit? No chance in hell unless vi asked it of him.

"Hey Yoon you go take a seat and I'll shop around okay?"

"Will that make you comfortable or are you saying that because you feel bad I'm here?"

Slowly holding out my hand with my index and middle finger out "Uh number two."

"Well then I'm staying."

Well that is Yoongi should've guessed it, stubborn as always.. I start looking at the dresses their is a small section and I see few dresses that would go with the theme already grabbing them off the rack without even checking what they look like since you know one of these you'll be stuck with, and as you grab the three dresses off the rack Yoongi's hand comes and take the hooks in your hand. "You will never carry your own stuff when you're with me Vi." your cheeks turn a light pink, you take a sip of your smoothie as he starts to walk to the dressing room area. He looks so comfortable doing this with you. How?

Going to an empty dressing room he walks in, hangs the dresses up for you. Looking at him as he comes to you. He is wearing something different than his normal all black. A pair of dark washed jeans, light  gray hoodie, a sweat shirt on top of it with some design on it and a black jacket. He always has to have his black jacket.  "Hey Yoon you can go look around at some other stores if you want"

He walks out the dressing room and look you dead in the eyes. "And what if I wanna be in this store you gonna kick me out, Vi?" He comes and gives you a hug.  You accept it yeah you backpack him a lot riding, but this feels different when he comes up to you to hug you,  wraps you up in his arms. He runs his hand through your hair and takes a deep breath, you can hear his heart beating fast. 

"Now I wanna see those dresses on you, Vi. Only if you let me." Nodding your head to him in his chest it feels nice to be close to him why? No, that stupid crush needs to be buried six feet under and never see light again.  "I'ma need a fix. You got another lollipop?"

Reluctantly unwrapping your arms around him reaching into your pocket, taking the lollipop and unwrapping it putting t it in your mouth. "I told you I'm a sugar addict Yoon."

Pineapple your favorite flavor.

He looks at you like you just stole his heart, his eyes flash, you see the glossy eyes he is staring at you with and he slowly steps forward. You back up with each step he takes, finding yourself against the wall. His hand finds its way to your hip. He looks down at you, yeah you have been close but like this? Never.  "Violet you know you can't take my lollipop" he slowly bends down to your ear "Do you wanna be forever on the back of my bike, because that can be arranged wife" lips parting looking at him and he takes the lollipop stick from you and pops it in his mouth.

Yoongi Pov:

Giving her hip a squeeze "Now go try on those dresses I'll be out here waiting. If there's one you don't want me to see then don't show me, but I know you'll look perfect in every one"

There is no chair so I squat and clasp my hands together waiting to see what she's gonna look like. I haven't seen her dressed up since prom and god did I go to heaven and back that night. "Ugh" I hear from the dressing room. "Vi, you good?" About to stand up to check on her but she speaks up as I'm about to "Just one will only work Yoon I should have looked at the sizes, but they were in the spot"

"That's okay Vi I'm sure it'll be perfect" I hear her sigh and I know it's tough on her, but if my only mission in life is to see her love her body I will. What Yoongi doesn't see in the dressing room is you're struggling with the zipper. You can't zip it up to the top, your arms are too short.

"Uh Yoon can you help with the z-zipper?"

Standing up to walk to the dressing room I hear the click of the door unlocking and as I open it she is standing there, hands covering her body as much as she can. God I can't even see the whole thing it's perfect. It hugs your waist, wrapping flawlessly around your body to show the road map that people will have to work for. That I need to work for. Pulling your arms down I need  a full view. Eyes searching and roaming all over your body, I want to picture you like this forever. Taking a few steps forward after I shut, lock the door behind me. How could anyone as beautiful as you could think you're a monstrosity you're fucking devine.

"Turn around, Vi please" she turns around as she does. I see her backside the way the dress hugs every point of her body,  just waiting for someone to learn the road map. "So beautiful" I whisper to myself. Stepping up to her she is staring at the corner to not look at herself in the mirror. I slide my fingers down her back and her skin gets goose bumps on her upper arms. Cute.

Grabbing a hold of the zipper and zipping it up to the top of her back.

"You're gorgeous, Vi"

"Stop, you're just saying it Yoon."

"I'm fucking serious Violet Rose" I pull her close to me and make her face the mirror,  run my hand down her arm. I see the blush to her cheeks, the pin prick goose bumps on her arms, the gaze trying to not look at herself. Trailing my eyes down her body, I see the slit and her hand trying to cover her thigh, pulling her hand away her soft skin is shown..I see something I never thought I'd see on her body scars.

What did she do...when...how long? Answers I need but right now I need to make feel like she is the most beautiful woman ever. We all fight our demons, I'm trying to fight hers and mine for both of us.

Putting my hand under her chin giving her a light tap, making her look at herself in the mirror. Our eyes lock in the mirror. I'm behind her in an intimate way, closer than I have been with her. Yeah she has been behind me but this right here is intimate before it was because we had to. I let go of her chin, eyes still locked, moving my other hand to her hip.

"Look at you, Violet.'' God she is gorgeous. Running my hand down her arms, brushing lightly down. Our hands meet, dancing with her fingers tapping. Breathe Yoongi dont show her you're freaking out slightly.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

She takes a breath and it brings me back a little bit.  I'm going to push this boundary to show her how gorgeous she is. Let her know I see now what she meant when she said to promise to not think of her differently. My finger skims from her fingertips to her hip, nudging my nose to her neck "Look how pretty you are, huh? I want you to say it." as my fingers get lower on her hip she sucks in as I get closer to the slit. "Yoon, you didn't see okay" looking at her in the eyes I can see the worry behind those wide gray eyes, but also a nervousness to them. If she was touching me in any way I'd be pushing it all down to hide what she is making me feel. My weaknesses aren't shown that easily, but I think she already has a gasp on being a weakness of mine.

"We'll talk about this later Violet, but right now I want you to see how beautiful you are" my fingers caress her thigh that is exposed rubbing circles on the scars that she did to herself. She is fighting some inner demons in front of me. I can see in those eyes the way her body is stiff.

"I- I'm beautiful" she left out a little laugh at the end not because it's funny but she can't believe she is saying it let alone have Yoongi behind her guiding her to love herself.

"That's it." giving her nod she did it. "Say it again, go on." She fixes her posture which only allows me to be closer to her.

"I'm beautiful" and at the end she makes a small smile looking at herself up and down. This is not how a friend nor a best friend's brother talks to someone, but right now I'm more than that. "Bout' time you see it, Vi."' Giving her thigh a squeeze is what she feels like when I give her a squeeze for a turn. I see the goose bumps spread to her forearms now. "Good job, Princess." Pressing a kiss to the back of her head "Did I make you uncomfortable, Vi? I never want to do that" she shakes her head no relief casts over both our bodies.

I'm playing with fire, and neither of us need to get burned. Well I can get burned, I'll accept my fate.

Giving her one last squeeze,  whispering in her ear. "It's the one Vi. Let's go get you a necklace to match" and as I'm about to step out I unzip the dress, unlock the door,  stepping out to the side shutting the door standing in front of it. I Rest my back on the door. My heart is beating out of my chest, catching up to me. What's wrong with me? I have always been good with girls. never panicked before. Taking a deep breath fuck I need a cig I'm getting an addicted. Knocking on the door "Vi I need a fix." I hear my heartbeat trying to take me out.  She hums in response, opening the door. She stands there with a dress in her arm,  a lollipop unwrapped waiting for me to take.

"I think You're getting addicted Yoon." 

"Oh you have no idea, Vi."

Taking the lollipop from her hand she bites her lip as I pop it in my mouth. I grab the dress from her arm turning on my heels to go pay for it,  she grabs my arm I turn around confused "You can't buy it Yoon. I make enough money."

"And what kind of second prom date would allow a queen to buy her dress? Huh?" Continuing to walk to the counter setting it down to pay she is in her pouting stage. I have seen it so much her bottom lip puckered out,  her brows crossed looking at me. After I pay, I take the bag off the counter. "Thank you, sir" nodding in response to the cashier. I don't have time to pay attention to anyone other than the girl behind me with her arms crossed like a child.

Violet Pov:

As we walk out the store I'm holding onto the straps of the bag he is too, these strings connecting us together like magnets. Yoongi is walking a little faster than me leading the way. I stop walking which in turn makes him stop turning back as we are both holding the bag.

"Hey what's up?"

"Did. Did you mean it Min Yoongi?" He steps up in front of me,  places his hand on my cheek as I look up to him. "Every single word, every single touch Violet Rose. Now let's go get you that jewelry"

He slowly lets go of my face and I see so much behind those eyes they tell a story I know he struggles,  just doesn't say. Walking into the store and looking at all the cases my finger skims over the glass like a child picking out a toy. Staring down at a pair of necklaces that have a little silver square on the end with two keys next to it. It looks like the couple type. It makes you push all those feelings down again, bury them six feet under, turn around and Yoongi is no longer standing behind you. Seeing him at the same case you were looking at with a sales lady.  "Can I just do some earrings Yoon?" he is talking to the sales lady, Just nods his head.

