#mouseupstead

[gregorygerwitz]

Cozy Trio + Scream (inspired) AU

warnings: death, canon-typical violence, horror film-typical violence, blood, PTSD

It started in 2002, at a Halloween party, where teenagers were left alone in a house with no parents and easy to find alcohol. It was probably a bit more complicated than a coincidence, some stupid grudge and a window of opportunity. It was far too planned out for that.

If it was just a coincidence, they wouldn’t have had to fight off one of their classmates and some dirty cop just to stay alive that night. And they were lucky to even accomplish that. Only luck was capable of keeping Greg, Jay, and Hailey alive through such a violent attack, when the house was scattered with their friends’ bodies by morning. Such an ordeal left scars, of both the physical and mental variety - PTSD and paranoia were diagnoses that their therapists liked, and they were accurate, even after years of distancing themselves from everything that had happened.

The only saving grace in all of it was that their friends’ weren’t the only bodies when the sun rose. Elliot Knox, an old classmate, was as cold and bloody as the knife that was still in his hand, the one that had been poised to go into Jay’s chest until a shot had rang out. It was from the gun that had been ripped away from a fallen cop’s hip while he was unconscious, the man who had been the driving force behind the attack on the house in the first place. Bob Ruzek wasn’t quite dead, but that hardly mattered, not when he would be locked up for the rest of his life if he even survived his injuries.

It seemed to be over as quickly as it started.

There were families to notify, and an investigation to wrap up, and injuries to tend to. The men who caused it all were the last thing three traumatized teenagers needed to worry about when their parents had other ideas - ideas that involved moving on, moving schools, even moving house. Anything to get away from what had happened, away from the blood and the fear that they’d experience for those long hours. And it worked.

Through their last semesters in high school, through Greg’s year long attempt at a college education, through the journeys to two detective badges, they were safe. They didn’t have to worry about having someone break into the apartment they shared with a mask and a knife to finish what had been started more than a decade before. They even worked in the same building as the very same people who had collected them, terrified but alive, from the Gerwitz property that morning that only existed in their memories.

And then a file landed in the stack of cases meant for Intelligence. It was the same story fifteen years later - teenagers having a party in an empty house, knives used to take nearly half a dozen lives. Only, this time, there were no survivors left to pick up the pieces of themselves. And, when the knife found at the scene matches one that went missing from their district’s evidence locker, the list of suspects gets surprisingly short.

It’s kept in house, as much as it can be. Between Voight, Olinsky, Platt, and the survivors of the original attacks who were far from teenagers, they didn’t need outside eyes to know what to look for. When a break in was reported at the old Gerwitz house, where the walls had once been bloody with evidence of a similar crime to the one they were investigating, it got more urgent. They needed to narrow down their list as quickly as possible while keeping one eye aimed over their shoulders so that they could avoid repeating even more of their history. But that meant private meetings, and watching their own team with an aura of suspicion, especially when one of them was the son of the very man who caused all their nightmares in the first place.

[gregorygerwitz]

Different a fic for @yearoftheotpevent‘s 2023 event February prompt: different

Summary: It started with a stupid, tipsy decision. And then Jay changed, and other things had to change, too. aka: the tattoo fic

Warnings: none

Words: 5,100

established “cozy trio” (MouseUpstead) relationships

Sneak Peek:

In the years they'd been together, Hailey had lost count of the number of times she'd seen the ink that spread over her boyfriend's back. The outline of the city skyline spread over his shoulder blades like wings, the four stars with each of their six points displayed over it... there was something else underneath the design, something that had been covered up with newer ink. She didn't really understand it, not when Jay had to be dragged to the doctor's office every year just to get his flu shot, never mind an actual visit. They barely got him to go in for actual emergencies, when he was shot and potentially bleeding out, or held hostage for days and beaten until he was bruised, or got tripped up by a suspect during a chase and potentially concussed himself on the side of a wall...

