#i talked to my boss and her boss and explained i was being excluded despite my attempts to interact

[lavender---sunshine]

Me, scrambling on hands and knees, desperately grabbing hold of the scrap of happiness and energy my brain will spare me in the gaps between migraines and crippling depression long enough to make myself a home cooked meal and some banana bread: Am I... better than everyone else?

[gartenofbanny]

WARNING: DIRTY-ISH IMAGES IN THIS BLOG

Guys, I have a confession to make. I believe Sallie May is one of the most overrated characters in Helluva Boss.

I don’t believe she’s overrated simply because she’s trans. It’s just for a different reason that I will explain shortly, but first who is this character I'm talking about?

Who is Sallie May?

Sallie May is Millie’s sister who debuted in Hell of a Boss Episode Five, the Harvest Moon Festival. After some time after the release of the episode she was pretty popular among the Hell of a Boss fandom

So what're my thoughts about her overall? Well, Sallie May is a character, that's pretty much it. I don't have any opinions on her as a character because she isn’t fleshed out. She is Millie's sister who is transgender, that's really what Sallie May is. She looks pretty, but Sallie May doesn't have any standalone character similar to Octavia and Millie.

So that's how I feel about Sallie May, she's overall just a side character. It's cool that they added her to the show, but that's all.

Now that, that's out of the way I'm going to talk about..how Vivziepop and the other creators used her and why I don’t like it. This is going to be pretty controversial for me to discuss so don’t pull out your pitchforks yet.

How Vivziepop and the other creators used her

What I don't like upon Harvest Moon Festival’s release is that a lot of people, including me were not aware that Sallie May was transgender and there was very little indication of that. The only thing that points out that Sallie May is trans is her horns.

As people know, Male imps and Female imps have different patterns for their horns. However, that information is not shared within Helluva Boss.

It requires outside research like in the wikis, Livestreams, or people telling you in order to make sense.

Upon first watching Harvest Moon Festival, I had no idea that Sallie May was transgender until a Reddit post basically told me that she was.

If you're going to have a character with a certain gender identity, establish it within the series. It could've been something simple like a pin of the transgender flag or a button that has the colors of the transgender flag.

The writers of Amphibia did it with Sasha where Sasha had a bisexual heart sticker on her rearview mirror. It doesn't have to be something big, but it can be small and easily noticeable.

I don’t get how people consider Sallie May to be a trans icon when lots of people didn’t even know she was trans in the first place.

Why I believe she's overrated and why she's loved within the Fandom

Now the real question is why do I believe she’s overhyped? Well, simply put it she does not have much screen time overall. Sallie May has around 13 to at most 20 seconds of screentime and Harvest Moon Festival is 17 minutes and 30 seconds long excluding the credits.

Sallie May doesn't make an appearance later on in the episode despite the fact that Millie and Sallie's mom, Lin said that Sallie May would compete in the Pain Games. Not once is Sallie May shown in the Pain Games.

Sallie May also doesn't appear later on in the episode. Viv and Brandon just include her in those couple of seconds and decided "That's all she gets".

But why is Sallie May overrated as a character? Well, it's simple, merchandise.

Despite being a side character, Sallie May is present in a lot of merch. In the Valentine’s and Summer merch sales for Hell of a Boss, Sallie May is highly sexualized.

Sallie May hasn't gone through the transition surgery, which is fine, but the merch puts A LOT of emphasis on that.

What I mean is that…her bulge is showing.

Sallie May's swimsuit and Valentine’s merchandise are clear examples of this, they just let Sallie May’s thing bulge out with no care in the world. Why is it that Sallie May’s bulge is exposing itself in nearly all of her raunchy merch, but none of the characters who identify as males (except for Chaz) are not?

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe Sallie May is really overhyped because she’s sexualized as hell. I get that people like her because she’s trans and that we have a trans character in Helluva Boss, but then again there are also two other characters in this show that are trans.

And one character in Harvest Moon Festival that is also trans

At least that’s what the horns and hair color imply, but I don’t see the fandom falling head over hills for these two characters.

The trans rep in Helluva Boss sucks, Sallie May has more screen time as merchandise than she does as an actual character. Let that sink in.

I am not transphobic, just stating the truth. Thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a nice day!

(This is basically the transcript version of a video I made not too long ago)

[mytemporarycomfort]

His Lady

A/N: I might be coming back to edit this one since I needed to dump this. It was a hard day at work and I needed this.

Revali x reader

Summary: Revali defends you from your asshole boss.

warnings: Asshole boss

The banquet after the defeat of Calamity was grand to put it simply. Everyone from all corners of Hyrule was attending. No one was excluded. The Champions put on their best face forward as the people of Hyrule all cheered as they passed. By dinner, Daruk and Link had already scarfed down half the pantry and some. Urbosa and Mipha talked in the corner, occasionally greeting attendants who wanted to give them gifts of appreciation. Revali was on the beams of the ceiling refusing to "take part in all this nonsense." It was too crowded down there, and he was still on guard so soon after the defeat. He darted his eyes around occasionally trying to look for some more familiar faces that weren't crowded around. Then he spotted one of his favorite person of course. You were actually in his medical head quarters quite often after the calamity was defeated. You cared for him quite a bit despite not being a healer. None-the-less, you were always pleasant to be around. You had quite the soft side and you were truly a genuine person through and through.

Revali looked over at you doing your own business as usual. You worked really hard for what you were doing and it irked him the way your boss would pick at your work. Your boss should be grateful that you were working the way you were under the circumstances you were in. It was all "Your placement is off!". It wasn't, or "You're being too slow." You weren't.

He was probably just scared, Revali thought to himself, that you would take his place as head servant or something stupid like that. If anything, and if he had any say in it, Revali would merely demote him and humiliate him for what has putting you through.

Your face was calm and blank though all of your bosses scrutiny but on the inside, it was taring you apart that you weren't doing as well as you wanted too. He was close to considering shooting him in the big toe if he kept continuing until he heard a loud crash. He looked over to see you panicked, over some plates you dropped. Your boss came fuming over to you.

"(Y/N)! Look at what you've done! Explain yourself!"

You looked down at your feet. You tried to speak but it was hard. It felt like everyone was looking at you and the mistake that you made. You were embarrassed beyond repair.

"Is this how I trained you, hmm?" He continued, "Is that how you show your appreciation to me, by dropping everything that the king owns? Are you trying to get me into trouble!"

Your jaw opened and closed. You were on the edge of telling your boss off or crying. You didn't know which one you wanted to come out first. As your boss was about to grab your arm, a gust of wind floated down.

"And what's this?" Revali landed next to you. "I sure hope you weren't hurt. That was quite a bump to your back wasn't it (Y/N)?" He said as he glared daggers at the man. He stood just next to you, close enough that if you relaxed, your shoulders would touch. "I wonder, how long have you been working today, (Y/N)?" Revali asked.

"Wha-what?" You stammered. It was the first words you have spoken all night.

"You look quite tired, not that you wouldn't be with this thing screaming in your ear. So how long have you been working?"

"Look, Champion Revali, I'm sorry about what she's done. Please forgive her." Your boss said.

"Pfft, forgive her for what? I saw what you did." Revali scowled at him. "You think you're so clever don't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Pathetic. Now pray tell, why did you push my poor little (Y/N) when she was carrying all those plates? I saw you from up there you know." He gestured to the top of the beams. A flush came up the back of your neck. Your boss stuttered and as hard as he tried to deny it, he knew he was caught.

"You know what, this is ridiculous! I trained you girl, and all you do now is go around and sneak off with a Champion! This is ridiculous!" Your boss yelled. He took off his apron, threw it on the ground and started to stomp off. Before he even got 2 feet away from the mess, Urbosa stepped in front of him.

"Now now, where do you think youre going?" She said as she loomed over the man you once respected.

"Champion Urbosa, I...."

"Don't you think you should also help clean up the mess as well? I do believe you owe our dear Revali's lady an apology." She stated a matter of factly. Your bosses face became so red it was amazing that he hasn't exploded yet.

He turned to you, seething, embarrassed as well, and said, "My apologies." As he stormed off, He yelled "Where is my stupid mop?"

Your shoulders finally relaxed as he left your sight. You looked around and slowly, everyone seemed to return to their previous conversations. Your face finally relaxed and breathing became so much easier now.

"Thank you Revali." You smiled. "You didn't have to do that, but I am grateful for it."

"Who hired that fool?" Revali joked trying to lighten up the mood. You chuckled. "But, please (Y/N), no more work for you tonight. Champions orders or something. come with me."

"But I still need to clean-"

"That loud moblin of a man you call your boss can do it.'" Revali stated. "Now, if you'd like, I would love some company to the balcony. If you want to get changed, I can wait for you there."

[studiojeon]

troubled outsiders | intro - jjk

| summary | -  how you two end up pining for each other.

warnings: none :) 

content: idol!jungkook x student!oc, friends to lovers (because it’s THE superior trope okurrrt), jungkook is quiet and shy but a social butterfly when needed (and when it comes to oc but you’re not supposed to know that yet), oc is both a badass and a socially akward queen, she has TWO friends and only because one is dating the other (like... same), the Lee Charyeong is her bestie, oc works at bighit and feels like everyone either fears her or hates her, author nim is a crackhead and has no plot planned for this series whatsoever (doesn’t know if she’ll keep this up, we’ll see).

words: 1.93 k

His presence was overwhelming, to say the least. Even if he were surrounded by six hundred other equally handsome men, somehow, to you (and the majority of the female population, at that point) he was as captivating and magnetic as they come. Jeon Jungkook didn't pay no mind to no one, but sure as hell everyone became hyper aware of his existence and essence in time. And that didn’t exclude you.

Yet, as nonchalant and indifferent as the man could be perceived, in reality he was more considerate and friendly than the aura he exuded. You knew this because working in the same company had to teach a thing or two about the people who literally carried said company and the whole industry at some point, still you barely knew four or three people, including your assistant and Jungkook, whom you had met once.

The opportunity of working at the company had come to you out of the blue, quite literally, you were attempting to send one of your assignments in when an email appeared in your notifications during your sailor moon study break. 

HYBE Entertainment

We’re glad to inform you that you’re being recruited for the position of Logistics Manager in one of our sub companies, BIGHIT Entertainment. We’ve thoroughly looked through the CV you’ve submitted and are very interested in your capabilities and what you can contribute to our organization. One of our other managers will gladly meet you on a day you can both agree on. Make sure to answer this email to get more details about your interview.

“Nani!? THE FUCK?” sure as hell that your eyes and cognitive functions were deceiving you (ADHD) you went over the text a little over three times in a row before the message settled in your mind. This was sus. 

Before even considering a reply you made a quick call. “Fucking Lee Chaeryeong” you spat on your end of the line. “You did this, didn’t you?”.

Her silence was more than enough to have you cursing her under your breath. “I don’t know what exactly you’re talking about but it most likely was me. Does it have to do with a sex toy in particular?”

“No” you denied almost monotonously, guessing the pile of boxes in the corner of your room with her names on them was what she referred to. “Does anything come to mind if i mention BIGHIT FUCKING ENTERTAINMENT?”

It was her. All those conversations during the summer about how badly you wanted to work in the entertainment business as marketing staff of some sort had their effect on your friend, who, despite all your excuses and denials, knew you better than you and your mom combined did, and because of this, was sure as hell you were not making a move towards that goal whatsoever. So, being the boss bitch she was, she took matters into her own hands, was what she explained.

You concluded that was the reason you had reached a point in your life where you had more experience than most recently graduated kids in your field, because Chaeryeong had you moving every summer break. You had been the manager of a coffee franchise and convenience store during you junior and senior years, and also figured a way to improve the marketing management strategy of a fucking restaurant while at it. Not to toot your own horn, but you were kind of cool.

Or not. “I hope this job satisfies your workaholic ass for once, I’m running out of ideas”. Chaeryeong spat before hanging up.

Sure as hell it would. 

On friday afternoon, you made your way to the HYBE INSIGHT building and introduced yourself to your recruiters who promised to give you a call at some point. “It went fine” you told Chaeryeong once you were in your car. And it was the truth, however you weren’t so sure if they would actually hire you at some point since well, you were a girl in a male dominated industry and, in your opinion, there were always better people than you. “Wanna go grab coffee?”

“I want to. But, I have practice today. I’m actually on my way there. Please avoid driving through Hongdae today, this shit’s packed.” You sighed and thanked her for the heads up. You missed your friend, badly. You hadn’t seen each other in three weeks, and you didn’t even live so far away from each other (you did, but it had been worse before). You two had very agitated lives to say the least. Chaeryeong was a kpop group member, and well, you were jumping from job to job and getting your phD in Business Management at the same time. It was hard to find moments to spare together during some periods of the year, but you guess the anticipation made your encounters better.

“Talk about anticipation” you slammed your forehead against your desk, taking a breather after such an anxiety packed situation. Short story: you got the job (for some fucking reason). And you had gone through a whole week of expectancy and anguish. Not getting that job would have broken your heart, and ego at the same time. 

You guessed the law of attraction tactics Chaeryeong had taught you had sorted their effect and were what led you to your current position in life.

“Miss _____, your presentation’s ready” your work assistant gave you a comforting pat in the back as she took a seat somewhere next to you. You were nervous, shitless. It was your fifth week at the job, and being the proactive woman you were, you had collected lots of data in order to come up with a resources management plan.

It was a Thursday afternoon, and more than a hundred people sat in front of you, waiting for your speech. Including him, who you’d once bumped into accidentally during one of your data recollections runs inside the building. 

You hated having the need to impress others yet, hence your anxious behaviour. But this was a decisive moment in regards to your validation in your new job and how you’d continue to be perceived during your work stance (no reason to panic at all)… you needed to get it together.

“I think I just pissed off a bunch of old men right now,” you told your assistant right after you got off stage. “I need a bathroom break”. Linh gave you a reassuring smile, one she always had plastered on her face.

“Take as long as you need to. I’ll give you a call once the rest are done”.

The commute to the bathroom was unnecessarily complicated in your opinion. You had spent a little over a month rushing through the hallways of the building and you swore every single day your spatial orientation got a bit more fucked up. There was no way there wasn’t a single bathroom on the floor you were in, that would just be atrocious. “It’s not completed yet” someone said beside you as you stared at the half empty map the company had projected on a wall next to the elevators. “Where do you need to go?” 

Kim Taehyung of all people in the world was talking to your ugly and unworthy ass. Your breath caught in your throat and after staring for at least five seconds your body finally reacted to your orders. “Oh, um… the bathroom. I’ve been looking for it for a good ten minutes” you explained with a nervous laugh.

“Trust me, I get it. I still get lost over here” he smiled gently. “It’s in the hallway in the middle of the next hallway” 

You laughed at his very ambiguous explanation. “Thank you” you bowed your head and made your way to said destination.

It was in the hallway to your left, not your right, and it took you a while to figure out that new piece of information. Once you were staring at yourself in the mirror, you realized that you looked considerably tired and exhausted from all the social interaction you had undergone throughout the day. You were used to the side stares and whispering you’d get whenever you entered a room at that point, but some days you just wished you could get a break from them. After all, it wasn’t your fault you didn’t look Korean at all, and that you also didn’t fit the stereotype of a foreigner.

You got that from your mom, both the non Korean features and social fatigue. But that wasn’t even the problem most of the time, it was your friendly and smart nature which she had also passed onto you. Some would consider it a blessing, but to you it was a burden, like a clear glass that shielded you from introducing yourself into other people’s realities. You had few friends and people to trust, but in your everyday life you had to deal with the pressure of standing out too much and that came with a lot of negative energy from others. You sigh as you spray your favorite fragrance on yourself. You could be feeling like shit, but no one will ever catch you slipping.

But that excluded him apparently. You hadn’t noticed that on the other side of the hallway was the men’s bathroom and the realization hit you as you were calmly getting some tea from the vending machine. “Good afternoon” the man greeted you as he made his way out the hallway, but stopped in his tracks right after he noticed you. “_____! Hi” he smiled at you and you wanted to die, suddenly forgetting what you were ordering in the first place.

“H-hi Jungkook” You smiled back, poorly attempting to put your wallet back into your backpack. 

“Need help there?” he noticed your agitated state and held your bag for you. He smelled just as heavenly as you had expected, somewhat between big dick energy and flowers. Oh, and he also remained as kind and polite as you remembered him.

Seeming as if he wasn’t planning on continuing his path to wherever he was heading to in the first place, he stood quietly by your side, waiting for you to be done with your deal. “How have you been?” you break the ice for him.

Quickly, you grab your tea and start walking back to the auditorium together, unaware of your surroundings or the suspicions that could arise. “Busy, but very good. How have you been? I saw your presentation earlier… I wish I understood half of what you said but you still sounded amazing”.

And you would never admit it out loud, but you were positive you were blushing (and falling in love too - platonically, of course). “Oh god, you think so? I basically told them they’ve been doing things wrong all along so maybe you’re the only one who’s appreciative of my work” you handed him the second can of iced tea you bought without him noticing. You swear his eyes lit up like stars in the night sky. “Payback for the other day” you smile at him.

The first time you two had crossed paths you didn’t look nearly as glamorous as you did now. In fact, you looked incredibly disturbed and in pain, carrying a huge pile of paperwork in your hands. But as soon as sweet Jungkook noticed your state, he offered you a hand and somehow ended up helping through your multiple data collecting trips that afternoon. It was a nice day.

“Anytime” he took the can in his hands with a shy look on his face. “Unless I’m practicing, you know…” you look down at his feet, with huge black boots engulfing them, and you smile due to their contrast with his personality. “Here, i’ll give you my number so you can call me whenever you need to put all those papers back. Hopefully I’ll be around” he added as he pulled his phone from his back pocket.

Way to get a girl’s number, my god.

[fangirl-creates]

The Most Unlikely Thing

A Stolitz Wedding One-Shot

Inspired by this lovely art by @sator-the-wanderer on Instagram (Link at the end)

(Note: This is my first time writing with Helluva Boss Characters—I was worried they wouldn’t be in character, but I hope you enjoy!!)

Most would say a night like this would never happen. That it was one of the many outlandish and downright ridiculous thoughts that appeared within the mind of anyone who knew them. If you said it outloud, you’d get a quick laugh out of the person you told, then the subject would be changed in an instant-as if it was never said at all.

Moxxie had that thought once. Right around 2AM he woke up from an uneventful dreamscape, and processed the thought with every ounce of his intellect. Even after that, it still made no sense. He turned to Millie’s side, taking a deep breath before he spoke.

“Millie? Are you awake?”

His wife stirred for a moment, a small yawn before she responded. “Yeah, Moxx?” She mumbled.

“I...had a weird thought..” He sat up, running his hand through his snow-white hair, soon scratching the top of his head.

“What was it?” She sat up a little, both curious and worried about what he might be thinking.

“Well-” He paused for a moment, giving the room a good look around before he continued. If a certain someone was here, listening, he wouldn’t hear the end of it. “It’s about Blitz and uh...Prince Stolas.”

Millie’s golden eyes widened as her tail started swishing like a curious cat. Any worry she had was gone, now she wanted to know all the details surrounding this. “Well?? Don’t keep me in suspense!” She smiled eagerly, shaking him by the arm a little.

“So like...and this is just a hypothetical..” He chuckled, smiling nervously for a quick second. “I just wondered for a second...well..” At this moment their eyes were locked, Moxxie’s face now torn between smiling or frowning. He had no idea what to feel. “Do you think they could ever...end up like us?”

Millie tilted her head, raising a brow. “Ya mean like...married ‘n stuff?”

Moxxie nodded a few times. “Yeah, Yeah! Do you...do you think-?”

She put a hand on her chin. “Well...I don’t think it isn’t possible. I mean...I’m pretty sure...excluding their little agreement...maybe they do like each other..”

“Do they though?” He started to lay down again, now staring at the ceiling. “I mean clearly Stolas likes him to the point where he won’t stop gushing over him. But...Blitz?”

“Who knows, hon. Blitz hardly talks about how he really feels. Maybe he does. And maybe one day they will…” The last thing didn’t sound so sure.

Moxxie turned his head. “But?”

“All relationships are complex, Moxx. And those two? Hell, it could take them years before they even think about something like that. But then again…”

“What?”

“Sometimes the thing you least expect might happen sooner than you think.”

Moxxie blinked a couple times, squinting a bit. “Sooo...you do or you don’t think they could-” He was interrupted by Millie giving him a kiss on the lips. She turned the light off next, shifting back into her sleeping position.

“Goodnight, Moxxie.”

Moxxie sighed, slowly closing his eyes as sleep began to cloud his mind again.

He still couldn’t believe he actually thought that. Although it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, it still surprised him no less. But despite how much he just wanted to forget it, it made him think about what Millie said.

It was true Blitz was starting to show a small glimmer of affection towards the Goetian Prince, especially since the rescue from a few nights ago. The concern and sudden display of power through a demonic transformation was enough to make Blitz gawk at the sight of it. And the way Stolas gently cupped his face asking if he was alright afterwards made everyone else in the room stare, Blitz feeling slightly embarrassed by the whole situation.

Yet it still made him think that maybe...just maybe something like that could happen. But that wasn’t up to him. Whatever they decided would leave this idea, this thought, completely within the hands of faith itself.

And with that, Moxxie fell asleep.

———————

Three years ago, it was never spoken of outside of that one night. And neither of the two had ever acted upon such a decision until much much time had passed. But now the stars were in their favor.

The sky was a dark, beautiful crimson that had mixed with a captivating wine purple. The stars were scattered, dusting the sky and turning it into a dazzling display of twilight.

They had kept it small, the only ones being present were close friends and family—which was basically four people. But it didn’t matter how many people were there, or where they did it. All that mattered was that it happened—which had ended up on the roof of I.M.P’s office building.

The vows had been short, with a few important bits here and there; Moxxie having to be both the one to wed them and the best man to the boss himself. He wasn’t sure he had the exact authority to do so, but both explained it was better than having someone else they didn’t know. Because once this got out, they’d have a whole other thing to deal with. But that was a future problem they would solve when it became relevant to them.

Blitz was given a stepstool so he could reach Stolas without having to stand on the tips of his toes. He didn’t want the stepstool, saying that he’d look like a complete joke. But if Stolas had to lift him up for this part, he would be unable to think clearly from the embarrassment.

Stolas didn’t seem to care how many people were present, or where they decided to host the reception. There was only one thing that mattered in this moment, and the smile of genuine compassion refused to leave his face the entire night. Blitz looking up with him while trying to contain himself only seemed to make him smile more. He was adorable.

Both eagerly waited for Moxxie to finish up, Blitz trying to keep himself from falling off the stool by how much he was moving. Of course he stood perfectly still once he heard the last few words out of Moxxie’s mouth.

“You may now kiss—”

Blitz practically jumped into Stolas’ embrace, quickly locking lips with him as the two slowly started to get lost in intimacy.

The four clapped while giving the newly weds smiles of congratulations. But those quickly faded away when they noticed the two weren’t paying attention anymore. The passionate kissing lasted for almost two minutes before Loona had to break them away from each other.

“Hey, lovebirds. Maybe wait till none of us can see you.” She rolled her eyes, putting Blitz down after basically pulling him off of Stolas.

Blitz put a hand on his head, taking a look around. “Oh shit, I forgot we were doing this.”

Stolas bent over with a light chuckle, booping Blitz’s nose. “-and aren’t you so glad we did, Blitzy~?”

The Imp pushed his face away as he blushed a bit more. “Yeah yeah just…don’t make it a bigger deal than it already is..”

“Looks like someone’s trying to pretend he can’t be romantic for once.” Moxxie smirked, making Blitz turn around in retaliation. His face was now a different form of red.

“Well you know what, Moxxie?! You—!” Then he stopped, biting his lip as he put his accusing finger away. “You…did..a good job…tonight..” He mumbled under his breath.

Moxxie kept smirking, raising a hand to where his ear would be. “Oh, what was that? Could you repeat what you said a little louder?”

Blitz shifted uncomfortably, hoping this was the last time. None of this was like him. And in front of his entire friend circle too!

“You…didagoodjobtonight..” He said it louder as per Moxxie’s request, just a bit faster than normal. Now everyone heard him…however-

“Maybe a little louder…and slower?” He leaned in closer.

“Goddammit, Moxxie! I already held back insulting you just let me have this!” He snapped a little, making everyone else just laugh in response. Moxxie put a hand on his shoulder, his smile genuine.

“Thanks, Blitz.”

———————

The rest of the wedding had lasted a couple hours. Since the group was so small, dancing and talking underneath Hell’s strangely unnatural starlight felt more meaningful.

Eventually, M&M had to leave. But they wished the two best of luck, the wedding present they got the only thing left of them from tonight. Octavia and Loona decided to head inside the office to give their dads space. Now that they were legally sisters, hanging out would feel more genuine. Like you had someone else there looking out for you. Loona now was able to shout anything about being her big sister to anyone who tried to mess with them.

Up on the roof, Blitz and Stolas were laying down on what used to be the tablecloth to the buffet, staring at the stars. Blitz had taken advantage of using Stolas’ chest as a fluffy pillow. It was so comforting, like he could just lay there forever and never get up. But then…something did make him get up. He sat and hugged his knees close, his expression somewhat distraught. His eyes turned briefly to the owl demon, feeling strange.

“Stolas?” He finally broke the silence.

Stolas had already taken note of Blitz sitting up. But he quickly sat up when next he saw his partner’s face.

“What’s the matter, Blitzy? Are you feeling alright?” His questions were genuine, making Blitz feel worse.

“Is this…is this what you want? Do you really want…me?” Something in his voice cracked and that made Stolas’ heart feel a strike of pain.

“Of course I do! Tell me, what brought this on?” He held Blitz’s chin in his hand gently so their eyes met once more.

“It’s…It’s just how we started out. And everything after that…I don’t know why it took me so fucking long to actually admit that I…” He paused. “…felt this way.”

“And?”

“And…I didn’t think that you would actually..! You…You said yes.” His eyes started to water. “Why the hell did you say yes?!”

Stolas pulled him in close, caressing his back. “Because I love you, Blitzy…And you being there all those times, even when I didn’t truly feel this way—it still meant something to me. And I know it meant something to you.”

Blitz let out a crying sound, something he would never do. At least, not in public. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he just felt so vulnerable now…and he hated it. Stolas quickly responded to this by cupping his face and lifting it up so they were at eye level again.