"Whatever you want, Vi." he smiles at me. Pointing to a pair of small silver hoops "These ones Yoon." he nods his head and tells the sales lady to ring them up.

"Now you go outside and wait."

"Why?"

"I know you'll die when you hear the price." of course you will even though you have a good salary you're still stuck on buying the cheapest things you can find or they have to be on sale to justify the purchase. Nodding your head, going out to the front sipping on the smoothie which is most gone, walking to the trash can taking the last few sips of it. "Did you forget about me?"

"Huh? No I just drank it all"

"Where's the bag? Were they too expensive, I knew it."

"No, Miss cheapskate, they are in my backpack. I didn't want anyone to try and steal the bag from my hand."

"Oh."

He takes hold of the strings on the bag again but this time locking our pinkies together holding the strong together. "Thank you, Yoon."

"Hey you have nothing to thank me for I'll always be here for you like I have always been since the day I met you."

The doors open to the exit of the mall and as we exit I shield my eyes from the sun. "Oh I can't wait to have my helmet on." Reaching into my pocket,  grabbing a lollipop, unwrapping it with one hand and popping it into my mouth. Okay I got an addiction, but at least it's not drugs.

Walking up to the bike I let his pinky go,  slow down and get behind him and start to unzip the Backpack but he stops me.

"I'll get it, Vi."

"Fine, don't let me help."

"Ya know its not that it's just don't want you to drop the jewelry bag miss clumsy."

FIne I give him that I'm so clumsy. He takes out my helmet, putting the backpack now on my shoulders since it's the only job he lets me do ever.  He takes the dress bag from my hand and places it very carefully into the bag and zips it up. "It's all good, now give me my fix." holding out his hand for me to give him a lollipop. I take out mine and hold it out for him, he doesn't reject it but leans in capturing in his mouth.

He taps my chin, placing the helmet on my head. I always find myself looking at him when he does it. His focus is on making sure it's right when I could easily do it myself, but he insists every time to do it for me. Once he is done I hear the crack of him biting down on the lollipop "I'm addicted to it, Vi."

"Huh?"

"To you. To pineapple" once he says that he shut the face shield and gives my head the shake to make sure it's on tight enough. He will be the end of me, but already I'm dead buried myself six feet under long ago.  He puts on his helmet,  gets on his bike holding  his arm out and I get on behind him. I get closer to him might as well push more boundaries, giving him a squeeze he hums in response to me "I think I may be addicted to the way you make me feel Min Yoongi"

"What?"

"Nothin' let's go tell Lewis momma made him money for his lettuce."

"Ya know I heard you, Vi."

"I'm sorry this helmet makes it hard to hear."

"You know damn well we have mics and speakers connected to each other, I'll let it pass this once."

He turns his bike,  gives me a squeeze, revs his bike and we're off to go to my happy place.

But my happy place is whenever I'm with him lately.

Thank you for reading. ₊˚⊹♡

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All rights belong to @/Yoon-Topias. Do not copy/ translate.

[ploppythespaceship]

Doctor Who Series 14 / Season 1 Review

Man, it feels good to be enjoying Doctor Who again. I haven't been keeping up with the show in years, but I caught up to see Tennant's return leading into Ncuti's run and I am so glad I did. This season is far from perfect, but it gets a lot of little things right and is consistently fun to watch, even if a lot of the details fall apart.

What I Liked

Ncuti Gatwa is simply phenomenal. He settles into the role so quickly and so easily, bringing such a fresh energy to the character. I love how distinct he feels, too -- when you're playing the fifteenth iteration of a character, it can be hard to find a new spin on things, but he's done it. He's also a fantastic actor, getting to show an incredibly wide range in just a few short episodes. I truly think he'll be remembered as one of the best Doctors.

Millie Gibson is also very good as Ruby, and her dynamic with the Doctor is a lot of fun. I appreciate having another Doctor/companion relationship that isn't romantic. They're just best friends, and it's very cute.

The show looks great. It's very clear that they've had a budget increase -- the costumes, effects, etc. are noticeably improved since RTD's first run.

Murray Gold's return as the composer is extremely welcome. His stuff isn't quite as bombastic as before (or maybe the episodes just have better sound mixing), but keeps a lot of the same leitmotifs. The result is a more subtle score that perfectly suits each scene.

Mel is so cool now. She was one of my least favorite classic companions, so seeing her worked into these storylines and feel more compelling is an unexpected delight.

What I Didn't Like

Ultimately, I think the season is just too short. Council of Geeks has an excellent YouTube video on this -- because there are only eight episodes, and a lot of them are going for bigger ideas and weirder premises, it feels like we don't really settle into a status quo.

The Doctor and Ruby's relationship also isn't as developed as much as I would like. If you pay close attention to the dialogue, there's actually a six month gap between "Space Babies" and "The Devil's Chord" -- we could have used another episode or two in that time period to really flesh out the beginnings of their friendship better. Instead the show jumps straight to them being best friends, without really showing us why that is.

I don't think the mystery box format of this season really worked. The mysteries were built up to such an extent that no answer could really be satisfying, and the finale really almost entirely on the big reveals that ultimately didn't amount to much. Ruby in particular feels like an underbaked companion, and I hope she gets more time to get properly developed.

Individual Episode Thoughts

Space Babies — This is easily the weakest episode of the season. It's not bad by any means, but it does remind me of some of the sillier episodes of RTD's first run. It felt like we were speedrunning the companion introduction, when things could have been slowed down and spread across a few episodes to feel more natural. The baby VFX also do not work and fall very firmly into uncanny valley territory.

The Devil's Chord — This one makes very little sense, but is entirely saved by Jinkx Monsoon being so iconic as Maestro. If you just go along for the ride, it's a ton of fun.

Boom — This episode is proof that Steven Moffat truly is at his best when he's writing self-contained stories under someone else's guidance. I don't think it's as iconic as Moffat's previous stories, and I felt like Ncuti was getting a lot of dialogue that better suited Matt Smith, but the entire concept was interesting and the execution was solid. Also, Ncuti acted his ass off without even being able to move.

73 Yards — Honestly, I'm mixed on this one. The setup is fantastic and eerie, and I enjoy the exploration of Ruby's character, solo from the Doctor. I like her experiencing this inexplicable thing, and deciding to find purpose in it to help others. But the story does fall apart for me at the end when it doesn't explain anything. I don't need every single thing handed to me, I understand the value of leaving things to the imagination, but the fact that the episode's last impression is "wait what?" does leave a bit of a sour taste. That being said, I do respect how weird and different this episode is, and how much discussion it prompted afterward.

Dot and Bubble — The trailers looked like a Black Mirror ripoff, and I was prepared for a shallow "social media bad" episode. Instead, we got something far more nuanced about the dangers of trapping yourself in a bubble of like-minded people and refusing to ever look beyond it. And the ending reveal that it's a society of white supremacists is so, so well-handled, because all the clues were there for you. If you're like me and didn't piece it together until the very end, it really challenges you to ask yourself why you didn't notice sooner. Also, another episode where Ncuti acts his ass off. My personal favorite episode of the season.

Rogue — Another with mixed feelings. Rogue himself is tons of fun, and I enjoy his dynamic with the Doctor, even if parts of it are pretty rushed. I really hope he comes back. The episode plot itself is serviceable but nothing special. My main complaint is the severe lack of Ruby. Her relationship with the Doctor doesn't feel sufficiently established, so the emotional beats don't really land.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday — This was an underwhelming finale, unfortunately. The first part barely even qualifies as an episode. It launches right into starting to answer the season's mysteries, but does so in an uncompelling and heavy-handed way. The Sutekh reveal is pretty epic in isolation, but...

Empire of Death — The Sutekh reveal doesn't really lead to anything satisfying. He doesn't have the presence of Toymaker or Maestro, he's just a CGI dog monster. This second part finally answers some questions, some of which are vaguely interesting, but it's happening in a plot so dull and so dry that I just can't bring myself to care. The episode is also just confusing? The plot points don't seem to flow naturally together, like multiple stories were smashed together with little rhyme or reason. The resolution is some of the most nonsensical nonsense that Doctor Who has ever come up with. Then we get to the reveal of Ruby's mother, which is so forced and it becomes clear in retrospect that things were added to seem more mysterious than they really were. And capping it all off is the Doctor's farewell to Ruby, which falls flat because, as I've said, their relationship is rather undercooked. It really does end the season on a downer, which is a shame because so many of the preceding episodes were pretty good.