But he'd sat, willingly, it seemed, for at least two tattooing sessions.

It was kind of a victory, for her, if she thought about it for long enough. It gave her something to do on her sleepless nights, when the insomnia was so bad she couldn't even keep her eyes closed for more than a few minutes at a time. On those nights, she would roll over onto her stomach and reach across to the other side of the bed, tracing the lines etched in Jay's skin with her fingertips. She was always gentle, careful not to wake him up with it, but it helped. The simple action kept her mind distracted enough to calm down and go quiet, and within half an hour, she could sleep, no matter how hard it had been before that.

[ read the rest on ao3 ]

[gregorygerwitz]

First Kisses a fic for @yearoftheotpevent‘s 2023 event January prompt: first kiss(es)

Summary: There are three times as many firsts in a relationship with so many people, with so many dynamics at play. Kisses were the first of those firsts.

Warnings: none

Words: 6,185

developing “cozy trio” (MouseUpstead) relationships

Sneak Peek:

It was a wonder they didn't end up there more often.

Between a new, somehow more exhausting case every week, their weekly Chinese food dinners, and exhaustedly making their way in the same direction after drinks with everyone at Molly's, it was starting to occur to Jay that he should really just keep a change of clothes in a bag somewhere. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd fallen asleep on that couch, with a borrowed blanket and the smell of coffee to wake him up. It was a good arrangement, the kind that kept their friendship exactly where it needed to be, carefully distanced from the line that would be all too easy to cross.

On one of those nights, the ones with cheap, greasy food and a late night rerun of some show from when they were kids, they were right where they always were. They had their usual orders, with extra soy sauce packets that would be added to the drawer with all of the others from every other week. They were sitting next to each other on the couch that would be his bed for the night, trying to follow the plot of whatever episode was on. They weren't having much luck, not when half of their attention was on each other and their conversation instead of on the screen.

[ read the rest on ao3 ]

[gregorygerwitz]

Under The Fireworks a New Years fic set in the same universe as to the power of three

Summary: The holiday season comes to a close, in a way that makes it hard for at least one person in the house to sleep. At least there’s someone else awake to help him through it.

Warnings: PTSD, anxiety, references to past drug use/addiction

Words: 2,272

Sneak Peek:

It was only really bad two nights out of the year.

On most nights, whatever fireworks were being set off across the city were scattered, small or distant enough that Mouse didn’t mind them as much. It was the shows over the lake during July and New Years that he couldn’t stand. He’d gone to bed well before midnight in an attempt to avoid the loud, angry sounds of the fireworks, curled up under the blanket bed gotten from Hailey for Christmas a little after nine. For a while, he thought his plan had worked, the warmth and comfort from the bed blocking out the sounds of the two other people in the home who were still up and celebrating. He actually started to drift off, the white noise of talk and clinking glasses soothing enough to help him relax.

At midnight, it became abundantly clear that he hadn't gone to bed early enough.

[ read the rest on ao3 ]

[gregorygerwitz]

Hailey "I'm going to be sick" plzzz

38. "I'm going to be sick."

The hospital seemed too bright, like the fluorescents were intent on making her headache even worse. Between not sleeping enough the night before and the added stress of how the afternoon was going, all Hailey wanted to do was curl up, preferably with her boyfriend, but the circumstances made that rather impossible.

Because Jay was in surgery down the hall, with a new round of wounds that she didn't even want to think that hard about. It was like she was fifteen again, waiting for news that may or may not be good. Only, this time, she wasn't injured right along with him. There wasn't a bullet in her leg, and she wasn't dizzy from blood loss, and the person who did it wasn't a dead body they could block out in their memories. And that made it all so much worse.