The Imp’s lip was quivering and his eyes were bloodshot enough to almost blend in with his eye color. The tears were staining his cheeks, big droopy ones making him look like an absolute wreck. He looked even more embarrassed now than he did before.

Stolas wiped some of the tears away with one of his hands, a comforting smile. “Oh, Blitzy…do you think we’d really be here if I didn’t feel this way?”

He sniffed, trying to contain himself before he responded. “No..None of this would be…” He took a deep breath. “I guess I’m so used to pushing people away I never thought you’d actually stick around.”

Stolas gave him another kiss, shorter than before, but something about this one felt even more emotional than the last. Something about this one made Blitz want nothing more than to be with him. No matter what his fears were telling him.

“I love you, Blitzy…” It was the third or fourth time he had said it tonight, but this time it felt deeper.

“I love you too, Stolas…” He returned the kiss, both landing back down on the floor.

It was at that moment they refused to let this feeling leave them. For even though the memory of this magical night would fly by, they would never ever forget it.

End.

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[utilitycaster]

Wizard Breakdown Tracker, #135

Each week I think “man it would have been cool if I had thought of this idea, in which I make jokes about how stressed out the wizard NPCs are, during, you know, the Vergesson heist or something when we were interacting with more than one wizard NPC instead of during a dungeon crawl with only one wizard NPC, emphasis on crawl” but you know what, I persevere, because where else am I going to put song parodies about the death of Vess Derogna that are literally only funny to me? Twitter?

Anyway while I am personally team Jester, in that the faster Lucien is simultaneously disintegrated, run through in the chest with both a vestige and a holy avenger, shot through the heart (and Veth’s to blame), beheaded with a hand axe, banished, punched in the face, and sent into a black hole the better, the party has other plans. Thanks to the long rest though it has been about 12 hours, plus the 4-ish from last week, so I guess we’ll check in with a few of our other wizard friends as well.

As a reminder Caleb Widogast is a PC and thus excluded from this list.

Currently sidelined

Presumably having a good day: Pumat Sol (blissfully unaware of all of this); Allura Vyesoren (saint-like patience and a wealth of experience with disaster adventuring parties; at least this one has a cleric at more than 0.33 FTE, a wizard, and some lesbians), Ludinus Da’leth (this miserable pile of power plays wakes up every morning and is like Isn’t it Grand to be head of the evil wizard council and no one realizes I probably destroyed the first non-drow elven civilization on the continent to arise after the calamity! Fetch me more pastries!).

No idea but here’s hoping he found the cat portion of ScryTube: Oremid Hass

Lady DeRogna, taken off the scene, sorry that your murder happened while off-screen.

Trent Ikithon: I’ve established that I think the only real things that can damage Trent emotionally are Caleb paying too much attention to him so as to destroy his standing within the empire, or else Caleb ignoring him. Honestly if Trent would not continue to torture students and spread propaganda if left unchecked I think he could be slowly murdered solely through Caleb expressing apathy. So despite the amulets of nondetection I like to imagine that somehow, somewhere, Trent felt Caleb reaffirm to Essek that his top priority is still stopping the city from returning, not Trent, and it necrotized just a little bit more of his liver.

Conclusion: 7/10. I went to the OG evil mageocracy and no one knew who you were.

Essek Thelyss: Well on the one hand he’s still flirting but on the other imagine spending a literal century being like “what if we’re wrong about how we approach the fundamental basis for our society” and he just got proved right. I have to imagine he’s got that kind of stress where suddenly everything becomes dead calm and also this explains why he unnecessarily cast a 3rd level spell, which he knows could in theory cause him to lose all his hair, to impress a boy. I didn’t even get into the conversations he had with Caleb, the bad dreams and eyeballs, Fjord teasing him, Yasha being like “ALRIGHT ALREADY”, the horrible Aeorian creatures, the fact that robots might be back(?) or his ongoing terror that the Assembly is after him!

Conclusion: 8/10 but he’s like, kind of having a good time. Essek is in all ways but physical in a Hawaiian shirt right now drinking a Mai Tai and going Nothing Matters; I presume he will have a full breakdown following the boss battle and honestly he deserves it.

Astrid Beck: Others have already established the parallels between Essek and Astrid but honestly I want to highlight it because really, on the one hand we have Essek, whose world is crashing around him because he was right all along and is in terrible immediate danger but surrounded by friends, and on the other we have Astrid, whose world is crashing around her because she was wrong all along and she’s probably not in immediate danger but Eadwulf is the only person she can trust and we don’t know all the details about that either.

Conclusion: 8/10 but in the bad way, not Essek’s kind of fun way.

Wulfpupy:

Conclusion: 3/10. You know that tiktok with the blonde woman with glasses who has a lot of highlighter on her nose who talks about how sometimes if you have guy friends they will say something deeply fucked up and you’ll be like “oh my god do we unpack this right now” and then you look over at them and the only thing in their mind are the lyrics to Kokomo? That’s Wulf. He will activate the second Caleb comes back in town or Astrid actually falls apart but until then he is on Island Time.

Yussa Errenis: I wonder if there’s a small part of Yussa that is part of the city’s awareness and, moreover, can see what Beau and Caleb at least are doing, and he’s like “I’m so simultaneously proud and impatient, also we live in a world that does not have IV fluids so like, hopefully my body still exists in some kind of functioning state when I am rescued” (note: did I google “how were coma patients kept alive in olden times” for this? Perhaps.) Anyway if he is aware he’s also just like, watching all this like “I WILL GET YOU SO MUCH PAPER OH MY GOD CAN YOU JUST KISS THE OTHER WIZARD SAVE ME FROM THE EVIL HIVEMIND CITY.”

Conclusion: I mean still infinity/10, he is still trapped in the city of madness and also if he does have a small part of his mind that is sane and able to observe the material plane he also is aware that Trent and the Volstruckers broke into his tower.

Known Gem Wizard Hotsauce Lutefisk: I know, I know, weird that I brought him up. However consider: Yussa’s wizard tower now contains two wizards in suspended animation, their consciousnesses trapped in eldritch astral sea-related spaces. This is incredibly funny to me. We’re in a real Old Lady who swallowed a fly scenario except it’s centuries-old wizards getting sucked into traps because of their own hubris. The reason why mageocracies no longer exist isn’t the lack of magical knowledge or even because power corrupts absolutely, it’s because literally just put some lightly fried forbidden knowledge under a box with a stick propping it up, add your parody of Long-Term Nuclear Waste Warnings above it, and a wizard will be like “that sign won’t stop me because I CAN read and what’s more I’m better at reading than you are!” And then they get trapped in a box.

Conclusion: what is a breakdown tracker to a man whose mind has been stuck in a gem for, from his perspective, at minimum about 35 years?

[mrsbrekkers]

Bestie I had an idea can I plz request some Jesper x Reader with the only one bed trope and maybe include dancing in the rain? Imma leave everything else up to you because you have an amazing imagination. Once again no rush! 🤍🤍🤍

BESTIEEEEEEEEE hi :) so, i left out the rain bit bcuz my brain went; part two? i can write part two muhhahahahAHHAHA. but yes here's one bed trope tehe

pairings! jesper x reader / kaz x inej, nina x matthias + wylan being the bad bittie he is and making flash bombs

reader is gender neutral per usual in my jesper fics!

warnings! none? mention of a flash bomb, swearing, sexual t e n s i o n, kaz being a shipper of reader and jesper, kaz also being a simp for inej, jesper being H O T, anyways here it isssssssssss

word count! 2296!

WHAT IS IT ABOUT HOTELS?

“So, we’re going to be staying in hotels? Seriously Kaz?” Inej spoke. She’d been the first to speak after Kaz had announced their newest job. It presented the chance for twenty million kruge, which split among the seven, was about three million each. It involved crashing a merchant’s party and killing a few people, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t done so before. No, what irked the team was the necessity to stay in hotels.

“Wouldn’t that leave a trail behind, Kaz? You know, the way to find who did what we’re planning on doing?” Jesper asked, raising a brow. but Kaz simply shook his head. The Crows should’ve known that Kaz had his weird, out of the box ways to cover up his trail. Especially when it involved murder. Sure, people could suspect the Dregs, but they could never pin-point anything big that they were involved in unless Kaz let it be known.

“It won’t. I paid under a different alias. A dead one, but it works all the same,” Kaz responded, looking over at Jesper, who simply laid back into his seat and nodded in understanding.

“What will be the rooming arrangements?” Wylan asked. His eyes were set on the flash bomb he was working on. One to help blind everyone at the party before the killing was done.

“Nina and Matthias will room together. Inej, Wylan, and I will all have our own rooms, and Y/N and Jesper will share a bedroom,” Kaz responded, making Y/N and Jesper slowly turn their heads to look at their boss.

“What?!” They said in unison, making all of the Crows excluding Kaz laugh. Yes, because the suffering of two friends is so funny! Y/N’s eyes didn’t leave Kaz, who shrugged.

“I need my own room, Inej needs her own room, Wylan also does, he’s working on a bomb after all. Nina and Matthias were a given, so that leaves you two, and I wasn’t paying any more than I had on the rooms,” Kaz reasoned, but he did have underlying reasons. Inej and him had a bet on whether the two would get together or not, and for once, he was putting effort into winning a bet. Which explained Inej and her glare thrown his way.

“You can’t switch Inej and Jesper around? Inej and I are good friends! I’m sure she’d love to share a room with me,” Y/N said, looking at Inej, who nodded.

“The issue is not the room itself, but the amount of beds,” Kaz said, smirking just slightly, one that Jesper nor Y/N caught onto since they both looked at one another, realization rushing over their faces.

“There’s only one bed?!” They both said in unison once more, making the Crows all laugh once more, even louder this time though.

“Yep, it was cheaper, and I want to make as much profit as I can from this,” Kaz said, his eyes lifting from the drawing he was now working on with Wylan, who’d set the bomb aside for the time being. His eyes had that look in it. No room for discussion.

Y/N and Jesper sighed, their heads falling to the table.

Inej looked over at Kaz then, her eyes narrowing. “You set this up. Unfair, you’re cheating in the bet,” she accused. Kaz said nothing though, simply going back to the drawing that he’d been doing with Wylan, nodding as Wylan spoke.

“This is bullcrap,” Inej murmured, rolling her eyes as she looked at Jesper and Y/N, who now bickered over who would get the bed and who would lay on the ground.

“No, that isn’t fair Y/N and you know that. You don’t get to claim the bed because you're Kaz’s favorite! One, that’s a lie, Inej is. Two, I have to have a bed! It is that simple!” Jesper argued back, but Y/N shook their head.

“No, no, no! It isn’t that simple! I won’t miss out on a hotel bed because you so desperately need a bed, Jesper Fahey, that isn’t fair!”

And Inej let her head fall to the table, a huff being heard from her. Children.

The day came then. The day for the Crows to arrive at the hotels, and before Kaz could even fully check them in Y/N and Jesper were running down the hall, full sprint. They both stopped at their door, Jesper trying to open it despite needing the key card - which a smirking Kaz had down the steps.

“You imbecile, it needs the key card, which conveniently you forgot downstairs! Cheater!” Y/N yelled. The Crows walked up the steps soon after, seeing the two doubled over, catching their breath. Nina couldn’t help but laugh, walking into the room her and Matthias were assigned. Inej was the next into her room, Wylan across from her. Finally, Kaz arrived in front of the two.

“I didn’t cheat! You started running before Kaz-” Jesper pointed at their boss, who stood with a roll of his eyes. “-finished checking in, and I wasn’t going to give you that head start. Who’s the cheater now, huh?!” The bickering had been quite the site for the past few days. Most of the other Crows found it amusing, especially Nina. The bed hadn’t been brought up since the day Kaz announced sleeping arrangements, so to remedy the problem? The two put their bickering into everything else.

“I’m going to have to buy earplugs from downstairs,” Kaz murmured. He was half sure he’d lose his mind with these two.

“Tell him I get the bed!” Y/N pointed at Jesper now, looking at their boss.

“Tell them I get the bed!” Jesper retaliated his pointed finger shifting to Y/N.

Looking between the two, Kaz had to compose himself to refrain from laughing. He’d really done this. He’d caused this and he wasn’t half mad about it. “Here,” was all he said before dropping the key card between the two, watching both of them scramble to grab it. If only the other Crows were here to see this. He then walked to his room across the way. Of course the room was right next to Inej’s.

Y/N managed to get their hand on the keycard first, standing and opening the door before running towards the bed, hopping onto it. Feeling the comfort as they landed, they smirked. “I win-” but Jesper had also jumped onto the bed, now on top of Y/N, cutting the latter off as they were suffocated.

“Jesper!” Y/N squirmed underneath him, pushing the taller boy off of them. Jesper simply chuckled, rolling over to now lay next to Y/N, glancing over at them as he laid there. He smiled, seeing how they’re chest rose up and down, hair a mess. Their breathing was irregular, but it reminded him of the run up the stairs, full of pushing, laughing. Even if they bickered, Jesper couldn’t help but admire everything about Y/N. How their lips were so perfect. Their skin looked soft to the touch, being lit by the setting sun outside. They glew in the light. They lit up the room they were in. Because even if the sun disappeared, there’d be them. They were the sun. His sun.

Y/N turned their head, seeing Jesper staring at them. “Jes?” They whispered. They watched Jesper shake himself from the trance he’d been in, sitting up and running a hand down his face. They followed him, sitting now.

“Nothing,” Jesper said, standing and walking into the bathroom, leaving a confused Y/N. Humming a bit, Y/N stood and grabbed the keycard and wrote a small note that they were going to Inej’s room. Walking out of the room and knocking on her door, Y/N bobbed back and forth on their heels.

Confusion laced their features, unsure what Jesper had been thinking. Y/N normally was a phenomenal reader of emotions, but it appeared they’d overestimated said ability. Jesper had been staring, but it wasn’t like they had a problem with it. They had stared longingly across the room at one another dozens of times - not that they considered it longingly, more in a friendly manner. Even if it definitely wasn’t in such a way.

Inej opened the door, smiling as she saw her friend. She stepped to the side, letting Y/N in. “What brings you here?” Does Jesper like me? Was the first thought that came to mind to ask Inej. Weird question to ask, but Jesper tended to tell Inej a lot. It wouldn’t be surprising if he had told her. Even then, Inej was the most observant person Y/N knew.

Y/N sat on the bed, glancing around the hotel room, trying to find something to focus on. The two talked for a good hour, playing whatever games they could think of to pass the time. “You know you can stay here if you’d like. Even with the one bed,” Inej offered, smiling a bit. Over the course of a few years, the two had become close. They told one another everything.

“No, no, it’s alright. I saw the double bed in Kaz’s room though. He didn’t get the room just for himself,” Y/N said, glancing up at Inej. A way to be near one another without having to cross boundaries both may not be ready for. A way to watch over one another. Y/N thought of Jesper then. How they looked over one another without meaning too. Whether it be on jobs, or in general around the Barrel; they looked after one another.

Inej kicked Y/N in the shin, raising a brow. “When are you and Jesper going to admit those little feelings for yours?” She asked, making Y/N’s head shoot up.

“I don’t have feelings for Jesper-”

“Denial,” Inej said, crossing her arms. Maybe it was denial. Maybe that’s why Y/N had been so apprehensive to share a room with him. Much more, only one bed. Because they feared their feelings would ultimately be revealed.

“I did not come in here to be told I’m in denial about my feelings, Inej. I was going to offer up potentially going down to the pool, having some time off before this giant heist we’re going to try and pull off, butttttttt not anymore,” Y/N said, standing. A smile was still on their lips though, a small laugh being heard as they walked towards the door.

“I know that offer is still up!” Inej called as Y/N left the room, heading back towards their shared room, they entered, seeing a now showered Jesper. They stopped dead in their tracks, eyes scanning Jesper. He was shirtless, a towel wrapped around his torso. It was a sight to see, and Y/N was receiving a front seated view.

“I-um…” Y/N spoke quietly, tilting their head, trying to take this all in. Jesper’s head lifted upon hearing the small words from the door, seeing his roommate for the night.

“Your note said you were going to spend time with Inej, I expected you to be there longer,” Jesper chuckled, leaning down and grabbing a shirt and pants for the night, but upon heading towards the bathroom, Y/N stopped him, hand on his chest. His eyes shifted down to their hand, then lifted to lock on their lips.

“You wanna come down to the pool?” Their voice was quiet, their own eyes on Jesper’s lips as well. Jesper said nothing, his hand moving to Y/N’s hand on his chest and pulling them to him, his lips connecting with theirs. While Y/N had been gone, Jesper had time to think of his feelings. His apprehensiveness to the one bed. The shared room. It was all because of fear. Fear his feelings would be revealed, but after what Nina had told him days before - “Y/N looks at you like you’re the only thing in the world Jesper.” - He knew he could finally take this step.

Y/N’s eyes shut immediately, fingers moving through Jesper’s wet hair as they were pulled back towards the one bed. The kiss was demanding, needy. Like neither of them had kissed someone in years. Centuries, even. Desire coursed through the two of them. That intimate desire to be close. “Screw the pool,” Y/N murmured, giggling a bit as the two of them fell back onto the bed.

“Screw the pool indeed,” Jesper agreed, his hands finding Y/N’s waist, holding his hands there as they fell back. His lips reconnected with theirs, preparing to flip the two, Jesper wrapped his arm fully around Y/N’s waist, but the knock on the door stopped them.

“Inej,” Y/N murmured, pulling away and walking to the door, opening it and seeing the other Crows there.

“We’re waiting on you!” Nina exclaimed, excited to relax for the night, even if it was just for a few hours. They all needed it. Y/N nodded, entering the room once more with a scoff. So much for screwing the damn pool. There was someone else they wanted to screw though. Clearing their throat, they grabbed their swim stuff, looking down at Jesper who was still on the bed, clearly upset.

“Come on, we can make them pay for that later,” Y/N offered, raising a brow. Jesper rolled his eyes, but nodded in agreement, taking Y/N’s hand as they extended it. When they arrived at the pool, the other’s had already begun their fun, Kaz sitting in one of the chairs, drawings of the heist in front of him, glasses on as if he was watching over his children. His crow children. Inej being the only exception.

[carissalizz]

8X11 DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!

First of all, major kudos to Tracy Spiridakos, the queen herself, for pulling this off and portraying Hailey the way she did. Her acting was beautiful and it really did the story so much justice!!

THAT OPENING SCENE THO!! I truly did not expect that! It was soooooo freaking cute and their interactions were so gentle and genuine! The "day off" reference made me die a little inside and all of this came from literally the first few moments of the show.

The way Jay was constantly there for Hailey showed the dynamic between them two. He obviously knew she felt overwhelmed at his 'I love you' earlier and knew how to support her, even while giving her space. He reigned her in when she was about to go off the rails and that's what I love.

We finally got a Upgess moment!! I always thought that Kim nd Hailey would have a string friendship because they were the only 2 women on a team full of men (or grown children excluding Voight). To see Kim be there for Hailey in her own way is amazing in its own right! That gentle touch showed so much care that Kim had for the other woman. Maybe their friendship just isn't so pronounced on the show, which is why this scene made my heart melt! I hope that shows Hailey that she is supported but her team too!

The scene with Voight and Hailey..... I think Voight knows that there's something going on between his two detectives and are just waiting for them to come clean. The was Voight was talking to Hailey tho.... He was being firm, yet trying to be understanding of how this case pulled at her heartstrings. "All the things that make you bad at the job are the same as what makes you good at it." - this line was so powerful to me.... And I think that this talk with her boss will help Hailey become more determine to be better at her job, knowing she has people like Jay and Hank to turn to. Also, Hank really treats his team like family and I felt like this scene shows how fatherly Voight is towards his team.

Of course, I'm on to the scene at Hailey's apartment. The was he was so soft with her when he replied her question of "you came?".... It already shows that he really loves her and isn't fazed. When she started opening up to him, his face was laced with so much emotion and Jesse Lee Soffer portrayed it beautifully. Hailey, pouring out her thoughts and explaining herself shows how much growth she's been through. It shows how much she trusts Jay and in a way she's showing her love for him too. She wants to be with him and have this relationship with him because (I'd like to think) it's the best thing that happened to her in a very long time. Yet, she doesn't know how to overcome that barrier that stems from her childhood experiences with intimacy and love.

Jay did not waiver one bit. He really accepted Hailey for herself, even parts of her that are broken and slightly more closed off. She was always there for him, grounding him and now he wants to do the same for her. It's really amazing to watch!! When Jay said that he wasn't going anywhere, a look of relief flashed across Hailey's face and it makes me think that a lot of people would have left her after she opened up, making her guard herself even more. Jay isn't going anywhere despite everything that happened and I think in her mind she knows she's found her soulmate. Yes, I'm bringing out that word cuz they are soulmates!

Hailey said "I love you so much" to Jay and my heart was breaking and recovering so fast I really had no idea what emotions I were feeling. Seeing her take that step is so beautiful!! Also, that HUG!! It was full of emotion. His large frame wrapped around her small one ahhhhhh... They really do love each other and trust each other. The way they both melted in each other's arms is so sweet I can't stop replaying it goshhhh!

The whole episode and storyline was written so we'll! I loved all the emotions and dynamics laced throughout and it's so beautiful to see the layers unfold as I watched the episode.

This episode is one of my favourites and I'm sure I'll be rewatching it over and over! I can't believe all the manifesting and hoping for our shop to sail worked! The writers have graced us with the beautiful gift of Upstead and I'm so grateful! Can’t wait to see where Upstead’s gonna go.... (pls get married and have kids) <3

I’m also very grateful for all my friends here on Tumblr, especially @mashleighh!!! Freaking out wth everyone really makes this so much cooler hahahaha love y’alls <3

❤️🥰💕🙏🥺💙😭🤯💜🥳

[beautyofthend]

Kate Fleming - A Character Study

There were many things that annoyed me about the series finale of Series 6, I could talk about it for days on end. But the one thing that perhaps annoyed me the most was the way in which Kate went through massive character development throughout Episodes 1-6 and then that got all but dropped by Episode 7. Dropped in the sense that every piece of character development within Kate through those first episodes had been obvious, explicit; we can see very clearly that Kate had changed in the time she had left AC-12 and joined MIT, but as we got to Episode 7 this character development dropped to mere subtext and having to read between the lines just to understand Kate’s motives. 

I’m going to be exploring that and finding the best possible explanation for Kate’s character because I feel as though it would be very easy to misjudge her without explanation. 

To start I just want to say that this is all my opinion, I’ll try to back up my points as best I can but it is just my interpretation of how I’ve seen Kate as a character. Enjoy. 

Character development is crucial in shows that have multiple series, more so when it’s main characters are prevalent throughout. We, as the audience, need to see these characters go through change, they can’t stay as the same person the whole time. They can have certain characteristics and arcs that remain as we watch their journey but when characters go through situations, like real life, they don’t come out the other side as who they were before. We as humans change everyday, I am not the same person I was last week. Of course, not in a drastic way but events change us, we develop. So when we watch programmes we expect to see similar changes in characters. 

And we do. Throughout Line of Duty we see our main characters, Kate, Steve and Ted, put through many events, some major, some not so. They are often put in danger or will be witness to catastrophic moments: Kate and Steve were present when Tony ended his life, Kate was present when Dot got shot, she was also present when Danny got shot. I could go on but you get the point. We’ve seen our characters go through a lot so we should expect to see their development. I shouldn’t expect to see that Kate remains fairly the same between Series 1-5. 

But let’s dig into that more. Kate is a strong, steely, kick-ass character. She doesn’t put up with things and isn’t afraid to tell someone when they’re in the wrong - she has quite happily pulled Ted up on his wrongdoings over the years. We see Kate in numerous undercover operations, we know that she is an expert at hiding her true feelings as a result of that. She can manipulate people into giving her information and she’s very good at playing on their emotions - but this only occurs under the guise of being a UCO. 

Kate follows a set guide when she becomes a UCO and we see this throughout. I find that she is pushy, never letting her questions up when she hasn’t been given the answer she wanted. She earns their trust by offering her support and being emotionally available for them (some more than others). One particular thing that she always does without fail is slate AC-12 as a means of gaining trust. Everyone she goes undercover for are under the watchful eye of AC-12 so she must show that she has nothing to do with them, that her aliases: Flynn, Foster, Francis, do not side/agree with the actions of AC-12 - this is excluding the first series where we see her using her real name Kate Fleming but she still sticks to the idea of bad-mouthing AC-12 to earn trust. Some examples over the show being: 

“AC-12, they’re robots them lot. They don’t get the difference between a corrupt officer and a decent one who made a mistake.” - To Tony Gates in S1E3

“AC-12, they twist everything and make everyone look guilty.” - To Lindsay Denton in S2E2

“You know what they’re (AC-12) like, fishing for inconsistencies. Anything they can pounce on.” - To Jackie Brickford in S3E3

“AC-12 leaving with their tail between their legs.” - To Roz Huntley in S4E2 - this is more telling as this scene actually takes place in front of Steve and in E3 she does it again, going as far to call Steve a “wanker” in front of everyone. 

The only time we don’t see her using this tactic is in S5, because she has no reason to - she’s not undercover at any point so she doesn’t need to gain anyone’s trust - and in S6 where in which she actually uses her knowledge of AC-12 to reassure Jo. 

“I know the kinds of cases that AC-12 are into, boss.” - In S6E2. She’s not trying to distance herself from AC-12 she’s trying to show Jo that she doesn’t have to worry about anything since “It’s just the way AC-12 operate.” - You could argue that she has no need to bad mouth AC-12 since Jo is fully aware of Kate’s connections to anti-corruption though. (She does also mention that she got “fed up of nicking coppers,” but this is in relation to her own personal feelings rather than AC-12 itself). 

But that doesn’t mean to say she doesn’t slate AC-12 at any point during S6, it’s just that she does this directly to Steve, “You spend too much time on anti-corruption, it starts to change the way you see things.” This shows that despite, in a way, defending AC-12 to Jo she doesn’t particularly side with them and feels very strongly about her reasons for leaving them in the first place.