[ninii-winchester]

Chosen Affection

Pairing : Dean Winchester X Reader

Word Count : 3.3k

Warnings : slight angst, language, Lucifer being Lucifer, soft smut at the end (nothing explicit) MDNI. Unedited.

Part 2 to Deepest Desire

A/n : This is a Supernatural x Lucifer crossover fic. I’ve only ever watched a few episodes of Lucifer. This is a work of fiction, I don’t own Supernatural or Lucifer. They belong to CW and Netlfix respectively.

I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION TO COPY MY WORK, TRANSLATE IT OR POST IT TO ANY OTHER PLATFORM. REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED.

After talking with Sam, Y/n went back inside the bar and Dean followed silently. Chloe could tell Y/n had been crying and the tension was obvious. Lucifer eyed the couple, clearly enjoying the drama, which he created in the first place. Not intentionally but he did.

"I think it's best we get to the Bunker and see what we can do from there." Y/n told the other three, Dean opened his mouth to argue but she cut him off. "Sam agrees."

"The Bunker?" Chloe asked confusion lacing her voice.

"It's our workplace. We live there too." Y/n replied, Dean's heart squeezed the she didn't call it home. He knew it was far from homey but that's the closest thing they've had to a place of their own.

"Sounds fun." Lucifer said standing up from his seat.

The quartet left the bar. Dean watched as Y/n slid into the back seat of the Impala, he sighed before he made his way to the driver's seat. Lucifer slid into the passenger's seat while Chloe joined Y/n in the back. He watched her from the rear view mirror hoping to catch her eye but she never looked his way.

The drive back was awkward and tense. Dean couldn't bear the uncomfortable silence so stepped on the gas, wanting to reach their destination as soon as possible. They soon arrived at the Bunker and Dean opened the huge door allowing them to enter. The quartet descended the stairs and Y/n spotted Sam sitting at one of the tables in the library, his laptop opened in front of him.

Sam noticed the presence of other people, and looked away from the screen. He looked at the man in black suit with weary eyes, not feeling completely at ease in his presence. Chloe noticed his timidness and introduced herself.

"I'm Detective Chloe Decker." She held her hand for Sam to shake. "This is..uh my partner, Lucifer."

"Sam Winchester." He shook her hand and nodded at Lucifer who stood there with his hands in his pant pockets. That was so awkward that even, ever the friendly, Sam had a hard time clearing the air.

"Alright." Y/n broke the silence before she went crazy with all the palpable tension around the room. "We need to send them back home as soon as possible. Sam have you got anything yet?" She questioned walking towards him as he sat back on his chair.

"So I've been searching the internet for a way to open a portal to another universe and so far I've got anything." He explained running a hand through his hair. "Although I've yet to search the the files in the library."

"Yeah the Men of Letters might have key laying around here." Y/n commented with a roll of her eyes.

Sam noticed the lack of participation from his brother, he didn't fail to notice the distance between Dean and Y/n, it seemed as she was avoiding him at all costs.

"Is there anyway we can help?" Chloe asked from where she stood.

"Don't you want to rest a bit? I'm sure you're tired after being thrown into another universe." Y/n said softly.

"I already feel like we're asking too much from you people." Chloe replied bashfully. "We can help."

"Its fine-"

"Why don't you say it out right that you don't trust us with your precious files filled with important information." Lucifer interrupted Y/n with a smirk on his face.

"You know what, yes. I don't trust you. At all! So you shut your trap before I throw you in the dungeon alright?" Y/n snapped, directing all of her pent up anger towards Lucifer.

"And just who do you think you're talking to?" The devil asked menacingly, walking towards her. Dean was quick with his feet stepping in front of her, his gun pointing towards Lucifer.

"Don't you dare." Dean threatened.

The man just laughed before speaking, "is this your way of sucking up to her? It's quite pathetic if you ask me."

Sam's brow raised in confusion at his words, before things could get worse Chloe jumped in, "Lucifer, back off. Dean please put the gun down." Dean glared at Lucifer still pointing his gun at him. At Chloe's intervention Lucifer stepped back, prompting Dean to lower his gun. "It's best if we rest." Chloe looked at Y/n and she nodded.

"Dean will show you where you'll stay." Sam spoke, Dean gave him a look that said i-will? and the younger brother shrugged. When the others left the library Sam turned to Y/n. "So are you gonna tell me or I'm gonna have to play twenty questions with you?" She sighed before filling him in.

"It hurts, Sam." She felt herself tear up. Sam immediately went to comfort her. She sobbed in his chest as he held her. "After everything we've been through and it still wasn't enough..."

"Hey don't say that. Maybe you should talk to him, hear what he has to say." Sam suggested. She knew she had to face him sooner or later. "It's late, how about you go and get some rest, you came back from a hunt, must be tired." She nodded her head before leaving his embrace.

She left the library, walking through the hallways she debated whether she should go to their shared bedroom or to the room she stayed in before she moved in his'. That room hasn't been used in a long time. Before she knew it she was standing in front of their shared bedroom, her feet unintentionally dragged her there. She sighed before entering the room. After taking a quick shower she settled into bed. As tired as she was, she couldn't get her brain to keep repeated those moments from the bar.

"Amara" Dean's voice kept repeating that name in her head.

The door to the room opened, Dean entered the room as quietly as possible, assuming she's asleep. He'd gone to library and offered Sam to help but his younger brother told him he needed to be elsewhere and refused his offer politely. Dean's eyes landed her figure on the bed, eyes widen open staring at ceiling.

"Y/n." Dean called out approaching the bed slowly.

"Not now, Dean." She replied, unblinking.

Dean nodded before changing into comfortable clothes and slipping into bed. He knew she wouldn't be in here if she wasn't comfortable sharing a bed with him, however he kept his distance incase she didn't want him touching her. He knows she's hurting, but her ignorance is killing him and the last thing he needs is her pushing him away.

"Did they settle in okay?" Y/n questioned after a minutes of silence.

"Yeah." Dean replied. "Lucifer is a dick though." He added with an eye roll.

"He's the devil, what do you expect."

Minutes passed and none of them spoke, Y/n couldn't fall asleep for the life of her, she kept tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable. She wanted to hold him, she wanted him to hold her. She was too hurt to make a move and her ego was too big to ask him.

Noticing her restless Dean couldn't help but blurt out, "Can I hold you?" Part of him wanted her to get comfortable and part of him wanted to hold her in his arms since he couldn't ever sleep peacefully without her. He didn't know if he asked it for her sake or his own.

She scolded herself for being so eager to be in his arms but she couldn't help but nod her head. He didn't waste a second wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to his chest, so her back rested against it. He snuggled his face in the crook of her neck.

"I love you, sweetheart." He whispered in her ear, placing a soft kiss on her neck. She shuddered at his action and that was the first time in forever she didn't say it back.

Dean woke up to an empty bed. The clock read 2:27 and he shoved the covers off of him haphazardly and bolted out of the room. First thing that came to his mind that she left him. With hurried footsteps he reached the library, his eyes fell on Sam who was surrounded by files, books and empty beer bottles. His breathing picked up, Sam opened his mouth to question his brother but Y/n's voice interrupted him.

"Dean?" She called out his name, noticing his disheveled state. He turned around to see her standing at the entrance of the war room with two mugs of coffee in her hands. He didn't answer her, instead he took large steps towards her and hugged her tightly. Her arms were angled awkwardly and she somehow managed not to spill the scalding hot coffee over themselves. She sent Sam a confused look over Dean's shoulder and he shrugged, not knowing either.

"I thought you left." Dean mumbled in her shoulder.

"I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd help Sam." Dean nodded before pulling away. An awkward silence followed after. She walked over to Sam putting a mug in front of him.

"Did you guys find something?" Dean asked following behind and her taking a seat.

"Actually we did. There's a few ways to open a portal. There's energy manipulation, magic ritual, or using an ancient artefact or finding a weak spot." Sam explained taking a sip of his coffee.

"But we don't have ingredients for a magic ritual and we certainly do not have the specific artefact." Y/n commented.

"So either energy manipulation or finding a weak spot?" Dean questioned looking at her.

"Maybe but considering Lucifer has to absorb energy from a volcano or a thunderstorm, I don't think it's safe to let him juice up." She replied with a concerned voice.

"Agreed." Sam said rubbing his eyes. "Our best bet is finding a weak spot. From there he can open a portal by using his own powers saying this incantation." Sam turned his screen towards his brother.

"So were do find this 'weak spot'?" The older Winchester wondered out loud.

"It's usually around places like deep woods, ruins or caves. Lucifer can sense it since he has powers." Y/n answered.

"So let's do it." Dean said getting up.

"Wait, now?" Y/n exclaimed.

"Yeah now." Sam agreed with Dean. "The sooner he goes back, the better."

Y/n nodded in understanding, she told them she'd go and get Lucifer and Chloe while the Winchester brothers geared up. Y/n quickly changed and met up with the others. They'd decided to go to the forest. It took them three hours to reach their destination. They got out of the Impala and ventured into the woods.