It meant she was looking over her shoulder every time the automatic doors slid open, as if whoever was haunting them would walk through them and try to finish what they started. It didn't make any sense, not when there were so many people around and someone would surely notice a masked attacker in the middle of everything. At minimum, one of the many trained cops in the room would notice, and it wouldn't take long at all for them to react, especially if the events of the day were anything to go by. There had already been shots fired at whoever was behind this new wave of attacks, even if they didn't seem to do anything to slow them down. Voight had made sure that they didn't get away without some repercussions for their actions, but no blood besides Jay's at the scene didn't give them very much to go on.

Especially when the weapon already had his blood on it to begin with.

Letting out a heavy sigh when another glance over her shoulder revealed only another soon to be patient coming through the doors, Hailey squeezed her eyes shut and put her head in her hands. The artificial darkness didn't do much to help her headache, or her anxiety, and it certainly didn't help that all she could hear was her own heartbeat in her ears and the steady footsteps pacing back and forth in front of her. She understood why Mouse was pacing, and that getting him to stop would be impossible until they had more news, but she needed it to stop, if only so that she could try to keep herself together. Because she wasn't exactly succeeding in that effort when her stomach was flipping and churning as much as it was, some combination of nerves and terror. It was supposed to be over almost a decade and a half ago, not still haunting them when their lives were finally settling into place.

"I'm going to be sick..."

The muffled words were barely out of her mouth when the pacing stopped, a gentle hand finding her knee. The touch made her lift her chin again, and the eyes that met hers were familiar ones, easy to read even when he was trying to hide everything behind them. That was familiar, too - Mouse did that often, hid his own feelings in favor of taking care of those around him. She still remembered what happened when they were kids, when he stood between them and danger until help arrived, with a gun in his hand that he didn't know how to use, and what happened afterwards. He hadn't spoken to anyone in months, had completely shut down, and no part of her wanted to experience that again. He was her best friend, the only person she trusted when everything was falling apart, and there was no way she would let him go through that hurt again.

"Hey... deep breaths, right? That's what Dr. Stone tells us. Panicking doesn't help us, and it doesn't help Jay." Mouse gave her knee a gentle squeeze to keep her focus on him, holding her gaze. It was careful and steady and controlled, exactly what it wouldn't be as soon as the sanity of multiple people wasn't on his shoulders. This was temporary, but she wanted to cling to it anyway, as if his odd optimism could actually keep everything from falling down around them. "He'll be fine, alright? Connor's got him, and he'll be out of surgery in no time. Everything's going to be fine. We'll catch this guy, like we always do, and we'll go home, and everything will be okay."

[ hurt/comfort prompts ]

[gregorygerwitz]

Jay: How does wine do what it does? I feel sexy. I feel relaxed. I want to take off my pants and kiss...

Hailey: It's the grape.

Mouse: It's Dionysus.

[gregorygerwitz]

i am IN LOVE with the new cozy trio hospital au its perfect !!!!!! (does it have a nickname?)

if you have more hcs or ideas to share from this universe please please do i absolutely want to hear them !! (no pressure though ofc)

⚡

[ AU moodboards ]

warnings for the moodboard post and below headcanons: drug use, addiction, depression, attempted suicide, abuse, hospital stays

The 2011 AU my beloved! Honestly, I did the math and realized Hailey was ~19 (by my birthday headcanons) when Jay was with Mouse in the hospital for his (also my headcanon) overdose in November of 2011. And for about... two weeks? This AU is one of the only things I've thought about. I have so many thoughts.

(and the only things I've been calling it are "the new cozy trio au" and "the 2011 au" it doesn't have an official tag or anything yet)

Hailey, who is still a teenager shows up to lunch that first day and Mouse's immediate reaction is to ask Jay why there's an infant in their booth (in his defense, he's still going through the worst of withdrawals and he's cranky, and he wasn't expecting a third person at lunch)

it wasn't Jay's plan to play host for more than a couple weeks - he wanted to give Mouse a comfortable place to get and stay clean, and he wanted to offer Hailey a warm, safe place to sleep until she can get her feet under her

then it's been three months and it doesn't look like that's changing any time soon, so they pool their money to get a bigger place, if only so Hailey doesn't have to keep sleeping on the couch

and, yeah, it's in a less great part of town, and it definitely feels as cheap as it is, but Jay's the only one between the three of them who has a steady income while Mouse and Hailey have minimum wage jobs without guaranteed hours, so they'll take what they can get while they try to save money