All this is proof that Kate will go to a number of lengths to keep her cover, appearing to hate AC-12 and people that she trusts just to get close to the people she’s investigating. And she does this fairly successfully, she manages to pull the wool over their eyes - to an extent - and proves that she is a good officer, she is good at cutting off her emotions for the sake of the job. As Dot says to her in S3E2 “You’re a brilliant liar that’s all. Kind of unsettled me,” and Lindsay says something very similar to her in S2.

Kate is a master manipulator when it comes to her undercover operations, okay she isn’t always successful and has had her cover blown a number of times but they’ve always ended up being worthwhile and they manage to bring down the person that they were investigating. It shows that she is very good at her job. And her ability to control her emotions so well, really go against this stereotypical idea that women aren’t in control of their emotions, which isn’t a bad thing. 

We instead see this trope throughout Steve’s character - and Ted to an extent. Where Kate can take control of a situation and push her emotions to the side, Steve isn’t as successful in that department. He is an extremely emotional person and often lets those emotions get in the way of his job. For example, his anger and frustrations towards Tony Gates in Series 1 meant that his vision was clouded and he couldn’t see the wood for the trees, similar to his dealings with Dot -  both occasions needed Kate with her lack of emotions and clear vision to help him. 

Whilst I think it’s good that Jed is challenging these stereotypes and telling us that men can be just as emotional as women, and women can be closed off and cold - even the fact that Kate is a mother and she remains so steely is very telling - I don’t think it always works. I love that Kate is the resident heroine in Line of Duty, she’s always there to save the day and that’s great. But that doesn’t mean she can’t show emotion and that doesn’t mean she has to be so closed off all the time. We see in glimpses that this emotional side to Kate does exist however, after she hears Ted slate Dryden for having an affair with Lindsay (it’s an unknowing attack on her own situation), when she gets locked out of her house and most notably during S6E6 - there is a lot of emotions at play so there is a lot to talk about for that particular episode. 

With that being said, Series 6 does delve into this emotional side to Kate - with Jo being integral in bringing about that development. Unlike the previous series, this one perhaps focuses on Kate the most, showing her in a different setting through MIT and showing her making genuine connections with people outside of AC-12. 

When we have seen Kate outside of the realms of AC-12 it’s only been through her undercover operations, where she is having to pretend to be another person to get information out of others. But finally, in Series 6 we see her perhaps being her most true self. This is shown through the change in her wardrobe, she’s wearing clothes that she hasn’t necessarily worn before. I could go deeper but people have already done that and could explain that much better than I can. But to put it into simple terms, her wardrobe for Series 6 is vastly different from her wardrobe throughout Series 1-5, right down to the shoes. 

(Won’t go off on a tangent too much but one thing I did notice was the fact that throughout Series 1-5 Kate, most of the time, wears heeled boots - on occasion she can be seen sporting trainers or flat pumps but it’s rare - but in Series 6 she starts wearing flat, doc-style boots and can be seen wearing them, along with other flat shoes through the series. Up until that meeting between her and Jo and she’s wearing her heeled boots again - no doubt symbolising how the events of this meeting cause Kate to almost cut ties with Jo as she returns back to AC-12. She continues to wear these heeled boots through the next couple of scenes but returns to the flat ones she’s been wearing this whole time when she goes to save Jo - symbolising that yes she’s letting Jo go but she’s still on her side despite everything.)

Series 6 Kate stands out from what we’ve seen of her from the other series - she seems genuinely happy. She’s able to be herself, not having to pretend. Not having to manipulate others for information or form false friendships. Instead, she forms a close, emotional bond with Jo Davidson and there are many indicators that this is real and genuine and not Kate “pretending” as Jo so aptly put it. 

From the first episode it is very clear that Jo and Kate are close, the first time we see Kate in this episode the two of them are flirting with each other - in front of their team as well. 

“Don’t think I didn’t notice DI Fleming skulking in last minute like the dirty stop-out.” 

“Don’t go there, boss, glass houses.” 

It’s showing that Kate has settled into this new team and new dynamic and is very comfortable. Further pushing this sense of casualness that has been set up between Kate and Jo is in a later scene when Kate comes into Jo’s office and Kate is leaning on the back of the chair next to Jo’s desk.  

When we usually see Kate in a scene with a senior officer she can be seen doing the typical ‘stand to attention’ and the fact that she isn’t here is very telling. She also goes on to say in this scene “I haven’t shared this with anyone else, boss.” Telling us that there is a level of trust that has already been set up between these two - Kate doesn’t need to earn Jo’s trust, she already has it. 

This is very different to how we’ve previously seen Kate, she usually has to earn people’s trust: 

“I just want to help sir,” “Just give me the chance to prove myself to you,” “I’m here if you need to talk,” “If you need my help, just ask,” “I could make it disappear.” - Various phrases she said to Tony Gates throughout S1.

“Anything I can do boss?” Along with telling Lindsay that she’ll say that she was with her the night Lindsay’s neighbour alleged Lindsay attacked her during S2 and turning up to Lindsay’s apartment with a bottle of wine - trying to form a friendship. 

“Thanks for letting me in on this, ma’am. Look, I know we’ve had our differences but, for what it’s worth, I don’t think they’d have replaced you as SIO if you were a bloke,” to Roz Huntley in S4 - she’s also very good at working out how to get to people. She knows that the lack of female diversity and patriarchy is a weakness for Roz so Kate plays up to that (although how much of that is Kate pretending is another story but will get into that later.)

The only time she doesn’t use this ‘buddying up’ tactic is in S3 where she takes on a whole different approach with the ‘MOB.’ Where she had been previously seen, with Tony and Lindsay, to play nice to the people she’s investigating, to earn their trust, in S3 she almost aggravates them. She’s straight in there with questioning them and probing them so that they’ll crack - but I think she also knows that they’re weak, they don’t have that close a bond so if she pokes them enough someone will break away. 

But we don’t see this set up between Kate and Jo, we are thrown into an already established and trusted connection which is done on purpose to show that Kate and Jo have been close for a while prior to the events of S6. Further emphasising this, is Farida’s accusation that Kate and Jo are having an affair - it’s not said without reason. We see repeatedly throughout the time that Farida is in MIT, she is keeping a watchful eye on the interactions between Kate and Jo and it’s enough for her to suspect a relationship/affair. 

What is most interesting however, is the fact that this is the first genuine female connection that Kate has had on-screen. Of course, we became aware of her friendship with Jayne Akers but Kate was also sleeping with Richard, Jayne’s husband, so it couldn’t have been that close of a friendship. We also see a glimpse of a friendship between Maneet and Kate but it’s never delved into enough to make it relevant. 

This is the first time we’ve seen Kate work alongside a fellow female officer and have their connection be something that is real rather than faked - I think this also plays into a lot of Kate’s confusion surrounding her feelings towards Jo. Is her connection with Jo related to the fact that they’re both women who have had to work their socks off to get to the top or is it the fact that there is something deeper bubbling under the surface between them? 

Whatever it may be, there is a strong level of trust between Kate and Jo that sets them apart from all of Kate’s previous UCO interactions. Where she would normally have to dig for information from people, asking leading questions etc, Jo gives Kate information freely (obviously this is done on purpose on Jo’s part since we later find out that Jo wanted Kate on the team to solve the case and henceforth free Jo from the clutches of the OCG). All Kate has to do is ask if Jo is okay and boom, Jo opens up - not totally, but enough to emphasise the trust. 

This is a completely new dynamic for Kate, yes she’s close to Ted and Steve but even then there’s a professional distance set between all three of them. They know hints about each others lives but they don’t know everything; it wasn’t until Mark phoned Steve in S2 did he find out about Kate’s situation. And it isn’t until the last episode of S6 that Kate finally learns about Steve’s painkiller misuse. They are friends and they are close but there’s a small wall between them. But Jo is the one to break that wall and invites herself into Kate’s personal life via the small dates we see them on and Kate wanting to see Jo at the weekend outside of work. 

It’s not just a new dynamic for Kate but also a new dynamic for the audience. The only consistent friend Kate has had across the show is Steve, we see them leaning on each other in a sense and going out to the pub or for takeaways. We see that they’re close (even if they don’t necessarily reveal everything about themselves) and now all of a sudden, we are seeing Kate meeting up with someone else. Talking to someone else, having a friendship with someone else. And it’s nice. Kate deserves to have someone else outside of Steve and outside of AC-12, it hints that she’s able to have a life outside of her work. 

Note: Steve’s “Do you see a life for yourself outside the job?” In S2. Jo is proof to Kate that she can exist outside of her work. 

But now that this trust has been set up between Kate and Jo, we then delve into the moral dilemma that Kate is thrown into once Steve asks her to become a CHIS on behalf of AC-12. 

“Great. So either I’m accused of being a traitor or I become one to avoid being accused?” 

She doesn’t want to be stuck in the middle because she has loyalties to both parties. The trust formed between herself and Jo showing that she wants to stick by her but there’s still trust between her and Steve despite there being distance - this is told through her clothing later on (as pointed out by wecantseeyou here) and also by the fact she doesn’t strictly tell Steve she won’t do it, rather that she will think about it.  

Returning to Kate’s relationship with Jo and what solidifies the bond that has been set up between them is that scene that takes place at the end of the first episode. We see Kate watching as Buckells is laying into Jo about her decision to not charge Terry Boyle. Kate appears to be the only one watching, or at least the only one that cares enough - shown by the fact she follows Jo out when she leaves the room. If this was undercover Kate this would be something we expect to see, she would use this as an opportunity to swoop in and provide emotional support. But Kate isn’t undercover, she’s going after Jo because she genuinely wants to see if Jo is okay. 

She doesn’t ask Jo about what Buckells had been having a go at her about, she only asks “Boss, you okay?” - that’s the first one and Jo delves into the reason she had become so upset/why Buckells was having a go. This wasn’t something Kate asked about but she lets Jo talk and get it off her chest. As Jo goes to leave Kate then asks again, “Boss, is everything okay?” She wants to know how Jo is feeling within herself, why else would she ask twice? Kate is interested in the welfare of Jo, not in finding out the gossip of what was said in that room. 

What happens next is monumental and this is where Kate’s confusion really begins. Everything that happened between Kate and Jo before (dirty stop-out scene, talking at the same time etc) could all be passed off as them having a close friendship, nothing more. But there is a shift in this scene that pushes their relationship in a different direction - the music playing in the background only emphasising this.

Kate’s reaction to this moment is very telling, the way she looks down at their joined hands, she knows how it would look if someone seen them now; it’s not exactly how colleagues act around each other is it? We’ve not seen her form a romantic connection with a colleague (you could maybe argue Dot but it wasn’t set up in the way Kate and Jo have been set up) let alone a woman so this is all new territory for her but it is definitely romantic and this is the shift towards that. Kate’s panicked look towards Jo as Jo is leaving, she knows that something deeper is going on between them from this point on.  

Before I continue with Kate and Jo’s relationship I have to talk about that scene between Jo and Buckells and why it’s so important that Kate is the one watching that interaction and why she is the one to comfort Jo. I have said in a previous post about how there are many parallels/similarities between S4 and S6. I also said that it wasn’t necessarily related to Kate’s character but it absolutely is the more that I think about it. 

Series 4 heavily plays on inequality within the police force, how women are at a disadvantage to men when it comes to getting promotions and what not. This is portrayed through Roz Huntley, her frustrations being that she is now having to work extra hard to prove herself after returning to work from being a mum - this coincides with Hilton blackmailing her and putting the pressure on her to close the case. 

Now although Kate goes undercover to investigate Roz, they do bond over one thing: they are both women who are striving to be the best. Kate throughout S4 is persistently undermined by Ted, yes she gets a promotion to DS - something that Steve gets rather jealous over - but even after passing her inspectors exam and being more than capable of being a DI, Ted still turns her down, telling her that it was more than likely going to go to Steve since he has more experience. 

Kate is visibly hurt by this but does well to hide it. This moment in particular we can see that Kate is feeling isolated, she’s put on her own in the lift, pushed to the back of the frame, she holds herself - a visual representation of how women often feel in a male dominated workplace. This is no dig at Steve (it is, sorry) but Kate is a much more capable detective than Steve. Kate even swiftly points out how Steve’s attempt at an undercover operation had landed them in court. He’s not a bad detective, he is an extremely good one and does the job well but in comparison to Kate, he doesn’t match up. But simply because Steve is a man he gets a better chance of promotion before Kate - or at least that is how it appears. 

This brings me back to my earlier point of when Kate uses something Roz feels strongly towards and sides with her to gain her trust. But I don’t think this is Kate necessarily pretending, it’s convenient to have the topic come up but I do think it’s also something Kate feels strongly about. She’s just experienced first hand what it feels like to be on the receiving end of inequality and in a way, despite being there to investigate Roz, she does share her feelings on this issue. 

There is a defensiveness to Kate’s tone in this scene between her and Steve:

“It’s a crucial item and any irregularity…”

“Is something to throw in Huntley’s face?” 

“This isn’t personal. She’s at the centre of everything, I just want to get the truth.” 

Obviously Kate’s opinion on Roz does turn back to believing/knowing Roz is guilty but for a brief moment it appears she takes the view that AC-12 might just be investigating Roz simply because she is woman who made a couple of mistakes. We also go on to see Roz and Kate having a confrontation and sexism comes into play, with Roz lowkey telling Kate that she is worth more: 

“How old are you Kate?” 

“31.”

“I’ll tell you about my road to 31. I’d been a DI two years already. Then, I made life choices in the best interest of others. Not in my best interests, at all, as it turned out. And from what I know, you won’t make that mistake. You’d give up anything to get to the top. But despite all your ambition, you find yourself on the wrong side of the line.”

“What do you know?” 

“That you’ve got a son you barely see. Hardly holier than thou.” 

(Remember Roz’s “You’d give up anything to get to the top,” it’ll be important later).  

These words get to Kate because she knows they’re true. She is an ambitious woman who keeps getting knocked down simply because she is a woman. And the fact that she has given up her life with her son in order to pave the way for her career and yet it still hasn’t paid off clearly annoys her. She might not like Roz but they do agree on this. 

Something else that Roz brings up in her series is something that was mentioned briefly by Steve, Kate and is later mentioned by Jo - bringing in the link there. The something being The Masons. We first hear it in S3 in reference to Ted Hastings and Patrick Fairbank. And since Fairbank ends up being corrupt I think it’s fair to say that The Masons now = a form of corruption. In the same series Kate goes to meet a female AC-3 officer in order to request permission for an undercover operation, said officer goes on to say “Because I’m a woman, I can’t be a Mason,” this further solidifies that The Masons are synonymous with corruption. I mean, they are an organisation that exclude women from high ranking positions and get away with it. The fact that Kate seeks authority from a different, female officer because she knows that The Masons are technically a corrupt organisation is very telling of how she feels towards them. 

Roz accuses Ted of being a Mason and henceforth explaining that that is why he is always more interested in investigating female officers and why there is a lack of diversity within AC-12. This is a play on Kate since she had just been turned down the DI role in favour of Steve - and I think it’s fair to assume that Ted then only gave that position to Kate later because of what Roz revealed in that interview, and if he didn’t put a female officer in a high ranking role after what he had just been accused of, it would’ve looked bad on him. Which is really rather annoying to be honest, Kate should’ve got that role because she makes a good DI not because Ted got called out on his bullshit, but we move. 

In S6E3 Jo says to Kate about Buckells employing Ryan: 

“Family friend or something, probably got a nudge down at the Masonic Lodge.”

Now that one line was enough for Kate to know, at the time, that Jo wasn’t ‘bent,’ since she had just spoken out against a form of corruption. Jo had shown a dislike towards the idea that Ryan got a job on merit for simply being a man and that gives Kate ammunition to go after Buckells and find the evidence that would prove Buckells is corrupt. The fact he does end up being ‘The Fourth Man’ further pushes the idea that The Masons = Corruption. 

So Kate witnessing Buckells laying into Jo is another reason for Kate and Jo to share a bond; they’re both women in a very male dominated workplace who are more likely to be subjected to bullying by fellow male colleagues. If we do get another series I wouldn’t be surprised if it digs into The Masons and that form of corruption. 

In summary, Kate feels very strongly about inequality within the workplace since she is always undermined by her male colleagues and it wouldn’t surprise me that if half the reason why Kate feels so comfortable within MIT is because she’s working alongside a woman and she isn’t undermined nearly half as much. 

See: Jo’s constant, “That’s a good point, Kate,” “You’re right, Kate,” as opposed to Ted’s constant, “Steve’s right, Kate.” 

Back to Kate and Jo’s relationship. The shift in their relationship post that corridor scene becomes more obvious as it is from that point on where Kate starts to defend Jo to Steve:

“For Christ’s sake Steve, she’s my gaffer, you want me to rat on her?” 

And that moral dilemma comes into play again as Kate warns Jo that AC-12 are going to storm MIT and seize files. Kate isn't happy with what she’s done, you can see that from a mile off but she knows that she needed to do it since her loyalty now lies with MIT and she needs to protect the case she and her team are working on.  

I also think it has something to do with what she previously says to Steve:

“You know what it’s like being ex-anticorruption. I’ve had to work my bollocks off with them lot.” 

She knew that if she didn’t warn Jo about AC-12 then her whole team would turn on her and accuse her of being undercover/colluding with AC-12 when she isn’t (necessarily). And we’re back to the point she raises to Steve about her being seen as a possible traitor. 

We later see the first ‘date’ scene between Kate and Jo and much like how we were thrown into Kate and Jo’s relationship/closeness, we are thrown into this scene. We assume they’ve been there for a while and they’re in the middle of a conversation when we join them. And Jo is leading the conversation, she is talking freely whilst Kate is listening - once again, there’s a lot of trust between them. 

What is striking in this scene however is the parallels to a similar scenario between Kate and Tony in the first series. Context is different since that meeting is arranged as a means for Kate to dig for information from Tony whereas with Jo, it’s a chance for Kate to be a ‘sounding board’ as she puts it, she’s being emotionally available for Jo. But there is something that really stood out:  

Kate’s reaction to both being very different. With Tony she makes light of the situation whilst with Jo she doesn’t say anything, just simply nods her head. It’s all explained when given the context, she’s undercover with Tony and rule number one is to not form too close a relationship with the person you’re investigating as it could jeopardise the case she’s working on, so she has to keep it impersonal. But she puts it in a way that shuts down the allusion but doesn’t give anything away. 

Her reaction to Jo, on the other hand, is striking. She nods, not saying a word. She wants to call her Jo, she wants to cross that boundary and there is nothing stopping her from doing that so she can agree to it.

But whilst we’ve brought up this parallel we might as well look into other parallels concerning Kate’s relationship with both Tony and Jo. Tartan grey suits aside, Tony and Jo are quite similar, they were both groomed by Tommy Hunter - Jo in a much deeper and longer way but the point still stands. Tony was the one to introduce Tommy into the show and Jo was the one to take him out - not in a literal sense but she revealed the most information that would shut down the era that could be deemed as Tommy Hunter’s era. Both Tony and Jo form a close relationship with Kate, Jo’s being more genuine whereas Tony’s is faked and all smoke and mirrors. 

The proof is in the pudding here:

It’s awkward and unwelcome. Vastly different to this scene: 

Jo and Tony are perhaps the only two of the ‘bent coppers’ we see that don’t really do anything - at least nothing drastic like murder anyway. Out of all the ‘bent coppers’ they’re the most innocent. The fact that they both have connections to Ryan Pilkington as well is very telling. But I won’t go into it too much since this is about Kate. 

The difference between Kate’s relationship with Tony and her relationship with Jo is that it is made very obvious that she doesn’t like Tony. She shows no sympathy towards him at all when talking to Steve in private - once again proving how good of a liar she is since that isn’t given away in the slightest during her scenes with Tony. Jo, on the other hand, she is very fond of, even after Jo lures her to the lorry park to be murdered Kate is still defensive of the woman and still, in a small way, takes her side. 

That being said, of both relationships there are assumptions made. Nigel makes the dig “Her cover wasn’t the only thing she blew, ask Tony,” and Farida’s “Smart money’s on Kate Fleming,” to which Jo replies, “Kate and I have been shagging on the sly for months.” 

Now what would’ve made a REALLY good parallel between S1 and S6 would’ve been this conversation between Steve and Kate:

“He saved my life.”

“He put you in danger in the first place.”

A wasted opportunity there considering how many parallels there have been between these two series with all the callbacks to old characters and little references that have been made. It would’ve made the parallels between Tony and Jo even greater; Tony lured Steve to be murdered (note how Ryan is present there also) but ended up saving him and Jo lured Kate to be murdered but ended up saving her by taking the blame for Ryan’s death. It would’ve made for a very good reference. 

Moving back to the ‘date’ scene between Kate and Jo, I think I’m pointing out the obvious when I say that it has clear romantic undertones, from the lighting to the music that plays underneath - notably increasing as Kate says “Nah, not really my type.” The close up shot of this moment making it even more intimate. 

Then we move onto Kate being the one to ask Jo around for the weekend, which Jo initially turns down and Kate adds, “Yeah, no pressure,” before initiating the hug that then changes Jo’s mind. We have not seen Kate in this situation before at all. Not in a heavily loaded romantic scene anyway, not even with Richard Akers. There was a sense of a deeper connection with Richard, they were sleeping with each other after all, but it also felt impersonal. Kate would turn up to his house, they’d sleep together, they might have a small scene together afterwards and then Kate would leave. We didn’t even see them kiss. They were just two lonely people, stuck in a loveless marriage wanting to feel something that they were both missing in their relationships.  

But there’s an intimacy that’s been set up between Kate and Jo, this is more than just a friendship and it’s coming from both parties, with Kate being much more explicit about it than Jo; offering drinks, seeming happy that Jo turned the two men down and then asking to see Jo more - this is all Kate. But it’s not in the pushy way we have seen with her when it comes to her UCO’s. She’s not digging for information from Jo she just wants to love her. 

They also reveal their relationship status to each other in this moment, “It’s Mark’s turn to have Josh this weekend,” “I’ve just come out of a long term relationship.” If that isn’t screaming that what is happening between Kate and Jo isn’t just friendship then I don’t know what is. 

We then have Kate watching Jo as she leaves, there’s a pensive look on her face. She’s just crossed that boundary, she’s all but asked to spend the weekend with Jo and then followed it up with a hug. She’s made the first move and is clearly nervous about it. The romantic music continues under this and it sounds hopeful/happy. A stark contrast to how the show usually feels so the fact it’s playing up to this and taking the time to set Kate and Jo up shows that it’s important - the show doesn’t focus too much on personal lives. And because of that, it only signifies more, how annoying it is that these two got dropped to subtext after having it be so obvious. 

And with such focus on Kate in this moment it show it’s integral. Kate is finding herself in a position that she has never been in before and because she knows that AC-12 are now investigating Jo, it only worries her more. She might think that AC-12 are wrongly investigating Jo but there’s always that chance they could be right and if they are, then her professional integrity is going to be questioned for the first time. She’s finding herself in a position that is usually filled by Steve. And Kate is highly judgemental of Steve in that department. 

Then we have this scene in the third episode: 

This is their first sort of argument and Jo has pulled Kate up on her interviewing techniques, telling her that she was too harsh and that she’s “gotten used to nicking coppers.” It bothers Kate, she taps her foot, ponders for a moment and then follows behind Jo. She knows Jo’s right and we know this because she says to Steve in the next episode “You spend too much time on anti-corruption, it starts to change the way you see things.” 

She’s actually taken something that someone has said to her on board. This is rather unusual for Kate, who is extremely stubborn and isn’t a fan of people criticising her (but will happily criticise others - Kate really is the epitome of AC-12 isn’t she?) But the fact she listens to what Jo has to say and it changes her in a sense just goes to show how much she really likes Jo and she wants Jo to like her and also shows how much change Kate has gone through in just the first three episodes of S6. 

I am still trying to figure out why Kate made the decision to follow the patrol car but then I suppose it can be easily explained if you think of the fact that Kate will never be free of AC-12, no matter how hard she tries. Kate is AC-12 through and through, she is so deeply embedded in it she will never get out - it’s a stark parallel to how Jo is in a similar position in regards to the OCG. Going to be ~controversial~ here and say that I don’t think AC-12 makes Kate happy. It’s her home, it’s where she feels safe but it isn’t what makes her happy. S6 is, perhaps, the happiest that we have seen Kate. There were small hints throughout S5 that Kate no longer enjoyed working as a UCO/for AC-12, a number of quotes alluding to that, S5E1: 

“She couldn’t stop the hijack but the best she could do was limit the loss of life.” 

“Oh Christ I’ve been there. The lies, the fear. Got only knows what she’s going through.”

S5E2:

“Look Kate…Corbett’s embedded in a group of hardened criminals who’d execute him if they discover his true identity.” 

“I’ve been there, it’s not nice.”

S5E2 again:

“(About UCO’s) Ask her. She was undercover. Perfect job for a selfish arsehole that don’t give a toss about his own family.”  

“Look what Corbett’s missus said about undercover work, that was never you.”

“Thanks Steve, but she was right.” 

All that does is hint that it wasn’t just Ted’s betrayal that pushed Kate to leave AC-12, rather it being the last straw and it giving her an actual reason to want out. 

She does, however, go back to AC-12 in the end because she has nowhere else to go and her job is her life. She’d rather sacrifice her happiness to keep her job and to keep doing what she’s doing.

When she returns to AC-12, for the first time this series, she hits us with the “My first duty as a police officer is preservation of life, sir. That’s why I’m here.” Her job always comes first, above everything else (it’s half the reason why her marriage broke down). Other examples of this include this moment from S2E6:

“I was undercover with Denton, and I blew it. And now we’re blowing the whole case. I need to close this, Steve, or I’ve got nothing.” 

And in S5E6:

“I’m just calling it as I see it, Steve. The truth comes first…I’m not going to sit around and wait for a kicking off the gaffer or Carmichael when there’s police work to be done.”

Kate is highly committed to her work and will stop at nothing so she can complete it; no matter who she might be investigating/building a case upon. This causes her to come across as callous and cold but this is Kate. Her job is her life. And honestly, out of all three of the main characters, Kate is probably the straightest. The only thing coming to mind about this not being the case would be the concealment of her relationship with Richard Akers but even then, it wouldn’t have effected the case too much since Jayne and Kate never had that phone call. This idea that Kate is the straightest out of all three of them does change in S6 however, since she is the one to shoot Ryan and she lets Jo take the blame for it. But despite that, Kate still continues with her holier than thou attitude which we’ll delve into more later. 