"Thank you for helping us Y/n." Chloe said as they continued to trek through the dark forest.

"That’s what we do but you’re welcome." She smiled at the blonde. The three men walked ahead of them Sam and Dean constantly asking Lucifer if he felt anything. And the devil kept giving them snippy replies.

"You know.." Chloe started gaining Y/n's attention. "I may not know you all for long but I'm observant. You're good people. I can see Dean truly loves you, whatever he said back there it hurt him too." She said looking at Y/n. It sure felt like the detective knew what she was talking about. "You should give him a chance to explain." Y/n mumbled a quiet 'yeah' with nod.

"This is it." Lucifer said loudly. "I can feel it." He held his arm up feeling up an open space.

"Alright, now channel your powers and focus on the spot. Think of the place you want to go. Your world." Lucifer did as Sam told him to.  Sam handed Lucifer a piece of paper. "Now say this." They could see a split forming above them and bright light emerging from it.

"Ad universum alterum patefacio, vires

invoco. Portalem aperire, vires occultas evocare. Tempus et spatium frangere, iter transire concedere." Lucifer read out loud and the five of them watched in awe as a portal finally opened.

A strong wind roared through the landscape, its force palpable and relentless. Trees bent and swayed, their leaves and branches rustling loudly as they were whipped around. The air was filled with the sound of howling gusts, the sheer strength of the wind created an atmosphere of raw, untamed energy.

"Holy fucking-" Y/n exclaimed, Dean instinctively moving in front of her.

Lucifer breathed heavily, panting as he stood back.   

"Alright. You ready to go back?" Lucifer asked Chloe and she nodded. She quickly hugged Y/n and thanked Sam and Dean.

"I have to say, you three really are something." Lucifer said with a smirk. "And I thank you for your help." He added. The three of them nodded.

They watched as Lucifer and Chloe jumped into the portal and it closed as soon as they fell through. The wind stopped and the light was gone. Sighs of relief were heard in the complete silence of the forest.

"Felt weird being thanked by the devil." Y/n chuckled as they walked back to the car.

"You're telling me." Sam added.

Dean was silent the whole ride back to the Bunker. The sun has already risen, the world felt calm and serene, filled with a promise of a new day. Y/n hoped this new day brings her some peace. When they reached to the Bunker Dean left the car without saying a word.

“You’re gonna talk to him?” Sam asked looking worried. He knew now that Dean didn’t have something to focus on, his mind would be all over the place.

“Yeah.” She replied walking inside. When she opened the door to their shared bedroom she saw Dean sitting on the edge of the bed. He had something is his hands but quickly hid it when he noticed her, though he fiddling with a set of keys in his hands. She took smalls steps and sat beside him. A few seconds passed in silence when Dean chuckled humourlessly,

“You know,” he started, “I was waiting for so long, I didn’t want it to go this way.” She looked at him, confusion written all over her face. “I thought I’d do it when you’d come back from that hunt, take you out somewhere fancy, dinner and all.”

“Dean-”

“I bought us a house.” He interrupted her. He showed the keys that were in his hands. “I thought I’d tell you after I’d ask you, and you’d hopefully say yes, we’ll start a new life. You, me our kids. Together. No more monsters, no more hunting.” Her heart rate picked up, “I should’ve known better though, when has anything gone the way we’ve wanted it.” He moved to kneel in front of her holding her hands in his.

“She,” Dean grimaced, “her and I were bound because of the mark, the mark may have gone from my arm but it’s has left something behind, it’s an urge. I don’t desire her at all, not her physical self anyway. It’s something I don’t like admitting out loud but there’s something in me that’s dark and sometimes it makes me want to do things that I did when I had that mark.” She let out a gasp at his confession.

“Dean I had no idea.” A few tears escaped her eyes.

“But you know what keeps me sane? You.” He cupped her cheek in his hand wiping away her tears. “You’re my light, you vanish all the darkness inside of me. You’re the one I want, you’re the one I crave. You’re the one that makes me want to be better. I’m not bound to you, you’re a conscious choice sweetheart. Everyday, every second you’re the one I want.” He grabbed something from beside her, she hadn’t even notice it was there all the time. She gasped again when she saw what it was, a small velvet box.

“Y/n, sweetheart, I love you, I always have and I always will. I know I’ve hurt you baby, but if you give me this one chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you how much I desire you. Will you marry me?”

She couldn’t believe what she heard, did he just say he’s giving up hunting? Getting a house? Getting married? Kids?

“You, Dean Winchester, has decided to quit hunting?” She questioned, thinking somehow she’s didn’t hear him right.

“Yeah,” he chuckled through tears. “And hopefully spend the rest of my life with you, Mrs. Winchester, if you would.” He gestured to the ring in his hand.

“I like the sound of that.” She teased with a smile on her face.

“So will you?” He asked again, not believing her until she says it out loud.

“Yes Dean, I’ll marry you.” He didn’t waste a second slipping the ring on her finger.

“I love you so much.” He pressed his lips to her, kissing ber softly, pouring all of his love into it. Their lips moved in perfect sync, a soft brush sent shivers down their spines. Time seemed to slow, and the world around them faded into a blur. The warmth of their breath mingled, and the closeness created a cocoon of shared emotion. The gentle pressure and the delicate movement of their lips, created a bond that felt both timeless and immediate.

“I love you too, Dean.” She panted as they pulled apart. “I won’t lie, I was hurt pretty badly when you said that. But I had no idea where it came from and it made me insecure. I thought you wanted her.” She spoke lowly as if sharing a secret.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I shouldn’t have kept it from you, but after everything, I didn’t want you to worry. You’d finally had some peace.”

“I understand but from now on, no more secrets okay? I want you to be open with me, yeah?”

“I promise.” He kissed her again, laying her back on the bed. He hovered above her, his hands placed on either side of her head. She let out a soft moan as he kissed her neck and moved to her collarbone. “Let me make love to you, baby.”

She nodded, pulling him back up, kissing him passionately. “Show me how much you love me.” He gently pulled her shirt over her head, and she gripped at his’, indicating she wanted it off and he quickly removes it. It didn’t take long for them to get rid of all their clothing, leaving them completely naked.

He dragged his fingers delicately over her cheek, down her neck and chest. She flipped them over making him lay on his back. She bit his neck, nibbling and leaving dark purple hickeys. She moved to his chest, kissing her way down to his stomach before she could go any further he stopped her.

“Later, baby. I need to feel you.” Dean flipped them over again. He watched her flushed face, leaning on his one arm, he reached a hand between their bodies and gripped himself, leading himself to her. They moaned in unison as he penetrated her. “Fuck baby.” He groaned in her neck.

Moans and groans filled the room as they continue to loose themselves into heated passion. Wrapped up in each others embrace, bare skin pressed together, their hearts beating in unison. Coming undone together basking in the aftershocks of their passionate love making they laid entwined in the soft sheets, their breaths slowly synchronized, a comfortable silence enveloped them. She rested her head on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, a sound that had become her lullaby.

Tags:

@fullbelieverheart @spnfamily-j2 @n-o-p-e-never @montyrokz @deangirl96

[alicepao13]

Here we go again, Hudson and Rex S01E01!

God, I love 1080p.

Oh, Diesel. He's so young in this episode.

Okay, what is going on back there, the show has only just started lol

I forgot this show's only colors for S1 were blue and... blue. And some yellow.

Charlie in his suits. I could say I've missed it, but it gets old fast. You get more options with casual clothes.

Charlie verbally sparring with Mankiewicz is so good. I don't know why they didn't find more opportunities to get him back on the show, he's a good villain.

The part where Mankiewicz says Evelyn's name, I always thought that was intentional, judging by the way he looks up, like if he's waiting to see whether Charlie will pick up on it, which he does. He's probably judging his foe's intelligence.

Is it just me, or was John Reardon's voice even deeper in S1 (I remember I'd thought that before, it's not just this episode)? Or if not deeper, different somehow.

Rex displaying his intelligence as he "infiltrates" the bad guys' hideout. Also, I'm kinda curious about his screentime in this episode. If I'm right, it's significantly lower than other episodes.

I now remember than Kevin Hanchard had said he filmed all his scenes of S1 at the same time or something like that. I will be looking for hairstyle discrepancies lol

Ah, the old house. And Charlie looking at Rex's empty dog bed. And the first hints of whump as he's shot with a tranquilizer dart. I appreciated that.

Doesn't everyone get their forensics expert with them when looking for a missing kid?

Calm down, guys, it's the first episode.

Not much skill in the henchmen who had kidnapped Evelyn.

Hilariously, Sarah doesn't enter her lab once in the first episode.