Hailey applies to the police academy the year she turns 21, both because she still remembers Trudy from her childhood and Jay is so excited about just moving up to Intelligence and she wants to be excited with him, to some extent

Mouse stays clean and sober after 2011, for the most part. there's relapses, and bouts of unemployment, and months where he misses his cut of the rent, but he has two roommates to catch him when he stumbles and offer the support he needs when he's struggling

of course, Jay helps him get into a rehab facility when he decides he wants to try the professional route of getting clean again, and helps him get the job with Intelligence once he's living in the apartment full time again

no one reenlists in this AU because as much as I love the parallels in canon the idea of splitting up the cozy trio when they're happy and stable makes me sad 💜

yes, everyone is tired of the trio agreeing each other and forming an automatic alliance during every case and disagreement, but there's nothing they can do to stop it

Voight tried to put his No Relationships Within The Unit rule into place but like... it's really hard to control them when they all live together and spend every minute away from work together? like he can try to enforce it but that's not gonna change the fact that their home has a huge bed that they all fit in and can lay around in every weekend to watch movies

it's just a lot of domestic chaos that comes from one shared traumatic week and the healing that comes after that, filled with a lot of unconditional emotional support

(bonus two of the three panicking and being protective of the other any time one of them is in danger, which, as in canon, is practically constantly)

[gregorygerwitz]

i have more questions about 2011 au !! im very excited sorry if its too much

so in this universe are the cozy trio in a V with jay in the middle like your other aus? or is it more of a triad? if they're in a triad, what labels (if any) would each of them use ? (for example in previous aus mouse is gay, would that change to bi, unlabelled, etc.)

also i tried to find if you posted anywhere else but i couldnt find the birthday hcs you mentioned in your response, when do you hc their birthdays as?

thank you so so much :) ⚡

Hi again, nonny!

I know I wrote a fic for Cozy Trio’s birthday’s last year, but it was just the days, not something super specific so this is my little headcanon list:

Mouse’s birthday is June 8th, 1985

Jay’s birthday is January 26th, 1987

Hailey’s birthday is June 29th, 1992

Again, these are my headcanons that I came up with for my universes because canon tells us very little. I know this won’t align with everyone’s headcanons and that’s fine. I have all of them saved in my astrology app, too, with specific times so I know their sun/moon/rising because I’m annoying.

As for the relationships within the trio, I don’t see myself changing that from AU. I’m very attached to my gay/non-binary/demiromantic Mouse headcanons, and I’m generally carry those from AU to AU. Every Cozy Trio AU is Mouse and his emotional support bisexuals.

But… while Mouse and Hailey are best friends in all of my Cozy Trio AUs, that friendship is absolutely stronger in the 2011 AU than in universes where they meet later. Mouse complains a little at that first lunch because he wasn’t ready to face more people than just Jay, but he’s protective, too - there’s this teenager who needs help, and compared to them she’s really just a kid at that point. Of course he’s going to agree to help her (and, let’s be honest, he probably offered to sleep on the couch so she could have a bed the first few weeks at Jay’s apartment, like he’s used to shitty sleeping arrangements because of how he’s been living for months, and she clearly needs somewhere to be safe and comfortable)

But it’s interesting to explore their friendship in the context of them both being Jay’s partners because it’s… a step above friendship? It’s still entirely platonic, but it’s the same level of commitment that comes with a serious relationship such as dating or even marriage, later on. Hailey goes and gets greasy fast food for Mouse when he’s high. Mouse goes with her to get her things from her parents’ place when she needs to get some more clothes and Jay is at work. They lean on each other and support each other and it’s really sweet. They’re family, and they have each other’s backs in everything.