I know I keep switching back and forth between Kate and Jo’s relationship but Jo really is integral to this development in Kate that I can’t not talk about it. There’s further proof that Kate is more interested in the welfare of Jo rather than wanting information out of her shown via this scene:  

Kate can be seen listening to the conversation between Jo and Steve but it isn’t until she hears Jo’s voice falter after hearing about Farida in prison does she then turn to look over at Jo. It peaks her interest and it explains why she brings up the topic of Farida at their next ‘date.’ 

“Look boss, I, uh, don’t want to speak out of term but…well, (Farida) claims that you two were close.” 

She’s not asking Jo a question here which is interesting. UCO!Kate would ask the question, she knows how to work people to get information out of them if she needed to. But she leaves this opened ended sentence that gives Jo the option to answer if she wants to (you could argue that since she knows how to work people then this is her way of working Jo but it doesn’t ever come across that way in my opinion). And she doesn’t, but this doesn’t necessarily bother Kate, at least not enough for her to push another question on Jo. 

“I imagine everyone’s got off on that little scenario. No life of their own so they pick holes in someone else’s. Especially if you’re a single woman.” 

“Yeah tell me about it, all it takes is a short haircut.”

Typical Kate to make a joke in this situation, it’s very much in character (made me think of her making a joke about putting Lindsay’s cat Bella into an evidence bag). The light joke doesn’t go down well with Jo and it causes her to back off. But we must remember that this is Kate’s first proper female friendship, we’ve only seen her in male dominated groups and she’s used to their way of making jokes. Prime example of that being half the jokes made by Dot and Nige during the first series, hardly stuff you want to hear but unfortunately it’s true to life. Being used to that sense of humour meant that Kate didn’t see much wrong with what she said until after she notices that Jo closes herself off: 

“Whatever you’ve heard Kate, it’s wrong. Farida’s a liar. That’s not me.”

“Okay.” 

Kate knows it’s a lie but doesn’t push it. Her obvious confusion is pointed out when Jo leaves the room: 

I can’t tell you what’s going on in Kate’s head but it’s probably a mixture of wondering why Jo had gone so cold on her suddenly, if she had said anything wrong and if everything that has happened between them in the past three episodes has been all in her head? 

But what happens in this scene and what is spoken about isn’t necessarily subtext. Okay they don’t actually say the word ‘lesbian’ or ‘bisexual’ it’s more alluded to. But this is a very obvious and deliberate conversation about Jo’s sexuality/Kate trying to figure out her own and wanting confirmation from Jo that she hasn’t just been imagining it. It’s done on purpose because they’re setting Kate and Jo up to go on that route - and once again, this is what makes it so annoying that they did get dropped to subtext by E7. They had painted a very clear picture in the first couple of episodes - Kate and Jo are falling in love with each other, it’s a doomed love story but it’s still a love story. 

Despite Jo being hurt by Kate’s not very well thought-out joke, she still carries a lot of trust in Kate by the fact she leaves her belongings on her seat. This seems minimal and unimportant but it rules out the idea that Kate was asking about Jo’s relationship with Farida for more information, from a case POV. If she had been and if she was interested in finding out if Jo really was as bent as AC-12 are making out then she would’ve seized that opportunity to take a look through Jo’s bag (we see her debate that opportunity when Tony leaves his phone behind after their drink at the pub in S1, but before she has chance to he’s already noticed he’s forgotten it and takes it back). But Kate is too busy wondering why Jo had lied to her, once again showing that she’s interested in Jo from a relationship standpoint. 

One thing I do love though and just from this alone we know that Kate and Jo are genuine is the fact that they bond over their hatred for Ian ‘what a twat’ Buckells: 

“I hope he’s going to give credit where it’s due.” 

“How do you mean?” 

“You brought Ryan onto the team, boss.”

“Not me. That was Buckells’ idea.”

I’m not going to underestimate Kate in this moment however because she does pull a very clever move. She doesn’t ask outright but she is able to get an answer to a question she might have been asking. Steve made a dig earlier on in the episode about how Jo may have employed Ryan onto MIT herself, allowing Ryan to interfere with the Gail Vella files. Kate doesn’t play up to that accusation but you can see that she keeps in mind, she doesn’t want to believe that Jo picked Ryan on purpose but there is always the chance that she has. So, she uses this opportunity to find out if that was the case. Knowing now that it wasn’t, she’s reassured and she feels more confident in defending Jo as we see in later episodes. 

And as previously discussed, Kate starts looking into Buckells after Jo’s quip about the Masonic Lodge. And once she gets all the information she needed she then takes it to Jo and we get this line: 

“I knew you’d come through for me.” 

There’s a perspective change, we’ve seen before how Kate actively pushes how she will be able to do something for someone in order to gain their trust, “I’ll make it disappear,” in S1 and once again, telling Lindsay that she’ll say she was there that night of the ‘alleged’ attack on Lindsay’s neighbour. But she doesn’t investigate Buckells on Jo’s behalf, or because she wants to gain Jo’s trust. It’s quite ironic really isn’t it? She’s always tried to gain trust from these ‘bent coppers’ by offering to cover their crimes - which they never take her up on to be honest - and then the one time she does something off her own back and without any of those intentions, she does - sort of - cover for a ‘bent copper.’ But as we know, Buckells does end up being bent so Kate wasn’t in the wrong to look into him, just a shame they never clicked on to his deeper corruption sooner. 

And then Jo follows up with the line: 

“I needed someone on my team I could trust completely. Someone with no chance of being bent. Who better than an ex-anticorruption officer?” 

Oh if Kate only knew the deeper meaning of that line at the time. But in the same way as The Mason dig Jo makes, this is confirmation to Kate that Jo isn’t bent and AC-12 have got it wrong. If Jo was bent, why would she encourage Kate to flush out the corruption? 

It isn’t until Episode 4 where we actually learn more about Kate’s reasonings for leaving AC-12 and it comes at no surprise that it is due to Ted’s indiscretions during S5. But what is surprising about Ted and Kate’s conversation is that Kate doesn’t hide her true feelings and tells Ted the truth: 

“You made your choice to move on, and I know that the disciplinary action against me was definitely a factor. It put you and Steve in a really difficult position.” 

“Yeah, I’m not going to lie.”  

But considering that Kate isn’t all that shy being honest in front of Ted it’s not that surprising. But given it is a tender, emotional topic for Kate I suppose you’d normally expect her to hide away her feelings but it’s quite nice that she doesn’t. She wants Ted to know that she hasn’t totally forgiven him for what he’s ‘alleged’ (at the time) to have done. 

And then we get the conversation between Kate and Steve and we get Kate’s second defence of Jo. And this time it is said with more confidence because she’s witnessed key moments first hand that have confirmed to her that Jo couldn’t be bent: 

“Without Jo we wouldn’t have got Buckells. Look, you haven’t seen the change in her I have. Now that Buckells is off her back, she’s on the Vella case 100 percent.” 

Typical love is blind moment there, ‘you don’t know them like I do.’ And the fact that she mentions that Buckells has been on Jo’s back for most of the case, is pulling it back to my previous mention of how Kate witnessing the argument between Buckells and Jo is so important - she’s now using it as an excuse to Steve about why Jo may have been lacking in her investigation into Gail Vella’s murder. 

(Just want to drop in and check that you’ve had drink or something, this is about halfway through I think so...continue).

Later on in the episode she’s seen defending Jo again: 

“He’s watching her.”

“Or meeting with her.”

“You got evidence of that?” 

We know why Kate is so defensive, she’s falling in love with Jo and she trusts her completely. But even still, it’s very interesting since she has never defended anyone quite so fiercely - at least not in private to Ted and Steve. 

In S1E5 Steve and Kate have this conversation about Tony Gates: 

“He didn’t kill her.”

“No?” 

It’s short and simple but enough to prove that no matter how much it appeared on the surface that Kate liked Tony it was all faked and she didn’t trust him in the slightest, going as far to say that he was capable of murder. 

We also see in this scene that Steve grows suspicious of Kate’s closeness to Jo (or at least that’s what it appeared to look like at the time and maybe if Kate and Jo’s relationship was acknowledged by Steve then this moment would’ve made more sense): 

There is also another paralleling conversation that Kate and Steve could’ve had in S6 from S1. And once again, this is in reference to Kate’s relationship with Tony: 

“Something happened between you two.” 

“Like what?” 

“Nothing, forget it.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I shouldn’t have asked, it’s private.”

“Yeah, it is.” 

It’s very interesting that all the ‘moments’ between Kate and Tony were all faked on the basis of Kate wanting information between him but because of one comment from Nigel, Steve decided to pull Kate up on that accusation. Yet in S6, despite appearing suspicious of Kate and Jo’s relationship he never once brought it up? You could argue that Steve knows Kate better than anyone and he has learnt not to push her on those topics because she will just tell him to piss off, but, how many times has Kate slated Steve for getting involved with witnesses/suspects? That would’ve been Steve’s perfect opportunity to tear a strip off Kate and say that she is no angel and she’s not protected from falling in love with the wrong people. But alas Jed Mercurio would rather have focused on a straight relationship where one half only appeared in a handful of scenes <3

But back to the ‘You got evidence of that?’ Moment before I get too annoyed, the fact that Kate wants to reveal to Jo about Ryan’s movements is very telling. She wants to protect Jo and she genuinely believes that Jo is a good person/isn’t bent. We see that this trust runs even deeper when she goes ahead and tells Jo anyway despite Ted telling her not to - but she’s clever enough to not mention any collusion she has with AC-12.

“I need to talk to you in private.”

“Something wrong?”

“It’s not personal. It’s work.”

This is the first use of the word ‘personal’ from Kate and the fact she feels the need to state that what she wants to talk to Jo about isn’t to do with them and their relationship is…interesting. A few people have pointed about how the use of personal within Line of Duty could be argued to allude to relationships/love interests - Farida left for ‘personal reasons’ after all - for Kate to use it here and to make that separation between personal and professional shows that Kate and Jo’s relationship runs deeper than being just colleagues. We know that already from how they’ve acted around each other but now we’ve had it explicitly confirmed. 

Ironically though, this is the moment Jo starts taking a step back from Kate in order to protect her. She now knows that Ryan is watching her and if Ryan is watching her then he will be able to see what’s forming between herself and Kate and that puts Kate at the centre of danger. Look what happened to Farida, she was in a relationship with Jo and then she ended up in prison. Worse could’ve happened but Jo did what she could to protect Farida - she used harsh words to hurt Farida and push her away (a similar tactic used by Tony Gates to his wife), but because Farida kept pushing and ended up ratting on Jo, Jo had to take drastic action by planting those burner phones. 

And now it’s happening to Kate but she knows that Kate isn’t Farida and she won’t cave as easily - as we go on to see later on. 

That being said, Kate does give Jo a confidence boost. She tries to get rid of Ryan. But Kate’s support isn’t enough, it’s too late for Jo. But just the fact that one word from Kate gives her enough to stand up goes to show how much Jo has come to rely on Kate and how much she trusts her. 

But as we know, Jo gets threatened by Ryan so Jo does the only thing she knows how to do and that’s to push Kate away. 

She tells Kate to drop her issues with Ryan otherwise she’ll request a transfer for Kate. Kate mouths the word ‘ma’am’ completely unable to use her voice. She’s annoyed and evidently so. But she isn’t just annoyed at the fact Jo has told her that she would get rid of her if it came down to it. She’s annoyed because, in her eyes, Jo doesn’t know the danger she’s putting herself in by keeping Ryan on the team. (Of course we know that Jo knows Ryan and his connections but Kate doesn’t, she’s been defending Jo to high heaven and truly believes that Jo is innocent). Kate has seen firsthand the sorts of things Ryan has been involved in - she doesn’t learn just how much he’s involved until later on but she did see some of things he got up to as a kid and knows that he could be just as dangerous now as he was then. 

You could argue that she’s also annoyed at the fact that she went against AC-12 and people she inherently trusts in order to protect Jo and now she’s just got that thrown back in her face.

And then we move on to the big episodes. What happened at the end of E4 clearly created a rift between Kate and Jo, we see Kate trying to pull Jo to one side but gets rejected, and she’s hurt by that.  

Kate expresses her hurt to AC-12 in the following scene: 

“Jo’s become cold and distant towards me, I don’t know what’s going on in the background.” 

Shows that there’s a distance between them now but Kate is still sympathetic towards her. She doesn’t like that Jo is pushing her out and I think this is when it really starts to click for Kate that something isn’t right. She gets those suspicions evidently confirmed when Steve reveals that Jo’s DNA was found at Farida’s house and henceforth that she’s related to Tommy Hunter. (Also the fact that Kate is using ‘Jo’ here and not ‘Davidson’ as you would expect her to reveals her personal relationship with Jo).

Despite that distance, Kate is still defensive of Jo and still trusts her: 

“You’ve put Jo under surveillance, why?” 

“Our in-depth forensic examination of Farida Jatri’s home detected Davidson’s DNA.”   

Her face the moment she finds out that Jo lied to her about her relationship with Farida is heartbreaking but I think the fact that we see Chloe and Ted’s reaction to this also, is so important. They’re very clearly aware of the feelings between Kate and Jo even if it is never said, and we’re back to being annoyed that Kate and Jo’s relationship wasn’t acknowledged in E7. Everyone was aware of it so why wasn’t it mentioned?!

“Davidson’s DNA is a partial match for Tommy Hunter.” 

…

“I know, from Steve, that you’ve formed the view that Davidson isn’t bent, Kate. But I’m sorry, it appears that she’s pulled the wool over your eyes.” 

And then there’s the explicit confirmation that Steve is aware of Kate’s feelings towards Jo.  

She’s just been bombarded with a lot of information, information that goes against everything that she has believed in/defended for the past couple of episodes. She’s conflicted and doesn’t know what to think. Kate Fleming, who is usually calm and collected and in control of her emotions is now finding herself caught in a moment that she usually isn’t in. And now she’s wondering why she couldn’t see it, why she couldn’t see that something wasn’t right. She’s usually so sharp, quick to pick up on corruption - she spotted Dots pretty early on. But she knows, deep down, she knows and I think that scares her more. 

Kate has always pulled Steve up on his lack of integrity, for getting himself stuck in situations that would cloud his vision and now suddenly the tables have turned. It’s her getting in that situation. It’s her having her vision blurred because of her relationship with someone and she doesn’t know what to do. 

That being said, her trust in Jo is still very much there. It’s why she formulates the plan. She wants to prove that Steve and AC-12 are wrong about Jo, that just because she’s related to the OCG overlord doesn’t mean that she herself is corrupt. But she also needs to prove it to herself, she needs to know that she didn’t get it wrong. That she didn’t let a corrupt officer slip through her fingers because she fell in love. She’s an ex-anticorruption officer, she should be able to spot when a police officer is bent, more so than anyone else. 

She later reveals what her plan had been to prove Jo’s innocence to Ted and Steve, she wants to shout it from the rooftops that she was right about Jo and they were wrong: 

“Only one site was disclosed to MIT officers. However, I took the decision to inform DSU Davidson of all three possible sites.” 

“It’s a big call, Kate.” 

“Well, I believed it paid off, sir. You said yourself the information on Jo’s family history strongly suggests she’s colluding with organised crime, but that doesn’t fit with what I’ve seen first hand. We needed to know one way or another. She had plenty of time to tip off the OCG and she didn’t. As far as I’m concerned that’s proof she isn’t bent.” 

It’s the fourth defence of Jo and is said with even more confidence because now she has evidence to back it up. She knows for definite that Jo isn’t bent and her conscience had been appeased; she didn’t get it wrong.  

And even after all that, after everything Kate does, Ted still hits her with the “Steve’s right, Kate.” She’s undermined yet again. She wants Ted and Steve to trust and like Jo as much as she does because she loves Jo. 

And then we get another hostile scene between Kate and Jo but Kate is still trying to let Jo know that she is on her side, that she has her back, that she has spent months defending Jo’s arse to AC-12 and Steve: 

“I’m telling you the truth, Jo, because I trust you with it.” 

Jo fires back by telling Kate to request a transfer but this has come after a warning look from Ryan. Jo knows what’s going to happen next and she wants to get Kate out of the way before she’s asked the unforgivable, she evens mentions that AC-12 would take her back in the hopes that that would be enough to turn Kate. 

“You’ve been distant with me for days, is this personal?” 

“I’m your senior officer, I should be distant.” 

“I thought we were friends, what’s happening here?”

“So you can tell AC-12?”

“No, I wouldn’t tell them personal stuff.”

And there’s the ‘personal’ again, twice. They’re talking about their relationship, Kate is making it about their relationship. She’s trying to tell Jo that the reason she trusts her so much is because she loves her and that’s something she wouldn’t tell AC-12 because it doesn’t concern them. 

“And as for requesting a transfer, I respectfully decline. I’m not leaving.”  

That is very much in character for Kate, sticking to her true stubborn self there. But she’s angry at Jo because she won’t let Kate help her. Jo is angry because Kate doesn’t realise the danger she’s putting herself in - a nice parallel to the other conversation they shared where the roles are reversed and Jo was trying to help Kate by getting her to drop the subject of Ryan and Kate was annoyed because Jo was blind to the danger she was in. 

Kate’s ‘I’m not leaving,’ does have much more meaning to it than we first realise however. After shooting Ryan, she runs off with Jo - she has no reason to, she was lawfully carrying a firearm and serving her duty as an officer. But she gives Jo the chance to tell her everything, she doesn’t leave her side and does everything she can to protect Jo i.e the car chase scene. She takes Jo’s side despite everything and sticks to her words of ‘I’m not leaving.’

Later on, Jo manipulates Kate, playing on the one thing Kate wants to address, “The personal issues we discussed,” she knows that’s the only way Kate will come out with her (at least, that’s what she thinks). Kate is desperate to explore whatever is going on between them and Jo plays on that.  

And judging by Kate’s hopeful face, it seems to do the trick. Kate’s hopeful face being that she thinks Jo might actually open up to her and tell her the truth, and invite Kate into whatever is going on in her life/head. Poor Kate.  

She knows deep down that something isn’t right but she goes along with it because she trusts Jo so much and I think she truly believes that she’s gotten through to her. 

There is a dilemma going on within Kate here, she wants to trust Jo but knows deep down she can’t because of the AC-12 officer that is embedded in her (Ted’s ‘That’s my officer out there,’ coming into play here). She keeps the gun on her person which shows despite her constant defence, she’s still suspicious. However, she doesn’t phone Steve until after she’s arrived at the address showing that the trust for Jo is still there. Obviously that changes when she realises that the location is dodgier than she probably first thought. 

“Let’s not hang around here Jo, we’d rather be inside with a glass of wine.”

Sticking to her character once again here, trying to be hopeful, trying to be right about Jo’s character. 

“Jo wanted to give you a way out.” 

This line from Ryan is crucial for Kate’s trust in Jo. It may get lost amongst the other, more pressing events, but even just hearing first that Jo tried to save her probably brings her some reassurance in the long run. From this line alone she knows that Jo never intended to kill her and was coerced into setting the scene up. 

“I’ve done my bit. I don’t have to stay here and watch.” 

Jo was only told to ‘get rid’ of Kate. She was never told to kill her. She was the one to entrap Kate but she was never going to be the one to kill her, that was on Ryan. This is another crucial moment adding to the reason why Kate would run away with Jo and give her the chance to talk. 

E6 opens up with Kate being her typical self and taking control of the situation. But even so, she’s struggling. As I’ve mentioned a lot throughout this, Kate is normally calm and collected, she very rarely lets her emotions get in the way of what she wants to do. But there’s no room for her to hide from her emotions here, she hasn’t had the time to compartmentalise them, she hasn’t had the time to process and understand them. And that unsettles her, she wants to take control - and she does as best as she can - but she’s faltering. The person who she loves has just lured her to her death and she doesn’t know what to do with that information.

“You lured me there to be murdered.” 

Confirms that she knows that Jo wasn’t going to be the one that actually murdered her, just that she was the one to lure her. 

“Kate.”

“Didn’t you?”

She cuts Jo off, she’s angry and understandably so. But because she hasn’t had time to process her emotions she isn’t being as cool as she normally would be in a high-stress situation.  

She is really struggling and it’s understandable of course. And then we have that scene:

“I always worried you were pretending.” 

“Pretending?” 

“You know what I mean…to lure me into trusting you.” 

Kate’s ‘pretending?’ Is more offence at the fact Jo felt she had to suggest it - Kate was far from pretending, her behaviour across the series is enough to prove that she is in love with Jo. I also think it’s to do with the fact that Jo had the audacity to ask the question now, of all situations to bring up the topic, Jo could’ve picked a better moment. But Jo doesn’t let up, using Kate’s preferred tactic of getting information out of people:

“You still won’t answer, were you lying to me Kate?”

“This is about you Jo, not me.” 

Deflecting the question that she has every right to deflect, given the circumstances. But she neither confirms nor denies said question - she’s trying to keep control of the situation, she’s trying not to let her emotions get in the way of what she needs to do. She needs to find out the truth, she needs Jo to tell her everything before the law inevitably catches up with them. 

She turns the question back to Jo, asking if she was the one lying, that maybe she didn’t want Kate on the team at all. She then goes on to reveal that she knows Jo lied about her relationship with Farida. It’s coming from a place of anger and frustration and like I said, Kate is well within her rights to feel like that.  

Then we have Kate doing something surprising, she drives away as she hears police sirens. I’ve been trying to place why she was so determined to keep Jo away from the police, to give Jo that chance to explain herself but then all of a sudden, Kate hanging the phone up on Carmichael made it all make sense. 

The moment Steve told Kate that the observations on Jo and Ryan had been pulled as a result of Osbourne and Carmichael, she knew that something bigger was at play here. If Osbourne is the real H/The Fourth Man (extremely bloody likely) and Buckells was just the messenger, then it’s fair to say that it was actually Osbourne who ordered Kate’s death. And if that is the case then it makes sense he would pull the observations off, meaning that there would be no witnesses to the murder. But Kate’s not a stupid woman, she’s worked for AC-12 for God knows how long and she’s been part of the investigation into H/The Fourth man for just as long. She knows it’s someone higher up in the force and that information from Steve told her that something was going to happen at the meeting. 

But upon hearing that Jo tried to give her a way out, she knows that she can trust Jo, that she is just another pawn in this sick game, that she’s vulnerable and in need of protecting/saving. She must guess pretty early on, that it is The Fourth Man that is manipulating Jo and she knows that Jo isn’t going to reveal that in an interview, especially if it is someone high up. So that’s why she takes Jo out of the situation, that’s why she sacrifices her credibility and her integrity, as Ted said Ryan is a ‘sprat’ - he’s not important - she can get more information about the top man from Jo. Kate gives Jo that chance to talk and to prove herself before she is silenced by Osbourne and Carmichael. It helps that Jo trusts Kate and wants to tell Kate the truth. 

And then we have the emotion, oh the emotion:

“Jesus Christ, Steve’s in on it.”

She’s lost control of the situation, she’s lost control of her emotions and everything has just come tumbling down on her. And for a brief moment she feels as though everyone has turned on her: Jo, Steve, Ted, everyone she trusts most in the world and she can’t bear it. I can’t even begin to imagine how utterly alone she must’ve felt in that moment.  

“You bastard, Steve!”

“Stay there, Kate.”

…

“You gave me up! You told them!”

“Kate, I give you my word, I didn’t.”

“That’s bullshit.”  

“I promise you, I’ll get you to safety. Both of you.”

Kate doesn’t comply until after she’s assured that Steve will protect both her and Jo - shows that despite everything she still has a loyalty to Jo and she still wants to protect her. Despite what’s happened she can see that Jo is vulnerable and has been used her entire life, she gets that impression just from the little bit that Jo reveals to her. She feels for Jo, sort of in the same way she felt for Dot but this is on a much deeper level and to be fair, Dot did worse things than Jo. Kate might be an expert at compartmentalising her emotions but she still has a heart - we see it in glimpses across the whole show but it comes in tenfolds where Jo is concerned, as a result of how they’ve been set up. As much as she’s angry and upset and how much she feels betrayed by Jo, Kate still wants her to be safe and protected. Kate knows that Jo has been trying to get out of the clutches of the OCG i.e employing Kate in the first place. Jo holding the gun and taking the blame gives Kate enough assurance that Jo is being true to her word when she says she wanted out/didn’t want to kill Kate. That’s why she wants Jo safe, because she believes in her. 

Being put in that cell on her own now gives Kate the chance to compartmentalise her emotions, she has time to think over the events of the night. She has time to think about her feelings for Jo, the love, the loss, the betrayal. We see that this works, later on when Patricia tells her that Jo had taken the blame for Ryan’s death.   

She’s back to her usual stoic self, emotions cut off. She can’t allow herself to react about what Patricia has told her because it would give too much away, if she reacted then it would make it even more obvious that Jo wasn’t the one who shot Ryan. She can’t even show that she’s relieved or grateful that Jo had taken such sacrifice for her/kept to her word. 

“Are you sure you’re okay? I know nobody’s coming after you over Ryan Pilkington’s shooting, but if you ever need to talk about it.” 

That is not the face of someone who is fine. She’s very clearly trying desperately to push her emotions down, put them to one side because she has a job to do. Jo has given her this chance to solve the case and she sure as hell isn’t going to let her down. 

“Did she say anything about her family history? She told me her dad was a police officer.” 

“No. Never even gave us that much.” 

Proving my earlier point that Jo inherently trusts Kate and was willing to give her more details before they were interrupted. 

“She’s scared, Steve. After what happened to Tommy, Dot, Lakewell, never mind John Corbett.”

“That’s why we’ve got her on the VPU at Brentiss, security cameras monitoring access to her cell.” 

Even now, after everything Jo put her through, Kate is still defending her. She still has Jo’s back and it just makes it even more annoying that Steve doesn’t bring up the Jo conversation to Kate. He has seen Kate defend her this whole series, he knows that Jo lured Kate to her death and now he’s there, listening to Kate defending Jo and worrying over the fact that she’s scared and vulnerable. I know at this point there’s a sense of trust between Jo and Steve (as a result of Kate) and Steve is much more aware of the situation Jo has been in her whole life, he does feel for her and understands Kate’s defence of her. But the fact that he’s not even suspicious of how Kate’s opinion hasn’t changed despite learning of Jo’s collusion with the OCG and almost being killed, just highlights how Jed was so quick to drop Kate’s development, pushing it to the side for the sake of making a political point. 