I also do notice a not so subtle effort from direction/editing of making sure that Sarah gets in and out of the boat without Charlie's help, I guess they're making sure that Charlie is not doing any of chivalric things a man could do for his female coworker? He does later say that the perp should point the gun at him but it's after he's questioned from the woman herself and after Rex's timely takedown, Sarah is the one point the gun at the woman, while Charlie does the arrest.

Charlie hugging Rex after being separated from him for a whole day.

And Charlie shooting the guy, which apparently no one remembers lol

Jesse getting shot! More whump! I don't think anyone believed for a moment that he would die, though. Also, can someone shoot Charlie? I've been asking for years.

"He's not a dog, he's my partner". Ah, the corniness. I'll allow it.

The ending scene. I can clearly tell that John Reardon has some snack for Diesel in his hand after we've been shown the trick.

I honestly never thought that episode was a good pilot, not because of the quality of the episode itself, I consider it above average for S1. But you give the audience the wrong idea about how this show is going to be. Personally, upon my first watch, I was given the impression that Rex would be alone doing his own thing quite often. Also, it doesn't give the audience almost anything in terms of Charlie and Rex's partnership. And they promoted this show with lines like "good detectives, great partners", etc., focused on the partnership, which is the whole point of the show from its origins anyway.

[yarrystyleeza]

In A Heartbeat (M.M)

"I loved her, father, and her heartbeat was all it took for me to fall in love with her."

Taglist: @mindidjarin @acharliecoxedfan @v4leoftears @galaxies-and-moons-and-cox @itwasthereaminuteago @chronicoverachiever @mattmurdocks6thscaleapartment @chvoswxtch @bellaxgiornata @bunmurdock @bunmurdock-main @shouldbestudying41 @1988-fiend @xxdrixx @munsonownsmyass @shiorimakibawrites @devilsmurdock @saltedlays @babygirlmurdock @starxlightm

[series masterlist / main masterlist]

[Chapter Two: Fixing Ties]

Word count: 6.8k!

Warnings/tags for this chapter: typical show violence, use of guns, blood, the black suit is wet TWO TIMES (first one is implied, second is direct), "The Devil" grins a lot which fucks me up every time I picture him, big doses of fluff.

A/N: the long-waited chapter is finally up! Damn, it's been almost a year since I last updated this wth (literally July 12th of 2023)!!! It really took me a while to fill in the plot holes (aka sit my ass and think). I hope you all enjoy it, feedback is always appreciated! <333

There stood by the window frame, a male figure, one that this city has marked to be its savior, the masked vigilante that kept the evil hiding in its den. The man in black. The man without fear.

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen.

“This is bigger than you, kid,” the man had his gun imprinted in Madilyn's head. She closed her eyes, prayed for her death to be merciful.

“How about you let her go and fight me like a man?” The Devil walked slowly towards them. “And that's the only option you have.”

“You know she has nothing to do with this, McCarthy. Let her go, now.” Oh, Hell, Devil Boy, he was sure-footed. Although he got beaten to death the last time they crossed roads. But The Devil was certain of how things ought to end this time.

One minute he was here, the next he's gone. The large man looked around, loosened his grip on Madilyn, who took advantage to set herself free and take shelter behind the counter.

Her heart raced out of her chest—though she was safer now, she couldn’t help the anxiety that's crushing her pumper.

BANG!

The man hits the wall. But he's much stronger than The Devil. He pushes him aside, The Devil crashes into the bookshelf. But he gets back up quickly from under the piles of books and uses his weight to ram into the brick wall of a man and takes him to the ground, flipping the couch underneath them.

She rises a little to spy on the scene. A wooden baton shoots and flies over her head, smacking into the kitchen wall. She must stay down, and this is her warning.

“Stay down!” he shouts, confirming her suppositions. She's already a distraction with her racing heartbeat. It's crazy—but he wanted to let all this fight be damned, run up to her and hold her tight. He fears for her, he doesn’t want to witness her going through another episode and not being able to comfort her. But, he knows he is nothing more than a stranger —yes, he’s a savior, her savior, but he’s just... a stranger, and he knows it.

The adrenaline rushed back and forth in her veins like raging fire, almost bursting out of her skin. Her teeth grind, she’s shivering. Her heart raced, and the anxiety crawled all over her like ants running up the hill, numbing her limbs, freezing her body.

The Devil receives a good punch, throwing him off to the wall. He recalls her giggling and laughing in the rain. He smiles. She truly is a distraction. His jaw is slack. He spits blood. “You really wanna do this the hard way, don't you?” The Devil asked with his gravelly voice, gutting a giggle.

The man gets up and walks towards his bag, but The Devil takes him by surprise, strangling him with his wooden batons. The man overpowers him once again, breaking the hold he had on his neck and smacking The Devil to the wall.

The Devil wouldn't stop, he can't. If he was anything, he's a menace, a troublesome, a real pain in the ass—and he has to prove it tonight. He gets back on his feet, his boots thudding on the wooden floor. “I can do this all night...” he chuckles.

BANG!

The room bursted with the loud thuds of the men's conflicted fists, noises of clouts and punches whooshing in the air, combined with agonized grunts and groans—aside from the words they spat over each other.

She trembles. Sweat is running down her skin. Her teeth are grinding and clacking. Her body temperature isn't acting right. Her skin was hot, but her limbs were cold. It was distracting, once again. He listened, almost taking a punch when he did. He dodged it, aiming a blow in the direction of the intruder. He was larger than him, but that wouldn't stop The Devil from taking him down—he had to take him down.

She was scared. No, she was terrified. But what took over her mind was the thoughts of why is this man here, and what is it that she has and he's searching for? She's not registered as an official detective for that case yet, how did he know that she's the one working on it? How could he come after her?

Or that's what she thought it was.

She realized how quiet the atmosphere has gotten to be. She peeked her head over the marble counter, stood off her squat slowly. “It's okay... It's over.” The Devil was the last man standing, he assured her with a warm tone, trying to regulate his breath. His gloved fingers shake, and his eyes water beneath the dark fabric.

“You're okay?” she gently asked, the blood on his face glistened in the dim lights. He sighed, thanking God for not testing his limits tonight. He would've killed that man if she got hurt tonight.

“Yeah, don't bother. You just call the cops in.” he demanded, turning his back to her and taking whatever the man was carrying.

“But what are you gonna do with him?” she turned around the counter, arms crossed upon her chest, supporting her towel around her torso.

“I'll take care of him.” he answered, carrying the guy over his shoulder like a camping blanket, “secure your windows better next time.” He left through the window and down the fire escape. She stood still at her place, processing the latter events. She snapped back to reality and walked to her bedroom, got dressed, and immediately called the cops.

Somewhere along the Hudson River shore side of Hell's Kitchen, and in an old, abandoned warehouse at the port, one of the light sources flickered as The Devil of Hell's Kitchen brought the so-called McCarthy in, still unconscious from the beating he took.

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen placed him on a wooden chair and waited for him to regain consciousness, one hand cuffed to a pipe.

McCarthy slowly came back to his senses. With still dim and blurry vision, he turns to look at his cuffed hand and tests it, pulling his fist towards himself. It's locked. There's no escape anytime soon. He looks upwards the light source in the room, only making out something of a shadowy black figure looming from above him.

“Who the hell are you?” he speaks in a fearless deep voice.

“I'm the one asking questions.” The Devil throws a handful of folders on the wooden surface causing a loud and heavy thud. He settles down on a chair on the opposite side of the table. McCarthy recognizes these folders; they were the ones he dropped on his way out of Mr. Lloyd's house.

“I know what happened.” The Devil interrupts the silence as McCarthy stared at the folders stacked under his eyes. “I can help you find whoever is responsible for their deaths and put them behind bars.” The Devil offers.

McCarthy stayed silent for a bit before raising his head with a smirk on his face, “go to hell, kid.” his tone remained sarcastic.

“Well, I might not know exactly what you went through, but I know a friend who did, and I know how hard it is.” The Devil leans forward in his seat.

“You think I'm stupid enough to fall for this sweet talk, kid?” McCarthy shrugs, his voice laced with sarcasm.

The Devil shifts in his seat a little, placing his forearms over the wooden surface. “What do you have to lose anyway, sergeant Nicholas McCarthy?”

He looks up at him. “You think some kid in black pajamas that knows who I am is gonna scare me away? Stop me from taking them down for good?” The Devil chuckles.

“I'm just trying to help you, you're the one serving a couple sentences in jail anyway,” The Devil follows calmly with an even calmer smile, “and for the record, they are a lot, in case you want to know.” McCarthy rolls his eyes and turns his face away. “I have all night long, and I'm not going anywhere,” The Devil leans in closer, his tone turns darker, “and they're already looking for you.”

Meanwhile, sirens were heard racing across the streets, back at the heart of Hell's Kitchen, as Mahoney's team arrived at the scene. He made it straight to Madilyn's apartment where she waited for him at the door, her cat held in her hand and her old Italian neighbor on her side, he embraces her lightly. “Mayfield, you’re okay?” He asks, freeing her.