They get to bond over having really shitty parents who put them on this track to meet each other in the first place and that’s like all the angst their friendship gets because they deserve good things

I love this AU a lot. Thank you so much for asking these! 💜

[gregorygerwitz]

Hurt/comfort prompt number 10 (“it’s okay to cry, you know.”) for Scream AU ❤️❤️❤️😱

10. "It's okay to cry, you know."

Mouse was glaring at the door, his leg bouncing while he fought the urge to pick at the nails of his fingers. Maybe it was unreasonable, half expecting to see that mask again in some hospital hallway, coming to finish them all off while they were together and in one easy to find spot. He wouldn't put it past them, whoever was behind it this time, to figure out where they were and strike while they were vulnerable. That was what any rational person would do - then again, in his experience, the people behind those masks weren't exactly rational.

Still, he took up the same role he'd had when he was a teenager. Guard the door, make sure no one got through but the police they trusted, don't let anyone get close enough to Jay or Hailey to hurt them again. He'd done it before, and he could do it again, even if he couldn't be armed.

The sound of a chair scraping over the laminated tile floor made him look over. Hailey was perched by the edge of the bed, doing her best to avoid getting in the way of the wires and monitors set up nearby. One hand was clinging to one of Jay's, too still even with the reassurance from multiple doctors that surgery went well and he was stable, just resting and healing from what happened that afternoon. No one should have gotten close enough to touch him, let alone do as much damage as they did, and Mouse had to bite his tongue to keep from saying as much out loud - again.

He didn't think his frustration and fear was that obvious, but he wasn't stupid, either. Hailey watched him for too long, met his gaze in that steady, knowing way she always did, even when Jay didn't notice or chose to ignore any bumps in the road. She always looked too closely, noticed the little details he tried to cover up. She probably knew exactly what he'd been up to the night of the attack on those poor teenagers, and was too polite to call him out on it. Maybe, if she had, things wouldn't have gotten as bad as they did. They could have been working together before this happened, instead of being so on edge and suspicious of each other.

"You look tired." The words came in a whisper, gentle and worried, as if there weren't a million more important things to concern herself with right there in the room. "When's the last time you slept?"

Mouse frowned while he stopped, thinking about the question and what the truthful answer actually was. There had been too much going on, too many thoughts inside his head, too many familiar images whenever he closed his eyes for as long as a blink. That wasn't a good sign, and he knew it, but it didn't feel relevant. He would have plenty of time to sleep when this was all over. "Jay is the one who got stabbed today. Worry about him, not me."

"You're doing what you did last time." She wasn't as careful, then, her words firmer. The worry was still there, but time had passed. They weren't the same scared teenagers they used to be. They had grown up. It was just more obvious in her. "You're putting on this brave face like you're our last line of defense against this guy, like all of this falls on your shoulders. It doesn't. And when you did it fifteen years ago, it broke you. And it almost got you killed."

"Hailey, I'm fi-"

"It's okay to cry, you know. It's okay to be scared and show it. This is... terrifying. We never thought we'd have to do this again, but we do. And you're allowed to be affected by it. None of us want to lose another friend, and I refuse to be the one to tell Jay that we lost you when he wakes up."

Maybe she was right, but old habits were too easy to fall back into. There was a time to cry, and a time to be scared, and this wasn't the time for either one.