And here comes the complete reversal of all the development Kate has had across this series, and more to the point, the memory loss she seems to go through. 

“The stuff he’s hiding. I never thought I’d look at the gaffer like this.” 

But she did? In S5 when they were only suspecting that Ted may have ratted John Corbett out to the OCG. She was willing to report it, that was how much she believed it. And now she’s acting as if that never happened? 

“Maybe we should let sleeping dogs lie.” 

“Come off it Steve. How many times have we criticised coppers that’ve took retirement to dodge disciplinary action?”

It’s a valid point and strengthens my previous mention of how she might be the ‘straightest’ out of all three of them. She is the embodiment of AC-12, truth and integrity - or at least she likes to believe that she is. Kate often sits in a place of judgement and thinks of herself as an innocent being that could do no wrong. This is hardly the case, she has made plenty of mistakes and although she hasn’t got herself into the vast number of predicaments that Steve has found himself in, she isn’t exactly free from this sense of ‘corruption.’ It does get pointed out to her on two occasions, the first from Richard Akers, “Holier than thou doesn’t suit you Kate,” and the second from Roz Huntley, “Hardly holier than thou.” 

The fact it’s mentioned twice and is very much the same quote shows that this attitude Kate upholds, is a part of her character. And we see it again with this moment: 

“She’s got a right to know what happened to her husband.” 

“Maybe she already does. She might be blackmailing the gaffer.” 

“Steph? No.” 

“You seem pretty sure…what?” 

“We’ve become…”

“Oh for Christ’s sake, Steve.” 

Before I get into the main issue, I think it’s made pretty obvious in this scene that Jo isn’t the only one Kate is being cold towards, it’s everyone. She’s coming across as very cynical and unsympathetic. But you could argue that this is Kate, she’s almost the stereotypical ice-queen who has no emotions and doesn’t care who she hurts which, if this was pre-S6 Kate I would say is very much in character. 

But this isn’t pre-S6 Kate. S6 has shown the more emotional side to Kate, it’s seen her with her walls broken down, she’s opened up, fallen in love. And I know the events of the previous episode would be enough for her to put those walls up again but surely, if you are going to go to the effort of developing a character you could at least show the change that this development has had on her? 

I would’ve fully expected her to shrink away after what happened, I think that’s a completely normal reaction, even more so where Kate is involved. But given how she has gone through things in this series that she hasn’t gone through before, I would expect a different reaction from her? More emotional or more obvious that she’s trying to hold herself together. But I don’t see that, I just see her back as her S1-5, AC-12 self. 

It’s so hard because it makes total sense for Kate to revert back to her old self, she’s been burned and she’s hurting. But like I said, if she’s gone through this development over the course of S6, it’s set up in a way to make you think that she’s not going to handle this situation as she normally would but she ends up doing exactly that - any development Jed has put her through has now been reversed. 

But my main issue with this scene between Kate and Steve brings me back to my earlier point. Steve is shown to be aware of the possible thing that’s happening between Kate and Jo - little looks when Kate is defending Jo, the fact that Ted mentioned how Steve had been talking to him about Kate’s trust for Jo. 

Now Kate, throughout the entirety of show, has consistently berated Steve on his lack of control when it comes to women. She has torn a strip off him at every opportunity, when the situation with Lindsay occurred, she was so unbelievably angry and annoyed with him, that he had just quite possibly ruined the entire case because “Steve can’t keep it in his pants,” (thank you Lindsay Denton for summarising that up perfectly). 

This would’ve been the PERFECT opportunity for Steve to turn it back around on Kate. He’s aware of the situation and he would finally be able to pull Kate up on something that he is known for doing and something Kate never stops short to criticise him on. He could’ve taken that opportunity to humble Kate and make her aware of the fact that she’s not innocent and she’s certainly not free from falling/being interested/getting involved with the wrong person. A simple “What and Jo’s different?” From Steve would’ve sufficed. We don’t even need a verbal reaction from Kate, just a look that one, would’ve acknowledged Kate and Jo’s relationship and two, would’ve put Kate in her place and make her realise that she should be the last person to pass judgment on Steve since she has now found herself in a very similar position.

What’s more, and I have mentioned this before and it’s what makes E7 so frustrating, Kate and Jo have been constantly paralleled to Steph and Steve throughout the series, all the romantic scenes, alluding to relationships bubbling for our two main characters. So that scene is where I would expect the parallel to occur again but it doesn’t? And I just have to ask, why on earth would you parallel these relationships, show their romantic scenes side by side, have their development evolve in similar ways just to then only focus on one relationship? 

Okay the possibility of a relationship occurring between Kate and Jo went out of the window the moment we knew Jo was colluding with the OCG but Jed still took the time to explore it, to delve into it. So for it to not even be mentioned or acknowledged, I just think, why waste our time if it’s going to end up not being relevant? I mean the fact that a heterosexual relationship where one half got barely any screen time took precedence and verbal acknowledgment (aka not subtext) over a queer relationship occurring between two of the main characters of the series? I don’t even need to say it. 

But if subtext was all we’re going to get for Kate and Jo in E7 then I’ll just get back to analysing and reading between the lines because Jed can’t stick to and acknowledge storylines that he has spent the entire series building up and I need to make sense of it for some peace of mind. 

I’m going to call this outfit the ‘Proving Jo Davidson is innocent’ outfit since Kate wears it when she hatches her plan to prove just that and again, when she’s gathering evidence that would mean Jo would be able to get witness protection.   

I promise you that these are separate scenes but honestly the fact that we have the same shot with Kate sitting in the same place, from the same angle only just emphasises my point even more. This was Kate on her proving Jo is innocent mission that she never let slip. Her goal hasn’t changed since E5, but perhaps now she is even more determined because she now knows that it’s what Jo wants. Jo got Kate on the team for a reason and now that is what Kate is doing. 

And because I’ve *briefly* touched on the fact that Kate/Jo are always paralleled to Steve/Steph I think it’s only right that I point out how in both of the scenes shown above, there is a Steve/Steph scene paralleled to it, either before or after. Both the Steve/Steph scenes taking place in Steve’s car with Steph on the phone/over voicemail with the scenes showing that Steve is unsure about his relationship with Steph - which you could argue is the exact opposite to Kate and Jo. Kate might be unsure of her feelings and how deep they go but she is sure of one thing and that Jo is innocent and will do everything she can to prove it. 

We go on to next to see AC-12 discussing new messages that have come through entailing The Fourth Man’s plans for Jo. Kate refers to her as “Davidson” a stark contrast to how she has previously referred to her in the presence of Steve and Ted but this is most likely to do with the fact that has had to cut her feelings off for the sake of saving Jo so she is trying to make it as impersonal as possible. 

I won’t even talk about how easy it could’ve been to include a scene between Kate and Jo in that ambush scene. Before or even after, if Jed wanted to keep that element of surprise that AC-12 had managed to intercept before the ambush could take place. A simple moment where Kate went into the van and said “You alright?” would’ve sufficed. 

“You’re safe now Jo.”

“Thank you.”

“I mean really safe. To apply for witness protection. All my notes, all my records will show that you acted under the control and coercion of others. You can live the life you should’ve lived. Be free to be the person that you really are.” 

I have spoken about this before but will briefly go into it again. ‘The person’ that Kate is referring to is the person Kate has been defending for this whole series. Kate was the only person to see through Jo’s walls and glimpse the person that existed outside of the clutches of the OCG. Jo could be herself around Kate, probably felt liberated and had moments where she realised that Kate is something she could’ve had if she wasn’t stuck in that life, so it’s only right that Kate was the one to set her free - even if it’s at the expense of her own feelings but we’ll get into that now.

Although Kate is coming across as ‘cold’ during this scene, she isn’t unsympathetic. Everything she is saying to Jo is coming from a compassionate place. It’s vastly different from the previous scenes shared by Kate and Jo so it feels more harsh but Kate is having to cut her feelings off to provide the protection for Jo and to henceforth save her. She still cares deeply for Jo but she’s not allowed to show that, and it’s more for her own sake than anything. 

If Kate allows herself, for even a moment, to let that emotion escape then it’s all going to come out. Everything she has have ever felt for Jo will be free and then she won’t be able to let Jo go because then it will be even harder. She can’t let herself come to terms over what she feels for Jo because she has to set Jo free, she can’t be selfish, it’s either her feelings or it’s Jo’s freedom. And considering she has spent so long defending Jo it’s obvious what option she favours. 

Then she gets straight back to the point, not allowing her facade to drop:

“If you tell us who the top man is.” 

Now remember how I said to remember Roz’s quote because it will be important later? Here’s why it’s important, “You’d give up anything to get to the top.” ‘Top’ in the context of Roz and Kate’s conversation is referring to Kate wanting to better her career but ‘Top’ could also refer to the fact that Kate, along with AC-12, have spent years digging into institutionalised corruption to find out who the orchestrator behind it all is, and now she’s so close to finding out who the ‘top’ man is, because of Jo. 

You could argue that this idea completely reverses the points I’ve just made and offers the alternative that Kate only cut her emotions off in order to get to the top - which is what Roz’s quote alludes to. But I do think that both standpoints can coincide with one another. She cuts her feelings off for Jo so she can save her, but because she has had to do that, that makes her able to dig for information and solve the case and hence find out who the top man is. 

And therein is the last scene that Kate and Jo share and to quote Kate Fleming on this one “Thanks for making me feel like shit.”   

But Kate’s story isn’t over just yet so we will continue. 

“Sir, during an unlawful search an item was found that relates to the sum of £50,000. You’re not under caution so anything you say to us at this time can’t be used in evidence. That’s loyalty right there.”

I know she’s having a dig at Ted’s previous comment about loyalty to Steve whilst he simultaneously reveals Steve’s issues from across the series to Kate, but I also like to think it’s a dig at the fact that despite Ted continuously undermining Kate, she has still stuck by him and still fought his corner - to an extent. But the fact she does stand up to Ted and isn’t afraid to do so is something I have to give her, she is staying very true to her character there. 

I think this has been pointed out before and although it probably is a reach but this is Kate’s reaction after Ted says “…of a woman I cared deeply about…” 

I do think that this is a moment where we’re meant to assume that Kate could be thinking about Jo as a result of Ted’s words. The focus is on Kate’s reactions rather than Steve’s so I think it’s a fair assumption/association to make and it’s not out of the realms of possibilities. 

“If I decide to come back.”

“Will you?”

“Well someone’s got to keep you lot in line.” 

She just can’t stay away from it, no matter how hard she tries. AC-12 will always pull her back. 

“You don’t realise what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

It’s a loaded statement from Kate and comes with many meanings to it, her missing AC-12 ( to an extent) and wanting back in, her missing her friendship with Steve and now losing Jo without having the chance to tell her how she really feels/that she wasn’t pretending. 

“You just going to stick to the one drink?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Still early enough to drive up to Liverpool.” 

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to keep seeing Steph.”

“But you want to?”

“Yeah. But what chance has it got?”

“You wanna be careful mate, you’re going to end up on your own.”

Having to read between the lines here again but Kate is encouraging Steve to go for Steph because she can’t go for Jo. It makes sense when you consider how much those two relationships have been paralleled against each other, one was doomed from the beginning but at least the other has a chance to *be* something. And this conversation could’ve been spun differently to acknowledge Kate and Jo’s relationship also:

“But what chance has it got?”

“More chance than me and Jo.”

It’s really that simple. I’m fine with subtext, it works sometimes. Not everything has to be said. But across the whole series Kate and Jo have been everything but. Everything that has happened between them has been obvious and deliberate. So the fact it got dropped to subtext in the last episode doesn’t make sense? If their relationship from the beginning had been pure subtext then fine it works, but like I said, it hasn’t. Kate and Jo’s relationship needed to be addressed and acknowledged, otherwise why the set up if you’re never going to bring it up properly? 

Okay, you can argue that it dropping to subtext and having to read between the lines is a representation for how Kate is having to suppress her feelings for Jo but your audience deserve better than that Jed. And not to sound like a stuck record but you don’t have your character go through massive development for her just to end up as the exact same person she was before she went through said development. She has to change, even if it’s just a little bit. No one stays the same after what Kate has been through. 

 Which brings us to the therapy scene. 

“Me and my partner are separated.” 

I have also already spoken about the vagueness of this line so won’t go into it too much but, subtext again, she could also be referring to Jo. I would just like to point out as well that music that underplays the moment in which she talks about Steve is very different to the music that underplays the date scenes between Kate and Jo and the scenes between Steph and Steve so you could say that that rules out any allusion to a possible romance between Kate and Steve (and honestly thank God because there’s more sexual tension between two planks of wood than there are between Kate and Steve and if they EVER went down that route, another type of anger would escape my body because, just let women and men be friends without it being a *thing* please).

She looks so washed out and unhappy in this scene - a striking comparison to how she looked during E2. 

She looks drained but it’s understandable considering that this is the first time that’s properly opened up and given way to accepting her emotions and feelings - even if she isn’t addressing the elephant in the room. So, you could argue that this scene is that small change we have from Kate as a result of her development from across the series. But given that this scene, at a push, lasts 30 seconds, it’s not enough. I’m not expecting a half an hour scene of Kate opening up about everything but something a bit more than a nod to her kid and husband that she has only mentioned once throughout the entire series - along with a couple of text messages in the first episode. It just felt as though this scene was chucked in because they couldn’t show Steve going to therapy without showing Kate going as well, considering that they’ve both been through similar ordeals. 

But I’ll take it because it’s still part of Kate’s development, in a sense.

Digging into it more, it’s very obvious that Kate has lost the happiness we seen her with at the beginning of the series, she’s lost her warmth - a warmth that was depicted via Jo through clothing and scenes they shared together. There is a warm light in that scene but it’s situated behind Kate, a visual representation of how Jo is in her past now and how the loss of warmth in her life has left her cold and miserable - which further explains how she comes across in this episode. 

I’m going to return my earlier point of Kate not necessarily being happy at AC-12 here. I’ve mentioned throughout how Kate is AC-12 through and through and she will never truly escape it. She goes back to AC-12 in the end because it’s her home, it’s where she feels safe and comfortable but that doesn’t mean to say it makes her happy. And I think the fact that when we see her at the end of this episode and we see that she is the most unhappy she has been this entire series, it’s meant to signify that (and like I mentioned before, there were a few moments throughout S5 & S6 that emphasise how she might feel that undercover work/being in anti-corruption might just not be for her anymore). 

Kate set Jo free from the OCG but who’s going to set Kate free from AC-12? Jo did for some time, made Kate realise the life she could have outside of anti-corruption but that got ripped away from her and now she’s gone back to them, tail between her legs and probably feeling even worse than she had when she left in the first place.

Questions I wanted to address throughout this piece, is Kate Fleming a master manipulator?

Yes, to an extent. She knows how to use people and their feelings to her advantage. She knows how to get information out of people, we have seen that time and time again across the show, but it’s only ever under the guise of being a UCO and half the time I don’t think she enjoys it all that much (as we see in S5 with her allusions to that there). Outside of being undercover Kate is a genuine person, we see that via the connection she makes with Jo. She never pushed Jo for information, they built up trust between them and shared a bond. Jo worries that Kate would go running back to AC-12 with all the dirt on Jo but Kate reassures her, “I would never tell them personal stuff.” And she doesn’t. We know that she could, we see her do it with Tony Gates the moment she finds out the extent of his relationship with Jackie Laverty. But the fact she doesn’t, is telling us that outside of being undercover, Kate, despite what people might think, is an authentic person who can form relationships without it being faked for beneficial reasons.

Are her motives clear?

Not always. On the surface she is quite a hard person to read but once you pick her apart and piece everything together, you realise that she is an incredibly smart woman who, despite holding her cards close to her chest, plays them very well. She doesn’t reveal things easily which is testament to her being a good undercover officer but when you dig into it, I think her motives can be clear. She’s very career-driven, often putting that above everything else. She always want to get the job done and to the best of her ability. As I’ve mentioned throughout, she is the embodiment of AC-12, integrity and truth. She very much holds up the law. 

That doesn’t make her innocent and doesn’t mean she doesn’t bend the truth/law to her all the time either. But I do think that’s Jeds way of saying that no matter how hard you try to be good, you’re always going to end up in tricky situations that you have to worm your way out of, as depicted by Steve’s quote in S2 “Maybe there are some people out there who always tell the truth and ones who always lie. The rest of us choose our moments.” 

How has Kate been developed across the show? 

In short, she hasn’t been developed all that much and where she has been developed it’s been reversed by the end of it. From S1-5 she remains pretty much the same person, not much bothers her or effects her. Partly think that’s because of her burying her emotions and her trauma but I don’t want to give Jed too much credit where it isn’t due. 

S6 was where we seen the most development from Kate. We seen a whole new side to her, we seen her experiencing things for the first time, having feelings that have never been delved into where Kate has been concerned. S6 Kate felt miles apart from S1-5 Kate, or at least she did until E7. Kate had the potential to be fleshed out and to be shown that not even Line of Duty’s resident heroine is free from trauma and emotions but that, like I’ve said, got scrapped for the sake of a political point. We needed more than a 30 second therapy scene to address the issues and dilemmas going on in Kate’s head. We needed the relationship that she had been involved in, that had been set up, to be acknowledged and addressed. That relationship with Jo was so integral and important to Kate’s development, it needed to be brought up, even if it was just in relation to Kate’s development and Kate’s character. 

Jo and Kate were never going to end up in a relationship, it was doomed from the beginning but it still brought about a change in Kate and her character deserved to have that tied up and acknowledged to an extent, at the very least. We, as an audience, deserved that also. Kate went through so much in this series and the fact that all we got was a 30 second scene therapy scene to address it is, quite frankly, insulting.

I don’t care that Buckells was H, looking back on it’s obvious. I understood the political point of it and Jed was making a good point, in a sense. But with shows like Line of Duty, where it’s main characters remain constant throughout you have a due diligence to develop them and flesh them out into 3D characters who have good sides and bad sides - and that goes for ALL of them, Kate included. And she is but to an extent because she isn’t explored enough. Jed will start it, pave ways she could go and then forgets about it. As much as we all follow along for the plot and wanting to find out who these corrupt officers are, we also become invested in the characters, we want to know more about them. We want to see them go through things, we want to be able to relate to them and go on journeys with them. 

As much as we watch for the plot, we’re also watching for the characters. Like come on how many of us shouted “Oh God Steve, watch your back!” When the van toppled over and not “Oh shit they’re about to be ambushed!” I could go on but you get my point. The main plot is interesting and well thought out but we’re also watching the characters and we want to see them be developed with justice. 

Kate Fleming is a complex character and she deserved to be fully developed throughout S6 (and the whole show considering, you know, she’s a main character) and didn’t deserve to have that development fizzled out for political point scoring.  

And if you made it this far, well done. Have a drink. 

[thedumpsterqueen]

Standards of Performance, Chapter 10: Accommodations

From the Beginning,  Previous Chapter

AO3 Link

Thank you guys again for being so kind about the new posting schedule (or lack thereof). Your comments and messages and rbs always make me laugh and cry (in a a good way).This is just a lil chapter about them being awkward and cute after The Kiss, and introducing some bigger plot stuff. You'll wanna buckle up for the next one ;)

Summary: You’re the BAU’s newest intern, desperate to prove yourself amongst an established team of much more experienced profilers. Agent Hotchner, the seemingly infallible team leader, sets strict expectations for your performance. He commands your respect without even trying, but is there something more to your relationship than a simple desire to impress your stony-faced boss?

Chapter Summary: Some creep is stalking the team and all you can think about is kissing Hotch. 

Words: 2059

Rating: Explicit, 18+. Warnings on AO3.

Pairings: Hotch x Reader, Hotch x You

The BAU had a stalker.

To put it in a way more relevant to your views on the matter: the BAU’s stalker was interfering with the (hopefully) budding spark between you and Hotch.

It wasn’t that you didn’t care that there was potentially unhinged maniac apparently obsessed with the team, it’s just that when you got the slightly panicked phone call from JJ that Morgan, Reid, Garcia, and herself had all found letters on their doorstep professing an alarming fascination with the members of the team, you couldn’t help but feel a bit irritated that the ordeal was bound to put a pause on the progress you two had made.

That is, until you went to leave your apartment in the morning and found an unassuming envelope shoved under the door. You opened it with shaking fingers to a note written on thick cardstock, scrawled in black, seeping ink as if written by an old-fashioned quill.

I’ve been paying attention to your team for some time - quite the impact you’ve made on the world of crime. The heroes of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit! I’m sure the world wishes they had you during Bundy or BTK, hm?

Anyways, I had to see for myself. I must admit, finding you was much easier than I would have anticipated given your ‘status.’ I thought I’d drop you this note to say hi and propose a deal. A Game, of sorts.

The Game goes like this: I leave you notes, and you try to catch me! Easy, yes? This is day 1. How many days until you find me?

Xoxo Talk soon,

G

You put the note in your bag and, after double checking your door was locked (not that the flimsy deadbolt the landlord had installed would have done much to keep an intruder out anyways), you rushed to the office. You dropped your note on the table in the conference room where the team had gathered and pointed at it tremulously. 

“I got one too. I touched it, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking -”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rossi interrupted. “We dusted the others; there was nothing. I doubt yours was any different.”

Hotch plucked your letter up and scanned it quickly before tossing it back on the table. “It’s exactly the same as the others. Nothing identifiable.”

“Why didn’t we get them?” asked Prentiss.

“Access,” said Garcia, notably less cheery than usual. The team turned to her for clarification.

“You three are hard to get to,” she explained. “Hotch and Prentiss live in secure apartment buildings. Rossi has a gated property with security that can rival the President’s. Those of us who don’t live the high life are just... out in the open.”

“So that’s encouraging, right? That the unsub either couldn’t or wouldn’t go through the extra trouble of getting to all of us?” JJ asked, hopeful.

Morgan shook his head. “I dunno if you can interpret any part of what this creep is doing to intimidate us as ‘encouraging.’”

“Does it read as intimidation, though?” mused Reid. 

“I don’t know, you tell me,” Morgan responded. “What’s your take on the language?”

Reid took a millisecond to reread the letter and pursed his lips. “Though the language isn’t directly threatening, the concept of a game implies either winning or losing. He - it’s almost certainly a he - doesn’t mention the consequences for either situation, which could imply that there are none, but that seems unlikely. There’s also the matter of separating himself from others in line three - ‘I’m sure the world wishes they had you during Bundy or BTK,’ not we. He’s trying to distinguish himself to us in some way, which means he wants to be noticed, and I don’t think there’s anything in this language that excludes the possibility of him doing something drastic in order to be.”

“So not encouraging,” said Prentiss dryly. “The question is, why us? Is this personal; did we put someone close to him away?”

“It could be, but the language in the opening seems sarcastic almost, like he’s mocking us,” noted Rossi. 

Morgan nodded in agreement. “It’s a challenge. He’s trying to tell us we’re not all we’re cracked up to be.”

The analysis worried you, because you felt you were the only member of the team for whom that statement might have been true. 

“So, what then?” you asked. “Review security footage and see if we can find anything?”

“Already did!” chirped Garcia. “Hotch had me up all night reviewing the tapes.”

For the first time, you noticed the dark circles under her standard coat of heavy makeup. You looked at Hotch, expecting to find some shame in his expression, but found none. 

“If there was anyone weird creeping around your dwellings last night, I didn’t see ‘em. I even looked through the street cameras in the area. Granted, none of you have a security camera pointed directly at your door, which might not be a bad idea after this -”

“Hold on,” Morgan interrupted, “you didn’t check her apartment though, right?” referring to you. “Cuz she just found it this morning?”

Garcia perked up, but you shot her down with a shake of your head. “Sorry guys, my place isn’t nearly nice enough to have security cameras.”

The team looked unperturbed by that, except for Hotch, who met your eyes with a look you couldn’t quite place. 

“What do we do, then? Wait for another letter?” JJ asked.

“That’s all we can do until we have more evidence,” said Hotch, visibly frustrated. He hated waiting, you knew that. You all hated it. It felt like watching a car without its parking brake on slowly start to roll down a hill.

“If that’s all, sir…”

Hotch nodded at Garcia. “You’re all dismissed. Business as usual for now. If he craves acknowledgement, best not to give it to him unless we have to.”

The team filtered out, and you made to follow them, but before making it through the doorway, Hotch called you back. He shifted feet, cleared his throat, and looked at you.

“About the comment you made earlier,” he started.

What comment? You wracked your brain trying to remember if you’d said something rude, or something that hinted at what happened between you two, but came up short.

He noticed the puzzled look on your face and clarified. “When you said your apartment complex wasn’t nice enough to have security cameras. I wanted to say that -” he ran his hand across his jaw, clearly uncomfortable, “- I know the internship salary isn’t impressive, and if you feel you’re unable to afford safe accommodation, I’d be more than happy to talk to Strauss about -”

“Oh, God, no.” You felt as if your face was on fire. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way, my apartment is fine - I mean of course there’s things that could be improved - but in no way do I feel unsafe.” 

“Well, good. Okay then.”

Before you could make your exit and spare you both from the residual awkwardness of the interaction, he spoke again. “There’s one more thing. Given that whoever wrote this note has displayed his willingness to come to our doorsteps, JJ is staying with Emily for the time being, Reid with Rossi, and Garcia with Morgan.”

You smirked at the last pairing. Leave it to those two to capitalize on a stalker to bunk up together. 

“I was going to have the Bureau get you a hotel in the meantime, since he did come to your apartment, but Garcia suggested that since we live so close, you could just… stay with me.”

Holy shit.

There was a pained look on his face as he finished the sentence as if he recognized what an utterly bad idea it was, but hadn’t had the good sense to reject it himself. He looked at you, expecting an answer despite the lack of a question mark at the end of that statement, and you struggled mightily to compose yourself to deliver an acceptance that didn’t appear uncomfortably enthusiastic. 

You must have taken too long, because he immediately started to retract his offer. “I already told her it was completely inappropriate; the rest of the team is used to staying together for cases but given you just started, and after the last few days I completely understand -”

“No!” You cut him off. “Sorry, no, that’s not what I was going to say at all. I’d love to. I mean, I think it’s a good idea. I’d feel a lot safer…”

‘With you around?’ Is that too much?