“Yeah, I am… I assume,” she shrugs, hugging herself, “at least not dead...” she steps aside to allow the cops to start their work. She observes the scene for a moment, recalling the latter events. “You know, I just-- I have this gut feeling that this is the same guy we're after in Mr. Lloyd's case,” Madilyn says, and Brett pulls a face, a little puzzled. “The exact same physical description, same ways of menace, even the way he holds a gun and his choice of words, it's all just so symmetrical that he can't be another person,” she explained thoroughly, “I can't shake that feeling off me, you know me, Brett.”

Brett sighs. “You didn't know what he was here for, did you?”

She shakes her head in complete denial. “I’m telling you. At first, I thought he was here because I'm working on his case, though I was supposed to be officially registered in the morning, and it's impossible that he knew I was applying for this case— it was just assigned to me this morning. Rethinking it now, he could've just threatened me and told me to stop coming after him— but he didn't, he told me he wasn't here for me anyway.”

Brett nods slowly, “and Daredevil?” he asks, he knows that the masked vigilante would never let that slide.

She shrugged, curled her lip. “He took him away, I don't know where— but I assume he's searching him up,” she huffed.

Brett sighs and pats her back. “I'm glad you're okay, Mayfield, and that you’re back.”

“First day on the comeback—” She chuckled, “I suppose we're used to this kinda shit. Thanks, though. I missed this.”

“You think I really care about the sentence? I don't care if they behead me or burn me alive,” McCarthy chuckled.

“I appreciate your high spirits, sergeant, but— unfortunately you won't be able to take one step if you're arrested. As I told you before— they're already looking for you.” The Devil keeps his calm but sarcastic tone. “I help you avenge your friends; you help me put the ones responsible behind bars, we'll be even,” The Devil offered.

“These people deserve to be dead.” McCarthy corrects him.

“Well, death is not always the best option. But rotting in prison is a better one,” The Devil shrugs, “these people don't deserve death, death is merciful.” The Devil stressed.

Silence falls over the atmosphere before a question breaks through the air. “Why should I trust you?” McCarthy asks.

The Devil smirks and leans forward in his seat. “Because I got something you really need.”

The Devil places a file on the tabletop, slides it towards the man on the other side of the table. “This is what you broke into Detective Mayfield's house for—but you were never gonna find there.”

With his free hand, McCarthy reached out to the file cover, eyes going back and forth between the file and what he could make out of The Devil’s face as he unfolded it. Walking his eyes across the page, McCarthy skimmed snippets of some corporations from the paper. “What is this?” he asks.

The Devil smirks, “these are some of the corporations linked to a guy I think you might want to know more about.”

“What does this have to do with it?” McCarthy asked.

The Devil shifts in his seat, “meet Mr. Winston Bennett, one of the funding pillars of the war. He's involved in corruption cases, money laundering, and bribing military officials, for instance. A year ago, he transferred a couple of his main companies’ assets, one of which was to Porter Lewis, his former secretary, he's our key to get to Bennett.”

McCarthy's eyes fall onto his lap, “fuck,” he muttered between his teeth. The Devil could sense the disappointment in his voice, but a man of war like him had seen so much it shouldn’t surprise him anymore.

“I'm gonna make each one of those fuckers pay...” he mumbled.

And that was an oath The Devil took upon himself.

Sounds of evidence bags crunching in the investigators' hands filled the room as they gathered bits and pieces of anything that could be a lead. Flashing lights flickered around the room. Madilyn sat at the dining table and watched as the team took pictures of the scene. A light switched on in her head. “McCarthy...” Madilyn says, “his name is McCarthy.”

Brett turned to look at her, a little puzzle, “McCarthy?” he asked, to confirm.

She nodded, “Daredevil said a name. This name, McCarthy,” she shifts in her seat a little, now completely facing Brett, “now I don't think that's a guess because Daredevil talked as if they met before, and I think they did. Daredevil definitely knows who that guy is.”

“Tech units, file a 6'2" white male dressed in all black with experience in military combat, he goes by the name McCarthy. All operating units, if spotted the suspect with previously mentioned description, arrest immediately.”

“Seriously, Mahoney?!” she exclaimed, angrily standing off of her seat at Brett Mahoney's office, “what do you mean I can't investigate this?—it's my job! You can't force me to stay out of it!” she followed up, almost stuttering for how outlandish this situation sounded to her.

“Mayfield,” Brett responds, pinching the bridge of his nose, too bothered to keep it together anymore, “for the last goddamn time, you can't investigate a case you're involved in and you're fully aware of this. Your testimony may not be valid and even if it is, his attorneys will make sure to use it against you just like what they did with Davis!” he shouted back as he turned to look at her, after trying to keep calm for the last thirty minutes. She remembers this trial very well; it was the downfall of her colleague years ago.

She huffed, sitting back on the chair, “well, I never said I was gonna testify against him in court...” she mumbled, crossing her arms.

“Now you're just being childish, Mayfield! If I don't stop you, the court will! And they might as well take back your license, so don't go reckless, I already have plenty of idiots up to my ears!”

“Brett, please,” she pleaded, her eyes blurred with the tears she fought to keep, “this is my chance to come back. You didn't just call me out of my shift to stop me from doing it—” her voice cracked, “you know I've always wanted to come back.”

“And you know you've already been causing trouble all around while working with the Bulletin. And you also know that you were always a second away from arrest for obstruction of justice—multiple times!”

“Well, that means I'm smart and I can get away with it—”

“That means you never pull your head out of your ass and see that you're a bull in a China shop!”

“For the love of God—”

“I'm not gonna say this again, Mayfield. If I ever find out you got involved in the matter, I'm gonna be the one to arrest you, and that's my final word.” he towered over her as he leant over his desk.

“Fine!” She stood off her seat and walked towards the door.

“I don't wanna hear you talking about this case again, Mayfield!” Brett said before she slammed the door behind her. Turning around with a sigh, she saw her three colleagues standing in the narrow hallway right in front of the door, they're concerned, deeply.

“So?” Foggy started.

“I can't investigate the case,” she shook her head, “but you guys can still take his case! Not Mr. Lloyd's. His.”

“Why take his case? He tried to kill you last night!” Matt countered, scrunching his face.

“He threatened to, he didn't want to kill me, I was never his target and I already told you that!” Madilyn countered back.

Matt sighs, running his hand across his face. “You can't risk it,” he calmly says, “what if he comes after you again?” Matt doesn't want her to get caught up in the mess. She's not made for such things. The things he knows about the case might crush her.

Madilyn shook her head, “he won't, I'm not even his target, trust me,” she stopped. “Look, you just--... you're gonna investigate him, just in case, because I don't think that's a normal case, and I think it's going to have a great impact on the firm. I have this gut feeling and it never disappointed me.”

Her eyes darted back and forth between the three of them. “Karen, say something?” She knows Karen will always have her back.

Karen nodded, “I say we give it a shot?” she stated, looking at both Matt and Foggy next to her. Madilyn sighed with a smile. “I mean she's right, there's nothing we could lose.”

Matt clenched his jaw, “you don't have to support her just because she's your friend.” Matt was worried, and he couldn't hide it anymore.

“But Matt,” Karen countered, “she's right, there's something off about this case, and I trust her guts.” she explained, tucking her blonde strands behind her ear, “a guy she never knew broke into her house, saying she had nothing to do with what he’s doing, yet proceeds to break into her house and takes something she never knew it existed in her home. Something is off.”

“Foggy?” Madilyn called, asking for his opinion as he stood silently watching the conversation going back and forth.

“Well,” Foggy slowly shrugged, “I can't say I wasn't intrigued by what they're saying...”

Matt rolled his eyes behind his tinted glasses, “I can't believe you're agreeing with them on this, it's dangerous.”

Foggy glanced at him with a knowing look, “it's not our first time involved with such things, buddy.”

They all stared at Matt, waiting for his final answer. He huffed, unclenching his jaw, “we're gonna do it, but...”

“But what?” Madilyn whined, almost comically.

“But none of you put yourselves in trouble. That means no going on investigation night shifts, no playing undercover cop and surely, no participating in dangerous political positions or situations.” he pointed a finger at each one of them. “And because I don't have experience on such acts from you yet, please don't do any of these, it's dangerous and ridiculous and I don't want a third troublemaker on the team.” he directed his speech to Madilyn. It was really funny coming out of his mouth; it was like he was talking to himself. Foggy stared at his feet to distract himself from laughing at what Matt said.

Matt tilts his head, waiting for her answer. She huffed, rolling her honey eyes, “fine.” They all suspire.