[ hurt/comfort prompts ]

[gregorygerwitz]

[ ID: tags that read ‘#i have so many questions about the scream AU #i just have no coherency to ask them #or want to know things that would give away the plot #like if this does get written #will the party be described? #how does the killer get unmasked? #and more questions that i cant figure out how to put into words yet’ /end ID ]

tags are from @tealmoonlight

[ scream au moodboard ]

So, here’s the thing... I’m equally as incoherent about this AU, so we’ll be fine. If you come up with anything else, just ask. I’ve already told a few people who the copycat is I just want to yell about my kids and all the trauma I’m putting them through (I swear I love them I just also love horror films! so I’m combining my loves)

If I had the time I’d be working on this right now and I wish that was more of a joke than it is

warnings: death, canon-typical violence, horror film-typical violence

Under a cut because I’m so excited about this concept and this is gonna be long thank you for asking even these I will try to make sense 💜

If this gets written, the party where the Cozy Trio were attacked would be like... the prologue, so to speak? It would be partially described, or at least the scene that Trudy, Voight, and Al find would be described. I have to start right off the bat with Mouse covered in blood and suffering and protecting two kids - for reference, he was 17, while Jay and Hailey were 15, and the attack happened at his party he held while Thelma and Gregory were at a fundraiser and therefore not home. He absolutely feels partially responsible for everything that happened that night, because if it wasn’t for him, that many people wouldn’t have been in one spot for Knox and Disco Bob to easily find, and there would have been less carnage, at least, if not none at all.

So the way they’re found - locked in a bathroom with no windows so there’s only one entrance to guard, Jay bleeding from a few knife wounds (alive but clinging to it), Hailey scared and sitting on the tile floor next to him with less serious injuries but still plenty of blood on her hands and clothes, Mouse with a dirty cop’s gun raised and ready to fire at the door while he’s shaking too much to actually pull the trigger (again, because he already shot Knox to save Jay less than an hour ago). That would be described in the prologue, as an introduction to this universe and what, exactly, readers would be getting into. Just these absolutely terrified kids who survived something horrible and have to somehow move forward from that. The rest of the party and that attack might be described in flashbacks, later? Like when the copycat starts killing and the similarities are obvious to the Cozy Trio and the people who worked the original case? Things that would tie back a little bit more organically than just dropping all of it at the beginning.

The original killers get unmasked kind of anticlimactically? There’s not a lot of mystery in the original case, in a way. Knox is a college kid who crashed the party and no one there actually knew very well. At most he helped them get alcohol, but it’s the Gerwitz house so there was probably more just whatever they had laying around - wine, fancy expensive beer, top shelf liquors, stuff like that. And then Bob conveniently shows up shortly after the first kill, in uniform, claiming that a neighbor complained about the noise. They’re both people who are not supposed to be there, people who stand out in the small crowd of the party, so when the attacks continue throughout the night, there’s a moment of “wait, where are those guys we don’t know???” that kind of gives them away.

The copycat killings and attacks are the mystery, and therefore the focus of the fic, if it ends up happening. There are four attacks made by the copycat that lead up to their reveal:

an attack on a teen Halloween party, which alerts the team to what’s happening and sets them on the case and sets up the three red herrings

an attack on Jay, which clears [red herring 2] of suspicion

an attack on Mouse, which clears [red herring 1] and [red herring 3]

an attack on Hailey, where the real copycat(s) is/are revealed and taken down

This is like... over planned. Maybe I’ll write it for Halloween this year or something 😅 we’ll see. But until then I will happily babble about it and go on and on about all my plans (with the red herrings and copycat(s) redacted most likely) so as soon as you have more coherent questions, or if anyone has any questions (coherent or otherwise), absolutely feel free to send them!

[gregorygerwitz]

more 2011 au thoughts pretty please? or just cozy trio thoughts in general thank youuuu

⚡

Hi again, nonny!

I don't have a lot of thoughts about the 2011 AU this week because I kind of... stopped thinking about it? I spiraled into a new cozy trio AU that I'm still fleshing out a bit. But! I have thoughts about... I guess "general" cozy trio. It's not my main cozy trio 'verse that I write in, because it follows canon a bit more, but I have been thinking a lot about how Hailey and Mouse would react and cope with Jay leaving in 10x03 if cozy trio was established instead of just Upstead?