Fuck it. 

“... with you around,” you finished, and you swear you saw him push back a smile.

“Alright, then. I’ll let Garcia know.”

You made a mental note to send that woman a thank-you card.

***

As the workday wound down, you were surprised to Hotch turn out his office light and walk out at the same time as you did.

“Early night?” you teased as you walked to your cars in the parking garage, despite it being 7 pm. 

He chuckled. “It would have been rude of me to keep you hanging around until I decided to leave.”

Right. You were leaving together. Because you were going back to his apartment. Together. The undeniable domesticity of the moment put a skip in your step, and you couldn’t help but wish this was happening under different circumstances.

“So I’ll just stop by my apartment and grab my things?”

“What? No,” Hotch responded, frowning. “I’m coming with you. The whole point of all of this is to avoid being alone.”

And that’s how you ended up speeding down the highway like a madwoman, leaving Hotch in your dust, taking the stairs two at a time, and frantically scrambling to get your apartment in order. It wasn’t terrible; not as if you had rotting food sitting out or something (probably because you didn’t actually cook enough for that), but the recent caseload and spending so much time with Hotch in the mornings had certainly pushed general organization to the wayside. You shoved the growing pile of dirty laundry into your closet, straightened up the coffee table, and were in the middle of packing your suitcase when you heard a knock at the door.

Giving the apartment a quick once-over to make sure you hadn’t missed something utterly humiliating, you opened the door to an unimpressed Hotch.

“I could have pulled you over for speeding, you know,” he said as he strode into your living room.

“Yeah, sorry,” you said sheepishly, “I wanted to make sure this place wasn’t a mess the first time you saw it.”

He cocked an eyebrow and you realized how that came out - the first time, as if there were going to be many more - and you coughed and looked away.

“Anyways. I’m almost done packing, just gotta grab a couple more things.”

He nodded and you hurried to it, wanting to get him out of your apartment as quickly as possible. Normally you’d have jumped at the chance to be alone in a quiet place with him, but the way his eyes were scanning the room made you nervous that he was learning more about you in a very short amount of time than you felt entirely comfortable with.

***

You walked into Hotch’s apartment for the second time ever to find it just as clinically neat as before, except for a set of sheets and blankets laid out on the couch. Grinning, you gestured to them.

“Thought you said you were sure I would say no?”

It was his turn to be shamefaced. “Just in case. Besides,” he shot back, grabbing your bags from where you’d deposited them by the couch, “You’re taking the bed.”

“Like hell I am!” you scoffed, forgoing propriety. “I’m not making my boss sleep on the couch in his own apartment.”

“Considering I, as you mentioned, am your boss,” he responded, “I will be making that decision.”

You plopped down on the couch. “Unless I just refuse to move.”

He stood a few paces away and glared, but gave up and dropped your bags all the same.

You could have sworn you heard him mutter “brat” under his breath, but that didn’t sound like something Aaron Hotchner would say, did it?

Taglist (I got a bunch of new ones so message me if I forgot to add you!):  @stop-drop-and-drumroll @criminalmindzjunkie @xoprincessmel @cevanswhre @addie5264 @klinenovakwinchester​ @honeyshores​ @violentvulgarvolatile @masumiyetimziyanoldu @violetclifford​ @pipersaccomplice​ @itsmytimetoodream​ @groovygoob​ @captainhyenafan​ @thebadassbitchqueen​

[enternalempires]

Downfall of a Liar

This is a Lukanette fic. Some fluff, some angst, a lot of salt and Luka being a King of Revenge. You all get to see the more conniving part of our snake boi. Hope you enjoy! Haven’t figured out how to use links yet but my Ao3 username is the same. Basically,  Lila Rossi has gone too far and Luka Couffaine is going to do something about it. He is, after all, a Couffaine… a little chaos never frightened him.

Marinette came to him on a Friday afternoon with sad eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Her knees were bleeding and her wrists were bruised, hair messy and lip busted. Her dress was ruined with an ugly paint smear and her stockings underneath were ripped.

“I fell down the stairs,” She told him, looking away. “I didn’t mean to. I must’ve fallen into some paint.”

Luka didn’t believe this.

The wobble in her voice and the unsteady way she had stumbled right into his chest when she saw him was not the actions of a girl used to her own clumsy feet. Marinette was a strong girl and he knew how much of a burden was placed onto her shoulders. She did not crack easily and she did not do it over being a klutz or smudged paint. She did not cry over repairable things, over broken nails or washable clothes. She did not come to him looking upset and watery-eyed without feeling one step from breaking.

These were things he knew.

So, after calming her down and getting her to take a shower, offering her clean clothes and a warm bed, and letting the girl he fell in love with fall asleep on his chest to the sound of his heartbeat, he did some digging.

He went to his sister first and found out the real story.

Marinette was in the art workshop, Mrs. Bustier having set up a lesson in there during the last hour of the day, with the other members of the band as she helped Nathan and Marc on their story.

She was honestly just being nice— as Jules explained— then the bitch, his sister’s respective name for Lila, sauntered into the room and started to wail about how Mari was only helping the two co-creators because she wanted the credit for their work.

The girl he fell in love with defended herself, and her friends did the same but with most of the Akuma class— excluding the band members and Nathaniel— having fallen for her tails of woe and amazing, yet false, life experiences, they sided with the liar instead of Mari.

Then, throughout the rest of the class, the bitch found ways to terrorize Marinette (going as far and tripping her and cutting her dress with scissors, dropping her paint onto her, pushing her into things, or slamming different objects onto her wrists) and then blame her for getting in the way.

Juleka and Rose had helped Marinette calm down a little as the girl broke into tears as soon as they were away from the rest of the Akuma class but she just kept panicking— and ran away. They didn’t know where she ended up until he texted them and asked.

Then Luka asked for Alya Cesiare’s phone number and made an unsettling discovery.

Marinette and the blogger were no longer best friends.

And, horrifyingly, she had been accused of being a bully, a liar, and a manipulator. Lila painted his melody in the way that everyone should view her instead.

Finally he created a group chat with a few allies he could trust.

He contacted Adrien Agreste (because even if the boy had been painfully oblivious that Marinette had once been in love with him, he would do anything for his lady), Kagami Tsurigi and her girlfriend and spoiled brat, Chloe Bourgeois, the boyfriends Marc and Nate, and then the rest of his band.

He named it ‘The Marinette Protection Squad’ and, just like that, the war was on its way.

*-*-*

Lila Rossi was waiting in the back of the school by herself when Luka arrived. He found her hidden between one of the walls and a thick oak tree and he didn’t bother to hide himself as he crossed the grounds over to her.

She saw him, surprise lighting her features for a second before it shifted into a— what he would guess, if it wasn't on someone so repulsive— a seductive smile.

“Luka!” She squealed, sauntering up to him and stopping a few feet away. “How are you, sweetheart? It’s been forever since we saw each other, since your last year in Lycee, right?”

“I don’t care,” Luka took a step back, face emotionless as he looked down at her. His eyes gave away nothing as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “You’ve made a lot of people angry, Lila.”

“A-Angry?” She stammered, feigning innocence by putting her hands over her heart with too wide of eyes to be real. “Why would they be angry with me?”

“Because you’re a liar and you hurt the people they care about— you hurt the person I care about.”

“Oh,” Lila straightened her back. “You must be talking about my bully.”

“Your bully?” Luka scoffed, less than amused. “Sure, I’ll play along for a minute. Who is your bully.”

“She’s... s-she is Marinette,” The liar sniffles. “And she says such horrible things about me and they’re not true! She pushes me and, and she rips up my homework and she insults me. Whatever you heard isn’t true, I swear!”

“Are you done?” He sighed out, shrugging his shoulders to make them relax more. “You’re a lying bitch, I get it. I’m not here to let you try to sink your claws under my skin, not that it would work, I’m here to warn you.”

“Warn me about what?” Lila asks, voice going a bit nastier than she probably intended.

What a two-faced bitch.

“That you should watch your back,” He says simply, turning slightly to walk back to his house. “You pushed a lot of people into your enemy list by threatening Marinette and now you’re about to face the consequences. It’s only fair to give you a head’s up.”

“Marinette,” she shrieks, “is nothing but a liar and a horrible person—”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, no matter what anyone says, is the kindest person you will ever meet,” Luka snarled, whirling on the sausage-haired girl so fast that she stumbled back, unprepared. “And I’m hers. You hurt the wrong person, you egocentric bitch, and you’re going to pay for it.”

Lila gaped for a second before she forced an innocent look on her face, mouth opening to say something but the musician just continued, eyes hard and narrowed and angry, mouth drawn into a tight line.

He was a generally calm person, he could handle a lot before ever blowing a fuse. Because he was also a Couffaine at heart. He thrived in chaos where others wither and when it came to those he loved, nothing would stop him from protecting them.

Especially when the one he loved and had to defend was the girl he fell in love with.

“She is thoughtful and compassionate and selfless and astounding in how she will push herself to the knife’s edge just to make sure her loved ones are okay. She is a cinnamon roll but the fiercest ally you could ever have. There is no stopping her, there is no convincing her to step down when she’s standing up for something that’s right— when she’s standing up for someone, unless that someone is herself.”

He took a step closer and, well, that must’ve been pretty intimidating because she scrambled to take one back, causing a humorless chuckle to leave his lips.

He was his mother’s son but he had enough of his father in him to leave others terrified.

“And you want to convince me that just because you have the Akuma class, Mlle. Bustier, and M. Damocles so far up your ass that people will hate her? Really? Let me tell you something, sweetheart," He gave a cruel smirk, voice mocking as he repeated what she called him earlier. “This isn’t you and all your puppets against Marinette, it’s now you against the entire school. You might pretend to rule this place but she is the one who everyone looks up to and loves. She’s their sunshine child and leader and she has connections everywhere. She knows people that could make your life a living hell and it is her kindness alone that has spared you in the past. And you should have cut your losses when you had the chance because I, however, am not as kind. You declared war, Mlle. Rossi, do not be surprised when your downfall comes knocking on your door.”

With that and smirking at the ugly glare on her face, Luka saunters away, whistling a happy tune despite how tightly his fists are clenched inside his pockets.

It’s a week later when they make the first move.

Ivan and Rose, because despite her size she puts up one hell of a fight, are Marinette’s bodyguards during school. They prevent her from getting hurt while Mylene, Marc, and Nate make sure to record anything and everything Lila does that’s incriminating towards her reputation. 

Juleka is on sabotage duty during school to make sure any plans backfire onto the bitch while Adrien is the distraction. Both were excellent at their job. Almost scarily good.

Outside of school Kagami and Luka strategize and come up with plans to make sure anything Lila says can be used against her. They organize groups and make sure that Marinette and her family doesn’t get bothered by Lila or any of her followers.

One by one more people in the school help. Marinette’s friends from different classes going from the highest grade level to the first year students at Lycee all jump in when needed— when they overhear a lie and debunk it by pulling up proof or contacting the people involved directly (Marinette isn’t the only one with contacts).

One by one Lila is getting more isolated, one by one she’s losing her power.

And it’s so satisfying to see that Luka goes to sleep laughing.

It’s not even a full month before the Akuma class had fully left Lila’s side, the last to turn was Alya— the reporter so distraught over how she realized she had been treating her former best friend that she had a mental breakdown.

It was a month on the dot when Honeybee and Ryuko got video footage of Lila snatching one of Hawkmoth’s butterflies from the air with a wide grin and a “What can I do for you today, boss?” and it was a week later when her life got ruined.

(Marinette was so overjoyed that the constant terror— in her civilian— life was going away that she kissed Luka until their lungs ached and, just like that, Luka got revenge and a girlfriend in one sweep.

And that girlfriend was very, very grateful for it too. Most nights he went to bed with bruise-kissed lips and a beautiful girl in his arms. Marinette looked happier than she did in years and all the planning and frustration melted away when he saw her wake up with a smile.

He couldn’t protect her when she was fighting an Akuma but he’s proved more than enough times that he could protect her when she goes back to having two left feet.)

First she got expelled from her Lycee for false accusations, thief, bullying, and cheating. 

Then her lies— ever last one of them— were exposed and her mother was informed about what her daughter was up to and even waved her daughter’s diplomatic immunity— being absolutely disgusted with her daughter’s behavior— when the court cases of people suing her for fraudulence, harassment, threats, attempted murder, and acts of terroism.

Last, but not least, Lila was banned from Paris and all the cases stacked up against her were moved to a different court within France so they wouldn’t even have to see her again.

Though they did see her screaming and shrieking and snarling towards Luka as he joyfully waved at her when the bitch was getting dragged to the back of a cop car, “You! You did this! You made this all happen! I’m going to get you back for this, Couffaine, I swear I’m going to get you!”

She seemed absolutely insane, drool going down her chin from how hard she had been yelling, eyes frantic and face flushed and she jerked like a wild animal trying to get out of her cuffs and the officer’s hands that held her back from attacking the young musician.

He was a Couffaine and this chaos made him delighted to witness.

After all, it’s not everyday you get to see the downfall of the bitch who made the love of your life miserable.

Luka just laughed and sent her a cocky wave, “I look forward to it, sweetheart.”

Well… you can’t say she wasn’t warned.

[leo-gold-hotchner]

The Sinner -5

Sorry for the late post! But, I’m sure it’s gonna be cliche.. as everyone expected. 

I’m not good at any language, including English. I even struggle with English as you can see from my writing. So I’d be very appreciated if you all tell me there’s any weird sentences. And thanks Google for information on Korean and staff.. The code is based on a historical secret code, didn’t invent it. Too stupid to invent something like those. 

Ordinary part 1 coming soon... yeah can’t wait to post it, but I got 9 assignments which are due next Tues so might sometime to post either fic

Criminal Minds BAU x Gender Neutral Reader

Word Count: 6k

Warning: Description of blood, death, mutilation, torture, swearing etc.

Previous parts: 1 2 3 4

                                                -BAU-

“It is dark under the lamp.” – Korean Proverb 

José tried to pull his arms, but it was useless, the rope only dug into his skin further. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He knew they were dead; they all got an order from the Superbia to lay low for a while after Smith and Olson got killed. This wasn’t Ira, this was the murderer who killed his fellow five members. And he never expected to be this one. 

“José, José, José. You’re shaking. Are you that scared?” 

“You know not only them, but the FBI gonna catch you.” He spat angrily to hide his fear. “I’m part of the Police just like you. They’ll know I’m missing and they’ll know it was you.” He however wasn’t sure how long the FBI gonna take to find the lead. 

“No, the FBI gonna catch me when I let them. Now I have you, I only need to get two more.” 

José frowned despite the pain in every corner of his body, his brain subconsciously calculated the important figures in the organisation. Excluding him, only three members were left. The three members who maintain the organisation and hidden from every other member. 

“Let me tell you as a last gift, José. How can I know who you are? Because Nick was Invidia, dear friend.” The 911 operator looked shocked. “Too bad I can’t really throw you into the snake pit.” Shrugged with a mocking smile, chatting happily.

“F/N, please I, I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me.” José begged pitifully. José’s breath quickened as he smelled burned steel in the dark room. His initial thought was F/N L/N was mad. If F/N was responsible for every murder of the members, then it meant Nick L/N was also killed by his spouse. Mad enough to kill the loved one. 

“Apologise to my Nick when you see him afterlife,” F/N hissed and coldly ironed the man’s skin. As the skin burned, his scream and smell filled the room. His logical thoughts quickly dissipated. 

                                               -BAU-

6th Day 

Prentiss entered the office and touched Reid’s cheek with warm coffee. Reid blinked in surprise and whirled around to see the older woman staring at him. 

“Emily, when did you come in?” 

“Now?” Prentiss handed the coffee to the younger agent who graciously took it. 

“Did you even sleep last night?” It was 8:35 in the morning, no other was present except Reid. She looked over the secret code on the white board. 

“A bit,” Reid shrugged casually. 

“I’m surprised you’re here but Hotch’s not.” 

Right then, Hotch entered the office with two sandwich bags in his hands, raising his brows at Reid’s back and Prentiss. Before he could announce his return, Reid opened his mouth no knowing the Unit Chief had returned. Prentiss tried to stop Reid but he went on, and soon she gave up, just amused as much as Hotch who had a small quirking smile on his lips. 

“He was here. He came exactly,” Reid looked over the clock on the wall, “2 hours 23 minutes 35 seconds ago. Don’t tell him, but I think he gave up solving the code with me. I’m surprised even Hotch has something to give up.” The younger man laughed, though Prentiss smirked with a little shake. 

“No, I was getting breakfast.” Hotch’s deep voice made Reid jump. The genius glared at the brunette who was now laughing merrily. “And this,” he put down the bag and a yellow folder on the table. “I went to the forensic lab in case if they finished the drug test.” 

“It’s not even 9, but they finished?” Reid looked surprised. 

“Apparently, he was threatened to finish the test by this morning by his boss.” Hotch drily explained, remembering the forensic scientist who introduced himself as ‘Eric McKinnon’ grumbling about L/F made him stay whole night. 

Reid picked up the folder and looked through the drugs that were found in the Kim’s household. “Oxycodone, Ketamine, Fentanyl…” He read through the a few lists, his finger moving fast on the paper. “They’re all regulated strictly in the hospital for their substance. If Andersson obtained these drugs from her workplace, she must’ve had help to avoid any detection. We need to search for everyone in the hospital, the drug company, even the delivery service.” 

Prentiss looked at the photo of Kim, then the code, then the photo of Andersson. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, who wrote the code?” 

“Hm?” Reid immediately stopped explanation of drugs to Hotch who was just absent-mindedly nodding as he read through the file. “I believe it was Kim, I compared his writings from notes in his study. Why?” 

“Have you been trying to decipher in English?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Maybe try Korean. Kim has Korean heritage, he might’ve used Korean as base language.” 

“But, I don’t know Korean,” Reid nearly pouted, “you can help me, though.” 

“I don’t speak Korean.” Prentiss furrowed her brows. “I just know a few words. My Russian is much better than Korean.” 

“Reid, I know you can at least learn Korean in a day to decipher the code.” Hotch closed the file. “We’ll find someone who can speak Korean after you decipher the code.” 

Reid and Prentiss watched their Unit Chief leave the room. Reid grabbed the sandwich bag from the table. “Where’re JJ, Rossi and Morgan?” 

“JJ’s coming, and Rossi and Morgan went out to see Dalal for more information.” Prentiss replied as she read through the toxicology file. 

Reid sighed. “Say good luck to me, Emily.” 

“Good luck, boy genius.” 

                                               -BAU-

It was early in the morning for Jack, but Hotch wanted to hear his son’s voice before he goes to school. His feature softened as he listened to his son, for a brief moment forgetting all about the case he was investigating. He put down his phone, looking up at the gloomy sky. Snow fall last night, would there be another snow? Jack wanted to make a snowman with him, he hoped he could finish this case soon and go back to his son. 

The BAU Unit Chief re-entered the station, before he could move aside a person with a large box collided with him. “Fuck,” the person swore as the box swayed dangerously. But the person balanced and stopped from falling. “Sorry, I didn’t see you.” 

“It’s alright, Doctor L/N.” Hotch replied pleasantly as he recognised the voice. 

L/N put down the box and looked at Hotch, mouth forming a little o with a startled look. “Agent Hotchner, I’m so sorry.” 

“Do you need a hand?” Hotch’s eyes scanned the large box on the scientist’s hands. “Thanks, but no. I’m just cleaning my staff in the lab. Were you looking for something?” 

“I, well, you seem to close with your colleagues. Do you know if anyone who could speak Korean? Or even legal translators?” 

“You’ve been working with him this whole time,” the scientist laughed a little. “Leon can speak Korean fluently. Though, why?” 

“We may need his skill,” Hotch replied ambiguously. 

“You shouldn’t trust anyone else, but you can trust Leo, Agent.” As if knowing the reason of Hotch’s ambiguity, L/N smiled with mysterious sadness. “He’s the sort of guy who stands up for any injustice. Even if that’s his friends.” 

Before he could ask what the scientist was implying, Hotch was surprised to see sudden burning hatred in the Forensic’s eyes. An authoritative voice greeted the BAU Unit Chief from his behind. It was a brief moment but Hotch didn’t miss the homicidal glare towards the owner of the voice from the scientist. The agent turned and saw Captain Robertson. His posture was screaming authority with his stoic face, his eyes boring into Hotch’s. Despite Hotch turned away from the Forensic, he could just feel hatred radiating from the scientist. He wondered what wrong the Captain did to the forensic scientist to earn this much of hatred. 

“Agent Hotchner,” Robertson called Hotch in a quiet voice. The Captain was here to demand something, Hotch thought as he quickly analysed the Captain’s posture. “Could I have a quick word?” Robertson was trying to show he had the upper hand than Hotch, a perfect alpha male who was being territorial. 

Hotch didn’t know if the Captain was either blatantly ignoring the scientist or didn’t notice hatred in the scientist’s eyes at all. “Of course.” Hotch replied mildly to insinuate he wasn’t here to challenge the Captain’s authority. Though Hotch would do anything if anything happens to his team. 

Pleased at Hotch’s willingness to talk, Robertson finally gave his attention towards the forensic scientist who wasn’t hiding hate at all. “Doctor L/N.” Finally the man acknowledged the forensic scientist who only looked at the Captain with a cold stare. “I didn’t get any resigning letter.” He said as he looked down at the box. 

“I’ll file something later,” L/N sarcastically said as lifting the box once again, leaving quickly. 

                                               -BAU-

“L/N’s been like that since I couldn’t do anything for Nick’s death.” Robertson explained, but Hotch had an impression that Robertson just said that to avert Hotch’s attention to somewhere else. 

Even though it was morning, the station bustled with officers and civilians. As the men walked through the aisle, several officers greeted the Captain. Hotch could easily see the Captain was being respected by his subordinates. 

Hotch entered Robertson’s office. There were several golden trophies and photos on the shelves. The photos were mostly about himself, but a few were with a woman. Everything was clean and in order except the table. The table was messy with files and papers, pens were laid everywhere. The Captain leaned on the table, crossing his arms as if he was hiding the messy table from the agent. 

“I heard you asked Lee not to talk about this case with the media.” 

“I did. I don’t want the UnSub to hide away.” 

“Reporters will know about this anytime soon. Do you even have the lead to the killer?” Robertson squinted his eyes. 

“To be frank, no, we don’t have any solid lead.” 

“Dammit.” The Captain suddenly banged the table and started to pace, but Hotch didn’t even blink. “I don’t want this bastard in my community. When you find this bastard, I want you to kill on that spot when you see the chance. I’ll order my men too.” 

“That’s not how I work.” Hotch frowned at the Captain’s growing anxiety. 

“This person killed six people, Agent!” Robertson jabbed the table with his finger as he yelled each word. “The bastard’s fucking crazy. I don’t want any more death from this bastard, do you hear me?” Robertson glared at the FBI agent who didn’t avoid the Captain’s fiery stare. 

Hotch finally broke the silence as Robertson’s breath slowly calmed from his anger. “I’ll do what I can do, Captain.” 

“Good.” 

Hotch exhaled deeply as he left the Captain’s office. Robertson didn’t know he made a mistake. It was a moment of anger and he lost the control. The Captain would, eventually, realise his mistake and might do something to sabotage the investigation. 

“Detective, I need your help,” Hotch called Lee as soon as he saw the detective walked in with a half-eaten sandwich. 

                                               -BAU-

Morgan and Rossi decided to visit and talk to Nurse Dalal once again before lunch. Time does fly fast these days. 

“Do you see what I see?” Rossi asked Morgan as they arrived in front of the hospital. 

“Let’s hope they don’t know about the Seven Sins.” The younger man descended from the SUV after shaking his head a little seeing a broadcasting car. “It’s kinda sad people are finally giving attention after someone in status is dead.” 

“Yes, that’s unfortunate.” 

They entered the hospital building, not seeing any reporter as they went to the same receptionist in the hall. She recognised the agents and greeted them friendlier than the day before. “If you’re here for Nurse Dalal again, she’s not here.” 

“Do you know where she might be?” 

Rossi and Morgan exited the hospital and Morgan clicked the key and both men hopped on the black SUV. Dalal was on leave for a month, apparently Dalal told her colleagues she felt unwell just after the FBI agents visited her and asked for leave. 

“Hey, baby girl,” Morgan smiled broadly as he called his best mate, Garcia. 

“Well, well, well, isn’t this my sweet chocolate thunder? How can I be service today?” Garcia asked in a friendly seductive tone. 

“We need Aria Dalal’s address, she works as a nurse at the Jefferson Hospital.” Not even a minute, Garcia produced the address and Morgan started the SUV and set the navigation. 

“Is that all? You’ve been awfully less demanding recently,” she whined. 

“Yeah, sorry about that, sweet girl. But if you want to keep listen to my voice how can I not comply to your wish?” 

“Can we please go without any double entendre here?” Rossi rolled his eyes from the passenger seat. 

“I guess we need to protect Rossi’s innocence, Penelope,” Morgan barked a loud laugh along with Garcia’s merry laugh. 

 “Children,” Rossi shook his head, but the tips of his lips were up softly. “Can you look for her past? She might’ve known Andersson if she was hiding something.” 

“Alrighto! Give me a sec and I’ll call the others too.” 

“Hello?” 

“Hey, boy genius, you’re also connected with Morgan and Rossi.” Garcia chirped happily. “Now I’ve found something about Andersson and Dalal here. They were friends. It’s hidden, a private post, but I found a photo of Andersson and Dalal together, apparently, they’ve known each other since high school. And Dalal actually worked at the Bethesda Hospital but she transferred here five years ago.” 

“Did she have Andersson as a referee when she transferred?” 

“I’m not sure about that, sweet boy. There’s not much on their SNS, so I can’t find more about their past other than they’ve known each other since high school.” 

“Thanks, baby girl.” 

                                               -BAU-

While Prentiss and JJ were going through case files and photos once again, Reid jot down numbers and Korean on a white board. Under the Korean vowels and consonants, numbers were written with red marker. 

“Would the UnSub operate at own house or other base?” JJ asked as her finger tapped the papers. 