“Let's go pick up some coffee and see what we've got for starters, shall we?” Foggy suggested. The girls agreed by taking the lead on the way out. “A fourth you meant,” Foggy corrected in a whisper as he let Matt hold his arm. Matt chuckled. “You should really take your own advice sometimes, buddy. Let's go.”

“I'll meet you downstairs tomorrow, alright?” she asked him, standing at her building entrance, tugging on her purse strap.

“Alright,” he smiled. “Goodnight, Madilyn, take care of yourself,” he fixed the red blinds barely hanging on the bridge of his nose.

“You too.” she smiled back, “Goodnight, Matt.” She said, before turning around and walking towards the stairs.

She took the stairs to her apartment. As she unlocked her door, her cat purred and scratched the wooden surface, eager to reunite with her. “Hello, little one!” she carried her in her arms the moment she walked into her apartment, “did you miss mommy? Oh, did you miss mommy? Mommy missed you too, baby!” she playfully nuzzled her cat's head. Ivy trilled. “Well, I'm hungry too, I'm gonna make us something.” she headed to the kitchen as she cradled her cat. Searching in the pantry, she found a can of soft food. She emptied the can in a bowl and walked across the room to place it at her cat's area.

Once she made sure her cat was indulged in feeding, she headed to her room to change her clothes. In all black outfit and a zip-up hoodie, she sat on the edge of her bed with her phone in her hand, waiting for her call to be answered.

“Madilyn?...”

“Hey, dad. How's it going?” she fiddled with the drawstring of her hoodie.

“I'm doing great, angel... Your mom told me you got that job at the... Nicholson and Madock, I guess?...”

“It's Nelson and Murdock, and Page,” she corrected, “it's a law firm, and recently they got into private investigation,” she recalls the latter events, “so I applied for the job, and I got accepted. Mom probably told you all of that.”

“Oh, yeah, these fellas… I heard they had a questionable reputation...” she huffed a chuckle at his comment.

“Yeah, they did get involved in a couple of things lately, but I assure you, they're squeaky clean.” Her father chuckled at her response. It's been almost six months since she last heard his laughter echoing on the walls of her place. “However, that's not why I called.” her chuckles subsided, she had to be straightforward.

“What is it then, angel?” her father asked, he's probably flipping through one of his newspapers, she knows the way he speaks when he's wrapped up in reading.

“There's a guy I met last night, he said his name was McCarthy and that he knows you very well and wanted to make sure if you're okay,” she stared out of her window as the dim moonlight casted upon the floor of her room. Her father went silent for a moment. She mentally made a note of that. He definitely knows him; he was an admiral; he knows all the people he worked with.

“I don't think I recall this name...” he slowly answered, “no... I don't think I know a guy with this name...”

“Yeah, I thought so…” she clenched her jaw, already calculated her next move.

“Alright, angel... Gotta go now... Your mom is struggling with the blender again...” he chuckled.

“Alright, dad. Tell her I said hi. Talk to you later,” she said and hung up, grabbing her boots off the floor to wear them.

Another rainy night, she walks over the forming water puddles, splashing her heavy feet into the spills. Her journey doesn't take long, her destination is only a twenty-minutes-away walk. She took the elevator of a building and rang a bell.

Once. Twice. Three times.

“Who is it?” a guy calls from inside, his voice approaching the other side of the door.

“It's me, Alan. Madilyn.” she answers, “I'm freezing here.”

“Alright, alright, I'm coming...” she heard a noise before he reached the door, “shit...” he cussed under his breath. He opens the door. “Hey, Maddie-- whoa, no hugs,” he raised his hands, “you're soaked, and I might catch a cold.”

“Yeah, you could've answered earlier...” she responded, passing him and into the house, “why is this place so messy?” she grimaced, taking her hoodie off.

“Had a really shitty week at work,” he rubbed his face, his eyes are surrounded with dark circles, “there's a money-laundering scandal going around and it's affecting everyone.”

“Money-laundering? How's that?” she asked, squeezing the water out of her hair.

“The head of the company is suspected to have been laundering money through one of his oil companies,” Alan explained. She hummed. “We still don't know much details about the case, they're keeping it under wraps. It doesn't matter really. What brought you here in this weather, though?”

“Oh, ummm... A guy broke into my house last night,” she started, “and I'm suspecting he's from the military.”

“How can you be so chill about it?” his brows knitted with confusion, “you're talking like you got a gift card from Walmart or something...”

“It was already dealt with,” she shrugged, “not by the cops of course.” she mumbled the latter part.

“Who dealt with it then?”

“Daredevil.”

“There are guards on this floor,” The Devil whispered, hiding behind one of the pillars at the parking lot, next to him was McCarthy, who was visibly confused. “Four.” The Devil confirmed.

“There's two more, they're taking the elevator with him,” he tilted his head to the side a little, “and there's a driver, he's in the car. It's a few minutes away from the elevator, that’s enough time for us.”

“How do you know all of that?” The Devil smirked at McCarthy’s question before rolling to hide behind a car. The man is out of the elevator. He's moving closer with his guards. But The Devil must clear his way first. His dark silhouette moves from one pillar to another. He throws one of his wooden batons at a guard. He's down, and luckily, no one noticed, not yet.

He smells sulfur, McCarthy has taken his gun out of its holster. The Devil shoots his other baton, but it aims for McCarthy's hand, throwing the gun out of his grip, sending it clattering across the floor. “No guns,” he whispers.

“Come on...” McCarthy rolls his eyes.

“There’s noise on the floor, 10 o’clock…” one of the bodyguards talks through the handheld transceiver as he walks towards the source of the latter sounds. The Devil takes advantage of the situation, silently attacking the man from behind, sending him into a short sleep. Meanwhile, McCarthy has taken another one down with the back of his gun. The last one was an easy target, The Devil smacked him with a baton, knocking him unconscious. As he drags the man away, he hears a click behind his back.

BANG!

He dodges the bullet and turns, knocking the gun out of the bodyguard’s hand and blowing him with a punch in his chin. The man falters in his steps but manages to aim a punch in The Devil’s face, The Devil strikes him before he could react further, knocking him to the ground, as McCarthy attacks the other bodyguard with a blow to his head.

The man freezes for a moment before bolting towards his car, but to no avail, The Devil corners him against the car before he could reach the rear door’s handle as his driver escapes the scene.

“You’re not gonna hurt me,” arrogantly, he speaks, “I’m too influential, I can destroy you—” but before he could finish his sentence, he was blown with a fist to the face, McCarthy’s fist, sending his rectangular glasses shattering across the concrete flooring.

“Not as influential as you may think,” McCarthy comments.

“Don’t you know who I am?!” he shouts. They did not flinch.

“We’re not the kind of guys who’d bully a random rich business man,” The Devil smugly smiles and answers after swallowing his desire to punch him in the face, “but I appreciate the effort you put on a show.”

“We believe you have some information that we need…” The Devil starts.

“Winston Bennett,” McCarthy cuts him off offensively, “does that ring any bells for you, prick?” The Devil sighs, rolls his eyes behind his mask.

“You were his secretary, more like his right-hand man,” The Devil continues.

“Then why are you coming after me, bastards? Why not go after him?”

“Where does he keep his files?” The Devil ignores his rude response, still holding him by the collar of his swanky gray dress suit.

“Why the hell would I tell you—” The Devil slams him against the car, his head hits the metallic body.

“Answer the question.” His voice is coarse and dull, “where does Winston Bennett keeps his files?” McCarthy pulls his gun out of its holster and points it Lewis’ head, the muzzle is almost carving a circle in his skull. The Devil tightens his grip on Lewis’ necktie. His neck turns red and swollen with the obstructed air and blood.

“A safe…” he groans.

“Where the fuck is that safe?!” McCarthy snaps, imprinting his gun further into Lewis’ head.

“Diesel…” he chokes, “Diesel Gush… the executive office… a painting…” he coughs and wheezes, “please…” he pants as he pleads. The Devil lets go of his collar enough to breathe before aiming a punch straight to his nose, knocking Lewis down with a bloody nose on the gray concrete floor. As he tries to regain composure, he looks up, but no one is there anymore.

“Did you find anything?” Madilyn sleepily asked, resting her head on the couch arm and her eyes are half opened.

“There are hundreds of thousands of people in the navy under the name McCarthy,” Alan answered, still staring at his screen, “of course I'm not gonna find him, I'm not a digital magician.” Madilyn stood off the couch. “Wait, where are you going?” he asked, turning to look at her walking to the door.

“Calling it a night,” she answered, putting on her boots, “call me if you find anything, alright?”

“You're sure you could go home like that?” he took his headphones off, resting it on his neck, “you can stay the night here if you want to.”

“Nah, I'm good.” she shook her head, already opened the front door, “I can walk home... Or take a cab... Or whatever...” she mumbled, “I'll text you if I find any new info on him, alright? Alright.” she says, closing the door right after.