First of all, the three of them would have talked about it, there would be no Jay making this decision and telling them on his way out the door. He'd recognize how he feels and what he wants is so similar to what Mouse did back in s4, and the two of them would have a separate discussion about it and what a decision like that means. Obviously, Mouse isn't going to stop him from going if that's what he wants, and he's there to be supportive when Jay explains it all to Hailey, too - because there's a lot of thought and reasoning that went into it, and it requires a lot of discussion, and communication. yes, they all sit in the big bed for this discussion because it's comfortable and it's their safe space even when Jay is hurting and has to leave them for a little while

also the idea of Jay starting his initial conversation with Mouse with "I've been thinking about going back in" the way Mouse started it with him in 4x02... thinking thoughts and feeling feelings

and he absolutely doesn't extend his rotation he keeps it to the 8 month timeline they originally discussed and agreed upon because I understand why canon did it but that doesn't mean I have to adhere to it too

Mouse is very worried when Hailey works so much and rarely comes home. he recognizes that it's how she's coping with all these feelings, but it's still worrying. he definitely lingers at the front desk "to talk to Trudy" for a while every night until he knows what unit Hailey's working with and where she's gonna be so he can listen to a police scanner when he gets home and keep an eye on her, that way.

The stuff with O'Neil still happens, just slightly different because having Mouse there adds a whole new layer to all of it in a really fun way (for me, not for him).

During the initial case that brings O'Neil to them, before anyone realizes he's up to something. Mouse is definitely intrigued by Safe Place and its purpose - because he's kind of... been in the same place as most of those kids? he wasn't a teenager when he was on the streets and doing drugs and needed help, but he was still young, and the idea of kids even younger than him being in that position hurts. so, if Hailey is going to be out at all hours throwing himself into work, he can spend one evening bringing some of the extra blankets and non-perishable food from the house to Safe Place (with a check, because he was raised by Thelma and Gregory and the Gerwitzes fix everything with money and he has disposable income again which is probably dangerous but it's fine he has good intentions)

The night he's over there talking to Sean and dropping everything off is, in fact, the night Hailey is in the garage (and his tech cage) back at the district putting all the pieces together. The next day, when Hailey and Voight find out where he was (because Mouse is still concerned when she doesn't go home and he definitely mentioned getting home late, himself) he kind of gets... pulled into the more dangerous side of the investigation.

Mouse is very used to the "safer" parts of cases - checking digital trails, finding information, just sitting in his cage with his snacks and his computers - but now they're asking him to act in an undercover capacity to get information on/from Sean and what he's doing. Because he established himself as a face that has a reason to be seen around the building because he may or may not have offered his time if they need an extra volunteer on his days off from the CPD.

*muffled Vigilante Shit by Taylor Swift*

at least they'll have a fun story to tell Jay when he gets home??? that definitely won't give him an anxiety attack because both of his partners decided to put themselves into a really dangerous and extremely risky situation??? I'm sure he'll be fine with it.

[gregorygerwitz]

cozy trio ask (the new fic is amazing !!!)

if you had to place the trio in a typical fanfic au (eg. flowershop/tattoo parlour, coffee store/bookstore, etc.) which au would it be, and who would play which role?

⚡

Hello again, nonny!

I'm doing a writing challenge this year with Cozy Trio as the ship for all of my fics in the challenge (I'll reblog the post about it later tonight), and I've been thinking about the free of them in a coffeeshop AU since seeing the post yesterday since that's the prompt I'm leaning toward for July. So I'll start there.

In a Coffeeshop AU... here's the thing. I've already made moodboards for barista!Mouse and barista!Jay. I have post-war, post-addiction Mouse making a new life for himself and falling for his regular customer, Det. Halstead. And I have post-war Jay serving tea to his emotional support spoiled rich boy every afternoon. So it's Hailey's turn, right?