“Can be both,” Prentiss replied. “Remember Joe Smith in Milwaukee? He killed women in his basement in the middle of resident area. No one heard women screaming. I’m just surprised the UnSub might be only one person doing all these killings.” 

“Articulate, intelligent, logical, flexible in time, and anger. With growing anger how one can’t even make a mistake?” 

“Maybe the UnSub is used to clean the mess even if they made a mistake? Like works in similar industry, cleaning.” Prentiss shrugged. 

“Or knows what to clean to look like someone else did it.” JJ and Prentiss locked their eyes as their eyes widened at the possible idea. 

Before the female agents could discuss more about their theory, the door opened and Lee and Hotch entered. Lee looked a bit dishevelled with his sandwich in his hand while Hotch looked very professional comparing to the detective. 

“I see something unusually familiar.” Lee stared at the white board full of messy Korean writings. “I didn’t know joining the FBI requires learning different languages.” 

“Usually they don’t,” Prentiss chuckled. 

“We need some help in Korean, I heard you were great with the language.” Hotch shortly explained what the forensic scientist told him about Lee’s skill. The Unit Chief didn’t miss the glance between JJ and Prentiss when he mentioned the forensic scientist. “Reid.” The young man, however, didn’t answer his boss. “Reid!” Hotch called the younger agent louder than before but Reid was still in his mind, his eyes glued on the white board, his mouth silently moving as his brain working fast. “Spencer!” Reid squeaked in surprise and whirled around, looking like a deer caught in headlights. 

“Hotch?” He looked at the side where JJ was standing who was not hiding her amused smile from him. “JJ, when you did come here?” 

“Ur, like two hours ago?” JJ laughed and she held her hand out towards Prentiss. “I told you he didn’t notice I was even here.” 

“Dammit, I was sure he’d notice you at least if not Hotch.” Prentiss handed 20 bucks to the blonde. 

Hotch thought to reprimand his team because it usually doesn’t leave good impression to authorities when they bet on something. Even though Lee had been friendly towards the BAU as if he knew them all this time, it doesn’t change they have professionalism to manage on behalf of both BAU and FBI. But he saw a genuine smile on the detective and stopped himself from scolding his team. Though, he definitely will talk about this to the team on the plane on way home. 

“Detective Lee can speak Korean. I need to make a call, I’ll return soon.” Hotch nodded to his team and exited the office. As Hotch exited the office, he could sense Captain Robertson’s piercing eyes on him which he pretended he didn’t notice. 

 “So, what are you trying to achieve?” Lee asked friendly. Looking at the Korean consonants and vowels. 

“I tried to decipher the secret code on the Kim’s note in English, but I couldn’t. So, Emily here thought maybe he made the code based on Korean. I think I’m nearly there, but I don’t think it’s even a word even though I can make a syllable.” 

Lee popped the blue marker silently and wrote down Korean consonants and vowels again on the board, but in different order unlike Reid wrote. “Korean consonants and vowels have their own orders too, like Alphabets. And there’re more tensed consonants and vowels. I’m not sure how to call that.” 

“Consonants are tensed, you’re right. Although, for vowels, Korean vowels are categorised in monophthongs and diphthongs rather than tensed.” Reid interjected. He further explained as soon as he saw a confused look on the detective. “As you can see from their prefixes, monophthong is a single vowel that has one sound, and diphthong has two sounds in a syllable. For English it’s hard to categorise monophthongs and diphthongs because there are many varieties in English language.” 

“Right,” Lee nodded, though anyone could see he didn’t understand one bit what Reid said except the doctor himself. “Anyway, this is the order generally used in Korea.” Obviously, his writing was neater than Reid’s whereas Reid’s was more like writing of geometry. “Here.” 

As soon as Reid received the marker from the older man, Reid quickly inspected the new order written by Lee. The other three waited for Reid to act and the younger man soon wrote 2-digit numbers starting with 11 on the first consonants. “I tried various digits, but I think 2-digit numbers are the most plausible code. If you used 1-digit you can’t even make a proper syllable.” Reid rambled as if he read the others’ mind about why 2-digit numbers. “But if you break the numbers into 2-digit numbers and substitute with consonants and vowels,” he used 223415301738 as the first example, breaking into 22, 34, 15, 30, 17, and 38 for others to read. Then with a red marker, he wrote ㅌ, ㅗ, ㅁ, ㅏ, ㅅ, and ㅡ above the broken numbers. “I don’t know what the word mean, of course I can look for dictionary but even for me that’ll take some time to memorise the whole dictionary.” Reid looked at the detective expectantly. “Well, does it mean something?” 

“Yeah, could you decipher other codes too?” Detective stared at the white board, his eyes widened with surprise. 

“What is it?” JJ asked curiously. 

“It’s a name. But, it’s just a given name.” 

“Maybe other codes under that numbers are surnames?” Prentiss suggested. 

“Here, this code was under the L with that codes.” Reid pointed the deciphered codes. 

The Detective read carefully without voicing. “Sorry, in Korean it’s hard to say if that’s L or R in English. But I believe it’s a full name of a man. Thomas Wellington or Werrington. It’s either of ’em.” 

With the cue, Reid immediately started to decipher other numbered codes with silent encouraging from the Detective, JJ looked for if any Thomas Wellington or Werrington were on any files or victims’ associates. And Prentiss quickly dialled the best technical analyst in the world. 

                                              -BAU-

Rossi ended the call from Hotch which Morgan looked at the older man curiously. “You gonna tell me what that was about?” 

“Not yet,” Rossi replied smugly. Morgan rolled his eyes holding his hands in the air. But the younger man didn’t see a concerned look on Rossi. 

They entered a small apartment where Aria Dalal was living. They stopped in front of the green door that had golden house number on the middle of the door. Rossi knocked on the green door but frowned as there were no response at all. It was quiet as if no one was in the other side of the door. Both men looked at each other worriedly, and Rossi knocked again. 

“Ms. Dalal? This is David Rossi from the FBI. We talked yesterday at the hospital.” 

Morgan gestured if he’d break the door as usual, but before Rossi could say anything the door slightly opened but chained. Only her voice was the evident that someone was inside the apartment. “I don’t know anything,” her voice was trembling despite she was trying to conceal her fear from the agents. “Just, please leave me alone.” Even without profiling, anyone could see she was distressed and scared. 

“We can help you, Aria,” Rossi told her gently. “It’s only me and other FBI agent, Derek Morgan. You also saw him yesterday.” 

“No woman?” Dalal asked with a timid voice. 

Rossi raised his brows at Morgan who mirrored the veteran profiler. “No, no woman here.” 

“Show me your credentials.” Rossi and Morgan showed their identifications through the small gap. “Okay, just be quick.” The door shut and opened again after a click. 

The agents entered the cosy looking apartment, but most of things were in mess. A couple of suitcases were laying in the living area, her staff messily pushed into the suitcases. “I don’t know anything about Marian.” 

“Ma’am, we know you two were close since high school.” Morgan told her politely to calm her down. Unlike controlled herself from last time, she was in verge of panicking. Before Morgan could talk more, his phone echoed in the small apartment, making Dalal jump with paled face. “I’m sorry for startling you, excuse me.” Morgan went to a corner to answer his call. 

“You’re scared of Marian’s killer, aren’t you?” Rossi asked directly side glancing at the younger agent. “You know why Marian got killed, Aria. We’re here to catch who killed your friend.”

“She, she was my best friend,” Dalal hugged herself, finally admitting. “She told me to run if something ever happens to her.” Rossi was sure they were more than just friends. 

“Yeah, will take her with us,” Morgan finished his call before he glanced the distressed nurse. “Ma’am, we need you come with us to the station.” He told the nurse who widened her eyes in fear. Rossi asked the younger man a silent question. “The secret code Kim wrote, they cracked it. All those codes are a list of names. And your name was on the front page of the list.”

Despite she was surprised at first, she just nodded. “Was there a name called Wellington?” 

“I’m not sure about that, is that person involved in this?” 

“I,” Dalal shifted uncomfortably. 

“You can tell us anything, Aria,” Rossi said kindly, “we’re not here to judge you. Just to find who did this to Marian.” 

“You know what?” Dalal shook her head defeated. “I’ve thought over and over again since last night, and I think this is my last chance.” Morgan and Rossi frowned. There was no indication that she’d commit suicide, did she hide something underneath? She was just scared of something and then she just flipped her attitude, as if she gave up everything. 

“We can help you, if someone is after you, the FBI can protect you.” 

“No, you can’t. They’ll find me even if I run away to other states. That’s what Tristan told me when Marian asked me to do this with her. Telling me I shouldn’t be involved if I wanted to live long, but I wanted to be with Marian just like we were in high school.” She bit her nails. “Just before I go with you, can I tell you here what I know? I’ll tell everything again if I have to at the station.” 

“If you’re comfortable with it.” They shouldn’t. They shold’ve taken her to the interrogation room and record everything but she wanted to release everything before anything. In case anything happens to her. 

“Thank you.” For the first time, Dalal gave them a little smile. “I’m more like an associate with the organisation. I don’t know the name of the organisation or even has one, and both Tristan and Marian were in kind of higher rank.” Morgan and Rossi nodded, but inside they were bewildered at the proof of an organisation actually existed. “There’re many people like me, they’re probably the list Tristan wrote. He was the one who managed associates whereas Marian trafficked the drugs from the hospital. I wasn’t told about other members, but they told me there were several.” 

“They told you everything they knew?” The agents wondered why they told such important things to Dalal who wasn’t an important figure in the organisation. 

“Mostly,” Dalal shrugged. “Maybe I was their insurance, I don’t know. What I’m trying to say is there are assassins in this organisation. Marian told me they were called Ira, I don’t know what it means. They can kill whoever they’re asked to. Several days ago, Tristan and Marian came to see me secretly. They told me they were being hunted by the leader himself.” 

“So you think it was this Ira who killed both Tristan and Marian?” 

“Yes, who else? The leader must’ve wanted to hide his track and killing everyone who’s involved. Marian said they were female. She never told me how she knew, but she was so sure of that.” 

“Is that why you asked if there was a woman?” She nodded. “Even if there was, it would’ve been a federal agent.” 

“You don’t know that,” she snapped at the younger agent. “Anyone can be this assassin. Even you’re not fully protected from them.” 

                                             -BAU-

All BAU and Lee were looking at the nurse through the one-way glass window who was with Rossi in the interrogation room. Aria Dalal asked for Rossi to be the agent to question her and they’d gone through the same conversation they had in her apartment. Unlike before she seemed to be relaxed than before but still devastated. She, however, perhaps finally convinced herself that the BAU can help her to ease her anxiety. 

“How do you know Wellington?” Rossi asked Dalal with curiosity. “We knew each other, because…” she paused a bit, “I was Marian’s sexual partner whereas Wellington was Tristan’s. I didn’t see him since he moved to another city or something,” she shook her head. “Then, then, Marian came to see me, told me I have to run if something happens to her.” 

Before he leaves the room, Rossi offered if she wanted some food or drink. She smiled a little towards the older man saying she didn’t have any appetite. Rossi returned and joined the team, leaving the nurse in the room alone. 

“Wellington is one of the first names on the list along with Dalal.” Reid said as soon as Rossi entered. “Thomas Wellington was one of the lawyers worked at the Kim’s law firm.” 

“Was?” Morgan raised brows. 

“Wellington moved to another firm, but he died from a car accident three days ago. Just a day after Lewis was killed,” replied Reid, “Not only Wellington, some of people from the Kim’s journal have been dying by accidents since Smith and Olson died.” 

“Not a coincidence is there?” Rossi sighed deeply. “If this Ira, the wrath, is our UnSub, why didn’t they take the list with them? Dalal said it was Kim’s responsibility to manage the associates. They would’ve known Kim had a list of names. I think the UnSub is a third person, not involved in the organisation directly at least.” 

“So, we have to catch this UnSub, Ira, and the ringleader?” Lee blanched. “We don’t have evidence that it was Ira who killed these people on the list.” 

“We don’t know what to look for these Ira, but our UnSub knows who they are.” Hotch said quietly as he stared at the nurse who was keep staring down at the table. “We only have a bit of lead to UnSub only. And we have to act fast.” 

                                             -BAU-

“Hey, Hotch,” JJ called the Unit Chief as soon as the team returned to the operation room. “Emily and I didn’t have any chance to talk this, but we might have some theory who might the UnSub is, if the UnSub is part of the Force.” 

“If they’re maybe they can be one of the forensics.” Prentiss nodded. 

The team didn’t miss something flashed on Hotch’s usual stoic face. He glanced back and saw the Captain was calling in his office with his personal phone. Robertson looked up and both men looked into their eyes, neither avoiding. Hotch moved away as Lee entered the office with paled face, gulping. 

“Dalal’s dead.” 

“What?” Morgan nearly yelled incredulously. 

Hotch was the first to sprint to the room where the nurse sprawled on the table, her eyes and mouth wide open. There was a half-eaten sandwich and coffee on the ground. Poison. 

“Who brought the food?” Hotch demanded, refraining himself from snarling at the officer next to him. 

“I, I did, sir,” the young officer stammered. “There was a woman, she said she got an order to deliver the food to, to, her.” 

“Did you ask who ordered?” Rossi asked, and Hotch didn’t know his mentor and others were behind him. 

“Yes, yes,” the young officer nodded hastily, “she said it was ordered by Agent Hotchner.” The faces of BAU darkened. 

“Where is she? What does she look like?” Hotch growled. 

“She just left, she was wearing a blue cap, a, a red hoodie.” The description was too vague to find the woman. “Pretty, Asian…,” he mumbled as Hotch’s eyes hardened. Morgan asked if he knew where the food is from and the officer shook his head, looking afraid to meet Hotch’s eyes. 

Hotch bolted out from the station, leaving his team who called his name behind. The sky was already darkened, the winter Moon looking down at him. He shouldn’t have run like that, he should’ve stayed with his team. But Hotch looked for the mysterious woman, pushing people aside in the vast city. It was looking for a needle in a haystack, but he had to find the woman. 

His phone buzzed, it was his long time mentor. “Are you out of your mind?” Rossi’s angry voice rang Hotch’s ear. “Where’re you?” Rossi had the right to be angry at him after he told what happened between him and the Captain. 

“I’ll be there, don’t come for me,” his eyes didn’t miss a woman with similar clothes staring at him from the other end of the street. Was she smiling at him? Taunting him? He knew it was a trap. “Rossi, remember what I said, call Garcia if I don’t call you back in ten minutes.” He grabbed his gun and followed the woman to a dark alley. Just so typical and cliché. 

                                             -BAU-

The old profiler nearly threw his phone as the call ended. If he waited for ten minutes for Hotch to call, he was stupid. He wasn’t going to wait. Rossi quickly called Garcia, ignoring worried questions from the younger profilers about Hotch. 

“Penelope here, how can I help you this time?” A cheerful voice answered the call. 

“Garcia, listen carefully,” Rossi lowered his voice, “wait, just listen don’t say anything.” He said quickly to everyone, muting the call as soon as he saw Captain Robertson walking towards the BAU’s temporary office room. 

Robertson opened the door without a knock and observed the room, especially the boards before his eyes meet with the BAU’s. “I heard what happened, where is Agent Hotchner?” 

“He went to after the person who poisoned Dalal. He’s coming back soon.” Rossi replied before anyone could, he could see the younger profilers seething, especially Morgan at the Captain’s insinuation. 

“How can you be sure he’s coming back?” 

“What do you mean by that?” Morgan clenched his teeth, not liking one bit where this was going. 

“The food that was ordered by Agent Hotchner himself killed a witness and now he’s not here. How can you be sure he didn’t run away after killing that poor woman?” 

“I assure you, Captain. Aaron Hotchner is not that kind of person. He’ll return and we’ll find who is responsible for this. Please don’t accuse him of such thing.” Rossi’s voice was calm. But it was calm before the storm. 

“I’ll call FBI and ask for investigation on both this case and the BAU,” the Captain’s eyes glowed dangerously. And Rossi saw a flickering light of victory in his eyes. Rossi wouldn’t let this man ruin his best friend’s life and reputation.

“24 hours, just give us 24 hours. We’ll get your UnSub and prove Agent Hotchner isn’t involved in this.” 

Robertson’s weighed his option, his eyes boring into Rossi’s. “We also have a missing officer and don’t have hands to help the FBI if they come now. I’ll give you only one day to prove and bring the responsible person in front of me, Agent.” 

“That’s all I ask.” Rossi nodded, and Robertson left the office, his smug smile hidden from shadow. 

“Dammit, what was that about?” Morgan smacked the table with his fist. 

“We were called to be chess pawns in the first place.” Rossi’s grip on the back of a chair tightened, his knuckles turning white. He unmuted the call, instantly Garcia’s panicked voice assaulting the BAU. “Penelope, calm down. Hotch already prepared if anything happens to him.” 

“He prepared for this?” Prentiss asked the older man incredulously. 

“This morning, he told me Captain Robertson is involved with this organisation, and he was sure Robertson would plan something. We just never expected he’d act this fast to set a trap like this.” 

“And you didn’t tell us?” Reid frowned, hurt by the two agents’ distrust in them. 

“We did it to protect all of you. What’s done is done. For now, we need to focus on Hotch and find the UnSub, and who killed Dalal.” 

“He isn’t answering,” Morgan swore under his breath. 

“How did he prepare? How can we know he’s safe?” JJ emphasised the last question. Hotch had already gone through so much and she didn’t want Hotch to suffer more. She didn’t want anything happens to him, especially Jack. The boy adored his father, he’ll be devastated. 

“Garcia, could you track his phone?” 

“Give me a second.” Rossi hoped nothing happened to his friend. He didn’t have to become a bait, damn it. 

“Oh no, no, no, no.” Garcia shrieked. 

“Pen, what is it?” Prentiss urged her friend biting her nails, fear creeping everyone. 

“He was moving, and his phone just turned off.” 

                                            -BAU-

As expected, the woman was standing in the middle of the no through small alley. No one was in the alley except him and her. Even the sound of bustling city didn’t reach this deep narrow alley, as if the alley was another world. With only wind howling, pale moonlight creeping above them, her smile looked ominous even to Hotch. 

“Who are you.” 

“Agent Hotchner, you should’ven’t followed me.” Her accent was a bit foreign but not too rough. 

“You’ll come with me and tell who you are and who orders you.” 

“I thought you already knew?” She said in mocking surprise. “I mean, that’s why he told us to help you leave the living world.” She pulled out a small folding knife and started to spin it. “Well, not exactly kill you.”

She used ‘us’, did she have a partner or other members of organisation? He was lackless, yes, but he didn’t want to lose another lead. If anything happens to him, Rossi would be there to solve the case and lead the team. 

“Well, well, Agent Hotchner.” 

The familiar voice. He turned, widened eyes, he heard JJ and Prentiss’ theory just a few minutes ago. Off guard, his head soon smacked with something blunt that was heavy and hard. He dropped his gun, falling, his conscious slowly drifting away from shock and pain. Even with blurring sight, he could clearly see and hear the familiar face and the voice. Don’t trust anyone. That’s what you said.

@evans-dejong

[arolla-pine]

I, Marinette - p.5

(5) – The Musketeers

The lunch break was about to end soon. I managed to get the idea of Marinette’s schedule, I riffled “The three musketeers” and I ate lunch without any blunder. I agreed with Tikki a plan that she would pinch me every time I acted not like the character I embodied.

Before I went back to school I asked my kwami if we should inform Plagg about these temporary inconvenience, but Tikki decided not to. In her opinion that would make the situation even more complicated. Personally, I had rather positive opinion on Plagg but I thought that Tikki had known him for a few thousand years longer than me…

I entered the school at the moment of school bell ringing. This time it was planned – just to avoid chatting with my friends. It was too risky for my real identity.

“So? Have you managed to read the book?” Alya asked me while we were heading to the staircase.

“I riffled through. I’ll try to stay invisible…” I muttered.

“I like the book so much!” Adrien joined us. “Such a lively plot, so many surprises…”

“You must be joking! That was terrible! Those descriptions…” Nino commented. “I was bored to death…”

“Impossible!” Adrien disagreed. “So many plot twists, duels, chases…”

“Love affairs…” I added under my breath.

“Love affairs, yes…” my ex-almost-boyfriend nodded. “Right… There were some…” he chuckled uncomfortable and ruffled his hair.

“I think that morality wasn’t their strong suit.” I  blurted before I bit my tongue. There still was more Lena than Marinette in my behaviour.

“Why do you think so?” Alya laughed.

“Look at d’Artagnan…” I continued, because if I started I should finish. “First, he fell in love with someone else’s wife. OK, I get it, heart wants what it wants… But her… She reciprocated despite the fact she’d already been married!”

“With an old guy!” Alya exclaimed.

“But she married him, didn’t she?”

“Constance wasn’t a musketeer.” Adrien cut in.

“Right.” I nodded. “But I was talking about d’Artagnan. He was so in love with Constance, yet it didn’t stop him from an affair with Milady…”

“Femme fatale…” Adrien muttered.

I smiled to myself when I thought what would happen if he blurted out Cat Noir’s famous ‘M’Lady’… He must have had strong self-control not to reveal his superhero-self.

“When I’m listening you guys, I’m starting thinking if we’ve read the same book…” Nino commented.

Alya and I began laughing. The situation was hilarious, indeed, and it only showed how differently we experienced the novel. And that was something I loved so much in reading!

“I’m so happy you haven’t found there those love affairs!” Alya winked at her boyfriend. “Who knows what would inspire you or…”

“Never!” Nino denied immediately and glared at her.

“Good!” she summed up the discussion and hugged him, but I could bet that she wanted to kiss him.

I felt uncomfortable. I remembered from the show that AlyaNino was only mentioned sometimes. I loved all subtle hints about their relationship like this one with Nino invited for a family diner with the Cesaires. I appreciated the moment when Alya took Nino’s hand – I found it so meaningful but still delicate. Now, I had an impression that they would start making out if they weren’t in the classroom… That didn’t fit my image of their relationship.

My thinking about AlyaNino was interrupted by Caline Bustier who finally appeared and after short apologising for being late, she began the lesson. We sat down and took out books and tablets.

“I hope everyone has read the book…” the teacher said, and I caught Alya’s concerned glance. “If there’s anyone who hasn’t, please tell me now. Otherwise you won’t be able to fulfil the task for today lesson.”

I heard my colleagues’ whispers. Everyone was unsure what the teacher meant.

“Calm down!” Miss Bustier smiled. “It’s nothing stressful. I planned a group project for today. Please sit in groups of up to four!”

Chloe Bourgeois snorted and started complaining to Sabrina about how unfair this plan was. She was in a group with Sabrina, Mylène and Alix, but I was sure she wanted Adrien instead. And only Adrien, excluding Nino…

The boys sitting in front of my desk turned around, as if creating our group of four was as simple as possible. I ignored green flashes in Adrien’s eyes, trying to focus on the teacher. I waited for details of what we were going to do.

“Now, basing of the book you’ll decide on which character suits you the most.” Caline Bustier instructed us, and when all students began exchanging ideas, she added loudly: “Remember! You don’t choose for yourself. The character for you will be chosen by your partners in the group! Try to fit the personality of a musketeer to your colleague’s features.”

Wow, that sounded great! I liked analysing people’s minds…

“Anyone has an idea, what’s to do?” Nino asked.

“Should we choose from the short list of four main characters?” I wondered quietly.

“I guess so…” Alya wasn’t sure.

“Ma’am, should we choose only between the four musketeers?” Adrien asked aloud.

“Yes, Adrien.” The teacher answered. “You choose only between those four. But… Who did you want to consider?”

“Uhm…” The blond stopped and looked at me. Right, I was the author of that question.

“Milady de Winter or Constance?” I mumbled.

“You would have a candidate for Milady de Winter?” Caline Bustier smiled.

I was so close to blurt out that Chloe would be a good one. Or rather Lila! Yeah, she would be even better!

“So, who’s first?” Nino started.

“Let’s take Marinette!” Alya suggested with a malicious grin. ‘Et tu, Brute, contra me?’ I wanted to say, but bit my tongue.

“Great…” I muttered. “You’re going to deal with that or you need my help?”

“Oh, it’s so easy, Marinette! You’re a perfect d’Artagnan!” My friend laughed. “Nobody else is so unlucky to get in trouble! Besides, d’Artagnan was as clumsy as you are…”

“You’re a straight arrow, you know?” I winced.

“I don’t think Marinette is clumsy!” Adrien said. Well, well… Adrien-she’s-just-a-friend had spoken! Oh, poor blind boy…

“Besides, d’Artagnan was a perfect fencer. How could he be clumsy?” Nino added.

“He was in trouble because he offended by mistake some people or he associated with wrong people…” Alya was trying to defend her idea. “He was naïve. Remember how he believed in Milady’s lies?”

Honestly, while I was listening this description, I could find some similarities to Adrien. But I remembered to be more like Marinette instead of Lena. So I stayed quiet.

“Should I be so amorous too?” I asked sarcastically, and my friend burst out laughing.

“Great idea, girl!”

“You have fun I can see…” Caline Bustier appeared above our heads.

“We’re sorry…” we all mumbled.

“I’ve thought that you get into characters so well!” Our teacher joked. “For a moment I felt like I was in a tavern…”

Then Mme Bustier moved to another group, and we exchanged glances.

“I assume that now Porthos and Aramis should start fighting and Athos should start drinking…” I commented, and the boys chuckled.

“You’d drown your sorrows too if you had such a life!” Alya said.

“Sorrows can swim…” I recalled a phrase I’d heard ages ago.

I kept ignoring Adrien’s flashes, but when Alya and Nino exchanged their meaningful glances, I felt alarmed. Besides, Tikki was drilling in my hip. Too much of Lena, too little of Marinette!

“Who’s next?” I asked, just to draw my friends’ attention to the play.

“Maybe Adrien?” Alya decided.

“You’re a boss like Athos!” I commented.

“You’re right, Marinette!” Nino agreed in an amused voice.

“Do you want to be Milady de Winter?!” Alya glared at her boyfriend.

It was just on a tip of my tongue – the thought that Milady had an affair with d’Artagnan. But Tikki kept drilling and that helped me in staying quiet. However, it was quite possible that the thought dawned upon Adrien, because I noticed his glance at Nino, then at me, and then back at Nino. Wow… It looked like the golden boy started thinking!