She walked down the stairs and out of the building. The rain stopped, that was one good thing, at least she wouldn't have to fight both the water and sleep.

“You know you can't walk home looking like that, detective.” a familiar voice says, before coming out of the dark and revealing himself.

She gasped, pulling her gun out, aiming it at the shadow man. “Jesus!” she clutched her chest, “I almost shot you!”

The Devil grinned as he approached her, “it's too late to walk home alone,” she lowers the gun, “and you're a detective, you should be on alert. Not sleepy.”

“I was sleepy until you showed up and scared the shit outta me,” she mumbled. He barks laughing. “You enjoyed it that much?” she asked, she couldn't hide the smile on her face.

He shook his head in denial, “I never meant to do that…” he chuckled, his gravelly voice is amusing, “I wanted to be gentler.”

She looks down, biting back the smile on her lip; his figure is already distracting more than the sleepy bees buzzing in her head. “So, I guess you're here to walk me home, Mr. Devil. Right?”

He shrugged with a smirk, “you can say that.” she nodded to his response.

“Guess I don't need to show you the way,” she says, “unless you insist,” he chuckled. She made The Devil laugh three times, in contrast to the bluntness he was known for, he sounds gentler. His laughter sounded pretty amusing, too. It’s not like she’d feel the butterflies crowding her stomach whenever she hears it, or is it?

As they started to walk, the sky steadily dimmed, the moonlight softly hid behind the clouds, and the rain droplets bounced off their shoulders once again. She hugged herself tight to keep her body heat, yet the goosebumps rose on her forearms beneath her dark soaked hoodie. She looks at his toned muscles peeking from beneath the wet and stretchy fabric, she’s glad he couldn’t see the red flush on her face, she hoped.

“How did you know I was there?” she broke the quiet pitter-patters of the rain, “I mean…” she trailed off for a moment, shrugging and looking down at her boots as they gently broke the surfaces of the puddles.

“I was overlooking the area when I found you walking out of the building…” he wasn’t lying though, he knew she wasn’t home so he had to watch over her.

“That makes sense…” she shrugged.

The rain continues to softly drop, showering the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. It's warm, it’s calm, it’s safe. She glances at her side, he’s quietly walking, quieter than the rain. The pitter-patters fade into the background, her heart steadily beats in her chest. The anxiety enzyme in her blood is lower than the night before, almost no longer exists. She suspires, calmly, she feels alright. It warms his heart.

“So…” she speaks again, breaking the silence for the second time, “about last night…” he huffs with a smile, “what did you do to him?”

“Well, we’ve come to an agreement…”

“What was he doing in my house? Then he said it doesn’t have anything to do with me?” she speaks her thoughts, “doesn’t make sense to me…”

“That, um…” he sighs, he knows why McCarthy was there, he just couldn’t tell her. “Couldn’t really get it out of him…”

“Yikes…” she muttered, “but thanks anyway, if it wasn’t for you I would’ve been dead… I guess.” He smiles.

“Guess you’re home now.” The Devil speaks.

“I’ll see you around?” She looks at her building’s entrance and then back at him, but he was gone, like he was never there. “Oh…” She sighs and walks into the building, closing the door behind her and taking the stairs afterwards. She unlocks her apartment door and places the keys on the console table.

Kicking off her wet and muddy boots, she takes off her dampened zip-up hoodie and t-shirt, and walks in the direction of the kitchen. She opens the fridge, retrieving a cold bottle of water.

“You keep forgetting to close your windows, detective,” she heard a voice from behind her. She gasped and turned, she finds The Devil standing at her window with a grin. It was so hard for her not to smile back, or, at the very least, not fall for it. She raked her fingers through her dampened hair, biting her lip to hide her grin. “Goodnight, detective.” he says with a smile.

“Goodnight, Devil.”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

He walks to his door as he buttons up his white dress shirt. It's her. She's pulling onto the strap of her purse. She wore a dress today; it's softly brushing again her skin. Her hair is tied in a low bun, and it's a little messy; her dark bangs are straying out of it. But her fragrance was as lovely as always, floral, and sweet like vanilla. His heart smiled behind his ribcage as he prepared himself to open the door.

“Good morning, Matt-- whoa, God! Are you okay?” she exclaimed, her smile disappeared, and her eyes are gone wide, “what's that big bruise next to your eye?” she's hesitant to check it.

“Slipped in the shower last night...” he says, smiling apologetically, “good morning, Madilyn.” He opens the door for her to come in. She walks down the hallway and stands by the end of it. “Please take a seat,” he says as he walks to the kitchen. She sat on his couch as he started the coffeemaker up.

“I called you, but you didn't answer, so... I thought I should check on you,” she said, placing her purse next to her on the leather couch.

“Sorry, It's my fault... I probably left it on silent.” she nodded to his answer.

“Did you apply any ice to it-- I mean the bruise?” she asked, staring at his muscles moving beneath the white dress shirt as he prepared the coffee. He was impressive, she didn't have to think about it twice.

“Not sure if I did..” he answered, too carried away in his search for an extra mug in his cupboard, “I can do it later at the office.” He found one and placed it next to his.

Her eyes darted around the room, “this looks cozy, the place,” she stated, “did anyone help you with the decor? I mean—”

Matt chuckled; her question warmed his heart. He shook his head, “no, I was told it was like this when I first rented it.” she nodded and hummed to his answer. Her eyes fell to the coffee table, it was neatly arranged, his mail was sorted, his phone was aligned with his folded cane and briefcase. It was a pleasing scenery to see.

“Creamer or no creamer?” he asked, her head flies to look his way, he's turning her way with a warm smile.

She knows he couldn't see it, but she smiles back, “creamer,” she says, “two spoons of sugar.” He nods and continues his work.

She picks up his folded cane to inspect it, she's never seen one this close, and it looked interesting. She doesn't notice him placing the mug on the table in front of her. He cleared his throat, “your coffee,” he says as he straightens his back and heads to his room.

“Thanks,” she says, taking the mug off the table and drawing it to her mouth to take a sip. It's sweet, with a hint of vanilla. She hummed contentedly as the dulcet taste swirled in her mouth.

She stood off her seat and walked to the window, the foggy but slightly different in color tiles were beaming with light. She leant onto it, looking outside to make out a mirage of the neighborhood. She could see the windows of her own apartment on the other side of the the street, her cat was standing by the living room window, biting the green leaves off the branches of the plant she left on the windowsill—but Ivy couldn't see her.

In the other room, the heat was rising up his neck, he was nervous, his hands were shaking. The sound of her heels softly clicking on the wooden floor makes his heart tick faster with each step she takes. She takes a sip of her coffee, her heart beats faster and she's smiling. He's jittering with each breath she takes, she's looking outside the window and tucking her stray bangs behind her ear, her earring swings to the movement of her hand, and his heart sways with it.

He regrets not answering the phone, he wouldn't have to shake like a broken blender despite her standing in a completely different room—yet he couldn't leave her waiting downstairs.

He couldn't tie his necktie, no matter how hard he tried, his hands kept trembling and his mind kept straying. “Damn it...” he cursed under his breath, but it was loud enough for her to hear it.

“Are you okay, Matt?” she asked, still giving him privacy. He walked out of his room, necktie in his hand and his face is flustered.

“Couldn't tie it,” he sighed. She approaches, his heart is burning, and the blood is pumping wild in his ears.

“Can I help you with it?” she asks, her fingertips are softly touching his. He nods. She feels his hands shaking beneath her touch. “Are you alright?” she asks with a smile, her voice is warm with worry, “you're shaking...”

He knows, oh Hell—he knows. “I... I don't-- I don't know...” he blurts, “maybe I'm just... Tired... Yeah.”

She takes the black tie and starts wrapping it around her arm. “Learned this trick a while ago,” she says, “you spread the thick part along your arm and wrap the thin part three times around your wrist,” she explains, “then you pull the second loop through the first loop... And we're done. You're just gonna have to put it on.”

She smiled proudly at herself. “I'm just gonna adjust it a bit...” she fixes the length of each end and widens the loop. “Can I help you put it on-- unless you want to--do it yourself—”

He shook his head, “of course—you can... Thank you.” he smiles with his red face as she passes his head through the noose.

“You're welcome,” she responded with a grin, fixing his collar around the noose before fitting it around his neck. “It looks good,” she addressed, smiling, “not because I tied it, of course…” she mutters, he giggles. The sunlight beamed upon his smiling face so gently, the tint of the glass softly shaded his skin with colorful auras. “Is there anything else that I can help you with?” she offered.

He shook his head, “thank you,” he gestured a thumb to his bedroom, “I'm just gonna get my suit jacket.” She nodded and hummed, watched him make his way back to his room and put on his suit jacket. He walks back into the living room and picks up his briefcase, phone, keys and cane— off the table. And without saying another word, they leave the apartment, hands tangled, hearts tied.

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