So, barista!Hailey, serves a strong cup of coffee (secretly with a little extra sugar that he never tells anyone about) to Jay every morning, perfectly put together and ready for his day before he even walks through the door. Usually about an hour later, she prepares an even sweeter cup of tea to Mouse, who is a rumpled mess of shirts that don't fit him and hair that's had fingers run through it a few too many times. They come in together every once in a while, that's how she knows they're friends, and she jokingly flirts with both of them because they're cute and leave good tips (it takes a couple months before Mouse tries to put a stop to her flirting with him, just a little "you know I'm gay, right?" and it doesn't stop her but it does get a little more... over the top? a little more obviously fake, more teasing than flirting, and he does it back, which Jay rolls his eyes at whenever it happens in front of him)

How do they get together? Unsure. I have 6 months to figure that out, though.

As for tattoo artist/florist, I've actually come up with an expanded concept of that, for an ot3 I had back when I wrote for Marvel? The moodboards are here on my blog, if anyone wants to check it out, but the short version is tattoo parlor/flower shop/bookstore all on the same block, and the owners of all the stores are friends and then all get together.

Mouse is the florist, I think. He wears a lot of florals in canon? Not enough but also... four shirts. He wears four floral shirts in canon. And that's just on screen. I want to follow the flower motif for him as much as possible, it makes me so happy. the sunflower shirt from 1x15 lives in my mind rent free at all times

Hailey as a tattoo artist fascinates me. Can I explain it? No. But do I know in my soul that she would do great and probably love ever second of it? Yeah. bonus points that both she and Mouse are pursuing careers that their parents would absolutely hate for them, like I could put a lot of angst in here about that but I'm behaving

Does Jay owning a bookstore make sense? No. But mostly just because I'm fully on board with @kitthekazoo's headcanon that his ADHD just made it difficult to learn those skills - like reading and writing and math - at the same pace as his peers when he was young. He can read, it's just not something he enjoys because he associates it with that struggle and disappointment from his father. However... editing that third profession so it's maybe... following in his father's footsteps and becoming a mechanic? and his shop is on the same block as Mouse's flower shop and Hailey's tattoo parlor? I love that. I love that a lot.

something something Jay following his father's dreams for him vs Mouse rejecting the family tech/investment track and Hailey rejecting the restaurant business... I have a lot of thoughts here but I don't know if they're coherent yet.

Also... something about putting the Mouse&Hailey relationship, which I keep completely platonic in all of my Cozy Trio AUs, in the roles that are typically the romantic cliché in this kind of universe is so satisfying. I love turning things upside down for no reason. I live for that kind of quiet chaos.

Thanks so much for this! I had a lot of fun thinking about these! And who knows, maybe I'll write the tattoo artist/florist/mechanic idea for December when that prompt comes around!

[gregorygerwitz]

a masterpost of my fics for 2023′s Year of the OTP event hosted by @yearoftheotpevent

January - prompt: first kiss February - prompt: different

[ prompt list | tag ]

[gregorygerwitz]

to the power of three chapter 1/3

Summary: Three days in the lives of Jay and his partners during the first year spent in their house.

Warnings: brief mention of sex in the abstract (nothing on page or actually implied to happen)

Words: 3,766 (so far)

Cozy Trio (MouseUpstead), domestic birthday fluff, polyamorous Jay Halstead

Sneak Peek:

Mouse absently switched between apps on his phone, from the same game he’d been trying to beat for the last hour, to his email, and back again. The couch was barely comfortable anymore, the cushions lumpy and his back resting against the arm of it in just the wrong way, but getting up and going to his room would involve more effort than he wanted to put in. Besides, it wasn’t like he could do much to move, anyway.

He didn’t look up from the level he was trying to beat for the millionth time, and he didn’t have to. There was only one other person in the house who could possibly be getting in his space, splaying out over the space he left on the cushions and resting their head on his stomach. Even if there was a mystery to solve, his investigation wouldn’t have lasted long. Only one person in their house had that much hair.

“Not now, Hailey, I’m popping bubbles.”

[ read the rest on ao3 ]