“Miss Bustier said that we should choose among the four musketeers only.” He reminded, and I smiled to myself. Definitely this dummy started thinking! But why now?! Couldn’t he do this yesterday?!

“I can be Athos.” Alya agreed. “Who’s next?”

“We have Porthos and Aramis left.” I noted. “An honest strongman vs. an ambitious swordsman.”

“It’s easy.” Alya shrugged. “Nino will be Porthos and Adrien will be Aramis.”

“You’re bossy again, Al…” Nino reminded. “Wasn’t Porthos a dumb one?”

“Less educated maybe. But not dumb.” I muttered. “And he gets married eventually. And Aramis… uhm…”

“Was a womaniser.” Alya finished.

“Hello!” Adrien cut in.

“I wanted to say that he was rather popular among women…” I explained uncomfortable. But I knew Alya was right, because Aramis not only was popular but did like women’s company. A lot.

“I’ve read that book, Marinette…” Adrien replied, looking me in the eye. “I know you’re trying to be politically correct, but Alya’s right.”

“OK, but admit that Aramis knew some foreign languages and was a perfect fencer. Seems to me that it suits you.”

“Thank you, Marinette. You’re very kind.” Adrien bowed in my direction like a real musketeer. He needed only a feathered hat.

“You’re welcome.” I bowed in reply.

“Geez, you both look like you were playing a part in ‘The three musketeers’!” Nino summed up. “If Mme Bustier thought that we were in a tavern before, I’d say now that you look like at Louis XIII ball…”

I chuckled, and soon my friends joined me. At the same moment our teacher clapped and laugh died in our mouths. At first I thought we were too loudly, but soon it was obvious that she wanted to draw the attention of the whole class.

“I can see that you’ve had a lot of fun with playing roles of the main four musketeers. For Monday you’ll write a paper with the characters’ description. Of all four musketeers!”

I heard some whines behind my back. That was a second paper to be prepared for Monday – the first one was about a planet for professor Mendeleiev. Thankfully, I didn’t have to write at least that one. I needed to go back to Marinette’s home and to start looking for a way back to my real life.

If my intuition was right, there was an akuma behind this and a supervillain would show up soon, because Hawkmoth would claim fulfilling their deal. In exchange for superpowers he always wanted the same – the Miraculouses of Ladybug and Cat Noir.

---

I, Marinette - p.4  <-  Previous part  |  Next part ->  I, Marinette - p.6

Read the story from the beginning

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Not happening. (Not again)

He sighed in pure annoyance and hatred while walking slowly behind the desperate girl that was running and whimpering for help on that filthy alley.

He didn't even wasted his energy running after, because he knew that no matter what, that girl would always come back to him by force or by will. Especially when she didn't want it any more deaths happening because of her curse...

Nobody understanded. Nobody. Eri's blood was essential for reviving the old man's wish and dream... and to free his dear one from her curse.

He didn't had much time...

~

"Sir?" The doctor spoked aprehensively with Chisaki while you got out from the hospital bed "Mind if we talk for just a bit?... alone?"

He arched his eyebrow in pure disgust and annoyance while you giggled and waved your hands up in the air.

"Is okay! I will get out." You looked at Chisaki with a smile before discretely caresing his gloved hand "I will wait for you outside on the waiting room, right?"

"Be careful." He said simply, the moment you closed the door his body immediately froze while his gut told him subsconciously that.. something bad was going to happen.

This usually appeared minutes before he saw you dying...

"Overhaul sir..." the doctor sighed with grief "About your partner's quirk.."

"Spit it out." He growled while glaring daggers at the doctor.

"... you might want to take a seat." The man showed with his palm at the chair in fron of his desk.

Despite being so aprehensive, and dare he say anxious, he sitted slowly, glaring at him for answers. The man sighed, while locking his hands together on the desk.

"She has not much time left." Kai's eyes widened like they never had before on his life, gloves dissapearing in one blink of a eye.

"..what?" He breathed out, his spine going colder and colder by the infuriating tic and toc from that clock hanging on the wall.

"Her quirk. I treated her father once, so I sadly know the deal..." he looked up at Chisaki with a sour expression "Pardon me for asking... but how many times did she..?"

"... I almost lost count. But I guess it was... 119..."

The doctor winced before taking inhaling, preparing to bring the bad news for the young man in front of him.

"Quirks like that have a certain... limit of atturing themselfs... You can guess that by many times she got weaker and more fragile to some of accidents right?" He saw Chisaki nodding a bit trembly.

"That means her body is not taking anymore... Overhaul, I am afraid to say this... but if she suffers another accident or even much loss of blood... her quirk is not going to work anymore and..."

"Will not... be back." He ßaid in oure horror while the doctor nodded sadly, never once expecting to see such a face on the yakusa boss future leader.

"I am afraid so... Her father died by something so indignant, he fell down some stairs, something that it seems normal for us. But his wife told me that he had presented death by the number 119... just like your partner out there."

His heart dropped to his stomach as his eyes remained wide... one more. One more and you would be gone for real...

"You can't tell me there isn't a fucking cure for this." He hissed teh words, griping on his pants so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"Only by a miracle... maybe if her quirl was removed or something, her cells of the body would be slowly recuperating their strenght and health..." he sighed "But that's impossible. Unless you have someone like Eraserhead in your house and keeps using his quirk on her."

He lifted up abruptly from his chair, scaring a bit the man before he nodded and left his room with a bitter and insufferable taste on hsi mouth.

He opened the door and bites his tongue to not just cry and fall on your arms when he saw you reading some magazine and gently waved at him when noticed presence.

One more time.. and he would lose this...

"So. Any bad news?" You asked worriedly before he carresed your cheek, sighing in relief when your face melt in bliss at his touch.

"No. No, nothing of bad news." He lied bitterly before walking besides you "Just warnings for you to be more.. careful."

"Does he know it doesn't depend on me?" You asked sadly, frow returning "It just happens out of no where... you know that."

He sighed trembling before reaching for your hand, pushing you gently for him to be on the side of the street instead.

"I know this better than anyone angel... trust me." He sighed heavily, you tilted your head at his expression.

He wasn't wearing that stoic facade of his... he seemed more... angry? Desperate? Even determined you would guess.

"Kai? Did he said something else?" You pried, only receuving a shake of his head and a squeeze on your hand.

You... had a bad feeling about this... yet, couldn't tell what it was...

~

She stills keep running even knowing that he will get her after... seriously, he knew that childs were dumb but why keep making him waste energy and time?

He doesn't have time for her tantrums. He has to make those bullets for testing, curing his angel and prepared the marketing of the bullets on the underground.

Crush hero society. Cure the world from the hero syndrome. Bring the yakusa back to their glory days.... save his (Y/n)...

Those were the only things that kept him living. That gave a life purpose...

He wouldn't let Pops or his angel down. He knew that. He was going to prove this.

~

"Have you completly lost your humanity Chisaki?" Pops asked in pure horror after interrupting Kai's explanation from his plan.

Again. Again being refused. Why he can't understand that he just wants to repay him?! Is that difficult to get that this is for him and her?!

"... Lost my humanity?" He said darkly, walking slowly towards the elder "You took me in, I just want to repay you."

He lowered a bit his glove with his thumb, the elder catching what was happening before Chisaki continued.

"Lost my humanity you say? Tell me pops. How would you feel if your father figurine turned your ideas down constantly? Or even better yet.." he looked Pops dead in the eye, clenching his jaw while controling himself to not just break down.

"How would you feel if the love and light of your life, simply had a curse that just can't be cured. Keeps dying in front of your eyes every damn time... if you got something to cure them you would take it wouldn't you?"

He aproached even more and his glove fell down...

"Just lay back and relax. Is going to hurt just for a moment."

~

He growled at her sudden pleas starting to come out while she runned and kept looking back at him.

He had to do this. Stop running like a damn pest.

~

"He what?!" You asked in horror while lifting youserlf from the couch, immediately coming to him with hands on his arms.

He was pleased when he discovered that Pops and you grew found of each other... this explained your reaction when he told about his... current condition.

"Kai I'm so sorry..." you said almost tearing while he only stared into your eyes.

"Is not a problem. He is going to be alright soon. I know it." He carresed your cheek before frowing. "What are these clothes for?"

You looked down at yourself and your gym clothes, making a confused noise while looking back at him.

"What's the matter with them? I was going in for a run like I always do. Remember? Around the block?"

His eyes darkened in worry and hatred. No. You couldn't get out. What if something happened?

"You're not going." He growled while you arched a eyebrow at his tone of voice.

He never once lowered his voice with you excluding in some couple fights which were rare... so why?

"Excuse me?" You asked in disbelief "I was going with Ku-"

"Not with Chrono. Not with Mimic. Not with ANYONE." He growled whiel he glared daggers at you "You're not getting out of this place."

You tsked in anger before turning in your feet to walk out before he grabbed your wrist.

"Kai let g-!"

"You're NOT leaving this house. Understand (Y/n)?"

"Give me a good reason then!" You shouted this time, not even caring about how he despised those things.

"You want to just die outside like the other times? Is that it?!" He hissed in pure anger while you gasped in disbelief.

"Chisaki is only around THE BLOCK."

"You can be attacked. Suffer a car accident. Hell even trip in your own foot by how careless you are!"

"Is this worry now?" You laughed bitterly before yanking a bit your hand... without success on getting out of his grasp.

"Yes it is dammit! I'm tired of seing the only light on my dark life dying over anD OVER AGAIN!" He shouted, catching you off guard immediately.

A uncomfortable silence got between teh both of you while he breathed in and out to catch his breath and his compusture back.

He flinched a bit at your hand in his cheek before looking at you.

"I know it hurts... I told you many times that you can let go of me-"

"Like hell I would." He growled, grabbing your hand on his cheek and pressing it even more to hsi face.

You made one of your most sad and broken face before oushing him in for a hug. He catched you again off of guard when he wrapped without hesitation his arms around your waist and buries his face on the crook of your neck.

"... You know that always I will come back to you right?"

He broke at those words... knowing exactly that this time it wasn't true.

He let out a cry and just burried his teary eyes in your neck as his back shocked with every sob pass through his lips.

He couldn't lose you...

~

Ah great... that brat bumped into some hero...

He inhale to remain his compusture and to remain pacient while talking with those socks.

"You should be more careful." He started, Eri looking at him with terror "We don't want to cause any problems for the heroes."

The green haired boy looked up at him with the same look Eri gabe to him while the older and blonde one just gave him a look.

"Let's go home. Eri."

[petitprincess1]

Good Evening Ch11 (Fearful)

AO3 Link Summary: A week has went by and Alastor had been disappearing more and more. Charlie and Vaggie discuss their worries with one another. Words: 1,445 Warning: Implied cannibalism So sorry for the wait, I just had a lot going on last week, but I’m fine. Hope you all enjoy! I’m also working on another story based on yet another chat post. Be on the lookout for that ;3 ~~~ A week has passed since the unknowing death that Alastor caused, excluding the one dealing with the man that had a family, named Benji- with a name like that, Al did him a favor. Apparently, his wife had given a missing person’s report, which Alastor broadcasted, and had offered a reward. Well, unless she knew anyone that can clean out a furnace, Benji probably wasn’t going to be found anytime soon. The thought of the wife being in constant in distress made Al’s smile much more relaxed.

Charlie had gotten an earful from Lilith about her leaving the house, despite she knew that she wanted to talk to her. The girl had to make up a reason for being out so late. So, she admitted to being in the forest late at night and with Angel and Vaggie, but made up that they had to console Angel from an…incident with Valentino before the mob boss died. Charlie, of course, left out the detail of Alastor meeting him there…and him helping them hide Val’s body…and many, many other things. It seemed to have satisfied Lilith. In fact, she was so satisfied that she told servants to follow Charlie around the house, Charlie had to tell her where she was going whenever she left, and that her father had to visit the hotel every once in a while without warning. gReAt!

Plus, whenever Charlie was alone at home or at the hotel, Alastor would gravitate toward her. Sometimes it would be welcomed because she needed some advice for dealing with certain clients or even just needed her father to be distracted. Although, he would also get too close, like with wanting to mess with her hair or squishing her cheeks or just generally touching her. It never got too intimate, even though he had gently rubbed her lips with his thumb, but it still was a bit much for Charlie. She assumed that he did that because he was missing Angelo, so she didn’t have the heart to tell him to tell him to go away. …Vaggie definitely did.

“Would you fuck off, Al!? Go do something important that doesn’t involve groping!” The silver haired girl yelled at Al, glaring at him and putting Charlie behind her. Alastor stared down at the girl with a slightly tense smile and held his hands behind his back. Charlie had worried that he was going to snap or harm Vaggie, but he just chuckled at the girl. The creole booped the dark-skinned girl’s nose and grinned, “Goodness, Vagatha, no need to be so antagonistic! I was just merely showing my affection towards the little belle, but I can see when I am not wanted. I shall go help Niffty in the kitchen.”

Vaggie muttered loud enough for Alastor to hear, “There better not be any eyeballs this time, bastardo tonto…” The man stopped for a second and then started to walk into the kitchen.

Charlie moved out from behind Vaggie and rubbed her arm as she stared at the kitchen doors. She was about to speak, but Vaggie ended up dragging her out to the garden and sighed, “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to try to defend him, but Alastor is the last person that you should even bother making excuses for. He bothers you and-”

“I know all that, Vaggie, but I also don’t think it’s a good idea to bother him much either. He’s…been disappearing a lot more lately. I’m just worried about doing anything to make him upset,” Charlie admitted, while she hugged herself as she sat on one of the benches. Vaggie watched her expression shift into sadness and fear in a few seconds, causing the latina to feel apologetic for treating her like that. She plopped next to the pale-skinned girl, lightly stroked her golden hair, and sighed, “I’m really sorry, cariña. I don’t mean to pressure you into doing anything. I really just want to make sure that you’re safe. I don’t know what I would do if you…”

Vaggie trailed off as Charlie turned to hug her and the latina held onto her tightly, nuzzling her face against her love’s shoulder. She really didn’t want to manipulate the situation or make it seem like she was trying to be rude or anything, but…it made her heart stop at seeing Al near Charlie so often. It almost made her want to kick the man out, fire him, or even turn him into the police. Granted, Vaggie knew that wouldn’t do shit, but it definitely would be temporary satisfaction.

Charlie pulled away and stroked Vaggie’s silver hair, hoping to calm her down. She reassured, “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen to me, us, and anyone else in this hotel. I promi-”

She got cut off by a random gust of wind that caused the girl’s to shield themselves and caused the plants to get blown harshly, whipping the trees’ branches all over the place. The two looked around to find where the source was and their jaws dropped at seeing a helicopter hovering over the garden. 

A ladder dropped from the helicopter all the way down to the ground in front of the two. Not too surprisingly, Lucifer peeked out from the helicopter and called out, using a megaphone, “Oh, hi, Charlie and Vagatha!”

Vaggie mumbled her actual name under her breath, while Charlie questioned, “Dad! What are you doing!?”

Lucifer grinned as he joked, “I’m being a helicopter parent!”

The two girls just blinked up at him, while the man stared back at them. He tried again, still smiling widely at his joke, “I’m being a helicopter parent! …Do you get it? I’m-”

Vaggie huffed, “Yeah, we got it!”

Lucifer slid down the helicopter ladder and then gave it a tug when he landed on the ground. The ladder went back up as the helicopter began to fly away. Luci turned to the two girls and saw that their hair were an absolute mess. He chuckled as he winced, “Oof. You two are in a desperate need of a brush.”

Charlie groaned in annoyance as she used her hands to push down her hair, “Dad! I know that you’re supposed to be checking in, but you don’t have to be obnoxious about it.”

“Yes, I do. It’s the law that dads have to make their children regret their existence in order to reach fulfillment. Can’t break the law, sweetie. Now, what are you two gals up to?” Lucifer asked, raising an eyebrow. His daughter sighed, rolling her eyes, and replied, “Well, we were talking.”

The mayor then sat in-between the two and chuckled, “Oh, good! I would like to join. Love a good gossip.”

“Dad!” The two then immediately started arguing with each other, making Vaggie sigh as she got up to let them have at it. She could already practically hear Lucifer blaming her for Charlie’s attitude and she didn’t want to hear that…again. 

The silver-haired girl walked into the hotel and then immediately got grabbed. She quickly elbowed the person in the gut and yelled, “Al, you fucking- ….Husk, what are you- Ah!”

Vaggie yelped at Husk tossing a phone at her. She stared at the device and saw a wallpaper on the phone of Angelo and his pet pig, causing her to get instantly suspicious. She asked, “Why do you have this phone? Charlie was the last person to have that.”

Husk groaned at the hit she gave him and huffed, “I clearly used magic to make it appear in my hands- how do you think it got in my hands, dumbass!? I caught Alastor with it last week! Don’t know why anyone would allow Charlie to have it, since Al is always stuck with her.”

She raised an eyebrow and questioned further, “So…why give it to me?”

He answered, looking away from her, “As long as it ain’t with Alastor, I’m fine. I’m also sick of the constant buzzing from messages some bitch named Cherri and someone Angelo named weirdly keeps sending. I’m getting back to wo-”

“Wait!” Vaggie explained as she clutched the phone in her hand and let out a heavy sigh, “Tell me what all you know about Al. I know that keeping him in the hotel will make things worse and I wanna get back at him. At the very least, get him to leave Eden. Please, Husk.”

The greying man looked at the wooden floor and glanced back up at her pleading eyes. He grumbled, “Fine, I’ll tell ya. I better get some booze for this shit.”

[fanficaficionado]

okay, i know i said i would be starting with things i knew and loved. hell, i even had a fic from the fandom im currently ass-deep in all lined up!! but then i procrastinated, and i lost motivation, got distracted by my scheduled post-holiday shutdown, and something else finally kicked my ass into gear. so this blog's first true introduction to the world will not, in fact, be a post where i worship the very ground my favorite fic writers walk upon.

no, today we are talking about Ascent into Madness by cesium_sheep

((spoilers, obviously))

Now im going to preface this by saying that this criticism is subjective and based in my opinion. I did genuinely enjoy this story, and i did not at any point feel the urge to launch myself into the sun with nothing but the pure force of my rage, causing the sun to explode and consume planet earth in a scorching hell-blast and decimating all life on our tiny little space rock, which even some of my favorites are guilty of because in some stories characters just love to waffle about ((especially in my preferred reading material which puts romance at a very significant focus)). This story just isn't for me.

I'm going to explain why, and believe me when i say i am being as gentle as i physically can with this story because it is not objectively offensive to my very being, It's a good read and setting aside the problems i have with it i enjoyed it.

I keep repeating that i don't hate this story because i do not want to be accused of baseless hate, not because of reputation or anything but because being accused of something i know i didn't do sets off the same sensation that i get from rubbing my fingernails on egg cartons, the one of the back of my brain being assaulted by the mayonnaise-coated fingers of satan himself. Damn i should really get to the criticism before this just becomes an in depth description of my very soul's adverse reaction to the cream in queen anne chocolate cherries.

anyways.

The thing about this story is that, to me, it feels.. unfinished. Or at the very least like it wandered off its intended course. It leaves me with a feeling of mild dissatisfaction and the taste of confusion in my mouth. I think this problem is best summarized by the fact that, in the first chapter, it is set up that rose is in some sort of hospital, and that dave thinks she is in the grasp of some delusion, and the second chapter sets up the retroactive explanation for how it got to this point. See, what i expected was to be caught up to that point in the story, reach that point in time again, and then progress from there.

But that first chapter?? With the hospital, the delusions, the brick through the window with the radio attached?? Never brought up again, not even once. It is completely discarded and never even thought about. The story even stops trying to set up that scene after a certain point.

To put it in homestuck terms, because i'm a loser, a time player, and come on we're talking about a homestuck fic here you know i have to do this, it feels like we started a loop and then branched off the alpha timeline so completely we aren't even a part of the metaphorical timeline-tree anymore. It nags at my brain man, it's one of the main things that fuelled my motivation in writing this. It feels lost and wandering and it confuses me in a bone deep sorta way.

The second thing that gets to me is the complete lack of information presented about what, exactly, the fuck is going on. I have no idea how we got from point A to point B, not just because it completely disconnects from point A not even halfway through, but also because there's a lot of plot threads thrown in haphazardly and then never extended upon. There's a mention of jake and john's respective guardians knowing something about the story's big bad and all the mystical bullshit that follows along behind him, but that is never followed up on even a little. No one questions why they know, despite this information being so rare that literally only two families and a single group of aliens seem to have access to it. It just is a thing and then whoops, hand musta slipped because that bad boy is out the window and is facing the combined nonexistent mercy of gravity and this ten story drop.

The main plot has this same problem, in feeling like you get just enough info to keep it going forward. There's a sword in rose's umbrella basket or whatever the hell it's called, and it's implied a future dave put it there for his past self, but do we get confirmation that it was him?? Do we see that loop completed?? No, it is just used as a driving force for rose to try and push the fact that dave's got Timey powers. It feels like i'm being pulled by the hand through this story because it only gives just barely enough information to keep this crazy train rolling and then goes so far as to leave fucking time loops hanging there incomplete which okay i might be getting a little peeved about that but can you blame me?? Can you really blame me at all??

Maybe i am judging the plot too harshly, after all i was forewarned not to read for the plot in the summary because it's pretty slow and wandering. So let's get into something else then, yes?? Let's hop to the relationships.

The relationships, too, fall prey to this complete lack of any meaningful focus on any piece of information ever. I'd swear the writer was allergic if that didn't seem too harsh a description. It's a whole lot of telling without any showing, a cardinal sin in writing. We get a conversation with kanaya that doesn't suffer the disconnect from all things that the rest of the story seems haunted by. It's actually really a neat little conversation and i find it kind of wholesome how kanaya talks about rose and i personally think this interaction to be entirely too short. Then kanaya mentions karkat and apparently there's some of davekat's standard romantic tension happening off-screen because dave starts to get flustered and ponders what that means. And once again a plot thread is thrown to the winds because we never get another whiff of it.

Actually on the topic of davekat, dave just naturally gravitates to karkat and then they're stuck together like glue, so stuck in fact that dave dies for karkat because dave apparently forgets the golden rule of "If you have time to jump in front of someone then you have time to push them out of the way" and then ignores the added bit i spitefully wrote on the ancient stone tablet of Things That Make Sense in neon orange sharpie that says "Especially if you have time to have a discussion about your choices with an ambiguously-dead girl. Pull your thumb out of your ass, dave, nobody has to die here, magic option number three was not the one you picked."

Of course, this is a fanfiction, these are characters i already know. I know how these characters would interact, i know how their relationship develops in-canon and i know that given the chance these fuckers become goddamn inseparable. But that doesn't excuse the fact that it is all tell and no show, we dont see how it gets from "You're one of the only familiar faces in a group of strangers and i am not about to start interacting with new people unless i have to" to "Here let me die heroically for you and then be revived for no explainable reason besides Because The Wizard Of God Says So." I have no reason to be invested in this or even give a half-ounce shit despite it literally becoming something that the climax hinges on. And then rose and kanaya are just inexplicably,, together?? Right at the end?? And while i am happy that the lesbians get to be in love everything is off screen and nothing is ever explained, not even like one time, and god it's just so confusing. I am so confused.

But again, maybe i'm being unfair, once again the very tags of this fic are telling me that the relationships are not the focus and only really tagged so people can filter it out. I suppose i should judge the characters, then.

From what i remember there are sixteen characters, excluding ((who i believe to be, as it is once again not explained or explicitly stated to be)) caliborn at the end, with speaking roles. Five of those characters retain any narrative relevance for more than a nanosecond. A good chunk of the trolls arent even mentioned by name, with eridan and i think sollux being mentioned, and who i think to be sollux speaks when rose and dave are first brought to the trolls' apartment but again, the fog of uncertainty clouds all things and i don't have my handy dandy leafblower on me to airblast that shit out of my way. Of the five characters with any focus on them, two are relegated to the role of supporting character, with karkat joining that number more often than not. That leaves us with dave and rose, who are ultimately as a whole unaffected by their experiences. They do not learn anything, they do not grow or change. Sure rose freaks out about her perception of reality, but that falls flat because it's more tell and no show again. Dave freaks out, as he rightfully should in this situation, but there is no arc. There is no significant change in anything but moving toward the boss fight with the big baddie.

There aren't any particularly interesting interactions between these characters, either, i cannot recall one time in which i laughed, or felt much of anything really. They all fall into a state of Existing while also feeling like they aren't doing a whole lot. It's more noticeable in retrospect but these characters just Do Not feel alive, they seem incredibly flat at times and it's hard to notice while you're reading but looking back it stands out so painfully and it makes me very sad.

If i'm not supposed to read for the plot, and i'm not supposed to read for the relationships, and i can't read for the characters, then what is this story meant to be read for?? The only other thing i can think of is the mystery and sorry pal, but that's a plot, which we have already established doesn't really have a whole lot going for it because while your mystery sure is there it is currently stinking up that rug you shoved half the answers under because those mysteries aren't the ones you want to focus on.

Is it simply meant to pass the time?? Is there no deeper purpose besides keeping yourself entertained as the hours tick by?? Because if so, it at least accomplished that. Despite its faults, it kept my attention for the entire fifty one chapters, and it passed my time.

There are other nitpicks i have, but that's more based around the writing style on a more technical level. The chapters are too short for my personal taste, and there are far too many cliffhangers, these things i will not condemn as the writer gave a good reason for the latter and obviously no writer is obligated to churn out 2,500 words per chapter unless they damn well want to.

Ultimately, this story is neither good nor bad. It is straightforward in that it burns any other plot threads besides the main one on the sacrificial alter of The Writer Does What The Writer Wants, it's a bit too ambiguous and under-explained for my tastes, but there is nothing egregiously offensive in it. It is a story that exists. I wouldn't read it again, but i wouldn't not read it again, and i don't even come close to regretting the time i spent reading it ((outside of the fact that it is currently almost nine am and i haven't slept but that one is my own fault)).

I scrolled passed this story in its beginnings, assuming it would not be particularly mindblowing, and now that i've read it i know that i was entirely correct. Read it if you want, or don't, just don't go in expecting something life changing. I suggest picking out a spot on your schedule where you have nothing to do and will no doubt be bored out of your mind. I sincerely doubt you'll regret it.